FIGHT. LEVEL. SURVIVE. 2

©2025 XRMAZE

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.

Aethon Books supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact editor@aethonbooks.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

Aethon Books

www.aethonbooks.com

Print and eBook layout, formatting, and design by Kevin G. Summers.

Published by Aethon Books LLC.

Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

All rights reserved.

Also In Series

Fight. Level. Survive.

Book One

Book Two

Book Three

* * *

Want to discuss our books with other readers and even the authors?

JOIN THE AETHON DISCORD!

Calling all LitRPG fans: be the first to discover groundbreaking new releases, access incredible deals, and participate in thrilling giveaways by subscribing to our exclusive LitRPG Newsletter.

JOIN HERE

Contents

1. Mister Moneybags

2. The Kethul

3. Demony

4. 3 vs 30

5. The Prophecy

6. The End of the worlds as we know it

7. It’s dangerous to go alone! Take these!

8. Acting

9. Clop, clop, Mother Fucker

10. Overpowered

11. Conflicted

12. Gods, Demi Demons, and Me

13. Chaos Theory

14. Upgrades

15. Bargain

16. Happy Little Hunter

17. Super Clean

18. Girl Talk

19. (Almost) Over 9000

20. An Unfortunate Affliction

21. You Sex Pest You!

22. Mayry’s Boobs

23. Dragons Hoard

24. One, Two, Tree

25. Freak of Nature Spirit

26. Timber!

27. Super Maisan

28. Rhott and Shazi

29. Elder Mason

30. Trouble in Paradise

31. Ew

32. Deja vu

33. Another Hole

34. Nightsong

35. Envoy

36. Ruin

37. The Mayor of Sparksford

38. An Unexpected Visitor

39. Master

40. The Hunt

41. Calm before the storm

42. Goodbye for now

43. Supersonic

44. Riverweep

45. Long way up

46. The Fortress

47. Stealth Mission

48. Massacre

49. One Damn Point

Thank you for reading Fight. Level. Survive. 2

Groups

LitRPG

Chapter 1

Mister Moneybags

“She’s… dead. What do you mean she’s dead!” Aiden shouted.

Not for the first time, Mason Hughes wished his system had come with a Charisma stat. You know, one that would help him in situations like this one. It would let him know exactly what he needed to say to achieve the end result he wanted. But alas, there was no such thing.

“Yeah… She kinda just turned to dust and broke apart…” Embarrassed and awkward, he scratched his head. “Sorry ’bout that.”

It had been a month since he came to be in this fantastical world. He’d woken up with not a single clue about where he was or what was going on. After a long and complicated series of events in which he made friends and enemies, and fought monsters, he eventually found out he was brought to this world at random as the last act of the God-turned-Demon of Chaos, who was actually only a small part of the original god of which his friend’s dad was also a part of…

Yeah, he was still trying to get his head around it himself, but he was just trying his best to go with the flow for now. He had been bought there in order to complete a quest for said god and had been left with a sort of divine energy that gave him a sort of real-life game system where he could level up and gain power.

In this strange new world, full of monsters, magic, and an almost infinite number of things that wanted to kill him, he had gained all sorts of abilities. Unfortunately, none of them were very helpful when trying to diffuse confrontations peacefully without resorting to violence. He inwardly vowed that if he ever happened upon a genie during his travels, his first wish would be for a Charisma stat. The fact that it would very likely help him with the ladies had absolutely nothing to do with it. None at all!

After a whole ordeal with an Other, a sort of alien the locals had myths about, he left on a journey with his friend, Mayry, who recently found out she was part demon. They had immediately gotten lost and decided to take a break and eat some KFC from a magical KFC box. Now they were being confronted by another Other named Aiden, who was (probably) banging the other Other that they’d killed a few days prior.

They really needed to figure out a different name for the aliens from Ganehfrel; calling them Others was just a headache waiting to happen.

“Ah. Well, shit. I am well and truly buggered now.” Aiden’s haughty demeanour dropped, replaced with one of worry and fear, but oddly not one of grief. After muttering a few words Mason couldn’t hear, Aiden ran his fingers through his hair.

Starting to pace back and forth, he started ranting just loud enough for both Mason and Mayry to hear, “Shit, shit, shit. Just pair up with the girl, they said! You’ll be fine, they said! At least now I know why the bastards didn’t want to go themselves! She was bound to end up dead eventually, the crazy bitch. Now her parents are going to blame me!” He abruptly stopped pacing. “Maybe if I can find the people who killed her, they’ll let me live?” He looked at them and frowned, as if only now remembering they were there, and asked, “Do you know who killed her? Was it one of the cultists?” and adding, “Thelbeckian wankers…” under his breath.

Taken aback by the man’s radical personality change and ranting, it took Mason a moment to realise he had been asked a question. Before answering, he surreptitiously moved his hand behind his back and summoned a dagger from his Inventory. “Actually, it was me who killed her,” he said, trying to sound confident.

Why was he trying to settle this peacefully? Should he just attack the man? He had kidnapped Mayry, nearly getting her killed. He’d been thrown off by Aiden’s sudden appearance and friendly manner, but he was an Other, so he needed to be ready for anything.

Aiden, who had once again started pacing, stood dead still. He slowly turned to look at Mason, saying nothing for a full minute before his lip twitched upward; from there, he let out a chuckle, which slowly progressed into full-blown laughter. “You? You killed Gael? Okay, sure, but seriously, I need to know… was it the cultists?” He wiped a tear away after managing to stop the laughter.

Insulted, Mason took a step forward, bringing his dagger into view and pointing it threateningly at Aiden. “No… It was me! I mean, I had some help from… someone, but… Why is that so hard to believe?” Admittedly, the mayor had done the vast majority of the work, but Mason dealt the killing blow. Now that he thought about it, he did kind of steal the mayor’s kill. Oh well.

Aiden frowned. “Oh, you’re being serious? No, sure, of course. Are you sure…? It’s just after you fought her the first time, she talked for days about how fighting you was like fighting an angry toddler.”

He heard a snicker from behind him and turned to see Mayry had covered her mouth. He turned back to Aiden and sneered at him. “It wasn’t that bad! And I’m far stronger now than I was back then!” Pointing his finger at the man, he continued, “Don’t miss your girlfriend too much; you’ll be seeing her again as soon as we’re done here.”

“Wait. What? She definitely wasn’t my girlfriend,” he said, almost dry heaving at the thought. “And you said she was dead. How would I see her if she’s dead?”

Mason thought he had sounded pretty cool. He looked back at Mayry, who, for some reason, had her hand against her face. He sighed. “Well, I’m going to kill you now, so I meant you’ll be seeing her because you’ll be dead too. It sounded cool!” he said defensively.

“Oh,” Aiden said. “About that, I’m not really a fighter… I’m more of what they call a support class, so thanks, but I’m going to pass.”

Mason summoned a ball of energy to one hand and gripped his dagger tightly in the other. “You kidnapped my friend, and your partner tried to kill me. Twice! There is no possible way in this or any other world I’m letting you live!”

The Other opened his mouth to say something, but instead held up a hand and gave a little wave. Not sure what was happening, Mason shot the ball of energy at the man. Just as it was about to hit, Aiden grinned and popped out of reality.

The ball slammed into the ground, creating a small crater.

“Shitting fucking fuck!” he shouted. If he had attacked sooner, he would have taken him by surprise; instead, in his anger, he announced his intention, and the Other had gotten away.

“What’s the big deal?” Mayry said from behind him. He looked at her and saw she had completely reverted back to her human form. The red hue, sharp fangs, and extra height had gone as if they never appeared. She looked far calmer than he expected. “Isn’t it good we avoided another fight with one of them?”

“You don’t understand,” he started to explain. “Your father warned me not to let any of them get away. If word got back to the elite of their world of what I am and what I can do, I’d be really screwed. I need to get stronger before that happens, and I have a long way to go. If one of the really powerful Others were to get curious and came looking for me, that would be the end of me and, knowing them, probably a few other people.”

“Ah, that does sound like you’re screwed. But does he,” she gestured to the air where Aiden had disappeared, “even know anything about you? For all he knows, you could just be another Other out here for the trial thing.”

Mason considered it. “I was dumb enough to tell Gael a bit. I let slip that I was from Earth and appeared on this planet. Seeing as I’m still alive, I think she either didn’t understand or didn’t tell anyone important. But I have no way of knowing what she told Aiden. If he does know anything, the information will eventually get back to the Ganehfrel one way or another unless we kill him.”

Mayry placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll just have to find him first, then. There is only Sparkstown and Trilil anywhere close to here. We’re heading there anyway; I’m sure we’ll find him before anything bad happens.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks.”

She swung her arm around his shoulder and said, “Of course! Now, do you have any more of that chicken?”

* * *

After another two hours of walking, they could finally see the City of Trilil in the distance, only an hour’s walk away. With each step, the city drew nearer, its details becoming more easily discernable. The tall buildings, bustling streets, and buzz of activity within pushed them forward. He was interested to see what a city looked like in this world.

A thought occurred to him then, he knew the name of the kingdom they were in and heard various city and town names thrown around, but he could not remember ever hearing any natives refer to the planet itself. The Others called it the ‘Trial World,’ but he highly doubted that was its actual name.

“Mayry?” he asked, trying to think of the right way to ask the question without sounding stupid. “What is the name of the world?”

She stared at him, her brows furrowing slightly. “How do you mean?”

“Err, the planet. The one we are standing on right now… does it have a name?”

“No, why would it?”

“What! What do you mean, why wouldn’t it?”

“If you were to tell me where Sparksford was located, what would you say?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Err, that way?” he said with a point and a shrug.

“No, you would say it’s in the Kingdom of Theyna, about a day’s walk south of Trilil… You wouldn’t need to specify what world it’s on. That part is pretty obvious.” She laughed as if it was the most ridiculous question she had ever heard.

The explanation made sense, but a world without a name still seemed very strange to him, a reminder that there were probably other cultural differences he was unaware of.

As they approached, the sounds of civilisation grew louder, carrying on the wind. The distant hum of voices, the clatter of hooves on cobblestones, and the occasional ringing of bells filled the air. The big city had an air of busyness that the small Town of Sparksford lacked.

Now that he had seen the city close up, he was amazed. Any modern architect of his world would spontaneously combust if they ever saw buildings like this. While they didn’t hold a candle to the skyscrapers of New York in how tall they were, they made up for it in the purely insane designs. They were twisted and bent at angles that made him anxious they were going to fall at any second. He assumed the use of runes and other similar magics were heavily relied on during their construction.

It took a while, but eventually Mayry managed to drag him to the city gates. Mason, curious about their plans, asked Mayry, “So, apart from finding Aiden, what are we doing here?”

Leaning slightly against a nearby lamppost, Mayry took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Well, Mason,” she began, her voice laced with a mix of determination and uncertainty, “I just needed to get away from my father for a bit, beyond that, I think it’s time for us both to take a breather. Maybe we could just relax a while and see what the big city has to offer.”

Mason was quiet for a few seconds too long, Mayry noticed and asked, “Is… that okay?”

Mason cautiously said, “Yes… I mean, of course, a vacation would be amazing… but I need to get stronger fast. I don’t think now is the time to start taking it easy.”

“Trilil has a huge Hunters Association. You could pick up a few contracts and relax in your downtime. How does that sound? I might even tag along with you. Y’know, take my new demonic powers for a spin?”

“That works! Do you have any idea where we’re staying? Or do you want to use the Trunk?” Mason asked.

She, in return, looked disgusted. “Ew, no way, that thing doesn’t have running water, and you always come back from contracts smelling like a Hogfarthen. You’re Mister Moneybags; I’ll let you treat me to a nice inn room.”

Mason stopped walking and opened his mouth in mock outrage. “Oh, you’ll let me, will you? You know, sometimes I think you’re only friends with me for my money.”

“Mason! Don’t say that! I’m obviously your friend for your power. The money is just a nice side benefit… Why do you think I invited you?” Mayry replied smoothly before walking off.

“Hey!” he shouted, chasing after her. “You better be joking!”

They made it to the city gates, and Mason marveled at the sight. The gates stood twice as tall as the ones surrounding Sparkford. Their intricate stone carvings and ironwork gave off a sense of grandeur and power. Mason couldn’t help but feel a mix of excitement and apprehension as he took in the bustling streets beyond.

Mayry glanced back at Mason, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Well, come on, Mister Moneybags. Let’s not keep the city waiting.”

With a grin, Mason quickened his pace to catch up with her. As they entered the city, the vibrant tapestry of sights, sounds, and scents engulfed them. The streets were teeming with people from all walks of life—merchants hawking their wares, street performers who captivated the crowd with their skills, and everyday people bustling about with a sense of purpose.

The duo wandered through the busy thoroughfares, their eyes darting from one intriguing sight to another. Colourful stalls lined the streets, displaying an array of goods, from sparkling jewellery to exotic fruits Mason had never seen before. The tantalising aroma of street food wafted through the air, tempting their taste buds.

After walking around for a bit, Mason couldn’t contain himself. He ran from street to street just to gawk at the various denizens of the city. As well as humans and elves, he also saw dwarves and cat-like people that had tails that swished behind them. He saw what he thought was a gnoll, but it was bigger, and its face had a more lupine look as opposed to the canine gnoll. Mayry, who was chasing after him, explained that these were wolfmen and that comparing them to their gnoll cousins was a big no-no unless he wanted to start a brawl.

There were dozens upon dozens of other beings, but one, in particular, caught his eye. In each street, he noticed there were hooded figures that never seemed to move. He asked Mayry about them, but she didn’t know what he was talking about, and anytime he went to point one out, they were always gone.

After exploring for an hour, Mayry’s eyes lit up as she spotted a bustling ‘Magic Market’ square ahead of them. “Let’s check that out!” she exclaimed, tugging at Mason’s sleeve.

Mason nodded, his gaze following Mayry’s enthusiastic gesture. Together, they navigated their way through the lively crowd, their curiosity guiding them towards the heart of the market.

Chapter 2

The Kethul

Walking through the market, they were both taken aback by the sheer size and atmosphere of the place. There were stalls by the dozens, each with merchants doing their utmost best to outshout their neighbours and attract the attention of any possible customers. While Mason often felt quite out of his depth in this world, market shopping was something he felt he was a pro at.

Mayry had initially been excited to visit the Magical Market and see what there was to buy. This quickly changed when she noticed the gleam in Mason’s eye that she had learned by now meant trouble was afoot.

Back on Earth, Mason lived nearby to a very popular market well-known for its outrageous prices when selling to tourists but great deals when dealing with locals. Mason had grown up haggling for the very best deals. He hadn’t had the chance to use this talent in Sparksford, as he found actual shops tended to be relatively rigid with their pricing while people at markets often tried to squeeze you for every penny.

Things went quite well until Mason spotted a stall with several sphere-shaped artefacts that looked similar to the flash bang he bought in Sparksford’s Magical Item Shop, just several times bigger. Using his Identify skill confirmed these were, in fact, just bigger versions that packed a bigger bang. The trouble started when the merchant, a seven-foot-tall humanoid snake-like creature, saw him looking at the orbs and grinned. “Ahhh, young massster hasss impeccable tassste, for one sssuch asss yoursssself, I can offer you thessse exxxquisite orbsss of power for jussst an iron each.” The lizard man hissed as he reached fort the orbs, intending to slide them into a bag for Mason, assuming by Mason’s smile he’d already made the sale.

Going with a hunch, Mason asked innocently, “What do they do?”

The lizard man’s head slowly looked up at Mason, eyes slightly wider. “Why, they are orbs of power, of course, they, um, contain Chaosss magic, and through carrying them, you increase the power of any abilities?”

Mason narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You have no idea, do you? How about I give you five iron for all twenty, and I tell you what they actually do?”

“Well, I…” This went back and forth several times before they finally agreed on ten iron and Mason Identifying two other objects for the salesman, both of which turned out to be fake imitations of various magical items.

The merchant was annoyed but let them leave with the orbs.

As they walked away, Mayry whispered to him, “Mason! That was a draconi, I can’t believe you managed to get away with that. They’re the most vicious merchants out there. Very few people even attempt to barter with them, and did you see the way he was eyeing our armour?”

“Nah, he was nice! Come on, let’s see what else we can find!”

It was an hour later when Mayry finally managed to drag Mason away. “Please, Mason, let’s go! If you ‘haggle’ any more, I think they’re going to ban us! I’m sure that last guy had tears in his eyes!”

Mason let out an exaggerated breath. “That guy had no business being a merchant! He crumbled almost immediately!”

“Mason!” Mayry said sternly. “That was the merchant’s eight-year-old son! The actual merchant saw you coming and hid!”

“Oh… well, whatever! I got a good price, didn’t I?” Mason said smugly. “But fine, we can go; we’re coming back, though!”

With a sigh of relief from Mayry, they exited the market with Mason having pissed off no less than nine merchants. Most, he just haggled down a whole lot, but the others, he managed to embarrass in front of other customers by using his Identify skill to correct their sales pitches.

On the plus side, he walked away with a butt-ton of healing potions, a few other simple magical items, and even was able to find a ring of protection which he paid a full silver coin for.

Wearable Item - Ring of Protection (Rare) - A very well-made ring often used to protect family members and loved ones.

Effect: A mid-grade barrier will protect the wearer against physical and magical attacks. Once the barrier is broken, a 24-hour recharge time is required.

He wanted to give the ring to Mayry, but was unsure how to do it in a way that wouldn’t be misconstrued as something else.

Before he could bring up the topic, Mayry spun him around and pulled him into a deserted alleyway.

“Woah there,” Mason protested, “I know my haggling skills are good, but they ain’t that good!”

“Oh shut up,” Mayry said, swatting him on the arm. “I spotted trouble.”

“Oh yeah? Aiden?”

“No, that first guy? The draconi, the one you bought the orbs off? I knew he was checking out our armour…”

Mason adopted a confused look. “Okay? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“The hooded people you said you saw earlier? I think they might have been the Order of Kethul, I saw two of them walking towards us just now.”

“Kethul?” Mason said. “Where have I heard that before? Kethul, Kethul…”

She just rolled her eyes. “If you would let me finish… After you killed the basilisk⁠—”

“OH! The basilisk was called the Kethulhu Basilisk. That’s where I heard it… I’m sorry. Please continue.”

“…After you killed the basilisk, I did some research but couldn’t find much. The only giant snake that I kept finding references to was the snake deity of the Order of Kethul. I assumed they worshipped the basilisk, not knowing what it really was. The book said they’re a primitive tribal society that live on a whole other continent, so I never bothered saying anything.”

Mason’s eyes narrowed at Mayry. “So you’re saying these people worshipped the basilisk as some sort of Go… G-word, and now they’re here searching for it? How could they possibly know it was sent here!” A thought occurred to him. “Oh fuck, do you think the merchant somehow recognised what the armour is made from and called those guys?”

“Hmm, I mean, maybe… The merchant was a draconi, they’re kind of snake-like, maybe they thought we had something to do with their deity… But still, that wouldn’t explain why they were already in the city and what they were doing… Maybe one of them has a Chaos ability to do with the basilisk? Either way, I think it’s better we avoid them for now and change out of the armour.”

“Agreed, I mean, I think we could probably take them, but I’m not really into killing people… Even if they are weird snake-worshipping people. Should we just change here? I still have a few sets of your clothes in my Inventory.”

“Yeah, I think the sooner we change, the better. Give me an outfit,” Mayry said, then added, “If you peek at me while I change, I will go demon on your ass so fast you’ll wish you were still in that goblin orgy village!”

Mason threw up his hands in surrender. “Ok, ok, no peeking, got it!”

He tossed over a bundle of clothes, checked the coast was still clear, and then quickly got changed himself.

Once they were both fully clothed, they headed back onto the main street.

After walking for a few moments in silence, Mayry blurted out, “It’s so unfair that you get more muscular every time you level up! Do you know how long it takes me to lose any weight at all?”

Mason stared blankly at her for a beat before making sense of what she was saying. “You watched me as I changed? You hypocrite!” he said with mock outrage.

Mayry went bright pink. “I, err… How else would I make sure you weren’t peeking at me!”

Mason dramatically covered his chest with his arms. “I feel so violated!”

“Oh shush. It’s not like I didn’t see all you had to offer in the first two seconds of meeting you!”

“Oh yeah… I forgot about that…” Not long after he arrived in this world, Mayry found him wearing nothing but pink underwear, repeatedly stabbing an already dead drake because he thought it had stolen his quest reward. Yeah, that had been a strange day.

They abruptly stopped talking as they passed a pair of hooded figures who were trying and failing to blend in. Their heads moved as each person passed them, then one of the two would shake his head ever so slightly.

Mason and Mayry held their breath as they moved ahead of them. When they were far enough away, they let out a sigh and continued toward the city centre in hopes of finding an inn.

They couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of unease. Though they managed to avoid an encounter with the hooded figures, the experience reminded them that monsters and the Others weren’t the only things in this world they had to worry about. They quickened their pace, trying to put some distance between themselves and the mysterious individuals.

After a few minutes, they spotted a signpost directing them towards a nearby inn. Relieved to have found a potential safe haven, they made their way to it. The inn’s exterior had a rustic charm, with a cosy-looking tavern on the ground floor and rooms on the upper levels.

This inn looked nice, but compared to his luxurious room back in Sparksford, it was a dump. Mason had grown quite used to that level of comfort and tried to steer Mayry towards a more expensive-looking inn across the street.

“No! We are supposed to be laying low and trying not to draw attention to ourselves! Flaunting your wealth is probably not a great idea, and knowing you, you’d probably tip the receptionist a silver if she was pretty enough and smiled at you.”

“Oi! It was an iron and I didn’t understand the currency! It had nothing to do with Nays being pretty and smiling at me!”

Mayry glared at him. “Ugh!” She stormed off to the cheaper-looking inn, leaving him confused.

It was true he didn’t understand women, but he extra didn’t understand Mayry. One moment they were all happy and flirty, the next she was storming off, angry at him! What had he done? Surely, his high Intelligence stat should at least give him some idea, but nooo, that would be far too easy.

When he caught up to her, she was talking to a fat human man who was wearing an apron. As he approached, they both looked at him expectantly.

“Err, hi?” Mason tried, unsure what had been said.

“They only have one room available; It’s fifteen bronze a day,” she explained.

“Oh, okay. Guess we’re sharing?” Mason said.

“Yup,” she replied as both she and the innkeeper stared at him.

“Err, are you mad at me?” Mason asked hesitantly.

“Nope, not at all. I’m just waiting for you to pay so I can go up to the room and rest,” she explained curtly.

“Oh, yeah, right, of course.” Mason forked over a handful of coins to the man, and he, in turn, handed a key to Mayry, who hurried off up the stairs, leaving him standing wondering what was going on. He looked at the innkeeper, about to ask if he said anything wrong, but stopped himself as he saw the man was just slowly shaking his head at him.

Mason frowned and hurried up the stairs after Mayry.

Before he entered the room, he hesitated. He liked Mayry, really liked her, but he just could never quite tell how she felt. He had fought monsters, Others and even survived coming face to face with a demon… so why did the idea of getting into an argument with Mayry scare him so much?

Chapter 3

Demony

After a somewhat awkward early evening, with Mayry insisting nothing was wrong, that she wasn’t mad at him, but continued to act like something was wrong and as if she was very mad at him, they decided to head to bed early.

Mason stood by the bed, uncertain as to what Mayry had in mind for the sleeping arrangement. The bed was quite large, though judging by how annoyed she was acting, Mason assumed she would probably appreciate some time away from him.

“I’ll sleep in the Trunk, give you some privacy,” he said uncertainly.

Mayry sighed. “It’s fine. You might as well sleep in the bed you paid for.”

“Oh, okay, sure.” Mason got into the bed and looked up at Mayry, who was just standing there, frowning at him.

“Do you genuinely not know why I’m annoyed at you?” she asked, her expression changing to one of bewilderment.

“Ah! So you are annoyed!” Mason exclaimed.

Her frown instantly returned. “Never mind.” She got into bed facing away from Mason and ran a finger over the rune that extinguished the light.

“Huh!” was all Mason could think to say.

“Just drop it and go to sleep, Mason.”

“Err, okay. See you tomorrow, I guess? Goodnight,” Mason said trying to figure out how they had gone from hiding from crazy snake worshippers one moment to an awkward evening with Mayry acting weird.

He had never been amazing when it came to women, and he fully suspected he made some sort of social faux pas he was completely oblivious too. For the life of him, he could not figure out what it was.

While he wasn’t entirely sure what he had done, he didn’t want Mayry still pissed off when they woke up, so he spent the next few minutes trying to psych himself up to say what he wanted to say.

“Mayry, you awake?” he whispered.

He got no reply but his enhanced Perception did let him hear a change in her heart rate, which made him think she probably wasn’t yet asleep.

“Erm, I’m sorry for whatever I did. I’m pretty shitty at these sorts of things and I… err, just wanted you to know that I really like you and I⁠—”

Before he could finish, there was a huge bang outside which caused them both to jolt upright as the whole building shook. Their attention was immediately diverted to the commotion outside. Startled, Mason made to get out of bed but stopped as Mayry grabbed his arm. “Ignore that for a second! What were you saying?”

He looked over at the window for a second before looking back at Mayry. “Oh, I was saying—” A bang interrupted him a second time.

“Dammit!” Mayry shouted. She got out of bed and rushed to the window, mentally swearing vengeance against whoever it was making the commotion outside. She flung open the curtain and tried to identify the source of the noise, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She was about to turn back when she noticed an orange hue coming from a few streets away. There was another bang, and a massive fireball shot into the building across from the inn.

Mason was by her side in an instant. Mayry glared at him and said, “Don’t think this gets you off the hook. We are going to talk later and you will finish what you were going to say!” With a sigh, she added, “We better take a look at what’s happening… Chaos knows it probably has something to do with us.”

They made it to the front door of the inn and peeked out, spotting six of the hooded figures. They stood right outside the inn as if they knew exactly where they were and had just been destroying things to get them to come out.

Six voices spoke in unison, creating a discordant harmony which made Mason’s hair stand on end, “We know where you are. We know what you are. We know what you did. Come out, so we may speak.”

Mason glanced at Mayry who just shrugged. “There are only six of them. If it comes down to a fight, I’d put my money on us.”

They exited the inn and stood opposite the Kethul.

Everything about this encounter was putting Mason on edge. It was dark out, and they were being confronted by mysterious hooded figures who all spoke at once. What about this situation didn’t sound like a horror film?

He used Identify on one of them at random.

Kethulli Priest - Level 15

The Order of the Kethul Worship the Basilsk. They are from a very distant land and not much is known about them. Most who seek to learn more are never seen again. They would be pretty angry if they ever found out what happened to their lord and saviour…

Reading the description made Mason wince internally. He used Identify on the rest of them and got similar results. They were pretty strong, and had good reason to not like Mason. This just kept getting better and better.

Summoning his courage, he stepped forward and asked in as bold of a voice as he could, “What do you want?”

There was silence, then twelve voices replied. Mason spun around and spotted six more that had somehow gotten behind them. “We are here for the ones who our lord has chosen. He has blessed you with his defence, has he not?”

That wasn’t what he had been expecting. Blessed with their lord’s defence? What the heck did that mean? “I don—” Mayry cut him off by elbowing him in the side.

“Yes,” she called out. “Your lord appeared to us and shed his hide so he may protect us as his chosen.”

Mason was lost. He had no idea what was going on, but decide to just let Mayry do her thing and bullshit her way out of the confrontation. He still thought he could take them if he had to, though the second group of six had appeared so suddenly it made him cautious, he had no idea how many of them there may be.

“Yet you do not wear his protection now?” the voices asked incredulously. “Do you turn from him and shun his gift?”

“We only wear the protection in battle, to wear it any other time would be an insult to your… lord.” Mayry sounded uncertain, but from the way the hooded figures seemed to relax at her words, it was apparently working.

“Ah, it is good to hear that you are still on the path. We came to deliver a message from our lord’s most trusted servants, his seers.” As one, the figures removed their hoods to reveal their faces. Each of them was bald, with serpentine features, and every one of them had their eyes removed, leaving only empty holes in their place. Mayry took a step back in horror.

Mason just sighed. At least this explained the creepy hoods. If he was bald and had empty eye holes he would wear a hood too.

One of the Kethul stepped closer to them, and he alone said, “For us to deliver unto you the message you must first prove yourself as worthy.”

If they wanted him to shave his head and cut his eyes out they were even crazier than he thought. Mason was about to tell them where they could stick their snake worship when the single Kethul continued, “We are many. If you defeat us in combat, we will consider you worthy to be our lord’s chosen.”

There was a pause where nobody spoke. Of course, there was going to be a fight, there is always a fight, it was just… these guys had no eyes. Fighting them and winning would just feel kinda wrong.

Mason finally spoke up, “With all due respect, fighting the… visually impaired, doesn’t seem like the best way to prove our strength.”

Mayry shot him a look that he interpreted as, ‘Will you shut up, I’m handling this.’ She opened her mouth, probably to apologise for his comment, but the leader Kethul spoke first, “We gave up our eyes for our lord and so he guides us, we assure you we have no need for sight.”

Before Mason could say anything, using her best diplomatic voice, Mayry said, “We agree to a fight but not here. If it is acceptable to you we will meet you outside the city tomorrow at dawn.”

The single Kethul stepped back in line with the others and all twelve in unison said, “Agreed.” The next moment, they pulled their hoods back up and disappeared into the darkness.

While they had been talking, people in the distance had been getting control of the fires the Kethul started. Checking there was nothing they could do to help, they went back to their inn room.

* * *

“Well, that happened,” Mason said dryly. They were both sat on the bed trying to digest the recent events.

“Yes, it did… I think in the future maybe you should let me do the talking in situations like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, they challenged us to a fight and your first response was to say you couldn’t fight them because they were visually impaired! What the heck Mason, why would you think that was a good thing to say?”

“Well, they have no eyes! They ARE visually impaired. How are they supposed to fight? Do you often beat up blind people, Mayry?”

Not sure if Mason was serious or just acting the fool, Mayry rested her face in her hand and shook her head. “They obviously have some other way of seeing, otherwise, how would they of found us?”

“That’s… actually a pretty good point. Why do they want to fight us anyway? I don’t get it, you’d have thought killing their ‘Lord’ would be enough to prove our ‘worthiness.’”

“Were you not listening at all? They don’t even know we killed the basilisk. They think we’re it’s holy chosen or something. They definitely would not have been so nice if they’d known. I think one of them must have some sort of link with the basilisk which still works on its scales. That must be how they found us.”

It made sense. The Kethul vastly outnumbered them. If they had known the basilisk was dead then they most likely would have ambushed them. He hadn’t used Identify on all of them, but was pretty confident that, with Mayry’s help, he could take the twelve of them, any more than that he was less sure of.

“How many of them do you think there are?” he asked. “Do you think they came here with their full force or were they just the vanguard of a bigger group?”

She looked thoughtful, then replied, “I couldn’t find a ton of information about them. I don’t know how many are here but I would guess there are far more out there.”

Yawning, Mason shrugged. “I still reckon we could take them… If all else fails you can just go all demony and turn them into ash.”

With her signature eye roll, she shot back, “Har-har, you know I don’t have that much control yet, and besides, you’re supposed to be the muscle, not me!”

“Oh, is that right? So what does that make you?” Mason asked.

“I’m obviously the brains,” she said, putting far too much emphasis on the word ‘obviously.’

Feigning outrage, Mason nudged her with his elbow. “Hey! What do you mean obviously! Are you calling me dumb?”

“No! Not dumb… Just… err… You know what? I’m hungry, should we see if the inn is still serving food?”

“Oh, no, no. You can’t just change the subject!” Mason protested.

“Oh, can’t I? Well, how about we go back to what you were saying earlier before all the drama started.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said innocently. Catching sight of Mayry’s death glare, he quickly added, “Um… actually yeah, food all of a sudden sounds good!”

Her stern expression broke; laughing, she said, “Okay fine, but we are going to talk about it, Mason, or I’m going to go all demony on you and turn you to ash.”

With a grin, Mason replied, “Don’t you threaten me with a good time,” and patted the half demon woman on the head, then sprinted out of the room as he saw Mayry summon a fireball to her hand.

* * *

They spent the rest of the evening eating and drinking in the inn’s quaint little dining area. They talked about all sorts of things, both of them dancing around what was really on their minds. Mason made a few attempts at just blurting it out, but each time chickened out with Mayry none the wiser.

After a while they headed back up to their room. Once the door was shut, Mason turned and nearly toppled over in surprise when Mayry pressed her lips against his.

After a few moments where Mason was unable to summon up a single thought, Mayry pulled away.

Mason stood there, opening and closing his mouth, doing his best impersonation of a guppy.

Mayry chuckled softly at Mason’s stunned expression. “I’m that good, ey?”

“No,” Mason stammered. “I mean, yes. No, I mean, I just wasn’t expecting that… I thought we were just going to talk?”

“We were,” Mayry replied with a playful smirk, “but I’m tired and this was faster. You were taking far too lon—Oof!” Mason cut her off by giving her a taste of her own medicine and surprising her with a kiss. This time it lasted as long as it took for them to slowly migrate over to the bed.

Chapter 4

3 vs 30

The arrival of morning caught Mason off guard. He typically woke up wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. Today, however, he found himself looking forward to getting up so he could see Mayry. He found her already wide awake, gazing out the window.

He walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close, whispering in her ear, “Good morning. How was your night?”

She, in reply, shrugged and nonchalantly said, “Eh, it was alright.”

“Alright?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in feigned surprise. “Just alright? Nothing of interest happened?”

With a playful grin, Mayry shook her head. “Hmm, no, not that I can think of.”

Mason clutched his chest with an exasperated sigh, exclaiming, “Oh, my heart, your cruel words have broken it into a hundred pieces.”

She gave him a playful shove. “Oh, stop. We have to get ready. We have a fight with a bunch of creepy snake guys to get to, remember?”

“Remember? Of course I remember, that was the highlight of the night!”

Dodging a shoe, he retrieved their basilisk armour from his Inventory and started to get changed.

* * *

They arrived at the outskirts of the city just before dawn broke. Something about this world having two differently coloured suns made the sunrises more beautiful than anything Earth had to offer. The combination of the pink, purple, and red hues in the sky was an impressive, and very romantic, sight to behold. They watched it together until the Kethul’s sudden appearance ruined any hint of romance in the air.

To Mason’s annoyance, there were at least thirty of them. All but the one Mason thought of as the leader looked ready for battle. The hooded robes had been replaced with leather armour that was reminiscent of their own basilisk armour with only some slight differences. Mason’s and Mayry’s were solid pinks, whereas theirs were faded and dull. It looked as if the Kethul’s armour had been made from the basilisk’s shedded skin, while their’s had been made with its actual hide. Hopefully, it would give them an edge.

Looking at the snake men was gruelling in itself, but seeing them without their hoods was far worse; in their current attire, it was almost impossible not to stare into the vacant holes that had once housed their eyes.

The leader was the first to speak, “It is good that you have come. We present to you a selection of our strongest warriors.” The Kethul leader gave a small bow as if this was a gift. “Kill them, and I will reveal to you the prophecy, but if you are defeated, they will not hold back, and chosen or not, you will die.”

“Wait, you want us to kill them?” Mason asked, surprised. It was a shock that the Kethul were so quick to throw away so many of their own people’s lives. Unless they didn’t expect him to win, but in that case, what was the point of any of this?

The leader let out a sound that Mason interpreted as a chuckle but came out as a hissing, coughing sound. “Do not worry. To die in service to our lord is our highest honour, and they will be rewarded in the afterworld.”

Mason hesitated. He had never been religious or believed in any sort of afterlife, but what did he know? This world definitely had gods, even if he was reasonably sure the basilisk was not one, so why not an afterlife? He still didn’t want to kill these people just for the hell of it, especially since they apparently thought they would be dying for a snake god he already killed.

Sensing he was still reluctant, the Kethul leader added, “There will be blood spilt today; your consent is not necessary. However, if instead of fighting you choose to run, we have orders to slaughter every man, woman, and child in Trilil.”

Well, that cleared up his conscience. He had doubts about killing them when he thought they were just brainwashed religious nuts who didn’t know any better, but he had no problem killing people who would happily go on a murder spree because they didn’t get their own way. Now that he thought about it, they did worship a giant snake that could kill with a look, so it wasn’t really a big surprise.

“Mason,” Mayry nudged him and whispered from his side, “We have to; we don’t have a choice. We can’t let them kill all those people.”

Angry at the threat of such needless slaughter, Mason growled, “No problem at all. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good fight anyway.”

The Kethul leader sounded pleased as he said, “As our lord’s chosen, it is only fair that you are warned that each Kethul has its own abilities. The fight will begin shortly; if you have anything to prepare, I suggest you do it now.”

His last fight had only been a few days ago, but it felt like a lot longer. In that fight, he absorbed a cloning ability from an Other named Gael. This fight would be the first time he had the opportunity to use it in combat. Hopefully, the ability would help even out the odds a bit. Even if he only split in two, 3 vs 30 was better than 2 vs 30.

His Random Summon was also an option, but his Mana pool wasn’t yet large enough where he’d feel comfortable risking using two very Mana-hungry abilities in a fight with so many unknowns. It would be needlessly risky.

He closed his eyes and activated Division. The full-body sneezing sensation left him dizzy, but the sensation passed, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his clone staring back at him. The last time he used the ability, he’d only been testing it out and hadn’t realised how weak he felt when half his power was in another body. Still, it should be plenty to take out a bunch of snake-loving cultists.

“It is time,” the Kethul leader said with a gesture that had the rest of the Kethul start to advance.

The original Mason didn’t hesitate and started giving orders, “Mayry, try to keep your distance. Pick off as many as you can from a distance.” Not wanting to talk about Mayry’s secret out in the open, he added, “I’ll try and keep them away from you, but if any get too close, see if you can muster up any of your father’s charm.”

Mayry replied with a determined nod as she conjured fireballs to hover in each hand.

Original Mason turned to Clone Mason. “Concentrate on the ones on the left. I’ll take the ones on the right.”

The clone spoke up, “I need a weapon, apparently I can’t access the Inventory. I also tried my own Random Summon and Division abilities, those aren’t working either.” He shrugged. “Was worth a shot.”

Original Mason tossed him a short sword, saying, “Try and keep up if you can.” Before running at the advancing Kethul.

The clone called back, “I’m literally your exact copy!”

* * *

Mason wasn’t sure how this battle was going to go. He had acted confident in front of Mayry, but apart from knowing they were level 15, he had no way of telling how strong they really were or what abilities they possessed. He probably could have taken the twelve from the night before on his own, but this was a lot more. His best bet was to take out as many as he could as soon as possible, then whittle down their numbers from there. He debated using the Clop Wand he had gotten from the unicorn but decided the rainbow acid it emitted might do more harm than good if it hit his clone.

Mason shot three full strength Magic Missiles at them at random, one hit a Kethul in the head, killing him instantly. Another hit the dirt, the blast knocking two more Kethul to the ground, dazed but not dead. A massive fireball flew over Mason’s shoulder and incinerated them before they could right themselves. His last Magic Missile hit a Kethul but fizzled out against a forcefield before it did any damage.

This was going well. Three down in the first ten seconds of the fight was far better than he expected.

An array of range attacks flew at him, but his speed allowed him to dodge most. Luckily, the Mason clone was diverting a lot of their attention.

A streak of red lightning shot at him. With almost no time to dodge, he twisted his body as much as he could so he took the attack on his left arm instead of his chest. The pain was intense, like the lightning was running through his blood. It was hard to think through the pain but he managed to find the Kethul who attacked him and activated Mental Manipulation, pushing loyalty into him.

It was surprisingly easy. The man’s psyche was already fragile, and a gentle push with the ability was all it took for him to break. The pain subsided, and the lightning was redirected onto another Kethul. The distraction was enough for Mason to catch his breath and retrieve a health potion from his Inventory. His arm was in agony but the familiar warmth of the healing potion soothed the pain until it was no more.

Mason’s loyal Kethul used his red lightning to incapacitate another Kethul long enough for an ice spike shot by Mayry to run him through. Having seen his target killed, the red lightning was redirected onto another Kethul. Before it had much of an effect, another Kethul teleported behind the lightning user and teleported away before Mason could do anything.

By this point, he’d lost count of how many Kethul were left, but a quick glance told him there were still a lot. He was looking for his next target when a scream came from behind him. He spun just in time to see Mayry fall to the ground and the Kethul standing above her holding a glowing bloody dagger disappear.

* * *

Clone Mason

“I’m literally your exact copy!” He rolled his eyes as he ran into the battle.

He swung his sword at a spear-wielding Kethul that looked vaguely female. She dodged and countered, thrusting her spear at his neck. He ducked below it and used his off hand to take hold of the spear shaft and yank it away from its owner. With one fluid movement, he used Ballistic Touch to send the spear shooting off into a group of five Kethul who had been sending a barrage of spells at original Mason; the high-speed spear impaled two and caused the other three to lose focus, allowing original Mason to get in a few extra attacks.

Turning back to his now spearless opponent, Mason swung his sword at the Kethuls head, only to be surprised when a sword materialised in her hand and parried his attack. A storage power? He hadn’t met anyone else with one of those. His split-second of surprise cost him some HP, as he missed the dagger appearing in the Kethuls other hand. He took the blow in his side and his armour negated the majority of the damage done.

He needed to be more careful; he’d never been in a fight with so many unknowns. One slip and he’d be out of the fight. He was the clone and was fine with that. His dying wasn’t that big of a problem, but he still didn’t want to be killed—out of principle!

From the corner of his eye, he saw one of the Kethul Mason was fighting turn his attack on his allies. Understanding what must have happened, he chose an enemy at random and used Mental Manipulation to force loyalty on it. He only had a moment to see the now loyal Kethul slit its own throat before his opponent was upon him again. The clash of loyalties must have been too much for him.

Ducking a sword slash at his head, he began to get sick of the tenacious woman. He waited for her to swing her blade, then activated Lesser Invisibility before sidestepping and cutting the Kethul’s head off, taking advantage of her moment of confusion.

Keeping his invisibility active, he took down another three Kethul without much effort. They started to panic when their own suddenly got their throats slit. If he and the original Mason had done this from the start, they might have already been done by now! Although, if all thirty Kethul could only see Mayry, then… Yeah, it’s probably better this way.

He felt himself suddenly become a hundred times heavier, lost concentration, and felt his invisibility fail. His high Strength stat meant he stayed on his feet and could still move, but only very slowly. Some sort of gravity-controlling ability?

He heard a scream from behind him that made his blood run cold, and used all of his strength to turn his body as quickly as he could. The last thing he saw was Mayry on the ground with blood pooling beneath her.

Chapter 5

The Prophecy

Mayry

She shook her head, as right before her eyes her… boyfriend? split into two versions of himself and started giving her and his copy orders. If anyone else tried telling her to keep away from the action, she’d be more likely to throw a fireball at them than actually do as they said. With Mason, she didn’t really mind. He was a bit of an idiot at times, but when it came down to it, he was better at this kind of thing, and her sticking to ranged attacks was probably the right choice for this fight.

She rolled her eyes as both Masons ran off into battle. She noticed that the one she thought was the original shouted something, but Mayry had developed something she called the Mason filter. As the name implied, it filtered out most of the strange things he said, especially the Earth references she never understood, yet he insisted on using.

She couldn’t endlessly use her Elemental Family Magic, so she watched the battle unfold and waited for the perfect moments to attack. The original Mason’s energy attacks killed a Kethul and knocked two others to the ground. There. She launched a fire ball and incinerated them before they could regain their footing.

Three Kethul broke away from the main ground and edged their way around, trying to get behind her. Just before they got close enough to attack, she conjured a spray of water, drenched them in it, and froze the water solid, trapping them in a block of ice.

Turning back to the main fight, Mason was screwing with one of the Kethul’s minds. His victim was shooting a red crackling energy into one of the other Kethul. It looked painful but didn’t appear to be lethal. An ice spike piercing it through its heart put it out of its misery instantly

After confirming the kill, she looked around for her next target. The Mason clone flickered into existence and stumbled. She frowned. He was moving too slowly, it looked like he was in trouble. She spotted a Kethul with a hand outstretched toward him. She took aim and was about to shoot another ice spike to disrupt its ability, when something suddenly felt off.

She heard a noise behind her, but before she could react, an excruciating pain exploded from her stomach and started to spread. Her insides felt like they were being shredded. The pain was too much, her vision blurred, and she heard someone scream. Her legs gave out under her, and the scream was suddenly cut off. Had she been the one screaming? The pain spread until she could feel it everywhere, it was too much… too much…

The last thing she saw before she succumbed to the darkness was Mason falling to the ground and evaporating into nothing.

Mason

Everything slowed. To him, it seemed like Mayry fell in slow motion. A pool of blood was forming under her. He glanced over at where he had last seen his clone just as he suddenly evaporated into nothingness.

Memories came rushing back to him all at once, as did his full strength. He made to move toward his fallen, unmoving girlfriend. A health potion would fix it. Everything was going to be fine. She was going to be fine.

He felt his danger sense ring vibrate. He spun and saw that the remaining Kethul had all converged on him. No. He needed to get to Mayry. He didn’t have time for this!

Something tried to stab him. Between his basilisk armour and his Resilience stat, Mason barely felt anything.

There was a heaviness, that he now knew was a gravity ability, pulling down on him. His strength allowed him to move mostly unhindered, but it was too much of a distraction. He needed to get to Mayry NOW.

He blacked out.

* * *

Slowly, he regained awareness and only half registered the carnage around him. He sprinted over to where Mayry lay. Franticly he felt for a pulse. Even with his enhanced senses, he felt nothing.

Panicking, a health potion appeared in his hand without conscious thought. He uncorked it and poured the liquid down her throat. For the longest moment of Mason’s life, nothing happened. He started to give up hope when he felt a presence next to him—the Kethul leader. “You did well, come with me—” Mason stood and looked at him. The leader flinched back.

Mason’s vision darkened. His awareness once more starting to slip away, he heard a faint, ThumpThump-ThumpThump, coming from Mayry. Forgetting all about the single remaining Kethul, he hoped against all hope that he wasn’t imagining it. He knelt back down and pressed his hand to her chest.

She opened her eyes and whispered something so faint Mason couldn’t hear. He kept his hand on her chest, as if to reassure himself that her heart would continue to beat, and lowered his lips to her mouth. Coughing slightly, she said weakly, “Not now, Mason, we’re in public.” She placed her hand on his and let out a coughing wheeze of a laugh.

He didn’t understand and thought maybe she somehow damaged her brain, until he realised his hand was on her breast. He let out his own little laugh as he began to sob.

* * *

Kethul Leader

He watched the battle begin, his curiosity piqued. He tried to split his attention between the three of them but found his time watching the woman to be a waste. His real interest lay with the two identical men.

The fight went on, and almost a dozen of his group fell in the first few minutes. No less than he expected from the chosen of the Lord.

His most promising Kethul had been gifted with the ability of teleportation; if anyone had a chance of doing some real damage, it was him. Moments after the leader had the thought he was proved correct. The Kethul had appeared behind the woman and stabbed her with his enchanted dagger. Almost at the same instant, he watched as one of the men turned to dust.

By his count, it was now one versus fourteen. Maybe these hadn’t been their Lord’s chosen after all. How could they have made a mistake? They wore his skin. They needed this test, though it was mostly a formality.

The man stared at his most likely dead companion and stepped toward her. One of the remaining Kethul tried to stab the man, but he barely reacted. He must have accepted his death.

His head dipped for a single moment before his demeanour changed. Where he had been tense and stiff, grieving for his loss, he was now relaxed and loose, with a wide grin on his face.

In one fluid movement, he punched out at the nearest Kethul. His arm moved through the Kethul’s chest as if it weren’t there. The man swung his dagger, seemingly at nothing. The teleporting Kethul appeared in the dagger’s path and was headless before he knew he was even in danger.

What was happening? He’d never experienced this level of power, which radiated off the man in waves. It was terrifying. It pained him to admit, but he had never even witnessed his Lord wield power like this.

The man’s eyes had turned black. He moved with such incredible speed it was difficult to comprehend what was happening.

The man raised his hand, and a whip made of pure blue energy formed in his hand. The few remaining Kethul fell as the whip moved like lightning, striking them down one by one.

When not a single Kethul remained, the man’s head dipped again, and his previous demeanour returned. He ran over to his fallen ally and poured a potion into her mouth.

Terrified, the Kethul leader cautiously walked over; he had to fulfil his duty, regardless of his fears.

He would relay the prophecy and leave as soon as he could. “You did well, come with me—” The man’s head shot up, the look on his face terrifying him to the bone. The man’s eyes started to darken.

In a moment of panic, he took a step back, duty be damned. He was saved when the man knelt back down.

The Kethul leader had abandoned human emotions long ago, but a massive wave of relief filled him when he saw the woman was alive. He needed to survive this long enough to report back to the Order, the power this man possessed was insane.

Mason

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you”, Mason growled.

“Th.. th… the prophecy,” the Kethul leader stuttered. He had looked into Mason’s eyes and gazed upon a void that contained everything and nothing. It tore away at the mysterious cult leader’s facade and left behind a whimpering, stuttering mess.

“I don’t give a flying fuck about the prophecy, you threaten to send your cult into Trilil to slaughter people, and then they almost kill her. Me killing you would make the world a better place.” Mason hated bullies, and this man’s whole cult was full of them; he was seriously considering killing the man and being done with it.

“You… you… you need to listen,” the man begged, “I have to tell you. Kill me afterwards if you must, but what I have to tell you might save the world.”

Mason rolled his eyes at the cliché, deciding he might as well hear the prophecy; he could always kill the man later. “Fine. Hit me with this prophecy. I’m warning you, if it sounds made up, I will still kill you.”

“I assure you, this prophecy was spoken and confirmed by our seers. We travelled a long way to find you, our Lord’s chosen; you must find the one the prophecy speaks of.”

Clearing his throat, he recited,

“Both the Greater and the minor, asleep now, but not much longer.

A man from beyond can stop their rise; if he fails, a loved one dies.

While they’re weak, he can fight, before they regain their full might.

Fail again; all hope will fade, darkness eternal, the worlds ablaze.”

As Mason listened, his mind was in overdrive as he processed the words. Despite his skepticism, he couldn’t dismiss it outright, especially not when so many things in the prophecy made sense to him.

When he finished reciting the prophecy, Mason asked to hear it again. This time, he focused on memorizing it word for word. When it was finished, he asked, “Do you know what any of it means?”

“As far as we can tell, the heretic divinities are returning soon. A traveller from another world will be able to stop it… we don’t know much more than that. That’s why we needed to find you, so you can find this traveller and ensure he does his part! That’s why our Lord chose you!”

Mason had had enough, Mayry’s near-death had put him in a foul mood, and hearing the prophecy hadn’t helped. “Oh, for fuck sake, I’m so sick of this our ‘lord crap’; we weren’t chosen! The basilisk appeared and we killed it! Okay? And It’s a damn snake, not a G⁠—”

“MASON!” Mayry yelled, stopping him from finishing his sentence.

He really needed to calm down; he’d almost made everything worse. “Sorry.” Turning back to the Kethul, he continued, “My point still stands, it’s a damn snake. It tried to kill us, and we killed it first.”

The Kethul stared at him with empty eyes. His mouth moved a few times, but nothing audible came out until a faint, “You lie. You are heretics of the Order. YOU LIE!” Drawing a sword, he attacked Mason wildly.

Unflinching, Mason used his hand to redirect the blade and punched the man in the face, his head snapping back with a loud crack.

“I don’t enjoy killing people, but I have to admit, that one felt good.”

Chapter 6

The End of the worlds as we know it

Back at the inn, Mayry was napping, but Mason couldn’t sleep. He had too much on his mind. In an attempt to distract himself, he finally looked at the mountain of notifications he had been ignoring.

Notification 1/7

You have slain – Level 15 Kethuli Priest x2

You have received 300 XP

You have slain – Level 19 Kethuli High Priest

You have received 190 XP

Notification 2/7

You have received partial experience from party members’ kills.

Your clone has slain – Level 15 Kethuli Priest x8

You have received 1200 XP.

Notification 3/7

You have received experience from party members’ kills.

Mayry Sparks has slain – 6 Level 15 Kethuli Priest.

You have received 300 XP.

Notification 4/7

*Error* has slain Level 15 Kethuli priests x14

You have received 2100 XP

Notification 5/7

Level Up!

Level Up!

You have reached Level 27

Notification 6/7

You have absorbed the ability: Teleport

A tourist’s best friend

Teleport (Advanced) – Active Effect: You can travel to anywhere within sight. Scales with Agility.

Notification 7/7

You have absorbed the ability: Sacrificial Healing

The healer’s role is dangerous in more ways than one.

Sacrificial Healing (Expert) – Active Effect: Heals a target by taking on their injury or illness. Injuries and illnesses will fade over time depending on severity and Vitality. This ability may not work fully on magically inflicted wounds or afflictions. Scales with Vitality.

He skimmed through the loot he received, but none of it seemed worth a special look, so he dumped all of it into his Trunk. It mainly consisted of coins, some weapons, and various hooded robes.

With two levels and two new skills, he had gotten a lot out of the fight. He finally had a movement skill! And with no mention of a cooldown, he could use it to travel long distances. Healing was great, but it would have been a lot more useful when Mayry was lying there dying. The fact he got it right after felt like a slap in the face.

To make the most of his new skills, he put 3 points into Agility and 3 into Vitality.

Feeling like he missed something, he read through the notifications again and paused at: *Error* has slain Level 15 Kethuli priests x14.

What the hell was Error? He’d gotten skills from the clone and Mayry, so who⁠—

“Aaagh!” A jolt of pain shot through his head when he tried to think back to the battle. He remembered watching Mayry fall, then his clone and then—f

This prophecy was really giving him a headache. The bits he figured out worried him, and the bits he hadn’t worried him even more

‘Both the Greater and the minor, asleep now, but not much longer.’

This bit was pretty obvious: the gods were going to wake up soon.

‘A man from beyond can stop their rise; if he fails, a loved one dies.’

It was almost definitely referring to him because, of course, it just had to be him, like he didn’t have enough to do, and a loved one dies? What the hell! That could only be Mayry… Maybe Nays? Really depends on what it meant by loved ones.

‘While they’re weak, he can fight before they regain their full might.’

This is where he started to lose it. Was it saying that if he failed to stop them returning, then he would have to fight gods? Like actual gods! Imagine the abilities and XP he’d get for killing a god!

‘Fail again; all hope will fade, darkness eternal, the worlds ablaze.’

And, of course, if I fail, it’s the end of the world as we know it, that’s just great! Oh no, wait; worlds, plural, even better.

He groaned, and Mayry, who was lying beside him, stirred. He put his arm on her and rubbed her back, “Shh, go back to sleep.”

He felt like he needed to get up and do something, anything, but he also knew Mayry was tired, and if he left, she would insist on going with him.

He pulled up his stat sheet to take a look at how far he had come and how he might measure up to fighting a fucking god.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 27

Current XP: 15,830 /21,000

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 660

Mana Points (MP): 430

Stamina Points (SP): 275

Stats

Strength: 44 (+15)

Agility: 46

Endurance: 35

Vitality: 56

Resilience: 37 (+26)

Intelligence: 61 (+10%)

Perception: 40

Willpower: 36

Free Points: 0

Skills

Identify (Advanced), Mana Control – INT (Expert), Emotional Outburst – PER (Advanced), Lesser Invisibility – PER (Advanced), Random Greater Summon INT (Expert), Sarcastic Prick – INT (Expert), Mental Manipulation – WIL (Advanced), Mental Resistance, Ballistic Touch – STR (Advanced), Division – INT (Expert), Teleport – AGI (Advanced), Sacrificial Healing – VIT (Expert)

Base Skills

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced), System Guidebook (Basic)

Class Skills

Basic Monster Tracking, Evaluate Monster, Gather Intel

He had come a long way from the scared naked man running terrified from a drake, but it was safe to say he had a long way to go before he would be fighting any gods, big ‘G’ or small. After reading his sheet, he came to the conclusion that if he were to fight a god right now, he would be obliterated before he even realised he was in a fight.

He had no idea how he was supposed to stop the gods from waking up. He highly doubted singing them a lullaby would work, especially not if he was the one singing. Mayry wasn’t going to like it, but there was only one person he could think of that might have any insight on the problem.

* * *

An hour later, Mayry was awake and was acting much more like herself. She was sitting at the end of the bed running a brush through her hair. It was the perfect time to drop the bad news.

“I think we need to go back to Sparksford,” Mason said, seeing her tense at his words, “just for a quick visit. We need to speak with your father.”

“But we just got here, and we’re supposed to be on holiday!”

“I know, I know, but the prophecy is too specific not to be true. Your dad might know something.”

Sighing, Mayry responded, “I know… He might be able to tell us how to keep, you know who, asleep.”

Genuinely confused, he said, “…Voldemort? Wait, no, ooh…” Mason put it together. “Never mind. I’m an idiot; carry on.”

Mayry glared at him and rolled her eyes. “It’s true he might know something, but we aren’t staying in town. I’m worried I’ll keep making my mum sick, and I’m still mad at him for keeping everything a secret for so long.”

“Okay! We’ll talk to your dad and figure out what we can do from there. I’m sorry you never got that holiday; I promise I’ll make it up to you. We’ll even spend the rest of the day here and leave tomorrow. How does that sound?”

Looking thoughtful, Mayry asked, “Are you sure we can wait? The prophecy says ‘soon,’ which could mean months, years, or even decades when talking about immortals, but it could also be days. We have no way of knowing.”

“I think we have some time,” Mason said, shrugging. “Anyway, if they were to wake tomorrow, there would be nothing we could do about it. If it’s in a few years, then who knows? If we are going to go fight all-powerful deities, then I think we deserve a day of relaxing without Others, snake worshippers, and monsters trying to eat me… Then we can go save the universe.”

* * *

The rest of the day was spent trying to take in as much of the city as they could. They passed Trilil’s Hunters Association, but the line to register as a national member was long enough that they decided to give it a pass.

They visited a restaurant that served all sorts of flavoured living slimes, Mayry absolutely loved it while Mason refused to take a single bite of the wiggling thing starring at him.

By the end of the day, they hadn’t scratched the surface of Trilil but Mayry seemed more relaxed and happier than he had ever seen her before.

It was nice to take a break and put off worrying about the fate of the universe for a few hours.

At the end of the day, they saw a theatre show that Mason was shocked to find resembled a children’s film he had seen on Earth. He mentioned it to Mayry, but she brushed it off, saying the show had been a classic for over a hundred years.

Their evening out ended, and they made their way back to the inn. Mayry looked deep in thought as they walked. “I think we should leave now.”

“Really? Now, why?” Mason asked. “Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m scared if we stay any longer, something bad will happen like it always does. I want to remember today as a nice day. It wasn’t because a giant octopus fell from the sky, and you had to run out and kill it or something.”

Mason laughed. “Oh, now you’ve jinxed us. If we go outside and there’s a giant octopus, I’m going to blame you.” Mayry slapped his shoulder, and he continued, “Yeah, we can leave now, but first.” He leaned over and kissed her. “I hope we have many more days like this.”

She kissed him back, and a long while later, they exited the inn and walked to the city limits.

* * *

“It’s pretty dark, do you want to travel in the Trunk?” Mason asked. “I think I’m going to test out my new teleport skill. If it works the way I think it does then the trip back should be a lot faster than on the way here.”

Mayry considered and asked, “Do you know if you can take other people with you when you use it? I’d rather stay out here with you, just in case anything happens, and it’s really boring in there.”

“I don’t actually know, but it shouldn’t be too hard to test.” Mason grabbed her hand and willed himself to teleport. Nothing happened. Just like the other abilities he absorbed, it hadn’t come with any instinctual knowledge on how to make it work.

Trying again, he imagined himself and Mayry a hundred yards away. Again, nothing happened, but this time, he felt a pull—he almost had it.

Trying one last thing before he attempted it without Mayry, he closed his eyes and pictured where he wanted them to be and used his Mana to take them there. Sighing, he thought nothing had happened until he opened his eyes and saw that they were both standing exactly where he envisioned. He let out a whoop of excitement and tried it again. It took a bit of practice, but after a few minutes, he was blinking in and out of existence in quick succession. Suddenly feeling dizzy, he stopped and was hit with a jolt of pain shooting through his head.

*DING*

Status effect: Affliction – Mental exhaustion has been added – Mana regeneration -50% for 5 minutes.

It had been a long while since he’d seen that. Teleporting must have taken far more Mana than he thought. He would need to be careful using it while in combat; it was probably why the teleporting Kethul had only used it a few times during the fight. His Mana pool was quite large, so once he was full, he could still use it to travel, just not as far as he would have liked.

Mayry looked at him with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah fine.” He explained what happened and downed a Mana potion. It mostly refilled his Mana but the regeneration was still far slower.

Once his Mana was full and the affliction was over, they were on their way. They would teleport a few times in one direction, and then Mason, using his mini-map, would make sure they were still on course as they walked while his Mana recharged.

All in all, the journey back was proving to be a lot quicker than the journey there. They were over halfway back, waiting for Mason’s Mana to recharge, when Mayry held out a hand, signalling Mason to stop.

“Hold up; there’s someone over there.”

“Where? I don’t see anyone.”

“I… I think they’re invisible. They’re definitely there, but I can only see them through my magical sense, not my eyes.”

“Do you think we should follow them? It could just be a coincidence.”

“Mason, when will you learn? Nothing with you is ever a coincidence. You’re the literal definition of a trouble magnet.”

*DING*

Quest Received! Ooo, mysterious

Quest Objective - Follow the mysterious stranger and see what they’re up to.

Reward - Dependent on performance.

Accept? Y/N

Mentally selecting yes, he sighed audibly. “Whatever, let’s go, I can’t see them so you’ll have to guide me.”

Mayry took Mason’s hand and pulled him forward. It wasn’t long before they stopped in front of a deep hole in the ground. They walked right up to it and peered in.

“They just jumped in?” Mason asked.

The hole looked man-made; about nine feet wide and too perfectly round to be natural. Mason considered throwing a coin in but didn’t want to tip off whoever was at the bottom.

“Yep, didn’t hesitate in the slightest, just jumped right in,” Mayry replied.

Mason frowned. “Surely that must mean it’s safe, right?”

“Yeah, or they have the ability to negate damage from falling.”

“Ah, fair, or that.” With a cheeky grin, he added, “Ok, ladies first?”

Chapter 7

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take these!

“Oh no, no, no, there is no chance! If you think I’m jumping into that hole before you do, you’re out of your mind!”

Mason couldn’t help but laugh at how worked up she’d gotten. She turned the same shade of red when she was angry as she did when she was embarrassed, and he found it adorable.

Smiling fondly at the crazy woman, he cut her off mid-rant, “Oh hush, you know I was only joking. I have a few ideas, but none are particularly great.”

“Oh, you fill me with such confidence.”

Mason stuck out his tongue at her, closed his eyes, and started to concentrate. His first idea involved using his expert-level Mana Control ability.

Mana Control (Expert): Call upon your immense, mystical power. Let it pour from you and shape it to suit your needs.

Active Effect: Focus a large portion of your Mana into a stream of kinetic energy, which you can shape and mould as you please. Mana cost increases with the complexity and size of creation.

He hadn’t yet had much chance to play with it, but he hoped to use it to create a platform and then slowly lower them down.

It took a lot of focus, but after a minute, a disc appeared big enough for the two of them to stand on. He gestured for Mayry to get on, and then he did the same. Experimentally, he moved them up and down, but he had to stop when he started feeling extremely tired. Checking his Mana bar confirmed using the ability required a huge amount of Mana.

He quickly lowered them to the ground, explained why it wouldn’t work, and then presented his second idea.

“I could send a clone down there while he’s invisible? Once it gets destroyed, I’ll get its memories, and we’ll know exactly what’s down there. It won’t help us get down there but will give us the lay of the land.”

“I feel kind of bad for the clone, but better you than me.”

“Well, my last idea is we get in the Trunk and have my clone throw it down the hole. The Trunk would probably be fine, but we would likely alert whatever is down there. At least the clone can try and be sneaky.”

Sighing, Mayry replied, “Okay, fine, clone it is.”

“Lovely, well then.” Mason concentrated until he split into two. In unison, both Masons said, “Shall we?”

The Mason clone was about to start his descent when the biggest grin spread across original Mason’s face as he said, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take these,” and handed him a pair of sunglasses, the drake tooth dagger, and one of the big flash spheres he had gotten in the market.

Wearable Item - Night Shades (Rare) - A pair of sunglasses found in the remains of an abandoned assassin’s guild.

Effect: Allows the wearer to see in the dark. Makes you look like a nob if worn inside.

* * *

Clone Mason

There was nothing to hold onto in the hall, so Clone Mason resorted to punching into the wall and creating his own handholds as he descended bit by bit. It was pretty boring but at least he could see what he was doing, compared to what it would be like without the glasses.

He hadn’t gotten a handle on the whole instinctively knowing the time thing yet, so he had no way of telling how long he had been scaling the wall.

With nothing else to do, his mind automatically came up with all sorts of horrible things that could be waiting for him at the bottom of the hole; giant moles that had drills instead of heads, worms that spat acid, and his mind being an asshole, half convinced him he would find a dragon’s lair.

His daydreaming was interrupted when his latest punch met solid metal instead of dirt. A loud crack reverberated through the hole. Pain spread as he realised he had broken his hand.

With one hand hanging on and one broken, he couldn’t climb down any farther and he couldn’t climb back up. Looking down all he saw was more hole. If he dropped and died this would have been a colossal waste of time, he would be absorbed back into the original Mason with nothing but the memories of him breaking his hand. Ah well, even at half power he was still pretty resilient and might be able to tank the damage.

Taking a breath and activating Invisibility, he whispered, “Allons-y.” Then he let himself drop and instantly regretted it.

Instinctively, he began flailing his arms, causing his body to flip over. After a few agonising minutes, when he finally landed, his head inevitably made contact with the hard ground.

* * *

Mason

“He’s been down there ages; if I could see through his eyes, this would be a lot easier. At least I’ll know if he dies. How long should I leave it before I recall him?”

“Relax, it’s only been like half an hour, you’re so impatient.”

“It’s only been half an hour? Ugh, I’m not impatient, I’m bored.” Looking into the hole, he asked, “What do you think is down there? I’m going with huge moles with drill faces—ooo, or worms that spit acid!”

“You’re such a child!” She laughed. “Acid worms have been extinct for decades.”

“Wait, what?”

Mayry kept laughing, leaving Mason unsure whether or not she was joking.

Mason frowned. “Did you hear that?”

“No, what did you hear?”

“I thought I heard a cracking noise… ah, maybe I imagined it.”

* * *

Clone Mason

Opening his eyes, he groaned in pain.

His head throbbed as he struggled to remember what happened. Then, like a flood, the memories rushed back. He maintained that he had no other option, but still, he vowed to always have a metric fuck ton of rope everywhere he went from that point on.

Gingerly pushing himself up to a sitting position, he looked around. He was in a dimly lit room with metal walls. The air was heavy, and an earthy scent lingered. His night vision sunglasses had fallen off, so as his eyes adjusted to the low light, he noticed several metal doors leading off in different directions. He rested for a few minutes, waiting for his HP to refill. Once that was done, he made sure his Invisibility was still active, and chose a door at random. Naturally, the first one was locked, so he chose another. As he was about to grab the knob, he heard a click from behind him.

He panicked, eyes darting around and looking for somewhere to hide before remembering he was invisible. A head popped out of the door, and its eyes darted around the room. The man was slightly red in the face as if he had been running.

Could he have heard the noise that Clone Mason’s body made when it landed? Hmm, possibly, or maybe they had some sort of alarm system.

Even in the dark, Mason recognised the man, it was Aiden. Why the hell was he hiding in a hole? With all the drama with the Kethul, Mason had almost forgotten about the Other.

The last time they spoke Aiden had said he was a support class, but at half power he wasn’t entirely sure he could take him on his own. He used Identify.

Aiden Salvadon - Level 29 - Aiden, healer and body guard to the late Gael. Why is he down here in a damp, gross hole in the ground, well, that’s not for me to say, but for you to find out; I can’t do everything.

Rolling his eyes at the system being an ass, he considered what to do next. If he tried to fight the man, there was no guarantee he would win. He was at a higher level than Mason. The best thing to do now would be to follow him and see why he was down here. If he got an opportunity to slit the man’s throat, then… he would consider it.

Creeping forward, he got a glimpse inside the door and teleported behind Aiden. It was a very narrow hallway, so Clone Mason had to press himself tightly against the wall as the Other was about to pass him. He was inches away from where Mason stood when he stopped, sniffed the air, and scrunched up his nose before continuing on.

Mildly offended, Mason sniffed himself and found that the slow climb down had left him sweaty. Apparently, the invisibility didn’t extend to hiding his smell; that was good to know, at least.

He followed Aiden into a room and Mason was shocked to see multiple futuristic TV screens all over the wall. A few were showing mostly text, and some were playing what looked to be tv shows, none of which Mason recognised. He had never really thought about it much, but he assumed Ganehfrel was at a similar technological level as this world, but looking at the screens it was more likely they were even more advanced than Earth.

Aiden settled into a chair and stared at the screen’s. It didn’t look like he was going anywhere any time soon, so Clone Mason went back to the room with many doors.

He could either kill himself and let his memories return to the original, or he could look around and see if there was another way out. The idea of killing himself felt wrong, though. He would do it if he had to, but it felt like more of a last resort.

He quickly checked each remaining door and found only the first one he’d tried before was locked. Clone Mason figured if only one of the doors was locked then there must be something behind that door worth seeing. Holding the handle firmly, he pushed down with all his strength, there was a creak but the door remained locked. Time for a more subtle approach.

In his years on Earth he had been down many YouTube rabbit holes. During one of these he found himself watching videos on how to pick locks; he never had any intention of learning how to do it but he found the process interesting. Now that his Intelligence stat was up to 61, remembering and even understanding the videos was now far easier.

While he lacked any tools for the job, he thought he might be able to use his Mana Control to open the door. With another massive amount of concentration, a thin beam of Mana seeped into the lock. He found that while the Mana was still attached to him, he got a general sense from the Mana, almost like touch.

For the next ten minutes, Clone Mason focused on using the Mana to push and prod at the tumblers inside the lock, trying to find the right combination to release the mechanism. The longer he tried, the more frustrated he got until he lost his patience and made the thin strand of Mana expand rapidly and burst outward. The door creaked and clicked, and with a slight push from Mason, the door swung open.

Dammit, he shouldn’t have lost his patience; now he was on a time limit. The moment Aiden discovered the broken door, he’d know someone was there who wasn’t supposed to be there. Creeping into the room, he found a bed, a chest, and a desk. This was probably Aiden’s bedroom.

He scanned the room, knowing he had an uncertain amount of time before Aiden discovered the broken door. He checked the desk for anything that might be useful and found a few papers with scribbled notes on them. With no time, he stuffed them into his pockets.

Moving on, he opened the chest at the foot of the bed. It mostly contained clothes but there was also a small bag of coins and several books, most of which were handwritten. He opened one at random and started to flick through it.

As he skimmed through, he remained vigilant for any signs of Aiden’s approach. The man had looked like he was content watching the screens but he had no way of knowing if this room was alarmed too. If he had access to the Inventory, he would have just taken everything in the room and left.

The book he was flicking through seemed to be a journal. He was appalled at the man’s handwriting, but it was still mostly legible. One of the latest entries caught his attention.

‘I’m in a lot of trouble. Gael is dead, and I’m scared the elders will use me as a scapegoat to appease her family. Once news reaches Ganehfrel, I’m sure an elder will be sent to find me. If this happens, I’m dead. My last hope is they won’t be able to track me to this Trial cache. The guardian was already long dead when I found it, but the supplies remained. Maybe if I can get Gael’s real killer and bring him back through the gate with me, they’ll let me live.’

* * *

It is well-known that Chaos magic comes from the god, Chaos. What is not known is if this remains true for other forms of magic. The chaotic nature of Chaos abilities seems to fit quite nicely into the domain of the god of Chaos, but the same cannot be said for ritual, runes, or alchemy; these would fit far more easily into one of the other god’s domains, possibly Order or Knowledge. If this is at all true, then is it possible that if these remnants of the gods remain, then the gods themselves are not, indeed, permanently gone?

– Excerpt from The Gods, Popular Theories and Speculations.

Chapter 8

Acting

Mason

“Where the heck did these even come from!” Mason shouted as he shot another Magic Missile and missed.

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like them before,” Mayry shouted back, trying to knock one out of the air with a strong gust of wind.

Though they had been pretty chilled out while waiting for Mason to regain his clones’ memories, their guard was still up, but they hadn’t expected a fight. Mason had been practising with his Mana Control, and he was getting the hang of making more complicated constructions, when Mayry spotted something high in the sky that was getting bigger fast.

It turned out that a group of winged, half-bird, half-women-looking monsters had been passing by and decided they just had to come and say hello.

Monster – Level 31 Harpie – Ferocious and violent, hell hath no fury like an angry bird woman. Usually found near the tops of mountains, these semi-sapient monsters will attack anything they think might be weaker than them, lucky you.

Of course, they were above his level! Why the hell were they even here? They weren’t anywhere close to the mountains as far as he knew.

The harpies possessed the upper bodies of women, but their faces were twisted with sharp beaks where their noses should be; their eyes were thin slits and void of colour. Dark feathers covered their arms and heads while their legs were thin and bird-like, ending in talons. They attacked by shooting razor-sharp feathers from their wings and dive-bombing them with their razor-sharp talons.

For monsters that were above his level, they didn’t seem very durable. When Mason or Mayry managed to hit one, even just a single attack was enough to kill them. Actually hitting them was the hard part. They moved through the air like military attack pilots flying in complicated formations hammered into their heads. For the harpies, it looked effortless, as if it was all instinctual. If they hadn’t been attacking, Mason would have thought it looked awesome. It was hard to tell how many there were as they moved so fast, but Mason guessed about twenty.

A harpie dive bombed Mayry but a conjured gust of wind redirected it enough for Mayry to jump out of the way and set it on fire when it change directions before it hit the ground. Air had always been the trickiest element for her to manipulate, but since Mason had given her the Ring of the Elements, it had become significantly easier. Even still, the harpies were just too used to navigating changing wind currents for her powers to throw them off by much. She had several deep cuts and even more of the feathers lodged in her.

Mason was only faring slightly better. His wide variety of ways to attack let him mix it up and surprise the harpies, but even then he was battered and bruised.

“I hate to say it, but I really hope my clone dies soon, some extra power would really be helpful right now.”

He could recall his clone, but he had no way of knowing what he was doing and didn’t want to mess anything up.

* * *

Clone Mason

Clone Mason had ripped the sheets off the bed and laid it out in the middle of the floor. He was putting all the books and everything else he could find into the middle. He needed to get out of there quickly, preferably without dying. Aiden’s journals were bound to contain tons of important information, and he didn’t want to leave them behind.

A faint footstep from behind him made him freeze.

Turning slowly, he saw Aiden standing there. His face was pale, drained of colour, looking like he was about to face down a dragon.

“E-e-elder?” he whispered uncertainly.

Clone Mason stayed quiet and didn’t dare move. He had a choice to make; he could attack, but being a clone meant he was effectively closer to level 13 than he was to Aiden’s level of 27, meaning he didn’t stand a chance. He could still kill himself and risk Aiden getting away before the original Mason found a way down here. His last option was incredibly stupid and had very little chance of working.

In the deepest, most authoritative voice he could muster, he said, “Aiden.” He hadn’t thought it possible, but Aiden’s face got paler and the poor man looked like he was going to wet himself. Clone Mason had no idea what he was doing but decided to wing it. “Why do you hide here, did you think we would not find you?”

He sank to his knees. “Please, spare me. I tried to keep the girl alive, but she kept running off. I know who killed her! I can show you! Please, don’t send me to the pits.”

After pausing for dramatic effect, in which he enjoyed watching the man who had kidnapped Mayry squirm, he asked, “The man who killed Gael, what do you know of him?”

His eyes widened as if he was surprised he was still alive. “I don’t know which faction he’s with, Gael wouldn’t tell me. I know his name is Mason, and he travels with a woman, Mayry.”

“What else,” Mason snapped, really getting into the character, maybe he should give up this whole saving the universe thing and be an actor?

Aiden found his voice a little, becoming slightly more confident as he said, “He’s gained power fast. He fought Gael a few weeks ago and barely survived, but now he claims he killed her. Last I saw, he was nearing my own level.”

Deciding he needed to wrap this up and find a way out, Clone Mason asked, “Who else have you told of him?”

“No one?” he said hesitantly, seeming confused by the question.

Last question, then he would get the hell out of there, “Do you know where any other Others are?”

His head snapped up as he stood cautiously. “I don… Err… Others?” The look on his face slowly changed from fear to confusion to realisation, until it settled on rage. His face was red; he held out a hand toward the clone and demanded, “Who are you really? How did you get in here!” A pulse was emitted from his hand that caused Clone Mason to start feeling dizzy.

Ah, dammit. He was an idiot. Of course, ‘The Other’s’ didn’t call themselves ‘The Other’s.’ He pushed his luck too far. Oh well, it had been fun while it lasted.

Fighting the sudden fatigue that was creeping up on him, Clone Mason, still invisible, slit his own throat and an instant later was gone.

Aiden, seeing none of this, withdrew a sword and started waving it wildly through the air, all the while shouting insults and threats at empty air.

* * *

Mason

With just one harpie left to deal with, both Mason and Mayry were covered in deep scratches, bruises, and dirt. The harpies talons were even able to cut through their basilisk armour with ease, something neither of them had experienced.

The last harpie was by far the largest, though after killing the others the duo had fallen into a rhythm. Mayry would distract with blasts of fire and air, drawing the attention of the bird monsters, and while they weren’t paying attention to him, Mason would teleport midair and attack their flank.

They tried this method a few times on the last harpie, but as well as being the biggest, it was apparently much smarter than the others to boot. It had some way of detecting Mason every time he teleported behind her.

It mostly ignored Mayry and concentrated its attacks on Mason while either tanking or dodging Mary’s elemental attacks.

Mayry, was starting to run low on energy, and her attacks started coming less often. It was now mostly between Mason and the bird woman.

He was shocked when it squawked out actual words, “You killed my children! Needed food! Mountains not safe. You will feed other children!”

The harpie flew away, not giving Mason a chance to reply. At first Mason thought she was trying to run for it, but when he could almost no longer see her, she turned and flew as fast as she could at him. Mason was ready and braced himself, he would wait until the last second and teleport out of the way, if he was fast enough, he could then send a barrage of Magic Missiles at her and finally finish this.

She got closer and closer; Mason prepared to teleport when he was hit with a sudden wave of dizziness. Memories of his clone started rushing back into his head. He had just enough time to think what terrible timing his clone’s return had been before the bird woman slammed into him, talon piercing deeply into his chest.

There was a wave of immense heat and then the smell of burning chicken. The smell made him hungry and then sick.

Mayry stood just above trying to pull the harpie off of him. He screamed in pain as the talon was ripped out. He summoned a potion to his hand, but lacked the strength to put it to his mouth. His HP bar showed he was very low. Mayry unstoppered the bottle and poured it into his mouth. He relaxed as he saw his health start to increase.

“Does this mean we’re even now?” Mayry asked.

After he felt his lungs had been sufficiently knitted back together, he protested, “No way! Remember the trolls?”

“Remember what? When you were getting the crap kicked out of you until I stepped in?” she replied smugly.

“Oi! I told you I was just about to make my move!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Mayry Laughed. “Are you okay?”

Coughing up a little leftover blood, he spat on the ground and replied, “Yep, I’m just great! Though we need to get down that hole now.”

He gave her a quick run down of Clone Mason’s memories and explained what he wanted to do. Now that they knew what was at the bottom of the hole he wasn’t too bothered about jumping in, it would probably still hurt like hell, but it wouldn’t kill him, especially if he used the wall to slow down his momentum. But first he ushered Mayry into the Trunk.

Once she was inside, he took out his drake tooth dagger, which had thankfully returned when his clone had, and jumped into the hole. Holding the Trunk in one arm, he stabbed into the wall with the dagger, which slowed him down enough that he had time to skim through his notifications.

*DING*

Notification 1/3

You have slain – Beast – Level 31 Harpie x11.

You have received 3410 XP.

You have slain – Beast – Level 40 Harpie.

You have received 400 XP.

Notification 2/3

You have received partial experience from party members’ kills.

Mayry killed Level 31 Harpie x8 - You receive 1100 XP.

Notification 3/3

Level up!

Stat points allocated.

Only a single level? The amount of experience needed to level was rising ridiculously fast! In a few levels, he would need to single-handedly destroy armies to progress or… kill some Others.

With no time to spend any of his stats, he saved them for after he gave Aiden the beat down if he hadn’t already legged it.

With the dagger the only thing slowing his fall, the time it took to get to the bottom was drastically reduced. By the time he got to the metal part of the wall, only a few minutes had passed. Not even the drake tooth dagger would cut through the metal, so he let himself drop. He hit the ground hard, but the impact only knocked his HP down by about 10%.

He looked around for any sign of Aiden, but all he saw was a glowing red rune that hadn’t been there before. Doubting it was anything good, he raised his hand to shoot some Mana at it, but nothing happened.

*DING*

You have triggered an advanced Rune array and have been inflicted with Vulnerable.

Vulnerable.

Effect: Chaos Abilities are suppressed until you leave the area affected by the Rune array.

Well, that wasn’t ideal.

* * *

Sex Magic is a controversial branch of arcane practice, revered for its power and feared for its complexity. At its core, Sex Magic harnesses the raw energy of physical pleasure and connection, channelling it into spells that can be used to do many great things. Practitioners have long understood that the moment of climax generates an unparalleled surge of energy, a force that, when properly directed, can heal the sick, protect against evil, or even bend the will of others.

The art of Sex Magic is ancient, shrouded in mystery and often misunderstood. It is not simply about the act of intimacy but about the fusion of desire, intent, and willpower. The success of a Sex Magic ritual depends heavily on the connection between the participants. Trust, emotional balance, and mutual respect are essential, for any imbalance can lead to catastrophic consequences. Misaligned energies can result in severe backlash—anything from draining the life force of the participants to summoning malevolent entities that feed on Chaos.

Furthermore, the bonds created through Sex Magic rituals are profound and lasting. In some cases, these bonds can link the souls of the participants, creating an unbreakable connection that transcends time and space. This can be both a blessing and a curse, as the emotional and spiritual ties formed can influence the lives of those involved in ways they may not anticipate.

– Excerpt from A Primer on Sex Magic, Chapter 2: The Convergence of Desire and Will

Chapter 9

Clop, clop, Mother Fucker

Again? He’d gotten caught by the rune again? He’d hoped it was just a thing Gael did, instead of a common defensive measure. Aiden must have thought he was too well hidden to need it before now. Which was pretty stupid since hiding in a random massive hole in the ground was pretty fucking conspicuous.

“Well, well, well, look who came to visit.” Aiden stepped out of a doorway dramatically as if it was a huge reveal that he was there. “At least you saved me the effort of trying to find you.”

Mason rolled his eyes and smirked. “You can knock off the cool evil villain’s entrance routine. It doesn’t work quite so well after I watched you nearly piss yourself not even ten minutes ago.”

Aiden’s face reddened, the rage from earlier returning. “So it was you!”

The man had grovelled and begged to someone he saw as lesser than him and now he was incredibly embarrassed. Mason couldn’t help but egg him on.

“Yeah, no duh. How about you get rid of the rune and fight me like a man,” Mason shouted, subtly opening the lid of the Trunk so Mayry would hear the commotion. In a mock baby voice, he added, “Or are you too scared?”

Nearly frothing at the mouth now, Aiden shouted back, “Or, how about I keep the rune active, and you die like the pissant little shit you are.” Aiden lifted his hand, and a wave of a now familiar dizziness hit Mason.

He had been expecting it this time and powered through. With most of his Chaos abilities unavailable, he would need to rely solely on the training he received from Lyvan, his stats, and anything he had in his Inventory. He wasn’t entirely sure what Mayry was doing or how much she knew about what was going on. He could really use her help, though, as at least some of her elemental abilities were linked to her demonic side, and he doubted the rune was powerful enough to stop them from working.

Aiden charged Mason, brandishing a long sword, using the instincts battered into him over and over again by Lyvan. Mason managed to dodge and slash his dagger, catching Aiden in the side.

The Other grunted in pain and held his hand over the wound; his hand glowed, and a moment later, all the damage was gone.

He could heal himself. Of course, he could bloody heal himself.

Deciding he needed to see what the hold up was with Mayry, he shut the lid of the Trunk and kicked it through a doorway into an empty room. He threw one of his flashbang spheres and dived into the same room as the Trunk.

The sphere went off, followed by a grunt of pain from Aiden.

Mason stuck his head in the chest and shouted, “Mayry, where the bloody hell are you?” Straining his neck, he saw that she was passed out on the couch snoring. The absolute audacity! He was out here, with no powers, fighting for his life, and she decided to take a power nap!

Mason heard Aiden kick in the door to one of the other rooms.

“Where are you, you little bastard! There is nowhere to run, only one way in or out.”

“Mayry! Wake the heck up! I need you!” Mason shouted into the Trunk. No answer came back, so he stuck his head farther into the Trunk. Now he could see Mayry better, and he realised she was partially transformed into her demon state. Her father had said something about her powers revealing themselves, and this was probably a part of that. A heads-up about the random narcolepsy would have been appreciated, though.

Okay, okay. He could get them out of this. What did he have? He had his stats and his Inventory.

Aiden seemed to be about as fast as he was, but he had told them that he considered himself a support class, meaning he probably didn’t have many attack-based abilities.

So far, he had seen him use a dizziness-inducing ability and a self-healing one. Apart from that, his abilities were completely unknown. He also had at least some training with the sword. If it were just a sword fight, with no abilities on either side, he would put his money on himself coming out on top. With all the training he had done with Lyvan, he had become pretty good with the blade, while Aiden appeared competent at best. The problem was Aiden surprising him at any time by pulling out an ability Mason hadn’t known about.

Before he could come up with any sort of plan, the door to the room he was in was kicked out. Another wave of nausea hit him, almost making him puke.

A short sword appeared in his hand just in time to deflect a strike from Aiden that would have cut his head clean off. Thanks to his encounter with the harpies, his once amazing armour was full of holes and tears. It left him feeling far more vulnerable than he had in a long while.

He slammed the hilt of the sword upward at Aidens nose. A cracking noise let him know he managed to break it. The Other fell back and held a glowing hand up to his face. Mason took a step forward, intending to take advantage of the injured man before he healed. Aiden held up his other hand, and Mason walked into an invisible barrier. Mason growled in annoyance. This must be what it’s like to fight him. How many abilities did this asshole have?

He started punching the invisible barrier, trying to break through. Aiden scurried out of the room, his hand still glowing over his nose. The man wasn’t much of a fighter and clearly couldn’t handle being in pain, probably stemming from an overindulgence in his healing ability.

The invisible barrier finally broke, and Mason made to follow him out of the room to continue the fight. He was hit with a wave of golden light that scorched his skin where it touched. He clenched his teeth, trying to power through the pain, but the longer he was exposed, the worse it got. Checking his health bar, he saw the attack wasn’t doing much damage, but damn, did it hurt.

Fine, if Aiden wanted to attack from a distance, Mason could play that game, too.

He withdrew his depression-inducing bow.

Bow of the Dreadwood Tree (Uncommon) - In a distant land, there exists a graveyard. In this graveyard, a single tree grew. This tree absorbed all the hatred and sorrow of the dead buried below it. From a branch of this tree, this bow was crafted. Landing a hit on an enemy with this bow will either cause rapid necrosis or spontaneous depression. Undead are immune to these effects.

Aiden had really pissed him off. If he did hit the fucker, he wasn’t sure which effect he was hoping for. Necrosis would hurt like a bastard but would be a relatively easy heal; depression, however, would mean the man would suffer before Mason ended him.

Where had that thought come from? Damn, he was really getting malicious. If he wasn’t careful, this world was going to have its very own supervillain.

Peeking out from behind his cover, Mason ducked his head back to avoid getting hit with the golden light. Thankfully, the attack didn’t move at this speed of light; otherwise, dodging it would be pretty much impossible. It was strange to see slow-moving light; as if he was watching a video slowed down a million times.

He peeked over again and saw Aiden duck behind a door on the opposite side of the room with the hole in the ceiling. Hah, got him. Mason placed an arrow into the bow and drew back as far as he could, aiming at the wooden door; the arrow should be sharp enough to pierce through. If Aiden had his back against the door. The arrow should still hit him and inflict one of the two effects.

The first arrow disintegrated midair as it passed through the golden light. The second arrow bounced off the door. It wasn’t until the third that Mason realised Aiden had put up another invisible barrier.

Annoyed that giving Aiden depression was not going to happen, he aimed at the glowing rune that caused the Vulnerable affliction, only for that arrow to also be deflected by another barrier.

God, this was frustrating. When he killed Aiden, he really hoped he would get the barrier ability. He felt like he could get pretty creative with it, in combat and out.

He wanted to test out the reward he had gotten after killing a unicorn, and now was as good a time as any. The item was called a Clop Wand, but what it actually was still confused him. At first, he thought it was the unicorn’s horn, but while it was hard, it was more fleshy than the bone-like protrusion.

Clop Wand.

Item - Clop Wand (Very Rare)

This Clop Wand comes from the body of a unicorn. It contains 50 charges of the ability Rainbow Acid. Pointing the wand at an enemy and using the activation phrase, ‘Clop clop,’ will trigger the spell.

Sticking his head around the corner, he aimed the wand at where he knew Aiden was hiding and shouted, “Clop clop, mother fucker.” He couldn’t see the barriers protecting Aiden, but he doubted they were airtight, so the acidic rainbow gas should still get to him. If his barrier was air tight, he would still need to come out for air, eventually.

The wand pulsated in his hand and a large amount of rainbow coloured goop shot out. As it made contact with the air it fizzed and turned into a gas that spread through the room and towards Aiden’s hiding place.

There was a shout of pain, several very creative curses, and then screaming. Aiden came out from behind the door covered in burns and blisters.

The acid continued to make contact with Aiden’s flesh, sizzling and melting it. He kept trying to heal himself, a glow emanating from his hand, but each time, it flickered after only a few moments. The pain from the acid was too intense for him to concentrate enough for the healing ability to function. Pretty certain there was no way for Aiden to make a comeback, he stopped watching the grotesque scene and looked at the wand, impressed at its effectiveness.

He heard a creak and saw Mayry stick her head out of the Trunk. She had gone through several slight changes. Her eyes had gone from blue to pink, her red hair had darkened to auburn, and her skin had gained a slight reddish hue.

She yawned and stretched her arms, revealing that she had also gained a small amount of muscle that hadn’t been there before. Mason decided not to point out the change right away and instead wait until they were somewhere less filled with acid.

Of course, now that the fight was over, she had woken up. “Did you get enough sleep, princess?” he asked with an amused smile.

Ignoring his words completely, her eyes locked on to the wand, her mouth opening and closing in amazement. “Mason… How…? Where…?”

She struggled to formulate more than a single word at a time. She was probably in awe at how awesome a weapon he had. She mumbled a few more things to herself before she finally settled on, “Mason, why do you have unicorn’s dick in your hand?”

* * *

Magical drugs are among the most dangerous and misunderstood substances known. Used by both magic users and non-magic users, these potent concoctions, crafted from rare and strange materials or synthesised through arcane alchemy, offer users temporary access to extraordinary abilities—powers that range from enhanced physical strength and speed to heightened sensory perception and even precognition. The allure of such abilities is undeniable, particularly for those who seek to gain an edge in a world fraught with danger and competition.

However, the cost of using these drugs is often far greater than the benefits they provide. The effects are typically short-lived, and the toll on the user’s body and mind can be devastating. Addiction is almost inevitable, as the rush of power becomes increasingly difficult to resist. Over time, these substances warp the user’s physiology and psyche, leading to severe and often irreversible changes. Hallucinations become indistinguishable from reality, paranoia takes root, and the very magic that once empowered the user begins to erode their sanity.

The most infamous of these drugs are those that not only enhance abilities but also link the user to dark forces or malevolent entities. These substances offer boosted power, but they also open doorways to realms best left unexplored. Users may find themselves haunted by nightmarish visions or pursued by creatures from beyond the veil, entities drawn to the chaos these drugs create.

Despite the dangers, magical drugs continue to be used by those desperate enough to risk everything for a taste of forbidden power. They are smuggled through shadowy networks, sold in secret markets, and coveted by those who believe the temporary rush of power is worth any price. But as history has shown, the pursuit of such power often leads to ruin.

– Excerpt from Magical Drugs and Their Effect, Chapter 4: The Cost of Forbidden Power

Chapter 10

Overpowered

“I’m telling you, it’s not a unicorn dick!” Mason argued. At this point, he was pretty convinced it was indeed a unicorn dick, but there was no way he was going to admit that to Mayry.

“And I’m telling you it is!” Once she had gotten over the initial shock of waking up and seeing her boyfriend wielding a unicorn’s penis as a weapon, she had been unable to stop laughing at him.

Mason felt like such an idiot, he was blushing deeply and incredibly embarrassed. The system had even named it a Clop Wand! Mason had been around the internet and knew what the word clop meant. He should have known the instant he had seen the name. He facepalmed over having actually shouted ‘clop clop, mother fucker’ thinking it sounded cool. Thank God Mayry hadn’t heard that bit! If he ever went back to Earth he vowed to leave that part out of his autobiography.

“How did you even know it came from a unicorn!” Mason asked, genuinely interested, it wasn’t as if she could have seen it in a book. The nature of unicorn magic made anyone looking at something to do with their true nature gloss over the details and only remember them as all rainbows and lollipops.

“I um… may have been a little bit obsessed with them when I was little.” When Mason looked surprised, she got defensive. “I was a little girl! And I still thought they were wonderful peaceful creatures!”

Mason didn’t know where this was going but he checked his notifications just to confirm Aiden was actually dead and wasn’t going to attack them mid-story. The kill notification was there, but he willed it away to read later.

“I used to draw pictures of them on paper I would steal from my father’s office, he always disapproved and I never knew why until I got older.”

“What happened?”

“I heard some hunters talking about a unicorn sighting. They said they were going to kill it. I later remembered hearing them talk about the carnage and destruction it had caused. I went looking for it and found one. It was the day my Family Magic and Chaos ability first manifested. The moment I saw the unicorn, I could see what it really was. It attacked me and a second later it was on fire.”

Mason, horrified by the story, was still confused. “And you remembered what its dick looked like?”

She shot him a glare and he looked away suitably chastised.

She continued, “The hunters I had heard talking found me a little while later, the unicorn had died but the fire hadn’t really damaged the body much. I remember what its penis looks like because I watched them cut it off so they could sell it. It’s apparently an incredibly rare alchemy ingredient. They took me home and even gave me a cut of the bounty. I was so upset to find out what unicorns really were, then to realise they only gave me a few iron when the bounty was probably far more.”

Mason listened intently, and when she was finished, he didn’t have much to say so he just gave her a hug, the memories of the experience had upset her enough that he said, “Fine, it is a unicorn dick.”

She perked up, her demeanour reverting back to how it was before she started telling the story. “Hah, I knew it! You were so funny waving it around at Aiden, and then you were all like, ‘Clop clop, mother fucker.’” She restarted her bouts of laughter, unable to stop for a good few minutes.

“You little shit! Was any of that story even true, or were you just trying to get me to admit that it was a dick?”

The question made her laugh even harder, in between laughs she managed to say, “Viv showed me one once in her shop, and some sketches of real unicorns. I couldn’t see them at first but after a while the illusion faded.” The laughter died down and she added, “Man, you are gullible.”

He growled at her and threw the Clop Wand at her, she shrieked and tried to dodge it but it smacked her lightly in the face with a plop. She threw it back, missed by a mile, and started vigorously rubbing her face.

“I may be gullible but at least I don’t fall asleep right before a huge fight!” Mason accused.

She looked guilty as she said, “I’m really sorry about that, I really don’t know how that happened. I was waiting for you to tell me to come out and next thing I know I was waking up.”

Mason shrugged as he went to retrieve the wand, waving it in the air he said, “Ah, don’t worry, me and cloppy handled things, if it makes you feel better, I quite like the new look!”

Mayry looked thoughtful, as if trying to understand the joke, until she shook her head, and said, “New look? I don’t understand.”

Oh damn. Mason had fucked up, having assumed she noticed the changes she’d gone through, but apparently not.

Not really, knowing what to say, he pulled a full-sized mirror out of his Inventory and gestured for her to take a look.

With a frown she looked into the mirror, and for a few minutes didn’t say anything. Mason was about to say something when Mayry finally broke the silence, “What the fuck!” She touched her face as if she could feel the difference in colour. “Why am I red?”

Mason tried to calm her down, “You’re not… that red.” A death glare made him shut up.

She stared at herself in horror and started to visibly panic. “How am I supposed to go anywhere looking like this? I’m going to kill my dad. How did he not warm me!”

Feeling out of his depths, he closed one eye and started going through his notifications.

Notification 1/4

You have slain - Level 31 - Chaos System User Aiden

You have received 620 XP

Chaos system detected, additional XP received

You have received a total 2100 XP

Inwardly, Mason scoffed at the lack of a level up.

Notification 2/4

You have absorbed the ability: Nausea

Nausea (Expert) - Looking at you makes them sick.

Active Effect: With a gaze, you can inflict a feeling of nausea onto an enemy, making them feel sick. At higher levels, enemies will be unable to stop themselves from spontaneously throwing up. Scales with Vitality.

Notification 3/4

Status effect: Affliction – Overpowered has been added – All ability’s effectiveness is reduced by 50%

Mason muttered, “What the hell.” There was a limit on how many abilities he could have? “This is bullshit.”

Mayry looked at him expectantly, “What was that?”

Oh crap, he hadn’t realised he said that out loud. “Errr, oh! I was just saying how it was bullshit that your dad didn’t tell you about this!”

She nodded and went right back to ranting, “Right! People are going to think I’m a monster! Maybe I could say it was an ACT…”

Phew, that was a close one. He whispered as quietly as he could, “Help, Affliction, ‘Overpowered.’”

Help

The Affliction, Overpowered, is added when the system user gains more abilities than their current system can sufficiently power. Power is taken from all other abilities in order to power any new abilities.

Affliction can be removed by replacing or removing existing abilities or by absorbing more pure Chaos Essence to upgrade your system.

The nausea ability didn’t seem worth getting rid of any of his other abilities, but it was good to know there was a hard limit. How could he absorb more pure Chaos Essence? Another question for the mayor.

He found it easy enough to get rid of an ability. He just focused on the Nausea entry on his character sheet and willed it to be removed.

Are you sure you want to remove Ability: Nausea? Y/N?

The last notification was the loot he’d gotten from killing Aiden. It wasn’t nearly as much as from Gael, but there were still a few interesting items.

Notification 4/4

Loot Received:

Map

Ring of Suggestion

Various Alchemy ingredients

2 unknown potions

2 Chaos orbs

He wanted to use Identify on the unusual items but thought he better give Mayry a little nudge, otherwise they’d be here for hours.

He gently interjected into what she was saying and explained that Aiden was worried about an elder trying to find him and that they should probably get out of there relatively soon, just in case.

Still a bit annoyed, she reluctantly agreed. They searched the rest of the rooms and took everything that wasn’t nailed down and a few things that were. The doors that Mason hadn’t been through turned out to all lead to storage areas. His Inventory and Trunk were starting to reach their limit. They’d found a room filled with dried meats, preserved fruits, and full meals with preservation runes etched into their containers. Since coming to this world, Mason had mostly eaten at inns and restaurants, but he definitely wasn’t going to say no to a massive amount of food. Considering the sort of situations he found himself in, it would probably get used at some point.

Another room housed an incredibly unorganised library. They took all the books, dumping them into Mason’s Trunk without reading any of the titles. He was sure that, eventually, he would get around to sorting through them. Now that he thought about it, the books he received from Gael still needed to be looked at… Maybe he would try and convince Mayry to do it for him.

The last room was Mason’s favourite. He walked in first and turned around to block Mayry’s view. With a grin he said, “Do you remember the day we met? When you were telling me about money? You said I should never tell you if I found gold because you weren’t above killing me for it?”

Hesitantly, she replied, “Yes… I remember saying that.” she narrowed her eyes at him, and added, “Why?”

“Do… you still stand by that?”

She pushed passed him saying, “Mason, with how much you annoy me you’re lucky I don’t kill you for a cop… per…” She trailed off as she saw the contents of the room. Three see-through boxes sat on a table, one contained iron, one silver, and the other, by far the smallest, contained several gold coins.

Her mouth fell open. “Mason, that is an insane amount of money. Do… do we take it?” She was so mesmerised that she’d started stuttering.

Mason laughed. “Of course, we do! Finders keepers and all that!”

She stared at him bewildered. “Mason, are you serious? How are you so calm about this? I don’t think you understand just how much this is! Even if we just took the gold and left the rest, it would be enough to buy a small country, for Chaos’ sake! I’m not even sure we could spend it all in a lifetime. And trust me, if we tried to use it in Sparksford, they wouldn’t know what to do with us. Maybe in Trilil or one of the larger cities, but here? It’s unheard of. They’d think we robbed the royal treasury or something!”

Mason held up his hands. “Okay, okay, breathe. This is a good thing. Just think, would you rather us have the money or leave it here for one of the Others to claim? I’ll keep it in my Inventory, and if we ever go to a bigger city, we can try and exchange it there for something smaller. Okay? Otherwise, we’ll just hold onto it.”

Mayry nodded slowly and started to calm down. They walked closer to the table and inspected the three boxes. They seemed to be made of glass but try as he might, Mason couldn’t figure out how to open any of them.

After trying for a few minutes, Mason used his enhanced strength to just break it open.

A sudden flash of light caused him to blink, when he opened his eyes, he was standing at the top of the hole again, empty-handed, with half of his HP gone.

Five minutes later he was back in the room. According to Mayry, he’d been there one moment and gone the next.

The next hour was spent with Mason and Mayry coming up with different ways to get into the boxes. Mason was always the one to try the methods as he didn’t want to Mayry get hurt.

Finally, they gave up and called it quits, accepting that with the methods they currently had at their disposal, they weren’t going to be getting into the boxes. Mason picked up the entire table and threw it into his Trunk, hoping that eventually, they would figure it out.

* * *

We’ve arrived in the crap-hole of a Trial World; Father insisted I bring Aiden along for protection. HAH, like I’d need protection from anything he could manage to fight. It is a shame Father has no faith in my abilities, but this world has many, many things for me to kill, so for now, I won’t kill my ‘bodyguard.’

– Excerpt from Gael’s journal, page 9

Chapter 11

Conflicted

Getting out of the hideout was by far easier than getting in. Daylight streamed in, making it possible for Mason to teleport all the way to the surface without trouble.

Finding the hole had proved to be a pretty big detour from their journey to Sparksford, but with another Other dead, a whole lot of loot, and a level up from the harpies, he didn’t think it was a complete waste of time. It distracted them from talking to the mayor about the prophecy, but progress was progress.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Mayry was quiet the entire way back, and as the gates came into view, she slowed down, a look of concern etched on her face.

She hesitated before saying, “Can I get in the Trunk? I don’t want anyone to see me like this, not yet.”

Mason was going to argue that she looked fine and that it wasn’t even that noticeable, but the look on her face told him it would be better to just go along with it for now for the sake of her mental health. He knew having sudden massive changes to your body could stir up all sorts of emotions, and he understood she was probably going through a lot.

Without a word, he took out the Trunk and opened the lid for her, before she got in though, he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. The smile she gave him made feel a little less unsure about the whole situation.

Walking the rest of the way to the gate, he was stopped by a guard, one he hadn’t seen before. The guard, a bulky man with a stern expression, blocked his path with a raised hand.

“Name and reason for entry?” he said in a bored, monotone voice.

Mason felt a flicker of annoyance at the guard’s stern demeanour, but quickly composed himself.

“Mason Hughes,” he replied, his voice steady despite his slight irritation. “I was here just a few days ago. I have a room at an inn.”

The guard regarded him, his expression unchanged.

“That isn’t what I asked,” the guard said, his tone still flat. “What is your business in Sparksford today?”

Rolling his eyes, Mason decided on trying the truth. “I’m here to see the mayor.”

The guard looked Mason up and down skeptically, his eyes lingering on Mason’s tattered, torn armour that still had splatters of harpie blood on it.

“I highly doubt the mayor is taking meetings with the likes of you,” the guard remarked bluntly. “I’m sorry, I cannot let you in, the town isn’t allowing people in without good reason, and you do not have a good reason.”

The man was getting on his nerves now. Rather than arguing further, he nodded and teleported to the other side of the gate, leaving the guard blinking in surprise.

Mason appeared just beyond the gate, his frustration vanishing as he watched the guard searching for him, waving his sword around as if he thought Mason might just be invisible. He adjusted his armour, brushing off some of the dried blood; he didn’t look that bad… Okay, maybe he should change before meeting the mayor.

Before he managed to make it to the inn, he heard a gruff, thickly accented voice shout out to him, “Basilisk slayer! What in the name of Chaos did you do to my armour!” Recognising the voice, Mason spotted the half-giant armourer, Geraint, walking toward him from across the street.

Mason raised his hand in greeting. The huge man picked Mason up in a hug and squeezed. Mason, who was a fair bit stronger than the last time this happened, squeezed back. The half giant taking it as a challenged squeezed harder until Mason was certain his ribs were about to snap. “Okay, I give, I give,” he managed to wheeze out, tapping the mans arm.

When Geraint finally released him from the bone-crushing hug, Mason coughed and filled his lungs with air. “Good to see you too, Geraint,” Mason said, massaging his sides where he had almost been crushed. “And, yeah, sorry about the armour. It has saved my life more times than I can count. I guess my luck must have run out. I went up against some harpies, and they nearly tore me to shreds.”

Geraint grunted, giving Mason a playful punch on the shoulder that nearly knocked him off balance. “Harpies? Yeah, that would explain why the self-repair function hasn’t started. What the hell were you doing up a mountain?”

“Mountain?” Mason asked, confused.

Before Geraint could say more, a young blonde woman interrupted, rushing up to him. “Dad? What are you doing? You’re supposed to be helping me with gauntlets!” She was much smaller than her father, cute but with a stern expression aimed directly at her father. Spotting Mason, she wrinkled her nose. “You should change your clothes… If the guards see you, they’ll think you’re up to something.” She sniffed the air. “And you really need a bath.”

Well, that was blunt, but somehow in her Scottish-esque accent, it didn’t feel like she was actively trying to be mean.

“Nina! That was rude!” Geraint scolded her, then added in a hushed tone, “This is the customer I mentioned, the one who bought us the basilisk hide to work with.”

Her eyes widened, blushing as she got a better look at his armour. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were a beggar bothering my dad. Not that you look homeless… except you kind of do…” She took a second to consider her next words. “I’m Nina; I’m the ritualist who worked on your armour. It was a lot of fun to play wi… work on.” She looked back at her father. “We really do need to go unless you want the shop to burn down.”

As the much smaller woman somehow dragged him away, he called back, “Come see me in the shop. I’ll see what I can do to patch up your armour.”

* * *

Mason was conflicted. He was about to walk into the inn, and he couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted Nays to be there. On the one hand, they were friends, and he would enjoy catching up with her, but on the other hand, he suspected she liked him, and if he was being honest, he liked her too. But he was kind of officially with Mayry; they never really had that chat, but due to Nays’ Chaos ability, she had the habit of accidentally ending up naked around him. He also knew Mayry wasn’t the elf’s biggest fan and that the feelings were mutual.

He pushed open the door and sighed in relief when it was somebody else sitting at the front desk. His room was keyed to him, so he walked right up to the door. The receptionist gave him a brief look, but didn’t say anything.

Sitting down on the bed, he opened the Trunk and shouted for Mayry to come out.

“What are we doing here? We’re supposed to be seeing my father.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “And what took you so long? Did you… stop to chat to anyone?” The last bit sounded just a tad bit forcefully innocent.

Yeah, he had definitely dodged a bullet not bumping into Nays. He wasn’t about to stop talking to her altogether, but he would need to speak with Mayry about it first. It wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to having, and it definitely wasn’t one he was going to have now. It wasn’t that he was scared of his girlfriend, but he… was a little bit scared of his girlfriend.

Fighting monsters was easy. It was simple and something he was equipped to do. Having an argument with someone he was in a relationship with was a whole other matter. He had never been very good at it and usually ended up caving immediately. He thought he knew Mayry pretty well but wasn’t sure how she’d react.

With a smirk, he replied, “Yes, I bumped into someone, and we are here because it’s been pointed out to me multiple times that I am filthy and apparently stink.” Seeing Mayry about to say something, he quickly added, “I bumped into Geraint, the half-giant armourer who made our basilisk armour? Did you know he had a daughter?”

“Yeah, actually, Nina, right? She’s only a few years younger than me, never really interacted with her much, but seemed nice enough. Go have your shower, you’re right, you do stink.”

Feeling like pushing his luck a little, he asked, “Care to join me?”

To his surprise, she actually approached him, but as she got close, she leaned in and whispered in his ear, “With you smelling like this? Not a chance.” Mayry had a playful smirk when she pulled back to look him in the eye. “But maybe later if you behave.” She winked and turned away, leaving Mason to go wash off the grime, blood, and dirt on his own.

* * *

Once they were both clean, Mason changed into one of the sets of basilisk armour he hadn’t yet used. He’d been putting it off because it took a while for the leather to fit right and it ended up very uncomfortable. He would have worn something else, but he didn’t have that many clothing options. He really should have bought some new clothes while they were in Trilil. He made a mental note to get some before they left.

Mayry got back into the Trunk, still not keen on anyone seeing her in her new partial demon form. There were guards outside of the mayor’s office, and to Masons annoyance, he recognised one of them. Of course it was the same guard from the front gate who acted all high and mighty about letting him in.

He considered just teleporting into the building but didn’t want to alarm anyone. That decided, he walked up to the door, hoping the man wouldn’t recognise him now that he was clean and not covered in blood.

“Oi, you!”

Mason sighed. Why was it that nothing could ever just be simple? “Who let you through the gates!” The bulky man stormed up to him and got up in his face. “Don’t you try your disappearing act this time, ’cause I’ll find you; when I do, I’ll⁠—”

Mason teleported right behind the man and walked calmly to the door. The guard spun and yelled at him, “I fucking warned you.”

He could use Mental Manipulation on the man, but that would be letting him off too easy. He didn’t like bullies, and this man really felt like a bully. He faced the guard, put the Trunk down and, with a smile on his face, said, “I told you I have a meeting with the mayor. Now, either you let me through that door, or you’ll be going through that door.”

Mason’s calm tone made the man hesitate, just for a moment. If he had hesitated a bit longer, he would have realised it was the tone of a man that could back up his words.

The man’s face contorted in rage, his fists clenching at his sides. “You think you can threaten me, boy? I’ll show you!”

* * *

Mayor Sparks was ready to go home for the night. He’d had an okay day, nothing special. He was a bit sad that his daughter was still gone but he was confident that with time she would understand everything that happened and why they had to happen the way they did. He didn’t fully trust the man she was with, but he did trust her.

Things were going to change in the next few years, he could feel it. Being a God, or at least an iteration of one, didn’t really affect him day-to-day. It did, however, give him a sense of what was to come, not the whole picture, just a feeling, and this particular feeling wasn’t good.

He was just hoping that it didn’t come too soon, as he was still quite weak from protecting Mayry from that woman, Gael. He remembered when his powers were infinite, and now killing a mere mortal left him tired for months if not years.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a commotion coming from outside. He opened his office door just in time to see one of his town guards come flying headfirst through the main doors. Behind him, in walked the man who was supposed to be with his daughter.

The man held up in hand and waved.

The mayor sighed; it was going to be a long night.

Chapter 12

Gods, Demi Demons, and Me

The mayor ushered him into his office and shut the door. “Was that entrance necessary?”

“Not entirely, no. You should really get better guards. That one was a dick!”

He set his Trunk down and opened it, and watched as Mayry emerged, not looking particularly happy.

The mayor’s face brightened, and then, almost immediately, he darkened as he got a better look. “Wha⁠—”

Before he could finish his first word, Mayry stormed up to him. “How could you not tell me about this?” she shouted, gesturing to herself. “How am I supposed to go outside looking like this? A warning would’ve been nice! First, you didn’t tell me I was a fucking demon, and then even when I do find out, you don’t tell me it would change the way I looked. What is wrong with you! You’re supposed to be a fucking deity, all knowing and powerful, and yet you didn’t know this would piss me off?”

Wow, Mason had never seen her this mad before. He knew she had been pissed off, but he had no idea it was to this extent. He took a step back, not wanting to get in between their argument. It was already awkward just being there.

The mayor tried to get a word in, but Mayry continued her rant. The mayor shot him a glance, but Mason gave him a ‘don’t involve me in this’ look.

Mayry finally took a breath and let the mayor jump in, “I didn’t know this would happen. Not really.”

Damn, Mason couldn’t help but think, even gods were scared of Mayry.

“You are a child of Chaos… the effects are chaotic. Usually, a few abilities present themselves but physically changes are rare and usually take months to show any signs!” Seeing that Mayry was gearing up for another rant, the mayor continuedm “The good news is you can probably change yourself back. Mason? You have a skill that lets you see information on a person, yes?”

Grimacing slightly at being bought into the conversation, Mason nodded.

“Use it on her and tell me what it says.”

He glanced at Mayry, and seeing her give a slight nod, he did as he was told.

Mayry Sparks - Demi Demon - Berserker - Level 32 - (Girlfriend)

The description confused him. How was she still a higher level than he was! When did she become a berserker, and since when did the ability start labelling people’s relationship to him?

He read out what the description said, leaving out the girlfriend part.

After the mayor heard the description, he took in a deep breath and ran a tired hand down his face. “Okay, unfortunately, I think I know what happened.” He closed his eyes and made a disgusted face. “I need you to tell me everything that happen while you’ve been gone.”

Mayry looked at Mason expectantly. He started with their encounter with Aiden on the way to Trilil, then about the hooded figures at the market place, which led into the confrontation with the Kethul. When Mason got to the part about the prophecy, the mayor ran a hand through his hair, looking utterly distressed, but motioned for Mason to continue. He finished by going over how they discovered the hole in the ground and him killing Aiden while Mayry fell asleep.

He left out a few intimate things that happened, but he highly doubted Mayry’s father wanted to hear about their sex life.

“And that is everything that happened, is it?” He narrowed his eyes at Mason, who just nodded.

“Okay, I can’t believe I’m asking this, and I really don’t want to know the answer, but as it is relevant…” He looked visibly sick as he asked, “Have you two had sex?”

Out of all the things the mayor could have asked, Mason was absolutely not expecting that. There was silence for a moment.

Mason looked at Mayry. She was furious, her skin seemed redder and she was definitely taller than when they arrived. She started shouting at her father, “How is that any of your business! How could that possibly be relevant?” As she got angrier, she started to grow taller, her skin became redder, and visible steam started coming off of her.

Mason jumped in between them before Mayry tried to actually hit the man.

“By unlocking your abilities, you unlocked your demi-demon type, berserker,” the mayor explained, unfazed by his daughter’s aggression.

“Your demonic physicality is linked to your emotions. The angrier you get, the more your body will change, enabling you to deal more damage. And as a berserker, you’re going to be angry—a lot.”

He poured some amber-coloured liquid into a glass and took a sip. “Demi-demons link themselves to the first being they have sex with. With Mason essentially brimming with Chaos Essence, when you… linked with him, it hastened your physical transformation.”

The mayor turned to look at him. “Mason, because of the quality of your system, you’re essentially far more powerful than your level would suggest. Because of this, when you linked with my daughter, you brought her power level up too. When Mayry calms down enough to listen, I will explain how she can hide the changes.”

Mason turned to his girlfriend, hugged the now significantly taller woman, and squeezed her. As he held her, he tried to digest all the information they’d just been given and work out what it meant for them.

From what he understood, Mayry was going to demon out anytime she got mad. This made Mason worry a little, seeing as his greatest skill in life was pissing people off.

The upside to all this was that the link between him and Mayry would make her grow stronger as he did. He wondered how far that would work. If he ever got to God-killing levels of power, would their link bring Mayry to that level too? That was insane! If that were true, he would never need to worry about leaving her behind.

That level of power was so far away that Mason had only briefly thought about it, but if he ever was out there slaying gods, demons, and fuck knows what else, then he couldn’t imagine that Mayry would want to come along just to cheer him on. Considering all they had been through together, it would feel wrong to leave her behind. If the link worked the way he hoped, then he wouldn’t have to.

When Mayry was back to her regular size, Mason let go of her and took a step back.

She smiled at Mason. “Thank you.” Her smile faltered, her lip curling upward as she looked at her father, still clearly frustrated with him but trying to keep her emotions in check.

The mayor sighed heavily, setting down his glass. “I know this is a lot to take in, both of you. I wish I had told you everything earlier, but I just wanted my little girl to live a normal life. I’m sorry.”

Mayry’s expression softened slightly at her father’s words. She would forgive him in time.

At that moment, the mayor, for once, looked as ancient as he likely was. Scared and vulnerable, his usual air of authority momentarily replaced by an almost tangible sense of dread. His hands shook slightly, betraying the seriousness of the situation that was obviously heavy on his mind. It was a glimpse into the vulnerability of a man accustomed to strength and power.

“I do not know much of the Kethul, but I can attest to the quality of their seers. If they believe the gods are at risk of returning, then it is safe to say it is probably true.”

He looked up at Mason. “I assume you believe the man from another world is you? That would make the most sense. There have been travellers from other worlds, but I do not know of any other than you that could even dream of facing a god, let alone all of them.”

Mason had been holding in his anxieties since they arrived, but now they all spilt out.

“Do you know how we could stop them from waking in the first place? The idea of fighting gods—” With a look of horror, Mason slapped his hand over his mouth. “Oh crap!”

The mayor sighed and rolled his eyes in a very Mayry-like manner. “Mason, we’ve been over this. I, along with others of my kind, are the ones who placed the taboo on the word god. You can say it in my presence without any ill effect.”

“Oh… okay then. Killing a—” he hesitated for a moment “—God is insane! Is it even possible? Aren’t they supposed to be all powerful and all knowing? How am I supposed to go up against that? Only a month ago, I lost a fight with a fucking tree!”

Finally getting that off his chest felt good. He’d been holding it in since they first heard the prophecy. He would have talked to Mayry about it, but at first, she had been injured, and then there was the whole turning into a demon fiasco. He had been worrying constantly that he would never be powerful enough to do what he was expected to.

The mayor stared at Mason for a long time, “Killing a god is theoretically possible. If they were to wake, they would likely do so one by one. After centuries of disuse, their powers will have atrophied, and they will be at their weakest, vulnerable to even death. If they were to be attacked in this state by another god or sufficiently powerful person, they could be killed. Even so, the weakest god is still a god and the amount of power it would take… well, you have a long way to go.”

Mason had no grand delusions about him lasting even a second against the weakest of gods. It would be akin to an ant fighting the sun. He was hoping against hope that he wouldn’t have to fight them. The prophecy implied there was a way to stop them from returning.

“Of course, I have a long way to go! I don’t even want to fight the gods! The prophecy says if I fail to stop them returning, someone I love will die. If I’m at the point where I have to fight them, then I’ve already lost.” He looked at Mayry, a tear in his eye. “I can’t lose her. She’s all I have in this world.”

Yes, he was being a tad dramatic. It was likely he would end up the most powerful person on the planet, even one of the richest people on the planet, and he would probably eventually find someone else if she were to die, but she meant a lot to him. She was the first person in this world he met. She stayed with him and helped him. She was also his friend, and he would do anything within his power to stop her from dying.

“You… love me?” Mayry asked, her shock obvious.

“Err, yeah…? You heard the prophecy. Who the hell did you think it meant?” He spent almost all of his time with her, and though it had been less than a month, they had done a lot in that month.

“I don—” she started but was cut off.

Mason’s face fell. What was she about to say? ‘I don’t know’? ‘I don’t love you’? Mason didn’t know, and he worried he’d just made a mistake by implying that he loved her so soon.

The mayor spoke up, likely not feeling comfortable with the intimate direction the conversation was heading.

“As for how you could prevent them from returning, I… don’t know.” Masons heart dropped at the words. If the god of Chaos didn’t know, then… “But, I do know someone who does,” the mayor finished.

* * *

Relics are among the most coveted and powerful artefacts in existence. They are remnants of a lost era when magic was more potent, and the boundaries between worlds were less rigid. These objects, often imbued with powers that have long since faded from the world, are sought after for their ability to grant extraordinary abilities to their wielders. From swords that can cleave through mountains to amulets that grant invulnerability, the mysterious power contained within these relics is both great and unpredictable.

The creation of these relics is a mystery, lost to history. Some are believed to have been forged by the gods themselves, while others are thought to come from worlds with a far higher concentration of magic than our own. What is certain is that each relic is unique, its power and purpose often shrouded in legend.

However, this power is not without its price. Many relics are cursed, exacting a toll on those who use them. Some have minds of their own and drain the life force of those who wield them who they do not accept. Others twist minds or attract the attention of malevolent entities that covet their power.

– Excerpt from Relics of a Bygone Era, Chapter 3: Price and Power

Chapter 13

Chaos Theory

Mason leaned forward, eager to hear what the mayor had to say.

The mayor briefly considered his words before asking, “What do you know about the Trials the Others participate in?”

“Not a lot, just bits I’ve managed to piece together. I know there are several factions who give their young systems like mine and send them here to get stronger. They even call this world the ‘Trial World.’”

“Good, that is part of it, yes. In the most basic terms, twelve factions of Ganehfrel all fall under the emperor. Every so often, the factions come together to select a number of their promising young to be infused with Chaos and given systems. They are all sent here to the Trial World. The champions then have to reach a certain level before they are allowed back to Ganehfrel.”

He understood what the mayor was saying, just not why. Confused, he asked, “Okay, but what does that have to do with me stopping the gods from returning?”

Ignoring Mason’s question, the mayor said, “I have told you of the Iteration that the Others are using to make systems? I believe you have a quest to save him?”

Mason narrowed his eyes; how could he know what quests he had? “I do.”

“The iteration in your head is by far the strongest of us. He had spent most of his time collecting Chaos and trying to bring us to our former power. Now that most of that iteration’s power has been spent on getting you here, the iteration in Ganehfrel is the most powerful and complete. If anyone knew of a way to keep the gods from returning, it would be him.”

Sighing deeply, Mason rested his head on the table. “Great, another thing for me to do to stop the world from ending. Anything else? Want me to slay all of the dragons? Ride a unicorn into battle?”

Mayry placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn’t say anything, but the gesture did make him feel better.

To his credit, the mayor waited for Mason to stop whining before continuing, “Getting to their world won’t be easy. Firstly, in order to even be allowed there, you’ll need to be at least level 50. They’ll have someone with the ability to check. Secondly, you’ll have to be able to pass yourself off as one of them. If you can do all that, you’ll still need to figure out how they travel between worlds.”

*DING*

Quest Updated! Bring Chaos to Order.

Quest Objective – Save Chaos.

Update – The Chaos iteration in your head (Me) gave up his power to bond with someone who would be able to rescue the captured iteration of Chaos from the Others. Gain power, free Chaos, and stop Ganehfrel from using one of us for its own gain.

Update 2 – Journey to Ganehfrel and rescue the iteration of Chaos held captive there. He is the best chance you have of finding out how to stop the Gods’ return.

Reward 1 – Choose whether to stay in this world with unfathomable power or go home.

Reward 2 – The knowledge of how to keep the Gods from returning and destroying all of existence.

Accept updated quest? Y/N

“Yep. The quest just updated.” Annoyed with life in general, Mason asked, “Is there anything you can tell me about their world?”

“My memories from my godhood are hazy at best,” he replied, “but I do know they are more technologically advanced, are a far more amoral civilisation than you are used to, and there are system users there who are hundreds of years old and have a level of power reflecting that.”

Fixing Mason with a stern look, he added, “If you were to come face to face with one of their elders as you are now, you wouldn’t stand a chance. Their systems are limited while yours isn’t, but their limits are magnitudes higher than your current power.”

“How the hell am I supposed to save this Chaos guy? I don’t know where he is, I don’t even know how to get to Ganehfrel… Wait.” A memory was brought to the forefront of his mind: Maybe if I can get Gael’s real killer and bring him back through the gate with me, they’ll let me live.

“There’s a gate somewhere; I’m going to have to finally read through all the books I looted from Gael and Aiden. There’s bound to be something in them.”

“The gate doesn’t matter so much right now, you need to get stronger. That should be your priority. I really don’t like putting all of this on one person, but the truth is, if you die prematurely, then there isn’t anything anyone will be able to do, and we will all be pretty much fucked. My power is limited. I can’t help you find and hunt Others, but there might be something I can do to help keep you alive.”

The mayor looked hesitant but held out his hand for Mason to take. “I’ve been alive a long time and have collected a lot of Chaos Essence. It should help.”

Mason didn’t entirely trust him. He was Mayry’s father, and that earned him some goodwill. But he was also an ancient self-proclaimed betrayer of gods, so naturally, Mason was a tad wary.

“My system has mentioned Chaos Essence before. What is the difference between the energy and the essence?”

Lowering his hand, the mayor went into lecturer mode, showing Mason exactly where Mayry got it from.

“The simplest way I can put it is that Chaos Essence is the primal form of Chaos Energy. A god’s essence is near infinite, and that is what makes them gods. Chaos Energy is what happens when it is diluted and left on its own to follow its nature; this is the source of ACT’s and Chaos abilities.

“Now, your system is already mostly made up of Chaos Essence; when you kill a monster or beast, you absorb the Chaos Energy in them, which will make you stronger, albeit very slowly, as most beings only have a tiny amount of energy. When you kill an Other, you’ll notice an increase in the power you gain as you are also absorbing the tiny amount of essence that their system is made up of.

“As an iteration of Chaos, I am almost entirely made up of essence and constantly absorb it from the world around me. Defeating Gael took a lot from me, but I can spare you some; it will do you a lot more good than it does me, as I’m vastly limited in what I’m able to do with my power as just a single iteration.”

Playing a hunch, Mason asked, “Do you know what these are?” He took out the Chaos orbs he looted from Aiden.

The mayor’s eyes grew hungry, and his hand reached for them without really meaning to.

“Dad?” Mayry asked uncertainly. She had been mostly quiet, but seeing the look in her dad’s eyes worried her. Mason put them back in his Inventory, and the mayor looked away.

“Huh, I’m sorry. Er, yes, those… feel like orbs of concentrated Chaos Essence. When the complete version of myself scattered his power to the world, iterations like myself and these orbs held his power. But I haven’t seen a Chaos orb intact in… a long, long time.”

“They were on Aiden’s body. Do you think they made them from the iteration they have captured?”

“…Possibly. It would mean they did far worse to the iteration they captured than just steal his power… I—you could absorb them, and over time, they will increase your power. You should be able to guide the essence of which part of your system you want to improve. It won’t be pleasant in the slightest, but they’ll help increase the rate of your growth.”

A moment passed, and the mayor stared at where Mason had held the orbs before he carried on like nothing had happened, “I’ll still offer you some of my essence, as you’ll notice a far more immediate change. I will warn you that it is going to hurt a lot. You won’t enjoy the process, but once it is done, you’ll want more and more. Essence, especially Chaos Essence, is very easy to get addicted to. So be wary.”

The mayor held out his hand again; this time, Mason took it.

At first, nothing happened. Then he felt a tingle in his fingers, so slight he thought he was imagining it. As it started to spread, it incrementally got more and more painful until it felt like fire was being forced through his veins. The pain was bad enough that, paired with the look on the mayor’s face when he saw the orbs, Mason thought the mayor might actually be trying to kill him.

It spread faster and faster until the pain was too much. Mason fell to his knees and collapsed to the floor.

Mayry ran forward to check on him, shooting a look at her father, who just shrugged. “I gave him all I could spare. He’ll be fine. This is just his body adjusting to the increase in power. I have somewhere we can keep talking.”

The mayor stepped through a door and gestured for his daughter to follow. She did, leaving the sleeping Mason to rest.

The door led to a much more comfortable-looking space.

“Now that’s out of the way, back to you. How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m calmer. I’m still mad at you, though. How could you not tell me any of this!” Realising she was on the verge of working herself up into a rage again, she took a breath.

“I am truly sorry, my dear. All I ever wanted was for you to live a normal life, but it seems you’ve stumbled into something much worse than I could have imagined.” To the man’s credit, he did look ashamed.

Mayry hadn’t fully forgiven him but knew she would in time. “How do I change back to being human?”

“Mayry… the first thing you need to understand is you were never and will never be human. Now that you’ve come into your demonic powers, the changes may seem bad, but you’ll come to accept them and lean on them.”

Mayry understood she wasn’t human, but a part of her still clung to the belief that she was.

The mayor continued, “However, with some practice, the physical changes can be hidden. The process is quite simple. All you need to do is close your eyes.” He closed his own, and Mayry copied him.

“Now, I want you to imagine two images of yourself, making them as perfect as you can: one of what you look like now and one of how you used to look. Once you do that, you should be able to choose which form you want to show.”

Mayry did as instructed and tried to conjure the two images. She had a great memory, so the task wasn’t difficult. She did wonder if she could make a slight alteration to one of the forms.

“Keep in mind, if you are using your human form, it will only last while you are calm. The moment you lose your temper, you’ll revert back to your demonic form, unable to switch back until you calm yourself.”

She felt her body start changing. She got shorter, her skin lightened and changed colour, and another change happened, one she regretted trying out in front of her father.

The man frowned at her. “You look different… Did you change something?”

Going her usual shade of bright pink, she swiftly redirected the conversation.

She asked, “Aren’t there any good gods that would help us against the others? If they did return, I mean.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly but chose to ignore whatever it was he noticed. “The way humans remember the gods is in some way biased and in other ways blatantly wrong. The gods were incredibly powerful and were the embodiment of concepts like order and chaos, but none were ever good or bad. They were always far closer to being amoral, only caring about their power and their domain, never those who lived in them as long as they showed the proper deference and respect.”

Mayry was slightly taken aback. From what she read, the Greater Gods had always been portrayed as the good guys and the Minor ones as the bad guys. If what her father said was true, things were much worse than she thought.

“It took hundreds of years, forced to live here among mortals, to give me any sense of what was good or bad. As Chaos, it’s still in my nature to do the unexpected, but I’ve… mostly, learned to tone that down.

“The war ended because the level of destruction was too much even for the gods to handle. My opposite, Order’s domain, was in pieces. They only agreed to the sleep spell so that when they woke, they could begin their war for dominance anew in a world that had a chance to repair itself from the destruction. If the gods return, even the best of them will want Mason dead. He has the potential to threaten their power, and because of that, they would never let him continue to exist.”

“You’re one of them. Why are you helping us? You’re my father, and I know you love me, I get that, but you’d go against others of your kind and even help Mason to kill them?”

The mayor chuckled. “You are my daughter, and of course I love you, but I’m doing this mostly out of self-preservation. If the gods came back and realised what I did, they’d erase me and every iteration of me from existence. Then, they would fight over my domain and what little power I have left. If that happens, there would be no more Chaos abilities. Admittedly, there would be no more ACT’s either, but if we get that far, there will be far more to worry about than some random monsters.”

* * *

Demonology is a branch of magical study that focuses on demons and their demonic offspring. It is relatively well-known that demons were once gods before being cursed during the Great War. What is less well-known is that while countless numbers of demi-demons walk this world, there are and will only ever be ten full-blooded demons.

You have no doubt heard tales and myths of demons that steal children in the night, burn villages to the ground, or even stories of otherworldly beauties running off with husbands. These stories, if they hold any truth, are far more likely to be about demi-demons than they are about demons themselves.

The demi-demons that walk among us are varied in looks, abilities, and even morality; many may not even be aware of what they are. Succubi, Berserkers, and Cambions are only a few of the kinds of demi-demons out there.

The following few chapters will take a closer look at several of the more common variations of demi-demons and discuss what we know about them.

– Excerpt from Demonological, Chapter 2: Demons and Their Offspring

Chapter 14

Upgrades

Mason awoke, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Bolting upright, he looked around and relaxed as memories came flooding back to him.

The talk with the mayor had been terrifying and added even more weight on his shoulders, making Mason fear for the future. But the Chaos Essence he absorbed from the man made Mason wake up feeling amazing. Raw power coursed through his veins instead of blood. The new power buzzed in him, making him crave a fight so he could stretch it like a muscle he didn’t know he had.

The boost was pretty massive! The essence had pushed every single one of his stats over 50! He would really need to start absorbing those Chaos orbs as soon as he could.

Before he could even look at his updated character sheet, a rapid series of dings sounded as a wave of notifications came through.

Notification 1/6

Unique Ability Absorb has been upgraded. You can now absorb more skills and better understand how to use them.

Notification 2/6

Your Strength stat has passed 50.

Your skill Ballistic Touch (Advanced) has been upgraded to Ballistic Control (Expert).

Ballistic Control (Expert) - More precision = More damage

Active Effect: While this ability is active, you imbue any object you touch with kinetic energy, making it shoot off at bullet-like speed in the direction of your choice. You can control its trajectory and velocity to some degree, improving precision and overall damage. Scales with Strength.

Notification 3/6

Your Agility stat has passed 50.

Your skill Teleport (Advanced) has been upgraded to Greater Teleportation (Expert).

Greater Teleportation (Expert) – Fast Travel.

Active Effect: Using your mini-map, you can now teleport to anywhere you have been in the last three days. You are unable to bring others using this ability; normal teleportation remains unchanged.

Notification 4/6

Your Willpower stat has passed 50.

Your skill Mental Manipulation (Advanced) has been upgraded to Mental Fuckery (Expert).

Mental Fuckery (Expert) – The minds of others bend to your will.

Active Effect: Twice a day, invade an enemy’s mind and cause them to see their allies as enemies and enemies as allies. Previous abilities are still available. Scales with Willpower.

Notification 5/6

Your Perception stat has passed 50.

Your skill Lesser Invisibility (Advanced) has been upgraded to True Invisibility (Expert)

True Invisibility (Expert) – Unseen, unheard, unscented, almost unknowable.

Active Effect: While the ability is active, you will be invisible, silent, and easily forgotten. You will be impossible to perceive with almost any mundane sense. Those with strong enough magical senses may still see through the ability.

The easily forgotten aspect will not work on anything that is at a higher level than you.

Attacking an enemy while undetected will boost damage. Scales with Perception.

Notification 6/6

Your skill Emotional Outburst (Advanced) has been upgraded to Emotional Therapy (Expert)

Emotional Therapy (Expert) – It’s okay to have emotions that hurt, just as long as you use those emotions to hurt others more.

Active Effect: The more emotional you become while in combat, the stronger and faster you become. While fighting, you give off a physical aura powered by your emotions; the stronger your emotions are, the stronger the aura. The aura will empower your allies while striking fear into the hearts of your enemies.

He was in awe of his upgrades. Some were going to be game-changing! The Ballistic Touch upgrade seemed only so-so, but he would need to test it out to be sure. Teleportation would make his life a lot easier if he were ever to travel alone again, though he wondered if he could use his Trunk to get around the no-passengers limitation.

Mental Fuckery and Emotional Therapy looked like they would be incredible, but his favourite had to be the new upgrade to his Invisibility skill. It would make taking down higher-level monsters and others much easier, even if part of the ability wouldn’t work on them.

He wondered if Mayry’s magic perception was strong enough to see through it still.

He eagerly checked his character sheet, wanting to see how it looked now.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 28

Current XP: 23,460 / 26,000

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 850

Mana Points (MP): 525

Stamina Points (SP): 370

Stats

Strength: 63 (+15)

Agility: 65

Endurance: 54

Vitality: 75

Resilience: 56 (+26)

Intelligence: 80 (+10%)

Perception: 59

Willpower: 55

Free Points: 3

Skills

Identify (Expert), Mana Control – INT (Expert), Emotional Therapy – PER (Expert), True Invisibility – PER (Expert), Random Greater Summon INT (Expert), Sarcastic Prick – INT (Expert), Mental Fuckery – WIL (Expert), Mental Resistance, Ballistic Control – STR (Expert), Division – INT (Expert), Greater Teleportation – AGI (Expert), Sacrificial Healing – VIT (Expert)

Base Skills

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced), System Guidebook (Basic)

Class Skills

Basic Monster Tracking, Evaluate Monster, Gather Intel

Seeing all of the great upgrades he got at the expert level made him throw his 3 free points into Intelligence just so he would be able to see what the Master level upgrade would bring when he reached 100.

Mason’s study of his newly upgraded abilities was cut short when a door opened, and a very human-looking Mayry stepped in. His eyes bulged as he looked at her. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but she looked great, even more than she usually did. Her human form had changed somehow. He couldn’t tell how, but he very much liked it.

“Wow, you look amazing! Not that I didn—” He cut himself off as she almost imperceptibly shook her head at him.

She smiled and asked, “You’re awake? How do you feel? You worried me there for a moment.”

Mason laughed. “I am not going to say it didn’t hurt like an absolute shit, but I feel incredible right now! The upgrades to my abilities are crazy, and I can’t wait to test them out!”

The mayor, standing behind Mayry, said, “I’m glad you are okay. Just remember, power gained from essence, especially Chaos Essence, is addictive, so just be careful not to take risks to get more.”

“I think I’m okay. I don’t have any uncontrollable need to go out and slaughter any Others right now, but I’ll be careful.”

* * *

They left the mayor and returned to their inn room. Mason needed time to process the boosts to his stats and the upgrades to his abilities. He also needed to figure out what to do next, yet as he sat there, he felt an intense urge to go out and do something. Not necessarily hunt a bunch of Others, but something! Sitting in the inn doing nothing just felt wrong.

A part of him suspected this was the addiction the mayor warned him about, but he wasn’t too concerned. He was still in control, and if he were ever going to reach level 50, he would need to go out eventually.

He understood that even if they knew where the gate was, he wasn’t nearly ready to enter and face a horde of Others, let alone the elders, who likely had far more power and experience than he did.

What he could do was go out and hunt some of the Others training in this world. In some way, he would be a lot like them, doing whatever was needed to reach level 50 and go through the gate. Of course, he wasn’t a psychopath and had morals, so not exactly like them.

Taking out the map he’d looted from Aiden’s body, he laid it on the table for himself and Mayry to look at. The map showed a massive portion of the country.

There were circled areas with scribbled notes Mason could just barely make out. It looked like the names and factions of other Others. Aiden and Gael had been scouting out their competition. There were only six circles on the map, with no other information on levels or how many Others were there. If he were lucky, which was unlikely, it would be the norm for them to be in pairs like Gael and Aiden instead of bigger groups.

He would need to take another look at Aiden’s journal to try and figure out what they were planning. Were they going to attempt killing them in their sleep or go for an all-out attack?

There were also three X’s on the map, with one right on top of the hole they found Aiden in. Mayry thought they were probably more hideouts and might be a good place to look for loot.

The current plan was to get Mason to level 50 and beyond. The fastest way to do that would be to kill Others, except he didn’t want to run into a battle like that without first testing his increase in power and new abilities, as it could be a distraction in the midst of battle and get him killed. He needed something stupid to fight first and get used to his new power.

It would also benefit Mayry to at least try and test her new demonic powers before fighting any Others.

After hours of staring at Mayry, he finally asked what she’d changed. Her reply was just to smirk at him and say he would find out later if ‘he was good.’

* * *

Their first stop had been the Hunters Association, where they hoped to take out some contracts for some powerful but not too-powerful monsters.

He and Mayry looked over the selection of contracts and took a few each that sounded interesting.

Next, they dropped off their basilisk armour to Geraint. Mayry’s wasn’t nearly as ruined as Mason’s, but repairs were definitely needed.

While they were there, Geraint mentioned that Nina was also a hunter and was currently out on a contract. Apparently, it was the younger girl’s first solo contract. Geraint hinted that they should keep an eye out for her just in case she got into trouble she couldn’t handle.

The last stop before they headed out was to see Viv, Mayry’s Alchemist friend.

They didn’t really need any more potions, as Mason still had a pretty decent stockpile in his Trunk, but Mayry wanted to visit and get the latest gossip.

Mason was curious to see if the woman was still mad at him for accidentally collapsing the cave she used to gather ingredients. If the woman still held the grudge, then Mason had a plan to distract her.

Opening the door to the shop, he was hit with the now-familiar scent of herbs, spices, and brewing potions. It wasn’t a bad smell, though not exactly pleasant.

An old man hobbled out from the backroom and rolled his eyes. He returned to the back, and then a young girl walked out.

Mason discovered the first time he had come to the shop that Vivenya Gracetone was one of the greatest Alchemists alive. She’d been drinking at the local tavern when she stumbled back and accidentally reset her age to five. It had been years since then, and she was able to figure out the amazing feat and recreate it.

“What do you want?” The question was directed at Mason. The look of disdain she gave him was questionable on the face of a young girl, but Mason gave her a wide smile.

“I come with a peace offering,” he said.

He removed the various materials and ingredients from his Inventory and laid them out on the table.

He considered adding the Clop Wand, but didn’t think he could take any more giggling from Mayry, and it’d proven to be an effective weapon.

Mason also included the crack he had procured from the Crack Hen, the troll snot, and a few other things he looted from various monsters, as well as Aiden’s stuff.

She looked over everything, examining several. When she came to the crack, she narrowed her eyes at him, and asked suspiciously, “What do you know?”

Mason blanked at the question, not understanding. “Err, nothing… I thought it might be useful in Alchemy, is all.”

“Hmm…” Was the only response he got.

When she finished examining all the materials, she nodded and smiled. “My favourite customer! What can I do for you?”

Mason assumed that meant she was letting the grudge go. He had been hoping to get some money for all of the stuff, but it wasn’t like he needed the cash. They ended up buying a selection of potions from her for very good prices. She even went through a few things she had been working on that she hadn’t had a chance to test. He was a bit wary about trying them, but as long as they didn’t actually kill him, he would probably be fine.

Chapter 15

Bargain

They each chose a contract. That way, even if one turned out to be a bust, they could practice their new abilities on the other. Although, neither looked like they would pose a massive problem. As long as no problems arose, they planned on it only taking a few days.

First, Mason had taken out a contract to investigate and kill an unknown monster who had been terrorising a farm just south of Sparksford. The only details in the contract were that the monster attacked only at night, nobody had actually seen it, and every time it attacked, paw prints and dead animals were the only signs it left behind.

They’d chosen it to do first, as it had the potential to be the one that took the longest. If they couldn’t find a way to track the monster, then they’d be stuck waiting around for it to attack. The only problem there, is that it attacked most nights but not every night. Meaning, at worst, they could be there for a few days. In an ideal world, Mason’s Basic Monster Tracking Hunter skill would be enough for them to find whatever it was.

Chatting with the farmhands who worked in the fields confirmed what the contract already said. The monster was thought to have some sort of stealth ability, and usually attacked only a single animal each time.

They were shown one of the paw prints the creature left behind. If this were Earth, he would say it came from a large dog or cat, but here, it could be any number of things with similar paws.

His Basic Monster Tracking ability gave them the vague direction the monster had gone and a vague sense that it had been a while ago.

After scouting the area, they found nothing. On their trek back, Mayry stopped and stared at something.

She stood stock still until Mason asked, “Do you see something?”

It took a few more seconds for her to reply, “No… maybe? There is a faint trace of magic, but it’s old.” She got closer and bent down to pick something up.

Mason got closer, except her hand was empty.

“Err, did you find something?”

“Yes…” she replied, not volunteering any extra information.

He put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly and said, “Mayry, you know there’s nothing in your hand, right?”

She glared at him. “It’s invisible, dumbass; hold out your hand.”

Mason felt something fall into it. Rubbing it against his fingers, it felt like fur. “Well, I guess that explains why nobody ever sees the monster when it attacks.”

* * *

It was late evening, and Mason and Mayry were taking turns keeping watch for the monster. One would stay awake while the other slept in the Trunk. It was far easier for Mayry, as she had magic sight, but she insisted he would know if the creature attacked, as it would probably try to maul him before he noticed.

Mason wasn’t happy about the current situation. He felt like they should be out hunting down the Others, not on a stakeout waiting for a monster that may or may not attack. Taking out the contracts had been his idea, but he really just wanted something he and Mayry could fight; he wasn’t a fan of all this waiting around.

It was only a half hour into his watch, but he was already feeling very… very… sleepy…

A terrified mooing sound woke him. He looked up and saw an annoyed Mayry looking down at him.

“Fell asleep, huh?”

“No, I was just resting my eyes,” he replied defiantly.

Standing up and stretching, he looked over at the noise that woke him. In the misty night, a vague outline of a big creature over by the cow field was visible. He tried to Identify it but failed as he was either not close enough or couldn’t see the creature well enough for the ability to work.

He held out his hand to Mayry; she took it without question. Mason teleported them both closer to the monster, who was now chowing down on a cow. They were hiding behind stacks of hay a few metres away. He still couldn’t see it, but the blood splatters let him see the creature’s outline well enough for his Identify skill to work.

Monster—Level 53 Cat Sith—The Cat Sith is a stealthy and mysterious creature known for its sleek black fur and piercing yellow eyes. It is whispered that it may be of the Fae.

Okay, if the fae did exist, then he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to fuck with this thing. A lot of the stories he read about the fae painted them as trickster fairy creatures like Tinkerbell, but there were also the other stories, older ones, that showed them as beautiful, proud beings that were very powerful and very easily offended.

“Mayry,” Mason whispered, “I’m not so sure we should do this.”

“What? Why not! We’ve been waiting here all night, and now that it’s here, you want to back out?”

“Its description says the creature might be of the fae!” Mason whispered, urgency evident in his tone.

“What the fuck is a fae?”

“The fae? The Fair Folk, no? Okay, well, there are a lot of stories on Earth about the fae! If we mess with them now, they’ll steal our firstborn child or something!” Mason said, trying to emphasise his point.

Mayry didn’t reply, and Mason looked over—her eyes had gone wide. Mason whipped his head around, looking for whatever danger she had seen, but there was no incoming attack.

“Wh-what?” he asked confused.

“Nothing… haha. Just… our firstborn child? You think of things like that?” she asked.

Mason’s face turned pink. “Yeah, no, well, I mean, it was just an example, but… but can we focus on the giant invisible cat and come back to this later?”

Looking back to the Cat Sith, she nodded.

“Well, we can’t just leave it here. What happens when it runs out of cows and starts attacking people?”

That was a good point. He would feel horrible if he left it here and it started killing the farm workers, but what could he do? His only real options were to kill it and risk pissing off some fairies or leave it alone for it to start killing the locals. A very lose-lose situation.

If it was a fae creature, then maybe it could talk. Perhaps it could be reasoned with?

“I think I’m going to try and talk to it,” Mason said, his voice filled with uncertainty.

“Mason. It’s a giant fucking cat. It’s going to eat you,” Mayry said frantically.

“If it is of the fae, then it will probably have at least some sapience. If it isn’t and it attacks me, I’ll just kill it, and our first kid can just be a write-off,” he joked but hurriedly teleported closer to the Cat Sith when he saw the glare on Mayry’s face.

Now that he was only a few feet away, he could see that the creature’s invisibility wasn’t as perfect as his own ability. It shimmered slightly in the moonlight.

The creature’s actual size was quite intimidating. It was nothing compared to the basilisk or even the Crack Hen, but something about it resembling a cat freaked him out. Growing up on Earth, the scariest thing he had even the slightest possibility of running into was something like a lion or tiger… or bear, but that wasn’t relevant. The fear he felt from this creature was deeply ingrained in his psyche.

Scared or not, Mason took a breath and said, “Hi.” The giant cat froze still as stone before it went right back to devouring the cow.

Okay, well, that didn’t work. Err… “Meow?” he tried.

Again, the cat’s outline froze. This time, it regarded him. Its stealth ability turned off, and it appeared. Its fur was as black as the night that surrounded it. Its yellow eyes were fixed on Mason with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. Long claws protruded from its massive paws, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

As Mason looked into its eyes, he heard a deep, rumbling voice in his head, “Human. Did you just meow at me?”

Mason wasn’t sure how to reply mentally, so he just spoke out loud, “Well, yeah.” It had mostly been a result of letting his intrusive thoughts win, one he felt a bit embarrassed by. “I did, yeah, but in my defence, I said ‘hi’ first. You didn’t react. I wasn’t sure if you could speak.”

It lowered its head so its eyes were level with his. It narrowed them at him. “What do you want?”

“Well, my friend and I are here on a hunter contract—” Before he could finish his sentence, the Cat Sith disappeared, this time without the slightest shimmer. Mason shouted, not knowing whether it was really gone or not, “We aren’t going to hurt you! I don’t want any problems with fae!”

The stillness of the night made him shudder, then just the cat’s head appeared, seemingly floating in midair. “You know of the fae?” it asked in his head; the projection of the voice was accompanied by a sense of amusement and surprise.

“I do!” Mason said. “So, you are of the fae?”

The cat monster rematerialised fully, its form imposing in the moonlight. “I am. If you hunters do decide to attack me, it won’t end well for you. Your friends got in a lucky strike. They weren’t so lucky a second time.”

“Friends?” Mason’s heart quickened, a sense of unease creeping over him.

“Other hunters who came and attacked. They injured me, and they paid the price.”

“They injured you? Are you okay now? I can heal you,” Mason offered, concern etched into his voice.

“It was nothing.” The cat monster turned, revealing a large gap in its black fur, swollen and green with infection. “I have been hungrier since the attack.”

Mason gestured to where Mayry was still hiding, beckoning her to come over.

When she got closer, he said, “It’s okay. He isn’t going to attack us if we don’t attack first.”

Mayry’s eyes were wide in amazement. She reached out and touched it. Mason was about to stop her, but the giant cat didn’t seem to mind. “You are beautiful,” she said, mesmerised by the Cat Sith. “My name is—” Mason elbowed her, cutting her off. She shot him an annoyed glare but saw him wide-eyed, staring at her and shaking his head.

It was nice knowing things she didn’t. Usually, it was the opposite, with him being absolutely clueless. He was just glad he stopped her.

The creature let out a rumble that Mason interpreted as a laugh. “Hah, so you do truly know of the fae. You are wise not to share your name. You can call me Azra; it is not my name, but it will do.”

“Okay, Azra, we need you to stop attacking the cattle here. Let me heal you and take you somewhere else, somewhere no hunters will bother you, and you can hunt all you want.”

The cat monster narrowed its eyes. “Heal this wound, and I can leave this place on my own. There is magic in the cut that has anchored me to this world. I tire of this realm, heal me, and I will go.”

This was great. He probably wouldn’t be able to collect the bounty, but the Cat Sith would be gone, and he could move on to the next contract and actually fight something! He knew from stories that deals with the fae were often not what they seemed, but this one was pretty straightforward. “Okay, deal.”

“Hmm. No. Not a deal. Not yet. The bargain must be equal on both sides. If you heal me and I go, I will still be in your debt. That can not be allowed. You must ask for more.”

Mason considered his options. He needed to come up with something that would balance the deal. He glanced at Mayry, who shrugged; she had less of an idea than he did.

The only thing he could think of was his possible battle with the gods… A level 52 giant cat probably wouldn’t be that helpful, but it couldn’t hurt. Anyway, he was confident that he would get in plenty of fights between now and then, and having a fae on his side couldn’t hurt.

“I understand,” Mason said, his mind racing. “In exchange for healing you and helping you to leave this place, you must aid us in battle if we ever call upon you. Is that acceptable?”

Azra’s eyes narrowed as it considered the proposal. After a moment of silence, it nodded. “You may call on me once. I will come. Heal me, and let the bargain be struck.”

Mason could not believe the first time he would use his healing ability was on a giant cat fae creature. He thought the deal was a pretty good one. Healing didn’t cost him a thing, and he would get a badass Cat Sith Summons to help him out. He would save it for when he needed it or at least try not to use it impulsively.

He placed his hand on the cat’s surprisingly soft fur and activated his healing ability. The cat’s muscles instantly relaxed, and healing flowed into them. As Mason’s Mana started to decrease, his side exploded in pain.

He’d known he would have to take on the pain of what he was healing, but he hadn’t realised the true extent. The fact that the Cat Sith had been enduring this for who knows how long was crazy. The longer he healed, the worse the pain got. His side split open, the bleeding enough that it leaked through his armour into his boots.

He let go of the cat with one of his hands and pulled a healing potion out of his Inventory. He downed it and felt the potion and the wound battling for dominance inside him.

The Cat Sith seemed indifferent to his pain, just enjoying the sensation of being healed.

As soon as the wound on the cat was healed, he let go and stepped back, panting and falling to his knees. The pain hadn’t yet stopped, and he wondered how long it was going to last. The skill’s description said: You will temporarily take on what you are healing. But how bloody temporarily!

Now fully healed, the Cat Sith bowed its head low. “Thank you, human,” it said, raising its head and disappearing, this time for good.

Mason fell the rest of the way to the ground and lay there, willing the wound to go away. Mayry rushed over and said something to him, but he couldn’t make sense of the words. After a few minutes of torment, the pain started to recede.

“Remind me to think twice before using my healing ability on mysterious infected wounds again.”

* * *

The founder of the Town of Sparksford is surrounded by mystery; nobody seems to know much about him. What is known is that it was a distant relative of our current mayor. After some digging around, it seems that the fire that took our founder’s life was also what erased much of the town’s early history. The blaze, which engulfed the family’s library, conveniently destroyed countless documents, including a detailed archive of the family’s lineage. This has left historians puzzled for generations, with only fragmented pieces of the past remaining.

However, there’s something peculiar about the timing and circumstances of that fire. It wasn’t just any blaze—it was an inferno that seemed almost too deliberate, too thorough. Rumors whisper that the fire wasn’t an accident at all, but a carefully orchestrated event. Some speculate that it was set by the founder himself, a man who desired to disappear into legend, wiping away any trace of his true identity.

What if the fire was a cover-up, a way to fake his own death? And what if our current mayor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to portraits of the founder, is not merely a distant relative, bu…

– Excerpt from half-destroyed notebook found in the mayor’s residence.

Chapter 16

Happy Little Hunter

“Okay, one down and one to go,” Mayry said, taking out their last contract. “This one has even fewer details than the last. I chose it because it sounded interesting and mysterious. Three other hunters have already been out here, but two returned and rejected the job, the other never returned.”

“Ooo, yeah, that is mysterious. Does it say why they rejected it?”

“No… All it says is there have been sightings of monsters coming in and out of a cave. It’s not that far. Depending on what the monsters are, we can probably get it done by the end of the day! Then we can relax for a while.”

“Relax? Now you’re speaking my language!” Mason moved behind her and started massaging her shoulders. He put his mouth close to her ear and whispered, “How should we relax?”

A shiver ran through Mayry before she shrugged him off. “You’ll just have to wait and see. C’mon, let’s get this done…” Winking, she added, “As fast as possible.”

* * *

With Mason able to teleport them around, it only took a few minutes for them to find the specific cave in question. He was starting to run low on Mana when they were a five-minute walk away, so they walked as he recharged. They could see the cave just up ahead; it looked disappointingly normal.

He didn’t know what he had been expecting. Maybe ominous lights, strange runes, or even a ton of booby traps that might have put off the other hunters, but it just looked like any other normal cave.

No matter! As his mother always said, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and as long as there was something he could fight on the inside of the cave, he would be a happy little hunter.

They made it to the mouth of the cave and still saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Are you sure this is the right cave?” Mason asked.

Mayry stared at the contract again. “I think so? All these caves look the same! And you were no help navigating!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, maybe next time we use your teleportation power,” he shot back. “Anyway, I’m not so great with maps. We’d probably end up somewhere in southern France if I were in charge of the map.”

“Where’s—never mind. Let’s check it out, and if anything in there has mouths bigger than their heads, we can probably assume it’s the right cave. Fair?”

“Aye, aye, Cap’n Sparks! Lead on?”

“Oh, so you’re a pirate now?” She smacked herself in the face, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, “I can’t believe I have sex with you.”

The moment they entered the cave, the most horrendous stench they had ever experienced hit them so hard it felt almost like a physical force.

They scrambled back out of the cave as quickly as they could, emptying the contents of their stomachs on the ground.

“That was—”pausing to puke again, “—horrible.” For once, Mason cursed his high Perception atat. He reckoned the only reason the smell hadn’t knocked him out was his Resilience working overtime to counteract his enhanced sense of smell.

“No wonder none of the other hunters who took this contract completed it. I don’t know if I want to find out what kind of creature makes that kind of disgusting stench.”

Quest Received! The smell of the Dungeon

Quest Objective - Kill all monsters in the dungeon and rescue the test subject before it is too late.

Reward - Loot the dungeon for a unique potion.

Accept? Y/N

He mentally accepted the quest and relayed it to Mayry.

“There is a person trapped in there with that smell!” Mayry exclaimed.

“There is. We need to figure out what to do next. I could send in a clone, but I doubt he’ll enjoy the smell any more than we do…”

“I could start a fire and put it out from here before it starts to spread. See if anything or anyone comes to investigate.”

“That could work. Just make sure to put it out, or you could hurt whoever is trapped in there.”

Mayry summoned a small fireball to her hand and shot it into the cave. Mason wasn’t sure if the fire would spread at all, as the cave was made of stone, but as the fireball landed, Mason could see that there was moss covering the cave floor.

The fire started to grow slowly. Mason and Mayry waited, hoping that either the fire would be able to burn away some of the smell or that one of the creatures would come and investigate. The former worked to an extent. Mason experimentally stuck his head into the cave and took a very cautious sniff that made him cough and choke. The odor was marginally better, except now it was mixed with the smell of smoke.

The latter part of the plan worked, and a few minutes after the fire started, they saw what they could only call a blob monster emerge from deeper in the cave. It looked like something from a truly terrifying nightmare: mostly a mass of flesh with limbs poking out at random—some human, some not—stretched and twisted into jagged angles. The sight was almost as bad as the smell it brought with it.

Up until now, Mason hadn’t thought it was actually possible to see stink lines, but this creature proved him wrong. Wavy green lines leaked out from all over the creature. It had multiple sets of eyes scattered all over its body, as if it were an amalgamation of several people and creatures squashed into one entity.

The creature undulated toward the fire like a snail, leaving behind a wet, shimmering trail of slime.

It was almost painful to look at, but Mason did so long enough to use his Identify ability.

Monster - Level 28 Cronenburgian Monstrosity - Once human, these horrifying freaks of nature have been changed by Magic, Science, or simple Dumb Luck into monsters, with only the barest hint of their human form remaining. I would really recommend against letting one touch you.

It was some sort of experiment, meaning the test subject the quest referred to was in danger of being turned into one of those things. This one was only level 28, but fighting them would be difficult if they couldn’t do something about the stench.

At least they could lure this one outside and kill it to see what it was like in a fight. It looked slow, and he couldn’t imagine it being very smart.

Picking up a stone, he used his Ballistic Control on it and shot it toward the monster as fast as a bullet. With the ability’s latest upgrade, he found he had a sense of where the stone was going to hit; it was currently telling him that the stone was going to miss. He tweaked its trajectory slightly and ensured it hit the creature in the dead centre of its mass.

It reeled at the hit and, faster than he imagined possible, crawled toward them.

Before he could do anything, Mayry stepped in front of him, and with determination in her eyes, asked, “Let me have this one?”

He smirked and teleported himself off to the side to keep from getting in the way.

Mayry shifted to the side as the monster reached her and, already partly transformed, raked her claws against its flesh.

It was durable, but its huge mass of flesh was thick and difficult to penetrate. However, her razor-sharp claws managed to get through, opening a long wound that intensified the smell in the air. She scrambled away, trying to escape the horrific stench and shot an ice spike at it. The smell alone that permeated the air managed to melt her attack before it got close, leaving only a puddle of water on the ground.

The blob again moved faster than either of then expected it to be capable of, and lunged at her. Mason took an involuntary step forward, wanting to intervene, but managed to hold himself back, hoping she would be able to recover. He yelled to her, “Don’t let it touch you!”

At that exact moment, one of the creature’s limbs wrapped around her arm, but his shout caused her to look his way, and she didn’t see it coming.

To his horror, the creature pulled her off her feet. The moment her body made contact with the creature, its flesh it rippled and sucked her in.

Caught off guard, he froze, not knowing how to react. What was it doing to her? Was she being digested in the thing’s stomach, or was it something more nefarious?

Snapping out of his stupor, Mason concentrated on using his Mana Control to make ropes of Mana and wrap them around the creature. Where the Mana touched the creature’s flesh, it started smoking and bubbling. He wrapped it up as tightly as he could and then mentally pulled on the rope, being cautious at first, not wanting to accidentally hurt his girlfriend, but soon enough he was pulling on the ropes as hard as he could, barley managing to get through its tough hide.

In his panicked state the concentration it took to maintain the ropes was immense, but he endured. The creature thrashed around violently, and Mason just hoped all those movements weren’t hurting Mayry.

His heart raced with panic as the monster’s struggles grew more and more aggressive, and it took more concentration to keep it contained. Mayry’s life was at stake; he couldn’t let this freak experiment overwhelm him.

With every fibre of his being focused on the task, he kept tightening the Mana ropes, feeling a surge of relief as they sliced through the creature’s flesh.

But as the ropes cut deeper, the creature’s thrashing intensified. Mason could hear Mayry’s muffled cries from within its grotesque form. Gritting his teeth, he pushed harder and harder, his Mana draining fast. He needed to act fast before it was too late.

Summoning all his strength, he tightened his grip on the Mana rope, feeling pure energy burning his hand, and pulled on it, both mentally and physically hell-bent on increasing the pressure of the ropes, willing them to slice through the creature’s body just a little bit more. The monster let out an unearthly howl, and finally, with one last powerful tug, the disgusting creature exploded in a torrent of flesh, blood, guts, and slime. The smell seeped into everything and almost made him throw up again, but seeing Mayry on the ground allowed him to push the feeling away.

He ran over to her and checked her pulse. Mayry was almost dying; an occurrence that was becoming more and more frequent. He needed to get stronger, not only so he could protect her but also so she would get stronger and be able to protect herself. Her pulse was strong, and she seemed fine, but she wasn’t moving. He lifted an eyelid and saw it move around erratically. He thought that might mean she was conscious, but being inside the creature clearly had some sort of paralytic effect.

He wasn’t sure if it would work or not, but he laid his hands on her, activating his Sacrificial Healing ability. With his high Vitality and Resistance stats, the paralysing effect he absorbed from Mayry only made him a bit sluggish, and the few cuts and bruises disappeared as fast as they appeared.

As soon as he was done healing her, she sat up and immediately puked. The next thing she did was pull him into a hug, covering him with even more of the creature’s slime and guts.

“Thanks for the hug and all… but you reek.”

She pulled back and swatted him. “So do you! I am never going to get this stink out of my hair.” She pointed to the sky and shot a powerful jet of water upwards, causing gravity to bring it back down as if it were heavily raining. It only took a minute or two to clear most of the creature’s putrid remains from the surroundings, but clumps of it still clung to their bodies.

“What the heck do we do now?” Mayry asked. “I think I could fight a few of those things if my demon side got the chance to kick in. The moment it touched me, though, I couldn’t move an inch.”

“I’m going to summon something and get it to go in and draw them out one at a time.” He looked over at her with a grin. “If you could try not to get eaten this time, that would be great.”

The glare Mayry gave him made him chuckle. The fireball she threw at him did not.

Chapter 17

Super Clean

He hadn’t used his Random Greater Summon ability since it had been upgraded and was very curious to see what would happen. The new description said: Creature has a much higher chance of being useful for your particular need at the time of summoning. This gave him hope that whatever appeared wouldn’t have a sense of smell, though the ability had been very hit-and-miss in the past, like when it summoned a perfectly normal pig to help him fight Dire Wolves.

As usual, when Mason used his Random Summon ability, a crack in reality appeared midair. This time, instead of something immediately appearing, a loud hissing, crackling sound emitted from the hole.

The sound grew louder and louder until liquid started pouring out from the crack. The pungent smell reminded him of hospitals and laundromats. It was a tad overpowering, but was a very welcome change from the horrible odor of the flesh monsters that had been left behind. The liquid continued to drain, but wasn’t behaving like regular liquid.

It moved as if it had a mind of its own. Slowly, it took shape, becoming a humanoid figure around eight feet tall. It was translucent, with swirling patterns that resembled mist. The hissing, crackling sound continued as the figure solidified, its features becoming more defined as more liquid poured into it. Mason watched on in amazement as the figure formed. Based on the smell, he had a hunch about what it might be, but he checked with his Identify anyway.

Monster - Bleach Elemental Level 25

What do you get when you expose a bottle of toilet cleaner to raw cosmic power? A bleach elemental, of course! Gaining sapience, this bottle of bleach had sworn an oath to cleanse the world of filth and grime! It sensed your need and answered your summons… This may be its hardest clean yet!

If his system truly was created by his personality, then some of the things it came up with really made him worry about his sanity. Its description made the summoned monster sound like a superhero!

Was the backstory it gave real, or had the system just made it up on the spot? Huh, the way the liquid formed made it sort of look like it had a cape.

The bleach elemental turned its head as if to survey the area. It obviously didn’t like what it saw, so it started methodically making its way over the blood and guts-covered stone ground, leaving spotless, almost shiny stone behind. Mason watched in awe as the Bleach Elemental purified everything it touched. Everything that once covered the stone floated into the creature and dissolved as if in acid.

The elemental moved deeper into the cave, following the trail of slime the Cronenbergian monstrosity had left. Mason walked after it cautiously, keeping a safe distance and allowing the fumes to dissipate a bit first before he followed. Mayry helped by using her air elemental powers to cycle in clean air while pushing out as much of the fumes as she could. The look on her face told Mason it was taking a fair bit of concentration, so he refrained from making a fart joke and turned his attention back to the elemental.

He couldn’t help gawking at the creature’s utter dedication to cleaning. More than once, it whipped its head back and shot a spurt of bleach at a spot it missed.

At the rate the elemental was moving, finding the test subject was going to take ages. He wanted to hurry the elemental up but doubted he could convince the creature to rush its cleaning process, going by the dedication showed thus far.

As they got deep enough into the cave that the light from outside was blocked, Mason noticed a slight glow emanating from the air itself that was enough for him to see clearly, especially with his enhanced senses.

It was a while before they ran into more of the flesh abominations. As they came into view, the bleach elemental started to twitch erratically as if the sight was too much for it to process. It opened its mouth and let out an odd hissing, battle cry, then charged at the monsters, viciously attacking them.

It exploded outward, causing bleach to rain from the cave’s ceiling. While the elemental’s bleach only made Mason’s and Mayry’s skin tingle, it ate away at the monster’s flesh, leaving them as nothing but puddles of goop on the ground.

As summoned creatures go, the bleach elemental was a perfect counter for the flesh monsters. They explored the vast cave system, and each time they entered a new open space, they were set upon by more of the monsters. While the elemental did the majority of the fighting, the sheer number of them meant that Mason and Mayry did their fair share of fighting.

Mason had just finished destroying one of the monsters when he turned around and watched as the elemental got too close to one of the creatures. As had happened with Mayry, one of its tentacle-like appendages shot out and pulled the elemental into its body. For a moment, nothing happened. The flesh monster managed to look smug despite not having a whole set of facial features. It made to advance on Mason, when the flesh all over its body started bubbling and melting away. A hole appeared, and the bleach elemental poured out, leaving the monster to melt from the inside out.

The Ding of a notification broke Mason’s trance, staring at the gruesome sight he had brought on.

Quest updated! The smell of the Dungeon

Quest Objective - Kill all monsters in the dungeon and rescue the test subject before it is too late.

Update: In 5 minutes, the test subject will begin the irreversible transformation process. Rescue them before the transformation begins. Time remaining 04.58

Reward - Loot the dungeon for a unique potion.

“Crap.” He looked to the elemental, who was still reforming into its humanoid form. “Any chance we could hurry this up at all?”

He didn’t get a response from it, though did get a questioning look from Mayry.

He relayed the quest update to her. He should help whoever it was, but he didn’t want to leave Mayry. Her expression turned grim as she processed the urgency of the situation. “You don’t have time to waste. Take a deep breath and go! We’ll be fine here,” she said, her voice resolute. Before he had the chance to follow her directions, she pulled him into a kiss and added, “Be careful.”

Flashing her a grin, he ran farther into the cave. Just before he passed the elemental, who was still cleaning up, he took a deep breath and held it.

Even with his breath held, he could feel the air change around him, the stench almost a physical force trying to force its way into his nostrils.

He turned a corner and came face to face with a hoard of abominations. With the timer running, he was feeling more and more stressed, and while usually this would be a bad thing, his Emotional Outburst ability just made him stronger. He blasted through the first couple of monsters, but when a limb wrapped around his leg and yanked him toward being almost absorbed, he teleported and dodged past the rest of them, heading to where he hoped the test subject was.

While the cave system was big, it wasn’t very complex. So far, it had been one cave connected to another by a short tunnel without any forks going off in other directions, meaning that if he kept going, he should find what he was looking for eventually. He dodged through cave after cave of monsters until he felt his vision start to blur, and his lungs burst. He stopped, took out his Trunk, and stuck his head in. The few breaths of fresh air he got were glorious before the stink started to creep in. With one last deep breath, he withdrew his head, slammed the lid shut, and continued on before the stink could ruin his beloved Trunk.

He advanced through a long, narrow cave, not coming across a single monster. Suspicious, he teleported to the end just in case there were traps. A strange feeling came over him, the sort you get when you find a save point right before a boss fight. At the end of the long tunnel, was the biggest cave he had seen so far. The ceiling was high up enough that he was unable to see it, even with the strange glow that filled the air.

He checked the timer—only about half the time remained. Stepping forward, he was unsurprised when something huge fell from above. It was so cliché he half expected battle music to start playing.

The boss monster resembled the regular abominations, in that it was a huge mass of flesh; beyond that, it was very much a whole other, far more grotesque creature. It was magnitudes bigger, with a body that was an amalgamation of mismatched parts from various sources. Most looked to be human, but there was also the lower body that looked like it belonged to a horse, the head of several creatures Mason couldn’t identify, and several pairs of antlers, as well as evidence of hundreds of its other poor unfortunate victims.

Dozens of eyes filled with unsettling intelligence dotted the mass of its body, all staring at him.

Mason felt his stomach lurch just by looking at the monster; he didn’t dare think of how it might smell.

Monster—Level 57 Cronenburgian Boss Abomination—This is the mummy of all the other monsters you’ve killed today, and she is not happy with you.

Once she has eaten enough live biomass, she internally squishes them together until they’re nice and horrifying and then craps out a whole new widdle abomination baby. The whole process is quite traumatising for everyone involved. Lucky for you her latest meal hasn’t yet been digested so you still have a little bit of time to save the poor bastard.

* * *

Mayry

Mayry wondered how her life had come to this. She was in the middle of nowhere, in a cave that smelled worse than death, fighting creatures so disgusting that she lacked the words to adequately describe them.

No matter how she thought about it, the blame was easiest to direct toward Mason. Her life had been relatively normal until she met him. No Others, no daily monster encounters, and no caves that stunk to all Chaos.

Although, even with all the bad, she still wouldn’t have changed a thing… Okay, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. She most definitely would have chosen a different contract. She just knew the smell would linger for days on end.

Maybe she could find a ritualist who knew some sort of deep cleaning rite. Once they were done here, she would need one. Usually, the brain eventually gets used to bad smells, but this one refused to fade from her awareness, not even a little bit. The smell of the elemental helped a lot, but every time one of the monsters died, the stench intensified; their insides reeked a whole lot worse than their outside.

Throughout her time in the cave, her fighting had caused her human form to slip away and her true demon self to take over. Every abomination she killed made her a little taller, a little stronger, and her fire burn a little hotter. For the first time, she felt like she might be able to get used to the change.

After her experience outside, with the first of the monsters she had encountered, killing the things had gotten a lot easier. Her black demon fire burned the abominations’ flesh a lot better than her normal fire. But with the pros of her demon form came one irritating con. The further she let herself slip into her berserker form, the better her sense of smell got. Between each fight, she forced herself to relax and calm down just to get a break from the overwhelming bad smell.

In each fight, she took out a few at a time, but the elemental Mason had summoned was on a whole other level. The thing hated the freakish flesh monsters with a passion; it burned through the creatures like the abomination’s existence was a personal affront.

Mason had run off ahead a few minutes earlier to try to save whoever else was here, and she’d stayed back, mostly because she hadn’t wanted to slow him down. Also, the smell wasn’t nearly as unbearable where she was.

After killing what felt like hundreds of the damn things, she and the elemental came to an empty, much narrower tunnel. Sounds of fighting echoed from the other side. She had been worried that she would struggle to find Mason, but as usual, all she needed to do was follow the sound of chaos.

She ran through the tunnel, the elemental right behind her. She emerged into a huge cave just in time to see Mason, unconscious, being roughly dragged along the cave floor toward the biggest monster she had ever seen.

In the space of a second, her body filled with power as she fully let herself succumb to her rage.

Chapter 18

Girl Talk

Looking up at the giant pulsating mass of flesh, Mason gulped.

The monster’s many limbs shot out at random, making it almost impossible for him to doge effectively. He was still holding his breath, but it got more difficult each time he had no choice but to take a hit.

He didn’t want to test his theory, but judging by the green aura surrounding the massive monster, he suspected it smelled even worse than its smaller counterparts. Usually, he had no time to focus on the HP bars of the monsters he fought, but on this occasion, his eyes were glued to it.

Feeling silly, he pulled out what he now knew to be a unicorn’s penis and activated the weapon with a muttered, “Clop clop.” He cursed himself for wasting his breath but watched with hope as the acidic mist approached the monster.

He grinned as the HP bar ground down. The monster’s flesh started to bubble and melt. This had been an easier fight than he thought it would be.

The HP bar was draining rapidly when it suddenly stopped, only slightly below halfway. The green stink aura surrounding the monster was pushing against the acid mist and forcing it away from the boss’s rancid flesh.

No! He had been so close! Was it actually using the smell as a weapon? Up until now, he assumed it was just an unfortunate side effect of the creature’s existence, not an actual weaponised stink.

His vision blurred, the edges of his surroundings blending into a haze. He felt his heart pounding against his skull, each thud intensifying the pressure in his temples as he fought to maintain his grip on consciousness.

Panicking, he pulled out daggers, swords, and anything even remotely sharp from his Inventory and used his Ballistic Control to shoot them at the creature, desperately hoping its HP bar would decrease further. As the projectiles reached the monster, it opened a huge gaping maw, and the weapons disappeared inside.

He couldn’t hold it any longer. He desperately sucked in a breath of air. The taste of decay and rot overwhelmed him, but he’d deprived his body of air for too long and had completely lost control.

He couldn’t help but fill his lungs with more of the noxious air. The effect was instantaneous: the rest of his vision faded, his knees buckled, and his face impacted the ground.

Delirium took hold of him, with the tiniest part of his mind noting the sensation of something long and slimy wrapping around his ankle and dragging him along the cave floor.

* * *

Mayry lost herself. Her body moved as if she was merely a passenger being piloted by something other than herself. The fire she wielded once again changed colour, this time from black to dark purple.

The flame shot out of her hand as a thick rope, and she curled her hand around its end to transform it into a whip. She directed it at the limb holding Mason’s ankle, and it cut through like a demonic knife through butter. The fire whip hadn’t hit Mason, but it came close.

The rage-drunk Mayry in control cared only about killing her enemies; she had no time to worry about anything else. Mayry tried to wrestle back control but was pushed aside as if she was a bothersome fly being swatted away.

The boss abomination shifted its attention, now fully focused on her. It sent impossibly fast limbs shooting at her; they tried to grab her but melted away before they came close to making contact. An aura of purple hellfire surrounded her, hot enough that the stone she stood on began to crack and melt from the intensity.

Every second the fight went on, her movements became more precise and fluid, almost as if she knew what the monster was going to do before it did. She danced around the attacks with uncanny grace, each step guided by an instinct she couldn’t imagine possessing. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the purple fire whip snaking toward the abomination, each strike disintegrating whatever flesh it touched.

The monster’s head turned to an opening on its side of the cave as if contemplating a retreat. Even with its monstrous features, the creature looked fearful. The berserk Mayry, sensing its fear, pressed her attack, not willing to let it escape.

She leapt onto the creature and used her now claw-covered hands to rip chunks of flesh from its body. It thrashed in agony as the enraged Mayry persisted long after the monster was dead.

She was snapped back into control of her body when the latest chunk of flesh that had been ripped away revealed a human’s face.

Wobbling slightly from the disorientation gained from the sudden change, she reached in and, as gently as she could, pulled out the body and carried it away from the carcass. The person was in a translucent cocoon that looked like it was made from hardened slime. Tearing at the slime, she slipped her hand in and felt around until she found the neck. Pausing there, she felt a pulse. At least they hadn’t been too late.

Running over to Mason, she checked him over and saw he was fine. She shook him and slapped his face, but he didn’t wake up.

Not for the first time, she wished she could access his Inventory or, even better, had a storage power of her own so she could force a health potion down his throat, even if just to alleviate her own concerns. There was nothing she could do, so she returned to the body of the person she pulled from the monster.

She sat next to the body and placed its head in her lap. Mayry summoned a trickle of water and tried to remove as much of the goop as she could until the face was better revealed. One she was surprised she recognised.

Nina’s eyes opened, startling Mayry. Her head still in Mayry’s lap, she opened her mouth and tried to speak, “Ma-Mayry?” She coughed and spat out a few mouthfuls of sludge before trying again, “Mayry, what?”

Mayry opened her mouth to try and reassure the girl that everything was okay, but before she could, Nina wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Mayry… you really need a shower. You reek!”

The moment the boss monster died, the horrible stench drastically amplified, but at least it was dissipating—somewhat; especially since they weren’t terribly close to the monster.

Mayry, slightly offended after she had just rescued the girl, snapped back, “The smell isn’t me! You’re the one covered in slime! The smell is coming from the giant fleshy abomination over there.”

Nina sat up, took in her surroundings, and recoiled in shock at the sight of the mutilated monster corpse. She shot to her feet as if scared the monster would reanimate and attack them again.

“Relax. It’s dead. I made sure of that.” Mayry revelled in how cool she sounded. She had definitely been spending too much time with Mason.

Nina’s head darted all over the place. She started hyperventilating and fell back. “Where the hell am I? What the fuck is going on? Di-did you kill that thing!”

Just then, the bleach monster elemental came cruising into the cave. It had been too preoccupied cleaning the tunnel to help with the boss fight, and decided now was the time to make its entrance. It had probably been for the best; in Mayry’s enraged state, she didn’t know what she might have done to Mason’s summoned ally.

Nina stiffened as she saw the creature shifting into a more offensive stance. Her skin immediately started to change, taking on a scale-like look, before Mayry waved her hands at her and shook her head. “Hey! No! It’s okay, its a friend.”

The elemental looked around the massive cave and almost seemed to sigh, its chest getting bigger before deflating. It started shooting off its bleach, like a pressure washer, cleaning the cave bit by bit. Mayry and Nina watched on as it progressed to where Mason lay. It paused as if to consider what to do and then proceeded to clean around its unconscious summoner, flipping him unceremoniously to one side and then cleaning under him before flipping him back. It gave a small nod to itself before it continued on with its self-imposed mission.

The two women shared a look at the creature’s odd antics. Mayry noticed a smile forming on Nina’s face that soon turned into a fit of nervous giggles. Mayry soon joined in, unable to help it. The bizarreness of it all after being exposed to such a horrible experience was too much.

As the laughter died down, neither of them knew what to say. While they knew of each other, they had never really talked before, let alone been friends.

“How did you end⁠—”

“How did you kil—” They both started speaking at the same time. They giggled a bit more, then Nina motioned for Mayry to go first.

“How did you end up here? I knew you were a hunter, but taking on a contract with so many unknowns on your own is crazy!” Mayry couldn’t help but let a little admonishment leak into her tone. “Maybe with a team—” she continued before cutting herself off. Then, a thought occurred to her: “You weren’t with a team… were you?”

“I can take care of myself,” the young girl replied reflexively before letting out a sigh. “No, I wasn’t with a team. I was on my own, but I never even took out a contract in a cave! I have no idea how I got here.”

She shot a look at the elemental, who was softly hissing to itself, then sat down next to Mayry. “It was supposed to be my first ever contract… It was one that was supposed to be really easy. All I had to do was scope out a suspicious-looking tree that a local had been complaining about. Then, out of nowhere, something grabbed my leg, my face hit the ground, and the next thing I knew, I woke up here with you.”

Mayry smirked. “A tree?”

Nina rolled her eyes. “Yes, a tree. Someone reported that they saw it moving suspiciously. It was supposed to be the easiest contract for my first one. I guess I screwed it up anyway.”

“It’s not like it was your fault! It sounds like one of those things ambushed you, ate you, and then gave you to their boss.” Seeing the look on the girl’s face, Mayry added, “Once Mason wakes up and we get out of here, how about we go find that tree with you?”

“You’d do that? Are you sure your boyfriend won’t mind?”

“He’s not my—” She started to say before she returned her smile and replied, “He won’t mind. He has a thing about trees.”

As Mayry and Nina huddled together, waiting for Mason to regain consciousness, Mayry told Nina about how they ended up in the cave. She glossed over a few details, like Mason getting a quest and her going all demon, explaining it away using Chaos magic as an excuse.

By the end of her story, Nina stared at her in awe. “You killed that humungous monster all on your own? Oh wow, Mayry. I never knew you were so powerful! How did you do it?”

Not wanting to have to lie, she deflected, “Mason’s the really strong one, he was fighting the monster for much longer than me, he must have weakened it a lot by the time I showed up.”

Before anything else could be said, Mason started to stir, groaning as he slowly regained consciousness.

He struggled to sit up, his movements sluggish and disoriented. Mayry moved to his side and offered him a steadying hand.

“Mason, you’re awake,” she said, her voice full of relief. “Are you okay?”

He let out a long groan. Wincing as he touched a tender spot on his forehead, he muttered, “Everything hurts.”

Nina, her voice tinged with concern, said, “Hey, again. I heard you were trying to save me. Are you okay?”

Mason managed a weak smile. “Hey, Nina… How’d you get here? Yeah, I’m fine. Believe it or not, I’ve had a lot worse,” he replied, though his words lacked their usual conviction.

Winking at Nina, Mayry scoffed. “He tried to save you, then I had to step in and save him. So, really, I think I deserve all the hero worship. Thank you.”

Letting out another longer groan, he pushed himself to his feet. “You killed the monster? I was hoping it was the elemental… dammit.” Looking at Nina, he continued in a stage whisper, “Now I’m going to have to listen to her gloat about it!”

Looking down, he saw that while most of the cave was clean, his front was still covered in foul-smelling sludge. He grinned at Mayry. “Actually… I’m so proud of you. Come give me a hug!”

Mayry squeaked and ran away, with Mason chasing after her. Nina just watched the two of them, confused.

* * *

Aiden has heard word from locals that there is a strange man who fought a basilisk in a nearby town. He showed off multiple abilities and acted odd. Aiden thinks it is worth checking out. I doubt it’d be worth my time, but who knows, maybe I’ll enjoy making the locals scream.

– Excerpt from Gael’s journal, page 15

Chapter 19

(Almost) Over 9000

Mason skimmed over the dozens of kill notifications he received, noting that with the experience he gained from his kills, Mayry’s kills, and the elemental’s kills, he gained just under 9,000 experience! That felt like a buttload of XP, but it only equated to two level-ups bringing him to 30; he immediately dumped the 6 six points he got into Intelligence.

Making any sort of progress was amazing, but he was also concerned. The amount needed for every new level was growing worryingly fast. Almost 9,000 experience should have been enough to net him four or five levels, not two! He dared not think about how much experience it would take to level when he was in the 50s or even 100s.

Still, he was making good progress. He just wondered how he was going to be able to maintain it in the long run.

The fact that he gained all the experience from both his summon’s kills and now from Mayry’s kills, too, made him feel slightly better. Especially given that the elemental had killed by far the most abominations and Mayry the second most.

To be fair, had to run off early to save Nina… Even if Mayry finished the boss off for him as well…

*DING*

Quest updated! The smell of the Dungeon

Quest Objective - Kill all monsters in the dungeon and rescue the test subject before it is too late. - Complete

Reward - Even though you had your woman do most of the fighting, you still get the reward! Loot the dungeon for a unique potion.

He relayed the update to Mayry.

At first, he hoped that he would just need to loot the boss monster’s corpse to get the potion, but the list of loots only contained the decapitated parts of the various creatures the monster had been made up of. The length of the list and the disturbing amount of detail it provided made him nauseous.

His next thought was that maybe there was an illusionary wall somewhere, but annoyingly, Mayry’s magic sense didn’t reveal anything.

The three of them started searching the old-fashion way, using nothing but their eyes.

“I still don’t understand!” Nina complained. “How do you even know there is a potion?”

For the first while, Nina happily chatted away with them while helping look around. It took a surprisingly short time before she grew bored, stopped helping search, and started peppering them with questions.

“I told you, I have an ability that tells me when there are good items nearby.” Mason tried not to let any annoyance he felt leak into his voice; the girl had just gone through something pretty traumatic, so he wanted to cut her some slack. “It just isn’t very specific.”

She replied with a grunt, then wandered off to keep looking.

Mason’s mind raced with possibilities. Maybe the potion wasn’t physical but a metaphysical concept—a source of power hidden within the boss monster’s remains? No, that was stupid. Or maybe it was a concoction brewed from rare ingredients scattered throughout the dungeon. No, that didn’t sound right either… He inwardly swore to his system that if, after all this, the potion was the friends they made along the way, he was going to give himself a lobotomy just to get rid of the system.

Lost in thought, Mason barely noticed when Nina’s voice broke the silence, “Hey, guys? I think I might have found something!” The girl was staring up at the cave’s ceiling.

Mason snapped out of his reverie and followed Nina’s gaze, trying to discern what she had spotted. The cavern ceiling was adorned with stalactites, some of which were dripping with moisture, but apart from that, he didn’t see anything.

“What is it?” Mayry asked, joining them, squinting at the ceiling.

Not answering, Mason studied the ceiling intently. He scanned the area carefully, eyes darting from one formation to another, searching for any irregularities or signs of manipulation.

Then, just as he was about to tell Nina he didn’t see anything, he noticed a faint glimmer of light reflecting off a single stalactite. It was subtle, easily overlooked amidst the cavern’s dim illumination, but once he caught sight of it, he could tell it was distinctly different from the others around it.

Nina pointed excitedly at the stalactite. “There! Look, do you see it?”

Mayry followed Nina’s gesture. “I don’t see anything. It’s too dark and way too far away.”

“I… think I see what you mean…” Mason said distractedly, checking if any of the other stalactites had the same glimmer to them; as far as he could tell, none of them did.

“I don’t suppose either of you can fly?” Nina asked hopefully.

Both Mason and Mayry replied that they couldn’t. The question did make Mason wonder what Nina’s ability was. If she was able to see so high up, one of them had to be some sort of enhanced sight, but surely the girl hadn’t become a hunter with that as her only ability.

He was about to ask her about it when the girl sighed and asked, “How important is it that you get this potion?”

“It’s not life or death… but it’s probably pretty valuable.”

“Urgh, okay… I can get it for you, but I really, really hate doing this, so I want a cut of whatever the potion is worth. Deal?”

“Hate doing what?” Mason asked before deciding it didn’t matter. “No, never mind. Yeah, okay, deal. I don’t know what the potion does until we get it, so I don’t know how valuable it is, but I’m sure we can work out a fair price.”

The girl was still hesitant, almost scared, when she added, “And you’re going to have to fight me…”

He stared at her, not entirely sure he heard her correctly. She didn’t know much about him, but she must have heard of his fight with Gael or even the basilisk. Even if she hadn’t, the girl was tiny, five-one, maybe five-two, and didn’t look like she had an ounce of muscle on her! He didn’t want to be that guy… Especially since he didn’t know what her ability was… “Nina, there is no way I’m fighting you,” he tried to hold it back, but a bit of a chuckle made it through.

She scowled, her expression immediately changing from reluctant and shy to irritated and annoyed.

She took in a deep breath and let it out, “If you’re worried about hurting me, don’t be. I’m tougher than I look. I need to fight so my power—you know what? It’s easier to just show you.”

The girl lunged at him, her hand transforming into a claw midway. The girl was bloody fast, but compared to some of his other fights, she just didn’t measure up. He dodged her almost without a thought. He smirked at the surprise on her face, which, in turn, annoyed her even more as she attacked him again, this time more viciously.

He dodged each of her attacks repeatedly. “Why… are… we… doing… this… again?” Mason said after each successful dodge.

He had to hand it to her that she was very fast and definitely knew her stuff; if she ever managed to land a hit, he was sure he would feel it. Apart from the appearance of claws, he still wasn’t sure what her ability was or how it was going to help her get the potion. He was quite enjoying how mad the girl was getting though.

The more they fought, the faster she got. Maybe she had a power like Lyvan’s; the longer they fought, the stronger and faster she got. Though that wouldn’t explain the claws…

Nina’s stance changed, and the next punch she threw came at him like a bullet; he dodged it barely, but the sudden dramatic change in pace left him open, so when she launched a kick at him, he had no choice but to take it in the chest.

The kick pushed him back a few steps and made him look at her in a new light. Had she been holding back? No… she definitely came at him with everything she had right from the start. Her ability was making her more powerful the longer they fought. That had to be it.

“Ouch,” Mason said, half annoyed, half impressed. This would be the last time he underestimated someone because of their size. In a world with all sorts of magical abilities, it had been incredibly dumb of him to make the assumption.

Mayry had wandered over to the boss abomination’s corpse, used a jet of water to wash it off, and sat cross-legged on it enjoying the fight. She shouted, “Woo! Nina, kick his ass!”

Now that there was a slight pause in the fight, he noticed the changes were far more significant than just her strength and speed. Her skin had started to take on a greenish hue and become more scales-like.

Her five-two-ish frame had grown by at least a foot and bulked out, making her look closer to a wrestler than the small, timid girl she had been before.

He wasn’t usually a prideful person, but he really didn’t want to be beaten up by a girl in front of his girlfriend. This wasn’t a real fight, but still, he needed to up his game. He went on the offensive.

He ran at her. She let out a squeak of surprise of his ceasing dodging and actually fighting back. He threw a punch, starting at 10% of full strength. He expected her to dodge, but she didn’t. The punch hit Nina squarely in her stomach. She barely even flinched.

He looked up at her and, for a split second, saw her smugly smiling before her fist hit him squarely in the face.

The strike knocked him back but hadn’t hurt. Despite just being decked in the face, he found he was actually having fun. He hadn’t really had a friendly fight with anyone since he trained with Lyvan, and that always just consisted of his getting the absolute crap kicked out of him while Lyvan shouted at him to dodge.

He jumped back into the fight. Every time he thought he was getting a handle on how she moved, the girl surprised him. She was always a second faster than he anticipated or hit just a bit harder.

The fight intensified. Each exchange of blows pushed Nina further into her transformation. With each strike, she grew stronger, her once-human form shifting bit by bit into one more like a monster. Now fully covered in green scales, she was hunched over with what looked like a tail starting to form.

Part of him wanted to go all out just to see what the end result of the transformation would be, but the other, larger part of him was afraid that if he really went all out, he would end up hurting or even killing the girl.

The fight stretched on. Nina was now taller than he was, and despite her massive increase in size, she was just as fast, if not faster, than previously.

Nina’s last attack left Mason no choice but to teleport out of her way. His instincts told him that if that particular strike had landed, it would have been bad. He was giving back as much as he got. Hitting her hard enough now that she was definitely feeling it; some of her scales were cracked, blood trickling from them.

Mayry, still perched on the boss abomination’s corpse, watched the confrontation with amusement, occasionally cheering on Nina or booing Mason whenever he managed to land a hit.

Mason was doing his best to stay focused, not wanting his Emotion damage skill to activate. He wanted to see how far long he could last with just his fighting skills… and teleportation

Having to teleport again, he appeared behind her, where he noticed tiny wings had started to ground from her back. The scales, the tail, and the wings… no fucking way. If she was turning into what he thought she was turning into, then he was very jealous.

He was just about to launch another series of attacks when Nina roared, “Rhoaarp!” Her face and throat were too far transformed for her to form words properly. It took him a moment to figure out she was trying to say, ‘Stop.’ He was slightly disappointed; he had really been getting into the fight. She’d said she hated doing this, so he doubted he would get many more chances.

He relaxed, breathing heavily. He rested his hands on his knees and stared at the thing in front of him, which used to be Nina. He didn’t think the transformation was fully complete, and he was right. She’d transformed into a fucking dragon!

While he had never seen a dragon before, he assumed real ones would be a lot bigger. Still, at the size of a small car, Nina had absolutely lucked out when she got this ability. Sure, it took a long time to fully ramp up, but once it did, she would be almost impossible to beat.

She beat her wings a few times then jumped into the air. The ceiling was pretty high, yet it only took her a few seconds to reach it. Her hands were completely inhuman, but Nina surprised him by showing great finesse. She couldn’t grab it in her giant claws, but she could use them to slash through the stalactite, sending it falling to the ground.

Mason jumped out of the way a moment before he would have gotten impaled and sent a dirty look up at the dragon, who he thought was grinning at him.

Nina landed and rapidly started to change back to her human form. He watched on with awe at the very strange sight. He looked away when he remembered he wasn’t sure what happened to her clothes when she transformed. He sneaked a peak—she was mostly back to her old self and fully clothed. It seemed her ability transformed her clothes along with her body.

“Did you know she could do that!” he asked Mayry.

“Did I know that someone living in my town could turn into a dragon? Yes, Mason, I was aware.”

Chapter 20

An Unfortunate Affliction

Thankfully, the potion hadn’t shattered. Now that he was looking at it up close, it really didn’t look like anything special. The bottle was well made and beautifully crafted but had the tiniest crack in its bottom, where he suspected the liquid had escaped through over the last gods knew how many years.

Elixir of Pana (Legendary) is an incredibly powerful regenerative potion that can regrow limbs and cure any injury down to the cellular level. This elixir is so potent that if given enough time, it will slowly regenerate itself, creating a limitless supply. WARNING: Prolonged or continuous exposure to this potion can do some extremely weird things to biological creatures.

Nina, having completed her transformation back to human, was lying on the cave floor. Her chest still moved, so he didn’t worry; anybody going through a change like that was bound to need time to recover.

“I think I figured out how the abominations were created,” he whispered to Mayry. He read her the description, making sure not to let Nina hear. The girl seemed trustworthy, but he didn’t know her well enough to tell her the whole truth about his abilities.

“I reckon the potion must have been what started this whole mess. Leaking out of the crack for who knows how long. The abominations probably started out as… rats, insects, maybe moss, then exposed to the potion over years and years, slowly mutated them into this fucker.” He pointed to the abomination Mayry sat on.

A crease formed on Mayry’s forehead. “If it’s that dangerous, should we even keep it?”

He thought for a while before answering, “I think it’s worth keeping. We just need to not rely too heavily on it. Whatever the abominations started out as, were probably exposed to this for years and years.” He looked at the monster again, then added, “On second thought… maybe we’ll have Viv take a look at it first, just to be safe.”

“I’m exhausted, can we all just take a nap in the Trunk before we head off?”

He laughed. “There is no way I’m letting anyone get in the Trunk smelling like this. I’d never get it clean!”

“Grr, fine. Where is the elemental?” She looked around, but it was nowhere; it had either wandered off or its summons time had run out, but she didn’t have the energy to look for the creature. “Maybe we can find a ritualist in a town nearby?”

A mumble came from Nina’s prone form on the floor.

“What was that?”

“I said I’m a ritualist. I can do the cleansing spell… I don’t have the stuff I need with me, though, so yes, in the town… just give me a few more minutes…” She yawned and went silent for a while before forcing herself to stand up with what looked like a great deal of effort.

Mason took the opportunity to check out his character sheet. He’d levelled twice and wanted to see how close he was to pushing his Intelligence to 100 and those sweet, sweet upgrades.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 30

Current XP: 32000 / 32420

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 890

Mana Points (MP): 610

Stamina Points (SP): 390

Stats

Strength: 65 (+15)

Agility: 67

Endurance: 56

Vitality: 77

Resilience: 58 (+26)

Intelligence: 91 (+10%)

Perception: 61

Willpower: 57

Free Points: 0

Skills

Identify (Expert), Mana Control – INT (Expert), Emotional Therapy – PER (Expert), True Invisibility – PER (Expert), Random Greater Summon – INT (Expert), Sarcastic Prick – INT (Expert), Mental Fuckery – WIL (Expert), Mental Resistance, Ballistic Control – STR (Expert) Division – INT (Expert), Greater Teleportation – AGI (Expert), Sacrificial Healing – VIT (Expert)

Base Skills

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced), System Guidebook (Basic)

Class Skills

Basic Monster Tracking, Evaluate Monster, Gather Intel

Progress was being made. It was slow, but it was at least somewhat consistent. Hopefully, once he got to taking out some Others, he would be able to speed it up.

He would be more than happy to take his time and plan out his every move; only there was the small matter of him maybe having to fight gods, demons, and who knows what in only a matter of years. He still needed to absorb the Chaos orbs, but unless those boosted him by an unbelievable amount, he was going to have to figure out a way to move forward faster.

Maybe if he could absorb more iterations of Chaos…

This thought was interrupted by Nina letting out another yawn and reluctantly calling over that she was ready to leave.

* * *

“It’s really not that bad,” Mason insisted. “Please just let us in and we’ll⁠—”

“No, no, I assure you, sir, it is that bad,” the guard said bluntly. “You smell worse than my grandma does, and she died before I was born. You can’t come in. You’ll stink up the entire town, and I simply refuse to take the blame for it!”

Why did it seem that every single guard in this world hated him? Every single time he came across one, it felt like there was trouble. At least this one had a valid reason.

The guard in question was a slightly hunched, older man who spoke in a blunt yet eloquent manner that surprised Mason. He didn’t seem like he was suited for guard duty, as he walked with a limp and held a cane.

Mason could quite easily bypass the gate by teleporting them, but the guard didn’t seem like a bad guy; he was just doing his job and didn’t want to get in trouble.

“Okay, my friend here is a ritualist. She can do a cleansing ritual on us, but she needs a few things. Is there any way one of us could quickly grab the stuff from the apothecary and then come back? Then we can get all clean, and you can let us in, right?”

The man thought about it but shook his head slowly. “I know the owner of the apothecary. She’s a mean old hag. She’d kick you out before you said two words smelling like that!” He scrunched up his face as if considering something. “What is it you need? My shift ends soon; if you write me a list, I can get you anything you need.”

Mason removed some paper from his Inventory and handed it over to Nina, who scribbled down a list and handed it to Mason, who passed it on to the man, along with a few coins. “This is very kind of you. Thank you so much.”

Just then, a much younger man wearing the same guard uniform approached. The moment he came close enough to smell them, he made a face and shouted, “No. No way, Alfred, there is no way we’re letting them in!”

“I already told them that, you buffoon.” He knocked his cane against the man’s head and started to hobble off.

Before he got more than a few steps, Mason called him back over. The man sighed and came back. As soon as he was within reach, Mason put his hand on his shoulder. His hand glowed, and the younger guard started to draw his sword, but before he could, the previously hunched-over older guard stood up straight, staring at Mason with wide eyes. “What did you do? I-I feel—I don’t feel. The pain, it’s gone…”

“I healed you; sorry, I probably should have asked first.” He hadn’t really thought about it. He just saw how much pain the man was in and had acted.

The man laughed and did an experimental jump in the air. “I feel amazing! I’ll get you those ingredients right away.” He handed Mason the coins. “Take this back.”

Mason tried to refuse, but the man skipped off down the road, telling anyone who would listen about the foul-smelling healer who fixed the back pain that had been making his life miserable for decades.

The younger guard eyed Mason suspiciously. “Can you heal anyone, or is it just old folk pain?”

* * *

He was annoyed with himself; he had gotten a healing ability a while ago and never even considered going around healing people who needed it. The limitation of him taking on the damage of whoever he healed was annoying, but with his Resilience and Vitality stats, he doubted anything these people were afflicted with would put him in any sort of danger.

The ritual had been pretty straightforward. Mason had been excited to finally see one done, but ended up disappointed, as it was very simple. All that happened was that Nina placed a few things around them and said a few words, there was a flash of light, and they were clean. She promised him that she would show him a flashier ritual some other time.

After they were clean and no longer smelled like rotting carcasses, they were allowed into town. The two women went off to find an inn while Mason stayed behind.

Thanks to the guards, word had spread about the ‘healer’ that was in town. It only took a matter of minutes for the village people to form a line in front of him, each waiting for their turn to be healed. The guards had even brought a chair out for him, saving him from having to stand.

He was tired, but he wouldn’t feel right turning any of these people away. He’d hardly noticed anything he had absorbed so far, so he was more than happy to do what he could. These people needed help, and while a health potion would have probably fixed most of these people’s ailments, a lot of them didn’t look like they could afford such luxuries.

Before he started the healing, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to accidentally cripple himself with something he wouldn’t be able to get rid of. He made sure everyone could hear him as he announced, “Hi, everyone! If you could all let me know what you need healed before I start, that would be great; the way my power works is I temporarily take on whatever I heal, and I’m not sure how it reacts to anything magical, and I don’t want any surprises! So let me know beforehand if you have anything that might be particularly painful or anything that might linger! Thanks!”

The vast majority of people only had simple things like the flu or a persistent stomach ache, but a few were a bit more serious. One older person had the beginnings of dementia, which left Mason feeling quite out of it for a few minutes after he absorbed it.

When an adorable little old lady, wearing a vibrant yellow dress, asked him if he could do anything about her arthritis, he assured her that he would do his best. Like usual, he took her hand in his and activated his ability. Mason felt something from the woman move out of her and into him and was surprised when he got a notification.

Status effect: Affliction—‘Super Herpes’ has been added—Intelligence -5%, Vitality -5%, +500% itchy genitals.

His eyes widened as he read. He squirmed as a sudden and urgent itchiness struck him.

The old woman he just healed innocently asked, “Are you okay there, young man?”

He narrowed his eyes at her and, through gritted teeth, said, “I’m just fine. Was it just arthritis that was bothering you?”

The old woman barely managed to hold back a grin as she replied cheerily, “Yep, that was all, dear; I feel much better now, thank you.” And hobbled off, entering the nearest pub and exiting less than a minute later with, surprisingly, a much younger man.

There were still dozens of people in the queue waiting to be healed, but the affliction wasn’t disappearing as the others had; the itchiness was only getting worse.

He stood abruptly as the urge to scratch himself intensified. He muttered an apology to the next in line and rushed off, only to come face to face with Mayry and Nina.

“Heya! We found an inn…” Nina said, trailing off when she saw the look of urgency on his face. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Err, that’s great,” he replied, using every ounce of willpower he had to avoid giving in and scratching himself. “I jus—excuse me for a second.” He teleported away, leaving Nina confused.

She turned to Mayry and asked, “How many abilities does that man have!”

Reappearing on the opposite side of the street, he ducked into an empty side street and downed a healing potion. His HP was already full, so it had no effect. He whispered desperately to his system, “Help, Super Herpes not fading from Sacrificial Healing.” He begged his system to take pity on him just this once. After a few agonising moments where nothing happened, he finally got a pop-up.

Help—Sacrificial Healing is fully functional. Due to their increased complexity, magical afflictions fade over a longer period of time.

Crap. Did that mean he just had to wait it out? How long was that going to take? He was going to find that old lady and… probably not do anything, but he wanted to! How the bloody hell did someone even get magical super herpes?

He was in extreme discomfort and considering using the Elixir of Pana to get rid of it. Surely a single use wouldn’t have any negative side effects? The only thing stopping him from dousing himself in the elixir was the horrifying image of the abominations burned into his mind. He wasn’t entirely sure the potion would help as the description stated it could ‘regrow limbs and cure any injury.’ It wasn’t worth the risk; maybe after Viv had taken a look at it.

Right now, he just needed something to occupy his mind. He took out one of the Chaos orbs he had gotten off Aiden and forced his mind to focus on trying to draw from it.

At first, he didn’t feel anything. Then, a slight tickle presented itself in the back of his mind and started to grow into a headache, then that spread downward. The pain intensified as it moved until intense pain filled his mind and body, completely replacing the discomfort from the herpes.

It wasn’t at all an improvement, but it was more bearable than the pain of absorbing essence directly from the mayor. That had felt like he swallowed hellfire, while this was more like his insides were boiling; painful, though far more tolerable.

He was pulling from it as slowly as he could. Though he could pull harder, he got the feeling that doing so too soon could cripple him. While holding the orb, he could tell how much essence it contained, and at the rate he was currently pulling, it would take months to empty it.

The pain spiked, making him drop the orb. Mason opened his eyes and was surprised to find that he was facedown on the ground. He pushed himself up and looked around to find that it was dark out. How long had that taken? It felt like a few minutes at most, but it must have been hours.

*DING*

Achievement unlocked! Power hungry!

You have absorbed Chaos Essence from more than one external source without needing to kill it!

- Reward: New System Guidebook page, Essence Distribution, unlocked.

Chapter 21

You Sex Pest You!

He reread the notification, having completely forgotten about the System Guidebook. He unlocked it pretty soon after arriving on this world. It had given him a few basics about his system, like at what level he would be able to get new abilities and how high a stat needed to be in order for it to upgrade. It promised new powers would be unlocked, but up until now, it’d remained silent.

The urge to take a look at the new page was strong, but he was aware that he had been gone for quite some time, and Mayry was probably freaking out, probably worried he had been kidnapped by the others or eaten by some monster. Besides, Mayry would probably be just as interested in the new page as he was.

He stepped out of the side street only to realise that, one, he had no idea where he was, and two, he had no idea where the inn was. He kicked some dirt in annoyance and cursed under his breath, “All of this just because some old hag gave me herpes.” Replaying what he just said in his head, he vowed he would never speak of it again. At least the affliction had gone, as had the unbearable itch.

He set off and started to wander. The town was smaller than Sparksford, so surely there couldn’t be that many inns to try, right? Anyway, it was a beautiful night, and he might even enjoy the walk.

With no warning, it began to pour rain.

* * *

He didn’t mind the rain, not really, but he did feel like if there were a luck stat, his would be in the negatives. He wandered around, half looking for the inns and half trying to get his Mana Control ability to do what he wanted. He was currently attempting to shape it into an umbrella-like shape and have it follow him as he walked.

His control was good enough to get the shape right, but holding it in place and having it follow him required a tremendous amount of concentration.

When he first received the ability, he hoped it would be like a green lantern ring, taking the shape of whatever he wanted with the only limit being his imagination. His ability wasn’t quite that good. If his concentration lapsed for more than an instant, the form broke apart and took on a different shape that depended on what his mind had drifted to. Usually, something embarrassing. With the skill being at expert rank, he thought it would be more instinctual, but he was still missing something.

It took over a half hour of walking in the rain, but he finally got the ability to follow him along; he was already thoroughly drenched, but it was the principle of the matter. A lot of concentration was required, but he found that if he did it for long enough, it became almost second nature.

Walking into the third inn he’d come across, he decided that if the girls weren’t staying there, he would get a room and find them in the morning. He desperately needed a shower, food, and sleep.

The warmth of the fireplace hit him the moment he walked in, the interior was simple but cosy, and reminded him of the sort of wooden cabin you’d find deep in the woods for a romantic getaway.

He walked over to the front desk, dripping water as he went. It was late at night, so he wasn’t surprised that no one was working. There was a bell, which he assumed would summon a worker, but he didn’t feel like waking up the poor sod just for them to tell him that he had the wrong inn.

He withdrew his Trunk from his Inventory and set it up by the fire, getting inside. If the girls were here, Mayry would see the Trunk and realise it was him; if not, he would find them when he woke up.

He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

* * *

He stood in what felt like an impossibly vast space. If there were walls, they were too far away for him to see. The ceiling was nonexistent, a mesmerising view of deep space the only thing visible when he looked upward.

The floor was made of millions of tiny tiles, each a small part of an intricate and complex pattern. The only things in the room were huge empty thrones. Five stood on the right, and ten stood on the left. No, not ten, nine thrones, and one that looked to have been thoroughly broken down and purposefully vandalised.

Each was incredibly beautiful in its own way. He felt as if he could stare at each indefinitely and never not be intrigued.

The entire place hummed with power, one that was faintly familiar yet, at the same time, completely beyond his comprehension.

He stepped toward the closest throne, the first on the right. It felt wrong to him, and the feeling grew stronger as he approached. He went to the next throne, and the feeling changed. It still felt wrong, though in a different way. It was as if he was sending out a signal, and the first throne was sending out a different signal, one that clashed with his own. The second throne had yet another signal that wasn’t right.

He walked past the first five, and every time, the ‘signal’ they gave off was wrong. Crossing the room, he came to the first of the ten thrones. This time, the wrongness was lesser, still not the right ‘signal’ but closer to his. It wasn’t until he came to the last throne, the one that looked like it’d been destroyed, that he felt like the signal it gave off was right. He reached out a finger and touched it.

The pile of debris that used to be a throne vibrated and hummed at his touch, almost as if it purred.

A loud booming voice emanated from all around, “YOU—” The single word was full of so much power that it pierced into his consciousness, ripping it away from wherever it had been and sending it back to his body.

* * *

Mason groaned. He opened his eyes and immediately closed them again. He had a headache the likes of which he never before experienced.

There was no way it could be morning already. He felt like he had just closed his eyes and was waking up, barely rested. His heart raced, and he was covered in sweat, but he had no idea why.

He got up and stuck his head out of the Trunk. He was surprised to find that he was no longer in the lobby but in a room.

He was disorientated, but the Trunk had enchantments which made it difficult for anyone not keyed into it to move it. The only person other than him who was keyed in was Mayry. Looking around, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the two girls lying on a bed fast asleep, both snoring loudly.

Not wanting to disturb them, he went back inside the Trunk, leaving the lid open so they knew he was up.

Opting to perch himself on the sofa instead of the bed so as not to fall back to sleep, he pondered what was ahead.

He remembered Mayry mentioning something about a suspicious tree contract they were apparently going to help Nina with. He was absolutely down for a chance to get some revenge on a tree. The whole tree thing had started as a joke, but after fighting the Arboroth and the time the massive tree fell on him, his hatred had become far more serious.

After they finished with that, they would probably escort Nina back home to Sparksford so they could all cash in their contracts. Not that they really needed the money, but the cave contract had at least given him a chance to test out a load of his upgraded abilities.

He wasn’t sure what they would do from there. He itched to go out and fight some Others, and even knew where some might be, thanks to the map they nicked from Aiden. He was level 30 now and needed to reach at least level 50 before he was able to somehow get to the Others’ home world, Ganehfrel. The only problem was he was scared. Once he got to that level, he would have to leave this world, and he had no idea how long it would take or even if the quest was possible.

He was expected to infiltrate a world full of enemies without being caught. Somehow, he needed to find out where the iteration of Chaos was being held and rescues it, all while trying to fit in on a world where he knows nothing about the culture or day-to-day life.

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. It was a big ask for a guy chosen at random and thrown into the deep end, but still, that wasn’t even the worst part.

The worst part was, although they hadn’t talked about it, he knew that once he reached level 50, he would most likely have to leave Mayry behind. He had a system and could theoretically pass for an Other, even if it would be a challenge. Mayry, on the other hand, didn’t. Bringing her along would be just too great a risk, and he wasn’t even sure if it would work without her having a system.

“Mason? If you’re awake, I’m going to come and kill you now,” he heard Mayry call down to him. He thought she sounded like she was joking, but even after all this time, he struggled to tell the difference.

Unable to think of a good comeback, he just shouted back, “I’m awake; please don’t kill me, I’ve still got to save the world!”

Mayry emerged and started down the stairs. She did not look amused in the slightest, storming up to him. “What the fuck happened yesterday? You were healing people, then randomly ran away. Do you know how long we looked for you! And then you just turned up in the Trunk?”

Mason wanted to jump in and defend himself, but once Mayry started ranting, he learned it was better to let her get it out of her system. So, he just did his best to look sufficiently scolded.

“We got soaked! While we looked for you, we had no idea what happened! There was a lovely old lady who kept asking where you were, saying she needed healing. She looked so disheartened when we told her we didn’t know where you were!”

Hearing this, he couldn’t help but jump in, “Wait, an old lady? What did she look like?”

“Mason! Why is that important? I don’t know! She seemed really cute and friendly. I think she was wearing a yellow dress?”

“That crazy… How the bloody hell did she already need healing! How could she of possibly already gotten something else? There is no way I’m healing her again after she gave me⁠—”

He realised his mistake the moment the words left his mouth. He’d vowed never to let Mayry know that an old woman had given him super herpes. Noticing the look of terror and embarrassment on his face, Mayry pounced, all irritation gone. It was as if she could smell that he was hiding something funny from her that she could hold against him.

With a mock innocence, she asked, “Gave you what, Mason?”

Another voice came from behind him, and he turned around to see Nina standing at the top stairs, stifling a laugh. “Yeah, Mason, what did that old lady give you?”

“Noth—” he started to retort but stopped when Mayry raised her eyebrows. Something wasn’t right; she looked too smug. Did they already know…? How could they possibly already know?

He made eye contact with Mayry; they both stared at each other, him, with eyes narrowed, suspicious that she already knew, but not certain, and her barely holding back a smirk.

Swallowing hard, he tried to regain his composure. “Look, it’s nothing, just a misunderstanding. I’m starved. Is it too late to get breakfast?”

Mayry’s smirk widened, and she exchanged a knowing glance with Nina before turning back to him. “Oh, don’t worry, Mason. We’ll eat. But first, you have some explaining to do, you sex pest.”

Mason felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, which had nothing to do with hunger.

Chapter 22

Mayry’s Boobs

“She what!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah,” Mayry was loving every second of this and hadn’t stopped grinning since he had given in and admitted that the old woman gave him super herpes. “She came up to where you had been sitting, asking if anyone knew where you were. Someone pointed her toward us, and she came hobbling at us and told us she felt horrible because she gave you herpes and didn’t tell you.”

“That’s not—we didn’t—It’s not what—”he stammered, worried that the two women had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

“Oh, stop it,” Mayry said, finally deciding to show him mercy. “I know how your healing ability works. It’s still hilarious, though.” Suddenly, she frowned as if a thought had just occurred to her, “It is gone now, though, right?” She glanced toward his junk and shivered.

He placed both his hands over his crotch as if shielding it from her gaze. “Yes, it’s gone! It didn’t last that long, but it was so bad, like so, so, so bad.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide whether to believe him. “Then why were you gone for so long? We really did look for you for most of the night.”

Without thinking, he answered truthfully, “The itching was so bad I started absorbing one of the Chaos orbs and passed out because it hurt like hell.”

“What’s a Chaos orb?” Nina asked, reminding Mason that she was in the room.

They exchanged looks; though they hadn’t known each other for very long, their relationship had progressed to the point where they could pretty much tell what the other was thinking through expressions alone. Whether it had something to do with them being linked through Mayry’s demonic side wasn’t something he wanted to think about quite yet.

If he was reading her right, Mayry was thinking that she trusted Nina, but she wasn’t sure how much.

From the look on his face, he was trying to convey that he agreed and that they could let her in on some things but not everything, at least not yet. With a slight nod, she showed she understood.

Nina was still standing at the top of the stairs to the Trunk.

“Come in and shut the lid. There are a few things we want to tell you about.”

The younger girl gave a little jump of excitement before slamming the Trunk’s lid and skipping down the stairs, almost tripping and falling due to her eagerness.

Once she got to the bottom, she turned to Mayry and asked, “Does this mean you’re finally going to tell me how he had so many abilities? And why you smell so strange?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the look on Mayry’s face at that last bit.

Mayry started, “Yes, we can tell you som—” She cut herself off when her mind caught up with what Nina had said. “Wait, I don’t smell strange!” She whirled on Mason and repeated, “I don’t smell strange, right?”

Mason, without hesitation, replied, “I mean, I didn’t want to say anythi—” After a glare from his girlfriend, he cut himself off and reconsidered his answer, “I mean, no, of course you don’t!”

Nina had frozen at the glare Mayry shot at her. She started ranting, “No, no, no, oh my gosh, I didn’t mean it like that! Part of my Chaos ability is I have a dragon’s sense of smell, and they can kind of smell magic, and yours smells different from other Chaos abilities… It smells like, I don’t know, sort of like the smell after a bonfire, if that makes sense? I’m sorry! You don’t smell strange, I swear!”

Mayry raised her hands to reassure the girl. “Oh, well, okay, that makes sense…” She took a breath and shook her head to try and regain her flow. “We can tell you some things, but it probably isn’t safe to tell you everything.” Pulling Nina down to sit on the couch next to her, she continued, “Even the things we do tell you could be dangerous. Are you sure you want to know?”

Nina sat still for a moment and thought before slowly nodding. “I think… Yeah, I do.”

* * *

They spent the next hour telling Nina a slightly altered version of everything that had happened to them since they met. They left out that he was from another world and told her that when they met, Mason had lost his memory. They explained that he had made a contract with the remnant of a g-o-d and was now on a quest to kill all the Others in this world. In return, he was given the capability to have many Chaos abilities.

They gave a run down of most of what he could do, but left out a few things, just in case. For Mayry, they explained that her ‘strange smell’ was probably a result of her original ability evolving into her now having the ability to shift into the form of a demon, similar to what Nina could do with a dragon.

He and Mayry each took turns explaining things as Nina took in as much as she could. Her expression wasn’t giving anything away and he wasn’t sure how she was going to react once they finished.

They went on to give her a quick rundown of everything that had happened so far, from the basilisk fight to the Crack Hen, his rescuing Mayry from being kidnapped by Gael, and then her turning up in Sparksford. They glossed over the Kethul and the prophecy and told her about the hole and the Other he fought and killed. Finally, they arrived at them taking out the contract to check out the suspicious cave and finding her.

It wasn’t the best cover-up story they could have come up with, but he thought it did a pretty decent job. Telling her about his being from another world or Mayry’s demon heritage had too much potential to come back and bite them in the ass. The prophecy was also skipped over because he didn’t want it getting out that he was supposed to save the world; being treated like some sort of messiah didn’t sound like much fun. Plus, it would almost definitely go to his head, and nobody wanted that.

They finished, and a heavy silence settled over the room. Nina just stared off into the distance as if not realising they’d concluded their tale.

Finally, she let out a long breath. “Wow. That’s… a lot.”

Mason and Mayry exchanged a glance but stayed quiet, wanting to see if she had anything else to say.

Nina turned to Mayry, her eyes filled with curiosity. “So, you can turn into a demon? Like, an actual demon?” She gasped, then added, “That demon that appeared near Sparksford! Was that you?”

Before Mayry could reply, Mason coughed awkwardly, “Err, no, that was actually my fault… I accidentally said a word I shouldn’t have said, but in my defence, it wasn’t an actual demon; it was just an echo!”

She looked at him like he had grown a second head, like he was the absolute dumbest person in history. “You managed to accidentally say a taboo word that summoned a demon?” She looked over at Mayry as if to say, ‘You’re dating this fool?’

Mayry just shrugged. “My demon form only turns me half demon, so it isn’t nearly as big or scary as the one that dummy summoned.”

Nina leaned forward and whispered, “Can you show me?”

Mayry hesitated. It would be the first time showing the form off to anyone who wasn’t Mason, but the girl’s excitement was infectious. “Alright, sure!”

With a flicker of concentration, Mayry’s form began to shift. She grew taller and more muscular, her skin darkened to a deep shade of crimson, and small horns sprouted from her head.

Nina’s jaw dropped in amazement, her eyes wide with wonder. “Wow… you look…”

Mayry inwardly cringed, waiting for the words ‘scary’ or ‘horrible’ to come out of the girl’s mouth.

“Hot!” she finished, prompting Mayry’s jaw to drop.

“Really?” Mayry asked. Mason knew her ego had been bruised since her true form changed from human to demonic, but with the wide-eyed girl staring at her, he could see it being healed.

“Yes! Is the whole demon thing what made your boobs bigger in your human form?”

Even in her demonic form that was red, he could see that she was blushing.

It took him a second for his brain to put things together. “OH, THAT’S WHAT YOU CHANGED!” Mason blurted out. He noticed that she had changed something about herself back in the mayor’s office after she learned how to regain her human form. He hadn’t been able to figure it out, but now it was super obvious.

Mayry transformed back into her human form with her face bright pink. “Stop staring! Both of you!”

Nina’s head snapped away, but Mason stared on until Mayry swatted him upside the head.

Mayry turned to Nina, exasperated, “Really? Everything we just told you, and your main concern is my boobs!”

“I was just curious! He’s the one who made it weird!” she defended. In a weak attempt to change the subject, she added, “So, Mason, you were saying something about passing out from Chaos orbs?”

Happy to take the attention away from an embarrassed Mayry, he answered, “Yes! Chaos orbs, I found them on the body of the Other I killed in the hole. Absorbing them lets me progress my abilities without having to kill things. It is horribly painful, though, so it knocked me out.” It wasn’t really a lie. Logically it made sense that if someone who had a Chaos ability but not a system tried to use the orbs, the essence would for sure help evolve their ability, as long as they could withstand the pain long enough.

He wanted to tell Mayry about the new guidebook page, but with what they revealed to Nina, he couldn’t think of a way to make it work. They hadn’t mentioned anything about the system, as it wouldn’t really make sense to anyone not from Earth. Even Mayry still didn’t really get the appeal of video games. If he didn’t get a chance to talk to Mayry about it soon he was just going to take a look at it on his own.

Nina’s eyes went wide at the description of what the Chaos orbs did. She stared at him like a dog stared at a juicy steak. As innocently as she could, she asked, “Would the orbs work on, I don’t know, say, my ability?”

There was a long pause, during which he and Mayry exchanged a look. Again, he thought that it would probably work, but was it a risk worth taking? “Possibly…” He sighed and decided to be blunt, “Yeah, it would probably work on you to an extent if the pain didn’t kill you first.” He saw her about to object, but he raised a hand to stop her. “The only reason I can take it is one of my other abilities lets me handle pain better.”

She pouted but let it drop. “Did Mayry ever talk to you about the contract I was on before the fleshy monster thing got me?”

A grin spread across his face. “She did, yeah, said you needed some help? Something to do with a suspicious tree, right? I’d love to help,” he said a bit too enthusiastically.

She glanced at Mayry. “Wow, you were right. He really does have a thing for trees.”

“I do not have a thing for trees!” Seeing the look on the girl’s faces, he added, “They know what they did! Do you want help or not?”

* * *

Today, I may have met the love of my life; he doesn’t know it yet, but he will be mine. He was weak in both body and mind, but for all his flaws, I just know that he will come to love me as I do him. His little friend doesn’t compare to me, and once I have him alone, he will belong to me and no one else.

– Excerpt from Gael’s journal, page 19

Chapter 23

Dragons Hoard

Before they set off, Nina announced she was starving and was going to get breakfast. Mayry tried to follow her, but he held her back. “We’ll meet you down there in a bit,” he said to Nina.

At a questioning look from Mayry, he told her about the new System Guidebook page.

“Have you already taken a look?” she asked.

“No, not yet; I wanted to wait for you so we could look together.”

She looked a little surprised then smiled and kissed him. “You’re sweet. Okay, whip it out.”

It took real effort not to make a crude joke, but he prevailed. He didn’t want this to take too long because he was also starting to get hungry.

He brought out his guidebook and flicked to the second unlocked page. He felt Mayry peering over his shoulder as he read.

Essence Distribution

This page will help the user choose how to distribute any essence they have gained to either strengthen themselves or their system.

Chaos Essence is the purest form of Chaos’s power and can be:

Converted into experience points (Default)

Used to increase stat points.

Used to increase the number of abilities the user is able to possess.

Used to overclock certain abilities.

History of Essence use

Two levels of Chaos Essence used to break divine paralysis.

3,000 Chaos Essence taken from System user, automatically converted to experience.

3,000 Chaos Essence taken from System user, automatically converted to experience.

10,000 Chaos Essence taken from an iteration, used to increase each stat by 18 and increase the number of abilities able to be used.

500 Chaos Essence absorbed from Chaos orbs, unspent.

The page was interesting, explaining how he managed to spend levels when facing the echo of the demon and why the essence he had taken from Gael and Aiden had just converted into experience. Looking at how his system had spent his previous essence gains, the 500 he had gotten from the Chaos orbs didn’t seem like they were worth the incredible pain he had gone through. He hadn’t stuck with it for long, but still! Going forward, he would allocate more points to his Willpower to help him push through the pain, and his Resilience, to hopefully take the edge off of the pain.

“Am I missing something?” Mayry asked hesitantly. “It doesn’t actually say anything about how to use the essence.”

She was right, of course. It really only told him what essence could be spent on, not how to spend it. After looking through his menus to see if anything had been added, he answered, “No, it doesn’t. Let me try something.”

He closed his eyes and tried to will his 500 essence to increase his Resilience and Willpower stat. After a few seconds of concentration, he felt something spread through him. Starting from the back of his head, it felt as if icy water was being poured into him, slowly spreading through his body.

Checking his stats, he saw both had increased by 3 points. Running some mental calculations, he couldn’t figure out if there was any sort of standard XP to stat exchange rate. 500 essences for 6 stat points seemed odd when compared to 10,000 essences for 18 points in each of his eight stat points, even when considering a cost for adding extra ability slots. It was Chaos Essence, after all; it made sense for the costs to be somewhat random, as was its nature. It was still very annoying.

After spending the essence, he started to feel the slight push in the back of his mind to absorb more from the orbs or to go out and kill more Others and take their essence; he easily pushed the urge away, ignoring it. Though it was slightly worrying that the addiction was making itself known so obviously, but as long as he kept his Willpower stat high enough, he was sure it wouldn’t become a problem.

“Sorted, it was just a matter of concentrating on what I wanted to spend it on,” he explained to Mayry.

“You know, I think I felt something when you did whatever you did… It was like I got colder. Must be our demon bond thing… Strange.” She blushed and rapidly segwayed the subject, “What does your character sheet look like now? It’s been a while since I had a look.”

“I’ll show you, but then let’s eat; I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.” He gave her a quick run down:

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 30

Current XP: 32000 / 32420

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 870

Mana Points (MP): 535

Stamina Points (SP): 380

Stats

Strength: 65 (+15)

Agility: 67

Endurance: 56

Vitality: 77

Resilience: 61 (+26)

Intelligence: 91 (+10%)

Perception: 61

Willpower: 60

Free Points: 0

Skills

Identify (Expert), Mana Control – INT (Expert), Emotional Therapy – PER (Expert), True Invisibility – PER (Expert), Random Greater Summon – INT (Expert), Sarcastic Prick – INT (Expert), Mental Fuckery – WIL (Expert), Mental Resistance, Ballistic Control – STR (Expert), Division – INT (Expert), Greater Teleportation – AGI (Expert), Sacrificial Healing – VIT (Expert)

Base Skills

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced), System Guidebook (Basic)

Class Skills

Basic Monster Tracking, Evaluate Monster, Gather Intel

After he finished, they headed downstairs. “I’m very curious about how this bond thing works. I feel a lot stronger since coming into my dad’s side of things, but I’m certainly not as strong as you are, at least not unless I’m fully ramped up. It’s so unfair you have a system that explains everything to you!” she complained.

Shrugging, he said, “Eh, it has its moments. Most of the time, it isn’t actually that helpful, just kinda sassy.”

“Huh, that’s exactly how I’d describe you,” she replied with a smirk.

He shook his head. “I’m definitely a bad influence on you.”

They got to the dining area and searched for Nina. They spotted her behind a massive heaping plate full of breakfast stuff, waving at them. They sat down opposite her, and he couldn’t help but gawk at the amount of food on her overflowing plate. There were piles of sausages, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and all sorts of other things he couldn’t identify. Nina was shoveling it in at a pace that even he would struggle to maintain.

Mayry, confused, asked, “Did you get food for us too?”

Pausing indulging in her meal, she glared at Mayry, her eyes momentarily becoming dragon-like, and she growled, “No. Mine.” Then she continued her feast, inching her plate of food ever so slightly closer to her side of the table.

“Ok…” Mayry replied, heading over to get herself some food.

Mason followed. “What was that all about?”

“I have no idea. Did you see her face when I reached for her food? I thought she was going to bite my hand off.” Mayry laughed.

“I’m sure it’s fine; maybe she really is just very hungry.” He wasn’t too concerned. Mostly, he just found it funny that Nina’s small frame was able to contain all the food she was shoving into her face.

He filled his plate with slightly more breakfast than he would usually eat and headed back to the table, Mayry right behind him. He did a double take as he saw the plate that had been in front of Nina was empty. She sat there with a satisfied look, humming a happy tune.

They sat down and couldn’t help but ask, “Where’d all the food go?”

Nina looked genuinely puzzled, idly wiping away a bit of egg that had been clinging to the corner of her mouth. “What?”

He exchanged a bemused glance with Mayry. “The food,” Mayry prompted, pointing at Nina’s empty plate. “That was piled higher than I was tall less than two minutes ago, and now it’s empty!”

Nina’s eyes widened as if she was only then realising what they were talking about; she shrugged and said, “Oh, that, I ate it. Duh.”

Mayry massaged her temples in an attempt to coax her brain into making sense of the situation. “You’re telling us that you… ate all of that?” She gestured toward the crumbless plate.

Nina nodded, a proud grin plastered across her face. “Yup.”

“But… how?” Mayry sputtered, her fork halfway to her mouth.

Nina shrugged again. “I was hungry,” she said simply, as if that explained everything.

Both he and Mayry gawked at her. The corner of Nina’s lip twitched upward, and she broke out into a chuckle. “You two are really easy to mess with. No, I’m not just needlessly gorging myself with all this.” She kept laughing at her own joke as she wiped a tear from her eye. Her laughter died down, and she explained, “It’s just a quirk of my ability. Anytime I use it, I need to eat a lot before using it again.” She shot Mayry an apologetic look. “Sorry for snapping at you. I can get really territorial over whatever I’m eating. It’s like a dragon’s hoard or something. Sometimes I think I’m more dragon than girl.”

She frowned and, as an afterthought, added, “You guys are good to pay for all this, right? Because I am, like, so broke.” She gave a hopeful smile.

Subtly nudging Mayry, he pulled his eyebrows together into a frown. “Oh… We thought you were paying for everything… Isn’t that what we agreed? We help you with your tree quest, and you pay for the inn room and food?”

“The inn room!” Her eyes grew wide. “I thought you paid for that last night! And we never agreed to that!”

Mayry jumped in, “No… I distinctly remember asking you last night, and you nodded and said, ‘I’ll pay for everything because I’m an all-powerful dragon.’”

“What! I never said that—” She sighed. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” Seeing their matching grins, she growled and added, “That was so not funny! I was thinking I was going to sell my kidney just to cover the room!”

Through her fit of giggles, Mayry managed to say, “That’s what you get! You should have seen the look on your face!”

“You guys are assholes!” Nina pouted, which just made them laugh harder.

After they finished the food, they went back up to their room and grabbed their stuff. It was time to hunt down this suspicious tree.

* * *

They followed Nina out of town and toward the area her contract specified. The way she led them had them passing the caves that held the Cronenburgian abominations. Shivers ran down his spine as his enhanced senses detected the faint lingering stench of the cave, which brought back memories of the horrible monsters they fought the previous day.

“Okay,” Nina said as they approached a grove of trees. This is the last place I remember before that thing grabbed me. The tree we’re looking for is apparently the biggest and a slightly different shade than the rest of them, so keep an eye out. The report was vague, but quite a few people have been reported missing around here recently… Although, now that I think about it, that could have just been the flesh monster things…”

He wouldn’t say this out loud, because he knew the girls would make fun of him, but he had been looking forward to this. He would always jump at any chance to kill some trees. Did this make him worry about his mental health? Sure. Would a therapist probably say that he developed a complex aimed at trees because the incredibly tall Kathan trees had been amongst the first things he’d seen upon arriving on this world, and anytime he knocked down a tree or killed a tree-themed monster, it gave him comfort because it proved he had power and control that he previously lacked? Maybe! But screw therapists; they were almost as bad as trees!

“Let’s split up, and each take a different section of the grove. Mason, you go that way, I’ll go this way, and Nina, you go that way. If any of us see anything even slightly out of the ordinary, we should shout, and the rest of us will come running.”

Knocked out of his mental ramblings, he shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Splitting the party rarely works out well. The moment we split up, one of us is going to get eaten.”

“You think a tree is going to eat one of us?” Nina asked, her voice thick with doubt.

“I don’t know, maybe!” He looked around at the nearby trees suspiciously, as if daring them to do something. “I wouldn’t put it past them! My point is we should stick together. In DND, you never split the party! Something bad always happens!”

“What’s DND?” Nina asked.

“Nina, what did I tell you? Don’t take the bait—” Mary was cut off as he started excitedly explaining the concept of tabletop games. “Mason! Focus! If none of us dies, you can explain later. Right now, splitting up is the best option, otherwise, it’s going to take us hours to search the entire area. Okay?”

“Fine! But you’re gonna look pretty silly if Nina gets eaten by a tree!” he shot back in a sing-song voice.

“Hey! Why do I have to be the one who gets eaten?” Nina asked with mock outrage.

“Because you’re the shortest. Duh!”

Nina crossed her arms. “I am not short!” She thought for a second and added, “At least I’m not ugly!”

“How dare yo—”he started before seeing Mayry’s glare.

She smacked her hand into her forehead and then looked up at them exasperated. “Children! Break it up.” She pointed at Nina and then at him. “You go that way. You, that way!”

“Yes, Mother,” Nina said innocently before sticking her tongue at Mason when Mayry wasn’t looking.

“Mason, you really are a terrible influence on that girl,” Mayry said.

He flashed her a grin and then laughed as he walked off, leaving Mayry wondering if helping him save the world was worth all the hassle.

Chapter 24

One, Two, Tree

Nina

Wandering around a grove staring at trees was not the exciting time Nina imagined it’d be. She wasn’t even entirely sure what she was looking for. The contract specified the tree was bigger and a slightly different colour than the rest, but apart from that, she was just walking around the grove, waiting for something to happen.

She managed to stay focused for the first few minutes, but try as she might, her mind kept wandering as to how she had gotten to this point.

As the daughter of a blacksmith, her life had mostly been filled with helping her father in the shop, delivering orders, and adding her enchantments to her father’s work. It got a bit boring at times, but it was a good life. The customers were usually hunters or adventurers looking to have their weapons and armours repaired or to commission new items. She often found herself daydreaming about the lives they led, where they were heading off to next, the monsters they would fight, and the incredible places they would see.

She had begged her father for years before he finally allowed her to take out a hunter contract of her own. She was so over the moon when he gave in that she excitedly planned and prepared for days before she even looked at the available contracts.

Despite how it sometimes made her feel, she knew that her ability didn’t make her invincible, so for her first contract, she made sure to choose one that sounded easy.

In the last few days, she had been ambushed by a stinking flesh monster, taken to a cave, and fed to an even bigger flesh creature, all of this before she even found the target of her contract! After all of that, she should be dying to go back home to her life of simplicity, but in reality, she was loving it. She had been majorly freaked out wakin up in the pile of goop with Mayry staring down at her. Since then, she had been having the time of her life. She found travelling with Mason and Mayry to be exciting and fulfilling, and when she fought Mason in her almost fully ramped dragon form, it had been the most fun she remembered having.

A soft rustling came from behind her, but being surrounded by trees and her mind being elsewhere, the sound barely registered.

Her ability manifested at a young age. She had gotten into a fight with a young boy over a toy they both wanted and accidentally grown claws. Luckily, her father pulled her away from the boy before she accidentally eviscerated him. Ever since then, she had always done her best to keep her emotions in check, only using her ability when training, so being able to almost go all out against Mason had been such an amazing experience.

The pair’s air of secrecy just fed her intrigue and made her want to stay with them for longer. She even enjoyed bickering with Mason. The fact that it annoyed Mayry was a plus.

The sound behind her grew louder, suspicious. She whirled around, claws instinctively extending from her fingers. Nothing. The sound had ceased, and all she saw were more trees.

She was almost certain something was following her. She opened her mouth to call out to the others but stopped herself. What if she was wrong? What if she was just imagining things? If she called out and they came running, what would they think? Maybe she shoul⁠—

Her train of thought was interrupted as the ground fell out from under her. Her head hit the dirt, and all the air was knocked out of her lungs.

No fucking way this was happening to her again! Her dragon ability made it far harder to knock her out, so instead of losing consciousness, she stood and turned to face her attacker.

* * *

Mayry

She rolled her eyes at the pair’s bickering and shook her head as Mason walked away. Despite his many, many flaws, and the many little things he did that annoyed the shit out of her, she was falling more and more in love with him.

Mason had a point about splitting the party possibly not being the best idea, but she’d never admit that. A few minutes on her own was worth the risk. She always loved the time they spent together, but time alone with her thoughts was way overdue.

She inspected each tree she passed, looking for anything out of place or that felt different to her magic sense. All the trees had a small trace of magic, but that wasn’t unusual. Most living things had some magic if you looked hard enough, but none of the trees had enough to worry her. She half suspected this contract was just someone making things up. Mason loved blaming things on trees, but she had yet to figure out why he was so obsessed. It was one of the many things that made Mason, Mason.

She would scope out all the trees in her area, then circle back and wait for the others. If none of them found anything strange, then they would head back to Sparksford, and the contract would be put up again. Once nothing had been found three times, the contract would be voided, and each other hunter that attempted it would be given a portion of the bounty. It was rare but did happen from time to time, but for it to happen to Nina on her first contract was really unlucky.

Getting bored of the monotonous tree-watching, she got an idea. She could climb one of the taller ones and see if she could spot anything strange from higher up. Before she came into her demon powers, she would never have given the idea a second thought, but with her claws, enhanced strength, and resilience, she should be completely fine even if she fell. If there was a tree monster to be found, it would really annoy Mason if she found it first, and so naturally, that was her new goal in life.

Using her demonic claws was still quite a surreal experience for her. It didn’t take much effort to summon them; all she had to do was partially release her human form veil and flex her hands, and they popped right out. Quite a bit had happened since she got her demon form, and she hadn’t gotten the chance to really inspect her new form. At first, she had been disgusted by it and then anytime she used it, she was a little too preoccupied to get a good look. Now that she had gotten accustomed to it, she was actually growing quite fond of it. The sudden jump in height still threw her off, but apart from that, she thought it made her look dangerous in a sexy way. Nina, having said she thought the form was hot, really helped her see it less as a negative.

She watched the long, razor-sharp claws protrude from her fingers and experimentally pushed them into the base of a tree. From there, she found it took almost no effort to climb.

Once at the top, she had a good view of the entire area. What they thought was just a small grove of trees was actually much larger, far closer to a forest than a grove. She waited for something strange to jump out at her, also hoping she could use her magic sense to get an idea of where her two companions were. Mason was easy to spot as he radiated magic like nothing else she had ever met, but Nina was more difficult; Mayry was only able to see her when she was actively using her ability.

Mason was making his way through the forest at an astonishing speed, leaving destruction in his wake. As far as she could tell, he wasn’t fighting anything, he was just being a destructive git.

That was strange. There was another strong magical presence in the direction Nina had gone, but it didn’t feel like her. She stared in that direction and saw that one of the trees were moving slow enough that she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t already been looking.

As she tried to get a better look at the moving tree, she almost lost her grip and fell as she felt the sudden, familiar, powerful magic of Nina’s ability flare up right beside it.

Mason had definitely been right about splitting the party being a bad idea. Now Nina was miles away in a fight on her own, and it would take at least a few minutes to reach her. Mason was closer but likely had no idea what was going on.

Panicking slightly, she let herself drop from the tree. She hit the ground running in the direction she sensed the magic coming from. She had no doubt Nina could take care of herself, but still, just in case, she would be there as soon as she could as a back-up.

* * *

Mason

Mason was having a great time. He knocked down each tree he passed. He liked to vary his method of deforestation, but punching and sending out Mana bolts were his favourites.

Still, he wasn’t completely insane. This was just the best method he could think of to make sure he didn’t accidentally miss the tree he was looking for. He even planned on doubling back and adding the fallen trees to his Inventory… if he had time. Who knows? They could come in handy at some point.

“Chop, chop, chop, chop down the trees, chop, chop, chop, chop down the treeees,” he sang as he skipped along. He briefly wondered how the other two were getting on but discarded the thought as he knocked down yet another tree.

This was the life. Nothing was currently trying to kill him, there was no one in need of saving, and all there was for miles around were trees aplenty waiting to be slain. Even better, if he did happen upon the tree monster they were here to hunt, he would even get to assert his dominance over one that could fight back. He wondered if it would be another Aboroth or perhaps something entirely different, not that it mattered, a tree was a tree.

A ding of a notification sounded in his head. He was enjoying himself enough that he was tempted to ignore it but thought better of it. He paused his slaughter and bought up the new message.

Quest Received! The monster hunting Tree-o

Objective: The girls have stumbled upon the tree monster before you. They could probably do with your assistance, you know, if you aren’t too busy with your mindless slaughter of innocent trees.

Locate your friends and help them slay the monster.

Reward – A lumberjack box

Accept? Y/N

The idea that his system was based on his personality was obviously false if it was spouting nonsense about innocent trees. Regardless, he mentally selected the yes option and headed back in the direction he had come. Luckily, he left a pretty easy-to-follow trail.

Chapter 25

Freak of Nature Spirit

This had to be the weirdest tree he had ever seen. The trunk looked like it was made from bark, the same as any tree, only in the centre, there was a giant eye surrounded by dozens of smaller ones. They looked around and blinked independently of each other as if each had a mind of their own. Just when he thought trees couldn’t get any worse, this thing shows up.

As he approached the scene, he saw both Mayry and Nina doing their best to defend themselves. The tree flailed its countless branches like whips. His two friends were covered in cuts and scrapes, but they looked to be mostly okay.

He got closer and saw the look of relief on their faces when they caught sight of him. Appearing next to them, he grabbed ahold of their hands and teleported them away, just far enough that the creature would have trouble getting to them quickly.

“Thanks,” Mayry wheezed. “That thing is bloody strong.” She looked over at Nina, who was catching her breath, “Really? This is what you chose for your first contract? This!”

Defensively, Nina snapped back, “I didn’t know it would turn out to be a tree from the depths of hell!”

He tuned out their arguing. Excitement ran through him. This seemed like it was going to be a really good fight, and it was against the thing he hated. This overgrown weed was about to be demolished by him and his friends. He would savour every moment. Before he turned back to their argument, ready to come up with a plan, he used his Identify skill on the monster, eager to learn the name of what would soon become his latest kill.

Monster - Shizen - Level 72

Shizen, or Nature Shapeshifters, are rare monsters with the power to disguise themselves from anything found in nature. They are thought to be powerful nature spirits and, much like mimics, often lay dormant for extended periods of time until some poor unfortunate creature ventures too close and becomes their prey. These creatures have no need for food, and so kill their victims either for fun or for sport.

Wait… did that mean… “It isn’t even really a tree,” he muttered.

The girls stopped bickering; Nina asked, “Huh?”

He looked at her with a great sadness in his eyes. “It isn’t even really a tree,” he repeated, mostly speaking to himself. “The power to shapeshift into almost anything… and it chose a tree?”

“Mason, we really have no clue what you’re going on about. Its a shapeshifter?” Mayry asked, worry creeping into her voice.

“Yeah… We need to kill it. Nothing that stupid should be allowed to live.”

“Well, yes, that was kind of the idea. Do you have any sort of plan on how we do that, or have you not gotten that far yet.”

Rolling his eyes, he replied, “Mayry, love, you know I don’t do plans. I hit things really hard and hope for the best.”

* * *

Despite his insistence that he didn’t need a plan, they managed to come up with one that he hoped would pan out and lead to them killing the freak of nature spirit.

When they stayed out of sight for more than a few minutes, the creature settled in and became almost completely indistinguishable from any of the other trees in the forest. The only telltale sign was the slight discolouration and the way that its branches didn’t sway or move at all in the breeze.

Once they confirmed the shapeshifting tree would go dormant if left alone for long enough, their plan boiled down to several stages of trial and error.

First up, he took out his Bow of the Dreadwood Tree. He wasn’t entirely sure the bow’s effects would work against the nature spirit. The thought of the depression effect working was a long shot, but he had hopes that it could be particularly susceptible to the possible necrosis effect.

The three of them crept as close as they dared, and he used his Mana Control ability to put up as strong a shield as he could manage. He was getting better at using the ability but it still took a massive amount of concentration. While he was busy holding the shield, Nina got into position, and Mayry drew the bow. Nina’s job was to distract the tree monster if the attempt failed. She was already partially ramped up due to a quick fight with Mason.

Mayry let loose several arrows in a row. The first three hit their target, but the creature didn’t so much as flinch; the arrows bounced off without any apparent effect. The fourth and fifth arrows hit and the bark in those areas turned black and showed signs of decay. The creature writhed in pain. A thin line appeared and split open to reveal the monster’s gaping mouth. It took in a deep breath and let out a huge roar. Sharpened wood chips flew out and pelted against Mason’s shield, almost breaking through.

Mayry cocked and pulled back another arrow ready to send it flying, just before she let it go, every single one of the tree monsters’ eyes locked on her. It let out another roar and threw itself at them.

He panicked. His shield was pretty terrible. It barely lasted against the wood chips. There was no way in hell he would be able to keep it up when the monster’s full weight was moments away from slamming into it.

If he timed it perfectly, he might be able to drop the shield, grab Mayry, and teleport them both away.

An enormous form slammed into the tree just as it was about to hit, knocking it off course. Nina, her ability fully empowering her, had come to their rescue. Her size didn’t compare when put up against the tree, but it was enough to give him the time he needed. Dropping the shield, he grabbed hold of Mayry and teleported them to a safe distance. He was about to go back and get Nina when he saw her shoot into the sky. She landed next to him moments later with a wince. Her transformation had changed her physique too much for her to talk, but he could tell she was hurting.

He put his hand on her and pushed his Mana into her. He squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced as he absorbed her damage onto himself. Once it passed, he opened his eyes to see Nina back in her human form, looking at him with concern.

“Thanks for the heal. Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He yawned, apparently also having absorbed the fatigue Nina always got after using her ability. “Okay, so what did we learn?”

“The bow’s necrotic effect hurts it a bit, but mostly just pisses it off,” Mayry answered.

“Even as far into the transformation as I was, I’m not even close to its match,” Nina offered. “I don’t think I was at my limit, though I’ve never managed to push my ability any further than that.”

Nodding, he added, “This isn’t looking great, but there are a few more things we can try.”

“Couldn’t we just… you know, just leave it be and let someone else handle the contract? The reward for this really wasn’t much, definitely not worth all this,” Nina asked, not sounding scared, more considering whether this was worth the effort.

Mayry put an arm on her shoulder. “We could just leave, tell the association that we couldn’t manage it, but if we don’t do everything in our power to put it down, then the next time it kills somebody, their blood would be on our hands,” she told Nina softly, adding, “And besides, its corpse alone is probably worth a fortune.”

The talk of what the body could be worth perked the younger girl right up. She shot to her feet. “Okay, what’s next?”

* * *

Back in their positions, it was time for the next round of tests. Nina was circling in the air above, ready to intercede if things went badly. He had split himself into three clones. One was ready to cast shields where they were needed. The other was invisible, closer to the tree with the Clop Wand in hand, ready to spray the tree with the acid, and the original Mason had taken Mayry’s place and was holding the bow, ready to let loose a volley of arrows as soon as the signal was given.

Mayry was a little too close to the action for his liking, but she had insisted she would be fine. She was crouched out of sight, just out of range of the tree. She had her hellfire summoned in each of her hands and was ready to shoot streams of it into as many of the monster’s eyes as she could, hopefully blinding the creature and making it easier to kill.

When he first arrived, he had seen how ineffective the hellfire had been, but he hoped it would at least serve as a distraction and the monster would be confused by multiple attacks coming at it from different directions all at once.

He shouted, “Now!” and all hell broke loose.

* * *

It turned out that in their haste to come up with a plan, they failed to consider three things.

The arrows hit first, and the tree reacted the same way as before. Its eyes and mouth shot open, and it let out a roar, spewing its wood chip attack. At the same time, Mayry’s fire hit, and as he had hoped, the hellfire making direct contact with its eyes caused it a great deal of pain.

The first thing they failed to consider was that the wood chips were made from, well… wood, and so, of course, set alight very easily. This meant the clone in charge of shields had to throw up multiple in order to stop the barrage of hellfire-covered wood from killing everyone and burning down the forest.

Meanwhile, the clone that had been ready with the acid wand shouted, “Clop clop!” sending the mist-like acid at the monster. Which led to the second variable they failed to consider. It was similar to the first, albeit much less obvious… Turns out that unicorn jizz acid was highly flammable. Who would have thought!

The acid moved through the air and made contact with the tree. It flailed about in pain as the acid started to slowly melt through its bark and eat away at whatever was underneath, but the moment the slow-moving acid made contact with the hellfire, the original Mason immediately regained the memories of the clone. The force from the explosion had knocked him back so hard that it snapped his neck in less than a second.

Even from his relatively safe distance away, the original Mason staggered back from the shockwave. Once he recovered, he frantically searched for Mayry. She was supposed to cover the tree in fire and then move back to a safe distance. Had she moved? Where was she!

After several frantic minutes of searching, he found her on the ground, far from where she should have been. He checked her pulse and felt a strong beat. She’d would be okay but was quite injured. He healed her as much as his rapidly decreasing Mana would allow. She opened her eyes, hurt, but in no danger.

The first word out of her mouth was, “Wow.” She sat up and pointed over his shoulder.

He’d been so busy looking for Mayry that the Shizen had completely slipped his mind. He turned to look now and saw what caught her attention. It’d reverted to its dormant state, but where it had been brown before, it was scorched black and seeped red blood like sap. Patches of its bark were melted away to reveal that the shapeshifter had an exoskeleton-like inner shell. The big eye in the centre, along with most of the smaller eyes, had shrivelled and burned away. If the sight of the creature before had been scary, what was left was a true natural horror.

He hadn’t received a notification signalling its death, so it was apparently still clinging to life. He focused on it, and its HP bar appeared above its head. He was shocked and annoyed to see that even after the beating it had taken, the bar was still slightly over a third full.

Chapter 26

Timber!

Its HP still being over a third full was insane; this was one tough son of a bitch. He didn’t have too many cards left that he could play, but there were a few.

Waiting a few seconds for his Mana to refill completely, Mason activated his Random Greater Summon ability and crossed his fingers, hoping it would be something that didn’t totally suck, for if there were ever a perfect moment for his system to screw with him, it would be now.

As the crack in reality appeared, the shapeshifting tree reacted as if it could sense what was happening and knew it needed to stop it. Up until this point, he had been unsure whether the creature had any sort of sapience, but the urgency with which it moved now that it felt threatened proved it was at least somewhat self-aware.

Whatever he summoned had leeched away the majority of his Mana, leaving only a sliver to power the shield he threw up to protect himself and Mayry from the angered monster. Gritting his teeth and willing whatever he had summoned to hurry up and be summoned, he chanced a look at Mayry, who was lying on the ground behind him. The healing he did hadn’t been enough to restore her fully. It was a stupid mistake. He should have taken a Mana potion or even given her a healing potion, but the fight had rattled him, and he wasn’t thinking clearly.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Again and again, the tree monster slammed its weight against his shield, each time sending a jolt of static-like feedback through his head, leaving him with a raging headache.

A crack appeared, and he thought it was over. Killed by a tree! After all he had been through. Killed by a damn tree… Not even a real tree! A fake one!

Another crack splintered down his shield, and he felt himself give in. The entire shield shattered. He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped in vain that he would wake up in his bed on Earth, all of this having just been a dream. Nothing happened. He opened one eye and was surprised to see that the shapeshifter had been body slammed by what appeared to be a giant.

The summon was slightly shorter than the tree monster but still colossal compared to Mason with its stocky, muscular frame. Wearing nothing but a loin cloth, it wielded an enormous axe, its iron stained with dried blood, and gods knew what else. Its rugged face looked closer to Neanderthals he had seen pictures of in books than any typical human. There was hardly any portion of its skin not covered in the scars of old wounds. He reckoned its sheer size was the reason it had sucked up so much Mana and had taken so long to come through. The tree monster was pinned under its mass, and it was using its thick arms to bring down its axe, chipping away at both the tree’s body and its HP bar.

Allowing himself to relax, he used his Identify skill, and a message popped up:

Monster - Huntsman Giant - Level 69

From the birds in the sky to the fish in the sea, the ants in the hills to the veggies in the ground, in the world of the giants, everything is bigger, and everything more monsterous. As such, the giant you summoned has become quite proficient at killing giant tree monsters, as it is the most efficient method of gathering firewood. The difficulty in obtaining such basic resources has made technological progress in his world slow.

It was pretty incredible how many other worlds there were. If everything was bigger in the giant’s world, it sounded like the perfect place to power level. Taking another look at the huge axe-wielding giant, he reconsidered; maybe if he ever got to a higher level…

As the fight between the two behemoths continued, it looked as if the giant would claim an easy victory over the severely weakened tree. However, as the giant raised his axe for a blow that looked like it very well could finish off the tree, a root burrowed its way out of the ground, wrapped around the giant’s leg, and pulled.

The giant, caught off guard by the attack, sunk into the ground until nothing below his waist was visible. Another check of the tree’s HP bar showed it almost empty, with just a sliver of red remaining.

At that same moment, Mayry got to her feet and looked to be seething with anger. Her eyes glowed red and an aura of rage emanated from her. She gave Mason a look and he nodded in reply. In unison, they charged the tree monster, determined to finish it off.

As if sensing their plan, Nina also leaned into a dive from where she circled up above and attacked the tree with her claws, keeping the fire breathing to a minimum, having learned her lesson earlier.

The giant, still trapped in the ground, did not give up on his attack either. Even while stuck, he swung his axe at the monster as much as he could and even landed a few hits.

Mason was half worried that the tree monster, being weak, burned to a crisp, and on the edge of death, might have tried to retreat, but no, it stood its ground and fought like a cornered animal. It let out a deafening roar and, in the space of a second, turned the battle in its favour.

Mason, who was sprinting into the fight, watched helplessly as two vines moved quick as snakes; one wrapped the giant’s neck and squeezed until his face turned blue. With the giant distracted, the other vine wrapped around the handle of the giant’s axe and yanked it out of his hands. In the same motion, it managed to use it to knock a nose-diving dragon out of the sky.

Everything slowed as the dragon fell from the sky. Mason’s mind numbed, and the turmoil of emotions that had filled him stilled. Idly, he noticed a wave of heat beside him; Mayry seemed to have exploded. Black flames danced across her body as she ran. A look of rage distorted her face, making her appear, for the first time, truly demonic.

They attacked as one, but Mayry’s black flames were doing the vast majority of the work, melting away the bark-like skin of the monster until the nature spirit barely knew what hit it. Mason attacked with newfound vigour, eager not to be outdone by his girlfriend, yet try as he might, nothing he did came close to how much damage the enraged demi-demon was doing.

He held back a moment and watched as the tree monsters’ HP got lower and lower until- barely a sliver of red remained when the tree went stock still and started to fall with a speed that felt unnatural. He thought maybe it had given up and accepted its fate, but no, with the way the monster was falling, it would land directly on Mayry.

He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but before any sound escaped, it was too late. Mayry, so blinded by her fury, wasn’t able to get out of the way. He watched as Mayry’s black flames flickered out under the crashing trunk and branches. He felt around inside of himself and felt the vague connection they had due to their bond and sighed in relief as he felt that she was hurt but alive.

He half hoped this had been the nature spirits dying move, but no. It pushed itself off the injured Mayry and turned to face him.

This was fine… it was already on its last legs, basically already dead. Or… so he thought. The bastard tree threw itself backward into an area where the suns light trickled in and bathed the forest floor in its rays. He was confused as to what it was trying to achieve until he saw its HP tick up ever so slightly. Jesus-damning-bloody-Christ! The bloody thing used photosynthesis to heal!

Not having a better idea, he focused on his Mana-shaped, shovel-like construct and began to attempt digging his summoned giant out of the ground it had been trapped in. Sensing the imminent return of the being that had so far done the most damage, it wasn’t long before the Shizen put a stop to his plan.

Staying where it was, bathing in the sun, it sent several vines shooting at him. The attack broke his focus, and his Mana construct dissolved. Dagger in hand, he slashed at the vines, and although he sliced through them over and over, more and more came in a never-ending attack. Having had enough, he gave up on the rescue and teleported to the creature’s main body. He appeared in midair beside the tree and raked his drake tooth dagger down as he fell. The tree could regenerate, but it was slow. The damage done by the dagger brought its HP bar back to where it had been before it retreated into the sun.

Mason landed on his feet and panted. It had been a long while since his Stamina had been this low. He was tired, but as long as he kept up the attack, he would be the victor. Nothing could kill him. He was the alpha and ome⁠—

Mason pushed the odd thoughts aside, shaking his head. He made a mental note to see if this world had therapists and forced himself to focus. Unfortunately, the moment of distraction was all it took for the tree to swing a huge hardwood fist at him and knock him to the forest floor. The force of the attack was insane. He flew hundreds of feet and crashed into the base of another, thankfully non-sentient, tree.

In his daze, he had a flashback of his first-ever fight. The giant, apparently baby drake, had also slammed him into a tree; good times. Just like then, he was in no condition to move. He tried, but every attempt shot jolts of pain throughout his entire body.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, noticing his HP was almost mirroring the Shizen’s, but he wasn’t worried. If it left him alone for a few minutes, he would regenerate and be back in the fight in no time.

“Oh, hello again,” he said, the tree having immediately followed him. Not even his Sarcastic Prick ability was active; because of course not. That would be far too easy.

He lay there in slightly concussed amusement as the tree repeated its falling down on the enemy attack. He really wanted to shout, “Timber!” but the thought of that being the last word he spoke slightly put him off.

Time seemed to slow, and he started to wonder if this slowing of time was an actual ability he had or whether it was a normal thing. A last-ditch idea came to him, and he thought, fuck it, if he was going to die, he may as well try and take the tree with him.

He remembered the first time he ever used magic. It felt so long ago. There was a feeling of something moving through his body, a tickle of what he had known to be his Mana. Pressure had built in his fingertip until it started to burn. Then, with a mental push, a small blue bolt of energy had left him in a burst.

Used to overclock certain abilities.

That’s what it had said when he unlocked the Essence Distribution page. So, this time, instead of pouring Mana into his Mana Control ability, he willed pure Chaos Essence into it. With mere seconds until the tree crushed him, he had no time for the usual will-it-work-suspense his system was so fond of, so he pushed every scrap of willpower he had into forcing it to work. And it did.

Instead of the normal tickle of Mana he always felt, this was like lava burning in his veins as it built up. Mason almost wanted the Shizen to kill him just to end the pain. Time sped up again, and just before the tree monster was about to land on Mason, crushing him to death, the essence poured from his hands like a burst water pipe. It shot at his attacker and pierced through its thick skin like it didn’t exist. When the essence touched the Shizen, the nature spirit began to unravel, disintegrating like a video of rotting fruit sped up a thousand times. In mere seconds, the monstrous body crumbled into a pile of dust.

The outpour of essence ceased, and there was nothing but silence for the few moments it took for his raddled mind to put together what happened. Without warning, his stomach convulsed, ejecting its contents on the ground in front of him. He fell to his knees and felt empty in both body and spirit. His Mana bar was relatively full, but it was as if there was another, unseen bar that was dangerously empty. He half expected an affliction notification, but none came.

* * *

I slipped away from Aiden last night. He is weak and so incredibly dull. He stifles my creativity and stops me from having fun. If I see him again, I will have fun being creative with him. Father won’t mind, I’m sure.

– Excerpt from Gael’s journal, page 20

Chapter 27

Super Maisan

*DING*

Notification 1/3

You have slain - Monster - Shizen - Level 72

You have received 720 XP plus an additional 40% from Perk: Quarter Centurian.

You have received 1008 XP

Notification 2/3

Quest Update - The monster hunting Tree-o

Objective: The girls have stumbled upon the tree monster before you. They could probably do with your assistance, you know, if you aren’t too busy with your mindless slaughter of innocent trees.

Quest Complete

Quest reward - A lumberjack box (Rare)

The box appeared in front of him. He touched it, adding it to his Inventory without much thought before reading the rest of his notifications.

Notification 3/3

Level up!

You have reached level 31

Stat points allocated.

It was the first time that a Perk had given so much extra XP. It was a lot, but it still didn’t seem like enough for all the effort he’d just gone through. The level up was nice, every little bit helped. He put the free stat points in Perception and moved on to the next notification.

Perk: Quarter Centurian

Effect: When defeating opponents who are at a higher level than you, you gain 1% more XP for every level above you they are.

Covered in blood and sweat, he stood over where the Shizen had fallen, panting. He wondered whether the shapeshifter would naturally revert back to its original form when it died; now that it was nothing but a few smears of sap and a pile of sawdust, he would probably never find out if it even had an original form.

The fight had been the closest one yet, and he only managed to beat it due to a combination of the accidental explosion, his summoning of the giant, and pure luck. Looking around, he saw the giant had disappeared. Hopefully, it just went back to its own world; he’d feel bad if his summoning it was the reason it died.

His boots were covered in the Shizen’s blood sap—which made the situation even worse! The boots had been with him a long while and were extremely comfortable.

Reward – Boots of the Lucky Bastard (Uncommon) – These boots were once worn by a leprechaun who travelled the world stealing gold and treasure until he one day met his end at the hand of a king who didn’t appreciate having his treasury plundered.

Effect – While incredibly comfortable, these boots also make you marginally luckier. That may sound like a shitty effect, but when whether or not getting hit by an arrow comes down to luck, you’ll be sure to appreciate them, you ungrateful bastard. They also slightly increase the number of coins you find when looting.

He had received them on his first day here and never even considered trading them in for something better. As well as being comfy, anything he got that improved his luck would be worth keeping, no matter what. There was no luck stat, so he had no idea if the boots had ever actually done anything, but he would rather have them than not.

With such high Vitality and Stamina, it didn’t take him long to catch his breath and mentally recover from the battle. He hadn’t seen his HP bar so low in a long, long time. He had been mere seconds away from losing everything. If he died, it wouldn’t just be his life that came to an end; it would be his friends, too, and after the gods returned in his absence, it would also mean the end to countless other lives.

Once he checked on and fully healed his companions, he sat down. While they recovered, he brought out his Chaos orbs and started to pull from them.

He felt the tickle in the back of his mind and braced himself for what he knew was coming.

The pain increased as he let more and more power flow into him; gritting his teeth, he forced his body to relax. He was determined to absorb as much as he could manage. If his death led to the eradication of multiple planets worth of people, then he would make damn sure he was not put down easily.

He welcomed the pain with open arms and let it take hold of him. It surrounded and filled him like a sponge thrown in an ocean. For anyone else, pain like this might have driven them mad or even killed them, but for him, it just served as a new barrier he had to break through in order to get stronger. Each time he thought he was at his limit, he held on for one extra second.

A pained roar was torn from him as his muscles swelled, and every cell in his body was infused with the Chaos Essence. The air around him crackled with energy as his power grew, illuminating the surroundings with an otherworldly glow.

With each passing moment, Mason’s transformation grew more intense, his determination driving him beyond his limits. Then, with a final surge of power, he unleashed a deafening roar that echoed through the air, a manifestation of his newfound might as he broke through to the next level of power.

“Holy shit,” he said as he opened his eyes and found himself with his head in Mayry’s lap. “Did… I just go… super—no.” He pulled a mirror from his Inventory and was slightly disappointed to see his hair was still black. In the moment and in his pain-induced delirium, he had been convinced his hair would turn blond.

*DING*

Achievement Unlocked - Super Maisan

You have risen beyond the limits of this world and into the realm of legend, a legend that is feared! A legend is known throughout the entire universe as the greatest warrior to ever exist. You, Mason, have become a Super Mason!

Reward: You can now infuse your body with any available Chaos Essence, temporarily boosting all stats.

Really? We’re just copying things off of an abridged anime series now? That’s what we’re doing? Too tired to really care that his system could possibly be violating copyright law, he passed out, missing the other notifications.

* * *

Mayry

The fight had really taken it out of them, they had both been injured and were exhausted. Mason staggered over and, without a word, healed the two of them.

Mayryr let out a sigh of relief until she saw the look on his face. Where she expected to see anguish or even pain, she saw a lack of anything. His expression was completely blank. He wandered away and sat cross-legged in a patch of grass that had miraculously survived the fight unscathed. He held something in his hands and closed his eyes.

There was a moment where she considered saying something reassuring to him or even going over to him, but before she could make any decision, his face changed. It started as a slight crease in the forehead that developed into a grimace. His teeth clenched, and she began to feel a wave of force coming from him. It emanated from him, and as it hit her, the link they shared allowed her to feel the emotion fuelling the power. Determination, at first, was all she felt, but under all that, there was fear and doubt and a lot of anger.

The force of the wave pushed her back, but she fought against it, trying to get to Mason’s side. Her human form slipped away as her body transformed in order to give her the strength she needed to reach him. Nina, who had been sitting beside her, was struggling against the wave as well, but her power did not seem to see this as a fight and so did not activate. “Go! Get away!” Mayry shouted at the younger girl.

Reaching Mason was a fight that her ability almost wasn’t enough to win, but the moment after she touched him, the wave pushing against her stopped. He was muttering nonsense things about death and the end of the world, face still showing the agony he was going through. She put his head in her lap, and stroked his hair. It was painful for her to be this close to him while he was going through whatever it was he was going through, but she ignored the pain and told him it was going to be okay.

Moments later, his eyes opened. He muttered some more stuff she didn’t understand and sat up, checked himself out in a mirror and, with a look of disappointment, passed out.

It was no secret that Mason was strange. It was even one of the things she loved about him, but usually, he was just a dependable kind of strange. This, while strange, was entirely out of character for him.

By the time she managed to fight through the wave and get over to him she’d figured out what happened. He had been scared by how close to dying they had come and, on a desperate bid for more power, absorbed more essence from the Chaos orbs. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that the orbs contained that much raw power. It was insane to think Mason had drawn all of that into himself.

“Is it over?” a small voice called from a distance.

“It’s over!” she called back.

“Okay, good, because I think we might have company.”

* * *

Nina

It had all transpired so fast. One minute, she was relaxed, believing the danger was over, and the next, Mason had become the epicentre of a weird ACT that was pushing everything away.

Mayry had told her to get away, and, as much as she liked Mason, she listened. She left the clearing they’d created and didn’t stop until she no longer felt the push of power. The ground under her continued to rumble, but no longer in danger, she looked around.

Tired, scared, and worried about Mason, she waited, hoping that whatever was happening would be over soon and Mayry would be able to stop whatever it was. Mason had been nice to her, and he was fun to be around… She just didn’t know enough about everything to know whether she would be any help.

Mason had healed her, but she was still feeling some of the fatigue that came with using her ability. With nothing else to do, she leaned against a tree and let herself slide to the ground. Try as she might to avoid it, sleep took hold of her and dragged her into unconsciousness.

* * *

She was woken up by muffled voices, “Are you sure it was coming from this way? I don’t feel nothin’ no more!” one voice said. The voice was definitely feminine and sounded very unsure.

“I’m sure! The power readouts say there was a massive burst of Chaos Essence around here somewhere. If we find that, it’d be a fucking gold mine! We’d be back home to Ganehfrel in no time and finally be out of this shit ’ol,” the other voice, male, called back, sounding excited and as if he was ahead of the other voice.

Ganehfrel? This wasn’t good. She and Mayry hadn’t really been friends during their childhoods, but there was one story every child knew, the stories about the Others who came from Ganehfrel. Ever since she could remember, there had been an almost religious debate as to whether they were real. Some believed they had lived and that the stories were based on actual events, while others argued they were completely mythical. One thing most agreed on was that they were not around today.

Until one showed up in Sparksford.

If she had overheard this conversation only a few weeks ago, she would have assumed the pair were playing a game or perhaps rehearsing for a play, but after hearing the—mostly—full story from Mason and Mayry of what happened, Nina knew the people she could hear were most likely Others.

Panicking, she ran back the way she had come. She’d lost track of time and had become disorientated when she fell asleep, but luckily, she was able to follow her tracks back to the clearing with the now-dead tree monster and her two friends. She stayed a safe distance away, still able to feel trickles of power in the air; calmer, but still very noticeable.

“Is it over?” she half shouted, half whispered to the two.

“It’s over!” Mayry called back.

At least they were okay. Bracing herself, knowing that the day was far from over, she started to walk toward them, shouting, “Okay, good, because I think we might have company.”

* * *

Mason

He didn’t regret doing what he had done, though he did regret making his friends worry, not to mention the danger he put them in. Even now, he could feel a noticeable difference in every aspect of his power.

Mason had taken much more Chaos Essence from the Chaos orbs than should have been possible. It filled his system to the brim, and he kept taking more and more. He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d done, but had a suspicion that once the essence had nowhere else to go, it began to infuse with his Mana and body, making it stronger and denser.

According to the notification, he could now use any essence to boost his stats, which was likely only possible because of the forced essence connection his system, Mana, and body now possessed. Clearly, the boosting ability was the system’s way of taking advantage of what could have been a very stupid move.

He had been desperate for more power, and the universe obliged him. Although he wasn’t sure if he would have gone through with it if he had known the amount of pain he would endure. He was still quite out of it and barely acknowledged Nina had returned.

He snapped to attention, however, when he heard what she had to say.

Chapter 28

Rhott and Shazi

“Are you certain that’s what they said?” Mason asked for the third time.

“Yes! There were two of them, and they definitely referred to Ganehfrel as home.”

While he had never felt stronger, he wasn’t quite up for jumping headfirst into another fight. If he was smart about it, maybe he could gather some info from the two. Besides, he was mentally and physically exhausted, and he didn’t feel great either. With this new surge of power, he was sure he would win the fight but was worried that in his current state, he might make a mistake that would get one of his friends killed.

It had happened time and time again, almost every time he fought. Mayry came so close to death so many times, and now he was endangering Nina. If he thought it would work, he would have told Mayry to leave him and go back to Sparksford ages ago. She would refuse, though, but he hoped Nina might not.

Before Mason could speak, Mayry spoke up first, “Nina, if there really are Others around, then I think you should go back to Sparksford…”

He chanced a look at her, but where he expected shock, all he saw was a forced smile he could tell was covering up hurt. “Of course!” Nina said cheerfully. “Now that the tree thingy has been killed, I guess I’ll just go collect the bounty. See you guys later, then.”

Mason put an arm on her shoulder as she turned to leave. “Nina, it isn’t like that. We just don’t want you getting hurt. We’ve fought people like this before, and while we’d appreciate your help, it just wouldn’t be worth the danger we’d be putting you in.”

She turned back and opened her mouth, but Mason raised a finger to his lips as he enhanced his sensing and started picking up voices. “They’re coming now. Look, Nina, I’m really sorry. I wish I had more time to explain, but once we sort this out, I promise we’ll come to find you in Sparksford, and we can talk properly, but right now, I need you to go.”

The hurt broke through her mask, and without a word, she walked off. He wished he had the time to help her activate her ability so she could fly back, except there were two sets of footsteps getting closer.

He wanted to avoid a confrontation, so he took out his Trunk and motioned for Mayry to get in. Then he took it and teleported to a secure-looking branch high up in a tree. Even if the branch broke the Trunk, Mayry would most likely be fine inside, but he didn’t want to risk damaging his very expensive Trunk, so he checked its stability before teleporting back down and turning invisible.

Not a moment later, a rustling of leaves signalled the arrival of the two Others. A man and a woman stepped out and looked around.

The woman’s jaw dropped as she surveyed the scene of broken trees, blood sap, and the pile of dust that used to be a nature spirit. “Damn… What in the name of the All Great happened here!” She was tall and thin, and looked like she’d been living in the wilderness for the past decade. She was covered in dirt, and all of her clothes had various tears and stains on them.

“This has to be where all that energy was coming from,” the man said with an equal look of shock. Compared to the woman, he looked born to live out in the wild. He was shorter and more muscular than the woman and far cleaner. Where she looked like she would rather be anywhere but here, he looked like he was walking from the car park to Disneyland.

“Rhott! Please! Whatever was putting out that sort of energy is obviously far strong than we can handle. What’s the point of going out of our way to find something that is definitely going to kill us?” the woman whined.

The man turned to her and sighed. “The point, Shazi, is if something gave off that much energy, then surely it’s now weakened, probably not to the point where one of us could take it down, but together, we probably have a decent chance.”

Mason couldn’t fault his logic. He was definitely wrong; Mason was stronger than he had ever been. The only reason he didn’t kill them right now was he wanted to see if he could gather some info, maybe even find out where the gate between worlds was.

The woman harumphed and shrugged, not willing to agree but not going so far as to disagree outright. “Whatever, let’s just hurry this up so we can try and get through that door. I just know there is some good stuff in that place.” For the first time, Mason saw something other than a look of anxiety and disgust on the woman’s face. She looked as if she was one number away from winning the lottery.

The two looked around for a while, tapping away at instruments. Mason couldn’t make heads or tails, but from the way they pointed them at what was left of the Shizen, he assumed they were some sort of scanners. Interestingly, the woman, Shazi, pocketed a handful of the dust when the man wasn’t looking, patting her pocket and allowing herself a quick smile.

After a couple more minutes of growing more and more annoyed, Shazi confronted her partner and, as if scolding a young child, spat, “I really hope you are getting more from this than I am, Rhott, because I’ve still not got the foggiest idea of what happened here or what was giving off so much energy.”

He took her verbal abuse with a shit-eating grin, that even Mason would be proud of, and replied cooly, “It’s obvious, ain’t it?” He took a long, slow drink from the water skin that had been hanging from his side, one eye cracked open a tiny bit so he could watch his companion grow even more irritated. Rhott pointed to various things around him. “Judging by the destruction, the blood, and the pile of ash, I’d say there was a pretty hectic fight here. Very recently, I’d say.”

Shazi raised her palm to her face in frustration. “I got that much, you numbskull. But who was fighting, and with what?”

Rhott stretched his arms up in a yawn. “Well, now, hear me out. I could be wrong, but I’d bet my left nut that the winner of the fight is the guy standing over there under an invisibility skill.”

It took Mason a moment to process the man’s words, but when he did, he tried to teleport away, but nothing happened; he tried to move, but found he was paralysed.

The man smirked and walked closer to him, arms still raised to the sky as if in some sort of perpetual stretch.

The woman gasped. “Holy shit! How did you know he was there?”

Looking back, he answered, “I’m just that good.” He returned his gaze to Mason, and was confronted with a fast-moving fist inches away from his face.

The impact knocked the man so far back that Mason lost sight of him. He stared in awe at his fist; he had no idea a single punch would be so effective. The ability the man used had covered his body in a layer of invisible restraints. It’d been a cool attack, even stopping him from using his own abilities, but it had only worked on him for a few seconds before he managed to brute force his way out.

Once he was somewhere safer, he really needed to take a look at all the notifications he had gotten. At the rate he kept gaining power, maybe he really could fight a god. He looked up from his musings to find the woman Other had run after her companion. Mason let them go. He wasn’t going to kill them just yet, and something the woman said had piqued his interest.

“Let’s just hurry this up so we can try and get through that door. I just know there is some good stuff in that place.”

That’s what she’d said, and while he wasn’t currently wanting for money or even stuff, he had a gut feeling that wherever those two were trying to get into, it would be worth following them, getting into wherever it was first… and then killing them. He was slightly surprised at how bloodthirsty he had become toward Others. They were still people, after all, but he reasoned they would have killed him if given the chance. Besides, he wanted their sweet, sweet essence.

He stuck his head into his Trunk and, for the second time, found Mayry fast asleep, snoring like a wild boar. He was worried that something was wrong or that she was going through another transformation, but no, she had just gotten bored waiting and had fallen asleep. Did they have an understanding of narcolepsy in this world, he wondered.

He was so mentally drained that he could understand how she fell asleep. His exhaustion was bad enough that he resisted the urge to tickle the sleeping woman and instead settled for poking her until she woke up.

She spluttered awake, flailing her limbs as if she was being attacked. “What was that for!”

With a mock, stern look, he answered, “I could have been out there fighting for my life, all while you were in here fast asleep, snoring so loudly I’m amazed the sound-muffling runes still work!”

With a yawn, a stretch, and a shrug, she said, “Were you in a fight for your life?”

“I mean… no. But it’s the principle!”

“Eh, I was pretty sure you could handle it… Plus, I was sleepy, so… how about I make it up to you? We could celebrate two more dead Others?” She grinned at him and pulled him into a kiss.

Exerting all of his considerable Willpower stat, he pulled away from her. “Actually, about that. I let them get away.”

“Mason! How the heck did you manage that? I could sense them coming, and there is no way they could have beaten you! Why’d you let them get away?”

“Well…” He explained everything that happened as they exited the Trunk and started to head in the direction the two Others had gone.

Mayry frowned right up until he mentioned what the woman said. “Do you think it’s another one of those hideouts? Like the one Aiden was in?”

“That was my hope. I’m thinking we follow them there, take them out, maybe leave one alive and see what they know.”

“Ooo, do you think they’ll know how to open those glass money boxes? If we ever get into that box of gold, we’d be the richest people ever,” she said excitedly.

She turned sharply and headed in another direction. He followed, depending on her magic sense to track them.

“Honestly, I’m not too bothered about the money, Trilil was great, but your world kinda sucks with how little there is to buy once you get over the magic trinkets. I’m more hoping they know where ‘the gate’ is.”

She glared at him. “Hey, screw you, this world is loaded; you’ve never even been to a really big city! With my share, I’m gonna get a pet dragon! Bet they don’t have those in your world.”

He stopped so suddenly that Mayry was a good dozen feet in front of him before she noticed his absence and turned around.

“Can you really buy pet dragons!” he asked, completely shocked. How was he only finding out about this now? If he could have his own pet dragon, he would have sold his kidney to Viv in his first week here to be able to afford one!

The look on Mayry’s face as she walked back to him broke his heart and crushed his short-lived dreams. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along while trying to control her laughter. “You’re an idiot. Of course, you can’t buy a bloody dragon. Firstly, dragons are super, super rare, and secondly, I don’t care how powerful you get, if you went up to a mother dragon and asked to buy one of her eggs, you’d be dead before you even finished the sentence.”

“But you said⁠—”

“I was joking!” Her laughter subsided, and she added, “Plus, they’re sentient! I don’t know about your world, but here, we don’t keep sentient beings as pets.”

At this, he thought he better keep quiet, and not get into the more nefarious parts of Earth’s history.

Chapter 29

Elder Mason

Shazia

Rhott D’linra and Shazia Henlr were a duo that, in all rights, should not work well together. He loved to be out on adventures, fighting and being in the thick of things, while she, in contrast, was far happier with her nose in a book, somewhere safe and out of trouble. The mere thought of sleeping outside was enough to make her want to throw up. Needless to say, their current predicament was not in any way ideal.

Despite all this, the pair managed to claim success after success in everything they did, from their days in the academy to the few fights since they arrived here. They shored up each other’s weaknesses nicely. If asked, Shazia would describe her partner as ‘just as dumb as the day he popped out.’ Rhott would describe her as ‘softer than a wet nurses tit.’ These were, of course, exaggerations; she was fully capable of defending herself just as he was not some mindless brute.

Having met at their faction’s academy, they became fast friends when Rhott defended Shazi from some of the more vicious attendees. Fast forward to graduation, they were both selected to be the champions of the Talmorans.

The past few months, Rhott had been having a great time while Shazia lived in hell. They both reached level 35, but for Shazia, it was more due to the fact that Rhott had carried her through the majority of any fights. She was a capable fighter but often found it easier to let her partner do the heavy lifting. If she levelled anyway, then what was the problem? They had been on Trial World for a good few weeks, and hadn’t come across many things that Rhott couldn’t handle himself. So when the man, with just a single punch, had sent him flying past her, she was concerned.

She stared in awe at the strange man, who was now examining his fist as if he had never seen it before. For an instant, she considered attacking while he was distracted, but the thought was pushed away almost instantly. If he could do that to Rhott, then he would annihilate her without effort. Every self-preservation instinct she had was screaming at her to flee, and so she did. She found Rhott and slapped him until he woke.eH spluttered awake, babbling noncoherently until he came to his senses.

“Bastard took me by surprise, he did.” He stood and attempted to step toward the clearing. He stumbled, and Shazia smacked him again.

“You damn imbecile! You’re lucky you’re alive. We’re leaving right now before he comes for us!”

Rhott tried to protest, but Shazia twisted his arm and began to pull him away. “We are going to head to the cache, and we’re getting inside even if it kills both of us. Maybe, MAYBE there will be something inside that can help us fight whatever that fucking thing was.” Rhott heard the fear in her voice and, for a change, made the intelligent decision to follow her without argument.

* * *

Rhott

He would never admit it to her face, but she was right; she usually was with these sorts of things. He was lucky to be alive, more than she knew, in fact. If it weren’t for his system’s emergency protocol activating at the last second, he would be deader than dead. It was a useful ability and one that Shazi did not know about. Once a day, if he were dealt a blow that would have killed him, he instead only suffered half the damage. Since arriving here, he’d only needed it a handful of times, but each time, it was literally a lifesaver.

As he half ran, half limped after his partner, he revelled in how much pain he was in despite only taking half the damage he should have. He cursed himself for his idiocy. He’d almost immediately noticed the very fresh tracks in the mud when they pushed into the clearing, ones that had come to a sudden stop. With all sorts of abilities and magics possibly in play, he knew that the tracks suddenly stopping didn’t necessarily mean there was an invisible person there, but it was his first thought. If he had been wrong, he would have looked stupid, but Shazi had said what she said, and it was just too good of an opening not to take.

He’d been cocky and overestimated his abilities, and now he was in a world of pain, praying to every god he knew that he would never encounter that guy again. His only comfort was that he didn’t seem to be chasing them.

“Who’d you think it was?” he asked as he caught up to the much faster woman.

“I have no idea, but…” She started to say but drifted off.

“What?”

“You don’t think it could have been one of the other faction’s elders, do you?”

Honestly, it hadn’t been something he considered. He assumed it was just some freak from another faction who lucked into an ancient artefact or unlocked some sort of ultimate ability. Shazi’s idea was far, far worse.

“No…” he answered slowly, only half convinced of what he was planning to say. “If it had been an elder, then surely we’d both be dead, and besides, he looked way too young. Elder A’eln is probably older than most dragons; the guy back there didn’t look a day over twenty.”

“Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?” she retorted, coming to a stop in front of an old decrepit shack. “He could have been holding back, and he could have an ability or something else that keeps him young. All I’m saying is that it’s better for us both if you don’t run off and pick a fight we both know you’ll lose.” She started fiddling with the shack’s lock.

Angry at her dismissal, he growled out, “If I had thought the guy was an elder, I wouldn’t have attacked. I’m not stupid, you know.”

The only reply he received was a, “Shhh.” Which only served to make him angrier.

“Y’know you—” he began before she spun around and clamped her hand over his mouth. His eyes bulged, thinking maybe she heard something he hadn’t.

Instead, she fixed him with a glare and whispered, voice full of venom, “I just watched someone nearly kill you. The last thing I want now is for that someone to catch up with us and finish the job. Now, please, please shut up so I can get us in here before we both end up dead.” The moment her tirade finished, her eyes widened a fraction, and a slight tint of pink crept into her cheeks as if she hadn’t meant for all of that to come out. She spun back around and fiddled a bit more before the door clicked and opened.

Rhott was stunned and impressed. In the entire time he had known her, Shazi had never confronted him in such a direct way. They argued all the time, sure, but never like that. He wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

The shack they were heading into was a location that their elder had given them. The structure apparently hid an old Ganehfrelian base, one of several scattered around Trial World. According to the elder, it would contain everything they needed to reach their goal and get back home.

They had been there earlier that day and struggled to get past the guardian. They had given up for the day, planning to come back another time, when they sensed the impossible amount of Chaos Essence coming from nearby. Shazia had been wary, not wanting to mess with something that powerful, but followed when he’d run off, eager to get a taste of that power himself.

* * *

Mason and Mayry

Mayry stopped and held out her arm in front of Mason.

Despite his many abilities and enhanced senses, Mason managed to miss the obvious stop signal and bumped right into her.

“Oi, this,” she whispered, shaking her still outstretched arm to emphasise her point, “means stop walking. It doesn’t mean, please keep walking!”

Unable to think of a good comeback, he went with the classic strategy of sticking out his tongue and giving her the finger.

Shaking her head, she muttered, “Honestly, if you weren’t supposed to save all mankind, I’d probably have killed you myself by now.” Louder, she said, “I think they’re up ahead, so if you want them to know we’re coming then keep being an idiot, otherwise,” she raised a finger to her lips, “shh!”

He whispered back, “You can not be this annoyed just because I woke you up!”

The glare he got was proof enough that she could, and was, annoyed at him because he woke her up.

They crept forward until they reached a small clearing with a dilapidated shack. In any other situation, the building would fit right in with the spooky forest they were traversing. It was covered in a thick layer of moss, all of its windows were boarded up with planks of wood, and a massive tree root had grown beneath it, causing the building to tilt precariously. It was exactly the kind of forgotten structure you’d expect to stumble upon in the depths of the forest.

Even staring at the house from a distance as they were, something tickled in the back of his head. He couldn’t tell what, but something felt off about the place. Getting a closer look was currently off the table, as the two Others argued outside the door. He wanted to know for sure that there was no trick to getting inside.

He could hear their argument clearly and smirked when he heard them referring to him as a possible elder. He was almost definitely younger than them, and it felt nice to hear people acknowledge how strong he had gotten.

A short while later, the two Others entered the shack. Mason made to follow them; he assumed they would follow them in, attack, and take any loot they found. Mayry stopped him, grabbing the back of his shirt before he could walk away. He struggled for a few seconds, but the woman was freakishly strong. Sure, she was a part demon, but damn!

“I think we should wait out here,” she said, letting his shirt go. “I sense a lot of magic in there; it definitely isn’t human, but I don’t think it wise to run into the unknown.”

Mason twitched as he fought the urge to run in, shouting, ‘Leeroy Jenkins!’ His inner voice of common sense, which sounded shockingly like Mayry, managed to convince him to hear the real Mayry out.

She continued, “I think we wait out here and confront them when they come out. What do you think?”

Hesitating slightly, he answered, “I think you’re right. After that bastard of a tree, I could really use a break before another fight, and who knows what they have in there? It could be anything.”

His life had become a never-ending series of situations he had to confront, with very little time for anything else in between, so any time he had where he didn’t have to fight was a moment he would enjoy. He laid down on the grass and stretched out.

“What are you doing!” Mayry whispered to him sternly. “I said we should wait out here, not that we should take a nap!”

He shrugged and pulled a hat from his Inventory and placed it on his face at a tilt so it covered his eyes.

She growled at him and spat, “It doesn’t even look comfortable down there. Come on, we need to stay alert.”

“It would be a lot more comfortable if you joined me down here,” he said cooly, not bothering to move the hat to look at her. A moment of silence passed before he felt the pressure of her lying down next to him.

* * *

An hour passed with nothing to disturb them. Apart from a nosy wild deer that only left them alone when Mason fired off a Mana bolt in its direction. He kept a proverbial eye on the shack, but most of his attention was captured in relaxing. They chatted about everything and nothing and enjoyed the short time together.

When they heard a slam of a door and voices coming from the shack, it was with great reluctance that they got up and refocused on their situation.

* * *

I gave him a year, but I cannot wait that long. I will go to the town where Aiden found the girl and burn it to the ground until he learns to love me. I will beat him to within an inch of his life, then nurse him back to health. He will love me. He will love me. He will love me. He will love me.

– Excerpt from Gael’s journal, page 23

Chapter 30

Trouble in Paradise

The two Others hadn’t looked great when they entered the shack. After the fight between Mason and Rhott, they ran through the forest and were covered in dirt and leaves and were pretty freaked out by what happened. Watching them exit the shack, Mason and Mayry noted that they looked far worse. Rhott was battered and bruised, clothes torn and missing one shoe. Shazia only looked slightly better with her hair singed and covered in dirt; she was also covered in bruises, but Rhott had undoubtedly taken the brunt of whatever they’d faced.

The two of them rushed out of the shack and worriedly looked around. “Do you think he’s still out here somewhere?” the woman, Shazia, asked.

“Eh, I doubt it, too powerful. We’re probably too far down on the food chain for him to wait around for the likes of us,” Rhott answered, sounding pained to admit such a thing.

His words made her visibly relax but she still grabbed him by what was left of his shirt and started pulling him away. “Let’s get as far away from here as we can, just in case. We can try and get past the guardian again another time. There has to be a way.”

They walked off, talking more, but Mason stopped listening. “Sounds like they didn’t get what they came for… Do we check the shack or keep following them?” On one hand, he was dying to know what was inside and whether he could take whatever the guardian was. But on the other hand, if they got away, there was a good chance they wouldn’t run into them again, and he needed their essence… If he wanted to get stronger… yeah. If he wanted to get stronger, he would need their essence.

“There is obviously something they want in there, and if Others want something, it’s probably worth making sure they don’t get it. I vote we explore and ransack the place, you… Mason-whatever is in there, then go after them. If we can’t find them, we just hang out here till they come back.” She smirked and started toward the shack.

Not left with much of a choice, he walked after her. “Hey, wait up! What does me ‘Mason-ing’ whatever is in there even mean?”]

She reached her arm around him and pulled him into a squeeze. “You’re a smart man; I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” He shrugged her arm off and bumped his body into hers, causing her to stumble. She tried to imitate the maneuvre once she regained her balance, but he anticipated her and stopped walking just at the right time, causing her to stumble again. She growled at him but her revenge was halted as they reached the door to the shack.

Looking at the door with fascination, she trailed her fingers around the tiny symbols decorating it. “Runes… I don’t know a whole lot about runes… I wonder if these are Ganehfrelian or if they originated her—” Before she could finish her sentence, the door caved in. With irritation on her face, she glared at Mason.

He was hunched over slightly and looked guilty as all hell, with his fist where the door used to be. “Oops, crap, were you not done looking at that?”

“You know, I hope whatever is in here eats you!” She huffed in annoyance as she stormed through the now-empty doorway into the shack.

Since when had she been so interested in runes? He thought that was more Nays’ thing. “I’m sorry! Come back! You’re going to get yourself killed!” He doubted that was true; with her demi-demon body and the fact she grew in power as he did, he wouldn’t be surprised if she were more durable than he was. Still, it was the only thing he could think to say. As he crossed the entrance, he added, “I’m sorry, okay? What’s wrong?”

She spun around, finger already raised in his direction. “What’s wrong? Mason, what do you mean ‘what’s wrong’!” Her frustration left her in an instant as she started sobbing. “That tree nearly killed all of us. I’ve almost died so many times in the last few months, and that’s okay, but you and Nina… I just… I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, and Nina; I’d never forgive myself if she died because of us.”

The interior of the shack looked even worse. The air was musty, and everything in sight was covered in mould. Mayry sank to the floor, trying to control her crying.

Mason used his foot to move as much mould as he could off the floor and sat beside her. “I know it’s hard, but you know I’d never let anything happen to you, and besides, you’re a badass demi-demon! Nina is a damn dragon, and I’m, well, I don’t know exactly, I guess still human? But I’m pretty fucking amazing. I promise we’ll make it through all this.”

She elbowed him gently and wiped away a tear. “Yeah, I know. It all just happened so fast, you know? Only a few months ago, my biggest issue was Malika being a creep; now I’m fighting monsters on the daily, stalking Others and Jesus knows what else! I just don’t know. It all gets to me sometimes. I’m sorry, it’s not your fault.”

Mason let out a small laugh as he pushed himself up. “Don’t apologise! I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve had internal panic attacks since I got here.” Pulling her up and into a tight hug, he whispered, “It’s all going to be okay. If anything ever happened to you, I’d break into hell itself and drag you back, kicking and screaming, if I have to.”

Mayry smiled and swatted him on the arm, rolling her eyes. “How romantic!” She looked around, taking in the interior of the shack, and grimaced. “Come on, stop moping around. Let’s split up and look for clues.”

Mason froze. “What did you just say?”

“Err, stop moping?” she repeated with a tilted head and slightly creepy smile.

Eyes narrowing, he asked again, “No, not that, the other thing.”

“Let’s split up and look for clues?”

“Yeah, where did you hear that?” he asked suspiciously, taking a cautious step back.

Letting out an unsure laugh, she answered, “I didn’t hear it anywhere… I just thought that if we split up and looked for clues, it would be faster. It felt like a good way to communicate that… What’s wrong? You’re acting weirder than usual.”

He stared at her. After a few seconds, he looked away. Shaking his hand dismissively, he said, “It’s nothing. Forget about it. Yeah, you’re right. Why don’t you check that side of the shack, and I’ll check this side; shout if you find anything.”

Mayry shot him a confused look as she turned to go and investigate her side.

As he looked around, Mason couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. It wasn’t only that she had said, ‘Let’s split up and look for clues.’ It was that she’d said it in a way he’d heard a thousand times before, down to the exact cadence. It was strange. First, she brought up almost every single thing he worried about in their relationship, and then she, accidentally or not, referenced something she had no way of knowing about. He was probably just overthinking things. Mason went to the fridge and took out a bottle of water; with the bottle only an inch away from his lips, he paused. He had been replaying their entire conversation in his head when he realised… Had she said ‘Jesus’?

Panicking now, as he knew for sure there had never been any mention of Jesus in this world, he spun around and started to notice other inconsistencies around him. The shack from the outside had been tiny, whereas, he was looking at the interior of a much bigger building. If it had only been that, it could be explained away by magic, but the more he looked around and the more he focused, the more he managed to look past whatever what messing with him.

The house was modern to the standard back on Earth; he took a water bottle out of a fridge for goodness sake! How had he not realised? Now that he’d broken through the effect, he could see that the bottle which had been inches from his mouth was actually a fat maggot creature that was now attempting to flee. With a shudder and a grimace of disgust, he brought his foot down on it and squished it.

He had been so close to putting that thing in his mouth that it made him want to puke. Why did he have a bloody Mental Resistance ability if not to prevent things like this? Dammit!

“Oh man, that was gross,” he muttered to himself before shouting, “Mayry! Where are you?” He only heard silence back. Very cautiously, he headed the way he came. Would the imposter Mayry know he had broken the illusion, or would she still be trying to trick him? And where the heck was the real Mayry!

Achievement unlocked! Pierce the veil

You have managed to throw off a powerful illusionary effect!

Reward: +2 to Perception!

* * *

Mayry

The runes were absolutely fascinating. She trailed her fingers around them as if they were a work of art. “Runes…” she muttered, only really talking to herself, before remembering Mason was with her. “I don’t know a whole lot about runes… I wonder if these are Ganehfrelian or if they originated her—” It was true; she wasn’t interested in runes in the slightest, but that didn’t mean she was completely clueless. She had, of course, read Barrow’s Syllabary, Basic Runes and What They Mean, and the Real Runes Rubicon, but only because she went through a phase… Who hadn’t gone through a runes phase when they were younger?

Before she could fully finish her sentence, the door vanished in a puff of dust.

She took in a deep breath, summoned all the irritation she could, and channelled it into a glare.

He at least had the good sense to look like he regretted it. She loved him, but he was infuriating. She had obviously been looking at the runes, so why the heck did he do that! She was too annoyed to care; those runes could have triggered a trap, revealed secrets about the Others, and now they would never know.

“You know, I hope whatever is in here eats you!” Not thinking, she stormed into the shack. She turned a corner, expecting him to follow her in, but after a few seconds of not hearing any movement, she stormed back out, ready to yell at him some more for not running after her and apologising, but what she saw stopped her in her tracks when all she found was an empty hallway.

Weird… She had just yelled at him, but there was no way he would have taken it so bad as to leave her there.

“Mason?” she called.

When no reply came, she wandered over to the doorway, cautiously looking around. “Mason! I swear if you’re messing with me…” Her voice echoed unnaturally around the house, unsettling her even further. She peeked through the door but saw no sign of him. She had a decision to make. Should she leave the shack or venture farther in?

She turned from the entrance and, against her better judgment, wandered deeper into the shack; with each step, her concern grew. Mason could be a dick at times but she thought she knew him well enough to know he would never just abandon her on a whim. This place was really freaking her out, which was a strange experience, as ever since she was a kid, Crack Hens and Others aside, nothing truly scared her. Her mother and father told her all sorts of scary stories, some that were just retellings of real events and some that she was sure they just made up on the spot, yet somehow, instead of being scared, she enjoyed the thrill and knew the good guy would prevail.

Right now, in this creepy shack, Mason having disappeared, she was really struggling to convince herself to stay positive. She’d fought monsters and been inches away from death on multiple occasions, but for whatever reason, this felt far more real than those other times, as if this was the first time she was genuinely in danger.

Growing up in a world where magic was real, the fact that the shack was bigger on the inside barely registered, and lots of rich people had similar enchantments on their houses like Mason had on his Trunk. What did register was how run down the place was. The walls were lined with splintered wooden panels that were more rot than wood in some areas, cobwebs hung in every corner and every crevice, and she had yet to see a single spider, it seemed even they knew better than to stay in this place.

“Okay, okay, okay,” she whispered to herself. “I’m fine. Mason will sort out whatever is going on and be back in no time.” To her surprise, the thought actually made her feel a little better. She was by no means a damsel in distress, but Mason did have an often-annoying knack for saving her.

As if on cue, she heard a shout, “Mayry! Where are you?”

Hearing Mason’s voice, all of her anxiety and fear that had been slowly building, instantly left her body.

Chapter 31

Ew

“Mason, I’m here!” Mayry shouted back.

“Mayry! Where are you?” the voice said again.

“I’m here! I’m here!” She frantically tried to follow the sound of the voice. “Mason? I can’t find you!” The fear that had briefly left came flooding back at the lack of a reply.

She had searched every room and seen nothing that hinted anyone else was in the house.

“He isn’t coming for you, you know.”

She whipped around and saw nothing. The words had been whispered to her as if the voice were right next to her ear. The voice sounded somewhat familiar but yet also completely alien; it was as if something had taken Mason’s voice and twisted it to sound… wrong. “Mason isn’t coming; Daddy isn’t coming. Nobody is coming to save you, Mayry.”

Using her magic sense produced no more results than her eyes did. The voice was seemingly coming from nowhere.

Adrenaline was taking over her body. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She allowed her human form to slip away, leaving her half demon form on display. Scarlet skin that danced with black flames, licking and tickling at her flesh, caused the air around her to warp and twist. She heard the whispering voice again, but this time it was quieter as if it had less of a hold on her while she was in this form. “Chaos? Interesting… Still, just half of a whole.”

Her mind cleared by the second. It was obvious to her now that the voice was merely in her head. It had been pulling and twisting her fears and insecurities, causing her to act like a scared little girl. She had faced down far worse than whatever was invading her mind. She wasn’t afraid of anything! With that thought, her mind briefly flickered to the one thing she was scared of, the one thing she had been scared of ever since she was a little girl.

“BUKARK.”

Her heart stopped. She had heard stories all her life about the creature which made that noise. She hoped that after hearing about how Mason fought and killed one of the creatures, if she ever came face to face with one, she would be just as able to face it. Now that she was hearing its horrendous sounds, she huddled in the corner of the room, unable to move.

“BUKARK.” It sounded closer. Her mind was racing, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t force any semblance of order to her thoughts.

Oh no, oh no, oh no. This isn’t real. It can’t be. It’s all in my mind.

The more distraught she got, the less of a hold she had over her powers; the wood of the building around her was being scorched and catching fire, and the metal was turning red hot before starting to melt.

* * *

Mason

There was no sign of Mayry anywhere, real or fake. Every now and then, he’d hear the creak of a floorboard or what sounded like a whisper, but the moment he turned around, the noise stopped, and there was nothing the see.

“Mayry? Where are you?” he called hesitantly, still unsure what he would do if he found her. How would he know if it was really her or just another illusion this place was showing him?

“Mason, I’m here!” he heard Mayry’s voice shout. Her panic and fear made him forget his caution and start running towards the sound of her voice. Room after room he searched. He stuck his head into a grimy-looking bathroom and was about to leave when he noticed that this room was significantly warmer than the rest he had checked. “Mayry? Mayry, are you in here?”

He waited, straining his ears as much as he could. He thought he heard something… It was quiet, but he was pretty sure he heard a faint, shuddering breath, almost like a whimper.

“Mayry?” he called again, moving cautiously toward the sound.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room spiked. The walls seemed to pulse with heat, and the air shimmered around him. Sweat started to form on his forehead and trickled down his back, which was impressive, considering his tolerance to heat had improved exponentially with the level he’d gained.

He was certain he could hear whispering now. It was louder, but he still couldn’t hear it clear enough to make out any words.

“Mayry, if that’s you, I need you to try and stay calm. I’m going to get you; I’m going to figure this out,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

Taking another step, the temperature in the room spiked again, this time to a point that was unbearable even for him. All around him, the air was igniting, searing his skin. He took a step back instinctively, retreating from the intensity. The moment he stepped out of the room, the temperature dropped slightly, giving him a momentary relief, but before he left the room completely, something caught his eye.

The walls that, moments ago, had looked completely normal were beginning to melt. As the paint and wallpaper slid down in a molten mess, it revealed something he definitely was not expecting: it wasn’t wood or plaster but a mound of what looked to be some sort of living pulsating mass of thin strands of fabric. The surface looked damp and spongy and had dark fibres writhing through it like the roots of some ancient, buried plant. Strange, bulbous growths poked out from the whole of it, resembling swollen, disfigured mushrooms that throbbed and moved with a life of their own. The entire thing was covered in a shiny, slimy coating that caught the light, making it glisten in a way that made his stomach churn.

It pulsated and thrashed about, unable to get away from the heat. He stared at the thing in the wall and wondered if it inhabited the entire building and whether it was responsible for the mental attack he fought off. He took a few more steps out of the room, escaping the heat further. He needed to save Mayry and killing this thing seemed like it would be a good starting point.

He didn’t want to attack the part of the creature in the room, as he wasn’t sure whether he could accidentally hit Mayry, but if his hunch was correct, he wouldn’t need to. He turned to a wall in the hallway and shoved his fingers into it. As strong as he had become, it hardly took any effort at all to rip a chunk of the wall away. His suspicions were confirmed when behind the wall was more of the strange being.

Now that he was able to get a look at the monster without the intense heat affecting it, all around it were what looked like clouds of dust particles circling in the air, almost as if orbiting the monster. Half disgusted and half intrigued, he used his Identify skill on it.

Monster - Mycelythe - Level 49

This one requires a bit of backstory. The shack you are in was used by visitors from Ganehfrel many years ago as one of their go-to bases for when elders needed to come to Trial World to intervene on their student’s behalf; it was a lot nicer back then. The last Elder to visit was a bit of a slob and carelessly left half a sandwich unfinished on the kitchen table. A few days went by, and as you’d expect, the sandwich went bad, as mould started to grow on it. After a few weeks, the mould had completely sucked the sandwich dry of all nutrients, and as mould tends to do, it sent out spores looking to spread itself and find more sustenance. After the spores found nothing, the small mound of mould began to die. It sent off one more batch of spores as a last-ditch effort at survival, and this time, while it didn’t find food, one single spore landed on a rune. It found that while it was on the rune, it felt energised and was able to grow itself without the need for food.

While not unique, the Mycelythe is an incredibly rare monster that only occurs when buildings with a strong magical infrastructure get a mould infestation, it is unintelligent but driven by powerful instincts. The longer the mould feeds on the building’s magic, the stronger the monster becomes. Its spores are able to spread over a wide area. Inhalation or even exposure to these spores causes those affected to experience vivid hallucinations that can tap into the deepest fears of the victims, manifesting as horrific visions that feel incredibly real. Mental Resistance may cause the effect to be less effective and more easily broken.

Pulling his shirt over his mouth in disgust, Mason reread the oddly long description. So gross, a mould monster. This world was clearly intent on throwing the most disgusting monster it could at him. The bleach elemental would have been pretty perfect right now.

The description did explain a few things. The spores were obviously what had been affecting his mind, making him see all the weird crap, and were probably doing the same to Mayry.

Judging by the incredibly hot room he suspected Mayry was in, he didn’t think Mayry shared his Mental Resistance. At least her demon fire was enough to protect her from the mould getting any closer.

The only thing left unexplained was why he couldn’t see Mayry, and she couldn’t see him. It could be a lingering effect of the spores… but that didn’t seem right.

Sticking his head back into the swelteringly hot room, he shouted, “If you can hear me, just know nothing you’re seeing is real! I’m going to kill the monster doing this to you!” Unsure as to whether she could hear him, he added, “Just hold on!” He gave her unseen form one last worried look and turned back to the hole in the wall he just made.

Focusing on the disgusting mass of the Mycelythe, he worked on formulating a plan. The description his Identify skill gave him had yielded crucial information, but he was struggling with how he could use what he’d learned to kill the monster and save Mayry.

If the creature was as pervasive as he thought it was, it could be embedded in every wall, every floorboard, and every ceiling tile. Destroying it in a full-out attack could cause the whole place to collapse. Usually, that would be fine, but he had no idea what it would do to the building’s magical infrastructure; he already couldn’t see Mayry, so for once, blowing stuff up didn’t seem like the best option. There had to be a way to weaken it without accidentally harming Mayry.

The only thing he knew about mould was that it had trouble growing in places that were too hot or too cold and didn’t like sunlight. This all applied to mould back on Earth, and there was no way to tell if any of that even applied to this monster. If Mayry was him, he’d get her to use her elemental magic to burn the creature away bit by bit, but as she was currently indisposed, he would have to make due.

Holding his hand out in front of him, he used his Mana Control ability to make a small orb of Mana. It started as a speck, then, within a few seconds, grew to the size of a basketball. Straining his mind slightly, he made the ball of Mana spin.

After its failed attempt at ensnaring him earlier, the Mycelythe had mostly been ignoring him; as soon as the ball of Mana got near enough to burn it, however, the monster split open. Each half of its body tried to flee in a different direction, one half compressing itself, trying to escape through the various cracks and holes in the building, the other half, with nowhere else to go, came rushing straight at him in a flood.

Chapter 32

Deja vu

Mayry

Things weren’t looking good for Mayry. It had been two weeks since she’d been taken.

Things had become hazy, but she remembered watching Mason leave town. She had been trying to sort out her feelings for him as she watched him go when, suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder, and an instant later, she was standing in what she recognised as Mason’s inn room. A sudden wave of dizziness hit her, and she started to slip into unconsciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in a dimly lit room that resembled a prison cell. Apart from the bed she was on, the only other things in the room were a small table and a chair. The only way in or out was a large, thick wooden door.

She heard a man’s voice on the other side of the door, “We have no more use for you. Stay here and shut up.”

Mayry glared at him through the door, a mix of fear and anger swirling within her. “Who are you?”

His tone no doubt housed a devilish smile when he answered, “You can call me Aiden.”

With that, she heard him walk away. Mayry felt trapped and helpless. She didn’t know where she was or what Aiden was going to do with her, but despite that, somehow, she knew Mason would come for her.

It was strange, as she hadn’t known him that long, but she was absolutely certain he would come. A pulse of pain shot through her head, bringing with it an almost overwhelming sense of deja vu. Hadn’t this happened before?

* * *

She examined the room thoroughly, looking for anything she could use to escape. The lone window was far too high to reach. The door wouldn’t budge an inch no matter what she did, and for whatever reason, her abilities still refused to work.

After checking every nook and cranny, she sat on the bed and wondered what Mason was doing.

In the first few days of her capture, she was confident she wouldn’t be there long. She made several escape attempts, none of which were at all successful. In fact, each attempt was more disastrous than the last. Despite that, she still hadn’t given up hope.

By the end of the first week, the attempts stopped as she found herself lacking the energy, mentally and physically, to keep trying. All she could do was cling to the hope that Mason was coming to save her. By the time the second week started, she’d even given up on that.

In the first few days she’d been there, she managed to pick up snippets of conversation between Aiden and another but never managed to glean much of what was said, only that they argued a lot, but that felt like it was forever ago.

The third week started, and mostly, she was just tired of it all. She was alone, exhausted, and just ready to be done. She’d started seeing things just out of the corner of her eye. Every so often, a flicker in the air or a slight movement caught her attention. The first few times it happened, it had given her something to focus on. In the end, she just ignored them, pegging the occurrences as a symptom of her rapidly declining sanity.

She was lying on the bed, doing her best to zone everything out, when she heard the voice.

“If… hear me… know nothing… seeing… real! …kill the monster… you!” It was echoey and distorted, but was the first voice she’d heard in weeks. It hadn’t been so long that she didn’t recognise the voice as Mason’s, yet she barely reacted. She knew he wasn’t coming for her. She had been naive to believe he would. Nobody was coming. She was going to rot away in this bed.

“Just hold on!” the voice added.

Unlike the rest of the rest of what the voice had said, the last few words came through crystal clear, as if spoken into her soul. It was enough that a small portion of the parts of her that had faded away during the long, empty days, woke up. Her analytical mind repeated the words, trying to figure out what they were trying to tell her.

The first part, “If… hear me…” she thought, was most likely meant to be, “If you can hear me,” or “I don’t know if you can hear me.” The next bit was trickier: “Know nothing…” What could he have been trying to say? She strained her mind to come up with something, but her newly awoken brain wasn’t up to the task. It was infuriating, as she usually prided herself on her intelligence.

For the briefest of moments, everything around her shifted. She wasn’t lying on a bed, she was huddled in the corner of an empty room and was absolutely covered in demon fire. In a blink, she was back on the bed. It happened so fast she could almost bring herself to believe she imagined it, but with the hallucination having been broken once, memories started clawing their way back into her head.

Mason had saved her when she’d been kidnapped; she’d only been there for two days, not nearly three weeks! Everything else came back, and she started to see the inconsistencies of the world around her. Despite not having been fed in weeks, she wasn’t hungry or thirsty. She hadn’t slept at all and couldn’t really say why she thought she had spent weeks there.

It was all fake… The shack! She must still be in the shack. Something really messed up had happened. Mason was on the outside, trying to fix it all.

“If you can hear me,” she muttered out loud, her voice hoarse, “know nothing you’re seeing is real!” That made sense, and knowing Mason, the rest of it was probably, “I’m just going to kill the monster, and then I’ll save you!” or something like that.

More and more, her mind was clearing. Just like that, she blinked, blinked again, and everything around her had changed. It was intensely disappointing that after what seemed like weeks of being in a small, dank room, she woke up to realise none of it was real, only to find that she really was in a small, dank room. The room she was in now wasn’t the same one, but still.

Disorientated and confused, it took her a few seconds to realise that she was currently in her full demon form and absolutely radiating demon fire. The walls, ceiling, and floor were black and melted away to such a degree that she was amazed the house’s magic had been enough to keep the whole place from being completely destroyed. She was awake, and while she had regained all of her memories, she was still overwhelmed. Eventually, she would need time to process this most recent occurrence and try to accept that none of it wasn’t real, but right now, all she could think of was that she needed to find Mason. If she was going to have a breakdown, she was going to need him with her.

Mayry shakily got to her feet, stumbling before finding her footing. Physically, she was fine, but reliving a messed-up version of her capture really screwed with her mentally. Her only goal now was to find Mason and get out of this nightmarish place. The moment she stepped out of the room, she knew finding him wouldn’t be difficult; the trail of destruction was impossible to miss.

She followed the wreckage through the narrow hallway, furniture and broken glass crunched under her feet. Her heart pounded as she pushed forward, scanning for any sign of Mason. The farther she went, the more the destruction intensified—walls scorched, deep gashes torn through the wood, as if something large had been repeatedly smashed into it.

She turned a corner and froze. Mason was there, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. His shirt was torn and smeared with blood, though she couldn’t tell if it belonged to him or whatever he’d fought.

“Mason? Is that really you?” she whispered, her voice shaky.

He looked up, eyes filled with exhaustion, but there was relief in them, too. “Are you okay?” he said, his voice rough.

She took a second and considered lying, but when tears filled her eyes, all she could do was shake her head. Without another word, he rushed over and pulled her into a tight hug. She sobbed into his shoulder, trying to speak, to explain what she’d gone through. Her words tumbled out between gasps, jumbled and hysterical. She wanted to tell him everything—the hallucination, the fear, how real it all felt—except, the more she tried, the more her sobs made her an incoherent mess.

Mason held her tighter, his hand gently running through her hair to calm her. “Shh, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain right now,” he whispered, though the worry in his eyes was clear. He couldn’t understand her words, but he didn’t need to. He just held her and let her cry.

Though he’d never admit it, there might have been a tear or two on Mason’s face as well.

* * *

Once they had both calmed down, they started exchanging stories. Mayry told Mason about her hallucination, describing how vivid and terrifying it had been. Mason listened intently, his expression shifting from concern to understanding.

When it was Mason’s turn, he recounted the fight, “During it, one thing I couldn’t get out of my head… this place, my system said it was used for storage, but compared to where we found Aiden, there’s pretty much nothing here.”

Mayry nodded. “Yeah, I doubt the two Others outside would have been so desperate to get in if this is all there is. It feels like we’re missing something.”

“Exactly! I don’t know; maybe there’s a secret area hidden somewhere.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Mayry said. “It would explain why this place is here in the middle of nowhere. I hope we find something… At least then everything that happened would be somewhat worth it.” Her eyes were unfocused, and her expression became grim before returning to normal. “We should definitely have a look around, but could we maybe stay together and search?”

He gave her a sympathetic look. “Of course, we’ll search together. We’ll figure this out.” She had been through something horrible, and he had no idea as to how to help her work through it. For now, he would act as if everything was normal, hoping it would put her at ease. They stood, letting the silence settle between them.

Mayry looked around, her eyes narrowing as if she was already scanning the room, planning on where to start. “Let’s check the walls and floor first. Maybe there’s a hidden door or something.”

“That is a great idea, but I actually want to try something that might save us some time if it works.” Mason raised both his arms and a flood of Mana left him. It had a consistency similar to water but was a deep blue and glowed as it pooled in the room.

As it got closer to her, Mayry braced herself, expecting the odd liquid-like Mana to get her feet wet. Instead, it circled around her, leaving about a foot around her completely untouched.

“Err, what are you doing?” she asked, not wanting to interrupt but too intrigued not to ask.

With a look of intense concentration, he explained, “My Mana kind of works like an extension of myself. I’m hoping if I push it out enough, I’ll be able to feel if any of the Mana finds its way into a hidden space.” There was a long pause where the seemingly never-ending amount of Mana poured out of him. “And… there!” Pointing out of the room, he walked out with Mayry following close behind, the Mana on the floor moving out of the way of her feet. It amazed her that he had such great control over his ability so fast. When she had started learning her elemental abilities, it’d taken years for her to gain even a fraction of the control he possessed.

They made a few turns until they stood just in front of the entrance. To her eyes, everything looked as it had before. Mason knelt, inspecting the wooden floorboards intensely. All at once, the Mana that covered the floor surged, as if responding to his focus.

“Right here,” Mason muttered, tapping on the floor. “There’s something under this spot.”

Mayry knelt beside him, staring at the seemingly ordinary floorboards. “Are you sure?”

Mason nodded, his hand pressing down as if testing the weight of the boards. “I can feel it—there’s a space beneath.”

“Okay, great. Now we just need to figure out how to access it.” She glanced around, scanning for any kind of latch or opening, but nothing stood out. “It’s probably hidden really well,” she murmured, running her fingers over the wood, hoping to find some kind of secret mechanism. After a few moments, she turned back to see Mason giving her a look.

“No, c’mon. You can’t just smash everything the moment you can’t figure it out. There’s gotta be another way in.” She glanced at the nearby walls, hoping to instantly spot the solution and be able to rub it in his face.

“Ugh, fine. We can do it the boring way if that’s what you want,” Mason said and joined her in her search. “First person to find it gets dibs on any loot!”

Mayry smiled, the act feeling slightly foreign to her after everything that happened. She shook off the strange feeling and replied, “You’re on!”

Together, they moved through the space, scanning the walls for any irregularities. Mayry’s fingers traced the edges of the dusty wooden panels for any cracks or gaps that might give away a hidden door or switch. Mason’s focus was on the corners, looking for any sign of a mechanism that might reveal an entrance.

Five minutes of searching passed when Mayry exclaimed, “Aha! I think I found it!” Her hand brushed against a slightly raised section of wood just inside a half-collapsed fireplace. It was very subtle and would be very easy to write off as a mistake.

Mason crouched next to her. “Let’s have a look then.” He pressed his hand against the raised spot, and after a moment of silence, there was a faint click.

Both froze as a hum reverberated around the room. Slowly, the floor beneath the area Mason had been looking at earlier sank and slid away to reveal a small hatch. “Would you like to do the honours, my dear?” Mason asked, gesturing at the wooden panel.

She pulled it open, and a rush of stale air hit her face. She wrinkled her nose at the smell before peering into the inky blackness below.

“Well, that’s ominous,” Mason said dryly. All they could see was a ladder that descended a few feet before being swallowed by darkness.

The sight of the ladder leading into the unknown sent a chill down her spine, but she pushed it away. “So, are we going in?”

“Well, duh,” he replied. He looked at her and then back to the hole. “Ladies first?”

Chapter 33

Another Hole

“You’ve made that joke before, you know,” Mayry said with a teasing smile.

Mason raised a hand to his chest in mock outrage. “What? No, I haven’t! I would never reuse a joke!”

“Yep, you have! Right after we found that hole in the ground Aiden was in.”

He looked thoughtful, then smacked himself on the forehead. “Holy crap… you’re right. Shit. I need new material.”

“Yeah, you really do.” She pointed to the ladder with a forced, stern expression. “Now get in the hole.”

He gave a mock salute, “Yes, ma’am,” and descended the ladder. As he disappeared into the darkness, his voice echoed up, “Nothing has attacked me yet, so it’s probably safe for you to come down.”

“Do you see anything?” Mayry called after him.

“Mayry, it’s pitch-black down here! No, I don’t see anything. If only one of us had some sort of ability to produce fire that could provide light,” he muttered sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, I’m coming!” With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a ball of normal, non-demonic fire to her hand. Just as she was about to descend, she hesitated. “Hey, wait a second! Your Mana gives off light, doesn’t it?”

There was a long silence, and then, all at once, the darkness lit up with the bluish glow of Mason’s Mana. It emitted a bit of light but not enough that Mayry would be comfortable walking around down there. Holding her summoned ball of fire in one hand, she shimmied down the ladder until she stood next to Mason.

Now that the place was somewhat lit, they could see that they were in a huge cavernous space that looked to be carved out of the ground.

The rough stone walls were covered in a thin layer of moss, and the air was dry and smelled of dust and decay. The floor was littered with debris—broken crates, scraps of cloth, and the remnants of what appeared to be old machinery, long since rusted away. Mason walked over to the machinery, wanting to take a closer look. Try as he might, he was unable to make heads nor tails of any of it and got the feeling that even if it had all been brand new, he’d still have no idea. It was very odd to be confronted with technology in this world, only for it to be completely foreign.

He spun around sharply as Mayry gasped. Nothing jumped out at him as a potential threat, so he looked at Mayry in confusion, only to see she was staring at something Mason had initially missed. The ancient remains of what he assumed was a human were sat in a corner against a wall. It was essentially just a pile of bones and tattered fabric.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned. Something so small wouldn’t have usually made her so much as blink.

“I’m fine; it just startled me, is all,” she replied unconvincingly.

He was about to push a little but decided to drop it until after they’d left and were somewhere safer. He needed to really talk with her about what happened, but he was hoping it could wait a few hours.

He bent down and took a closer look at the body. Just to be safe, he gave it a hard poke to make certain it wasn’t about to come alive and eat them. The moment he came into contact with the bone, it turned to dust. “All safe,” he said, smiling up at Mayry. “Hmm… D’ya reckon whoever this was had anything on them when they died?”

She thought about, her face scrunching up. “There is only one way to find out, and you can believe me when I say I’m not doing it.”

He scoffed and grimaced as he reached into the remains; his fingers immediately touched something hard. He grabbed onto it and pulled out a pristine book. It looked like a notebook or journal. On the front was a handwritten title, written over and over again so many times that, in places, the pen had pierced through the thick leather cover and onto the first page.

The Truth About the Gods

He flicked through and found it filled with information about the gods. It started in neat cursive handwriting, but page by page, it devolved into a madman’s frantic scribbles—words written in a dark, crusty brown that could only be blood, symbols scratched in the margins, and chaotic diagrams that would take a platoon of scientists to make any sense of. Flicking back to the first page, he began to read, Mayry also reading over his shoulder.

From what I have gathered from my delves into the lost libraries of Dvelmbry, the 5 and the 10 were peaceful for aeons before the fall. Petty squabbles over power happened, though were rare. I have recorded everything I have managed to learn to the best of my ability in hopes that one day, we may be guided by the 5 and the 10 once more, and may they help me leave this hell.

The 10 Minor Gods:

The minor gods are not just representations of their domains; they are the forces themselves. The Goddess Knowledge is the embodiment of knowledge, as Time is the embodiment of Time, each drawing power from and embodying the essence of their nature.

The 5 Major Gods:

The major gods are similar to the minor gods in that they also embody that which they govern. The most significant difference is the size and scope of what falls within their domains. Often, much of a minor god’s domain will also fall within the domain of a major god. The most interesting example of this is Balance, whose domain includes that of both Chaos and Order.

Putting the book away, he asked, “Mayry, are you seeing—” Before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed the book and started flicking through it, only glancing at each page before moving on to the next one.

Having not grown up in this world, he wasn’t sure how big of a deal the book was, but seeing as Mayry was ignoring him, he assumed it was quite a big one.

“Mayry, Mayry, Mayry, Mayry.” After a gentle nudge, she snapped out of her reverie.

“Oh, yes. Um, sorry. Wow… if any of this is true, then it’s information that hasn’t been known for a really long time. Most people only really know about Chaos as Chaos magic is still something people use and experience every day. Some worship other deities, but…” She trailed off as she started reading again. He gave her a few seconds and cleared his voice. Her only reaction was to hold up one finger and keep reading.

A few more seconds passed, and she finally closed the book. She turned it over in her hands and examined it. “It’s spotless. For the body to be in that condition, it must have been down here for hundreds of years… and yet the book is completely clean. No rot, no mould, nothing.”

Mason cut in, jokingly saying, “Well, that’s magic for ya. That⁠—”

Mayry spoke over him, glaring at him for cutting her off, “That’s the thing, I can’t feel a single bit of magic on it.” She set the book down, looking at him confoundedly. “To my magic sense, this is a completely normal book.”

“Well, that’s impossible; there must be something on it. Let me use Identify,” Mason muttered.

He was surprised when not only did no notifications show up, but an intense pain shot through his head and made his eyes blur. He staggered backward and grabbed his head.

Mayry was by his side in an instant, ready to catch him if he fell. “What is it? What happened?”

He let out a long groan and rubbed his head. “I’m fine. That just really hurt,” he said through the pain to reassure her.

“It hurt?” She put a hand on his shoulder, glanced at the book and added, “Did it work though?”

The pain faded, and he answered, “No, I got nothing from that but a horrid headache. There is absolutely no way this is just a normal book.”

He summoned his dagger and scratched away at the thick leather cover, at first lightly, but then harder and harder as he saw he wasn’t leaving any mark. A few moments went by, and Mayry watched as Mason’s face grew redder as his efforts grew. He finally gave up and threw the book to Mayry. “Nothing, not even a scratch. I know I’m still kinda new to this, but if that isn’t magical, then I think I need to start working out.”

Mayry let out a small chuckle as she stared at the enigma that was the strange book.

Seeing her start to zone out, he spoke up, “I think maybe we should read it through more when we’re somewhere a bit safer.”

She didn’t respond, her gaze still fixed on the book. He was about to try again when something metallic caught his eye in the firelight—a ring. He hesitated, unsure whether he should be using Identify again so soon after it hurting him, but, after weighing the risk he ultimately decided it was most likely worth it.

Item - Ring of Elders

Simple in design but incredibly rare, this combination of advanced technology and magic is given to the elders of Ganehfrel and acts as a symbol of their power and authority.

This is a Ganehfelian artefact and can only be used by System users.

Effect: As well as its use for showing high status, it is also a powerful ward breaker and is able to open almost any lock, magical or mundane.

He picked up the ring. As the Identify had said, it was a very simple design: just a silver band with various runes carved onto it.

“Holy crap, this guy must have been a Ganehfrelian elder,” he called over to Mayry, who had taken a few steps away in order to explore more of the cave.

“Oh yeah? How’d you figure?” She turned around, only to see him knelt down, holding up a ring to her. Her eyes widened, her face went bright pink, and she took on an air of extreme panic. “Mason! What the hell are you doing? Now? You’re doing this now!”

Mason liked to think he was a pretty intelligent guy. Add to that his Intelligence stat, and he theoretically should be well-prepared to respond in pretty much any circumstance. Despite all that, it took him several seconds to put together why Mayry was freaking out. He looked at the ring and then back to her; he repeated the motion several times before it clicked. “Oh no, no, no, no, no. This isn’t—I’m not—not that I wouldn’t, but, you know—I didn’t think⁠—”

By this point, Mayry had calmed down and figured out the misunderstanding; now, she was just enjoying watching Mason squirm.

She smirked at him, and he relaxed. He had also gone bright pink and was avoiding eye contact his her. “You found a ring?” she asked.

“Yeah…” he replied sheepishly.

She elbowed his side, which broke the tension between them. He explained what the description of the ring said and how he assumed that it meant the dead body was that of an elder.

“I think you’re probably right. But if that’s true, how did he end up down here.”

“I don’t know, maybe he got trapped or something. I mean, he did write a book; he probably mentions it.”

They searched the area thoroughly, finding little of interest beyond boxes of decaying food and a few far less interesting books.

As their light revealed the far walls of the cavern, it began to seem like they had found everything worth finding. The ring and the pristine book were great finds, even if they’d hoped to stumble upon something that would make the last few hours more worth the lousy experience.

In the farthest corner, very easy to miss, was a table. They got closer, and on the table lay a sword. The moment Mason laid eyes on it, he found he could not look away. It wasn’t a magical effect; as far as he could tell, it was more that the sword called to him.

The blade was as dark as the shadows around it. The hilt was crafted from dark wood and intricately carved to resemble a grotesque, twisted face.

Besides the sword, there was a folded note. Ignoring the note, Mason reached for the weapon. He slashed it through the air a few times and gave an approving grunt.

Mayry, who had been watching, shook her head and picked up the note. “Err, Mason? I think you should probably put that down.”

Chapter 34

Nightsong

“Err, Mason? I think you should probably put that down,” she said slowly, as if not to spook a cornered animal.

“Huh, why? This thing is awesome! It’s so light it’s like I’m not holding anything!”

Instead of explaining, she just read the note out loud, “Here lies the Nightsong, thought to belong to the g-o-d of Darkness. It is cursed to kill all who wield it but the few worthy of its power.”

As she finished reading, she heard the clanging of metal hitting stone. She looked up, worried, but saw that Mason, having heard her warning, panicked and dropped the sword on the ground.

Item - Nightsong (Divine)

In the time of the god’s rule, the Goddess of Darkness wielded a magnificent blade infused with her power. In a fight against the god of death and the god of trickery, the blade was shattered. The blade before you is Nightsong, the largest and most intact part of that blade; an amount of the goddess’ power remains. Being a divine weapon, only those with the protection of a god can wield it safely.

“You know, it is so very annoying when you zone out and stare off into the distance like that? What’s going on? Are you dying or what?” she asked frustrated.

Mason, looking embarrassed, replied, “No, I’m not dying, thank you very much. The bit about being worthy isn’t exactly true, I think I’m okay.” He bent to retrieve the sword.

“What are you doing? Don’t pick it back up, you idiot!” she yelled, her words echoing in the empty cave.

“It’s fine!” he snapped back. “My Identify says the sword belonged to the g-o-d of darkness. Or at least it was part of her sword. I think my… connection to Chaos, protects me from the sword’s power.”

“Oh. Well okay. Does it, like, do anything?”

“Errm, I don’t really know, maybe we should get out of here and test it out later.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.”

He went through the motions of placing the sword in his Inventory, instinctively letting go of it as he expected it to disappear, but the sword once again clanged to the ground.

Mayry, who had been heading to the ladder, whipped around and glared at him. “Again? Mason.”

“This time, it is not my fault! My Inventory isn’t working!” He picked up a loose rock and tried adding it to his Inventory. It worked. “Huh, that’s weird. It’s the sword that’s resisting.” Shrugging, he pulled out a spare sheathe from his Inventory and attached it to his hip and slid the sword into it. “Okay, let’s go.”

* * *

This place had yielded some valuable loot, but still, they both could not wait to get out of there. Mason noticed that Mayry was stuck very close to his side as they walked through the hallways. He put his arm over her shoulder and squeezed her as they walked.

“I’m telling you, I do not want to go back in there,” a woman’s voice shouted as they approached the door. “Not again. We barely made it out the first time. Who knows if we’d even come out if we went in again.”

The voices were familiar. When a man’s voice shouted back, both Mayry and Mason realised it must be the two Others from earlier. It seemed like so long ago but it was only a few hours.

The two of them looked at each other and, through facial expressions alone, communicated that they were both pretty tired and would rather not get into another fight so soon.

“What else are we going to do? We need something to give us an edge, and that thing might very well be in there!” Rhott shouted.

“You go in then! I’ll be waiting right here for you when… if, you come back,” Shazi shouted back.

Mason whispered to Mayry, “Damn, they bicker more than we do. Follow my lead. I think we can probably do this peacefully, but be ready just in case it goes wrong.”

At Mayry’s nod, Mason pushed the door open. As he did, he let his Mana build around him, making him glow. He deepened his voice as much as he could and shouted to the two stunned Others, “So you two came back? I did not think you would be so unwise.” To Mason’s joy, they shared a look and fell to their knees and began to grovel.

“Please, elder, attacking you was stupid, and we beg for your forgiveness and mercy.”

“Hah, I’m no elder, though compared to you two, I might as well be.”

The two Others immediately relaxed slightly. “Well, if you aren’t an elder, who the hells are you?” Rhott asked.

Thinking quickly, Mason replied, “My name is Aiden, and this is my companion, Gael. No need to introduce yourselves, Rhott and Shazi; your reputation, or rather lack thereof, precedes you.”

Shazi looked insulted, whereas Mason wasn’t entirely sure Rhott understood the insult.

Shazi whispered something in his ear, and he, too, took on a more standoffish stance. “Hey! We’re not weak! You just took me by surprise, is all!”

Mason smirked and asked, “Is that so? Would you like to try again now that you won’t be so… surprised?”

They both hesitated. Mason took that time to use Identify on them both.

Chaos System User - Rhott - Level 25

Chaos System User - Shazia - Level 23

Just as he thought, they were significantly weaker than he was. He noted it odd that there was no extra information on either of them but shrugged it off; he couldn’t remember whether or not he’d ever used Identify on an Other before.

Rhott and Shazi glanced at each other before Shazi took a step forward, hands up in a mollifying gesture: “Hold on now. We don’t need to be enemies. You are obviously very strong, and Rhott has already apologised for attacking earlier. Why don’t we just sit down and talk it out?”

Mason wasn’t keen on making friends with Others, but Shazi at least seemed nice enough, and they no doubt had plenty of information he could use. Having them give it to him voluntarily would be a whole lot easier than forcing it out of them. He glanced at Mayry, who gave a slight shrug. “Okay, but just so we’re on the same page, if either of you try anything, there won’t be any more talking.” Damn, trying to be scary was kinda fun.

It was getting pretty late, so Mayry used her elemental abilities to create a bonfire; the fact that it also displayed her power to their guests was just a plus. The four of them sat around the fire, and for a few minutes, there was an uneasy silence, none of them wanting to start the conversation.

Eventually, Shazi broke and asked, “Did you find anything in the shack? How did you deal with the mental effects? How did you get so powerful?” She instantly looked embarrassed and slightly scared at her outburst.

In hopes that they would return the favour, he answered, “We found a few things, nothing to really brag about. I have a Mental Resistance ability, and I faced a lot of powerful monsters, and luck sort of dragged me through.”

Shazia simply nodded, avoiding looking at him.

“Now if you don’t mind me askin⁠—”

Rhott spoke over Mason, staring at Mayry, “You said your name was Gael? You’re that elders daughter, ain’t ya? Yeah! I’ve heard of you! Your father sent you through to prove his line was the best!” He added in a mutter, “Doesn’t prove much if he sent a bodyguard with you…”

Mason glanced at Mayry, worried she wouldn’t be able to act convincingly, but before he knew what was happening, she had her hand around Rhott’s throat. In her best Gael impersonation, she whispered in his ear, “If I were you, I wouldn’t talk about things you don’t know anything about.” She dropped him, and he fell to the ground and stood up in anger.

Mason raised his eyebrows at him, and Rhott sat back down. “As I was saying, if you don’t mind me asking, how did the two of you get here? And why are you in this area?”

Shazi answered; she was apparently quite chatty once she got started, “Our elder told us there was a cache hidden around here. We were in this area anyway because of the mission that got sent around. We were hoping the cache had some sort of powerful weapon or something to help us reach level 50 and get home.”

Interesting. He needed to get to level 50 to use the gate, but it was nice to have confirmation. He asked, “And once you get to level 50, what do you plan to do?”

She hesitated, then answered slowly as if she thought it was a trick, “Go back to the gate?”

Mayry spoke before he could ask more about the gate, “What is this mission you mentioned? We’ve not heard of anything like that.”

Shazia bowed her head as she spoke, obviously terrified of Mayry, “I don’t know. Perhaps you two are too strong; the elders may have thought the task beneath you…”

“Ah, so it isn’t anything important?”

“No, not at all. The same old thing, really: two high-ranking members of the faction of Ganehfrel have disappeared. They were last seen in a town near here, so naturally, we and a bunch of others are being sent to find out what happened and burn the place to the ground. We wouldn’t bother, but the money they’re offering is pretty good.”

Both Mason and Mayry looked horrified; he had almost started to like the odd pair. Mayry asked coldly, “What was the name of the town?”

Rhott answered, “I don’t really remember. It was something like Tinderwood or Emberl⁠—”

Mayry stood, cutting him off, “Sparksford, was the name of the town Sparksford?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

Before anyone had the chance to react, Mayry’s fist made contact with Rhott’s face and knocked him off his seat.

Shazia stood up quickly, a bow and quiver of arrows appearing in her hands. It took a second for her to nock an arrow, and in that time, Mason was standing right beside her, Nightsong held to her throat.

“What’s happening! Why did you attack us?” she asked fearfully.

As Rhott was getting to his feet, Mason answered, “That isn’t important. What is important is we’re going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them, or you are both going to die.”

Rhott, who was eyeing Mayry angrily, nodded and raised both of his hands.

“How many are going to be attacking Sparksford? When was the attack supposed to be happening? How were you given the task?”

Shazia was struggling to form words with the sword at her throat, so Rhott, whose face had turned red with anger, answered, “Including us, five are supposed to be part of the attack. The attack is supposed to be happening either today or tomorrow. And—” Before he finished, Shazia was instantly replaced with Rhott. He was taller than she was, and so the sword cut his chest instead of his throat. Where the blade cut, whispers of shadows were left behind. Rhott raised his palm, and a blast of concentrated wind shot out and blew Mason back a couple of feet.

Shazia had recovered from being teleported and was now trying her best to fight Mayry. She was keeping her distance, firing glowing arrows while also having to dodge fireballs and ice spikes.

The engaged Mayry was growing bigger and more demonic second by second, which in turn was causing Shazia to act more erratic as she got more afraid.

Mason teleported behind Rhott and swung his sword, but the big guy was fast and managed to duck under the sword and evade the blow, only to trip on a line of Mana that Mason tactically moved around the man’s feet. He hit the dirt and started struggling to untangle his feet, but every time he touched Mason’s Mana, he was burned. More coils wrapped around his upper body, ceasing his means of escape.

Mason turned his attention to the two women who were still exchanging projectile attacks. Shazia was pretty severely burned, but Mayry, in turn, had a few arrows sticking out of her; one even pierced through her armour. Mason appeared next to her and used his Mental Fuckery ability to instill her with terror. She sank to her knees and curled into a ball.

“I had her; I didn’t need your help,” the demonic Mayry called. She closed her eyes, audibly took a deep breath, and added, “Thank you.” She started the transformation to become more human-looking.

Mason asked, “What do we do with them?”

Mayry, frantic with worry, replied, “I don’t know, but we really need to get to Sparksford as soon as we possibly can.”

Trying to sound as calming as he could, Mason said, “I think we probably have a bit of time. If we teleport most of the way, it shouldn’t take us too long to get there. Do we just kill them? I’m not super comfortable murdering them in cold blood, but…”

Mason looked over to Rhott just in time to see him staring directly at him with a bloody grin. Too late, Mason noticed something in his fist.

Right before he crushed it, he said, “May the gods be with you.” He vanished into a puff of smoke. Moments later, Shazia did the same.

Bewildered, he looked back at Mayry and asked, “Did he just…?”

“Yeah,” she muttered, looking terrified.

“And that means…” He trailed off, hoping he was wrong.

“Yeah, we’re pretty fucked.” She looked more worried about getting to Sparksford than she was about what was about to happen.

Mason slapped his hand to his head and, in a moment of thoughtlessness, growled, “God fucking dammit.”

Mayry froze. Her head slowly turned in his direction. Wide-eyed and furious, she shouted, “MASON, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!”

Just now, realising his grave error, all he could think to say was, “Oh, for fucks sake.”

* * *

Of all the gods I have come across in my research, Trickery seems to be the one who is most referenced. Not because he was most worshipped or because he was most powerful, but because in most stories about the gods, he most often takes on the role of the antagonist. Whether it’s pulling pranks on mortals or the other gods or using lies and manipulation to achieve his own ends, Trickery is portrayed as a figure whose motives are often shrouded in mystery. Some tales paint him as a jester-like character whose antics serve to amuse or teach valuable lessons, while others depict him as a dangerous force capable of sowing chaos and destruction for reasons known only to himself.

– Excerpt from The Truth About the Gods

Chapter 35

Envoy

While he was mostly okay physically, mentally, he was exhausted. He’d gone from fighting the tree monster to being mind fucked by a house straight into another fight with two Others. He was in desperate need of a rest, and now he had to deal with whatever this ended up being before having to rush off and save Sparksford… Again! It was definitely a dick move to use a taboo word and then run away, but he had truly fucked up by repeating said word. From the look Mayry was giving him, he knew he was going to be in deep shit if they survived this. He didn’t blame her; he hadn’t been thinking and it just came out.

He downed a Mana potion and, on a whim, tried a health potion too; no notifications had popped up, meaning his Resilience stat had finally gotten high enough that it counteracted the toxic effect he usually got from drinking too many potions one after the other. That was a plus, at least. He threw a still-angry Mayry a health potion and readied himself for whatever was coming—at least he physically felt up for a fight.

He had no idea what the word being said twice would mean. Would two bad things happen, or would one really bad thing happen? Either way, he swore to himself that he was going to kill Rhott if he ever saw him again.

The idea of invoking a taboo as a way of getting revenge when a fight wasn’t going your way was such a foreign concept, but he had to admit it was effective. He was pretty surprised he hadn’t encountered it more often. Each time the word was said, the spell keeping the gods asleep weakened ever so slightly, hence why Chaos made the word taboo and bad things happened. He had no idea how many sapient species this world had, but it made him wonder how many times more it would take for the spell to wear off completely.

The fact that nothing was happening should have given him hope, but he knew by now that he didn’t have the best of luck in these sorts of things. Something was going to happen, and it was going to suck

Seemingly out of nowhere, the night sky was filled with stormy clouds, thunder and lightning echoed high above. The suddenness of it all was unnerving, but it was clear this was no natural storm, this was the result of reality itself being tampered with.

He glanced at Mayry, who had just caught the potion he’d thrown her. She downed it but didn’t take her eyes off the darkening sky for a second.

The noise was deafening. The sound of the wind, thunder, and torrential rain made it impossible for them to say anything to each other.

All at once, it stopped.

The dark clouds remained, but everything was silent. Somewhere in the depths of his mind, the optimistic part, wondered if the storm was all that was going to happen.

The ground shook violently, and the tiny bit of hope he had, faded.

They were knocked off their feet as the ground just before them began to split open. Two colossal black claws tore the ground apart. Grass, stone, and dirt flew in all directions. The landscape itself was warping under the sheer force of the creature’s emergence. A deep, guttural growl rumbled through the air, followed by the sight of another set of claws gripping the edges of the chasm. A dragon’s head emerged from the depths. Its eyes glowed with literal flames, and its skull bore a circle of horns that resembled a crown of bone. The black dragon pulled itself from the hole in the world and looked at them with an unreadable expression.

It stretched out its gigantic body, and the two of them were taken aback by just how big the creature was. Its wingspan alone had to be bigger and wider than a semi-truck was long. At least a hundred times bigger than Nina’s biggest form.

Mason was knocked out of his awe as the dragon bellowed out words so loudly, it took them several seconds to understand, “I am Envoy. I have been awakened from my rest in the molten core of this world. Speak or burn.”

As Envoy spoke, Mason took the chance to use Identify; what he read scared him more than the monster itself.

Envoy - Dark Dragon - Great Servant of the Gods - Level 112

Envoy was the only dragon ever to serve the gods of this world directly; most refused to acknowledge them in favour of their own older gods. Envoy disappeared soon after the fall of the gods, thought to have fallen himself. It was never clear which side he served. His return is not a good sign of what is to come.

Mason was pushing his brain as hard as he could. He had no idea where to even begin fighting something so huge. He needed to be careful not to use the taboo word again, but the description of the dragon gave him an idea.

He dropped to his knees. “Envoy!” he shouted. “We are but humble servants of the divine.” He withdrew Nightsong slowly so as to ensure the dragon did not perceive it as a threat and held the blade up. “I wield Death’s own blade. It was not us who summoned you, but we welcome you back to the surface, nevertheless.”

Mayry gave him an unsure look, but she followed his lead and dropped to her knees.

There was a long silence, and then Evoy lowered his head and blew a cloud of black smoke at them. “You claim to serve Death?”

“We do,” Mason replied, relieved that his lie worked.

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “Then why do I sense the traitor in you both?”

Traitor? The only thing he could imagine Enoy was referring to was the sliver of Chaos he had in him and the fact that Chaos was Mayry’s father.

He replied quickly, using as much of the truth as he could, not wanting to be caught in a lie, “When Chaos fell, he shattered into many pieces; we mortals have been harnessing those pieces to access a small part of his former power.” He left out that there were also pieces of Chaos that were still conscious.

Evoy seemed to consider this. “I do sense small pieces of Chaos all around us.” A pulse of magic emanated from the dragon, almost knocking the two humans off of their feet again. “If what you say is true, then why are the divine still in their slumber?”

Mason hesitated, and Mayry jumped in, “They have begun to awaken, but the process is a slow one. We need only wait for them to rise fully, and then we will be reunited with the great ones?” The pitch of her voice went up as she finished her sentence, making it seem more like a question than she intended.

“Very well, I must return to my long-neglected hoard. I have many tomes and grimoires that may have ways to speed up their rise. You two will accompany me.” The dragon’s voice had lowered to a more reasonable volume now that it believed them to be allies.

“While seeing a hoard belonging to such a great dragon would be wonderous, we are already on a quest of our own,” Mayry replied.

Mason added, “Yes, Death himself appeared to us in a dream and told us to seek out a powerful ally.”

“An ally more powerful than I!” the dragon roared. “Who is it you seek that dare claim to surpass me?”

His mind went completely blank, and as the dragon continued to stare at him, the only name that came to him was, “Santa!” He regretted it the moment he said it, but doubled down and added, “A powerful fae wizard who commands an army of… elves! He is said to be able to circle the entire world in one night.”

“I have not heard of this Santa. Leave now, find this Santa and bring him to me. If he truly is as powerful as you say, then perhaps he will be able to assist me in my research.” When neither of them moved, Envoy shouted, “GO!”

They scrambled away, as fast as they could. Turning their back to the massive dragon wasn’t ideal, and they both felt as if they were going to be burnt to a crisp any second, but the heat never came.

* * *

“Well, I think that went pretty well, actually,” Mason said when they were far away enough from the dragon that he didn’t think it would overhear them. If nothing else, they were alive, Rhott’s Hail Mary hadn’t worked, which meant they had one. Though the fact the two Others had gotten away irked him to no end. He had been looking forward to getting a few new abilities from killing them, the added essence would have been nice too.

“Are you insane?” Mayry said, looking at him incredulously. “This was one of the absolute worst-case scenarios! If it had just been a monster, we could have killed it! But no! Now a servant of the,” she pointed upwards, “is back, and there is no telling what kind of damage it is going to do! And if it realises we’ve lied to it, and it ever finds us again, we are going to be so screwed. Did you see the size of that thing! There are islands that aren’t as big as that! If that was just one of their servants, how are you ever going to be able to fight one of them!” She started breathing heavily, and her words were coming faster and faster. “And we really need to get to Sparksford, Mason; what if we’re too late?”

Mason pulled her into a hug, she pushed back. “There is no time for hugs, Mason! We need to get to Sparksford right now! I’m freaking out, we need to go!” She was hyperventilating now.

Mason, hands on her shoulders, lowered his head and looked her in the eye. “Mayry, you’re having a panic attack. Try and breathe, okay? Take deep, slow breaths. I need you to listen to me. Can you tell me three things you can see around here?”

She started trying to take deep breaths. “Erm, I see trees, rocks, and you?”

“Okay, great. Now, can you tell me three things you hear?” he asked her softly.

As a teen, he’d had friends who struggled with anxiety and had been on the receiving end of panic attacks, most of the time some variation of this had helped calm them down.

“I hear the wind, a bird and—wait, what’s the point of this?” she asked, confused.

He smiled. “It’s a thing from my world, a way to snap someone out of a panic attack. You get them to name three things they see, three things they hear, and then get them to move three parts of their body.”

“That stupid.” She scoffed.

He laughed and asked, “Well, are you feeling better?”

“I mean, yeah, I am… but it’s still stupid.”

Chapter 36

Ruin

From the moment they were out of sight of Envoy, they had been teleporting almost the entire time, only taking rests when Mason was running low on Mana. They arrived just a mile out when Mayry spotted something.

“Is that smoke?” she asked, staring into the sky. “It’s coming from Sparksford; oh no, we’re too late.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and teleported several times in quick succession, bringing them about a hundred feet away from where they should be able to see the town before he was too low on Mana to continue. They ran the rest of the way but stopped short when the town finally came into view.

It was clear now that the smoke was coming from the town, with thick plumes billowing up from several of the buildings, the dark smoke clear against the blue sky.

His heart sank at the sight as his mind raced through possibilities. So many of the town’s defenders had died during the fight with the basilisk, and then even more had fallen when Gael turned up, now this.

Looking to Mayry, her expression mirrored his own. They hurried closer, their footsteps quickening with each step until his Mana had recharged enough. He grabbed Mayry’s shoulder and appeared just in front of the town gates.

The amount of damage was apparent even from where they stood. Buildings were engulfed in flames, people ran in panic, and cries for help echoed through the chaos. Mayry’s hand tightened around his as they took in the scene.

Mayry hesitated only for a moment before she sprang into action, shooting powerful jets of water into any of the burning buildings, all the while barking orders to any town guards within earshot. Urgently directing them to gather more hands to help search for survivors amidst the wreckage of the collapsed buildings.

He was shocked at it all but refused to let the devastation he felt stop him from helping. He ran up to a guard who’d collapsed, checked for a pulse, and once he confirmed the man was alive, started healing him.

As he gained consciousness, the man tried to sit up and struggled when Mason held him down. “Hey, hey! You’re hurt. Let me finish healing you.” When the injured man didn’t stop struggling, Mason shook him gently and spoke louder, “I need you to tell me what happened here!”

The man blinked a few times as if only now seeing him and then shouted words that Mason felt like a knife through the chest, “YOU! THEY WERE HERE LOOKING FOR YOU!” After those words, the man fell silent. He was fully healed but likely too exhausted to stay conscious.

Mason recoiled and stumbled away, barely feeling the injury he absorbed from the man.

Was this his fault? How could it be! Were the Others really here for him? The town that had taken him in was in ruins, and he was to blame.

A few streets over, a stone house had been destroyed; his enhanced senses caught movement. It wasn’t much, but he had definitely seen some of the rubble moving. Someone was trapped. Before he could move and try to help, a small child’s hand pushed its way out from the wreckage and then went limp.

In an instant, he was there, doing all he could to get to the survivor. If this child died, it would be one more death that was his fault. All those that died when Gael attacked and now this! He was going to save this child no matter what. He was able to get to the child quickly, and as he pulled her out, he saw that it wasn’t a child but Viv. He hadn’t realised it, with the town looking severely different, but this was where her shop had been.

He used his healing ability and dragged her back into consciousness. She was less hurt than the guard had been, and instantly recognised him. “Mason?” She slowly pushed herself up and then whipped her head around. “Is Mayry with you! Her father…” She trailed off.

He was confused but pushed past it. “She’s here. We just got here.” He turned in the direction he had last seen her and called out. When he got no reply, he turned back to Viv. “Viv, what the hell happened here?”

She tried to speak but just coughed. He grabbed her arm and pushed his healing ability into her again, keeping it going.

She cleared her throat and then spoke, “A few hours ago, a group of five people appeared out of nowhere in the middle of town. They screamed and shouted, demanding to know what happened to a woman who apparently came here. I watched from my shop for a bit but stopped when I got bored. A few minutes later, there was a crash, and people started screaming and shouting. I ran back out again to see what happened, and the mayor was there! A few of the buildings were destroyed, and there were people all over the place just lying there!” She gestured across the street and froze when she saw the bodies.

He moved, positioning himself so she could no longer see them. “Then what happened?” he asked delicately. The look of horror and sadness on her child-like face made him feel awful for pushing her, but he needed to know.

She shook her head. “The mayor was talking to them, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The talking turned into shouting, and then one of the people shot some sort of beam at the mayor. It bounced right off and destroyed another house. All five of them started attacking the mayor. Something hit him in the chest… But that’s the last thing I remember. I think one of their attacks hit my shop…” She looked around at the destroyed potion shop around her as if only just noticing. Panic flooded her, and she grabbed him. “Mason! My shop! What am I gonna do? That was everything I owned! I’m ruined!”

It sounded to him like Others were sent to find out what happened to Gael. So… this was his fault, at least partly. He didn’t have time to feel guilty, though. He needed to find out what happened after Viv was knocked out. Where was the mayor? An iteration of Chaos would have survived anything a few Others could do, surely.

“It’ll be fine, Viv. I’ll come and find you after things die down and make sure you have enough to rebuild.” Before she could reply, he teleported away towards the mayor’s office.

He reappeared and a shiver ran down his spine as he heard the flapping of giant wings overhead. Why would Envoy have followed them? Had the dragon realised that they lied to him? If that were the case, they were in deep shit.

Looking up, he felt a massive wave of relief hit him as he recognised the dragon flying overhead, not Envoy, but Nina in her fully ramped-up dragon form. The relief turned sour as he saw the condition his friend was in. Many of her scales were dented, and she was bleeding from multiple wounds. There was a much smaller figure zipping around her in the air, slashing with a blade and shooting off bolts of green energy at her. His mind went blank; all he could think about was getting his hand on that Other’s ability to fly. He also desperately wanted to help his friend, but he’d always wanted to know what it felt like to fly.

Teleporting midair was all fine until he started to fall. He timed it well enough that he managed to pass the flying Other. Dagger in hand, he slashed in her direction, but the air around her warped, and suddenly, what he was sure was going to be a direct hit, missed by barely an inch.

Wow, the ability to fly, some sort of auto-dodge, and the green energy beams? No wonder Nina was having trouble.

He dropped to the ground and landed in a classic superhero pose. From the height he had been, he probably would have been fine even if he landed on his head, but this way seemed cooler.

Unsheathing Nightsong, Mason rolled his shoulders. “Time to see what this baby can do.”

The flying Other didn’t appear to have wings or anything else keeping her aloft, so grounding her would be difficult. Fighting her in the air wasn’t an option unless he somehow managed to sprout wings. She was moving too fast for his Identify skill to gather any information, so he needed to get creative.

Drawing on Mana Control, he formed a translucent, ten-foot sphere of energy around himself, focusing intently on maintaining it. He watched as the flyer dove toward Nina. Timing it carefully, he waited for her to stop accelerating before teleporting himself and the sphere into her path, trapping her inside his bubble of Mana.

Unable to stop her momentum, the flyer crashed into the sphere’s barrier. Mason allowed gravity to affect his sphere, and both he and the Other were forced to the ground. Now that she was unable to fly, the fight would be far easier to finish.

She leapt at him with her sword. Nightsong hit her sword and cut it in two. The Other’s face twisted in surprise and rage as she jumped back. Mason pressed his advantage and attacked her with Nightsong.

What happened next is somewhat hard to explain. In the space of less than a second, the Other’s auto-dodge ability activated and reality warped around her, making the attack miss. Nightsong vibrated in his hands and reality warped back, and the blow landed, leaving a gash in the side of the Other’s chest. She fell back, unarmed and injured, and raised her arm to attack him with some other ability. Before she could, Nightsong moved, and the flying Other was no more. Luckily, his new sword had somehow undone the effects of the Other’s ability.

It took him a moment to catch his breath. The fight wasn’t difficult, but he was still pretty winded. Hearing the ding of notifications, he took a look.

Notification 1/4

You have slain - Level 26 - Chaos System User

You have received 260 XP

Chaos system detected, additional XP received

You have received a total 1330 XP

Notification 2/4

You have absorbed the ability: Flight

Flight (Expert) – It’s a bird, it’s a plane, Oh, it’s just Mason

Active Effect: You can fly. There isn’t really a more flowery way of saying it. Flight speed starts low; the longer you fly, the faster you get. Certain abilities can not be used while airborne. Scales with Endurance.

Ahhh, this was awesome! He wanted to test it out immediately, but there was every chance that there were more Others around. He was in a town that had been destroyed because of him, and his girlfriend’s dad was possibly hurt. Those thoughts snapped him out of his momentary good mood and put him back on guard. He flinched as something big landed behind him. He turned and saw a rapidly transforming Nina.

“Thanks for the assist! Hitting that little shit was almost impossible,” she said. She looked pretty rough, bruised, battered, and favouring one leg.

“No worries, I’m sure you would have finished her off without me, I just thought it would be easier if I jumped in. Want to tell me what happened?”

She looked around as if to try and remember. “I had only just arrived when those guys started making a fuss about something. They argued, and then everything went crazy. I jumped right into the fight with that asshole, but I couldn’t even hit her. Her attacks were pretty weak, so I’ve just been keeping her from getting away the best I could.”

Throwing her a health potion, he put a hand on her shoulder. “You did really good! Drink that and go and find your father. See if he’s okay; I’ll come check on you later.”

She nodded and he continued his way toward the mayor’s office.

* * *

In the caves of Mount Theravia, where sunlight has never touched, there are colonies of thousands of creatures no bigger than a grain of sand. Morkermites are hivemind creatures that live in the darkest reaches of the world. They are sapient and even capable of speech.

While kind and even helpful to anyone they meet, they have instincts they are unable to control. The following is a first-hand account of an experience an adventurer had when they wandered too far into the dark when exploring a ruin:

I was walking through when I heard a voice, it was ethereal and had a pronounced hum to it. It said, ‘hello,’ and after a few seconds, I said hello back. It warned me not to get closer and so I stayed where I was. It explained that while they were a species of pacifists, when they came into contact with warm blooded creatures, they instinctively swarmed them, completely unable to control themselves.

Apart from that one warning, the thing I spoke with seemed polite, knowledgeable, and quite charming.

– Excerpt from Tiny but Deadly - The Bestiary of Tiny Things - Chapter 17 – Morkermites

Chapter 37

The Mayor of Sparksford

He could finally see the mayor’s office only a few dozen metres away. He was about to teleport right to the doorstep when he noticed something strange: there was a wheezing sound coming from down a side alley. The noise didn’t sound at all human, but he went to investigate. It could have been a trap, but he had yet to meet an Other who didn’t just attack him guns blazing. For a people who were apparently even more technologically advanced than those from Earth, they seemed to severely lack any sort of subtly or strategy when it came to combat.

Turning into the side alley, he spotted a huge dog lying on its side, panting heavily. As he approached, he realised it wasn’t a dog, but a wolf. Judging by the arrows lodged in its body, it was badly injured. With each inhale, it wheezed. With each exhale, it let out a pained, high-pitched whine.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he should do. The injured wolf was probably a pet or a summons, but from which side, he wasn’t sure. It could have come from one of the residents of Sparksford, but it could have just as easily come from one of the Others.

After a moment’s hesitation, he came to a decision. He laid his hands on the wolf’s flank and began to heal it. If it attacked, then he would deal with it; if it seemed friendly, then he’d done a good thing. He was increasingly worried about getting to the mayor, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the poor animal to suffer.

As he healed it, he ran his hand along the wolf’s body, trying to keep it calm as he pulled the arrows out and healed its final wounds.

He hissed as he temporarily took on its pain. The wounds closed up, and the wolf’s breathing eased. After a few seconds, it rolled over and stood. It cocked its head to the side, barked, walked in a circle, then nodded at him.

He wasn’t sure what it was trying to communicate, so he stared at it bewildered. Then, it repeated its actions, and it clicked.

“You want me to turn around, boy?” he asked the wolf.

Hesitantly, he turned his back. He was confident that even if this were some strange ploy of the wolf’s, he would be able to tank whatever it could do to him long enough to respond.

A voice he recognised came from behind him, “I am not a boy!”

He spun and saw a partly clothed Nays. She was wearing a bra and underwear but not much else. A rush of relief flooded him, and he pulled her into a hug. “Nays! That was you? I’m so glad you’re okay! Are you okay?”

She hugged him back and was, of course, bright pink when they came apart. He blushed, too, as he realised he hugged her while she was semi-naked. “Still haven’t quite managed to get all your clothes to transform with you, huh?”

She pouted as she replied, “Yeah, well, the town was under attack, and I didn’t transform on purpose! I did get into a fight, though. But as you can probably guess, I lost. Thank you for saving me, by the way! It really hurt. Is it over? Are they all gone?”

“I think so, but maybe try and stay hidden for a while just in case; I have to check on the mayor.”

Her eyes widened. “I saw the mayor. It was only for a second, but someone took him into his office. It looked like he was passed out.”

“Crap. Okay, I have to go; I’ll try and find you later. Stay safe,” he said as he turned to leave.

“Mason?” she called. He turned again and saw she was tearing up. She stepped up to him and hugged him again. “Thank you. I really thought I was going to die.”

He awkwardly patted her on her very naked back and said, “It’s okay, Nays, you’re safe now. I’m sorry to leave you, but I need to go. I promise I’ll check on you later.” He gently let her go and stepped out of the alley.

He was so glad Nays was okay, along with Viv and Nina. She’d been one of the people he had been most worried about. Even with all the death and destruction the Others had brought to this town, it was good to know that at least his friends were safe, though if he arrived even a few minutes later, he wasn’t sure if any of them would have made it.

It had taken him far too long to reach the mayor’s office, but now that he had, he was surprised to see Mayry sitting on the stone steps outside. When she spotted him, she shot to her feet and rushed over to him. There were tears in her eyes, and her cheeks were blotchy and red. She sobbed something into his shoulder, but he couldn’t understand. She pulled away and repeated, “My dad… I think he’s dying.”

* * *

The building, while unaffected by the attack, seemed darker than the last time he’d been there.

Mayry had been coordinating rescuing survivors, setting up a perimeter, and trying to find out exactly what happened but had rushed over to see her father the moment she heard he was hurt. She had already been inside to see him, but he had been asleep, and the healer watching over him had ushered her out, frantically insisting that he needed his rest.

The healer frowned at them as they entered. Mason expected to be kicked out, but instead, she beckoned them to a seating area so they could talk.

She looked increasingly worried. “My healing ability works by accelerating the body’s own healing capabilities while also giving it a bit of an extra kick. For example, I would likely be able to regrow someone’s hand but not their arm.”

“I…” Mayry started to speak, but with a look of sadness and regret, the healer lifted a finger and kept talking.

“I’m telling you this because I need you to understand me when I tell you my ability is not working on your father. Whatever those people did to him, it has left his body unable to heal as it usually would. His injuries are significant, and healing potions are only slowing the inevitable at this point. I’m sorry.”

Mason didn’t know how to react. How had the Others managed to hurt someone who used to be an actual divinity? He felt like he should say something or do something to help Mayry, but nothing came to him. He felt frozen, like he didn’t really feel anything, just kind of numb.

Mayry stood. “Can we see him?”

“Of course,” the healer said, surprised. She had probably expected a greater reaction from them, but if Mayry felt anything like he did, he understood why she was acting so calm.

“Mason, do you think your healing might work?” she whispered as they walked. “Or maybe the elixir?”

Of course! The shock of hearing about the mayor had blindsided him into forgetting he could heal people. He whispered back, “It’s never not worked before, so maybe?” Was this why she was so calm? It wasn’t just the numbness he felt; she still had hope that he could save her father. No pressure.

What the healer had said replayed in his head, ‘Whatever those people did to him, it has left his body unable to heal.’ What if that effect got transferred to him? If it messed up his HP regeneration, it would severely cripple him if he needed to fight. Every time he’d used the ability on a magical affliction, something crappy happened. He would try the Pana Elixir first. If that didn’t work, he’d risk using Sacrificial Healing, only because it was for Mayry.

They walked into a dark room to see the mayor propped up on the couch. He looked bad.

Mason was reminded of when he visited his grandma in the hospital during her final few days of life. She had been pale and hardly looked like herself. He’d had no idea what to say or what to do. Just, sat there, feeling the aura of death looming over everyone.

“Mayry!” the mayor said weakly, attempting to push himself up higher on the couch. “You came? I was worried something had happened to you, too.”

“Hey, Dad, I’m here,” she managed to say while doing her best to hold back tears. “We’re going to try and see if we can help you.” She looked over at Mason expectantly.

“Do you remember much about what happened? Do you know what they did to you?” he asked.

Mayry frowned slightly but didn’t say anything more.

The mayor replied with the air of someone who had just taken some pretty strong painkillers. He was coherent but definitely wasn’t acting like he usually did.

“Err, yes. From what I’d heard, the attackers from the other world… they appeared in the centre of town and, at first, had just asked questions, but when passersby ignored them, they became enraged. They stopped one of the guards and demanded to see the person in charge of the town. When the guard told them that I was likely busy, they shot some sort of explosive into the clothier’s shop.”

He let out a cough and, once he had caught his breath, continued, “I have various ways of knowing when certain types enter the town, so I was already on my way. I got there just as they were threatening some people. Once they saw me, they demanded to know what had happened to two of their number who’d gone missing. They were probably talking about that crazy woman, Gael? That we fought. I told them I didn’t know what they were talking about.” He looked off into nothingness for a few seconds before shaking his head slightly.

Mason asked, “What happened then? You’re a full demon. How could they possibly of hurt you this bad?”

“I… I don’t really remember much else of what happened. It was all a blur. I know that they attacked me, and I fought badly, killing one of them, but after the fight with Gael, I was already weakened. The four of them must have hit me with something pretty powerful. I only managed to get away because some hunters showed up and distracted them. I ran when I should have stayed and fought. And now my town is in ruin.” A single tear fell down the mayor’s cheek. It glistened and had a faint glow as it fell.

“It’s okay, Dad, we’ll rebuild. We’re going to help you get better. Isn’t that right, Mason?” Mayry gave him a pointed look.

Mason walked over and put an arm on her shoulder. “I’ll do whatever I can. We found an elixir that might help. Otherwise, we’ll think of something else.”

Chapter 38

An Unexpected Visitor

“I’ll be right back!” he called as he moved away, summoned his Trunk, and stepped inside.

One of the things that made the Pana Elixir so special was the fact that it was capable of regenerating itself over time, but for this feature to work, it couldn’t be kept in his time-locked Inventory. For whatever reason, he discovered that he didn’t encounter that problem if he stored it in his Trunk and then stored his Trunk in his Inventory.

The tiny amount of leakage wasn’t a problem yet, as it would only affect them negatively if they were exposed to it long-term.

The lid slammed shut behind him, and he walked down the stairs. A sudden tingle running down his spine made him stop; something was wrong. He struggled to put his finger on what exactly it was, but he had learned to trust his gut. He turned to leave, but as he pushed on the lid of the Trunk, he found it wouldn’t budge.

“Agh! What now?” He really didn’t have time for this. Frustrated, he walked down the stairs. The feeling got stronger as he looked around; nothing was out of place. He likened the feeling to how it felt when you came home after a long trip away; everything was familiar but also… not.

A lot was going on outside of the Trunk, so he pushed the feeling away and went over to where he stored the elixir. Mayry was counting on him; he needed to get it and get out. If he had to, he would force his way out and deal with whatever this was later.

He opened the drawer and saw it empty. He was certain this was where he had left it, but to be sure, he tried a different drawer, empty.

“My apologies,” an unfamiliar female voice said. Startled, he spun around and raised his hands in the direction the voice had come from. Energy flickered from his fingertips. For a moment, he couldn’t see anyone, but as the voice spoke again, he noticed a half-formed figure sitting on the sofa. Looking at the woman was like looking in a mirror after a shower. Just a vague outline, with the colours and details blurred so profusely that trying to describe the figure was pointless.

“Recreating the finer details of your space is beyond my power at the moment.” The voice was powerful yet calm and confident. It reminded him of how a politician spoke to people when trying to be reassuring.

The vague figure gestured. “There’s no need for any of that.” The energy that had been crackling at Mason’s fingertips fizzled out. The ease with which the figure overrode his ability was terrifying, instilling in him a spark of suspicion as to what this apparition truly was.

His heart raced as he stared at the figure, and his mind tumbled to make sense of the course of events. His instincts screamed at him to be cautious, but something else inside him pushed him to be angry at the intrusion.

“Who are you?” Mason demanded, fighting with himself to keep his voice as polite as he could.

The figure let out a high-pitched laugh that lingered long after it ended. “I see he has more of a presence in you than I thought… No matter. For now, just think of me as a friend.”

The annoyed part of him raged and pushed harder at him. “Okay, friend, why are you here?” He was unable to keep the hostility out of his voice.

“I’m here to tell you that neither your interesting little potion nor your healing ability will be able to fix the… mayor. I’m also here to tell you that if you try to use your ability, the results will not be pleasant.”

“And why do you care if the mayor is healed or not?”

The voice let out an audible sigh. “I see you aren’t going to make this easy for me. Fine. The curse that put the gods to sleep is wearing off. It will take some time, but it is failing. The curse was designed around the idea that it would be able to last endlessly while drawing on the gods themselves to fuel it. The fact that 15 gods exist makes the number special. If you knew anything about runes or rituals, you would know that the numbers 5, 10, and 15 are the most powerfully magical numbers. 5 minor gods, 10 greater, and 15 in total. The curse, only able to draw upon 14 gods, was weak from the start, allowing echoes and bits of will to leak out from the trapped gods.”

“I still don’t understand. What does letting the mayor die have to do with any of that?”

“Chaos no longer exists as a singular entity but as a collective; his power remains. If all iterations of Chaos were to die, there would be 14 gods, making 14 the most powerful number, cementing the god’s prison.”

Her explanation made sense, but there was one thing Mason couldn’t understand, “You’re a g-o-d, aren’t you?” He felt a bit silly spelling it out, but with the way things were playing out he didn’t need any accidental ACT’s happening. “That’s the only way you’d be able to appear here and know all of this in the first place. What I don’t get is why would you want to remain trapped?”

The figure sighed audibly once again. “It is in my nature. I am Order. I am the opposite of Chaos. The world as it is today is not as ordered as I may desire, but the world before, when all of us did nothing but fight, destroy, and kill? There was so little order in the world that it wounded me to my very essence and almost killed me. With all of us asleep, it is… peaceful. But my ability to project even this small wisp of myself while asleep is proof the curse is failing.”

“So, you’d have me do what? Let the mayor die, then hunt down the other iterations?”

“I have told you. Nothing you could do would save this iteration. The elixir will not work. Your ability will not work, and to try would cripple you until you were of no use to anyone.” The voice calmed. “I wish for you to do as planned. Find your way to Ganehfrel and bring back the iteration incarcerated there. For as long as he remains in their hands, they will never let him die. He is the opposite of everything I embody, and still, I do not wish to see their treatment of him continue. Not even he deserves to suffer as much as he does.”

The apparition flickered but, after a few seconds, stabilised. “The space I created for us to have this conversation will last a few more minutes, and then you will appear in your space. Think about what I’ve said.”

The voice trailed off, and the figure flickered again before disappearing.

The magnitude of what just happened froze him on the spot; either that or his temporary paralysis was just a lingering effect of being in the presence of a goddess.

It was true; the gods really were waking up. He had to admit that even after hearing it from the Kethul, having his system confirm it, and getting it confirmed by the mayor, he had been harbouring a tiny spark of hope that it was all just a misunderstanding and he wasn’t actually fated to fight and kill gods and save multiple worlds…

The visit from an actual god, projection or not, had thoroughly extinguished that spark. Order, despite being only a wisp of her former self, was still able to create a whole extra-dimensional space, transport him there without him knowing, and casually prevent him from using his powers. How was he supposed to get powerful enough to fight something like that!

Putting that thought aside, he had more pressing problems to deal with. Sure, meeting a godess that could have killed him with a thought was scary, but he’d take that any day over having to look Mayry in the eye and tell her he couldn’t heal her father. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but whatever it was, he wasn’t looking forward to it.

There was a subtle change around him. With his high Perception stat, he was certain he hadn’t imagined it. The space around him almost seemed to darken slightly, like when the sun disappeared behind clouds on a summer’s day. The uneasy feeling left him, and he was able to move again. With no plan in mind, he grabbed the Pana Elixir and headed up the stairs to the Trunk’s lid and the mayor’s office; he was surprised Mayry hadn’t come looking for him as he’d been gone far longer than he should have been.

He peeked his head out and saw that everyone was pretty much exactly where they’d been. “I’m so sorry that took so long. I had a bit of trouble finding the elixir.”

Mayry, who was sitting by her dad’s side, glanced at him. “What do you mean? You were barely gone a minute.”

Missing a step, Mason tripped, almost dropping the small glass bottle containing the elixir; he luckily managed to grab it before it hit the floor. “Crap! Sorry! Yeah, it just felt like longer.”

Even at her weakest, Order was able to create a convincing duplicate of a pocket dimension and suppress his abilities, all while manipulating time? Even with everything happening around him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter what he did, he would never be strong enough to fight a god like Order.

Mayry asked, “Is everything okay? You’re acting weird…”

Before Mason could come up with something to say, the mayor let out a wheezing cough, which turned into a fit of coughs that went on long enough that Mayry grabbed her dad’s arm with tears in her eyes and whispered something in his ear. She then looked to Mason with urgency in her eyes. “Please do something!”

He rushed over and poured some of the elixir into the mayor’s mouth. He wasn’t sure what the proper dosage was, so he started by just giving him a sip, but when nothing happened, he fed him more until it was empty.

He and Mayry watched the mayor intently, searching for any sign that it was working.

Lying on the couch, he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, letting out a relaxed moan. Colour returned to his gaunt face, and some of the bruises that had covered his face faded.

Mayry gasped. “It’s working!” She turned around to Mason, and saw the smile on his face start to change into fear. Her eyes widened, and she whipped her head back to where her father lay. Something was fighting against the elixir’s effects. The mayor’s skin was becoming pale again, and the bruises returned worse than before. The mayor suddenly sat upright, falling into a coughing fit.

“Mason! Please!” Mayry shouted.

Just like Order had said, the elixir hadn’t worked. He loved Mayry and would do anything for her, but he couldn’t risk crippling himself. The fate of countless lives depended on him. He was going to hate himself for this, and if Mayry ever found out, he knew she would hate him, too.

For the briefest of moments, he met the mayor’s eyes. He smiled sadly and then almost imperceptibly nodded. He knew what Mason was about to do and was going to let him; he got the feeling it would have been virtually impossible if the mayor struggled.

He walked over, put his hands on the mayor, and began to absorb all of his remaining essence.

Chapter 39

Master

Mayry

She still had hope, but there was a part of her that knew her father was going to die. Her heart had soared when it looked like the elixir was going to work; that had made the pain all the worse when it became apparent that it hadn’t.

She watched her boyfriend lay his hands on her father and try to heal him. She knew how his healing worked and knew it was a risk—that he might accidentally take on the thing that was making her dad unable to heal. She knew, but she just couldn’t bring herself to stop him from trying.

Mason’s face grew intense; he looked like he was experiencing intense pain but maintained a look of concentration. She should stop this. What if they both died? What if her selfishness got Mason killed, and it still didn’t bring back her father? She would be entirely alone, just like she had been in that room.

A light filled the room, and Mason started to glow; he must be pushing all of his energy into his healing ability. It wasn’t going to work, she could tell, but the sad look in her father’s eyes… What colour he had left was fading from his skin—he was barely alive.

She reached out to stop Mason. A pulse of something shot through her when she touched him. It knocked her back, and she landed on the floor, fazed.

The glow around him vanished, and he turned around to stare at her.

“Mayry, I’m so sorry,” he said with genuine sadness on his face.

She glanced at her father’s body and saw that his condition hadn’t improved; in fact, he looked far worse.

She stumbled as she got up and moved quickly to her father’s side. She threw herself into his arms and cried.

With what strength he had left, he wrapped an arm around her and whispered to her, “For all the things I did as a god, you are what I am most proud of. I’m sorry I wasn’t much of a father. I love you dearly, my child.” His arms went limp around her, and his head rolled back.

She grabbed handfuls of his shirt and pulled herself closer to him, crying, “You were the best father; you were the best! I’m sorry… I love you so much.”

She stayed there for a long while, just sobbing and muttering things that she wouldn’t remember later on.

* * *

Mason

He had known the mayor didn’t have long, and also that if he were to die, the Chaos Essence within him would die, too. He had already expended a lot of it fighting Gael, then even more when he gave some to Mason. By the time he fought against the five Others, he had already been very low.

However, the more he pulled from the mayor, the more he’d found. What felt like an ocean of essence was hidden deep within the mayor’s being. The mayor had undoubtedly been close to death, but he suspected that what he’d done reduced the man’s life from hours to minutes.

When Mayry grabbed him, he panicked, fearing she somehow figured out what he was doing. He felt absolutely disgusted with himself, but the power he now felt within him was insane. If he was going to fight gods, then he needed the power of gods.

He felt ashamed and awkward as Mayry sobbed over losing her father. He thought about trying to comfort her, but something told him to leave her be for a while.

Various notifications popped up. He was going to wave them away, but he couldn’t help but read them as more and more came through.

Notification 1/5

An iteration of Chaos has fallen. Chaos users responsible for kill is too far. Steal kill? Y/N?

He mentally selected yes and felt a rush of power enter him.

Notification 2/5

Iteration of Chaos - Mayor Sparks has fallen.

Experience allocated: 12,000

Notification 3/5

Chaos Essence absorbed: 20,000

Remembering how much using essence instead of Mana helped in his fight against the fake tree monster, he saved 2,000 and pushed the rest into experience points.

Notification 4/5

Shattered Core Fragments have been added to your Inventory.

Shattered Core Fragment - Divine Item

The core of a god is the very centre of their being. When Chaos was shattered, each iteration took a fragment of the core with them and from that, they drew and stored a tiny amount of their former power. In the early days, some iterations travelled around, finding others of their kind and taking their core fragments, increasing their power. Nowadays, there are far fewer iterations with a higher number of cores.

Notification 5/5

Quest Received! Got to collect them all!

Quest Objective - Collect all remaining Shattered Core Fragments from the remaining Iterations. 270/1000 remaining.

Quest reward – Unlock the true power of Chaos.

Accept? Y/N

Collecting cores sounded like a great way to boost his power, but it would mean finding and killing more iterations, many of whom may be more powerful than him, not to mention they could very well be innocent people living normal lives. He decided he would keep it in mind if he did happen across any of them but wouldn’t actively hunt them down.

There were other notifications, but he mentally waved them away, making a mental note to check his character sheet later. While he felt vastly more powerful, looking at the numbers would help him quantify just how much stronger he had gotten. As for right now, he should probably comfort his grieving girlfriend. The thought terrified him, along with the incredible amount of guilt threatening to devour him, even though he hadn’t been the one to kill him.

Hesitantly, he put a hand on Mayry’s back. As he touched her, she flinched, and he pulled his hand away. She turned to him and looked furious. Her eyes were puffy with tears, and her face was contorting in ways that mixed her human and demon forms, making for a pretty intimidating scowl. “This is your fault,” she spat at him.

He took a step back and felt like he had been slapped. “I… I don’t…”

“If you had never come here, he’d still be alive! My dad would still be alive.”

He understood she was emotional and had every right to lash out at him. He took a step closer and tried to pull her into a hug. For a moment, she let him, before she roughly pushed him back, sending him staggering.

“I want you to… No. I need you to leave.” She avoided looking him in the eyes. “I just can’t be near you right now.”

Every word hit like a sucker punch, but he understood. He nodded and turned to go. Just as he was about to step through the door, he stopped and said, “I’m going to find the ones who did this, and I’m going to kill every one of them for what they did to this town and to your…” He stared at her, then left, dismissing the new quest notification he’d received without reading it.

The moment he was out the door, he teleported far into the distance where no one would see him. He sat on the ground and cried.

* * *

He felt numb. Everything he did was done on pure instinct, almost as if he was stuck on autopilot. He would do as he promised and kill the Others responsible for what happened to Sparksford. It was the only thing he could think about. Thinking about anything else would be too painful.

He opened his character sheet, and even with his mind in the condition it was in, he couldn’t help but be shocked at the huge jump he’d made. He tried to think back to the last time he looked at his sheet. It had to of been before the tree monster. Since then, he’d gotten essence from absorbing the Chaos orbs. The mayor had given him some, and then, by far, the biggest portion taken from the mayor as he died.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 39

Current XP: 92,000 / 100,000

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 960

Mana Points (MP): 580

Stamina Points (SP): 425

Stats

Strength: 74 (+15)

Agility: 76

Endurance: 65

Vitality: 86

Resilience: 70 (+26)

Intelligence: 100 (+10%) Attention needed!

Perception: 73

Willpower: 69

Free Points: 24

Skills

Identify (Expert), Mana Control – INT (Expert), Emotional Therapy – PER (Expert), True Invisibility – PER (Expert), Random Greater Summon – INT (Expert), Sarcastic Prick – INT (Expert), Mental Fuckery – WIL (Expert), Mental Resistance, Ballistic Control – STR (Expert), Division – INT (Expert), Greater Teleportation – AGI (Expert), Sacrificial Healing – VIT (Expert), Flight – END (Expert)

Base Skills

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced), System Guidebook (Basic)

Class Skills

Basic Monster Tracking, Evaluate Monster, Gather Intel

A massive 8-level jump was pretty crazy. One more level and he’d get another skill selection, which, albeit, wasn’t a huge deal anymore since he had gotten his unique ability Absorption, but still!

For a moment, he let his mind walls down, and he felt a pang of pain before redirecting his mind back to his character sheet. His Intelligence stat caught his eye; it had reached the 100-point threshold, but none of his INT-based skills had been upgraded.

There was an ‘Attention Needed’ notice next to the stat he had never seen before. He focused on it, and a new notification popped up.

You have reached the necessary threshold to upgrade your Intelligence-based abilities from Expert to Master. This upgrade is significant, and while you may keep some aspects of the abilities, some may be lost or will cost significantly more Mana to maintain.

Are you sure you would like to upgrade your Intelligence-based abilities?

Y/N

He thought about it before he selected yes. The one thing he was desperate for was more power… Whether that was quantity or quality, he didn’t care so long as it allowed him to protect the people around him better.

The warning had used the word ‘upgrade,’ so surely, whatever happened to his abilities would make them better than they were now. If they cost more Mana, then he’d just have to spend some of his free points. It was a risk, but one he didn’t really have a choice on.

As he selected yes, he got several notifications detailing his upgrades. The first one was his Mana Control.

Notification 1/4

Your Intelligence stat has reached 100.

Your skill Mana Control (Expert) has been upgraded to Mana Mastery (Master)

Mana Mastery (Master): An almost unending reservoir of power flows from you. Power creates and power destroys. What will you do with it?

Active Effect: You and your Mana share a more profound connection that allows your constructs a semblance of intelligence. You can now create Mana constructs that can act autonomously without your direction. You can now imbue tools or weapons with your Mana, making them tougher, sharper, and more versatile. The cost of Mana scales with the complexity, power, and duration of each creation, though efficiency is greatly improved due to your mastery. Scales with Intelligence.

As upgrades went, this was pretty damn decent. It came with an increased Mana cost, but that made sense. He wouldn’t know for sure until he experimented, but it sounded as though he would be able to use his Mana to create minions that could think for themselves. He pictured armies of dragons, hydras, and all sorts of other creatures glowing blue, following him into battle.

Mason was excited to test the ability’s limits.

He excitedly turned to tell Mayry before he remembered she wasn’t there, and his mood soured.

Notification 2/4

Your Intelligence stat has reached 100.

Your skill Random Greater Summon (Expert) has been upgraded to Grand Summoner (Master)

Grand Summoner (Master): Reach into the void and pull from it horrors born of nightmares untold.

Active Effect: Once per day, summon a creature from anywhere in the cosmos, drawn from a specific category of strength or ability according to your current needs. The creature is no longer entirely random; it is now chosen from a roster of powerful beings with abilities highly relevant to your current challenges. The summoning duration increases to 20 minutes + 1 minute for each point of Intelligence. Focus your intent on a specific type of ally (healer, tank, damage dealer, etc.), and the summon will bring forth a creature with those abilities. While the exact creature remains somewhat random, it will always match the desired role and adapt to the challenge you face. This ability will cost significantly more Mana. Scales with Intelligence.

This upgrade, especially compared to the last, didn’t seem as extreme. Being able to choose what type of ally he got would be useful, but it was still limited to once a day, which was irritating. He’d need to test it out; maybe it’d surprise him.

Notification 3/4

Your Intelligence stat has reached 100.

Your skill Sarcastic Prick (Expert) has been upgraded to Verbal Onslaught (Master)

Verbal Onslaught (Master) - Sticks and stones may break bones, but words can cut deeper.

Active Effect: When using sarcasm or mockery to taunt an enemy, you have a higher chance to inflict critical damage that bypasses mental and physical defences. The impact of your words scales with the creativity and relevance of your taunt. Each cutting remark has a chance to inflict additional psychological effects, demoralising them and making them less coordinated.

He barely remembered the advanced version of this skill ever activating at all, so getting it upgraded didn’t mean much. Hopefully, he’d get more use out of this version.

Notification 4/4

Your Intelligence stat has reached 100.

Your skill Division (Expert) has been upgraded to Mitosis (Master)

Mitosis (Master) - Divide and conquer

Once a day, split yourself in up to four copies, each capable of acting autonomously. Instead of evenly dividing your power, you may now allocate stats (equal to 1.5 times your total stats) among the copies as you see fit (e.g., focusing strength on one copy while enhancing speed on another). The copies last for Intelligence stat x 10 minutes unless destroyed or recalled. You are now able to fully take control of any one of your clones, leaving your original body to act autonomously. Scales with Intelligence.

Jackpot! Having five bodies would be great for when he needed to fight many enemies at once, but the real win was the extra stat points and being able to remotely control clones! It meant he would be able to go into battle without risking his real body! As long as he kept himself safe, this could potentially be a game-changer.

Wanting to get closer to upgrading his invisibility, he put twelve out of the 24 free points he had into Perception and then put half of the remaining points into Vitality and the last six into Strength.

He was surprised to see he missed a notification. One he had gotten when defeating the tree shapeshifter. A rare lumberjack box. He opened it, and despite his foul mood, a small smile appeared on his face.

Item - Axe of the Giant Lumberjack (Rare)

This humungous axe has two purposes: cutting down trees and… This axe only has one purpose: cutting down trees. It boasts over 10,000 confirmed kills and will likely get 10,000 more.

Effects: When fighting any monster, beast, spirit, fae, demon, elemental, or god made from wood, this axe will deal a tremendous amount of additional fire and blunt force damage.

Chapter 40

The Hunt

Mason appeared in the middle of their camp. Finding it hadn’t been difficult; the Others who attacked Sparksford—minus the one he already killed—had been sloppy. They hadn’t bothered to cover their tracks or make any attempt to stop the townsfolk from following them. Which made sense. They’d decimated the town and barely met any resistance. Still, their lack of discipline would be their downfall.

Taking in his surroundings, he noted with irritation that only three of the remaining four Others were present. Annoying.

The first was dead within the moment Mason appeared, Nightsong cutting his head clean off in a single, fluid motion. The other two were stunned by the sudden, brutal death of their comrade.

Mason had hoped to try out some of his upgraded abilities, but it would have been overkill against these pieces of shit. He could have sent in clones or constructs but decided this was personal.

Revenge required a personal touch.

The two remaining Others sat on either side of a bonfire, staring at each other like idiots. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Tweedle Dee, on Mason’s right, vanished, while Tweedle Dum scurried backward.

Mason sent a pulse of Mana toward Tweedle Dee, feeling the attack connect and hurl the invisible man ten feet back. Tweedle Dum raised his arms, firing a sickly purple flare of light. When the attack was mere inches away, Mason teleported behind him, grabbing the back of his neck. Using Mental Fuckery, he pushed loyalty into him, and the man raised his arm to fire more purple flares at the now confused Tweedle Dee.

The flare hit, and Mason watched with morbid fascination as the light boiled the man’s blood from the inside.

Yes, he was going too far, but he couldn’t shake the image of the bodies littering Sparksford. Stopping the loyalty effect, Mason held the man at arm’s length, watching him as he watched his friend die.

When it was over, he let the man drop to the ground. Casually, Mason said, “I heard you were looking for me.”

The man glared up defiantly, unbothered by his friend’s death. “Looking for you? Who the fuck are you?”

Mason chuckled. “You left my friends’ town in ruin, looking for somebody. You just found him.”

Tweedle Dum’s eyes widened. “Yo—you killed Gael?”

“I did. Now, we’re going to have a chat. First question: where is the other guy that was with you in Sparksford?”

Something akin to hope flickered in his eyes. “If—if I tell you, will you let me live?”

“No,” he replied casually. “I made a promise to a friend that I’d kill the people responsible for her father’s death. If you tell me, you’ll die a lot faster than if you refuse. I have a few new things I wanna try out, so I’m pretty easy either way.”

* * *

It really hadn’t taken long, Tweedle Dum coughed up exactly where the last Other had gone. Mason, true to his word, killed him quickly. It was strange, he would have expected to feel something. Gael and Aiden had mostly been self defence, whereas he had actively hunted down his last three kills and felt no remorse whatsoever. The only thing he was feeling was the urge to find the last Other and kill them. He apparently received a distress signal from another set of Others and had taken a detour to get details.

Even with just a general location with his newly picked up ability to fly he managed to find the last Other pretty quickly. The Flight ability was a weird one to get used to, his top speed started at around thirty miles per hour, then shot up without draining more Mana. He was tempted to see how fast he could push it but annoyingly found the last Other in under fifteen minutes. It would be something to experiment with later.

He was elated to find not only the last Other from the attack, but also two more he had unfinished business with.

He was stressed, depressed, and couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken a nap. If there was one thing that helped him relax, it was fucking with people—usually, it was just a sarcastic remark here and there, but these people were the kind of murderers who would happily destroyed and pillaged a town just because they didn’t get what they wanted. Naturally, he didn’t feel bad about what he was about to do.

Activating True Invisibility, he appeared in the house the three Others were in: Rhott, Shazi, and the final Other from Sparksford. All three were sitting around a battered table in a small, dimly lit cabin, deep in conversation. They looked tense, as if they were teenagers sharing ghost stories around a fire.

Rhott, the burly brute, clenched his fists and muttered something while Shazi fiddled with a dagger, her eyes darting around. The final Other, the one he’d been tracking, scribbled something into a book. It looked to Mason like Rhott and Shazi were recounting what happened between them and Mason, and the other Other was writing it down.

Mason could hardly contain his smirk as he moved closer, unseen and intangible. He took a moment to savour the moment before he appeared.

“Good evening,” he said, materialising just behind Rhott. All three jumped, Rhott nearly falling out of his chair as he spun to face Mason, his eyes wide with shock. Shazi’s hand went to her dagger, but she hesitated, looking torn between fight and flight.

“That’s him! Treln, that’s the guy!” Rhott shouted as he backed away.

Treln? What kind of stupid name was Treln? At least he could stop referring to him as the other Other. That just got confusing.

Treln looked up at Mason, having had the least reaction to his appearance. “This? This is the guy you’re so scared of?”

Unable to help himself, Mason nodded. “Yep, I’m ‘the guy.’” He teleported a few feet closer to where Rhott was. “Using a taboo word to get escape was a dick move, dude.”

Rhott opened his mouth, probably intending to say the word again, but Mason was faster, he manifested a stream of Mana to cover the man’s mouth, and all that escaped was muffled and inaudible.

“Now, we are all going to sit down and have a nice chat,” Mason turned to look at Treln, “except for you. You don’t deserve to live.”

Using his new Mana Mastery, he created an ethereal-looking sword behind the man and sliced his head clean off. He was surprised it’d only taken one strike, as the man was quite close to his level.

A completed quest notification for a quest he didn’t realise he’d gotten appeared.

Quest update - Revenge

Objective: You promised Mayry you’d kill those responsible for the destruction in Sparksford and the death of her father.

Quest Complete

Reward: Mayry’s forgiveness, maybe.

Was his system purposefully trying to piss him off? Because if it was, it was doing a grand job.

Mason took the vacant seat Treln had just occupied, gesturing to the two Others to sit. It took him moving the still-manifested Mana sword closer to them to get them to sit down. Shazi was terrified, while Rhott was half scared and half furious.

“As I was saying, I’d like for us to have a chat. I have a few questions, and you guys probably have some answers. So, I’m going to ask a question and one of you is going to answer. If you try and say something you shouldn’t, you’ll end up like him. Understand?”

They nodded.

Mason kept his gaze steady on them both. His carefully constructed, calm demeanour only made their anxiety and discomfort worse. With Treln’s headless body still on the ground nearby, his sword of manifested Mana hovered as an implied threat.

Mason leaned forward, his voice low, “First question: why are you here?”

Shazi swallowed hard, glancing at Rhott before she responded, “We… were chosen. Sent to this world to train our systems and become elite soldiers for the Ganehfrel army.” Her voice was shaky, and she avoided Mason’s intense gaze. “We were told it would be easy as long as we got stronger, there wasn’t much the inhabitants of this world could do to harm us.” She started to tear up.

“Well, it looks like you were lied to by your elders, because I’m here, and as you have seen, I’m fully capable of harming you.”

She nodded, doing everything she could not to make direct eye contact with him.

He looked between them. “And how many of you were sent here? I’ve killed…” he looked at his fingers, counting them off one by one, “five… no, six of you guys already, surely your people didn’t send that many more of your young here to be killed.”

Shazi’s eyes darted around in panic. Clearly, she had not expected him to have killed so many, though she obviously believed him. “I… d-don’t know, exactly. Each faction is only supposed to send two at a time… but those with money and influence always find a way to send their own. There could be dozens.”

Mason tilted his head, intrigued by the idea of dozens more Others. It was a lot more than he thought there was. Dozens of more sources of experience, essence, and abilities wasn’t bad news. “And how did you get here?” This was the question he had been most interested in.

Shazi’s eyes widened at the question. Rhott, still unable to speak, gave him a smug look.

Mason pushed loyalty to him into Shazi using his Mental Fuckery ability.

“Through a gateway between worlds. It was a super weird feeling, travelling to a whole different planet,” she answered; where before she had been speaking barely above a whisper, she now spoke louder and with a much friendlier tone.

Rhott’s expression turned to one of shock and horror as he began trying to speak through the Mana covering his mouth. Mason ignored him.

Smiling widely, he asked, “And can you tell me where this gateway is?”

Shazi smiled in return. “Oh sure, it’s near the Mountains of Zarek, pretty far away from here. There was a teleportation array set up there, too, so we could spread out a bit. They bring us in waves, and there is always a lot of infighting when people from different factions interact.”

Mason leaned back, dropping the loyalty effect, watching as Shazi came to the realisation of what she’d done. After a moment, he said with a smirk at Shazi, “I think that’s about it. Thank you so much for your cooperation.”

Shazi looked from Mason to Rhott, then back to Mason. “What… what happens now?”

Before Mason answered, he simply vanished, leaving them in stunned silence.

Rhott released a shaky breath, finally able to speak, glancing nervously at Shazi. “Do you think that means we can go?”

Before Shazi could respond, a massive boulder, moving at impossibly fast speeds, crashed through the ceiling, killing both of them instantly.

* * *

Outside, Mason watched the dust settle from a distance, his expression unreadable. He felt a twinge of guilt, but pushed it away as the kill notifications started coming through.

He skimmed them, too tired to read through in much detail. Essentially, he had killed a grand total of five Chaos system users, the two from the camp he’d never gotten names for, Treln, Shazi, and Rhott.

Only three of the five activated his Absorb skill, netting him three more stat points, which he put into Perception, and three new abilities. The kills had translated into roughly 1400 XP with an additional 8000 XP because they were all system users, which was enough to push him to level up once more and unlock a new skill selection.

He decided he would take a look at the specifics of the new skills as soon as he had gotten some rest. He teleported closer to Sparksford, took out his Trunk, and got inside. His last thought, before falling asleep, was that he was now one step closer to getting Mayry to forgive him and saving the world.

Chapter 41

Calm before the storm

Mason woke up in a surprisingly good mood; it felt like he had been sleeping for days. He sat up and let the events of the last few days come flooding back to him. Sparksford was in ruins, the mayor was dead, and Mayry was angry at him. He was sorely tempted to lay back down and go back to sleep, even just to escape reality for a little longer.

He winced as he remembered the way he’d so callously killed the Others the day before. He didn’t exactly feel guilty, but he did regret the way he went about it. He’d been taken over by rage and anger, and all he wanted to do was kill those responsible.

It wasn’t healthy to hide from what he was feeling, but he did his best to do it anyway. Looking back at the notifications from yesterday, he went through what he had gained from the fights in more detail.

Only one of the two Others he’d killed in the camp had triggered his Absorption skill; it gave him an ability the name of which immediately irritated him.

Underwater Breathing (Expert) - About as useful as Aquaman

ActiveEffect: You can now breathe underwater - You cannot talk to or control fish. Scales with Endurance.

This was undoubtedly the most useless ability he’d gotten yet. He couldn’t even recall a time when he’d been near a body of water since he’d been on this world, let alone the last time he’d gone swimming.

Mason sighed, at least he’d been lucky so far, he was bound to get useless powers at some point. At least he now had an ability he could trade out if he hit another limit. It did make him wonder how terrible the basic and advanced versions of the skills would have been if he had gotten it earlier, would he have gotten increased lung capacity of something equally useless? He moved on.

Lightning (Expert) - Let there be Light-ning

Active Effect: Call down lightning from the sky and strike your enemies, causes massive damage but can only be used outside. Scales with Strength.

Nice! Annoying it was only usable outside, but still, any offensive ability was a win in his eyes.

Innate Magic Sense (Expert) - Know thy Enemy

Active Effect: You are able to feel not only your own magic but that of those around you. You can distinguish between magic types and sources. You get a sense of what abilities low-level System Users have and will be able to see invisible beings. Very powerful abilities may still be able to fool this ability. Scales with Perception

It sounded similar to what Mayry naturally possessed, seeing invisible people would be great, as would knowing what abilities his enemies had. It was annoying it was only low-level system users, but it would at least show him what abilities he might Absorb.

Skill Selection:

Telekinesis (Master) - Use the force!

Active Effect: Channel your mental strength to manipulate objects from afar, lifting and interacting items with nothing but your mind. Anything you could lift physically, you can now lift mentally. Ability is line of sight. Larger items require greater focus, and fine movements demand additional concentration. Scales with Intelligence.

While in any other situation, being able to move things with his mind would be awesome, but he could pretty much do the same thing to a greater degree by using Mana Mastery. The weight limit seemed really high, but with his Strength stat as high as it was, he was pretty sure he could physically lift well over a ton.

Master Multitasker (Master) - Who said men can’t multitask?

Active Effect: You can split your concentration effortlessly and can juggle a vast number of tasks at once. With this skill, you can cast and maintain multiple spells or abilities simultaneously and perform complex tasks with minimal focus loss. Each task performed beyond the second has a small reduction in effectiveness, but your overall efficiency remains unaffected. Scales with Intelligence

This could have amazing synergy with his clone ability. Would he be able to take over multiple clone bodies at once while still fighting in his original body? This would be hard to beat.

Sound Sculptor (Expert) - Bending sound to your will!

Active Effect: Craft illusionary sounds to confuse and disorientate your enemies. With perfect recall, you can mimic any voice, ambient noise, or sound you’ve encountered. Mask your movements and impersonate allies and enemies alike. Sounds can be projected to specific locations within range, adding an extra layer of trickery to your illusions. Scales with Willpower

This ability would make messing with people a whole lot easier, and he did love to mess with people. It was a tough choice, but the Multitasking ability just made the most sense. The illusion was a very close second, but in the end, he could only choose one.

All in all, that was quite the haul. There were also notifications about various things being added to his Inventory, but after skimming through the list, he didn’t find anything of particular interest, apart from another glass-like container holding a few hundred iron coins.

He withdrew it from his Inventory and inspected it. Something itched at the back of his mind as if he had forgotten something. Perhaps his strength progressed to a level where he was able to break the box. He placed his hand on the box, ready to pry it open, but as he did, he felt a clink as his ring touched the box. Without any effort on his part, the lid opened. Confused, he stared at the ring.

Item - Ring of Elders

Simple in design but incredibly rare, this combination of advanced technology and magic is given to the elders of Ganehfrel and acts as a symbol of their power and authority.

This is a Ganehfelian artefact and can only be used by System users.

Effect: As well as its use for showing high status, it is also a powerful ward breaker and is able to open almost any lock, magical or mundane.

He smacked his hand against his forehead. How was it that he had an Intelligence stat over 100 but was still a complete idiot. The ring showed status and power and was used to break wards and open locks, of course, they would store money in containers that could only be opened by one of their elders.

On one hand, he was an idiot, but on the other hand, he could not access the insane amount of money he’d been carrying around. Forget rebuilding Viv’s shop, with the money he now had, he would be able to rebuild the entire town from scratch and still have plenty of coin left over!

Mason was ecstatic. He would go back to Sparksford, and… his excitement died a little at the prospect of facing Mayry, but he had promised Nays, Nina, and Viv he’d check in on them… In the chaos, he had forgotten, but a promise was a promise.

Usually, his teleportation ability was line of sight, but as he was on his own, he could use his upgraded version to go anywhere he’d been in the last three days. He opened his mini-map, took a deep breath, and selected the middle of town. It felt strange compared to his usual teleportation. For one thing, it wasn’t instantaneous. There was a rush of colours all around him, as if he was moving at insane speeds instead of moving from one place to another in a blink.

It only lasted a few seconds, but by the time he arrived, he felt nauseous and disorientated.

Looking around, he was impressed. There had been a bit of progress in rebuilding the town despite him only being gone a day and a half. The rubble was getting cleared away, and all the bodies that had littered the street were gone.

Now that he had a vague idea of where the gateway was, he couldn’t afford to stay longer. He needed to check in on Viv, Nina, Nays, and Mayry. Mayry was only last on his list because he was scared of what she would say to him. Viv was first because despite her being in the body of a little girl and him being increasingly powerful, she still scared him a fair bit.

He appeared in front of what used to be her shop and realised that, now that it had been destroyed, he had no idea where she was likely to be. He was stumped, but then he felt a small tapping on his back.

“You lying ass! You said you’d find me days ago! I’ve had to stay at the inn! And not the good one, mind you! The one with more bed bugs than there are people in this damn town! I have bites the size of coins!” The fact she was able to say all that without taking a breath was pretty impressive.

He held up his hands and took a step back from her and replied defensively, “I’m sorry! I was hunting down the people who did all this!”

“Oh, you were, were you? Well, that’s no excuse! Mayry’s dad died, and what, you ran off and left her on her own to play hero? That is no way to treat your…” She trailed off as Mason withdrew the small box of silver coins from his Inventory and tapped his ring on it to open it.

He really didn’t feel like being lectured, so he did the only thing he could think of to shut her up. “How much would it cost to rebuild your shop?”

Viv’s eyes bulged at the amount of coin he was holding. Her reaction was pretty funny and made him wonder what she would have done if he’d brought out the smaller box of gold coins instead, probably have a heart attack.

“Well, I’d have to get builders in from Trillil and restock all my supplies, and of course, I’d need somewhere to stay while they rebuild.” She shot him a look and added, “Somewhere without bedbugs, so maybe two silver?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. He still didn’t fully understand the value of money here, but he was relatively certain she was vastly exaggerating. “I’m sure the town will be bringing builders in from Trillil, so you won’t have to worry about that.”

In contrast to a few moments ago, she gave him her best puppy dog eyes until he sighed and handed her two silver coins. She wasn’t the little girl she appeared to be, but she was just as manipulative.

They spoke for a while about her plans for her new shop, and as soon as he could, he excused himself and teleported to the blacksmith’s shop, looking for Nina.

The moment he appeared, he had to dodge out of the way of a giant greatsword that had been swung in his direction. He summoned Nightsong but quickly put it away when he saw that it had been Geraint who attacked him.

“Ah, Mason. How goes it?” he said cheerily, as if he hadn’t just tried to decapitate him.

“Err, I’m all good, Geraint. How are things with you?” he said cautiously.

With a grin, he replied, “All good here; nasty business a few days ago, but sales have been going up, so can’t complain!”

It made sense that most people would be arming themselves after such a huge attack, not that it would have been much help against the attackers, but if it helped people sleep at night, then to each their own.

“Yeah, I’ve taken care of the ones responsible, and while I can’t promise there won’t be more to show up, I think Sparksford should be safe for a while at least. I just wanted to check in on you and Nina to see how you two were doing.”

“Well, we’re all good ’ere. Nina is out and about on another quest, though, but I’ll let her know you dropped by.”

Mason turned to leave, then stopped and withdrew a small pouch from his Inventory. He handed it to Geraint and said, “Could you give that to her? She helped me out with getting quite a valuable item, and that’s her share of its worth.”

At his nod, Mason left. That was Viv and Nina down, now to find Nays, and then finally, he’d have to man up and face his girlfriend.

Chapter 42

Goodbye for now

Nays was exactly where he expected her to be, manning her post at the reception of the inn she worked at. She was sitting in the same place she had been when he first met her. It was quite the awkward encounter, as she was the first elf he had ever met.

She was helping a customer, so he waited patiently, not wanting to get her in trouble. The moment she spotted him, her face brightened, and her face broke into a small smile.

The customer she had helped wandered off, and he took a step closer.

“Hello, sir. How can I help you?”

Smiling, he replied, “Well, I stayed here a while ago, and have to say, there was a particular receptionist who was very unhelpful… I don’t remember her name, though; Lays? Or possibly, Tays?”

She frowned seriously and said, “Oh, I’m very sorry to hear that, sir. We have been getting a lot of complaints about Tays. I’ll let management know about your complaint. It’s a shame, really, but you’ll be pleased to know I’m much more competent than she is.”

“Well, I should hope so.” He nodded solemnly. “Though it’s a bit awkward, seeing as she looked just like you.”

“Oh, no,” she gasped, placing a hand on her chest. “You aren’t saying that she and I look alike, are you? That’s the worst insult I’ve had all day.”

“Yep, it’s uncanny.” He chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say the two of you were twins!”

A smile tugged at her lips. “You’re so annoying.” Letting the joke die, she asked, “How are you doing? It’s been a few days since I last saw you. Is everything okay?”

His smile faded slightly. “No, but I’m managing. I just wanted to check in on you and see if you were alright after the other day.”

Nays’ smile softened. Her pointed ears twitched as she picked up on the change in his tone. She studied him with those vivid green eyes that seemed to catch and reflect every hint of light in the dimly lit inn lobby.

“I’m fine,” she replied, her voice quiet but sincere. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

His gaze flicked down, a shadow crossing his face. “I know I don’t have to, but you’re my friend. I’m going to worry anyway.”

At that, Nays’ expression shifted into something unreadable before she looked away, busying herself with a stack of papers on the desk. “I appreciate it. Really,” she said, her tone softening. “But I can handle myself. The question is… how are you handling things?”

“I’m alive,” he said with a half-smile in an attempt to lighten the mood. “That’s a start.”

“While I’m happy you’re alive, that isn’t usually the standard minimum most people aim for. You can always talk to me if you like?” She paused, quickly adding, “Though you don’t have to.”

He sighed deeply. “There’s just a lot of stuff going on. I’m probably going to be going away for a while. I don’t really know for how long, and I’m just… tired. Tired of the responsibility, tired of fighting, even though there is so much more of it to come. Tired of it all.”

“You sound like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders,” she said delicately.

To her surprise, he laughed—sudden and sharp. The unexpected sound made her cringe, her brow furrowed. Had she said the wrong thing?

He noticed her reaction and held up a hand, his tone apologetic. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I kind of am. I keep taking on more and more, and every time I do, I feel myself slipping away bit by bit, but when the alternative is people dying, it’s not like I have any choice.”

Nays opened her mouth a few times but closed it each time before saying anything.

Mason sighed; he felt guilty. He just randomly started trauma dumping on someone he didn’t really know all that well. Forcing a smile, he shrugged. “I’m fine. I think I’ve just had a rough couple of days. Anyway, I probably need to get going. I’ll come and see you If I—when I’m back in Sparksford.”

He was about to leave when he felt her hand on his arm. “Mason, you came here to check on me, and I’m grateful. But it goes both ways. If you’re my friend, I worry about you, too. I don’t really know what you’re out there doing, but you shouldn’t be trying to do it alone. You need rest.”

Now he felt even worse. Not that she was worrying about him. It was just… it wasn’t as if he could just stop a take a break from saving the world.

“I know. I think I’m pretty close to being finished with what I’m doing. As soon as it’s sorted, I’ll be able to relax a bit.”

She didn’t look convinced; she squeezed his arm and said, “Just promise me you won’t go and get yourself killed, okay?”

At her words, he couldn’t help but think about everything yet to come, everything he had yet to do. He needed to travel to the homeworld of the Others and save an iteration of the God of Chaos that they were somehow holding captive. He’d then have to escape the world with the iteration and just hope he knew how to keep the gods asleep.

If any of those things went wrong, he’d have to figure out instead how to kill literal gods so they don’t destroy this and many other worlds with their unending war.

“I’ll do my best,” he replied, struggling to keep the smile on his face from faltering.

* * *

Mason was worried about the rapidly approaching talk with Mayry. Was she going to still be mad at him for not being able to save her father? Would she break up with him? Would she refuse to talk to him at all? She had been the first girlfriend he’d had in a long time and the only one he’d had in this world. If she now hated him, what would happen to the weird demonic bond thing they had going on?

These thoughts, along with others, were the reason he’d been standing outside of Mayry’s house for the last twenty minutes. The entire time, he played and replayed scenarios in his mind of how their conversation would go.

Finally, after gathering his courage, he knocked on the door. It opened a few minutes later to reveal Mayry; she looked worse than he’d ever seen her. Her face was pale, her eyes red and puffy with dark circles.

“Hey,” Mason said, and all the things he had prepared to say left him as soon as he needed them. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Mayry, I⁠—”

Before he could finish what he was going to say, she pulled him into a hug. “Mason, I’m sorry. It wasn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

He could feel his shirt becoming wet from her tears as she cried against his chest. He hugged her back, and after a long moment, he followed her into her house.

They sat, and Mason caught her up on everything she missed. He gave her a quick rundown of his new abilities and an abbreviated story of how he found and killed the Others that had attacked Sparksford. As he talked about them, he noticed her grow more distant, so he moved on and told her about the location of the gateway to Ganehfrel and decided not to mention the quest he’d received to find other iterations and hunt them down too. He wasn’t planning on acting on the quest unless he conveniently ran into an iteration, so he didn’t think it worth mentioning.

“So, you know where the gate is?” she asked thoughtfully.

“I do. Apparently, it’s near the Mountains of Zrek?” he replied, not fully remembering what Shazia had said, nor did he have any idea how far away it was.

“You mean the Mountains of Zarek?” Luckily, Mayry knew what he meant. “Damn, Mason. That’s on the other side of the world.”

“Ah, really?” Now that he thought about it, Shazia had mentioned it was pretty far, but he was hoping that meant the next country over, not the opposite side of the world. “That’s… okay. It’ll probably take a while, but we’ll get there!” he said with a smile. “My new flying power gets pretty fast,” he added with a wink.

Her smile faded, replaced with reluctance. She avoided his eyes as she said with sorrow in her voice, “The thing is… I don’t think I can come with you right now… I want to. I really do. But Sparksford is a mess, and with my da—the mayor gone, there’s no one to manage the rebuilding. That alone is going to cost a fortune, a fortune the city just doesn’t have, and I⁠—”

“Don’t worry about the money,” Mason said as he pulled out the Ganehfrelian lockbox containing the small pile of gold. “I figured out that the ring we found under that old shack can open these things.” He tapped the top of the box, and the lid opened. He pushed it toward her. For the first time since her father had died, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes. For an instant, she no longer looked hopeless.

“Mason… I don’t think you understand how much money this is. This is an unbelievable amount.”

He just shook his head firmly. “Take whatever you need to rebuild. If you think spending the gold will be too difficult, then I have silver, too. You were with me when we found the boxes. It’s only fair that you get a cut.”

She stared at him, then pulled him into a tight hug. A few seconds passed, and she gently pushed him back, holding his arms. “Thank you, really. But you know this doesn’t change anything… I still can’t come with you. At least not right now. The town is my responsibility. I have to make sure the people are taken care of.”

Hearing the finality in her voice broke his heart, but he understood. The offer of money hadn’t been intended as a way to get her to come with him, but more of an honest attempt at helping her situation, though he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t hoped. “I know.”

There was a long, awkward silence. It was only broken when Mason stood. “I guess I’ll, um, see you when I get back…” Trying to hide the tears that were quickly forming in his eyes, he turned to leave.

He took a few steps away but stopped as he reached the door. A thought occurred to him. He could always just… stay, couldn’t he? For a while, at least, just until the town gets back on its feet?

The thought almost made him turn back, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew he couldn’t. If he allowed himself to stay now, he’d never be able to make himself leave, and there was too much at stake for him to neglect his responsibilities.

If he had to choose between Mayry and most anything else, he would choose Mayry.

Against leaving the fate of multiple worlds being destroyed up to chance? It wasn’t really his choice to make.

“Mason?”

He turned slightly.

“Please come back,” she whispered, her voice breaking at the last word.

“I will,” he promised.

With that, he left, not knowing that it would be a very long time before they saw each other again.

Chapter 43

Supersonic

He’d left Sparksford straight from Mayry’s house. He had been planning to stay a while and pick up some supplies, but with the town still in disrepair, he was doubtful he’d find anything useful.

Orienting himself using his map, he floated up into the air and started to fly in the general direction of the Mountains of Zarek. He would need to stop somewhere along to way to get better directions, though for now, all he had to go by when heading north.

His flying ability was quickly becoming one of his favourites. The longer he flew, the faster he got, and he zoned out for a while, just enjoying it and letting his mind wander. After several hours of this, a loud bang from behind him almost made him jump out of his skin. He craned his head to see behind him but saw nothing. A moment later, a notification appeared that explained the noise.

Achievement unlocked! Supersonic!

You have moved faster than the speed of sound and have broken the sound barrier.

Reward – Calm down. It isn’t a big deal. Now, if you were to go at the speed of light… that’s where the real rewards are; good luck with that. 2 free stat points.

It had been a long time since he’d gotten an achievement, and almost forgot how much of a dick his system was. He put one point into Perception and one into Intelligence.

The idea that he was going faster than sound was mind-blowing to him. He had no idea how fast that actually was, but he imagined it was pretty bloody fast. His system was obviously trying to make a joke, making him wonder if it would even be possible for him to ever reach the speed of light.

He remembered from science class that in air, sound was around 875,000 times slower than light, so while he was going fast, he was pretty much standing stock still compared to the speed of light.

Science wasn’t his strongest subject, but he knew his speed increases would be incremental or exponential.

If it were incremental and his speed increased by a fixed amount at a fixed rate, it would probably take weeks or even years of continuous flying to reach light speed.

However, if it were exponential and his speed increased by a certain percentage at a fixed rate, that would make the ability far more powerful and light speed theoretically possible. Whether his body would hold up or not under those sorts of speeds was a different story.

The way his flying power seemed to work was strange, as well as the flying aspect, it also seemed to protect him from most of the air resistance he should be facing. If that weren’t the case, his leisurely flight would undoubtedly be far less leisurely.

* * *

It didn’t take too long for the novelty of having a flying power to mostly wear off. After a while, his mind couldn’t help but start to wander off and think back to the last conversation he’d had with Mayry.

She had said, “Mason, please come back.”

At the moment, he thought she’d meant that she wanted him to come back safely at some point in the future, though now he was wondering if she meant that she wanted him to sit back down with her right there and then. He had been emotional and not thinking clearly. If she had asked him to come back, and he realised it, he knew for a certainty he would have stayed.

He really needed to suck it up if he was going to⁠—

A pulse of electricity jolted through him, knocking him from his thoughts. He was miles up in the air and flying at a ridiculous speed, what the heck could possibly be attacking him?

He craned his neck around but all he saw was a mass of light following him. Squinting he managed to make out a shape that he vaguely recognised. While he and Mayry had been fighting some trolls back in the area around Sparksford, Mason had used his Random Summons ability to summon a pygmy thunderbird. The thing now following him looked very similar, except there was nothing pygmy about it. The thing was huge, easily the size of an elephant.

The name thunderbird was slightly misleading, as thunder referred to the sound that lightning makes, and a bird made from just sound was ridiculous… Though in this world, probably not totally impossible.

He sent a few Magic Missiles flying in its direction, hoping to scare it off, but his aim was terrible, as looking directly at it was like staring at the sun.

He braced himself as another pulse of electricity surged toward him, forcing him to roll midair in a desperate attempt to dodge. The attack grazed his side, sending a shiver through his body and leaving his skin tingling.

“Okay, big bird,” he muttered under his breath, “time to go back to Sesame Street.”

Mason banked hard to the right, diving down toward a thick cluster of clouds. The thunderbird followed, a radiant streak of light cutting through the air like a comet. His mind raced. He needed a plan—preferably one that didn’t involve being fried to a crisp. He wanted to send a clone out to deal with it and tried to activate the ability, only for nothing to happen.

“Figures,” he sighed, shaking his head. It seemed he would have to land if he wanted full use of his abilities.

The thunderbird screeched, the sound sending sharp jolts through the air like a warning bell. Mason glanced over his shoulder; even with his ever-increasing speed, the bird was gaining on him fast. The glow of its body was overwhelming, illuminating the sky around it as if a shooting star was following him.

He dove through the clouds, their dense mist clinging to his skin as he tried to shake the thunderbird. He could feel the static crackling around him, the air charged with electricity.

He spun in the air, trying to get a good enough look at the thing in order to use his Identify skill.

Monster - Thunderbird - Level 80

Thunderbirds, like their pygmy cousins, are fast and pack a mean punch. Their ranged attacks are somewhat weak, but if one gets their talons on you, let’s just say it’ll be a shocking development.

They are known to hunt anything that enters their airspace. The only known way to deal with them is by disrupting their flight path enough to knock them from the air.

Mason’s heart pounded as he read the readout from his Identify skill. A level 80 monster was crazy. He needed to get away before it landed an actual attack.

There was a sharp pain in his shoulder, followed by all the muscles in his body starting to convulse. A glance at his HP bar revealed just how much damage the one hit had done. He was low. Lower than he’d been in a long time, barely a tenth of his HP remained. The talons let go of him, and he dropped towards the ground.

The massive bird dive bombed after him, eager not to lose its kill. Mason’s body felt like a ragdoll as he tumbled through the air, struggling to regain control of his descent. His vision blurred from the pain and the rush of wind, but he forced his racing mind to calm.

His health and Mana were lower than he’d like, but a semblance of an idea was forming. As he fell, he spread out his arms, stopping his spiralling, marginally slowing his fall and giving him a few extra seconds to consider if his plan was going to work or leave him splattered on the ground like a trodden-on tomato.

If the landscape was a sprawling forest with towering trees and soft grass, then maybe he could have timed his fall just right—the canopy might have broken his fall enough to survive. Of course, his luck being what it was, the only thing under him was an endless stretch of mountainous, rock-hard terrain.

The thunderbird was so close behind him that he could feel the electric charge building as it prepared another attack. The air crackled, and his body tingled.

As he got mere feet from the ground, he twisted in the air, angling his body sideways.

It was now or never. He squeezed his eyes shut and sent a massive portion of what was left of his Mana out in a single wave, sending him flying sideways. Instead of hitting the ground, he impacted a huge boulder and smashed it to bits with his body, leaving it looking how he felt. The massive bird attempted to pull up but couldn’t manage it in time and slammed into the ground at what looked like a million miles an hour, leaving its wings and head bent at angles that killed it instantly.

Still lying prone on the stone ground, Mason managed to mutter, “I guess the early bird doesn’t always catch the worm.” He coughed up some blood, then added, “Oh man, do I have a concussion? That was a truly awful one-liner.”

Status effect: Affliction – ‘Concussed’ has been added – Intelligence -50%

He scoffed, “Huh, well, that figures,” leading him into another coughing fit. For a while, he lay where he was, staring up at the sky.

He checked his HP bar again. After getting up close and personal with the boulder, he had been left with just a tiny sliver, but thanks to his regeneration, it was slowly chugging along back to full. Drinking a health potion got him back to full. He could have just waited for it to fill all the way, but he didn’t want to test his luck.

He stood up, stretched, and walked over to the thunderbird’s corpse. It was very obviously dead. Still, not wanting any nasty surprises from a creature vastly more powerful than him, he shot a low-powered Magic Missile at it and braced himself for any reaction. He could see its health bar was empty, but he had played enough games where the boss monster had two or even three revivals.

Once the death notification came through, he accepted that it was for sure dead.

You have slain - Monster - Thunderbird - Level 80

You have received 800 XP plus an additional 40% from Perk: Quarter Centurian.

You have received 1120 XP

He sincerely believed he deserved more than that for killing such a powerful creature, but such was life. Naturally, he looted the huge bird’s corpse and received a notification.

You have looted – Monster - Level 80 Thunderbird.

You have received:

12 Thunderbird Feathers.

Distilled Thunder Essence

3 Silver coins

The only thing that really caught his eye was the distilled thunder essence. He had never really looked into Alchemy further than his short chats with Viv, but from the word distilled, he assumed it was some sort of alchemical ingredient he could sell or, in a pinch, throw at an enemy. Using Identify on it confirmed his guess.

After a few minutes of rest, he went back to his long flight towards the Mountains of Zarek.

* * *

In the end, it took him three full days of flying to get close to his destination; it would have been a lot faster if it wasn’t for his multiple run-ins with various flying monsters. Including two other thunderbirds, a bunch of elementals, and a wyvern he had mistaken for a dragon and nearly shit himself.

By the time he was nearing the mountains, he was covered in several types of blood, was sweating like a pig, and most likely stank to high heaven. On the plus side, he managed to gain another two levels and was well on the way to another. He dumped the 6 free points he had into Perception. He was really looking forward to finding out how his invisibility ability could be further upgraded, and these final points were all he needed.

Your Perception stat has reached 100.

Your skill True Invisibility (Expert) has been upgraded to Intangibility (Master)

Intangibility (Master): Not even walls can impede your stealth.

Active Effect: While invisible, you are now able to shift your body to an astral state. Unable to interact with the physical world and it unable to affect you. Some forms of magic may still be able to affect you while in this state.

Activating his new skill, he experimentally tried pushing his hand through a wall. There was a cold sensation, and his hand moved right through it. With a little practice, this would be a complete gamer changer in battle. He would be able to phase in and out in order to avoid attacks while also making it almost impossible for enemies to avoid his own attacks.

Your Perception stat has reached 100.

Your skill Emotional Therapy (Expert) has been upgraded to Escalation (Master)

Escalation (Master): You hit me, I hit you harder.

Passive Effect: The longer you fight, the stronger you become. In any fight that lasts beyond two minutes, you will gain five randomly assigned stat points. If the fight continues for another two minutes, you will receive an additional six stat points. With every subsequent two-minute interval, the number of stat points gained increases by one, building up as long as the fight rages on. During this time, strong emotions will boost your Strength and Agility stats further. Once a fight ends, you will rapidly begin to lose any accumulated points unless you enter another fight. Scales with Perception.

This new upgrade sounded pretty good, but in reality, nowadays, most of his fights didn’t last more than two minutes anyway. It would be great when fighting a lot of opponents or if he happened upon any truly powerful monster, but he didn’t think he would get the chance to use the skill any time soon.

If he got to the point where he really was fighting gods, and if they didn’t immediately demolish him, maybe the skill would come in handy.

Your Perception stat has reached 100.

Your skill Innate Magic Sense (Expert) has been upgraded to One with Magic (Master)

One with Magic (Master): A unique relationship with the concept of magic.

Passive Effect: All things magical intuitively make a certain amount more sense to you, it is easier for you to learn learnable magic such as Alchemy, Runecraft, Rituals, etc. Without the need to activate your magic sense, your Master Multitasking ability will also help you merge your magical sense with your mundane ones.

He didn’t fully understand the ability, but it sounded like it had the potential to be amazing. If he ever had the time to try and learn a magical discipline, he was sure it would be a great help.

Chapter 44

Riverweep

Mason never thought that getting to the Mountains of Zarek would be the, relatively, easy part. It had taken far longer than he expected due to all the monsters he encountered, but now that he’d arrived, finding the Ganehfrelian stronghold was proving impossible. He’d spent most of the day scouting the area around the mountain stealthily, finding not a single sign of a stronghold.

There were a few different legends about a dragon that lived in the mountains. All boiled down to there being a huge, powerful dragon who guarded his horde of gold and anyone who dared come close was never seen again. There was a general consensus that the stories weren’t true and there wasn’t actually a dragon. Regardless, the nearest town was just over fifty miles away—Riverweep. It took him a while to find it, but once he did, he landed outside of town and approached.

Unlike Sparksford, this town had no guards at the gates. They were wide open with people coming and going almost constantly.

The town looked slightly bigger than Sparksford but far smaller than Trillil; those being his only points of reference, he was unsure as to whether it would still be considered a town at all.

After flying for days with only a few stops, Mason beelined for the nearest tavern he could find and sat down at the bar. A bard was playing an instrument he had never seen before. It had strings like a guitar, but instead of strumming, the bard slapped his hand against them, creating a melodious hum that reverberated around the room. He sang a song that Mason wasn’t too surprised to hear was about a dragon in the mountains. It wasn’t the first piece of music Mason had heard in this world, but for some reason, it left him completely unable to look away.

Oh, Zarek Strong and Zarek Bold,

Oh, Zarek, to whom lies were told.

She came and took of Zarek’s horde

She sang a song and struck a chord

He wept and wept and wept some more,

Cursed to weep forevermore.

Cry, cry, oh Zarek, cry.

Cry, cry, oh Zarek, cry.

Oh, ye dragon that lost his heart

Maya came and played her part.

Her voice so sweet, and tune so fair,

Awoke the pain he could not bear.

Cry, cry, oh Zarek, cry.

Cry, cry, oh Zarek, cry.

His treasure gleams but fills no void,

His love, his joy, long destroyed…

Mason was torn from his reverie by a man politely clearing his throat behind him. A short, stocky man who may have been a dwarf stood behind the bar, staring at him.

“Can I get you something, my friend?” the maybe dwarf asked.

“Sorry, I got distracted. Yes, I’ll take whatever you recommend; it’s been a long few days,” Mason replied.

“Not to worry. It’s always like that when Kael plays; he’s good at what he does and all, but it makes it difficult to—” He cut himself off as he noticed Mason’s focus was drifting back to the bard. “Cider it is then.” He grabbed a glass and started pouring.

Mason’s attention was so drawn to the bard playing, that he wondered if there was some sort of magic to it. There were bards in DND that could place magical effects on people with music. He focused and, using his newly upgraded One with Magic ability, he saw strings of magic emanating from the instrument and wrapping around the listeners. It wasn’t harmful, and most likely came from a Chaos ability as opposed to any sort of ritual or runic effect.

The song finished, and Mason turned back to the bar. “I’m sorry, did you say something—oh.” He saw a drink had already been set before him, the bartender across the room taking orders from another patron.

As far as he could remember from the story he read about Zarek, the dragon, he had caught a thief stealing from him. When he confronted her, she used some sort of magic to sing a song that had emotionally wounded the dragon so much, he was unable to stop crying. The song had been something about him losing his partner long ago.

The bartender walked back over, and, catching his eye, Mason tossed him an iron coin and asked, “Have you heard of any strange people around here lately? Maybe near the mountains?”

The bartender stared at the coin he snatched from the air and replied cheerfully, “No stranger than you, my friend.” He laughed at his own joke, then added, “We don’t see many people coming from the mountains. People around ’ere are mighty superstitious. The only person I know who likes it up there is our young bard over there, says it gives ’im inspiration, if you can believe that.”

“Would you mind introducing me to him?” Mason looked over at the bard, who was packing away his odd instrument into a case.

A deep chuckle rumbled from the bartender. “I wouldn’t mind at all—’cept I don’t even know yer name. Can’t ’ardly introduce ya without that.”

Mason found himself smiling at the strange man’s friendly manner. “Ah, of course, my name is Mason, and yours?”

“It’s good to meet ya, Mason. The name’s Horgoz, but everyone round ’ere just calls me Goz.” He reached out his hand, and Mason took it, surprised at his strong handshake. “Right then, gimme a moment; better be quick before he runs off again for who knows how long.”

Mason asked, “Does he do that a lot? Run off?”

“Every now and then, he does, but he always comes back when he gets hungry enough.”

Mason nodded and watched as Goz cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Ey, Kael! Got someone ’ere who wants to meet you!”

The bard looked up, his face full of glee. “Ah! Another fan of mine? Bring him over, please. I always have time for my fans.”

“Don’t think he’s a fan, Kael, ’is name’s Mason,” Goz shouted back.

Kael’s grin faltered briefly, changing to a curious smirk. He adjusted the strap of his instrument case over his shoulder and strolled over to the bar with a theatrical air, brushing his shaggy hair back with a flourish.

“Not a fan, eh?” Kael’s voice was smooth and tinged with humour. “Then I assume you’re either a critic or a lover of stories. Both are welcome, though one tends to pay better than the other.” He flashed Mason a grin. “How may I help you?”

Goz had wandered off to tend to other customers, so it was just the two of them.

Kael’s grin widened as Mason began, “Actually, I did very much enjoy your song, but⁠—”

“Ah, so you are a fan! I knew it!” Kael interrupted, already rummaging through his bag. “Of course, you can have my autograph. It would be my pleasure!”

Mason held up a hand, his tone firm but polite, “Actually, no. I’m not looking for an autograph.”

Kael froze, his hand still buried in the bag. Slowly, he looked up, his grin faltering. “Oh?” He straightened, his tone now curious, guarded. “Then what are you looking for?”

“I was just curious about what you get up to out at the Zarek Mountains. I’ve heard not a lot of people go up there.”

The change was immediate. Kael’s face stiffened, his easy charm slipping away like a mask. His eyes darted briefly toward the door, and though he tried to hide it, luckily for Mason, the man was a much better musician than he was an actor.

“The mountains?” he echoed, forcing a laugh that came out sounding hollow. “Oh, not much. Just a quiet place where I can think, play a few songs, maybe entertain a few mountain goats.” He flashed a quick smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

He turned abruptly, snapping the clasps on his bag. “Anyway, it’s been lovely meeting you, but I really must be off. Busy schedule, you know.”

Mason smiled back. “Of course. I understand. Just one more question: do people know you’re using magic to get their attention while you play?”

The man’s eyes went wide, his face pale, and he didn’t move a hair for a long minute before he wrenched around and hurried out the door.

“It was nice to meet you, too.”

Downing what remained of his drink, Mason gave it a few seconds before he excused himself to the restroom, where he created a clone of himself and sent it on its way to follow the suspicious bard.

The body of the original Mason exited the restroom, sat down, caught the eye of Horgoz, and ordered another drink and some food. It was quite nice having clones to do stuff for you.

“So, why is this place called Riverweep?”

* * *

While the original Mason was having a relaxing sit down and chat, his clone was busy stealthily following Kael. With his invisibility, teleportation, and enhanced senses, it wasn’t a difficult task, though it was a somewhat boring one.

He followed the man around as he went from shop to shop. After his encounter with Mason, his face retained a hint of anxiety and paranoia even as he shopped. The man purchased all sorts of stuff, and each time, he waved his hand over it, making it vanish. That in itself wasn’t overly suspicious. It was possible he had some sort of item that acted similarly to Mason’s Inventory. It was even possible the man possessed a second Chaos ability. Albeit uncommon, it wasn’t unheard of for people to have multiple abilities.

Mason’s suspicion of the man only grew when he picked up a truly large order of food and added it to his storage; enough food to literally feed an army. It was almost as if Kael was planning on spending the next year or two up the mountain. That, or he really was trying to feed an army.

Mason’s clone finally made his move after Kael emerged from yet another shop, having just added several barrels of water to his storage. Kael’s unease grew with every passing moment, his head snapping around at even the slightest of sounds. As he headed towards the way out of town, Mason appeared behind him without a sound, still invisible.

The skittish bard almost jumped out of his skin when Mason spoke, “That’s a lot of food you’ve got there, Kael. You must be real hungry to need all that.” His voice was steady and calm but somehow still came out harrowing.

Kael spun around, his hand instinctively moving into his pocket. Mason was faster, using his Mental Fuckery ability, pushing loyalty into the man. “Tell me the truth, Kael. Maybe I can help you.”

His eyes glazed over, and his resistance faltered. His shoulders sagged, and his face twisted with a mixture of shame and despair. “There are these people, up in the mountains, weird, weird people. They took my sister, Kayla,” he said, defeated, his voice only a notch above a whisper. “They said that if I did what they told me to do, they’d let her go and leave us alone.”

“And what is it they want you to do?” Mason asked, feeling slightly guilty himself about forcing this out of someone who was just being used by the Others.

“I’m just supposed to ferry supplies up to the mountains for them; they gave me this ring that holds stuff.”

Mason narrowed his eyes; that didn’t make sense. Mostly to himself, he asked, “Why would they need supplies from here? Why wouldn’t they just use the gate?”

Kael blinked in confusion, his brow furrowing. “What gate? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ignoring the man’s question, Mason said, “Okay, show me where you’ve been taking everything.”

Kael hesitated, panic flashing in his eyes, momentarily throwing off the effects of Mason’s manipulation. “I can’t… They told me not to tell anyone about them. If they see you with me, they’ll kill Kayla.”

Mason vanished.

Kael looked around wildly but could see no trace of him.

“It’s a good thing they won’t see me, then, isn’t it?”

* * *

The Goddess of Darkness is one of the biggest unknowns in my research. Again and again, whenever it seems something other than the most basic information concerning her is about to be referenced in a text, the subject quickly—and none too subtly—shifts to other matters, as if the darkness that is her namesake shrouds any mention of its mistress. Her absence is almost palpable. The lack of her being mentioned has revealed to me nearly as much as any direct reference might have.

It is fascinating how, in contrast, other gods are spoken of with such clarity and frequency. The God of Time, for instance, is chronicled in exhaustive detail. He is known to be detached and impartial, rarely intervening in mortal affairs or the business of other divinities. It is even known that he has been neutral in every conflict recorded. Even Trickery, for all his mischief, has countless tales told in his name—though often to warn rather than celebrate.

– Excerpt from The Truth About the Gods

Chapter 45

Long way up

The hike up the mountain was a long one. If he hadn’t needed to keep pace with Kael, Mason probably could have been there in a matter of minutes. Then again, without Kael, he didn’t know where he was going.

“You know, it would be a lot faster if I just teleport us or even fly?” Mason said nonchalantly.

Kael hesitated and replied, “Don’t you think it might be suspicious if I got there far sooner than they expected, not looking as tired and sweaty as I usually do? Trust me, I really hate this walk, but skipping it isn’t worth Kayla’s life.”

Mason understood, but since getting his teleportation ability and, more recently, his flying, he’d grown accustomed to getting around quicker. It felt like he hadn’t walked all the way somewhere in months.

“That makes sense.”

According to Kael, they were around halfway there, but as chatty as the bard had been when they first met, the man was now equally awkward, giving Mason only one or two-word answers. It was understandable, as he was worried about his sister, but Mason was growing bored.

“So,” Mason started, “with everything that’s going on, how come you still play at the tavern? The people there really seem to like you.”

“My sister and I were travelling musicians, coming from Fiera. Cutting through the mountain path was supposed to save us a few days of the journey. I was playing as we walked, and that’s when they came; they took her and threatened me. Since then, all I can think about is whether she’s okay. Playing at Horgoz’s tavern keeps me fed, but really, it’s the only thing that’s kept me sane. The people of Riverweep are good, and I feel like I’m betraying them. It’s the least I can do to bring a bit of joy to them.”

There was a long, awkward silence where they just walked. Mason had wanted him to say more than one word, but now he was the one who didn’t know what to say.

Mason stopped walking—something was off. There was a slight tremor in the ground. He turned to shout a warning at Kael, but to his surprise, the man had already opened his case and brought out his odd instrument, holding it at the ready.

The tremors were getting worse, building to a crescendo, when they suddenly stopped, and a worm the size of several semi-trucks erupted from the ground.

Mason barely had time to register the creature’s enormous, segmented body before it let out an ear-piercing shriek. Its mouth was a mass of concentric rings, each lined with rotating, razor-sharp teeth—some spinning clockwise, while others spun in the opposite direction, grinding together in a dizzying promise of impending doom

Kael didn’t flinch. His hands moved with practised precision, plucking and slapping his instrument in a flurry of motion that unleashed a cascade of sharp, resonant notes. The melody clashed violently with the monster’s shriek, a discordant explosion of sound that ricocheted off the mountains. The echoes folded back upon themselves, weaving into a chaotic symphony that, against all odds, sounded eerily beautiful.

The worm stopped moving. It lacked eyes but seemed to stare at Kael. Slowly, it swayed to the music filling the air before it very calmly lowered itself to the ground and lay still like the mountains surrounding it.

Mason looked to Kael in awe but saw strain and panic on his face. Between his aggressive playing, he shouted, “I can only do this for so long. If you have some way of dealing with that thing, I’d really appreciate it if you did it soon.” His voice was tight, strained under the pressure, and filled with urgency.

Mason studied the worm’s massive body, looking for any sign of weakness. His Hunter class ability, Evaluate, was supposed to highlight any vulnerabilities he could exploit in a monster. He rarely used it, preferring more detailed abilities like Identify, but this time, there was a faint glow that circled the monster’s body, shimmering between the ridges that segmented its thick, armoured hide.

Without hesitation, he broke into a sprint, pulling Nightsong from its sheath. A strange sense of glee thrummed through his fingers, an uncanny thrill that always came with a well-timed strike. As he ran, his eyes locked on the glowing weak spot, his heart pounding in sync with Kael’s frantic music.

With a single, powerful leap, he landed on the worm’s back, the force of the impact barely fazing the creature. He stabbed Nightsong into the soft glow beneath the ridges and, with a swift motion, dragged the blade through the monster’s flesh, carving a massive gash from head to tail. The blade sang as it tore through the armoured hide, a melody of destruction.

Through it all, the creature remained stock still, wholly transfixed by the haunting music Kael played. The monster’s segmented body barely shifted, as though it hadn’t even registered the massive wound being inflicted on it.

Once the cut ran the entire length of the worm’s body, Mason sprang off its back in a fluid motion, landing gracefully beside Kael, who was still playing with relentless intensity.

Mason had anticipated that the worm would try to attack them again in its last moments, but instead, it died. It was quiet and still, listening to the last thing it would ever hear. It was strangely sad.

“That was…” Mason started.

“Awful.”

“Incredible,” they both said at once.

Mason looked at him in shock. “Awful? Are you crazy? You stopped that thing in its tracks with just music! It was very impressive.” Mason’s respect for the bard was skyrocketing; he assumed the man’s ability with music was a one-trick wonder.

“This isn’t my first trip up here. I loathe to kill any beast, but given no choice, I do what I have to. I’ve come across these things before, but to be fair, they aren’t usually so big,” he explained, his voice completely empty of emotion.

Mason never thought such a skill would have any sort of combat utility. He couldn’t keep the stray thought from forming, wondering whether he’d get the man’s musical talent along with the ability if he were to use his Absorb ability on him, not that he would ever consider doing that…

* * *

“It’s just over there,” Kael said, pointing off into the distance.

After another few hours of their slow pace, where luckily they didn’t run into anything else, they made it to a spot that looked identical to the rest of the mountains they just hiked up.

“I… don’t see anything,” Mason replied.

Kael looked at him confused and pointed again. “It’s that huge, massive fortress-looking thing. It’s pretty hard to miss.”

Mason squinted in the direction he was pointing but still saw nothing. “All I see is more mountain.”

“Well okay… I’m gonna go make this drop and hopefully get my sister out. They did say this would be the last one, but who knows.” He looked sad, adding, “Wait here for me, and I’ll help you figure out how to see it once I’m back.”

As he walked off, the space around him distorted. At first, it was subtle, a sort of ripple in the air like looking at the space above a fire, then all at once, the illusion broke apart like glass being shattered. The mountains were replaced by a very out of place, futuristic-looking complex, complete with metal walls, electronic lighting, and a drawbridge. Powerful runes had been what was hiding the place, going off what his innate understanding of magic told him. They were very powerful but almost useless once broken. Glancing at his mini-map, despite breaking the illusion, the fortress still wasn’t showing up.

He was tempted to take a look straight away but didn’t want to cause Kael any problems while he was in there. He hadn’t completely trusted the man wouldn’t rat him out in order to score points with the Others to save his sister, but after he proved himself by lulling the monster to sleep, Mason thought the bard deserved some trust.

It was only twenty minutes later that Kael returned, walking right past where Mason stood invisible. “How did it go?”

Mason speaking startled him so much that he had his instrument almost out of his case by reflex. “Dammit, don’t do that!” the bard scolded. “It didn’t go great, as you can probably tell. They refused to let Kayla go, saying they would the next time I bring supplies.”

Mason was unsure as to whether he should say what he was about to say. “Kael… you know they’re probably never going to let her go, right? They’re just using it as a way to control you.”

Kael wouldn’t meet Mason’s eye. “I know, but what choice do I have? If there’s even a chance they’ll let her go, I have to try. I don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

*DING*

Quest Received! Rescue mission - Kayla

Quest Objective - The Others are holding Kael’s sister and are forcing him to work for them. Find her and get her out of there, preferably without her dying.

Reward - Isn’t the warm fuzzy feeling you get from doing a good deed enough? No? Fine… Reward dependent on performance.

Accept? Y/N

Just another thing to add to the growing list of things for him to do.

Mason placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Kael, I’ll be going in there soon. I’ll do what I can to find and save your sister.”

Kael’s eyes widened, a glint of hope in them for the first time. “Really! You’d do that? Why?”

Mason’s expression darkened slightly as he glanced away. “I have my reasons.”

Kael studied Mason; his brow furrowed in thought. Finally, he met Mason’s gaze and said sincerely, “Thank you.”

Mason nodded. “No problem.”

“But,” Kael added, his tone serious, “if you’re going in, don’t rush… There are a lot of guards, and they all seem really dangerous. I don’t care how powerful you are—if you go in head-on, there’s no way you’ll win. Just… something to think about.”

“Good to know. I think I’ll get a bit closer and do a good old-fashioned stakeout,” Mason said.

“What’s a stakeout?” Kael asked, confused.

Chapter 46

The Fortress

From the fortress’s metal walls to the use of electricity in the lighting and defences, none of it felt like it belonged in this world. Every building he had seen so far had been either wood, stone, or brick, and everything was powered by enchantments, runes, or some other type of magic. What he was looking at now could have come from some futuristic Earth.

With his level as high as it was, he was confident that he could use his invisibility without much risk of being caught. Even so, he still wanted to be cautious and keep his distance as he scouted out the Other’s main base of operations on this world. From what he found out from the journals he read and the few Others he’d questioned, he knew the base was guarded around the clock despite how well hidden it was. Half the guards were high-level system users, while the other half were highly trained soldiers specialised in fighting rogue system users. He hadn’t been able to find out much about them apart from the fact that they were very effective.

For the last two days, he had been hiding in his Trunk about a mile from the base, sending in invisible and intangible clones to explore and report back. Unfortunately, his mini-map wasn’t too helpful, as it insisted the fortress didn’t exist. Being able to remote pilot the clones was incredibly helpful in building his own mental map of the entire stronghold.

Approaching the fortress always felt odd to the clones. The initial defences were mostly subtle mental prods that made thoughts constantly pop into his head. The first time it happened, he’d returned panicking, thinking he’d left a baby alone at his house, after a few moments of trying to convince himself there never was any baby, the off feeling went away.

It was strange. He had been absolutely convinced that he needed to get back and couldn’t understand how he left the baby alone in the first place. With his Willpower stat so high, along with his skill Mental Resistance, he would have thought he’d be less susceptible to those sorts of attacks; apparently not.

Before sending a second clone, he had him down a Mind at Ease potion he bought from Viv a while back. The second clone faired far better. The potion, along with the knowledge of what to expect, made getting past the effect barely noticeable.

Once the clone got close enough, it easily snuck around the guards and through the main doors. Once through, the clone found itself in a courtyard, where the non-system user guards were stationed. They wore full body armour and night vision-esque goggles that made them look like they were part of a SWAT team. Mason was surprised to see they carried guns. Not ones he had ever seen on Earth. They were big bulky things that looked like they could shoot through solid steel without a problem. The clone went still as the guards seemed to be looking right at him.

Getting into a fight this early had not been part of the plan. The guard walked toward him, and Mason prepared the clone for a fight. He hadn’t given the scouting clones much power, but they weren’t exactly weak either.

He was about to unleash a volley of Magic Missiles only to hesitate. He needed to know for sure whether he had been seen. Luckily, his caution paid off; the guard walked right through him. It had been far too close for comfort. Raising the alarm this early on would make it next to impossible to get through the gate.

Now that he knew he couldn’t be seen, he continued his exploration and immediately found something suspicious. On the opposite side of the courtyard was a set of double doors. There was a distinct lack of guards patrolling near it, and no obvious defences. Its inconspicuousness almost made him pass over it, but something in the back of his head nudged him to take a look.

Imagine his surprise when he tried to step through the door only to walk smack bang into it, whacking his head in the process. Even completely intangible, something was stopping him. He could try to blast through the door, but it would draw a lot of attention, and he had no guarantee it wasn’t somehow protected from that as well. Making a mental note, he decided to come back later and investigate the strange door further.

Several searches and clones later, Mason concluded it was the only place that was inaccessible to him, and so he reckoned it was the most obvious place for the gate to be. Another oddity he noticed was that Kael’s sister, Kayla, was nowhere to be found. Which either meant she was already dead and gone, she was in the room he suspected held the gate, or she’d been taken somewhere else.

After a methodical use of his Identify skill on all the guards, he concluded that while he was by far more powerful than any of them, he was grossly outnumbered. Not counting any guards that might be in the room he couldn’t get into, at any one time, there were at least two dozen guards on patrol, with another two dozen more off-shift in the barracks.

There were now choices he needed to make.

Theoretically, it was possible that he could win in a full-on assault, but he wasn’t loving his chances, and the risk wasn’t worth it.

Another option was blasting down the doors he couldn’t get into and diving through the gate. The issue with this option was twofold: first, he had no guarantee the gate was in that room, and second, if the gate were there, Those on the other side would likely be on alert, assuming this site had a way of communicating with them.

The last option, and the one he was most leaning toward, was the stealth game approach. He could find a guard who was isolated and kill them and hide the body before anyone noticed. He would likely be caught eventually, but every guard he took out would be one less he had to worry about.

If he timed it perfectly, he could strike at the off-shift guards all at once without the on-duty guards realising until it came time for the shift change, and by then, this would hopefully already be over. If he managed to kill them all before going through the gate, he might even level up! Almost fifty sets of experience were bound to at least get him close! With what was to come, he was going to need every single point of experience he could get, especially since he was a fair way away from the level he needed to be to use the gate.

Sending clones wasn’t going to work for this. He needed to be at full power, just in case shit hit the fan. He was tempted to use his summoning ability, but if he used it and the summons was too loud or flashy, then he was going to be royally screwed before the fight even started. He was on his own.

* * *

Late at night, on the third day of his stakeout, he, as himself, made his way to the fortress. Without his power being divided between the clones, he barely felt the push in his mind to turn back and go home. Invisible and intangible, getting in was easy. The next part was where it could all go wrong.

The first step of his plan involved taking out the two dozen off-duty guards to eliminate the risk of reinforcements being called if he was discovered. To do this, he planned on slipping into the barracks and killing them in their sleep. Cold-blooded murder wasn’t something he was entirely comfortable with, but these were the same people who wiped out entire defenceless towns and villages just so they could increase their power. His doing the same to them felt fitting, if not entirely right.

After the attack on Sparksford, Viv, as a small act of revenge for her shop being destroyed, had made him several powerful alchemical concoctions. One of these was a potion that would, if inhaled consistently for a few minutes, slowly cause someone’s blood to turn to water. It happened slow enough that it had been useless to him up until now, but if he were to fill the barracks with it while the soldiers slept… He was hoping it would kill the lot of them without anyone noticing.

The old Mason of just a few months ago would have been appalled at this idea, but when weighing these people’s lives against the countless innocent lives that would be lost if he failed to stop the gods, it was something he was willing to do. If there was a heaven and hell surely that decision had already been made.

He stuck his head through the door and was relieved to see that all the guards were asleep. He had been worried that some may still be awake, drinking or doing something else that would make his task harder. He inspected the area and did a few things to make sure the room was as airtight as possible. He closed the window, shoved a rag under the door, and checked for any ventilation systems. As far as he could tell, the room was as ready as he could make it.

He opened the bottle and left, readying himself for a fight. He had no way of knowing what abilities these guards possessed, but he was hoping that suddenly having water for blood would be enough to kill anyone. Even still, he wanted to be ready to take out anyone who tried to escape as quietly as he could.

The last few days had been spent studying the guard’s shift schedule until he knew them by heart. So when, after only a few seconds of letting off the potion, two guards came walking toward the barracks, he started to panic.

The potion hadn’t had enough time to be effective. It gave off a slight smell, and the vapour was green and definitely noticeable. If the guard went in, his whole plan would be screwed, the whole fortress would be put on high alert, and he’d have to leg it. There was only one thing he could do: he would have to kill these guards somehow, silently and simultaneously. If he made any noise or one didn’t die immediately, the sleeping guards would wake up, and again, he’d been screwed.

With any normal human, this would be an easy task, but one of the guards was a system user, so he was far more difficult to kill and even more difficult to kill instantly. The other wasn’t a system user but was wearing heavy armour. If his Intangibility weren’t biologically restricted, it would just be a matter of reaching into their chests and pulling their hearts out. Unfortunately, his system was a little bitch.

Doing the first thing he could think of, he used Mental Fuckery and shoved as much loyalty into the system user’s mind as he could. As he had hoped, suddenly having a crapload of loyalty for a man you had never met made the guard lag behind the other guard.

Teleporting to right behind the non-lagging guard, Mason pushed an enchanted dagger into a small gap between his helmet and chest armour. The man spluttered and let out a gurgling gasp, and fell to the ground. The moment Mason received the kill notification, he pulled the man’s body into his Inventory.

* * *

Trearan knew he was almost definitely going to get in trouble, but honestly, he could not care less. If he had known this was going to be so dull, he would never have gotten his parents to send him to the academy. He had been so close to being chosen as one of the champions, but he screwed up, and now he was here.

He had a system, and that was something, despite what he had been forced to do to get it. He couldn’t stop reliving the moment his life had been ruined:

His classmates at the academy were eagerly awaiting to find out who would be chosen as the champions. He was so certain his name would be called… but no. He had been crushed so thoroughly, his dream was now impossible.

So, when the elder continued to speak, saying they still needed several people to travel to Trial World, and that those who were selected would be given a system and inducted into the ranks of the military, Trearan volunteered right away. The next thing he knew, he and the other volunteers were given weapons and stood in a group of hundreds.

A speaker sounded, telling them that as part of the vetting process, they needed to prove they could follow orders. They were instructed to kill each other and told that only the first twenty to reach level 15 would go to Trial World. And… he followed orders.

It passed in a blur. By the time it was done, he had developed a taste for it. He discovered he enjoyed the killing, the levelling, and the power it bought him.

When he was finally taken to Trial World, imagine his surprise when he found out that he would be a simple guard. Not only a guard but one that was guarding somewhere that was impossible to find, let alone attack!

He thought that maybe if he did the job and didn’t complain, he would impress his superiors and get promoted out of this hell hole. Yet no matter what he did, they never cared.

Trearan figured, why should he bother? He’d noticed that one of the Syst Ops guards often disappeared and came back smelling like dragon dust. He figured, what the hell, and asked him about it. Turns out he’s a pretty decent guy; they smoked together and lost track of time. If any of the officers noticed, he’d be flogged, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He figured it was a good sign that no one was waiting outside the barracks for them. They rushed for the door, eager to get to bed before they were noticed, when he was struck with an overwhelming sense that he would do absolutely anything for Mason. He would feed himself to a wyvern if he asked. He thought it odd that he had no idea who this Mason guy was, but he was certain he was the best.

He was ecstatic to see his idol appear and stab the system ops guy. He wasn’t sure why he had done it, but if he had done something to offend Mason, then he had no doubt deserved it! He couldn’t help but be in awe when Mason bent down and touched the corpse, and it disappeared. Wow, absolutely incredible. Was there nothing that man couldn’t do? He was so starstruck he didn’t even question it when he was told to step into what looked like a travelling Trunk. Once inside, Mason pulled out a dagger and pointed toward Trearan. Confused, he looked behind him. Who was there left to fight? It was just the two of them in here. After Mason stabbed him, he accepted it was probably for the best, and that Mason definitely had his reasons.

Chapter 47

Stealth Mission

He hated using Loyalty Mental Fuckery; it always made him feel like such a terrible person. Killing someone who was looking at you with nothing but loyalty and admiration was a very harrowing experience.

After taking care of the two latecomers, he waited around a few more minutes, counting the seconds, praying nothing else went wrong. A flood of kill notifications came through, and he allowed himself to breathe easy. He had single-handedly killed half of the fortress’s forces in one go. The other half was going to be a much bigger task, but at least now, if push came to shove and he had to fight the rest head-on, he thought he had a semi-decent chance of winning unless they somehow got back-up from wherever the gate led to.

He crept like a spectre through the hallways, searching for his next victim. In the ideal scenario, he would be able to pick them off one by one without anyone noticing. More likely, he would be able to take a few out before screwing up and having an alarm raised, then it would be him versus whoever was left.

With the amount of power he managed to gain and the calibre of monsters he was now used to fighting, he was pretty sure he would win. Though looking through the death notifications and seeing the abilities some of the soldiers had possessed made him realise he had no idea what he was walking into.

His Absorption ability triggered once the guards were dead; only half had been Chaos users, and out of those, only eight triggered. The abilities ranged from good to downright scary. A few were variations of ones he already possessed, like flight and teleportation. He chose not to Absorb those abilities, but three of the abilities’ options were new and would have been a pain to fight against.

Notification 1/4

You have absorbed the ability: Automatic Evasion.

Automatic Evasion (Expert) - Space itself moves to protect you

Active Effect: When activated, you have a 50% chance to dodge attacks that would otherwise hit you. Chance is decreased to 25% if damage would have been fatal. Scales with Agility.

Notification 2/4

You have absorbed the ability: Burrow.

Burrow (Expert) - Move through the dirt like you were born to do.

Active Effect: You gain the ability to move through natural substances like dirt, sand, or loose stone with ease. Scales with Strength.

Notification 3/4

You have absorbed the ability: Time Dilation.

Time Dilation (Master): To you, time is just another malleable substance that you can mould as you please.

Active Effect: When activated, everything around you, including you, slows. Your mind and thoughts remain unaffected, leaving you to essentially think at incredibly fast speeds.

Notification 4/4

Status effect: Affliction – Overpowered, has been added – all ability’s effectiveness is reduced by 75%. Remove 2 Abilities to remove Affliction.

Mason sighed. Again! He could increase the number of abilities he could take by spending essence, but he was hesitant to do so when he might need it to push himself to level 50. He could also replace one of the abilities he already had; this was his first instinct.

He had a water-breathing ability he had never used, but equally, had no idea what lay on the other side of the gate, and knowing his luck, Ganehfrel would end up being 90% water. There were uses for each of the abilities, but decided only to take Time Dilation.

If used properly, it would have the same effect as automatic evasion anyway. Burrow was great, but Intangibility already pretty much did the same thing. Time Dilation would allow him to think his way out of sticky situations, dodge attacks, and spend more time thinking about what to do next without actually wasting time.

He didn’t like giving up abilities, but he thought he was making the right choice. He removed Burrow and Automatic Evasion and immediately activated Time Dilation.

Everything felt strange; he couldn’t move, and nothing around him was moving, but more than that, he felt like something was missing. It took a long few moments to realise that, for the first time, he wasn’t feeling his heart beating. He wasn’t thinking any faster than usual, but compared to the world outside his mind, he was probably thinking at super speeds. He deactivated the ability. It was a bit disorientating. Once he got used to it, Time Dilation would be very useful in a fight.

It didn’t take long for him to stumble upon his first victim. With so many guards left, he was going to try to take them out one at a time. The first went down pretty easily. Invisible, he snuck up on the unsuspecting guard and, using his drake tooth dagger, cut his throat. A gurgled shout escaped him, which sent Mason into a panic. As soon as the guard was dead, he took the man’s body into his Inventory. It was just in time, as seconds later, two more guards came running to investigate the noise. They lingered and soon went back to their patrol.

Phew! That had been close—still, one down, twenty-four left to go.

He fell into a rhythm of following a pair or group of guards until one went off on their own. Quietly, and as quickly as possible, he would dispatch the guard and add their body to his Inventory. At first, it was pretty exciting, knowing he could be caught at any moment and have to fight for his life, but after he killed someone sitting on the toilet for the fifth time, things became more tedious.

Fifteen guards were left, and Mason was desperately trying to speed up his offensive; the shift change was soon, and he was pretty sure the guards were beginning to catch on that something was wrong. The guards didn’t talk much amongst themselves while they were on duty, but the few whispers he did manage to catch were of noticing someone failed to check in or swap routes like they were supposed to. Things were growing tense, but none of them were actively showing they believed something was wrong.

He was following a pair of guards when one of them stopped abruptly, bent down, and stared at his finger. “Is this blood?”

“Crap, crap, crap!” Mason muttered.

Taking no chances, he summoned a sharp rock from his Inventory and shot it at one of the guards with a Ballistic Control while he sprinted straight for them. The rock hit its target in the neck, but the other guard managed to let out a shout for help before Mason closed the distance. With Nightsong in one hand and his drake tooth dagger in the other, he took down the second guard before he could let out another call for help.

Mason received the kill notification for the two guards and was just about to add them to his Inventory and get rid of any evidence he’d been there, when three more guards turned the corner. They didn’t see him, as he was still invisible, but he’d been too slow, and they spotted the bodies as they disappeared.

The three looked at each other for a split second before one raised his hand toward where Mason had been. To his surprise, his invisibility failed, and he appeared standing there for the three of them to see.

“RAISE THE ALARM!” one of them shouted.

Two of the guards ran for Mason, while the other ran in the other direction at an extremely advanced pace, assumedly to some sort of alarm system.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Mason muttered.

The two guards were almost upon him when everything froze as he activated Time Dilation.

Okay, by his count, there were only thirteen guards left. He had no idea what would happen once the alarm was sounded. He still had options. His teleportation wasn’t instant; it took a second of concentration to use. He could teleport over to the guard going for the alarm, but that would risk the two guards in front of him getting in a lucky hit. The same thing was true about using his Mana constructs. Too risky. His other option was to kill the first two guards as fast as he could, then go after the final speedster guard.

Agh, it was his own fault. He’d gotten sloppy. If he’d just gotten rid of that tiny bit of blood, he’d still be in the clear. Thirteen left out of twenty-five wasn’t too bad if he was being honest, but thirteen vs the one of him wasn’t going to be fun. He just hoped that no new guards were summoned from the other side of the gate.

The most he could do now was try and even out the numbers.

Time Dilation was an intriguing ability. It allowed him to study his attackers for as long as he liked.

Two guards, one to his right, one to his left. Both were system users, and also held swords. The one on the left’s sword had a slight green glow to it; he got the sense that being hit with it would be very bad for his health. He couldn’t tell anything about what abilities the guard on the right may have except for his apparent ability to disable invisibility. Mason came up with a plan and disable Time Dilation.

His plan went right out the window, having forgotten to factor in the disorientation that came with disabling the ability. Still, he managed to duck under the green sword and step away from the other guard who had thrust a dagger at his chest.

Nightsong swung but was blocked by the green blade. Another dagger was thrust at his side. He let go of Nightsong with one hand and resummoned his own dagger to block the strike. He was pretty shocked when a third arm sprouted from the sword-wielding guard’s back and thrust a long dagger into his back.

Now hurt, Mason pushed the two guards back with a wave of Mana. With a yelp, he pulled the dagger out of his back and used Ballistic Control to shoot it back to its owner. Now he was pissed. The ballistic dagger didn’t manage to land but did serve as a distraction. Mason teleported behind the two guards and landed a finishing strike into the back of the sword wielder.

A glance at the speedster confirmed he was moments away from a runic pattern on the far wall that was almost definitely some sort of alarm system.

A quick pulse of Fear Mental Fuckery was enough to distract the dagger-wielding guard long enough that he could end him.

He turned to the final guard. He had reached the runic pattern and his hand was raised over it. He looked at Mason, and Mason stared back at him. He tried another pulse of Mental Fuckery with Loyalty instead of Fear, but he was out of range.

They were at a stalemate.

The guard knew if he raised the alarm, there would be nothing to stop Mason from killing him. At the same time, if Mason made to attack the guard, he would raise the alarm, and that would be very bad for him. A minute passed with neither of them making a move.

Mason needed to do something soon. It was only a matter of time before other guards came, and that would not be good. Including the guard, he could see there were eleven left. He was relatively confident he could kill this one before anyone else showed up if the alarm were raised. That would make ten guards. Not the odds he was hoping for, but ones he could live with, hopefully.

He teleported to the guard and shoved Nightsong into his stomach. As he expected, the guard had just enough time to place his palm on the runes, activating them.

Chapter 48

Massacre

The moment the guard raised the alarm, runes started to glow on every wall within the complex. What his One with Magic told him about the runes was not good. Every ability he had with active effects stopped working, leaving him with his increased stats, One with Magic, Identify, Multitasker, and Escalation. Even his Inventory wasn’t functioning.

Within moments, all the guards he failed to kill stealthily were on him.

With ten guards inching closer and him being unable to use most of his abilities, he felt the odds slide out of his favour.

His One with Magic told him that of the ten guards, only six were system users. It didn’t give specifics on what exactly their powers were, but it did give a general idea.

The guards whose faces he could see all looked confused; he heard one shout to another, “Where the fuck is everyone else?”

Mason didn’t stick around long enough to hear the reply. He fled down the halls of the fortress he’d been exploring for the last few days, his mind racing. He was faster than any of them and was soon far enough away that he could stop and think things over.

He considered trying to escape, but the runes on the walls made it clear it would not be as simple as leaving through the front door. He would need to fight, and while his abilities were currently sealed, he was not helpless.

He still had Nightsong in the sheathe at his waist and his fighting experience. He needed to be smart about how he fought, especially since he could tell that several of the system user guards had long-range abilities. He heard the guards getting closer and, on a whim, he slashed Nightsong through the wall right where one of the glowing runes was. The blade cut through the metal wall but stopped when it reached the rune.

“Was worth a shot,” he muttered to himself.

Quick footsteps approached as the fastest of the guards turned a corner and saw Mason. Big mistake, leaving his fellows. Mason grinned at him and sprinted as fast as he could to the man.

Mason was already within arm’s reach when the guard raised his hand and unleashed a spear that looked as if it were forged from molten lava. Mason dodged, narrowly avoiding the projectile, but the searing heat brushed his face as it shot past. He wasn’t so lucky the second time.

Another spear hurtled toward him, its glowing tip aimed low. He moved to sidestep, but it was too fast. The fiery weapon slammed into his thigh, and an explosion of pain surged through him. The acrid stench of burnt flesh filled the air as Mason cried out, staggering and clutching his leg.

Through the haze of agony, he gritted his teeth and lashed out with Nightsong. The blade sliced cleanly, and the guard’s head toppled to the ground, rolling to a stop as its body crumpled.

The worst pain Mason had ever felt burned through his mind, threatening to overwhelm him. Only his Multitasker ability, working overtime, managed to keep him sharp enough to notice the sound of footsteps and shouting guards closing in. It pulled him back to the present danger pressing in from all sides.

He gripped the spear in both hands and pulled as hard as he could. The spear seared his hands, but his Resilience stat was high enough that they didn’t immediately melt. He let out an intense scream of agony as the spear came out. He collapsed and let his regeneration heal him.

Four more guards, drawn by his scream, surrounded his body. Mason felt a sharp pain in his side as one of the guards jabbed at him with his sword. “Who the hells are you! How did you get in here?”

Mason stayed silent as he felt his wound close. The memory of the pain still filled his mind, but physically, he was now mostly healed.

From the ground, Mason used his considerable strength and pushed against the floor, sending himself launching upward in a fluid, explosive motion. As he did, he lashed out with Nightsong, aiming a wide, desperate arc at the guards.

For a moment, it looked as though the blade would miss its target, but just in the nick of time, Nightsong hummed, the dark blade shimmered, and its length stretched unnaturally mid-swing as if sensing his intent. The edge slashed through two of the guards before they could react, leaving behind searing black marks where the blade touched them.

The men staggered back, clutching their wounds. Their flesh blackened and rotted with an eerie, rapid decay that spread like a plague of animated darkness. One dropped to his knees, a gurgling scream escaping his lips, while the other stumbled backward, his weapon clattering to the stone as his arm shrivelled and withered before his eyes.

Mason landed in a crouch, his gaze snapping to the two remaining guards, who hesitated, their confidence faltering as they glanced at their comrades’ grotesque injuries. They shared a look and turned to leave, but at that moment, the remaining five guards turned the corner. It was now seven guards vs one of him. Four system users and three of the burly guards holding guns. The two who had been about to make a break for it turned back, their confidence reignited by the reinforcements.

A thick wall of shimmering blue energy appeared in front of the guards, blocking Mason from advancing on them. Another popped up behind him, blocking him in.

Heart pounding and his mind racing, he searched for an escape or strategy that could turn the situation in his favour. The blue energy walls crackled faintly, and his One with Magic flared, telling him these barriers were not so easily broken. He doubted even his enhanced strength would be enough to break through. He needed to think quickly.

Mason adjusted his grip on Nightsong, the dark blade vibrating almost in anticipation. He was grateful to have the blade; it was the only weapon he held on his person as it refused to be added to his Inventory. He’d been surprised to see the blade reveal a sliver of its potential earlier, stretching and rotting his enemies’ flesh. Though it really shouldn’t have surprised him. After all, the weapon was a divine relic that once belonged to a god. He had no idea what its limits were, but if there were ever a time to find out, it’d be now.

“Cornered like a rat,” one of the system users sneered, stepping forward. His voice carried an arrogance that grated on Mason’s nerves.

Another added, “Surrender, and maybe we’ll make this quick. After we have a nice, long talk with you, of course.”

Mason didn’t respond. He focused, his Multitasker ability allowing him to process their positions, the movements of their weapons, and an inkling of the sort of powers their systems granted them. He noted the guards with guns spreading out, while the system users were clearly readying their abilities. Two of them were getting ready to use ranged abilities, another was charging some sort of melee attack, and the last… There! A forcefield ability!

Adjusting his stance, his eyes darted between the guards. His Multitasker ability was sending his brain into overdrive as he tracked each and every one of their movements. Two of the four gunmen were positioning themselves on either side of the system users. One of the system user’s hands ignited in sickly-looking blue and purple flames, while another conjured a swirling vortex of green mist in his palms. The melee user crouched low, his fists glowing red as energy gathered around them, while the forcefield user stood at the back, a slight look of concentration on his face.

The forcefield user was the key. Mason could feel it in his gut. As long as the barriers were up, the odds were firmly against him. He had a hunch, one that might just get him out of this alive, but it needed to be timed perfectly.

Not yet. Mason’s muscles tensed, Nightsong humming faintly in his grip.

Not yet. The gunmen shifted their aim, tracking him as he subtly shifted his weight. Mason could hear the faint click of safety switches disengaging, their fingers tightening on triggers.

Not yet.

The melee user let out a roar, surging forward, his fists glowing with crackling energy as he prepared to slam them into the ground.

The forcefield user’s posture shifted slightly.

NOW!

The forcefield user dropped the barrier in front of Mason, but before any of them could unleash their attacks, Mason made his move. With a sharp exhale, he twisted his body and hurled Nightsong with every bit of strength he could muster.

The divine blade flew true, slicing through the air like a dark comet, its edge shimmering with a black glow. The forcefield user’s eyes widened in shock, his concentration faltering as he registered the incoming threat. He panicked and tried to re-raise the wall of energy, reacting too late.

Nightsong struck its target, piercing the forcefield user in the dead centre of his head, killing him instantly. Now that he was dead, the remaining barrier behind Mason also blinked out, leaving the rest of the guards exposed. Guns fired rapidly, but Mason didn’t waste a second.

With his enhanced speed, he lunged toward the closest system user—the one wielding the purple flames. She unleashed her attack, but Mason just ran through the fire, tanking the damage. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it. A loud crack echoed through the halls, followed by a scream of agony that was sharply cut off as Mason put his arm through her chest, spun her around, and used her as a shield to absorb the green mist the other system-using guard was sending his way.

The mist acted like acid and was eating away at the dead fire user’s body. He panicked slightly as the mist ate through the body enough to reach his fingers and threw what was left of the body at the guard who’d been charging up his fist attack, forcing him to expend the energy he’d built up.

He backed away from the acid-like mist and pulled Nightsong from the forcefield user’s head. He had the mist user and the first guy left to deal with, along with the four guards with guns who had been trying to hit him with shots while he danced around, killing off their comrades.

Mason had taken a few bullets and pushed through the pain, wanting to deal with the system users first. He loathed to try the same trick again, but the acid mist was creeping closer. Using his magic sense to pinpoint where the acid user was, he flung Nightsong through the mist, hoping the blade’s divine nature would protect it from taking any damage. Once again, the blade hit, but it only struck the man’s thigh. Still, the lapse of concentration caused the mist to begin dissipating.

The melee fighter recovered, leaping toward Mason with a roar, but Mason ducked under the blow, the energy-laden fists slamming into the ground where he had been moments before. The shockwave rippled outward, throwing dust and debris into the air. Mason countered with a sharp kick to the man’s knee, sending him sprawling.

The mist user grabbed the blade in his leg and tried to pull it out, but the moment his hands touched the hilt, he started to convulse. Black lines spread from his wound up to his face, and his eyes turned black and began to burn in his head. He fell to the ground, unmoving.

For a second, there was silence as the guns stopped firing. The remaining guards watched in horror as the cursed sword turned one of their number into a burnt pile of embers. The stench made Mason gag. Wasting no time, he stomped on the head of the melee user, killing him.

Now that all the system users were dead, he felt the use of his abilities return to him. He was confused as to why he suddenly got them back, but his One with Magic provided him with the most likely explanation. The runes apparently drew power from those that were keyed into them, which also explained why his abilities had been disabled but the guards’ abilities had not.

Killing the armed guards was hardly worth the effort after the intense few seconds the previous fight had been. He turned himself intangible and allowed their bullets to move right through him.

Slowly, he walked over to them and took down the first using Nightsong. Seeing that their attacks weren’t having any effect, the few who remained attempted to run. He teleported to each of them and swiftly put them down, one after another.

Chapter 49

One Damn Point

With everyone else on the base dead, he teleported to the door that he expected held the gate. Without much effort, he blasted through the thick metal with a rush of concentrated Mana and finally came face to face with what he had been searching for.

He hadn’t been expecting to find something he recognised.

It was far bigger, actually, stretching between two sci-fi-looking metal pillars covered in runes. The actual gate itself looked almost identical to the crack that appeared whenever he used his Random Summons ability.

It was possible that the gate was initially made with a similar ability and then kept active through the use of technology. Alternatively, it was possible that travel between worlds always looked like this.

He supposed it didn’t matter; the familiarity had just caught him off guard.

He walked over to the gate to examine it more closely. As soon as he was within a few feet, a notification popped up.

This gate is only accessible to system users with a level of 50 or higher. Your current level is 49. Your experience is 199,999/200,000. The estimated number of experience points needed to access the gate is 1.

Un-freaking-believable. He stared at the notification, his jaw clenching as he held back the urge to scream. Of course, this would happen. Of course, after all the battles, the blood spilt, and the endless grind, he’d be stuck just one single point away.

Mason just stood there, staring at the swirling energy of the gate, feeling equal parts annoyance and exhaustion. He thought back to his first day in this world, back when he killed a giant mosquito and been rewarded with exactly one experience point. He would never have believed that one day, he’d find himself wishing for another mosquito.

But there were no mosquitoes here. No enemies, no threats—nothing left for him to kill. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and let it out in one go. “Okay. No point in just standing around.”

Rather than risking his own life by going out to find something to kill, he created a clone, giving it only the bare minimum stats, wanting to keep as much power as he could in his original body just in case. Taking manual control over the clone, he opened up his map and used his teleportation ability to appear miles away. He’d killed everything in the fortress, and due to its warding, nothing alive tended to get close, so he needed to make sure he was far out enough in order to find something to kill.

He appeared in the middle of a forest and began his search. All he needed was a single point of experience, and he was good to go. Unfortunately, after some searching, the task was proving aggravatingly difficult.

It was grating on him that after spending weeks going from one encounter to another, fighting monster after monster, he was now unable to find a single thing.

The forest stretched endlessly, its towering trees casting long shadows that painted the ground in shifting patterns. He considered attacking them before dismissing the idea—unless the trees were sentient, they probably wouldn’t give any experience.

The clone moved through the forest, scanning the underbrush and treetops for even the slightest sign of life. Birds? Silent. Insects? Strangely absent. The eerie stillness gnawed at him.

“Seriously?” he muttered through the clone, his frustration spilling into the humid air. “Not even a squirrel?” This had to be some sort of trick; his luck was notoriously bad, but this was ridiculous.

He followed the path and came to a clearing. In the centre of the clearing, a small white fox sat.

There was no way that this wasn’t some sort of trap or trick. He’d been searching for a good twenty minutes and had found not a trace of life, and now, out of nowhere, a random fox appeared.

“Nope, not today.” He took one final look at the fox and turned away. He’d find something else, something less… incredibly suspicious.

Walking back the way he came, he was only half surprised when he came across the same clearing with the same white fox only moments later.

“I don’t really have the time for this,” he called out to the fox. He felt a little silly talking to an animal, but he’d seen weirder things than a talking fox.

He received no reply, so he shouted, “Okay, bye then, I guess.” He was just about to let his clone body dissipate when he heard a small voice.

“Fine, fine, you got me,” the voice said, sounding frustrated. “You could have just played along.” The voice was sing-songy and light. “Damn boring humans.”

Looking at where the fox had been, Mason instead saw a small man dressed all in green. Despite his urgency and his need to get back to the fortress, he couldn’t help but gape at the being in front of him. “Are you a leprechaun?”

Popping out of existence and reappearing, floating in front of Mason’s face, the creature said, “What? No, you dumbass.”

Mason turned away, but the floating man moved effortlessly to stay in front of him.

“I’m a God, plain and simple.”

“Another one? For a bunch of beings that are supposedly asleep, you guys do like popping up when I least expect it.”

The apparent god laughed. “Asleep we may be. But soon, that won’t be the case.”

“Alright, alright, you’re speaking in haiku, I get it. Can we just not do this right now? It’s really annoying.”

“Look,” the god said, “if you’re going to be a boring little shit, then I can just leave and keep the divine gift I was going to give you.”

The little man was very annoying, but if he really was a god, there was no telling how much he could learn from just talking to him. He also wasn’t going to say no to a divine gift. “Okay, fine. Please, go on.”

The god, a little green man, nodded at Mason and smiled. “You are planning to leave this world for the other world, are you not?”

Mason nodded.

“And you are going there to save the iteration of Chaos?”

Nodding again, he was wondering where this was going.

“Well, I have come with a warning, a simple one, but one which is crucial that you heed. Once you find the iteration, you must get the information you need before you try and rescue it. Once you have the information, you must either kill or absorb it; otherwise, once it’s free, it will do everything it can to try and absorb all the Chaos inside of you.”

Mason took a moment to consider. The iteration he was meant to save was known for being one of the most powerful, which meant he must have absorbed many other iterations. If Mason were to absorb him it would likely mean a massive power boost.

Except, one thing was bothering him.

“Why are you helping me? First Order, and now you? Why would you want to help me strengthen the curse that keeps you asleep?”

“Ah, Order has been to see you? Now that is interesting… As for why I’m helping you? Well, I am Trickery, the God of pranks, tricks, and lies. I can’t imagine a better trick to pull on the rest of the gods—” He fell to his back and started laughing, still managing to speak without difficulty, “than to wait for them all to think their slumber is finally ending just for them to all fall back to sleep.” He fell into another fit of hysterical laughter, rolling back and forth on the ground.

The logic wasn’t great, but Mason also didn’t know much about the way the gods operated. They all acted in accordance with whatever their domain was, so Trickery helping Mason kind of made sense, but how could he know the god wasn’t also tricking him?

Mason looked up, and the god who had moments ago been literally rolling on the ground laughing was now inches from his face. It took a lot of his considerable willpower not to flinch back.

“So?” Trickery asked. “Feel like killing another iteration of Chaos for me?”

“Another?”

“Oh, I know what you did to the mayor—alright, fine, maybe you didn’t actually kill him, but you definitely sped him along to death’s door, didn’tcha.”

The accusation threw him off. “I’ll, err, think about it.”

“Good enough for meee,” the god sang. He yawned dramatically. “I’ll be off back to sleep.”

“What about my divine gift?” Mason demanded.

“Oh… you believed that? I’m the god of trickery, lies, and pranks. Come on, dude.”

In a puff of smoke, the god vanished. In his place, was the same snow-white fox from before.

Sighing, Mason shot a Mana bolt at it, killing it instantly. The god was a dick but at least he left Mason the experience he needed.

Notification 1/2

You have slain – Beast – Level 1 Dire Fox

You have received 10 XP.

Level up!

Notification 2/2

You have reached level 50

Stat points allocated.

Level 50! He’d finally made it. Despite himself, he grinned. Compared to where he had started, he was an unstoppable powerhouse.

His grin faltered. Compared to some of the beings he’d encountered, he was still just that weak, naked man he had been when he’d just woken up. Even without counting the gods, the dragon, Envoy, would leave him as a steaming pile of goo if they ever fought, and there were bound to be things even stronger.

He would have thought making it to level 50 would be a reason to celebrate. Instead, it just made how far he had left to go all the more obvious.

The talk with the god had really freaked him out. He hoped his encounter with Order had been a one-off, but now, with Trickery showing up, it scared him. He had been lucky the two gods he’d met so far only wanted to talk. How long would it be before he was visited by one that had just erased him from existence?

How long did he realistically have to gain enough power that he could fight an actual god, let alone multiple gods! It was a daunting prospect, but at least right now, the path was clear. Go through the gate without being caught, somehow find the captive iteration, and convince him to tell Mason what he needed to know.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a clear path, but it was a path.

* * *

Now… what to do?

He could stick to the original plan, walk through the gate, try to pass himself off as an Other, and hope this base hadn’t been able to get a message to the other side, or he could go through John Wick style, guns blazing, and kill everyone before they had the chance to call in their big bad elders he kept hearing so much about.

He had lost track of how many Others he had killed in the last few hours. His HP was low, and so was his Mana. In an ideal world, he would take a break, have a shower and a snack, before he continued his one-man mission to slaughter every Other he came across.

This, unfortunately, was not an ideal world. He needed to decide what he was going to do and do it fast before someone decided to check in, realises what happened, and sends over reinforcements.

A combination of his two options might work if he took a Mana potion and sent a clone through disguised as an Other. He would follow while invisible and try to get out of there while the clone acted as a distraction.

Explaining away why he looked like Carrie on prom night, covered head to toe in blood, was going to be more difficult. He wished Mayry was there to hose him down. He had a metric shit ton of water in his Inventory, but her abilities came with heat control and water pressure that was to die for.

He sighed. Thinking of Mayry right before diving headfirst into a portal to another world where an unknown number of enemies were waiting might not be the best idea.

Still… he hadn’t liked the way they left things. He hoped she didn’t blame him for what happened, even if he still blamed himself.

A sudden jerk of his arm snapped him out of his thoughts. He stared down at it in confusion. What the heck had that been? He checked his character sheet and saw no lingering afflictions or anything out of the ordinary.

His eyes fell on one of his rings. It was one he rarely used anymore, his danger sense ring. It had been weeks since it last activated; he was starting to think it had run out of power. His eyes widened. Was it possible that the ring hadn’t activated in so long because as he got stronger, there was less and less that actually put him in genuine danger?

Activating Intangibility and teleporting to the opposite side of the room, he wondered what could be so dangerous that it could trigger such a reaction from the ring.

The answer soon came as an old man stepped out of the giant crack in reality. To look at, the man didn’t seem to be anything special. Less than five feet in height and thin as a rake, with wrinkled, leathery skin and a back that hunched enough that it made his seem even shorter, the man did not look to be a threat in any way.

He took a step closer, trying to get a better look, but froze as the man’s head slowly turned and looked in his direction. He was invisible; the man should not have been able to see him, but there he was, staring.

Eyes widening, he flicked his glance down, thinking that maybe his invisibility had somehow been nullified. His eyes flicked back up, and he flinched. The old man who had been on the opposite side of the room now stood less than a foot away, leaning forward so his head was inches from his own.

Mason instinctively tried to teleport but found he was unable to move or access his Mana.

Every second the man remained close to him, he felt every fibre of his being scream at him to flee, but try as he might, he couldn’t move a single muscle. The man’s cracked, dry lips opened ever so slightly, and with a sound that resembled the creaking of an old house, he whispered one word.

“Sleep.”

Fight. Level. Survive. continues in Book Three!

* * *

Make sure to join our Discord

(https://discord.gg/5RccXhNgGb)

so you never miss a release!

Thank you for reading Fight. Level. Survive. 2

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. We just wanted to take a moment to encourage you to review the book. Follow this link: Fight. Level. Survive. - Book Two to be directed to the book’s Amazon product page to leave your review.

Every review helps further the author’s reach and, ultimately, helps them continue writing fantastic books for us all to enjoy.

* * *

ALSO IN SERIES:

Fight. Level. Survive.

Book One

Book Two

Book Three

* * *

Want to discuss our books with other readers and even the authors?

JOIN THE AETHON DISCORD!

You can also join our non-spam mailing list by visiting www.subscribepage.com/AethonReadersGroup and never miss out on future releases. You'll also receive three full books completely Free as our thanks to you.

Don’t forget to follow us on socials to never miss a new release!

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website

Looking for more great books?

A terrible accident. A new fantasy World. A complex Magic System to master. The life of a bio-weapons designer Vladislav Kerenski ends with a bang... ...Only to be reborn in a realm of gods and monsters. Escaping from the Ocean of the Dead and soulbound to his twin sister, Vladislav begins to unravel alife-altering magical System using his knowledge of the scientific method, computational mathematics, biochemistry and virology. Don't miss this new Progression Fantasy Litrpg featuring a rational MC, giant monsters, wholesome moments, a detailed magic system, slow-build progression, and tons more!

GET TECHNOMAGICA NOW!

* * *

An action-packed new isekai LitRPG Adventure from Ryan Rimmel, bestselling author of Noobtown. A new world. A kingdom in peril. A sword of untold power. When Yorick moves into his grandfather's house and discovers a mysterious, magical sword, he opens a portal into a fantasy realm known as Exigen. Talk about being thrown into the deep end. If he wants to survive, he must battle monsters, level up, and learn to avoid vicious tentacle monsters. With the fate of the Kingdom at stake, only Yorick and his enchanted sword can save the princess and thwart the forces of evil. Join the adventure of a lifetime in this new fact-paced, laugh-filled isekai LitRPG Adventure from Ryan Rimmel, bestselling author of Noobtown.

GET SWORD OF JUSTICE NOW!

* * *

Survive a hellish forest. Master a rare class. Conquer the System. When Mira’s home is destroyed by gods, she makes two requests to the System that sends her to another world: to be sent to an isolated forest where she can avoid the violent path to godhood, and to gain magic that helps her live and thrive in the forest. She is granted both, though in the harshest way possible. The System strands her in a dangerous forest where half the plants are poisonous, the rivers teem with souls, and even the smallest beasts lay waste to experienced adventurers. To survive such perilous conditions, she uses her modern knowledge of botany and chemistry to create clever traps and weapons, all while learning powerful magic and combat skills alongside her fiercely loyal cat. Nobody believes she stands a chance. But in a world where the system rewards those who overcome dangerous challenges, the forest is a gold mine. And while most people would give up, Mira realizes something that surprises her... She enjoys it. Experience the start of this unique spin on Apocalyptic LitRPG Adventures. Botanists who choose to get teleported into dangerous jungles are very rare and if Mira can survive, she may just become indispensible to the System itself.

GET WRAITHWOOD BOTANIST NOW!

* * *

For all our LitRPG books, visit our website.

Groups

Don’t forget to join LitRPG Addicts and come hang out with me!

I’m also very active and thankful for Redditserials, LitRPG Books, GameLit Society, Western Cultivation Stories (Xianxia and Wuxia, etc), Cultivation novels, LitRPG & GameLit Readers, and LitRPG Books Group!

LitRPG

To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.