Demonic Magician

After taking my potion, Quinn healed up relatively well. His ego might need a little more time, but after getting back to his feet, he had decided to sit on a withdrawn chair and give us space to work our magic. Or at least, kill a few handfuls of Monsters.

A process we performed with little flair, just doing the bare and most efficient things necessary to drop the Wildfolk to the ground. I’d feel slightly amused at us being less dramatic now that we had an audience, but the voice in the back of my mind held a grudge with the overtly annoying man.

Couldn’t kill him, though.

Eventually, we mopped up the last required System-created for the System to labor us with experience and Chance Boxes. I rolled my shoulders out, already aching from the prospect of having to open them all. Didn’t even want to look at how many I had accumulated.

The STAR on my wrist began to glow a radiant gold. We had reached level ten, only a couple of days behind where we should be. While the pragmatic part of me considered that killing these Monsters again and again could be a safe way to get another level or two over the next day, it was actually exhausting just to think about. I needed some variety just as much as Wolf’s diet did.

[Level Up - 10]

[Stats Increased]

[Class Upgrade: ]

I ran my eyes over the words, about to bring up the details, right before I was interrupted by Ren. Stepping up to me, she put her hand on my chest where my heart would be.

“Is this part of your Oathwarden upgrade, or…?” I raised an eyebrow, trying to determine whether the warmth I felt was natural or not.

Her expression didn’t change, but she tilted her head to the side. “You’ll never know.” Without allowing me even a glimpse of a smirk, she then removed her hand and stepped away.

All things going well, I probably would know in due course. Her Oathwarden ability had kept me alive at least twice… maybe more… in the past. No doubt if she had added functionality to it, I’d find out what in the most painful way. Ah, now I’d put it out into the world.

Back to my own screens, I brought up the detailed information.

[] [Damage bonus per Dazzle icon increased. Defenses also increased per icon.]

The exact numbers weren't exactly groundbreaking, but an overall damage increase was certainly nice. Now I would also receive a minor boost to my defenses, which would be nice for not getting my skull caved in mid-combat.

“What’s up next?” Ren asked, lowering her hat to obscure her eyes.

While the weather had been rather pleasant, hours of combat had us overheating - especially in the clothing we chose to wear. We had earned ourselves a proper rest even though there was so much to do.

I rubbed my chin. “I’m not eager to go fight the Shadows right after meeting the bare minimum of this area. If we could find some Quests… get to twelve at least?” See what other kind of bullshit the System could give us, maybe work on a few more tricks together.

“Alright.” She brought up her STAR menus to look at the Map. “I think we’ve earned a rest, but I’m not too sure how I feel about going back to the camp.”

That was the elephant in the field. In the end, and much to my amusement, I decided that we shouldn’t live in the shadows. Like the bad guys. Much unlike the showman’s stage.

“Let’s bring them the body. Tell them what happened.” I looked over at Quinn, who still hadn’t gotten the courage to come back up to talk with us. “Better to have tentative allies than ill-informed enemies.”

She nodded. “And if they don’t take our side?”

I smirked. “You know the answer to that.”

Another nod, this one briefer.

Wolf was stretched out on his back, almost like he was sunbathing. A wide grin spread across his face as his tongue hung out. “I can eat goat-man then.”

“You content enough with your upgrades, Wolf?” I changed the subject while we were certainly close enough for Quinn to overhear the bear’s overzealous desire to consume the campers we were about to go meet.

“I am now a bear plus.” He rolled over back to his paws and shook himself out.

He was mostly clean of gore now, and I realized that there was probably no issue for him to clean his clothing using the System button. Although that usually did Cosmetic outfits. Maybe it saw his fur as his worn clothing? I wondered if I were naked, would I be able to use that option to clean myself, rather than bathe?

“A lot on your mind, trickster?” Ren was a few feet away, but had clearly seen my mind was running away from our current focus.

“Just thinking of myself naked. Shall we go talk to Quinn?” I turned away from the bear and gestured towards the seated annoyance.

She didn’t reply, and took a second before she joined me in walking over. Perhaps busy with something in her System menus.

Idly, I brought out a coin into my hand. Flicked it up into the air and held my hand out to catch it, but it went straight through my palm to fall amongst the grass. Just a matter of looting it as it struck me, whilst dropping a new one located on the underside of my hand at the same time. Through practice, the positioning and timing of my Inventory swapping had become almost flawless.

Something I took pride in, even as much as it would be handy to kill things from great range like Ren. Or heal injury like Ren. A broken mix of abilities in her own regard, she helped us function as a trio - with the unopposed strength and hardiness of Wolf. Sometimes I felt like the third wheel, even knowing how effective I was at dealing damage from near or far.

Quinn held his head low as we approached. If he had truly feared us, he would have run away like a rat. The fact that he had stayed put either meant he had a lick of honesty in him, or he thought he still had a chance with Ren. Just kill him now, the other me said - who was just me, now. One day, I’d take responsibility for my own thoughts. Right after the other me did.

“Sorry about your nose. I don’t really know how duels are supposed to work.” I shrugged and avoided the rolling eyes of the elf at me for starting with an apology.

“It is not often I am humbled in such short order,” he spoke toward his lap still. “To be struck down in a single blow brings me great shame.”

I exhaled through my nose. “I wouldn’t worry about it. A tree almost killed me.”

“And a horse,” Wolf added from behind.

Ren perhaps wanted to add to that list, but with the two obvious accidents pointed out, she had to scrape through her memories to find something else to dredge up. My heart had stopped the first time she gave me a full smile, but that was neither here nor there. Definitely not here.

“The point is,” I continued, before she grabbed hold of something, “life here is fleeting, and you drew up against someone who has killed dozens of people. You didn’t know what you were getting into, and knowledge is strength in this world.”

He nodded slowly and then looked up at me. His single eye filled with a sadness that I didn’t think was possible. Or appropriate. “For you to be so wise, and also show me leniency over my transgressions.”

“There’s no need to oversell it.” Ren crossed her arms. “I assume you are waiting around for something other than a round two?”

Unable to meet her gaze, he shook his head. “I am still in your debt. My intention was to offer my services as a guide for your leveling process.”

I raised my eyebrow. “After you had won over Ren by besting me? That seems shortsighted.” How he could expect anything but animosity from me should he have won was beyond me. In fact, if he had won, he would probably be dead by one of our hands, if not my own.

“I am a fool.” He returned to groveling. “A simple man unable to learn from his mistakes.”

We waited in silence. There was clearly some backstory he was about to labor us with, and as little patience as I had, I felt bad for him. Able to resist the call of the Crimson Shadows, yet still flawed and willing to court death. For what? To try to woo a beautiful woman in a way that was antiquated by… well, it seemed more like fiction, from where I stood.

“The portal… I found it when trying to escape from the local Baron and his men.” Quinn looked off to the side. “They sought to kill me, or worse.”

“For womanizing the wrong woman?” Ren’s expression was rather dim.

"Something like that." He nodded and lowered his gaze. “Alas, my heart seems to take me to dangerous places.”

“Not sure that’s your heart making decisions.” The elf murmured under her breath.

I turned to see Wolf looking bored out of his mind. Perhaps trying to decide whether he had the time to nap, or if we were going to give up and allow him to eat the sorry sap. The problem with Quinn was that he was too easy to read - it made me want to trust him. He’d had the chance to do something more dire than challenge me to a fair duel, but hadn’t. Then apologized profusely.

Ultimately, the decision was Ren’s. It was her safety and comfort I cared about, more than having to fight off any potential betrayal.

My eyes narrowed toward him. “What manner of skills do you possess? Class and Level?”

“I am an Arcane Fencer, level fourteen. Most of my skills are around quick sword strikes and evasive magic.”

For all the good that specialization did him. “We’re not going to make a decision right away. Allow us to talk in private back at the camp, and we will let you know then.” I raised an eyebrow at Ren and she nodded her agreement.

Someone who could point us in the direction of useful Quests to complete, or knew of an efficient route to travel to level quicker would be worth their weight in gold. Not that we had much use of that as of late. If his plans took us too far north of the main road, then we could assume something was up and not take him up on that danger.

The fact that I had humbled a man five levels higher than me using solely the front of my head didn’t really surprise me. We were a few steps higher up the ladder than most, for a variety of reasons. Neither did it work for my ego much. A protracted battle where I emerged the victor would have tasted sweeter, but I didn’t want it to turn into anything palatable. There was an ugliness to our adventure that I had accepted.

We had seen it in the eyes of the first group of normal Players. Reviled almost as much as the Crimson Shadow, I didn’t expect thanks. The first area was now working as expected, and the warmth that gave my heart kept the furnace burning. Kept us striving forward.

I turned to the elf and gestured for us to start moving. The pair of us went over to Rolo’s corpse and somehow shuffled most of it into one of the sheets. There was quite a mess I had made, but you could make out the hand-print on what was left of his head, kind of. Wolf didn’t seem too pleased with being a wagon for the dead body, perhaps because he had no interest in eating the demon.

“I’m still surprised about Rolo,” Quinn said from a good fifteen feet away, clearly not too keen on being any closer to the corpse. “He had a lot of sway with Fiona and the others.”

My brow furrowed. “How do you know?”

“Just the… impression that I had. When recovering.” He idly played with the grip of his sheathed sword.

I wasn’t sure how much I liked that. There was a timeline I had to get straight in my head to avoid slitting his throat right now. My right eye twitched as my internal warmth cooled and sank away. The gears in my head clicked around slowly, so that I could start building the questions that might save his life.

Level fourteen, so he would have been in the area at least a week, by approximation. Longer if he was solo… was he solo? And if so, why? Nobody at the camp seemed to recognize him, or knew he had been taken by the underground marketeers. In the… handful of days the Lady had ruined this area, what had he been doing?

“You usually adventure solo, Quinn?” The first chamber had been loaded. A game of roulette was a terrible decision for a man that didn’t gamble. Except when it came to my own life.

“I hardly adventure at all lately, if I’m honest.” He shrugged and looked sheepishly off out toward the horizon. “I had a Party. Two of us died trying to do a Quest we weren’t prepared for. We kind of… split up after that. Haven’t seen the other two since before all this Crimson Shadow business. Then I was kidnapped, of course.”

All reasonably believable.

“What have you been doing instead of adventuring?” Ren asked, securing the last knot of the sling.

“Hiding, mostly.” He didn’t meet our eyes. “A great shame for one so filled with bravado and passion for the open world. But I was a little lost after everything that happened. Found a System-created house with an attic, barricaded it and kept to myself.” His hand went up to rub at his eye-patch. “They grabbed me when I was out looking for food.”

I exchanged a glance with Ren, and she shrugged. As much as I was in little hurry to have what little trust I had to give out broken, the story seemed to make enough sense for my hand to stop tensing around the hidden card by my side. Ren and Wolf could see that I had been holding it, and their poker faces were commendable. Considering my questionable grasp of sanity on occasion, it was surprising how easily they were complicit with my decision making.

“Let’s get going then,” I smiled as I dusted off my empty hands. “Time to test how critical our reception truly is.”