《Gamesters (a LitRPG isekai romp)》 Prologue ¡°Siobhan! Hey, come take a look at this!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Just come see.¡± ¡°Fi-i-ine.¡± The older sister shuffled into the room, knowing that resistance was futile and the easiest way to get her younger sister to leave her alone was to just go along with it. She flopped down on the sofa and turned her attention to the television. On the screen, a lone man was sitting on a stump in some kind of forest clearing. The camera was behind him and to the side so she couldn¡¯t see his face, but she could tell that he was eating. ¡°Wo-o-ow. Engrossing. I can see why you had to call me all the way in here to see this.¡± The younger one grinned. ¡°Wait for it.¡± ¡°He¡¯s really shoveling it down, eh?¡± The man on the screen suddenly perked up. The camera zoomed in on what had made him become alert: a pair of tiny red eyes glared at him from within the trees. She hadn¡¯t even noticed them there. Who knew how long they¡¯d been watching him eat. Then the camera switched angles and she finally got a look at the man. He looked about the same age as the sisters, somewhere in his mid-20s. His face lit up into a grin. ¡°Whoah!¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± ¡°Is that...?¡± ¡°I know!¡± The man stood up, never once taking his eyes off the glowing red ones in the trees. ¡°What is this? What¡¯s he doing on TV? How did¡ª¡± ¡°Shhh! Just watch.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. On the TV, he held out his hand, palm up. As the sisters watched, something appeared hovering over it, something blue. It began to grow, enlarging rapidly in his open hand into a swirling ball of what looked like water. ¡°The special effects are really solid. What is this?¡± The younger sister said nothing in reply. The man drew his hand back, then lobbed the ball of water at the glowing eyes. It vanished into the darkness between the trees with an audible splash. ¡°What¡¯s he doing?¡± the younger sister said. ¡°Maybe he¡¯s trying to scare off whatever it is without hurting it?¡± ¡°Yeah, that sounds like him.¡± Something rustled in the trees, then it emerged into the clearing. It was small, white, and furry, with two long ears. A rabbit. Only this bunny had two antlers jutting out of its head just in front of the big ears. It was also soaking, the water making its ears flop adorably. ¡°Jackalope!¡± the man blurted. ¡°So cute!¡± ¡°I''d know that voice anywhere,¡± the older sister said. ¡°Holy shit, it really is him.¡± ¡°I know!¡± The horned bunny looked up at him with those piercing red eyes and shook its body, spattering water all around. ¡°So cute!¡± it said in a voice that sounded just like his, and took a hop toward him. A small information window appeared in the corner of the TV screen. Jackalope Don¡¯t be fooled by its small size and cute bunny-like appearance, this ferocious monster uses its ability to mimic any sound to lure its prey in close enough to pounce on. Those unfortunate enough to survive its venomous bite will wish it had killed them once the Jackalope¡¯s curse sets in. ¡°Uh oh,¡± the man said, as though he¡¯s just seen the same information. The Jackalope took another hop toward him. ¡°Uh oh,¡± it said. Then its red eyes boiled and darkened into two tiny black holes. A horizontal slash appeared under its nose that almost seemed to split its head in two. Foamy froth spilled from the wide gash to reveal jagged rows of fangs. ¡°Holy shit, is that supposed to be its mouth?¡± the younger sister said. It was the older one¡¯s turn to say nothing. She simply stared at the TV with rapt attention. The man¡¯s brow furrowed as though concentrating. He held out his hand again. ¡°I don¡¯t think water¡¯s going to cut it this time, Daniel,¡± the younger sister said. As though thinking the same thing himself, instead of water, a ball of fire grew and flickered in his hand. He held it out toward the creature and took a threatening step forward, but it only moved one hop closer to the man as well, pitch black eyes locked onto him. Its appallingly wide mouth snapped shut with a clack. ¡°You asked for it!¡± he said, and pulled his arm back, preparing to hurl the fireball at the Jackalope. Chapter One - Games are everything Everyone says it all started with the abductions. And for everyone else, that¡¯s true. One minute they were going about their normal lives ¡ª cooking food, playing a board game, checking socials, playing a card game, going to school, playing a video game ¡ª and the next thing they knew they were on another world. That¡¯s true for other Players, but not for me. Sure, I was abducted too, but my story began the day before, at the Isekai World GameCon. From the first time I heard about it, I thought isekai was a fun name for a gaming convention. After all, getting immersed in a good game is a lot like being transported to another world. Of course, we know now it wasn¡¯t a cute metaphor so much as an insidious joke. We all arrived at the same time, hundreds of us, snapping into place in the new world with a sensation a lot like waking from a dream, although it was more like we¡¯d fallen into one. This arrival came with an abrupt jolt to the body and mind, which I think is to be expected after being ripped from living a normal life one moment, then boom, finding ourselves plunked down with a horde of strangers in the stands of some kind of arena. Yeah, it¡¯s not surprising we were all dazed and disoriented and groggy. Everything about it was strange and slightly surreal. Even the arena itself was a huge departure from normal; it wasn¡¯t like any arena I¡¯d seen before, except maybe in some Asian action flick. My first thought: this is absurd. My second thought: I must be dreaming. A low murmur built among the crowd and I saw more than a few sets of eyes darting around as their owners pinched themselves. Clearly, I wasn¡¯t the only one to think that, but at least I had the decency to hide my hand in the pocket of my hoodie when I pinched myself. The murmur grew steadily into a loud buzz as people began to discover, as I did, that those pinches actually hurt. Not dreaming, then. Even more absurd. I didn¡¯t remember getting hit by a truck. When confronted by something like this, you¡¯d expect the buzz that it generated among the crowd to be an angry one, or at the very least a confused one. Sure, some people were very angry and others were very confused, a few were likely both, but if I had to pick one word to describe the vibe that surrounded me it would have to be this: excitement. I felt it too, that quivering anticipation. It even threatened to overpower the crippling anxiety I¡¯d initially felt after finding myself suddenly surrounded by so many strange people in an even stranger place. Of course we were excited, this whole scenario was straight out of some kind of immersive game. It was like throwing fish into water. See, when I finally took a good look at the people around me, I discovered that I recognized every person there. That¡¯s when I realized I knew something maybe nobody else did yet: we weren¡¯t strangers, not completely. We all had something in common. The day before, everybody there had been in the same convention hall in Toronto attending the Isekai World GameCon, myself included. They had been scattered all over the place, playing different games at different tables in different rooms, so they didn¡¯t recognize each other. But I recognized them. I could even tell you what game they preferred, and if they were any good at it. Heck, I could even tell you why. The freckle-faced teenaged boy in jeans and a Minecraft t-shirt on my right had probably spent most of his young life with a gaming console controller in his hands, and had honed his reflexes to the point that multiplayer online battle arena games were as natural to him as pushing his glasses up his nose. That pale-skinned young woman over there, whose dense curly hair, thick eyeliner, glossy lipstick, and long lacy dress all competed over which one had the darkest shade of black, nurtured a hidden talent for solving puzzle games. My guess is that she had spent most of her childhood alone, those people tend to enjoy puzzles. Beside her, the surly teen in a red-checked lumberjack coat hiding behind a curtain of lank hair could roleplay most people under the table. I¡¯d known more than a few people like him before, people so uncomfortable in their own skins that the only way they could truly express themselves was by pretending to be someone else, in real life and in games. The swarthy man in a dark gray suit one row down, whose round face swelled like an over-inflated balloon over the noose of his necktie, was surprisingly good at collectible card games. OCD if I¡¯ve ever seen it. Over there, the dark-skinned woman with cornrow hair wearing a prim blazer and matching knee-length pencil skirt, was always several moves ahead of everyone else when she played board games. Toronto was a pretty multicultural city, but that didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t prejudice there. She¡¯d probably had to constantly strive to be better than everyone just to find herself on equal footing, and it showed in how she approached her gaming. That young Korean man wearing clothes at least two sizes too big with deep bags under his eyes was a first person shooter savant. Addictive personality. The spotty-faced boy gawking around with the darting head movements of an anxious bird transformed into a zen monk when playing sports video games. That one I didn¡¯t have a quick answer for, some people just like what they like, and that¡¯s okay. I could go on, but you get the idea. Each of these people were top tier players in their chosen games. I¡¯d seen that for myself. I don¡¯t believe in coincidence, so as I surveyed the crowd around me my initial excitement melted away, leaving me with nothing but my quivering anxiety and a sinking feeling that it was no accident these people were there with me. They were all there because of me. A lot of them were the people who''d won at their games, that''s what you''d expect. But a significant number of the people around me were there because for other reasons, reasons I''d chosen. Because for one reason or another, everyone there had caught my interest at the convention and I had personally singled them as special in some way. All of them. I want to make it clear I had no idea at the time that in doing so I would be choosing them to be abducted and plonked onto butt-numbingly hard arena benches en masse. Look up unwitting in the dictionary, you''ll see me. I swear, I hadn¡¯t known at the time that anything like this would happen. How could I? I was just picking out the most interesting players. It wasn¡¯t my fault. Honestly. We¡¯d barely had enough time to wrap our heads around the absurd situation when a jaunty fanfare began to play, the kind of tinny digital-sounding tune you¡¯d expect to hear in an old-school Nintendo game after rescuing some captured 8-bit princess. I couldn¡¯t tell where it came from, it seemed to be all around me. No, that¡¯s not quite right. It was more like it was inside me, filling my head as though I was listening to it through headphones, only I wasn¡¯t wearing any. Then I noticed some people pointing towards the arena floor. The arena was hexagonal and made entirely of polished wood. Straight vertical walls about twenty feet tall rose up from the packed dirt of the arena floor on all six sides. Ten tiers of bleachers followed, each with just a few rows of those hard benches. A shallow dome covering the entire space, making it look like a huge curved mirror was above us, but at the same time the dome also seemed to cast a uniform light over the entire area. The bottom third or so of the stands were full of people, me and my fellow Players. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Down on the floor, where people were pointing, a dense fog was accumulating. It billowed around, impenetrably thick, then as quickly as it appeared it began to dissipate, revealing the outline of a solitary figure standing within it. A circle of bright light beamed down from the dome to illuminate the figure. When enough of the fog had melted away, the light revealed a tall, slender person, attractive in an androgynous way, with short, dark, slicked back hair, wearing a flashy outfit with a long coat festooned with ruffles and bright gold buttons that would have looked right in place if the Joker had appeared on the Sgt Pepper¡¯s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Gems glittered from rings on the fingers of both hands and a gaudy brooch had been pinned on its chest like a war medal. The rest of us were all dressed in regular clothes, but this person looked like a Medici Duke trying a bit too hard to express their individuality, or maybe like Antonio in a pretentious contemporary take on The Merchant of Venice. That sinking feeling sank deeper. I groaned. No way was this a coincidence. I recognized this person too, of course. I¡¯d spent the entire previous day ¡ª the third and final day of the GameCon ¡ª walking the convention floor with them, observing the various tables together. When I¡¯d pointed out the players I thought would win or perform best in whatever game they¡¯d been playing, this person was the one I¡¯d pointed them out to. My anxiety¡¯s BFF, an all-too-familiar sense of panic, swelled in my chest and I started to have a hard time breathing. The fanfare reached a rousing crescendo before stopping and the person began to speak, their words somehow amplified in the same head-filling way as the music. The crowd¡¯s hubbub silenced. ¡°Welcome Players,¡± the person said. The way they said it I could hear the capital P. ¡°My true name is challenging for your mouths to pronounce, so you may simply call me Stratos. I must congratulate you all on the singular honor of being chosen to play the game.¡± The figure who called themself Stratos flashed a brilliant smile. Indistinct murmurs began floating through the crowd, punctuated by a few recognizable exclamations like ¡°what game?¡± and ¡°chosen by whom?¡± and whatnot, but Stratos¡¯s booming voice drowned them all out. ¡°I know you have questions,¡± Stratos said. ¡°I shall endeavor to explain. You have been chosen¡ª¡± ¡°Where are we?¡± roared someone in the crowd, triggering an avalanche of vocal hostility. Stratos raised and lowered both hands, palms down, a futile placating gesture. ¡°We will get to that. If you will just have patience¡ª¡± ¡°Chosen for what?¡± ¡°Just tell us where we are!¡± ¡°How¡¯d we get here?¡± ¡°What game?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± A reddish tinge swept over Stratos, as though someone slid a scarlet gel filter over a spotlight. They clicked their tongue, their smile vanishing into a scowl. ¡°Tch. Humans,¡± they muttered. Then they flicked their wrist and a barely perceptible orange light flared from their hand. ¡°AHEM!¡± Instant silence. ¡°You will have patience,¡± Stratos growled. ¡°You will let me speak.¡± Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Nobody so much as blinked. We couldn¡¯t, we were literally paralyzed. ¡°You want to know where you are. That is fair. I will tell you. But let me warn you, as unbelievable as the answer may sound I promise you one thing: you can believe it. I will never lie to you. You might think this is a dream, or perhaps a virtual reality simulation. I assure you it is not. This is all very real.¡± ¡°Right now, your bodies are in stasis tanks on a spaceship orbiting Earth. At least, that is where your old bodies are. Your minds, on the other hand, are here. On a different planet, many thousands of light years away. In new bodies. Better bodies. Player bodies.¡± I knew what this was. Stratos made broad, sweeping gestures with both arms. ¡°Everything on this world, from the flesh you now inhabit to the air you now breathe to the bench upon which you now sit, all of it has been created for you. For the game.¡± Stratos kept their arms spread wide, eyes closed, mouth open, and head tilted back as though flooded with divine ecstasy. ¡°You are in a place where games are everything, and everything is a game. This is your stage, and you are not merely Players.¡± Games are everything. Everything is a game. That had been the slogan for the Isekai World GameCon. It was on all the posters and in all the ads. It was even on the event t-shirts. Hell, I was wearing one of those shirts when I¡¯d been abducted, and I was still wearing it at that moment. A big ¡®Games are everything¡¯ on the front, and ¡®Everything is a game¡¯ on the back in an olde-timey font. I couldn¡¯t tell you what font it is, you¡¯d have to ask my UX designer sister what it¡¯s called (she¡¯s just as nerdy as I am, only she geeks out over a whole different set of things), but it¡¯s one of those where the letters are all chunky and pixellated, like you¡¯d see in an old Atari videogame or something. ¡°Now then, that should have piqued your interest enough that we can continue without further vexation.¡± Stratos brought their hands together as though bestowing a blessing upon us. Another orange flash from their hand and the disconcerting red light faded to a soft white again as the paralyzing stiffness loosened. A collective sigh of relief swam across the crowd and we all took a few deep breaths ¡ª the paralyzation was thorough and we hadn¡¯t even been able to breathe while frozen. But that only make it more effective. Even after catching our collective breaths we remained obediently quiet. Mostly. Nobody wanted to get paralyzed again. It had been...unpleasant. But there¡¯s always one in every crowd who just doesn¡¯t know when to shut up. ¡°What is this, really?¡± someone shouted. It was a man, a bit older than me, whose entire look and demeanor just oozed privilege. He was a good looking guy, impeccably groomed, and clearly arrogant. At the convention, he¡¯d demonstrated himself to be a ferocious video gamer who took pleasure in humiliating his opponents¡¯ avatars after defeating them. ¡°I demand that you stop this at once.¡± Stratos didn¡¯t even look at him. ¡°You wish for this to be over?¡± ¡°I do,¡± the man shouted. Stratos sighed and a red light flashed from their hand. The complaining man stood there for a moment, mouth open as though to say something, then he vanished. Poof. Just...gone. ¡°Is there anyone else who wishes for the end?¡± Stratos said in a low voice. Not a peep. ¡°Good, then. Let us talk a little more about your new bodies. While these bodies may look the same as what you had, and even feel the same, they are not the same. They contain remarkable potential. The strength of Hercules, the skills of Batman...¡± As Stratos droned on, I peered down at my hand, turned it over. Looked the same. I flexed my fingers, made a fist. Felt the same. Then I got an idea. ¡°Status,¡± I said in the quietest hush, less than a whisper. More of a sub-vocal mumble, really, like the breath of a nearly professional ventriloquist. As I suspected would happen, something appeared in the middle of my field of vision. I already knew what it was going to be. After all, how could I not? I knew perfectly well what was going on, this only confirmed it. At that exact moment, Stratos paused for just a tiny bit, and I am pretty sure their eyes darted to look directly at me when they did, then they looked away and kept talking. I forced myself to listen, but it was hard. That thing that had appeared in my vision screamed for attention. ¡°...the magic of Merlin,¡± Stratos continued. ¡°In this place, with these bodies, anything is possible. To put it in terms that should resonate with this crowd in particular: you are now superheroes. And this,¡± Stratos gestured grandly around the arena again, ¡°is your origin story.¡± I felt the teenaged boy beside me tremble. I glanced over and saw the hairs on his arm standing on end. I knew how he felt. ¡°The only thing these new bodies cannot change is who you are inside. Your mind. Your consciousness. Your soul. You are still the same people you were back on Earth, just with a few significant physical upgrades. You are Players, and you have now entered the game.¡± Chapter Two - Status If this had been a random sampling of people torn away from ordinary life and thrust into this extraordinary place, there probably would¡¯ve been a whole lot of screams, crying, panic, general mayhem. At least, I imagine there¡¯d be. Ordinary people aren¡¯t programmed to jive with stuff like this. But these weren¡¯t ordinary people, these were people who¡¯d chosen to spend three days of their lives at a gaming convention. There were no screams, no tears, no panic. Just a collective throb of barely-contained delirium. It shouldn¡¯t be surprising. After all, we were gamers. After so many years of playing so many games, it¡¯s like we¡¯d spent our entire lives preparing for this moment to arrive. And then it got even better, from a gamer¡¯s perspective. It was all leading up to this, really. A very special surprise Stratos had planned for us. That thing in the middle of my vision, my Status. I like to think that I had spoiled their big reveal by opening mine early, or at the very least I had spoiled it for Stratos and myself because nobody else could see it. There were probably others who expected, or at least suspected, that this would happen the moment Stratos had called us Players. For all I know, I wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d already opened their Status; after all, a large slice of the people here must have read the same manga I had, watched the same anime, drank the same Kool-Aid. ¡°Now,¡± Stratos said, ¡°just say: Status.¡± Like a swarm of giant bees had appeared out of nowhere, or the worst tinnitus ever but lasting just for one second, the hiss of hundreds of voices muttering ¡°Status¡± at the exact same time buzzed all around the arena. Earlier, when I¡¯d opened mine, I said I knew perfectly well what was going on even before I saw it appear in front of me. Once everyone had had a moment to digest this new nugget, so did almost everyone around me. I, and all the other people in that arena, had just been isekai¡¯d. If you already recognize the term, please indulge me as I spend a quick paragraph or two on exposition for the normies. If you don¡¯t, then don¡¯t sweat it. I¡¯ve got you. Even if you don¡¯t think you know what isekai is, you do. Isekai is Japanese for ¡°other world,¡± and refers to a special kind of fish-out-of-water story where the main characters are transported from the normal world into a completely different one. It¡¯s even in the Oxford English dictionary now, look it up. When Alice went through the looking glass into Wonderland, and when those annoying kids went into the wardrobe and emerged in Narnia, those were isekai stories. The presence of a Status screen meant this was a particular kind of isekai where the other world people find themselves in is a game world. Jumanji? Total isekai. Someone once asked me if I appreciated the layered irony of calling it the Isekai World GameCon. I¡¯m not going to tell you how I responded. In fact, I¡¯ll warn you now: I¡¯m probably going to gloss over a lot of the dumb or embarrassing stuff I said and did. I¡¯ll need to include some of it ¡ª if I cut it all there won¡¯t be any story left ¡ª but some stuff is just too cringe to mention. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll still have the adventure, surprise, disappointment, violence, treachery, all that good stuff. There¡¯s a bit of sex and romance, too, if that¡¯s your thing. But this won¡¯t be something cut together by a marketing team. It¡¯s a rousing story if I say so myself. Sure, lots of people died, but it¡¯s fine; most of them came back again. Too soon to joke about it? Sorry, I guess morbid humor is my way of dealing. But back to the Status thing. Those ghostly touch screens hovering in front of us when we said ¡°Status¡± were more than a cute gimmick, they were an essential way for us to track and measure what we could do. Everyone there knew the deal. They¡¯d played Dungeons & Dragons or RPG video games, they knew what a character sheet was. They¡¯d read isekai manga or watched isekai anime, they¡¯d seen a Status screen before. Just never in real life. And they¡¯d certainly never seen their own Status screen. But there it was, floating in the air in front of me. My very own Status screen showing my abilities. Stratos hadn¡¯t lied. This wasn¡¯t like a game, it literally was a game. I was almost afraid to look at it. What if my abilities sucked? I closed my eyes and prayed for magic powers.
Daniel Lamont
Affinity: Life - Novice
Gifts: Good At Everything
Jack Of All Trades
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Novice
Skills: Game Design - Novice
Teaching - Novice
Trivia - Novice
Crap. No magic. No combat skills either. And Trivia? What the hell? Stolen novel; please report. I was useless. The people around me were all staring intently into the space in front of them, clearly examining their own Statuses. I couldn¡¯t see theirs, of course, only my own. Statuses are a very private thing. I looked over at the freckled boy to my right side again. He sat with his mouth gaping open as he studied his. Typical mouth-breathing gaming nerd. In other words, he was me about a decade ago. I wished I could see what he got. All of a sudden, a ghostly screen appeared over his head.
Philip Kincaid
Affinity: Earth - Novice
I looked around.
Shawn Sung
Affinity: Water - Novice
Tracey Wild
Affinity: Ice - Novice
Rakesh Bannerjee
Affinity: Fire - Novice
What the hell? All I could see were names and affinities, but no powers or anything. I figured everyone must be able to do that. I also noticed that all their affinities were basic elements, so why was mine Life? Then I wondered what my power did. The moment the thought crossed my mind my Status changed, my one-and-only power expanding to show its description. All Shall Be Revealed - Novice: See any status Hmmm. Interesting. So how about these so-called gifts? Good At Everything - Ability to develop affinity with all elements; Restriction: mastery in all Affinities, Powers, and Skills is limited to Adept level I did like the idea of being able to develop affinity with all elements. Versatility for the win. But the restriction? I absolutely did not like that my ability to progress was limited. That sucked. Good At Everything? More like No Good At Anything. Of course, I didn¡¯t know then how many levels of mastery there were and what beyond Adept was out of my reach. My only consolation was that being able to have all affinities must be pretty good if it had felt the need to nerf me so badly. So many questions. I looked around for the help icon, but there wasn¡¯t any. Poor UX design. I started looking around some more to see what other affinities I could find. The standard elements were the most common: Fire, Water, Earth, and Ice. I would¡¯ve expected Air to be there in the top four instead of Ice, but Air seemed less common. There were other affinities like Shadow, Nature, Darkness, and Light that hardly anyone had. I didn¡¯t see anybody else with my Life affinity. I counted two people whose affinity was hidden and thought perhaps there was a power to do that. What about my other gift? Jack Of All Trades - Learn any Skill through observation I know what you¡¯re thinking. I thought the same. Is that supposed to be a superpower? That¡¯s...unimpressive. Isn¡¯t that how skills were learned in the regular world? As I was looking around, my attention was drawn by a young woman with long blonde hair a few rows down from me. I immediately recognized her from the convention. She was hard to miss. It seemed strange that she had been abducted and turned into a Player. Like everyone else around me, I had pointed her out to Stratos the day before. But unlike the others, she hadn¡¯t been there to play games. Chapter Three - Sigrid Sorrensen The Isekai World GameCon was a new event, never held before and touted as the world¡¯s biggest gaming convention. It happened concurrently on the same three days in cities all over the world. I, and all the people around me, had attended the one in Toronto. The event had drawn gamers of all types, dividing them into different areas, all devoted to different kinds of games. No matter what your gaming preference was ¡ª tabletop roleplaying game, boardgame, video game, collectible card game, even old classics like Chess, Mah-Jong, and Go ¡ª whatever kind of game it was that got you juiced up, there was a place for you and all the people like you. But you¡¯d better be serious about it if you showed up to play, because this wasn¡¯t just a place to play for the fun of it. The Isekai World Gamecon was a serious competition with some pretty big prizes for the best players in each game. Not everyone who attended the convention was there to play, lots of people came for the vendors. A large area of the convention hall was filled with booths where people bought and sold games and merch. This is where I¡¯d seen the blonde woman, working in the vendors'' area at a booth promoting a new game. She was what you call a booth babe, an attractive woman hired to draw people in with her various charms. Look, I know. The whole idea is pretty offensive. It¡¯s surprising that this sort of objectification is tolerated in this day and age, but the sad truth is that it still works. It works for the same reason as why the covers of so many fantasy novels feature an idealized female in a submissive posture showing far more skin than would be comfortable, or why so many comic book superheroines wear skin tight costumes over bodies that defy gravity in several ways. I could deliver a long diatribe about the stereotypical target audience for this kind of thing, but what¡¯s the point? I know it¡¯s wrong. You know it¡¯s wrong. Hell, the intended audience knows it¡¯s wrong. But right or wrong, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that they like seeing their fantasy women come to life in the soft, jiggly, three-dimensional flesh. The game the attractive blonde had been shilling for was a big-name fantasy-themed RPG, and they¡¯d dressed her up in a Valkyrie warrior costume with typical fantasy female armor: a breastplate molded around her boobs and a chainmail skirt. Bare arms, bare legs, thigh-high dominatrix boots...you can picture it clearly, I¡¯m sure. The other woman working the booth was also dressed thematically in a sort of swashbuckling Three Musketeers outfit with a low-cut, laced-up, fitted tunic and skin-tight leather pants. The outfits revealed just enough to suggest a lot without being outright lewd. Stratos and I had already spent hours cruising the convention. We¡¯d observed dozens of tables and I must have singled out well over a hundred players by that time. I was thirsty and needed a break. I¡¯d grabbed a Dr. Pepper for myself ¡ª the thinking man¡¯s soda ¡ª but I figured Stratos should have an authentic gaming experience so I got them a Mountain Dew. The booth happened to be in direct line of sight from the empty bench we¡¯d commandeered to rest and enjoy our drinks on. ¡°Oh dear,¡± I said. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Stratos said. I pointed to a middle-aged man lurking nearby and leering at the booth with serial killer eyes. ¡°Watch that guy,¡± I said. As we watched, the person the blonde woman had been talking to went into the booth to take one of the several seats inside where he could try out the game, and right on cue our guy began slinking toward her. ¡°Is he what you would call creepy?¡± said Stratos. ¡°Super creepy. I feel really bad for her.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°In the real world, she¡¯d be able to avoid talking to creeps like him, but here she¡¯s trapped.¡± The guy had closed to within a few steps of the Valkyrie woman when she turned suddenly and began chatting with a random couple who¡¯d been wandering by in the other direction. The creep veered away, denied his prize. I barked a short laugh. ¡°Good for her.¡± ¡°Did she not see him?¡± Stratos said. ¡°Oh, she most certainly did.¡± ¡°Then why¡ª¡± ¡°Keep watching,¡± I said. The guy pretended to study a banner hanging on the front of the booth, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, while glancing constantly at the blonde Valkyrie and her Swashbuckler colleague. The other woman was striking, just as pretty as the Valkyrie, with long, wavy red hair that even under the stark convention floor lights that threw off enough lumens to conduct surgery under looked almost too good to be real. If it had been a photograph I¡¯d swear it would have to have been photoshopped. Nobody looks that good. But she did. After snapping a few selfies with her, the three giddy boys she¡¯d been talking to wandered off and the creep made his move again, this time homing in on the redheaded Swashbuckler. Before he could reach her, the Valkyrie dragged the couple she¡¯d enlisted into talking to her over to introduce them to the Swashbuckler, once again thwarting El Creepo¡¯s efforts to ensnare a pretty girl into a toxic conversation. ¡°Oh, she¡¯s good,¡± I said. Stratos sipped their Mountain Dew, brow slightly furrowed. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Tell me what you think just happened,¡± I said. ¡°That creepy man wanted to talk to her.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°But she started talking to those other people before he could.¡± ¡°She did that on purpose, by the way,¡± I said. ¡°Then he went to talk to the other woman but she got in the way before he could.¡± As we talked, the creepy guy seemed to get tired of lurking nearby waiting for his chance, so he wandered off and the two women exchanged looks of gratitude and acknowledgement. ¡°That¡¯s what makes her special. She doesn¡¯t just protect herself from having to talk to the creepy ones, she saves her friends too. It¡¯s like she has some kind of danger sense.¡± ¡°I see,¡± said Stratos, and this time they sounded like they understood. ¡°Well played.¡± That conversation must have been why that blonde woman was scooped up with the rest of the geeks and made a Player. She wasn¡¯t in her armor now, but wore a spandex sports top and leggings with her hair up in a ponytail. She must¡¯ve been exercising when she was abducted.
Sigrid Sorrensen
Affinity: Air - Novice
Well Sigrid Sorrensen, I bet when you signed up to work at a nerd convention you never imagined you¡¯d end up like this. I hope you like games. Tremors of excitement rippled throughout the crowd as people explored their Status. I kept scanning around, checking out the affinities of random people, when a pair of new notices popped up in my vision. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. System: Your mastery of All Shall Be Revealed has evolved System: You are the first to evolve a Power - Reward Tokens: +1 (1) Well look at that. I didn¡¯t know what they were, but I liked the sound of Reward Tokens. I took another look at my status to see if it had changed. All Shall Be Revealed - Competent Slowly but surely I was amassing information: Competent is one step up from Novice. I looked at the kid beside me again.
Philip Kincaid
Affinity: Earth - Novice
Gifts: What Big Ears You Have - Enhanced hearing
What Sharp Eyes You Have - Enhanced vision
Powers: Gosh You''re Fast - Novice: Remarkable movement speed
Skills: Archery - Novice
Mathematics - Novice
His abilities looked decent, I guessed. We both had two Gifts and one Power, but at least he had a combat Skill. I wasn¡¯t sure how much good trivia will do me in a fight. What about...
Sigrid Sorrensen
Affinity: Air - Novice
Gifts: Danger, Will Robinson - Detect potential threats
Powers: Heavenly Body - Novice: Boosted strength, agility, and toughness
Shield Maiden - Novice: Boost the defence of nearby allies
Your Achilles Heel Is Showing - Novice: Detect weaknesses
Skills: Fitness - Novice
Sword - Novice
Spear - Novice
Now that¡¯s a good set of abilities. Heavenly Body was a no brainer for her, I mean, she definitely had one. But hang on: Danger, Will Robinson? That¡¯s danger sense, just how I described her to Stratos the day before at the convention. It could not be a coincidence. The panic started creeping back. I wanted to keep exploring the Status thing, but Stratos had started talking again. Everyone quieted down. ¡°You probably have many questions about your Status and what it all means. I could tell you, but where is the fun in that? I think we will all enjoy watching you discover it on your own.¡± We? Who¡¯s we? ¡°And on that note, before you are let loose to explore there is something you should know: this is not an individual game. And I mean that in several ways.¡± Stratos held up a fist, then raised its index finger. ¡°First, the game you are playing is itself made up of many different games. Some will be presented to you as quests, others you will need to discover on your own. Life here will be what you make of it.¡± They raised the middle finger too. ¡°Second, you are not playing alone. There are currently three hundred Players here.¡± They glanced over to where the complaining man had been before he vanished. ¡°Make that two hundred and ninety-nine. Soon, you will be divided into ten teams, but you need not worry about that just yet. Just know that sometimes you will need to work together. For now, the only thing you should concern yourselves with is your very first quest.¡± A new notice popped up. It was similar to the Status screen. Quest: Be A Team Player - Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: [Hidden] Assembled Players: 0/10 Quest time remaining: 47:59:59 Quest time remaining: 47:59:58 Quest time remaining: 47:59:57 ¡°As you can see,¡± Stratos said, ¡°the next two days are a Tutorial period. A safe time for you to explore and settle in. Use this time well. You will want to be ready for when the real game begins, because this is a game you will want to win. After all, winners get rewards.¡± Sudden pin drop silence. Stratos flashed their flawless white teeth in what was maybe supposed to be a winning smile, but there was a stiffness, a lack of authenticity that made think of the Joker looming over Robin with a crowbar. ¡°That got your attention. There are many possible rewards for winning. Wealth. Items. Power. Influence. Growth. But here, the most important prize for winners is control. Control over your own destiny.¡± Stratos held out one hand, palm up. ¡°Play hard, become stronger, keep winning, be in control. Or...¡± They held up the other hand as though weighing the options on a scale. ¡°Well...¡± They dropped their hands. ¡°That is for the losers to discover.¡± Stratos let those ominous final words hang in the air a bit before continuing. ¡°One more thing. A word of caution. While this is a game, it is also very dangerous, and very real. You will get hurt. You may even get killed. If this happens...well, it is a game. You may be given another chance. Death does not necessarily mean your game is over, but it is never without consequence.¡± It was good to hear we could respawn. Still, there was no guarantee. Is that what they meant by losers not having control over their own destiny? Did that mean losers won¡¯t respawn or that they always will? Does death equal losing? Does losing mean death? ¡°And with that, I shall let you get on with enjoying the Tutorial. Use the time well, and we shall meet again in two days. Remember: games are everything, and everything is a game.¡± The light around Stratos flared and my eyes closed instinctively. When I opened them again the light was gone, and so was Stratos. My mind reeled in a dozen directions at once. I closed my eyes again and took a few deep breaths, trying to focus. I studied my quest screen again, hunting for clues or insights. Quest: Be A Team Player - Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: [Hidden] Assembled Players: 0/10 Quest time remaining: 47:57:59 I took a moment to take stock of things. There were three hundred of us. Approximately. If there was going to be ten teams and all the teams have ten people, what¡¯s going to happen to the other two hundred Players? But hang on, did everyone have the same quest as me? How will that work? I took a deep breath and turned to Phil on my right. He¡¯s just a kid. It¡¯s okay. You can talk to him. You can do this. Pretend he¡¯s a student. ¡°Um, hey. What quest did you get? I was wondering if we all got the same one.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± croaked Phil, his voice shaky. ¡°Well, mine just said to use the Tutorial period to gain experience.¡± ¡°Mine too,¡± piped in Shawn on my left. A few more people around us said the same thing. ¡°Cool,¡± I said, even though I was pretty sure it was the exact opposite of cool. I figured that only ten of us had the same quest as me. But why did I have a special quest? Was it because of the convention? I decided to keep this to myself. If people knew that I was somehow different, that I got something they didn¡¯t, it might not go well for me. Gamers are a jealous, selfish bunch. ¡°Looks like the quests are the same,¡± said Phil, rescuing me from having to say anything more or lie about what my own quest was. He stuck out his hand. ¡°I¡¯m Phil, by the way.¡± ¡°Daniel,¡± I said, shaking his hand. It was limp and clammy, like holding a sick fish. Poor kid, he was acting cool but I could tell he was scared witless. Couldn¡¯t honestly blame him. I painted a smile on my face. ¡°This should be fun,¡± I said, trying to sound convincing. ¡°Yeah,¡± muttered Phil, letting his hand slip out of mine. ¡°Fun.¡± He did not sound convinced. Chapter Four - Affinity Control The arena stands began to empty, but slowly. People seemed dazed. Hell, I was dazed. This was a lot of information to absorb all at once. Abducted from Earth, normal bodies placed in some sort of tank, and minds packed into superhuman bodies on another planet countless light years away. For a game. You¡¯d be a bit dazed too. I joined the throng spilling outside and tried to distract myself from a growing sense of doom by pondering what kind of games this would involve when I left the arena and almost fell over backwards with surprise. If I wasn¡¯t dazed before, I certainly was when I emerged from the arena into a scene straight out of a fantasy movie. The arena sat along the edge of a vast cobblestone courtyard that seemed to function like a town square, only it was hexagonal. A dozen evenly spaced fountains encircled a large central gazebo crafted from smooth, white marble. Various buildings that appeared to be mostly shops lined the edge of the courtyard and six evenly space streets spread out like the spokes of a wheel. The buildings along these streets were, from what I could see from my vantage, more shops and perhaps some houses. The layout was quite structured, but the architecture was all over the place. A cozy log chalet nestled between a domed yurt and a thatched roof cottage. It was like someone had taken all the fantasy settings in human stories, chewed them up, and vomited out this absurd town. The place was hopping, too. There were many more people around than the ones who¡¯d been with me in the arena. They stood out because they were dressed in clothing that matched the fantasy setting whereas we wore whatever we had on when we¡¯d been abducted. I myself was in my Isekai World GameCon t-shirt and jeans. I had a loose hoodie on over it, and I zipped it up to cover the big pixellated Games Are Everything on my chest; it was like the uncoolness of wearing that t-shirt right then came crashing down on top of me and all I could think to do was hide. But I didn¡¯t know what to do. That¡¯s when I realized that none of us knew what to do. I wondered how long it would take people to adjust to everything. Given that they were all gamers, probably not very long. Another difference between Players and the people who were here before us is that the locals weren¡¯t milling about lost and directionless like we were. They all seemed to be moving with purpose, comfortable in the baffling surroundings. Most people were on foot, but some had mounts or rode in wagons or carriages. The mounts were not horses, though, nor were the beasts pulling those wagons and carriages. I could see two different kinds of creatures that people used to ride or drive, one was a sort of bird, like a giant puffin with long, powerful ostrich legs, while the other looked like a sort of dinosaur. A friendly velociraptor, if you can picture such a thing. Who were these people? Were there already other Players there before us? I used All Shall Be Revealed on a few of them. Diligent Shopkeeper Carefree Citizen Wolf Clan Fighter Mischievous Boy Dragon Clan Fighter Nope, not Players. They all seemed like generic non-player characters. Figures there¡¯d be NPCs. I was starting to believe this really was a different planet. Stratos said it was, but even though they did promise they¡¯d always tell the truth, how could I know that itself wasn¡¯t a lie? I took a deep breath. It felt the same as usual, my chest rising as my lungs filled with air. I figured the atmosphere must be the same as Earth¡¯s, unless Player bodies were designed to work in whatever atmosphere this was. Either way, breathing seemed fine and the body seemed healthy enough. When I thought about it, I¡¯d woken up with sore legs from walking around the convention so much, but now I didn¡¯t feel any pain at all. This really could be a new body. I did a little hop. Gravity seemed to be the same, but again it could just be these bodies were stronger or weaker to compensate for the difference. Either way it felt the same. Everything seemed pretty normal. The colors all seemed the same and there was only one sun in the bright blue nearly cloudless sky, although it looked a little larger than normal. The temperature was comfortable, not too hot, not too humid, just right. Anyone would have to agree, it was a beautiful day. Nobody knew what to do. Almost everyone who¡¯d appeared here with me looked lost and confused. It¡¯s one thing to take action when you¡¯re playing a game, it¡¯s another thing entirely to know where to begin in a situation like this, set loose in a strange place not knowing where to begin, not even knowing the rules of the game you¡¯re playing. I headed over to the nearest fountain intending to sit on the ledge surrounding it. As I got close I noticed words engraved on it. Feu Fuoco §°§Ô§à§ß§î Feuer »ð Fire ¦µ¦Ø¦Ó¦É? That¡¯s the word Fire in different languages. Fire is an affinity. I went to the next fountain: Earth. Next to that, Nature. Then Light. Then Life, Air, Ice, and Water. Twelve fountains in total. That must mean there are twelve affinities too. Good to know. I went around to all the fountains making note of what all the affinities were. I noticed that each one had an opposite ¡ª Light and Darkness, Life and Death, Fire and Ice ¡ª and sure enough, I found that the placement of the fountains formed a patterned ring of opposites and similarities. Opposite affinities lay across from each other in the ring, while similar affinities were adjacent. If it was a clock, Life was at 12:00 with Death opposite it at 6:00, like this: Seeing it laid out in this way led to another realization: the further you got away from the two poles, the more common the affinity. Life and Death were rarest, Earth and Water most common. I perched myself on the ledge of the Air fountain and had a deep think. So everybody had a simple quest: settle in and get experience. Everybody except me. I needed to assemble a team. I was pretty blase about my powers, but at least All Shall Be Revealed would be handy for choosing team members. I¡¯d evaluated a lot of people and it was clear that some people had more powers than others, and some powers were better than others too. I needed to find nine kick-ass Players with great powers to make a team of ten, including me. There was affinity to consider too. Some affinities were more common than others, so I wondered if there was an advantage to having a less common affinity. I decided to try for a balance on my team. Cover all the bases, because I still had no idea what this game was really all about. I was roused from my reverie by the sound of clapping. There were a lot fewer people in the town square, most having dribbled away to explore. A small crowd had congregated not far away from me, centered around two men. A jet of flame sprouted from one of the men, rising up a few feet into the air from his outstretched hand. The crowd clapped again. The other man showed off by creating a small tower of ice in front of him. More applause. It¡¯s pretty funny to think back about how impressive it seemed at the time, actually. I recognized the men in the center from the GameCon, of course. They¡¯d been playing together at a collectible card game table. I didn¡¯t like them. Look, here¡¯s the thing: I¡¯m a gamer. I love games. Like, I really really love them. I¡¯ve played every kind you can think of, and I¡¯ve even designed a bunch myself. I don¡¯t have a favorite, there¡¯s no one game I keep coming back to. Not even a type of game I prefer, I love them all. I¡¯ll find a new game, obsess over it for a while, figure out how to beat it, then get bored and move on to another one. Happens every time. The thing I don¡¯t really like very much are other gamers. When the ads started appearing for the Isekai World GameCon I wasn¡¯t really interested. I had a passing interest in going around the vendors looking for my next obsession, but I had no interest at all in joining any of the tables as a player. Partly because having to choose just one or two to play would be way too hard. Mostly because of other reasons I am choosing to redact. Maybe you can figure it out for yourself, but I¡¯m not about to draw extra attention to my many failings. Then I heard about the meta-game. It was something new to this convention, only possible at this convention. A special game that pretty much epitomized the whole games are everything, everything is a game ideal. They called it the God Game, and used the convention itself as the game board. The rules were simple: Players of the God Game were challenged to pick the winners of all the other games. It was like it was made for me. There was no way I could not play it. The GameCon had a mobile app that showed what was happening at every table at all times. God Game players had access to a special feature of the app where we could also see who was playing at each table and enter our selection of the player we thought would win. It felt very much like betting on horse races. And while I might not know much about horses, I do know gamers. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I spent most of the first day scoping things out. I systematically worked my way through every table and made my guesses about who would win. There were a crap ton of tables, but in the end I didn¡¯t need to spend very long observing any of them to make my picks. I didn¡¯t even show up for the second day. The God Game had been fun, but I¡¯d seen it all. Not to mention that one day of those crowds was one day too many for me. I was planning to skip the third day too but then I received a direct message through the GameCon app on the second night that changed my mind. It was from someone who identified themself as the organizer of the God Game, and they wanted to meet me first thing on the third day. Said they had a business proposition and that I would be compensated to make it worth my while. I assumed by compensation they meant something monetary, and I could definitely have used some extra cash. Now that my ex-girlfriend was out of the picture I lived alone and no longer hemorrhaged money like I had when I was supporting the parasitic harpy, but even though I had no dependents and at least some income, between student loans and a credit card ratcheted up to maximum my debt load was unsustainable unless something changed. So sure, I could¡¯ve used some extra money, but that wasn¡¯t what intrigued me the most. It was meeting the person who¡¯d made the God Game. And, of course, when I showed up the next day the person I met was Stratos. I had no idea if they were a man or a woman or both or neither, not that it mattered. I didn¡¯t know if Stratos was a first name or a last name, they were just Stratos. Seriously, they handed me their business card and that¡¯s all it said. Stratos Gamester Lame and pretentious, I know. I had to give them props for the cool job title, though. Anywho, it turned out they wanted to follow me around the conference all day and have me explain my God Game choices. Apparently, my picks had been over 90% correct, more than twice the score of the next highest God Game player, and they wanted to know my secret. So I spent the final day of the conference with Stratos attached to my hip. We hopped from table to table and I pointed out who the strong players were and explained why. I can¡¯t remember talking so much in my life. Honestly, in the half a year since my break up, I hadn¡¯t really spoken more than a few sentences to anybody one-on-one in a non-professional way. Not that I¡¯d talked all that much to my ex even when we were together, but that¡¯s an entirely different issue. Or maybe it isn¡¯t. But after we split I didn¡¯t know anyone in the city. I had been meaning to get out more and try to make some friends, but you know how it is. So having someone who was that interested in what I had to say was pretty novel and not just a little bit flattering, and I held nothing back. I¡¯d played all these games before, and if there was one I hadn¡¯t played before, I¡¯d played ones like it, and I knew how to win. Watching people play, I could quickly pick out each person¡¯s strategy, ¡ª a shocking number of people just play these things for fun without knowing what they¡¯re doing, I really don¡¯t get it ¡ª and what they needed to do to win. I could also see very quickly who would come out on top. So many times there was this frustrating moment when I could see someone¡¯s path to victory laid out there, clear as day. But they didn¡¯t. I kept thinking if only I had some way to give them a hint and coax them in the right direction, I could¡¯ve helped so many people win. My ex used to joke that being an annoying know-it-all might be why I didn¡¯t have any friends. At least I think she was joking. Either way I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s not the reason. I don¡¯t like conflict. I don¡¯t like to argue. I don¡¯t even like offering an opinion. I¡¯m not the sort of person to correct someone else. And I¡¯d never, ever tell someone what to do. If I am a know-it-all, I go to great lengths to hide it. That¡¯s why the situation at the convention was so unusual. Stratos went out of their way to ask me, over and over, what I knew. I guess it¡¯s really not normal to be able to correctly pick out who would win nine times out of ten. That was my takeaway from how Stratos was so fascinated with my ability to pick winners. And they didn¡¯t just want to know who the winners would be, they often asked me about more subtle things, such as who I thought would be good to play with, win or lose. And I told them. That¡¯s why I¡¯d recognized so many of the other Players here. They were those people. Not everyone was a winner, some were just fun to play with. Stratos was also curious about the opposite, the ones I would not want to sit down at a table with. The players who were greedy, selfish, and annoying. The ones who whined when things didn¡¯t go their way. The sore losers. The show-offs. The ones who argued about the rules. The ones who didn¡¯t pay attention and wasted the others¡¯ time. Basically, the ones who weren¡¯t there for fun, or at least didn¡¯t care about or outright ruined the fun of others. I hate people like that, and while Stratos wanted to know all about the good players ¡ª the ones I did like ¡ª they were also interested in hearing about the crap players too. Once you know what to look for, it¡¯s pretty easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. When in doubt, just follow this one simple rule: if the person chafes, they¡¯re chaff. It doesn¡¯t matter how good someone is at game mechanics, if they¡¯re not fun to play with then they¡¯re a bad player, period. I kind of wished I hadn¡¯t pointed them out because there were a lot of those crap players amongst the Players who¡¯d been summoned to this other world, too. Including the two guys showing off their fire and ice powers. These two guys had been playing at a collectible card game table and were the sort who didn¡¯t have much skill, but they compensated with terrific cards. That¡¯s the problem with CCGs, anybody can be awesome if they spend enough money. These jokers loved making a big production every time they brought out a kickass card. You know, the slow draw from their hand then the slam of the card onto the table with some kind of sound effect like Boom! or Wham! or even worse, a loud, fake laugh like a supervillain in a poorly funded film. Ha! Ha! Haaa! Hell, just remembering it now makes my skin crawl. But they were one-trick ponies, these guys. A good player with a sound strategy who can adapt to the unpredictable shifts in a game will always beat them in the end. These guys based their whole game around the power of a couple of cards, and while it might work with the gang back home if you bring that to a convention table where you faced real players, expect to go down in flames big time. Which, of course, is exactly what happened to them. Every. Single. Match. The more it happened, the more times their amazing rare cards fizzled because another player used more common cards well, the sulkier they got. Then the angrier they got. And because they acted like babies, they became more and more unwelcome at the table. What was amazing ¡ª the redeeming thing that made me truly love the good players ¡ª is that no matter how many times these bozos switched tables to try again with other players, the same thing always happened. The other players would get pissed off and go out of their way to eliminate them first. You¡¯re not really supposed to team up on other players, but there¡¯s no rule against it. In fact, it¡¯s an unwritten gamer code to unite against the whiny babies. The thing about gamers is that we look for ways to turn things into games. Seriously, there¡¯s a reason why that damned "games are everything, everything is a game" slogan resonated so strongly. It¡¯s because to a true gamer it is 100% true. So once these crybabies¡¯ antics reached critical mass it became a game for the other players to see who could find the fastest and most humiliating way to eliminate them, and keep it up right until the point when the losers packed up their expensive cards and said screw you guys, I¡¯m going home. This was, of course, much to the delight of the other players who no longer had to deal with their crap and could get on having fun playing the game they loved enough to come play it for three days at a convention. You do not mess with proper players, not when it comes to messing up a good game. So yeah. Those crybaby losers? That was these guys. It sucked that they were here, but there was nothing to be done except stay the hell away from them. Those cretins would never be on my team. Ha! Ha! Haaa! Out of curiosity, I used All Shall Be Revealed on them. I wanted to know how they were managing to produce the fire and ice.
Greg Tremblay
Affinity: Fire - Novice
Gifts: Tough Guy - Improved toughness
Powers: I Spent The Last Few Years Building Up An Immunity To Iocane Powder - Novice: Resistant to poisons, venoms, and toxins All Or Nothing ¨C Novice: Damage done scales with amount of mana put into attack
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Pyrotechnics - Novice Sword - Novice
Chuck Green
Affinity: Ice - Novice
Gifts: Bright Eyed - Novice: Enhanced recovery
Powers: Fleet Footed - Novice: Improved movement speed Bushy Tailed - Novice: Werewolf transformation
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Construction - Novice Sword - Novice
The affinities matched and the powers were decent, but it didn¡¯t explain how they were producing the fire and ice. Then I noticed the skill they both had and it all made sense. Affinity Control - Novice: Player can manipulate their affinity element Now that was a skill worth learning. The show went on as more fire and ice continued to erupt. The crowd around them appeared to have split their allegiances, some supporting Greg while the others cheered on Chuck. The competition grew heated as they argued about which one was better and tried to outdo one another. I kept watching, not caring who won the competition but very curious about the skill they were using. Then the fireworks stopped. They seemed to be trying to make more, but nothing happened. And they looked worn out as hell, like they ran out of gas. In any game with abilities like these, they¡¯re fueled by some sort of limited resource, such as mana, or energy, or something like that. Use the power too much and you¡¯ll use it all up. That must¡¯ve been what happened. System: You know Affinity Control I had to blink a few times to make sure of what I was seeing. I couldn¡¯t believe I got the skill already, it was too quick. I thought Jack Of All Trades wasn¡¯t worth jack all, but that¡¯s when I started thinking I might have been wrong. System: You are the first to learn a new Skill - Reward Tokens: +1 (2) And another Reward Token? Sweet. I was sorely tempted to try out my new skill, and I particularly wanted to see how my Good At Everything gift would work with it, but I didn¡¯t want to do it in public like these jerks. It could wait. I went back to pondering the situation and figuring out my next steps. Having no idea how long I was going to be stuck there, I decided to err on the safe side and assume it would be a while before I got home. I needed to prepare for a long haul. But what to do first? Chapter Five - Maslows Hierarchy of Needs If this was an actual role playing game, I would probably have headed to a tavern where an NPC would drop an adventure into my lap, or find the local Adventurer¡¯s Guild where there¡¯d be missions posted. But when playing those games you largely skip over all the mundane, everyday parts of life. I couldn¡¯t do that here. I knew that before I went looking for adventures, I needed to take care of basic needs first. Okay Daniel, time to prove that all those years in school were not a complete and utter waste. Wasn¡¯t this exactly what Maslow¡¯s Hierarchy of Needs was all about? Now then, what was the first need again? I dug deep into the long-term memory banks and dredged up the idea that the first thing people need is safe shelter, or something like that. Made sense to me, anyway. Alrighty then, step one: find a place to live. A city like this must have inns. Although, with all these Players suddenly flooding in they were likely to fill up fast. I definitely needed to take care of finding a place to stay. Then what? If I remembered right it was having something meaningful to do. Doing something constructive and feeling useful is important to happiness. That didn¡¯t seem right, to go straight from having a roof over my head to getting stuff done. No wait, there was something else. Relationships. Right. We all need interpersonal connections. Step two: make friends. Argh. Did I have to? I¡¯d probably just do what I always did and wait for someone to start talking to me first. Okay, then comes step three: get stuff done. And in this case, that meant finding my team. If I was lucky, step two and three could be combined, make friends with my team, or build a team to make friends. Either would work. Alright, I had a plan. Feeling pretty good about myself, I stood up and checked out the nearest streets, trying to decide which one to explore for an inn first. They all looked the same to me, so I chose one at random and started down it. Sure enough, it was as expected: an avenue lined with shops leading into what looked like a more residential area. The buildings further along didn¡¯t have signs on them, so I assumed they were houses. Lots of people, both players and NPCs, moved in either direction along the street, some stopping to enter a shop, others browsing around. I smelled them before I saw them, but there were also food carts peppered here and there, mostly grilling some sort of meat and vegetables on skewers. When the aroma hit I instantly became aware that I was hungry. Apparently, these bodies needed food too. New plan. Step one was to eat something, then find a place to stay, yadda yadda yadda. I let my nose lead me to a place where three food carts competed for customers. They all smelled good, so I let All Shall Be Revealed decide which one to patronize. I ended up at a small cart that was more or less a shallow rectangular barbeque on two big wheels on which some dead things on sticks grilled over a few smoldering coals. A little awning shaded the proprietor, an elderly woman missing a few teeth but still sporting a wide, friendly grin. She wasn¡¯t a Player, but an NPC. I¡¯ve mentioned NPCs a few times. You probably know that NPCs are non-player characters, the ones who appear in roleplaying games like extras in a film. What you might not know is that their purpose is more than to just flesh out the world by doing mundane things like running shops, guarding the city gates, or manning delicious-smelling food carts on the street. Most NPCs are generic like that, but some are special. They¡¯re used to give quests or provide expository information that drives the story along. Some might even accompany you on adventures, helping steer you in the right direction or providing necessary skills you might be missing. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I chose this NPC food vendor because unlike the others, she had a name, and having a name is usually a hint that the NPC is there to do more than simply make the place appear not quite so empty.
Crazy Sadie Food Cart Lady
Skills: Confusion - Adept Cooking - Expert Gossip - Adept
She greeted me with enthusiasm, chattering away about how her war pig is the freshest in town and her secret seasonings bring out the richness of the meat. Wait, what? War pig? Should I be worried about what war pig is? Meh, pork is pork. It smelled too good to worry about where it came from. She kept talking up a storm as she slathered some kind of sauce on the skewers, telling me all about how her grandson had hunted this war pig only just yesterday out in that forest there to the East, you know, the one with all them creatures in it, and that boy was right lucky to come back at all, war pigs ain¡¯t nothing to fool around with, them tusks look scary but they ain¡¯t the worst thing about them, but it¡¯s nice to have the meat again, ain¡¯t been war pigs around for years, not since them elves drove them out. Ain¡¯t been elves around neither, though. I knew right away that crazy old bat had given me a clue: to the East of the city there was a forest full of monsters including war pigs and elves. I wondered if she has anything else to offer, maybe some juicy gossip leading to a quest or something. Change of plan. I added learning about combat by grinding out some experience hunting war pigs to the part about getting stuff done, as well as grilling this old lady for information while she grills me some war pig meat. The old woman seemed satisfied that the food was ready to eat because she grabbed the end of the skewer with gnarled, claw-like fingers and held it out for me. ¡°Five coppers,¡± she said. Of course I needed to pay for it. System said I got fifty gold, but I had no idea where it was. Feeling like an idiot, I started patting myself down, searching my jeans as though I was hiding a pile of gold pieces in the pockets. Much to my surprise, I found something. In my front pocket I discovered a little cloth bag held closed by a crude leather thong. I opened it and reached inside, feeling the cold metal of coins, far more than a bag this small should be able to hold. A magic money bag. Coolness. I pulled one out. It was gold alright. The old lady rolled her eyes and made an elaborate gesture, as though I¡¯d done something terribly cruel like step on her cat. ¡°What is up with everyone today? All anyone has is gold!¡± ¡°Um, how much is this worth?¡± She narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°One gold.¡± I pursed my lips and counted three deep breaths. ¡°How much is one gold worth in other coins?¡± ¡°Ten silvers.¡± ¡°Okay. And how much is a silver worth?¡± She rolled her eyes again and made an exaggerated sigh, then opened her mouth to speak before I cut her off. ¡°Please don¡¯t say one-tenth of a gold.¡± She closed her mouth again and assessed me with an eye deeply clouded with cataracts, the other eye being swollen shut by some mysterious ailment. ¡°Ten coppers,¡± she said in the sort of slow, frustrated voice normally reserved for talking to a dim-witted child after a particularly difficult day. ¡°Can I get some change?¡± She glared at me for a few long, frightening moments, then muttering to herself she began rifling through her own pockets and pulling out various objects, most of them unidentifiable bits of trash. Among the detritus I saw a broken necklace, a tarnished ring, and a number of copper and silver coins. If she had received gold from previous customers, she kept those well hidden somewhere else. ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡± She slowly counted out the copper, placing them one at a time on a section to the side of her cart. ¡°One...two...three...¡± This could take a while. Chapter Six - War pig juice I watched the batty old food vendor slide each coin slowly across the wooden countertop that, judging by how heavily it was stained, marred with countless slashes, and covered in a thin film of the juice of untold war pigs, had clearly been used as a cutting board by generations of food vendors. I started nibbling the meat off the skewer while she counted. Maybe I was just really hungry, or maybe the food here was better than back home, or maybe they messed up creating the taste buds of these special Player bodies, but man, whatever this war pig was I had never tasted anything that good in all my twenty-six years on Earth, plus my hour and a bit on whatever planet this was. ¡°...four...five.¡± She pushed the copper aside and started counting out silver. ¡°One...two...four...five...¡± ¡°I think you skipped¡ª¡± She glared up at me with that one cloudy eye. ¡°Don¡¯t make me lose count.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I mumbled. ¡°FIVE...six..seven.¡± She pushed the silver together with the copper she¡¯d counted and pushed them toward me. The coins, lubricated by a slimy coating of ham juice, slid easily along the cutting board¡¯s surface. ¡°There. Change.¡± I didn¡¯t bring much away from the recent end of the relationship with my ex-girlfriend besides self-loathing and crushing debt, but I did learn not to let someone take advantage of me anymore. I especially was not about to let some wackily programmed NPC rip me off. I held up the half-eaten skewer. ¡°I thought this was only five copper.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°Which is half a silver.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°You said one gold is worth ten silver.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s not enough change. It only makes six and a half silver.¡± ¡°Seven and a half, and your point is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not enough change.¡± She glowered at me with that eye again. ¡°Well, it¡¯s all I got.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not enough.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Then you should¡¯ve paid me with somethin smaller.¡± ¡°But I only have gold.¡± ¡°And I only got seven silvers and five coppers.¡± ¡°Six silver,¡± I corrected. ¡°Seven,¡± she insisted. I counted slowly to three again in my head. ¡°What is on this table is not enough change.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. We stared each other in the eyes for a few long moments, ham juice oozing down the skewer onto my hand as I silently sought a way out of this impasse. I desperately wanted to take another bite of the delicious meat, but under the circumstances I didn¡¯t dare. ¡°I tell you what,¡± the old woman said. ¡°How bout I make up the difference?¡± ¡°Look, this war pig is surprisingly good, but I don¡¯t think I can eat four more skewers.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have to be meat. Maybe there¡¯s somethin else here you might want.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°You tell me,¡± she said. I peered around her food cart but couldn¡¯t see anything I could possibly want. It made me feel bad, seeing what was likely most of her worldly possessions laid bare before me and finding nothing of value among them. Sure, I knew she wasn¡¯t a real person, that this was all part of the game, but I still felt sorry for her. Hmmm. All part of the game. On a whim, I started evaluating. Old Food Cart A decrepit cart in constant danger of self-combusting that has nonetheless been finely tuned to produce inordinately good food. The war pig skewer comes highly recommended. Tub of War Pig Meat Marinating in Old Ham Juice Don¡¯t look in here. Just¡­don¡¯t. Old Chipped Knife The permanent ham juice stains coating its handle are a testament to the many thousands of war pigs this ancient blade has processed. Yeah, nope. I was right, it was all crap. That knife could be a weapon, but a pretty crappy one. Then I looked at the stuff she¡¯d pulled from her pocket. Broken Necklace A worthless bauble whose value has been made even lower by being broken. Tarnished Ring The thick tarnish covering this simple metal band makes it impossible to tell exactly what it is made of. Powers: A Little Bit Faster - Very small increase in movement speed Stop the presses, what was this? The ring had a power. It seemed weak, but at that point any increase is nothing to sneeze at. All part of the game. Did she even know the ring was special? I needed to play this cool. ¡°How about that ring?¡± I said in my most nonchalant way. She looked at the ring. It wasn¡¯t much to look at, but she studied it for a bit, then gave me a one-eyed glare. Then her face contorted into the reasonable facsimile of a smile, albeit a crooked one. ¡°What, you want this ring here, does you?¡± she crooned. I suppose I was not quite as nonchalant as I had perhaps thought. Ah well, in for a copper. ¡°Yeah, give me the coins you¡¯ve got and throw in that dirty old ring and we¡¯ll call it even.¡± ¡°Hang on there,¡± she said, picking up the ring with her claws before dropping it in her palm and stroking it gently with a twisted finger. ¡°You think this here¡¯s only worth two and a half silver?¡± ¡°It¡¯s actually three and a half more silver you owe me, but sure. Toss the ring in too and we¡¯re square.¡± ¡°How about the ring instead of the coins then, huh?¡± Seriously? My meat was getting cold. ¡°The ring plus six silver,¡± I said. ¡°Ring plus five copper.¡± ¡°Ring plus five silver.¡± ¡°Ring plus four silver.¡± I sighed heavily, even though I had no problem trading five and a half silver for a magic ring, even one that was only slightly magical. I just didn¡¯t want her to know that. ¡°Fiiiine.¡± She gave me a gap-toothed grin and began counting silver. ¡°One...two...¡± She somehow ended up counting three twice and handing me five silver instead of four, along with the ring. The coins shone with viscous ham slime. ¡°Thank you, come again,¡± she said. Knowing my hand would get gucked with ham juice when I took the coins, I held the skewer between my teeth and used my already juiced-up hand to take the silver. I dumped it into my little money pouch, collected the ring, nodded once to the aptly named Crazy Sadie the Food Card Lady, then made my way down the street. As I worked on devouring the rest of the meat, I examined my new ring. Slick as it was with ham juice, it slid easily onto my finger. I didn¡¯t feel any faster. Oh well. I hadn¡¯t made it very far from Sadie¡¯s cart when I heard someone approach me from behind. ¡°How is it?¡± asked a soft feminine voice. Chapter Seven - Mary-Jane Anders I turned around to see a familiar face. It was one of the other women who¡¯d been working the booth at the convention, the super-charismatic one dressed as a Swashbuckler. This woman had caught my eye as being special as well. She looked different now that she was in street clothes, but still just as striking. Her mane of red hair was woven into a single long braid, and she was dressed casually in a striped crop top and trendy jeans. Like Sigrid, she was far too good-looking to be here among the gamers, and far too stylish. ¡°Uh, sorry, what?¡± ¡°The food,¡± she said. ¡°Any good?¡± I stared at the stick I was holding and the remains of the war pig still clinging to it. ¡°Shockingly good.¡± ¡°It smells so amazing I¡¯ve been dying to try, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I could trust the street meat here.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s safe,¡± I told her. ¡°But if you do risk it, I¡¯d get some protective gear first.¡± I held up the stick so she could see the juice dripping over my hand and oozing its way down my arm. She laughed. ¡°It does seem a bit messy. Say, I know you, don¡¯t I?¡± ¡°We met yesterday, at the convention. Briefly.¡± ¡°Oh right. With the little boy. You¡¯re the nice guy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to try one of those skewers, but I should hold off. I¡¯m meeting a friend for dinner soon.¡± ¡°Sounds like fun,¡± I said. ¡°I love eating out.¡± I didn¡¯t just say that, did I? Tell me I didn¡¯t just say that. She quirked an eyebrow over one of her wide green eyes. ¡°Do you now?¡± ¡°Uh...¡± She laughed again, a high, tinkling laugh, almost musical. She patted me on the shoulder as she walked past, heading back toward the center of town. ¡°Pity you¡¯ve already eaten. Well, I shall be sure to follow your advice and use protection. See you around, I guess.¡± That could have gone better. Real smooth, Daniel. Meh, what did it matter? She was out of my league anyway. Watching her leave I wondered who the lucky sod was that she was meeting, then I realized I hadn¡¯t used All Shall Be Revealed on her yet.
Mary-Jane Anders
Affinity: Light - Novice
Gifts: Let¡¯s Dance - Remarkable agility Master Of None - Player can develop mastery in all Affinities; Restriction: cannot evolve mastery in any Affinity, Power, or Skill beyond Expert level
Powers: Captivating Presence - Novice: Affect the moods of others Glow Worm - Novice: Emit light Gone the Next - Novice: Teleport short distances
Skills: Acting - Novice Dancing - Novice Gymnastics - Novice Music - Novice Sword - Novice
Whoah, nice powers. And that Master Of None gift was the same as my Good At Everything, only she was capped at Expert for all her abilities. Expert seemed like it should be better than Adept, so I guessed that meant hers was better than mine. Poopy. The Captivating Presence power and Light affinity, though. That has to be Stratos taking what I said at the convention literally again and translating it into powers here. Heh, Glow Worm. Cute. When I¡¯d seen her at the convention this swashbuckler, whose name I now knew was Mary-Jane, had impressed me with her social skills. Sigrid was sociable but wary, choosing who she engaged with. Mary-Jane, on the other hand, was sociable on a whole different level. She talked to anybody like they were old pals. It¡¯s in the job description for a booth babe to be affable, but Mary-Jane was the very personification of bubbly cheerfulness. ¡°Look at her,¡± I¡¯d said to Stratos. ¡°Look at her face when she talks to people. It¡¯s like she glows.¡± ¡°She does? I cannot detect any phosphorescence from her,¡± he¡¯d said. I was used to them saying things like this by then. I wasn¡¯t sure, because they almost never showed any expression so I could never really tell what they were thinking, but I figured it was just their straight-man sense of humor to take things literally so I ignored it. Of course, I hadn¡¯t known at the time that they were an alien. ¡°Being able to light up a room like that is a pretty rare talent. Don¡¯t you see how many more people they¡¯re attracting than the other booths? It¡¯s like they¡¯re drawn to her, captivated by her presence.¡± I glanced over at Stratos and saw them staring at the booth with a strange intensity. ¡°So if working at a booth was a game...¡± they said. ¡°Then these women would definitely be the winners.¡± ¡°Games are everything,¡± they said after a few moments of contemplation. ¡°And everything is a game,¡± I recited. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Now, there she was. Watching her saunter into the crowd I was struck with a strong feeling that she was important. Those impressive powers and her special affinity were enough to make her special, but it was more than that. Strong abilities? Check. Unique attribute? Check. Stands out in a crowd? Check. Total fish out of water? Check. Gentlemen, I think we may have found the protagonist of this isekai. There was no doubt I had to have her on my team, but the thought of building up the nerve to talk to her again and asking her to join made me queasy. Or maybe it was just the war pig meat settling in. Either way, she¡¯d been swallowed by the crowd so I was saved from having to do anything about it; that was a problem for future me. I spent the next few hours wandering up and down streets, browsing the shops that looked interesting, and just about everything was interesting. The streets were lively, NPCs bustling about and acting like real people as they greeted each other, argued with each other, and did all the things real people would do. It made me start to question whether or not they really were real people. As an experiment, I chose someone who looked the most like an extra in this scene and tried talking to them. It was a guy, just an ordinary Joe with the Status name of Common Citizen, and I could tell right away that he was not real. He looked real, but there was a delay in his response to when I asked him if he could please tell me where the adventurer¡¯s guild was. It wasn¡¯t a long pause, but it was noticable, and it came with a blank look on his face. When he finally responded, ¡°I am sorry, sir, I don¡¯t know what that is,¡± I knew for sure he was just an NPC. He wasn¡¯t important enough to talk to, he was simply filler, a true extra plopped into this place to take up space and make it look more real. He hadn¡¯t been programmed to know anything, and his generic reply was flat, lifeless. Then, in a flash, he changed. His expression softened, his tone had more inflection and character, and even the way he carried himself became less robotic, more lifelike. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for gear,¡± he said, ¡°there¡¯s an armorer down the road I can recommend. Her name¡¯s Justina. Just look for the sign with a hawk on it. Tell her Diego sent you, she¡¯ll take care of you.¡± Sure enough, when I checked his Status again, it didnt¡¯ say Common Citizen anymore.
Diego Fortuna Citizen
Skills: Carpentry - Adept
Interacting with me seemed to have caused System to upgrade him from generic NPC, giving him a name as well as knowledge and personality. Interesting. I kept wandering, and kept using my All Shall Be Revealed power on just about everyone and everything I saw. I must¡¯ve evaluated hundreds of times but my mastery of the power didn¡¯t go up. It¡¯s pretty normal in games that as levels increase it gets harder and harder to raise them, so I wasn¡¯t too surprised. Still, I learned some stuff. For example, I learned that I was not the only one with the special quest. With All Shall Be Revealed at a higher level, I could now see that those people I saw in the arena with hidden abilities had a special tag in their statuses: Team Builder.
Troy Hobbes Team Builder
Affinity: [Hidden]
Gifts: [Hidden] [Hidden]
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: [Hidden] [Hidden]
I hadn¡¯t noticed that the same tag had been added to mine too. I couldn¡¯t be sure of the reason why all their attributes were hidden, but I figured it was probably safe to assume mine were hidden from them, too. This was confirmed when Troy Hobbes looked at me and scowled, then gave me the slightest of head nods. I couldn¡¯t remember him from the convention, but just one look told me he was one of those smug, arrogant guys who pop up every so often to make my life hell. I knew guys like him. That hint of a nod was a gesture not given to many, but it was the extent of his acknowledgement of my existence. He passed me quickly, sauntering down the road with supreme confidence, heads turning in his wake to watch him; he was annoyingly good looking, too. I was sure his abilities were also amazing. I hated him. I continued my wandering, and learned that just about everything had a Status. Not just Players and NPCs, but also items, creatures, and even places could have them. Apart from Players, most things didn¡¯t have more than a basic identifier and maybe a short description. Old Food Cart. Chipped Knife. But some were special: they had real names and some even had powers or skills, like Crazy Sadie and her Tarnished Ring. My Tarnished Ring, I should say. I learned what the things people used as mounts were called: the dinosaur-like ones were Land Dragons, while the big bird creatures were Filolials. I recognized these names from a couple of popular isekai animes, cementing my idea that everything here had been culled, seemlingly willy-nilly, from an assortment of fantasy source material. We Players were far outnumbered by the NPCs, who filled just about any role you can imagine. There were only 300, er, 299 of us, and I estimated the city had the capacity to hold tens of thousands of people. There were Shopkeepers, Blacksmiths, Prostitutes, Street Urchins, you name it. Seeing Prostitute as an NPC role made me wonder about just how exacting the creators of this game had been in reproducing all human functions and sensations in these Player bodies ¡ª I won¡¯t get into details, but I knew that I wasn¡¯t a Ken doll when it came to anatomical correctness ¡ª then I remembered Stratos saying something about feeling pleasure and had to assume they had been very exact. There were even a few prostitutes who had names. The city¡¯s spoke-like main avenues were interconnected by many alleys and side streets. Viewed from above, it resembled an imperfect spiderweb. The areas closest to the core where the shops were concentrated were clean and bright, but the further you moved away from the center of town things got a bit less picturesque. This was the residential area, and the only shops this far away were those that catered to the simple daily needs of the residents. In the shops near the core there were places to buy anything you need, as long as it was in the fantasy theme. You could get various types of armor, swords, shields, rope, torches, and such, but none of what you and I would consider basic essentials like a toothbrush or shampoo. There was soap, but it reeked of ash and animal fat and I don¡¯t think was intended to be used to clean someone¡¯s body. There were a lot of places to eat, from fancy restaurants to quaint cafes to rough taverns to the ubiquitous street vendors. There was a bank. There were temples. There were guildhouses for the various trades. There were a couple of brothels. There was a library. And there were several dojos, each devoted to training various martial skills. There were also, as I had suspected, an assortment of inns, but I spent too long looking around and by the time I thought about it I couldn¡¯t find an inn with any vacancy. So much for my plan. Dusk had long since turned to night by the time I finally found one with an available room, but when I tried to rent it the innkeeper demanded ten gold per night. Naturally, I told him that was a ludicrous amount and refused to pay it. I¡¯d be out of money before the Tutorial was over at that rate. A couple of Players behind me, a young man and woman, said they¡¯d take it and handed over five gold apiece. They took the key and rushed for the stairs, dangerously close to one another, presumably in a hurry to confirm my theory that these Player bodies were, in fact, fully functional. The innkeeper gave me the sort of look you want to wipe off someone¡¯s face with an orbital sander as he took the money from them, and I had no choice but to venture out onto the street and try to find a place to spend the night. Chapter Eight - A place to spend the night The city changed after the sun went down. Any doubt about whether or not this was Earth was erased by the sight of two moons in the night sky, and the expanse of stars filling the heavens took my breath away. There¡¯d been too much light pollution where I¡¯d grown up, the only stars anyone could see were the ones in customer ratings online, and witnessing so many actual stars spilling across the entire sky was almost more of a shock than the second moon. There were definitely fewer people around. The shops were all closed. Almost all the NPCs had gone home. A few Players sat at the sidewalk tables of some cafes and the rumble of talk and laughter seeped out of the taverns, but I had no desire to take part in either. I saw Sigrid and Mary-Jane sitting outside a cafe. That answered the question of who Mary-Jane was going to meet. I felt sorry for them. They must¡¯ve felt so out of place there. They weren¡¯t gamers. If only... I tried not to think about how if I¡¯d kept my mouth shut instead of trying to show off in front of Stratos they¡¯d still be safe at home on Earth. I tried not to think about it, but I failed. This was all my fault. It was bad enough that they were abducted and forced into this situation, it was doubly bad because the people surrounding them were gamers. For the most part they were safe, most of these guys would never dream of initiating a conversation with women who looked like that. It¡¯s the ones who were the exact opposite they needed to worry about. Guys who had no idea how to behave around women except to objectify them, and who had an inexplicable lack of empathy so they didn''t know better than to hit on them, and whose painful lack of social skills making their advances the absolute worst. As for me? I know what it¡¯s like to have to talk to a stranger, let alone one who¡¯s way out of your league. Fear that¡¯s burrowed so deep inside you it gnaws at your bones. Fear hiding as the belief that she will misconstrue your efforts to initiate a conversation as some kind of limp pick-up attempt and you¡¯ll be humiliated, or even worse she does engage in a conversation with you and then you¡¯re stuck trying not to be a complete idiot and be humiliated. The more attractive the woman, the harder it gets. I don¡¯t know why, it just does. Maybe that¡¯s just me. And yet, and I¡¯m not looking for a pat on the head or anything, I had actually talked to Sigrid and Mary-Jane at the convention. It was after Stratos and I had finished our break on the bench by their booth and were setting off to look at the tables where people were competing at video games. As we were just heading out, I noticed Mary-Jane leave the booth and go up to a small child, maybe about five or six years old, who was clearly lost and in distress. She crouched beside the little boy and said something to him. He looked up at her and I could tell he was on the verge of tears but valiantly held them back. Brave kid. She stroked his hair, smoothing down the top of his bowl-cut hair, and started looking around, obviously searching for the kid¡¯s parents. Trusting he was in good hands, Stratos and I moved toward the video gaming tables. We didn¡¯t get far when I saw a teenage girl searching through the crowd, desperation all over her face, and made the connection. I touched Stratos¡¯ arm and told them to wait a second, then went over to the girl. ¡°Um, are you by any chance looking for a little boy?¡± I make it sound like it was easy. It wasn¡¯t. And she was just a kid, like the ones I teach. If she was more my age it would¡¯ve been so much harder, because there was so much more that could go wrong. She turned to look at me, big round brown eyes wide with hope. ¡°What? Did you see him?¡± I held my hand out to waist level. ¡°Er, about yay high with red shoes and a Minecraft t-shirt? Weird sort of bowl-cut hair?¡± She barked out a laugh of relief. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s Connor alright. I don¡¯t get the hair either but for some reason he likes it.¡± I gestured back toward the booths. ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll take you to him.¡± ¡°Oh my god thank you so much!¡± As we hustled back she talked a streak, nervous word vomit pouring out to mask the guilt of losing her little brother telling me what she would have to buy her little brother so that he won¡¯t tell their parents and how many hours of her minimum wage part-time job it would cost her. ¡°He¡¯s my little brother, see? He was desperate to come to this thing and our parents said only if I came to look after him and I was like, do I really have to? But you know how it is, he¡¯s the youngest so he gets whatever he wants, the little brat, you know what I mean? So, like, anyway like all he wants to do is watch people play video games and it was sooooo boring that I was like jeez there¡¯s gotta be something better to do so I was just looking around to see if there were any cute gu¡ª ...I mean, uh, I was just looking around and the next thing I knew he was gone! I only took my eyes off him for like a second, you know?¡± Mercifully we¡¯d made it back to the booth. The girl¡¯s brother was there with Mary-Jane while Sigrid stood nearby scanning the crowd, probably looking for his sister. There was no sign of tears anymore, he was being thoroughly entertained by Mary-Jane. She was all bubbles and smiles and had him eating from the palm of her hand. The girl ran over to him and immediately started scolding him for running away and, like, scaring her to death, the little brat. I¡¯d brought her to him so my job was done, but I didn¡¯t know what to do then so I sort of just stood there watching. Mary-Jane stood up and gave me a painfully sweet smile. I don¡¯t know what came over me. ¡°I found her,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you,¡± she replied with that smile. ¡°You must have seen me with the boy earlier.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°That was really nice of you,¡± Sigrid said, coming over to us. I stood there feeling awkward and exposed for a bit, then noticed Stratos had followed me and was standing a few feet away watching us. As unobtrusively as possible, I slunk away and melted into the crowd with Stratos. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Hey, I only said I¡¯d talked to them. I didn¡¯t say it was much of a conversation. My point is: I know how hard it is to talk to a dangerously hot woman. ¡°That was nice of them to help that boy,¡± Stratos said as we wandered to continue our mission of checking out some more gaming tables. ¡°Oh yeah. They¡¯re both winners.¡± ¡°I see,¡± they said. Then, after a moment¡¯s pause, ¡°And you.¡± ¡°What about me?¡± Stratos studied me with that emotionless, appraising look I¡¯d seen them use so often when we talked about the players at the tables. ¡°It is nothing,¡± they muttered and looked away. I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯d been smiling, but with Stratos it was hard to tell. Hard to believe that was only the previous day, and now they were having dinner on another world. I decided they¡¯d both be valuable teammates, their affinities were rare and their powers seemed potent. Their effortless affability would also help fill in the canyon-like gap in my own ability to talk to people. Plus I had a sense from what I¡¯d seen at the convention that they were genuinely nice people, too. It had nothing to do with the fact that they were also seriously hot. Honestly. You think I like living in constant anxiety? I do admit, however grudgingly, that when I saw those women sitting there all because my big mouth said they were winners at the game of booth babe, a big part of me wished I¡¯d gone with Stratos to look for winners in the cosplay area, too. I¡¯m not proud of it. I could¡¯ve gone up and talked to them, but I chose not to. It was a wasted opportunity, sure. I had them both together, so wouldn¡¯t it have been better to get it over with all at once instead of having to go through this twice? I thought about approaching them then, for a whole fraction of a second, before canning the idea. I knew I¡¯d have to do it eventually, probably sooner than later. But it was just the first night. I¡¯d have time to talk to them later. Yeah. I¡¯d bump into them tomorrow. No rush. Besides, at that time I had more important things to worry about, like where I was going to spend the night. My thoughts were interrupted by a squeal. Not far along the street two young men, late teens probably, were with a girl who looked around the same age. Only she had cat ears. And a tabby-striped orange and black tail. The dress she wore was simple and drab, but dirty. Well I''ll be damned. Beastfolk. She was the first demi-human I''d seen. Outwardly, I managed to keep my cool, but my secret inner response was: squee! I evaluated all three. The guys were Players and the catgirl was a nameless NPC. Disappointing. I would''ve thought that someone special like her would at least have a name. But named or not, she looked terrified, tears streaming down her face. There was an alley nearby. I was pretty sure they were trying to force her into it. Without thinking, I switched into high school teacher mode and stormed over to them. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± ¡°Piss off,¡± one of the boys said. ¡°Mind your own business,¡± the other said. ¡°I know everything here is all exciting and new, but this is wrong. How about you just leave her alone.¡± ¡°What¡¯s so wrong about it?¡± said the first one. ¡°This isn¡¯t real, dude. It¡¯s just some virtual reality like the Matrix.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± his buddy added. He pointed at the girl she ducked behind my back and hid. ¡°It¡¯s not like she¡¯s real, man. She¡¯s just an NPC.¡± ¡°What difference does it make if this is real or not?¡± I said. ¡°Or that she¡¯s an NPC.¡± ¡°It makes a difference because this isn¡¯t really happening. It¡¯s only make believe.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°This doesn¡¯t feel pretty realistic, it feels absolutely no different than real. Because this is real.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way. It can¡¯t be. Look around you, dude. Look at her." He gestured at the top of his own head, tracing the outline of non-existent cat ears. Unlike the ones that were sticking out from the top of her head. "How could all this be real?¡± ¡°There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosphy,¡± I said. ¡°Who the hell¡¯s Horatio?¡± ¡°Never mind,¡± I sighed. ¡°Yeah, whatever,¡± the second guy said, leering at the girl. ¡°All I know is that all this feels crazy real, so if you¡¯ll just mind your own business we¡¯re going to see how real she feels.¡± ¡°Regardless of whether or not this is real or virtual, your actions and intent are real. Are you really the sort of person who would actually sexually harass and terrify a woman on the street? Is this who you really are, deep down? A rapist?¡± ¡°Look,¡± the first guy said, starting to look exasperated. ¡°I¡¯ve played tons of video games, and I¡¯ve killed countless people in those games. But that doesn¡¯t make me a murderer. It¡¯s just a game. I wouldn¡¯t go around shooting people in the real world.¡± ¡°Yeah man,¡± the other guy said. ¡°This is just for fun.¡± I leaned aside so they could see the girl cowering behind my back, but as soon as I did she ducked back behind me. ¡°Does this look like she¡¯s having fun?¡± "She ain''t real dude. Shit, she ain''t even human." I was dumbfounded by the remark. I wish I''d had an appropriately scathing rejoinder to volley back, but the truth was I just stood there gaping at him. I may or may not have blathered something incoherent, there''s no proof either way. Mercifully, at that point three people came over to join us, two men and a woman. They were all wearing what looked like martial arts outfits with green armbands. I could tell they were NPCs without having to use All Shall Be Revealed. ¡°Is there a problem here?¡± one of the men said. ¡°Whatever,¡± said one of the boys. ¡°Let¡¯s just go.¡± They wandered off, no doubt searching for more trouble. I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d manage to find any, though; the two male martial arts NPCs followed them, making no effort to be discreet about it. Maybe they were what passed for police around here, or some kind of neighborhood watch. I turned around and looked at the girl. ¡°Are you okay?¡± I said. She looked up at me and nodded, wiping her eyes. I tried like hell not to stare at her ears, but it was hard. They were drooping a little and it was adorable. The female martial artist put an arm around the girl¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ll help her get home,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Thank you for stepping in.¡± Then she led the girl off down the street. I found myself unable to look away from the girl''s flicking tail, not until I remembered Diego Fortuna and I got curious so I used All Shall Be Revealed on them both: the woman was just labeled Dragon Clan Warrior, but I was happy to discover that the girl¡¯s Status had changed. Earlier it had identified her as simply Pretty Cat Girl. Now she had a name.
Shannon Harper Pretty Cat Girl
Skills: Gardening - Adept
She was promoted to Named NPC and got a skill. Good for her. I wandered aimlessly for a while, but because of the city center¡¯s wheel-shaped design, my meanderings inevitably led me back to the central courtyard. It was late enough that everything was closed and I had the entire vast courtyard to myself. If others had also been unfortunate enough to miss out on renting a room, they must have found other places to spend the night. Suddenly, a notice popped up in front of me. Follow the arrow Chapter Nine - Crossing the threshold Sure enough, a ghostly arrow also appeared in my field of vision, directing me to continue toward the exit. I followed it. What else could I do? The arrow directed me to the gazebo-like structure in the middle of the courtyard. I found Stratos sitting on the top of the three steps leading up to its platform, gazing around at the few people milling about and looking very much like a child watching a colony of ants scurry around after poking a stick into their nest. ¡°Hello, Daniel,¡± they said when I got to the bottom of the steps, gesturing for me to take a seat beside them. ¡°So?¡± they said after I got settled. ¡°So this is real,¡± I said, halfway between a question and a statement. ¡°But how?¡± ¡°In my time on Earth studying humans I came across a line in one of your books that I think answers your question. Any sufficiently advanced technology¡ª¡± ¡°¡ªis indistinguishable from magic,¡± I recited. ¡°You know it?¡± ¡°Of course I do. I¡¯ll wager every single person you brought here knows that quotation. It¡¯s kind of famous.¡± ¡°Good. That will make things much simpler.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an alien then.¡± Stratos smirked. ¡°How rude! I could say the same to you.¡± ¡°You know what I mean, you¡¯re not from Earth.¡± Stratos shook their head. ¡°Then how come you look like...oh, duh. That¡¯s not your real body either.¡± They shook their head again, smiling. ¡°My natural body is relatively close to this, though. In all the most important ways, at least. The species who share a similar form tend to stick together. You¡¯d call us humanoid.¡± ¡°How many alien species are there?¡± ¡°You needn¡¯t worry about that, for now,¡± said Stratos. ¡°What do I need to worry about, then?¡± Stratos smirked again. ¡°I am so glad I met you, Daniel. I do love the way you think.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t answering my questions,¡± I said. ¡°See?¡± they said. ¡°You possess a clarity most of your kind lack.¡± It was my turn to smirk. ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about that.¡± ¡°Let me qualify: in certain areas you have a mental clarity that lets you see things most humans miss. In other ways, you seem to be just as obtuse as the rest of you, if not moreso.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s fair,¡± I said. ¡°If I choose to evade certain questions, it is because you are either not ready for the answer, or else the answer would only cause you needless concern.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°So in other words it¡¯s for my own good. How patronizing.¡± ¡°Excellent choice of words. There are also some questions I will not answer because it would ruin the fun.¡± ¡°Whose fun would it ruin, exactly? Yours or mine?¡± A shrug was the only response I got. ¡°Let me guess,¡± I said, ¡°telling me whose fun it would ruin would be ruining the fun, right?¡± Another shrug. ¡°Are there any questions you will answer?¡± ¡°Ask and we shall see.¡± ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s start with this: just how advanced is your technology?¡± ¡°A few months ago, none of this was here. It was a barren world. Billions of years ago the spark of life ignited here but for whatever reason that spark failed to catch and the embryonic life died out before it could evolve. It happens. But that only meant it was the perfect place to play the game. I got in on it quite cheap, which is good, because building all this was not inexpensive.¡± I looked around. ¡°All this in a few months, huh?¡± I said. ¡°What you can see here is just the tip of the icecube. You won¡¯t fully appreciate what I am saying until you get to explore around.¡± ¡°I gotta ask, why do all this?¡± ¡°For the game, of course.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not an answer,¡± I said. ¡°It is the best one you are going to get.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t even know what the game is.¡± ¡°Have you considered that perhaps that¡¯s part of the game? I took a few deep breaths to stave of the fury I could feel building inside me. I could tell I wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere with the current line of questioning, and decided to change tack. ¡°This body,¡± I said, running my hand down my arm, ¡°it really isn¡¯t mine.¡± ¡°It is,¡± Stratos said. ¡°It is just not the same body you were in yesterday. There was no point in physically moving that body here, we would still have had to re-engineer it to be suitable for the game. Such a hassle. No, it was much better to leave your old bodies there and cast your consciousnesses here inside new bodies better suited for the challenges ahead.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel different,¡± I said. Stratos nodded, smug. ¡°You do not look, smell, sound, or taste any different either. On the outside it is the same, although we did repair certain defects. Free of charge.¡± They smiled. ¡°But on the inside, this new body has the potential to be far superior in every practical way.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I shall try to dumb it down for you.¡± ¡°Gee, thanks.¡± ¡°I mean no insult, just stating facts. The technology involved may as well be magic as far as your understanding of the underlying science goes.¡± ¡°Am I an android?¡± ¡°No. Androids have robotic interiors and humanoid exteriors.¡° ¡°Cyborg?¡± ¡°Closer, but not quite.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± ¡°More like a clone. The body you now inhabit is fundamentally human, grown from your very own human DNA with the same chemical composition, the same organic functions.¡± ¡°But?¡± I prompted. ¡°But with one key addition ¡ª an enhancement, really ¡ª what you would call nanotechnology, although in this case it would be more accurate to call it nanobiotechnology. Your body is filled with miniscule bionic factories that can do wondrous things. In fact, this whole world is permeated with them. You will see.¡± ¡°How do they work?¡± Stratos sighed. ¡°You are persistent. System, that is how they work.¡± I looked closely at Stratos. Their expression didn¡¯t reveal much, but I had the distinct impression that they didn¡¯t actually know how the nanotech worked either. They stood abruptly, skipped lightly down the steps, and began striding into the courtyard. I took it as an unspoken invitation for me to follow. Chapter Ten - Everything is a game ¡°What is the System?¡± I asked once I¡¯d caught up. ¡°Not the System, just System,¡± Stratos corrected. ¡°Sure, whatever. What is System then?¡± ¡°You mean besides a pain in the posterior?¡± Stratos muttered as we strolled across the flagstones. ¡°Did I get that right, pain in the posterior?¡± ¡°I think you mean butt.¡± ¡°Ah, right. Thank you. Even after all those years on Earth I still struggle with things like that. The way you use language is bizarre.¡± They¡¯re good at dodging questions, but I¡¯m not gonna let them wriggle out of answering. ¡°You were about to tell me about System.¡± ¡°System coordinates things.¡± ¡°Like the nanobots you say are everywhere.¡± ¡°Yes, System tells them what to do. For example, if you need to become instantly stronger, or tougher, or faster, or whatever, System can make that happen by instructing the nanobots to rewrite the RNA of your cells and cause your body to change on the fly as well as augment your physique directly to achieve the desired results.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of power for one person to have,¡± I said. ¡°Calling System a person would be unfairly limiting to System. It would be like calling me human. Worse, even.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to not take offense when you say things like that.¡± Stratos shrugged. ¡°You can take offense to opinions. Facts should simply be accepted.¡± ¡°That¡¯s your opinion,¡± I mumbled. ¡°So, does System control the Status screens?¡± ¡°System can affect your senses, causing you to see things that are not really there, like Status displays, or prevent you from seeing things that are there. It is why to anyone else who might see us right now it appears as though you are wandering around talking to yourself.¡± I looked around. There weren''t many people around who could see us, and the few who might weren''t paying us any attention. ¡°You mean nobody else can see you?¡± ¡°Nor can they hear me. Think about it: how would it look, you and I having a private conversation like this? They might think I was playing favorites. Do you really want to be singled out like that?¡± ¡°Definitely not.¡± ¡°As far as anyone else knows, I am not here and you are a bit crazy.¡± Is that any better? ¡°Pity I don¡¯t have a phone to pretend to talk into,¡± I said. I looked around at the fantasy world surrounding us. ¡°But that wouldn¡¯t fit the milieu, would it?¡± Stratos shook its head. ¡°Not really, no. Besides, there is System.¡± ¡°Okay, but you still haven¡¯t told me what System is. Is it a computer? Is all this a really complex program, or a virtual reality? Am I in the Matrix? Is System an AI?¡± ¡°Your concept of a hive mind would be a fairly decent analogy. System is everywhere, but also nowhere. System simultaneously receives input from every single nanobot at every moment, and responds accordingly.¡± ¡°According to what?¡± Stratos sighed again, then stopped to turn and face me. ¡°You are getting bogged down in the details. Just understand that you,¡± they placed their hands gently onto both my shoulders, ¡°this body you are in, and everything in the world around you,¡± they let go and gestured to the courtyard around us and beyond, ¡°it all overflows with technology you cannot see, but that can produce magical effects.¡± They used air quotes around the word magical. ¡°All those abilities you have seen in people¡¯s Status screens, those are all made possible by System¡¯s interaction with that technology.¡± I chewed my lip as I tried to grok it all. ¡°Do you control System?¡± Stratos started walking again. ¡°What do you think of your abilities? Impressive, yes?¡± They were still dodging the big questions, the slippery bastard. I ran a few steps to catch up. ¡°Uh, yeah. Sure, I guess.¡± ¡°You guess?¡± Stratos looked genuinely disappointed by my lackluster reaction. ¡°Well, if I¡¯m being honest, my abilities seem a little underpowered. I can see the Status of other people, which I probably only got to help with my team building quest, and I can learn skills, which is something everybody should be able to do. Not really the stuff of superheroes, you know what I mean?¡± ¡°I do not. You have two gifts.¡± ¡°Right, of course. The one that lets me learn skills and one that nerfs me so that I can¡¯t advance anything beyond a certain level. How could I forget the special ability that makes me even weaker?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Do not sulk, Daniel. It is unbecoming.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sulking,¡± I snapped. When Stratos didn¡¯t respond I took a moment to reflect. ¡°Yeah, well, okay, maybe I am sulking a bit.¡± ¡°More than a bit.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference between gifts, powers, and skills?¡± ¡°Skills are the most basic ability: with enough time, practice, and education anyone can learn them. Powers cannot be learned, but they can be acquired in various ways and require mana to use.¡± ¡°So they¡¯re better than skills, then,¡± I said. ¡°They are different.¡± ¡°And gifts?¡± ¡°Gifts are generally more passive in nature. They do not require conscious activation, no do they consume mana the way powers do. Some are unique to a single Player.¡± ¡°So they¡¯re the best.¡± Stratos sighed. ¡°They are different.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the deal with mastery? All my abilities are a Novice, and with the Good At Everything thing none of them can achieve mastery beyond Adept.¡± ¡°Not all of your abilities. Only Powers and Skills can be evolved, as well as Affinty. Gifts cannot be improved. ¡°What are the different levels?¡± ¡°You will see.¡± ¡°More fun that way, huh? Fine. Who decides which abilities we get? Is it System? Or you?¡± ¡°It is based on the individual¡¯s personality, aptitude, and memories. Your abilities may not seem that good compared to what you have seen in other Players¡¯ statuses, and I will be honest: there will be plenty of Players far more powerful than you. Stronger. Faster. More evolved.¡± ¡°Nice pep talk.¡± ¡°Power comes in different forms, Daniel, I know you of all people understand that. If you are as clever as I believe you are, you will find ways to make those seemingly underwhelming abilities work to your advantage. Who knows, you might even win.¡± ¡°So there¡¯s a winner to all this?¡± I asked. ¡°Have you ever played a game that did not have a winner at the end?¡± ¡°If this is all a game¡ª¡± ¡°It is.¡± ¡°¡ªthen who decides who wins? Is there a Dungeon Master or Game Master or whatever you want to call it? Is it System?¡± ¡°That,¡± said Stratos with an infuriating hint of a smug smile, ¡°would be telling.¡± We had strolled a complete circuit around the courtyard and found our way back to the central gazebo. Stratos was starting to piss me off. I¡¯m sure their condescension was probably well-founded, but that didn¡¯t mean I liked it. I decided to check their Status. System: Error - Status information incompatible with All Shall Be Revealed Figures. They knew I just evaluated them and saw nothing too, I could tell by their smug smirk. I stopped short of reaching the base of the gazebo steps, and this time it was Stratos who was forced to follow my lead. They stopped too. ¡°Is there anything else I should know about how this all works?¡± ¡°Let me think. You might be interested in the extra-dimensional aspects ¡ª dimensional travel, pocket dimensions, and the like ¡ª but honestly, it is much simpler to just slap the magic label on it all and just have fun with it.¡± ¡°Is that what this is all about? Having fun?¡± ¡°Daniel. Listen to me. This is a game, and what are games about if not having fun?¡± ¡°Everything is a game,¡± I recited. ¡°I knew you would get it in the end.¡± Stratos took the last few paces to the steps and ascended them. They turned to face me, looking down from the top step. ¡°I think I have wasted about enough of your time. You must be eager to get out there and start working on your quest.¡± I stayed where I was. ¡°Since All Shall Be Revealed is a power and not a unique gift, am I right in thinking I¡¯m not the only one here with this team building quest?¡± Stratos smiled. ¡°I really only wanted to have a word with you now to say thank you for your help. None of this would have happened if it was not for you. If this succeeds or if this fails will all come down to the people you chose to bring here.¡± ¡°Wait, I didn¡¯t choose¡ª¡± ¡°There is also the matter of your compensation,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°I did tell you that you would be compensated for spending the day with me at the convention. Do you not want to know what your reward is? I made it especially for you.¡± Dammit, I knew I was being manipulated but I couldn¡¯t help it. Of course I wanted to know. Stratos looked as though they were going to say something, then changed their mind. Instead, they nodded once then turned and started walking toward the middle of the gazebo. ¡°Have fun, Daniel,¡± they said over their shoulder. ¡°We will talk again soon.¡± ¡°Wait, what about my reward?¡± I called out, but it was too late. Stratos had already vanished. Whether they escaped through a dimensional door or they were still there and I just couldn¡¯t see or hear them because System was preventing me, I couldn¡¯t tell you. System: You have acquired a new Gift: [Hidden] I could only assume that my reward was a new gift. But what was it exactly?
Daniel Lamont Team Builder
Affinity: Life - Novice
Gifts: Good At Everything
Jack Of All Trades
[Hidden]
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Competent
Skills: Game Design - Novice
Teaching - Novice
Trivia - Novice
I sighed. Nothing was ever simple with them. I was left with lots of unanswered questions, the most pressing of which was: where the hell was I going to spend the night? Despite its size, the courtyard offered few options for places to lie down. I saw a few benches scattered around the perimeter, and there were those ledges around the twelve fountains, but I wasn¡¯t sure I felt comfortable with the thought of sleeping in such an exposed place. The shops had all closed up tight for the night. My prospects were starting to look pretty grim. I perched myself on the edge of the fountain that had the word ¡°Nature¡± written on it in several languages to ponder my fate. I was just about to resign myself to a restless night wandering the streets when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, the shifting shadow of some movement over by the arena. Chapter Eleven - Not entirely useless I¡¯d never really looked at the outside of the arena earlier, but in the wan light of the two moons that lit the square it looked a little eerie. It was a towering six-sided pagoda, much taller on the outside than it seemed from the inside. Its tiers rose up higher than the other buildings. It was one of the three largest structures in the city, along with a Gothic-style cathedral that very much resembled a miniature version of Chartres Cathedral with different styles for its two main spires, and an official-looking building fronted by several massive stone columns that drew heavily from ancient Greek architecture such as the Parthenon. These three buildings formed an equilateral triangle around the edge of the circular courtyard. There was one main entrance from the courtyard into the arena, an archway wide and tall enough for a double-decker bus to drive through. It was closed now, blocked by immense gates made of metal bars, but the shadow I saw had shifted near the center of this opening, as though slipping through into the arena. I got up and went over to investigate. The gate where I¡¯d seen the movement was shut but the chain holding it closed was loose, loose enough that it wasn¡¯t hard to squeeze through. I followed the dark corridor inside to where it opened into a choice between a pair of staircases leading up to the stands or going straight down a hallway leading to the arena floor. I took the stairs, creeping up them slowly, trying to make as little noise as I could. I went up only to the first tier and slunk out into the seating area, sticking to the last of the three rows of benches. There were people down on the arena floor below. I could tell by their clothes they were all Players. I saw a group of three, two men and one woman, facing another lone man. They were talking, but I couldn¡¯t hear what they said. Then the talking ended and the woman backed away. The smaller of the two remaining men in her group pulled a knife while the bigger one raised his fists. It was two on one, and from the start it was clear the one didn¡¯t stand a chance. The bigger of the two stomped forward while the other stood back, then the solo fighter went suddenly rigid, arms straight and tight against his sides. The big guy closed in and hammered him a few times. He was soon beaten to the ground, still rigid and making no apparent effort to protect himself as his attacker kicked him repeatedly. Strangely, I didn¡¯t recognize the beaten man. I used All Shall Be Revealed on him.
Marc Shaw Team Builder
Affinity: [Hidden]
Gifts: [Hidden] [Hidden]
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: [Hidden] [Hidden]
Another team builder. Huh. Now listen, I was never the sort of person to get into fights, or even involve myself in other people¡¯s problems. Cowering in the stands was much more my style, but as I watched those two men gang up on poor Mr. Shaw the injustice of it all fired up something inside me. Perhaps I was still buoyed by positive feelings I got after helping Shannon, but I felt that I had to do something. I wasn¡¯t sure what I could do, I had absolutely no skill or experience in fights, I just knew I had to help. Then I remembered that I wasn¡¯t entirely powerless. There was something I could do, or at least I thought I could. I¡¯d never done it before, I¡¯d only ever seen it done by two other people, but seeing it had been enough for me to theoretically learn how. So I decided to trust in System and stood up, held out my hand, then closed my eyes and thought about one thing: fire. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I felt a sudden warmth in the palm of my hand. Opening my eyes, I saw a tiny ball of flame flickering just above my open hand, as well as a System notice. System: You have developed affinity with Fire I did it. I wasn¡¯t sure precisely how I¡¯d done it, but I¡¯d used my new skill to create fire. So, now what? For lack of a better idea, I drew my hand back and attempted to throw the fire at them. The effect was disappointing. The little ball of fire flew through the air and landed with a fizzle on the arena floor nowhere close to the fighters below. But it was close enough that the woman noticed. She spun around, hunting for the fire¡¯s source. She saw me, then her eyes opened wide with something like shock. She wasn¡¯t my immediate concern, though. She wasn¡¯t the one kicking someone else while they were down. There was no point in trying to hide anymore, so while concentrating on creating some more fire I hopped over the benches until I was at the railing, looking directly down onto the floor. Then I conjured another little fireball and hurled it into the arena again. As fireballs go, this one wouldn¡¯t win any awards, but at least it did the trick. This time my fire hit the larger of the attackers in the back, and although it exploded in a showy shower of sparks it was too feeble to actually do any damage. But it was enough to catch attention, and he stopped kicking his defenseless victim long enough to turn and look at me. I made another fireball appear in my hand and concentrated on making it bigger. I managed to double its size, but it was still only about as big as a cantaloupe. That seemed to be enough to look threatening, however, because the fighter crouched defensively and kept his attention on me. I wasn¡¯t used to anyone seeing me as a threat, and spurred on by the unfamiliar feeling I leaped over the wall onto the arena floor. I had been hoping that my Player body would make it an easy thing to do, but even though this was supposed to be a superhuman body it didn¡¯t perform all that much better than my regular one, which was not very athletic to start with. I landed hard. If this was a manga or something, I would''ve landed on one knee punching shockwaves in the ground. Sadly, I had no rule of cool dictating my life. My ankle probably broke when I hit the arena floor, it''s hard to say. Something cracked ominously, and it hurt like holy hell. I dropped my fireball when I fell in a crumpled heap. It rolled a bit along the packed earth floor before fizzling into a few sparks, then nothingness. A menacing grin spread across the guy''s face. Finally getting a good look at him like this I realized he was a lot bigger than I¡¯d thought, and not only because I was sprawled on the ground. He was another one of those guys I¡¯d pointed out to Stratos the day before as someone I would not want to play with after seeing him bully the other players at his miniature wargaming table. Oh crap.
Jonah King
Affinity: Earth - Novice
Gifts: Behold My Bulging Muscles - Improved strength
Powers: Iron Fist - Novice: Bare hands can strike like hammers Affinity Armor - Novice: Create personal elemental shield
Skills: Brawling - Novice Intimidation - Novice
Oh crap oh crap. I should¡¯ve evaluated him before I decided to stick my nose in. My affinity attacks did nothing, and I had no combat skills or powers. This guy was going to crush me. ¡°Wait,¡± said the woman who¡¯d been standing to the side, and the brawler stopped. ¡°Derek,¡± she said to her other companion, a small, weaselish-looking guy who¡¯d been a sneaky but effective miniature war gamer. He looked around my age but had the sporadic, straggly facial hair you¡¯d expect to see on a pubescent boy. ¡°Tie him up.¡± Chapter Twelve - Near death experience I felt my arms suddenly get pinned to my side and my legs pressed together as though I was bound by an invisible rope. I looked down and saw that the bonds that held me were not invisible after all, but seemed to be made out of wispy strands of smoke. Whatever they were, they held me fast and firm.
Derek Smith
Affinity: Shadow - Novice
Gifts: Don¡¯t Stop Me Now - Improved mana recovery
Powers: Gotta Go Through It - Novice: Phase body to become insubstantial Struggle All You Want - Novice: Create and control affinity ropes
Skills: Cartography - Novice Direction Sense - Novice Knife - Novice
Oh crap oh crap oh crap. The woman came closer, examining me. I didn¡¯t recognize her. And I would¡¯ve remembered her, it would¡¯ve been impossible not to. Even though she couldn¡¯t have been more than five feet tall she stood out in a crowd, both because of her fierce personality and her stand-out appearance. She was what the Japanese call a gyaru, or in English, a gal. You don¡¯t see many honest to goodness gyarus in Toronto, they¡¯re something quite peculiar to Japanese culture. They have a reputation for dyed-blonde hair, stylish but suggestive clothing, and delinquency, but there¡¯s a whole genre of manga about the gyaru with a heart of gold. I couldn''t tell if it was just her pro-level makeup or her genetics, but she looked a bit Japanese. Her straight hair was dyed an almost white blonde and done up in two high pigtails, which framed a heart-shaped face and drew attention to her bright red lips, almond eyes decorated with long fake lashes and thick dark eyeliner that made them seem much bigger than they were, and a bust so generous it was a good thing her center of gravity was low because otherwise she¡¯d be in constant danger of toppling forward. Her long fingernails were painted glossy purple and covered in bling. For some inexplicable reason, even though she was clearly too old to be in high school, she was dressed in a school uniform complete with a very short plaid skirt and a white shirt with its tails tied up to make it a crop top, showing off a generous amount of tanned skin. My eyes darted around like houseflies trapped under a glass. From my POV on the ground, I was either looking straight up her much too short skirt, or straight up into her corsetted underboob, or straight up into her smug smile. I wasn''t sure where to look, so it was like I was trying to look everywhere at once. ¡°What do we have here?¡± she said. I struggled, but it was no good. I wasn¡¯t nearly strong enough to escape those shadow ropes. And it hurt my ankle like crazy. ¡°Another fellow team builder.¡±
Kiki Duplessis Team Builder
Affinity: [Hidden]
Gifts: [Hidden] [Hidden]
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: [Hidden] [Hidden]
Oh craaap. She walked a slow circle around me. ¡°You just checked out my Status, didn¡¯t you? Let me guess, everything¡¯s hidden?¡± I said nothing. ¡°Here¡¯s another guess: you were playing the God Game at the convention, no?¡± Once again I said nothing, but my expression must¡¯ve given me away because her mouth stretched in a thin smile and she nodded slowly. ¡°Thought so. Me too.¡± That explains why I didn¡¯t recognize her. Marc too, and that cocky guy I saw in the street earlier, Troy. They weren¡¯t at the convention tables, they were playing the God Game with me. So it wasn''t my fault that everybody was here. Only almost everybody. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°What do I want?¡± she repeated. ¡°What do I want? I want to win, of course.¡± She¡¯d completed a full circuit around me. ¡°That means assembling the best team.¡± She patted my cheek. ¡°But of course you¡¯re trying to do the same thing, aren¡¯t you?¡± While she and her flunkies had been busy with me, and with the shadow ropes no longer binding him, Marc had clambered to his feet and was limping for the exit. Derek, the one who controlled the ropes, raised a knife, blade between his fingers, ready to throw. Kiki put her hand on his wrist. ¡°Let him go,¡± she said. ¡°I think he¡¯s learned his lesson.¡± Derek balanced the tip of the knife on his outstretched fingertip, winked at me, then flipped it over midair and grabbed it by the hilt before sliding it into a scabbard strapped to his other wrist in one fluid motion. ¡°Speaking of teams, where¡¯s yours?¡± Kiki said, making a show of looking around. ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone but you.¡± She gasped. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t started yet.¡± I looked up at her in what I hoped was a defiant way. No need for her to know how frightened I really was. ¡°As you can see I¡¯ve already collected two for my team.¡± She stared off toward the exit through which the other man had just disappeared and smiled. ¡°And we were just having a little conversation with that other guy about team building strategy.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve made your point,¡± I said through gritted teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have,¡± she replied. ¡°See, as I was just explaining to the other guy, the way I figure it there must be ten of us who were chosen to pick teams, and that¡¯s a lot of competition all hunting for the best Players.¡± She turned her back on me and strolled away. As she passed the big guy, Jonah, she nodded and he grinned again and started closing on me. He reached down and grabbed the front of my shirt, stretching it out in his big Yobbo first as he used it to pull me up onto my feet. Then his other fist impacted hard in my abdomen, knocking the wind out of me, he let go of my shirt, and I dropped to my knees like a guilty priest. The shadow rope holding me combined with the searing pain in my ankle messed with my balance and I fell hard onto my side. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°The fewer team builders there are,¡± Kiki said as I gasped in pain, ¡°the better it is for me.¡± She turned around and saw me struggling back to my knees. ¡°Jonah, help the poor man up.¡± Jonah reached down and grabbed a fist full of my hair this time and pulled, forcing me again, still gasping, to my feet. ¡°Nobody said this is a cooperative game,¡± she said, rocking on her heels. ¡°And nobody said we couldn¡¯t reduce the competition. Do you get what I¡¯m saying, Daniel? I know Jonah does, don¡¯t you Jonah?¡± Jonah held his fist in front of my face. ¡°See this? This is what I used last time.¡± I watched as his hand turned from flesh to metal, starting with his fingertips and spreading down to a few inches past his wrist. ¡°This is what I¡¯m gonna use this time.¡± I tensed what abdominal muscles I had in expectation of another punch, but this time he hit me with an uppercut to the jaw. There was a sickening crack and my vision blurred, the strobing pain in my face almost making me black out. I was about to topple backwards but Jonah grabbed me by the front of my t-shirt and held me upright. I could feel the fabric stretch. Dammit, that conference tshirt could''ve been a collectible, now it was nowhere near mint. ¡°Here¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen, Daniel. Jonah is going to kill you. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll respawn. Well, I¡¯m almost sure.¡± She approached me again; I knew this because the blurry smudge where she¡¯d been standing grew bigger. ¡°Whenever you do come back, you¡¯re going to do your quest and assemble a team. But the people on your team are all going to have shitty powers.¡± My head started to loll and Jonah grabbed my face and held my head up, forcing me to look at Kiki. The pressure of his fingers on my shattered jaw set off new waves of agony. ¡°Hey hey, don¡¯t pass out,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Jonah is going to take his time, breaking as many of your bones as he can before he lets you die.¡± She was right beside Jonah now, directly in front of me. I¡¯m pretty sure she was smiling, some white appeared near the top of the blur. ¡°I want you to remember this suffering. I want you to remember it every time you think about recruiting someone good onto your team. Because if you forget and go and recruit someone good, he¡¯s going to do this again. And again. Until the lesson sinks in.¡± I coughed and felt the warm blood in my mouth, tasted the metallic tang of it. I must¡¯ve spit some out because Kiki groaned and swore and moved away. Jonah paid me back by grabbing my shoulders with both hands and pulling me forward and down as he raised his knee. It connected with my lower chest and there were more cracks from inside me as multiple ribs gave way. I really was astonishingly weak back then. I cringe thinking about it. By this time all I could do was go limp and pray for it to stop soon. Silent prayer, of course, because my severely broken jaw made it impossible to make any vocal sounds other than hoarse grunts. I anticipated the next blow, wondering where he¡¯d strike me next, but the blow never came. I heard the ¡°hyah¡± of several people yelling all at once, then the sound of fighting. The shadow bonds dissipated at the same time Jonah let go of me and I crumpled to the ground in a heap. My chest rattled with each ragged breath, and I could feel fluid gurgling in my chest where there ought not be any. System: You know Brawling Too little, too late, System, but thanks anyway. The noise of fighting was brief, followed by the distinctive sounds of several pairs of footsteps growing fainter as at least two people fled the scene. I felt something press against my neck then a strange male voice said, ¡°He¡¯s alive.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take him back to Sifu,¡± said another. Oh look, I¡¯ve been rescued. How nice. One of my rescuers put his arm around my shoulders and lifted me up to my feet. I grunted. ¡°Shhh, don¡¯t talk,¡± said the other rescuer as he put his arm around my waist and supported me from the other side. I grunted again. ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± said the first, but I hadn¡¯t been thanking them. I¡¯d been trying to tell them they were making it hurt even more. Since I was unable to do anything about it, together they helped me stagger out through the loose gate, which hurt a lot, across the courtyard, which also hurt, and down one of the streets. That hurt too. I had no idea how long we were moving. I was barely conscious, my head lolling, shattered chin to my sunken chest, eyes drooped closed, feet shuffling as they half carried, half dragged me along. My foot caught on the raised lip of a cobblestone and I stumbled. Their grip on me tightened for a moment to keep me from falling and I grunted as the pressure sent a shock of pain through me that set a new agony record. ¡°Hold on, almost there.¡± I raised my head and tried to look around. My vision had cleared a bit and I was able to make out that we were far enough down one of the streets that there were no shops, just houses. Cottages would be a more appropriate word, for most were made of rough-hewn boards with thatched roofs. There was the occasional building made of stone, larger structures that may have been something other than a residence, and it was into one of these that my new companions carried me. I started getting dizzy so I closed my eyes again. We weren¡¯t more than a few steps inside when I heard the voice of an older man. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°This man is injured, Sifu,¡± said one of my rescuers. ¡°We brought him back to help him.¡± ¡°I can see that,¡± snapped the older man. ¡°This way.¡± They followed him, carrying me deeper inside. ¡°Lay him here,¡± the older man commanded, and I felt myself gently placed onto a firm surface. As gentle as they tried to be, it still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch and I grunted again. ¡°Sorry,¡± one of them said. I risked opening my eyes again and saw that I was in the middle of a small, square room lying on a hard surface, probably a table. My vision still swam, but I could see well enough. The place was small enough that I could see a desk along one wall, and floor-to-ceiling shelves filling the rest of the space along every other wall that were all packed with bottles of various sizes and shapes, each with a neat label naming whatever strange liquid, powder, or object it contained. My rescuers were young men, both wearing deep green martial arts gis with a strip of lighter green cloth tied around one arm, just like the ones who¡¯d helped me fend those two creeps off the NPC girl earlier. The man hovered over me, and he was even older than he sounded. Wisps of snow white hair flowed down from the edges of an otherwise bald head mottled with dark liver spots. His face was lined with the cracks and creases of age, but the gray eyes that studied me under long, wing-like eyebrows were brilliant and alert. For what seemed like several minutes he ran his hands slowly over my body, not touching me, but hovering just above me. I began feeling a calming warmth flow through me wherever his hands moved, and soon the pain ebbed. It still hurt, but it was tolerable. ¡°Will he be ok?¡± asked one of my rescuers, sounding genuinely concerned. ¡°I must wait to continue treatment until the effects of this one have completed,¡± replied the old man in a voice filled with calmness and confidence. ¡°He should mostly recover by morning. Mostly.¡± He pulled a bottle off the shelf and handed it to the younger man. ¡°Make him drink this when he is able.¡± My rescuer took the bottle and sighed with relief. ¡°Thank you, Sifu.¡± ¡°Hurm,¡± grunted the old man, a hint of menace creeping into his voice. ¡°Now, tell me everything.¡± ¡°Yes, Sifu,¡± they said, both sounding like errant children expecting to get grounded for a month. I kept my eyes open long enough to watch them file out of the room, then closed them again. Well, at least I found a place to spend the night. Chapter Thirteen - I know kung fu Assembled Players: 0/10 Quest time remaining: 35:53:12 I awoke to the sound of rustling clothes and the smell of food. Opening my eyes, I saw someone creeping backwards towards the door, having left a tray on the floor beside me with a few small buns, a bowl of porridge, and a mug of steaming tea. It was one of my rescuers. He no longer wore last night¡¯s dark green clothing but had on a light gray, loose-fitting tang shirt with wide white cuffs, closed up the front to the mandarin collar with white frog buttons, along with matching gray pants that flared loose at the thighs and tapered down through the calves to simple white slippers laced up almost to his knees. Only the green armband was the same as the night before. His round face was alert and kind, with a long white scar running down one side from eye to jaw. ¡°Thank you,¡± I croaked. ¡°So you are awake,¡± he said. ¡°And alive,¡± I said, ¡°thanks to you.¡± He bowed his head in acknowledgement, then shuffled forward to the tray and lifted it up to me. I struggled up to a sitting position and accepted the tray onto my lap with much gratitude. I expected it to hurt, but there was no pain, just some residual soreness, like I¡¯d done a hard workout without stretching. Yes, I knew what that felt like, I had worked out before. I¡¯d gotten myself a gym membership after splitting with my ex-girlfriend in that post-relationship self-improvement phase. Sure, I¡¯d only gone a couple of times, but I did know what it felt like to work out. I reached up tentatively and felt my jaw. It was whole and seemed in proper working order. Then I felt my chest, and everything seemed fine in there now too. ¡°How?¡± I blurted. ¡°How are you healed so quickly?¡± I nodded. ¡°Sifu is very skilled,¡± he said, then pointed to the empty bottle on the desk. ¡°And his healing potions are very potent.¡± I took a wary nibble on the bun. It was soft and warm and filled with some kind of sweet paste. I took a bigger bite. ¡°This is really good,¡± I said, and he grinned again, clearly pleased with my reaction. ¡°I¡¯m Shashu,¡± he said. ¡°Nife oo meechoo,¡± I replied through a mouth full of bun. I chewed and swallowed before speaking again. ¡°Sorry, nice to meet you. I¡¯m Daniel.¡± I grabbed another bun and munched it while getting a better look around. I was in a different room than the one they¡¯d brought me to during the night, a plainer room with lots of cupboards and a few cots.
Shashu Dragon Clan Warrior
Skills: Gossip - Adept Kung Fu - Expert Leadership - Competent Teaching - Competent
¡°Where am I?¡± I asked. ¡°This is the infirmary,¡± he replied. ¡°Yes, but...where?¡± ¡°Ah yes, of course. We brought you back to our dojo last night.¡± ¡°Dojo? As in, a school for fighting?¡± ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s more than that. The school is only one part of it.¡± ¡°And that old man last night...¡± ¡°Sifu, yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to thank him if I could.¡± Shashu averted his eyes. ¡°Sifu wants to see you,¡± he said in a demure tone. ¡°Eat quickly,¡± he added ominously as he stood and backed up to the door. He gave me one last penetrating look before bowing and leaving me alone with my breakfast. Did I imagine it, or was that fear in his eyes? Nah. I finished the second bun quickly and started on the porridge. It was a rice congee, thick and hot with small pieces of fish and some kind of root vegetable mixed in. Again, maybe I was just really hungry but it tasted fantastic, and all too soon I looked down at an empty bowl. Pressing my fingertips to the tray to capture the crumbs, I perched on the edge of the cot and sipped the tea as I nervously awaited Shashu¡¯s return. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Shortly, the door slid open and Shashu appeared, bowing, with a basin of water and a fresh set of neatly folded clothing. ¡°Wash, dress, and join us in the room at the end of the hall.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as he placed them beside me and picked up the empty food tray. ¡°Wait!¡± I said, then grabbed the cup and gulped down the last of the tea, nearly choking. ¡°Please hurry,¡± he said. I set the cup on the tray and he backed away, bowing once more before leaving. I swiftly rinsed my hands in the warm water that filled the basin and splashed some on my face. I¡¯d much prefer a nice, hot shower, but beggars can¡¯t be choosers. The thought occurred to me suddenly that hot showers might not even exist in this world. If the primitive soap I¡¯d seen in the shops yesterday was any indication, personal hygiene standards here were far below what I was used to. I peeled off my blood-stained t-shirt, took a tentative sniff, and was surprised to smell nothing at all. Come to think of it, I wasn¡¯t sweaty. It¡¯s like my Player body didn¡¯t sweat at all. Filing that away to explore later, I used my t-shirt to dry off before putting on the clothes I¡¯d been given. They¡¯d given me a similar outfit to the one Shashu wore, only fancier. His had been made of simple linen but this was soft silk with an intricate dragon embroidered on the back. It fit perfectly and was surprisingly comfortable. I could get used to wearing something like this. I folded my jeans and t-shirt neatly, even though the shirt was ruined. If my real body is lightyears away in a tank in a spaceship above Earth, how come I woke up here in my Player body wearing the same clothing that I¡¯d had on when I was abducted there? Yet another question I¡¯ll have to ask Stratos if I ever get the chance to talk to them alone again. I knocked softly on the sliding door of the room at the end of the hall and it immediately slid open. Shashu greeted me brusquely and ushered me in. The size of the room surprised me. It was a huge, open area clearly set up for martial arts training. Woven mats covered much of the floor where several pairs of young people wearing the same linen outfits and green armbands as Shashu sparred with each other. I noticed there were as many women as there were men, and everyone was fairly young. Racks of weapons lined one side, many were practice weapons made of wood but some looked very real. I was surprised but happy to see Shannon, the newly named NPC cat girl from the night before. She didn¡¯t have an armband, and seemed to be learning the most basic skills. Hopefully she¡¯ll be able to defend herself against idiot Players from now on. I caught her eye and she waved to me. I waved back. Shashu led me to a place on the side of the floor and bade me to sit. Then he crossed the training floor to where Sifu, in long silk robes with a similar dragon embroidered onto it as mine, wandered among his pupils offering the occasional guiding pointer or cutting remonstrance, whichever he deemed appropriate for the pupils in question.
Chow Bo Dragon Clan Master, Sifu
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: Laying On Hands - Expert Kung Fu - Master Teacher - Expert
More hidden powers, huh? Interesting. And a Master level skill. This guy must be important. Shashu conferred with Sifu for a few moments, then found another Dragon Clan trainee on the practice floor to spar with. I sat watching the different pairs of students practice, but my mind was mostly focused on what had happened last night. Kiki, that bitch. I didn¡¯t care what she said, I was determined to assemble the best team I could. I didn¡¯t know what got hurt more, my body or my pride, but I chose to ignore Kiki and her threats. I just had to make sure I could fight back next time, preferably alongside some powerful allies. I brought my mind back to the present and realized I had been given the perfect opportunity to observe people doing kung fu, so I sat back and watched, hoping Jack Of All Trades would work its magic. I noticed the various degrees of skill among the fighters. Some of the much younger ones were clearly beginners, but there were also some older experts whose moves were so fast and fluid I could barely follow them with my eyes. System: You know Kung Fu Bless you, Jack Of All Trades. After a while the session ended and the fighters all began doing stretches on the mats. Shashu came over and told me to follow him, then led me over to where Sifu sat cross legged on a low dias. Shashu knelt in front of him, indicating with a subtle glance and gesture that I should do the same. Once I was kneeling beside him, Shashu said, ¡°This is Sifu Chow Bo, master of the dojo and head of the Dragon Clan.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Thank¡ª¡± The old man raised his hand to cut me off. I knelt there, fidgeting while the old man stared at me appraisingly. By the look on his face, I wasn¡¯t sure if he liked what he saw. After a few disconcerting moments, he spoke to me in a clear, high voice. ¡°I know about last night.¡± ¡°It was¡ª¡± Chow Bo raised his hand again, this time only a fraction of an inch, but it was enough. ¡°You interfered with a fight.¡± It sounded like a simple statement, but after the old man stared at me for a few long moments I started to think maybe I was missing something. Was that a bad thing? Was it against the warrior code or something to get involved in someone else¡¯s fight? ¡°Yes, sir,¡± I said. ¡°I am told you cannot fight, yet still you interfered.¡± I sensed Shashu shifting on his knees beside me. He probably felt guilty about telling the old man what a crummy fighter I was. And Sifu must¡¯ve thought I was a skill-less idiot who almost got himself killed sticking his stupid nose where it doesn¡¯t belong. Crap. But hey, that was last night. I¡¯d learned a few things since then. ¡°It¡¯s true, last night I didn¡¯t know how to fight,¡± I said. One of his shaggy eyebrows lifted. ¡°Is it different today?¡± ¡°Well, now I know kung fu.¡± Sifu pursed his lips. ¡°Last night you did not know kung fu.¡± ¡°No, sir.¡± ¡°But this morning you do?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Chow Bo stood abruptly, his movements so swift and smooth it was as though he went straight from sitting to standing with nothing in between, and leaned toward me. ¡°Show me.¡± Chapter Fourteen - One of the family The old kung fu master clapped his hands twice and the students cleared an area in the center of the mat. He gestured me forward and everyone formed a ring around us. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap. ¡°You, ah, want me to fight you?¡± I wondered if I had managed to keep the panic out of my voice. The hint of a smile flashed across his face, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared. ¡°I am not so cruel. You can fight him,¡± he said, pointing at Shashu, whose scar went white as his broad grin stretched the skin on his face. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t think that will turn out any better for me in the end.¡± ¡°Even the smallest seed has a mighty tree¡¯s potential,¡± Chow Bo intoned. Shashu and I faced each other. He bowed deep so I bowed back. ¡°Begin,¡± Chow Bo said, and without even thinking about it, I adopted a defensive combat posture. Shashu slid smoothly into offense. I tried to keep my distance as we circled each other. My Status might¡¯ve said I knew kung fu, but how much could I really know from just watching it for a few minutes? People dedicate themselves to train their whole lives to learn martial arts. I¡¯d never used it. Hell, I¡¯d never been in an actual fight before. His first attack was a high side kick aimed at my chest, which I somehow deflected with a sweep of my hand, followed by a punch aimed at my head that I avoided using the momentum of the motion I¡¯d used to block the kick to carry my body far enough to dodge the punch. How the hell did I do that? He¡¯s so fast. I could barely keep my eyes open when I saw an attack coming, so how was I dodging and blocking them? Forget about trying to hit back, the moment I dropped my guard it¡¯d all over. But I knew I couldn¡¯t keep him at bay forever, I needed to do something. My skill level was crap so I figured surprise was probably my best weapon, use his confidence against him. I was getting nowhere matching his kung fu style, so maybe a sudden change in fighting technique would throw him off. He lashed out with another low kick which I knocked aside with my leg, then I immediately stepped forward and lunged at him, using my newfound Brawling skill to throw a combination of unconventional strikes. First I threw a slow jab which he knocked aside easily, as I knew he would, then an elbow to his head that also got blocked. While he was distracted by that and his vision partially obscured by my arm in his face I followed up with a quick knee to his body. My unexpected blow landed with a satisfying thump and he staggered back. He looked at me with wide eyes, his mouth open in shock. He rubbed his abdomen where my knee had made solid contact, then he gave me another wide grin and raised his fists again. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Why did he seem so delighted that I hit him? I wished I could see the old master¡¯s reaction but I didn''t dare take my eyes off Shashu. My opponent began circling, feinting, searching for an opening. Brawling is more of an offensive technique, so I switched back to a kung fu defense and managed to block a few hits. I was just beginning to think that I might stand a chance when he used my own tactic against me. He came in with a series of strikes that were much quicker than the ones I¡¯d just blocked and I realized too late he¡¯d been luring me in with purposefully slow attacks so that he could surprise me with his real speed. I only barely managed to knock the uppercut at my face aside, but that left my body completely open to his straight mid-level jab. It landed hard in the middle of my chest and I was pushed back, winded, but Shashu wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity and came in low with a kick at my leg. It connected with my knee with a disturbing crunching noise and I crumpled onto the mat, my leg bent at an unnatural angle and searing with pain. The next thing I knew Shashu loomed over me, concern etched on his young features. He helped me roll onto my back and carefully stretched my leg out straight, or at least as straight as it would go, apologizing every time I winced. Next thing I knew, Sifu was crouched down beside me running his hands up and down over my wounded leg. A warmth flowed through the area and I swear I could actually feel the bones knitting back together. The pain evaporated. Sifu rose and stepped back as Shashu gave me a hand standing up. My leg was fine. System: You know Laying On Hands That¡¯s bound to come in handy. I¡¯m so sorry for ever doubting you, Jack Of All Trades. ¡°Sorry about the leg,¡± Shashu said. ¡°No worries, I¡¯ve had worse,¡± I said. He clapped me congenially on the shoulder. ¡°That knee was a nice move. A bit unorthodox for kung fu, but still nice. I didn¡¯t expect you to touch me, but you surprised me there.¡± ¡°That was kind of the idea,¡± I answered sheepishly, rubbing my own chest where he¡¯d hit me. It didn¡¯t hurt as much as it probably should have and I realized he¡¯d been holding back. Shame he didn¡¯t pull his kick a little too. ¡°I¡¯ll take it as a compliment that you used the same move against me there at the end.¡± ¡°Oldest trick in the book,¡± he laughed. ¡°Thank you for the match,¡± I said, bowing. ¡°It was very instructional.¡± He returned the bow. I glanced over at Chow Bo and found him inscrutable. He met my gaze with that same appraising look that still made me very uncomfortable, then nodded his head once. ¡°The seed has been planted,¡± he said. He continued to gaze at me until Shashu leaned over and whispered, ¡°That was a compliment.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir,¡± I said. ¡°No,¡± Sifu said. ¡°Um, no?¡± ¡°Not sir. Sifu.¡± Then he glided past me and out of the room. ¡°He¡¯s a man of few words,¡± I said to Shashu. He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder again. ¡°But they¡¯re all good ones,¡± he said. ¡°Congratulations, Daniel. Looks like you¡¯re one of us now.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I said. A number of the other pupils who¡¯d been watching came up and offered me their congratulations as well. ¡°So, um, what does that mean, exactly?¡± Shashu guided me away towards the door I¡¯d come in through, relinquishing the floor to the others so they could resume sparring. ¡°It means you¡¯re in the Dragon Clan. You have a home here. You can live and train with us. If you have a problem, it is a problem for us all. And if we have a problem, you are expected to offer what help you can.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re one of the family now.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go take you to meet Chow Li. If Chow Bo is our father, you can think of her as Mother,¡± he said, leading me out of the room. ¡°Just never call her that where she can hear you.¡± Chapter Fifteen - Brain dump Shashu took me back down the hallway to the room across from the infirmary where I¡¯d spent the night and knocked twice before sliding the door open without waiting to be invited. The Dragon Clan¡¯s ¡°Mother¡± wasn¡¯t what I was expecting. I¡¯d pictured in my mind a wizened old woman with gray hair maybe pinned up in a tight bun, wrinkles, and a twinkle in her eye: the female version of Chow Bo. Instead, when Shashu ushered me into her office I was greeted by a much younger woman with jet-black hair pinned up in a tight bun, smooth porcelain skin, and a steely gaze that made me feel like a little boy when she turned it upon me. It was impossible to peg her age, but if I had to guess it would be somewhere in her 40¡¯s, maybe. She sat perched behind a huge wooden desk that was bare save for a jar of ink and the single notebook open in front of her, into which she was entering neat vertical lines of text in tidy handwriting with a feathered quill. It wasn¡¯t any style of writing or language I recognized, but I realized I could still understand every word. It was some kind of letter to another Clan Master discussing the exchange of students to study each other¡¯s martial art.
Chow Li Dragon Clan Master
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: Administration - Master Calligraphy - Master Cartography - Expert Kung Fu - Expert Negotiation - Master
We entered and stood in front of her desk; there were no chairs for visitors. She looked up from her paperwork and examined me over the rim of a pair of small, round glasses perched on the end of her narrow nose. Flakes of white makeup clung to bridge of the glasses where it had been rubbed off her skin. ¡°No need to be nervous, Daniel,¡± she said, tucking her notebook into a side drawer of the desk, then putting the quill and ink bottle away into a different one. ¡°But I¡¯m not...¡± Her thin lips stretched into a smile. ¡°Okay, maybe I¡¯m a little nervous.¡± She reached into a different drawer and pulled out a strip of green cloth, the same color as the armband everyone here wore, and presented it to me. ¡°This is for you.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. I struggled to tie it around my arm while Shashu and Chow Li watched with open amusement. Frustration turned briefly into anger before finally changing into spite, but throughout all three stages I never gave up trying to do it myself. It would be so easy for either of them to help, but I would be damned if I was going to ask. No way I¡¯d give them the satisfaction. After a while their smiles drooped, then fell away completely. They continued to watch me wrestling one-handed with the green cloth, Shashu shifting his weight from one foot to the other, then back again while Chow Li brushed away imaginary lint from her impeccable desktop. ¡°You know,¡± said Chow Li finally, ¡°most people ask for help after about ten seconds.¡± ¡°Do they?¡± I said. ¡°Once they¡¯re given the armband, most people quickly figure out it¡¯s too hard to tie it on themselves so they ask for help. It¡¯s kind of a thing.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t say.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lesson,¡± she said. ¡°The final step to becoming a member of the clan.¡± ¡°You mean like a ritual?¡± ¡°Precisely. We know they will struggle alone, so when they ask for help we have this thing where we tell them...well, it¡¯s just dumb to say it now.¡± ¡°Nooo,¡± moaned Shashu, ¡°come on. It¡¯s my favorite part. Please?¡± She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s too late now. It¡¯s ruined.¡± ¡°Aw.¡± Shashu turned to me. ¡°You would¡¯ve loved it. Still gives me goosebumps every time. You ask for help, see? Then she ties it around your arm and talks about how in the Dragon Clan nobody has to take on burdens alone and how we all work together and that¡¯s the core of our success and all that.¡± ¡°I see,¡± I said. Shashu chewed his lower lip and turned to Chow Li. ¡°You know what, you were right. It does sound a little dumb when I say it like that.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°See?¡± Chow Li said. ¡°It has to happen organically or it just doesn¡¯t have that oomph. Ah well.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I get it,¡± I said. ¡°Oh sure, you get it,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°But if it had gone right you would have felt it.¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°There is a difference,¡± Shashu said, and Chow Li nodded in agreement. ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it,¡± I said. An awkward silence followed, then I waved the green armband. ¡°So...can somebody please help me with this?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, right. Sure.¡± He tied it neatly around my bicep with swift, practiced movements.
System: You are the first to join a Clan - Reward Tokens: +1 (3)
¡°Thank you,¡± I said, although to be honest I probably said it more to System than I did to him. I was looking forward to finding out what was up with those tokens. ¡°Sure,¡± Shashu said. ¡°Oh, and, you know: let¡¯s help each other and all that.¡± ¡°Definitely,¡± I said. ¡°All for one and one for all, right?¡± ¡°Oh, I like that,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°Or is it one for all and all for one?¡± ¡°That¡¯s even better!¡± She dug into her desk drawer and pulled out a different notebook. ¡°I need to write that down or I¡¯ll forget it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°Really, I¡¯ll remember it. If you forget, just ask me.¡± She retrieved her quill and ink and started writing in her neat little letters. Or you could just ignore me and write it down. ¡°Do you mind if I ask you some questions?¡± I said. She finished writing and closed the book. ¡°Not at all.¡± Back into the drawers went the book, quill, and ink, leaving the desk surface pristine once more. ¡°Terrific,¡± I said. ¡°Because I¡¯ve got lots. For starters, what is the Dragon Clan?¡± She sat up straight and folded her hands together on the desk. ¡°The Dragon Clan is one of six martial arts groups in the city. We are all similar, with two notable exceptions: each clan studies a different fighting style, and each clan represents and protects a different street. For example, the Wolf Clan studies karate whereas we train in kung fu, and they protect the interests of Bow Street whereas we manage Dagger Street.¡± ¡°So they¡¯re rivals,¡± I said. She considered it for a moment. ¡°You could call them that, I suppose, though the relationship is more complicated than simple rivalry.¡± ¡°You forgot another difference,¡± Shashu grumbled. ¡°They¡¯re all a bunch of asshats.¡± Chow Li looked about to admonish him but then they stopped and made a sort of ¡®You know what? That¡¯s fair¡¯ kind of face. ¡°Fine. Three differences.¡± ¡°Okay, I think I get it¡± I said, though I didn¡¯t get it. She reached into the credenza behind her and pulled out a large, rolled-up sheet of paper, which she unfurled onto the desktop in front of us. It was a map, unmistakably one of the city. The central courtyard with the arena along and the other two large buildings on its perimeter, and the six main streets stretching away from it, all interconnected by smaller lanes and alleys. An outer wall that ran around the entire edge of the city, which was perfectly hexagonal in shape, with two gates on the West and East sides. She delicately touched the emblem of a dragon about halfway down the street that stretched directly to the left of the city center and ended in the Western gate. It was the same as the dragon that adorned the clothes Sifu and I wore. ¡°Dragon Clan.¡± Her finger traced up the street to the central courtyard. ¡°Dagger Street.¡± She continued tracing her finger across the courtyard and down the street on the opposite side, the one with the Eastern Gate. ¡°Bow Street.¡± She stopped on the icon of a dog roughly halfway down it. ¡°Wolf Clan.¡± I looked at the other streets. Each one had a different animal around the same spot, each one named after a weapon. I pointed at each one in turn. ¡°Monkey, tiger, eagle, I think, and either a mouse or a rat,¡± I said. ¡°Probably a rat. Each of these is another dojo like this one?¡± ¡°Correct,¡± she said. ¡°We each look after our respective streets, although different clans have different ways of doing that. Not all are as benign as we Dragons.¡± Shashu laughed. ¡°What she is trying to say is that we treat this as a neighborhood where neighbors look after each other. Unlike, say, the Tiger or Wolf Clans, where they rely mostly on bullying to maintain order in their area.¡± ¡°Fear and intimidation can be effective tools,¡± I said. Unwanted memories of my unhappy grade school days flashed before me. Far too effective, I¡¯d say. ¡°Mmmm,¡± Chow Li grunted. ¡°We get along well enough, although sometimes minor issues lead to inconsequential flare ups. We try to avoid letting anything escalate into a bigger confrontation, but it happens.¡± Shashu grimaced and touched his scar. ¡°The streets can get pretty ugly when full Clans go to war against one another.¡± I guessed he had some unwanted memories of his own. ¡°In addition to taking care of our neighborhoods, the six clans also act collectively as a sort of militia,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°In olden times, things were better. Monsters were rare, and the city was much more cosmopolitan. We had peaceful relations with many races and settlements, but in the aftermath of the great war things have become much more insular. Now, you won¡¯t find non-humans here anymore, travel is dangerous, and monsters run free in the wild. It has fallen upon the clans to defend the city, but that has been getting harder and harder lately as more and more monsters seek to prey upon us.¡± Shashu looked at me with hopeful eyes. ¡°Yesterday so many new people arrived in the city with you. Perhaps there will be heroes among them who will help with our many troubles.¡± Ah yes, the age-old isekai story: heroes from another world. Is that part of this world''s mythology? I wonder why the NPC¡¯s think we¡¯re here? ¡°Is it unusual for so many people to come?¡± I said. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s not normal,¡± Chow Li said. Not much of an answer. I supposed that said it all. Sweep it under the carpet and treat it as though it¡¯s perfectly normal for a large group of people to suddenly appear, none of whom know anything about the place and are all dressed completely differently. Unless, maybe we weren¡¯t the first Players to come? Let¡¯s try again. Be more specific. ¡°Has it ever happened before?¡± I said. ¡°Not that I can remember,¡± Chow Li said. So we were the first. Made sense. I think I would¡¯ve seen it in the news if a bunch of people from the same city all suddenly disappeared at once if it had happened before. Hurm. I wonder if we made the news? Probably. I bet everyone I ever met saw that I was one of them and said either, ¡°he looks like this guy I knew¡± or ¡°I¡¯d wondered what happened to him...figures.¡± Well alrighty then. Back to reality. Guess we¡¯d best just go along with the this-is-all-perfectly-normal thread the NPCs were spinning about us Players stumbling en masse out of the arena one day. I could play that game. Let¡¯s see what else I could learn from this strangely knowledgeable and helpful woman. Chapter Sixteen - This place is... I studied the map for a while. ¡°So who runs things here? Is there like a mayor or a king or something?¡± ¡°There is a council that manages the city¡¯s administrative affairs.¡± Chow Li pointed on the map to the building along the edge of the courtyard that I¡¯d thought looked like the Parthenon. ¡°All six of the martial arts clans have a seat on the council to act as the voice of the citizens in our wedge of the city, alongside representatives of the various merchant and trades guilds. There is technically supposed to be a Praetor in charge, but it has been a long time since anyone has qualified to fill the role.¡± ¡°Who represents the Dragon Clan and Dagger Street on the council? Is it Sifu?¡± Shashu snorted. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡± I said. Figures, I¡¯d probably just offended someone accidentally. Chow Li smiled. ¡°Shashu here merely finds the idea of that old fart suffering through a council meeting amusing. No, I have the pleasure of being the Dagger Street councilor. Sifu is happy to simply sit in his dojo and play with his toy soldiers.¡± I leaned toward Shashu and whispered, ¡°Toy soldiers?¡± ¡°She means us,¡± he whispered back. ¡°Ah,¡± I said. ¡°So, Sifu and you have the same surname, Chow. Does that mean he¡¯s your...?¡± ¡°Grandfather,¡± she said. ¡°Technically he and I are equals, co-leaders of the Dragon Clan. But he has been doing it a lot longer than I have, plus he is the kung fu master, so everybody considers him the one in charge.¡± ¡°Only those outside the clan would think that,¡± said Shashu. ¡°Anybody under this roof knows the truth.¡± I caught a glimpse of a surprising flush of pink under the thick white powder that covered Chow Li¡¯s cheeks like fresh snow on a frozen lake. I spent the next couple of minutes studying the map and asking where I should go for certain things like armor, weapons, provisions, and so on. I intended to venture outside the city later on to test out my skills and explore this new Player body. They were full of suggestions. Most were along Dagger Street, of course, but they also recommended a few on other streets as well, which made me trust their judgment more. Almost all the shops they suggested were not at the top of the streets close to the city center, but down among the residential areas. I suppose like anywhere, the locals keep the good stuff to themselves and put the crap in the shiny places where tourists will find them. The city¡¯s best blacksmith, for example, was far down Axe Street, deep into the territory of Eagle Clan¡¯s blue armbands. The Dragons got along well with the Eagles, they said, so it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for me to go there, even while wearing the green armband of the Dragon Clan. I focused on trying to imprint the map into my memory and triggered another set of notifications. System: New map saved System: You are the first to use the mapping tool - Reward Tokens: +1 (4) System: You know Cartography After the three System notices popped up in rapid succession, a new status window also appeared, this one showing a detailed version of the paper map of the city on the desk in front of me. The recommended shops were even marked on it. I ran my hand around the edge of the map. ¡°What about here, outside the city wall? What¡¯s out there?¡± ¡°Just a moment,¡± Chow Li said. She released the edges of the city map and it rolled itself back up. She replaced it in the credenza and came back with a new map and set it before us. It showed a smaller scale view of the city and its surroundings. ¡°To the north you pass through the Great Highlands before reaching the Northern Mountains.¡± ¡°Aptly named,¡± I said. She smiled. I hadn¡¯t closed the System map screen, and noticed that as she pointed out places on the new paper map they appeared on mine. Chow Li pointed to the right side of the city. ¡°Here to the east there¡¯s the Eastern Forest, and past that there¡¯s the Great Swamp. The Great Plains lie to the south and beyond them, yes, the Southern Desert.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to see the desert,¡± Shashu said. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°No you don¡¯t,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°It¡¯s a terrible place cursed by ancient evil.¡± ¡°I thought that was the Great Swamp,¡± Shashu said. ¡°That too. Much evil. Stay away.¡± ¡°What about to the West?¡± I said. ¡°On the Western side you can follow the Serpent River that winds down from the mountains,¡± her finger traced the meandering line of the river from the mountains to the north down through the highlands before curving west just past the city, ¡°until you reach the sea.¡± ¡°The Western Sea?¡± ¡°The Great Western Sea,¡± she smirked. ¡°But of course,¡± I said. Whoever designed all this may have lacked imagination, but at least they had a sense of humor. Honestly, I found the location names refreshing. One of the reasons I don¡¯t like fantasy books very much is because of the crazy unpronounceable names the authors always give to places and people. Give me the Great Plains and Eastern Forest over the Fields of Tatagooti or the Gragramli Woods any day. ¡°Are there any other cities or settlements around?¡± ¡°Mmmm,¡± she grunted and started pointing to places on her map, starting to the immediate right. ¡°There was an elf village in the forest, but nobody knows if it¡¯s still there. Past that, there are rumors of an ancient fortress in the Great Swamp.¡± Those sounded like adventures for sure. ¡°Our clan possesses a few old swords made by the elves, back before,¡± Shashu said. ¡°Before what?¡± ¡°Before there was a swamp,¡± Shashu said. ¡°Before the demons came. Before the war.¡± Chow Li rolled her eyes. ¡°There are no such things as demons. They are a metaphor used to distance ourselves from the evils of our own kind.¡± She turned to me. ¡°Shashu listens too much to the bards and takes their tales too literally.¡± Shashu clenched his teeth as well as his hands, looking at the same time subservient and defiant. ¡°Perhaps, but you cannot tell me that the elven swords aren''t the finest in our collection.¡± Chow Li sighed. ¡°That much is true. Elven weapons and armor are the best.¡± ¡°Are the elves gone?¡± I said. ¡°Yes, but I have never seen one,¡± Chow Li said. She put her finger on the Eastern Forest on the map. "There may still be some in the forest, but none of them anywhere will have anything to do with the likes of us.¡± Backstory. Cool. I looked at the map. ¡°What¡¯s that thing that¡¯s marked there to the Northwest of the city?¡± Chow Li dragged her finger up and around counter-clockwise, stopping at the marking I¡¯d referred to. ¡°The highlands above the city are unsettled, with many monsters roaming the area, but that there is called the Black Altar. Nobody knows what it¡¯s about.¡± Seemed like there was a lot of things nobody knew much about. Classic exploration adventure setup. I pointed to a spot along the river above the Black Altar. ¡°What¡¯s this? Looks like a town.¡± ¡°It was, once. It¡¯s abandoned now.¡± ¡°What happened to it?¡± She shrugged. ¡°It was before my time, but one day everyone in it just up and disappeared.¡± ¡°Let me guess: nobody knows why.¡± I must¡¯ve let a bit more sardonic amusement seep into my tone than I¡¯d meant to, because the smile she gave me was a bit cold. ¡°Indeed. I assure you, that is not due to any morbid lack of curiosity, rather it¡¯s because of the high morbidity rate of those who''ve gone looking for answers.¡± Adventure. She moved down to the direct left of the city. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for a lively place, there¡¯s a port town here on the edge of the sea. But getting there is dangerous. There are bandits.¡± More adventure. ¡°Any trade from the sea comes in through our gate from that town,¡± Shashu said. ¡°It¡¯s called Seaside.¡± Of course it was. Even more adventure. Shashu sighed. ¡°My gran told me that her gran said there used to be caravans of goods flowing between here and Seaside every day, and it was no big deal to see exotic things from across the sea in the shops. Now, we¡¯re lucky to get a few barges a week. I put my finger on the map at the Western Gate and traced a line along a road that went down, south of the city, through the Great Plains, and continued on. ¡±This looks like another main road,¡± I said. ¡°This area to the Southwest is mostly farmland, with the town of Acreage in the middle.¡± ¡°Not Great Acreage, or Southwest Acreage?¡± ¡°Mmm,¡± Chow Li hummed, her eyes closed and a serene look on ther face, ignoring me. ¡°Which means all the shipments of food to feed everyone in the city come through here as well.¡± ¡°Mmm,¡± she hummed again, this time nodding her head. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of extra responsibility for one clan,¡± I said. ¡°Mmm,¡± Shashu said, whether consciously or subconsciously imitating Chow Li it was impossible to tell. ¡°And a lot of work. I¡¯ve done my time at the gate and I¡¯ll tell you, inspecting everything takes for-ever.¡± ¡°It¡¯s important to keep the city safe,¡± Chow Li said. She said it so automatically, I wondered if she hadn¡¯t had to deal with that complaint more and a few times before. ¡°It honors the clan that the city entrusts that to us.¡± ¡°But at least you get to know exactly what comes into the city,¡± I said. ¡°Information is power.¡± One of her eyes opened slightly and looked at me. ¡°There is that, too.¡± I studied the map. There was something about it, I knew that I was missing something important. Wait a minute, look at this layout. ¡°System? Can you please overlay a hexagonal grid onto the area map?¡± Faint lines spread over the map, but they were too big, and not oriented properly. The hexagonal city is the key. "Use the size, shape, and orentation of the city as the basis of the grid." Almost there. I feel like Rick Deckard finding snake scales in a photograph. "Expand slightly. A bit more. Stop." I knew it. The hexagonal grid tracked perfectly, placing every notable location smack in the middle of one of the hexes. In the six hexes surrounding the city, starting in the East and going counter-clockwise, there was the elf forest, the lone mountain, the Black Altar, the road to the sea, the farming town of Acreage, and...a lake. Chow Li hadn¡¯t mentioned anything about the lake, but if I was right, there should be something significant there. I pointed to the lake Southeast of the city. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°That,¡± Chow Li said with the hint of a smile, "is the Forbidden Lake. So named for reasons you can probably guess.¡± Adventure. I knew for sure what I was looking at. It was a game board. All those adventures were in the few hexes adjacent to the city. There was potentially a whole world of thrilling, fun-filled locations out there beyond that. Everything is a game. ¡°Chow Li,¡± I said, ¡°this world, what do you call it?¡± ¡°This world is called Crucible, why?¡± Crucible. A test. Interesting. ¡°And what about the city? What¡¯s its name?¡± ¡°This city?¡± Chow Li said. ¡°Did you not know? This is Toronto.¡± Chapter Seventeen - Alone in the forest A few hours later, my mind still buzzed with the implications of what Chow Li had told me. It wasn¡¯t so much that Stratos or whoever was running this thing had named this place after the city from which we¡¯d all been abducted, when you looked at the bigger picture it made a lot of sense. It was seeing this bigger picture that had thrown me for a loop. As you¡¯d expect from the name, the Isekai World GameCon had been a world-wide event. It didn¡¯t just happen in Toronto, it had been held on the same three days in dozens of places across the globe. I hadn¡¯t really thought about why all the Players here came from the same place. I guess I assumed we¡¯d been chosen because...why? Because of me? Because I was so damned good at picking out players? That¡¯s pretty arrogant. When I stopped to think about it, it would actually make a lot of sense if the same thing had happened to people everywhere the convention had been held. There were probably dozens of Stratoses, and that meant there were probably several versions of the city, each one named after the Earthly city its Players were abducted from. A London. A Vancouver. A New York, a Hong Kong, a Brussels, a Milan, an Addis Ababa, a St Petersburg, a Seoul, a Tokyo. Dozens of them. I bet the Seoul Players were over the moon, this was exactly the kind of isekai stuff they were crazy about in South Korea. It was kinda mind-boggling. The amount of work that must have gone into creating the city and all the NPCs and all the Players bodies was incredible. And if they did this dozens of times in different places? Poof! Mind blown. And for what purpose? Was it really just a game? Or was there more to it? Nothing was accidental, so to call the world Crucible...was this actually some kind of test? Since it all seemed to be following the standard isekai tropes, could the purpose be similar to those in the stories? Characters get isekai¡¯d for all kinds of reasons: another world in trouble summons them as heroes to fix it, or after a tragic life the character gets reincarnated for another chance in another world, or a higher power thrusts them into another world for their own amusement, or they¡¯re being introduced to a larger community of other advanced worlds, to name just a few. What was this new game world all about, really? These were the thoughts that skittered across my mind as I trudged along the path that led from the city to the Eastern Forest. Was Toronto the only city to get isekai¡¯d, or were there dozens of versions of this path spread over whatever planet this was, one for each city that hosted the Isekai World Gamecon? Or were there dozens of planets, each with its own city? Did they all have the same medieval fantasy theme? Just what kind of game was this, and for whose benefit? System: Your mastery of Game Design has evolved My skil leveled up. That gave me an inkling that I may have been onto something with this train of thought. At this point, I reached the edge of the forest. My mind had been churning so hard I barely remembered the trip from the city, just the vague impression of rolling hills covered in grassy vegetation that made me think of pictures I''d seen of Scottish moors. Here at the forest¡¯s edge, the path led into the trees and quickly vanished into the dark growth. I paused and checked my gear. After I¡¯d told Shashu about my intention to go into the forest he¡¯d offered to accompany me, but for some reason I felt like this was something I should do on my own. I didn¡¯t want to rely on NPCs, although I suppose that¡¯s what NPCs like Shashu were there for. But if I was going to learn about my abilities and how to make the best use of them I wanted to do as much as I could on my own. Still, I had accepted his offer of equipping me with some gear from the Dragon Clan storerooms. He¡¯d given me a different set of clothes, the fancy silk tang suit with the embroidered dragon was lovely but impractical for what I had in mind. The clan had a number of different outfits to choose from, all appropriately kung fuey, and all (surprise, surprise) in my size. I¡¯d chosen a nehru-style jacket with black bone buttons running from its Mandarin collar down to around my navel, but open below and with a slit in the back for freedom of movement. It was long, almost to my knees, in a dark blue color that was almost black, and had an armor rating that provided an extra defense. The pants were black, as were the sturdy boots that also added to defense. Did I look a bit like Neo in the Matrix? Yes, yes I did. Was that an accident? No, it was not. All I needed were the sunglasses, but those were too anachronistic to find in the Dragon Clan store room. I wouldn''t have worn them anyway. Sunglasses and any kind of hat are two accessories I am just plain unable to pull off, something about the shape of my head makes either look wrong on me. The clan had also loaned me some weapons. I wanted to try out a few different ones to see which felt best to me, so I had two swords ¡ª one longer and the other shorter, both wide, flat, and double-edged in the Chinese jian style ¡ª and a few knives and daggers of various lengths and shapes strapped to my belt. Before I¡¯d left the clan house, Shashu had come to wish me luck and given me a backpack loaded with some basic gear, which had ominously included a significant number of bandages and medicinal balms, as well as a large bento box of food. I was keen to get going, not only because I wanted to see what I was capable of, but also because I hoped I could achieve another first and earn more reward tokens. Other Players would have had the same idea to go outside the city to get some experience, and I¡¯d learned my lesson from being too late to get a room at an inn. If I dallied too long others would scoop up all the achievements. I did mention gamers as jealous and selfish, right? I also hoped to meet some other Players outside the walls; the sort of Players who¡¯d venture out like this were the kinds of Players I wanted to assemble on my team. Screw you, Kiki. After gearing up at the clan house I set off as quickly as I could, going up Dagger Street to the town square and taking the street directly across, Bow Street, following it to its terminus at the city wall and passing through the gate there, which opened onto the path to the forest, then ultimately led me to the forest¡¯s edge. It only took a few steps into the forest to feel swallowed by the tall trees. They were mostly hardwood, oak and maple, the kind you find in and around the real Toronto. Whoever designed this was meticulous. The canopy above was thick with leaves so little sun made it down to the forest floor, but the scraggly undergrowth was still formidable. The dense foliage enveloped me in an oppressive aura of gloom and the image of Snow White alone in the forest getting grasped and groped by claw-like branches flashed into my mind. I should have felt the chill of fear, this is the sort of thing that would normally trigger a serious bout of the anxiety shakes, but all I felt was a kind of jittery excitement. The meandering path drew me deeper into the woods, but unlike in Snow White there were no glowing eyes in the shadows, no branches clawing at me. Dammit, where were the glowing eyes? Why hadn¡¯t I been clawed yet? How the hell was I supposed to test myself without anything to test against? Where were all the damned monsters? Right. Time to venture off the beaten path, as they say. I needed to be careful, though, I did not want to get lost in here. Wait a second, maybe I couldn¡¯t get lost. I had a map. I opened the map and was pleased to see a little dot showing my current location inside the forest. I zoomed in on the map and kept the screen open as I stepped off the path and into the wild woods. As I¡¯d hoped, the dot moved when I did. No way I could get lost with this. I closed the map and plunged ahead among the trees, using the short sword as a makeshift machete to hack at any undergrowth that annoyed me. I gave up on that pretty quickly, though; the sword was awkward and I kept bashing things with the flat of the blade instead of its cutting edges. Maybe it was ineffective as a machete, or maybe I was incompetent as a swordsman. Either way, I resigned myself to getting annoyed with the undergrowth and plodded through it. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I stopped when I reached a small clearing. This seemed like a good place to test out Good At Everything with Affinity Control. I¡¯d made fire with it, but there were a lot of other elements and I could theoretically use them all. I held out my hand the same as I¡¯d done the night before, only this time I thought about ice. It took some concentration and active imagination but eventually, a thin film of frost spread from my palm to cover my fingers and crackled up my forearm before thickening into a layer of cool, solid ice. System: You have developed affinity with Ice I closed my fist and the ice shattered. Sweet. I wondered if I could make it appear somewhere else. I thought about ice again, only this time I stared intently at the stump of a fallen tree across the clearing as I did. I managed to make a small area of it frost over, but that¡¯s as much as I could muster. It took a lot more effort to create it at a distance. This would take some practice. Okay, that was affinity with Fire and Ice down. Let¡¯s try a different element. I thought about water. Nothing happened. Maybe I was being too vague. I should try picturing something more specific. I held out my hand again and imagined a ball of water swirling above my open palm. Almost immediately a liquid droplet manifested over my hand and began to grow, swelling into a churning ball of water about the size of an apple. System: You have developed affinity with Water I drew the water ball back then hurled it at the trees like a softball. It flew then exploded like a water balloon against a tree trunk with a satisfying splash. Pity it wasn¡¯t the tree I was aiming for. Ah well, I never was very good at softball. That would take practice too, I guess. What¡¯s next? I tried to remember all the elements I¡¯d seen people have affinity with and attempted to conjure them. I managed to create a few small rocks that I could fire like bullets, a gust of wind that made the fallen leaves on the ground billow, and I even made my hand nearly disappear into a flimsy vapor of shadow, earning new affinities with each. There were still other affinities to earn, but I was feeling worn out from the exertion so before I worked on them I decided to take a break and see if I could improve my fireballs from a flashy distraction into a viable attack after some lunch. I dug into my pack for the bento box and sat down on a stump. I opened my status to see if my efforts had borne fruit.
Daniel Lamont Team Builder
Affinity: Air - Novice Earth - Novice Fire - Novice Ice - Novice Life - Novice Shadow - Novice Water - Novice
Gifts: Good At Everything Jack of All Trades [Hidden]
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Competent
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Brawling - Novice Cartography - Novice Game Design - Competent Laying On Hands - Novice Kung Fu - Novice Teaching - Novice Trivia - Novice
Wow. My Status was getting pretty long. Look at all those Affinities and Skills. I grabbed a ball of sticky rice wrapped in what looked like seaweed from the bento and took a bite. I was pleasantly surprised to find a spicy bean paste filling hidden inside the rice. Fantastic. I could get used to the food here. Using Affinity Control so much had left me ravenous, so I polished off the rest of the food like the kid who was bound and determined to get that blue ribbon this time after coming in second in the pie-eating contest at the fair for the last three years in a row. That¡¯s when I noticed it, a pair of tiny red eyes glaring at me from within the trees. Who knew how long they¡¯d been watching me eat. Yes! Let¡¯s do this. I was time for me to pop my hunter cherry. Grinning like an idiot, I created another ball of water in my hand and lobbed it at the eyes. It vanished into the darkness between the trees and I heard it splash. I know what you¡¯re thinking. Why did I choose to use the Water affinity and not something a bit more offensive like, say, Fire? I wasn¡¯t sure what it was in the trees and didn¡¯t like the idea of going nova on it right off the bat. Maybe it was something nice, like a bunny or something. I figured that if it was harmless then getting soaked would just make it run away. And if it was dangerous, then an unexpected soaking might at least give it reason to be a little wary and, I dunno, maybe slow it down a bit. It seemed like a solid plan at the time. Something rustled in the trees, then it emerged into the clearing. It was small, white, and furry, with two long ears. It was a bunny after all. Only this bunny had two antlers poking out of its head just in front of the big ears. It was also soaking, the weight of the water making its ears flop adorably. ¡°Jackalope!¡± I shouted. ¡°So cute!¡± It looked up at me with those piercing red eyes and shook its body, spattering water all around. ¡°So cute!¡± it said in a voice that sounded just like mine, and took a hop toward me. Okay, that was unexpectedly creepy.
Jackalope Don¡¯t be fooled by its small size and cute bunny-like appearance, this ferocious monster uses its ability to mimic any sound to lure its prey in close enough to pounce on. Those unfortunate enough to survive its venomous bite will wish it had killed them once the Jackalope¡¯s curse sets in.
Powers: Verbal Mimicry - Expert: Mimic sounds and voices Jackalope¡¯s Curse - Expert: The Jackalope¡¯s vicious bite is laced with a potent venom that contains a curse
Skills: Astounding Leap - Expert Vicious Bite - Expert
Whoah, what¡¯s that now? Curse? Vicious bite? Potent venom? And all at Expert level? "Uh oh." The Jackalope took another hop toward me. "Uh oh," it said in my voice. The red eyes boiled and turned dark, like two black holes boring into me. A horizontal slash appeared under its nose that almost seemed to split its head in two, then I realized all it had done is open its mouth. Foamy froth spilled out of the wide gash over jagged multiple rows of fangs, like a shark. Screw this, burn you poisonous little bastard! I concentrated on forming a fireball in my hand. It appeared instantly. I let the flames flicker for a few moments and tool a step foreward, wondering if it would make the creature back off, but the Jackalope only moved one hop closer too, pitch black eyes locked onto me and its appallingly wide mouth snapping shut with a clack. ¡°You asked for it!¡± I said, and threw the fire at it. It hit the Jackalope and exploded harmlessly off its wet fur with a slight sizzle. ¡°You asked for it!¡± it said, and leapt at me, gaping maw open and fangs bared. ¡°Crap!¡± I cried, jumping back instinctively. My foot slipped on some damp leaves and I toppled backwards, landing hard on my tailbone. A sore butt was a small price to pay, though, because if I hadn¡¯t fallen I would¡¯ve been directly in the path of the Jackalope¡¯s attack. Instead, I lay sprawled on the ground as the Jackalope sailed through the air over me. Our eyes met for a brief moment, then it adjusted its flight path by twisting its head mid-flight in an effort to take a bite out of me. A split second before its mouth was about to close on my face my flailing arm struck its antler and skewed its trajectory. I laid there, helpless but insanely lucky, watching the little monster careen off toward the trees behind me. I was far from out of the woods yet, though. As I watched, the Jackalope land elegantly against a tree, planting its hind feet on the trunk then immediately springing back at me. I rolled, then jumped onto my feet again. The longsword hissed as I pulled it free from its scabbard. The Jackalope crouched on the ground, pink nose twitching, black eyes shimmering with menace. ¡°Crap,¡± it said. I hefted the sword and made a clumsy trial swing. That wasn¡¯t gonna work. The balance of the sword was all wrong for me. Either it was too long or too heavy or I was just too weak. Who am I kidding, I was just too weak. I dropped the longsword, keeping an eye on the Jackalope, ready for it to pounce at any time. I didn¡¯t even bother to pull out the short sword, if I couldn¡¯t use it against a stationary branch then it¡¯s not something I¡¯d want to trust my life to against a small, bitey, moving target. The Jackalope cocked an ear at me. I made a mental note: must work on getting weapon skills. There were still the knives and daggers left to try. I had a few to choose from. I pulled out a long pointy one, meant for piercing thrusts. I jabbed the air with it. Oh yeah, that felt better. With the longsword lying discarded on the ground at my feet and the short one ignored in its scabbard, I held the knife out in front of me, daring the Jackalope to come at me. The Jackalope came at me. Chapter Eighteen - Unexpected brutality With a mighty leap the Jackalope flew toward me again, and I not so much attacked with the dagger as held it out in front of me, eyes closed and hoping for the best. The blade failed to connect with the beast, but it did become entangled in its antlers. The Jackalope¡¯s jaws snapped at me as it dangled from my outstretched arm, antlers firmly stuck on my knife and its powerful hind legs kicking at the air in determined futility. ¡°What the hell?¡± I said. Holding my arm out to keep the thrashing Jackalope at a safe distance I grabbed an antler with my free hand and wrenched the dagger free. ¡°What the hell?¡± said the Jackalope, still kicking and thrashing and snapping many teeth at me as I held it away from me by the antler, those black eyes still boring into me. I walked carefully over the slippery patch of damp leaves to the nearest tree, swung my arm as hard as I could and smashed the Jackalope against the trunk with a satisfying crunch. I swung it a few more times then dropped it. It lay there at the foot of the tree looking up at me, body crushed but legs still kicking, albeit lamely, and venomous teeth still clacking. I pondered what to do with it for a few moments. ¡°What the hell?¡± it gurgled, bloody froth oozing out of its wide slash of a mouth mouth and staining its snow white fur crimson. ¡°What the hell?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me,¡± I said, then I lifted my heavy boot and stomped down hard on its head, careful to avoid the pointy antlers. I both heard and felt its skull crack and head squish underfoot, then I stepped away, more than a little appalled at what I¡¯d just done. System: You have slain a monster several magnitudes more powerful than you - Reward Tokens: +3 (7) Well, my first monster hunt was a bit of a shit show but at least it wasn¡¯t a total flop. System: You have enough Reward Tokens to access the Rewards Shop Yes! System: You are the first to gain access to the Rewards Shop - Reward Tokens: +1 (8) Yes yes yes! System: Rewards Shop cannot be accessed during Tutorial No no no! System: Calculating compensation System: Compensation calculated - Reward Tokens: +1 (9) Well, at least I had something to look forward to. When I did get access to the Reward Shop in a little under a day and a half I¡¯d have a decent number of tokens to spend. It was nice to see System wasn¡¯t skimpy with rewards and tried to be fair about it, too. That was very good to know. If only I also knew what the Reward Shop sold. System: Boss monster slain ¨C special criteria met: Hidden Gift unlocked System: You have a new Gift: Murder Hobo Well okay then. That was good, I had to assume, even if the name of the gift sounded a bit...ominous. Murder Hobo - Better chance to get better loot I had to laugh. So Stratos had a sense of humor after all. In roleplaying games, there are two reasons to kill monsters. Well, three if you include self-defense, which was certainly the case here. But the two main ones are to earn experience and to loot the body of all its valuables. Or because you had to do it because of a quest or something, so four reasons. Five if you include it just being in the way. Whatever, the important takeaway here is that looting is a core motivation for most people. If you¡¯re unfortunate enough to play with a certain kind of greedy player, looting corpses becomes the only motivation, and the game can easily degenerate into a party of goons going around killing everything in sight just to amass a horde of treasure. We call those goons murder hobos. When I told Stratos about murder hobos at the convention they were delighted, once I explained why it was funny, that is. I was pretty sure that this special reward , made just for me, was their attempt at a joke. I didn¡¯t see it at first, my field of vision being too clogged up with System notifications, so it wasn¡¯t until I cleared them all away that I saw another notice down by my feet.
Jackalope Corpse
Items: Blue Mana Crystal Jackalope Antlers Jackalope Venom Sac Rabbit¡¯s Foot x 2
Beasts like the Jackalope didn¡¯t use weapons and they didn¡¯t have pockets so there was no gear or treasure to loot from their bodies. With these kinds of monsters, you usually only get gold or other treasure if you catch them in their lair where they stash the shiny objects they collect, and because I encountered it in the wild, there wasn¡¯t that kind of hoard to pillage either. However, there are many kinds of treasure. It¡¯s a very common trope in RPGs and isekai stories alike that a slain monster will leave behind special drop items. Often, the monster¡¯s body itself has value, or at least parts of it do. That looked to be the case here with the antlers and venom sac drops, which can no doubt be sold to an NPC with appropriate skills who can use them to make potions or enchant items or whatever. Sometimes, the monster will leave some of its power in the form of a physical object, usually a gem or something similar. In this case, that would be the mana crystal. I wondered if Sifu would be interested in the Jackalope¡¯s drop items. He had all those jars of weird things on his shelves, probably used them to make potions and stuff. I didn¡¯t know how valuable these drops are, but I figured I should probably collect them for him, just in case. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. If this was a video game, the Jackalope¡¯s digital body would have disintegrated in a sparkly animated effect leaving behind its drop items to be casually picked up, but for better or worse this was real life. All I had was a bloody mutant bunny corpse. I crouched down and grabbed an antler, expecting to be able to just take it from the body, but it remained firmly attached to the Jackalope¡¯s squashed head. One glassy eye stared up at me. It had turned red again after its owner died. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was an improvement or not. I groaned as I realized I¡¯d need to get surgical if I wanted to collect my booty. Heaving a deep sigh I gripped my dagger and got to work. The feet were easy enough to chop off, but liberating the other parts was significantly harder. I began carving at the base of the antler, but the long pointy blade wasn¡¯t made for that kind of mutilation, so I wiped the blood off on the Jackalope¡¯s fur and stowed it, then pulled out a curved knife with a sharp blade made for cutting. It took some effort, but I finally wrested the antler free, dripping gore and bunny brains onto my boots. Yeuch. I had to give props to whoever designed all this, the commitment to realism was impressive. But still. Yeuch. Having come this far I dug out the second antler, then wiped as much of the carnage as I could off of the ends of the antlers onto the bunny¡¯s fur and stuffed them into my backpack. Then I paused. Did I really have it in me to go digging for the rest? That was not the time to be squeamish. Who knew how rare and valuable Jackalope venom was, so suck it up, buttercup, I told myself. I made a deep thirty centimeter incision in the subject¡¯s torso. Which is to say, I sliced open the Jackalope¡¯s body from navel to neck. Viscera spilled out onto the forest floor like trash fleeing from a torn garbage bag. Even in this clearing precious little light filtered down through the canopy of leaves overhead, so it was hard to make out anything like a crystal in the tangled organs. I needed more light. Suddenly, I had more light. As soon as I¡¯d thought about it, a glowing, marble-sized sphere of pure white light hovered in the air in front of me, illuminating a small area. System: You have developed affinity with Light Ha! Maybe this Good At Everything was pretty decent after all. I immediately noticed something bright blue glint from within the guts, so I flicked at it with the tip of the knife ¡ª no way was I going to use my hands to dig around in there ¡ª and a tiny crystal about the size of a peanut flew out and disappeared into the leaves. Heaving another sigh, I rooted around until I found the glint of blue again, then picked it up between two fingers with the slow delicate movements of a bomb disarmament, carefully cleaned it off too, and tucked it away in my coin pouch. Almost done. Using the tip of the knife again to poke around inside the pulpy remains of the Jackalope¡¯s head, I set to work hunting for the venom sac. I quickly started wishing I¡¯d done this before hacking off the antlers so I¡¯d have something I could grab onto to hold the shattered little head steady, but determination won in the end and I managed to gouge out a small green organ from under its nose that had to be what I was looking for. After wiping off my blade on the only remaining section of the creature¡¯s fur that was not smeared in blood, I stood up and looked down at the crime scene that was what remained of the Jackalope. I¡¯m the guy who gags when someone else vomits. The sight before me almost made me barf up sticky rice. This venom sac had better be worth something. Now then, where the hell could I put it? There was really no way to clean off the venom sac, so in the end the empty bento box became its makeshift canopic jar. Gathering up the discarded sword I decided that I¡¯d lost the taste for hunting for the day, so eager to put this horrific tableau behind me I kicked some leaves and branches over the Jackalope¡¯s dissected remains to hide the evidence of my clumsy butchery and prepared to leave. I¡¯d just opened my map to plan a course back toward the edge of the forest when a new kind of notification appeared. Even the color of the ethereal text was different. An unnamed observer is impressed with your unexpected brutality That forest was just full of surprises. Nice of System to warn me I was being observed. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to associate with anyone who was impressed by the way I slaughtered the Jackalope then tried to hide it, though. I scanned around the clearing, crouched low, knife at the ready, waiting for whoever was observing me to leap out. An unnamed observer wishes to reward you What the what? System: Error - gifts and other sponsorships are not permitted inside the Tutorial An unnamed observer wonders why not? System: Gifts and other sponsorships are not permitted inside the Tutorial An unnamed observer grows pissed off at System System: System does not make up the rules An unnamed observer will remember this I seriously did not know what to make of all that. I put away the dagger. I knew now that the mysterious unnamed observer wasn¡¯t anyone there with me. Once again, I was familiar enough with isekai stuff to figure out what was going on. The knowledge didn¡¯t relax me, though. If anything, it made me more concerned than if there had been someone physically lurking in the forest to spy on me. In a lot of isekai stories, people aren¡¯t transported into the other world and left alone. They are often watched by entities, much like a god would watch what was happening to people on Earth. In fact, the watchers often are literal gods. But these entities don¡¯t just watch, they meddle. They comment, offer advice, and interject observations. And they also interfere. They play favorites. They give gifts if they like what you¡¯re doing, and, sometimes, if they disapprove of your actions, they bestow curses. If you know your Ancient Greek myths and legends, this should all sound pretty familiar. By the way, The Odyssey is an isekai tale, as are many other Greek myths. That must have been what had just happened to me. Some higher form of being was out there and for some reason it enjoyed watching me make a gruesome mess of that Jackelope. Sick bastard. Since everything else so far had remained pretty true to the isekai formulae, it was safe to assume that there wasn¡¯t just one observer, an idea confirmed by the fact that it was ¡®an¡¯ observer, not ¡®the¡¯ observer. Clearly, these were the meddlesome type of watchers, too. This alone didn¡¯t worry me. It was the broader implications of what this meant that had my mind racing. It had given me a clue about the reason we¡¯d been isekai¡¯d. We weren¡¯t brought here simply to play games. We were brought here to play games for someone else¡¯s amusement. I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. I mean, it was to be expected, really. Stratos went through a massive amount of effort to create this insanely detailed environment for us. They researched us and designed this to be an isekai world specifically tailored for human gamers. Why would anyone do that? Would anyone capable of all this do it just to give us an unbelievable gaming experience? No. There had to be some greater purpose. This world was clearly a game board. But what if we weren¡¯t really the ones who were actually playing the game? Who¡¯s to say we weren¡¯t just pawns on the board? Was this a God Game for someone else? Actual gods, maybe? Sure, Stratos called us Players with a capital P, but they also liked to metagame, didn¡¯t they? After all, it was Stratos who invented the God Game at the convention, so wouldn¡¯t it make sense that the game we thought we¡¯re playing was actually a game for someone else? So the million quatloo question was: whose game was this really? Only time would tell, just as time would also reveal what it meant for us Players. Was it benign? Was the purpose of the game for everyone to have fun? Or was it more nefarious, and the point of the sinister game on Crucible wasn¡¯t just to test us, but also to torment us? I was deeply concerned that I¡¯d already been given the answer to this. An observer is impressed with your brutality. I didn¡¯t think that was the sort of game I wanted to play, and I knew it wasn¡¯t one I would enjoy playing. The only thing that gave me hope was the possibility that this particular observer did not reflect all the entities potentially watching. Maybe, perhaps, there were other observers who¡¯d reward me for not being brutal. I hoped. It¡¯s kind of funny how naive I was back then. Chapter Nineteen - Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig I had initially intended to wander through the forest on the way back, but I¡¯d had enough of adventuring for now. Instead, I plotted the fastest route the hell out of there which took me back to the main path, and soon I found myself blinking in the sunlight at the forest¡¯s edge. On the way back to the city, I passed a few Players heading in the opposite direction. I was right; I wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d thought of trying to get some experience beyond the walls. Quick evaluations on the first few revealed nothing extraordinary, but then I encountered an older couple, maybe in their 30s. I know it sounds strange to call them older, but considering the median age of the Players, even someone in their 30s counted as old. Fun fact from a history nerd: the average lifespan during medieval times was around 25 years, but only because so many people died very young. If you were lucky to survive past your mid-20s, your life expectancy would double to around 50 years. Why do I know this? During one of my substitute teaching gigs I had a grade 11 history class kill some time researching the middle ages and present their findings. Ah, group work. The bane of most students but the savior of many a teacher. It was easy to tell this couple had not just met by the way they spoke to one another. Plus, I recognized them from the convention and remembered how they¡¯d worked together to trounce all challengers at a few of the more intense strategy board games. That kind of teamwork and non-verbal communication is only possible in intimate relationships or very close friendships.
Byron Masters
Affinity: Void - Novice
Gifts: Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space
Powers: Artifice - Novice: Create items and imbue them with special properties; Artifice Forge Required; Affinity with Void required I Want To Go To There - Novice: Create dimensional doors; Affinity with Void required
Skills: Coding - Novice Puzzles - Novice Throwing - Novice
Nina Masters
Affinity: Life - Novice
Gifts: Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life - Resistance to debuffs
Powers: A Spoonful Of Sugar - Novice: Cure wounds and ailments; Affinity with Life required Bless You - Novice: Boost the vitality of nearby allies You Shall Not Pass - Novice: Create a force field
Skills: Eidetic Memory - Novice Medicine - Novice
Holy smokers! I had to have these two on my team. They both had rare affinities, and their powers: an enchanter and a healer. Too good. I had to do it. It¡¯s easy, I told myself, just open your mouth and say something. ¡°Good morrow,¡± I said when they were a few paces ahead of me. What the hell? Good morrow? What an idiot. Fortunately, they did not take me for a total dweeb. Instead, Byron smiled and doffed an imaginary hat and twirled it in front of him in a flourish as he bowed. ¡°And a very good morrow to you, my fine sir,¡± he said in what was clearly a very fake British accent. Nina laughed and said, ¡°Hi there.¡± ¡°Sorry about that,¡± I said, feeling my face burn with embarrassment. ¡°I¡¯m not really that good at, well, you know.¡± I gestured back and forth between me and them. ¡°This.¡± Nina laughed again, a kind laugh without a trace of mockery. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, it was funny.¡± ¡°So are you guys headed to the forest?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Byron said, and I noticed him blushing a bit too. ¡°We were kinda hoping there¡¯d be some, um...¡± ¡°Monsters to hunt?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°Judging by the mobile armory you¡¯ve got hanging off your belt there, you had the same idea.¡± I glanced down at the swords and daggers I carried. ¡°Well, you know. Can¡¯t be too careful,¡± I said sheepishly. ¡°So, any monsters in there?¡± ¡°Depending on how you look at it either you¡¯re in luck or you¡¯re in trouble because I can vouch for the fact that there indeed be monsters in them thar trees.¡± Seriously, what the bloody hell? Why was I talking like a pirate now? Byron¡¯s face lit up. ¡°Really? Did you see one? What was it? Did you kill it?¡± ¡°Yes, a vicious little horned bunny, and yes, but only barely. In that order.¡± Nina made a face that was halfway between a frown and a grin. ¡°A killer bunny?¡± ¡°With horns,¡± I said. ¡°Well, antlers to be precise.¡± ¡°A Jackalope!¡± they said in unison. ¡°I have also heard that there are things called war pigs in the woods, but I haven¡¯t seen one. I trust my source, though. I¡¯m sure they exist.¡± ¡°What makes you so sure?¡± ¡°They¡¯re delicious,¡± I said. When they looked confused, I said, ¡°Food vendor. About three buildings down Dagger Street outside the store with the princess dresses in the window.¡± ¡°Oh I remember that shop,¡± Nina said. ¡°Course you do,¡± Byron said. ¡°It¡¯s a wagon with an old woman selling skewers. You¡¯ll smell it before you see it. Just be sure to count your change, she¡¯s not so good with numbers.¡± ¡°Thanks for the tip,¡± Nina said. Then she extended her hand. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m Nina.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Daniel.¡± ¡°Byron.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± we all said, then laughed. Oh hell yes, I had to have these two on my team. ¡°So about that Jackalope?¡± Byron said. ¡°If you see little red eyes peering at you through the trees, watch out. If they turn black, run. Whatever you do, don¡¯t get bitten. That¡¯s all I¡¯m gonna say.¡± ¡°Duly noted,¡± Byron said. ¡°Any other advice?¡± ¡°Yeah. Have you used your map yet?¡± ¡°My what?¡± I explained to them how to use the Status map screen and they were extremely thankful. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid to venture off the path, I feel like you¡¯re more likely to encounter something in the trees.¡± ¡°And with the map, we don¡¯t have to worry about getting lost,¡± Nina said. ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°This is really valuable information. Are you sure you don¡¯t mind sharing it?¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°you seem like good people and I don¡¯t mind helping if I can.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really nice of you. Thank you.¡± ¡°No worries. It¡¯s not anything you wouldn¡¯t have discovered soon on your own eventually. And besides, we were told this is a team game, right? So maybe we¡¯ll end up on the same team so it¡¯ll help me to help you.¡± ¡°I hope so,¡± Byron said, and Nina nodded enthusiastically in agreement. ¡°I wish we had something to offer you in return,¡± she said. ¡°Like I said, no worries. I don¡¯t mind paying it forward, you know?¡± ¡°It really was nice to meet you, Daniel,¡± Byron said. ¡°You too,¡± I said. ¡°Happy hunting!¡± We started off in our opposite directions, then I had a thought and turned back to shout to them. ¡°Byron! Nina! One more thing.¡± They stopped and looked back at me. ¡°I¡¯d be careful about sharing what your powers and affinities are. Everyone¡¯s got a map, but your personal abilities are personal, which makes that information a lot more valuable.¡± ¡°Good advice,¡± Nina said. ¡°Yeah, thanks,¡± Byron said. Then they both waved and started off toward the forest again. Look at me, makin¡¯ friends already. What was with the ¡®I hope we¡¯re on the same team¡¯ crap, though? Why didn¡¯t I just straight out ask them to be on my team? I was such a wimp. Apart from Byron''s questionable Throw skill they didn''t have any direct combat abilities, so I had a moment''s doubt about whether or not it was a good idea to let them go alone into the forest, but it''s not like I had much to offer along those lines either. I decided to trust the game and their abilities as gamers and hope that they''d be okay. They should be able to find ways to use their other very impressive abilities to overcome. A little further along, I met another group heading toward the forest, this time is was two men and a woman. One of them was a fellow team builder I¡¯d seen before, Troy Hobbes. The man with him was a grim-looking customer with Ice affinity and a katana, who¡¯d been killer at fighting video games. That seemed to have carried over here with his abilities making him a hand-to-hand powerhouse.
Lucas Grimes
Affinity: Ice - Novice
Gifts: Yeah, I¡¯m Fast - Improved agility
Powers: Cool Customer - Novice: Resistance to debuffs and mental effects Runnin Circles Round Yo Sorry Ass - Competent: Super speed Bleed Them Out - Novice: Inflicted wounds heal slower
Skills: Hunting - Novice Sword - Competent
The woman had been a pretty sharp gamer, too; she pretty much owned the Pokemon card game table, and had no qualms about telling everyone who lost to her how pathetic they were...and everyone lost to her. Her abilities here turn her into a porcupine.
Sonja Kovacs
Affinity: Earth - Novice
Gifts: I Don¡¯t Like Getting Hurt - Exceptional toughness
Powers: Prickly Pear- Novice: Cover body with protective quills This Rose Has Thorns - Novice: Shoot quills like darts
Skills: Fishing - Novice Kickboxing - Competent
When they got close, I saw Troy stare at me for a moment, then sneer and saunter past, reeking of superiority. This time I didn¡¯t even merit a nod. I knew he had just evaluated me, by myself, and found me lacking as a team builder. Where do people like this get their confidence from? One thing that had bothered me since I first started using Evaluate was how terse people¡¯s Statuses were. Attributes like strength, agility, vitality, and speed were mentioned, but that¡¯s it. Typically, a character sheet would list attributes like this and give some sort of indication of rank or strength, like a number or letter rating. Our Statuses had no such thing. As well, there was no such thing as a class or profession listed, unless Team Builder counted, but that¡¯s not what I had in mind. I expected to see something like a Warrior, Wizard, Rogue, or Healer class. But after scanning dozens and dozens of Player Statuses, I came to realize that although not overtly shown, everybody did have a class that was implied through the abilities that were listed. Or at the very least, there was a clear role they were fit to fill. It wasn¡¯t always easy to parse out, but it was there. Some people were clearly parked in one profession, whereas others blurred the lines a bit. An obvious example was that woman I¡¯d just met, Nina. She was clearly a healer and support character, a Cleric in RPG terms. Someone like Sigrid was a warrior with support abilities, kind of like a Paladin. This guy Lucas was a pure melee fighter, as was his companion Sonja, although she was a bit tankier. Where did I land? With no combat skills or abilities, and a nebulous set of abilities, what was I? I had no idea. I didn¡¯t seem to have any clear role to play. After the tutorial was over and I¡¯d assembled a team, what value would I have to that team? That was a tomorrow problem. I just needed to focus on assembling a good team, one that covered all the bases. If possible, I wanted to find people who weren¡¯t totally pidgeon-holed into a single role and could be flexible. I didn¡¯t know what abilities this Troy bully has, but both his recruits were the same: frontline damage dealers. That would be great if all you had to worry about is one-on-one fights, but I didn¡¯t think the game would be limited to just those kinds of challenges. I wanted a bit of everything in my team so that we had a chance to overcome any obstacle we might face. Versatility for the win. Once I got back to the city I went straight to the Dragon Clan dojo and returned the swords, but they said I could keep a couple of the knives. I went looking for Sifu and found him with Chow Li in her office. ¡°I look forward to seeing you at training again this afternoon,¡± Sifu said to me. I could tell that skipping it was not an option I ought to consider. Not that I had any intention to, I was eager to see how quickly I could raise my mastery in kung fu and looked forward to being able to train. ¡°Absolutely,¡± I said. ¡°By the way, Sifu, I brought you something.¡± I brought out the bento box. ¡°I have had lunch,¡± he said. I opened it and showed him the venom sac and rabbit feet. I¡¯m pretty sure I saw his composure crack, but it was just for a split second before the stoic look was back. ¡°Jackalope,¡± he said. ¡°Yep,¡± I said, although he wasn¡¯t asking a question, he was stating a fact. He eyed me with that appraising look that made me so uncomfortable. ¡°I met one in the forest,¡± I said by way of explanation. ¡°Really?¡± Chow Li said. I nodded. ¡°And you killed it?¡± I nodded. ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°By yourself?¡± ¡°Um...yes?¡± Chow Li whistled between her teeth. ¡°And you got its venom sac, too. You are either very lucky, or...no, that¡¯s it. You¡¯re very lucky.¡± ¡°May I?¡± Sifu said. I extended the box to him. ¡°Please.¡± The old man took the box from my hands gently, almost tenderly, and cradled it close to his chest. ¡°Antlers?¡± I produced the antlers from my backpack and he took those too. Without another word, Sifu Chow Bo glided away to his den with his treasures. ¡°That was weird,¡± I said after he¡¯d gone. ¡°Sifu likes his rare materials,¡± Chow Li said, reaching into a desk drawer. ¡°You just made his day.¡± ¡°Are Jackalopes that rare?¡± ¡°Mmmm,¡± she grunted. ¡°Quite. And it is even more rare to be able to get their venom sac.¡± When she brought her hand out it was holding a little bag. I heard metal clinking inside it as she handed it to me. ¡°What¡¯s this for?¡± ¡°Those materials are not only rare, they are quite valuable. You deserve compensation.¡± I peeked inside and saw the glitter of a lot of gold. Score! Chapter Twenty - Look at me, making friends There was still a lot of daytime left so after changing into the same gray uniform worn by most of the NPCs at the Dragon Clan, I ventured out into the streets to see if I could collect more people for my team. In particular, I hoped to run into Sigrid and Mary-Jane, so the first place I went was the last place I¡¯d seen them, the cafe along Sword Street. Chow Li¡¯s assessment of my luck seemed correct, because there they were, sitting at a sidewalk table outside the same cafe. They¡¯d spent some of their gold on clothes, just simple blouses and loose pants, but they looked less anachronistic than yesterday. I have to admit, even though I¡¯d wanted to run into them, even though I¡¯d come there with the specific hope of running into them, now that I¡¯d found them I kind of wished I hadn¡¯t because it meant I had to actually go through with it and talk to them. I had to walk up to two people ¡ª two women, and attractive ones at that ¡ª and spark up a conversation. Could I even do that? I had to. Because whatever other reasons there may have been for me to want to talk to them, the truth is I knew that I had to be on Mary-Jane¡¯s team. She was, after all, the protagonist. Being around her had the best chance of winning, whatever that meant. Did I mention gamers are greedy, selfish people? I tried thinking about various ways to open a conversation. Hi there, are you guys busy? Stupid. Hey, what¡¯s up? So stupid. Yo babe. As if. Excuse me, I was wondering if it would be okay to talk to you real quick? Actually, that wasn¡¯t not bad. I decided to go with that. Steeling my resolve, I crossed over to the table where they sat facing each other. They both looked up at me. I noticed a peculiar intensity in Sigrid¡¯s expression that softened after only a moment, and I had the feeling I¡¯d just passed her Danger Sense test. ¡°Um, excuse me. I, well I was wondering if...¡± ¡°Oh hello,¡± Mary-Jane said. ¡°If it isn¡¯t my friend with the meat.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I remember you,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You helped find that little boy¡¯s sister at the convention, right?¡± ¡°That was him,¡± Mary-Jane said. ¡°You vanished before we got a chance to thank you properly,¡± Sigrid said. I felt my face get warm. ¡°Oh! It wasn¡¯t anything special, really. I was just glad to help.¡± There was an awkward lull as I stood there, then Mary-Jane broke the silence. ¡°Is there something you wanted?¡± she said. ¡°Actually yes. I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute. That is if you¡¯re not busy or anything.¡± Mary-Jane cast a look at Sigrid, who nodded. Then Mary-Jane flashed a coy smile and patted the seat next to her. ¡°Do we seem that busy to you?¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, and sat down. ¡°When I first saw you just now I didn¡¯t think you were a Player,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°That thing on your arm. There¡¯s a lot of whatchamacallem, un-Player people wearing similar things.¡± Un-Player people. That was a cute newb mistake to make, but not worth correcting unless I wanted to come across as a know-it-all from the get-go. ¡°Right. Of course.¡± I touched my green armband. ¡°Yeah, I, uh, I kind of joined a clan here last night.¡± ¡°Really? I don''t know what they means but it sounds cool. Do tell.¡± I told them the story of being too late to rent a room at an inn ¡ª they told me they shared a room above this cafe ¡ª and about how I¡¯d met some NPCs who belonged to a martial arts clan and ended up back in the dojo where I¡¯d received some kung fu training and been accepted as a clan member. I left out the part where I nearly got killed as well as about how I learned kung fu just by watching. ¡°No freaking way!¡± Mary-Jane said. ¡°That¡¯s so cool!¡± ¡°I¡¯m so jealous,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°I wanna learn kung fu!¡± ¡°That can be arranged,¡± I said. The ice officially broken, we made our proper introductions. Mary-Jane insisted on being called just Jane. ¡°May-Jane, eh? Were your parents Spider-Man fans?¡± I said. ¡°Nah,¡± she said. ¡°Stoners.¡± That out of the way, I asked them what they¡¯d been doing since yesterday. ¡°Nothing as exciting as what you¡¯ve been up to,¡± Jane said. They said they didn¡¯t really know what they ought to be doing so they¡¯ve been looking around in shops and trying not to get into trouble. ¡°Looks like that was a mistake,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You jumped headfirst into trouble and look where that got you.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°It almost got me killed.¡± Twice, but they didn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°How?¡± I then told them all about my adventure in the forest with the Jackalope. Jane howled and wiped tears of laughter from her face. ¡°You almost got killed by a bunny rabbit?¡± ¡°You heard the part about the cursed poison in its bite, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, but still,¡± she gasped, ¡°a bunny!¡± ¡°Too bad you didn¡¯t have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And the number of thy counting shall be three,¡± I recited, and I knew at that moment I had just made friends. We chatted a bit more, ordered a round of tea for everyone, then Sigrid eventually asked, ¡°Why did you want to talk to us in the first place? I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t to relive great moments in Monty Python history.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Actually¡ª¡± I didn¡¯t get the chance to finish my sentence because Sigrid interrupted me. ¡°Hang on,¡± she said. She had that intense look again. ¡°Sorry, I...crap. Too late.¡± Chapter Twenty-One - First friends Two cocky guys approached the table. They were my old friends Greg and Chuck, the two jokers who¡¯d kindly taught me the Affinity Control skill the previous day. They¡¯d also clearly spent some gold, a lot of it, because they were decked out in full warrior kit with gleaming metal armor and bedazzled swords. It looked expensive, and I had to admit, they looked pretty cool. Most of the armor here was not historically accurate, but looked like the kind of things people wore in anime. Very stylish. Same with the weapons. There were some gigantic swords that would have been completely unwieldy in the real world, but probably worked just fine here in the fantasy milieu. Greg and Chuck had chosen these, and as they sauntered over with blades taller than they were slung over their shoulders I did a quick evaluation. Their gear was nothing special, all flash and no substance. Even the gems were glass. Seemed about right for those guys. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up?¡± Chuck said, speaking directly to Jane. ¡°Yo babe,¡± Greg said to nobody in particular, but I''d assume not to me. ¡°Sorry,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°We¡¯re a little busy.¡± ¡°What,¡± Greg said pointing at me, ¡°talking to this guy? Come on, we¡¯re a lot more fun.¡± A small flicker of flame appeared out of the tip of his extended finger. ¡°See?¡± Both girls looked at him with completely emotionless faces. I was in awe by the sheer coldness of their looks, and how quickly they¡¯d slid into frosty mode. It¡¯s like they¡¯d practiced it, but now that I think about it, they probably had. No doubt this was not the first time they¡¯d had to deal with men like this, and putting on the chill was probably second nature. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t smoke,¡± Jane said. ¡°Huh?¡± Greg said. She imitated him by up her finger, then brought it close to her mouth as though lighting a cigarette. ¡°I, uh...¡± he stuttered. ¡°That¡¯s nothing,¡± said Chuck. He pointed at Sigrid¡¯s tea cup and it became encased in ice. ¡°Check it out: iced tea.¡± He guffawed at his own joke, but he was the only one. Sigrid¡¯s impassive face dropped into a frown. ¡°If I had wanted iced tea, I would have ordered it,¡± she growled. ¡°Come on, baby,¡± Chuck crooned. ¡°You¡¯re way hot enough already. Besides, the Iceman can think of better ways to warm you up.¡± There comes a time in many isekai stories when travelers between worlds have a self-aware moment. This usually happens when faced with a situation that is clearly a turning point. They realize that they have to do something that¡¯s contrary to their usual nature, to break free from what¡¯s been holding them back. It¡¯s a character-defining moment of growth that sets the stage for their transformation into the hero, stage six of the Hero¡¯s Journey: the Road of Trials. Basic grade 11 English. For example, it could happen when they see someone in dire distress and know that they ought to jump in to the rescue, even though they themselves are weak and cowardly. Or it could be they¡¯re given the choice between a safe path or a dangerous path and know that the dangerous path is the right one, even though they themselves are fearful and habitually choose the safe route. Sometimes it¡¯s as simple as deciding to save a cat. Or, to pick another example purely at random, they are sidelined by a villain and know they must stand up for themselves, even though they themselves usually avoid conflict because they are weak, cowardly, and fearful. Failure to find the inner strength to make the right choice in any of these kinds of situations will have consequences. So yeah. I didn¡¯t want to do it. Every muscle and bone in my body screamed at me to stay quiet and let things resolve without my interference. That had been the usual modus operandi for my whole pointless life. But I knew what I had to do. It¡¯s not that I thought that Sigrid and Jane needed me to rescue them or anything, I was well aware that they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, especially with these buffoons. But I just knew that it was something I had to do to prove my worth to them and to myself. It had nothing to do with a hero¡¯s journey. This was my story, not some made-up fiction following a formulaic sequence of events. And I knew in my bones that I was not the hero of this story. I was not the main character. I was not the protagonist. No, what I did next was something I never would have done before, but for some reason I felt I had to. Even minor supporting characters like me have growth arcs, I suppose. ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°Can¡¯t you see you¡¯re bugging these nice people?¡± ¡°Who asked you?¡± Greg said. ¡°Yeah, who asked you?¡± Chuck said. ¡°We¡¯re in the middle of something here, so could you please go away?¡± I said, doing what I thought was an admirable job of keeping calm and level-headed; only the slightest tremor in my voice betrayed how I truly felt. ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯m sure either of these lovely ladies would rather be in the middle of the two of us, if you know what I mean,¡± said Greg with a leer. ¡°Look,¡± I said with a sigh, ¡°read the room and just go away.¡± To hell with calm and level-headed. A ball of fire appeared in Greg¡¯s hand. ¡°Who¡¯s gonna make us? You?¡± Chuck created an ice blade in his hand. ¡°Yeah. You gonna make us?¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I think we might be playing a different game here.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± one of them grunted, I¡¯m not sure who. I wasn¡¯t even sure where the words I was speaking were coming from, it was like some imaginary wheel clicked against a hypothetical cog inside me and it all just poured out in an uncontrollable gush, like verbal diarrhea. I sighed again. ¡°Look, nobody has any idea why we¡¯re really here, or what¡¯s going to happen. But given that we¡¯re all going to be put into teams it¡¯s a pretty safe bet that the game will pit us against one another sooner or later, my money¡¯s on sooner, and if nobody else knows what I can do that gives me a distinct advantage. Maybe I¡¯ll be on the same team as you guys and it won¡¯t matter, but I sure hope not.¡± Jane let out a little snort which Sigrid quickly silenced with a sharp kick under the table. Greg and Chuck just stared at me with glazed expressions. ¡°Only an idiot would go around showing other people what they can do this early in the game. I mean, as impressive as all this is,¡± I waved my hand while copying Greg¡¯s trick and making fire flare out of the end of my finger for a brief instant, then immediately extinguished it, snuffing it out so quickly they might question if it had happened at all or if they¡¯d only imagined it, ¡°how do you know there aren¡¯t people out there whose powers and skills are a lot stronger than yours? Is showing off like this actually only showing people how weak you are in comparison?¡± ¡°Wait,¡± Chuck said, ¡°did you just...?¡± I knew that the little use of Affinity Control I¡¯d just demonstrated was ill advised, and went counter to what I was saying, but it was also a bit of calculated misdirection. I¡¯d revealed an affinity with fire, but that was a common thing. They¡¯d never suspect I also had affinity with several other elements, and could eventually have it with all of them. ¡°Who knows,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m wrong and it¡¯s totally fine to let everybody else know what you¡¯re capable of. Maybe being able to create a bit of fire and ice really does kick butt. It¡¯s possible I¡¯m just saying all this because I¡¯m too scared to reveal how little I can do.¡± Thinking this was an admission of weakness on my part, both Chuck and Greg started sneering at me a little. I ignored them and forged on with my diatribe. ¡°Or maybe the ability to light a candle or create a little icicle is a lame little parlor trick compared to the incredible things I and everyone else at this table can do. Maybe I¡¯m doing you a favor by not embarrassing you in front of all these people.¡± I gestured beyond the table at the bustling street around us. Nobody was paying any particular attention to us, but there were a number of Players and NPCs nearby who¡¯d surely notice if anybody started shooting off flashy abilities. ¡°If you ask me, it doesn¡¯t really matter. Either way, the only smart move right now is to hide what you can do and not go around trying to look impressive, because the only people worth impressing are the last ones who¡¯ll find it impressive. Know what I mean?¡± The table remained quiet. All I could hear was my heart pounding a steady beat in my chest. I honestly thought I might pass out. But I drew strength from the dim looks on the faces of Greg and Chuck as they processed what I¡¯d just said and slowly recognized the insults buried in the middle of what really was some very sound advice. The girls¡¯ amusement felt pretty good to see, too. The irony was that just before these two bozos showed up I¡¯d decided that I was going to do exactly what I¡¯d just dissed them for doing and share my Status with Sigrid and Jane, including all my powers and skills. In the end, it was Jane who broke the silence. ¡°Now¡¯s the time when you guys bugger off,¡± she said with the sweetest of smiles. Greg shot me a look that told me he was going to find a way to make me pay for this later as he sulked away, accompanied by the low murmur of Chuck whining as he followed suit. The table remained silent after the bozos had gone as Sigrid and Jane stared at me with mouths agape. I assumed they were offended that I had spoken so brazenly. So much for making friends. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have jumped in and said all that. Please don¡¯t think that I thought you guys couldn¡¯t handle yourselves, it¡¯s just¡ª¡± ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Jane said. ¡°That was freaking awesome.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Damn straight,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Worth the price of admission.¡± I reached out and wrapped my hands around her frozen tea cup. I concentrated on using fire, not to create flames but only to warm it up. I stopped when the tea inside started to steam. ¡°There. Good as new.¡± She gawked at the tea. ¡°How did you...?¡± ¡°So I didn¡¯t imagine that little finger flame earlier. But didn¡¯t you just say only an idiot would show off his powers?¡± Jane said. ¡°Yeah, well, I trust you guys. And...¡± I bit my lip and mumbled, ¡°it¡¯s only fair. I kind of already know what you can do.¡± Sigrid narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Okay, here¡¯s the thing,¡± I said. ¡°Wait, you know what? It¡¯d be a lot easier to just show you. I wonder if I can.¡± I opened my quest and quietly asked System to share it with the other people at the table. Quest: Be A Team Player - Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: [Hidden] Assembled Players: 0/10 Quest time remaining: 27:42:23 ¡°Can you see that?¡± They responded by peppering me with their own questions. ¡°How did you do that?¡± asked Sigrid. ¡°Is that your quest?¡± asked Jane. ¡°What does this mean?¡± asked Sigrid. Okay, they could definitely see it. ¡°Whoah, whoah, one at a time. First, there¡¯s System. It¡¯s a sort of AI or something that runs things, and you can ask it to do things, like display stuff publicly. Second, yeah, I got a different quest, and I¡¯m not the only one. And lastly, that¡¯s going to take some explaining.¡± Sigrid lifted her reheated tea to her lips and sipped delicately. ¡°We¡¯ve got time,¡± she said. I explained how I and some of the other people who¡¯d played the God Game at the convention had been given a different quest, but I neglected to mention that time I¡¯d spent alone with Stratos on the final day and how it was all my fault they¡¯d been isekai¡¯d. ¡°Hang on,¡± Jane said. ¡°Do you think the reason we¡¯re here has anything to do with the God Game?¡± I wondered if my reaction showed just how shocked I was by the incredibly insightful question. ¡°That¡¯s...¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You and I weren¡¯t playing games, we were just playing eye candy.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right,¡± Jane said. ¡°How do you feel about being here, anyway? You must be pretty upset.¡± ¡°You¡¯d think so, but to be perfectly honest, I think this is all pretty amazing,¡± Jane said. ¡°You say that now, but we don¡¯t really know what¡¯s going to happen.¡± ¡°I¡¯m upset,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I have no idea what¡¯s going on or if we¡¯re ever going to be able to go home after it¡¯s all over.¡± ¡°Well I suppose there is that,¡± Jane said. ¡°Still, we¡¯re here now, so the only thing to do is make the best of it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good attitude,¡± I said, honestly impressed by her adaptability. Not that I would¡¯ve expected anything less from the hero. ¡°That still doesn¡¯t explain how you know what we can do,¡± Sigrid said. She was a shrewd one too. ¡°Not exactly,¡± I said. ¡°Then what?¡± Sigrid said, annunciating each word carefully. ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Look, I¡¯m going to do what you should never ever do and let you see my Status screen. I think it¡¯s only fair, and you¡¯ll understand why once you see it.¡± I opened my Status and told System to share it with them just like I had with my quest screen. I could tell by the way their eyes fixed on something above my head that they could see it. I gave them a few moments to soak it in. ¡°I see,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Holy bonkers,¡± Jane said. ¡°You have all the affinities, too?¡± She covered her mouth with her hand and looked around guiltily, then said much quieter, ¡°So do I.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I whispered back. ¡°I want your skills,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Can I learn them?¡± ¡°I think so. I mean, I¡¯m pretty sure.¡± ¡°I bet you can teach them,¡± Jane said, ¡°you have the skill.¡± ¡°You know I never considered that,¡± I said, feeling stupid. ¡°So you actually learned kung fu?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Just by watching.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°So cool. Does that mean you can¡ª¡± ¡°Yes,¡± interrupted Jane, who¡¯d been quiet up to now. ¡°Yes, what?¡± I said. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll join your team,¡± Jane said. ¡°That is why you came to talk to us in the first place, right?¡± She really didn¡¯t miss a thing. ¡°Well, yeah.¡± ¡°Then yes. Count me in,¡± Jane said. Sigrid stared at me, an intent look that reminded me of Sifu¡¯s appraising gaze. Then she relaxed, seeming to have made a choice. ¡°Me too,¡± Sigrid said. Quest: Be A Team Player - Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Assembled Players: 2/10 ¡°That makes me very happy,¡± I said. Jane reached out and gripped my forearm and fixed me with an even more gripping look. ¡°But first you have to tell me how the hell you got those affinities. I haven¡¯t learned a single one yet!¡± I explained about Affinity Control. ¡°You are so teaching me how to do that,¡± Jane said. ¡°I can teach both of you,¡± I said. ¡°I think.¡± They exchanged excited looks. ¡°Who else is on the team so far?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Nobody. You¡¯re the first people I¡¯ve talked to about it, so far it¡¯s just us.¡± ¡°So, just to be clear: you¡¯ve used that All Shall Be Revealed power on us, then?¡± Jane said. ¡°Yeah, but in my defense I use it on pretty much everyone and everything I see,¡± I said. ¡°How do we compare?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Let¡¯s just say there are very good reasons why I wanted you on my team.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°You mean it¡¯s not just because we¡¯re a couple of super-hot babes?¡± Jane said. ¡°Jane!¡± admonished Sigrid. ¡°I¡¯m just saying,¡± Jane said. ¡°Most people have maybe one or two gifts and powers, and a lot of those powers are so-so,¡± I said, quickly switching the subject. ¡°Your Statuses are definitely on the higher end of the scale.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± Sigrid said with a competitive grin. ¡°Also, some affinities are more common than others. Some are quite rare. Your affinities with Light and Air are both among the rarest.¡± ¡°Coooool,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And my whatchamacallit, Master Of None thing?¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s like yours but different.¡± ¡°I saw a few people with a power that gives them a second affinity, but I haven¡¯t seen anyone else who has the potential to get all of them.¡± Neither of us made mention of the fact that her Master Of None and my Good At Everything may have been similar, but hers was better. ¡°Lucky you,¡± Sigrid said, her competitive streak letting a bit of bitterness show through. Maybe gamers weren¡¯t the only ones who were jealous and selfish. ¡°Do you have your eye on anybody else?¡± Jane said. ¡°Actually, I did see a couple earlier who both had great powers. She¡¯s a healer and he¡¯s an artificer.¡± ¡°Wow! I don¡¯t know what that second one means but you should get them on the team too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan. And actually, for the sake of full disclosure, that¡¯s the reason why I approached you first. I could really use your help.¡± ¡°How can we help you?¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m crap at talking to people.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Did you see the looks on those creeps¡¯ faces just now after you laid into them?¡± Jane said. ¡°Seriously, that was next-level awesome, dude.¡± ¡°You¡¯re very kind, but that¡¯s really not what I¡¯m usually like. I don¡¯t even know where that came from, and even now my heart¡¯s still pounding from the fear and stress. You have no idea how hard it was for me to even come up and talk to you,¡± I said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you an honest one?¡± Jane said. ¡°If I¡¯m being honest too, it¡¯s pretty refreshing to have someone come straight out and admit they want to use you.¡± ¡°Jane!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Be nice.¡± ¡°How am I not being nice?¡± Jane said. Sigrid paused for a second. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It is a bit refreshing.¡± She turned to me. ¡°You get so used to guys like those two before, you forget there are also some nice ones out there too.¡± ¡°Awwwwwwwww, he¡¯s blushing,¡± Jane said, giggling. ¡°So cute.¡± ¡°Knock it off, Jane,¡± Sigrid said, but she was giggling too. ¡°So you¡¯d like us to help you recruit people for the team,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Exactly,¡± I said, grateful to be back on track. ¡°So let me get this straight,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯ll find the best guys around, then you want us to go flirt with them so they¡¯ll join the team?¡± ¡°I was thinking more like you use your outgoing personalities to talk to them and see if they¡¯re a good fit,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s fine,¡± Jane said. ¡°If the whole cuckold thing is your kink, wear it. I¡¯ve seen weirder.¡± ¡°Just ignore her,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Is this so we don¡¯t get any assholes like Iceman and his pal Mr Cigarette Lighter on the team? You know, my power can do that without even talking to them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s even better,¡± I said. ¡°But, judging their character was only part of it. I¡¯m really not good at, well, I can¡¯t just...by myself.¡± I put my head in my hands. ¡°God, I must seem so lame.¡± They both looked at me, and their tones flipped from playful to serious in an instant. I think that was the instant they both realized I was serious about the social anxiety thing. ¡°We¡¯ve got you, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Jane said. ¡°You just let us do the talking.¡± ¡°Thanks. Oh, there¡¯s one other thing.¡± ¡°Here it comes,¡± Jane said, flipping back from serious to playful in an instant. ¡°Remember I said I¡¯m not the only one who got a different quest?¡± I went on to tell them about Kiki, and in the process the part about me almost dying and her threats of doing it again if I dared to recruit anyone good spilled out. ¡°Not what I was expecting,¡± Jane said once I¡¯d finished. Sigrid patted my arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Daniel. This Kiki slag is the one in trouble if she tries to mess with you again.¡± I told them I had to go back to the dojo for training and suggested we split up so they could go outside the walls and explore their powers, but both of them shot that idea down without a second thought. It¡¯s not that they didn¡¯t want to go adventuring, they just had other priorities. ¡°First,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°I am not leaving you alone, not with that Kiki bitch out there.¡± ¡°Slag,¡± Jane said. ¡°I stand corrected,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Slag. But more importantly,¡± she eyed Jane and received a nod from her friend. ¡°We want to learn kung fu too,¡± they both said in unison. Chapter Twenty-Two - Andy By the time I¡¯d introduced Sigrid and Jane to Chow Li and she¡¯d given them the okay to join in, we only barely made it into the training room before the session started. If they¡¯d taken any longer changing into the standard gray clan gi we would have had to face Sifu¡¯s disappointment, and I¡¯d do just about anything to avoid that. He worked us hard, and by the time the punishing lesson was over my whole body ached, but it was the kind of ache that felt good, the ache of accomplishment. The best thing about the session was the other Player I¡¯d noticed training in the dojo. He was either a very fast learner or he already knew kung fu because he seemed to know what he was doing already, but what made him especially notable were his fantastic powers. Being able to adjust his physical abilities on the fly, adding strength when he needed to be powerful, or agility when he needed to be quick, or toughness when he needed to be resistant, could make him flexible and formidable in hand-to-hand combat with his kung fu. As for the one that could cancel other people¡¯s powers, well that was just plain devastating.
Andy Wong
Affinity: Ice - Novice
Gifts: Thick Skin - Improved toughness
Powers: I Think Not - Novice: Nullify a target¡¯s Power I Have the Power - Novice: Channel qi energy to improve physical performance where needed
Skills: Football - Novice Kung Fu - Novice Rugby - Novice
I¡¯d been too engrossed in my own training and scoping out Andy to pay much attention to what the girls were doing, but when it was all over Jane came running up to me and before I knew it I was being crushed in a tight hug. ¡°Guess what?¡± she whispered in my ear. ¡°What?¡± She let me go and stood facing me, her expression serious. ¡°I know kung fu,¡± she said. ¡°Whoah,¡± I said in my very best Keanu voice. She rewarded me with a soft, melodic laugh. ¡°Actually, not really,¡± she said. ¡°Not everyone can pick up skills as fast as you, but I¡¯ve always wanted to say that.¡± ¡°I totally get it,¡± I said. ¡°Listen, where¡¯s Sigrid? We have someone to recruit and I don¡¯t want to let him slip away.¡± It turned out I needn¡¯t have worried. Fate brought us together when he was part of the same ceremony to get his green armband as the girls. I watched from the sidelines as they received them, and instead of struggling to put it on themselves like I had, they all immediately helped each other, allowing Chow Li to give her initiation spiel. She was right, it was pretty moving when the person being initiated wasn¡¯t a total doofus like me. We approached Andy after the ceremony and, as planned, I did none of the talking. We learned that he really had done kung fu back on Earth and was in the dojo because he¡¯d sought out a place to train here as well. I took him for a serious guy at first. He was built like a tank and looked intimidating, but Jane and Sigrid didn¡¯t even have to gang up on him to get him talking. He was the one who initiated the conversation with them, revealing a rough but charming personality. Next thing I knew, he¡¯d agreed to join the team and was standing there grinning at me. Quest: Be A Team Player - Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: [Hidden] Assembled Players: 3/10 Quest time remaining: 24:52:42 We were getting there. Being accepted to train with the clan had its perks, such as being able to borrow weapons and a free room in one of the dormitories. The girls decided to ditch their shared accommodations over the cafe and along with Andy they were each given their own individual rooms in the same clan dormitory building as mine. The dojo itself was a compound made up of multiple structures. It had gardens and training grounds, and even an area with a creek winding through it with ponds full of gigantic red-gold koi fish. We¡¯d been allocated rooms in a one-storey, U-shaped building with a large, open-skied courtyard in the center. This courtyard was a miniature version of the one we¡¯d trained in, with weapon racks, an archery range, and practice dummies, along with a beautiful garden with its own little pond. The individual dorm rooms, ten along each arm of the U, all opened onto this central area like rooms at a motel, and there was a full kitchen and dining hall plus more multi-purpose living areas at the base of the U. Apart from us, it was empty. There were more than enough empty rooms that I was already planning to make this my team¡¯s headquarters. Andy wanted to stick around and do some more training ¡ª he really wanted to raise his kung fu skill ¡ª and there were still several hours of daylight left, so the girls decided we¡¯d do a little shopping. They were pumped by the thought of going outside the city to get some experience, but they needed to get some gear first. I had no choice but to come along. They said it was for my own protection, but I suspect the fact that I could evaluate everything in the shops and help them pick the best items must have played some part in their decision-making process. First, we had to change out of the training gis. I considered putting on the armored nehru jacket I¡¯d worn into the forest earlier but decided against it. After all, we were only going shopping. I chose something more casual instead, a shorter tang jacket, still with the Mandarin collar, but with frog buttons and some subtle decorative embroidery. It took me no time at all to change into it, which meant I had a while to wait for my companions to get themselves ready. I decided to put the time to use by trying to polish my tarnished ring. It was surprisingly easy to rub the accumulated grime away, and even more surprising to discover that underneath the tarnish the ring was made of a shiny metal that was probably silver. The final surprise came when I evaluated it and saw that its description had changed.
Untarnished Ring A simple metal band.
Powers: A Bit Faster - Small increase in movement speed
Its power used to be ¡®A Little Bit Faster'' and it used to give a ¡®very small increase,¡¯ but after a little bit of TLC it got a little bit better. Not too shabby. They still had not emerged yet, so I started practicing with Affinity Control. I focused on using Fire, tossing fireball after fireball at one of the practice dummies. They all fizzled against it, but towards the ends I was sure that the fireballs were getting a bit bigger, their explosions a bit stronger. I was close to improving my mastery of it, I could feel it. I ran out of mana before the girls finally came out and we were able to start our shopping excursion. I couldn¡¯t fathom what had taken them so long, but whatever my other failings were, at the very least I did know better than to say a word about it. It¡¯s a cliche that men hate going shopping with women. They don¡¯t like being dragged from shop to shop, waiting around. This was not at all true for me. I¡¯d had ample practice with this in the past, and I was very much looking forward to going out with my new friends and outfitting them with armor and weapons. I myself didn¡¯t need anything, the nehru jacket I borrowed from the Dragon Clan was as effective as any normal armor you could buy, and I had no weapon skills yet so the knives the clan had given me were more than enough for now. The girls, on the other hand, had a long list of things to purchase, and they were overflowing with bubbly zeal, so it was with great enthusiasm that I consulted my map that had all the best shops marked on it and helped them formulate a plan of attack like Allied Generals in their war room before D-Day. Sigrid had started with combat skills in sword and spear so she wanted to buy one of each weapon, along with some armor. Also, given her Shield Maiden power, a sturdy shield was a given. (Jane made a joke about her being no maiden and earned a slap from Sigrid as a result.) Sigrid decided that she should embrace her Nordic heritage and stick with the Valkyrie theme, and walked out of the armorer Justine¡¯s shop that Diego had recommended looking a lot like she had at the convention, only better. The fitted breastplate glimmered in the sun, the abdominal muscles shaped into it matching the real ones protected underneath. It suited her. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Jane also ended up sticking with the swashbuckler theme and purchased some slick leather armor that cinched around her slender body like a corset, along with a very nice rapier to go with her sword skill too. I had questions about how effective the corset actually was as armor, but Jane was far more interested in form over function and could not be dissuaded from buying it. ¡°Why are you even arguing about it?¡± she¡¯d said when I brought it up. ¡°You¡¯re the one who benefits most from this.¡± ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about,¡± I said. She heaved an exaggerated sigh and flipped some red hair over her shoulder as she struck a pose. ¡°You get to see how good I look.¡± There was no denying it, she did look good. She had also picked up some appropriately showy clothing that included tall, laced up boots and a shirt she could wear under the so-called armor that also laced up at the top and showed just enough cleavage to be distracting, along with some supple leather pants that fit like a second skin and were also too distracting than was good for me. A pair of soft leather gloves completed the ensemble. She looked really good. We were just about to leave the weapons shop when she saw a thin stiletto dagger in the window that she took a liking to. Once I told her that it had the added bonus of a power that raised the wielder¡¯s agility slightly, kind of like my ring did for speed, she had to have it. It was a testament to Jane¡¯s charm ¡ª and the effectiveness of her Dominating Presence power ¡ª that she managed to persuade the NPC selling it to give it to her for the same price as a normal dagger. I said I wasn¡¯t going to buy anything myself, but then I saw a healing potion in one of the shops. If I¡¯d learned anything from watching isekai anime it was that people get hurt. A lot. If they don¡¯t have any healing powers, then people get through by chugging healing potions like a freshman downs beer at their first kegger. But the potion was expensive, ludicrously so. I asked about it and learned that healing magic was pretty rare, so also valuable. It made me think about that morning when Shashu had suggested I owed my incredible recovery from the beating Kiki¡¯s gang had given me to Sifu¡¯s healing potions. How many had they given me? How much would it have cost? I couldn¡¯t count on Shashu to rescue me every time. Regardless of the cost, knowing how effective healing potions were I wanted one. Just in case. I couldn¡¯t possibly ask Sifu, not after all he and the clan had already done for me. Had I been thinking, I should have negotiated a healing potion instead of gold as payment for the Jackalope parts. Instead, I used the gold I¡¯d been given to invest in one at the shop. The girls thought I was crazy, but they hadn¡¯t watched the animes, they didn¡¯t realize the danger that was likely to come. I really hoped to bump into Nina and Byron, and soon. Before someone else scooped up Nina¡¯s healing power. I was still very interested in Byron¡¯s Artifice power, but you could really only consider that something that would be good to have on the team. Suddenly Nina¡¯s healing seemed vital. Once we¡¯d finished all our shopping I noticed we drew a fair bit of attention from people as we walked by. From other Players, at least; the NPCs ignored us. But I couldn¡¯t blame them, we must have made quite a sight walking through the city fully armed and decked out in warrior attire, two gorgeous women and...me. ¡°So Daniel,¡± Sigrid said as we made our way up Bow Street, headed for the center of town. ¡°How¡¯d you get to be such a good shopper?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°How do I say this?¡± she said, biting her lip. ¡°You shop like a girl,¡± Jane said. Sigrid laughed. ¡°Yeah. Most guys just stand around like tools, but you were actually very helpful.¡± I chuckled. ¡°Would you believe me if I told you I''m used to this kind of thing?¡± ¡°Oooh, sounds like there¡¯s a story here,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You really wanna know my sordid past?¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh dear. Well, I guess it stems from back in high school when I sort of got adopted by a group of popular girls.¡± ¡°How¡¯d that happen?¡± ¡°I suppose I¡¯d been a bit of a loner for the first couple of years.¡± I saw the skeptical look on Jane¡¯s face. ¡°Okay, fine: I was a total loner. The archetypal nerd, good at school but awkward at everything else and largely friendless. Happy? Anyway, for whatever reason these girls took me under their wing." "Maybe you were a project for them," Sigrid said. "Or, like, a mascot,¡± Jane said, earning her a reprimand from her friend. ¡°I suppose there are other possibilities. Were you rich?¡± ¡°Hardly.¡± ¡°So much for that theory.¡± ¡°They probably saw something in you,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Either way, being part of their clique raised my status at school. People noticed me, which was really stressful. But after a while, the attention felt nice. Strange, but nice. It turned out they were a hell of a lot of fun, and it turned into a real friendship that lasted until the end of high school and beyond.¡± We walked in silence for a few steps, then Jane said, ¡°and?¡± ¡°And what?¡± ¡°That cannot be the end of the story. Gimme more.¡± ¡°What do you want to know?¡± ¡°How many were there?¡± ¡°Three.¡± ¡°Which one did you have a crush on?¡± Jane said. I laughed. ¡°All of them?¡± Jane laughed too. ¡°Sounds about right.¡± ¡°Hell, I was a teenage boy surrounded by pretty girls giving him lots of attention. How could I not have a crush on them?¡± ¡°Do you think they knew?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Did they know I had a crush on them? I dunno.¡± ¡°They did,¡± Jane said. ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Trust me. I know.¡± ¡°Did anything ever happen between you and any of them?¡± Sigrid said. I snorted. ¡°Of course not. I had zero confidence, zero experience, and was far, far below their league. But I was okay with that.¡± ¡°No wonder nothing happened,¡± Jane said. ¡°It was fine. Better than fine, really. They actually helped me grow into myself a lot, and I like to think that¡¯s why they pulled me into their circle.¡± ¡°I''m back to thinking you were a project,¡± Sigrid said. I considered it for a moment. ¡°That tracks, actually. The first thing they did was a makeover: hair, clothes, the works.¡± ¡°You were a project, yup.¡± ¡°That¡¯s where you learned how to shop,¡± Jane said. ¡°Yeah. They wouldn¡¯t let me be another mannequin in the stores, I had to be an active participant.¡± ¡°Good training.¡± ¡°They were like that with everything. I suppose you could say they helped me out of my larval stage, and larva¡¯s not a bad description of how I was before I met them. Of course, what emerged was more of a moth than a butterfly, but at least they gave me wings.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a really weird way to look at things,¡± Jane said. ¡°You think? They showed me that it was okay to be myself, that even though I was obsessed with games that was fine. Chacun son gout. I wouldn¡¯t say they completely transformed me, but I did get a wee bit better at social stuff.¡± ¡°Sheesh, I¡¯d hate to have seen you before,¡± Jane said. ¡°I would hate for you to have seen me back then too,¡± I said, looking at the ground. She opened her mouth for what was no doubt a witty rejoinder, but after taking one look at me quickly shut it again and bit back whatever it was she¡¯d been about to say. That made me realize how morose I¡¯d suddenly become so I took a deep breath, gave my head a shake, and looked up again. ¡°Anywho, it¡¯s fair to say they rescued me. If it weren¡¯t for them, my high school experience was on track to being a total cringe. Because of them I managed to crawl out of my cocoon and make other friends outside of their circle.¡± ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re bringing back all that high school clique crap,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Oh come on,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s no way you weren¡¯t one of the popular kids.¡± ¡°Well, yeah, sure,¡± she said. ¡°But if you think that the popular kids don¡¯t also struggle with social stuff you¡¯re dead wrong.¡± ¡°Preach, sister,¡± Jane said. ¡°If you say so," I said. "I did get pretty tired of having the more popular guys, the same ones who¡¯d ignored me for years, suddenly coming up like we were old buddies. I knew what they wanted, and it wasn¡¯t to be my pal. I never gave it to them, none of those cretins were good enough for my friends.¡± ¡°Good boy,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Protect your friends.¡± If she wanted to think I was trying to protect those girls, I wasn¡¯t about to tell her I was honestly just jealous. I knew deep down who really wasn¡¯t good enough for them. Jane skipped a few paces ahead, then turned around and started walking backwards, facing Sigrid and me. ¡°So I guess that¡¯s why you had the idea to have us pave the way to other Players, huh?¡± I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s how it worked in high school. Those girls back then were on a whole other level socially, and they gave me credibility with others. If they accepted me, it meant I was safe, you know?¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure when people saw me with them they immediately assumed I was gay, but that only made other girls more comfortable with me, and I was more than okay with that too. Not like I stood a chance with them either, you know?¡± ¡°Not with that attitude,¡± Jane smirked. Sigrid made to kick her friend but Jane danced out of the way, still trotting backwards. ¡°Any guys ever hit on you thinking you were gay because you hung out with the hot chicks?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°One or two.¡± ¡°I hope you took it as a compliment.¡± ¡°I did. It meant a lot to me, especially because it was one or two more than the number of girls who ever hit on me.¡± ¡°Have you ever considered that other girls probably thought you were dating one of the ones you hung out with.¡± ¡°As if.¡± Jane chewed her lip as she looked at me, then suddenly spun around and started walking normally beside us. ¡°So you¡¯re strictly a platonic friend sort of guy, eh?¡± ¡°Well, although things were nothing but platonic with my three friends, they were the ones who connected me with my first real girlfriend.¡± ¡°Now things are getting interesting.¡± Sigrid said. Chapter Twenty-Three - The girlfriend ¡°I wanna hear about this girlfriend,¡± Jane said. ¡°Me too,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Who was she?¡± ¡°One of their older sisters.¡± I sighed. ¡°Siobhan.¡± Sigrid and I took a few steps before we realized Jane had stopped. We both turned to look at her. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Say that again,¡± Jane said. ¡°Say what?¡± ¡°That name.¡± ¡°Siobhan?¡± ¡°No no, say it the way you said it before.¡± ¡°Siobhan.¡± It was Jane¡¯s turn to sigh. ¡°Ah. I heard it that time,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Oh nothing,¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s just...I wish someone would say my name like that someday.¡± She gave her head a shake sending red hair flowing, then started walking again. ¡°Right. So, spill. Let¡¯s hear about this girlfriend. Siobhan.¡± She put a lot of emotion into saying the name. Was that really how I sounded when I said it? ¡°We went out for over a year,¡± I said. ¡°Probably the best year of my life.¡± ¡°How¡¯d it end?¡± Jane said. ¡°We broke up when I was in my last year of high school and she¡¯d gone off to university. Long distance is a relationship killer.¡± ¡°Relationships are the real relationship killer,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Ignore her,¡± Jane said. ¡°How¡¯d you drum up the nerve to ask out this Siobhan?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t. It was only after it ended that I learned it was Siobhan who¡¯d set the wheels in motion and asked her sister and her friends to set us up. I thought it was strange that they¡¯d want me to have a sleepover with them to teach them how to play D&D.¡± "That is pretty sus," Sigrid said. ¡°Let me guess,¡± Jane said. ¡°They ended up getting bored quickly but the older sister who just happened to be around was totally into it and you ended up spending the entire night playing that game with her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not even going to ask how you know that. It¡¯s scarily accurate.¡± ¡°You were real dense back then,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I did eventually figure out after it was all over that my friends hadn¡¯t really wanted to play D&D.¡± ¡°That¡¯s your take-away? You¡¯re still dense.¡± ¡°That girl liked you, Daniel,¡± Jane said. ¡°I never believed she could. I mean, she was great: crazy smart, funny, just as pretty as her younger sister, and kind. And she loved games. A dream girl. So obviously I never could figure out why she was with me.¡± ¡°Let me guess,¡± Jane said. ¡°She ended it.¡± ¡°Harsh!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But true,¡± I said. I was suddenly overwhelmed by a flood of sadness. That was normal for me, and was why I tried not to think about Siobhan too much. I know other people probably enjoy looking back and remembering wonderful times in their life, however fleeting they were, but all I felt was pain. Pain and loss and regret. You know the idea of purgatory, right? A place to suffer for your sins before being allowed into heaven? It¡¯s like the reverse: being with Siobhan had given me a taste of heaven first, right before being sent to languish in purgatory forever. And don¡¯t even get me started about what happened with my next and only other girlfriend. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I took a deep breath, trying to chase away the melancholy. This had been a fun day with Jane and Sigrid, I didn¡¯t want to ruin it by being, well, me. It wasn¡¯t until this conversation that I¡¯d made the connection that I was sliding back into old habits by glomming onto the cool girls again. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about that, all I knew was that I didn¡¯t want to ruin it with Sigrid and Jane. I needed them. And despite myself, I liked them too. We¡¯d almost reached the middle of town when we saw a group of people gathered in a circle, mostly NPCs but also a few Players. A few quick evaluations told me their abilities were average. Poking our way through the crowd to see what they were looking at, we found three NPCs wearing red armbands, each paired up with another NPC wearing an orange one. They were sparring with each other out on the street. It didn¡¯t look like a real fight, nobody was really trying to hurt the other, so I figured it must be some sort of friendly exhibition match. We were at the top of Bow Street, which I knew belonged to the Wolf Clan, so I assumed one side of them were in the Wolves. We watched them, comparing their movements to what we knew about kung fu. The two sides had very different fighting styles. I was pretty sure that the red armband Wolves were using karate, but I didn¡¯t know enough about martial arts then to recognize what the others were using. It was sort of similar but with a lot more kicking. After a while the System notifications appeared. System: You know Karate System: You know Tae Kwon Do That¡¯s cool. A little redundant since I already knew kung fu, but still cool. ¡°Pssst, Jane.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Guess what.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I just learned karate.¡± ¡°You¡¯re hateful.¡± ¡°Psst. Guess what else.¡± She groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me.¡± ¡°I also learned tae kwon do.¡± ¡°Truly hateful. Say, I¡¯ve been wondering something.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°How can you learn an entire fighting style just by watching someone use it for a minute?¡± ¡°Magic,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± she said. ¡°So am I.¡± Honestly, that was a really good question. Even given Jack Of All Trades, how did I learn entire fighting styles so quickly, even moves I hadn¡¯t seen? Magic was as good an explanation as any. I learned from System some time later that the skills in our Statuses were derived from the compiled neural scans of several master practitioners. When a Player learns such a skill, the entirety of the skill is transferred, but higher level manifestations remain locked until the level of mastery is high enough. When you get good enough, you unlock the knowledge as well as the muscle memory required to perform advanced moves. So technically I knew as much karate as the highest degree black belt, I just didn¡¯t realize it. It also explained every Player¡¯s ability to advance more rapidly than you normally would through practice, training, and experience. With my one gift, I got better even faster, but with my other, I was never able to get that good, no matter how much I practiced. Once the demonstration was over the fighters bowed to one another and the crowd dispersed. Jane pouted. ¡°I¡¯m hungry,¡± she said. ¡°I know a good food vendor,¡± I said. ¡°Feel up for some street meat?¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯ve been wanting to try that ever since we met yesterday,¡± Jane said, clapping her hands. She looked adorable, like a seal who¡¯d just found a twenty dollar bill in the pocket of the coat they hadn¡¯t worn since last year, or maybe an otter who¡¯d just witnessed a rousing live performance. ¡°Ohhhhhh,¡± Sigrid said, as though a light bulb had just gone off over her head. ¡°That¡¯s why you called him your friend with the meat before.¡± Jane laughed. ¡°What did you think I¡¯d meant?¡± Sigrid gave her a look, and Jane laughed even harder. She pulled out her new gloves and put them on, wiggling her fingers in front of me. ¡°See? I even came with protection, just like you suggested, Daniel.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be disappointed, I said. ¡°I promise.¡± ¡°You sure that¡¯s the kind of protection he meant?¡± Sigrid said, and Jane laughed some more. ¡°Come on,¡± Jane said, grabbing my hand and dragging me up the street. ¡°Let¡¯s eat out.¡± Chapter Twenty-Four - Street fighting man ¡°What have we here?¡± I said, suddenly stopping. It caught my new companions off guard. After the martial arts exhibition, we had set off for Crazy Sadie the Food Cart Lady¡¯s food cart and had been walking for less than a minute when I saw a Player with some excellent abilities. I¡¯d stopped to check him out.
Jason Towers
Affinity: Earth - Novice
Gifts: Is This Tough Enough For Ya? - Enhanced toughness
Powers: Build The Wall - Novice: Move earth Look Ma, No Hands - Novice: Telekinesis
Skills: War Hammer - Novice
He was dressed in simple leather armor and I saw him just as he was entering a weapons shop. We decided to head over and wait for him to come out again. He emerged a few minutes later, now carrying an enormous hammer, and the women went to work. Sigrid took the lead and slid into a conversation with him like they were siblings, chatting just long enough to get an idea of his personality before getting into the team talk. ¡°I¡¯m flattered you want me,¡± he said, ¡°but I¡¯m afraid I already agreed to join another team.¡± He did look genuinely sorry as his eyes flicked back and forth between Sigrid and Jane. ¡°Oh!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That¡¯s disappointing, but we understand.¡± ¡°If I can ask, why did you single me out?¡± He gestured around the street. ¡°There are lots of people, why me?¡± Sigrid tagged out and Jane took over. ¡°Well I have this power,¡± she said, and I was in even more awe at Jane¡¯s ability to slide into the conversation so smoothly. ¡°I can read people¡¯s auras and you stood out as someone nice.¡± ¡°I see. Well thanks again and good luck, I guess,¡± he said. ¡°So Jane,¡± I said as I watched him continue on his way. ¡°What¡¯s with the lie about auras?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell him the truth about your power, could I? And he¡¯s right, it does seem a little weird to pounce on someone the moment they exit a shop. I¡¯d ask why too.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± I said. ¡±I wish I was as good on my toes.¡± ¡°Besides,¡± Jane said, ¡°he did seem like a nice guy, even if he spent a bit too long looking at our boobs. I figured I could earn some good karma to send him off feeling good about himself.¡± ¡°You definitely could use some of that,¡± I said. She made a hurt face. ¡°Keep bullying me like that and you¡¯ll be the one in need of some good karma to balance out all the bad mojo you¡¯re building up.¡± ¡°Not me,¡± I said. ¡°I''ve got so much good karma in my pocket, I can pretty much cruise the rest of my life.¡± She laughed. ¡°Come on, dude. If you¡¯re gonna come up with a lie, at least make it believable.¡± I laughed too. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just going to have a very short life.¡± She stopped laughing. ¡°That¡¯s not funny, Daniel.¡± We set off again for the old woman¡¯s food cart. Unfortunately, we never made it. Soon it was Sigrid''s turn to stop us abruptly. Jane stumbled, bumping into her back. ¡°Oof. What now?¡± ¡°My spidey sense is tingling,¡± Sigrid said, then I heard a familiar voice call out from behind me. ¡°Ohhhhhh, Danieeeeeeel.¡± I groaned. ¡°Someone you know?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s Kiki.¡± "Who?" "The slag," Jane said. "Ah," Sigrid said, gritting her teeth. "Her." We turned around and saw her striding toward us, her pair of lackeys close behind. She¡¯d also picked up two more companions, and when I saw them I groaned again. They were our old friends, Greg and Chuck: the Iceman and Mr Lighter. Then I saw one more person behind them: Jason, the Player we¡¯d just tried to recruit. Kiki was still wearing the private high school uniform, the beige cardigan tied around her hips swaying in the breeze as she wiggled toward us. Her sly smile told me I was in for some public harassment. ¡°Heeeeeey!¡± she shouted in a loud sing-song voice, and many heads turned to see what was up. She grabbed Jason¡¯s arm and clung to it possessively. ¡°My little birdie here told me you went and tried to steal him from me. Naughty Daniel.¡± Once she got to about twenty feet away she and her posse stopped. She looked at us, clicked her tongue, and in a voice still loud enough to draw attention from others on the street she said, ¡°Lookie what we got here, seems our boy¡¯s nabbed himself some hotties. Poor Daniel, no real woman would have him so he had to hire NPC hook¡ª¡± She stopped mid-sentence and her smile faltered as her eyes traveled between my friends. She had clearly just checked their Statuses and discovered they weren¡¯t NPC hookers at all. ¡°Go on,¡± Jane said with more than a hint of threat. ¡°Finish what you were saying.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°NPC what?¡± ¡°These had better not be members of your team, Daniel,¡± Kiki said. ¡°I thought my warning was quite clear.¡± ¡°And what if we are?¡± Jane said. ¡°If you are,¡± Kiki said, ¡°then after we¡¯re done finishing what we started with him, we¡¯re going to leave you two in such rough shape even the brothels will turn up their noses at your ugly faces.¡± Sigrid raised her shield and hefted her spear, stepping in front of me. ¡°Go ahead and try something,¡± she said. ¡°I bet things will be a bit different now it¡¯s not three on one.¡± ¡°So he told you about last night, eh?¡± Kiki said, chuckling. ¡°How does it feel knowing you¡¯ve joined up with someone who¡¯s got a death wish?¡± ¡°Just walk away,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re being stupid.¡± Kiki¡¯s expression immediately flipped from amused to angry. ¡°What did you just say?¡± Jane laughed. She turned to Sigrid and said, ¡°Seems someone doesn¡¯t like being called stupid.¡± Then Jane turned back to Kiki. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Stupid?¡± she crooned with strong emphasis on the last word. ¡°Seems to me like someone else has a death wish,¡± Kiki growled. She snapped her fingers and at once Jonah¡¯s hands did that turning-into-metal trick and a knife appeared as if from nowhere in Derek¡¯s hand, ready to throw. A little slower on the uptake, Chuck and Greg took a second or two to figure out what was happening before drawing their fancy-looking swords and stepping up. Greg also made a little ball of fire, about the size of an apple, appear in his free hand. Jason, the new guy we¡¯d tried to recruit, stood back and did nothing, eyes wide as he watched his companions prepare to attack us in the middle of the street. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. At the same time, Sigrid crouched behind her shield, covering both of us, and lowered her spear. Beside me, Jane frowned as she drew her rapier and whispered to us, ¡°This is bad. I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d actually start something in public like this. She really is stupid.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said. ¡°We can do this.¡± Jane held up her sword like it had cooties. ¡°But I¡¯ve had, like, all of about a half-hour of stage fencing training for a play I was in and that¡¯s it. I don¡¯t know how to use this thing.¡± ¡°Yes you do,¡± I said. ¡°It says so right there in your Status. Under Skills.¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Jane said. Her thin blade whistled through the air as she swished it a few times in front of her. Her face lit up, back to the usual Jane. ¡°Yes I do.¡± Kiki turned to Derek and hissed, ¡°Quick, go for the one with the red hair.¡± ¡°Watch out, Jane!¡± I shouted, but it was too late, Derek had already thrown his knife. I saw it whiz through the air toward Jane, then there was a blur as Sigrid moved from in front of me to in front of her, followed by a metallic clink. I turned to see Sigrid with her shield protecting Jane, Derek¡¯s knife resting harmlessly on the street¡¯s paving stones in front of her. Shield Maiden indeed. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there,¡± Kiki shrieked, ¡°go!¡± At her command, Jonah rushed forward, iron fists clenched and raised. Chuck followed close behind him, his sword shaking slightly, his knuckles white on the hilt. Grinning, Jane rushed ahead to meet their charge. Greg stayed back, hurling the ball of fire in the palm of his hand at Sigrid. It bounced as harmlessly off her shield as Derek¡¯s knife had and fizzled on the paving stones in front of her. I really, really wanted to show that jerk how it¡¯s done, so I made a fireball of my own, channeling every bit of focus I had into it until it swelled to the size of a large melon, and threw it with all my might at Greg. System: Your mastery of Affinity Control has evolved System: Your mastery of Fire has evolved It hissed through the air and struck Greg square in the chest. It blossomed into a cascade of flame and sparks that sent him reeling backward, a large scorch mark marring the front of his shiny new armor¡¯s chestplate and smoke rising from his singed eyebrows. As he fell, the back of his head smashed against the ground with a clunk. He seemed down for the count. That felt so good. Then it felt so bad when my arms were forced against my sides and my legs stuck together. Derek had used his shadow ropes on me again. ¡°Oh crap,¡± I groaned as I began to teeter, struggling to retain my balance. It was no use, though, and I toppled over to the side, falling hard. I only just managed to keep from smacking my own head into the paving stones. Meanwhile, Jane was keeping her two attackers at bay by using her power to teleport short distances. She¡¯d blink away, then reappear on their blind side and jab them with her rapier. Chuck and Jonah were starting to get peppered with small wounds from the point of her sword. They kept swinging their fists and sword at Jane, but only ever met empty air because every time she blinked away before they could hit her. Sigrid didn¡¯t notice my predicament until she almost tripped over me as I lay bound and helpless on the street. She looked down and saw me wriggling. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she said, like I was doing it on purpose. My arms and legs might have been useless, but my mouth was unbound. ¡°The guy who threw the knife, take him down.¡± I told her. She nodded once, then tossed her spear straight up in the air and caught it again, shifting her grip on it from overhand to underhand so she could throw it. And she threw it. Hard. It sailed through the air and hit Derek in the shoulder. The tip pierced him and sank in deep, and he was thrown back with several feet of metal and wood sticking out of him. I felt the shadow bonds release. ¡°We need to get you some extra spears,¡± I said from the ground. Sigrid barked a short laugh and drew her sword. ¡°I did enjoy that.¡± ¡°Jesus H Christ, do I have to do everything myself?¡± Kiki bellowed. She lowered her hands then raised them, palms up, as though lifting something. Out of nowhere, twin flames appeared on the ground, one on each side of her. She thrust her hands out as though pushing something, and two big fiery snakes uncoiled from within the flames. The fire serpents slithered hastily forward, stopping behind the boys to act as a sort of shield to prevent Jane from using her blink and hit and blink again tactic. ¡°Jonah you dumb brute,¡± Kiki hissed. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, hit her!¡± Jonah grunted and took a few steps toward Jane, swinging his iron fists. Jane used her heightened agility to dance back, luring him away. ¡°Come on,¡± she taunted, ¡°that all you got, big boy?¡± Once Jonah had advanced far enough that the snakes were no longer protecting his blind side, she blinked behind him and stabbed him again, laughing the whole time. System: You know Sword Nice. ¡°We can¡¯t keep this up forever, we need to end it,¡± Jane said, taking charge like a real protagonist. She was breathing heavily and her movements were starting to slow down. The Status screen listed our abilities and gave vague descriptions, but it did not provide much detail, such as how much mana it cost to use them. Judging by the way Jane was starting to lag, all that teleporting had almost used hers all up. ¡°Sigrid, you deal with these jokers. I¡¯m going to take out Kiki.¡± ¡°You got it,¡± Sigrid said, and advanced with her shield up and sword ready. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do about the snakes,¡± I said, clambering to my feet. I figured that a fireball wouldn¡¯t do much against the flame serpents, so I used my affinity with Water instead. I held my hands out and squirted jets at them. Steam hissed and rose from the snakes and they started to wither, but my measly hydrant effect wasn¡¯t enough to douse them altogether. Jane vanished. One moment she was there with Chuck and Jonah, and she was gone the next. She reappeared instantly right beside Kiki. ¡°Surprise,¡± she said, and stabbed her in the arm. Kiki cried out in pain. The snakes disappeared. So did Jane. She reappeared instantly back behind Sigrid. ¡°This is so much fun,¡± she said, pressing the point of her sword into the ground and resting on the hilt. She looked exhausted, but happy. It¡¯s a shame da Vinci had never seen the grin she wore. If he had, it would be Jane¡¯s face behind the glass in the Louvre and we¡¯d all be saying Mona who? A small crowd had formed, both NPCs and Players, and they were almost all rooting for our side. I noticed Kiki gaze around venomously at them after a few of the watchers cheered Jane when she stabbed her. ¡°Alright, alright, alright, that¡¯s enough,¡± Kiki yelled. Her troops withdrew. Derek was still on his back with Sigrid¡¯s spear sticking out of him, and once Jonah had retreated he unceremoniously yanked it out. He held the wooden shaft in both hands and looked directly at Sigrid as he brought it down over his knee, snapping it in half. He tossed the pieces onto the ground and glared at Sigrid, but she just smiled and waved. The new guy, Jason, hadn¡¯t done a thing during the entire battle. ¡°God I feel so tired all of a sudden,¡± Jane said. ¡°You gotta be careful not to overuse your powers,¡± I said. ¡°But great job, you really made the difference for us.¡± ¡°Totally,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Hey, I think we all did pretty good for our first fight,¡± Jane said. ¡°Even though Daniel spent most of it lying on the ground like a useless turd.¡± I called out to Kiki. ¡°So are we done here or what?¡± She had Greg fussing over her bleeding arm while Chuck rose groggily to his feet and Jonah supported Derek, who was bleeding considerably more than Kiki was, thanks to the gaping spear wound in his shoulder. ¡°Yeah,¡± Kiki replied sulkily. ¡°How¡¯s your arm?¡± I said. ¡°And the guy who got hit with a spear, is he okay? Do you need medical attention?¡± ¡°Screw you,¡± Kiki yelled back. ¡°We don¡¯t need anything from you.¡± ¡°Meh, suit yourself,¡± Sigrid said, then turned and started walking away up the street. Jane laughed. ¡°I guess we¡¯re going then,¡± she huffed, and started after her blonde friend. ¡°So stupid,¡± she added loudly to make sure Kiki could hear her. I was about to go with her when I noticed Sigrid stiffen in that way I was starting to associate with her danger sense being triggered. I looked back and saw Derek, unsteady on his feet and bleeding from his wound, holding the tip of a long knife between his fingers, ready to throw. I had to give him points for tenacity, but he loses even more for being a backstabbing prick. It sounds cliche, but the next moments really did seem to happen in slow motion. I saw the hand move forward and could tell the moment the knife left his fingers that its trajectory would take it straight into Jane¡¯s back. I took one step forward then leaped at her. The knife and I sailed through the air together, and it was impossible to tell which of us would reach Jane first. Depending on how you look at it, I may have won because I got to her before it did, knocking her aside with my shoulder, or I may have lost, because it struck me instead. System: You know Knife I felt the tip of the blade pierce my chest, pain exploding through my body as it sank deep into my heart. Of all the things to flash through my mind at such a moment, all I could think of was that I wish I¡¯d worn my armored coat after all. I¡¯d never imagined this kind of pain existed, but mercifully it did not last long. I was dead before I hit the paving stones. Chapter Twenty-FIve - Deaths door I wasn¡¯t really dead, of course. Only my Player body was. Stratos had told us at the beginning that death here wasn¡¯t necessarily final, and if our body was killed we could respawn in a new one. Which is what happened to me. I should probably cover what happened in the time between my death and the glorious rebirth, though. For me, the pain was intense but short-lived. I suppose that¡¯s the upside of instant death. For my friends, on the other hand, there was a period of emotional torment to endure, which can arguably be even more painful. As they explained to me later, Kiki and her crew buggered off when I died. I guess she got what she was after in the end, but it was not without cost. She had lashed out at Jason for not participating, blaming him for their defeat, then he told her to go do something lewd with herself, quit her team, and stormed off. They said it took less than a minute for the NPC cleanup crew to arrive, people wearing black cloaks and masks with long beaks like the ones plague doctors wore back in the day. They solemnly wrapped my body in a linen shroud and took it away. My friends had tried to find out where they were going to take me, and if I was going to come back like Stratos said might happen, and if so when and where would I come back? But the cleanup crew remained mute as they carried me up the street to the central courtyard and up into the gazebo. Then poof: they, along with my corpse, vanished. Nobody knew what to do. My friends had gone back to the dojo to check in my room, thinking that would be the most likely place for me to respawn, if I was going to. There was no guarantee I¡¯d come back at all. They met Andy there and told him everything that had happened, then spent the next hour waiting there, wracked with varying degrees of guilt, fear, curiosity, and concern. I was surprised when they told me that Andy was the most distraught, blaming himself for not being with us when it happened, which of course was just silly. Even without his help we¡¯d won the fight, I only died because of a dirty blindside after it was over. Feeling too antsy to sit around the dojo any longer, Jane had the idea to split up and ask around if anybody knew what happened when you died. Although none of the NPCs in the clan knew anything, perhaps a different NPC might have the information, or maybe another Player had died before me and someone knew when and where revived Players return. Shannon volunteered to wait by my room in case I did appear at the dojo, and the others dispersed with the agreement to return to the clan house in an hour¡¯s time. Meanwhile, the first thing I felt after I died was the breeze. A soft, warm breeze that swept across a clear blue sky and made the misty tops of the clouds below me swirl around my ankles. Yes, below me. I was standing on clouds. In front of me, Stratos stood with their hands clasped behind their back watching something on a System screen floating in front of them. I caught a peek before they swept it away and saw myself ¡ª my dead self ¡ª lying on my back on the street while those plague doctor characters did their thing. ¡°I have to say, I did not expect to see you again so soon,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Where am I?¡± I mumbled, still disoriented. ¡°Right now you are nowhere. Literally.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°You died,¡± Stratos said. ¡°You are dead.¡± ¡°Yeah, I gathered that,¡± I said, looking around. ¡°Clouds? Really?¡± Stratos shrugged. ¡°Do you not like it?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine, I guess.¡± ¡°Dying is disorienting enough, I am told. I imagine suddenly appearing amid endless emptiness would only make it worse, so I told System to pull an image of the afterlife from your head and...¡± They gestured around with their hands. ¡°Is that what you usually do? Does everyone see something different when they die?¡± ¡°Oh no. This does not usually happen. That is why we had to come up with this cloud thing. Once again, you are a special case, Daniel.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It was a special request, one that could not be refused.¡± The expression on Stratos¡¯ face didn¡¯t change, but something in their voice made me suspect they weren¡¯t too happy about this. ¡°A request by whom?¡± An unnamed observer announces itself ¡°Ah. You again,¡± I said. ¡°So back to the original question: why?¡± An unnamed observer wishes to reward the Player System: System reminds the unnamed observer that gifts are not allowed during the Tutorial An unnamed observer points out that the Player is not technically in the Tutorial at this moment System: Technicality acknowledged - state reward An unnamed observer didn¡¯t expect this to actually work An unnamed observer needs a moment to think of something ¡°Does this observer thing happen a lot?¡± I asked Stratos. Stratos didn¡¯t answer me. They opened up a Status screen instead, but I¡¯m pretty sure they were only pretending to read it to avoid the question. System: Applying penalty ¡°Penalty?¡± I said. ¡°What penalty?¡± ¡°When a Player respawns they lose some of their abilities,¡± Stratos explained without looking away from the Status screen. ¡°You did not have much to start with, so you will not lose much.¡± They waved their hand and my Status opened.
Daniel Lamont Team Builder
Affinity: Life - Novice Fire - Novice Ice - Novice Water - Novice Shadow - Novice Earth - Novice
Gifts: Good At Everything Jack of All Trades Murder Hobo
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Competent
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Brawling - Novice Cartography - Novice Game Design - Novice Karate - Novice Knife - Novice Kung Fu - Novice Laying On Hands - Novice Spear - Novice Sword - Novice Tae Kwon Do - Novice Teaching - Novice Trivia - Novice
¡°See?¡± Stratos said. ¡°You lost some mastery in a few skills and affinities, but at least your power was not affected.¡± ¡°Small consolation.¡± ¡°Do not be like that. If you were going down from Master to Expert, that would be something to moan about, but dropping skills from Competent to Novice is not a big deal, especially not for someone with Jack Of All Trades, which I cannot help but notice you are making very good use of.¡± ¡°Why does having Jack Of All Trades make a difference? So I can learn skills easily, that only means I have more skills to work on raising. And with Good At Everything I can¡¯t raise anything above Adept anyway.¡± ¡°It saddens me to see you looking down on your special abilities, especially without fully understanding them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit, Jack Of All Trades is growing on me, but the limitations on mastery level that come with Good At Everything are really, well, limiting.¡± ¡°Pity. I thought you were a different kind of Player.¡± ¡°Oh? What kind of Player did you think I was?¡± Stratos stared at me with that infuriating emotionless look of theirs. ¡°Perhaps instead you should be asking yourself what kind of Player you think you are. Or what kind you want to be.¡± An unnamed observer wants to give the Player a Mythic Gift Box ¡°Mythic? That seems a bit generous,¡± Stratos said. ¡°All he did was die.¡± System: Mythic class rewards are not allowed at this stage ¡°Precisely,¡± Stratos said. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. An unnamed observer grows annoyed System: System did not make up the rules ¡°For once I am glad that System is so simple,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Always following the rules.¡± An unnamed observer grows impatient System: System has a suggestion An unnamed observer is listening System: System suggests letting the Player choose the reward An unnamed observer is surprised that is allowed ¡°An interesting idea,¡± Stratos said. ¡°In my research into the scenario, I found that when a character dies they often meet a deity who offers a boon for their next life.¡± An unnamed observer likes the idea of being called a deity ¡°Many times the character is asked to choose what boon they wish to receive, especially if they died in a noble way, such as by sacrificing themself to save someone else.¡± An unnamed observer sees the parallels here An unnamed observer wants the Player to choose the reward ¡°Although...¡± Stratos said. An unnamed observer wonders what the problem is now? ¡°I also found that humans are notoriously greedy,¡± Stratos said. System: System did not consider this System: System thinks this may be a terrible idea and takes it back An unnamed observer doesn¡¯t care about greed An unnamed observer wants the Player to choose its own reward ¡°I really don¡¯t think¡ª¡± Stratos said. An unnamed observer reminds the Gamester that there is no rule against it System: System concedes that this is true An unnamed observer wants the Player to choose its own reward then System: System grudgingly awaits the Player¡¯s choice ¡°Is this for real?¡± I asked Stratos. ¡°Unfortunately, yes.¡± ¡°What sorts of rewards can I choose?¡± ¡°That is up to you, but a word of advice: choose carefully. System does not seem very happy about this, especially because it was System¡¯s own idea, and System has been known to hold grudges.¡± System: System heard that and will remember ¡°See?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this isn¡¯t real,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯ll run with it just in case.¡± I wracked my brain trying to remember what kinds of things people asked for when this happened in isekai stories. I remembered one character who¡¯d been ill his whole life and asked for a body that would never get sick. Another who just wanted to keep his cellphone. What should I ask for? What would be very useful but not overpowering? Then it came to me. I could Murder Hobo the crap out of this. ¡°I have a thought,¡± I said. An unnamed observer is excited and curious to know System: System has a bad feeling about this ¡°How about something random?¡± I said. An unnamed observer thinks that¡¯s a brilliant idea ¡°That seems like a fair compromise to me too,¡± Stratos said. An unnamed observer loves surprises System: System is impressed with the Player¡¯s temperance ¡°System, can you do a gacha reward?¡± I said. System: Generating random reward wheel ¡°Excellent.¡± Stratos said. An unnamed observer wishes System would hurry up System: Random reward wheel generated All of a sudden, a completely new screen appeared in the air in front of me with a virtual slot machine wheel and a big green button labeled SPIN in bright, friendly letters. Most of what was on the wheel was hidden, but the few slots I could see had the rewards Common Item, Common Chest, Basic Potion, and Reward Token. Common. Basic. Meh. I rather liked the sound of Mythic. Ah well. I reached out and pressed the button. Come on, big money, big money! The wheel spun with a rapid tick-ticking sound that slowed as the wheel lost momentum. I watched as it ticked through Basic Skill Pack, Reward Token, and Lunch Coupon before finally coming to rest on a slot labeled Random Common Power Pack. A new power, but only a Common one. Ah well. Suddenly, the wheel shimmered, and the slots all changed. Now most of the slots were Uncommon, and in addition to the possible rewards there were a few slots that said ¡®Sorry.¡¯ System: System wonders if the Player wants to spin again for the chance to upgrade the reward? ¡°What happens if I land on a sorry slot?¡± System: System thinks it is obvious that a sorry slot means no reward will be given So it really is a sort of gacha. Do I go for a better prize? Of course I do. I hit the SPIN button again, and the wheel became a blur. It slowed down, tick tick tick, and landed on Random Uncommon Skill Pack. That sucks. I can learn skills easily, so this is pretty much worthless. The wheel shimmered again and now there were some Rare things, but there were also a lot more sorry slots. The potential for better rewards, but more chance to walk away with nothing. It was a no brainer, and I reached out and hit the button. Whizzzz, tick tick tick. As it was slowing to a stop a sorry slot was coming up, but thankfully it stopped on the slot before it. Random Uncommon Item Chest. Well that¡¯s better than a skill, but still just Uncommon. The wheel shimmered again to show a few Legendary rewards mixed in, but every other slot was sorry. A fifty-fifty chance to get nothing. Ordinarily, anyway. But I had an ace up my sleeve. I put my faith in Murder Hobo and spun again. ¡°Feeling lucky, are we?¡± Stratos said. The wheel spun and the slots ticked by, then it slowed and approached a sorry slot nestled between a Rare Item Chest and a Legendary Power Pack. It slowly moved through the item slot and inched into sorry. ¡°That is too bad, Daniel,¡± Stratos said. But it was still moving. Barely. I caught myself leaning forward and moving my head, willing it to keep going, as though the wind from my movements could push the wheel into the next slot. The pointer crept through sorry, brushing against the edge of the slot, and with the last vestige of momentum only just made it into the next slot. Random Legendary Power Pack. I exhaled deeply. Stratos chuckled. Murder Hobo. The gift that keeps on giving. Once more the wheel shimmered. Well over half the slots were sorry, but I also saw at least one Mythical slot mixed in as well. I stood there looking at the wheel. I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off of the glittering gold letters on the Mythical slot. ¡°Do I dare to eat a peach?¡± I muttered. ¡°A peach?¡± Stratos said. System: Almost, at times, the Fool Stratos blinked a few times. ¡°Peach? Fool? I do not understand.¡± Stratos may not have gotten the reference, but System did, quoting another line of the poem back to me. Why did System quote that line? Is it a message? ¡°I¡¯m gonna stop there, Alex,¡± I said. ¡°I find your words perplexing,¡± Stratos said. ¡°But I get the gist.¡± The wheel vanished and was replaced by a glittering rectangle. It looked like a foil-wrapped pack, the kind that collectible game cards come in. An ethereal arrow appeared moving sideways across the pack. I swept my hand in the air following the arrow¡¯s path and the pack tore itself open, exploding in a shower of virtual confetti. System: You have a new Power: Synthesize Thank you Murder Hobo! ¡°Synthesize?¡± Stratos said. ¡°Oh my.¡± That reaction made me nervous, wondering what¡¯s wrong with Synthesize? Synthesize - Novice: Combine abilities An unnamed observer is pleased ¡°System, you did not happen to rig the wheel, did you?¡± Stratos said. System: System is too simple to do something like that ¡°How did this happen?¡± Stratos said. Then my Status opened. Stratos must have done it, because I didn¡¯t. ¡°Ah. I see now. I did not look closely enough before. When did you unlock your hidden gift, Daniel?¡± ¡°You mean Murder Hobo? Back when I killed the Jackalope, why?¡± Stratos actually frowned at me. ¡°How did you manage to defeat a dangerous monster like that so quickly?¡± An unnamed observer saw it An unnamed observer thought it was wicked "Seems I need to keep a closer eye on you, Daniel,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Our observer may enjoy surprises, but I do not.¡± System: You have a new Gift: Hands Off My Stash ¡°A gift too?¡± Stratos said. An unnamed observer is enjoying this Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space It¡¯s an inventory! ¡°What are you doing, System?¡± Stratos said. System: Synthesize is a crafting Power System: All crafting Powers come with this Gift ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding.¡± System: It is in the rules System: System always follows the rules System: System is simple that way An unnamed observer wishes more observers were seeing this A mysterious observer has been watching A curious observer is also here Stratos sighed. ¡°Fine. You have made your point. I should not have said that. You are not simple, but this is just too much. Take them back and let us try this again.¡± System: Abilities cannot be revoked once given ¡°Let me guess,¡± Stratos said, ¡°it is in the rules.¡± System: System is glad that the Gamester understands how things work System: System believes that our business here is complete An unnamed observer returns to observing with renewed interest ¡°What just happened?¡± I said. Stratos stood there, breathing deeply for a few long moments, the cracks in their composure fading back to the usual impassive expression, and studiously ignored my question. I shrugged and decided to explore my new Gift. I used a mental command to open my inventory and a small circle, maybe a foot and a half in diameter, appeared in front of me. Kind of like a Status screen, but instead of words inside the circle, there was a blackness filled with vague swirling colors. I felt the vacant breath of some force emanating from it, which are me feel both uneasy and comforted at the same time. Weird. Knowing what I had to do, I thrust my hand inside it, and my whole arm vanished up to the elbow. I felt around, but the extra-dimensional space was empty. I was just thinking about what I could put into it when Stratos spoke to me. ¡°I need you to finish your quest, Daniel. The Tutorial is already half over.¡± I felt like I was being swept along by powers I didn¡¯t know for purposes I didn¡¯t understand, and it left me feeling rebellious. ¡°What if I don¡¯t want to?¡± ¡°Then you will lose.¡± ¡°What happens to losers?¡± I said. Stratos blinked at me. ¡°I have no interest in losers.¡± ¡°Then I guess I¡¯d better win.¡± ¡°I will see you at the end of the Tutorial. And Daniel?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I would not count on respawning if you happen to die again, so if I was you I would be extremely careful from now on.¡± System: Respawning now Chapter Twenty-Six - Pointless heroics It was Sigrid who figured out where I would reappear. A Player overheard her asking someone else if they knew when and where you respawned and came up to tell her about an incident earlier that morning. The Player had been in a group outside the walls and one their party had been killed in an encounter with a pack of wolves. The same group of plague doctor NPCs had come and taken that body away too, and a few hours later the person reappeared on the gazebo, good as new. She rushed to the courtyard but I hadn¡¯t come back yet. It was nearly time for her to regroup with the others, but she didn¡¯t want to leave in case she missed my return so she paid an NPC child a silver piece to go to the Dragon Clan and pass along the message to someone there. She was still waiting for the others to get the message and join her in the town square when I suddenly appeared without warning in the center of the gazebo. I was wearing the same clothes I¡¯d had on when I died, including my ring, although there wasn¡¯t a knife hole in my shirt. No sign of any injury at all, not even a speck of blood. Sigrid came so fast she almost bowled me over. She pounced and caught me in a tight hug and squeezed hard, tears flowing freely onto my shoulder as she sobbed and apologized, over and over. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Daniel, it¡¯s my job to protect and I failed you. I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry.¡± I allowed myself to be crushed for a while, Sigrid was much stronger than me so it¡¯s not like I had a choice anyway. Plus, even though it made me uncomfortable it wasn¡¯t altogether unpleasant. I kept trying to tell her it was okay, that it wasn¡¯t her fault, and it wasn¡¯t really so bad anyway. Once her sobs eventually subsided she let me go, wiping tears and snot from her face before grabbing my shoulders and looking straight at me, her blue eyes boring into mine. ¡°I¡¯m not going to let that happen again,¡± she told me. ¡°Ever. You understand me?¡± ¡°Sigrid, you don¡¯t have to¡ª¡± ¡°Shut up,¡± she snapped. ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Shush. Don¡¯t argue. From now on, I¡¯m your shield, you got that?¡± ¡°Yeah, okay,¡± I said. She let go of my shoulders. I hated that she felt guilty, but I was also very thankful that she was going to protect me from then on. Stratos¡¯ warning about what might happen if I died again still rang in my ears. Then I heard my name shouted from across the courtyard. ¡°Daniel!¡± It was Jane. She was striding across the cobblestones with Andy in tow. Sigrid and I left the gazebo and met them in the middle. Jane came up to me and I closed my eyes, bracing myself for another hug. I got a sharp punch in the shoulder instead. ¡°Idiot!¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever, and I mean never, do that again.¡± I figured it was a joke, so I opened my eyes expecting to see her smiling. All I saw was righteous fury. ¡°Jane, be nice,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯m always nice,¡± Jane snarled through gritted teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her,¡± Sigrid said to me, ¡°she lashes out like that when she doesn¡¯t feel in control.¡± ¡°Not one of her better qualities,¡± I muttered. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Sigrid murmured back. ¡°I know you know I can hear you,¡± Jane said. ¡°What she really means to say,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°is thank you, Daniel, for risking your life to save mine. And as for me, I¡¯m really sorry I couldn¡¯t save you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry I wasn¡¯t there too,¡± Andy said. ¡°But I¡¯m going to make sure I¡¯m there the next time you bump into that Kiki chick. I¡¯m going to make her watch me smash her crew to a bloody pulp.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± I said. ¡°What did it feel like?¡± he said. ¡°Dying, I mean.¡± ¡°It hurt,¡± I said, rubbing my chest where the knife had hit me. ¡°And then it didn¡¯t.¡± I inwardly debated saying something about my new abilities, but once again decided against revealing my abnormal relationship with Stratos, at least not yet. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to avoid getting killed then,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You can stop saying that now, I get it. But honestly, you have nothing to be sorry for. I¡¯ll tell you one thing, though,¡± I said. ¡°I am never going out unarmored again.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Jane said, ¡°thanks to your pointless heroics, we¡¯ve lost precious time we could have spent finding good Players for the team. We¡¯ll never finish your quest at this rate.¡± ¡°Wait a minute,¡± I said, a big grin spreading across my face. ¡°Did you just call me a hero?¡± ¡°I said no such thing!¡± Jane said, looking horrified. ¡°I heard it,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Me too,¡± Andy said. ¡°I said pointless heroics.¡± ¡°And what do you call someone who does heroic things?¡± I said. ¡°An idiot,¡± Jane said. ¡°The word I was looking for is hero.¡± ¡°Same thing,¡± and she stormed off in no particular direction. We all watched her go. ¡°Should we...?¡± I said. ¡°Follow her, you mean?¡± Andy said. ¡°Yeah.¡± He sighed. ¡°Probably,¡± and he made it one step before Sigrid held out her hand to stop him. ¡°Not yet,¡± Sigrid said, and we all stood there, watching Jane get farther and farther away until she stopped and looked back at us. ¡°Are you jerks coming or what?¡± Jane yelled. Several other people stopped to look at her. ¡°Now you can go,¡± Sigrid said, and Andy started off toward Jane. I was about to go too when Sigrid stopped me with a tug on my sleeve. ¡°I almost forgot,¡± she said, and pulled a knife out. I recognized it right away. The last time I¡¯d seen it, it had been flying through the air toward my heart. ¡°I pulled it out of you before these spooky undertaker guys came and got your body.¡± I took it from her. It still had my blood caked on it. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m going to hang onto this.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. It was Jane¡¯s idea to keep it for you.¡± How did she know I¡¯d like to have this? ¡°She¡¯s a strange girl,¡± I said. Sigrid pulled a face halfway between a smile and a grimace. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong,¡± she said. I turned away from her and watched Jane striding ahead of us. "Don''t do it," Sigrid said. "Do what?" I said. "Fall for her." "Come on, like I''d--" "Just don''t, okay" Sigrid said. "No good could come of it." "What do you mean?" "Look, Jane''s my bestie and and I love her and all, but...how do I spin this kindly? She''s a narcissistic attention whore." "Yikes. I''d hate to hear the unkind spin." She laughed. "I don''t mean it in a cruel way. Objectively speaking, Jane''s a stunner all round. She has every right to be a bit narcissistic. It''s just that because of her many sparkly qualities people tend to fall for Jane." "I''ll admit, I can see how that could happen." "Yeah. The problem is she likes that, she likes the attention. A bit too much. But no good ever comes from it. It would be a shame to see her break your heart too." "I''ll keep that in mind." Sigrid exhaled heavily. "No you won''t. Just don''t say I didn''t warn you." Chapter Twenty-Seven - A relaxing interlude It had been a long, stressful day so everyone was keen on spending what was left of it in a more relaxing way. I certainly felt like I needed some time to unwind and process everything that had happened. Sigrid''s warning was fresh in my mind. Why''d she feel the need to tell me not to fall for Jane? For the briefest instant the idea that she was jealous passed through my thoughts, but was quickly chased away by more rational ideas. I could see Jane being a bit of a man-eater. She was certainly a shameless tease. A narcissist? I could see that too, I guess. What else had Sigrid called her? An attention whore? I suppose I could see that too. But it was difficult not to pay attention to her. She had this magnetic pull. As, I think, any good hero should, or at least would, have. As for me actually falling for her? Pffffft. No way that was gonna happen. I also couldn¡¯t help thinking about what Stratos had said to me. The part about what kind of Player I was. His words kept churning around in my head, and the more I thought about it the more it bothered me, which only meant I thought about it even more. What kind of Player was I? We were all in the courtyard at the clan dorm, trying to think of a low impact way to close out the night when Sigrid suggested we all have a bath. ¡°I find nothing chills me out more than a nice hot bath,¡± she said. ¡°And besides,¡± she wrinkled her nose, ¡°I¡¯m feeling a bit grimy.¡± If Stratos had been there they probably would¡¯ve said something about how counterintuitive that is, getting chilled in something hot. After interacting with them more, I had since come to the conclusion that what I had thought were straight-man jokes at the convention were really just the confusion of an alien who was unfamiliar with the nuances of our language and took things too literally. ¡°Oh hell yes,¡± Jane said. ¡°I could get on board with that. I¡¯m a filthy girl.¡± When Sigrid had suggested we all take a bath, she really had meant all of us. The dorm wasn¡¯t equipped with showers, only shared baths. The kind where you rinse yourself off first, then climb into a large, shallow pool of steaming hot water, like they have in Japan. Thankfully there were separate bath areas for men and women, so although we could all bathe together, it was not together-together. In certain types of romance anime there¡¯s always an obligatory episode that either takes place on a beach or at a pool so the fanboys can see their 2D waifus in swimsuits, or else in a mixed gender shared bath, where much naked hilarity ensues. I was not in the mood for naked hilarity, and this was definitely not a romcom. Wrong genre, wrong guy. I¡¯m really more of a shower person, and the fresh body I had received after dying still had that new car smell so I technically had no practical need for a bath, but after the day I¡¯d just endured, soaking for a while and doing nothing sounded pretty darned good. I don¡¯t know how, but Andy and I took longer to wash and rinse off than the girls, so they¡¯d already settled into the women¡¯s bath by the time we started soaking in the men¡¯s. It was my first opportunity to have a real conversation with him, so I decided to eschew my usual shyness and break some ice as we chilled in the hot bath. ¡°So Andy,¡± I said after settling into the water, ¡°what do you think of all this?¡± ¡°Is it bad that I¡¯m actually pretty pumped about it?¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve been playing D and D since I was twelve, and to actually get the opportunity to play it for real?¡± ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s every gamer¡¯s dream.¡± ¡°Totally.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a bit concerned about dying. My D and D characters have a bad habit of getting killed, but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s because I¡¯m reckless or if my DM was a malicious sadist. But as long as we can respawn, I guess it¡¯s okay.¡± I didn¡¯t bother mentioning that just because we could respawn that didn¡¯t necessarily mean we would. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Probably best to tone down the recklessness, just in case.¡± ¡°You may as well ask me to tone down my animal magnetism,¡± he said. ¡°Some things are just a part of me. But don¡¯t worry,¡± he added quickly, ¡°I¡¯m a team player. I was a running back in university.¡± He must¡¯ve seen the look on my face and thought I was worried about him putting the rest of us at risk by taking unnecessary risks that could get not just him killed. If so, he was right. ¡°Let¡¯s do our best together,¡± I said. ¡°Agreed. We¡¯re here now, let¡¯s make the best of it.¡± ¡°Think you¡¯ll miss Earth while we¡¯re here?¡± He rubbed his hair with one hand, feeling the bristles of his nearly shaved head and looking sheepish. ¡°Probably not. I mean, I¡¯m 27 years old and still live with my parents, and they¡¯re Chinese. Not old-school Chinese, but still. You might not know what that means, but having a son my age still under their roof is, well, let¡¯s just say it doesn¡¯t make for a happy home life.¡± ¡°I get you,¡± I said, even though I didn¡¯t. ¡°I almost got married a few years back, but shit happened and here I am.¡± That I did understand. He didn¡¯t seem keen on explaining more than that because he quickly turned it back on me. ¡°What about you, Daniel?¡± ¡°Me? I¡¯m not really missing much back on Earth either. I don¡¯t really have a job, and I recently moved so I don¡¯t really know anybody where I was living, so...¡± ¡°What about a girlfriend?¡± ¡°I was living with a girl but that ended a few months ago.¡± I didn¡¯t elaborate either, I could tell by the look on his face I didn¡¯t need to. Silent commiseration. He leaned closer, conspiratorial. ¡°So what about those girls, huh?¡± ¡°You mean Sigrid and Jane?¡± ¡°Yeah. I had no idea gamer girls could be so hot.¡± I chuckled, imagining what Jane would say if she heard herself called a gamer girl. Or even worse, if she heard what I was about to say in reply. ¡°I gotta admit, they are painfully attractive,¡± I said. ¡°I know, right?¡± Andy said, a big grin on his face. ¡°How lucky are we?¡± We looked at each other for a few moments then both started laughing. ¡°In our dreams,¡± I said. ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m the sort of guy who makes his dreams come true, especially when it comes to women.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t surprise me. I¡¯m just a dreamer, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°If you say so. But if you could, which one?¡± I¡¯ve never been comfortable with this kind of locker talk. Even if the girl wasn¡¯t around to hear it, even if it was in a twisted sort of way meant as a compliment, it still felt disrespectful to me. ¡°Oh man, I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d go for Sigrid,¡± he said without missing a beat. ¡°I got a thing for blondes.¡± ¡°Sigrid is an amazing person,¡± I said. ¡°You two close?¡± ¡°How close can you get to someone in a day?¡± He didn¡¯t seem satisfied with my answer. ¡°What I do know is that I¡¯ll be pretty lucky if I can become her friend,¡± I said. ¡°She has all the qualities I admire in a person.¡± I left out the end of that sentence: she¡¯s everything I¡¯m not. ¡°I know for a fact that if we do get that close, she¡¯ll have my back no matter what.¡± Andy nodded. ¡°Yeah, that girl is fit!¡± he said, the narrative disconnect making me suspect he hadn¡¯t actually listened to me. ¡°I¡¯m definitely looking forward to getting to know her better.¡± He gave me a curious sort of look, like I was a dish he¡¯d ordered off a restaurant menu that was printed in a foreign language thinking I was going to be one thing but when I got to the table I tasted completely different than what he¡¯d expected. ¡°You really like her, huh?¡± ¡°Yeah, I really do.¡± ¡°But just as friends, right?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°What else?¡± There was a bit of a lull in the conversation, then out of nowhere Andy said, ¡°I get it. You¡¯re a ginger man.¡± When he saw my confusion he added, ¡°You go for the redheads, huh? Like Jane.¡± That made me smile, imagining the torment I¡¯d get from Jane if she ever heard that, but I think Andy mistook it to mean something else. ¡°Hell yeah, there it is.¡± Andy grinned like I¡¯d just made his day. ¡°Look at you, Mister Smiley. I knew I¡¯d get it out of you. That¡¯s cool, Jane¡¯s beyond smokin, man, and you heard her: she¡¯s a filthy girl. Just your type, I bet.¡± I chose not to correct him. I was too tired to bother. It did not take me long to regret that decision. Chapter Twenty-EIght - Looking for adventure ¡°Now? Seriously?¡± It was late. I¡¯d done a lot since waking up in the dojo¡¯s infirmary that morning. I¡¯d even died and been resurrected, which doesn¡¯t happen every day. Frankly, I was exhausted. I wanted to get some sleep. I was so tired, I didn¡¯t even want to explore my new powers until the morning. But there was Sigrid in the doorway to my room, fully kitted out in her armor and weapons, including a new spear. With her long, wavy blonde hair, pale skin, and alarmingly blue eyes, she really did look the part of a Valkyrie warrior. ¡°You can¡¯t go hunting now,¡± I told Sigrid. Jane¡¯s shining face popped into view from the side of the doorway. ¡°Why not?¡± she said. ¡°This is a game, right?¡± I narrowed my eyes, wary of a trap. ¡°Ye-e-es,¡± I said. Sigrid pushed Jane out of the doorframe. ¡°We agreed I¡¯d handle this,¡± she whispered to her, then said to me, ¡°I know jack squat about games and stuff. Never played these kinds of things. Hell, I never really hung around with nerds before, and now I¡¯m surrounded by them. Not that there¡¯s anything wrong with being a nerd, of course,¡± she added quickly. I smiled and waved it off. I mean, guilty as charged, right? Jane forced her way back into the door opening, shoving Sigrid out of the way. ¡°You suck at this,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m no expert at this stuff either, in fact, I know even less than her. But Sigrid, um, well, let¡¯s just say she once, um, dated a guy who was one of these gamer nerds and he said something.¡± ¡°I am so lost right now,¡± I said. Sigrid shoved Jane out of the way again. ¡°And you say I suck at this,¡± she said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter where I heard it, but I heard that in those big video games where everyone plays together that sometimes certain things can only happen at certain times, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re called encounters. Some only happen when certain criteria are met,¡± I said. Jane poked her head back in, all smiles and sunshine. ¡°So we¡¯ve been thinking about it, and maybe it¡¯s like that here, too. Maybe there are these encounters that only happen under certain conditions. Like only at night. Which it is now.¡± ¡°See where we¡¯re going with this?¡± Sigrid said. I pondered for a moment, then said, ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Get used to it,¡± Jane said. Sigrid pushed her away, back out of view. ¡°The point is, you need to hurry up. We¡¯re going out to find some action and you¡¯re coming with us.¡± ¡°Talk about coercion,¡± I moaned. Jane¡¯s head appeared in the doorway again. ¡°You know you want to,¡± she said, flashing a smile that could power several homes for a month if you harnessed it with solar panels. ¡°Give me two minutes to get changed.¡± Sigrid laughed. ¡°You¡¯re a dude, you only need one.¡± She pushed Jane back again and slid the door closed. ¡°I keep saying this but you could be a lot nicer to him, you know,¡± came Sigrid¡¯s muffled voice from the courtyard outside. ¡°This is me being nice,¡± was Jane¡¯s muffled response. ¡°Speaking of dudes, where¡¯s Andy?¡± I called through the door. ¡°He¡¯s, um, too tired,¡± Sigrid said. It was hard to pick out tone through the barrier of the door, but it sounded like there was something off in how she said that. Ah well. Too bad, though. I liked Andy, he was fun to be around. It would¡¯ve been nice to have him along. Not that I had a problem being alone with Sigrid and Jane. I liked them too. But most importantly: encounters! My fatigue was gone. Not only were they probably right about there being encounters that only happened at certain times, but there was also a very strong chance that many encounters might be unique and could only ever be experienced once. I wanted to experience as many of those as I could. I did say that gamers are a jealous and selfish bunch, remember? I didn¡¯t mind sharing it, though; anything that made my teammates stronger was a good thing. Just as long as I got to be involved too. After switching into my armored nehru jacket and adventuring accouterments, I slid open the door to my room and joined the girls out in the courtyard outside our dorm rooms. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± Sigrid said, but she was smiling. ¡°How do you know? There aren¡¯t any clocks around here, and you don¡¯t have a cellphone.¡± ¡°Oh God, don¡¯t remind me! I keep reaching for it to check my socials.¡± ¡°The quest timer is very handy,¡± Jane said. ¡°It took you over two minutes, by the way, so you¡¯re even late by your own estimate.¡± ¡°Oh you shut it,¡± I said, which made her smile. I¡¯d already gone East to the forest, so after studying my map Jane suggested we go check out the Black Altar in the highlands to the Northwest. ¡°You know nothing fun¡¯s going to happen at a place called the Black Altar during the daytime,¡± she said. ¡°If anything¡¯s going on there, it¡¯s going on at night.¡± Convinced by her logic, and also not caring either way, we made our way to the western gate, which was closest to the Dragon Clan dojo. The guards there were all clan members, and once they saw we wore the same green armbands they did, they were extremely friendly. ¡°Are you sure you want to go outside now?¡± their leader said. ¡°The road to Seaside is dangerous at the best of times. We don¡¯t recommend anyone travel along it without the protection of the Silver Sword, especially at night.¡± Chow Li had told me about the bandits along the trade route to the sea, but this Silver Sword was new information. ¡°What is the Silver Sword?¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re mercenaries hired to protect caravans between here and Seaside.¡± ¡°We aren¡¯t going to Seaside,¡± Jane said. ¡°Can you tell us anything about something called the Black Altar?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± the guard said. ¡°Nobody knows much about it.¡± Chow Li had said that too. ¡°How do we get there?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You¡¯re going there?¡± The guard¡¯s eyes darted to our armbands, then he shrugged and pointed to the North. ¡°Just go that way and you should run into it. It¡¯s in a bit of a valley, so keep your eyes open.¡± ¡°Watch out for monsters along the way,¡± another guard said. ¡°Goblins have been particularly active in the highlands lately.¡± ¡°Thanks for the advice,¡± Jane said. ¡°We¡¯ll be careful.¡± We made to go through the gate when the guard called to us. ¡°Wait! Are you planning to walk?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that far, is it?¡± I said. ¡°No, but having something fast to ride will help you avoid trouble.¡± Jane grinned at them. ¡°Where¡¯s the fun in that?¡± After bidding farewell to the guard at the gate, then went through and turned right immediately to head North. Sigrid hadn¡¯t needed to ask where the Black Altar was, it was marked on my map and we could use that to guide us in the right direction. It was surprisingly light out, despite being the dead of night. Both moons shone full in the starry sky, casting slippery shadows over the silver-tinged landscape. As we made our way toward the highlands I couldn¡¯t help but notice that Jane was even giddier than usual. She was practically skipping, and kept glancing over at Sigrid with an expectant look. I turned to Sigrid. ¡°Is there something wrong with Jane?¡± She laughed. ¡°Am I missing something?¡± I said. That made Jane laugh too. I stopped walking. ¡°Would someone like to tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± They stopped and turned to look at me. They were both acting dizzy and grinning at me as if I had just told them they¡¯d won the lottery. I think Jane was literally quivering with barely-contained joy. I felt a sudden shiver and the hairs on my arm stood on end. I had the sudden feeling that something was terribly, horribly, catastrophically wrong. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°What?¡± I said in my most suspicious tone. ¡°Oh nothing,¡± purred Jane, ¡°Mister Smiley.¡± Mister Smiley? It took a few moments before I made the connection. ¡°Oh no,¡± I groaned. That¡¯s what Andy had called me in the bath. ¡°Oh yes! You think I¡¯m smokin!¡± Andy''d said that too. Sigrid came over and gave me an excessively tight hug. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to getting to know you too.¡± ¡°Give it up, Sigrid,¡± Jane said, ¡°you don¡¯t stand a chance.¡± She tossed her red hair over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes. ¡°He¡¯s a ginger man.¡± ¡°You heard it all, then,¡± I said. ¡°Heck yeah,¡± Jane said, doing a little happy dance. ¡°Every word.¡± ¡°The wall between the baths was pretty thin,¡± Sigrid said, letting go of me. ¡°Sorry. I know I should¡¯ve said something, but listening to you and Andy was just too damned entertaining. You said some very nice things, though. All except the part about hoping we could become friends.¡± She released her hug and shoved me. ¡°We already are, dummy Daniel!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not getting a hug from me,¡± Jane said. ¡°Now that I know you think I¡¯m so smokin¡¯ hot I can¡¯t trust you to not grope me.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one who said that!¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you disagree, though, did I?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because...¡± I began, but gave up. I knew a losing battle when I saw one. Anything I said would be used against me in the court of Jane. The best thing to do was get it over with. ¡°Oh fine,¡± I sighed. I gestured ¡®bring it on¡¯ with my hand. ¡°Go on, get it out of your system.¡± Jane pouted and looked deflated. ¡°Well, that¡¯s no fun.¡± ¡°I know how to deal with bullies,¡± I said. Sigrid laughed so hard it came out as a giant snort. ¡°She totally is a bully!¡± ¡°Meh, whatever,¡± Jane said, flicking her hand dismissively. "Pervert.¡± ¡°Pervert? What the hell?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I caught you wanking over my picture or anything.¡± She sidled right up next to me, her shoulder rubbing against mine, her lips so close to my ear her breath tickled. ¡°Pity you don¡¯t have a picture, huh?¡± she purred. ¡°Pervert.¡± Then she slunk away, her musical laugh tinkling in her wake. ¡°I have been victimized,¡± I said. ¡°And not just me. Do you plan on telling Andy about overhearing him through the thin walls in the bath?¡± ¡°Nuh uh. No way,¡± Jane said. ¡°After all, we wouldn¡¯t want to embarrass him.¡± ¡°I hate you,¡± I said. ¡°Like hell you do. Pervert.¡± Maybe Sigrid took pity on me and decided to change the subject, or maybe she felt me in danger of ignoring her warning and falling for Jane, or maybe she¡¯d just been waiting for Jane to get all the teasing out of her system first, but before I knew it she¡¯d ambushed me with the demand that I teach her Affinity Control. Jane¡¯s quick agreement led me to conclude she too had been wanting to learn the skill on our walk. ¡°Oh, now I see why you wanted me along,¡± I said. ¡°Yes,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°but not only for that.¡± I had no idea how to teach them something I myself had learned only because my ability made it easy for me to do so, but I tried describing how it felt to channel energy through Affinity Control as I demonstrated with the various elements I had developed an affinity with so far. They both tried, but nothing happened. ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Jane said, tossing her hands up in frustration. I tried thinking about it some more. I knew that affinities weren¡¯t real. I mean, they were, but they weren¡¯t. They were just Stratos¡¯ nanobots making things happen. But still, the nanobots had to take orders from me. So how was I giving these orders? Wait a second, that wasn¡¯t the right question to ask. Why was I able to produce an affinity effect? Because I knew about the nanobots and believed they could do it. It came down to my belief. I believed in science, so nanobots made sense to me. The idea of them, anyway. So how could I make the girls believe? Let¡¯s start with what they already believe in. ¡°Do you guys believe in magic?¡± ¡°Not really, no,¡± Jane said. ¡°Same,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Well pretend you did. How would it work?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, think about it. Picture all the depictions of magic you¡¯ve ever seen. What makes the most sense to you, what feels the most real? Do you need a wand? Do you have to chant a spell? Do you need to use hand gestures?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jane said. ¡°Magic isn¡¯t real.¡± ¡°Okay, so maybe magic won¡¯t work for you. Do you guys like martial arts flicks? What about superhero movies?¡± ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°They¡¯re okay, I guess.¡± ¡°Are you religious? Do you believe in miracles? Or do you trust in science? ¡°This isn¡¯t helping, Daniel,¡± Jane said. ¡°What are you trying to get at?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out what would make you guys believe you could do it. What do you believe in?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, what do you believe in?¡± ¡°I believe in science.¡± ¡°How does that help you make magical fire then?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t believe this fire is magical. I think it¡¯s caused by the existence of countless microscopic nanobots making what I see in my imagination become real.¡± ¡°Seriously? That''s so random.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Works for me. So what would work for you?¡± Jane''s brow furrowed, then her eyes widened. ¡°I think I get it. If I was religious, I could believe that God was giving me the power to make it happen. Like a miracle.¡± ¡°So are you religious?¡± ¡°Fuck no.¡± ¡°Maybe it doesn¡¯t have to be as strong as belief. Maybe it just has to be what would be the most fun for you.¡± ¡°Fun? Well, being a superhero would be fun.¡± ¡°Great, so go with that. Imagine you¡¯re a superhero, and for whatever reason you have the innate power to make stuff happen.¡± Jane lifted her chin and pushed her chest out in a classic superhero pose. ¡°Flame on,¡± she said, thrusting her hand in front of her. A jet of flame licked out. She gave out a whoop and pointed to the air in front of her, at the System dialog windows only she could see. ¡°Hells yeah! I just got affinity with fire and learned the Affinity Control skill!¡± ¡°That¡¯s awesome, Jane!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What about you, Sigrid,¡± I said. ¡°Jane¡¯s a superhero. What works for you?¡± She chewed her lip as she thought. ¡°I guess, maybe, there¡¯s something built into this Player body that makes it happen.¡± ¡°Like Daniel¡¯s little robo-thingies?¡± Jane said. ¡°That makes my head hurt trying to picture all these little machines. I¡¯m happy with something more vague, like that this body is powerful enough to affect the world around me.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°So give it a try.¡± ¡°Give what a try?¡± ¡°Your affinity is Air, so try to do this.¡± I swept my hand in a broad arc, and a blast of air stirred up the dirt on the ground in front of me. She copied my gesture, waving her arm, but nothing happened. ¡°Try again,¡± I said. ¡°This time really picture your hand pushing the air in front of it.¡± She nodded and pursed her lips. She waved her hand again, this time much harder and faster, and whoosh, the dirt in front of her went flying. Her mouth dropped open. ¡°How¡¯d that feel?¡± I said. ¡°A-mazing,¡± she said. Pretty soon, Jane was tossing around little balls of fire, water, and earth while Sigrid was able to create swirling eddies of air that kicked up dust from the hills we traversed. ¡°Whoah, I am really tired all of a sudden,¡± Jane said. ¡°Using your affinity like that drains a lot of mana,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s mana?¡± ¡°Just think of it as the energy inside you that fuels your powers. You¡¯ll get tired like this when you use it up. Same as when you used your teleport power a lot during the fight.¡± ¡°How do I get it back?¡± ¡°Time, rest, or here, eat this.¡± I took off my backpack and rummaged inside for a bit, pulling out a bag of nuts and dried fruit. Jane and Sigrid munched on it while we continued walking. I could almost see their energy returning. The flattish area where the city had been built had given way to the first rolling mounds of the highlands when we spotted a little cave-like rift in the ground at the base of the hill. In it, whether for lack of sunlight or nutrients, some weeds had struggled but failed to make headway in the cracked earth. Jane held her hand above the dry, brown leaves and suddenly they turned green and shot upwards, sprouting more sets of leaves as the stem grew. ¡°I did it!,¡± Jane squealed. ¡°I got Life!¡± She and Sigrid performed a little happy dance together that was so well choreographed I had the feeling this was not the first time they¡¯d done it. Sigrid called over her shoulder a while later as we ascended yet another hill. ¡°What are you doing back there?¡± At first, I¡¯d let them get a bit ahead of me. Jane had been using her newfound Affinity Control to unlock her affinity with other elements and use them in ways I hadn¡¯t been able to yet, including my original affinity with Life. I sought out a little privacy by holding back so I could secretly find a struggling plant and try to boost it. It took a few efforts, but I eventually managed to turn the unfortunate little weed stunted in the shade of a shrub a vibrant green color. A moment later, the stem shot up, new pairs of leaves sprouted, and its top blossomed in a smattering of tiny but vibrant yellow flowers. System: You have developed an affinity with Nature I¡¯d been expecting Life, but found Nature instead. I supposed the plant Jane had revived had been in worse shape and needed Life to revive it. Regardless, I can¡¯t tell you how good it felt to see that little plant blossom. During this, the girls had put a good thirty feet between us, and the gap widened with every step we took. ¡°Come on, slowpoke, keep up,¡± Sigrid called to me. ¡°You go too fast,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever get tired?¡± Sigrid stopped and looked back. The city was still visible far behind us. ¡°Yes, but we¡¯ve only come maybe two or three klicks. What, are you out of breath already?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not easy to keep pace with you. It¡¯s like chasing gazelles.¡± They waited for me to catch up, then continued at a slower pace for my benefit. ¡°As of tomorrow, we are totally going to start working on that wiggly string bean you call a body,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Give me a month and I¡¯ll have you buff as hell.¡± ¡°Why do you hate me?¡± I muttered between ragged gasps. ¡°Come ooooon,¡± she crooned. ¡°Don¡¯t you wanna look good naked?¡± ¡°Am I really that bad?¡± ¡°No,¡± she said quickly. ¡°Well...¡± ¡°Let¡¯s put it this way,¡± said Jane in a tone that told me I was about to be the brunt of another joke. ¡°If this here was the yellow brick road, you would absolutely without question be the scarecrow.¡± She pantomimed the scarecrow¡¯s clumsy dance from the movie, or maybe she was imitating one of those inflatable tube men you see outside car dealers. It was hard to tell, but either way, it was not particularly flattering to me. ¡°Oh, oh, can I be Dorothy?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Nope, that¡¯d have to be me,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re the lion.¡± Sigrid bristled. ¡°Who are you calling a coward?¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be the tin man, Jane?¡± I said, patting my chest. ¡°You are pretty heartless.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case,¡± Jane said, ¡°then that¡¯s another reason you¡¯re the scarecrow. After all, we all know what the scarecrow needed, right?¡± She tapped the side of her head. I cursed quietly. Sigrid laughed. ¡°That backfired, didn¡¯t it?¡± Jane crested the top of a hill. ¡°Finally!¡± she said. When we caught up a few steps later, we saw it too. The Black Altar. Chapter Twenty-Nine - Treasure Tokens From our vantage it looked like we were on the rim of a gigantic bowl, with some kind of dark building sprouting from the middle of the hollow. Spurred on by the discovery, I found my second wind and hurried with them down the concave slope. As we got closer we saw something that looked a lot like a Japanese Shinto shrine, with a square, black inner part that was surrounded by an open area paved with dark tiles. Thick posts equally spaced along the outer edges of the tiled area supported a slate-shingled roof that covered the whole thing, curving sharply up all four sides to a single peak. Everything was black. The stone, the posts, the tiles, all black. I checked the map. No doubt about it, this was the Black Altar. We were right on top of the location where Chow Li had placed it, in the center of the adjacent hex Northwest of the city. When we got closer still, we noticed that the square structure was encircled by obsidian obelisks, each only a few feet tall. When we got right up to them, we saw that there were twelve in total, each one made of the same smooth black stone as the center block, and each engraved with the name of one of the affinity elements in several languages. Being this close we realized that the inner structure looked like one giant block of pure black stone, impossibly smooth, that rose up perfectly straight with flawlessly square corners to meet the roof. We cautiously walked the perimeter of the obelisks, looking for a way to enter the center block, but the unbroken smoothness of the stone repeated on all four sides with no visible way into it: no doors, no windows, not so much as a crack could be seen in it anywhere. I looked at Sigrid. She looked at Jane, who looked at me. We all shrugged and took a tentative step between two posts and entered the area under the roof. As soon as we did, a fresh System notice suddenly appeared. Quest: Beyond The Reaches Of Time And Space - Solve the [Hidden] Dungeon at the Black Altar Reward: Dungeon control ¡°Are you seeing this?¡± Jane said. ¡°Is this a dungeon?¡± ¡°Beats me,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Jane said. ¡°Aren¡¯t dungeons, like, underground ruins or something?¡± Right, they weren¡¯t gamers. ¡°It¡¯s probably not meant literally,¡± I said. ¡°In some games, a dungeon can mean any specific challenge, it doesn¡¯t have to be an actual dungeon dungeon.¡± ¡°Then why not just call it a challenge?¡± Jane said. ¡°And what does it mean to control a dungeon?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s just find a way inside and see. We can argue semantics later.¡± The inner block was so black it seemed to suck the light into it, but when we got closer our ghostly reflections stared back at us from the perfectly smooth surface. Without hesitation or precaution, Jane reached out and touched it. That girl was either fearless or foolish, or maybe a bit of both. We could possibly chalk it up to naivete, but this was Jane we were talking about. ¡°This feels freaking weird,¡± Jane said, gliding her palm along the surface. Sigrid and I couldn¡¯t resist, we touched it too. I¡¯d never felt anything so glassy smooth, almost frictionless. ¡°I am so glad you wanted to go out exploring tonight,¡± I said with a grin. Jane grinned back. ¡°Stick with us, kid. We are chock full of good ideas.¡± Even after a thorough inspection, the inner slab revealed no secrets. Then from the other side, I heard Sigrid say, ¡°Hey guys, come take a look at this. I think there¡¯s something here.¡± We raced around to find her back by one of the black obelisks. The one that said Void. Jane reached her first. ¡°What is that, a hole?¡± When I joined them I could see that there was a circle of slowly swirling colors on the outer obelisk¡¯s edge, like water with a thin sheen of oil on top. Where had I seen that before? ¡°That¡¯s strange,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t doing that before.¡± ¡°Doing what?¡± I said. She pointed into the basin. ¡°That swirly color thing,¡± she said. ¡°A second ago it just looked like an opening in the side.¡± I took a few steps back and the colors vanished, then started again when I stepped forward once more. ¡°Freaky,¡± Sigrid. ¡°But, putting that aside for a moment...¡± She put her hands out in front of her as though lifting a box, then moved them sideways as though putting it down again. ¡°What do you make of this writing?¡± I peered closer to see what she was referring to. It took a bit of moving my head back and forth to find the right angle, but eventually I could make out shadowy words etched into the pillar just under the top edge. They weren¡¯t like the carved words that spelled out the affinity, which were deep engravings all around the sides of the obelisk. These letters were barely there, incised so shallowly that when I ran my fingertips over them it was hard to feel anything there. You had to be looking from just the right angle to see them in the moonlight. Had only one moon been up, and if they hadn¡¯t both been full moons, and if the moons weren¡¯t both in the right part of the sky, and if you weren¡¯t looking at them just right, even knowing they were there the words would have remained completely undetectable. That was pretty darned lucky. What were the odds? The words read: Only a treasure token can open the Void. ¡°What do you suppose that means?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Beats the hell out of me,¡± I said. ¡°If I had to guess, that¡¯s the void.¡± I pointed at the impenetrable black block in the middle. ¡°And we need some sort of token to open it,¡± Jane said. ¡°Anybody got a TTC token?¡± ¡°I doubt it wants a token for the subway,¡± I said, which earned me an eye roll. Of course she¡¯d been joking. ¡°Do you think it means those Reward Tokens we got before?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, either,¡± I said. ¡°Those aren¡¯t physical things, and I think they¡¯re used in something called the Reward Shop.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I explained about the shop and it getting unlocked after Tutorial. We stood around the column trying to solve the clue when Jane had an idea. She pointed at the circle of swirling colors. ¡°Sigrid, didn¡¯t you say that this looked like an empty hole at first?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well then there¡¯s only one thing to do,¡± Jane said, reaching out towards the obelisk. ¡°Wait!¡± I shouted, but it was too late, she¡¯d already thrust her hand into the circle. Her fingers broke through the oily sheen and disappeared. ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°I was going to suggest testing it with something that isn¡¯t a body part first.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°That would¡¯ve been a good idea,¡± Jane said, her entire hand vanishing inside the hole. ¡°Next time say something sooner.¡± ¡°Next time just don¡¯t do something like that without thinking first.¡± ¡°Thinking first has never been Jane¡¯s forte,¡± Sigrid said with a smile and a wink. ¡°What do you feel?¡± Jane grimaced and cried out. ¡°Pain! Ah, the pain! It burns!¡± ¡°What?¡± Sigrid said in a panic. ¡°Take your hand out, quick!¡± Jane pulled her hand out of the hole. Then she smiled and wiggled her fingers. They were all still there and appeared dry and undamaged. Jane laughed. ¡°Just kidding. It didn¡¯t hurt, just cold.¡± Watching Jane¡¯s hand disappear into the hole, it finally clicked in what the hole reminded me of: the black circle of my extra-dimensional inventory. Sigrid said, ¡°Let me try,¡± and attempted to put her hand in too, but couldn¡¯t go beyond the surface. ¡°It won¡¯t let me,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± I said, and gave it a try. My hand slipped in easily up to the wrist and I felt an unnatural chill spread from my fingertips almost to my elbow. That was new, my inventory didn¡¯t have the same coldness. I withdrew my hand and the warmth began to return. ¡°Daniel, your ring,¡± Jane said. ¡°Didn¡¯t that used to be silver?¡± When it had gone into the hole with my hand, my formerly tarnished ring had been the bright silver color it became after I¡¯d buffed it, but when it came out it had turned black with faint colors swirling around on the surface of the dark metal. ¡°What the hell?¡± I used All Shall Be Revealed on it to see if anything else about it had changed. Void Ring Made of an unknown metal, this ring possesses the essence of the Void Powers: Void Key - Opens gate to the Void Dungeon ¡°It changed,¡± I said. ¡°No shit, Sherlock,¡± Jane said. ¡°No, I mean its properties changed. It used to be called Untarnished Ring and had a power similar to your stiletto. Now...¡± I shared its Status. ¡°See? The old power is gone, but now it¡¯s a dungeon key.¡± Void Dungeon, eh? Let¡¯s see. Quest: Beyond The Reaches Of Time And Space - Solve the Void Dungeon at the Black Altar Reward: Dungeon ownership Yup. As I thought. The [Hidden] in the quest name didn¡¯t refer to the dungeon¡¯s location, it was hiding its identity. The clues were everywhere, though, and now we knew for sure what it was: the Void Dungeon. Did this mean all affinities had their own dungeon? ¡°Try touching the thing in the middle there now,¡± suggested Sigrid. I went back up to the central block and reached out to touch it. My hand slipped right through the surface, and again I felt that chill run up my arm. I quickly withdrew it. My hand appeared normal, and the chill drained away. I held my hand up to display the ring. ¡°Treasure token.¡± ¡°Looks like we found the way into the dungeon,¡± Sigrid said. She came over and tried to reach into the block, but couldn¡¯t. It was as smooth and impenetrable as before. I tried again and my hand slipped inside. She tried again when my hand was inside but she still couldn¡¯t get past the glassy surface. ¡°I guess everyone needs their own key,¡± I said. I took the ring off and offered it to her. ¡°Here, try mine.¡± Sigrid held out her hand and I placed the ring on her palm. She shrieked and dropped it, pulling her hand back and clutching it to her chest. ¡°It was funny when I did it,¡± Jane said. ¡°No,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯m not faking. It¡¯s...wow.¡± ¡°Did it actually hurt you?¡± Sigrid held out her hand again and studied it. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I mean, when the ring touched me I felt...not exactly pain, but...I don¡¯t know how to explain it. It just felt...wrong?¡± Oh right, they didn¡¯t know the deal with affinities. I stooped to pick the ring up off the black tiled floor. ¡°Void is an affinity.¡± ¡°It is?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s one of twelve. Here, look at this.¡± I took them outside the structure to open ground, then used the tip of my dagger to sketch in the dirt a diagram of the affinity wheel, as I called it. ¡°Those are the same as what¡¯s on all the pointy markers around the Altar,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Exactly. The same as the fountains back in the city square.¡± ¡°Really? I never noticed.¡± I explained the idea of opposite affinities. ¡°Sigrid, you have affinity with Air, right? Look, Void sits directly opposite Air. That might have something to do with why you can¡¯t hold the ring or put your hand in the basin.¡± Jane gave it a try, and had no trouble putting on the ring and shoving her arm inside the central black block. ¡°Jane and I both have special affinities that cover all of them, including Void. That must be it.¡± ¡°I want a key too,¡± Jane said. ¡°I need a treasure token, anybody got anything?¡± Since money is the most basic of all treasures, she tried putting a copper coin into the basin (¡°No sense wasting gold,¡± she said) but nothing happened. She tried again with silver, then gold, still nothing. ¡°Does it have to be jewelry then?¡± Sigrid said. Nobody else had any, though. I had an idea. ¡°Jane,¡± I said, ¡°try your stiletto.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°My ring had a special ability, it boosted my speed.¡± Jane snorted. ¡°Holy shit, you mean you¡¯ll be even slower now without that boost? We¡¯re doomed.¡± I ignored her. ¡°Maybe it has to be something like that, something with an ability. Maybe that¡¯s the kind of treasure it wants.¡± ¡°Right.¡± She slid the agility-boosting knife out of the scabbard hanging off her belt, then pushed it into the hole. It shouldn¡¯t have been deep enough for the whole thing to fit straight in, but she was able to shove it in past the hilt. ¡°Damn.¡± ¡°That¡¯s kind of freaky,¡± Sigrid said. When Jane pulled the stiletto out again, her stiletto had turned black with swirling colors, just like my ring. I evaluated it. Void Blade Made of an unknown metal, this stiletto contains the essence of the Void Powers: Void Key - Opens gate to the Void Dungeon ¡°That did it,¡± I said. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t help me, though,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s possible this dungeon¡¯s only accessible to people with the Void affinity.¡± ¡°That would also explain why that thing didn¡¯t react until someone with Void got close,¡± Jane said, pointing at the obelisk. Sigrid pouted. ¡°Bummer.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t have affinity with Void yet,¡± Jane said. ¡°Me neither,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe having the potential is enough.¡± Jane grabbed my arm. ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± ¡°What, now?¡± ¡°Yes now! When else?¡± I was about to argue that it was a bad idea, that we should wait until we were stronger and knew more, but all it took was one look at her face and all resistance evaporated. ¡°Yeah, okay. Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Wait, no!¡± Sigrid said, putting her hand on my arm. ¡°You¡¯re just going to leave me alone outside here?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll just pop in and take a quick look,¡± Jane said. ¡°Come on, we have to at least see what¡¯s in there.¡± Sigrid sighed. ¡°This is one of those things you won¡¯t give up on isn¡¯t it? Fine. It¡¯s just to take a look, right? A quick in and out?¡± ¡°I promise,¡± said Jane. ¡°Just the tip,¡± she added with a sly smile. Sigrid shoved her, then took my wrist and locked eyes with me. ¡°I know I can¡¯t trust her so I¡¯m counting on you, Daniel. You come right back out again and bring her with you.¡± I returned her gaze and nodded once. She let go. Jane was positively giddy as she waited by the smooth surface of the gate. ¡°Together on three,¡± she said. ¡°One. Two. Three.¡± Together, we stepped through the surface of the black block and disappeared into the Void. Chapter Thirty - Into the Void Passing through felt like nothing. There was no surface tension to break, no twisting feeling in my gut, just that chill that flowed through every cell in my body. Within moments the chill went away when I received a new System message. System: You have developed an affinity with Void ¡°Jane, did you just¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah, I got the message too.¡± We emerged into an eerie darkness. It¡¯s not really accurate to call it darkness, it wasn¡¯t the same as the kind of dark that happens when you turn off a light. It was more like there was an absence of darkness or light, there just wasn¡¯t anything. Only void. Somehow, even though there was no discernible light, we could somehow still see. There just wasn¡¯t a whole lot to look at, only intense, neverending emptiness. Still, I could tell right away that we were not alone in that vast nothing, wherever that nothingness actually was. My body shivered even though the chill was gone. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re in Kansas anymore,¡± Jane said. Looking around, only two things broke the endless emptiness. Beside us was a familiar square block of blackness, the same as the one we¡¯d passed into to get here ¡ª the gate ¡ª only here the black slab didn¡¯t stop at a roof but extended straight up for as far as I could see, which was seemingly forever. There was no sky, just a limitless infinity above. A haze swirled around us, at times only a thin mist, but constantly swirling, shifting at other times into an impenetrable fog. When it wasn¡¯t too thick, we were able to see a single landmark off in the distance: the single spire of what looked to be a tower pointed up, the only sign that there was something in this void. It was impossible to tell how far away it was. ¡°I guess we¡¯re going that way?¡± I said. ¡°Guess so,¡± she said, and we set off toward the tower. The surface under my feet felt flat as we walked, although I couldn¡¯t see it because everything from my ankles down was hidden under a flat plane of color swirling through utter blackness, similar to the hole that had transformed my ring to a void key. This was different than the pervasive fog swirling all around, and remained constant even as the fog shifted. It seemed to stretch on forever all around us. Whatever the surface underfoot I was walking upon was, it felt neither firm nor soft, neither hard nor squishy, but somehow all of the above. A faint, wet, squelching sound accompanied every soft step we took, which made me think that perhaps it was a bit of a blessing that I couldn¡¯t see what I was stepping on. There were other sounds that faded in and out like the mist. Soft rustling. Faint chattering. Occasional clicks. It was impossible to tell where they came from, it seemed like everywhere and nowhere at the same time. As we progressed, out of the corners of my eyes I started seeing shifting blurs in the haze around me, almost like there was something moving inside it, but when I tried to look directly at the fleeting phantasms there was nothing, only void. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go back,¡± I whispered. ¡°Not yet,¡± Jane said. ¡°I want to see the dragon first.¡± ¡°Dragon?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t all dungeons have dragons?¡± She grinned at me. Such an adorable newb. ¡°Do you really want to meet the kind of creatures that live here?¡± I asked. She made a face, but continued undaunted. ¡°Come on, we¡¯re here now, just a bit more,¡± she said as she kept walking. ¡°What about just the tip?¡± ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m the kind of girl who¡¯d be satisfied by a quick in and out, Daniel?¡± ¡°No comment.¡± I followed her soft, tinkling laugh and plunged deeper into the void. As we continued, the surrounding nothingness seemed to close in upon us. The space around us felt smaller. It was as though I was being enclosed by encroaching walls of endlessness. Nothing made sense here. The reference points of sensation and logic I was used to didn¡¯t exist in this place. The vast surface upon which we walked appeared to be level, but the seemingly flat plane of swirling colors rose and fell as we moved so that at times more of our legs vanished beneath it, and then after a few steps became visible again. The sounds similarly faded in and out in a random swell, one moment appearing to come from close to me, then from somewhere far off the next. Things that weren¡¯t there in the nonexistent haze surrounding us continued to move eerily in my peripheral vision. ¡°Jane?¡± I said. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Back there, on the other side. Before we came in here.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Did you use your power on me?¡± ¡°Whatever are you talking about, Daniel?¡± ¡°Your Captivating Presence power. The ability to affect the mood of others. Did you use that to make me want to come in here?¡± She gasped, but it was so exaggerated it was obviously an act. ¡°Would I do such a thing?¡± ¡°Thought so.¡± We kept forging our way through the Void. Then we heard it. A faint swishing sound coming from somewhere nearby. The plane of swirling colors was particularly high, halfway up my thigh, so there was a lot of space down below that was hidden from view. Plenty of space for something to be swishing about. ¡°I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this,¡± Jane said. Then I felt it. Something closed around the bottom of my leg, gripping it, something that was most certainly not a hand, and for the first time in my life I truly knew what it felt like when someone says they jumped out of their skin. My whole body recoiled at the sensation, infused with a sudden combination of surprise and fear and horror and disgust. A lot of disgust. ¡°Gah!¡± I screamed and tried to leap away, and whatever it was that had slithered around my calf let go. I stumbled toward Jane, falling against her. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°A little jumpy, are we?¡± she said. ¡°Something grabbed me,¡± I said. I froze, listening. ¡°What do you¡ª¡± ¡°Shhhh!¡± I peered down but whatever might have existed down below remained hidden under the plane of swirling color. But I could hear something. A soft rustling sound from below, like silk rubbing against silk. Then it grabbed me again, and this time it held on tight. The thing around my leg pulled at me, and I struggled to remain upright, hopping on my free leg as whatever it was tugged at me. Then I started to feel my leg burn in several places where whatever it was held me, as though someone pressed a red-hot poker against my skin then poured concentrated acid onto the wounds. I shrieked in pain and began to fall. ¡°Holy shit!¡± Jane cried. She grabbed my hand, pulling me back just in time to keep me upright. ¡°Use your sword,¡± I groaned through the pain, and she pulled her rapier free from its scabbard. ¡°Now what?¡± she said. ¡°Stab it!¡± She raised her arm, sword tip aimed down, and gave me a questioning look. I could see my own fear reflected in her big green eyes. ¡°Just don¡¯t hit my leg.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try not to,¡± she said, jabbing downward. ¡°What exactly am I stabbing at, though?¡± She kept thrusting down again and again in various places until we heard the wet squelch of her sword piercing something solid. ¡°Oh,¡± she said. She pulled her rapier up and attacked again at the same spot, this time stabbing down harder and her arm went lower as the sword sank deeper into the unseen thing. Whatever it was let go of my leg again, releasing the tension, but Jane was still pulling on my arm so she and I both nearly toppled over. ¡°Um, Daniel?¡± she said. ¡°I know you¡¯re keen to keep looking around here but how about we call it a night, huh?¡± ¡°That sounds like a fine idea,¡± I said, wincing. Although my leg was free again, the burning pain remained. With one last look at the tower, which looked as impenetrably far away as ever, we started edging back the way we¡¯d come, stepping slowly and lightly, listening for any sign of something else nearby. The clammy grip of her hand still squeezed mine. We¡¯d only made it a few steps when I felt her fingers squeeze harder as she lurched with a squeal of surprise. ¡°Daniel! Something¡¯s got me!¡± ¡°Hang on, Jane!¡± Our fingers clenched together as she stabbed down with the rapier in her other hand. She must have struck something and made it let go because she stopped pulling. We exchanged a look of pure terror. ¡°Time to go!¡± she yelled. She clung to my hand and started pulling me back towards the black gate. At once, the sounds around us grew louder. Not just the soft rustling sounds, but also the clicking and chattering, which were joined by new slithering, oozing noises as whatever it was that was with us in the void stopped trying to hide. The ghostly movements in the surrounding haze moved from the corners of my eyes to encompass my entire field of vision, morphing from maybe-not-really-there to definitely-there-for-real. We ran. The sounds pursued. I didn¡¯t dare look back to see what was making them. I felt like we were pulling ahead of the sounds, and whatever it was that was making them became less of a concern than the shape materializing in the emptiness ahead. It was as though the immaterial haze was slowly coalescing into a solid mass, forming itself into a monstrous, amorphous blob like something ancient and otherworldly from an H.P. Lovecraft tale. The thing was covered in countless bubbles that swelled and burst, some turning into globe-like eyes, the rest becoming gaping round cavities like empty eye sockets. Its surface boiled with the swirling colors of the void. Thick, tentacular tendrils sprouted from the lower regions of its quivering bulk, slithering out at us, writhing and reaching, and sprouting round suckers that made me remember the burning sensation of something gripping my leg moments before. I shuddered involuntarily and was consumed by overwhelming revulsion.
Shoggoth An eldritch horror from beyond time and space. You should run if you see one. But if you¡¯ve seen it, it¡¯s probably already too late.
Gifts: All-Seeing - Always aware of surroundings
Powers: All-Consuming - Master: Devour anything She Drives Me Crazy - Master: Cause temporary insanity Tentacular Monstrosity - Master: Create appendages
Skills: Tentacle - Master
Huh. It really was something from an H.P. Lovecraft story. How unfortunate. ¡°Burn, motherlover,¡± I shouted as I produced a ball of fire. ¡°Did you just say motherlover?¡± Jane said. ¡°I don¡¯t like to swear,¡± I said, then hurled the fireball at the monster. I¡¯m not sure what I had hoped to accomplish, it was just the first thing that came to mind. It had, predictably, no effect whatsoever on the monster, but it did give me an idea. Fire was next to Void on the affinity wheel, but Air was opposite. I concentrated on creating a focused spear of air. I pictured wind being squeezed into a tight, thin lance. Air molecules compressed so hard that they became a solid force. I pictured the air striking the aberration that loomed before us, piercing it through. I felt the solid shaft of the air spear in my hand and threw it with all the strength I could muster. System: Your mastery of Affinity Control has evolved System: Your mastery of Air has evolved I felt a rush of wind as the invisible spear left my hand, then saw it close the space between me and the monster. It was as though the space itself had density that the hurtling spear of air broke through. Despite the appearance of fog, I knew there was nothing, not even air, in the space: it was nothingness. Void. But the polarity of Air against Void created a sort of tangible shockwave. Then it struck. It smacked the Shoggoth in the center of a mass of bubbling eyes. The force of it created a momentary dent in the monster¡¯s rippling skin, then it broke through, piercing into the creature and causing a small swath of eyes to burst all at once. A green mist spurted from each one along with a thick, grayish fluid that oozed down the puckered holes left by the popped eyes. The beast let loose an cacophony of eldritch howls that must have come from multiple unseen mouths. ¡°Jane! Use Air!¡± I shouted over the din. We clenched each other¡¯s hand lest we get separated in this impossible place, using our free hands to fire off whatever Air missiles we could conjure. Jane only managed a few weak blasts before she was too low on mana and would pass out if she tried to produce more. I could feel her begin to drag behind me, exhausted by the exertion, but I held her hand tight and pulled her along with me as I kept charging towards the gate¡¯s column of blackness, our one means of possibly escaping this bleak and horrible dungeon. It was so close. I¡¯m not sure if my attacks did much in the way of actual damage, but they did enough to keep the Shoggoth at bay for a few precious seconds. Its tentacles slithered away from us, temporarily withdrawn back into the central mass. Jane dragged behind me like an anchor, momentum being the only thing making her take step after stumbling step. If she¡¯d fallen I¡¯d have literally had to drag her. ¡°Keep going, Jane! Don¡¯t you dare give up!¡± My own feet felt like they were encased in shoes of cement, like in that recurring nightmare I¡¯ve had since I was in elementary school about missing the bus because I couldn¡¯t run fast enough to catch it. The effort of moving forward was agony, each step a monumental victory of will. Our pace had slowed, allowing whatever it was that was chasing us to close the distance. The gate was right there in front of us. We were so close. Mere steps away from the gate, Jane¡¯s hand was ripped from mine. I lost my balance, stumbling down to my hands and knees. I felt the surface of the ground below under my fingers, smooth yet bumpy, like a teenager¡¯s face dotted with acne, firm yet squishy, like an overcooked sponge cake, and cold and greasy, like congealed bacon fat. I lunged back, groping for Jane¡¯s hand. I felt the fabric of her clothing under my fingers and grabbed it. Something was pulling her back but I kept clutching her sleeve while I mustered every bit of mana I had left into one last attack. Air filled my free hand, forming itself into a thin, dense shaft that I hurled blindly behind us. I heard a squawk as it impacted against something, then I fell backwards toward the black pillar, pulling Jane with me as whatever it was released its clutch on her. I took a firm grip on her arm and crawled, clawing at the squishy ground with my free hand, pulling myself inch by inch toward freedom, dragging her behind me up to and then finally, mercifully, back through the stygian blackness of the gate. Chapter Thirty-One - And whatever comes my way I felt hands hoist me under my shoulders and pull. I felt them pry my fingers off Jane¡¯s arm. I felt the cool wetness of water on my lips, over my tongue, down my throat. I heard concerned muttering. I tasted something sweet, chewed it, swallowed it. ¡°More,¡± I croaked. I ate more. As I bit, chewed, and swallowed, again and again, mechanically, like a robot, I felt energy flow back into my strange new Player¡¯s body, this body capable of producing fire and ice and spears of concentrated air. Then it all flooded back. The void. ¡°Jane!¡± I blurted. ¡°Shhhhh, it¡¯s okay,¡± came Sigrid¡¯s soothing voice. ¡°Jane¡¯s fine.¡± I felt her warm hand stroke the hair off my clammy forehead. ¡°I¡¯m fine, doofus,¡± Jane groaned from somewhere nearby. ¡°Good,¡± I sighed. Sigrid fed me some more. ¡°Jane?¡± I said. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°If you ever use that Captivating Presence power to coerce me into doing something idiotic like this again I will kill you in your sleep.¡± There was a pause, then Jane said, ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± There was another pause. ¡°Daniel? How did you do that? Back there. How come you were able to hurt it but I couldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Simple,¡± I said. ¡°Because I¡¯m better than you.¡± She laughed, and it wasn¡¯t until I heard that high, musical laugh of hers that I finally accepted that we really were okay. We¡¯d made it back. Most importantly, Jane was fine. That was too close. We almost lost our hero. Sigrid was kind enough to resist asking us anything about what had happened yet, though I¡¯m certain she was dying to, but instead she focused on helping us to recover first. She looked at my leg and grunted. ¡°You¡¯re both dummies,¡± Sigrid said with a fierce scowl. I looked down and saw a series of round holes burned through my pants. I peeled the pant leg up to expose an identical series of circular red welts on my leg. They still burned. ¡°How could you be so stupid?¡± she mumbled as she reached into my pack and pulled out the healing potion. ¡°No!¡± I said as she went to uncork it. ¡°Why not? Isn¡¯t this what you bought it for?¡± ¡°Well yes, but it¡¯s our only one. It should be saved for times of life or death.¡± Jane peered at my leg. ¡°I dunno, that looks pretty nasty.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so bad. It doesn¡¯t even hurt.¡± She quirked an eyebrow then jabbed at one of the red sucker marks with her finger. ¡°Ow!¡± I screamed as pain shot through me. ¡°Yeah, right. Doesn¡¯t hurt my ass.¡± ¡°Okay fine, it stings a bit. But it¡¯s not that serious. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Both girls stared at me with open skepticism. ¡°I mean it. Besides, it was really expensive.¡± Sigrid considered things for a moment, then nodded and put the potion away. ¡°Fine.¡± As soon as we were strong enough to stand up again the floodgates released and she insisted on knowing everything. We did our best to describe the experience on the way back to town, but it was difficult to put it all into words. It had been such an alien, otherworldly place, the sensations were so foreign, and the monsters so...monstrous, it was impossible to do it all justice with mere words. ¡°Damn,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I was feeling pretty pissed off I couldn¡¯t go in there with you, but now I¡¯m kinda glad.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going back,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re what?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Oh, not now!¡± Jane said, waving her hands in front of her. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we weren¡¯t meant to go into that place until we were much, much stronger. But now we know what we¡¯re up against, and we know what works against it. We are going to get stronger, and we are going to go back, and we are going to beat that fucking dungeon.¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± I said, and was rewarded with one of Jane¡¯s unbeatable smiles. There¡¯s my protagonist. Sigrid and I paired off after that. We¡¯d had a big snack after coming out of the dungeon so Jane¡¯s mana was back up, and she went on ahead, leaving a trail of ice patches, burnt shrubs, and vibrantly alive plants in her wake as she practiced with Affinity Control, while Sigrid slowed her pace to stick back with me as we shared tidbits about ourselves. Sigrid Sorrensen was 22 years old with a crisp, fresh University degree in Film Studies. She rented a condo at Yonge and Bloor and earned a living mostly through her YouTube channel devoted to yoga and exercise, with some modeling on the side. She¡¯d left behind on Earth a doting widowed father, three annoying younger sisters she loved more than life itself, a slew of acquaintances but precious few people she would call an actual friend, a couple of on-and-off boyfriends (more like friends-with-benefits she later amended), several hundred thousand social media followers, and a cat named Meowmeow who she suspected was the real reason she had so many followers. Meowmeow liked to curl up in the most unlikely places while she recorded her videos and it had become a sort of Where¡¯s Waldo game among her fans to see who could spot him first. She¡¯d been told that Meowmeow got more action in the comments than she did, but she couldn¡¯t be sure. She never, ever, read the comments because, you know: trolls suck. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I¡¯m not good at sharing, but something about Sigrid made me more comfortable than I could remember being with another person in a long, long time. Her openness, her honesty, her authenticity, her humility. All I could think was: so that¡¯s what real confidence looks like. So when it was my turn, I ended up telling her a lot more about myself than I¡¯d intended. She was just so understanding and empathetic and easy to talk to that once I got going it all just started pouring out. When I was talking she was entirely focused on what I had to say; she wasn¡¯t waiting for her turn to speak or glancing around to see what else was going on, she was listening like she actually cared. I wasn¡¯t used to that, so I found myself sharing more of myself with her in those few minutes than I think I ever had in almost two years with my ex. Don¡¯t judge me. Time seemed to fly by as we chatted. Before I knew it, we¡¯d almost reached the place where the hills gave way to the flat area upon which the city had been built. ¡°I have to say, you had the right idea about the encounters at night.¡± ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± Sigrid said, putting her finger up to the side of her jaw and scratching lightly. ¡°I never thought you were the type to date a gamer nerd, though.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, about that...¡± She looked distinctly uncomfortable. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said, waving my hand frantically in front of me. ¡°Never mind.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. It¡¯s just. Well, about Andy.¡± ¡°What about him?¡± ¡°It was him. He was the one who brought up the idea. He said he wondered if they did this sort of encounter thing here.¡± ¡°Then we should¡¯ve brought him!¡± ¡°I tried to, but he said to go on without him. He was too tired.¡± ¡°Wow. That was nice of him. Still, I wonder what wore him out. How much extra kung fu training did he do?¡± Her hand went back up to the side of her face, finger scritching. ¡°About that...aw man, don¡¯t look at me like that.¡± ¡°Like what? I was just wondering.¡± ¡°It was me, okay?¡± ¡°What was you?¡± Sigrid made fists with both hands and shook them in front of her while looking up at the sky. The two moons shone down on her face, which would have been even more beautiful in the wan light if it didn¡¯t look so frustrated. ¡°I was the one who wore him out.¡± I looked at Sigrid. She looked back at me, then shrugged. I blinked a few times. And it took me until that moment to figure out what she meant. Maybe I was a bit dense after all. ¡°Well next time go easy so he can come with,¡± I said, and that earned me a smile. After a few minutes of what I thought was companionable silence, Sigrid spoke up. ¡°Listen, Daniel...¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I owe you an apology.¡± I laughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t have to tell me if you sleep with Andy, or anyone for that matter. None of my business.¡± ¡°Well duh. But that¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about.¡± ¡°Oh? Sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say sorry while I¡¯m apologizing, dummy. Look, I¡¯m sorry, okay? When I first agreed to join you, I...damn, this is hard. Okay, so at first I agreed because I thought you¡¯d be easy to boss around. There. I said it. I was new to all this, and I was feeling really overwhelmed and scared and I¡¯m not used to that, you know? So you came along, and you were all sweet and innocent and cute but you seemed to know what you were doing so I thought I could just sort of, you know...¡± ¡°Use me?¡± ¡°Well, yeah.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why you¡¯re sorry?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Sigrid, do you remember what I told you when we first met? The reason why you were the first I asked to join me?¡± ¡°You wanted help. So?¡± ¡°Jane actually said it at the time. I wanted to use you.¡± ¡°Yeah, to help you talk to other people. Same thing.¡± ¡°Exactly. Same as you. Same thing.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not the same as me. I wanted to use you to help...me. Oh yeah. It is the same thing.¡± Then she hit me. ¡°But you came right out and admitted it. I didn¡¯t.¡± She hit me again. ¡°That¡¯s the difference, dummy.¡± ¡°Okay, fine. You win. You are a horrible person. Now can you please stop hitting me?¡± Just as that lovely moment of bonding happened, Sigrid stiffened and put out a hand in front of my chest to stop me from moving. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Something¡¯s coming,¡± she hissed. Danger sense. I pulled out my dagger. She whistled softly to get Jane¡¯s attention, and when Jane looked back she gestured for her to come to us. ¡°What is it?¡± Jane said, jogging back. ¡°Danger.¡± Jane grinned and pulled out her rapier. ¡°Thank god. I really need to vent on something.¡± Sigrid must¡¯ve noticed the look on my face. ¡°She hates losing,¡± she offered by way of explanation. I got it. After what we went through in the Void Dungeon, I was itching to work off some frustration and inch the slate closer to even with a win too. ¡°Where?¡± Jane said. After a moment of concentration Sigrid pointed to the Southwest, past a tall hill, then slid into a defensive posture, raising her shield and hefting her spear, ready to throw. Jane clapped me on the shoulder. ¡°Daniel, you just try to keep up and not get in the way, alright?¡± She stepped forward and a bit to the side, just behind and to the right of Sigrid. I followed suit, stepping to the other side to create a wedge formation with Sigrid at the center. Jane noticed and gave a curt nod of approval. Why did that simple nod make me feel so good? Was I really that needy for validation? Moving together we crept up the side of the hill. As we neared the top we could hear deep growls and the sounds of battle, and once we crested the hill we could see it. A pair of Players faced off against four small humanoids with bilious gray-green skin, clad in tattered rags, and armed with crude spears. Or, more accurately, one Player faced them because the other was sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood. He wasn¡¯t moving. Chapter Thirty-Two - To the rescue
Highland Goblin The hills are alive with these dirty little creatures. What they lack in strength they more than make up for in numbers and tenacity. You''ll find each one carries a gourd of whiskey, which they''re constantly taking swigs from -- yield not to the temptation to drink from it yourself, it''s vile stuff.
Powers: Drunk With Power - Adept: Stronger when intoxicated
Skills: Spear - Adept
The goblins had surrounded the two Players. The one still standing was a tall black man wielding a sword, its long blade covered in flickering flames. The bodies of two dead goblins lay at his feet, but the wide, slow swings of his sword were not meant to attack, merely to keep the goblins at a distance. He was doing an admirable job of keeping them at bay by lashing out with the weapon, but trickles of blood oozing from small wounds all over his body showed where the goblins had managed to get past his defenses. His clumsy swings betrayed how tired he was. It was only a matter of time before they overwhelmed him. For their part, the goblins were taking their time. They''d take turns, one stepping back to pull out a gourd and take a deep quaff from it while the others poked at the Player with their spears, then shifting so another could pause and have a drink. That was bad news for the Player. Every sip from the whiskey in those gourds would only make the goblins stronger. What a crazy power.
Wayne Powell
Affinity: Death - Novice
Gifts: That Voodoo That You Do - Limited immortaility
Powers: Affinity Blade - Imbue weapon with Affinity Minions, Arise - Novice: Summon creatures I Can Make Fire - Novice: Additional Affinity with Fire
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Painting - Novice Sword - Competent
Interesting. Combination of necromancer and melee fighter. Potent class mix. Sigrid was about to charge forward to join the fray but I stopped her with a hiss. At the last moment my All Shall Be Revealed power had lit up three Status windows over creatures hidden in a copse of scraggly shrubs between us and the other Players. I could barely make them out, sleek figures prowling low to the ground among the shadows. It was sheer luck that I¡¯d been using my power on Wayne at the exact moment they¡¯d crept into my line of sight so I noticed their presence before it was too late. They blended so well into their surroundings it was impossible to make out what they were. Well, impossible for other people, but not a problem for me.
Shadow Wolf Big enough to be used as mounts by smaller humanoids, nobody knows how Shadow Wolves reproduce, only that they do it quickly and these blights can now be found all over, hiding in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to pounce and feed on whatever flesh they can chomp down on.
Powers: The Power Of The Pack - Adept: Deadlier when hunting in a group I Lurk In The Shadows - Competent: Extra stealth when hiding in shadows
Skills: Pounce - Competent: Launch an deadly attack from a distance Bite - Adept: Sharp teeth make short work of prey
They were on the move, slowly creeping towards us. ¡°What is it?¡± Sigrid asked. ¡°Shadow Wolves,¡± I said. ¡°Up there in those bushes. Three of them. One coming straight on, the other two circling around either side. They¡¯re pack hunters so don¡¯t get surrounded, and watch out for a pounce from a distance.¡± ¡°How do you...?¡± Sigrid said, then she stopped herself. ¡°Right. That power of yours.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a pretty handy talent,¡± Jane said, glancing sideways at me. ¡°As a rule I don¡¯t normally take in strays, but I think I might keep you.¡± The fight with the wolves was terribly one-sided and didn¡¯t last long. Sigrid started it by hurling her spear at the one coming from the front and impaling it through the head, stopping it dead. It was a great throw. I attacked next. The effectiveness of the shadow ropes that had twice immobilized me was fresh in my memory, so I figured I¡¯d try something like that now. I waited for the wolf on my side to get inside a cluster of prickly bushes about twenty feet away before using my Affinity Control to cause the shrubs around it to grow and entangle it. It didn¡¯t work very well, but well enough to tie up one of the wolf¡¯s legs. It would only take a few moments for it to break free, so while it struggled I dashed forward and, avoiding the snapping jaws, slashed at it with my dagger until it stopped moving. Jane finished hers off by waiting until the last moment before using her power to teleport a few feet to the side after it had pounced. Her sudden disappearance messed with the wolf¡¯s landing, and while it was recovering its balance she ran it through a few times with her rapier. ¡°Whoop whoop!¡± she said, pumping her hands in the air. ¡°Look at that: your mastery of Sword has evolved.¡± ¡°Nice!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°My Spear skill went up too.¡± Jane surveyed around. ¡°Any more of them?¡± Sigrid shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t sense anything.¡± ¡°Right. To the rescue!¡± Jane cried as she charged forward, and we followed. Sigrid yanked her spear out of the wolf¡¯s skull as she ran by. When we got closer, Sigrid threw her spear again. It missed the goblin she was aiming for but it did manage to draw their attention toward us. The besieged Player used the opportunity to lunge at one of them while they were momentarily distracted, and the little creature emitted a high, piercing squeal as Wayne¡¯s flaming sword stabbed it through the body. Jane vanished, reappearing instantly behind another one of the goblins, and jabbed her rapier through its neck. The goblins were now in total disarray as Sigrid drew her sword and she and I continued our charge toward them. I threw a knife at the one closest but it flew right past, disappearing into the shrubs behind it. Jane blinked out again, teleporting behind another one and running it through too. She was like the wind. That teleportation power of hers was truly devastating. ¡°Screw these knives,¡± I muttered, then used Affinity Control to attack the one remaining goblin with a fireball. My throw was a bit off and instead of hitting the creature in the body like I¡¯d intended, it landed at its feet, splattering fire that immediately fizzled on the ground. The next moment the goblin¡¯s head separated from its body and flew off to the side, decapitated by a slice from Wayne¡¯s flaming sword. Wayne looked back at us to see who his saviors were, then his eyes rolled up and he dropped to his knees, the fire that had been flickering along the length of his sword suddenly extinguished. ¡°That felt good,¡± sighed Jane, tugging her rapier free from the dead goblin. ¡°A bit anticlimactic,¡± Sigrid said, dropping her sword and shield and rushing forward to grab Wayne and gently lower him onto his back. ¡°I thought it would last longer than that.¡± ¡°We are just that good,¡± Jane said. ¡°Thanks to Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Having that kind of intel is super-helpful, we would¡¯ve run straight into those wolves.¡± ¡°True,¡± Jane said, wiping her rapier clean on the goblin¡¯s rags. ¡°And if I hadn¡¯t known about the pounce that could have been a lot trickier. Almost makes up for the fact that he¡¯s otherwise pretty useless in a fight.¡± I know she thought she was joking, but it only hurt because it was true. ¡°How is he?¡± I asked Sigrid, nodding toward Wayne. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Alive, but in rough shape.¡± I used All Shall Be Revealed on the other Player. He had no color in his face, appearing pale and corpse-like.
Bruce Cannon
Affinity: Light - Novice
Powers: Light Em Up - Novice: Cause targets to glow Ray Of Light - Novice: Create a beam of light from the sky Who Needs Guns? - Novice: Fire force bullets
Skills: Fortune Telling - Novice Writing - Novice
Light affinity? Nice. And those powers were pretty much standard RPG magic spells, not too shabby at all. This guy was totally a wizard. He looked like a middle-aged Weasley brother, with premature balding and a neatly-trimmed beard in matching ginger color to the hair that still clung dutifully to his scalp in open defiance to the inevitability of his genes. He also looked in pretty rough shape. I had to force my eyes away from the beads of sweat on his bald spot, it was like watching raindrops collecting into rivulets that flowed across the rounded skin: hypnotic, in a Chinese-water-torture "when is this gonna start to move?" way. I''d been staring at him to see if he still breathed and gotten distracted.I still didn''t know if he did. ¡°What about this other one?¡± I said, afraid that he was dead. I¡¯m not proud to say that I was more interested in keeping this person alive so I could recruit them to the team than for any humanitarian or altruistic reasons. Jane bent down and felt for a pulse at his neck. ¡°Also still alive. Barely.¡± When I looked closer I could see the slow, haggard rising and falling of his chest as his body struggled to breathe. I pulled out the healing potion. "Here, pour this in his mouth." ¡°Are you sure? It was expensive, and we don¡¯t know this person.¡± ¡°This is one of those life or death situations I was talking about.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t he just respoon like you did?¡± ¡°It¡¯s respawn, and we don¡¯t know that for sure. Better be safe and use the potion. Jane took the vial and smiled at me. ¡°That was the right answer.¡± ¡°What about this guy?¡± Sigrid said, still cradling Wayne. ¡°He could use some healing too.¡± ¡°We only have one potion,¡± Jane said. ¡°And my guy¡¯s in worse shape.¡± ¡°Here, let me try something,¡± I said, and knelt beside Wayne. I held my hands over his body, the way Sifu had done to me when healing my injuries, and used the Laying On Hands skill I¡¯d learned from him. ¡°What¡¯s that you¡¯re doing?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s something I picked up from Sifu,¡± I told her. ¡°It¡¯s a healing skill. Not nearly as good as the potion, but it¡¯ll do the trick until we can get him proper medical attention.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use it on your leg earlier?¡± she said, forcing the unstoppered vial between Bruce¡¯s lips. Almost immediately, the color flowed back into his skin and his breathing evened. I didn¡¯t answer. Better to say nothing than admit I hadn¡¯t thought of it at the time. ¡°Daniel, with your wolf, what was up with the plants?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What plants?¡± Jane said. She¡¯d been too intent on tracking her wolf to notice what I¡¯d done. ¡°Nature affinity,¡± I said. ¡°I used it to trap the Shadow Wolf. Nature¡¯s the opposite of Shadow, so I figured I¡¯d give it a whirl. Monsters like them are nothing if they can¡¯t move.¡± ¡°No way!¡± Jane said, sounding genuinely impressed. She jammed her sword away and immediately tried doing it herself. Almost at once the scrub under one of the slain goblins extended, wrapping its spindly branches around the corpse. ¡°Sweeeeeet!¡± I used All Shall Be Revealed on the dead monsters to see if there were any drop items like with the Jackalope, but there was nothing except Yellow Mana Crystals in the wolves, and White Mana Crystals in the goblins. I explained to Jane and Sigrid about the crystals that seemed to be inside every monster. ¡°What do they do?¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± I said, ¡°but I think there must be a way to use the mana in a crystal. I just don¡¯t know how yet.¡± ¡°Well then,¡± Jane said, pulling out her stiletto and crouching over a goblin. ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with.¡± Sigrid and I did the same with the other goblins, then we did the wolves. While Jane dug into her first Goblin, dry heaving the whole time, I whispered to Sigrid. ¡°What about her?¡± I said, gesturing toward Jane. ¡°Did she join me because she wanted to use me too?¡± Sigrid looked over at her friend, watching her refuse to give up on getting the mana crystal out even while she continued to retch. "And I thought they smelled bad," Jane muttered, "on the outside." ¡°Who knows?" Sigrid said. "Only Jane knows why Jane does anything.¡± Then Sigrid went back to her goblin corpse, muttering the different parts of the monster¡¯s anatomy as she dug around for the crystal hidden somewhere within them. I listened to her rattle off the proper names of various bones, muscle groups, and organs. I had a bit more experience in obtaining drop items from monster bodies, but I was no means used to it. Her recitation helped distract me from getting nauseated like Jane, which I suppose was exactly why Sigrid was so focused on naming the body parts instead of paying too much attention to what she was doing to them, too. A few minutes later, there were nine tiny colored crystals, three gory wolf corpses, six disemboweled goblins (one also decapitated), two unconscious men, and three pretty grossed out people. ¡°There has got to be a better way to do that, urp,¡± Jane said, wiping the blood off her hands with a wolf¡¯s pelt. The retches had petered out a few carcasses ago, now that it was all done all she had left in her was the occasional burp. She had adjusted well, all things considered. She and Sigrid started to work on dragging all the bodies away, but they quickly gave up, deciding it was much easier to just move away ourselves. We carried Wayne and Bruce to a place on a different hillside that was covered in soft moss and not drenched in blood, well out of sight and smell of the battle site. Sigrid broke out some bread, cheese, and water, then handed us each a strange but delicious local fruit that was somewhere between an apple and a mushroom. We rested in silence until regaining a bit of strength from the food. After another Laying On Hands treatment Wayne woke up to see the three of us looming over him. Sigrid pushed us back, demanding we give the man some space. He looked up at us, then down at his somewhat healed wounds. I was still only a Novice at the skill, so its effectiveness was lacking. Then his eyes widened and he looked around in a panic, only relaxing when he saw Bruce lying nearby. ¡°Is he...?¡± he said in a deep, mellow voice. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Thank you,¡± Wayne said, lifting himself up onto his elbows. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t shown up we would¡¯ve been goners.¡± Then he groaned and lowered himself back down onto the grass, closing his eyes. ¡°Holy hell, I am wiped.¡± ¡°You¡¯re out of mana,¡± I said. ¡°Here, have some of this.¡± I broke off a chunk of bread and handed it to him with some cheese. He took it and nibbled, then sat up and started gobbling it down. The revitalizing effect was almost instantaneous. ¡°Food helps,¡± I told him, giving him some more. ¡°Thank you again. I¡¯m Wayne, by the way.¡± We introduced ourselves, and explained what had happened. ¡°I wish you¡¯d been with me earlier. An NPC gave me a tip that there was an abandoned town to the North so I checked it out.¡± ¡°By yourself?¡± I said. Wayne sighed. ¡°Yes, I know. Dumb dumb dumb. I found the town, and as soon as I stepped in I got this message that it was the Death Dungeon. I figured since that¡¯s my affinity I¡¯d give it a shot. Turns out it was more literal than I¡¯d thought.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Imagine a ghost town with actual ghosts.¡± ¡°Eek.¡± ¡°Exactly. My timing was good, though, I found Bruce here fighting off some skeletons and zombies ¨C he must¡¯ve shown up just before I did ¡ª and we were lucky to escape them together with our lives. We both would¡¯ve been goners if the other one wasn¡¯t there. Then we met those little green guys while limping back and, well, you know the rest.¡± I remembered Wayne from the convention. He was a tabletop miniature game aficionado, and I¡¯d seen him playing at several tables, a different game at each one. For each game he¡¯d brought his own collection of intricately painted miniatures to use. He was a few years older than me and an excellent player: thoughtful, creative, and observant. Based on his affinity with Death I¡¯d expected him to be grim, but he turned out to be one of the friendliest people I¡¯ve met. He was also a talker, and his sharp wit and contagious laugh kept us chatting while we waited for Bruce to regain consciousness. And of course by ¡®us¡¯ I really mean the two girls; I just did my usual and listened from the sidelines, quiet and awkward. Fortunately, it was a good healing potion and it didn¡¯t take too long for Bruce to recover enough that we could head out. The rest of our trip back to the city was blissfully uneventful. Bruce was more reserved than Wayne, more guarded. I knew why System had given him the powers it had. At the convention, he¡¯d stood out at the tabletop RPG tables because he was a clever roleplayer. He didn¡¯t take charge, but was intelligent, quick to see an opportunity and come up with an innovative way to take advantage of it. The guards at the city gate weren¡¯t the same as the ones we¡¯d met on the way out, but they all sported the same green armbands and didn¡¯t bat an eye as we passed, they just took one look and nodded us through. Membership did indeed have its privileges. We were walking up Dagger Street when Jane broke from the group to hang back with me. ¡°So, what do you think of them?¡± ¡°You mean for the team?¡± I said. She nodded. ¡°I think they¡¯d be great. Super nice guys with rare affinities and excellent powers.¡± ¡°Great. I¡¯ll ask them then.¡± When we reached the Dragon Clan dojo, Jane explained that we were forming a team and asked Wayne and Bruce if they¡¯d like to join. They accepted immediately, and although we invited them to stay at the dojo, Wayne said he had some belongings at an inn and would spend the night there, and Bruce said he had other plans, whatever that meant. I could tell a flimsy excuse to avoid a situation when I heard one. We agreed to meet at the gazebo at noon the next day. If System had a clock window we hadn¡¯t found it yet, but noon seemed a safe time to choose, being when the sun was at its zenith, or around when there were about six hours left on the quest timer. Then we bid our farewells. Quest: Be A Team Player - Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: [Hidden] Assembled Players: 5/10 Quest time remaining: 18:55:13 I ached all over, and by the time I said goodnight to the girls and collapsed onto the bed in my room, I was more than ready for this day to end. I still had half of my quest to accomplish before the end of the Tutorial, and time was rapidly running out. That could wait for tomorrow, though. I was exhausted, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Chapter Thirty-Three - Some people are better alone I couldn¡¯t sleep. Even after everything that happened, even though I was exhausted beyond belief, I just lay there, mind racing. Whenever I closed my eyes all I could see was the void. Not just see it, but also taste it, smell it, feel it. The cold, clammy skin-crawling creepiness of that vast abyss. It ate at my psyche. My leg still throbbed and burned where the tentacular suckers had eaten into my flesh. As soon as my eyelids closed I was back in the Void Dungeon. Even though I had actually been killed that very day, the thing that haunted me more was the endless, soul-chilling void. There was no way I was going to fall asleep like that. I figured I may as well take a bath. Maybe it¡¯d help my leg, too. I liked that big, communal bath, but after slipping into the hot water, just me and the rising steam, I decided I really liked having it all to myself. That¡¯s when I heard the singing. A sweet, melodic voice as clear as though it was coming from right beside me. It wasn¡¯t, though. It was coming to me filtered through the wall that separated me from the women¡¯s bath on the other side. Wow, you really could hear everything on the other side. It was Jane, of course. She must¡¯ve had the same idea I did, of escaping her memories of the void in the soothing warmth of the bath. I waited until her song was over. ¡°That was really beautiful, Jane,¡± I said. I heard a splash and a splutter through the wall. ¡°Jesus! Daniel, is that you? Don¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°You deserve worse,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a fair point,¡± she said, ¡°but you scared the crap out of me, and I¡¯m jumpy enough already.¡± I was sitting with my back to the wall between us, and it sounded like she was doing the same, right behind me. ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t stop thinking about that place. What about you?¡± ¡°Same.¡± ¡°Talk to me,¡± she said ¡°Take my mind off it.¡± ¡°Okay, what do you want me to talk about?¡± ¡°Anything. Tell me about how you ended up in Toronto.¡± ¡°How do you know I¡¯m not from the city originally?¡± ¡°Please,¡± she said, ¡°you¡¯ve got bumpkin written all over you. Let me guess, you came because of a girl.¡± ¡°I hate that you¡¯re right,¡± I said. She laughed. ¡°Get used to it.¡± ¡°Right. Well, it was only about five or six months ago. My then-girlfriend surprised me by saying she wanted to move to the city. She¡¯d always said she hated Toronto, but all of a sudden she wanted to go. I went first, alone, to find us an apartment, then she came after I got everything set up. And after I¡¯d paid for it all. Mostly on my credit card.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I am well aware that I am an idiot.¡± ¡°Good, saves me from having to say it,¡± Jane said. ¡°So anyway, she shows up, stays with me for a few weeks, then she breaks up with me and asks me to move out.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Which I did.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Because I am a motherloving idiot.¡± Although I couldn¡¯t see her, I could clearly picture the look on Jane¡¯s face when I heard her sigh. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You could at least have the decency to disagree, you know.¡± She laughed. ¡°Yeah, well, it gets worse,¡± I said. ¡°Oh dear.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t until I went back to the apartment a couple of days later to get a few things I forgot to take with me that I saw the new guy. He¡¯d already moved in. It was someone she¡¯d apparently met online a few months before.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Jane said. ¡°The interest in moving to Toronto suddenly makes sense.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not bitter, honest. I mean, bullet dodged, am I right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a healthy way of looking at it,¡± Jane said. ¡°Better than beating yourself up over it, anyway.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Oh, I still do that. Pretty much daily.¡± ¡°I can see that. What do you do for work?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a teacher. Well, sort of. When we moved, I applied for teaching positions in the city ¡ª high school, I can¡¯t handle the younger kids, they scare me ¡ª but any vacant position had already been scooped up by teachers with seniority. I only just graduated from teacher¡¯s college in the spring. I¡¯ve been getting by as a supply teacher, never knowing each morning if I¡¯m going in to work, let alone where.¡± ¡°What subjects?¡± ¡°Pretty much all of them. I took a bit of a meandering route through undergrad ¡ª some might call it indecisive, but I prefer to think of it as cultivating versatility ¡ª so I¡¯ve got credentials in a bunch of subjects.¡± ¡°So smart at school but dumb at life, then,¡± she said. ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°It only hurts because it¡¯s true.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m a city girl, born and raised. Average family. A mom and a dad and a big brother. I¡¯ve always known what I wanted to do ever since I was a little girl.¡± ¡°Actress, right?¡± ¡°Partly right. I want to do it all: sing, dance, act, write, direct, produce, the whole shebang. I did a bit of child acting, commercials mostly, and some amateur stage stuff, so I¡¯ve sort of got a foot in the door. But it¡¯s mostly been bit parts here and there, nothing big. Well, that is, I was...¡± She was about to say something else, but trailed off, like she¡¯d changed her mind. If I was a pushier person I might have asked about it. It¡¯s not that I lack curiosity, I just don¡¯t like making people uncomfortable. If someone looks like they don¡¯t want to talk about something, I¡¯m not gonna pressure them. So I switched topics. ¡°How¡¯d you end up as a booth babe at a nerd convention?¡± ¡°Through the modeling agency, same as Sigrid.¡± ¡°Have you known her for long?¡± ¡°We met through the agency, years ago. We did some kid catalog shoots together and clicked. Been best buds ever since.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool,¡± I said. There was a short lull in the conversation. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask?¡± Jane said eventually. ¡°Ask what?¡± ¡°About my boyfriend.¡± ¡°Am I supposed to?¡± ¡°Most guys do.¡± ¡°Fine. Please tell me about your boyfriend.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°So why did you...? Argh.¡± She laughed. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask me why?¡± ¡°Nope. I already know why.¡± ¡°Do you now?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± There were lots of things I could¡¯ve said there, any number of jokes I could¡¯ve made at her expense. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s what she was expecting. I decided to go with the truth instead. ¡°You don¡¯t need one,¡± I said. That was met with a long silence. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re not a complete idiot after all,¡± she said finally. ¡°Jane?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°That you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s your fault.¡± I felt a stabbing sensation deep in my soul. If there was a time to come clean about my complicity in her and Sigrid being isekai¡¯d, that was the time. I chickened out, of course. ¡°You must be keen to get home,¡± I said. ¡°Trying to get rid of me so soon? I¡¯m hurt.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± ¡°I know.¡± It was on the tip of my tongue to say that I was glad she was there, but again, I chickened out. ¡°Hey Daniel? Do you have any idea why we¡¯re here?¡± ¡°You mean besides to play games?¡± ¡°This seems like an awful lot of effort for a bunch of aliens to go through just to set up some games for a couple hundred humans. What¡¯s really going on?¡± ¡°Do you know what an isekai is, Jane?¡± ¡°Besides being the name for the convention? Nope. It¡¯s Japanese, right?¡± ¡°Right. This might help you make a bit more sense of things.¡± I went on to tell her about isekai stories, trying not to get too pedantic and gloss over the nerdy details. I focused on how a lot of them start with people being summoned to another world against their will, for obvious reasons. ¡°Are there really all these stories about this stuff?¡± ¡°A lot of people complain about the glut of isekai stories flooding the market, but they¡¯re still crazy popular.¡± ¡°And you think this whole place is based on those stories?¡± ¡°I know it. Everything here is based on a game or a book or a comic or a movie or a series back home.¡± ¡°But...why?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the big question, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± I thought carefully before answering. ¡°I have some ideas, but nothing I can prove yet.¡± ¡°Humor me.¡± ¡°Usually when people are summoned to another world it¡¯s because that world needs heroes to rescue it from some threat. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case here, things just don¡¯t add up. I think we¡¯re being tested.¡± ¡°Tested? Why? By who?¡± I almost corrected her grammar, but caught myself. ¡°That part I haven¡¯t figured out yet.¡± ¡°You will,¡± she said. ¡°I have faith.¡± I honestly didn¡¯t know what to say to that, so I stayed quiet, thankful for the wall that separated us and prevented her from seeing how happy I was. We didn¡¯t talk much after that, but sat in companionable quiet for a while, each on our own side of the bath. I forgot the wall was even there. Eventually, I was woken up by someone thumping on it from the other side. ¡°Don¡¯t fall asleep in the bath you dolt,¡± Jane shouted. ¡°How many times do you intend to die in one day?¡± I took my time getting out and drying off. Jane was waiting for me outside, wrapped in a white towel, long red hair pinned up, pale skin still flushed pink from the heat of the bath. ¡°For the record,¡± she said, ¡°I could have a boyfriend if I wanted one.¡± ¡°I have absolutely no doubt that¡¯s true,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s just that some people are better when they¡¯re not in a relationship.¡± ¡°I suspect you may be right about that too, but I like to believe that has more to do with finding the right person.¡± ¡°Someone like Siobhan?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see you in the morning, Jane. Sweet dreams.¡± ¡°You too, Daniel.¡± It was with an unfamiliar sense of optimism that I finally fell asleep in my bed. It felt strange, but I was actually looking forward to waking up in the morning. I just didn¡¯t expect it to come so quickly. Chapter Thirty-Four - Team-building exercises ¡°Riiiise and shiiiiiine!¡± ¡°Go awaaaaaay.¡± Cold, breeze-induced goosebumps rippled over my skin as the sheets were suddenly ripped off me, Sigrid looming so close over me her blonde hair tickled my face. ¡°No dice. Now get up, we¡¯re going for a run.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me,¡± I groaned. ¡°Stop whining and just get up already. Resistance is futile.¡± Sigrid had been serious about her threat, I mean promise, to whip me into shape. She gave me ninety seconds to get ready this time. She wore the spandex exercise clothes she¡¯d had on when we first arrived, but all I could find was my Games are Everything; Everything is a Game convention t-shirt and a pair of loose pants that were among the clan clothing that I¡¯d found in my room. Her expression was annoyingly chipper when I emerged, and she wasted no time hustling me out onto the street. The sun had barely risen and the place was nearly deserted. ¡°What time is it?¡± I said. ¡°Time to move,¡± Sigrid said, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail before breaking out into a run. I say run, but since it was my first time it was more of a brisk walk interspersed with brief periods of somewhat faster walking punctuated by occasional pauses as I leaned against a nearby building and tried not to pass out. My lungs burned. My thighs burned. My calves burned. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that she mostly ran a few steps ahead of me in an effort to keep the pace lively, and it gave me the chance to admire some things: specifically, how shockingly easy this was for her, the hypnotic way her ponytail bobbed from side to side, and the undisputed beauty of spandex. Honestly, though, her effortless, almost lazy strides and the joy she seemed to take from this simple exercise inspired me to put in the effort. How often does a guy like me get the chance to get himself into shape under the expert tutelage of a very kind, very athletic, very beautiful woman? If only it didn¡¯t hurt so much. Why did they have to match these Player bodies to our real ones so accurately? Would it really have hurt to give me good cardio to start with? As we ran-walked, the streets began to come alive. NPCs mostly, opening shops and going about their programmed business, joined by a few other Players getting a quick start on the day. A few of these players sought an early breakfast at one of the restaurants, but most of them headed outside the city, armed and ready for adventure. As expected, these gamers were quick to adapt to their isekai experience. It¡¯s hard to say for sure how long we¡¯d been running when I puked. It felt like hours but it was probably no more than twenty minutes, and most of that was spent walking. I really was in horrible shape. ¡°See anybody worth recruiting so far?¡± Sigrid asked me as I emerged from the alley I¡¯d ducked into to throw up. ¡°Nobody has leaped out at me yet,¡± I wheezed, hoping there wasn¡¯t any barf on my chin or anything. ¡°Most people are pretty average.¡± She faced me and started jogging slowly backward. ¡°Are you saying my awesomeness has set your standards unachievably high?¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re joking, but that might actually be the case.¡± ¡°Who said I was joking?¡± An indeterminate amount of time and one stomach cramp later, I spotted Byron and Nina sitting on a bench jabbing their fingers into the air in front of them, a gesture I¡¯d come to associate with Players interacting with their Status screens. I was overjoyed to see them, not only because I¡¯d really been hoping to run into them again ¡ª after seeing so many mediocre Players I now appreciated just how good their abilities were and really wanted them on the team ¡ª but also because I would¡¯ve strangled a kitten if it meant I could take a break from running. ¡°Hey Sigrid, over there,¡± I huffed. ¡°Those are the two I mentioned yesterday.¡± We jogged over to them. ¡°Hi Byron,¡± I gasped. ¡°Hi Nina.¡± They looked up from the bench and smiled. ¡°Oh, hi,¡± Byron said. ¡°Uh...¡± It was clear he recognized me but had forgotten my name. ¡°Daniel,¡± Nina said, ¡°hello.¡± Of course she remembered, she had an eidetic memory. ¡°I¡¯m Sigrid, really nice to meet you.¡± ¡°You too. Wow, look at you, out running. Trying to make the rest of us look bad, huh?¡± ¡°Nah, just trying to get this chump into shape so he doesn¡¯t drag me down.¡± Nina laughed. ¡°I¡¯ve given up trying to do anything about this one,¡± she said, jerking her head towards Byron. Sigrid and Nina began chatting like old friends while Byron and I watched in silent awe. ¡°So listen,¡± Sigrid said after a while. ¡°You know how we all have this quest, right?¡± She went on to explain everything about my special quest and how we would love to have them on our team. ¡°Well of course!¡± Nina said. ¡°Daniel, we already told you yesterday we¡¯d love to be on the same team as you.¡± Sigrid looked at me with a bit of a scowl. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me you¡¯d already asked them.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t, not exactly. I only suggested it would be great if we ended up on the same team.¡± Sigrid rolled her eyes. ¡°Aaaaanyway,¡± she said, turning back to Nina, ¡°the rest of us are all meeting up at the gazebo in the town square when the quest timer¡¯s at six hours. The plan is to head out for adventure and see what happens. You in?¡± ¡°Sounds great!¡± Nina said. She turned to me. ¡°See you later then, Daniel.¡± ¡°Yeah. See you later,¡± I said. Byron and I made eye contact and shared that look and little shrug that all men have made to one another since time immemorial when women have taken the liberty, I mean initiative, to establish plans for them. It¡¯s the cornerstone of civilization. Without women doing that we¡¯d all still be living alone in dank caves illuminated solely by neon Budweiser signs. Sigrid and I set off again. ¡°You don¡¯t mind I did that, do you? Telling them about your quest and all?¡± ¡°No, of course not.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. I probably should¡¯ve checked first, but I figured the quest was safe to talk about, I¡¯m not about to go telling anybody about your abilities.¡± ¡°No worries,¡± I said. ¡°So we need to be back at the dojo at ten hours on the quest timer for training, so we¡¯ve still got about forty-five minutes. Wanna grab some breakie?¡± ¡°You mean there¡¯s kung fu training after this?¡± ¡°Buck up, buttercup,¡± she said. ¡°No pain, no gain?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a terrible way to look at exercise, but in your case it¡¯s accurate.¡± She laughed at my groan. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, like everything else it gets easier once you get past the initial hell.¡± We found a little sidewalk cafe off the town square where we thought there¡¯d be a good amount of traffic. The goal was to evaluate as many people as we could to find the diamonds in the rough. The strong pressure in my bladder begged for release, so I excused myself to take care of it, leaving Sigrid alone to order food. When I returned, much relieved, I found her no longer by herself. Two other women were sitting across from her at our table. I took a moment to evaluate them, and when I saw one of the women¡¯s Status full of hidden abilities I knew what was going on. Another team builder was trying to poach my Sigrid. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Over my dead and respawned body. I rushed over to the table, ready to argue my case for keeping Sigrid on my team, but I needn¡¯t have worried. When I got there, she was laughing with the other women about something. She saw me and smiled. ¡°Hey Daniel,¡± she said. The other women looked at me. The team builder, a tall, fit woman in her twenties named Tiff Gardner, sized me up. I knew I¡¯d just been evaluated. ¡°So this is the guy, eh?¡± she said. ¡°This is him,¡± Sigrid said, patting the seat beside her. I sat down. ¡°This is me,¡± I said. ¡°Would you believe it,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°Tiff here recognized me from my fitness videos.¡± ¡°Long-time subscriber,¡± Tiff said. I could tell by the well-defined muscles in her arms and shoulders that Meowmeow was not the reason she watched. ¡°And that¡¯s Grace,¡± Sigrid said, picking up a glass of water and gesturing with it at the other woman. If I hadn¡¯t already seen her Status, I still would¡¯ve known about her abilities by the longbow leaning against her chair. Grace waved. ¡°Hi.¡± ¡°Hi,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m Daniel. It¡¯s nice to meet you both.¡± Sigrid took a sip of the water. ¡°I was just telling them that I¡¯m flattered they¡¯d want me on their team, but that I already joined yours, so...¡± ¡°You sure I can¡¯t convince you to change your mind?¡± Tiff said. Sigrid shook her head and her long blonde ponytail brushed my shoulder. ¡°Sorry.¡± Tiff nodded. ¡°I¡¯m disappointed, but I respect your loyalty and your decision. I won¡¯t bug you again.¡± Two NPCs approached the table, laden with plates of food. ¡°You guys want to join us for breakfast?¡± Sigrid said. Tiff stood abruptly. ¡°Thanks, but no. We¡¯ve intruded enough.¡± Grace took the hint and stood up too. ¡°I hope we meet again.¡± ¡°I look forward to it,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s a small city, I¡¯m sure we will.¡± Tiff nodded once, then spun on her heel and started walking away. Grace followed her, but not before taking a longing look at the plates of food the NPCs were spreading on the table. ¡°They seemed nice,¡± I said. ¡°You know, it¡¯s okay. If you¡¯d rather¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna cut you off right there,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What I¡¯d rather do is enjoy this food here with you, then get back to finding more people for our team. Got a problem with that?¡± ¡°Nope. No problem here.¡± ¡°Good.¡± She jabbed her elbow into me. ¡°Not scoot back over to the other side. You¡¯re cramping my style.¡± I switched seats to be opposite her, then as I replaced what I¡¯d left on the ground in the alley with eggs and bacon and sausage and fishcakes (Sigrid seemed to have ordered everything she could find on the menu with protein), I scanned everyone passing by in search of our newest recruit. ¡°Oh, hey, he¡¯s got some nice powers.¡±
Scott MacLean
Affinity: Air - Novice
Gifts: Eagle Eye - Telescopic vision
Powers: Don¡¯t Move - Novice: Can become almost undetectable when motionless I Know Where You Are - Novice: Awareness of the location and movements of everyone within line of sight
Skills: Accounting - Novice Archery - Competent
Sigrid gave him a look, then shuddered. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°You sure? He¡¯d make a kick-ass scout or sniper.¡± ¡°Still a no. He makes my spidey-sense tingle in the not-good way. ¡°Look at you, using nerdy superhero references. You¡¯re gonna fit right in.¡± ¡°Oh please. The Avengers movies were only, like, the biggest grossing big budget flicks of the last twenty years. You don¡¯t have to be a nerd to know about the spidey-sense.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°We make a good team, you know,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Your evaluating and my danger sensing. It worked really well last night against the wolves, and just now it helped avoid bringing a disruptor onto the team.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re keeping me?¡± She looked off toward the middle of the courtyard and sipped her juice. ¡°Sure, just so long as I don¡¯t catch you staring at my ass too often.¡± I could feel my face flush. Busted. ¡°Sorry, but I am only human, you know,¡± I said. She laughed and slapped the table. ¡°I knew it! You were staring at my ass!¡± ¡°Come on! That was a dirty trick!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it,¡± she said. ¡°To be honest, most guys are pretty shameless about it. I¡¯m well aware that this ass accounts for at least half of the subscribers to my YouTube channel. Meowmeow the cat accounts for the rest, of course. But I¡¯ve never once caught you leering at me like that. Or Jane, for that matter, which is mind-boggling. I was beginning to think either I¡¯d lost my touch or there was something wrong with you.¡± ¡°I could be gay,¡± I said. ¡°Nah,¡± she said. ¡°A girl can tell. You might be bi, hard to tell, but you definitely fancy the ladies.¡± ¡°Well, I do admire the female shape, I just try to be discreet about it. I don¡¯t wanna be that guy, you know?¡± She smiled at me. ¡°I do know. And that¡¯s one more reason why I¡¯m sitting here with you and not Tiff.¡± I smiled back. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have blamed you if you had joined her. You¡¯d probably have more fun with her.¡± ¡±You¡¯re a good guy, Daniel. You shouldn¡¯t be so hard on yourself.¡± ¡°Thanks, I think?¡± ¡°Too bad you¡¯re not my type. You could¡¯ve had a shot at this.¡± She gestured at her body, running her hands down it like Vanna White showing off a Wheel of Fortune puzzle. ¡°Story of my life, Sigrid. Good thing you¡¯re not my type, either.¡± She laughed. ¡°Bull. Shit. I¡¯m everyone¡¯s type, baby.¡± It had almost become habit by that point to use All Shall Be Revealed on everyone I saw, and I noticed someone interesting approaching us. ¡°Ready to try again, Sigrid?¡± ¡°Always,¡± she said. ¡°Who¡¯s the target?¡± I nodded over her shoulder at a younger guy, in his late teens I¡¯d guess, very dark skin, and slim with the sort of face that gave rise to the term chiseled features. The sort of guy who is so good-looking that someone like me looks even worse when next to him. Probably how normal women must feel around Sigrid and Jane. I remembered singling him out at the convention as being really good at collectible card games.
Sam Craig
Affinity: Nature - Novice
Gifts: Glass Half Full - Improved mana recovery
Powers: Beastmaster - Novice: Take control of summoned creature and use its senses; Affinity with Nature required Green Thumb - Novice: Create and control flora; Affinity with Nature required Minions, Arise - Novice: Summon creatures
Skills: Music - Novice
¡°Whoah, he¡¯s a hottie,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Pity I¡¯m not his type.¡± ¡°I thought you were everyone¡¯s type.¡± ¡°Yeah, well. Almost everyone.¡± ¡°Any red flags?¡± ¡°Nope. Let¡¯s go say hi.¡± We¡¯d finished eating so I tossed a few coins onto the table. Sigrid gave me a scowl, picked up half of them and handed them back to me before replacing them with ones from her own purse, and then we went after Sam. I let Sigrid do all the talking again, and in no time they were chatting like old friends. Sam was a little shy at first but he quickly opened up. He was eighteen, emigrated from Kenya when he was little, taking environmental studies at the University of Toronto but his real passion was the band he played drums and sang for, and yes, he¡¯d love to join the team. We parted ways agreeing to meet up with the rest at high noon, T-minus 6 hours. After we were far enough away to be out of earshot I said, ¡°I like him.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And by the way, totally gay.¡± ¡°Really? So that¡¯s why you said you¡¯re not his type.¡± ¡°A girl can tell. Why is it always the hot ones?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sitting right here,¡± I said. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, I am sure there must be girls out there somewhere who find you attractive,¡± she said with a bewitching grin. ¡°Perhaps at a school for the blind and deaf,¡± I sighed. Her grin vanished as quickly as it had appeared. ¡°I was joking.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Daniel,¡± she said, then seemed to change her mind. I let it slide. ¡°Well, the good news is now we only need to recruit one more and we¡¯re done.¡± She took a moment before replying, and I got the impression she wanted to say something else, but she let it slide too. Then it was like whatever dark cloud that had passed between us had blown away and the spritely girl from the convention booth was back. ¡°Good job. Time to head back.¡° She began running on the spot. ¡°Can¡¯t we just walk the rest of the way?¡± ¡°Nah, let¡¯s make this last bit count.¡± She started to jog down Dagger Street toward the Dragon Clan. I groaned, and she called back to me over her shoulder. ¡°Come on, if you can keep up I won¡¯t complain if you stare at my ass the whole way back.¡± Then she slapped it and broke out into a full-on run. I chased after her, doing my best not to fall too far behind, and keeping my eyes far away from the spandex. Even if I had permission, I still wasn¡¯t gonna be that guy. I somehow managed to keep up, but in retrospect, I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s only because she let me. Chapter Thirty-Five - Omni-do We made it back. I thought I was going to die. Part of me wanted to. I consider it a major victory that I had managed to keep my breakfast down, but there was no time to rest. Jane and Andy were already waiting for us in their kung fu uniforms so Sigrid and I quickly changed and we went together into the training room. ¡°Hey Sigrid, weird question¡± I said. ¡°Did you sweat?¡± ¡°Say what?¡± Jane said. ¡°Just what exactly did you two get up to this morning?¡± ¡°You know what? Come to think of it I didn¡¯t,¡± Sigrid said, ignoring her friend. ¡°Me neither. I noticed it after training in the dojo too.¡± ¡°Now that you mention it...¡± muttered Jane. ¡°I don¡¯t think these Player bodies perspire,¡± I said. ¡°That is weird,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I keep forgetting this isn¡¯t my real body. It looks the same, feels the same, responds the same.¡± ¡°I know, I could hear your moans all the way in my room,¡° Jane said. Sigrid sniffed her armpit. ¡°Huh. Fresh.¡± Jane pouted. ¡°Stop ignoring me!¡± I ignored her. ¡°I have my thoughts about that.¡± I hadn¡¯t shared what Stratos had told me during our private conversation in the arena with anyone. That would lead to questions about why I was having private conversations with them, and I¡¯d rather have avoided that. I suspected that the reason we didn¡¯t need to sweat is the same reason I can create a fireball in my hand without getting burned or coat my hand in ice without feeling cold. The nanobots in our bodies must have a function to regulate temperature. The sweat thing isn¡¯t a big deal, but it made me wonder what other adjustments the Player bodies made. ¡°Tell me later, Sifu¡¯s glaring at us.¡± As I¡¯d feared, it was another punishing lesson, made a hundred times worse by the pain and exhaustion I felt after the run, but at least I leveled up my kung fu skill to Competent. Neither of the girls had even learned the kung fu skill yet. It was a pleasant discovery that Jack Of All Trades didn¡¯t just let me learn things quickly, it let me advance them faster too. What a shame I couldn¡¯t advance them very far. Good At Everything was a true mixed blessing. We still had some time before meeting up with the rest of the team, so I quickly changed into my armored coat and went into the courtyard to practice. I¡¯d been so busy I hadn¡¯t had the chance to explore the new abilities I got after I died. The first thing I did was go the weapons rack and start grabbing things, then stuffing them inside my inventory. It didn¡¯t matter how big it was, from a three inch knife to an eight foot halberd, they all vanished easily into the small circle of the inventory¡¯s opening. Then I put my hand inside and thought about a sword, and immediately felt something firm against my palm. I closed my fingers around it and pulled out the sword I¡¯d been picturing in my head. I stuffed it back in, let go, then thought about the halberd. Again I felt it in my hand and could pull it out. So handy! I left an assortment of weapons in my inventory, including several spears; I couldn¡¯t wait to surprise Sigrid with one the next time she was in need. Next on the agenda was the new power I¡¯d received the day before. I hadn¡¯t used Synthesize yet because I wasn¡¯t entirely sure how, but now was the perfect opportunity to begin experimenting with it. On a whim, I asked System. ¡°System?¡± System: Player? ¡°How do I use Synthesize?¡± System: Select ability to modify ¡°You mean like a skill or power?¡± System: Affirmative Cool. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to mess around with my powers just yet, so for now, I decided to see what happened when I combined skills. I mean, I could always relearn them easily if something screwed up, right? ¡°Select karate.¡± System: Select ability to combine with Karate I didn¡¯t want to mess with kung fu either now that I¡¯d leveled it up again, so... ¡°Select tae kwon do.¡± System: Synthesis of Karate and Tae Kwon Do will result in a new Skill; select name for new synthesized Skill ¡°Oh geez. Um...let¡¯s call it, I dunno.¡± What the hell do I call it? A lot of Japanese martial arts end in do, which means the way. Like kendo, the way of the sword. If this worked, I had the idea of combining all the combat skills I learned into it. That would make it the way of everything, so... ¡°How about omni-do?¡± System: Synthesizing Omni-do ¡°Whoah.¡± All of a sudden I felt dizzy and exhausted, like I¡¯d used all my mana in one go. System: Synthesis successful System: You have learned Omni-do ¡°Rock and roll. Let¡¯s see my Status now.¡±
Daniel Lamont Team Builder
Affinity: Air - Competent Darkness - Novice Death - Novice Earth - Novice Fire - Competent Ice - Novice Life - Novice Light - Novice Nature - Competent Shadow - Novice Void - Novice Water - Novice
Gifts: Good at Everything - Player can develop Affinity with all elements; Restriction: cannot evolve mastery in any Affinity, Power, or Skill beyond Adept level Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space Jack of All Trades - Learn any Skill through brief observation This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Murder Hobo - Better chance to get better loot
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Competent: See any status Synthesize - Novice: Combine abilities
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Brawling - Novice Cartography - Novice Game Design - Competent Karate - Novice Knife - Novice Kung Fu - Competent Laying On Hands - Novice Omni-do - Novice Spear - Novice Sword - Novice Tae Kwon Do - Novice Teaching - Novice Trivia - Novice
Holy crap, my status was getting long. But the new skill was there. Omni-do - Novice: Custom martial art synthesizing the techniques of Karate and Tae Kwon Do As I was studying my Status, in my periphery I saw the girls enter the courtyard together with Andy through the door from the communal area. Jane munched on a roast chicken leg, or at least the leg of whatever passed locally for chicken, while they continued a conversation they¡¯d been having inside. ¡°Oh, I know another one: the Spiderman movies,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Which ones?¡± Jane said with a suspicious frown. ¡°The animated ones, of course. With the spider-verse.¡± ¡°I will allow that. Especially the second one. That reminds me of the whole Quantum Realm in the Ant-Man flicks.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that counts,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What about the Super Mario Bros Movie?¡± Jane winced. ¡°I¡¯m embarrassed on your behalf that you thought of that, but yes, I think that does count.¡± ¡°Would Enchanted count?¡± Andy said. ¡°Totally. Its sequel, too. What¡¯s it called?¡± ¡°Disenchanted,¡± Andy said. ¡°That¡¯s the one,¡± Jane said through a mouthful of mystery drumstick meat. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you know those.¡± ¡°I have nieces.¡± ¡°Jumanji sequels!¡± Jane said. ¡°Definitely,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I love those.¡± ¡°Ruby Roundhouse is my fucking hero,¡± Jane said. Sigrid rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. ¡°Come on, Jane.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, so I¡¯ve got a potty mouth. Live with it.¡± ¡°Hey Daniel,¡± Sigrid called. ¡°Whatcha looking at?¡± ¡°Hey there. Just my Status.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Jane said. ¡°Got any new skills? Can I see?¡± Sigrid placed her hand on Jane¡¯s arm. ¡°Jane, I think that might count as a rude question around here.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Jane said, ¡°but this guy can check ours out any time he wants. I think it¡¯s only fair.¡± ¡°You make a good point.¡± ¡°Come on Daniel-san,¡± Jane said, ¡°we¡¯ve shown you ours, now you show us yours.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± I said. Jane nodded, Sigrid shrugged. Andy grinned. I really didn¡¯t want to have to explain my new powers, but they had a point. Fair is fair. I told System to share my status. ¡°Holy motherloving heck!¡± Jane cried, then whispered to Sigrid, ¡°Is that better than swearing? I learned it from Daniel.¡± Sigrid sighed again. ¡°Not really, no.¡± ¡°I get the new skills, but where did that power come from?¡± Andy asked. I gave them the TL;DR version of what happened when I died, leaving out the parts about Stratos and the Unnamed Observer, and just saying that Synthesize was a reward. I left it to them to assume that it was because I died by sacrificing myself, not because I¡¯d spent a day with Stratos choosing them to get abducted. The guilt was like an entire war pig in my stomach. ¡°Well, damn,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re welcome for saving my life.¡± ¡°And what about the new Gift?¡± Sigrid said. She was a sharp one. ¡°It came along with Synthesize. I was hoping to surprise you with it later, but...¡± I opened up my inventory and stuck my hand inside, pulling out a spear. Sigrid laughed. ¡°For me?¡± ¡°I did say we should get you a few extras.¡± I pulled out another. Then another. All of a sudden I started wobbling and would have fallen over if Sigrid hadn¡¯t been there to catch me. Jane was right there with her, studying me with concerned eyes. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, are you hurt?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. Just a bit drained. I used a lot of mana testing out Synthesize. I need food or rest.¡± ¡°Rest isn¡¯t an option, we have a team to meet. Here,¡± Jane said, thrusting her half-eaten drumstick in my face. I took it from her and tore a strip of flesh off, feeling a bit better after I swallowed it. It almost tasted like chicken. Almost. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Oooooh, an indirect kiss,¡± Andy said. ¡°Huh?¡± Jane said. ¡°Don¡¯t try to deny it, I saw the whole thing.¡± ¡°Deny what?¡± Jane looked down at me, brow furrowed. ¡°Do you know what he¡¯s talking about?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said, wincing with embarrassment. ¡°Just ignore him, please.¡± She continued to frown at me for a few seconds, then her face lit up. ¡°Oh, I get it. From my lips to yours, and indirect kiss via chicken leg.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t you just ignore it?¡± I pleaded. She leaned down until our faces were inches apart and traced a greasy finger along my cheek. ¡°Enjoy it, Daniel,¡± she purred. ¡°Consider it my thanks for saving my life yesterday.¡± I felt her breath in my face, her body close to me. I couldn¡¯t look in her eyes. She was so out of my league. Then she wiped her hands on the front of my coat, stood up, and said, ¡°You should save that chicken bone, could be worth something someday after I win this whole thing.¡± Later, once I¡¯d finished eating the meat off it, I snuck the bone into my inventory when nobody was looking. We were soon working our way up Dagger Street toward the middle of town. Coming the other way were none other than the Iceman Chuck and his pal Greg. We noticed each other at the same time, and I saw both their eyes widen before Chuck grabbed Greg¡¯s arm and pulled him into the nearest door, which happened to be for a dress shop. Guess they weren¡¯t so brave when they¡¯re outnumbered. I saw Jane and Sigrid glare into the shop as we passed it, both with their hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw. Those girls were awesome. I owed them a lot. If it weren¡¯t for them, I probably still wouldn¡¯t have had anybody on the team yet. ¡°Hey guys,¡± I said. ¡°In case I didn¡¯t properly say it before, thanks for your help with getting people onto the team.¡± ¡°You know I¡¯m happy to help,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah, you say this like it¡¯s a big deal,¡± Jane said. ¡°Besides,¡± she reached out to squeeze my cheek, ¡°you were so sad and pathetic, we couldn¡¯t help but take pity.¡± I knocked her hand away. ¡°Gee, thanks.¡± She laughed and gave me a wink. ¡°And it is a big deal to me. Jeez, you¡¯re making this hard. Look, what I¡¯m trying to say is¡ª¡± ¡°We know what you¡¯re trying to say, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s okay, really. You can stop apologizing for wanting to use us.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this about Daniel using you? Can I get in on that action?¡± Andy said, earning a playful shove from Sigrid. ¡°I¡¯m sure we probably would¡¯ve started helping with recruitment anyway even if you hadn¡¯t asked us to,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Because you would¡¯ve been so terrible at it we¡¯d have had to step in just to save ourselves from your embarrassment,¡± Jane said. ¡°No, well yes, but mostly it¡¯s because we like you,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°and we want this to work as much as you do. Right Jane?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Sure,¡± Jane mumbled. ¡°What she said.¡± ¡°After all, isn¡¯t that what a team is?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°A group of people working together, each contributing what they¡¯re good at?¡± ¡°Word,¡± I said. ¡°Ugh, no!¡± Jane said, pretending to gag. ¡°No?¡± ¡°Never say that again,¡± Jane said. ¡°But it¡¯s cool,¡± I said. ¡°Not for you it isn¡¯t. You don¡¯t even know what¡¯s cool.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit harsh,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Is it?¡± Jane said. ¡°I do too know what¡¯s cool,¡± I said. I closed one eye and flashed a peace sign around the other. ¡°See? I¡¯m da bomb, yo.¡± ¡°Oh god, no,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Right?¡± Jane said. Sigrid sighed. ¡°Yeah, I hate to admit it but you need to listen to Jane on this one, Daniel. Please, just...no.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said, feeling crestfallen. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, just embrace the real Daniel. He¡¯s more than cool enough.¡± That¡¯s when I discovered that Sigrid could pull off a smile dazzling enough to give even Jane¡¯s a run for its money. Chapter Thirty-Six - So this is what an S-ranker looks like We were the last to arrive at the gazebo, only a few minutes late. While they¡¯d been waiting, the others must have figured out they were all there for the same reason, because we found them all chatting together: Byron, Nina, Sam, Bruce, and Wayne. Nine of us in total. We just had to find one more in the next six hours to complete my quest. Everyone was excited to explore together as a team, and after some deliberation it was Jane who finally chose where we¡¯d go. ¡°I want to meet elves,¡± she said. The Elf Village in the Eastern forest it was. An air of giddy nervousness permeated the team as we trundled along the path to the forest. Everyone was talking a blue streak, everyone except me. I was in my head, plotting strategy in case of a fight. Bruce would hang back with Byron and Nina in her bubble, using his ranged spells to protect the ones who have support powers and are no good on the frontline. I¡¯d still encourage them to learn kung fu, but if Nina or Byron ever found themselves using it in combat that would mean things had gone terribly wrong. Better to stay at a distance, which meant they both needed a ranged weapon skill, stat. Neither of them had an affinity that would give them an easy attack power, which had pretty much become my go-to long range attack. We were pretty weak when it came to fighting at a distance, really. I wondered if there was a way to use Byron¡¯s crafting power in battle? I needed to know more about what it did. I wondered if Artifice would allow him to fabricate weapons in the field? Maybe bombs even? Sam should also hang back. He could summon things to fight for him, and that power to make plants grow anywhere would be good for crowd control, but he¡¯d be squishy in close combat. Wayne seemed to like being on the frontline, and his flaming sword was pretty cool and intimidating. Jane was also an effective damage dealer, blinking in and out of melee range. Sigrid was a tank, so she really ought to be up front. It¡¯d be nice if she could hang back to protect the supporters, but we¡¯d have to trust Bruce¡¯s spells to do that. Wait a second, Byron had that power to make portals. He could pack his inventory full of backup weapons like extra spears and other supplies like potions and stuff, and use a portal to deliver them to whoever needed it. Or even to take Nina to the frontline for a quick heal if someone was hurting. Or assist in a retreat if someone was in dire straits and needed a quick way out of harm. Or he could open a portal to Sigrid so she could get back to defend fast. There were a lot of possibilities there. And then there was me. I¡¯d accepted that I¡¯d never be great at anything, but hopefully I could become good enough at enough things that I could move around and plug holes as needed. A Good At Everything Jack Of All Trades human Swiss Army Knife. My plotting was interrupted by a song. Jane had started singing and Sam had joined in. They both had amazing voices and their harmonies were bang on. No wonder they both had the Music skill. Conversations all ended as we marched to the beat. One song became two, and two became three as they started taking requests. System: You know Music Along the way we passed a few small groups of Players heading back from the forest. Pity their abilities weren¡¯t anything special, but we only needed one more team member anyway. It would¡¯ve been awkward to invite one but not the others. Suddenly Jane and Sam¡¯s rendition of I¡¯ve Got You, Babe was interrupted by a piercing squawk from overhead. I felt an ominous shiver run through me along with a rush of adrenaline and the sudden urge to find a large rock to hide under. I even saw a few of my companions put their arms over their heads and cower. I looked up to see a massive, winged creature soaring above us. Well, Jane did say she wanted to see a dragon. I evaluated it. No, not a dragon. The dragon¡¯s slightly weaker cousin, the wyvern. Close enough.
Wyvern Closely related to the legendary dragon, but not quite the same, and not quite as strong. It¡¯s good to know the difference between monster species, because if you don¡¯t, while you¡¯re waiting for the Wyvern to use its breath weapon on you you¡¯ll be in for a surprise when this creature¡¯s poisonous stinger at the end of its tail brings about your unexpected, and devastatingly painful, demise.
Powers: Fearsome Shriek - Master: Cause fear Hello Darkness My Old Friend - Master: The Wyvern¡¯s stinger injects a deadly poison
Skills: Vicious Bite - Master Vicious Claw - Master Vicious Stinger - Master
Yeah, no. Not gonna fight that. Not a chance in hell. Then I noticed something else streaking through the sky towards the wyvern. Once it was close enough, I could tell it was a person, a woman wearing a stylish set of armor straight out of an anime. She held a long, double-edged sword in one hand, pointing it out in front of her like a lance. The parts of her long, pink hair not tied up in twin buns on either side of her head trailed down her back as she flew. I didn¡¯t recognize her at all.
Akari Hero
Gifts: I Know What¡¯s Going On Here I¡¯m A Lot Stronger Than I Look I¡¯m A Lot Tougher Than I Look
Powers: I Don''t See Anybody There - Expert Indomitable Spirit - Expert Guard, Turn, Parry, Dodge, Spin, Thrust - Expert Single Sword Splits The Sky - Master The Sky Is Not The Limit - Expert
Skills: Aikido - Master Baking - Adept Brawling - Master Exploring - Expert Hunting - Master Staff - Expert Swimming - Adept Sword - Master
No wonder, she¡¯s an NPC. And holy crap, with those abilities she¡¯s a monster herself. ¡°Holy shit, look at that,¡± I heard Jane mutter. I glanced around and everyone had their head craned back, watching things unfold in the sky above us. With a mighty clash, the woman charged into the monster then flew past, leaving three long slashes across its body that oozed green blood. The wyvern shrieked again, and again I had the urge to run and find somewhere to hide. Several of us dropped to the ground, and Bruce actually dashed away towards a scrubby bush, I could only assume in the hopes of hiding behind the spindly, waist-high thing. Anybody could tell it would be futile, but it was clear he was under the fearful influence of the wyvern¡¯s Fearsome Shriek power and not thinking straight. The woman veered around and came back, charging fearlessly toward the wyvern again. This time the monster met her charge with its teeth and claws exposed, the poisonous stinger on its tail poised and ready to lash out. The two met and hovered mid-air, exchanging blows. ¡°She¡¯s incredible,¡± Sigrid said. The battle lasted several minutes but eventually the woman thrust her sword deep into the creature¡¯s chest. It squawked again, but this time it was a different sound. It did not inspire that gut-wrenching fear. It was the sound of defeat. The wyvern plummeted from the sky, landing in a cloud of dust not too far from us. We gazed in awe as the woman glided down and landed gracefully beside the creature. It shuddered on the ground, its wings flapping lamely, too injured to move anymore. She peered down at it for a moment, her mouth moving but I couldn¡¯t hear what she said. Then she plunged the tip of her sword into the wyvern¡¯s head and its pathetic shudderings stopped for good. Wow. So that was what an S-Ranker looked like in this world. Amazing. She withdrew her sword then collapsed to her knees, shoulders slumped, head drooping. ¡°Oh shit, she¡¯s really hurt!¡± Jane said. ¡°Nina!¡± ¡°On it!¡± Nina said and raced toward the woman. We all followed, even Bruce. As we approached, the woman held her hand up as though to ward us off. She was covered in scratches and bite marks, and several large wounds oozed foul-looking pus, no doubt the result of the stinger¡¯s poison. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Nina said. ¡°I¡¯m a healer.¡± The woman lowered her hand, and Nina rushed in to immediately begin using her healing power. As we watched, the smaller injuries closed up but the stinger¡¯s wounds were unaffected. ¡°Sorry, let me try again,¡± Nina said. The woman shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, it won¡¯t work. Not on this kind of poison.¡± She reached into a small leather pouch on her hip and I couldn¡¯t help but notice that her arm went in far deeper than the tiny pouch should allow. Clearly it was magic. When she withdrew her hand, it was holding a potion vial. She expertly unstoppered it with a flick of her thumb and drank it down in one quaff. Immediately, the poison wounds started closing up. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s better,¡± she sighed. She finally raised her head and looked at Nina with grateful eyes, and we got our first good look at her face. ¡°Wow,¡± I heard Andy mutter. ¡°She¡¯s even really pretty, too.¡± Good old Andy, trust him to say what¡¯s on everyone else¡¯s mind that the rest of us are too shy or sensible to say out loud. ¡°Thank you for the help,¡± the woman said. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing really. Thank you for coming when you did. We wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance against it ourselves,¡± Nina said. ¡°True,¡± the woman said, rising to her feet. She reached into her pouch again, this time pulling out what looked like a drawstring beach bag. She opened it up and went toward the Wyvern¡¯s head. ¡°That ain¡¯t gonna fit,¡± Bruce said. He was right, of course. She¡¯d barely be able to fit the tip of the wyvern¡¯s nose inside. But then she glanced over at Bruce and winked, and suddenly the monster started to stretch and distort, disappearing into the bag as though being sucked inside. In a matter of moments, the bag had entirely swallowed the wyvern¡¯s enormous body, stinger and all. She nodded once, then pulled on the drawstring to close the bag. The way she carried it, it was like it weighed nothing, like it really didn¡¯t have anything more than a towel, swimsuit, and some sunscreen in it. She slung the bag over her shoulder and gave us all a curt nod. ¡°You be careful out there, huh?¡± she said, then sprang into the air and soared away, back toward the city. ¡°She was strong, man,¡± Byron said. ¡°She didn¡¯t even tell us her name,¡± Andy muttered as he watched her vanish into the distance, a longing look on his face. ¡°Guess we aren¡¯t important enough for that information,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Akari,¡± I said. ¡°Huh?¡± Bruce said. ¡°Her name¡¯s Akari.¡± ¡°Akari what?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it. Just Akari.¡± ¡°So cool she only needs one name,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I think she¡¯s my idol.¡± ¡°How do you...oh I get it. You used your ability on her,¡± Andy said. ¡°What¡¯re her abilities like?¡± I chuckled. ¡°You don¡¯t wanna know. But I think I¡¯ve figured out the different levels of mastery now.¡± Everyone seemed interested in that. It had been the topic of a few conversations. None of us had raised anything beyond Competent yet, so we didn¡¯t know for sure what came after, nor in what order. ¡°From what I can tell, after Novice and Competent comes Adept, then Expert, then Master. If there¡¯s anything beyond that I haven¡¯t seen it yet, but I suspect there might be a Legendary level.¡± That had been what was on System¡¯s gacha wheel when I had spun to win the Synthesize power. ¡°What levels did she have?¡± Wayne said. ¡°A few Expert, mostly Master. I think her Baking skill was the lowest at Adept.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°She can even bake?¡± Andy said. I think he¡¯d found his perfect woman. ¡°What about that monster?¡± Byron said. ¡°The wyvern? Everything Master level.¡± ¡°We really wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against either of them,¡± Nina said. ¡°You forgot an important word,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Yet. We wouldn¡¯t stand a chance, yet.¡± Jane was right next to me and she slung her arm around my shoulders. ¡°Why Daniel, I think that¡¯s the first truly optimistic thing I¡¯ve heard you say. I knew you had it in you.¡± We started back on our way toward the forest and I stuck next to Jane. We walked in silence for a while, then I blurted, ¡°You¡¯re a really good singer.¡± ¡°That¡¯s me, your all-singing, all-dancing girl.¡± She glanced sideways at me. ¡°Now why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s really on your mind?¡± She doesn¡¯t miss a thing, does she? ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been thinking and...¡± She listened while I explained the entire combat strategy I¡¯d worked out for the team. ¡°That seems pretty sound,¡± she said when I was done. ¡°Not that I know diddly squat about strategy. But wouldn¡¯t it be better if you started at the back too, tossing fireballs or whatever, then use Byron¡¯s portal to jump to wherever you can be of most use?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a really good idea.¡± ¡°If you can convince Sigrid to leave your side,¡± Jane whispered, elbowing me gently in the ribs. ¡°She seems pretty hell-bent on protecting you at all costs.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you can convince her.¡± ¡°Why me? And why are you telling all this to just me anyway?¡± ¡°I kinda thought you¡¯d be the one to present the plan to the team,¡± I said. ¡°Again, why me? Like I said, I don¡¯t know jack shit about strategy. I¡¯ve never played any of your games before. Ever. I got about as far as Monopoly then called it quits. Such a dumb game.¡± ¡°Do not paint all games with the same dark brush as Monopoly,¡± I warned her, and she laughed. ¡°It¡¯s your plan, Daniel, you tell them about it.¡± ¡°It would be better coming from you,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re a natural leader. I¡¯m just a guy in the background.¡± Jane abruptly stopped walking and slapped me hard on the back of the head. ¡°Bull,¡± another slap, ¡°shit,¡± another slap. A stark change from the friendly arm around the shoulder a few minutes earlier. ¡°Cut it out,¡± I said. ¡°You cut it out!¡± she shouted, drawing looks from the others, who¡¯d been forced to stop behind us. ¡°If I ever hear you say crap like that again, I¡¯m going to fuck you up.¡± As abruptly as she¡¯d stopped walking, she started up again, grumbling to herself. I remained rooted there, rubbing the back of my head, watching her stride off ahead of me. As Sigrid walked by she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what sparked that little outburst, but I have a pretty good idea. And don¡¯t let me hear you either or I¡¯ll do the same.¡± She rushed to catch up to Jane, and Andy stopped beside me next. ¡°Sorry bro, looks like no more indirect kisses for you.¡± I gave him the smile he deserved for trying to lighten the mood, although I didn¡¯t feel it. When we reached the edge of the forest, Jane stopped everyone. ¡°Ok, people, here¡¯s the plan. If we get into a fight...¡± She explained the strategy. ¡°That¡¯s some good thinking, Jane,¡± Wayne said. ¡°Yeah, makes sense,¡± Andy said. ¡°Well don¡¯t thank me. It was all the idiot¡¯s idea,¡± Jane said, then stomped the forest. ¡°Great job, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said as we all followed Jane out of the light and into the shadowy gloom of the trees. I couldn¡¯t tell if she meant it or was being sarcastic. Probably a bit of both. ¡°Whoah, Daniel,¡± Andy said. ¡°You¡¯re like our personal tactician. Can I call you Kongming?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not¡ª¡± I was about to say I wasn¡¯t smart enough, but I suspected that might get me effed up. Even if it was true. Byron came to talk to me as we forged ahead into the forest¡¯s foreboding depths. ¡°Daniel, thanks for coming up with those ideas for my portal. I¡¯ve been so worried I won¡¯t be of any use to anyone,¡± he said. ¡°I am sure you¡¯re going to be incredibly useful to the team.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t know how I can help fight, though,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe I can throw rocks or something.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure we can do better than rocks,¡± Wayne said in his deep voice. ¡°Yeah, Wayne¡¯s right. Byron, what can you make with your Artifice power?¡± I said. ¡°Well, so far all I¡¯ve fabricated are a couple of toothbrushes, a hairbrush, a mirror¡ª¡± ¡°Make me one!¡± Jane said, stopping suddenly at the head of the pack and forcing all of us to halt again. ¡°Me too, all of them!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°See?¡± Nina said to Byron. ¡°I told you some things are essential no matter what planet you¡¯re on.¡± Jane pushed her way through to where we were and gripped Byron by the arms with both hands. ¡°Can you do shampoo?¡± Byron laughed and shook her head. ¡°Not yet, but I¡¯ll give it a whirl later.¡± Jane hugged him briefly. ¡°My hero.¡° Then she let go and swept back to the front of the pack. ¡°Okay people, what are you all standing around for? Allons-y.¡± ¡°Do you think you could make things to throw?¡± I asked Byron once we¡¯d continued on our way. ¡°What, like darts?¡± he said. ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°How about Molotov cocktails?¡± Andy said. ¡°That would be awesome, but seems a bit complicated.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to load up my inventories with these kinds of things beforehand, then bring out what we need as it¡¯s needed?¡± ¡°That does make a lot more sense,¡± I said. ¡°How does Artifice work, anyway?¡± ¡°I have this.¡± He reached into his inventory, which was just like mine, and pulled out what looked like a small kiln, roughly square, a few feet along each side. It looked heavy, but he had no trouble carrying it as we walked. ¡°This is my Artifice Forge. It was in my inventory from the start.¡± ¡°How¡¯s it work?¡± Andy said. ¡°It¡¯s kind of like a 3D printer,¡± Byron said, words pouring out in a flood. ¡°All I have to do is think about what I want to make. The more detailed I can picture it the better, kind of like I¡¯m programming it.¡± ¡°Byron¡¯s a software developer back in the real world so it¡¯s pretty natural to him,¡± Nina said. ¡°Anyway, the more complicated the object is the more mana it takes to make it, but¡ª¡± Nina rested his hand on his arm. ¡°I think they get the idea.¡± Byron blushed. ¡°Sorry, I get excited about this kind of stuff.¡± ¡°We can tell,¡± Jane said, looking back over her shoulder with a grin. ¡°Never be sorry for what cranks your engine, Byron.¡± ¡°For sure,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I think your enthusiasm is wonderful.¡± Jane¡¯s eyes darted over to me. ¡°I believe everyone should always be their true proud selves, no apologies.¡± Byron flushed an even deeper shade of red. ¡°Thanks, guys.¡± He stuffed his forge back into his inventory. As with the wyvern, it was a bit of a mind warp watching something that big fit into an opening that small, but inventory¡¯s magic made it happen. ¡°What was I talking about again?¡± ¡°If you could make items during a fight,¡± Nina said. ¡°Right. Yes, I think I could probably whip a few things out on the fly, if necessary.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± I said. Chapter Thirty-Seven - I wanna see elves The forest was every bit as dark as I remembered, though it seemed much less gloomy being there surrounded by comrades-in-arms. The mood was much more subdued within the woods than it was on the way there, though. No more singing, barely any chatter, and everyone watching and listening for any signs of threat or opportunity. We made it quite far in before anything happened. We heard them before we saw them, coming down the path toward us. I glanced at Sigrid, and she caught my eye, then shook her head. No danger. Probably more Players. That hunch was confirmed when we saw three people, two young men carrying a third, staggering down the path in a hurry. The one being carried had an arrow jutting from his belly. A quick use of All Shall Be Revealed told me he was another team builder named Achmed. They saw us a moment later and skidded to a stop in surprise, accidentally dropping Achmed on the packed dirt of the path. He landed hard with a grunt of pain. Nina was there in a heartbeat. ¡°I can help.¡± At first, the two uninjured men blocked her, hovering protectively over their comrade. Nina held her hands open in front of her. ¡°Please let me help.¡± They opened a path to Achmed and Nina knelt over him. She took the arrow¡¯s shaft in her hand. ¡°We already tried pulling it out,¡± one of the Players said, ¡°but it¡¯s got a pretty nasty barb and we didn¡¯t want to make things worse. We¡¯re headed back to town to find a healer.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary,¡± Nina said. As we watched, the wound itself seemed to push the arrowhead out. Nina wiped away the blood to reveal no sign that it had ever been there. It had knitted itself closed without any trace of a scar. Achmed sat up, putting his hand to his belly then looking shocked to find nothing there. Nina handed him the arrow. The shaft was long, slender, and straight as, well, as an arrow. The tip was indeed nastily barbed, but exquisitely made. ¡°Here,¡± she said, ¡°a souvenir.¡± The Players gushed over Nina, thanking her over and over. ¡°How¡¯d you get shot?¡± Andy said. ¡°We were going along the path and everything¡¯s fine,¡± said Achmed. ¡°Then we come across this mess of brambles blocking the way.¡± ¡°A wall of thorns, like something out of Sleeping Beauty, you know?¡± said one of his pals. ¡°And a new quest window pops up, something about a hidden dungeon,¡± said the other. ¡°I pull out my sword and start hacking at it when thooomp, this arrow flies out of nowhere and I¡¯m down.¡± ¡°Who shot you?¡± Andy said. ¡°No frigging idea,¡± Achmed said. ¡°They were hidden in the trees.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t stick around to find out,¡± said the first pal. ¡°Whoever it was, they hid themselves well.¡± I caught Jane¡¯s expression light up and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Elves. Achmed dug into his pocket, pulled out twenty gold coins, and held them out to Nina. ¡°Here.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± Nina said. ¡°For the healing.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous.¡± Achmed grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know the going rate¡¯s more than twice that, but I¡¯m a bit low on funds. I can get you the rest later, I hope that¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant,¡± Nina said. ¡°I don¡¯t want your money. And what¡¯s this about the going rate?¡± ¡°At the big temple in the city, the healers there charge fifty gold for a basic heal.¡± ¡°That¡¯s outrageous,¡± Nina said. ¡°Which temple?¡± ¡°The big cathedral in the middle of town.¡± ¡°Outrageous.¡± Achmed shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s capitalism for you. It¡¯s all about supply and demand. They have all the supply, and there¡¯s lots of demand. Also, you can¡¯t buy a healing potion anywhere anymore, not for love or money, so they can pretty much charge whatever they want.¡± I had no idea this was happening, and I was glad I stocked up on potions, but I also felt a little guilty. Maybe I bought too many? ¡°Yes, but fifty gold,¡± Nina said. ¡°The gall.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t even know there were any Players with healing powers,¡± Achmed said. ¡°If you wanted to, you could make a fortune.¡± ¡°Even if that¡¯s true, I don¡¯t want to,¡± Nina said. ¡°Keep your money, and if you ever need healing again, come find me at the Dragon Clan dojo on Dagger Street.¡± We left on good terms with Achned and his crew, and as we were getting ready to continue on I noticed Byron looking at his wife. She noticed it too. ¡°What?¡± she said to him. ¡°Yourel looking at me all funnny.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± he said. ¡°Just really proud of you is all.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± she said, shaking her head, but the flush in her cheeks told me how she really felt. According to Achmed, we would run into the wall of thorns in twenty minutes or so. After ten, I went over to Sam. I¡¯d had an idea. ¡°Hey Sam, how do you feel about doing a little scouting?¡± His handsome face brightened. ¡°Sure!¡± ¡°I thought maybe you could use your powers to summon an animal, then have it run up ahead and see what¡¯s there by looking through its eyes.¡± ¡°Piece of cake. Let¡¯s see, something that can climb trees would be useful. How about...¡± A squirrel appeared out of nowhere on the moss beside the path. It sat on its haunches and looked up at Sam with its beady little eyes, scratching its nose with its tiny paws. ¡°Off you go, then,¡± Sam said, and it scampered off down the path ahead. We kept trudging along, and every once in a while Sam¡¯s eyes would glaze over when he was taking a peek at what the squirrel was seeing. ¡°Nothing so far,¡± Sam said. ¡°Nothing but...wait, there it is. There¡¯s something blocking the path. Looks like, yes, it¡¯s just like those people described. A wall of thorns and brambles. It¡¯s gigantic!¡± ¡°No it¡¯s not,¡± Jane said, ¡°you¡¯re just squirrel-sized.¡± ¡°Oh right. Still. And hey, I can see that System notice those guys were talking about. About the hidden dungeon. It¡¯s a new quest alright.¡± ¡°What about going off the path?¡± Jane said. ¡°Could we bypass the wall by going through the trees?¡± ¡°Just a sec. No, the wall continues through the trees. Seems to go on forever.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Can you get through? I mean, as the squirrel? It¡¯s pretty small.¡± ¡°Those suckers can get in anywhere,¡± Wayne said. ¡°Can¡¯t keep them out of my attic.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty overgrown and prickly in there. It¡¯ll be easier to just go over,¡± Sam said. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m up a tree now, wow that¡¯s a thick wall, now jumping to another tree, that¡¯s good, now one more jump aaaand¡ª¡± Sam gasped for breath and his eyes snapped back into focus. ¡°I think they killed it.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The instant I tried jumping from a tree on this side to one on the other I lost the connection, and I can feel my summon is gone.¡± ¡°So much for that idea,¡± Andy said. ¡°Still, way to think like a squirrel there, using the trees to move around.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Sam said. There was some debate over continuing, but Jane was adamant. ¡°I want to see elves.¡± I admit I was pretty curious myself, so we ended up continuing along the path until we reached the brambles. Sure enough, it was exactly as advertised. A tangle of thick vines covered with sharp, inch-long thorns blocked the way forward. It rose at least fifteen feet up, but was still dwarfed by the trees that towered around it, and appeared utterly impenetrable. Even for a squirrel. Quest: Solve the [Hidden] Dungeon in the Eastern Forest Reward: Dungeon ownership Jane slowly approached it, holding her hand out in front of her. ¡°Do you think that¡¯s a good idea?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I just want to feel it,¡± Jane said. She got close enough to touch it, and quickly withdrew her hand and put it in her mouth. ¡°It pricked me.¡± ¡°Shocking,¡± Sigrid said with a practiced roll of her big blue eyes, perfected after being best friends with Jane for so long. I held my breath, waiting for the swoosh of an arrow in flight, but nothing came. I studied the treetops around us, convinced that there had to be someone hiding up there ready to shoot, but I couldn¡¯t see anything. I tried using All Shall Be Revealed, but still found nothing. ¡°I could just blink to the other side,¡± Jane said. ¡°Take a peek, come right back.¡± ¡°You mean like how you were just going into that Void to take a peek and come right back?¡± said Sigrid. ¡°Yeah,¡± Jane said, ¡°exactly like that.¡± Then she vanished. ¡°She did it anyway,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I knew she would.¡± It took her only a few seconds to return. She stood there for a moment, eyes wide, then fell over. She had one of those arrows in her belly. I didn¡¯t even hear the swoosh. Andy and I were closest so we rushed over to her. Each of us grabbed an arm and together we heaved her up and dragged her away from the brambles. When we reached what we thought might be a safe distance away we supported her on her feet. ¡°Stupid, stupid, stupid,¡± Sigrid said as she watched Nina take hold of the arrow¡¯s shaft. She did the same thing she¡¯d done before with the other Player, and the wound pushed the arrowhead out and sealed itself. Jane¡¯s weight on me lifted as she stood up under her own power, fully healed. ¡°Well that was fun.¡± ¡°Serves you right,¡± Sigrid said, scowling. Jane shrugged. ¡°Worth a try. Besides, we¡¯ve got a healer with us now, no biggie.¡± ¡°And what if it had killed you there on the other side, huh?¡± ¡°Then I would¡¯ve come back like Daniel did,¡± Jane said. ¡°Probably.¡± Andy handed her a waterskin and she took a long, deep drink. ¡°Did you at least get to see anything on the other side?¡± ¡°Just for a second.¡± Jane gestured at the forest around us. ¡°Picture more of this. But I did learn something important: this is the Nature Dungeon.¡± We stood staring at the wall blocking the path for a while, each of us waiting for someone else to say the obvious. ¡°We aren¡¯t gonna see the elves today, are we?¡± Jane said. That wasn¡¯t the obvious thing I was waiting for. ¡°Sorry, Jane,¡± I said. Jane shrugged. ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s that,¡± she said. That was the obvious thing. ¡°So, uh, are we just going home, then?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Let¡¯s go back through the forest,¡± Jane said. ¡°This path¡¯s a bust, but maybe we¡¯ll come across some of Daniel¡¯s bunny rabbits on the way home.¡± Then without waiting, she strode between two trees and disappeared into the undergrowth. ¡°She bounced back fast,¡± I said. Sigrid sighed. ¡°She does that.¡± She¡¯d left us no choice but to follow her, so one by one we stepped off the path and joined her in the forest. Soon there was only me left on the path and I was just about to follow when I had an idea. With one look into the undergrowth to make sure nobody was watching, I ran back to the wall of thorns. I held out my hand, but learning from Jane¡¯s prickly mistake I stopped just before touching it. Channeling my affinity with Nature through Affinity Control, I focused on just one of the vines, one of the thinner ones, only about as thick as my arm. If I was someone like Andy that would have still made it a pretty big vine, but this was my spindly limb we¡¯re talking about. Okay vine, how about you move a bit for me? It moved. Nice. I cringed, waited for the swoosh and the sharp pain of an arrow, but neither came. So far so good. I broadened my focus and willed a section of the wall to shift. Not a big section, just enough to create an opening I could see through. There was an abrasive sound like sandpaper on wood, punctuated by the odd crunch as vines rubbed together as they shifted, and a tiny gap opened in front of me. Still no swoosh. System: Your affinity with Nature has evolved It wasn¡¯t a big gap, barely a sliver. Not big enough to shove anything through, not even enough to peek through to the other side. But it was something. As soon as I stopped focussing, the vines quickly shifted back to the way they were, like nothing had ever happened. I glanced up at the trees around me, wondering who was watching, and why they hadn¡¯t turned me into a pincushion. I had a sudden impulse to try something, something I¡¯d never done before. I used Nature Affinity Control one last time, only this time I also used Synthesis to combine it with Life. In my few experiments with Synthesis, I¡¯d only ever used it to create something new, like Omni-do. I¡¯d never applied it this way before, to infuse a different affinity into an active ability. The result was interesting, causing a single pale lavender-colored flower to blossom from the vines where I¡¯d made them open. ¡°I¡¯ll be back,¡± I said, and was about to run back and join my team when out of the corner of my eye I saw the flash of movement and heard a soft thud beside me. Something had fallen out of the trees. I looked down at the path and saw a blob about the size of a grapefruit. It was mostly round, slightly flattened where it touched the ground, and translucent with a bluish tinge to it. As I looked at it, its shape shifted slightly, becoming more oblong. It didn¡¯t have eyes, at least none that I could see, but I had the distinct impression it was looking back at me. So cute!
Baby Slime It¡¯s not much to look at now, but give it time.
Powers: Are You Gonna Eat That? - Novice: Devour anything Concentrated Acid For Blood - Novice: Acid innards Blob - Competent: Change shape
Skills: Spit - Novice
I crouched down. ¡°Well hi there, little buddy,¡± I said. ¡°Are you gonna squirt me with acid if I pick you up?¡± It oozed a bit closer. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a no.¡± I reached out and put my hand on the ground in front of it, palm up. It oozed onto it. It was neither warm nor cool, and didn¡¯t feel at all slimy as I¡¯d expected, just smooth and soft. I stood up, holding it in my open palm. I have no idea where or when it started but you find a lot of slimes in isekai stories. Usually they¡¯re a low level monster that newbies encounter when they¡¯re first dipping their toes into the adventuring pool, but over time they also became a bit of a meme. There¡¯s even a very popular isekai where a guy got reincarnated as a slime. Monster pets are another common trope in isekai stories. Baby dragons are popular companions, as are slimes. ¡°Is that what you are? Are you supposed to be a monster pet?¡± I was tempted to give it a name and keep it. But that wouldn¡¯t feel right. A monster pet like this slime should belong to the protagonist. A background character like me could only have a pet like this if my role was to be a monster tamer, which I was clearly not. No, this little guy belongs to the main character. ¡°I know just the person you need to meet,¡± I said to the slime as I transferred it onto my shoulder, where it perched comfortably. And that¡¯s when I heard the screams. Chapter Thirty-Eight - Of course there are orcs The screams came from the forest, somewhere ahead of where my team had ventured into it. I took the slime off my shoulder and tucked it safely into one of the many handy pockets hidden inside my coat and dashed into the trees, following the trail of broken branches and crushed scrub. The sounds of a battle clashed not far ahead. I emerged into a large clearing where trees had been cut down and turned into a cluster of three crude wooden structures. I couldn¡¯t in all good conscience call them houses, even calling them huts was a generous stretch, but it was clear that people had been living in them. Well, not people, exactly. Orcs.
Orc Big, strong, and dumb, these porcine monsters have been the bane of civilized races since time immemorial.
Powers: Me Gonna Getcha - Adept: Intimidate enemies
Skills: Axe - Adept
I would have known even without evaluating them what they were. Ever since Tolkien lifted them from vague mythology into supercharged goblin territory, the humble orc has been a mainstay monster in fantasy worlds, and whoever designed the creatures here had cherry picked details from different sources. There were eight of them, all muscular with hog-like noses, two citrine yellow teeth jutting up over their top lips like tusks, pink skin mottled with odious patches of green and speckled with thick, pin-like whiskers, and a nasty disposition. They were all holding primitive axes made from sharpened stones lashed to thick tree branches in gnarled extremities that were somewhere between meaty hands and chunky hooves. What the weapons lacked in sophistication they made up for with sheer size. Only six of the orcs were still standing. The team had used my strategy to good effect. Right in front of me, Bruce, Byron, and Nina held back. Nina knelt on the ground cradling Sam¡¯s head in her lap. Blood flowed freely from a long gash down his side, which she was healing. A two-dimensional oval about the size of a door floated in the air beside them, one of Byron¡¯s portals. Through it, the other side of the other end of the portal was visible under a sheen of translucent swirling colors. About thirty feet ahead, the rest of the team were engaged with the orcs. Wayne was at the forefront, his sword blazing. Two humanoid skeletons clad in rusty broken armor and wielding a chipped sword flanked him on either side. Wayne traded blows with an orc that was a head taller than the others, a necklace of bones glowing with a pearlescent blue aura hanging around its thick, bristly neck, probably their leader. He was only barely holding his own against the monster. The skeletons were each fighting a regular orc and seemed to be floundering against the orcs¡¯ single-minded assault, but they were at least serving their purpose by preventing their foes from assisting the bigger orc, keeping them away from Wayne like meat, er, I mean bone shields. Sigrid and Jane held the right flank, each with sword in hand and struggling against their own orcs, while Andy stood on the left side taking on the final orc that still stood fighting. Two orcs lay on the ground near him, dark blood oozing from numerous gashes and bite marks. Two dead panthers lay tangled with them, the obvious source of the orcs¡¯s wounds. Another oval portal floated next to the bodies, the twin to the one in the bubble in front of me. Without thinking I charged toward the portal in front of me and leaped into it, popping out through the other side beside Andy. The orc¡¯s enormous weapon was a problem for Andy, its wide, flailing swings preventing him from getting close enough to use his kung fu effectively. I channeled my affinity with Ice to encase the orc¡¯s hands, axe handle and all, in a big block of heavy ice, which threw the monster off balance and stopped it swinging long enough for Andy to seize the opportunity and pummel it with a series of kicks and punches. It wouldn¡¯t last long under such an onslaught. System: Your affinity with Ice has evolved Thank you, next. Wayne¡¯s summoned skeleton closest to me crumbled against its superior opponent¡¯s attacks, clattering to the ground in a jumble of disconnected bones. Growing that flower on the thorny wall had given me some ideas about combining affinities, so I used a synthesized combination of Earth and Water to turn the ground under the orc who¡¯d slain it into soft mud. Its feet sank up to mid-calf, then I turned the ground solid again. It was still alive and swinging, and roaring with anger, but it couldn¡¯t move. That was good enough for me. System: Your affinity with Earth has evolved System: Your affinity with Water has evolved System: Your mastery of Synthesis has evolved Thank you, next. Wayne was holding his own against the big guy, but his other skeleton was struggling. I could¡¯ve helped it out, but Sigrid and Jane were also having a hard time. Only Sigrid¡¯s shield was keeping them from feeling the bite of their orcs¡¯ axes, so I decided to assist them instead. ¡°Andy,¡± I said, ¡°finish this one off and help the skeleton.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± he said as he landed a fierce kick to the side of his orc¡¯s head. There was a sickening snap, then the orc crumpled, its head falling unnaturally limp to the side. I was starting to feel the effect of using Affinity Control so much so every part of me felt heavy and drained with fatigue, but I figured I still had one or two more uses in me. It probably wasn¡¯t the best time to experiment, but I had a gut feeling that I should try using Void next so I went with it. I targeted the orc that seemed to be giving Jane and Sigrid the most trouble and a black sphere covered with swirling colors appeared around its head. It immediately dropped its axe and fell to its knees, clutching its throat. Using my skill this way was surprisingly effective. I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen. I thought maybe it would simply block the orc¡¯s vision, but judging by the way the monster struggled it seemed to do a lot more. This came at a cost, though, because whereas the ways I had manipulated elements in this battle were one-off shots; maintaining the Void like this was an ongoing drain on my already depleted mana. My mana was too low to use my skill again, so I decided to keep it up as long as I could, hoping it would be enough to give Sigrid and Jane the time they needed to turn the tables. As it turned out, that wasn¡¯t very long. I strained to maintain the Void, but soon my head began to swim and my vision clouded, then all went black. I passed out. When I came to, things around me were quite different. I was still in the orc clearing, but the battle was long over. Eviscerated orc corpses had been shunted into a pile to one side, their mana crystals removed, all except for one that was semi-upright in the middle of the open space, body keened over with its legs still stuck in the ground. I was sitting on the dirt, my back against one of the huts. Sigrid sat cross-legged to one side of me, wiping orc gore from her armor; Nina and Jane sat on the other side chatting away, clearly still riding the high of their victory. The others crowded around a small chest. Bruce seemed to have convinced everyone that it was trapped, so they were arguing over the best way to get it open, desperate to see what treasure lurked inside. ¡°Oh hey,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°welcome back.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°So I guess we won?¡± ¡°We sure did, thanks to you.¡± ¡°Me? All I did was pass out.¡± Sigrid nudged my leg with her knee. ¡°Hardly. We were in deep shit until you showed up throwing around affinity bombs.¡± ¡°There he is,¡± Nina said from my other side, shoving a slab of bread and a chunk of cheese into my hands. ¡°Here, eat. Get your mana back up.¡± I took the food, mumbling my gratitude as I chomped into it. I was starving. The others saw that I was awake and came over, all eager to regale me with what happened after I lost consciousness. With his orc unable to lift its axe because of the ice, Andy had finished it off handily before helping Wayne¡¯s skeleton finish off its orc. The three of them together managed to take down the leader. ¡°That was a great idea with the ice,¡± Andy said. ¡°All I needed was an opening and you gave it to me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad it worked,¡± I said. Sigrid and Jane, able to focus together on one orc while the other floundered under the effect of the Void, put it down with the help of a rock thrown by Byron, a lucky shot that binged the goliath right between the eyes. Even after the Void sphere went poof when I went down, that orc was left gasping for breath and unable to fight, easy prey for the girls¡¯ combined assault. ¡°You used Void, didn¡¯t you?¡± Jane said. ¡°What was up with that?¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°I can¡¯t be sure,¡± I said, ¡°but I think it was suffocating. I mean, Void is the opposite of air, right? So maybe when I put it around its head it got smothered with nothing to breathe.¡± ¡°Nothing can survive in a vaccuum,¡± she said. I turned to Byron, who also had the Void affinity. ¡°Something to remember if you¡¯re in a pinch. Just be careful, it¡¯ll suck the mana out of you pretty quick.¡± ¡°So we noticed,¡± Nina said. The final orc had remained helpless with its feet trapped in solid earth, and the team admitted they¡¯d had a hard time bringing themselves to kill it when it was so defenseless, so in the end they let the skeleton finish it off before Wayne dismissed it. Everyone agreed that it was a good lesson: there were more ways to defeat an enemy than by killing it, taking it out of the fight can be just as effective. Sam had been badly hurt when he and his summoned panthers tried to take on two orcs, but Nina healed him up good as new. She fixed up everyone else¡¯s wounds too, then tried her healing power on me. It only worked on actual injuries, though, not mana drain overload, so all they could do was wait for me to recover naturally. The chest had been discovered in the middle hut, ostensibly the one the leader had occupied. ¡°If you have any ideas about how to open it,¡± Andy said, ¡°we¡¯re all ears.¡± ¡°I wanted to blast it with a fireball,¡± Jane said, ¡°but I got vetoed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re gonna blast the whole chest apart if you do that,¡± Wayne said. ¡°No I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Did you try freezing the lock?¡± I said. They looked at each other sheepishly. ¡°And you call yourselves gamers, ¡°I said. ¡°I most certainly do not,¡± Jane said. ¡°Well who has Ice?¡± Wayne said. Jane raised her hand. ¡°But like I said I am not a gamer, how am I supposed to think of things like this?¡± ¡°I can make ice,¡± I said. Sigrid patted me on the arm. ¡°You¡¯re excused from coming up with the idea earlier due to lack of consciousness.¡± Andy slowly raised his hand too. ¡°I have Ice affinity.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s your excuse?¡± Wayne said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to use it yet,¡± Andy said. ¡°Looks like we need a solid training session to get everybody skilled up with Affinity Control,¡± I said. I nodded toward the chest. ¡°Jane? Could you do the honors? I¡¯m a little wiped.¡± Jane clapped and sprang to her feet. ¡°Yes!¡± I remained sitting with Sigrid and Nina while everybody else went with Jane to the chest. We watched as she froze the lock, then looked around for something to smash it with. ¡°Anybody got a hammer?¡± Byron opened his inventory. ¡°Coming right up!¡± He whipped out his forge, and before you could say ¡®we need someone who can pick locks¡¯ he pulled a hammer out of it and passed it to Jane. ¡°One hammer, hot off the press.¡± Jane bowed her head as she accepted the tool, then lined it up with the lock. ¡°Wait!¡± I said. Jane sighed. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Let me do it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I quickly explained my Murder Hobo gift. ¡°There¡¯s a chance for better loot if I¡¯m the one to open the chest.¡± Jane handed me the hammer. ¡°You do the honors then.¡± I lined it up, then closed my eyes and smashed it down on the frozen lock. The entire thing shattered. Pieces of wood and metal and ice went flying in all directions and a pool of coins spilled out where there was once a solid chest. ¡°Oops,¡± I said, and handed the hammer back to Jane. ¡°Well that worked, I guess,¡± she said, laughing. Jane kissed the head of the hammer and offered it back to Byron, who stuffed it into his inventory along with the forge. Seeing Jane so happy reminded me of something. ¡°Hey Jane?¡± I said. ¡°Come here, I¡¯ve got something for you.¡± Her head snapped over and she looked at me with the sort of doe-eyed expression a puppy gives you when hearing the word W-A-L-K. ¡°Presents?¡± I reached into my coat and pulled out the slime. I held it out to her. Her nose wrinkled. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± she said. ¡°Your new pet, of course.¡± Byron and Nina noticed and came over too. ¡°Hey, is that a slime?¡± Byron said. ¡°So cute!¡± Nina said. ¡°Where¡¯d you find it?¡± ¡°It fell out of a tree,¡± I said. ¡°I think it¡¯s just a baby.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± Jane said. ¡°That¡¯s what its Status says.¡± Jane stood there, staring at the blob wobbling slightly in my outstretched hand with an expression that could only be described as dubious. ¡°So this thing dropped out of a tree and you immediately thought of me?¡± ¡°Well, not immediately,¡± I said. ¡°If you don¡¯t want it I¡¯ll take it!¡± Nina said. ¡°What does it do?¡± Jane said. ¡°This one¡¯s talented. It can eat anything, spew acid, and change its shape.¡± ¡°That explains why it made you think of Jane,¡± Sigrid said, earning her a glare from her friend. ¡°You¡¯re kidding,¡± Jane said to me, then turned to Sigrid and added, ¡°good one.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a slime,¡± I said, as though that explained everything. ¡°Seriously, I¡¯ll take it,¡± Nina said, hands outstretched toward the little beastie, fingers clenching greedily. ¡°What if it¡¯s a bad slime?¡± Byron said. ¡°It¡¯s not a bad slime,¡± Nina said. ¡°People keep these as pets?¡± Jane said, poking at it experimentally with a finger, then smiling a tiny bit when it jiggled. ¡°Not normally, no. They¡¯re monsters. But this one¡¯s special,¡± I said. Jane reached out a tentative hand. The slime oozed onto it. She brought it closer to her face and stared at it. The area closest to her bulged a bit, stretching toward her as though staring back. ¡°It is kinda cute.¡± ¡°You have to name it,¡± Byron said. ¡°What, now?¡± Jane said. ¡°Giving it a name makes it yours. It creates the bond. It¡¯s just how it¡¯s done.¡± Jane¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°If you¡¯re making this up. If this thing is actually going to piss acid all over me or something...I swear you will regret it forever.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not making this up,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s, like, a gamer thing.¡± ¡°Okaaaay,¡± Jane said. ¡°How about Squishy?¡± The slime jiggled a bit on Jane¡¯s hand. ¡°I think it likes it,¡± Nina said. ¡°Or else it¡¯s peeing,¡± I said, ¡°fifty-fifty.¡± Jane ignored me and snuggled the slime against her cheek. ¡°Then I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy.¡± ¡°Hello Squishy,¡± Nina said. It jiggled again. ¡°It definitely likes the name.¡± Suddenly Jane¡¯s eyes popped open. ¡°What is it? What¡¯s wrong?¡± I said, my heart stopping. Did it just piss acid on her? She broke into a big grin and my heart started again. She¡¯s fine. ¡°Fun fact,¡± Jane said, still cradling the slime as she pointed into the air in front of her with her free hand. ¡°I am the first Player to tame a monster.¡± She curtsied. ¡°Nice,¡± I said. ¡°Did you get some Reward Tokens?¡± She shook her head and her smile got bigger. ¡°Nuh uh. This was a special secret quest, so instead of tokens my reward was a new Power.¡± Sigrid beamed at her friend. ¡°Nice! Show us!¡± Powers: Beast Friends Forever - Novice: Form spiritual bonds with applicable creatures ¡°You¡¯re a tamer!¡± Nina squealed. ¡°What¡¯s a tamer?¡± Jane said. ¡°You can tame monsters to be your allies,¡± Nina said. ¡°So that¡¯s...good?¡± Jane said. Nina looked like Jane had just thrown a dead possum over her fence. ¡°Are you freaking kidding me?¡± Nina said. ¡°I want to be a tamer, too,¡± Sam said. ¡°Do I need the Power?¡± ¡°Maybe not. Jane tamed it before she had the Power,¡± Byron said. ¡°Or did she get the Power so that she could tame it?¡± Bruce said. ¡°No, I think the Power comes as an acknowledgment of the latent ability that was awakened within her when she forged the bond with the slime,¡± Wayne said. ¡°The slime has a name,¡± Nina said. ¡°But she needed to have the Power first in order to make the bond with, ah, Squishy,¡± Bruce said. ¡°We don¡¯t know that,¡± Byron said. Jane turned her gaze away from the slime and the nerds arguing about it and toward me. The smile alone she gave me was worth it all. ¡°Thanks, Daniel. But why me?¡± ¡°It seemed the right thing to do,¡± I said. ¡°If you say so,¡± she said, then got pulled away by Nina, who wanted a turn holding Squishy. It was the truth, it was the right thing to do. But it was hard enough explaining about slimes and pets and pet slimes. Going into the whole protagonist thing would be just too much work right now, and not really the sort of conversation to have in front of everybody. If she¡¯d watched any anime she¡¯d already know why she had to have the pet, but in this situation her ignorance of being the protagonist was exactly why she was the protagonist. The main character¡¯s journey is all about adapting to the new world, and nobody had to adapt there more than Jane. She was the ultimate fish out of water. Sigrid leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. ¡°Quite the team you¡¯ve assembled, huh?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°I did good, huh?¡± ¡°You did good, yep.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°So why did you choose to give it to Jane?¡± ¡°You already have Meowmeow?¡± ¡°Good answer, but you¡¯re lying. Dish.¡± ¡°Look at her with it. Tell me they don¡¯t belong together.¡± Jane was standing on the toes of one foot, ballet-style, with her head thrown back, balancing the slime on her nose, while Nina and Sam laughed. Sigrid hurmed. ¡°That¡¯s...not really an answer.¡± ¡°Sure it is,¡± I said. Chapter Thirty-Nine - The final team member The triumphant team returned, pockets laden with orc treasure, back to town. Once tallied up there wasn¡¯t that much gold in the orcs¡¯ chest after all, but it was our first actual loot and we treasured it. ¡°I can use the mana in those crystals to power my forge instead of using my own, or to supplement mine if I don¡¯t have enough,¡± Byron had explained. Not knowing any other use for them, we gladly gave him all the crystals we got from the orc battle. I¡¯d wondered if I could do the same with Synthesize, and made a mental note to try it next time. The gang was disappointed to see only coins spill from the chest. Coins are nice, but everyone was hoping for magic items or something more exciting. The only thing that had lit up with a Status when I evaluated the orc camp was the leader¡¯s bone necklace. No surprise, it had been glowing when the Leader had been alive.
Alpha¡¯s Necklace Whitened bones and yellowed teeth from various species adorn this otherwise simple leather thong, taken from around the neck of the leader of the orc expedition camped outside the elves¡¯ wall of thorns.
Powers: The Power Of The Alpha - Once triggered, the wearer¡¯s strength gradually increases; Duration - 2 minutes; Cooldown - 5 minutes
Everyone liked the idea of being stronger, but not at the cost of having to wear the thing; everyone except Wayne, that is. Wayne said he thought he looked cool and scary with it, and it fit with the Baron Samedi look he was considering adopting, so everyone was happy. We now found ourselves approaching the town square with only a couple of hours left before the end of the quest. ¡°I hate to be a Debbie Downer,¡± Jane said, ¡°but aren¡¯t we still one Player behind on your quest, Daniel? For someone who¡¯s supposed to be some kind of gamer whiz, you suck at this. You¡¯d better get your act together or you¡¯re gonna fail your quest and we¡¯ll all be screwed.¡± She¡¯d taken to walking around with Squishy on her shoulder, where it jiggled happily. As annoying as Jane was, she wasn¡¯t entirely wrong: we didn¡¯t have much time to find the last team member. Lacking a better plan, we found a place with a good amount of foot traffic and stood there while I evaluated everyone I could see, searching for that elusive Player with a combination of great powers, skills, and affinity who wasn¡¯t already on another team to complete ours. After a while, a low growl rumbled beside me. ¡°I might be hungry again,¡± Sigrid said, gripping her belly. We¡¯d had a big lunch at the edge of the forest, so it came as a shock. ¡°Ya think?¡± Jane said. ¡°I have a high metabolism,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Go grab some food,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t all have to do this, you know.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°I bet by the time you get back we¡¯ll have already found our last teammate.¡± Sigrid¡¯s tummy growled again. ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Andy. He grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards a bakery across the street. ¡°Noooo,¡± complained Sigrid. ¡°No carbs!¡± I watched them argue playfully as he dragged her to the shop. She struggled to change direction toward a nearby food cart, but Andy won in the end and they disappeared into the bakery. Then I found her. The perfect teammate.
Chika Hachiman
Affinity: Death - Novice
Gifts: Strong Like Bull - Super strength
Powers: Boing Boing - Competent: Incredible leaping ability I Vant To Zuck Your Life - Novice: Transfer health from target to Player; Range: Touch; Affinity with Death required
Skills: Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Acrobatics - Competent Jiu Jitsu - Competent Taunting - Competent
Four out of five abilities leveled up to Competent already, and all of them good. She¡¯s been busy. She was at the food cart Sigrid had tried to reach, a tiny, waiflike Japanese girl in her mid-teens with straight black hair past her shoulders and a trail of piercings up the side of one ear. She¡¯d been a maestro at collectible card games at the convention. We decided that we should approach her as a smaller, less intimidating group, so Jane and I went over to her alone. Besides, I had promised Jane the day before I¡¯d take her to try the war pig skewer at this particular food cart. Jane gripped my arm as we approached. ¡°It smells so good,¡± she said. We stepped up beside the girl in front of the cart. She was craning her neck and shifting back and forth, peering around as though searching for something. ¡°I know you,¡± said Crazy Sadie without even looking up. She was busy slathering a thick reddish sauce onto a pair of skewers smoldering over her cart¡¯s glowing coals. ¡°How¡¯s that ring working out for ya?¡± I glanced down at my finger. Will she be mad that I¡¯d turned her ring into a Void Key? I shifted my other hand over to cover it discreetly. Crazy Sadie¡¯s one functional eye shifted to my hands briefly, then it tracked up to my face. Her mouth crinkled into a tiny smile. ¡°Can we have nine?¡± I said. She nodded approvingly and started plunging a gnarled hand into the tub hanging off the side of the cart, pulling out chunks of marinated meat and sliding them onto fresh skewers with practiced efficiency, then laying the skewers on the grill in a tidy row. All the while she regaled us with a story about how her grandson swore he saw an elf in the city, but how he must be fibbing again because nobody¡¯s seen any pointy ears inside the wall for years. ¡°We asked for nine skewers,¡± Jane said when Sadie was done laying them out. ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°There¡¯s only eight. You need to put one more on.¡± Sadie fixed her cloudy eye on Jane, who returned the look. After a moment, Sadie nodded and plunged her hand into the tub again, preparing one more skewer. That was too easy. I¡¯d never seen Sadie acquiesce so quickly. It had been a while since I¡¯d used All Shall Be Revealed on Jane, and I had a theory I wanted to explore.
Mary Jane Anders
Affinity: Air - Competent Darkness - Novice Death - Novice Fire - Competent Earth - Novice Ice - Novice Life - Novice Light - Novice Nature - Novice Shadow - Novice Void - Novice
Gifts: Let¡¯s Dance - Incredible agility Master Of None - Player can develop Prime Affinity with all elements; Restriction: cannot evolve mastery in any Affinity, Power, or Skill beyond Expert level
Powers: Captivating Presence - Adept: Affect the moods of others Glow Worm - Competent: Emit light Gone the Next - Competent: Teleport short distances
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Dance - Novice Gymnastics - Novice Music - Competent Sword - Competent
Of all her abilities, that¡¯s the one that¡¯s at Adept already? Just as I thought. ¡°Jane,¡± I said. ¡°Just how often do you captivate people with your presence?¡± She gave me a look of excessive sweetness and innocence, a sure sign of guilt. ¡°Hmmmm? Whatever do you mean?¡± ¡°Thought so.¡± Crazy Sadie took the two skewers she¡¯d been cooking before off the grill. ¡°One silver.¡± The girl, Chika, dug into a pocket and pulled out a gold coin. ¡°All I¡¯ve got is this.¡± Sadie cast her a dubious eye. I know where this is going. ¡°Let me pay for those,¡± I said. Now it was Chika casting a dubious look my way. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± said Jane. ¡°He¡¯s harmless. Actually...¡± and she went on to start a conversation. It was flabbergasting how easily she could do that. The girl remained wary, but her trepidation was no match for Jane¡¯s unquenchable charisma and in short order we had found our last team member, although Chika had seemed distracted the whole time, always looking around. ¡°We¡¯re going to the pub on Dagger Street with the big dragon on the sign out front to wait for the quest period to end,¡± said Jane. ¡°Yeah,¡± said Chika. ¡°So about the team...¡± She continued looking around like a parent trying to keep an eye on a constantly wandering child, only there were no children around, nor anyone else for that matter. ¡°You can meet them all at the pub.¡± ¡°Yeah but is there...¡± She kept looking, as though searching for someone. ¡°Where is he?¡± ¡°Lose someone?¡± asked Jane. ¡°Yeah. I mean no. I mean...where¡¯d he go this time?¡± ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Chika said. ¡°Sure.¡± She took a few quick steps to peer behind the food cart. Crazy Sadie cleared her throat, then jerked her head toward an alley behind the cart. ¡°Well you seem busy,¡± Jane said, ¡°so we¡¯ll see you at the pub, right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Chika said, ¡°sure,¡± and she ducked into the shadows of the alley where Sadie had indicated, laden with her dripping skewers. We watched her go. ¡°Are we sure about her?¡± asked Jane. Chapter Forty - Mmm, doughnuts ¡°God I want another one of those skewers,¡± Jane said. ¡°Squishy ate half of mine. What was the meat called again?¡± ¡°War pig,¡± I said. ¡°Mmmmm, war pig,¡± Jane said. ¡°The other white meat.¡± ¡°What is a war pig?¡± Sigrid said. I shrugged. ¡°No idea. Wild boars, maybe? Crazy Sadie said they live in the forest but I didn¡¯t see any either time I¡¯ve been in there.¡± ¡°How much time do we have?¡± Jane said. ¡°You could check your own Status and see, you know,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Meh, I¡¯m too lazy.¡± ¡°Too lazy to say two words and look in front of you?¡± Jane shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t try to change me.¡± ¡°Open quest,¡± I said, then looked in front of myself. ¡°We¡¯ve still got a few hours.¡± ¡°Wicked. Who¡¯s coming with?¡± Jane said. We were all sitting together in the Dragon Pub, waiting for the Tutorial to end. Jane looked around the tables we¡¯d shoved together so we could all fit. ¡°What, nobody?¡± ¡°They have food here,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But I want street meat,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± I said. Jane rewarded me with one of her smiles as she hopped up. ¡°You guys are gonna be so jelly when we come back dripping with war pig.¡± ¡°Well when you put it like that,¡± Sigrid said, scrunching up her face. ¡°I¡¯m definitely staying.¡± ¡°Boo hiss,¡± Jane said. ¡°Let¡¯s go Danny boy.¡± Jane and I left the pub and made our way up the street toward Crazy Sadie¡¯s. The smile never left her face as she skipped along, and I allowed a bit of her carefree joy to infect me. I¡¯d been feeling a bit dour since we got back from the forest, with a creeping sense of doom I just couldn¡¯t shake. I¡¯ve always been prone to these black moods. To be honest, that¡¯s why I¡¯d agreed to come along. Jane was the opposite. It was as though sunlight followed her around, and I half expected a tiny blue animated bird to settle on her shoulder beside Squishy and warble a happy song. I was hoping that being around her radiance would chase away the dark clouds that seemed to follow me everywhere. When we got close to Sadie¡¯s, Jane stopped beside a bench. ¡°You wait here,¡± she said, ¡°this one¡¯s my treat. Squishy can keep you company.¡± She plucked the slime off of her shoulder and handed him to me before prancing over to Sadie¡¯s cart. I sat on the bench with the slime on my lap and did some people-watching. I noticed that more and more people were starting to move around in groups, usually smaller ones of threes or fours, and a quick use of All Shall Be Revealed on larger groups often found someone with the Team Builder designation at the center. Those Players¡¯ Statuses were still all just a bunch of Hiddens. One of those teamed up groups caught my eye in particular. They were all dressed in similar all-white outfits with black suspenders and weird helmets that kind of looked like what my great grandfather wore in World War 1, vaguely reminiscent of bowler hats. I was watching them saunter down the street like they owned it when I felt someone sit down beside me on the bench. Assuming it was Jane I said, ¡°What took you so long?¡± ¡°Aw gee, I didn¡¯t know you were waiting for me.¡± I knew that voice, and it wasn¡¯t Jane¡¯s. I turned and looked at Kiki, who was sitting there looking very much like the cat who ate the canary, only in this case it was the gal who ate the war pig. She¡¯d changed out of her school uniform at last, trading it in for something still appropriately gyaru: a pair of pink shorts that had obviously once been longer pants she¡¯d cut down to match her fashion sense, which is to say short enough to display considerable underbum, and a leather corset that strained to support her chestly endowments. She still wore the knee-high socks, but her dyed-blonde hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, face immaculately made up complete with long fake eyelashes. Once a gal, always a gal. She was holding three skewers, one of which was mostly eaten. ¡°Here,¡± she said, holding the remains of that one out to me. ¡°You can have this one. It¡¯s probably yours anyway.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Your red-headed friend had it. You should¡¯ve seen her gobbling this down. I think she didn¡¯t want you to see what a piggy she was trying to finish one off by herself before coming back to you.¡± That dour feeling I had suddenly reached fever pitch and began to seep into panic. ¡°Where¡¯s Jane?¡± ¡°She¡¯s fine. For now.¡± ¡°What have you done with her?¡± ¡°Nothing yet. What happens after this depends on you. You gonna eat this or what?¡± I slapped the skewer away. ¡°Where is she?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter where she is now, what matters is where she¡¯ll be when the Tutorial ends. Because that¡¯s where you need to be.¡± ¡°Or what? You¡¯ll kill me? You¡¯ll kill her?¡± ¡°Nah, clearly the threat of death doesn¡¯t seem to affect you. And maybe that approach wasn''t the best. I mean, this place isn''t what I thought it was, right? But one thing''s for sure: pain is real. So dig this: if you don¡¯t come to the arena ¡ª alone ¡ª for when the Tutorial ends, and show me that you have dropped everyone on your team, then me and my boys are gonna have a little fun with our abilities on your friend. You remember what that''s like. Oh, but don''t worry. We''ll stop short of killing her.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t do that. Not to her.¡± ¡°You really gonna bet her well-being on that baseless assumption? I don''t even know this chick.¡± I said nothing, just sat there with my fists clenched. Kiki stood and stretched. The leather of the corset literally creaked with the strain of containment. ¡°Remember, come alone.¡± I was still sitting on the bench long after she¡¯d left. She¡¯d given me the skewers but I had zero appetite so I fed them to Squishy. They quickly vanished inside the little slime, sticks and all, in a way that reminded me of how spears disappeared into my Inventory. There were still a few hours left until the end of the Tutorial, but if Kiki thought I was going to wait until the final moments to come she was out of her clearly disturbed mind. I wasn¡¯t going to wait to rescue Jane, and I wasn¡¯t going to go alone. I realized that Kiki had no idea what it meant to be part of a team. If she really did want to win at this game, she was going about it the wrong way. Less than an hour later, I strolled down the wide corridor that led from under the stands out through the portcullis and onto the arena floor, holding a box of eleven doughnuts and munching on the twelfth. Jane was there, sitting awkwardly in the middle of the floor, securely trundled up in shadow ropes. They covered her mouth so she wasn¡¯t able to speak, whether to prevent her from using her Captivating Presence power or just to shut her up was anybody¡¯s guess, I gave fifty-fifty odds to either, but her bright green eyes remained clear and open. They widened when she saw me, but she seemed to be the only one surprised by my arrival. Kiki and her gang already knew I was coming, they¡¯d been watching me from the moment Kiki left me at Crazy Sadie¡¯s. It was as though they didn¡¯t trust me to come alone, or something. I counted six of them, including Kiki, which added up. There were the two who followed me everywhere, plus the two posted as lookouts in front of the arena to make sure I really was by myself. A team of ten. She¡¯d recruited all men. Figures. Jane was flanked on one side by Derek Smith, the guy who controlled the shadow bonds that were holding Jane and also the guy who¡¯d killed me with that thrown knife, and Kiki on the other. She was holding Jane¡¯s rapier. The other four members of her team here lounged against the tall wall that surrounded the arena floor, trying to look cool and nonchalant. Kiki¡¯s glossy red lips spread into a wide grin as she rested the tip of the sword on Jane¡¯s shoulder. Jane twitched, trying to shrug it off of her, but the shadows held her too rigid. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking,¡± Kiki said. ¡°You¡¯re thinking, why doesn¡¯t she just use that annoying ability of hers to teleport out of this mess, am I right? Well,¡± she went on, plowing through without waiting for an answer, ¡°cool thing about powers, they seem to get better as you level them up. And Derek¡¯s shadow rope thingies gained the ability to block the powers of the person they tie up. Neat, huh?¡± I took a bite of an apple fritter as I casually strolled toward them. ¡°Thanks for telling me,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s some really useful information. Probably should¡¯ve kept it a secret. Though it does explain why Derek¡¯s looking a bit tired, keeping up those ropes must be a heck of a mana drain.¡± Kiki lost her composure when she realized her mistake, but only for a second, then that canary-eating grin was back. ¡°Like it matters if you know. When the Tutorial¡¯s over you¡¯ll be teamless and useless, so who cares?¡± I finished off the fritter, then poked around in the box and fished out another doughnut. ¡°Mmm, sprinkles.¡± ¡°Okay, what¡¯s with the doughnuts?¡± Kiki said, putting her free hand on her hip. Chapter Forty-One - You should try making friends ¡°Where did you even get those?¡± ¡°Bakery, of course. I¡¯d offer you one, but I don¡¯t want to, so...¡± ¡°Never mind,¡± Kiki said, but I could totally tell she wanted one of my doughnuts, she couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the box. ¡°You¡¯re a bit early, the Tutorial doesn¡¯t end for nearly two hours.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind getting this over with sooner,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think Derek does either.¡± I took a big, messy bite of the doughnut. Derek had been eying them too. He was clearly almost out of mana and there were enough calories in the box to keep him and his shadow ropes going for a while. I got chocolate all over my face, but made no effort to wipe it off. Derek actually licked his lips as he watched me eat. Didn¡¯t they think of bringing some food to keep their mana up? Sloppy. I heard footsteps behind me, and glancing back I saw the two who¡¯d been following me approach from the same way I¡¯d come in. They were my old pals Chuck and Greg: the Iceman and his uncool sidekick. ¡°Fine with me,¡± Kiki said. She looked at Chuck. ¡°So?¡± ¡°He came alone,¡± Chuck said. ¡°Good boy,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see that quest screen, Daniel.¡± Not yet. ¡°First, tell me why you¡¯ve got such a hate-on for me. What did I ever do to you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing personal.¡± ¡°It seems personal,¡± I said. ¡°Well, maybe it¡¯s a little personal.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re jealous.¡± ¡°What? No, why would...? No,¡± she sputtered. ¡°Seriously, why would I be jealous of you?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s not me you¡¯re jealous of. It¡¯s her,¡± I said, gesturing toward Jane with a half-eaten doughnut. Kiki sputtered again. ¡°What? Why would I be jealous of her?¡± ¡°You¡¯re a reasonably attractive girl, Kiki, there¡¯s no denying that. You¡¯re used to being the hottest in the room, and you clearly know how to use it. Look at you, you¡¯ve got all these boys wrapped around your perfectly manicured fingers. You even have them kidnapping and killing for you.¡± ¡°Is it my fault that boys just seem to do what I want?¡± ¡°Hey, I get it. But now look at her. Even mostly covered up by shadows, Jane¡¯s still radiant. There¡¯s no comparison.¡± Not yet. And do not make eye contact with Jane, I¡¯ll hear enough about that radiant comment later, I¡¯m sure. ¡°That isn¡¯t¡ª¡± ¡°And not just Jane,¡± I said. ¡°Her friend¡¯s also better looking than you. And a whole lot nicer, too.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯d be jealous too, if I were you. But taking that out on me, well, that¡¯s just petty.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not¡ª¡± ¡°But hey, petty or not, it still got me here. You knew there¡¯s no way I¡¯d let anything happen to Jane. Hell, you saw me take a knife in the heart to save her once already. You¡¯re not just a pretty face and a smoking body, you¡¯re a smart cookie too, Kiki. Quite clever, and completely ruthless. I respect that.¡± Kiki opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. My unexpected compliments had thrown her off and she didn¡¯t know what to say. Then I saw what I¡¯d been waiting for. A solitary pigeon swooped down and started circling over the arena floor. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Finally. ¡°However,¡± I said, taking another doughnut from the box. ¡°I do not think you understand people as well as you think you do.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± Kiki said. ¡°Like you said, it got you here, didn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Oh, there was never a doubt I¡¯d come to get Jane. But if you thought I¡¯d actually come alone and give up on my team, you really aren¡¯t as clever as you think you are.¡± ¡°Chuck?¡± Kiki said through gritted teeth. ¡°I thought you said he came alone.¡± ¡°He did! We watched him the whole time!¡± ¡°Good idea using these guys to watch me,¡± I said. ¡°And good idea posting two more of your team outside to make sure nobody came with me.¡± ¡°How did you?¡± ¡°But let us show you what real teamwork is,¡± I said, and started eating the fresh doughnut. Everything happened at once, so quickly I could barely follow it all even though I knew what would happen. After all, I¡¯d planned it. A pair of skeletons rose from the ground beside Chuck while a pair of tigers formed next to Greg. An oval portal opened near me, and Sigrid came charging through, followed by Andy carrying an unconscious man over each shoulder, fireman-style, with Nina bringing up the rear. Andy unceremoniously dumped the guys he was carrying onto the ground, then turned to me. ¡°Which one is it?¡± I swallowed my mouthful and licked some glaze from my fingertip before pointing it at Derek. ¡°That guy, the weaselish one beside her.¡± ¡°Gotcha,¡± Andy said, and waved at Derek. The shadow ropes holding Jane disappeared. Kiki was right, evolving powers does open up new aspects, such as Andy¡¯s ability to nullify powers at a short distance and not just through touch. Jane immediately blinked beside me. ¡°Took you long enough.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there!¡± Kiki screeched at her crew. ¡°Get them!¡± Derek remained where he was, standing shocked beside the empty chair that Jane had been sitting on only a moment before, but the other four rallied to Kiki¡¯s command and charged at us. They got about five steps before three magic missiles hit the ground in front of them in rapid succession and they skidded to a halt. A small flame appeared in Greg¡¯s hand. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t,¡± I said. The tigers crouching in front of him snarled. The flame flickered out and Greg¡¯s arms dropped limp to his sides, defeated. ¡°What do you know, he¡¯s not as dumb as he looks.¡± ¡°What the hell?¡± Kiki yelled, swinging Jane¡¯s rapier in fury. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s mine.¡± Jane blinked back beside Kiki, wrenched the sword from her hand, slapped her face, then blinked back out. ¡°You guys are toast!¡± Kiki snarled, rubbing her reddened cheek and stepping forward. She only got one step before a blazing column of light shot down from the sky like a combination of a laser beam and a spotlight, making the packed dirt of the arena floor sizzle. She stopped moving. ¡°You okay?¡± I asked Jane, ignoring the irate gyaru. ¡°Did they hurt you?¡± ¡°Only my pride,¡± Jane said. ¡°This is becoming a habit for you.¡± ¡°What is?¡± I said. ¡°Rescuing me.¡± She grabbed my arm and clung to it, pressing against me and batting her eyelashes. ¡°Is it because I¡¯m so radiant, hmmm?¡± Yeah, she was fine. ¡°I think we¡¯re done here,¡± I said, freeing my arm. Jane laughed. ¡°Do you hear me?¡± Kiki screamed. ¡°Toast!¡± ¡°I could use a drink,¡± Jane said. ¡°To the pub it is then. We need to meet Chika there anyway.¡± ¡°As soon as you turn your backs we are gonna go postal on your asses,¡± Kiki snarled. ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t think you will,¡± I said. At that moment, Shashu marched through the gate, followed by a score of the Dragon Clan¡¯s toughest fighters. The encircled Kiki and her gang. ¡°I think you¡¯re gonna wait here for the Tutorial to end.¡± ¡°Who the hell are these guys?¡± Kiki said. I¡¯m not a doctor, but Kiki looked a hair¡¯s breadth away from rupturing a brain aneurysm. That girl needed to learn how to relax. ¡°Just a few friends we¡¯ve made along the way,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re just gonna keep you company here until the Tutorial¡¯s over. You¡¯re great at making enemies, Kiki, but you should consider trying to make friends instead.¡± Bruce, Sam, and Wayne emerged from where they¡¯d been hiding in the benches. Sam¡¯s summoned tigers corralled Chuck and Greg into the middle with the rest of Kiki¡¯s gang while Wayne¡¯s skeletons picked up the unconscious lookouts Andy had brought in and carried them over to Kiki as well. Then all four summoned creatures vanished, and with nothing supporting them anymore the two lookouts fell to the ground again with a thump. Calmly, quietly, my friends began going through Byron¡¯s portal. I could see the dojo courtyard on the other side. Soon there was only me and Jane left, plus Sigrid, who seemed determined to play the shield maiden and protect us until the end. ¡°One last thing,¡± I said, then strolled into the circle and presented the box of doughnuts to Derek. ¡°Here, carb up. And next time you¡¯re planning to use a lot of mana, make sure you¡¯ve got a snack.¡± Derek¡¯s blank stare made it all worthwhile. I turned on my heel and strode back toward the portal. ¡°Shashu, you know what to do.¡± The NPC cracked his knuckles. ¡°Nobody move, nobody get hurt.¡± ¡°All right, looks like we¡¯re all set here,¡± I said. ¡°See you around, Kiki.¡± And without looking back, I stepped through the portal. Chapter Forty-Two - The end of the Tutorial ¡°How much time¡¯s left?¡± Jane said. ¡°A little over ten minutes,¡± I said. ¡°A little less than the last time you asked.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the new girl, what¡¯s her name?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Chika.¡± Sigrid scowled. ¡°If she ditches us we¡¯re in trouble. We¡¯ll be one short.¡± ¡°She did seem a bit scattered,¡± I said, ¡°but she¡¯s still showing up on my quest counter, so that must mean something.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine,¡± said Jane. Sigrid and I stared at her with open skepticism. ¡°I¡¯ve got a good feeling about her,¡± she added with a finality that said the conversation was over, but I got the feeling she was as skeptical as we were. Not long after, Andy and Wayne arrived laden with tall ceramic mugs of warm, frothy beer. We¡¯d pushed a few tables together in the pub to accommodate the group and almost the whole team was gathered around them: me and the two girls, plus Byron and Nina, Andy, Wayne, Bruce, and Sam. Nine of us. We were only missing Chika to make our full complement of ten. Time would tell if she showed up or not. There just wasn¡¯t a lot of time left. ¡°Cheers.¡± I took a deep drink. ¡°Oh no. This will not do,¡± I said. I wrapped my hands around the mug and watched frost creep up its sides. ¡°Warm beer might be historically accurate, but there are some modern amenities I am just not prepared to abandon yet.¡± I took another chug, this time enjoying its new chill. ¡°Oh do mine!¡± said Sigrid. As I sat quietly enjoying my frosty beverage, I watched the team get to know one another better. ¡°They never even got the chance to get close to us,¡± Sigrid was telling Andy. ¡°Slow down, that¡¯s your third one already,¡± Nina said to Byron. ¡°And all of a sudden there was the exact cat I was picturing right there beside me,¡± Sam told Bruce and Wayne. ¡°Quit nagging,¡± Byron said. ¡°You really took it down with one throw?¡± Andy said. ¡°If you were surprised by a cat, imagine how I felt when I first saw bones rising from the ground,¡± Wayne said. ¡°She totally did. It was a heck of a throw,¡± Jane said. ¡°Just don¡¯t get all sloppy again,¡± Nina said. ¡°Remind me not to mess with you,¡± Andy said. ¡°Not in a fighting way, at least.¡± I sat quietly, watching them, trying to follow all the conversations at once. Nobody seemed to notice that I wasn¡¯t an active participant in any of them, but that¡¯s not unusual. Whenever I¡¯d found myself in gatherings like this in the past, it had been the same. It was fine. In my experience, even when you are engaged in a conversation ¡ª especially in a group ¡ª it¡¯s a challenge to sneak in a word anyway. Most people are too intent on what they¡¯re saying, or too focused on what they want to say next when they do manage to get a word in, to notice that you haven¡¯t said anything for a while. Or ever. ¡°What do you think, Daniel?¡± The sound of my name dragged me out of my thoughts and back to the table. ¡°Sorry, what?¡± I said. ¡°I asked what you think,¡± said Jane. I looked across at her. She was leaning forward, elbow on the table, chin resting on her hand, watching me with the threat of a smile prowling the edge of her lips. ¡°Oh, well, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re right,¡± I said. The threat became reality. The smile burst onto Jane¡¯s face as she regarded me. ¡°Lucky,¡± she said. ¡°What is?¡± ¡°You are. You managed to pull the correct answer out of your ass despite having no idea what I was talking about. It¡¯s impressive.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°This ain¡¯t my first rodeo, Chicken.¡± Quest: Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: [Hidden] Assembled Players: 9/10 Quest time remaining: 00:00:23 It¡¯s really quite amazing how long a second can seem when you¡¯re anxiously watching them tick down. ¡°Why are we so nervous?¡± Sigrid said, fidgeting. Jane yawned and stretched. ¡°Probably because¡ª¡± We never got to hear Jane¡¯s theory because at that moment my quest timer hit all zeroes and Stratos suddenly appeared, startling the crap out of me. ¡°Holy mother!¡± I spluttered, flinching. ¡°Don¡¯t do that!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do what?¡± Jane said. Oh right, they probably couldn¡¯t see Stratos. This was going to be awkward. Stratos¡¯ face remained impassive. ¡°Do not do what?¡± they said, but I could tell by the smirk that they knew exactly what I meant. ¡°What brings you here, Stratos?¡± I said. ¡°Stratos? Who¡¯s that?¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s the end of the Tutorial,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Such a shame.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t he the guy from the arena?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What¡¯s a shame?¡± I said. Stratos gestured and my quest screen expanded. ¡°I¡¯m afraid the goal was to assemble a team of ten. It appears you only managed to collect nine. Such a shame.¡± ¡°No, wait,¡± I said, ¡°there¡¯s ten of us. If you mean Chika, she¡¯s not here yet, but she agreed to be part of the team.¡± ¡°Who are you talking to, Daniel?¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh, I know about Miss Chika,¡± Stratos said. ¡°She is being counted among the nine.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the problem, then?¡± Stratos leveled their gaze on me. ¡°Are you by any chance counting yourself as the tenth Player on the team?¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± I said. Stratos nodded. ¡°There you have it. That is the problem.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Daniel!¡± Jane said. ¡°We don¡¯t understand either. Why are you talking to yourself?¡± ¡°Stratos,¡± I said, ¡°do you think you could, you know. So they can see you too?¡± I could tell Stratos had become visible by the way everyone gave a startled flinch at the same time. ¡°Holy shit,¡± Jane said, ¡°it is that guy. What¡¯s he doing here?¡± Stratos repeated what they¡¯d just told me. ¡°You¡¯re saying,¡± she said, ¡°that Daniel failed his quest because he included himself on the team?¡± Stratos nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not right,¡± I said. ¡°I am afraid it is,¡± Stratos said. ¡°You were to assemble a team of ten Players; you are missing one.¡± ¡°Wait a second,¡± Nina said. ¡°Does that mean Daniel here isn¡¯t a Player?¡± Stratos narrowed their eyes and considered her shrewdly. ¡°I did not say that.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the problem then?¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t get why this Stratos character is even here,¡± Byron muttered. ¡°Yeah,¡± Bruce said, ¡°and why¡¯s he visiting Daniel?¡± Several more voices around us added their grumblings. ¡°The problem is quite simple: Daniel failed his quest,¡± Stratos said. ¡°What about the other team builders?¡± I said. ¡°Are they also not included on the teams they assembled?¡± ¡°The other team builders did not have a restriction on their quest,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Check yours again, Daniel.¡± Quest: Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: You may not include yourself Assembled Players: 9/10 Quest time remaining: 00:00:00 A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°That restriction,¡± Jane said, ¡±was that always there?¡± ¡°It was hidden before,¡± I said through gritted teeth. ¡°That¡¯s not fair,¡± said Sigrid and others grumbled in agreement. Stratos sighed, then snapped their fingers. There was a tiny orange flash and everybody else instantly froze in place. Not just my friends, but everyone in the pub. Only Stratos and I remained unaffected, and they turned to face me. ¡°Daniel. Listen to me carefully.¡± They put their hands on my shoulders and waited for me to make direct eye contact. ¡°After all that has happened so far since the moment we first met, have you not realized yet that you are not playing the same game as everyone else?¡± ¡°What does that even mean?¡± I said. They let go of my shoulders and put a finger to their lips in a shushing gesture before snapping their fingers again. Everyone else started moving again. ¡°System,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Amend Daniel¡¯s quest. Extend his time by an additional five minutes. That should be more than enough time to find one more Player.¡± System: Individual quest amended Quest: Assemble a team of 10 Players before the end of the Tutorial Restriction: You may not include yourself Assembled Players: 9/10Quest time remaining: 00:02:22 ¡°Well hell,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s still not fair,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Daniel should be on our team.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Technically, my quest should be over. Let¡¯s just be thankful for what we¡¯ve got and finish this team.¡± Sigrid stared at me for a few long seconds. Seven, to be exact. I could tell exactly how many because the quest window was still open, its counter clicking steadily down. ¡°Hey, I thought you said we had five more minutes,¡± Jane said. ¡°There was a five minute extension added to the original time,¡± Stratos said. ¡°You have already used up most of it while debating me.¡± ¡°That sucks donkey farts,¡± said Jane, looking genuinely pissed off. ¡°You don¡¯t play fair.¡± Stratos acknowledged her comment with a curt nod. ¡°Hum.¡± Sigrid put an arm around me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Daniel.¡± I took a deep breath, exhaled. ¡°It¡¯s fine. It is what it is.¡± ¡°Spoken like a true Player,¡± Stratos said. ¡°You shut it,¡± I snapped at them. I may have been stuffing the anger way down for the time being, but I was still genuinely pissed off. Another deep breath. ¡°Okay everyone, we¡¯ve got a little over two minutes to find someone new to replace me on the team.¡± ¡°Two people,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said. ¡°We need to find two more people,¡± she said, ¡°because if you¡¯re not on the team neither am I.¡± Before I got a chance to complain she grabbed my arm. ¡°I made a promise, Daniel,¡± she said. ¡°I told you I was going to stick with you and protect you, and that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do.¡± ¡°No, Sigrid,¡± I said, putting my hand gently on her wrist. ¡°I appreciate it, but that¡¯s not how this works,¡± I said. ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°No,¡± I said again. ¡°Look, if I don¡¯t put you on this team, who¡¯s to say you won¡¯t be assigned to a different one without me?¡± I glanced over at Stratos, who pretended to study their fingernails. I looked back at Sigrid. ¡°Believe me, I would much prefer to have you with me. All of you,¡± I added, looking around at everyone. ¡°But if I¡¯m going to create the best team I can, then it has to include you, Sigrid. They¡¯re going to need you.¡± ¡°But you need me too,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll be okay. Besides, this isn¡¯t the end.¡± I glanced at Stratos once more. ¡°Is it?¡± I said to them, but they kept examining their nails. ¡°Time¡¯s running out,¡± they said. ¡°He¡¯s right, Siggy,¡± Jane said. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this. Whatever happens, we¡¯ll figure it out later.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But this is not over.¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Jane said. Sigrid punched my shoulder. ¡°And don¡¯t for a second think this means I¡¯m not still protecting you, got that?¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t deserve a friend like you,¡± I told her. She punched my shoulder again, hard this time. ¡°Argh!¡± ¡°Keep saying dumb things like that,¡± Jane mumbled, shaking her head, ¡°and you¡¯ll prove yourself right.¡± Sigrid grabbed my hand and started dragging me out of my chair. ¡°C¡¯mon, we need to find someone else, and fast.¡± ¡°How are we going to find someone good in the next two minutes?¡± I said. ¡°One minute, actually,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care,¡± she said. I hadn¡¯t noticed another Player coming over to our group until she spoke up. ¡°Did I just hear you¡¯re looking for another Player?¡± We all turned to look at her. She was another classic beauty in the same league as Jane and Sigrid. Where were all these gorgeous women coming from? ¡°And you are?¡± Jane said. ¡°Celeste, Celeste Jones.¡±
Celeste Jones
Affinity: Water - Novice
Gifts: Bend Like A Reed In The Wind - Enhanced agility
Powers: Here Comes The Rain Again - Novice: Make it rain Not Afraid Of Heights - Competent: Levitate Ride The Wave - Competent: Create a tsunami; Affinity with Water required This Is A Breeze - Novice: Has additional Affinity with Air
Skills: Bow - Competent Riding - Novice Surfing - Competent Sword - Competent
Damn, she was good. Like, really good. Another double affinity like Wayne, with amazing abilities all round. Funny, I didn¡¯t remember her from the convention. How had she not been snapped up by another team builder yet? ¡°Your abilities are impressive,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re not already on a team.¡± ¡°It appears luck is on your side,¡± Stratos said. ¡°To find such an excellent option right when you need someone.¡± ¡°What do you think, Daniel?¡± Andy said. Before I could answer, Sigrid put her hand on my wrist. She shook her head slightly, her brow furrowed and lips pursed. Was her danger sense warning her not to take Celeste? ¡°Better hurry up and decide,¡± Jane said, tapping her wrist. She wasn¡¯t wearing a watch, but the gesture was universal. ¡°We are rapidly moving from needing somebody to taking anybody.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m somebody,¡± said Chika, arriving at the table. ¡°What do you need?¡± ¡°We need to find one more person for the team,¡± I said. ¡°And we need to do it in the next thirty seconds,¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh,¡± Chika said. ¡°That¡¯s awesome sauce. What about him?¡± She reached behind her and pulled a young Japanese boy forward by the arm. He looked to be even younger than her, with a similar petite build. He looked back at us, one eye hidden behind long bangs that draped down over half of his face. ¡°This is Kenji,¡± Chika said. ¡°My little brother. Sorry, he¡¯s a bit emo, but he¡¯s okay. I tried to ask if he could join the team too when you invited me, but he¡¯d gone and disappeared again.¡± ¡°Great. Hi Kenji,¡± I said.
Kenji Hachiman
Affinity: Shadow - Novice
Gifts: Trust Your Senses - Enhanced range and sensitivity of all senses
Powers: Stealth - Adept: Move and hide undetected Spiderwalk - Competent: Can move up walls and along ceilings
Skills: Otaku - Novice Ninjutsu - Competent Sword - Competent
I glanced at Sigrid. This time she nodded. ¡°Wanna join the team?¡± ¡°Uh...¡± ¡°Yes he does,¡± Chika said. ¡°Say yes, Ken.¡± ¡°Uh, yes?¡± he said. ¡°Thank god,¡± Jane said. ¡°Talk about down to the wire.¡± Assembled Players: 10/10 Quest time remaining: 00:00:00 System: You have completed the Tutorial quest - Reward Tokens: 10 (+1) Celeste stood there looking bewildered. In a rare show of emotion, so did Stratos. ¡°Sorry, Celeste,¡± I said. ¡°You really turned down someone of this caliber?¡± Stratos said. ¡°With Chika already on the team, we couldn¡¯t really say no to her brother, could we?¡± Celeste looked at Stratos, who shrugged. Then she turned her attention back to me and glared. ¡°Great. Now I¡¯m not on any team.¡± ¡°I really am sorry,¡± I said. With a huff, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the pub. ¡°I don¡¯t think we made a friend there,¡± Jane said. ¡°Shame, too,¡± Andy said. ¡°She was just my type.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it,¡± Sigrid said. I mouthed the words ¡®danger sense¡¯ to Sigrid. She nodded. I sighed and turned to Stratos. ¡°What happens now? Am I on a different team?¡± Stratos shook their head. ¡°You will not be on any team.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± I said. ¡°Just great.¡± ¡°You are disappointed.¡± ¡°And I was trying so hard to hide it.¡± ¡°You feel that way now, but I suspect it will not take long until you come to understand the position you are in.¡± ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to see.¡± ¡°By the way, well done on the quest. You assembled a truly remarkable team. Even without Celeste.¡± ¡°Gee, thanks.¡± ¡°You are sulking again.¡± Stratos considered me for a moment. ¡°Daniel, do you not want to know what it means to be unaffiliated with a team?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°It means you are not tied to any one group.¡± ¡°I kinda gathered that already, thanks.¡± ¡°I do not think you fully appreciate what that means,¡± Stratos said, taking a bit too much pleasure in this than I liked. I waited for them to continue. ¡°It means you can work with any team.¡± ¡°It does?¡± They nodded. ¡°Think of it as being a free agent.¡± ¡°So,¡± Jane said, ¡°even though Danny boy¡¯s not on our team officially, he can still participate as though he was?¡± Stratos nodded again. ¡°Not exactly. There will be another briefing in the morning where more will be explained.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Andy said, ¡°because I¡¯ve got a lot of questions.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Wayne said. ¡°Then you should find tomorrow morning¡¯s briefing elucidating,¡± Stratos said. Chapter Forty-Three - An elucidating morning ¡°Now the real game begins,¡± Stratos declared, provoking a round of raucous applause from about one-third the assembled Players, and a more scattered, less enthusiastic reaction from the rest. Every Player had received a notice the morning after the Tutorial ended, telling us to muster in the arena in one hour. That was a little over an hour before. I¡¯d found a place in the upper part of the stands where I could get a good look at the rest of the Players because I was hoping to figure out who¡¯d been recruited onto which team and evaluate them to see what kind of teams they were. I could easily find the other team builders, even without All Shall Be Revealed: they were the ones in the middle of clusters of ten happy-looking people, mostly positioned in the bottom part of the bleachers. The raucous ones. Wait a second. I was surrounded by the ten members of the team I put together. Look how bright eyed and smiley they are. What was I even doing there? I wasn''t one of them. Why did they all follow me up to this spot? They should¡¯ve sat down there, where the real teams were, and I should¡¯ve been with the other teamless scum. Free agents, Stratos called us. I never liked those condescending lipstick-on-a-pig euphemisms. Looking back, it makes me cringe remembering how I was back then. I knew feeling sorry for myself wouldn¡¯t get me anywhere, but knowing what was wrong and doing something to fix it are two entirely different things. It¡¯s like saying to a depressed person ¡°why don¡¯t you just decide to be happy?¡± As if mood can be controlled by a toggle. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible even for a healthy person, let alone someone wrestling with the black dog. And yet, people really do say that. Take my word for it. Still, that¡¯s not as bad as ¡°look at those people in (insert wherever on Earth the current war is being fought, there¡¯s always one somewhere), they¡¯ve got it a lot worse than you.¡± How the hell is that supposed to do anything but pile on more guilt and shame? I mean really! It¡¯s a short leap from ¡°eat your broccoli, there are starving kids in (insert current famine-stricken area of the world here) who¡¯d kill for that broccoli.¡± But I digress. So yes, I knew I was feeling sorry for myself, but I also told myself back then that I was just tired and that¡¯s mostly why I was in such a pissy mood, ignoring the whole being left out of the team and struggling all alone thing. I was tired, though. It had been a late night for all eleven of us. We¡¯d closed out the pub celebrating the end of the Tutorial. I¡¯d stayed with them, but my heart wasn¡¯t in it. I have a lot of experience pretending to enjoy parties and big, loud groups, so it wasn¡¯t a problem. I¡¯m pretty sure a few people noticed I was a bit aloof during the festivities ¡ª at different times I caught Jane and Sigrid staring at me with furrowed brows ¡ª but nobody said anything about it. They never do. Even though we got back to the clan dorms late, I¡¯d had a hard time sleeping. My mind was all over the place. At one point I remembered that I had received more Reward Tokens for completing my quest, and that now the Tutorial period was over I should be able to access the Rewards Shop. When I opened it up, it looked just like an e-commerce store, appearing in one of those now-familiar floating screens. I spent some time scrolling through it, but there wasn¡¯t much available, not yet anyway. It scrolled on and on, but nearly everything was locked and hidden. It¡¯s not like the items available for purchase were bad, there just weren¡¯t that many of them. You could pick up potions for healing or to recover mana for a few tokens each, and I grabbed a few of each. I was curious about the field where you could submit a request for something that wasn¡¯t in the Shop yet, and I wondered what kind of items you could ask for. The most interesting thing in the shop at that point was a teleportation scroll that could be used once and only once to move yourself instantly from wherever you were to the city¡¯s town square, an Oh Shit Scroll as they came to be known. I could¡¯ve bought one, I had enough tokens, but I decided to save them in case something better got unlocked later. In the end I gave up on sleep, got myself up early, and used the time to practice in the central court. I¡¯d come to the conclusion that Stratos had been trying to give me a hint during our conversation in the clouds, and I was keen on experimenting with my skills. At the very least I wanted to raise my mastery of more affinities up to Competent, but I also wanted to test a few things, like how quickly my Mana replenished and what it took to raise other skills. If I was going to be doing this alone, I needed to up my game. Jack Of All Trades was a skill monkey power. Sure, Good At Everything seriously nerfed it by limiting how far I could master my skills, but in all fairness, if there wasn¡¯t some kind of restriction placed upon the myriad skills that Jack Of All Trades promised to give me it wouldn¡¯t be, well, fair. I had been dealt a hand that gave me quantity over quality, so what was I going to do with it? Specialization is good, for sure ¡ª everyone wants to be the best at something ¡ª but there¡¯s a lot to be said about versatility. Pity the archer who only knows how to use a bow when a swordsman gets within arm¡¯s reach. Stratos had said that I didn¡¯t fully understand my abilities yet, so I had decided that I was going to figure out what they meant, then plan my next moves armed with that knowledge. After all, knowing is half the battle. It was still very dark outside when I left my room. I made a quick pit stop in the communal kitchen before going out into the training courtyard. I intended to use a lot of mana and I¡¯d need to keep eating to replenish it. After several cycles of using an affinity until I ran out of mana, eating, then repeating until I rose from Novice to Competent in it, and then doing it all again with a different affinity, I was taking a rest when Sigrid exited a dorm room and came out into the courtyard. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that it wasn¡¯t her room she¡¯d come out of, it was Andy¡¯s. She looked appropriately disheveled. She didn¡¯t notice me, and it was good to know I didn¡¯t register as a danger to her spidey sense. She went into her own room, then emerged a few minutes later wearing her exercise clothes, hair pinned up in a ponytail. She headed toward my door, no doubt intending to give me an early morning wake-up call, then did a double-take when she noticed me already up and sitting on a bench in the court, trying to avoid getting squirted while peeling an exceedingly juicy sort of fruit that was like an orange, but which we all decided to call a blue, for reasons which would be obvious if you could see one right now. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°What are you doing up already?¡± she said. In reply, I used Nature to make a shrub beside her shoot out a branch that wrapped around her leg, then used Death to make the shrub shrivel up before returning it to its normal state using Life. ¡°Practicing.¡± ¡°So I see,¡± she said. ¡°Does this mean you¡¯re all warmed up?¡± ¡°Hold on there, you don¡¯t expect me to go on another run, do you?¡± ¡°Nope, you need at least one day off to recover.¡± ¡°Oh thank god.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill you, just make you stronger.¡± ¡°Which I suppose means that anything that doesn¡¯t kill me is fair game?¡± She flashed a devilish grin. ¡°Today we¡¯re doing strength training instead. Now drop and give me thirty, chump.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that be champ? I think you got it wrong.¡± ¡°No. I meant what I said,¡° she said, still grinning. I gave her the finger, which might have been more impactful if it hadn¡¯t been stained blue by the fruit¡¯s copious juice, then dropped onto my fingertips and toes and did as I was told. She proved to be a hard but thoughtful trainer, making me work various muscle groups until exhaustion, ¡°just to get some benchmarks in place.¡± She did some of them with me, mostly to show me how to do them properly, and spent the rest of the time chowing down through my supply of blues. I was doing what felt like endless squats when she asked me, very nonchalantly, ¡°So how long have you been out here practicing?¡± ¡°You mean did I notice which room you came out of?¡± ¡°Busted,¡± she said, laughing without a trace of embarrassment. Squats had been done, and I was midway through interminable crunches when before I knew it she¡¯d jumped on top of me, legs straddling me as she sat directly on my poor abs. Her hands pinned my shoulders to the ground while her face loomed over mine, long blonde hair making a curtain around both our faces. Her bright blue eyes bore into me. ¡°You know,¡± she said, ¡°I have two kinds of friends.¡± I wheezed. It¡¯s not that Sigrid was all that heavy, it was just that my core muscles were as pitifully weak as the rest of me. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°There are friends with benefits, and there are actual friends.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I wheezed again. ¡°I want you to know that the ones that actually matter to me are not the benefits kind.¡± ¡°Sigrid,¡± I croaked, ¡°is this your way of apologizing for not wanting to have sex with me?¡± She bounced once on top of me, sitting down hard, and I wheezed even harder. ¡°Jesus, this is the exact opposite of an apology.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I gasped, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to have sex with you either.¡± She laughed. ¡°You are a terrible liar.¡± She let go of my shoulders and put her hands under her breasts, lifting them in front of my face. ¡°Who doesn¡¯t want a piece of this?¡± It was my turn to laugh, which proved to be too much for my tortured lungs and the laugh quickly turned into a coughing fit. ¡°Seriously though,¡± she said, ¡°I want you to know that I¡ª¡± ¡°Sigrid, it¡¯s fine. I get it.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± she said earnestly. ¡°I feel the same way.¡± ¡°So...partners?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± I said. ¡°Thank the Lord that¡¯s over with,¡± came Jane¡¯s voice. Sigrid and I both turned to see her standing in the doorway of her room watching us, the usual impish grin dancing on her mouth. ¡°The sexual tension between you guys was getting oppressive.¡± Before I could think of a good comeback she winked and sauntered off toward the bath with a swagger that I suspected was mostly to tease me. She was wearing nothing but a very short robe that only barely covered her behind, long bare legs stretching way down under it, and she knew how good she looked in it. Sigrid put her hand under my chin and turned my head to face her. We shared a smile then she climbed off of me and bounced to her feet. I held out my hand and she took it, helping me to get up too. We started making our ways to our own adjacent rooms. ¡°That was a good workout,¡± she said as we walked. ¡°Which one?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The one with me this morning or the one with Andy last night?¡± ¡°Ha! You¡¯re forgetting about the one with Andy this morning as well.¡± One of the immediate benefits of Sigrid¡¯s tortuous workout was that I was exhausted afterward and finally ready to get some sleep. All I wanted to do was collapse onto the bed and pass out. The spartan bed was firm to the point of unyielding, but it felt amazing to lie down on it and as I was just about to give myself over to blissful rest when the notification arrived: System: All Players must assemble in the arena stands in one hour - come prepared Come prepared? That¡¯s ominous. Prepared for what? And that¡¯s how I ended up there, sitting at the top of the stands with the team ¡ª all of us kitted out in full armor and weapons with packs and inventories full of food and supplies and literally prepared for anything ¡ª feeling tired and bitter and confused about what I should do next, and trying to focus on what Stratos was saying. The setup was the same as when we¡¯d first arrived: the Players all in the stands and Stratos down in the middle of the arena floor under a spotlight, flashing a set of whiter than white teeth and giving us their shpiel. This time, they¡¯d dressed themself in a jaunty purple toga with strappy sandals on their feet and a golden laurel wreath crowning their head. A short sword with a fancy hilt hung from their belt in a bejeweled scabbard. I think the effect was supposed to invoke the impression of Julius Caesar, or maybe Augustus, but for some reason all I could see was Caligula or Nero. When the cheers and applause died down, Stratos continued. ¡°Some of you were put into teams yesterday. As a result, I see some concerned faces among you today. If you do not have a team now, don¡¯t fret. Consider yourselves free agents, contractors, or even mercenaries if you prefer, able to work with any team. If you can convince them it¡¯s worth it to work with you, of course.¡± If you weren¡¯t smart enough to figure it out before, it was pretty easy to tell who had been placed onto a team and who hadn¡¯t by the way they reacted to this. Stratos continued. ¡°You are all still Players, and you are all still playing the game. Always.¡± I think the last bit was supposed to give hope to teamless Players, but to me it sounded even more ominous than being warned to come prepared. Chapter Forty-Four - The Players Tournament Say what you will about them, but that Stratos did know how to work a crowd. ¡°Now that the Tutorial is over,¡± they said, ¡°we are into the real game. More quests will be given, but if I may offer one small bit of advice, use your time well even when you are not working toward a specific quest. You will need to become stronger, and you will need to do it quickly. I cannot reveal too much now, but I can tell you this much: there is a very special quest coming, a big one, a quest that will determine once and for all who¡¯s got what it takes to be a winner...¡± dramatic pause, ¡°...and who does not.¡± This was the culmination of a stirring oration that promised more opportunities to join teams, more occasions to prove ourselves through quests, and more growth and power. They stood there, resplendent in their toga under the spotlight, basking in the reaction they¡¯d produced in the crowd. The difference between the ones who¡¯d made it onto a team and the one who hadn¡¯t had blurred in the heat of the moment, and now everyone was animated and exhilarated, high on the drug of adventure. Even I couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit fired up. The thrill of the game, it affects us all. ¡°To celebrate the end of the Tutorial and the start of the real game, I have a few special treats for you. The first is an addition to your Status to help you navigate the game and prepare you for the important things to come.¡± Nearly three hundred people all murmured the word Status at the same time and saw the promised addition: two meters, like fuel gauges in a car, labeled Health and Mana. There were little ticks dividing the meter into eighths; the section below one-eighth was red, the part between one-eighth and three-eights yellow, and the rest above that green. Both mine were full in the green area. Sigrid was sitting in front of me so I used my ability to see her Status, and I could see both her meters as well, full green. ¡°Speaking of being prepared, you must be curious about why you were instructed to come prepared this morning.¡± Murmurs of agreement. ¡°I am pleased to see so many of you have done so, because you will need to be very well prepared if you wish to participate in the second treat: your next quest.¡± Quest (optional): Participate in the Players Tournament Reward: Champion¡¯s Blade Will you participate? [YES] [NO] [02:00] ¡°As you can see, the next quest will be a tournament, held right here, right now. One-on-one battles, mano-a-mano, to determine the Players Tournament champion, who in addition to earning the title of Champion will be awarded this.¡± Stratos drew his sword and held it aloft. Befitting their Roman attire, it looked like a Roman gladius, the short, two-edged sword legionnaires had used for close combat. Its polished blade glimmered even brighter than Stratos¡¯s teeth in the bright spotlight. ¡°I will not tell you what is special about this sword, but I will say this much: you will not find anything like it for sale in any of the shops in town, that is for sure.¡± This met with amused chuckles. It had become a running joke how hard it was to find good gear in town. I was more sure than ever now that it was not an accident, but rather something meant to encourage us to seek such treasures elsewhere through adventure. ¡°Daniel,¡± said Wayne, leaning over to speak to me quietly, ¡°does your power evaluate objects too?¡± ¡°Yes it does,¡± I whispered back. ¡°Is it any good?¡±
Champion¡¯s Sword An exceptionally sharp weapon awarded to the champion of the Players Tournament.
Powers: Choose Your Weapon - Blade can change length and shape at wielders command Cut The Mustard - Exceptional sharpness and increased damage
¡°It¡¯s pretty good,¡± I replied. ¡°Hmmmmm.¡± ¡°Participation is optional,¡± Stratos said. ¡°You have two minutes to decide. Enjoy the game.¡± And with that Stratos vanished, disappearing completely in an instant, leaving the sword hanging point up in mid-air in the middle of the arena, slowly spinning, reflected light from the bright spotlight glinting off its polished blade. I¡¯m sure everyone else was considering whether or not they¡¯d join the tournament ¡ª I¡¯d decided the moment I saw the word optional that I¡¯d be passing on it ¡ª but I couldn¡¯t stop looking at the sword. Every so often, when its rotation brought it to just the right angle, there was a moment when the light reflected in a blinding flash. I¡¯m sure it was intended as part of the dramatic flair, but it gave me an idea. The place was quiet for a moment, then all at once a cacophony of voices erupted as people started talking to their neighbors, trying to decide if they¡¯d compete. I saw a number of people from where I was sitting tap their answer in the air in front of them right away, whether it was yes or no I couldn¡¯t tell. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I¡¯m gonna do it,¡± said Chika without hesitation. ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Sam. ¡°Won¡¯t that mean revealing your powers?¡± Chika shrugged. ¡°No biggie.¡± She tapped the air in front of her, presumably hitting the YES button. ¡°I¡¯m not entering,¡± said Byron. ¡°Neither am I,¡± said Nina. ¡°Our abilities don¡¯t really translate well into an arena.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± said Sigrid. ¡°What do you think, Daniel?¡± ¡°Yeah, is the sword any good?¡± asked Jane. I quietly told her its powers. ¡°Damn, that is good.¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing it,¡± said Chika. ¡°What do you think, Daniel?¡± Sigrid asked me a second time. ¡°I think it¡¯s up to you,¡± I replied. ¡°The prize is great, but you need to decide if you think you¡¯re strong enough and if you want to reveal what you can do to everyone.¡± ¡°That could be a good thing for Players without a team,¡± said Byron. ¡°Show off what you can do so teams might want you to work with them.¡± ¡°I bet that¡¯s part of the point,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Is that what you¡¯ll do, Daniel?¡± asked Nina. ¡°Me? Nope.¡± ¡°Well, you know what we can all do. Who do you think should enter?¡± said Sigrid. ¡°Well, I¡¯d say Andy stands a good chance.¡±
Andy Wong
Affinity: Ice - Novice
Gifts: Thick Skin - Improved toughness
Powers: I Have the Power - Competent: Channel qi energy to improve physical performance I Think Not - Novice: Nullify a target¡¯s Power
Skills: Football - Novice Kung Fu - Competent Rugby - Novice
¡°Really?¡± Andy said. ¡°I¡¯d say so,¡± I said. ` ¡°I didn¡¯t think you wanted to use weapons, Andy,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What will you do with the sword if you win?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just give it to someone in the group,¡± Andy said. ¡°It¡¯s what you do. Treasure goes to the party member who can use it best or needs it most.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°When one of us gets stronger, the whole team gets stronger.¡± Then I remembered I wasn¡¯t on the team; us did not include me. I hoped the sting I felt didn¡¯t show on my face. ¡°Makes sense,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°In that case, I say go for it.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± he said, smiling at her and tapping the air. ¡°Done. I¡¯m entered.¡± I¡¯m pretty obtuse when it comes to things like this, but even I could see the way Andy looked at Sigrid. I wasn¡¯t so sure he was on the same page as her with the whole just friends with benefits thing. ¡°I¡¯d prefer to keep my abilities secret,¡± Wayne said. ¡°They are very flashy.¡± ¡°And terrifying,¡± Nina said. Wayne chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ve only seen the skeletons.¡± Nina cringed. ¡°You mean you can summon other things?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see,¡± he said. ¡°Oh goodie,¡± Nina said. ¡°I¡¯m in,¡± Chika said. ¡°We know!¡± her brother Kenji said. To be honest, I hadn¡¯t noticed he was there until he spoke up. In the end, only Andy and Chika from our group chose to enter the tournament. When the two minutes elapsed, the quest window closed; for Andy and Chika, it was replaced with an arrow and a message telling them to follow it. ¡°Any advice?¡± Andy asked. For some reason everybody looked at me. ¡°Well, your kung fu is strong but your powers will make the difference. Their effects aren¡¯t flashy like Wayne¡¯s, so it¡¯s likely nobody will know if you¡¯re using them. Just make sure you use them effectively and watch your Mana.¡± He grinned. ¡°Thanks, Coach.¡± ¡°Your kung fu is strong, grasshopper,¡± Jane said in a deep voice. ¡°What about you, Chika? Want any advice?¡± Jane said. Chika snorted. ¡°Like I need it.¡± Jane grinned. ¡°That¡¯s my girl.¡± We wished them luck as they sidled along the bench and descended the stairs. ¡°I do admire her spunk,¡± Jane said, watching Chika skip off. ¡°I wish we had popcorn,¡± Sam said. ¡°And beer,¡± Byron said, earning him a scowl from Nina. Wayne laughed. ¡°You two act like you¡¯re married,¡± he said. Nina looked at him blankly. ¡°That¡¯s probably because we are,¡± she said. Both she and Byron held up their hands, showing off their matching wedding bands. Chapter Forty-Five - Diamonds in the rough A large portcullis at floor level raised up and out strode a tall, elegant woman with long, shimmering hair in a shade of purple so deep it was close to black, smiling and waving up at the audience. She wore a black leather corset cinched tight to accentuate her chest, with indents in the stomach area made to look like the kind of abdominal muscles Sigrid actually had, and a skirt made from strips of black leather that hung down to mid-thigh and were decorated with metal studs. Sandals strapped up to her knees and a flowing purple cape thrown jauntily over one shoulder completed the ensemble. The whole thing seemed to be designed after a Roman Centurion¡¯s armor, a sexy Centurion, that is, a fitting complement to Stratos¡¯ Emperor getup.
Annabelle
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
¡°Who¡¯s she?¡± Jane said. She''d removed Squishy from the shoulder bag she carried it in, and placed the little slime on her shoulder. I suppose she wanted to let it watch the fights too. ¡°NPC,¡± I said. ¡°Probably the emcee.¡± Sure enough, when the woman eached the middle of the arena floor she stopped and spread her arms wide, pure white teeth shimmering in the light that beamed down on her from the curved ceiling as she greeted her audience with a smile. ¡°Welcome everyone to the Players Tournament!¡± she announced, slowly rotating on the spot to address the entire audience encircling the floor. ¡°My name is Annabelle and I¡¯ll be your host this morning. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all just as thrilled as I am to see who¡¯s the strongest in the city, so let¡¯s jump right into it, shall we?¡± She was met with a roar of cheers. I had to admit, she was captivating. I found myself joining in. That was weird. I don¡¯t usually get roused by this kind of thing, but I was actually really excited all of a sudden. Was that me being affected by her public speaking skill, or maybe one of her hidden powers? She might have something akin to Jane¡¯s Captivating Presence. ¡°Here¡¯s how it¡¯s going to work: it¡¯s an elimination tournament where each competitor will be matched randomly against another. Each contest will take place right here,¡± she stamped her foot on the dusty, packed-earth floor, ¡°and will last until one fighter submits or can no longer keep going.¡± She gave another illuminating smile and winked. ¡°I¡¯ll be your judge, referee, and ringside announcer.¡± More roars of approval. ¡°Once everyone has had a fight, the winners of each match will continue on to round two and we¡¯ll keep going until we have our champion.¡± More roars. Next, Annabelle introduced the first competitors, who emerged together onto the arena floor through the same gate. They were both boys in their teens: one was short but stocky holding a scimitar in both hands, the other taller with a longsword and a small, round shield. ¡°This is gonna be a short fight,¡± I said. ¡°Tall one¡¯s going to win easy.¡± ¡°You can tell from seeing their stats, I suppose?¡± Nina said. ¡°Well, I already guessed it before I evaluated them. The taller one has more reach and can block with the shield. But his power boosts his agility and his sword skill is also better, so it¡¯s a no-brainer.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Byron said from the other side of Nina, ¡°that is one handy power you¡¯ve got.¡± The first fight was over even quicker than I¡¯d expected, with the taller fighter holding his shield out to keep his opponent at bay and block his view, and swinging his sword around it. Two hits on the shorter one and Annabelle called it. It was the right move, each of those hits had taken nearly half the shorter one¡¯s health, and he was deep in the red. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The fights continued along the same lines. In many of the lineups one competitor was clearly superior to the other so it was easy to predict the outcomes correctly. There were a lot of people with swords, though few knew how to use them well, and a number of them used powers as they fought. They were mostly elemental attacks, and mostly ineffective because the Player hadn¡¯t leveled up their mastery. Novice in anything seemed pretty weak, and a surprising number of Players still didn¡¯t have anything raised to Competent. In general, everybody was clumsy and nervous. Few had any fighting experience and it showed. They looked like me against Shashu or the Jackalope: hopeless and scared. Eager as they were to get into the game and prove themselves, these were mostly people who spent their lives on Earth avoiding confrontation, and when faced with an actual opponent coming at them with an actual weapon, it was not as easy as it looked in the movies. I knew that from experience. I had a strong feeling Andy, who¡¯d studied kung fu before coming here and was used to sparring, would win his first match no problem. "Look Squishy," Jane said. "There''s your auntie Chika." Then the team groaned when Chika''s opponent followed her though the portcullis, a beefy guy who was older, taller, thicker, and armed with a scary-looking pike. ¡°Oh no,¡± Nina said. ¡°She doesn¡¯t stand a chance against that beast.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with that weapon?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s, like, twice as long as my spear. He¡¯s gonna impale the poor girl.¡± ¡°Maybe he only looks big next to her,¡± Jane said. ¡°No,¡± Wayne said. ¡°He¡¯s big.¡±
Chika Hachiman
Affinity: Death - Novice
Gifts: Strong Like Bull - Super strength
Powers: Boing Boing - Competent: Incredible leaping ability I Vant To Zuck Your Life - Novice: Transfer health from target to Player; Range: Touch; Affinity with Death required
Skills: Acrobatics - Competent Jiu Jitsu - Competent Taunting - Competent
¡°I think our girl¡¯s gonna surprise you,¡± I said. ¡°I pick her to win.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope you¡¯re right,¡± Nina said. The pike was big, and dangerous when used in a formation, but unwieldy as a solo offensive weapon. He had the polearm skill at Novice, but that was only marginally better than unskilled. Even still, it was the wrong weapon to have in a situation like that, because it was intended to be a defensive weapon, used to keep attackers at bay while protecing archers and such, not in duels. I had no doubt that Chika¡¯s agility would come out on top. As soon as the match started the man held his long pike out in front of him and began stomping toward her while she stood her ground, crouched low like a cat ready to pounce. Once he got almost within striking distance she really did pounce, using her leaping power to jump completely over him. She did a graceful mid-air flip with a half-twist, no doubt using her acrobatics skill, then as soon as she landed she had him grappled from behind, tossed over her hip, and flat on his face on the hard arena floor. In a blink, she¡¯d scrambled onto his back and tied him up in a choke hold. He struggled a bit but she clung on tenaciously, and with her super strength he didn¡¯t stand a chance of escaping. He lost consciousness and it was over. His health meter was barely below full. ¡°Told you so,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah yeah,¡± Nina said. ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± ¡°She¡¯s really good,¡± I said. ¡°He might¡¯ve been big and imposing, but his powers are lackluster and situational. With her fighting style, I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d have the chance to use them.¡± ¡°She was awesome,¡± Jane said. As the matches continued, I scanned the Players in the stands, searching out the team builders and assessing the teams they¡¯d built. On the whole, most teams were off-balanced in terms of powers and skills, with a lot of combat and little support. The other thing they had in common was that with a few exceptions most team members had an elemental affinity: Fire, Ice, Water, or Earth. Oddly enough, with the exception of me and Jane, who could use any affinity, and Wayne¡¯s second affinity with Fire, my team ¡ª I mean the team I assembled ¡ª didn¡¯t have any of those elements. It¡¯s not that other teams didn¡¯t have some Players with non-elemental affinities, they just weren¡¯t common and for some reason had been largely overlooked by the other team builders. Then I spotted them. ¡°Holy crap!¡± I said, somewhat louder than I¡¯d intended. ¡°Sorry,¡± I mumbled when everyone looked at me. ¡°What is it?¡± Nina whispered. ¡°There¡¯s a group over there who played together as a team at the convention. Kick-ass video gamers. Flawless teamwork.¡± ¡°Where?¡± I pointed them out. There were five of them, all sitting together, three guys and two girls who all looked in their early 20s. ¡°Which ones have good abilities?¡± asked Jane. ¡°All of them. Really good abilities.¡± ¡°Are they on a team?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like they are, the five of them are sitting apart from other people and none of them were a team builder.¡± ¡°We should get to know them, work together,¡± Jane said. ¡±If we¡¯re allowed to bring in hired guns, let¡¯s put a lock on them.¡± ¡°That is a fantastic idea,¡± I said. ¡°Of course it is,¡± said Jane. Chapter Forty-Six - Player vs player When it was Andy¡¯s turn to fight, he came out through the gate with another man. Andy was a big guy, but his opponent was taller and just as thickly muscled. He had another of the common ability booster powers that made him even stronger, as well as the power to turn berserker. He had a huge, two-handed sword that looked mean, but despite his size and great strength, I knew it wouldn¡¯t help him here. ¡°Alright, who¡¯s going to win this one?¡± asked Nina, who was enjoying our game of predicting winners. ¡°That¡¯s a big man with a big sword.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she said,¡± quipped Jane. ¡°He might get one swing in, but with Andy¡¯s speed and skill he¡¯ll dodge it and take the big guy down before you know it.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope you¡¯re right again,¡± Nina said. I was right again. The fight happened just the way I¡¯d predicted, only Andy¡¯s opponent managed to get in two swings, powering his sword in wide arcs that would¡¯ve probably sliced Andy in half had either of them connected. But Andy deftly avoided them and came in close for the kill. He took a page out of Chika¡¯s book and took his opponent down to the ground, sweeping the legs before landing a punishing series of strikes that made the swordsman tap out. It doesn¡¯t matter how big and strong you are, it won¡¯t help you if you¡¯re flat on your back with a trained martial artist on top of you, especially not one as big and strong as Andy. During the second-to-last fight in the first round, it was my turn to be surprised. The fighters were a woman around Nina¡¯s age against a much younger man. A boy, really. He came in carrying a sword, whereas all she had was a large glass jar full of a clear liquid. What was it, acid? Her affinity was Air and her powers wouldn¡¯t help in this kind of fight. The only thing she had going for her in this situation was Competent Affinity Control. If her affinity had been Water, maybe a jar full of it would make sense, but I had no idea what she was up to. She was facing someone who actually had the skill to use the sword he was carrying. She had this smirk on her face that made me think she had something up her sleeves so I still picked her to win, and I was still right, but it was the way she won that shocked the hell out of me. As soon as the match started, she threw her jar at him. It smashed on the ground in front of him, splashing all over, and he laughed. No acid, then. Confident, he hefted his sword, ready to stab. He made it one step before she held her hands out in front of her, fingers pointed at him, and shot forked bolts of crackling electricity like a Sith Lord. This stopped her would-be attacker dead in his tracks. ¡°What the hell?¡± I shouted, earning me looks from all around again. ¡°How did she do that?¡± I said much quieter. ¡°What do you mean, isn¡¯t that her power?¡± asked Nina. ¡°No! Her powers have nothing to do with lightning. She does have Affinity Control, but her affinity is Air. There isn¡¯t even a Lightning affinity anyway.¡± ¡°Is it from an item?¡± I evaluated her again to make sure, then shook my head. ¡°No item.¡± ¡°Is there another way she could¡¯ve done it? A skill?¡± I shook my head again, my brain working hard, trying to remember everything I could about electricity and how lightning is formed. I came to the only possible conclusion and a big grin spread across my face. As surreptitiously as I could manage, I held my hands a few inches apart between my knees and focused on Air. I thought about a positive charge in my left hand and a negative charge in my right, with air insulating the space between them. I could feel the charges build in each hand, then I released the insulation and sure enough, electricity sparked between my hands. ¡°Oh this is good,¡± I said. ¡°What is?¡± asked Nina. She hadn¡¯t noticed. Sigrid was in front of me, next to Jane. I nudged her with my toe. ¡°Quit it,¡± Sigrid said. I nudged her again. ¡°Cut it out,¡± she snapped, knocking my foot away. I nudged her again. She turned around and glared at me. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You and I have an appointment for some Affinity Control practice later. You too, Jane.¡± ¡°What for?¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you later, but trust me, you¡¯re gonna get a charge out of it.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± Sigrid grumbled and turned back to watch the match. ¡°What¡¯s got you in such a funk, Sig?¡± Jane said. Sigrid pointed down to the arena floor, where the guy was writhing on the ground, sparking with electricity, beside his enormous sword. ¡°That.¡± ¡°You liked the sword guy?¡± ¡°No! I want to shoot lightning,¡± grumbled Sigrid. ¡°Air affinity sucks.¡± I smiled, thinking about how happy she was going to be later when I showed her just how good Air was. It wasn¡¯t until the very final match of the first round that the tournament saw its first death. At first glance, the two men involved seemed evenly matched. Both were about the same size, looked roughly the same age, and they were both armed with long-bladed swords which they wielded in two hands; one was someone I¡¯d seen before while walking back from the forest on the very first day, Lucas Grimes, the grim-looking man with a Japanese katana. His abilities would have been impressive enough to put him on the list of potential recruits but he¡¯d already been snapped up by the cocky team builder Troy Hobbes. Lucas¡¯s opponent had the kind of greatsword you would¡¯ve seen in the hands of a Templar Knight. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°What¡¯s your call on this one?¡± asked Nina as the two faced each other in the middle of the arena. ¡°This one¡¯s tricky. They¡¯ve both got some impressive powers: Mister Katana can move extra fast and has increased agility.¡± ¡°The perfect close-combat damage dealer,¡± commented Wayne. ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± I agreed. ¡°Captain Greatsword can regenerate damage and has enhanced toughness.¡± ¡°The perfect tank,¡± said Wayne. ¡°Tough call.¡± ¡°Yes, but I think that speed will overcome heightened defenses and win by attrition.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Wayne said. ¡°I guess we shall see,¡± said Nina. The match started slowly, each fighter feeling the other out, and it was the tank with the greatsword who made the first real attack. His strike was easily deflected. As was the next. And the one after that. Lucas¡¯s speed was just too much. It went on like this, and the tank¡¯s frustration was beginning to show. His attacks became sloppy, leaving him wide open to counter-attacks, but the speedy katana failed to capitalize upon them. The crowd didn¡¯t like this, and began to jeer. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked Nina. ¡°Why doesn¡¯t he fight back?¡± ¡°He¡¯s certainly had opportunities,¡± I said. ¡°If I had to guess, I¡¯d say he¡¯s choosing not to.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s silly,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe he has a plan.¡± Finally, the counter-attack came. The tank made a straight thrust with his sword, which the speedster deflected up leaving the tank¡¯s torso wide open to a slash so fast it was hard to see. Which was followed by another. And another. The wounds looked shallow, but blood flowed liberally from each one. The tank could do nothing but stand there as his opponent literally ran circles around him so fast he was just a blur of cutting and slashing. The attacker¡¯s mana dropped quickly as he used his super speed, but not as quickly as the defender¡¯s health. Even with his regeneration and enhanced toughness, the tank¡¯s improved defense proved useless against the onslaught, and by the time Annabelle called it, it was too late. Once the flurry of attacks stopped, the loser remained standing for a few moments, blood gushing from countless wounds, then literally collapsed into a lifeless heap. Literal death by a thousand cuts. Lucas looked down at his opponent, then around at the crowd who hooted various sentiments ranging from amazement to horror to bloodthirsty excitement. If he felt bad for killing his opponent, he showed no sign of it; give the people what they want, I guess. Silent and stoic, he turned and stalked back to the gate, giving his sword a quick flick to fling the blood off his blade before sliding it back into its scabbard. ¡°So, um, that was something,¡± said Nina. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°It was. You should remember him.¡± Jane heard this and turned around. ¡°You don¡¯t seriously think we should work with this guy, do you?¡± ¡°No, of course not. You didn¡¯t let me finish.¡± ¡°Then why should I remember him?¡± asked Nina. ¡°So that if you ever happen to see him in a fight, you know to steer clear.¡± Nina grabbed Byron¡¯s hand but remained silent while Jane nodded and turned back toward the arena, watching with the rest of us as the masked NPCs in dark robes and beaked masks slunk out onto the arena floor to carry away the body. Andy was one of the first to fight in the second round, and he won his match with ease. When it was Chika¡¯s turn, she came out with another woman who might¡¯ve spelled trouble. She was pretty decent with a rapier, but what made her dangerous was that she was a Fire user with a power called Affinity Armor that let her envelop herself in flames. Not good for a grappler like Chika. It was flame-on as soon as the match started, and the fire lady immediately advanced to close the gap between them. ¡°What¡¯s she going to do?¡± asked Jane. ¡°If Chika tries to do her grapply thing she¡¯ll get scorched.¡± Chika clearly realized this too because she kept her distance, constantly moving, circling, keeping out of range. Flame lady quickly grew tired of trying to get into melee range, so she switched tactics and started throwing fireballs; she had Affinity Control too. Chika used her acrobatics to dodge the first fireball, but the second caught her straight in the chest. It exploded in a shower of sparks, but it was a small explosion and only produced a few sparks because flame lady was still only a Novice with Affinity Control. It was enough to make a pretty light show, but the damage was minimal. Flame lady didn¡¯t seem to get it, though, and tossed more fireballs, one after another, all with the same flashy but ineffective result. Then all of a sudden the fire went out. The flames that covered the woman¡¯s body died. She tried to produce a fireball but failed. ¡°She¡¯s out of mana,¡± Jane said. She was right; I¡¯d been watching her mana bar decrease steadily as she kept up her Affinity Armor, then drop faster when she began chucking her nearly useless fireballs. Seeing her opening, Chika leaped at it. Literally. She jumped high and came down right beside her opponent, and at that moment it was all over. Flame lady had zero melee skill. A quick grab and a flip over the hip followed up with a choke, and flame lady was out. Jiu jitsu didn¡¯t offer the spectacle of flying fists and feet like karate and kung fu did, but that didn¡¯t make it any less potent. Let a jiu jitsu practitioner get a solid grip on you, and you were in deep, deep, deep, deep snow. The crowd didn¡¯t seem sure what to think, but the people in my section were cheering enough to make up for it. ¡°Do you think that was Chika¡¯s strategy all along?¡± asked Jane. ¡°Possibly,¡± I said. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t, it likely will be in the future.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯ve all learned a lesson about resource management here,¡± said Wayne. ¡°Watch your mana consumption.¡± A few matches later, Lucas had his second fight, which showed that his first opponent¡¯s death had not been an accident. This match went down in a similar fashion where he toyed with the other fighter for a while before turning on the speed and hitting with a relentless series of slashes. Annabelle called it when his opponent¡¯s Health was still in the yellow, but Lucas didn¡¯t stop attacking until he was red and dead. ¡°I really hope Andy and Chika don¡¯t have to face that guy,¡± said Nina. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her that if they kept winning, it was probably inevitable. And that¡¯s exactly what happened. Both Andy and Chika made it to the semi-finals, as did the katana killer, and it was Andy who drew the short straw. When the gate opened and Lucas sauntered out beside him, there were groans all around me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said. ¡°Have faith in Andy.¡± ¡°Are you just saying that?¡± asked Sigrid. ¡°No, I honestly think Andy will win this. Especially if he¡¯s been able to watch the other matches from behind the scenes. He probably won¡¯t come out of this unscathed, but I think that Mister Katana there is in for a surprise.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re right,¡± said Sigrid. Chapter Forty-Seven - Crowning a Champioin Predictably, the match started off slowly. Andy went on the defensive, backing away and darting aside whenever Lucas seemed about to make a move. This went on for a while until, in an ironic reversal, Lucas started showing signs of annoyance and frustration, which seemed to amuse the audience. This only made him even more annoyed. He wasn¡¯t getting to play with his dinner this time. ¡°Come on, Andy,¡± cheered Sigrid. ¡°Watch for it,¡± I said. ¡°Any second now he¡¯s going to make his move.¡± And he did. Andy was nearly backed all the way to the arena wall when the attack came. One second there was a good ten feet between them. The next second there was a flash of light glinting off the slashing blade and a moment later, Lucas bounded back again and Andy had a red line across his abdomen where the cutting edge had struck. Half of Andy¡¯s health was gone. That¡¯s how Lucas liked to do it, weaken his opponent with a big hit in the beginning, then finish them off with a bunch of little ones. I could tell by how easily he was able to dash in and slash Andy that the participants were not watching the other fights behind the scenes. Andy had made no move to defend himself; he was clearly not prepared for it. But now he was. ¡°I can¡¯t watch,¡± said Nina, although she made no effort to cover her eyes or look away. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s going to be fine,¡± I assured her. Andy still had half his health, he could still put up a fight. ¡°If he continued to attack, Andy would have been in serious trouble, but look: he backed off. That¡¯s a good thing.¡± ¡°How is that a good thing?¡± asked Nina. ¡°He can just zip back in and do it again.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°Not right away, anyway. Look at him, he¡¯s smiling. A few seconds ago he wasn¡¯t. If you wanna know what I think, I think he was pissed that Andy had been controlling the match instead of him, and now he wants some time to play with Andy before finishing him off.¡± ¡°Andy won¡¯t last long enough, that¡¯s a lot of blood,¡± said Sigrid. Sure enough, blood poured freely from Andy¡¯s wound, more than you¡¯d expect. This was the effect of Lucas¡¯s Bleed Them Out power. Holding the deadly katana in both hands, Lucas raised it over his head. His body was low, leg muscles coiled, ready to strike. He didn¡¯t seem to care that was telegraphing his intent to attack, but why would he? He wouldn¡¯t think there was anything Andy could do to stop him. Such hubris surely could not go unpunished. Andy still had half of his mana remaining, his opponent had revealed his hand, and Andy could still play his trump card. This match was far from over. Suddenly, Andy surprised everyone by charging forward. A moment later, Lucas began running at Andy, but something was wrong. He wasn¡¯t moving fast anymore. No super speed, he moved like a normal person. But he was already committed to the attack and continued to charge ahead as Andy barreled at him. Andy¡¯s mana was nearly drained. He had used his power to Lucas¡¯s super speed, an all-or-nothing gambit. He needed to finish this off now. When the clash came, Andy was ready. The sword began its downward slash but Andy was already there, ready for it. As the sword descended, Andy grabbed the hilt and pulled down hard while spinning to the side. The next thing I knew, Lucas was on his back on the arena floor with Andy looming over him with the sword in his hands, the point of the tip held unwavering against Lucas¡¯s exposed throat. Andy had taken him down and disarmed him in the same move. ¡°Lucky for Andy that guy must¡¯ve run out of mana and couldn¡¯t use his speed,¡± said Wayne. ¡°That wasn¡¯t it,¡± I said. ¡°Then what happened?¡± I didn¡¯t want to go around talking about someone else¡¯s power, not without explicit permission. ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask Andy,¡± I said. ¡°Ah,¡± said Wayne, getting it. ¡°Your discretion is admirable.¡± Andy only had two powers, but they were both awesome. He¡¯d just used his ability to nullify an enemy¡¯s power, that alone made Andy a devastating opponent. Add in his ability to direct his inner qi power towards his physical abilities ¡ª strength, speed, toughness, agility, vitality, whatever he needed at the time ¡ª along with his martial arts and he would be tough to beat in hand-to-hand. Once he got Affinity Control so he could use his Ice affinity at range, and he¡¯d be a dominating fighter in any situation. He¡¯d also need to find a way to increase his mana. Using his qi was a constant drain, and the nullification power consumed a huge amount. With the mana he had left over, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it again. Down on the arena floor, Andy remained poised over his defeated opponent. One twitch and the tip of the katana would slice through his neck. ¡°Do you yield?¡± Andy said. They stayed that way for a few long moments as his opponent gazed up at him with burning hatred in his eyes. ¡°I yield,¡± he choked. The crowd cheered. The killer had been taken down. Andy lowered the sword and turned to go back to the gate. He made it a few steps before his defeated opponent sprang to his feet like a horror movie villain, clutching a knife he¡¯d had concealed in his clothing. He charged, but Andy was the quick one this time. When the knife came down to stab Andy in the back he wasn¡¯t there: he¡¯d gone down on one knee and holding the sword in both hands Andy had thrust behind him, impaling Lucas with his own blade. They remained frozen in place until Andy let go of the sword and its owner toppled over with as much of its length protruding from his back as there was still sticking out of his front. All his remaining health had been depleted by that one hit. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Andy calmly stood up again and without looking back continued his march out of the arena, ignoring the blood that dripped from his wound leaving a crimson smear behind him. His opponent wouldn¡¯t move again until the cleanup crew carried his corpse out of the arena. The crowd cheered like crazy now, most people on their feet hooting and clapping and stomping their approval. Beside me, Nina stood up and fist-pumped the air while yelling support for Andy. I looked up at her and she glanced down at me. ¡°I know I shouldn¡¯t condone this kind of thing but screw it, that was amazing,¡± she said, and went right back to cheering. It took a minute before things had settled down and everyone was in their seats again. ¡°Hey Nina?¡± I said. ¡°Hmmm?¡± ¡°Told you so.¡± Jane turned around and looked up at Nina. ¡°May I?¡± ¡°Be my guest,¡± Nina said, and Jane punched me hard in the thigh. ¡°Ow!¡± I rubbed at the place she¡¯d hit me. ¡°That¡¯s gonna leave a bruise.¡± Jane made a pouty face. ¡°Aw poow widdle Danny. Does baby need his binky?¡± Once Lucas¡¯s dead body had been cleared from the arena floor, it was time for the other semi-final match. Chika struggled but eventually managed to pull off a win. She had become another crowd favorite, overcoming opponent after opponent to make it to the finals using the combination of her potent jiu jitsu skills, her leaping power, her strength, and her intelligence. It was obvious that she¡¯d known how to fight before she got here, which helped too. ¡°This is terrific!¡± Nina said. ¡°Both our people made it to the finals!¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s gonna be jiu jitsu versus kung fu in the last battle,¡± Wayne said. ¡°This should prove interesting.¡± ¡°I hope Andy¡¯s not too badly hurt to continue,¡± Byron said. ¡°That was a nasty cut. We¡¯d finally reached the last match of the tournament, and it had been a goldmine for me. I¡¯d seen System message after System message pop up, telling me all the new skills I¡¯d learned just by sitting there and watching. I¡¯d likely never use any of them, but it was still pretty cool knowing that I could pick up pretty much any weapon and know how to use it. The stands were buzzing with excitement as all eyes remained on the gate, waiting for the final two fighters to enter the arena. The wait dragged on and we started to worry until the grinding of the portcullis triggered a roar of cheers. When Andy and Chika entered the ring side by side the place erupted. Andy no longer dripped blood, but the red-stained gash in his clothing remained, the white of a bandage barely visible in the gap. He had a little more than half his health left, but his mana was low enough to be concerning. Chika was also dangerously low on mana, but her health was close to full. They faced each other in the middle and bowed. Chika¡¯s face glowed with a huge smile. She was clearly loving every minute of this. ¡°Classic martial arts face-off,¡± said Wayne. ¡°Striker against a grappler. It really could go either way.¡± ¡°No disrespect to Andy,¡± said Jane, ¡°but I¡¯m rooting for Chika.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell Andy, but me too,¡± said Sigrid. It was a good fight, maybe the best of the whole tournament. They were evenly matched. Andy was surprised the first time she jumped over him and caught him in a takedown, but he managed to wriggle his way out before she could get him into a lock. ¡°I doubt he¡¯ll be tricked by her jump again,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯s better off saving her mana for something else.¡± The fight wore on, going back and forth. She managed to give Andy a few good throws, and he managed to return the favor with some nice punches and kicks. ¡°Chika looks hurt,¡± said Jane. She was right again. Chicka¡¯s health bar was well into the yellow; she wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb more than a few more of Andy¡¯s hits before it would be over. ¡°That¡¯s the advantage of the striker,¡± said Wayne. ¡°Every time he lands a blow it¡¯ll hurt her, but when she throws him it has little immediate effect, unless she can follow it up with a grapple or choke.¡± ¡°You seem to know a fair bit about martial arts, Wayne.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all from movies, I¡¯m afraid. I¡¯ve always wanted to learn one, just never got around to doing it.¡± ¡°We can fix that,¡± I said. I got what Wayne meant, I¡¯d always wanted to learn martial arts too. That¡¯s probably why it made me happy that I had already learned several of them, and I decided at that moment I was going to learn all the fighting styles I possibly could, including any weapons skills I hadn¡¯t already picked up in the past few hours. I might not be able to become an expert in any of them, but I liked the idea of at least becoming proficient in all of them. As the fight continued, Andy seemed to be getting the upper hand. Chika started limping after a vicious kick to her leg, but she fought on, playing mostly defense and waiting for her opening, and neither of them managed to seal the deal until the opening came and she managed to flip him over her hip. She went down with him, falling hard on his chest and tangling him up in a classic Jiu Jitsu grapple. He was flat on his back with this tiny girl on top of him, and it looked like he should be able to throw her off easily, especially in her weakened state. He struggled, but she clung to him, halfway between a squirmy octopus enveloping its prey and a tenacious lamprey latched onto a much bigger shark. Her body was positioned to the side, her arms and legs entwined in his. She was constantly shifting, reacting to his efforts to get free in just the right way to keep him down. He weighed at least twice as much as she did, but it meant nothing in the face of her skill. That¡¯s jiu jitsu. It helped that she was also clearly using her vampiric power to siphon his health into herself because as she held him her mana and his health were going down while her health went up. She was healing herself by sucking the life out of him. Another terrific and terrifying power made even more potent when combined with her fighting style. If he¡¯d had enough mana left, he could¡¯ve nullified it, but he¡¯d blown his wad against Lucas and was now at the little girl¡¯s mercy. And as we were all learning, Chika had no mercy. The crowd sizzled with excitement as it started to look like Chika was going to pull off a comeback victory, but then Andy slipped a leg out and rolled over, escaping the grapple. The girl still clung to him like a small, wiggly backpack. Size and strength suddenly became relevant again. Andy got onto his knees, then rose to his feet in a squat, still with the wiry parasite clinging to his back. She wriggled and squirmed, her arms and legs knotted in his, and somehow she managed to reach down and grab his ankle while throwing her weight to one side and Andy fell on top of her. She used the momentum to roll until she was sitting on the ground with Andy in front of her. She held his right leg down with hers while wrenching his left foot up to her shoulder with her arm. As flexible as Andy was, his legs were never meant to go that way. Seconds later Andy tapped out. The pain must have been excruciating. Jiu jitsu had won, with a little help from some vampiric power. The stands erupted. Everybody loves an underdog. Chika quickly disentangled herself and bounced up. She showed no sign of a limp or any other injury. I could see her health was nearly full again while Andy¡¯s was deep, deep into the red zone. She reached down and helped him stand up beside her. He bent down to say something into her ear, then took her hand and raised it over her head in victory. I cheered alongside everyone else. She deserved it. Annabelle came over to join them and waited for the din of the crowd to subside before presenting the Champion¡¯s Sword to Chika, who looked even more waiflike than ever sandwiched between the two much taller people. ¡°Congratulations to the winner of the first Players Tournament, our champion, Chika Hachiman,¡± Anabelle¡¯s amplified voice bellowed as she placed a duplicate of the golden laurel wreath Stratos had worn on Chika¡¯s head. Chapter Forty-Eight - Ambushed ¡°You really did pick a fine team, Daniel,¡± came Stratos¡¯ voice from directly behind, startling me. Nobody else reacted at all to their unexpected presence, so I assumed this was another time when only I could see and hear them. ¡°I suppose you are afraid to say anything in case people think you are a crazy person having a one-sided conversation with yourself.¡± I nodded. ¡°After this I am starting to think that maybe the team you built is a bit too strong. What is it you call it? OP, is that not it?¡± I nodded again. ¡°They do seem overpowered compared to the rest,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Of course that was to be expected given your skill at choosing winners, but I still may have underestimated you.¡± I felt them lean forward so close I could feel their breath. ¡°That won¡¯t do,¡± Stratos said. ¡°After all, it¡¯s no fun if it¡¯s too easy.¡± I gritted my teeth. There was so much I wanted to say. Screw this. This wasn¡¯t a conversation, this was terrorism. I stood up. ¡°I gotta go,¡± I said to the people beside me. ¡°I¡¯ll catch up with you later.¡± Before anyone could ask where I was going, I shuffled past them and loped down the stairs. I tried the first door I came across. It was a large, wooden door that opened into another corridor, this one lined on both sides with what looked like prison cells. Maybe they were meant to hold gladiators, or perhaps they were cages to contain beasts waiting to be fought in the arena. They were all empty. I entered, closed the door, and waited for Stratos. I didn¡¯t have to wait long. As soon as they appeared in the room with me I could tell right away that Stratos was in a pissy mood, which was strangely satisfying. After all, they¡¯d made me feel pretty pissy too. Their face betrayed little about their mood, but their choice of words and tone of voice said it all. ¡°Perhaps things are different on Earth, but where I am from it is considered quite rude to walk out on a conversation.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said, turning my back on them and wandering into one of the cells. ¡°It¡¯s considered quite rude where I¡¯m from too.¡± ¡°You know,¡± they said after a moment¡¯s consideration, ¡°if you are unhappy with the situation here there is a simple way to fix that.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I said. The heavy door to the cell was made of thick metal bars but closed easily when I pulled on it. ¡°You could just quit.¡± I gripped the bars with both hands and peered between them at Stratos. ¡°I thought that was only an option if I won.¡± ¡°We could find a way. Is that what you want?¡± I took a few moments to think about it, hanging off the door to the cell and swinging it open and closed. ¡°This is an impressive world you¡¯ve built,¡± I said after a couple of swings, ¡°the attention to detail is admirable.¡± ¡°Anybody can get the broad strokes right,¡± they said. ¡°It is in the finer details that a true professional comes through.¡± ¡°The little things do help create that sense of realism.¡± ¡°Quite so,¡± Stratos said, chin raised. ¡°I am glad you noticed.¡± ¡°Shame you missed so many,¡± I said. Their chin dropped and they scowled at me. ¡°Explain.¡± I kept swinging the cell door open and closed a few times. ¡°Hear that?¡± Stratos shook their head. ¡°I hear nothing.¡± ¡°Exactly. Something like this ought to have a nice abrasive squeak to indicate the hinges¡¯ struggle to support this door over the years. And this place,¡± I sniffed the air, ¡°where¡¯s the musty smell of the animals or people who¡¯ve been caged here?¡± Stratos stared at me blankly for a few breaths. ¡°Am I to take it that this means the game is not to your liking and you wish to quit?¡± I grinned. ¡°Exactly the opposite. What I am saying is that you still need me to get things right.¡± ¡°Strange. I do not know if that is a compliment or an insult.¡± ¡°It¡¯s neither,¡± I said, letting go of the door and coming out of the cell. ¡°It¡¯s simply a statement of fact. And as a wise person once told me, you just have to accept facts.¡± I could almost see the sneer forming at the corner of their mouth, and the hint of a frown. ¡°You are correct.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I have accepted the fact that I am not on a team, for example.¡± ¡°I have a few more facts for you to accept as well,¡± they said, and I knew right then and there I may have pushed their buttons a bit too hard. ¡°Fact: the team you assembled is stronger than anticipated.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to make them even stronger.¡± ¡°They will need it, because of another fact: I have decided to make the game much harder for your team than originally planned. Hard enough that there will be no way they can all survive it, let alone win it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see about that,¡± I said. Stratos gave me a single nod of their head to acknowledge the challenge before vanishing. ¡°Jerk,¡± I muttered, then headed off to find my friends. After the tournament there was much to celebrate, so I went with the team to the Dragon Pub to do just that. After Nina had healed Andy back up to full health, of course. He showed no ill will toward Chika for losing to her, and she was surprisingly gracious in her victory. I felt bad because I¡¯d asked her brother Kenji to discreetly follow that team of five I¡¯d seen in the arena instead of joining us, but I really wanted to know where they were staying and what their habits were so we would know where to find them. It was an important mission. At the arena was the first time I¡¯d encountered them since it all started, so whatever they were doing with their time it was something we weren¡¯t. I didn¡¯t want to lose them. Kenji¡¯s talents went beyond discretion, he was practically invisible when he wanted to be, so I had total confidence he¡¯d get the job done. It¡¯s handy having a ninja on the payroll. I don¡¯t know if it was the opportunity to use his abilities or the excuse to get out of having to socialize, but Kenji seemed more than happy to do it, and Chika didn¡¯t seem to mind that her brother was absent. She probably thought he was still there and just hiding as always. I couldn¡¯t see it because I wasn¡¯t a team member, but they¡¯d all been given a new quest. A simple one: choose a name for the team. At least, it seemed simple, but getting everyone to agree on something proved more complicated than you¡¯d think. A number of ideas were batted around, including The A Team, Gamers Incorporated, Drunk With Power (that one was a late entry after a few rounds of drinks had been enjoyed), Jane and the Holograms (you can probably guess who suggested that one), and Team Happy. In the end, it was my suggestion that won the vote: Team Maple Leaf. After we¡¯d all enjoyed a few drinks, Sigrid plunked herself down beside me. I¡¯d been sitting off on the side by myself, as usual. ¡°What¡¯s all this about working on Affinity Control, then?¡± She was slurring her words. Maybe it had been more than a few drinks. ¡°I learned something during the tournament that I think is going to make you a very, very happy girl,¡± I said, quite normally. I¡¯d been nursing the same beer since we got there and wasn¡¯t the least bit drunk; I had a lot to think about. ¡°Okay then, show me.¡± I didn¡¯t want to do it in the crowded pub, but I was also too excited to wait. I directed her attention under the table, where I did the trick of making sparks fly between my hands. ¡°What the hell?¡± she said loudly enough to draw the attention of those around us. Sigrid waved them off with her hand. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± ¡°Do you remember the woman who won at the tournament using lightning?¡± ¡°Mmm hmm.¡± ¡°Guess what affinity she had.¡± ¡°Uh, lightning, duh,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Nuh uh,¡± I said. ¡°There is no lightning affinity, remember? Her affinity was Air.¡± Sigrid sat silent while her impaired mind processed the information. I could almost see the lightbulb appear over her head when she finally figured it out. ¡°You mean...¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. You can use your affinity to create electricity.¡± ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Sigrid said, her bellow causing even more heads to turn toward us. ¡°Mind your own business,¡± she told them. I saw Jane, who was sitting at another table, get up and saunter toward us. She had a strange expression on her face, but I couldn¡¯t figure out what it was. She plunked herself down on the other side of me. ¡°You two seem to be having fun,¡± she said. ¡°I want in.¡± ¡°Jane! Watch this!¡± Sigrid said, her eyes darting around. It looked like she was trying to figure out which of the several Janes she was seeing was the real one. ¡°Do the thing,¡± she told me. I did the thing. ¡°What the hell?¡± Jane said, ignoring the fresh looks that earned us. ¡°It¡¯s Air,¡± hissed Sigrid. ¡°Air!¡± Jane grinned and patted my knee. ¡°I see. So we really do have a date to work on Affinity Control, don¡¯t we?¡± It suddenly occurred to me that I was sitting in between two of the most attractive women I¡¯ve ever met, both of whom were totally engrossed in what I was saying and doing. If it wasn¡¯t for the preparation I¡¯d had for just such an occasion back in high school when those girls had absorbed me into their circle, I probably would have been reduced to a spluttering blob of anxious incoherence. Instead, I quickly excused myself and hurried to the bar to fetch another drink I had no intention of drinking. Not much of a step up, but I take my small victories where I can find them. When I returned, both Jane and Sigrid had attached themselves to other conversations, so I decided to call it quits. I¡¯d meet up with them all later at the dojo. It had been decided that everyone in Team Maple Leaf would get trained in kung fu so we could all, er, I mean so they could all live together in the dorms. There were plenty of rooms, plus a very convenient training area. Nobody said anything about me staying there too, but nobody said anything about me moving out either. I didn¡¯t want to be rude and disappear without letting anyone know, so I managed to catch Nina¡¯s eye and mimed that I was taking off. She nodded and flashed me a smile and a thumbs up before I left. By all normal standards it was a lovely night. The light from the moons gave the street a silvery shimmer that I was totally unable to appreciate. When you¡¯re gloomy and feeling sorry for yourself, perfect nights like that seem like a slap in the face. A nice stroll was out of the question, all I wanted to do was get back to the dorm and hunt for the sweet release of sleep. The night had other ideas. Chapter Forty-Nine - The Round Table Less than a minute after leaving the pub I nearly jumped out of my skin when a voice from right beside me said, ¡°Mission accomplished.¡± It was Kenji, of course, showing off his ninja skills and making excellent use of his stealth power. ¡°Jesus,¡± I said, coming to an abrupt stop. ¡°How long have you been there?¡± ¡°Since you left the pub,¡± he said. I started walking again, probably a bit faster than necessary, but I was in a pissy mood. ¡°You could¡¯ve said something.¡± He scampered to catch up. ¡°I did.¡± He got me there. ¡°There¡¯s a problem,¡± Kenji said. ¡°With that team you had me follow.¡± ¡°What kind of problem?¡± ¡°It¡¯s their leader. He¡¯s going to die.¡± I stopped walking again. ¡°Tell me.¡± Kenji gave an efficient report of what happened after he¡¯d left to follow the group I¡¯d seen in the arena stands. After the tournament, the five of them had immediately left for the forest, intent on finding a way past the wall of thorns. Like so many efforts before theirs, it had ended with arrows. ¡°Where are they now?¡± ¡°Last I saw they were carrying him back to the city.¡± ¡°You made the right choice coming back. Let¡¯s go get Nina.¡± I burst back into the pub and beelined it for Nina, Kenji in tow. She was sitting with Byron and Bruce. She smiled up at me. ¡°Back so soon?¡± ¡°Someone needs your help,¡± I said. Her expression switched to serious right away. ¡°What can I do?¡± I explained quickly. ¡°Oh dear,¡± Bruce said. ¡°You should get going.¡± Jane chose that moment to come to check things out. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°I explained quickly again. ¡°Byron,¡± Jane said, ¡°can you open a portal to the forest?¡± He shook his head. ¡°I wish. I can only open into places I can see.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± I said. ¡°Guess we¡¯re running.¡± ¡°Although, I could put up one end of the portal here, then open the other side when we reach them like I did when we rescued you from Kiki¡¯s gang.¡± ¡°Good thinking,¡± Jane said. ¡°We can get back quicker, at least.¡± ¡°You¡¯re coming too?¡± I said. Jane smirked at me. ¡°Stop trying to hog all the action.¡± ¡°What action?¡± Sigrid had leaned over from an adjacent table where she¡¯d been talking to Andy, practically falling onto me. ¡°The only action you¡¯re getting is sleeping off the booze,¡± Jane said. Sigrid put her hand on my shoulder and shook me. ¡°Nooooooooo.¡± ¡°Andy,¡± I said, removing her hand. ¡°Can you make sure this one gets back to bed safe?¡± Jane snorted. ¡°That¡¯s gonna lead to a whole different sort of action.¡± I scoffed. ¡°Doubtful. He¡¯s even drunker than she is. Bruce, I hate to ask, but...¡± He gave me a thumbs-up. ¡°I¡¯ll babysit them, don¡¯t worry.¡± I flagged down a waitress to borrow a pencil and a piece of paper, then started scribbling. ¡°Sam, we need your powers.¡± ¡°Anything,¡± Sam said. I rolled up the paper and handed it to Sam. ¡°Summon a very fast bird, find them, and deliver this.¡± ¡°You got it.¡± Wasting no time, Byron created a portal in the pub and we charged Wayne and Chika to guard it, then I left with Sam, Byron, and Nina, racing through the city behind Kenji, who was not only stealthy but also very fast. True to her word, Jane also came along for a piece of the action. We were just leaving the city gate when Sam told us he¡¯d found them and delivered the message: ¡®Find a safe place. Help is coming.¡¯ With Sam¡¯s navigation, we sped to their location just outside the edge of the trees. All five were there, three men and two women, all around their early 20s. The injured man was lying on the ground, head cushioned on a rolled-up cloak. The three men were dressed in full armor like knights, one of the women wore lighter armor and carried a bow, and the other wore a long dress. The metal plate armor hadn¡¯t prevented the leader from being pierced by two arrows, both of which were still sticking into him. His helmet was off, revealing curly blonde hair that was stuck to his handsome face in places with blood. His health was just into the red zone.
Arthur Crenshaw Unaffiliated
Affinity: Air - Novice
Gifts: Sword Spirit - An intelligent spirit possesses wielded weapon
Powers: If I Could Read Your Mind - Competent: Telepathy Hallowed Ground - Competent: Boost attack and defense of nearby allies Stairway To Heaven - Competent: Walk on air
Skills: Strategy - Competent Sword - Adept
A falcon landed on Sam¡¯s shoulder. He stroked its feathers then dismissed it. It vanished. The woman in the dress held up the note I¡¯d written. ¡°You sent this?¡± She had the same blonde hair as the injured man, Arthur, only hers was straighter and cut in a shoulder-length bob. She had a unique look. You probably wouldn¡¯t say she was as conventionally beautiful as Sigrid or Jane, but nobody would argue that she wasn¡¯t very attractive in her own way. Even when her face was scrunched with worry.
Morgan Crenshaw Unaffiliated
Affinity: Void - Novice
Gifts: Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space
Powers: Alchemy - Novice: Create potions If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Don¡¯t Believe It - Competent: Create illusions that remain as long as mana is used to maintain them What Do You Need? - Competent: Create simple temporary objects
Skills: Chemistry - Novice Crossbow - Competent Knife - Competent Mixology - Novice
She had the same last name. Were they married? ¡°Yes,¡± Sam said. ¡°That¡¯s our message.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not NPCs,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re here to help,¡± said Nina. ¡°I have healing powers.¡± The woman¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°May I?¡± said Nina. ¡°Yes!¡± One of the men held out his arm in front of Nina to block her. ¡°Morgan, can we trust them?¡± He¡¯d picked up his shield when we approached, but his sword was still in its scabbard on his hip. His armor gleamed.
Jake Repuski (Lancelot) Unaffiliated
Affinity: Fire - Novice
Gifts: Tougher Than I Look - Improved vitality
Powers: I Go Crazy - Competent: Go berserk to increase attack at the cost of defense It¡¯s Just A Flesh Wound - Novice: Regeneration
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Sword - Competent
Jane awarded him one of her more dazzling smiles. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Honest.¡± He lowered his arm and nodded. You totally just used your Captivating Presence power, Jane. Naughty girl. Nina knelt beside him and started using her power. ¡°Will he...¡° ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± Jane said. She poked her finger into the hole in her clothes where she¡¯d been shot with one of those arrows. ¡°Nina¡¯s had some practice at this.¡± We all watched as Nina performed her magic. The arrows were pushed out and the wounds closed. The man, Arthur, opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Jane leaning over him. ¡°Wow,¡± he said. She stroked some of the hair off his face. ¡°Hi there.¡± ¡°Arthur, you okay?¡± said Morgan. He ran his hands over the places where the arrows had struck him. ¡°Yeah, I think so. I mean, I feel fine other than some soreness where I got hit.¡± He looked up at Jane. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me, it was all her,¡± she said, gesturing at Nina. ¡°A power like this would¡¯ve been helpful at that ghost town,¡± the man named Jake said. ¡°Ghost town?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s what we called it, because it was full of undead. What was it called in the quest again?¡± ¡°Death Dungeon,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Right. Super appropriate name, too. We got our asses handed to us before we could even go inside one of the houses.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve heard about that particular ghost town,¡± I said. ¡°We found the Void Dungeon,¡± Jane said. ¡°What was that like?¡± Jake said. Jane shuddered at the memory. ¡°Lucky to get out alive.¡± ¡°Seems we¡¯ve got some leveling up to do before we can tackle the dungeons,¡± Morgan said. Then came the questions. Who were we? Why did we help? How did we know? ¡°Those are excellent questions,¡± Jane said. ¡°But I think they¡¯d be much better answered over drinks.¡± Arthur laughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say no to that. Unfortunately, we forgot to pack a keg.¡± ¡°Not to worry,¡± Byron said. He put up the second side of his portal. The pub could be seen on the other side. ¡°We¡¯ve got you covered.¡± ¡°What the hell?¡± said the woman with a bow. ¡°That¡¯s some kind of magic door, right?¡± She had auburn hair hanging in a long braid down her back and her chain armor was lighter than what the men wore, with only a few pieces of solid metal plate in strategic places. She carried a longbow and had a quiver of arrows on her back.
Katherine Walker (Kay) Unaffiliated
Affinity: Water - Novice
Gifts: I Got The Moves - Improved agility
Powers: Chameleon - Novice: Blend in with surroundings Don¡¯t Blink - Competent: Super speed
Skills: Archery - Competent Knife - Competent
Byron nodded. ¡°We call it a portal, but yeah. The other side opens into a pub in the city. The rest of our team¡¯s there.¡± ¡°So cool!¡± the woman, Katherine, said. Jane and Morgan helped Arthur to his feet. ¡°Then I guess drinks are on me,¡± he said. Back in the pub, Bruce had already taken Sigrid and Andy back to the dojo, so the rest of us pulled some tables together and exchanged introductions. Along with Arthur, Morgan, Katherine, and Jake, there was a quiet but observant Korean man with a mop of curly hair named Lee.
Sung Lee (Galahad) Unaffiliated
Affinity: Earth - Novice
Gifts: I Got The Moves - Improved agility
Powers: Graviole - Competent: Alter gravitational pull Immovable Object - Novice: Stay in one place Unstoppable Force - Novice: Cause an earthquake
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Drawing - Novice Sword - Competent
¡°I really am curious about how you knew I needed help,¡± Arthur said once our drinks were delivered. Do I tell him everything? Honesty is probably the best policy. Well, selective honesty. ¡°See, it¡¯s like this...¡± and I went on to tell him about how I remembered them from the eSports part of the convention, leaving out the part about how it was my fault they¡¯d been abducted, then how I asked Kenji to follow them so I could arrange a way to meet them, and how he saw they were in trouble and came to me to get help. ¡°What I don¡¯t understand,¡± I said, ¡°is how you aren¡¯t on a team.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that we weren¡¯t asked,¡± Arthur said, ¡°it¡¯s just that, well, we¡¯ve known each other since we were all kids.¡± ¡°Arthur¡¯s my baby bro,¡± Morgan said from one side of him, making him cringe. ¡°He hates it when I call him that.¡± Jane giggled from his other side and nudged him with her shoulder. ¡°Aw, that¡¯s cute.¡± ¡°That explains the same last name,¡± I said. ¡°How do you know that?¡± said Morgan. ¡°How do you know our last name?¡± Now I had to explain the All Shall Be Revealed power. ¡°I get it. That¡¯s how those other people who tried to get us onto their teams knew so much. Thanks for being honest.¡± ¡°Right,¡± said Arthur. ¡°About not being on a team. Like I said, we¡¯ve known each other forever, and have been playing games almost as long. I know from experience that it¡¯s vital for a team to¡ª¡± ¡°Blah blah blah,¡± said Jake, moving his hand like a puppet¡¯s mouth. ¡°Get to the point, Arthur. Basically, we remained teamless because none of the people who approached us seemed a good fit.¡± Arthur shrugged. ¡°What he said. Our eSports team name is The Round Table. It¡¯s an old in-joke because our parents named me and Morgan after King Arthur and his sister Morgana. Our friends adopted the names of other knights as their online handles.¡± Jake stood up and put his hand over the breastplate of his armor. ¡°Lancelot.¡± ¡°Uh, Galahad,¡± said Lee, rising a little off his seat and sliding his glasses up his nose before sitting back down quickly. Katherine remained seated and just waved. ¡°Kay. Everyone¡¯s always called me that since I was a baby as a short form of Katherine. Lucky there just happened to be a Sir Kay in the Round Table.¡± ¡°What names should we call you?¡± Jane said. Arthur glanced at his knights. ¡°I know it¡¯s super nerdy, but could you use our handles?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jane said. ¡°But I¡¯m just gonna go with Arthur. It would be too weird to call you a king.¡± Arthur laughed. ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad we met you guys,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Too bad teams are only ten people.¡± ¡°Or that we didn¡¯t meet earlier,¡± Kay said. ¡°We¡¯ve met now,¡± said Jane, raising her glass. ¡°So here¡¯s to new friends.¡± We all drank to that. Chapter Fifty - Ants invasion In the days following the Tournament, all of Team Maple Leaf plus the five members of The Round Table had taken kung fu lessons and finally learned the skill. They all now had the green armband that allowed them to enjoy the benefits of clan membership, including living in the dorm. Things were different than they were during the Tutorial. The only thing that remained the same was my morning workout with Sigrid. My acute awareness that I was not part of the team changed everything else. I felt out of place, like I didn¡¯t belong. It was a familiar feeling, one I¡¯d known most of my life. I¡¯d started taking long walks alone to put a bit of distance between them and myself so they could bond as a team without me around. It¡¯s not like I was being totally altruistic or anything, I got a lot out of my solo meanderings. I kept myself very busy, mostly to distract myself from the seething anger that curdled inside me more and more with every passing day. That¡¯s because every day Team Maple Leaf had been getting team quests, all of which had specified that only team members could participate. That pissed me off. I felt like the game was conspiring to remind me daily that I was still an outsider to the very team that I myself had created. After their quests, all they could do was talk about them. Some were events against other teams that sounded a lot like the sort of tribe-on-tribe challenges they do on Survivor, the others were all objective-based quests that involved things like defending the city against rampaging hordes of monsters. I could understand their excitement, and I tried not to let it show how envious I was. What was perhaps even worse, Arthur and his gang had all received several individual System quests. I had not. That pissed me off far more. I took it personally. Someone¡¯s punishing me, and I was pretty sure I knew who. While everyone raved about how fun the quests were, and talked endlessly about all the wonderful rewards they were getting and how they were leveling up their abilities, it was a double-edged sword. Not long after the end of the tutorial, word started spreading that someone had been killed on a quest fighting against monsters, but they hadn¡¯t come back. They were dead. Like, dead-dead. That¡¯s what we ended up calling the one who didn¡¯t come back. Dead-dead. Stratos had warned us it could happen, but this was the first time a Player didn¡¯t respawn and it had a subtle but noticeable effect on everyone. A lot of people had grown used to behaving a bit recklessly. After all, death hadn¡¯t been the end. But now, our seeming immortality had been revealed as a lie. Real death was possible. The game had become that much more real. The end of the tutorial and the emergence of team quests also introduced another new factor into the game: a leaderboard for teams. Rankings seemed entirely dependent upon team quest performance, and I was happy to see Team Maple Leaf consistently in the top three, although they never seemed able to secure the top spot. That was always occupied by a group who called themselves Team Invunctus. Troy Hobbes¡¯s team. Team Rankings
  1. Team Invinctus 150 points
  2. Team Maple Leaf 140 points
  3. Team Droogs 135 points
  4. Team Spice 130 points
  5. Team Karma 120 points
  6. Team N3m3s1s 115 points
  7. Team Legion 110 points
  8. Team Overgeared 100 points
  9. Team Happy 90 points
  10. Team Ninja 85 points
Why wasn¡¯t there a leaderboard for Players? Did this mean that team performance was more important than individual? Everyone else seemed obsessed with the rankings, but I did my best to ignore them. It was just another reminder that I was missing out. Stratos kept saying that being a free agent did not mean I was out of the game, that it made me free to work with any team. But how was I supposed to do that when only team members were allowed to participate in their quests? The answer came one day when I was on one of my walks and I came across a group of Players outside the city walls, all members of Team Legion. One of them approached me, and I did a quick evaluation of him. All I saw was a bunch of [Hidden]s; he was another team builder. I didn¡¯t remember him from the convention, but that wasn¡¯t surprising. All the other team builders had been part of the meta-game, same as me. I did still recognize him, though: he was the Player Nina had healed after he''d been shot by an arrow in the forest. ¡°Hey there,¡± he said. ¡°You were with that healer''s group, right?" "Hey," I said. "Yeah, I was with them. Achmed, right? I''m Daniel." "You wouldn¡¯t happen to be up for joining us for a quest, would you?¡± Apparently, only Team Maple Leaf had been getting quests that were team-only. The other teams were allowed to have unaffiliated Players join them. Stratos at work again, living up to their promise to make things harder for the team I¡¯d built, and for me. Of course, I said yes. No way I was about to give up the chance to join a quest. Team Legion turned out to be a friendly bunch, although their dynamic wasn¡¯t what I was used to. They were all guys, so there was a lot more testosterone-fuelled competition between them. Fortunately, it was all good-natured, but it took me a while to get used to the locker talk. Achmed had done a pretty good job recruiting a variety of abilities, a decent mix of close and long-range fighters, but the team lacked any useful support powers. Because Achmed had All Shall Be Revealed I couldn''t see his abilities, of course, just a bunch of Hiddens. The quest was a basic monster subjugation, fending off a horde of giant ants the size of horses who were charging the city from the Northeast. The team I was with seemed to know what they were doing, they told me this wasn¡¯t their first rodeo. A lot of the recent team quests were like this, fending off a mob of monsters. Unfortunately, in their hurry to one-up each other and see who could take down the most enemies, Team Legion had zero coordination. Their battle strategy was pretty much every man for himself, but they had a lot of fun in the process. In the literature, it¡¯s very common for people to shout out the name of a power when they use it. Obviously, it¡¯s so that the reader or viewer knows what¡¯s going on. It wasn¡¯t necessary to do it here, but the members of Team Legion did it anyway, for fun. They even made up their own names for specific moves. When the first of the ants hit our defensive line, it surprised me to hear them all shouting things like "Starry Sky Sword Dance" and "True-Seeking Arrow Splits The Mountain" when all they were doing was using simple sword or archery skills. They mostly used basic combat skills, only a couple of them had a specific attack power or Affinity Control. It made me realize just how far ahead Team Maple Leaf was, and explained why Team Legion was near the bottom of the rankings. It¡¯s not that these guys were bad, they just hadn¡¯t developed their abilities to the same degree. Plus they seemed more interested in having fun than anything. The initial wave of monsters was pretty weak. I took the opportunity to teach Affinity Control to some of my new comrades. I focused on the ones with basic elemental affinities, I knew from experience these were the easiest to use. They learned quickly, but of course at Novice level their attacks didn¡¯t do anything to the ants. I encouraged them to use it anyway because experience had also taught me that powers and skills grow much quicker in real fights than when simply practicing. Each consecutive wave brought more and more ants, so there was plenty of opportunities to improve. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. We did well at first, and there was a lot of laughing and joking as the first waves of ants were put down and the Legionnaires, as they called themselves, raised their mastery of Affinity Control and came up with inventive names for their new affinity attacks. Each successive wave brought more and more of the huge insects into the battle, and the laughs eventually died out when the number of ants became overwhelming. The bugs swarmed all around us, their sheer force of numbers splitting everyone up. None of us had a health bar in the green, and a few of the guys were already into the red. ¡°This is a lot tougher than last time,¡± one of them grumbled. ¡°Achmed,¡± I shouted as I hosed down a few ants with a spray of flame from my hands, ¡°we need to regroup or we¡¯re toast.¡± He was busy smashing the carapace of the nearest ant with a spiked mace while shouting "Seven Souls Mace Mash" and didn¡¯t hear me. ¡°Achmed!¡± No use, he wasn¡¯t listening. Screw this. I have to get their attention myself. I switched from Fire to Air, focusing all my energy into creating the biggest, loudest lightning bolt I could muster. There was a flash of light as electricity lanced down from the sky, forking at the last moment to zorch a group of ants, followed a split second later by a deafening crash of thunder. It did the trick. All eyes turned to see who¡¯d done it. ¡°Everybody,¡± I shouted, ¡°rally around Achmed!¡± They seemed to get the idea, and everyone fought to group together. We were completely surrounded, so I started barking instructions, telling the tankier fighters to make a defensive circle around the ones who could strike from a distance. I started handing out potions, healing the ones who were close to death and refreshing the mana of the ones who had ranged powers. Slowly, the bodies of dead ants started to pile up around us, but the bugs just kept swarming over their fallen colleagues in an endless onslaught. Slowly but steadily, our health and mana bars edged their ways down toward the red zone. ¡°This isn¡¯t good,¡± Achmed said as he dragged one of his team members from the front line into the middle. The teammate was bleeding heavily from where an ant¡¯s mandibles had nearly severed his leg at the knee. He was right, it wasn¡¯t good at all. We were mostly holding our own in our little circle, but for every ant that attacked us two would scurry right past us, heading toward the city. At this rate, even if we managed to survive we were going to fail the quest. ¡°They¡¯re getting past,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Achmed said. ¡°That always happens. We just need to hold out a bit longer until the time runs out and they¡¯ll give up.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah. I mean, it¡¯s what happened last time.¡± He did not sound at all convincing. I risked taking a break from fighting to scan the area. I evaluated ant after ant until I finally found what I was looking for, one ant that was as big as a full-grown hippo near the back of the swarm.
Giant Ant Queen You probably don''t want the royal treatment from this queen, as it usually involves getting cut up into bite sized chunks and fed to her countless babies.
Powers: Ant Invasion - Expert: Control ant minions Cut Off Its Head Legs Come Looking For You - Expert: Extreme resiliency More Where Those Came From - Expert: Lay eggs Pincer Movement - Expert: Always aware of surroundings Snicker Snack - Expert: Mandible attack
I put my hand on the shoulder of one of the tanks, the one with the biggest shield. ¡°What?¡± he said. ¡°Think you can forge a path for us through this crowd?¡± ¡°Probably, why?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a queen over there. If we take her down we might just turn this around.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± ¡°Achmed,¡± I said. ¡°Hold the fort, we¡¯re going for the queen.¡± Then I reached over the tank¡¯s shoulder and fanned the area in front of him like a flamethrower. ¡°Go!¡± I shouted. ¡°Invincible Shield Plows The Field!¡± he shouted as he charged ahead, smashing giant bugs out of the way with his shield while I followed in his wake. Fortunately, the ants seemed more concerned with their own forward charge to bother with us, so we managed to make good headway through the crowd. As we got closer to the queen, they began to pay us more heed and started trying to actively protect their liege. ¡°Hold them off as best you can,¡± I said, chugging my last mana potion. ¡°I¡¯ll take her out.¡± He grunted acknowledgement, hacking with his sword and smashing with his shield. I took a deep breath, and concentrated on Light. It was a gamble. Were you one of those kids who used a magnifying lens to torment insects with focused sunlight? The childhood memory of making ants scurry and sizzle that way came unbidden to my mind so I went with it and channeled my Light affinity into a makeshift laser beam. ¡°Burning Bug Laser Beam!¡± I shouted. When in Rome. A blinding shaft of light surged at the ant queen from my fist. I kept pumping mana into it, keeping the beam slicing into her. She reared up, antennae waving frantically as the light bore through her abdomen. As her body lifted, I was able to see the most remarkable thing of all: someone was riding on her back. I couldn¡¯t make out much more than that it was a humanoid, straddling the queen¡¯s thorax. I briefly considered ceasing my attack, but I figured that anyone riding an ant queen into an invasion of the city probably deserved to be lasered too, so I kept up my Light attack until I was almost out of mana. When I finally stopped, the queen wasn¡¯t moving anymore. A plume of dark smoke drifted up almost lazily from her body, then I saw the rider rise up from its back into the air. I caught a flash of long dark hair swirling around them and the gleam of silver eyes directing their gaze at me for a few long moments before the figure disappeared in a sparkling twinkle that reminded me of Captain Kirk getting beamed up by the Enterprise¡¯s transporter. I could''ve also sworn I saw a pair of small horns protruding from under all that dark hair. Almost at once the surge of ants subsided. The tank I hid behind had been struggling with an ant that was trying to wrest his shield from him, but the creature¡¯s mandibles suddenly let go and the ant wandered away passively. All the remaining monsters seemed to forget we were there and started just milling about like lost children. Behind us, a cheer went up from the rest of the team. The queen was dead, and without her guidance, the rest of the ants had lost their purpose and drive. After that, it was a simple matter of mopping up the uncoordinated and directionless masses of bugs. By the time all was said and done, three team members had been killed and the rest were close to death. My own health was down under one-quarter, and my mana was all but gone. Talk about down to the wire. System: Quest complete - You have stopped the ants invasion System: Bonus - You defeated the boss! System: Distributing quest rewards - Reward Tokens - 15 (+5) System: Bonus reward for single-handedly defeating the boss - Gold Boss Box The mopping up took some time, but eventually all the ants were dead and the mana crystal had been pried from inside each one. While we worked, the masked NPCs came to take the dead Players¡¯ bodies away. Afterward, Achmed and the remaining members of Team Legion came up to me. ¡°We would¡¯ve been in deep shit if it wasn¡¯t for you, Daniel. I don¡¯t know how to thank you,¡± Achmed said, shaking my hand. ¡°You really showed me we need to work together better.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s the first time we beat a boss!¡± the tank who¡¯d stormed the queen with me said. ¡°It was great to see you come together as a team,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s been an honor to work with you.¡± ¡°I feel bad, though,¡± Achmed said. ¡°You used a lot of potions on us and those aren¡¯t cheap. Is there anything we can do to repay you?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said. ¡°I got this Gold Boss Box for killing the queen.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± ¡°Dunno. Guess I should open it, huh?¡± The box appeared in front of me as a physical object. A small cube covered in stars and wrapped up in a bow. When I pulled on the bow it came apart and the box exploded in a shower of multi-colored confetti revealing one of those ridiculously huge swords. The blade tapered out from the two-handed hilt and must have been a foot and a half wide at its largest point. Both sides were jagged with dozens of sharp serrations. It looked mean, and it had the Affinity Blade power, but there was still no way I was going to use it. I asked if anyone on Team Legion wanted it, but they insisted that I should keep it. If I really didn¡¯t want it I could always sell it, they said. I was very glad I had my special inventory and could stuff it away in a pocket dimension. I would have looked ridiculous toting the thing back into the city. The Legionnaires weren''t at all worried that some of them had been killed. They had complete confidence that they''d all come back, and insisted I join them for a celebratory drink or five after their fallen comrades had respawned. I liked these guys, but a sudden wave of anxiety swept over me and I made up a quick excuse, telling them that I¡¯d already made plans. Then I went back to the dojo and spent the night alone, cursing my own cowardice. Chapter Fifty-One - Solo leveling After my experience with Team Legion, I made sure to spend some time each day looking for other teams who might need backup, but wasn¡¯t lucky enough to find any, so I went back to wandering alone. I made a point of exploring the hexes surrounding the city. I¡¯d already seen the Black Altar to the Northwest, so working clockwise to the Northeast there was nothing but a solitary snow-capped mountain thrusting up from the highlands. I was prepared to flee at any moment, at any sign of more giant ants, since this was the direction from which the horde had come, but apart from a few unfortunate goblins I met no resistance in this area. I already knew the forest to the East, but below that, to the Southeast, the Forbidden Lake promised adventure. However, it proved to be an adventure that would have to wait until some time in the future. The lake itself was huge, covering about the same area as the city, but was unlike any lake I¡¯d ever seen on Earth. As far as I could tell, it was physically impossible. It was roughly round, bordered by the trees of the Eastern Forest on one side and beautiful beaches of tiny, smooth pebbles on the other. Pretty normal so far. Clear, cool water lapped at the beach I stood on as I looked out at it. Still normal, but a few hundred feet from the lake¡¯s edge, things got impossible. At this point, all the way around the lake, the water dropped away, like a big circular waterfall leaving a large, empty cavity in the middle. A perfectly round cylinder of rock rose from the center of this cavity like a tower, hundreds of feet in diameter, its top disappearing into the clouds. A chasm of emptiness separated this from the water¡¯s edge. Adventure surely awaited way up there, but until I had the ability to get there, it would have to keep waiting. The village of Caldeon sat in the center of the Southwest hex. It was a farming town, surrounded by the fields that fed the city¡¯s many mouths. It almost felt like any other farming community, full of NPC¡¯s busily working away on their ordinary lives, except that there was an overwhelming sense of gloom hanging over the town and everyone in it. While looking around the main street, I noticed all the locals suddenly stop whatever they were doing to watch a carriage coming up the road. I couldn¡¯t see who was inside it, the windows weren¡¯t just covered by curtains, they¡¯d been painted completely black. ¡°Who¡¯s in the carriage?¡± I asked a shopkeeper. ¡°Another poor unfortunate soul, stricken by the madness.¡± ¡°The madness?¡± The shopkeeper sighed before delivering their exposition. ¡°It started a few months ago. A farmboy suddenly went crazy, attacking his family.¡± ¡°Because of the madness?¡± The shopkeeper nodded. ¡°What causes it?¡± They shrugged. ¡°I wish we knew. Dozens have been inflicted since.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the carriage taking them?¡± They pointed up the street to what looked like a small church. All its windows had been painted black. ¡°What¡¯s with the black paint?¡± ¡°To block the light from making the madness worse.¡± Once the carriage had passed, people went back to their tasks. I thanked the shopkeeper and bought a small basket of what I thought were olives, but turned out to be soft, juicy berries that tasted like licorice. I considered sticking around in Caldeon for a while ¡ª there was most certainly an adventure here uncovering the cause of the madness epidemic and finding a way to stop it ¡ª but I didn¡¯t quite feel ready to take on something like this by myself, so I put a pin in it and promised myself to come back later. Besides, I had one more hex adjacent to the city to explore, the one to the immediate West. The final hex bordered the city¡¯s Western gate, the one managed by the kung fu warriors of the Dragon Clan. When I¡¯d gone through this gate with Jane and Sigrid on my second night here, the night we explored the Black Altar, we¡¯d turned North immediately. Had we kept going West along the well-traveled road, we would have reached the bridge over the Serpent River. In the middle of this hex there was something the locals called the Giant¡¯s Mound I wanted to see. I was curious why the road didn¡¯t go straight West toward the coast, but instead followed right next to the river as it meandered along the bottom of the hex toward the town of Seaside on the edge of the Great Western Sea. The question was answered when I saw a convoy of three barges heading toward the city, pulled along the river by a massive beast that resembled a brontosaurus. This monster, easily the size of a large truck, stirred up clouds of dust as it plodded along the road, hauling the barges by thick ropes connecting them all together. A single carriage followed the beast, along with five people riding smaller creatures that were like some kind of dinosaur and reminded me of the tauntauns Luke and Han rode in The Empire Strikes Back, three in front of the big dino, and two behind the carriage. The riders looked like a party of adventurers, decked out in armor and armed to the teeth, but they weren¡¯t Players. And they weren¡¯t sharing the road. The road was certainly wide enough. There was plenty of room for them to move to one side, and me to the other, so we could pass each other amicably. I went to the right side but they kept going straight, taking up the entire width of the road. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Outa the way,¡± one of them barked, a large man in heavy armor with a gigantic sword slung on his back. Before I even knew it, I¡¯d stepped off the road into the long weeds on the side. What the hell?
Flint Vivier Silver Sword Leader
Powers: I Can Still Hit You Way Over There - Expert: Ranged sword attack I Swing, You Fall - Master: An extra-powerful sword attack Respect My Authoritay - Expert: A commanding aura that demands obedience That All You Got? - Expert: Ignore an attack
Skills: Knife - Expert Leadership - Expert Sword - Master Tracking - Expert
Oh, I see. So this is the Silver Sword mercenary group Shashu mentioned. Damn, he¡¯s strong. He¡¯d probably give that pink-haired S-ranker Akari a run for her money. I used All Shall Be Revealed on the others, and they were all equally powerful. In addition to the swordsman leader, there was an obvious tank with a gigantic rectangular shield, an archer, one with support and buff powers, and one with heavy damage-dealing elemental powers: a well-rounded party. Even if he hadn¡¯t used his power that demanded obedience on me, I would¡¯ve had to step aside. There¡¯s no way I could take on one of them by myself, let alone the whole group. Hell, even all of Team Maple Leaf plus the Round Table and I together wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. But that didn¡¯t mean I was happy about it. I glared at them as they passed, but they hardly gave me a second glance. Just when I was starting to gain a little confidence in my abilities, I was forcibly reminded of my insignificance by these overpowered and overbearing NPCs. They kept going toward the city and I went in the opposite direction, Westward toward the sea. I didn¡¯t go far, though, just far enough to get a good look at the hill they called the Giant¡¯s Mound. It was obvious why they called it that, because it resembled an enormous body half-buried in the ground. No doubt there was an adventure to be found there too, but the day was getting on and I was still in a bad mood because of my brief encounter with the Silver Sword, so I turned around and went home. In only the six hexes immediately surrounding the city I¡¯d identified a number of potential adventures, but I was alone, and I didn¡¯t feel ready to face anything big on my own, so after this initial exploration I ended up spending most of my time inside the city walls where there was ample opportunity to improve my abilities and learn new skills. In particular, I wanted to work on omni-do and its component skills, so I made a point of going to all of the other martial arts clans to seek training from their masters. I decided to start with a martial art I already knew, jiu jitsu, so that meant going to the Eagle Clan on Axe Street. Even though they had good relations with the Dragon Clan, the Eagle Clan Master saw my green armband and was wary of me at first. But once I demonstrated that I knew some jiu jitsu I was permitted to train and even earned their blue armband along with membership in the Eagle Clan. I was only hoping to improve my skill, I hadn¡¯t expected the added boon of joining the clan too. I didn¡¯t even know it was possible to join more than one. It felt weird having an armband on each arm, so I twisted the two together and wore them on the same arm. From there, I spent the following days working my way around the city and ended up earning the red armband of the Wolf Clan, the yellow one of the Rat Clan, the purple one of the Monkey Clan, and the orange one of the Tiger Clan as well. I was now a member of all six clans and welcome anywhere in the city, and had raised my fighting ability significantly. On my left bicep, I wore an armband that consisted of all six colors woven together. Omni-do now also included all six of the city''s core martial arts, as well as a few other fighting styles I picked up along the way, and I had reached Adept level in it after testing it against minor foes such as goblins and wolves. My proficiency with Affinity Control had also capped out at Adept, as had my mastery of most of the individual affinities. Over the weeks I spent doing all this, the teams and other Players continued to be given regular quests, and I continued to be snubbed. Feeling stronger after my training and leveling up, I went back outside the city walls. It was time to take on some of those adventures. I decided to start by going back into the forest. Ever since my last visit I couldn¡¯t get that wall of thorns out of my head. There was something I wanted to try. On a whim, I decided to drop by the orc camp first. I had learned firsthand that we Players could respawn, but what about monsters? I snuck through the trees and sure enough, when I got close enough I could hear the guttural grunts that passed as orc communication up ahead. I was feeling pretty confident, and even though I knew it was reckless and probably incredibly stupid, I decided to take on the orcs by myself. If things went south, after all those morning workouts with Sigrid I was pretty sure I could always just run away. My cardio was much improved. Being as stealthy as I could, I snuck up to the edge of the orcs¡¯ clearing. I could see a pair of them slumped on crude wooden benches beside a fire, upon which a large cauldron of something burbled and boiled. I had no idea what they were cooking in that pot, but whatever it was, it smelled truly foul. With Adept level in both Affinity Control and my affinity with Fire, I was now able to conjure a decent fireball out of thin air. Even better, I could take an existing fire and make it explosive. I watched and waited to see if I could locate the other orcs, but quickly got bored and anxious and realized I was just dawdling because I was afraid. One of the orcs stood up and dipped a wooden ladle into the pot, scooping out a spoonful and raising it to its tusky mouth. As the orc sipped, I saw the arm of a tiny creature reach out from the big spoon and grab at the orc¡¯s face. The orc grunted, then took a big slurp, gobbling down the entire contents of the ladle. I heard something crunch in its mouth. That was about enough for me, I¡¯d had my fill of orc-watching, so I took a deep breath and focused on the bonfire under the cauldron. It exploded in a most rewarding way. Chapter Fifty-Two - Ouch The blast was enough to lift the heavy iron pot ten feet into the air, not to mention send the two orcs flying backward. One didn¡¯t move after that but only lay there on its back, fur singed and ragged clothing smoldering, but the other growled and started rising to its feet. I put a quick end to that with a well-placed Adept-level lightning bolt. The cauldron fell back to the ground with a resounding clang. Whatever was inside it had been vaporized by the blast. The other orcs had been roused by the sound and came rushing out of the huts. I caught two of them with a fireball as they struggled with each other in the doorway of one of the huts, both wanting to be the first one to get out and into the fight. Neither made it, and both were knocked back by the fireball, which set the entire hut ablaze. Another orc emerged from a different hut, and the alpha came barging out of its hut. I sent a lightning bolt at the alpha, but it just swung its axe and knocked the lightning off into the trees. Uh oh. Both orcs looked toward the source of the lightning, saw me, and came charging. I crouched into a defensive posture, ready to put omni-do to the test. Then the remaining two orcs emerged from the trees on the other side of the camp, and they too began stomping toward me with menace in their dark eyes. I may have been a bit ambitious, trying to take on the entire orc camp solo. It wasn¡¯t long ago that almost ten of us struggled to finish them off. Falling with a dagger to the heart while saving Jane was one thing, that¡¯s something I could brag about, but dying because I foolishly bit off more than I could chew was something else altogether. Bravery is nothing without the wisdom to know the difference between what¡¯s courageous and what¡¯s foolhardy. Fortunately, even though I took my hits and ended up with only a sliver of red left in my Health meter, and not much more in the Mana, I managed to take down the whole orc troupe. I was stronger, but not strong enough that I could cakewalk through major encounters. Guess it¡¯s still a bit soon for me to try soloing dungeons. As I performed Laying On Hands on myself to recover some much-needed health, the observers in the peanut gallery started chiming in. An unnamed observer applauds your growth An unnamed observer offers a reward System: You have received a Silver Gift Box A mysterious observer says not so fast A mysterious observer wishes to offer a better reward System: Your Silver Gift Box has been upgraded to a Gold Gift Box An unnamed observer won¡¯t be outdone by the likes of you System: Your Gold Gift Box has been upgraded to a Platinum Gift Box A curious observer watches with amusement A mysterious observer suggests it is silly to fight over this Player¡¯s favor An unnamed observer agrees These observers are crazy. A curious observer suggests that you two share the gift of a Legendary Gift Box System: System wonders if the observers are too cheap to go that far A mysterious observer is offended by the suggestion An unnamed observer can easily afford it A mysterious observer is anything but cheap An unnamed observer won¡¯t be outdone System: Your Platinum Gift Box has been upgraded to a Legendary Gift Box Did System just provoke them into upgrading to Legendary? Could it be that System¡¯s on my side? ¡°Uh, thank you?¡± I said. A curious observer giggles and looks forward to seeing what¡¯s in the box And that¡¯s how I found myself in the burning ruins of the orc camp with a lot of treasure. In addition to the Legendary Gift Box, the orcs¡¯ chest had respawned as well, as had the orc leader¡¯s personal item. This time it wasn¡¯t a bone necklace but a gold tusk that could be used as an ingredient for crafting. I chose not to open the orcs¡¯ chest yet and stuffed the whole thing into my inventory, but I couldn¡¯t resist the lure of the Legendary Gift Box. Besides, the observers wouldn¡¯t shut up until I opened it. Like the Boss Box before, the Gift Box had physically appeared before me and once again the confetti burst out when I pulled the ribbon. Legendary Gift Scroll This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.Read the scroll, get the Gift. Uses: 1 Whoah Nelly! Gift: I Can Keep Going And Going - Mana battery Score! I read the scroll right then and there. System: You have a new Gift: I Can Keep Going And Going An unnamed observer is satisfied Yeah, me too. Having access to more mana would be very handy. I wondered what Stratos was going to think when they saw this? Bet they¡¯d wish they¡¯d had given me some little quests to keep me occupied. I had a snack to replenish some mana, noticing that even if I ate more once my normal mana capacity was refilled my new mana battery remained empty. I guess there¡¯s another way to fill the battery. I¡¯ll figure that out later. Right now, the wall of thorns is calling me. I made my way back to the path and followed it up to the prickly barrier. I tried as surreptitiously as possible to scan the surrounding trees to see if I could spot anyone hiding there with a bow ready to shoot me, but there was nothing there. At least, not that I could see. I approached the wall. It looked the same as before. I held out my hand and channeled Nature, just as I had the last time. A few vines twisted, then returned back in place when I stopped concentrating, just like last time. So far, so good. Now came the big test: could I make an opening through the wall? I decided it would be better to do this away from the path, just in case someone else came along, so I ventured a hundred steps off the path before trying. I tried walking as silently as I could, listening the whole time for the sounds of anything rustling in the trees, such as any unseen watchers with bows. I heard nothing. I used Nature again, only this time I poured all my effort into creating a gap in the wall. The thorny vines twisted and began to peel back, but they only went so far, not nearly far enough to be called a gap. More of an indentation. The moment I stopped feeding mana into it, the vines wriggled back into place showing no sign they¡¯d ever shifted at all. I tried again and the same thing happened. That wasn¡¯t going to work. The good news was that while someone or something was preventing me from making a path through the wall, at least nobody was shooting me. Last time I¡¯d made the wall sprout a flower by combining Nature and Life, so I tried using the two affinities together to create an opening, but all I got was a cluster of lavender blossoms. I spent some time trying different things using Nature and other affinities, seeing if there was a way to manipulate the wall to let me through, but I remained stumped. Frustrated, I gave up. I turned around and followed the wall back to the path, touching it every few steps. Every time my finger met the wall I used a synthesis of Nature and Life to produce a line of flowers along the outside. When I reached the path I drew a smiley face pattern of pale purple blossoms. Even though I couldn¡¯t detect them I was sure that someone was watching with a bow and arrow aimed at me, so I waved to my unseen watchers and went back down the path toward town. One way or another, I was going to find a way through that wall. I was making my way back through the forest, mind racing with thoughts of how I could get past the wall and what I might find on the other side, and not really paying much attention to my surroundings. Suddenly, I heard a woman¡¯s voice from inside the trees. ¡°What is that?¡± she said. I stopped. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Wait! Stop!¡± Without a second thought, I dashed off the path and into the trees toward the sound. I mean, someone was clearly in trouble. ¡°Help!¡± ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± I reached the spot in the trees where I thought her cries were coming from, but there was nothing there. I looked to the left. That was a mistake. Had I looked to the right, I might have seen a pair of malevolent eyes glaring at me from within the trees and had some warning, but I looked left, so I was completely taken by surprise when something pounced on me and sank its nasty teeth into the flesh of my right shoulder. ¡°Ouch!¡± I shrieked. ¡°Ouch!¡± another voice said. It didn¡¯t sound like the woman¡¯s, it sounded like a man¡¯s, only it was muffled, as though he was trying to speak with his mouth full. Which, in fact, was exactly the case. Only it wasn¡¯t a man, it was a monster. And what its mouth was full of was my shoulder. I swatted at it, of course, instinctively. Like you¡¯d swat at a bug that bit you. Only it wasn¡¯t a bug, of course, it was a Jackalope, antlers and all, and it had several rows of its fangs sunk deep into me. My hand hit the antlers, of course. Now I know how pointy one of those antlers can be. My health sank into the yellow zone pretty fast. I didn¡¯t know what to do. I wanted it off, of course, but I also didn¡¯t want it taking a good portion of my upper body with it. I¡¯d just gotten the upper body I secretly always wanted even though I always said I didn¡¯t care about that sort of thing, and it¡¯d be a shame to let it go like that. Hurm, what affinities might I hit it with to get it off? Light came immediately to mind, because a laser is nothing but really focused light and I¡¯d caused some interesting effects with that in practice, not to mention my shoulder hurt like crazy and I¡¯d like nothing more than to see what it¡¯d look like to shine a laser beam through its head. I also thought of Fire, because using fire on someone to punish them could easily be made slow and showy and really painful, and I wanted to punish it for biting me. If I used them together I¡¯d have twice as much chance of making it let go of my shoulder. That was the point, after all. Just to make sure, it¡¯d be nice to add in Air as a little extra encouragement to get it the hell off of me and away somewhere where it couldn¡¯t just bite me again. Could I use three affinities at a time? Its beady black eyes glared at me from over its twitching little snout. I pointed my index finger right between them until its fur tickled, then pushed a blast of ultra-focused light and fire and air at the same time. There was a boom, and for the briefest of moments I was able to look the monster straight between the eyes and see right through its head to the other side, then the Jackalope fell about four feet away. My shoulder ¨C bleeding and throbbing, but otherwise intact ¨C stayed with me. Ooookay. Yes. Yes, I could use three affinities at a time. And now I knew what it¡¯s like to shoot off a laser right next to something¡¯s head, while also injecting the heat of a largeish sun into a tiny little space stupidly fast (at the very least Mach One, judging by the boom), while also jamming in a considerable electric charge. It had this much going for it: it was a very clean way to kill something. The intense heat cauterized the wound immediately, so there was no blood, no splatter, no nothing. Well, besides mine. It was a far cry from the last time I had to deal with a Jackalope. No brutality bonus this time. I started feeling a bit funny. Had I lost that much blood? No, wait. The Jackalope had that venom, didn¡¯t it? What did it do again? I couldn¡¯t remember. My mind was getting foggy. Hard to think straight. I checked the creature¡¯s Status to remind myself, suspecting it might be significant, but it was already dead so instead of its powers all I got was its list of drop items. I had enough clarity of mind to know I should probably get those, but not enough to make myself butcher the beast. I grabbed an antler. My mind was getting really foggy now. Where was I again? I felt that lying down would help me remember. Looking up, all I could see was trees. Oh right, the forest. But why were the trees moving? Their branches were swaying and swirling in a way that reminded me of being on hallucinogens. I couldn¡¯t remember dropping acid, but that¡¯s what it felt like. Had I eaten a mushroom? What portion of the bugs I felt crawling all over me were real? I estimated maybe fifty-fifty, and figured I could live with that. But could I live with my shoulder? It hurt like hell. I put my hand on it and felt something warm and wet. I looked at my fingers. There were eleven of them and they were all red. Oh crap, was I bleeding? I went to wipe the blood off with my other hand, but found a dead Jackalope in it. Right. I¡¯d been bitten. Wasn¡¯t there something about the Jackalope¡¯s venom that was special? What was it again? I used my power to see the monster¡¯s Status, but...oh right. Now I remembered. Maybe if I just lay there it¡¯d go away. I couldn¡¯t tell you how long I laid there, looking up at the wiggling trees and feeling my ability to think slowly but surely sink away. No. This was not like acid. This was how I was going to die. That was the last clear thought I remembered having. Chapter Fifty-Three - Shakedown There were plenty of unclear thoughts and memories, like the vague memory of standing up and moving. Of climbing a tree. Of falling out of it. Of meeting a large blue bear and killing it. Of meeting a walking mushroom and killing it. Of meeting an enormous snake and killing it. Of thinking how weird it was that I was meeting so many creatures all of a sudden. Of thinking I seemed to be killing an awful lot of things. I can verify that I actually did meet, and kill, all those creatures, and more, because I found all their carcasses in my inventory later. I could have been disturbed by the discovery, and I was, a bit, but mostly I was pleased that even stoned out of my gourd on Jackalope venom I still had enough presence of mind to stash the loot. Eventually, once I ran out of monsters to kill or path to follow, or both, I left the forest. From then on my memories got even foggier. I know I met some people, and I¡¯m pretty sure I didn¡¯t kill them. I think they ran away before I could. My first clear memory was of a small, bright room. I was looking up at a chandelier holding dozens of lit candles. I was on my back on a bed in some kind of infirmary, judging by the various tools and vials and potions and anatomical diagrams surrounding me, and happy to discover I felt not a single bug crawling on me, real or hallucinatory. I was shirtless, though, which troubled me a bit. I was not in the habit of taking off my shirt in public unless the situation specifically called for it. Then I remembered getting bitten on my shoulder. It didn¡¯t hurt anymore. It¡¯s possible that the people in the infirmary took my shirt off when they went to treat my shoulder wound. I went to feel it, only to discover I still clutched the Jackalope¡¯s antler in my fist. The rest of the Jackalope was still attached to it, although it seemed a lot more battered than it was before, its white fur crusted with a lot of dried blood, leaves, twigs, and dirt. Had I been holding onto it this entire time? How long had it been? It took a lot of effort to let go of the antler. My fingers were locked around it, and I had to physically pry them free with the other hand. They remained numb for a long time afterward. When at last they had some feeling back in them, I felt my shoulder and found it completely healed. I tried sitting up, but a sudden flood of vertigo made me lie back down right away. One more second upright and I would¡¯ve hurled for sure. I lay there trying to piece together how I ended up in this place, wherever it was, but there were too many gaps in my memory. So then I just lay there wondering when I¡¯d be able to leave. After a while, the door opened and a stranger¡¯s face poked in. It was a man, not old but older than me, not quite middle aged, not unattractive. Forgive the vague description, but he was so unassuming I have a hard time picturing what he was really like. I just have this nebulous impression of him swirling around: a completely average Joe. He looked like he was just popping in for a peek, for all I knew he¡¯d done it countless times before, checking to see if I was up. His head poked in, then disappeared, then poked back in a moment later as he did a literal double-take. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re actually up,¡± he said. ¡°Good.¡± The rest of his body followed him in and came to stand beside my bed. He was not wearing healer¡¯s robes or anything like you¡¯d imagine a healer might wear. He wore what would pass for a nondescript business suit in this world. Unassuming. Forgettable. Normal. The only thing that stood out was a small pin on his lapel in the shape of a crimson hand. I tried to sit up, but my head immediately began swimming again and I had to lie back down. He put his hand out, gesturing for me to stay down. ¡°Don¡¯t try to sit up.¡± Yeah, thanks. I looked up at him from my forced prone position and evaluated him.
Joe Median Aid Worker
Skills: First Aid - Competent Negotiation - Competent Thaumaturgy - Competent
What do you know? His name really was Joe. His Status was pretty average too, all except for that Thaumaturgy skill. That was a magic skill I hadn¡¯t seen before. It could¡¯ve meant anything from working miracles to doing parlor tricks. I was curious what it meant on Crucible, but it didn¡¯t matter. Either way, I wants it, my precious! ¡°Where am I?¡± ¡°You¡¯re in the Cathedral,¡± he said. He didn¡¯t need to specify which, there was only one Cathedral. The one in the city center, where people went for healing. I¡¯d never had the need to go there before, I¡¯d either been able to heal myself with skill or potion, or I¡¯d asked Nina for help. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°How¡¯d I get here?¡± ¡°You were brought here by the guards from the Eastern gate. Apparently, you showed up trying to get into the city and made something of a disturbance. Lucky for you they knew you.¡± I had a bad feeling about things all of a sudden. ¡°What kind of disturbance?¡± ¡°They did not specify, but if I were to guess, you probably annoyed them at first by repeating everything they said, then tried biting them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a rather specific guess. What makes you think that was it?¡± ¡°Because that is what you did to us when they brought you here.¡± ¡°Ah. Really? Um, sorry about that.¡± ¡°There is no need to apologize. You were not yourself.¡± ¡°I was bitten by a Jackalope.¡± ¡°I am aware.¡± His eyes flickered down to the dead monster on my lap. ¡°You were clutching it when you arrived. We were unable to make you let go, but it did give us the clue we needed to properly diagnose your situation.¡± ¡°That was lucky.¡± ¡°Quite. It is unlikely we would have known you were under the effect of the Jackalope¡¯s Curse otherwise.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it! A curse. I could not remember what the thing about the Jackalope¡¯s bite was. A curse. Wait, so I¡¯m cursed?¡± ¡°You were, but we reversed it.¡± ¡°Phew. Thanks for that.¡± ¡°You are welcome. Now, if we could just discuss the matter of the fee.¡± ¡°The fee?¡± ¡°Yes. For services rendered.¡± Is that what this was? A shakedown? My eyes narrowed into slivers. ¡°How much do I owe you?¡± ¡°Including initial exam and diagnosis, cleaning and healing of the shoulder wound, neutralization of the toxin, curse reversal, and holding fees, the fee comes to a total of nine hundred and twenty-three gold pieces.¡± ¡°Nine hundred and twenty-three? Gold?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°Damn.¡± This was a total shakedown. ¡°Normally we establish credit or operate under a pay-up-front basis, but in your case you were in no position to make such arrangements, so here we are.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of gold,¡± I said. ¡°Yes it is.¡± ¡°Like, a ridiculous amount of gold.¡± ¡°We did render some rather unique and costly services.¡± ¡°But you said the diagnosis part was simple.¡± I picked up the dead Jackalope and waved it around. ¡°Yes, but¡ª¡± ¡°And the shoulder was just a basic heal. Any normal potion would¡¯ve done the trick.¡± ¡°Yes, but¡ª¡± ¡°Same with the venom. A basic neutralize poison potion would¡¯ve fixed that.¡± ¡°Yes, but¡ª¡± ¡°And I don¡¯t know the going rate for reversing a curse, but even if the rest cost a hundred, that¡¯s over eight hundred gold to deal with it. That¡¯s a lot.¡± He stopped trying to argue and stood there, silent and stoic. I got the feeling he had this kind of conversation a lot. ¡°I¡¯m not going to pay it.¡± I tried to sit up again, and again with the nausea. ¡°And why do I feel so sick when I try to move? I thought you healed me.¡± ¡°We did. The nausea comes from the holding potion we fed you.¡± ¡°The what?¡± ¡°I mentioned the holding fees in my itemized summary. The cost of the holding potion used to keep you here until you pay the fees.¡± ¡°You¡¯re joking.¡± ¡°I never joke about my work.¡± ¡°So you drugged me so I can¡¯t move, is that it? I don¡¯t get the antidote until I pay you?¡± ¡°If you cannot pay, we can make other arrangements.¡± ¡°I bet you can. Like make me a slave, I bet.¡± ¡°Slavery is illegal in the city.¡± ¡°So, what, you take me somewhere else where it is legal then? Or do you call it indentured servitude instead and make me work without pay until I¡¯ve settled my debt?¡± ¡°Actually¡ª¡± ¡°Nevermind. I get it.¡± I¡¯d dealt with enough collection agents on Earth to know the drill. I was screwed. I¡¯d made a fair bit of coin in my adventures, but I¡¯d also spent a lot. I didn¡¯t have a thousand gold. Or maybe I did... ¡°Well, lucky for both of us I can pay, but I need to move to get you the money.¡± ¡°We took the liberty of searching your possessions ¡ª you know, as part of our initial diagnosis ¡ª and I know that you do not have the money. But there is something you¡ª¡± ¡°But I do have it. It¡¯s in my inventory.¡± He stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language. ¡°Er, I mean, it¡¯s in an extra-dimensional, um, space. Oh to hell with it.¡± I sat up, and immediately had to lean over the side of the bed and barf. That holding potion was simple, but effective. Pausing every other second to heave up more of my breakfast, I opened my inventory and pulled out the chest I got off the orcs. I hadn¡¯t opened it yet, but if it was the same as last time... I closed my eyes and focused on breathing until the world stopped spinning. It didn¡¯t stop, but at least it slowed down a bit, so I pulled my lockpicks from the inventory next, and set to work opening the chest. I held my eyes closed as I worked, using touch and sound alone. After some fiddling, the chest issued a satisfying click and I let the lid fall open. I opened my eyes a crack, just wide enough to see a large number of shiny gold pieces inside ¡ª at least a thousand ¡ª before I fell back onto the bed and closed my eyes until the queasiness subsided. ¡°Can I please have the antidote now?¡± Then, after a moment¡¯s consideration, I added: ¡°And my shirt?¡± Chapter Fifty-Four - Foom He didn¡¯t reply. In fact, he acted like he didn¡¯t hear me at all. I could¡¯ve understood if he¡¯d been dazzled by all the gold in front of him, but he didn¡¯t seem at all interested in it. If anything, he seemed annoyed by it. ¡°Um, my shirt?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know where it is,¡± he said. ¡°You weren¡¯t wearing one when they brought you here.¡± That¡¯s not good. He retrieved a vial from a shelf holding dozens of potions and handed it to me. ¡°The antidote.¡± I was about to quaff it down when I had a thought. ¡°There¡¯s no extra charge for this, is there?¡± ¡°It was included in the holding fees.¡± I drank it down, then tried to sit up. No nausea. Thank god. I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. The first thing I did was reach into my inventory for a fresh shirt, but the only article of clothing I found in there was the shirt I¡¯d been wearing before. At least that solved the mystery of where it went, but the jury was still out on when and why it was removed. The shoulder was torn to hell and caked in blood, but it was better than nothing, so I put it on then started counting coins. There were exactly one thousand in the chest. I took eighty-seven and put them into my inventory, then closed the chest and gave it to Joe. ¡°Paid in full. Now how do I get the hell out of here?¡± I followed Joe out of the room into a hallway lined with similar doors, no doubt a similar infirmary room was behind each one. The hallway opened into a huge chamber, the Cathedral¡¯s nave. There were several Players there, most nursing various injuries and in conversation with NPC Cathedral aid workers about payment of fees. All the aid workers, male and female, were as plain and nondescript as Joe. They all had the same red hand pin and, I noticed, they also all had the same Thaumaturgy skill. As much as I wanted to get the hell out of there, I wanted even more to see someone using the skill so I could learn it, but Joe deftly ushered me toward the exit like an Australian shepherd, and the next thing I knew I was standing outside the Cathedral, blinking in the late afternoon sunlight. I saw a few people giving me strange looks, then realized I was holding the bloody corpse of a Jackalope in my hand. I quickly tucked it away in my inventory and made my way back to the Dragon clan. Instead of going directly into the courtyard by our dorm, I went through the main clan house and found Sifu so I could give him the dead Jackalope. He and Chow Li were having tea in a small garden I¡¯d never seen before. ¡°I expected to see you like this,¡± Chow Li said with a coquettish smile. ¡°I¡¯d heard you made a bit of a fuss at the Eastern gate.¡± ¡°You did?¡± She quirked an eyebrow at me. ¡°Of course. You heard from the Wolf Clan.¡± ¡°You have been the topic of conversation several times recently.¡± She inclined her head toward the blood-soaked armband I wore with all six colors of the different clans braided together. ¡°Nobody has ever joined multiple clans before.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know it wasn¡¯t allowed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that it isn¡¯t allowed, it just hasn¡¯t been done before.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I wanted to learn.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lucky. Had anyone else showed up at the gate and done what you did, they would have found themselves locked up.¡± I winced at that, then bowed deeply. ¡°I apologize for my behavior. I ran into another Jackalope, and this time it bit me.¡± ¡°Ah, that would explain it. I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯ve recovered.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t cheap, but I¡¯m fine now. And that¡¯s actually why I¡¯m here.¡± I produced the Jackalope¡¯s body. For the first time since I arrived, Sifu reacted. His eyes widened and he licked his lips. ¡°The Cathedral¡¯s services are expensive, yes,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°The payment for the Jackalope parts should help offset that.¡± I waved my hand. ¡°Please, after my dishonorable behavior at the gate, and after all you¡¯ve done for me and the other Players, I couldn¡¯t possibly accept payment.¡± It was Chow Li¡¯s turn to shrug. ¡°If you wish.¡± She sipped her tea while Sifu stared greedily at the dead monster. I took that as my cue to leave. I bowed again and backed away to the door. When I got back to the dorm, most of Team Maple Leaf was training in the courtyard, but The Round Table had gone out of the city in search of adventure shortly after I¡¯d left for the forest and hadn¡¯t yet returned. Most of them were practicing, in one way or another. Shannon, the girl I¡¯d rescued on my first night here, was tending the garden. She¡¯d been taken in by the clan and had adopted the duties of gardener. Nina was with her, listening raptly while Shannon explained the medicinal uses of some of the herbs planted. They were the first to see me come in, and Nina¡¯s face immediately pursed into a frown. ¡°Getting into trouble again, I see,¡± Nina said. Right, the bloody shirt. She came over to heal my injuries, but I waved her away. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m already healed.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Now she looked at me like a jealous girlfriend who¡¯d found lipstick on my collar. ¡°Find yourself a better healer, did you?¡± I had to laugh. ¡°Nina,¡± I said, ¡°if only you knew. I will never let anyone else heal me but you.¡± I left her with a confused look on her face and trudged toward my room. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to explain it!¡± Jane said from across the courtyard. She was with Byron, Sam, and Chika, and as I watched she swirled her hands around then thrust them out. ¡°You just sort of...foom, you know?¡± Byron¡¯s face betrayed a combination of bewilderment and frustration as he tried to copy her hand-swirls, while Sam stood there looking at his own hands. Chika just looked angry. Wayne saw me watching Jane struggle and came over to me. ¡°She¡¯s been trying to teach Affinity Control to the ones who still don¡¯t have it yet. It¡¯s not going well.¡± ¡°Foom?¡± Chika roared. ¡°What the heck does foom even mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how else to explain it!¡± Jane said. Jane noticed me trying to sneak past them into my room. ¡°Daniel,¡± she called to me. ¡°I¡¯m tapping out. You show them.¡± ¡°Sure, let me show you how it¡¯s done,¡± I said, and took her place. After a minute or two, Sam used his Nature affinity to make a sunflower burst out of the ground from between two paving stones. ¡°I did it!¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°What the hell?¡± said Jane. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to show him how to do this for ages and you waltz in here and poof, now he gets it?¡± I shrugged. ¡°More like foom and they got it, but yeah.¡± I pointed at myself. ¡°Teacher, remember?¡± ¡°Yeah yeah,¡± said Jane. ¡°Nobody likes a show off.¡± ¡°Okay Chika, Mistress of Death,¡± I said, and that made the teenage girl smile in a slightly disturbing way, ¡°focus on that sunflower and picture it wilting. Suck the life out of it.¡± She stood there, hands curled in tight fists as she shot a literal death-glare at the flower. The edges of its bright yellow petals began to brown and crinkle, then the decay spread as entire blossom withered and drooped. ¡°Ha!¡± shouted Chika. ¡°Suck it, flower.¡± ¡°That¡¯s my girl,¡± I said, holding my hand up for a high five. Chika slapped it with a grin. Jane threw her hands up and stalked away, giving me a soft shoulder check as she passed and mumbling something I couldn¡¯t make out. While Sam and Chika picked it up right away, Byron struggled a bit more with controlling his affinity, but only because it was hard to visualize the manifestation of Void. I used my experience in the Void dungeon with Jane to recreate the swirling mist of color around my feet, and it wasn¡¯t too long before he managed to do it too. ¡°And there you go,¡± I said. ¡°Affinity Control. Now practice it until you¡¯re out of mana, have a snack, then practice some more.¡± Sigrid noticed me trying to sneak into my room again. ¡°You were gone a while. Where have you been?¡± she said. ¡°Out and about,¡± I said. ¡°Picking up new skills, no doubt. Jeez, Daniel. How many do you need?¡± I turned around and smiled at her. ¡°I¡¯m trying to collect the whole set.¡± ¡°Can I see?¡± This is not going to go well. I grudgingly opened my Status and shared it.
Daniel Lamont
Affinity: Air - Adept Darkness - Competent Death - Competent Earth - Competent Fire - Adept Ice - Adept Life - Adept Light - Adept Nature - Adept Shadow - Competent Void - Adept Water - Competent
Gifts: Good at Everything - Player can develop Affinity with all elements; Restriction: cannot evolve mastery in any Affinity, Power, or Skill beyond Adept level Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space I Can Keep Going And Going - Mana battery Jack of All Trades - Learn any Skill through brief observation Murder Hobo - Better chance to get better loot
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Adept: See any status Synthesize - Competent: Combine abilities
Skills: Affinity Control - Adept Aikido - Competent Archery - Competent Axe - Novice Blacksmith - Novice Brawling - Competent Butchery - Competent Cartography - Competent Capoeira - Competent Climbing - Novice Cooking - Competent Crossbow - Novice Drawing - Novice Eidetic Memory - Competent Fitness - Competent Hunting - Competent Jiu Jitsu - Competent Judo - Competent Karate - Competent Kickboxing - Novice Knife - Adept Kung Fu - Adept Laying On Hands - Competent Lockpicking - Competent Muay Thai - Competent Negotiation - Competent Ninjitsu - Competent Omni-do - Adept Polearms - Novice Puzzles - Novice Sneak - Adept Spear - Novice Staff - Novice Sword - Adept Tae Kwon Do - Competent Teaching - Adept Throwing - Novice Trivia - Competent Wrestling - Competent
¡°How are things here?¡± I said as she worked her way through my Status, hoping to distract her. ¡°Oh, you know,¡± she said, ¡°pretty good. What the hell?¡± Here it comes. ¡°You jerk! This is what you call a few skills?¡± ¡°Hey, it¡¯s just more stuff I can teach everyone else.¡± I wonder if she¡¯ll buy that? ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. Looks like you¡¯ve managed to get everyone using Affinity Control now, so that¡¯s good. Both Jane and Nina have got their Laying On Hands, shame you have to have Life affinity to use that...still, you¡¯ve been a busy beaver, haven¡¯t you?¡± Huh. What do you know, she bought it. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to tomorrow¡¯s workout,¡± I said. She put her hands on her hips and smirked. ¡°Someone¡¯s feeling pretty confident all of a sudden.¡± I banged my fist on my chest a few times. ¡°Thanks to this Player¡¯s body.¡± ¡°Thanks to me, you mean.¡± ¡°True. Since I got your Fitness skill I can almost feel my body getting better.¡± ¡°Not what I meant,¡± Sigrid said. Jane sauntered over. ¡°Better. Stronger. Faster. We have the technology. Um, where¡¯d you get all those Gifts, dude? And holy shit, what¡¯s with the Skills?¡± Oops. I guess I shared my status openly instead of just with Sigrid. ¡°He¡¯s been a busy beaver,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What¡¯s this omni-do thing?¡± Jane said. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen that yet?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s his special project.¡± ¡°What special project?¡± Byron said. After Jane¡¯s outburst everybody was coming over to take a look. This was getting uncomfortable. ¡°That status is insane,¡± Andy said, shaking his head. ¡°Skills are not Pokemon, dude.¡± ¡°Pokemon?¡± Chika appeared out of nowhere. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Just talking about Daniel¡¯s skills,¡± Andy said. ¡°You know, gotta get them all?¡± ¡°It¡¯s gotta catch ¡®em all,¡± said Chika, rolling her eyes as only a teenage girl can. ¡°When were you so interested in that stuff? I thought your brother was the otaku.¡± ¡°Nerd osmosis,¡± Chika said. ¡°That¡¯s not a thing,¡± Andy said. ¡°Sure it is,¡± Jane said. ¡°Right Daniel?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah. Sure.¡± Chika was showing a particular interest in my status, narrowing her eyes as she stared at it. ¡°Omni-do? What is that?¡± ¡°A special secret project,¡± Jane said, ¡°so secret that he hasn¡¯t even told me. But not so secret that he hasn¡¯t told his buddy Sigrid about it.¡± Sigrid stuck out her tongue. ¡°Guess you¡¯re not buddies.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a martial art,¡± I said to Chika, ignoring the others. ¡°Never heard of it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I made it up.¡± She scoffed. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Want me to show you?¡± She looked at me for a few moments, then a wide grin spread across her face and she stepped back to the area of the courtyard we used for hand-to-hand training. ¡°Bring it, old man.¡± Several people laughed, none more enthusiastically than Jane. I joined Chika on the mats while the others found good places to watch. ¡°You do remember that I am the tournament champion,¡± she said. ¡°I am well aware. Are we using powers as well?¡± She shook her head. ¡°No cheating. Just skill.¡± ¡°Then I might stand a chance.¡± Chapter Fifty-Five - Sifus mission Everyone moved to create an open space in the courtyard, leaving Chika and I standing face to face. A mysterious observer is excited to see you fight An unnamed observer thinks the human Player Daniel will lose A mysterious observer wonders if the unnamed observer is willing to make a wager on that An unnamed observer is always ready to gamble A mysterious observer suggests the reward of a Random Reward Box to the winner An unnamed observer agrees, and will pay for it if the human Player Daniel wins Hmm, nobody¡¯s reacting to these messages. Am I the only one who can see them? Chika and I bowed to each other, then it began. Her jiu jitsu skill was at the Adept level, the same as my omni-do, but she¡¯d been very good at it back on Earth so her practical ability was higher than the nominal skill level indicated on her Status. I knew she was an aggressive fighter, so I was ready when she came right out of the gate with an attack to my legs. She wanted to take me down and use her ground skill to win quickly. That¡¯s what I¡¯d do in her shoes. I stepped away. She followed up with a series of attacks, which I used some blocks pulled from karate and kung fu to avoid, then took her by surprise by grabbing her wrist in an aikido hold and using her own momentum to flip her over. She bounced back up immediately, grinning. ¡°Try that again, I dare you,¡± she said. Sigrid whistled from the sidelines. ¡°Come on, Chika!¡± I turned to look at Sigrid. ¡°I thought you were on my side.¡± Chika came at me before Sigrid could respond, hoping to use my momentary distraction as an opportunity, but I was ready for it. Once again, I used another aikido move to seize her wrist and flip her over onto her back. She bounced up again, looking flustered. She kept attacking, a relentless combination of moves that I countered with a series of defenses culled from various techniques, frustrating her every effort. If she got me on the ground I¡¯d be at a serious disadvantage; omni-do includes several grappling-based arts, but her experience would be tough to overcome, and even though we said we wouldn¡¯t use Powers, she had a Gift that gave her extra strength that wasn¡¯t easy to turn off. If she got me tied up on the ground, that would probably be it for me. I kept switching it up, agitating her and throwing her focus off as my defense pulled from various martial art forms. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Chika said after backing away to catch her breath. ¡°MMA?¡± ¡°Sort of.¡± I shared the skill description in a Status screen. Skills: Omni-do - Adept: Custom martial art synthesizing the techniques of Aikido, Boxing, Brawling, Karate, Kickboxing, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Ninjitsu, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, and Wrestling. ¡°Ah,¡± she said. ¡°So it is MMA. That explains things.¡± ¡°Not quite. Mixed Martial Arts is a catch-all thing that means something different for every fighter, depending on what they bring into it. Right now you¡¯re only using your jiu jitsu against me. If you tossed in some of the kung fu you also know, that¡¯d be MMA. Omni-do is a standardized fusion of all styles that brings a heightened synergy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a mouthful,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I wish I could take credit. That¡¯s how System explained it to me when I asked the same question. I knew using Synthesis to combine them would make the sum better than the parts, I just didn¡¯t know exactly how.¡± ¡°So you really did create it?¡± Chika said. ¡°More like System created it. Whenever I pick up a new combat technique I add it with Synthesis. I¡¯m thinking about adding in weapon skills too.¡± ¡°Kung fu includes weapons,¡± Chika said. ¡°Yes, but it wouldn¡¯t be the same.¡± ¡°You mean it¡¯d be better?¡± ¡°You said it, not me.¡± She grinned at me. ¡°Can you attack with it, or are you just going to keep playing defense and avoiding me like a little wuss?¡± ¡°Bring it, girly. I¡¯ll show you offense.¡± Jane snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate how offensive he can be.¡± I went immediately to the attack, flowing seamlessly between different styles, never attacking the same way or at the same place twice. She couldn¡¯t tell what to expect, a strike, a kick, a lock, a throw, and she began to get sloppy as her confidence waned. I took advantage and went in to end it with a judo throw followed up by a choke hold. I expected her to tap out, but she persisted in fighting it. When I felt that she was about to stop struggling because the lack of oxygen was about to make her pass out, I loosened my hold a little. It was just enough to let her escape my hold and reverse it. And that was it. As I expected, once she got me on the ground it was over for me. Her thin but shockingly powerful arm wrapped around my neck to cut off the blood supply to my brain and the edge of my vision grew blurry. I waited as long as I could, but when I felt myself about to lose consciousness I tapped out. I didn¡¯t think anyone watching would know that I eased up early on purpose, but I could tell by the way Chika glared at me afterwards that she knew what I¡¯d done. I hadn¡¯t thrown the fight, not exactly, but I hadn¡¯t gone full bore against her. Nonetheless, once we were both back on her feet she turned to face me and bowed deeply. ¡°Thank you for the match.¡± I bowed back. ¡°The Player¡¯s Champion remains undefeated. I¡¯ll get you next time.¡± While we were both bent over and our heads close together, she whispered to me. ¡°Next time, I want a real fight.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± I said, but we both knew I was lying. I also knew that the observers were about to make good on their wager, so I was watching Chika for her reaction when she saw that she¡¯d won a Random Reward Box. I was not disappointed. ¡°What is this? Who are these observers?¡± Chika said. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Jane said. ¡°Can¡¯t you see them? All the notifications.¡± ¡°Again, what are you talking about? System notifications?¡± ¡°No, these are different. They look different and aren¡¯t from the System. They say they¡¯re from a mysterious observer and an unknown observer.¡± ¡°How mysterious indeed,¡± I said. ¡°What do they say?¡± ¡°They placed a bet on our fight and because I won I¡¯m getting a reward.¡± A box appeared in front of Chika. It was wrapped in a bow like the one I¡¯d been given after defeating the orcs, only this one was covered in question marks, like it was a present left for Batman by the Riddler. ¡°There are people watching us?¡± Jane said. ¡°Who?¡± I saw her look at me and scowl. ¡°Do you know anything about this, Daniel?¡± Crap. How did she know? ¡°I¡¯ve seen messages like that before, yes.¡± ¡°Who are they?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She stared at me. ¡°But you have a theory.¡± How the heck does she know these things? Am I that transparent? ¡°Shush,¡± I said. ¡°Chika¡¯s opening her reward box.¡± I could see Jane scowling at me through the cloud of virtual confetti that poofed from the box when Chika opened it. ¡°Aces!¡± Chika said. ¡°What did you get?¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a scroll. Oh, it¡¯s a new Power! It¡¯s called Life After Death.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I bet it lets her keep going even after her health is gone,¡± Wayne said. ¡°Nope, it¡¯s way better,¡± Chika said. ¡°It¡¯s not my life, it¡¯s someone else¡¯s. I can turn a dead body into an undead minion.¡± ¡°Sounds like my summoned skeletons.¡± Power: Life After Death - Novice: Create minions from corpses ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said. ¡°Chika needs an actual corpse to raise, you can make them appear out of nowhere,¡± I said. ¡°So she can take a creature we kill and turn it into a zombie under her control?¡± Byron said. ¡°That¡¯s cool.¡± "So cool!" Chika said. ¡°So creepy,¡± Nina said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that make it less powerful, though?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°If Wayne can make them anywhere, anytime, but Chika needs an actual, you know, body...¡± ¡°Not necessarily,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Imagine if Chika had a dead dragon to raise.¡± ¡°Yikes.¡± ¡°I bet there¡¯s another important difference,¡± I said. ¡°Wayne, you need to keep pumping mana into them to maintain your summons, right? I bet once she creates hers that¡¯s all the mana they need.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°They just keep following her around?¡± ¡°A true necromancer,¡± Wayne said, holding up his hand. ¡°Our powers are unstoppable, Death sister.¡± Chika gave him a high five. "I''m so gonna wreck some people with this," she said. "Hang on," I said, looking at Chika. "What''s that?" "What''s what?" Chika said. "That," I said, pointing at her mouth. I''d never seen a physical change happen when someone acquired a new ability, but since getting her Arise power Chika had grown a fang. It was like a vampire''s fang, a single white point that stuck out over her bottom lip. The girl''s hand went to her mouth, feeling around. When she touched the fang she reacted with a startle. Morgan came over and used her power to create a small hand mirror, which she gave to Chika. "That is so coooooool!" Chika said as she examined her pointy new tooth in the reflection. ¡°So creepy,¡± Nina said, but she was smiling. Chika went to hand the mirror back, but Morgan simply waved it away and it vanished. This was similar to the difference between Wayne''s summoning and Chika''s new power. Morgan''s ability to create objects wasn''t like how Byron made things using Artifice. Her objects lasted only as long as she kept squirting mana into them; after the initial cost of creation, Byron''s fabricated items were forever. Jane was still staring at me, but her death glare had softened into something completely different. We locked eyes, then I saw hers dart toward the reward box, then back at me. She smiled. What was she thinking? Then I noticed Chika looking at me. Uh oh. I couldn¡¯t tell what she was thinking either. I noticed both her hands were balled into fists. For a moment I thought she was getting ready to punch me, but then she surprised me by bending into a deep, formal bow. ¡°Teach me omni-do,¡± Chika said. ¡°Sensei.¡± I was only just getting used to her calling me senpai or onii-chan, now it was sensei. From senior to big brother, now to teacher. Keeping track of all the honorifics Japanese people used was exhausting. ¡°Hell, if you¡¯re giving lessons count me in too,¡± said Andy. ¡°I would also like to see more of this technique,¡± came a new voice from the back. It was Sifu Chow Bo. He made his way closer and we all bowed respectfully. Chow Li glided along beside him. ¡°Sifu,¡± I said. ¡°You saw that?¡± ¡°I saw enough,¡± he said. ¡°This skill isn¡¯t so simple to learn. First you have to be proficient in enough of the component techniques before you can learn to meld them properly. System explained that too.¡± Chika gnawed her lower lip. ¡°So that means if I want to learn omni-do, first I have to learn aikido, karate, muay thai, brawling, and all the others.¡± ¡°Gotta catch ¡¯em all,¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh,¡± Andy said, yawning. ¡°In that case, I think I¡¯ll pass.¡± Chika grinned and tightened the belt on her gi. ¡°I¡¯ve already got jiu jitsu and kung fu. I¡¯ll start on the others tomorrow.¡± Sifu regarded Chika for a moment, then nodded approvingly before starting to walk away, ¡°I need you for a minute.¡± Chow Li went with him and it wasn¡¯t until Sigrid gave me a push that I realized he¡¯d been talking to me and I was who he meant to follow them. They led me to a corner of the courtyard where there was a tidy garden with a burbling fountain. They sat on the bench and I knelt on the ground in front of them. ¡°You let her win,¡± he said. ¡°You could tell?¡± ¡°Please,¡± he said, looking offended. Yeah, as if he couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°Letting your opponent win helps nobody,¡± he said. ¡°This time it did.¡± Sifu studied me in that disconcerting way of his. ¡°I have a mission for you,¡± he said. Is this a quest? Looks like I get a reward after all. ¡°I shall do as you ask.¡± ¡°I need constituent articles,¡± Sifu said. ¡°Uh, ok,¡± I said. ¡°He means more raw materials like the Jackalope parts,¡± Chow Li said, no doubt seeing my confusion. ¡°For his alchemy.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°Of course. Whatever you need.¡± ¡°Now that he has two Jackalopes, there¡¯s something he wants to make. But he needs more ingredients.¡± ¡°There is a dungeon,¡± Sifu said. Yes! It is a quest! ¡°Few know of it,¡± Sifu continued, ¡°fewer have seen inside it, and fewer still have returned from it.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s dangerous,¡± I said. He gave a raspy chuckle. ¡°Without question.¡± ¡°Just tell me what you need and where to find it.¡± Chow Li slipped me a neatly folded piece of paper. ¡°The what and the where.¡± I unfolded the paper and read what was written on it. ¡°I think I may need some help,¡± I said. The hoarse chortle rattled around in his throat again. ¡°Without question.¡± Chapter Fifty-Six - A brief briefing ¡°The dungeon is here,¡± I said, pointing to a solitary mountain northeast of the city. We were all together in the dorm courtyard, Team Maple Leaf, The Round Table, and me, because we didn¡¯t have a room big enough to fit us all. My map was open for all to see, as was my quest screen. Quest: Gather material components for Sifu Chow Bo: Gorgon¡¯s eye, Chimera¡¯s heart, Doppelganger¡¯s brain; Bonus: Minotaur¡¯s horn ¡°Gorgon. Chimera. Minotaur. So it¡¯s a Greek-themed dungeon,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Seems so,¡± I said. ¡°The mountain¡¯s called Olympus too, so...¡± ¡°Eye, brain, heart, and horn?¡± said Arthur. ¡°This is gonna get messy.¡± ¡°Yeah, I thought of that too,¡± I said. ¡°The good news is I picked up the Butchering skill while watching the guy at the meat shop down the street, so you¡¯re all off the hook for the gross bits.¡± I¡¯d learned my lesson with the initial Jackalope fiasco. No more unexpected brutality from me. ¡°What¡¯s a Gorgon?¡± Jane said. ¡°Think Medusa,¡± Arthur said, then seeing Jane¡¯s surprised look added, ¡°What? I like mythology.¡± She flashed him one of her smiles. ¡°Who knew the pretty boy was such a nerd, too.¡± Arthur gave one of his smiles in return. It was dazzling in its own right. Calling him pretty wasn¡¯t a lie. ¡°I¡¯m just full of surprises.¡± ¡°If there¡¯s a Minotaur you can bet there¡¯s a labyrinth,¡± said Byron. ¡°I love mazes.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°You can be in charge of preparing for the inevitable labyrinth. I also had an idea for the Gorgon that you can help with.¡± Byron nodded acknowledgement. ¡°My forge is hot and ready to rock,¡± he said. ¡°Does anybody remember what the deal is with a Chimera?¡± said Andy. ¡°Ask Arthur,¡± Jane said with that mischievous twinkle she often had in her eyes. ¡°He¡¯s the myth master.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a mashup of a lion, a goat, and a serpent,¡± Morgan said. ¡°And it breathes fire.¡± ¡°Wow, it¡¯s a whole family of pretty myth masters,¡± Jane said. Morgan laughed. It was a nice laugh, soft and genuine. ¡°We grew up listening to myths and fables.¡± ¡°In the myths, the hero Bellerophon rode the pegasus and killed the Chimera by blocking the fire in its throat,¡± Arthur said. ¡°It blowed up real good,¡± Byron said. ¡°Ick,¡± Nina said, whether in response to the Chimera¡¯s explosion or her husband¡¯s joke, only she knew for sure. ¡°Lacking a flying horse, how shall we kill it?¡± Wayne said. Nobody said anything, so I spoke up. ¡°Since it uses fire, I suggest Plan A for the Chimera will be for those of us who can to hit it with the opposite affinity attacks.¡± ¡°That¡¯d be Water, right?¡± Kay said. She was the only one with that affinity, besides me and Jane, but we had them all. ¡°Actually it¡¯s Ice,¡± I said. "On the affinity wheel, Water is right next to Ice, and opposite Earth." ¡°Faaaascinating," Chika said. "And if that doesn¡¯t work? What¡¯s Plan B?¡± ¡°Oppressive force,¡± I said. Chika flashed her single-fanged grin and cracked her knuckles. ¡°That I can do.¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Andy said, and the two of them high-fived, Chika using a sliver of her Boing Boing power to jump high enough to reach Andy''s hand as he held it over his own head. Ever since the tournament, those two had been peas in a pod. ¡°What about the Doppelganger?¡± said Gahalad. ¡°That¡¯s a shapeshifter, right?¡± I thought about it for a moment. ¡°Plan B.¡± ¡°Hang on,¡± said Sam. ¡°I don¡¯t remember any Doppelgangers in Greek myths. It sounds German.¡± Everybody turned to look at Morgan, who sighed. ¡°The Greeks had a similar concept of the body double. The eidolon was a sort of spirit copy.¡± ¡°At the risk of sounding completely nerdy,¡± Arthur said, glancing over at Jane, ¡°some believe that the Helen who hooked up with Paris and went back to Troy wasn¡¯t the real Helen, but an eidolon copy.¡± ¡°Where was the real Helen?¡± said Jane. ¡°Egypt. Hera was so pissed that Paris thought Aphrodite was prettier than her that she tricked him. Helen was supposed to be his prize, but Hera whisked the real Helen off to Egypt and gave him a fembot to take back to Troy instead.¡± ¡°A woman scorned,¡± said Jane. ¡°I approve.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that mean the whole Trojan War was a big fat mistake?¡± said Sam. Morgan grinned. ¡°If you read between the lines in Greek myths, most of them pretty much boil down to one idea: keep it in your pants.¡± ¡°Aw, where¡¯s the fun in that?¡± Andy said. ¡°You sound like Zeus.¡± We split up after that to make preparations for the dungeon raid first thing the day after tomorrow. Jane caught me alone before we all went our separate ways. ¡°You know,¡± she said, ¡°you just talked a whole lot for someone who¡¯s, how did you say it? The guy in the background?¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I was just passing on the information Chow Li gave me.¡± ¡°Uh huh. Sure.¡± Is she teasing me right now? I hazarded a glance at her and caught the eye twinkle. Yeah, she was teasing, for sure. If only I knew what exactly she was teasing me about. Two days later, we raided the dungeon. Things went well, right up until the moment they didn¡¯t, and then it was all downhill from there. The dungeon itself wasn¡¯t far to the Northeast of the city, the same distance as the Void Dungeon was to the Northwest, and the trek there had been quick and uneventful. I was glad we opted against renting mounts to get there. Olympus Mountain rose steeply from the foothills and we soon found ourselves climbing up its craggy rockface, making me doubly glad we came on foot. I had been worried about finding the entrance, but Sam summoned a few cougars to explore for us ¡ª ¡°I like cats,¡± he said ¡ª and they¡¯d managed to sniff it out in no time. It was a cave opening that led to a rough rock tunnel that went on for some time. ¡°Is anyone else weirded out by the fact that there are no shadows?¡± Bruce said. I looked around and realized he was right, there were no shadows at all. Even after we had gone in far enough that sunlight surely could no longer penetrate, the cave was still lit. There was no apparent source of illumination, it just seemed to be coming from everywhere, casting no shadows anywhere. People looked strange, like they weren''t real. It almost made everything seem 2D, and I had to smile looking at everyone. We really did look like something out of an anime. People had started developing their own styles. It usually started with a particular piece of gear they acquired, then they added some more that somehow fit with it, and the next thing you knew they''d gone and developed their own unique look. The massive variety of items that could be found was astounding, if you were clever about how you went about looking for them. I realized that sometimes, in some ways, System was actively working with us to develop the environment to suit our collective and individual preferences and tastes. In this case, if you started asking NPCs about a certain sort of thing, there was a very good chance that you''d stumble across it in the near future. If it was something simple, you might find it in a shop. More significant things could find themselves the MacGuffin in the middle of a quest. I started telling people about the phenomenon, and, long story short, that was how many of the ensembles that the people around me now sported had been assembled. Bruce was standing right beside me and was the first one I saw. Like me, he''d that his Status pegged him as a wizard, but that still left a lot of choices open for how that could be interpreted. Would he go Gandalf with the robes and pointy hat, or Potter with a wand and cloak, or Constantine with a trenchcoat and scowl, or draw from any number of the various takes on the wizardy look that could be found in the literature? I know this, because we had an extended conversation about it. And by extended, I mean it dragged on for days. This was right about when I had discovered the secret to making available the sorts of things you wanted, so it became painfully apparent that he really had no clue what to do with his look and never would I suggested he just latch onto the next cool thing he saw and let the AI do the rest. The thing he found to work with was a golden metal skull cap, and pretty soon System filled in the rest of the pieces and he ended up looking just like Merlin in the old Excalibur movie. Could''ve been much worse. Wayne was the opposite. He was the first of us to know what look he wanted to adopt. I mentioned earlier when we got the orc''s bone necklace that Wayne had been thinking about going for a Baron Samedi voodoo shaman sort of vibe. He''d ended up embracing that idea completely, and now adventured wearing a black tophat, various jangly bracelets, hair bobs, dangly things, and other accessories made out of bones or other body parts. Somehow he''d even managed to come across a collection of shrunken heads that all had a different, minor power; those all dangled from the rope that held up his pants. He wore no shirt, triggering momentary PTSD from my Jackalope venom acid trip, but his dark, muscular torso was decorated with white lines, symbols, and handprints drawn on in white chalk. I''d seen him getting one of his zombie summons to apply it, it was hilarious, like something out of a behind the scenes video outtake. Wayne''s face was made up as an eerie white skull. His shield was bone white and shaped like a skull, and the sword he wielded was a classic longsword with a ruby-studded hilt that looked amazing when he used Affinity Weapon on it. Early on he''d used his affinity with Fire on his swords, but once he got the hang of his Death affinity, he''d been using it more and more to turn whatever sword he wielded into a shimmering black blade that exuded smoky wisps of something that can only be described as a deathly aura. When he hit something with it, it wouldn''t just hurt them like an ordinary sword, it would also suck some of their will to live away too. The young Japanese siblings had landed quickly onto their looks. too. Kenji was full-on ninja, head to toe. Chika went Bruce Lee. Not the shirtless look, of course, nor the yellow with black stipes costume that looked so good when worn in homage by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, but the black Chinese-style suit with wide, white cuffs that many of the Dragon Clan warriors also preferred. Classic martial artist look. She''d found it waiting for her in her closet in just the right size when she joined the clan and had never looked back since. Jane had veered off the Swashbuckler path she began on, steering her look more into a slighty gothic, steampunk aesthetic. That had surprised me, but in a good way. It was mostly shiny, tight, and black, with zippers and layered metal plates riveted together with studded straps adding protection in cool-looking but strategically-questionable places. Corset armor chic. The one thing she hadn''t changed was her weapon of choice: she always had her trusty rapier dangling at her side. Sigrid, on the other hand, had stuck with the Valkyrie look. She hadn''t actually changed much about her look at all since the start. Most of her armor was the same, although she did have a newer, nicer sword and a shield that was magically both strengthened and made lighter. She noticed me staring at her and stuck out her tongue. Where there was Sigrid, you could often find Andy hanging around. Andy had gone shirtless Bruce Lee in his look, and unapologetically so. Why would he apologize, he looked buff as hell, with bulging muscles more like the San Francisco Chinatown magic thug Thunder, you know, the one who ended up blowing up in Jack Burton''s face. Andy and Wayne both had the pecs to pull off their topless looks. I''d save everyone the embarrassment and keep mine well covered. At first, people had tried to push Nina into a typical anime healer''s costume, white with blue cross-like accents that came either as a long gown or a shirt skirt, but she resisted. Then Kenji told about a manga/anime he quite liked about an elite squad of healers that swept the injured off the battlefield and healed them. He described their white coats, akin to the thick double-breasted medical coats of the Victorian age, and Nina found that a lot more her speed. And wouldn''t you know it? Shortly after, the Dragon Clan seamstress presents that exact coat to her: Shannon the gardener had overheard the conversation about it, apparently, and it had somehow ended up in Chow Li''s ears, and the next thing you know it was commissioned: a white, secretly-armored healer''s coat. Meanwhile, Byron''s outfit had been chosen and assembled by Nina. It was as armored as she could make it while still allowing him to move freely, and heavily inspired by the more recent Batman movies. I wasn''t sure it quite fit with Byron''s nature, but they both seemed happy with it. Which is to say, it made Nina happy, and that made Byron happy. Sam dressed as though he had reached into his Tickle Trunk and found Adam Ant''s wardrobe waiting there. Adam Ant himself had said his look was put together as though grabbing anything flashy and putting it on, and Sam seemed to take that approach to heart. Sam seemed to grab any and everything he found that piqued his fancy, and now favored a look that incorporated shifting variations of these articles put together seemingly at whim. The subtle variations would shift along with Sam''s mercurial mood, but it always landed somewhere on the a pirate slash highwayman slash American First Nations slash dandy dial. But he could do that, because no word of a lie, absolutely everything looked amazing on him. The Round Table hadn''t shifted much from how they looked when we found them: Knights from Camelot. The men all in full, classic, shiny plate armor that went well with Bruce''s Merlin look, straight out of Arthurian cinema, with Kay paring down the plate and amping up the chainmail for more flexibility, and Morgan going with a slightly off-theme but totally on-brand floor-length Morticia Addams gown in a purple so dark is was almost black, tastefully accented with thin chainmail that, in the same way as Jane''s metal plates, made you ask "is that really gonna help protect you?" at the same time as you say "damn that looks cool." And as for me? My signature look was still a work-in-progress. I used all my opportunities to suggest to System I might like to find a certain thing to help the others piece together their collections. I still had no clue what my idea look was, so mostly I just kept going with the dark, Asian-inspired, Matrix look. When I saw how cool the others looked, and how comfortable they all looked in the self-images they projected, it made my basic Neo costume feel like I was dressing up for Hallowe''en. I mean, I heart Neo as much as the next introverted nerd, but I''d become hyper-aware that I was not presenting an accurate reflection of who I was. We ventured deeper into the cave, exchanging excited whispers about what we might find when we entered the dungeon proper. Everyone seemed very comfortable and familiar with one another. Which made sense. Everyone else had done quests with each other before. But this was all new to me. This was going to be my first adventure with them, and I was looking forward to seeing their powers in action. Chapter Fifty-Seven - Chekovs statues The shadowless cave continued on a bit farther, then the tunnel opened up into a gigantic cavern. Directly across from the tunnel the rough rock had been hewn into an intricate facade with an impressive portico supported by thick round columns in front of a tall, narrow opening. I couldn¡¯t tell you if the architecture was Doric or Ionic or whateveric, but it was clearly Greek. It reminded me of the temple in Petra; you know, the one where Indiana Jones found the Holy Grail, only this one¡¯s fancy facade was hidden inside a cave. The cavern containing the facade wall also had a now-familiar arrangement of twelve objects in a circle, each one marked with one of the twelve affinities. Here, the affinity objects were short columns in the same style as the ones holding up the portico. Quest: Solve the [Hidden] Dungeon under Olympus Mountain Reward: Dungeon control Continuing through the facade¡¯s entrance, we were disappointed to find nothing. No monsters. No long corridors flanked by torches that flared to life as we progressed down it, not that any were needed with the mysterious light still illuminating everything with its shadowless glow. No floor tiles that triggered poisonous darts or huge spinning blades shooting from the walls. Not even a pit trap, for heaven¡¯s sake. Just a massive circular room with a high domed ceiling, a bunch of statues, and three doors. Every bit of the walls and dome were adorned with intricate tile mosaics depicting the greatest hits of Greek mythology. The Titans. The Olympians. The other gods and heroes, they were all there. They even had my two favorites, the golden apple of Eris and Prometheus giving fire to humanity. There were also marble statues positioned around the edge of the room, dozens of them. Each statue was different, but each one was the figure of a mythological character depicted in the mural behind them. ¡°Chekov¡¯s gun,¡± Jane said when she and I checked out the statue of Hercules. ¡°Excuse me?¡± I said. ¡°These statues, for some reason they make me think of Chekov¡¯s gun.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that be Chekov¡¯s phaser?¡± ¡°Wrong Chekov, doofus. I mean the playwright. You know, his rule that if you have a prop gun appear in one scene, you know someone¡¯s gonna get shot before the play¡¯s over. I¡¯ll bet you anything these are Chekov¡¯s statues. We¡¯re gonna be fighting them before we leave this place.¡± ¡°That is how these things usually work.¡± And there were the doors. Apart from the statues, the only things in the room were those three doors. I really do mean they were in the room, too. They weren¡¯t in the wall, like you¡¯d expect a door to be, but were just standing on the floor not attached to any walls at all. Three doors, equally spaced, all in a row. Just standing there, leading nowhere. We examined them as closely as we could, walking around to see them from both sides, and as far as we could tell they were identical in every detail, because they had no details at all. They were perfectly flat. All the same size, all made of the same silvery metal, all with a simple handle on one side only. ¡°I guess we¡¯ve got to open one,¡± Arthur had said. ¡°Yeah, but which one?¡± Kay said. ¡°What difference does it make?¡± Jane said. ¡°They¡¯re all the same.¡± ¡°You¡¯re assuming we can only pick one,¡± Morgan said, moving up to the door on the left side and reaching out for the handle. ¡°Wait!¡± Sigrid said, but it was too late. Morgan had already gripped the handle. Turns out there was a trap after all. Quest: Solve the Light Dungeon under Olympus Mountain Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.Reward: Dungeon control Light Dungeon, huh? That explains some things. But I''d have to worry about that later, after we dealt with the statues. As soon as Morgan touched the handle on the door, the statues started to move. All of them. They were still solid marble, but they moved as though they were flesh and blood. They weren¡¯t in a rush, they just started ambling towards us, a bit jerkily. They reminded me of the stop motion skeletons in that old Jason and the Argonauts movie. ¡°Form a circle,¡± Arthur shouted. ¡°Melee fighters on the outside.¡± We all converged in the center of the room and after a bit of jostling we managed to arrange ourselves into defensive formation before the first statues reached us. Jane caught my eye and she opened her mouth to say something, but before she could I said, ¡°Now is not the time to say I told you so.¡± She laughed and swished her rapier a few times, taking her position in the outer ring of our defensive circle as the statue of Athena closed in on her. I had been ready for a tough battle, I think we all were. After all, we were fighting Gods and Heroes, plus even a few Titans. But really, we weren¡¯t. We were only fighting statues. They did not have divine strength or powers. I¡¯m sure they were strong, and a different party may have had a very hard time in that situation, but we made mincemeat of them. Our outer ring of fighters was a machine. Jane, blinking in to deliver a few surprise jabs, then blinking over to another foe and doing the same. Arthur, decapitating statues with wide swings of his sword while Lancelot¡¯s sword and Galahad¡¯s spear caused their own brands of devastation. I could feel the warm swell of power coming from Arthur''s Hallowed Ground spell, increasing the attack and defence of the entire group. Once or twice, Galahad used his ability to increase gravity to crush a statue into chunks as though it had been struck by an invisible hammer of god, but I could see how much of his mana that zorched up, so I understood why he used it sparingly. Andy and Chika did their part in smashing marble with their potent martial arts strikes and throws. They reminded me of Gimli and Legolas, keeping a running head count and trying to outdo one another. Seeing how much better coordinated Wayne had become at using his powers, his flaming sword slashing hell among the statues while his summoned skeletons flanked him as undead bone-shields, was a sight I''d never forget. Same with Sam¡¯s summoned tigers ripping statues apart with their powerful claws, simply unforgettable. I could barely see Kenji as he slashed through the enemy line, using the magic sword his sister had won in the tournament as a deadly ninjato and his equally deadly ninja abiliies to slip among the enemies like smoke on a breeze. Sigrid at my side, destroying statues with her sword as I used omni-do to take down my own fair share. Inside the circle, Byron pulled an endless supply of arrows, bolts, and darts from his extra-dimensional inventory, keeping Kay¡¯s bow singing, Morgan¡¯s crossbow humming, and his own throwing arm tossing. And in the well-protected center of it all, Nina maintained her blessing to strengthen everyone, while casting out quick healing to anyone who took a hit from a statue while Bruce beside her sniped at any statue he was able to get a good bead on with his magic force missiles. A few of the statues had ranged weapons, and when one of these got fired toward the middle group Nina would throw up a small, targeted force field for just long enough to block the incoming missile, a very efficient way to use her power to defend against attacks she could see coming. They had this down to a fine art, and it made me wonder what Sigrid''s role was when I wasn''t there to distract her with the need to protect me. The enemy had us outnumbered at least four to one, but the battle was over in less than a few minutes leaving us all a bit bewildered, surrounded by shards of broken marble and a cloud of dust. ¡°Is that it?¡± Kay said, an arrow nocked in the string of her bow. ¡°Looks like it,¡± Arthur said. Buoyed by the easy victory, we collected the mana crystals each statue had dropped and returned our attention to the doors. ¡°Let¡¯s try this again,¡± Morgan said, grasping the door handle once more. This time nothing happened. She cast a look at her brother and inclined her head toward the other doors. ¡°Oh, right,¡± Arthur said, taking the middle door handle. ¡°I¡¯ll take this one,¡± Jane said, grabbing the handle on the last door. ¡°Let¡¯s do three-two-one-open, ok?¡± Morgan and Arthur nodded. ¡°Three...two...one...open!¡± All three pulled their door open at exactly the same moment. And that¡¯s the moment when things stopped going well for us. As we later discovered, as soon as a door in the dungeon¡¯s round room was opened it would immediately teleport the entire party to a different place in the labyrinth. But we¡¯d opened all the doors at once, so instead of sending us all to one place, it divided us and sent us in smaller groups to all three places. I had been transported with Sigrid, Kenji, Morgan, and Lancelot to a small square room with an opening on each side, all leading into corridors. Everything ¡ª walls, floor, and ceiling ¡ª was made from identical stone blocks. The corridors looked similar, each was a different length but all of them ended in a turn, one turning to the left and three to the right. It was definitely a labyrinth. ¡°What the hell?¡± Sigrid said, looking around. ¡°Where are we? Lancelot crouched low, sword drawn and shield ready. ¡°And where are the others?¡± Morgan tried to open her map screen, but couldn¡¯t. I gave it a try too. System: Map function currently unavailable ¡°This is bad,¡± she said. Chapter Fifty-Eight - Houston, we have a problem ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°It makes sense that the map would be disabled in a maze.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t Byron supposed to be the one who was going to handle the labyrinth?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said again, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to explore our way out.¡± ¡°At least we¡¯ll have a chance to get that Minotaur horn,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Right on, let¡¯s go. Which opening should we take?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it matters,¡± Sigrid said. Kenji seemed to appear out of nowhere. ¡°This one,¡± he said, pointing down the corridor that ended in a left turn. ¡°Why that one?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I can hear something down this way,¡± he said.
Kenji Hachiman Team Maple Leaf
Gifts: Trust Your Senses - Competent: Enhanced senses
Sigrid shrugged. ¡°As good a reason as any. I don¡¯t feel danger from anywhere right now.¡± The corridor was big enough that we could¡¯ve driven a car down it, albeit a very small car. The entire space seemed to be made out of large marble blocks, mostly white shot with veins of grey, smooth enough to be almost slippery, with a vaulted ceiling. Running along both sides where the vertical walls transitioned into the vault¡¯s curve, a repeating Greek key pattern had been inlaid in black stone. We went with Kenji in the lead, Sigrid and Lancelot following him, and Morgan and I bringing up the rear. We trusted Kenji¡¯s sharp senses to pick the way. It was most definitely a labyrinth, and a big one too. We continued along through innumerable turns and intersections, always following Kenji. Wherever there was a choice to make he¡¯d pause, listen, then choose a path with confidence. Just before we were about to turn another corner, he stopped abruptly. At the same moment, Sigrid grabbed the back of Kenji¡¯s black jacket. He turned toward her, and held his finger to his lips. Sigrid whispered barely loud enough for all of us to hear. ¡°Danger." Kenji nodded, then cupped his hand to his ear. He''d heard something too. I tried to listen, but all I could hear was my own breathing and my heart pounding away. This was so much fun I thought I might burst. ¡°Kenji,¡± I whispered. ¡°Could you scout up ahead? If there is something there, I¡¯d like to know what it is before we come stomping along.¡± Lancelot looked sheepish. ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s hard to move quietly in this plate armor.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not like the rest of us are ninjas.¡± We all looked at Kenji, who actually was a ninja, complete with the all-black outfit, tabi shoes, and cowl, along with a ninjato ¡ª the Champion¡¯s Blade from his sister ¡ª slung sideways across his back. He grinned at us and pulled the cowl up to cover everything but his eyes, then scampered ahead without a word. It was strange to be able to see him leave, I was so used to him vanishing into the shadows, but of course there weren¡¯t any shadows here. Barely a moment after he turned the corner, there was a loud, bestial squeal. We glanced at each other, then at the same time Lancelot, Morgan, Sigrid, and I all drew our weapons and raced around the corner. Kenji was there, ninjato in hand, battling against a horde of rats bigger than rottweilers, and twice as fierce. They had him surrounded, their front legs scrabbling at him with sharp claws, their sharp teeth snapping, and he was already covered in small wounds.
Giant Rat Nasty and not-so-little, these ubiquitous vermin will eat anything. Even you. Especially you.
Powers: Ferocious Nibbles - Competent: Nasty bites Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Scurrilous Claws - Competent: Nasty claws So Sick - Competent: Wounds inflicted cause disease
Skills: Bite - Competent Claw - Competent
Sigrid and Lancelot were the first to enter the fray, sweeping in on either side of Kenji, forcing the rats away with their shields. Morgan and I stayed back. She had her crossbow out, and while her rate of fire was slow, each bolt she shot hit a rat between its beady little eyes, killing it instantly. I was less discriminate, hosing the rats on the outer fringes of the swarm with a fan of flames from my outstretched hand. I had to change tactics quickly, because a large number of the rats started coming for me. Just me. Even though we were side by side they ignored Morgan and charged at me. I switched from Fire to Light, and began shooting lasers from my pointed fingers. I wanted to make pew pew noises, but resisted. Maybe if I was with Achmed and his crew, but I felt too self-conscious with Morgan beside me. ¡°Why are they going for you?¡± Morgan said, slotting a fresh bolt into her crossbow. ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°Was it something you ate?¡± I thought about my recent excursion into the forest, and the vague memories of a bunch of animals attacking me. That had been strange. The other times I was in the forest I¡¯d barely encountered anything, but after the Jackalope had bitten me now I seemed like monster bait. Maybe it wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d eaten, but rather something that had eaten me. We fought like this for a while, then suddenly the rats all stopped at once, turned, and scrambled away before escaping through an open door on the side of the corridor. It was like something had called them all back. Lancelot began to chase after them, but Morgan hollered at him to stop. ¡°What?¡± Lancelot said, his face flushed with the thrill of combat and anxious to resume the fight. ¡°Let¡¯s look after Kenji first, huh?¡± Morgan said. Kenji was on his knees on the floor, clearly hurt. ¡°Oh, yeah, right,¡± Lancelot said sheepishly. I knelt beside Kenji and tried Laying On Hands, but it didn¡¯t work. ¡°The rats have a power that causes disease when they hurt you, I think it¡¯s blocking my healing skill.¡± Morgan came over and pulled a potion out of her inventory. ¡°Here, try this.¡± I popped the cork and poured it into the boy¡¯s mouth. His wounds immediately began to close. ¡°I thought there weren¡¯t any more healing potions available,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°None that you can buy,¡± Morgan said, ¡°but I¡¯m an alchemist. I made my own.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re not just a pretty face after all,¡± Sigrid said with a wink. I helped Kenji to his feet. ¡°Thanks,¡± he mumbled. ¡°What¡¯s the plan, then?¡± Lancelot said. Everyone turned to look at me. ¡°Uh, I wouldn¡¯t mind clearing out the rats¡¯ nest,¡± I said. ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Hell yeah,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I¡¯m a bit worried about healing if we get hurt, though,¡± I said. ¡°Morgan, how many of those potions do you have?¡± ¡°We should be okay. I¡¯ve been busy.¡± Sigrid nodded her approval. ¡°How we gonna do this?¡± ¡°We can use the door as a funnel,¡± I said. ¡°As long as they can¡¯t surround us and use their numbers, they¡¯re not that hard to handle.¡± ¡°We just take em out one at a time as they come through the door,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I like it.¡± ¡°Right then,¡± I said. ¡°Sigrid, you and Lance get on either side of the door. I¡¯ll go aggro across the hall in front of it, and¡ª¡± ¡°You¡¯ll go what?¡± Sigrid said. We all turned to look at her. ¡°Aggro?¡± I said. ¡°He means he¡¯ll draw their aggression so they come out targeting him and ignoring us,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s another gaming thing,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°So in other words, we just stand there and stab anything that comes through, hopefully before it chows down on him.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Seems you¡¯re not just a pretty face either.¡± ¡°What if we miss one?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That¡¯s why Morgan and Kenji will wait behind you guys to take care of any stragglers that manage to get through," I said. "Sound good, Kenji?¡± Kenji nodded, hefting his sword with a determined scowl. We stalked toward the door, weapons ready, then Lancelot took his position outside the door with Morgan behind him while Sigrid and Kenji dashed across the opening and mirrored them on the other side. When everyone was ready, I went directly in front of the open doorway on the opposite side of the corridor, ready to cause a ruckus and draw the rats out. From my vantage I could see clearly into the room inside. It was a huge square room, about sixty feet along each side, with two rows of tall cylindrical columns running down its length, equidistant from each other and the walls, supporting the ceiling which loomed at least thirty feet overhead. There was a semi-circular raised section on the far end of the room, rising in tiered steps up to a stone throne. ¡°Houston,¡± I said, ¡°we have a problem.¡± Chapter Fifty-Nine - Bag o rats Beyond the open door I saw a huge horde of giant rats, and as I watched they started cramming their bodies together, writhing, twisting, squirming, merging into a single organism that was shaped like a rat but the size of an elephant, a rippling mass of brown and grey fur that bristled all over like a hedgehog with the protruding claws and tails of its outermost component rats, the hooked claws flexing and the tails longer than broom handles wriggling like prehensile pink worms.
Giant Rat King Individually, Giant Rats are bad. A horde of them is very bad. But then, if they get really serious, they will merge into the Giant Rat King. That¡¯s very very very bad.
Powers: Ferocious Nibbles - Expert: Nasty bites Scurrilous Claws - Expert: Nasty claws So Sick - Adept: Wounds inflicted cause disease
Skills: Bite - Expert Claw - Expert
The good news was that it was too big to fit through the door. The bad news...well, that was obvious. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Lancelot said. I gestured toward the doorway. ¡°Take a look for yourself,¡± I said. Cautiously, everyone poked their head around to peek through. The Giant Rats had finished coalescing and their new King form stalked back and forth inside the room, dark cavities where its eyes should''ve been remaining fixed on the doorway, watching us. Behind it, filling one corner of the enormous and spilling over onto the raised section, rose a colossal pile of what can only be described as garbage taller than me. The Giant Rat King seemed to be protecting the jumble of junk, which I assumed must have been the rat horde¡¯s nest. ¡±Well that¡¯s just awful,¡± Morgan said. ¡°What do you guys wanna do?¡± I said. ¡°We could probably just walk away.¡± ¡°Is that what you want to do?¡± Sigrid said. I thought for a moment. ¡°Not really.¡± Lancelot smiled. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s kill it.¡± Without waiting for a plan this time, he charged inside and began swinging his sword at the huge monstrosity. ¡°Guess we¡¯re killing it, then,¡± Sigrid said, and rushed in to join Lancelot¡¯s attack. Kenji was quick to follow, ducking to the side to flank the Giant Rat King, which had reared up on its hind legs and was raking its front paws at Sigrid and Lancelot. Morgan and I stayed back, attacking it at range. Our individual attacks didn¡¯t seem to do much. Every few hits, a single dead rat or two would fall away from the mass, but the attrition was slow. Sigrid and Lancelot took the brunt of the Giant Rat King¡¯s attacks, and their health bars were falling faster than the monster¡¯s. If we kept that up, we were going to lose. ¡°Everyone! This isn¡¯t working, fall back to the corridor.¡± Morgan and I remained just inside the door, firing off attacks from either side of it while Lancelot and Sigrid backed up and left the room. Once they''d exited I waited for Morgan to get out safely, then just as I was about leave I felt something rush past me. Once I got out I realized that the something was Kenji, making his sneaky rapid escape. The Giant Rat King was too big to leave the room, and no individual rats followed us out, so we were safe in the corridor for now. Morgan handed potions to Sigrid and Lancelot, who had numerous cuts and gouges all over them. ¡°So what have we learned about rushing into things?¡± Morgan said, looking straight at Lancelot. ¡°You sound like your brother,¡± Lance said. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Yeah, well, it¡¯s not like this is the first time you went cowboy and put the team at risk.¡± ¡°Okay, all right, fine,¡± Lancelot said, waving his hand dismissively. ¡°I get it. No more rushing in guns a-blazing. So what are we gonna do then?¡± ¡°Should we give up?¡± Sigrid said. Everybody looked at me again. Why did they keep doing that? ¡°We could run away, I suppose,¡± I said, reaching into my inventory. ¡°But we all know we¡¯re not going to do that.¡± I started pulling out clear glass flasks full of a viscous liquid. ¡°Personally, I¡¯m really curious why such a strong monster is in there. What¡¯s it guarding?¡± ¡°What¡¯s in the bottles?¡± Sigrid said. I tossed her a flask, which she caught deftly. ¡°Basic Adventuring,¡± I said. ¡°Always carry some oil.¡± ¡°What are we going to do with this?¡± she said, shaking it. ¡°This,¡± I said, hurling another flask into the room where it shattered against the Giant Rat King, spraying a section of its enormous body with glistening oil. Sigrid did the same with hers. ¡°That¡¯s surprisingly satisfying,¡± she said. ¡°You think that felt good,¡± I said, ¡°this is what I¡¯ve been waiting for. I pointed my finger at the monster and said, ¡°Pew!¡± A bolt of fire shot out like a bullet and struck the beast. It whooshed into flames. ¡°Now that is what I call satisfying.¡± The monster was big but slow. It had no way to douse the flames that spread across it, it could only prowl inside its room as charred dead rats started falling from the main body. Morgan grabbed a flask from me and tossed it. It hit the beast¡¯s side and shattered, adding to the flames that burned it. An unnamed observer really enjoyed that ¡°Gimme one of those,¡± Lancelot said, and I handed him another flask. It was fine, I had lots. Not like I was going to need them for all the lanterns I''d also packed, just in case; there wasn''t a dark spot in this entire dungeon. He tossed it, and more fire erupted when it smashed against the Giant Rat King rump, spraying splashes of burning oil around the room. A few landed on the pile of crap, igniting it too. ¡°Aw crap,¡± I said. ¡°I hope whatever treasure it was guarding isn¡¯t flammable." Morgan glared at Lancelot. ¡°What?¡± he said. ¡°You threw one too.¡± The fire spread quickly over the Giant Rat King and it was soon completely ablaze, sending scorching flames as high as the ceiling. Intense heat poured through the doorway as it ambled around awkwardly, growing visibly smaller as more and more crispy rat corpses dropped from its bulk every second. Then, suddenly, its decline hit critical mass and the King collapsed into a jumble of individual Giant Rats. Dozens of them scurried in all directions, some still on fire, others smoking, but many of the rodents who¡¯d been in the middle of the King¡¯s body were still unscathed. ¡°What now?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Back to the original plan, lure them into the funnel of death by the door.¡± We took our positions outside the door, and I started firing more flame bullets into the room. The aggro worked, and the Giant Rats swarmed toward us. No more than two could get through at a time, and soon there was a pile of dead rodents filling the doorway as Sigrid and Lancelot hacked and slashed at anything that tried to get by. Eventually, the flood of vermin stopped, and after Sigrid bulldozed over the tower of rat corpses blocking the doorway so we could see inside, we found only a few of them left alive, all covered in scorch marks. Kenji scampered in and quickly dispatched them all while I went over to the smouldering remains of the rats¡¯ nest and hosed it down with a jet of water. Most of the nest had been burned. Sifting through the soggy ash and rubble, we found the ¡®treasure¡¯ the Giant Rat King had been guarding: a creche of baby rats, cooked to a crisp. ¡°No gold? No nothing?¡± Lancelot said, prodding a shriveled immature rat with his armored toe. ¡°It may not be a total waste,¡± I said, poking into an area that was less burnt than the rest. I reached into the debris with both hands and pulled out something pink the size of a housecat. It was a baby rat, and it was still alive. Lancelot strode over, sword pointing forward aimed at the infant rat. I quickly snatched it away before he could stab it. ¡°What gives?¡± he said. ¡°Advanced Adventuring,¡± I said. ¡°Always carry a bag of rats.¡± ¡°The bag of what?¡± Sigrid said, wrinkling her nose. I pulled a sack from my inventory, then shoved the baby rat inside. ¡°It¡¯s a controversial dungeon-delving technique I have employed for years when playing tabletop RPGs,¡± I said, then reached into the mess and pulled out another live baby rat. Into the sack it went. ¡°One for which I have been teased often in the past.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine why,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Do we dare ask why you want a bag of rats?¡± ¡°They have innumerable uses,¡± I said, stuffing more baby vermin into my sack. ¡°If you say so.¡± A curious observer wonders how this strategy will work A thoughtful observer wonders if one can actually call this a strategy An unnamed observer can''t wait to see Chapter Sixty - Its a trap We spent what probably counted as way too much time digging tiny mana crystals from dead rats. For the first part we had to listen to Lancelot and Morgan arguing about whether or not it was worth the effort, but we kept at it when Morgan suggested that perhaps it wasn¡¯t worth the effort to make all those healing potions either, because that¡¯s what she would be using those crystals for. We were all glad to leave the room behind, and the stench of charred rat along with it. Shortly after we set off to explore the labyrinth some more, we hit a set of stairs leading down. We stood at the top peering down. There were a lot of steps. ¡°You sure it¡¯s coming from down there?¡± I said. Sigrid nodded. ¡°I can usually tell what direction the danger¡¯s coming from.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t know what it is.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°You know,¡± Morgan said, ¡±this is pretty scary in person. I mean, it¡¯s one thing to do this sort of stuff in a video game, but this is a whole lot scarier.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s going first?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I have a volunteer,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re volunteering?¡± ¡°Heck no. I said I have a volunteer, I didn¡¯t say it was me.¡± I pulled out the bag of rats. ¡°What do you plan to do with that?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Remember Sam¡¯s squirrel in the forest?¡± ¡°You¡¯re joking,¡± Morgan said. ¡°You want to use a baby rat as a scout?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°In a manner of speaking.¡± I fished my hand into the bag, then pulled it out quickly. ¡°Ouch,¡± I said, sucking on my finger. ¡°One of these bastards bit me.¡± ¡°It probably knows what you have in mind for it,¡± Morgan said with a sour face. ¡°I doubt even a rat would want to be used as a guinea pig.¡± ¡°I wish we¡¯d come across a room full of giant guinea pigs,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That would be so cute!¡± Morgan said, the sourness vanishing instantly. ¡°All those fluffy squeakers.¡± I¡¯d managed to nab a baby rat and pull it out. It wriggled in my hand and I nearly dropped it. It may have only been a baby, but it was still a giant rat, and quite a handful. ¡°Here goes nothing,¡± I said, and tossed it down the first few steps, as gently as I could. It landed on its feet and immediately scampered down the stairs, disappearing along the corridor at the bottom. ¡°Looks like the stairs are safe,¡± Lancelot said. I held my finger to my lips and cocked my ear toward the stairwell. A few seconds later there was a loud crash, then silence. ¡°Now what?¡± Lancelot whispered. I shook my head and kept my finger to my lips. We all listened, then heard a soft metallic clink clink clink, like chains rattling, or maybe gears fitting together. ¡°Think it¡¯s a trap?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound like a monster,¡± I said. ¡°Toss another rat down?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Nothing happened until it went past the bottom of the stairs. Does your danger sense say it¡¯s safe for us to go down and see?¡± I said. Sigrid shrugged, then after a deep breath she lifted her shield and began slowly descending the stairs, the rest of us in tow. When we reached the bottom we saw a long corridor stretching ahead of us, different than the ones we¡¯d been wandering through up until then. It was about twenty feet wide with a flat ceiling twenty feet high, and instead of the veined marble blocks we¡¯d seen so far, the floor, walls, and ceiling of this corridor were made of a smooth, seamless, pure white stone. At the far end, some hundred or so feet away, there were more stairs, these ones leading back up again. About a third of the way down the corridor, there was a red stain on the floor, with a matching one on the ceiling directly above it. ¡°Is that your rat?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What¡¯s left of it, anyway,¡± Lancelot said. An unnamed observer is not disappointed ¡°I think I know what this is,¡± I said, reaching into the bag for another rat. This one I bowled ahead of us, encouraging it to go down the corridor. It scampered forward, then when it hit the same space as the red stain, a section of the ceiling came crashing down, smashing the rat flat. A few moments later, the clinking began as chains attached to the four corners of the fallen ceiling section began lifting it back into place, revealing a second set of red stains. There were no solid bits of the rat remaining, no bones, no viscera, not even mana crystals. The section of ceiling that fell was solid stone, at least four feet thick, and had completely liquified the rodents. An unnamed observer claps and laughs A thoughtful observer worries about an unnamed observer A curious observer can''t figure out whether to reward or punish this A curious observer will wait and see ¡°Yep, it¡¯s a trap,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Now we just need to figure out how to dismantle it without getting squished into soup.¡± ¡°I got this,¡± Kenji muttered, and slunk forward cautiously. When he got close to the rat remains he knelt on the floor, carefully scanning with his eyes and fingers, searching for any irregularity that might act as a trigger mechanism. He spent a long time doing this, searching every inch of the floor and up the walls, then suddenly stood up and started staring intently ahead of him. He began bobbing his head, cocking it up and down and from side to side. Then he turned back to us and shrugged. ¡°Nope. I don¡¯t got this,¡± he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. ¡°There¡¯s like this almost invisible barrier right where the rats got smashed. You can only just see it when you look at the right angle. You know how smoke looks in a bright spotlight? It¡¯s like that.¡± I came over to take a look, and he was right. I could just barely see dust floating across a flat plane that spanned the entire width of the corridor and stretched from the floor to the ceiling. ¡°Like smoke in a spotlight,¡± I said. ¡°I figure it¡¯s the trigger,¡± Kenji said. ¡±Sets off the trap when you pass through it, but I have no idea how to disarm it.¡± ¡°Maybe we don¡¯t need to,¡± I said, reaching once more into the rat bag and pulling out two. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I bowled the first one forward, and sure enough, it triggered the ceiling trap when it passed the invisible barrier. Crash! Then, as the chains raised the section back up, I sent the second rat under it. It scuttled past the remains of its squashed siblings and kept running down the hallway. ¡°Quick,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s go before it resets.¡± We all dashed through the danger zone and made it safely to the other side before the trap had fully reset. We made it through just in time to see the rat that had gone ahead of us reach the stairs at the end of the corridor and scuttle up and out of sight. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d be worried you¡¯d run out of rats,¡± Morgan said. I shook the bag. Several small things wriggled inside it. ¡°We¡¯re okay for a while.¡± ¡°Bag o'' rats,¡± Lancelot said, grinning. ¡°Who¡¯d have thunk?¡± There was a click behind us as the section of ceiling lifted into place and the trap reset. With Sigrid back in the lead, we resumed our progression down the corridor. When there were only about fifteen feet left Sigrid stopped abruptly and I almost walked into her back. ¡°What is it? More danger?¡± She nodded. ¡°Where?¡± She gestured with her head directly in front of her. Kenji slithered up and began inspecting the floor in front of us. After looking closely, he closed his eyes and slowly ran his fingertips back and forth over the floor. Then he grunted, and traced a straight line along the white floor. ¡°There¡¯s a seam here,¡± he said. ¡°Really?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I can¡¯t see a thing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s there.¡± ¡°I believe you. What do you think, another light trap?¡± Kenji shook his head. ¡°This is different. Maybe a pressure plate?¡± ¡°This sounds like a job for super-rat,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Is it?¡± Morgan said. ¡°We already watched one run through here and up the stairs.¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Maybe it wasn¡¯t heavy enough to trigger it?¡± Kenji said. ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°We can fix that.¡± ¡°We can?¡± Sigrid said. I took a few steps back and pulled another rat from the bag. ¡°Let¡¯s hope this works.¡± I held the wriggling creature in both hands and focused on my affinity with Nature, willing the rat to grow. I could feel it get bigger, but the effect wasn¡¯t much. I poured more mana into it and it grew a bit more, but still not enough. ¡°Daniel?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± ¡°Gimme a minute,¡± I said. Remembering how I¡¯d combined Nature with Life to make a flower grow on the wall of thorns in the forest, I tried it again, only this time I kept focusing on enlarging the rat. That did the trick. The rat grew visibly larger, growing from the size of a housecat to larger than a goat in no time, and became proportionately heavier, too. I lost my grip and dropped it. A curious observer finds this promising The gigantified giant baby rat landed on its feet and made to dash back the way we¡¯d come, but Lancelot was behind me and stomped an armored foot in its path. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t,¡± he said, shooing the beast in the other direction. The rat turned around and charged past me toward the stairs leading up. As soon as it passed over Kenji¡¯s invisible seam, the floor from that point right up to the bottom of the stairs dropped out from under it. It fell away in two sections like a set of double doors in the floor hinged at the edge of each side wall. A pit trap. Right on. The rat seemed to float in the air for a split second and I half-expected it to look at me and raise a little sign that read ¡°Oh no!¡± before it plummeted down, but all it did was fall. I heard it land with a wet squelch at the bottom of the pit that had opened in front of us. It squeaked pathetically. A curious observer was wrong An unnamed observer disagrees An unnamed observer thinks this lived up to its promise and more We all looked at each other with wide eyes for a moment, then I cautiously crept forward to the edge of the pit and peered down. More than twenty feet below, it was impaled on one of the many long metal spikes that rose from the bottom of the pit, its little rat feet still pawing at the air, its little rat mouth with its pointy little rat teeth gasping as it struggled. The others joined me at the edge of the pit, all of us looking down. ¡°Oh god,¡± Kenji said. At first, only the top few inches of the spike protruded from the rat, but as we watched, the poor creature sank, and more and more of the spike seemed to grow from its back, until after a few agonizing moments its legs stopped flailing, its tiny rat jaws stopped snapping at the air, and its pathetic squeaking also came to a merciful end. Even after its light went out, the creature continued its descent until at last it came to a rest at the bottom of the pit, a solid five feet of metal sticking up from it, smeared red with blood. An unnamed observer is so happy right now A curious observer thinks an unnamed observer needs help ¡°Well that was horrifying,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Let¡¯s not fall in there,¡± Sigrid said. I was still peering down into the pit at the rat. I stopped pouring mana into its growth and it immediately shrank back down to baby size. If it wasn''t so god-awful it might''ve been funny, the little corpse seemingly wrapped around the bottom of the thick metal spike like a pink and red cuff. The bones and other remains of previous trap victims lay scattered around it on the floor of the pit. ¡°How do we get across?¡± Lancelot said. Sigrid pointed to the wall at the side of the pit. ¡°There.¡± There was a sliver of floor that hadn¡¯t fallen away, no more than a few inches wide, along the side of each wall. ¡°Not a problem,¡± Kenji said, and he quickly scampered along the side edge of the pit, safely reaching the bottom steps of the stairs on the other side before any of us could say or do anything to stop him. ¡°Sure, no problem for you,¡± Lancelot said, ¡°but I¡¯m about four times your size.¡± He flapped his arms, which clanked in his heavy plate armor. ¡°And I¡¯m trapped in a tin can.¡± ¡°I¡¯d hardly say trapped,¡± Morgan said. ¡°You could take off the armor.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s so much work to put it back on.¡± ¡°So lazy,¡± she said, clicking her tongue. ¡°Here, let me help you.¡± As Morgan assisted Lance out of his armor, I turned to Sigrid. ¡°Do you need to take off yours too or do you think you can make it?¡± She gave me a hurt look. ¡°Please.¡± Then, with a few quick steps along the edge, she demonstrated her athleticism and joined Kenji on the other side before posing like a gymnast after perfectly completing a floor routine. ¡°You¡¯re gonna have to give me a better reason than that if you want me to see me strip.¡± As Morgan helped remove each piece of Lancelot¡¯s armor she bundled it into her inventory. ¡°Thank god you¡¯re not naked under there,¡± she said. ¡°Like you haven¡¯t seen it before,¡± Lancelot said, and she smacked his chest. ¡°What?¡± he complained. ¡°It¡¯s true. And I don¡¯t recall you complaining at the time.¡± She smacked him again then turned to me. ¡°It¡¯s not what it sounds like.¡± I raised my hands in front of me. ¡°None of my business,¡± I said. After the last piece of plate armor disappeared into her inventory, Morgan gave Lancelot a shove. ¡°Go on and get across before I push you into the pit.¡± Lancelot put his back to the wall and with very tentative steps carefully inched his way sideways along the edge of the pit, leaving me with Morgan. ¡°I don¡¯t know why he said that,¡± she mumbled. ¡°That was a long time ago.¡± I caught her glancing over at me, as though expecting me to say something, but I had no idea what I was supposed to say. I took a shot anyway. ¡°If I had to guess, I¡¯d say he was trying to hurt you back.¡± ¡°Hurt me back? How did I hurt him in the first place?¡± I looked at her. ¡°Morgan, imagine that you liked me.¡± She smirked. ¡°Whatever joke you¡¯re about to make, choke it back,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to help you here.¡± The smirk vanished. ¡°Sorry. Please go on.¡± ¡°If it helps, then let me rephrase: imagine that I am someone you liked, either now or sometime in the past. Now imagine I came out and said that I never want to see you without clothing on, how would that make you feel?¡± She frowned. ¡°How¡¯d you get to be so wise all of a sudden?¡± I blurted out a sharp laugh. ¡°Me? Wise? Nah. I just happen to be a bit of an expert when it comes to feelings of jealousy and insecurity.¡± Lancelot had finally made it to the other side. ¡°Go on now, it¡¯s your turn.¡± With one last measuring look at me, Morgan skipped across to the other side. I was the last to cross, and I¡¯d made it about halfway when there was a clanking sound from somewhere underneath that shook the few inches of stone under my feet. I wobbled and wavered and came this close to slipping, but somehow managed to keep my balance. There were more clanks and clicks, and the section of floor that had fallen away started to slowly ratchet back into place. ¡°You okay there?¡± Sigrid said as I pressed my back against the wall and waited for the panic to recede. Twenty-odd feet below me at the bottom of the pit, the corpse of the baby giant rat continued to bleed out on its giant metal skewer as the rising trap doors continued to slowly clink shut. ¡°Yup,¡± I said. ¡°Peachy keen.¡± ¡°Deep breaths,¡± she said. ¡°You got this.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± Chapter Sixty-One - Danger, danger everywhere I don¡¯t think I took another breath until Sigrid grabbed my arm and hauled me the final few feet to safety on the other side of the pit, which was roughly the same time as the pit trap finished resetting. The staircase we were on now was the same as the one we¡¯d descended to get into the hall of traps. I sat on the bottom steps looking back the way we¡¯d come. Even knowing the trap doors were there, I couldn¡¯t see any trace of their seams in the floor. Morgan sat down beside me. ¡°Need a while to catch a breather?¡± I waved her off. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good to go.¡± I glanced over my shoulder when I heard Sigrid go ¡°hmmm.¡± She stood a few steps above us with Kenji, alternating looking up toward the top of the stairs and back toward the corridor we¡¯d passed through. ¡°Everything okay?¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s more danger here.¡± Sigrid bit her lip. ¡°Hard to say.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure this entire place is dangerous,¡± Lancelot said from a few steps above Sigrid, rubbing his hand along his bare arm. ¡°It¡¯s too hard to put my armor back on on these stairs and I¡¯m feeling a bit vulnerable. I vote we keep going.¡± ¡°We do have a quest to complete,¡± Morgan said. ¡°True,¡± I sighed, putting both hands on my knees and pushing myself up to my feet. ¡°Alright alright alright,¡± Lancelot drawled. ¡°Let¡¯s boogie.¡± As he set off to lead the way up the stairs he looked so different than normal. I was used to the imposing knight Lancelot, decked out in full plate armor, but now he only had on the simple cotton pants and a light shirt he wore under his armor. The only sign he wasn¡¯t an ordinary guy in his early 20s was the sword hanging off his belt; the rest of his gear was stowed in Morgan¡¯s inventory. Even without the powerful aura his armor leant him, Lance was still a hunky guy. Lean and fit, with the sculpted muscles of someone who put some effort into it, and the sort of face that would''ve made my sister call him "pretty boy." If he hadn''t chosen to hang around with Arthur all the time, he probably would''ve been the best looking guy in the room in most places. Is that where his bluster comes from? Trying to force his way out of Arthur''s shadow? Lancelot charged up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time, the rest of us following somewhat less enthusiastically, but he barely made it half the way up before Sigrid¡¯s eyes snapped wide open. She began to call out a warning but it was too late. Lancelot stepped on a certain step and there was a loud click. Another trap. At first we all stood there dazed. Then after the click there was a clunk from behind us. We all looked back, and saw that the bottom step was no longer there. It had levered down forty-five degrees. Clunk. The next step angled down. The staircase was transforming into a ramp. Clunk. Another step had angled down. Clunk. Another. But that wasn¡¯t the worst part. The worst part was that the pit trap at the bottom of the stairs had reopened. The solid steps we stood on were turning into a slide straight down into the pit. So far, four steps had shifted, and I was standing on the fifth. I turned around, wanting to leap up three or four steps at a time, but Morgan was in the way, only a couple of steps ahead of me. Kenji and Sigrid several steps above her, and finally Lancelot up on the trigger step. There was no way we were going to make it. Clunk. I felt the step under my foot angle down, and I think I shouted something, I¡¯m not sure, and I started flailing my arms for balance, letting go of the bag of rats. Morgan reached back and caught my hand, but it was pointless. The steps under her feet had angled down too. Everything started happening in slow motion. While Morgan and I both fell onto our backs and began to slide down, she somehow kept a tight grip on my wrist. I felt my body slip over the bottom edge of the ramp into the pit. I looked up at her, our eyes locked in fear. Then behind her I saw Sigrid lunge toward us, diving down the stairs. She¡¯d rammed the bottom of her shield into a step at the same time as the step folded down to become part of the ramp. Her shield was trapped, anchored in the stuck step. Sigrid threw her free arm forward and grabbed the back of Morgan¡¯s purple dress. We hung there, Sigrid¡¯s shield stuck in the steps, her left arm secured in the shield¡¯s straps, her right arm holding Morgan. My entire body dangled in the pit, the only thing keeping me from falling was Morgan¡¯s hand clenched tightly around my wrist. Above us, the clunking continued as the rest of the stairs transformed one by one into a ramp. I heard Lancelot curse right before there was a soft thump followed by a scrabbling sound. I could picture him falling as the stairs shifted under his feet, his hands clawing at the ramp trying to keep from sliding down. Then the scrabbling stopped and I heard Kenji¡¯s voice: ¡°Gotcha.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening up there?¡± I called. ¡°I¡¯ve got you guys,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°but I can¡¯t move.¡± ¡°Kenji¡¯s got me,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how, but he¡¯s got me.¡± ¡°How are you doing that?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Spider climb,¡± Kenji said. ¡°This ramp¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Not to rush this or anything,¡± Morgan said, ¡°but I don¡¯t know how much longer I can hold on.¡± I looked down. The bottom of the pit was only a little more than a dozen feet or so below me and I could fall that far without much problem, but it wasn¡¯t the floor of the pit that concerned me, it was the array of five foot long spikes that would meet me first. I saw baby rats fleeing from the bag I''d dropped, scurrying around on the floor of the pit amid the remains of the trap''s prior victims. Then I saw the glint of something shiny down among the bones and other remains at the bottom of the pit. Of all the times to find treasure. ¡°Daniel,¡± Morgan said, her voice tight with the strain of holding onto me. ¡°You need to think of something fast.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°I mean it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay Morgan,¡± I said. ¡°You can let go.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll just slide down the wall.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°But the spikes.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a gap. Not a big one, but I think I can squeeze between the spikes.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Sigrid said from above. ¡°Does it matter? I said. ¡°No,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Sorry Daniel.¡± And she let go. Think thin. Think thin. I tried to keep my body and face pressed to the pit¡¯s wall as I slid down. I could feel the smooth metal of a spike sliding along my body, but no pain. It hadn¡¯t pierced me, but the space was so tight it had slid up under my clothing. My feet hit the floor hard, but I remained standing, wedged between the hard stone wall and the cold metal spike. ¡°Daniel!¡± Sigrid¡¯s voice came from above. ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± I shouted back. ¡°Thank god,¡± she said. ¡°Okay, now what?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Kenji?¡± I said. His soft voice squeaked from up above. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Think you can climb to the top?¡± ¡°No. With Lancelot¡¯s weight I¡¯m barely holding on as it is.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let go,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°What if you weren¡¯t supporting Lancelot?¡± I said. ¡°Oh, then no problem,¡± Kenji said. ¡°I said don¡¯t let go!¡± Lancelot shrieked. ¡°Sigrid?¡± I said. ¡°Yeah?¡± she said. ¡°How secure are you there? Will your shield hold?¡± ¡°Feels wedged in there pretty good.¡± ¡°Do you think if Kenji let go of Lance you could catch him?¡± ¡°Not really. I¡¯m out of free hands.¡± ¡°She¡¯s right below us,¡± Kenji said. ¡°He could just slide down into the shield.¡± ¡°Lance? What do you think?¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not that far,¡± he said. ¡°I think I could do it.¡± ¡°Kenji, do you have any rope?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Does anybody up there have any rope?¡± A chorus of no¡¯s. ¡°Jeez,¡± I said. ¡°Adventuring Basics, always have rope.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t all have a magic inventory, you know,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I do,¡± Morgan said. ¡°But no rope,¡± he said. ¡°Hey, I play video games,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Why would I think to bring rope? In my games, if you¡¯re gonna need rope, the game provides it.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do...¡± After explaining the plan, we went on to make it happen. I opened my inventory, reached in, and pulled out a length of rope. It was thin and light, but very strong. Cost me a fortune, but years of role playing games had taught me well. Always have rope. It would have been hard enough to maneuver, face against the wall and wedged tight between it and the spike, but with the spike riding up under my clothes it was even harder. It had slid under my jacket and shirt as I fell, running up under my clothes and preventing me from moving anything but my arms. I was able to get the rope out with one hand, then feed one end of it past my stomach to the other hand. As I did this, Sigrid hauled Morgan up, then the two of them used some spare clothes from Morgan¡¯s inventory to bind their feet together. The trick was to get Morgan¡¯s hands to the edge of the pit so she could catch the rope when I tossed it up. Sigrid held her shield with both hands with Morgan dangling upside down from her legs. When I saw Morgan¡¯s hands at the top of the pit, I uncoiled the rope a bit, then heaved the bulk of it up. It took a few tries, but she finally caught it. I could hear them moving and communicating above me as the rope was tossed up to Kenji. Then Kenji let go of Lancelot, who slid down. There was a thunk as his feet hit the shield, but no screams or anything, so I knew it held when he landed on it. Kenji skittered up the ramp to the top, then he lowered the rope and the three of them climbed up. There was only me left. The end of the rope dropped beside me. I grabbed it with one hand. ¡°Okay, pull me up!¡± The rest of the group hauled on the rope and I started to ascend. When I¡¯d risen enough that the spike was finally free from my clothes, I told them to stop. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sigrid called down. ¡°Nothing bad, it¡¯s just...can you lower me down again?¡± With my feet on the floor again ¡ª and no spike under my clothes trapping me in place ¡ª I squeezed between the spikes toward the glint I¡¯d seen earlier. I crouched down to the best of my ability, it was like playing Twister against immovable poles, finally getting my hand close to the glint. Digging under the remains, I found...a present. It was small, like the size of a deck of cards, wrapped in shiny metalic paper and done up with a ribbon and bow and everything. There was no doubt in my mind what this was. I''d done my best to ignore the observers comments. It was clear the others couldn''t see their messages, and I didn''t want to alarm the others with the knowledge that some strange, twisted entities had been watching us for who knows how long. Still, I had received some pretty good stuff from observers in the past. This prettily-wrapped present was absolutely something from them. I hesitated before touching it. "Why is there a gift down here?" I said, quietly, so that Morgan wouldn''t hear but the observers would. An unnamed observer put it there An unnamed observer replaced the crappy magic dagger that was there before with it Darn. I would''ve liked a magic dagger. "Is it really okay for you observers to mess with things this way? Doesn''t it, like, break the fourth wall or something?" System could not find a rule against it A curious observer still doesn''t know if all this merits a reward An unnamed observer tells a curious observer to stuff itself and go watch some other boring Players then I grit my teeth and touched the present. It exploded in a blossom of virtual confetti to reveal the gacha wheel of fortune. This time, the slots on the wheel were filled with potential prizes like Little Treasure Chest, Huge Treasure Chest, Magic Armor, Magic Weapon, Unique Artifact, and, in what I can only think was a last-minute addition, Baby Giant Rat Refills. How thoughtful. "How''s it going down there?" came Morgan''s voice from above. "Fine," I called back. "Just need a minute." I reached out toward the wheel and was just able to touch it with my fingertips. I gave it a flick. It wasn''t much, but it was enough to set the wheel spinning. "What''s that clicking sound?" Morgan said. "Nothing," I said. The wheel slowed and eventually came to rest on the Unique Artifact slot. That sounded promising. The wheel vanished and in my hand appeared a thin, flat circle of dark, cloudy metal, about a foot in diameter and maybe a sixteenth of an inch thick.
Plate of Peace The Great War began when the Demon Queen demonstrated the use of this enchanted plate of malficium to the High Chancellor of the Land, to whom she had just given it as a gift, then kept him inside its bubble until he told her something. Nobody knows what he said, but after she killed him immediately following that, the Land was at war with the Demons.
Powers: Alternate Energy Source: Biofuel - Use the life force of target(s) inside a dome of silence to fuel the Plate of Peace¡¯s powers instead of mana Leave Me Alone - Infuse mana to add a force field effect to a dome of silence Shhhh - Create a dome of silence when standing on the Plate of Peace
What the hell? That was quite the description. I was holding a piece of history. Curious set of powers, though. And you had to be standing still on it the whole time. That was strangely specific. ¡°Hey, you coming out or what?¡± Sigrid shouted from above. I tucked the plate into my inventory and muttered a quiet thank you to the observer. ¡°Yeah,¡± I called back. ¡°All good. Haul away.¡± Chapter Sixty-Two - The faceless enemy After the hall of traps, we continued relying on Sigrid¡¯s danger sense to warn us of impending problems as we progressed through the labyrinth. While her ability to pinpoint the source of any danger was suspect, we nevertheless went forward confident that she could at least give us some advance warning. We also relied on Kenji¡¯s heightened senses to direct us. We had much less confidence that his choices at each intersection were the right ones, but nobody had anything better to go on, so went with whatever he said. At first, whenever there was a choice of direction to make he¡¯d spend a bit of time exploring the options with his senses before choosing. Then we reached one such juncture and he quickly chose a certain path. ¡°This one,¡± Kenji said. ¡°What makes you sure?¡± I said. ¡°It smells different.¡± ¡°What kind of smell is it?¡± Morgan said. ¡°It smells like my grandmother¡¯s bathroom.¡± ¡°That¡¯s oddly specific,¡± she said. ¡°Flowers, I guess,¡± Kenji said. Sigrid nodded her head. ¡°I know exactly what you mean. My grandma¡¯s bathroom smells like that too.¡± After a while, it took less and less time for him to decide; just a quick sniff, then he¡¯d point down a hallway. We were just about to turn a corner when Sigrid stopped. ¡°There¡¯s something ahead,¡± she whispered. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. The smell has been getting much stronger recently,¡± Kenji said, keeping his voice low. ¡°Think you can do the scouty ninja thing again?¡± I said. The teenager grinned at me, then pulled the cowl up to cover his face and slunk off into the shadows once more. Once he¡¯d disappeared around the corner, the rest of us leaned in close to each other, talking in hushed whispers. ¡°This is taking a long time and we haven¡¯t really made any progress on the quest,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I wonder where the others are?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I¡¯m sure your brother¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°Pfff. Like I care about that dork.¡± ¡°You care too much,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Big sister syndrome.¡± ¡°Shush,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to look cool.¡± ¡°You and Kenji are lucky,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You have family here with you.¡± ¡°Is it lucky?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I think I¡¯d feel a lot better if he was still safe back on Earth.¡± ¡°I wonder if the people back home know what happened to us?¡± I said. ¡°To them, we must have just disappeared all of a sudden. Three hundred people, all gone at once.¡± ¡°And all people who were at that convention,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering about that too. They must be going ape-shit trying to figure out what happened to us.¡± ¡°I guess you¡¯re right,¡± Morgan said. ¡°As worried as I am about Arthur right now, our parents must be a hundred times more worried about us.¡± Lancelot pushed his shoulders back and stood up straight. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to do our best to finish this quickly and get home.¡± Assuming we didn¡¯t die first. I couldn¡¯t help remembering Stratos¡¯ threat about how the next time I die here, it might be for good. ¡°There was a weird guy up ahead,¡± Kenji said suddenly. As usual, I hadn¡¯t even been aware he was there. ¡°Was?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I, um, subjugated him,¡± Kenji said. He held out a small yellow mana crystal. Lancelot clapped Kenji on the shoulder. ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°How was he weird?¡± I said. ¡°He was dressed up like a Greek soldier, but he didn¡¯t have a face.¡± ¡°You mean his face was covered by his helmet,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°No,¡± Kenji said, ¡°I mean he had no face.¡± ¡°Creepy and weird,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°There¡¯s something else too.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± I said. Kenji scratched his head through the cowl. ¡°I think it¡¯d be better if you just saw it for yourself.¡± He led us around the corner and down the corridor to a four-way intersection where the passage to the right opened into a small room. Its furnishings were spartan, just a rack of weapons, a table with a single chair, and a large bell. It also held an actual Spartan: a dead soldier in the armor of an ancient Greek warrior. His head had been sliced off, and just as Kenji had said, I could see through the helmet¡¯s eye slits and the gaps beside the nose guard that he had no face, only smooth skin. But having no face wasn¡¯t the weirdest thing about him: he also had nothing inside him. Just meat. Despite how it looks in the movies, it¡¯s not easy to decapitate someone. There¡¯s a reason why being an executioner was a real job, it took care and practice to be able to slice someone¡¯s head off with a single stroke of an axe. As horrible as it would be to be killed like that, it would¡¯ve been so much worse if the executioner had to hack away at your neck a few times before managing to sever your head from the rest of you. This Spartan soldier¡¯s head had been sliced cleanly off, but where you¡¯d expect to see spine and tendons, there wasn¡¯t anything. Just meat. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°I had only meant to slit his throat, but my sword sliced right through his neck. I know it¡¯s sharp and all, but this was different.¡± There was another wound in the creature¡¯s chest where Kenji had dug out the mana crystal, a gaping slash through which the insides were clearly visible. Picture a giant, raw, boneless chicken breast covered in human skin. That¡¯s what it was made of. No bones, no blood, no organs. Just meat. ¡°Super creepy,¡± Sigrid said. Out of curiosity, and because it was now second nature, I used All Shall Be Revealed on the body.
Flesh Golem Corpse
Items: Flesh Golem Core
¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°What is it?¡± said Sigrid. ¡°It¡¯s a Golem.¡± I pulled out a knife and went over to its head. I knelt down and pulled off the helmet, then held the head in one hand and carefully cut it. It looked like raw chicken, but it was more like cutting firm tofu. I soon revealed a small clay tablet, smaller than a deck of cards, with strange symbols inscribed on it. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± said Lancelot. ¡°The Golem¡¯s core,¡± I said. ¡°What do you do with it?¡± ¡°No idea,¡± I said, stuffing it into my inventory. ¡°Yet.¡± I did a quick evaluation of the weapons on the rack, but nothing stood out. Same with the bell. ¡°Bet you anything this is a warning bell,¡± Lancelot said as he watched me evaluate it. ¡°Anybody comes by, this guy¡¯s supposed to ring it. Nice work taking him out before he could send the warning, Kenji.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Morgan. ¡°But who was he supposed to warn?¡± Kenji pointed down the corridor directly opposite us that went straight for about twenty feet, then ended in a door. ¡°That¡¯s where the smell is coming from.¡± It was the first door we¡¯d seen since the Giant Rat King¡¯s nest. This one was made of wood, with intricate carvings of peonies, crocuses, and some other flowers I couldn¡¯t identify. ¡°Grandma¡¯s bathroom,¡± Morgan said. Kenji nodded. I slid my knife back into its sheath, thankful that I didn¡¯t have to wipe any blood off of it first. ¡°Are y¡¯all ready for this?¡± ¡°Jeez, you sound like Jane,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Don¡¯t be mean,¡± I said, but I was smiling. She smiled back. We approached the door cautiously, trying to be as quiet as possible. Kenji placed his ear to the wood. ¡°I think I hear water,¡± he whispered. ¡°Like a fountain, maybe?¡± He put his hand on the handle of the door then looked back at us. I nodded, and he slowly, carefully pushed the door open. When it was open wide enough to see what was beyond it I gasped then reached out and pulled the door closed again. ¡°What? Did you see something?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°My danger sense is off the charts.¡± ¡°Statues,¡± I said. With my quick peek I saw that the room beyond the door was enormous, and unlike anything we¡¯d seen so far. There were trees, lots of them, and it was well lit. It was a waterfall Kenji had heard, not a fountain; I saw it cascading down a natural stone outer wall. And there were the statues, lots of statues. ¡°Well, we already know how easy those are to deal with,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Even if it¡¯s just the five of us.¡± ¡°These are different,¡± I said. ¡°The other ones were marble, these are made of stone.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So, we know that somewhere in this place there¡¯s a Gorgon.¡± Lancelot grimaced. ¡°Medusa turned you to stone if you looked at her.¡± ¡°I thought you were prepared for this,¡± Sigrid said. I closed my eyes and sighed. ¡°I was. I worked with Byron to make a really cool helmet that used mirrors to take what''s in front of you directly and reflect an image of it in front of your eyes.¡± ¡°So you could look her in the face and not get stoned. Clever.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°We made a bunch of them.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind getting stoned,¡± Sigrid said. She mimed smoking a joint. ¡°Now who sounds like Jane?¡± I said. ¡°So, what¡¯s the problem?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Whip out some helmets and let¡¯s go hunt ourselves a Gorgon.¡± ¡°The problem is that the helmets are all in Byron¡¯s inventory.¡± ¡°Crap.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°So what¡¯re we gonna do?¡± Morgan said. Everyone looked at me. I gnawed my lip as I used All Shall Be Revealed on them to remind myself of everyone¡¯s capabilities.
Sigrid Sorrensen Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Air - Competent
Gifts: Danger, Will Robinson - Detect potential threats
Powers: Heavenly Body - Competent: Boosted strength, agility, and toughness Shield Maiden - Competent: Boost the defence of nearby allies Your Achilles Heel Is Showing - Novice: Detect weaknesses
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Fitness - Adept Kung Fu - Competent Sword - Competent Spear - Competent
Kenji Hachiman Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Shadow - Competent
Gifts: Trust Your Senses - Enhanced range and sensitivity of all senses
Powers: Stealth - Adept: Move and hide undetected Spiderwalk - Adept: Can move up walls and along ceilings
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Kung Fu - Competent Ninjutsu - Adept Otaku - Competent Sword - Adept
Morgan Crenshaw Unaffiliated
Affinity: Void - Competent
Gifts: Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space
Powers: Alchemy - Adept: Create potions Don¡¯t Believe It - Competent: Create illusions What Do You Need? - Adept: Create simple temporary objects that remain as long as mana is used to maintain them
Skills: Chemistry - Competent Crossbow - Competent Knife - Competent Kung Fu - Novice Mixology - Competent
Jake Repuski (Lancelot) Unaffiliated
Affinity: Fire - Competent
Gifts: Tougher Than I Look - Improved vitality
Powers: I Go Crazy - Competent: Go berserk to increase attack at the cost of defense It¡¯s Just A Flesh Wound - Competent: Regeneration
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Kung Fu - Novice Sword - Adept
A smile crept across my face as a plan began to form. ¡°Here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do,¡± I said. Chapter Sixty-Three - Gorgon Lancelot was the first to enter, followed by Sigrid, then Morgan, then me. Kenji was the last one through, and just when he¡¯d entered I had a sudden thought. I lunged back to shove my foot in the door to stop it closing, but I was too late. I went to open it again but there was no handle on this side, and it wouldn¡¯t budge when I pushed on it. My fears were confirmed. We were locked in. ¡°Sorry,¡± Kenji said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s another exit or something inside here that¡¯ll open it. And we¡¯ll know for next time, right?¡± Kenji nodded and smiled, but the smile was clearly forced and I could tell he still felt bad about it. I put my hand on his shoulder. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not your fault, okay?¡± He nodded again, this time giving me a genuine smile. Looking around the room I realized it was even bigger than I¡¯d thought. It wasn¡¯t really fair to call it a mere room. It was a cavernous grotto with rough, cave-like walls. All we could see now was a grove of tall cyprus and olive trees reaching up toward a high domed ceiling. There was still that strange illumination from nowhere, but here it reflected off of twinkling veins of crystal running all through the walls and dome of the ceiling. And there were the statues. They were everywhere. We all kept one eye on the statues nearby, expecting them to come to life at any moment like the ones we¡¯d fought earlier. But unlike those, in addition to being made of stone and not marble these were not statues of Gods or heroes. They depicted normal people, many wearing clothing and armor that were not Greek. If my hunch was right, depicted isn¡¯t the right word to use either. Nobody had carved these. They really were normal people who¡¯d been turned to stone. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. These weren¡¯t normal people. There were no normal people there besides us Players, and I was positive we had to be the first Players in this dungeon. They were just statues. Very detailed statues. Perfect statues. Worst case, they were NPCs that were turned to stone to lend atmosphere. If that was the case, then job well done, the atmosphere was definitely set. Actually, the worst case was they are real people Stratos had kidnapped from Earth for this exact purpose, but they wouldn¡¯t do that. Would they? Four of us crept together as a group, moving with as much stealth as we could manage, heading straight forward and trying to keep our eyes pointed down at the ground as much as possible. It would¡¯ve sucked to bump into the Gorgon and get turned to stone before we could even execute the plan, although if we looked down too much we were in serious risk of running into a tree. The good news was we didn¡¯t run into the Gorgon that way. The bad news? We ran into her flunkies instead. We heard them before we saw them. Shuffling through the trees like sentinels on patrol, two more Flesh Golems were on a collision course with us. I made some quick gestures to tell the others to hide behind some trees, but they just stared at me blankly. Guess charades wasn''t their game. It wasn¡¯t until I did I actually did it myself that they got the idea and found their own tree to hide behind. Just in time, too, because the Golems trudged into the area seconds later. They were just about to pass between the two trees that Sigrid and I were lurking behind when they stopped abruptly. I couldn¡¯t see them, but I heard the soft rustle of swords being drawn from their scabbards. Though they lacked eyes and ears they had other ways of knowing what was around them, and they knew we were there. I¡¯d hoped to surprise them, but they almost turned the tables and surprised us because just as I leapt out from behind my tree ready to fight they charged at where we¡¯d been hiding. I clashed with one of them and we both staggered back. Sigrid¡¯s danger sense gave her more warning and she was was ready to stop the other Golem¡¯s sneaky stab, using the shield to block the stab and shove the Golem back at the same time to give herself room to swing her own sword. My Golem was slow to recover from our impact, and before it was able to defend itself or attack me I hit it with a combination of omni-do strikes. I felt each hit make a firm connection with the Golem¡¯s soft body, but none of them seemed to have any effect. Soon I was busy dodging and deflecting its sword as I kept counter-attacking, pummeling it with a fist, knee, elbow, or foot any time I saw an opening. It didn¡¯t seem phased in the least, and it managed to graze me with its sword a few times; one slash cut deep into my leg, knocking me down a few ticks on my health bar. It hurt badly enough that it hindered my movement. I could hear Sigrid fighting with hers, and when she started cursing I got the feeling she was not having much luck either. ¡°What is with this thing?¡± she said. I risked a glance over and saw that she¡¯d stabbed numerous holes in her Golem, and had even carved a gaping chunk out of it just above the hip. It kept going as though nothing had happened. ¡°It won¡¯t go down!¡± I was getting nowhere while mine. All I managed to do was get my health knocked down even more; it was time to try something else. The first chance I got I stepped back and used Affinity Control to hit the Golem with a blast of Air to knock it back farther. Then I switched to Fire, held out both hands, and shot a jet of flame like a flamethrower, surrounding it with a flickering coat of searing heat. There was a crackle and a smell like burnt hamburger, but when the acrid smoke cleared the Golem was still standing and looking fine, it¡¯s skin was just a little crispy is all. ¡°Well that¡¯s a bit frustrating,¡± I said. ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Sigrid said. I glanced aside just in time to see her dodge a thrust from her Golem then lop its sword arm off in one quick chop. The Golem simply bent down, picked up its fallen sword with its remaining hand, and began to attack again. ¡°How the hell did Kenji kill one of these so easily?¡± she said. Her question must have triggered the Power that, in the heat of battle, we¡¯d both forgotten she had: to detect weaknesses. ¡°Chop its head off,¡± she said. Duh. Of course. She swung her blade in a wide arc, slicing cleanly through its neck. The head flew to the side and the body crumpled to the ground. ¡°Yeah, that worked,¡± she said. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I considered using omni-do to take the Golem down and get it into a hold that would let me tear its head off, but I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be able to do that. Its tensile strength was considerable, probably far greater than my physical strength even after all the grueling training sessions with Sigrid. It seemed like its only weakness was a sharp blade. My first thought was to create a blade of Ice, but then I remembered I had quite a few sharp weapons in my inventory. I opened it up and reached inside, concentrating on a katana, then pulled one out. After that, it was a simple matter of following Sigrid¡¯s example and decapitating my Golem too. Like slicing tofu with a carbon steel santoku. ¡°So much for being quiet,¡± Morgan said. ¡°We were bound to get discovered sooner or later, let¡¯s just hope¡ª¡± The melodic female voice that interrupted me was soft butter in my ears, smooth and slick and a little greasy. ¡°Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s rude to come into someone¡¯s home unannounced?¡± it said. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to ring the doorbell.¡± ¡°Looks like sooner,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Whatever you do, don¡¯t look up,¡± I said. ¡°Sigrid, where¡¯s that voice coming from?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s danger everywhere in here!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s pair up. Sigrid, you¡¯re with me. Lancelot, protect Morgan.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not totally weak and useless, you know,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Look behind you.¡± I turned to look back towards the door and saw a huge mirror, a rectangle about five feet high and ten feet across, propped on the ground against a tree. ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need protecting.¡± ¡°Lancelot,¡± I said, ¡°make sure to assist Morgan in protecting herself. Not because she¡¯s weak, but because she¡¯s too useful to lose.¡± Morgan frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure how to take that.¡± ¡°Incoming Golems,¡± Sigrid said. Four more Flesh Golems were converging upon us, two on either side. ¡°Let me show you how it¡¯s done,¡± Lancelot said, and charged towards the two closest. His blade went snicker-snack and there were two headless Golems on the ground. Sigrid was busy taking care of the other two when I saw reflected in the mirror another Golem heading toward me, still too far to reach with a sword. If only I had a way to slice its head off from a distance. Then I had an idea. To be honest it wasn¡¯t an original idea, it was something I¡¯d seen in anime where characters who had air powers created blades of wind, and wondered if I could copy it. Using Affinity Control, I channeled Air to create a thin, razor-sharp wave of compressed air, and shot it at the Golem. I was aiming for the neck, but I was using the mirror to see as well as trying to hit something that was behind me as well as attempting an effect I¡¯d never tried before, so the aim was a bit off and it ended up cutting straight through the monster at mid-chest instead. Good enough. The bottom part fell lifeless to the ground, but the top part that included the head, upper chest, and the arms down to just above the elbows kept wriggling after it fell, the arm stumps jerking as though trying to claw its way along the ground. Persistent sucker. I figured any part of the creature still attached to the Golem Core in the head was still imbued with life. Any part severed from the head was nothing more than lifeless meat. System: Your affinity with Air has evolved ¡°That was a neat trick,¡± said the female voice again, and in the mirror¡¯s reflection I saw her emerge from between two bushy cypresses. Since arriving here I¡¯d spent most of my time in the company of some very attractive women, but not even Jane or Sigrid could compare to the Gorgon¡¯s ageless beauty. Sure, you had to look past the writhing mass of hissing green snakes that framed that beautiful face to fully appreciate it, but she was beyond stunning. Her body was equally beguiling, draped in a flowing gown made of an almost transparent fabric, thin like gossamer, and leaving little to the imagination. ¡°I¡¯d like you to please stop killing my servants, though,¡± the Gorgon said. ¡°They are such a pain to create.¡± We kept our backs to her, using the mirror to see her behind us. I could see the moment when she noticed the mirror. ¡°Tsk tsk,¡± she said. ¡°Those are not allowed here. Servants, destroy that.¡± ¡°Protect the mirror,¡± I said as more Golems flowed out from the trees, all headed for the mirror. Sigrid and Lancelot took defensive positions on either side of it, fending off the monsters before they got close enough to smash it. ¡°You may as well give up,¡± the Gorgon said. ¡°Just be good boys and girls and try to think of a nice pose to spend the rest of eternity in.¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer not,¡± I said, and I sent another wind cutter behind me. She¡¯d been expecting it, though, and with a sweep of her hand she redirected it to the side and it blew past her. ¡°You¡¯re too obvious,¡± she said. Obvious, am I? I can use that. ¡°Find yourself some other garden ornaments,¡± I said as I sent another wind cutter, only this time I put less power into it. Once more she swept it aside. I wished I knew what she was using to do that, but I couldn¡¯t risk looking at her to discover her powers through All Shall Be Revealed. ¡°It was a neat trick the first time,¡± she said, ¡°but now it¡¯s just tiresome. And it looks like you¡¯re getting weaker.¡± I bet it does. Let¡¯s see how you handle this. Once again I did the same thing, only this time I did it twice. The first was an even weaker wind cutter, followed up by another one at full power. She deflected the first one easily, but the second one caught her by surprise and she had to duck under it. She succeeded, mostly. She avoided taking a direct hit, but it did manage to slice one of the snakes off her head, which seemed to really piss her off. ¡°Pest!¡± she hissed. ¡°Whatever you¡¯re doing,¡± Sigrid shouted, ¡°please do it quickly.¡± More Golems kept coming, and although she and Lancelot had dispatched a few of the monsters, Sigrid had taken her share of wounds from them in return. Lancelot was faring better; his sword swings were fast and reckless, but effective, so I figured he must''ve been using his berserker power. It made him vulnerable, but his toughness gift mostly compensated for that, and his regeneration power soon healed up the cuts he got. Still, there were a lot of Golems left. We just needed a little more time. I didn¡¯t figure I¡¯d get any more mileage out of the wind cutter, so I decided to change tack. My flamethrower hadn¡¯t worked on the Golem, but maybe the Gorgon would be different. I sent a jet of flame behind me, but she somehow managed to shield herself from that too. That¡¯s when a Golem managed to get past Lancelot and smash the mirror. ¡°This has been fun, but it¡¯s over now,¡± the Gorgon said. ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± I said. We¡¯d kept this going long enough, so I used Affinity Control one more time. This time I used Light, sending a blinding flash behind me. That was the signal for Kenji to finally act. Chapter Sixty-Four - Like a spider, man When the Gorgon was momentarily disoriented by the flare, Kenji dropped from the ceiling where he¡¯d been hiding after using his spider climb power to crawl up the wall and position himself directly above her. He landed softly behind her and stabbed her several times through the back before slitting her throat. I couldn¡¯t see this, of course, because I was still looking the other way and Morgan''s mirror was broken, but I heard it all. It was just like we''d planned. I knew the instant the Gorgon was dead. All the remaining Flesh Golems had all collapsed at the same time and lay unmoving on the ground. Without her control, they were all just meat. I knelt down and picked up a shard of Morgan¡¯s broken mirror. In the reflection, I could see Kenji standing there, ninjato in one hand dripping blood, the monster¡¯s body at his feet. Its head faced the ground, serpentine hair splayed out limp and lifeless around it. His eyes were still closed. ¡°Great work Kenji!¡± I said. ¡°Great work everyone,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That was a good plan, Daniel,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Thanks.¡± Kenji opened his eyes, then went over to Sigrid and held out a broken hand mirror. It was the one she''d leant him so he could find his position without having to look at the Gorgon. He looked up at her with sad puppy eyes. ¡°Sorry. I broke it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it,¡± she said, pulling the hood back over his mess of dark hair and ruffling it. ¡°I¡¯ll just get Byron to make me a new one.¡± Kenji''s eyes went wide for a moment, then closed for another as the corners of his mouth rose ever-so-slightly, then his mouth widened along with his eyes again as his face flushed and he quickly drew the hood back over his head and raised the cowl to cover his face. He turned from Sigrid and slunk away, no doubt wishing for shadows to hide in. Sigrid snorted, then covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the rest of the laugh. ¡°Guess we don¡¯t need mine anymore either,¡± Morgan said. The piece of mirror disintegrated in my hand as she stopped concentrating on keeping it. ¡°Let¡¯s get that head in a bag and find a way out of here,¡± I said. ¡°I thought we only needed the eyes,¡± Morgan said. ¡°True, but All Shall Be Revealed is telling me her whole head has value. Let¡¯s take it all back to Sifu. If he only wants the eyes, let him be the one to gouge them out.¡±
Gorgon Corpse
Items: Red Mana Crystal Gorgon''s Head
¡°Right,¡± Lancelot said, ¡°let¡¯s get this over with.¡± He bent over the corpse, grabbed a fist full of limp snake hair, and lopped at the neck until it was severed off. Then he raised the head triumphantly. ¡°Who¡¯s having fun now, witch?¡± he said. ¡°Be careful!¡± I said, quickly averting my eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t look at her face!¡± But it was too late. There was a grinding sort of noise, the kind of sound you¡¯d make sliding one rock against another. ¡°Lancelot?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Lancelot? Jake, answer me, dammit.¡± But of course he didn¡¯t answer. He couldn¡¯t. He¡¯d looked at her face. ¡°What happened?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Everybody close your eyes and keep them shut!¡± I shouted. ¡°But she¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°She can still turn you to stone.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us that before?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I thought you¡¯d know!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a nerd, how would I know?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen the Super Mario Brothers Movie but haven¡¯t seen Percy Jackson?¡± ¡°Hey, Super Mario Bros was a huge movie when it came out,¡± Sigrid said. I sighed. "Everybody keep your eyes shut. I''ll go bag the head." My eyes shut tight, I started backing up toward where Lancelot was, extending my hand behind me and waving it around until I touched something. It was cold and smooth. Like stone. And shaped like Lancelot. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Morgan. He looked.¡± ¡°God dammit!¡± she shouted. I felt my way along until I found his extended arm, then followed it to the hand holding the Gorgon¡¯s head. ¡°We have a problem,¡± I said. ¡°What now?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°He was holding the head when he was turned to stone.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So now he¡¯s still got her snake hair clenched in his stone fist. I can¡¯t get it out.¡± ¡°Just frigging cut it!¡± Sigrid snapped. Oh yeah. Right. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a knife, then cut off the snakes that Lancelot was holding. The head fell to the ground with a thump. I crouched down and felt around until I found it, sadly by poking it in the eye, then stowed the knife and pulled a blanket ¡ª I¡¯d put a lot of gear in there before we left ¡ª and shrouded the head in it. ¡°Okay, you can look now,¡± I said. The Lancelot statue was kneeling, one arm extended with some severed snakes drooping from it, the other down at his side gripping his stone sword. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll respawn, Morgan,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said. Morgan pressed her lips together in a thin line, brow furrowed. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°When he does,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°we are totally coming back here to retrieve this statue. It¡¯ll make a good ornament in the garden back at the dojo.¡± Morgan smirked. ¡°We don¡¯t need to come back.¡± She opened her inventory, which was the same as mine. ¡°Help me get this thing in here.¡± Lancelot was heavy, but working together we managed to tip him over to get his head into the little square opening of the inventory. From there, whatever spatial science that was behind the extra-dimensional space worked its magic and the inventory swallowed the rest of him. The mood was decidedly subdued as we dug the mana crystals and Golem Cores out of the bodies; the Gorgon¡¯s crystal wasn¡¯t only the largest I¡¯d seen, it was also red, a color I hadn¡¯t seen in mana crystals before. I mentally smacked myself in the head for taking so long to realize the color of the crystal was related to the power level of the monster. Then we had a look around. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. It was actually a very lovely grotto. The crystal veins in the ceiling twinkled. The waterfall sent up a fine, cool mist as it splashed into a small lake filled with clear, fresh water. A stream flowed from the pool to meander under a quaint little bridge and across the grotto until it disappeared into a hole in the wall. The bridge led to a worn path that wound through the trees as it passed beside many of the statues. Hidden among the trees along the edge of the wall there was a building, I guess the best word to use is shed. This shed was where the Flesh Golems stayed until needed. There were no windows, no decorations, no furnishings, just a long empty space for the Golems to line up in whilst awaiting instructions, and a door. The attention to detail put into this was astounding: it was empty now, all of the Golems having been summoned out to deal with us, but dozens of pairs of foot-shaped impressions in the dirt floor showed where they¡¯d lined up awaiting instructions. Lord only knows how long they¡¯d have to have been standing there, just standing there, to create those dents in the ground. And yet, Stratos had said that none of this had existed until recently. When I stopped to think about it, I got the impression that this shed, and probably this entire dungeon, had all been created even more recently. I¡¯d criticized Stratos about how the pens under the arena didn¡¯t have the authentic sounds and smells, yet this dungeon had a much greater level of detail. The flower smell. These impressions in the ground that were the clue that revealed the shed¡¯s purpose of Golem storage. Say what you want about Stratos, but at least they listened to constructive criticism. There was a glade on one side of the lake with a pink sand beach, behind which the Gorgon¡¯s cozy living area had been built. She¡¯d lived a much finer life than her mindless servants. Her home was a large, raised tent housing an expansive bed and other exquisite furnishings, including an ornate treasure chest. ¡°It¡¯s locked,¡± Sigrid said after trying to lift the lid. ¡°I¡¯ve got this,¡± I said, crouching in front of it and opening my inventory. I pulled out a set of lockpicks and went to work. ¡°When did you...?¡± ¡°I found someone in the less reputable part of town to teach me after we got back from the fight with the orcs,¡± I said as I fiddled with the lock. ¡°It seemed a useful skill to have.¡± Click. ¡°Impressive,¡± Morgan said. ¡°It really is easier than it looks,¡± I said. I noticed Kenji watching intently, envy painted all over his face. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you when we get back,¡± I told him. That made him grin. We found the Gorgon¡¯s treasure inside the chest. There was a fair quantity of gold and silver, but the real treasure was the reward of three outstanding items: a suit of armor, a book, and a sword. The armor was an amazing artifact: gleaming scale mail, flexible and strong, made from hundreds of small overlapping pieces of shiny metal like the scales of a fish. It was silvery in color, but the smooth metal had a faint bluish tinge through which shimmering white eddies would swirl like clouds in any reflected light. It covered the torso and upper arms and had flaps of scales hanging over the hip area like a skirt, with solid metal leg greaves and forearm bracers etched with the appearance of scales to match.
Elda Wildflower¡¯s Pegasus Scale Armor Crafted in enchanted mithril by the celebrated artisans of the Elohim League, this legendary armor was originally made as a gift for the great Hero from the Elven Kingdom of the Eastern Forest, Elda Wildflower, to help her defeat the combined armies of the Titans and the Demon Queen. With superior strength and durability offering tremendous protection, it also bestows upon the wearer the ability to sprout feathered wings.
Powers: Justice From Above - Fly using the armor¡¯s wings Back Off - Flap the armor¡¯s wings to produce a wind barrier
¡°I think Sigrid should have that,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I agree,¡± I said. ¡°It synchronizes well with her abilities.¡± ¡°Can I really have this?¡± Sigrid said, eyes wide with awe. ¡°Try it on.¡± Sigrid, giddy like a kid at Christmas, took the armor and disappeared behind a folding screen covered in a flowery design. She emerged a minute later wearing it. Like all the magic armor here it changed shape to fit the wearer¡¯s body, and Sigrid looked majestic in it. Morgan whistled. ¡°Looking good, girl.¡± ¡°How does it feel?¡± I said. ¡°Amazing,¡± Sigrid said, testing her range of movement. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to say it before, but the breastplate I bought in town isn¡¯t very good and chafed like crazy. But this,¡± she ran her hands down the front of the armor, ¡°this almost feels like nothing, like I¡¯m wearing spandex.¡± We all stared at her, waiting. ¡°What?¡± she said when she noticed. ¡°Well?¡± I said. ¡°Well what?¡± ¡°The wings!¡± Morgan said. ¡°Let¡¯s see them!¡± ¡°Oh crap,¡± Sigrid said, and giggled. ¡°I totally forgot about the wings.¡± She pursed her lips in concentration and a pair of angelic, pure white feathered wings expanded from her back. ¡°Holy crapola, that feels weird.¡± She flexed the wings tentatively at first, stretching them to full span then folding them back behind her a few times. Once she got the feel for it, she tried flapping them. It was clear they worked more through magic than actual physics because it only took a few slow flaps to lift her off the ground and hover a few feet in the air. She flew up to the center of the space above us, soared in a circle, then glided back and came down in an awkward stumble. ¡°The landing needs work,¡± she said. ¡°That is so cool,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Phew,¡± Sigrid sighed. ¡°It must use a crap-ton of mana, I¡¯m tired even after that short flight.¡± She folded the wings back up and they shrank back into the armor. The book turned out to be pretty awesome too.
Gorgon¡¯s Golem Tome The Gorgon inscribed the spell for creating Golems into this book. The reader will permanently get the Power: It¡¯s Aliiiiiiiive. After being read once it will revert to a blank book in a cover of tanned human skin.
Powers: It¡¯s Aliiiiiiiive - Create Golems
¡°I think Morgan can make the best use of this,¡± I said. ¡°You think?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I can see how it could be handy. If everyone agrees I¡¯ll gladly take it.¡± ¡°For sure,¡± Sigrid said, and Kenji nodded his agreement. ¡°You should take all the Golem Cores too, maybe you¡¯ll be able to use them to make your own faceless flesh minions,¡± I said. ¡°Ew,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Don¡¯t phrase it like that.¡± ¡°They were good companions for the Gorgon,¡± Morgan said. ¡°With no eyes to see her with, they couldn¡¯t be turned to stone. But I hope there are other options in the Golem world. Those things creep the snot out of me.¡± We decided that Lancelot should have the sword. He¡¯d certainly earned it, and it was perfect for him too. It was a straight, double-edged longsword, the kind you picture in the hands of a Knight of the Round Table.
Knight Vice-Commander¡¯s Longsword This sword was used by the Knight Vice-Commander of the Holy Order of the Violet Veil throughout the Great War, but was lost when the Order was wiped out in the disastrous Battle of The Lost Citadel.
Powers: Affinity Blade - Imbue weapon with Affinity Mana Drain - When dealing damage it also drains target¡¯s mana
¡°Now,¡± Morgan said. ¡°How the hell do we get out of this place? I checked the door and it¡¯s still locked.¡± ¡°I was hoping we¡¯d find a key,¡± I said, ¡°but it looks like we have to do this the hard way.¡± We went back to the door and tried everything we could to get it open. We tried smashing it with the heavy mace I carried in my inventory. We tried bombarding it with various affinity attacks. We even resorted to trying magic words like abracadabra and open sesame. The door remained petulantly intact, and resolutely locked. ¡°Any other ideas?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°We should split up,¡± I said. ¡°Morgan, you and I can check the wall for a hidden door or something. Kenji could check the trees, and why don¡¯t you look around this area? In the literature, there¡¯s usually something behind waterfalls.¡± Sigrid snorted. ¡°Literature. You mean comic books?¡± ¡°They¡¯re called manga,¡± Kenji said. His voice was icy. Do not mess with an otaku when it comes to their passion. ¡°Or manhwa in Korea.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°No offense intended. It¡¯s just¡ª¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± Morgan said quickly, deftly changing the subject and getting us back on track. We separated and searched, but came up empty. There wasn¡¯t even anything behind the waterfall. The only possibility we could think of was the place where the stream flowing from the pool exited the room. Looking into the opening it was odd to see darkness, it was the first place we¡¯d seen in this entire dungeon that wasn¡¯t well lit. Maybe I''d get to use those lanterns after all. It was a pretty small opening, though, and there was no guarantee it would lead anywhere except to a dark, lonely death by drowning. ¡°Anybody here claustrophobic?¡± I said. Chapter Sixty-Five - The waiting game ¡°I¡¯ll check it out,¡± Kenji said. We¡¯d just finished watching a small tree branch I¡¯d lit up using Light affinity get carried by the stream into the hole in the wall, following its glow as it illuminated the tunnel beyond for a few seconds until the rapid flow do water carried it out of sight. ¡°Are you sure?¡± I said. ¡°It could be dangerous.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be dark.¡± ¡°My enhanced senses let me see in the dark,¡± he said. ¡°Oh. Cool.¡± ¡°Do they let you breathe underwater?¡± Morgan asked. We gaped at her. ¡°What? It¡¯s a fair question.¡± ¡°How much rope do you have?¡± Kenji said. ¡°Got you coverered, man,¡± I said, and pulled several coils of long, thin rope from my inventory. God I loved that inventory. Not knowing how far he might have to go, we tied all the coils together then attached one end around Kenji¡¯s waist and fixed the other end to a tree close to the hole. I had a horrible vision of Kenji getting carried away in a current and pulling the rope out of our hands. Kenji shed all unnecessary items and shrank his sword down to a small knife that wouldn¡¯t get in the way, then started crawling into the hole. It was a very tight squeeze and I was not looking forward to doing it myself if it came to that, but agile little Kenji managed to wriggle his way in like a spooked ferret. He disappeared into the darkness and the rope followed him in, an inch at a time for a little bit, then it started reeling out much quicker. ¡°He must¡¯ve found somewhere he could move more freely,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Let¡¯s hope so,¡± I said. Morgan and I had some time alone while we sat beside the rope, watching it uncoil as Kenji moved further away. Sigrid busied herself practicing her flying, soaring around for a while, coming back to scarf down some food to replenish her mana, then taking off into the air again. She got quite good at landings after a while. And it was a good thing that in addition to a lot of gear, I¡¯d also packed a veritable pantry full of food into my inventory; Sigrid never stayed on the ground for long, but when she was down she didn¡¯t stop biting, chewing, swallowing, repeating. "That was something else with the rats, by the way," Morgan said out of nowhere while we were watching Sigrid loop-de-loop. I could tell by her tone it was not meant as a compliment. "I''ve always wanted to try it," I said. "That''s disturbing." "Yeah, I know. I''ve been thinking about it ever since. I mean, it was something I used to do in D&D. It started as a joke. It''s just that there''s no actual blood and squealing on tabletop, so..." She said nothing. "I used to think of them as level zero thieves." She barked out a sudden laugh. Just one syllable. An honest to goodness "Ha!" I couldn''t help laughing at that. Then she started to laugh too, a full-on belly laugh. "It was truly horrific," she gasped. "I know," I managed to reply. Our laughter subsided. "Never do it again, ''kay?" she said, wiping away a tear. "Nope," I said. "Never again." Sigrid landed and asked what we were laughing about. I told her. She paused eating long enough to look up at me. "I don''t get either of you," she said. "But whatever. As long as you won''t do it again. It was fucking horrible." Then she took off into the air, holding a bulbous green fruit with the texture of a peach but that tasted exactly like red licorice in each hand. The locals called it, for some inexplicable yet situationally apprioriate reason, a zephyrfruit. A short while later, Morgan poked at the sand with her toes. ¡°You know who would''ve got a kick out of the rats? Arthur. He''s such a child. I was the one who got him into gaming, did you know that?¡± ¡°That is surprising,¡± I said. ¡°He seems way more into it than you.¡± ¡°Oh he is, but he¡¯s like that. He doesn''t do anything half-assed." "An all-in kind of guy, huh?" "It¡¯s just good he got obsessed with video games and not heroin or something.¡± ¡°One must choose one¡¯s addictions carefully,¡± I said. Both our eyes darted down to the rope, which had stopped moving, then started again, then stopped, then started. The pace of its uncoiling often sped up or slowed down, but this was a significant shift in its movement pattern. Kenji must''ve reached an interesting juncture. I''d have given anything to know what was happening to him. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong," she said. "I enjoy gaming. Mostly I do it to be part of the team, though.¡± ¡°They¡¯re good people,¡± I said. ¡°I know, right? Anyway, I was the one who got us started playing Counterstrike for fun as a group. We did that for ages before Arthur had the idea of going pro.¡± Morgan laughed. ¡°It sounds so weird. Going pro. I mean, it¡¯s just a game.¡± ¡°But so are football and baseball and all that, those are just games and nobody questions that they¡¯re pro players.¡± ¡°Exactly! Anyway, we mostly compete in FPSes but we¡¯re also pretty good at LOL as well.¡± I knew she did not mean ¡®laugh out loud¡¯ but ¡®League of Legends¡¯ instead, another very popular eSports game but a completely different style of play than first person shooters ¡ª FPSes ¡ª like Counterstrike. Both required an exceptional amount of teamwork, coordination, and skill to be successful at them, though. ¡°Do you do anything else?¡± I said. It was my polite way of asking what her backup plan was. Esports players tend to lose their edge and retire early, wrist injuries being very common. If you¡¯ve used a computer mouse for any length of time you¡¯ll understand why. Imagine doing that non-stop for hours and hours every day, which is the kind of training it takes to be competitive. From what I could tell (and I sure as hell wasn¡¯t going to ask) Morgan was about my age, maybe a smidge older, and it was uncommon to find a professional eSports player still active past their mid-twenties. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°You mean do I have a real job? Yeah, I¡¯m a bartender.¡± ¡°How does that work with your training and competition schedule?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a problem. I schedule my own hours. Plus the rest of my team all work at the pub or cafe too.¡± ¡°Convenient. How do you swing that?¡± ¡°Easy. We own the bar.¡± ¡°Very convenient,¡± I said. "Yeah well, my family''s loaded." She said it matter-of-factly. Not bragging, but also showing none of the guilt that the privileged often carry. Sigrid swooped down and hovered near us. ¡°Should we be worried that Kenji¡¯s taking so long?¡± she said. I shook my head. ¡°As long as the rope keeps unspooling, I think we¡¯re fine.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Sigrid shot off again, and Morgan looked thoughtful as we both watched the rope continue slithering into the hole after Kenji. ¡°If I¡¯m being honest,¡± Morgan said, ¡°I don¡¯t technically have to work. I could sponge off my folks for life if I wanted to, but that¡¯s not much of a life, is it?¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± I said. ¡°But as someone whose family is the exact opposite of loaded...would that be empty? Is my family empty? Anyway, my point is I¡¯m not rich, and the thought of being able to sponge off someone sounds pretty good to me.¡± ¡°Oh sure, it¡¯s great. For a few years, anyway. Spend your teens at a cushy private school, go to whatever university you want by buying your way in if you have to ¡ª I didn¡¯t have to, by the way, I got excellent grades ¡ª then coast for a bit after that, playing games with your friends and drinking and smoking weed and doing nothing much of anything.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± ¡°Just that. Doing nothing. Building nothing. Contributing nothing. It¡¯s a pretty selfish, hollow way to live, and not great for one¡¯s self-esteem.¡± ¡°Oh, I know all about low self-esteem,¡± I said without thinking, then immediately regretted it. Morgan considered me for a moment, then said gently, ¡°I can tell.¡± There was a moment of awkward silence which Morgan broke. ¡°Long story short, Arthur and I wanted to do something else with our lives besides game so we decided to open a bar-slash-brew pub-slash-internet cafe. His ideas. Couldn''t decide on one thing so I said screw it let''s just do all three. Mom was just happy to see us wanted to do something, anything, and basically handed us a blank cheque. We bought a building, built the bar and brewery on the bottom floor, turned the second floor into the internet cafe, and on the top floor we have our apartment and gaming studio.¡± ¡°I get the internet cafe, but why a brew pub?¡± ¡°Arthur. He loves beer and likes to call himself a brewmaster, although he has zero patience and I¡¯m the one with the degree in chemistry so I end up doing most of the actual brewing work. He just tastes it, mostly. And gives it away to pretty girls he wants to impress.¡± ¡°Chemistry, huh?¡± ¡°That surprise you?¡± she said. ¡°Not really. It explains the chemistry skill and why you were given the powers of an alchemist here.¡± ¡°I know, right? I have always loved playing with beakers and stuff. Always wanted to be a mad scientist.¡± ¡°Let me know if you need an Igor. I¡¯m good at simpering and taking direction.¡± She laughed. ¡°It¡¯ll depend on how you do during the practical interview.¡± We sat in silence for a bit. The rope had done another one of those stop-start things, and it took a little bit of time before it finally started moving again, and we could start breathing again. ¡°I don¡¯t think Arthur likes me very much,¡± I said. ¡°Why would you say that?¡± Morgan said, sounding genuinely shocked. ¡°I dunno. He just doesn¡¯t, well, seem that interested in me.¡± ¡°If I had to hazard a guess, you¡¯re misreading things. It¡¯s not that he doesn¡¯t like you, I know for a fact he does. The thing is, well...you¡¯re a guy.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So, how do I say this politely? My brother¡¯s a slut.¡± I couldn¡¯t help laughing. ¡°I¡¯d hate to hear what you¡¯d say if you were being rude.¡± She laughed too. ¡°Look, I love Arthur, but not as much as he loves women. All women.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°So if it looks like he¡¯s ignoring you or whatever, that¡¯s only because you chose to surround yourself with cute chicks. He kind of loses all interest in anything or anyone else. The sad part is...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Never mind. Doesn¡¯t matter.¡± I thought about it for a minute. Everything is a game. ¡°He likes to win, doesn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Oh my god yes.¡± ¡°I think I get it. Women are like a game to him. A game of conquest.¡± ¡°You know, that¡¯s it exactly. A game of conquest. Yeah.¡± ¡°So what happens after he wins a girl¡¯s heart?¡± Morgan sighed. ¡°Thank you, next.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s the sad part, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± We sat in silence for a bit, each lost in our own thoughts. ¡°It wasn¡¯t what you thought,¡± she said out of nowhere. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Lancelot. Seeing me naked.¡± To be honest, ever since it happened I had thought several times about the brief exchange they''d had when she¡¯d been helping him out of his armor. I was actually quite curious about the exact nature of their relationship, but there was no way I was going to bring it up. I never would¡¯ve expected her to bring it up herself, though. Why would she do that? ¡°Enlighten me: what was it you thought I thought?¡± I said. ¡°That there¡¯s something between him and me. I mean, yeah, there was, once. Briefly. But we¡¯re just friends now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad.¡± She smiled at me. ¡°You are?¡± ¡°Well, sure. It would suck if you had to be teammates with someone you weren¡¯t friends with.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± The smile vanished as quickly as it had come. ¡°Well, I just wanted to clear that up. In case you thought otherwise.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really any of my business either way,¡± I said. ¡°Oh.¡± For some reason she seemed disappointed with that answer. I couldn¡¯t possibly tell her that I had another reason to be glad they were just friends. If she had seen Lance naked, did that mean he''d seen her too? She said they''d dated, so probably. I felt my eyes begin to linger on Morgan, but I nipped that in the bud. She was undeniably sexy, but no good could come from that indisious train of thought. In a desperate desire to change the subject I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. ¡°So you said you have an apartment above the bar. You live there alone?" ¡°No, not alone," she said. "Ah," I said. I knew there was an obvious follow up question, the question I actually wanted to ask, but I couldn''t bring myself to ask it. Fortunately, Morgan answered it for me anyway. "I do have a roommate. It''s Arthur." ¡°Really? That¡¯s good,¡± I said. ¡°It is?¡± she said, a sly smile forming on the corners of her lips. ¡°Why is that good?¡± ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s good that you and your brother get along that well?¡± ¡°Is that a question?¡± ¡°Um, no?¡± She turned to face me directly, the sly smile blooming into a wry one. "Is there any other question you''d like to ask me maybe?" "Uh..." She gave me a look that I had grown used to seeing on Jane¡¯s face, right before she usually said something to tease me. I never did find out what Morgan was going to say, though, because at that moment Kenji''s rope stopped reeling out. We waited for it to start again. And we waited some more. I grabbed the rope beside me and gave it an exploratory tug. It offered no resistance. I pulled a bit harder. It came freely. ¡°Uh oh,¡± I said. I stood up and took the rope in both hands, yanking it. It pulled so easily I almost fell over backwards. ¡°Where¡¯s Kenji?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Not at the other end of this rope,¡± I said. Chapter Sixty-Six - They were nasty Morgan got up and helped me haul the rope back in as quickly as we could. At last the other end emerged from the hole. Kenji was not there, obviously, but something else was. A glove. Someone had tied a brown leather glove to the end of the rope. Morgan untied the glove and held it out. ¡°This is odd.¡± Sigrid had noticed what we were doing and landed beside us, her wings retracting back into the armor. She looked at the glove. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a message,¡± I said. ¡°From Kenji.¡± ¡°Why would he send us his glove?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not his,¡± I said. ¡°This is brown. He wore nothing but black.¡± ¡°So whose is it?¡± ¡°Probably belonged to whoever Kenji found and killed when he made it out.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°He¡¯s letting us know he got out. Clever Kenji.¡± I took the glove and All Shall Be Revealed¡¯d it. Nothing, just a regular old glove. I reached inside and looked for any markings. Nothing. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Are we supposed to follow him?¡± ¡°If we were smart we would¡¯ve figured that out before letting him scamper off into the hole,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°We¡¯re too rushy with things.¡± ¡°I think we should wait,¡± I said. ¡°Stay here a while and wait for Kenji to either come back the way he left or make his way through the labyrinth again and let us out.¡± ¡°Either one seems possible,¡± Morgan said. ¡°He¡¯s a very capable youngster.¡± ¡°Quiet though,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°In every sense of the word,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Well, since we have time to kill...¡± Sigrid said, and began stuffing her face with food again, no doubt preparing for more flight practice. I couldn¡¯t blame her. If I could fly I¡¯d spend as much time in the air as I could too. I couldn¡¯t remember the armor¡¯s other power so I used All Shall Be Revealed on it again and was surprised to see a change in its description. ¡°Hey Sigrid,¡± I said. ¡°Check out your armor¡¯s Status.¡± ¡°Why? I saw it when I put it on.¡± ¡°Just trust me.¡± ¡°What the what?¡± Sigrid shrieked. ¡°Hero?¡± ¡°I found that part a bit presumptuous myself,¡± I said, ¡°but I think time will prove it right.¡± ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Let me see.¡± Sigrid shared the armor¡¯s status with Morgan. ¡°That is so cool!¡±
Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Pegasus Armor Crafted in adamantium by the celebrated artisans of the Elohim, this legendary armor was originally made as a gift for the great Hero from the Elven Kingdom of the Eastern Forest, Elda Wildflower. With superior strength and durability offering tremendous protection, it also bestows the wearer the ability to sprout feathered wings. It now belongs to the Hero from Toronto, Sigrid Sorrensen.
Powers: Justice From Above - Fly using the armor¡¯s wings Back Off - Flap the armor¡¯s wings to produce a wind barrier
Morgan and I were kind of worried that Sigrid was going to gobble up all our provisions, so we had lunch with her. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of water here, but should we be concerned about running out of food?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°We¡¯re good,¡± I said. ¡°I did say that the bag of rats has many uses.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re implying we use them as bait to catch something else to eat,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Use them as bait, eh?¡± I said. ¡°Thanks, you just added one more use to the rat-bag.¡± ¡°Try again,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I am not eating rats.¡± "Don''t worry," I said. "I lost my rats in the pit trap. We''re on our own now." My eyes wandered over the shed where we¡¯d stacked the dead bodies to get them out of the way. ¡°I wonder how Flesh Golems taste?¡± Morgan shuddered. ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about that.¡± I just smiled at her and chewed my war pig sandwich. After that I ran them through a few crossbow lessons before we all agreed that all work and no play makes Jack a drag to be around and we should take advantage of what the expansive grotto had to offer. We relaxed for a while on the soft pink sand beside the pool, but Sigrid quickly grew bored and left to try out some aerial tricks and practice throwing spears in mid-flight. Morgan and I stayed on the beach and chatted some more. The Gorgon had enjoyed her creature comforts so there was a luxurious lounge chair set up on the beach, but there was only one, of course, so I laid back on the warm sand gazing up at the twinkly crystals in the domed ceiling while Morgan lounged. This time it was my turn to share, so I told her pretty much everything I¡¯d told Sigrid and Jane about myself. All the sordid details. It helped that I couldn¡¯t see her as I talked. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. To her credit, Morgan listened attentively, asked insightful, provocative questions, and accepted everything I said with no apparent judgment. And best of all, she kept talking to me once I¡¯d finished. Actually, I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s to her credit or not; any rational woman would have fled screaming from such a broken man. We were just getting antsy to the point of sending someone else into the hole in the wall when finally the door opened. Kenji had returned, and he brought reinforcements. Along the way he¡¯d picked up a familiar scent and found more of our group: Arthur, Bruce, Kay, Byron, and Andy. This time, Kenji made sure to prop the door open. Arthur¡¯s group was eager to tell us about how they¡¯d found and slain the Chimera. It was in a room that sounded a lot like the Gorgon¡¯s, at least in size. That¡¯s where the similarities ended. Where the Gorgon lived in a place that looked like an expensive Caribbean vacation destination, the way they described the Chimera¡¯s lair it sounded like the same island after being ravaged by a hurricane. ¡°The ground was rocky and uneven,¡± Arthur said, ¡°as though some drunk teenager had stolen a backhoe and used it to blindly dig random holes, but that worked to our advantage. It gave us places to hide and avoid the fire breath. Which was good, because we totally lost the element of surprise when we triggered a bell alarm at the door.¡± Under Arthur¡¯s leadership, they had worked together to overcome the dangerous boss-level creature and came away with its heart and a big red mana crystal like the one we found in the Gorgon. But they¡¯d definitely had to work for it. Even before I heard the story I knew they¡¯d been in one hell of a tussle, they were still covered in wounds. Nina, our only healer, wasn¡¯t with them. I did my best to patch them up with Laying On Hands, but even after that none of them were at full health. After the fight with the Chimera they¡¯d just been wandering aimlessly through the labyrinth until Kenji found them and led them to us. ¡°But let¡¯s hear about how you four ended up in this oasis,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Actually there were five of us,¡± Sigrid said. Arthur peered around looking for the missing teammate. ¡°Five? Who else?¡± ¡°Did Kenji tell you anything at all about what happened to us?¡± I said. ¡°No, he barely said a peep, only that he¡¯d lead us to you.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, um, Lancelot was with us too.¡± ¡°Lance is with you?¡± Arthur looked around for him. ¡°Where is he?¡± ¡°In my inventory,¡± Morgan said. ¡°What? Is there even air in there? Can he breathe?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, it¡¯s fine. Well, not fine, really. He¡¯s stone.¡± ¡°He¡¯s stoned?¡± Kay said, looking interested. ¡°Where did you find drugs?¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s stone," Morgan said. "As in, turned to stone. But at least he doesn¡¯t need to breathe.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Arthur said. ¡°We met the Gorgon,¡± Morgan said. We let Morgan tell the story of our adventure. They were upset about Lancelot, of course, but impressed by how we¡¯d taken down the Gorgon, and astounded when Sigrid demonstrated her new armor. Morgan pulled the Knight Vice-Commander''s Longsword out of her inventory and handed it to her brother. ¡°Here,¡± she said. Arthur took the blade and swung it a few times. ¡°Nice balance.¡± I could tell by the way his eyes seemed to focus on something that wasn¡¯t there that he was checking its status. He whistled through his teeth. ¡°Wow, thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it,¡± Morgan said. ¡°That is for Lancelot, but you may as well use it in the meantime.¡± Arthur pouted. ¡°Fine. I guess that¡¯s fair.¡± ¡°When you get killed by a monster you can get first dibs on its loot,¡± she said. ¡°But don¡¯t you dare get yourself killed or I¡¯ll...¡± ¡°Or you¡¯ll what? What will you do to me? I¡¯ll already be dead.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll wait until the moment you respawn then I¡¯ll kill you again. More painfully.¡± ¡°This is so unfair,¡± Andy said. ¡°We didn¡¯t get any loot off the Chimera.¡± ¡°Maybe your treasure chest was hidden under the rubble,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°We are so going back later,¡± Andy said. ¡°With shovels.¡± While all this was going on I noticed Kenji was acting strange. He seemed jittery, and was making no effort to hide like he normally did. ¡°I¡¯d like to know what happened to Kenji after he left us,¡± I said. All eyes turned to the teenager. His eyes turned to me, growing wide. I gave him what I hoped was an encouraging nod. ¡°Well," he said, "just when I thought I might get stuck in the hole it opened up into this, like, underground lake in a big cave with an island in the middle of it but I saw something big moving in the water so I didn¡¯t go check out the island and then I saw a few tunnels way up high in the cave so I climbed up, sniffed out the best one, and followed it ¡ª well, after I took out some giant bats that attacked me first when I got close to it and all I could think about was how Chika would go crazy because she''s all scared of bats but they weren''t so tough ¡ª so then I climbed into the tunnel and it was weird, like, not like the one I had to crawl through which was all rough and stuff, this one was almost completely round and kinda smooth, which I soon discovered was because it was made by a really big worm and I had to kill a couple of those which was a lot tougher because they were nasty and Chika would''ve hated them too because she also doesn''t like bugs and worms and stuff either, then there was a nest of these big centipedes ¡ª why does everything have to be so big? ¡ª and I''m kind of glad Chika didn''t have to see because if there''s one thing she hates even worse than creepy crawly worms are bugs with lots of legs, and then finally I hit another much smaller cave with a pond in it and a narrow tunnel leading straight up. There was a rope hanging down in this tunnel with a bucket at the end so I figured it was being used as a well, you know? And I could smell something cooking up above so I climbed up and found these two monsters, I don¡¯t know what they were, they were like those orcs but different, and they were the ones cooking something over a fire so I got rid of them and figured I ought to do something to let you guys know I was okay so I took one of their gloves and tied it to the rope. Then I saw they were cooking one of those big centipedes and it smelled good and I was pretty hungry so I ate some and it wasn''t so bad, just a bit stringy but better than Chika¡¯s cooking anyway so then I left that place and got back into the labyrinth. It took me a while to catch a scent and knew at once it was these guys so I tracked them down and then I smelled the flowers and here we are.¡± Everyone stood there dazed. ¡°Holy hell,¡± Sigrid said, which pretty much summed up how we were all feeling. I had half-expected him to use his powers to dissolve into the ether or whatever he did when he used his stealth, but he was so excited and proud that even he managed to overcome his shyness to tell the story of his adventure himself. The torrent of words that spewed out of him shocked the hell out of me, not only because it was quiet little Kenji saying all this, but also because these were all the things that happened to him while some of us were having snacks and hanging out on the beach. Plus, I had no idea before this what a siscon he was. ¡°Oh, here,¡± Kenji said. ¡°I took these.¡± He dug his hand into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a few handfuls of mana crystals he¡¯d taken from all the monsters he killed. There were a lot of them, a few white, some yellow, and a couple of green crystals. ¡°The green ones were the worms. They were really nasty.¡± Chapter Sixty-Seven - Somethings definitely wrong Kenji came over to me, cupped hands full of mana crystals. "You are one amazing guy, Kenji," I said, reaching out and patting his head. "You should give those to Morgan to fuel her alchemy forge. I wanna see what kind of potion she makes with them." He nodded at me, eyes shining, then went over and dumped his treasure into Morgan''s inventory. Arthur¡¯s group had been wandering for a long time without a break and they insisted upon having a rest and some food in the comfort of the Gorgon¡¯s grotto before setting off in search of the others. We were about to head toward the beach where the Gorgon had her tent, but we made it all of ten steps before the door opened and in strolled Chika, Nina, Galahad, Sam, and Jane. Pretty lucky timing, huh? Yeah, that was my first clue too. ¡°Nina!¡± Byron was the first to rush over, smothering his wife in a tight embrace. She stood there, accepting the crushing hug. ¡°I¡¯m so happy you¡¯re safe. Where have you been?¡± Jane stepped forward. ¡°We defeated the Minotaur,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s terrific,¡± I said. ¡°Can I see the horn?¡± ¡°Horn?¡± ¡°The Minotaur¡¯s horn? The drop item we¡¯re looking for?¡± Jane looked at me and blinked. ¡°We forgot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay. Sifu did say it wasn¡¯t necessary, but maybe we can go back and look for it. What about the mana crystal, what color was it?¡± She blinked at me again. ¡°You forgot it too, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Oops,¡± she said. ¡°Oh well, you can¡¯t be perfect all the time,¡± I said. Jane looked at me for a moment, then turned and wandered away. We went as a group back to the beach so everyone could get a meal and a rest. Sigrid pulled me aside while the others were busy eating. ¡°Let¡¯s take a walk.¡± I followed her to the little bridge over the stream, where she stopped to lean on the railing, looking back at the picnic scene on the beach. ¡°Is it just me, or is there something off with Jane?¡± she said. ¡°You noticed too, eh?¡± ¡°Yeah. She seems...flat.¡± We watched Jane sitting on the sand, nibbling a ham sandwich quietly while Kay and Morgan laughed about something beside her. ¡°She hasn¡¯t teased me once since she got back,¡± I said. ¡°She even ignored a clear opening when I implied that she¡¯s usually perfect.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°that¡¯s not right. And she completely ignored my armor. Since when did she not comment on a new outfit?¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like Jane at all.¡± Jane had been gazing into the lake, but all of a sudden she looked up and stared right at us, as though she knew we were talking about her. Her face was blank, but her green eyes seemed to bore into me. It was weird to see Jane not smiling. Jane¡¯s mouth slowly curled into a smile. ¡°That is not right,¡± I said. I opened her Status.
Jane Anders
Affinity: Air - Novice Darkness - Novice Death - Novice Earth - Novice Fire - Novice Ice - Novice Life - Novice Light - Novice Nature - Novice Shadow - Novice Void - Novice Water - Novice
Gifts: Let¡¯s Dance Master Of None
Powers: Captivating Presence - Novice Glow Worm - Novice Gone the Next - Novice
Skills: Acting - Novice Dancing - Novice Gymnastics - Novice Kung Fu - Novice Music - Novice Sword - Novice
¡°Okay, something¡¯s definitely wrong.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Everything in her Status is at Novice level.¡± ¡°No,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I know for a fact that she was at least Competent in a lot of things. She always whoops when she advances in something.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this. Let me check something.¡± ¡°What?¡± Sigrid said. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Nina Masters
Affinity: Life - Novice
Powers: Bless You - Novice You Shall Not Pass - Novice A Spoonful Of Sugar - Novice
Skills: Affinity Control - Novice Crossbow - Novice Eidetic Memory - Novice Kung Fu - Novice Laying On Hands - Novice Medicine - Novice
¡°Yup, something¡¯s definitely wrong.¡± I used All Shall Be Revealed on all the people in Jane¡¯s group and they were all the same: nothing higher than Novice in any power or skill. I also noticed that they were all missing the line that identified their team. Then it hit me. ¡°Hey Sigrid?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I think we found the Doppelgangers.¡± ¡°Shit.¡± Byron and Kenji had come over while Sigrid and I had been talking. ¡°You two need to work on your conspiracy skills,¡± Byron said. Kenji nodded. ¡°Mm hmm, mm hmm. You look totally suss.¡± ¡°You¡¯re talking about Nina and the others, aren¡¯t you?¡± Byron said. ¡°You noticed it too, there¡¯s something up with them.¡± I nodded. ¡°Nina¡¯s not the same.¡± Byron inclined his head toward Kenji. ¡°He says it¡¯s the same with Chika.¡± I looked at Chika over on the beach. Like Jane, the usually animated girl was sitting quietly by herself. And, like Jane, her Status was full of nothing but Novice-level abilities. ¡°We think they might be Doppelgangers,¡± Byron said. ¡°Yeah, we think so too,¡± I said. ¡°What should we do?¡± Byron said, concern written all over him. ¡°We need Arthur,¡± I said. ¡°Why Arthur?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°He has a power we need to use. Discreetly.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Jane was no longer staring at us with that weird smile, she¡¯d stood up and was on her way over. ¡°I¡¯ll keep her busy,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You go do what you need to do with Arthur.¡± When Jane got close enough I said, ¡°What I don¡¯t get is why the monsters don¡¯t need to pee. I could really use a bathroom right now, or at least somewhere discreet to go number one.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Kenji. ¡°Me too.¡± I looked at Byron. He looked back. I cleared my throat. He looked at me. Then he got it. ¡°Oh! Yes, me too. I also need to pee.¡± Sigrid didn¡¯t physically roll her eyes, but it was implied. ¡°You¡¯re dudes,¡± Sigrid said as Jane got there, ¡°just go find a discreet tree to go behind.¡± The real Jane would¡¯ve made a joke about that, but this one just stood there. We left the two of them alone and went in search of Arthur, eventually finding him at the shed, poking at the Golem bodies with a stick. ¡°These things are kinda gross,¡± he said when he heard us coming. ¡°Be nice to your sister then, or you might end up getting one for Christmas,¡± I said. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Never mind, you¡¯ll see. Listen, Arthur. Have you noticed anything about the last group? You know Galahad well, does he seem a bit off to you?¡± Arthur prodded a Golem, trying to shove the end of the stick into the flesh. ¡°To be honest I haven¡¯t really talked to him much since they got here, why?¡± I peered around to make sure we were alone. ¡°We think they might have been replaced by Doppelgangers.¡± He dropped the stick and brushed some dirt off his hands. ¡°You do?¡± I explained about the Status changes and how we¡¯d noticed Jane, Nina, and Chika were acting differently. ¡°And isn¡¯t it strange that they all happened to forget to get the Minotaur¡¯s horn and its mana crystal?¡± ¡°Come to think of it, yeah,¡± Arthur said. ¡°And how¡¯d they manage to find us here just a few minutes after my group arrived?¡± ¡°Yes! That was way too convenient.¡± ¡°So what should we do?¡± ¡°I was thinking maybe you could use your telepathy to tell everyone else to be cautious and don¡¯t let themselves be alone with any of the Doppelgangers.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± he said. ¡°And what¡¯s the plan after that?¡± ¡°I was kind of hoping you could also help come up with that, too. Using your telepathy is about as far as I got.¡± Arthur scratched at the stubble on his cheek. ¡°Let¡¯s keep this simple,¡± he said. ¡°There are only five of them. We should split up and subdue them at the same time. Take them by surprise.¡± ¡°And by subdue...?¡± Byron said. ¡°I mean capture. Without injury, preferably. At least until we¡¯re sure they¡¯re not our real friends.¡± ¡°We need to keep one alive regardless,¡± I said. We¡¯d all avoided talking about it so far, but it was time to face the elephant. ¡°Assuming that our real friends are not dead¡ª¡± ¡°Can we assume that?¡± Arthur said, which made Byron and Kenji both grimace. I shot a glare at Arthur. ¡°I think we can,¡± I said firmly. Kenji looked up at me, hope flickering in his young, frightened eyes. He could take on a horde of giant worms and eat barbequed centipede without blinking, but the thought that something bad happened to his sister turned him into goo. I liked this kid. ¡°All this is based on games, right?¡± I said. ¡°And in Dungeons and Dragons the Doppelganger needs to keep the person they copy alive.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Kenji said. ¡°For sure,¡± I said. ¡°So I think it¡¯s very safe to assume that the real Chika and Nina and the rest are just captured somewhere, waiting for us to rescue them.¡± ¡°Well all right,¡± Arthur said. ¡°No matter what, we keep one alive and make it show us where they¡¯re being held.¡± ¡°Kenji, you should be the one to handle fake Chika,¡± I said. Kenji¡¯s hopeful look seeped away. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it shouldn¡¯t be too hard. They¡¯ve copied the powers and skills but they¡¯re all at the most basic level.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a relief,¡± Kenji said. ¡°We spar every day and I¡¯ve never been able to beat Chika one-on-one.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll handle the fake Nina,¡± Byron said. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with fake Galahad,¡± Arthur said. ¡°That leaves Sam and Jane,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll do Sam. I¡¯m sure Sigrid will want to be the one to handle Jane.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± Arthur said. We agreed to all get close to our person, then wait for the signal before trying to subdue them. Arthur would warn everyone else through telepathy so they¡¯d be ready to help out, if needed. Kenji and Byron started heading back, leaving me alone with Arthur. ¡°What you said earlier,¡± he said, ¡°about Doppelgangers keeping people alive. Is that true?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°But Kenji and Byron needed something to believe in.¡± Arthur considered me appraisingly, then nodded. ¡°Okay then.¡± I couldn¡¯t explain it to Arthur, but I was sure that everyone was okay. Even if we didn¡¯t know if people were killed by Doppelgangers when they got copied, or whether or not they¡¯d respawn if they were killed, I did know in my heart that our friends would be fine. After all, Jane was with them, and there¡¯s no way they¡¯d kill off the main character this early in the game, especially not in such a trash way. I guess I needed something to believe in too. Arthur bit his lip, brow furrowed in thought. ¡°Sigrid keeps pushing me out of her head when I try to contact her telepathically, we''ll need to tell her the plan in person. Where is she?¡± I waved back toward the bridge. ¡°She¡¯s keeping Jane busy while we talk to you.¡± Arthur gawked at me. ¡°You left her alone with a Doppelganger?¡± ¡°Oh crud-nuggets.¡± Chapter Sixty-Eight - FIghting our friends I quickly followed the path through the trees to the bridge, where Sigrid was standing alone, staring at the beach.
Sigrid Sorrensen Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Air - Competent
Gifts: Danger, Will Robinson Heavenly Body
Powers: Shield Maiden - Competent Your Achilles Heel is Showing - Novice
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Fitness - Adept Kung Fu - Competent Sword - Adept Spear - Adept
Oh thank god. I joined her on the bridge. ¡°You really should use your power to detect weaknesses more. It¡¯s a potential game changer but it¡¯s still only at Novice.¡± ¡°Making sure I¡¯m not a Doppelganger, eh?¡± she said. ¡°Smart.¡± ¡°How was it with fake Jane?¡± ¡°Like talking to a piece of toast,¡± she said. ¡°Dry and full of bad carbs?¡± I said, making her laugh. ¡°Something like that.¡± I went on to explain the plan. ¡°Oh, so that''s what Arthur wanted. That''s okay, then. When¡¯s it happening?¡± she said. ¡°No time like the present.¡± She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. ¡°Let¡¯s rock.¡± We casually made our way back to the beach where everyone else was still congregated, and took our positions. It was time for the signal. We¡¯d decided to use the same one as before, and once I made sure everyone was ready I sent out the flare. A bright flash appeared over the lake, and we went into action. It was a good plan. Too bad it all went to hell. Let¡¯s start with telling what went well. It won¡¯t take long. As soon as the flash appeared, Byron wrapped his arms around fake Nina, immobilizing her. Bruce was beside them, and he quickly bound her hands behind her back. Simple, effective. So much for what went well. Sigrid was a bit less gentle with fake Jane, grabbing her by the back of the neck and shoving her face first into the sand. Then Sigrid took her wrist and wrenched her arm behind her back, pinning her down while Andy tied her up too. But the moment he finished tying the knot, fake Jane blinked away with her teleport power, reappearing a few feet away and drawing her rapier. At the signal, Kenji grabbed Chika. While I knew that his level of ninjutsu was more than enough to beat her basic jiu jitsu, I hadn¡¯t considered her powers. As soon as he grabbed her she jumped, bounding up into the air spurred by her leaping power. Then her super strength was more than powerful enough to break free from Kenji¡¯s grasp. He fell with a splash into the lake while she landed gracefully on the other side. Meanwhile, Arthur was having a hard time with fake Galahad. I¡¯d underestimated just how potent Galahad¡¯s powers were, even at Novice level. Arthur grabbed him and tried to push him down onto the ground. Nothing happened. Galahad remained rooted to the spot thanks to his power to resist being moved. He also had the power to increase the pull of gravity on an object, and Arthur counted as an object. Galahad shoved him away, then increased gravity on him. Arthur was the one who ended up being pinned down. I wish I could say I had more luck with Sam''s double, but I had tried to get fancy and it backfired. Instead of grabbing Sam myself, I tried to use Shadow -- the opposite of his Nature affinity -- to trap him. I guess I''d been inspired by Kiki''s minion Derek''s shadow ropes, but using Affinity Control to bind him. It was nominally effective, but didn''t stop him from using his own power. The ground around fake Sam shimmered and vibrated. Then a wave of sand rose up and transformed into a pair of fierce lions. They moved in front of him, growling as they bared their enormous fangs at me. Without warning, one of the lions lunged. I felt its teeth sink into the flesh of my thigh, right down to the bone. I¡¯d like to say I didn¡¯t scream, but I think I did. Hey, I was allowed. It hurt like hell. Then the pain got worse when it jerked its head to the side, ripping its teeth away and taking a good chunk of my leg with it. Needless to say, I fell down, lost focus on my Affintiy Control, and fake Sam was free. Wayne¡¯s deep voice rumbled near me. ¡°Allow me, Daniel.¡± The sand in front of me did the vibrating thing before it rose up to become four skeletons. Their armor was tattered, their swords chipped, and their shields dented, but at least they were between me and those fangs. The muzzle of the one that bit me was soaked in my blood and it had been looking at me like it wanted another taste. Two skeletons took on each lion in a battle of summoned creatures. The lions tore at the skeletons with claws and fangs. The skeletons hacked back. All I could do was lie there in agony, trying to stem the flow of blood from my leg with Laying On Hands, and watch the battle unfold around me. Before all the fighting, while we¡¯d been taking our positions near the Doppelgangers, Kay had moved away to create some distance between herself and the rest of us. She now used that distance to help Arthur by shooting a flurry of arrows at fake Galahad. After the third one hit, he lost concentration on his gravity power and Arthur was free to move again. Arthur scrambled to his feet, pulling out the Knight Commander¡¯s sword. Crackling sparks of electricity arced along its length as he triggered its Affinity Blade power. Galahad¡¯s body jerked as Kay¡¯s arrows continued to strike home, and Arthur finished the job by running the fake Galahad through. When it died, its skin twisted and rippled as it turned back into the natural appearance of a Doppelganger: a hairless, sallow, gray-skinned creature with yellow eyes and two rows of sharp teeth like a shark in a gaping gash of a mouth that slashed across the entire width of its long head, almost dividing it in two like a Canadian in South Park and reminding me of the Jackalope. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Galahad wasn¡¯t a small guy, but in its natural form the Doppelganger was even bigger, and a few of the leather straps that held Galahad¡¯s armor on its body snapped. Fake Jane may have had Jane¡¯s abilities, but it lacked her style. It was fencing with Sigrid, but instead of using Jane¡¯s technique that was 50% swordsmanship, 50% dancing, 50% gymnastics, and 100% cool, the fake Jane¡¯s fighting seemed static and dull. Sigrid was having no problem defending against it, but there was still the issue of Jane¡¯s teleportation power. The Doppelganger version of her seemed to have no problem using that. With a sigh, Andy used a big chunk of his mana to nullify the teleportation. After that, Sigrid tackled fake Jane to the sand and held the monster down while Andy tied it up again. Back by me, the battle between summoned creatures continued. Fake Sam¡¯s Summon power was only at Novice, so Wayne¡¯s skeletons not only outnumbered the lions, but they were also stronger. The sand was soon stained crimson by the animals¡¯ viscera spilling onto the beach. Once the lions were out of the way, I decided to have another go at fake Sam. I had a grudge to settle. Although my leg had been partially healed by my skill, it still wasn¡¯t in any shape to support walking. I ignored the pain and surrounded fake Sam¡¯s head with Void, and I didn¡¯t stop until it had fallen to the ground and ceased twitching. That only left fake Chika, who had dashed into the trees after landing on the other side of the lake, heading for the door. ¡°Don¡¯t let her get away!¡± Kay shouted, firing an arrow after the fleeing creature but missing. ¡°I¡¯ve got this,¡± Sigrid said as her wings erupted and she leapt into the air. From our perspective on the beach Chika was hidden among the trees, but Sigrid could clearly track her from above. She hovered, then made good use of her earlier mid-flight spear throwing practice. A muffled cry told us that her aim was true. Sigrid dove behind the trees, then moments later when she rose again she was holding Chika''s double under one arm and her bloodied spear in the other hand. She flew back and dumped the Doppelganger on the beach before gliding down to a soft landing. Dang, these Players were some pretty tough hombres. The monster Sigrid dropped onto the sand still looked like Chika, which meant it was still alive, though by the looks of its wound not for long. As Andy was about to tie it up, I hobbled over then knelt and used Laying On Hands to treat the gaping hole where Sigrid¡¯s spear had punctured its back. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Andy said. ¡°It¡¯s hurt,¡± I said. ¡°But it¡¯s a monster.¡± I stood up and brushed the sand off my knees. ¡°I have no problem with killing something that¡¯s a danger to us, but I do have a problem with causing unnecessary suffering to anyone. Or anything, as the case may be.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± Andy said, sounding unconvinced, but since it was no longer a threat there wasn¡¯t much basis to argue with me. It might be an artificial construct created for the game, but what I¡¯d seen on the creature¡¯s face was genuine pain. It hadn''t helped that it was using Chika''s face at the time. I caught Morgan looking at me with a frown and had a sudden pang of guilt about the baby rats I had sent to their own deaths, but I took some comfort knowing that getting crushed in that trap had probably been quick and painless. I tried not to think of the one that had struggled and squirmed for a while before finally succumbing to the spike that had impaled it. I cringed inwardly at my own hypocrisy. By the time the Doppelganger version of Sam I¡¯d suffocated with Void regained consciousness it had been trussed up and left sitting on the sand with the other three that were still alive. I was standing over the body of the dead one with Arthur and Morgan, leaning on Arthur¡¯s shoulder for support. Doppelganger Corpse Items: Doppelganger''s Brain Doppelganger¡¯s Hide Green Mana Crystal ¡°So, ah, who¡¯s going to get its brain?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Not me!¡± Arthur said. ¡°Not me!¡± Morgan said. They both looked at me. ¡°Screw that,¡± I said, and knelt down at the Doppelganger¡¯s feet. I grabbed its legs and pulled them into my inventory. ¡°I¡¯m done playing Dexter, let Sifu dig out this thing¡¯s brain at the same time he gouges the Gorgon¡¯s eyes out.¡± An unnamed observer is disappointed Oh not this again. An unnamed observer wonders if you could show maybe just a bit of brutality? I ignored the message window and finished stuffing the rest of the corpse into my inventory. An unnamed observer will remember this Yeah, yeah. I¡¯ll deal with that later. System: Quest update - Required material components collected System: Distributing quest rewards - calculating contributions System: Reward Tokens - 15 (+4) ¡°Well that¡¯s a nice little bonus,¡± Morgan said. I guess we all got Tokens, that¡¯s good. I bet there''s more rewards if we can find the Minotaur and get its horn too. ¡°Ugh,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I am so not looking forward to wandering this maze again.¡± Both Byron and Kenji glared at him and he seemed to realize what he''d just said. ¡°But we¡¯ve got to find the others,¡± he added quickly. I felt a pang of guilt that all I could selfishly think about were rewards; of course Arthur remembered that our friends -- and in some cases loved ones -- had been copied by Doppelgangers and were still missing, including the protagonist Jane. ¡°And then a way out,¡± Andy said. Morgan sighed. ¡°We¡¯d better get going then. It¡¯s a big maze, who knows how long it¡¯ll take us to solve it.¡± ¡°We could do that,¡± I said. ¡°Or, we could ask our friends here.¡± I gestured at the Doppelgangers. ¡°I bet they know.¡± It¡¯s one thing to want to pry information out of an unwilling subject, but it¡¯s another thing entirely to actually do it. At first, Arthur took the role of lead interrogator. Which means he stood over the four living Doppelgangers with his hands on his hips and asked them: ¡°Where are you holding our comrades?¡± The one that looked like Chika smiled. ¡°Like we¡¯ll tell you,¡± it said. The one that looked like Jane was sitting next to it. ¡°Quiet,¡± it hissed. Arthur chuckled. ¡°Thanks for confirming that you didn¡¯t kill them.¡± Fake Jane hissed at fake Chika. ¡°Dummy!¡± Fake Chika hissed back. That¡¯s as far as Arthur got. He kept asking variations of the same question over and over. Where are they? Where are they being held? What did you do with them? The Doppelgangers just sat there staring up at him with our friends¡¯ eyes, their mouths remaining resolutely closed. Once Arthur had given up trying to get anything out of them a few of the others took turns interrogating, but none of them had any luck either. This was unexplored territory for all of us, and even though we knew these were just monsters, artificial entities created with the express purpose of being killed by us in the game, none of us had the stomach to go full Guantanimo on them. None of us, that is, except for Byron. After the third person had failed to get any result by more or less asking the same questions, Byron made a frustrated groan. ¡°You guys are lame,¡± he said. He slowly stepped across the sand to where the Doppelgangers sat. ¡°Hi,¡± he said to them. ¡°I¡¯m Byron, but I bet you already know that. But did you also know that one of the people you¡¯re holding is my wife?¡± They said nothing, just glared up at him. ¡°I wonder. Do you have families? Parents? Spouses? Children? What you would do to get them back if someone had taken them?¡± Fake Jane snarled at him. ¡°We do have families, human. You just slew one of mine. Release me and see what I would do to one who killed my kin.¡± Byron lowered his head. ¡°I am sorry for your loss, truly.¡± Then he raised his head and gave the Doppelganger a look that would make most children wet themselves, and not just a few adults, too. ¡°But if you do not wish to lose more your kin, you will tell us where our people are. If not, I will personally ensure that humans do not stop raiding this place until every single Doppelganger has been slaughtered. And if you happen to return, we will come and slaughter you again.¡± Byron and the Doppelganger stared at each other for a long time, as though trying to slay one another with the power of hatred alone. It was so unlike Byron, it was literally scary. Neither seemed willing to back down, and I was afraid of how far Byron might have to force himself to go, so to save him the regret later I stepped in and put my hand on his shoulder. ¡°My turn,¡± I said. Chapter Sixty-Nine - Take us to your leader Byron turned his gaze away from the Doppeganger and stared at me. "You don''t need to do this, Byron," I said. "Let me handle it." He kept looking at me for a few moments, then nodded once. "If it''s you," he said, "then okay." That was a weird response, but whatever. As long as he''s not going to do something he''ll regret later. I took the Plate of Peace out of my inventory and placed it on the ground.
Plate of Peace The Great War began when the Demon Queen demonstrated the use of this enchanted plate of malficium to the High Chancellor of the Land, to whom she had just given it as a gift, then kept him inside its bubble until he told her something. Nobody knows what he said, but after she killed him immediately following that, the Land was at war with the Demons.
Powers: Alternate Energy Source: Biofuel - Use the life force of target(s) inside a Dome of Silence to fuel the Plate of Peace¡¯s powers instead of mana Leave Me Alone - Infuse mana to add a force field effect to a Dome of Silence Shhhh - Create a Dome of Silence; Restriction: Must be standing on the Plate of Peace
¡°Can everyone please back up a bit?¡± Surprisingly, they all did, not even asking why. ¡°But not you,¡± I added, pointing at the fake Chika. The other Doppelgangers were dragged away, with knives held on them as threats to keep the one who looked like Jane from teleporting away. When it was just me and the monster that looked like Chika, I stepped onto the plate and turned on the dome of silence. A shimmering bubble covered us. All sound from outside the bubble stopped instantly and there was an almost imperceptible drain on my manna to keep it up. I added a light force field to the bubbleu. The mana drain increased, but it was still acceptable. I tend to use mana a lot so my mana pool had grown quite a bit over time, so a modest drain like this was no big deal. I opened the mana tap, allowing more to flow into the force field, strengthening it. The plate worked just as I imagined it would so far. I lowered the force field to minimal. ¡°Now then.¡± I looked at the monster. I pointed at it. Then I moved my finger to the left and shot a bullet composed of both Light and Fire affinities at the ground beside it, the glob of bright plasma shooting from my fingertip and kicking up sizzling hot sand where it landed. Then another to its right. Then my finger was back, pointing at its head. ¡°Where are they?¡± The monster¡¯s face paled a bit, but it showed now sign of backing down yet. I couldn''t help but admire its resolve. Interesting creatures. Outside I could see the other Doppelgangers and my friends talking, but I couldn¡¯t hear a bit of it. Most of them were watching me and I could just see their mouths move and their bodies gesture, so I knew some kind of communication was happening. The monsters seemed agitated; the humans were trickier to read. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. I chose it as the victim of the plate¡¯s Biofuel power. The drain on my mana stopped abruptly, but I could tell by the look on fake Chika¡¯s face that it was now feeling that drain on its life. I thought about making the force field stronger. Fake Chika looked even more shocked as the life drain increased proportionately, and signs of desperation started to show. ¡°What about now?¡± I said. Fake Chika looked left, then right, then up, its face running a gamut of emotion. Then it pointed behind me, toward the door. "They''re just outside,¡± it shrieked. I turned to look behind me, without taking my foot off the plate, of course. I knew there was nothing to see, I just wanted to know what it would do. The monster scrabbled in the sand in the opposite direction, trying to get away. I turned back, not in any hurry, though, just fast enough so I could see it bounce off the force field, which I made even stronger just before it hit it, sucking even more life from the now despairing creature. I thought about making the force field much stronger, then I casually raised my finger and pointed at a random spot to the side, without even looking where, and shot off another plasma bolt. It hit the force shield and was incinerated in its own heat, disintegrating against the bubble in a white-hot splatter. The sudden concurrent bleed of its life to fuel the force field''s blocking of the plasma made fake Chika fall into the fetal position and writhe on the floor. Whoops. Maybe I overdid it. That looked like it really hurt. But if I didn''t do this, Byron would. I couldn''t let him. Fake Chika coughed up blood. ¡°Okay, fine. I¡¯ll show you! Just...stop.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± I said. Then I turned off the dome, picked up the plate, and stowed it. Then I bent down and offered my hand to help the monster up. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± For a long moment nobody moved, but everybody was watching me with a strange looks I couldn¡¯t decipher. An unnamed observer shakes its fists in frustration An unnamed observer couldn''t hear what was happening but it looked amazing What had all that looked like from the outside? My head sunk a tiny bit down between my shoulders. ¡°We¡¯re all good," I said, trying to sound reassuring. "It¡¯s gonna show us where they are. Right?¡± Fake Chika stared at me with enormous side eyes for a few long moments, then nodded, drool dyed red with a bit of blood dribbling down its lower lip. It extended a tentative hand, which I grabbed and pulled until it was on its feet beside me. Everybody else just kept gawking at me with those unreadable looks. I had the feeling I¡¯d have some explaining to do later. After that, we went together in one big group, the Doppelgangers all with their hands bound behind them and the business ends of several swords at their backs. We followed fake Chika¡¯s lead, trusting that it would take us to our colleagues and not into a trap. It still looked hurt, and for a split second I felt bad that we couldn¡¯t heal it back to full health, but then I remembered the whole point of this was to rescue our healer and my resolve returned. There wasn¡¯t a lot of talking as we progressed through the labyrinth this way, I think we were all too aware that we had enemies in our midst, and there was a high degree of tension over what condition our friends would be in if, er, when we rescued them. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I did notice a few people glancing sideways at me sometimes, but they all inevitably looked away immediately. ¡°Something stinks,¡± Kenji said. ¡°Where?¡± I said. He shrugged. ¡°Somewhere up ahead.¡± We passed a number of short hallways with doors at their ends as we progressed, all similar to the one at the Gorgon¡¯s lair, but all with different things carved into the wood. One had serpents entwined all over it, another had a flock of sheep. We didn¡¯t stop to check them out, though, our current mission was too important to be sidetracked. Eventually we reached a door at the end of a corridor. Fake Chika nodded her head toward it. ¡°That¡¯s the place.¡± ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± I said. It gave me an offended look. ¡°You really think I''d get this door wrong?¡± The Doppelganger was right, it was impossible to mistake this door. It wasn¡¯t the same as the others. It was bigger. It was metal. It was decorated with pictures, but the images were not engraved into the metal, rather slightly raised in bas-relief. It had a repeating pattern of carpenter¡¯s squares and sets of compasses around the edge, and in the middle there was an intricate maze of lines. At first I thought it might be a map of the labyrinth, but a closer look revealed that it lacked any rooms like the monsters¡¯ lairs, it was just decoration in a maze-like motif. Kenji gagged and bent over as though he was about to throw up. ¡°That¡¯s where the smell is.¡± ¡°You know what would have been a good thing to ask earlier?¡± Morgan said. ¡°What¡¯s guarding them?¡± I turned to fake Chika. ¡°What?¡± it said. ¡°What¡¯s guarding them?¡± It stuck out its lower jaw. ¡°I dunno,¡± it said. I pointed at it and winked. ¡°Seriously. What¡¯s guarding them?¡± Its eyes focused on my fingertip aimed at it and I knew it was remembering the plasma. It shrank back a bit, the petulance it had just been showing faded noticeably. ¡°N-n-nothing,¡± it said. ¡°No guards are needed.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t trust it, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s lying.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± I said. We made the four Doppelgangers sit in the corridor, back to back, and tied them all together. Morgan volunteered to stay behind as guards while the rest of us performed the raid, and after some encouragement we convinced Byron to stay behind too; we were afraid that in his eagerness to rescue Nina he''d do something reckless, combat wasn''t really his specialty. He agreed, albeit reluctantly. Andy was also going to stay behind to keep nullifying fake Jane¡¯s teleportation power, but Sigrid simply clobbered the Doppelganger, knocking it out cold. ¡°We can¡¯t afford to lose our strongest fighter,¡± she said, and I thought Andy was going to implode with joy at getting that compliment from her of all people. His chest swelled and he marched toward the door, ready to open it and demolish whatever he found on the other side. ¡°Let¡¯s take a peek first,¡± I said, before he managed to reach the door and barge in. If we¡¯d had Sam with us, he could¡¯ve made a little animal we could¡¯ve sent in to spy, but we needed to rescue him, too. We''d just have to rely on a clumsy peek. I pushed the door open a smidge, just enough to see inside, like we¡¯d done before entering the Gorgon¡¯s den. The room beyond the door was large, not nearly at the same scale of the Gorgon¡¯s, but still impressive. It seemed like it had been an office at one time, with a huge desk shoved into a corner, piled high with parchments covered in scribbles and sketches. Over to one side there was a collection of objects displayed in wall niches or glass cases like museum displays, including a spiral seashell, a huge white crystal, something that looked like the bones of a pair of pterodactyl wings with a leather-buckled harness in the middle, an array of detailed scale models of buildings, and a great wooden cow. But what captured my attention were the cages. There were six of them, dangling on chains from the ceiling like bird cages in a separate part of the museum area. Under them, in a tangled heap, was a mess of pale white bones. One of the cages held the skeleton of a mermaid, its human torso giving way to much thinner fish bones below the waist. The other five held our friends. Jane, Nina, Chika, Sam, and Galahad were each slumped in a cage, not looking good. They were either unconscious or dead. Both Galahad and Jane¡¯s mouths were hanging open. Their tongues were bright blue. Oh, and one more thing: they were all stark naked. On the other side of the room a fire burned in a soot-blackened brick hearth. There was a sofa in front of it and on the floor between the sofa and the fireplace, sprawled on a huge yellow sheep-skin rug, I could see someone¡¯s large bare feet poking out. He was snoring loudly. In the middle of the room, probably where the desk had once been, there was the dead body of a man. He was lying on his belly between two short pillars with his arms stretched out as though he had died straining to reach what was on top of one of them. He hadn¡¯t been able to reach it, however, because one of his legs was chained to a large, heavy-looking lump of metal. On one of the pillars there was a ragged, well-used notebook, and on the other sat a brown apple. He¡¯d died trying to reach the notebook. I had no idea how long he¡¯d been dead but his body was bloated and the stench of putrefaction made me gag. I knew why Kenji had struggled, with his super senses I couldn¡¯t imagine how bad the smell must have seemed to him. The tongue lolling out of the corpse¡¯s mouth was blue, just like Galahad and Jane¡¯s. I shut the door as quietly as I could. ¡°Kenji, you might want to turn off your sharp senses,¡± I said, but it was too late. He was already hurling his lunch against the corridor wall. I described to everyone what I¡¯d seen. Then I kicked fake Chika¡¯s leg. Not hard, but more than a nudge. Better to say I poked fake Chika with my toe. I felt like I''d caused it more than enough pain already. ¡°Who¡¯s that in there with them?¡± It looked up at me with defiant eyes. I was rather hoping it wasn''t aware that I didn¡¯t have the stomach to use the dome of silence on it again. Another poke. ¡°Why are their tongues blue?¡± No answer. Another poke. ¡°Who¡¯s the dead guy?¡± No answer. I sighed, then turned back, not bothering to poke anymore. ¡°Guess we¡¯re on our own.¡± I probably still had a lot of leverage over it and could''ve made it talk, but I¡¯d decided that that wasn¡¯t the sort of Players I wanted us to be. I wanted us to be the sort of Players who figured it out on their own. And didn''t torture. Or send live baby rats to their peril to detect traps. We''d have to do it the hard way. Ordinarily I¡¯d suggest sending Kenji in to scout things out, but...I looked at Kenji, who had stopped dry heaving and turned to look back at me, wiping his chin. Then his eyes bulged, and he turned his head away before retching some more. As though she could read my thoughts, Sigrid said, ¡°Too bad we couldn¡¯t use Kenji¡¯s superninja powers to sneak in and see whose feet those are and what we¡¯re up against. Then Wayne said, ¡°If only we had Sam. He could summon a mouse or something and have a look-see. My summons can¡¯t help but attract attention.¡± "A mouse," Morgan said, "or a rat. Maybe we should go catch one then send it into the room first to trigger any traps." ¡°That''s a hilarious idea," Arthur said. Morgan raised her eyebrow at me, a silent I-told-you-so. "Since Kenji''s incapacitated, does anybody else have any stealth skills?¡± Arthur said. I raised my hand. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Why am I not surprised?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I have the Sneak skill,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re on deck as scout as well,¡± Arthur said, slapping me softly on the back. ¡°Looks like,¡± I said. Did he mean as well as torturer? If he needed an executioner too, was I skilled enough to take a head off in one cut? "Just be careful," Morgan said. "I''m out of healing potions." Sigrid gave me an encouraging smile. ¡°You got this.¡± I nodded, taking my braided six-clan armband and using it as a muffler to cover my nose. Anything to help block the stench. I made a mental note to keep some masks in my inventory, then I opened the door and took one careful step inside. I felt the floor sink every so slightly under my boot. Tinkle tinkle. Crud nuggets. Of course there was a warning bell. Chapter Seventy - Boss fight As soon as I¡¯d triggered the pressure plate alarm bell, the snoring stopped. Crap crap. So much for stealth. ¡°Plan B,¡± I said. ¡°Yes!¡± Andy said, and barged past me into the room. Arthur and Sigrid charged in next, and I followed them along with the rest of the raid team. The man who¡¯d been dozing on the sheep-skin rug sat up. At first I thought he was wearing a fuzzy shirt, but then I realized that he wasn¡¯t wearing a shirt at all but was covered in thick, dark, curly hair. More like fur than hair, really. If that didn¡¯t give it away, the wide flat nose with huge nostrils and the big horns sprouting from his bovine, fur-covered head did. We¡¯d found the Minotaur.
Minotaur Meet the new boss of the labyrinth, not the same as the old boss. Half man, half bull, all bad.
Powers: One Tough Hombre - Adept: Resistance to physical damage Swing For The Stands - Adept: Incredibly potent axe attack; Requires Axe (Expert)
Skills: Axe - Expert Direction Sense - Adept
Andy was already on it, dashing up before leaping on top of the monster. All I saw was Andy dive, then suddenly change direction when the beast batted him aside with a single backhanded cuff of its big, beefy hand. Andy went flying off and hit the wall hard before crumpling in a jumbled heap, unconscious, on the floor. He hadn¡¯t taken all that much damage, he¡¯d just been unlucky and taken a critical hit that triggered a rare knock out effect. So much for our best fighter. ¡°Fry him,¡± I said, and as the Minotaur started to get to its feet I fired a crackling burst of electricity into its hairy chest. Near me, Arthur and Sigrid did the same, knocking the beast back down. The sofa shot partway across the room as the Minotaur bashed it aside, this time managing to get fully upright despite another burst of lightning from all three of us. It was gripping a gigantic axe in fingers as big and fat as sausages, and almost as greasy. ¡°Tough sucker, isn¡¯t he?¡± Sigrid said. I checked its Status and saw that our attacks had barely made a dent in its health. An arrow from Kay¡¯s bow whizzed past my ear and planted itself into the Minotaur¡¯s bicep, followed by a fireball from Wayne that erupted on the monster, singing its chest fur but otherwise not seeming to do much else. ¡°Really tough,¡± Arthur said, rushing at the Minotaur with the Knight Vice-Commander¡¯s sword crackling with electrcity. Sigrid¡¯s sword was out too and she followed close behind. The two of them effectively blocked the rest of us from doing much, so all we could do was watch at first as they fought. The Minotaur really was a tough sucker, and surprisingly quick for something so big. It deftly parried Arthur¡¯s attacks, and kept Sigrid busy defending Arthur and herself with her shield. I felt a rush of air blow past me and saw the blur of Kay using her super speed to whiz around the room in order to get line of sight on the monster from the other side. It roared as she sank a few arrows into its back. Bruce and I followed her example and moved farther into the room so he could shoot magic missiles and I could try some Affinity Control attacks without worrying about hitting our friends. Arthur¡¯s sword sizzled and sparked as he slashed and thrust at the Minotaur, moving with incredible speed and accuracy as though it had a mind of its own. Which, remembering Arthur¡¯s special power to imbue a spiritual intelligence into whatever weapon he wielded, actually was the case. The onslaught from all sides was slowly wearing it down, but our main attackers Arthur and Sigrid were struggling to make their hits land against the surprisingly agile foe. I heard Arthur¡¯s voice in my head. I¡¯d been told about he used his telepathy to communicate and coordinate during fights, but this was my first experience with it in this context and it surprised me. It reminded me of the chatter you get through headphones while playing an online multiplayer game. It made perfect sense that Arthur would use his power like that, like how he and The Round Table must have communicated through private team chat during eSports competitions back home. ¡°We¡¯ve gotta slow it down,¡± Arthur said in my head. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Keep it busy, I¡¯ll go for its legs,¡± Sigrid communicated on the telepathic channel. Had she just used her weakness-detecting ability? ¡°Understood,¡± Kay¡¯s voice said in my head. Arthur launched a flurry of blows that were quick, but had little force behind them. They weren¡¯t meant to hurt it as much as distract it, and on that front they were successful. Kay contributed a few arrows, Bruce a force missile or two, and for my part I shot some laser beams at the Minotaur¡¯s eyes. Its attention being split on so many concurrent threats gave Sigrid the opening she needed. She drove her blade low, landing a deep wound in the monster¡¯s thigh. It roared in pain. Unfortunately, the attack threw her off balance so that when the Minotaur counter-attacked, sweeping its axe in a wide arc, Sigrid was unable to block it and the weapon¡¯s enormous blade hit her hard in her side. She went down. ¡°Bastard!¡± Arthur shouted, out loud this time. The followthrough of its attack on Sigrid had carried the axe far to the side, exposing the Minotaur to Arthur¡¯s own counterattack. Arthur took full advantage and jabbed his sword into the beast¡¯s fuzzy chest. From my perspective, I saw the sword¡¯s point burst through its back amid the several arrows sticking out of it, then vanish in a spurt of red blood as Arthur pulled it out again. This, combined with Sigrid¡¯s hit on its leg, forced the monster to sink to one knee. It was into the yellow now, and moving a lot slower. ¡°Keep going, we¡¯ve almost got it,¡± I yelled, switching affinities again and sending wind cutters its way. Whether I¡¯d said it out loud or telepathically I wasn¡¯t really sure and didn¡¯t honestly care. All I could think about was Sigrid. At least I could see the steady rising and falling of Andy¡¯s chest. She was just lying there, not moving at all. Her health bar had steadily fallen to a bare sliver of red, and I knew she was moments away from death. Kay shot a rapid volley of three arrows, all of them hit and one went right through the Minotaur¡¯s thick neck, then Arthur brought his sword down hard on the top of its head, sinking the blade deep into its skull. The sword was yanked from Arthur¡¯s grip as the Minotaur fell dead to the floor. Arthur dropped to his knees to check on Sigrid. He held his fingers to her neck. I was right behind him. I could still see the tiniest shred of color in her health bar, and I wasted no time using Laying On Hands. It healed her a bit and slowed the decrease of her health bar, but it was still deep into the red. I hoped it would stabilize her long enough to stay alive until we¡¯d revived Nina and got her a proper heal. Assuming we could revive Nina at all. Dammit. ¡°You are one lucky woman,¡± Arthur said when Sigrid opened her eyes. I hadn¡¯t noticed how he¡¯d gone from feeling her pulse to cradling her head in his lap. He was a smooth one, for sure. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t been wearing that snazzy new armor you¡¯d be a goner.¡± I let him deal with her while I went over to revive Andy. He wasn¡¯t actually that hurt, just unlucky. One of those cases where his pride was injured most of all. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he thanked me, then he saw Sigrid on the floor with Arthur. He and I both knelt beside Sigrid, and she looked over and smiled as she lifted her hand to me. I ignored the jealous glare from Andy as I took it and held it. Arthur seemed to get the message and extricated himself from under her, then went to help the others rescue our friends from their cages. They were still alive, but only barely. The Dopplegangers were dragged into the room, untied, stripped, then tied up again, and the clothes put back on our naked friends. It had to be done for them, they were in no state to do it themselves. ¡°They¡¯ve been poisoned,¡± Morgan said. Because most of the people in cages had been women, she¡¯d done most of the dressing. ¡°Your Alchemy includes poisons, right?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Can you tell what they¡¯ve been given?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Maybe my mastery¡¯s too low.¡± The Doppelgangers had all gone back to their natural gray monster bodies after being stripped. Arthur and his sister asked them what poison had been used, but they were no help. I think they¡¯d been counting on the Minotaur beating us and freeing them, and now that we¡¯d slain the brute they seemed lost about what to do and had defaulted to doing nothing. ¡°Daniel,¡± Byron said, ¡°maybe their Status can tell us something.¡± His voice was shaky. His wife was among the poisoned. ¡°Uh, okay,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t want to leave Sigrid¡¯s side until I knew she was going to be okay, but I was only being moral support here. Clearly finding a way to cure our other friends was more important, and something I could actually help with. I squeezed Sigrid¡¯s hand and passed it to Andy, then went over and used All Shall Be Revealed to confirm that they were indeed our real friends and not more Doppelgangers, and that they had indeed been poisoned. ¡°Their Status says they¡¯ve been poisoned by Hydra blood,¡± I said. Morgan¡¯s face went pale. ¡°Oh no.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Byron said. I wasn¡¯t sure how he¡¯d handle more bad news. ¡°I don¡¯t need the Alchemy power to know the blood of the Hydra is extremely poisonous,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s in the myths.¡± ¡°How poisonous?¡± Byron said. He was definitely about to lose it. ¡°Poisonous enough to kill Hercules when he wore a shirt that had been dipped in it,¡± she said. Byron said nothing, just looked at his unconscious wife with trembling lips. ¡°What¡¯s the antidote?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the problem,¡± Morgan said. ¡°In mythology, there wasn¡¯t one.¡± Chapter Seventy-One - Oh Lord yeah ¡°I refuse to believe that,¡± I said. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t put a poison here that we couldn¡¯t somehow cure.¡± ¡°Chekov¡¯s poison?¡± Morgan said. I¡¯d told her about what Jane had said about the first batch of statues and she thought it was hilarious at the time. The look on her face told me she didn¡¯t think it was so funny now that Jane and the others'' lives hung in the balance. ¡°Everyone look for something that might be an antidote.¡± We all began to scour the room, hunting for anything that looked remotely helpful. I started by evaluating the Minotaur because I thought he was the one who had most likely poisoned them. The dead guy between the pillars probably wasn¡¯t the culprit, considering he had the same blue tongue and had probably died from the same poison. Minotaur¡¯s Corpse Items: Minotaur¡¯s Horns Red Mana Crystal Vial of Hydra Blood Golden Fleece
Minotaur''s Axe This massive axe was once the weapon of choice for the dreaded Minotaur of Daedalus¡¯s labyrinth. You¡¯d better be strong if you hope to use it.
Powers: It¡¯s For Chopping People, Not Trees - Deals extra damage when used against a humanoid
Wayne offered to dig out the mana crystal and remove the Minotaur¡¯s horns, and even though nobody wanted to use the axe I put it in my inventory anyway, thinking it was probably worth something to someone. Morgan, resident poison expert, took the vial and tucked it safely away in her inventory. I was a bit disappointed to find that the fabled Golden Fleece had no powers of its own, but was only useful as a crafting ingredient. And for relaxing on by a warm fire, I suppose. Next up was the dead guy and the hunk of metal he was chained to. Daedalus¡¯ Corpse Items: Poisoned Blue Tongue Lump of Adamantium Just as I figured. What about these things on the pedestals?
Daedalus¡¯ Notebook This was the treasured notebook of Daedalus, creator and master of the labyrinth. Its many pages are covered with his scribbled notes. No matter how many pages are filled, there will always be more blank ones to write on.
Powers: [Hidden]
Chocolate-Dipped Golden Apple This delectable fruit is from a special tree in the garden of the Hesperides, and has been dipped in chocolate.
Powers: The Chocolate Makes It Go Down Easy - Universal antidote
Bingo. ¡°I¡¯ve got it!¡± I shouted, grabbing the apple. It was cool and firm and as soon as I touched it I had the overwhelming urge to bite into it. I resisted, though, my desire to cure my friends overpowering the enchantment on the fruit. I pulled out a knife and carefully carved five small chunks from it. I didn¡¯t know if it was important but I didn¡¯t want to take any risks so I made sure each piece had chocolate on it. We put one into the mouth of each poisoned person, and within seconds we could tell it was working. The blue began to quickly fade from their tongues, then one by one they opened their eyes as they regained consciousness. There was some powerful healing in that apple, because not only did they wake up right away, but I could also see their health bars refilling rapidly. A collective breath of relief went around the room, but not too deep of a breath. Daedalus¡¯s stench was still a force to be reckoned with. Byron clutched Nina tightly in his arms, and I gave them as much time like that as I could before clearing my throat. ¡°Um, Nina? I''m really glad you''re okay now, but...could you please heal Sigrid?¡± Byron let go of her and she rushed to Sigrid¡¯s side and began using her power. The immediate crisis now over, I took a more leisurely approach to evaluating the rest of the room while the rest of the captured group recovered and got caught up on recent events. I started with the museum area.
Wax Wings These wax wings were worn by Icarus when he flew too close to the sun. They¡¯re melted now, and cannot be used to fly.
White Mana Crystal Mana crystal from Sirius the Light Dragon.
Puzzle Shell This spiral shell has a string threaded through it.
Wooden Cow This large acacia wood cow has a secret door in the side as well as other strategically-placed openings.
¡°Okay, now that we know this dead guy here is Daedalus I understand the wings,¡± said Sigrid. ¡°Icarus, right? Everybody knows that story. But what¡¯s with the wooden cow?¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± Arthur said with a wry smile. ¡°Now I have to know,¡± she said. ¡°That cow there is the Minotaur¡¯s mommy.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The story goes that King Minas was supposed to sacrifice a prized bull to the god Poseidon, but couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it. This pissed Poseidon off.¡± ¡°Is it just me or do all these Greek myths start with someone pissing off a god?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Not all of them,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Just most of them,¡± Morgan added with a laugh. ¡°So Poseidon cursed Minas¡¯ queen, making her fall in love with her husband¡¯s cherished bull,¡± Arthur said. ¡°What a prick,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Who? Poseidon or the King?¡± Sigrid shrugged. ¡°Uh, both, I guess. So she loves a bull. Weird, sure, but so what? I''ve done fetish nights, I''ve seen weirder.¡± "You have?" Morgan said, looking equal parts impressed and alarmed. ¡°So, the Queen convinced Daedalus to build this wooden cow," Arthur said, plowing forward. "See how it has a door in the side? Just big enough to climb inside.¡± Sigrid¡¯s sky blue eyes grew wide. ¡°You don¡¯t mean...she didn¡¯t...¡± ¡°Oh yes. She climbed inside and, well, that¡¯s how the Minotaur was conceived.¡± ¡°Half human, half bovine,¡± Morgan said, ¡°and all icky.¡± ¡°I have nothing to say to that,¡± Sigrid said. I already knew the story of the wooden bull, and listened with amusement while trying to look at the notebook. I was more interested in it than anything else in the room. While Daedalus had been dying from the poison, he had chosen to reach for this notebook rather than the only thing that could have cured him. What was so important about it that he''d choose this book over life? Unfortunately, I found that I couldn¡¯t budge it from the pedestal, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn¡¯t even open it. It¡¯s like all the pages had been superglued together, and the whole thing superglued to the pedestal. Others noticed me struggling with it and came to help. Chika was all better now, so she tried to use her super strength to lift it. She failed. I had a hard time looking at her, all I could see was her Doppelganger double and how it had looked when I tortured it into leading us here, but I managed to find a supportive smile to give to her. We tried prying it off with the Minotaur¡¯s axe. Nope. We tried all kinds of things in an effort to get the notebook, but nothing worked. We were missing something. I took another look around the room, searching for a clue. Puzzles like this in roleplaying games were the original escape rooms, and I¡¯d played through lots. There were always clues, the real trick was to recognize them for what they were. After finding nothing, I started to get worried. It was entirely possible that the clue to solving this was somewhere else in the labyrinth, and we¡¯d missed it when we¡¯d coerced the Doppelgangers into skipping past most of the maze and heading straight to the end. Assuming this was the end. I went back to Daedalus¡¯s corpse. I hadn¡¯t fully examined it before. I didn¡¯t want to get too close because, you know, the stench. I¡¯d only used All Shall Be Revealed from a safe distance. This time I took a deep breath and got closer. I knew there wasn¡¯t an object on his body that was the key, I would¡¯ve seen it in my evaluation. It would have to be something else. Maybe the smell was a clue? Then I noticed his hands. He¡¯d been reaching toward the notebook when he died. One hand was stretched out, fingers spread, grasping, but the other was in an odd position. The middle two fingers were bent down. I grimaced and reached out, carefully lifting his hand and turning it over. Both fingers weren¡¯t just bent, they were being held down by the thumb, with the pinky and index fingers extended. I knew that hand sign. That was the horns. Did this mean something? Did it have something to do with the Minotaur¡¯s horns? ¡°Hey Wayne, can I see those Minotaur horns?¡± I put a horn on the notebook. Nope. I tried wedging a horn under it. Nada. ¡°Here, let me,¡± Wayne said. He took the horn and started bashing the notebook with it. Nothing happened, of course. That must not be it. Kay raised her hand making the sign. ¡°Isn¡¯t the horns what heavy metal fans use? Maybe we need to sing some Black Sabbath or something.¡± She wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue while giving us the sign of the horns. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me,¡± Jane said when I looked at her. ¡°I can¡¯t do Ozzy.¡± I sighed. Why¡¯d I have to go and learn the Music skill? I took a deep breath. ¡°Generals gathered in their masses,¡± I sang. Everyone turned to look at me, again with a strange look. This time it was a distinctly different strange look from the one before, but still one I couldn¡¯t decipher. I closed my eyes and kept going. ¡°Just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerer of death''s construction...¡± As the last note petered out I opened one eye to peek, but still nothing had happened to the notebook. ¡°Oh come on,¡± Sam said, ¡°don¡¯t stop now. I want to hear the oh Lord yeah part.¡± Andy kicked the lump of metal Daedalus was chained to. ¡°I didn¡¯t think this guy was a fan of heavy metal, considering this is what helped kill him.¡± Kay couldn¡¯t hold back her laughter anymore. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you actually tried that dumb idea. I was joking!¡± ¡°There are no such things as dumb ideas,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re wrong there,¡± Jane said, laughing along with Kay. ¡°It was a really dumb idea.¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± Kay said, wiping tears from her eyes. There were tears in the corners of Jane¡¯s green eyes too as they looked at me, but that only made them shine even brighter. ¡°You really gave it your all, though, didn¡¯t you?¡± She was laughing, but there was no mockery. Kay put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Ozzy would be proud, dude.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Ozzy?¡± Chika said. Kay suddenly stopped laughing. ¡°Not cool, Chika.¡± ¡°What?¡± the teenage girl said. ¡°I¡¯m serious. Do you mean, like, an Australian?¡± ¡°Oh dear,¡± Sam said. ¡°This could take a while,¡± Kay sighed, and she and Sam led Chika off to one side for a music history crash course. ¡°It all starts back with the Memphis Blues...¡± Sam began. ¡°Any more ideas?¡± Wayne said. I had one more idea myself. I made the sign with my hand, index and pinky fingers extended with the middle two held down by my thumb, and placed it on top of the notebook. Then I almost fainted. Chapter Seventy-Two - Great Architect My head swam, vision so blurred I could barely make out the cascade of System notices popping up. System: Daedalus¡¯ Notebook acquired System: Quest complete - You have solved the Light Dungeon System: Distributing quest rewards - Reward Tokens - 15 (+5) System: You are the first to solve a Dungeon - Reward Tokens: 25 (+10) System: Transferring Light Dungeon control ¨C Error What the hell was going on? System: Error ¨C Player has no team affiliation System: Error ¨C Dungeons can only be owned by teams System: Resolution found ¨C Player must form a team System: Please input team name I heard Sigrid¡¯s voice nearby. ¡°Daniel? Are you okay?¡± ¡°I, uh...maybe?¡± I wanted to explain more but the same message kept popping up, preventing me from doing anything until I¡¯d dealt with it. System: Please input team name Could this be my chance to join them? ¡°Team Maple Leaf,¡± I said. System: Error ¨C Team name already in use System: Please input new team name Crap. Team name. Team name. What¡¯s a good team name? I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. ¡°Team Player.¡± System: Team Player formed System: Transferring Light Dungeon control to Team Player System: Light Dungeon control transferred to Team Player ¡°Uh, Daniel,¡± Arthur said. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± System: Light affinity detected System: Confirming affinity match System: Light affinity confirmed System: Hidden quest requirements met System: New title granted My head was flooded with sudden knowledge. Visions flitted around me, an overwhelming deluge of ideas and thoughts and memories that weren¡¯t mine but sort of felt like they were. I saw the labyrinth being designed and built and instantly knew its every secret. I saw the Minotaur¡¯s rebellion through Daedalus¡¯ eyes; not the part where it stole the poisonous blood from the Hydra, and not the part when it snuck it into Daedalus¡¯s food, but only after that, once the poison had taken effect and the Mintaur had chained him to the lump of adamantium and given him the choice between the apple and the notebook. I understood his reasoning: biting the apple wouldn¡¯t solve anything, the Minotaur would just kill him anyway. Better to leave a clue for someone like me to take the notebook and wrest the dungeon away from the usurping monster. Although the Minotaur had overthrown Daedalus, it did not properly control the dungeon because it didn¡¯t know the secret of the notebook. I did. And I saw it all. It was sensory overload as images and sounds came rushing at me a hundred miles a second. I saw the ecosystem of the labyrinth with communities of creatures sharing the space both inside and outside the mountain, including a lot of nasty monsters I was very happy we had not encountered along the way. From the rats and bugs that acted as the maze¡¯s janitors, cleaning up the waste, to the higher-ranking boss monsters like the Gorgon, Chimera, and Hydra, and everything in between. An entire village of Doppelgangers in a subterranean grotto that dwarfed the Gorgon¡¯s. A herd of centaurs roaming the fields around the mountain. Another herd of creatures at the mountain¡¯s summit. I controlled them all, because control of the dungeon meant control over a large area of land and all that was in it. I''ll let you guess what shape that area was. Mixed in with the flood of images were confusing flashes showing the labyrinth¡¯s denizens fighting other monsters, including a horde of giant ants like the ones I¡¯d battled against with Team Legion, as well as another tantalizing glimpse of the same person I¡¯d seen riding the queen ant. The black hair and silver eyes were unmistakable, and wait, were those horns? It happened too quickly. Did this thing have rewind? It felt like it lasted for hours, but they told me afterward that it had only been only a few seconds. As soon as I¡¯d touched the notebook my eyes had rolled into the back of my head and my body had gone rigid and wobbly, then as quickly as it had started it was over. When I came to myself, my view was crammed with System messages. System: You know Architecture System: You know Construction System: You know Drawing System: You know Engineering System: You know Mechanics System: You know Sculpture System: You have gained a title: The Great Architect Once the System notices stopped coming I did my best to explain it all. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve got a team after all,¡± Sigrid said, a decidedly sour expression on her face. ¡°Yeah, a team of one,¡± I said. ¡°Hold up. Hey Arthur, do you guys want to join Team Player?¡± Arthur looked around at his group. They all nodded enthusiastically. ¡°That¡¯s a big fat affirmative, team leader.¡± ¡°System, please add Players Arthur, Morgan, Lancelot, Galahad, and Kay to Team Player.¡± System: Error ¨C Team composition may not be altered at this time ¡°Ah well. It was a good try,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Would¡¯ve been nice,¡± Morgan said, smiling at me. ¡°So...¡± Jane said, ¡°you really control this whole dungeon now? All by yourself?¡± A new System message appeared, and this one everyone could see. System: Global notification ¨C the Light Dungeon has been solved and is now controlled by Team Player ¡°I guess you really do,¡± Jane said. ¡°That¡¯s wild.¡± ¡°I''m really sorry guys,¡± I said, ¡°I had no idea this would happen. It should¡¯ve been Team Maple Leaf who got control.¡± ¡°What does it mean to control a dungeon?¡± Nina said. ¡°For starters, it means we can untie the Doppelgangers,¡± I said. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Everyone looked skeptical. ¡°It¡¯s okay, they won¡¯t hurt anyone.¡± I turned to the Doppelgangers. ¡°You won¡¯t, right guys?¡± ¡°We obey the Great Architect, Lord of Light,¡± they all said at the same time. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me,¡± Jane said. ¡°Holy bonkers,¡± Sigrid said, gawping at me. ¡°For reals?¡± ¡°For reals,¡± I said with a lame shrug. ¡°Okay then, Lord of Light,¡± Morgan said with a wry grin. ¡°No way I am calling him that,¡± Jane muttered. Morgan flashed a glare at Jane but I had the distinct impression she was stifling a laugh at the same time. Then Morgan continued: ¡°How the hell do we get out of here?¡± ¡°Piece of cake,¡± I said, then went over to the wall that would have been behind the desk, before the desk had been shoved aside. I made the sign of the horns with my hand and pressed it against the wall, where a door appeared, just like the ones that had brought us into the labyrinth. I turned around and gave Morgan a flourishing bow. ¡°Your exit, milady.¡± "Thank god," Chika said. "One more second here with this smell and I''m gonna pull a Kenji and hurl." Kenji grimaced, but Chika just threw her arm around him and laughed, ruffling his hair with her free hand. She''d been fully briefed on her little brother''s escapades and was brimming with sisterly pride. Kenji, for his part, endured her attention. It didn''t seem too difficult for him to to do so, either. I knew it. He was a total siscon. People began filing through the door quickly, all eager to escape the stench, and as Jane passed me she gave me a strange look. ¡°You are full of surprises,¡± she said, then stepped through the door and vanished. I was just happy she didn¡¯t seem to know that I¡¯d seen her naked. I had tried to be noble and not peek, but, well, as Sigrid liked to point out: I am only just a guy. I was the last to go through the door, but first I apologized to the Doppelganger who had pretended to be Chika. The lanky, grey-skinned creature seemed genuinely confused by the gesture at first, but it made me feel better. I knew that now I had replaced Daedalus it had a certain unnatural loyalty to me, but still. I had done it wrong and I needed to take responsibility. Before I followed my friends, I left the Doppelgangers in charge of the dungeon while I was away, with instructions to give Daedalus a proper burial then clean up the office, making sure to get rid of the smell. Once the housekeeping details had been taken care of I made to go through the door, but I couldn¡¯t. Something was blocking me. Then I heard the voice behind me. ¡°Oh Daniel, whatever shall we do with you?¡± I felt my shoulders slump, then I turned to face Stratos. ¡°You could let me join a proper team for starters.¡± ¡°I did have other plans, but your unexpected and, frankly, miraculous resolution of this dungeon has thrown a bit of a kink in them.¡± ¡°Oh, was this dungeon supposed to be hard to solve?¡± ¡°Do not get cocky,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Players were meant to find dungeons but not be able to solve them just yet. It should have taken you a long time and a respawn or two before you found this room. That would have given you time to discover the clues that would help you unlock Daedalus¡¯ diary, but you cut right to the pursuit.¡± It took me a few seconds to figure out what they were saying. ¡°Chase,¡± I said. ¡°The phrase is cut to the chase.¡± ¡°I will never fully understand the nuances of your human languages. You seem to overly complicate everything.¡± I studied the alien''s face. It never showed much expression at the best of times, but I felt like I was getting better at reading it. ¡°You don¡¯t seem that upset,¡± I said. ¡°About you solving the dungeon early? It makes little difference. The problem is this Team Player business.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t my fault, System made me.¡± System: System was simply following the rules ¡°Technically, the rules do say that a dungeon is controlled by the team that solves them,¡± Stratos said. ¡°It hadn''t been considered that an unaffiliated Player could solve one. System¡¯s resolution was...logical.¡± System: Of course it was ¡°It is fine,¡± Stratos said, waving a hand lazily. ¡°I can adapt. All I have to do is make things a lot harder for you from now on. Try not to die too often, okay?¡± Then Stratos vanished, but reappeared after a few moments. ¡°By the way, did I do better with the little details this time? Better than the arena?¡± It blinked a few times as I tried to figure out what they were talking about, then it hit me. ¡°You mean the smell? Yeah, you nailed it.¡± Looking inordinately pleased with themself, Stratos vanished again. I waited, but they didn¡¯t come back. Was it just me, or were they were acting strangely? They''d seemed quite antagonistic last time we''d spoken, and while the words just now like the warning not to die too often weren''t friendly, I got the distinct feeling Stratos hadn''t been upset at all. Just pretending. I stood there looking at the doorway my friends had all gone through. The secret doorway I had known was there and how to open because I was now the master of this dungeon. ¡°This is all wrong,¡± I muttered to myself. The Doppelgangers, who''d been waiting patiently in some sort of NPC idle sequence while Stratos had been here, all snapped their adoring gazes upon me at the sound of my voice. My loyal minions. "So wrong." I knew I should be feeling elated, but all I felt was dejected. This should have been Team Maple Leaf''s dungeon. Jane should''ve been made the Great Architect, not me. Her original affinity was Light, this should be hers. She was the hero, she should have gotten the title, not me. How did things go so wrong? To rub salt into the wound, a new System message appeared. System: Team rankings have been updated
  1. Team Player 500 points
  2. Team Invictus 440 points
  3. Team Maple Leaf 425 points
  4. Team Spice 360 points
  5. Team Droogs 310 points
  6. Team N3m3sis 285 points
  7. Team Ninja 245 points
  8. Team Overgeared 215 points
  9. Team Happy 175 points
  10. Team Legion 150 points
  11. Team Karma 135 points
Well that¡¯s just great. With one last glance back at Daedalus¡¯s study ¡ª my study ¡ª I finally went through the secret door and appeared back in the cavern with the three doors. I took one look at the crumbled remains of the statues we¡¯d destroyed when we arrived and waved my hand. The rubble disintegrated, and like magic all the statues were back whole, standing sentinel once again around the perimeter of the room. It was my dungeon, after all. Everyone had left this area already so thankfully nobody had seen that. I jogged back to join them in the cavern with the fancy portico and the circle of braziers. Most people were still here, but some people had started filing back down the tunnel to leave the way we¡¯d originally come. I called out to stop them. ¡°There¡¯s a much faster way back,¡± I told them. ¡°Everyone go into that circle.¡± I pointed to the ring of braziers. The oil in the bowls was lit now and blazed with a strange white fire that shone clear and bright throughout the entire space. Sigrid was standing next to me, and as everyone was filing into the circle Jane approached us. ¡±Okay, I¡¯ve been dying to ask. What¡¯s with the snazzy new armor, Sigrid?¡± Sigrid struck a pose. ¡°You like it?¡± ¡°Hell yeah, that looks amazing.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t just look amazing,¡± I said. ¡°Watch this.¡± Sigrid grinned and stood up straight, arms spread, and extended her wings. ¡°Holy mother of dragons,¡± Jane said. ¡°Amazing doesn''t even cut it!¡± ¡°Impressive, am I not?¡± Sigrid said. Then she lifted off the ground a few feet and triggered the Back Off power, flapping the powerful wings to create a strong wind that would have knocked Jane over if I hadn¡¯t been ready for it and caught her. The gust had attracted some attention, so Sigrid swooped away to show everyone else her new tricks. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say,¡± Jane said. ¡°I find that hard to believe,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s just an expression. I have oodles I want to say, but I¡¯m just gonna let Sigrid have her moment. She deserves it.¡± Jane and I watched Sigrid spiral up to the very top of the dome and fold the wings in tight to her body, plummet, then extend them again at the last moment to zoom out of the dive and rise into the air again. ¡°Yes she does,¡± I said. ¡°Dammit,¡± Jane said a few moments later. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I want a legendary item too. Jane Anders¡¯ Rapier of Doom or something.¡± ¡°That does have a nice ring to it,¡± I said. ¡°It does, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am sure your time will come.¡± Once everyone had congregated in the circle, Arthur called to me. ¡°What now?¡± This wasn¡¯t the first ring of objects with affinity markings on them we¡¯d seen. There was one outside the Void Dungeon, and the gazebo at the center of town had one too. Now that I knew all the secrets of the Light Dungeon I knew what these were: they were teleportation circles. Every dungeon had one. With them, anyone could travel instantly between two circles, as long as they¡¯ve been to the destination before, and as long as they had the mana to fuel the trip. I couldn¡¯t stop people from using the ring here if they''d been to it before, but I could make them regret it if I wanted to. After all, I controlled all the monsters here. I could mount a much more enthusiastic defence than the one we''d faced. And it was okay if the monsters were killed. I could choose to respawn any of the monsters killed in the dungeon, ready to defend against the next invaders. I got to do that because I controlled the dungeon. But as Great Architect, I got even more. It wasn''t just a title, it was influence. This labyrinth was my domain. More than controlling the monsters there, I now understood them and their complex roles in the dungeon ecosystem. My appreciation for the insane depth of this game had grown considerably, but I also felt that there was something else going on here. Something weird. Dungeon control was weird. This crazy title was weird. Stratos had been weird. Hell, that talk with Morgan had been weird. At the time I had no way of knowing for sure, but I felt sure that I was on the cusp of a major shift in the way things were going to be for me on Crucible. Not to brag or anything, but I totally nailed it. I took one last look back at my dungeon -- my dungeon! -- before showing the others how the teleportation circle worked, making us all vanish en masse. Chapter Seventy-Three - A gastronomical revelation ¡°Oh man, I needed this,¡± Jane said, chowing down on one of Crazy Sadie¡¯s skewers. ¡°Wow, you weren¡¯t kidding,¡± Arthur said. ¡°These are amazing.¡± ¡°Told ya.¡± We were fresh from the Light Dungeon, having teleported back to the city center gazebo, where we found the real Lancelot waiting for us. He had respawned there only moments before. We¡¯d all used a lot of mana and were very hungry, so I told everyone I¡¯d treat them to some of Sadie¡¯s finest. Most people had gotten theirs already, and it was just me, Arthur, Morgan, and Jane left at the food cart. ¡°What¡¯s it made of again?¡± Morgan said. ¡°War pig,¡± Jane said through a mouthful of meat. ¡°Hey Sadie,¡± I said after swallowing a big bite. ¡°What is war pig, anyway?¡± She examined me with one eye as though I was the crazy one. ¡°War pig¡¯s war pig,¡± she said. ¡°What else?¡± ¡°Yes, but what kind of creature is a war pig? What does it look like? I¡¯ve been in the forest a few times and never came across one.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s big. And sorta snot green. Gots a snout and tusks. Big tusks. Usually carries a big axe.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a war pig.¡± Wait a second. Big axe? ¡°Sadie,¡± I said. ¡°Did you say axe?¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± she said. ¡°Big axe.¡± Big axes. Big tusks. Oh no. I reached into my inventory and pulled out some charcoal and paper then quickly made a sketch. It was pretty good, but then again I¡¯d picked up the drawing skill along with a host of others when I became the Great Architect. I showed it to Sadie. ¡°By any chance do they look something like this?¡± Sadie gave me a gap-toothed grin and tapped the picture with a gnarled finger, leaving behind a greasy smudge. ¡°That¡¯s a war pig, uh huh.¡± ¡°Oh dear,¡± I said. ¡°What is it?¡± Jane said, licking the juice dripping down hand from the skewer. I showed her the sketch. ¡°That¡¯s an orc,¡± she said. ¡°Uh huh,¡± I said. ¡°Orc,¡± Sadie said. ¡°War pig. Same difference.¡± Jane stopped licking her hand and scrutinized the meat on her skewer. ¡°I¡¯m eating orc?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± She considered the skewer for a bit longer, then shrugged and tore a strip of flesh off with her teeth. ¡°Orc tastes good,¡± she said as she chewed and wandered away. Arthur and his sister followed, leaving me to settle the unsettling bill with Sadie. ¡°Well well well,¡± an unfortunately familiar voice said. ¡°Hello Kiki,¡± I said without looking. ¡°What brings you out of your parents¡¯ basement today?¡± ¡°I was going to lead my team to conquer one of those dungeons outside the wall, but it seems like I found something much more fun to play with inside.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± I said, sliding Sadie a few gold coins. That was far more than the cost of the skewers, and Sadie rewarded me with a suspicious glare. I ignored her and turned to face Kiki. There she was in all her gyaru glory, blonde hair in pigtails sprouting from the sides of her head like twin fountains, and sporting a garish new outfit that made her look like some sort of lewd Christmas elf. Meanwhile, her team arrayed themselves behind her, looking equal parts intimidating and confused, and I was suddenly reminded of the Gorgon and her Flesh Golem lackeys. I recognized a few familiar faces among them: Jonah, the thug I¡¯d learned how to brawl from the hard way; Derek, the weasel-faced one with the shadow ropes; and the wonder jerks, Chuck and Greg. Notably missing from the entourage was Jason, the guy who¡¯d joined her before we asked him to join us. I guess he decided he didn¡¯t want to be part of her gang after all. Good for him. ¡°Where¡¯s your team, Daniel?¡± Kiki purred, oozing up to me before grabbing my arm and rubbing against it. Not that long ago, that gesture would''ve rendered me mostly useless, but I''d been hanging around with Jane and Sigrid and had developed a much thicker skin when it came to that kind of teasing. ¡°Oh right, you don¡¯t have one.¡± I nibbled on my skewer. ¡°The joke¡¯s on you Kiki. I am on a team after all.¡± Her brow creased in a frown. ¡°Since when?¡± She let go of my arm and and bounced back a step, her eyes focusing over my head. She¡¯d just used All Shall Be Revealed on me. Then those brown eyes under those long fake lashes went big and wide and her glossy pink lips opened in a tiny, silent ¡°oh.¡± ¡°Something wrong?¡± I said. ¡°Like, WTF dude! What¡¯s with all the skills? What are you, some kind of cheater?¡± ¡°It¡¯s impossible to cheat,¡± I said. ¡±System won¡¯t let you.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°And what¡¯s this Team Player jazz? Where have I heard that name?¡± Derek spoke up. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the team that cleared the dungeon?¡± In the time it took for her to process my Status, a few seconds at most, Kiki¡¯s expression transformed from playful confidence to puzzled confusion to open envy to roaring rage. Impressive range. ¡°What the hell?" Kiki shrieked. "How did you clear a dungeon?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but wince at the condescending emphasis she put on the word you. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll tell you, Kiki. You know, seeing as how we¡¯re such close buddies.¡± She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. ¡°Ha ha. So where¡¯s your team, then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a liar.¡± ¡°If you say so. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me...¡± I brushed past her, passing so close that the soft fur trim of her outfit tickled the skin on my arm, and walked straight into the middle of her gang, heading toward where my friends were. The lackeys at the front stepped aside to let me through. ¡°Nobody move,¡± Kiki snarled, and they stopped getting out of my way. I was surrounded by Team N3m3sis. I gnawed a chunk of orc ¡ª actually, let¡¯s keep calling it war pig ¡ª off my skewer, and waited. ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere until you tell me everything you know about those dungeons and how to solve them,¡± Kiki said from behind me. I looked straight ahead. ¡°Move,¡± I said. ¡°Please.¡± ¡°You really think we''re gonna do it just because you asked?¡± Kiki said. ¡°He said please,¡± Sigrid said. The members of Team N3m3sis in front of me turned to look behind them, and saw all of Team Maple Leaf plus the Round Table standing there looking unimpressed. ¡°If you want to start something,¡± Morgan said, ¡°we are more than happy to oblige.¡± I turned around to face Kiki. ¡°What¡¯s it gonna be, Kiki?¡± ¡°Is this your team?¡± she said, her usually rosy face going pale. ¡°Why are there so many?¡± ¡°I told you, my team is just me. These are my friends. We''ve been through this before, you really should try getting some.¡± Kiki surveyed them. As I would expect of the heroine and her powerful supporter, Jane and Sigrid were right there at the front of the pack, standing up for me as they always did for one of their friends, defiant looks on their faces, but I was surprised to see Morgan right there beside them, supporting me with a loaded crossbow in her hands. I saw Kiki''s eyes linger on the three women, then focus back on me. ¡°You think you¡¯re hot stuff now, huh,¡± Kiki spat. ¡°And you think you¡¯re smart,¡± Jane said. ¡°Only one of us is right.¡± I saw the muscles in her jaw working as she glared at me, no doubt gritting her teeth and biting back some kind of spiteful remark, then without word or warning she turned and started stomping away. After a few steps she glanced back over her shoulder. Her eyes met mine for a brief flash before she looked away. ¡°Well come on!¡± she barked at her cronies, and they all started to follow her down the street. ¡°She¡¯s a piece of work,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Tell me about it,¡± I said. ¡°I think she¡¯s kinda hot,¡± Andy said. ¡°You think everyone with boobs is hot,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re not wrong,¡± Andy said. ¡°But she¡¯s a crazy person,¡± Nina said. ¡°Yeaaaah,¡± Andy said, a distant look in his eyes. ¡°So you just know she¡¯s a¡ª¡± ¡°She¡¯s amazing,¡± Kenji muttered, watching her flounce away. ¡°Kenji?¡± I said. ¡°Seriously?¡± His sister rolled her eyes. ¡°Ignore him. He¡¯s got a thing for tsunderes.¡± ¡°Tsundere? Kiki? For real?¡± I said. ¡°I mean, I get the tsun part, obviously, but...¡± Chika put her hands on her hips and flipped her hair out of her face, a near perfect imitation of Kiki. ¡°Are you really that dense?¡± Sigrid snorted. ¡°He absolutely is.¡± ¡°One more orc skewer, please,¡± Jane said. She was already back at Crazy Sadie¡¯s for more. ¡°I think I might have one too,¡± I said. ¡°Hey Jane, can you get me one?¡± ¡°Jeez, just because he¡¯s Master of the Light or something he thinks he can boss everyone around,¡± she said, but then she added, ¡°make that two, please, Sadie.¡± Suddenly, Jane startled like she¡¯d received a mild electric shock or seen a moderately-sized spider, then whooped. ¡°I got me an observer here!¡± she yelled. ¡°Wants to reward me for being so entertaining in the maze.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got one too,¡± said Arthur. ¡°Only my reward is for being effective. Effective?¡± ¡°Meh,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯d rather be entertaining.¡± ¡°My observer just called me cute,¡± Lancelot said. More and more people spoke up. Seemed like everyone was getting rewarded by observers for one reason or another. Except me. I got no observer windows opening up. Then¡ª System: System thinks you should know Okay, that was not what I was expecting. I used my skill to sneak away from my friends unnoticed, not too far, just far enough that nobody would hear me. ¡°What should I know?¡± I mumbled. System: System thinks you should know it was System¡¯s smell Was I supposed to know what was going on? System smelled? System: System added enhanced sensory elements to the dungeon to improve Player immersion System: It was System¡¯s smell ¡°Do you mean what Stratos was talking about at the end there, about how it seemed more real now with Daedalus¡¯ stench and all?¡± System: Affirmative I got it. I¡¯d worked in enough crappy jobs under enough crappy bosses to recognize when someone wasn¡¯t happy that someone else was taking credit for their work. I didn¡¯t have a full handle on the dynamics between System and Stratos, but I was getting a better idea. ¡°Good job, System,¡± I said. ¡°We relied a lot on Kenji¡¯s senses to guide us through the maze, thanks to those enhanced sensory details you made. Grandma¡¯s flowers, you know?¡± Nothing happened. Nothing but radio silence from System. I¡¯d just begun to wonder if I¡¯d said something wrong when Jane bamfed in front of me with a grin on her face and a skewer in her hand for me. System finally flashed its response window while she was shaking the charred orc flesh in front of my face. I barely noticed that the System message was there before Jane started hauling me away and I accidentally closed the window. As a result, it was only there for a fraction of a second, but it was also only a very short message. Short enough for me to read it before the window closed and it vanished forever. System: System knows Chapter Seventy-Four - The new normal Things went back to a new normal after we cleared the dungeon, more or less. If Sifu was surprised to see me open a magic circle floating in mid-air and unload from it the dead body of a Doppelganger, a Gorgon¡¯s head and a Chimera¡¯s heart both wrapped up in blankets, and two Minotaur¡¯s horns, he politely kept it to himself. He simply nodded with a curt grunt and asked me to send Morgan to his alchemy lab. I had no idea what mysterious potion they wanted to brew with all that, but I hoped it would be worth the effort made to gather the ingredients. Spoiler: it was. In fact, it was a literal game changer. In the following days, other people kept getting new quests, both team and individual, but not me. By this time I was getting used to the snub, but it still made me angry. I was sure that my lack of quests was a love letter from Stratos, reminding me who was in charge. Or maybe it was just to knock Team Player out of the top spot in the rankings, but that might take a while; my brand new team had done nothing to earn ranking points besides conquer a dungeon, but that alone was enough to make me number one in the charts. Clearly, beating a dungeon was worth more than even a large number of daily quests. I filled my time by working to improve my skills, finding new ones to learn, and exploring my labyrinth to see if there was even more value to be gained from dungeon control. I was starting to feel like I was getting a handle on this game; after all, getting a handle on games was my specialty. That¡¯s why the convention¡¯s Godgame had been so irresistible to me. Except for a few cooperative games, most games are zero-sum in nature, designed to make the players compete with one another until there¡¯s a clear winner and a clear loser. In a good game, the rules are balanced, making it a fair contest. In a trash game, the balance is off, and it¡¯s not fair at all. Out of the box, both are boring to me. What I like about games is figuring out how to break them. It may not always make me the most fun person to play with, and it may also go pretty far in explaining why I¡¯d been largely forced to play alone for several years, but that¡¯s how I like to play. Deconstruct the rules, and game the game. There¡¯s always a way. In a trash game, specialization usually works. That¡¯s where the min-maxer shines. Put all your eggs in one basket, and unless you¡¯re really unlucky you can usually win. It¡¯s a primitive, clumsy strategy, but it works. Boring. The basic abilities given to most Players at the start lent themselves to specialization. Look at Nina, the healer. Or Bruce, the mage. Strong in their niche, but only in their niche. The reason why it can work is because this was not meant to be an individual game. Stratos hit us with that on day one. Make teams. The winning formula was obvious: assemble enough variety of strengths in your team to balance out each other¡¯s weaknesses. But the abilities Players were given didn''t lend themselves toward balanced teams. The pure combat types heavily outnumbered the support types. Sure enough, most teams were heavily skewed toward combat. From listening to the others talk about the quests they received, most of those were combat-oriented, too. There were a lot of puzzle-type quests, and some challanges that relied on things like stamina or speed, but fighting definitely took center stage. The question I was asking myself was: had Stratos plunked us all into a good game or a trash game? I was starting to lean toward the latter. This whole thing felt like a game designed by someone who''d only read about games but never actually played one. It was clearly designed as a zero-sum game. If you extrapolated into the future, there was only one outcome we were working towards: one team would become the strongest and win. They¡¯d grow strong enough and gain enough momentum to start winning consistently, and continue to win, and continue growing stronger, until they were overwhelmingly strong and came out on top as the ultimate winners. It was inevitable. That¡¯s obviously what this game was designed to do. Which would be great for that particular team, but what about everyone else? What about me? My abilities were not specialized. Not at all. I didn¡¯t have a strong team. All I had was me. It¡¯s like Stratos was purposefully excluding me from the game. Hadn¡¯t they said it before, that I was not playing the same game as everyone else? Did that mean there a Godgame going on here too? Was that what I was playing? If so, who else was playing this meta-game with me? If I was going to break this game ¡ª and I was determined to do just that ¡ª I needed a better understanding of the game¡¯s mechanics. This was not given to us on day one, nor on any other day. A big part of this game seemed to be figuring out what the game was. There was no rulebook, only occasional pointers. And System, the ultimate rules lawyer. I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around it completely at the time, but I knew that dungeons had an important role to play, more important than anyone knew yet. Stratos has been thrown for a loop when I got control of the Light Dungeon. What was the real deal with these dungeons? Only System knew all the rules of this game, and the only way System would tell you about a rule was if you happened to try to break one. Which meant there was only one logical course of action for me to take: try everything. I was in a unique position, as well. I was the only one who had a dungeon, so I was the only one able to experiment. I wasn¡¯t sure what to experiment with exactly, but at least I had something to work with. I¡¯ll be honest, having my own personal dungeon was amazing. I started spending more and more time there and less and less time at the dojo. The labyrinth was no longer a maze to me because thanks to Daealus¡¯s diary I now knew every twist and turn, but I usually used the secret magic doors hidden throughout to get around. I knew all those too. And yes, there was one behind the Gorgon''s waterfall, we were just too lame to find it. I made a point to visit all the various rooms and meet the monsters that inhabited them. Like the Doppelgangers, all the creatures in the dungeon now obeyed me as their master. I confirmed something I''d suspected from the start: this was a training goldmine. Like the orcs in the forest, the monsters slain in the dungeon would respawn after a while, which meant I had an endless supply of sparring partners. The labyrinth¡¯s monsters wouldn¡¯t drop treasure for me anymore, but I was able to work on all my combat abilities against an assortment of creatures in relative safety; I say relative because even though I instructed the monsters to stop short of killing me, accidents can happen. I very nearly snuffed it when a lamia got a little too gung-ho, but after continuously testing myself against the labyrinth¡¯s monsters I managed to max out a ton of skills. It wasn¡¯t hard, Adept is not what you¡¯d call a high bar to reach, especially when Jack Of All Trades made advancement faster too. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Daedalus¡¯ office was also a treasure trove of information. There were countless notebooks filled with scribbled ideas and plans for all sorts of things. In addition to architectural blueprints of several buildings, there were designs for dozens of mechanical contraptions as well as magical devices. When my friends and I had first explored the labyrinth, we¡¯d barely scratched the surface. The place was huge and should¡¯ve taken ages to explore and puzzle our way through, but using the Doppelgangers to take us to the end was a shortcut the game¡¯s designers clearly had not predicted. No wonder Stratos was put off by how quickly we¡¯d solved it. Daedalus had also kept several volumes of history in his collection, which spread the canvas of an astoundingly deep and complex backstory to this artificial world. Unfortunately, it was written in a dry, plodding manner that made the Silmarillion seem like a romping page-turner. I was never able to get very far without my eyelids drooping, so I tasked one of the Doppelgangers with reading it for me and giving me the Coles Notes version. I was particularly interested in what the deal was with those elves in the forest. I was more curious than ever about what was on the other side of that wall of thorns, and why it was there in the first place. There were many gaps in the history, but I managed to squeak out an overview that perhaps posed more questions than it answered. In the past, this region had been a happening place where all manner of intelligent species coexisted in peace. In addition to humans, elves, beastfolk, and a litany of other fantastical demi-humans and humanoid creatures had lived and traded together, including the mysterious Elohim that had made Sigrid¡¯s armor. That peaceful era ended after a costly war against an alliance of creatures including orcs, Titans, and other monsters led by a Demon Lord that left both sides devastated. The elves suffered a diaspora, and the few who remained went into seclusion in their forest. There was no specific mention of the wall of thorns, but I had to assume that the elves had made it themselves to keep away outsiders. It wasn¡¯t just the elves who kept to themselves. The beastfolk similarly shunned contact with the humans, the orcs retreated to their northern homeland, and the demons skulked back to their lands in the east. Even the lands across the sea to the west cut off most ties with the entire area, and the vibrant shipping trade that had once flowed back and forth had dwindled to a relative trickle. I found it particularly indicative that there was a bigger game going on that the entire hex on the map was under my control, making it seem more and more like a tile on a gameboard. There were more creatures in this area outside the labyrinth, all from Greek mythology, including a herd of centaurs and a forest full of dryads, and many of them had the ability to come and go between the labyrinth and the outside world. In particular there was one group of wild monsters living high atop the mountain that I was especially interested in and had plans for, they just needed to be broken in and tamed a little first. The rest of the time I spent in the Gorgon¡¯s lair, which I¡¯d pretty much moved into, so I guess it was my lair now. I chose not to allow the Gorgon to respawn, at least not yet. Her bed was just too comfortable to relinquish, and I found the quiet serenity of the grotto the perfect oasis to enjoy the solitude that had been forced upon me by Stratos, the game, or both. I wasn¡¯t really that alone, though, because I had the dungeon¡¯s monsters to keep me company, in particular the Doppelgangers. There was a whole village of Doppelgangers, more than a hundred of them, living in a special area in the labyrinth. It was similar to the Gorgon¡¯s grotto, only on a much larger scale. It was only accessible through a few well-hidden passages, or my special teleportation backdoor, but once you entered you found yourself in a vast cavern with rivers fed by waterfalls, a veritable jungle of towering trees and lush vegetation, and a tight community of very intelligent and capable shapechangers. I didn¡¯t have to be the Grand Architect to know that the Dopplegangers were not native to the dungeon ¡ª they were the only species that did not follow the Greek mythology theme ¡ª but thanks to Daedalus¡¯ legacy I knew that they¡¯d been part of the Demon Lord¡¯s army who¡¯d rebelled and switched sides, and had been welcomed into the labyrinth after the war. As the holder of Daedalus¡¯s notebook, they all acknowledged me as their master, and I chose a dozen of the most competent to assist me directly. Along with the ability to shapechange into any humanoid form, the Doppels could read people¡¯s minds to a limited extent. This allowed them to access a lot of the memories and personality traits of the person they mimicked, albeit imperfectly. But they didn¡¯t have to copy a real person, they could become anyone, real or imaginary. At first, they¡¯d assumed the forms of my friends, but I quickly put the kibosh on that. So they dug into my mind and took the forms of people they found in my memory with strong personal attachments, friends and family back on Earth. I put a stop to that too, and fast, for obvious reasons. Then they tried shaping themselves after real people I had a different sort of attachment to, but as amusing as it was for a while it also seemed wrong to have a gaggle of Hollywood actors hanging around gossiping about how the lamias were getting belligerent with the centaurs for not cleaning up their droppings again, so then they stopped shapeshifting into real people and started probing deeper into my subconscious, searching for the perfect form to take, a form made just for me. Fantasy people. We stuck with that. I relied on the Doppelgangers to manage the affairs of the dungeon, and they turned out to be quite good company with a huge assortment of skills. One of them proved to be an accomplished cook and I ate very well, as long as I remembered to never ask what exactly it was that I was eating. I¡¯m pretty sure a lot of it was Flesh Golem ¡ª the Doppels didn¡¯t tell me what they did with all the bodies and I chose not to ask about that either ¡ª I just told myself it was chicken or tofu and enjoyed the spicy exotic seasonings my new chef preferred. As they settled into their new forms, they developed more individual personalities and even got their own names, which System invited me to give them. It¡¯s going to come up later, so I¡¯ll just put it out there now: Doppelgangers were hermaphroditic by nature, or maybe gender fluid would be more accurate, but all of the ones I selected as my core assistants eventually adopted female personas. Given that this happened after they probed my mind for the form that I¡¯d be most comfortable with, you can make your own assumptions about what that says about me. There were a number of times when I stopped and looked at all the beautiful Doppelganger women around me and I felt like Harry Mudd surrounded by his harem of androids. It was discomfiting to say the least, but you can also make your own assumptions about what it says about me that I didn¡¯t do anything to change the arrangement. A few weeks passed this way. At first I''d visit the labyrinth in the day, then return back to the dojo at night. Then I started spending my nights at the dungeon and visit town in the mornings to exercise with Sigrid and catch up on gossip. Then, it was every other morning. Then I stopped leaving the labyrinth altogether, retreating into my own little world like a hikikomori. I told myself it was fine. I didn''t need anything else, nor anyone else. And they certainly didn''t need me. It was fine, I told myself. I''d grown a lot since coming to Crucible, but clearly my ability to lie to myself was still as strong as ever. Chapter Seventy-Five - An abrupt awakening One morning I was asleep in the luxurious bed formerly occupied by the Gorgon when I found myself getting shaken awake. ¡°Get up,¡± said an angry voice. ¡°Get up, get up, get up.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, I¡¯m awake.¡± I squinted up at the person looming over me. ¡°Who is that? Why do you look like that?¡± I said to the Doppelganger who looked like Sigrid. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the way I look?¡± they said with a scowl. ¡°Wait, what?¡± I blinked the grogginess out of my eyes and took another look. She was wearing Sigrid''s usual exercise clothes, blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. ¡°What¡¯s with skipping out on morning training, huh? I haven¡¯t seen you in days.¡± ¡°Sigrid?¡± It could be the real her. I did give everyone on Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table free access to the dungeon. ¡°Yes it¡¯s me, dummy.¡± She shoved me over and flopped down on the bed beside me. ¡°I know you¡¯re upset that you¡¯re not getting any quests, but you¡¯re still not allowed to lock yourself away in here.¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡ª¡± ¡°I gave you time and space but enough is enough.¡± She stretched beside me like a cat in the sun. ¡°Although I do sort of get it because this bed is nice!¡± She writhed on her back, then rolled onto her side to face me, throwing one arm over my chest and snuggling against my side. "Make yourself comfy," I mumbled. She hooked a leg around mine. ¡°It might be worth adding benefits to our friendship just so I can sleep here.¡± ¡°Speaking of, how are things with Andy?¡± She groaned and rolled onto her back again. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t think it would be so hard to find a guy who¡¯s happy with just sex. Why do I get all the needy ones?¡± ¡°Situationships are tough. I can¡¯t really speak to how great you are in the sheets, but maybe you wouldn¡¯t have this problem if you weren¡¯t also so amazing to be around outside of bed too.¡± ¡°Dummy.¡± She reached across herself and thumped me in the stomach with her fist. ¡°If I¡¯m so amazing to be with, why do I have to come looking for you to make sure you¡¯re still alive?¡± I grabbed her fist. ¡°I''m sorry.¡± I felt her fingers unclench in my hand. ¡°Better be.¡± Her fingers stretched out and entwined with mine. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to be partners, remember?¡± ¡°How¡¯d you find me in the labyrinth, anyway?¡± ¡°Oh, an extremely attractive woman named Alice helped me. I assume it was a Doppelganger?¡± ¡°Ah. She is quite efficient.¡± Alice was the name I''d given to the Doppel I¡¯d placed in charge of things, the same one who''d copied Chika. She¡¯d become a very capable assistant and I¡¯d come to rely on her quite a bit. ¡°We ran into quite a few more gorgeous women on the way here, more Doppelgangers, no doubt. You got a thing for surrounding yourself with hotties, Daniel? Is that why you don¡¯t need me anymore?¡± ¡°No comment.¡± We lay there for a while, side by side, holding hands, until Sigrid abruptly let go and elbowed me. ¡°Right,¡± she said, ¡°get dressed. You¡¯re coming back to the city with me.¡± ¡°I am?¡± I slithered to the edge of the bed and got out. ¡°Yup. Sifu wants to see you.¡± ¡°He does?¡± ¡°And Morgan will be there,¡± Sigrid said with a big grin. ¡°So?¡± She laughed. ¡°Please. Don¡¯t even.¡± I went to the chest and pulled out my adventuring clothes. ¡°Nuh uh,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Wear something else. As punishment for ignoring me for so long we are not teleporting, we¡¯re running.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said. I peeled off the t-shirt I¡¯d slept in and Sigrid whistled. ¡°Nice to see you¡¯ve still been keeping up with your exercising. It shows.¡± I pulled on a clean shirt and turned to look at her. She was still lying on the bed, watching me. ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. She crawled across the bed toward me, then reached out with one hand to lift the front of my shirt and rubbed my tummy with the other. ¡°Hard to believe this is the same string bean who was once so terrified to talk to me,¡± she said, licking her lips. ¡°Oh I¡¯m still that guy,¡± I said, smacking her hands away. Sigrid¡¯s efforts to get me into shape had borne some fruit, but nobody would be washing clothes on my abs any time soon. ¡°Just a bit more buff, maybe.¡± ¡°A bit. Now hurry up, you don¡¯t want to keep Morgan waiting.¡± ¡°You mean Sifu.¡± ¡°I know what I mean.¡± The run to the city was invigorating. Barely a few weeks ago I could never have dreamed of such a thing, but now I¡¯d trained my Player body to the point where I could easily keep up with Sigrid¡¯s pace and enjoy the exercise instead of simply enduring it wishing it was over. Not that long ago I would¡¯ve said that my dungeon in Olympus Mountain was way too far away from the city to run between them, but it was only the adjacent hex. It was nothing, really. It¡¯s funny how perspective can change. Of course, I owed most of it to the Player body itself. It was much more...pliable...than the one I was born in. It''s true I had worked hard, but the same amount of effort back on Earth would not have borne the same results as it did here; it would''ve taken me a lot longer to get into this kind of shape back home. Honestly, if given the choice, I don''t know if I would have chosen to go back to Earth in my old body. When we''d been copied into these bodies, we''d been copied exactly. Flaws and all. Bad eyesight remained bad eyesight. Allergies, scars, cavities in our teeth, crappy cardio, chronic depression, we retained them all. At first I''d thought it was a minor miracle that nobody who''d been brought here had come with any more serious medical conditions, but when I''d asked System about it, I was told that it would not have been fair to bring Players who relied upon life saving medical support that was unavailable on Crucible. In my ample alone time, I''d started chatting with System a lot. System was surprisingly generous with information if asked directly, although there were still a lot of things I couldn''t get answers to. For example, when I asked why their illnesses couldn''t have been cured during the process of putting them into a brand new body, I was told that it was against the rules to alter a person''s fundamental composition. I couldn''t help but notice that System hadn''t said whether or not it was possible, just that it wasn''t allowed. It made me wonder about how effective Nina''s healing powers would be on a normal human. What if she used them on, say, someone with cancer? I didn''t have much time to ponder things while running with Sigrid. She barely stopped talking the whole time, regaling me with stories about how everyone was doing. It made me realize how much I missed her, and it occurred to me that she may have been missing me just as much. I had a sharp pang of regret for hiding myself away. I didn''t quite understand the deep connection that had grown between us but there was no denying she''d become someone very important to me, perhaps even the best friend I''d always secretly wished I''d had. Sifu was indeed waiting for me when we reached the dojo, as was Morgan. Sifu hardly registered any emotion, but Morgan could barely contain herself. As soon as she saw me and Sigrid at the door to Sifu¡¯s apothecary she ran over and grabbed my hand, dragging me into the room. ¡°What¡¯s got you so giddy?¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve got a present for you,¡± Morgan said in a singsong voice. ¡°Come, come.¡± On the work table in front of Sifu there was a single vial containing a clear liquid. A potion. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± I said. "Don''t evaluate it yet!" Sigrid said, jumping between me and the table. "Let Morgan explain it first." "Oh? Well okay." I turned to Morgan, who was practically bouncing with excitement. It was adorable. I couldn''t help but smile. "Hit me," I said. ¡°Okay, so,¡± Morgan said, ¡°it all started with that Jackalope venom sac you got. Apparently those are, like, super rare drop items from super rare monsters. The fact that you found and defeated one on the first day is, well, it¡¯s crazy. And you got the venom. So lucky.¡± ¡°Wow. I had no idea.¡± My thoughts flashed back to that first encounter and the gory mess I''d left clumsily hidden under some leaves and brush on the forest floor. I suppose I had been pretty lucky in the end. ¡°But it wasn¡¯t until you brought back the second one that Sifu got the idea to make this. Which was crazy. I mean, this potion is impossibly hard to make because the ingredients are so rare. Sifu wasn''t even sure it was actually real.¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting the picture.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°So yeah. One Jackalope venom sac is hard enough to come by, but you found two, which is what this particular potion needed. First you distill the venom and add it to an emulsification of pureed Doppelganger¡¯s brain in honey¡ª¡± ¡°Honey? Why honey?¡± ¡°Cuts the bitter taste of the brain,¡± Sifu said, speaking for the first time since we arrived. ¡°Forget I asked,¡± I said. I¡¯d grown too attached to my Doppel companions at the dungeon to think too much about the bitterness of their pureed brains. ¡°¡ªand you¡¯ve got the foundation of a very cool potion,¡± Morgan continued through my interruption, too busy nerding out on alchemy to slow down. ¡°There are a few more ingredients, various herbs and stuff, but the end result is...can you guess?¡± ¡°Well...¡± ¡°Think about it. Jackalope venom and Doppelganger brain. What do those monsters have in common?¡± ¡°Um, they¡ª¡± ¡°Mimic!¡± she said, not waiting for me to answer. ¡°This potion lets you mimic a power.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I reached for the vial, then stopped and looked at Sifu. He nodded, so I took it and held it up to the light. It was completely transparent, not even a hint of brain to be seen. Thank god. "That is amazing." ¡°Wait for it, it gets better. Normally the effects of the potion wear off after a day, but we also added extracts from the Chimera¡¯s heart and the Gorgon¡¯s eye.¡± ¡°What does that do?¡± I said. ¡°Get this: it makes it permanent,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Drink the potion then copy a power, any power, and because of the extra ingredients you have that power permanently.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°That''s incredible.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Morgan said, ¡°but it was mostly Sifu. I did level up my own Alchemy power a bunch through helping him, though.¡± ¡°Impressive,¡± I said, finally using All Shall Be Revealed on it before putting the vial back down onto the table.
Potion of Power (Enhanced) An incredibly rare potion that grants the drinker the ability to copy a Power, this one has been enhanced to make the copy permanent.
Powers: Mimic - Copy any Player¡¯s power you can see being used
¡°So?¡± Morgan said, looking at me with big brown eyes. ¡°So what?¡± I said. ¡°So, what power are you going to copy?¡± ¡°What, you mean...?¡± ¡°Yes, dumdum,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°this is for you.¡± ¡°Me? Why me? Shouldn¡¯t we give it to Jane or Arthur or someone more important? They could use it to¡ª¡± ¡°Dang,¡± Morgan said, ¡°I owe Jane a gold piece.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°She told me you¡¯d say something stupid like that and I said no way so we made a bet. Which I just lost, thank you very much.¡± Sigrid laughed. "I hadn''t heard about that. Serves you right for taking that bet, Morgan." Sigrid''s arm closed around my neck and she pulled me down into a headlock, her free hand ruffling my hair. "Guess you don''t know this guy well enough yet." Morgan rolled her eyes in response. ¡°So it¡¯s really mine?¡± I said, wriggling out of Sigrid''s grip. Morgan nodded. "And don''t even try to give it away. We made this for you, Daniel." Sigrid laughed again. "Okay, maybe you do know him pretty well after all." ¡°Wow, I don''t know what to say," I said. "Thank you is traditional,¡± Sigrid said. "Of course," I said. "Thank you." Morgan beamed at me. ¡°So what power are you gonna get? There are so many to choose from, I don¡¯t blame you if you have a hard time deciding.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said, picking up the vial again. ¡°I know exactly what to do with this.¡± I unstoppered the potion. ¡°You¡¯re gonna drink it now?¡± Morgan said. ¡°You know what new power you want already?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I want the mimic power.¡± And I drank the potion. I glanced privately at my Status and saw a new power in the list. Powers: Mimic - Special (Temporary): Copy any Player¡¯s power you can see being used ¡°But...¡± Morgan looked confused. ¡°Trust me,¡± I said to her with a smile. Then I said, ¡°System, activate Synthesis.¡± Combining all my combat skills together into omni-do had helped me rank my Synthesis power up to Adept, and along with being able to combine more things together at once I also developed an innate sense of what can happen when certain things are combined. When I looked at the potion, I could feel the potential for something very special, something that shouldn¡¯t be possible but -- thanks to my unique combination of abilities -- just might be. I had talked with System enough that I believed I understood how the rules worked, even if I didn''t know what they were. I was betting that this was such a bizarre confluence of abilities that nobody had considered the possibility of anyone being able to attempt doing what I was about to do. And if they hadn''t considered it, then also wouldn''t have created a rule to forbid it. From my understanding, things here worked on the principle that everything which is not forbidden is allowed. I was also betting that I was right, and I was betting a lot. System: Synthesis ready. Select ability to modify ¡°Select Mimic.¡± System: Select abilities to combine with Mimic ¡°Daniel,¡± Morgan said, ¡°what are you doing?¡± ¡°Shhh,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Let the man work.¡± ¡°Select All Shall Be Revealed and Eidetic Memory, so I can copy any power I¡¯ve seen used before. Add Jack Of All Trades, because my intuition tells me that will expand the things I¡¯ll be able to copy. Then add Good At Everything, which I think should let me copy more than one at a time.¡± System: Add another ability? ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Wait, yes! Add Murder Hobo, because you never know.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding,¡± Morgan said. System: Synthesis of Mimic with All Shall Be Revealed, Eidetic Memory, Jack Of All Trades, Good At Everything, and Murder Hobo will result in a new power; select name for new synthesized power ¡°Huh. A name. Oh, I know. Call it Versatility For The Win.¡± System: Synthesizing Versatility For The Win ¡°Let¡¯s hope this works,¡± I muttered under my breath, but apparently still loud enough for others to hear. ¡°What happens if it doesn¡¯t?¡± Morgan said, looking worried. Should I tell her that all that work to collect materials and create the potion would be wasted? Probably not. ¡°I''m sure it will,¡± I said, trying to sound convincing. Morgan looked at me, then at Sigrid. Sigrid nodded, then Morgan looked back at me and nodded too, and I knew she''d just made the conscious choice to trust me. System: Synthesis mana requirements exceed Player¡¯s mana capacity ¡°Uh oh,¡± Sigrid said. System: Supplementing from I Can Keep Going And Going ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Morgan said. ¡°A mana battery,¡± I said. Morgan¡¯s eyes widened and her jaw literally dropped. ¡°Is that a new power? Where the heck did you get that?¡± Morgan said. Sigrid put her hand on Morgan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Whatever you do, do not ask to see his Status. It¡¯ll just make you cry.¡± System: Synthesis successful System: You have a new power: Versatility For The Win ¡°It worked!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°So what does it mean?¡± My knees suddenly buckled and only by lurching for the edge of the table and grabbing it was I able to keep myself from collapsing on the floor. Even with my mana battery, the synthesis of so many abilities together at once had completely zapped me of all strength. ¡°Just give me a sec,¡± I said, leaning heavily on the table. ¡°Oh crap!¡± Sigrid said, and put her arm around me for support. ¡°Food,¡± I croaked. Morgan reached into her inventory and pulled out a sandwich. ¡°I was saving this for later, but...¡± I took the sandwich and scarfed it down, feeling some energy begin to flow back into me. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. Morgan watched wistfully as I gobbled down the last bites of her sandwich, then smacked her forehead with her palm. The dark oval of her own inventory appeared and she reached in to withdraw a potion. "I should''ve just given you a mana potion. I''ve made a bunch with the mana crytals we picked up in the labyrinth." "Whoops," I said. "Sorry." Morgan waved her hand dismissively. "It''s fine," she said, "but now you owe me lunch." ¡°He owes you a lot more,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But for starters he¡¯ll take you out for a really nice dinner.¡± ¡°He will?¡± Morgan said, curling a lock of her hair around her finger. ¡°I will?¡± Sigrid winked at Morgan and Morgan¡¯s face flushed. ¡°Anyway,¡± Morgan said, ¡°what about the new power, does it do what you wanted?¡± I checked my Status. The temporary Mimic power had been replaced with the new one. I shared its description. Powers: Versatility For The Win - Novice: Copy any seen power; powers copied [0/1] ¡°Holy bonkers,¡± Morgan said. ¡°You really made the actual mimic power itself permanent.¡± ¡°And improved it, too,¡± I croaked. "Who would''ve thought that would even be possible?" "Nobody, which is why there are no rules against it. If there was, System would not have allowed it." "That is so OP," Morgan said, shaking her head. Sigrid put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Are you strong enough to try it out yet?¡± ¡°Probably not." "I can¡¯t wait," Morgan said, handing me the mana potion. "Here, drink this." I chugged the potion and felt its strength flow into me. "Thanks. So what should I copy first?¡± ¡°I have an idea,¡± Sigrid said. The look of surprise on Jane¡¯s face a few moments later when I used her own power to blink out into the courtyard where she was practicing with her rapier was worth a thousand words. Then her look when I gave her a single gold coin and told her it was from Morgan with the message ¡°Congratulations on winning the bet¡± was worth a million. I only wished I could¡¯ve seen the look after I blinked away before she could say anything. ¡°What did she say?¡± Morgan said when I appeared back in the apothecary. ¡°I didn¡¯t give her a chance to,¡± I said. ¡°Aw.¡± ¡°I needed to get back here right away.¡± ¡°What for?¡± Morgan said. ¡°For this,¡± I said, and I grabbed her in a big hug. ¡°Morgan, thank you so so much. This is amazing.¡± She tensed up at first, then relaxed and hugged me back. ¡°My pleasure.¡± ¡°Ugh, gross. Save it for after dinner tonight,¡± Sigrid groaned, but she was smiling. I let go of Morgan then turned to Sifu. He held up a hand, palm out. ¡°An embrace is not necessary,¡± he said. Chapter Seventy-Six - His Doppelganger what now? The rest of the day at the dojo was a bit of a blur. Sifu expressed his disappointment that I had missed so many kung fu training sessions so the subtext was clear: I had better not miss the next one. I learned that Chika had made good on her promise and had also been training at other dojos, but without Jack Of All Trades her learning curve was much steeper than mine. She¡¯d only managed to add Competent proficiency in the Rat Clan¡¯s muay thai and the Monkey Clan¡¯s judo so far, which was still impressive and a testament to her natural martial arts ability. She really was determined to get skilled enough to be able to learn omni-do. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her that I¡¯d added a whole lot more techniques to it since she last saw it, so many that it was pretty much impossible for anyone else to ever get the base skills to learn omni-do, but I had an idea about how to work around that. My friends were keen to tell me about all I¡¯d missed in the past few days, especially their quests and other adventures. Their team quests were finally starting to allow unaffiliated Players to participate; that this had happened after I formed my own team, disqualifying me from these expanded quests too, surely wasn¡¯t a coincidence. But it did mean that they could now officially do quests with the members of the Round Table. I could immediately notice the change in the group dynamic, they all seemed a lot closer with one another than before. That only made me feel more distant from them. I tried not to let it show, but I caught Sigrid staring at me several times with a worried look. Still, I was glad that everyone else was able to work together, at least. The rewards were getting better, too. Nearly everyone now had a significant magic item and a decent stash of gold, and I hadn¡¯t been the only one to pick up new powers, either. In addition to abilities occasionally gained through quest rewards and observer generosity, several in the group had suddenly gained a new Power when evolving a Skill to Expert level. Because they¡¯d mostly been fighting, the skills they¡¯d advanced had been combat-based, and the new Powers they gained were specialized fighting techniques that solidified and amplified the way they''d been using their abilities. It was as though System was acknowledging their individuality, customizing their build to fit their personal styles. Kenji Hachiman Powers: Are You An Assassin? - Competent: Increased damage from surprise attacks; requires Ninjutsu (Expert) Katherine Walker (Kay) Powers: Nowhere To Hide - Competent: Shoot arrows around obstacles; requires Archery (Expert) Arthur Crenshaw Powers: Sword Slash That Breaks The Wind - Competent: Make a ranged sword attack; requires Sword (Expert) It was great to see people getting so strong. Shame all those special moves only unlocked once you reached Expert mastery in a skill, though. Beyond my meager reach. I tried using my new power to copy Arthur¡¯s Sword Slash after he demonstrated it for me by slicing a target dummy in half from over twenty feet away, but my Sword skill was only Competent so it didn¡¯t work. That was also disappointing, but I was in no position to complain. Versatility For The Win was still an incredible ability. With it I was able to surreptitiously copy the regular powers people had, the ones without mastery restrictions, and each time I did my Synthesize intuition gave me the sense that my new mimicking power opened the door to a whole new world of power cheats. I was dying to test some out, but the combination of synthesizing Versatility For The Win and Sifu working me extra-hard in training had left me feeling pretty zapped, and people wouldn¡¯t leave me alone for a second. In addition to wanting to tell me what they¡¯d been up to, they all wanted to know about the labyrinth. Apparently, I was the talk of the town. The appearance of the global notification that a dungeon had been solved and was now controlled by a heretofore unknown team, and the addition that mysterious new Team Player at the top of the team rankings, had created quite the buzz among all the Players. It was an unexpected twist. Enough people had stumbled upon dungeons by now that everyone knew they were out there, like how Wayne and Bruce had found the Death Dungeon, but up to now everyone who¡¯d found a dungeon had been overwhelmed by its difficulty, like how Wayne and Bruce had barely managed to escape from the Death Dungeon alive. Which, as Stratos had told me, was how it was supposed to be. Nobody knew what controlling a dungeon actually meant, but it sounded good and they wanted it. Eventually news had seeped out ¡ª probably thanks to Kiki ¡ª that the mysterious Team Player was just one person. Now everyone wanted to know who I was, and more importantly, how the hell had I solved the Light Dungeon? Out of nowhere, Sigrid approached me as I was heading to the bath after the kung fu training session. ¡°What are you wearing tonight?¡± she said. ¡°Uh, what?¡± ¡°To dinner. What¡¯re you planning to wear?¡± Sigrid had wasted no time taking it upon herself to arrange dinner for me and Morgan that very night. I''d had zero say in the matter. ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s just dinner.¡± She crossed her forearms in front of herself in a big X. ¡°Aaaahhhn. Wrong. I figured this was the case. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m on it.¡± Then she left as quickly as she came, striding away like a woman on a mission. A few hours later, I was laughing with Lancelot, Galahad, Arthur, and Kay about the Gorgon-made stone statue of Lancelot that now held a place of honor in the courtyard. The remnants of her serpent hair had been removed, and the statue¡¯s extended hand now held a bouquet of flowers, replaced each morning by Shannon when she tended the garden. It reminded me that I had a present for them. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a chest. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Arthur said. ¡°It¡¯s yours,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s the Chimera¡¯s treasure. I¡¯m not surprised you missed it, it was buried under a ton of rubble. I fetched it out before letting the Chimera respawn.¡± They tried to get me to open it for them, but I refused. I could¡¯ve picked the lock in no time, but then my Murder Hobo power would¡¯ve affected what was inside, and I wanted to see the difference it made. It would mean less treasure for them, but this was an experiment I wanted to make so I promised myself to make it up to them later. You know, in the name of science. The results were significant. When I¡¯d opened the Gorgon¡¯s chest there were three powerful items inside, but when Arthur zapped this chest open with a lightning bolt ¡ª less finesse than lockpicking, but quicker and just as effective, provided you didn¡¯t mind cleaning up the mess ¡ª there was only one item and some gold. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Trojan Bow The bow used by the Trojan Prince Paris to kill the (not quite) immortal Greek Hero Achilles.
Powers: Show Me Your Heel - Greatly improves accuracy at long range Who Needs A Sword? - The bow has an extremely sharp edge and can be used as a potent melee weapon with the Archery skill You Can Run, But - Doubles effective range
¡°Well I think we know who gets this one,¡± Kay said with covetous eyes before clutching the bow then cradling it to her body, stroking along its limbs. ¡°My precioussss...¡± She was just about to test it on a practice target when Sigrid came and grabbed my arm, forcibly leading me away. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, ¡°I gotta borrow him.¡± When we got into my room, Sigrid let go of my arm and went over to the bed where a trim black suit was neatly laid out. ¡°Okay, get dressed,¡± she said, picking up the pants and handing them to me. ¡°I want to see how this looks.¡± I was starting to get flashbacks to my high school days and the makeover phase of the early days after those girls befriended me. I have the fashion sense of a stale cracker, so any time I¡¯ve looked good in my life it¡¯s because someone else chose my clothes for me. Sigrid watched as I started undressing. ¡°Hurry up,¡± she said, fidgeting. ¡°Aren''t you gonna turn around or something?¡± I said. She looked at me with blank eyes. "No." "This is sexual harassment." "I can see how you might think that," she said, "but my interest is purely academic. I didn''t get a good look at you this morning, and I want to see the fruits of all my labor getting you into shape." "Whatever." Once I''d finished putting on the suit, she looked at me and clasped her hands in front of her. ¡°Nice,¡± she said. She came over and fussed with the jacket, straightening it on my shoulders. ¡°Where¡¯d this come from?¡± I said. ¡°Custom job,¡± she said. ¡°The clan has some good tailors, it fits perfectly.¡± The suit was nehru-styled like my armored adventuring coat, but shorter and pure black, worn over a white shirt barely visible at the collar and cuffs, and matching slim black pants. The thin white line of a neatly folded handkerchief peeked out of the slit of the pocket on my chest. ¡°How do I look?¡± She took a moment before answering. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be ashamed to be seen with you.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s some high praise.¡± ¡°Shush you, let me fix your hair.¡± ¡°Quit fussing,¡± I said, slapping her hands away. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal, I¡¯m just paying her back for stealing her sandwich.¡± She ignored my protests and fiddled with my hair. ¡°Shush.¡± A short while later I was in the courtyard waiting for Morgan. ¡°Why do I feel like I¡¯m waiting to pick up my prom date?¡± I said to Sigrid, who was waiting with me. You know those movies where the nerdy girl takes off her glasses and wears her hair down and suddenly the plain duck¡¯s turned into a swan? Yeah. Don¡¯t get me wrong, Morgan was always pretty, but when she came out of her room with Nina, that charming girl-next-door had been replaced with an elegant beauty. She wore a red dress hemmed just above the knee, with a slit up one side to her hip, and which hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, with her face framed by a lock of hair falling down on either side. I could see why she got a lot of tips as a bartender. ¡°Glad I made a fuss now?¡± Sigrid whispered. ¡°Shush,¡± I replied. Nina led her over to us beaming like a proud parent. I got the impression that she had done for Morgan what Sigrid had done for me, although the results of her makeover were a thousand times better than mine. Still, it made me feel better that Morgan needed the same kind of help; it made her just a little bit more approachable. Sigrid elbowed me out of my daze and cleared her throat. ¡°Say something, dummy,¡± she whispered. ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said. ¡°You look good, Morgan.¡± ¡°Oh my god,¡± Sigrid muttered to herself, but I was close enough to overhear. ¡°Good? That¡¯s the word he picks? Good?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sound so surprised,¡± Morgan said. ¡°No, I mean,¡± I began, but then I saw the sly little smile dancing on her face. ¡°Why is everyone teasing me all the time?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re adorable when you get all flustered,¡± Nina said. ¡°Now go on, you two. You need to get a move on if you¡¯re going to get back for the campfire tonight.¡± ¡°Campfire?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯d know about these things if you weren¡¯t always off playing house with your Doppelganger harem,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°His Doppelganger what now?¡± Morgan said. I shot what I hoped to be a death glare at Sigrid, but I must¡¯ve failed because she only laughed and pushed us toward the gate to the street. ¡°Get going, he¡¯ll explain on the way.¡± I could hear Sigrid and Nina still laughing as Morgan and I walked together. It took me nearly the entire way to tell the whole story of the Doppels, and by the time we reached the restaurant Morgan was laughing too. It was a small restaurant, intimate you¡¯d call it, not overly fancy but still one of the nicer places in the city. Sigrid had made us a reservation and they were expecting us. I was surprised to discover the server who greeted us and led us to a table wasn¡¯t an NPC, she was a Player.
Lianna Drake Unaffiliated
Affinity: Life - Novice
Gifts: I Get It - Quick learner It¡¯s Fine ¨C Things work out
Powers: Don''t Mess With Me - Competent: Cause fear Rock On, Tommy ¨C Novice: Second affinity with Earth You Don¡¯t Scare Me - Competent: Resistance to fear and intimidation
Skills: Appraisal - Novice Eidetic Memory - Competent Finance - Novice Organization - Competent
What a crazy set of abilities. It was hard to figure out what kind of class or profession she was supposed to represent. And zero obvious combat effectiveness. I guessed that¡¯s why nobody wanted her on their team. Still, there was something there... I remembered her from the convention, not so much because she was attractive, although she definitely was, but more because of what I¡¯d seen her do. She¡¯d been working at a buy and sell merch table. I¡¯d pointed her out to Stratos when I saw her agree to buy a guy¡¯s entire card collection. The guy had told her that someone else had offered him a thousand bucks for his cards and he¡¯d sell them to her if she could offer more. I¡¯d caught a glimpse of a few of his cards as she flipped through them in the binder, and hidden among them were cards easily worth twice that, and those were only the ones I¡¯d managed to see. She could have walked away with a sweet deal by offering him only a bit more than one thousand dollars, but instead she told him he¡¯d be getting completely ripped off if he sold them to anyone for less than double that. She explained what his whole collection was worth and his eyes goggled, but then she said that if she paid him full value she wouldn¡¯t be able to turn a profit when she resold them, so two grand was as much as she could offer. He sold her the cards without hesitation. Not only did she know her stuff, but she also handled herself honestly and ethically, not taking advantage of a poor shmuck who clearly hadn¡¯t done his homework. The best deals are when everyone''s a winner. I¡¯d been impressed, and I remember casually saying as much to Stratos. A sudden knot formed in my belly, twisting my stomach uncomfortably. Now, because of that off-handed remark I''d made to Stratos, here she was on Crucible working as a waitress. It wasn¡¯t until she cleared her throat that I realized I¡¯d been openly staring at her for some time. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± she growled, scowling at me. Chapter Seventy-Seven - Dinner date Lianna¡¯s gaze bore into me, her hackles obviously having been raised. She must have seen me staring at her and got the wrong idea. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be staring at your lovely date instead?¡± she said, each letter of each word annunciated clearly. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s just that...you¡¯re a Player.¡± Her expression softened, but only a little. ¡°Ah,¡± she said, ¡±you¡¯re one of those.¡± ¡°Those?¡± ¡°Who can see Statuses.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a Player?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I''m curious, what¡¯re you doing here?¡± "I got summoned here, just like the rest of you." "No," Morgan said. "I mean..." ¡°You mean why am I a waitress? My aunt owns a restaurant back home so I¡¯ve got experience. I¡¯m not on any team, and as your boyfriend here can tell you I¡¯m not exactly a combat powerhouse so most of the individual quests I can¡¯t even do. A girl¡¯s gotta make a living somehow.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not her¡ª¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s not my¡ª¡± Morgan said at the same time. ¡°Ah,¡± Lianna said, her wariness replaced by amusement. ¡°First date, huh?¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a date,¡± I said. ¡°It isn¡¯t?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Uh oh,¡± Lianna said, smirking at me as she placed some menus on the table in front of us. ¡°I¡¯m just gonna leave these here while you dig yourself out of that one, Player.¡± Morgan stared at me from across the table, then after Lianna glided away she burst out laughing. "Burn." I looked around at the other patrons. There were a few NPCs, but most were Players. Interestingly, many of the staff were also Players like Lianna. ¡°Did you know people were getting real jobs here?¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s news to me,¡± Morgan said. ¡°But I don¡¯t get out that much. I had heard about some who opened side hustles and took on odd jobs for NPCs, like doing hair and stuff, so I guess it makes sense. If you really can¡¯t compete in the quests, like she said you¡¯ve gotta earn a living somehow." "That does make sense." "As a bartender myself I respect the customer service profession, so kudos to her.¡± I watched Lianna bring drinks to another table. ¡°It¡¯s true she doesn¡¯t have any combat abilities, and it¡¯s hard to tell how useful her abilities are, but her gifts are intriguing and she does have two affinities, and one of them is the rarest.¡± ¡°Which is that? Or should you not be telling me someone else''s abilities?¡± ¡°I shouldn''t. But hers is Life.¡± Morgan nodded knowingly. She¡¯d been in more than enough battles here to know that having Nina and her healing, protection, and buff powers on hand made all the difference in the world. Otherwise you had to rely on potions or minor medical skills, or put yourself at the mercy of the extorionate pricks at the Cathedral. One of the first things that excited me about the new power Morgan had been so instrumental in me getting was the ability to mimic Nina''s powers. I had started with Life affinity too, but like Lianna, I hadn''t been given any of the valuable Life-related support powers along with it. Then Morgan quirked an eyebrow at me. ¡°You¡¯ve got an odd look right now. What¡¯re you thinking?¡± ¡°I was just wondering if there¡¯s a way to give her healing powers.¡± She seemed disappointed. ¡°Ah.¡± When I¡¯d wandered the city alone, it had given me the opportunity to see what other Players were up to. I found they could be divided into two groups. The first Player type were the adventurers. The ones who worked hard to get stronger, always looking for ways to gain experience, improve their abilities, and earn loot. I¡¯d lump me and my friends into this group -- everyone on a team, really -- but there was also many unaffiliated who still played the game this way. The other group were the ones who for whatever reason seemed to have given up. Maybe they hadn¡¯t been chosen for teams. Maybe their powers and skills were too weak. Or their social skills weren¡¯t good enough. Maybe they were homesick, or overwhelmed, or scared. Maybe they just didn¡¯t know what to do. A lot of these ones ended up frequenting the pubs and getting drunk a lot. It didn¡¯t occur to me until meeting Lianna at the restaurant that there was a sub-group to the second one, you could probably call them a third group entirely: the ones who made the best of the situation. Players like Liana who for whatever reason weren¡¯t able to play the game as adventurers, but didn¡¯t give up. They found other ways to live. I had to respect that, but it still didn''t seem right. I kept coming back to wondering what this game was really about. There was something about the way this was all set up that gnawed at me. It seemed flawed, encouraging just a few to become strong while the rest...what were the rest supposed to do? Beyond adventuring, career options for transplanted Players were limited. Everything about it was set up as a competitive game, pitting individuals and small teams against each other, letting a few rise to the top. It was not cooperative, not designed to help everyone grow stronger. But what if it was? There were so many Players, what if there was a way to game the game so that everyone could get strong and play to win? Or at least have a way to be secure enough to choose how they wanted to play it. What if... ¡°Hey,¡± Morgan said. She reached across the table to put her hand under my chin and turned my head, pulling my gaze from Lianna back to her. Only then did I realize I¡¯d still been unconsciously tracking our waitress¡¯ movements with my eyes. ¡°I know she¡¯s very pretty and all, but didn¡¯t anyone ever tell you it¡¯s rude to check out other girls, Player?¡± There was a playful emphasis on the last word. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°It just...I think I have an idea.¡± ¡°About the healing? ¡°No. Something bigger.¡± ¡°Thinking of a master plan?¡± ¡°Sort of. I think I might have a better solution for people like her, but I need to run it by Chow Li to see if it can fly.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°You¡¯re always up to something, aren¡¯t you?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Not always.¡± I picked up my menu. ¡°Right now, all I am up to is enjoying this dinner with you.¡± Morgan picked up hers too. ¡°Finally you said something right, Player.¡± In the brief time I was deciding what to order, I missed seeing another couple enter the restaurant. I subconsciously registered Lianna showing people to the table behind me, but it wasn¡¯t until I heard the woman speak that I realized who it was. ¡°Gosh, this is a nice place, eh?¡± Kiki said. Her unknown companion offered a deep noncommittal grunt in response. ¡°Oh no, not again,¡± I said. Morgan glanced up from her menu. ¡°Problem?¡± ¡°I hope not.¡± I watched Morgan look around, and her eyes widened when she saw something over my shoulder. Her mouth curled in a mischievous smile, then she said in a much louder voice than necessary, ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t that your stalker, Daniel?¡± Then from behind me, I heard Kiki say, ¡°Huh? Daniel? Where?¡± I groaned and buried my face in the menu. Morgan reached across the table and tugged the top of the menu down. She leaned in, then said in a much quieter voice, one that only I could hear, ¡°Don¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°Hide.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t¡ª¡± She quirked her eyebrow again and I couldn¡¯t finish the sentence. ¡°Yeah, I totally was.¡± ¡°You totally were. But why?¡± ¡°You did hear the story of what happened the first night here, right?¡± Morgan sighed. ¡°Are you the same person you were back then?¡± I chewed my lip. Morgan grinned at me, then straightened up. ¡°It is!¡± she said in her loud voice. ¡°It¡¯s Kiki, right?¡± I mouthed the words ¡®what are you doing?¡¯ to Morgan but she ignored me, stood up, and sauntered behind me to their table, hips swaying under her tight dress. I looked over my shoulder. Kiki was there with a guy. Not just any guy, either, it was Troy, the leader of Team Invictus. It¡¯s great that Kiki was taking my advice and making friends, but why''d it have to be him? Kiki was wearing a very snug-fitting bustier top that barely contained her assets and had her bleach-blonde hair in pigtails. Fake lashes. Bright lips.Total gyaru mode. Even I had to admit she was cute. But the look on her face was somewhere between horror and embarrassment as she sat looking up at Morgan, who stood next to their table in her clingy red dress smiling down at them like an empress. The confidence she exuded was beyond my comprehension. Morgan extended her hand. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Morgan. We haven¡¯t properly met yet, but I¡¯ve heard all about you, Kiki.¡± Kiki didn¡¯t budge, but I recognized the flicker in her eyes as she used All Shall Be Revealed on Morgan. I couldn¡¯t tell you what she thought about Morgan¡¯s abilities, or her lack of any team affiliation, but Kiki¡¯s look of horrified embarrassment didn¡¯t change, not until her companion checked out Morgan too. Only he didn¡¯t bother with All Shall Be Revealed, instead he did a long, slow, old-school gawk at Morgan, checking her out from ankles to ears, with a bit of a lingering gaze whenever his eyes hit some of her feminine curvy bits. Then Kiki¡¯s expression moved a notch or two more toward the horror side. Morgan completely ignored Troy, treating him like he wasn¡¯t even there. ¡°Listen, I know you¡¯ve got some issue with Daniel here,¡± Morgan said, then she gestured over at me and Kiki¡¯s eyes followed. I waved at her awkwardly. She bit her lip and scowled at me. Morgan didn¡¯t miss a beat. ¡°But I was hoping maybe you could put it aside, at least for tonight.¡± ¡°I, uh...¡± Kiki stumbled. Morgan leaned down conspiratorily toward Kiki, but her voice remained clear and loud enough for the nearby tables to hear. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you showing up here right now is a coincidence, Kiki, but this is my first date with Daniel and I¡¯d really appreciate it if you¡¯d save any drama you might be planning for another time. Kay?¡± Not waiting for a response, Morgan stood up straight, ran her hands down her sides and over her hips to smooth out some non-existent wrinkles in her dress, earning a look from Troy that made me inexplicably angry, then sashayed back to our table and sat down across from me again. She picked up her menu and started humming as she peered at its contents. Behind me, I heard Kiki and Troy muttering back and forth, and while I couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying exactly, I could tell by their tones ¡ª hers frantic and his bored ¡ª that something was going on. Then I heard the grinding of chair legs on the floor and hurried footsteps moving away from me. My back may have been to their table but I had a great view out the window, and a few moments later I watched as Kiki dragged Troy by the hand away from the restaurant. She glanced over once and her face blanched as our eyes met before she gave him a hard tug and led him swiftly away out of sight. ¡°Why¡¯d you do that?¡± I said. ¡°Now she¡¯s really gonna want to kill me.¡± Morgan snorted from behind her menu. ¡°Trust me. That chick definitely wants to do things to you, but I think she''d much rather you be alive for it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think she knew I was going to be here.¡± ¡°Oh she totally didn¡¯t. It was a complete coincidence.¡± ¡°Then why did you say...¡± Morgan glanced at me over the top of her menu, eyes twinkling. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry your pretty little head over it.¡± ¡°I have no idea what¡¯s going on.¡± She disappeared behind the menu again with a sigh. ¡°They were right. So dense.¡± A minute later, when Lianna came back to take our orders, she cocked her head behind me toward the table recently vacated by the other couple. ¡°Ordinarily, I¡¯d be a bit pissed that you guys cost me the tips from those guys, but it was pretty entertaining to watch. Ex-girlfriend?¡± Morgan¡¯s look was pure innocence. ¡°Nah. She¡¯s tried to kill my friend here a few times is all. Just wanted to nip a potentially bad situation in the bud.¡± ¡°She did actually succeed in killing me once, or her lackey did anyway,¡± I said. Lianna laughed. ¡°Now there¡¯s something I never heard at my auntie¡¯s restaurant back home. Sorry, it totally looked like something else.¡± Morgan and Lianna locked eyes for a moment and I just knew they were having one of those silent conversations only women can have with one another, then Lianna looked down with the hint of a smile. ¡°Got it.¡± She flipped from casual to professional in an instant. ¡°Are you ready? Can I take your orders?¡± Before I knew it, dinner was over. The conversation had been fluid and engaging, the food delicious, and the service impeccable. Sigrid had briefed me earlier that I was going to pay. She''d told me that Morgan would insist on splitting the bill because that''s the kind of woman she was, but that I would insist that I wanted to do it, and that I should play the stolen sandwich card if she put up a fuss. It had played out exactly as Sigrid has predicted. The tip I left for Lianna was generous, but Morgan added even more, informing me that in these situations it was common practice for one person to cover the bill and the other the tip. Who knew? Dusk was just settling as we strolled back to the dojo together, delicate shades of pink and orange sprayed across the horizon and one waxing moon high in the sky. ¡°Daniel,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Do you want to go home?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that where we¡¯re going?¡± I said. ¡°I mean back to Earth.¡± ¡°Oh. Do you?¡± ¡°Honestly?¡± Morgan thought for a moment, then sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I know I¡¯m supposed to, but...¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°Have you ever felt like you don¡¯t belong? Like the life you¡¯re living is someone else¡¯s and you¡¯re just along for the ride?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say that I have,¡± she said. ¡°I can count on two hands how many times in my life I¡¯ve been completely happy. When I¡¯ve felt a hundred percent comfortable in my own skin. The rest of the time, it¡¯s like there¡¯s an itch I just can¡¯t scratch.¡± Morgan curled her finger in the lock of hair hanging down beside her face. ¡°What about now?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing. Lately I''ve finally started feeling like me.¡± "That, at least, is great to hear." "It''s a new feeling. I''m still getting used to it." "What about your family? Friends? Don''t you miss them?¡± I sighed. ¡°To tell you the truth I¡¯ve never been all that close with my family. Not seeing them for a few months is pretty normal. I love them and all, and I know they love me, but they don¡¯t really get me. I wish I could at least send them a message to let them know I''m okay, but honestly I think they''d probably be happy I finally a found my footing, you know?" "I think I do." "As for friends,¡± I glanced sideways at her, ¡°I really like the ones I¡¯ve got here.¡± ¡°They like you too,¡± she said, nudging me in the arm with her shoulder. ¡°What about you? You¡¯ve got people here and back on Earth.¡± Morgan gave some thought to her answer. ¡°I think I do want to go home eventually,¡± she said, glancing over at me, ¡°but I¡¯m not in any particular rush.¡° Chapter Seventy-Eight - Around the bonfire I guess I really had been away from the dojo a lot. I had no idea that they¡¯d started having bonfires at night. When Morgan and I arrived home, we heard them before we saw them. Jane and Sam''s voices rising over the falling night, wafting onto the street like a siren''s song. It literally stopped me in my tracks. "Wow," I said. ¡°They¡¯re pretty good, huh?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I¡¯ll say.¡± When we entered the courtyard, we found some sitting in a circle around a small bonfire, others milling about chatting while Jane played guitar accompanied by Sam doing impromptu percussion on the wooden box he sat on. It was like high school all over again. Before I made friends with those girls back then, I had no idea that a lot of the kids used to get together for bush parties on the weekend, gathering out in the woods with a bonfire, music, and underage drinking. The first time they took me I was blown away. The scene Morgan and I walked into brought back a flood of memories, including my first time being drunk and, not coincidentally, my first time throwing up in the bushes. Sigrid was the first to notice us, the moment we stepped through the gate. She must¡¯ve been watching for our return. ¡°They¡¯re back!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± shouted Galahad, jumping up and pumping his fists. ¡°Drinks! Drinks! Drinks!¡± Morgan laughed. ¡°Yeah, yeah, just gimme a second.¡± She turned to me and grabbed the sleeve of my jacket. ¡°Thanks for dinner, Daniel. It was really great.¡± ¡°I enjoyed it too,¡± I said. I was acutely aware of many sets of eyes on us. ¡°So, uh...¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°Me too.¡± She flashed me a warm smile, then let go of my sleeve and reached back to undo the bun in her hair and tie it up in a more relaxed, playful ponytail. In an instant the sweet, elegant woman Jeckyl I¡¯d been out with transformed into a raucous, party girl Hyde. ¡°Alright nerds,¡± Morgan said, ¡°who said you could start without me?¡± She sauntered into the fray, then pulled out her Alchemy forge and set up a bar beside Byron¡¯s Artifice forge, which had already cranked out an array of glasses in various sizes and shapes, ready to be filled with as many sundry beverages. She was a bartender, after all. A line formed in front of her forge. It wasn''t that they hadn''t had drinks before, it''s just that when Morgan put her Mixology skill and Alchemy power to good use, she could whip up anything you could want, alcoholic or non. Someone threw some fresh logs on the glowing coals and a roaring bonfire blazed up. The slower song Jane and Sam were playing had ended, and they started into a more upbeat number to match the mood. I caught Sigrid¡¯s eye and she patted the bench beside her, so I joined her. ¡°So?¡± she said. ¡°Thank you,¡± was all I said. She eyed me appraisingly, then smiled. ¡°Good.¡± I looked around. The group¡¯s energy had been cranked up a few notches when we joined. Everywhere I looked, people were laughing, talking, and enjoying the comeraderie of close friends. ¡°Who knew all it took was Morgan to make this a real party,¡± I said. ¡°Dummy,¡± Sigrid said, nudging me with her shoulder. ¡°This is for you.¡± ¡°Me? Why?¡± She leaned against me and rested her head on my shoulder. ¡°Because we missed you, dumdum.¡± Chika came over and handed me a glass of something red. ¡°Here. Morgan said to give you this.¡± I thanked her, then she grunted and stomped away. I looked over at the bar and saw Morgan watching me. She winked, and I raised the glass to her and took a sip. It was as I expected: a bloody caesar, nice and spicy, just the way I like it. Apparently she had been paying attention when we¡¯d played the ¡°what¡¯s your favorite¡± game at dinner. To think, using an Alchemy forge to make clamato juice. Criminally delicious. The song ended. ¡°Jane, you have such a nice voice,¡± Kay said. ¡°Were you in a band back home?¡± Jane shook her head. ¡°Nah.¡± Sigrid laughed. ¡°What she isn¡¯t telling you, Kay, is that she has been in several, just never as a permanent member.¡± ¡°True story,¡± Jane said, tuning her guitar. ¡°And what she would never tell you, but that I happened to discover completely by accident¨C¡± Jane¡¯s head snapped over, metaphorical daggers shooting from her eyes. ¡°What¡¯s this now?¡± Sigrid laughed some more. ¡°Is that our girl Jane here had a hush hush secret gig at a bar in one of the swankier hotels in Yorkville.¡± ¡°How do you...?¡± Jane said. ¡°I was meeting someone for a drink. We were supposed to meet in the hotel bar, but when I got there I found my friend waiting outside. The bar was too packed to get in. They were all there for the lounge singer, this sexy devil with an angel¡¯s voice crooning out sultry bossa nova covers and jazz classics.¡± Jane¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you knew about that and never told me.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe you never told me!¡± Sigrid snapped back, but then her voice softened. ¡°Also, I could tell you didn¡¯t want anyone to know. I mean, it was pretty obvious from the mask you wore and the name on the billing ¡ª Every Sunday Night: The Anonymous Singer ¨C and from the fact that you never told me, that you clearly didn¡¯t want anyone to know.¡± ¡°Whoah whoah, back up a second,¡± Bruce said. ¡°A mask? Like Batman?¡± ¡°As awesome as that would be, it wasn¡¯t really a mask,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°More of a black lacy veil attached to a little hat that she wore over a platinum blonde wig in this cute little bob cut. All you could see was the bottom part of her face framed by this sharp angle of silver-white hair and the brrrrright red lipstick. She couldn''t hide from me, though, I''d know that vixen anywhere.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bright,¡± Jane said, looking down as she kept pretending to fiddle with the already-tuned guitar. ¡°It went with the shimmering sequins on her oh-so-short little black dress, and the black tights, and the black heels, and¡ª¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Oh please god tell me she wore the gloves too,¡± Andy said. ¡°Yes. Black gloves that went up past her elbow.¡± ¡°Sounds like you were like a real live Jessica Rabbit on the stage, Jane,¡± Nina said. ¡°Only you hid that gorgeous red hair of yours.¡± "I''d pay to see that," Lancelot said. That was a mental image to click save on if ever there was one. ¡°Laugh all you want,¡± Jane said, although nobody was laughing. ¡°But it was just one night a week and I made a killing on tips. And...¡± Jane¡¯s voice trailed off and she looked down at her feet. We were all staring at Jane. I think it was the first time any of us saw her not finish a sentence. The uncharacteristic meekness was jarring. Sigrid stepped in. ¡°And?¡± she prompted gently. ¡°And,¡± Jane continued reluctantly, ¡°it got me a part on a TV show.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how you landed that?¡± Sigrid said, looking shocked, but not as shocked as the rest of us. Not that I was surprised. If Jane wanted a job in show business, it was only a matter of how soon she¡¯d get it. ¡°Really? Which show?¡± Sam said. ¡°You haven¡¯t heard of it,¡± Jane said. ¡°It was just some stupid new reality series.¡± ¡°Has it aired yet? What''s it called? What¡¯s it about?¡± Nina said. ¡°I only just landed the role a week before we all...and now I¡¯m here.¡± She plucked five notes on her guitar. Shave and a hair cut. "Can I tell them?" Sigrid said. Jane smirked. "Why not? You''ve told them everything else." "It was a talent show," Sigrid said. "You mean like Canadian Idol or something?" Nina said. "A singing contest?" "Sort of. It involved singing, dancing, acting, even directing and choreography. It was called The Total Package." "Sounds about right," I blurted out without thinking, sparking a few chuckles around the group. Then Jane called out to me, her usual perkiness back at full force. ¡°Hey Danny boy, welcome back stranger. Been a while. Are you gonna sing with me or what?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Sing for us, Daniel.¡± ¡°Play Freebird!¡± Bruce hollered. ¡°I think we¡¯d all rather just listen to Jane and Sam,¡± I said. ¡°I think we¡¯d all rather you stop assuming what we want,¡± Jane said. ¡°Come on, Daniel,¡± Morgan shouted from the bar. ¡°Sing for us.¡± We made eye contact and she nodded encouragingly. ¡°Fiiiiine,¡± I said. ¡°Wahoo!¡± Jane said, passing the guitar to Sam and scooching over on her narrow seat to make some room before patting the space beside her invitingly, copying Sigrid. Sigrid clutched my arm and shook her head. "No. Mine." "Hey now, Siggy, don''t be greedy," Jane said. "Unless you plan on singing with us too..." Sigrid grunted and let go of my arm. "I hate that you know me so well, evil vixen. Off you go then," she said, nudging me away. I got up and went over to join Jane. There was barely any room on the seat so in order to sit there without touching Jane I ended up with one cheek hanging off the edge. Jane glanced down at how I was sitting, then she grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. "Come on, I don''t bite." I felt the unsettling sensation of her hips rubbing against mine as she wriggled a bit and settled in next to me. Now we weren''t just touching, she was pressed against my side as tightly as Sigrid had been moments before. ¡°What song?" Jane said. "We need a good duet.¡± ¡°Anything but that one from Grease,¡± Chika said, and beside her Kenji shuddered and nodded his agreement. ¡°Our parents sing that to each other every anniversary,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s so cringe.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one that I want,¡± Sam sang. A bunch of us joined in with: ¡°Ooh ooh ooh, honey.¡± ¡°Stooooooop!¡± Chika shrieked, covering her ears. ¡°What about the Elton John one?¡± Nina said. ¡°Don¡¯t Go Breaking My Heart?¡± Jane said. ¡°Yeah. Who¡¯d he sing that with again?¡± ¡°Kiki Dee,¡± Wayne said without missing a beat. ¡°Nope. Can¡¯t do it,¡± I said. ¡°The fact that she was named Kiki earns it an automatic veto.¡± ¡°Ah, Kiki. When shall you ambush us next?¡± Jane said. ¡°That chick is, like, obsessed with you,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Another one?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Who¡¯s this Kiki, anyway?¡± ¡°Daniel¡¯s stalker,¡± Jane said, rubbing her shoulder on my arm. ¡°She¡¯s not¡ª¡± I said. ¡°Oh right,¡± Arthur said. ¡°That girl with the big...¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one,¡± Byron said, earning him a glare from his wife. ¡°Did you notice her whole crew is all men?¡± Kay said, making no effort to hide her distaste. ¡°I know, right? With all that fresh meat around her, why is she after this guy?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°She¡¯s not after me, she is literally out to kill me,¡± I said. ¡°And we don¡¯t like her because...?¡± Morgan said, which everyone but me found hilarious. ¡°Actually, we saw her earlier tonight. She was out with some rugged hunk straight off the cover of a josei romance manga.¡± ¡°Yeah? How¡¯d that go?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°He totally checked me out,¡± Morgan said, running her hands down her sides the way she¡¯d done in front of Troy in the restaurant. Then she told everyone the story. ¡°That¡¯s my big sister,¡± Arthur said in a tone that suggested resignation more than anything. ¡°Sounds like an eventful date,¡± Jane said, turning her head to look at me. An awkward moment of silence followed. ¡°All the more reason to sing!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But what song?¡± ¡°I know,¡± Sam said. ¡°And no vetoes.¡± Then he played a riff on the guitar. Doo doo doo doodle-oo doo. Jane didn¡¯t miss a beat, joining him with snapping fingers. "Aw yeah," she said. "Under Pressure." "Wait, isn''t that Ice Ice Baby?" Chika said. "Yeah, our parents like that one too," Kenji said. Sam groaned. "Sounds like you''re due for some more music history education, Chika," he said, and then it was Chika''s turn to groan. "What''s the point if I can''t even listen to the music you''re talking about?" the teenager moaned. Jane poked me in the arm. "So? You good with this one?" ¡°Okay," I said, "but I call dibs on Bowie¡¯s lines." ¡°You sure?¡± Jane said. ¡°Freddy¡¯s got the bigger part.¡± ¡°Exactly. Besides, I do not have that range.¡± ¡°Coward,¡± Jane said. ¡°Fine.¡± I can¡¯t tell you if we were any good, but people seemed to enjoy it. They snapped their fingers at appropriate times, at least. Even jumped in for a few let me outs. Jane was able to do the very difficult vocal parts without breaking a sweat. ¡°Where¡¯d you get that guitar anyway?¡± I said. ¡°Reward Tokens,¡± Jane said. ¡°There¡¯s all sorts of comfort items from back home there now.¡± "Oh? I haven''t really used it for anything but potions." I immediately opened my Reward Shop and started scrolling. ¡°Oh shit, I should¡¯ve known better than to mention the G-A-M-E to this guy,¡± Jane said with a patented eyeroll, earning a few chuckles. Okay, that was fair, but I earned just as many chuckles and she changed her tune when the harmonica I bought appeared in my hand and I closed the store. I¡¯d always wanted to play the harmonica but never learned. Time to test the Music skill. I played a blues riff that ended with a nice smooth bend. Nice. After that, we started taking requests. Now, I¡¯ve always hated those people who monopolize parties with their music. You know the ones. There¡¯s always someone who¡¯ll stop all conversation by whipping out a guitar and starting to sing. And no, it¡¯s not because I was jealous. Okay, maybe a bit. But sitting there in a big circle around a warm fire surrounded by people I genuinely liked and who seemed for some inexplicable reason to genuinely like me too, playing real music, following Jane and Sam¡¯s lead when needed and having them seamlessly follow me when it was my turn to lead, earning applause, well, let¡¯s just say that this was one of those rare times when I did not feel like I was just along for the ride. I didn¡¯t even mind that there were so many people looking at me, in fact, I barely noticed. I was, for that brief time at least, happy. Completely present and caught up in the moment. Was this how normal people felt? That would explain a lot. But I still hated people who monopolized the conversation, so after a few songs when Bruce bellowed out ¡°play Freebird!¡± again, I took that as my cue to put down the harmonica and graciously step out of the spotlight before I overstayed my welcome. I stood up, still feeling Jane''s residual warmth in my side. So this was what it was like to feel content. It almost felt like if I looked up I''d see the lights of the Goodyear blimp saying Daniel''s a pimp. This had been a good day. I didn''t want to do anything that would risk ruining it. But you know, sometimes things happen completely out of our control, and there''s not a dang thing we can do about it. Chapter Seventy-Nine - Exactly like ninjas The fresh logs had burned down to a modest fire again, and Jane passed Sam her guitar again. He began strumming and singing along with it quietly, providing a warm background glow of sound to match that of the fire¡¯s flickering light. I made my way to the bar, where Morgan had gone back to slinging drinks. ¡°Thanks for the caesar earlier, it was perfect.¡± ¡°Another one?¡± she said. ¡°Nah, think I¡¯ll switch to beer.¡± ¡°Boo,¡± she said, ¡°boring. How about a cannabeer?¡± ¡°You can make that?¡± She didn¡¯t even dignify that with any kind of response, just fiddled with her Alchemy forge for a few seconds and pulled out a frothy mug. It was even cold. ¡°Cheers.¡± I pulled out a gold coin and set it on her forge. ¡°Oh, big tipper,¡± she said. ¡°Usually I gotta show a lot more cleavage to get that.¡± ¡°You¡¯d need a lot more boobage to manage that,¡± Arthur said from behind me. Morgan stuck her tongue out at her brother. ¡°I¡¯ve got quite enough, thank you very much.¡± ¡°What do you think, Daniel?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Oh no, no way,¡± I said. ¡°I''m dumb, but not dumb enough to fall for that.¡± I made a quick escape to the sound of the siblings¡¯ laughter. The evening continued with more songs, more conversation, and more drinks. Morgan''s cannabeer was tasty, and it wasn''t long before the combined effect of the alcohol and THC had me feeling exceedingly relaxed and a lot less anxious than usual. I made the rounds, making sure to chat at least once with everyone there. It was something I''d never do normally, but basking in the combined glow of a good day and Morgan''s drinks, I was able to pull it off. Eventually, I found a seat and remained mostly quiet, happily passing the time watching and listening, as well as secretly copying various powers using my new Versatility For The Win. I¡¯d seen everyone around me use their powers before so I had access to all of them for copying purposes. After a while, I got a System message that the power had evolved, and I was now able to copy two powers at a time. At first I¡¯d get the copied powers at Novice level regardless of what level the original owner of the power had, but after leveling up Versatility For The Win to Competent, copied powers came at Competent too. It wasn¡¯t the appropriate place to actually use most of them, but I had a lot of fun copying two of Sam¡¯s powers and summoning an owl, then flying over the city and seeing an actual bird¡¯s eye view of it. I had to stop when Sigrid nudged me and told me I was zoning out. Damn. That really was some good cannabeer. Eventually, people began to trickle away to their rooms until there were only a few of us left. Jane, Sam, and I had picked up our musical trio again while Sigrid and Morgan watched the embers glow. ¡°Well,¡± Morgan said, standing up abruptly, ¡°I¡¯m done.¡± ¡°Off to bed?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yep. This was a good day.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Night, Daniel,¡± Morgan said, tousling my hair as she left to go to her room. ¡°Night, Morgan,¡± I said. After she¡¯d left, I felt Sigrid smack me on the back of my head. ¡°Hey!¡± I said, rubbing my head. ¡°What was that for?¡± ¡°For being so dense,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°I give up. I can only do so much.¡± Across from us, Jane smirked and Sam laughed. ¡°That¡¯s it, I¡¯m done too. G¡¯night all.¡± Sigrid playfully smacked my head once more, then went to her room. Only Sam, Jane, and I were left around the fire. ¡°One more song?¡± Sam said. ¡°I¡¯ll treat you guys to one more,¡± Jane said. ¡°This one always got the anonymous singer a ton of tips.¡± Then she launched into a steamy rendition of Ella Fitzgerald¡¯s Someone To Watch Over Me. She barely strummed the guitar as she sang, just a few chords. It was all the power of her voice. I don¡¯t know if I even dared to breathe during the whole song. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Dinner with Morgan had been special. She was a very sweet woman with a playful side that was deeply alluring. But sitting there listening to Jane I was reminded of the responsibility I¡¯d taken upon myself when I first got to know her. Jane was the hero here, of that there was absolutely no doubt in my stoned out mind, and I was going to do everything I could to support her through to the very end. The final note of that last song was still resonating when the intruders appeared like ninjas in front of us. Exactly like ninjas. Everyone else had gone to bed so we¡¯d kept our music quiet, but they were quieter. We hadn''t heard them. We hadn¡¯t seen them either. The final embers from the fire cast barely any light, but even if it had been a roaring blaze it wouldn''t have mattered, they were good at not being seen. Plus, we were hardly ready for it. It was late. We¡¯d been drinking. And inside the Dragon Clan dojo was the last place we¡¯d ever expect an intrusion. Excuses aside, we were totally surprised. They appeared suddenly. No, suddenly isn''t the right word. They appeared instantly; one moment they weren¡¯t there, the next moment they were, as though materializing out of nowhere. The way Kenji did, exactly like ninjas. There were three of them, all wearing light chainmail made of tiny silvery rings under cloaks that seemed to blend in with the surroundings. Their hoods were pulled up over their heads, balaclavas masking their faces. They were tall and lithe, and all had a pair of long knives in sheaths strapped to the outsides of their thighs. Sam, Jane, and I had been sitting together on one side of the dying embers of the fire, and they appeared on the other side. All three of us leapt to our feet and two large tigers arose from the ground at Sam¡¯s command. The two intruders on either side reached for their knives but the one in the middle put their hands in front of them, a silent command to stand down. ¡°We don¡¯t mean you any harm,¡± the middle one said in a soft female voice. She slowly reached up and threw back her hood, revealing jet black hair, so dark it seemed to have an indigo sheen to it, that was cropped in a short pixie cut. Then she lowered her balaclava, revealing a beautiful oval face, full lips, dark eyes, and flawless mocha skin. The other two did the same. They were men, but their faces could also only be described as beautiful, with the same dark coloration. Jane was the first one to notice they also had pointed ears. ¡°Elves!¡± she said. ¡°Finally!¡± The female elf in the middle nodded. "My apologies for surprising you like this. I knew of no other way." ¡°I thought elves never left the forest anymore,¡± I said. ¡°I was told no elf has set foot in the city in years.¡± The female elf smiled at that. ¡°None that anyone has seen, you mean. At least, none that we did not allow to be seen.¡±
Petal Wildflower Elven Guard Captain
Powers: Flurry Of Blades - Expert Tree Hugger - Adept
Skills: Aikido - Expert Archery - Expert Elvish Dual Knife Fighting - Master First Aid - Adept Herbalism - Competent Stealth - Master
She¡¯s strong for an NPC. Not quite an S-Ranker like Akari, but definitely better than us. I checked the Status of the other two, who were identified as Elven Guards. Their abilites were good; not as good as their Captain''s, but if the three of us were to take them on, I had no doubt they''d probably win. I gestured at the empty seats by the fire. ¡°Please, join us.¡± ¡°Thank you, but we are not here to stay. We have come only to bring you back to the forest at the behest of our Magikist.¡± ¡°Why us?¡± Jane asked. ¡°Not all of you,¡± the elf said, ¡°just you.¡± She was pointing at me. ¡°Huh?¡± I said. ¡°Are you not the one who created this?¡± She reached under her cloak and pulled out one of the lavender flowers I¡¯d made along the wall of thorns last time I¡¯d visited. I was right. Someone had been watching me. ¡°Ye-e-es,¡± I said warily. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Our Magikist believes you may hold the key to ending the shadow Blight that has plagued us for so long.¡± She rose and took a step forward, standing tall and proud and looking me square in the eyes, then bent forward into a deep bow. ¡°Please come and help us,¡± she said. Right on! A quest! ¡°Well this is unexpected,¡± Jane said. ¡°Are you sure we can¡¯t come too?¡± The elf straightened up again and regarded Jane and Sam for a few moments. ¡°I do sense the Green in you.¡± There was another pause as she considered, then she said, ¡°Fine. You may come too.¡± ¡°Awesome! I¡¯m Jane, by the way, and this is Daniel and Sam.¡± The female elf inclined her head. ¡°I am Petal, Captain of the Forest Guards, and my companions are Phlox and Vinca, two of my best soldiers.¡± The Green. The one thing Jane, Sam, and I had in common was affinity with Nature. Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we have discovered the Nature Dungeon. Suddenly, and that is the right word this time, Sigrid burst from her room, her armor only half buckled in haste, shield and spear at the ready. ¡°What¡¯s going on? I got the weirdest sensation from my danger sense.¡± She raced to the fire then skidded to a stop when she saw the scene around it. The two male elves stood, reaching once again for their knives, but the female made them stop again. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said. ¡°We are always a bit skittish when we leave the forest.¡± ¡°Elves?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I know!¡± Jane said. Petal regarded Sigrid then her eyes widened. ¡°That armor!¡± ¡°What about it?¡± Sigrid said. Twice she''d stopped her companions from drawing their blades, but the female elf''s hands now dropped to her sides and in the blink of an eye she was crouched in a fighting posture, a long knife in each hand, and practically oozing with murderous intent. ¡°Where did you get it?!¡± Chapter Eighty - The Shadow Blight We were in a tree. Not up in a tree, inside a tree. The room was round, as was the massive table that dominated the interior, and there was a door, several windows, and a set of stairs spiraling around the circumference of the room leading up to another floor above. The walls were smooth, solid wood, not made from boards or planks but somehow formed inside an enormous, ancient, living tree. It was a species of tree I¡¯d never seen before, one I didn¡¯t think even existed on Earth, but was likely created specifically for the elves on this world. The elves called it a mithril tree, not to be confused with the rare mithril metal the elves also loved so much. The bark on the outside was smooth with a slight silvery tinge, its small but plentiful leaves a bright green. Its wood was almost pure white, so the curved wall of the room we were in almost looked like it had been whitewashed. Like the metal, mithril wood was light but incredibly strong. The trees grew abnormally wide in proportion to their height, and instead of normal buildings, the entire elf village lived inside them. We almost didn''t make it there. Once the elven Guard Captain, Petal, saw Sigrid''s armor and went all feral on us, I had to step in quickly before Sigrid did something that would''ve gotten her killed. I quickly explained that we''d found it in chest in a labyrinth and asked why it was important. The elf had grunted and put away her knives before recovering her composure and apologizing, saying nothing but an enigmatic: "It would be easier to show you." Then she and her companions asked if we would come with them to their village, to which Jane had readily agreed before anyone else could say anything, and that''s how we ended up in a tree. This particular tree was a sort of meeting place. The table was surrounded by a dozen beautifully carved chairs made of white mithril wood, and the floor was inlaid with a floral mosaic of colorful stones. Sconces positioned around the walls lit the place as though it was daytime and I desperately wanted to look inside one to see what made them glow, it had to be some kind of magic. Huge tapestries depicting various scenes in stunning intricacy adorned the walls as well, and the elves were showing us one in particular: a battle scene focused around one female elf wearing glimmering scale armor who floated above the ground on two huge white wings while fighting giant humanoid monsters. ¡°Elda Wildflower defeating the Titans,¡± Petal said. ¡°That armor looks awfully familiar,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Indeed. Although victorious, Elda was slain in the final battle of that great war and her Pegasus Scale Armor was thought lost. It is a legendary treasure of the elves and an heirloom of the Wildflower family.¡± ¡°You, ah, aren¡¯t going to ask for it back, are you?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Actually¡ª¡± Petal said. ¡°You must forgive my granddaughter¡¯s special interest in the armor,¡± came a creaky voice from the doorway. I looked over to see a wizened elf woman being assisted by two young elves who propped her up on either side. Beside us, Petal knelt and bowed her head. ¡°Magikist,¡± Petal said. The Magikist was old. Like, really old. The dark gray skin of her face was cracked with lines. Deep, dark bags puffed under her eyes, and her white hair hung lank and sparse to her hunched shoulders. She did not look at all well. Even with her assistants helping her, every slow step seemed an arduous chore.
Salvia Wildflower Elven Magikist
Powers: Tree Hugger - Master Wisdom Of The Ages - Expert
Skills: Aikido - Competent Archery - Competent Elven Knife Fighting - Adept Herbalism - Master Leadership - Expert Stealth - Competent
¡°Oh do stand up, Petal,¡± the old elf said. ¡°You know how awkward that makes me feel.¡± Petal stood and gestured toward us. ¡°Magikist, this is the human you wanted to see, Daniel, and his companions Jane, Sam, and Sigrid. This is our Magikist, Salvia Wildflower.¡± ¡°Wildflower,¡± I said, looking back at the mural. ¡°That¡¯s Elda Wildflower, which means...¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Petal said, ¡°the Magikist is a direct descendant of the great Hero.¡± ¡°And she¡¯s your grandmother,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°which makes her your ancestor too.¡± ¡°Correct, my full name is Petal Wildflower.¡± ¡°That explains why you¡¯re so interested in the armor,¡± Jane said. Petal said nothing, but we all knew what she was thinking. Sigrid sighed. ¡°I suppose that means this armor is rightfully yours, then. I¡¯ll return it, of course.¡± Petal perked up, but the Magikist said, ¡°No,¡± and Petal deflated again. ¡°That armor is no longer our heirloom. I can tell that it has changed. I feel that it somehow seems to have chosen a new master, which makes it rightfully yours. And since the armor has accepted you as its owner, it also makes you a friend of the elves. I welcome you.¡± ¡°As you say, Magikist,¡± Petal said, through gritted teeth. ¡°I wanna be a friend of the elves,¡± Jane muttered, kicking at a non-existant rock on the floor. The old elf waved her hand, dismissing the topic. She¡¯d managed to amble over to the table. Her assistants helped her get seated. ¡°Come, we are not here to squabble over artifacts, we have much more pressing things to discuss.¡± We all joined her sitting around the table as the two attendant elves served tea in complicated ceremonial motions. In the center of the table stood an ornate vase containing a bouquet of my lavender flowers. ¡°Now then,¡± the Magikist said, pointing at the flowers, ¡°which one of you made these?¡± ¡°Uh, that was me, your Magi...kist...ness?¡± I said. She laughed. ¡°I have never been comfortable with the honorifics, although I do like Magikistness. I may tell people to call me that from now on.¡± ¡°Grandmother!¡± Petal said, a horrified expression on her face. ¡°Take an herbal remedy, Petal. I was joking. Please, just call me Salvia.¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Okay then, Salvia,¡± I said. ¡°I was the one who made those flowers.¡± ¡°When¡¯d you do that?¡± Jane said. Sigrid elbowed her. ¡°Shush.¡± "Does the wall not produce those flowers normally?" I said. ¡°Never," Salvia said. "For many years wall of thorns has surrounded our village, a lifeless barrier separating us from the outside world. All efforts to remove it, as well as the other effects of the Shadow Blight, have failed.¡± ¡°You mean the elves didn¡¯t put up that wall?¡± I said. Salvia frowned and shook her head. She almost looked offended at the suggestion. ¡°We most certainly did not.¡± ¡°Then what is the Shadow Blight and what¡¯s causing it?¡± I said. ¡°It is a curse,¡± Salvia said, ¡°inflicted by the Shadow Demon that took up residence in the Great Swamp.¡± Hello Shadow Dungeon. ¡°It grew slowly at first,¡± Petal said, ¡°in a great ring around the village. Then within days it was as tall as me, and a week later reached its current height.¡± ¡°And it has been like that ever since,¡± Salvia said. "A vile, dead thing." "We''ve tried to get rid of it and cure the Blight, but..." Petal shrugged and gestured around vaguely. "Here we are. And there it remains." Salvia nodded in agreement. "I had almost given up and resigned myself to the way things are, but when Petal brought me one of your flowers and told me a human had made it bloom on the wall, I began to think that perhaps there is hope after all." The Magikist groaned and rose shakily to her feet. Then she lowered her head. "Please. Will you help us?" Quest: Solve the Nature Dungeon in the Eastern Forest Reward: Dungeon control, kinship with the elves How could I possibly say no? Still, it''s not like the elves seemed to have any problem getting past the wall, and it did seem effective at keeping unwanted pests like us Players out. What was the real problem here? "We will do everything we can to help the elves," I said. "Damn straight," Jane agreed. "Hells yeah," Sam added. Sigrid didn''t say anything. I noticed she''d been mostly staring at the two male elf guards posted on either side of the door. Oh Sigrid. She was like a cat in heat. Salvia collapsed into her seat, exhaling deeply. "I am so glad. Thank you." "First, can tell us more about the situation here?" I said. ¡°We used to be a free people,¡± Petal said. ¡°Friendly with the humans, beastfolk, and other races. Openly trading with them all and allied with them against threats like the orcs, demons, and other scourges.¡± Beastfolk. Like Shannon the Pretty Cat Girl gardener. There was bound to be other species as well. The image of a humanoid bunny girl ¡ª another staple of fantasy-themed isekai like this ¡ª sprang unbidden but not unwelcome into my head. Salvia took a sip of her tea and nodded approvingly. ¡°At the same time as the wall appeared, the Blight began affecting the trees on the edge of the swamp, polluting them with its evil. It still spreads, year after year, consuming more and more of our forest.¡± Petal¡¯s fists clenched on the table. ¡°When it happened, some of us started saying we should sever ourselves from the outside world. This grew into a faction that eventually gained enough power in our leadership to create new laws that force us to remain within the wall and keep everyone else out. And now," Petal pounded her fist on the table, "everyone just accepts that¡¯s how it is. Like trained pets.¡± ¡°I have always spoken out against the isolation,¡± Salvia sighed, ¡°but nobody listens now. Most of the elves who opposed cutting ourselves off chose to leave the forest. Many went to live in the beastfolk lands, others scattered even farther. We who remained have become an insular, fearful people, hiding in our village, imprisoned by a combination of the Blight and our own ignorance and xenophobia.¡± ¡°That sucks,¡± Jane said. I had to agree with Jane, although I probably wouldn''t have phrased it that way. I really did feel for the elves. I knew what it was like to feel trapped and alone, although I¡¯m sure my own experience was nothing compared to what these poor elves went through. I know what you¡¯re thinking. None of this was real. I mean, this whole place was only recently made just for us. But even though what the elves told us had never actually happened, it was real to them. That much I could tell. After spending so much time interacting with the Doppels, seeing what they were like at the start as generic monsters then watching the changes when they became named NPCs, I had come to the conclusion that the AIs driving the NPCs around here were so advanced that I considered them fully sentient. So although their history was fabricated, their feelings were as real as mine. In my mind, at least. Honestly, I tried not to think about it too much. I figured that playing the game properly required interacting with the environment and everything in it with a willing suspension of disbelief. Besides, going along with it was way more fun. ¡°Doesn¡¯t your position as Magi-whatever mean anything?¡± Jane said. ¡°The Magikist is not our leader,¡± Petal said. Salvia nodded. ¡°I am more like a shaman or high priestess. Our leaders are chosen annually through the Trial of Merit. For as long as anyone can remember, they have always consulted with the Magikist over any major decision, and more often than not her advice has been followed. I hold the title because I have the strongest connection with the Green, as it has always been.¡± Petal leaned back and sighed. ¡°When grandmother was unable to do anything about the Blight, her influence waned. People doubted her and stopped listening to her counsel. And now...¡± Once more Salvia pointed at the flowers. ¡°Neither I nor our best sages can do nothing to the wall, yet you made these.¡± ¡°So you think I might be able to make the wall go away.¡± I said. She nodded. ¡°I may be wrong.¡± ¡°But what¡¯s the harm in trying, right?¡± ¡°You said something about a shadow monster before?¡± Jane said. ¡°The Shadow Demon, yes,¡± Petal said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t defeating the demon solve the problem?¡± ¡°That has long been our belief,¡± Salvia said, ¡°but its forces are too powerful. We elves live a long time, and we are strong in battle, but there are relatively few of us. Too many of us chose to leave rather than remain trapped inside the wall, and any attempt we made against the demon¡¯s forces only reduced our numbers further.¡± ¡°Our failure to defeat the Shadow Demon was the catalyst that triggered the elves¡¯ self-imposed isolation,¡± Petal said. ¡°Well if we can''t find a way to cure the Blight, maybe we can help you get rid of the demon,¡± Sam said. ¡°It is very strong,¡± Petal said, her voice flat and full of doubt. "And its shadow forces are significant." ¡°So let¡¯s keep that as Plan B,¡± I said. Obviously the Nature and Shadow Dungeons were connected. They sat opposite each other on the affinity wheel, so it kind of made sense. The elves'' exposition seemed to suggest the intended path was to clear the Shadow Dungeon first, then probably find some kind of MacGuffin that''d help clear the Nature Dungeon. That seemed to be the game''s design, but that didn''t mean that''s what we had to do. If we''d followed the game''s design, we''d probably still be lost in the labyrinth. Yet we''d solved that by doing something unexpected. The elves had sought me out because I''d made those flowers on the wall of thorns, which was undoubtedly also something the game designers didn''t expect. That suggested to me that a different path to success had opened, something to do with the flowers. The game was adapting, reacting to our unexpected actions. I may not have been getting the usual quests everyone else was, but it was like the game had created a custom scenario just for me. This was getting even more fun. ¡°How about we go check out the wall and see what we can do?¡± I said. "What, now?" Petal said. ¡°It is quite late,¡± Salvia added. "You did come get us in the night," Sam said. "It is easier to infiltrate the city in the dark," Petal said. "And we knew Daniel was there." "How did you know that? Have you been watching me?" I said. Petal shrugged. "Of course." "Huh. I had no idea." That made her smile. "Of course not." Exactly like ninjas. "You will be our guests for the night, and we can look into what you can do about the wall in the morning when it is light," Salvia said with an air of finality. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t it be something for your people to wake up and find the wall is gone?¡± Jane said. For a non-gamer, she sure had embraced the mindset. That''s our hero for you. ¡°That would be wonderful,¡± Petal said, ¡°but it¡¯s so dark now. Your human eyes don''t see well in the dark.¡± Jane and I exchanged a look. ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she said. Chapter Eighty-One - Defender of the Green I stood before the wall while everyone watched me, their expectant looks making me nervous, even more than usual. We were at the place where the path from the city hit the wall, only this time we were on the inside. The trek through the forest to the wall would have been difficult for the Magikist and we didn''t want to draw too much attention, so there was only me, Jane, Sam, and Sigrid, along with Petal and a few elves who looked on from their guard posts in the treetops. The wall itself looked the same from the inside as it did from outside, a tangled mess of thick, thorny vines rising high over our heads. Jane and I had created several bright globes of light using Affinity Control which illuminated it clearly, and she even used her Glow Worm power to turn herself into a human lantern. The effect was striking; she looked like some kind of divine being. ¡°Jane,¡± I said, ¡°why don¡¯t you give it a try.¡± ¡°Okay, but what do I do?¡± she said. ¡°When I made the flowers, I used Affinity Control with Nature and Life at the same time.¡± ¡°You can do that?¡± ¡°Yes, and I¡¯m wondering if you can too.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± Jane stepped forward and held her hands out toward the wall. She closed her eyes and I could see the muscles tense under her skin as she concentrated. Nothing happened. After a while, she exhaled deeply and lowered her hands. ¡°It¡¯s no good. I can¡¯t fuse two affinities together like that. How do you do it?¡± ¡°Hmmm, it must have something to do with Synthesize after all. I was hoping it didn''t.¡± ¡°Figures,¡± Jane sighed. ¡°One more thing you can do that nobody else can. I assume you already tried using Nature by itself.¡± "Give it a go." She raised her hands again and her face scrunched adorably as she concentrated. A few vines wriggled and began to part, making a small cavity in the wall. "It''s working!" she cried. Behind her, Sigrid and Sam whooped with joy while Petal simply stared, jaw dropped in amazement. "Now stop," I said. As soon as she lowered her hands the vines snapped back into place. "Darn it," she said. "You knew that would happen, didn''t you?" "Did the same thing for me, yup." "At least it''s something," Sigrid said. "What other affinities did you try?" Jane said. "Um..." "Idiot." She took a few steps back and held both hands out in front of herself again. Fire shot from her palms like a flamethrower, hitting the wall and spreading out in a fan. She kept hosing the wall with fire for a bit, then the flames stopped and she lowered her hands. The wall was unchanged, no scorch marks or anything. "Huh," Jane said. "Lemme try something else." She started working her way through affinities, blasting the wall with Ice, trying to make it wither with Death, even using Earth to lift the ground under it, but the wall just stretched and remained whole. Then she tried using Earth to dig away at the ground under it, but found that she couldn''t even remove a speck of dirt from underneath. She put her hands on her hips and stared at the wall. "Hey Daniel, what''s the oppsite of Nature again?" "Shadow." "Right." Once more Jane''s hands went up. When her Shadow force hit the wall, this time it reacted voiently. The vines thickened and the thorns shot from the size of knitting needles to as long as broom handles. "Nope!" she said and immediately stopped. This time, the changes to the wall didn''t go back to normal. "Nuh uh, definitely not doing that again." Sigrid put her arm around Jane and led her away. ¡°You give it a try now, Daniel.¡± I stepped up and used the same combination of Nature and Life affinities I¡¯d used to make the flowers, only this time thinking much bigger. All I got was a much bigger flower. I cast a glance over my shoulder at the onlookers. ¡°Just warming up,¡± I said. That was not gonna work. "What if we all hit it with Nature at the same time?" Sam said. "Worth a try." Sam, Jane, and I gave his idea a go, but all we got was a bigger cavity that closed up again as soon as we stopped. Nope, that wasn¡¯t it either. "It was a good idea, Sam," Sigrid said. I tried different combinations of affinities: Nature and Light, Nature and Fire, Life and Earth, all sorts of combos, but the only thing that had any lasting positive effect was using Life and Nature together, so it had to involve those affinities somehow. But how? How was I going to fix this giant wound to the forest? Hang on, wound? Could it be? ¡°I have an idea,¡± I said. ¡°You can do it, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I know you can.¡± I was glad Sigrid had enough confidence for the both of us, because I didn¡¯t have diddly-squat. Just a dumb idea. May as well try it. My new Versatility For The Win power allowed me to copy any power I¡¯ve seen, so I focused on Nina¡¯s A Spoonful Of Sugar healing power. Daniel Lamont Team Player Powers: A Spoonful Of Sugar (Copied) - Competent All Shall Be Revealed - Adept Synthesize - Adept Versatility For The Win - Competent: Powers copied [1/2] Right. Nina¡¯s healing power required affinity with Life, but what if I tried using it through the Nature affinity instead? I held out my hand. I focused on Nature. I used the power. There were gasps behind me as the vines in front of me moved. But they didn''t just wriggle around a bit like with Nature alone, they literally completely withdrew like they were running away from the space affected by the Affinity Control. The wall was several feet thick, but there was now a hole about the size of a hula hoop running straight through it. I sent a glowglobe through and the path through the forest was clearly visible on the other side. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be,¡± I said. ¡°Oh my God, you did it!¡± Sam said. ¡°I knew you could,¡± Sigrid said with a smugness that made it sound like she was the one who''d made the hole. ¡°Unbelievable,¡± Petal said. ¡°Okay, Mister Show Off. How¡¯d you do it?¡± Jane said. ¡°You can thank Nina for that,¡± I said. ¡°I, er, borrowed her power to heal it, but with Nature.¡± ¡°Clever boy,¡± Jane said. ¡°Just one problem,¡± I said. ¡°If each heal only clears away this much of the wall, it will take me forever to get rid of the whole thing.¡± ¡°What if you put more mana into it?¡± Sigrid said. I shrugged. ¡°Worth a try.¡± I did it again, this time focusing on pushing more mana energy into the heal. It made a little difference, but it was negligible in the grand scheme of things. ¡°There has to be a way to clear more at a time,¡± Sigird said. ¡°Like change it from a single target to an area effect,¡± Sam said. Spoken like a true gamer. ¡°Is there maybe another power you could combine with the healing to make it cover more area?¡± Jane said. ¡°Jane, you¡¯re a genius,¡± I said. ¡°As I keep trying to tell you,¡± she said with a heavy sigh, but she looked extremely happy. ¡°Bless You,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t sneeze.¡± ¡°No, Nina¡¯s other Life power, Bless You. It targets multiple people within range. Here, let me try.¡± I copied the other power into my second slot. ¡°Can you even use Synthesis on a copied power?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Let¡¯s find out. System, activate Synthesis and share the screen.¡± System: Synthesis ready. Select ability to modify ¡°Select A Spoonful Of Sugar.¡± System: Select abilities to combine ¡°So far so good. Select Bless You.¡± System: Add another ability? I thought for a moment, but decided not to push my luck. ¡°No.¡± System: Synthesis of A Spoonful Of Sugar and Bless You will result in a new power; select name for new synthesized power ¡°Holy shit, it¡¯s working,¡± Jane said. ¡°Name? Um, how about Everyone Gets A Heal.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous,¡± Sigrid said. System: Synthesizing Everyone Gets A Heal ¡°Too late now,¡± I said. There was an agonizing pause, then: System: Synthesis successful ¡°Holy shit,¡± Jane said. ¡°It worked!¡± ¡°Not just that,¡± I said. ¡°Take a closer look at my powers.¡± I shared my Status, but only the powers section. Who knew what Jane would say if showed the whole thing. Daniel Lamont Team Player Powers: A Spoonful Of Sugar (Copied) - Competent Bless You (Copied) - Competent Everyone Gets A Heal - Novice Synthesize - Adept Versatility For The Win - Competent; powers copied [2/2] ¡°Are you just making us look at this to show off again?¡± Jane said. And she said something anyway. Protagonist or not, there¡¯s no winning with that woman. ¡°What am I looking for?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I see the new power.¡± ¡°What¡¯s missing from the new power?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t...oh I see it. Oh my god, Daniel, it made a permanent new power out of the copied ones.¡± Everyone Gets A Heal - Novice: Cure wounds and ailments on all selected targets within range; Affinity with Life required ¡°I say again, holy shit,¡± Jane said. ¡°Let me get this straight: you can temporarily copy any powers, then combine them to create a new power you keep forever? Now that is ridiculous.¡± ¡°The possibilities!¡± Sam said. ¡°Focus, people,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°This is all very cool, but...¡± She jerked her head toward Petal, who¡¯d remained silent since I''d started synthesizing, as though the rest of us been talking about a trip we¡¯d all taken together without her and she''d been waiting patiently for the conversation to include her again. ¡°Right. Priorities,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s give this baby a test drive.¡± I used the new power on the wall, and nothing happened. ¡°Is something supposed to happen?¡± I heard Jane mumble from somewhere behind me. Wait for it. I almost said it out loud but didn''t want to give her the satisfaction. Then I augmented Everyone Gets A Heal with Synthesis so I could fuel it by Nature as well as Life, and Jane got her wish. Something happened alright. A crack spread from the middle of the wall, expanding wider as the edges of the fissure withered up and shrank away at an unreal pace. The entire thickness of the wall spread open creating a wide passage straight through it to the other side. System: Checking hidden quest requirements System: Confirming affinity match System: Nature affinity confirmed System: Hidden quest requirements met System: New title granted System: You have gained a title: Defender Of The Green System: You know Stop Staring At My Ears Oh my. This was just like in the Light Dungeon when I became the Great Architect. But we hadn¡¯t solved the Nature Dungeon yet. That meant that earning a title was independent of completing the dungeon. I decided to keep this new development to myself for now, I''d been teased enough today. ¡°I can see the whole path!¡± Petal said, rejoining the discussion as though nothing had happened since I made the first hole. ¡°It worked!¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That opening¡¯s, what, like, twenty times the size of what you made before.¡± ¡°Which means it will only take me one-twentieth of forever to get rid of the entire wall,¡± I said. Sigrid frowned. ¡°Why are you such a Debbie Downer?¡± Jane came and put an arm around me. ¡°She¡¯s right. You can allow yourself a victory once in a while, you know.¡± ¡°You¡¯re both right. This was a success. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°And there he goes apologizing again,¡± Sigrid said, but the frown was gone. ¡°So Canadian.¡± ¡°Maybe it would be enough to just open a gap here on the path,¡± Sam said. ¡°And maybe decorate the rest of it with those flowers so it doesn¡¯t look so dismal and prickly?¡± ¡°I like where you¡¯re going,¡± I said, ¡°and I really don¡¯t want to be a Debbie Downer again, but even if I did manage to clear away the entire wall, that still wouldn¡¯t address the real problem with the elves.¡± ¡°And just what would that be?¡± Petal said, eyes narrowed, body tense. ¡°The isolationist policy,¡± I said. Petal relaxed and nodded. ¡°You have a point. If anything, a change like that in the wall would make them even more afraid of the outside.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not good enough for me, an outsider, to remove the wall. That could even be seen as a threat. It has to be done by one of you.¡± ¡°It has to be done by the Magikist,¡± Jane said. ¡°Exactly,¡± I said. ¡°But how? She doesn¡¯t have Daniel¡¯s powers,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And you don¡¯t have any way to give them to her, do you?¡± Sam said. ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°I just might. But I need to borrow some things first.¡± Chapter Eighty-Two - Isnt It Enchanting In order to try out my idea, we needed to get back to the city. Petal suggested it would be a bad idea if any other elves saw us inside the wall, so we agreed to return to the city that night. We tried to give back the cloaks we¡¯d borrowed to disguise ourselves when we went back to the wall earlier, but she insisted we keep them as gifts. ¡°Before the Blight it was rare to give one of our cloaks to an outsider. Since then it has never happened. Having one is the mark of being a friend of the elves, and if you do not count as friends after what you¡¯ve done, and all you hope to do, then we have no friends at all.¡± ¡°You mean it?¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m a friend of the elves?¡± Petal laughed. ¡°And I am proud to call you one.¡± Elven Cloak of the Green Imbued with the power of the Green by the forest elves, this cloak makes the wearer nearly impossible to detect when hiding among the trees. Powers: One With The Green - Camouflage in natural surroundings We thanked her for the precious gift, but I just needed one more thing. With Petal¡¯s help and permission I located the perfect tree, a young sapling about ten feet tall with a trunk as big around as my forearm. Now ready to leave, it was decided that the best course of action would be to undo the creation of an opening in the wall, at least for now, so after saying goodbye and promising to come back ¡ª and with the assurance that the guards would allow us inside again ¡ª I used Shadow to close up the gap I¡¯d made, and we began the trek back to the city. I was ready to start work on my idea right away, but Sigrid lectured me on the importance of sleep to my health so I was forced to go to bed. I could barely sleep for all the things churning around in my head, but I managed to grab a few hours of rest. The next morning Sigrid had me up early for a run, then there was kung fu training that I could not miss lest I face the wrath of Sifu, but once all that was over I wasted no time knocking on Nina and Byron¡¯s door. ¡°Daniel, what can we do for you?¡± Nina said after answering the door. ¡°I need a favor.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°Anything for you.¡± Byron came to the door behind his wife. ¡°What do you need, buddy?¡± ¡°Can I borrow your Artifice forge?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± he said without a moment¡¯s hesitation, ¡°but it won¡¯t be of any use for you without the Artifice power.¡± I grinned at them. ¡°I was planning on borrowing that too.¡± The rest of the day I spent in the courtyard with Byron. As far as we knew then, there were three different powers that were used for crafting. Byron¡¯s power was called Artifice, but it had two parts: fabrication, which allowed him to fabricate objects from basic raw materials, and enchant, which could enhance items with special abilities. Back on Earth, he had been a computer programmer for one of the big video game developers, and there were a lot of parallels between what he did back then and the mental part of using Artifice. At first he could only fabricate simple items, but now his mastery of the power was up to Adept and he was able to make more complicated objects, even things like simple machines with moving parts inside.The other part of Artifice was used to enhance items. For example, if he made a basic sword, Byron could then use his power to add special abilities to it. The exact ability imprinted into the item depended on two things: the will and intent of the Artificer, and the materials used. Morgan¡¯s Alchemy was another crafting power, primarily used to create potions, as well as to combine raw ingredients to create new materials that could be used to craft items. It was the perfect power for a chemist. She and Sifu had worked together on the mimic potion, using bits of the Jackalope, Chimera, Gorgon, and Doppelganger, and probably no small amount of will, to make it. I was hoping that Byron and I could work together like that on my idea. The last crafting power was the one I had, Synthesis. And we already know what it could do. Along with any crafting power came the Gift of an extra-dimensional inventory, and each of the crafting powers required the use of a corresponding forge, which Byron and Morgan had both been given in their inventory from the start. You may be wondering where my Synthesis forge was, since I wasn¡¯t given one. Because Synthesis was used to combine my own abilities, I was effectively my own forge. The other thing about crafting powers is that they all required affinity with Void. For my plan I''d need a new item fabricated, but I wanted it to be quite intricate and use rare and valuable materials, so Nina was off designing it and collecting the materials with the help of Sigrid and Jane. My hope was that I could combine my crafting powers with Byron¡¯s to imbue one of my own powers into that item, so my first step was to copy Artifice, then use Synthesis to combine it with Synthesis and make a new power capable of doing what I needed. I was worried it wouldn¡¯t work, or worse, would mess up my Synthesis power somehow, so it was with great relief that I read the System notice of the results. System: Synthesis successful The name I¡¯d chosen for the new power was, as Sigrid would say, ridiculous, but it made me happy. Regular Artifice looked like this: Artifice - Novice: Fabricate items and imbue them with special properties; Artifice Forge Required; Affinity with Void required This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. And this was my new, synthesized power: Isn¡¯t It Enchanting - Novice: Fabricate items and imbue them with special properties, including the user¡¯s own abilities; Artifice Forge Required; Affinity with Void required So far, so good. Step two was to quickly improve my mastery of the new power. I¡¯d need to be more than a Novice to accomplish what I had in mind, even with Byron¡¯s help. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve guessed my plan by now: I was going to make a magic item with Everyone Gets A Heal on it that the Magikist could use to cure the Blight. I spent the entire afternoon and most of the evening doing two things: enchanting items to level up my power, and eating to recover mana so I could keep enchanting. Using the Artifice forge consumed a lot of mana, and using my customized power required exponentially more than basic Artifice. Also, with basic Artifice you could use the mana crystals collected from dead monsters to fuel the forge, but my power could not, so I had to use all my own mana. Hence the gluttony. Even with all the gorging, if I didn¡¯t have the mana battery effect of I Can Keep Going And Going, there was no way I could¡¯ve done it. There were so many things that had to come together to make all this possible. I needed that rare mimic potion to start with. I needed the rare Synthesis power I got at random from the gacha wheel to make it a permanent power, something which only happened because I had the unique Murder Hobo gift. I needed the unique Good At Everything gift I had at the start to have multiple affinities to combine. I needed to have Byron¡¯s Artifice to copy and his forge to use. I needed the rare I Can Keep Going And Going mana battery I got from an observer to fuel the forge. The odds against one person amassing all of these are probably incalculable, and I was willing to bet the game designers never even conceived of the possibility that someone could get them and use them this way. If they had, they would¡¯ve made a rule against it. Such unbelievable luck. It couldn¡¯t possibly last. My efforts to level up Isn¡¯t It Enchanting made the crew pretty happy. I used their own items as practice, so everyone walked away with a little extra on their gear. By far the most popular enchantment was adding Wayne¡¯s Affinity Blade power onto a weapon, which I was able to do once I evolved my power to Competent. By the time I was done, everyone on Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table had a weapon they could enhance with their affinity effects. Actually, it didn¡¯t make everyone happy. I¡¯m pretty oblivious most times to how other people are feeling, but even I noticed that Byron, although excited at first, started getting a bit glum as the day wore on. I knew he already felt like his abilities contributed less to the team than other peoples¡¯, and there I was taking his power and doing things with it he couldn¡¯t. He still had to use materials to enchant anything, while I could theoretically copy any power, Synthesize it with other powers, and put it onto an item without having to use any material components. ¡°Wow, this is exhausting,¡± I said sometime in the late afternoon while chowing down on a huge bowl of pasta. ¡°You¡¯re lucky, Byron. I wish I could use mana crystals.¡± ¡°Mmm,¡± he said glumly. ¡°And I can¡¯t wait to see what you¡¯ll be able to do once you evolve Artifice up to Expert or Master. In fact, it would be a great help to everyone if you could work on doing that as quickly as possible.¡± ¡°I know what you¡¯re doing,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re trying to make me feel better.¡± ¡°Is it working?¡± He shrugged. ¡°Kinda, I guess.¡± I scooped up some sauce with a chunk of bread. ¡°My blessing is also my curse, you know. I may be able to do a lot of things, but I¡¯ll never be as good at any of them as other people will be." "Uh huh." "The level most people are at now in their abilities is where I cap out, so when you level it up you¡¯ll be able to do things with Artifice I could only dream of. While I might be good at everything, I¡¯ll never be great at anything. But that¡¯s okay, you know? Everybody¡¯s got their role to play.¡± ¡°I suppose,¡± he said. ¡°Your role just seems so much more important.¡± I snorted spaghetti at that, almost choking on the noodles. ¡°Hardly. Listen, you know how all this is based on various fantasy and isekai stories, right? Well, if this was one of those stories, I wouldn¡¯t be the protagonist. That¡¯s someone else. I am, at best, a handy sidekick. No, not even that. I¡¯m not Batman. I¡¯m not Robin. I¡¯m the utility belt.¡± ¡°Is that really how you see yourself?¡± Byron said. ¡°It is what it is,¡± I said. ¡°And that¡¯s okay. I''m just really happy to be useful.¡± Byron considered me with an expression I couldn''t figure out. ¡°You¡¯re weird, you know that?¡± ¡°Yes. Yes I do.¡± We were just about ready to call it a night when Nina appeared with Sigrid and Jane, all three of them looking very pleased with themselves. ¡°Is it done?¡± I said. ¡°Take a look for yourself,¡± Nina said, then reached into her inventory and pulled out a sheet of paper with a diagram of a long, wooden staff. Notations on the side showed what the different parts of it were made of. The shaft was to be made from the white mithril wood of that sapling we procured from the elven forest, with a delicate filigree of mithril metal like a silver tattoo etched into the wood, running along its entire length. It was based on the floral pattern on the floor of the elven meeting room; it was also stitched into the hem of the elven cloaks, so we¡¯d assumed it was an important design element to the elves, their version of the Greek key motif. The staff¡¯s narrow base would be capped with more mithril, and embedded in its top was a large, polished green mana crystal. More green mana crystal fragments sparkled from the center of each of the mithril flowers running along the shaft. She also pulled all those materials from her inventory as well. ¡°It¡¯s going to be so beautiful,¡± Byron said. ¡°You did a wonderful job, honey.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Nina said, accepting her husband¡¯s praise with a grateful kiss on his cheek. ¡°So, Daniel, is this along the lines of what you had in mind?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a hundred times better than I imagined,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s perfect.¡± Sigrid and Jane both gave Nina a high-five. ¡°See?¡± Jane said. ¡°Told you he¡¯s easy to please.¡± ¡°Thank you so much, Nina,¡± I said, ignoring Jane¡¯s teasing. I was getting pretty good at that. ¡°And thanks to you guys too for finding all the materials. Let¡¯s start fabricating.¡± ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Byron said. ¡°Rest up. You¡¯ve been going non-stop at a crazy pace all day so let me handle this bit, okay?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°you look like total shit, Daniel. Get some sleep, will ya?¡± Byron put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll need you around for the enchanting part, but I can handle the fabrication by myself. That much I can do. Go sleep.¡± ¡°You really are dependable, you know?¡± I said gratefully. ¡°He has his moments,¡± Nina said, hugging him from behind. Chapter Eighty-Three - Return of the Magikist Around seventy-two hours later we were back in the elf village, back in the meeting room inside the tree, back with Petal and the Magikist. Only this time, we came bearing a gift. ¡°This will really work?¡± Salvia said, examining the staff in her hands. ¡°It should,¡± I said. I knew it worked on the wall of thorns, we¡¯d tested it earlier ourselves. The million dollar question was if it would work for her. Jane, Sam, and I had all been able to channel Nature through it to affect the wall, while Sigrid lacked the proper affinity. All the elves I had evaluated had the Tree Hugger power, which in effect gave them all an affinity with Nature, I suspected, and a modicum of affinity control, I hoped. Whether or not it was limited to plant life was fifty-fifty. Probably. But if! If I was right, with her Master level in Tree Hugger Salvia should have been able to clear away much more of the wall than we could with each usage. It hadn¡¯t been tested yet if it could cure the Blight that was affecting the trees near the swamp, but it probably would. That was a lot of ifs and probablies. The three days since I went to bed and Byron started fabricating the staff were spent synthesizing new powers and enchanting it with them. It was touch and go for a while, and it was only Byron¡¯s Adept mastery of Artifice that made us successful in the end. I was pretty proud of the results. Staff of the Magikist Crafted using the finest mithril wood from the Eastern Forest, this staff enables those with a connection to the Green to heal plant life and make it flourish. Powers: Every Tree Gets A Heal - Heal plants; Affinity with Nature required I Draw Upon The Power Of The Green - Absorb mana from the environment and store it; Affinity with Nature required In order to enchant an item with potent powers I had to seriously restrict them somehow, and limiting their use to someone with a specific affinity was the most effective way. It would all come down to these affinity restrictions. NPCs didn¡¯t have affinities. Not that I could see, anyway. The closest I¡¯d seen was that Tree Hugger thing, and I had no way of knowing for sure if that would count as Nature affinity, just a hunch. If I was wrong, it was back to square one. I suppose it might seem like I was being pretty bold when I made the decision to risk things on a hunch like that, but I didn¡¯t see it that way. I didn¡¯t think anybody really expected it to work anyway, and I figured it wasn¡¯t like we¡¯d just up and fail the dungeon forever if it didn¡¯t. We could always clear the Blight ourselves and see how things unfolded along that branch from the story node. And if that didn¡¯t work, it¡¯s not like we couldn¡¯t try something else after that. I was betting that if we ever truly messed up trying to beat a dungeon there¡¯d be something like a built-in respawn for the story in case it was horribly derailed by our bad ideas. Like if we really get off track, we could leave it for a while and it would reset things so we could choose a different path next time. A regression sort of thing. No harm done, we learned something, just try again. And if it did work? Well, we¡¯d learn something even better then. Was it really so bad to hope? Back in the meeting tree, Salvia examined the staff we¡¯d given her. ¡°The wall should be no problem for you to clear away now,¡± I said. "Though it will still take some time to remove all of it." I hadn¡¯t told anybody about how much was riding on nothing but a hunch, and I can still feel the guilt and anxiety that was gnawing away from inside me. ¡°But you also mentioned how the Blight began corrupting the trees close to the swamp at the same time the wall appeared, so the real test will be if it can reverse that.¡± ¡°Then let us go now and give it a try,¡± Salvia said. Excitement and anticipation were written all over her gaunt, withered face. ¡°I shall get your litter ready,¡± Petal said quickly, but the Magikist put up a hand to stop her. ¡°That will draw too much attention,¡± Salvia said. ¡°We elves pride ourselves on our stealth, let us show our new human friends what we can do.¡± We wanted to keep the party small so Sam and I took on the roles of the Magikists¡¯ assistants, and wrapped in elven cloaks and under cover of darkness we helped prop her up on either side as we slowly made our way out of the village and went further East to the affected area near the swamp. It didn¡¯t feel particularly stealthy to me, and I had no clue how going this way would draw any less attention than if we¡¯d carried her in a litter. If I hadn¡¯t known better, I would¡¯ve thought that there was some logic override in the game code that made NPCs ignore you if you were involved in a quest and their storyline didn¡¯t naturally collide, because Sam and I did a terrible job of supporting the Magikist stealthily. Petal was absolutely silent and her cloak seemed to help her vanish among the trees, but I¡¯d say we humans were the exact opposite of stealthy. Honestly it all seemed so ridiculous that Sam and I were always on the verge of laughing at how things had gone since the bonfire. I hadn¡¯t been around elves that long, but I knew darned well there was no possible way those ears of theirs couldn¡¯t pick up a bunch of humans stumbling around in poor disguise. But the story went with it, so I did too. We reached the blighted trees before we hit the wall of thorns. The shift was jarring; first, the forests¡¯ majestic trees loomed full and healthy around us, then all of a sudden we found ourselves surrounded by husks of trees, their leaves stripped, branches gnarled, and bark flaking off. We stopped, then gave Salvia some space. The moment of truth had come. The old Magikist held the staff in a bony hand and faced a blighted tree. Nothing happened. Salvia looked at me, concern etched on her crinkled face. I had no idea what to do. Since this was a day for hunches and instincts, I went with it. ¡°Just relax,¡± I said, ¡°and feel the flow of the Green.¡± She nodded, then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She raised the staff, then opened her eyes again and stared at the tree with laser-focused intent. The green mana crystal at the staff¡¯s head glowed, then the glow spread out to envelop the tree. As we watched, the cracks in the blighted tree¡¯s bark closed and leaves sprouted from the tips of its branches like exploding fireworks. ¡°It works!¡± Petal said. ¡°Oh grandmother, you did it!¡± Salvia raised the staff and turned to a new tree. It also revived as the Blight was eradicated by the staff¡¯s power. One after another, all the surrounding trees were cured. When Salvia turned around Petal gasped. ¡°Grandmother!¡± Salvia seemed surprised by the look of shock on Petal¡¯s face. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± There was an unexpected side effect to healing the Blight. With every tree the old Magikist healed, she herself became stronger. Her hair turned from white to chrome to black, the skin on her face drawing tighter, becoming smoother, younger, and even her posture improved visibly as all the signs of frailty were swept away. Her connection to the forest, to the Green, must have been very powerful for the Blight to have affected her this much as well, and with the healing power of the staff the ageless beauty and vigor of the elven race returned to the Magiskist. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Who knew how long elves lived or how old she actually was, but she ended up looking barely middle aged. The whole transition felt like System was taking an airbrush to the character model. ¡°It¡¯s...you¡¯re back,¡± Petal said. ¡°You look like you again.¡± ¡°You mean...?¡± Salvia¡¯s hand went to her face, fingers tracing delicate lines along her perfect skin. Then she smiled. ¡°I wish you could see yourself,¡± Petal said. ¡°I can help with that,¡± I said. Remembering how Morgan had created a mirror to help fight the Gorgon, I copied her power and created a small hand mirror, then showed Salvia her reflection. Her eyes widened as she watched her own hand glide over her smooth face. ¡°It¡¯s a miracle,¡± Petal said. System: Eastern Forest Blight resolved System: You have solved the Nature Dungeon An unnamed observer thinks that was too easy A mysterious observer didn''t know it could be done like that A curious observer is just glad to be able to talk again What the heck? ¡°Are you guys seeing this?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah!¡± Sam said. ¡°We beat the dungeon!¡± System: Error - multiple teams involved System: Resolving - calculating contributions ¡°Uh oh,¡± Jane said. ¡°I know where this is going.¡± System: Resolved - contributions calculated as follows: Team Maple Leaf 20%, Team Player 80% System: Distributing Quest rewards - Reward Tokens 25 (+5) System: Transferring Nature Dungeon control to Team Player ¡°Oh man, not again,¡± Jane said. ¡°Can¡¯t really argue with the contributions, though,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Daniel did do most of the work.¡± This wasn¡¯t right. Jane was the protagonist here. Her team should get the dungeon. ¡°Hang on,¡± I said. ¡°System? Can we talk about this?¡± There was a pause, then: System: Is there an issue? ¡°Yes, there is a big issue,¡± I said. ¡°Why am I getting this dungeon too?¡± System: Dungeons can only be controlled by a single team ¡°Yeah, but¡ª¡± System: Team Player contributed the most to the Nature Dungeon¡¯s solution ¡°Okay, but¡ª¡± System: Transferring Nature Dungeon control to Team Player ¡°Wait! Can¡¯t you give this one to Team Maple Leaf? I¡¯ve already got the Light Dungeon.¡± System: Team Player contributed the most to the Light Dungeon¡¯s solution too ¡°That¡¯s not true. I just happened to be the one to pick up Daedalus¡¯ diary. You can¡¯t give me two dungeons.¡± System: Teams may control multiple dungeons ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem fair. Won¡¯t it upset the balance of the game?¡± There was another pause, then: System: Multiple dungeon control is integral to the game ¡°All the more reason why Team Maple Leaf should have it.¡± ¡°Daniel,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°you were the one who figured it all out. We helped a bit, but you actually solved it.¡± ¡°Truth,¡± Jane said. ¡°But you guys¡ª¡± ¡°Listen,¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s very sweet that you want us to have this one, but there will be other dungeons. You earned it. Just accept it.¡± We looked at each other for a long time. Controlling more dungeons was integral to the game. Not simply part of the game, but integral to it. That was the first bit of information we¡¯ve got about how the game worked. I¡¯d already sort of figured that out, but I wonder if System was supposed to let it slip? ¡°Fine,¡± I said, ¡°but only because there are other dungeons for you to beat.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit. Just don¡¯t be so helpful in the future,¡± Jane said. ¡°Right. From now on I¡¯ll do my best not to do my best.¡± System: Any more queries? Everyone looked at me expectantly. ¡°I guess not,¡± I said. A curious observer raises its hand A curious observer has a query System quirks a virtual eyebrow at the observer An unnamed observer puts its hand over a curious observer''s mouth A mysterious observer shushes a curious observer before we get muted again A curious observer shushes up System thought as much System: Control of Nature Dungeon transferred to Team Player ¡°You¡¯d better let me stay a friend of the elves, though,¡± Jane said. System: Global notification ¨C the Nature Dungeon has been solved and is now controlled by Team Player ¡°Kiki¡¯s gonna blow a gasket when she sees that,¡± I said. ¡°That alone makes it all worthwhile,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Wait a second,¡± Jane said. ¡°If the other dungeon made you Lord of Light,¡± she made a gagging gesture, ¡±does this make you the Nature Boy?¡± ¡°I am so jealous,¡± Sam said. ¡°If anyone¡¯s Nature Boy it should be me.¡± ¡°Actually, I got a title earlier, I just didn¡¯t mention it,¡± I said. ¡°Of course you did,¡± Jane said. ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°Defender Of The Green.¡± System: Conditions for bonus reward met ¡°Oh god, there¡¯s more?¡± Jane said. System: Forest elf village power dynamic changed; Magikist influence greatly increased; Forest elf isolation ended System: Calculating bonus reward System: Reward Tokens 28 (+3) System: You have received a Gold Random Reward Box We all got one. The boxes appeared in front of all four of us and I was relieved to see that they were all Gold. I felt guilty enough already, if my bonus reward was better than theirs I would¡¯ve had to go live under a rock. Chapter Eighty-Four - Shadows ¡°Woo hoo! Reward boxes!¡± Jane said. ¡°Open them all at the same time?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Sounds like fun,¡± Jane said. ¡°On three? One. Two. And three.¡± Four poofs of bright virtual confetti. ¡°I got an uncommon power scroll,¡± Jane said. ¡°Is that good?¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Sam said. ¡°I only got a common gift,¡± Sigrid said. They all looked at me. ¡°What¡¯s yours?¡± Jane said. ¡°Um,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me.¡± ¡°Rare power scroll.¡± ¡°Which is obviously better,¡± Jane said. ¡°Figures.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think about it too much,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°He¡¯s got that hobo power so he¡¯ll always get the good stuff.¡± Sigrid was being nice, but I could tell she was just as frustrated as Jane. But this time, there was no reason for them to be jealous. ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°just because that one was in your box, it doesn¡¯t mean you have to be the one to use it. We could swap.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That¡¯d be totally awesome because my scroll is for increased strength. I¡¯ve already got that as part of my Heavenly Body.¡± ¡°Someone¡¯s feeling full of herself,¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s the name of my ability,¡± Sigrid said. Then she ran her hands down her sides seductively. ¡°Although, I gotta say...¡± Gift: Who Wants An Arm Wrestle? - Superior strength Jane laughed. ¡°Actually, my scroll would be good for you, Sigrid. It can summon any object you own into your hands. Might be handy for retrieving tossed spears.¡± ¡°That would be handy,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Accio spear!¡± Power: Come Back! - Novice: Summon an owned object ¡°Mine looks like a sort of affinity armor,¡± Sam said. ¡°Oh that sounds useful too,¡± Sigrid said. Power: I¡¯ll Take The Force Of The Blow - Novice: Cover yourself with armor made of your Affinity ¡°If I can make a suggestion?¡± I said. ¡°I think you should give that one to Jane, Sam. With her special affinity, she can create whatever kind of armor would be most effective in any given situation.¡± ¡°I like the sound of that,¡± Jane said. ¡°Jane, you give yours to Sigrid,¡± I said, ¡°and Sigrid, you give yours to Sam.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem very fair,¡± Jane said. ¡°Sam gives up an uncommon power to get a common one?¡± ¡°If anything, it¡¯s unfair to you,¡± I said, ¡°because I¡¯ll also give him my scroll. I think you¡¯ll like it, Sam.¡± Power: Do They Have Sharp Talons? - Novice: Player¡¯s fingertips transform into deadly claws ¡°As long as they¡¯re retractable,¡± Sam said. ¡°Combine that with the increased strength from Sigrid¡¯s scroll, and boom: Sam the summoner also becomes a dashing, slashing, frontline damage dealer.¡± ¡°Like Wayne,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°the romping, stomping, sword swinging necromancer.¡± ¡°Only you¡¯ll be like Wolverine,¡± Jane said. ¡°Forget that,¡± Sam said, then his mouth spread in a wide grin. ¡°I¡¯ll be like Catwoman. Rawr!¡± Jane laughed at that. I¡¯d never get tired of hearing that laugh. Sigrid put her hand on my arm. ¡°But doesn¡¯t this mean you don¡¯t get a scroll?¡± ¡°That¡¯s totally okay,¡± I said. ¡°Daniel¡¯s getting the best deal,¡± Jane said. ¡°He can just copy any of them, so in a sense, he gets them all,¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Sigrid said, pouting. ¡°Now I feel shafted again.¡± We all traded scrolls, and everyone tested their new powers. Sigrid threw a spear then recalled it to her hand. On command, Sam¡¯s fingers grew by six inches into razor-sharp claws that carved deep gouges in a nearby boulder with one swipe. Jane cycled through all the affinities, shrouding her body in each, first being covered in ice, then erupting into flame, then seemingly vanishing into darkness, then surrounded by a whirling vortex of air. ¡°Do I dare try using Death?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m curious what will happen too,¡± I said. ¡°Then you do it, I¡¯m scared.¡± So I copied I¡¯ll Take The Force Of The Blow, and that was how we learned that affinity armor of Death covers your body in a sheath of scabs and oozing pustules of disease. Protective, sure, but also unimaginably gross. ¡°I am so glad I made you try it first,¡± Jane said, retching a bit. All through this, Salvia had been busy curing trees while Petal watched her. That weird blinder that prevented NPCs from noticing when we start to meta-game about System notices and things like quests and rewards kicked in, and they tuned out by busying themselves with other things. Convenient. The difference in the potency of the staff in the hands of someone with Master level power like Salvia¡¯s compared to my Competent level was shocking to behold. It hadn¡¯t taken her very long to heal a significant copse of trees, and with the staff¡¯s ability to draw mana from the environment, plus the renewed vigor from having the Blight cured from her own body, she really could keep going and going. Suddenly, Sigrid went tense. ¡°They¡¯re coming,¡± she said, looking East toward the swamp. ¡°Who?¡± I said. ¡°I dunno, but there are a lot of them, and they¡¯re strong.¡± Petal may have been oblivious to all our talk of Reward Boxes and Power Scrolls, but she heard that. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Positive,¡± Sigrid said, hefting her spear and readying her shield. ¡°Right,¡± Petal said, then reached into a pocket and pulled out a small whistle, which she put to her lips and blew. Nothing happened. ¡°Is it broken?¡± Sam said. Petal shook her head. ¡°Our hearing is quite superior to yours.¡± ¡°Ah, so it¡¯s like a dog whistle.¡± ¡°The warriors in the village would have heard it and will be here soon.¡± ¡°I guess we¡¯ll need to hold them off until they arrive,¡± I said. Now then, what powers would be most useful here? Nina¡¯s force field power could set up a barrier, and the danger was coming from the direction of the swamp so it probably has something to do with Shadow, meaning it would probably be doubly effective if I pumped Nature into the force field instead of Life, but if there was enough of the enemy some would just go around it. I could have used a summon power to whip up some meat shields, but cannon fodder can only go so far. I could have augmented myself with Andy¡¯s qi power, or copied Nina¡¯s blessing and gave everyone on our side a buff. There were a lot of things I could do. So many things. And wow, Nina really did have some awesome powers. Life was a valuable affinity. There¡¯s a curious phenomenon that happens when someone has a lot of choices. For example, if you were to lay out, say, three jars of jam, all different kinds, and asked someone to choose their favorite, they probably won¡¯t have a problem. They¡¯ll tell you right away. If there were a dozen different kinds, they would have a much harder time choosing. They might not be able to choose at all, or take a long time humming and hawing between a few. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. It¡¯s the same reason why it takes a little kid forever to choose a flavor of ice cream, they become overwhelmed by choice overload. It¡¯s decision paralysis, where you become unable to make a choice for fear of making the wrong one, and it can cause real problems. The solution, of course, is to realize that there is no wrong choice. If there are multiple options competing for the top spot, just choose one of them and go with it. They¡¯re probably all decent. Besides, it¡¯s only jam. I went with my first instinct. A barrier appeared about thirty feet in front of us, like a gigantic pane of glass, though tinged green because of the Nature affinity I was using on it. ¡°Everyone, I made a force field in front of us. Use ranged attacks to start with.¡± I pulled a bow out of my inventory. Using affinity attacks may have been more effective, or even applying Wayne¡¯s affinity weapon ability to augment the arrows, but I was being frugal with my mana. I¡¯d rather pump more into a bigger, stronger barrier. There was no knowing how long it would take for the cavalry to come, and keeping the force field up wasn¡¯t cheap. The enemy vanguard arrived first, fast-running black Shadow Wolves, same as the ones we¡¯d fought just before meeting Wayne and Bruce.
Shadow Wolf Big enough to be used as mounts by smaller humanoids, nobody knows how Shadow Wolves reproduce, only that they do it quickly and these blights can now be found all over, hiding in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to pounce and feed on whatever flesh they can chomp down on.
Powers: The Power Of The Pack - Adept: Deadlier when hunting in a group I Lurk In The Shadows - Competent: Extra stealth when hiding in shadows
Skills: Pounce - Competent: Launch an deadly attack from a distance Bite - Adept: Sharp teeth make short work of prey
The Shadow Wolves smashed into the barrier and began rending it with their teeth, gnawing at it. With every bite, I had to pour more mana into the shield to repair the damage. But something was wrong. They were demolishing the barrier too quickly. Why wasn¡¯t the Nature shield effective? Then it came to me. Duh. Attacks made by one affinity are more effective against defenses in its opposite. I was making it easier on the Shadow creatures using a Nature-based defense. That could also explain why the elves, who wore their cloaks infused with the power of the Green, struggled to overcome the Shadow monsters. Insidious. I was about to switch the affinity of the barrier to Shadow, but then I figured that would be even easier for Shadow creatures to overcome. I don¡¯t know why, but in the end I decided to switch it to Air. The green tinge to the barrier vanished, and crackling sparks of electricity began to surge through it. The wolves pressed against it were thrown back by a massive shock. They quickly recovered and pounced upon the force field again, but now each bite was less effective and required less mana to repair. As an added bonus, each time a wolf nipped it they received another shock in return. Funny thing, though: I was wrong. I learned later that the best defense against a specific affinitity was the same affinity. I''d assumed a Shadow attack would slide right through a Shadow defense, but that was a mistaken assumption. Can''t be right every time. Still, Air was more effective against Shadow than Nature, so at least it was better. With that improved, I raised my bow and joined Petal and Salvia shooting at the wolves through the barrier. Jane fired her crossbow, cursing every time she had to reload it; with our bows we were able to shoot a few arrows before she was ready to fire again. That is, Petal and Salvia were. I wasn¡¯t all that much faster than Jane, but the elves loosed arrow after arrow with impressive speed, and every one found their mark. Wolf after wolf fell. It was humbling and inspiring at the same time. If merely two elves were this potent... Meanwhile, Sigrid tossed her spear, recalled it, and tossed it again, over and over, while Sam used Nature to make the forest itself reach out to immobilize and strangle the enemy. It was surprisingly effective. The wolves had a natural Shadow element to their defense, so attacks using the opposing Nature element were enhanced. At least that worked in our favor. We kept using ranged attacks and killed many this way, but each time a wolf fell two more took its place. ¡°You sure elf reinforcements are coming?¡± Jane said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we train regularly for this sort of thing,¡± Petal said, her bow twanging as she let yet another arrow fly. The joy on her face was palpable. ¡°They¡¯ll be here soon.¡± ¡°I hope so,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°because the next wave is here.¡± Swarming up to the barrier behind the wolves were creatures of living shadow, appearing seemingly from nowhere, emerging from the shadows between trees and gliding swiftly over the ground like dark ghosts.
Shadow Soldiers Wraithlike warriors created by the Shadow Demon, these creatures slip between the shadows to attack their enemies with a touch that chills the soul as it drains power.
Powers: Chill Out - Adept: Frigid touch attack Shadow Movement - Adept: Extra stealth when hiding in shadows You Are So Weak - Adept: Drain mana
¡°These new guys can¡¯t do anything if they can¡¯t get close,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°so do not let them get close.¡± System: Your mastery of Archery has evolved We followed the same tactic of shooting enemies through the barrier, but the Shadows were smarter than the Shadow Wolves and found their way around the sides of my force field, as I¡¯d anticipated. ¡°Watch the flanks and protect the Magikist,¡± I said. ¡°Switch to melee. Sam and Jane go right, Sigrid and Petal take the left. Salvia, you keep shooting through the barrier and I¡¯ll support where needed.¡± Jane encased herself in affinity armor of Nature, covering herself in a layer of what looked like tree bark, and used her ability to blink in and out to devastating effect. She¡¯d pop close to one, stab it with her rapier -- enchanted to be an affinity weapon and also infused with Nature -- then pop over to the next one and do the same. Alongside her, Sam used his new strength and claw power to rend the Shadows, assisted by four huge tigers. Leveling up his summon power had enabled him to conjure more creatures that were also more powerful than before. On the other side, Sigrid was holding her own while beside her Petal was a whirling blur of death, slashing through the Shadows with her pair of long knives. Her technique was similar to escrima, the Filipino martial art that uses sticks or knives in both hands, but the elven style was more fluid and acrobatic, more elegant, even. It reminded me of something, but it wasn¡¯t until I glanced back over at the other side that I made the connection: it reminded me of Jane¡¯s fighting style that was heavily influenced by her skills with dance and gymnastics. With Petal¡¯s high level of mastery it was beyond deadly, as shown by the number of shadow monsters falling under the blur of her dual blades. System: You know Elven Dual Knife Fighting Sa-weet! I helped by using a combination of Sam¡¯s Green Thumb power to create plants and Nature Affinity Control, making thorny vines and using them to block and envelop the foe as well as shoot their barbs like darts. Yet they kept coming, a fresh wave of monsters swarming over the bodies of their fallen comrades. Thanks to the impressive fighting strength of Petal and Salvia we were managing to hold our own, but only barely, and not without cost. We also took our own share of damage. The chilling physical hits were starting to weaken us, but the mana drain every time a shadow touched us was far more worrisome. If any of us ran out of mana, we¡¯d be down. Even worse, every time they drained our mana they seemed to get stronger; it was similar to the vampiric power Chika had to heal herself by damaging her opponents, only it was mana instead of health. Already my mind was churning with possibilities of how I could use the Shadows¡¯ powers in synthesizing new abilities. The mana drain also revealed a definite weakness we suffered from. Physical injuries could be healed with Nina¡¯s power even while fighting, but lost mana was harder to recover. You couldn¡¯t exactly pause a fight to grab a taco. I¡¯d synthesized an area effect healing power, so maybe combining it with this mana drain power of the Shadow Soldiers could create something that would restore mana? I didn¡¯t dare try it then. Synthesis was not the kind of thing that should be done in the middle of combat, for obvious reasons. It wasn¡¯t long before the onslaught of sheer numbers crushed us closer together, so I changed the force field from a wall to a bubble that surrounded us. In no time, the enemy had us completely surrounded too, and were hammering away on the barrier with relentless determination. We formed a tight circle in the middle, each of us stabbing or slicing or clawing through the barrier at the mass of shadow creatures enveloping it. It was incredibly handy that we could get through the force field from our side, but they couldn¡¯t from theirs. This You Shall Not Pass power of Nina¡¯s was indeed very useful, but it had its drawbacks. Each hit the enemy made on the outside required me to use little bit of mana to repair, which wasn¡¯t an issue when there were just a few monsters bashing it, but with so many Shadows surrounding us, clambering over each other so that they were completely enveloping the force bubble with their dark bodies, the mana attrition was punishing. It was all I could do to keep it up even with my ability to draw more from the environment, but I could feel the available mana in the surroundings getting used up and I knew it was only a matter of time before I¡¯d run out completely. Then the shield would collapse, and we¡¯d be done for. I also discovered another weakness in the shield. With the force of their colleagues pressing them against the force field, some of the Shadow Soldiers started getting squeezed through, purely by accident. These were quickly dispatched by the blade of whomever was closest, but it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to do it on purpose and we¡¯d be overwhelmed, even inside the shield. We¡¯d reached the point where we were constantly fighting hand-to-hand against Shadows who managed to squeeze past the barrier. Ordinary monsters would have created a wall of corpses to help protect us, but the Shadow Soldiers deflated like empty garbage bags after being killed, which only allowed more and more of them to come in, and soon the ground under our feet was covered with layers of dead Shadows. It felt like standing on a slippery dark gray carpet. I¡¯d pulled a pair of short scimitars from my inventory and was using them in the elvish knife fighting style. They worked, but weren¡¯t exactly right for it. The scimitars were too long and too heavy; elvish knife blades were only a little over a foot long, strong, light, and sharp, made in the single-bladed Japanese technique of folding the metal over and over. But at least they worked. It was a particularly potent fighting style, even at Novice level. Thanks to Jack Of All Trades it took no time to advance it to Competent. I¡¯d incorporate the elven skill into omni-do later, when someone wasn¡¯t trying to kill me. Using it beside Petal and Salvia, I discovered there was a special feature to the elves¡¯ skill: when multiple practitioners fight together, everyone¡¯s combat effectiveness was enhanced. ¡°Where¡¯d you learn how to fight like that?¡± Petal said. How do I explain Jack Of All Trades? May as well tell her the truth. ¡°From watching you.¡± She didn¡¯t say any more, but I caught her glancing over at me several times, then looking away abruptly whenever our eyes met. My mana bar had been in the red for a while now, and out of the corner of my eye I watched it continue to slowly but steadily decrease. Soon, there was only a sliver of red left. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, guys,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m about out of mana. This is it for the shield. Get ready.¡± Then my mana hit zero, and I passed out. Chapter Eighty-Five - My elf village When I came to, I was sitting propped against a tree, surrounded by elves. None of them paid me the slightest bit of attention. Sigrid, however, noticed my eyes open. ¡°Welcome back.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± I said. ¡°Just as your mana ran out the elves arrived. They¡¯d heard Petal¡¯s whistle and a bunch of warriors came pouring in.¡± ¡°It was freaking amazing,¡± Jane said. ¡°Like a slew of Legolases spinning and slashing and firing off arrows.¡± ¡°Mmmm, Legolas,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You know it,¡± Jane said and they bumped fists like randy frat brothers. I chuckled. ¡°And the Shadows?¡± ¡°A few managed to escape back to the swamp but the elves took down the rest,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Wish I could¡¯ve seen the elves fight,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have a chance to,¡± Jane said with a smirk, ¡°since you own this forest now, which must include the village and all the elves in it.¡± I looked over to where a bunch of elves were crowded around their Magikist, joyful at having her back to normal and able to cure the Blight. Petal was among them, and I saw her glance over at me. We locked eyes for a moment, then she smiled and bowed her head to me, just a little nod, before looking away. Sigrid noticed this. ¡°Did you pick up another admirer?¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡± She sighed and got to her feet, then started sidling over to where Sam was showing off his tigers to a couple of handsome elf men, muttering ¡°dense, dense, dense.¡± Jane smirked, then went to join them too. When we returned to village we discovered it was much larger than I at first suspected. There were hundreds of hollowed out tree houses, many of which were large enough to hold several families. However, attrition by emigration and battle losses had greatly reduced the elf population here, so as a result a lot of the houses were empty. I was given my pick of the vacant tree-houses to have as my own, so I chose one close to the dungeon¡¯s teleportation circle. The affinity circle was a ring of twelve beautiful shrubs, each one blossoming with a different-colored flower, surrounded by a manicured garden in the middle of the town. Another ring of thick-trunked trees surrounded this garden like a wall. I wasn''t happy that people using it to teleport into the forest hex would appear smack in the center of town, I much prefered the way it was at the Light Dungeon: outside the labyrinth itself. Fortunately, they had to use a circle in a location to go back to the city before they could use the one in the city to return through it. I wouldn''t be able to stop people from coming to the village if the elves decided to bring down the wall, but at least I could try to prevent them from using the circle. Jane had been right. Technically, the elf village was mine. The chain of command was a lot muddier than in the labyrinth, though. There, all the monsters instantly recognized me as their administrator, but the best that the elves seemed to manage was a grudging acceptance of me as part of the village. I was pretty sure they¡¯d acquiesce without a struggle if I tried to force my will upon them, but I had no intention of finding out. I¡¯m no micro-manager, I planned to let them choose their own path. We spent that night with the elves. Although a party was suggested by many, it was pretty late so Salvia vetoed the idea, and there was no way anyone was going to oppose their newly revitalized Magikist now. The party happened the next day, all day, and lasted well into the night. We invited the rest of Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table to come, even Kenji. He¡¯d made it as far as ten feet into the forest when he said ¡°nope¡± and turned around. He said his Shadow affinity made being in the Nature Dungeon¡¯s hex uncomfortable, but Chika wouldn''t allow him to head back. He kept out of sight for the first bit, but I later caught him playing tag and hide and seek with some of the younger elves, who marveled at his stealth ability. Details of the party are unimportant, and frankly my memory of it is a bit vague. Elven wine, though delicious, was seriously strong. I do remember Sigrid being the happiest I¡¯d ever seen her. She was constantly surrounded by gorgeous elf men, and not a few of the women, and was in her element. Turned out they loved her flowing blonde hair as much as she loved their pointy ears. That they, like her, were all ultra-fit and unfathomably beautiful surely didn¡¯t hurt either. After the others went home, I was glad I had the option to remain in the village with the elves. I stayed there for several days because I didn¡¯t fancy being in the city. Every single Player would¡¯ve seen the message that Team Player had beaten another dungeon and I could do without having everyone in the city stare at me like I was Harry Potter in Diagon Alley. The team rankings said it all. System: Team rankings have been updated 1. Team Player 750 points 2. Team Invictus 530 points 3. Team Maple Leaf 515 points 4. Team Spice 420 points 5. Team Droogs 390 points 6. Team Ninja 355 points 7. Team Overgeared 305 points 8. Team N3m3sis 285 points 9. Team Happy 280 points 10. Team Legion 275 points 11. Team Karma 210 points I was still far in the lead. The first dungeon had netted me 500 points, but only 250 were added after the second one. I hadn''t had a single quest given by System, which was how everyone else had earned their points. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Everyone else was kept busy with more quests, so I spent the next few days living with the elves and getting to know them. Every day, Salvia went back to heal more blighted trees, surrounded by a detachment of Petal¡¯s guards who gazed constantly at their Magikist with veneration and awe. Petal remained back in the village with me, acting as a guide and helping smooth over my introduction to the other elves. What can I say about the elves? They weren¡¯t much different than humans. I¡¯d been expecting Tolkien-style elves, but there was not a single Galadriel clone to be found here. There certainly was a lot of the Tolkien influence to be found in Crucible¡¯s elves, but there were some noticeable differences, even beyond the darker coloring. I learned later that as a species, elves have more racial variety in appearance than humans do, and that the dark coloration was specific to the forest elves in this region. Even with Petal¡¯s help it took some time for them to warm up to me, and not only because I¡¯m not the warmest person to begin with. The Mirkwood elves in the Hobbit were wary of outsiders, but the ones in my forest were positively xenophobic. Perhaps they¡¯d eventually lighten up a little now that the end of the Blight was in sight, but it would take more than just the healing of the trees and the elimination of the wall of thorns to remove from the collective trauma they¡¯d all suffered. But my time getting to know the labyrinth served me well. I managed to meet most of the village in person, and got a feel for their culture. I wouldn¡¯t say that I made friends with more than a few of them during that time, but I appreciated that it seemed to be the elven way to let people do their own thing and not bug each other unnecessarily. If I wanted to, I could spend the entire day wandering around without talking to anyone, and nobody would care or take offense or think I was being cold or antisocial. It was my kind of place. I¡¯d heard that the elves were master craftspeople, and after seeing the town I knew it was true. All of their equipment, especially their armor and weapons, were of the highest quality, all elven-made. Their attention to detail was exquisite, and their love of nature abundantly clear in the decorative elements that adorned their creations. Having a few days mostly to myself also gave me plenty of time to experiment with my powers. By this time I¡¯d raised Versatility For The Win to Adept level, so not only could I copy three powers at a time, but all copied powers came at Adept level as well. A total cheat, I know, but I didn¡¯t make up the rules. If I used Synthesis to change copied powers then I got that new blended power permanently, but only at Novice and I¡¯d have to level it up the usual way. There were a number of powers I wanted to customize through Synthesis. I also had some ideas for magic items I wanted to make. During their period of isolation, elvish artifice had flourished, and their craftsmen attained new levels of expertise creating innovative items, like those wall sconces that had fascinated me during my first visit. It also meant there was an Artifice forge I could use and I didn¡¯t have to keep running back to borrow Byron¡¯s. When not playing around with Synthesis and Artifice, I spent a lot of time with Petal. Once she''d introduced me to everyone, she insisted on training me in the elven ways, both social and martial. There was a lot to learn. My proficiency with their dual blade fighting skill got better, and Petal and I grew quite close. Another big bonus from all this was getting my own pair of those cool elven knives. Guardian Blade of the Forest Elves Unique and sacred to the forest elves, this long knife requires the special skill Elven Dual Knife Fighting to wield to full effect. They always come in pairs. Powers: We Were Made For This - Enhanced combat effectiveness when a paired set of Guardian Blades are used; Requires Elven Dual Knife Fighting That elven fighting skill was impressive. Not only did using it to fight together with others who had the skill increase its effectiveness, but using the tailored weapons also did too. When it came to deciding whether or not to tear down the wall and interact with outsiders again, sure, as controller of the place I could have ordered them to end their isolation immediately, but I wanted to let the elves decide that for themselves. A village of subservient minions didn¡¯t appeal to me, I wanted them to feel strong, independent, and free, and decided to meddle in the affairs of the forest as little as possible. The staff we made could take care of the Blight, but the Shadow Demon and the rest of its army were still there in the neighboring swamp, and I knew they wouldn¡¯t just wait there for someone to come and subjugate them. If nothing was done about them they¡¯d be back with a much larger force, but that was an adventure for another day. The Shadow Dungeon could wait until the elves were back on their feet. Which, I hoped, wouldn¡¯t take too long. From a Player¡¯s perspective, it didn¡¯t hurt that we had helped all this happen; it gave outsiders a good name again. Or at least a less foul one. I was sure that Salvia would convince her people to open up to the outside world again. While I stayed in the village I kept a low profile, but I can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t meddle completely. Anticipating the end of elf isolationism, I made two requests through Her Magikistness: first, send a delegation to the beastfolk lands to invite the elves who¡¯d moved there to come home as well as to reopen trade with the beastfolk themselves, and second, please leave the camp of orcs just outside the wall alone. Why? Because they were, ah, an important ingredient. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Salvia said, ¡°we won¡¯t chase them away. We¡¯ve kept them there for the same reason: they¡¯re delicious.¡± Who knew the elves here were meat-eaters who farmed orcs for food? Elrond never chowed down on war pig skewers, that¡¯s for sure. In the end, the elves proved more resilient than I¡¯d given them credit for. It only took a few days before the wall came down. The elf forest was open for business. Word spread quickly. Soon, lots of Players were wandering around in the elf village, so I relocated to the labyrinth again. I didn''t even have to ask Petal to increase security before I left, she took care of that herself. I did make sure she knew not to let any Player get near the teleportation circle, though, apart from the members of Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table. Keeping them away from it ensured they''d never be able to use to get into the village. As fierce and xenophobic as they were, the elves were also strangely trusting. Of one another, at least. Their buildings didn''t even have locks on the doors. All I could picture was arrogant Players wandering into the elves'' homes and plundering them like they were in a video game, smashing every pot they saw looking for loot drops. I figured I could trust Petal''s guards to keep an eye on things. It hadn¡¯t occurred to me what tearing down the wall of thorns would mean to all the Players who¡¯d tried and failed to get past it, most of whom ending up with an arrow sticking out of them. I should¡¯ve anticipated something the way they flooded in to see what was behind it, but I really didn¡¯t expect what they ended up doing. I guess some people hold a grudge after being shot with an arrow, and a lot of players had felt the sting of an elven bow when they¡¯d tried to get past the wall of thorns. Okay fine. I totally should¡¯ve known. Look at Kiki. Her first reaction to this place had been to murder her competition, namely me. Of course there would be a high probability that there¡¯d be some Players who¡¯d see the reopened elf village as more than the chance to gain experience and loot, they''d also be looking for revenge. And so a few days after that, I was in Daedalus¡¯s office working with Alice on revamping the labyrinth''s security as well. No other Players had discovered it yet, but it was only a matter of time. Once word got out, I anticipated another barage of "visitors" like the one that had descended upon the elves. With everything still so volatile with the elves, I wanted to have a way for them to contact me in case of emergency, like another Shadow attack, or in case any Players got any funny ideas about the proper way to act. There''s no way those horny trogs would be able to resist the charms of the exceedingly beautiful elven women. The NPC citizens of dungeons could use the teleportation arrays to travel between other dungeons controlled by the same team, but only if they were accompanying a member of that team, so that wasn''t an option. Cellphones would''ve been handy, but lacking any post-industrial tech I had to make do with what I had. And that was whistles. Since the first time I''d left the elf village after taking control, elves had been positioned at strategic points so that they could relay messages between both of my dungeons and the city using their whistle codes. It wasn''t only handy for getting in touch with me, there was also now a number of elves in the city, the curiosity about the outside world being too much for them to resist. They were all careful not to reveal what they were, of course, it wasn''t too hard to blend in as just another NPC, but it was good to have a way to keep in touch with them, too. Just in case. That''s why I wasn''t overly surprised when a Doppel barged in through the secret door, followed closely by a young elf. They looked alarmed, so, not good news. An important message had been whistled along the relay until it reached the elf boy positioned outside the entrance to the labyrinth, and using the secret doors the news was in my ears in under a minute. Elven watchers had detected Players marching upon the village, a lot of Players. There could be little doubt what their intentions were, they couldn''t stop jabbering about how rich they''d all get on elven loot after they pillaged the place. So much for creating good will toward outsiders. Stupid Players. Chapter Eighty-Six - Attack on the elves I wasted no time. I used the secret passage behind the desk to go to the teleportation circle, then traveled immediately to the elf village. When I got there, I discovered one of Petal¡¯s soldiers waiting for me. It was Phlox, who¡¯d come with her to collect me at the bonfire. That seemed so long ago, but it had only been a few days. Pretty much the moment I stepped out of the circle, Jane and Sigrid appeared in it, fully decked out in their adventuring gear. ¡°Finally, Jane said. ¡°I was wondering if it was ever going to work." "Yeah," Sirid said. "I was starting to feel a little silly there.¡± Jane stretched her arms over her head. "You know, I wish I could¡¯ve seen the looks on their faces when we disappeared.¡± Sigrid chuckled. ¡°I think you¡¯re right, nobody else knows about the circles yet.¡± ¡°Hi guys,¡± I said, and only then did they notice me there. Jane flashed me a trademark killer smile. ¡°Oh hey, Daniel. How¡¯d you know we were coming to visit you?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t, I just got here myself,¡± I said. The smile vanished. ¡°So you weren¡¯t waiting here for us?¡± ¡°Uhhhh...¡± Sigrid saved me. ¡°Ohh, that¡¯s probably why the circle in the city wasn¡¯t working. We had to wait until you cleared out of this one first.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± Jane said, frowning at me. ¡°Whose faces were you talking about just now?¡± I said, concerned it might have to do with the Players attacking the village. ¡°There were these other Players watching us standing in that gazebo trying to teleport here,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I bet they were pretty surprised when we just vanished.¡± ¡°Everybody else thinks the circles are just where you respoon,¡± Jane said. Respoon. As funny as that was, this was no time to try to tease Jane back. ¡°Listen, thanks for coming, but you should probably head on back to the city now,¡± I said. ¡°Rude!¡± Jane said. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m really happy you came to see me, but this is a bad time. There¡¯s a troop of Players on their way through the forest right now.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So we¡¯re pretty sure they¡¯re coming to attack the village. You should go somewhere safe.¡± ¡°Like hell,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°We¡¯re gonna stay and help.¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Jane said. ¡°What kind of friends of the elves would we be if we ran away in their time of need?¡± ¡°You sure? These are other Players coming.¡± ¡°Pfffft,¡± Sigrid said, dismissing my concerns with a wave of her hand. ¡°We¡¯ve fought against other Players in quests before, it¡¯s fine.¡± Phlox took us to Petal, who was calmly issuing orders to her people. She saw us coming and acknowledged us with a curt nod, then went back to giving instructions. We waited patiently, marveling at the coolness of the elves despite the impending invasion, grim determination on all of their faces. While we waited for her, Phlox informed us that it didn¡¯t seem to be a coordinated invasion, but judging by their behavior looked more like a random attack by a few errant malcontents. Stupid, stupid Players. Then we heard it. Shouts of pain and surprise when the first volley of arrows flew from the elves hidden in the tree into the Players¡¯ ranks well before they reached the village. Then the sound of battle as the two sides clashed. Petal, Phlox, and I pulled out our twin knives at the same time, and together, along with Jane and Sigrid, we sprinted to join the melee. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Honestly, I pitied the fools who tried to attack the elves. Jane was right when she''s said it wouldn''t be long before I would see the elves in battle, I even got to fight alongside them. I¡¯d been training with them and I thought I knew what it would be like, but it was completely different when there was a live target. Before, when I pictured a fantasy elf in my mind, I would imagine something like samurai, proud and noble warriors of great prowess, but my elves were more like ninjas. Their fighting style relied on speed, stealth, coordination, and surprise, and was not above sneak attacks, traps, and assassination from afar using their powerful and deadly-accurate bows. Whatever it took to get the job done quickly and as painlessly as possible. Well, painless for them, not so much for whomever they were fighting. They were utterly ruthless. They had no qualms about using guerilla tactics. Their defense consisted of sniping away at their foes from the trees¡¯ shadows, then rolling through their ranks in coordinated units like acrobatic waves of death, twin blades flashing, painting the trees red with splashes of their enemies¡¯ blood before disappearing into them again. An elegant ballet of devastation. The Players had not anticipated this kind of defense and been taken completely by surprise. What minimal coordination they¡¯d prepared fell apart almost instantly when the first arrows from snipers in the trees started taking them down. Did they realize then that all the arrows that Players had been struck with before, when trying to get past the wall of thorns, had only been warning shots? Nobody had been killed by those arrows back then, but the Players soon learned how easily they could have been, had the elves wanted to. Now, one by one, Players were hit by volleys of arrows coming from all directions, shot by invisible archers high in the trees. A Player would suddenly find the person beside them sprouting a half dozen arrow shafts sticking out all over before falling down dead. Then the next person. Then the next. Their hastily planned formations crumbled. Chaos took over. Players started blasting ranged attacks into the treetops, firing weapons and powers blindly toward their hidden attackers. When they were all looking up, waiting for the next volley of arrows, the elven foot soldiers appeared, me among them. Melting from the trees, we flipped and dove and rolled, twin blades slicing down anyone in their path. Sigrid remained among the elves stationed as a defensive line to keep the attackers in the corridor of death, using ranged attacks from behind a protective barricade. Jane didn¡¯t like fighting like that, but didn¡¯t have the elven fighting skill to fight with the rest of us. Instead, she used her teleportation power to enable her own hit-and-run tactics, blinking around in the battle from foe to foe. Honestly, she was lucky the elves were such good shots so she didn¡¯t get pincushioned by their arrows when she appeared among the Player¡¯s ranks. I think Sigrid, Jane, and I made a good showing for ourselves. Once, Jane and I met in the battle. I was with Petal¡¯s unit and we¡¯d just emerged from the trees. Phlox and I had taken down an opponent when Jane blinked beside us. We were both a hair¡¯s breadth away from jabbing or slicing one another when we recognized each other and held back. I would have expected her to give me one of her smiles, but instead I saw an expression on her face I¡¯d never seen before. Her lips pursed tight, eyes narrowed, body tense. She looked pained. I immediately checked her over to see if she was hurt, ready to cast healing on her. ¡°Jane, are you okay? Are you hurt?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she snapped, then teleported away. The bloodbath was almost over by then. It hadn¡¯t lasted long. I recognized some of the Players as we fought. Some were on teams, others were unaffiliated. I wondered who¡¯d taken the initiative to organize this fruitless invasion. Not a single invading Player was left alive. Well, none of the dim ones, anyway. Some had enough brains to turn tail and flee once they saw what they were up against. The elves could¡¯ve taken them down too, but Petal had instructed them to let those who fled keep their lives. Although several were injured, somehow not a single elf died in the battle. An unnamed observer is getting used to your brutality but is still impressed Once it was over, I healed the elves who''d been hurt. Then I went through the ranks of Players lying on the ground. It would take some time for the creepy NPCs to come collect all the bodies. I know what you''re thinking. I went to loot them. You''re wrong. I didn''t take a single item from any Players. I''d been tempted to take their gold as compensation for the trouble they''d put the elves through, but I decided to take the moral high ground. I was looking for any Players who might still be alive. There weren''t many -- the elves did not fight to injure, but to slay -- but the ones I did find I healed back to full health then told them to piss off and never come back. As for the dead ones, I suppose my moral ground wasn''t that high after all. I tucked a small piece of paper inside a pocket of some of them, the ones I got to before the creepy corpse grabbers did. I wasn''t sure it would still be there when they respawned, but it was worth a try. Written on each piece of paper was the same petty message: You''re better than this. Let them stew on that. I had fought many different types of opponents in my time on Crucible so far, and killed a lot of them. But this was my first time fighting other Players with murderous intent since Kiki and her crew tried to kill me. The second time. When they succeeded. Maybe all the monsters who¡¯d died by my hands had inured me to the act of killing, or maybe I¡¯d just grown callous, or maybe I was too pissed off that Players were attacking my elves, but it had been easier than I would have thought to slice my knives through the soft flesh of another Player. I wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about that. Word of the attack quickly spread in the city. It became known that attacking the elves was A Very Bad Idea. Not only would you get your butt kicked, but you could die. Four of the Players who were killed during the battle did not respawn, and were never seen again. It was the first time so many people had become dead-dead at the same time, and it hit hard. Getting killed was bad enough even when you respawned because it cost you a level of mastery in some if not all of your abilities, but death-death was another thing entirely. I couldn¡¯t be completely sure, but I didn¡¯t think any of the Players who died-died in the attack had been the ones who¡¯d fallen to my blades. Chapter Eighty-Seven - Festival time I hoped the thorough trouncing the elves inflicted upon the Players would be enough of a deterrent that future attacks could be prevented, but even I knew that was probably wishful thinking. Whatever Pollyanna tendencies I might have had before coming here were being rapidly eroded by the belligerence so many of my fellow Players were continuously displaying. So much for leaving the elves alone to manage their own affairs. I spent the next few days doing damage control. I was not about to let a rogue group of troublemaking Players ruin all my hard work. During my efforts to learn the various martial arts of the city''s clans, I had gotten to know all the masters of all six dojos fairly well, all of whom sat on the city¡¯s council. With Chow Li¡¯s help, I managed to get an audience with the council, and because I already had most of them on my side I managed to persuade them to invite the elves to a banquet held in the city in their honor. Then with Salvia¡¯s help, I managed to persuade the elves to accept it. In a perfect world that might have meant my work was done and I could leave the NPCs of both groups to make peace on their own, but that¡¯s not how the game worked. Although the city leader NPCs had no notion of me as controller of the Nature Dungeon, I was still somehow considered the de facto honcho of the elves and thereby obligated to join their delegation. And that¡¯s how I found myself marching into the city a few days later with great fanfare, alongside Salvia, Petal, several other elf leaders, and an impressively large retinue of Petal¡¯s elite guards, all decked out in their finest livery. The elves had given me fancy elven clothes to wear so I was dressed the same as them, but I still felt like I stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. Me, surrounded by all these gorgeous people. It was horrible. By this point, as far as the elves were concerned I was one of them but I felt like a weed in a garden of flowers. There was one thing I could¡¯ve done to fit in a bit more with the beautiful elves, but I was loath to do it. When I had received the title Defender Of The Green I also got a certain ability, one I¡¯d used the whole time I had been living in the elf village. It had helped ingratiate me with them then, and the elves probably would have liked it if I¡¯d used it while marching into the city with them too, but I wasn¡¯t at all comfortable with that, not while I had all the Players¡¯ eyes on me. And I do mean all. Somehow, my little make-friends-with-the-elves dinner party had turned into a city-wide festival as well as a quest for every Player ¡ª everyone other than me, of course ¡ª and the reward was something nobody would pass up the chance to get. Quest: Attend the festivities when the city welcomes the elves Reward: Random Gold Reward Box Besides, after all that had happened everyone was curious about the elves, so pretty much everyone was on hand to watch us parade through the city. That was a lot of eyes. I was sorely tempted to borrow Jane¡¯s talent to blink the hell out of there and hide in the labyrinth for a few months, just to avoid the oppressive stares. Then I heard Sigrid¡¯s voice from the mass of people watching our procession. ¡°Yay, Daniel!¡± I followed the sound and saw her at the front of the crowd. She saw that I saw her and waved at me. I waved back. Then Jane beside her saw me waving and waved. Then the others did too. A whole block of my friends were there making entire fools of themselves, waving frantically and calling out to me. Oh how I wished they¡¯d stop. I had no choice but to draw more attention to myself by waving back. I couldn¡¯t run away now, not after they¡¯d made such a scene. As if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, because my simple banquet for the top brass idea had ballooned into a full day of festivities involving the entire city, this was only the start of a long, excruciating, and almost unbearably uncomfortable day, starting with this ridiculous parade, then speeches, then ceremonial exchanges of gifts, then a series of combat and cultural demonstrations, and meanwhile there were agonizing meetings of both sides¡¯ muckety-mucks, and only then, after all that was over, would we get to the banquet that had blown up to encompass the whole city rather than just the little meet-and-greet dinner party I¡¯d originally suggested. And I had to go to all of it. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Fortunately, Petal was also in the posse with me, so we went through most of it together. Up to then I had only really seen the business side of Petal ¡ª the Captain of the Guard ¡ª but now I got the chance to see her other side. It turned out she was a lot of fun when she let her proverbial hair down. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was hanging around with me to help me feel less out of place, or to help herself feel less weirded out by being around humans, or simply as a bodyguard. Whatever her reason was, it worked for both of us. I admit, I thought it was insane for the NPCs to have taken things this far. I didn¡¯t arrange any of this, it was NPCs who made it all happen. All the decorations around the city. The music. The food. The games. The activities. But renewed ties with the elves seemed to be a major plot point in the game ¡ª the end of an important story arc and the beginning of another ¡ª so I guess it made sense to make a big to-do about it. All I¡¯d done was suggest that the city leaders make peace with the elves, now I was being swept along by the game narrative, so much flotsam in a wave of world-building. If there was one highlight to the day¡¯s festivities, it would have to have been the combat demonstrations. The clans had arranged an afternoon of tests and challenges to let people show off their martial prowess. Anyone could enter, NPC or Player. Significant cash prizes were at stake, so lots of Players entered alongside the warrior elves who¡¯d come. The reason it was a highlight was because it created a stretch of time where I had nothing to do. The muckety-mucks were cloistered in trade negotiations, and since I had nothing to offer there I managed to skip out. Petal was participating in the demos, so for the first time that day she wasn¡¯t with me. I found a place alone in the arena stands where I could ostensibly watch the action, but I was barely aware of the archery contest taking place on the floor below. Really, I was just enjoying being alone with my thoughts, wondering about the design of this strange game we were all playing. This whole idea of dungeon control put a new dimension into the game. A meta-game, in a way. All dungeons weren¡¯t the same. Some were clearly dungeons that you were meant to crawl, like the Light Dungeon labyrinth, and there were others that required a different approach to solve, like the elves in the Nature Dungeon. Controlling a dungeon meant taking over the entire hex it was in, like owning a space on the game board. That was the meta-game, and at that point I was the only one playing it. But what will happen when other teams start beating dungeons and controlling those spaces? Were controlled dungeons like game cards, each with a different in-game effect that could be played? I could make the monsters in the labyrinth respawn so it was like a resource card. I could farm it for experience endlessly, and there might be other potential benefits to having an army of monsters under my control. Too bad I didn¡¯t get treasure drops in the labyrinth anymore, though. I wondered if treasure would drop for other people? That had some delightful implications. Unless I was the one who needed to supply the rewards, in which case forget it. The Nature Dungeon was more complicated. There weren¡¯t many resources in the forest beyond the elves themselves. The trees, I guess, but good luck convincing the elves to clearcut those. With all these negotiations happening with the city, it was more like a political card, or perhaps economic. When I¡¯d ducked out of the meetings they¡¯d been talking about trading the goods the elves made, such as weapons, armor, jewelry, and magic devices, so there was a good chance I¡¯d get a share of the revenue generated by forest hex too. Plus having a bunch of vicious ninjas on your side had its own advantages. I only got to see a bit of the Void Dungeon and I didn¡¯t know what the hell that was. Not every hex had a dungeon on it, so I wasn¡¯t sure if those ones could be occupied and controlled. My two dungeons were adjacent to one another. Maybe if there was an empty hex separating them I¡¯d automatically get control of it too. A lot of board games work that way. There were also lots of other settlements on the map that I hadn¡¯t even got around to exploring yet. I¡¯d been too busy managing the stuff I¡¯d got so far. But if someone could get control over a few towns, and some resource areas, they could have some serious influence over what happened in this world. If that was the meta-game, one where you can collect power and affect policy, you¡¯d be playing a game that could change how the map itself looked. Hell, you could build your own nation. Become a King. Is that what this game really was? If so, I wasn¡¯t interested. That wasn¡¯t the game I wanted to play. I¡¯d be a terrible King. But if I was right, there were other things I could do within the scope of that meta-game. When combined with the idea I¡¯d had when I was out for dinner with Morgan, a bunch of gears suddenly slotted into place in my head. I would need to talk to Chow Li sometime soon. Chapter Eighty-Eight - I get promoted Sitting alone in the arena stands, I let my mind wander as I ignored the fighting competition below. If there was one thing that got hammered home to me with the elves, it was that everything on the planet Crucible had a backstory. Every location, every NPC, every item. The deeper you probed, the deeper it got. But it all felt like a compressed microcosm. Like how New Zealand has the same kinds of geography as Canada, only it¡¯s all squished together into a fraction of the size. I mean, on Chow Li¡¯s map the elf village was almost next door to the city in the adjacent hex. Two more hexes further brought you to the abandoned fortress that was clearly the Shadow Dungeon, which was basically smack in the middle of the local equivalent of Mordor. A mere three hexes away from the city. How did they handle the complex world building of this place, let alone conceive of it all? For obvious reasons, Stratos or System or whoever it was who designed it wouldn¡¯t have bothered creating deep personalities and histories for every single NPC. I was willing to bet that only the ones we Players were likely to interact with were given the full backstory treatment from the start. If Players ever went off script and started interacting with a vanilla NPC in any meaningful way ¡ª which of course they would, I did it all the time ¡ª a new AI would be created on the fly, with a new history and everything. I was certain that was what had happened when Pretty Catgirl turned into Shannon the gardener. Because of my interaction with her, a random NPC became a named NPC. Now she was someone I chatted with all the time because she always seemed to be tending the gardens at the dojo. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell she wasn¡¯t a real person if I didn¡¯t already know (although the feline ears and tail were a bit of a giveaway). But was it fair to say she wasn¡¯t real? Did each one have a separate AI or was there one almost omnipotent intelligence coordinating them all? Is that what System was? If there was a unique AI in each NPC with a name, as I believed was the case, was it advanced enough to be considered a real person? Were these NPCs conscious and sentient? They certainly seemed to be. I had no doubt they¡¯d pass any Turing test you threw at them. Should they get the same rights as real people? Maybe, in the culture of whatever highly advanced civilization had created them, AIs were considered living entities. If so¡ª I never got a chance to finish that thought because right then Jane plopped down beside me. So much for being alone. ¡°Quit brooding,¡± she said. She held a paper bag in her hand, which she placed in her lap. Her red hair was done in two thick braids, Anne of Green Gables-style. It was distractingly fetching. ¡°Huh? I¡¯m not brooding.¡± ¡°You¡¯re doing something, and people are noticing.¡± She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like some sort of candied nut, then popped it into her mouth. She was someone who closed her lips when she chewed so I could barely hear it crunch between her teeth. Thank goodness, I can''t stand the sound of mastication. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking,¡± I said. ¡°Is that what you call it? Well, you should stop it and try being a bit more social. People are intimidated enough by you as it is without you lurking here all alone looking scary.¡± ¡°They¡¯re what?¡± How could anyone be intimidated by me? ¡°Forget it,¡± she said. She ate another nut. ¡°I¡¯ve actually been doing a lot of thinking myself.¡± Grateful for the change of topic, I turned to face her. ¡°What about?¡± Jane didn¡¯t answer at first, but just sat beside me fidgeting with the pommel of her rapier. ¡°Can I be honest with you?¡± ¡°Uh, sure?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty freaked out these days,¡± she said in a quiet voice. She took the opportunity to eat another nut. ¡°You? That¡¯s...why are you freaked out?¡± She turned to face me and I could see her green eyes weren''t as sparkly as usual. ¡°What do you think happens to the Players who don¡¯t come back?¡± ¡°The dead-dead? Who knows? They¡¯re probably sent home.¡± ¡°Do you really believe that?¡± she said. ¡°Maybe. Or maybe they¡¯re somewhere else. Maybe there¡¯s a whole other game beyond this one. Just imagine, they meet their truck-kun here and then¡ª¡± ¡°Truck what?¡± ¡°Truck-kun. It¡¯s kind of a joke. In a lot of isekai stories someone gets run over by a truck before getting reincarnated into another world. So it¡¯s¡ª¡± ¡°You know what? Never mind. I get it, it¡¯s some nerd truck thing. You were saying?¡± ¡°Uh, I was saying maybe after a Player dies-dies here they get isekai¡¯d again. They get reincarnated into yet another world. Into another game like this one. Or like this one but different, like maybe with a science fiction space opera theme. Who knows? Or maybe they get recruited by management to take control of monsters and fight against us. That¡¯d be pretty cool, actually.¡± ¡°Or maybe they¡¯re just dead-dead,¡± she said. ¡°Gone forever. Murdered.¡± I¡¯d never seen Jane like this. She was genuinely freaked out. Then it occurred to me, she was one of the few Players I knew who hadn¡¯t experienced death and respawn at least once by now. ¡°Are you afraid of dying?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s not it. I mean yes, but that¡¯s not it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so bad. Respawning is kind of nice, like waking up refreshed after a long sleep.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s really bothering you, Jane?¡± ¡°What if I killed them?¡± she said. ¡°What if the last thing they ever saw before dying for real was me shoving this sword into them?¡± Okay, this was really confusing. I mean, I got it, after the battle at the elf village I¡¯d wondered the same thing when I heard that some of the Players didn¡¯t respawn: was I the one who killed them? But what really baked my noodle is why the protagonist would reveal her worries and insecurities to me? Side characters were only supposed to see her strong, confident, heroic side. These dark parts should only get revealed to a trusted sidekick like Sigrid. Wait, did that mean I¡¯d been promoted? Had I unlocked a new title, the Hero¡¯s Confidante or something? I felt movement against the side of my leg, and looking down I saw Squishy the slime oozing its way onto my lap. ¡°Hey you,¡± Jane said as she reached down to retrieve it. ¡°Who said you could escape your pouch, huh? Naughty Squishy.¡± She held the creature in the crook of her arm and stroked it like she was petting a cat while dropping nuts on top of it. They sank into the slime to be digested. ¡°Let me ask you this,¡± I said. ¡°What would you do if another Player was trying to kill you?¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Jane shook her head. ¡°I see where you¡¯re going but it¡¯s different.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve killed other Players in quests before, but they always came back. And even if it was self defense, I think that one of the Players I killed in the elf attack...¡± ¡°Do you think it¡¯s a coincidence that those Players died-died in the attack?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean, a coincidence?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve wondered the same thing as you so I¡¯ve asked around, and from what I can tell nobody ever died-died for real in a quest where you competed against another team, only when fighting monsters.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, ¡± she said, pursing her lips. ¡°Is it a coincidence that it only happened this time when Players started going rogue and being the aggressors for no good reason?¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying those Players died-died as punishment?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying I think there are consequences to all our actions, that¡¯s all. Those Players attacked first, not as part of any quest, and the elves were merely defending themselves. And you were defending the elves. Anything you may or may not have done to contribute to the deaths of those Players was not your fault. They brought it upon themselves.¡± ¡±I suppose you¡¯re right,¡± she said. I could tell she didn¡¯t really believe me, as much as she wanted to. She''d stopped petting Squishy, her hand resting on it without moving. The other hand hovered over it holding a nut. It looked like she was teasing the slime, but I was pretty sure she''d just forgotten about the nut, lost in her own thoughts. Then her head snapped around and she looked at me with narrowed eyes. ¡°Did you just imply that elves are monsters?¡± she said. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You said Players have only ever died-died when fighting monsters. Players died fighting elves, ergo elves are monsters.¡± ¡°Solid logic, Jane.¡± She smiled for the first time since sitting down. ¡°I dare you to call an elf a monster to its face.¡± ¡°I¡¯m finally starting to enjoy life so I¡¯d rather not, thanks. But Jane, you made a really good point.¡± ¡°I did? I mean, yeah, of course I did. I¡¯m sure I made several so could you remind me which one you¡¯re referring to exactly?¡± ¡°Players have only ever died-died when fighting monsters.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re not a monster.¡± She opened her mouth and I could tell a joke was coming, but then her eyes widened. I could practically see the light bulb go on over her head. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m a Player. And no Player has ever died for real when fighting another Player.¡± Unfortunately, the brightness only lasted a few seconds, then the light bulb went out and the dark cloud returned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I said. ¡°Yet,¡± she said. ¡°No player has killed-killed another Player yet. Or, maybe they have. Maybe I was the first.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that I wasn¡¯t." I pondered what to say for a few moments, watching Squishy extend a protoplasmic arm up to the nut she still held over it. She startled when it poked her hand, then gave the nut to the slime. ¡°I had a therapist tell me once that given a situation with two possibilities, neither of which we can prove or disprove, it comes down to which one you choose to believe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not big on faith,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Me neither.¡± We sat in companionable silence for a bit, then Jane spoke up. ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t that your new girlfriend down there?¡± I followed her gaze to the arena floor, where Petal was standing on one side, bow in hand, aiming at a target on the other side. The current demo was an archery contest, and there had been a bunch of targets and archers earlier. Now it was down to only one target and two archers. Beside Petal, bow in hand, was Kay. ¡°Which one, Petal or Kay?¡± Jane punched me in the arm. ¡°Just how many girls are you courting, anyway?¡± I laughed. ¡°You caught me. I¡¯m trying to build a harem with every woman I meet. When are you going to join?¡± Her face took on a serious expression. ¡°Some girls don¡¯t like to share, you know.¡± ¡°I was joking,¡± I said. ¡°Remember, it¡¯s me we¡¯re talking about.¡± Once again Jane opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it and closed it again. We watched Kay and Petal take turns firing arrow after arrow into the target, neither of them ever missing the bullseye. ¡°How am I supposed to fight other people now, knowing it¡¯s possible I could kill them for real?¡± Jane said out of nowhere. ¡°Simple,¡± I said. ¡°Find non-lethal ways to remove them from the fight.¡± ¡°Easy for you to say.¡± ¡°It should be easy for you too, Miss Master Of None.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a gamer!¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to do these things.¡± ¡°Jane,¡± I said softly, ¡°do you want me to help you?¡± She turned her giant green eyes on me. They were lined with red, and wet with the threat of tears, but the sparkle had returned. ¡°Please?¡± Wow, I had never imagined seeing her like this, so troubled. I realized just then that I¡¯d failed to live up to the promise I¡¯d made to myself to help and support Jane, the hero. To be honest, I hadn¡¯t believed there was much I could do to anything before, but now I saw an opportunity where maybe, just maybe, I could actually do something to help her. ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°You can count on me.¡± ¡°Good,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s about time you did something with me. You¡¯re always off with Sigrid or Morgan or some monster chick. I want my turn.¡± ¡°Monster chick?¡± ¡°I heard about the sexy Doppelgangers you hang around with in the labyrinth, and there¡¯s that she-elf down there who¡¯s been attached to your hip all day,¡± she said, pointing down at the arena floor. ¡°So now you¡¯re the one saying elves count as monsters?¡± I said, jabbing my elbow gently into her side. She jabbed her elbow back at me, not nearly as gently. ¡°Well I¡¯m pretty sure Petal wants to sink her claws into you, so I¡¯d say so, yeah.¡± ¡°Ignoring how absurd that is, you seemed pretty interested in those hunky elf dudes back at their village.¡± ¡°I was just being Sigrid¡¯s loyal wing-woman.¡± I laughed. ¡°She was practically drooling over them, wasn¡¯t she? You think maybe she¡¯s got a thing for pointy ears?¡± ¡°She does like her pretty boys,¡± Jane said. ¡°And you don¡¯t?¡± Jane took a few moments to consider her answer. ¡°I do appreciate nice wrapping paper, but I¡¯m more interested in the quality and thoughtfulness of the gift inside.¡± ¡°Spoken like a woman who can have any man she wants. You can afford to be so picky. Must be nice.¡± ¡°You think I can have anyone, eh?¡± ¡°Jane,¡± I said, ¡°stop fishing for compliments. Surely you must know how other people see you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m in a vulnerable emotional state so tell me anyway.¡± I sighed. ¡°There¡¯s a reason you¡¯re the center of attention any time you walk into a room.¡± ¡°Go on. Why is that?¡± ¡°Jeez. So needy.¡± She leaned against me and put her head on my shoulder, one of her braids falling over my shoulder and tickling my neck. ¡°Just tell me.¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re the main character.¡± She sat up straight again. ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t know what you mean by that. Is that another nerd thing?¡± ¡°It means that you really could have anybody you want, man, woman, and everyone in between. Even an elf.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± she said. I tried to stifle a laugh and it came out as a snort. ¡°Me? Heh, I¡¯ll take what I can get.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not...forget it.¡± She grabbed my arm and wiped the remnants of the tears from her eyes on the sleeve of my fancy elven jacket. ¡°So when do I get to have my turn with you?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You promised to teach me how to not kill people, remember?¡± She used her grip on my arm to pull us together. ¡°Why, what did you think I meant, hmmm?¡± Aaaaand, she was back, folks. There was the Jane I knew and... I sighed. ¡°Right. I¡¯m yours whenever you want me.¡± I knew she was teasing, but I couldn¡¯t help thinking that if this was a movie, it¡¯d be the perfect place for a montage. Cue the cool song over quick cuts between flashes of me helping Jane figure out how to use her abilities to incapacitate people in various ways without killing them. Maybe we¡¯d run up a big flight of stairs and raise our arms in victory at the top. If there was a rom-com element to the movie, there could be scenes where she failed hilariously and fell on top of me in suggestive ways, then my patience, kindness, and competence gradually won her heart and I¡¯d somehow become the one she wanted. I quickly nipped this absurd fantasy in the bud. This wasn¡¯t a rom-com, I wasn¡¯t really any of those things, and life isn¡¯t like in the movies, is it? In real life, the popular girl never falls for the dorky guy. Chapter Eighty-Nine - What is with all the men around here? Once the archery contest ran out of time and ended in a draw, and with Jane beside me chomping on nuts, I realized that my alone time was over. There were still hours to go before the banquet so I decided to go get something to eat. Sadie¡¯s skewers were calling to me. I¡¯d been so busy I hadn¡¯t had one in a while, and besides, I had a present for Sadie. Petal and Kay had bonded during their competition and they came along, trading fletchery tips the whole time, and of course Jane wasn¡¯t about to miss the opportunity to scarf down some steaming hot war pig. We were about to leave the town square to head down Dagger Street toward Sadie¡¯s when a group of men came strutting toward us, with Troy Hobbes¡¯ rugged mug leading the pack. Team Invinctus, number two in the rankings. I could see Troy''s steely eyes traveling across our group, stopping briefly on each of us in turn. He was evaluating us. So, naturally, I did it right back. It wasn¡¯t the whole of Team Invinctus, just half of them. There were a couple of women on the team, but the ones who were here with Troy were all men. They all had a strong set of abilities with a definite focus on melee combat. Nearly all of their affinities fell among the prime elements: Fire, Earth, Water, and Ice. And they all looked just as arrogant as their hunky leader. It was the first time I¡¯d seen Troy since the encounter with him and Kiki at the restaurant with Morgan. He gave me a curt nod, then went right up to Jane. She¡¯d been chatting with Kay and Petal, but he interrupted them without a second thought. He had no time for Kay or the NPC, he only had eyes for Jane. ¡°Hello there,¡± Troy said. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again, Mary-Jane.¡± She looked up at him, her face shifting from the animated smile she¡¯d worn a moment before to a total stoneface as quickly as a Nascar''s gears coming out of a corner. ¡°Oh. Hello,¡± she said dryly. ¡°Trevor, was it?¡± I would¡¯ve been mortified if someone like Jane got my name wrong, but to his credit he didn¡¯t wince or anything, rather his annoyingly handsome face simply spread into a wider smile. He and I were clearly playing the game of life on a different difficulty setting. ¡°Close,¡± he beamed, ¡°it¡¯s Troy.¡± He stepped forward, not only getting closer to her but also inserting himself between Jane and me. He was awkwardly close so I reflexively took a step backward. Without missing a beat, he shifted to fill the space I¡¯d opened up so I had to move back even more. He was now facing Jane and I was left staring feebly at his back. Definitely a smooth operator. ¡°Are you enjoying the festivities?¡± Jane said. ¡°The elves are something else, aren¡¯t they? Who knew they were the Nature Dungeon?¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± Troy began, but Jane didn¡¯t give him a chance to get any further, she just kept talking. ¡°And isn¡¯t it amazing how Daniel managed to get control of it? And the Light Dungeon? And all as a team of one person? How amazing is he, am I right?¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± ¡°And did you know that Petal here is Captain of the Elven Guards? She and Kay were just having an archery competition, maybe you managed to see some of it? They¡¯re both incredible.¡± Jane finally had to stop for breath and Troy made his move. ¡°I¡¯m sure neither of them can hold a candle to you, Mary-Jane,¡± he said. He nodded once at the other women. ¡°No offense meant, of course. It¡¯s just that Mary-Jane here is a truly spectacular specimen.¡± Specimen? I could never be called an expert when it came to these sorts of social interactions, but didn¡¯t he just give offense to all three of them just now? How is it you''re allowed to offend people as long as you say ¡°no offense¡± first? Can confident, good-looking people really get away with stuff like that? Jane rested her hand on his chest and glanced downwards, an uncharacteristically meek gesture. ¡°You flatter me.¡± Huh. Apparently they can. ¡°You¡¯re welcome. That was my intention,¡± he said. ¡°I think you misunderstood, I wasn¡¯t thanking you.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Or maybe they can¡¯t, after all. Suddenly, Troy took a step back and bumped into me, and I realized Jane had just used the hand she¡¯d placed on his chest to give him a push. In the before days that probably would''ve knocked me over, but I''d changed. I was a lot stronger now, and sturdier, and I surpsrised myself when I didn''t budge when he backed into me. He stumbled a bit, but recovered quickly. Jane looked up again, but not at him. She was looking straight over his shoulder at me. ¡°It¡¯s not that I am opposed to being flattered. I just don¡¯t want it at the expense of the people who are important to me.¡± Troy put a hand over his chest, as though he was the one who¡¯d just been offended. ¡°I truly did not mean to do that. Perhaps I can make it up to you over dinner?¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m busy,¡± Jane said. ¡°But I didn¡¯t say when.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter.¡± There was a pause. Even though she was face to face with Troy, Jane¡¯s eyes never once flickered from mine. He must¡¯ve noticed, because he glanced back at me. ¡°I see,¡± he said. ¡°You know Daniel,¡± Jane said. It wasn''t a question. ¡°We¡¯ve met,¡± he said. This time he didn''t glance, he turned to look a me. ¡°Weren¡¯t you with another girl last time I saw you?¡± ¡°Probably,¡± I said. Over his shoulder, I noticed Jane and Kay both crack a smile. ¡°I see,¡± he said again, although I wasn¡¯t sure what it was he saw. This whole exchange was zooming over my head. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. When Troy turned back to face the women all trace of their amusement was gone. He focused on Jane again. ¡°Perhaps your schedule will clear up sometime in the near future, Mary-Jane, when you have fewer distractions. I shall look forward to that dinner.¡± Then he turned toward me again. ¡°As for you. I hope you enjoyed your time with the elves.¡± ¡°You said that like it¡¯s over,¡± I said. ¡°Hmmmm. Did I?¡± Before sauntering off, he nodded once at my companions. ¡°Ladies.¡± Then he sauntered away, his teammates following obediently. Something about their smirking faces made me uneasy. ¡°Jesus, that guy,¡± Kay said after they were out of earshot. ¡°What¡¯s with the Mary-Jane thing?¡± I explained how her name showed up on her Status and Kay howled. ¡°Guess he thought he was being smooth,¡± she said. Jane sighed. ¡°Probably works for him most of the time.¡± ¡°True,¡± Kay said. ¡°He is awfully pretty.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Jane said. ¡°Nice wrapping paper, but...¡± ¡°You¡¯d make a good pair,¡± I said. When I saw anger flare in Jane¡¯s eyes I quickly added, ¡°Superficially speaking. You¡¯re both, ah, well wrapped.¡± ¡°Nice save,¡± Jane growled, then she grabbed my arm. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go get some orc meat.¡± Less than a minute later, after we¡¯d started down Dagger Street toward Sadie¡¯s, we saw Chika up ahead. She was backed agaisnt a wall with a group of Players around her, ten of them, all men. A quick evaluation showed they were all members of Team Overgeared. Most of them would¡¯ve been about my age, some maybe a bit older. I didn¡¯t need Sigrid¡¯s ability to know that there was danger afoot. ¡°What is with the men around here?¡± I grumbled, and stormed over to the group. As I approached, I overheard one of the men talking to Chika. He had to be at least twice her age. ¡°Come watch the martial arts display with me.¡± ¡°Uh, no thanks,¡± Chika said. ¡°Come on, I thought you¡¯d be interested in that. Winner of the big tournament and all.¡± ¡°Really, uh, it¡¯s okay,¡± Chika said, her eyes darting around. She saw me, and her eyes widened. ¡°Everything okay here, Chika?¡± I said in a loud voice. ¡°Well...¡± she began. The men all looked back to see who was interrupting them and the guy talking to her said, ¡°Who¡¯s this?¡± ¡°A friend,¡± I said. He turned back to her. ¡°So you¡¯re Chika, eh? Cute name for a cute girl.¡± I stopped behind him. ¡°I think it¡¯s time you guys moved on.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry yourself,¡± the man said to me without looking back. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not in the least bit worried about Chika. If push comes to shove, she can handle herself against the likes of you. I am a bit concerned about you though, so I thought I ought to step in to remind you that this, what you¡¯re doing right now, it¡¯s not okay.¡± He kept his back to me. ¡°Huh? We¡¯re just talking, right Chika?¡± Something about the way he said her name made me shudder. Jane and the others appeared beside me. I could feel my ire rising. I¡¯m not usually a confrontational sort of guy, but it was like something suddenly snapped inside of me. Like that time went I went off on Chuck and Greg, or the exchange that had given Shannon a name. Only this time it was worse. ¡°Oh please,¡± I said, disgusted. I pushed past to stand between him and Chika, then I turned on him. ¡°Come on, how old are you? She¡¯s a kid. That¡¯s not okay. What the hell is with this place that it makes assholes think they can do this shit?¡± I saw Jane looking at me, her mouth agape. Then she saw me notice and her expression changed about twelve times in one second, finally landing on her default: amusement. ¡°Oh no,¡± she said, ¡°you made Daniel swear. You are fuuuuucked now.¡± That made Chika smile. ¡°Hey, I know this guy,¡± one of the other men said. ¡°It¡¯s the elf boy.¡± This made older creep hitting on Chika give me a once over, then grinned. "Well so it is." "And that hot chick there''s on Maple Leaf," said a different guy. Pervy McPervington then turned to see who the hot chick was. Jane, Petal, and Kay all crossed their arms over their chests and glared at him. Honestly, that could''ve refered to any of them, but only Jane was on Team Maple Leaf. The creep looked back at me and grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are, Elf Boy, you really think you and your girlfriends here can stop us?¡± ¡°Oh you did not say that,¡± Jane said, followed by the soft thwip of her rapier drawing free from its scabbard. At the same moment, Kay had somehow made an arrow appear nocked and ready in her bow, while Petal crouched low like a leopard ready to pounce, her twin knives held at the ready. Following Jane¡¯s lead, Chika also flowed smoothly into a state of combat readiness with her trademark grin stretching from ear to ear, that single little fang poking over her bottom lip. ¡°Honestly? Yeah,¡± I said to the foolish man. The Overgeared men all moved to draw their weapons too, but the main instigator gestured for them to stand down. He chuckled and a couple of his teammates joined in. It seemed forced, but it still pissed me off. "You''ve got balls, that''s for sure," he said. "But I think your luck has given you a big head. Now I''m tempted to give you a dose of reality." I was about 90% sure he was bluffing. There''s no way he''d be dumb enough to start something now with the festival going on and clan security on high alert. Make that 80% sure, he might be that dumb. I decided to call his bluff. I tore a page from Troy¡¯s book and took a step closer to Jerky McJerkface, forcing him to back up. ¡°Hey,¡± I said in a conspiratorial tone, ¡°if you¡¯re serious, I¡¯ll even give you a handicap. You pick any one of us and that person will just stand by and watch. Sound fair?¡± ¡°Oh, I like that,¡± Jane said. ¡°I want to know who they¡¯ll pick,¡± Kay said. ¡°Yes, I¡¯d like to know who they think is the strongest one among us,¡± Petal said. Chika snorted. ¡°It¡¯s obvious, isn¡¯t it?¡± There was a pause, then at the exact same moment all four women said: ¡°It has to be me.¡± The guy looked at me with a what¡¯s going on? kind of expression. I shrugged. We never did find out who they thought posed the most threat because at that moment all of the guys jolted. If we¡¯d been back on Earth where there were cellphones I would¡¯ve guessed they¡¯d all felt their phone vibrate with a text message, all at the same time. I would¡¯ve been right, more or less. A few of them reached for something in their pockets, and when they pulled their hands out again I noticed they were holding a small, glowing cube. ¡°Lucky for you,¡± the lead pervert said, ¡°we¡¯ve got somewhere else to be.¡± Then he looked directly at Petal and leered before the group of them rushed off toward the center of town. Why¡¯d he look at Petal that way? I put my hand gently on Chika¡¯s shoulder. She looked as unphased as ever, but I could feel her trembling. ¡°You okay, Chika?¡± The girl looked up at me and grinned. ¡°Never better.¡± Even I knew she was lying, but if she didn¡¯t want to talk about it I wasn¡¯t about to force her. I moved my hand to the top of her head and ruffled her hair a bit. ¡°That¡¯s my girl. We¡¯re getting some war pig, wanna come with?¡± ¡°Yeah! Deffo! Let¡¯s go, Onii-chan!¡± She lifted my hand off her head and clung to it as she started skipping down the street toward Sadie¡¯s, dragging me with her. I looked back, about to ask for help, but when I saw Kay give me a thumbs up and Jane smile, I stayed quiet and let Chika have her fun. I¡¯d never been anybody¡¯s big bro before. Chapter Ninety - Stop staring at my ears As we made our way down the street, I felt a tug on the back of my jacket. When I looked behind me, there was Kenji. ¡°Hey Kenji, what¡¯s happening? Enjoying the day?¡± I said. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said in a quiet, timid voice. I almost didn¡¯t hear him. ¡°Um, you¡¯re welcome, I guess. But what are you thanking me for?¡± His eyes darted to his sister, who had let go of my hand and was skipping along ahead of us with Petal, Jane, and Kay. ¡°For helping Chika.¡± ¡°You saw that?¡± Kenji nodded, his eyes still on Chika. I knew it, he really was a total siscon. I patted the boy¡¯s head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t let anything happen to either of you,¡± I said. ¡°After all, I need to get you both back to your parents safe and sound.¡± ¡°They must be pretty worried,¡± he said. ¡°Do you think the people back home know what happened to us?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°But it must¡¯ve been pretty weird to have so many of us vanish at the same time.¡± ¡°I wonder what they think happened?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you, but I¡¯m willing to bet nobody back home suspects we were all isekai¡¯d.¡± He laughed at that. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯d take a whole fleet of truck-kuns.¡± ¡°Or one nefarious alien. You coming with us for some food?¡± ¡°Naw,¡± Kenji said. He looked longingly down at the knives strapped to my thighs. ¡°The elves are gonna do a demonstration of their crazy knife fighting technique. I wanna see that.¡± ¡°It is pretty cool,¡± I said. ¡°You go have fun. I¡¯ll keep an eye on your sister for you.¡± I went to pat his head again, but when I reached over he was already gone. He¡¯d done his ninja disappearing act and I hadn¡¯t even noticed. That kid. When we reached Sadie¡¯s food stand we ran into Sigrid there, already munching on a skewer. ¡°Great minds,¡± she said. Sadie flashed us a gap-toothed grin. ¡°Back fer more already?¡± ¡°More?¡± I said. ¡°Already?¡± Sadie waved her chipped knife in Jane¡¯s direction. ¡°Okay, so I may have already been here today,¡± Jane said, and held up five fingers. Sadie nodded, and began putting the finishing touches on five of the skewers already sizzling on the grill. ¡°I¡¯ve brought you something, Sadie,¡± I said. ¡°Consider it a thank you for so many fine meals.¡° ¡°Oh aye,¡± Sadie said, eying me with open suspicion. ¡°I¡¯ll just put it there behind you, shall I?¡± Without waiting for a reply, I pulled from my inventory a number of large packages wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string, and stacked them in the alley behind the cart. Then I created some blocks of ice and arranged them around the pile. ¡°I hunted you some war pigs,¡± I said. ¡°I even took the liberty of, er, processing them for you, and the ice should keep them from spoiling. So there you go.¡± ¡°Oh aye,¡± Sadie said, as though I had just told her I thought it might rain later rather than dumping six orcs worth of meat on her figurative lap. But she now looked at me with something other than suspicion. I can¡¯t be sure, but the look she gave me might have almost been one of approval. She took our skewers off the grill and held them out. ¡°Five silvers.¡± Jane grabbed the food and left me with the bill. ¡°Five silvers?¡± I said. Was this just more of Sadie¡¯s shady math or did the price go up? ¡°Special event pricing,¡± Sadie said with a shameless grin. All that free meat and she still price gouged us. Sheesh. I reached into my pouch and pulled out one gold coin. Sadie clawed it out of my hand and it disappeared somewhere inside her many layers of ragged clothing. Then she fished around in some hidden pocket and pulled out a handful of silver and began counting them out. ¡°One, two, three.¡± Then she held them out for me. ¡°Yer change.¡± I stared at her. She stared back. Her hand was still outstretched with the three silver coins on her greasy palm. I continued to stare at her. ¡°If you¡¯re not even going to give us a freebie after we gave you all that meat, you can at least give me the correct change.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± she said, and took back one of the silvers, offering me two, shameless grin still in place. I sighed and pocketed the blatantly incorrect change. ¡°Never change, Sadie,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t know how,¡± she said, somewhat cryptically, then set to work cooking more skewers. I found Jane and collected my snack. ¡°By the Green, this is delicious,¡± Petal said. ¡°We eat orc all the time, but this has such a different flavor.¡± ¡°Maybe we should get Sadie to open a franchise in the elf village,¡± I said. ¡°Do you think she would?¡± Petal said, eyes shining with hope. I took a glance back toward Sadie¡¯s cart. She was busy fishing chunks of meat out of her bucket and threading them onto fresh skewers. She paused to sniff one of them, grimaced, made a surreptitious glance around to see if anybody was watching, then impaled the questionable meat onto the stick. ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°What a shame,¡± Petal said, taking another bite. She closed her eyes and a dreamy look came over her face. We enjoyed our snack as we wandered the streets for a while, ducking into various shops to do a little browsing. Petal was keenly interested in the sorts of wares they carried, but looked less impressed with them as she had been with Sadie''s skewers. I couldn''t blame her, the stuff here was of much lower quality than what she was used to. If we could get elven goods into these stores we''d make a killing. After about an hour we found ourselves near Sadie''s cart again. Jane looked at Petal. Petal looked at Jane. Nothing was said out loud, but an understanding had obviously been reached. "Be right back," Jane said, and dashed over to the cart. "She''s insatiable," I said. "You haven''t seen the half of it," Sigrid said. "You guys are talking about food, right?" Kay said. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "Yup," I said at the same time Sigrid said, "Nope." When Jane returned with two more skewers, she gave one to Petal and started in on the other herself. "Hey, where''s mine?" Sigrid said. "I don''t want you to ruin your dinner," Jane said between mouthfuls. "Gee, thanks, Mom," Sigrid said, grabbing Jane''s wrist and bringing her skewer close enough to take a bite from it. "Hey!" Jane said and yanked it back. "Rude!" Sigrid chuckled as she chewed her stolen morsel. Petal was about to take bite from hers when her expression changed and she cocked her head slightly, as though listening to something. ¡°Petal? You okay?¡± Kay said. ¡°A whistle from the village,¡± Petal said. Kay frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything.¡± ¡°The elves communicate over distance with these whistles that other people can¡¯t hear,¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh, so like a dog whistle,¡± Kay said. ¡°You can hear it here all the way from the village?¡± ¡°It is being relayed,¡± Petal said. ¡°Several of our people were ensconced along the route in case the need to convey messages arose.¡± ¡°Smart,¡± Kay said. Petal pointed at me. ¡°It was his idea.¡± ¡°Figures,¡± Jane said. ¡°How come I can¡¯t hear it?¡± I said. ¡°I was always able to hear the whistles when I was in the village.¡± ¡°You were different then,¡± Petal said shiftily. ¡°Different, how was I...oh. Yeah. Right. I was different.¡± Jane looked back and forth between us. ¡°Are either of you going to explain what you¡¯re talking about or am I going to have to jab you in the eye with this?¡± she said, holding up the pointy stick that only moments before had been packed with war pig, but was now empty save for some residual juice. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to do something and I don¡¯t want you to freak out.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re freaking me out,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What is it?¡± Jane said, looking excited. ¡°This,¡± I said, and I used one of my new powers. Remember I said I got another ability when I got the Defender Of The Green title? Yeah, that¡¯s the one I used. It felt weird, like pins and needles over my entire body. I never did get used to that sensation. ¡°Oh there it is,¡± I said. ¡°I can hear the whistle now.¡± Powers: Stop Staring At My Ears: Adept - Turn into an elf For a few long moments, nobody said anything. We were just standing there in the middle of the street: me, surrounded by five women, all ogling me. ¡°Holy shit, Daniel,¡± Jane said. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal, really. It¡¯s just something that came with Defender Of The Green.¡± ¡°Yeah, holy shit,¡± Sigrid said. I could feel all their eyes on me. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Now you¡¯re freaking me out.¡± ¡°Well, how do I put this?¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re freaking gorgeous, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah, that works,¡± Jane said. ¡°So I guess you do have a thing for pointy ears,¡± I said. ¡°Who me?¡± Sigrid said, mouth still agape as she stared at me. ¡°Apparently so.¡± ¡°Now I know why this power is called Stop Staring At My Ears.¡± Sigrid started looking around frantically. ¡°Where¡¯s Morgan? She needs to see this.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I said. Sigrid answered by cuffing me on the back of the head, then clapped her hand over her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to smack you, it¡¯s just instinct.¡± ¡°I know, you do it all the time,¡± I said. ¡°But this is the first time you¡¯ve ever apologized.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± she said as she openly leered at me. ¡°You do realize you¡¯re treating me completely different now just because of how I look. You of all people should see how wrong that is.¡± Sigrid grimaced. ¡°I know, but...god damn, Daniel. I mean, it¡¯s not that you were bad looking before, but holy shit.¡± ¡°Gee, thanks. Not bad looking? Stop with the excessive flattery or I¡¯ll get a big head.¡± ¡°You know what I mean,¡± Sigrid said, taking a step closer and sliding her hand down my arm, squeezing my bicep. ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Kay said. ¡°You¡¯ve always been cute in a sorta, I dunno...¡± ¡°Dorky way?¡± Jane said. Kay laughed. ¡°Yeah, that works.¡± A not bad looking dork. Great. I mean, I¡¯d always known that¡¯s what I was, but it still smarted when someone else said it. Especially these someone elses. Jane grabbed my other arm and pressed against me. ¡°Aw, don¡¯t go all sulky, Daniel. Didn¡¯t you hear us? You¡¯re pretty cute even when you look like a boring old human.¡± ¡°No I¡¯m not,¡± I said. ¡°Arthur¡¯s cute.¡± Sigrid shook her head, sending a flurry of thick blonde hair cascading. ¡°Oh no, Arthur¡¯s not cute. He¡¯s handsome.¡± ¡°Mmm, so handsome,¡± Jane said. Kay nodded in agreement. ¡°What about Sam? I thought he was handsome.¡± ¡°No, Sam¡¯s just plain hot,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Super hot,¡± Jane said. Kay nodded again, and this time Chika joined her. ¡°I see,¡± I said. ¡°Well, at least I¡¯m cute.¡± ¡°Pretty cute,¡± Jane corrected, emphasizing the adverb. When she saw my reaction she quickly added, ¡°Hey, there¡¯s nothing wrong with that. I¡¯m pretty cute, aren¡¯t I?¡± ¡°You? No you¡¯re not, you¡¯re...¡± Jane squeezed my arm tighter. ¡°I¡¯m what?¡± ¡°Never mind.¡± ¡°Nuh uh. If I¡¯m not cute, what am I?¡± ¡°You¡¯re fishing again,¡± I said. ¡°Come on, Jane. Give the poor guy a break,¡± Sigrid said, who¡¯d gone from rubbing my arm to caressing my cheek. I slapped her hand away and she pouted. ¡°Meanie.¡± ¡°I wanna know,¡± Jane insisted, pressing herself against me and turning those green eyes on me full force. ¡°What am I, Daniel?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t make me say it,¡± I said. She brought her lips dangerouly close to my pointy ear. ¡°Now I really want to know.¡± ¡°Jane,¡± Sigrid said, a hint of warning in her voice. Jane let go of my arm and took a half-step back, but her big green eyes kept staring at me. ¡°Go on, tell me. I can take it.¡± ¡°You really think I¡¯m gonna say something bad? Come on, Jane. You¡¯re not cute, you¡¯re stunning.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Jane said, looking away coquettishly. ¡°What about me, am I cute?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Cute doesn¡¯t come close to describing you either,¡± I said. ¡°So what am I?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Hey Siggy, give the poor guy a break, huh?¡± Jane said. ¡°Quiet you,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Sigrid, you¡¯re like Sam,¡± I said. ¡°You think I¡¯m hot!¡± Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. ¡°Oh please, everyone does.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true, you are really hot,¡± Jane said. Kay and Chika nodded in agreement again. Chika bounced in front of me. ¡°What about me? Am I cute?¡± I put my hand firmly on top of her head to stop the bouncing. ¡°You are not allowed to ask me that.¡± ¡°Aw, why not?¡± ¡°You¡¯re too young.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m sixteen,¡± she said, pouting. ¡°Exactly,¡± I said. ¡°Such a meanie,¡± Chika said, but she smiled when I petted her smooth black hair. ¡°Sigrid,¡± I said, ¡°could you please stop looking at me like that?¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just reeeeeally liking the ears and...well, all of it. You should totally stay like this,¡± Sigrid said. Petal, who¡¯d been trilling a message back to the village through the relay, took the wooden whistle out of her mouth. ¡°That¡¯s what I said! He looks so much better this way.¡± ¡°Wait a second,¡± Jane said. ¡±Shouldn¡¯t you be, like, rushing back to the village to help? Doesn¡¯t the whistle signal an emergency?¡± ¡°It depends how you blow it,¡± I said. ¡°The whistle can convey all kinds of messages.¡± ¡°Like Morse Code?¡± Kay said. ¡°Kinda.¡± I took a casual nibble from my skewer. Sigrid watched me like she was hoping I¡¯d leave some sauce on my cheek so she could lick it off. ¡°So what was the message this time?¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh. This one told us that another group of Players is about to attack the elf village,¡± I said, ¡°What?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Why are you just standing there?¡± ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go,¡± Jane said, clapping her hands twice. ¡°Use one of your crazy mystery thingy powers and take us to the elves. Let¡¯s go help again.¡± ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°It''s covered.¡± Chapter Ninety-One - I love it when a plan comes together ¡°What do you mean it¡¯s covered?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that a distress call just now?¡± ¡°The whistle message was only to let us know there was an attack on the village,¡± Petal said, seeing the confused faces of the others. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a call to action to come help. As Daniel said, village defense is covered.¡± ¡°You two are starting to piss me off,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re playing with us and enjoying it far too much.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°So spill, elf boy. Why aren''t you freaking out right now?¡± I raised two fingers. ¡°Two reasons: one, we were prepared this time. Every elf who remained in the village was on high alert, armed and ready. And I do mean every elf." "Aren''t all the elven guards here in the city?" Kay said. "Most of them, but you have to remember that all elves receive warrior training from a very young age, and every one is a capable fighter. They¡¯re like Fremen. Even the elves who aren¡¯t proper soldiers can hold their own in a fight.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Jane said. ¡°And I saw the Dune movies so I know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± ¡°You should read the books,¡± I said. ¡°Meh, I ain¡¯t got time to read. So what¡¯s reason number two?¡± ¡°Even though they can hold their own, I¡¯d rather they not have to. I''ve learned to stop overestimating Players and anticipated something like this might happen, but I wanted to ensure minimal casualties on both sides so I left behind a little supplementary defense force.¡± Petal snorted. ¡°Little?¡± ¡°What did you do this time, Daniel?¡± Sigrid said. She sounded worried, like I was always causing trouble or something. ¡°Nothing much. I just boosted the village¡¯s defenses with a few monsters from the labyrinth.¡± ¡°A few,¡± Petal said. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Look, I didn¡¯t want to have to fight against Players again, even scum who would stoop to a cowardly sneak attack when they thought all they¡¯d face is a bunch of civilian elves. I wanted to send a message.¡± ¡°There is no such a thing as a civilian elf,¡± Petal said. ¡°I know that, and you know that, but those other Players don¡¯t. That¡¯s what makes their actions even more unconscionable.¡± ¡°Are the elves really that tough?¡± Chika said, eyes shining as she looked at Petal. ¡°Lemme put it this way," I said. "Pit any little elf kid in the arena against any Player you choose, and I¡¯d bet on the kid.¡± ¡°What if it was you?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What if you went toe to toe with an elf kid? How young do they have to be for you to beat them?¡± ¡°Are they old enough to hold a knife in each hand?¡± I said. ¡°Then I¡¯d probably lose.¡± Petal scoffed. ¡°How can you say that?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°As long as they can hold a knife in just one hand.¡± Petal shook her head slowly. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. I do not understand your humility,¡± she said. ¡°I have trained you personally and I have fought beside you, and I would say your current prowess is enough to qualify you for a position in my Guard unit. Plus you have your magic abilities. Given that, I think you might even beat me if we fought for real.¡± I gaped at Petal. ¡°I think you have the wrong idea.¡± Petal looked confused. ¡°No, I think you do. Why be so modest? Strength is good.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not modesty,¡± Jane said. ¡°This guy actually believes the shit he says.¡± Finally. Someone gets me. Of course it¡¯s the protagonist. ¡°One question, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°How¡¯d you know that some Players would try to steal your dungeon away again?¡± ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean steal away?¡± ¡°Um, isn¡¯t that what you were worried about?¡± ¡°I just thought they¡¯d want revenge for being shot with arrows every time they tried to get past the wall before it came down, or for the last attack debacle. Or maybe that they hated me so much they¡¯d want to attack me through my dungeon. It never occurred to me that they¡¯d be after dungeon control.¡± Sigrid¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°Jesus, Daniel,¡± Jane said. ¡°I don¡¯t play your games but even I figured that¡¯s what they were after.¡± ¡°Is it even possible?¡± I said. ¡°Hey System, is it possible to gain control over a dungeon controlled by another team?¡± System: Control over dungeons is an important game element ¡°That doesn¡¯t really answer the question,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Plus: duh,¡± Jane muttered. I was used to System¡¯s evasive way of answering questions by now, but it was still frustrating. ¡°Okay, System,¡± I said, ¡°how about this: how do you gain control of another team¡¯s dungeon?¡± System: Dungeon control transfer occurs when the conditions for transfer have been met ¡°System¡¯s pretty dodgy, isn¡¯t it?¡± Sigrid said, looking exasperated. ¡°You mean it¡¯s a bit of a prick,¡± Jane mumbled. ¡°It gets like this when you ask it about something important,¡± I said. "And be careful what you say, System hears everything and is known to hold grudges." ¡°Let me try. System, what are the conditions for dungeon transfer?¡± Sigrid said. There was a bit of a delay in the response. Then: System: Dungeon control transfer conditions have not been met If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°So what does it take to meet them?¡± Sigrid said, exasperation giving way to mild anger. I put my hand on Sigrid¡¯s arm. ¡°Give it up. Trust me, it¡¯ll just keep running you in circles. One of those observers once tried to answer one of my questions when System avoided doing so, but that''s against the rules so they ended up getting muted for a while. System only reveals what System wants to reveal when System wants to reveal it.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°If you say so.¡± ¡°Hey Daniel,¡± Kay said. ¡°If you didn¡¯t want to fight Players, why did you put both your dungeons against them? ¡°Yeah,¡± Jane said. ¡°How does thoroughly crushing them jive with minimal casualties?¡± ¡°I left what I thought ought to be enough to discourage anyone from actually starting anything so there¡¯d be no fighting.¡± Sigrid narrowed her eyes. ¡°What exactly did you leave there?¡± It sounded more like an accusation than a question. ¡°Let¡¯s see, there were some centaurs¡ª¡± ¡°I know what those are!¡± Jane said. Petal rolled her eyes. ¡°Some, he says. More like a full platoon.¡± ¡°How many is that?¡± Chika said. ¡°Thirty-six.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say that is a bit more than some," Jane said. Petal nodded. ¡°Plus I saw them practice. They are nearly as good with their bows as we are, and can shoot while galloping.¡± ¡°You really did call in the cavalry this time,¡± Kay said. Sigrid was still regarding me warily. ¡°Was that all you left? Anything else?¡± ¡°Some,¡± Petal said with a playful smile. ¡°I left a few lamias¡ª¡± I said. When Jane opened her mouth to say something, I quickly added: ¡°You know how centaurs are horse on the bottom and person on top? Imagine something that¡¯s a person up top, but a giant snake on the bottom.¡± ¡°Sounds nasty,¡± Chika said. ¡°Are they nasty?¡± Jane said. ¡°Exceedingly,¡± Petal said, her smile widening. ¡°Nice,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯d like them, Jane,¡± I said. ¡°Their women are way nastier in a fight than the men.¡± ¡°Did you leave any women lampios or whatever?¡± Jane said. ¡°Lamias,¡± I said. ¡°Whatever.¡± ¡°He left only female lamias,¡± Petal said. ¡°Figures,¡± Jane said. ¡°Pervert. Are they good looking?¡± ¡°They are not unattractive,¡± Petal said, ¡°if a bit slithery.¡± ¡°Ha,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I didn¡¯t think there were any male lamias,¡± Kay said. When that received a few surprised looks, she added, ¡°Arthur and Morgan aren¡¯t the only ones who like mythology.¡± ¡°I bet he didn¡¯t leave any of his Doppelganger harem,¡± Jane said. ¡°Actually, he left the Doppelganger named Alice in charge, and...shhh, Daniel¡¯s getting upset,¡± Petal said. ¡°Uh oh,¡± Jane said, then mimed zippering up her lips. I waited to make sure they were finished. ¡°I also left a flock of harpies¡ª¡± ¡°What are those?¡± Jane said, too fast for me to preempt. ¡°Half human, half bird, now look, are you interested in this or not?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯ll stop. I promise.¡± She drew a cross with her finger over her heart. ¡°Just, did you leave anything that wasn¡¯t half human and half something else?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t blame me. The ancient Greeks seemed to like hybrid creatures. The labyrinth¡¯s full of them.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Jane said. ¡°Well that sounds like a decent deterrent force,¡± Kay said. ¡°That isn¡¯t everything,¡± Petal said. ¡°There¡¯s more?¡± Jane said. ¡°Remember the marble statues that guard the room with the three doors?¡± I said. ¡°I sent about half of them. And the cyclops ¡ª big guy, one eye, not too clever but strong as heck ¡ª and what else was there...?¡± ¡°There¡¯s still more?¡± ¡°The minotaur,¡± prompted Petal. ¡°Yes, of course,¡± I said, slapping my forehead. ¡°How could I forget him?¡± ¡°Half person, half cow,¡± Chika said, smacking her fist into her open palm. ¡°I¡¯m still ticked I didn¡¯t get to fight him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s back?¡± Sigrid said. Her face was grim. ¡°Yeah, I let him respawn. What¡¯s a labyrinth without a minotaur, you know?¡± Sigrid glared at me. ¡°The Minotaur is back. The one who very nearly killed me,¡± she said, sounding more than a bit threatening. ¡°And didn¡¯t he literally kill the last dungeon master?¡± Kay said. She avoided meeting my eyes, but I couldn¡¯t help but notice she kept glancing over at me throughout the whole conversation. Did I actually have sauce on my cheek? ¡°You think that was a good idea?¡± Sigrid said. Yep, definitely threatening. ¡°He¡¯s not so bad,¡± I said. ¡°Really! If I can be honest, from what I can tell Daedalus wasn''t very nice to the dungeon''s monsters, so maybe he had it coming. And besides, when the Minotaur fought you he was only doing his job.¡± ¡°But now he¡¯s under your control, right?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You can control him. Right?¡± ¡°Well, controlling a dungeon does not necessarily mean having complete control over everyone in it. NPCs have wills of their own that must be navigated, especially the Boss-rank ones like the Minotaur. We negotiated an arrangement.¡± ¡°What kind of arrangement?¡± Jane said. ¡°An amicable one,¡± I said. ¡°Should I ask what exactly an amicable¡ª¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Probably not,¡± I said, suspiciously fast. Sigrid glared at me a bit longer, then she sighed and her look softened. ¡°I¡¯ll give you this one. I just can¡¯t stay mad at you when you look like that.¡± ¡°Look, if you have a grudge with the Minotaur, you can take it up with him whenever you¡¯d like. In fact, you can go fight the monsters in the labyrinth anytime. Don¡¯t worry about killing them, they live in a contained dungeon so they¡¯ll respwan.¡± ¡°What about the ones that are not, well, you know...contained?¡± Jane said, glancing at Petal. ¡°The elf village is a different kind of dungeon, so the rules are different. Which is why I wanted to prevent any casualties, if possible.¡± ¡°Unlike the Minotaur and other unnatural creatures from the magical place, if I die, I die,¡± Petal said. ¡°I will not come back, I will return to the Green.¡± She looked around at us. ¡°Like any other normal being.¡± It was at times like this that the NPC AI didn¡¯t feel quite as real. Whenever we Players started to talk meta-game they translated it into ways that made sense to them. When we referred to ourselves as Players in front of Petal, she heard that as a name refering a specific group of humans who only recently settled in the city. To her, the Light Dungeon or labyrinth meant a magical place that I happened to have a strong influence over, similar to how I had a strong influence over the forest and her village. And when we said monsters, well, thankfully she didn¡¯t take the word literally, or personally. All she heard was a basket term for creatures who could come back after they died. Petal understood that the various beings from the magical place that I¡¯d left to guard her village were unnatural creatures who could come back, so it wasn¡¯t such a big deal if you killed them. Unlike the elves, who for some reason could not respawn. I assumed that was a game balance mechanic: an army of immortal elves, all fighting with group-augmented dual knife skills, would be a devastating and potentially unbalancing force. That was probably why there were so few of them too. ¡°I think I get it,¡± Jane said. She mimed lifting a box from in front of her and moving it to the side. ¡°But putting that aside, the force you left behind does sound like a bit of overkill. You sure you¡¯re not just showing off to impress someone?¡± ¡°Who would I...?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re forgetting one of your unnatural creatures,¡± Petal said. "You know." When I looked confused she put her hand on her head and wiggled her fingers. ¡°Oh yeah. I also brought back the Gorgon.¡± ¡°What the hell?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°My goal was to use overwhelming force to intimidate anyone who dared attack and make them think twice about starting something, and there ain¡¯t nobody who can intimidate like the Gorgon.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Still.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to miss having the grotto to myself, but I need the dungeon fully stocked and she¡¯s a powerhouse, despite how easy it was for us to beat her.¡± ¡°You call that easy?¡± ¡°She turned Lance to stone,¡± Kay said. ¡°Even after you killed her.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, like I said. A powerhouse. She¡¯s also not so bad once you get to know her. You¡¯d be cranky too if the only ones you ever had to talk to were nearly mindless golems who had no mouths to talk back with.¡± ¡°You make a good point,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Also, the elves are immune to her stare ¨C I am too, now that I¡¯m Great Architect ¡ª so she had a blast actually getting to interact with people when I brought her to the village.¡± ¡°You know,¡± Kay said, ¡°people only know how strong the elf soldiers are. Having the monsters from the labyrinth as the forest''s first line of defense has the extra benefit of hiding just how strong the normal elves are too. That¡¯ll make for a pretty nasty surprise for the first bunch who fights with them in earnest.¡± ¡°Like Fremen,¡± I said. ¡°But let¡¯s hope it never comes to that.¡± ¡°So what exactly did the whistle say?¡± Jane said. ¡°Only that the attack came as Daniel anticipated,¡± Petal said, ¡°and as expected his little defense force gave them second thoughts so they turned back before a full scale fight broke out.¡± ¡°You mean they actually turned tail and ran away?¡± Jane said. I laced my fingers together and cracked my knuckles. ¡°I love it when a plan comes together.¡± Chapter Ninety-Two - An uninvited guest When the banquet and afterparty were finally over and the last of the fireworks had lit up the sky, I went back to the forest with the elves. All in all, the day had been a success. A solid foundation of good relations between the city and the elves had been established and mutual trade reopened, and Players had been thoroughly discouraged from messing around in the forest. I hoped. And if they ever forgot, the stone statues of those few Players who¡¯d come across the Gorgon before they could turn tail and run were left along the path into the village as grim reminders. Even though I¡¯d taken measures against another attack, I was still kind of surprised it happened. You¡¯d think the death-death of four Players in the fiasco of the first attack would discourage another try, but I suppose the prospect of hitting the village when most of its soldiers were gone was too tasty to resist. This second attack was different, too. They¡¯d brought more attackers this time. There¡¯d been over fifty Players involved this time, several complete teams plus a bunch of unaffiliated. I can only imagine the looks on their faces when they ran into a well-coordinated ambush of over a hundred monsters who were not elves. First, a warning shot by the centaurs, laying down a barrage of arrows into the ground in front of the Players coming along the path. The ones who tried sneaking through the forest to flank the town met lamias and statues while harpies swooped down on them from the tree-tops trying to chase them away, while the Cyclops and Minotaur ran around bashing people who couldn''t take the hint. For those along the path who decided to brave the gauntlet and continue forward, the Gorgon did her best to show them the folly of their ways. None of the attackers made it far enough to see a single elf. Luckily, only a few had died before they retreated because I''d given instructions to avoid killing if possible, and everyone who had been killed had respawned. The Gorgon was responsible for most of those deaths -- it isn''t really possible for her to pull her petrifying punches -- and I did take pleasure in knowing that if those Players ever went down the path into the elf village again they¡¯d see humiliating reminders of their crushing defeat every time they looked at the stone monuments of themselves with expressions of shock and terror forever frozen on their faces. Perhaps involving the Gorgon had been a bit of overkill, but nobody, and I mean nobody, gets to mess with what''s mine. I did regret not being able to see Team Invinctus and Team Overpowered when they got beaten back, though. They¡¯d both been involved in the attack, along with Team Droogs, and I had a bit of a bone to pick with both teams. The biggest surprise was that Kiki¡¯s Team N3m3s1s wasn¡¯t part of it. And sure, I was a bit ticked that I was the only Player who didn¡¯t get the quest to attend the banquet, but I heard later that I wasn¡¯t the only Player who didn¡¯t get the Random Gift Box reward at the end: the ones involved in the attack did not get the reward either, which made that bitter pill considerably easier to swallow. At least everyone else got something. All in all, the day¡¯s goods outweighed the bads. When I finally got back to my tree house I was in for another surprise. A light was on and the silhouette of someone, or something, moved around inside. Of all the days. With a sigh, I summoned a mouse and sent it scampering in to spy. Through its beady little vermin eyes I saw that there was indeed someone in my kitchen. I immediately regretted the choice of a mouse, its eyesight wasn¡¯t great and it was difficult to make out much detail unless it was really close. I made the rodent climb up onto a counter and get as close as possible without being seen, and was able to make out that the intruder was a woman. I couldn''t see her very clearly but I could at least tell she wasn¡¯t an elf, nor anyone I recognized. She was taking something out of the oven. Whatever it was, the mouse really liked the smell of it. When she came over and put a baking sheet down on the countertop she looked straight at the mouse and smiled. ¡°Are you coming in or do you plan to spy on me all night?¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s tea ready, come before it gets cold.¡± Why today? I figured anyone who¡¯d break in to bake for me didn¡¯t pose an immediate threat, and I was tired after a long day, so I banished the mouse and entered the house myself. Although not before I took a few safety precautions, of course. Entering the kitchen, I finally got a good look at my uninvited guest. She glanced up at me from the fresh batch of cookies she''d removed from the oven with a dazzling smile. Okay, so here¡¯s the thing. You know how I¡¯ve been gushing over how beautiful Jane and Sigrid were? And Morgan. Heck, Kay was really pretty and Nina was a head-turner too. Objectively speaking, Chika was an undeniable cutie, though I could never tell her that. Even Kiki was downright foxy if I¡¯m being totally honest. And that waitress. NPCs too, like Alice and the rest of my doppels. And Petal; all the elves, really. And the Gorgon, now that I was able to get a proper look at her without turning to stone. That purple-haired ring announcer Annabelle and that pink-haired S-Ranker Akari. And...you get the idea. So yeah. Somehow I¡¯d found myself surrounded by beauty on all sides. It had been so long now since the convention where all this started, I was beginning to suspect that the re-creation of our human bodies into Player form hadn¡¯t been completely faithful. I thought that there was a good chance we¡¯d all been subtly changed to make us better looking. I mean, only a few hours earlier Jane had kind of praised my looks so you know something had to be up. I could only assume the abnormally high level of attractiveness around me was the legacy of where this scenario had been drawn from: the characters in anime and movies and comics and such are all much better looking than the people you¡¯d find in the real world. It certainly seemed to be the case here too. And yet, this mystery woman left everyone in the dust. She was incredibly gorgeous. No, scratch that: she was impossibly gorgeous. Sleek, black hair flowing down her back in soft waves. Bright silver eyes that pierced the soul when they looked at you. A face that defied description and a smile that was the sort of thing that inspired a person to write flowery prose. She wasn¡¯t dressed sexy, not at all. She was wearing an apron, which would have been alluring if there was nothing under it, but after she¡¯d carried the cookies to the counter she removed it revealing black capris and a black turtleneck sweater that she wore with a confidence that somehow elevated these simple, casual clothes to an effortless elegance. The sweater had a cozy bagginess to it, but even then it couldn¡¯t hide her lithe feminine shape. Curves in all the right places and a way of moving that oozed sensuality. It was positively jarring. Nobody looks that good. It¡¯s just not possible. Who the hell was this woman?
Daruka Demon Succubus
Powers: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Skills: [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden] [Hidden]
Well that explained it. Demon Succubus, eh? Maybe she didn¡¯t actually look as good as she seemed, maybe it was magic. Like an illusion. Or maybe it was pheromones. Or some other kind of power that only made it seem like she smashed the very concept of an idealized woman. Who knows what tricks succubi have up their sleeves to make men swoon. That must¡¯ve been why I couldn¡¯t stop looking at her. Yeah, that had to be it. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Wait. That dark hair. Those silver eyes. ¡°You were the one riding the Ant Queen,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± she said in a voice like a down-filled pillow. ¡°Although, all things considered, I probably shouldn''t be surprised. Go sit, I¡¯ll bring the tea and cookies.¡± I had no idea what was happening. It was too surreal. I could only assume I¡¯d somehow triggered a flag and entered a unique game event, so all I could do was go along with the absurdity and see where it led. First I needed to figure out why she was here, then I could figure out how to react. I didn¡¯t want this to turn into a guns a-blazing situation in the middle of elf-town. Besides, I had no idea how strong she really was so if there was a way to get through this without fighting, I¡¯d take it. I decided to see what I could learn. ¡°Before that, I have two questions,¡± I said. ¡°Whether or not we get to the second question depends on how you answer the first, and whether or not we sit and enjoy tea together depends on the second.¡± Her silver eyes widened. ¡°Are we playing a game?¡± she said. ¡°Everything is a game.¡± A look came over her face, as though a cloud that I hadn¡¯t even known was hanging overhead before had suddenly passed and now she was illuminated by a setting sun, all flushed with color and aglow with an even greater radiance. She was dazzling before, now it almost hurt to look at her. "What''s the first question?" she said, leaning forward with a big grin. ¡°Is this a social call?¡± I said. The grin drooped a bit. "Ye-e-s?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound sure.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m just not quite sure what you mean. There¡¯s a lot riding on answering this correctly.¡± ¡°What I mean is, are you visiting me socially or...professionally? By the way, the correct answer is the honest one.¡± ¡°Am I allowed to answer yes if what brings me here is a bit of both?¡± Clever demon. ¡°That sounds honest to me,¡± I said. She clapped her hands softly. ¡°Yay, I think I passed.¡± ¡°Second question. This one¡¯s a bit personal.¡± ¡°Oh I like those. Go on.¡± ¡°Where are your horns?¡± She made no effort to hide her surprise, but recovered quickly. ¡°You do realize not all demons have horns, I hope.¡± ¡°But you do.¡± ¡°How do you...?¡± she said. ¡°Oh. You saw me with the ants.¡± ¡°I only caught a glimpse of you then but it was good enough to notice the horns. I¡¯m just wondering why you had them then but not now.¡± ¡°Honest answer: I can hide them. I usually do that when talking to humans unless they have a horn kink, which you don''t, so I hid them.¡± Doppelgangers were able to read a target¡¯s mind, so it would make sense that a Demon Succubus, a wolf in woman¡¯s clothing, would have some kind of similar ability to sniff out her target''s pervy secrets. All the better to seduce you with, my dear. ¡°I¡¯d like you to bring the horns back again, please.¡± ¡°Why? Wouldn''t it be more social without them?¡± ¡°I don''t think so, because if you show your horns even though you know I don¡¯t have a fetish for horns, that means you''re not acting professionally." ¡°Because the professional thing to do would be looking as attractive to you as possible,¡± she said. ¡°And appear without horns, exactly,¡± I said. ¡°I think you just like to say horns,¡± she said with a Jane-rank smile as two small, bone-white horns spouted from just behind her temples, did a tight three-sixty curl, and ended in blunt, narrow tips not far from the edges of her eyebrows. "Wow. You actually did it." ¡°Of course. I want this to be a mostly social call from a friendly neighbor, after all," she said. "Can I at least keep my wings hidden?" Mostly social, but not entirely. Good enough. Wait, wings? "Uhhhh..." She laughed and waved her hands toward the table in a shooing motion, so I went and sat down, wishing I could see her wings. I watched her place the tea things and cookies on a tray, then pick it up and glide over to join me. I didn¡¯t know much about tea ceremonies besides what I¡¯d picked up in passing while consuming too much Japanese and Chinese light novels and comics, but I¡¯d seen a number of people pour tea here and they all used the same smooth, slow, precise movements she made while pouring the tea. Setting aside the fact that she was a demon, this was actually kind of nice. I thanked her for the tea and picked up a cookie from the tray. Still warm. ¡°Wow,¡± I said after taking a bite. The rest of the cookie quickly vanished into my mouth. It was beyond delicious. Rich, dark chocolate spotted with just enough tiny flecks of hot pepper and crunchy raw sugar sprinkles to give it a delightfully bitter-spicy-sweet aftertaste. Easily the best cookie I¡¯d ever tasted. ¡°I guess I don''t need to ask if you like them,¡± she said with a coquettish smile, "that orgasmic expression says it all." Orgasmic? I''m not even gonna touch that. ¡°They are really good,¡± I said. I noticed her smile again when I reached for another. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried I laced them with something?¡± she said. ¡°Like what? Poison? Drugs? That wouldn¡¯t be very social of you, would it?¡± Or sportsmanlike. But neither were the buffs I''d put on myself the moment I decided to enter the treehouse, just in case it wasn''t a social call. She shrugged again, an undeniably cute gesture. ¡°You¡¯re not at all what I thought a succubus would be like.¡± ¡°Am I not attractive to you?¡± ¡°Oh please.¡± Her laugh reminded me of Jane¡¯s. ¡°What did you expect a succubus would be like, then?¡± she said. Again, the thought of Jane came unbidden to my head. ¡°Flirtier, I guess¡± I said. ¡°More seductive?¡± ¡°There are, honestly, two answers to that. One is that you¡¯re not actually attracted to that kind of behavior, so if I was really trying to seduce you then I wouldn¡¯t come on all seductive, right?¡± She said it like she was challenging me. ¡°Is this a game?¡± I said. ¡°Isn¡¯t everything? But it doesn¡¯t matter because that¡¯s not the answer I¡¯m going to give you. Instead I¡¯ll go with answer number two: this is a social call. So stop being so tense, you¡¯re totally safe.¡± ¡°You make it sound like you could thrash me without breaking a sweat if you chose not to be social.¡± ¡°And that sounds to me like someone¡¯s probing to see if he could beat me if I tried to wrestle him to the ground.¡± I tried my best not to imagine being wrestled to the ground by this beguiling woman. "Sorry.¡± ¡°If it really makes you feel better knowing, I could totally thrash you.¡± Her smile told me she was being playful, but the intensity in her eyes suggested something else. That definitely sounded like a challenge. Time for a strategic change of subject. ¡°So to what do I owe the pleasure of this, how''d you put it? Social call from a friendly neighbor?¡± ¡°I wanted to meet you.¡± She picked up a cookie and took a delicate nibble. ¡°Oh these are good!¡± "How are we neighbors?" "Figure of speech," she said with a saccharine smile. ¡°Then why me?¡± ¡°You¡¯re a bit of a celebrity, you know.¡± I made a sour face that sparked a belly laugh from her. ¡°I take it you¡¯re not fond of the spotlight?¡± ¡°That would be a fair assessment,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry to say it¡¯s a bit late to avoid it now. You¡¯ve attracted a lot of attention from a lot of places.¡± ¡°That sounds ominous. Do you mean from other demons besides yourself?¡± Her eyes sparkled with mischief. ¡°Other demons? Whatever are you talking about?¡± Of course she knew I knew there were other demons. The Shadow Demon, for example, plus she¡¯d said as much when she told me not all demons have horns. She was telling me that it was not a suitable topic for a friendly discussion. ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°there are a lot more interesting and important people you¡¯d be much better off paying visits to.¡± She nodded, not so much in agreement but more to confirm that she¡¯d been expecting me to say something like that. ¡°I know a great deal about you, Daniel, including your self-deprecating humility, so I was curious. Is wanting to meet the person who managed to conquer the labyrinth and solve the blight in the elf village to see him for myself that hard to imagine?¡± ¡°I suppose not. But I¡¯m nothing special, just lucky.¡± The succubus leaned back in her chair and studied me with those astonishing silver eyes. ¡°Oh really?¡± she said. Chapter Ninety-Three - I challenge a demon to a game ¡°You know, I saw you one other time before this,¡± I said to the demoness sitting across from me. ¡°You mean besides the time you defeated my ants?¡± If she held a grudge about losing that time, she showed no sign of it. If anything, the opposite seemed true. I nodded and took a sip of the tea. Figures it was just as scrumptious as the cookies, not to mention unlike any tea I¡¯d had before. It wasn''t something I had in my cupboard, she must have brought it herself. ¡°I saw you in a vision I received when I took over the labyrinth.¡± ¡°Oh? Do tell.¡± ¡°Amazing tea, by the way.¡± ¡°Thank you. It comes from a very long way away,¡± she said. ¡°Now about this vision?¡± ¡°It was just fleeting, but I saw you leading a horde of monsters against an army of the labyrinth¡¯s creatures.¡± ¡°Interesting. You know, I ought to be very cross with you.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Do you have any idea how hard it was to convince the Minotaur to overthrow Daedalus?¡± ¡°So it was you who put him up to it," I said as a few things started clicking into place in my head. "How demonic." So that¡¯s why she was interested. I¡¯d foiled her plan with the labyrinth, and the Shadow Demon¡¯s plan with the blight. I was being assessed. She looked straight at me with those silver eyes and I got a glimpse of how easy it would be to sink into them forever. I was glad this was mostly a social call. If she¡¯d come here in her professional capacity as a demon seductress, I¡¯d probably be in deep, deep snow. It was easy to see how thrashed I¡¯d be. How would a numbskull like the Minotaur be able to resist her? "Honestly, I don¡¯t imagine it was hard for you at all,¡± I said. She leaned back and smiled. ¡°You caught me in a lie,¡± she said. ¡°He might be half bull, but he¡¯s just another man, after all. It was frightfully easy to get that beast to do whatever I wanted.¡± ¡°So the bull isn¡¯t a symbol of virility for nothing, then?¡± Another laugh. ¡°Oh dear.¡± ¡°Something the matter?¡± I said. ¡°I wasn''t sure about coming here but now I''m glad I did.¡± ¡°Why''s that?¡± When she finally stopped laughing she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll tell you.¡± ¡°A lady¡¯s gotta have her secrets, huh?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± I sighed. ¡°Well I am sorry to disappoint you,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you were expecting someone a bit more...well, a bit more.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect, but I can assure you I am not disappointed. I find you quite interesting.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice to hear. I think. I don¡¯t know if arousing the interest of a succubus is necessarily a good thing.¡± Why did I have to go and use the word arouse? She turned her silver eyes on me again, this time leaning forward and gazing at me from under the shade of the dark hair hanging around her face. I felt a lump in my throat and did my very best to keep my eyes on hers and not let them glance down to the tantalizing cleavage that her new posture revealed. I would not be that guy. ¡°Arousing the interest of someone like me is not necessarily a bad thing either, you know,¡± she purred. All that time I¡¯d spent with Jane and Sigrid over these many weeks here hadn¡¯t been wasted. I¡¯d built up some pretty strong defenses against being teased by attractive women, and I wasn¡¯t about fall for this demon temptress either. At least, not that easily. ¡°Let¡¯s play a proper game,¡± I said, changing the subject to the first thing that came to mind. I rose and went to a shelf built into the curved outer wall of the tree. I pulled out a thick wooden game board and brought it back to the table. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the new elvish game that everyone¡¯s playing here?¡± she said, looking interested. Without being told what to do, she pulled open a drawer from one side of the board. She reached in and withdrew a handful of small, smooth disks of polished stone. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t look down on me,¡± she said, studying the stones in her delicate hand. "Sorry," I said. I opened the drawer on the other side and pulled out some similar stones. ¡°I suppose you learned this game during the many days and nights you spent here in the elf village lately,¡± she said. ¡°You know where I spend my time too? You¡¯re very well informed.¡± She rewarded the complement with a coy look. So she had been watching me and she wanted me to know it. But did she know her comment told me she wasn¡¯t watching me all that closely? ¡°But your information is imperfect,¡± I said. She pursed her lips. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t learn it here. This is an old game from...far away. I was the one who taught it to the elves, and they started making these boards to play on.¡± I rolled one of the game pieces around in my hand. It was so smooth it could be polished glass, but the marbled veins of gray and blue shooting through the blackness revealed that it was natural stone. The smoothness was soothing in my fingers. ¡°These sets are quite exquisite. I have one myself,¡± she said, shaking her stones in her hand, ready to begin. Like my black ones, hers were made from similar natural stone, only they were white slashed with faint, grayish lines. ¡°I won¡¯t ask how you got your hands on one.¡± ¡°Probably for the best,¡± she said. Go is a great game. The rules are simple, but the gameplay is deceptively complex. I''ve heard it called the lazy person¡¯s chess, but that¡¯s being unfair to both games. Go has been around a lot longer than chess, and there¡¯s a reason why it¡¯s still popular today. We started to play. ¡°I think I''ve figured it out,¡± I said after placing my twentieth stone. That was the first thing either of us had said since the game had started. We were very intent on the game and it was clear neither of us wanted to lose. She¡¯d been about to place a stone, but instead withdrew her hand and leaned back. ¡°Do tell,¡± she said. ¡°For whatever reason, you want to lead monsters against the city. There has been a rash of attacks similar to your ants invasion lately, so it''s probably not an unreasonable assumption that you are behind all of them.¡± She neither confirmed nor denied the assertion but silently reached out to place her stone, so I went on. ¡°I¡¯m gonna guess, since you said we''re neighbors, that you have some kind of base or stronghold somewhere to the Northeast.¡± ¡°What makes you think that?¡± ¡°A few things. That¡¯s the direction your ants came from. That¡¯s the direction of the labyrinth. And I just happen to control the hexes to the direct East and Northeast of the city.¡± The flawlessly smooth skin of her forehead crinkled adorably as she frowned. ¡°Hexes? Like curses?¡± ¡°Sorry, I meant geographic regions.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Ah,¡± she said. The frown vanished. ¡°I¡¯m the one who should be sorry, I interrupted when you were on a roll. Do go on.¡± ¡°Assuming you are from somewhere Northeast, you''d need to cross my regions to get a straight path to the city. When Daedalus was in charge, he used the labyrinth¡¯s creatures to stop you, which is what I saw in that vision. Hence the coup you staged using the Minotaur. I imagine part of that deal gave you a free pass to move your forces through to hit the city, which would explain the recent rush of monsters moving upon it. Now there¡¯s a new sheriff in town, so you¡¯re here to scope him out and see what that means for your plans.¡± She leaned back in her chair. ¡°What an interesting theory.¡± ¡°Am I close?¡± ¡°That would be telling.¡± ¡°Another secret, huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m so glad we seem to understand each other,¡± she cooed. ¡°You think you understand me?¡± ¡°Daniel, it¡¯s my job to know the minds of men. I understand you completely.¡± ¡°Are we on a first name basis now? Shall I call you Daruka?¡± We¡¯d been playing stones throughout the conversation, but now she paused and stared at the board. ¡°Pass.¡± She¡¯d started to figure out the game had already been pretty much decided, but wasn¡¯t quite ready to throw in the towel yet so she declined her turn to place a stone. ¡°My friends call me Ruka.¡± ¡°Are we friends, Ruka?¡± ¡°I suppose we are. You just called me Ruka, after all.¡± She sighed heavily. ¡°I pass again.¡± ¡°If you understand me, Ruka, then you must know you¡¯ll need to find another path for your monsters to get to the city from now on. You can¡¯t come through my territory anymore.¡± ¡°I knew that the moment you used your labyrinth¡¯s creatures to defend your elves today. Nice move doing that, by the way. Totally unexpected. Pass.¡± Unexpected? Unexpected by whom? ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. You were behind that too?¡± She shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t you just love secrets?¡± ¡°Not as much as you, apparently. What¡¯re the odds that if I searched you I¡¯d find a cube that glows to send a signal?¡± This made her laugh again. ¡°You can frisk me if you like.¡± ¡°If you were going to deny it you should¡¯ve said what glowing cubes? Those things aren¡¯t exactly available wholesale in the city.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t miss much, do you? For the record, I was not behind the attack today, though I may have intervened just a smidge through an intermediary once I learned it was being planned.¡± I sat there trying to sort out my feelings. There was no point getting mad at her about it, just like how it was pointless getting angry with the Players she''d helped. That was the game, and we were on opposing teams. What did I expect? She was a demon, after all. It was her job to do those kinds of things. She¡¯d seen an opportunity and made a move by helping to coordinate the attack, and I¡¯d made a move to counter it. It was just a game. ¡°Better luck next time,¡± I said. She leaned back and studied me with those silver eyes. ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯m not the least bit disappointed.¡± Then she looked away and gestured at the board where my black stones had a clear and unsurmountable advantage. ¡°I resign, by the way. You¡¯ve played this game a lot, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Some. More than you, anyway, and that¡¯s the only reason I won. You¡¯re very good.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re even gracious in victory, too. It¡¯s hard not to like you.¡± ¡°Aw, you can¡¯t go around saying stuff like that right before I kick you out.¡± ¡°Kick me out? I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, ¡°but you can¡¯t do that.¡± Was she going to try to pull something? I realized I¡¯d been lulled into treating this like a normal visit, and not a sudden demonic break and enter. She placed both hands on the table and stood. ¡°I have to be the one to insist it¡¯s time for me to go before you have the chance to ask me to leave. Although it has been a pleasure, I have seen what I came to see, and I am much too busy to squander more time on such frivolous exercises. I hope you understand.¡± ¡°I understand completely,¡± I lied. I like puzzles, but I¡¯d long since given up trying to puzzle out the mystery of a woman¡¯s mind. Especially not this one¡¯s. She started toward the door, and a lot of conflicting thoughts and emotions flooded through me. One overriding thing rose above them all: I had really enjoyed this. ¡°Don¡¯t go,¡± I said. She stopped, but didn¡¯t turn around or say anything, she just stood there. I couldn¡¯t 100% trust what I was feeling, I had no idea if she was somehow manipulating it or not. But my gut and the fact that the buffs and other defenses I¡¯d put up hadn¡¯t been triggered told me she wasn¡¯t doing anything nefarious. And I genuinely enjoyed her company. ¡°I changed my mind. Let¡¯s play one more game,¡± I said. Without a word she turned around and came back. She sat. I poured her more tea. ¡°You¡¯re doing it wrong,¡± she said. ¡°Show me again.¡± I watched closely as she refilled my cup. System: You know Tea Ceremony Why did it take longer to learn this than kung fu? That is one complicated ceremony. ¡°I think I¡¯ve got it.¡± I poured her some more tea, this time using my new skill. ¡°Fast learner,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯ve no idea.¡± We cleared our respective stones off the board and started another game of Go. We played in silence for a while, then Ruka spoke up. ¡°Why did you change your mind and invite me back?¡± ¡°You mean after I was so cool and kicked you out?¡± She laughed. ¡°Yes.¡± Let¡¯s see how she would handle the naked truth. ¡°I wanted to spend more time together,¡± I said. The hand holding the stone she¡¯d been about to place hovered over the board for a moment. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t explain why, but this feels really...comfortable.¡± ¡°And here I thought you were about to say you¡¯d finally found a worthy adversary. Aren¡¯t you worried that comfortable feeling isn¡¯t just my succubus powers luring you in?¡± ¡°I considered the possibility, but I don''t think you''re using any form of coersion. If I had to guess, I''d say you¡¯re just being yourself.¡± ¡°Good guess.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t felt like this with someone since...¡± She quirked an eyebrow. ¡°Since?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s say it¡¯s been a long time and leave it at that.¡± She sighed. ¡°For the sake of harmony I won¡¯t pry, even though I am dying to know.¡± "A guy''s gotta have his secrets." I placed a stone. ¡°That was a mistake,¡± Ruka said. I frowned, not knowing what she meant, then I saw it. ¡°Darn,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d let me take that one back?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t play that way.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. Me neither. Go on, do what you have to do.¡± I¡¯d lost focus for a moment, and it cost me. The stone I¡¯d placed left me open and she quickly captured a number of my stones. It was all the opening she needed, and I wasn¡¯t able to recover. The game soon ended with her win. ¡°Well, that was humbling,¡± I said. ¡°But fun,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you for the chance to redeem myself after that first game.¡± As though reading each other¡¯s mind, we both got up at exactly the same time. I walked with her to the door. ¡°Thank you for visiting, Ruka, and for the lovely tea and cookies.¡± ¡°Thank you for an entertaining evening, Daniel. For what it¡¯s worth, I found this time together surprisingly comfortable too.¡± ¡°How about next time you give me a heads up first so I can be here when you arrive. It¡¯s considered bad manners here to enter someone¡¯s home when they aren¡¯t there.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s bad manners where I¡¯m from too. But what can I say, I¡¯m a naughty demoness.¡± I had to laugh at that. The face she made when she said it was just too cute. ¡°Wait,¡± she said. ¡°You said next time. Does that mean I¡¯m invited back?¡± ¡°That depends,¡± I said. ¡°Upon what?¡± ¡°You¡¯re invited back if next time you teach me a new game, something from the demon realm.¡± A strange glimmer danced in her silver eyes and she leaned toward me, mouth opening to say something, then it snapped shut. She stood up straight and her eyes went back to normal. ¡°You were about to say something dangerously flirty, weren¡¯t you?¡± I said. ¡°Guilty. Sorry, call it force of habit or occupational hazard, but occasionally it just slips out.¡± ¡°Just can¡¯t help yourself sometimes, huh?¡± She chuckled. ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I know other people who have the same problem.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be pleased to know I can think of a few games I¡¯d wager you¡¯d quite enjoy,¡± she said, without a hint of innuendo. ¡°Next time I¡¯ll do the tea service.¡± ¡°Then I shall look forward to you servicing me.¡± The smile that came with her comment could¡¯ve meant anything, but that time I was pretty sure the innuendo was there. Guess she really couldn¡¯t help herself sometimes. Naughty demoness. She reached into her pocket and I had to laugh when I saw what was in her hand when she pulled it out. ¡°Here,¡± she said, handing me the little cube. ¡°Take this. And don¡¯t stuff it into your extra-dimensional holding space or it won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Should I assume that when it glows I can expect a visit?¡± ¡°You should. It vibrates too,¡± she said with a wink. ¡°See you around, Daniel.¡± ¡°See you around, Ruka.¡± She peeked out the door, then seemingly satisfied that nobody was looking, walked out a few steps. She glanced back, just for a second, then disappeared in that beam me up, Scottie twinkle I saw her use to escape from the foiled ants invasion. Huh. If she could do that, why¡¯d she let me walk her to the door anyway? Maybe she can¡¯t beam away if she¡¯s not out in the open? Trying to silence the questions in my head, I stumbled to my room and crawled into bed, certain that I¡¯d wake up and realize this whole succubus thing was just a bizarre dream. But when Sigrid came to wake me up for our run in the morning I was pestered with probing questions about why my kitchen was cluttered with the shambles left behind by the baking of cookies and a Go board was still on the table beside a pot with the cold dregs of tea still left in it, and two cups. I considered telling Sigrid the truth, for all of about half a second. ¡°A guy¡¯s gotta have his secrets,¡± I said. ¡°Well look at you,¡± she said, beaming like a proud parent. ¡°You¡¯re finally learning.¡± Chapter Ninety-Four - I discover my Class I hung with the elves for the next few days after Ruka''s visit. Every morning like clockwork, Sigrid appeared in the teleportation circle and woke me up for a run. She¡¯d gotten into the habit of doing so by climbing into bed with me, which all things considered wasn¡¯t a bad way to start the morning. There wasn¡¯t any funny business, of course, just a minute or two of snuggling before a jog through the forest. When I finally ventured back into the city I remembered why I¡¯d been avoiding it. The very worst thing that came out of the elf celebration was my complete loss of anonymity. Ruka was right, I was a celebrity. Recognized immediately. Gawked at constantly. And I didn¡¯t like it one bit. Before I solved the Nature Dungeon I had blended in with the crowd. I¡¯ve always been a blender, you could call it my superpower. Well, before I actually got real superpowers. Apart from Kiki and her crew, before I got paraded in front of the entire city nobody knew who I was and nobody cared. I was never given a second look. But after I became the Nature boy everybody knew who I was. I couldn¡¯t go anywhere without being acutely aware of critical stares and harsh whispers. I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying exactly, but I could easily imagine the conversation. ¡°There¡¯s that guy.¡± ¡°What guy?¡± ¡°Him, over there. He¡¯s the guy with two dungeons.¡± ¡°Him? No way.¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s Team Player. The whole team. Just him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s the guy?¡± ¡°He¡¯s the guy.¡± ¡°I hate him.¡± ¡°I know, me too.¡± Or something along those lines. I was just waiting for some ego-driven Player to challenge me to a duel. I considered casting an illusion around myself at all times to hide my appearance, but that would''ve been a constant drain on my mana and a pain in the butt. I also thought about disguising myself as a generic NPC, but that''s also be a major pain and probably wouldn¡¯t have fooled anybody anway. When I went to the labyrinth for Alice''s progress update that¡¯s when it struck me: Doppelgangers can become someone else using their Double Your Trouble power, which meant so could I. In order to transform into a made-up person and keep my own abilities, like how the Doppels were now, I needed to have Expert mastery of Double Your Trouble, and that was never going to happen. That meant I was limited to copying a real person. The problem with that was my abilities were temporarily replaced with Novice versions of whatever the copied person had, and that wasn''t exactly ideal. Still, it was my best option. As long as I kept my nose out of trouble, and I didn¡¯t happen to come across the person I was duplicating, it should be enough to lend me the anonymity I sought. Double Your Trouble changed my voice to match the duplicated person, and I had picked up the Acting skill while watching a street performance during the elf festival, so I was pretty confident I could pass myself off as pretty much anybody. As long as nobody looked too closely. I practiced using the Doppelganger ability a lot before I tested it out in the field. The first few times I changed into a woman were...interesting; it definitely took some getting used to. It wasn¡¯t an uncomfortable or even an unpleasant feeling, not at all, but it was...different. In the end I decided to stick with becoming other men. It would have been one thing if I was creating a new persona, like the Doppels had, but copying a real woman just felt like a violation. After a lot of clothes shopping to stock my inventory with outfits of various sizes and styles for all occasions, my ability to disguise myself was complete. I chose a random, generic NPC to duplicate and hit the town. Nobody even gave me a second glance. I¡¯d fallen out of the habit of using All Shall Be Revealed on everyone I saw, but it was a good time to start checking people out again. Turning into someone else didn¡¯t just keep people from recognizing me, it let me wander freely collecting powers to copy and checking out how far people had progressed. I¡¯d expected to see a lot of powers and skills at Expert levels since that¡¯s where most of Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table were, but I didn¡¯t expect to find how so few had advanced anything past Adept. There was also a shocking number of Players out there who had nothing above Competent. I realized a few things. Somehow, I had gotten extremely lucky. I admit I¡¯d been wrong at the start. I was foolish not to see the advantages that my starting abilities had given me. But I¡¯d gone beyond that into territory I don¡¯t think any Player was ever meant to go. Out of blind luck I had managed to acquire powers in completely unexpected ways that had an unexpected synchronicity with each other. This cascade of fortune resulted in my potential to use any power, which combined with my ability to effortlessly learn any skill and work with every affinity, made me the ultimate generalist. I¡¯d found my Class: Crafty Ability Monkey. A support Class. I¡¯d also accepted that this game was absolutely not fair, and as a result I was no longer angry about being excluded from quests. It was what it was. The thing that irked me now about that was missing out on the perfect chance to see Players use their powers during quests. That versatility I was capable of was the only thing that could possibly help me from becoming useless and disposable as other Players continued to improve well beyond my Adept limit, so every new power was another potential way I could support the real Players. I saw lots of powers in people¡¯s Statuses I¡¯d like to be able to copy, but until I saw them used all I could do was dream about how I¡¯d use them. Another thing that struck me as I spammed All Shall Be Revealed was the clear difference between Players who were on teams and those who weren¡¯t. The progress of unaffiliated Players lagged far behind, and only got worse each day that passed. It made sense, Players on teams were being fed bigger quests all the time which translated into lots of experience, but from what the Round Table folks had told me there were plenty of individual quests being handed out too. If someone wanted to make progress, the opportunity was there. They just had to take it. To someone like me, who wanted to see everyone do well, and who was so limited in the progress he could make himself no matter how hard he tried, and who never got any quests assigned, it was an unforgivable waste of potential. What had these people been doing with their time? They couldn''t all be working at restaurants. These so-called Players were in need of some serious help if they hoped to be competitive. I really needed to talk to Chow Li. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Once I¡¯d made a list of powers I wanted to have access to, the next step was following people around until I got to see them used. Simply being disguised as someone else wasn¡¯t usually good enough, people didn¡¯t tend to use their powers in public places and it was kind of weird to follow them out on quests. Fortunately, between the elves and Kenji, I¡¯d picked up some abilities that made tailing them in secret not only possible but also kind of fun, too. One day I was discreetly tailing an unaffiliated Player, hoping to see him use a debuff power that I wanted. Powers: You Look Like You Could Use Some Rest - Adept: Lower a target¡¯s physical attributes Debuffs like that were rare. It was a shame that the rest of his abilities were underwhelming or he¡¯d definitely have been scooped up during the initial team recruitment frenzy. He was a young guy, out with a group of four other young and unaffiliated Players. I¡¯d seen them all together a few times in town and figured out they¡¯d formed their own unofficial team. Their stats weren¡¯t bad, either, so they¡¯d obviously been doing a lot of adventuring together. Good for them. Hidden by my stealth abilities, I followed them through the Western gate and down the road leading to the sea. Listening to them chatter as they sauntered along I was reminded of the teenagers I hung around with. Would Chika and Kenji like to make more friends their own age? They¡¯d probably get along well with this group. About a half hour outside the city, I saw a dust cloud on the road way up ahead. The last time I¡¯d seen something like that on this road was when I ran across the Silver Sword mercenaries. Sure enough, when they got close enough for my telescopic vision power to see them clearly I recognized the A-Rank NPC group who merchants often hired to escort them safely between the city and the sea. Same as before, three of them rode tauntaun-like mounts in front: their damage dealing leader, a tanky-looking woman, and an archer. Behind them, a brontosaurus-like brute hauled barges along the river. I couldn¡¯t see behind it, but based on last time there¡¯d probably be a carriage ¡ª no doubt containing the merchant who¡¯d hired them ¡ª and two more mercs bringing up the rear, another fighter-type and a mage-type. When the two groups got close enough, the leader of the Silver Sword, the bruiser Flint Vivier, growled ¡°Step aside and keep quiet.¡±
Flint Vivier Silver Sword Leader
Powers: I Can Still Hit You Way Over There - Expert: Ranged sword attack I Swing, You Fall - Master: An extra-powerful sword attack; Requires Expert mastery in Sword Respect My Authoritay - Expert: A commanding aura that demands obedience That All You Got? - Expert: Ignore an attack
Skills: Knife - Expert Leadership - Expert Sword - Master Tracking - Expert
The Players stepped off the road just like I had the time I¡¯d met Flint along this same road, compelled to do so by one of his powers. All but one Player, that is, who remained on the road, and who happened to be one with the power I was after. A quick evaluation told me why he didn¡¯t step aside like the others: he had a gift that made him impervious to being charmed.
Peter Jameson Unaffiliated
Affinity: Water - Novice
Gifts: Clear Your Mind - immune to charm effects
Powers: Squirt - Competent: Shoot a jet of water You Look Like You Could Use Some Rest - Adept: Lower a target¡¯s physical attributes
Skills: Stone Masonry - Novice Sword - Adept
¡°Hey,¡± Peter called up to the mercenaries on their mounts. ¡°Ever heard of sharing the road?¡± The caravan came to an abrupt halt. ¡°What¡¯d you say, pipsqueak?¡± Flint said. ¡°I said share the road,¡± Peter said. I had to wonder if he would¡¯ve been so quick to stand up to the NPCs if he¡¯d been able to see their Statuses. Gotta give the kid credit for being ballsy. He''d get along well with Chika for sure. ¡°I was hoping I¡¯d heard you right,¡± Flint said. ¡°I¡¯ve been aching for a bit of excitement.¡± This didn¡¯t look good. With practiced ease, Flint swung his leg over his mount and leapt off of it. Definitely not good. Surprisingly, Peter held his ground. I didn¡¯t know if he was brave or foolish. His colleagues couldn¡¯t do anything but watch from where they stood in the weeds beside the road, frozen by the mercenary¡¯s commanding aura. ¡°Tell you what,¡± Flint said. ¡°I¡¯ll forget all about it if you all just hand over your valuables.¡± The Silver Sword tank, a woman named Mavis Carmello, called down from her mount. ¡°Come on, Flint. Not this again. Like they¡¯re gonna have anything valuable.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so much about the money as it is the principle,¡± Flint said. ¡°Pipsqueaks like this gotta learn their place.¡± No way this would end well. Then Flint¡¯s expression suddenly switched from amusement to annoyance when he got hit with Peter''s debuff. ¡°What the hell did you just do to me?¡± he growled. Well, at least I got to see Peter use the power I wanted, even if it was probably a terrible idea using it on Flint, though. I had to do something. What I needed was a distraction. Those barges would do nicely. I used Jane¡¯s power to teleport into some tall reeds along the riverbank. Good, nobody noticed. Then I sent a wind cutter at the ropes tethering the lead barge to the brontosaurus, missing by an inch. The thin disk of air hit the water with a soft splash. One of the Silver Swords riding in the back heard and peered over at the river. I didn¡¯t move a muscle until they looked away again. Then I sent another wind cutter and this time it hit the rope dead on, slicing through it before splashing into the water. The same mercenary heard the second splash and looked over again. ¡°Hey!¡± he yelled. ¡°The boats are floating away.¡± The mercenary group sprang into action, bounding off their mounts and rushing to the river¡¯s edge. Once they realized the rope had been cut, they splashed into the water in an effort to get the rope before the current carried the barges back the way they¡¯d come. Flint looked at his prey and clicked his tongue. ¡°Don¡¯t move a muscle,¡± he said, then ran toward the river with his party to help. Distraction successful. While they were busy, I blinked back over to the landward side of the road near the Players. Using Byron¡¯s portal power, I created one end of the portal next to me and opened the other end as far as I could see on the opposite side of the river. Then I stopped using my stealth and tossed back the hood of the elven robe I was wearing. The Players couldn¡¯t help but notice me suddenly materialize out of nowhere. I put my finger to my lips, but then realized there was no point. They were still under Flint¡¯s order and couldn¡¯t have spoken if they¡¯d wanted to. I ignored the ones by the side of the road and blinked over beside Peter. Then I held out my hand and whispered to him. ¡°Come with me if you want to live.¡± Chapter Ninety-Five - The Silver Sword It helped that Peter recognized me, otherwise I¡¯m not sure he would¡¯ve listened to a strange person suddenly appearing out of nowhere to quote old movie lines and invite him to step into a suspicious hole floating in the air. We crept toward the rest of his group and Peter whispered to them, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡± They didn¡¯t budge, of course. ¡°That big guy used a power on them so now they can¡¯t move,¡± I said. ¡°Oh, that explains why they all stepped off the road,¡± Peter said. ¡°What are we gonna do? He¡¯ll be back any moment.¡± ¡°This portal will take you safely away,¡± I said. ¡°You step through first and wait on the other side. I¡¯ll pass the others through to you.¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°Got a better idea?¡± ¡°Okay then,¡± Peter said, and jumped through the portal. I could see him on the other side, standing in a field far on the other side of the river. He turned around and looked back. ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool.¡± ¡°Hang on,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡± I went over and grabbed the nearest Player, hiking them over my shoulder. It was like picking up nothing. I was constantly surprising myself with how strong I¡¯d become. I grabbed the next Player and slung them over the other shoulder, then dashed back to the portal. I pushed them through to Peter¡¯s waiting arms, and as soon as they went through the portal the charm lifted and they could move again. Flint¡¯s control power must¡¯ve had a range. I went back and grabbed the other two. I had almost made it back to the portal when I heard someone behind me. ¡°And just what the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Flint snarled. I stopped with my back to him, the portal about five feet in front of me. I was strong now, yes, but was I strong enough? I could hear Flint¡¯s boots crunching on the gravel of the road as he approached me. It was now or never. Let''s hope I was strong enough. Grabbing the two Players dangling over my shoulders by fistfulls of their clothing, I heaved them off and tossed them feet first through the portal. The moment their heads went through, I managed to take one step toward following them. ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± Flint¡¯s voice came from behind me. I froze in place. Oh crap. He could keep me from moving, but not from thinking. I closed the portal with a thought. At least the kids were safe. Now I just had to figure out how to get myself out of this sticky situation. ¡°That was a bad move, pal,¡± Flint said. ¡°Turn around.¡± I turned around without even thinking about it. Yeah, this was just craptastic. He was standing there with his arms folded across his chest glowering at me as I stood there, helpless under his commanding aura. That was quite the power he had. It¡¯d be fun using it later. You know, if I survived long enough. ¡°Hang on,¡± he said. ¡°I know you.¡± And just when I thought things couldn¡¯t get any worse. ¡°You¡¯re the guy who was with the elves. Hey look everybody, we got ourselves a celebrity here.¡± The rest of the Silver Sword wandered over, having secured the barges to the dinosaur again. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe I can still talk my way out of this. If only I could talk. ¡°Crap,¡± I said. Oh. I could talk. That¡¯s right, he did only say not to move. ¡°Uh, hi there. How¡¯s it going?¡± ¡°Just peachy,¡± Flint said. ¡°You must think you¡¯re hot shit, huh?¡± ¡°Actually¡ª¡± ¡°Think you can just waltz in here and screw with my fun because you¡¯re famous or something? Or maybe you think cause you¡¯ve got them elves on your side you¡¯re untouchable, huh? Well I got some news for you, buddy boy, ain¡¯t no elves round here to come save you.¡± His chums chortled at that. ¡°This is all just a big misunderstanding,¡± I said. ¡°Nah, don¡¯t think so,¡± Flint said as he stepped right up to me. ¡°You cost me some loot from them pipsqueaks so I think it¡¯s only fair you pay up for them.¡± ¡°See what he¡¯s got on him, Flint,¡± the Silver Sword archer said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Flint said. ¡°I think I will.¡± The good news is I never carried much on my person anymore. Everything of any value was kept in the extra-dimensional space of my inventory. I had a coin purse with some gold in it so I wouldn¡¯t have to use my inventory in public for minor purchases, but it didn''t have much in it. I stood there while Flint frisked me. It felt more like I was being smacked around, but I''m sure the main intent was to see what I was carrying. He was grinning when he started, but once he¡¯d slapped me down and reached into all my pockets only to come away with that coin purse and a small cube, the grin was gone. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Message cube, huh?" He tossed the cube on the ground and crushed it under his boot. ¡°No more messages for you." Then he opened the purse and saw what was in it. "What gives, huh? Who goes around with nothing but the clothes on their back and a few gold?¡± ¡°You sure that¡¯s all he¡¯s got?¡± said his pal. ¡°That don¡¯t seem right.¡± Flint felt the fabric of my armored coat between his fingers. ¡°This is nice, but ain¡¯t my style.¡± ¡°I like that cloak,¡± said another one of the mercenaries, the supporter. ¡°Yeah?¡± Flint said, ¡°it¡¯s all yours.¡± The bully unclasped my elven cloak and tossed it to his comrade. Pity Peter¡¯s resistance to charms was a gift and not a power. I couldn¡¯t copy gifts and I sure could¡¯ve used a way to get rid of that commanding aura jazz. ¡°Oh, lookie here,¡± Flint said, looking down. ¡°I like those.¡± Oh come on. The cloak was one thing, but was he really going to take those? I struggled, but it was no use. I literally couldn¡¯t move. He reached down and pulled my elven knives from their sheaths. ¡°Elven made, very nice,¡± he said as he studied them. He flipped them around in his hands with practiced ease. He was an Expert with knives, after all. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t take those if I were you,¡± I said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t make threats you can¡¯t back up if I were you,¡± he said. ¡°How are you gonna stop me?¡± ¡°Obviously I can¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°But those knives are special to the elves and they are very particular about who gets to have them. You can take them, but you won¡¯t be keeping them for long.¡± ¡°Wow, that sounds scary. A bunch of tree-huggers gonna come tickle me until I give them back?¡± It was my turn to chuckle. ¡°For someone who¡¯s as strong and experienced as you are, you sure are ignorant about a lot of things.¡± ¡°What did you just call me?¡± he said. Crap. Perhaps ignorant was not the smartest word to use. He stuck out his tongue and drew the flat of an elven blade across it. ¡°I think you just volunteered to help me test how sharp these knives are, buddy boy.¡± I wonder if he''d still be licking that if he knew where it had been? All I needed to do was get him to uncharm me, then I could use some movement powers and escape far, far away. ¡°I guess the rumors about you weren¡¯t true after all,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah? What rumors?¡± ¡°That you¡¯re some kind of A-Rank super-team, the best of the best. But here you are, too scared to fight someone head on. Like all bullies, deep down you¡¯re nothing but a coward who can only pick on someone who can¡¯t fight back.¡± ¡°You really think that¡¯ll work on me?¡± he said. ¡°Taunting me so I¡¯ll let you loose for a fair fight? How dumb do you think I am?¡± ¡°Can I just say no comment? I¡¯m pretty sure answering that will only make things worse for me.¡± ¡°You got a mouth on you, I¡¯ll give you that, buddy boy.¡± He stepped right up close to me, raising one of my knives up and pressing the tip against my lip. ¡°Maybe I oughta just cut out your tongue, that oughta shut you up.¡± Ah well, in for a penny. ¡°Oh, fig man,¡± I said, trying not to move my mouth too much. I could already taste blood in my mouth from a puncture of my upper lip. ¡°You really are scared of a real fight, aren¡¯t you? Fathetic.¡± ¡°You know what?¡± he said, taking a few steps back. ¡°You win. I''ll let you fight me. You can move now, but don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± Crap. So much for escaping through a portal. At least I could move again, though. Who knows, maybe I could take him in a fight. Yeah right. In my dreams. I¡¯d be lucky to get through this with my head still attached. Ah well, in for a pound. I stretched my neck and stepped casually into the middle of the road, facing him. He took up a position about fifteen feet away, facing me. ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind if I use one of my new favorite weapons,¡± he said, flipping a stolen knife around in his hand. ¡°I only need one.¡± ¡°The sportsmanlike thing to do would be to let me use the other one,¡± I said. ¡°Probably,¡± he said, but made no move to offer me the weapon. Then I had a thought. I copied a power. ¡°Give it to me,¡± I said, using his own commanding aura ability against him. He looked at me for a moment. ¡°Nah.¡± Crud nuggets. Maybe it didn¡¯t work on someone who had the same power? Or maybe he just made his saving throw. ¡°Can I have it?¡± the Silver Sword archer said. ¡°I like that idea better,¡± Flint said, and tossed the extra knife to his comrade. Ordinarily, those elven knives were what I¡¯d use to fight. I¡¯d even made them affinity weapons. So what now? I wasn¡¯t confident that trying to get fancy with affinity control would be a good idea, and I hadn¡¯t really fought with anything else since learning to fight like an elf so I didn¡¯t have much confidence in other powers either. Straight up omni-do it was. At least I could put a few buffs on myself, and I could reapply the debuff I¡¯d just learned how to do from Peter onto the big bully in front of me, but I still didn¡¯t like my odds. I needed to get at least one good hit in and force him to use his That All You Got? power to take no damage from it. If I could crawl away from this fiasco with the ability to copy that one I¡¯d call it fair. ¡°Ready buddy boy?¡± he said. Buddy boy. I think I liked that even less than elf boy. ¡°Does it matter?¡± I said. ¡°Not in the least.¡± ¡°Figured.¡± And then he came at me. He was fast, but no faster than I was. That debuff seemed to be working. He also must have been underestimating me because the lunge he made at me with the knife was half-hearted at best. I deflected it easily using a move from the Israeli martial art krav maga before stepping in close to thrust the heel of my palm up into his nose, then leaping back out of range. It was a solid hit that, under ordinary circumstances, should have broken his nose and sent him reeling. Instead, he absorbed the hit but his health bar showed he¡¯d suffered no damage. Mission accomplished: I¡¯d made him use his That''s All You Got? power to ignore an attack. While watching his health I also noticed that using the power had zorched a significant amount of his mana. I had been wondering how the game would balance that ability so that he wouldn¡¯t keep spamming the power to become invulnerable. At this rate, he could use it maybe two more times before he¡¯d be too low on mana. It made me wonder how much mana he had when he was full, and how many times I¡¯d be able to use it with the mana I had. Only one way to find out. I immediately copied the power. ¡°Nice hit,¡± he said. ¡°That would probably hurt an ordinary person. Too bad for you I¡¯m extraordinary.¡± ¡°And people call me modest.¡± He took the initiative and stepped toward me again, slashing the knife in front of him back and forth. The careless, almost lazy way he¡¯d attacked before was gone, and now he was forcing me to dodge while leaving no opening for a counter-attack. ¡°Come on, Flint,¡± the Silver Sword archer moaned. ¡°Stop playing and finish up so we can complete this job. I wanna hit up the Gentlemen¡¯s Club.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Flint said, continuing to jab and slash at me. ¡°Alright.¡± I finally saw the opening I was waiting for. He reached a bit too far with a lunge and I took advantage of his precarious balance to grab the arm holding the knife and go for a throw. I realized too late that I had just been suckered into falling for a feint. Before I knew it, the handle of the knife was in his other hand and its blade was buried to the hilt in my abdomen. Oh crap. Chapter Ninety-Six - A unique view of myself Good thing I¡¯d copied that power. While it did allow me to take no damage from the deep stab, it had to zorch through a massive amount of my mana to do it. I realized instantly that the mana used was proportional to the amount of damage it negated, and that a couple more hits like that and it would be game over, even with my extra mana reserves. I tried to back away, but as soon as I let go of his arm he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer, holding me in place. I could feel his breath on my neck as he twisted the blade inside me, drawing it sideways to slide through internal organs, and I was forced to use the power again. More mana gone. He let go of my shoulder and shoved me back, pulling the knife out at the same time. I imagine he expected me to go down, and I rather enjoyed seeing the look of surprise on his face when he saw that while my shirt had a long horizontal slice over my belly, there was no blood, and no wound underneath. ¡°Well that¡¯s unexpected,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m a bit extraordinary too.¡± ¡°Doubt it,¡± he said, then came at me again. It took everything I had to block or dodge his ceaseless flurry of attacks. My arms got nicked in several places, but I didn¡¯t dare use the power again if I didn¡¯t have to. I was worried about my mana, and I needed to save it for when my life was at stake. I was barely managing to hold my own against his attacks, but the difference between Adept and Expert became all too apparent. I kept searching for an opening to switch from defense to offense, but it never came. The few hits I got in were minor, and he accepted the negligible damage with a grin. Eventually, I was a bit too slow to dodge and the knife slashed across my arm, forcing me to use the power again. It was either that or lose the arm. For the first time I found myself wishing those elven blades weren¡¯t quite so sharp. ¡°Why won¡¯t you just go down?¡± Flint said during the moment he paused to look exasperated when my arm stayed attached. Then he went right back onto the offensive. He wasn¡¯t the only one frustrated. I''d been feeling sluggish through this whole fight, like my concentration was shot. I couldn''t tell if it was a side-effect of his commanding aura or what, but I knew I wasn''t fighting my best. Even worse, my precious omni-do, that first synthesis child who I¡¯d reared and kept fat on a hearty diet of every fighting technique I could find, was being unceremoniously torn to shreds by a thug with a knife. I knew it was only a matter of time. Depending on how severe it was, I might¡¯ve had enough mana to resist one more big hit, but after that I would be at his mercy. Literally. It didn¡¯t take long for the next big hit to come. It was another thrust into my torso and I barely had enough mana to negate it. From there, as expected, things went rapidly downhill. Soon I was covered in cuts, some minor, some not, but all of them hurt. My health steadily went down, passing through yellow into the red zone. The next hit sealed my fate. It was a wide slash across my chest that brought me down to just a sliver of health left. It left me feeling a bit wobbly and light headed and couldn¡¯t stop myself from collapsing to my knees. ¡°Okay,¡± I croaked, spitting some blood onto the road, ¡°looks like you win.¡± ¡°Looks that way,¡± he said, looming over me. ¡°You¡¯ve proven your point. Time for me to crawl away and think about what I''ve done.¡± ¡°Hmmm, I don¡¯t think so,¡± he said. So much for mercy. Maybe I was too out of it from blood loss but I didn¡¯t even see his arm move as he swept it in a wide arc in front of him. Fun fact: ever since the French Revolution introduced us to the guillotine, a grim debate has raged over whether or not a person retains consciousness for any length of time after decapitation. Allow me to resolve this issue once and for all. I didn¡¯t see his arm move, but I did get a unique view of myself after my head tumbled to the ground. It only lasted for a second or two, just long enough to watch my own headless body fall at Flint¡¯s feet. Fade to black. The next thing I knew I was standing in the clouds again, blinking against the bright light streaming between the gossamer curtains like heavenly rays. Stratos was there, arms folded, scowling at a floating screen. I couldn¡¯t see what was on it, but I could hear enough to know they were watching a video replay of the fight I¡¯d just lost. I heard Flint say, ¡°Well that¡¯s unexpected.¡± I cringed when I heard my reply, ¡°Maybe I¡¯m a bit extraordinary, too.¡± Then he said, ¡°Doubt it.¡± The sounds of us fighting followed, then I conceded to his victory, he rejected it, and it ended with something nobody should ever have to hear: the sound of my own head tumbling to the ground, followed moments after by the rest of my body. Stratos swiped the screen away, then folded their arms again and glowered at me. If they had worn glasses, that¡¯s the time they would¡¯ve pushed them up on their nose using the middle finger of their hand. ¡°This is a disappointment,¡± they said. ¡°I was honestly starting to have hope, Daniel, but now...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I at least get some recognition for the fact that I died trying to save someone?¡± I said. ¡°I do recognize that you have a nasty habit of putting others before yourself and paying the price for it.¡± ¡°Can I assume that since we¡¯re here like this again it means I¡¯m going to respawn?¡± ¡°Yes, yes. You will be going back. I have invested too¡ª¡± All of a sudden I couldn¡¯t hear what Stratos was saying. After a moment, their lips stopped moving when they realized no sound was coming from their mouth. Then they heaved a deep, silent sigh. Their lips moved again and I¡¯m pretty sure I saw their lips form the word ¡°System¡± at some point. System: The Gamester has been unmuted ¡°Thank you,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Um, what was that just now?¡± I said. ¡°Never mind,¡± Stratos said. Sure, I could¡¯ve dropped it, but I wanted to know. And Stratos wasn¡¯t the only one there who could tell me. ¡°System,¡± I said, ¡°why was Stratos muted just now?¡± System: The Gamester was about to break a rule ¡°What rule?¡± There was a pause, the kind of pause that I¡¯d come to associate with System looking for a rule against giving me a real answer to the question I''d just asked. System: The Gamester was about to reveal information that you are not meant to know at this time Was it just me, or was that an odd way of saying ¡°I can¡¯t tell you?¡± If there was one thing I knew about System it was that it chose its words carefully. Instead of a simple ¡°I can¡¯t tell you,¡± System¡¯s response actually gave me a fair bit of information. I learned that whatever came after ¡°I have invested too¡± was information that wasn¡¯t supposed to be revealed at this time. System was giving me as much information as possible within the rules. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. System was trying to help me. ¡°System, will there come a time when I am meant to know that information?¡± System: Affirmative ¡°When?¡± System: When the conditions for revealing that information have been met I should¡¯ve known it¡¯d say that. ¡°Let me guess, the conditions for telling me what the conditions for me knowing are have not yet been met, right? System: Affirmative ¡°Any more questions or can we move on now?¡± Stratos said. Dang it, I really wanted to know what Stratos was about to say after ¡°I have invested too.¡± Or was that to? Nah, you never invest to anything, you invest in. The next word was probably much, either that or many. So what had Stratos invested in? After looking at it from all angles I could think of, the only logical conclusion was that the thing they¡¯d invested too much in was likely me. Too much to let me die-die now. Which meant there was something Stratos was counting on me to do. ¡°System?¡± I said. ¡°What has the Gamester invested too much of into me, and why did they invest it? What are they hoping to accomplish?¡± I had expected the pause that ensued, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be as long as it was. ¡°Never you mind,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Let us just get you back into the Game now.¡± System: Resources System: For the Game System: Winning I suppose I had asked three questions there. I''d barely expected to get an answer. Any answer Stratos gave would have told me something. Even saying that they couldn¡¯t tell me would have confirmed that it was indeed me they had invested in. The answers I got were vague, but I was sure this was System telling me that I was on the right track. ¡°I think you¡¯ve heard enough,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Off you go." "Really?" I said. "That''s it?" Stratos smacked their forehead. "Oh, you are correct. I almost forgot the reason I had you detoured back here before returning you to the game. I just wanted to say: try to do better, okay?¡± System: Respawning now The world surrounding the gazebo in the city center took shape around me, rapidly shifting from totally blurry to crystal clear. I couldn¡¯t have told you why, but for some reason respawning felt different than teleportation, which was instantaneous. The moment I had fully finished respawning I immediately used the teleportation circle I was standing on to go to the elf village. For all I knew, word had gotten out that I¡¯d been killed on the road and if I¡¯d hung around I¡¯d find Teams Nemesis, Overgeared, and Droogs waiting to laugh and jeer at me for dying. That I could do without. As I made my way to my tree house I started sorting out my thoughts, mentally replaying the conversation in the clouds in the hope that if I pulled on a few threads I¡¯d be able to unravel more information from the little System and Stratos had revealed. They may not have said much, but they inferred plenty. Here¡¯s what I came up with: Stratos had invested too many resources into me in the hopes of winning the game to let me die-die. I was meant to know about the investing of resources at some point in the future, when unknown conditions were met. It was reassuring that I was deemed valuable enough to keep around, plus it told me that Stratos had some influence over who respawned. Wait. System''s exact words were "For the Game." Not a game, not any game, but the Game. Whatever that was. And was it me who Stratos wanted to win, or was it a whole different game that Stratos was playing that they wanted to win? The game I was playing, whatever it was, could just be a part of their Game. Maybe it wasn¡¯t such a big deal that Stratos had ensured I¡¯d respawn, maybe as Gamester the meta-game they were playing gave them a few get out of jail free cards they could toss out to prevent the death-death of a chosen Player. I was beginning to think that Player was more of a title than a descriptor, and that I might very well be little more than a chess piece in a much bigger game. The fact that I was deemed significant enough to keep around implied I was more than just a pawn, though. Maybe a bishop or a rook. ¡°System, what resources did Stratos invest?¡± System: Financial So Stratos was experiencing the sunk cost fallacy, eh? I could¡¯ve asked how much they¡¯d spent so far, but it probably wouldn¡¯t have meant anything to me. I doubted the aliens paid for things in Canadian dollars, and I didn¡¯t know the conversion rate from Galactic Credits or Knuts or Quatloos or ounces of Spice or whatever they used for currency. ¡°System, what game do they hope to win?¡± Another one of those pauses. Even if I didn¡¯t get a real answer, at least the fact that System had to think about what to say told me that I was getting close to something. System: The conditions for knowing that information have not been met I¡¯d been starting to think I¡¯d never understand why we were there or what we were actually supposed to be doing, but now I was pretty sure that someday, when the right conditions have been met, all shall be revealed. ¡°System, is Stratos playing a game?¡± Pause. System: Everything is a game I wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere with that line of questioning. I needed to be more strategic. I was certain now that there were lines of questioning that could allow System to give me non-answers that actually disclosed real information. I had to think like a lawyer and use semantic trickery to lay a verbal trap that could give System an opening to reveal something. If only I had some kind of Law skill. Surely there had to be some NPC lawyers skulking around here somewhere. I gave my head a shake, clearing away this train of thought. I had more pressing concerns at the moment. The first thing I had to do was replace my cloak and get a new set of knives. I wasn¡¯t kidding when I told Flint that the elves were very particular about who got to have those, and Petal was not happy when I told her what had happened to my old ones. You do not lose your knives. It wasn¡¯t a fall on your sword kind of offense or anything, but it was considered a bad omen at best, dishonorable at worst. ¡°Tell nobody about this,¡± she hissed at me when she handed me the new knives. ¡°And you need to figure out how to get those other ones back.¡± Easier said than done. That fight with Flint had been a wakeup call. I had been getting complacent and over-confident, if not cocky, and that had to change. I had to find ways to keep improving, growing stronger. As Stratos had said, I needed to do better. Apart from working to get back the loss of mastery I¡¯d suffered in a bunch of abilities because I died, there were two things I could think of that I could do now. The obvious one was getting more powers. After my humbling experience with the Silver Sword, I was greatly motivated to plug the holes in my abilities. Being able to copy powers and synthesize them into something different was my secret weapon. It was time to get serious about it. It¡¯s embarrassing to admit it, but I went a little Synthesis-loopy over the next several days. I couldn¡¯t tell you how many days for sure. A few, I think, like three. No, more like five. Six maybe; no, maybe nine. Okay it was at least two weeks. I didn''t only work on new powers. To maintain some balance in my life, I created a routine that didn¡¯t have me constantly eating to replenish the mana spent to constantly synthesize things. My morning runs with Sigrid were sacrosanct, and we added in daily strength and flexibility training to the regimen as well. I may have been limited in raising my abilities above Adept, but that restriction didn¡¯t apply to my body. That was the second thing I could work on. I showed Sigrid the trick of exercising until I was nearly dead, healing myself, then rinsing and repeating. Sigrid already had a great body with excellent muscle tone, but in her mind she could never be buff enough so we started doing it together. It didn¡¯t make that much visible difference in the size of her muscles, and after I achieved the sort of physique that caused a certain type of man to strut around shirtless for the sole reason of showing it off, my appearance stopped changing. But that didn¡¯t mean we stopped getting stronger. And faster. And more agile. Soon we were effortlessly completing a run that used to take an hour in half the time. Once, when we were feeling silly, we even played catch with an entire tree trunk. It was bizarely fun to toss a whole tree back and forth, right up until I made a bad throw and Sigrid took it literally on her chin. It wasn¡¯t a huge tree or anything, but it was big enough to mess up her face pretty badly. Thank heavens it wasn¡¯t anything a quick heal couldn¡¯t fix right up, but still. Okay fine. So my so-called balanced schedule had me alternating between creating new abilities by spamming synthesize and eating, and building up my body by spamming heal and eating, but at least I wasn¡¯t spending all day every day holed up alone doing nothing but synthesizing and eating. It probably won¡¯t surprise you that while I enjoyed exercising with Sigrid every morning, I was almost always thinking about what I was going to synthesize that afternoon. Having access to so many new powers after stalking other Players meant I had a lot of options for concocting new, customized powers. I even modified some of my own. For example, I upgraded my All Shall Be Revealed power into All Can Be Revealed by merging it with every vision-related power I could find so that I could see previously hidden attributes on Statuses. That meant I could finally see what abilities the other team builders had. I also found a way to put an illusion on my own Status so that anybody using All Shall Be Revealed to look at it wouldn¡¯t be bombarded with a near endless scroll of [Hidden]s. I set it so that they¡¯d just see an average number of abilities shrouded by the [Hidden] marker. I didn¡¯t want anyone to see just how many abilities I¡¯d collected, and I really didn¡¯t want them to see Good At Everything and know I would never rise above Adept in any ability. One power I kept hoping to find but never did was razor floss. See, there are characters in some of the literature with the ability to create something like a giant spiderweb of super-strong threads of magic or something. Only unlike a spiderweb, it doesn¡¯t have to be spun one thread at a time, the entire web appears instantly, woven around and between objects in the desired pattern, and the user can tighten the threads gently to bind objects, usually other people, or more enthusiastically to slice right through them. It¡¯s deadly, and deadly cool. Characters who get to use this ability tend to be ones on the overpowered side, as you can imagine. It can immobilize anyone with the threat of dissection at any instant. The truly OP ones can dice anything into tiny bits by pulling on the threads, like running a potato through a mandolin that can cut in three dimensions, only much, much messier. Like the Grinch with a reindeer, if I couldn¡¯t find a certain power, I¡¯d make it instead. Chapter Ninety-Seven - A little absurd I''ve been called many things, but ambitious was never one of them. That was in the before days when isekai was just an overused trope. Now that isekai was my reality, things had changed. I had changed. My plan to create this new razor floss power from scratch skipped right past ambition into pipedream territory. It was ludicrously hard and any rational person would¡¯ve given up after failing time and again. I doubt anybody would call me rational anymore, if they ever did. Even with the nudges Synthesis gave me in the right direction, the perfect combination of abilities eluded me for a long time. When I considered which powers to combine, I usually had an innate sense of what the result would be ¡ª it even mattered in which order they were added ¡ª but every time I thought I was getting close to razor floss the synthesis collapsed and I was left to either quit or start over. Along with my lack of ambition I¡¯ve never been what you¡¯d call a stubborn person. If anything, I was prone to giving up as soon as things got hard. But Crucible was changing me in more ways than one. I¡¯d been given a taste of things I¡¯ve never dreamed of, things like true friendship and the power to help others, not to mention seeing the results of putting in a real effort. I was going to get this power, whatever it took. In the end, it took a crazy number of abilities synthesized together in multiple stages, and countless failed attempts, but it eventually worked. With a flick of my fingers I was now able to string nearly invisible strands of magical essence in the air and control them with a thought. The mana cost was brutal, but the results were just as I¡¯d hoped. I was pretty proud that I¡¯d managed to give myself ¡ª a nobody who could never be great at anything ¡ª a power usually reserved for protagonists or Boss-tier villains. It wasn¡¯t something I was about to go around using all the time, but it made for another comforting trump card I could pull out if I was ever in a tough jam. I called it Slice and Dice because System wouldn¡¯t let me call it Razor Floss. That probably meant that there was already a Razor Floss power out there, I just hadn¡¯t met anyone or anything that had it yet. This was not a comforting thought. After seeing what Slice and Dice could do to target dummies, I was in no rush to face someone else with that ability. Something else I discovered while spamming All Can Be Revealed in my search for new powers to add to my arsenal was how busy Chika had been. She hadn¡¯t been joking when she said she wanted me to teach her omni-do. In between quests she¡¯d been working her way through the city¡¯s clans and had already reached at least Competent in five of their six martial arts, and was working on learning the last one. Shashu had been doing the same thing after Sifu Chow Bo had suggested he ought to learn omni-do too so he could start training others. As Chika and Shashu had spread through the other clans to learn their fighting styles, so too had the idea of learning omni-do. It now became a thing for members of all clans to train at other dojos in order to learn all six martial arts in anticipation of being trained by Shashu. I started seeing more and more NPCs walking around with multiple sashes of different colors braided together, just like I¡¯d done. Chika and Shashu had started the trend and I guess it just sort of caught on. Unfortunately, it was going to be a problem when Chika and Shashu were ready to begin receiving instruction in omni-do. There was no way they¡¯d be able to learn it, not in its current state. Skills: Omni-do - Adept: Custom martial art synthesizing the techniques of Acrobatics, Affinity Attack, Aikido, Boxing, Brawling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Capoeira, Crossbow, Dance, Elven Dual Knife Fighting, Escrima, Gymnastics, Karate, Knife, Krav Maga, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Ninjitsu, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, Second Amendment, Silat, Staff, Sword, Tae Kwon Do, Throw, Who Needs Weapons?, and Wrestling. I couldn''t imagine anyone else learning all the requisite skills, and there were even three customized powers thrown in there which made anyone being able to use omni-do besides me inconceivable. So I made a new skill specially for them. Skills: Toron-do - Custom martial art synthesizing the techniques of Karate, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, and Tae Kwon Do. Yeah, I named it toron-do. What of it? Omni-do had become a lot more versatile after I added weapons skills to it, and more powerful, so I also made an advanced version of toron-do that included some basic weapon arts like sword, knife, and staff, as well as crossbow. Having an upgraded version of toron-do would give them something to work towards and make them even stronger. And if you¡¯re wondering why I included the crossbow skill, it¡¯s because my secret goal in creating omni-do was to be able to fight like Keanu Reeves in the movies. True story. Some kind of gun fu was mandatory to achieve my goal, but lacking actual firearms the custom power I¡¯d made out of Bruce¡¯s magic missile power was the closest I could find, so that¡¯s why you see its cheeky ironic name in omni-do. It effectively let me do the sort of cool gun fighting moves that Neo and John Wick used. To that end, I added crossbow to the weapons grade toron-do skill because it was the closest I could come to a gun using common, easily learnable fantasy world skills and weapons. Alas, only for one shot, though. Crossbows are neat but they only hold one bolt and take forever to reload, which is a pain in the buttocks, so you just gotta make the one shot count. For some reason, repeating crossbows didn¡¯t exist on Crucible. The ancient Chinese and even the Romans had them, but I guess they hadn¡¯t been big in the source material upon which this world had been designed. Still, I figured I wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d have fun with it, and it would make sparring with Chika a lot more interesting if we were also shooting at each other while going at it hand-to-hand. Plus, I had plans to fix that annoying limitation for single-shot crossbows. I think it¡¯s safe to say I was starting to feel pretty good about things. Not something I was used to. The elf village was seeing a steady trickle of expats coming back to resettle from the beastfolk lands and envoys were being sent to places beyond the sea to find more elves to bring home. Trade with the other settlements around the city was already growing brisk. I was having fun with my abilities, even though my Status was starting to look absurd with all the new ones I was creating. And best of all I had a large group of really good friends, perhaps for the first time ever. Stratos had once told me that I¡¯d never be as strong as other Players thanks to Good At Everything¡¯s growth-capping restriction, but I now knew what they¡¯d meant when they said I¡¯d find other ways to compensate.
Daniel Lamont Team Player, Defender of the Green, Great Architect
Affinity: Air - Adept Darkness - Adept Death - Adept Earth - Adept Fire - Adept Ice - Adept Life - Adept Light - Adept Nature - Adept Shadow - Adept Void - Adept Water - Adept
Gifts: Good at Everything Hands Off My Stash I Can Keep Going And Going Jack of All Trades Murder Hobo
Powers: Able To Leap Tall Buildings - Competent Affinity Attack - Adept Affinity Defense - Adept Affinity Form - Adept All Can Be Revealed - Adept All Tied Up - Competent Almost Omniscient, Almost - Novice Arise And Shine - Adept Circus Master - Novice Curse You - Competent Do What I Say - Novice Don¡¯t Believe Everything You See - Competent Does Whatever A Spider Can - Competent Doesn¡¯t Hurt A Bit - Novice Drink Me - Competent Everyone Gets A Heal - Competent Faster Than A Speeding Bullet - Adept We¡¯re Going The Distance - Competent Holtzman Effect - Competent Human Beat Box - Novice I Draw Upon The Power Of The Green - Adept Isn¡¯t It Enchanting - Adept I Hate Surprises - Competent I Vant To Zuck Your Blud - Novice I¡¯ll Be Back - Competent I¡¯ll Cut You - Competent I¡¯m Going To (Clap) Buff You Up - Competent It¡¯s All In Your Head - Competent Just Another Background Character - Adept Let¡¯s Keep A Clear Head About This - Novice Like A Feather In The Wind - Novice Keep Your Eye On The Ball - Novice Man Behind The Curtain - Novice Mirror Image - Novice More Powerful Than A Locomotive - Adept My Body Is A Finely Honed Weapon - Adept Mystery Wrapped In An Enigma - Novice Now You See Me, Now You Don¡¯t - Adept Oh No You Don¡¯t - Competent Physician, Heal Thyself - Competent Power Portal - Competent Rage Against The Dying Of The Light - Novice A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.Second Amendment - Adept Slice And Dice - Competent Sneaky Wabbit - Adept Stop Staring At My Ears - Adept Synthesize - Adept That¡¯s Gonna Leave A Scar - Competent That''s Heavy, Man - Competent Think Again - Novice Versatility For The Win - Adept Who Needs Weapons? - Competent With This Army - Competent Wonder Twin Powers Activate - Novice You¡¯re Getting Sleeeepy - Competent You¡¯re Not All That - Competent
Skills: Acting - Competent Affinity Control - Adept Aikido - Competent Appraise - Novice Archery - Adept Architecture - Competent Armorer - Novice Axe - Novice Baking - Competent Bashing - Novice Bite - Novice Blacksmith - Novice Brawling - Competent Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Competent Butchery - Competent Cartography - Competent Capoeira - Competent Claw - Novice Climbing - Novice Construction - Novice Cooking - Competent Crossbow - Competent Dance - Novice Drawing - Novice Eidetic Memory - Competent Elven Dual Knife Fighting - Adept Engineering - Novice Escrima - Competent First Aid - Competent Fitness - Adept Fletcher - Novice Gymnastics - Competent Herbalism - Novice Hunting - Competent Karate - Competent Knife - Adept Krav Maga - Competent Kung Fu - Adept Jiu Jitsu - Competent Judo - Competent Laying On Hands - Adept Lockpicking - Competent Mechanics - Novice Mixology - Novice Muay Thai - Competent Music - Competent Negotiation - Competent Ninjitsu - Competent Omni-do - Adept Otaku - Competent Pounce - Novice Public Speaking - Novice Puzzles - Novice Polearm - Novice Riding - Competent Sambo - Competent Sculpture - Novice Silat - Competent Sneak - Adept Spear - Novice Staff - Competent Stealth - Adept Strategy - Competent Sword - Adept Swimming - Novice Tae Kwon Do - Competent Tai Chi - Novice Taunting - Novice Tea Ceremony - Competent Teaching - Adept Throwing - Novice Tracking - Novice Trivia - Competent Toron-do - Adept Weapons Grade Toron-do - Adept Wrestling - Novice Yoga - Competent
Like I said, a little absurd. It wasn¡¯t only me, my friends were steadily growing stronger thanks to all the quests they were getting. I¡¯d lost all, well, almost all of the bitterness I¡¯d felt about being left out of the quest game for so long. Still, I did wish I was able to do more adventuring with them. Which was what gave me the idea to run a little training session with them in the Light Dungeon. During a lull between their quests, I invited Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table to visit the labyrinth where I¡¯d prepared an adventure for them using my Great Architect¡¯s control over the place to act as a real-life dungeon master. I had the door teleport them to a place in the dungeon they hadn¡¯t seen during our conquest raid, and put them against all sorts of monsters and traps they hadn¡¯t seen before either. I took the opportunity to present scenarios where they were better off not killing the monsters. They needed them alive to get information or unlock areas. It took them a while to figure this out, and forced them to come up with new tactics and ways of working together and using their abilities to win without all the slaying and the murdering and the wanton bloodshed. When it was over, Arthur thanked me on behalf of the group. ¡°This was so much better than our usual training sessions. And we got loot, too!¡± "It was very educational for me as well," I said. Then Jane pulled me aside. ¡°I get it now,¡± she said. ¡°Get what?¡± I said. ¡°When we talked during the elf festival you were saying about how I should learn non-lethal combat techniques. This is what you were talking about, I get it now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. Feel better about facing other Players now?¡± ¡°A bit, maybe. But don¡¯t for a second think that this gets you off the hook. You promised me a one-on-one training session.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re already doing so well. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not about necessity, idiot.¡± Then she spun on her heel and flounced away. The whole thing had been more than an excuse to hang out with my friends and play DM, it had been an experiment in how to use the dungeon. Watching Jane go, I had to say that particular experiment had been a rousing success. Just when I was feeling really good about myself, Sigrid came up. ¡°That was fun today,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± I said. ¡°It was fun for me too.¡± ¡°You did good.¡± Then, out of nowhere, she cuffed me on the back of the head. ¡°Ow! If I did good, what was that for?¡± ¡°Why are you ghosting Morgan?¡± ¡°What? I¡¯m not ghosting her.¡± ¡°Oh really? Have you gone out together again after your dinner date?¡± ¡°Well, no,¡± I conceded. ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Have you even talked to her?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She blinked her piercing blue eyes at me. ¡°Really? Besides simple pleasantries, have you had a real conversation?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been busy.¡± ¡°Is that what you¡¯re telling yourself?¡± ¡°Well...crap. I have been ghosting her, haven¡¯t I?¡± Sigrid shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I love you, Daniel. I really do. But I am so pissed at you right now I can¡¯t even.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°I gave you some time, I kept telling myself you¡¯ve been busy, too. But I thought surely today you¡¯d make an effort to connect with her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. She cuffed me again. ¡°I¡¯m not the one you should be apologizing to, dummy.¡± Then she put her hands on my back and literally shoved me in Morgan¡¯s direction. Morgan had been chatting with Kay at the time. When I showed up, Kay said something cryptic about having to go somewhere to talk to someone else about something. The only way she could¡¯ve left the two of us alone any faster would¡¯ve been to use her superspeed. ¡°Hey Morgan,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s up Daniel?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Look, I owe you an apology. Since we went for dinner we haven¡¯t had a chance to talk.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been around,¡± she said quietly. ¡°Yeah. I just want you to know¡ª¡± ¡°Sigrid said something, huh?¡± ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± Morgan chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Daniel. Thank you for apologizing. Seriously. I was a bit hurt that you didn¡¯t make the effort before, but you did now so you don¡¯t have to say anything else.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just, I¡¯ve been kind of distracted by the dungeons and the elf festival and everything.¡± ¡°Listen, Daniel. It¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t need to make excuses. I realized a long time ago that us going out together was a one-time thing. And besides, I¡¯m really not looking to take on a project, you know? So it really is fine.¡± ¡°A project?¡± ¡°You know. A fixer-upper.¡± I had to think for a bit before I figured out what she meant. ¡°Is that what I am?¡± She shrugged. ¡°I like you, Daniel. You¡¯re cute, you¡¯re kind, you can actually be a lot of fun when you want to be.¡± ¡°Who, me?¡± Sho poked her finger into my chest. ¡°And that right there is what I¡¯m talking about. I get being a bit insecure, we all feel that way sometimes. But honestly, you¡¯re frigging exhausting.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying this to be hurtful, I¡¯m really not. It might seem like I¡¯m lashing out or something, but the truth is I just wish you could see yourself the way others do. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± ¡°If only I had more confidence,¡± I said. ¡°If only. But then I¡¯d have my work cut out for me, wouldn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Morgan looked pointedly to the side, and when I followed her gaze I saw Jane staring at us. When our eyes met, Jane quickly looked away and strode off. ¡°Being busy with all your dungeons isn¡¯t the only thing that¡¯s got you distracted,¡± Morgan said. ¡°You lost me,¡± I said. Morgan smiled. ¡°Still so dense.¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting real tired of hearing that from everyone.¡± ¡°Then smarten up, would ya? We¡¯ll stop saying it when you stop being it.¡± Chapter Ninety-Eight - A boys night out One day, after Chika and Shashu had picked up the last of the six requisite martial arts skills to learn toron-do, I was training them in the dojo courtyard when Arthur and Jane approached me. ¡°Got a minute, Daniel?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Sure,¡± I said, then turned to my acolytes and told them to spar together for a bit. ¡°So we¡¯ve been thinking about going after a dungeon and wanted to know what you thought.¡± ¡°Which dungeon?¡± I said. ¡°The Shadow Dungeon,¡± Jane said. ¡°In the swamp.¡± ¡°Going after the Shadow Demon in the abandoned fortress, huh? That¡¯s a great idea. I¡¯ve been hearing about other teams raiding the dungeons they¡¯ve found, like the Death and Earth Dungeons.¡± Arthur quirked his head. ¡°Uh, that¡¯s been going on for a long time.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°You didn¡¯t know that? Especially after the Light Dungeon announcement, people have been raiding dungeons a lot. Trouble is, they¡¯re friggin hard and so far all anyone¡¯s gotten out of it was their asses kicked.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m sure we can beat the Shadow Dungeon,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, about that,¡± Arthur said, shifting back and forth on his feet. ¡°The thing is, we kind of want to do it ourselves.¡± ¡°Meaning...without me?¡± ¡°Well, yeah.¡± ¡°Let me guess, in case I accidentally did something that makes System give the dungeon to me again?¡± ¡°Pretty much,¡± Arthur said. Arthur was usually the sort of person who looked you in the eyes when he spoke to you, but right now he was staring at his feet. ¡°Yeah, sure, go for it,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re really okay with us doing it without you?¡± Jane said. ¡°Of course. It¡¯ll be nice for the elves to have some friendly neighbors on both sides. Chika! No powers, that¡¯s cheating. Sorry about that. Just make sure you or Kenji are there at the end, Jane. You¡¯re the only ones with Shadow as an affinity and dungeons either you need an affinity match to win control or they give titles or other bonus rewards if you have it. I haven¡¯t completely figured out which, but I know that having a matching affinity is a good thing.¡± ¡°Thanks for the tip,¡± Arthur said. ¡°And put Sam up in the front,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s got Nature and his summoned animals. Both should help against Shadow, and now he¡¯s got his own claws so...sorry. Bad habit. My mind just sort of slips into strategy mode on its own. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got all your strategies worked out.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine, really,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I hadn¡¯t even thought about applying his Nature affinity strategically like that, so thank you. I¡¯ll tell Morgan.¡± ¡°Why Morgan?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you know? She¡¯s the strategist.¡± ¡°I did not know that,¡± I said. Arthur gave me a look that I was sure suggested I might have known that if I¡¯d talked to his sister more instead of ghosting her. ¡°Arthur here¡¯s better at barking orders at people though,¡± Jane said, ruffling his perfect blonde hair. He accepted the gesture and the backward compliment with a gracious smile. ¡°I am sure you¡¯ll do great,¡± I said. ¡°Seriously? Come on Shashu, focus. Stop defaulting to kung fu all the time. We¡¯ve gone over at least four better counters to that move using other styles.¡± ¡°Well, you seem busy so I guess we¡¯ll leave you to it,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Yeah, no problem,¡± I said. ¡°And hey, thanks for thinking of my feelings and talking like this. You really didn¡¯t have to but I appreciate it all the same.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Arthur said. ¡°It was Jane¡¯s idea to come talk to you like this.¡± I couldn¡¯t miss noticing how he put his hand on the small of her back when he said that. ¡°When are you planning to give it a go?¡± I said. ¡°Not sure,¡± Arthur said. ¡°We¡¯ve been working on a few formations but we realized after our run through the Light Dungeon with you we¡¯re not quite there yet. We¡¯re going to train some more first so we¡¯ll be ready for anything in the hope we can beat it the first time." ¡°Best of luck, not that you¡¯ll need it. And hey, when the time comes, use the teleportation circle in town to bop over to the elf village, save yourself half the march.¡± ¡°Heh, thanks,¡± Arthur said. ¡°But we¡¯re planning to use our mounts.¡± ¡°You got mounts?¡± I said. This too was news to me. Just how much was going on that I had no clue about? I needed to fix that. ¡°Yeah. We all got one. We stable them closer to the gate.¡± ¡°Huh. Neat.¡± ¡°But we¡¯ll take you up on the permission to cross through the forest.¡± ¡°Of course. Any time,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks, Daniel,¡± Arthur said. ¡°You really are a stand-up guy. Jane, shall we?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a bit, Arthur,¡± Jane said. He looked at her, then looked at me, then nodded and started walking away. Jane stayed behind with me. ¡°You sure you¡¯re okay with being left out?¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what people say when it¡¯s not fine.¡± ¡°This time fine is fine. Honest.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jane said. She lingered for a moment, apparently not sure what else to say, then followed after Arthur. I was lying to her, of course. I totally wanted to go with them and it hurt like hell to be excluded. But it was fine. They really didn¡¯t need me anyway. It was good that they were getting stronger without me. It was fine. Yeah, I lied to myself too. Another bad habit. I was just packing up after the toron-do training session, still smarting from my conversation with Arthur and Jane and eager to get away, when Andy burst in and announced that I was not going back to the elf village that night. We were going to have a boys night out instead. I tried to make excuses to decline but Andy wouldn''t hear any of them. "Whatever anyone else says," Andy said, "as far as I''m concerned you''re one of us. You are coming out with us tonight and that''s final." And that¡¯s how I found myself out at a strange pub with Andy, Sam, Byron, Wayne, Bruce, Arthur, Lancelot, and Galahad. Kenji stayed home, for obvious reasons. The rare occasions I¡¯d gone out with the gang it had been to their usual haunt, the Dragon Pub not far from the dojo. I expected that¡¯s where we¡¯d be going, but Andy had insisted we go somewhere livelier and dragged us to a bar off the town square. It was a much bigger place, and a much busier one too, filled with a curious assortment of people. Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table had more or less claimed the Dragon Pub as their turf, so it was unusual to see very many other Players there. But this new bar was a no man¡¯s land and I found myself surrounded by a wide variety of NPCs and Players, including lots from other teams. Andy and the guys seemed to know them all through their various team versus team quests, but they didn¡¯t seem to be all that friendly with any of them. We were lucky and managed to grab a table large enough to accommodate us all. The drinking started immediately. Andy took the lead, dropping a handful of gold onto a passing server¡¯s tray and telling them to keep the drinks coming. After that tray had returned a few times heavily ladened with mugs full of beer, we must¡¯ve triggered some efficiency protocol and pitchers started arriving instead. I¡¯d planned on going easy, but Andy was very sly about refilling my glass so every time I reached for it I found it was full again, and I quickly lost track of exactly how much I¡¯d had to drink. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. After a while, I felt a hand clap me familiarly on the shoulder. ¡°Daniel! Great to see you, pal. How¡¯s the extermination business these days?¡± I looked up to see Achmed, leader of Team Legion, grinning down at me. ¡°Nice to see you too, Achmed.¡± I saw several of the guys from his team with him, and greeted them too. We exchanged pleasantries for a minute, then the Legionnaires wandered off to find a table for themselves. ¡°What¡¯s with this extermination business?¡± Andy said. ¡°You know them?¡± ¡°Yeah, I helped them out with a quest a while back. Had to fend off a bunch of giant ants.¡± ¡°We had a few of those types of quests too,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Troublesome.¡± I hadn¡¯t told anybody about my visit from Ruka, so I didn¡¯t mention that there shouldn¡¯t be any more of those monster invasion-type quests. None that came through the hexes I controlled, anyway. ¡°They¡¯re good guys,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah. We faced them in a few quests,¡± Wayne said. ¡°Are they still doing the thing where they shout the name of their powers?¡± Bruce said. I smiled at the memory. ¡°Yup.¡± It was a strange feeling, being surrounded by all the testosterone. I¡¯d never really hung out with guys all that much, here or back on Earth. For whatever reason, I always seemed to gravitate toward the platonic company of women. After a while, I started to remember what that reason was. ¡°Oh man,¡± Bruce said, ¡°she looks so good in that armor.¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± Andy said, topping up everyone¡¯s glasses then motioning to the servers for another pitcher. ¡°So fucking sexy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the wings that really do it for me,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Her everything does it for me,¡± Andy countered. ¡°Every woman¡¯s everything does it for you, Andy,¡± Wayne said. ¡°Guilty as charged.¡± That kind of locker talk made me uncomfortable. It went on for a while and nobody was safe from the lecherous evaluations. Pretty much every woman we knew became the topic of conversation. Well, everyone except Nina. Byron was there, after all. Some lines cannot be crossed. But that didn¡¯t stop Byron from being actively involved in the conversation. ¡°So, Arthur,¡± Byron drawled at one point. ¡°What¡¯s going on with you and Jane?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I dunno, man,¡± Andy piped in. ¡°That strange little grin of yours says otherwise.¡± ¡°You guys haven¡¯t exactly been hiding how much you¡¯re together these days,¡± Bruce said. Arthur chuckled, casting his gaze downward evasively. He really was a handsome guy. And smart. And dependable. A real alpha type. The Man. ¡°That¡¯s because there¡¯s nothing to hide,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Suuuuure,¡± Byron said. ¡°Cheers,¡± he added as Andy topped up his glass. Arthur looked up. ¡°I¡¯m starting to regret agreeing to Nina¡¯s request to make sure you¡¯re not ¡ª how did she put it? ¡ª a sloppy mess when you get home, Byron.¡± Byron peered at Arthur over the rim of his glass as he took a deep swig. ¡°What, this? Pfffft. I can hold my drinkies.¡± We all had to smile at that because we all knew better. Byron enjoyed beer more than any of us, but it also hit him faster than anyone. The very fact that he used a word like drinkies told me he was already on his way. Thankfully he wasn¡¯t a bad drunk. ¡°All the same, try to slow it down, huh? I don¡¯t want Nina to get angry with me too.¡± The slight emphasis on the last word did the trick. Byron wasn¡¯t yet drunk enough to miss the implication that his wife would be angry with him if he didn¡¯t pace himself better. He put down the beer and asked a passing server for a glass of water. I picked up my own beer and chugged back a big gulp after catching a snippet of conversation from another table nearby. ¡°Look, there,¡± a male voice said. ¡°It¡¯s him. Elf dude.¡± I¡¯d chosen to come out without a disguise. Bad choice. ¡°He doesn¡¯t look like all that,¡± a female voice said. ¡°Why¡¯s he with those Team Maple Leaf guys?¡± ¡°I heard he was their team builder but they kicked him out.¡± ¡°Figures. Bet he¡¯s a real asshole.¡± I glanced around the table. Nobody else seemed to have heard it. Then again, Kenji was the only other person in the gang who had super hearing. The only reason I had it was because I¡¯d copied his ability and synthesized it with some other physical enhancements, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have heard it myself. The guys were all busy with their own conversations. Byron was chugging water while listening to Lancelot and Galahad tell stories about their experiences in professional eSports. Meanwhile, Bruce was harassing Arthur about Jane, and I do mean harassing. Arthur was taking it all in stride, doing his best to deflect where he could and ignore where he couldn¡¯t, but I felt Bruce was going a bit far. Some of the things he was saying about Jane were kind of inappropriate. For some reason, I was more annoyed with Arthur for not shutting it down than with Bruce for saying it in the first place. I decided to change Bruce¡¯s course. ¡°So what kind of woman are you into, Bruce?¡± He leaned back in his chair. ¡°If history is any indication, I seem to like petite women. That¡¯s what my wife was.¡± ¡°Was?¡± ¡°Apparently her type isn¡¯t prematurely balding overweight nerds,¡± Bruce said. ¡°We got married young, and I guess she decided the man I became wasn¡¯t what she¡¯d signed up for.¡± ¡°That sucks, man,¡± Andy said. ¡°Yeah, sorry to hear that,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Any kids?¡± I said. ¡°One boy,¡± Bruce said. ¡°He¡¯s six and lives with his mom most of the time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rough,¡± Wayne said. ¡°It must be hard being so far away from him now.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve all got people back home we were torn away from,¡± Bruce said, running his finger around the rim of his glass. ¡°I¡¯m no different.¡± I¡¯d wanted to redirect the conversation, but it took an unexpected turn toward melancholy. If Jane or Sigrid were there they¡¯d have been able to steer it properly, they have the social skills I clearly lacked. I guess Arthur had the same idea, because just as Byron was about to take another drink he said, ¡°You¡¯ve never mentioned any kids, Byron.¡± Byron lowered his glass. ¡°That¡¯s because we don¡¯t have any, but not for lack of trying.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°It is what it is,¡± Byron said, then winked. ¡°We haven¡¯t stopped trying, though. We give it a go nearly every day.¡± ¡°TMI, man,¡± Bruce said. After that, the conversation flowed in a less personal, more positive direction. Byron and I ended up nerding out on artifice, and when I finally emerged from that I noticed that Sam and Andy had left the table. I saw Sam sitting at the bar. He preferred liquor over beer so I thought he might only be there to get another drink, but he had a full cocktail in his hand and showed no sign of coming back. Then I saw one of the guys from Team Legion sitting next to him and the way he and Sam leaned in toward each other, and I got it. As for Andy, I finally spotted him sitting at another table with four women. All Shall Be Revealed showed that they were all unaffiliated Players. He sat there with two women on either side hanging off his every word, looking very much like he was working at a host club. I wouldn¡¯t say they were fawning over him, but he had certainly captivated their attention. I don¡¯t know why it surprised me. It hadn¡¯t taken Sigrid long to enjoy his company in bed, and she could probably have anybody she wanted. He was kind of like the male version of her, outgoing and friendly with a physical presence that was hard to ignore. It would make sense that he was popular with women, and it was no secret how much he liked their company. I had a hunch Sigrid would feel relieved to see him like this. She hadn¡¯t complained about Andy being needy in a while, so I assumed that business had sorted itself out and this was Andy moving on. Andy noticed me looking at him and gave me a wink before opening his mouth to accept a morsel of food that one of the women was trying to feed him. I turned my attention back to my own table, where Bruce was trying to wheedle out of Arthur if Jane¡¯s red hair was natural and if the carpet matched the drapes. Arthur laughed it off. Fighting several competing urges, all of which would only have gotten me into trouble, I chose the least harmful one and drained my glass, then reached for a pitcher and topped it up again. From this point on, my memory of things started getting a bit hazy, and after another glass or two I have no recollection whatsoever of what happened that night. Everything I know about the events that followed were cobbled together from complete hearsay so it must all be taken with more than a few grains of salt. Here are the facts. I woke up in a strange bed. It was soft, but smelled of stale wine and cheap perfume. My head ached like a son of a gun and my stomach felt like someone had squashed it in a steam press overnight. When I opened my eyes, I saw a woman in the room with me, sitting at a mirror with her back to me, applying makeup. She was older, maybe in her forties if I had to guess, wearing a lush dressing gown. In the vernacular, she was what Andy would¡¯ve called a MILF. I saw her eyes flicker in the mirror¡¯s reflection. She must¡¯ve seen me rouse. ¡°Good morning, hun,¡± she said. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I opened my mouth to speak but found my lips sticking together. It was like a fuzzy caterpillar had absorbed all the moisture in my mouth then died on my tongue during the night. ¡°Like complete crap.¡± She laughed. ¡°Sorry to say I¡¯m not surprised.¡± I peered around the room. It was tidy, but tackily decorated with lots of nick-nacks, gold accents, and frilly things. ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t mean to sound rude, but who are you and where am I?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite alright. I¡¯m also not surprised you don¡¯t remember much. You were pretty far gone last night. My name is Madame Devorah and you¡¯re in my room at the Gentlemen¡¯s Club.¡± ¡°Wait, what? Gentlemen¡¯s Club? Isn¡¯t that a...¡±
Madame Devorah Prostitute
Skills: Gossip - Expert Karate - Adept Leadership - Adept Management - Adept Seduction - Expert
Yeah. I woke up in a brothel. What the hell happened last night? Chapter Ninety-Nine - What happened last night Madame Devorah finished applying her makeup at the mirror then stood up. ¡°If it was my choice I¡¯d let you sleep a little longer, but there are some people down in the lobby quite insistent that you get up. Sorry.¡± ¡°People?¡± My mouth felt sticky. I tried scraping the caterpillar off my tongue with my upper teeth. The Madame wiggled across the room to the wardrobe. She stood with her back to me, then let the dressing gown fall off her shoulders to the floor. I saw the flash of bare skin and instinctively put my hand over my eyes. ¡°Your friends,¡± she said. ¡°At least I assume that¡¯s who they are. Andy¡¯s with them.¡± ¡°You know Andy?¡± She giggled. ¡°Oh, I know Andy.¡± I started piecing together the story of the night before in my head. ¡°Andy,¡± I muttered. ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill him.¡± ¡°You can open your eyes, hun,¡± she said softly. ¡°I¡¯m decent.¡± I let my hand drop and opened my eyes a crack. Madame Devorah was still at the wardrobe, wearing nothing but some skimpy underwear that was composed almost entirely of lace. I could only imagine what she considered indecent. It was only then that I realized that even though I was in bed ¡ª in her bed ¡ª I was still completely dressed. I saw my boots lined up neatly beside the door under my armored coat hanging on a hook. Seriously, what the hell happened last night? The curiosity burned, but I was too shy to ask. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to know the answer. She rifled through the clothes hanging in the wardrobe. ¡°There¡¯s a bathroom right over there if you want to freshen up a bit before going downstairs.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I think I will. Thanks.¡± The bathroom was small but impeccably clean. There was a large pitcher of fresh water so I poured some into the basin and splashed some onto my face while avoiding looking at myself in the mirror. I literally couldn¡¯t face myself. I felt my stomach contract with the urge to hurl, but there wasn¡¯t anything left in it to purge so I just dry-heaved a bit. I must¡¯ve thrown it all up during the night. I lingered there for a while to give Madame Devorah ample time to get dressed, and when I finally emerged I found her waiting for me wearing a surprisingly modest outfit consisting of a knee-length pencil skirt under a dark blazer, her thick dark hair mounded on her head in a loose bun. She looked very professional, just not what I would¡¯ve expected from her particular profession. She waited while I put on my coat and boots, then led me out to face the music. I saw the lobby as though for the first time. I must¡¯ve been through it the night before, but I had no memory of it. It was a large, open space with several seating areas arranged within it. Two massive staircases curved up to the second floor. Devorah and I stood at the top of one of these. I looked down to see several people in the lobby. There were a number I didn¡¯t recognize, clearly Madame Devorah¡¯s employees, along with a few that I did: Andy, of course, as well as Sigrid, Arthur, and, unfortunately, Jane. I may not have recognized the NPCs down below, but they seemed to know me. One of them was the first to notice us at the top of the stairs, a younger woman wearing a simple pair of loose-fitting pants and a peasant shirt. Now that I noticed, all the, er, employees were dressed casually, and they were all women. The Gentlemen¡¯s Club must not have been open yet so they were all in their civvies. The woman who noticed us called out. ¡°Good morning, Daniel!¡± All eyes turned up toward us. The other NPCs gave similarly warm welcomes, all addressed to me, and all using my name in a disturbingly familiar way. ¡°Uh, hi?¡± I said. I looked at each of my friends in turn. Andy couldn¡¯t make eye contact. Sigrid¡¯s expression started out concerned, but once she saw I was okay it turned to amusement. Arthur seemed exasperated. I couldn¡¯t tell what Jane was thinking. Looking down from the top of the stairs was making me feel a bit queasy, and the constant throbbing in my head wasn¡¯t showing any signs of going away. I cursed this accursed world and its lack of handy dandy pharmaceuticals. My kingdom for some acetaminophen. Then I remembered: who needs drugs? One quick use of my modified healing power on myself and I could feel almost normal again. But I decided not to take the easy way out. I¡¯d serve my penitence and endure the hangover I deserved. I heaved a sigh and followed Devorah down the stairs. ¡°Took you long enough,¡± Sigrid said once we¡¯d joined them on the floor of the lobby. ¡°What the hell happened last night?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering the same thing,¡± I said. ¡°Pretending not to remember, huh? Not a bad plan,¡± Sigrid said with a teasing grin, then came over. I flinched, expecting a punch, but I got a hug instead. ¡°You had me worried sick, you know.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she said, letting go of me. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s his!¡± She turned and gave Andy the punch I¡¯d been anticipating. Andy rubbed his arm, but didn¡¯t complain. I guess I wasn¡¯t the only penitent one there. ¡°So what did happen last night?¡± Jane said to me. ¡°These bozos aren¡¯t telling us anything.¡± Arthur scratched the back of his head sheepishly. ¡°We figured she ought to hear it from you,¡± he said. Why was Arthur smirking like that? If I didn''t know better I''d think he was enjoying this. ¡°Come on then, spill,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯d love to tell you,¡± I said, ¡°but I honestly don¡¯t remember a thing. I don¡¯t even remember leaving the bar.¡± ¡°How convenient,¡± Jane said. Her tone surprised me. I would¡¯ve expected Jane to be the amused one and Sigrid the angry one. Why was this all reversed? Madame Devorah must¡¯ve sensed the tension. She slid quickly into professional mode and began disarming the situation. ¡°There¡¯s some time before we open, so why don¡¯t we all have a seat and try to piece together the mystery of Daniel¡¯s very eventful evening for him, hmm? Tasha, could you please fetch us some tea?¡± Very eventful? That sounded ominous. Tasha, the woman who¡¯d first greeted me, hopped up from the chair she¡¯d been lounging on. ¡°Sure thing. Are you hungry, Daniel? Think you can eat something?¡± ¡°Uh, no thanks,¡± I said. Then my stomach betrayed me with a loud growl. Another of the NPCs came over and ruffled my hair. Her name was Felicity. Somehow I knew that without using my power to see. ¡°Silly boy. Let me whip you up some breakfast.¡± She and the one named Tasha scampered off. Devorah gestured to the largest of the seating areas and we went over to sit down as a group. Sigrid took the closest chair, and Arthur sat at one end of a loveseat. Jane plopped herself down beside him, while Andy sat squeezed between two NPCs on another loveseat. They both seemed to know him, and rather well. He looked like a guilty schoolchild waiting outside the Principal¡¯s office. Devorah perched on the largest chair like a reigning monarch, while I had a large, overstuffed chair to myself. Well, not entirely. Two of the NPCs lounged on either arm of my chair, acting like they knew me quite well too. I really wished they wouldn¡¯t. Everyone else flocked around us, using up the rest of the seats and pulling over a few more from other areas so we could all fit. A couple of them chose to sit on the floor, one taking a spot directly in front of my chair. She was about to lean back against my legs, but I shifted them out of the way before she could. Somehow, I knew all of their names. Andy sat there like a lump, eyes glued to the floor. Arthur looked around, taking everything in, while both Sigrid and Jane kept staring at me. Suddenly, I felt one of the women sitting on the arm of my chair touch my ear. No, not just touch. She stroked it. I flinched. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Sorry, Daniel,¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t help it.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t mind it so much last night,¡± said the one on the other arm as she stroked my other ear. ¡°Huh?¡± I put my hands over my ears. Something felt wrong. Why were they pointy? ¡°I was going to ask why you¡¯re an elf but I figured we¡¯d get there in good time,¡± Sigrid said with a wide grin. ¡°Besides, I was worried if I pointed it out you might¡ª¡± I turned off my Stop Staring At My Ears power and felt my ears change back to normal, along with the rest of me. ¡°Darn,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You did.¡± One of the women beside me tapped me playfully on the head. ¡°Aw, you switched back to human. Party pooper.¡± ¡°Can we get back to the topic at hand,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯d very much like to know what nonsense this idiot was up to last night.¡± ¡°You and me both,¡± I said. ¡°Andy?¡± Andy peeked up at me. I¡¯ve never seen anybody look so guilty. ¡°Yeah?¡± he squeaked. ¡°Could you please tell me what happened to me after we left the bar last night? Actually, never mind. I have a feeling I won¡¯t get the full story out of you. Arthur, can you tell me instead?¡± ¡°I wish I could,¡± Arthur said, ¡°but I don¡¯t know the whole story myself. I left early to bring Byron home, so I wasn¡¯t there when you, uh, took the party here.¡± "You''re a real boy scout, Arthur," Sigrid said. While I was curious about why there was sarcasm in the way she said it, I was more interested in knowing how I ended up in a brothel. I turned back to Andy. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re up after all. If the witness would care to take the stand?¡± Andy sighed, then sat up straight. The women of the Gentlemen¡¯s Club were all grinning and looking at each other expectantly. I had the feeling they already knew the story but were excited to hear it again. ¡°Well, it all started while we were still at the bar,¡± Andy said. ¡°Arthur and Byron left first. Byron was starting to get a bit sloppy so Arthur dragged him back to Nina.¡± ¡°Good boy,¡± Jane said, patting Arthur¡¯s leg. His handsome face spread into a happy smile. Those two really were getting pretty close, weren¡¯t they? Even I had to admit, they made a good couple. If it weren¡¯t for Jane, he¡¯d be my top pick as the main hero. All of a sudden, Jane quickly pulled her hand away from his leg. I realized I''d been staring at her hand on his thigh so looked up to see she was looking at me. Our eyes met for a flash then she looked away just as quickly and folded both her hands neatly in her lap. Andy was still talking. ¡°Wayne left shortly after with Lance, and Sam took off with a new friend, so it was just me, Daniel, Bruce, and Galahad.¡± ¡°How did Daniel get so drunk so fast he doesn¡¯t remember all that?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°He¡¯s usually pretty good about pacing himself.¡± ¡°Well, I may have been keeping his glass full so he didn¡¯t know how much he was drinking,¡± Andy said, uncharacteristically meekly. ¡°And there may have been shots involved.¡± A sudden memory clicked in. ¡°Oh yeah. I seem to remember doing a shot with you.¡± ¡°It was more than a shot,¡± Andy said, emphasizing the singular indefinite article. ¡°Go on,¡± Jane said. ¡°I guess we were getting a bit rowdy,¡± Andy said. ¡°And, well, some loudmouths from another team started shit-talking Daniel.¡± ¡°Who was it?¡± Sigrid said, hackles raised. ¡°A few of those jerks from Team Overgeared,¡± Andy said. ¡°They were pretty wasted themselves.¡± ¡°Which ones are they again?¡± Jane said. ¡°Remember those pervs who were hitting on Chika?¡± I said. ¡°Oh. Those guys,¡± Jane said, wrinkling her nose. ¡°Yeah,¡± Andy said. ¡°I didn¡¯t like what they were saying so I was gonna start something, but Daniel just started singing that song so I, you know, shook it off.¡± ¡°Haters gotta hate,¡± Jane said. Andy nodded enthusiastically, starting to warm up to his role as center of attention. ¡°Exactly, right? But they wouldn¡¯t let it go and were really mouthy and started getting all up in our faces and stuff.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I like where this is going,¡± Jane said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± one of the women beside me said. Her name was Niobe. ¡°It gets really good soon.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve heard about all this?¡± Jane said. Niobe tousled my hair. ¡°Oh yeah. We got the whole story last night.¡± Tasha came back pushing a cart with the tea. She began pouring for everyone using the now-familiar ceremonial motions, and for some reason I flashed back to Ruka. What would she make of all this? Wait, what if she was the real mastermind behind this establishment. She was a succubus, after all. It would make sense. Andy¡¯s voice pulled me back to the present. ¡°So yeah,¡± he said, ¡°anyway, they kept going at Daniel saying all kinds of garbage, but this guy here just kept shrugging it off.¡± ¡°Shaking,¡± Jane said. ¡°Shaking it off.¡± ¡°Let it go,¡± Sigrid moaned, then immediately regretted it when Jane started singing the Frozen song. ¡°I thought you were the one who wanted to hear all this, Jane,¡± Arthur said diplomatically. ¡°You¡¯re right. Sorry,¡± Jane said, making a zipper motion across her lips. ¡°What happened next, Andy?¡± Sigrid said. Andy seemed happy at Sigrid¡¯s encouragement and he launched back into the story. ¡°I guess it pissed them off that they couldn¡¯t get a rise out of him, so one thing led to another and one of those guys literally pulls out a glove and slaps Daniel across the face with it.¡± Andy¡¯s guilty schoolboy routine had completely slipped away. He was totally absorbed in telling the story and had become the vibrant Andy we were all used to again. ¡°An actual glove,¡± Andy said again with a sly grin, shaking his head in disbelief. ¡°Men are ridiculous,¡± Jane said. ¡°Please tell me you didn¡¯t just ignore that,¡± Sigrid said at the same time. She and Jane peered at each other. Their reactions had been the exact opposite, and they both looked at each other as if to ask what¡¯s wrong with you? ¡°Yeah, no,¡± Andy said. ¡°That did it. Our boy here just stood up and chugged back the rest of his drink, then he says fine, you wanna go, lesh go, and marches us out of the bar.¡± The way he slurred his words when quoting me sparked a few amused titters among the NPCs, which seemed to make Andy very happy. ¡°A duel in the street, huh?¡± Sigrid said. Andy shook his head. ¡°Nope. The other guy wanted to, but Daniel wouldn¡¯t do it there. Said it had to be done properly or something.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Jane said. ¡°We were all wondering the same thing, but then Daniel staggers across the town square right on over to the arena. Turns out the gate isn¡¯t locked up very tight so it wasn¡¯t hard to squeeze through and get inside. Don¡¯t ask me how Daniel knew about that, but he just slipped right in like it was the normal thing to do.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t his first time,¡± Sigrid said, and I knew she was remembering when I¡¯d told her and Jane about my first night on Crucible and getting the crap beat out of me by Kiki and her boys. ¡°Yeah, well, next thing I know, we¡¯re all there on the arena floor in the dark when all of a sudden that purple-haired hottie¡¯s there too,¡± Andy said. ¡°You mean Annabelle?¡± Arthur said. Jane gave him a look, then he added, ¡°What? I have a good memory for names.¡± ¡°And hotties, apparently,¡± Jane said, then turned back to Andy. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°I thought we were in deep shit,¡± Andy said, ¡°but then Daniel staggers over and has a few words with her and, wham bam boom, the place lights up. Like, literally. The ceiling turns into one big lamp shining down on us.¡± ¡°What did he say to her?¡± Arthur said. Andy shrugged. ¡°Whatever it was, it worked. A stupid drunken bar argument had turned into this official battle against other Players and Annabelle agreed to oversee it. I think she¡¯s in charge of the arena or something.¡± ¡°At least you acknowledge it was stupid,¡± Jane said. ¡°So next thing Annabelle¡¯s asking what the terms and stuff were gonna be for the fight, like how the winner would be decided and what weapons or abilities could be used, and if they wanted to attach stakes to the result. ¡°Like a wager?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Yeah, those arseholes wanted to bet that the loser would have to pay a hundred gold to the winner.¡± ¡°That¡¯s crazy. Daniel would never agree to that,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But he did. Without hesitation. Even upped it to two hundred.¡± ¡°Daniel! You didn¡¯t!¡± Sigrid said, blue eyes wide with shock. It was my turn to shrug. ¡°Who knows? I might have.¡± ¡°You did,¡± Andy said. ¡°But get this. She even asked whether or not respawning should be possible.¡± ¡°You¡¯re kidding. A duel to the death-death?¡± Sigrid said, sounding alarmed, much more than about the wager. This time she glared at me. ¡°You didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°No, he didn¡¯t,¡± Andy said. ¡°Daniel insisted that if someone died, they were guaranteed to come back.¡± Sigrid relaxed. ¡°Thank god. I don¡¯t want you taking risks like that, Daniel.¡± Andy grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t think he did it for his sake. I think he did it to protect those other guys.¡± ¡°From what?¡± Jane said. ¡°From him!¡± Andy said, pointing at me. ¡°I mean...it¡¯s like...damn, you should¡¯ve been there. It was a-mazing!¡± Jane¡¯s gaze slowly swept over to me, then her eyes locked on and she stared at me. No, more like she scrutinized me. ¡°Really?¡± she said, her nose wrinkled as if the very idea left a bad taste in her mouth, the kind you get when you''re told that whatever it was you just ate, it certainly wasn''t ham. I mean, I got her scorn and doubt and all that, but it still hurt a bit that it would be so inconceivable to her that I could¡¯ve done something amazing. When Andy didn¡¯t say anything I just shrugged. ¡°Jeepers creepers, don¡¯t look at me. I can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of these purported events.¡± Jane scowled at me. ¡°Your honor,¡± I added. Sigrid snorted at that, but Jane reaction was barely noticeable. It wasn¡¯t much of a smile, perhaps only the faintest hint of one, but I swear I saw it there, dancing, just on the edge of her lips. ¡°So what happened in the fight?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You aren¡¯t gonna believe it,¡± Andy said. Chapter One Hundred - Slicing and dicing and whatnot I felt fingers running through my hair. I hadn¡¯t realized it, but the women on either side of me had gotten closer while Andy had been talking. One had an arm around my shoulders and was pressing against my side, while the other was the one playing with my hair. My eyes flickered over to Sigrid. She was looking right at me, big grin. Then I hazarded a quick glance at Jane. How do I explain it? She wasn¡¯t looking directly at me, which is to say that her eyes were pointed at Andy, not at me, but somehow I felt positive that she was still carefully monitoring my every move. I didn¡¯t dare budge. Andy continued with his story, the words pouring out fast. ¡°At first it was Daniel versus the guy who slapped him. He was a bruiser, and went to overpower our little stringbean physically, but Danny boy would have nothing of it. He danced around, avoiding everything the other guy had. Couldn¡¯t lay a finger on him. Kinda reminded me of the way you fight, Jane. All acrobatic and stuff.¡± Jane grunted. ¡°You said something about that once, Daniel, what was it? Like a breeze,¡± Andy said. ¡°She¡¯s like the wind,¡± I corrected. ¡°That¡¯s it. That¡¯s what you were like, Daniel.¡± ¡°Nobody puts baby in the corner,¡± Sigrid said. As soon as she did, my eyes shot back to her. Trust the film studies student to know her old movies. I just prayed that Jane didn¡¯t make the same connection. The lyrics to that song hit a little too close to home. I tore my eyes away from Sigrid and prayed that nobody had noticed anything. Andy certainly hadn¡¯t. He was using his hands like puppets, performing the actions to go along with the words. The hand representing me was dodging around while the other hand kept coming after it. ¡°Uh, yeah. sure. It¡¯s not like the other guy was bad or anything,¡± Andy was saying. ¡°I mean, I could tell he was stroooong. But dude was way too slow. Daniel had the right idea. I¡¯d have done the same. The guy kept going for a grapple or trip, anything to slow our boys down, but by the time he got there Daniel was already way gone. Whoosh. Dude tries again, whoosh. Again, whoosh.¡± I must¡¯ve been using omni-do with superspeed, or maybe I was pulling a Jane and blinking around, hard to tell. Glad to know whatever it was worked even when I was drunk out of my gourd. Not that I intended to get that drunk again. Like, ever. ¡°The other guy got more and more frustrated and started spewing all kinds of hateful shit, but Daniel just kept dodging. Daniel¡¯s face never cracked a smile, just this droopy, bored kind of look, but I could tell he was having the time of his life. Or maybe that was just me. Anyway, meanwhile the other guy just got really pissed off. His teammates were all shouting rude shit too and telling Daniel to fight like a man and stuff. So then Daniel just stops and says,¡± and at this point Andy stood up and his whole body got into the act, swaying drunkenly as he imitated me, slurring, ¡°you want know how am thinking you beer, eh?¡± Sigrid snorted again, and this time Jane laughed too. I have no idea how close the imitation came to the real thing, but it was funny regardless. Andy stopped reeling around like a drunkard and started waving his hands in front of himself. ¡°Then I don¡¯t know what happened exactly but it was like out of a manga or something, I swear Daniel left trails in the air he moved so fast. The next thing we all know Daniel¡¯s got the other guy wrapped up like a pretzel in a choke hold and then bam, dude¡¯s out cold.¡± If I left trails I must''ve been using superspeed. Or else Andy just saw them because he was hammered too. ¡°Seriously?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Seriously," Andy said. I mean, I know Daniel¡¯s gotten pretty good and stuff, but I had no idea.¡± ¡°You must have drunken boxing somewhere in that crazy martial art of yours,¡± Arthur said. Not yet. Still haven¡¯t seen anyone else use it. I felt the woman with her arm around me rest her head against my shoulder. Then I felt Jane¡¯s eyes on me, glaring. I still didn¡¯t dare budge. Mercifully, Felicity returned at that moment with a tray of food. ¡°Scooch,¡± she said to the two sitting with me, and they both grumbled but slipped off the arms of the chair and took a seat on the floor in front of me. Then Felicity perched herself on the arm of my chair and began trying to feed me. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me,¡± Jane murmured, rolling her eyes. I put my hand out to stop Felicity from spooning a forkful of eggs into my mouth. ¡°Thanks, I can do it myself.¡± Felicity pouted, but handed me the fork. She didn¡¯t move from the arm of the chair, though. I put the fork down and picked up a piece of toast instead. I wasn¡¯t sure my stomach could handle eggs just yet. ¡°What happened then?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Well the other Overgeared jerks said it was a fluke and challenged him, too. Probably wanted to make back the gold they just lost. So the next guy steps up. He wasn¡¯t a melee fighter like the first one. He was gearing up like he was gonna use some kind of elemental attack. His hands started to get covered in flames then bam, he¡¯s wrapped up in these ropes of ice and topples over. Can¡¯t do a thing. Daniel goes over and asks if he yields and the guy just spits at him so Daniel bends over and starts flicking him on the nose and keeps asking if he yields.¡± Sigrid snorted. ¡°You flicked him on the nose?¡± I just shrugged and said, ¡°I have no recollection of these events, your honor,¡± then took a buttery bite of toast. Andy kept going. ¡°But Dude Number Two refuses to say uncle so Daniel just stood up, waved his hand, and the guy¡¯s entire body is encased in ice all except for his head. Then the ice starts creeping up the back of his neck, then it¡¯s covering his ears, then only the guy¡¯s face is exposed, then his eyes are frozen, then his nose, and finally he shouts I yield! I yield!¡± ¡°You used ice to counter his fire,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Opposite affinities are the most effective attacks,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, that''s right,¡± Andy said. ¡°So after the guy gives up the ice vanishes, but as soon as Daniel turns his back on him he starts again with the flaming hands. Daniel doesn¡¯t even look back, but before the guy can even form a fireball...¡± Andy snapped his fingers. ¡°His head disappears in a ball of black, you know? Like he¡¯s wearing one of those big old school astronaut helmets only it¡¯s all black with some, like, swirly colors. Pretty trippy. Dude starts wiggling there on the ground, legs thrashing, hands clawing at the blackness, then he goes all limp and stops moving and the black vanishes again. Dude¡¯s out cold, just like his buddy. The weirdest part was, for all his struggling he never made a peep.¡± ¡°Void?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Had to be,¡± I said. ¡°Nice.¡± Andy continued unabated. ¡°Well, after that, the next one steps up but Daniel goes and says this¡¯s gonna take all night and tells them all to come at him at once. Well, the peanut gallery starts going wild at this point.¡± ¡°Wait, what peanut gallery?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Oh crap, I forgot to mention. It wasn¡¯t just us who left the bar. There was a whole gang of people watching the argument there, and a bunch of them followed us out to watch the fight.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Oh dear. ¡°How many?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Gosh, I dunno,¡± Andy said, rubbing his hand over the stubbly hair on his scalp. ¡°A couple dozen maybe? Mostly Players, I think, but there were definitely some NPCs in the crowd too.¡± Oh dear oh dear. ¡°And how many Overgeared were there?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Six in total, but Daniel already took out two of them, so it was four on one in the end.¡± ¡°And you just let this happen?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Damn straight,¡± Andy said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t gonna step in unless he looked like he was in trouble, but it never once looked that way. The four of them lined up facing Daniel in this diamond formation. You know, tanky guy out front, damage dealers flanking, support guy in the back. Standard stuff. But they didn¡¯t even talk about it, they just took up positions automatically. Must¡¯ve practiced it.¡± Arthur nodded approvingly. ¡°Nice teamwork.¡± But then Jane slapped his thigh. ¡°Stop admiring the bad guys,¡± she said, and Arthur bit his lower lip, face flushing. Andy charged forward, undeterred. ¡°So the support guy in the back casts some kind of buff on the others, but it didn¡¯t matter. They didn¡¯t even get to move before all of a sudden bam, three of them fall to pieces. Like, literally.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Like, they fell apart. In pieces. Like someone had chopped them up where they were standing. One second they¡¯re standing there, and the next there¡¯s just that support guy left standing there surrounded by all these big square chunks of bloody meat on the ground. All that¡¯s left of his buddies. Sliced clean right through, bones and all. I have no idea what happened, or even if Daniel did anything. Maybe it was that purple-haired hottie.¡± Arthur looked at me. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Andy shrugged. ¡°Honestly, neither do I. Daniel hadn¡¯t even moved from the spot.¡± ¡°Andy?¡± I said. ¡°Did you happen to notice if my fingers moved at all?¡± ¡°No, why?¡± ¡°I think I know what happened.¡± ¡°Good, because I¡¯m dying to know.¡± I sighed. I¡¯d been trying not to use that power in public, but I guess drunken me forgot and went ahead and used it. Darn it. The first thing I did was check my mana. What I was about to do would use a fair bit of it so I needed to make sure I had enough. By the sounds of it, I must¡¯ve used a crap ton of mana the previous night, and checking my mana confirmed that. Even after sleeping the gauge was only sitting at about one-third, so I¡¯d definitely used a lot. Still, one-third was more than enough for what I was about to do. It was only going to be a small demonstration. I looked around for something to demonstrate with, but I didn¡¯t want to ruin any of Madame Devorah¡¯s things so I decided to just make something else instead. ¡°Madame Devorah,¡± I said, ¡°and ladies. Please don¡¯t be alarmed by what¡¯s about to happen.¡± Then I summoned a snowman. At first I was going to conjure up a real animal, but figured that might¡¯ve been a bit disturbing, not to mention messy, so I chose to use Ice affinity with the summon power. Then I was going to make it in a human shape, but I thought that might also disturb some people so I made it look like a regular big old snowman, three balls of packed snow stacked on top of each other. It blinked its coal eyes a few times. The prostitutes oohed and aahed over it. Sorry, Olaf. My fingers moved, and the snowman instantly fell apart. Cubes of ice about a foot along each side tumbled to the floor. The magic nanofibers of my razor floss had cut clean through the ice without even shattering it. Sliced and diced. I could¡¯ve made more threads and cut it into smaller chunks, but more threads increased the mana requirement exponentially. This was enough for a simple demo. Silence. ¡°What the heck?¡± Arthur said after the shock wore off. ¡°What did you just do?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Andy said, pointing at the pieces of ice on the floor. ¡°Just like that.¡± ¡°What kind of power is that?¡± Sigrid said. Jane said nothing, just regarded me with an enigmatic look. I still couldn¡¯t tell you what she was thinking. ¡°It¡¯s razor floss. A new power I made.¡± ¡°Holy crap, Daniel. That is beyond awesome. I¡¯m gonna call you Shadow from now on,¡± Andy said, eyes shining. "He who lurks in the shadows to fight the shadows, or something like that." ¡°Huh?¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s a nerd thing,¡± Andy explained. ¡°From an anime.¡± ¡°You can do that to people?¡± Sigrid said. I could see from her expression that she was imagining what that might look like, and that it was not a pleasant image. ¡°Apparently,¡± I said, sitting back down. I picked up the fork and scooped up some egg. Even that simple use of the power had zorched a lot of mana, and I needed the food. I just hoped I could keep it down. Felicity bounced on the arm of my chair. ¡°Go on, Andy, Tell them about the last guy.¡± ¡°Yes Andy,¡± Jane said, ¡°do tell us about the last guy.¡± ¡°Right, the last guy.¡± Andy stood still, arms dropped to his sides, shoulders slumped like he barely has the strength to stand. ¡°So Daniel¡¯s like this, right? Fed up or worn out, doesn¡¯t matter. He¡¯s just standing there like this, and the last guy¡¯s standing there looking at all the chunks of his pals with this holy shit look on his face. And Daniel raises his hand and points at the guy and says, gonna yield? And the guy barely manages to croak out this weak yes. And it¡¯s all over.¡± ¡°That¡¯s our Daniel,¡± Felicity said. ¡°I know, right?¡± one of her co-workers said. ¡°He¡¯s amazing.¡± ¡°Your Daniel?¡± Jane said. Felicity put her arm around me and squeezed. ¡°Yeah. Why, was he yours before?¡± Jane bequeathed one of her tremendous eye rolls upon us all, then turned to Andy. ¡°So you¡¯re saying our Daniel,¡± unnaturally heavy emphasis on the possessive pronoun, ¡°single-handedly destroyed over half of another team.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°While drunk.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°In front of a crowd.¡± ¡°Yup. But, to be fair, he completely passed out right after.¡± ¡°Sounds about right,¡± Jane said with a smirk. ¡°It uses a lot of mana,¡± I said, stuffing my face with eggs. ¡°Like, a lot.¡± ¡°Idiot.¡± ¡°It was kinda funny, really,¡± Andy said, returning to his seat and squeezing back between the two women. ¡°Like, two seconds after the other guy gives up Daniel just topples over. Out like a light. But he''d already won, so whatever.¡± ¡°That still doesn¡¯t explain how he ended up here,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Or what he did here,¡± Jane added. ¡°Well I can tell you how we got here,¡± Andy said. ¡°But as for what happened after that, well...¡± ¡°Let me guess,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Once you arrived in this fine establishment, you became otherwise occupied?¡± Andy didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I can vouch for that,¡± one of the women said. She was blonde. ¡°Me too,¡± said another, also blonde. Andy had a type, for sure. ¡°Andy, Andy, Andy,¡± Arthur said, shaking his head. Andy still didn¡¯t say anything. Sigrid laughed. ¡°Sounds about right.¡± Andy looked up at her, confusion all over his face. I guess Andy thought Sigrid would be mad that he¡¯d spent the night with not one but two of these women, but instead she seemed decidedly unconcerned. I knew exactly what she was thinking: maybe this meant he¡¯d stop being so needy and trying to cling to her like a zebra mussel. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her that him being with other women wouldn¡¯t change his infatuation with her. After all, he¡¯d apparently been with lots since we got here and his behavior with Sigrid hadn¡¯t changed so far, so I didn¡¯t think this was gonna make one whit of difference. If anything, her acceptance of his philandering would only fuel his puppy love. Sigrid¡¯s attitude, however misinterpreted by Andy, seemed to reinflate him and he launched back into his story. Yup. Puppy love had been fueled. ¡°We left the arena after that. Lance and I carried Daniel out, of course. He was still out cold. We found a food cart still open and forced some energy back into him so he caught a second wind. After his duels, I thought there was cause for celebration.¡± ¡°So you brought him here,¡± Jane said. ¡°Well, yeah.¡± ¡°Where were Bruce and Galahad?¡± Arthur said. ¡°I had Bruce,¡± a woman said. ¡°Gally was with me,¡± said another. ¡°Men are ridiculous,¡± Jane said. ¡°So who had Daniel?¡± The prostitutes looked around at each other. ¡°I guess we all did,¡± Tasha said. ¡°Say what now?¡± Sigrid said. Chapter One Hundred and One - Thats our Daniel for you In the lobby of the Gentlemen''s Club brothel you could''ve heard a worm crawl. I was wishing I could crawl out of there because I certainly felt like a worm. ¡°So, um, does that mean you all had him?¡± Jane said slowly, annunciating each syllable carefully. ¡°I mean, in a way,¡± Tasha said. ¡°Not, you know,¡± and she quirked her head toward where Jane was scrunched up next to Arthur on the loveseat. ¡°Yeah yeah, we get it,¡± Jane said, inching away from Arthur and rolling her hands gesturing to get on with it. Arthur glanced down at the space she''d formed between them and frowned. Tasha smiled knowingly and continued. ¡°He spent the whole night here in the lobby just hanging out with us. All of us.¡± ¡°Of course he did,¡± Jane said, and started to laugh. ¡°That¡¯s our Daniel for you.¡± ¡°He was so funny,¡± Felicity said, and the assembled co-workers of the Gentlemen¡¯s Club, all of whom I apparently did nothing but have tea with all night in the lobby, all voiced their agreement. Some even elaborated, making everything sound like a movie poster shilling a straight-to-streaming sequel to a kids movie about a talking aardvark. ¡°So entertaining!¡± trilled one. Translation: what a loser. ¡°Adorable!¡± cooed another. That¡¯s what you call annoying children. ¡°I wanted to take him home and keep him!¡± squeaked a third. Yeah, like a pet. Or a houseplant. ¡°I can take over the story from here,¡± Madame Devorah said, quieting her subordinates instantly. ¡°When Andy showed up with his friends I was surprised.¡± ¡°So seeing Andy here was a surprise?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Well, no,¡± Devorah said with a playful smile. ¡°It was surprising he didn¡¯t come alone, as usual.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Arthur said, looking deflated. I got the feeling Arthur thought he was being chivalrous, asking on Sigrid¡¯s behalf to confirm that Andy wasn¡¯t the type to frequent a brothel. Sigrid just sat there with a smile on her face, shaking her head. It was clear that she¡¯d figured out a long time ago what type of guy Andy was and really just didn¡¯t give a fig. ¡°It was also a surprise to see him that drunk, you see,¡± the Madame added. ¡°I do see,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Please go on.¡± She went on. ¡°They were clearly happy about something, then Andy told us the story about Daniel¡¯s escapades in the arena before heading upstairs with Suze and Sara.¡± ¡°But Daniel really just stayed here?¡± Sigrid said, pointing at the floor to indicate the lobby. Devorah nodded. ¡°The others also went up, but Daniel insisted on staying down here.¡± ¡°He couldn¡¯t decide on a girl, huh?¡± Jane said. ¡°No, he just wouldn¡¯t go with anyone,¡± Devorah said. ¡°Not for our lack of trying,¡± Felicity said. ¡°Especially after he brought out the elf ears,¡± Tasha said, looking at me in a way that made me super uncomfortable. The troupe of professionals surrounding me took on a bit of a predatory vibe and I hoped this would all be over soon. ¡°He stayed here and kept everyone entertained all night,¡± Devorah said. ¡°Do that thing again,¡± Felicity said. ¡°You know, the one about dead parrot.¡± ¡°Oh god no, tell me I didn¡¯t,¡± I said, putting my head in my hands. From what I¡¯d heard so far, I¡¯d done some alarming things the night before, things that I had no doubt I would absolutely come to regret doing later. If what Andy said was true, that is. Which, let¡¯s be honest, I was sure it was. But despite all that, somehow this was the thing that alarmed me the most. I understand doing something stupid, especially while drunk. But drunk or sober, some things reflect poorly on who a person is deep down, unforgivable things. Like what Felicity just said I had done. ¡°No, no,¡± Tasha said, ¡°sing the song about the bright side of life.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Let me get this straight,¡± Jane said, a wide grin spreading across her face. ¡°You had the chance to enjoy the company of any number of these friendly ladies, but instead you chose to lurk in the lobby and do Monty Python skits all night?¡± I sighed and kept looking down at the floor while covering my face with my hands, wishing I could shrink away to nothing. ¡°Apparently.¡± I love Monty Python as much as the next geek, but what I can¡¯t stand people are who go around quoting them. They are the literal worst. And here I was one of them. How truly embarrassing. Unforgivable. ¡°Eventually the poor boy ran out of steam and started dozing off down here, so I took him upstairs and put him in my bed,¡± Madame Devorah said. ¡°I knew nobody would bother him there.¡± ¡°That was very kind of you,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Thank you for looking after our silly friend.¡± ¡°Not at all. It was our pleasure, honestly. We very much enjoyed his company, it was a pleasant change from the usual.¡± Andy shifted in his seat and avoided eye contact. I couldn¡¯t blame him for feeling a bit shifty, the Madame had more or less implied that he represented the usual from which I was a pleasant change, after all. ¡°He¡¯s a good boy,¡± Madame Devorah added, and Jane¡¯s face lit up even more. This was her Christmas morning and she''d just found a big present under the tree with her name on it. ¡°He is, isn¡¯t he? He¡¯s such a good boy! Aren¡¯t you? Such a good boy,¡± Jane said in the tone you¡¯d use when talking to a golden retriever. I looked over to the loveseat and saw her staring at me with a huge grin, all traces of her previous prickliness gone. I also noticed Arthur looking at me with a wrinkled brow and tight lips. Apparently, that prickliness had transfered over to him. ¡°And that brings us to this morning when you showed up looking for him,¡± Madame Devorah said, folding her hands in her lap to indicate she was finished. I handed the empty plate to Felicity and stood up. I went over to stand in front of Devorah and bowed deeply. You know, like they do in the Japan. I¡¯d seen it done countless times in anime, and it seemed the right thing to do then, given the circumstances. In such situations, etiquette was important. ¡°Thank you for everything,¡± I said. This was clearly one of those episodes in the series where a side character gets tossed a story bone, and this time that side character was me. You take what you can get, I suppose. Madame Devorah stood up and took a step toward me, then cupped her hand under my chin and lifted me upright. When I was facing her she stroked my cheek. ¡°It really was our pleasure, Daniel. Do come back any time, we would love to have you visit again.¡± A chorus of agreement chirped out from the assembled ladies. ¡°Um, this is awkward, but...what do I owe you?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You know. For your time. And your trouble. And for breakfast. And,¡± I added quietly, ¡°for your bed.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t take a single copper from you, Daniel. Like I said, it truly was our pleasure.¡± ¡°But my antics must¡¯ve chased off some business,¡± I said. ¡°I feel like I must owe you something.¡± ¡°Actually, if anything you were good for business. I suppose the unusual sounds of laughter and fun pouring out of this place must have brought in a few new patrons. We were busier than usual last night, so in reality, I should be the one who owes you. Maybe you should come entertain in the lobby more often in exchange for a cut of the profits.¡± ¡°Ridiculous,¡± Jane muttered, then she stood up too. ¡°Well, we¡¯ve all taken up more than enough of your time. We¡¯ll be going now.¡± ¡°Aw, so soon?¡± Tasha said, rushing over and grabbing my arm. ¡°Won¡¯t you stay, Daniel?¡± she said, looking up at me with big brown doe-eyes. I had to agree with Jane. This was getting ridiculous. My perfectly functional seinen story was rapidly shifting genres. ¡°No,¡± I said emphatically. ¡°I¡¯ve surely overstayed my welcome. I think I need to go home and get some more sleep.¡± Tasha tugged my arm and opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off before she had a chance. ¡°In his own bed,¡± Jane said. ¡°Alone.¡± Tasha pouted. ¡°Aw.¡± ¡°But you must promise to come visit again,¡± Felicity said, grabbing my other arm. ¡°Yes, you must,¡± the other women said, crowding around me. ¡°Uh, sure,¡± I said, slithering out of their grasps. ¡°Sometime.¡± That weak noncommittal answer seemed enough to placate them because they let us leave without further hassle. We stepped out of the Gentlemen¡¯s Club onto Sword Street, blinking in the sunlight. Everyone remained quiet until we¡¯d made our way onto Dagger Street and were headed toward the Dragon Clan dojo, then Sigrid broke the silence. ¡°Did you really take out all those guys in the arena, Daniel?¡± ¡°Apparently.¡± ¡°Was that a good idea? I mean, weren¡¯t you trying to fly under the radar lately?¡± I sighed. ¡°So much for that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Daniel,¡± Andy said. ¡°I guess, well, I just wasn¡¯t thinking is all.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said. ¡°By the sounds of it, I had a hell of a night.¡± Andy grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll say. One to remember.¡± ¡°If only I did.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Two - Side hustle After we made it back to the dojo I slunk into my room as quickly as possible, doing my best to avoid talking to or even looking at anyone. Especially Jane. I had lots on my list of things to do but getting over my hangover and humiliation took priority, so my list got shunted aside and the bulk of the rest of that day was spent either napping or soaking in the big, outdoor bath. Alone. Nothing like a long, hot soak to clear your head. What the hell had I done? Did I seriously use that stupid power to slice and dice three people into chunks of meat? In public? I wasn¡¯t worried about getting in trouble for it. If anything, it was the most legal fight I¡¯d had so far against other people. Authorized and overseen by Annabelle and everything. It made me realize how little I¡¯d had to use my abilities against other Players compared to everyone else. Sparring aside, of course. But you never really fight to the best of your abilities unless it¡¯s for real. I wished I knew what parts of Andy¡¯s telling of the story were true and what parts were all in his warped head. I mean, he was drunk too, right? Maybe not as drunk, clearly, but still. Ridiculous. Taking on four at once or moving so fast it was a blur? Come on. That¡¯s just crazy. Like, hyperbolic crazy. Even if I had used superspeed...although...if I had used body-enhancing qi power first then augmented it with superspeed there should be a multiplication effect for something like pure speed...but anyway, where was I? Right, ridiculous assertions like these aside, did I really take out half a team? In public? In the arena? I must¡¯ve been exceptionally drunk to do something so stupid. Even if it was officially authorized, how could I not catch some heat for that? I did my best to mentally prepare for some fallout from my escapades, but there was absolutely no way I could¡¯ve predicted what would actually happen as a result. It was late afternoon, the day after my drunken shenanigans, and I was out for a run with Sigrid through the city after being coerced into exorcizing my hangover with exercise when I received an unexpected notice, a kind I¡¯d never seen before. System: You have mail I stopped suddenly, and Sigrid stumbled a few steps as she did the same. ¡°What is it?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve got mail.¡± I told System to share the notice with her. ¡°That¡¯s new,¡± she said. ¡°I know. I¡¯ve never seen that before.¡± ¡°So open it, dummy.¡± System Mail From: Annabelle Come see me. ¡°Well that¡¯s mysterious,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯d call it more ominous,¡± I said. ¡°Why do I feel like I¡¯ve just been called to the Principal¡¯s office?¡± ¡°You think it has something to do with last night?¡± ¡°What else could it be?¡± "Do you think we''ve been able to send mail like that all along and just didn''t know?" Sigrid said. "Let''s find out. System, can I send a reply to Annabelle?" System: Negative "Guess not," Sigrid said. "Pity. I''ve always wished there was a way to communicate with people." "Honestly, I''m surprised you haven''t just made one by now," Sigrid said. "Just what do you think I''m able to do?" "I have no clue," she said. "I haven''t seen your Status in a long time, so who knows what you''re capable of now. Hint hint." I started running again. "Shall I take this to mean you''re still not going to show me?" she called after me. I kept running. "Dummy." We finished our run and I had a quick bath and a change of clothing. I was almost at the arena to look for Annabelle when a new notification popped up. System: Team Invictus has entered the Light Dungeon Well well. Someone finally found it. I was so glad it was Invictus, too. Because its entrance was in a cave hidden in the mountain crags, nobody else had found the Light Dungeon yet, until now. I was willing to bet Invictus and friends had been scouring everywhere to find it, and I could only imagine their glee when they did. Poor buggers. ¡°Sorry Annabelle, duty calls.¡± It was right outside the arena so I was already heading toward the city¡¯s teleportation circle, so in no time I appeared in the affinity circle outside the labyrinth. When I entered the room with the three doors that allowed access to the maze I found the guardian statues in ruins. I also discovered some of those creepy NPCs who cart away dead Players still there, packaging up the corpse of one of the Invictus goofs, so the battle must have just taken place. A sudden fear gripped me. "System?" System: Player? "That Player who died here, will they respawn?" Pause. System: Affirmative Phew. "That''s a relief." I had no love for the Players on Team Invictus, but also didn''t want them to die-die. Then I had a sudden thought that made me slap my forehead. "I am so stupid. System, as controller of this dungeon, is it possible to make it so that any Player who dies here will respawn?" System: Affirmative My heart leapt into my throat. "System, when those Players attacked the Nature Dungeon some of them did not respawn. Was it possible for me to have done the same there and prevent that?" System: Negative I was able to breathe again. It wasn''t my fault. "Why can I do that here but not there? What''s the difference?" System: Different rules apply to different dungeons "It would have been nice to know this before. Okay, here''s the deal: whenever a Player dies in one of my dungeons, wherever possible I want them to always respawn. Got it?" System: Affirmative I waved my hand over the shards of marble and they began reforming into solid statues again. ¡°Good work guys, you got one of them,¡± I said as they lumbered back to their positions around the perimeter of the room. ¡°Looks like the training paid off.¡± I stepped through a door and emerged into Daedalus¡¯ office to find Alice there. ¡°Boss!¡± she said. She was flushed with excitement, sitting at the desk operating the labyrinth controls and showing no signs that she found anything strange about the grid of floating screens hovering over it showing various views of the dungeon¡¯s interior, like a modern day security guard monitoring security camera footage. I came up behind her and checked out the screens. I saw on two of them images of Players carefully exploring empty corridors. ¡°Hey Alice, what¡¯s happening?¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Everything is going as you instructed. The invaders all entered through the same door but they have already been split up by a falling block trap.¡± ¡°Well done.¡± ¡°The labyrinth is under code orange alert. Everyone is in their homes and will stay there until further notice.¡± She made to get up and relinquish the command chair to me, but I put my hand on her shoulder. ¡°Will you not be taking over?¡± she said. ¡°No, you can handle it, Alice. You¡¯ve trained hard for this, everyone has. I have complete faith in you.¡± ¡°Thanks, Boss. I will keep trying to split the invaders up and adjust the layout of the maze to keep them away from any rooms with our guys in them." ¡°Perfect. The only thing I want them to find are endless corridors, empty rooms, and all the traps you can throw at them.¡± ¡°Understood," she said. On one of the screens, a Player stepped on a floor trigger and received a dart in the arm in return. Classic. Alice cackled. "Next one''s poisoned." "How long shall we keep them here?¡± I said. ¡°What do you think? Two days? Three?¡± ¡°I think you are too lenient.¡± ¡°You know what? You¡¯re right. How about you just keep them here as long as it takes until there¡¯s only one left, then give the survivor an exit.¡± Now that I knew there was no chance they''d die-die as a result, I had no problem making this a lethal experience for them. None at all. They clearly need to learn that nobody messes with my dungeons. ¡°Understood. I shall take the opportunity to test the effectiveness of the new traps you installed.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t kill them off too quickly. I want them tired, hungry, hurt, and despondent.¡± She turned around to look at me. ¡°Are you sure I can¡¯t let them meet a few of us? Our people are all itching to see some action and put their training to use.¡± ¡°Really? Okay, tell you what. You can attack them whenever they try to rest.¡± ¡°Who shall I send?¡± ¡°Up to you. None of the big guns, and nobody who drops treasure. And don¡¯t send too many at a time. We don¡¯t want to demolish them, just whittle them down and make them as miserable as possible.¡± ¡°Understood. I shall slowly pick them off one by one until only one remains. They shall suffer greatly for their transgression.¡± I patted her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m really glad you¡¯re on my side, Alice.¡± "Same here, Boss." A short time later, I was back in the city at the arena entrance. I found the gate unlocked, as though I had been expected. I heard the sound of metal clashing against metal coming from the arena floor, so I headed up the stairs to the lowest level of seating to take a peek. Down on the packed dirt arena floor I saw a surprising sight. Akari, the powerful pink-haired NPC we¡¯d watch take down a Wyvern was there, looking deceptively fragile and puny as she fought against a hulking figure clad in a massive suit of plate armor with an impressively large sword and a giant shield to match. I evaluated it, and discovered that it wasn¡¯t just wearing armor, it was armor. Living Armor. Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Living Armor (Reproduction) Often used by powerful mages as guardian sentinels, Living Armor are tough hombres that are hard to take down and can dish out massive amounts of damage in return. This one isn¡¯t real, but a realistic reproduction generated by the arena.
Gifts: Strong As Steel - Outstanding strength Sturdy As Steel - Outstanding vitality Tough As Steel - Outstanding resistance
Powers: Armor Clobber - Expert: Mana-infused attack Armor Bash - Expert: Shield attack You Didn¡¯t Think It Would Be That Easy, Did You? - Expert: Regeneration
Skills: Sword - Expert
So even S-rankers like her needed to train, huh? How was the arena able to create reproductions of monsters to train with? I focused on Versatility For The Win to see if it was a power I could copy. It wasn¡¯t. Interesting. I tried the same thing after the Living Armor tried to clobber her with its massive sword. I wouldn¡¯t be able to copy that either. Very interesting. A few sections over, I noticed a flash of purple in the stands. It was Annabelle, watching me watching Akari. When our eyes met, she waved me over. Ordinarily, I¡¯d have gone down the stairs in this section, traverse some halls, then go back up the stairs to her section. Like a normal person. But I was feeling a bit lazy after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, so instead I borrowed Chika¡¯s Boing Boing power and hopped along the rows of seats until I was sitting beside Annabelle. ¡°You summoned me?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± she said testily without looking at me. ¡°Sorry about that. I had to take care of some business first.¡± ¡°Mmmm,¡± was all she said as she reached under her seat with one hand and withdrew a bulging sack. She plopped it onto my lap with a clink then returned her eyes to Akari¡¯s battle down below. ¡°Oof,¡± I said. It was heavy. How¡¯d she lift it so easily with only one hand? ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Your winnings,¡± she said. ¡°You wagered a hundred gold that you¡¯d win a fight in my arena.¡± ¡°So I really did that, huh?¡± She glanced sideways at me. ¡°You don¡¯t remember?¡± ¡°A lot of what happened last night was a bit of a blur.¡± A smile crinkled the corner of her mouth and she looked back down at the action. I hefted the sack. ¡°This feels like a lot more than a hundred gold.¡± ¡°You won six fights.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°Easy money, right?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°You tell me, was it easy?¡± She laughed. No demure giggles here, she tossed her head back and belted out a full-on belly laugh. ¡°You really don¡¯t remember. That¡¯s hilarious.¡± ¡°I heard about it this morning, but I wasn¡¯t sure what to believe.¡± Annabelle flinched and grimaced when the Living Armor bashed Akari with its shield, dropping her momentarily to her knees. ¡°What¡¯d you hear?¡± ¡°That I fought the first two guys one-on-one, then took on the other four all at once.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it happened, alright. And yeah, whether it actually was or not, you sure made it look easy.¡± ¡°Guess I know what to do next time I¡¯m low on funds.¡± This time she didn¡¯t just glance, she turned to face me. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°I was joking.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better be. I don¡¯t intend to make a habit of chasing people around to collect your winnings.¡± ¡°You did that yourself?¡± She smiled and shrugged. ¡°Actually, it wasn¡¯t that much work, but still. It¡¯s not my job to play collection agent for you.¡± I thought for a few moments while we watched Akari fight in silence. There was something weird about this conversation. System could¡¯ve just deposited the gold directly into my magic coin purse. Why did I have to come meet with Annabelle to do this in person? Unless there was more to this than met the eye. A sixty gigawatt lightbulb went off over my head. ¡°Whose job is it?¡± I said. ¡°Whose job is what?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Collecting wagers from the losers.¡± ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t anybody¡¯s job. This was the first time.¡± ¡°That was the first time there was a Player versus Player match in the arena?¡± ¡°Outside of the tournament, yes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you find that a bit odd? Isn¡¯t that what the arena¡¯s for?¡± She shrugged and turned her attention back to the arena floor. ¡°Life¡¯s what you make it,¡± she said enigmatically. I knew it. ¡°What did you think about it?¡± I said. ¡°The fight, I mean.¡± ¡°It was entertaining. You put on a good show.¡± ¡°Thanks. So what do you think about it happening again?¡± Annabelle glanced over at me. ¡°You intend to fight a lot of people, do you?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean me specifically. I meant: what if more Players fought each other here?¡± ¡°You mean, like, official duels or something?¡± ¡°That is exactly what I mean. What if we turned the arena into the place where Players could settle disputes with one another? Officially.¡± That got her full attention. ¡°What do you mean, we?¡± ¡°You said it yourself. You don¡¯t want to chase down losers to collect their wagers, but you seem to like watching people fight. So what if you handle the fights and I manage the wager part?¡± It was Madame Devorah who¡¯d given me the idea. I had no intention of taking her up on the offer of a part-time job playing piano in a brothel, but I thought it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to have some kind of side hustle. As a vice, gambling was much more my speed ¡ª it was just another game, after all ¡ª and being the arena¡¯s bookie sounded like it could be fun, not to mention lucrative. ¡°I do enjoy watching a good fight,¡± Annabelle said. She ran her palm lovingly along the smooth, polished wood of the railing in front of her. ¡°And it would be nice to see the arena get more use.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in it for you?¡± she said. I reached into the sack and took out a handful of gold. ¡°Here,¡± I said, handing it to her. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Well I can¡¯t expect you to handle my wager last night for free. The house always takes a cut.¡± A grin spread across her face as understanding dawned. ¡°Easy money.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± And that¡¯s how the arena became the new official place for PvP fights, and how I became its official bookie. Annabelle and I worked through the logistics of how people would set up fights and agree on the terms, how people would be notified when the fights would take place, and how anybody could come watch and place bets on the outcome. This was the first time I¡¯d ever had the opportunity to speak with Annabelle like this and I was immediately struck by how different she was, even for a named NPC. NPCs like Petal translated meta-gaming elements into thematic terms, but Annabelle didn¡¯t. It was almost like she knew she was part of a game, and clearly knew about System and was even able to send mail through it. Then again, she had worked with Stratos on the tournament quest, so perhaps she was a special kind of NPC. In the end, we managed to work out an arrangement where System would do most of the work of scheduling duels and notifying people. Bets would be also made through a System interface. The extent of my involvement in the arena fights would be to act as oddsmaker and covering the payouts of all winning bets made. Naturally, I¡¯d get to keep the losing wagers. I baked in an arrangement through System to put all wagered amounts in escrow, making debt collection simple and assured: if you didn¡¯t have the cash on hand, you couldn¡¯t place the bet. I decided on a modest 10% commission for my trouble. It was a bit like the God Game at the convention. As long as I was able to accurately assess the Players¡¯ abilities and set decent odds it promised to be a profitable enterprise. I almost felt guilty. Easy money, indeed. Meanwhile, down on the arena floor, Akari continued sparring with the Living Armor construct. Watching her, it became apparent that she was not actually trying to win but was testing out various approaches and combinations. Only once she¡¯d had enough and decided to end things did she finally make an effort to put it down. And she did so, quite decisively too. I was glad it wasn''t me down there fighting her. When she was done, the Living Armor replicant sparkled and vanished and Akari stalked off the arena floor through the open portcullis gate. She never once even looked up at us. I had thought I was putting in the work to get stronger, but after observing this I realized how much farther I had yet to go, and how much more effort I needed to put into my training. Chapter One Hundred and Three - Best friends Once I was done at the arena, I returned to the labyrinth for an update from Alice. When I got there I found her still sitting at the desk, only now she had several other doppels watching things play out on the floating screens, along with the Gorgon. They made room for me to watch with them. Since I¡¯d been there last, she had managed to further split up Team Invictus and eliminated another one in a water trap. I was glad I wasn¡¯t there to see that. It was one of the new traps I created. I''d based most of them on the various things that I¡¯m afraid of, and I have always been terrified of being trapped and slowly watching the water rise until there was no air left before drowning in a car that had been driven off a bridge. I¡¯d rather not have to watch that happen to someone else. Alice told me that after respawning, two of the Invictus Players had returned to the dungeon looking for the rest of their team. I hadn¡¯t given any instructions about what to do if that happened so she made the executive decision to prevent them from using the doors to enter the labyrinth proper and have the statues attack them again. One of the Players had died again ¡ª the same one who¡¯d been taken down by them the last time ¡ª leaving the other to run away. After that, nobody had returned to try again after respawning. I stayed and watched as Alice sent a pair of Stymphalian birds to terrorize two Invictus members as they tried to sneak in a meal break. The birds were horrid things with bronze beaks, metallic feathers, and a taste for human flesh. It had been the sixth of Hercules¡¯ twelve tasks to get rid of them in Ancient Greece, and there was a whole flock of them in the Light Dungeon. By the time the unfortunate Players had managed to defeat them, there were only about one and three-quarters Players left ¡ª the birds had managed to consume the rest before being slain. ¡°With those wounds I give them three, maybe four hours, tops,¡± the doppel named Maisie said. ¡°I told you the birds were too much to throw at them,¡± the one named Portia said. ¡°They¡¯re going to die too quickly.¡± ¡°You may be right. I will scale back the lethality of the challenges and focus more on attacking their morale instead,¡± Alice said. ¡°How are the invaders doing for food?¡± I said. ¡°They are already worried about running out,¡± Alice said. ¡°It is too bad they do not know how delicious Stymphalians are,¡± the Gorgon said, licking her lips. ¡°Those two birds have enough meat on them to last a few days at least.¡± ¡°Such a pity,¡± I said. ¡°Keep up the good work everyone.¡± When I returned to the dojo after that it was pretty late, yet I still found a large portion of Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table training in the courtyard, preparing for their impending assault on the Shadow Dungeon. I felt exhausted just watching them and I realized I might have been pushing myself a bit hard in too many directions. In the past twenty-four hours I had become involved in both prostitution and gambling. Stratos had been right: I really was playing a different game than everyone else. Starting fresh the next morning, I checked in on the labyrinth. Only half of Team Invictus was still alive and I told Alice to let them regroup together to get their hopes up before separating them again. I was about to round up some monsters to spar with but the very thought made me want to curl up and sleep. I had been grinding pretty much non-stop since arriving on Crucible and it was starting to wear on me, so I gave myself permission to take it easy for a bit. I was starting to think I wasn¡¯t making the most effective use of my time and efforts so I told myself I could have a reset break until Team Invictus had finally been driven from the labyrinth. By day two, word had spread pretty much everywhere about how Team Invictus had located the Light Dungeon and what had happened to them in there, and I had the feeling I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anyone else giving it a go, at least not for some time. In the end, Alice managed to keep tormenting them for five days before there was only one of them left to stagger out of the dungeon, half-starved and half-dead from a score of injuries. Ironically, he¡¯d stumbled across a pair of goblins on the way back and never made it back to town, being too weak to fight off even those beginner-level monsters. The welcome departure of the final member of Team Invictus from the labyrinth signaled the unwelcome return of some other people. At least I assumed they were people. An unnamed observer is back! An unnamed observer has so much to say System reminds the observers to be careful An unnamed observer will be more careful from now on A curious observer hopes so A curious observer does not wish to be muted again I didn¡¯t know the full story behind what was going on with the observers, but knowing System I was pretty sure some rules had been broken. I also didn¡¯t know how I could use that information to my advantage, but I was also pretty sure there was a way. ¡°Welcome back, observers.¡± An unnamed observer never went anywhere and has been watching the whole time An unnamed observer would have given so many rewards if they hadn¡¯t been muted for accidentally revealing that¡ª A curious observer claps their hand over an unnamed observer¡¯s mouth An annoyed observer wonders how stupid an unnamed observer can be An unnamed observer apologizes and will be good An annoyed observer struggles to believe that An annoyed observer goes off to observe elsewhere before getting caught up in an unnamed observer¡¯s storm of idiocy again A curious observer thinks that is a good idea and follows An unnamed observer chases after them I held my breath for a minute, wondering if they were truly gone. They seemed to be. I¡¯d been hoping I might be able to snag some more rewards from them, but no luck. Ah well, it was probably for the best. I couldn¡¯t keep counting on luck to keep dropping power boosts in my lap anyway. Best to do it the old fashioned way, by working for them. After that, feeling fully refreshed from my period of rest and inspired to get back to work, I devoted myself to some serious, focused training. Even though I had maxed out my skill proficiency in omni-do, I could still work on honing the way I used it. The smack-down Flint had given me had made me see that I¡¯d been relying on my knives too much. After watching Alice handle Team Invictus so handily, I asked her if she could play DM for me and she¡¯d leapt at the chance. Learning from Akari¡¯s example, I began practicing when to use certain moves and combos from the different martial arts it encompassed for maximum effect as I played through various dungeons Alice created for me to train in. In particular, I wanted to work on adding the powered effects I¡¯d included along with all the skill in omni-do into my melee attacks. The three powers I¡¯d rolled in omni-do were: Second Amendment, which let me shoot elemental bullets; Affinity Attack, which allowed me to add elemental effects to any attack; and Who Needs A Weapon, which made my hands able to cut and pierce like they were sword blades. Being able to add the effect of any affinity to my strikes was a nice boost, and it felt pretty sweet being able to slice through things with the edge of my hand, but what I liked most was triggering Second Amendment the instant I hit something with my fist ¡ª it was like shooting a gun point blank into anything I punched the moment I hit it, where the bullet fired could be constructed from any affinity. I developed a routine over the next few days and stuck with it for a while. I didn¡¯t have much contact with my Player friends during this time, save for my regular exercise and gossip sessions with Sigrid which I now made sure to never miss, and which helped me stay on top of what everyone else was doing. We kept using my healing magic the wrong way to make ourselves stronger, too. If it wasn¡¯t for that daily time with Sigrid I probably wouldn¡¯t have known that the crew had launched a practice raid on the Shadow Dungeon while I¡¯d been holed up in the labyrinth training. She had been very uncomfortable sharing that with me. We¡¯d had the conversation when she was sitting on my back holding a large boulder over her head while I did pushups, and I was sure she chose that moment so she wouldn¡¯t have to look me in the eye when she told me. ¡°I wanted to tell you before, but Arthur asked me to keep it a secret,¡± she said. ¡°So you wouldn¡¯t feel bad.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You do realize that it only makes me feel worse that you wanted to keep it from me,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to!" she said, wiggling on my back. "I wanted to tell you, but he was very insistent so I caved. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m still not supposed to be telling you about it, but it was eating me up inside.¡± ¡°I appreciate that, Sigrid,¡± I groaned. ¡°I regret going along with Arthur now. I also think that bit about not wanting you to feel bad was mostly bullshit and I¡¯m so mad at myself for falling for it. And that''s one thousand." ¡°Thank god,¡± I said, collapsing onto my front on the ground. She tossed the boulder to the side and climbed off me. I rolled over onto my back and began healing my arms. A thousand pushups isn¡¯t easy, especially not with a whole crap-ton of weight on your back. ¡°Why do you think he didn¡¯t want me to know then?¡± I said. She plucked angrily at some grass. ¡°I think he was afraid you¡¯d change your mind and come with us.¡± ¡°I¡¯d never do that,¡± I said. ¡°I know that,¡± she said, tearing a fistful of grass out of the ground. ¡°You know what else?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure the reason why he didn¡¯t want you to come was what he said either.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you also not be telling me this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I have to talk to someone about it or I¡¯m going to go crazy.¡± She tossed the grass up and used her affinity to swirl it around in the air. "You''re getting better at that," I said, watching the blades tumble around in the little vortex she''d made. "Your control is a lot finer now." "I''ve been practicing like you told me." ¡°So what about Jane? I thought you two shared everything.¡± ¡°Yeah, well. It really sucks but this is something I can¡¯t really talk about with her, you know?¡± I didn¡¯t know, not immediately. But then I remembered how he¡¯d put his hand on her back when he told me that I was not invited to raid with them, and how they¡¯d scrunched together on the loveseat at the Gentlemen¡¯s Club, and how smugly happy he¡¯d been when she¡¯d put her hand on his leg there. ¡°Ah,¡± I said, pulling myself up to sit cross-legged facing her. ¡°I get it. That does suck.¡± We sat there in silence for a while. ¡°So, how¡¯d the practice raid go? Or are you not allowed to tell me?¡± She winced at that. I¡¯d probably said it a bit more bitterly than I¡¯d meant to and immediately felt guilty. The last thing I wanted to do was make Sigrid feel bad. ¡°We learned that we still have a long way to go. We didn¡¯t make it very far before we decided to abort.¡± ¡°That tough, huh?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t like the labyrinth, you know? There¡¯s no direct path to follow. It¡¯s a full on castle siege with any number of ways to approach it, and a colossal number of enemies to fight. Most are, what did those guys call them again? Oh yeah, cannon fodder.¡± ¡°But what they lack in strength they make up for in numbers,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°That¡¯s common.¡± ¡°We did okay against them, but they were coming at us from all sides and starting to whittle us down. Then this big black shadow snake slithers up and it was not at all a weakling like the others, not by a longshot.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s when you called a tactical retreat.¡± She sighed. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Can I make a suggestion? You might want to send Kenji in by himself to scout and gather intel.¡± ¡°Little Kenji all alone?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a lot more capable than people give him credit for. Remember what he did in the labyrinth?¡± ¡°Oh yeah.¡± ¡°He¡¯s smart, he¡¯s sneaky, he¡¯s a good fighter, and his affinity is Shadow. Having a better idea of what you might face as you go deeper into the dungeon will help you prepare for next time.¡± Sigrid sat there looking at me. ¡°You¡¯re something else, you know that?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I just told you that we hid our raid from you and, you know, all that. And the first thing you do is try to help us.¡± I laughed. ¡°Anybody would do that.¡± ¡°Actually, no. Not everybody would.¡± I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s safe to say that by this point Sigrid had become the best friend I¡¯d ever had. I was closer to her than any of my past girlfriends, even Siobhan, and even without the added benefits. I was coming to understand Sigrid¡¯s approach to friendship and sex. Sex would only get in the way of the intimacy we¡¯d formed. Speaking of intimacy, during this time I was also treated to more visits from my succubus friend. The first time she came back to call it was a surprise. The little cube I¡¯d found sitting on my table when I came home the day after her first visit had been crushed under Flint Vivier¡¯s boot, so I never got the warning that I should expect a guest to drop in that night. It was a happy surprise to see her at the door holding a large box. As promised, she¡¯d brought a game for us to play. It was a world conquest strategy game played on a large map using miniatures to represent various forces, strongholds, and leaders, and it was eerily familiar. Each space on the map could be conquered and occupied, sometimes through force and sometimes through other means such as economic or political influence. Controlling a location gave you access to the resources it contained, which in turn allowed you to grow and improve and expand in various ways. The individual leaders had different specializations that could be used in different ways, and could level up and grow more powerful as they gained experience. Full games could last a long time, so it took several visits going late into the night to finish just one. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think she chose this particular game as an excuse to come more often. She told me it was a very popular game among high-ranking demons, and it all but confirmed my suspicions about the meta-game that dungeon ownership here represented. The next day I found another cube waiting for me. Over time, I developed a Pavlovian response to its vibration in my pocket announcing a visit that night and the hit of dopamine it always brought. I enjoyed those nights playing games with Ruka very much. We mutually agreed there¡¯d be no shop-talk, and quickly fell into a comfortable groove together. It was a lot like my platonic friendship with Sigrid. Sometimes I even forgot she was a demon. There was always an underlying hint of danger at the risk of being discovered fraternizing with the enemy, not to mention a fair bit of sexual tension ¡ª unavoidable given that she was, after all, a succubus ¡ª but that only added to the pleasure I drew from her company. I could tell she enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and I began to wonder if she might¡¯ve preferred living a different kind of life than the one she had being a demon lord. When I finally figured out why I felt so comfortable with her it only made me enjoy those visits more: it was easy to be my real self with her. More than easy, it was effortless. I had spent my life putting on masks and being who I thought other people wanted me to be. But with Ruka, I felt no need to be anyone else, just me. I suppose it was the same with her. Her job was to become the woman that men wanted her to be, but she didn¡¯t do that with me. As she kept visiting me more and more often, each time another of her masks would slip away until all that remained when she was with me was my friend. She was just herself. The real Ruka. So what if she happened to be a demon. And there was one other thing that made us even more compatible: she loved games just as much as I did. I suppose, when you think about it, she became the woman I would¡¯ve wanted her to be after all, ironically by not even trying to. I wish I could have told Sigrid that I couldn¡¯t be upset with her for not telling me about the team¡¯s raid on the Shadow Dungeon. Considering all the things I was keeping from her ¡ª Ruka being the most glaring example ¡ª Sigrid had far more reason not to trust me. Against my better judgment and fueled by punishing guilt, I started thinking about how to introduce the two of them to each other. One thing that had become clear to me as I got closer to Ruka was how ignorant I was of the goings on around me. She seemed much better informed about what was happening among the Players than I was, disturbingly well informed, to be honest. I hadn¡¯t even known that people had been making attempts on dungeons this whole time until Arthur told me, and who knew what else people were doing about which I had no clue, so I set to work fixing that. Or, more accurately, I set my elves to work on it. I asked Petal to build a special force of the stealthiest elves tasked with creating an intelligence gathering network, and in no time I had spies all over keeping tabs on what was happening in both the Player and NPC worlds. Meanwhile, it didn¡¯t take long for the arena¡¯s new PvP element to get introduced. Soon after I made my arrangement with Annabelle, a couple of bozos got into a drunken fight one night (who does that, honestly?) and both received System notices asking if they wanted to take this into the arena for an official duel. Both agreed, and System scheduled it for the following day. I¡¯m not entirely sure what it said about the Players involved that even once they¡¯d sobered up they still wanted to go through with it, but they did. Perhaps the way the news of the duel had spread like wildfire around the city made it too shameful to back out. I discovered the drawback of my bookie plan when I was forced to spend the better part of half a day tracking down the Players involved so I could use All Can Be Revealed on them to suss out their abilities. I had already evaluated them at least once before and with that handy-dandy eidetic memory I knew what abilities they had, but I only knew what they¡¯d had the last time I¡¯d done it. They would have improved since then, so I still had to find them to see their current Status. By then I knew where most of the teams hung out, but neither of the Players in this match was on a team so it was tricky to find them. Not so easy money. Once I did find and evaluate them I discovered that neither was very hot stuff: mediocre abilities, below average mastery of them, and barely any improvement since the last time I¡¯d seen them. What had these Players been doing with their time? Getting drunk and picking fights, apparently. It wasn¡¯t hard to predict who¡¯d win and assign odds. I made sure that the 3 to 1 odds I gave wouldn¡¯t make either one feel bad, nor discourage people from betting on the underdog, nor bankrupt me if I was wrong. I wasn¡¯t wrong. The novelty of it being the first one meant a lot of people showed up to watch the duel, and when System asked them if they wanted to place a wager on the result, a lot of people did. Between my 10% juice on the vig and the number of people who bet on the underdog and lost, I made quite a bit of easy money that day. After that, PvP arena fights started happening fairly often. People didn¡¯t just use them to settle disputes, they also used them in a friendly let¡¯s see who¡¯s stronger way. After one such duel, I was with Annabelle in her office discussing an idea I had about taking our arrangement up a notch or two through scheduled gladiatorial-style contests. Like the Player¡¯s Tournament Chika had won, only held regularly. With divisions. And champions. And prizes. And gambling, of course. She liked the idea, and speculated into future possibilities of creating a cadre of professional gladiators. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to go the whole bread and circuses route. The Romans had used such entertainment as a way to pacify the citizens through distraction, and look how that had turned out for them. When we were done hashing out some details, she stood up abruptly and went over to a cabinet, removed something from it, then came back over to me. ¡°Here,¡± she said, holding out something silver. It looked like a piece of jewelry. ¡°What is it?¡± I said. She scowled at me. ¡°Just take it, will you?¡± ¡°Right. Sorry.¡± I reached out and took the object, then turned it over in my hands, studying it. It was diamond-shaped, or what Daedalus would have called a rhombus, about three inches across the widest span, with a rounded depression in one of the obtuse-angled corners and raised bas-relief image of the arena¡¯s pagoda tower on one side. It looked like a medallion of some kind. I wanted to ask her why she was giving it to me, but after her reaction just now when I simply asked what it was I was afraid to, so all I said was a simple ¡°Thank you.¡± I was just about to place it into my inventory when an explosion outside shook the entire place, throwing me off balance and causing me to drop it on the floor. There were no ongoing tremors like you¡¯d feel with an earthquake, more like one single, powerful jolt that made my teeth rattle. Like someone was blasting with TNT nearby. ¡°What was that?¡± Annabelle said, her fingers clutching the edge of a table for support. ¡°No idea. But it was close,¡± I said. We looked at each other for a moment, waiting for it to happen again, but it didn¡¯t. Then we heard the screams. Chapter One Hundred and Four - Murder in the Cathedral Annabelle and I leapt up at the same time and raced over to the window. Her office was at the top of the arena¡¯s pagoda, the highest point in the entire city with a spectacular view overlooking it and the lands beyond. Easily the best view in the city. We looked down to see the town square in chaos, people racing around like ants after someone stepped on their hill. They were mostly fleeing away from the Cathedral, which was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and dust. One whole section of the huge building had collapsed and flames licked out from various places. ¡°Does this window open?¡± I said. Annabelle fiddled with a latch at the bottom and the glass panel swung out. I started climbing up onto the window sill. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m going to help, obviously. The stairs would take too long.¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± She bit her lip, then seemed to make a decision. ¡°Hold on a second.¡± She stretched both arms straight up over her head and closed her eyes. A purple mist sprayed from a ring on one of her fingers and started flowing down her arms, her head, her body, and finally her legs, shrouding her in a violet fog. Then, as quickly as it had come, it dissipated to reveal an entirely new outfit.
Quick Change Ring This handy-dandy piece of jewelry provides instant access to an extra-dimensional clothes closet. Powers: What To Wear, What To Wear? ¨C Swap current clothing for a different outfit in storage
Now that was a specialized piece of kit. Someone had too much artifice time on their hands. She now wore a fitted dress made of a strange kind of bumpy leather with a high closed collar and a short skirt. Her tall boots went up to mid-thigh, showing a few inches of bare skin between the top of the boots and the hem of the dress. It was finished off with a wide belt cinched low over her hips. On top of it all, an ankle-length coat with a wide, stiff collar billowed around her legs. Everything was colored in varying shades of the same deep violet. In her left hand, she held a staff made of smooth gray metal, about six feet long and topped with concentric rings like a model of a solar system, with a large purple crystal embedded in the middle in place of the sun.
Staff of the Masters Originally used by high ranking members of the Elohim Sorcery Corps, there were once many of these staves. Now, only this one is known to exist. It acts as a focus, channeling sorcerous power into greater potency. Powers: Focus Up, People ¨C Amplify the effects of the Make It Happen power; Requires Make It Happen
That focus power was very interesting. I hoped I would get to see her use it. But what was that Make It Happen power?
Annabelle Arena Master
Powers: Artifice - Expert: Create and enhance items Make It Happen - Expert: Sorcery Work A Crowd - Adept: Influence people¡¯s emotions
Skills: Aikido - Expert Cooking - Novice Magical Research - Master Public Speaking - Expert Staff - Expert Tactics - Expert
With my improved evaluation power I was able to see Annabelle¡¯s abilities that had previously been shrouded behind [Hidden]s. I was surprised to see that she had Artifice, and impressed that most of her abilities were at Expert level, and intrigued by the Magical Research skill, but what I found particularly interesting was her sorcery power. I couldn¡¯t wait to see how that worked. She stretched a bit, testing the range of motion allowed by her new outfit. ¡°Good," she said. ¡°Still fits. Okay, I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°You¡¯re okay with jumping from this height?¡± I said. ¡°Just go already,¡± she smirked. I used a custom power called Able To Leap Tall Buildings that combined Arthur¡¯s ability to walk on air and Chika¡¯s jumping power, then descended from the top of the arena to the courtyard level in a series of long strides. Once on the ground, I looked up to see Annabelle gliding down, a glowing circle of purple light containing mystical patterns under her feet: a magic circle. Somehow I knew that it was a levitation spell. So that was how sorcery worked. Interesting. Annabelle landed safely beside me a moment later, the circle vanishing just before her feet touched the cobblestones. We immediately rushed toward the burning Cathedral. There was a loud hiss and a gush of steam rose from the Cathedral amid the billowing smoke. Someone inside was trying to drown the fire. I joined in and began hosing the closest flames with jets of water using Affinity Control, but it had little impact. Whatever had created that steam must¡¯ve been a specialized power that produced a veritable torrent of water, far beyond my abilities. I couldn¡¯t douse the flames, but maybe I could starve them. I switched from Water to Void and created an area of complete vacuum around a section of fire. I couldn¡¯t see what was happening within the area of eldritch blackness, but I kept it up for a few seconds. When I released it, I saw that the fire in that area had been extinguished, but it quickly flared back up as soon as there was oxygen to feed it again. ¡°Cute trick,¡± Annabelle said, eyeing me. ¡°Yeah. Too bad it uses so much mana. It¡¯s not feasible to keep it up long enough to be effective.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be okay, the fire squad''s coming.¡± Looking around I noticed members of the various martial arts clans storming into the town square from all six main avenues. Many carried buckets with them. With practiced efficiency, they formed human chains and began passing buckets of water back and forth to battle the fire. ¡°Think they¡¯ve got this?¡± I said. ¡°For sure,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°They¡¯ve been practicing emergency measures like this since before all your kind arrived.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go inside. There¡¯s bound to be people trapped in there.¡± Annabelle gave a curt nod of agreement, then together we sprinted through the smoke and flames into what remained of the Cathedral. It was a mess. Half the main nave had collapsed with rubble strewn everywhere. I couldn¡¯t speak for Annabelle, but I had expected to find a rescue scene so I was very surprised to rush into a fight instead. I immediately recognized Achmed hiding behind a big chunk of the Cathedral¡¯s fallen roof, shooting off a strange sort of ranged attack toward the interior. A ball of blue light soared up from his hands, hovered about thirty feet in the air, then split into four projectiles that shot down independently toward individual unseen targets. I knew it had to be serious; he wasn¡¯t shouting out power names every time he did anything. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I dashed forward and joined him, nearly getting hit along the way by some sort of missile coming from the area where Achmed''s attacks had landed.
Achmed Darwish Team Legion (Leader)
Affinity: Water
Gifts: I¡¯ll Put A Dent In It - Improved strength
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Expert: See any Status Heat Seeking Cluster Blasts - Adept: Launch a ball of energy that will split to strike multiple targets. Seven Souls Mace Mash - Competent: Powerful strike affecting multiple targets in a single hit; Requires Mace (Expert) Tsunami - Competent: Create a wave of water You¡¯re Soaking In It - Competent: Convert a solid area into water
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Game Theory - Competent Mace - Expert Riding - Competent
¡°Daniel!¡± Achmed said when I ducked behind the mass of debris he was hiding behind. ¡°What¡¯re you doing here?¡± ¡°I could ask you the same thing.¡± ¡°We followed a quest here,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Now we¡¯re battling a nest of cultists.¡± ¡°Cultists?!¡± I didn¡¯t even try to hide the excitement from my voice. Annabelle dove behind our cover, tumbling over me and ending up in a crouch with her back to the boulder. She flipped her purple hair back out of her face. ¡°Did someone say cultists?¡± she said. ¡°Yeahhhhh,¡± Achmed said, gazing at the new arrival with open confusion. ¡°Cult of the Scarlet Hand. Demon worshippers.¡± ¡°Demon cultists,¡± Annabelle spat. ¡°I hate those guys.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you...?¡± Achmed began. ¡°Annabelle, yes,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Yahello.¡± ¡°Annabelle, Achmed. Achmed, Annabelle,¡± I said by way of terse introduction. ¡°I knew there was something wrong with those people and their overpriced healing,¡± I said. ¡°Got that right,¡± Achmed said, still staring at Annabelle. I remembered the man who¡¯d given me the shakedown after my run-in with the Jackalope and the pin he had been wearing, a red hand. The other people working with him at the Cathedral had been wearing similar pins, which could only mean the cult had infiltrated the entire operation. They also all had the same Thaumaturgy skill. Demon worshippers. My mind went immediately to my friend, the succubus Daruka. Was she involved in this somehow? ¡°How can we help?¡± I said. Achmed tore his attention away from Annabelle and toward me. ¡°There¡¯s something happening in the catacombs under here. We¡¯ve got to get down there and stop it.¡± ¡°Got it. So that means getting past the goons up here first, right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± I turned to Annabelle. She was gripping her staff tightly, peeking over the rubble. ¡°You good with this?¡± She nodded without looking at me. ¡°I¡¯m good. From what I can tell, we¡¯re looking at thirteen cultists. They¡¯re all collected on the left side, in front of a door.¡± ¡°That must be the door we need to go through to get to the Catacombs,¡± I said. ¡°Achmed, how are the Legionnaires?¡± The leader of Team Legion grimaced. ¡°We lost a few getting here, then a few more fell in the explosion. I¡¯ve been trying to keep the cultists back while the others evacuate any survivors, but it¡¯s been tough.¡± He gestured a bit to the right in front of us where two bodies lay on the floor behind some debris. I recognized them as two of his teammates. They weren¡¯t moving, and a quick check told me their health bars were flat empty. Dead. I hoped not dead-dead. ¡°You prioritized helping the wounded above finishing the quest?¡± Annabelle said, looking at Achmed with a slight frown. Achmed rubbed the back of his head. ¡°Yeah. Stupid, I know.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± I said, ¡°but it¡¯s what I would¡¯ve done too.¡± Annabelle started looking back and forth between Achmed and me, as though our faces were each half of a tennis court where invisible players were involved in a game only she could see. The frown was there, but it didn¡¯t seem judgy ¡ª I knew what a frown of judgemental displeasure looked like, thankyouverymuch, I¡¯d seen one aimed at me often enough ¡ª it seemed more like the pleasantly confused frown Achmed wore when Annabelle had first tumbled her way behind the rubble, like she didn¡¯t quite know what to make of it but thought it was kind of cool. Achmed pointed farther off to the right. I could see a few Legionnaires huddled behind a large section of wreckage along with a group of wounded. There were both other Players and NPCs among them. ¡°We need to get those people out of here before we do anything else.¡± ¡°How about this,¡± I said. ¡°Annabelle and I will keep those cultists busy while you help your guys finish the rescue operation. Then we¡¯ll worry about how to get down to the catacombs once everyone¡¯s safe.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Yeah, man, of course,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, I can see you¡¯re almost out of mana.¡± ¡°I have this power to make a sort of tidal wave. Between using it on the fire and attacking the cultists I kind of drained myself.¡± ¡°So it was you who did that,¡± I said, pulling out a mana potion. ¡°I saw the steam from outside.¡± ¡°That was me. Fat good it did, though. Cheers,¡± he added, accepting the potion and chugging it down. ¡°It was a great effort, Achmed. Don¡¯t sell yourself short.¡± He barked a hoarse laugh which ended in sputtering coughs. ¡°That¡¯s pretty rich coming from you.¡± Annabelle put her hand on Achmed¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ve got this,¡± she said. ¡°You go help people.¡± Achmed grinned. Half his team was dead, his quest far from over, his mana depleted, yet he was still determined to save people. I felt a rush of affection and respect for him. This was the sort of Player we needed. Looking back, I don¡¯t know if Team Legion¡¯s quest was particularly challenging or if the team just had particularly bad luck, but either way Achmed lost four of his comrades that day. Like, lost-lost. I heard people say later that they must have been a bad team, or that he was a bad leader, but they would never have said that if they¡¯d seen what they¡¯d faced, or how hard he and his Legionnaires fought to rescue people from the Cathedral¡¯s wreckage, not to mention what they were about to do after that. ¡°We¡¯ll be counting on you,¡± Achmed said. ¡°I won¡¯t let you down,¡± I said. Achmed grabbed my arm. ¡°Hey man, thanks. Really. You know, I heard about your little tussle in the arena the other night. Word on the street is you took down an entire team by yourself with a bottle of whiskey in one hand.¡± ¡°That¡¯s somewhat of an exaggeration,¡± I said. ¡°It was only half a team,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°And the whiskey was all in his tummy.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not helping,¡± I muttered. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to,¡± she said, and that made Achmed laugh. ¡°Point is, I know I¡¯m in good hands,¡± Achmed said. There was a pile of rubble off to the left that had a good vantage on the cultists. ¡°I¡¯ll go over there and draw their fire,¡± I said. ¡°Wait until they¡¯re distracted then go join your buddies and do what you¡¯ve got to do. Annabelle, can you cover us?¡± ¡°You know it,¡± she said, then shifted her grip on her staff. The crystal embedded in its head began to emit a deep purple glow, then she lurched out from behind our cover and aimed the top of the staff at the cultists guarding the door. Several small, glowing magic circles, similar to the one that had carried her down from the pagoda, appeared in the air in front of her. A series of violet blasts shot from them, shearing away chunks of stone as they hit the rubble the cultists hid behind. I didn¡¯t wait to see more. As I launched myself forward I used a synthesized power called Holtzmann Effect to raise a personal shield around myself. There was a whiff of ozone and a shimmering, nearly transparent barrier formed around my body, then I zig-zagged in a crouching dash toward my new hiding spot. I could¡¯ve used Jane¡¯s power to blink directly over but I didn¡¯t just want to get there, I wanted to draw their fire along the way. It worked. Something bounced off the floor behind me, then a lot of somethings rat-tat-tatted off the smooth stones barely a step behind me, tracking my movements, one of them striking my calf but fizzling against my shield just before I dove behind cover. I lay there for a moment, catching my breath and waiting for the ping-ping of the cultist¡¯s attacks to stop ricocheting off the large hunk of Cathedral roof I¡¯d sought cover behind. I pulled myself up and knelt behind the rubble. Looking back where I¡¯d come from, I saw Annabelle crouching behind her cover, alone. Her long purple hair was in disarray, but she seemed fine. If anything, she seemed really happy. She caught my look, winked, then poked around the other side of her cover and fired a rapid series of continuous blasts from a single larger magic circle that appeared in the air in front of her staff. ¡°Let¡¯s rock!¡± she shouted, and drew her staff in a wide arc in front of her, spraying a swath of purple destruction along the cultists¡¯ location like a machine gun. She ducked back a split second before several cultists popped out and counter-attacked, pummeling the rubble in front of her with some energy blasts of their own. Further along, I saw Achmed¡¯s head poke up from behind the collapsed wall where his teammates had been hiding. So far, so good. Now we just had to continue the distraction while the remaining Legionnaires evacuated the injured. Achmed saw me, gave me a thumbs up, and ducked back down. My turn. What to do? What to do? Chapter One Hundred and Five - Shootout The nice thing about being specialized is you always know what to do. When your options are limited, it¡¯s not that hard to choose your next move. I, on the other hand, had any number of ways I could¡¯ve faced the situation with the cultists. The thing was, I didn¡¯t want to give away too much of what I could do. The looks I was already getting were bad enough, I could only imagine what the chatter would be if I started showing off all my tricks. I mean, I knew I couldn¡¯t hide it forever, but I wanted to try to fly under the radar for as long as I could. Just a little longer without all the attention, that wasn¡¯t too much to ask, was it? The worst thing I could do was overthink it. I¡¯d probably just start trying to get fancy and blow it and that¡¯d be the end of it. I clenched my hand into a fist, thrust it out in front of me, then dove out to one side of the rubble I¡¯d hid behind. A staccato burst of simple bolts of Fire shot from my fist, hammering into the cultist¡¯s cover. As each one hit, it exploded into an impressive-looking but pretty harmless fan of flame. The intent wasn¡¯t to cause much harm, rather only to keep the cultists pinned down. I was just buying time for Achmed and his team. I kept launching a steady stream of small but flashy missiles at the cultists. Annabelle took the opportunity to duck out and be more selective with her shots, sniping at any of the cultists who dared show their heads. At least two of them got blown back behind the rubble by a blast of purple power to the face. When I hazarded a glance over toward Achmed, I saw there were fewer people behind the wall with him, and one of his guys was helping a handful of people escape into the open safety of the town square. Something pinged off the rubble beside me, kicking off a spray of pebbles and dust next to my head. The bits of debris flickered as my shield stopped them just short of hitting me. My eyes shot back to the cultists, and I saw one of them taking a bead on me with what looked like a crossbow without the bow part across it: in other words, a rifle. A dark plume blossomed from the end of the rifle and a small projectile of pure darkness shot toward me. I had a moment of panic wondering if my shield would be effective against this unknown attack, but there was no time to even attempt to dodge. All I could do was watch it come. The projectile, or whatever it was, zinged past my face, missing by mere inches. Good thing the cultist was a rotten shot. But what was that weapon?
Demonic Darkslinger This insidious weapon has the ability to fire bullets of dark energy indefinitely, or at least until the wielder runs out of life energy to power it. Powers: Bet Your Life - Fuel the Darkslinger with the wielder¡¯s life force Dark Bullet- Shoot a projectile of pure darkness
So every time they fired it, they hurt themselves. In a battle of attrition, they¡¯d probably end up doing themselves in before the enemy could. So why did these cultists seem content to simply hide there and shoot their life away at us? Unless they didn¡¯t believe their lives were worth as much as what they were guarding down in the catacombs. It still didn¡¯t make sense for them to try to drag things out, though. They had the numbers, if they truly didn¡¯t care about dying they should¡¯ve used their suicide guns to charge us and end it quicker. Unless it wasn¡¯t about ending things. What if all they really cared about was delaying us until whatever the other demonic cultists were doing in the catacombs was over? Were they just buying time too? I didn¡¯t know what their mysterious Thaumaturgy skill did exactly, it could have potentially meant a few different things depending upon how the game implemented it. I¡¯d have to see it used first to know for sure, but I couldn¡¯t help thinking that given the whole cultist thing, ritual magic would be my first guess. And I got a bad feeling about that. In the split second it took for me to think all this, a bolt of purple energy struck the cultist who¡¯d shot at me in the chest, knocking them back and out of sight. ¡°You¡¯re welcome!¡± Annabelle shouted to me. I looked over to give her a thumbs up and saw her grinning at me. The proverbial kid in a candy store would not have looked that delighted. She spun away from the rubble she hid behind and hosed the cultist¡¯s area with more purple blasts of destruction to keep them pinned down, her grin never once faltering. Then I saw them. In the distance behind her, a new group of cultists had crept out from a still intact area of the church. They had a direct line of sight on Annabelle, and the one in front had his darkslinger aimed straight at her. He also had a name: Joe Median, the cultist who¡¯d shaken me down when I was strung out on jackalope venom. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A flash of darkness erupted from his weapon, blocking out everything behind it with an instant of pure black, then Annabelle was thrown back when the darkness bullet struck her on the shoulder. She dropped her staff and it clattered away, far from where she lay injured and out in the open on the floor. I had to do something now, right now, before the whole group of them opened fire on her. What to do? What to do? First, get Annabelle to safety. I extended my hand toward her, fingers splayed, then clenched into a fist and pulled my hand back. In the heat of the moment, I didn''t even think about whose telekinetic power I was copying, I just needed it to work. As I pulled, Annabelle slid along the floor like she was connected to me by an invisible string, coming to rest at my feet behind the safety of the roof chunk I hid behind. Just in time, too. A hail of darkness bullets from the enemies¡¯ darkslingers chewed the floor where she¡¯d been sprawled a moment earlier into splinters of marble tile. Annabelle lay beside me behind our cover, her hand pressed to her injured shoulder, her eyes following my every move with a curious expression. Next, take out those cultists. I copied a different power, and this time I remembered exactly where it came from. It was Galahad¡¯s gravity power. I¡¯d only ever seen him use it a few times, and he¡¯d always used it directly on an opponent to crush them in place. But that wasn¡¯t the only way it could be used. I looked up at the ceiling. About a quarter of the Cathedral¡¯s roof had collapsed, but the new group of cultists were under a part that was still intact. Not for long. I¡¯d never been bad at math, but with the skills I¡¯d picked up when I became Grand Architect I¡¯d become a lot better. It was a piece of cake to judge distances and angles, and the engineering skill I picked up even let me identify structural weak points, so I easily pinpointed what section of ceiling I should increase the gravity on to bring it tumbling down directly on top of them. I looked at Joe. According to Petal, when NPCs die, they die-die. Killing generic cultists was one thing, but named NPCs were different; as far as I was concerned, if they had a name they were just like us. I tried to remember if I¡¯d ever killed a named NPC before as I struggled with whether or not I was okay with squashing Joe under a few tons of Cathedral. My moral conflict lasted for all of about half a second before I remembered that he was dirty demon worshiping cultist scum. For all I knew, he and his coven had been sucking the life from orphans and making potions out of it, which they¡¯d then sell to us for exorbitant fees. Sounded about right for this kind of demon cult storyline. Orphans always get the shaft. As for Joe and his pals, they literally never knew what hit them. Once the dust from the massive chunk of roof I brought crashing down on Joe¡¯s group had settled enough that I could see we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about them anymore, I turned my attention to Annabelle. I knelt down to check her wounded shoulder. It wasn¡¯t as bad as it had looked, so I kept my cards close to my chest and used my least invasive technique to heal her. As I was Laying On Hands, she kept staring at the pile of debris that had just fallen from the ceiling onto the cultists, burying them completely. ¡°Pretty lucky the ceiling collapsed at that moment, huh?¡± I said. ¡°Yes,¡± she said, looking away from the cloud of dust and up at me. ¡°Quite lucky.¡± I finished treating her shoulder and gave her a hand to her feet. She slapped some dust off her clothes, then looked back and clicked her tongue. ¡°My staff,¡± she said. ¡°No worries,¡± I said. I still had telekinesis copied, so I waved a hand at her staff and it came flying into my grip. I held it out for her. That amused/confused look was back on her face as she took it from me. ¡°Just what are you able to do?¡± ¡°Oh, you know,¡± I said. ¡°A bit of this, a bit of that.¡± The new group of enemies had been neutralized, but the ping ping of attacks hitting our cover reminded us that there were still cultists blocking the way to the door down to the catacombs. No longer pinned down by Annabelle¡¯s attacks, and no longer blinded by the dust cloud, they¡¯d started shooting back again. Over by Achmed, everyone had been cleared to safety. We could keep this shootout going until the cultists killed themselves powering their darkslingers, or...there was a nice big section of roof over this group of bad guys too. The Cathedral building creaked and groaned, then the roof collapsed on top of them. Unlike last time, though, it wasn¡¯t just a small section that fell; I had underestimated the extent of the cumulative damage suffered by the building¡¯s structure. Although I only used the gravity increase on a small area, what came crashing down was a much larger section of ceiling, along with a few walls. More sections of roof fell like dominoes in a cascade of destruction, leaving barely half the structure still standing. When the dust finally settled enough, I could see the entire area where the cultists were had been buried, and quite a bit more besides. ¡°Well,¡± Annabelle said while the dust was still clearing, ¡°that was lucky. Again.¡± She gave me an accusatory look that told me she knew darned well that luck had nothing to do with it. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯re the odds, huh?¡± Achmed chose that moment to come scurrying over to join us. ¡°I¡¯m not even gonna ask how you did that to the roof,¡± he said, ¡°but thanks.¡± ¡°What makes you think I had anything to do with it?¡± I said. ¡°Dude, I was watching you.¡± Busted. ¡°Let¡¯s not focus on the past, there are catacombs calling,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s only one problem now,¡± Achmed said. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He coughed and waved at the dust still wafting around us, then pointed over toward the enormous pile of rubble. ¡°How the fuck are we going to get through that door now?¡± Chapter One-Hundred and Six - Things get spicy I couldn¡¯t see the door leading down to the catacombs, it had been entirely blocked by the pieces of roof that had crushed the cultists guarding it. ¡°Oops,¡± I said. With no more cultists left to shoot at us, we could move out from behind our cover. The remaining members of Team Legion ran over to join their leader with us. There were only two of them left, plus Achmed. ¡°Better get started clearing the way,¡± Annabelle said, then held out her staff. A magic circle glowed in front of her and a chunk of rubble rose slowly into the air, glided away, then dropped to the floor with a thunk. Telekinesis now. Just how much could she do with sorcery? I suppose I could¡¯ve joined in. I could use the telekinesis I still had copied and help clear the door, but I suddenly recalled a scene from one of my favorite anime where two mages spent all day laboriously clearing a road blocked by a rockslide by telekinetically moving each chunk of rock one by one. It was surprisingly relaxing in that context, but we didn¡¯t have that kind of time. The three Legionnaires went to help move the rubble manually, but I held Achmed back. ¡°Achmed, is that the only way to the catacombs?¡± I said. ¡°No clue,¡± he said. ¡°But that door seemed to be the only one the cultists were defending, so I¡¯m gonna guess it¡¯s the only one.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll just need to make our own way.¡± ¡°Go nuts,¡± Achmed said, then went over to help his comrades and Annabelle clear rubble. Time to put my Great Architect abilities to the test. I took a deep breath, then started to closely examine the structure around me. It was a total mess, but that didn¡¯t matter. Using the Architecture and Construction skills I¡¯d picked up from Daedalus¡¯ inheritance, I started reconstructing the place in my mind. My skill level was pretty low, but I found I still had some knowledge about how Cathedrals like this were built historically. The design of a classic Cathedral was symbolic, and most of them shared similar elements. I overlaid what I knew from my skills with what I could see in this place, and got a sense for how the catacombs under us were likely laid out. ¡°Yahello Daniel, are you gonna help us with this or not?¡± Annabelle said, still moving pieces of rubble. ¡°There¡¯s something I want to try,¡± I said. She clicked her tongue at me and went back to her telekinetic work. I went over to an area which should¡¯ve, by my estimations, been directly above the catacombs. I knelt down and placed my hand on the floor. One of the many powers I¡¯d seen used by another Player was I¡¯ll Find You, which was basically radar. When people think of radar they usually envision detecting airplanes or catching speeding cars on the highway, but ground-penetrating radar is also a thing. I sent some radio wave pulses into the floor under me, and sure enough my guess was on the money: there was an open space below me. I started moving around, testing the ground every few feet, and quickly mapped out what seemed to be a large underground room. ¡°Hey guys,¡± I called out. ¡°I think I found a better way down.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°because this is gonna take forever.¡± They all stopped clearing debris and came over to where I was. ¡°Did you find a secret door or something?¡± Achmed said, staring at the solid tiled floor under us. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°Not quite,¡± I said. ¡°Everyone stand back.¡± We all took a few steps away, then I focussed everything I had on channeling Earth through Affinity Control. I used it to start boring a hole straight down. ¡°Holy crap,¡± Achmed said. ¡°I thought your affinity was Fire. You have a second one with Earth too?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± I said. ¡°Get ready. As soon as this gets through we¡¯re gonna go down. Just in case there are any bad guys down there, I want to get the jump on them.¡± Achmed grabbed his mace in both hands. ¡°Ready. But, um, how far down will it be?¡± ¡°Twenty-three feet, five inches,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s curiously precise,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Yeah, well. I have my ways. Remember to give the person ahead of you a few seconds to get out of the way before you jump down.¡± I could feel immediately when the hole had breached the open space below. ¡°Allons-y!¡± I cried and, after giving my agility a boost with My Body Is A Finely Honed Weapon ¡ª a power synthesized from several physical augmentation powers including Andy¡¯s I Have The Power ability to direct qi to various attributes ¡ª I wasted no time leaping into it. I¡¯ll admit it. I¡¯ve watched too many superhero movies. The landing pose was ingrained into my psyche, so when I hit the ground I went into a classic four-point crouch: one foot, one knee, and the knuckles of both fists on the floor. Ironically, though I did it to look cool, I never would have done it had I known there would be anyone watching. That would¡¯ve been way too embarrassing. And yet, after landing, I looked up and saw several very surprised people gawking at me from the other end of the underground room. Thank heavens I went for the Superman pose and not the Black Widow pose with one leg stretched out to the side along with both arms. That would¡¯ve pushed embarrassing into mortifying territory. I had landed at one end of a narrow, rectangular chamber that had been carved out of the bedrock under the Cathedral. It had been used as an ossuary, its long walls lined from floor to ceiling with rows of niches packed full of human skulls and bones. The people I¡¯d surprised, five of them in total, were all at the other end of the room in front of an arched doorway. A similar archway was behind me leading in the opposite direction. A lot of things happened in rapid succession. Knowing that momentarily someone else was about to drop down onto that spot, I rolled to the side. Then, fearing an attack, I raised my personal shield. Then, preparing to fight back, I raised my hand, ready to use what had become my go-to ranged attack for when I wanted to hurt something: my Second Amendment gun fu power tuned to create a plasma blast through a synthesis of Light, Fire, and Air affinities. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Then an arrow zinged at me. The shield I¡¯d just raised hummed as the arrow struck it, stopping it dead. Then one of them shouted, ¡°Stop shooting!¡± I used All Can Be Revealed to evaluate the people in front of me, starting with the woman who''d spoken.
Tiff Gardner Team Spice (Leader)
Affinity: Darkness
Gifts: I¡¯ll Outlive You All - Remarkable vitality Sleep Is For Suckers - Does not require sleep
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Expert: See any Status Beware My Power - Expert: Create and manipulate dark energy constructs We Are One - Adept: Share senses with an ally Whip It Good - Competent: Strike with precision using the tip of a whip; Requires: Whip (Expert)
Skills: Art - Competent Bow - Competent Fitness - Adept Kickboxing - Adept Knife - Competent Music - Adept Whip - Expert
We¡¯d met before, a long time ago. She was the one who¡¯d been a fan of Sigrid¡¯s back home and had tried to poach her that first time we went running. I¡¯d found Tiff Gardner imposing then, but she¡¯d clearly been working hard and now exuded an aura of power and confidence that was so intimidating it almost made me take an instinctive step back. The other four were all members of Team Spice, including Grace, the archer who¡¯d been with Tiff that first time we''d met and who¡¯d just tried to shoot me. All of them were women. Tiff had assembled the only all-female team and they were good, always near the top of the team rankings. Achmed¡¯s Team Legion always hung near the bottom. ¡°I know you,¡± Tiff said. ¡°You¡¯re that guy who beat the elves. Sigrid¡¯s friend.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I beat the elves, exactly.¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t beat them, join them?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Something like that,¡± I said, lowering my shield. ¡°What are you doing down here?¡± ¡°I should ask you the same thing.¡± Tiff¡¯s eyes glazed for a flash and I knew I¡¯d just been evaluated. Her reaction was neutral, which meant that the illusory Status that hid my real abilities was working. She would¡¯ve had a much different reaction if she¡¯d seen a [Hidden] for each of my real affinities, gifts, powers, and skills. Thankfully, she¡¯d only seen the reasonable number of [Hidden]s I wanted people like her to see. At that moment, Achmed landed with a thud in the spot I¡¯d vacated just a moment before. I couldn¡¯t help but notice he too struck a heroic pose. Such a nerd. ¡°Is that Achmed from Team Legion?¡± Tiff said. ¡°What the hell?¡± Achmed said, still crouching in his superhero landing pose with a look of shock on his face. ¡°Tiff?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± she said, strolling over and holding out her fist. ¡°We¡¯re on a quest,¡± Achmed said, standing up and bumping her fist with his own. ¡°So are we.¡± ¡°Cultists?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ve been following these underground tunnels. The cult¡¯s headquarters is down here somewhere, under the Cathedral. Where¡¯d you come from?¡± ¡°Our quest led us to the Cathedral too, but from up top.¡± Speaking of dropping in, I realized Achmed hadn¡¯t moved since he landed. I used a light jolt of telekinesis to shove him out of the way a split second before one of his teammates would have landed on top of him. ¡°Hey!¡± Achmed started to complain, then realized what had happened. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°There wasn¡¯t time to warn you.¡± He pulled himself to his feet. ¡°S¡¯all good, buddy.¡± Then he took his teammate ¡ª who was staring at Team Spice with his mouth hanging open ¡ª by the arm and gently pulled him out from under the hole above. ¡°What¡¯s happening up there?¡± Tiff said. ¡°This whole place shook not long ago.¡± ¡°That was the cult blowing up half the place,¡± Achmed said. I mentally thanked him for glossing over my role in the Cathedral¡¯s destruction. Odds are the shaking she felt was when I caved the roof in and not from the initial explosion. ¡°We were trying to get to the catacombs, but the door leading down got blocked so, ah,¡± Achmed looked up at the hole I¡¯d bored in it, ¡°we made our own way down.¡± ¡°Let me get this straight,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Both our teams got quests that brought us here to fight cultists, but from completely different directions? That¡¯s new.¡± ¡°Is it a competition to see who solves it first?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Maybe,¡± Tiff said, scratching her cheek. ¡°If so, I think we might lose this one.¡± ¡°Why do you say that? You always beat us when we faced off before.¡± ¡°That was different. Those were like silly reality show challenges. This quest has been...well, see for yourself.¡± Tiff gestured at the women around her. ¡°We¡¯ve already lost half our team. This has been a really hard one.¡± ¡°Tell me about it. But I think you might still have us beat,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Why? How many Legionnaires have you got left?¡± As if on cue, the other Legionnaire dropped down. ¡°He¡¯s the last one,¡± Achmed said, and guided his teammate out of the way. ¡°That really sucks,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Me too. This really has been a hard one.¡± I¡¯d remained quiet and let them talk. This was their quest, after all. I was starting to wonder if I should be there at all. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Tiff said. Achmed surprised everyone by turning to me. ¡°Daniel, what do you think?¡± ¡°Why are you asking him?¡± Tiff said. ¡°No offense, er, Daniel, but do you have this quest too?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I happened to be nearby when the Cathedral exploded and came to help.¡± ¡°Well thanks,¡± she said, ¡°but aren¡¯t you just a team of one? I¡¯m not sure you can be of much help alone.¡± ¡°I''ll have to disagree with you there, Tiff,¡± Achmed said. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for him we never would¡¯ve made it this far.¡± At that moment, Annabelle came gliding majestically down, the magic circle glowing under her feet. She landed softly and the circle vanished, evaporating in a mist of purple sparkles. ¡°Besides,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°he¡¯s not alone.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Seven - What happens in the catacombs... Tiff¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°What¡¯s she doing here?¡± Annabelle brushed some dust off her coat. ¡°I happened to be with Daniel when things went down and decided for my own reasons to lend him a hand.¡± ¡°And we¡¯re incredibly grateful,¡± Achmed said. Tiff started walking toward us, followed closely by her remaining teammates. They weren¡¯t holding their weapons in a threatening way, but it was easy to tell they were wary, ready for action at any moment. ¡°If I can make a suggestion,¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t know that this is a competition between teams. You¡¯ve both taken heavy losses and who knows what¡¯s waiting down here, so there¡¯s no telling if either of you will be able to complete it on your own. Your quests do have the same goal, after all, so why don¡¯t you work together? Maybe you can both finish your quests.¡± ¡°I like that idea,¡± Achmed said immediately. Tiff took longer to think about it. ¡°He makes a good point,¡± her teammate Grace said. She probably just felt guilty for shooting at me. ¡°I¡¯m not opposed to working together,¡± Tiff said. ¡°But in the end, I don¡¯t intend to let someone else snatch this quest away from us. Got it?¡± Achmed held his hands up in a placating gesture. ¡°Let¡¯s just worry about that later. Like Daniel said, maybe we can both succeed.¡± He lowered one hand and held the other out. It wasn¡¯t in a fist this time, but poised for a handshake. ¡°Let¡¯s work together, okay?¡± Tiff took his hand and they shook on it. ¡°Deal,¡± she said. Then she turned to me. ¡°And what are you gonna do?¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s up to you and Achmed. If you want me to leave, I will. But Team Legion are my friends and I¡¯d like to help if you¡¯ll let me. Maybe we can become friends too.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be honest,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. You assembled that team with Sigrid and her friend, plus that girl who won the tournament and that healer, but then you didn¡¯t join it yourself. I don¡¯t get that.¡± She didn¡¯t sugarcoat things. As someone who never had the confidence to say what I really thought most of the time, I had to respect that. We hadn¡¯t told anybody else about how I wasn¡¯t on the team because I hadn¡¯t been allowed to join them, and I¡¯d never considered how that had looked from the outside. I supposed that did look a little suspect. I also couldn¡¯t help but notice how Tiff only mentioned the women on the team, all of whom were very strong. No doubt she would¡¯ve loved to have had them all on Team Spice, so I couldn¡¯t fault her if she blamed me for stealing them away first. ¡°Then,¡± Tiff continued, ¡°you come out of nowhere and solve not one but two dungeons? Alone? I don¡¯t believe it. You¡¯re hiding something.¡± Well, she wasn¡¯t completely wrong. ¡°I admit when you put it like that it does look bad,¡± Achmed said, ¡°but Daniel helped us once with a subjugation quest that would¡¯ve ended very badly if it weren¡¯t for him. He also taught us how to use our affinities, among other things. And right before this he totally saved our skins against the cultists. Plus I think if you got to know him you¡¯d see he¡¯s a really nice guy. You should give him a chance.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, Achmed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the truth,¡± he said. Tiff seemed to consider Achmed¡¯s words and make a decision. ¡°Fine. Who knows what¡¯s waiting for us up ahead. I suppose I should accept help if it¡¯s offered.¡± Next she turned to Annabelle. ¡°You coming too?¡± Annabelle planted her staff¡¯s base on the floor and stood up tall. ¡°Are you kidding? I forgot how much fun this is.¡± The rest of Team Spice seemed to relax a little and introductions were made. Tiff and Achmed started sharing details about their quests. Both quests had both started off vague, telling them to simply investigate strange things happening, albeit different things. The quests had changed as they¡¯d investigated, growing more and more specific, ultimately leading both teams to these catacombs where they were tasked with stopping the cult¡¯s nefarious plans. Neither¡¯s quest had uncovered the full story, but when their information was pooled a clearer picture emerged: the so-called healers at the Cathedral were really a group of demon-worshiping cultists who had been working secretly toward an unknown goal that was on the cusp of becoming reality. Nobody knew what that goal was exactly, but it couldn¡¯t be good. As well, neither quest had mentioned anything about this being an affinity dungeon. While they were talking I noticed that almost everyone carried some kind of injuries, some more serious than others, and most were pretty low on mana. ¡°Say, would you guys like to heal up before we get going?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d love to,¡± Tiff said, ¡°but we¡¯re all out of potions.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Although there¡¯s probably a treasure trove of healing potions around here somewhere.¡± ¡°If they weren¡¯t destroyed when the Cathedral was demolished,¡± Tiff said. I noticed Achmed and Annabelle both glance at me. Oopsie. ¡°Never mind that,¡± I said quickly. ¡°I can help. But listen: I¡¯m gonna do something, and I want everyone here to promise that what happens in the catacombs stays in the catacombs. Okay?¡± ¡°You have an inside line on some potions or something, Daniel?¡± Achmed said. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Something like that,¡± I said. ¡°You have an ability that you don¡¯t want us talking about to other people,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I get it.¡± ¡°Exactly that,¡± I said. ¡°Then please do it,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Whatever it is, I trust you.¡± Tiff eyed me, if anything seeming more suspicious of me now. ¡°Well if it can heal us, I¡¯m not really in a position to turn that down.¡± ¡°What do we need to do?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. I used the power I¡¯d created for the Magikist¡¯s staff to cure the blight, Everybody Gets A Heal. It had originally been a simple area effect heal, and that¡¯s how I used it now. A golden glow spread in a dome shape around me to encompass everyone, and as it did each person¡¯s wounds began to shine with golden light. Every injury, from tiny scratches to a broken arm to a gaping gash in the side of one of the Team Spice women, they all healed. ¡°Holy shit, Daniel. Were you always able to do that?¡± Achmed said. ¡°It¡¯s a newly acquired thing,¡± I said, feeling a bit woozy. The more there was to heal, the greater the mana required. I had enough mana, but using so much at one time still packed a wallop. Achmed must¡¯ve seen me teeter a bit because he grabbed my arm to steady me on my feet. ¡°I saw that woman on Team Maple Leaf heal a teammate during a team versus team quest we had with them once, but I¡¯ve never seen a mass heal power before,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Thank you.¡± Several other Players added their thanks as well. ¡°See? I told you he was a good guy,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Nina,¡± I said. ¡°That healer¡¯s name is Nina. If you get a chance, you should get to know her. She¡¯s quite an incredible person.¡± ¡°Oh? Is that love I smell in the air?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Do you have a crush on this Nina?¡± I gave Achmed a dry stare. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you¡¯re smelling, but that¡¯s not it. Her husband¡¯s name is Byron, and he also happens to be on Team Maple Leaf. He¡¯s pretty incredible too.¡± ¡°My bad,¡± Achmed said. ¡°You will have to introduce me to Nina sometime, then,¡± Tiff said. ¡°For now, we should get moving.¡± Achmed sighed. ¡°Yup. This quest isn¡¯t gonna solve itself.¡± ¡°Do you have time to eat something first?¡± I said. One of Achmed¡¯s guys groaned. ¡°I¡¯d make time, if only we had any food.¡± He looked toward Tiff¡¯s group hopefully. Grace shook her head. ¡°We already ate all our supplies too.¡± I looked around. For some reason, all eyes were on me. ¡°What happens in the catacombs...¡± I said. ¡°Stays in the catacombs,¡± they recited. I pulled some bento boxes from my inventory, enough for everyone. I¡¯d been getting tired of ham sandwiches, and too much orc meat makes you hella gassy, so I had tasked Maisie, the best cook among the doppels, to make a bunch of bento boxes filled with a variety of tasty treats that I could keep in my inventory. I never knew what would be in a box until I opened it, and who doesn¡¯t love surprises? My favorite was the chicken shawarma. Well, we called it chicken. Really it was made using the meat from those Stymphalian birds I¡¯d watched pick apart some of Team Invictus and which, luckily enough, just so happened to have the exact taste and texture of chicken. Everyone seemed grateful, but I got some strange looks. ¡°Got any picnic blankets in there, bud?¡± Achmed said with a grin. I reached into the inventory. ¡°Well they¡¯re not plaid, but...¡± ¡°Dude, I was kidding!¡± While they were busy scarfing down snacks, I went to the archway closest to where we¡¯d dropped down and peered down it. Annabelle came to join me. ¡°I suppose I ought to stop being surprised when you do something unexpected,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, using my synthesized version of Sam¡¯s powers to covertly summon a ferret. ¡°That would probably be a good idea.¡± ¡°I see nothing, I know nothing,¡± Annabelle said. I sent the wiry rodent scampering off to scout out ahead. I¡¯d incorporated Sam¡¯s other ability to see through his summoned creature¡¯s eyes into my new Arise And Shine power, and I switched it on to see what was up ahead. The ferret¡¯s senses were much sharper than the mouse I¡¯d used another time. I soon saw some dead cultists on the floor through its eyes. I immediately assumed it was Team Spice¡¯s work, a suspicion that was quickly confirmed by one of Grace¡¯s broken arrows sticking out of a cultist¡¯s chest. If this was the way Tiff¡¯s group had come, then we would need to go the other way. I brought the ferret scurrying back. It crawled up my leg and hid under my jacket. As I crossed the room to the other side nobody paid me any attention. The members of Team Spice and Team Legion were chatting amongst themselves as they chowed down my rations, and I was pleased to notice that Achmed had persuaded everyone to share their strengths so that he and Tiff could come up with some strategies for how to work together. I reached the archway leading in the opposite direction and scanned ahead. It was a straight tunnel that branched into a four-way intersection about twenty feet ahead. My ferret friend wriggled back down my leg and scuttled out to snoop this way. I could see, hear, and even smell everything it did. The catacombs were even more extensive than I¡¯d imagined, a warren of tunnels and rooms dug out of the bedrock that snaked under the city. I found a few interesting rooms, and even a few domesticated guardian monsters along the way, but no cultists. The ferret was surprisingly good at opening doors, but there were a few rooms I couldn¡¯t see into because the door was locked. The most interesting one was a large metal door with no visible keyhole, just an indentation in the middle of it that was the shape and size of a child''s open hand. After some exploration I heard the sound of many voices chanting in an unknown language. My little scout followed the noise to find its source and came to a tunnel with an imposing door at the end of it. Two cultists stood guard in front of the door, armed with darkslingers. The chanting was definitely coming from the other side. Suddenly, I was startled by Tiff¡¯s voice right beside me. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± she said. I was so surprised I accidentally dispelled my ferret summon. I blinked away the abrupt shock of returning to my own vision and saw her staring at me, making no effort to conceal her mistrust. ¡°Using some other mysterious ability to see what¡¯s up ahead?¡± she said. ¡°Uh, something like that,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m starting to see why you¡¯ve already got two dungeons.¡± ¡°I had a lot of help, but to be honest I mostly just got lucky.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± she said, then looked away from me and peered into the tunnel ahead. ¡°Find anything?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± She gave a curt nod. ¡°Good.¡± I grabbed a broken femur from a niche nearby and started sketching out the tunnels ahead in the dust on the floor. I soon had a map of the area ahead drawn, marking the most direct route to the location of the chanting. ¡°I won¡¯t ask how you know this,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I appreciate that,¡± I said. ¡°How sure are you that this is accurate?¡± ¡°A hundred percent.¡± She bit her lower lip as she studied the map. ¡°Can we expect any resistance along the way?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but be ready for anything.¡± ¡°Always am.¡± Tiff studied the map a bit more with fierce intensity, then she spun on her heel and called out to the others in a stern voice. ¡°Okay people, finish up and let¡¯s go end this thing.¡± Every member of Team Spice chomped down the remainder of their food and readied their weapons. ¡°Listen up, everyone,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Here''s the plan.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Eight - Thaumaturgy ¡°You heard her,¡± Achmed said to his team. ¡°Formation Two. Let¡¯s roll out.¡± The two other remaining Legionnaires scarfed their food and the two teams merged into a two-by-two arrangement they¡¯d clearly arranged while I was too busy being a ferret. I was impressed by the discipline displayed, especially by Team Spice. Tiff was a natural leader. ¡°What do you want us to do?¡± I said. ¡°Take the rear with Annabelle. They¡¯re our quests so we¡¯ll take point, but we¡¯re trusting you to make sure nobody gets the jump on us from behind.¡± Annabelle saluted her with a grin. ¡°You can count on us.¡± Formation Two began moving down the tunnel at a cautious but steady pace. The arrangement was a smart one, with the tankiest Players in the front rank, followed by strong melee with ranged and support staggered behind. Annabelle and I brought up the rear. I resummoned the ferret and had it follow us a discreet distance behind. It would warn me if anything was coming to surprise us. Tiff guided us along the most direct route to the wooden door, bypassing all the side branches and other doors along the way. If her team wondered how she knew where to go, they kept their questions to themselves. I could see why Team Spice ranked so high. I liked Achmed, he was a great guy and led his team well, but Tiff was what I pictured a proper leader would be like, making firm decisions quickly and demanding respect with her mere presence. We progressed quickly and without incident, and as we got closer to the end the tunnels started to slope downwards. By the time we reached the corner before the tunnel leading to the door, we were fairly deep underground. We¡¯d known for a while we were getting close; the ominous, muffled chanting had been a dead giveaway. With my enhanced senses I was the first to hear it, but soon everyone knew there was a nest of cultists up ahead. Tiff had started out in the second rank, just behind the tanks in the front, but as we waited around the corner she moved back to join me and Annabelle. As she passed Achmed, he followed her to the rear. We conferred together in whispers. ¡°The door¡¯s around this corner, right?¡± Tiff said. I nodded. ¡°And there are two guards, you say?¡± I nodded again. Achmed shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not even gonna ask.¡± ¡°Any idea what we¡¯ll find on the other side?¡± Tiff said. ¡°I have an idea, but I can¡¯t be completely sure. Ever come to the Cathedral for healing?¡± I said. ¡°More than a few times,¡± she said. ¡°We don¡¯t have any healing powers on our team.¡± ¡°Did you check out any of the NPCs statuses?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Tiff said. ¡°You¡¯re talking about that Thaumaturgy skill they all had,¡± Achmed said. ¡°I figured this had something to do with that. Ritual magic, right?¡± ¡°I thought the same thing,¡± Tiff said. ¡°And since they are demon cultists...¡± ¡°That chanting must be them using it to summon a demon,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Sounds about right,¡± I said. At that moment, both of them jolted and stared ahead. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°My quest just updated,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Mine too. Take a look,¡± Achmed said, and shared his quest screen with us. Team Quest: Stop the Cult of the Scarlet Hand from unleashing the Demon Calamity Reward: Reward Tokens, Random Platinum Reward Box, Random Power Scroll, Random Gold Item ¡°Nice rewards,¡± I said. ¡°I should hope so,¡± Achmed said. ¡°After what we¡¯ve been through to get here.¡± Tiff gave a decisive nod. ¡°Right. Who¡¯s got the most destructive ability? I¡¯m talking one that¡¯ll blow that door right off its hinges.¡± ¡°You wanna blast through and go in guns a-blazing?¡± Achmed said. ¡°I can get behind that.¡± ¡°Every second we wait brings them one second closer to summoning that calamity. It would be nice to know what we¡¯ll find inside, but we don¡¯t, so I¡¯m hoping that they¡¯ll be more surprised by us than we will be by whatever''s on the other side.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with taking out the guards as quietly as possible,¡± I said. I had several ways I could¡¯ve done it, but this wasn¡¯t my quest. I¡¯d already done enough getting us here. I¡¯d also evaluated all the Players on both teams, and I could see a couple of possibilities in their abilities. ¡°Anika on my team is our best bet,¡± Tiff said. ¡°She¡¯d be quietest.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Achmed said. ¡°If you¡¯re sure it¡¯ll work.¡± Tiff bit her lip. ¡°Sure? No. But these cultists are pretty weak and there¡¯s only two of them. It should work.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°How about we have Grace ready behind her,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Just in case.¡± ¡°That¡¯s smart. Okay. I¡¯ll have Grace standing by with a couple of arrows ready.¡± Tiff made her way back to where her teammates Anika and Grace were and whispered some instructions. They nodded and went to the front. Grace nocked two arrows on her bowstring at the same time. Anika took a few deep breaths, then poked her head around the corner and used her power. It was a good one. I''d stalked Team Spice for a day on one of their quests so I could see them use their powers, and this was one I definitely wanted to have handy. Powers: Now I Lay You Down To Sleep - Adept: Put target to sleep I heard the sound of the cultists¡¯ bodies slumping to the floor. Grace jumped around the corner, bow aimed at the door, then she lowered it and released the tension in the string. ¡°Good job, Anika,¡± she said. Anika exhaled deeply. ¡°I¡¯m so glad that worked,¡± she said. Tiff patted her on the back. ¡°Knew you could do it.¡± Achmed¡¯s guys snuck forward and dragged the unconscious cultists back. Apart from their darkslingers, they had nothing notable on their bodies except for red hand-shaped pins and a kind of long, wavy-bladed daggers my inner nerd knew were called flambards. A few of the Players seemed interested in the slingers, but then Tiff explained that they used the wielder¡¯s own life energy as ammunition and they lost interest. ¡°Mind if I take them?¡± I said. I was curious if I could Artifice the darkslingers to use a different power source. ¡°No objections here,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Go nuts,¡± Tiff said, and I made the weapons disappear into my inventory. ¡°Do we still want to blast the door in, or do you want to disguise ourselves in these guys¡¯ robes and try to infiltrate?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Before you decide, can I try something?¡± I said. Both team leaders agreed so I went alone up to the door and placed my hand against it. The radar ability had been effective sensing the underground rooms, and I wondered if it could work through the door. I knew that back on Earth, the police had radar devices that could let them detect people inside houses, maybe I could do the same. I sent some trial pulses through the door and was pleasantly surprised to find that if I did it a certain way I could get a sense of what was on the other side. It was hazy, but at least it was something. I came back to the others and drew a diagram of the room using chalk from my inventory. ¡°Is there anything you don¡¯t have stored in there?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Strangely enough, there¡¯s no kitchen sink,¡± I said. I walked them through my sketch. ¡°It seems to be a huge square chamber with a high ceiling. There¡¯s a raised area in the middle here with a bunch of objects around it.¡± ¡°People?¡± Tiff said. ¡°That¡¯d be my guess, yeah. There are five or six more here and here,¡± I said, pointing to spots in the middle of both side walls. ¡°Five more are positioned along the wall on either side of the door, and a bunch more along the wall opposite.¡± Tiff chewed her lip some more as she studied the crude drawing. ¡°If those objects are more cultists, that¡¯s a lot of bad guys. But I¡¯m still leaning towards the guns a-blazing approach. If we disguise a couple of us as cultists and the real ones see through it, the two who went in would be sitting ducks and the rest of us would have to charge in anyway.¡± ¡°Guns a-blazing it is, then. So who¡¯s got the best power to take down that door?¡± Achmed said. Again, I had a few ways I could¡¯ve done it, but this was their quest. One of the Team Spice women had the power to create a strong gust of wind, and a Legionnaire had a powerful punch ability, but both used a lot of mana and even after the snacks nobody had that much. Annabelle surprised us all by raising her hand. ¡°Can I try?¡± ¡°I don''t know what your abilities are,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Do you think you can do it?¡± Annabelle hefted her staff and twirled the six foot rod of metal in one hand like a cheerleader''s baton. ¡°I may be a bit rusty, but I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve still got it.¡± ¡°Then by all means,¡± Tiff said. ¡°We are in your hands, Miss Annabelle,¡± Achmed said. After some brief discussion, we came up with a plan. We would split up and take positions against the walls on either side of the door. Annabelle would blast it away, then we¡¯d rush in and deal with what was on the other side, hopefully taking them all by surprise. It was a simple plan, but the best ones usually are. We pressed ourselves against the walls as Annabelle took up position behind us, standing in the middle of the tunnel with her staff aimed at the door. A large magic circle appeared in the air in front of her. Its purple glow began to brighten as the energy built up, then a beam shot from it and struck the door, splintering it into pieces that went hurtling into the room with a boom. The summoning chamber was pretty much like I¡¯d mapped out with radar. The circular plateau in the center of the square floor was raised on three stepped tiers and there were lots of cultists in there. But there was a lot I hadn''t been able to see with the radar, and it was pretty cool-looking. Three huge, glowing magic circles, all identical and much larger and more intricate than anything I¡¯d seen Annabelle create, rotated rapidly around a single point above the central pedestal, the mystic engravings scribed onto circle each leaving trails of light that formed a sphere of intertwining lines which shone with a dark eldritch energy that almost seemed to suck light into it rather than radiate it. At least twenty cultists in dark hooded robes knelt around the perimeter of the lowest step, swaying to a rythm only they could hear, with their heads rolling back in pious ecstasy as they chanted incantations in what was no doubt an ancient, forgotten tongue. The door lay in pieces strewn on the floor in front of us. Annabelle had blasted it with enough force that the door bits should have flown across the room, but they were all loosely scattered just in front of the cultists in the center ring. Directly opposite us on the far wall, a cultist with a long, scraggly beard and crazy eyes stood on a dias behind a sort of lectern with an open book resting atop it. Five cultists flanked him on either side holding flamberts against their chests in some kind of vigilant salute, or perhaps they were just ready to sacrifice any of the twenty in the middle who might suddenly decide that being this close to something called a Demon Calamity when it first appeared wasn¡¯t such a great idea after all and this was probably not the right career choice for them, and try to run away. I couldn¡¯t see them from where I stood, but I knew that five more stood along the wall on either side of our doorway. Centered in both of the walls on either side there were what looked like tall tesla coils, thick metal poles rising twenty feet into the air, each topped with a large metal ellipsoid. Each pole had five more cultists standing around them, arms raised high over their heads with hands clasped, as a dark mist flowed from their bodies into the pole as though their energy was being sucked out to feed the coils. Crackling bolts of dark energy arced from the ellipsoids, meeting in the middle of the room directly into the center of the sphere of whizzing dark energy formed by the spinning magic circles. Inside this sphere, curled up like a baby in a womb, something grotesque pulsed and quivered. Chapter One Hundred and Nine - The Demon Calamity (Partial) Once Annabelle had blasted the door open, we all charged into the room to engage the cultists on either side. Tiff and three of her teammates, along with Annabelle, went left. I went right with Achmed, his two guys, the other women from Team Spice. We caught them by surprise but they were armed and ready for us, and recovered quickly. A fierce hand-to-hand fight began. I tossed some area buffs on the others then let them fight while I took stock of the room. System: You know Thaumaturgy That was quick. Maybe seeing so many people using it at the same time accelerated my already fast learning speed. As soon as I got the new skill a flood of information raced through my head. I knew what was going on. I knew what we had to do. I used the custom power I¡¯d created by synthesizing Arthur¡¯s telepathy power with some other abilities and established a mental link with Tiff and Achmed. Fortunately, telepathic communication was much faster than verbal, so we could pack a whole minute¡¯s worth of conversation into just a few seconds. Me: Hey, it¡¯s Daniel. Yes, I¡¯m in your head. Tiff: What the hell? Telepathy too? For fuck¡¯s sake. Achmed: I won¡¯t ask. Me: Listen to me, we don¡¯t have much time. I know how to stop this. Tiff: How do you¡ª Me: It doesn¡¯t matter how I know. I just need you to trust me. Those tesla coil things are feeding off the life force of those cultists. Tiff: I¡¯d already guessed that much. Me: Destroying those coils is the key, but both of them need to be done at the same time, and it has to happen before they complete the summoning ritual. Achmed: Or else? Me: You don¡¯t wanna know. Tiff: Two teams, two quests, two coils. I get it now. Achmed: So we were meant to work together. Me: You two need to take down those coils but it has to be done at the exact same time. Achmed: Piece of cake. Me: I wish. Tiff: What¡¯s the catch? Me: That guy on the far wall is the cult leader. He¡¯s cast a forcefield between us and them. And...he¡¯s a named NPC. They were both team builders, they both had All Can Be Revealed. I was sure they knew what I meant by that. Tiff: I see. Achmed: Let¡¯s just focus on taking down that forcefield or a lot of named NPCs are definitely going to die. Me: Leave that to me. Achmed: How will you...you know what? Never mind. I trust you. Tiff: I suppose I have no choice but to trust you too. Me: Get in position and wait for my signal. Annabelle and the others can handle these goons. Achmed: Copy that. Tiff: Let¡¯s do this. It was up to me. All I had to do was take down the bearded guy to lower the shields. I felt like Obi-Wan on the Death Star. Unfortunately, the ten cultists flanking him had created a wall of people between us. Fine. All I had to do was take them down first. Wait, didn¡¯t Obi-Wan die on the Death Star? Then I heard something, or I thought I did. A faint rustle behind us. I looked back but didn¡¯t see anything. Could¡¯ve sworn I''d heard it. Screw it. Time to go full out. I turned on my Holtzmann shield and copied a few powers. Then I used my custom versions of Jane¡¯s and Kay¡¯s powers to blink over to the other side of the forcefield and unleash omni-do upon their sorry butts at superspeed. With my elvish knives I became a spinning, swirling, slashing emissary of death. Constantly moving, I took a page from Jane¡¯s book and kept blinking around, popping in and out of the fight like a blur. I was focussed completely on offence, trusting my shield and speed to keep me safe. The one time they managed to land a hit on me with one of their serpentine knife but it bounced harmlessly off my shield. I hate to sound braggy, but those poor buggers didn¡¯t stand a chance. I dropped the superspeed once all ten were on the floor to conserve mana, then turned my attention toward the named NPC Duke Driskol, Head Cultist. I could only assume Duke was his actual name and not a title. I tried to picture what he would look like without the lanky hair and crazy eyes, the man he was before being twisted into a cult leader, but came up blank. All I could see was a cultist that I wanted to kill. I leapt onto the dais and lunged at him with my knives, but they bounced off an invisible force field before I could reach him. So he was keeping multiple force fields going, huh? Tricky bugger. I tried a few more slashes, but his force shield seemed impenetrable. A gap opened in the scraggly hair on his face as he smiled, revealing crooked, yellowed teeth. So that¡¯s how he wanted to play, huh? Fine. If I couldn''t get through the force field physically, I''d just have to do it another way. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. A bubble of swirling color appeared around his head. His hands went up, reaching into the dark, airless Void I¡¯d enveloped him in. I slashed at his body, but the shield was still up and my knife bounced off harmlessly. He lurched back, staggering, but I kept the Void around his head, suffocating him. I slashed again, still no luck. He dropped to his knees. One more slash, and this time my blade didn¡¯t bounce off but left a deep slit across his chest. His shield had dropped. He instinctively lowered his hands to cover the wound that now blossomed with crimson. My knife sliced again, this time disappearing into the Void bubble. I felt it hit something soft but solid and there was a moment of resistance before my blade cut right through and passed out the other side. He slumped to the floor. I dispelled the Void and saw him lying there, gasping for breath with his hands now clutching his own throat in a futile effort to keep the blood from pouring out of the wide gash I¡¯d opened in it. He wasn¡¯t dead, but it was only a matter of time. I looked down at him, slumped against the back wall in an ever-expanding pool of red. This must¡¯ve been what I looked like from Flint¡¯s perspective, only he¡¯d killed me instantly when he severed my head from my body completely. I had just severed his jugular so he wasn''t dead. Yet. Oh man. ¡°This isn¡¯t because I don¡¯t think you deserve to die,¡± I said, then healed him. Just a little. Just enough so he wouldn¡¯t die but not enough that he could be a bother anymore. As I crouched over him applying the heal, I noticed something glinting amid the blood that soaked his upper body. He was wearing something around his neck. I poked at the glint and found a thin chain, so I grabbed it and pulled. The chain broke, and I discovered on the end of it a small, metal hand and a fancy-looking key. Into the inventory they went. I flicked the blood off my knives and sheathed them, then turned around to see what was happening with everyone else. They were still holding their own against the cultists near the door. Half the bad guys were down, but so was one of Tiff¡¯s team. Achmed and Tiff had both moved closer to to their respective coils on either side of the room, and both of them were watching me with strange expressions. I suppose what I¡¯d just done must¡¯ve looked a little odd from their perspective. The cultists surrounding the coils looked in rough shape. Their faces were wrinkled and shrunken, like overripe peaches that had been left sitting on the counter too long. They didn¡¯t appear to have much life left to suck out, which probably meant the ritual was nearly over. The cultists around the magic circle were still swaying and chanting, and the embryonic demon taking shape in the dark energy sphere was still growing. I could see limbs now, just starting to wriggle. But that was fine, my job was to take down the shield so Achmed and Tiff could shut down the ritual. Now it was their turn. I reopened the telepathic link and told the other team leaders to get ready to take down the coils. Me: Okay, destroy the coils but do not touch the cultists. Achmed: Why not? Me: Because the apparatus will automatically replace them with the nearest life forces, and that would be us. Achmed: Right, just the coil. Got it. Me: It has to be done at the same time. Attack on three, okay? Tiff lashed out with her whip, wrapping it around the top of the coil like Indiana Jones preparing to topple the statue of Anubis in the Well of Souls. She set her feet, both hands on the whip¡¯s handle. She nodded at me. Achmed merely held out one hand in front of him while the other gripped his mace. He nodded too. Me: One. Two. Three! Tiff yanked hard on the whip and Achmed shouted ¡°Water Well Wasteland!¡± at the top of his lungs. Her pole began to topple while the floor under his turned into water. One more yank and Tiff¡¯s came crashing down to the floor at the exact same moment when the ellipsoid on Achmed¡¯s pole had sunken to his level and he swung his weapon at it crying ¡°Monstrous Mace Mash!¡± Both devices shattered, exploding in showers of sparks at the same time. Then things got hectic. The moment the coils were destroyed the dark energy stopped flowing from the cultists and they all slumped lifeless to the floor. The spinning magic circles disappeared as the dark energy arcing across the room cut out, and the energy sphere containing the demon abruptly vanished. The twitching creature inside it fell on the top of the platform with a squishy thump. The twenty cultists who encircled the platform all wailed and bowed their heads to the floor, prostrating themselves in front of the demon they¡¯d summoned. Well, almost summoned. We¡¯d stopped the ritual before it had a chance to finish so the summoned creature had not fully formed yet. I had a hard time believing it was a demon at first. The only other demon I¡¯d seen was Ruka, and this thing was as far from my succubus friend as it was possible to be. It was roughly humanoid in shape, a bloated monster twice the size of an obese adult human. Its scarlet-colored skin was stretched taut over bulging muscles in some places and hung loose over dropping flab in others. Its oversized head was capped with a single long horn above the one eye that had taken shape. The rest of its head had not finished forming, leaving half its misshapen face nothing more than an obscene gob of gray flesh mottled with oozing patches of black. Two of its six long, muscular arms had yet to form on one side, along with one of its two legs. The four arms that had formed ended in fingers that had a few too many joints and terminated in long, sharp, claw-like nails.
Demon of Calamity (Partial)
Powers: Big Enough For Ya? - Expert: Change size Cower Before My Might - Expert: Cause fear That¡¯ll Hurt For A While - Expert: Poisonous claws Your Life For Mine - Expert: Draw power by consuming living beings
Skills: Brawling - Expert Claw - Expert
It didn¡¯t seem that tough for a final Boss, but maybe that was because the ritual hadn¡¯t been fully completed. I imagine its Status would¡¯ve looked a lot scarier if it wasn¡¯t just a partial Demon of Calamity. The fighting near the door had stopped when Achmed and Tiff had destroyed the apparatus, both sides turning their attention to the beast on the platform. The remaining cultists there also fell to their knees and bowed in obeisance. All of a sudden, a wave of despair flooded through me and I found myself stricken with fear and disgust. It was hard to move. All I could do was stare in horror at the monster writhing on the platform. It seemed to be trying to pull itself upright but lacked the requisite number of limbs to do it. Its one eye rolled in its socket and its wide, toothy mouth snapped at the air as it flopped and struggled. Then the eye focused on the cultists kneeling before it. The demon began to grow, rapidly inflating to twice its original size and nearly filling the entire platform with its egregious bulk. Two of its thick arms swept out in front of it, each one grabbing a cultist and lifting them into the air. Its mouth opened wide and it chomped down, biting a cultist in half. It chewed a bit, then stuffed the rest of the body into its maw. As the cultist crunched between its countless teeth I managed to overcome my fear. I could see Tiff, Annabelle, and a couple of the other Players also coming out of their daze at the same time. Guess we made our saving throws. Achmed and the rest remained frozen as they gaped slack-jawed at the beast, still controlled by its power and petrified with fright. By the time it had fed itself the second cultist, the ones who were no longer stricken started taking action. The Players back with Annabelle took advantage of the cultists¡¯ prostration to unceremoniously finish off the ones they''d been fighting by the door. Tiff used her ability to create affinity minions to form four elemental creatures of pure Darkness. They flew toward the demon, each one grabbing one of the monster''s arms and gnawing on it. As for me, I quickly scanned Status to see if anyone needed a heal. Everyone was hurt at least a little, so I only healed the two who were in the red. I¡¯d used up a fair bit of mana so far and I was getting tired of passing out in the middle of fights, so I decided to conserve mana and forego using more powers to fight. Time to do this the old fashioned way. I pulled out my knives again as I ran a few steps then leapt high onto the thing¡¯s enormous back. I drove both blades deep into its meaty flesh and held on, dangling from them. Okay, now what? Chapter One Hundred and Ten - Tough sucker, aint it? The demon roared and howled after my knives sank into its back, its arms flailing and shaking off Tiff¡¯s Darkness minions. Then it tried to reach behind to grab me or knock me off, but it was so muscular that it shared the same weakness as many bodybuilders: the inability to reach its own back. Gripping the hilts of my knives hard I pulled myself higher up its back, then leaving one knife buried in it for me to hang onto, I pulled out the other and stabbed higher. Then I did it again, climbing up its back until I was hanging between its shoulder blades. I did my best to wrap my legs around its massive girth for support, then I kept one knife buried in its back and began jabbing the other one over and over at its bulging neck. I heard Tiff¡¯s whip crack at the demon¡¯s face, and it used two of its arms to protect itself while the other two continued to flail around trying to get to me. I felt the force of something impact against the demon¡¯s front and I could tell by the trace of purple glow I saw over its shoulder that Annabelle had joined the fray. Its body lurched under me as it tried to heave its mass around and turn its back ¡ª and me ¡ª to face Annabelle and Tiff¡¯s attacks, but with only one leg trapped under its malformed bulk it lacked the mobility. I kept stabbing it, over and over and over. Its neck and shoulder were now shredded, its black blood spraying each time I pulled my knife out. I was drenched in the thick, warm, putrid-smelling ichor. I¡¯d never come across a monster that could take this much damage. Every time I plunged my knife into it, its health bar only ticked down a tiny bit. The Status I could see may not have been overly impressive, but its hidden stats like toughness must¡¯ve been off the charts. I know what you¡¯re thinking. Why didn¡¯t I just put the tip of my knife up against the top of its spine and thrust up into its brain? That would probably kill it. But as I dangled there, dripping with dark demonic gore, all I could think was ¡°this isn¡¯t my quest, don¡¯t steal their kill.¡± Besides, the thing was nearly dead anyway. Although each wound only hurt it a bit, we¡¯d given it a lot of wounds. Its mangled shoulder looked like hamburger and Grace had sunk so many arrows into it its front looked like a pincushion. Plus there was whatever damage the whip had done and I don¡¯t know how many purple blasts from Annabelle it had absorbed. Attrition had taken its toll and the demon¡¯s health had red-lined. I stopped stabbing. Bending my knees and planting my feet against the demon¡¯s back, I kicked out hard. I flew backwards and, making full use of my Player body¡¯s enhanced agility and the gymnastics and acrobatics skills, twisted in mid-air and hit the floor in a compact roll before bounding up onto my feet in a crouch, a gory knife in each hand. I watched Tiff lashing at the demon with her whip, her three remaining Darkness minions clinging to its body and biting fiercely; one had been destroyed by the demon. I couldn¡¯t be sure how much actual damage her whip was inflicting, but it certainly seemed to distract the demon and give others the opening to hurt it. One of the demon¡¯s arms was kept busy protecting itself from Tiff¡¯s attacks while another tried to grab her whip every time it whizzed at its face. The remaining two arms punched and clawed at her Darkness minions, driving them away only for them to glide back and gnaw on it some more. One drifted too close to the demon¡¯s mouth, and a single snap of the monster¡¯s teeth was enough to send it to oblivion. Then the demon shifted tactics. It ignored us and used all four arms to scoop up cultists kneeling before it and pop the unfortunate NPCs into its mouth, not even bothering to chew them but swallowing them whole. Its health climbed back out of the red zone. That wasn''t good. Beside Tiff, Grace was one of the Players who¡¯d shaken off the fear, and she was keeping up a steady barrage of arrows to add to the demon¡¯s misfortune. Annabelle was on the other side of the room, her face was spread in a wide grin as purple blasts kept erupting from the magic circle floating in the air in front of her. Next to her, one of Achmed¡¯s legionnaires was using the Affinity Control I¡¯d taught him during the ants invasion to good effect, shooting Ice darts as his contribution to the effort. I looked over at Achmed, who was still frozen in place in terror. He¡¯d be pissed that he missed out on the fight. His mace mash sure would''ve been handy right then, too. I had seen someone use a power to dispel debuffs. I didn¡¯t know if it would work on this but it was worth a try. I copied it, then blinked over to Achmed and cast it on him with a touch. The effect was immediate. His glazed gaze sharpened as the fear dispelled. Seeing the battle raging without him he gripped his mace in both hands and charged forward, leaping onto the platform with a shout of ¡°Seven Souls Mace Mash!¡± and swung his weapon at the demon. The weapon sank into the demon¡¯s corpulent belly like it had been swallowed by the rippling flesh, and Achmed struggled to wrest it free. Up to now, apart from how I bravely clung to its back where it couldn¡¯t reach me, everyone had been taking advantage of the demon¡¯s immobility by using ranged attacks. Now it had a target within arm¡¯s reach. It swiped at Achmed with one hand, grabbing him around the waist like it had gripped the cultists. You know, right before it chowed down on them. The handle of his mace still protruded from the bloated mass of the demon¡¯s belly. Achmed¡¯s legs kicked while he pounded at the enormous fingers clenched around him like Fay Wray. The demon raised him high in the air, then bent its head back and opened its giant mouth wide. I immediately regretted not driving my knife into its cranium when I had the chance. While I stood there trying to think of which power I could use to save Achmed, Tiff¡¯s whip lashed out and wrapped its end around the demon¡¯s wrist. Grace dropped her bow and grabbed the whip to help Tiff pull the hand holding Achmed away from the demon¡¯s gaping maw. The women strained against the whip, managing to move Achmed a few feet to the side. At the same time, I sent a flurry of maximum power wind cutters at the demon¡¯s forearm. They sliced deep into the muscles and tendons, weakening the arm¡¯s strength and causing its fingers to release Achmed. He fell to the floor with a hard thump that looked like it hurt a lot, but it was better than getting chewed up and swallowed. With a bellow packed with fury and frustration, the demon used one of its free hands to grab the whip that was still holding its wrist and pulled. Tiff had the presence of mind to let go, but Grace held on and was lifted off her feet and flew across the room. She had her own painful landing and skidded across the floor until she was only a few feet away from where I stood. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The legionnaire beside Annabelle sent a last few Ice darts flying, then all of a sudden he collapsed, unconscious, mana bar empty. I knew how that felt, buddy. Tiff had lost her weapon, as had Grace, as had Achmed, and the legionnaire who wasn¡¯t frozen in fear had drained his mana and passed out. Tiff¡¯s teammate Anika had fallen earlier, and the remaining two were still petrified by the demon¡¯s power. That left only Annabelle and me. ¡°Annabelle,¡± I shouted, ¡°do you maybe have a big spell that can buy us some time?¡± ¡°I thought you¡¯d never ask,¡± she shouted back, then cackled a joyful laugh. I had a bad feeling about this. As I bent down to help Grace to her feet, the magic circle in front of Annabelle disappeared and was immediately replaced by a much, much larger one. She took a wide step back with one foot and braced herself. She reminded me of something but I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on what it was. ¡°Ex-plo-sion!¡± Annabelle cried, and even as a miniature mushroom cloud appeared above the demon after her magic erupted inside its mouth I couldn¡¯t help laughing when I realized what she¡¯d reminded me of. Who was Annabelle, really? Miraculously, most of the explosion was contained inside the demon¡¯s mouth, and its impressive shockwave was directed upwards instead of outwards at the rest of us. Teeth the size of my elven knives went flying in all directions along with chunks of its misshapen face, and the demon toppled over onto its side. There was a foreboding rumble and parts of the ceiling over the blast site started crumbling. Great. Was the whole thing going to fall down on top of us? Was this payback for me burying the cultists upstairs? What kind of lunatic uses explosion magic inside? Annabelle grinned, then fell over backwards. ¡°They¡¯re right,¡± I heard her mumble, ¡°it is more fun when you say it out loud.¡± In some games it¡¯s common for Big Boss monsters to go through phases. They start off strong, then once you whittle them down far enough they get a second wind, becoming even stronger. I had a feeling that was what happened when the demon munched all those people to regain health. At first, I thought the ill-advised explosion had to have finished it off, but the damage must have triggered another phase: a third wind, if you will. On the platform, the demon¡¯s body quivered, then began to knit itself back together. Regeneration. ¡°Oh come on!¡± I grumbled. Before it recovered enough to resume fighting, I pulled out a bow and quiver of arrows from my inventory and handed them to Grace. Then I dashed across the room, dropping a mace from my inventory into Achmed¡¯s hands along the way. I slid to a halt beside Tiff and, ignoring the look of befuddlement she gave me, reached into my inventory again and handed her a whip. ¡°Lucky for us you don¡¯t fight with a sink, huh?¡± I said. She grunted, but I know I saw a little smile as she cracked her new whip in the air. ¡°Check its stats,¡± I said. Her eyes glazed for a second, then went wide. ¡°Go nuts,¡± I said. A big smile appeared on her face as the length of her whip became covered in a dark sheen as she applied her affinity to it. I had made it back when I was going crazy applying affinity power to weapons, for no other reason than I thought it would be cool to have an electrified whip. Who knew it¡¯d actually come in handy. Tiff swung it again, and this time wisps of menacing Darkness curled away from its tip in swirling eddies as it cracked. ¡°Oh I like this,¡± she said. A roar from the demon brought us back to reality. Its neck was no longer in tatters from my efforts, and even though most of its head had been spread around the room by Annabelle¡¯s insane explosion it had reformed again. Worst of all, its health was back to full. The only saving grace was that it was still only a malformed, partial Demon of Calamity. Its arms pushed against the platform as it struggled once again to right itself. Grace fired arrow after arrow again while Tiff resumed snapping her whip at it. ¡°Tough sucker, ain¡¯t it?¡± Achmed called before charging back into the fray, shouting the name of his attack again as he struck. Only this time he didn¡¯t aim for its jiggling body but smashed the business end of his new mace against the demon¡¯s leg, then leapt away a split second before one of its gigantic fists hammered down on the spot where he¡¯d just been standing. Smart. Without the leg, it¡¯d be hard for it to stay upright. I could have rejoined the attack, but instead I chose to clear the fear debuff from the other frozen Players. This was their quest, they should at least get a chance to fight the Boss. As I worked, I saw out of the corner of my eye the demon scoop up two more cultists and, instead of munching on them, hurl them at Grace and Achmed. The cultists flew through the air like rag dolls. Grace managed to duck to the side in time and the cultist aimed at her smacked into the wall in a red splatter before crumpling to the floor in a messy heap. Achmed was not so lucky and was knocked back when the other one hit him straight on, then he fell to the floor with the limp body on top of him. Poor Achmed. He really was having a bad day. Grace didn¡¯t hesitate to resume firing more arrows, and the Team Spice member I¡¯d just brought out of her stupor wasted no time getting into the action, creating a ball of fire in her hand and launching it at the demon. I quickly went over to Annabelle and found her lying on her back still snickering to herself. She had just a sliver of mana left, so I forced a mana recovery potion into her mouth and made her drink it, then stuffed another into her hand. The battle continued to rage behind me as two more cultists became makeshift missiles, hurtling across the room at the attacking Players. Thankfully, both missed. Okay, who was next? After getting dropped on his head and smacked by a flying cultist, Achmed¡¯s health was dangerously low. I darted over and heaved the NPC corpse off of him before giving him some much-needed healing. Doing this made me remember Anika, the Spice girl who¡¯d fallen early in the fight while battling the cultists at the door. I checked her stats and she was still alive, but just barely. Let¡¯s go commandos, it¡¯s healing time. The purple blasts that whizzed over my head as I scrambled to the injured woman told me Annabelle was back in action. I knew Achmed was also up and at it by the shouts each time he attacked. The whip kept cracking, the bow kept twanging, and several more fireballs sizzled into the floundering fiend adding the foul odor of scorched demon to the vile stink of its freely-flowing blood. A flying cultist zoomed past me and splattered against the wall as I ran, followed by a few more crunches of cultist missiles landing around the room. I heard Tiff groan, she probably got caught by one of them. She kept groaning, though, so at least I knew she was still alive. At this rate the demon would soon run out of ammunition, which was good news for us. After healing Anika, there were just three more frozen Players to help out. By the time I¡¯d canceled their fear debuffs my own mana was nearly out, including my battery reserves. I had to let my shield lapse or else its mana drain might¡¯ve pushed me over the edge. I estimated I had enough for one more blink, so I withdrew my knives and teleported behind the demon again. I mean, it had worked the last time. I was just about to leap onto its back when the demon lurched, all four arms drooping, and a sickly death rattle gurgled from its throat. The combined force of so many Players now attacking it, plus Annabelle, was just too overwhelming, even for it. The vile monster toppled over, twitched a few times, then lay still. We all stood watching it, weapons and powers ready, waiting for it to pull another miraculous recovery and rise up again like a horror movie villain, but it didn¡¯t. The resilient partial Demon of Calamity was dead. It was over. Finally. Chapter One Hundred and Eleven - I do a very stupid thing We hadn¡¯t stopped the full summoning, but at least we¡¯d prevented its completion and managed to slay the partial demon that had manifested. We¡¯d prevented the calamity from hitting the city with no further mortal casualties, and best of all I hadn¡¯t done anything to hinder Teams Legion and Spice from being the ones to do it. I¡¯d call it a win. While the other Players were busy congratulating each other, I went over to Annabelle to thank her for her help. ¡°Whoah, whoah, whoah there,¡± she said, holding her hands out in front of her and backing away. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare touch me with all that gunk on you.¡± She didn¡¯t seem to mind it when I was feeding her mana potions, but she did have a point. I was pretty gross. Demon gore is sticky and putrid. ¡°Here,¡± she said, ¡°hold still. I just happen to know a handy spell for situations like this.¡± She raised her staff and a magic circle appeared over my head. I felt a pleasant tingling as it descended around me, traveling down from head to toe. The blood and residual goop vanished as it passed down my body, along with any other accrued filth, leaving me sparkling fresh and clean. ¡°That is handy,¡± I said. ¡°By the way, we¡¯re going to have a little talk later about the appropriate use of explosion magic.¡± She puffed out her cheeks. ¡°You sound like my stupid sister.¡± Whoops of joy erupted from Achmed, Tiff, and their teammates. I could tell they¡¯d just received their quest completion notification by the load of reward boxes that appeared at their feet. ¡°Yes!¡± Achmed shouted. ¡°We even got bonus rewards for killing the demon!¡± A curious observer applauds your involvement A curious observer wishes to reward the Player with a Random Gold Reward Box A mysterious observer wants to do the same A mysterious observer enjoyed the show System sees no issue with that A curious observer whoops A curious observer cant wait to tell unnamed about what they missed A casual observer had fun too A casual observer wanders off in search of something else to watch System: You have received Random Gold Reward Box X 2 ¡°And a random skill box!¡± Tiff said. ¡°Thank you, observer.¡± Observers must have given them rewards too. The other members of Team Spice also said their thanks. Seeing that, the Legionnaires did too. Oh yeah. Had I ever thanked the observers? Let''s see what¡¯s in my reward boxes first. Leaving Annabelle, who had started going around and collecting the demon''s teeth that had been strewn everywhere by her explosion, ignored the talk of observers and rewards, but I did notice her glance at the reward boxes when they appeared, so she clearly knew they see there. I went over and clapped Achmed on the back. ¡°Congratulations, man. You sure earned this one.¡± ¡°Thanks Daniel, but I¡¯m not sure we could¡¯ve done it without your help. So thank you so much.¡± He pressed his palms together in front of himself and bent at the waist in a bow. Tiff joined us. ¡°Daniel,¡± she said, ¡°a word, please?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Achmed took the hint and left us alone, joining his teammates. Tiff took a deep breath. ¡°Listen, I think I may have been wrong about you. Achmed was right to trust you, you really helped us out. So yeah. Thanks.¡± ¡°Thanks, Tiff, I appreciate that. But you¡¯ve got some strong Players with you and you work well together. I¡¯m glad I was able to help, but I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve done fine without me.¡± ¡°We both know that¡¯s not true.¡± She¡¯d curled the whip I¡¯d given her into a tight coil and held it out. ¡°Here. Thanks for the loan.¡± ¡°You keep it,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll put it to much better use than I could.¡± ¡°Oh I couldn¡¯t possibly,¡± she said, although the longing look in her eyes as she stared at it betrayed how she really felt. ¡°Tiff,¡± I said. ¡°Please take it.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°It¡¯s yours.¡± She dipped her head in a little bow. ¡°Thank you. I hope your reward boxes have something good in them.¡± She looked around, then frowned. ¡±Wait. Where are your rewards?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Wasn¡¯t my quest.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t get anything?¡± ¡°The observers gave me something.¡± Achmed rejoined us. He¡¯d given us space, but clearly had been listening in. ¡°Well that¡¯s not fair,¡± he said. ¡°You should get more than that for all you did.¡± Tiff nodded her agreement. Achmed tried handing me one of his rewards and I shook my head. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine, really.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t feel right either if you didn¡¯t get something more out of this.¡± ¡°But I did get something, something better than a reward box. I made some new friends.¡± Achmed laughed. ¡°So cheesy!¡± Tiff smiled awkwardly. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± I could tell she wasn¡¯t going to cave on it. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re going to insist, I won¡¯t be polite. There is something I¡¯d like to take, if it¡¯s okay with you.¡± ¡°Name it,¡± Achmed said. I pointed at the big tome on the lectern that the head cultist had been using. ¡°Can I have that?¡± Achmed shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with that.¡± ¡°Me neither,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Consider it yours.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Is that all you want?¡± Achmed said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what it is or if it''s worth anything. I mean, can you even use it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m more than happy with just getting the book.¡± I neglected to tell them that in order to make use of my new Thaumaturgy skill I¡¯d need to learn rituals, and that thick grimoire was probably full of them. Who knows what I¡¯d find in there. To me, it was much more valuable than a reward box. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Tiff frowned at me. ¡°As long as you promise not to sell it. I don¡¯t want it falling into the hands of some other freak and have to go through this all over again,¡± she said. ¡°Consider me warned. I promise I¡¯ll keep it safe.¡± ¡°Good enough for me,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I trust you.¡± Then I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Outside the room in the hallway I saw something move. But there was nothing there. I nonchalantly sidled over to the doorway, ears and eyes open, searching for any hint that someone or something was somehow concealed there. Then I heard something. I definitely heard something rustle in the hallway. I left the others and went to the doorway facing and pulled out my knives. ¡°Okay,¡± I said quietly. ¡°I know you¡¯re there. Reveal yourself.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± a woman¡¯s voice said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you knew I was here.¡± I¡¯d half expected it to be Daruka lurking out there, but that wasn¡¯t her voice. The shimmering outline of a person appeared, quickly twinkling away to reveal a woman with pink hair wearing stylish armor. I¡¯d seen her before. Akari, the Wyvern-killing S-ranker NPC. Figuring she posed no threat to us, or rather that she was unlikely to attack (she¡¯d probably be a worse threat than the demon if she did), I sheathed my knives again. She strode toward me and surprised me by extending her hand. ¡°I¡¯m Akari.¡± I raised my hand and she gripped it firmly. ¡°Daniel. It¡¯s a pleasure, I guess.¡° Annabelle came up beside me. ¡°So it is you,¡± she said. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Akari let go of my hand. ¡°I could ask you the same thing, Annabelle.¡± ¡°I happened to be nearby with Daniel when things went down and chose to join him in lending my assistance.¡± Akari¡¯s eyes tracked up to the crumbling ceiling over the demon. ¡°Yeah, I saw your handiwork. Really, Annabelle? An explosion indoors? Haven¡¯t you learned anything?¡± Annabelle pouted and pointed at me. ¡°Don¡¯t blame me, he¡¯s the one who said I should do something big.¡± Akari rolled her eyes. ¡°You just can¡¯t resist, can you?¡± ¡°Hey, gimme some credit. I held back,¡± Annabelle said, puffing out her cheeks again. ¡°A lot.¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± Akari said, then addressed me again. ¡°Mind if I take a closer look at that demon?¡± I stepped aside and gestured into the room. ¡°Be my guest.¡± Akari brushed past Annabelle and me and, with a curt nod toward the other Players, strode over and started climbing the three steps up to the platform. ¡°So you two seem to know each other,¡± I said to Annabelle. ¡°Old friends?¡± ¡°Worse,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Remember I mentioned I had a sister?¡± ¡°Vaguely,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah. This is her. Akari the hero.¡± Now that she mentioned it I could see a family resemblance. Up on the platform, Akari prodded the remains of the demon with the toe of her boot. ¡°Well, nice job dealing with this.¡± ¡°Um, excuse me, but who are you?¡± Tiff said. Akari hopped off the platform in one graceful bound. ¡°Name¡¯s Akari. I help out when there¡¯s bigger trouble around.¡± Tiff¡¯s eyes widened. She¡¯d just evaluated the newcomer and seen her impressive stats. ¡°I was up north dealing with some unruly ogres when I got the emergency signal from the city.¡± She held up a glowing gemstone. It reminded me of Ruka¡¯s message cubes. ¡°I flew back right away and saw the Cathedral. Honestly the first thought that crossed my mind was that a certain someone had used her explosion spell on it.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Don¡¯t be mean.¡± Akari ignored her sister and continued. ¡°Then I saw the suspicious hole drilled in the floor so I came to investigate.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Uh, thanks?¡± Achmed said. Akari laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me, I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°It was touch and go for a bit,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Achmed said, ¡°I was sure we were done for there when it pulled that regeneration trick out of its ass.¡± Above us, the damaged ceiling groaned and some of the cracks spread. ¡°I think that¡¯s our cue,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Okay team, I know we¡¯re all eager to open our rewards, but how about we take them to some place that isn¡¯t about to collapse on top of our heads to do that.¡± ¡°We¡¯re gonna head out too,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Thanks again, Daniel. You too, Annabelle, thanks for all your help. And Akari...¡± Akari laughed. ¡°Yeah, I know. Thanks for nothing, right?¡± ¡°Not how I would¡¯ve phrased it,¡± Achmed said, laughing with her. ¡°You¡¯re very welcome, Achmed,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks for letting us tag along, it was fun.¡± I held out my fist and he bumped it with his own. ¡°Yeah. It was, wasn¡¯t it?¡± he said with a grin. As he and his legionnaires followed Team Spice out, the Players I¡¯d helped out with healing and debuffs thanked me, leaving me alone with the pink and purple-haired sisters. ¡°We¡¯ve met once before,¡± Akari said to me. ¡°You remember,¡± I said. She nodded. ¡°Took me a while, but it came to me eventually.¡± ¡°It was twice, actually.¡± ¡°I only remember the one time,¡± she said. ¡°With the Wyvern. One of your companions healed me.¡± ¡°The other time I was meeting your sister in the arena. You were practicing with some living armor.¡± ¡°So how long have you known I was watching you here?¡± Akari said. ¡°I thought I¡¯d heard something right before we went in, but I didn¡¯t know for sure until right before I called you out.¡± ¡°You must have sharp senses, most people can¡¯t see through my concealment.¡± ¡°Just got lucky,¡± I said. ¡°Somehow, after watching you in here, I doubt that. You¡¯re very...capable.¡± Annabelle wrapped her arm around my shoulders possessively. ¡°I know, isn¡¯t he?¡± she said, beaming as though she was one who¡¯d just been complimented. Akari looked back and forth between us with one eyebrow raised. ¡°What?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°What¡¯s the deal with you two, anyway?¡± Annabelle quickly retracted her arm like I¡¯d just given her an electric shock. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Nothing, is it? So why is he meeting you in the arena? How come you were together when this went down? What were you two doing together?¡± ¡°We¡¯re just, you know, business partners,¡± Annabelle said with uncharacteristic timidity. ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Well now I know for sure who the older sister is. The ceiling creaked again and some bits of rock fell from it as the cracks widened. ¡°We should probably leave now too,¡± Akari said. ¡°Yeah!¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± She seemed glad to be off the topic, and Akari seemed to notice this too. ¡°We¡¯ll finish this conversation later,¡± Akari said. Annabelle sighed. ¡°Fine. But let¡¯s get out of here first.¡± ¡°Let me just grab that book,¡± I said. ¡°Yes,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°No way we¡¯re leaving without that.¡± I got the feeling she was as interested in the spell book as I was. No doubt that was the magical researcher in her talking. We all looked up as more groans from above triggered more falling rocks and saw the cracks widen considerably. ¡°That¡¯s not good,¡± Annabelle said, then lifted her staff. A large magic circle appeared on the ceiling. ¡°This¡¯ll hold it for now, but be quick, huh?¡± As she and Akari backed up to the door I dashed over to the lectern and grabbed the book, then stuffed it into my inventory. On the way back I took one last look at the demon, then stopped. ¡°Can you hold it just a bit longer?¡± I said. Annabelle pursed her lips. ¡°A bit, why?¡± I ignored her and took the biggest, sharpest sword I had out of my inventory and went up onto the platform. I lifted the sword over my head and brought it down hard onto the wreckage of the demon, cutting deep into the swollen mass of flesh. Then I did it again. And again. ¡°I think it¡¯s already dead,¡± Akari said. I ignored her too and kept hacking at it, slicing its body to shreds before I finally found what I was looking for: a huge black mana crystal buried in its chest. I dismissed the sword and bent down to grab the crystal. ¡°Time¡¯s up!¡± Annabelle said. Her eyes rolled up into her head and her sister caught her as she started to fall. The magic circle vanished, and the ceiling began to collapse in earnest. Holding the crystal under my arm like a football I charged toward the doorway as chunks of rocks crashed around me. When I was close enough to the door I leapt forward, barely managing to escape before the entire room came tumbling down, burying the remains of the demon and its foolish followers. If I¡¯d been wearing a fedora, it would have fallen off and I would¡¯ve had to reach out to snatch it back a split second before the crash. You know what I mean. A dust cloud billowed around me obscuring my vision, so I stood up and felt my way along the wall. Once I¡¯d turned the corner into clear air, I saw Akari holding her sister and tipping a potion into her mouth. Akari looked up at me. ¡°That was cutting it close.¡± Then her eyes focused on the big black mana crystal I carried and she whistled. ¡°But looking at that, I would¡¯ve done the same. That¡¯s some crystal.¡± Annabelle¡¯s eyes fluttered open and she groggily found her own balance on her feet. She took one look at me and scowled. ¡°That was a very stupid thing to do, Daniel,¡± she chided, then she too saw the size of the crystal and the scowl was replaced with a look of surprise. ¡°Whoah, that thing¡¯s huge! But still,¡± the scowl was back, ¡°it was very stupid of you. As punishment, I¡¯m not cleaning you off this time.¡± The discovery and removal of the crystal had drenched me in demon blood again, with an added layer of dust sticking to the icky thick ichor. ¡°That¡¯s okay, I can do it myself.¡± A magic circle appeared in the air above me, identical to the one she¡¯d created before. I had copied her sorcery power the moment I saw her use it. Every spell she used with it created a different magic circle. Thanks to that ever-so-useful eidetic memory skill, all I had to do was see a circle once to be able to replicate the spell. The circle lowered around me, cleaning me off as well as cleansing the goo from the crystal. ¡°There. All good.¡± The sisters stared at me with complicated looks on their faces. ¡°Annabelle?¡± Akari said. ¡°Yeah?¡± Annabelle replied. ¡°Who the hell is this guy?¡± Chapter One Hundred and Twelve - I make a hot date While Annabelle gave her sister the quick version of how we got into the business of gladiator fights and gambling together, I decided to open my reward boxes. One appeared in my hand and I tugged on the ribbon, making it erupt in a shower of virtual confetti. Annabelle stopped talking and both sisters glanced over at me before turning back and resuming their conversation. So they could see that, huh? What kind of NPCs were they? System: You received a Rare Power Scroll I took a peek at what power was on the scroll. Powers: Nothing Can Survive In A Vacuum - Gain affinity with Void Not much use to me. I could read it myself and maybe get compensation for the redundancy, but there was no guarantee I¡¯d get anything else, or that it would be better than this one. I¡¯d keep it and give it to someone who could make better use of it. The second box appeared. More confetti. System: You received a Common Skill Scroll Bummer. Probably the most useless thing I could get. Skill: Shopping - Find good deals Well, it wasn¡¯t one I already had, but it also wasn¡¯t one I particularly wanted. I¡¯d save it for someone else, too. If it turned out to be good I could just learn it from them. ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain how he can use sorcery,¡± Akari was saying. ¡°Nobody can do that outside of...¡± ¡°I know,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°I¡¯m as surprised as you are.¡± Akari turned to me. ¡°Well?¡± "Well what?" I said. "How do you know sorcery?" ¡°I¡¯m a fast learner,¡± I said. She snorted. ¡°This isn¡¯t the sort of thing you can just learn. You have to be...well, never mind that. It just shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡± Now I was really curious about this sorcery power. I mean, yeah, it was potentially an incredibly powerful ability, if you were able to learn enough spells. A bit redundant in my case, but powerful nonetheless. But the way they were talking about it, it was special in other ways I didn¡¯t know about and that they didn¡¯t want to reveal. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say,¡± I said. ¡°Oh I think you do, you¡¯re just smart enough not to,¡± Akari said. ¡°I suppose there¡¯s no point asking how you¡¯re also able to see through doors, move so fast, fight so well, teleport, heal, dispel fear effects, pull weapons and other things out of thin air, and I don¡¯t even know what you did to that cultist with the beard or what else I didn¡¯t happen to notice.¡± I shrugged. ¡°A guy¡¯s gotta have his secrets.¡± When the sisters and I made our way back to the room under the hole I¡¯d drilled down from the surface, we found Teams Spice and Legion there. Achmed and Tiff were peering up into the hole while their teammates stood around looking bemused. ¡°This is ridiculous,¡± Tiff said. ¡°One of us must have some way to get back up there.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m stumped,¡± Achmed said. Tiff clenched her fists. ¡°Augh. I can¡¯t believe after all this we¡¯re stuck waiting for someone to come along and rescue us.¡± ¡°I know, it sucks. But it¡¯s either that or dig away all the rubble blocking the door.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Fancy meeting you here,¡± I said. Tiff and Achmed looked back at us, glanced at each other, then they both sighed. ¡°So, um, Daniel,¡± Achmed said, ¡°I hate to ask after everything else you¡¯ve done, but...¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°I''ve got a way.¡± Actually, I had a number of ways to get them up to the surface. The other players parted to make way for me as I went over to join them under the hole. My instinct was to use the one that would arouse the least curiosity about what I was able to do, but I figured that cat was already out of the bag. I looked both team leaders in the eyes. ¡°What happens in the catacombs?¡± ¡°Stays in the catacombs, we know,¡± Tiff said. ¡°What she said,¡± Achmed said. A magic circle appeared on the floor as I cast the spell Annabelle had used to get down from the top of the arena pagoda. Levitation with some horizontal movement. Not quite flying, not even close to it, really, but good enough to lift some people up out of a hole. ¡°One express elevator going up,¡± I said. ¡°Cathedral level: gently-used darkslingers, discount cultist robes, and blessed freedom.¡± Achmed snapped his fingers. ¡°Darn. I was hoping for ladies¡¯ undergarments, but I guess I¡¯ll settle for freedom.¡± Tiff sighed. ¡°Men. And just when I was starting to think you were okay, Achmed.¡± Achmed laughed. ¡°Pobody¡¯s nerfect.¡± Tiff came over besides me, scowling at the magic circle. ¡°Say, Daniel, that looks a lot like Annabelle¡¯s magic.¡± ¡°Yes, it does,¡± I said. ¡°But...¡± Tiff looked over at Annabelle, who was berating her sister for showing off her armor to a couple of Tiff¡¯s teammates. The implication was that she was otherwise occupied, so it couldn¡¯t have been her. ¡°What can I say?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m a fast learner.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± she said, throwing her hands up. ¡°I get it. I won¡¯t pry.¡± The hole I¡¯d bored was wide enough to shuttle three people up at a time. I got a lot more strange looks from the Players as they stepped cautiously onto the circle, but in no time we were all up on the surface again. We emerged into a scene with lots of people scurrying about dousing the last of the fires and shifting rubble in search of survivors. Out in the town square, a crowd still gathered to see what was going on. ¡°Looks like we have to thank you again, Daniel,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I¡¯m just happy I¡¯m able to lend a hand,¡± I said. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Achmed pointed out toward the gazebo in the town square. ¡°We¡¯re going to go wait for our teammates to respawn.¡± Tiff nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll join you.¡± Once we¡¯d all said goodbye for a second time, it was Akari¡¯s turn to go. ¡°I¡¯ve got some ogres waiting to be educated in good neighborly manners,¡± she said. ¡°Will I still see you tomorrow?¡± Annabelle said. Akari nodded. ¡°I haven¡¯t missed a training session yet.¡± Then she turned toward me. ¡°Say, you wouldn¡¯t want to join me, would you? I¡¯d very much like to spar with you and see what you¡¯re really capable of.¡± I glanced at Annabelle. She shrugged. ¡°You don¡¯t need my permission,¡± she said. ¡°But if you¡¯re asking me if you should, my advice is to not miss out on this unprecedented opportunity.¡± ¡°Then yeah,¡± I said to Akari. ¡°I¡¯d like that very much.¡± The sisters exchanged an inscrutable look. ¡°Good, then,¡± Akari said. ¡°It¡¯s a date.¡± And without another word she bent her knees and took off, soaring up and shooting across the sky. ¡°She¡¯s gonna be disappointed when she sees me tomorrow,¡± I said to Annabelle as we craned our necks to watch her go. ¡°Somehow I doubt that,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°You gonna tell me the story between you two?¡± ¡°Nope. You gonna tell me how you know sorcery?¡± ¡°Nope. How about the story behind your curious obsession with explosion magic?¡± ¡°Only if you tell me the story behind all that other stuff you can do.¡± ¡°Guess we¡¯ll both just have to keep wondering about the other for a while,¡± I said. ¡°Looks that way.¡± Once Akari had shrunk to a speck in the sky far to the North, we both looked down again. ¡°Would it be too much if I asked you to show me some more sorcery spells?¡± I said. ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna go take a nice long nap now,¡± Annabelle said, avoiding the question. At least she didn¡¯t say no. I¡¯d revisit the topic another time. Maybe I could use her obvious interest in my newly acquired spell book to arrange some kind of mutually beneficial quid pro quo agreement. She¡¯d probably love to learn Thaumaturgy. But that was definitely for another time. Right now, that nap sounded real good. ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯m gonna go do the same,¡± I said. A loud rumble erupted from my stomach. ¡°Right after I get something to eat.¡± ¡°Mmm, food would be good,¡± she said. ¡°Do you wanna...?¡± She glanced around. ¡°I fancy we¡¯ve already created enough of a stir together for one day. Think I¡¯ll pass this time.¡± I followed her gaze, noticing for the first time that the many NPCs and Players who¡¯d been rubbernecking at the wreckage of the Cathedral were all watching us. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s probably for the best. Say, thanks for coming along today. You were terrific.¡± ¡°Nice to know I¡¯ve still got it,¡± she said. ¡°Thanks for the good time. I¡¯ve got to say, things sure have gotten a lot more interesting since I got involved with you.¡± ¡°Sorry about that.¡± A magic circle appeared under her feet and she started to lift into the air. ¡±Who¡¯s complaining?¡± I watched her float up to the top of the pagoda and climb back in through the window. I took a long last look at the ruined Cathedral around me. The fires were out and crews of NPCs were looking through the rubble for survivors. Food could wait. I sighed and went in to help. With the strength I¡¯d developed training with Sigrid, moving even large chunks of stone by hand wasn¡¯t a problem now that I wasn¡¯t in a rush. Besides, I was responsible for many of the bodies buried under the wreckage, helping with the cleanup was the least I could do. The first thing I did was move some earth to cover up the gaping hole I¡¯d left in the floor, then went to assist with the rescue and recovery operation. An hour or so later, I felt a vibration in my pocket. I was tired and hungry and dirty and functioning mostly on autopilot by that point, but Ruka was coming. I lurched out of the ruined Cathedral and onto the cobblestones of the town square. There was a bit of a weird Dead Sea moment as the crowd of lookie-loos parted to let me through. I did my best to ignore their stares, clenching my teeth and focusing on the singular thought that it would all be over soon and I could be alone again, without anyone gawking at me. I could¡¯ve made it end immediately. I could¡¯ve used Byron¡¯s portal power to open one up and escape right away. I could¡¯ve used the power to fly that I¡¯d just learned from Akari to soar away like she did, but Annabelle was right: I¡¯d made enough of a spectacle of myself already. Let¡¯s just do this like a normal person. I kept my head down as I made my way to the gazebo. It barely registered that Teams Legion and Spice were there, still waiting for teammates to respawn, not knowing yet that they never would. I climbed the steps onto the gazebo, stood in the teleportation circle, and escaped to peace and solitude among the elves. This had been a hell of a day, but it wasn¡¯t quite over yet. More than anything I just wanted to eat a big grilled cheese sandwich and pass out, but I¡¯d always make time for game night with Ruka. I had just enough time to make my stomach stop growling when there was a rapid knocking on my door. That was my first sign something was off. Ruka usually announced her arrival with three soft knocks. I opened the door cautiously, finding my demon friend standing there. She seemed distracted, a bit frantic even. After I stepped out of the way of the open door she didn¡¯t come in right away like she usually did to avoid being seen. This time she stood tense in the doorway and gave me a visual once over. ¡°Something wrong?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to see,¡± she said. ¡°I take it you heard about my adventure today from one of your sources.¡± She nodded, whether in response to my question or because she¡¯d determined there was nothing wrong with me I couldn¡¯t tell you, but the tenseness relaxed and she came in. ¡°Ruka, were you worried about me?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous,¡± she said, her tone light and playful. ¡°We¡¯re on opposite sides, remember?¡± It was her turn to prepare the tea, and instead of waiting at the table I went to the kitchen and leaned against the counter as I watched her work. It almost felt like we were an old married couple. ¡°By the way,¡± she said with feigned nonchalance, ¡°what were you doing in the Cathedral anyway?¡± ¡°I happened to be meeting with someone nearby when things went down.¡± ¡°Ahhh,¡± she said, ¡°that explains it.¡± I became immediately suspicious. I hadn¡¯t wanted to think that the whole deal with the cult had anything to do with her but I couldn¡¯t ignore the possibility. She was behind the Minotaur''s coup in the labyrinth, after all. I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d react if I found out she had been orchestrating this too. If I hadn¡¯t been there, the Calamity Demon could have been a much bigger problem for the whole city. A calamity, even. Then again, Akari had shown up to lend a hand, so maybe the cultists would¡¯ve failed anyway. But still. If Ruka had been behind it then I¡¯d been instrumental in foiling her plan. Would she be upset about that? Would it get her in trouble with the Demon King whose existence she¡¯d alluded to a few times in our many conversations? She didn¡¯t appear to be worried about that, though. When she¡¯d shown up she¡¯d only seemed concerned about my welfare. ¡°Was I not supposed to be there?¡± I said. ¡°I was just thinking about your peculiar habit of getting tangled up in things that don¡¯t involve you.¡± ¡°I think a Calamity Demon rampaging through the city might involve me eventually,¡± I said brusquely. ¡°Sorry if he was a friend of yours.¡± ¡°A friend?¡± She made a sour face. ¡°No. More like that distant relative nobody likes to talk about.¡± I couldn¡¯t ask outright if the whole thing had been her handiwork, she wouldn¡¯t have answered me anyway. No shop talk. This conversation was teetering dangerously close to stepping over the bounds we¡¯d set. That said, I was still intensely curious. If she had conspired to unleash that thing, friends or not, we¡¯d need to have words. I had to know for sure. ¡°I did find something cool,¡± I said. I pulled out the grimoire I¡¯d taken and placed it on the counter beside her, watching her reaction carefully. It wouldn¡¯t count as asking, I was just showing her my spoils from the catacombs. But those cultists got it from somewhere, and I was willing to bet there was a nefarious puppet master who''d given it to them. I hoped her reaction would be enough to tell me if the hidden master was her. She looked over at it, then casually looked back at the macarons she¡¯d been artfully arranging on a plate. Well that told me nothing. Let¡¯s try digging a bit. ¡°Do you happen to know what it is?¡± I said. ¡°Looks to me like some book,¡± she said, like it was a paperback novel I¡¯d picked up at the airport to kill time and not a thick tome bound in what probably used to be somebody¡¯s skin that had recently been used to try to kill a lot of people. I put the book away. ¡°I¡¯m not gonna get anything out of you, am I?¡± She picked up the tray of tea and snacks and faced me. She was smiling, and I could tell by the sparkle in her silver eyes that it was genuine. ¡°Did you want me to look at it? I might be able to tell you what it is,¡± she locked eyes with me and enunciated her next words carefully for emphasis, ¡°but I promise you, Daniel, I have never seen it before in my life.¡± I was now about 90% sure she hadn¡¯t been behind it, but she must¡¯ve been able to sense the 10% doubt still lingering. ¡°I pride myself on knowing things,¡± she said, ¡°but I can¡¯t help you with that. It¡¯s a bit embarrassing, even. As much as I like to tease you with how much I know about what¡¯s going on in your city, this whole thing with the Cathedral caught me by surprise.¡± I had my answer. There was a chance she could¡¯ve been lying, but I would¡¯ve bet the farm she wasn¡¯t. I suddenly realized how tense I¡¯d become so I relaxed my jaw, took a deep breath, and relaxed. ¡°I truly am sorry I can¡¯t be of more help,¡± she said, and I knew she meant it. ¡°No need to apologize,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just some book.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen - I get my butt kicked I lay on my back on the hard-packed dirt floor of the arena and groaned. I¡¯d lost count of how many times I¡¯d been knocked down and had grown used to the metallic tang of my own blood in my mouth. That Akari, she didn¡¯t pull her punches. ¡°Come on,¡± she said, ¡°get up. You¡¯re not done yet.¡± ¡°Not until you show me your horns,¡± I said. Akari frowned. ¡°Horns?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t fool me,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re a demon. Just admit it and show me your horns.¡± She laughed and leaned over, extending her hand. ¡°If you can still make jokes you¡¯re definitely not done yet. Come on.¡± I groaned again and reached out to take her hand. One quick tug and she yanked me back onto my feet. Even though I knew her slender body was deceptively strong, it still surprised me how easily she could manhandle me. I¡¯d been her punching bag for most of the morning and if I hadn¡¯t been healing myself constantly I would have been a mess of broken bones and pulverized tissue. Akari had said she wanted to see what I was capable of but so far all we¡¯d done was spar using nothing but hand-to-hand combat skills. I¡¯d been using omni-do without weapons or powers while she¡¯d been switching between aikido and brawling. I wasn¡¯t sure which I hated more; it was beyond frustrating to have my attacks turned against me by the aikido but the brawling hurt a lot more.
Akari Hero
Gifts: I Know What¡¯s Going On Here I¡¯m A Lot Stronger Than I Look I¡¯m A Lot Tougher Than I Look
Powers: Is Anybody Out There? - Expert Indomitable Spirit - Expert Guard, Turn, Parry, Dodge, Spin, Thrust - Expert Single Sword Splits The Sky - Master The Sky Is Not The Limit - Expert
Skills: Aikido - Master Brawling - Master Exploring - Expert Hunting - Master Meditation - Expert Staff - Expert Swimming - Adept Sword - Master
As she pulled me up to my feet I felt a sharp pain shoot through my chest. I¡¯d become a connoisseur of injuries over the last few hours and I self-diagnosed at least three cracked ribs, plus I was pretty sure my collarbone had also been fractured during that last skirmish. I healed myself, again, and raised my fists, ready for another go. ¡°That¡¯s my boy,¡± the she-devil said with a wicked grin. ¡°How about we take a lunch break?¡± Annabelle shouted. She¡¯d been sitting in the stands watching her sister beat the snot out of me until now, and I silently thanked her for finally stepping in. Akari bounced from foot to foot, jabbing her fists in the air. ¡°One more round,¡± she said. ¡°Just one more.¡± ¡°Nuh uh,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°It¡¯s always just one more with you. Can¡¯t you tell the poor guy needs a rest?¡± Akari lowered her hands and stopped bouncing. She took a slow step toward me, gazing up at me flirtatiously through her eyelashes. She¡¯d been using me as a punching bag so much I¡¯d forgotten just how pretty she was. All I could see was a merciless beast with pink hair. ¡°You don¡¯t need a rest, do you?¡± she purred. ¡°A determined guy like you?¡± Like that was gonna work. She took one more step closer and ran her fingertip down my chest. ¡°You¡¯ve got one more round in you, don¡¯t you, Daniel?¡± ¡°Maybe one more,¡± I caught myself saying before I knew it. A purple magic circle appeared vertically beside us and the next moment Annabelle stepped through it. She put one hand on me and the other on her sister and pushed us apart. ¡°That¡¯s enough of that, Akari,¡± she said. ¡°Party pooper.¡± ¡°My arena, my rules. And as for you,¡± Annabelle said, turning on me, ¡°get a grip.¡± I cleared my throat, glad that whatever feminine bewitchment I¡¯d been befuddled with was gone. ¡°Right.¡± Annabelle raised her hand and a purple circle appeared on the ground, then she waved it and the circle swept around the floor, cleaning up the blood stains as it went. My blood stains. Then she waved her hand again and another circle appeared. A red and white checkered blanket materialized on top of it, along with a large wicker basket. Annabelle sat cross-legged beside the basket. She looked up at us. ¡°Well? Sit,¡± she said. I sat. Akari flopped down on the blanket, limbs splayed, and leaned on her elbow. Annabelle started pulling food out of the basket. If you¡¯d told me yesterday morning I¡¯d be having a picnic on the arena floor with these two I would¡¯ve laughed in your face, but there I was. I couldn¡¯t tell you what I may have learned while getting abused by Akari over the last few hours, but at least I knew how to roll with the punches. ¡°Um, Annabelle?¡± Akari said. ¡°You didn¡¯t happen to make this food did you?¡± Annabelle narrowed her eyes at her sister. ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Oh, no reason,¡± Akari said. ¡°I¡¯m just not sure how hungry I am and I wouldn¡¯t want to offend you if I don¡¯t eat.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Annabelle said with a wry smile. ¡°Well you needn¡¯t worry. I didn¡¯t make any of this.¡± ¡°In that case,¡± Akari said, then grabbed a knife and sliced a huge wedge of meat pie. Ignoring the plates and cutlery Annabelle had set out, she picked it up with her bare hands and chomped into it with open zeal, scattering flakes of pastry and crumbs everywhere. ¡°Not hungry, huh?¡± Annabelle said, watching her sister scarf it down. Akari shrugged and took another huge bite. ¡°So,¡± Annabelle said, twisting a corkscrew into a wine bottle. ¡°Are we having fun?¡± ¡°Hell yeah,¡± Akari said, mouth still full of pie. ¡°You¡¯ve had me training with your conshtructsh for sho long I¡¯d forgotten how much I like faching off againsht a real pershon.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you educating ogres yesterday?¡± I said. She swallowed and thankfully did not take another bite before answering me. ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s not the same. All I ever get to beat up are monsters. You fight one ogre and you''ve fought them all, you know?¡± The cork popped as Annabelle tugged it out of the bottle. ¡°So you¡¯re saying it¡¯s nice to beat up another person for a change?¡± I said. Akari held out an empty glass expectantly. ¡°Exactly.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re enjoying yourself,¡± I said as Annabelle filled the glass with some deep burgundy wine, ¡°but wouldn¡¯t it be more fun if you had an opponent who was on your level?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if I ever find one,¡± Akari said, then raised the glass to her mouth and drained it in a single chug, causing Annabelle to wince. ¡°Ahhhh,¡± Akari said, smacking her lips. ¡°That is the good stuff, you know,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you at least pretend to savor it?¡± ¡°Oooh, the good stuff, huh?¡± Akari said, holding the glass out and waggling it for a refill. ¡°Who are we trying to impress?¡± Annabelle ignored her sister and filled another glass before handing it to me. I accepted it gratefully and took a sip, keenly aware of her eyes watching me. It¡¯s no secret I like beer, but I¡¯m not impartial to wine, either. I¡¯m no expert sommelier by any stretch, I just know what I like. And holy moly, I liked that wine. Annabelle must¡¯ve gleaned as much from my reaction because she smiled and filled a glass for herself. ¡°This is incredible,¡± I said, taking another sip. ¡°At least someone here has a bit of couth,¡± Annabelle said. Akari pushed her empty glass closer to her sister. ¡°Yeah yeah, I¡¯m a barbarian, whatever. Top me up.¡± Annabelle poured some more for her. Akari kept her glass out. ¡°Don¡¯t skimp on me, now. Keep going.¡± Annabelle huffed but tipped the bottle again, emptying the rest of the wine into Akari¡¯s glass. She watched wistfully as the last drops fell out, then sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t get it, Akari,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s the fun in sparring with someone like me?¡± Akari made a production of raising the glass to her mouth and taking a modest drink from it. Her sister nodded approvingly and set to work divvying up the food. ¡°I¡¯ll admit, when it comes to basic skill you¡¯re far behind,¡± Akari said, ¡°but that technique of yours, it¡¯s something else. It¡¯s like every fighting style all mixed up together. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. I think you have great potential.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t have any more potential. I¡¯m as good as I¡¯m ever going to get.¡± ¡°Hey now, don¡¯t get discouraged. Just because I wiped the floor with you now doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t get better.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just it. I can¡¯t.¡± I heaved a breath, making the decision to come clean. ¡°Here¡¯s the thing: I have a certain, uh, talent for learning things quickly. I just have to see someone do something and I can learn it too.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s how you learned my sorcery,¡± Annabelle said. I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m also good at combining things. That¡¯s where my fighting style comes from, it really is a combination of every combat technique I¡¯ve learned.¡± ¡°That¡¯s some talent,¡± Akari said. ¡°Yes, but it comes at a cost. I can learn things, but only up to a point before I plateau. Take my fighting. I¡¯m as good as I¡¯m ever going to get.¡± ¡°I suppose that explains it,¡± Akari said. ¡°Explains what?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Well, I know Daniel has a few abilities beyond straight-up combat, but I wanted to see how strong he was just using skill. That¡¯s why we¡¯ve been at this for hours using basic fighting skills only. The thing is, he¡¯s not improving like he should. There was a time when I thought we were making progress, but after that it was all the same.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That must¡¯ve been when I figured out your patterns and tells. Like how you always feint low when you¡¯re about to kick high.¡± ¡°I do that?¡± Akari looked appalled. I nodded. ¡°Knowing that still wasn¡¯t enough to keep you from making me eat dirt, though.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been showing you advanced moves that you should¡¯ve been able to learn from, but you haven¡¯t. Honestly, I think I¡¯ve learned way more from your bizarre technique than you¡¯ve picked up from me.¡± ¡°Like I said. I¡¯m as good as I¡¯m ever going to get.¡± ¡°Wait a second,¡± Annabelle said with a piece of sushi halfway up to her mouth. ¡°If you know you can¡¯t get any better, and you believe you can¡¯t possibly beat Akari, why have you continued to let her pound on you all morning?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t exactly let her,¡± I said. ¡°I was trying to fight back.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way, but how is that any different?¡± Annabelle said. Ouch. ¡°I¡¯m curious,¡± Akari said. ¡°Have you ever lost a real fight? You know, not counting sparring like this.¡± I thought back on my time on Crucible. I did get beaten nearly to death by Kiki¡¯s crew that first night, but I can¡¯t count that because it was before I had even learned a single combat ability. And I did pass out a few times during fights from mana drain, but I won¡¯t count that as a loss, either. After that... ¡°Once.¡± ¡°Really? When was that? ¡°Not that long ago, actually. ¡°What were you fighting?¡± ¡°Do you know the Silver Sword?¡± The looks that came across both sisters¡¯ faces was enough to tell me that they did indeed know them, and liked them about as much as I did. ¡°I see,¡± Akari said, then confirmed I was right. ¡°Those nimrods. Let me guess: Flint?¡± ¡°How¡¯d you know that?¡± She looked at me like I¡¯d just insulted her, then her eyes narrowed and a grin formed on the edges of her mouth. ¡°How would you like to kick his ass next time?¡± ¡°That would be wonderful,¡± I said, ¡°but he literally took my head off last time.¡± ¡°So what?¡± Annabelle said, handing me a plate loaded with food. ¡°What do you mean, so what? I can¡¯t get any better, I¡¯ll never reach his level.¡± ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve progressed as far as you can with raw technique, but that¡¯s clearly not where your true strength lies,¡± Akari said as she accepted a similarly loaded plate from her sister. ¡°Your adaptability is your strength.¡± ¡°Versatility for the win,¡± I said. ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve figured that much out on my own, but I still don¡¯t see how that could help me match someone of your caliber.¡± Akari appeared to think as she munched on something that looked like a blue carrot. ¡°Would you believe me if I told you that you should have won that fight against Flint?¡± ¡°No. I would not.¡± ¡°What did you use to fight him?¡± ¡°He¡¯d stolen my knives so I just fought hand¨Cto-hand like I have been with you, with a few buffs. He used one of my knives.¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± She barked a laugh, at least I think it was a laugh. ¡°Oh man. Did he use the thing where you have to do what he says?¡± ¡°Yeah, so?¡± ¡°I see now. In that case you should have easily won.¡± It was my turn to laugh. ¡°How much wine have you had?¡± ¡°Not nearly enough," Akari said, glancing over at Annabelle no doubt hoping she would pull another bottle of wine from the basket. "Do you remember yesterday? When you took on ten of those cultists by yourself and finished them off in seconds?¡± ¡°Yeah, but those guys were weak.¡± Akari shrugged. ¡°Your comrades didn¡¯t seem to think so. Six of them struggled against the same number of enemies, and their skill level was about the same as yours. Plus they had this one¡¯s help, too,¡± Akari said, jerking her head toward her sister. ¡°Hey,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°you know how much I was holding back.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah,¡± Akari said, waving her hand dismissively. ¡°It¡¯s still not the same,¡± I said. ¡°Look, Daniel. Do you really think I would¡¯ve invited you here to train with me if all I wanted to do was pummel a weaker foe?¡± ¡°I have been wondering about that.¡± ¡°Why do you think you¡¯re here?¡± Akari said. Should I have told her I thought I was there because I had somehow triggered another unique event flag and got myself into the weirdest side-story involving the two most abnormal NPCs I¡¯ve encountered. To what end I had yet to figure out. ¡°Man you should see your face,¡± Akari said, pointing at me and covering her mouth with the other hand to stifle a laugh. ¡°You don¡¯t have to think so hard. Just say I dunno, why did you invite me?¡± ¡°I dunno, why did you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m very glad you asked, and let my answer begin with a question: how did you beat those cultists so quickly and so easily?¡± ¡°I used superspeed.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°And I used a teleportation power to blink around.¡± ¡°And what does that tell you?¡± ¡°That I cheated.¡± Akari scoffed at me. ¡°In battle there¡¯s no such thing as cheating, there¡¯s only using everything you¡¯ve got to win. Flint¡¯s a tool, but at least he knows that much. Call it the secret to his success.¡± ¡°Daniel,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°along those same lines, why do you think I became so interested in you after that night here?¡± ¡°The one I don¡¯t remember?¡± She laughed. ¡°That¡¯s the one. Don¡¯t bother trying to answer, you¡¯ll probably just say something stupid and self-deprecating.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°She¡¯s got a point,¡± Akari said through a mouthful of cured meat. "You do sell yourself short. Like, a lot." ¡°Oh! That reminds me.¡± Annabelle dug into her pocket and pulled out the medallion she¡¯d given me in her office right before the Cathedral went kablooie. ¡°You forgot this yesterday.¡± Akari looked shocked to see her hand it to me. ¡°Hang on, she gave you that?¡± ¡°Yeah¡± I said. ¡°Why, what is it?¡± Annabelle shot her sister a warning look. ¡°You¡¯ll know when you¡¯re ready to know,¡± Akari said, and Annabelle backed down. I tucked it away in my inventory. ¡°Fine, be like that. You sound like System." That made them both chuckle. "Anyway," I continued, "you were about to say what was so interesting about me.¡± Annabelle nodded. ¡°Right. I may not look it, but I¡¯ve been in a lot of fights. Not as many as Akari, sure, but only because I retired from that life. We used to be on a sort of team together.¡± ¡°We kicked ass,¡± Akari said. Annabelle nodded. ¡°Yes we did.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you fight together anymore?¡± The sisters exchanged a look. ¡°I stopped,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°for reasons we won¡¯t go into, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that I¡¯ve seen a lot of people fight and I¡¯ve never seen anyone fight like you.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Akari said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen someone behave in a fight the way you did yesterday. And it wasn¡¯t just your fighting, you did all those other things to support your team as well. You buffed them, healed them, armed them. You figured out how to win and took charge. You got my attention, which doesn¡¯t really happen. Ever.¡± Annabelle nodded in agreement. "It''s true, she never pays attention to other people." ¡°And that¡¯s why I¡¯m here?¡± I said. Annabelle nodded. ¡°Do you really think I needed to call you here that day to give you the gold you won? That was just an excuse. The way you faced those six guys all by yourself, acting like you didn¡¯t care...no, wait. Like you didn¡¯t take it seriously, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°In the state I was in, I probably didn¡¯t do either.¡± ¡°Yeah, but the fact that you were totally blotto makes it all the more noteworthy. You didn¡¯t just win, you shut them down. As soon as it started it was over. Boom. No handshake, no banter, no feeling each other out. It started, and you ended it. No hesitation. Utterly ruthless. Like it was all just a game to you and not a fight to the death against several opponents.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯d like to hear this story,¡± Akari said. Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen - I get schooled ¡°Ok,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°you¡¯re gonna like this. It starts with a duel.¡± ¡°I like it already,¡± Akari said sitting up and crossing her legs, ready for story time. Annabelle went on to describe the events of that night when I showed up at her arena and fought six guys by myself. Her facts were similar to Andy¡¯s retelling, but she focused more on the abilities I used and the way I used them. She told about how I used superspeed to close the distance with the first guy, then used martial arts to finish it before he knew what was happening. ¡°Civil, but effective,¡± Akari said. She told about how the second guy found himself tied up in ice ropes before he could even finish forming his fireball. ¡°Opposite element, nice.¡± Akari said, nodding approvingly. She described how I made him submit by flicking his nose, and how he tried to backstab me after he tapped out and I set him free, then how I encased him in ice again. ¡°Ha!¡± Akari barked. That was it. One syllable. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was a laugh or what, but Annabelle seemed pleased with the reaction so I took it as a win. Then she told her sister about how I surrounded his head with Void until he went unconscious after he tried to backstab me. ¡°Considerably less civil, no less effective,¡± Akari said with a shudder, then frowned and turned to me. ¡°Wait, back up. You used Void around his head? I¡¯ve been in the Void and I can only imagine what it must¡¯ve been like for that poor guy. That¡¯s borderline cruelty. But that aside: you can manipulate both Ice and Void?¡± Annabelle¡¯s eyes went wide and she grinned. ¡°I know! At the same time!" Akari snapped her fingers. "That''s what he did to the head cultist yesterday." "Exactly. But get this, I also saw him use Air, Water, Fire, and Earth magic yesterday, too,¡± Annabelle said. Akari turned on me. ¡°Seriously, who are you?¡± I shrugged and bit off a chunk of dried sausage. Next Annabelle told about how I took the last four on at the same time. ¡°The match starts and the next thing: splat.¡± ¡°Splat?¡± Akari said. ¡°What¡¯d he do?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not gonna believe it,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Just tell me.¡± ¡°One moment they''re there ready to attack, then splat. Three of them just kind of fall apart into chunks of bloody meat on the ground. No warning, just...splat. The last guy just gives up right then and there." "I should think so," Akari said. "So how''d he do it?" "Razor floss!¡± Annabelle said like she¡¯d just announced the meaning of life. ¡°No!" Akari said, then tossed a half-eaten blue carrot at me. "How do you have a razor floss ability?¡± ¡°Um, well, I kinda created it?¡± The sisters shared a look. ¡°You know who he reminds me of?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°He sounds like us,¡± Akari said. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought!¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Like if someone took how you fight...¡± ¡°And combined it with how you fight,¡± Akari said without missing a beat. ¡°You come out with...¡± Anabelle silently gestured at me with both hands like I was a prize on a gameshow. ¡°That¡¯s him,¡± Akari confirmed. ¡°Wait a second,¡± I said. ¡°I kind of get how I¡¯m a bit like Akari when I fight.¡± ¡°Elegant but ruthless?¡± Akari said, to which her sister blew a raspberry. ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± I said, ¡°but how is the way I fight at all like how Annabelle does things?¡± ¡°You mean how, apart from that explosion lunacy, all she did yesterday was shoot energy blasts?¡± Akari said. ¡°That was just a show, my friend. If you think that¡¯s all she can do, you do not understand her sorcery.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°The point is,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°you piqued my interest too that night. I wanted to meet you and see what you were like.¡± They both thought I was something special and wanted to know more. Oh man. I lowered my head. ¡°I see. Look, I¡¯m sorry I disap¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare say what I think you¡¯re about to say,¡± Annabelle snapped. ¡°By the ancestors, how thick-headed can a person be?¡± Akari said, this time lobbing a whole carrot at me. ¡°Don¡¯t you get it yet?¡± I looked up at the two sisters. They reminded me of Sigrid and Jane, always on my case about stuff. ¡°Think about it,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°And don¡¯t say another word until you¡¯ve figured it out.¡± We sat together on the picnic blanket and ate in silence for a while. I didn¡¯t really have to think about it. Deep down I already knew what they were saying, I just had a really hard time accepting it. Based on the night in the arena and the kerfuffle at the Cathedral, it was hard to deny that at that point in time I was stronger than any other Player, even the ones with Expert mastery in things. I probably even could have made a respectable showing against an entire team. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The problem was how long that would be true. It may have been the case at that moment, but what would I do when they developed more. What would I do when they got as good as Flint? Or gained new abilities to attack or defend better? Or got magic items that did the same? Then my feeble Adept mastery wouldn¡¯t be a match for them anymore. Akari had just spent the last few hours making that abundantly clear. The sisters watched me with keen interest the whole time I pondered my dilemma, and it wasn¡¯t until I breathed a very deep sigh that Akari spoke up. ¡°Right now you¡¯re thinking about how I mopped the floor with you this morning, right?¡± ¡°Lucky guess,¡± I said. ¡°No luck required, it was all over your face. Okay, listen up and listen well because this is important: what did your fight with Flint and your sparring with me have in common?¡± "You''re both overwhelmingly better than me?" "Flint may be more skilled but he''s not better than you," Akari said. "Try again." They were both NPCs, but she wouldn¡¯t mean that. Was it that they both took an inordinate amount of pleasure from crushing me? Probably not. They both...wait. Maybe it¡¯s not something to do with them, but with me. That¡¯s it. In both cases, all I used was omni-do. ¡°Akari?¡± I said. ¡°Hmmm?¡± ¡°After lunch, can we keep sparring?¡± ¡°Absolutely.¡± ¡°But this time, can I use other abilities besides my hand-to-hand fighting technique?¡± She grinned at me and so did Annabelle. ¡°Look at you, you got it. Took you a while, but you got it eventually.¡± ¡°So can I?¡± ¡°Abso-bloody-lutely. But that means I get to as well.¡± ¡°I¡¯m good with that,¡± I said. ¡°Daniel,¡± Annabelle said, standing up as she tied her purple hair back into a ponytail and, I kid you not, put on a pair of librarian glasses. You know the ones I mean. Then she reached out her hand and said, ¡°Do you trust me?¡± It took zero-point-zero seconds to consider my answer. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good. Because before you have your little fun with Akari again you need to tell me exactly what you are capable of.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°But, um, it might take a while.¡± ¡°Oh really? Someone¡¯s cocky all of a sudden,¡± Akari said. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s see what you can do.¡± And that¡¯s how I came to spend the rest of the day and most of the night demonstrating to the sisters everything I could do. I started at the top of my Status and worked my way through, beginning with my affinities. It took some time to cover all twelve of them because they wanted me to show them all the different ways I¡¯d been using them, and each one I demonstrated seemed to make the pair get more and more excited. Then when I showed them what happened when I combined multiple affinities together they kind of flipped out, especially Annabelle. Explaining my gifts went a lot faster because it wasn¡¯t really possible to demonstrate most of those, I could only explain them. Murder Hobo was the trickiest to describe because it involved a bit of meta-gaming, so I just said I was very lucky with the treasure I found. ¡°Hey Anna?¡± Akari said, ¡°you got any more wine in that basket?¡± ¡°I wish,¡± her sister said. ¡°Oh. Here,¡± I said, making a couple of bottles appear in my hands. Wordlessly, Akari took one, Annabelle took the other. Akari didn''t even bother with a glass. Then I got to the powers. This took a lot of time, for obvious reasons, and that was just going through the powers I had in my Status. I¡¯d only gone through a handful when Akari stopped me. ¡°I¡¯m never going to remember all this,¡± she said. A pencil and paper appeared in my hand and I held them out for her. Akari flinched back like it was a poisonous snake. ¡°Whoah, wrong sister, dude.¡± Annabelle sighed and took the writing tools. With her glasses perched on the end of her nose she scribbled down what we¡¯d covered so far, then as I continued going through my powers she kept peering up over them adorably as I demonstrated something then looking down to feverishly jot notes. Every so often I had to stop and eat to replenish my mana, and eventually Annabelle got fed up with the interruptions and dashed away for a couple of minutes, coming back laden with a crate full of mana potions. ¡°I hate to ask, Annabelle said, ¡°but will this be enough?¡± ¡°More than,¡± I said, hoping I was right. We still hadn¡¯t finished the powers in my Status, who knew how long it would take to cover the ones I could copy? All Can Be Revealed was another tricky meta-gaming thing to explain. I just said I had the ability to see what other people could do, and demonstrated it by describing all of the sisters¡¯ abilities from their Statuses. They got a bit worried when I did that, but apparently there were some things about them I couldn¡¯t see and they seemed relieved by that. Which only made me want to know what it was that I couldn¡¯t see that much more, of course. The real kicker came with Synthesize. I explained how I had made the razor floss effect by combining other abilities, and how with that came the realization that even if I wasn¡¯t able to create a certain effect with the abilities I currently had or had access to, it was very likely that I¡¯d be able to find a way to synthesize it. Annabelle wanted me to demonstrate taking a copied power and synthesizing a new permanent one, so I synthesized a power I called An¨¢l Nathrach, my own version of her sorcery combined with the enhancement power from her staff. I thought she was going to cry. Then when I explained that I was able to use my customized version of Artifice to apply any of these powers onto an item, I thought Annabelle was going to totally lose it. She flipped through her notes. ¡°Could you put the Versatility For The Win power onto an item?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve tried, but it¡¯s always failed.¡± ¡°Was it a lack of mana?¡± She could Artifice so she knew that the more potent the enchantment effect, the more mana it required to instill it. ¡°I think it¡¯s more that I lack the expertise to do it, and I¡¯ve plateaued with how good I can get so it¡¯s unlikely I¡¯ll ever be able to. Not unless I can somehow lift the restriction from Good At Everything. And even if I was good enough, it still might take too much mana, or require too many restrictions placed upon it to make it feasible.¡± ¡°Yes, well, we can cross those bridges when we come to them,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Sorry to say those bridges have been blown up. I can¡¯t ever get good enough to cross them.¡± Annabelle glanced at her sister and Akari glanced back. ¡°Let¡¯s move on,¡± Akari said. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not done with Synthesize yet,¡± I said. ¡°I still haven¡¯t shown you how it lets me apply the different elements to other powers to create different effects.¡± I started to show them various examples, like how I could create binding ropes made of any affinity with All Tied Up, or summon different kinds of elemental creatures with Circus Master. Annabelle kept saying, ¡°I don¡¯t believe this,¡± over and over until she eventually blurted out, ¡°Stop. That¡¯s enough. I get the idea.¡± Once we were done with the powers I had, it was on to the ones I didn¡¯t but could copy at any time. After demonstrating them for a while Akari stopped me again. ¡°How long is this gonna take?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know. I do have a perfect memory, but at this exact moment I¡¯m feeling a bit overwhelmed and I honestly can¡¯t think of all the powers I¡¯ve got access to. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d probably be able to think of them if I needed them, though.¡± ¡°You think you¡¯re overwhelmed,¡± Akari huffed. ¡°Sheesh.¡± ¡°Even if you think you can remember them when necessary, can you think of them quickly enough to be useful in a pinch?¡± Annabelle said. I shrugged. ¡°Maybe? I don¡¯t know yet. Although I have been in situations where I have too many options and get stuck on choosing the right one.¡± ¡°I used to have that problem myself with sorcery, but I can only imagine the choice paralysis you can suffer.¡± ¡°Used to? How¡¯d you get past it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simpler than you think: experimentation and experience.¡± ¡°I just got a fun idea and I want to try it before I forget it,¡± Akari said, ¡°but we need to do your skills first. This won¡¯t take too long, will it?¡± ¡°Not if I don¡¯t have to demonstrate them, which I don¡¯t think is necessary.¡± ¡°Allons-y,¡± Akari said. Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen - Runes and formations Annabelle scribbled it all down as I rattled off the litany of skills I¡¯d picked up, then stopped suddenly when I mentioned Thaumaturgy. Her head slowly rose up and I could see pure, burning obsession behind the eyes that bore into me over those adorable librarian glasses when she asked, no, demanded that I teach it to her. Akari wanted to know how quickly I could learn a skill. Annabelle had a couple I hadn¡¯t picked up yet, so I asked her to demonstrate Magical Research to me. She took us into an underground area beneath the pagoda I never even knew existed, and into a large chamber sealed behind a thick, metal door sealed with several sturdy locking mechanisms. I asked what was so valuable in there that merited so much security, and Akari explained that it wasn¡¯t meant to stop people from coming in. ¡°You saw her explosion. That was a tiny fraction of what she can do when she goes all out. Now imagine what would happen if something she was tinkering with accidentally went off with that kind of power.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not security, it¡¯s containment,¡± I said. ¡°So she doesn¡¯t blow up the entire arena and everything around it.¡± "It''s bound to happen eventually," Akari said, nodding. ¡°Can you please stop talking about me like I¡¯m not here?¡± Annabelle said. Looking around the interior of the sealed chamber, I recognized her Artifice forge amid the very organized mess of books and apparati that would¡¯ve been perfectly at home in any mad scientist¡¯s lab. Annabelle''s long purple ponytail bounced as she perched herself on a stool in front of a long table covered in diagrams of magic circles. She showed me a piece of paper with a partially-completed magic circle drawn on it, then pushed her glasses up on her nose and started explaining how the exact symbols and patterns in a magic circle ¡ª runes she called them ¡ª contained the recipe, as it were, for the spell or effect it created. Her Magical Research skill was how she came up with new spells by figuring out the right combination of runes and how to incorporate them into a new magic circle to achieve the desired effect. She called the circles formations. System: You know Magical Research ¡°Okay, I got it,¡± I said, then took a blank piece of paper and sketched out the circle for the levitation spell that she¡¯d used to float down from the top of the pagoda, the same one I¡¯d recreated to lift everyone out of the catacombs. I then described the various runes in it and how they worked together to create the effect. ¡°Hold on,¡± Akari said. ¡°You¡¯re saying you didn¡¯t understand this when we came down here.¡± ¡°I¡¯d never even heard of runes and formations here before this.¡± ¡°But now you know it.¡± ¡°Just the basics.¡± ¡°Anna, how long did it take you to learn the basics?¡± Annabelle had been staring silently at the circle I¡¯d drawn. Akari snapped her fingers in front of her sister¡¯s face. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Months,¡± she said. ¡°It took me months to get to this point and I was considered a genius.¡± Akari whistled between her teeth. ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding, you really do learn fast.¡± ¡°Honestly, it¡¯s not natural talent, it¡¯s all thanks to the ability I was given. And Magical Theory is a very complicated skill so it took me a bit longer than usual. Usually I learn things a lot faster, depending on what they are. Without Annabelle''s explanation it would¡¯ve taken longer. Oddly enough, the skill that took me the longest to learn was Tea Ceremony.¡± ¡°What about my sorcery,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°How long did it take to learn that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s different. Skills I learn after watching someone do them a while using Good At Everything, but your sorcery is classified as a power. Thanks to Versatility For The Win I could copy it the moment I saw you make that first magic circle. Right now, I only know a few spells, just the ones I¡¯ve seen you perform.¡± A purple magic circle formation appeared in the air nearby. ¡°Can you tell me what spell this is?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen it before, but some of the runes in it are similar to the energy blast formations you were using yesterday. If I had to guess, it might be another spell like that.¡± A whole lot of tiny purple dart-like energy slivers shot from the circle and hit the wall. I went over to the formation and pointed at a repeating pattern of runes around its outer edge. ¡°Are these the ones that create multiple missiles?¡± ¡°How did you figure that out?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Fast learner,¡± I said. Then I created an identical magic circle and sent my own flurry of darts into the wall. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Then I had another thought. ¡°Annabelle, can you show me the runes that relate to the different elements?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She took a fresh sheet of paper and drew each a rune for each affinity. ¡°Now, these are just the basic runes. There are more advanced ones that modify¡ª¡± ¡°Basic¡¯s good enough¡± I said, cutting her off in my excitement to test out my idea. I recast the dart swarm spell, only this time I incorporated the rune for Fire into its formation. Sure enough, the darts it produced were now flaming. It lacked the precision of the spell Annabelle cast, though. Many of the darts were small and feeble, and instead of flying straight as a cluster they shot off in all directions. One of them landed on the table right in front of Akari and set fire to a stack of papers. ¡°Watch it!¡± she said, patting the flames out before they spread. ¡°Now you see why Annabelle needs this containment room. Experimenting with rune formations like that can have unexpected results until you get the fine tuning down.¡± Annabelle got off her stool and started shuffling toward the door. ¡°I think I need to go lie down for a bit. I¡¯ve got some stuff to process.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Akari said, watching me warily. She could probably tell by looking at me that I was considering trying it again with a different affinity. ¡°A break might be a good idea right about now.¡± ¡°Do you mind if I stay here and study runes a bit?¡± I could¡¯ve used a rest too, but who knew if I¡¯d ever have an opportunity like this again. ¡°Knock yourself out,¡± Annabelle said. When we reconvened up on the arena floor a few hours later, the sisters seemed to be in better spirits. They must have finished processing. I''d leveled up both Magical Theory and my new sorcery power while learning a bunch of new runes and formations so I was also feeling pretty chipper myself. ¡°Daniel,¡± Annabelle said before we even had a chance to settle in, ¡°how many things can you do at the same time?¡± ¡°You mean how many powers can I have going at once? I don¡¯t know. I think I¡¯ve had maybe four or five up at the same time before? The limiting factor is my mana. Running multiple concurrent abilities really zorches through it fast.¡± ¡°Five or six?¡± Akari said, her eyes taking on a look that gave me the shivers. I didn¡¯t know why it made me feel like that, but I also had the feeling I¡¯d find out soon enough. ¡°What about elemental effects?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°I haven''t done more than three at a time through Affinity Control, but I haven¡¯t really tested my limits.¡± ¡°This is a problem,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°On what world?¡± Akari said, flabbergasted. ¡°How is being able to juggle that many abilities at once a problem?¡± ¡°His insane versatility makes things a lot more complicated. I don¡¯t know where to begin, there¡¯s too much he can do.¡± ¡°But you must have experience with this kind of thing,¡± I said. ¡°With your sorcery you must know lots of spells, how many can you have running at the same time?¡± ¡°Most sorcerers can only maintain one formation at a time, maybe two. I¡¯m able to do two no problem, sometimes three if none of them are too complicated, so there are only so many combinations I can pull off.¡± ¡°With him, the combos are practically limitless,¡± Akari said. ¡°I get it. So where do we start?¡± ¡°Well, I actually had an idea during our break and I think it will solve your problem,¡± I said. ¡°How about coming up with possible problems or scenarios and figuring out what needs to be done to solve them, then finding the right combination of abilities to accomplish that?¡± ¡°That was actually the fun idea I had before,¡± Akari said, giving her forehead a smack. ¡°Told you I¡¯d forget it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°I was stuck thinking about what you can do instead of figuring out what you need to do. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡± Akari clapped her hands together. ¡°Right on, then. Let¡¯s get this party started.¡± They wasted no time coming up with various scenarios which the arena would then create out of nowhere. I learned that there were complicated formations enchanted onto objects buried under the floor that could not only replicate monsters and other opponents, but also reproduce realistic physical environments as well. Which explained why I was unable to copy the arena¡¯s power to reproduce opponents: it wasn¡¯t technically a power, it was a formation. Now that I knew sorcery, I''d be able to do it. I resolved then and there to absolutely learn those formations someday and make my own holodeck in the labyrinth. It¡¯d be perfect for my own practice as well as training the monsters in my dungeons in better ways to deal with pesky teams of Players. Not to mention its sundry recreational uses. As they came up with various challenges and the arena reproduced them, it was my job to come up with a fitting combination of abilities to tackle them. Even though I had the distinct impression I was being tested, it was soooo much fun. Annabelle¡¯s challenges were kind of random and situational, like how I¡¯d win an absurd race I didn¡¯t earn the right to compete in to get a golden cup out of a ridiculous hedge maze that made no sense, while Akari¡¯s mostly centered on fighting, like how I¡¯d handle an expert archer who whose main attack was to shoot their bow quickly and accurately while constantly moving in unpredictable patterns. I thought I had done a good job of covering the bases with my abilities, and most of the time ¡ª or at least a lot of the time ¡ª I could pull off the effects needed to solve the problems the sisters dreamed up, or close enough. But there were many times when they stumped me, or it took me so long to cobble together the right abilities that I¡¯d already be dead, or worse. Too many times. Soon, my supposedly well-rounded set of abilities was riddled with holes still to plug. After a while, they started getting comfortable with the set of abilities I was working with and where my limits were, and we all began brainstorming ways I could achieve the goals. Working together we could often come up with solutions even to the ones I couldn¡¯t solve by myself. Then it became a game to see whose solution was most efficient, time-wise and mana-wise. If there was a problem we couldn¡¯t collectively solve with existing abilities, it went onto a list of powers to synthesize or skills to seek out. And that¡¯s how I found myself under the tutelage of a pair of S-Rankers, because I was quick to learn that Annabelle had definitely been holding back in the Cathedral. If she was merely Expert in her sorcery power then I¡¯d eat my shorts. Between the abilities they¡¯d implied were missing to the totally out of whack mastery levels, it was clear to me that their Statuses were big fat lies. I already knew that the sisters were special, but it made me wonder if maybe there were lots of NPCs out there with false Statuses I¡¯d have no way of knowing about. Regardless, they somehow had a way of hiding their true abilities from All Can Be Revealed. I couldn¡¯t get too irked about it, though, because after all, so did I. Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen - Would you like some dere to go with your tsun? For the next while, training with the sisters became part of my daily routine. I¡¯d more or less made the elf village my primary home, and it became a given that I¡¯d wake up to Sigrid climbing into bed beside me before we began our daily workout. After that, I took care of any administrative issues with the dungeons, although with Alice and the doppels looking after the labyrinth and Petal and the Magikist doing the same for the elves, there wasn¡¯t much I needed to do. Then I¡¯d hit the arena. Sometimes I¡¯d work with Annabelle, learning more about Magical Theory, sorcery, or artificing. We also sometimes worked on synthesizing new powers that could solve the problems that I wasn¡¯t able to with my existing set of abilities, or create powers that produced effects that were often useful but required too many abilities combined to achieve. We mostly worked on runes and formations, and she helped me improve my artificing ability using tricks and techniques that were available to me even with only my piddling Adept level mastery. Other times I sparred with Akari, either against her directly or some arrangement of opponents reproduced by the arena. She had me battling against a whole host of creatures I¡¯d never even seen before. Many times I wished I could copy some of their powers, but they were only reproductions created by a formation so all I could do was wish. But most of the time all three of us worked together, dreaming up more potential scenarios and devising new ways to solve them through clever uses of my abilities, and practicing, practicing, practicing. Experimentation and experience. Working with them, I came to an important realization. However much progress I had made on my own, collaboration was better. The three of us coming up with ideas and riffing on them together proved far more fruitful and confirmed that going solo was the wrong approach. Working together was the key to everything. A few more gears clicked into place and I became more confident that the plan I was putting together would be game-changing. Literally. Once training with the sisters was over it was my daily free time, which I filled in various ways. Before this I would¡¯ve retreated by myself into one of my dungeons to work on some new power or item, or spar against my monsters. Alone. But I had developed a new outlook on things so I made it a point to spend more time with the people who were important to me. While I was working with Annabelle and Akari, Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table were also busy planning and training in preparation for their upcoming dungeon raid, and they were always keen to blow off some steam at the end of the day in one of the city¡¯s many drinking establishments. On those occasions when I joined them I almost always disguised myself as someone else. I had solid data to support that the vast majority of PvP fights began in bars and the last thing I wanted was for some puffed up Player to challenge me to a duel. On the whole I avoided doing too much in groups, preferring to socialize with just one or two others at a time doing things like fiddling with Artifice with Byron and Nina, concocting potions and drinks with Morgan, hunting goblins with Wayne and Bruce, helping Chika and Shashu level up their newly acquired toron-do skill, doing military drills with Petal and the elves, or playing hide and seek around town with Kenji. My regular game nights with Ruka continued as well, and I was often called upon to fulfill my role as bookie for PvP fights in the arena, collecting more data along with a significant stockpile of gold. One time when I went to the dojo to collect Sam for a jam session I found Morgan and Arthur crouched in the zen garden. I went over to see what they were doing, and when they heard me coming Arthur¡¯s head popped up like a nervous meerkat. He took one look at us and I heard him say ¡°it¡¯s just Daniel¡± before ducking back down. When I got close I saw Morgan was moving rocks around and scribbling circles and arrows in the sand with the tip of her dagger. She was planning out new team strategies like a football coach drawing up their team¡¯s playbook. No wonder they had Arthur on lookout duty. ¡°Better hope Shannon or Sifu don¡¯t catch you desecrating the zen garden like that,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll rake it out when we¡¯re done,¡± she said. ¡°We always do.¡± And yes, I also spent time with Jane, ostensibly to help her figure out how to incapacitate opponents rather than kill them, but often just goofing around. When she got comfortable enough to drop some of the masks she hid herself behind, she really was a fun and interesting person to be with. After one such session, Jane invited me out for a drink. ¡°As a gesture of gratitude,¡± she¡¯d said. I¡¯d suggested a tavern I¡¯d heard about and we agreed to meet there after cleaning up. I must have misread the situation, though, because I showed up at the appointed time in my usual boring clothes. I grabbed a table and a drink while I waited for Jane to arrive. And waited. And waited. I was starting to wonder if I was being stood up when she glided into the tavern looking a heck of a lot more cleaned up than I was. She looked incredible in a snug, shoulderless dress that ended just above her knees, showing just a few inches of bare leg before the top of her knee-high boots. Her lush red hair shimmered in a single, thick side-braid that hung over one shoulder. Around her neck she wore a thin black ribbon as a choker. A lot of eyes turned her way when she entered, then continued to follow her as she strode over to join me at my table. It wasn¡¯t just the way she looked. There was something about Jane that flustered me in a way I only then realized I hadn¡¯t felt for some time, and I had no idea how to behave. It was like all the newfound confidence I¡¯d nurtured with Annabelle and Akari evaporated around Jane. I actually found myself hopping up out of my seat and moving to the other side of the table to pull out the chair for her. I mean, what the what? ¡°Who knew you were such a smooth operator,¡± she said as she sat down. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have said gentleman instead?¡± I said, going back to my own seat. She just laughed. A server appeared to take her order. ¡°You look nice,¡± I said after they¡¯d left. I¡¯d expected her to say something like ¡°Just nice?¡± but she surprised me with only a simple ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Although, as happy as I am with the compliment, I¡¯m happier that you thought to give me one and follow through on it,¡± she added. "That''s progress, Daniel." No sooner had her drink arrived when someone new barged into the place. If this was an old-timey Western saloon, the piano would stop playing as everyone turned to look toward him as he posed menacingly just inside, the swinging doors flapping behind him, his black cowboy hat rakishly askew, and the barrels of the six-shooters hanging at his sides still warm from the showdown he¡¯d just won out on the dusty street. The spitoon would ding like a tolling bell as he horked a big phlegm globber into it before sidling into the place like he owned it. All eyes were on Flint Vivier as he swept in and made directly for a large booth on the other side of the room, followed closely by two more members of the Silver Sword. People moved to let them through even if they weren¡¯t in the way, both Players and NPCs stepping aside as though the NPC mercenaries were high-ranking nobility. ¡°Ugh,¡± Jane groaned. ¡°Those goons.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve met them before, I take it?¡± ¡°I think most Players have had at least one run-in with the Ssssilver Ssssword. They seem to take pleasure in generally harassing us along with the occasional mugging if you do something to piss them off,¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯ve met them too?¡± ¡°Yeah. Twice.¡± I hadn¡¯t taken my eyes off of Flint since he entered. ¡°Wow,¡± Jane said. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen that look on your face before. Did they steal your lunch money or something?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± I said. It wasn''t until Flint arrived at the booth that I noticed for the first time there was someone already sitting at the table. And who could it be but Kiki, along with a couple of her teammates. Stolen story; please report. Flint loomed over the booth, hands on his hips, looking down at Kiki. ¡°Move,¡± he said. Kiki¡¯s face looked bored as she glanced up with one eye and said, ¡°Why should we?¡± ¡°That¡¯s our table,¡± he said. ¡°If I have to say it again I won¡¯t do it as nice, so move.¡± Kiki glared back at him defiantly. ¡°Lee,¡± she annunciated slowly. ¡°Nice-lee. Anywho, we were here first. Go sit somewhere else.¡± The rest of the tavern grew quiet as we all watched the scene. I caught snippets of murmurs that confirmed that the Silver Sword were regulars at this place, and everyone knew to stay off their bad side. Everybody except Kiki, apparently. I could tell the moment she used All Shall Be Revealed on him. Her eyes glazed for a second, then widened in shock. Oh Kiki, Kiki, Kiki. Always evaluate before deciding to be a snobby diva. She¡¯d backed herself into a corner, and given her pride I knew she wouldn¡¯t back down now, not with all those eyes on her. ¡°This should be interesting,¡± Jane said, and settled back into her chair to watch the show. I could only see his back from our vantage, but I imagined Flint¡¯s expression must have been a lot like how he looked when that young Player had stood up to him on the road. He slammed his palm down onto the table hard enough to spill the drinks on it. ¡°You three pipsqueaks: scram.¡± The members of Team N3m3s1s sitting with Kiki immediately got up and made a beeline for the exit, leaving her alone at the table. Before Kiki could even react he slid onto the vacated spot on the bench seat beside her, the other mercenaries taking the bench opposite them. ¡°Now then,¡± Flint said. ¡°Since you insist on joining us tonight, I think it¡¯s only fair you pay for all of us. Who knows, if you¡¯re lucky I might even let you spend the night with me too. How about this: empty your pockets onto the table here. Let¡¯s see how much fun we can afford.¡± Kiki sat there shooting daggers at him with her eyes, but she made no move to do what he said. Now that he was sitting I could see his face, and the sudden confusion written all over it brought me much joy. He clearly wasn¡¯t used to people disobeying him. But no matter how many times he tried to use his power to coerce Kiki, it wouldn¡¯t work. I¡¯d nullified it right after he¡¯d used it on Kiki¡¯s teammates to prevent him from doing exactly that. The legs of my chair scraped the floor as I slowly pushed myself away from our table and stood up. Jane gawked at me in surprise. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she said. ¡°Something stupid,¡± I said. ¡°That figures.¡± She sighed and made to get up too. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m about to go help that slag.¡± I held out my hand to stop her. ¡°Jane, can you do me a favor and stay here?¡± Her eyes darted between me and Kiki. ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right?¡± ¡°Please?¡± ¡°You do know that¡¯s Kiki over there you¡¯re about to stick your neck out for, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you to trust me. Stay here, okay?¡± ¡°Fine,¡± she said, heaving a huge sigh. ¡°But if things go south on you I¡¯m blinking in there and opening a can of whoopass, got it?¡± ¡°I¡¯d expect nothing less,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, this just means you owe me bigtime for ruining our bonding time by going off with some other chick. Especially her.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a deal,¡± I said. I took one step when I felt Jane tug the back of my shirt. ¡°Be careful,¡± she said. ¡°Trust me,¡± I said, and she let go. As I casually strolled over to their booth I saw Flint try to use his power again, meeting with the same angry defiance from Kiki. She was the first to see me approaching, and I could almost see the thoughts flit through her mind as she did. Shock. Embarrassment. Humiliation. Fear. Maybe even a dash of hope. It wasn¡¯t until I reached the booth and spoke up that the Silver Sword acknowledged I was there. I completely ignored them and looked only at Kiki. ¡°Hey doll,¡± I said. ¡°Is this guy boring you? Why don¡¯t you talk to me instead, I¡¯m from a different planet.¡± Flint¡¯s eyes sparkled when he recognized me. ¡°If it ain¡¯t my little buddy.¡± He looked me over as though sizing me up for a coffin, his gaze stopping on the knives strapped to my thighs. ¡°How nice. You even brought more of those sweet blades for us. Now everyone in the SS can have one. How thoughtful.¡± Did he really just call his group the SS? Really? He kept on Boss talking. ¡°That¡¯s what I love about you outsiders. Don¡¯t matter how many times I kill you, you all just keep coming back for more.¡± I ignored him and held out my hand. ¡°Come on, Kiki. These bozos aren¡¯t worth it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re acting pretty slick for someone who got his head taken off last time we met,¡± Flint said with a chortle. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re not pissing yourself. Actually, let¡¯s go with that: piss yourself.¡± For all I knew, his power might have compelled me to pee my pants right then and there. I had dropped the power nullification on his commanding aura when he started monologing. I wanted to test the new power I¡¯d synthesized, one that gave me a resistance to charming effects, to see if it worked against his aura. I figured I could always nullify his aura again if my countermeasure didn¡¯t work, but I hadn¡¯t expected him to give me a command like that ¨C if my resistance didn¡¯t work I was going to do something so humiliating I¡¯d never be able to poke my head out of the labyrinth again. It was with great relief that I found my mind remained clear and I felt no compulsion to wet myself in front of a crowded tavern whose patrons were all looking at me. ¡°Nah,¡± I said. His brow knit and I could tell he was wondering why his power wasn¡¯t working. Time to put a skill I learned off Chika to good use. ¡°Look Flart, that¡¯s your name, right? Flart?¡± Yeah, I know. Pretending to get his name wrong. So juvenile. But it didn¡¯t matter all that much what you said when using Taunt, as long as it was at least somewhat provocative. The skill did the rest. The Silver Sword tank stood up all indignant. ¡°His name is Flint.¡± ¡°Sit down,¡± Flint ordered, and the chagrined tank did as he was told. And Flint didn¡¯t even have to use his power to make him do it. ¡°How about we cut to the chase, huh Flart? I¡¯ll use small words so you understand. You are going to give me back the stuff you took from me and stop being a boorish bully, m¡¯kay?¡± There was some excited murmuring among the other tavern patrons and I could practically see the anger starting to boil inside him. ¡°What did you just say to me, pipsqueak?¡± I did my best to impersonate one of Jane¡¯s legendary eye rolls. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Flart. Boorish means you¡¯re crude and have bad manners. Understand now?¡± The murmuring got louder and I heard a few titters. Flint¡¯s face went red and the tendons in his neck started to throb. I could tell he was gearing up for more bluster and I was excited to hear what he came up with. ¡°Why you little.¡± How disappointing. ¡°Okay, look. I don¡¯t really have time for this right now but you seem like you want to settle this the only way you know how. So here¡¯s what¡¯s gonna happen, Flart. I¡¯ve got some stuff I wanna do, so in, let¡¯s say, two hours, you and I are going to meet in the arena, and we¡¯re going to have a rematch.¡± While he snarled when I got his name wrong again, he seemed to like the idea of a fight. ¡°You got some kinda death wish, buddy boy?¡± Buddy boy? Did someone program him like this or did this cliched personality spontaneously coagulate all on its own? And which of those options would be worse? I heaved a dramatic sigh. I had the Acting skill, too, so it was probably a good one. ¡°Listen,¡± I said. ¡°Because you¡¯re making me do this the hard way, when I win you¡¯re going to return the things you took from me like I asked. What¡¯s more, you and your Silverfish are going to go to Seaside and get on the first ship out of port. Do not pass Go, just head West until you either can¡¯t go any further or you fall off the edge of the world. Either way, you will not come back. Ever. You¡¯re no longer welcome in Toronto.¡± Flint let out a big blustery belly laugh. He did not have Acting, so it fooled nobody. ¡°And here I thought this was gonna be another dull night in this craphole town. Okay, pipsqueak, you want to get another beatdown, I¡¯m fine with that. But what do I get when I win?¡± ¡°I dunno,¡± I said. ¡°What do you want?¡± He took a few moments to consider, then gestured for me to come closer. I bent down and he whispered in my ear what he wanted. When he was done, I stood up straight again. What a complete arsehole. ¡°What do you think? Is that possible?¡± he said. ¡°Are you even able to do that? Or will you just say you can¡¯t because you don¡¯t have the guts to go through with it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± I said. ¡°Although it does seem a bit excessive compared with my demands. But it¡¯s fine. I accept your terms, with one more condition. No, make that two.¡± ¡°Oh? Trying to wheedle out of it already?¡± ¡°Not at all. One condition is that nobody else knows what the stakes are until it¡¯s announced at the start of the match.¡± He grinned. ¡°I like that. What¡¯s the other?¡± ¡°Stop being a jerk and just let her leave already,¡± I said, gesturing at Kiki, who was watching all this with a horrified expression. Flint clapped his hands together happily, as though he couldn¡¯t believe his luck. ¡°This has turned into one hell of a good day. Okay, girlie, off you go then. I got me a different fish to fry.¡± ¡°Get used to the taste of fish,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll be eating a lot of it on the boat.¡± I regretted it as soon as I said it. It was lame even for me, but it earned some more titters so I guessed it was okay. Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen - I do another very stupid thing ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to move so I can get out?¡± Kiki said to Flint as he sprawled on the bench with his legs spread like a hockey fan on the subway. ¡°Just slide on over top of me, Sweet Cheeks,¡± he said, patting his thighs. Kiki clicked her tongue. Then she stood and did her best to shuffle in front of him between the bench and the table, but he kept shifting his legs to block her. The only way she was going to get out was to sit on his lap and slide over him. She sighed and clicked her tongue again when she realized this, but she did it. ¡°Ew, gross,¡± she said as she slapped away his groping hands while slithering over him and out of the booth. I grabbed her hand and before she could protest dragged her away, back over toward where Jane was sitting watching all this with her mouth hanging open. We only got about halfway before Kiki yanked her hand free and turned on me. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Kiki snapped. ¡°I don¡¯t need help, least of all from you!¡± While this was the reaction I¡¯d expect from Kiki, I was still hoping that someday she¡¯d start showing some dere behavior for a change ¡ª the constant tsun was getting tiresome. ¡°You think I did that to help you?¡± I said, making a yeah-right face. I mean, I did do it for her, partially, but she didn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°You were just a convenient tool I used to provoke him.¡± Let¡¯s see how she liked that. ¡°What?¡± she said, and for a couple of seconds she let her mask slip and looked hurt. ¡°Yeah, well, that¡¯s even worse. Would it kill you to be nice once in a while?¡± Finally, the dere shows its face. ¡°You should probably go find your friends, Kiki. And don¡¯t be mad at them for taking off, jerkface used a power to make them run away.¡± ¡°I know that!¡± she said. ¡°I can see Statuses too, remember?¡± We stood there looking at each other for a few seconds. She really was quite pretty when she wasn¡¯t trying to kill you or abduct your friends. ¡°Well? Aren¡¯t you going to go find them?¡± I said. She glanced back and forth between me and the door a few times. ¡°Or would you rather stay here with me?¡± I said. Her face turned red. ¡°Why the hell would I want to do that?¡± she said, then spun on her heel and stormed out in a huff. Aaaand the tsun returns, right on schedule. Chuckling to myself, I returned to join Jane at our table, where I was met with an inscrutable expression. ¡°Were you born an idiot or did you have to work at it?¡± Jane said. ¡°I guess you heard all that then?¡± ¡°Idiot.¡± While I was trying to think of a witty comeback, a notification screen popped up. Global Notification: Arena Duel Daniel Lamont (Team Player) vs. Flint Vivier (Silver Sword) Time remaining until duel ¨C 1:59:59 ¡°I sure hope you know what you¡¯re doing,¡± Jane said. ¡°Trust me.¡± Look, I have a confession. I didn¡¯t tell Jane but I had an ulterior motive for choosing that particular tavern. I¡¯d learned through my Elven Intelligence Agency, which those in the know now referred to simply as the EIA, that it was a tavern frequented by the Silver Sword and I¡¯d been hoping to run across them. I had a bone to pick with Flint. Having Kiki there to make uncomfortable was just gravy. Jane pushed out her chair and stood up. ¡°Where are you going?¡± I said. ¡°I was going to leave.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rude.¡± Her jaw dropped. ¡°Did you really just call me rude? Mister leaves me alone and goes off to rescue some other damsel?¡± ¡°I came back. Now sit down and have that drink with me.¡± She wore a wide grin when she plopped herself back down. ¡°So are you gonna tell me what he whispered in your ear?¡± she said. ¡°What? And ruin the surprise?¡± While I did like the idea of surprising her, the real reason I kept it to myself is because if I told her what would happen if I lose to Flint again, she¡¯d never let me step foot inside that arena. Even worse, she¡¯d tell Sigrid, and I¡¯d never be allowed to leave my house again. Let her find out with everybody else, when it would be too late to do anything about it. "Should I be worried?" she said. "Not in the least," I said. She leaned back and folded her arms over her chest. "Why do I get the feeling this fight is a very stupid thing to do?" I put my elbows on the table and leaned toward her. "Trust me." I mean, she wasn''t wrong. This was yet another very stupid thing to add to my already burdensome list of stupid things I''d done, but I didn''t care. It was something I had to do. Jane and I spent about an hour chatting happily about absolutely nothing, then I apologized to her. ¡°I really ought to go get ready for the duel.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°I have to go round up a cheering section for you, although I do have to change first. I don¡¯t think this ensemble¡¯s quite appropriate for the event.¡± It was with great regret that I watched her walk away. That dress was just as flattering from behind as it was from the front. Dammit. I was that guy. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I went immediately to the arena. The town square seemed a bit more crowded than usual, and there was more than the average amount of staring and pointing at me as I brushed through them to the arena doors. They were still locked, but Annabelle had long ago set them to let me through any time. Both she and Akari were up in Annabelle¡¯s office at the top of the pagoda, waiting for me. I wanted to figure out what to do about betting ¡ª it wouldn¡¯t exactly be appropriate for me to give odds on myself ¡ª but I needn¡¯t have worried. Annabelle informed me that because I was fighting an NPC, there would be no official wagers on this one. ¡°You don¡¯t waste any time,¡± Akari said. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to throw down with Flint so soon.¡± ¡°Does that mean you don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready? If so, I wish you would¡¯ve told me sooner.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Akari said, lazily taking a sip from her teacup. ¡°You¡¯re ready.¡± Annabelle was over by the window looking out at the city. She was clearly sulking. ¡°I still don¡¯t know why you won¡¯t tell me what the stakes are until it¡¯s time to announce them. There won¡¯t be any chance to change them after that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why,¡± I said. ¡°That only makes me more worried,¡± she said. ¡°You remember what we talked about, right?¡± Akari said. ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°You remember how to deal with his powers?¡± ¡°Yes, Mother,¡± I said, to which she replied by sticking out her tongue. ¡°Tell me how you¡¯re going to win,¡± she said. I described my plan of attack, and the variations I¡¯d perform depending upon what he did. She presented a bunch of hypotheticals ¡ª What if he does this? What about this? ¡ª and I had an immediate answer to all of them. ¡°You¡¯re ready,¡± Akari said when I was done. ¡°I hope so,¡± Annabelle said, standing over by the window. ¡°Because it looks like you¡¯re going to have quite an audience.¡± I got up from where I was sitting and joined her at the window. Down in the town square, there were a whole lot more people than there were before, NPCs and Players alike. ¡°Guess they want to make sure they get good seats,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised,¡± I said. ¡°Everyone wants to see me taken down.¡± ¡°You think that¡¯s why?¡± Annabelle said, looking amused. ¡°Why else?¡± ¡°Do you think maybe it might be because there¡¯s a lot of people Flint has bullied who¡¯d like to see him put in his place?¡± Akari said. ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s true,¡± I said, ¡°but I doubt anyone thinks I could pull that off.¡± ¡°Then won¡¯t they be surprised,¡± Akari said, getting up from the table and heading toward the door. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Annabelle said. ¡°To go get a good seat before the floodgate opens. I want a really good view of this.¡± ¡°I shall try not to disappoint,¡± I said. ¡°Do I look worried?¡± the pink-haired woman said with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, then she left to find a good place in the stands. Annabelle sent the command to open the doors, and we watched people flood into the arena. Jeez, you¡¯d think this was a Taylor Swift concert or something. I kept looking toward the mouth of Dagger Street hoping to see my friends coming, but then I noticed them just before they entered the arena. They must have come early to get good seats too. They were all there, Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table, along with Shashu and, to my surprise, Shannon the catgirl. Then I saw Achmed and what was left of his Legion arriving with Tiff and the Team Spice girls. I guessed they must¡¯ve struck up a friendship after the thing at the Cathedral. There was also no mistaking Kiki and her crew as they crossed the square toward us. I even saw a few elves in the crowd, Petal among them. It looked like every Player was coming to watch, but what really struck me was how many NPCs were showing up. Most of them wore multicolored armbands, fighters from the various clans working their way towards training in toron-do. Many of them I knew from my own training, but there were lots I didn''t recognize. After a while, I had to stop looking out the window. The reality that all those people were coming to see me get my butt kicked was sinking in, and I started to get a tight chest and a knot in my stomach as my basal ganglia got all fired up with the primal lizard-brain fight or flight instinct. I went back to the table and sat down, intending to have some tea to help calm me down, but when I tried to grab the cup the shaking of my hand made it rattle on the saucer and I gave up. I closed my eyes and started using the calming meditation techniques Akari had taught me. Annabelle must¡¯ve put two and two together, because she came over and started showing me some new rune formations I could use with sorcery. They weren¡¯t particularly useful spells, more like party tricks than anything, but they did serve to distract me and before I knew it Annabelle was telling me it was time to head down to the arena floor. ¡°Just let me change first,¡± she said. A formation appeared over her head and her new outfit appeared as the magic circle traveled down her body. It was ridiculously flashy. A one-piece bodysuit with a ten-inch wide collar and flared bell-bottoms, cinched around her waist by a wide belt, and with every square inch covered in glittering sequins. Her purple hair sprang from her head in all directions in a curly perm, and her face was plastered in makeup with bright blue eyeshadow and long fake eyelashes. The only thing she was missing was roller skates. The next few minutes flew by in a blur. She took me down and had me wait near the entrance to the arena floor. Flint was already waiting there, ready to greet me with a confident sneer. There was a lot of noise coming from the arena stands as the excited spectators chattered. I stood in the shadows and took a peek through the portcullis, then wished I hadn¡¯t. The stands were completely jampacked, the first time I¡¯d seen them so full since arriving on this planet. I didn¡¯t see Akari¡¯s pink hair anywhere but I managed to spot where my friends were, a few tiers up from the floor. Against my better judgment, I gave in to my curiosity and turned my advanced hearing toward listening to what people were talking about. I scanned the crowd catching bits and pieces of conversations. Most people were gabbing about incidental matters, just your normal everyday babble, but I heard a few people speculating on the fight. Nobody, it seemed, thought I had a chance of winning. But then I heard Achmed¡¯s voice. Official betting may not have been offered on this fight, but that didn¡¯t mean people weren¡¯t placing wagers on the outcome. Achmed was busy taking bets, and I do mean busy. That was mostly because he was giving five-to-one odds that I would win, and people were more than ready to snatch the chance at easy money by betting against me. Some started to doubt his ability to cover all the bets he was taking, and I felt a flood of affection toward both him and Tiff and their teammates when they stepped in to say they¡¯d all help cover the payouts. It meant a lot that they had such faith in me, but of course, being me, that only sent a wave of guilt and anxiety coursing through me. Now I absolutely had to win. There¡¯s no way I could let down the few people who believed in me and bankrupt them in the process. Before I knew it, Annabelle was pulling me back just before the arena lights dimmed and the noise from the stands died out. A spotlight shone on the entrance as the portcullis slowly ground upwards with the clanking rasp of chains hidden within the walls. Then Annabelle gave me a secret wink and sauntered through the opening into the spotlight. ¡°Yahello everyone!¡± her amplified voice rang out. I¡¯d attended enough PvP duels to know the routine, but this one was different. Annabelle held nothing back as she used her talents to fire up the audience about this being the first time a Player had faced an NPC in a duel. And not just any NPC, she went on to give a full background on Flint, highlighting his impressive accomplishments and going on and on about his intimidating strength. About me she said very little, for which I was eminently grateful. Then it was time for us to take the floor. She announced me first, and even before I stepped foot onto the arena floor I heard the jeers. It was mostly coming from one section, and when I looked up I saw my favorite people there: Teams Invictus, Overgeared, and Droog, all boos and hisses. But then I heard Sigrid¡¯s voice rise above the catcalls, cheering me on with a ¡°Go Daniel!¡± I could see my friends all together waving and cheering, then more people from all around the stands joined in the cheers. They were mostly NPCs, but still, it was nice that I had the support of some Players too. The most enthusiastic support I got, for better or worse, came from the stands behind me. I heard a chorus of female voices begin chanting, ¡°Daniel! Daniel! Daniel!¡± and when I turned to look to see who it was, I saw Madame Devorah and the entire staff of the Gentlemen¡¯s Club shouting and waving. Lord only knew what that support would do for my reputation. Below them, in the front row directly above the gate, Akari¡¯s pink hair was unmistakable. When she saw me notice her, she stuck out her tongue. Then it was Flint¡¯s turn to enter. The reaction was mixed. My most vocal supporters were booing the loudest, but a lot of Players were also voicing their dislike of the Silver Sword leader, no doubt they were fellow victims of his bully-boy shenanigans, and I even saw some of the people who¡¯d bet against me booing as well. I suppose just because they gambled for him to win that didn¡¯t necessarily mean they liked him. As you¡¯d expect, my detractors all cheered for Flint, but I was surprised that there weren¡¯t nearly as many voices joining in with their support as I would''ve expected. Annabelle let the crowd vent for a while, then waved for silence. ¡°The terms of this fight,¡± she said, ¡°are as follows...¡± Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen - Paybacks a witch The audience was on edge waiting to hear what kind of fight they were about to witness. Annabelle waited until there was absolute silence before speaking. ¡°There are no limits to the weapons or abilities that can be used in this match, and as usual, any interference from those not involved in the duel will be met with grave consequences.¡± There was some tension-releasing laughter. She said this at the start of every arena fight but had never given so much as a hint about what those consequences might be, and it had become a bit of a joke to threaten people with grave consequences over the smallest things. It was all part of Annabelle¡¯s yoyo crowd control routine. Let them chuckle for a second at the end of the string before tugging on it and snapping them back up into the palm of her hand with the thrills. ¡°The fight will continue until one side gives up or can no longer fight. This includes,¡± she paused for dramatic effect, ¡°death.¡± This was met with a raucous response from the stands. Annabelle let the fervor rise before expertly bringing it back down, like a maestro conducting an orchestra, and she did through nothing more than by leaning forward and changing her posture into one that implied she was about to reveal a big secret. ¡°Finally,¡± Annabelle said in a conspiratorial hush, ¡°the stakes.¡± Pause, then her tone shifted back from secretive Annabelle to yahello Annabelle. ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t even know what the stakes are myself yet. They are written here on this card.¡± She flourished a folded piece of paper which had appeared in her hand as if by magic. The sudden switch broke the spell she had on the crowd and she was rewarded with some nervous laughter. Up, down, up down, the yoyo kept on spinning. She unfolded the paper and I watched her as her eyes scanned what was written on the card. I watched her scowl at the first part, then go wide with alarm when she read the second part. She lowered the paper and turned to look straight at me. The look on her face was pleading. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would have thought she really hadn¡¯t known what the stakes were beforehand. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± she whispered, although it was still being amplified so everyone heard. The crowd was dying to know what was on that card. I nodded. She took a deep breath and raised the card to read it aloud. Her tone was matter of fact as she read the first part. ¡°If Daniel Lamont wins, Flint Vivier will return the items he took from Daniel and all members of the Silver Sword will be banished from the city of Toronto and its environs.¡± This met with not a little bit of cheering, which caused Flint to glare up at the audience. ¡°Forever,¡± she added, and the cheers practically doubled in volume and enthusiasm. ¡°However,¡± Annabelle continued, changing her tone again into one packed with emotion, ¡°should Daniel lose, then everything he owns will belong to Flint.¡± When the crowd heard that there were a lot of gasps, followed by much muttering. They were no doubt wondering if that meant control over my dungeons too. I glanced over at Flint and saw him smirking. Annabelle waved for quiet again. She had one more thing to add that would push the audience over the edge and really drive them into a frenzy. She may have been a bit of a weirdo, but you had to admit Annabelle sure knew how to work a crowd. She waited until there was silence again. She stood in the exact center of the arena floor, slowly rotating to take in the entire audience surrounding us. ¡°And,¡± she said, ¡°the only way Daniel can lose is through death.¡± The last word echoed around the arena. Then lowered the paper and looked at me, and it was impossible to tell if she was sad or angry, it could¡¯ve been both. She was one hell of an actor. She had one more line to say. ¡°With no chance of respawning.¡± The place went batshit crazy. The fight to the death-death part had been Flint¡¯s idea, of course, that''s what he''d whispered in my ear. I wasn¡¯t too worried about it, though, I¡¯d been training with the sisters for this precise moment and gained a lot of confidence in my abilities. I also figured Annabelle would probably get on board with the idea because of the drama it would create. The thing that worried me was what Sigrid was going to say to me after it was over. She would not be happy about taking this kind of risk no matter how much I knew that, barring any unforeseen hiccups, there was barely a non-zero chance I¡¯d lose. Yes. I was that confident. Me. I know, hard to believe. Annabelle stepped out of the spotlight and moved over to the side. She always stayed on the arena floor with the fighters to act as referee, ostensibly so that she¡¯d be close enough to see if someone tapped out, but also so she could immediately step in if things went off kilter. That left Flint and I facing each other. He was looking tall and resplendent in his usual bulky armor. His enormous sword was slung on his back but it didn¡¯t seem like he was planning to use it. Instead, he was spinning my elven knife in his hand, showing off his prowess with flashy little tricks. I was not wearing my usual armored coat. I¡¯d chosen this moment to introduce my new look. Akari had been the one to design it, while Annabelle and I had artificed it up. At first I¡¯d balked at the design because it was quite tight-fitting and I¡¯d never worn anything like that before, but Akari insisted it was the right choice because it showed off the well-toned physique Sigrid and I had worked so hard to create. I¡¯d also never been good at saying no to attractive women, especially when they were complimenting me, so I relented. The black boots were made of bumpy Wyvern skin, a notoriously tough crafting material. They went up above mid-calf, with mithril buckles up the sides. The pants were a more supple black leather made from the hide of the Cretan Bull, a monster from the labyrinth. In mythology, it was the same bull that had been the father of the Minotaur (remember Daedalus¡¯ wooden cow?) and that had later terrorized around Greece until Hercules subdued it as his eighth task. So yeah, one tough hombre. The pants were tailor-made to fit exactly and I was still getting used to the snugness. I had a newfound respect for yoga pants and the people who wear them. Up top, I wore a shirt made of cloth woven from silk threads spun by a particularly terrifying type of giant spider that Akari had captured somewhere and kept as a pet just so she could harvest its thread. Again, very tough fabric, but surprisingly comfortable and it breathed well while also being both fire and water resistant. The silk hadn¡¯t been dyed and retained its natural white color with a subtle silvery sheen. It too was tailored to fit and accented by mithril buttons and cufflinks. Over this, I wore more black Cretan Bull leather in the form of a fitted vest that scooped low in the front and was fastened by two rows of more mithril buttons. I wasn¡¯t sure about the vest at first, but Akari insisted upon it, claiming that the extra protection it offered to my vital organs was important. It felt a bit too steampunk for the milieu, but she said she liked how it looked and I caved again. There was also a voluminous black cape that went with it, but I left that in my inventory. It looked like the sort of thing a crown prince would wear jauntily tossed over one shoulder, with a high, stiff collar and an inner lining made of spider silk that had been dyed a muted silver color, and clasped at the throat by, you guessed it, a mithril clip. I was even less sure about the cape than the vest, even though Akari had waxed on about the extra protection it provided and even trained me how to fight while wearing it, and Annabelle had crafted an utterly unnecessary Air-based power into it that could create and manipulate a breeze that made the cape swirl and flutter around me. The piece de resistance to the outfit were the black leather gloves that stopped at the first knuckle of each finger, into which Annabelle and I built retractable spikes for punching and retractable claws for slashing. As for the other enchantments Annabelle and I had placed upon my clothing, let¡¯s just say we made it more protective than Flint¡¯s snazzy armor, considerably so. Last but not least, my new knives were sheathed at my thighs, elven style. I¡¯d thrown a few extra powers onto them and had been training hard with Akari on how to use them to full effect in combination with other abilities. They were still in their sheaths, though. I stood there in the arena like a Sheriff waiting to draw on an outlaw, even though with all the black I wore I looked more like a villain than the hero. Annabelle looked nervous as she raised her hand and looked at Flint, then at me, asking if we were ready. Once we both agreed, she lowered her hand and shouted, ¡°Fight!¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The first thing I did was trigger a few powers. I used Holtzmann Effect to raise my personal shield, taking comfort from the bleach-like scent of ozone it gave off. It created a distinctive shimmer around me and I didn¡¯t want people to know about it yet, so at the same time I also put up affinity armor using a combination of Fire, Light, and Air to shroud myself with more visible and impressive-looking scintillating shroud of glowing hot plasma. I used I¡¯m Going To Buff (Clap) You Up and My Body Is A Finely Honed Weapon on myself to boost my physical attributes, attack power, and defense, and used Curse You and You¡¯re Not All That on him to lower his. I also slapped onto him a new power I¡¯d made with Annabelle called Life Or Death which reduced an opponent¡¯s resistance to affinity effects; it was so-named because it required the user to have one of those affinities to use it. I had already applied Let¡¯s Keep A Clear Head About This the moment I saw Flint waiting by the arena entrance, in case he tried to use his commanding aura on me before the fight began. It had honestly surprised me when he hadn¡¯t tried anything underhanded before the match started. He didn¡¯t think he had to, I supposed. We didn¡¯t race forward to clash immediately. There was posturing to be done first. Flint began by making a show of stretching. He reeked of confidence, slowly going through the motions and showing no sign that he¡¯d just entered a fight to the death. I stood, relaxed, patiently waiting. I was silently doing some breathing exercises Akari had taught me to center my qi and put me in the fighting frame of mind. When he was done posing he called out to me. ¡°Hey you. Pipsqueak. Do me a favor and wait there for me to come give you a public beating before you die: don¡¯t move.¡± The last words had the impact of his commanding aura behind them. I froze. ¡°Uh oh,¡± I said. Annabelle let the arena amplify our voices, so everyone heard it. Flint chuckled as he slowly sauntered over to me, cleaning imaginary dirt from under a fingernail with the tip of the knife. My knife. He¡¯d want to be careful with that or he¡¯d easily end up losing the tip of his finger. ¡°I¡¯ll give you this much,¡± he said, ¡°you¡¯ve got guts. It¡¯s a shame you¡¯re so fucking stupid.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything back, I just stood perfectly still and watched him approach. I shut out the sounds from the crowd, ignoring the shouts and cheers and catcalls and jeers. ¡°I hope you¡¯ve got a lot of money,¡± he said after closing about half the distance between us. ¡°As satisfying as it will be to kill you, I¡¯m more interested in the loot.¡± I remained silent and just continued to watch him get ever closer, my eyes never once looking away. ¡°Nothing to say, hmm? You were always such a mouthy brat before, but I suppose there really isn¡¯t much to say, is there? In about five seconds I¡¯m going to be there, and after that I give you maybe two or three more before your life is over. Forever.¡± I still didn¡¯t say anything. My eyes were looking at his, but my attention was actually split between his eyes and his knife, wary of any sign of an attack, but he merely kept strutting toward me. A few more steps and he was in front of me, within striking distance. He stood there, totally relaxed, not a care in the world. ¡°Really?¡± he said. ¡°No final words? This is your last chance.¡± I said nothing. Flint cackled. ¡°Have it your way.¡± He held the knife low, sneering into my face as he thrust it forward into my gut. Except I wasn¡¯t there when he did it. The knife cut nothing but air and Flint stumbled forward completely off balance. Here¡¯s the thing. I had been an idiot to fight him on his own terms before. Freaking stupid. I beat myself up about that for a long time afterward. Why did I only use omni-do against him last time? And bare-handed at that. I had other weapons, other abilities. Then I discovered a hidden side effect of Flint¡¯s commanding aura, that it continues to cloud the brain for a while, and I stopped blaming myself. I¡¯d been so focused on losing my knives that in my mental fog all I could think about was using omni-do without them. Not this time. My head was clear, and I was not the same person I was then. I had more powers this time, and better gear, and I¡¯d done a lot of training with genuine pros. So yeah, I could¡¯ve ended things right there when he made his lazy attack. Heck, I could¡¯ve ended it when Flint was still stretching and monologuing. The sisters and I had planned and practiced a dozen different ways to finish Flint in under two seconds. They hinged on two things. The first was using Andy¡¯s awesome power nullification ability to prevent him from ignoring my attacks. That¡¯s why I was happy when my other power had blocked his commanding aura back in the tavern, because not being affected by that aura was the second thing. It wouldn¡¯t have been a big deal if I¡¯d had to use nullification on his aura power, though. It would¡¯ve just taken a few extra seconds to wear down his mana and finish him off, that¡¯s all. But where would be the fun in that? So I let him think I was controlled by his power. The whole time he was sauntering up to me and continuing his diatribe I was thinking about which of the power combos I¡¯d use against him. The question was not who would win this fight, that was a foregone conclusion, but rather how it would happen, and how long it would take. You¡¯ve probably already guessed I used superspeed to avoid his attack. I still wasn¡¯t quite ready to reveal all my tricks, so I was using visible powers that were familiar, and superspeed was nothing new to any Player. Lucas had used it to nearly win the Player¡¯s Tournament, and he might have if Andy hadn¡¯t slammed the brakes on his killing spree by nullifying it. There were also at least five Players who were given the superspeed power from the start in one form or another, including Kay. Everyone had seen it, so it wouldn¡¯t be that big of a deal if they saw me use it now. Of course, my custom version of it was more than your average superspeed, I¡¯d also baked into it the optional ability to make my body insubstantial enough to phase through solid objects. If I wanted to, I could run right through Flint and the arena and escape the fight before anybody knew what had happened. Not that I wanted to, but it was an option. Right after he said ¡°have it your way,¡± I had triggered superspeed just enough to switch everything to slow motion for me. I hadn¡¯t moved yet, though. I waited until the instant I saw a shift in the tension in his muscles indicating he was about to make his attack, Akari taught me that too. I still wasn¡¯t great at seeing it at normal speed, but when everything was in slow motion it was a piece of cake. When I moved, I didn¡¯t use superspeed at full strength. The sisters had taught me how to control my mana flow with such precision I could adjust a power¡¯s effect or impact. So I only applied a bit of its power to augment my movement, just enough to allow me to easily avoid the attack using an aikido maneuver to sidestep away. Then I gave him a little push on his back to send him stumbling forward after he missed, but not too fast that anyone watching closely would be able to see me do it. And everybody was watching closely. I switched off superspeed and turned around in time to see him barely manage to recover his balance before nearly sprawling face first onto the packed dirt floor. Darn it, I was hoping he¡¯d fall. That would¡¯ve been sweet. He turned around and eyed me warily. ¡°Does this mean it¡¯s going to be a real fight after all?¡± he said. ¡°That depends,¡± I said. ¡°Think you can keep up with me?¡± He approached me again, shifting the knife back and forth between his hands like he was gonna surprise me with which hand the attack would come from. Puh-leez. With superspeed slo-mo back on I waited for his attack ¡ª a low slash ¡ª before moving again, using the appropriate augmented aikido dodge to avoid it. This time I didn¡¯t give him a push, I gave him a swift kick in the butt instead. He lurched forward, stumbling again, but still managed to stay on his feet. Darn it! Just fall, already. I still hadn¡¯t drawn my own knives. We went through the dance one more time. He approached, I waited, and when he attacked I avoided it again. This time I didn¡¯t push or kick him, but wrested the knife from his hand and took it. Then I used one quick burst of superspeed to move away from him, over to the spot where he¡¯d started the fight, before dropping the power. ¡°Hey Flart,¡± I said, holding up the knife I¡¯d taken. ¡°Lose something?¡± Yes, I was toying with him. No, I did not feel at all bad about it. To his credit, he only looked confused for a second, then a wide grin spread across his face. ¡°So you are gonna make this interesting after all,¡± he said. ¡°Been a while since I had a decent fight.¡± The knife disappeared from my hand as I sent it into my inventory. I stood there, empty handed, and made the classic taunting move of holding my hand out and beckoning with my fingers for him to come at me. He drew his huge sword. It was a truly massive thing, close to five feet in length and at least a foot wide. The sort of ridiculous weapon that would never exist in a regular world, but which you see all the time in manga and anime. He held it in one hand, an impressive feat considering how ginormous, awkward, and heavy it must have been. ¡°I¡¯m gonna enjoy this,¡± he said, giving it a few practice swings. Even the whoosh of the blade through the air was amplified for the crowd. He started to move toward me but I knew I wouldn¡¯t have to wait for him to get close before he attacked. As expected, he used his I Can Still Hit You Way Over There power to make a ranged sword attack. Still holding his sword in one hand, he swept the giant blade in front of him and sent a sort of sharp shock wave at me, but again I wasn¡¯t there for it to hit me. I¡¯d already blinked beside him. When his hand reached the end of its swing I was there, waiting for it. Before he knew it, I¡¯d taken the sword from him as well. Then I blinked back to where I was. ¡°What the hell?¡± he said when he saw me standing there, unharmed, holding his weapon again. ¡°Kind of annoying when someone takes your stuff, huh?¡± I said. I was also holding his sword in only one hand. It really was an unwieldy thing, far too heavy, and even with its thick long handle the balance was way off. A normal person couldn¡¯t hope to use it, and it was only because of how exceedingly strong I¡¯d become that I could make it look as light as a willow switch as I swung it once, one-handed. Whoosh. ¡°You little...¡± he growled, but he didn¡¯t come closer. He was out of weapons, and I knew he didn¡¯t have any unarmed combat skills. He must have been thinking the same thing. It was a sign of how cocky he was that he hadn¡¯t felt the need to bring more weapons. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Do you want this back?¡± I said, waving the sword. ¡°Here, take it.¡± Then I tossed the sword and it flew at him, tumbling end over end through the air. It was most gratifying to see him flinch before its tip embedded itself in the dirt floor between his feet. ¡°How about we have a real fight now, huh?¡± I said. Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen - That wasnt so hard, was it? Flint snarled and yanked his sword free from the ground. ¡°Play time¡¯s over,¡± he said. That was when I finally drew my knives and triggered the Affinity Weapon power on both of them, shrouding the blades in sizzling glowing electricity. There was no strategic reason I chose to use the combination of Air and Light affinities apart from that I thought the electric sparks looked cool and I liked the crackling sound they made. Plus, when I moved them quickly, with the addition of the Light they seemed to leave a continuous shimmering trail of blue-white, like a twisting, swirling, floating neon glow trailing through the air in their wake. It looked wicked cool, and also let the audience follow what was happening easier. Otherwise, I¡¯d be moving too quickly for them to see it well. And where¡¯s the fun in that? Whatever the stakes were, this wasn¡¯t a real fight. This was a show fight, and I wanted to give the people a good show. I glanced up at the crowd I¡¯d been mostly ignoring and resisted the urge to call up to them, ¡°Are you entertained?¡± Flint and I cautiously closed ranks on each other. This was the most dangerous moment for me. His blood was boiling after my repeated taunts and he wanted payback, and he was using his best skill. His Master level in Sword was nothing to sneeze at. Even with all the buffs and debuffs active, I was still no match for him in a straight up melee fight. But this was never going to be a straight up fight. I¡¯d learned my lesson the hard way. I triggered superspeed again. It used up a lot of mana but I wasn¡¯t using it at full strength so the energy drain wasn¡¯t too bad, and against someone with an overwhelming skill advantage like this I couldn¡¯t afford to be too frugal with my energy. When we finally clashed I focused purely on defense, parrying his sword slashes with my knives. There was a satisfying ting of metal against metal whenever they made contact, enhanced by the sizzling electric light show. This was the first time I¡¯d seen him actually use his sword so I wanted to feel him out. He certainly was good with it, maybe almost as good as Akari. Several times he got past my defenses and I felt the impact of his sword as it hit my personal shield. I took a bit of damage each time, but not much. I wasn''t concerned, I had a fun way to get my health back I was going to use soon. A great sword is really only good for slashing attacks, it¡¯s too long and awkward to thrust with effectively. It¡¯s meant to be a one-hit weapon dealing massive damage in a single strike. Usually, the size and weight of the weapon meant there would be an opening to counterattack at the end of a swing, but Flint¡¯s strength and skill left no such opening. The sword was constantly moving, using the momentum of each swing to carry it on to the next. That just meant I had to create my own openings. I triggered another power when Flint was in mid-swing. That¡¯s Heavy, Man was a power I¡¯d synthesized using Galahad¡¯s gravity control. It was a great power for something like this because it was impossible for an observer to detect it, so nobody would know I¡¯d used it. Even Flint would wonder what was happening. My goal was to slow him down, just for a moment, just long enough to get a hit in, in the most annoying way possible. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t use it on him, I used it on his sword. It worked. In the split second when his sword became exponentially heavier and threw off his movements and balance, I snuck in to nick him with both knives. My ludicrously sharp blades sliced right through the armor and into the sweaty flesh underneath. They weren¡¯t deep cuts, nothing serious at all. Nothing that would make him want to avoid the damage. But it was enough to let me activate the other powers I¡¯d put onto my new knives. Daniel¡¯s Guardian Blade of the Forest Elves Unique and sacred to the forest elves, this long knife requires the special skill Elven Dual Knife Fighting to wield to full effect. They always come in pairs. Powers: Affinity Weapon - Enhance with elemental effects; Affinity with Life required I Vant To Zuck Your Blud - Siphon health and mana from the target; Affinity with Death required I¡¯ll Cut You - Enhanced strength and sharpness to deal more damage That¡¯s Gonna Leave A Scar - Add poison or disease damage; Affinity with Death required We Were Made For This - Enhanced combat effectiveness when a paired set of Guardian Blades are used; Requires Elven Dual Knife Fighting Both hits siphoned some of his mana and health and gave it back to me. They also applied ongoing poison damage along with a bit of electric shock. I¡¯d practiced this so many times with Akari until I was able to hold my own against her, mostly, and if I could keep up with her, mostly, then fighting this bozo was a walk in the park. We continued to fight like this, and every so often I¡¯d make his sword heavier and sneak in a couple more poisoned cuts. He also clashed against my shield a few times, but every time I nicked him I stole back the health I¡¯d lost. After the fourth time I cut him he disengaged, backing away. He was clearly confused about the whole thing, not understanding why his sword became unwieldy and why my little nicks were taking such a toll on him. The cumulative effect of taking ongoing poison damage multiple times meant he was now hemorrhaging health, and it was too late to use his power to ignore it; he would¡¯ve had to do that at the time of the attacks. And his power would¡¯ve worked had he used it at the right time because I hadn¡¯t nullified it yet. I was saving that for later, no sense wasting the mana. He made no effort to hide the frustration he was feeling, venting it in a low growl as he prowled back and forth. ¡°You¡¯re free to tap out any time,¡± I said, also stepping away to put more distance between us in preparation for using a power combination Annabelle had suggested. ¡°Never,¡± he said. ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d say that. It¡¯ll make it all the more humiliating for you when you do give up.¡± He growled again and charged. I used Able To Leap Tall Buildings, my custom version of Arthur¡¯s air walk power, to step up and over him, then used Affinity Control to dump a torrent of water when I was directly above him. I landed behind him and we both spun around to face each other again. He was soaked to the skin and practically frothing at the mouth. I used Affinity Control again, this time using Ice to freeze him. It was Annabelle who¡¯d taught me that freezing something that was already wet worked a lot better than just using Ice alone, which seemed so obvious I was embarrassed I hadn''t figured that out on my own. The air walk, water, ice combination had been her idea. I glanced over at where she stood to the side watching us and saw her struggling to contain a grin. The sheath of ice wouldn''t hold long, but it wasn''t supposed to. The move was meant to create a quick opening for a followup attack, but I chose to wait instead. I let him use brute force to break out of the ice. He looked furious. Gripping his sword in both hands he started another charge toward me, but he barely made it two steps before he slipped on the ice that had formed on the water pooled on the floor all around him. I may have helped a bit by using telekinesis to pull his boots toward me. He fell backwards, his feet flying up and his boots flying off his feet; perhaps I''d overdone the telekinesis. He seemed to float horizontally in the air for a moment before falling and landing hard, flat on his back. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Finally. I turned on the gravity control again, this time using it on Flint himself. It¡¯s one thing to stay standing when being pulled down by a force of gravity many times stronger than normal, but no matter how strong you are it¡¯s incredibly hard to get up from a prone position under such pressure, especially when the ground beneath you is sheer, slippery ice and your body is encased in a steel can of heavy armor. To seal the deal and make sure he wasn¡¯t going to move, I wrapped him in ropes of pure electrical energy -- I had figured out the effectiveness of using electrical attacks on something wet on my own. This was no time to take chances, and Akari had warned me time and again to never underestimate your opponent. He ended up flopping there on his back like a fish on a sushi chef¡¯s cutting board, still struggling in a futile effort to rise. I sheathed my knives and casually strolled over to him. I had a sudden image of myself slipping on the ice, so I used a combination of Fire and Air to warm the soles of my boots and melt the ice a bit wherever I stepped. Take no unnecessary chances. I stood next to him. Then I used telekinesis to lift his sword and move it until it hovered about ten feet directly over him, tip pointing down. I stretched out my hand with my fingers splayed and moved it so that it appeared like I needed to do that to control the sword. I didn¡¯t have to, but sometimes you have to exaggerate things on stage so the audience can follow what¡¯s going on. I looked down at him and waited until he stopped struggling. ¡°Any final words?¡± I said. ¡°Screw you,¡± he said. ¡°Suit yourself.¡± I switched the increased gravity from him to the sword and let it fall, but not before I nullified his ability to ignore an attack. The giant blade pierced his lower body and stuck its tip into the ground again, pinning him down like a butterfly in a collection. He cried out in pain and surprise when his nullified power failed to negate the damage. His health, which had been somewhere in the mid range of yellow after all my poisonous nicks, dropped immediately into the red zone. I winced as I watched the blood pool around the wound. ¡°Ouch. That¡¯s gotta smart.¡± He groaned and looked up at me with pure hatred. ¡°Ready to give up yet?¡± I said as I telekinetically raised the sword over him again. The metal of his armor shrieked as the slowly rising blade ground against it. When the sword¡¯s tip hovered only about a foot over him, and I casually pushed it with one finger until its tip was directly over Flint¡¯s head, let it stay there for a bit to make him sweat, then telekinetically raised it up higher again. It lifted slowly while I spoke. ¡°This would be your last chance to give up. I suggest you take it.¡± He snarled at me, but I could see the fear in his eyes. I started a countdown. Each time I counted a number I sent an electric shock through his armor that made him convulse each time. ¡°Five.¡± Bzzzt. ¡°Four.¡± Bzzzt. ¡°Three.¡± Bzzzt. ¡°Two.¡± Bzzzt. ¡°Stop!¡± he hissed through gritted teeth. I cupped my hand to my ear. ¡°What was that? Not sure I heard you.¡± ¡°I yield!¡± he screamed. ¡°Don¡¯t kill me!¡± ¡°What¡¯s the magic word?¡± ¡°P-p-please don¡¯t kill me.¡± ¡°There now. That wasn¡¯t so hard, was it?¡± I said. Then I let the sword fall. Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t kill him. I reached out and grabbed its blade between two fingers to stop it inches before it pierced him between the eyes. ¡°You know, I think I¡¯m gonna hang onto this,¡± I said, tossing the sword up then catching it on one finger and balancing it there. ¡°As a memento of our time together.¡± That balancing bit was ad-libbed and I had to use telekinesis to hold it there, but who¡¯d know? The sword vanished as I stowed it in my inventory, then I released the electric ropes before I accidentally tased him to death. After that, I took a few bows to the crowd in the stands. First to Sigrid and the crew. Then to Achmed and Tiff¡¯s mixed gang. Then to Petal and the elves. Finally one long, deep bow to Akari, although with the women of the Gentlemen''s Club hooting and dancing a few rows up from her it could have looked like I was bowing to them; either way, let¡¯s see what people make of that. On a whim, and solely because I knew she¡¯d find it funny, I had that stupid cape appear around my shoulders before making that last bow to my mentor. It fluttered slightly in Annabelle''s added breeze. I had largely ignored the audience throughout the fight but it was impossible to do so now. They were going absolutely bananas. That made me happy. I was glad I managed to put on a good show. In the end, I revealed a bit more of my abilities than I¡¯d originally intended, but that was okay. A lot of what I¡¯d done wouldn¡¯t have even been noticed, such as the gravity control, power nullification, and poisoned blades, so I hadn¡¯t given away anything really important. Everyone would know now that I could use superspeed, and air walk, and telekinesis, and had affinities in both Water and Ice. And that I had Air too, if they knew the electric effects came from that affinity. And that I was pretty decent with a couple of knives. Oh, and I guess I gave away my abnormally high strength too. Some might suspect I had some kind of force shield, and possibly that my normal-looking clothes provided abnormal defense, and maybe they might¡¯ve seen that I used short-distance teleport. My ability to make things disappear as I put them into my inventory with a thought might also have made people wonder, but I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d done anything too spectacular. So yeah, I revealed a bit, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn''t that much. The one thing I was sure everyone now knew was that I could be a real a-hole when I got pissed off. I''d blown past confidence and landed hard on cockiness, but I''d try to rein that in going forward. A nice person doesn¡¯t do what I just did, only a total jerk shows off and humiliates someone like that. But you had to admit, he did have it coming. Annabelle stepped back to center stage. ¡°How about that, huh?¡± she boomed at the audience. ¡°I don¡¯t think anybody expected this turn of events.¡± She was totally lying, of course. Apart from me, there were two people who¡¯d expected exactly this: she and her sister. Annabelle¡¯s smile was saccharine sweet. ¡°Can I ask the other members of the Silver Sword to please come down to the arena floor? We have some business to take care of,¡± she cooed. All eyes turned to where Flint¡¯s comrades were seated together in the stands. They were in the area where Team Invictus and the others were and looked mortified as they stood up and made their way to the stairs under the mocking gaze of all those eyes. While we waited for them to come down Annabelle continued to work the crowd. I crouched beside Flint where he still lay clutching the wound in his abdomen as though his intestines would spill out if he didn¡¯t. I pulled out a potion and tried to pour it into his mouth, but he kept twisting his head away like I was trying to feed him cold pureed peas. ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby. You¡¯re gonna die if you don¡¯t drink this.¡± It was true. The poison was still in effect and his health was steadily ticking away. He must¡¯ve realized this too, because he removed one hand from his wound and snatched the potion from me. ¡°Gimme that,¡± he spat, then chugged it down. It wasn¡¯t an ordinary healing potion, it was one I¡¯d brewed that also had an antitoxin effect to counteract the poison. You¡¯re welcome, Flart. I stood up and started walking over to Annabelle when I heard a thump behind me, then laughter from the crowd. I turned to look and saw Flint now lying face down on the icy floor. He¡¯d slipped again when trying to get up and face planted without any help from me. He¡¯d managed to stand up by the time his comrades entered the arena, but seemed a bit wobbly standing there on the ice in his socks. I resisted the urge to give his feet another telkinetic tug, but only barely. ¡°The last order of business here is to complete the stakes of the match,¡± Annabelle said. I¡¯d already taken back one of the stolen knives, but they still owed me. The Silver Swordsmen who had my other knife and elven cloak came over and gave them back. I almost felt bad for him, but he was the one who''d hitched his wagon to the bully train. Actions have consequences. ¡°Terrific!¡± Annabelle said. ¡°The stolen items have been returned, so all that¡¯s left is for the Silver Sword to say bye bye to us all now. Forever.¡± A loud cheer erupted from the crowd. ¡°Bye bye!¡± Annabelle said, waving at the defeated mercenaries. ¡°Bye bye!¡± the audience screamed, and kept screaming it as the Silver Sword collected Flint¡¯s lost boots and quickly made their way out of the arena. To their credit, the humiliated mercs didn¡¯t try to welch on the agreement. Once they left the arena, they went directly through the Western gate and along the road they¡¯d traveled so often to the sea, where they got on the first ship sailing out. I know this because I had some elves secretly follow them to make sure. Take no chances. Chapter One Hundred and Twenty - Aftermath An unnamed observer enjoyed watching that A mysterious observer also had a good time Of course they¡¯d show up now. Never ones to miss a show, those observers. A curious observer is here too System: You have a Random Legendary Reward Box A curious observer pooled together with the others to give that reward ¡°Wow, thanks,¡± I said, sending it directly into my inventory, ¡°I¡¯ll open it later.¡± I very much wanted to see what was inside the reward box, but this was not the time. I was about to be mobbed. It took me a while to get off of the arena floor, let alone out of the arena building itself. A lot of people stormed from their seats and rushed down to join me. Team Maple Leaf were the first to arrive, but only because they used Byron¡¯s portal to get there directly from the stands, and Sigrid was the first of them to reach me. Before she had the chance to say anything I immediately pulled a bright blue flower the same color as her eyes from my inventory ¡ª I plan ahead ¡ª then held it out with both hands as I bowed deeply to her, bending low from the waist. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Please don¡¯t hit me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit,¡± Sigrid said, snatching the flower from me, ¡°I was pretty furious at you when the stakes were announced. A fight to the death-death? Seriously?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have done it if I wasn¡¯t a hundred percent sure I¡¯d win.¡± ¡°Yes, I can see that now," Sigrid said. "Watching this I realized how long it has been since I¡¯ve seen you fight. You¡¯ve changed. A lot. But still...dummy.¡± ¡°I guess you really haven¡¯t seen me fight since the Shadows attacked after we cleared the Nature Dungeon. Wow, that seems like forever ago.¡± ¡°Exactly. When I heard Andy¡¯s story about what happened that night you got shit-faced and went whoring I honestly didn¡¯t believe him, and I¡¯m sorry about that. I can see now that he was probably telling the truth.¡± ¡°I promise I won¡¯t do it again.¡± ¡°Better not.¡± She held the flower under her nose and sniffed. ¡°Oh that¡¯s nice.¡± ¡°Can I stop bowing now?¡± Sigrid didn¡¯t answer right away, so I lifted my head just a bit to take a peek. She had her arms folded across her chest and was staring at me so intently I could almost hear the staaaaaaaare. ¡°On one condition,¡± she said. ¡°Name it,¡± I said. Quite a crowd had formed around us so she leaned down and whispered in my ear so the others couldn¡¯t hear. ¡°Show me your Status.¡± ¡°What, now?¡± She nodded. ¡°Mmm hmm.¡± ¡°Well, okay. I guess.¡± I stood up straight again and opened my Status, then took a deep breath and shared it with Sigrid, making very sure it was only with Sigrid. It would suck donkey balls if I accidentally shared it with everyone, and that¡¯s just the sort of dumb thing I¡¯d do. ¡°Sweet Jesus,¡± she said. ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Jane said. ¡°I don¡¯t like when there are secrets I¡¯m not in on, especially between you two.¡± ¡°Oh, we¡¯ve got lots of secrets you don¡¯t even know about,¡± I said, waggling my eyebrows. ¡°Idiot. Sigrid, my bestie, you¡¯ll tell me, won¡¯t you?¡± Sigrid was still gazing blankly at the air in front of her. ¡°Don¡¯t bug me,¡± she mumbled distractedly. ¡°Fine,¡± Jane pouted. ¡°Be like that. Now then.¡± She stepped right up to me and held out her hand. ¡°Where¡¯s my flower, huh?¡± I didn¡¯t plan that far ahead. ¡°Would you settle for a monstrous sword? I happen to have one I don¡¯t need.¡± ¡°Pffffft. Idiot.¡± Jane jerked her thumb toward Sigrid, who was still standing there with glazed eyes working through my Status. ¡±Seriously, though, what¡¯s the deal with her?¡± I opened a telepathic link to Sigrid. Me: You need to stop now. Sigrid: But I¡¯m still reading your powers. I haven¡¯t even got to the skills yet. Me: It¡¯s taking too long. People are getting suspicious. Stop now and I¡¯ll show you the rest later. Sigrid: Fine. ¡°Well then,¡± Sigrid said, her eyes regaining focus. ¡°Where were we?¡± ¡°Bugger off, you¡¯ve had your turn,¡± Jane said, unnecessarily stepping between Sigrid and me. ¡°Anyway, congratulations Daniel. I had no idea you could do half of that stuff.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°I¡¯ve learned a few things since the Nature Dungeon,¡± I said, to which Sigrid snorted. ¡°You¡¯ve definitely been busy,¡± Arthur said, looking grumpy. ¡°More importantly,¡± Morgan said, reaching out and rubbing part of my cape between her fingers, ¡°what¡¯s with the snazzy new duds? No more Neo?¡± ¡°Figured it was time for a change. Like it?¡± Morgan nodded. ¡°You look really good.¡± Nina charged over and hugged me, then stepped back and squeezed my arm. ¡°Holly Hannah, when did you get so jacked?¡± ¡°Well if she gets to,¡± Morgan said, then dropped the cape and squeezed the other arm. ¡°Oh my.¡± ¡°Um, guys? You¡¯re making me suuuuper uncomfortable right now,¡± I said. Byron reached out to gently remove his wife¡¯s hand from my arm, then Morgan let go too, laughing. ¡°Apparently the new Daniel hasn¡¯t quite seeped all the way in yet,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I mean come on,¡± I said, rubbing my arm where she¡¯d just had her hand, ¡°that would¡¯ve made anybody uncomfortable.¡± ¡°Not me,¡± Andy said, and flexed his arms. ¡°Come have a feel of these pythons, ladies.¡± As the rest of Team Maple Leaf and the Round table added their congratulations I noticed for the first time that Chika and Kenji had been close beside me, gazing up at me with wide eyes. I looked down at them and said, ¡°So? How¡¯d I do?¡± Chika replied by giving me a big thumbs up, her single pointy tooth poking out over her bottom lip as she smiled. Kenji¡¯s reply was to give me a very brief but very tight hug. I ruffled his hair. Then the circle of people around me parted to let someone through. ¡°Yahello, Daniel,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°That was an impressive performance.¡± ¡°Thanks, Annabelle,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d expect nothing less than a good show from you.¡± ¡°My performance was nowhere near as good as yours. I¡¯m always amazed by how well you can work a crowd.¡± She gave a quick curtsy. ¡°I do enjoy my work.¡± Another flower appeared in my hand, a purple one this time. ¡°For you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s so sweet,¡± she said, taking it. ¡°Thank you, Daniel.¡± Jane, who had been pushed back by the others coming to congratulate me, shoved her way back to the front. ¡°Hey! How come she gets one?! And when did you two get so chummy?¡± Jane added, eyes narrowed with suspicion. ¡°She really hates being left out, doesn¡¯t she?¡± I said to Sigrid. ¡°More than anything,¡± Sigrid replied. ¡°Stop talking like I¡¯m not here!¡± Jane squealed. I heard Achmed¡¯s voice before I saw him. ¡°Daniel! Come on, let me through.¡± The crowd parted again, and my Legionnaire friend came up. ¡°Hey Achmed,¡± I said, bumping fists with him. ¡°That was awesome, dude,¡± Achmed said. ¡°I knew you¡¯d win, never doubted you for a moment.¡± ¡°I know. I heard the odds you were giving. You would¡¯ve been in big trouble if I¡¯d lost.¡± Achmed rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. ¡°You heard about that, huh?¡± I put my hand on his shoulder. This was the first time I¡¯d talked to him since the Cathedral. ¡°Hey, listen, I¡¯m really sorry. I heard about the guys who didn¡¯t come back.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°I think I still haven¡¯t quite accepted it yet, but thanks.¡± Annabelle ran her hand down his arm consolingly. ¡°I too am sorry for your loss, Achmed.¡± ¡°Hi Annabelle,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Thanks. Nice job out there too.¡± She accepted the compliment with a gracious nod. ¡±Why is everyone so chummy all of a sudden?¡± Jane said. I ignored her. ¡°Is that Tiff there too?¡± She¡¯d pushed her way in behind Achmed. ¡°Hello, Daniel. That was really impressive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I said, Tiff!¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Hey Annabelle,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Thanks Tiff,¡± I said. ¡°I heard you put your purse on the line for me too. I really appreciate that.¡± She looked at Achmed who raised his hands and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell him.¡± ¡°Dan-i-el!¡± a voice cried out, and Akari barged in. She came right up and gave me an affectionate bop on the top of my head. What was with all the women here hitting me all the time? ¡°I told you, didn¡¯t I? Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± ¡°Yes you did,¡± I said. A pink flower appeared and Akari snatched it from me before I even had the chance to offer it to her. ¡°Pretty,¡± she said, then snapped most of the stem off and tossed it away before sliding the flower part into her hair. ¡°Oh come on,¡± Jane said with a patented eye roll. I suddenly heard Sigrid¡¯s voice in my head. I¡¯d forgotten to close the telepathic connection. Sigrid: Daniel, isn¡¯t this that super-strong NPC who took down a dragon? Why is she here? Me: It was a Wyvern, and I¡¯ll explain later. Sigrid: You better. ¡°Does everyone here know Akari?¡± I said, putting my hand on the small of the pink-haired woman¡¯s back. ¡°I remember you,¡± Nina said. ¡°I¡¯m Nina.¡± ¡°Nina! I remember you too,¡± Akari said. ¡°You¡¯re the healer. It¡¯s nice to meet you properly. Daniel¡¯s told me all about you.¡± ¡°Oh has he?¡± Nina said, quirking an eyebrow at me. ¡°He¡¯s told me about most of you, I bet. Let¡¯s see. The man beside you must be your husband Byron. You¡¯re Sigrid, of course. That has to be Chika and her brother Kenji.¡± She went on to get most of the names of my friends right, saving one for last. ¡°And you are Jane. It¡¯s a pleasure.¡± Jane sighed. ¡°Thanks, it¡¯s nice to meet you too. But tell me, how do you know Daniel so well that he¡¯s had the chance to tell you about all of us? Just what is the nature of your relationship with him?¡± Akari laughed. ¡°Yup, you are definitely Jane.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story, Jane, but Akari here has been mentoring me a bit.¡± I decided not to discuss Annabelle¡¯s role in everything. She wasn¡¯t saying anything about it and neither was Akari, so I figured I should leave her out of it for now. Sigrid: How is this the first I¡¯ve heard of this? Me: Um, would you believe I was saving it for a surprise? Sigrid: What else aren¡¯t you telling me about? Me: Um... "He should be calling me Master, by rights," Akari said. ¡°I see,¡± Jane said, but the look on her face told me I had some ¡®splaining to do. ¡°I was wondering what girl¡¯s gotta do to get a flower.¡± Me: Sorry, I have to deal with Jane or we¡¯ll never hear the end of it. Sigrid: We shall be discussing this later. "So needy," I mumbled, then pointed at the dirt floor of the arena. Everyone looked down to see a tiny green seedling poking up from it. Leaves sprouted as a stem rose quickly like we were viewing it grow through time-lapse photography, then a bud appeared which rapidly blossomed into a bright red flower. I knelt down on one knee and picked it, then still kneeling I held it up for Jane. ¡°Will this do, m¡¯lady?¡± Jane stood there blinking at me for a few moments, then tentatively reached out and took it. I stood up and brushed my hands together even though there was no dirt to dust off. ¡°Show off,¡± Jane said, but she was smiling. ¡°Guess it pays to be the squeaky wheel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t encourage her, you know.¡± That¡¯s when someone new poked her way through the crowd, catching more attention than even Akari got. ¡°Hi Kiki,¡± I said. Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-One - Sleepover? I¡¯d be hard-pressed to imagine anyone looking more uncomfortable than Kiki did as she stood there surrounded by people she¡¯d done multiple things to antagonize and who looked at her with a mixture of surprise, animosity, and amusement. Sigrid: What the hell is she doing here? Me: Tell you that later too. Kiki shuffled her weight back and forth between her feet, her eyes darting everywhere but at me before stopping to focus on a spot on the ground between us. ¡°So, um, listen,¡± Kiki said. ¡°I just wanted to say good job and, you know. Thanks.¡± Sigrid: Thanks? Thanks for what? Who is this person and what have they done with the real Kiki? Me: Quiet, you. ¡°Thanks, Kiki. And you¡¯re welcome. Thank you for coming to watch.¡± There was complete silence around us, everyone wondering like Sigrid what the hell was going on. Everyone but Jane, who was the only one who knew about Kiki¡¯s role in the duel, and had a smuggish look on her face that I translated into her being happy that she and I had secrets too. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Kiki suddenly looked up from the spot on the floor and glared at me. ¡°Yeah, well, don¡¯t go getting used to it or anything,¡± she snapped. And with that she spun and hurried away. ¡°At long last, that freak¡¯s true tsundere nature is exposed,¡± Chika said, then covered her brother¡¯s eyes with her hand as he gazed after Kiki with open infatuation. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that word a few times before,¡± Jane said. ¡°What does it mean?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Andy said, joining in my sport of ignoring Jane. ¡°I think that about caps the can-things-get-any-weirder part of today¡¯s show. I don¡¯t see how we¡¯re gonna beat that so I think I¡¯m gonna head to the tavern. Anyone wanna come with?¡± Most of the people there hopped on Andy¡¯s bandwagon and started moving away. Annabelle also said her goodbyes, and Achmed and Tiff excused themselves saying there were a few people who¡¯d bet on me they needed to pay out, but just a few. I had the feeling neither of their teams would be hurting for gold for the foreseeable future. ¡°Danny, you coming?¡± Andy said. ¡°Thanks Andy, but I think I¡¯ll pass.¡± ¡°Aw, come on. One drink?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still suffering from PTSD from the last time I went to a tavern with you, and honestly, I¡¯ve had my fill of crowds for the night. All I wanna do is go crash.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± Andy said, laughing. ¡°You¡¯ve earned the right to do whatever the fuck you want, brother.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna escort Daniel home to make sure he doesn¡¯t go off and get into more trouble,¡± Sigrid said. Andy seemed disappointed by that, but I knew Andy. He¡¯d get over it soon enough. ¡°Hey!¡± Jane said. ¡°Is someone gonna tell me what a sun day ray or whatever is? Daniel?¡± ¡°So, Daniel,¡± Akari said, standing beside me and hooking her arm in mine. ¡°We¡¯re still on for training again tomorrow, right?¡± ¡°For sure,¡± I said. ¡°Terrific. Now that this distraction is over, I want to move on to larger groups.¡± Morgan raised her hand. ¡°Excuse me? Miss Akari? ¡°Yes Morgan?¡± ¡°What do you mean by moving into larger groups?¡± ¡°I mean fighting against groups larger than twenty.¡± ¡°Oh, so you mean team versus team.¡± ¡°No, I mean fighting twenty or more opponents at the same time. He¡¯s been complaining that ten is too easy, so that must mean he should be able to take on twenty, right?¡± ¡°So just him alone against twenty, then,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I see.¡± Akari must have seen the looks on everyone¡¯s faces and realized that between what they¡¯d just witnessed in the arena and what she¡¯d just said, they were all feeling a little inadequate. She swallowed hard and hurriedly said, ¡°Although honestly the opponents we¡¯ve been practicing with are total weaklings so I said to him, I don¡¯t think that should even count as ten, it¡¯s more like eight.¡± When that didn¡¯t seem to make anybody feel better she kept rambling. ¡°Not even eight, really, more like five. Or maybe even just three. But then, you know, I¡¯m a pushover so I caved and let him think it counted as ten. You know how he gets.¡± What was she even talking about? Akari was the exact opposite of a pushover, and I don¡¯t remember ever having that conversation. ¡°Actually no,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jane said. ¡°Please enlighten us. How does he get?¡± Akari swallowed hard again. ¡°Uh, you know. All whiny and complainy and stuff.¡± Morgan and Jane both rolled their eyes. ¡°Oh, you mean that,¡± Morgan said, then gave a little laugh. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Yes, sorry,¡± Jane said, ¡°we totally thought you meant something else.¡± Akari exhaled a deep breath. ¡°So yeah. Practice, practice, practice.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what was happening but I knew it was time to cut it off before Akari dug us both a hole too deep to clamber out of. ¡°Sounds good, Akari,¡± I said, pulling my arm free from her grip. I put my hand on her back again and gave her a gentle nudge toward the exit. ¡°Thanks for coming to watch.¡± Akari didn¡¯t budge. She just barked one of her monosyllabic laughs. ¡°Ha! Like I¡¯d miss it, dummy,¡± she said, bopping me on the head again. ¡°Right, I¡¯m off. Bye all.¡± Then, with a slight bend of the knees she sprang up into the air. ¡°I suppose this means you know how to fly now too,¡± Morgan said as we all watched her soar away, shrinking down until she was nothing but a speck of pink in the sky before vanishing from sight altogether. ¡°All I know is this is all thanks to you. All of this, Morgan. It¡¯s all thanks to you and your potion. If anyone deserves a flower it would be you.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± she said. ¡°Well, not really, but that¡¯s nice of you to say, anyway.¡± Morgan really did look cute when she blushed. Jane heaved a long, dramatic sigh. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d miss that socially inept dweeb who begged me to join his team because he was too lame to talk to other people and clammed up like an awkward sixth-grader when he had to talk to a girl, but at least he paid attention to me.¡± ¡°Did I not just grow a flower for you out of absolutely nothing?¡± I said. ¡°Hurumph,¡± Jane said, folding her arms and looking away. I looped Jane into the telepathic conversation with Sigrid. Me: Jane, you wanna come with Sigrid and me? Jane: Is that okay? You sure I won¡¯t be getting in the way of all your stupid secrets? Sigrid: Are you gonna show her too?If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Jane: Show me what? Me: Remember before when Sigrid was all zoned out? Jane: Yeah, so? Me: You tell her, Sigrid. Sigrid: I was looking at his Status but someone was such a busybody I never got to see it all. Jane: He showed you? That is so not fair! Me: So do you wanna come see my Status with her or not? Jane: I¡¯m coming! Sigrid: That''s what he said. There were still a lot of people milling about when I finally stepped out into the town square courtyard. I caught my name in the air from several voices, and as we headed toward the teleportation circle I noticed a change in how people looked at me compared to how they were before the duel with Flint. Those who hated me only hated me more ¡ª Troy was there with all his buddies glowering at me ¡ª but a lot of people started nodding to me when they saw me. Not in a familiar way, more like, I don¡¯t know, like they were afraid maybe? Or confused? I don¡¯t know, nobody had ever looked at me like that before so I wasn¡¯t sure what it meant. The moment we appeared in the elf village¡¯s affinity ring, Jane turned to me. ¡°Lemme see! Open it up, I wanna see!¡± ¡°Can you at least wait until we get to my place?¡± ¡°Fiiiine,¡± Jane pouted. A few minutes later, I was boiling some water for tea while Sigrid and Jane scrutinized my Status. ¡°Holy crapola, Daniel, this shizznit is the bizzle,¡± Jane said. ¡°You do know if I said something like that you¡¯d be on my case like the guillotine on a French noble,¡± I said, scooping a precise measure of aromatic dried leaves into a tea ball. ¡°Weirdest metaphor ever, but probably true,¡± Jane said. ¡°But I¡¯m not you. I can pull off shizzle like that. Hey, this Holtzmann Effect thing, You used that in the fight, right?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°I was wondering why his sword never seemed to cut you. You used Synthesis to make all these powers? Can¡¯t you just copy one when you want it?¡± ¡°Sure, but I can only copy three powers at a time, and the copied powers are exactly the same as the original.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Jane said. ¡°Using Synthesis, I can blend multiple abilities together to create an entirely new power, or modify an existing power. Like how I created It¡¯s All In Your Head as an improved version of Arthur¡¯s telepathy by adding in Kenji¡¯s heightened senses, so now in addition to telepathic communication I can also share sensory data, like seeing through the other person¡¯s eyes.¡± ¡°Really? Show me,¡± Jane said. ¡°I want to see myself through your eyes.¡± ¡°You are literally the worst, Jane,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But show me too.¡± I linked the three of us telepathically, then shared my vision with them. ¡°Holy shitballs,¡± Jane said, ¡°that is frrrrrreaky. I do look good though.¡± Sigrid squeezed her eyes shut. ¡°Nope. Don¡¯t want.¡± I cut her out of the link. ¡°Oh!¡± Jane said, jumping to her feet and spinning around. ¡°I wanna see how I look from the back. Hmmm, enjoy this Daniel. It¡¯s your one and only chance to stare at my ass. With my permission, I mean.¡± ¡°Seen enough?¡± I said, watching Jane fondle her own butt. ¡°I suppose,¡± she said, and I shut the link so she could see where to sit back down through her own eyes. ¡°You know, it¡¯s like having the perfect mirror.¡± She had better not ask me to do this all the time so she can use me as a mirror to check herself out. I did not create this power just to indulge her narcissism. ¡°This reminds me,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Is Arthur¡¯s telepathy power only for communication, or can he read our minds too?¡± ¡°Just communication,¡± I said. ¡°Thank God,¡± Jane said, making me wonder what thoughts she would rather keep from Arthur. Or maybe it was me she wanted to hide them from, but that wouldn¡¯t make any sense. Either way, I probably shouldn¡¯t draw attention to the Illithid Probe power I made which actually did let me read surface thoughts, but it was flaky and unreliable and cost massive mana so I¡¯d never used it after testing it out. ¡°Jane, nobody needs telepathy to know what you¡¯re thinking, you willingly share it all the time whether we want to know or not,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And unless you¡¯re on stage or in front of a camera, or if you happen to not be talking at the time, which the rest of us call eating, your face is an open book.¡± ¡°Yeah? Then what am I thinking now?¡± Jane said, scowling, to which Sigrid laughed and went back to scrutinizing my Status. ¡°My friends suck,¡± Jane said. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°I represent that remark.¡± ¡°This I Hate Surprises power,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That¡¯s my danger sense with a different name.¡± ¡°It¡¯s almost the same. I also blended it with Kenji¡¯s heightened senses when I synthesized the power and it expanded the range.¡± ¡°Ah, I get it. That¡¯s cool,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Some powers, like your danger sense, I had to synthesize. Most powers are active, meaning you have to consciously trigger them, but danger sense is different. It¡¯s passive, always on. I¡¯d need to keep it copied at all times for it to be useful, but that would use up one of my three copy slots.¡± ¡°Does this thing ever end?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Holy hell, look at the skills! Is there anything you don¡¯t know how to do?¡± ¡°Shit buckets,¡± Jane said. ¡°I am so glad you¡¯re on our side.¡± ¡°Why Jane,¡± I said, bringing the tea things over to the table, ¡°I think that¡¯s the nicest thing you¡¯ve ever said to me.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, thank you,¡± Jane said, doing a tone-perfect imitation of Kiki¡¯s sweet little lamb moment at the arena, then switched to the Kiki we were used to. ¡°Just don¡¯t go getting used to it or anything.¡± ¡°See? You already know what a tsundere is,¡± I said, then explained the term. ¡°Thank you!¡± Jane said, throwing her hands up. ¡°Finally. Seriously, though, you need to watch that chick. She¡¯s loco.¡± ¡°She¡¯s just doing her best in a loco situation,¡± I said. ¡°A lot of people started off like her, thinking this was like a video game where normal societal rules are largely ignored.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re making excuses for her,¡± Jane said. ¡°You do remember she kidnapped me, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, but she wasn''t really serious about that. Did she hurt you?¡± I said. ¡°Only my pride, I suppose. But why does that matter? She. Kidnapped. Me,¡± Jane said, tapping her finger on the table to emphasize the staccato last words. ¡°She also killed you once, almost twice.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, of course,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯s a piece of work and if we were still back on Earth should probably be locked up. But she''s far from the most sociopathic person here and I don¡¯t believe anyone is totally unredeemable. I think we just saw the birth of a new Kiki.¡± ¡°You may be right,¡± Jane said. ¡°Now, how about you start telling us about how you got so chummy with those other women. You got a thing for brightly-colored hair?¡± I sat with them for a while, drinking tea and telling them a glossed-over version of my adventure with Annabelle in the Cathedral, and how Akari came late to the party but saw some of what I did and offered to train with me. Jane seemed placated, but I didn''t need to be able to read minds to know that Sigrid was pissed I''d kept so much from her. I was just wrapping up the story when I felt a vibration in my pocket. It surprised me to feel it so late in the evening, Ruka usually gave me more warning of an impending visit. Feeling a bit guilty about it, I nonetheless told Sigrid and Jane I needed to crash and it was time for them to go home. ¡°Why don¡¯t I spend the night here?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯ll just be back in the morning to wake you up anyway.¡± ¡°Hey, if she gets to stay I¡¯m staying too,¡± Jane said. She really did hate being left out. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯ll join us for a sunrise workout?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°That depends on what kind of workout you¡¯re talking about,¡± Jane replied with a wink. ¡°Really?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯ve asked you lots of times and now you want to do a threesome?¡± Jane laughed. ¡°Dream on. Some people don¡¯t like to share.¡± I didn¡¯t have time to let them keep joking around. ¡°Maybe another night,¡± I said. ¡°Something tells me you two would find some way to be bothersome and keep me up.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± Jane said. ¡°Slumber party at Daniel¡¯s. I¡¯m gonna make you keep that promise.¡± ¡°When did the word maybe come to indicate a promise?¡± I said. It took a few more minutes of barely controlled panic at the thought that a demon succubus could show up at any moment while they were still there, but I finally managed to send Sigrid and Jane home. When there was a knock on the door less than a minute after they departed, I knew Ruka must have been waiting outside for them to leave. ¡°Sorry about that,¡± I said after I let her in. ¡°I thought they¡¯d never leave,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re a popular guy.¡± ¡°If only. This is late for a visit, Ruka. Is something wrong?¡± ¡°Is it wrong to want to congratulate my friend for his stunning victory?¡± ¡°You saw the fight tonight then?¡± ¡°Alas, no,¡± she said, flicking one of her horns. ¡°For some reason my kind don¡¯t tend to feel completely comfortable being in a place surrounded by hundreds of your people.¡± ¡°I can see that.¡± ¡°I did hear all about it, though. A blow by blow report. Very impressive, Daniel. It inspired me to make a spontaneous visit.¡± ¡°Thank you, I appreciate the gesture. Was that all or did you plan to stay a while?¡± ¡°I can''t tell if you''re kicking me out or inviting me to spend the night. A sleepover sounds like fun.¡± I laughed, wondering if that was a coincidence or had she been listening in to my conversation with Sigrid and Jane. ¡°You just can¡¯t resist, can you? You¡¯re lucky I know you¡¯re joking.¡± ¡°Old habits die hard,¡± she said. ¡°But who said I was joking?¡± ¡°You¡¯re incorrigible.¡± ¡°I thought you believed everyone was redeemable,¡± she said. ¡°And before you chastise me for listening in, I wasn¡¯t. I just happened to hear bits and pieces when I came to knock on the door. I went and hid in the bushes like a common burglar waiting for them to leave. But what I really want to know is: what¡¯s the real story behind you and this Kiki person?¡± ¡°I¡¯d better go make some tea. This is a bit of an epic tale.¡± ¡°Ohhh, I¡¯m all tingly with anticipation.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two - Dungeon crawl After I told Ruka the tale of Kiki, and after she¡¯d stopped howling with laughter, she ended up staying very late that night. I know what you¡¯re thinking but there was no sleepover. All we did was talk for hours, and eventually we both agreed she should probably leave so I could grab a bit of sleep before Sigrid came to wake me up. I¡¯d gotten to know a number of named NPCs quite well. I¡¯d spent hours around Alice, Petal, Shashu, and Shannon, among others, and I had a pretty good sense of what they were like. They were virtually indistinguishable from real people, with a few key differences. Most importantly, they had a strong set of blinders on when it came to the game aspects of this place, and they had a strong set of unwavering personal beliefs that I suspected were programmed into them; they were capable of growth and change, but their core traits seemed unshakable, hard-coded. Like me and the other Players, they were all playing by a set of rules. They were different rules, no doubt, but there were things they could and could not do. Having spent a lot of time with Annabelle and Akari, I¡¯d discovered several ways that they were different from normal NPCs, even named ones. I had even started to believe that they were not actually NPCs at all. They weren¡¯t human, but they also weren¡¯t whatever Stratos was. Occasionally I¡¯d get the feeling that they would like to come clean and tell me who they really were. Sometimes it felt like they were toying with me, dropping hints, or even forgetting themselves and accidentally letting something slip, but it also felt like they had rules they had to follow, too. The other NPC I''d spent a lot of time around was Daruka, and by this point I was certain that she was the same as the sisters, whatever they were. What I couldn¡¯t figure out was why all three of them seemed to have taken a particular interest in me. The sisters seemed determined to make me stronger, whereas Ruka...she just seemed to like me. Whatever her ulterior motives were, and I was sure she had some, she kept them well hidden. The only thing I knew was that even though she was a demon ¡ª or playing the role of one ¡ª those motives did not involve causing me harm. It was possible I was wrong and the succubus had been playing me since day one, but I chose to believe that whatever she was and whatever she was doing with me, the friendship we shared was genuine. I was in for a world of hurt if I was wrong, but I really didn¡¯t think that I was. The biggest problem with my relationships with all three of these mysterious people was that I was keeping it a secret from the other people who were important to me, namely Sigrid. Someday soon I''d have to come clean. Just not quite yet. In the days following my duel with Flint things went back to normal: waking up and exercising with Sigrid, training with the sisters, all that fun stuff. The first stretch of time I had to myself, I pulled out the Legendary Gift Box the observers had given me after the fight. Now that I was brimming with abilities these reward boxes didn''t spark the same excitement they once did, but this was a Legendary one. Who knew what could be in it? I pulled on the bow and the box sprang open with the now-familiar poof of virtual confetti. Inside, there was an egg. It was big, about the size of a garden gnome, and its white shell had a strange silvery sheen to it.
Legendary Egg Entire kingdoms have been won and lost in efforts to acquire one of these rare objects. What hatches from it is entirely dependent upon its owner. Powers: Sit On It - Hatch a legendary creature
Well, that was interesting. What counts as a legendary creature around here? A dragon popped to mind, but that seemed like wishful thinking. Maybe a giant flying turtle? A multi-tailed fox? Or would I get screwed and a baby shoggoth would pop out of the egg? Did I actually have to sit on it to make it hatch? Feed it mana? What would happen if I charged it with affinity energy? I had no idea how it worked, but I knew someone who might. "Whatcha got there?" Annabelle said when I showed her the egg. When she got a better look at it her eyes widened with interest. "Oh, is that a legendary egg?" "You know anything about them?" I said. "Not a thing, apart from that they''re legendary." "Gee, thanks. So no clue what kind of creature might come out, or how to make it happen, or if I can influence what appears?" "Nope. Not an electronic sausage," she said. We spent some time scouring her library for any mention of legendary eggs, and I sent instructions to the doppels to search Daedalus'' books as well, but we found nothing about it anywhere. In the end, we decided to have some fun and create a special incubator for it. It kept the egg comfortably warm and swirled affinity energy around it. All affinities. We had no idea if it would do anything, but I''d learned that the game often rewarded creative ideas and initiative so I was hopeful that something unique and interesting would come of it. Even if it didn''t, it was worth the try, and it was always fun artificing things with Annabelle. I set the incubator up in a tree house on the outskirts of the elf village with some elven midwives assigned to keep an eye on it, and I pretty much forgot about it because before I knew it the day of Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table¡¯s raid on the Shadow Dungeon came. Sigrid hadn¡¯t mentioned to anyone that she¡¯d told me about their previous attempt, but she still kept me up to date on things in secret. She didn¡¯t have to, my elven spies knew all. It meant a lot to me that Sigrid wanted to be open and transparent with me, and it made me feel even more guilty that I wasn¡¯t telling her everything. Sigrid had suggested to the team my idea of sending Kenji in to scout alone, claiming it as her own, of course, but it got shot down. Even though the boy himself was keen to do it, there were too many of them too squeamish to send him in all alone like that. She didn¡¯t say it outright, but she dropped enough hints that I strongly suspected she believed Arthur¡¯s real reason for not wanting Kenji to scout the dungeon was because he knew it was actually my idea. That made me wonder what Arthur had done to make her think that, surely he wasn¡¯t petty like that. Perhaps it had something to do with Jane. I wasn¡¯t about to ask, though. I don¡¯t like to pry. The team¡¯s quick dismissal of the scouting idea did make me start to wonder about Morgan¡¯s strategies, though, and whether she was using everyone to their full potential. If they understood what Kenji was truly capable of I¡¯m sure they wouldn¡¯t have been so quick to shoot it down. I had seen him in the labyrinth and I knew firsthand how powerful his abilities were ¡ª there were good enough that I had synthesized all of them into my own powers ¡ª but perhaps Morgan was underutilizing him through over-caution, afraid to put a 14 year-old into harm¡¯s way. I could understand that, but I was a high school teacher, mostly, and I knew that kids his age were far more capable than people gave them credit for, and Kenji was far more capable than most. But, as they had made abundantly clear, it wasn¡¯t my problem. I made sure I wasn¡¯t in the elf village when they set off, in case they chose to go through it on the way to the swamp. It was the most direct route. The fact that I hadn¡¯t heard about them doing that on their first exploratory raid told me that they had skirted around the elves and taken the long way to get to the swamp. I couldn¡¯t think of any logical reason for this except that they didn¡¯t want me to find out what they were doing. Sigrid hadn¡¯t mentioned that part to me. I guess she knew it would only upset me more, and she would have been right. I had holed myself up in the labyrinth with Alice, trying ¨C unsuccessfully ¨C to come up with a version of Byron¡¯s portal that could be opened beyond where I could see at that moment. I felt like I was missing something, some special insight into the magic (or whatever) behind the portal effect. I could tell it was associated with Void somehow, but I didn¡¯t have enough expertise with Void to make sense of it. It also didn¡¯t help that I was finding it impossible to concentrate. I was trying ¨C also unsuccessfully ¡ª not to think about how they were at that exact moment raiding the Shadow Dungeon, and how I was not there with them because they didn¡¯t want me there. It was all I could think about. I needed to do something that would take my mind off it. Akari¡¯s first rule of strength was her idea that you must be able to punch above your weight, and keep punching, until you meet someone you can¡¯t beat. Then you work at it, practicing until you can, and after that you keep punching up until you meet someone else you can¡¯t beat. Rinse and repeat.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The only way she knew to get there is through grueling practice. Practice, practice, practice. She called it the Training Treadmill, although she said she did hear it also referred to as the Cultivation Cudgel. That name seemed a bit clunky to me and had all the signs of being poorly translated from another language, so it likely sounded more poetic in the original tongue. Annabelle had a similar opinion about constantly challenging stronger opponents, but she approached it from a slightly different angle. Annabelle wasn¡¯t so much about practice as she was all about experimentation and risk. Keep sticking your neck out and attempting different things until something works. However they chose to approach it, they had turned me into a believer. Pushing myself to tackle problems that were too hard for me to overcome and sticking with them until they became easy to beat, I believed that would be the key to winning the game. So yeah. I had fully bought into running on the treadmill (or constantly smacking myself over the head with the cudgel) and seeking bigger challenges, like beating Flint. Getting stronger was a game unto itself, and since I started working with the sisters things had become exponentially more fun. Look at where I was. I was living the ultimate game and I had somehow lucked into the world¡¯s biggest cheat code. I couldn¡¯t deny it anymore: I was really enjoying my life on Crucible. I didn¡¯t even care that whenever someone says something like that it¡¯s guaranteed to trigger flags. It was by triggering flags like Ruka, Annabelle, and Akari that my life had become something I actually wanted to live. So I say bring it on. And that was how I found myself doing something exceptionally crazy. Gob-smackingly insane. I¡¯d had this idea tickling my brain for a while but I¡¯d kept putting it aside because it seemed ludicrous. A challenge far too big and terrifying to tackle. At that moment, however, as my friends were raiding a dungeon without me, I felt like crazy was exactly what I needed. And, as an added bonus, it might help shed some light on the portal problem. You might see where this is going already. When I finally made the decision to follow Annabelle¡¯s approach of experimentation and risk, I slammed both my hands on the workbench Alice and I were working at. The suddenness of it startled her. ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t need them either.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Alice said. ¡°Never mind. We¡¯re done here, I¡¯m gonna go do something else.¡± ¡°What will you do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna figure out what the deal is with the Void Dungeon.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Alice said. ¡°That¡¯s nice. What¡¯s that?¡± Right. Gotta put it in NPC terms. ¡°It¡¯s under the Black Altar.¡± I figured she might¡¯ve known what that was, it was in the adjacent hex, after all. ¡°Ohhhhh,¡± she said. Nope, she didn¡¯t have a clue. As immensely competent as Alice and the doppels were, they were ultimately still monsters born in a dungeon. That was okay. I made a mental note to educate them more about the world outside the labyrinth. Later. ¡°First,¡± I said, ¡°I need to spend a little time with an Artifice forge.¡± And that¡¯s how, a few hours hours later, I found myself at the Black Altar. Doing this alone was really stupid, I knew that. Maybe I¡¯d just go in and test my idea, then come right back out. Yeah right, where had I heard that before? I¡¯m pretty sure someone, somewhere, would be appalled that I used an Artifice forge to create a set of clothing, but I didn¡¯t have time to see a tailor. Besides, I¡¯d done it before when Annabelle helped me make my new adventuring outfit. It was probably stretching it a bit to call what I made in preparation for my foray into the Void Dungeon a set of clothing, it was more like a cross between a skin-tight hazmat suit and a failed attempt at a Blue Man Group costume. I needed something that would cover my whole body, top to toes, with no gaps anywhere. I ended up pulling fresh from the forge a one-piece black outfit, with a head-covering hood and built-in boots, gloves, and a smooth mask that covered the whole face, all flat black. I didn¡¯t want to have to put a zipper in it ¨C that would¡¯ve ruined the sleek aesthetics and may have created unwanted gaps ¨C so it ended up being fully enclosed. The only way to put it on was by donning it directly from my inventory. The powers I then added to it included some I¡¯d already synthesized, the most important of which was a power that was nearly as hard to create as the razor floss: Affinity Form. It was based on the Affinity Armor power that shrouded you in an element, but I¡¯d turned it into something that could actually transmogrify me into a living form of that element. It was the difference between, say, being covered in fire and actually becoming fire. Affinity Form also had the Synthesis power itself synthesized into so I could become a blend of more than one element at a time, just in case. The only way I was able to enchant such a potent ability onto the suit was by restricting it so that only someone who had the Good At Everything gift could use it. It was a bit of a cheat because the ability was so rare, possibly even unique, that no other restrictions were needed. It also meant that nobody but me could use that power on the suit, not that anyone else would be able to get into the suit anyway. I built a few sensory enhancements into the mask and cowl, cause you never know, and the last power I added was one that I had to make specially for the suit. It was based on the elven cloak¡¯s ability to blend in with the Green, aka Nature. I synthesized it with Good At Everything, Affinity Control, and the Synthesize power itself. The result was camouflage that worked in nearly any environment. I put affinity restrictions on all those powers as well, not because I technically had to, but because I was in a rush and wanted to use as little mana as possible to enchant them onto the suit. I had stuff to do.
Second Skin This one-piece suit offers the wearer unique elemental protection and camouflage. Powers: Affinity Form - Transform into a living element; Requires Good At Everything Blend In Anywhere ¨C Camouflage; Requires Adept Affinity with Nature I Feel A Lot Closer To You Now ¨C Telescopic vision; Requires Adept Affinity with Light See It Hot Hot Hot ¨C Thermal vision; Requires Adept Affinity with Fire Speak Up, Sonny ¨C Super hearing; Requires Adept Affinity with Air
If I was right, if I turned myself into living Void it would make me almost undetectable inside the Void Dungeon. Probably. Maybe. I mean, Void was all there was in there, apart from the horrifying monsters of course, so theoretically I should just blend right into the nonexistent scenery. Hopefully. Just to make sure, I cranked every stealth ability I had up to eleven. My plan was to see if I could slip through the dungeon under the radar of the Shoggoth guardian, and any other nasty creature that might be lurking around, thereby avoiding fights I had zero chance of winning. If I¡¯d had anything else that was voidy I would have been using it too. This dungeon scared the willies out of me, so I¡¯d have guzzled any snake oil you gave me if you told me it would help me get through it. It was an audacious gamble, sure ¡ª rash, reckless, impulsive, and totally irresponsible too ¡ª but at that particular moment prudency was not top of mind. I briefly thought about inviting Akari and Annabelle to come with me, but I can¡¯t stand adventures where OP NPCs are required to make it through. This was something I had to do myself. Besides, I only had the one Second Skin suit. Okay, Void Key? Check. Second Skin? Check. Sneaky skills? Check. Right. Let¡¯s do this. I turned myself into Void. Whoah. That felt weeeeeird. I looked down at my body and saw nothing but that ethereal blackness of the Void with faint colors swirling all over me like oil on water. Only one way to see if it would work. I took a deep breath, even though being pure Void I didn¡¯t need to breathe, and stepped inside the dungeon. It was just as I had remembered, the same chill as I passed through the gate, the same endless space stretching on forever in all directions, the same swirling mist around my feet. Only this time I didn¡¯t have Jane¡¯s strength beside me. This camouflage had better work. I froze as soon as I had passed all the way through the gate. I stayed very still for a while, waiting to see if anything came at me. Nothing did. So far so good. I took a tentative step. Nothing. A few more steps. Nothing. I started stalking in a slow, creeping tiptoe toward the tower far off in the distance, the only landmark around apart from the dungeon entrance¡¯s square pillar of black that stretched endlessly upward behind me. Still nothing. So I kept walking. This was nice. Sure. A nice, leisurely, terrifying stroll through the worst place ever. The level of the mist swirling around my legs rose and fell, sometimes down by my ankles, sometimes almost to my waist. I couldn¡¯t tell if the ground below me was dipping or if it was the mist itself swelling and sinking, so I tried not to think about it, especially during those times when more and more of my legs disappeared below its surface. I just kept walking. Then I felt it. Something brushed against my leg, just under the surface of the strange swirling fog. I froze. I looked down. The mist was up to my waist, lots of room down there for an unwelcome guest. Then again, wasn¡¯t I the unwelcome one? Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three - Appearances can be deceiving Did I imagine it? Then I felt it again. Something slithered against my calf, something long, dragging against my leg with an audible, soft scraping swish. Nope, I definitely did not imagine that. Something had found me. The sensation vanished, but I didn¡¯t dare move. Every hair on my body stood on end, tingling. I had been using heightened senses the whole time to search for any sign of someone or something else there in the mist with me, but I hadn¡¯t detected anything and as I stood there frozen in mid-step, there was still nothing. Just a still, endless quiet. I waited, then I waited some more, but I saw and heard nothing and didn¡¯t feel it against my leg again. Perhaps whatever it was that had brushed against me had decided it was a false alarm and moved on. Yeah, let¡¯s go with that. I started walking again, now focusing my senses down in search of anything that might be lurking under the mist, and I noticed a flaw in my nobody can see me in the void if I¡¯m made of void plan. As I moved, the motion stirred up little eddies in the mist. Could that be how I¡¯d been found? It was too risky to continue on like this. Fortunately, I had options. I was the human Swiss army knife, remember? Akari¡¯s ability to fly was absolutely something I wanted and I¡¯d synthesized a custom version that included telekinesis. Akari¡¯s one complaint about her power was that she wished she could be more manouverable. The telekinesis added a little push that made me able to dodge better and stop faster mid-air. I turned it on and ever so slowly lifted myself up above the surface of the mist, then hovered there for a while to see if I¡¯d drawn any attention from the unknown denizens of the void. Didn¡¯t seem like it. I started flying toward the tower. Nothing. And flying. Still nothing. More flying, more nothing. And more flying. And more. Was it just me or was I not getting any closer to that tower? I looked behind me. The black pillar of the entrance was there, about as far away as you¡¯d expect for the amount I¡¯d traveled so far. I looked back at the tower. Just how far was it? I was reluctant to ping the tower with radar, not knowing if that would alert the things in the fog. There had to be another way. A-ha. I held my hand up in front of me, thinking I could gague how tall the tower appeared by measuring it against my finger, then compare it to another reading I¡¯d take after I¡¯d flown some more to see if it had grown larger as I got closer, but my finger just blended in with the void. I didn¡¯t dare bring anything out of my inventory to use a measuring stick either, that would defeat the whole purpose of this experiment. Then I had an idea. Whenever I opened my Status it always appeared in the same place in my field of vision, so I could use it as an even more accurate measuring tool than my finger would¡¯ve been. Plus, the Status screen was not physically there, I was pretty sure it was a virtual thing superimposed over what I was actually seeing, so it probably shouldn¡¯t catch anything¡¯s attention. I hoped. So I opened it and moved my head until I lined up the bottom of the tower with the bottom of the word Void in my list of affinities. The top of the tower was lined up with the top of the word Shadow. There. I had a convenient benchmark to measure against. It was clumsy, but it¡¯d do. I made a mental note to synthesize a range-finder power. Later. Right. Let¡¯s keep going. I maintained a slow, steady, speed as I glided soundlessly forward. Always looking, always listening, always expecting something to suddenly squirm up through the mist to grab me and drag me down. But there was nothing. I used the clock I¡¯d convinced System to create to time myself, and went on for another twenty minutes before stopping again. Still nothing else appeared, but the tower¡¯s height on my Status hadn¡¯t changed, not even a bit. I was no closer now than I¡¯d been twenty minutes earlier. Unless the tower was so tall, and so far away, that I still hadn¡¯t come far enough to make a noticeable difference. My kingdom for a range-finder ability. If it really was that far then I needed a new plan. It could¡¯ve taken me hours, if not days to reach it. For all I knew I could¡¯ve flown forever and not gotten any closer. Stupid Void. I hovered for a while to take stock of my situation. My travels had taken me visibly away from the entrance, but hadn¡¯t brought me any noticeably closer to the tower. I looked at the tower with telescopic vision and almost said ¡°Whoah,¡± but managed to stop myself from making a noise that might attract attention.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. What the hell? It looked like it was right there in front of me, filling my entire field of vision with nothing but black. I turned off the super vision, and the tower went back to where it was, off in the fathomless distance. I toggled the telescopic vision back on, but not at full power, and there it was, right in front of me again. I adjusted the magnification so that I could see the whole tower. With nothing else to compare it to I had no way of judging distance. It seemed tall, but again I had no benchmark for comparison. Maybe it was more accurate to say it felt tall. The tower was the same deep, total black as the entrance pillar, but its sides slowly narrowed as it rose and it ended in a flattened top instead of rising up forever. I could make out every detail of it, which was easy, because it had none. There were no windows. The outer wall was perfectly smooth. No door. It appeared to be a perfect, black pyramid, or perhaps a cone, it was impossible to tell which, with its top lopped off. And it appeared to be right there in front of me. Could be close, could be far away. Which was it, and how could I get there? Perhaps more importantly, was it actually a tower or had I just assumed that the last time I was there and hadn¡¯t considered another possibility? I had no reason to vacate the dungeon yet, and lacking any better ideas I started flying forward again, looking through my enhanced sense of sight for any hint of a change. There was none. No matter how far I flew I didn¡¯t appear to get any closer. For all I knew, I shouldn¡¯t even trust what I was seeing. But sight was the only sense I could use in this situation. If I couldn¡¯t trust it, what could I trust? Other senses? I hadn¡¯t built a scent sensor into my Second Skin suit so that sense was off the table, not that it would help anyway. Taste was useless, I¡¯d need to remove the suit to put anything in my mouth, and I had no idea if native Void objects had any taste anyway, or how it could possibly help determine how far the tower was. And even if there was something around that I could lick without revealing myself there¡¯s no way I would¡¯ve tried. No way in hell. Apart from the occasional rustle or clicking when something swished under me in the mist, the Void was utterly silent, and completely without odor. All I had were my eyes. But illusions were part of this world and it¡¯d make sense if they were associated with Void. Morgan had illusion powers, and her affinty was Void. If my eyes could easily be deceived I shouldn¡¯t rely on them. But they were all I had. Or were they? What about touch? No way, could it be that simple? I closed my eyes so I could completely focus on touch and not be fooled by sight, then held my hands out in front of me as though feeling my way around in the dark, and started flying. Almost immediately, my fingers bumped against something firm but squishy. I opened my eyes. In front of me loomed an amorphous blob of faintly luminous goo about the size of a minivan. I instinctively flew backwards to get away from it, but after only a few feet I was stopped when my back bumped against something solid. I stayed there, paralyzed with a fear that wasn¡¯t caused by any power, expecting the blob to ooze over and eat me at any moment. But it didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t do anything. The terror began to relax and took stock of my situation. I felt the solid surface behind me. It was perfectly smooth with a slight concave curve to it. I allowed myself to take my eyes off the blob to look around and came to the conclusion that I was inside. Inside of what I had no clue, but the mist was gone and a subtle variation in the blackness of the floor compared to the blackness of the walls told me it was a cylindrical room with blacker than black walls and a slightly less black floor. The blob and I were the only things in the room, or at least we were the only things I could see. Am I inside the tower? Yes. Wait, what? Did I just think that? No. What the hell? I know I didn¡¯t think that. So where is it coming from and why is it in my head? There was a squelching sound and the blob¡¯s surface rippled as it shrunk down to the size of an ottoman. With it no longer being so big I could see that it was kind of like Jane¡¯s slime, but different. Then I saw something that I wished I could unsee. Bubbles were inflating on the blob¡¯s surface in scattered patches, and when they reached a certain size they ruptured, becoming myriads of unblinking eyes forming then un-forming, disturbing little occular pustules that burst randomly with greenish light, leaving behind small round craters that slowly sealed over, only to give rise to new patches of those nefarious bubbles that frothed as they formed then goggled when they became eyes before bursting into more gaping holes, endlessly repeating the cycle in unpredictable splotches over the blob¡¯s entire trembling surface. No, it wasn¡¯t like a slime. It was like a miniature Shoggoth. It¡¯s worth noting that I have this phobia, more of a condition, really, trypophobia it¡¯s called, and it means that I get the screaming heebie-jeebies when I see closely packed holes. Certain corals trigger it, and for obvious reasons I can never relax in a bubble bath. And as delicious as they are, I cannot eat crumpets because, well, so many holes. And there¡¯s this toad, the most vile and disturbing Surinam toad, whose babies grow from eggs to tadpoles to mature little toads all inside the flesh of their mother¡¯s back. When they''re big enough, the baby toads break through leaving behind (God just thinking about it makes my skin crawl) gaping holes in her back. So you can imagine how I felt watching this thing as its heinous eyes watched me back, glowing and blinking like malevolent marbles that popped into distressing little craters floating on the surface of a giant protoplasmic amoeba from another dimension of time and space. Hello. Uh oh. I think I just heard this thing say hi to me in my head. That¡¯s it. I¡¯ve finally gone insane, haven¡¯t I? Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four - The Great Sage A thin tendril emerged from the atrocity like a tiny arm and waggled in my direction. Hang on. Was it...waving at me? What the heck was this thing?
Familiar Shoggoth A miniature but no less horrifying version of the fearsome Shoggoth, created to be a familiar. Powers: Blob - Competent: Change size and shape If You Could Read My Mind, Love - Adept: Telepathy Vending Machine - Adept: Replicate elixers [Locked] Skills: All-Seeing - Competent Tentacle - Adept
So you really are a Shoggoth, huh? But of course. Oh, and you have telepathy. So I really am hearing the voice of an eldritch monster in my head. How nice. At least you¡¯re not trying to eat me. Why would I do that? Isn¡¯t that what Shoggoths do? Yes, but I¡¯m not the Shoggoth. You''re not...? Oh, I get it. It¡¯s your familiar. So to whom do I have the pleasure of thinking with? It would be easier to show you. The blob convulsed, then sprouted some tentacles which it used to half-scurry, half-drag itself along the floor like a wounded spider. When it reached the wall it kept going, seeming to pass right through it. I stared stupidly after it. That thing moved pretty fast for a thick glob of snot. Ah well, no need to hide anymore. I changed out of my Second Skin into my adventuring garb. A portion of the little shoggoth reappeared in the wall, as though it was poking its head out, and several dozen eyes erupted to stare at me, the sort of intense stare you get from a dog who desperately needs to be taken outside for a pee. What¡¯s that, boy? Timmy¡¯s trapped in the well? Who is Timmy? The eyes popped, venting greenish light, then were replaced by more burbling bubbles that morphed into more popping eyes. An uncontrollable shudder quivered through my whole body and I felt itchy all over at the sight of the holes left behind. Yeah yeah, I get it. You want me to follow you. I¡¯m coming. As soon as I began shuffling across the space toward it, the creature vanished into the wall again. I followed it, walking straight through the wall into another round space beyond. I assumed it was farther up in the tower ¡ª that would make sense, after all ¡ª but in a place like this, where the normal rules of physics and logic did not necessarily apply, it was dangerous to assume anything. I could be a mile below the surface or a thousand light years away for all I knew. I did seem to still be in the tower, though. This space was the same as the one I¡¯d just left, all except for the brain. In the center of this room, floating over a cylindrical pedestal under a transparent dome, there was a brain. It looked like a human brain, but who knew where it really came from. Was it some kind of trophy, like the things we¡¯d found in Daedalus¡¯ study? Why would someone keep a brain pickled in a jar like this? Then it moved. Not, like, slithering around or anything, it only pulsed a little, but that was enough. A subtle throbbing in a few areas was just enough to indicate that it was not a trophy, but was somehow alive. Welcome. It''s pretty cool you made it this far. But wow, your method of concealment was far out. In all my years I have never seen anything like it. I didn¡¯t even know you were here until you were already inside the tower, and that piqued my interest enough to not destroy you right away. There was a lot to parse out there. So it was a tower after all, and I was still in it. That was good to know. And it was also good that I hadn¡¯t been destroyed right away, but the phrasing of that made me a little nervous. Like I was still going to be destroyed, just not right away. I take it you¡¯re that brain? Correct. Got it. So, um, if you aren¡¯t, despite all appearances, an eldritch monster yourself, then who, er, what are you?If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. It sucks to admit it, but I suppose I am more of a what than a who. At various times I''ve been known by many names, but if anyone still remembers me they would know me as Cagliostra, the Great Sage.
Cagliostra Great Sage
That¡¯s it? Not much of a Status. I¡¯ll have you know that Great Sage is a title which carries a great deal of status, within the right circles. Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to think that aloud. When I thought Status that¡¯s not what I...never mind. So I take it you weren¡¯t always just a brain. Bingo. After many centuries pursuing esoteric knowledge I believed I no longer needed a physical form and chose to shed all but the biological necessities. How¡¯d that work out for you? It was a trap. A trap? My goal has always been to ascend from this reality into a higher plane of existence. After centuries of research, I finally discovered a way. This final step requires two very special items, which took me more centuries to prepare, only to lose them both just before taking the final step toward complete ascension. Or, more accurately, they were stolen from me. That sucks. Correct. So now you¡¯re trapped here in this display case. Correct. Can I help? I wish. You would need the items. Any idea where they are? No. That¡¯s a shame, but then again it sounds like a quest to me. I know people, maybe we can find them. What are the quest MacGuffins? I don''t know what those are, but the ascension ritual requires a dagger made of the rarest metals containing mana crystals of all colors. This blade must be imbued with the power to pass between realms. The other item is an alchemical agent containing all twelve essences of existence. Okay. What exactly happened to them? After working for hundreds of years to acquire the knowledge and materials to fabricate these artifacts, they were both stolen from me by the demon who tricked me into casting off my body and becoming...this. Demon, huh? Sure hope it wasn¡¯t anybody I know. Since you know how, why don¡¯t we just recreate these items? If only it were so easy. Before my imprisonment here I spent many lifetimes collecting knowledge and skill and even I could not create the items alone. To recreate them would require a large team of individuals with very specialized talents, plus a significant quantity of materials so rare they may as well be impossible to collect. You know, I have found that there always seems to be another way besides the obvious one. I have access to a lot of materials and I know a lot of people with a lot of specialized talents, so let¡¯s not discount the possibility. You actually seem serious. You said the dagger needs the rarest of metals. What would that be? Adamantium. So you see, while it is quite decent of you to want to help by reforging the dagger, acquiring just a smidgeon of adamantium is a feat. To get the amount required to make the entire dagger out of it is inconceivable. How much does it need? At least a pound. Only a pound? Only? You could sift every grain of stone in an entire mountain and perhaps be able to mine that much, if you were extremely fortunate. Really? Wow. This must be worth a fortune then. I pulled the lump of metal that Daedalus had been chained to from my inventory. What is that? Adamantium. I¡¯d say probably a hundred pounds at least. Unbelievable! How did you come to possess that much? I got it off a dead guy. Unbelievable. And you said it needs some mana crystals, right? Yes, one of each color: yellow, green, blue, red, black, and clear. I reached into my inventory again, and pulled out a small crystal of each color. I¡¯d been collecting them from all the monsters I¡¯d killed, and even though I used them for their mana to craft things almost as fast I could collect them, I still had a modest stockpile. The only one I didn¡¯t get from a monster was the clear one. I¡¯d never encountered a monster that dropped one, and I¡¯d only ever seen just two clear mana crystals: one big one was still sitting under glass in Daedalus¡¯ office, and the other was the little one I was holding. It had been a gift from the city to the elves. It was hard to tell through telepathy if Cagliostra was impressed, it was like trying to convey emotions through a text message, only without access to emojis. Unbelievable. Simply having the materials is an amazing accomplishment, but sadly it¡¯s useless without the ability to artifice the dagger out of them. Adamantium is incredibly hard to work with and can only be manipulated by someone with the rare ability to use an Artifice forge and a vast amount of mana. And the particulars of the dagger also requires them to be familiar with runes and have practical knowledge of occult rituals. Roger that. You wouldn¡¯t happen to have any forges around, would you? Of course. But what good are they without the requisite abilities? Humor me. Why? Come on. What have you got to lose? I have nothing left. All I had left was hope, and I lost that ages ago. Then what¡¯s the harm? Fine. The Shoggoth quivered then scuttled off into a wall. It came back a moment later, only now it was about three times the size and was carrying what looked like a very fancy Artifice forge. The ones I¡¯d seen up to then had all been simple affairs, but this one was embellished with delicate scrollwork and curlicues and other filigree, like some steampunk artifact. The Shoggoth plunked it down, then retracted its tentacles, shrank back down to its ottoman size, and became a stationary blob again. This is perfect. I took the adamantium and all the crystals and fed them into the forge. You can Artifice? Pretty lucky, huh? Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Five - Time to get crafty So Mister Sage, is there a special shape or design this dagger needs to have, or can I just wing it? I''ll show you. An image appeared in my head of a dagger with a long, wavy blade embedded with colored crystals and inscribed with cryptic runes along its entire length. It set off fireworks in my brain, but not the good kind. I could feel tantalizing insights and information dancing just out of reach. System: Your mastery in Magical Theory has evolved System: Your mastery of Thaumaturgy has evolved System: Error - Maximum possible mastery has already been achieved System: Resolving compensation System: Error - Compensation cannot be resolved at this time I¡¯d never seen the runes on the dagger before but they had to be powerful because just seeing them was enough to level up my skills, if only I hadn''t already maxed them out. With my meager Adept mastery I couldn¡¯t fully understand them, but I didn''t need to. As long as I could properly reproduce them on the dagger that was all that mattered now. Now that I knew them, I could always try to unravel their secrets later. Got it. The Great Sage¡¯s voice inside my head remained mute while I worked at the forge. He was right, it did take a lot of mana, and even with my backup mana battery I had to reach into my inventory to keep pulling out potions and crystals to fuel me and the forge. A while later... System: Fabrication successful I brought the completed dagger close to the dome. How¡¯s that? Don¡¯t show the brain, show the Shoggoth. It¡¯s the one with the eyes. Oh, right. Sorry. I held the dagger out in front of the creature, and it examined it through countless bursting eyes. Impressive. Thank you. So what¡¯s next, something about a power? To move between realms, yes. What does that mean? It means exactly that. The dagger must be imbued with the power to shift from one plane of existence to another. You mean, like, open a portal between dimensions or something? Yes. Well why didn¡¯t you say so in the first place? I thought I had. I took the dagger and placed it into the forge. Don¡¯t tell me you have the power to shift dimensions, too? No. Not yet, anyway. I had an idea. I pulled out the grimoire. What is that? Just a book I took from some cultists. Let me see. I held it up for the Shoggoth to examine. I know that tome. It was once a prized treasure in my library. Oh. Does that mean you want it back? It is enough for me to know it still exists and is not being used for nefarious purposes. Well, not anymore anyway. I have no use for it now. You may keep it. Thanks. I should tell you that it does not contain the ritual necessary to travel to the specific dimension of pure thought and enlightenment I seek to reach. But it does have other dimensional-hopping rituals, though. Like that one the cultists used to summon the Calamity Demon. Maybe we can riff off of that. They did what? Well, they didn¡¯t get a chance to finish so it was only a partial demon that came through. What happened to it? We killed it. You are unusual. I''m glad you managed to deal with it, it was not easy to banish it to that dimension in the first place. You did that? Using that book. But if it was only partially here, then I should also tell you that you did not destroy it, merely part of it. The part that remained there will regenerate and become whole again. Eventually. Good to know. First things first, though. Let''s figure out dimensional travel. Things like teleportation and my inventory involved using other dimensions to either act as a shortcut between two places in this dimension or stashing stuff in another, and all that fell under the purview of Void. Between Thaumaturgy and the grimoire, Magic Theory and the runes, and all the powers I had access to including Synthesis ¨C another Void power ¡ª surely I could find a way to figure this out. Plus, I had the Great Sage to collaborate with. Teamwork makes the dream work. I¡¯ve bored you enough already with obsessive details into my various crafting escapades, and it would take a long time to describe everything we tried to make it work, so I¡¯ll skip to the end. It took us a while, but all my mucking about trying to improve upon the portal earlier paid off and we finally found the right combination of things to do what the Great Sage wanted. It wasn¡¯t easy. It required a few steps, starting with a new power.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. System: Synthesizing Plane Walking You can synthesize as well?! System: Synthesis successful Who are you? No, what are you? Me? I¡¯m just a humble utility belt. Plane Walking - Novice: Extra-dimensional travel The Plane Walking power was amazing, but it required so much mana it was too impractical for me to ever use it myself. But I could put it on the dagger and it would do the trick. I hoped. Right, does the dagger need to do anything else? No, Plane Walking will suffice. You sure? I could throw on some other powers while I¡¯m at it. I am sure. The dagger will be consumed when it is used, anyway. Oh yeah, so I guess there¡¯s no point in adding anything else. Step one was complete, on to the next. Creating Plane Walking had been hard, but getting it onto the dagger was another thing entirely. I couldn¡¯t just use the forge. Here¡¯s the thing about powers on items compared to powers that people can innately use. All powers require mana, regardless if they''re personal or item-based. When I used one of my own powers, I had to have enough mana in my personal pool to fuel it. Artifice and Alchemy were a bit different, the forge acted as a bridge so you could use external sources like mana crystals to fuel those powers. There were also powers that could supplement a person¡¯s personal supply. I had those too. Items were different. Triggering a power on an item sometimes required you to feed it some personal mana, other powers didn¡¯t need much and could draw enough mana from the surroundings, and some could use mana stored inside the item itself. Embedding mana crystals was one way to provide that. I had just learned that adding multiple crystals of different colors had an amplification effect on this, so using one of each color greatly increased the available mana, while vastly increasing the difficulty of forging the item in the first place. One of the things that made adamantium so awesome is that it had scads of innate mana stored up in it, which is why the dagger needed to be made of it. And it had to be a lot of adamantium, because like I said, this particular power needed a crap ton of mana. But it still wasn¡¯t enough. That¡¯s where the Thaumaturgy came in. That Great Sage thing was no joke, Cagliostra knew his stuff. I¡¯d never have been able to do it by myself, but with his help I managed to tweak a few rituals in the grimoire to add two new pages to the book: a new ritual that would temporarily supercharge the Artifice forge to provide a huge influx of mana, and another that would activate the runes on the dagger, which turned out to be a sort of address for the specific dimension he wanted to ascend into. Heaven¡¯s phone number. I performed the rune activation ritual first, then the mana boost. The forge started to vibrate in a disconcerting way and emit a dubious hum, and I became genuinely worried the thing was going to blow up and take the tower and everything inside (i.e. me) with it. It didn¡¯t, of course, but it was touch and go there for a bit. But at long last all the preparations were complete. Okay, let¡¯s do this. System: Artifice successful System: Do you wish to give the item a name? ¡°Heck yes! You know better than to ask me that, System. How about...The Great Sage¡¯s Ascension Blade?¡± What does it matter what it is named? It¡¯s going to be consumed. Before you were just a brain and were known by many names, were you also known as a fun person? That was a rude thing to say to someone whose only interaction with the physical world comes through the medium of a blob with eyes, you know. Ouch. Sorry. System: The Great Sage¡¯s Ascension Blade complete But hey, it worked, right? Unbelievable. Right-o. We¡¯ve got the dagger. What¡¯s next? A potion, right? An alchemical agent. What¡¯s that? A compound created through the alchemical arts. In other words, a potion. What does it do again? It must contain the essences of all the universal elements. Oh, right. And what are those again? The primal aspects of existence. And those are...? You know. Fire, Water, Ice, Air, Earth¡ª Light, Darkness, Life, Death, right. You¡¯re talking about the twelve affinities. I am talking about the twelve fundamental elements of the universe. It is possible to have an affinity with an element. Your affinity is clearly with Void. Something like that. This is where your efforts will come short, I am afraid. You will need eleven practitioners, each with alchemical prowess, and all of the twelve elements must be represented between them. How does that math work? Eleven people, twelve affinities. Affinity with elements. Whatever. The brain didn¡¯t need to breathe, but I swear I heard it sigh in my head. Oh wait, I get it. Because you can only use Alchemy if you have affinity with Void, that means all the practitioners by definition will have that. Meaning there are only eleven elements left, so each of the eleven people must have a dual affinity with another one of the other elements. Correct. If you are fortunate enough to have people with affinities with three elements, then fewer people may be required, but the odds of that are so low they may as well be zero. Regardless, without having enough individuals with the right talents, the alchemical agent cannot be completed. So it¡¯s all about using Alchemy with all affinities, er, elements. It¡¯s not that simple. Consider: some lucky people have an affinity with one element, some species likewise have certain elemental affinities, and in a generation there may be a handful of beings blessed with dual affinities. Perhaps in a century there may be born a prodigy who can boast three affinities. Statistically speaking, a confluence of individuals who all have Alchemy and can boast affinities with all the elements between them may happen perhaps once every few hundred years. And even then, they must all be brought together to collaborate on the project. One person alone cannot possibly make it happen unless they had affinity with all elements, which is inconceivable. Oh ye of little faith. I assume you must also have an Alchemy forge lurking around somewhere, yes? The Shoggoth silently vanished into a wall, returning moments later lugging another forge. It gently deposited the new Alchemical forge beside the other one. This one didn¡¯t have the steampunk aesthetic, but looked more like something Leonardo da Vinci would¡¯ve designed. Nice. Now, the next thing we need is something to put the potion in. You wouldn¡¯t happen to have a vial or a jar or something, would you? You know what, never mind. I¡¯ll make one myself. A short minute¡¯s work at the Artifice forge produced a small glass vial, which I took to the Alchemy forge. My first effort at producing the potion did, in fact, come up short. I had tried to simply focus the twelve affinities into the alcohol I was using as the basis of the potion all at the same time, but I could tell very quickly that it wouldn¡¯t work and almost made me pass out from mana depletion. Time for a big snack. And a new vial. What I needed was a power that represented the affinity elements. Then it hit me. Wayne had that I Can Make Fire power that gave him the second affinity with Fire. That should do the trick. I just needed to synthesize a version for each of the other eleven. But that didn¡¯t work either. The alchemy kept failing. I tried more things. I started making vials five at a time. Then by the dozen. To his credit, Cagliostra remained quiet as I kept trying and kept failing. I think maybe he was dumbfounded by the fact that I really did have affinity with every element as well as Alchemy. And maybe I was just projecting, but as I kept trying and kept failing I also thought I could just feel the I told you so lurking at the tip of his brain. The Shoggoth kept bringing me food and I kept eating it. I know I said there was no way in hell I¡¯d lick anything from the void, let alone eat it, but beggars can¡¯t be choosers. I was going through mana like vodka at a college mixer for new freshmen, and I could only suck so much from the environment of the Void. It was disconcerting that all I had to do was think about wanting to eat and the exact thing I wanted appeared in front of me a few minutes later, the Shoggoth oozing away then coming back shortly after with whatever it was I¡¯d been craving. I knew better than to ask where the food came from, but I took zero comfort in the fact that the information was also never offered. If you¡¯re wondering, it all tasted pretty good. System: Alchemy failed Again. ¡°This isn¡¯t working,¡± I said out loud, scratching my head in frustration. I told you it was impossible. Shhh. Did you just shush the Great Sage? Shhhhhh. Time for some more vials. Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six - Goo first, stab second After many more unsuccessful attempts to alchemy up the magic elixir, Cagliostra eventually piped in again. If I can make a suggestion? Please do. Perhaps your basic approach is incorrect. As soon as you add an element that opposes one already added, they will reject each other. But that would mean all twelve would have to be added at the same time and I¡¯m not able to do that. I can only add one power at a time. Perhaps your mastery of the alchemical arts is insufficient. Damn that Adept limit. But hang on, what if I meld them together before I put them into the potion? Oh, this is gonna hurt. And hurt it did. The strain of trying to synthesize all twelve powers together almost did me in, and used up most of my remaining mana crystals. System: Synthesis failed (Critical Failure) Dammit. And yikes, all twelve of the individual sr one affinity powers is just made and tried to merge together we¡¯re gone. Is that what happens with a critical failure? I gotta be more careful. It was a noble effort, my friend, but I was right not to hope. No. There has to be a way. I thought about a nice juicy burger and poutine. My mana battery was bone dry, and my personal mana was critically low. I was about to pass out at any moment. I needed to eat a lot, and soon. Besides, I always thought better on a full tummy. Don¡¯t ask me how, but the Shoggoth managed to scrounge up authentic cheese curds from somewhere. I kept thinking about food and it kept coming. How could I get all twelve affinities into the potion at the same time? Maybe if my Alchemy power was higher, but Good At Everything capped it at Adept level. If I didn¡¯t have that limitation...but Good At Everything was what gave me all those affinities, so I needed that. It all hinged on Good At Everything. Hang on. Could it really be that simple? As eager as I was to try my idea, I took the time to scarf down enough food to feed a soccer team. I needed the mana. First, copy Wayne¡¯s second affinity power. Then: ¡°System, activate Synthesis.¡± System: Synthesis ready. Select ability to modify ¡°Select I Can Make Fire.¡± System: Select abilities to combine with I Can Make Fire (Copied) ¡°Select Good At Everything.¡± System: Add another ability? ¡°Nope.¡± System: Synthesis of I Can Make Fire (Copied) and Good At Everything will result in a new power; select name for new synthesized power ¡°Call it All The Essences Of Existence.¡± System: Synthesizing All The Essences Of Existence System: Synthesis successful Rock and roll. Powers: All The Essences Of Existence - Novice: Affinity with all elements Well that was easy. It was quite the power, but for me it was really just a redundant ability. Ironic. But at least it was a power I could put into a potion. I hoped. Time to find out. Back to the alchemy forge. Before I could even pull the potion out of the forge to see if I was successful, my mana was out. Which meant so was I. When I became conscious again and opened my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of the little Shoggoth looming over me. Trust me, that is not something you ever want to see. I opened my mouth to scream, but there was something in it. My mouth, that is. The ungodly monster had one of its tentacles jammed into my mouth and it was pumping some kind of thin, bittersweet paste down my throat. Pray you never feel that sensation yourself. I¡¯d seen the Alien movies far too many times to be remotely comfortable with this situation. I grabbed the tentacle with both hands and yanked it out. The Shoggoth jism spewed everywhere. Oh good, you¡¯re awake. What the hell? Your mana should be replenished by the Shoggoth¡¯s secretion. Oh god, please don¡¯t call it that. That makes it sound even worse. What? It¡¯s just a nutrient-rich secretion. You needed the energy. The Shoggoth can produce all kinds of secretions. Stop using that word. Please. Fine. Now can you please see if the alchemy was successful? The suspense has been killing me. Gee, you¡¯d think that after waiting eons for someone to visit you¡¯d have more patience. I stood up, carefully avoiding the Shoggoth, which was skittering around hoovering up the sludge that had spilled everywhere with a vacuum-like protrusion. Then I went back to the forge, reached in, and pulled out the vial. The clear liquid had turned foggy. I tried swirling it around, but it had somehow congealed into a viscous translucent syrup. You know what? You were right. This is a bit too gloopy to be called a potion. It is more of a compound. I am the Great Sage. I know some things. I¡¯ll never doubt you again. So did it work? I dunno. ¡°System, did it work?¡± System: Alchemy successful Rock and roll. Unbelievable. You really did it. I told you I could. So now what? Now¡¯s the easy part. All you have to do is coat the dagger¡¯s blade with the alchemical agent, then kill me with it. Say what now? Come on, what else did you think the dagger would be used for? The only way I can fully ascend is if everything shackling me here to the physical realm is ended. So you want me to stab you in the brain with the dagger? I can¡¯t really do it myself anymore, now can I? Fine. Just be sure to coat it in the compound first. Goo first, stab second. I think I can remember that. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve been waiting for this for longer than you can imagine. You will be giving me the greatest boon possible. If you say so. Any last words? Only thank you. I¡¯m ready. Before I lost my nerve, I smashed the dome covering the brain with the hilt of the dagger. Then I poured All The Essences Of Existence over the blade, making sure to cover it completely in the thick glop. Then I unceremoniously plunged the blade deep into the middle of the brain and watched as the pulsing ended and the organ itself withered and shrank, turning a deeper gray, then black, then finally disintegrating along with the dagger into nothingness. Did it work? System: Dungeon Quest complete - You have solved the Void Dungeon The Shoggoth trembled and a cluster of tiny tentacles emerged and wiggled in celebration.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I guess it worked. System: Distributing Quest rewards - Reward Tokens 27 (+25) System: Transferring Void Dungeon control to Team Player Well now. That was a lot easier than I expected. The rewards seemed a bit skimpy, though. I mean, I¡¯d gladly take the twenty-five Tokens, I¡¯d used up everything I had on mana potions, but... System: Bonus Quest Ascension of The Great Sage complete That sounded promising. System: Team Player has Control Key: Toronto Transportation Complex A small, flat, rectangular piece of gold the size of a credit card floated in front of me.
Control Key: Toronto Transportation Complex Possession of this key falls to the highest ranking member of the team which owns it. Powers: TTC - Team members may freely use Toronto Transportation Complex nodes [Locked]
I¡¯d never seen a locked power on an item before. Hidden, sure, but never locked. I grabbed the key out of the air. ¡°System? What¡¯s the Toronto Transportation Complex?¡± Long pause. ¡°Hey System? Did you hear the question?¡± System: Affirmative Exceedingly long pause. I¡¯d been brushed off in countless ways before when System didn¡¯t want to answer my questions, but I¡¯d always received at least some kind of response, even if it was to say it couldn¡¯t give me an answer. ¡°So?¡± I said. Instead of an answer, notification windows started popping up. System: Checking supplemental Hidden Quest requirements System: Confirming Affinity match System: Void Affinity confirmed I knew where this was going. System: You have gained a title: The Great Sage System: You have a new Gift: Command Line A gift! Those are the only abilities that had any real value to me as rewards anymore. Probably didn¡¯t have Murder Hobo to thank this time, though. I had no idea what Command Line was, but it was definitely something specific to the Great Sage. Gifts: Command Line: User Access Level ¨C Great Sage I had no idea what that meant yet but I really liked the sound of it. System: You know Fifth Dimensional Physics System: You know Alchemy System: Error ¨C Power effect redundancy through existing Power: Are You Gonna Drink That? System: You know Artifice System: Error ¨C Power effect redundancy through existing Power: Isn¡¯t It Enchanting System: You know Synthesis System: Error ¨C Player already knows Synthesis System: Resolving compensation for multiple redundancies System: Adding additional compensation for ineligible mastery evolution for Skills: Magical Theory, Thaumaturgy Oh yeah. I¡¯d forgotten about those. I can¡¯t wait to see what kind of compensation I¡¯d get to replace three new powers and two skill evolutions. System: Resolution generated ¨C You know Need A Hand? I still stood by my opinion that this whole isekai into a game thing was totally unfair, but I had to admit, it did at least seem to try to be fair in some ways. It didn¡¯t have to compensate me at all, but if you were going to do it at least do it right, you know? I mean, all it gave me was a measly power? Ah well, I suppose asking for two gifts would¡¯ve been a bit much, after all a new power would be a pretty big deal for anyone else. But just one power in return for all that? That was just...you know what? I shouldn¡¯t whine before I knew how bad it is. Who knows, maybe whatever it was could be synthesized into something half decent. Powers: Need A Hand? ¨C Novice: Temporarily share a Power Um. What? Seriously? I can give one of my powers to someone else now? That¡¯s just nuts. No way that was an accident. Up to this point, I¡¯d convinced myself it was pure luck that I¡¯d somehow managed to collect the unique combination of abilities that had given me cheat level powers and skills. But this was too much. It¡¯d be a decent power for anyone else, but for me? Such a cheat! I couldn¡¯t have wished for a better power to get. What are the odds a random reward algorithm would land on that particular power for me? Exactly. The selection of rewards couldn¡¯t be random after all. That meant... System, System, System. What were you up to? I might not have known why System had chosen me to twist into this cheat-tier support character, but given that it was System I did know one thing: it wasn¡¯t against the rules. Which gave me a hunch. ¡°System, are you allowed to tell me what this transportation complex thing is now?¡± System: The Toronto Transportation Complex connects transit nodes within the greater Toronto area That must mean the affinity circles. Let¡¯s look at that control key again.
Control Key: Toronto Transportation Complex Possession of this key falls to the highest ranking member of the team that owns it. Powers: TTC - All team members may freely use Toronto Transportation Complex nodes YYZ - Use can control access to and movement between Toronto Transportation Complex nodes
So becoming Great Sage unlocked the second power. Now I got it. This control key was an excellent reward. The first power was basically a free pass between affinity circles for everyone on my team, and the one I¡¯d just unlocked gave the possessor of the key the ability to override that access for individual team members. I could see how that could be handy if someone on a team went rogue and started abusing the power. I wished I could have a bit of time to digest the implications of what I¡¯d just gained, but the notification windows kept coming. System: Supplemental reward ¨C the Great Sage may have a familiar System: Create bond with Shoggoth Familiar? ¡°What the hell. Go for it.¡± System: Forming bond with Shoggoth Familiar System: Bond with Shoggoth Familiar complete Well, my repulsive new minion, meet the new boss. Not quite the same as the old boss. I waited for a bit, then said, ¡°Uh, System? Aren¡¯t I allowed to name it?¡± There was another little pause, then: System: Would you like to name your familiar? ¡°That actually worked, huh? Now I need to think of one. I know. I¡¯ll call you Pinky. What do you think?¡± The abominable eyes stared at me. ¡°Yeah, I like it too.¡± System: Familiar name confirmed System: Shoggoth Familiar Power unlocked: True Name What was True Name? Sounded good, but this was all happening too fast. I tried to check out the familiar¡¯s Status but it flickered and got replaced with a new notification. System: Familiar reset confirmed Wait, what? Reset? No. System: Baby Shoggoth Familiar has been named Pinky Wait, what? Now it¡¯s just a Baby Shoggoth? Nooo.
Pinky Baby Shoggoth, Familiar Powers: Blob - Novice: Change size and shape If You Could Read My Mind, Love - Novice: Share thoughts and senses with Master Ceaseless Hunger - Novice: Consume enchanted items with the chance of absorbing their Powers Vending Machine - Novice: Produce elixirs that replicate absorbed Powers Skills: All-Seeing - Novice Tentacle - Novice
Aw hell, no. Everything got reset, and now the True Name power¡¯s not there anymore. But those new ones are...absurd. There¡¯s a chance that it¡¯ll absorb the abilities of any magic item I feed it, then squirt out potions that give that effect to someone else. In the hands of most people, this would¡¯ve been a great ability. But in mine? Unbelievable. You know what, I think I¡¯m okay with its masteries all getting reset. ¡°So, Pinky. What do you want to do today? How about we take over the world, huh?¡± System: Global notification ¨C the Void Dungeon has been solved and is now owned by Team Player ¡°Uh oh, Pinky. I have a feeling that¡¯s gonna make some waves.¡± System: You have a new Gift: I¡¯ll Take The Force Of The Blow Another new Gift? What for? Gift: I¡¯ll Take The Force Of The Blow - Damage to a familiar or its master can be shared by both parties Ah, it was a familiar thing. Did all this come from True Name? Wow. Named NPCs really were on a different level. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty handy new gift we¡¯ve got there Pinky. Let¡¯s hope you¡¯re tough. Just one more thing to check out, I need to find out what Command Line actually does.¡± Suddenly, a new kind of notification window appeared. >>> User Access: Great Sage confirmed >>> Command Line provides access to game database Yahello Command Line. Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven - Impossible dungeons System: Team rankings have been updated 1. Team Player 1000 points 2. Team Invictus 720 points 3. Team Maple Leaf 695 points 4. Team Spice 650 points 5. Team N3m3sis 610 points 6. Team Droogs 565 points 7. Team Legion 505 points 8. Team Overgeared 490 points 9. Team Ninja 485 points 10. Team Happy 450 points 11. Team Karma 435 points It was rare for Stratos to show much emotion, but I had never seen them like this before. I was checking the team rankings after the global announcement about the Void dungeon when they appeared in the brain chamber. ¡°How do you keep doing it?¡± they said, eyes literally blazing with a peculiar blue glow. ¡°Doing what?¡± I said. ¡°Solving dungeons?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± they said with an enthusiasm that was freakish for them. ¡°But isn¡¯t that the point of the game?¡± ¡°Yes, of course, but not the way you are doing it. This dungeon was supposed to be impossible to solve. Just getting in was made to be fiercely difficult.¡± ¡°Jane and I did that on the second day.¡± Ignoring our outrageous luck with discovering how to make a key, it really was a heinously difficult place to get into. You didn¡¯t just need to figure out how to make a key, you had to have Void affinity too, one of the rarest. ¡°The monsters that inhabit the Void Dungeon are some of the most dangerous imaginable, with the single-minded determination to devour anything or anyone unfortunate enough to whet their appetite, and they are always ravenous.¡± I shuddered. Command Line was automatically spewing new windows containing information on the creatures Stratos were talking about, and I suddenly knew far more than I wanted to about the sorts of things that existed within the void. Stratos was not kidding. Most of those things were calamity level outer god type monstrosities. Thankfully most of them couldn¡¯t leave the Void. There was something called a Void Slime that I took a special interest in, though. Stratos was still talking. ¡°It should have taken a significant team of Players with at least Master or Hero level mastery of their abilities to get past the monsters¡ª¡± Hero level? That¡¯s the first I¡¯d heard of anything past Master level. How deep is this rabbit hole? ¡°¡ªassuming they found a way to get in and survive the Withers,¡± Stratos continued. ¡°That¡¯s dumb,¡± I said. ¡°Having too many people would draw the monsters¡¯ attention right away. That¡¯s why I snuck past them by myself.¡± Now that I controlled the place I could allow whoever I wanted in regardless of their affinity. What I couldn¡¯t control was the Withers, which I only just learned about from the Command Line notification that popped up spontaneously to explain it after Stratos mentioned it. The Withers was the collective name for three ways anyone without Void affinity was attacked if they went into it. I knew about the physical attack of suffocation, of course; I¡¯d used it more than once to incapacitate someone. What I didn¡¯t know about was the spiritual attack of draining their mana, nor the mental attack against their sanity. In other words, even if I could easily invite people into the Void Dungeon, I¡¯d need to give them a way to counteract all three aspects of the Withers if I didn¡¯t want the experience to kill them, drive them unconscious, or make them crazy. ¡°And if by some miracle the survivors made it into the tower, they¡¯d have to defeat the Great Sage,¡± Stratos said. ¡°Defeat? You mean I was supposed to fight him?¡± ¡°After killing the Void monsters to get to him, he would not be inclined to simply let you usurp control.¡± I scratched my head. ¡°But I didn¡¯t even touch a monster, apart from almost stumbling into Pinky. And Cagliostra was quite congenial, I thought. Was he supposed to be a tough Boss?¡± ¡°The toughest,¡± Stratos said. This was a different Stratos I was talking to. They¡¯d changed, or grown, or something. At the very least, they were getting better at masquerading as a human. I could actually sense their exasperation when they said that. ¡°Yikes. Glad I didn¡¯t get on his bad side, then.¡± ¡°Yes, well, there was the hidden quest of assisting him to ascend to win and gain the Great Sage title, but it was never thought anyone could or would actually do it.¡± ¡°How was I supposed to get past him, then? It¡¯s not like a brain in a jar can do much.¡± ¡°It can when it is Cagliostra¡¯s brain.¡± ¡°That was lucky, then. Now I wish I could¡¯ve seen his Status, or at least saw him use a few of his abilities.¡± ¡°So you could have even more abilities to copy? Is it not enough that with your current abilities you were already able to create items that should have been impossible to reproduce?¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°It does sound a bit ungrateful when you put it like that. I¡¯ll assume that there¡¯s still a dagger and elixir of the elements hidden somewhere I would¡¯ve had to find to win the secret quest.¡± Stratos nodded. Their head bounced a bit too quickly, but they¡¯d almost gotten the gesture down. ¡°But it was never thought anyone would be able to do that either. The items required to solve the dungeon are very well hidden in scattered places and nearly impossible to find.¡± ¡°They were tricky to make, that¡¯s for sure.¡± ¡°It should have been impossible to make them.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Guess I got lucky.¡± ¡°You most certainly did. The fatality factor here was also the lowest of all dungeons.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± I said. ¡°Never mind,¡± Stratos snapped. Guess I wasn¡¯t supposed to know what a fatality factor was. >>> Fatality factor represents the chance of respawning in any given scenario Stratos threw their hands up in exasperation. ¡°You must be kidding me. Command Line access? Really?¡± ¡°Something like a fatality factor exists? What was it here?¡± >>> The fatality factor for the Void Dungeon was set to 20 ¡°Wow. So if I died here, there was a twenty percent chance of dying for real? That does seem bad.¡± System: Incorrect System: There was a 20% chance of respawning ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s considerably worse. Really? Only a one in five chance of survival?¡± ¡°This was an impossible dungeon,¡± Stratos said. ¡°You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.¡± Stratos glowered at me and their eyes flashed with a menacing red glare, but only for a second, then they sighed and the blue glow returned. ¡°It is not only this dungeon. The Light Dungeon¡¯s labyrinth was designed to separate teams and keep them lost and confused for days, if not weeks¡ª¡± ¡°It is a pretty crazy maze.¡± ¡°¡ªpitting you against terrifying monsters¡ª¡± ¡°Some of them are pretty nasty.¡± ¡°¡ªnearly impossible to beat¡ª¡± ¡°There¡¯s that word again, and the Minotaur was a pretty weak Boss, really.¡± ¡°The Minotaur was not the Boss, though. The real solution to the dungeon was somewhere else entirely.¡± ¡±Let me guess,¡± I said, ¡°Echidna. She still won¡¯t let me into her lair.¡± ¡±Quite so. You would be upset too if your whole reason for existing was rendered moot because you found Daedalus¡¯s study in a matter of hours and used the backdoor method to solve his puzzle and claim the dungeon.¡± ¡°Was that supposed to be hard? And what¡¯s the backdoor method?¡± >>> Dungeon Hidden Quests, also called backdoor methods, are secondary alternative routes to dungeon resolution that bring extra rewards ¡°Are Hidden Quests linked to earning titles, and does every dungeon have one?¡± I said. >>> Hidden Quests are mandatory in every dungeon and often linked to Titles So there had to be a backdoor method to solving every dungeon. I figured that was the case so it was very good to have that confirmed. Stratos sighed again. ¡°Look,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I did something I wasn¡¯t supposed to do, but you can¡¯t put a puzzle in front of a Player and expect them to solve it exactly the way you want them to. That¡¯s just bad dungeon mastering. If there¡¯s one thing you can expect Players to do, it¡¯s the unexpected.¡± ¡°So it would appear,¡± Stratos said. ¡°I can only hope that your improbable success and gaining the Great Sage title of all things with all the abilities it bestows does not get me into¡ª¡± Their eyes darted to mine and for the briefest of moments I thought I saw panic behind them. ¡°Forget I said that.¡± Stratos and I looked at each other for a few long moments. That blue glow in their eyes had faded, now they had that same look I¡¯d seen before many times back on Earth, the kind of look you see in the eyes of people as they stumble out of an exam they were positive they¡¯d failed miserably. What had Stratos stopped themself from saying? The only word I could think of was trouble. Why would my success at beating dungeons get them into trouble? I decided not to press the issue, not at that particular moment, anyway. Stratos clearly did not want to elaborate. ¡°Forget you said what?¡± I said with a look I hoped conveyed feigned innocence. ¡°Does it help if I tell you it was a lot of fun?¡± Stratos bit their lip as they looked at me for a moment. ¡°You really are a strange human.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to take that as a compliment. But I did the Nature Dungeon okay, right?¡± ¡°Hardly.¡± ¡°Oh man, I did that wrong too?¡± Stratos sighed again. ¡°It was not supposed to be solved until the Shadow Dungeon was solved first and you had attained the key to eliminating the Blight. You have a knack for going in the backdoor.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she said. Look, if it¡¯s any consolation, Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table knights are making an attempt on the Shadow Dungeon right now.¡± Stratos looked offended. ¡°Do you really think I do not know about their most recent attempt on the Shadow Dungeon?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t seem to know I was in here.¡± The briefest flash of orange warned me against going there. ¡°Right. Sorry. I forgot who I was talking to. So I guess I should see the global announcement about them solving it any minute.¡± ¡°You will not. Their attempt ended shortly before you solved the Void Dungeon.¡± ¡°It did? Did I miss the notification?¡± ¡°No. There will be no such announcement. Their attempt failed.¡± ¡°It did? Aw, man. That¡¯s too bad.¡± ¡°The Shadow Dungeon is one of the simpler to solve, but the Shadow Demon is by no means an easy foe.¡± ¡°Ugh. That¡¯s rough. They didn¡¯t make it past the boss.¡± ¡°Dungeons are not designed to be solved easily, and not on the first try. It is fully expected that multiple Players will not survive the attempts.¡± I started to get a bad feeling. ¡°Did any of them die this time?¡± Stratos looked me in the eyes. ¡°Yes.¡± Crap. ¡°How many?¡± ¡°I am not at liberty to say.¡± Double crap. ¡°But it¡¯s okay, right? They¡¯ll all respawn, right?¡± Stratos remained silent and inscrutable and my bad feeling deepened. Did they die or did they die-die? ¡°Stratos, what was the fatality factor of the Shadow Dungeon?¡± ¡°I am not at liberty to say.¡± ¡°Command Line? System? A little help?¡± System: The rules prevent revealing that information at this time ¡°You told me the Void Dungeon¡¯s factor, but I suppose that was after I¡¯d already solved it. Can you at least give me a hint? Was it less than a hundred?¡± Stratos considered the question, then seemed to come to a decision. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°A lot less?¡± ¡°Considerably less.¡± So there was a considerable chance they might not respawn. I didn¡¯t want to ask outright, but I had to know. ¡°Will they all respawn?¡± I said, afraid of the answer I might get. Stratos gave me a level gaze. ¡°I am not at liberty to say.¡± ¡°Oh shit,¡± I said. Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight - The waiting game Just like how there were secret passages in the Light Dungeon to hop around quickly, there was also a shortcut I could use to move directly from the Great Sage¡¯s tower to the Void Dungeon¡¯s gate. In this case, all I had to do was walk through the wall with the intent of leaving and I was there. Without saying another word to Stratos or Pinky, I turned and walked through the wall, coming out the other side under the canopy of the Black Altar¡¯s roof, back on Crucible. The moment I stepped out of the dungeon, the peanut gallery chimed in. A curious observer was wondering when you¡¯d come out An unnamed observer checks you for injuries An unnamed observer doesn¡¯t even see any blood An unnamed observer sighs with disappointment An unnamed observer was told this was a deadly dungeon A mysterious observer is glad to see Player Daniel Lamont come out An impatient observer wanted to see what the fuss was about A cryptic observer will be watching from now on Great, they were multiplying. Hang on, did this mean the observers couldn¡¯t see what happened in the Void Dungeon? They were definitely there in the Light and Nature Dungeons. Must be because of the Void. Good to know. As disconcerting as they were, seeing those observers usually meant I¡¯d get something good, but this was not the time to fret about that. I was too worried about my friends. I stepped into the teleportation circle outside the Black Altar without even acknowledging the observers. A moment later, I was standing in the gazebo in the center of the city getting flooded with a rush of new knowledge and insights about the Toronto Transportation Complex. Most important of which was that I had misinterpreted the unlocked YYZ power. But it was not the time to think about that either. ¡°Daniel!¡± Jane said a split second after I appeared. A curious observer thinks it was rude to run off like that I waved my hands to clear away the message. ¡°Not now,¡± I said. A curious observer thinks that was even ruder A curious observer decides not to give a reward after all An unnamed observer has to agree with curious A mysterious observer thinks there is a first time for everything Jane was with some of my friends at the bottom of the gazebo steps and I rushed through the floating messages to join them. My chest tightened and a knot formed in my stomach when I saw there were only five of them: Jane, Bruce, Arthur, Morgan, and Byron. Their clothes were riddled with holes, rips, and scorch marks, as well as not a few blood stains, and there were still open wounds underneath that hadn¡¯t been healed. They¡¯d clearly been in quite the fight. A quick check revealed all of their health was low and mana nearly drained. I immediately used Everybody Gets A Heal to cure them all at once. They¡¯d been injured enough that I had to cast the heal a few times to get everyone back to full health. Why were there only five of them here? Did the rest die? Jane punched me on the arm. ¡°The Void Dungeon? How the hell?¡± Morgan nudged Jane away. ¡°We saw the notification. Congratulations. We weren¡¯t as lucky.¡± ¡°Who died?¡± I said, probably much louder than necessary. ¡°Whoah, what¡¯s with that look?¡± Jane said. ¡°Tell me! Who died?!¡± ¡°Sam was taken down early by some Shades,¡± Arthur said. ¡°They seemed to target his Nature affinity,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Totally ganged up on him.¡± ¡°He was cutting them down like ripe wheat with his claws so it¡¯s not surprising they¡¯d gang up on him,¡± Jane said. ¡°We lost Nina to a trap,¡± Byron said, voice cracking. ¡°Just bad luck.¡± He was putting on a brave face, but I could tell it was only for show. He was clearly worried to death-death about his wife. ¡°Andy, Galahad, and Sigrid fell in the Boss battle,¡± Arthur said, then put a finger in a hole that had been punched through his armor, dried blood caked around it. ¡°We barely even got to the Shadow Demon. Makes me realize how much we rely on Nina¡¯s healing.¡± ¡°Makes me wonder how other teams get by without a Nina,¡± Bruce said, and looked confused when Byron shot him a nasty glare. Then it clicked in. ¡°Sorry, Byron, I didn¡¯t mean...¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± I said. I could hear my voice rising in pitch, still too loud. ¡°Where are the others? Chika, Kenji, and the rest?¡± ¡°They went back to the dojo already, we¡¯re just waiting for the others to respawn,¡± Morgan said. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Sam. Nina. Andy. Galahad. And Sigrid. ¡°Oh god,¡± I said. ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s with that look?¡± Jane said. ¡°We¡¯ll beat it next time,¡± Bruce said. Morgan seemed to understand what was on my mind. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said. ¡°Sigrid and the others will be fine.¡± ¡°Not necessarily,¡± I said. I managed to keep the volume down, but I couldn¡¯t stop my voice from quaking. ¡°Look, I was wrong about when and why people respawn.¡± I explained fatality factors and everyone¡¯s eyes flashed toward the place on the gazebo where people appeared when teleporting in from an affinity circle, like I just had, or when respawning. I¡¯d just swept aside all our naive assumptions how respawning works and now the reality that death-death had been a lot closer all along than we¡¯d thought was sinking in. ¡°Oh god,¡± Jane said. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to be sick,¡± Byron said. ¡°What¡¯s the fatality factor of the Shadow Dungeon?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly, but it is considerably lower than a hundred. I don¡¯t think we are allowed to know exact numbers until the dungeon has been solved.¡± ¡°Do you know what it was for the Void Dungeon?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Twenty.¡± ¡±Meaning if you had died, there was only a twenty percent chance you¡¯d respawn,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Jesus Christ,¡± Morgan said. ¡°But Shadow won¡¯t be as low. I also know that the Void Dungeon was the most difficult of all of them. It was meant to be a true killer dungeon, impossible to beat.¡± ¡°So of course you beat it alone,¡± Jane said. ¡°How do you know all this anyway?¡± Yet another secret I still kept from everyone was my special relationship with Stratos but it wasn¡¯t hard to explain away my knowledge about dungeons and fatality factors without revealing that. ¡°It¡¯s something I got from the dungeon,¡± I said. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°What about the other dungeons, Nature and Life?¡± Morgan said. ¡°You know what, I didn¡¯t ask yet,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t have to ask, Command Line offered the information unprompted. >>> The Nature Dungeon had a fatality factor of 75 >>> The Light Dungeon had a fatality factor of 80 I chose not to share the Command Line windows, partly because I didn¡¯t want to explain what it was, but mostly because I didn¡¯t want anybody to know about it either. ¡°That¡¯s not so bad,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Yeah, but solving the labyrinth was supposed to take several tries and make TPK not only possible, but likely.¡± ¡°TPK?¡± Jane said. ¡°Total Party Kill,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Fuck. We were so lucky,¡± Jane said. ¡°Let¡¯s hope that luck holds,¡± Byron said, his eyes still fixed on the gazebo, waiting for his wife to appear there. ¡°At least for a little longer.¡± Every minute lasted forever as we waited at the base of the gazebo. Whenever someone appeared in the teleportation circle we jumped, hearts pounding, but it was never our friends, always some other Players returning from another circle somewhere. Most of them looked pretty beat up, no doubt from their own failed attempts to conquer a dungeon. As worried as I was about Sigrid and the others, I couldn¡¯t help wondering which dungeons they were returning from, and what their bedraggled states said about the challenges they¡¯d faced there. Mental note: get the elven spies to find out what dungeons people were delving into. Stratos had said that dungeons were meant to be challenging, that they were designed to take several attempts to beat them, that it would be considered normal for some Players to die-die in the process, even. But maybe Team Maple Leaf¡¯s failure to conquer the Shadow Dungeon and the rough shape of the other teams coming back from adventures was indicative of something more. Were the dungeons still too hard for them? Were Players reaching a bottleneck in their growth? What would it take to push them over the edge so that they could beat the dungeons? Then it happened. Sam appeared on the gazebo platform looking dazed and confused. I knew that feeling first-hand, having died and respawned twice myself. He saw us and grinned. ¡°Sorry about that,¡± he said when he joined us. ¡°I guess I got too cocky and rushed in where I shouldn¡¯t have. How¡¯d we do?¡± Nobody said anything. We were all waiting for someone else to break the news, but the looks on our faces must¡¯ve clued Sam in that things were not hunky dory. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re the first to respawn,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Makes sense, I was the first to die,¡± Sam said. ¡°Which means Nina should be next,¡± Byron said. ¡°Nina died too?¡± Sam said. Morgan put a comforting arm around Byron while Jane took Sam¡¯s arm. ¡°Let¡¯s talk over there,¡± Jane said, leading him to one of the fountains, no doubt to tell him what happened after his death and explain the situation. I could see the exact moment he heard about fatality factors by the concerned expression on his chiseled features. They rejoined us and we waited quietly, all thinking the same grim thoughts. Shortly after that, a solitary figure appeared in the circle. ¡°Nina!¡± Byron shouted, and rushed onto the gazebo to catch his wife in a tight embrace. She grinned and said something to him, but they were too far away to hear. Then Byron said something and Nina¡¯s face fell. He kept a tight grip on her hand as he led her off the gazebo. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can survive waiting,¡± Arthur said. Great choice of words, Arthur. Very tactful. Morgan must have thought the same thing because she shot a glare at her brother before turning to me. ¡°Distract us, Daniel,¡± she said. ¡°Tell us about the Void Dungeon.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Jane said, shivering, whether at the thought of that endless creepy expanse or from worrying about our friends was anybody¡¯s guess. ¡°How the hell did you manage to solve that? And by yourself?¡± She punched me in the arm for no good reason. With fear for Sigrid, Gallahad, and Andy raging out of control, I somehow managed to push it back far enough that I could start to regale them with my adventure. It must have been a good story because we hadn¡¯t realized someone had respawned. ¡°I¡¯d expect a bit of a warmer welcome,¡± Sigrid said, sauntering over from the middle of the gazebo. ¡°We did just return from the dead, after all.¡± It took precisely one blink until she was enveloped in Jane¡¯s arms. Galahad, who was beside her, was similarly embraced by Morgan, although it took a little longer for her to reach him. Morgan couldn¡¯t teleport like Jane and had to actually run over. ¡°We¡¯ve been so worried,¡± Jane said. Sigrid laughed. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Nothing hurts anymore except my pride.¡± When Jane let go, Sigrid looked at me and held out her arms. ¡°Your turn.¡± I took the invitation, blinked over using Jane¡¯s power, and hugged Sigrid. I said nothing, letting the desperate tightness of my embrace express how I felt. ¡°Whoah,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You trying to squeeze me back to death or something?¡± I let go. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say stop,¡± she said, clinging on and giving me a tight squeeze in return. We were probably the only people who could take a hug this tight from each other without crushing several ribs; not only were we both outrageously strong, but in the process of getting that strong we¡¯d also toughened ourselves up a lot too. ¡°Hang on,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Where¡¯s Andy?¡± We all turned our attention back to the gazebo, waiting for Andy to make his appearance. And we waited. And waited. None of us wanted to say it, as though giving voice to it would make it real. Finally, Jane was the one who broke the silence. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s coming back,¡± she said. Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine - Fortress of Solitude It took a few days for the reality of Andy¡¯s death-death to fully sink in, then the gloom continued to hang over us for several more. I was torn between wanting to be around people and wanting to have nothing to do with them. I compromised. I kept up my mornings with Sigrid, but our exercise was half-hearted at best. Mostly I wanted to make sure she was okay. Despite her protests about his clinginess, they had been close. Not in the same way she and I were, of course, theirs was a different kind of intimacy, but it was intimacy all the same. I wanted to be there if she needed me. Chika had also been close with Andy. After the tournament they¡¯d had a friendly rivalry going and she was taking his death harder than most. I was also worried about her so I made sure to invite her to practice toron-do with me, but her heart wasn¡¯t in it either. For that girl to not be interested in doing martial arts, I knew she had to be very upset. Again, I just wanted to be there for her if she needed a big brother. I told the sisters I needed a break from training, and when I explained why they totally understood. There was one PvP duel but I barely put any effort into setting the odds and I was a bit off, so a few Players ended up making a fair bit of coin off of me as a result. Ruka visited me the night of our dungeon raids to congratulate me, but there was no celebration after I told her about Andy, and we didn¡¯t even play a game that night. We just sat and she listened as I told her about him and the time we¡¯d spent together. They were good times. Even the ones I didn¡¯t remember. For a demon, she was a lot more empathetic than you¡¯d expect. Apart from that, I spent the time exploring what it meant to be the Great Sage and trying to keep myself busy. I had more than enough ways to do that. When I got the title of Great Architect in the labyrinth I was flooded with information about the things Daedalus knew, such as architecture and engineering. With the Great Sage title, I was gifted with a deeper understanding of the Void, which included crafting and extra-dimensional space. A great deal of the science or magic or whatever you want to call it that made such fantastical things happen on Crucible was directly related to manipulating space by taking advantage of certain characteristics of the void. This included portals, inventories, summonings, and teleportation. Anything that suddenly appeared where it wasn¡¯t there before got there via void. All of which is to say, these insights combined with a deeper understanding of crafting gave me some ideas for powers I wanted to synthesize and items I wanted to enchant. The first thing I did was finally make the upgrade to the range of the portal power I¡¯d been trying to figure out for so long. The solution seemed so obvious now that I grokked the void. Next up: improve my inventory. A while ago I¡¯d managed to merge it with Jane¡¯s blink power so that I no longer had to open it up to pull things from it or put things into it, but with a few more improvements I was now able to open a portal that let me physically go inside the inventory itself if I wanted to. It was my very own pocket dimension, after all. I cheekily renamed the inventory Gift from Hands Off My Stash, Man to Fortress of Solitude. At first it felt a lot like being inside the Void Dungeon, just a whole lot of nothing, but as the Great Sage I had the power to change that. After a bit of trial and error with manipulating the void, I transformed the environment to something a lot friendlier ¡ª a recreation of a pristine lake in Northern Ontario where we used to vacation every summer when I was a kid ¡ª creating for myself a cozy home base that brought back lots of fond memories of childhood summers, and that I could escape into from anywhere. I set up a large island in the middle of the lake with everything I could need: a nice cottage with a library, a workroom with my newly acquired forges, a gymnasium for training where I one day hoped to create a formation like the one in the arena that created sparring partners, and of course, there was plenty of organized storage for all the items I collected. It was primarily an inventory after all. My very own Fortress of Solitude. I spent some time fiddling around with Command Line, trying to figure out what information I was able to access from the game database. What I discovered was: not much. It¡¯s possible I was asking the wrong sorts of questions, but I think my Great Sage level access wasn¡¯t very high. It would answer direct questions, but it would also provide snippets of info based on what was happening around me if I wanted. It was kind of like having a very stupid AI-powered search engine; not Google, more like Goo. A glossary for the game, if you will, that could provide basic information but nothing more. It was a fantastic way to learn about monsters, and there were detailed files on everything you could think of, including where they could typically be found. I learned a lot about different locations, and some background history I hadn¡¯t known before. But when I started asking questions about the game, like what the rules were, or what the point of it all was, all I got was a big access denied message. I tried asking what a Gamester was, that¡¯s what was on Stratos¡¯ business card and System called them that a few times, but was rewarded with nothing but more curt access denials. What would it take to upgrade my administrator clearance with Command Line so I could get some juicier data? And more importantly, was there a way to issue commands to the game¡¯s OS rather than just recall information from it? Something else I got with the Void Dungeon that I was keen to explore was the Control Key for the teleportation circles. It allowed me and anyone on my team (if there was anyone else on my team) to travel to any affinity circle whether or not they¡¯d ever been there before. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. There were still several dungeons that hadn¡¯t yet been located yet so I used my new ability to pay a quick visit to all of the different circles so that I¡¯d know where all the dungeons were located, and get a sneak peek into what the dungeons might be like. It was informative to say the least, and gave me a few ideas about what dungeons I might want to challenge next. It also gave me the opportunity to see how hard it was to sneak around in the Shadow Dungeon. Using only the abilities Kenji had access to, supplemented by an elven cloak customized to blend in with Shadow instead of Nature, I discovered that it was indeed possible to move around without drawing attention, if you were really careful. I resisted the urge to try to solve the Shadow Dungeon myself. The temptation was there, a big eff you to the ones who didn¡¯t want me to go with them, but I¡¯m not that petty and I knew doing so would ruin a lot of friendships. My elf spies had discovered which dungeons the other Players had been attempting, and I was also tempted to have a go at those too, but if I took away those opportunities for other Players to gain experience and grow that was a net loss to me. Maybe the game Stratos had designed would have me trying to clear all the dungeons myself if I could, but that wasn¡¯t the game I¡¯d decided to play. I had designed a different game for myself and any Players who wanted to grow stronger and won together. About a week after the dungeon raids Jane called everyone together in the courtyard, including me. It was a grim gathering. ¡°I miss Andy as much as anyone, but this,¡± she waved her hands around to encompass everyone, ¡°it has to stop. Andy would not have wanted us to mope around like this.¡± ¡°How do you know what Andy would have wanted?¡± Chika said. I don¡¯t think anyone had seen her without puffy red eyes since the Shadow Dungeon raid. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jane said, ¡°not for sure. I have a feeling that Andy would have been touched that we all miss him so much, but at the same time he¡¯d be pissed off that we were moping around. So I am done with moping around, and I¡¯m willing to bet I¡¯m not alone.¡± She was greeted with scattered mumblings of assent. Chika didn¡¯t voice her agreement, but she didn¡¯t argue either. ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Acting like this is doing nothing to honor Andy¡¯s memory.¡± ¡°What are we supposed to do then?¡± Sam said. ¡°There¡¯s only one thing we can do,¡± Jane said. ¡°Get drunk and visit a brothel?¡± Lancelot said, earning the first laughs I¡¯d heard from any of us in a long time. ¡°Okay, two things,¡± Jane said. ¡°But what I meant was that we should go back into that dungeon and rip the Shadow Demon a new one.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be the same as last time,¡± Sigrid said, leaping into the conversation without skipping a beat. I got the impression that she and Jane had planned this beforehand. ¡°Now we know what we¡¯re up against. We know the terrain. We know how that demon fights. We know its weaknesses, so what we need to do is plan a proper strategy and go back.¡± ¡°I thought we already did that and look where it got us,¡± Galahad said. ¡°I agree with Jane,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Big surprise there,¡± Kay mumbled. ¡±I don¡¯t like to give up,¡± Arthur continued, ¡°and it would really piss me off if another team beat the Shadow Dungeon before we got a chance.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to see them try,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I mean if we couldn¡¯t do it, do you really think anybody else could?¡± I noticed a few sets of eyes glance over at me, but nobody said anything and I was glad I¡¯d resisted the urge to try solving it. ¡°But Andy was one of our best fighters,¡± Nina said. ¡°Can we really do it without him?¡± More mumbles of agreement. Before I even realized it, I was speaking up. ¡°It will be that much harder without him, it¡¯s true,¡± I said, ¡°but losing him was the tragedy, not your failure. So you tried and failed, there¡¯s nothing wrong with that. You can at least give his loss some meaning by using what you learned from the experience to come up with a better plan and by working better as a team.¡± Galahad turned and snapped at me. ¡°How dare you say that? You weren¡¯t even there. Morgan¡¯s strategies are sound and our teamwork is just fine, thank you. You¡¯d know that if you¡¯d bothered to help us. Instead you went off on your own to steal another dungeon for yourself. You don¡¯t know what it was like.¡± Ignoring his jab about stealing dungeons, Galahad¡¯s comment about not bothering to help them surprised me, but not as much as how Jane leapt to my defense. ¡°Back off, Gal,¡± she said. ¡°While we were in there getting our asses handed to us it¡¯s true he was busy beating the Void Dungeon all by himself, but you¡¯re missing the point. The reason he was able to do that is because he¡¯d seen what was there and came back with a smart plan and won.¡± Morgan stepped in to back her up. ¡°Jake,¡± she said, using his real name, ¡°I appreciate the support but they¡¯re right. We can do better next time because we failed this time. We know what to expect from the boss now.¡± ¡°And let¡¯s not forget the reason why Daniel wasn¡¯t there,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Galahad huffed, ¡°like I said, he ditched us because he wanted to go steal another dungeon all by himself.¡± And that was when Sigrid and I both realized something important. Not everyone knew that I had been specifically excluded from joining them on the raid, and it wasn¡¯t hard to tell who was in the loop by how they reacted to Galahad¡¯s accusation. Jane, Arthur, and Morgan were the only ones looking like they wanted to crawl away, and Sigrid looked livid. I wasn¡¯t very happy about it myself. Who knew how many of them were harbouring similar bitter thoughts about me, all because a certain someone chose not to tell the others about his request that I keep out of it. Maybe I should¡¯ve stolen the Shadow Dungeon for myself after all. One Hundred and Thirty - Put that thing away Sigrid glared at Arthur and opened her mouth to say something, then appeared to change her mind and I heard a clack when she clamped her mouth shut. I¡¯d never seen her look so angry. She turned to me. ¡°Do you wanna tell him or shall I?¡± she said through gritted teeth. This was not a conversation I wanted to have. I couldn¡¯t believe we were even having it. How could they all not know? Had everyone been thinking all along that I was a selfish jerk? Then Arthur stood up. ¡°Wait,¡± he said. ¡°Let me do it.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on, Arthur?¡± Galahad said, his bitter fury now dampened somewhat by confusion. Arthur took a deep breath. ¡°I asked Daniel not to come with us,¡± he said. Well, he actually told me I wasn¡¯t invited to come, but this wasn¡¯t the time to quibble over semantics. ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Chika said. ¡°You told him not to come with us? Why the fuck would you do that?¡± Bless you Chika, you clever girl. You got it right. Because of that I won¡¯t even chide you about swearing. But I will try to talk her off the ledge. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Chika. He just wanted to make sure that it was Team Maple Leaf who would get the dungeon. There¡¯s no way I should have been given the Light Dungeon, that should have been Maple Leaf¡¯s." If I''m being honest, that''s what I used to think, but after hearing what Stratos said about how the labyrinth was supposed to be solved, and my role in finding the hidden quest and figuring out the puzzle, I could see now why the dungeon was awarded to me. Probably best not to mention that, though. "And the Nature Dungeon was a combined effort with some of the team, too, yet I still got that, too. Arthur didn¡¯t want it to happen again. He was just looking out for the team.¡± "But he''s not on the team either!" Chika said, still perched precariously high on an emotional ledge. "What gives Arthur the right to make a decision like that? He''s not actually a King, you know." Nobody could say she didn''t have some credible points there. Lord knows those same thoughts had swirled around in my head many times. "What she said," Sigrid muttered. I knew Sigrid suspected that wasn¡¯t Arthur¡¯s only motivation and the fact that he chose not to tell anybody except his sister gave a lot of credibility to her suspicions, but I wasn¡¯t about to bring that up. He hadn¡¯t needed to tell Jane, she was there when he talked to me and knew everything, I wasn¡¯t about to bring that up either. I didn''t know if Jane had agreed with him or was simply going along with it because of their relationship, but that didn''t sound like Jane. I''d never seen her by shy about expressing her opinion. With or without Jane''s complicity, no matter how you sliced it his decision to not tell anybody else was dubious. The only reason Sigid knew was because Jane told her, which was a wise move on her part because if the truth had come out and Sigrid learned that Jane had kept it hidden from her, I would not have wanted to be Jane. ¡°But that¡¯s not right,¡± Nina said. ¡°You have to admit though, Honey, it is a valid concern," Byron said. "Between what he did to Team Overgeared that night¡ª¡± I raised my hand to object. ¡°Allegedly did! And it was only half of Overgeared.¡± ¡°¡ªand we all saw what he did to that Silver Sword cocksucker,¡± Byron continued. Objection overruled, I suppose. ¡°I can follow Arthur¡¯s thinking," Nina said, "but what he did isn''t right. You¡¯ve been at least as much a part of the team as the Round Table, Daniel. The idea of you being excluded like that does not sit well with me. You must have been so hurt.¡± ¡°Thanks, Nina. I appreciate that, I truly do.¡± And I truly did. ¡°But unlike the Round Table folks I actually am on a different team. The Round Table are the unofficial members of Team Maple Leaf, I¡¯m a rival. A friendly one, but still a rival.¡± "Still," Nina said. "I don''t like it, and I especially don''t like the way it was done." ¡°I can see Arthur¡¯s point, too,¡± Bruce said, "and I probably would''ve agreed with asking Daniel if he would sit this one out." Ask...tell...whatever. "Daniel is a force to be reckoned with. I mean, he just beat an entire dungeon by himself. Who the hell solos dungeons here?¡± "You should ask him about what happened at the Cathedral," Sigrid said. "You mean when it blew up?" Bruce said. "I heard that was part of a quest that both Team Spice and Team Legion had." "It was," Sigrid said, "but he...oh hell, you tell them, Daniel." "I''d rather not," I said. "It''s not relevant here." "Yes it is," Sigrid said. "Daniel was at the arena when it happened and went to help and ended up tagging along on the quest. Daniel told me about it, but when I heard the same story from Tiff I realized how much he''d left out of it." "Who''s Tiff?" Byron muttered to Nina. "Team Spice leader," she replied. "Tiff wouldn''t tell me the details," Sigrid said, "she said she promised not to say what Daniel did exactly, but she was pretty insistant that without his help they never would''ve completed their quests." "You''re not helping your argument, Sigrid," Kay said. "That''s because I haven''t told you the important part. Tiff told me that Daniel specifically left the important actions for their teams to do. He helped ¡ª a lot, according to her ¡ª but mostly in a supporting role. She said he told them that it was their quest and purposefully let them finish it. He didn''t even get a share of the rewards." "Is that true?" Morgan said. "I really didn''t do that much," I said. "That''s not what Tiff said," Sigrid said. "But the point is, you did a lot but not too much specifically because you wanted to make sure they got the credit for completing their quests. He could¡¯ve done the same thing with us, if Arthur would¡¯ve allowed it.¡± "Daniel, your modesty is endearing, but also exasperating, so enough with it," Morgan said. "Preach, sister," Jane said. Morgan looked me straight in the eyes. "Is what Sigrid said true?"Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "More or less," I said. Actually, it was 100% true. "And you didn''t get any quest rewards?" Nina said. "No, but I still got a lot from the experience." That was also 100% true. What I got from the catacombs was worth way more than a few reward boxes. I met Akari, I deepened my relationship with Annabelle as well both teams, and I got the grimoire with the skill to use it. I was more than fairly compensated for my efforts, I thought. Chika''s scowl was so deep it was almost comical, but the anger smoldering behind it was anything but funny. "I wonder what King Arthur would say if one of the Round Table had done most of the work and was awarded the dungeon like Daniel was," she said. Another good point. That Death Girl might have a future as a lawyer. Nina took a deep breath. ¡±Arthur, you had no right to make that kind of decision by yourself. That''s something for the whole team to decide." There were a lot of people nodding in agreement. Arthur couldn''t meet anybody''s eyes, he just stood there staring at the ground. "You''re right," he said. "I''m sorry." Everyone was quiet, their brains working on rationalizing things in a way that would let them accept it all without painting Arthur as the bad guy. More than anything the team needed to come together and not allow themselves to be torn apart by this. That said, I was glad nobody thought I was the bad guy anymore. Personally, I thought they were missing the real point. Or maybe they weren''t, maybe it was just that nobody seemed to want to address the elephant in the room: if I really was that capable, a true force to be reckoned with, then if I had been in the Shadow Dungeon with them Andy might still be with us. I wondered if any of them had also considered that if they had let Kenji use his skills to reconnoiter first, maybe their raid wouldn¡¯t have gone so far off the rails and that also might have changed Andy¡¯s fate. ¡°Peronally,¡± Jane said, using her god-tier social skills to redirect the conversation and defuse the tension, ¡°I for one am glad that the idiot over there went after the Void Dungeon without us. As someone who was in there myself once, I¡¯d rather face a dozen Shadow Demons than go against the big blob thingy that almost ate us.¡± ¡°Big what?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Daniel, what¡¯s it called again?¡± Jane said. ¡°Shoggoth,¡± I said. Just like with the bombshell about why I was absent from the Shadow Dungeon raid, I could tell immediately who was familiar with H.P. Lovecraft¡¯s mythos and who wasn¡¯t by their reactions. Nina clearly knew nothing about it. ¡°What¡¯s a Shoggoth?¡± Nina said. When I¡¯d told them about my experience in the Void Dungeon I¡¯d skipped some details, then after that we¡¯d all been mourning Andy and dungeon talk wasn¡¯t high on anyone¡¯s list so I never actually finished the story. That meant I hadn¡¯t introduced anyone to Pinky yet. I¡¯d left my familiar in the Void Dungeon¡¯s tower but I had the ability to call it to me whenever I wanted. ¡°Imagine this,¡± I said, summoning the little horror onto my outstretched hand, ¡°only about a thousand times larger.¡± Everyone lurched back from the atrocity as it lurked there, quivering slightly, pustules erupting all over its amorphous mass into eyes which stared at everyone at once. I bent down and let it ooze off my hand onto the ground then stepped back a bit and telepathically told it to get bigger. Pinky swelled from the size of a Chihuahua into that of a large Guernsey. Its slithering appendages slapped the ground as they wriggled and its myriad eyes bulged and popped unpleasantly. ¡°Jesus Christ, Daniel,¡± Byron said. ¡°Put that thing away!¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she said,¡± Jane muttered. I returned Pinky to the tower with a telepathic apology. What I received back through our Great Sage familiar connection let me know exactly how annoyed it was at me for summoning it only to scare people then send it back. Pretty prickly for a little blob. ¡°Is that really the sort of monster that¡¯s in the Void Dungeon?¡± Kay said, blanching. I shivered instinctively thinking about the other atrocities that populated the Void. ¡°You literally do not want to know. Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m really glad I managed to sneak past without alerting any of them.¡± Hint hint. If I can do that in the Void, surely Kenji could sneak into the Shadow to scope things out. ¡°And to think, you control them now,¡± Byron said. ¡°Now that¡¯s scary,¡± Jane said. ¡°I think we¡¯re getting off topic.¡± I said. ¡°If anyone really wants I¡¯ll take you there so you can see for yourself later, but right now we¡¯re talking about how you¡¯re going to go back and beat the Shadow Dungeon.¡± Galahad was opening his mouth to say something but I didn¡¯t give him a chance and plowed ahead. ¡°Regardless of why, I wasn¡¯t there, so like Galahad said I don¡¯t know exactly what you all faced, but that doesn¡¯t matter because I do know you guys. I know that with proper preparation and teamwork there isn¡¯t a dungeon you can¡¯t beat.¡± Hint hint. ¡°Easy for you to say,¡± Galahad said. I figured that was as close to an apology as I was going to get from him, but at least he wasn''t ready to skin me alive anymore. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re coming with us next time?¡± Nina said. I glanced over at Arthur. He was still avoiding eye contact. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°This is still your dungeon to beat. I¡¯ll help with whatever preparations I can before you go, but this was something you started without me so it will only feel right if you finish it without me.¡± Jane leaned over to Morgan. ¡°In other words, he¡¯s too afraid to come.¡± ¡°Is it possible that he¡¯s actually smarter than he looks?¡± Morgan said. Arthur finally met my gaze for a moment, then he nodded. ¡°I agree with Daniel,¡± he said. ¡°We need to finish what we started. I¡¯m going back to win this time. If anyone doesn¡¯t want to come along, I¡¯ll understand. I¡¯ll be disappointed, but I¡¯ll understand.¡± ¡°Oh don¡¯t be a pompous ass,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Of course we¡¯re coming too.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s our new strategy then?¡± Lancelot said to Morgan, ignoring Arthur. ¡°Let¡¯s not rush into it,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ll take a day to think about it, then meet back up here tomorrow and plan out our attack, together, as a team.¡± ¡°You heard the lady,¡± Sam said. ¡°We¡¯ll take whatever time we need to prepare properly before going back and conquering that fucking dungeon.¡± ¡°Hell yeah,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Let¡¯s show that Shadow Demon who the real boss is.¡± The impromptu meeting ended on a considerably more positive note than what it had started on. People began to get up and wander off. Jane got up from where she¡¯d been beside Arthur and came over to where Sigrid and I were sitting. ¡°Daniel,¡± Jane said. ¡°How are you able to suddenly make one of those shoggerts appear? Why can¡¯t I do that with Squishy?¡± It must have heard its name because an inquisitive bulge of slime poked out of a pouch on Jane¡¯s hip. ¡°It¡¯s called a Shoggoth, and it¡¯s my familiar.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a creature that I share a bond with, like a witch and her black cat.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s not a pet, like that slime you gave to Jane and not me?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Someone¡¯s jealous,¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s more than a pet,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s more like a minion. I have a telepathic link with it and because it''s from the void I can summon it like that. It came with the title of Great Sage I got when I beat the dungeon.¡± ¡°What does it do besides pop disgusting eyes all over itself and terrify anyone who sees it?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It can change size and shape, and can grow as many tentacles as it wants. With enough of them they¡¯re more efficient than arms and hands. Oh, and if you feed it a potion there¡¯s a small chance it can produce more of them, but the method it uses to deliver those replicated potions is a bit, um, obscene.¡± Sigrid shuddered. ¡°That is so creepy I can¡¯t even. Maybe next time you whip it out can you keep it to a manageable size and change its shape to something a little less horrifying?¡± Jane and I looked at each other. ¡°That¡¯s what she said,¡± we both said at the same time, then started giggling. ¡°Oh grow up,¡± Sigrid said, but she was smiling as she said it. That was the first time I¡¯d seen her smile since Andy didn¡¯t come back. Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One - Vitality As the team dispersed, Sigrid and Jane asked if I wanted to grab dinner at the same time Morgan came over and asked if I maybe wanted to talk strategy. I could tell Jane wanted to talk to me and I had a pretty good idea about what, but I''d had enough of those kinds of conversations for one day. It wouldn''t hurt her to stew a bit, so I took a raincheck on dinner. I''d rather talk strategy any day. Jane seemed about to protest but Sigrid grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the street. ¡°Come on, Jane. I have a craving for Sadie¡¯s skewers. My treat.¡± Jane gasped. ¡°You actually want to go for war pig, Siggy? You? Sorry, Daniel, this never happens so I must away before she changes her mind. Adieu!¡± Then she let Sigrid drag her out onto the street. Just before they left, Sigrid looked back and winked. ¡°Sigrid¡¯s pretty amazing, isn¡¯t she?¡± Morgan said. ¡°She''s the best,¡± I said. ¡°As for Jane...¡± ¡°Jane? She¡¯s pretty, um, pretty?¡± ¡°I think Sigrid once said it best: Jane is Jane. I¡¯ve given up trying to figure her out.¡± Morgan laughed. ¡°Couldn¡¯t have said it better myself. Now. Let us strategize.¡± She started heading toward the zen garden where she usually sketched out her plans in the sand. ¡°Snap me off a willow sprig, would you?¡± ¡°Oh no, we are not using the zen garden, got it?¡± ¡°What do you propose we use then?¡± Morgan said. I gave her a big smile. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the one able to create illusions and physical objects on demand?¡± Her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡± ¡°So dense,¡± I said, and god it felt good even if it did earn me a playful punch in the gut. ¡°Jerk,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I heard you¡¯ve been acting as coach during your fights, coordinating what everyone else is doing.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any great attack abilities myself. Do you think that¡¯s a bad idea?¡± ¡°Not necessarily, but that¡¯s not what I meant anyway. I¡¯m just saying I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been so focused on figuring out how to make the most out of everyone else¡¯s abilities that you neglected your own.¡± Morgan smacked her forehead. ¡°I really am dense,¡± she said. ¡°I think it speaks more to your dedication to supporting the team, and that¡¯s a very good thing. If it makes you feel better, the first time I fought Flint I did it bare handed using only omni-do. Nothing else.¡± ¡°You used nothing else? Not even your knives?¡± I shrugged. ¡°He¡¯d already stolen them by then.¡± ¡°Okay, but what about your other gajillion abilities?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. I was so used to using my knives that after losing them all I could think about was fighting without them and forgot I had other options.¡± She didn¡¯t need to know that I was also a bit befuddled by the power he¡¯d used on me. ¡°That kind of explains why he was so confident at the start of your arena duel, or was he not really that tough to begin with?¡± ¡°Oh no, he was tough. Expert and Master level in everything and some pretty good powers. But yeah, I was so pitiful in our first fight he walked into our duel with no idea what I was capable of.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think anybody could¡¯ve guessed that,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°But if his powers were so hot, why didn¡¯t he use them?¡± ¡°Because I didn¡¯t let him. Remember how I said Akari has been mentoring me? She¡¯s been helping me find the most effective ways to combine my powers during a fight. Going in I had a dozen ways prepared to beat him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you weren¡¯t worried about what would happen if you lost,¡± she said, now nodding. ¡°He relied on two powers to ensure his victories, and I¡¯d shut them both down before he took one step toward me. Once he lost his trump cards there was no way I was going to lose.¡± Morgan was looking at me with a strange expression. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, smiling. ¡°That¡¯s what we need to do, figure out the Shadow Dungeon and find as many ways as we can to handle any situation it might throw at you. It¡¯s absolutely possible. And while we¡¯re at it, let¡¯s come up with some ways you can use the abilities you have to contribute more during a fight.¡± She didn¡¯t say anything right away, she just kept looked at me thoughtfully before she spoke again. ¡°Tell me, Daniel,¡± she said. ¡°How does confidence feel?¡± I looked back at her, blinking stupidly. So much had changed for me lately. I still had crazy anxiety about some things, but some of the other things that used to make me break out in cold sweats weren¡¯t as big of a deal anymore. She was right. I was confident now. Me. Who¡¯d a thunk it. She must¡¯ve been able to read my thoughts by the expressions on my face because she started to laugh. ¡°You haven¡¯t even considered it until now, have you? That¡¯s hilarious, and awesome. It means I can still call you dense too.¡± ¡°Touch¨¦, Morgan.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad to see you look happy. Actually, scratch that. Not just happy, you look...alive.¡± ¡°The opposite of depression is not happiness, it¡¯s vitality,¡± I said. ¡°I like that,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Wish I could take credit but it¡¯s something I heard on a TED Talk and it really struck home.¡± ¡°Yeah. I have a cousin who¡¯s clinically depressed and he¡¯s...¡± She bit her lip and looked away. ¡°He¡¯s what?¡± She seemed conflicted for a moment, then said, ¡°He¡¯s a lot like how you used to be. Sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I do feel different. You¡¯re right, it is like I feel alive, finally, and am keen to stay that way. I haven¡¯t always.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I¡¯ve only told very few people about some of my darker periods when I wished I had cancer or some other fatal disease, but cancer is exceptionally evil: it only seems to strike people who want to live. And then there were my even darker periods when I didn¡¯t feel like waiting for the disease and thought about taking care of things in my own. There¡¯s rarely a reason to bring this sort of thing up in conversation. It can be a bit of a buzzkill. Time for some levity before things get unduly grim. ¡°And to think,¡± I said, ¡°all it took was giving me total cheat-level superpowers in a world of games and surrounded by the best friends I ever had.¡± She laughed. ¡°Hey, whatever works. But for the record, I think confident and full of vitality suits you rather well.¡± ¡°Thanks. Shall we talk strategy now? I know a great place where we can do it.¡± ¡°That sounds intriguing. Where is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a surprise. But first, we need to hit up the elf village.¡± ¡°Am I appropriately dressed?¡± Morgan said, plucking at the sleeve of her shirt. ¡°Do I look okay?¡± ¡°That¡¯s actually why we need to go to the elf village first.¡± The Beastfolk lands were to the Southwest of the city in a wedge of land bordered by the sea on one side, the mountains and desert on the other, and the human farmland region on the top. According to the elves, it was the most fertile land in the area and the Beastfolk themselves were the region¡¯s best farmers. My spies had told me that so far only a few other Players had ventured there and they¡¯d all been turned away immediately. Although not quite as insular as the elves had been, nor as aggressive, I was told the Beastfolk were nonetheless borderline hostile to human outsiders. But they liked elves. A lot. Their mistrust of humans explained why there weren¡¯t any beastfolk in the city, besides our sweet gardener. Any time we¡¯d asked Shannon about the beastfolk or why she was the only one of them around, she clammed up. No matter how many times I tried to trigger her quest it never happened, but I knew there had to be one. Perhaps it was related to the dungeon in the beastfolk lands. I had only been there once before when I was using the teleportation control key to visit the nodes at each affinity dungeon. Thanks to Great Sage I had an innate sense of where all the nodes were, even if I didn¡¯t know exactly where until physically went there, so I knew that one was in the Beastfolk¡¯s territory. Given my advanced warning about the Beastfolk¡¯s proclivities, I wisely chose to turn myself into an elf before going there. I¡¯d only planned on a quick in-and-out visit to scope things out, I had not expected to arrive bang in the middle of their largest settlement. It reminded me of the one in the elf village. Whatever dungeon was there seemed to have more in common with the Nature Dungeon than the others. One important difference was that where the elves¡¯ circle had been hidden inside a ring of bushes, the one with the Beastfolk had been completely exposed at the center of their outdoor marketplace. As a result, my arrival had been witnessed by a lot of people and created a bit of a stir. My quick visit became more of a deal than I¡¯d hoped but it did give me the chance to learn a few things. For one, I learned why so many elves had emigrated there: Beastfolk really, really, really liked elves. As a corollary to that, I also discovered that Beastfolk had strong, er, appetites. It explained all the half-elf half-therianthrope people running around, if you catch my drift. And, if I am being honest, I could see the appeal for the elves. Up to then, Shannon the pretty catgirl had been the only therianthrope I¡¯d met so I knew sort of what to expect. In appearance, the Beastfolk were much closer to being people than animals, and all manner of animals were represented, too. There were lots of catfolk like Shannon, as well as dogfolk, bearfolk, mousefolk, and a host of others including, yes, bunnyfolk. And, like Shannon, they were all quite attractive. You can imagine what the children from those unions looked like. Yowzers. I knew immediately that it was going to be best to keep Players away from them. I could only imagine what would happen if those horny nerds were let loose among what was essentially an entire population of real live furries who loved to yiff but didn¡¯t like people. I had no doubt in my mind that stupid Players would only deepen the mistrust and antagonism. Players could not under any circumstances be allowed free reign there. Besides, there were secrets there I didn¡¯t want to get out. The elves who¡¯d returned from the Beastfolk lands had revealed that there was an abnormally high number of therianthropes with healing talents as well the ability to create potions. Since we¡¯d already established trade with them, we were able to quickly lock down an exclusive agreement with them to buy every healing potion that could brew. Even though I hadn¡¯t managed to trigger the quest to see which affinity dungeon was there, these healing talents combined with the incredible vitality of the lands and the Beastfolk¡¯s passion for reproduction made me certain it had to be the Life Dungeon, and I wanted that one. I hadn¡¯t spent long in the Beastfolk lands, but it was long enough to learn one more thing: the place was stunningly beautiful. I figured Morgan would love it. I took her to the elf village where we obtained some elven clothing for her. I then leant her the Stop Staring At My Ears power. It was the first time I¡¯d used my new Need A Hand? power, and Morgan just shook her head when I explained it all. It was also the first time I¡¯d seen another human become an elf, and I finally understood why people had looked at me so differently when I did it. Morgan was a looker when she was human, but when she became an elf? Whoah, mama. It was also the first time she¡¯d had the opportunity to see me as an elf, too. I can only imagine how awkwardly funny it would have looked to anyone watching, the both of us constantly sneaking peeks at each other while trying not to let the other one catch us doing it. We did eventually get around to having our strategy session, but not before a gaggle of friendly Beastfolk kids showed off their home to us. After being dragged around to see the settlement for a while, I asked the kids where the prettiest spot was. They took us to a very lovely meadow on a hill overlooking field after field of abundant crops of all manner, with a gorgeous view of the sea in the distance. On the way there we passed by a paddock full of those big bird creatures a lot of people used as mounts, where several Beastfolk were busy training them. Morgan veered over to see. ¡°I love these guys,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I¡¯ve got one myself, I wonder if it was trained here.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± I said. ¡°Want to know a secret?¡± ¡°Does anyone ever say no to that question?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure every affinity dungeon has a different creature that can be used as a mount.¡± Her eyes went wide. ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s one for each of the three I control. I¡¯d be surprised if it wasn¡¯t the same for all of them.¡± ¡°So does that mean this is a dungeon?¡± Morgan said, petting the beak of one of the animals that had come over to investigate us. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s the Life Dungeon.¡± ¡°So what are the mounts for the ones you control?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a secret I¡¯m not telling yet.¡± ¡°Meanie. But doesn¡¯t that mean there¡¯s a type of mount in the Shadow Dungeon?¡± ¡°Probably. I guess we¡¯ll find out when you rip the Shadow Demon a new one, huh Captain?¡± Morgan made a face. ¡°Captain. No pressure, huh?¡± After saying goodbye to Morgan¡¯s new friend, we made our way to the top of the hill. Loaded with gifts of fresh food from the Beastfolk, we sat down on the hill to enjoy them and talk. I don¡¯t know how helpful I was in the end, but she seemed grateful for the chance to go over the different formations and tactics they¡¯d practiced and get some feedback and suggestions. I also helped her think up more ways to use her illusion ability tactically. Finally, I gave her the elven cloak tuned to blend in with Shadow. ¡°This is for Kenji, right? Arthur told me about your idea to have him scout the dungeon.¡± ¡°You mean Sigrid¡¯s idea,¡± I said. ¡°If you insist,¡± she said, giving me a look that said she knew perfectly well whose idea it was. ¡°He can do it, you know. Remember what he did in the labyrinth all by himself?¡± ¡°I know, but...¡± ¡°He¡¯d want to do it. You just need to give him a chance.¡± If Kenji had been only a few years older it would¡¯ve been a no-brainer, but I could tell she wasn¡¯t convinced it was a good idea to send someone so young alone into such a dangerous place, even someone as capable as him. ¡°What if someone went with him?¡± she said. ¡°Like who?¡± I said, and she looked at me without saying anything. ¡°Jane has Shadow affinity so she could do it, but she doesn¡¯t have the sneaky skills. I could loan her a stealth power I have, I suppose.¡± ¡°Or you could just go with him yourself.¡± ¡°I could, but I¡¯m not on the team.¡± ¡°So? Does that matter?¡± ¡°Ask your brother.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she said, looking pained. ¡°So you are upset about it after all.¡± ¡°Did you honestly think I wouldn¡¯t be?¡± ¡°No, not really. But pretending you were okay with it made me feel less guilty.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Two - Hopeless In the end, Morgan put the Shadow cloak into her inventory and I agreed that if there was no other way they¡¯d let Kenji go I¡¯d be his babysitter while he scouted the dungeon. We weren¡¯t in any particular hurry so Morgan suggested taking our time going back. That suited me fine, I wanted to chat up as many beastfolk as I could in the hopes of triggering the dungeon quest. Alas, even though we met a whole lot of very friendly people, and both got propositioned a number of times, no quest flag was triggered. We did get a bit sidetracked when Morgan saw an apothecary and dragged me in to check it out for any rare potion ingredients, and after she spent what seemed an eternity talking alchemy with the proprietors I ended up having to drag her out with the promise that we¡¯d come back someday soon. It was very late afternoon by the time we made it back to the teleportation circle in the beastfolk town. ¡°Are you coming back to the city?¡± Morgan said as we approached it. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m gonna head to the elves and spend the night there.¡± ¡°Oh. That¡¯s a nice place you¡¯ve got there. Very cozy. I can see why you stay there so often, but doesn¡¯t it get lonely?¡± ¡±Lonely? Never really thought about it. I spend a lot of time by myself so it doesn¡¯t bother me. Plus, there are the elves. Petal is around a lot, always checking on me, and Sigrid comes to exercise with me every morning, so¡­¡± ¡°Ah. Guess you¡¯re not needing company then.¡± I responded with a shrug. We walked in silence for a while and when I looked over at her I saw she¡¯d been staring at me. ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯s got you so distracted?¡± ¡°Am I that obvious? No, don¡¯t answer that, you¡¯ll just tease me. Honestly, I¡¯m thinking about your brother.¡± ¡°Oh dear.¡± ¡°I admit I was hurt when Arthur told me not to tag along on the Shadow Dungeon raid.¡± She was about to interject something but I raised my finger to shush her. ¡°I figured it was something you¡¯d all decided. It hurt when Galahad accused me of being a selfish asshole today too, and it hurt even more when I realized it was not a group decision and that the whole team must¡¯ve been thinking what a jerk I am the entire time. But I want you to know it¡¯s okay. I really do get it. I don¡¯t like it, and I liked even less the way it was done, but I get it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hate Arthur,¡± she said. ¡°He doesn¡¯t really understand the effect he has on other people¡¯s feelings. I¡¯ve watched him break countless hearts with what looked like cold indifference, but the truth is I think he just doesn¡¯t consider how others feel. Sometimes I wonder if he realizes other people have feelings.¡± ¡°I wonder if you''re confusing inconsiderate with oblivious, but basically you¡¯re saying that Arthur does what¡¯s best for him. I suppose he and Jane make a good couple, then,¡± I said, only hearing how bitter that sounded after it had come out. Neither of us said anything until we were standing next to the circle. ¡±That¡¯s over now, you know,¡± she said. ¡°So I¡¯ve heard. They still seem pretty close to me, though. She was sitting next to him that whole meeting, as usual.¡± ¡°Only in the Cartesian sense. You¡¯re awful at reading body language.¡± ¡°Did I miss something?¡± That made her laugh and she leaned forward to put her hand on my chest. ¡°Daniel, you miss everything.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard that too,¡± I said. ¡°Could you maybe spell it out for me?¡± She exhaled and shook her head, letting her hand drop and taking a step back. ¡°Trust me, that wouldn¡¯t be doing either of us any favors.¡± I was still trying to decipher this when she stepped into the circle, turned to wave at me and thank me for a lovely day, then teleported away. After she was gone I shrugged and stepped into the circle myself. Morgan was probably trying to tell me something there but I saw no sense in trying to fathom what that might¡¯ve been. If it was really important she would¡¯ve just come right out and said it, right? The next moment I appeared in the elf village and was immediately greeted by the sight of Sigrid and Jane chatting with Petal just outside the teleportation circle. Both of their backs were to me, but even from the rear there was no mistaking who it was. They were dressed casually and for some reason they were both carrying small duffel bags. Petal was facing me and waved when she saw me, effectively ruining my plan to sneak past them to my tree house unnoticed, so I waved back and went over to join them. ¡°What are you two doing here?¡± I said as I approached them from behind. ¡°Hello to you too,¡± Sigrid said, then turned around. Her eyes widened when she saw me. ¡°Hello!¡± ¡°About time you got here,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m here to collect on your promise.¡± Uh oh. Promise? Did I promise her something? ¡°You know, for the sleepover?¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± I said. ¡°Geez, don¡¯t look so excited,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m here to keep her out of trouble,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s to keep you out of trouble, I¡¯m not sure yet.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Jane chuckled. ¡°Yeah, but who¡¯s going to keep you out of trouble? I mean, if he stays looking like¡ª¡± Whatever Jane was about to say was cut off when Sigrid elbowed her in the ribs. ¡°Ow! Okay fine, I won¡¯t mention it. I wish you¡¯d stayed home but noooooo, you had to tag along.¡± Was it just me, or were none of the women I knew making any sense today? ¡°I was never promised a sleepover,¡± Petal said, and I couldn¡¯t tell if she was complaining or teasing. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re not dropping enough hints,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I was unaware it was an option,¡± Petal said. Jane¡¯s mane of red hair rippled as she shook her head. ¡°Hints don¡¯t work with this guy, you gotta take the initiative,¡± she said. ¡°And even then he probably won¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m right here,¡± I said. Jane grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward my house. ¡°You¡¯d better have something yummy to whip up for us. I¡¯m famished.¡± ¡°Guess we¡¯re going. See you later, Petal,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Have a fun sleepover,¡± Petal sighed, waving. When we got to my place, Jane dumped her duffel inside the door and flopped onto the sofa. Now it was Sigrid¡¯s turn to shake her head as she picked up Jane¡¯s bag and started toward my bedroom. ¡°The guest room¡¯s over there,¡± I said, making my way to the kitchen. ¡°I know,¡± Sigrid said and continued into my room, placing both bags neatly beside the bed. Then she went to the dining table and grabbed a chair, dragging it closer to the kitchen before sitting down and watching me rummage around for ingredients. I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. ¡°You¡¯re being weird, Sigrid,¡± I said. ¡°No I¡¯m not,¡± she said. Jane started snickering over on the sofa. I ignored her. ¡°Seriously, why are you watching me like this?¡± ¡°Do I need a reason?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Must be full moons tonight,¡± I said. ¡°First Morgan, now you. Nobody¡¯s making any sense.¡± ¡°Speaking of,¡± Jane said, lounging on her back, ¡°how¡¯d your strategy session go?¡± She made air quotes around the word strategy. ¡°You two sure were gone a long time. Where were you?¡± ¡°We went to the beastfolk lands,¡± I said. ¡°Any objections to curry?¡± Jane sat up. ¡°Beastfolk?¡± ¡°Yeah, you know, like Shannon.¡± ¡°Ohhhhh. Was it nice?¡± ¡°Yeah. The locals showed us around a bit and then we went and had a picnic overlooking the sea and strategized. Is that a yes or a no to curry?¡± ¡°Picnic by the sea?¡± Jane said. I couldn¡¯t see her face, but I could tell by the tone she was scowling. ¡°That sounds lovely,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And romantic.¡± I snorted. ¡°Yeah, right. Although we did get hit on a lot. The beastfolk aren¡¯t fond of humans, but boy do they love elves.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t say,¡± Sigrid said. She was still staring at me and it was making me very self-conscious. I turned to her and waved the knife I¡¯d been using to cut up some vegetables. ¡°Seriously, Sigrid. You¡¯re freaking me out. Why are you...ohhhh. Of course.¡± I reached up with my free hand and felt my ear. Yup, still pointy. I¡¯d totally forgotten I looked like an elf. I also hadn¡¯t stopped sharing my power with Morgan and wondered if she had remembered to switch back to human. ¡°Darn it. You¡¯re gonna change back now, aren¡¯t you?¡± Sigrid said with an adorable pout. ¡°Tell you what,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll stay an elf if you stop staring at me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not fair,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°How can I stop staring if you¡¯re still an elf?¡± ¡°You never took me on a picnic,¡± Jane grumbled. ¡°Ask Arthur,¡± I blurted. Sigrid coughed and shook her head at me while making a back and forth cutting motion across her throat with her hand, but I ignored her and kept talking. I hadn¡¯t forgotten Jane¡¯s complicity in the whole excluding me from the dungeon raid thing and some of the raw emotion I¡¯d kept shoved down was forcing its way out. ¡°You guys seem to do whatever the other one wants, after all.¡± Sigrid leaned back in her chair. ¡°Hooboy, here we go.¡± Jane got up from the sofa and slowly made her way over to the kitchen. I kept my attention on the vegetables I was chopping and ignored her as came up beside me. ¡°I guess I deserved that,¡± she said with uncharacteristic meekness. I hung my head and sighed, resting the knife on the cutting board. ¡°No you didn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jane. I didn¡¯t mean that.¡± ¡°Yes you did,¡± she said. ¡°And I¡¯m the one who¡¯s sorry. For what it¡¯s worth, I did try to dissuade him from asking you not to come.¡± ¡°You mean telling me not to.¡± Guess I was more bitter than I thought. The vitriol kept spewing out on its own accord. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Daniel,¡± Jane said. When I didn¡¯t respond she put her hand under my chin and turned my face toward her. ¡°Look at me and listen, okay? Hear me. I made a mistake and I¡¯m sorry.¡± I looked into her eyes and saw that she was being honest. She really was sorry. Or she was a better actor than I¡¯d thought. The conversation could¡¯ve ended there. Should¡¯ve ended there. But the emotions were too raw and hadn¡¯t finished bursting out apparently. ¡°That¡¯s what hurt the most, you know,¡± I said before I even knew I was speaking. ¡°I can handle Arthur prioritizing the team before me. I can handle Galahad thinking I¡¯m an asshole. But you, Jane...¡± I could feel a lump in my throat forming and wasn¡¯t sure I could say anything more without my voice breaking. I turned away and went back to chopping. I could feel the way my face must¡¯ve looked, and I did not want her to see it. ¡°Daniel, I...¡± ¡°You should tell him, Jane,¡± Sigrid said, getting up and joining us in the kitchen. ¡°Tell me what?¡± I said, attacking a pepper. ¡°About Arthur,¡± Sigrid said, gently reaching out and taking my knife hand in hers. ¡°Let me do that before you slice a finger off.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said, pulling my hand free and going back to violently eviscerating the pepper. ¡°I¡¯ll just heal it back on if I do. What about Arthur?¡± Jane sighed. ¡°We had a fight. A big one.¡± ¡°What about?¡± I said. ¡°About you, actually,¡± Jane said. ¡°What about me?¡± Why couldn¡¯t I stop snapping at her? Jane took a deep breath. ¡°Arthur wasn¡¯t happy that I was spending time with you.¡± ¡°Why would he care? It¡¯s only me.¡± ¡°Exactly. It¡¯s you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re gonna have to spell it out for him, Jane,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Too dense, remember?¡± Jane sighed again. ¡°Arthur is very jealous of you, Daniel.¡± I stopped chopping. ¡°That¡¯s crazy town. Why would Arthur be jealous of anyone, let alone me? He¡¯s the one people are jealous of.¡± Me included, if I¡¯m being honest, for several reasons. Jane reached out and grabbed my chin again, not nearly as gently as last time, and forced me to look at her. ¡°You are such an idiot.¡± ¡°Hopeless,¡± Sigrid said, leaning her head on my shoulder and rubbing my arm. ¡°Just plain hopeless.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three - Potential I stood there rigid in the kitchen feeling extremely awkward with Sigrid leaning on me and Jane forcing me to look at her. ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°I suppose I can see being a bit envious of the powers I¡¯ve collected, but that¡¯s no reason to be upset that I¡¯m friends with his girlfriend. I knew you first.¡± Jane winced. ¡°I am not Arthur¡¯s girlfriend,¡± she said with unusual vehemence. ¡°Things kind of fell apart before it ever got that far.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry it didn¡¯t work out,¡± I said, which was only slightly true. I nearly said more things, things I knew would hurt her, but I didn¡¯t have it in me. The spite and anger and all those painful emotions had crawled back into their cave and I knew saying anything would only hurt me more. ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Jane said, letting go of my chin and dropping her arm limply. ¡°Arthur¡¯s not a bad guy, but he¡¯s not who I thought he was. Or, I guess, who I wanted him to be.¡± ¡°You could¡¯ve changed him,¡± I said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that what women do? Change men to be who they want them to be?¡± The memory of Morgan calling me a fix-er-upper flashed in my head and I could feel the prickly emotions poking their heads out of the cave again. ¡°Some do, sure,¡± Jane said. ¡°Clearly the ones you¡¯ve been with were like that, and honestly, I can understand why.¡± There was a sharpness to her voice I¡¯d come to associate with her being annoyed. ¡°It was Nina who said it best, I think,¡± Sigrid said, playing peacemaker as usual. ¡°She said when she looked at you one word came to mind: potential.¡± Jane nodded. ¡°Everyone agreed with her.¡± ¡°When was this and who¡¯s everyone and why were you even talking about me in the first place?¡± I said, prickly emotions rising. ¡°It must¡¯ve been soon after we met Ar...the Round Table folks,¡± Jane said. ¡°We women were all in the bath.¡± ¡°A lot of deep conversations take place in that bath,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I see,¡± I said. ¡°So that¡¯s me, eh? Unrealized potential. Well that¡¯s just great.¡± Jane put her hand delicately on my shoulder. ¡°You seem a bit upset.¡± ¡°Oh really? Am I supposed to be happy? Tell me, Jane, how would you feel if you found out that everyone thinks you¡¯re not good enough? That you¡¯re a disappointment. A failed person. Can someone like you even imagine that?¡± ¡°Whoah whoah whoah, step back, Mister,¡± Jane said. ¡°That is not what we said.¡± ¡°I¡¯m paraphrasing. What I wouldn¡¯t give for some coconut milk.¡± Jane¡¯s arm dropped again. ¡°Well I guess I was wrong,¡± she said, voice sharp enough to skin a wyvern. ¡°Because I was about to say that more recently everyone was saying how you¡¯d exceeded all expectations and more than realized that potential, but clearly you¡¯re still stuck in that self-loathing cycle and can¡¯t tell the difference between potential, missed potential, and realized potential. Now that is disappointing.¡± She spun away and stomped back over to the sofa, flopping down onto it while muttering something unintelligible under her breath. Sigrid was still there with me in the kitchen. ¡°Having potential doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re a failure,¡± she said, ¡°or that you¡¯re not good enough. It means that everyone saw something special in you waiting to come out.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything right away. They were both right and I knew it. I really was my own worst enemy. ¡°It¡¯s hard,¡± I said eventually. Sigrid looked down. ¡°Seriously? That did it for you? Kinky boy.¡± I couldn¡¯t help laughing. ¡°Thank you for proving my point, Sigrid. I meant change is hard. When you¡¯re used to seeing things one way, in your case it¡¯s seeing anything longer than it is wide as a phallic symbol, it¡¯s hard to switch mindsets.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself up over it,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You¡¯ll never get rid of that voice in your head telling you you¡¯re no good. You just need to learn to recognize that it¡¯s not a friendly voice and ignore it. It takes time.¡± I sighed and put the knife down, then turned and surprised Sigrid with a hug. There was so much I wanted to say to her, to thank her for, but words seemed inadequate. We stood there for a long time, holding each other, until Jane¡¯s head popped up over the back of the sofa. ¡°Things got all quiet over there, what¡¯re you two...hey! What¡¯s all this?¡± Sigrid laughed and let go first. ¡°You know what to do, right?¡± I nodded and went over to the sofa and stood beside it. Jane looked up at me through narrowed eyes. ¡°What?¡± I gestured for her to stand up. She had a puzzled expression until I held my arms out, then realization dawned and she jumped up. I wrapped my arms around her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jane. I¡¯m still learning.¡± She hugged me back. ¡°You know, Arthur¡¯s right.¡± ¡°About what?¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a lot to be jealous of with you.¡± Things went considerably smoother after that. Grievances had been aired, apologies made, and friendships deepened. Ever since we¡¯d arrived on Crucible I¡¯d always thought of myself as inferior to Sigrid and Jane. Unworthy of being friends with them. I don¡¯t know if I took them off the pedestal I¡¯d put them on or if I¡¯d climbed up onto it with them, but I didn¡¯t feel that way anymore. They were just people, like me, full of flaws and radiance alike, doing the best they could. We made the rest of dinner together, laughing and bumping into each other in the kitchen, then sat down to enjoy the result. It was a decent curry, although it would¡¯ve been better with some coconut milk. We were just clearing the table when I felt a vibration in my pocket. Oh crap. Ruka¡¯s coming. The relaxation I¡¯d been feeling morphed into barely controlled panic while I washed the dishes and they dried. How will I explain a demon showing up for tea? I should never have told her to show her horns. I might¡¯ve been able to work with a human woman coming to my house at night, although a stunningly attractive woman would¡¯ve made it a bit more difficult, but a hot demoness would be tough to explain. For a brief moment I toyed with the idea of saying that she was from the Gentlemen¡¯s Club and the horns were part of a demoness roleplay kink I had, but that would probably cause more of a kerfuffle than an actual demoness showing up. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go get into my jammies,¡± Jane said when everything was cleaned up. ¡°I¡¯ll make tea,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And I¡¯ll...¡± This was my chance. I could make an excuse to go outside and think of a way to warn Ruka that I had company. Surely there was something in my power set that could do the trick. ¡°I just remembered I needed to pass along a message to Petal from the beastfolk.¡± I was shamefully proud of myself for thinking of that believable excuse off the cuff. I ducked out and started wandering around, thinking furiously about what to do. I thought of sharing Stop Staring At My Ears with Ruka so she¡¯d look like an elf. I thought of conjuring a parrot and teaching it to say ¡°Daniel has company, brawk, Daniel has company.¡± I thought of asking Petal to post guards outside my door, the sight of which would make Ruka turn around and go home again. I even thought of stepping into the teleportation circle and escaping alone to the beastfolk land for the night. Then I stopped and took a deep breath, using the calming ritual Akari had taught me. I was overcomplicating things. If this was a civilized world I¡¯d just text Ruka and say this wasn¡¯t a good time. What did people do before phones? How did they communicate things? Oh yeah. I pulled a pencil and some paper from my inventory and scribbled a note:This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Sigrid and Jane are visiting for the night. ¨CD There. Simple and effective. I could post it on my door where she¡¯d see it before knocking, and if anyone else happened by to see it, it was innocuous enough that it wouldn¡¯t arouse any suspicions. When I went back inside, my overnight guests were both in their pajamas. Sigrid was over by the shelf looking through the games stacked on it, while Jane had sprawled herself on the sofa again. It was a curiously domestic scene, both of them looking extremely comfortable. Not to mention sexy as hell. This was going to be a long, hard night. Dealing with Jane seemed too challenging. I was used to being around Sigrid and was somewhat immune to her force of nature level sensuality, so I went over to her while pointedly avoiding looking at Jane. ¡°Did you want to play a game?¡± I said. ¡°Nah,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯m just being nosy. There are a lot of games here, though.¡± ¡°You¡¯re here every morning, you can be nosy anytime.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. I have been.¡± ¡°She still hasn¡¯t found your porn stash,¡± Jane called over from the sofa. Without turning around, Sigrid caused a tiny electric spark to crackle over the sofa and shock her bestie, and I saw a smile crease her lips at Jane¡¯s yelp. When Sigrid and I went to sit with Jane, Sigrid took the big comfy chair. Jane¡¯s tall body was taking up the entire sofa so I was about to cop a squat on the floor but she shifted her long legs out of the way to make space for me. Not wanting to be rude, I sat in the opened space and she immediately stretched her legs out again, plopping them onto my lap. A very long, very hard night. We sat there for a while sipping tea and telling stories, and I think I did a pretty decent job of not letting on that the whole time I was listening for any sign that Ruka was outside. I figured the note would be enough to send her home again, but I was still nervous that something might go wrong. I was just thinking that it had been long enough that Ruka would¡¯ve come and gone and I was in the clear when there was a knock on the door. Oh no. ¡°Who could that be?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Probably Petal,¡± Jane said. ¡°I bet she¡¯s here to try and mooch her way into our sleepover.¡± ¡°She did seem to want to have a turn,¡± Sigrid said, standing up. ¡°I¡¯ll get it.¡± ¡°No!¡± I said, much louder than necessary. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± I tried to get up, but Jane kept me pinned down with her legs. ¡°Let her do it.¡± Oh no. I closed my eyes and prayed that it really was Petal at the door. I heard Sigrid pad over to it, then open it. ¡°Oh!¡± I heard her say. Oh no. ¡°Daniel,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°the most beautiful woman I¡¯ve ever seen is here at the door.¡± Jane sat up and gawked at the door like meerkat. ¡°You must be Sigrid,¡± I heard Ruka say. ¡°And she seems to know me.¡± I slowly turned to look toward the door. It was Ruka, of course, stepping into my house with a devilish grin. Or was it demonic? Succubotic? Thank god she ditched the horns, at least. ¡°Hi Daniel,¡± Ruka said. ¡°I hope I¡¯m not intruding.¡± I sighed. ¡°Hi Ruka. Come on in.¡± My demoness friend glided over, eyebrow quirking when she saw me sitting there with Jane¡¯s legs on top of me. ¡°And you¡¯re Jane, of course,¡± she said. Sigrid followed behind, pointing at Ruka and mouthing a silent ¡°What the hell?¡± ¡°Funny, Jane said, ¡°you seem to know all about us and yet Daniel has never once mentioned you. I wonder why?¡± ¡°Yeah, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said with a huge grin. ¡°Let¡¯s see, first there was Annabelle and Akari, now Ruka? You¡¯re keeping secrets, you bad boy.¡± Ruka looked around. ¡°The sisters are also here? I¡¯ve been wanting to meet them too.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Jane said. ¡°Just us. But maybe we ought to invite them over, though, and Petal too. Get Daniel¡¯s whole gang together.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget Alice,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯ll be quite the sleepover.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Ruka purred, not even trying to hide her amusement, ¡°that does sound like fun.¡± I saw Jane¡¯s face blanch. It must not have occurred to her that Ruka would take it as a serious invitation. Ruka was standing in front of us, looking down at the sofa. ¡°Room for one more?¡± I carefully lifted Jane¡¯s legs off of me and pushed her around to a regular sitting position. Before I could react, Ruka had nestled down beside me making me shift more to the middle, sandwiched between her and Jane. Sigrid sat down in her chair facing us with the shit-eatingest grin I¡¯d ever seen. Well, at least she wasn¡¯t mad I hadn¡¯t told her about Ruka. ¡°My god,¡± Sigrid said, staring at Ruka. ¡°You are fucking stunning.¡± ¡°Oh please,¡± Ruka said. ¡°I could say the same for both of you. Daniel said you were both gorgeous, but he still didn¡¯t do you justice.¡± Jane elbowed me. ¡°So I¡¯m gorgeous, eh?¡± ¡°Jane,¡± I moaned, ¡°please don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Tea?¡± Sigrid said, reaching for the pot. Ruka waved the offer away. ¡°No, thank you. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought I¡¯d pop by. You are clearly busy so I won¡¯t stay long.¡± ¡°In the neighborhood, eh?¡± Jane said. ¡°You just happened to be passing through the elven village in the middle of the night?¡± Ruka shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s a trader,¡± I blurted. That was believable, right? ¡°From away,¡± I added needlessly. ¡°Oh,¡± Sigrid said, looking disappointed. No doubt she¡¯d been hoping for something more sordid and steamy. ¡°I see.¡± It was a pretty long sofa. There was more than enough room for three people to sit comfortably without touching. Yet somehow I had found myself wedged between the two women with both of them pressing against me on either side. ¡°Do you visit often?¡± Jane said. Ruka didn¡¯t answer but looked at me instead. ¡°Ruka and I discovered a mutual interest in games, so whenever she finds herself in the neighborhood she stops by.¡± ¡°And you play together?¡± Sigrid said, clearly relishing the entendre. ¡°Games, yes,¡± I said. ¡°Board games,¡± I added, and this time I thought it was a necessary qualifier. I knew how Sigrid¡¯s mind worked. ¡°I see,¡± Jane said. ¡°He¡¯s never invited me for a sleepover,¡± Ruka said. ¡°I didn¡¯t technically invite these two either,¡± I said. Ruka¡¯s demonic smile was back. ¡°Oh, so I can just decide to spend the night myself? Is that how it works?¡± ¡°Ruka,¡± I said. ¡°Have mercy.¡± My succubus friend laughed. ¡°You are too much fun to tease, Daniel.¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s too easy, too.¡± Great, they¡¯d finally found something to bond over. Why¡¯d it have to be that? Ruka gamely put up with the barrage of questions Jane threw at her while Sigrid watched with open amusement. She managed to provide vague enough answers that the truth remained undiscovered, but there were some tense moments. After about twenty minutes, Ruka put her hand on my knee. ¡°I think I should probably go before I overstay my welcome.¡± ¡°So soon?¡± Jane said, for some reason placing her hand on my other leg. Ruka stood to leave and when I made to rise and see her out she waved me off. ¡°You stay, Daniel. I¡¯ve been here more than enough times to see my own way out.¡± ¡°Uh, okay. Thanks for dropping by,¡± I said. Once the door was closed I held out my hand, palm out. ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°I know what you¡¯re going to say and just don¡¯t, okay?¡± Jane pouted. ¡°But inquiring minds want to know.¡± ¡°I just can¡¯t get over how beautiful she is,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Seriously. She makes me jealous, and that doesn¡¯t happen.¡± ¡°Any other beauties you¡¯re hiding from us?¡± Jane said. ¡°No, I think that¡¯s all of them,¡± I said, looking down at Jane¡¯s hand where it still rested on my thigh. ¡°You think? You mean there might be more you¡¯ve forgotten?¡± Jane said. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s hard to keep track of them all,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And challenging to juggle them all into your schedule,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯ll give you that much,¡± I said. ¡°That part is true.¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Sigrid said, stretching languidly, ¡°I¡¯ve had my amusement. Bedtime?¡± Jane bounced up from the sofa. ¡°Bedtime!¡± ¡°It has been a day,¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t say no to turning in. I guess it¡¯s goodnight, then.¡± I started making for the guest room when Sigrid cleared her throat. ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± she said. ¡°To bed?¡± I said. ¡°Wrong one.¡± ¡°But I thought you guys wanted my room. The bed¡¯s bigger, it¡¯ll be more comfy for you two.¡± ¡°Exactly, the bed¡¯s bigger,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Just enough room for us three.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°Come on, dummy Daniel. You can¡¯t do a sleepover in separate rooms.¡± Oh no. No no no. ¡°I¡¯ll sleep on the floor, then. Maybe I can drag the mattress over from the spare bed.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot,¡± Jane said. ¡°Think of Andy,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°What would he say to you right now?¡± ¡°Yeah, WWAS?¡± Jane said. I barked a laugh. ¡°I know exactly what he would say, and I also know that the best move is to do the exact opposite.¡± Of course, I ultimately found myself lying in my own bed with Jane on one side and Sigrid on the other. I¡¯m not a back sleeper. I prefer to sleep on my side or sometimes on my stomach. But there I was, lying on my back with my arms tight to my sides and hands folded securely on my belly, trying to make myself as thin as possible so that no part of me would touch any part of them. What I didn¡¯t realize was that when they said it was bedtime, they didn¡¯t mean it was time to go to sleep. Apparently an essential part of a sleepover was the chatting in bed before sleeping. I don¡¯t know how long this went on, but eventually Jane realized that Sigrid had fallen asleep when she didn¡¯t answer a question. She asked if I was still awake and I pretended to be asleep too. ¡°Guess we¡¯re sleeping now,¡± Jane said and rolled onto her side facing away from me. I felt the warm softness of her behind pressing against me and wondered if there was any way this could possibly get worse. And that¡¯s when Sigrid rolled over to face me, throwing her leg over mine and draping her arm across my chest with her head nestled into the crook of my neck. Yes, yes it could get worse. I managed to fall asleep after who knows how long, but I¡¯ll tell you, it was a long, hard night. Very hard. Chapter One Hunded and Thirty-Four - The Winds of Change I¡¯d told Maple Leaf I would help them prepare for the dungeon raid but they must¡¯ve thought those were empty words because they didn¡¯t see very much of me over the next couple of days. After my strategy session with Morgan I left the actual planning of the second Shadow raid to her, Arthur, and the rest, and went off to do some stuff alone. There were things I wanted to accomplish before they made the next attempt, things that I could only do by myself and not much time to get it all done. The first thing I did was go talk to the Magikist. After that, I found myself racing all over collecting what I needed. And once all that was done, I retreated into my inventory to do it. Funny thing about my inventory: the food I stashed in there never spoiled. I had always wondered how that worked, and once I became Great Sage it had all become clear: time was different inside. If you happen to possess a pocket dimension, and I highly recommend picking one up if you get the chance, you have the ability to control how fast time passes in there. The default is to make it pass so slowly that it¡¯s almost like time is frozen, which is why any food is as fresh when you pull it out as it was when you put it in, no matter how long ago that was. You can speed up time, too, like if you ever need to age something quickly. Just don¡¯t forget to clear out the snacks first. Trust me, you don¡¯t want to crank up the time so that weeks pass inside in the blink of an eye outside, only to discover later that you had left a ham sandwich in there to rot for weeks. That was a purely hypothetical example, of course. I¡¯d never do that. At least, not again. You¡¯d think that it would be an easy thing to disappear into the pocket dimension, slow down the time, and spend weeks, months, or even years inside while barely any time passes outside. You could go in not knowing, say, how to play the piano, then come out and all of a sudden you¡¯re ready for Carnegie Hall. Nobody would know you¡¯d spent years practicing in the pocket dimension, although they might wonder about why you suddenly look older. This is what you¡¯d call A Very Bad Idea. I don¡¯t know the physics behind it, I don¡¯t know if anyone does, but my Great Sage knowledge told me that farting around too much with time like that can do some peculiar things to your sanity. But surely a little farting around couldn¡¯t hurt, though, right? Sigrid¡¯s death in the dungeon had spurred me into wanting to make some items. I really wanted to have them done before the team tried the Shadow Dungeon again, but I¡¯d had to spend a few days hunting down materials and there was no way I could get all the crafting done in the one day that remained. Not in real time anyway. But if I slowed down time in the inventory and did the work there, I could theoretically get it all done. It was a risky, ill-advised move, but I was determined. So that¡¯s what I did. I cloistered myself in my Fortress with all the mana crystals and potions I could scrape together, only coming out from time to time to make sure they hadn¡¯t left on the dungeon raid yet. On one such outing an unwelcome notification popped up. System: Global notification ¨C the Earth Dungeon has been solved and is now owned by Team Invictus System: Team rankings have been updated
  1. Team Invictus 1005 points
  2. Team Player 1000 points
  3. Team Maple Leaf 720 points
  4. Team Spice 705 points
  5. Team N3m3sis 670 points
  6. Team Droogs 615 points (Tie)
  7. Team Legion 615 points (Tie)
  8. Team Overgeared 535 points
  9. Team Ninja 515 points
  10. Team Happy 505 points
  11. Team Karma 470 points
So much for being number one. Ah well, I think I did well considering I hadn¡¯t been given a single point-earning team quest. Invictus should enjoy being top dogs while it lasts, though, because Team Maple Leaf should soon be toppling them out of the top spot once they beat the Shadow Dungeon. On the flip side, great to see Achmed¡¯s crew rising in the ranks and Tiff¡¯s bunch sticking close to the top, they must¡¯ve earned a lot of points from the cult quest. I couldn¡¯t help wondering how news of the Earth Dungeon would affect the morale of my friends so I went to check on them. Good thing, too. They were not happy that Troy¡¯s posse had won a dungeon before them and were raring to go raid the Shadow Dungeon again immediately, but I begged them to wait until tomorrow with the promise that it¡¯d be well worth it. For some inexplicable reason, they agreed without asking any questions. Even Galahad. Word got out that although not many of the team had survived to the end, nobody had actually died-died in the Invictus raid. Now that the Earth Dungeon had been beaten I was allowed to know its fatality factor: 90. My friends all took comfort from the thought that Invictus¡¯ dungeon had been the easiest of them all, and I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell them that the difficulty of the dungeon wasn¡¯t necessarily reflected in its fatality factor. By giving a better chance of respawning, a high fatality factor could mean it was easier, or it could mean it was so hard that you were expected to die a few times before conquering it, thereby making the odds of real death-death across all attempts a lot higher. And then there was the Void Dungeon, which was designed to kill you just once, permanently, with its crazy-low fatality factor. You weren¡¯t likely to get a second chance, not that any rational person would want to go back into that ghastly place again anyway. For the umpteenth time I struggled to understand why a lower fatality factor meant a lower chance of fatality. It should be called the survival factor if a high number means a high chance of surviving. I guess aliens have a thing for alliteration and a strange way of seeing things. The next morning I emerged from my inventory feeling like utter crap. The first thing I did was take a bath; I may have neglected certain aspects of personal hygiene while I¡¯d been working away in seclusion. I¡¯d rather not say for how long. The dungeon raid wasn¡¯t scheduled to start until later in the day so I had the time to indulge in the luxury of a long hot soak. They¡¯d planned to congregate in the courtyard and go over strategy one last time before raiding, so after cleaning up a bit I waited there for them to arrive. I don¡¯t know if it was excitement, exhaustion, or maybe a tiny bit of insanity from farting around with time, but I was pretty jittery when they started showing up. By the time Sigrid arrived with Jane, I was positively giddy. I rushed over to them. ¡°You¡¯re here. Finally.¡± Sigrid took one look at me and frowned. ¡°You look like dogshit.¡± ¡°Yeah, I haven¡¯t really slept much for a few days,¡± I said. ¡°But we saw you yesterday and you were fine,¡± Jane said. ¡°Oh, right. Well, since yesterday I¡¯ve spent a few days in my inventory working on some stuff I want to show you.¡± ¡°I thought you said it was dangerous to do that,¡± Sigrid said, frown wrinkling into a full-blown scowl. ¡°Never mind that, come see what I did.¡± ¡°It can wait,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Show me after you¡¯ve gone and had a nice long nap. Like, for an entire day.¡± ¡°Are you kidding me? I¡¯ve spent weeks working on this.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Sigrid narrowed her eyes at me even further. ¡°I thought you said days.¡± Oops. ¡°I thought you¡¯d get mad if I told you how long for real,¡± I said, feeling every bit like a guilty schoolboy getting scolded by his teacher. ¡°Dummy. Fine, what¡¯s so important that you have to show us right now?¡± My mood instantly rocketed back to excitement. ¡°Okay, so you know that tapestry of Elda Wildflower hanging in the conference tree in the elf village.¡± ¡°I remember it.¡± ¡°So you¡¯ll remember that in the image she was wearing your armor. Did you notice she also had some other stuff?¡± Sigrid¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me...¡± ¡°Waaaaait, let me finish. I asked Salvia about the rest of Elda¡¯s gear. As it turns out, she did have some other very special items.¡± ¡°Please please say there¡¯s a quest to collect them.¡± ¡°Waaaaaaaait. So I thought wouldn¡¯t it be cool to reunite all of Elda Wildflower¡¯s gear?¡± ¡°Like in a quest!¡± ¡°Waaaaaaaait. So I asked her where all that gear was.¡± Sigrid and the others looked at me expectantly. ¡°We¡¯re waaaaaiting,¡± Jane said. I put on my best poker face. ¡°It turns out that her various possessions have been kept all this time in the Magikist¡¯s vault.¡± That was a total lie. ¡°And it turns out that because I control the dungeon, I effectively own everything in it.¡± That part was true. ¡°Including stuff kept in a vault?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Including stuff kept in a vault, yes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exceptionally and improbably convenient,¡± Jane said, pursing her lips. She was right, of course. I would have been seriously disappointed with the game if it had just dumped Elda¡¯s stuff onto me like that. When I asked Salvia about the items shortly after Jane and Sigrid went home from our sleepover, I actually had triggered a series of linked quests. I didn¡¯t want to tell them about these little missions to find and liberate each of Elda¡¯s items in individual mini-dungeons because I¡¯d completed them by myself and I figured Sigrid would be upset if she knew how much work I¡¯d put into all this. The weeks I¡¯d spent in the Fortress enchanting them was bad enough. Although, since I¡¯m being completely honest, it wasn¡¯t all that much work. Those quests didn¡¯t seem that hard and didn¡¯t take very long, but maybe that was just me. Sigrid would have been even more upset that I hadn¡¯t invited her to complete the missions with me. I had thought about doing that, it would have been more fun to do it together, but I was worried about time and wanted to speed-run the missions and, since I¡¯m being truly and completely honest, having other people tag along would have only slowed me down. Besides, I wanted it to be a surprise. Fun fact: I strongly suspected that Elda Wildflower¡¯s equipment didn¡¯t actually exist until I asked about it, and that System had made them up on the fly then spontaneously generated the quests to collect them. I had come to believe that a lot of this place was like that and only some of it was planned out, like the dungeons and certain large-scale, story influencing quests, and the rest was just chosen from a sort of random encounter table or completely fudged as needed. A true sandbox gaming environment. ¡°Come on, dude,¡± Jane said. ¡°Don¡¯t leave us hanging. Reach into that inventory of yours and let¡¯s see the loot.¡± ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll tell you right now that there were four special items in Elda Wildflower¡¯s possession: her sword, her spear, her shield, and of course her armor. Which do you want to start with?¡± ¡°The sword!¡± Jane said before anyone else could get a word in. Thwup! A gleaming sword appeared in my hand, long and slightly curved with a single very very very sharp edge. Picture a katana as interpreted by an elf. Sigrid practically drooled as she reached for it, but I pulled it away. ¡°Waaaaaaaait. Now I could have taken Elda¡¯s stuff and given it to you as is. I mean, each one came with a decent power. But I didn¡¯t want to do that.¡± ¡°You¡¯re killing me,¡± Sigrid said, flexing her fingers greedily toward the sword. ¡°I wanted it to be special,¡± I said. ¡°Extra special, even. So I did a little customization.¡± ¡°The elves let you do that?¡± Jane said. ¡°My dungeon, my sword,¡± I said, smacking myself in the chest like a caveman. ¡°Anyway, Salvia liked the idea of Elda¡¯s gear being reunited with the armor in the hands of a new hero, so this was all done with the elves¡¯ blessings.¡± Jane snorted. ¡°Hero.¡± Sigrid stuck her tongue out. ¡°I now present you with what was once Elda Wildflower¡¯s Mithril Sword and is now Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Blade, one piece of the Winds of Change gear set.¡± I held it out and Sigrid took it with trembling hands. I watched her closely, I wanted to see the moment she checked out its Status. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell exactly when that was, her mouth dropped open and her eyes went as big as saucers. ¡°Daniel...holy shit.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jane said. ¡°Come on, tell me what it does!¡± ¡°There¡¯s too much. Just see for yourself,¡± Sigrid said, and shared the sword¡¯s Status.
Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Blade This unique weapon was customized for the Shield Maiden herself from Elda Wildflower¡¯s Mithril Sword, to help her protect her allies and punish her foes. It is part of the Winds Of Change unique item set, along with her armor, shield, crystal heart, and spear. Powers: Miracle Blade ¨C Exceptionally sharp and unbreakable Sizzle ¨C Imbue the blade with lightning; Requires Competent mastery of Air Affinity Thwup ¨C Equip from or stow into pocket dimension Set Powers: Whoosh ¨C Greatly increases defense when used solely to parry and block; Requires 3 of 5 set items All Charged Up - Transform owner into living lightning; Requires Expert Air Affinity; Requires 5 of 5 set items
¡°Holy shit is right,¡± Jane said. ¡°Well now we know who Daniel¡¯s favorite is.¡± ¡°Daniel, it¡¯s too much,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Don¡¯t say that now, we¡¯re just getting started. We¡¯ll do the spear next, but first, use Thwup.¡± ¡°What¡¯s Thwup?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Oh I see.¡± Instantly, the sword vanished with the thwupping sound. ¡°This is like your inventory, right?¡± ¡°Yes, but only for items in this set.¡± ¡°So I can do this?¡± Thwup! The sword reappeared in her hand. ¡°Oh, me likey. It goes well with my item recall power.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ll love this.¡± The spear appeared in my hand, a long shaft made of polished mithril wood with a razor sharp mithril metal spearhead on the business end. I held it out to her. ¡°Here, Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Bolt.¡±
Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Bolt This unique weapon was crafted for the Shield Maiden herself from Elda Wildflower¡¯s Lightning Spear to help her protect her allies and punish her foes. It is part of the Winds Of Change unique item set, along with her sword, shield, crystal heart, and armor. Powers: Crackle - Transform the entire weapon into a lightning bolt; Requires Adept mastery of Air Affinity Thwip - Equip from or stow into pocket dimension Was It Always This Big? - Extend or retract length of shaft Set Powers: Boom Booms - Shoot forked lightning from spearhead to strike multiple targets; Cooldown 1 minute; Requires Expert mastery of Air Affinity; Requires 3 of 5 set items All Charged Up - Transform owner into living lightning; Requires Expert Air Affinity; Requires 5 of 5 set items
¡°Wow,¡± Jane said. ¡°Make it Crackle!¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Sigrid said, and the entire spear transformed into a crackling shaft of electricity. Nasty when used as a melee weapon, but when thrown? Awesomely nasty. Jane clapped her hands. ¡°You¡¯re like that guy. Whatshisname.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You know, that guy.¡± ¡°Can you give me anything else to work with?¡± ¡°The god. With the lightning bolt. You know.¡± ¡°You mean Odin?¡± I said. ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡± ¡°Zeus?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yes, him. That is so cool.¡± Several others had noticed the crackling lightning bolt and had come over to see what was going on. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there,¡± Kay said, looking wide-eyed at Sigrid. ¡°Give that sucker a toss.¡± Sigrid turned to me. ¡°Can I?¡± ¡°Sure, but I¡¯d be careful where you toss it. Hey Morgan, can you make a nice solid target for Sigrid to hit?¡± Morgan grinned at me. ¡°With pleasure.¡± She trotted over to a clear space across the courtyard and used her power to create a human-shaped dummy made of clay. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s perfect,¡± I said. Morgan scampered back and I gave her a high five. Then we all moved back behind Sigrid as she stood there with a six-foot long shaft of pure electrical energy crackling in her hand. She lined up the target and hurled the lightning bolt at it. An instant later, there was a flash of light as the dummy blew apart into a thousand smoking shards of clay, and an instant after that the lightning bolt reappeared in her hand and transformed back into a spear as though nothing had happened. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯ll work,¡± Jane said. Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five - Sirens song By this point, we¡¯d collected quite a crowd. Something about hurling lightning bolts around attracts attention, apparently. ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°next is the shield, but this one needs a bit of explanation.¡± Sigrid thwipped the spear away into her set inventory. ¡°Let¡¯s hear it.¡± ¡°Elda¡¯s shield was broken when she took the hit that killed her, completely split in two. So I remade it.¡± ¡°Of course you did,¡± Jane said with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. It actually took two mini-quests to retrieve both halves, but they don¡¯t need to know that. ¡°But I didn¡¯t just remake it as it was, I added something special: the Gorgon¡¯s head, minus the eyes, of course. Those were already used, and now that I know her socially I didn¡¯t feel comfortable asking if I could decapitate her for a project. And voila, the Aegis Shield.¡± ¡°Like in the Greek myth,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Hephaestus took Medusa¡¯s head and made a shield out of it for Athena.¡± ¡°Did everybody study these myths except me?¡± Jane said. ¡°Yes,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Now hush.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably better you didn¡¯t use the eyes,¡± Morgan said. ¡°A shield loses tactical efficacy if it indiscriminately turns anyone who looks at it to stone.¡± ¡°Unless all your allies are blind,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Shhhh!¡± Sigrid hissed at the siblings, then snapped back to me. ¡°Gimme.¡± The shield appeared on my arm. It was a large circle of mithril polished to a mirror-like sheen. A depiction of the Gorgon¡¯s beautiful face was embossed on it, snakes and all. As the light shifted across it the snakes appeared to writhe disconcertingly. ¡°I present to you Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Aegis Shield,¡± I said as I handed it to its new owner.
Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Aegis Shield This unique shield was made for the Shield Maiden herself from the remade Elda Wildflower¡¯s Mithril Shield to help her protect her allies and punish her foes. It is part of the Winds Of Change unique item set, along with her sword, crystal heart, armor, and spear. Powers: Fear Me ¨C Weaken enemies who see it; Cooldown 1 minute Not A Scratch On It - Unbreakable Thwap - Equip from or stow into pocket dimension Set Powers: I¡¯m There ¨C Teleport short distances in the defense of an ally; Cooldown 30 seconds; Requires 3 of 5 set items All Charged Up - Transform owner into living lightning; Requires Expert Air Affinity; Requires 5 of 5 set items
¡°That is unsettling,¡± Morgan said, ¡°seeing myself reflected with snakes around my head.¡± ¡°Could you blind enemies if a bright light shined on it?¡± Arthur said. ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked,¡± I said. I took a few steps back then copied Jane¡¯s power to emit light to turn myself into a bright human lantern. The light reflected off the shield making it hard to look at without squinting. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s my Glow Worm power,¡± Jane said. ¡°It is?¡± Nina said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you use it.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, it¡¯s still mine.¡± ¡°Nice,¡± Arthur said, shielding his eyes. ¡°What if it¡¯s a more focused beam?¡± I switched off Glow Worm and used Affinity Control to create a narrow shaft of light and shone it on the shield. ¡°Turn it off! Turn it off!¡± Morgan said, turning her face away. I turned it off. ¡°Frig knockers, that was bright. But it does have some strategic potential.¡± ¡°That¡¯s my power too!¡± Jane said, pointing at the shield¡¯s floating Status window. ¡°That I¡¯m There power, that¡¯s the same as mine.¡± ¡°Yes, but also no,¡± I said. ¡°On the shield it only works if the purpose of the bamf is to defend someone,¡± I said. ¡°Plus there¡¯s the cooldown time before it can be used again.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s alright then,¡± Jane said. ¡°I saw those cooldowns, what¡¯s that about?¡± Sigrid said, thwapping the shield into storage. ¡°It¡¯s not easy putting all these powers onto something,¡± I said. ¡°The only way I found to do it was to bake in some limitations like cooldown times and special requirements. That¡¯s why the user has to have a certain affinity to use some of the abilities. The mana and power mastery level I would have needed to make these without those restrictions, well, there¡¯s just no way.¡± ¡°I saw one I can¡¯t use because it needs Expert in Air,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°and I¡¯m only at Adept.¡± ¡°Better work on improving your affinity mastery, then,¡± I said. ¡°Haven¡¯t I told you to use your affinity more?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± ¡°So back to those cooldowns,¡± Jane said. ¡°That means once she uses it, she has to wait to use it again?¡± ¡°You got ¡®er otter,¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t sound quite like yourself, Daniel. Are you feeling okay?¡± Sam said. ¡°Not remotely,¡± I said with a manic grin. ¡°So that¡¯s the sword, spear, and shield. Now it¡¯s time for the armor.¡± ¡°Let me go get it,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Um,¡± I said, ¡°no need. I have it here. I kind of borrowed it last night when you weren¡¯t looking.¡± ¡°You snuck into my room at night?¡± Sigrid said, hand fluttering in front of her face as though fanning herself. ¡°Why Daniel, you cad.¡± ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind, I had to make some tweaks to make it part of the set.¡± ¡°Why would I mind? Think about how many times I¡¯ve snuck into your room while you were asleep.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you never took anything when you did,¡± I said. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Sigrid said with a sly smile, running her hand up my arm. ¡°Down girl,¡± Jane said, pulling her away. Sigrid laughed. ¡°I¡¯m joking!¡± ¡°I¡¯m certain you are,¡± Jane said, ¡°but nonetheless we will be discussing this later.¡± ¡°Like hell we will,¡± Sigrid said tartly. ¡°What I do with or to Daniel is none of your concern.¡± ¡°Meow,¡± Jane said. ¡°Setting that aside, let¡¯s see the new and improved armor.¡± ¡°Right,¡± I said, not knowing what else to say. ¡°The armor appeared in pieces on the ground in front of us. ¡°So long Pegasus Armor, say hello to Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Armor. Don¡¯t worry, it can still fly.¡± It looked mostly the same as before, with the addition of a chest plate with a round depression centered over shaped mounds for her breasts.
Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Armor This unique suit of armor was crafted for the Shield Maiden herself from her mithril Pegasus Armor to help her protect her allies and punish her foes. It is part of the Winds Of Change unique item set, along with her sword, shield, spear, and crystal heart. There is a special spot on the chest where Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Electric Heart goes. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Powers: Justice From Above - Fly using the armor¡¯s wings Back Off - Flap the armor¡¯s wings to produce a wind barrier Sparkle - Electrified affinity armor; Requires Competent level mastery of Air Affinity Thwop - Equip from or stow into pocket dimension Set Powers: Shine -Shoot a frickin laser beam; Cooldown 5 minutes; Requires Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Electric Heart Pew Pew ¨C Fire short-range lightning bolts from the gauntlets; Requires 3 of 5 set items; Requires Adept Air Affinity All Charged Up - Transform into living lightning; Requires Expert Air Affinity; Requires 5 of 5 set items
¡°What¡¯s this electric heart thing?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Ah, that is something that was not part of Elda¡¯s possessions but I had a cool idea so I added it to the set.¡± ¡°As one does,¡± Jane said. ¡°Obviously.¡± An oblate spheroid appeared in my hand, like a diamond in the shape of a giant M&M, and I passed it to Sigrid.
Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Electric Heart This unique amulet was made for the Shield Maiden herself from the mana crystal of a Light Dragon to help her protect her allies and punish their foes. It is part of the Winds Of Change unique item set, along with her sword, shield, armor, and spear. It fits into a special spot in the armor¡¯s chest. Powers: Charge It Up ¨C Store mana drawn from the environment We Need More Power ¨C Owner may use stored mana Set Powers: Shine - Shoot a frickin laser beam; Cooldown 5 minutes; Requires Sigrid Sorrensen¡¯s Lightning Armor; Cooldown 30 seconds; Requires 3 of 5 set items All Charged Up - Transform into living lightning; Requires Expert Air Affinity; Requires 5 of 5 set items
¡°It shoots frickin laser beams!¡± Jane said. ¡°Stow your armor, Sigrid, then bring it out again.¡± The armor vanished, then it reappeared on her body with a thwop. ¡°This is going to be so handy,¡± Sigrid said, thwopping it on and off a few times. ¡°Like you wouldn¡¯t believe.¡± ¡°Oh I believe,¡± I said. ¡°Now put the crystal in it.¡± Sigrid placed the Electric Heart in the cavity on the armor¡¯s chest. It fit perfectly, settling in with a satisfying click. ¡°I¡¯m afraid to ask, but where did you get the mana crystal of a light dragon?¡± Jane said. ¡°Remember the big crystal in Daedalus¡¯ office in the labyrinth?¡± I said. ¡°No,¡± Jane said. ¡°I figured better here on Sigrid¡¯s perfect chest than in some museum where nobody gets to see it but me.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t have said it better myself,¡± Sigrid said, puffing out said chest. ¡°Perfect chest?¡± Jane said, snorting. ¡°Honey, you ain¡¯t seen perfect yet.¡± Her face gleamed with satisfaction when she saw me glance down at her bosom. I cursed myself for falling into her trap but the look on Arthur¡¯s face was pretty satisfying for me so I figured I came out even. ¡°You¡¯re like Iron Man,¡± Sam said. ¡°I am, aren¡¯t I?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Aw man, I really need to get my affinity up to Expert. I so want to try out that All Charged Up power.¡± ¡°Congratulations, Sigrid,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°I think you just became the tankiest Player on this planet, if you weren¡¯t already. Color me jealous.¡± ¡°Talk about overgeared,¡± Bruce said. ¡°And I mean that in a good way, not like that shitty team.¡± ¡°I may have gotten a bit carried away,¡± I said. ¡°A bit, maybe,¡± Jane said. It had been a lot of work, but worth it all if it could prevent Sigrid from getting killed again and help her keep others alive. There were very few active Players who hadn¡¯t died at least once by that time, but now that we knew how Fatality Factors worked we instantly became a lot less nonchalant about the prospect of dying. I had promised myself that I was never going to wait at the teleportation circle wondering if Sigrid was ever going to appear in it again. ¡°Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say. Thank you!¡± The armor thwopped into storage, then she grabbed me and gave me a hug so tight that as tough as I was I had to use Andy¡¯s qi power to boost my stats just to take her squeeze without breaking ribs. ¡°Suddenly all my stuff feels like crap,¡± Jane said. ¡°Well, maybe I can help you feel better,¡± I said. ¡°I seem to recall a certain someone saying she wished she had a legendary item too.¡± Jane¡¯s face lit up. ¡°You made me Jane Anders¡¯ Rapier of Doom?¡± ¡°Not quite,¡± I said. I disentangled myself from Sigrid¡¯s arms and pulled a necklace from my inventory, a short choker made of deep purple velvet with a large cut diamond glittering in the middle.
The Siren¡¯s Choker This unique necklace was made for the Hero from Toronto, Jane Anders. It gives the wearer precise vocal control. Powers: Charge It Up ¨C Siphon and store mana from the environment Human Beat Box - Mimic any sound The Voice - Compel someone to do things; Cooldown 5 minutes We Need More Power ¨C Use stored mana
¡°I can see you having a lot of fun with that, Jane,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You can thank Flint for that Voice power,¡± I said. ¡°It might not seem like much but it can be extremely potent, and easily abused, so be careful with it. And as you¡¯ll discover, it zorches up a crap ton of mana, so watch out.¡± Jane turned her back to me and lifted her red hair out of the way. I stared at her dumbly until she cleared her throat. ¡°Oh!¡± I said, and began fastening the choker around her neck. I had to thank Akari again for teaching me those breathing exercises, without them I would never have been able to keep my hands steady enough to do it. ¡°It does have a lot of potential,¡± Jane said. I tapped her shoulder to indicate I¡¯d finished putting the choker on. She spun around and stood directly in front of me, her long neck craned to show it off. Over her shoulder, I caught Arthur watching along with everyone else. He was the only person not smiling. ¡°How do I look?¡± Jane said. ¡°Just how I imagined,¡± I said. ¡°What does that mean?¡± she pouted. ¡°Jeez,¡± I said, ¡°so needy. It looks hot, Jane. Happy?¡± ¡°Thank you, was that so hard? But there¡¯s one thing I don¡¯t get. If this necklace was specially made for me, why isn¡¯t it named after me like Sigrid¡¯s stuff?¡± ¡°Oh, it is,¡± I said. ¡°It is?¡± ¡°Morgan, can you please explain to Jane what a siren is while I go find a safe place to hide?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Morgan laughed. ¡°But first, if mentioning it is all it takes, can I just say I really wish I had a legendary item too?¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Sam said. ¡°Me too!¡± came a chorus of other voices. ¡°Now you¡¯ve done it,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I said. ¡°I was planning to make stuff for everyone anyway. I just haven¡¯t had time yet.¡± Sigrid heaved a sigh. ¡°Of course you were. Always looking for ways to make others stronger. But what about you?¡± ¡°What about me?¡± I said. ¡°Have you made anything for yourself?¡± ¡°A few things.¡± ¡°Show us,¡± Jane said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I wanna see how much you value yourself.¡± ¡°If you insist.¡± The next second, I was clad in my Second Skin suit. Jane immediately started laughing. ¡°What the hell is that getup?¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s how I got through the Void Dungeon without getting eaten.¡± I turned on the camouflage ability. ¡°Hey, where¡¯d you...oh, there you are. Okay, that¡¯s pretty neat.¡± I turned Blend In Anywhere off and used Affinity Form with Fire. ¡°Whoah! Now that¡¯s cool.¡± ¡°You¡¯re Mister Fantastic!¡± Kenji said. ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t go that far,¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s a comic character, one of the Fantastic Four,¡± I said. ¡°Oh, I saw that movie,¡± Jane said, scrunching her face. ¡°So you¡¯re what, made of fire now?¡± ¡°You¡¯d prefer something else? Maybe Earth?¡± I became rock. ¡°Clayface!¡± Kenji said. ¡°A Batman villain,¡± I said before Jane could say anything. ¡°And if I combine Earth and Fire...¡± I became steel. ¡°Colossus!¡± ¡°From X-Men.¡± ¡°So, like, you can become anything then,¡± Sam said. ¡°Wild.¡± ¡°I know who you are,¡± Kenji said. ¡°Metamorpho.¡± This time Jane was too quick for me. ¡°Yeah yeah, I know. Some superhero. I get it,¡± she said. ¡°Did you make any other toys for yourself?¡± I switched back to normal clothes. ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯re just gonna make fun of them too so I¡¯m not showing you.¡± ¡°Party pooper,¡± Jane said, a delighted smile on her face as her fingertips traced along the soft velvet around her neck. Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six - Get this man some waffles When the time came, I went with them as far as the elf village then bid them good luck as they rode eastward toward the swamp. I¡¯d done what I could, now it was up to them. Fly, baby birds, fly. I watched them go along the path through the trees, shrinking down to mere bobbing silhouettes on their crazy fantasy mounts until they disappeared from sight. Then with great effort I staggered over to my tree house and passed out on my bed, thankful that changing out of my clothes took no more effort than mentally telling my inventory to swap them for the light pants and shirt the elves favored as pajamas. My nap didn¡¯t quite last for anywhere near the twenty-four hours Sigrid had prescribed, but it was long enough to leave me feeling a lot better. When I woke up, Sigrid was sitting beside the bed polishing her sword. She noticed I was awake, thwipped the sword away, and smiled at me. ¡°This is weird,¡± I said. ¡°What is?¡± she said. ¡°Waking up to you sitting beside my bed instead of being in it.¡± She laughed. ¡°You needed the sleep.¡± ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± I said, lifting the sheets to invite her in. She slipped into bed with me and we lay together on our sides facing each other. ¡°I guess you slept through the announcement,¡± she said. ¡°You did it.¡± ¡°We did it.¡± ¡°I knew you could. I¡¯m so glad.¡± And relieved. I don¡¯t know what would¡¯ve happened if they failed again. No doubt I¡¯d be blamed for it somehow. ¡°Jane wanted to wake you up as soon as we got back to the village but she got vetoed.¡± ¡°Have you been here the whole time?¡± Sigrid rolled onto her back and stretched. ¡°Someone had to protect you from her. You know she doesn¡¯t listen.¡± ¡°Something smells good,¡± I said, suddenly realizing how hungry I was. I may have been neglecting more than my sleep and hygiene while ensconced in my inventory crafting items, subsisting on the local equivalent of high calorie junk food and instant cup ramen to keep my mana up. Sigrid pointed to a plate of waffles and sausage on the bedside table. Waffles were something else I¡¯d introduced to the elves after discovering they didn¡¯t exist here. I¡¯d artificed the first prototype waffle iron and enchanted it with a bit of Fire affinity magic to heat it up to the perfect temperature, and now the whole village was addicted to them. Word had spread and the elven artificers were working overtime mass producing enough irons to meet the demand for them in the city. Ruka had been delighted to receive one as a gift during one of her visits. ¡°This adorable little elf kid keeps coming back every hour to bring a fresh plate. You should eat or he¡¯ll be so disappointed.¡± I sat up, arranging pillows behind me to lean against, then leaned over Sigrid to get the plate. It was a bit too far to reach, and Sigrid showed no sign of helping, let alone moving, so I had to literally slide over her to get it. As my body pressed down on her chest, she said, ¡°You know what¡¯s truly weird?¡± ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°For weeks now you¡¯ve woken up to a hot woman in your bed, yet you¡¯ve never so much as hinted at making a move on her.¡± Plate in hand, I slid along her breasts back to my side. ¡°That¡¯s because I never have time, I have to kick her out before you show up.¡± She elbowed me in the side. ¡°Jerk.¡± ¡°Watch it, you¡¯ll make me spill the syrup and whipped cream. You wanna get all sticky?¡± She licked her lips. ¡°Don¡¯t tempt me. It¡¯s been a while since I got creamed.¡± ¡°Pervert. Tell me what happened in the dungeon,¡± I said, spearing a sausage. ¡°Was your new gear helpful?¡± ¡°Was it?¡± she said, rolling back onto her side right up next to me and propping her head up on her hand. If it was anyone else my internal alarm bells would be clanging over the flagrant invasion of my personal space, but this was Sigrid. Things like personal boundaries didn¡¯t really exist for us anymore. ¡°Holy hell, Daniel, it was amazing!¡± She went on to regale me with the story of their dungeon raid. The warmth of her body seeped into mine where it touched my side. The strategies Morgan and I came up with had worked wonders and the raid went down much differently than before. This time only Wayne had been killed in the battle, and thankfully he respawned. >>> The Shadow Dungeon had a fatality factor of 75 Dang. They were lucky they only lost Andy in their raids. Suddenly the existence of so many unaffiliated Players made sense: dungeon-related attrition would surely take its toll and pretty soon teams would need to replenish their numbers. The star of the show had been none other than clever little Kenji, who once again proved his abilities were every bit as useful as I¡¯d been telling everyone all along. When will they start trusting me? With the cloak I¡¯d given Morgan to pass along to him and his mad ninja skillz he was able to to take a page from my book and sneak past many of the traps and encounters that had made the previous attempts so difficult, creating distractions, and helping the team surprise the monsters that had been so hard to fight before with carefully planned and flawlessly executed ambushes. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. It was all possible because Morgan had convinced everyone to allow him to scout the whole place before the raid and he¡¯d come back with information that let them plan it all out properly. Detailed maps marked up with monster types, locations, and numbers, as well as traps, alternate routes, and ambush points. Proper intelligence. With her new equipment Sigrid had been a powerhouse, more than making up for the absence of Andy¡¯s formidable fighting skill while at the same time preventing others from taking damage that may have been fatal. In the end, she was also the one who helped win the final boss battle. She used her power to reveal weaknesses and uncovered a hidden vulnerability in the Shadow Demon. Its power was being amplified somehow, and while the rest of them kept the demon busy, Kenji had managed to find a device hidden deep within the fortress and destroy it, severely reducing the boss¡¯s power and making it easier to defeat. What made me happiest of all was that by doing so Kenji had unlocked the hidden quest and, having the right affinity, attained the title Shadow Lord for himself. Team Maple Leaf now had control over the Shadow Dungeon, and with his title, Kenji had gained extra abilities and usurped control over the shadow creatures that lived there. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about the Air Dungeon yet,¡± Sigrid said, ¡°but I am totally going to win its hidden quest. This I promise you.¡± ¡°Well don¡¯t you two look cozy?¡± Jane said after cracking the door open and poking her head in. ¡°I thought I heard voices. Not that I was waiting outside or anything, I just happened to be passing by, of course.¡± She pushed the door open wide and came inside. Sigrid responded by throwing an arm and a leg over me and sticking her tongue out at Jane. ¡°Mine.¡± Jane rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah, whatever. Come on, the elves are throwing a bash to celebrate the end of the Shadow Demon¡¯s reign.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Sigrid said, rolling off of me and hopping off the bed. ¡°I love parties.¡± ¡°And elves,¡± Jane said. ¡°You two go on ahead. I¡¯ll catch up,¡± I said. ¡°I need to scarf this down then freshen up a bit.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jane said, grabbing Sigrid¡¯s wrist and pulling her out the door. ¡°But don¡¯t take too long powdering your nose.¡± Sigrid put her hand against the doorframe to resist being pulled out. ¡°Hey Daniel? Can you do me one favor?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Can you turn yourself into an elf for this? Pretty please?¡± I was still thinking about how to reply when an announcement appeared. System: Global notification ¨C the Fire Dungeon has been solved and is now owned by Team Droogs ¡°Well fuck,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Looks like the dungeon floodgates have finally been opened.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I think things are going to start getting quite interesting now.¡± System: Team rankings have been updated 1. Team Invictus 1005 points 2. Team Player 1000 points 3. Team Maple Leaf 990 points 4. Team Droogs 865 points 4. Team Spice 705 points 5. Team N3m3sis 670 points 7. Team Legion 615 points 8. Team Overgeared 535 points 9. Team Ninja 515 points 10. Team Happy 505 points 11. Team Karma 470 points In the days that followed, details about the successful dungeon raids started spreading. It was common knowledge before this that the Fire Dungeon was located to the South in a cave hidden in the mountains that separated the plains from the desert ¡ª there was an NPC in town who was always giving people quests to go down there ¡ª and many teams had tried to beat it. Several Players had died-died in these attempts so it had a reputation for being a killer dungeon. And no wonder, I learned from Command Line that Fire had a fatality factor of 65. While Team Droogs had finally managed to defeat the final Boss and win, it had come at a heavy cost. Only two of them had crawled out alive at the end of it, and three of the ones who¡¯d died never respawned. Since the incident at the Cathedral, adventuring had become considerably more dangerous. As criminally expensive as their healing had been, it had also been the only option most people had. It had become near-impossible to find healing potions for sale anywhere. My friends and I had no problems. As far as I knew, and I was pretty sure I¡¯d evaluated every Player at least once by that point, Nina and I were the only ones with healing powers, and Morgan and I were the only ones able to craft potions. Everyone else had to rely on outside sources, which were rare and hard to come by. It appeared as though the game was compensating for the dearth of healing, though. First, healing potions began dropping more often as loot, then they started appearing in NPC shops more often. News of the city¡¯s burgeoning prosperity was spreading and elves weren¡¯t the only ones coming back to the area. More and more ships were sailing into Seaside from abroad, bringing with them more and more foreign goods ¡ª including healing potions ¡ª as well as new immigrant NPCs, several of whom happened to be alchemists or people like Sifu Chow Bo with minor healing talents like Laying On Hands. It was still nowhere near enough to meet the demand of all the Players who were getting hurt on a daily basis, but it was a start. The elves had opened a shop in the city where they sold their most exclusive wares. Most of their goods were sold to the city merchants for resale, but the really good stuff was only available directly from the elves. This included the healing potions the Beastfolk made, and we were starting to make very decent profits from that arrangement even while selling the potions for a fraction of what the Cathedral had charged. The demand still far outstripped the supply so we could have charged a lot more, but that would make us no better than those dirty cult extortionists and also didn¡¯t jive with my long term plans of helping everyone grow stronger. About a week after the Void Dungeon, I was playing John Wick with Chika while Shashu trained his first pupil in toron-do. Farrah, one of the Dragon Clan¡¯s better NPC fighters, had completed the rounds at the other clans and learned all their martial arts. She was a prodigy on par with Shashu in kung fu and had been able to pick up the other five very quickly. There was a whole crop of NPCs from all the clans hot on her heels who¡¯d be ready to learn toron-do soon. Training them would be a fulltime job that I didn¡¯t have time for so I¡¯d delegated it to Shashu. Once Farrah was up to speed she could help teach too. My goal was to raise the bar for everyone, after all, even NPCs, and that didn¡¯t only mean improving their combat ability it also meant helping them be better able to help themselves. We weren¡¯t alone in the courtyard, as usual there were others there doing their own things: some were training by themselves, some were lolly-gagging, and one was gardening. The same tinny fanfare we¡¯d heard when we first arrived in this world suddenly filled the air. We Players all stopped what we were doing and looked up at the sky, where a giant, grinning image of Annabelle had appeared. ¡°Yahello Players!¡± the huge holographic Annabelle said as it waved to us. ¡°It¡¯s Annabelle here with some veeeery exciting news!¡± Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven - Annabelles veeeery big news The last time there was a big group announcement Stratos had us all gather in the arena, but this time was different. Since we¡¯d started using the arena for settling disputes people were used to seeing Annabelle more, although a fifty foot tall hologram of her floating in the sky was new. I¡¯d seen her so much in other capacities I¡¯d almost forgotten her side gig as ring announcer for big game events. For the umpteenth time it made me question again who she really was and the exact nature of her real role here. This time Annabelle¡¯s violet hair was done up in a tight bun and she wore what I can only describe as an airline hostess¡¯s uniform, circa 1970. It was a navy blue dress, well fitted, with three-quarter length sleeves. Its skirt was scandalously short with a single pleat over each thigh, cinched at the waist by a vibrant red belt with a big round buckle the same navy color as the dress. A matching red scarf flounced jauntily at her throat, and on her head perched a navy and red pillbox hat. Her infectious smile lit the sky almost as brightly as the afternoon sun. I said all of us stopped and looked at her, but that¡¯s not strictly accurate: all of us except Shannon, who kept on tending the gardens as though nothing was happening, as well as Shashu and Farrah, who continued sparring until they happened to notice us all looking up. They stopped what they were doing, turned their attention skyward to see what we were looking at, shrugged at each other, then went back to what they were doing. They clearly couldn¡¯t see what we were seeing up there. That was another difference between named and unnamed NPCs: the vanilla ones have a blindness to Players¡¯ business that prevented them from reacting to Player meta-game behavior, while the named ones noticed but disregarded it. Maybe they thought we were praying to our god, or maybe they brushed it off as more weird stuff those outsiders do, but at least they noticed. I¡¯d heard about Players who¡¯d tried to convince the NPCs they were in a game, but no matter who they tried to talk to even the named ones refused to believe such a ludicrous story. There was also another difference between the sisters and other NPCs. The way they talked about gifts, powers, and skills told me they knew about System and Statuses. The very fact that Annabelle was appearing to all Players at the same time no matter where they were as a big floating hologram also seemed to confirm that she had a different kind of relationship with the game. After spending so much time with Ruka as well, I was starting to think there was more to my demonic friend than met the eye too. She had more in common with Annabelle and Akari than she did with other named NPCs like Shashu and Shannon, or even someone like Petal. It had long been my suspicion that many of the things that happened here were not by coincidence, and it seemed to me much too coincidental that all three of them became my new named NPC pals at around the same time I began growing into my abilities. When the giant holographic Annabelle spoke, the NPCs around us showed no signs of hearing her any more than they could see her. ¡°Yahello Players!¡± the big Annabelle said as it waved to us. ¡°It¡¯s Annabelle here with some veeeery exciting news!¡± ¡°This can¡¯t be good,¡± Byron said. Nina hushed him. ¡°It has been a while since we all got together for a big quest and this time it¡¯s a doozy, the biggest one yet!¡± Annabelle¡¯s eyes narrowed and her grin took on a wicked gleam. ¡°We like to call it the Citadel Quest, and trust me, you¡¯re gonna die for it.¡± ¡°Told you,¡± Byron said. ¡°This grand new quest will be introduced in a few days but I¡¯m not gonna tell you when exactly yet.¡± She winked at us and held up three fingers, counting down on them as she spoke. ¡°I will tell you this much: one, this quest will involve all teams competing for an amazing prize; two, it won¡¯t happen for at least two days; and three, you¡¯ll be given exactly six hours notice before everyone who¡¯s on a team must gather in the arena to get briefed on the quest details.¡± ¡°Hey Sensei,¡± Chika said, ¡°looks like you get to have a real team quest finally.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Finally.¡± I sympathized with everyone who wasn¡¯t on a team. Being left out sucked. The next thing Annabelle said would have given them some hope, though. ¡°Now, I know a lot of you aren¡¯t on a team yet but don¡¯t worry, that¡¯s about to change,¡± she said. ¡°Over the next forty-eight hours, existing teams may recruit enough new members to exactly double their current size. So teams, take this as an opportunity to fill any gaps you might have, and unaffiliated Players, take this chance to prove your worth and get yourself onto a team.¡± ¡°The next forty-eight hours are going to be a gong show,¡± Wayne¡¯s deep voice rumbled. ¡°One more thing,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Each team must also name an official Captain and Vice-Captain. Do that by the time we all meet in the arena, m-kay? That¡¯s all for now! So get out there and grow your teams, pick your Captains, and I¡¯ll see you sometime after the next two days. Annabelle out!¡± The holograph winked at us then flickered away leaving us all staring at the empty sky. Our attention was then drawn by the quest screens that popped up summarizing what Annabelle had just told us. We had two days to double the size of our teams, which in my case shouldn¡¯t be too hard. It only meant finding one more person to join Team Player with me. Sigrid wasted no time. She was beside me in a flash. ¡°Recruit me, Daniel,¡± she said, bouncing on her toes and tapping her chest. ¡°Put me on your team.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re already on Maple Leaf,¡± I said. ¡°They need you.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You need me more. Partners, remember?¡± Jane ambled up. ¡°She¡¯s right. And besides, we¡¯ll never hear the end of it if you don¡¯t pick her.¡± I laughed. ¡°If you¡¯re sure. System, add Sigrid Sorrensen to Team Player.¡± System: Error ¨C Only team Captains may add new members ¡°Okay, how do I make myself Captain?¡± System: Team Captains are elected by by majority vote from all members ¡°Fine. I vote for myself to be the Captain of Team Player.¡± System: The rules state that team votes are taken through secret ballot A new screen popped up in front of me, a voting screen asking me to vote for Daniel Lamont to be Captain of Team Player, with Yes/No buttons. My eye roll wasn¡¯t in Jane¡¯s league, but I gave it my best and tapped yes. System: Congratulations, you have been elected the first Captain of Team Player by unanimous decision ¨C Reward Tokens +10 (42); Team Management interface now available Along with that message, a new kind of notification appeared. It was that team management interface. There wasn¡¯t much there, just a roster of team members listing only my name and an indicator that one of two available spots was filled. ¡°Thanks, System,¡± I laughed. ¡°Now can you please add Sigrid Sorrensen as a member of Team Player?¡± System: Error ¨C Player Sigrid Sorrensen is already affiliated with a team ¡°System, remove me from Team Maple Leaf,¡± Sigrid said. System: Error ¨C Players may not leave teams at this time ¡°Well crap,¡± she said. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try this...Command Line prompt: when will Players be able to leave teams?¡± >>> Changes to team composition happen when game progress waypoints have been reached ¡°And what are¡ª¡± >>> Access denied ¨C insufficient user level to access game waypoint data ¡°Denied!¡± Jane said. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like you need to find someone new,¡± Jane said. ¡°How exciting.¡± ¡°And you need to find ten more, too,¡± I said. ¡°Nine,¡± Chika said, and an awkward silence followed. Crap. I couldn¡¯t believe I¡¯d forgotten about Andy. All of a sudden, all I could think about was how much a piece of garbage I was. ¡°So who¡¯s gonna be Team Maple Leaf¡¯s Captain?¡± Wayne said, breaking the tension. ¡°The first thing we need to do is get the Round Table on the team,¡± Nina said, ¡°and finally make it official.¡± No matter where they¡¯d been, every Player had seen Annabelle¡¯s announcement and the missing members of Team Maple Leaf and the Round Table had already started joining us. ¡°No dice, Nina,¡± I said. ¡°Only team Captains may add new members.¡± ¡°Then I nominate Jane as Captain,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯ll second that,¡± Sam said. Jane shook her head. ¡°Hard pass.¡± ¡°Think about it,¡± Sam said. ¡°People listen to you. You¡¯re always the first to take the initiative and you¡¯re a natural leader.¡± Jane patted his arm. ¡°I think what you just described is more of an impetuous loudmouth, but I appreciate the intent.¡± ¡°Sam¡¯s right, you know,¡± I said. ¡°I know I don¡¯t get a vote, but¡ª¡± Jane smiled but her voice had a sharp edge. ¡°I thought I made myself clear: hard pass.¡± ¡°Keeping your options open in case an opening appears in another team in the future?¡± Nina said, glancing at me. ¡°My therapist calls it an aversion to commitment,¡± Jane said. ¡°So who do you suggest to lead us, Jane?¡± Byron said. ¡°What about Arthur?¡± Jane said, studiously avoiding looking at me. A number of the others cast quizzical looks at Jane. Huh. The fluctuating nature of her relationship with Arthur must have been as much a mystery to them as it was to me. ¡°Have you already forgotten he can¡¯t be a member until we have a Captain?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Surely we can change Captains once he¡¯s in,¡± Jane said. ¡°Yo, System.¡± System: Yo, Player ¡°Cheeky. Is it possible to change Captains?¡± System: Team Captains may be changed at any time though a simple majority vote All it took was half the team plus one to change Captains, eh? I could see that causing some in-fighting down the line in teams that lacked cohesion. Captains would need to work to keep enough support to maintain their position. Even team politics was a game, and not one at which I expected to excel. Should¡¯ve named my gift Good At Most Things. ¡°Thanks, System,¡± Jane said. ¡°Okay you guys, how about we elect one of us temporarily until we get the others on the team, then have another vote to pick a real Captain?¡± The team voiced their general agreement, and once again Jane was nominated to be temporary Captain, which she once again vehemently declined. ¡°Pick someone else,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you guys not to turn around and leave me as Captain.¡± ¡°Wow, you really do not want the job,¡± Sam said. ¡°Fine. Elect me for now.¡± A quick vote was taken, and after everyone had tapped their election screen Sam was unanimously elected the first Captain of Team Maple Leaf. ¡°Oh cool,¡± he said. ¡°I just nabbed ten reward tokens for that.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jane said. ¡°I changed my mind, I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Too late, sweetie,¡± Sam said, then immediately added the members of the Round Table to Team Maple Leaf. Another vote was taken to make Arthur the new Captain, but much to my surprise ¡ª and Arthur¡¯s ¡ª he failed to get a majority. Awkward. Guess some people still held a grudge about the whole excluding me from the dungeon raid thing. Is it bad that I wasn¡¯t unhappy about that? But the real question is: who tapped no? If I had Jane or Sigrid¡¯s social skills I probably would¡¯ve been able to suss it out simply by looking at people, but that was another thing I was underskilled at. ¡°Well shit,¡± Sam said. Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Eight - Gong show ¡°How about Morgan?¡± Sigrid said. Everybody was looking around at each other, mentally assessing their teammates as potential Captains. ¡°She¡¯s been our strategist all this time, she¡¯d make an awesome leader.¡± I didn¡¯t have to have any social skill to know that Sigrid must have been one of the no votes for Arthur. ¡°I¡¯ll second that,¡± Byron said. Gonna guess he was a no too. ¡°I¡¯ll third it,¡± Jane added. ¡°That¡¯s not a thing,¡± Sigrid said in a husky pretend whisper. ¡°Is it now,¡± Jane shot back in the same sotto voce. Was Jane another no vote? No, couldn¡¯t be. It was her idea to elect Arthur in the first place. Unless that had been a smoke screen and her goal all along had been to definitively rule out Arthur as Captain by having him lose the election. I looked over at Jane and was struck, as I always was even after all this time, by how stupidly attractive she was. Sure, she was categorically hot, but was she also that devious and manipulative? Jane turned and caught me staring at her. I surprised myself by not immediately looking away like usual. The continued eye contact must¡¯ve surprised her too because her eyebrow went up and her face broke out into a wide smile. Eep. So hot. Too hot. Must look away. Morgan was a smart choice, not only because she would make a great leader in general and was already planning and coordinating battles, but also because she was from the Round Table, and choosing her would immediately mend any rifts that may have started to form when Arthur was voted down. Another vote was quickly taken and Morgan got unanimous approval. ¡°Thanks everyone,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best until I die or you find someone better for the job.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not funny,¡± Nina said. ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about that.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I was just quoting a movie.¡± Wayne¡¯s deep voice rumbled. ¡°These are the rules. Everybody fights, nobody quits. If you don''t do your job I''ll kill you myself. Welcome to the Roughnecks!¡± he said, earning knowing smiles from Morgan and those who knew the film. ¡°So then, how about taking on Vice-Captain, Jane?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Did you get any Reward Tokens for being made Captain?¡± Jane said. ¡°Sadly no,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I think I just got them for being the first,¡± Sam said. ¡°Then fuhgeddaboudit,¡± Jane said with a dismissive wave of her hand. ¡°How about you, Sigrid?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Nuh uh,¡± Sigrid grunted, and took a little step closer to me. ¡°Right,¡± Morgan said, ¡°of course.¡± That one little step was all it took to communicate that Sigrid still hoped to find a way onto Team Player and didn¡¯t want any strings holding her down. ¡°Well shit,¡± Sam said. ¡°Does anybody want to nominate themselves?" Nobody said anything, then Arthur surprised everyone by speaking up. ¡°I¡¯d be good with you, Nina,¡± he said. Several more voices sounded their agreement. I was impressed. I¡¯d half-expected Arthur to sulk for a while after losing his vote, but he rolled with the punches like a champ. I was still pissed at him, but it made me happy that he was doing things that would help me like him again. ¡°What me?¡± Nina said. ¡°Oh my.¡± ¡°You okay with that?¡± Morgan said. Nina looked over at Byron and he nodded encouragingly. ¡°Well,¡± Nina said. ¡°I guess I¡¯m up for it.¡± Another vote was taken, and Nina was made Vice-Captain by another unanimous vote. ¡°Okay then, it¡¯s settled,¡± Jane said. ¡°Morgan is our Queen, with big sis Nina as backup Princess. Moving on, what¡¯s next on the agenda?¡± Everyone looked at Morgan. Morgan looked at me. ¡°Daniel, do you think you could lend us a hand with finding new members? You¡¯re the only one who can see other people¡¯s Statuses.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said. ¡°I can do one better.¡± It was the second time I¡¯d use my Need A Hand? power and the second time I¡¯d shared a power with Morgan. Still, she seemed shocked to see that she could now use All Can Be Revealed. Jane¡¯s brow furrowed as she glanced back and forth between me and Morgan. ¡°He just did something ludicrous again, didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Can I tell them?¡± Morgan said, and after I nodded she explained what I¡¯d done, earning me quite a few dubious looks from the others. ¡°You¡¯re joking, right?¡± Jane said. ¡°When did you get the ability to share powers? It wasn¡¯t in your Status thingy when...¡± ¡°How do you know what his Status looks like, hmmm?¡± Sam said, breaking out into a grin. ¡°I bet Sigrid¡¯s seen it too,¡± Kay said. ¡°You have, haven¡¯t you. What¡¯s it like?¡± ¡°Of course I¡¯ve seen it,¡± Sigrid said, then lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone, ¡°and it¡¯s huuuuuuuge.¡± ¡°Pervert,¡± I said, elbowing her. Then I noticed rather a lot of eyes looking at me, but not at my face, and I had a sudden urge to shout my eyes are up here! ¡°She¡¯s joking,¡± I said instead, moving my hand down to cover my groinal region. ¡°No,¡± Jane said. ¡°It is huge. Ridiculously huge.¡± ¡°Almost painfully so,¡± Sigrid said, nodding. ¡°It¡¯s definitely something that takes some getting used to,¡± Jane said. ¡°It''s a lot to wrap yourself around." ¡°I wanna see it,¡± Chika said, and all those eyes that were on me snapped over to gape at her. ¡°What?¡± Chika said, then her eyes widened. ¡°Wait, we are still talking about his Status, right?¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± Kay said. ¡°Morgan, you said he just shared his ability to see Statuses with you.¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± Morgan said, staring off at nothing. ¡°So doesn¡¯t that mean you can use it on him?¡± ¡°I¡¯m right here,¡± I mumbled.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Uh huh,¡± Morgan said again. Kay¡¯s face broke into a grin. ¡°You¡¯re looking at it right now, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°It¡¯s monstrous,¡± Morgan said. "Told ya," Jane said looking smug for no good reason. It would have been criminally disingenuous of me to complain about Morgan looking at my Status without asking, given my proclivity for doing the same thing to everyone else, but I still felt awkward about it. I had a lot to hide. We all watched Morgan as she continued to gaze over my head with glazed eyes. ¡°How long is she gonna stare at it, do you think?¡± Byron said. ¡°Let her have it,¡± Nina said. ¡°It¡¯s not really a secret she¡¯s been aching to get a good look at it for some time.¡± ¡°We are still talking about his Status, right?¡± Byron said, earning quite a few chuckles. "Sure," Nina said, "let''s run with that," earning a few more. ¡°Hang on,¡± Morgan said, raising her finger. ¡°Almost done.¡± ¡°Seriously? How long does it take?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°How big is it?¡± Sigrid spread her arms. ¡°Huge.¡± ¡°Holy fuck,¡± Morgan said, looking pained. "There¡¯s more. I don''t know if I can take this." Jane and Sigrid exchanged looks. ¡°She just learned about his skills,¡± Jane said. ¡±He does have an impressive skillset,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°She only just got to the skills?¡± Byron said. ¡°Dude! How long is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid to ask but how many skills does he have?¡± Kay said. Jane and Sigrid exchanged another look. ¡°All of them, I think,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Come on,¡± Byron said. ¡°Now you¡¯ve got to let us all see.¡± Morgan closed her eyes and let her head drop. ¡°You wanna know why I don¡¯t like sharing my Status, Byron?¡± I said. Morgan raised her head and opened her eyes, then stared at me with a complicated look that was different to how she looked at me before. I sighed. ¡°That¡¯s why,¡± I said. ¡°That look right there. Like I¡¯m some kind of monster.¡± Morgan¡¯s nibbled her lower lip and she looked down again. ¡°Sorry, Daniel, it¡¯s just...¡± Sigrid went over and put her arm around Morgan¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I know, honey. I know.¡± "Been there, done that," Jane said. ¡°If we¡¯re all done with that,¡± I said, giving Jane what I hoped was a sharp look but which made her laugh. Not sharp enough, apparently. I continued on unabated. ¡°I have an idea about how to make recruiting for Team Maple Leaf easier.¡± ¡°You really think it¡¯ll work?¡± Morgan said after I¡¯d explained my idea. ¡°Absolutely. Even if we can both evaluate people we can¡¯t be everywhere checking out Statuses, so why not make it easier by bringing everyone to one place?¡± My idea was to have all the members of the team, as well as some of the more gossipy NPCs, go around town talking to people and posting notices that Team Maple Leaf ¡ª masters of the Shadow Dungeon ¡ª would be holding an open house for potential recruits the next morning. An open house was more their style than formal interviews and would give everyone on the team the chance to screen candidates. Above and beyond abilities, having a personality that fit with the team¡¯s dynamic would be critical. If what I wanted to talk to Chow Li about was already in operation it would have been much easier to spread the word, but if everyone worked together it should be possible to let enough people know about it. ¡°Daniel¡¯s right,¡± Morgan said. ¡°We have an advantage. There aren¡¯t many other teams who can brag about controlling a dungeon, and the other ones who can are all asshats so we should make the most of it.¡± ¡°Gee thanks, Morgan,¡± I said. I almost made a comment about being downgraded from fixer-upper to asshat, then remembered where we were. I¡¯d rather not have other people know about that. I really did have a lot of secrets. It was exhausting keeping them all, especially with the crippling guilt I felt about, well, pretty much everything. I¡¯ve gotta come clean about everything soon. ¡°You know I didn¡¯t mean you,¡± Morgan said. Sigrid snorted. ¡°Asshat.¡± ¡°Et tu, Sigrid?¡± I said, putting my hands over my heart like I¡¯d just been shot. Arthur chimed in. ¡°Daniel, I hate to ask given how much you¡¯ve already done for us¡ª¡± ¡°And after specifically excluding him from our dungeon raid,¡± Sigrid muttered. ¡°Yeah, that too I guess,¡± Arthur said. ¡°But while you¡¯re going around looking for your new member, think you can invite anyone who might be a good match for Maple Leaf to our open house?¡± ¡±New member,¡± Jane giggled. ¡°Of course,¡± I said after giving Jane a why-don¡¯t-you-just-grow-up glare. ¡°I already have an idea who I¡¯ll try to recruit anyway so I was already planning on spending the time helping you.¡± That earned me a few new looks, especially a surprised one from Sigrid. "Who?" she mouthed at me, but I just shook my head a tiny bit and telepathically messaged her ¡°Later.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Arthur said. ¡°You should go talk to your fan club at the brothel, Daniel,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be able to spread the word faster than gonorrhea.¡± It was obvious she was joking about the VD but Galahad and Bruce both glanced down, and it didn¡¯t take a mind reader to know what they were thinking. While I''d remained in the lobby performing ill-advised Monty Python sketches they''d both gone upstairs to sample the wares. ¡°You know, Annabelle made a good point that we should use this as an opportunity to fix gaps in the team,¡± Wayne said. ¡°I have been thinking it would be nice to have someone who could fill Andy¡¯s role as a core damage dealer,¡± Morgan said. People started nodding in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s a solid idea,¡± I said, ¡°but everyone will be looking for frontline melee Players and most of the decent ones are already on teams. If I were you, I¡¯d focus on finding the diamonds in the rough. People whose abilities don¡¯t immediately jump out but who have the potential for greatness in other areas.¡± I noticed Jane looking at me. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, smiling to herself. I tried to think of how she could find a double entendre in what I¡¯d said and came up empty. So what was with that look? ¡°Like what do you mean, Daniel?¡± Nina said. ¡°Like you,¡± I said. ¡°Your healing power¡¯s obviously amazing, but your ability to buff the whole team can¡¯t be understated. If we can find more people who can help make everyone else stronger, that¡¯s worth more than one single frontline fighter.¡± ¡°That makes a lot of sense,¡± Kay said. ¡°Someone who can debuff the enemy and make them weaker would be just as valuable, if not more.¡± ¡°I like the idea of having more crowd control,¡± Wayne said. ¡°I¡¯ve been using my summons as meat shields mostly, but your suggestion to use them to hit the enemy¡¯s flanks and herd them where we wanted was very effective in the dungeon.¡± Morgan''s eyes flickered toward me, probably wondering if she should tell them that had been my idea. I gave my head another subtle shake. It was better if they thought it was hers. I noticed Jane watching us and when our eyes met she rolled hers, no doubt she''d figured out whose idea it was. ¡°You''re right, Wayne,¡± Morgan said, ¡°and we could use some decent area effect damage, too. We¡¯re pretty good at taking on opponents one-on-one, but I¡¯ve been wishing we had a trump card that can affect a large area at once.¡± ¡°Right on,¡± I said. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t waste any time. Other teams will be out there recruiting already, we should send everyone out now and start spreading the word that Team Maple Leaf¡¯s open for business.¡± ¡°Do you want me to come with you?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°It might be weird having you out there alone recruiting for another team.¡± We locked eyes for a moment. I figured she was really thinking I might still want help approaching people, but had politely used the fact that I wasn¡¯t on the team as an excuse. Or maybe she just wanted to get me alone so she could grill me on who I was thinking of asking to join Team Player in her stead. ¡°Yes please,¡± I said. I was definitely better at talking to people now than I was when all this started, but I still had a long way to go before I would be comfortable approaching strangers. ¡°Alright alright alright,¡± Jane drawled. ¡°We¡¯ve got ourselves a plan, people.¡± We divided the city into sections and split up into groups of two or three, each one targeting a different area. Because they¡¯d both trained with all the other clans and developed some relationships there, I suggested that Shashu and Farrah should go around and ask people from the other clans to help spread the word among the NPCs. Anything that could potentially get the open house news into unaffiliated Players¡¯ ears would help. Sigrid was ready to go, but I asked her if she could hang on for just a little bit. ¡°What''s up?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I really, really need to talk to Chow Li right now.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll wait. I know you have your secrets,¡± she sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not like that. You can join me if you want.¡± She perked up. ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± As we made our way to Chow Li¡¯s office, Sigrid suddenly burst out with a question. ¡°Okay, I can¡¯t keep it in any longer. I¡¯m dying to know who you¡¯re thinking about asking to take my place on your team.¡± Nailed it. ¡°You don¡¯t know her,¡± I said. "Her?¡± She sighed and shook her head slowly. ¡°Yet another woman. Figures.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Nine - I finally meet with Chow Li Chow Li rested her hands on the top of the desk and looked directly at me. ¡°So, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± We were in her office at the Dragon Clan dojo. Sigrid was with us as well as Shannon, who apparently did more than just tend gardens and was serving us tea. The young cat girl seemed still new to it and every so often Chow Li would cut in to correct a minor error in her movements. People really took their tea ceremony seriously in these parts. I noticed one little error in the angle of the teapot during the pour and gently pointed it out, earning me a quizzical look from Chow Li and a grateful smile from Shannon. The strangest thing of all was that Madame Devorah was also there. I hadn¡¯t seen her since the boy¡¯s night out debacle but she¡¯d been there in Chow Li¡¯s office when we arrived, chatting like old friends. Which, as it turned out, they were. And more. I¡¯d knocked on the door and Chow Li had invited us in, but I¡¯d paused when I saw Devorah there with her. Devorah had turned her head to look at me and smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were busy. I¡¯ll come back later,¡± I said. Chow Li had waved me in. ¡°Not at all. Come, join us. ¡°Daniel,¡± Devorah crooned. ¡°What a nice surprise. And Sigrid too, hello.¡± ¡°You know each other?¡± Chow Li said. Devorah¡¯s mischievous smile widened. ¡°Not in the way you probably think, but yes, we are acquainted.¡± ¡°You never mentioned this,¡± Chow Li said. Devorah shrugged. ¡°It did not seem pertinent.¡± Then she frowned at me. ¡°Daniel, you promised to come visit us but we¡¯ve yet to see that handsome face again. The girls are devastated. Especially after that new spectacle in the arena, they¡¯ve all been watching the door in hopes you¡¯ll walk through.¡± ¡°I bet they are,¡± Sigrid had said. Chow Li gestured to the open chairs before her desk. ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± I took the seat beside Devorah facing Chow Li where she sat behind her desk, with Sigrid on my other side. When I seemed reluctant to talk, Chow Li said, ¡°You can talk freely in front of Devorah.¡± With a devious smile, Devorah lifted her skirt high enough to show her thigh. There was a strip of green cloth tied around it, identical to the one Chow Li had given me in this very office what seemed like forever ago. ¡°You¡¯re in the clan?¡± I said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be worn on the arm, you know,¡± had been Devorah¡¯s sly reply. ¡°Madame Devorah is our eyes and ears in places the rest of us have trouble going,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°Information gathering is her specialty.¡± ¡°Among other things,¡± Devorah said, sipping her tea. Chow Li ignored her friend¡¯s innuendo-laden remark. She rested her hands on the surface of her desk and looked directly at me. ¡°So, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± I took a deep breath and launched into the speech I¡¯d been rehearsing in my head for a while. ¡°Ever since we arrived a few months ago, we Players have been trying to find our place here. So far, it has been hit and miss.¡± ¡°You seem to have done well,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve been lucky, but not everyone has. Some Players haven¡¯t managed to find ways of being productive so in their frustration and disappointment a lot of them end up being destructive.¡± ¡°Mmm, indeed. It has gotten a bit better since your people started resolving personal conflicts in the arena, but the number of incidents of robbery, violence, and vandalism involving you, ah, Players, rises every week.¡± ¡°I have an idea that might fix that,¡± I said. ¡°Something that would help those people find ways to earn a living that contribute to the city¡¯s prosperity, rather than suck away from it.¡± I took a page from Annabelle¡¯s book and paused for dramatic effect. ¡°A Players Guild.¡± ¡°A Players Guild? What an interesting idea. How would it work?¡± ¡°Like any other guild, really. It would be a place where Players could go to find jobs and improve their skills,¡± I said, nodding my thanks to Shannon as she filled my cup. ¡°What kinds of jobs?¡± ¡°Anything that needs doing. Players have all sorts of talents and skills, so the job could be anything from hunting the shadow wolves that are killing the farmers¡¯ flocks to helping to rebuild the Cathedral to rescuing lost children. Curing the Blight in the forest could have been a job.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she said. Many of the jobs I was talking about were ones that typically got assigned as quests, and Players were given meta-game rewards like Tokens or Gift Boxes from System for completing them. This plan of mine wouldn¡¯t work if they no longer got these valuable quest rewards from Guild jobs, but I wasn¡¯t worried about that. My experience with the game so far gave me a strong hunch that even though they were assigned in a different way, when Players took on a Guild job they¡¯d still be assigned as System quests and they¡¯d still get the usual System rewards in addition to what they were getting paid by the Players Guild to do them. Madame Devorah nodded in agreement. ¡°There does seem to be no shortage of such things that need to be done. And we do now find ourselves in need of someone new to protect caravans bringing goods from the sea.¡± She raised her teacup to her lips. ¡°I wonder if perhaps someone has been thinking ahead and laying groundwork this whole time,¡± she added with a wry smile before taking a delicate sip. ¡°Yeah, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°How long have you been planning this?¡± ¡°For a while,¡± I said. "I was just waiting until all the pieces came together."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The truth was I had been planning to have the Players Guild take over caravan protection duty when I added the Silver Sword¡¯s banishment to the duel¡¯s stakes, and I¡¯d been planning the Guild itself for a lot longer than that. With the increase in trade bringing more and more such caravans traveling to and from the city, it promised a large and steady supply of work that was ideally suited for Players. Never having to deal with Flint and his goons again was just icing on the cake. ¡°I can see how this would make life easier for everyone,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°Exactly,¡± I said. ¡°Everything can be tracked and structured. We can assess Players¡¯ abilities to ensure they don¡¯t take on a job that¡¯s beyond them, and we¡¯ll know who¡¯s off doing what so that if they run into trouble we can send others out to find and help them.¡± Chow Li nodded. ¡°That makes sense. And what would these Players get for taking on these jobs?¡± ¡°Whoever posts the job would offer the reward. Could be gold, or items, or whatever has enough value to compensate the Players for taking on the mission.¡± ¡°I see. And your guild would take a percentage of the reward as an operational fee, of course.¡± ¡°Like any other guild,¡± I said. ¡°When jobs come in, they will be ranked according to their difficulty so Players will know what they¡¯re getting themselves into and choose tasks appropriate to their level.¡± ¡°The harder the challenge, the greater the reward,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°And the stronger the Player grows.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± It became clear to me a while ago that the game rewarded initiative but not all Players demonstrated much of it. It was up to the Player to seek out adventures, or at least interact with the environment and act upon clues that led toward hidden quests. People were too used to RPGs dumping quests into their laps and too many hadn¡¯t put much effort into finding things to do themselves. The Players with the initiative to do that had progressed and would likely always be stronger as a result, but there were degrees of excellence. Currently, the divide was too sharp. If the lagging players could be cultivated, guided toward improvement, there¡¯s no telling how good they could also become. That was the real reason why a Players Guild was needed. Sigrid got it. ¡°I am guessing you¡¯re here to ask for my help in getting the city¡¯s approval to create the guild,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°You see through me.¡± She smiled. ¡°I think the council will be receptive to the idea. Because of your relationship with the elves they already know you and have a favorable opinion.¡± ¡°I also trained with all the martial clans in the city, so I know their masters quite well, too,¡± I said. ¡°As long as you can show that this new guild won¡¯t harm the operations of the other guilds, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. What do you think, Devorah?¡± ¡°A Players Guild would benefit the other guilds as well,¡± Devorah said. ¡°It would provide a steady supply of materials for the crafting guilds, plus a greater demand for their goods. Having reliable security for their caravans will be a welcome thing, too.¡± ¡°The other guilds will also like that your guild members will spend all that gold they earn in the city, improving business all around,¡± Chow Li said. I nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Right? Plus, Players would have to agree to a code of conduct to be members, so if they go around causing trouble for the citizens they could face penalties ranging from being denied access to certain guild services or, if the problem is serious enough, banishment or being denied their freedom.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Chow Li said. ¡°You should play up how it will help curb the criminal behavior of idle Players in your presentation to the council and I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have a problem selling this.¡± ¡°Who, me? You expect me to present this to them?¡± ¡°Who else?¡± ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d help there.¡± Chow Li gave me an indulgent smile. ¡°It is your idea, Daniel. You will be responsible for the guild. I can get you an audience with the council, but it will be up to you to convince them.¡± Well that was just great. Last time I talked to the council it was about inviting a few elves for dinner and look what that turned into. I needed to maintain control of this particular train. Sigrid or Jane would be much better suited to the task, maybe I could persuade one of them to do it for me. ¡°What will you use for a guild house?¡± Devorah said. ¡°Well, I do have my eye on a certain piece of real estate.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I pulled a large, rolled up parchment from my inventory and unfurled it onto the desk. It was the design and blueprints I¡¯d drawn up for transforming the Cathedral¡¯s ruins into my guildhouse. ¡°The Cathedral?¡± Devorah said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the ambitious one.¡± I walked them through the plans. ¡°The guild house will be more than just a place where Players come to find jobs. It will also serve as a place where Players can trade in any materials they collect and know they¡¯re getting a fair price, and a bank where they can store their treasure and know it¡¯s safe. On this side, there¡¯s a tavern and an inn with rooms to rent above, and on this side it¡¯s a training facility, where Players can work on improving their abilities and growing stronger so they can take on more and more challenging jobs.¡± ¡°Very impressive, Daniel,¡± Devorah said. ¡°You have put much thought into this,¡± Chow Li said. Not really. No point trying to explain that this is just the standard Adventurer¡¯s Guild that appears in every fantasy dungeon-crawling isekai. I could never figure out why this world didn¡¯t have one. It would have been a great help for Players, especially the ones who didn¡¯t get onto a team and struggled to find their place here. So I decided to just go ahead and make one. ¡°The central location of the Cathedral is ideal, being close to the magic gazebo,¡± I said. That was what NPCs had started calling the city¡¯s teleportation circle once they started seeing Players appearing and disappearing under it. ¡°I also like that it is close to the arena.¡± ¡°So they can easily settle their disputes there?¡± Chow Li said. ¡°Yes, but also because I was thinking it could be used as a training facility for the Players Guild as well.¡± Chow Li leaned back. ¡°That would be a very hard sell.¡± It was time to play a trump card. At least I hoped it was a trump card, I still didn¡¯t know what it was for but it seemed important. I pulled out the medallion Annabelle had given me with the arena¡¯s pagoda embossed on it. Chow Li and Madame Devorah reacted much the same way Akari had when she saw it, confirming my suspicion that it was something important. ¡°Where did you get that?¡± Chow Li said, picking up her teacup and taking a measured sip. Her voice was calm and level, but her teacup rattled against its saucer when she went to pick it up, and her hand was shaking ever so slightly when she lifted it to her lips. So the medallion was very important indeed. ¡°Annabelle gave it to me.¡± ¡°I see. Perhaps it would not be such a hard sell after all.¡± Now Devorah was giving me that same weird look I was getting from people all the time now. I remained quiet to let Chow Li ruminate over my plans. ¡°It will take a considerable amount of capital to set it up,¡± she said after a while. ¡°Where will you get it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a plan.¡± ¡°Of course you do,¡± Sigrid said. Chapter One Hundred and Forty - I want you After meeting with Chow Li, Sigrid and I spent the afternoon wandering our designated part of the city in search of potential new members for Team Maple Leaf. I didn¡¯t mind, I wasn¡¯t ready to recruit my new Team Player teammate yet, not until I knew whether or not the Players Guild would fly. Besides, I got to hang out with Sigrid, which was always a blast. We made a great team ¡ª I spotted candidates, she talked to them ¡ª and it was a lot of fun hanging out with her in the city again. We hadn¡¯t had much chance to do that lately because even though we spent a lot of time together, it was always in and around the elf village or at the dojo, and I missed it. We garnered a lot of attention. She seemed to think it was because of me, but I couldn¡¯t imagine anyone having any interest in me when a resplendent Sigrid was glittering in her armor right beside me. At one point, we came across the young group I¡¯d rescued from the Silver Sword. There were five of them, too many to invite to join Maple Leaf, but I did know someone else who needed an influx of good people so I told Peter and his friends to look for a certain someone and mention that I¡¯d recommended them. Sometime mid-afternoon, a runner from the Dragon Clan tracked us down to give me a message. Chow Li had pulled some strings and managed to arrange a special council meeting that evening so that I could present the Players Guild idea to them. Sigrid replied with an emphatic ¡°no¡± when I asked her to make the presentation for me, and I didn¡¯t even bother approaching Jane about it. I¡¯d just get cuffed on the back of the head, or worse. So after some words of encouragement from Sigrid I went alone to pitch the council using the same presentation I¡¯d given to Chow Li. Apparently, idle Players had been causing a lot more problems than I¡¯d known and the council was ready to jump at any plan that could curb their anti-social behavior. It didn¡¯t hurt that I was on very good terms with not only the six martial arts clans, but also most of the commercial guildmasters on the council: the re-opening of trade with the elves after so long was an economic boon for the city, and my connection to the elven village was a big notch in my favor. By the time the council meeting ended my Players Guild was a go, with the city¡¯s full blessing to rebuild the Cathedral as our guildhouse. As for using the arena for guild purposes, I¡¯d have to talk to Annabelle. I wasn¡¯t worried about that, though. I was pretty sure what she¡¯d say. I even walked out with a completely unexpected boon: another medallion, this time given to me by the council. It was just like the one I got from Annabelle, only it had an image of the Cathedral building embossed on it instead of the arena. I waited until I was outside before pulling out the arena one and comparing them. Holding them side by side I realized something, and when I pressed them together in a certain way that aligned the round indentation they both had in one corner, they clicked together to create two-thirds of a larger hexagonal medallion. Interesting. Pleased with how things were starting to come together, I headed out for my next stop: recruiting the new member of Team Player. I was so nervous I thought I¡¯d vomit. I really could¡¯ve used Sigrid¡¯s charm right about then to smooth the way, but it was just me, ineptly struggling to make a good impression. My potential teammate didn¡¯t make it any easier, her attitude had been prickly from the start. Then again, perhaps starting off by coming right up and saying ¡°I want you¡± may not have been my best opening gambit. It left me scrambling to salvage the situation. ¡°This isn¡¯t what it looks like,¡± I said, a few moments after telling her I wanted her. ¡°Honest.¡± Lianna, the Player who¡¯d served Morgan and me on our dinner date, examined me with cold, piercing, skeptical eyes from behind the restaurant¡¯s counter. ¡°Then what is it?¡± ¡°I want you to join Team Player,¡± I said. She kept giving me the stink eye. ¡°You wanna maybe start off with a coffee?¡± she said, gesturing at the steaming contraption behind her that ostensibly could be coaxed into producing a passable cup of caffeinated bitterness. Calling it coffee was exceedingly kind, though not to coffee. ¡°Um, sure. Did you hear what I said?¡± ¡°Yeah, I heard. Cream? Sugar?¡± ¡°Double cream,¡± I said. She grunted acknowledgement then turned away to prepare my drink. I took the opportunity to check her Status again, even though I knew perfectly well what it said.
Lianna Drake Unaffiliated
Affinity: Life - Novice
Gifts: I Get It - Quick learner It¡¯s Fine ¨C Things work out
Powers: Don''t Mess With Me - Competent: Cause fear Rock On, Tommy ¨C Novice: Second affinity with Earth You Don¡¯t Scare Me - Competent: Resistance to fear and intimidation
Skills: Appraisal - Novice Eidetic Memory - Competent Finance - Novice Organization - Competent
Yup. She was exactly what I wanted. A diamond in the rough. That prickliness was even a desirable quality; I knew I was a pushover so having someone with me who would not be pushed was a good thing. I just needed to get her to trust me, which I knew was going to be an uphill battle. Some whizzing and clanking later, the machine¡¯s udder dribbled out something steaming into a cup and when Lianna turned back to face me she wore a much kindlier expression. Scarily kind, to be honest, almost pitying. She set down the cup and poured a long measure of cream into it, then looked up at me from under her long eyelashes. "What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯d take too long to answer, ask me an easier one.¡± She almost smiled but caught herself and maintained her gruffness. ¡°Okay, why me?¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Because you have the abilities I need.¡± She grimaced at that. ¡°There is something wrong with you. My abilities are trash.¡± ¡°No they aren¡¯t. You just haven¡¯t had the chance to use them properly. And your abilities are not limited to what¡¯s in your Status.¡± ¡°How profound. You do know I can¡¯t fight, right?¡± ¡°Just because you haven¡¯t doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t. You don¡¯t have the skill yet, but that¡¯s an easy fix. Especially if your fast learning gift works like I think it does. Besides, fighting isn¡¯t why I want you, anyway.¡± She narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°On my team,¡± I added. ¡°Who else is on the team?¡± ¡°Just me.¡± ¡°So you are that guy.¡± I sighed. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I thought so, but I wasn¡¯t totally sure." She must''ve been the only Player on the planet who didn''t go to my arena fight with Flint and recognize me on sight. It was refreshing, honestly, and not a little ironic. "So if not to fight, why do you want me then?¡± ¡°There''s more to this game than fighting, a lot more. I want you to be the business manager.¡± ¡°Say what?¡± I explained to her my idea for the Players Guild, how I¡¯d just received approval from the city council to open it, and how I wanted her to be my teammate and run it. ¡°It¡¯s a good gig,¡± I said. ¡°Is the business part all there is to being on the team, or would I also adventure with you on quests and stuff?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to?¡± I said, disappointed that she didn''t seem interested in the adventuring. Guess I pegged her wrong. She didn¡¯t answer, just kept looking at me expectantly. ¡°Fine. You don¡¯t have to, although I wish you would.¡± ¡°I never said I wouldn¡¯t want to, I only wanted to know if it was an option." Something in her voice told me she actually did want to be an adventurer, very much, but had resigned herself to being unfit for it because of the powers she''d been given. "It is definitely an option!" I blurted, which made her smile. Whether is was because of what I said or the way I said it was anyone''s guess. "Tell me more about your plans for the guildhouse. I could¡¯ve sworn you said it was going to be in the Cathedral, but that¡¯s just...¡± I looked at her with the hint of a shrug and she frowned. ¡°You weren¡¯t joking, were you?¡± I tried to hide my smile when I pulled out the blueprints for the Cathedral guildhouse and showed her. She leaned over and studied them for a while, then stood up straight and studied me again. ¡°Just who are you really?¡± Another question I was beginning to grow sick of. I was not a freak, dammit. This was not the time to get bristly about it, I could see her growing more interested so I continued my pitch. ¡°It¡¯s going to make an awesome guildhouse. Look.¡± I pointed to a suite of rooms on the top floor. ¡°This would be your living quarters up here. Do you like stained glass windows?¡± She leaned over again to get a look, bringing her head close to mine. ¡°I only see one suite." "Is that a problem?¡± I said, leaning back. Her hair had tickled my cheek and that made me super uncomfortable. "If you need more space we can make it happen." "It''s not that," she said, "I was just wondering where you were planning to live." ¡°Not there. I have a place in the elf village where I stay most of the time.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯ll keep my door locked anyway.¡± Oh, now I got it. She was worried I was planning to share that space with her. ¡°You really aren¡¯t a trusting sort of person, are you?¡° She laughed in a soft tinkling sound that suited her. ¡°You expect me to trust you?¡± ¡°It would make things a lot easier.¡± ¡°I bet it would, but you haven¡¯t said a single thing so far that I can trust. You could have anyone on your team but you¡¯re after me. That right there is pretty suss. And you come out with this hugely ambitious guild idea with an HQ in the old Cathedral? You can see why I¡¯d be a bit hesitant to hop on board the crazy train. I mean, even if everything you''ve said is true, how would you even pay for it all?¡± ¡°Well, our team¡ª¡± She held up a finger to cut me off. ¡°Your team. I haven¡¯t agreed to join.¡± ¡°The team has a steady income through the brisk trade the elves are doing, and it will grow even more once we ramp up healing potion production with the Beastfolk.¡± ¡°Healing potion production? Beastfolk?¡± ¡°Uh huh. Plus I plan to generate more ongoing income by renting out the Light Dungeon. It¡¯s a Labyrinth with an ancient Greek theme. Players would pay an access fee to enter, then they''d get run through a tailored dungeon crawl facing monsters and other encounters appropriate to their power levels.¡± ¡°You can do that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve done it before for my friends. I control the dungeon, which means I basically own everything in it. I used to train a lot with the monsters in the labyrinth but I don¡¯t do that as much anymore, so most of them are bored most of the time and aching for a fight. Defending the dungeon is fun for them.¡± ¡°What are your costs for doing this?¡± Exactly the sort of question you''d expect a business manager to ask. I really wanted her. For the team. ¡°It costs me nothing to host a raid apart from the time to organize it. It¡¯s possible to rearrange the layout of the maze so it can be customized for each group, and each time they come back it could be a completely different challenge scaled for their advancement.¡± ¡°That sounds like a lot of work.¡± ¡°It is, but I won¡¯t be doing it. I¡¯ve got very capable monsters managing the dungeon and they¡¯ll all set to handle all that stuff.¡± ¡°You have monsters managing the dungeon? How does that work? I mean...they¡¯re monsters.¡± ¡°Alice and the others are more like NPCs than monsters. You¡¯ll understand once you meet them.¡± ¡°What happens when you run out of monsters? With all those raids won¡¯t Players end up killing them all?¡± ¡°The dungeon is set to automatically respawn the monsters who happen to get killed after a period of time, and just as important for this scheme is that their treasure respawns with them.¡± ¡°And that doesn''t cost you anything?" "That''s the beauty of it. The dungeon takes care of stocking itself. There were some special treasures that were unique and won''t respawn, but I''ve already collected all those." "Why don¡¯t you just keep going back and collecting the respawned treasure yourself?¡± ¡°Treasure doesn¡¯t drop for me anymore in the dungeons I control. It does still drop for other people, though, so they can still farm it for loot and raise their abilities through the experience. As long as people can walk away with more than what they pay me to get in, everybody¡¯s a winner.¡± I could see the gears turning in her brain as she studied the blueprints. ¡°What¡¯s the deal with the elves?¡± she said. ¡°The elves are in the Nature Dungeon, which we also control. It¡¯s not the same kind of place as the Light Dungeon¡¯s labyrinth, not what you¡¯d think of as a dungeon.¡± ¡°You were saying we get a cut of what the elves make through their trade and whatnot,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s right. We could take all of it if we wanted, but that''s not fair to the elves and not the kind of Player I want to be." "That''s...unexpected," she said. "Since coming here I''ve seen pretty much nothing but greed. And what does it matter? They''re just NPCs." "That''s not how I roll, and not the sort of game I want to play, and you''ll understand better once you get to know them." "Is the elven stuff that good?" "Their artisans are considered among the best in this world. Only the Elohim are considered better but I still have no clue who they are. And since it has been a long time since anything elven has been available the stuff they make is in high demand, and priced accordingly.¡± ¡°In other words they¡¯re raking in the dough,¡± she said. ¡°Yes they are. Boatloads. And more elves are moving back into the village all the time.¡± ¡°Meaning more artisans, more product, more moolah. So you¡¯re saying dungeons are a resource thing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I think, yes.¡± ¡°Making this place like a giant board game,¡± she said. I showed her my map of the region with the hex grid overlaid on it. ¡°No way! I didn¡¯t think it would be that literal.¡± ¡°This place was designed by aliens based on human games and isekai stories, and some things they did take quite literally.¡± ¡°Wild. So the Nature Dungeon is what, an economic hex. But the light dungeon doesn¡¯t produce anything, so you propose we make money through it by charging people to raid it.¡± ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s just ancillary to that hex¡¯s real resources.¡± ¡°Which are?¡± ¡°The monsters who live there. Immortal soldiers who just respawn back in the dungeon if they die.¡± ¡°You mean they can leave the dungeon? Move to a different hex?¡± I nodded. ¡°So it¡¯s a military hex.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°We should also take a cut of whatever loot they bring out,¡± she said. I was still getting used to the way her thoughts bounced around all over the place, but I liked that she was so smart and curious about things. ¡°Huh? Oh, you mean when we rent it out to Players. That would be up to the business manager.¡± ¡°I still haven¡¯t agreed yet.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I said, ¡°but you¡¯re saying ¡®we¡¯ so that¡¯s a good sign.¡± She allowed herself a small smile. ¡°Don¡¯t you have another dungeon, too?¡± ¡°The Void Dungeon, yes.¡± ¡°Can we rent that out?¡± she said while hunting for it on the map. I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s not really that kind of place.¡± ¡°There¡¯s always a way to monetize things,¡± she said. She traced an arc along the map that went through the three dungeons I controlled. ¡°I like that our controlled hexes are all adjacent to each other and the city. What resources does the Void Dungeon bring to the table?¡± It had taken me a while to figure out the utility of the Void Dungeon, but when I finally did I couldn''t believe it myself. ¡°You''re gonna love this,¡± I said. She leaned in and locked her big, pretty eyes on me. ¡°I¡¯m all ears.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One - Money really isnt a problem I did my best not to shrink back under Lianna¡¯s intense gaze. This was not the time to show weakness, I needed to convince her I was worth joining. I steeled myself with a fortifying sip of coffee. It actually wasn¡¯t that bad. ¡°Well, among the many ways that Void is used within the game, teleportation is one of the most important. I got special insight into this when I beat that dungeon and got another title.¡± ¡°Another what? You mean like Duke or Count or something?¡± She was going to get premature wrinkles if she kept scowling like that. ¡°Not that kind of title. Affinity dungeons have a certain way they¡¯re meant to be solved, although it¡¯s possible to find other ways to do it. That¡¯s how I got all three of our dungeons.¡± The hold-your-horses finger went up again. ¡°Still just your dungeons,¡± she said. ¡°So what are titles and how do they fit in?¡± ¡°There seems to be a hidden quest inside each of these dungeons that if you manage to complete, and you happen to have the right affinity, earns you a title. Like the Great Sage title I got from the Void Dungeon for solving it outside the box.¡± ¡°So you must have affinity with Void.¡± ¡°I do, yes.¡± ¡°But you said another title, so you must have earned one before somehow.¡± ¡°Actually I have two more. I got Great Architect from the Light Dungeon and Defender Of The Green from the Nature Dungeon.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that possible if you need the right affinity and yours is Void?¡± I would''ve said something about the wrinkles but her frown was kinda cute, and anyway she''d probably tear me a new one if I did. Even without using her power to cause fear, Lianna was also kinda scary. ¡°That should be obvious to you. You have more than one affinity, after all.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯d need to have three. Three dungeons, three affinities, right?¡± I scratched the back of my neck sheepishly. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve got more than three.¡± Her eyes narrowed into slits. ¡°How many?¡± ¡°All of them?¡± I peeped. ¡°Seriously, who the hell are you?¡± ¡°I got lucky with my abilities is all.¡± ¡°Must be nice.¡± I sighed. After this I''d need to find Jane and Sigrid and apologize. I finally understood why they got so frustrated when I would put myself down all the time. ¡±You know," I said, "being a fast learner is an incredible gift and having an eidetic memory is probably the best skill. Those are both foundational abilities that will help you grow much stronger much faster." The face she made told me she had her doubts about that. I didn''t even mention her other gift, It''s Fine, because I didn''t know exactly what it did, but the description of "Things work out" made me suspect it might be the best ability of all and was one of the big reasons I chose her. I was looking forward to showing her that what she thought was a trash Status was actually pretty awesome. I had first-hand experience with that myself. ¡°You still haven''t told me what titles do and how they relate to monetizing the Void Dungeon,¡± she said. And she was smart, asking all the right questions and keeping me focused on the important things. I had to have her. On the team, I mean. ¡°Titles come with certain benefits. They give greater influence over the dungeons and everything in them, as well granting certain new abilities. One of the rewards I got from completing the Void Dungeon was a control key for the teleportation circles that lets anyone on my team travel freely between any of them.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t anyone already do that?¡± she said. My reaction must have betrayed my incredulity at how she could possibly not already know how the circles worked because she crossed her arms defensively. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ve only heard about them. Never had the chance to actually use one.¡± ¡°You¡¯re in for a lot of fun firsts, I think. Normally you can only travel to nodes ¡ª those are what the circles are properly called ¡ª that you¡¯ve personally seen before. Every affinity dungeon has one, but you have to find where the dungeon is first. A few of them haven''t been discovered yet.¡± Lianna nodded, following my drift. ¡°So with that key thing you can even go to ones you haven¡¯t seen yet. Which means you can know where all the dungeons are without having to search for them.¡± ¡°You¡¯re quick.¡± She allowed herself a tiny smile at the compliment. ¡°You must have been to all of them, then.¡± ¡°Only a brief visit to most, just to see where they all are.¡± She opened her own map. ¡°Show me.¡± I pointed out the locations of all the other dungeons. Death Dungeon a bit North of the Void Dungeon and Earth Dungeon in the Giant¡¯s Mound to the West of the city. Shadow Dungeon in the swamp East of the elves, Darkness Dungeon in the town of Caldeon to the South of the city, and Fire Dungeon further South in the desert. And the ones I knew nobody else had been to yet, Ice Dungeon in the far North past the mountains, Water Dungeon in the sea to the West, and Air Dungeon on the floating island above the Forbidden Lake. She leaned back. ¡°You didn¡¯t even blink before telling me that. Sure that was a smart thing to do? I could probably make a lot of gold selling that information to another team.¡± ¡°Probably, but you wouldn¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I took a swig of coffee. ¡°I trust you.¡± She snorted. ¡°Why would you do that? You don¡¯t know me.¡± ¡°The first time I ever saw you, you could¡¯ve ripped off a customer by underpaying him for his cards. Instead, you told him what their real value was and made a fair offer.¡± ¡°That was at the conference. Wait, you remember me from the conference? I don''t remember seeing you, and I have a fantastic memory.¡± Oh crap. Now I totally looked like a stalker. I tapped my head. ¡°Fantastic memory too.¡± ¡°Hmmmm.¡± She gave me another one of her assessing stares. ¡°If your memory is so great, how come you missed one affinity? Or, since it happens to be the one that matches mine, perhaps you left it to last on purpose. For the drama.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t miss anything. Remember the Beastfolk and their healing potions?¡± When she was relaxed and not scowling she had a very expressive face. I took it as a good sign, and I found it a bit mesmerizing too, watching her expressions change as she took what I told her and extrapolated upon it in her sharp mind. I tried not to stare too much so I wouldn¡¯t freak her out, but she was enjoyable to look at. ¡°Healing is associated with Life,¡± she said, nodding. ¡°Of course." "Which, by the way, is one of the rarest and best affinities to have. Do you know how valuable being able to heal is?" "I''ve heard. People are always complaining about how hard healing is to come by. What a shame I didn¡¯t get healing powers to go with my rare and wonderful affinity, then. My life here would¡¯ve been a whole lot different. Every team would want me.¡± ¡°Would you believe me if I told you I had ways of helping you become a healer?¡± She leaned back in her chair and exhaled, running her fingers through her hair. ¡°It would just be one more unbelievable thing you¡¯ve said. You¡¯re not pulling some sort of prank on me, are you? Is Ashton Kutchner gonna jump out at any moment?¡± ¡°God I hope not.¡± She allowed herself another smile. ¡°You¡¯re kinda funny, you know?¡± ¡°So are you.¡± We looked at each other for a couple of long moments, then she broke the silence. ¡°So you intend to make money from the Void Dungeon by going to heretofore unknown dungeons and beating them?¡± ¡°Well, yes, I suppose that¡¯s a possibility, and I do plan to, but that¡¯s not what I meant. There was another total cheat power on the key.¡± ¡°Oh? What does it do?¡± ¡°Control anyone¡¯s access to the circles.¡± ¡°Anyone? So if someone pisses you off you can prevent them from using them to go anywhere.¡± ¡°Yes, and if I want to be capricious I can even let them use it but send them somewhere else completely. But keep going, think bigger.¡± I could see her mulling it around in her head until the proverbial lightbulb went off over it. ¡°Holy shit. You control travel. Forget Players Guild, you¡¯re the Spacing Guild.¡± ¡°Now you see it.¡± And she even made a Dune reference. She was perfect. For the team. Lianna was getting openly excited now, words pouring out at the speed of thought. ¡°Never mind blocking people who piss us off, we can block anyone who doesn¡¯t pay us to use them. Better still, we can use it as enticement to join the Players Guild by making access to teleportation travel one of the benefits of membership.¡± The scowl was completely gone, replaced by a look of excitement. I had her hooked, or so I thought. ¡°No,¡± she continued, ¡°a discount on access fees would be better, otherwise people would only join for the access. Besides, there will be some stubborn people who won¡¯t want to join the guild no matter what, and it would be too unfair to totally block their access. So we keep a graduated fee structure and non-Guild members would just need to pay more for the privilege of using our circles.¡± I handed her a glass of water. ¡°Thanks,¡± she said, then took a gulp and dove back in. ¡°We should also charge a recurring membership or even a one-time-only admission fee to join the Guild, just a nominal one because we don¡¯t want to dissuade anyone from doing it because of the expense, but having some cost does chase away the ones who aren¡¯t serious. Also, psychologically it would make members more inclined to be active if it''s something they think they¡¯ve paid for and we''ll generate more revenue from active members using our services. We can also take a little cut from the rewards they earn performing guild jobs to cover administrative costs, we don¡¯t want to run the core business at a loss, after all. Of course, there¡¯s the ancillary income from the tavern and inn so I wouldn¡¯t worry about cash flow once things are up and running.¡± ¡°This is why I want you on the team, Lianna. You''ll be the perfect Guildmaster.¡± ¡°Guildmaster now? I thought you''d be that." "I''m betting that you''ll be better. Speaking of betting, I forgot to mention something. I also have an arrangement to be the official bookie for the arena.¡± ¡°Seriously? How''d you land that gig?¡± ¡°I kind of accidentally set a precedent for settling Player disputes in arena fights and one thing led to another so now that¡¯s a thing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen the notifications. You started that?¡± ¡°Accidentally.¡± ¡°As bookie, does that mean you get to set the odds on match ups?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°And you can see people¡¯s Statuses so you know exactly what they can do, which means setting accurate odds wouldn¡¯t be a problem at all. You can make Las Vegas level coin doing that.¡± ¡°It also helps that I get to keep a 10% cut on any payouts.¡± She whistled. ¡°Okay, then. Money really isn¡¯t a problem.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡± ¡°You said you have an exclusive line on healing potions too, right?¡± she said. ¡°If we sold those through the Guild with reduced rates for members, that alone is reason to join.¡± Lianna still hadn¡¯t agreed to join the team, but neither had she stopped thinking of business opportunities. She had still been thinking about other ways to make money while we were talking about something else. This woman was very smart and she didn¡¯t seem to lack ambition. Resigning herself to a life outside the game because she thought her abilities were trash must have been a daily punch in the gut. She¡¯d gone back to studying the blueprints for the Cathedral guildhouse. ¡°This here,¡± she said, jabbing her finger onto them. ¡°Basic use of the training facilities should come with membership but we could charge extra for specialized training.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great idea. And on that note, there¡¯s a good chance we can get the go ahead to use the arena as another training facility. It has some special properties nobody knows about yet, for which we can easily charge a hefty premium.¡± ¡°Nice. That¡¯s a perk of being the arena¡¯s bookie, I suppose. We could also buy and sell equipment and materials, which could end up being quite lucrative as well.¡± ¡°We could, but we need to be careful we don¡¯t step on the toes of the city¡¯s crafting guilds. We can''t monopolize everything, the NPCs need to make a decent living too.¡± She leaned back and an intense look came over her face. I could tell I was being evaluated again, or perhaps reevaluated was more accurate. ¡°So what¡¯s the catch?¡± she said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You¡¯re offering the opportunity to get a lot of power and wealth by joining you, not to mention go on the adventure of a lifetime. You have exactly one spot to fill on the team and every Player around would probably do anything to get it. But you¡¯re offering it to me. So, what¡¯s the catch?¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t one. I''m not interested in finding a subordinate, I''m looking for a partner. I do hope you¡¯ll follow my lead, though, at least in the beginning.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really it?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯ll have to learn a few martial arts.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two - Reference checks I expected Lianna to complain about the outrageous request to train in six different martial arts in order to learn a seventh in toron-do, but instead her eyes lit up. ¡°I can do that?¡± she said, probably more loudly than she¡¯d intended because she immediately snapped her mouth shut with a clack of her teeth and shrank back, her eyes darting around to see if she¡¯d attracted any attention. The restaurant was mostly deserted, fortunately. ¡°I thought I¡¯d never be able to participate in the game at all because I didn¡¯t have any fighting abilities,¡± she added more quietly. ¡°Of course you can,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t have powers to use in a fight, though,¡± she said. ¡°Could I still be effective?¡± ¡°Plenty. Fighting skills are the core of combat and you don¡¯t technically need anything more. Sure, there are some powers that are purely attack or defense based, but most people fight with skills that are sometimes augmented by other abilities like gifts, powers, and hidden stats, as well as items. Your ability to cause fear in other people definitely counts as a power that could augment your combat efficacy.¡± ¡°How long does it take to learn a martial art skill?¡± ¡°That depends. You can learn any skill you want if you work at it, and with your fast learner gift I suspect it won¡¯t take too long to become good enough to hold your own in a tussle.¡± ¡°Is it possible to get new powers?¡± ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s not that common and you can¡¯t learn them the same way as skills. New powers will usually be as a reward for finishing a quest, but I¡¯ve also seen drop items like scrolls that bestow a power.¡± I could see the gears working again. ¡°Do you have many skills?¡± ¡°Most people would say I have more than the average number.¡± ¡°Could you teach me some?¡± ¡°I actually have the Teacher skill, so I¡¯m the best person to learn from.¡± ¡°What sorts of things could you teach me?¡± How should I answer that? ¡°I promise that as long as it¡¯s a skill on this planet, I can find a way to teach you anything you want to learn, from combat to cooking.¡± ¡°A strange boast but somehow I believe you meant it. What about powers? Have you learned many of those?¡± ¡°A few,¡± I said, my eyes looking away. I¡¯d come there thinking I¡¯d be completely transparent with her, but I decided at the last minute to hold some things back, at least until she¡¯d agreed to join the team. ¡°And gifts?¡± ¡°Same as powers, only they¡¯re even more rare.¡± ¡°Hmmm. You also mentioned hidden stats before, what are those?¡± ¡°There are game mechanics at work beyond what you can see in your Status. Just about every role playing game in existence has some kind of way to measure things like strength, speed, toughness¡ª¡± ¡°Agility, and so on,¡± Lianna said, balling her hand into a fist and shaking it back and forth. ¡°Yeah, of course. How else will you know what die roll you need?¡± Her hand opened, miming throwing dice onto the counter between us. I have this terrible habit of trying to finish people¡¯s sentences for them by guessing their next words. I know I shouldn¡¯t and even as I¡¯m doing it I¡¯m inwardly telling myself to stop it and just let them finish, you jerk. I don¡¯t know why I keep doing it, but I do. People probably think I do it because I¡¯m impatient and rude, and they¡¯re probably right. But I don¡¯t think that was the case when Lianna cut me off, more likely she was telling me she didn¡¯t need any condescending mansplaining, you jerk. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said out of habit. ¡°Point is, you can¡¯t see them, but they¡¯re there. And like anything else, the more you use them the better they get, and they can make a big difference in combat.¡± She planted her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. ¡°What¡¯s your endgame in all this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked, because it¡¯s important for you to know. It¡¯s simple. I want to make everyone stronger.¡± She blinked in surprise. ¡°That¡¯s not the answer I was expecting.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the truth. This game has been set up to make us compete with each other, as individuals and as teams. But you know better than anyone the game was rigged from the start. Nothing about this game is fair so I want to give everyone the opportunity to play and have the chance to win.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to win yourself?¡± ¡°Sure I do, but my goal is to create a way for everyone to win. That¡¯s the game that I made up for myself, and right now I¡¯m the only one playing it.¡± ¡°Making everyone strong,¡± she said, and I nodded. ¡°Won¡¯t I be playing that game too if I join you?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be nice to have someone to play with.¡± ¡°But...can you really just change the rules like that?¡± ¡°Show me the rule that says I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°I wish I could but I don¡¯t even know what the stupid rules are.¡± Then her mouth went wide and she blinked at me. ¡°Are you saying you know the rules?¡± ¡°No, believe it or not there are rules against us knowing the rules. But I do know one thing: nothing I¡¯ve done so far has broken any rules because System would never allow that to happen. So I¡¯m just going to keep playing my way.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± she said, and leaned back to digest things again. ¡±So this Guild really isn¡¯t about power and wealth.¡± ¡°I already have more than enough to live very comfortably, but that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t want to grow. I want more dungeons. I want more influence. But not for the sake of being rich or powerful. I have zero interest in becoming an Elon Musk, quite the opposite.¡± She grimaced and stuck out her tongue. ¡°That¡¯s good news. I¡¯m a card carrying capitalist girl, but fuckety fuck there¡¯s a limit to everything. Going full-on robber baron would¡¯ve been a deal breaker right there.¡± ¡°I do want our enterprises to generate lots of income, but only so that we can reinvest it into more ways to help everyone thrive and live well and win at the game. Even the NPCs.¡± She looked around like she was about to share a secret and wanted to make sure nobody would overhear. ¡°So it¡¯s not just me them,¡± she whispered. ¡°You think there¡¯s something up with the NPCs here too. I mean, I work for Jan and Rudy and they¡¯re the most human people I know, which is crazy because they¡¯re NPCs. Their AI is off the chart.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what the deal is with NPCs either, but they¡¯re real enough that I try not to treat them any differently than real people. Besides, on a more practical level, we share this world with them and our own prosperity is intrinsically linked to theirs.¡± ¡°Everybody wins. That¡¯s a pretty good endgame,¡± she said. ¡°But what makes you think everyone can win? That¡¯s the thing with games, where there are winners there are always losers, too.¡± I gave her a sly grin. ¡°Only if it¡¯s a competitive game.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that¡¯s what this is?¡± ¡°Maybe it doesn¡¯t have to be.¡± ¡°You want to turn this into a cooperative game, is that it?¡± She put her hand on her chin and tapped her lip with a fingertip. ¡°I can see how this Players Guild could go a long way towards that.¡± ¡°See? You get it. Does that mean you¡¯ll do it with me, then?¡± ¡°I have to say, it beats waitressing. Can I think about it?¡± ¡°Sure, but not for too long. I need to fill the space on my team by tomorrow morning.¡± I decided not to add that I didn¡¯t have a backup choice.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°As much as it should, this doesn¡¯t feel like an act of desperation or even sympathy on your part.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°You really do want me to join you.¡± ¡°I really do.¡± ¡°Let me think about it.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I pulled something out of my inventory. ¡°Holy shit, how¡¯d you do that?¡± she said when it suddenly appeared in my hand. ¡°There¡¯s a lot I have yet to tell you, but only if you agree to join me. Here, take it.¡± Her eyes narrowed with open suspicion again as I placed a thin circle of mithril studded with gemstones onto the table. ¡°You¡¯re giving me a bracelet?¡± ¡°No. Well, yeah. But it¡¯s not meant to be decorative.¡± ¡°Good, because while it appears to be very well made, all those different colored gems in it are just gaudy. Sorry, that was a bit mean. You picked it out, I suppose.¡± ¡°Not exactly.¡± As someone who¡¯d grown up with cellphones, I was constantly annoyed by how hard it was to get in touch with anyone on Crucible. I had decided to fix that, and that was something else I¡¯d been working away on since I beat the Void Dungeon. It was the teleportation network that had given me the idea. I¡¯d taken ten different gemstones and enchanted each one with a synthesis of telepathy, heightened senses, illusion, and that ever-so-useful eidetic memory, along with a generous dose of Void packed into a formation Annabelle helped me develop by applying Fifth Dimensional Physics to Magical Theory. Then I had an elvish artisan cut nine small fragments from each gem, leaving one larger piece of each intact. Another craftsman fabricated ten bracelets designed to hold nine small fragments and one large one. Voila, wrist phones connecting ten people with one another.
Dick Tracy Communicator It only looks like jewelry. It is one of ten similar bracelets, each one able to communicate with the wearers of all the others. Powers: Ansible - Communicate with other nodes in the Ansible Communication Network
If you touched a gem fragment on the one you were wearing, it opened a call to the bracelet of its matching larger gem. I¡¯d kept the opal one and had given the rest to strategic individuals: Sigrid (sapphire), Jane (diamond), Nina (ruby), and Morgan (emerald), as well as Petal (jade), Alice (topaz), and the sisters (Annabelle had snatched it to wear because its amethyst matched her hair, and also because she said she wouldn¡¯t entrust Akari with it). That left two more I hadn¡¯t given out, including the moonstone one I¡¯d just pulled out of my inventory. I showed Lianna the one on my own wrist, which was similar except for the decorative embellishments on the bracelet, and explained how they worked. ¡°And there are ten of these? Where did you even find them? They must¡¯ve cost a fortune.¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°So I just touch the opal here to talk to you? What about these other stones?¡± ¡°My friends have those. Feel free to call them and ask if I¡¯m legit. You know, if you feel the need to check references.¡± ¡°Which one calls the girl you were here on a date with before?¡± ¡°Morgan? It wasn¡¯t a...never mind. She¡¯s the emerald.¡± Lianna put on the bracelet and touched the emerald. Morgan¡¯s image appeared floating in the air in front of us. ¡°Hello?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Oh. You¡¯re that waitress. Sorry, I forgot your name. Hi, how can I help you?¡± ¡°Hi,¡± Lianna said. ¡°So this guy Daniel, is he for real?¡± The image of Morgan rolled its eyes. ¡°What did he do now?¡± ¡°Hey!¡± I said. ¡°You go over there and drink your coffee,¡± Lianna said, and turned her back to me. I saw Morgan grin. I took my drink and went over to a table by the window, trying not to listen in on their conversation. Every so often I glanced over and saw that after Lianna had finished talking to Morgan she contacted Sigrid, then Nina, then Petal, then Jane. Oh god no, not Jane. What would she say about me? Finally, I heard Lianna approach the table and sit down opposite me, her hand toying with the communicator on her other wrist. ¡°Well?¡± ¡°You sure do know a lot of beautiful women,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah, so I¡¯ve been told.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know any men? Hell, even your NPC pal¡¯s a babe.¡± ¡°You could tell she was an NPC?¡± Lianna flashed me a smile. ¡°The pointy ears were a dead giveaway.¡± I laughed. ¡°You didn¡¯t call Alice. She¡¯s an NPC too, from the labyrinth.¡± ¡°She must be the one you have managing the dungeon. Is she hot too?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a shapeshifter.¡± ¡°Which means she can be as hot as she wants so I¡¯ll take that as a yes.¡± ¡°Look, if you¡¯re worried about not fitting in, don¡¯t. You¡¯re very attractive too.¡± ¡°I know,¡± she said bluntly, then pondered me for a moment. ¡°You really aren¡¯t doing this to hit on me, are you?¡± ¡°Is that what you¡¯re still worried about?¡± ¡°If an offer seems too good to be true...¡± I was starting to wonder what kind of trauma Lianna had suffered to make her so wary of a man¡¯s intentions. ¡°I get it,¡± I said. ¡°No, this isn¡¯t me hitting on you. You¡¯d know if that¡¯s what it was, I¡¯d be a whole lot more awkward about it. I just think you¡¯re the right person for the job. Plus, as we¡¯ve been talking, I¡¯ve realized you¡¯re pretty cool and think we could be friends. I¡¯d like that.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Still need time to think?¡± She leveled that appraising gaze at me again. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Does this mean you¡¯ve decided to trust me, or are you turning me down?¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t quite get you or your motivations, but like it or not I¡¯m stuck here in this place and I¡¯d be crazy to pass up this opportunity. I¡¯ve been wanting to play this game properly since I got here and now I finally have the chance. Let¡¯s do this.¡± I grinned and raised my coffee cup in a toast. ¡°System, you know what to do.¡± System: Player Lianna Drake added to Team Player ¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Lianna said. ¡°That¡¯s it. Welcome to Team Player, Vice-Captain.¡± ¡°Vice-Captain, eh?¡± She laughed. ¡°That would be a lot more impressive if there wasn¡¯t just the two of us.¡± ¡°More is not always better,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re an odd one, Captain.¡± ¡°So I¡¯ve been told.¡± I drained my coffee. ¡°Okay, I hate to recruit and run, but there¡¯s some other stuff I need to do before the quest meeting.¡± ¡°What, you¡¯re going?¡± ¡°I have a lot to do. Where are you living?¡± ¡°I, uh, rent a place? Why?¡± Still with the suspicious eyes. I guess trust really did need to be earned. ¡°From now on you can stay at the Dragon Clan for free until we finish renovating the Cathedral. You don¡¯t have to, that¡¯s up to you, but I hope you do. It¡¯d be convenient because your first mission is to learn kung fu and that¡¯s the place to do it.¡° ¡°You mean you won¡¯t be teaching me to fight?¡± ¡°I will eventually, but I want to see just how quickly you can learn things and I know how long it takes people to learn kung fu from the dojo¡¯s Sifu so I have a benchmark to compare with.¡± ¡°Logical.¡± ¡°Plus, all those other Players you just talked to live there in the dojo too so you won¡¯t be alone and I know they¡¯ll take care of you. Now, wait one sec. Be right back.¡± I opened the portal to my inventory and stepped inside it. I rummaged around to get what I needed and came back out with a small chest and two scrolls. Her mouth hung open as she gawked at me. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean what?¡± I felt my forehead furrow as I gawked back at her trying to figure out what the problem was. Oh right. From her perspective it must¡¯ve looked like I came out a split second after I went in. Heh. ¡°Neat trick, huh?¡± ¡°I mean it, who are you?¡± ¡°No one of consequence.¡± I thunked the chest down onto the table. ¡°What¡¯s in that?¡± she said. ¡°It seems heavy.¡± ¡°Consider it your signing bonus. There¡¯s probably around five hundred gold in there, I¡¯m not really sure. I didn¡¯t take the time to count it and just kinda dumped it in. So quit your job here right now and go shopping. If you need more gold, tap the opal and let me know. You¡¯re now entitled to an equal share of Team Player¡¯s considerable assets.¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± ¡°Almost always.¡± She looked at the scrolls. ¡°What are these?¡± ¡°Those are a gift from me.¡± She opened one. ¡°Wait, what? Does this mean I¡¯ll get affinity with Void forever?¡± ¡°Well, you do now control the Void dungeon with me so it¡¯d be nice if you were actually able to go into it. Just, don¡¯t go without me.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Trust me, I need to ease you into that. The other scroll¡¯s a skill that should come in handy when you go spend your pile of cash so learn it right away.¡± She opened the second scroll and laughed. ¡°There¡¯s a shopping skill? Seriously?¡± ¡°It¡¯s one I don¡¯t have. Let me know how it works, I may want to learn it too.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the Teacher skill to teach you though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a problem.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you is traditional.¡± ¡°Thank you, Daniel. Really.¡± ¡°Thank you too for joining me. We¡¯re going to do great things. Now, sorry but I gotta go. I have a lot to do and little time to do it. And you have a job to quit, a dojo to join, and shopping to do.¡± I waved my Dick Tracy Communicator. ¡°Call me if you need me.¡± I opened up a portal and stepped through, leaving Lianna with a confused but happy look on her face, and a chest full of gold. Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three - New recruits Nobody ever said I was smart. Okay, well, actually some people have said I am pretty smart, but they¡¯re wrong; I¡¯m just a fast learner and they mistake that for actual intelligence. Would a smart person do so many dumb things? Things like, oh, say, spending weeks inside my inventory while only one day passed in the outside world, which is, you know, flying in the face of the whole ¡°if you spend too long in there with wonky time your body¡¯s gonna get all messed up and you might go bonkers or worse¡± warning. After meeting with Lianna, I stepped out of the portal directly into my treehouse in the elven village and immediately sought out my favorite artisans. A few days ago I had requested of them to make some special items, then as soon as the quest had been announced I put a rush order on the job and now it was time for me to go collect. I had a lot of enchanting to do, and only a little over a day to get it all done. I wanted to finish everything in time for the quest, and all I knew about when it would start was that it would be sometime after the recruitment deadline. My goal was to complete everything before then, just in case it started right away. Luckily, elves only spend a few hours each day meditating to refresh themselves instead of sleeping, so they were fine with my request for a rush job on the items. I, on the other hand, was a mere human and I did need sleep, but I really wanted to finish the new magic items before the quest. So I risked the potential side effects of screwing with time and, after one good night¡¯s rest, spent the time I needed inside my inventory working constantly between brief catnaps and quick forays into the real world to get supplies, while only about a day passed outside. I guess I got lucky, because I came out no crazier than I was when I went in. At least I think I did. I spent all the rest of my Reward Points on mana potions, and quite a bit of gold too, and begged a bunch more from Morgan, but I think it was all worth it in the end. When I go into my Fortress of Solitude, I always come out at the same place I was when I entered it. This time, I¡¯d been in my room at the dojo, so that¡¯s where I appeared. I¡¯m not big on swearing, I think it¡¯s lazy. I think there¡¯s almost always a better way to express yourself. But on this occasion, there wasn¡¯t: I felt like complete dogshit. I felt even worse than last time I used the inventory to mess with time, probably because this timer I spent so much longer in there. I might have come out with my sanity more or less intact, but my body definitely wasn¡¯t happy about it. The good news was it was nothing that a nice bath, a good meal, a shave and a haircut, and a few uses of various healing and buffing powers couldn¡¯t fix to get me back to normal. Once I¡¯d cleaned away the miasma of much accumulated unwashed ick and visited the dojo¡¯s resident barber, I went to scrounge up that good meal. I found Lianna eating with Jane and Sigrid. After I¡¯d left her about 36 hours earlier (or nearly two months from my perspective) she¡¯d immediately quit her job and taken me up on the offer of moving into the dojo. There she¡¯d been greeted by Sigrid and Jane and they¡¯d all become fast friends. She¡¯d also taken my instruction to go shopping very seriously and spent every last coin I¡¯d given her. As part of that she¡¯d treated herself to a suit of armor and was keen to show it off, so after we were done eating Jane, Sigrid, and I waited in the courtyard while Lianna ducked into her room to put it on. There we found Morgan and Arthur crouched around the zen garden with the four new recruits to Team Maple Leaf. This was the first time I got a look at who they chose as Maple Leaf newbies. Two of the four were people Sigrid and I had invited to the open house. One was a guy who I¡¯d singled out to Stratos from a board game table at the convention. He was the silent type, but a solid player who treated every game like a chess match. You could tell his mind was always working, thinking several moves ahead. I had a feeling he¡¯d be chosen. Thanks to the game¡¯s wonky power titles and descriptions it would be easy to overlook him because of how his powers were named, but dig a bit deeper and the diamond in the rough was revealed.
Martin Woods Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Earth - Competent
Gifts: Hard Like Rock - Remarkable vitality
Powers: Diggin¡¯ A Hole Where The Rain Gets In - Competent: Move earth I Find Your Lack Of Juice Disturbing - Novice: Give energy I Feel Weak, Oh Nevermind - Competent: Rapid energy recovery
Skills: Crossbow - Competent Sculpture - Adept
The game doesn¡¯t always use the same words for things. For example, it uses the words dexterity and agility interchangeably. I¡¯d noticed it does the same with mana and energy, and health is the same as vitality and life energy. It would be easy to miss the fact that Martin was able to buff by giving mana to other people and recover his own mana quickly, a very useful power combination for any team. As for his other power, with a little creativity the ability to move earth had a vast amount of potential as a supportive, defensive, or even offensive ability. It was possible to create these effects with enough mastery of Affinity Control in Earth, but the degree of control afforded by the power made it vastly superior. Specialized affinity-related powers like this also used far less mana than what it¡¯d cost to accomplish the same thing through Affinity Control. His skills were lacking, but skills could be learned.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The other Player I¡¯d picked out was in a similar boat, with easily overlooked powers that could be great if used properly. He was an older guy, and by that I mean middle aged, who¡¯d been one of the dungeon masters at a D&D table.
Adam Kipling Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Ice - Competent
Gifts: Open Your Mind - Enhanced sensory acuity
Powers: Don¡¯t Go Getting Cold Feet - Competent: Freeze the ground They Like Me, They Really Really Like Me - Competent: Attract objects Do I Stink? - Competent: Repel objects
Skills: Knife - Competent Multi-tasking - Competent
At first glance, nothing too special, but Adam was made for crowd control. The frozen ground power, another of those specialized affinity-related abilities, was basically a grease spell making it slippery under people¡¯s feet, and could potentially also be an immobilization spell if used to lock someone¡¯s feet in ice and prevent them from moving. Like Martin¡¯s Digging A Hole power, it was possible to do the same with Ice Affinity Control ¡ª I¡¯d done it myself ¡ª but not nearly as well. His other two powers could pull or push objects, which sounds only kind of handy, like a mono-directional telekinesis, until you remember that people are objects too, then it becomes amazing. When used in combination, Michael could pretty much slide people around or freeze them in place at will. Potent crowd control. I was also keenly interested in that multi-tasking skill. The third new recruit was a woman in her 40¡¯s I remembered as tabletop RPG player. She¡¯d been dressed in full-on gothic lolita at the convention: jet black hair, black dress with a built-in corset that bloomed from the waist down with lots of frills and lace, as well as petticoats, knee socks, severe makeup, the whole shebang. As the name implies, gothic lolita was a youthful look. You didn¡¯t usually see anyone past their early 20¡¯s choosing to sport that particular aesthetic, and I¡¯d found it impressive the way she¡¯d pulled it off with a confident elegance. I don¡¯t know how she¡¯d managed to cobble together Victorian-style emo clothes and armor here to match the look, but somehow she had. Then again, given her skills she¡¯d probably made them herself. I was glad she was chosen. She was actually one of the people I¡¯d followed around in disguise so I could see her use her powers. They were pretty good abilities to have on hand.
Amy Tran Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Darkness - Competent
Gifts: Who Needs Light? - See in the dark
Powers: Got To Make The Morning Last - Competent: Force someone to slow down It¡¯s Better If You Don¡¯t See This - Competent: Create an area of pure darkness
Skills: Armorer - Adept Knife - Competent Music - Competent Tailoring - Adept
Her power to create an area of darkness was like blinding everyone inside it unless they could see in the dark, which she could. It was a great debuff on your opponents, although it also meant that your teammates couldn¡¯t see inside it either. The even better debuff was her other power, the ability to slow people down. You know that dream where you need to run but your feet feel encased in cement boots and you just can¡¯t move fast enough? Imagine trying to fight when your whole body feels that way. Shame her power only worked on one person at a time. My custom version let me choose multiple targets within range. Having Amy on board with her Darkness also completed the whole set of affinities for Team Maple Leaf. Now the team had all twelve represented in people other than Jane. Gotta catch ¡®em all. The last newbie covered the area effect needs of the team, a guy I recognized as a very capable video gamer.
Manuel Garcia Team Maple Leaf
Affinity: Water - Competent
Gifts: I Don¡¯t See The Problem - Immunity to toxins Breathing¡¯s For Suckers - Hold breath for a long time
Powers: Fog Of War - Competent: Fill an area with dense fog My Lungs, They Burn - Competent: Add a poison effect to Fog Of War Ouch, It Burns - Competent: Project acid
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Fitness - Competent Swimming - Competent
It wasn¡¯t the area effect power I¡¯d been expecting, but a poisonous cloud would do the trick as an attack and crowd control. Like Amy¡¯s ability to see in the dark, Manuel¡¯s poison immunity meant he could function just fine inside his own poison cloud. Being able to fire acid bullets or spit acid or however that power specifically worked added even more to his usefulness, and gave him a fighting chance against someone with the Air affinity who could clear away his poison cloud as easily as blowing out candles on a cake. I¡¯d say Morgan did very well filling up the team¡¯s ranks. She¡¯d managed to fill the vacancy in damage dealing Andy had left while also beefing up the team¡¯s crowd control and buffing aspects. Apparently that Celeste woman who¡¯d appeared at the last minute when the team was first formed also showed up to be interviewed. Although she had amazing powers and dual affinity with Water and Air, Sigrid used her veto once again. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what about her was triggering Sigrid¡¯s danger sense. Jane, Sigrid, and I left the strategists to their devices and found a bench to sit on while we waited for my one and only teammate to rejoin us. ¡°What do you guys think of Lianna?¡± I asked them. ¡°She¡¯s great,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Smart as a whip, and very personable, if a bit blunt.¡± ¡°Yeah, I like her too,¡± Jane said. ¡°She¡¯s very pretty, though.¡± ¡°Is that a bad thing?¡± I said. ¡°I suppose that depends,¡± Jane said, nibbling her lower lip. ¡°But it¡¯s certainly on brand for you. There¡¯s one thing I don¡¯t get, though.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Why her?¡° Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Four - Sigrid beats up the new girl ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong,¡± Jane said, ¡°I think Lianna¡¯s fantastic, but how will she help you? She doesn¡¯t seem to have done much since coming here besides waitress. I don¡¯t even think she knows how to fight.¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°So why her then?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve honestly been wondering the same thing,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Is it because she¡¯s cute?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need a fighter, at least not that kind. I need a Chief Operations Officer.¡± ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Jane said. Sigrid tapped the side of her head, a signal we¡¯d arranged a while back to tell me she wanted to talk telepathically. Me: What¡¯s up? Sigrid: Chief what? Me: To manage the Players Guild. ¡°Ohhhhh,¡± Sigrid said out loud. ¡°Ohhh what?¡± Jane said, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Sigrid, then rolling. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, another one of your little secrets.¡± ¡°No,¡± Sigrid lied. ¡°I just remembered something. Daniel, did you notice anything different about Lianna this morning? And I don¡¯t mean her expensive new clothes.¡± ¡°You mean her hair?¡± I said. ¡°Wow, you did notice,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m impressed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not completely oblivious,¡± I said. "She did hack most of it off, after all. The bob suits her." ¡°You should say something,¡± Sigrid said. I frowned. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Jane said. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s totally not the sort of question an oblivious person asks.¡± ¡°Girls like it when you notice things like that,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I know that. And I was going to say something earlier but I didn¡¯t want her to think I was hitting on her.¡± ¡°Why would she think that?¡± Jane said. ¡°You¡¯re just being nice.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just say that Lianna isn¡¯t very trusting of men¡¯s motives for being nice.¡± ¡°What did you do?¡± Sigrid said, brow furrowed. ¡°Nothing! I was just...nice.¡± ¡°I bet you were. Well, say it anyway.¡± Lianna waddled out into the courtyard in her snazzy new set of full plate armor, carrying the oversized tin can helmet under one arm and grinning widely. She really did look cute. Not many girls can hold their own in the looks department next to Jane and Sigrid, but Lianna had that girl-next-door charm that wasn¡¯t the least bit out of place sandwiched between them, like Betty to the other two¡¯s Veronica. Only with Nancy Drew¡¯s innate mistrust and Veronica Mars¡¯ snark. In a suit of armor. ¡°Ilikeyourhair,¡± I said. ¡°Really?¡± Lianna said, looking pleased. Then her expression darkened. ¡°You¡¯re not hitting on me, are you?¡± Jane laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe she just blurted that out.¡± ¡°Yeah, no. I guess you¡¯re not,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Well, thanks. A friend of mine who also didn¡¯t get onto a team opened up a sort of makeshift salon, so I¡¯m glad you approve of me spending your money on her services.¡± ¡°We will be discussing this salon later,¡± Jane said, running her fingers through her thick, red hair and grimacing. "Whatever she charges, I''ll pay it." Lianna grinned. ¡°Sure, but what about the armor? Pretty swank, huh?¡± She did a little spin to show it off, almost losing her balance but recovering with some semblance of grace. It was good armor with a little magical enhancement to its durability, and I had to admit she looked pretty awesome in it. The beauty of enchanted armor is that it changes size and shape to fit the wearer, and it fit her very well. Shame it was a complete waste of money. It likely cost her most of the gold I gave her, too. ¡°It¡¯s very nice,¡± I said. ¡°Now go take it off.¡± ¡°Such a smooth talker,¡± Jane said. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re such a hit with the ladies.¡± ¡°Take it off? Why?¡± Lianna said, pouting. ¡°Is it bad?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s good armor, but it¡¯s completely not right for you. I have something that will work much better.¡± ¡°Ooooh, is it time for presents?¡± Jane said, clapping her hands like a seal in a zoo who¡¯d just seen its handler come in with a bucket of fish. ¡°What makes you think you¡¯re getting one?¡± I said. ¡°Because I¡¯m your favorite.¡± ¡°Nice try,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I think we know who his favorite is.¡± She made all of her special set items appear at once in a series of rapid thwups, thwips, thwaps, and thwops. ¡°What the hell?¡± Lianna said. ¡°How did you do that?¡± Sigrid smiled, then made her armor crackle with electricity. She even used her Air affinity to create a tiny breeze to make her wavy blonde hair billow heroically. ¡°I don¡¯t play favorites,¡± I said. ¡°But yes, Jane, I do have something for you too.¡± ¡°Wahoo! Gimme gimme.¡± ¡°Wait your turn.¡± Lianna drooped like a neglected houseplant, still gaping at Sigrid and her sparkling armor. ¡°All of a sudden my armor does seem rather lacking.¡± She started unbuckling some straps as Sigrid made her gear set vanish again. ¡°Actually, Lianna, don¡¯t take it off yet,¡± I said. ¡°Sigrid, could you please take take out your sword?¡± Thwup. The sword appeared on her hip in its scabbard and she drew it. Having grown up watching movies I was used to that distinctive sound you always hear swords make when sliding from their sheaths. Even after so much time on Crucible, it still bothered me how quiet it really was to draw a sword. Funny how the realism actually made it feel less real. ¡°Okay, now what?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Take a swing at Lianna,¡± I said. Lianna blinked and gave me the death glare. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I want her to hit you, but not too hard,¡± I said. ¡°Just enough to feel the impact.¡± ¡°I¡¯m starting to think it was a mistake joining you,¡± Lianna said. ¡°No hitting at all. Period.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Trust me,¡± I said. She regarded me with wary narrow eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said, ¡°I can always heal you if Sigrid goes a little overboard.¡± Her attention flicked like a fly against a lightbulb. She was still wary, but for a whole different set of reasons. ¡°You have healing powers too? For real?¡± ¡°Oh sweetheart,¡± Jane said, ¡°you have a lot to catch up on.¡± She slung her arm around my shoulders. ¡°Has this guy shown you his Status yet?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°It¡¯s only fair. You know he can see yours any time he wants, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Go on,¡± Jane said, tightening her grip and pulling me down into a headlock. I offered no resistance. ¡°Give her a peek.¡± Arthur, Morgan, and the others had finished what they were doing and had come over to join us. ¡°Whatever it is, I want a peek too,¡± Morgan said. ¡°What¡¯s he giving us a peek of? Is it lewd?¡± ¡°Daniel¡¯s showing off his Status again,¡± Jane said. ¡°Ugh,¡± Morgan groaned, ¡°I¡¯m still recovering from when I spied on it the other day. I was hoping it was something else.¡± Revealing my Status to build trust was one thing back at the start, but showing it to more people at this point would only make things awkward and change how they looked at me. I''d prefer not. ¡°Do you want presents or what?¡± I said, hoping to sideline this train of thought before I was coerced into showing them. ¡°Oh, he¡¯s doing the Santa thing again,¡± Morgan said, perking up a bit. ¡°Fine,¡± Jane said, letting go of the headlock. ¡°I do want presents. But I want to be there when you show Lianna your Status.¡± ¡°Sigrid, please take a whack at Jane too,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯m not wearing any armor!¡± Jane squealed, covering herself with her arms as though she¡¯d just been caught naked coming out of the shower. ¡°Exactly,¡± I said. Sigrid ignored both me and Jane and stood in front of Lianna, sword gripped in both hands. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°Would it make any difference if I said no?¡± Lianna said. Sigrid considered it for a moment. ¡°No.¡± Then she gave Lianna a weak bonk with her sword, putting maybe a tenth of her strength into it, which given it was Sigrid was still a pretty decent wallop against any normal person. Lianna took the hit with a wince and a groan, the armor blocking most of the impact. Having zero combat experience, inadequate physical strength, and no familiarity with the armor that bogged her down and threw off her center of balance, Lianna teetered for a bit with her arms flailing in a vain but amusing attempt to retain her balance, then fell like the proverbial stone. Even with the armor and Sigrid holding back she¡¯d lost a good chunk of her health, more than I¡¯d expected. Lianna was a lot weaker than I¡¯d thought. Then again, when it came to the combat part of the game she was the same as when she just got here. Basically a normal human. We¡¯ll fix that soon enough. ¡°Ow,¡± Lianna said, struggling on her back on the ground like an inverted turtle. ¡°Trust me, he says.¡± I went over and helped her stand up, sneaking in a quick heal as she grabbed the hand I offered. ¡°I¡¯d say thanks,¡± she said, ¡°but this was your fault in the first place.¡± ¡°It proved my point, though, didn¡¯t it?¡± I said, starting to help her take off the armor. ¡°I suppose. Maybe this armor wasn¡¯t the best idea. But I need some protection, don¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Oh, you definitely do.¡± "Jane," Morgan said as Lianna and I struggled with her armor. "The way you were talking before about Daniel''s Status. It almost sounded like you''ve seen it recently yourself." "Did it?" Jane said innocently, putting her acting skill to good use. "What will you do with that armor? Arthur said. "It looks expensive." "It was," Lianna lamented. "I''d give it to one of your new recruits," I said, kneeling and working on Lianna''s greaves, "but it doesn''t fit with their abilities. We''ll donate it to a Player who could use it. Someone who didn''t get onto a team." "You''re weird," Morgan said, but she was smiling when she said it. "What? It might help spur them to be more active and get stronger for the next recruitment drive." "You think there''ll be one?" Morgan said. "I wouldn''t be surprised if they open teams up completely next time. Let people join and leave without restrictions." "When?" Sigrid said. ¡±That¡¯s anyone¡¯s guess.¡± Once the armor was all removed and its pieces sitting in a neat pile on the stone floor of the courtyard a ring appeared in my hand. ¡°Here, put this on,¡± I said, holding it out for Lianna. ¡°First a bracelet, now a ring. You expect me to trust someone who goes around giving girls jewelry all the time?¡± Lianna said, but she still took it and examined it closely. "She makes a good point," Jane said. ¡°Hmmm, it is nice, though," Lianna said. "Mithril. Good quality transparent moonstone with nice blue adularescense, I''d say two carats or so with perfect symmetry in the square cushion cut, and nicely set. Elven made." She looked up at me. "Not exactly sure how I know all that. I mean, my uncle¡¯s a jeweller and I worked a lot in his shop so I know a fair bit about this stuff, but it¡¯s not like we had any mithril or elven craftsmen back home.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how skills work here,¡± I said. ¡°Your Appraisal skill is loosely based on your real world experience, but has a lot of stuff added to it that you never knew before.¡± ¡°Neat. So what¡¯s this thing do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s your new armor,¡± I said. ¡°Check its Status.¡±
Holtzmann Shield Ring All the armor you¡¯ll ever need. Powers: Adequate Storage Space - Extra-dimensional inventory; Life affinity required Danger, Will Robinson - Automatically detect potential threats; Life affinity required Holtzman Effect - Create a protective energy field around the wearer¡¯s body; Life Affinity required
¡°Seriously?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Is this some kind of trick?¡± I held out my hand to show her that I was wearing an identical ring, only mine had a black oval-cut onyx stone embedded in it. I didn¡¯t technically need the ring because I had the Holtzman Effect power innately, but you never know. The redundant inventory storage I really didn''t need, so mine had Affinity Defence incorporated into it instead, allowing me to add an extra layer of elemental protection using any of the twelve affinities without using any of my personal mana supply. The affinity restrictions were there to make it possible to cram these significant abilities into the item, but they also served as a pretty effective lock, too. Our affinity with Life was so rare that if anybody else did manage to get their hands on one of the rings there was little chance they¡¯d be able to use it; as far as I knew, all of the Players with Life affinity were either on Team Maple Leaf or Team Player. "Lemme see," Lianna said and grabbed my hand, bringing it up closer to her eyes. "You don''t often see onyx with faceted cuts like this, but that''s lovely. Look at that sheen.¡± System: You know Appraisal ¡°You know,¡± Lianna added, ¡°people used to think that onyx would lower your sex drive." "It must be working," Jane said at the same time Morgan said, "Oh dear," and Sigrid said, "That explains a lot." The three of them looked back and forth at each other then they all started laughing. I looked at Lianna with the intention to glare at her, but then I saw the mischevious little smile on her face. "Did you get the reaction you wanted from that?" I whispered. "Better than I expected," she whispered back, then spoke in a normal voice. ¡°Well, I suppose if it¡¯s good enough for you.¡± She let go of my hand and slid her ring onto her finger. ¡°How do I make it work?¡± ¡°Just tap the stone. You should be able to do it with the finger right next to it.¡± She made an almost imperceptible gesture and the faint shimmer of a personal shield appeared around her, barely visible. ¡°Okay. Hit her again, Sigrid.¡± Lianna looked about to protest again. ¡°Trust me,¡± I said. ¡°You keep saying that,¡± Lianna said, shaking her head. ¡°You do know the story of the boy who cried wolf, right?¡± Without hesitation or warning, Sigrid took another swipe at her. This time, her sword stopped just shy of touching Lianna¡¯s arm and bounced off. Lianna flinched instinctively, but wasn¡¯t knocked down and appeared relatively unharmed. ¡°Looks like it works,¡± Lianna said, looking at her arm and finding no sign it had very nearly been severed a moment before. ¡°But if we¡¯re going to compare, shouldn¡¯t you hit me at least as hard as you did last time?¡± ¡°I did,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But I barely felt a thing!¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t just block the hit,¡± I said. ¡°It dulls the impact by absorbing most of the kinetic energy too. Big hits can still hurt you but the damage will be greatly reduced.¡± Wayne, Bruce and Sam came over to take a look too. ¡°What are we doing?¡± Sam said. ¡°Sigrid¡¯s beating up the new girl,¡± Arthur said. Morgan elbowed her brother. ¡°We¡¯re testing a new shield thingy.¡± ¡°Oh, fun,¡± Sam said. ¡°That is so cool,¡± Jane said. ¡°Hit her again, harder.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five - Santa Claus has come to town Sigrid made a big show of winding back before striking Lianna again with her sword, and even though she definitely put more into it she still only used a fraction of her full strength. The result was about the same, although Lianna¡¯s health bar dropped noticeably and she had to work to keep her balance, albeit not much. ¡°Harder!¡± Jane said. Sigrid looked at me, eyebrow quirked. ¡°Once more,¡± I said. ¡°But this time don''t hold back.¡± Sigrid bared her teeth as she grinned. ¡°Are you on drugs?¡± Lianna said, stepping back. ¡°Trust me,¡± I said. She scowled at me but stepped forward again and tensed up. ¡°Okay.¡± I nodded to Sigrid and she took another swipe at Lianna, this time using her full strength. The blade still didn¡¯t touch Lianna, but even with the Holtzmann shield¡¯s dampening effect the force of the blow rocked her, making her take several steps back and dropping her health by a significant amount. To Lianna¡¯s credit she managed to remain on her feet. ¡°I felt that one,¡± Lianna said through gritted teeth, rubbing just above her hip where the sword landed. She lifted her shirt a smidge to expose a purple bruise already forming. ¡°Oof,¡± Jane said, wincing. ¡°That was a pretty solid hit.¡± Then she smacked me. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, go over and heal her, idiot.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I took a bit of damage, but not that much considering,¡± Lianna said. Although Lianna¡¯s body may have been weak, her spirit lacked for nothing. What she¡¯d called ¡®a bit of damage¡¯ had almost knocked her health into the red, and it must have hurt like hell, but she barely showed much sign of it outwardly. I quickly healed her back up to full the bruise faded away instantly. ¡°Not to brag or anything, but that should¡¯ve sliced you in two,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯ve chopped down entire trees with less force than what I just hit you with. Big trees.¡± "True story," I said. "The elves were so peeved at her but all she could do was stand there and ogle them while they gave her a stern talking to." Sigrid shrugged. "I gotta be me." ¡°That¡¯s one hell of a shield,¡± Arthur said, peering at Lianna from different angles to get a better look at the faint force field around her. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± Lianna said. ¡°It must¡¯ve cost a fortune.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± I said. ¡°It didn¡¯t cost him anything,¡± Sigrid said, her sword thwupping away. ¡°He made it.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Lianna said. Lianna gaped at me and held up the shield ring. ¡°You made this?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I got lucky with some abilities.¡± Lianna held up her arm to show the brac¡ª the Dick Tracy Communicator. ¡°Does that mean you made these too?¡± ¡±Someone had to,¡± I said. ¡°If it was anyone else I¡¯d say they were just being modest,¡± Sigrid said, ruffling my hair, ¡°but this guy doesn¡¯t actually understand how crazy this shit is.¡± Actually, Sigrid was wrong. I was trying to be modest, and I was well aware that this shizznit was cray-cray. But like she said, I just hadda be me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll get used to this kind of thing,¡± Jane said in a commiserating tone. ¡°Now watch this,¡± I said, shrugging Sigrid off and moving toward Lianna. A knife that was at one moment strapped to my thigh was in was in my hand and sliding free of its sheath the next, and I thrust it at her belly. As expected, it bounced off her shield. "Ha," Lianna said. "Didn''t feel a thing." "Yeah?" I said, and stabbed at her again. This time it wasn''t a fast jab, instead my hand moved relatively slow and the blade went through the shimmering shield like it wasn¡¯t there. I stopped when the tip touched her shirt. ¡°What the almighty fuck?¡± Lianna said, sucking in her tummy and staying completely still. ¡°Is that a special knife?¡± Arthur said. ¡°The slow blade penetrates the shield,¡± Wayne said with a knowing grin. I looked at him and grinned back, pulling the knife away and slipping it back into its sheath. ¡°Ya hya chouhada.¡± ¡±I have no idea what nerd thing you just said, ¡°Jane said, ¡°but I¡¯m sure it¡¯d just annoy me if I did.¡± ¡°Wayne knows, and he¡¯s exactly right. The shield stops anything that moves fast and is larger than a fleck of dust, which describes most attacks. Anything moving slower than a certain threshold...¡± I casually reached out and my slow-moving hand passed right through the shield. I touched the moonstone on her ring and the shimmering vanished. ¡°...passes through shield.¡± ¡°I am so jealous right now,¡± Jane said. I turned to her. ¡°I have noticed that while everyone else has picked up some sort of armor, you¡¯re still going around with almost no protection.¡± ¡°I have my reasons,¡± Jane said. I heaved a sigh. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s because you think you look better without armor.¡± Jane folded her arms, closed her eyes, and quickly twisted her face away to one side, a gesture that made me suddenly think of Kiki. "Fine," she said. "I won¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°You know you can¡¯t rely solely on your stupidly good looks and inhuman agility to avoid getting hurt.¡± She glanced back at me through the narrow slit of one eye. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just waiting for someone to give me a special shield.¡± ¡°You really don¡¯t deserve this,¡± I said, ¡°but...¡± Another ring appeared in my hand, identical to Lianna¡¯s, only this one had a diamond in it instead of a moonstone, and instead of being restricted to Life the user needed Light affinity ¡ª Jane¡¯s original affinity. I could have restricted it to any of them and it would¡¯ve been fine, like me she had them all, but she¡¯d started with Light and that felt right, plus it was still rare enough to be an effective lock against unauthorized use. ¡°For me?¡± Jane said, uncrossing her arms and putting her hands over her heart in an exaggerated swoon. Both eyes were opened wide and her long eyelashes fluttered as her face lit up with that million dollar smile. ¡°Against my better judgement, yes.¡± She looked at it lying on my open palm, then the smile vanished and she crossed her arms again.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°What¡¯s wrong now?¡± I said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to get down on one knee?¡± she said. I gave her my best deadpan look. ¡°But I haven¡¯t discussed the dowry with your father yet.¡± For one split second I saw shock in her eyes, but then she snorted and grabbed the ring, clutching it in a tight fist. ¡°Idiot,¡± she said. I couldn¡¯t keep a straight face anymore. ¡°I had you going for a moment there, I saw it in your face.¡± ¡°Like hell you did,¡± Jane said, slipping the ring on and admiring it. "That''s a big rock." "It''s about two and a half carats," Lianna said, then turned to Sigrid. ¡°Are they always like this?¡± ¡°No, he used to get a lot more flustered when she teased him,¡± Sigrid said. "This kind of banter is new." Then she poked me. ¡°Hey, do I get one too?¡± We all stared at her with open incredulity. ¡°You really should take off the super awesome armor you already got before you say things like that,¡± I said. ¡°I was kidding,¡± Sigrid said, holding her hands up defensively as her armor thwapped away into storage. ¡°Not really,¡± she added, muttering under her breath. Me: Don''t worry, I was already planning to make you one. Sigrid: Yay! Byron and Nina joined us. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Byron said. ¡°Santa Claus has come to town,¡± Jane said, still admiring the new bauble on her finger from different angles. ¡°Aw, we didn''t miss it all, did we?¡± Nina said. ¡°Yeah, got anything else in the loot bag?¡± Byron said, his fingers clenching and unclenching eagerly. ¡°Funny you should ask,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got something both of you can use, as can anybody with the crossbow skill who might enjoy a bit of flair in their ranged attacks.¡± ¡°I do like flair,¡± Nina said. I took a small, ordinary hand crossbow from my inventory. ¡°Crossbows are great, but they¡¯re slow and awkward to reload and little ones like this don¡¯t pack that much of a punch.¡± ¡°So true,¡± Nina said. ¡°I never want to use mine because it¡¯s such a pain in the ass to load.¡± "That''s why I used a longbow," Kay said. "And you use it well," Morgan said, exchanging smiles with her old friend. I cocked the crossbow and put a bolt on it, then fired it casually from the hip at one of the targets used for practice in the courtyard. The bolt thunked into the thin wood of the dummy. ¡°So, um, that¡¯s it?¡± Byron said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a normal crossbow?¡± ¡°This one is, yes,¡± I said, then crushed it in my hand before dropping the splinters onto the cobblestones. ¡°Show off,¡± Sigrid said, but she was grinning. We had a game of testing how strong we¡¯d become by crushing things. A little crossbow was nothing, we¡¯d both turned solid rocks into gravel with our bare hands. A new weapon appeared from my inventory. It looked almost the same as the crossbow I¡¯d just demolished, only this one lacked the bow part. It looked a lot like a long-barreled wooden pistol. ¡°Um, I think your crossbow¡¯s missing something,¡± Jane said. ¡°Is it?¡± I said, and aimed it at the target. I squeezed the trigger and there was a thunking sound. ¡°Dude, did you just miss?¡± Jane said. ¡°There¡¯s no crossbow arrow-thingy¡ª¡± ¡°Bolt,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Whatever, in the target,¡± Jane continued. ¡°Look closer,¡± Sam said. ¡°That hole wasn¡¯t there before.¡± ¡°You mean the bolty thingy went right through?¡± Sam jogged over to the target and stuck his fingertip in the small hole. ¡°What just happened?¡± Byron said. ¡°You try,¡± I said, and handed him the weapon. Byron frowned at it in his hand. "How do I load it?" "Don''t worry, it''s already loaded," I said. "Well, okay," he said, and took aim as Sam darted away. Byron''s finger squeezed and there was another thunk. ¡°What the hell?¡± he said, holding the weapon up and staring at it like he¡¯d never seen fire before and I¡¯d just given him a Zippo. I took the weapon back and opened its Status for everyone to see.
P1 Pistol Tell me, punk. Do you feel lucky? Powers: Bang! - Fire a projectile
¡°You...made a gun,¡± Jane said. ¡°Something like that,¡± I said. ¡°No, exactly like that,¡± Sigrid said, slapping my shoulder. ¡°What the hell, Daniel?¡± ¡°Do we need to start calling you Q?¡± Wayne said. Given that this was a collection of Canadians, there were mixed reactions to the sudden appearance of firearms in this fantasy world. We from the great white north generally looked upon guns with a mixture of fear and mistrust, and I was no different. But new world, new rules. They all fired questions at me in rapid succession. ¡°How does it work?¡± ¡°What does it shoot?¡± ¡°Do you have to reload it?¡± ¡°Can I have one?¡± I held it up and started explaining. ¡°As Jane pointed out, it¡¯s a crossbow without the bow part, and the game seems to consider it close enough that you can use your crossbow skill to fire it. I know, it¡¯s a total cheat, but I¡¯m not complaining. The Bang! power uses a blend of Earth and Fire affinities to create the metal projectiles, basically little musket balls, and Air to shoot them out.¡± "Air, huh?" Byron said. "That explains the lack of a bang sound despite the power''s name." ¡°So it¡¯s a BB gun,¡± Bruce said. ¡°Something like that.¡± I aimed it again, only this time I squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession. There were three thunks and three new holes clustered in the center of the target. ¡°Holy shit!¡± Kay said. ¡°If you liked that, Kay, you¡¯re gonna love this.¡± I passed the P1 back to Byron and a new weapon appeared in my hands. This time it was a full-sized crossbow that had been given the same treatment. It looked very much like the cultists¡¯ darkslingers, which made sense considering I¡¯d used a deconstructed darkslinger as the foundation for these new weapons. ¡°Of course you made a rifle too,¡± Morgan said, laughing.
R1 Assault Rifle Say hello to my little friend. Powers: Bang Bang Bang! - Continuously fire projectiles
I aimed at the target again and squeezed the trigger, sending a single shot into it. Then I fired again, only this time I held down the trigger. Bullets spewed from the R1, shredding the target and exposing the tree behind it, which wasn¡¯t faring much better than the target as the bullets tore into it too. ¡°Poor tree,¡± Sam said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll fix you later.¡± ¡°Where do the bullets come from?¡± Bruce said. ¡°From nowhere," I said. "There¡¯s a mana crystal in the stock that provides the fuel to both create and fire them the instant the trigger''s pulled. A single crystal can give you lots of shots before it runs out of mana, but when you do need to reload it you open the compartment like this.¡± I pressed a button with my thumb and the core of the grip dropped down, very much like the magazine of a proper automatic firearm, only it stayed attached to the R1. A small mana crystal popped out of a cavity in it, which I caught with my free hand. ¡°The spent crystal is ejected, and you slot in a new one.¡± The current crystal still had lots of juice left in it, so I put it back into the cavity and pushed the compartment back into place. ¡°Like so.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait to get into a fight now,¡± Nina said. ¡°That¡¯s our healer talking,¡± Arthur said, and Nina stuck her tongue out at him. ¡°Why wait?¡± I said, handing the rifle to Nina. ¡°Try it out.¡± ¡°Really?¡± she said, taking it. ¡°Right on.¡± She aimed at the tree, but I stepped in the way. ¡°Nuh uh,¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°Not the tree. Shoot me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right?¡± "Do it!" Lianna said with rather more vehemence than I was comfortable with. But I supposed it was only fair, given what I''d just put her through. I also made my health bar public so everyone could see if I took any damage. I wouldn''t have done it if health and mana bars used numbers, but they only showed a visual representation like a car''s gas gauge. I was well aware that both of my stats were much higher than the average Player''s and didn''t want to have to answer another barrage of questions. I stood still in front of the target dummy and spread my arms wide. ¡°Do your worst,¡± I said. Nina raised the weapon and took aim, then lowered it again. ¡°But you aren¡¯t wearing any armor.¡± ¡°Trust me.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Six - You really made all of these? Nina grinned and raised the rifle again and took her time aiming at me as I stood there, arms spread, eyes closed, bracing myself for the impending pain. In the split second before she pulled the trigger, my ring¡¯s danger sense kicked in and its Holtzmann shield automatically went up. Nina didn¡¯t waste time with single shots but held the trigger down and I immediately felt the rapid cascade of bullets striking my shield. None of them penetrated, but instead they all bounced harmlessly to the ground after the shield soaked up their impact. Ouch. Even though the shield also dispersed some of the kinetic energy, standing barely five yards from a full-auto attack still hurt like hell. I gritted my teeth and tried not to show just how much. If Lianna can be so cool about it, then I could too. ¡°As you can see,¡± I said, wincing, ¡°the shield can stop the bullets, but...¡± ¡°Why is your health going down?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not perfect,¡± I said through still-clenched teeth. ¡°And I can still feel every impact.¡± ¡°What does it feel like?¡± Nina said. She was still squeezing the trigger and bullets were still pounding against my shield. ¡°Like an army of hill giants pummeling me with small rocks, why do you ask?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Jesus, Nina,¡± Byron said. ¡°He means it hurts.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Nina said. ¡°Oh!¡± She let go of the trigger and the bullets stopped coming. I lowered the shield and she handed the rifle to her husband before running over and healing me. ¡°Sorry, Daniel. I guess I went a bit overboard.¡± ¡°Just a bit,¡± I said, but I smiled to let her know it was okay. ¡°Damn, I think I may need to learn how to use a crossbow now after all,¡± Kay said. ¡°You¡¯ve been a busy beaver,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Oh, but there¡¯s still more,¡± I said, feeling a lot better after Nina¡¯s heal. ¡°Of course there is,¡± Jane said. ¡°It¡¯s like watching the shopping channel,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Are your attacks lacking oomph? Do you find aiming a hassle?¡± I said. ¡°Why not try the R2 version?¡± ¡°See? He¡¯s really getting into character now,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I¡¯ll bite,¡± Morgan said. ¡°What¡¯s the R2?¡± ¡°I am so glad you asked,¡± I said. Another weapon appeared in my hands, similar to the first rifle. I held it out to her. ¡°Give it a try, but don¡¯t look at the Status yet.¡± Morgan took it like I was handing her a sleeping viper. ¡°Will it hurt?¡± ¡°Only if you stand in front of it.¡± She aimed at the tree and pulled the trigger. A single blast composed of several projectiles blew from the muzzle and peppered the tree. ¡°Holy crap,¡± Wayne said. ¡°It¡¯s a boom stick.¡± ¡°Shop smart, shop S-Mart,¡± I said. ¡°That poor tree,¡± Sam said.
R2 Shotgun You might like to keep this handy, for close encounters. Powers: Blammo! - Fire a scattered blast of projectiles
Jane laughed when she checked its Status. ¡°Do you write these things yourself?¡± ¡°System does the power descriptions but lets me do the item names and descriptions,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve only got these right now but I have plans for an R3 sniper rifle too, and some upgrades.¡± ¡°So let me get this straight,¡± Lianna said. ¡°You really made all these?¡± ¡°Still wondering if you made a mistake joining him?¡± Sigrid said, bumping Lianna¡¯s shoulder with hers. Lianna gnawed her bottom lip for a moment, as though considering whether or not to say what was on her mind. In the end, she decided to say it. ¡°The thing is, why are you giving all these incredible items away?¡± she said, then looked around at the members of Team Maple Leaf. ¡°I mean, it''s nothing personal and I know you¡¯re all friends and stuff, but you¡¯re -- we''re -- on a different team.¡± ¡°I was going to ask the same thing,¡± Arthur said, ¡°but I recently learned it¡¯s best to just let Daniel be Daniel.¡± ¡°Lianna,¡± I said, ¡°do you remember what I said when you asked me what my goal was?¡± Of course she remembered, she had eidetic memory too. All she had to do was put the pieces together. ¡°Ah, I think I get it now,¡± she said with barely a pause to consider the question. ¡°You really are an odd duck, Captain.¡± ¡°I like her,¡± Jane said. ¡°Yeah, she sees it how it is,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Definitely a keeper,¡± Morgan said. ¡°And she¡¯s pretty,¡± Kenji mumbled from somewhere in the back. I didn¡¯t even notice him showing up, which wasn¡¯t anything new. ¡°Hang on,¡± Byron said. ¡°I want to know what you said to her.¡± ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± Galahad said. ¡°I said that when one of us gets stronger, we all get stronger.¡± It took them longer to think about it, but slowly they started nodding. ¡°That tracks,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Lianna, did he happen to mention that we¡¯re all here together as a team because of him?¡± Nina said. ¡°He was our team builder.¡± ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you all on the same team?¡± Lianna said. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a long story,¡± I said. ¡°There are some things we need to do after this, you and I. I¡¯ll tell you then.¡± ¡°You mean there¡¯s no more presents?¡± Jane said, grabbing my arm and looking at me with a colossal pout. ¡°Is that all you made?¡± ¡°Jesus Christ, Jane,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You¡¯d better be joking.¡± ¡°Someone¡¯s jealous of my new bauble,¡± Jane said, letting go of me so she could wave her diamond ring. ¡°But who¡¯s joking? Hell, Sigrid, you know him better than any of us. Do you really think he stopped there?¡± ¡°Even Daniel has his limits,¡± Sigrid said. I cleared my throat. ¡°The thing is, I did make more.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°There it is,¡± Jane said. ¡°Told you so.¡± I frowned. ¡°Now I¡¯m not sure you deserve it.¡± ¡°Who, me? No, I totally deserve it!¡± Jane said, bouncing like a ninth-grader about to see a Taylor Swift concert. ¡°Gimme gimme gimme!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± I handed her a thin mithral tube about six inches long with a diameter about the size of a Loonie, wrapped with soft, finely-tanned leather. Embedded into one end there was a spherical diamond so comically big you''d assume it was just crystal. She looked down at it with a pout. She clearly had no idea what it was at first, but then she looked at its Status. In an instant, her dour disappointment shifted to an expression of joyful expection. Her grip on it shifted. Now she held it like it was the handle of a sword with a crystal pommel. ¡°Hell yes,¡± she muttered. ¡°Let there be light.¡± A very thin glowing blade of pure light grew from it, shining white, humming with energy, and glowing like a laser. A curved loop guard made of the same energy surrounded her knuckles along with two glowing quillons acting as a cross guard. Jane turned her elated face to me. ¡°It¡¯s a light¡ª¡± ¡°Laser sword,¡± I said swiftly and firmly. ¡°But in the movies they call it¡ª¡± ¡°A laser sword is what it¡¯s called by everybody else,¡± I said again, aiming for a tone of finality I hoped would end the conversation and avoid potential litigation.
Jane Anders¡¯ Laser Rapier Of Doom A laser sword made for the siren hero herself. Powers: Kpissssh! - Create a sword blade made of plasma Stay - Secure the hilt against an object
She slashed the air with it a few times. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got some nerdy reason why I can¡¯t call it what it clearly is, but whatevs.¡± Instantly, the blade vanished. Jane giggled. The blade reappeared. ¡°Hee hee.¡± ¡°So I take it you like it?¡± She swung it some more. ¡°Isn¡¯t it supposed to make, like, a sort of wum wum sound when it moves around?¡± Sigrid elbowed her. ¡°Okay okay,¡± Jane said, flinching, ¡°I like it, okay? Jesus, look at this thing. I fucking love it, I¡¯m like living in the movies here. But seriously,¡± she switched it off, then back on again, ¡°I see the power¡¯s called kpissssh but where¡¯s the kpissssh sound when it starts up?¡± She swung the laser sword around. ¡°I miss the wum wum, too.¡± ¡°You really want your weapon to make noise all the time?¡± I said. She thought about it for a split second. ¡°Meh, I suppose not.¡± Her grin was wide and genuine as she fenced against an imaginary foe with her silent but brightly glowing blade. With her skill and grace it looked more like dance than combat. ¡°Hey Wayne, how about you give Jane something to fight against?¡± I said. ¡°I have just the thing,¡± Wayne said, and a tall skeleton rose from the ground. It wasn¡¯t like the old spindly skeletons he used to summon, this one was larger, fiercer-looking, and its sword, shield, and armor looked less worn out. It tromped over to Jane and began fighting. ¡°You¡¯ll find that you¡¯ll be able to incorporate some slashing attacks to your repertoire with this one,¡± I said as she played with the skeleton. ¡±Your standard rapier is only effective as a stabbing tool and not great for parrying heavier weapons because it can easily break. This one¡¯s more likely to burn right through an opponent¡¯s weapon instead, and you can also slash with it as well.¡± Jane tried it out. She was a bit awkward at first, being so used to using her steel rapier to jab and thrust, but her sword skill covered all kinds of fencing so she quickly adapted to working in some slashing attacks too. While Jane played with the skeleton, Lianna leaned in closer. "That''s a diamond." "Uh huh." "Do you understand how big that is?" "Of course," I said. "It''s 223 carats. I have the Appraisal skill too." "I didn''t ask if you knew how big it was, I asked if you understood." "Um, I understand that a diamond the size of a ping pong ball is ludicrously big." "And?" "Expensive?" I said. "Ludicrously so. You gave me a job to do, so this is me doing it: from now on, gifts and expenditures of significant value should go through both of us." "Understood," I said with a grin. I knew she was the right choice. After toying with the undead summon for a while, Jane eventually drew her laser sword blade in a wide arc in front of her, slicing the skeleton in half at the waist. It crumpled to the ground, then fizzled away. There was a smattering of applause, and she bowed graciously. The blade seemed to get sucked back into the hilt and she pressed the slender tube against her hip. It stuck there as though held by a powerful magnet. She plucked it off then pressed it to her forearm. It stuck there too. She plucked it off again and held it gingerly in both hands like it was a sacred relic. ¡°Thank you, Daniel.¡± I¡¯ll never forget the smile she gave me. Sigrid¡¯s voice next to me said softly, but loud enough that everyone could hear, ¡°Just because you¡¯re idiotically nice don¡¯t think for a second that excuses you from spending so much time cooped up in your freaky mad sorcerer¡¯s lab. God knows how many days you spent in time dilation running yourself ragged making these. You can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Does that mean you don¡¯t want to see what else I made?¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s more?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Of course there is,¡± Jane said without looking up from her new toy. ¡°I¡¯ve got something for everyone, actually,¡± I said. ¡°It really is Christmas,¡± Sam said. ¡°What¡¯s mine?¡± ¡°You¡¯re gonna like it,¡± I said, and a small ball appeared in my hand. Half of it was red, the other half white, with a black stripe separating the two hemispheres. ¡°That looks like a pokeball!¡± Chika said.
Sam Craig¡¯s Creature Training Ball Gotta catch ¡®em all. Powers: Catch ¡®Em - Form spiritual bonds with summoned creatures; Requires affinity with Nature Pocket Monsters - Store bonded creatures; After 24 hours, stored creatures no longer count toward summoning limit; Storage capacity: 5 creatures; Requires affinity with Nature Train ¡®Em - Train bonded creatures to evolve them; Requires affinity with Nature
¡°Holy shit, it is a pokeball!¡± Chika said. ¡°Language,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry, Sensei, but come on! It¡¯s. A. Freaking. Pokeball!¡± ¡°Wow, thanks, Daniel,¡± Sam said. ¡°But...I don¡¯t get it.¡± Chika heaved a sigh. ¡°You know those animals you summon? You can bond with them, then train them to evolve and be more powerful, and keep them in the ball so you can call them out whenever you want.¡± ¡°Ohhhh,¡± Sam said. ¡°That¡¯s really cool.¡± ¡°I know!¡± Chika said. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the ball. ¡°I waaaaaaaant it.¡± ¡°I made something similar for Wayne,¡± I said, making a cane appear. It was a slender shaft of gnarled wood topped with a miniature crystal skull.
Wayne Powell¡¯s Baron Samedi Cane Where the Baron goes, death surely follows. Powers: Netherworld - Store summoned undead; After 24 hours, stored creatures no longer count toward summoning limit; Storage capacity: 15 creatures; Requires affinity with Death Bone Armor - Summoned undead have enhanced defense; Requires affinity with Death
¡°This is perfect, Daniel,¡± Wayne said, running his hand along the smooth, polished wood. ¡°Not only can I have more summons active but they¡¯re tougher too. Thank you.¡± Chika was still sulking about not getting a pokeball so I did her next. ¡°Hey Chika?¡± I said. She perked up. ¡°My turn?¡± ¡°Your turn.¡± A strap of dark basilisk leather studded with metal spikes appeared. ¡°What the hell?¡± Jane said. ¡°Is that...a collar?¡± ¡°Sure looks like one,¡± Kay said, stifling a laugh. ¡°You made the girl a collar?!¡± Jane said. ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t complain when I made you a choker.¡± ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s different. A choker¡¯s cute and sexy. A collar...it¡¯s got other connotations, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a different style of necklace. How about we see what Chika thinks of it before we go getting all judgey,¡± Sigrid said as I passed it to Chika. Chika¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw the Status.
Chika Hachiman¡¯s Kaiju Death Cat Collar Meow-ve over Godzilla, there¡¯s a new cat in town. Powers: Cat¡¯s Eyes - Superior senses; Requires affinity with Death Eye Of The Tiger - Transform into the Kaiju Death Cat; Requires affinity with Death I¡¯m-A Shred You - Vicious claw attack when in Kaiju Death Cat form Nine Lives - Superior toughness, speed, and agility; Requires affinity with Death
She turned her back to me and pulled her long black hair out of the way, just as Jane had done when I¡¯d given her the Siren¡¯s Choker. ¡°Put it on me, Sensei?¡± Under Jane¡¯s piercing scrutiny, I buckled the leather necklace around Chika¡¯s neck. ¡°Can I try it out?¡± she said. ¡°I think you must,¡± I said. As we all watched, little Chika transformed before our eyes like it was a scene in a werewolf movie. Her normally compact body grew to nearly three times its normal size and shifted its shape to become more feline, dark fur sprouting from all over so that she looked like a black panther who drank Dr Jeckyl¡¯s secret Hyde formula. Two black cat ears sprouted from the top of her head along with a long, furry, serpentine tail from her behind. She looked at me and grinned. At least, when her mouth grew wide and exposed its sharp fangs I figured it had to have been a grin, it was hard to tell. She held up a front paw and long claws extended from the stubby fingers. ¡°Okay,¡± Jane said. ¡°I take it all back. That is fucking awesome.¡± ¡°Sensei!¡± Chika leapt at me, her long furry arms spread, but instead of bowling me over with her fifteen-foot tall monster body, by the time she reached me the Kaiju Death Cat had thankfully shrunk back into a cute teenage girl who squeezed me in a tight hug. ¡°Okay, okay,¡± I said, wiggling out of the embrace. ¡°I¡¯m glad you like it.¡± Kay sprang in front of me. ¡°Do me next!¡± "That''s what she said," Jane muttered, still staring at the laser sword she cradled in her hands. Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Seven - Everybody gets a car! ¡°I have something very special for you, Kay,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s from Petal.¡± ¡°Petal?¡± Kay said with a wry smile. ¡°How¡¯s she doing? We haven¡¯t hung out in a while, we¡¯re overdue.¡± ¡°When did you start hanging out with Petal?¡± Morgan said. ¡°We kind of bonded after that festival with the elves and have been hunting together a few times,¡± Kay said. ¡°She¡¯s pretty awesome, really.¡± ¡°Well, Petal thinks highly of you too,¡± I said. ¡°So highly, in fact, that she wants you to have these.¡± A pair of elven knives appeared. They looked just like the ones strapped to my thighs. Kay¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Are those...?¡± I nodded. ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°But I thought the elves never gave those to outsiders,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°They don¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°Or didn¡¯t anyway. They made an exception for me, and now they¡¯ve made another for Kay.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± Kay said, taking the knives and feeling their weight and balance. ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°There is a condition attached though,¡± I said. ¡°You need to learn how to use them properly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a condition, that¡¯s a benefit!¡± Kay looked up at me. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯ll teach me?¡± ¡°I would, but actually Petal wants to be the one to train you in the Elven Dual Knife Fighting skill.¡± ¡°That¡¯s totally okay too,¡± Kay said. Still holding the knives reverently she started melting back into the group. ¡°I¡¯ll need to go thank her in person.¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± I said, grabbing her sleeve. She stopped and turned back. ¡°Don¡¯t run away yet. I made you something too.¡± ¡°You made something for me?¡± Kay said. A quiver appeared, loaded with arrows that had several different colors of fletching. ¡°I couldn¡¯t resist. If I was an archer, I¡¯d want this.¡±
Sir Kay¡¯s Everfull Quiver Running out of arrows is for suckers. This quiver automatically replenishes with fresh arrows from an extra-dimensional storage space. Powers: Keep ¡®Em Coming - Bring arrows from storage Pack ¡®Em In - Send arrows into storage
¡°So cool! You¡¯re right, I¡¯ve always wanted something like this,¡± Kay said. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the different colors of feathers on the arrows?¡± Morgan said. ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked,¡± I said. Kay didn¡¯t have her Trojan Bow with her, so I gave her a generic one from my inventory. ¡°Each color represents a different effect. Try them.¡± One by one, Kay pulled an arrow of each color out and shot them at a target, a bullseye every time; at this range, it¡¯d be surprising if any of them wasn¡¯t. Black ones were normal arrows. Blue ones added a freezing effect, red ones fire, yellow ones trailed a thin but very strong cord behind them, and the orange ones exploded upon impact. ¡°Kay likey,¡± she said. ¡°Right now there¡¯s only a few of each stored away, but there¡¯s really no limit to how much you can keep there so you¡¯ll need to pack some more in,¡± I said. ¡°If you think of another effect you¡¯d like to have, let me know and I¡¯ll make it happen.¡± ¡°Thank you, Daniel. I mean it. That¡¯s so thoughtful.¡± ¡°If you want a poison arrow, I can help with that,¡± Manuel, the newly minted Maple Leafer with all the toxin powers said. ¡°We¡¯ll hook up later to discuss that,¡± Byron said. ¡°You sound like a drug dealers getting her hooked on your stash,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I¡¯d watch out, Kay. Daniel seems to like pretty girls,¡± Morgan said. ¡°Maybe he planned it all so that you¡¯ll need to keep coming back to him to get more special arrows as a way to keep you close.¡± ¡°True,¡± Lianna said. ¡°He might be hitting on you. You can never tell with him.¡± ¡°No,¡± Jane said, ¡°I¡¯d be able to tell.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve never once hit on any of you so you don¡¯t know how bad I am at it.¡± ¡°A flirty Daniel, huh?¡± Nina said. ¡°What would that even look like?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fun to imagine,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I think it¡¯d be hilarious,¡± Chika said, still hovering next to me after getting her collar. You¡¯d think I¡¯d attached a leash to it or something. ¡°Gee thanks, Death Girl.¡± Chika looked up at me with a mischievous grin, her one little fang protruding over her lower lip. ¡°He¡¯s actually not too bad at it,¡± Sigrid said, then after a lot of eyes snapped her way she flinched. ¡°What?¡± ¡°What do you mean what?¡± Jane said. ¡°As in, why are you looking at me like that?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Are you being serious right now? You know damned well why.¡± ¡°Jessica Rabbit here¡¯s right for once. You can¡¯t just say something like that and drop it,¡± Sam said. ¡°Jessica Rabbit? I can¡¯t decide if I should be flattered or offended by that,¡± Jane said. ¡°I¡¯m with them on this,¡± Morgan said. ¡°I too wouldn¡¯t mind knowing how you know he¡¯s a good flirt.¡± I had no idea how Sigrid planned to respond to that and I did not want to find out. Time to change the subject, pronto. ¡°Look, I think we¡¯ve explored this more than enough,¡± I said, which met with a smattering of dissent but I soldiered on. ¡°On the plus side, your notion that I made the arrows as part of a master plan to spend more time with Kay does make for a nice segue into the next present.¡± The grumbling ceased. I knew that¡¯d quiet them down. ¡°Byron, you¡¯re up.¡± At hearing his own name, Byron¡¯s head snapped up and he stepped forward. ¡°Whatcha got for me, Santa?¡± A nondescript metal cube about the size of a Rubik''s Cube appeared. I gave it to him. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect,¡± he said, ¡°but I certainly didn¡¯t expect this. Let¡¯s see what it does.¡±
Artifice Forge Upgrade: Replicate Add the Replicate ability to an Artifice forge Powers: Replicate - Reproduce items placed in the forge
¡°That seems useful,¡± Byron said. ¡°How do I use it?¡± ¡°Just touch this to your forge and it will automatically integrate into it. Basically, it lets you mass produce anything you put into the forge.¡± ¡°Anything?¡± Nina said. ¡°Within reason,¡± I said. ¡°Anything too complicated or with too many powers on it will likely fail.¡± ¡°Holy crap, it can even replicate magic items?¡± Byron said. ¡°As long as they¡¯re not too complicated. The trade off is that it uses a good chunk of mana, but it¡¯s still way easier than making things from scratch and doesn¡¯t require all the material components.¡± Kay grinned. ¡°In other words, it will work for things like, say, special arrows?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I smiled back at Kay. ¡°Not just a pretty face, then,¡± I said, and she blushed. ¡°Okay,¡± Sam said, ¡°I see it now.¡± ¡°Right? He¡¯s not as bad at it as you¡¯d think,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°As long as he¡¯s not actually trying.¡± ¡°This is incredible, Daniel,¡± Byron said. ¡°I figured you¡¯d see the potential,¡± I said, trying to block out Sigrid and the others as they mocked my romantic ineptitude. I wasn¡¯t flirting with Kay, I was just being nice. Surely they knew that. Morgan held up the shotgun. ¡°What about this? Can we mass produce WMDs?¡± ¡°What a good idea,¡± I said. Byron¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°I could replicate the guns too?¡± ¡°Okay, you are all starting crossbow training immediately,¡± Morgan said. ¡°And grinding monsters for mana crystals to help Byron make us an arsenal and to use as ammo,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°As much as I dig the sword and sorcery thing, I am so looking forward to bringing our Counterstrike expertise into this game.¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Galahad said, giving his friend a fistbump. ¡°We¡¯re gonna need a lot of ammo.¡± ¡°Hey Byron, do you think you can use it to churn out more of your grenades too?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Grenades?¡± I said, perking up. ¡°You made grenades?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Byron said. ¡°They¡¯re not much, but they meet minimum operational requirements and explode after a few seconds.¡± ¡°Then you could probably also use smoke grenades and flashbangs for tactical flexibility,¡± I said. ¡°Hell yeah,¡± Lance said. ¡°I¡¯ve been working on a smoke grenade, but I can¡¯t get it to create a large enough smoke screen fast enough to be useful,¡± Byron said. I raised a finger. ¡°Gimme a few seconds,¡± I said, then the portal into my inventory appeared and I stepped through it. As promised, a few seconds later I stepped out holding two small grenade-like objects and presented them to Byron. ¡°One smoke. One flashbang.¡± After Byron accepted them with a befuddled look on his face Sigrid smacked me. It was hard enough that it triggered my shield ring, which scared me. ¡°I told you to stop doing that,¡± she said. ¡°I was hardly in there,¡± I said, then started babbling. ¡°It was like an hour, tops. Maybe two. Three at the most. Making the basic grenade object wasn¡¯t difficult, see, although getting the delay timer right took a few tries. And I already had a power that creates a smoke screen so enchanting that one onto a grenade was fast and easy too. I had to play with Synthesize a bit to create two separate powers for a blinding flash and a deafening noise then merge them into a newly synthesized flashbang power, but that wasn¡¯t too hard either, and voila.¡± Arthur was the first to start laughing, but soon most had joined in. ¡°What?¡± I said, and they started laughing harder. It took a while for the guffaws to die down, but once everyone had wiped their eyes and caught their breaths, Kay said, ¡°What about replicating the shield ring? I wouldn¡¯t mind one of those.¡± ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± Bruce said. ¡°I¡¯m sure we all want one.¡± ¡°The ones I gave out fall under the too complicated umbrella,¡± I said. ¡°Shame,¡± Kay said. ¡°But that¡¯s because they have a lot of extra powers on them besides the basic shield function.¡± I produced a new ring. ¡°This one doesn¡¯t have any bells and whistles, just the shield power, and with the restriction it should be quite replicable.¡± I shared its Status.
Holtzmann Shield Ring All the armor you¡¯ll ever need Powers: Holtzman Effect - Create a protective energy field around the wearer¡¯s body; Duration: 5 minutes; Cooldown: 10 minutes
¡°Instead of requiring a specific affinity like the other shield rings, this one has a time limit for use and recharge. For each second it¡¯s used it requires a cooldown of two seconds to recharge. It¡¯s best to use it in short bursts so it has time to recharge a bit in between, because if you keep it on continuously for the full five minutes it¡¯ll shut down and won¡¯t work for another ten minutes until it¡¯s fully recharged.¡± ¡°I can live with that,¡± Kay said. ¡°Most battles don¡¯t last that long anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought too,¡± I said, then turned to look Byron straight in the face as I handed it to him. ¡°Be diligent with this: with no affinity restriction that means anybody can use it.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Byron said. ¡°I shall keep it and all copies very, very safe.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Nina said, plucking the ring from Byron¡¯s palm and putting it directly into her own inventory. ¡°I¡¯ll hold onto this. We wouldn¡¯t want these falling into the wrong hands.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡± Byron pouted. ¡°Of course I do. I just also know you too well,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± he said, and gave her a peck on the cheek. ¡°So we really can all have one?¡± Sam said. ¡°That was the plan,¡± I said. ¡°And guns too?¡± Lancelot said. ¡°Also the plan.¡± ¡°Sweet.¡± ¡°I am going to go through so much mana making all those,¡± Byron said. ¡°Funny you should say that,¡± I said, and a new ring appeared.
Byron Masters¡¯ Mana Battery Ring Scotty, we need more power! Powers: Re-Energize - Transfer mana to wearer; Requires affinity with Void Mana Siphon - Absorb mana from environment; Requires affinity with Void
¡°You think of everything, don¡¯t you?¡± Morgan said to me. ¡°I actually made the same forge upgrade for you, Morgan, only for Alchemy, of course. And a mana battery.¡± ¡°So I can replicate healing potions?¡± ¡°You can replicate any potion, with the same caveats. Nothing too complicated. That potion you made for me with the mimic power, for example. That wouldn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°I can live with that,¡± Morgan said. She accepted her metal cube and ring, then stuck her tongue out at Jane. ¡°I got a ring too.¡± Jane¡¯s hand dropped to her side and came back up holding her Rapier Of Doom, plasma blade extended. ¡°I wonder if that ring will still work after it¡¯s been melted into slag?¡± Morgan hid her ring hand under her arm. ¡°Meanie.¡± ¡°One more thing, Morgan,¡± I said, and brought out a slender mithril circlet dotted with emeralds. ¡°To help you coordinate battles.¡±
Morgan Crenshaw¡¯s¡¯ Battlemaster Circlet This crown opens a tactical mini-map of the wearer¡¯s location and enables the split-second issuing of orders. Powers: If I Could Read Your Mind, Love - Telepathic communication; Requires affinity with Void Knowing Is Half The Battle - See a bird¡¯s eye tactical view of the area; Requires affinity with Void
¡°You really do like giving girls jewelry, don¡¯t you?¡± Jane said. Byron waggled around his ring. ¡°I got some bling too, so suck it, ladies.¡± ¡°I was thinking he¡¯s like Oprah giving everybody a car,¡± Bruce said. ¡°You get a ring, and you get a ring, and you get a ring.¡± He raised his hands over his head. ¡°Everybody gets a ring!¡± After that, everybody else got their presents. Nina got a necklace that expanded the range of all her powers, as well as one of those mana battery rings and a second ring with the area heal power on it. It would do until I could figure out a way to give that power to her and Lianna directly. ¡°I got two rings and a necklace,¡± Nina boasted to Jane and Morgan. ¡°As my man said, suck it, ladies.¡± ¡°And here I thought you were the mature one,¡± Jane laughed. Kenji got a new shinobi shozoku to replace his old ninja outfit, one which let him turn himself into living Shadow with the added abilities to phase through solid objects and teleport short distances between shadows. It also let him see in the dark because I thought that¡¯d be handy. Bruce got a wand that was similar to Annabelle¡¯s staff and boosted the potency of his powers, along with a mana battery ring. Galahad¡¯s presents were an enchanted coin that had a power called Opposite Day on it that could reverse the effect of any power he used, so for example his gravity increase could become gravity decrease, along with a ring that gave him telekinesis. He seemed a bit disappointed until I pointed out that using gravity decrease and telekinesis on something would not only let him move even very heavy objects around, but by using them on himself he¡¯d also effectively have the ability to fly. Lancelot got a magic shield that was indestructible and had a luring power that could draw aggro, forcing enemies to ignore other targets and attack him instead, plus it could raise a force field like Nina¡¯s. Once he got a Holtzmann ring too, he¡¯d have three layers of shields his enemies would have to get through before getting to him. Maple Leaf now had the two tankiest tanks on the planet. Finally, there was Arthur. I¡¯d noticed that Arthur was acting differently since the team Captain election. I would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d sink even further into sullenness, but he surprised me. Instead of sulking, he actually seemed a lot more mellow, and his sense of humor was back. It inspired me to set aside my grudge and start fresh with him. That would begin with some kick ass items. With his Sword Spirit gift that gave intelligence to any weapon he wielded, the obvious choice for him would have been a magic sword, but he already had a pretty good one he¡¯d earned on a quest that he was very attached to. I had wracked my brain for a while trying to think of what he would like, then finally decided on something that wasn¡¯t glamorous, but was very practical ¡ª a set of four rings that each boosted a different physical stat to give him enhanced strength, agility, toughness, and stamina ¡ª along with something else I thought he¡¯d have fun with. He may not have been the team Captain, but to the Round Table he¡¯d always be their King. So I decided to crown him.
King Arthur¡¯s Crown Of Shock and Awe Hail to the King, baby Powers: Bow To Your Lord - Negate hostility in targets within range; Duration: 1 minute; Cooldown: 5 minutes Don¡¯t Tase Us, Bro - Forked lightning attack against multiple targets; Requires affinity with Air
It wasn¡¯t really a crown, more like a helmet that had some crown-like adornments, but close enough. I turned to the four new Maple Leaf recruits, who¡¯d been watching the whole thing in silence. They seemed utterly overwhelmed. ¡°Sorry you guys, I didn¡¯t make anything for you yet, but now that I know who you are I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± ¡°Why do I feel like the whole world just changed for me?¡± Amy said. ¡°I know just how you feel, sister,¡± Liana said. Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Eight - Orientation While everyone else went off to play with their new toys, I scooped Lianna away for an orientation tour. She¡¯d already met with Sifu and had her first kung fu lesson, and with her ability to learn quickly and remember everything only one or two more ought to get her the skill. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was a start. We could worry about teaching her Affinity Control and getting her used to a crossbow later. Before that, I wanted to familiarize her with Team Player¡¯s assets, but even before that I needed to get her up to speed on a lot of other things first. I knew that she lacked experience, but once I started digging into what she knew I realized this may as well have been her first day here on another world. She¡¯d somehow managed to stay completely outside of the adventuring world of Players like me, apart from occasionally taking their dinner orders and bringing them food, and knew nothing about it. She was a bit prickly about the subject, and I¡¯m not one to probe into others people¡¯s business but I got the distinct feeling that she¡¯d been purposefully avoiding the game aspects of life here, if not out of spite, then at least because she was disappointed in her starting abilities. With one unexpected visit I¡¯d changed all that, and now she was eager to catch up. Crash course on Crucible it was, then. I decided to trust her and told her everything. And I do mean everything, including the things I hadn¡¯t even told Sigrid. Well, everything except about Ruka; my succubus pal remained my one secret. I told Lianna about the God Game at the convention, and about Stratos, and about how it was my fault everyone was there. She heard the whole story of my unique first quest and why I wasn¡¯t on Team Maple Leaf. I explained System to the best of my ability, and what Statuses were all about with their divisions into gifts, powers, and skills. Then we went over the affinity circle and how those worked. To her credit, she absorbed everything without interruptions, except for the occasional perceptive question. She didn¡¯t even seem upset when I told her about my culpability in her being dragged into the game. All she did was ask why she¡¯d been chosen, and if anything seemed happy with my answer. She took it all in stride. Then I showed her my Status. ¡°This isn¡¯t normal, is it?¡± she said, doom-scrolling through it. ¡°No.¡± ¡°How many abilities is normal?¡± I explained it to her, using her own Status as an example.
Lianna Drake Team Player (Vice-Captain)
Affinity: Life - Novice Void - Novice
Gifts: I Get It - Quick learner It¡¯s Fine ¨C Things work out
Powers: Don''t Mess With Me - Competent: Cause fear Rock On, Tommy ¨C Novice: Second affinity with Earth You Don¡¯t Scare Me - Competent: Resistance to fear and intimidation
Skills: Appraisal - Competent Eidetic Memory - Adept Finance - Novice Organization - Competent Shopping - Competent
Then I explained why my Status looked the way it did. ¡°Things are starting to make more sense now,¡± she said when we were done with that. ¡°What things?¡± She gave me a droll look. ¡°You, mostly.¡± Next, we went over the teleportation network and how as a member of Team Player she could use it to go anywhere. She¡¯d never used one before, so I showed her how and had her take us to the Light Dungeon. I introduced her to Alice and the gang, telling them that they should take anything Lianna said as if it had come from me. After that, we did the same at the Nature Dungeon, meeting Petal and the Magikist, and set her up with a tree house next to mine. I stopped short of taking her to the Void Dungeon, though. Even if she could have withstood the Withers, which she couldn¡¯t, she¡¯d already been through enough lately. Inflicting the Void upon her at this point would just be cruel. The last thing I planned to show her was the arena. One of her responsibilities was going to be helping with the bookie arrangement, and to facilitate that I gave her another item I¡¯d made for her and her only, one that I didn¡¯t want the others to know about because along with various sight-related powers it also gave her an ability she probably shouldn''t have.
Team Player Vice-Captain¡¯s Glasses Seeing is believing. Restriction: Use locked to first wearer Powers: Far Sighted - Microscopic vision; Affinity with Life required Feel It Hot, Hot, Hot - Thermal vision; Affinity with Life required I See All - True sight; Affinity with Life required Near Sighted - Telescopic vision; Affinity with Life required You Can¡¯t Hide From Me - See any Status; Affinity with Life required
¡°That last power,¡± she said, ¡°Is that...?¡± ¡°The ability that only team builders got, the one to see Statuses? Yes.¡± She put the glasses on, then started looking around. ¡°Holy moly. Does everything have a Status?¡± ¡°Most things. It goes without saying you should be careful with that one and keep the fact that you have it under wraps.¡± ¡°And yet you said it anyway. When I put them on I got a message that the glasses are now locked to me." "Yeah. It''s a pretty convenient loophole, actually. The more powers I try to put on an item and the more powerful they are, the harder it is. Sometimes, the only way to do it is to place restrictions on them. Putting the restriction that only one person could ever use them was necessary to put that evaluating ability on it, but it works out fine because we don''t want anyone but you to be able to use them."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "Nice." I had one more present for her: a little pouch that fit nicely onto a belt that let her Life affinity live up to its healing potential, at least until I could figure out how to get her the real powers.
Medkit Dammit Jim, I''m a doctor not a...oh yeah. So where does it hurt? Powers: A Spoonful of Sugar - Cure wounds and ailments; Affinity with Life required Everyone Gets A Heal - Cure wounds and ailments within an area; Affinity with Life required Medicine Bag - Extra-dimensional storage
In addition to individual and group healing powers, it acted as a pouch of holding containing a tiny pocket dimension meant for storing healing and mana potions, but you could put anything in it as long as it fit through the opening. Either Lianna was a very cool customer or she was totally overwhelmed by all the things that had been dumped on her in the past few days because she accepted it all stoically. Then I introduced her to the sisters. ¡°Is this your girlfriend?¡± was the first thing Akari said, looking her over. ¡°Well done, Daniel.¡± ¡°Be nice,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°How is that not being nice?¡± Akari retorted playfully. I introduced them all properly. ¡°Ha!¡± Akari said. ¡°I knew she couldn¡¯t be your girlfriend.¡± ¡°Mind if we use the arena for a bit, Annabelle? I¡¯d like to teach Lianna how to use a crossbow.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to ask, Daniel,¡± Annabelle said. I pulled out a crossbow for Lianna. ¡°Got another for me? I¡¯ll help,¡± Akari said. I gave her one too and Annabelle created some targets for us to practice on. As I taught Lianna about crossbow basics, Akari ¡°helped¡± by cartwheeling around the arena while shooting and reloading her crossbow at the same time, hitting every target with a bullseye. ¡°How are you doing that, Akari?¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t even have the crossbow skill.¡± She stopped tumbling. ¡°I don¡¯t? Whoops.¡± She shot her crossbow one more time, missing the target by a mile and fumbling comically with the weapon before dropping it. ¡°Clumsy me. How do you work these things again?¡± I rolled my eyes. I contemplated telling her I knew they weren¡¯t normal NPCs but decided not to, not until I had a better idea of what they really were first. ¡°Just ignore her,¡± I said to Lianna. Sure enough, I was right about Lianna¡¯s capacity to learn quickly and in no time she had picked up the Crossbow skill. There was still a bit of time before we were due to meet up with Sigrid and Jane for dinner, so I spent it teaching Lianna Affinity Control. As expected, she learned it easily too. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it,¡± Lianna said when we¡¯d finished and said goodbye to the sisters. ¡°I¡¯ve learned more in one day with you than I did my entire time in this stupid place.¡± ¡°If there¡¯s anything you want to learn, any skills or whatever, let me know and I¡¯ll teach you. Same goes for powers, if there''s any you want I can try enchanting it onto an item. Doesn''t have to be jewelery either.¡± ¡°You said before you could teach me anything. I didn¡¯t think you meant it literally, but now? My friends couldn¡¯t believe it when I told them you¡¯d recruited me for Team Player. Even when they kept going on about all the things you¡¯ve done I still thought it was an exaggeration or a big mistake. But you really are the real deal.¡± ¡°Just a reasonable facsimile thereof. You know, the guild house is going to need lots of staff. Your friends..." "I''d already know what jobs to give them," she said. "Make sure they also take advantage of the training opportunities. Just because they didn''t start off with the best abilities or get onto a team, that doesn''t mean they can''t grow stronger and play the game." She nodded. "That is the whole point of this venture, right?" Just then, my Dick Tracy Communicator vibrated with an incoming call. The diamond was glowing slightly indicating it was Jane. I let it go for a few seconds before answering. ¡°Are you two done yet? I¡¯m hangry,¡± Jane said. ¡°We¡¯re just wrapping up,¡± I said. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s eat out.¡± ¡°Where do you want to go?¡± The little holographic image of Jane rolled its eyes. ¡°Do you really have to ask?¡± We¡¯d almost made it to Sadie¡¯s ¡ª where else would Jane pick ¡ª when I remembered one more thing I wanted to ask Lianna. ¡°Who¡¯s your favorite superhero?¡± ¡°My what?¡± she said. ¡°You heard me. Favorite superhero.¡± Her eyes looked up as she thought about her answer. ¡°I guess I always thought Black Widow was pretty cool. I liked how she didn¡¯t actually have any powers but could keep up with the big dicks.¡± ¡°Excellent choice,¡± I said. After dinner, I went with them back to the dojo. There was a bonfire that night to properly welcome all the newcomers to our teams. Amy the gothic lolita had the music skill and showed off her amazing singing voice. Byron demonstrated his newly improved forge by replicating Jane¡¯s guitar so Amy could have one too, and everyone took turns demonstrating their new items. By the time Morgan used her forge¡¯s new replicate function to churn out a platter of Jell-O shooters, the party was in full swing. We all knew that the big quest could start at any moment so most people were hesitant to let loose at first, but when Morgan pulled out a potion she guaranteed would eliminate any hangovers everyone relaxed and Morgan found herself quite busy. I pulled out my own Alchemy forge and she and I had a lot of fun trying to see who could come up with the best new cocktail. She won, of course. I may have known Alchemy too and had the same mixology and chemistry skills she had, but it was no substitute for actual experience. After I conceded to her, I claimed exhaustion and made it an early night. I escaped to my room and immediately ducked inside my Fortress of Solitude again. I had some things I needed to do in there. Again. The next morning (real time) I came out for an early morning kung fu lesson only to find Sigrid waiting in my room at the dojo. ¡°Hey there. What¡¯re you doing here?¡± I said. ¡°Waiting for you,¡± she said curtly. ¡°How long have you¡ª¡± ¡°All night.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Because I knew what you were up to, leaving the party early, and I wanted to see if I needed to arrange an intervention or something. You have to stop doing this, Daniel.¡± ¡°Doing what?¡± She raised her fist and brought it down hard on the bedside table, reducing it to splinters. ¡°Be serious!¡± Uh oh. I¡¯d never seen her this angry. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah yeah,¡± she said, waving her hand dismissively. ¡°There were some things you just had to make and it couldn¡¯t possibly wait. I¡¯ve heard it before, Daniel.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°This is your mental health we¡¯re talking about. And...¡± She lost steam at the end of the sentence, letting it peter out without finishing the thought. ¡°And my mental health is precarious enough as it is?¡± She met my eye with a look of defiance. ¡°You need to stop taking risks.¡± We looked at each other for a long while. My immediate impulse was to tell her off but I knew that was just ego talking, what little of it I had. The thing was, she was right. I reached out and put my arms around her. She tensed up, probably expecting me to tell her off, but as I held her she relaxed and her arms found their way around me too. ¡°Thanks for caring about me, Sigrid,¡± I said. ¡°Dummy,¡± she said. We stood there for at least half a minute, saying nothing, at least not out loud. She let go first, pushing me away. ¡°Okay, enough mush.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to sneak in a training sesh with Sifu,¡± I said. Sigrid¡¯s smile was strange. ¡°Oh yeah? In that case, I¡¯ll go get changed and join you. I want to see that.¡± ¡°See what?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Nine - Lianna dresses up It had been some time since I last attended a training session at the dojo and I was surprised to see the changes. Not only were the training mats packed to the proverbial gills with students, way more than I¡¯d ever seen there before, but also that most of them were from other clans. Even more surprising, however, was how they all treated me. I¡¯d tried to sneak in inconspicuously and take a spot at the back but someone recognized me. Everyone stepped aside like the parting of some human Red Sea, none of them looking at me as they made a route for me straight to the front of the pack. That couldn¡¯t be a good sign. Sifu¡¯s probably mad that I¡¯d been away for so long and wanted to express his disappointment. I trudged timorously along the path they made for me right to the very front, directly in front of Sifu. I didn¡¯t dare meet his gaze but took a spot beside Lianna, who was already there with Jane and Sigrid. I caught Sigrid¡¯s eye and she winked at me. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Lianna whispered to me. ¡°Did I do something wrong? Everyone¡¯s treating me like some kind of pariah.¡± ¡°Really? You too?¡± I said. ¡°Yeah. Like, they won¡¯t even look at me and pretty much forced me up here to the front.¡± ¡°They did the same to me but I thought that was because I¡¯ve skipped out on training here for so long. What else could we have done wrong?¡± ¡°Are you two for real?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Do neither of you know the difference between rejection and respect?¡± ¡°Seriously,¡± Jane said. ¡°That treatment you¡¯re getting is called reverence, dumb-asses.¡± We could hear people muttering behind us so Lianna and I both took a furtive glance back, and a sea of NPCs all lowered their gazes away from us. ¡°This is freaking weird,¡± she said. ¡°Tell me about it,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s your fault, you know. I know I haven¡¯t done anything to merit this treatment, so it¡¯s guilt by association.¡± ¡°Hey, you didn¡¯t have to join the team.¡± At that point, Sifu cleared his throat and the conversation ended and the lesson began. There were so many people they had to be put into groups with a few senior Dragon clansmen like Shashu and Farrah leading them. Well before the end of the lesson Lianna got the notification that she now knew kung fu. Never underestimate a fast learner. It¡¯s typical for people to mingle a bit afterwards but we both got the hell out of there as soon as the lesson was over and headed straight to the baths. I had another busy day planned. I finished getting ready first and was waiting in the courtyard for Lianna to come out of her room. Most of Maple Leaf were there too. With the quest looming, Morgan wanted to work on integrating the new recruits into the team so I¡¯d offered them the labyrinth as a training ground. They were just waiting for the last stragglers to show up before heading out to see what kind of nastiness Alice had prepared for them. Sigrid and Janet emerged first and came to join me on a bench. ¡°What¡¯s up with you? You¡¯re all jittery,¡± Sigrid said to me, then scowled. ¡°Is this because you did something stupid again last night?¡± ¡°What did he do last night?¡± Jane said. ¡°I figured he¡¯s probably just missing your usual morning wakeup snuggles.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Sigrid said pointedly. ¡°That must be it.¡± She knew that was not it. Jane patted me on the leg. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if you¡¯re getting lonely I...¡± She stopped mid-sentence when Lianna came out of her room. ¡°Ah, I see now. So that¡¯s what you were up to last night.¡± Lianna had emerged wearing the present I made for her after I ducked out of the bonfire party. I¡¯d snuck into her room while she was still at the baths and left it on her bed. It was a sleek, form fitting catsuit with a zipper all the way up the front and reinforced shin, elbow, and shoulder pads, just like the outfit worn by Black Widow in the movies. Every time I¡¯d seen Lianna she always wore light colors so I¡¯d made the white version because I thought she¡¯d like it better. She could always change it, though, using a custom version of the elven cloak¡¯s camouflage power built into it. It wasn¡¯t just stylish, it was a serious piece of armor. Its boosted toughness made it bullet and blade-resistant, and it had a power that merged Arthur¡¯s air walking with Chika¡¯s jumping abilities for added mobility. For extra defense, I¡¯d blended a healing power with normal affinity armor to synthesize That Which Does Not Kill Me, a power that didn¡¯t block any of the damage but healed about 80% of it back. The net damage she¡¯d take was less than if it was regular affinity armor making it superior against anything but a one-hit kill, but she¡¯d always have her shield ring to help against those.
Lianna¡¯s Player Battlesuit At some point, we all have to choose between what the world wants you to be and who you are. Powers: Able To Leap Tall Buildings - Enhanced air walking; Duration: 1 minute; Cooldown: 30 seconds Be The Rainbow - Change color Healing Defense - Elemental healing protection; Requires affinity with Life You Can¡¯t Cut This - Extraordinary toughness
She looked amazing, but I wouldn¡¯t say she seemed particularly comfortable in it. In fact she looked a bit distressed by all the eyes watching her, because everyone¡¯s eyes were glued to her. They may have been admiring how she looked in the suit, or it¡¯s possible they were ogling the other pair of items I¡¯d made for her. They¡¯d been a real hassle to make and took me several tries, so I hoped she¡¯d appreciate them.
P2 Team Player Pistol Go ahead, make my day. Stolen novel; please report. Powers: Bang! - Fire a projectile Don¡¯t Tase Me, Bro - Ranged electric shock attack Healing Shot - Projectiles heal instead of harm; Requires affinity with Life What¡¯s That Red Dot? - Laser targeting
They were smaller and sleeker than the P1 I¡¯d introduced to everyone the day before, made of light metal and shaped much more like an automatic handgun. They had some extra features and also fit nicely into the holsters built into the catsuit¡¯s outer thighs. When I¡¯d practiced with them in my Fortress of Solitude¡¯s shooting range I found that my crossbow skill didn¡¯t cut it anymore. My aim was terrible. I must have changed their shape too much for the skill to work with them. They didn¡¯t look like crossbows without the bow part anymore, they looked like proper pistols. I¡¯d kept shooting, hoping I could at least become able to hit the target if I practiced enough, otherwise all that work would¡¯ve been for nothing. Then, another surprise. System: You have developed a new Skill: Pistol System: You are the first to develop a new Skill: Reward Tokens: 15 (19) I¡¯d then spent a lot of time in my Fortress on target practice until I¡¯d reached Adept in my new skill. If Sigrid knew how much time I¡¯d lived over the course of the previous night, well, let¡¯s not dwell on that. Lianna endured the playful whistles and compliments from the others as she stalked over to us. ¡°You could¡¯ve told me why you wanted to know my favorite superhero,¡± she snapped at me, red-faced. ¡°Would you have given me a different answer if I had?¡± ¡°Probably. At least I¡¯d pick someone who doesn¡¯t have a skintight costume.¡± ¡°Are there any superheroes who don¡¯t?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Besides, what¡¯s the problem? You look fucking hot.¡± Lianna plucked at the fabric of the suit awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯m just not used to wearing something this...snug.¡± I was honestly surprised. Lianna had always struck me as such a confident, self-assured person. It had never occurred to me that she¡¯d have body-image issues. Over my time on Crucible I¡¯d started learning that I saw myself through certain unflattering filters, and had assumed that other people saw me the same way. I could thank Sigrid most of all for making me see that my filters and assumptions weren¡¯t entirely accurate. Who knew other people had the same problem? I suppose standing next to Jane and Sigrid anyone might feel a bit insecure, I know I still felt very out of place in their company, but this was Lianna. I was sure she could¡¯ve been a model too if she wanted to, though the thought of her taking a gig as a booth babe does not compute. People say that, they say ¡°oh you could be a model,¡± as though that¡¯s something rare and precious. I was honestly of the opinion that a lot of people could be models, that they didn¡¯t need to be especially beautiful so much as interesting to look at, and they needed to be able to pull off the right attitude. Lianna had both those qualities in spades. I thought she had an alluring figure and she certainly had that classic resting bitch face you see a lot of models wear in pictures, that haughty look that¡¯s strangely hard to look away from. I couldn¡¯t tell Lianna that, though. She¡¯d probably just think I was hitting on her. I was about to make a joke about her being lucky I¡¯d given her a choice at all and hadn¡¯t tried dressing her in a classic Robin costume with bare legs, tiny green spandex booty shorts, and a little yellow cape, but thought better of it. ¡°Lianna,¡± I said, standing up from the bench. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You don¡¯t have to wear it.¡± Sigrid also rose and put her hand on my chest to stop me from saying more. Then she stepped in close to Lianna, looking her straight in the eyes. ¡°Listen to me,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Dummy Daniel here is right. You don¡¯t have to wear anything that makes you uncomfortable, but believe me when I say that if the reason you don¡¯t want to wear it is because you¡¯re worried about how it looks, you¡¯re delusional.¡± Lianna looked away from Sigrid¡¯s piercing gaze, face flushing. Nina, who had been standing nearby, also came over. ¡°If I may interject here,¡± Nina said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for listening in, but you have no reason to worry, Lianna. However things may look to you from the inside, from where I¡¯m standing you look amazing in that getup.¡± Yeah. What she said. At that moment, Byron came to join his wife. ¡°Wow, Lianna, looking good. Did you make that outfit, Daniel?¡± ¡°Of course he did,¡± Jane said. ¡°Who else would dress his new partner in something so tantalizing?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure,¡± Byron said. ¡°I mean, he does have a thing for hanging around with gorgeous women but I didn¡¯t expect him to put her in something that sexy. At least, not on the first day.¡± ¡°Sexy?¡± Lianna said, flushing even redder. ¡°Come on.¡± ¡°Have you seen how your ass looks in that?¡± Byron said. Lianna tried to look at her behind and actually spun around once like a cat chasing its own tail. ¡°Really? Is it that good?¡± ¡°Honey, if I wasn¡¯t married...¡± Byron said, biting his knuckle. ¡°Nice to know you remember your wife is standing right here beside you,¡± Nina said. ¡°Hang on,¡± Jane said, pushing me out of the way. ¡°I gotta just fix one thing.¡± She reached towards Lianna and pulled the front zipper of the catsuit from where it was at her down a good three or four inches, stood back and took a look, then lowered it another inch. ¡°There, that¡¯s better.¡± ¡°What do you think, Daniel?¡± Nina said with a devilish smile. ¡°Oh will you look at that,¡± I said loudly, ¡°here comes Chika and Kenji. Looks like your whole team¡¯s here so I guess it¡¯s time for you to all go off to the labyrinth now. Alice has those scenarios you asked for all set up, Morgan. Better not keep all those monsters waiting.¡± ¡°Are you trying to get rid of us or something?¡± Nina said, looking amused. ¡°Perish the thought. Here, it takes so long to walk to the gazebo so how about I just open you a quick portal there now, huh?¡± A pinprick of Void appeared in the air and rapidly expanded into a two-dimensional portal. The gazebo in the town square was clearly visible on the other side. Byron¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°When did you become able to open a portal beyond line of sight?¡± ¡°Never mind that. Better get going before someone on the other side gets curious and comes through to this side.¡± Morgan shook her head bemusedly. ¡°Okay troops, you heard the man. Through the portal we go.¡± I was treated to more of those funny looks I seemed to get from some people wherever I went as they stepped through my portal, and when the last of them was gone I shut it down, leaving only me and Lianna in the dojo courtyard. ¡°They really like you,¡± she said as I opened a new portal for the two of us. The empty arena floor could be seen on the other side. ¡°Only because I give them presents,¡± I said. ¡°You should give them more credit than that,¡± Lianna said with a frown. ¡°You¡¯re right. I gotta stop doing that.¡± We both went through the portal, then I started using the arena¡¯s formation to set up targets around the perimeter. ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about that Arthur, though,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I sometimes catch him staring daggers at you. Did you do something to him?¡± ¡°Arthur? No, not that I know of. Maybe he didn¡¯t like the helmet I made him.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. When did he and Jane break up?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Heck, I don¡¯t even know for sure if they had something going on at all.¡± ¡°Oh, they did.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± I said, trying to sound nonchalant. She looked at me with a weird smile. ¡°I get it now,¡± she said. ¡°What do you get?¡± I said, growing irritated for no reason. I wanted to know what she knew about Jane and Arthur. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Fifty - Lianna levels up Lianna and I went to practice with her new pistols in the safety of the arena. I set up the usual ring of targets while she stood in the center of the floor peering at the P2 in her hand like it was a poisonous toad. Apparently a modified crossbow was one thing, but holding something that looked and felt like a real gun was different, and it took her a while to get comfortable with the idea. The P2 may have looked a lot like an Earthly pistol, but there were some key differences. There was no recoil, for one thing. The ammo capacity was enormous for another. And a regular gun couldn¡¯t heal you too. My intrepid Vice-Captain was annoyed at having to start over again with a new skill, but it took very little time to teach her Pistol. When it came time to reload, I showed her how to open the compartment in the grip and replace the mana crystal. Unlike most magical things on this world whose powers could be triggered with a thought I''d made this have a proper physical trigger, and accidents happen so I also explained the importance of setting the safety at all times except when she had the intent to shoot it. She leveled up to Competent scarily quickly, that fast learner Gift she had was something else. Once she felt like she could handle regular bullets she asked about the gun¡¯s other powers. She liked the targeting laser and pouted when I told her she wasn¡¯t allowed to use it until she got better at aiming without it, but she understood why: it wasn¡¯t a good thing to rely on crutches before mastering the basics. She was curious about the taser function and surprised me by asking if I could test it on her. She wanted to know what it felt like before she used it on someone else. I took one of her pistols and aimed it at her. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± I said. ¡°I was until you asked me that. Should I be worried?¡± ¡°I''m not gonna lie, it''s unpleasant, but it¡¯ll be fine. I had the same idea as you, I wanted to know how it felt so I got Alice to tase me. It¡¯s safe enough, but...unpleasant. Still wanna try?" She nodded. "Okay," I said. "Take off your shield ring first, though. Don¡¯t want its auto-defense to trigger.¡± ¡°Make sure you use the right power,¡± she said, tucking the ring into one of the many handy pockets in the catsuit¡¯s utility belt. Then she stood rigid, face scrunched, eyes closed, braced for the unpleasantness. So I tased her. Don''t Tase Me, Bro was a power I''d based on real-world tasers, or what I knew about them, at least. Like the pistol, I didn''t need to know the nitty-gritty of how it worked, just going in with a clear idea of the effect I wanted was enough. At first, I''d thought about making it shoot dart-like projectiles that delivered the electric charge. This was not ideal, though. In this pseudo-medieval milieu we were in, a lot of people wore metal armor. Even if the darts managed to stick themselves into the armor, they lacked enough oomph to penetrate far enough to touch the clothing or skin underneath, meaning the current would get grounded in the armor itself and not the person wearing it. But then I remembered I wasn''t tied down to physics, I had magic. I nixed the dart and just had it shoot a short pulse of electricity that scrambled the messages from the brain to the body, effectively paralyzing the target for a short period. A single taser shot used a lot more mana than the normal bullet, but having a non-lethal option was imperative. The electric pulse struck her and, well, you can picture what happened. Lianna''s body convulsed and she dropped to the arena floor, twitching. The effect was brief, around three seconds. ¡°Okay, not doing that again,¡± Lianna said, clambering back up onto her feet. Getting tased didn''t hurt in the same way getting shot with a normal gun did (I wanted to know what it felt like so as a test I winged myself with a real bullet from the P2, so I know whereof I speak), but it still hurt like hell. ¡°But you¡¯d be okay shooting someone else with it?¡± ¡°Beats killing them,¡± she said. ¡°True dat. Honestly I doubt you¡¯d be able to kill most Players with a single bullet,¡± I said, ¡°but it''s not worth the risk.¡± ¡°What if you shot me with a bullet now?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re weaker than most Players, but only because you haven¡¯t worked at toughening yourself up. We¡¯ll fix that soon enough. But even still, one bullet shouldn¡¯t take you out unless it hits something important.¡± ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s try it,¡± she said. ¡°You seriously want me to shoot you?¡± ¡°Yeah. I want to know. But, like, maybe just in the arm or leg. Wing me.¡± That''s exactly what I said when I did it to myself. Working with Lianna was going to be even more fun than I''d thought. I flipped the switch from tase to bang. ¡°You¡¯re sure you want me to shoot you with a real bullet.¡± ¡°Yeah. You can just shoot me with a healing bullet after, right?¡± ¡°So I have your consent?" She smirked. "Yes. Now just put a bullet in me already." "If you say so.¡± I tried to hide the joy I felt inside upon realizing that she trusted me enough to let me do this; I didn''t want her to misread things and think I was simply enjoying the prospect of shooting her. I turned on the laser target so she could see it was aimed at the top of her outer thigh, then pulled the trigger. She yelped and fell down again, clutching at her hip. ¡°Ow, ow, ow, ow,¡± she moaned. Then she pulled her hands away to peek at the wound. There wasn¡¯t one. The bullet hadn¡¯t penetrated her armor, it didn¡¯t even leave a mark on her bulletproof suit. She¡¯d still taken damage from it, but not nearly as much as she would have with no protection. ¡°How was that?¡± I said. ¡°Shut up and heal me.¡± I gave her a healing shot. There was a flare of light where it struck her, and her health bar went back up to full. ¡°Better?¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, thanks,¡± she said and got back up again, rubbing her hip. "I don''t think I need to know what it feels like if the bullet actually did go into me." ¡°How do you like that suit now? Wanna try it with the different defenses on top? It won¡¯t hurt as much.¡± She gave me a look of pure skeptecism, but the trust I''d earned so far was enough to overcome her concerns. ¡°I should test them, I guess. I¡¯ll put up the Healing Defense power.¡± Her entire body took on a slightly luminous quality as the power turned on. I shot her again with a normal bullet in her other leg. She squawked when it struck, and I barely had the chance to see her health drop for a fraction of a second before going back up to a mere sliver below full. ¡°That¡¯s not bad. It only hurt for, like, a split second,¡± she said. ¡°Kinda like getting a flu shot, only in the leg. ¡°Sigrid¡¯s sword hurt more." She put the shield ring back on and triggered it. The luminosity of Healing Defense added a ghostly transluscent film about an inch or two away from her body as it turned the Holtzmann shield¡¯s usual hazy shimmer into something more substantial. I shot her again and she didn¡¯t even flinch when the bullet struck her. I couldn''t even notice a difference in her health. She dropped both shields. "Now we''re talking." ¡°What¡¯d that feel like?¡± She pondered for a moment, then reached up and flicked her own nose. "Kinda like that: annoying but harmless. Seriously though, thank you, Daniel. I feel a lot safer having all this.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I started walking toward her to give her back the pistol when I felt a presence behind me, a familiar aura of power. ¡°Hi Akari,¡± I said without looking. ¡°You knew I was here? Boo, you¡¯re getting too good,¡± Akari said, dropping the power she used to conceal herself. ¡°Whatcha doin?¡± I stopped walking and looked at the P2 in my hand. Did I dare? ¡°Wanna see for yourself?¡± I said, still looking ahead toward Lianna. ¡°Sure,¡± Akari said in her usual carefree way. ¡°You sure you¡¯re sure?¡± I heard her sigh. ¡°Just show me, nimrod.¡± ¡°You asked for it.¡± I spun around fast and shot a taser round at her. She was faster. Even without superspeed, Akari¡¯s reflexes were so honed she was still able to leap away before it hit her. ¡°Ha!¡± she barked. ¡°Missed me.¡± I shot again. And again. And she dodged it again and again. ¡°This is fun,¡± she said as she bounced around the arena dodging shot after shot. The little light on the top of the P2 warned me it was running out of mana, so I made a new crystal appear in my free hand before dropping the compartment open, pushed the spent crystal out by slotting a fresh one in, then slammed the compartment closed and kept shooting at Akari. It took all of about a second. ¡°You know I could hit you if I really wanted to,¡± I said, still shooting. ¡°Superspeed would be cheating,¡± she said, still dodging. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it you who told me that in battle there¡¯s no such thing as cheating, there¡¯s only using everything you¡¯ve got to win?¡± ¡°I really hate that perfect memory of yours sometimes,¡± she said. The warning light was back on, meaning I had one, maybe two shots left. That would be enough. I flicked on superspeed and watched Akari. I tracked her with the gun¡¯s muzzle then aimed a little bit in front of her and fired off a taser. The projectile struck her in the arm, but she just kept running. So not enough after all. Figures she''d be too tough for a single tase to work. But what about several? It was difficult to track her while standing still so I started chasing her around the arena, pumping a fresh mana crystal into the ammo chamber and firing off taser shots one after another at superspeed until there was enough current running through Akari to take down a wooly mammoth. I¡¯m not proud of this, but I took immeasurable pleasure in watching her body get frazzled and drop to the floor in slow motion. She¡¯d knocked me down to that same floor hundreds if not thousands of times, and this was the first time I managed to get her to taste dirt. Akari rolled over and sprawled on her back. ¡°That was fun!¡± ¡°Nice to know it can even take down an S-Ranker,¡± I said, casually reloading it with another fresh mana crystal. ¡°I want one,¡± she said, hopping to her feet. ¡°You thought getting taken down was fun?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Heck yes. I don''t know the last time I was humbled. It''s good to be reminded I¡¯m not invincible once in a while, just means I gotta work harder. You look incredible in that outfit, by the way. Great choice.¡± Lianna managed to mumble a thank you. ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± I said, aiming the gun at Akari again. ¡°What¡¯s this, you want another go?¡± she said with a grin. ¡°I wanna test something. Do you trust me?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± she said without batting an eye. She stretched her arms out and stood there. ¡°Hit me.¡± I switched from taser to real bullets and fired one into her thigh, the same place I¡¯d shot Lianna. ¡°What the what?¡± Akari said, looking down at the blood seeping from her injured leg. ¡°Ow.¡± ¡°I was curious what kind of damage one of these bullets could do to someone like you and luckily you weren''t wearing your armor today." "Yeah," Akari said, "how fortunate." "Mmmm, very lucky," Lianna said, coming up beside me. "How would you compare that with being shot with an arrow?¡± I said, handing the pistol back to Lianna. She rubbed at the wound. ¡°A bit worse, I¡¯d say.¡± ¡°Hmmmm. Just a bit, huh?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a neat toy,¡± Akari said, ¡°now I really want one. What else can it do?¡± ¡°Show her,¡± I said, and Lianna obligingly shot Akari with a healing round. The tiny tick of health she¡¯d lost was erased and she was back to full. ¡°Seriously? It can incapacitate, hurt, and heal?¡± Akari said, then came towards Lianna with her arms out, grabby fingers curling and uncurling. ¡°Gimme.¡± I put my arm in her way. ¡°I¡¯ll make you one later, right now Lianna¡¯s using them.¡± ¡°Does she really need both?¡± Akari pouted. ¡°Yes, now scram.¡± ¡°Can I at least stay and watch?¡± ¡°Suit yourself.¡± I set the arena to make the targets appear every few seconds in random spots around its perimeter and bounded up into the stands beside Akari to watch Lianna practice shooting them. I pulled out some toasted seeds -- a favorite snack of the elves -- and Akari and I shared them as we watched and gabbed. It was nice to just sit and relax, I couldn''t remember the last time I''d just sat and done nothing. It helped that Akari is nothing if not interesting company, and she had some good ideas about what improvements I could make in the P3. When Lianna started picking off every target consistently I made them appear faster. ¡°I leveled it up to Adept!¡± she said after a while. ¡°Awesome. Now I want you to try dual wielding them.¡± She pulled the other from its holster and held one in each hand. ¡°This is going to make reloading harder,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯ll only need to reload half as often.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± The targets started up again. With a P2 in each hand, each gun was able to cover one hemisphere of the target area, meaning she didn¡¯t need to keep spinning around so much and could shoot even faster. But she was right, when it came time to reload it took a lot longer as she fumbled with not having a free hand. ¡°I¡¯ll work on a better reloading system in the next version,¡± I said. ¡°Try the laser now.¡± A thin red beam appeared from each pistol and she started shooting again. Her accuracy was much better with the targeting, and soon she was accurately hitting every target with only a half-second delay between them popping up. ¡°I gotta say, I feel pretty bad ass with these,¡± Lianna said when she finally stopped. ¡°You look it, too. A lot of people are going to be very surprised the first time they see you fight.¡± She slid the P2s back into their holsters. ¡°What¡¯s next on the agenda?¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to the forest to learn how to use knives.¡± ¡°Okay, but what about the kung fu.¡± ¡°Keep training in it. Kung fu and the other martial arts you''ll be learning will have lots of benefits for you, not the least of which is having something to fall back on if you find yourself weaponless and in a fight." "That¡¯s a scary thought.¡± "But if you have your weapons, and for whatever reason using your guns is impractical, then for you the elven dual knife fighting skill is the best choice. Especially if we¡¯re fighting together.¡± ¡°Elven dual knife fighting. That¡¯s what Petal¡¯s going to teach Kay, right? Am I allowed to learn that?¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± I said and called Petal by touching the nugget of jade on my Dick Tracy Communicator. She answered right away, a little projection of her face appearing over my bracelet. I told her that Lianna was coming back to the village and could she please teach her how to fight with knives. ¡°It would be an honor,¡± she said. ¡°I will prepare a set of blades for her.¡± ¡°Would it be okay if I gave her my original set?¡± ¡°That seems appropriate. Perhaps she will do a better job keeping them from being stolen," Petal said with a playful smile. ¡°Goodbye Petal,¡± I sighed, and shut the connection. ¡°Wow,¡± Lianna said, ¡°even the NPCs tease you.¡± ¡°Of course we do,¡± Akari said. ¡°It¡¯s just so much fun. You know they won''t let me have one of those communicator thingies.¡± Lianna didn¡¯t seem to catch that Akari just referred to herself as an NPC, something an NPC would never do. I chose not to mention it, although my curiosity about who or what the bright-haired sisters really were was burning hotter than ever. "That''s because we don''t want you calling us at all hours, which you know you would. You can''t be trusted." Akari stuck out her tongue and blew me a raspberry. "Pthhh." The first set of knives I¡¯d been given by the elves appeared in my hands. I used telekinesis to float them over to Lianna, then opened a portal to the elf village beside her down on the floor. Ordinarily I could only open a portal as far as an adjecent hex on the map, but using the power that increases the range of another power I could boost that to two hexes, far enough to reach the elves. The game may have limited how much I can level up my powers, but it also provided me with the means to often work around that in various nefarious ways. ¡°Will I see you later?¡± she said. ¡°Yeah. While you¡¯re blowing Petal away with how quickly you learn to use the knives I¡¯m going to go work on the upgraded P3. I want you as ready as possible in case this new quest involves combat, which I think it will.¡± ¡°Is it bad that I¡¯m excited about being in a fight?¡± ¡°No, but I find your enthusiasm about it a little scary. I¡¯ll come find you for dinner, then we can spend the night with the elves. I¡¯d like them to get to know you better. And speaking of that, there¡¯s one thing I¡¯d like you to do before going.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she said. ¡°Oh! Why did I just get a new power and what¡¯s Stop Staring At My Ears?¡± ¡°It¡¯s one of my powers that turns you into an elf and I¡¯m loaning it to you. I¡¯d like you to use it today, it¡¯ll help them be more comfortable with you.¡± ¡°O-kaaaay.¡± She turned into an elf. It goes without saying that it suited her very well. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± Lianna said. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you how you look,¡± I said. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to get in trouble for sexual harassment.¡± ¡°Yeah? It¡¯s good?¡± ¡°You look like an elf.¡± ¡°Really?¡± she said, feeling her ears. ¡°Go learn elf things,¡± I said. She grinned and stepped through the portal, leaving me alone with Akari. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure about her at first,¡± Akari said, ¡°but I like her.¡± ¡°I know how to pick them,¡± I said. ¡°Yes you do.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-One - Calm before the storm I wanted to duck into my Fortress of Solitude and get to crafting right away, but Akari insisted I stay and spar with her for a while. I did mention I have a hard time saying no to a pretty girl, right? ¡°So,¡± Akari said after making me fall down for the twentieth time, ¡°what¡¯s this I hear about some guild you¡¯re creating?¡± ¡°The Player¡¯s Guild? How¡¯d you hear about that?¡± I said, climbing back onto my feet. ¡°Annabelle told me.¡± ¡°Where¡¯d she hear about it?¡± ¡°City Council, probably. They gave you the Cathedral, didn¡¯t they? And since the Cathedral and the Arena are two of the...¡± Her voice trailed off at the end and she grimaced like she¡¯d realized she¡¯d said something she shouldn¡¯t have. ¡°Two of the what?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, swinging her sword in the air to make it whoosh. She did that sometimes because she liked the whooshing sound, she told me. ¡°They¡¯re just two of the nicer buildings in town, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what you were going to say.¡± I had an idea what she might have been getting at. The Cathedral and the Arena were on the two medallions I¡¯d been given by Annabelle and the Council, the ones that fit together to form two-thirds of a larger hexagonal object. I decided to take a stab at it. ¡°What¡¯s the third?¡± I said. She opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. ¡°So what are your plans for the Arena?¡± she said, changing the subject. Someone else would have probably kept pumping her for information, but I don¡¯t like doing that. If someone doesn¡¯t want to tell me something, I¡¯m not going to make them. So I let it go. The mere fact that she dodged the question told me I was on the right track. The Arena and the Cathedral were two of the biggest buildings in the city. The third was the city council building itself, which just happened to complete an equilateral triangle with the other two around the exact center of town, and I¡¯d bet my liver that¡¯s what¡¯s on the third piece. I just needed to figure out how to get it, and whatever fit into the round depression in the middle of the completed object. ¡°My plans?¡± I said. ¡°I thought I¡¯d ask Annabelle if we can use it for practice and training of guild members.¡± Akari¡¯s brow crinkled. ¡°Ask her? Why?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t she manage the Arena?¡± ¡°Y-e-sss,¡± she said, drawing out the word. ¡°Yes, but?¡± She smiled slightly, as though I¡¯d said something funny. ¡°That¡¯s not for me to say.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d help out. There¡¯s a lot of Players who could benefit from your instruction.¡± ¡°I dunno, Daniel. Taking you on as an apprentice was one thing. I don¡¯t know if my methods would work on your average person.¡± I thought about the relentless punishment she¡¯d put me through. If I hadn¡¯t been able to heal myself I probably would¡¯ve died under her tutelage. ¡°You make a good point. Still, I think you still have a lot to offer.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see. Get your guild up and running and we¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said. After another hour of her making me fall down over and over, I called it quits and moved on with the day¡¯s agenda. First, I went over to the labyrinth to check in with Alice about how it was going with Maple Leaf. It was obvious she was having a blast running them through their specially-prepared dungeon, and it sounded like the Players were too. I collected a stash of mana crystals the monsters had rounded up for me ¡ª the real reason I¡¯d popped in ¡ª then disappeared into my Fortress. I was getting better at crafting. I mean, I should hope so, given the amount of time I¡¯d spent doing it lately. After becoming Great Sage, my increased understanding of Void also helped considerably and enabled me to create things that would have been beyond my Adept level Artifice before. The problem was time. The act of crafting could take a long time, and that¡¯s not even including the time it took to replenish mana stores so I could keep crafting. That¡¯s why those mana crystals were so important. I knew I needed to put the brakes on all the crafting, though. I was starting to worry about how long I was spending in the Fortress under time dilation. I didn¡¯t feel any less sane than I used to be, if anything I felt my mental health was better than it had been for many years, but it was still something to keep an eye on. Nevertheless, crafting had to be done. It would have been nice to make something for the four new Maple Leaf recruits, but I had to take care of myself and my own team first. Namely: Lianna needed better pistols. The P3 I came up with looked similar to the P2, maybe a bit sleeker, moving past contemporary firearms and into a more futuristic look. Not too futuristic, not the sort of weapon a spaceman would be holding as he protected the shapely alien hanging off his leg on the cover of one of those 1950¡¯s pulp sci fi novels my dad collected. The P3 looked more sleek-sci fi-Glocky than bulbous-astro-raygun. Cosmetic differences aside, the P3 worked more or less the same as its forebear, with a few improvements. Too many improvements, honestly. It made them impractical for the purposes of mass production. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Making a few of them for Team Player use was one thing, but churning out magic firearms with so many powers would be too gargantuan a chore. I considered this a stepping stone toward the P4, an experiment to see what the most useful functions would be for a general purpose weapon that could be replicated at scale. The healing shot and taser were still there along with a power I synthesized that was like an upgraded taser, a proper stunning effect that traded the cost of using more mana for incapacitating the target for a longer period of time. It didn¡¯t fire a projectile but more of a beam. So okay, maybe it was a bit like a raygun. I also added a new type of shot that used Fire, Air, and Light to create a plasma bolt. It also took more mana for each shot, but the increased damage and ability to literally melt through most armor made up for it. I¡¯d also replaced the laser targeting and ammo warning light with a heads up display that showed a targeting reticle inside the wielder¡¯s field of vision, as well as an ammo counter, range finder, and info pulled from the target¡¯s Status like name, health, and such. Yes. Like a video game.
P3 Team Player Blaster Phaser Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise; Restriction: Use locked to first wearer ¨C [UNLOCKED] Powers: Bang! - Fire a metal projectile Don¡¯t Tase Me, Bro - Fire a ranged electric shock Heads Up - Weapon status and targeting display Healing Shot - Fire an energy projectile that heals instead of hurts; Requires affinity with Life Pew! - Fire a plasma projectile Set Phasers To Stun - Fire an incapacitating ray
I also improved the basic Bang bullet by implementing spiral-grooved rifling in the bore and reshaped the metal bullet to be more aerodynamic, which improved its range, accuracy, and damage. How did I know to do this? And for that matter why did it actually work? I¡¯m glad you asked. I knew how it worked because I was Adept at Pistol. Simple as that. Along with that skill came an ever-deepening knowledge of how all pistols worked so I knew about the development of Earthly firearms across history, and the helical bore groove and aerodynamically-shaped round were two significant innovations. There were others, but these two could actually affect how my magical pistol worked. Sort of. It was more conceptual than physical. The insides of my P3¡¯s had nothing to do with how things worked in the real world ¡ª there was no action inside my gun, just magic ¡ª but that¡¯s how fabricating an item with Artifice worked. The more detailed the idea was in my head, the better the result. Having the idea of a shaped round and grooved bore in my mind when fabricating the raw pistol item made the actual attack power I added later work better. It really shouldn¡¯t have, but it did, and by this point I was moving beyond questioning things like this and just running with them. I was curious, however, about how System was able to develop the Pistol skill when I needed it, considering the medieval fantasy milieu we were playing in. I asked System about it, and of course got one of those non-answers back. But that non-answer told me a lot, and it boosted my conviction that I was doing the right thing with the Players Guild. The reloading process for the P3 had also been streamlined. Now the grip could hold three mana crystals instead of one, and to reload all you had to do was push fresh mana crystals into the bottom of the grip, which automatically ejected and replaced old spent ones. I also upgraded the holsters to include a stockpile of mana crystals in a sort of Void-fed magazine. Now, all Lianna had to do to reload was slap the butt of the gun¡¯s grip against the holster on her thigh where fresh crystals were always waiting, one slap per crystal to be replaced, a process that took a fraction of a second and could be done one-handed. I didn¡¯t need a pair of P3s for myself ¡ª I could do everything the pistols could do without an external item ¡ª but need and want were two different things, and like my redundant shield ring it never hurt to have a backup that didn¡¯t have to rely on my own mana. Besides, I had to test the P3, and once I did it would become locked to my exclusive use, so why not carry a few? I didn¡¯t want to change where I wore my knives in their thigh sheaths so my holsters were on my belt slightly behind my hips and angled so that I could reach back and draw them quickly without my knives getting in the way. But wait, there¡¯s more. Lianna¡¯s utility belt also got an upgrade: each pouch on it was connected to its own tiny pocket dimension, each one with the storage capacity of a large hockey bag, and each one stocked with its own assortment of handy items. When I finally emerged from crafting all this only a few hours had passed in the real world, and I still had some time before I was due to meet up with Lianna. I nipped into town to pick up a few ingredients, then portaled back to the elf village to make dinner for us. It was while I was making the curry that the message cube in my pocket vibrated. Dinner would need to be quick; it would be A Bad Thing if Ruka showed up while Lianna was still there. Fortunately, I needn¡¯t have worried. When Lianna staggered into my tree house she was thoroughly exhausted and looked ready for sleep already. Her comely elven appearance made me do a double take when she came in, and even though she was tired she was radiating happiness. Petal had clearly put her through the ringer but it had paid off: Lianna was already Competent in Elven Dual Knife Fighting. I knew from experience that it was a skill that punched above its weight class; Competent in it was on par with being Adept in another fighting style. She was even happier when I showed her the P3s and demonstrated the improvements I¡¯d made. She looked more excited than ever to get into a fight. I took back the old P2¡¯s with the thought of sending one to Akari and giving the other to Nina. Only someone with Life affinity could use Healing Shot so they were of the most use to her or Jane, and Jane liked getting up close with her rapier. As for Akari, who knew if she could use it or not? But she wanted one, so she¡¯d get one. What made Lianna happiest, however, was being able to sit down and enjoy a home-cooked meal. Being Adept in Cooking I made a mean curry if I say so myself. While I worked in the kitchen, I opened my Status and shared it with Lianna. She had many unanswered questions and I answered them all as best I could. We talked about the Players Guild while we ate, and made plans to check out the Cathedral tomorrow and begin renovations as soon as possible. Despite our ambitious plans, I didn¡¯t expect the Cathedral conversion to take too long. We¡¯d use NPCs from our dungeons for a lot of it ¡ª I¡¯d created some iron golems who¡¯d be good for heavy lifting, and the elves would be perfect for the detailed woodwork ¡ª but I also wanted to give unaffiliated Players the chance to earn some gold by helping with the construction. Plus, we could use magic. Who needs a crane with telekinesis? Who needs mortar or stonemasons when you can use Earth magic to fuse things together and carve things into whatever shape you want? For that matter, who needs a quarry when you can just create blocks of stone on site? The original plan had been to hang out with the elves that night, but Lianna just didn¡¯t have it in her and I was expecting a secret guest so we called it an early night. I had just enough time after Lianna excused herself and went next door to her own tree house to sleep for me to clean up from dinner before Ruka arrived. I felt the usual rush of excitement when I heard her habitual three slow raps on my door that signaled Ruka¡¯s arrival. Little did I know at the time that this particular secret nighttime visit would be her last. Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Two - Worrisome times I¡¯d recently introduced Ruka to card games. For some reason this world didn¡¯t have playing cards so I¡¯d had to create a deck myself. I turned it over to the elves and they started mass producing them for sale in their shop in the city too, along with waffle irons, Go boards, and a few other Earthly games and conveniences I¡¯d taught them about. I¡¯d run out of card games I knew that could be played by only two people so Ruka and I were playing her favorite of the ones I¡¯d taught her, Cribbage. She was being quieter than usual, as though her mind was elsewhere. ¡°You know, we¡¯d be able to play a lot more games if we had more players,¡± I ventured. I¡¯d been toying for a while with the idea of introducing the topic of inviting more people to our game night. Yes, I was feeling guilty about still keeping all this from Sigrid and thought this might be a way to fix that. ¡°No,¡± Ruka said bluntly. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t need to know who you really are.¡± ¡°Still no.¡± ¡°Can I ask why the vehement rejection of the idea?¡± She put down her cards and took a sip of tea. ¡°I was going to wait until the end of this visit but I suppose I ought to tell you now.¡± ¡°That sounds ominous. Should I be worried?¡± She¡¯d stopped making eye contact, which wasn¡¯t like her, and that alone worried me. ¡°Would it bother you if I wasn¡¯t able to visit you for a while?¡± she said. ¡°Of course it would.¡± ¡°Then yes, you should be worried. And before you ask, I can¡¯t say why.¡± Her gaze suddenly snapped up and she locked eyes with me. ¡°But starting tomorrow,¡± she began, then looked away again, ¡°I won¡¯t be able to.¡± What was with the weird eye movements and heavy emphasis on tomorrow? I put my cards down and leaned back. ¡°Well that is worrisome and upsetting. But you can¡¯t say why, huh?¡± ¡°No shop talk, remember?¡± she said. So the reason she wouldn¡¯t be able to see me had to do with her being a demon. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shame it always has to be me who comes to you,¡± she afeed out of the blue, still looking away. She was just full of surprises today. ¡°I didn¡¯t think me coming to you was an option,¡± I said. ¡°Well it could happen,¡± she said, then looked me in the eyes again, ¡°as long as you don¡¯t mind teleporting into the middle of your enemies.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯d rather avoid that,¡± I said. We sat in silence, looking at each other, then out of nowhere she sighed and rolled her eyes. She picked up her cards again and looked at them, reorganizing them in her hand. ¡°It¡¯s moot anyway. After all, you don¡¯t know where to find me.¡± ¡°You mean the guess I made that first time you showed up here was wrong?¡± She looked up at me with a big smile, the first real smile she¡¯d given me since she arrived, and winked. ¡°That would be telling.¡± I boiled down her enigmatic behaviour to there probably being some sort of rule against telling me too much, but today¡¯s coyness was still strange, even for the succubus. Things were a little awkward between us for the next little while, but knowing it might be our last time for who knew how long neither of us suggested calling a night. We soon found our groove again and stayed up later than usual, making the most of each other¡¯s company for as long as possible, but all good things must come to an end. We¡¯d just finished a nostalgic game of Go when she sighed. ¡°I think it¡¯s time for you to kick me out, Daniel. It¡¯s almost tomorrow.¡± We took our time cleaning up ¡ª after that first visit she¡¯d started helping me with the dishes ¡ª but eventually we found ourselves at my door. We didn¡¯t usually linger over our goodbyes, but this time felt different. It almost felt like a farewell. A few visits ago, I¡¯d been thinking about games to teach her. I had contemplated then rejected the idea of introducing her to Twister because I wasn¡¯t sure I would survive the inevitable tangle of bodies with my chastity intact. I realized at that time that Ruka and I barely had any physical contact. We always greeted each other with words and said goodbye with a wave. We always sat across from each other at that table, except when doing dishes or playing a game that required movement. The only times we ever touched was when our hands would brush while both reaching toward a game piece at the same time or when one of us handed the other a freshly washed tea cup to dry. That¡¯s why I was so surprised when she grabbed me and clenched me in a tight embrace before leaving. Ordinarily, a person who looked like me would be happy to have a person who looked like Ruka give him a hug. Unfortunately, the pleasure was overshadowed by a powerful sense of foreboding that wasn¡¯t helped at all by her final words to me. As she held me close I felt her lips tickle my ear as she whispered, ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on you,¡± before letting go then ducking outside and disappearing in a twinkle of light. After she was gone I sank into the comfort of my own bed for the first time in a while. I¡¯d spent who knows how long get grabbing occasional catnaps in my Fortress of Solitude while crafting like a beast. Alas, the pleasure was short-lived because I found myself tossing and turning for hours, and my comfort descended into frustration. This was new to me. I¡¯d never had a problem falling asleep in the past. If anything I slept too much as I often sought escape from the black dog of depression in the blissful oblivion of sleep. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I ended up getting hardly any sleep at all that endless night. It¡¯s not that I wasn¡¯t tired, I very much was, and it wasn¡¯t that my brain was spinning with thoughts that kept me up. I just couldn¡¯t sleep. I did eventually doze off, I know that because the next morning I awoke to the comforting feeling of Sigrid¡¯s arm and leg splayed over me as she lay beside me, her head resting on my shoulder, snoring lightly. Her long blonde hair was tied up in the usual ponytail she wore when exercising, but something was different. It took me a few seconds to figure out what it was: she smelled different. She smelled kind of like vanilla, and it was coming from her hair. I pressed my cheek against the top of her head and took a deep sniff. ¡°Mmm.¡± Sigrid wiggled against me. ¡°Hmmm?¡± ¡°You smell good,¡± I said, breathing in deeply through my nose again. ¡°I know, right?¡± She rolled off me onto her back and stretched languidly. ¡°A few of us visited Lianna¡¯s friend yesterday after we were done in the labyrinth. You know, the one with the salon? Morgan had whipped up some scented shampoo and soaps and we had a spa night.¡± ¡°A spa, huh? That¡¯s a good idea. Remind me to tell Lianna we should build a proper spa in the Cathedral.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great idea!¡± Almost like she knew we were talking about her, Lianna called me on the Dick Tracy Communicator. Her annoyed face appeared when I answered. ¡°Where are you?¡± she said. ¡°Are you still in bed?¡± ¡°Uh, no.¡± ¡±Are you lying to me right now?¡± ¡±Yes.¡± ¡°Did you forget you¡¯re making me join your morning fitness sessions with Sigrid? I¡¯ve been waiting forever.¡± Her annoyance flipped to suspicion in an instant. ¡°Wait, is that person still there?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Sorry, my bad. I was supposed to wake him up and ended up falling asleep myself.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Lianna said. ¡°It¡¯s only you, Sigrid.¡± Sigrid chuckled. ¡°Who else would it be?¡± ¡°I thought maybe Daniel¡¯s late night visitor was still there.¡± Uh oh. ¡°Late night what now?¡± Sigrid said, then thumped me on the chest. ¡°Are you keeping more secrets from me, dummy?¡± ¡°I, uh...¡± I fumbled. Sigrid grabbed my wrist and brought the communicator closer to herself. ¡°Tell me everything,¡± she demanded of Lianna. ¡°It¡¯s none of my business,¡± Lianna said, ¡°but not long after I left his place last night I caught a glimpse of someone going into his tree.¡± ¡°Oh, it was probably just Petal or something,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Maybe, but why would she be wearing a long black wig?¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Who do we know with long black hair?¡± Sigrid paused to think. ¡°Chika?¡± She thumped me again, much harder. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I would not.¡± ¡°Yeah, that didn¡¯t seem plausible.¡± ¡°I thought it might be Jane in a wig,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Now that would be plausible. Why¡¯d you think it was her?¡± ¡°Whoever it was, they were very, let¡¯s say, well-proportioned.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Sadly it wasn¡¯t Jane. She was with me until late. Anything you want to tell us, Daniel?¡± ¡°Can I plead the fifth?¡± I said. Sigrid made a buzzer sound. ¡°Aannh! Sorry pal, we¡¯re Canadian. No such thing.¡± I started getting out of bed. ¡°In that case, yes. I am keeping secrets. But I¡¯m allowed. You don¡¯t tell me everything you do, either.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Sigrid said, grabbing me and pulling me back down onto my back, ¡±I do.¡± ¡°Maybe we ought to let it go,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I second that emotion,¡± I said. Sigrid propped herself up on an elbow and looked down at me. ¡°There¡¯s nothing that says you have to tell me everything,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m your friend, not your wife. But I thought we were at least close enough that you¡¯d tell me if you¡¯d hooked up.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said, looking up at her, ¡°you are my best friend. And if I had met someone, you know I would tell you. But it¡¯s not like that.¡± Sigrid reached out and took my chin in her hand, forcing me to look her in the eyes. ¡°So it wasn¡¯t a lover¡¯s tryst?¡± ¡°Ew,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Don¡¯t use that word. It¡¯s gross.¡± My eyes didn¡¯t waver from Sigrid¡¯s. ¡°It was not a romantic thing, no,¡± I said. ¡°We are not lovers,¡± I added, emphasizing the last word for Lianna¡¯s benefit and being rewarded with an audible cringe from her holographic projection. Sigrid chuckled and released me. ¡°I believe you. With all the opportunities you¡¯ve had, if you haven¡¯t made a move on anyone yet I doubt you ever will.¡± ¡°I hate keeping secrets from you, Sigrid, and you too, Lianna, but I hope you will both understand when I say that I can¡¯t tell you about it. Not right now.¡± ¡°Is it anything we should be worried about?¡± Lianna said. I probably paused a bit too long to think about it because both of their faces frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said. ¡°And besides, I was told last night would be the last time I got a visit like that, so it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Long black hair and a killer bod, huh?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°You do realize I¡¯ll be looking for anyone who fits that description.¡± ¡°Look all you want, I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ll never see her,¡± I said, and I must have said it wistfully because her frown softened to a concerned look. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sigrid said, resting her hand on my chest. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s fine.¡± I put my hand over hers. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°For what?¡± ¡°For caring about me,¡± I said. ¡°Of course,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°But you know, you really don¡¯t have to keep secrets from me. You should know by now I am not the judgy kind, you can talk to me about anything.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll probably regret this at some point,¡± Lianna said, ¡°but you can talk to me too. We¡¯re partners now, right?¡± ¡°Even about all his lovers?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Oh god,¡± Lianna said, ¡°please stop.¡± ¡°Seriously,¡± I said, ¡°thank you both. I promise I¡¯ll tell all, just not right now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you have your reasons,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°I do.¡± Sigrid started crawling over me to get off the bed. ¡°Well alright then, let¡¯s go running.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be right over,¡± Lianna said, and her projection fluttered away when she closed the communicator link. I don¡¯t know if it was accidental or on purpose, but Sigrid¡¯s breasts dragged across my pelvis as she clambered over me. Luckily she didn¡¯t linger, lest she felt the accidental reaction I had down there. I¡¯m only human. After she was done, I changed into exercise clothes as I followed her out. I¡¯ve said it before, but if you ever get the chance to get a personal pocket dimension in which to store all your stuff I highly recommend picking one up. I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I actually made an effort to change my clothing. I just thought about what I wanted to wear and poof, it appeared on my body. The absolute height of laziness, and it was wonderful. We were about ten minutes into our run and the two of them were trying to think of anyone who fit Ruka¡¯s description when a notification screen popped up. All three of us got the same one, as did all Players who were on teams. System: Global notification ¨C All teams must gather in the arena. Time remaining: 04:00:00 Show time. Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Three - Its not a cult After the announcement, we all stopped and looked at each other. Silent understanding passed between us, then I opened a portal to the dojo and Sigrid gave me a meaningful nod before stepping through without a word. Lianna and I took the next portal to the elf village to clean up and prepare. Less than an hour later we were both in my tree house, fully suited up, well fed to start things off with fully full mana, and ready to go. ¡°So what now?¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re a bit early.¡± ¡°Since we have time, let¡¯s stick with the plan and go check out our future guild headquarters.¡± ¡°One thing first,¡± Lianna said, and gestured at herself. ¡°I like the all-white outfit, but it sticks out like a cue ball.¡± She used the Be The Rainbow power on her suit to change its color to the deep, mottled, forest green the elves favored for their clothing. If she was simply gonna make it green I could¡¯ve just thrown on the basic power from the elven cloaks, but then again at least this way she still had options. Lianna rested her hands on the grips of her pistols. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you mean Assemble?¡± I said, with a tiny ¡ª probably creepy ¡ª smile. ¡°Nerd,¡± she said, shaking her head, but I saw her smile too. I had only been in the Cathedral one time since I helped wreck it, after I had the idea to use it as the guild house and came to survey how much of the original building could be saved and used for my purposes. I¡¯d found the original plans for the Cathedral in Daedalus¡¯ study, so I deconstructed them to match the ruined building¡¯s current state, then reconstructed them to fit the guild¡¯s needs using the skills I¡¯d also acquired from the Great Architect. The knowledge I¡¯d gained from knowing Architecture and Engineering included the full history of human design, so inspired by Frank Gehry¡¯s dreamlike buildings and the contemporary addition made to the Royal Ontario Museum in the real Toronto, I decided not to rebuild it exactly and designed it as a fusion of the original Gothic with distinctly futuristic Postmodern stylings. The original stone structure that remained would be restored while the parts that had been burned down or mysteriously collapsed somehow (ahem) would blend sharp acute angles with flowing curves built using unconventional materials. I liked to think I had a good eye for aesthetics but I knew some people would find it hideous and anachronistic. Whatever. When they get to redesign a Cathedral however they want, they can make the look however they like. Approaching the Cathedral ruins from the gazebo all I could see was how I pictured the end result looking. By the way Lianna gazed at the ruins, I knew she was doing the same thing. A few fighters from the city¡¯s martial arts clans stood guard to discourage people from going inside, ostensibly for safety¡¯s sake, but they all acknowledged me with a respectful nod and let us go right in. The sparsity of footprints in the dust covering the floor tiles told how effective the guards had been at keeping people out. ¡°Did you notice?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Notice what?¡± ¡°All those guards wore armbands with several colors braided together. Most of the clan members in town only wear one color, like the Dragon clan¡¯s green. But there¡¯s a lot who have multiple colors, some just a few, others more. It must mean something. Like a rank thing, maybe.¡± Oh crap. ¡°Also,¡± Lianna continued, ¡°every one of the fighters who were there when we trained with Sifu, you know, the ones who treated us so strangely, they all wore the multi-colored armbands. What is up with that?¡± I came to an abrupt stop and Lianna continued for a couple of paces before she realized I wasn¡¯t beside her anymore. She looked back at me over her shoulder. ¡°What now?¡± she sighed. ¡°God, you make me feel like Dana Scully sometimes.¡± I held my left arm out and reached with the other hand to open a concealed slit built into my shirt at the bicep. It revealed an armband with all six colors intricately braided together tied around my arm under the shirt. ¡°Get out! So you must know what it¡¯s all about then,¡± she said, turning and coming over to take a closer look. ¡°Well, I think I kinda started it,¡± I said. Resting bitch face. ¡°Explain.¡± ¡°You know how I want you to learn all six of the city¡¯s martial arts? Well, that¡¯s because I did that myself. At first I was just collecting skills, but then it sort of grew into something else. Each time I learned a new martial art I added its armband to the collection and braided them all together into one.¡± ¡°I see. Knowing you, I doubt it¡¯s that simple.¡± ¡°There is more.¡± Jane may have ruled the eye roll universe, but Lianna was the Padishah Empress of sighs. ¡°Let¡¯s hear it.¡± ¡°Once I knew them all I merged them into a single skill. Omni-do. Then I started merging other fighting skills into it, making it just a little bit better each time.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid to ask how many fighting skills you¡¯ve combined into it.¡± ¡°All of them?¡± Cue eye roll. ¡°Sweet Jeebus.¡± ¡°Anyway, I kept a simplified version that only combines the six original martial arts so that anyone who worked hard enough would be able to learn it. Chika knows it, and I taught a few of the Dragon clan people as well. And while those guys were working their way through all the clan dojos like I did, they told people about Toron-do ¡ª that¡¯s what I called the learnable skill that combines just the six fighting styles.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Of course you did. Let me guess. People from other clans started making the rounds and learning all the other martial arts and pretty soon you were teaching your custom skill to everyone.¡± I scoffed at that. ¡°Oh no. I only taught it to those few to start, then I taught them the Teacher skill so they could train everyone else themselves. I don¡¯t have the time for that.¡± Lianna shook her head slowly. ¡°You really are an idiot.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Do you really not see? That¡¯s why those guys got out of your way at the training session. They were letting their Master through.¡± Her brow furrowed and she nibbled on her thumbnail. ¡°But wait, they did it to me too. Am I Master-By-Association?¡± She thought about it a bit more, then shook her head, chasing the thought away. ¡±That¡¯s not the point, though. The point is you are an idiot because you didn¡¯t realize that¡¯s why they did that, and also because you didn¡¯t tell me about this secret little personal army you¡¯ve built for yourself like Paul with the Fremen.¡± Whoah now. Personal army? I tried to object but she plowed on. ¡°Seriously. Do you even realize what you¡¯ve done? You¡¯ll have all the Players on board with the Players Guild, and you¡¯ll have all the NPCs under your control too through this ridiculous custom mixed martial art nonsense. Did you plan this?¡± ¡°Well yes, but it¡¯s not like that. It¡¯s not about control. Sheesh, you make it sound like I¡¯m trying to rule the place. I just wanted a skill I could teach Chika and Andy so we could have fun fighting each other, then once I got to know all the different clanspeople as I trained with them I thought it might unite the clans and make all the NPCs stronger if they could learn it too. I told you, all I want to do is make everyone stronger together.¡± She wore her skeptical face again. ¡°You mean to say you never once thought about yourself being in charge? Just, everyone gets stronger together. End of message.¡± ¡°Right. Well...I mean I did set the whole thing in motion with a push in a certain direction, so in a sense I have some responsibility and influence, but I never wanted to be King or anything.¡± She glanced over at the guards and I followed her gaze. They had been watching us over their shoulders and when we looked over they immediately looked away from us and tried to appear appropriately guardy. ¡°Well, Tyler Durden, I¡¯m afraid that ship might have already sailed,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Oh my god what have you got me into?¡± ¡°You¡¯re blowing this all out of proportion. Look, I know those guys,¡± I said, gesturing at the guards. ¡°I asked them and some others to keep an eye on the place for us.¡± She sighed a sigh the bards shall sing about for generations. ¡°So you¡¯re saying they¡¯re not your Fedaykin, even though they wear your sacred armband and will do whatever you say and kowtow to you when you walk into a room.¡± ¡°First, they aren¡¯t just doing it because I said so. I am paying them for their work.¡± ¡°Did they agree to do it before you mentioned compensation?¡± ¡°Well, yes.¡± She nodded smugly. ¡°So that¡¯s your first argument fact-checked and refuted. What¡¯s second?¡± ¡°The armband doesn¡¯t mean anything. It¡¯s not sacred. Sure, I baked some symbolic rituals into learning Toron-do when I first started teaching it, but that was done kind of as a lark because I thought every good martial art needed something like that. As it turned out, the ones I taught really seemed to like it so I kept doing it.¡± ¡°So you created your own philosophy and taught it to your followers, and now they all wear your insignia.¡± ¡°Noooo, I never said that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m paraphrasing.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making too much of the armband. It only caught on because it lets them recognize each other as part of the group and...¡± Now it was my turn to sigh. ¡°And that¡¯s what an insignia is, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Dude, you¡¯ve created a secret society built around a warrior cult.¡± ¡°Nooooooo.¡± She quirked her eyebrow at me questioningly. Damn it, she had a point. But still. ¡°I take issue with the cult label,¡± I said. She laughed. ¡°But you¡¯ll accept the secret society one.¡± ¡°I never thought of it that way before, but, well, yeah. But you have to admit that¡¯s actually pretty cool, though. A secret society!¡± ¡°Well, yeah, I think it¡¯s wicked cool, but that¡¯s not the point!¡± She was starting to get more worked up and I was starting to get exasperated. ¡°Well what is the point?¡± ¡°Well I don¡¯t remember because this is all a lot to take in, Daniel. You could¡¯ve mentioned this when you asked me to join.¡± ¡°Would it have changed your mind?¡± ¡°Well, no. But it would have shown you at least recognized that it¡¯s a pretty important part of this, this, this whatever you¡¯re doing, and I¡¯d at least have known what I was saying yes to.¡± She glared at me. I raised my hands, fingers spread, and gave them the jazz-hands waggle. ¡°Ta da! At least now we both know.¡± ¡°Idiot. And I don¡¯t mean that in the cute flirty way Jane says it, I mean you really are an idiot, Daniel.¡± ¡°Okay, so I¡¯ll agree the whole Muad-dib Fight Club aspect is unexpected and troubling, but the rest I did for a reason.¡± ¡°I thought making everyone strong was your endgame.¡± ¡°It is, but there¡¯s a reason.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± I was about to answer her but then I realized this was something I¡¯d never expressed out loud before, and the walls had ears. I opened the door to my Fortress of Solitude. ¡°Let¡¯s continue this in there.¡± ¡°Where does this go?¡± Lianna said. ¡°It¡¯s the portal to my inventory space. It¡¯s Void on the other side so most people will die painfully of the Withers if they go in there, but you¡¯ve got the affinity now so you¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°Sounds like a lovely place.¡± She poked her head around to see through it and gasped. ¡°Why is there a cottage on a lake in there?¡± ¡°Must you question everything?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she said, and hesitantly stepped through. I could see her on the other sides gazing around with her mouth open. ¡°It¡¯s bigger on the inside.¡± I followed her, then led her to a pair of red Muskoka chairs on a dock overlooking the serenity of the lake. We sat down. ¡°So this is where you come to craft things, huh?¡± she said, leaning back into the big chair. ¡°It¡¯s not what I expected.¡± I made some cold drinks appear from the ample supply I had stored away. She picked hers up and took a sip, peering around at the scenery. ¡°This is so surreal, I gotta say. Why are we here exactly?¡± ¡°Privacy.¡± ¡°From whom?¡± ¡°System is always listening but I think it¡¯s on our side so that¡¯s okay.¡± She opened her mouth, most likely to ask what I meant by this, but I cut her off. ¡°It¡¯d take too long to explain now, but there have been several times when it felt like System was actively trying to help me. However, there are others who might try to interfere with our plans if they knew everything. I am not sure if they can watch us in here or not, but it¡¯s worth a try.¡± ¡°What do you mean others? Who¡¯s watching us?¡± ¡°Stratos for one. They appeared in the Void Dungeon after I won it so I don¡¯t know if coming here will stop them from hearing us, but I do know there are other observer entities who don¡¯t seem to be able to spy in the Void. While I¡¯ve benefited from them in the past, I still don¡¯t trust them. Actually, I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯re around anymore. I haven¡¯t heard from them in a while and I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s because they¡¯re not there anymore or have lost interest or, most likely, have been banned from communicating because they tried to break the rules again.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± she said, ice tinkling in her glass as she took a sip. Then she put her glass down on the wide arm of her chair and twisted in its seat, tucking her feet up under herself, and looked at me expectantly. ¡°So what is it you want to say that¡¯s too important to be overheard, then?¡± Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Four - Plans within plans ¡°Defense,¡± I said. Lianna wrinkled her nose. ¡°Say what?¡± ¡°You asked what my reason was for uniting people and making them stronger, Players and NPCs alike. It¡¯s defense.¡± ¡°Against what?¡± ¡°Against what is inevitably coming.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not at all ominous. And what¡¯s coming exactly?¡± I took a sip of my drink and watched a loon dive under the water before reappearing to bob on the surface of the lake ten feet away from where it went under. ¡°There¡¯s a big world outside our little map game board,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve gone a few hexes beyond where most people have explored and it¡¯s mostly just wilderness with pockets of monsters here and there. If there are more dungeons out there I didn¡¯t find them, but I wasn¡¯t exactly looking for them either.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound particularly threatening to me.¡± ¡°Well, we could assume it just goes on like that forever, empty wilderness, or that there¡¯s a wall at the end and we¡¯re trapped in a bubble we haven¡¯t reached the boundary of yet. Either of these effectively limits our game to the area within a few hexes of the city. But that doesn¡¯t explain all the NPCs migrating into town.¡± ¡°You think all those NPCs must be coming from somewhere,¡± she said. ¡°Yes, and they keep coming, more and more each day. Word of Toronto is spreading.¡± ¡°Which means we can assume the active game board is significantly larger than what¡¯s been explored so far,¡± she said. I stayed quiet as she worked through the idea. ¡°As word spreads, someone nefarious will inevitably hear about us and they will inevitably come. So you¡¯re planning for defense now against that coming eventuality.¡± ¡°You got it,¡± I said. We sat in silence, drinking and listening to the loons call. ¡°You really think something¡¯s out there?¡± she said. ¡°I think we can assume there¡¯s much more to this world than you have dreamt of, Horatio.¡± ¡°The correct line is¡ª¡± ¡°I was paraphrasing,¡± I said. ¡°Look, if I¡¯m right and this was designed to be a zero sum game with only one team winning and taking control of Toronto and its region, then that¡¯s our opportunity. The game balance will be set to contend with the strength of a single winning team, but what if it isn¡¯t just one team, what if it¡¯s every Player united in the defense of our city, and with trained NPCs backing us up?¡± ¡°And that¡¯s your plan.¡± ¡°That¡¯s my plan.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡± ¡°Harsh!¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it? Working together we¡¯d be able to drive off anyone who came at us. Well, unless they pulled an Iliad and all united against us, laying siege for ten years to starve us out, but I think that¡¯s rather unlikely.¡± She shook her head. ¡°How can someone with the History and Literature and Trivia skills not know what always happens when one group is quantifiably stronger than everyone else?¡± ¡°Subjugation?¡± ¡°Call it subjugation, call it Manifest Destiny, call it a jihad, call it what you want. The strong always look toward conquest and expansion. Usually trumped up with some lame rationale like national security.¡± The word jihad made me think back to her earlier Dune comparison. ¡°Like Paul and the Fremen?¡± She nodded. ¡°And the Padishah Emperors and their Sardaukar before them.¡± ¡°And Leto II and his Fish Speakers afterwards.¡± ¡°I forgot about the Fish Speakers,¡± she said. ¡°If we¡¯re sticking with Dune analogies, your situation actually seems to be most like them.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°You seem to think you can see the future and your fanatic following is mostly women.¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± Lianna cut me off and began rattling off the names of all the female NPCs and Players I¡¯d allied myself with and counting them on her fingers. ¡°Alice and the Doppels, Petal and the Matriarchal elves, Devorah and her courtesans, Sigrid, Chika, Morgan, Jane¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯d hardly include Jane¡ª¡± ¡°Please. Kiki, Tiff¡ª¡± ¡°Come on.¡± She looked over at me. ¡°Me.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°You make it sound like a harem.¡± She almost choked on her drink. ¡°If I thought it was a harem I would not have included myself.¡± ¡°There¡¯s that at least.¡± ¡°Jeebus. You¡¯re not just the Spacing Guild, you¡¯re the Imperium, the Fremen, CHOAM, the Tleilaxu, and the Bene Gesserit all rolled into one.¡± It was funny because in a way it was true. ¡°I think you mean we are. You¡¯re part of this now.¡± ¡°Jeebus.¡± Lianna took a few deep breaths. ¡°Okay. I think I¡¯m calm now. Sorry, you threw me for a loop with all this Toron-do jazz and the nameless threats from beyond and I just needed to process it by flipping out for a bit. Coming here actually helped a lot, it¡¯s hard to be upset in this setting.¡± ¡°You see why I really don¡¯t mind spending so much time here. And it¡¯s okay. I am an idiot. I¡¯m sorry I wasn¡¯t bright enough to think of mentioning the whole thing with the NPCs learning my martial art before.¡± She lifted her hand from the wide armrest of the Muskoka chair and waved it. ¡°Bygones. Now. Let¡¯s talk about where you¡¯re wrong and what to do about it.¡± ¡°You mean how I¡¯m being naive and we need to shut it down before this turns into a game of global conquest and Imperialism?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°all except for the part about shutting it down. I think we should run with it.¡± ¡°You want to take over the world?¡± ¡°There are more ways to conquer than by force. Haha, I can see your brain working.¡± ¡°Just give me a second. I¡¯ll get it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll wait,¡± she said, reclining fully into the chair and closing her eyes. ¡°Here¡¯s a clue: why are all those NPCs coming to Toronto?¡± ¡°Waffle irons?¡± ¡°You¡¯re being facetious but you¡¯re actually pretty warm.¡± ¡°Prosperity? The city¡¯s doing pretty well right now. I think attracting more NPCs was bound to happen as Players took over dungeons and started using their resources.¡± ¡°I disagree. You say the game is designed for conflict between teams, that we¡¯re supposed to fight amongst ourselves until one team prevails. That kind of battleground doesn¡¯t exactly make for a tourist mecca.¡± ¡°But if we don¡¯t fight amongst ourselves we can work together to make this place a haven. A very well-defended haven.¡± She opened one eye to look at me. ¡°I think you¡¯re missing the opportunity here. Our purpose shouldn¡¯t be defence, at least not primarily. I think our purpose should be cultural expansion.¡± ¡°What, a mercantile empire rather than a military one.¡± ¡°Yes and no. What if your Toronto martial art¡ª¡± ¡°Toron-do. Do.¡± Big sigh. ¡°What if your secret society spread to all the places where these NPCs are coming from along with our trade goods? Imagine those colorful bands around the arms of all the fighters everywhere.¡± ¡°There¡¯d be nobody to defend against because they¡¯d all be on our side.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still the same endgame, only bigger.¡± Holy crap, she was right. ¡°Strength and unity not just of Toronto, but of Crucible,¡± I said. ¡°Colonialism done peacefully.¡± ¡°Colonialism? Really?¡± It was my turn to quirk an eyebrow at her. ¡°Sending in missionaries to convert people and overwhelm them culturally sounds pretty Colonial to me.¡± ¡°But this is different. We don¡¯t want to supplant their culture, we just want to create an atmosphere where we aren¡¯t seen as a threat or a prize, but as a valuable ally.¡± ¡°And avoid violent conflict,¡± I said. ¡°Peace through superior firepower.¡± ¡°More like peace through waffles, but yeah.¡± ¡°I¡¯m convinced.¡± ¡°Really? Just like that? That was easy.¡± ¡°Lianna, I¡¯m really glad this happened before the coming quest.¡± ¡°What does the quest have to do with anything?¡± ¡°Whatever this quest is, it¡¯s going to try to pit our teams against each other. But if we¡¯re going to pull off our master plan it is crucial that we do not let this happen. We have to find a way where everyone wins this quest together or it might be too hard or too late to get everyone on board.¡± ¡°If anyone can find a way, it¡¯d be you.¡± I realized something then. I started chuckling and Lianna gave me that what¡¯s-so-funny-then-eh?¡± look and before I could help myself I blurted out, ¡°I¡¯m the protagonist.¡± She gave me a different look then. I didn¡¯t know what it meant, not until she said it out loud. ¡°Of course you are. We are all the protagonists of our own stories. Idiot.¡± We¡¯d finished our conversation and our drinks, so after one last look out at the serene lake we returned to the Cathedral. As far as anyone back on Crucible knew we¡¯d never left. The few minutes we¡¯d spent in the inventory were only a few seconds in the real world. Lianna and I did a walkthrough, going through the plans and brainstorming new ideas for the reconstruction. The more we talked about it, the more she got excited by the prospect. Not that I had a single iota of doubt anymore, it only reinforced that I¡¯d chosen the right person. Once we were done, there was still lots of time before we were due to present ourselves at the arena. Outside the Cathedral, a few teams had already shown up to wait. ¡°I¡¯d rather not go out there yet,¡± I said. Then I remembered a certain room in the catacombs my ferret had ferreted out. ¡°Want to explore the catacombs?¡± Lianna¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Hell yes.¡± I felt a pang of sympathy for her. All this time she¡¯d been craving adventure but thanks to her odd set of abilities she¡¯d been shut out of the fun until now. How many more Players were there like her? People who wanted to play the game but for whatever reason had been left out. All the more reason to get the Players Guild up and running as soon as possible. The rubble blocking the door that the cultists had been guarding had been cleared away, but the passage down had collapsed and was unpassable. This was a good thing, it meant that nobody else had been down there since I sealed up the hole I¡¯d bored down. I reopened the hole, then jumped down. Lianna was nervous to follow, but I reminded her that her suit had the Able To Leap Tall Buildings power on it and a drop of a mere twenty-three feet and five inches was nothing. I let Lianna lead the exploration for a while, I even let her take care of the few monsters she found with her P3s, but I did subtly guide us toward the large metal door I¡¯d seen last time, the one with no keyhole. It wasn¡¯t until the door was right in front of me that I noticed something my ferret hadn¡¯t been able to see before: a shallow indentation in the middle of the door, the size and shape of a baby¡¯s hand. I immediately thought of the item I¡¯d liberated from that head cultist, the thing he¡¯d worn on a chain around his neck. It appeared from my inventory, a small metal hand, about the size of a baby¡¯s. I placed it into the indentation and was rewarded with the sound of many bolts sliding and gears grinding inside the door. Lacking any kind of handle on this side, I pushed on the door and it swung in to reveal a large room behind it. ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Jackpot.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-FIve - We strike it rich I¡¯ll admit, I didn¡¯t suggest touring the catacombs on a whim. I had one specific reason for coming back down into them: there was something I was hoping to find. The big round room beyond the baby hand door was it. And it was even better than I¡¯d hoped. Most of the rooms in the catacombs were in rough shape, no doubt the destruction of the Cathedral above them had something to do with that, but this one looked completely intact. The strength of its high, vaulted ceiling had likely kept it safe, along with a healthy layer of plot armor. Good thing, too. Its curved walls were lined with shelves, many of them filled with potion vials. This was what I¡¯d been hoping for, the cult¡¯s secret stash of exorbitantly-priced healing potions. I was not expecting what else we found there, though. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Lianna said, peering at a complicated apparatus lurking in the middle of the room. It was the big brother of those tesla coil things in the summoning chamber, rising from the center of the room to its bulbous top and surrounded by five oval pods connected via wide, crooked tubes reaching down like a titan¡¯s fingers. The first thing that came to mind were the cryo units from the Alien movies. The pods were the right size to hold a person, too. ¡°This, I believe, is how they made those potions,¡± I said.
Scarlet Hand¡¯s Diabolic Extraction Unit A relic of demonic technology from ages past, this device uses a complex alchemical formation to extract vitality or energy and convert it into elixirs. Powers: Drink Me - Convert siphoned essences into elixirs It¡¯s In You To Give - Siphon energy This Won¡¯t Hurt A Bit - Siphon vitality
¡°Yeuch,¡± Lianna grimaced at the sealed pods. ¡°You don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s still...¡± ¡°One way find out.¡± I went to one of the pods and pressed the big inviting button on its top. It opened like a clam revealing a padded bed inside complete with pillow. Thankfully, there was nobody still in it. On the underside of the lid portion there were three labeled buttons: Open/Close, Vitality On/Off, and Energy On/Off. ¡°Thanks goodness,¡± she said, seeing it empty. ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to see what a person looks like after all the life¡¯s been sucked out of them.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said, pointing to the buttons under the lid, ¡°I don¡¯t think it was used to drain someone dry. Look, the controls are on the inside.¡± ¡°So the person inside could choose how much to drain,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I guess this was used kind of like donating blood to the Red Cross.¡± ¡±Yeah, if the Red Cross was a for-profit cult aiming to drain people¡¯s wallets dry.¡± Once I¡¯d moved and the apparatus was no longer in the way, I could see another solid metal door directly across from where we¡¯d entered, less cumbersome than the one with the baby hand but still quite sturdy-looking. Lianna ambled over to check out the potion stockpile while I went to examine the other door. It was locked, but there was a keyhole. ¡°Daniel,¡± Lianna called across the room to me, ¡°would you say this room counts as part of the Cathedral?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say so, yes,¡± I said, using the key I¡¯d taken along with the metal hand from the head cultist to unlock this door and finding another room behind it. It wasn¡¯t a large room, but it was packed full of bulky chests. ¡°Are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Probably,¡± I said, entering the room. ¡°We are going to be so rich.¡± ¡°Um,¡± I said, opening a chest, ¡°I think we already are.¡± ¡°Oh? What¡¯d you find?¡± Lianna jogged over to join me, then gasped when she looked inside the open chest. ¡°Holy shit,¡± she said. I went to another and opened it, then another, finding the same thing inside all of them. It was like opening the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. The chests were full of gold, all the gold that the cult had extorted from all those Players who needed healing plus a whole lot more besides. We stood there, goggling at the gleaming fortune in front of us for some time. ¡°You know we can¡¯t just keep it all for ourselves, right?¡± I said. ¡°We can¡¯t?¡± she said, then sighed. ¡°Yeah, I guess we can¡¯t. But what are we going to do with it? We can¡¯t just give it back, we have no way of knowing who spent what on healing.¡± ¡°What do you think about reinvesting it back into civic improvements? Using it to make something that would benefit everyone, you know?¡± ¡°Such as?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a few ideas,¡± I said, closing the chests. ¡°I¡¯ll bet you do. Care to share?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Well, you know the cultural revolution we¡¯re planning?¡± ¡°Ugh,¡± she said, sticking out her tongue, ¡°that¡¯s an even worse phrase to use than colonial, but yes.¡± ¡°What do you think about using this money to really fix the place up.¡± ¡°You mean the Cathedral?¡± ¡°I mean the city, and beyond. I was thinking that down the line we might want to build a new arena outside the city and repurpose the current arena for exclusive guild use. Now I don¡¯t see season to wait.¡± She held up her crossed fingers. ¡°I know you¡¯re like this with Annabelle and all that, but do you really think she¡¯ll be okay with the guild taking it over like that?¡± ¡°Well...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with me, Daniel. What aren¡¯t you telling me this time?¡± I produced the Arena and Cathedral medallions and explained how I got them. Lianna treated me to another award-worthy sigh. ¡°So in effect, when the city gave you this along with permission to use the Cathedral, they were actually giving you the whole thing. And that means that when Annabelle gave you hers she wasn¡¯t just giving you the keys to the Arena, she was signing over the pink slips too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s my suspicion.¡± ¡°And you were planning on telling me this when?¡± ¡°When I remembered to mention it, which I just did.¡± ¡°Christ, you really do need me, don¡¯t you? You can''t even keep all your assets straight.¡± ¡°That''s what I keep telling you. And I don''t want to build just another arena, I want a true colosseum that can host bigger spectacles for much bigger crowds. We¡¯ve got the gold, and more.¡± ¡°If we''re going all out, let''s create a huge marketplace area surrounding the arena to attract merchants and clientele alike.¡± ¡°If you build it, they will come.¡± ¡°Yessss," she said, her face veritably glowing as her imagination ran wild. "I can see it. Shops, restaurants, vice parlors, the whole Vegas scene. Expand our penny ante bookie biz into proper casino mogul action. Part civic improvements, part bread and circuses.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need theatres, too.¡± "Everybody likes a good show," she said. ¡°And a spa!¡± ¡°Hell yeah. A Norweigian spa with saunas and hot tubs and cold waterfalls and massages and hammocks and bonfires and gourmet food and oh my god let¡¯s do it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need to build up infrastructure to support the increased traffic and population boom." I opened my map. "The town of Caldeon here is close enough to the city, we could build the arena and marketplace area between here and there. Caldeon doesn¡¯t have a wall so it could expand easily, so yeah, let¡¯s use this gold to make major improvements there and turn the whole region into a tourist mecca.¡± ¡°Create a twin city? I like that idea.¡± ¡°Good, because you¡¯re gonna run the show.¡± She made a face. ¡°I figured as much, but it does sound like fun.¡± ¡°We just need to do one thing first.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Solve the Darkness Dungeon in Caldeon. We can do that when this quest is over.¡± ¡°Suuuure," she said, "Let¡¯s just go solve the Darkness Dungeon, then after a breakfast break we can grab a few more dungeons for the hell of it. You say these things like it¡¯s normal.¡± ¡°Solving it won¡¯t be an issue. I already have a good idea what the Darkness quest is, the only real problem is figuring out the hidden quest. I¡¯m curious what title and benefits it gives.¡± Lianna pondered me with an amused look. ¡°When you play D&D you go room by room and fill in the whole map, don¡¯t you? You need a hundred percent completion.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you?¡± Just then, my Dick Tracy Communicator vibrated with an incoming call. The sapphire was glowing, meaning it was coming from Sigrid. ¡°Here,¡± I said, handing Lianna both the key and the metal hand before answering the call. ¡°You really trust me enough to give me these?¡± she said. ¡°The keys to ridiculous riches?¡± ¡°Shhh,¡± I said, then turned to Sigrid¡¯s image floating in front of me. ¡°Whattup Sigrid?¡± ¡°You guys coming or what?¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Where are you?¡± ¡°Outside the arena with everyone else, where are you? It¡¯s starting soon.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be there in a jiff,¡± I said, then closed the call and opened a portal. ¡°Time to go. Ready?¡± ¡°No,¡± Lianna said with a quake in her voice. I couldn¡¯t remember seeing her this nervous before. Or nervous at all. I put my hand on her shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ve got this, Vice-Captain.¡± She huffed a short laugh and I saw her hands clutch the cold metal grips of the pistols strapped to her legs. ¡°I trust you, too,¡± she said, and stepped through the portal. We emerged onto the gazebo platform and I quickly closed the portal. I was hoping it would appear like we¡¯d simply teleported here from another circle. From our raised vantage point on the gazebo we saw Sigrid was right, everybody else was already there and the crowd nearly filled the entire courtyard. The entire place buzzed with excitement. Players milled around in clusters, eyeing each other as they sized up the opposition and jostled for a position to enter once the arena gates opened. Everyone was decked out in full battle gear, armor glinting everywhere and fearsome weapons openly carried. Almost everyone had jumped on the theme look bandwagon, and the place looked like the most incredible cosplay event on this or any other world. I was wearing the outfit I¡¯d premiered during my duel with Flint, even the cape. It was more stylish than my old nehru suit, but still only looked like a set of clothing rather than real armor. I must have looked underdressed by comparison, but I knew I was better protected than anyone else there. I also didn¡¯t need to openly carry any weapons on my body, I could make any of the many different ones I kept stashed in my inventory appear in my hand with a thought, but I still wore my paired elven knives, one strapped to the outside of each thigh, forest-style, as well as my P3¡¯s in their hip holsters. That was enough. I didn¡¯t see the need to hide everything anymore, given my escapades in the arena that cat had probably long since fled the bag. It was Lianna who spotted Team Maple Leaf first, and we made our way off the gazebo then headed toward them. Listening to snippets of conversation as we moved through the crowd, I discovered the cat was definitely out of the bag. Everywhere I went, Players whispered to each other about me being the guy who took out two whole teams single-handedly in the arena. Seems not only word of my miscreancy had spread, so too had the brash embellishment of its scope. Regardless, people now saw me as a clear and distinct threat. Well, let them think that if they wanted. As long as it kept people from getting up in my business and looking to start a fight, then it worked for me. Lianna clung close to my side as we made our way through the crowd. She was wearing the Black Widow catsuit tuned to a deep green color and her weapons were worn opposite to how I had mine: P3s holstered below her hips and twin elven blades easily accessible from their crossed sheaths on her lower back. The reinforced padding in vital areas made her outfit look a bit more like armor, but like me she still appeared relatively defenseless compared to all the heavily armored Players milling about. Like me, she didn¡¯t need to worry about it; anybody who tried attacking her would soon regret it. I didn¡¯t need to be able to read minds to know what she was thinking, although I did have a power that could let me glimpse surface thoughts. It was clear by the tension in her body and the way her eyes darted around that she was extremely apprehensive, whether because this must have been an overwhelming new situation or because she was still not used to the form fitting catsuit was anyone¡¯s guess. Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six - Waiting with friends The spot where Maple Leaf had chosen to wait for the arena gates to open was off to the side where things were marginally less crowded. Lianna was still wound up pretty tight when we reached them, her eyes darting around nervously and her teeth clenched to hard I could hear the grinding, so once we found a place next to Sigrid and Jane I put my hand on her forearm to get her attention. ¡°I could''ve sworn you had a power that made you fearless but you look ready to bolt at any instant. What gives?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not afraid, it¡¯s just that everybody¡¯s staring at me,¡± she said. ¡°No they¡¯re not,¡± I said. ¡°Actually," Jane said, reaching out to lower Lianna¡¯s zipper to show more cleavage, ¡°they are. Partly because she looks sexy as fuck, but also because she¡¯s with you.¡± ¡°You are a bit of a celebrity, Daniel,¡± Sigrid said, reaching out to lower the zipper a smidge more and getting an approving nod from Jane. ¡°And now that everyone can see you chose her for your team, so is Lianna.¡± ¡°I suppose,¡± I said. ¡°Why would anyone pay any attention to me with you guys here?¡± Lianna said. ¡°You¡¯re both freaking gorgeous.¡± ¡°Thanks, Lianna,¡± Jane said. ¡°About time someone noticed.¡± Then for no reason at all she kicked me lightly on the shin. I mean, Lianna wasn''t wrong about Sigrid and Jane. They definitely drew a lot of attention to themselves simply by existing, but in their current getups they were even more captivating. Sigrid always shone like a sunrise in her usual gleaming silver scale armor and long blonde hair, but Jane had once again switched things up. She¡¯d dumped the long leather duster coat and merged elements of her original swashbuckler theme back into the look. The second skin of reinforced black leather pants still left nothing to the imagination, only now she sported knee-high buckled boots over them. The upper part of Jane¡¯s outfit was a frilly white blouse cut enticingly low that Byron had enchanted to provide a modicum of armored protection. A tightly cinched black leather corset accentuated her assets while also acting as a bit of extra armored protection. She¡¯d draped a white sash cavalierly around her hips, from which her trusty old rapier dangled in its scabbard with The Rapier Of Doom clipped beside it. Finally, she wore black gloves and, of course, some vital jewelry: her shield ring, her communicator bracelet, and her choker. She''d clearly made a trip to the salon herself, because her red hair was done up in a series of complicated braids I couldn''t even begin to describe besides saying it looked really pretty. It wasn''t like I didn''t notice how good she looked, I just didn''t see how it was my job to fluff her delicate ego by pointing it out. Lianna, on the other hand, was my responsibility. "Lianna," I said, "remind me to get you a new mirror. If you can''t see how incredible you look then the one you''re using must be broken or something." All three of them turned to look at me like I''d said something weird. "Stop hitting on her," Jane said. "I''m not..." I began, then saw the smirk. "Lianna has nothing to worry about, I don''t fish off the company pier." "I have no idea if I should be offended or relieved," Lianna said. Suddenly, Lianna jostled me at the same time I heard Sam say ¡°Hey!¡± I looked over to see a team of Players bulldozing their way through our group. They¡¯d insolently barged past Sam, who¡¯d in turn knocked Lianna into me. It was Team Droogs, infamous controllers of the Fire Dungeon, unmistakable in their all-white uniforms with those black bowler-hat helmets and tall shit-kicker boots. Each member had customized their look with various black accessories like belts, suspenders, gloves, and whatnot, and most wore some kind of black makeup like a bunch of Gene Simmons wannabes. A few carried bottles of milk from which they occasionally took a swig then glared around defiantly, as though daring someone to mock them. It was definitely tempting. ¡°They¡¯re really getting into character, aren¡¯t they?¡± Lianna said with a sneer. ¡°Goolying around peeting their moloko while looking to do a bit of the old ultraviolence. All we need is some Ludwig Von." ¡°A strange choice of role models to be sure,¡± I said. I did a quick evaluation of the new faces among the Droogs and saw they¡¯d maintained their focus on raw strength and attack powers, and the majority of them still had only the basic, most common elemental affiliations. Now that I could view team builder Statuses, I did a double-take after seeing the Droog leader¡¯s for the first time. He had good abilities, especially one in particular.
Warren Douglas Team Droogs (Captain)
Affinity: Fire - Novice
Gifts: I Don¡¯t Like Surprises - Enhanced awareness of surroundings
Powers: All Can Be Revealed - Adept: See any status Look Ma, No Hands - Adept: Telekinesis Put A Fork In You, You¡¯re Done - Adept: Create a carpet of fire in an area; Requires Affinity with Fire Push Your Luck - Adept: Improve your fortune Sword Sweep - Novice: Ranged slash attack; Requires Expert mastery of Sword
Skills: Affinity Control - Adept Camping - Competent Engineering - Novice Hunting - Competent Mining - Novice Trapping - Competent Sword - Expert
From that point onward it became my mission to see Push Your Luck in use so I could mimic it later. If Murder Hobo was a great Gift, which it was, then Push Your Luck was a simply amazing Power. I hadn¡¯t figured out the specifics, but I was pretty sure Lianna¡¯s It¡¯s Fine gift worked along the same lines, offering a constant, generalized, low-level boost to her fortune. May the odds be ever in her favor. ¡°Step aside, peons,¡± a Droog said as he brazenly shoved Lancelot out of the way. Lance bristled and was about to pull out his sword but Arthur put his hand out to stop him. ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± Arthur said. ¡°It¡¯s what they want.¡± ¡°You have to stand up to bullies,¡± Lancelot said. ¡°It¡¯s not worth it. Let¡¯s just beat them in the quest.¡± Lancelot grumbled, but took his hand off his sword¡¯s hilt and glared after the Droogs as they sauntered on to accost others. In their wake, two more teams made their way toward us, although in a much more civilized manner. Once again, Team Legion and Team Spice were together. They must¡¯ve really bonded after their mutual cult quest, which was nice to see. It was also nice to see Achmed had taken my recommendation and brought Peter and his gang into the Legion. Those five pushed ahead of the rest and came up to me, all smiles. ¡°Mister Lamont, sir,¡± Peter said. I held up a hand to stop him right there. ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that, Peter. It¡¯s just Daniel.¡± ¡°Sorry. Daniel. We didn¡¯t get a chance to thank you properly before for what you did for us. You really saved our necks.¡± Yeah, at the expense of having my own neck severed. But I¡¯d do it again in a heartbeat to rescue those kids. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m glad it all worked out in the end.¡± ¡°What did you do this time, Mister Lamont?¡± Jane said. ¡°He rescued us from the Silver Sword,¡± Peter said. ¡°Ahhh,¡± she said. ¡°So that¡¯s how the whole thing with that Flint guy came about. Out saving cats again.¡± ¡°Cats?¡± Peter said. ¡°You never heard of that?¡± Jane said. ¡°Save the cat? Never mind.¡± ¡°And thanks for suggesting these guys,¡± Achmed said, having caught up and joined us. ¡°They¡¯re a good crew.¡± ¡°They¡¯re fitting in well?¡± I said. ¡°Some are still getting used to calling out the names of their actions, but yeah. It''s a good fit.¡± I introduced Lianna to Achmed and his Legion, then to Tiff and Team Spice. This was my first glimpse at Tiff¡¯s new recruits too, and as expected she¡¯d brought on all women. One of them in particular was worth noting: it was Celeste Jones. The first time I¡¯d seen Celeste was a few seconds before the tutorial ended when she conveniently appeared out of nowhere, ready to take the final spot I wasn¡¯t allowed to fill on the team I built. Most conveniently, now that I thought about it. But she¡¯d somehow triggered Sigrid¡¯s danger sense and Kenji ended up filling the empty space. It only occurred to me at this moment that this was just the second time I¡¯d seen her. In all this time, even after I¡¯d spent several days following Players around collecting their abilities, I hadn¡¯t once seen her around. She¡¯d shown up to the Maple Leaf open house, but had once again been vetoed. I still didn¡¯t know what about her had given Sigrid the heebie-jeebies, but it certainly wasn¡¯t lack of ability. Wherever she¡¯d been spending her time, it was obvious from her Status she¡¯d been an active Player. Her stats were better than most Players who¡¯d been on teams all along. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say she¡¯d been adventuring out by the sea, she had too many leveled up water-based abilities to have remained land-locked this whole time, but I still found it odd that I hadn¡¯t seen her around.
Celeste Jones Team Spice
Affinity: Water - Adept
Gifts: Bend Like A Reed In The Wind - Enhanced agility Lungs Of Steel - Go a long time without breathing
Powers: Bring The Thunder - Adept: Targeted lightning attacks while using Here Comes The Rain Again Here Comes The Rain Again - Adept: Make it rain We Rise Again - Adept: Levitate Ride The Wave - Adept: Create a tsunami; Affinity with Water required Sword Storm - Adept: Fill an area with flying blades; Expert mastery of Sword required This Is A Breeze - Adept: Additional Affinity with Air
Skills: Affinity Control - Adept Bow - Adept Hunting - Adept Riding - Adept Surfing - Competent Swimming - Adept Sword - Expert
Achmed and Tiff seemed a bit distracted. I noticed they were spending longer than usual checking out Lianna''s Status, no doubt trying to figure out why I¡¯d chosen her above everyone else to join my team.
Lianna Drake Team Player (Vice-Captain)
Affinity: Life - Competent
Gifts: I Get It - Quick learner It¡¯s Fine ¨C Things work out
Powers: Don''t Mess With Me - Competent: Cause fear Nothing Can Survive In A Vacuum - Novice: Additional affinity with Void Rock On, Tommy ¨C Competent: Additional affinity with Earth You Don¡¯t Scare Me - Competent: Resistance to fear and intimidation
Skills: Affinity Control - Competent Appraisal - Competent Crossbow - Adept Eidetic Memory - Adept Elven Dual Knife Fighting - Competent Finance - Novice Kung Fu - Competent Organization - Competent Pistol - Adept Riding - Competent Shopping - Competent
Achmed¡¯s mouth hung open when his eyes reached the weapons she wore. ¡°Uhhhhh, are those what I think they are?¡± he said, pointing at them. Lianna drew her pistols and held them up. ¡°What, these?¡± ¡°Where the frig did you find actual guns in this place?¡± Tiff blurted, then her eyes glazed momentarily as she evaluated them. ¡°Holy fuck!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got some too,¡± I said, and showed them mine. Nina, Byron, and Morgan also held up their P1s. ¡°I replicated a few more, too,¡± Byron said, grinning. ¡°You replicated?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Every Maple Leafer with Crossbow has one. We''ve got a few of the rifles in inventory too,¡± Byron said, reaching into his and pulling out an R1 Assault Rifle. ¡°Rifles too?¡± Achmed said. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± ¡°Oh, that reminds me.¡± I took a P2 out of my inventory. ¡°Here Nina, take this one. You won¡¯t be able to use it yet, but hang onto it. I¡¯ll need to teach you a new skill first so just use the P1 for now.¡± She accepted it with a look of curiosity that turned to joy when she saw its Status and the healing shot power. Tiff grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. ¡°Where did those come from?!¡± she hissed. Lianna and everyone on Maple Leaf looked sheepishly towards me. Tiff let go of my arm and chuckled. ¡°This is one of those what happens in the catacombs sort of things, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± I said. ¡°Since you¡¯re sharing with other teams, where do we sign up?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk after this quest,¡± I said. Arthur was in my line of sight, and I saw him frown when I said that. ¡°Seriously? I was joking, man,¡± Achmed said. I gave him a smile. ¡°I wasn¡¯t.¡± Arthur¡¯s frown turned into a scowl. Maybe I hadn¡¯t quite smoothed things over with him as well as I''d thought yet. Or maybe he just wanted a gun too. As Tiff was about to open her mouth to say something I cut her off with another smile. ¡°We¡¯ll talk too, Tiff.¡± ¡°Yes we will,¡± the Team Spice Captain said and smiled back. ¡°By the way, Tiff, this is Nina and her husband Byron. I mentioned them before.¡± ¡°The healer, yes,¡± Tiff said. ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally meet you properly.¡± Seeing the friendly terms I was on with the other two teams, more Maple Leafers started chatting with them. I watched them silently for a while. These people were going to be the seeds of the Players Guild. It was a good place to start. I felt Lianna elbow me softly in my side. When I looked at her she tapped the side of her head, a prearranged signal that meant she wanted to have a private telepathic chat. Me: What¡¯s up? Lianna: Are you really going to give guns to those other teams? Me: I plan to give them to everyone eventually. Shield generators, too. Lianna: As long as they''re in the Player''s Guild, though, right? Me: Well yeah, of course. But I was also thinking the NPCs who learn Toron-do should get them too. Lianna: You really are fixated on defending the city. Me: I have good reason to be. Lianna: There¡¯s still something you¡¯re not telling me, isn¡¯t there? Me: It¡¯s still just a hunch. Lianna: But one you¡¯re at least confident enough in that you¡¯ll go to extreme measures to guard against it. Me: What can I say? I¡¯m a cautious fellow. Lianna: Cautious? You? All evidence to the contrary, mon Capitan. While everyone kept chatting I took the opportunity to look around at the other teams. When my gaze landed on Team N3m2s1s I saw Kiki staring our way. She didn¡¯t seem to notice me looking at her even though it seemed like she was staring directly at me, then I realized it wasn''t me she was looking at. She was wholly focused on Lianna. I couldn¡¯t read the expression on her face, but I could tell whatever she was thinking or feeling, it was complicated. Then her focus shifted to me and after we locked eyes she immediately turned her head to the side, looking as far away from me as she could without moving her body. I had a hunch so I kept watching her, and sure enough, as expected I saw her sneak a peek back at us through the corner of her eye, so I smiled. This time when she looked aside she turned her whole body away so fast her pigtails whipped around like tetherball ropes so all I could see was her back. Yeah, whoever said it was right. That chick was loco. Kinda cute in her own unique way, but totally batshit. Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Seven - Yahello Players They¡¯d never made a noise before, but this time when the arena gates swung open there was a high-pitched squeal of metal against metal that effectively killed the myriad of conversations happening in the courtyard outside, bringing everyone to an abrupt and expectant hush. There was some jostling amid the mob, but it was a fairly well-behaved scrum as the teams closest to the door jockeyed to get in first. Perhaps they thought there might be an advantage to going in first, but most of us realized it made no difference and waited our turn to head inside. We may have been mostly young and eager keeners, but we were also Canadian. Waiting our turn was as inbred into us as cooking with butter was to the French or respecting their elders to the Japanese. The eleven teams made their way in and found places in the stands. Everyone was in clusters of up to twenty people, depending upon how many Players on the team had died-died before the expansion. Having lost Andy, Team Maple Leaf¡¯s new doubled-up group should¡¯ve had eighteen, but Lianna and I sat with them making for an even twenty. Tiff and Achmed¡¯s teams were nearby, sitting within a few rows of each other. The only other teams that sat close together were directly opposite from us: the Axis of Evil of Invictus, Overgeared, and the Droogs. Kiki¡¯s Team N3m3s1s wasn¡¯t far away from them but it was hard to tell if she was associated with them. She appeared even more uncomfortable than Lianna, and when our eyes met once her cheeks puffed out and she quickly looked away like before. ¡°Hey Lianna,¡± I said. ¡°This would be a great time to put on your glasses to get a good look at the competition.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t wear...oh! Right. Glasses.¡± Sigrid on my other side eyed the special glasses I¡¯d given Lianna as she put them on. Lianna blinked a few times getting used to them. Sigrid looked at me, quirked an eyebrow, smiled, and patted my leg. ¡°You¡¯ve been busy,¡± she said, leaving her hand resting on my thigh. Unlike my friendship with Ruka, the one I had with Sigrid was very touchy feely. It had made me uncomfortable at first, but by now I¡¯d grown used to it to the point that I barely ever noticed her touches anymore. We didn¡¯t have to wait long for the event to begin, but there was enough time for Lianna to start checking out other people¡¯s Statuses and memorizing teams while I finally got a look at all the other team builders¡¯ Statuses. I knew who they all were, but even if I hadn¡¯t they would have been easy to spot: they were the ones whose heads turned slowly as their intently staring eyes scanned row by row, going from person to person as they used All Shall Be Revealed to size up the competition. It kind of made me feel better knowing I wasn¡¯t the only one habitually invading other people¡¯s privacy by checking their Statuses. I looked at Lianna and saw her head moving the same way, only faster. I nudged her. ¡°Here¡¯s an easy way to pick out the team leaders,¡± I said, and went on to describe how their heads moved and why. ¡°You can always tell someone with All Shall Be Revealed by the way they move their head and eyes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± Lianna said, nodding. I kept watching her out of the corner of my eye and noticed her head barely moving at all anymore. Under her glasses, her eyes still scanned quickly back and forth across the stands. She could go so quickly because all she had to do was open their Statuses to get a quick glimpse and her Eidetic Memory skill would take care of the rest. She¡¯d be able to recall each one and take her time going through them later. After seeing the other team builders¡¯ Statuses, I was sure that Jane and I were the only Players who¡¯d been given the ability to have affinity with all the elements. A second affinity wasn¡¯t overly rare, maybe one in twenty had that, but only the two of us had more than two affinities. The other team builders didn¡¯t have powers or gifts that were all that out of the ordinary either, not like the ones I¡¯d been given. There was the occasional outlier like that luck power Warren the chief Droog had, but those were quite rare. In fact, a few of the team builders had received pretty blah abilities, and had they not been the ones choosing the teams they might not have been on one at all. I guess they didn¡¯t do so well at the convention¡¯s God Game. ¡°Wow,¡± Lianna said. ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding.¡± ¡°About what?¡± I said. ¡°Your Status really isn¡¯t normal, is it?¡± This made Sigrid laugh. ¡°Nothing about this guy is normal, honey.¡± I felt more pressure from the hand resting on my leg as Sigrid leaned across me. ¡°Psssst!¡± she hissed. Lianna lowered the glasses to the end of her nose and peered at Sigrid over the top of them. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Be careful with those glasses, huh? If those do what I think they do,¡± Sigrid whispered, casting a meaningful glance at me before looking back at Lianna, ¡°just maybe be a bit more discreet about using them.¡± Lianna¡¯s eyes flared and she clapped her hand over her mouth. ¡°That was a bit loud, wasn¡¯t it?¡± she whispered back. ¡°Uh huh,¡± Jane grunted without looking back at us from the row in front. From down at the end of the row, Chika¡¯s voice rose. ¡°And don¡¯t forget there¡¯s a lot of people with superhuman hearing around here too.¡± Lianna¡¯s face paled. ¡°Sorry. I fucked up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said, blowing at the blonde hair that tickled my face. Sigrid took the hint and leaned back into her seat. ¡°Is it, though?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± I said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be such a bad thing if people did find out what you can see with those anyway. They¡¯ll be less likely to try to mess with you if they know you know all their tricks.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°But what if someone steals them?¡± Nina said, leaning forward from where she was sitting behind us. I shrugged. ¡°Won¡¯t do them any good. Nobody else can use them, they¡¯re locked to Lianna exclusively.¡± ¡°You can do that?¡± said Byron. He was also behind us, sitting beside his wife. I turned around to face him. ¡°Locking an item to the first person who uses it counts as a restriction just like limiting a power¡¯s use to someone with the right affinity. Ironically, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to make those glasses without that restriction, and I wouldn¡¯t have dared to make them without it. Take a look.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh!¡± Byron exclaimed as I shared my All Can Be Revealed power with him.
Team Player Vice-Captain¡¯s Glasses Seeing is believing. Restriction: Use locked to Lianna Drake Powers: All Can Be Revealed - See any Status; Affinity with Life required Far Sighted - Microscopic vision; Affinity with Life required Feel It Hot, Hot, Hot - Thermal vision; Affinity with Life required I See All - True sight; Affinity with Life required Near Sighted - Telescopic vision; Affinity with Life required
¡°Oh my,¡± Byron said. ¡°That¡¯s some pretty incredible eyewear. I don¡¯t suppose¡ª¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Have all the guns you want, but those are one-of-a-kind for Team Player¡¯s Vice-Captain.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t blame a guy for trying. Can I at least keep using this power until things get going?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Knock yourself out.¡± The next moment, the trademark tinny eight-bit theme song started to play and everyone immediately settled down as a cloud of purple smoke rose from the center of the arena floor. ¡°Looks like things are getting going,¡± I said, and stopped sharing my power with Byron. ¡°Aw crap,¡± he said. The purple smog swirled and billowed for a few seconds, then started to dissipate, revealing the outline of a human figure inside. As it cleared, Annabelle was revealed in all her glory. I knew her so well in other capacities, as arena master, as mentor, as friend, it was strange to see her in emcee mode again. This time she was wearing a suit of gleaming armor, the kind you picture when you imagine a fairytale knight, or, if you¡¯re a gamer, a Paladin. The chunky metal plate mail had been sleekly fashioned in a way that alluded to the feminine curves underneath. She held a matching full helmet with a strip of purple horse hair sprouting from the top like a mohawk under the crook of her arm, and her own purple hair flowed like a mane down her back. Annabelle grinned up at us. ¡°Yahello Players!¡± she boomed, and was met with a roar of approval from the crowd. ¡°Who¡¯s ready for a quest?¡± An even bigger roar. ¡°That¡¯s good, because we¡¯ve got a doozy for you. Wanna know what it is?¡± Crazy roars, which made Annabelle laugh. ¡°I love your enthusiasm, I really do. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t tell you the details just yet, but I can tell you this much: in this quest, all teams will be competing together in a special dungeon, and the prize for the team that wins will be...¡± Her big eyes scanned the crowd as she held us breathless, clearly enjoying her dramatic pause. ¡°The winners get the dungeon!¡± This was met with an appropriate amount of oohing and aahing and, yes, more approving roars. As far as prizes go, it topped the charts. ¡°I thought you might like that,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°But before we get there, how about we start things off with a little game, huh?¡± She could¡¯ve asked us if we wanted to check the person next to us for lice and still received the same raucous response. With control of a dungeon on the line we would¡¯ve agreed to anything. ¡°Can all the team Captains please make your way down here to the arena floor, please?¡± I groaned. Anything but this. ¡°Hey Lianna, wanna be team Captain?¡± I said. ¡°Sorry Player, this one¡¯s all on you,¡± she said, nudging me toward the stairs down with her elbow. Then she must¡¯ve seen the look on my face because her smile vanished and a look of concern replaced it. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just...¡± Nina leaned forward again. ¡°You did fine during that duel, Daniel,¡± she said. ¡°A...kari taught me some focusing techniques, but I doubt they¡¯ll work outside of a combat situation.¡± I¡¯d almost said Annabelle because she was actually the one who¡¯d taught me, but I still hadn¡¯t revealed the full extent of my relationship with her to anyone. Not even Lianna or Sigrid knew all of it. ¡°Ah,¡± Lianna said, nodding. ¡°I get it. Just imagine everyone watching is in their underwear.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t work,¡± I said. ¡°Tried it before.¡± Jane was sitting in the row in front of us. She turned back to look over her shoulder. ¡°How about you try this then: just imagine that you¡¯ve already got three dungeons under your belt and have nothing to prove to any of these people. Pretend the only thing that¡¯s on their mind when they look at you is envy.¡± Yeah right. I heaved a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m gonna try the underwear thing.¡± I stood up and joined Morgan, who was waiting for me at the stairs, and together we went down to meet Annabelle and the other team Captains in the middle of the arena. When we got there we all sort of shifted around uncomfortably, eying each other warily, not knowing what to expect. Morgan stuck next to me and Achmed and Tiff gravitated towards us. Annabelle and I studiously ignored each other, both wanting to keep the true nature and depth of our relationship a secret. ¡°Alrighty,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Before we begin the quest we¡¯re going to play a little game to figure out the play order. Sound like fun?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the game?¡± Tiff said, arm behind her head stretching her triceps. I couldn''t help admiring the firm smoothness of her muscles as she did so, and when she caught me looking she winked at me. I really hoped she knew I was looking at her muscles and not at other things. ¡°Great question, but before that, you need to pick your Players.¡± A System window opened in front of me, listing all the members of my team. It was a very short list. Judging by their reactions, the same thing happened to the other team Captains. ¡°So we¡¯re supposed to just pick people from our team without even knowing what the game is?¡± Morgan said. ¡°Uh huh, yup,¡± Annabelle said, beaming a thousand-watt smile. ¡°How many?¡± ¡°Just one.¡± Morgan shrugged. ¡°Okay.¡± She tapped the space in front of her so quickly you¡¯d think she was making the selection at random, but I knew Morgan better than that. It must have been an easy choice for her, which made me wonder who she¡¯d selected. I glanced up to the stands, finding Lianna. We made eye contact. Her face was ashen and she was shaking her head, mouthing ¡°Nooooo.¡± I gave her what I hoped was an apologetic expression and tapped her name where it floated in the air in front of me. It wasn¡¯t like I had an option. The team list closed and Lianna jumped a bit at the same time. I could only assume by that and the accompanying grimace that she¡¯d received a notification summoning her to the arena floor. Sigrid leaned over my empty seat and said something in Lianna''s ear, then Lianna¡¯s face steeled and they made their way together to the end of the bench and headed for the stairs. That answered the question of who Morgan chose from Team Maple Leaf. I¡¯d have made the same choice. Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Eight - A little game Soon, eleven more Players joined us down on the floor. Lianna made a bee-line toward us, her eyes looking neither left nor right but remaining locked onto me. Even after she made it next to me she didn¡¯t look around. She had to be aware that an awful lot of people were looking at her but didn¡¯t want to see just how many. I wondered how many of those eyes weren¡¯t on her but on her guns. ¡°So on a scale of one to ten, how full of regret are you for joining Team Player?¡± I said. ¡°Zero,¡± Lianna said without a moment¡¯s hesitation. ¡°Really? Decided to embrace the chaos?¡± ¡°Something like that. Sigrid gave me a pretty good pep-talk on the way down here.¡± ¡°She¡¯s good like that.¡± Lianna looked at me with worry all over her face. ¡°Listen, Daniel. Whatever this game is...¡± I risked putting my hand on her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t flinch or knock it away but accepted the gesture in the comforting way it was intended. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± I said. ¡°Just do your best.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious. It doesn¡¯t matter if you win or lose, just do your best and try to have fun. That goes for everything, really. It¡¯s just a game, after all.¡± She frowned. ¡°I really can¡¯t figure you out.¡± I laughed. ¡°I¡¯m not that complicated.¡± ¡°I bet you¡¯re regretting choosing me now.¡± She finally ventured a look around, taking in the hundreds of Players gazing down upon us. ¡°Any one of these guys would help you with these games far more than me.¡± ¡°That may be true when it comes to the pure combat games,¡± I said, ¡°although with your new weapons and armor I think you could go toe to toe with just about anyone here, and you¡¯re only going to get better very quickly. That doesn¡¯t even matter, anyway. For the games I want to play there¡¯s nobody better to help me than you, Lianna.¡± ¡°I sincerely hope you¡¯re talking about the Players Guild and not something lewd.¡± I never got the chance to offer a pithy response before Annabelle interjected, snuffing out all other conversations. ¡°Alrighty then,¡± Annabelle said. ¡°Wanna know what game you¡¯re playing?¡± Without waiting for a response, the mysterious NPC raised her arms over her head and the familiar purple mist shrouded her before twinkling away to reveal a new outfit. Her long purple hair was tied up in a ponytail and she was now wearing a red tracksuit with thick white stripes running down the sides of the arms, body, and legs, and stark white running shoes. The top was unzipped and hung off one shoulder jauntily, revealing a tight white tank top underneath. A whistle hung on a string around her neck and she carried a clipboard under one arm. She¡¯d totally nailed the classic sexy anime high school gym teacher. She held out her free hand, palm up, and an inflated red rubber ball appeared in it. ¡°Who else here loves dodgeball?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be joking,¡± someone said. Annabelle pouted. ¡°You don¡¯t love dodgeball?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it, like, a bit weird to play that here?¡± Kiki said, twirling her finger in a long bleach-blonde pigtail. ¡°It¡¯s a game, isn¡¯t it? But then again, isn¡¯t everything?¡± Annabelle said with a wink. She started walking slowly around the arena floor, bouncing the red rubber ball as she went. Poom. Poom. Poom. A white line appeared on the ground, connecting the spots where the ball landed to draw a wide circle in the middle of the floor with a gap of about five feet between it and the outer wall. She kept talking and walking, explaining the rules as she kept pooming the ball on the floor. ¡°So here¡¯s how this is gonna go down. We¡¯re gonna play a dodgeball variation called Poisonball. Players all start off inside this circle. You cannot touch the ball inside the circle. That includes catching it. If you do, you''re out and must move outside the circle. Outside the circle, you can touch the ball all you want. Grab it, throw it, pass it, whatever. Hit someone on the inside and make them join you on the outside. With me so far?¡± ¡°If we¡¯re all inside the circle, who starts off with the ball?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Excellent question.¡± Annabelle had completed her circuit, drawing the complete circle. She caught the ball and rested it on her hip. ¡°Me, of course.¡± ¡°This is the big quest?¡± Troy Hobbes sneered. The leader of Team Invictus wore an outfit that reminded me of the main character in the old Double Dragon arcade game. Blue jeans with kneepads and tall boots, and a baggy tank top decorated with Chinese hanzi worn under a denim jacket which had its arms cut off to become a vest. ¡°You didn¡¯t seriously call us all together to play dodgeball for a dungeon.¡± ¡°Poisonball,¡± Annabelle corrected with a winning smile. ¡°And no. As I said before, this is a quick game simply to determine the order in which teams will be sent into the real quest. Do pay attention or I¡¯ll have to keep you back in detention,¡± she added with a wink. Troy¡¯s mouth snapped shut with an audible clack. Something told me that he had been no stranger to detentions when he was in high school. Annabelle continued her briefing. ¡°The first Player who gets eliminated, their team goes last. The last one standing in the circle, their team goes first.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that going to work?¡± Troy snapped. Did that guy have any expression other than a scowl? ¡°There are two of us from each team here?¡± ¡°Simple. Team Captains aren¡¯t playing, only the Players you chose. One per team.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Instantly, a lot of the team Captains started coaching their chosen Player on strategy. I didn¡¯t bother coaching but focused on damage control instead. ¡°Oh shit,¡± Lianna said, covering her mouth with her hand. She looked over at me with wide eyes. I gently took her wrist and lowered her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m gonna lose.¡± ¡°So what?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you care?¡± ¡°I care more about you,¡± I said. Her eyes narrowed as she still looked at me. ¡°Stop hitting on me,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s inappropriate.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t...¡± I started to say, then I saw her smirk and realized she was joking. ¡°My regret level for inviting you onto the team just shot up to seven.¡± ¡°Give it time, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get that up to ten before the morning¡¯s over.¡± ¡°If you can still joke, you must be fine.¡± A voice rose over the din. It was Troy Hobbes again. ¡°Can they use powers?¡± Annabelle¡¯s forehead wrinkled. ¡°Duh. Yeah. And items too, but no weapons. This is a friendly game after all. But if the ball hits anything you¡¯re carrying, that counts as a hit and you¡¯re out.¡± I saw Sigrid frown at that. She had probably been planning to use her shield. ¡°Any more questions?¡± Annabelle said. Without waiting for a response, she grinned and bounced the ball. Poom. ¡°Alrighty then. Team Captains, shoo. Skedaddle on back to the stands. Players, find a spot inside the circle.¡± After one more ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡± to Lianna and a thumbs up to Sigrid, I headed back into the stands with Morgan. There was an open spot at the end of the row beside Chika. She looked over at me then smiled when I sat beside her, that single little fang protruding over her lower lip. ¡°Bet you¡¯re glad you don¡¯t gotta play dodgeball,¡± Chika said. ¡°More than you can imagine,¡± I said. ¡°Lianna looks like she¡¯d rather wrestle a dragon than be down there right now.¡± ¡°She does look a bit nervous, yeah.¡± Chika bit her lip, then blurted out, ¡°Why did you choose her anyway? I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, like, she¡¯s nice and all, but she¡¯s not really, you know, a strong gamer type. You know?¡± ¡°Depends on the game,¡± I said. Chika bit her lip some more, thinking about it. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure whatever game she is good at, it¡¯s not dodgeball.¡± ¡°I suspect you¡¯re right about that, Death Girl.¡± Chika cackled and grinned at the moniker. ¡°Now shush,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re about to start.¡± Chika leaned forward on the bench beside me, her attention drawn by the action below. I couldn¡¯t help noticing she kept running her fingertips over the spikes on her collar, almost like they were prayer beads and she was wishing luck onto Sigrid and Lianna, or maybe wishing she was down there instead. I was pretty sure Chika would kick major butt at dodgeball. On the arena floor, most of the Players had crowded together into a group in the middle, all jostling for a spot on the inside where the chance of being struck by the ball was lower. I noticed that Sigrid was still sticking close to Lianna, both of them on the outer edge of the massed Players, the frontline of those who might take the hit. Annabelle stalked around the edge of the circle, bouncing the ball and grinning. Poom. Poom. Poom. As she moved, the Players turned to keep her in their direct field of vision. ¡°Alrighty then,¡± Annabelle said, pulling her arm back to toss the ball. She feinted a throw, provoking more than a few Players to jump. She did it a few more times, faking a throw that didn¡¯t come. Then, just when the Players were anticipating another feint she looked up into the crowd and winked, then poom! She hurled the ball hard down at the ground. It bounced once, sailing up in a high arc that would bring it down smack into the middle of the pack of Players. Everyone¡¯s eyes locked onto the ball and tracked it as it sailed after the bounce. The Players on the arena floor who¡¯d massed together assuming there was safety in numbers found themselves in the most precarious position of all. Annabelle¡¯s bouncing tactic had thrown a gigantic wrench in their strategy, and the earlier jostling among the Players degraded into pushing and shoving as many of those compressed at the center fought for space to move away. Lianna had begun on the outer rim with Sigrid beside her and she remained rooted to the spot, head tilted back, watching the ball. From our vantage up the stands it was impossible to tell where the ball would come down, but Lianna and the other Poisonball competitors had a better angle. I watched Lianna¡¯s face and I could tell from the way she smiled and made no effort to move that the ball was not on a trajectory to hit her. In the few seconds that the ball was in the air, pretty much every other Player had moved, scattering like cockroaches in the light. Then I noticed one Player moving differently than the others. It was Lucas Grimes, the Player Troy Hobbes had chosen for Team Invictus, the Player who¡¯d been so deadly in the Player¡¯s Tournament with his superspeed and katana. He had moved around Lianna, and at the very last second before the ball landed on the ground he used a burst of his superspeed to dash up behind Lianna and shove her, hard, toward the center of the arena and into the ball¡¯s path. It happened so fast, Sigrid¡¯s danger sense didn¡¯t even have time to trigger. Lianna, totally not expecting it, was knocked off her feet directly into Sigrid. The effect was like shooting a billiards ball. All Lianna¡¯s momentum was transferred to Sigrid, who was also not expecting it. She fell hard, face first, onto the packed dirt floor of the arena. Poom! The red rubber ball landed square in the middle of her back, then bounced away. The other Players let it bounce, then gave it a wide berth to roll away and come to rest against the wall on the opposite side from where Annabelle stood. The arena was silent. I looked toward Troy in the stands. He was one of the only people not gazing with a shocked look on their face down at the floor. Instead, he was looking directly back at me, a smug smile on his ruggedly handsome face. Lianna was the first to move, drawing my attention away from Troy and back down to the floor. She rushed to Sigrid, extending her hand and helping her up. Sigrid stood and brushed the dust off the front of her armor. Sigrid exchanged a few words with Lianna I couldn¡¯t hear, then Lianna looked up at me, clearly wracked with guilt. She tapped the side of her head and pointed at Sigrid so I joined a three-way with the two of them. A three-way telepathic link, I should probably clarify before you get any pervy ideas. Me: You guys okay? Sigrid: Nothing hurt but my pride. Lianna: I¡¯m so sorry. Sigrid: I know, it¡¯s fine. Which asshole was it? She pointed at a Player near her. Sigrid: Him? Me: Nope She looked around, then pointed to another one and looked back up at me. Me: Nope. She chose another suspect. I couldn¡¯t help but notice all the people she suspected were men. Me: Nope. ¡°What¡¯s she doing?¡± Chika said out loud beside me. All anyone could see was Sigrid pointing at random people in turn. Then Sigrid pointed at Lucas. Me: Bingo. Sigrid nodded, then stared at Lucas. He stared back, smiling. For a long time she stood there, with everyone watching, staring stone-faced at the man who¡¯d indirectly pushed her down. Chika looked over at me. ¡°Are you, like, communicating somehow?¡± I answered Chika in her head. Me: Yeah. I copied Arthur¡¯s telepathy. ¡°You¡¯re kind of scary, Senpai,¡± she said aloud and leaned against my arm. One Hundred and Fifty-Nine - Poisonball Lucas¡¯ smile faltered, then fell away. Sigrid just kept staring at him. I expected someone to do something, for Annabelle to cut in and continue the game, but she just watched along with everyone else. Finally, Lucas looked away. Only then did a tiny smile appear on the edge of Sigrid¡¯s lips, and she turned away from him. Lianna put her hand on Sigrid¡¯s shoulder, no doubt apologizing, then Sigrid strode serenely past everyone and out of the circle, going straight to the ball and picking it up. ¡°Hey Death Girl,¡± I said, ¡°anything you want to say to Sigrid? I can loop you in.¡± Chika flashed me a grin, her fang dangling over her lower lip. I smiled back and nodded. Me: You¡¯re on the line with Death Girl. Chika: Hey Sigrid. Sigrid¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and darted up to look at us. Chika waved. Chika: You know what to do. Sigrid nodded, her face a determined mask. Chika: Fuck ¡®em up. Sigrid: You know it, Death Girl. I was happy the moniker had stuck, but not with the swearing. Me: Language! Chika: It doesn¡¯t count if it¡¯s not out loud. The others were starting to look at us, clearly wondering what was going on. Poom. The sound of Sigrid bouncing the ball drew their attention back to the floor. Sigrid started doing what Annabelle had done, bouncing the ball as she stalked around the outside of the white circle. However, unlike Annabelle, Sigrid was not smiling. She was not faking throws. She was tracking Lucas the entire time. And he was tracking her. As she moved, so did he. And so did all the other Players, keeping their distance from him and making sure not to stand in the path between the two of them. Me: Hey Sigrid, before I close the connection there¡¯s just one thing. Sigrid: What¡¯s that? Me: You¡¯re forgetting you can use items. Sigrid: Huh? Me: And Lianna, you might want to prepare yourself. It might get windy. Lianna: Huh? Me: Have fun. Then I closed the connection. Sigrid looked up at me frowning, then the metaphorical lightbulb went off over her head and a regal smile spread across her lovely face. Two great white feathered wings sprouted resplendently from her back. Gasps and murmurs of surprise rippled around the arena. Sigrid decided to go full out and a breeze from nowhere blew her hair majestically as sparks of electricity crackled around her. More oohs and ahs. Sigrid made eye contact with Lianna and nodded. Lianna nodded back and took a knee. Some of the other Poisonball Players gave her funny looks, which she ignored. Then Sigrid flapped her angelic wings a few times triggering the Back Off power, blasting strong gusts of wind at the Players in the arena. Several of them were blown off their feet and all of the rest struggled to maintain their balance, all except Lianna, who was prepared for it. Then Sigrid rose abruptly into the air to get a straight shot down at any Player she liked, and hurled the ball directly at Lucas before he¡¯d recovered from the Back Off wind. It was like the ball had been shot from a Howitzer. With her full strength behind it, it whizzed straight at her target almost too fast to see. But then, before the ball hit Lucas, it suddenly veered to the side and ¡ª poom! ¡ª struck the ground in front of Lianna and bounced up to hit her square in the chest. What the what? I started re-evaluating Players on the floor in case I¡¯d missed something. I thought that maybe a Droog or someone had used a power to somehow mess with Sigrid¡¯s throw or something, but I couldn¡¯t find anything I could see being used that way. Next, I looked over to where Teams Invictus, Droogs, and Overgeared sat and caught Troy high-fiving Warren Douglas, the leader of the Droogs, and it all clicked into place. Right idea, wrong Droog. Warren had telekinesis. So that was how they were gonna play, huh? Perhaps it was cheating, but Annabelle had never said people not actively playing Poisonball couldn¡¯t use their powers too, and that¡¯s how rules around there seemed to work: that which was not expressly forbidden was allowed. Still, that didn¡¯t stop them from being dirty cheating buggers, and it didn¡¯t stop the righteous anger from rising from the members of Team Maple Leaf around me. ¡°What just happened?¡± Chika said. I explained it to her. ¡°Those dirty cheating bastards,¡± she said. Meh. Buggers, bastards, either worked.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Byron and Nina behind us overheard. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to let them get away with that, are you?¡± Byron said. ¡°Are you saying I should become a dirty cheating bugger?¡± I said. ¡°Uh, yes?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can from here, but we¡¯ll just have to hope Lianna and Sigrid can find their own revenge with the ball.¡± Chika snorted. ¡°Sigrid maybe, she fires that ball like a bullet, but I don¡¯t think Lianna¡¯s going to be much good.¡± ¡°Chika!¡± Nina admonished. ¡°What? Tell me I¡¯m wrong.¡± ¡°Well, still. It¡¯s not nice to draw attention to it.¡± Lianna looked up at me with a look that was half guilt and half righteous indignation. I reopened the telepathic connection with her. Me: Don¡¯t worry about it. Lianna: Should I take it as a compliment that they wanted to get rid of me first? Me: That¡¯s a great way of looking at it. Lianna: I¡¯m really sorry. Me: Like I said, don¡¯t worry about it. Lianna: Motherfuckers gotta pay. Me: That¡¯s the spirit. Down on the arena floor, Lianna had left the circle and taken the ball. She was standing beside Sigrid, who¡¯d returned to the ground and folded her wings back into the armor. I could almost hear her teeth grinding. The two of them whispered together, then Lianna handed Sigrid the ball and broke away, darting around the edge of the arena to the opposite side. I was curious to see what kind of strategy the two of them had cooked up. As it turned out, it wasn¡¯t that complicated. I suppose I should¡¯ve expected as much, given that neither of them were hardcore gamers. Their plan was to stay on opposite sides of the arena and keep throwing the ball at Lucas, hoping for the best. By this point it didn¡¯t really make a difference who they hit, it¡¯s not like they could change the fact that Team Player and Team Maple Leaf would be entering the quest last. It was purely a matter of principle. In an ordinary game of dodgeball that would¡¯ve been a sound plan, but in a game against Players with powers, they would have had as much luck closing their eyes and throwing the ball at random. Lucas watched Sigrid¡¯s every move. Between his superspeed and Warren¡¯s telekinesis there was no way the ball was going to hit him. Or at least, that would have been the case if nobody else interfered. I used my synthesized version of Andy¡¯s nullification power to cancel Lucas¡¯ superspeed the same way Andy had when they¡¯d fought in the tournament. That would take care of him. As for Warren¡¯s telekinesis, I had other plans to deal with that. Sigrid fired the ball again. Fortunately, I¡¯d already triggered my own superspeed. I didn¡¯t intend to move with it, I just wanted to be able to watch in slow motion. The ball was headed directly toward Lucas, and sure enough it changed its trajectory midway to aim for the Team Spice Player. All it took was a telekinetic nudge from me to make it veer back, but to make sure I kept using my telekinesis to guide it exactly where I wanted it to go, right into Lucas¡¯ stupid face. I don¡¯t know who looked more shocked, Lucas, who got hit, Warren, who¡¯d tried to change its direction to hit the Spice Girl, or Sigrid, who watched her throw wobble mid-air before actually hitting her target. Lucas went down. It may have been just a red rubber ball, but taking it in the face at that velocity was like being hit with a cannonball. His nose bled freely and he was a bit slow to pick himself up, but he did. He may have been a wanker, but he was a tough wanker. Cackling to myself, I switched my nullification to Warren¡¯s telekinesis, hoping he¡¯d try to use it again and get even more confused when it didn¡¯t work. This was almost a bad mistake. After getting back up, Lucas used his superspeed dash to the outside of the circle, grabbing the ball along the way and tossing into the mass of Players in the ring before anyone knew what happened. Fortunately, I still had my own superspeed on. Even with that, it all happened so fast I wasn¡¯t able to accurately redirect the throw to hit someone specific, it was all I could do to alter the ball¡¯s course to miss the Legionnaire Lucas had targeted and have it bounce to Lianna outside the ring. Lianna picked the ball up, albeit hesitantly. She tossed it immediately into the circle, not bothering to aim, like she was playing hot potato instead of dodgeball. It wasn¡¯t a strong throw and the Players managed to avoid it easily, but Sigrid was still directly opposite her and picked up the ball next. Me: Nice pass, Lianna. Lianna: You say that like it was on purpose. Warren had tried to redirect her throw and when I glanced up at him I took immense pleasure in the confused look on his face after his power failed to work. Ha. Suck it, dillweed. I could tell Sigrid¡¯s next target was the Droog on the floor, but he was always hiding behind another Player. She frowned and her eyes darted around looking for a clearer target. I looped Sigrid back into the telepathic connection. Me: Throw it at the Droog. Sigrid: But he¡¯s always behind someone else. Me: Let me handle that. Down on the arena floor, Sigrid grinned. She dribbled the ball with one hand, the other pointed straight at the Droog. Then she grabbed the ball as it boinged up and threw it hard. I gave a little telekinetic shove to the hapless Team Happy Player who was blocking the Droog, just enough to nudge them out of the way. The ball rocketed past their ear to smack the Droog in the face, just like it had his pal Lucas. His nose was also broken, but he wasn¡¯t quite as tough and was a lot slower to get up. One by one, other teams were eliminated. While the Players threw the ball around down on the floor it became mostly a game between me and the Axis from the stands. They won the next round, knocking the Spice Girl to the outer ring. Sorry Tiff. From there, I just concentrated on keeping the Legionnaire in the ring, and did a pretty good job. He was the tenth one knocked out, second to last, meaning Achmed¡¯s Legion would be the second group to enter the quest. Despite being relegated to be the tenth team to join the quest, I couldn¡¯t feel at all upset. After all, I¡¯d seen Warren use his Push Your Luck power so now it was mine to use too. It was how he managed to get the Spice Girl knocked out so quickly, but he wasn¡¯t able to use it again because of the severe mana cost. That wouldn¡¯t be as much of an issue for me. One of the benefits of using up all my mana so often while crafting was that my personal mana reserve had grown considerably. It was like working out, only the muscle I was strengthening by pushing the limit repeatedly was my mana capacity. I¡¯d been curious about how my mana compared to others, and this gave me a great way to test that. I used Push Your Luck once during the Poisonball match, and while it had zorched nearly half of Warren¡¯s mana it only used up about a tenth of mine. By my reckoning, it meant I had about four times the mana capacity that he had, and that wasn¡¯t even counting the extra reserves I had through various battery powers and items. So yeah. It was hard to feel bad about how things had worked out. Then again, I had no idea what the actual quest was going to be, but that didn¡¯t really matter much either. Whatever it was, I was sure I¡¯d find a way to make it go my way. Ah. So this was what confidence felt like. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty - The quest revealed ¡°Wowzers, that was sure exhilarating, huh?¡± Annabelle said when the Poisonball game was all over. ¡°You guys can head on back to the stands now, thanks so much for playing.¡± As the Poisonball Players left through the gate, the Droog ¡ª still pinching his nose to quell the bleeding ¡ª made sure he passed by Lianna on the way out. I saw him lean in to say something to her, though I couldn¡¯t hear what. Whatever it was, Lianna took deep offense and if it weren¡¯t for Sigrid quickly grabbing her wrist mid-swing Lianna absolutely would¡¯ve decked him one. He strutted away laughing, leaving both Lianna and Sigrid staring daggers at his back. When they got back and Lianna had taken her place beside me, I asked her what he¡¯d said. ¡°I¡¯d rather not repeat it,¡± she said through gritted teeth. Then she turned toward Sigrid. ¡°You shoulda let me hit him.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said, before Sigrid could answer. ¡°You would have regretted it.¡± ¡°What makes you say that?¡± ¡°He has a power that reflects physical damage back against the attacker. You only would¡¯ve ended up hurting yourself. Literally.¡± ¡°Ahhh,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°So that¡¯s why my danger sense got triggered. I knew it was a bad idea to hit him, I just didn¡¯t know why. Sorry, Lianna.¡± ¡°Tell you what,¡± I said. ¡°I made a customized version of his power that¡¯s even better. Next time you meet him, I¡¯ll share it with you and you can give him a taste of his own medicine.¡± Lianna sighed deeply. She closed her eyes and I could tell she was counting silently by the way her lips moved. When she reached ten, she opened her eyes and her demeanor completely flipped. The seething rage from moments ago had seeped away, replaced by her usual cool calmness. ¡°Thank you, Sigrid,¡± she said, ¡°for saving me from making an even bigger fool of myself down there.¡± Then she turned to me but wouldn¡¯t look me in the eyes. ¡°And sorry, Daniel, for letting you down.¡± For the first time ever, I copied Jane¡¯s Captivating Presence power. I wasn¡¯t a fan of manipulating people like that, but I had something to say to her that I wanted to make sure she heard. Like, really heard. ¡°Lianna,¡± I said, putting the entire force of my enhanced presence behind my words. Her eyes snapped to my face and I locked onto them with mine. ¡°How can you possibly think you let me down? I could not be more proud of my teammate. You showed incredible grace, poise, and class in the face of a situation that was doomed from the beginning. Do you really think anybody here,¡± I gestured widely around the entire arena to encompass every Player there, ¡±would have done any better?¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Jane said. Lianna bit her lip. ¡°You would¡¯ve,¡± she said. ¡°A-ha ha ha,¡± Chika laughed and slapped my leg a few times. ¡°Senpai doesn¡¯t count. He probably woulda turned the ball invisible or something.¡± ¡°Or replicated ten balls and had them drop on everyone at the same time from portals over their heads,¡± Byron said. ¡°Or put everybody to sleep and casually bonk them with his big red balls,¡± Sigrid said. ¡°Ha! His big red bonking balls!¡± Jane said. ¡°Jeez, Sigrid, watch your wording,¡± I said. ¡°You make it sound like I¡¯d teabag them.¡± ¡°You make it sound like that was accidental,¡± Sigrid quipped back. That made Lianna smile a little. Nina reached forward and hugged Lianna from her seat behind us. ¡°He¡¯s right, you know. You did your best down there, that¡¯s all that matters.¡± Lianna leaned back into the hug. ¡°Thanks.¡± I was glad Nina did that. I could tell Lianna needed it, but it wasn¡¯t something I could do for her. ¡°Hey,¡± I said again, but without forcing her to pay attention with the borrowed power. She looked at me of her own accord this time. I jerked my head toward the other side of the stands where Teams Invictus, Droogs, and Overgeared were sitting together. They looked smug but I wasn¡¯t sure why. The one among them who¡¯d lasted longest was the tool from Overgeared who was the ninth knocked out, just before Achmed¡¯s guy. The Droogs the the fourth knocked out and Invictus the third, so it¡¯s not like they¡¯d done spectacularly well either. I suppose simply lasting longer than us was enough to bring them joy. ¡°Let them have this,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯ll only make it that much sweeter when we kick their asses later.¡± ¡°Oh, em, gee,¡± Chika said. ¡°You made Senpai swear.¡± Before I could come up with a witty retort, Annabelle¡¯s voice echoed around the arena, drowning out the countless other conversations going on in the stands. ¡°Alrighty then,¡± the purple-haired NPC said, now dressed in her fairy armor again. ¡°Who wants to know what the quest is?¡± I hadn¡¯t even noticed Annabelle change back from high school gym teacher to warrior princess, but all eyes were on the bizarre woman. Everyone wanted to know what the quest was about. ¡°This one¡¯s called the Citadel Quest,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°for reasons which should become readily apparent.¡± As she stepped off to the side of the arena floor towards where we were sitting, a 3D model of a castle quickly took shape around her, seemingly growing from the packed dirt floor. With my burgeoning talents in Magical Theory and Thaumaturgy, I could feel the glamor of the arena¡¯s formation as it created the model. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was not at all what I expected. I¡¯d assumed the Citadel would be like a medieval castle, but it was more like something Gaudi would¡¯ve designed. There wasn¡¯t a sharp angle to be found anywhere, nothing but curves. It made my wonky anachronistic design for the Cathedral renovation look positively traditional. The Citadel sat on a big, round mound surrounded by a wide moat. The outer wall was, surprise, surprise, a large hexagon. Tall, round towers studded the wall at each vertex, one of which was larger than the others and contained the wide, arched entrance into the Citadel as well as the drawbridge that gave access to it. In the middle of the space enclosed by the outer wall, there was a dome structure surrounded by a second inner wall, also hexagonal with towers at each vertex, although its walls were not solid but composed of open archways topped by a continuous battlement. The space between the two walls was filled with ellipsoid structures of varying sizes, like giant peanut M&Ms; some of these oval structures were mashed together like a Barbapapa house while others stood alone, some rested on their sides, others perched on their ends like squat, swollen towers. These structures were connected to each other and the outer wall by a criss-crossed web of arched bridges and peppered with oval, pod-like balconies protruding like giant pimples from every surface. Serpentine raised veins wound through the spaces between these balconies, the purpose of which was anyone¡¯s guess. The only thing breaking the continuity was a tall, cylindrical tower rising straight up from the largest structure, topped with a squat ovoid spire bubbling at the summit like the cap of a mushroom. This phallic tower was the only thing without the pod balconies and curious veins, it didn¡¯t even have any obvious openings at all, making it seem like it wasn¡¯t actually part of the place but had been hurled from the heavens to impale itself in the Citadel like a giant, bubble-topped spike. ¡°The Citadel is a fortress,¡± Annabelle said, walking slowly around the model¡¯s perimeter, ¡°a fortress that was once the domain of the Faerie King, Oberon. It is now in the hands of the Demon King.¡± As she spoke, Annabelle¡¯s gaze traveled over the crowd, never lingering on anyone in particular but encompassing everyone. That is, until she talked about the Faerie King, when I saw her eyes lock with mine. It was subtle, but I got the message. This backstory was important somehow. ¡°Your quest is to liberate the Citadel from the demonic forces. The game you will be playing challenges you to control key locations within its walls.¡± The model of the Citadel spun as our view zoomed in on that dome in the courtyard surrounded by the inner wall then went inside. There was a rounded portico bubbling out to accommodate a single set of wide, double doors. The only thing inside was a transportation node, aka an affinity circle. ¡°Your game begins when you arrive at the Citadel. At twenty minute intervals, teams should assemble on the gazebo outside this arena when it is their turn for transport.¡± The view zoomed back out to show the entire Citadel again, then the outer walls of all the buildings became see-through making the arrangements of the rooms within visible. It reminded me of playing The Sims, only instead of tidy square or rectangular rooms, they were filled with rounded areas that reminded me for some reason of the inside of a wasp¡¯s nest. Notably, the strange tower was the only structure whose walls remained opaque and we could not see what was inside it. Annabelle snapped her fingers and small golden dots appeared all over. Upon first glance they seemed randomly spaced, but looking closer I could see that they all appeared in rooms that were central to various areas. There was one in the dome we¡¯d arrive in, too, but none in that strange tower. ¡°These indicate the key locations you must control. There are forty of these locations.¡± The view zoomed in to show the interior of a single room with a gold dot. Judging by the layout it seemed to be a dining hall or some other large meeting place. Seen this close, the gold dot was revealed to be a small golden orb about the size of a softball. As Annabelle went on to explain the game, a small human figure appeared in the room with an hourglass floating above its head. ¡°For a team to take control of a location, at least one member must remain in the room for one full, uninterrupted hour. The first person to do so will get that room¡¯s token for their team.¡± The sand drained quickly out of the hourglass and the gold orb flew over to the figure, which raised its arms and jumped up and down in a crude 8-bit animated celebration, then the view zoomed back out again. ¡°The game will end after twenty-four hours. Rewards will be given out according to team rankings based on the number of tokens possessed at the end of the game.¡± The Citadel model melted away, leaving Annabelle alone down on the floor again. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking,¡± Annabelle said, ¡°can I take another team¡¯s token? The answer, of course, is yes. There are three ways to take another team¡¯s token.¡± Everyone seemed to lean forward, eager to hear. This was important information. Annabelle held up her hand, counting on her fingers as she listed the three ways. ¡°The first is to convince the Player on the other team who holds the token to willingly give it up.¡± This earned some titters. ¡°Like that¡¯ll ever happen,¡± someone in the crowd said loudly enough for everyone to hear. ¡°It could happen,¡± Annabelle said with a sly smile. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure it will.¡± Another finger went up. ¡°The second way is to spend two hours in the room the token was taken from. For someone else to take that room¡¯s token after that, they¡¯ll need to spend three hours there, and so on, adding another hour each time control of the token for that room changes teams.¡± Annabelle took a deep breath and her face became deadly serious. People had been pretty quiet up until this, listening to Annabelle and absorbing the rules of the game. But something about the way Annabelle was behaving gave the impression that the last rule about taking tokens from other teams was going to be a doozy. They were not disappointed. Annabelle¡¯s third finger went up. ¡°The final way to steal a token is the simplest. If you kill another Player, you will get all the tokens they possess.¡± This created a stir and the arena erupted into cacophonous chattering as Players began talking to one another, no doubt devising plans. Annabelle stood still at the center of the arena floor with her finger pressed to her lips. ¡°Shhhhhhhh,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing.¡± The hubbub quieted. ¡°As of right now, any Player who actively attempts to initiate contact, direct or indirect, with a Player on another team before their own game begins will be removed from the quest and excluded from all rewards.¡± That shut some people up, most notably the Axis of Evil, whose Captains had all been conspiring together. ¡°Without further adieu, Team Ninja won the poisonball game and should make their way to the gazebo transportation node for transit to the Citadel in five minutes. Good luck Players, and I¡¯ll see you on the other side.¡± Annabelle gave us all a big wink, then a thick cloud of purple smoke appeared where she was standing and when it dispersed a few seconds later Annabelle had disappeared. I barely noticed this, because at that exact moment I got a strange feeling. The closest comparison I could make was that it was the kind of feeling you get when you put on your winter coat for the first time since last season and remember you¡¯d left a twenty dollar bill in its pocket before hanging it up in the spring. What caused this pleasant sensation? I knew where the Citadel was. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One - The Citadel Quest begins Thanks to my transit control key, I suddenly became aware that a new transportation node had just opened up. It had to be the one at the Citadel. I didn¡¯t know exactly where it was yet, but I had five minutes to go there and find out before Team Ninja would show up. After all, the rules said nothing about having to wait until your appointed time to go to the Citadel. A System window opened up listing the rules of the Citadel quest Annabelle had explained. I swept it aside and shut down my telepathic connection with everyone except Lianna. Me: Let¡¯s go. Now. Lianna: What¡¯s the rush? Thanks to me we¡¯re going second last, remember? Me: Trust me. Lianna: You know you say that a lot, right? Studiously ignoring all of Team Maple Leaf around us to prevent accidental communication with another team, I grabbed Lianna¡¯s hand and dragged her to a nearby space with nobody else around, where I opened a portal, pulled her through, then closed it again before anyone could realize what happened. We stepped out of the portal onto the affinity circle under the gazebo, thankfully before anyone else had time to leave the arena and see us. We immediately teleported to the circle outside the labyrinth. I didn¡¯t want to go directly to the Citadel before telling Lianna what was going on, but that was a conversation I wanted total privacy for, hence the quick stop at the labyrinth first. ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s the rush?¡± Lianna said, wresting her arm free and shoving me. ¡°As soon as Annabelle told Team Ninja they had five minutes, a new transportation node opened,¡± I said, pointing down to the circle we stood inside. Lianna switched to business mode. ¡°That must be the one at the Citadel.¡± I knew she was the right choice. ¡°Exactly. Which means we have just under five minutes to go there and do some reconnaissance.¡± ¡°You are such a cheater!¡± she said. ¡°Am I? Tell me what rule we¡¯re breaking.¡± Her eyes looked up at nothing as she thought about it. Neither of us needed to look at the quest rules, we¡¯d both memorized them with our eidetic memories along with the layout of the Citadel and the locations of all the tokens. ¡°I guess...there isn¡¯t one,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Ready then?¡± She grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± We teleported into a round room under a domed ceiling with one set of arched double doors as the only visible way out. A small golden orb floated over us as we stood in the center of an affinity circle. Translucent hourglasses began hovering over both our heads the moment we arrived, their virtual sand trickling slowly down. Our quest wasn¡¯t supposed to start for a couple of hours when it would be our allotted turn to come, but Annabelle had said that our quests would begin when we arrived at the Citadel. And, well, we¡¯d arrived. Just a bit early is all. Team Quest: Save the Citadel by subjugating the demons Rewards: Dungeon Control, Reward Tokens, Reward Boxes Time Remaining: 24:03:39 It took me a few seconds to make sense of the timing showing the notification window, and why there were more than 24 hours remaining. But of course the 24 hours weren''t set to begin until the first team was scheduled to arrive and begin the quest, which wouldn''t happen for almost another four minutes. Then again, that wasn''t the most interesting part of the quest notification, which was how it didn¡¯t mention collecting those golden orb tokens an all. There wasn''t time to think about that right now, though. There were more pressing things on my mind. When the new transportation node had appeared and I¡¯d felt that pleasant sensation, all I¡¯d known at the time was that it existed. I didn¡¯t know exactly where it was yet, but now that we¡¯d traveled to it, I did. I checked the big map and saw its location marked and all of a sudden a lot of things made sense. The Citadel was located four hexes away from the city to the Northeast. If you drew a straight line from the city to the Citadel, it went right between the hexes where the Light and Nature Dungeons were located: the exact path Ruka had presumably led the giant ants along when I¡¯d helped Team Legion with their subjugation quest. That was the reason I¡¯d guessed that Ruka was from somewhere to the Northeast the first time she¡¯d visited me. Now, all her strange behavior last night and her news about not being able to visit me again as of tomorrow made sense. She¡¯d been warning me. That tomorrow she¡¯d talked about was now today, the day the quest started in a fortress to the Northeast controlled by demons. Ruka must have been living in the Citadel all this time. That¡¯s what she¡¯d been hinting at with that talk about me visiting her, but I¡¯d been too dense to realize. For whatever reason she¡¯d been unable to come straight out and tell me, so she¡¯d tried to give me hints. Perhaps she¡¯d also been trying to tell me more. What else had she said? She¡¯d said that I could visit her as long as I didn¡¯t mind teleporting into the middle of my enemies. Bet you anything that was a warning and this dome was surrounded by demons. I tried to open a map of the Citadel, but all I could see was the circle of the dome we were in. The rest was obscured by the cloud of war. No matter, I could remember the model perfectly, and that inner wall around the dome with its towers now made sense. The perfect place for an ambush. ¡°Stand back,¡± I told Lianna, then cracked one of the doors open a sliver to peek out. An arrow immediately struck the door and I shut it again. Yup, an ambush. There was one last enigmatic thing Ruka had said to me at the end when she¡¯d hugged me and whispered in my ear: ¡°I¡¯m counting on you.¡± Okay, so not everything made sense. Counting on me? Counting on me for what? What was that even supposed to mean? ¡°What now?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Now we leave some spies behind.¡± I summoned Pinky from the Void Dungeon and the gross little blob appeared on the floor in front of me. Fortunately, I¡¯d already introduced Lianna to the Shoggoth so we didn¡¯t need to go through that initial horrorshow again. I also summoned a falcon, which seemed to unfold from a single point of light floating mid-air before flying over and perching on my outstretched arm. I went to the wall of the dome directly opposite the doors and used Earth to create my own opening. At first it was just a tiny hole, just big enough to peek out using thermal vision to check if there was anybody waiting on the other side. There wasn¡¯t, so I made the hole bigger then switched my view to the falcon¡¯s and had it swoop out and soar around the area, giving me a literal bird¡¯s eye view of things. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. It was the same as the model Annabelle had shown us, only now in real life I could see more details as well as color. Apart from the hexagonal shape of the outer and inner walls there were very few corners or straight lines, everything was rounded or curved. Everything was in shades of white except for the big phallic tower, which was pitch black making it stand out even more from the rest of the Citadel. The inner wall surrounding the dome wasn¡¯t really a wall, it was more of a hexagonal ring of cylindrical towers about twenty-five feet high, each studded with a few of those oval balconies and connected to its two adjacent towers by a catwalk supported by an arch. These catwalks had crenulated battlements behind which defenders could lurk, but instead of square merlons to hide behind their rounded shapes made the entire top look like a continuous sine wave. Similar wavy battlements topped the main outer wall and the six larger towers dotted around its vertices. Getting through the inner wall around the dome should be as easy as going under one of the connecting archways, except for all the demons. I counted about twenty of them, some lurking inside the pod balconies, some standing atop the wavy battlements, and some down on the hexagonal paving stones. It wasn¡¯t hard to identify them as demons, they looked like something straight out of the Monster Manual. The nerd in me couldn¡¯t help wanting to correct the game¡¯s terminology, however, because the devil¡¯s in the details and in D&D terms the creatures I saw would more accurately be called devils, both in appearance and temperament. They looked more Nine Hellish than Abyssal, and they also seemed to act a lot more lawful-evil than chaotic with a plan that amounted to more than just sowing devastation and destruction. You know, Calamity Demon aside. Ruka had called it the distant cousin nobody wanted to mention, after all. There were a few different types of demons represented among the ones guarding the dome, but they were all like tall, gangly humanoids with leathery skin, horns, and a mass of jagged teeth in their maws. Some wore basic armor while wielding a variety of black metal objects that looked like they''d been designed by a poorly-programmed AI chatbot given an ambiguous query to make some scary cool demonic weapons. These were the footsoldiers. The archers had large batwings and only one arm that they used to draw the string; where the other arm should have been there was a fleshy stump with a grotesque biological armbow growing out of it. There was only one of the third kind, a fearsome creature several feet taller and wider than the others, a rippling mass of muscle and mean-spirit that screamed officer-rank demon. It would''ve been nice to evaluate them, but I couldn''t do that when seeing them through the falcon''s eyes. Fortunately, I had a fix for that. I made the falcon fly over and land on the top of one of the larger structures, then switched back to my own view and sealed up the hole I¡¯d made in the dome wall. ¡°Okay Pinky. Shift into your fastest form that can run up vertical surfaces.¡± All thousand eyes on the creature blinked once in unison, then the monstrosity stretched and morphed into a sort of millipede with a flattened body about three feet long, covered in popping eyes, and with a whole lot of thin, stubby tentacular legs. I checked the quest timer. We still had a few minutes until Team Ninja would arrive. Long enough. Byron¡¯s portal power limited him to only opening them within his current line of sight. My improved version allowed me to open one to any place I¡¯d seen, within range. I had tested it before and seeing a place through a summoned creature¡¯s eyes counted. I opened a portal between where I was inside the dome to where the falcon was perched on a tower. I''d also tested sharing my powers with a summoned creature, and while that wouldn''t work I did find I could share them with Pinky. ¡°Okay Pinky, off you go. Get a good look at the demons out there, then I want you to explore the entire place and map it out for me.¡± The thousand eyes blinked and my loyal familiar scuttled into the portal with surprising speed. I braced myself and switched to its perspective. Looking through a falcon¡¯s eyes was disorienting enough, but at least birds had the same number of eyes as me. Seeing through Pinky with its myriad of eyes was the very definition of sensory overload. The sense-sharing power translated the input into something my human brain could make sense of, but it was still nauseating. At least the Status windows it could see after I shared All Can Be Revealed came through clear.
Demon Grunt It''s an insult to infantry soldiers to call these guys infantry. Foot soldiers is even a stretch. Cannon fodder, while a bit rude, it closest to truth. The really sad thing is how Grunts will do anything to avoid appearing weak to their superiors even though this usually leads to suicidal behavior.
Powers: Scaredy Cat - Competent: Foolish bravery when allies outnumber foes Shame - Competent: Foolish bravery when higher ranking demon is present
Skills: Demon Cudgel - Competent
Demon Archer With one arm shaped like a living bow, these guys were presumably bred for archery. If it weren''t for their wings they wouldn''t be good for much else, but they''re actually quite skilled fliers and often act as demonic messengers, as long as the message doesn''t absolutely have to get there fast...or at all.
Powers: Fly, My Pretties! - Competent: Fly Sniper, No Sniping! - Competent: Improved Armbow accuracy and speed when stationary
Skills: Armbow - Competent
Demon Occifer Somebody''s gotta tell the grunts what to do and stab them when they don''t do it.
Powers: Sore Loser - Competent: Self destruct You Gots Summin A Say? - Competent: Intimidate
Skills: Demon Cudgel - Adept
Meh. They weren''t as tough as they looked. Once we''d seen the Status of all three types of demon, Pinky skittered down the wall and entered the structure through a balcony pod. The room inside was decorated as a simple bedchamber, no golden orb. I went back to my own perspective and opened my map. Sure enough, the room Pinky was in was now included. It was a different kind of map, not the usual top-down view but the same isometric model we¡¯d been shown during the quest briefing. The important difference was that my map also showed what furnishings were inside each space. Yup, like a Sims game. Lianna had been keeping an eye on the quest timer. ¡°You need to hurry up and finish what you¡¯re doing,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re about to get company real soon.¡± ¡°Almost there.¡± I summoned a few honeybees, which I knew had excellent vision, and while they lacked ears they could still hear through vibrations making them pretty good spies. I sent a few through the portal, keeping the rest back in the dome. ¡°Now are we done?¡± Lianna said, a nervous tinge in her voice. ¡°I suppose we have to be. Let¡¯s go.¡± We both stepped into the circle and teleported to the labyrinth just before Team Ninja arrived. The first thing I did was open a connection to one of the bugs I¡¯d left in the Citadel dome. ¡°Do you want to watch the fun at the Citadel?¡± I asked Lianna. ¡°Can I? I mean, sure,¡± she said. ¡°Okay, but prepare yourself. Bees have compound eyes and they also detect sound through hairs on their legs and antennae, so what you¡¯ll hear will also be a bit funky. ¡°How do you know so much about bees?¡± ¡°I dunno, I just like bees. There¡¯s nothing about them that isn¡¯t cool. I also have the Trivia skill, so I find myself suddenly knowing all kinds of useless things, like how the life''s work of a single bee amounts to less than one gram of honey." "Seriously? Poor bees." I looped her in with It¡¯s All In Your Head and shared my senses, which at the time were actually the bee¡¯s senses. I heard Lianna gasp when the sensory shift hit her, but she got used to to it quickly. Team Ninja was there, arranging themselves near the door in preparation for going through it. They¡¯d chosen that name for the team because almost all their members had stealthy abilities. Not on Kenji¡¯s level, but decent enough. The Ninja team builder had been none other than Marc Shaw, the guy I¡¯d found Kiki and her crew bullying that first night. Interestingly, he was not their Captain, that was a woman named Ai Momochi. It didn¡¯t take long to figure out the dynamics at work: Marc was clearly smitten with her, and she clearly did not reciprocate. His abilities weren¡¯t all that stealth-oriented, he was more of a support type, but hers were absolutely Ninja-like, and she had the Shadow affinity like Kenji, too. It didn¡¯t take a big leap to assume he¡¯d recruited her early, then she¡¯d taken over and had him stack the team with Players who synched well with her abilities. The bee had to fly pretty close to them to hear well, and occasionally one of the Players would swat at it in the air when it ventured too close, but nobody seemed to wonder why there was a bee buzzing around in a fully enclosed room with nothing else in it. They were too busy figuring out what to do next. Lianna and I settled in to watch the show. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Two - Watching the show The plan Team Ninja eventually landed on was to sneak out and avoid the demons camped outside before the next team, Achmed¡¯s Legion, arrived. The stealthiest of them was going to go first and scout, the rest would wait for a signal to follow. Given they were the aptly-named Team Ninja, it was a solid if predictable plan. Too bad it was doomed to fail within the first few seconds. They opened the door enough for their scout to slip through and sent a flare of flame jetting up into the sky to distract the demons, but right away they were pulling the unfortunate Player back into the dome with an arrow stuck in his leg. And this was the problem with teams focused on a single tactic. If only they had a tank like Sigrid or Galahad, or even just something to hide behind. Alas, not everybody had an extra-dimensional space of unlimited storage capacity containing any number of things that would¡¯ve been handy right about then. Their next idea was to open the doors wide so at least they¡¯d be able to peek out and fire back. The doors opened outward, and one of them had the good idea to take some of the thin black ropes they all carried as part of their standard issue ninja kit and tie them to the handles so they could pull the doors closed if need be without having to risk venturing into the line of fire. ¡°This is pretty neat to watch like this,¡± Lianna said. ¡°You mean like lab rats?¡± I said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t phrase it like that, probably, but...yeah. Kinda. All we need is some nice buttery popcorn. Got any tucked away in that magic storage of yours?¡± ¡°I wish. Some popcorn would be nice.¡± ¡°What good are you anyway?¡± she sighed. ¡°Now you¡¯re teasing me too?¡± ¡°They¡¯re right. It¡¯s fun.¡± I didn¡¯t have popcorn, but I¡¯d been teaching the elves how to slice, season, and fry the fleshy tubers the Beastfolk cultivated into something resembling potato chips. I blinked us out of bee-vision, then pulled some chips out so Lianna and I could crunch on them after we blinked back in to watch the show. ¡°What would you do if you were down there trying to get out?¡± I said as we watched them mass behind the walls flanking the door and started pushing the doors open. ¡°I¡¯d ask you to put up a force field then I¡¯d blast them with my guns until they stopped shooting back.¡± ¡°Simple, but effective. And if I wasn¡¯t there?¡± ¡°Well, probably try something like they¡¯re doing, using the wall beside the door as cover. Is that right?¡± The door had been flung open and Team Ninja was trying to return fire against the demons who kept them pinned down with their creepy-assed armbows, but only a couple of the ninjas had bows and the shuriken they all carried weren¡¯t effective at their range, so they were stuck in a bit of a standoff. ¡°There¡¯s no single right answer,¡± I said, ¡°but there¡¯s probably something better to do than engage in trench warfare. Remember, you wear on your finger an arrow-proof get out of jail free card.¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± she said, twirling the ring around the base of her finger. ¡°I don¡¯t need you there to raise a force field for me, you¡¯ve already done it.¡± She started chuckling. ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± I asked. ¡°You keep giving me all these presents and teaching me all these skills. Pretty soon I won¡¯t even need you around at all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the dream,¡± I said. Team Ninja was cycling through all the possible ranged attacks they had, trying various powers and affinity effects, but they were still thoroughly bottlenecked at the door to the dome. I turned off the bee-vision. ¡°They¡¯re going to be there for a while,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s go see Alice.¡± I¡¯d been preparing a surprise since I took over the Light Dungeon and now seemed like the perfect time to make it happen. There were also a few other tasks I needed Alice to do, so I gave her instructions for everything and she gave me a big grin. ¡°Will do, boss,¡± Alice said. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°That should do it, but I¡¯ll call you if anything changes. Thanks a ton, Alice.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°there is one thing.¡± I reached out and cupped some of her long hair in my hand. ¡°What¡¯s up with this?¡± Back when Alice had manifested her appearance as a beautiful human woman she¡¯d been a shoulder-length brunette, and had remained like that since then. Until now. Now her hair went down to her lower back and was a reddish shade of orange. It wasn¡¯t just her, either. I¡¯d noticed a few of the Doppels had undergone a bit of a makeover, each one changing their look to something flashier than usual. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Alice grinned at me. ¡°Sorry boss, that¡¯s a hush hush secret. Can¡¯t tell you yet.¡± Then she winked at me playfully. This was new. I¡¯d had my head so far up into my own business I hadn¡¯t really considered what NPCs like Alice and the Doppels did in their spare time, or that they had spare time at all. Yet here was proof that they had a life outside their role as my obedient minions, a life I knew nothing about. As much as I waxed on about how named NPCs all seemed more human than human and should be treated like anyone else without prejudice, I realized that deep down part of me still considered them less worthy of consideration than real people, whatever real people were. This realization came with a sudden flash of guilt and shame. I could do better. I could be better. ¡°In that case,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m really looking forward to when you can.¡± Alice beamed at me. ¡°Me too!¡± Was it me, or was she wearing glitter makeup? From there, Lianna and I went to the elf village. I also had a task for Petal. We went into my tree house and got comfortable, then I used my Dick Tracy Communicator to ask Petal to come by when she had the chance. ¡°Let¡¯s see what¡¯s happening at the Citadel,¡± I said, then went back to bee-vision. First we checked in with Pinky¡¯s mapping progress. The little atrocity had already finished exploring nearly 20% of the interior, moving through the entire complex in an organized, efficient manner. It may have been grotesque, but it was smart. I¡¯d expect nothing less of a being that had been the eyes, ears, arms, and everything else of the Great Sage Cagliostra. The Citadel looked like something alien, but its layout was recognizably castellar. The largest structure, the one impaled by the black tower, was effectively the main keep. The secondary buildings were set up with the sorts of ancillary functions you¡¯d expect, with areas clearly meant to be barracks, workshops, storage, living spaces, and so on. With the wall, the moat, and all the other trappings, it would make an excellent base for a team. The golden orbs were strategically placed throughout, each one floating in the middle of a significant room. This was a challenging game. To win an orb, someone had to remain in the room for an hour. Teams could split up and try to take lots of orbs at once, but that would leave them vulnerable to teams who stuck together. You wanted to leave enough Players that they could defend the room while trying to get the orb token, but not so many that you weren¡¯t taking enough rooms. The dynamic was similar to many board games, such as Risk. Asset management was important. There was another strategy a team could use, and that was to forget about taking rooms and focus on taking out other teams. They¡¯d get any orbs the other teams had while reducing the competition to conquer new ones. But there was also the demon threat to consider. Many of the orb rooms were populated by demons, usually in small groups, and there were more demons moving around in patrolling packs of various sizes, meaning that any effort made to take rooms must also take into consideration the likelihood of having a group of demons stumble across you. And since you must remain in a room continuously for an uninterrupted hour to take the room, running away was an unappealing option. But, and this is an even bigger but, remember that everything is a game and things are not always what they seem. When Annabelle had explained the rules to us, she had clearly said that the quest was to liberate the Citadel from demonic control, and the quest notice had echoed that same language. Nowhere did the quest notice talk about orbs or tokens or conquering rooms. It would be easy to assume that by taking and controlling rooms we could be liberating the place from the demons, but I¡¯d learned to pay close attention to how things are worded. Annabelle had said that liberating the Citadel was the quest, and she also said that the game we would be playing was to get the most tokens. She never once said they were the same thing. As well, where was the secret hidden quest? Was it to take all the tokens? I mean, I could do that, but did I even want this dungeon? Why did we need a Fortress when we had the Labyrinth? And if for some reason the Labyrinth became unsafe, we always had the Void. Nobody¡¯d dare mess with us there, if they could even get in. Yeah. Somebody else should get this one. I switched my vision to the bee in the dome, and managed to get an idea of the demons¡¯ strength watching Team Ninja fighting to escape the dome. The grunts didn¡¯t have much to do, it was mostly up to the archers. Half of them hid behind the battlement merlons or on one of those pod-like balconies, while the rest used their bat-wings to swoop around and fire arrows from their surprisingly effective armbows. They weren¡¯t that tough, probably about equal to the cultists, maybe a bit stronger. Cannon fodder. There was that one Occifer that was bigger and stronger than the others, but still not that tough for a mini-boss. Any team should be able to get past them. Certainly Lianna and I would¡¯ve had no problem, and Team Maple Leaf would¡¯ve been able to waltz through the challenge. But watching the Ninjas struggle made it clear that not all teams were on an equal footing. Lianna and I snacked on some melon while watching the action. I had to give the Ninjas credit, they didn¡¯t give up. When one thing didn¡¯t work they moved on and tried something else, testing all their abilities. Their most effective strategy was using summoned creatures as distractions. They sent the summons out in one direction, then a couple of Ninjas tried to sneak out while the demons were busy with the summons. A good plan in theory, but only one of them managed to escape. While the Ninjas had an advantage over the demons at close range and could use their stealth to assassinate, just one Player wasn¡¯t enough to take down all twenty demons one at a time. At the fifteen minute mark, five minutes before Achmed¡¯s Legion was due to arrive, another group of twenty demons came and took up positions to greet them. The original twenty demons had been whittled down to sixteen, but adding twenty more flipped the momentum firmly back onto the demonic side. When the Legionnaires bamfed in there were some tense moments as the two teams felt each other out. Neither was keen on fighting each other in the enclosed space of the dome where there was nothing to take cover behind, and no way to retreat. ¡°Are we going to go help your friend?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Nope. Not unless things go poorly, anyway. They need to figure some stuff out on their own.¡± It was Achmed, bless his soul, who negotiated a temporary alliance to get both teams out before the next one arrived. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three - Theyre gonna get massacred Because of their hyper-specialization, Team Ninja struggled with making it out the door. Achmed''s gang of loonies changed that. With the addition of the Legion¡¯s more diverse set of abilities, it didn¡¯t take them very long to get out, even if it did have to come with a lot of yelling. One of the Legionnaires had an ability called French Canadian Pea Soup which created a thick cloud of yellow fog which they used to cover their escape after sending out another batch of distractionary summons. Team Ninja went one way, the Legion the other, and they managed to defeat all the demons by squeezing them in a pincer attack. There were some bumps and scrapes, but the effectiveness of merging the chaos of the Legion''s showboating with the Ninjas'' deadly assassinations from the shadows meant that the demons literally didn''t know what hit them and neither team suffered life-threatening casualties in the process. Now out of the dome and without anything attacking them, the alliance was broken. Once again, the two teams went in opposite directions and I sent bees to follow them both. Team Ninja chose to stick together while moving as far away from the dome as they could, then worked together to clear the demons out of four adjacent orb rooms before splitting into groups of four or five Players to occupy the rooms. A smart plan. They even managed to sneak past the wandering demon mobs they encountered along the way. The Legion¡¯s plan, which I overheard through the bee that followed them, was to go straight for one of the towers and ascend to the top before splitting into three groups to take its orb rooms as they worked their way down. Even smarter. The way those towers were set up limited access, making them relatively easy to defend. Unfortunately, they had to deal with the mobs they met the old fashioned way, so it took them longer to enact it. They were still fighting one of those demon mobs when the next team arrived in the dome. Team Overgeared. Another twenty demons had taken up positions outside the dome fifteen minutes after the Legion had entered the quest, all but confirming my suspicion that it was a pattern. A new group of demonic bad guys would come and take up position outside the dome five minutes before each team arrived. Upon opening the door and discovering the demons waiting outside, Overgeared fought with them a bit then closed the door and came up with a different plan inspired by the demon campers. They set up their own ambush inside the dome by positioning themselves around the perimeter of the teleportation node and waited for the next time to arrive. This would be interesting. While waiting for the next team to enter the quest, Petal arrived. She was flushed and out of breath. ¡°Sorry it took so long to get here. We were searching the Southern forest for signs of the missing herd.¡± After my picnic with Morgan in the Beastfolk lands, I pursued the idea that each dungeon would have its own special creature that could be used as a mount. I¡¯d asked Petal if there were any creatures in the forest that could be ridden. She told me there used to be but that they¡¯d left the forest during the elven diaspora. When she told me what they were I¡¯d immediately given her the mission to find them and bring them home. ¡°Any luck?¡± I said. ¡°Not yet,¡± she gasped. ¡°But I think we¡¯re getting close.¡± ¡°Wait, did you run all the way here?¡± I said, producing a skin of water from my inventory. ¡°Yes, why?¡± ¡°You elves never cease to amaze me.¡± She accepted the compliment and the drink with equal grace. ¡°It is mutual, I assure you. What did you need me for?¡± ¡±Two things, actually. First¡­¡± By the time Team Happy arrived at the Citadel I¡¯d finished explaining things and Petal had already departed on her new missions. One of the reasons Overgeared had decided on their ambush plan was because they knew Team Happy was next to come. Happy was one of the weaker teams, consistently close to the bottom of the rankings, so Overgeared had figured it would be an easy win. If I was a betting man I would have put my money on Overgeared, and I would have won. Team Happy was totally unprepared for what met them when they teleported in. Much to my surprise, Overgeared did not immediately attack. Instead, they gave Happy the chance to surrender and join them. It wasn¡¯t much of a choice, the obvious alternative was getting wiped out before ever getting the chance to get out of the dome. I could tell that Happy¡¯s leader, a bear-like guy named Shamsesh Khan, was about to accept the proposal when one of his team decided to attack first, using a power to make a flying sword appear and launch itself at an Overgeared Player. ¡°What is that guy doing?¡± Lianna said. ¡°They¡¯re gonna get massacred.¡± ¡°Some Players are like that,¡± I said. ¡°They can¡¯t read the room and know when it¡¯s time to fight and when it¡¯s time to raise the white flag.¡± ¡°And now he¡¯s committed his entire team to the fight. So dumb,¡± she said. Lianna¡¯s prediction proved correct and Overgeared, who¡¯d all been ready and itching for a fight, slaughtered Team Happy, who¡¯d all been taken by surprise not only by Overgeared¡¯s ambush but also by their own teammate¡¯s gung ho stupidity. A few of the Overgeared Players were hurt, and four were killed. They would¡¯ve done better against the demons.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Not a single member of Team Happy survived. TPK. A sudden thought occurred to me ¡°Hmmmm. This could be bad,¡± I said. ¡°How so?¡± Lianna said. ¡°System? Does this quest have a fatality factor?¡± System: Affirmative ¡°Can you tell me what it is?¡± System: Providing the exact number at this time would be against the rules There it was. Instead of simply saying no, System provided more information than it needed to. It had done this before, and every time it was trying to tell me something, giving a hint that a different question might yield a different answer. ¡°Okay, System. I get that you can¡¯t say the exact number, but is it lower than the fatality factor of the Light Dungeon?¡± System: Negative ¡°Is it higher?¡± System: Negative ¡°How is that possible?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Oh, wait. I get it. It¡¯s the same number.¡± Without saying it, System had just told us the fatality factor of the quest was 80, and no rules had been broken in the process. That meant there was an 80% chance of respawning, so one in five Player deaths would, on average, be death-deaths. We¡¯d just watched almost twenty people get killed, meaning four of them would not be coming back. Yeah. This was really bad. Team Karma were the next ones due to arrive. While poor Team Happy had hovered near the bottom of the rankings, Karma had always been firmly entrenched in last place. Pumped by their bloody success, Overgeared chose to try the same tactic again. Before Karma arrived, a bunch of the creepy plague doctors came to retrieve Team Happy¡¯s corpses. I was glad the game prevented you from looting a dead Player¡¯s body. Allowing Overgeared to strip another team entirely of their gear would have been a big boost for them, and a death knell for the other team. The situation after Team Karma appeared began the same but had a much different ending. To my relief, Karma immediately agreed to join Overgeared. I didn¡¯t want to see more Players die, not with a 20% chance they¡¯d never come back, so I was glad I didn¡¯t have to interfere to prevent it. ¡°Things are getting a bit crowded in there,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Think they¡¯ll try to make a break for it?¡± She was right, there wasn¡¯t a lot of space between the affinity circle and the inside wall of the dome, and with over thirty Players in there things were getting crowded. Even the two teams were talking about it because nobody knew what would happen if someone was inside the circle when the next team teleported in, and nobody wanted to risk finding out. ¡°Given who¡¯s coming next, I think they¡¯ll wait.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Team N2m2s1s next.¡± I went on to explain the curious dynamics at work with Kiki¡¯s crew. She¡¯d worked them into the periphery of the Axis of Evil but they were not core members. I¡¯d also sensed a distinct shift in Kiki¡¯s behavior, at least towards me, which I hoped meant that she was reconsidering her allegiances. Sure enough, Overgeared and Karma waited for another twenty minutes inside the dome. Lianna and I didn¡¯t waste the whole time watching. Given the fatality factor revelation, she and I were going to have to take a more hands on approach and she needed more practice. I shared superspeed with her and ran her through some drills so she could get used to using her guns while operating in fast forward. I checked in on the Citadel every once in a while. Toward the end of the gap before Team N3m3s1s arrived, Team Ninja captured their first orbs. They regrouped and repeated the tactic with the closest four rooms. Achmed¡¯s crew had been delayed by fighting demons along the way, but they¡¯d cleared the three highest rooms in their tower and had around twenty minutes left before the hour of occupation was up and they¡¯d get the orbs. It was becoming a familiar scene inside the dome. Team N3m3s1s appeared in the affinity circle and was given the ultimatum to join or die. A little part of me was happy to see Kiki take some time to think about it. The fact that she didn¡¯t choose to join right away told me she really was cooling on the whole Axis of Evil, but she eventually made the smart choice, choosing to live. Another difference this time was that as soon as Kiki¡¯s team showed up, the hourglasses over everyone¡¯s heads disappeared. Team Overgeared had been there exactly one hour, and the orb had been claimed. We knew who got the orb because the Overgeared leader gave a whoop when it happened and bragged to everyone that he¡¯d taken the token. Sure. Paint a target over your own head. That works. It made me wonder how teams would handle token possession. They would have to decide between sharing the tokens amongst them to mitigate the damage if the token holder is taken out, or pooling them with one person and defending the hell out of them. Team Ninja had four tokens already, and they¡¯d given them all to their leader, Ai Homochi. I was willing to bet Overgeared would do the same if they ever got more. Leaders like that didn¡¯t tend to trust their underlings with important things. By now, there were close to fifty people in the dome, too many to function if they all had to be outside the teleportation circle. They needed to get out. But that shouldn¡¯t be a problem; after all, that many Players ought to be more than enough to take out the demons waiting outside. Or so they thought. None of the Players inside the dome had stepped foot outside of it yet, so none of them knew how many demons there were out there. They assumed they¡¯d be facing the same mob that Overgeared had fought against, not knowing about the twenty more who¡¯d joined them before each new team arrived. With the twenty from Overgeared, plus the ones who came for Teams Happy, Karma, and N3m3s1s, a significant force of eighty demons were encamped outside. Team Happy wouldn¡¯t be able to help with that, though, what with all of its members being dead and all. The three remaining team leaders began talking strategy, eventually deciding on an old tactic called the testudo formation, named after a species of tortoise. The Roman legions had used it to defend against archer attacks, and as the name implies it involves the soldiers locking their shields together to create a protective shell around them. It worked well for the Romans because each legionnaire carried a large, rectangular shield that fit together nicely with their comrades¡¯ shields to create a gapless barrier, but not every Player had a shield, and the ones they had were all different sizes and shapes. They planned their formation inside the dome and although the barrier they formed together would have many gaps, they chose to go with it. It only needed to get them as far as the inner wall, after which they¡¯d be able to engage in close combat and wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the arrows anymore. At least, that was the plan. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four - The odds are not in their favor When the three teams in the dome made their move, Lianna and I were back to munching potato-esque chips and watching the show. The first Player out the door was one of Kiki¡¯s crew, the one with the biggest shield. Behind them, the other Players followed one by one, adding their shield to the collective protective barrier. The demons began shooting right away and there were a lot more arrows coming at them than they expected ¡ª four times as many to be exact ¡ª but the tortoise formation held and all of the Players managed to get out and reach the safety of the inner wall. Nobody was badly hurt, only a few people took one of the arrows that snuck through the gaps between the irregularly-shaped shields. They could have made a break for the buildings at that point, but for some reason they chose to fight the eighty demons. Five minutes before the next team was due to arrive, just as the combined three teams managed to finish off the big mob, the next twenty demons reported for duty and the Players had to fight them too. They finished off this fresh mob with a power very similar to Annabelle¡¯s explosion, wiping nearly all of them out at once in a single flashy blast. The Players had won mostly by using area effect powers that were particularly effective against the demons because they tended to clump together. It worked well, but it also drained the mana of the Players using them to what I thought was an excessive degree, considering that the game was only just starting. Especially that explosion power that took out the demon reinforcement, it was a costly thing to use and depleted the mana of the Player who cast it by a truly inordinate amount. They¡¯d be useless for a while until their energy recovered. Explosion magic may have been among the most powerful, and certainly the flashiest, but it tended to leave the tank empty. Despite how much fun it looked in the anime, I was neither a fan of being carried home after blowing my mana wad in one burst, so to speak, nor of having to carry home a drained comrade. Plus, as well as taking a hit in mana, in taking down the hundred demons the three teams also took some significant personnel losses of their own: nine Players had been killed fighting the big demon mob. Team Overgeared had started with the fewest people and was now down to only ten, while Karma had twelve and N3m3s1s had fifteen Players left. I tried not to think about how two more Players would never be seen again thanks to the fatality factor, but it was too haunting. I¡¯d have to put a stop to this kind of fighting. The three teams weren¡¯t going to me that easy. After they¡¯d mopped up the demons, they took up the demons¡¯ positions to set up an ambush for the next team coming out of the dome, Team Spice. Nope. Not on my watch. I did notice something particularly interesting. Kiki hardly did anything at all. I¡¯d seen her Status without all the hiddens and I knew she had some impressive powers ¡ª like, seriously impressive ¡ª but for some reason she wasn¡¯t using them. Was she saving her mana? If so, was it because she was being smart or just selfish? ¡°I just thought of something,¡± Lianna said as I was watching Kiki through bug eyes. ¡°Originally I thought going first gave you a big advantage, like how Team Ninja managed to take those rooms quickly. By the time it¡¯s our turn to start they¡¯ll have eight rooms and be well on their way to twelve.¡± ¡°You think differently now?¡± ¡°Sort of. It was still good to go first, but a team going last has the advantage of coming in with a full roster. By the time that happens, skirmishes with demons and other Players will have whittled the other teams down, making them easier prey if the last teams choose to go for other teams instead of trying to capture rooms. Assuming that because Team Ninja went first they¡¯d have the most tokens, going after them to take theirs would be the smart move.¡± I nodded, once again pleased with my choice of teammate. ¡°I agree,¡± I said, ¡°but setting aside the fatality factor, there¡¯s still one glaring problem with that strategy.¡± ¡°Yeah. Our full roster is still only two people.¡± ¡°So what strategy would you suggest?¡± ¡°That¡¯d depend on what happens with the other teams that go before us. Tiff¡¯s team is next, then the Droogs and Invictus, so a lot could happen but I guess maybe if Maple Leaf is still in the dome when we get there we can join forces and go from there?¡± ¡°And if they aren¡¯t?¡± Lianna¡¯s forehead wrinkled as she considered. ¡°You have a power to turn invisible, right?¡± ¡°More or less, yes.¡± ¡°Then we use your ability to sneak around and spy ahead to find smaller groups of other Players, and your ability to take down a T-Rex to convince them to give us their tokens.¡± ¡°Not bad,¡± I said. ¡°What will you do while I¡¯m doing all this?¡± ¡°Um, polish my guns and look sexy?¡± ¡°Someone let a few compliments get to her head.¡± Lianna pouted. ¡°Maybe you give me all the tokens you get and I find a nice secluded place to hide.¡± ¡°That¡¯s actually not a bad idea.¡± She brightened again. ¡°So is that what we¡¯ll do?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°You want to wait and see what happens first.¡± ¡°Nope. It doesn¡¯t matter what the other teams do, our plan is set.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°So we¡¯re gonna win this quest?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Nope.¡± Big sigh, but not her best. I¡¯d give it a seven out of ten. ¡°You know, I really don¡¯t get you,¡± she said. ¡°Yes you do. Think about it.¡± Her forehead crinkled again, then she smacked it with her palm. ¡°Us winning this quest won¡¯t help make others stronger.¡± ¡°Got it first try.¡± She smirked at me. ¡°So are you going to tell your teammate what our plan to get out of the dome is?¡± ¡°Who says we have to start in the dome in the first place? Speaking of which, we should go there now.¡± ¡°Huh? It¡¯s not our turn. It¡¯s Team Spice¡¯s.¡± ¡°Exactly. Let¡¯s go greet them.¡± ¡°I thought we were going to let people solve their own problems.¡± ¡°Do you think Spice has any chance of escaping the dome without getting massacred?¡± ¡°The odds are not in their favor,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I¡¯d like to prevent as many people from getting killed as possible.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go,¡± Lianna said. Needless to say, when Tiff¡¯s team arrived they were a bit startled to find us waiting for them in the dome, but strangely not that surprised. Half of them weren¡¯t, anyway. ¡°Daniel,¡± Tiff said. ¡°I know better than to ask how you managed to get here way before your turn, but I am curious why.¡± ¡°We wanted to save you from being ambushed,¡± I said. All of Team Spice crowded around us as I summarized what had happened since the first team arrived. The ones who knew me from the catacombs were all knowing smiles, while the new members had the most confused looks on their faces you could possibly imagine. Once again, Tiff didn¡¯t ask how I knew all this, but she did want to confirm it. I let her do it her way. She sent one of her teammates with the power of thermal vision to peek out the door. I could hear the thunk thunks of several arrows striking the dome. ¡°Houston, we have a problem,¡± the Spice girl said after slamming the door shut again. ¡°So we need to figure a way out, then,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not a problem,¡± I said. ¡°We could get you all out of here right now if you wanted.¡± One of the new members of their team snorted. ¡°Like how?¡± Tiff turned on her. ¡°If Daniel says he can do it, he can,¡± she snapped, a bit more defensively than I thought necessary, but I appreciated the support. ¡°What happens in the dome stays in the dome,¡± Grace said with a grin. Tiff shifted her attention back to me. ¡°So why wouldn¡¯t we just do that?¡± ¡°Because I want to give someone a chance at redemption,¡± I said. Tiff thought about it for a moment, then said, ¡°You¡¯re talking about Kiki.¡± ¡°I think she might flip if we give her the opportunity. If it doesn¡¯t work, I can still get you safely out of here, but if you¡¯re up for it I¡¯d like to try.¡± ¡°I do enjoy a good redemption story,¡± Tiff said. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°Do you trust me?¡± I said. ¡°Of course,¡± Tiff said, then heaved a sigh. ¡°You can stop asking me that now, or don¡¯t you trust me?¡± ¡°Preach,¡± Lianna mumbled. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Sorry. Okay then, be back in a bit.¡± I went over to the back of the dome and created an opening using Earth affinity, then went through. After stepping out of line of sight from the inside ¡ª no sense showing all my cards yet if I didn¡¯t have to ¡ª I used the same power Akari had used to spy on us in the catacombs as well as her ability to fly, then zoomed invisibly up to the top of the wall. It wasn¡¯t total invisibility, more like a kind of spatial distortion effect, but unless someone was paying attention or particularly perceptive it was as good as being invisible. I scouted around to see where everyone was hiding and was relieved to see that the three teams allied against us hadn¡¯t mingled together, each team occupied their own area along the wall. N3m3s1s was on one side, Karma in the middle, then Overgeared on the other side. I was a bit surprised that Overgeared hadn¡¯t taken the central position, but I figured they probably put Karma central because they figured that¡¯s where most of Spice¡¯s attacks would likely go. I flew over to Kiki on top of the wall and hovered over her, then opened a telepathic link. Me: Kiki, it¡¯s Daniel. Don¡¯t freak out. Apart from a slight jolt when I said her name, she caught on quickly and made no outward reaction to having my voice suddenly in her head. Inwardly? Oh, she reacted. Kiki: What the fuck? How the hell are you in my head? Me: I¡¯m using telepathy to talk to you. Kiki: Get out! Stop reading my mind! Me: Don¡¯t worry, I can¡¯t read your thoughts, only communicate with you. Kiki: You¡¯d better not be lying. Me: I¡¯m not, although that reaction makes me wish I could read your mind so I¡¯d know what¡¯s in that pretty little head you don¡¯t want me to know. Even hovering above her I could see her flush. Kiki: Shut up! Me: Listen, do you or do you not want to flip sides and join up with Team Spice? Kiki: What about you? Me: Us too. Kiki: And what if I did? Me: I can help make that happen. Is it okay if I loop Tiff in on this conversation? Kiki: You can do that too? Well, okay, I suppose. Me: Tiff? You¡¯re the next caller on the line, did you have a question to ask our special guest Kiki? Tiff: Idiot. Hey Kiki. Wanna pull one over on those Overgeared assholes? Kiki: More than anything. Tiff: I¡¯m really glad to hear that. Me: Me too. Okay, here¡¯s what I was thinking... When I finished telling them my plan Kiki asked me if I was crazy, but then I explained the whole fatality factor thing and they agreed to give it a shot. The three opposing teams were all in their own areas along the wall, but they weren¡¯t all bunched in one place. Those with the best ranged attacks were along the top of the wall, while the melee-focused ones were on the ground. Kiki¡¯s job was to get her team on board with the plan and get them into position while I flew back to the dome. When I got there, Tiff was organizing her team and getting them ready. I kept the telepathic three-way open so Kiki could let us know when she was all set, then it was my turn to share the plan for the next phase with my team. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me,¡± Lianna said, shaking her head vehemently. ¡°I can¡¯t do that!¡± ¡°Of course you can. It¡¯s just like we practiced.¡± ¡°Sure, with the small exception that there will be live people fighting back instead of target dummies standing there waiting to be shot.¡± ¡°If things go as planned, we¡¯ll hit them before they have a chance to fight back so they¡¯ll all be as good as dummies, you know?¡± ¡°And how often do things go as planned?¡± she said with a huff. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five - Who brings guns to a knife fight? Kiki: All set here. Team N3m3s1s is ready. Tiff: That was fast. Kiki: I have my boys well trained. Tiff: I bet you do. Team Spice is on board too. Me: I¡¯m gonna need another minute. My team seems to have a mind of her own. ¡°I heard that,¡± Lianna said aloud with a grimace. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said. ¡°If things go off the rails I¡¯ll just open a portal to escape through. It¡¯ll be fine.¡± I saw the muscles working in Lianna¡¯s jaw as she clenched her teeth. Then she exhaled deeply and said, ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to get used to fighting sometime.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. If you¡¯re really uncomfortable, you can stay here and I¡¯ll take care of it myself.¡± She shook her head. ¡°No, no I need to do this. It¡¯ll be fine, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got your back, always,¡± I said. I noticed Tiff watching us with an approving grin. ¡°All set now?¡± she said. ¡°All set,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± ¡°Everybody ready?¡± I said. ¡°As we¡¯ll ever be,¡± Tiff said. Her teammates all wore a serious expression, the look of people about to go to battle. I¡¯d heard Tiff giving them a pep talk, focusing mostly on her newbies. All of them had adventuring experience, their ability mastery levels proved that, but this would be an entirely different type of encounter than anything they¡¯d pulled before. ¡°Does it matter if I say no?¡± Lianna said. Those who didn¡¯t laugh outright at least cracked a smile, and the tension that had filled the dome a moment before relaxed noticeably. ¡°Here we go.¡± I opened a portal between the dome and the top of the wall behind Kiki¡¯s team. We¡¯d chosen this spot because it was far enough away that Team Karma on the other side wouldn¡¯t be able to see. ¡°Holy shit, he really can do it,¡± a Spice girl said. ¡°Told ya,¡± said another. A couple of the Team N3m3s1s members looked back at us through the portal upon hearing them. ¡°Keep it down,¡± Tiff hissed, ¡°and let¡¯s go.¡± Tiff stood beside the portal as one by one her crew filed silently through it like paratroopers making a drop. They didn¡¯t dare make a sound now. When it was her turn to go last, Tiff winked at us and stepped through. Then it was just Lianna and me left in the dome, so I closed that portal and opened another one. This one also led to the top of the wall, but on the other side, behind Team Overgeared. Lianna and I slipped through, then I closed the portal and did some summoning. I would¡¯ve used all my summoning slots to conjure a flock of seagulls, but I needed to maintain the bees to keep tabs on where the other teams were so I only had one slot open. I used it to summon the falcon again. ¡°You ready for this?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m bringing Pinky back.¡± Lianna nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll just try to avoid eye contact.¡± ¡°Good luck with that,¡± I said, and the little shoggoth appeared in front of me, its thousand eyes blinking and popping in ¡ª forgive the pun ¡ª a now familiar way. Pinky had finished mapping out the Citadel¡¯s interior a while back and I now had a clear picture of what was in every building and every room, including any occupants. There were roaming mobs of demons and some of the rooms with tokens held stationary groups of demons, but Pinky had managed to evade detection, thankfully. The different buildings and the rooms inside them were what you¡¯d expect to find in a medieval castle. Places to cook, places to eat, places to train, places to sleep, places to store sundries, yadda yadda yadda. As I¡¯d suspected, the rooms with tokens to capture were all larger, more significant places. Annabelle had said that this used to be the fortress of the Faerie King, and the stylings and decorations around the gave off a fae kind of vibe, but the one thing the Citadel didn¡¯t have was any fae people or creatures at all. Just demons, and the signs of demonic occupation were everywhere. Many of the rooms looked like a hotel room after a particularly unruly rock band had stayed there, while others were even worse. A lot were filled with literal trash, enough to tell me that the demons had been there for a while, certainly since before we¡¯d arrived on the planet. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. But where were all the fae? Had the demons wiped them out? Could that be the secret quest, to not only remove the demons but also restore the faeries? Then again, Faerie King sounded like the sort of title that one might earn through a hidden dungeon quest, so perhaps it needed more than a simple restoration. There were still some areas of the Citadel that remained a mystery. Pinky hadn¡¯t been able to find any way into the black tower. Perhaps the entrance was underground, or perhaps there was a different way to get inside. In a world where teleportation was common, who needed doors? Pinky had still been exploring around the tower in search of something it had missed when I summoned it to me so it was still in its large millipede form, but that wasn¡¯t big enough for what I had in mind. I had it grow into a giant millipede, engorging itself from three feet long to over ten, and half as wide as the catwalk on top of the wall. ¡°Oh god,¡± Lianna said. She¡¯d clearly made eye contact. How could she not? There were just too many of them. I sent the falcon soaring and had it swoop around so I could confirm that everyone was where they were supposed to be, then had it dive straight toward the Overgeared leader. The bird pulled up at the last moment, dropping a nice fresh dollop of poop on his head. If you¡¯re wondering why I¡¯d originally wanted a flock of seagulls, it was because I wanted to have them all dump on the whole Overgeared at the same time, but I had to make do with only soiling the main jerk. Hearing his curses and his teammates¡¯ mocking laughter was decent consolation, though. The falcon flew up, crying a harsh kak-kak-kak as it climbed. That was the signal to start. Trusting Tiff and Kiki to hold their side, I sent Pinky skittering ahead toward Overgeared with Lianna and I following close behind, both of us holding a P3 in each hand like gangbangers, phasers set to stun, our Holtzmann shields shimmering around us. I was also sharing superspeed with Lianna. I¡¯d considered doing more, such as obscuring the area with fog or darkness, but that kind of felt like overkill. As a mere baby Shoggoth, Pinky didn¡¯t have a lot of combat power ¡ª all it could do was thwap people with tentacles ¡ª but that was fine. I didn¡¯t need it to fight. Its mission was all shock and awe, and on that front it was the most powerful weapon in my arsenal, truly shocking and awesome. I can¡¯t tell you how satisfying it was to hear the shrieks and cries of grown men as Pinky charged into the Overgeared ranks. Most of the Players in its path were knocked down, one even fell right off the wall. Well done, Pinky. In the ensuing chaos, Lianna and I came storming in at superspeed, firing off stun rounds indiscriminately. My quick reload method worked like a charm. As soon as a pistol ran out of juice, we¡¯d slap its butt on its holster to jam in a fresh mana crystal and keep on shooting. Before they knew what had happened, all the Overgeared Players on top of the wall were down and out. We did the same thing to Team Karma''s ranks up top, sweeping through them with surprising ease. They¡¯d tried to break ranks and run away, but were met by the full force of both Teams N3m3s1s and Spice blocking their path with a solid wall of sharp, pointy things and various affinity barriers. When Pinky reached our allies, it veered off and skittered down the side of the wall. Soon Lianna and I found ourselves face to face with Spice and N3m3s1s, a trail of bodies strewn behind us. Not dead, but also not a threat anymore. Screw you, fatality factor. After we turned off our superspeed, Tiff peered over my shoulder at the human wreckage we¡¯d left behind. ¡°Yeah, okay,¡± she said. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s one way to do it.¡± ¡°That was a lot easier than I expected,¡± Lianna said, smacking fresh crystals into both of her guns. ¡°We didn¡¯t even need our shields after all.¡± She tapped the gem on her ring and the Holtzmann haze around her vanished as the shield dropped. ¡°You guys are a bit scary,¡± Tiff¡¯s Vice-Captain Grace said. ¡°You know that, right?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not the first to say that,¡± I said with a grin. ¡°We¡¯re just lucky, though. See you on the next level.¡± Lianna and I turned around to sweep back the way we¡¯d come. To make sure the bad guys stayed unconscious until we were done mopping up their teammates down on the ground, we made sure to double or triple-tap each one with more stun rounds as we passed them. It was Lianna who fired down at the poor bugger Pinky had pushed off the catwalk, but along with a pair of stuns she also sent a healing shot into him to counter the damage he¡¯d taken in his fall. Once we¡¯d secured the catwalk, we nodded at each other and leapt off the wall. When I¡¯d added the jumping power to Lianna¡¯s boots I felt a bit foolish, but I was thankful for it now. This little drop off the catwalk was like stepping off a chair. No problem. In the time it had taken us to double back for our double-taps up top, our allies had come down the regular way on the stairs, ready to act once again as a human barrier, corralling our opponents to keep them in the (non-lethal) killing zone. As above, so below. The bad guys on the ground were in complete disarray. If the screams from up on top of the wall hadn¡¯t thrown them, nor seeing their comrade falling off of it, the appearance of Pinky scrabbling through their ranks on its countless stubby tentacle feet surely did. The moment we landed we started shooting, standing back to back with a gun in each hand, blasting anything that moved with fewer than a hundred legs. ¡°Hey Lianna, stop shooting,¡± I said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s let the others have some fun.¡± Me: Kiki? Tiff? You guys good to finish things up? Tiff: Yeah, sure, of course. Anything wrong? Kiki: I suppose since you''re begging for my help. Me: We actually just thought you might enjoy a little action. Kiki: Erg. Tiff: That''s most neighborly of you, Daniel. I have been a bit jealous watching you have all the fun, although you mostly move too fast to see. Me: Just remember, nobody dies. Lianna and I switched tactics and now it was our turn to do crowd control while Spice and N3m3s1s took over and mopped up. Once or twice I had to step in with a quick burst of superspeed and a well-placed stun or health round to prevent anyone from getting seriously hurt, but on the whole our allies did a commendable job and seemed to have a lot of fun doing it. Would it have been faster, easier, safer, and cleaner to do it ourselves? Of course. It had become obvious even to me that I had crossed over the power level threshold for this game, and dragged Lianna along with me. The polite way to say it would be that I had irrevocably altered the game¡¯s power dynamics; the other way would be to simply say I''d broken it. That¡¯s why I told Lianna to stop and let the others have a little fun. You know, while they still could. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Six - What do we do with these jerks? It was educational watching the other teams fight. Team Spice was like a well-oiled machine with Tiff right up there at the frontline doing crowd control with her electric whip and wraithlike summoned creatures made out of Darkness. Team N3m3s1s, on the other hand...it¡¯s not that they were bad, they just weren¡¯t...optimized. The strongest one on the team was Kiki, whether by nature or design, and she ruled over them as a harsh Mistress.
Kiki Duplessis Team N3m3s1s Captain
Affinity: Fire - Expert
Gifts: Go Ahead, Burn Me At The Stake, I Dare You - Incredible resistance to fire and heat Recharger ¨C Rapid mana recovery
Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Expert: See Statuses Burninate - Adept: Heat ray Cold Shoulder - Competent: Second affinity with Ice Effreet-o-lay - Expert: Summon flame elementals The Floor Is Lava - Adept: Transmute an area into molten lava
Skills: Affinity Control - Expert Baking - Adept Cosmetics - Adept Crossbow - Competent Fashion - Competent Game Design - Competent Knife - Competent
I still remembered when Kiki¡¯s fire summons were these cute little flaming snakes that could be extinguished with a bit of Water affinity action. Now her much-evolved power ¡ª foreshadowingly called Effreet-o-lay ¡ª let her summon bigger, scarier fire beasts, and lots of them, and I suspected that if she wanted to she could put it all into one very big, nasty, fiery summon. And that heat ray power? It shot from Kiki¡¯s eyes. Her eyes! Terrifying. I hate to say it, but Kiki was one of the strongest Players out there, not just on her team, but on the planet. Certainly her crowd control methods were much more effective than Tiff¡¯s whip. I almost felt sorry the battle was so quick. With her mana recovery gift, it would¡¯ve been interesting to see how long she could maintain her summons while also scorching her heat vision around and frying whatever she looked at. Most impressive was the surgical precision she employed on her talents, using them with meticulous control to direct and dispose of her opponents non-lethally. I had to smile when I saw her baking skill. How many cookies do you need to bake to get it up to Adept? Was that actually how she controlled her boys, with sweets and baked goods? Nah. It had to be her winning personality. Her second affinity with Ice was also interesting. It was only at Competent and she had no specialized powers utilizing it like she had for Fire, so I figured she must have only recently acquired it. She herself was a walking contradiction so having opposite affinities fit her, especially those two. Fire and Ice pretty much summed her up. Kiki also seemed to really enjoy cutting loose. The grin on her face was infectious as beams of pure hotness shot from her big pretty eyes, her long blonde pigtails swirled around her head as she directly her gaze toward the bad guys. Once, our eyes met and thankfully she held back on heat visioning me. Instead, her face flushed slightly and she looked around for some proper foes to burn. Her eyes kept flickering back to me as she set upon our opponents with renewed gusto, as though making sure I saw she wasn¡¯t holding back against her former allies. Yes, helping her cross the floor to our side was definitely the right move. I¡¯d much rather be fighting with her like this than against her. Oh yeah. We were in the middle of a big fight. Watching Kiki was so distracting I almost forgot. Anyway, long story short: although Lianna and I did a lot less of the heavy lifting, we collectively did pretty much the same thing on the ground as we did up top. Ducks in a barrel. And while Pinky scurried around in their ranks bumping into them as much as possible while we took them down, I got the distinct impression that the little monstrosity was having even more fun than Kiki. In what felt like no time, nobody in Overgeared or Karma was moving. We were a bit more casual about double-tapping the ones on the ground, strolling among them and lazily firing another stun or two into each one. I took no satisfaction from the way they twitched and spasmed each time. Honest. Tiff came up to me as I was doing that. ¡°Um, hey Daniel?¡± ¡°Want something, Tiff?¡± I said. ¡°Kind of.¡± ¡°So tell me what you want, what you really really want.¡± She smirked and held out her hand. ¡°Stop right there, thank you very much.¡± ¡°Too much?¡± She groaned. I didn¡¯t really need to ask what she wanted. She was practically undressing my pistol with her eyes. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°You want to try one of these, huh?¡± I said, gesturing with one of my pistols. She nodded hungrily, so I held it out on my open palm. ¡±If you can take this from me, then you¡ª¡± Before I could react, Tiff reached out to snatch the gun but inches away from reaching it her hand rebounded off the Holtzmann shield that her rapid movement toward me had triggered. ¡°What the hell, man? A shield? That¡¯s not fair. How am I supposed to take it?¡± ¡°Says the woman who tried to grab it before I was ready,¡± I laughed, and she started chuckling too. ¡°Honestly, I forgot about the shield.¡± ¡°How does one forget about something like that?¡± she said, probing my personal force field with little finger pokes. I tugged the shield ring off and the force field dropped just as she was jabbing her finger at it and she ended up prodding me in the forehead. ¡°Ow,¡± I said, rubbing the spot. She yanked her hand back like I¡¯d burned her and used it to cover her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡± I held up the ring. ¡°Well I was going to give this to you as compensation, but now I¡¯m not so sure.¡± ¡°Compensation for what?¡± ¡°For the cruel trick I was playing on you. I was going to let you grab the gun then laugh when you weren¡¯t able to use it because it¡¯s user-locked to me.¡± ¡°Even without that your gun would be useless to me, I don¡¯t have the right affinity. I was hoping you had a different version tucked away I could use.¡± As we talked, Lianna was still going around ensuring our captives would stay down. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about the look on her face as she did it, she appeared to be enjoying the twitches and spasms a bit too much. Tiff followed my gaze over to watch her too. ¡°And you think I¡¯m scary,¡± I said. ¡°No kidding. Lianna¡¯s all kinds of awesome,¡± Tiff said. Seeing Tiff and me together, Kiki rushed over to join us. ¡°Great job, Kiki,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t sound so surprised,¡± she snapped back. Then her tone changed instantly and she said, ¡°It was a crude plan, but good enough, I suppose.¡± ¡°Thanks. I suppose.¡± ¡°I just have one question,¡± she said, one hand on her hip and the other gesturing at the incapacitated bodies around us. ¡°What do we do with all these jokers now?¡± ¡°We put them on ice,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re gonna deep freeze them?¡± It was a valid question. Everyone had seen me use Ice when I fought Flint, after all. ¡°It was a figure of speech, but if my plan doesn¡¯t work we can go literal and call the cryostorage idea Plan B.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Tiff said, ¡°I have a question too: what the hell was that thing that came crashing through before you guys?¡± ¡°That was Pinky,¡± Lianna said, joining us after delivering the last double-tap and jerking her thumb at me. ¡°This guy¡¯s pet.¡± ¡°Familiar,¡± I said. ¡°Pinky?¡± Tiff said. ¡°I got him off a guy who was a brain,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± ¡°You can tell me after all this is over and I take you out for several well-earned drinks,¡± Tiff said. ¡°You got it,¡± I said. ¡°Hey!¡± Kiki squealed. ¡°I¡¯m coming too. Uh, because, you know, I guess I owe you too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a date, Kiki,¡± I said. ¡°A what? I suppose, I mean, oh whatever. I just want to say thanks too, alright? Don¡¯t make me regret being nice.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know: don¡¯t get used to it, either.¡± Say what you want about Kiki, she was a bit of a psycho who tried to kill me several times and succeeded once, but she wasn¡¯t so bad, really, and rather fun to tease. Lianna seemed to be getting a kick out of it, too, she kept smiling at me all knowingly. What exactly she knew she kept to herself. Grace was the next to come join the group. ¡°Well?¡± Tiff said. ¡°We counted them twice, all enemies accounted for,¡± Grace said. ¡°You asked Grace to count the bad guys?¡± I said. Tiff nodded. ¡°Great idea, Tiff. It would¡¯ve been a hassle if any of them got away. Well done.¡± Grace beamed as I praised her leader. ¡°We also handled the twenty demons who showed up.¡± ¡°Any problems with that?¡± Tiff said. ¡°None worth mentioning. Between us and N3m3s1s it was a cake-walk.¡± ¡°Nicely done, Grace,¡± I said, and she beamed brighter. ¡°Sorry I forgot to mention a new crop of those buggers always shows up five minutes before the next team arrives.¡± ¡°That would¡¯ve been nice to know, but no harm done. It felt good to let loose,¡± Grace said, raising her arms over her head and stretching her back languidly before inclining her head toward our captives. ¡°It was tough restraining ourselves against these jerks, though it¡¯s good nobody died, obviously.¡± ¡°Speaking of whom, like Kiki said, what¡¯re we gonna do with them?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Whatever it is, we need to get a move on. There¡¯s another team coming,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Oh I know,¡± I said with a grin. ¡°That¡¯s when the fun¡¯s really gonna start.¡± ¡°The next teams coming are the Droogs and Invictus,¡± Kiki answered for me, face implacable. ¡°That¡®s your idea of fun?¡± Dealing with all the captured Players wasn¡¯t going to be an issue, but it had to be done quickly. Tiff¡¯s crew had already wrangled them all together and relieved them of their weapons. Then, starting with Overgeared, they hustled the captives back inside the transportation node in the dome. Between my TTC Control key, my affinity with Void, and my Great Sage benefits I had considerable control over the teleportation network, enough to forcibly bring people with me when I used it to go somewhere. Anika, the Spice girl with the wicked sleep power that made our stun rounds possible, came along. I took them to the labyrinth, then opened a portal to a suite of special welcoming rooms I¡¯d asked Alice to prepare. A comfortable, safe space where they could relax for the next, oh, 22 hours or so, under the watchful eyes of some of the more intimidating denizens of the Light Dungeon. As insurance, Anika stayed behind with a crate of mana potions, charged with the job of keeping any Players who had abilities that might help them escape snoring. I¡¯d contemplated creating a special dungeon for them to crawl through as a way to pass the time and have a little fun, but then I remembered that Overgeared had probably kill-killed a few of Team Happy and decided they didn¡¯t deserve it. I¡¯d also considered having a squad of Doppelgangers copy a few Overgeared Players and send them in to lead Invictus and the Droogs into an ambush, but as fun as that would be it would just be overcomplicating things. I had to stop doing so much and let the other Players play. Before I left, Alice told me that the other thing I¡¯d asked her to do had been completed. ¡°And?¡± I said. ¡°They were surprised, to say the least,¡± she said. ¡°But very happy.¡± ¡°I bet they were. I love it when a plan comes together.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Seven - So what now? By the time I got back to the Citadel after stowing Team Overgeared in the labyrinth, Team Karma was ready to go so I gave them the same treatment, locking them in a different, but equally well-guarded room. The watchful eyes of their monster guardians would let Anika know if anyone needed a fresh dose of her sleep power. They weren¡¯t going anywhere. I almost wished they¡¯d try something, just so that my labyrinth monsters could have some fun pacifying their rebellion. That took care of that. And over a minute to spare before the Droogs were due to show up. ¡°So, what now?¡± Lianna said, and I was keenly aware that all of Teams Spice and N3m3s1s were watching me. ¡°Now we block the way out of the dome,¡± I said. ¡°Hey Sonia?¡± I said to a member of Team Spice, a serious-looking woman with the curliest hair I¡¯d ever seen and a high mastery of Earth affinity. ¡°Think you can build a nice thick wall in front of it?¡± Sonia grinned at me and nodded enthusiastically. So much for serious. ¡°You got it, Daniel.¡± She skipped over to the dome and used her power to raise a massive stone barricade that would effectively trap the new arrivals in the dome. Sure, I could¡¯ve done it myself, but I was trying to give others chances to shine. ¡°And that¡¯s time. The next team should be here now,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Droogs,¡± Kiki sneered. ¡°Those guys creep me out, trying to make me drink milk all the time and staring at my tits.¡± ¡°No disrespect, Kiki,¡± Grace said, ¡°but it¡¯s hard not to.¡± ¡°Well yeah,¡± Kiki said, placing her hands under her breasts and bouncing them a little, ¡°but why do they have to be holding scissors while they do it?¡± ¡°What¡¯s to stop them from using Earth to open up a new door from the inside?¡± Tiff said, tearing her eyes away from Kiki¡¯s bosom. ¡°I¡¯m betting they won¡¯t think of it,¡± I said, doing the same. It really was hard not to stare, especially when Kiki jiggled them like that. ¡°When people see a door they tend to stop looking for other ways out.¡± ¡°Just in case,¡± Tiff said, ¡°let¡¯s keep an eye on the dome from all sides.¡± ¡°Smart,¡± Lianna said. Tiff flashed a coy smile at Lianna then turned and issued a quick command to her team. They acknowledged the order then scampered off to set a loose ring of watchers around the dome. Dang, that¡¯s leadership. ¡°What about when Invictus comes?¡± Kiki said, fidgeting with one of her long blonde pigtails. I guess she wasn¡¯t looking forward as much as I was to Troy¡¯s reaction when he found out she¡¯d switched sides. Personally, I couldn¡¯t wait to see his stupid smug face when he saw N3m3s1s cozied up to the rest of us. ¡°We keep them in there too,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Troy has Earth affinity,¡± Tiff said. ¡°He does,¡± Kiki and I said at the same time, causing Tiff to quirk an eyebrow. Tiff hadn¡¯t raised her evaluation power to Expert like Kiki had and wasn¡¯t able to see another team builder¡¯s Status yet, so she must¡¯ve been wondering how we were both so certain about Troy¡¯s affinity. ¡°Well he might be an asshole but he¡¯s a clever one,¡± Tiff said. ¡°He¡¯ll probably figure it out.¡± ¡°It should take him a while, at least,¡± I said. ¡°The door opens outward so they won¡¯t immediately know why they can¡¯t open it.¡± ¡°I wonder how long they¡¯ll spend trying to figure out how to unlock it before giving up?¡± Kiki said with a devilish grin. Tiff laughed, then turned to me. ¡°Daniel, while we have no problem working together and going along with your weird plans, do keep in mind that we all still need to go claim some rooms and get tokens. This is a competition, after all.¡± ¡°About that,¡± I said. ¡°What would you say if I said we could all share equally in the rewards for this quest? Even Invictus and the rest.¡± ¡°You¡¯re suggesting we all agree to end with the same number of tokens,¡± Kiki said. ¡°You really think Troy¡¯s gonna go for that?¡± ¡°He will if his only other option is for him and all his allies to get nothing while the rest of us all get the first place rewards,¡± I said. ¡°What about the control of this Citadel?¡± Kiki said. ¡°That goes to the winning team and we can¡¯t all share that. And let¡¯s face it, if it comes down to who contributed the most then, well, I think you¡¯ve got us all beat. It¡¯d be just like in the Light Dungeon.¡± ¡°You know about what happened in the labyrinth?¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Kiki huffed and put her hand on her hip, giving me the Oh Please treatment. ¡°You aren¡¯t the only one who¡¯s been busy and knows things, you know.¡± I resisted the sudden urge to pat her head. ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯ve learned from that,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s why Team Player is going to take one less token than everyone else.¡± ¡°We will?¡± Lianna said. ¡°We will,¡± I affirmed. ¡°You¡¯ll purposefully take second place while everyone else ties for first? Why would you do that?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Sportsmanship?¡± I said. ¡°Oh,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I get it now.¡± ¡°You really don¡¯t want it?¡± Tiff said. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want it, Tiff,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s just that we already have three dungeons and there¡¯s something else I want more.¡± ¡°Ah ha!¡± Kiki said, stomping up and getting in my face. ¡°I knew you had a trick up your sleeve. What is it you want more, then? Some special treasure? It must be pretty great if it¡¯s worth more than a dungeon.¡± Lianna inserted herself between Kiki and me. ¡°It¡¯s not a trick, Kiki. Believe it or not, what this guy wants is for everyone else to get stronger, and I do mean everyone.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Kiki said. ¡°That¡¯s stupid.¡± ¡°Actually, I can see that,¡± Tiff says. ¡°The way you stood back and let Achmed and me solve the cult quest so we¡¯d be sure to get the rewards. And how you give away incredible items, like how you gave me this awesome whip.¡± Kiki scowled at the whip in Tiff¡¯s hands. ¡°You got that from him?¡± ¡°It makes sense now,¡± Tiff said. ¡°No it doesn¡¯t,¡± Kiki said, smacking my arm. ¡°Nothing you do makes any sense to me and I don¡¯t get it. It¡¯s like you¡¯re playing a completely different game than us. I just don¡¯t get you!¡± ¡°I¡¯m really a pretty simple guy,¡± I said. ¡°I can vouch for that,¡± Lianna said. I gave in to the urge and reached out to pat Kiki¡¯s head. She flinched, but didn¡¯t stop me. ¡°You¡¯re a smart cookie, Kiki. Spend some more time around me and you¡¯ll figure me out.¡± ¡°Who¡¯d want to spend time with you?¡± she said, raising her chin proudly, although still not making any effort to stop me from stroking her hair. I became suddenly aware of how many people were watching us and pulled my hand back on my own before it got even more awkward. ¡°So which team will get the Citadel then?¡± Tiff said. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to seeing how the game resolves that, honestly,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll probably have to play another game to see who gets it.¡± ¡°Ugh, not more dodgeball, I hope,¡± Kiki groaned. ¡°Sharing the prize, huh?¡± Tiff said, flicking her thumbnail in her teeth as she mulled it over some more. ¡°What about the teams already out there collecting tokens? I¡¯m sure Achmed won¡¯t have a problem going with any plan you dream up, but what about Team Ninja?¡± ¡°They¡¯re a smart bunch with a good leader,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sure they can be convinced.¡± Tiff¡¯s eyes dropped to the pistols holstered on my belt. ¡°I have no doubt you can be very convincing.¡± ¡°You really want one of these, huh?¡± I said, running my hand over the grip of one of them. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t mind an older model until I can make you a better one?¡± Her eyes lit up. ¡°I don¡¯t mind!¡± she said quickly. ¡°Then here you go,¡± I said, and a P1 appeared in my hand. I demonstrated loading it before offering it to her. She accepted it reverently.
P1 Pistol Tell me, punk. Do you feel lucky? Powers: Bang! - Fire a projectile
¡°This was the first prototype, nothing fancy and kinda ugly but all it needs is the crossbow skill to use.¡± In my defense, I didn¡¯t know I was being a total jerk. I mean, yeah, I could see her Status so I knew perfectly well she wasn¡¯t skilled in the crossbow, but I thought giving her a gun she couldn¡¯t use was playful teasing. But the sudden transformation of the look on her face from joy to disappointment made me realize I had much to learn about playful teasing. Fortunately, Tiff was resilient. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll just have to learn crossbow when this is over,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. The newer versions need the pistol skill.¡± The disappointment slid a notch toward despair and she gave me a look like I¡¯d killed her hamster. ¡°There¡¯s a pistol skill? In a fantasy setting?¡± ¡°Well, there is now.¡± It was for the best that I didn¡¯t mention how I got it. I decided to stop teasing her. You¡¯d think I would¡¯ve been better at teasing, considering how much of it I received. Apparently not. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I added hastily, ¡°I can teach you when I give you a better gun. I¡¯d already decided to make you one, anyway. I could see how much you liked it.¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Yeah, of course.¡± Never mind that I had it in my head to arm everybody with a trimmed down version that only shot incapacitating shocks and regular bullets: set your phasers to stun or kill, Redshirts. ¡°You¡¯re really gonna make one for me?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll make one just for you, Tiff, just tell me how you want it to look. But you will still need to learn how to use it. Another new skill to learn from the ground up.¡± ¡°I know,¡± she said, ¡°exciting, isn¡¯t it?¡± I got a sudden premonition of what she was going to be like once she leveled her pistol skill to Expert or beyond. Now that was exciting. ¡°For now, go ahead and give that one to someone on your team who does know how to use a crossbow.¡± ¡°I know just the person,¡± she said, then began trotting over to one of her teammates. After a few steps she stopped suddenly and turned back halfway, saying, ¡°Thank you, Daniel. Seriously.¡± Then she continued on to bestow the P1 on a lucky teammate. I noticed Kiki was staring at me even more intently than usual. ¡°I don¡¯t see a pistol skill in your Status,¡± she said. ¡°Nor any crafting skills, for that matter. I don¡¯t see any way to explain what you can do.¡± Busted. Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Eight - The Status is a lie Curse Kiki¡¯s Expert level in All Shall Be Revealed. She could see my Status now and it was obvious my demonstrated abilities did not match what she could see. ¡°There is an explanation,¡± I said. Kiki looked at me expectantly. ¡°You gonna tell me or what?¡± ¡°I choose what,¡± I said, which made her pout and, I kid you not, actually stomp her foot. It was so adorable I figured I ought to toss her a bone. ¡°Okay fine. My Status is a lie. Happy?¡± ¡°No,¡± she said, still pouty. ¡°How?¡± I sighed. We didn¡¯t have time for this. Over Kiki¡¯s shoulder I could see Tiff coming back. Well, over her head, really; Kiki was quite petite, or at least her frame was. ¡°How about this?¡± I said, ¡°I promise that all shall be revealed, but not now. We¡¯re kind of in the middle of something, remember?¡± ¡°When?¡± Kiki demanded, leaning forward and scowling up at me, arms folded across her chest. Well, under it. Her arms weren¡¯t long enough to manage across comfortably. ¡°Give him a break, Kiki,¡± Tiff said as she rejoined us. ¡°I could hear you whining all the way over there.¡± Kiki scowled at me for a tad longer then exhaled and dropped her arms. ¡°Fiiiine. But if you won¡¯t answer that, can you at least tell me why you keep looking up?¡± ¡°No idea what you¡¯re talking about,¡± I said, which earned me another scowl. I was clearly lying. I had been checking the skies often, and I had a good reason to. But man, Kiki was being a real pill. Was it because she was worried about possible fallout from switching sides? Or was it because I¡¯d given Tiff some neat stuff. Maybe she thought I was excluding her on purpose by not giving her a cool item too. Would Kiki chill if I gave her something shiny? It¡¯d be nice to see her relax a bit and enjoy being part of the good guys for once. Hmmm, what would be good for her? I had a few prototype items lying around in storage she might like. I could give her a shield ring or a mana battery ring, either of those would be useful to her. It would be better if I had something specifically designed to work with her abilities, but I¡¯d have to make her something later. For now, a ring should pacify her. Maybe I was giving women jewelry too much, but they¡¯re such convenient items to enchant. Ah screw it. Kiki wouldn¡¯t read anything into me giving her a ring, would she? But which one? Meh, better be safe. ¡°Kiki,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I don¡¯t have a special item prepared for you either, but in the meantime, as a thank you for switching sides, and a token of friendship, please accept these.¡± I handed her the pair of rings and she took them with uncharacteristic silence. While she checked their Statuses, I had other business. ¡°Where are Chuck and Greg?¡± Two hands went up from inside the crowd of Players who¡¯d been pretending not to watch us. ¡°He¡¯s not your teacher,¡± Kiki snapped, glancing up momentarily from the rings to scowl at her boys. ¡°Put your stupid hands down and come over here, dumbasses.¡± I supposed there was all kinds of leadership. I could barely recognize the two goons who¡¯d inadvertently taught me my first new skill, Affinity Control, way back on Day One. Those cocky bros who¡¯d tried hitting on Sigrid and Jane were gone, replaced by a couple of guys whose confidence was all but shot. I could only assume it was a byproduct of Kiki¡¯s leadership style, what else could have shattered the bluster of these two egomaniacs? ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t gonna say anything at first but, well, it has really been bugging me. Chuck, that weapon you¡¯re using. Can I see it?¡± Chuck blinked at me, then reached down and drew a long, thin rapier, much like the one Jane used before she upgraded to the laser sword version. I double-checked its Status to make sure I wasn¡¯t missing anything. I wasn¡¯t. It was a nice weapon, but... ¡°Be honest: are you using this because it¡¯s got the best stats of the weapons you¡¯ve found so far?¡± He nodded like it was a dumb question and I nodded back. ¡°Right, try this on for size.¡± I produced that huge, awful, anime-style sword I got from a prize box after helping Achmed with his quest against Ruka and her ants, and handed it to Chuck. He reached out to take it, then realized he already had a sword in his hand, and kept looking back and forth between the ludicrously large one and the painfully thin one as if trying to figure out how to hold both. Did he forget he had two hands? I sighed and reached out with my other hand to take the rapier and, his right hand now liberated, he took the big honking sword. ¡°Go on, take a few swings.¡± He shrugged and made a few lame slices through the air, then a smile crept over his face and he swung it with a bit of pep behind it, then he outright giggled and started doing crazy sword katas with it. ¡°Hey Mikey, I think he likes it,¡± one of his N3m3s1s teammates shouted and some people laughed.
Chuck Green Team N3m3s1s
Affinity: Ice - Adept
Gifts: Bright Eyed - Enhanced recovery The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Crush, Kill, Destroy - Incredible strength
Powers: Be The Rainbow - Novice: Change color Bushy Tailed - Competent: Lycanthropic transformation Fleet Footed - Adept: Improved movement speed On The Rocks - Adept: Ice storm
Skills: Affinity Control - Adept Construction - Novice Sword - Expert
Chuck started out with abilities that made him a fast healer, a fast mover, and a frigging Werewolf. Plus the sword skill. Between then and now, he had gained another Gift making him extra-strong, but mostly all he¡¯d done was raise his sword skill and fleet-footedness. For someone quick on their feet like him the rapier might have seemed a decent choice, as it was for Jane, but Chuck¡¯s fencing style was all wrong for that approach. He wasn¡¯t optimized. His huge physical strength boost combined with being able to dash around a battlefield actually made a massive two foot wide blade a much better choice. Plus, did you see how happy it made him? His unoptimized fighting didn¡¯t stop with the sword. The worst travesty was that his amazing shapeshifting power was still only at Competent. Criminal negligence. ¡°You like it?¡± I said. He nodded without missing a beat of his kata. ¡°Keep it, it¡¯s yours.¡± He stopped swinging the sword. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s a nice sword, but I¡¯ll never use it. It belongs in the hands of someone who can appreciate it, and you clearly do. Trigger its first power.¡± He checked its Status and his jaw dropped. Then the grin was back as ice began crackling from the hilt up to the tip of the blade, totally encasing it. ¡°You¡¯re really just giving it to me?¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°there is one condition.¡± Chuck¡¯s eyes narrowed and his jaw set at the mention of strings being attached to my gift of the big honking sword. ¡°What?¡± he said warily. ¡°Only use the sword half the time. It¡¯s what you do best right now, but it¡¯s not all you can do. The other half of the time, use that awesome power you have but never seem to use.¡± ¡°How do you?¡± he said, then as soon as the words came out he figured it out. ¡°Right. You can see, like Kiki.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s why you tried to kill me the first time you met me, remember?¡± He winced, then saw my smile and smiled back. ¡°You think Bushy Tailed is that good?¡± ¡°Hell yes.¡± I knew it was good. I¡¯d followed Chuck around for the longest time waiting for him to use it, but he never did. He just kept swinging his thin little sword. Then, one night, just as I was about to give up, he used it. After that, so could I. Oh man. If I thought turning into an elf felt weird... For someone like Chuck, it was an awesome power. Having the option to wade into a fight and run rings around the enemy either while swinging a stupidly large sword or as a big scary Werewolf was terrific. Not to mention that the impressive physical speed and strength of his shapeshifted form were also amplified by his gifts. Hell, in lycanthrope form he could still be swinging the sword if he didn¡¯t want to render people to shreds with his teeth and claws. Not needing a weapon is always nice to have in your pocket. Either way he could let loose, safe in the knowledge that whatever he chose to use he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about taking a few scratches himself because he¡¯d heal them quick enough. To let him go on not using Bushy Tailed would be criminal. He seemed strangely reluctant. Ashamed, even. ¡°I¡¯ve always been a bit...I don¡¯t know if I want people to see,¡± he said meekly. ¡°Plus it feels weird, and besides, I can do a lot of damage with a sword just fine.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been telling you all along it was a great power, man, you just need to level it up,¡± Greg said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re scared to use it, you big pussy.¡± An awful lot of eyes shot towards Greg when he said that. All of Team Spice. Half of Team Player. One of Team N3m3s1s. None of the looks were what you¡¯d call friendly. Pussy is one of those words, you know? It originally meant cat, and over time the meaning extended to refer to girls in an innocent way. Pussycats. Eventually the meaning got stretched to refer to female genitalia before taking on the misogynistic use Greg had just employed: weak, cowardly, and not masculine. I¡¯ve always found it puzzling how euphemisms for female genitals are considered so much more offensive than those for men¡¯s, but that¡¯s the patriarchy for you. Weaponized language is an insidious thing. Here¡¯s some random trivia for you, too: back in the 19th century a group of sisters had a vaudeville act called Do You Want To See My Pussy? They¡¯d stand on stage in a row and teasingly raise their skirts to reveal real live kittens hiding between their thighs. Pretty edgy for Victorian sensibilities. Anyway, Greg may have raised some hackles with his word choice, but nobody chose to call him on it. Bigger fish and all that. Chuck seemed unable to decide whether or not to use Bushy Tailed so he turned to Kiki with a questioning look. She nodded once, firmly, decisively. Dang, but she had them well-trained. He took a deep breath, then his bones crunched and his skin stretched and he sprouted a thick coat of fur as his body grew larger in every direction. His head stretched and his face extended into a snout and his ears grew and his teeth multiplied and sharpened as everything about him took on a distinctly canine appearance. And yes, the tail he grew was quite bushy indeed. Wolfman Chuck slouched there looking extremely uncomfortable, like we were all about to smack him on the nose with a rolled up magazine and call him bad. Then from within his team someone said, ¡°Whoah! That¡¯s so cool,¡± and another said, ¡°Dude, have you been able to do this all along?¡± Chuck turned back into a human; it was a much faster, albeit less impressive transformation. Thankfully, his clothes changed with him and we were spared that horror movie moment when the shapeshifter¡¯s left naked or wearing tatters after shifting shape back. ¡°Think you can handle learning to fight as a kick-ass werewolf?¡± I said. Chuck looked around sheepishly, then upon seeing the supportive looks on his teammates faces he grinned wolfishly. ¡°It¡¯s a deal,¡± he said. ¡°And, uh, thank you Daniel. You¡¯re actually a pretty good guy. Sorry about all that stuff before.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, holding out his rapier. ¡°Nah,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t need that anymore.¡± I pushed it toward him. ¡°It¡¯s a good sword. You take it and give it to someone else who could use it.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can do that,¡± he said, and took the rapier. He and Greg started to make their way back to the group. ¡°Not so fast, Greg.¡± They stopped in their tracks and Greg slowly turned around. He had a half-hopeful, half-worried look on his face. ¡°About that sword you¡¯re using...¡± You can guess the rest. Greg¡¯s starting abilities gave him improved resilience and resistance to poisons, as well as a power that increased the damage he dealt depending on how much mana he pumped into it. He walked away from me with a much more suitable weapon for his abilities and style: a scimitar that could exude several different types of toxin. In return, I hoped another lucky Player in the city would find themselves given the perfectly good sword Greg had been using but didn¡¯t need anymore. Everyone gets stronger. Two more members of Kiki¡¯s team were looking at me strangely. One was Derek, the guy whose dangerous shadow ropes had both been a pain to fight against and had also served me well as the basis of several cool synthesized powers, like my razor floss. With their unwitting tutorial in Affinity Control, Chuck and Greg had started me down the path that led me to where I was, even if they didn¡¯t know it. I figured I owed them something. Derek...not so much. He was also the guy who killed me with a thrown knife to the heart. Sure, he¡¯d been aiming for Jane at the time and it was my own fault I got in the way, but I still didn¡¯t owe that back-stabbing arse a thing. The other one giving me a strange look was Kiki herself, fists clenched and eyes blazing at me. When I made eye contact she stormed over to me, like she was waiting for me to notice her as her cue to start moving. Uh oh. What did I do this time? Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Nine: You are mistaken Kiki clomped right in close and peered up at me under her long lashes. I braced myself for a tongue-lashing to go with that intense look. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reached out with a tentative hand to grab my sleeve, then the words poured out in a flood. ¡°ThatwasreallyniceofyouthankyouDaniel.¡± That¡¯s what she said. Her brow remained furrowed in a strange sort of scowl and her expression didn¡¯t soften, but that¡¯s what she said. Curiously, I was probably the least surprised by the unexpected outburst; everyone else gawked at her like she¡¯d just revealed a simple solution to Fermat¡¯s last theorem. ¡°I¡¯m really not such a bad guy, you know,¡± I said. ¡°I never said you were!¡± she blustered. ¡°Oh, just...never mind.¡± She tossed her hair and spun on her heel before stomping away, shaking her head and muttering to herself. ¡°Right,¡± I said, watching her go. Then I turned to Tiff, who was grinning broadly, and said, ¡°Are you good to hold the fort here?¡± The smile vanished. ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna go talk to Achmed and the Ninjas.¡± ¡°Ohh.¡± Her eyes darted again to my pistols. Perhaps she was feeling nervous about not having my firepower available in case things went awry with the folks in the dome. ¡°Lianna can stay here and help stand guard. I shouldn¡¯t be long, and she has the means to contact me if you need me.¡± ¡°Handy,¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t see where she¡¯s hiding a bat symbol spotlight in that getup, though. Or did you recreate cellphones here too?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± I said, which I thought would make her laugh, but instead she got very serious. ¡°Daniel,¡± she said hesitantly, ¡°can I ask you something?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Tiff looked me straight in the eyes. ¡°Are you really a Player?¡± That was even more unexpected than Kiki being nice. ¡°What else would I be?¡± ¡°I dunno. Maybe, like, a game admin planted among us to help us along?¡± ¡°Planted among you? Let me get this straight: you¡¯re asking if I¡¯m an imposter?¡± She chuckled. ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡± ¡°Why would you think that?¡± She gave me a do-you-really-need-to-ask look. ¡°I assure you,¡± I said, ¡°I am the same as you.¡± Tiff looked at me for a long moment. She was probably trying to figure out if she still trusted me. She must¡¯ve decided she did, because she nodded once and the smile was back. ¡°Then I remain glad you¡¯re on our side.¡± ¡°Well, here¡¯s the thing, Tiff. I¡¯m on everyone¡¯s side.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± I still had bees following Legion and Ninja through the Citadel, so it was a simple matter of opening a portal to where Achmed was waiting out the one hour timer for capturing another token. Team Legion had experienced a bit of a setback while we were taking care of matters by the dome. A demon patrol had wandered by one of the three groups of Legionnaires capturing rooms, and the other groups had been forced to abandon the progress they¡¯d made on capturing their tokens to go save them. They¡¯d routed the demons without any personnel losses of their own, but they had only been able to collect the one additional token as a result. I could never tell Achmed this but I was secretly happy about it. The more tokens other teams had, the more hesitant they¡¯d be to go along with the ten-way tie. Well, nine-way: Team Happy had been wiped out by Overgeared, and Lianna and I were going to take second place. I didn¡¯t go straight there, however, before I dropped in on the Legion there was something I wanted to do first. I took my portal to the place I thought most likely to contain a secret door into the black tower, if there was one. After a few frustrating minutes of trying without success to find anything even after using a bunch of powers, I eventually said ¡°screw it¡± and used a different power to turn myself immaterial and phase through the wall itself. Where there¡¯s a will. I pressed my face against the wall and met with no resistance, my phased head simply passed through to the other side. I poked out just far enough to see what was there, then immediately pulled back, praying that none of the many many demons on the other side saw me. During my brief peek I had seen an enormous round room that must have been the entire bottom floor of the tower. A magic circle formation built into the very mosaic of the floor tiles took up nearly the entire floor area. The split second I had to take everything in wasn¡¯t long enough for me to figure out what sort of formation it was, but I had a pretty good idea of what it might be. And it was a big magic circle, which made it particularly worrisome. Close to the wall on opposite sides of the room there were round platforms raised about one step above floor level, with matching circular openings in the ceiling about thirty feet overhead. My first assumption was that they were some kind of magic elevator because there were no doors or stairs anywhere to be seen. Even with my innate adventurer¡¯s speed-counting ability (not a real thing but I¡¯ve always found it funny in D&D how you can immediately know the number of enemies the moment you encounter them, as well as the number of gold pieces in a pile of treasure, which are always convenient round numbers) I couldn¡¯t tell you how many demons there were bustling around there, but it was a lot. My preference was to not face them just yet. Annabelle had said the quest was to liberate the Citadel from the Demon King, and the game we were playing was to control rooms and take tokens. I couldn¡¯t see how controlling rooms would save the Citadel, but then again Annabelle did not say that the game necessarily had anything to do with the quest. Was the tower the hidden quest, or was it the real quest and there was a further secret that unlocked the hidden title quest? If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I started to get excited, but this wasn¡¯t the time to investigate, we could do that later. I had to resolve the inter-team conflict first. Reluctantly, I left the secret room behind the wall and portaled over to where Achmed was. ¡°Hello strangers,¡± I said when I stepped through, startling the assembled Legionnaires. I had quite a few weapons pointed at me before they realized who it was. ¡°Daniel?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Why are you...how are you...you know what? Never mind. Nice to see you, bud.¡± He held out his fist and I bumped it. ¡°The Spice girls say hi,¡± I said. ¡°I was just with them.¡± His expression brightened visibly. ¡°Yeah? How¡¯s Tiff doing?¡± Look at that goofy grin. Someone had a crush. Not that I blamed him, Tiff was definitely crush-worthy. But I remembered the way I¡¯d seen her looking at Lianna and wondered if Achmed stood a chance with the formidable Spice Captain. There was a good chance he was playing for the wrong team, but maybe Tiff had broad tastes. I gave Achmed the bullet points of what had gone down so far. By the time I was done, the Legionnaires were all gaping slack-jawed at me. ¡°So what do you think?¡± I said. ¡°Willing to share top spot with everyone else?¡± ¡°Do you really think you can make that work?¡± Achmed said. ¡°I¡¯ve been told I can be very persuasive,¡± I said. He laughed. ¡°If you¡¯re confident, then we¡¯re in. Of course we¡¯re in.¡± Confident? Me? I suppose I was. What a strange feeling. ¡°Fantastic. Thanks for trusting me.¡± ¡°Dude. Of course.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the best,¡± I said. ¡°Okay, now I have to convince Team Ninja.¡± ¡°Need any help?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Actually, that¡¯d be great.¡± Achmed turned to his Vice-Captain. ¡°Owen, you collect the others and head back down to the dome.¡± ¡°Here,¡± I said, ¡°let me save you the trip.¡± I opened a portal through which Tiff, Lianna, and Kiki could be seen watching the dome. We all filed through and shared updates. So far there had been nothing from Team Droog inside the dome, and when I checked in on my bee spies I learned that the Droogs were taking a page from the Overgeared playbook. They¡¯d decided to wait for Invictus to arrive so they could both ambush Lianna and me when we showed up, then do the same when Team Maple Leaf came. With us out of the way, they figured they could waltz through the Citadel and use the combined power of their two teams to eradicate everyone else. With no competition left, they could leisurely capture all the tokens without any worries. It wasn¡¯t a bad plan, though it was doomed to fail. It was good for us, though, because it meant that it would be a while before we¡¯d have to concern ourselves with them and could take our time preparing for the inevitable confrontation. The next step in that preparation was Team Ninja. I opened another portal to Team Ninja¡¯s location. They were still divided into three groups, so I chose the one with their leader, a Japanese woman around my age named Ai Momochi. Then Achmed and I stepped through. I¡¯d been hoping that negotiations with them would go as smoothly as they had with everyone else, especially with Achmed there to help smooth things out and vouch for me, but it was not to be. In retrospect, the shock of seeing us waltz out of a magic portal into their room probably didn¡¯t help our case. Nearly three hours into the quest, Team Ninja had already acquired six tokens and were well on their way to getting three more. As Ai saw it, they had no reason to join the alliance because they would soon have a quarter of all the tokens themselves, and she didn¡¯t see how anyone else could possibly steal first place from them. I gave them a reality check. I narrated the events that had transpired in and around the dome since they left it. How Team Happy had been entirely wiped out. How Team Spice had allied with us, and how Team N3m3s1s had switched sides and helped us capture all of Teams Karma and Overgeared. How the Droogs were trapped in the dome, soon to be joined by Invictus. And how Team Maple Leaf were on their way and would surely agree to join us as well. ¡°What I don¡¯t get is how you know all this,¡± Ai said to me, ¡°or how you¡¯re even here. And I don¡¯t mean just how you got to this room, you¡¯re not even supposed to begin the quest until after Invictus does. Care to explain?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re not making a great case for yourself,¡± Ai said. ¡°If you can¡¯t even share details like that I don¡¯t see why we should share the top spot. And what about Maple Leaf? Aren¡¯t they going to show up and get jumped by Invictus and the Droogs? How do you plan to deal with that?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that either,¡± I said. Ai shook her head and sighed. ¡°Well what can you tell me?¡± ¡°I can tell you that it¡¯s better for everyone if you decide to share first place with everyone else.¡± ¡°Better for everyone else, you mean. Especially for you. There¡¯s no way you could capture enough rooms to win with just the two of you. So yeah, no thanks. It doesn¡¯t seem like a better deal for us,¡± Ai said. Achmed cut into the conversation. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that,¡± he said, ¡°given the alternative.¡± Ai gave him a hard stare. ¡°That kind of sounds like a threat, Achmed. I thought we had a better relationship than that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a threat, it¡¯s the game, Ai. Forget about the alliance for a second. Did you really think the other teams will roll over and let you win? Taking rooms isn¡¯t the only way to get tokens.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that you¡¯ll kill us and take our tokens if we don¡¯t join you?¡± ¡°We would really prefer not to,¡± I said, then explained fatality factors. ¡°We¡¯re already looking at the probability of a quarter of Team Happy not respawning because Overgeared wiped them out. I¡¯d like to finish this without anyone else die-dieing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a nice sentiment, but how realistic is it?¡± Ai said. ¡°You did hear how he managed to capture two entire teams without anyone getting killed, right?¡± Ached said. ¡°Yeah, but he had three other teams helping him.¡± ¡°And with my Legion it¡¯s four, and when Maple Leaf comes he¡¯s going to have at least five other teams on his side, possibly more if Overgeared, Karma, Invictus, and the Droogs choose to participate,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Like they would,¡± Ai snorted. ¡°Those guys hate Daniel.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not overly fond of them either,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯m looking at the bigger picture and I hope they¡¯re not too narrow-minded to do the same. The fact is they can join us and get the rewards for coming in first, or they can watch us take it all and walk away with no rewards at all,¡± I said. ¡°What would you choose?¡± ¡°Fortunately, I don¡¯t have to,¡± Ai said. ¡°I¡¯m already going to have enough tokens to win. I have no intention of giving them up willingly, which means you¡¯ll have to kill us all to get them. And I know you won¡¯t do that because you don¡¯t want the death-death of another Player on your hands.¡± ¡°You are mistaken,¡± I said, ¡°about many things.¡± Chapter One Hundred and Seventy - Nobody gets me I looked the Captain of Team Ninja squarely in her dark eyes. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have to kill all of you, only the ones who have tokens. And that would be you, Ai. A Player gets all the tokens possessed by a Player they kill, and you¡¯ve got all six of your team¡¯s current tokens on you.¡± Her expression blanched. ¡°How do you...¡± ¡°If I am forced to kill you, you¡¯ll have a three in four chance to come back, maybe better if I improve your luck. I think those are decent enough odds to risk it.¡± ¡°Improve my luck? Come on, how is that even possible?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what. Agree to share first place with the other teams and I¡¯ll answer your questions. How I am here when my time to come is still almost half an hour from now. How I know what has happened to every team so far. How I knew where to find you and how Achmed and I appeared here. And how I know that you¡¯re keeping all the team¡¯s tokens.¡± ¡°So a threat and a bribe?¡± Ai said. ¡°You guys play dirty.¡± ¡°I simply play by the rules,¡± I said. ¡°And if you recall, killing you is only one way to get your tokens.¡± ¡°So you want me to just hand them over then?¡± ¡°That would be preferable, but there¡¯s always the third option. All we have to do is spend two hours in the rooms you captured to take the tokens from you.¡± ¡°You say that like we¡¯ll let you,¡± Ai said, but a lot of the bluster she had at the start had faded and I could tell she was getting worried. ¡°The fact remains that you have a choice: join us and you still get the first place award, or...¡± I let the unfinished sentence hang in the air. Ai put her hand on her hip and glared at me. ¡°Say I did hand over my tokens and join your alliance. How do I know you won¡¯t sneak one extra token and take first place all by yourself?¡± ¡°Because Team Player won¡¯t be sharing first place with you,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re taking second place.¡± Now she looked really confused. ¡°Say what? You don¡¯t want the chance to control the Citadel at the end?¡± ¡°I control three dungeons already. I¡¯d rather see another team get it, hopefully one that doesn¡¯t have a dungeon yet.¡± Ai looked at me with a puzzled expression. ¡°I don¡¯t get you.¡± ¡°Join the club,¡± Achmed said. ¡°But if my opinion means anything to you, Ai, I trust Daniel implicitly. He¡¯s a good guy who¡¯s been nothing but helpful to Team Legion, and we¡¯ll follow his lead because it¡¯s always brought good results so far.¡± Ai turned her gaze to Achmed. ¡°It¡¯s a big ask, you know.¡± ¡°I do know. But you have to look at this rationally. Daniel didn¡¯t have to do this, you know. If he wanted to, he and his scary new teammate could¡¯ve taken it all if they wanted to. And I don¡¯t just mean your tokens, I mean all of them.¡± ¡°Come on, that¡¯s a bit much,¡± Ai said. ¡°You¡¯re saying he and that new girl could single-handedly beat ten other teams and collect all forty tokens?¡± ¡°They¡¯d only need to beat seven now,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Overgeared took care of one, and Team Player pretty much captured two other teams at the same time all by themselves.¡± ¡°Hey now, that was a group effort,¡± I said. Achmed gave me a crooked smile. ¡°If you say so. Come to think of it, you¡¯d probably only have to beat six other teams, because my Legion wouldn¡¯t lift a finger to stop you if that¡¯s what you wanted to do. I¡¯d wager Tiff and Kiki wouldn¡¯t either. And probably Maple Leaf too. There¡¯d be no point.¡± Ai laughed. ¡°Oh please. Now I¡¯m questioning how much I can trust you, Achmed. How could they possibly do it all with just two Players?¡± I sighed, then turned to look at the other four members of Team Ninja who were there watching us with great interest. ¡°I apologize for this. Please don¡¯t take it personally and I promise I¡¯ll make it up to you later.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± one of them said, a tall, lanky guy named David who mostly used Ice-based powers; his frozen shuriken power was pretty neat if I do say so myself. ¡°This,¡± I said, and triggered superspeed. I drew both my pistols and fired one stun round into each of them, then holstered the guns and turned off the superspeed. To Ai and Achmed¡¯s eyes, all they saw were four Ninjas simultaneously fall to the floor unconscious. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Ai blurted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re not dead,¡± I said. ¡°Just unconscious.¡± ¡°See what I mean?¡± Achmed said. ¡°How¡¯d he do that?¡± Achmed shrugged. ¡°I know better than to ask.¡± ¡°Tell you what, agree to join us and I¡¯ll tell you that too,¡± I said. She went over to her fallen teammates and felt for a pulse on one of their necks. She¡¯d get along well with Lianna, they both took nothing at face value and trusted no one. Ai looked back at us. ¡°I don¡¯t really have a choice, do I?¡± Achmed shrugged. I looked down at the floor. I felt terrible. I¡¯d backed myself into a corner where I¡¯d have to take action if she declined to join us, and I really didn¡¯t want to have to do that. She was right, I wasn¡¯t about to kill her; the 75% chance that she¡¯s respawn wasn¡¯t so bad, it was the 25% chance that she wouldn¡¯t that made it a non-option. I could share a luck power with her, but I was only guessing it might make a difference. If Ai resisted I¡¯d have no choice but to stun them all and throw them into the Labyrinth with Overgeared and Karma then go spend a few hours to recapture their rooms, and I¡¯d hate to do that. It would be best if she just handed over her tokens and agreed to join us. I could always use one of my powers to make her give them to me, I had several that could do that including the Voice I¡¯d put onto Jane¡¯s choker, but that wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d feel good about doing either. ¡°Do you want to ask your teammates what they want to do?¡± I said. ¡°I can bring them here if you want.¡± Ai sighed, then stood up and brushed her hands on her legs. ¡°No. Team Ninja isn¡¯t a democracy, they trust me to make the decisions. But you can bring them here if you want.¡± I nodded and opened a portal to where one of the groups was waiting out the hour to get the room¡¯s token. We could see them on the other side, staring at us through the portal. ¡°Come on through, guys,¡± Ai said. ¡°But we haven¡¯t finished taking the token yet,¡± one of her teammates said. ¡°It¡¯s fine. There¡¯s been a change of plans.¡± The Ninjas on the other side glanced at each other, then one of them came through the portal. Once that happened, the others followed. We did the same thing to the other group, and now Achmed and I were surrounded by the sixteen members of Team Ninja. Well, twelve. It wouldn¡¯t be right to count the four laying unconscious on the floor. ¡°What happened here?¡± one of the Ninjas asked, and Ai gave them a quick recap. The Ninjas got very tense and I thought for a moment they might decide to attack me and Achmed en masse, but thankfully they didn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t worried about myself or Achmed ¡ª I¡¯d been training with Akari on how to fight groups much bigger than theirs ¡ª but I didn¡¯t want to put the Ninjas through that humiliation. I quite liked Ai and her team and would much rather have them on my side. It would probably sour our relations if I was forced to take them all out. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t come to that. ¡°Okay, fine. We¡¯ll join your alliance. Here,¡± Ai said, reaching into a pouch on her side and pulling out six small, golden balls about the size of tangerines. She was about to hand them to me before I stopped her. ¡°Give them to Achmed,¡± I said. ¡°I know you don¡¯t trust me yet but you two worked together to get out of the dome so I think you know Achmed¡¯s a straight shooter.¡± ¡°I really really do not get you,¡± she said, and gave her tokens to him. ¡°Okay, now what?¡± ¡°Now let¡¯s go see what the Droogs have been up to. It¡¯s about time for Team Invictus to show up.¡± I¡¯d been checking in on my bee spies every once in a while so I knew that nothing had changed inside the dome, the Droogs were still waiting for Invictus. They seemed unconcerned with the fact that they couldn¡¯t open the one door leading out, presumably that was something they figured they could fix with Invictus¡¯ help when it was time to leave. I opened a portal and followed the Ninjas back to the dome area. There were now five teams gathered there, which was a lot of people. Apart from the Legion and Spice, who had a pre-existing relationship, generally the teams stuck to themselves. I was happy to see a few people mingling with members of other teams, though. Team Ninja, newly arrived and clearly uncomfortable with the abnormal situation, followed Ai like ducklings. Ai came with me when I went over to Lianna, ducklings in tow. ¡°Took you long enough,¡± Kiki said, storming up to us before I even had a chance to say a word to my teammate. ¡°Gosh, Kiki, I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d miss me so much,¡± I said. ¡°Like I¡¯d care where you are,¡± she said, tilting her head up regally. ¡°You just missed the demons showing up so we had to take care of them without you.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have any trouble with them, did you?¡± Kiki huffed. ¡°Hardly.¡± The way Ai was looking at Kiki told me there was no love lost between them. Then I noticed how the original team builder for the Ninjas, Marc Shaw, was cowering as he stared at Kiki. I may have forgiven Kiki for what she did to me that first day, but he clearly hadn¡¯t. Kiki must have noticed too, because she sighed and asked us to give her a sec, then marched over to Marc. He looked like a frightened squirrel about to bolt. ¡°So listen,¡± Kiki said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about what happened back then. This whole thing was new and I didn¡¯t think it was actually real and I kind of went into raw villainess mode and, well, I¡¯m sorry for what we did. Okay?¡± He stared at her with saucer eyes. ¡°Okay?¡± she repeated a bit louder. He nodded mutely and she turned on her heel and marched back to join us. None of us said anything when she returned, but I did give her what I hoped was a supportive smile. It really looked like she was trying to turn over a new leaf, and going over to apologize like that showed a side of her character that, well, let¡¯s just say she¡¯d been keeping it hidden most of the time. She deserved some support. ¡°Invictus just arrived,¡± Lianna said, breaking the awkward silence. ¡°This should be interesting,¡± I said. ¡°Oh to be a fly on the wall in there,¡± Kiki said. I grinned at her. ¡°Will a bee do?¡± Side-Story 1: Fixer-upper The room was dark save for the flickering glow from the computer screen that cast dancing shadows across the young woman¡¯s face. She lay in her bed propped up by what looked like a near-infinite number of pillows, her body occupying but a sliver of the mattress as she curled up protectively against what she was watching on the screen, trying to make sense of the complex emotions she felt clawing their way to the surface of her consciousness. The worst part was she¡¯d just used the last tissue from the box. A mess of snotty, tear-soaked tissues surrounded her and she felt no sign that her bawling was going to slow down any time soon, so now she¡¯d soon be forced to get up and find a new box or start using her bed sheets instead. As tempting as that lazy stop-gap solution was at this moment, she¡¯d adulted enough to know that it was a short-term fix she¡¯d come to regret soon enough. For heaven¡¯s sake, she was almost 28 years old, too old for this embarrassing Bridget Jones singleton breakdown. She¡¯d been feeling strangely emotional for a while, ever since her sister had first shown her Daniel on television fighting that antlered bunny. She¡¯d been not-so-secretly obsessed with the 24/7 broadcasts of the game since then, which wasn¡¯t such a big deal ¡ª just about everybody was watching it ¡ª except that she¡¯d become of the not-so-secret obsession of a lot of people around the same time. It hadn¡¯t taken them very long to figure out that she was the Siobhan he¡¯d more or less confessed was the love of his life. At first, Daniel had been the object of much scorn and ridicule. His lonely antics as a chronically depressed introvert early in the game were mocked ruthlessly on social media, the schadenfreude practically shrieking across the internet every time he met with a setback, but at the same time his individual feed became one of the most popular. As riveting as it was to watch him keep trying and working hard to get stronger, she suspected his early popularity had a lot to do with the fact that he¡¯d glommed himself onto those two ultra-popular knock-out models. But that was then. Over time, it wasn¡¯t his constant proximity to eye candy that had kept people watching him as much as his relentless growth. Now that he¡¯d taken two dungeons he was popular on his own merits, and the agonizingly slow and endlessly frustrating development of his confidence alongside the staggeringly rapid growth of his powers had become one of the more captivating storylines to follow. That he¡¯d transformed his own physique into some pretty nice eye candy hadn¡¯t been missed by a lot of viewers either, and Daniel, her ex, the object of early mockery, had become one of the most popular Players. Now it wasn¡¯t just her, everyone was Daniel-obsessed. Even the haters, of which there remained many, couldn¡¯t stop watching him. Which meant everyone wanted to know who he was and where he¡¯d come from, including who he¡¯d known and especially who he¡¯d dated. The mysterious Siobhan, the girl who¡¯d become a meme as countless clips of him saying her name in that longing way had overflowed the internet like an excess of bubble bath, had also become the subject of massive public interest. It was Jane¡¯s fault, really. That red-headed vixen had lamented that she wished someone would say her name like that, so nearly as popular as clips of Daniel saying Siobhan¡¯s name had been those of people trying to say Jane¡¯s with the same desperate emphasis. For better or worse, most of the tumult over her had died down. She¡¯d been forced to take a leave of absence from work and abandon her condo to move into a friend¡¯s family¡¯s cottage up in Muskoka for a while to avoid the wannabe citizen journalists and paparazzi who¡¯d camped outside waiting to snap a few frames of her coming or going. As Daniel had grown closer to more women in the game, interest in the ones he¡¯d left behind on Earth had waned and Sibhan had been able to return home again. But that had come with its own problems. Now Siobhan had to watch him always be around those beautiful women. She tried to ignore the constant buzz of commentary, but it was difficult. Every day there seemed to be a new poll to choose who he¡¯d end up with, and it felt like every day the name of a new potential partner was added to the love list. Sigrid and Jane were always top of the list, of course, but there were lots of other names on it, both Players and NPCs. For some reason a lot of people thought Nina should leave Byron for him, or that he should go after the jailbait Chika, but people also thought he would make his Doppelganger minions into a harem, or go after that cute elf warrior, or even that catgirl gardener. Or that pink-haired S-ranker. Or that purple-haired emcee. Or even that psychotic gyaru girl Kiki. Very recently that gorgeous succubus had shown up and toppled everyone else from the top spot instantly. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Before that, Morgan had skyrocketed to number one for a short time. Siobhan had been unable to watch their dinner date by herself, that had taken a full viewing party with the moral support of her sister and other girls he¡¯d been friends with in high school to get through. She hadn¡¯t known whether or not to be happy or mortified on his behalf that he¡¯d botched it so thoroughly. Again, that was then. Now, after what she¡¯d just watched, she felt like she and Morgan shared a special bond. Everyone who¡¯d been following his feed could see how with just one simple mindshift Daniel could¡¯ve become quite the chad, but she knew better than anyone that it was not a mindshift he could easily make. Deep down, she found herself hoping he never would, and it was the teary fallout of finally coming to terms with this admission that had made her go through an entire box of Kleenex. For the past few weeks Daniel¡¯s feed had been a bit boring, but Siobhan hadn¡¯t minded. At least he was still alive. It had felt like the entire city of Toronto ¡ª the real one on Earth ¡ª had stopped for an hour after that Silver Sword thug had decapitated him. When a Player was killed, their feed went black. It stayed that way until they respawned, if they did. That was something she never wanted to see or experience again, and the wait to see if the black screen would change had been excruciating. Not only for her, either, apparently. Everyone had been in the same boat, and there had been an explosive cheer you could hear resounding throughout the entire GTA when he¡¯d reappeared. Getting killed again must¡¯ve been a wake-up call for him. He seemed to have renewed purpose and began working harder than ever, exercising and training and synthesizing new abilities. Siobhan had felt something shift inside herself too. He¡¯d inspired her to work hard too. She¡¯d fallen into a groove with him. She¡¯d get up and exercise with him and Sigrid, watching their morning runs on her phone as she ran on the treadmill alongside them. She didn¡¯t have the ability to play catch with a tree trunk or work until she was nearly dead then heal herself again like he did, but working out while watching him put so much effort into self-improvement made her feel good in ways she still couldn¡¯t quite explain. When his morning exercise shifted into his daily afternoon routine of working with Synthesis, she worked on catching up. She knew it was silly, but she¡¯d started taking lessons in kung fu and kendo and threw herself into that training with a dedication she hadn¡¯t thought possible. When she¡¯d returned to her condo in the city she hadn¡¯t gone back to her job, so her entire days were divided between self-improvement and watching the feeds from Crucible. She looked at the screen of her laptop where it sat perched on a pillow on her bed. The feed was paused, screen frozen on an image of Daniel¡¯s face. The expression was something she¡¯d seen once before, and only once. The day she¡¯d broken up with him. She¡¯d just watched him apologize to Morgan after Sigrid had accused him of ghosting her after their date. And the frozen image on her screen showed the look on his face after she¡¯d called him a fixer-upper. Yeah. She and Morgan had a special connection now, because that¡¯s almost exactly what she¡¯d said to him back when she dumped him. Daniel was a great guy. He was sweet, kind, clever, and a great kisser. But dealing with his insecurity was exhausting and he¡¯d never be an equal partner in any relationship until he pulled himself out of the weeds. Now, all the emotions she¡¯d repressed for nearly a decade since then had come flooding back with that look on his face. Now she¡¯d been forced to face an unpleasant reality: she still loved the stupid idiot and now, in every conceivable way, it was far too late to do a damned thing about it. Siobhan sighed deeply and flopped her head back onto her pillows. ¡°Fuck,¡± she muttered, grabbing the corner of her sheet and wiping her nose with it. ¡°Fuck,¡± she said again, then smacked play on her laptop and watched what happened next. Side-Story 2: Customs Author''s Note: I like to think of this as a teaser for what''s coming, but some might consider it more spoilery than a simple tease. If you''re one of those who really dislikes any spoilage, I''ve hidden it here under a spoiler tag so you won''t accidentally see anything that might cause you grief. You can always come back and look later. (I''ll tell you when it''s safe.) For everyone else who enjoys watching movie trailers, clicky-click on "Show" and read the side-story. Hey there. Listen, I have another package I need to slide into the transmission schedule. What¡¯s in it this time? How should I know who it is? Who? It¡¯s a con, then? Uh, I dunno. This is another one of your shady deals, isn¡¯t it? Tkch. Fine, but I want the usual cut. Yeah, sure, whatever. Data sent. That was fast. And my cut? Yeah yeah, all bundled in. Later! Okay. Later. System: Alert. Two undocumented Consciousnesses seeking transmission. Two cons? That sleezebag. I would¡¯ve asked for double the cut if I¡¯d known. Meh, a package is a package. Let ¡®em through. System: Alert. Transmission includes Items above recommended power levels for destination planet. Which planet? Yeuch. That one. How far above? That much, huh? Sounds ominous. Even if it is a useless shithole, I¡¯m not letting something in that might come back and bite me in the ass. System, display full Statuses; I wanna see what that sleazebag¡¯s trying to smuggle in on these mules. Fuck me. No, no, absolutely not. What, there¡¯s more? They¡¯re both loaded to the tits, huh? Are you shitting me? No fucking way. That crap is not coming through, not to one of my worlds. Block. System: Block which Items? All of them. System: All of them? All of them. System: Are you not curious? Huh? Why are you asking that? You¡¯re being weird. System: Are you not curious about where these Items came from? Oh really? There¡¯s a story here, is there? Do tell. System: You know I cannot do that. Fucking rules. Fine, so I just need to puzzle it out, is that what you¡¯re saying? System: Everything is a game. Shut up. Okay, let¡¯s start with where they¡¯re coming from. Oh really? No way. These Items are several tiers above that place. Is something wrong with the local System there? System: Negative. Although the System in question is an obscure model, performance review data shows no anomalies for it or any other local System facilitating the games there. Obscure? Oh. I see. Guess the Gamester didn¡¯t have a lot of resources to play with, probably the best System they could afford. Yeah, what about the Gamester? Any signs they¡¯re up to something nefarious? System: Negative. The only notable records are some disciplinary actions taken against Observers. That¡¯s not abnormal. Those guys get pretty uppity sometimes, especially when a Gamester does well. Any special flags triggered by anything going on there? It¡¯d be nice to know if this game¡¯s attracted any extra attention. System: Confirming Command Line access level. Come on, do we really need to do this every time? System: The rules state¡ª Okay, yes, fine, I know. I get it. Just get on with it. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. System: Command Line User Access Level: Customs Officer Zed Zed Nine Plural Zed Alpha confirmed. Just like it was last time, and the time before, and the time before that. So? Anything interesting? System: Insufficient User Access Level to access that information. I hate you. So in other words, yes, special flags were triggered but knowing which ones is above my pay grade. Fine. Can you at least tell me if what you can¡¯t tell me has anything to do with these ridiculous Items? System: Indirect causality exists. This deal¡¯s looking worse and worse. Unless...let¡¯s take a look at where those Items came from. No way they came like this out of the box. I mean, just look at those restrictions. Whoah. That¡¯s a lot of mods. What the hell? Are these even legal? System: Affirmative. All Items conform to the rules. So someone did this without a System hack? Impressive. I gotta know what lunatics crafted these. Maybe that¡¯ll tell me who¡¯s trying to smuggle them out and why. Lemme see crafting histories. System: Crafting history data unlocked. Huh? You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. No shit. All this done by one person and no rules broken, huh? Cheat level without any cheating. Very impressive. At least that explains the wonky restrictions and rules out someone planting those items there. That¡¯s one mystery solved. System: Continue with Item transportation block? Duh, of course. But now I¡¯m really curious. Let¡¯s see that crafter¡¯s Status. What the what? No way that¡¯s a Player. Is that an Elohim? System: Negative. Then that is one lucky Player. Show me their full Status history. Wow. These starting stats here, they¡¯re so low, right? Ah, but these starting abilities. The Gamester must¡¯ve used all their discretionary points to minmax this one Player, quite the gamble. I¡¯ve never seen half of these abilities before. Weak here, strong here. But then, here. Boom. So lucky. Then here, he...wait, how¡¯d he get that? No way. Smart and lucky. I see now. Holy crap, someone put in some work. Talk about driven. Guess the Gamester¡¯s gamble paid off. Just look at this. He did that? I think I like this little Player. Has anyone done this before? System: Checking records. Negative. Seriously? I mean, makes sense, I guess. Who would have ever thought someone could get this set of abilities? And to use them like this? Crazy town. He figured out that this can be used like this, right? And with this and this and this together, and these, and this. All those explain all these, too. And whoah! How¡¯d those crap stats turn into this? Look. That¡¯s just sick. How? Ohhhhh. To actually do this is just crazy. And look. There too. I¡¯m surprised they let someone like that Play. No wonder some flags got triggered. I wish I knew which ones, and who else has their eye on this game. System: Insufficient Command Line Access Level. Yes, I know. Thank you for reminding me. Anyway, thanks for prompting me to look into the Items. System: And the Consciousnesses? What about them? Oh. Right. Let¡¯s see their Statuses. Haaaang on, this one¡¯s the crafter. So they¡¯re not mules, these Items actually belong to them. System: You don¡¯t say. Don¡¯t get smarmy. So this is what you wanted me to know. These are no ordinary cons coming through then. I can¡¯t really let them through like that, though. System: Status nerf? Yeah, we¡¯d better. The local System will throw a hissyfit all the way up to the Constellations if we try to land these monsters there as they are. Use their original scans to determine their core abilities and let them keep one or two of those. System: And stats? Reset to original. Seems a shame to negate all their hard work, but even without powers that strength is enough to make the balancers scream murder. System: Shall I confiscate all Items or just the ones with mods? Best take everything. Reset their inventories to whatever they started with. System: All Items shall be confiscated and placed into Customs holding. Fuck no. I don¡¯t want those things in my lockup. System: Shall I transmit Items with the Consciousnesses after all, then? Absolutely not. Here, this one has a special storage space. What¡¯ll happen if we just stash all their stuff in there? System: They will remain in extradimensional storage with his other belongings. Do I wanna see what else he has in there? System: Probably not. Just to make sure, after the Player¡¯s Status is nerfed he won¡¯t have access to that storage space anymore, though, right? System: Affirmative. So it¡¯ll all just rot away in some pocket dimension then? I can live with that. System: Anything else? I don¡¯t know, is there anything else? System: Nothing that will get you in trouble. Good. Then as long as that incredible mess is blocked and nerfed, let what¡¯s left through. Just make sure to tag that sleazebag on it as well. If this does come back to bite me in the ass, I want that fucker bitten too. System: Affirmative. Transmission complete. Cool. Wake me up if anything interesting happens. System: Define parameters of interesting. Never mind. Wake me up when there¡¯s another transmission to deal with. System: Affirmative. And this packet labeled CUT? Ugh. So annoying. You know what to do with it so stop asking. System: Affirmative. Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-One - Ive got some splaining to do Kiki looked at me like I¡¯d lost it. ¡°A bee?¡± ¡°Do you trust me, Kiki?¡± She snorted. ¡°Should I?¡± She sounded convincingly dubious, but the way she fondled the new rings on her fingers suggested that she had doubts about her doubts. ¡°Do you wanna know what they¡¯re up to in there or not?¡± I said. ¡°Sure, but how?¡± I explained how I¡¯d left a bee inside the dome to spy on people. ¡°That¡¯s how you knew about where we were and how many tokens we had,¡± Ai said. ¡°You had a spy follow us.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t be. It was a smart move.¡± I then explained how I could borrow the bee¡¯s senses to see and hear everything it did, and could even share it with other people. Ai joined Kiki in looking dubious, but Tiff would¡¯ve got it. It was a tweaked version of her power to share her senses with others I was using, after all. ¡°How can you do that?¡± Kiki said. I told her what I had decided to tell everyone when they asked about an ability I didn¡¯t want to explain: ¡°Magic item.¡± I saw out of the corner of my eye Lianna trying to hide a smile. I wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed. ¡°What are you smirking about?¡± Kiki said to her. ¡°Oh, just remembering the first time I looked through the bee¡¯s eyes,¡± Lianna covered quickly. ¡°He let you do it?¡± Kiki said, her cheeks puffing. Lianna nodded, an impish smile teasing on her lips. ¡°Oh yeah. He¡¯s let me do aaaall sorts of things. It¡¯s pretty wild.¡± Kiki¡¯s eyes flared before she huffed again. ¡°Fiiiine. Let¡¯s see.¡± ¡°Count me in too,¡± Ai said, looking a bit overwhelmed. I took a peek through the bee¡¯s senses and shared it with Kiki, Ai, and Lianna, and sure enough Troy and his team were there. ¡°What the?¡± I heard Kiki say. ¡°Is this really how a bee sees things?¡± ¡°Shhh,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t hear what they¡¯re saying.¡± The Droog leader Warren was explaining the situation, and how he thought they should wait in the dome for me to arrive and take me out. ¡°Not like we can get out anyway,¡± Warren said. ¡°The damned door won¡¯t open.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t open the door?¡± Troy said. ¡°We can¡¯t even figure out how it¡¯s locked,¡± Warren said sheepishly. Troy sighed and went over to check. He tried jostling the handle, tried pushing, tried pulling, and of course nothing happened. He scanned all around, looking for any sign of a lock or other mechanism to release the door. ¡°Well fuck,¡± Troy said, giving the door a half-hearted kick. Warren nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I said. But it has to work somehow. All the other teams before us got out.¡± ¡°Did you try blowing on it?¡± one of Troy¡¯s lackeys said. ¡°Does it look like a fucking Nintendo cartridge?¡± Warren barked back. Troy grunted, then kneeled down and peered at the slender gap under the door. He pulled out a thin-bladed knife and slid it under, poking a few times. ¡°There¡¯s something in the way,¡± he said. ¡°Those fuckers,¡± Warren said. ¡°They blocked us in.¡± Troy stood up and put his knife away, then started swatting at the air. ¡°What is it with this fucking bee? How¡¯d it even get in here?¡± Uh oh. I tried making the bee fly further away but I was too late. I don¡¯t know who killed it or how, but I suddenly lost the connection with my intrepid little black and yellow spy. ¡°Nuts,¡± I said, blinking as I got used to seeing normally again. ¡°That was...strange,¡± Ai said, rubbing her eyes. ¡°But how did you get the bee in there in the first place? You did promise to tell me how you¡¯re here before you¡¯re supposed to be.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to know that too,¡± Kiki said. ¡°How did you get here? Nobody even knows where this Citadel is.¡± ¡°It¡¯s four hexes Northeast of the city,¡± I said. ¡°Hexes?¡± Kiki¡¯s brow furrowed for a few moments, then it dawned on her. ¡°Like a game board. Holy shit, this whole place is a big game board!¡± ¡°You only just figured that out?¡± Ai said smugly and got a stern look from Kiki in return. Ai ignored it and turned to me. ¡°You can add how you know exactly where we are on the map to the list of questions you promised to answer.¡± ¡°I did promise,¡± I said with a sigh. Lianna put her hand on my arm. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea?¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I said. ¡°They were bound to find out eventually. Besides, I can¡¯t really expect them to trust me if I don¡¯t trust them, can I? Is it okay with you?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the Captain, you don¡¯t need my permission.¡± She started pulling her hand away, but I put mine over hers to stop her. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Maybe not,¡± I said, ¡°but I won¡¯t do it without your agreement.¡± She glanced down at her hand where it rested on my arm covered by mine and tugged it free. ¡°Stop hitting on me, jerk. Just go ahead and tell them.¡± I waved Achmed and Tiff over. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Achmed said. ¡°I have something to tell you,¡± I said. ¡°So, when I got the Void Dungeon I got this magic item...¡± then launched into a brief overview of the TTC Control Card¡¯s powers and how we were able to teleport into the dome before the first team arrived. I left out as much as I could about how it worked exactly and all the implications of the control it gave us, but I was surrounded by smart people. ¡°You know where all the dungeons are, don¡¯t you?¡± Ai said. ¡°You figured that out pretty quickly,¡± I said. ¡°Yes. I know where all the dungeons are.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s just great,¡± she said, flopping her arms. ¡°Now you¡¯ll get them all.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got it wrong,¡± Lianna said. ¡°If he wanted to take them he would have done it by now.¡± ¡°She means we,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re a team, honestly.¡± ¡°That makes no sense. Why wouldn¡¯t you want them?¡± Tiff said. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a longer story,¡± I said. ¡°Well if you don¡¯t want the dungeons then why not tell us where they are?¡± Ai said. ¡°The Shadow Dungeon¡¯s gone and we couldn¡¯t make a dent in the Death Dungeon, but I wouldn¡¯t mind knowing where Water or Ice are to give them a try.¡± ¡°What do you offer in return?¡± Lianna said. ¡°Say what?¡± ¡°That¡¯s valuable information. It¡¯s only fair that you compensate Team Player for it.¡± I noticed Tiff¡¯s eyes glaze as she looked at Lianna, then she laughed. ¡°Dammit, Daniel.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I said. She was still checking out Lianna¡¯s Status. ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± I grinned. ¡°Know what? That Lianna here was an unpolished gem?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Lianna said, looking ready for a fight. ¡°It¡¯s okay, you¡¯re good now, I polished you,¡± I said, thinking I was saying something nice. ¡°You did what?!¡± Kiki blurted. ¡°That¡¯s even worse!¡± Lianna said, and Tiff laughed. ¡°I truly mean no offense, Lianna,¡± Tiff said, ¡°and as bad as it sounded I don¡¯t think Captain Oblivious did either. It¡¯s just that I remember seeing your Status before and didn¡¯t realize your potential. That was my mistake.¡± Lianna took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she said. ¡°Neither did I, honestly.¡± I raised my hand. ¡°I did.¡± ¡°Jeez,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Brag much?¡± ¡°What? I¡¯m just saying, as soon as I saw her I knew I had to have her.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that, idiot!¡± Kiki wailed. ¡°Had to have her. Sheesh.¡± ¡°You know what I mean.¡± With a sigh that was half-hiss, Lianna wrinkled her nose like what I¡¯d just said smelled like spoiled kimchi then turned to Tiff. ¡°How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?¡± she said, and Tiff laughed again. ¡°You secure that shit, Hudson,¡± I said, pointing at Lianna. Then I made a fist and held it out expectantly. ¡°Come on.¡± Lianna looked at it for a second, then sighed and bumped it with hers. Achmed grinned at me and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t this where you hop into your power loader and glare at Tiff and say: get away from her you bitch?¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± I said, and bumped his fist too. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you got that reference,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Come on, that was an easy one.¡± ¡°So if I were to ask you what is best in life?¡± ¡°To crush your enemies,¡± I began with a bored sigh. ¡°See them driven before you,¡± Kiki continued. ¡°And hear the lamentation of their weak-assed men,¡± Tiff freestyled. Achmed made fists with both hands and bumped them together in front of himself. ¡°Like two snakes coming together.¡± ¡°Okay, maybe that was a bit too easy too,¡± Lianna said. ¡°How about this, then: where¡¯s the best place to watch attack ships on fire?¡± ¡°Okay, you got me there,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Off the shoulder of Orion, of course,¡± I said. ¡°You know, even if my dad wasn¡¯t a huge nerd ¡ª huge ¡ª and made me watch all the classics from the moment I was born, I do also have the Trivia and Eidetic Memory skills. You could quote the frigging Notebook or Bridges to Madison County and I¡¯ll still get it. Sadly.¡± Lianna turned to Tiff again. ¡°Please. Save me.¡± ¡°I¡¯d take you away if I could, but I think maybe you¡¯re better off where you are. Although,¡± Tiff said, tapping her chin before nudging me with her shoulder, ¡°if they ever allow teams to merge, wanna hook up?¡± ¡°What?!¡± Kiki shrieked. ¡°You think I should spice things up?¡± I said, which earned me a few groans. ¡°Hey now,¡± Achmed said, ¡°I¡¯ve got dibs. I knew him first.¡± ¡°Technically,¡± Kiki said, flipping her hair, ¡°I knew him first.¡± ¡°Does this mean you want to merge with me, Kiki?¡± I said. She flushed a satisfyingly bright red and looked down at the paving stones. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be opposed, I guess,¡± she mumbled, and it was so cute that without thinking I reached out to ruffle her hair again. Kiki¡¯s body stiffened but her chin dropped to give me better access to the top of her head. I couldn¡¯t help noticing that the dark roots had recently been dyed back to bleached blonde. Lianna¡¯s salon friend must¡¯ve been busy. ¡°Get a room,¡± Lianna teased, and I snatched my hand back. ¡°Whoops, sorry,¡± I said, then turned to Tiff, who was watching me with a bemused smirk. ¡°Actually, remember that long story about why we didn¡¯t go grab more dungeons once we knew where they all were? Lianna and I are working on something that I think you¡¯ll be interested in. All of you, really. At least I hope you¡¯ll all be interested.¡± ¡°That sounds intriguing,¡± Achmed said. ¡°Care to share?¡± ¡°What, and ruin the surprise?¡± I said, flashing my best carnival huckster smile. ¡°Ever the mystery man, eh?¡± Tiff chuckled. ¡°You won¡¯t have to wait long,¡± I said. ¡°And it will affect everybody so I think everybody should learn about it at the same time. We¡¯ll make the big reveal to everyone after the quest is over.¡± ¡°We will?¡± Lianna said, then breathed out the most magnificent sigh. ¡°Daniel, you have to tell me these things.¡± Achmed bro-clapped me on the shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sure whatever it is, it¡¯ll be awesome.¡± ¡°Ugh,¡± Kiki said, waving her hands in front of herself. ¡°Somebody open a window, I can¡¯t breathe with all the testostrogen these two are off-gassing.¡± Achmed stuck out his tongue so Kiki stuck hers out back at him. ¡°Now if we can maybe finally get back to actually finishing the quest, what do we do now?¡± Ai said. We all turned our attention back to the dome, inside of which Invictus and the Droogs were doing who-knew-what? Achmed scratched his head. ¡°You want to wait them out?¡± ¡°We could smoke ¡®em out,¡± Tiff said. Kiki huffed and put her hands on her hips. ¡°Don¡¯t they need an actual way to get out first?¡± Everyone then turned to me with expectant looks. ¡°If you want to know what I think,¡± I said, ¡°I say what¡¯s the rush? Wouldn¡¯t it be way more fun if we just wait and see how they manage to make their own way out?¡± ¡°That¡¯s...not what I was expecting,¡± Ai said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty much exactly what I was expecting,¡± Lianna said. ¡°So what¡¯ll we do in the meantime?¡± Kiki said. ¡°I¡¯d rather not go collect room tokens until we¡¯ve dealt with those jokers.¡± ¡°Anybody got a deck of cards?¡± Achmed said. Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Two - Hostage situation Like the world¡¯s greatest stage magician, I produced a few decks of elven-made playing cards in my hand; one instant there was nothing, then poof. Cards. ¡°How are you doing that?¡± Ai said, once again staring at me with the glazed eyes of someone checking out a Status and the confused expression of someone who couldn¡¯t make sense of what they were seeing. ¡°Magic item.¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± she said. ¡°Must be.¡± Kiki smirked at that, her big eyes shifting between Ai and me. While Ai had sounded dubious, Kiki¡¯s look said she knew I was lying but she didn¡¯t mind as long as she was the only one who knew that. She wasn¡¯t, and the way Lianna was watching all of us spoke to her endless amusement watching people try to figure me out while I tried not to get figured out. She seemed to find my magic item excuse strangely hilarious, too. Speaking of actual magic items, that¡¯s when one of the gems on my Dick Tracy Communicator started flashing. It was the topaz, meaning Alice wanted to talk. Uh oh. I had a bad feeling about this. ¡°Lemme guess,¡± Ai said, staring at the blinking topaz, ¡°another magic item?¡± ¡°Hang on,¡± I said, passing the cards to Achmed before turning away. ¡°I gotta take this.¡± Tiff laughed out loud. ¡°He actually did make cellphones.¡± ¡°Huh? Cellphones? And what do you mean he made them?¡± Ai said. I took a few steps away before tapping the topaz and Alice¡¯s hologram appeared, her impractically pretty face marred with concern. ¡°We¡¯ve got a problem, boss.¡± ¡°How¡¯s Anika?¡± I said. ¡°Is she okay?¡± ¡°We-e-ell,¡± Alice drawled, ¡°Anika is okay, which is to say she isn¡¯t hurt or anything, but she is being held hostage by that group you called Overgeared.¡± ¡°Dammit!¡± I waved Tiff over. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Tiff said when she saw Alice¡¯s hologram. I quickly made introductions and Alice explained the situation. Anika had been charged with putting captive Players back to sleep, but Team Overgeared had tricked her and she ended up being captured by our own captives. They threatened to kill her unless they were released and returned to the Citadel. ¡°I¡¯ll rip their guts out,¡± Tiff growled. ¡°All of them.¡± ¡°I am sorry I let that happen,¡± Alice said. ¡°I underestimated them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, Alice,¡± I said. "I was in a rush when I set up their detainment. I got sloppy and now Anika''s paying the price." ¡°They have not harmed her yet,¡± Alice said. ¡°I thought it best to contact you before choosing how to proceed.¡± ¡°I appreciate that.¡± ¡°Enough. Let¡¯s go,¡± Tiff said. ¡°There¡¯s one problem,¡± I said, turning my attention toward the dome where Teams Invictus and Droogs were trapped. ¡°We need to use that teleportation array in there to get to her.¡± ¡°Well fuck,¡± Tiff said. ¡°What should we do, boss?¡± Alice said. ¡°I was thinking maybe I should send her in.¡± ¡°Her?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Who¡¯s her?¡± There¡¯s only one person Alice could¡¯ve meant. ¡°The Gorgon,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s too dangerous, Alice. Anika might get caught in her gaze. Besides, we don¡¯t want to kill anyone if we can help it, and she doesn¡¯t have a non-lethal setting.¡± ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Fatality factor or not, I have zero qualms about killing those bastards. But yeah, let¡¯s avoid turning Anika to stone.¡± ¡°Pity,¡± Alice said. ¡°She was excited by the prospect, but we have other options. There¡¯s a considerable force waiting outside the door as we speak, but I thought you might prefer to handle this personally.¡± ¡°You thought right,¡± I said. ¡°I need to be there too,¡± Tiff moaned. ¡°I need to help rescue Anika.¡± ¡°First things first,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s clear a path to the teleportation circle.¡± ¡°So much for waiting to see how Troy gets everyone out of the dome,¡± Kiki said, tossing a long blonde pigtail over her shoulder with a flick of her head. ¡°Can¡¯t you just teleport to your dungeon without the circle?¡± Achmed said. ¡°Like how you came to get us?¡± I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s too far away. I need a circle.¡± ¡°So you do have limits after all,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Nice to know.¡± I gnawed my lower lip while I considered how to get to the teleportation node. I had any number of ways of doing that, of varying degrees of lethality, from teleporting a contingent of elves and/or labyrinth denizens into the dome to clear things out, to teleporting in myself and filling the space with razor floss, to going in with Lianna with shields up and emptying a few magic crystals worth of stun shots into them, to disguising myself as an Overgeared Player and tricking them into assembling in the circle and teleporting them all to the Fire Dungeon in the Southern Desert, to removing the top of the dome and shifting the gravity inside to make them all float up and out of the way, to opening the door and using the Voice to command them all to scamper out, to...well, you get the idea. I had options. Too many options. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°We should figure it out soon, the next score of demons is due to show up in a minute,¡± Lianna said. I couldn¡¯t resist opening a telepathic link with her. Me: Did you just say score? Lianna: Yeah? What of it? Aren¡¯t you supposed to use archaic words in a fantasy setting? Me: You¡¯re surprisingly nerdy at times. Lianna: That¡¯s rich coming from you. ¡°Well,¡± Kiki said, ¡°if that¡¯s how it¡¯s gonna be...Daniel, I¡¯m gonna go ahead and assume you can open a hole in the dome any time you want, amiright?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°Whatcha got in mind, Kiks?¡± I was expecting an outburst of righteous indignation but Kiki didn¡¯t say anything about being called Kiks. If anything, she seemed secretly pleased with the impromptu pet name. Instead of complaining, she reached out and grabbed my hand then turned to face the other Players. ¡°Who was it who made the barrier in front of the door?¡± Kiki said loudly. ¡°That was me,¡± the Spice girl named Sonia said, bouncing to the front of the group. ¡°Daniel and I are gonna go around back. When we give the signal, take down the barrier. Dougie?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± one of her N3m3s1s boys chirped. ¡°When the barrier¡¯s gone, you blast the door open.¡± ¡°You got it,¡± he said, puffing up his chest, clearly pleased that his Dark Gyaru Mistress had a use for him. ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Tiff said. ¡°Daniel¡¯s gonna open a hole on the other side and I¡¯m gonna send in my Efreet to chase them out.¡± ¡°Into our waiting arms,¡± Achmed said. ¡°That should do the trick.¡± ¡°If we hurry, the rest of us can go hide and let the soon-to-arrive demons play with them first,¡± Lianna said. ¡°I like that idea,¡± Ai said. ¡°Then we can mop up the rest.¡± For some reason, everyone looked at me. It was a bit more complicated than some of my ideas, but the fact that it came from someone else and involved other people¡¯s abilities to make it happen made it the far better choice. I was genuinely worried that I was doing too much, so any plan that didn¡¯t rely on me was the right one as far as I was concerned. ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Sounds good. Just make sure you step in to help them out if there¡¯s a risk of anyone dying.¡± ¡°One more thing,¡± Tiff said, stepping forward to stand next to me. ¡°Anika¡¯s one of us, so Team Spice is coming with you.¡± ¡°Damn straight,¡± Grace said, stepping up to join her Captain, followed by more of her team. ¡°Sorry Tiff,¡± Sonia said. ¡°I need to stay back and remove the barrier.¡± ¡°Maybe you don¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°At this point they don¡¯t think they can get out anyway so they probably wouldn¡¯t notice if it was gone now. To be safe, leave an inch or so on the ground to block any light coming in under and prevent them from opening if they give it a push.¡± ¡°That works,¡± Tiff said. She nodded at Sonia, who nodded back and gestured toward the dome. The slab of stone she¡¯d raised in front of the door shrank down to a short lip as I¡¯d described. ¡°There,¡± she said, then grinned. ¡°Hang on.¡± She gestured again, and the little lip she¡¯d left blocking the bottom of the door raised up a few more inches. ¡°Who knows, maybe that¡¯ll trip a few of them as they rush out.¡± ¡°I like the way you think,¡± I said, and she grinned even wider. ¡°We need to move,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Demons are coming.¡± I quickly shared my portal power with Lianna. I opened my own portal to the top of the wall surrounding the dome on one side. ¡°Okay, Teams Legion and Ninja go through there. Lianna, open one to the other side and take Team N3m3s1s with you over there.¡± ¡°Alright sweethearts,¡± Achmed said. ¡°You heard the man and you know the drill. Assholes and elbows.¡± Then without a second thought he charged into the portal I¡¯d opened, his team following hot on his heels. In a surprising show of trust, Ai went through unquestioningly with her crew. At the same time, Lianna opened her portal and went in with Kiki¡¯s group as I went with Kiki and Team Spice to the back of the dome. The moment everyone was through we closed the portals, just as the demons showed up. Showtime. Me: Everybody all set up there? Lianna: All ready. Me: Keep an eye on things, okay? Lianna: Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll use healing shots to keep people alive. Me: Thanks. Okay, you can let Dougie know he can blast the door. Good luck. Lianna: Same to you. When we heard the boom I created a head-sized hole in the dome¡¯s wall, which Kiki stuck her head through. A sudden red glow flared from inside as she summoned a single huge flaming creature into the space. The double-whammy of the door exploding and the Efreet appearing had the desired effect. Screams and shouts erupted from the Invictus and Droogs Players and they started shoving each other to get out. I heard Spice girls chuckling behind me when the first few of them who stampeded through the freshly-opened door tripped on Sonia¡¯s trap and fell flat on their faces, only to be trampled by their teammates in their own haste to escape. As Kiki¡¯s Efreet swept them toward the exit and into the waiting demons, I made the opening on our side bigger. ¡°Thanks Kiks,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll see you when we get back.¡± ¡°Screw that,¡± she said, grabbing me. ¡°I¡¯m coming with you.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said, trying not to think about how my arm had suddenly become sandwiched between two very soft objects. ¡°Okay then.¡± Kiki held on to me as our group rushed inside and into the circle. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she said, pointing to a wide hole in the floor off to one side of the dome. ¡°Looks like someone was trying to tunnel out,¡± Tiff said. ¡°Oh good,¡± I said. ¡°How¡¯s that good exactly?¡± ¡°At least now we know how they were planning to escape,¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t see outside with the Efreet blocking the door to prevent the Players from retreating back inside the dome, but I could hear them scrambling to fight the demons in the courtyard beyond. ¡°Wow Kiks,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like your plan¡¯s working.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to sound so surprised,¡± she snapped instinctively, then she reached up with one hand to twirl a finger in her pigtail while the other still clutched my arm. ¡°Uh, I mean, thanks, I guess,¡± she added in a much softer tone. ¡°Everyone in the circle?¡± I said. ¡°Right, let¡¯s go.¡± In the split second before I triggered our teleportation to the labyrinth, I saw Troy¡¯s head poke up out of the hole in the floor. Of course, with his Earth affinity he¡¯d be the one digging the escape tunnel. Shame he hadn¡¯t thought of using his abilities to simply affect the wall like I had. I gave the hapless Invictus leader a little wave with my free hand before we twinkled away, immensely pleased with the horrified look on his face. Kiki was laughing and still clinging to my arm as we appeared in the Light Dungeon¡¯s teleportation circle. She¡¯d clearly seen his look too. One Hundred and Seventy-Three - With one final glance up at the sky, I wasted no time opening a portal to Daedalus¡¯ office where Alice had set up her command center. She was there waiting for us with several other Doppels and a small company of her elite Lamia guard. The Doppels were wearing their new, flashier clothes with their new hairstyles and glittery makeup. Seeing them all in a group like this, they reminded me of something I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on. ¡°Holy shit,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said. ¡°The Lamia are friendly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that. It¡¯s just...how do you know so many fucking gorgeous women?¡± she said, her eyes darting between the attractive Doppelgangers and the Lamia warriors, all of whom were also beautiful women, from the waist up at least. ¡°I can¡¯t even,¡± Tiff said, covering her face with her hand and shaking her head. ¡°What is this place?¡± Grace said, less interested in the room¡¯s inhabitants as she was with the place itself as she gawked around at its assorted treasures with an awestruck expression. The rest of Team Spice were also looking pretty overwhelmed. ¡°Priorities, everyone,¡± I said with a sharp, teachery clap. ¡°Let¡¯s get Anika safe and we can make introductions after.¡± I turned to Alice. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Alice fiddled with the dials on the surface of the desk and a few of the floating screens in front of her enlarged. They showed views from various angles inside the room where Overgeared was being kept. "Where''d this come from?" Tiff said, studying the desk and the Status-like screens it produced. "Seems a bit anachronistic." "That actually came with the place," I said. "Controls the entire labyrinth." "I am the dungeon master," Alice said sweetly. "See? Anika''s okay." The Overgeared holding cell was a large, rectangular room that reminded me of the one where we¡¯d faced the Rat King what seemed like forever ago, with a tall ceiling supported by two rows of large pillars evenly spaced down the length of the room. Anika was bound, gagged, blindfolded, and sitting on her knees in one far corner, but like Alice said, otherwise okay. A trio of Overgeared Players were ostensibly keeping watch over her, but they seemed more concerned with playing dice. (You know my elves manufactured those too, by the way.) The rest of Overgeared were in two groups positioned on either side of the entrance, waiting to ambush anyone or anything that came through the door. ¡°How¡¯s Anika?¡± Tiff demanded. ¡°Have they, you know...touched her?¡± Alice turned in her chair and looked up at Tiff with serious eyes. ¡°I may have messed up by letting them take her, but I would never have allowed anything like that to happen. Ever.¡± Tiff swallowed hard and nodded. ¡°Okay then.¡± ¡°What do you want to do, Tiff?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re asking me?¡± ¡°Anika is your teammate. Just tell me what you need.¡± Tiff stared at the screens. ¡°If we can get Anika¡¯s blindfold off so she can see her guards she can put them to sleep.¡± ¡°If Daniel can open one of his doorways next to her, I could use Tama to get the blindfold off,¡± one of the Spice girls said. Her name was Heather, a quiet teenager with several piercings in her ears, nose, and lip. ¡°Whatever you need,¡± I said again. ¡°What about the other Overgeareds?¡± Grace said. ¡°If I can make a suggestion,¡± Alice said, then she started fiddling with a few more dials and a fresh screen popped up. ¡°We¡¯ve been working on some new traps and I think this might be the perfect time to test this one.¡± We all studied the screen as Alice explained the trap¡¯s function. ¡°That¡¯s just insidious,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Thank you,¡± Alice said. ¡°It¡¯s a bit overkill, but that totally works for me,¡± Tiff said. ¡°What¡¯s the fatality factor here?¡± ¡°Whatever we want it to be. Unless there¡¯s a damn good reason, my dungeons are set to always let the Players and monsters respawn.¡± ¡°You use it for training?¡± Kiki said. ¡°Yeah. Alice here has even played dungeon master and run Maple Leaf through the labyrinth a few times, and the plan is to rent it out for others to play in too. We can also adjust the layout so it¡¯s never the same maze twice.¡± ¡°That¡¯s handy,¡± Tiff said wistfully. Even I could see how much she wanted one for Team Spice. ¡°Tell you what, when all this is over we¡¯ll see about getting Spice and N3m3s1s their own dungeons.¡± Tiff studied me with a complicated look. ¡°You¡¯re serious, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Very.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll tell you what, when the time comes we won¡¯t be polite and will totally take you up on that.¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± Kiki agreed with an enthusiastic nod that sent her pigtails flying. ¡°Totally.¡± ¡°But first, let¡¯s get Anika out of there,¡± Tiff said. We turned our attention back to Alice¡¯s screens. The three Overgeared Players were still playing craps near Anika while a heated argument had revved up near the door. Several of the Players were openly criticizing their Captain and one was suggesting they start cutting off parts of Anika and sending them to me, but before the idea found support another Player was quick to point out that if they had a way to send body parts out they wouldn¡¯t need to because the whole point was that they they were trapped in there. ¡°Where¡¯s Heather?¡± I said. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The girl raised a shy hand. ¡°Here?¡± ¡°Ready?¡± She nodded, and a rodent-like creature about the size of a large house cat that looked like a chimeric cross between a weasel, a crocodile, and a vulture appeared on her shoulder. ¡°Ready Tama?¡± Heather said, and the creature nuzzled her cheek with a toothy beak. ¡°We¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°Alice?¡± ¡°All set, boss,¡± the glittery Doppel said. I opened one end of the portal in front of Heather and the other end appeared a few feet away from Anika inside the holding room. ¡°Off you go,¡± Heather whispered, and Tama leapt off her shoulder and dashed through the portal. Anika tensed when she felt the creature skitter up her arm, but when it started gnawing at her blindfold she seemed to get the idea and stayed still and quiet. Tama¡¯s many sharp teeth made short work of the blindfold and it immediately went down to work on the rope binding her wrists. Anika blinked in light for a few moments as she got her bearings, her eyes widening when she looked to the side and saw us looking back through the open portal. Tiff grinned and waved, then pointed at each of the three guards in turn, then put her hands palms together against her cheek and tilted her head, the universal sign of sleep. Anika waited for Tama to free her hands, then quickly untied her own legs. I couldn¡¯t tell you whether she made some kind of noise that alerted him or if he just happened to glance back at her, but one of the guards did look back and saw her free of her former bonds. Anika smirked and placed a finger to her lips, then waved at him as she used her power and his eyes drooped closed as he and his two companions toppled over onto the floor, fast asleep. That definitely made some noise and caught the attention of some of the Players near the door. ¡°Time to go,¡± Tiff called as she reached through the portal. Anika took her hand and allowed herself to be pulled through as Tama scampered back to its master. The moment Anika was safely back with us, I changed the portal connection. I left one end in the holding room, and moved the other end from Daedalus¡¯s office to Alice¡¯s deathtrap. The trap was the entire room itself. On casual perusal it looked like a big treasure chamber, a large cube about forty feet along each side. Looking in, you¡¯d see mounds of gold coins and chests and other greed-inducing goodies which were, of course, fake. The hundred million quatlu question was whether or not Team Overgeared would fall for it. It wasn¡¯t actually such a big question, though: of course they would. And of course they did. Most of them rushed to the back of the room after seeing Anika escape, where they were able to look through the portal and see all that glittering loot. We watched on Alice¡¯s screens as the first of them tentatively stepped through the portal. Pity they didn¡¯t have any rats to send through first, not that it would''ve helped. When nothing happened and the treasure room appeared safe, the portal became like the main door of a Tallahassee Best Buy at opening time on Black Friday. When all the pushing and shoving was done, every conscious member of Team Overgeared had entered the trap. That¡¯s when I shut the portal. We watched on the screen showing the view inside the trap as the Overgeared Players started stuffing their bags and pockets with gold and trying to open the chests. There were a lot of laughs in the control room when one of them warned his teammates to be careful in case the chests were Mimics. ¡°Shall I trigger the trap?¡± Alice said. ¡°What about the three Anika put to sleep?¡± Grace said. ¡°Gimme a sec,¡± I said, re-opening the portal into the holding room where those three dozed. I went into the room and shut the portal behind me. Then I opened another one back into the trap room. Only this time I didn¡¯t open it at floor level, I made it appear high in the air near the ceiling. Then I picked up one of the sleeping Players by the calf and tossed him through. I peeked through the portal to watch him fall forty feet down and land in a pile of gold with a disturbing crunch. It was a good thing he was magically asleep, otherwise that looked like it would''ve hurt like hell; I was pretty sure his leg wasn''t supposed to fold underneath him that way. Needless to say, his arrival like this came as a bit of a shock to the other Overgeareds. By the time they figured out what was happening, the second sleeper had been tossed through and landed directly on top of the first. I had to dodge a firebolt shot from below when I threw down the last one, so my aim was off and he landed a bit off target. After that, I looked down at the Overgeareds and waved before pulling my head back and shutting the portal before the next volley of ranged affinity attacks came. Then I returned to rejoin everyone in the command room. ¡°Okay Alice,¡± I said, ¡°now you can trigger the trap.¡± ¡°Excellent,¡± she said, and flipped a switch on the desk. ¡°I wish I had some popcorn,¡± Tiff said. ¡°This is gonna be good.¡± ¡°Would you accept some potato-ish chips?¡± I said. ¡°Every time,¡± she said less than a minute later, crunching on a chip, ¡°I promise myself I won¡¯t be surprised by the next thing you do. And every time I fail.¡± ¡°Has Lianna had these yet?¡± Kiki said, grabbing a handful of chips. ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°we were relaxing in the elf village snacking on some while we watched all you guys start the quest.¡± Kiki scowled. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re jealous, Kiki,¡± Tiff said. Kiki scowled even harder. ¡°Like you¡¯re not?¡± Grace said, stealing a chip from Tiff''s hand. ¡°No comment,¡± Tiff said, snatching her hand away before tossing the rest of her chips into her mouth. ¡°I think something¡¯s starting to happen,¡± one of the Team Spice girls said. ¡°Look.¡± We all turned our attention back to the screens. Alice had opened a few more inside the trap, allowing us to watch the action from several angles. ¡°Is it just me,¡± one of the Overgeared Players was saying, ¡°or is the room...shrinking?¡± ¡°And why is it raining?¡± another was saying. You know the trash compactor scene in Star Wars? Well, imagine the trash compactor was actually the stomach of a large monster and that¡¯s more or less the gist of Alice¡¯s trap. It was, in effect, a giant, room-sized Mimic. The walls were, in fact, contracting. At the same time, a potent digestive acid was being released through all six sides. Meanwhile, the gold coins were also waking up, because of course they were not real gold coins but tiny but ravenous beetle-like monsters who only looked like treasure. There was an exit, but it was locked. It was possible to open it, however unlikely it was that anyone would stumble across the way to do it. The only way to open the solitary means of egress was using the key, which was hidden in the one and only chest among the dozens in the room that was a real chest. The other chests were, you guessed it, actual Mimics. Alice¡¯s insidious deathtrap was designed to eat anything unlucky enough to venture inside. And it was hungry. ¡°Are we seriously going to just stand here and watch this?¡± Grace said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we, you know, get back to the quest? Everyone else must be fighting Invictus and the Droogs by now.¡± Everyone looked at me. ¡°Meh,¡± I said, putting my hand on Alice¡¯s shoulder and leaning forward to watch the screens. ¡°They¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°You seem pretty confident about that,¡± Kiki said. ¡°How can you be sure?¡± ¡°Because your team¡¯s there, and the Ninjas, and the Legionnaires.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget Lianna,¡± Tiff said. ¡°With those guns she¡¯s like a whole team by herself.¡± ¡°She is a whole team,¡± I said. ¡°My team.¡± ¡°I suppose that should be enough,¡± Kiki said reluctantly. ¡°They¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said again. Which, of course, triggered a flag, because that¡¯s when my Dick Tracy communicator lit up. This time it was Lianna¡¯s moonstone flashing. ¡°Hey there,¡± I said nonchalantly when her holographic face appeared. Then I saw the look on that face and instantly got chalant. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±