Chapter Twenty Five – A Gift of Gear

“I still don’t get the big deal,” Akwa piped up a few cycles after my interview. We’d gotten comfortable at the inn with orders for food placed. I was never going to turn down food. All of it was so good!

I was glad they’d finally logged back in, but Akwa had immediately started trying to ‘fix’ my attitude towards my Kin.

“It wasn’t like Bugbear. That raptor meant nothing to you, so why get so upset over it?” she asked before I could even start telling them about Tyrone and Vera.

I glared at her behind my glass of some sort of magical substance they’d all called orange juice. It tasted divine and made it difficult to maintain a proper level of indignance.

Akwa chuckled at my impotent attempt at menace, her deep voice making the table vibrate. Fortunately, I was saved from answering by the sharp side of Bellcandy’s tongue.

“You’re so insensitive! Try to see it from Gell’s perspective! To her, killing that raptor was kind of like killing her own family! Or like a mannequin in the shape of a family member at least. She knows in her head that there’s nothing there but the heart doesn’t care about that!”

I blinked and looked at Bellcandy, shocked. That… yeah. That was almost exactly how I felt. I smiled at him, and he beamed at me. Bellcandy really was the epitome of what a healer should be. I resolved then and there to try and help him with whatever was wrong between him and Dull Beauty if I could.

“But she doesn’t have a heart. No offense, Gell,” Akwa said, turning to me.

I wasn’t sure she was right about that. I supposed I didn’t have a soul, but I’d felt my heart pump when my adrenaline was high. She was right, though. I certainly didn’t have a heart as a Jellyfae. I’d seen my jelly innards strewn out on the floor of Dungeon home enough times to be pretty sure of that. But…

“Just because I’m not human, doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. I do. Lots of them. As many as any of you do,” I said softly, looking Akwa straight in the eyes.

She grimaced, a guilty expression on her features. “I… alright. I’m sorry, Gell. It’s just… I don’t think anyone expected the first real artificial intelligence ever made would be so… human.”

Human. You had to be human to have a soul. If I was human-like did I have a kind of soul?

“Now you’re just being insulting,” I said with a giggle to show that there was no heat behind my words. My freckles lit up a playful yellow and the girl grinned back at me. “I am artificially intelligent. Much better than humanly intelligent!”

“Oh ha, ha!”

I grinned and turned back to my orange juice, my eyes fluttering in delight at the unusual taste.

I liked Akwa. I liked her quite a lot. I was becoming more and more certain that she and Bellcandy might be some of the friends Amy had told me I should try to find. I was glad we’d exchanged pieces of our names.

Still, I wasn’t ready to ask them to go hunting for Bugbear with me again. Besides, I thought I’d come up with a better way to search for him. In retrospect, it seemed so obvious.

I could fly. I could also make myself invisible.

I didn’t need a party to search for Bugbear. What I needed was to do so alone. Those two factors didn’t make me completely invulnerable. I knew some animals searched by smell and some had ranged attacks but the two abilities of my Jellyfae form drastically lowered the danger. When that raptor attacked, I had been perfectly safe in the air. My kin could be level 1000 for all the good it would do them if they couldn’t reach me or see me!

“So, what are you doing today, Gell?” Akwa asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Talking to you guys!” I said happily. “I missed you!”

She grimaced. “Ah… damn. Well that’s awkward. I’m sorry Gell but I was thinking of logging off? I hope you’re not offended but, It’s been a while since I’ve spent any time in our world and I really need to get something to eat,” she said, apologetically.

I raised an eyebrow, staring at the distasteful looking apple pie as if to say ‘there’s food right there!’ She just laughed. I smiled with her.

I didn’t need her to explain for once. Human bodies in their world aged. It stood to reason that they needed food and drink from their world as well. It just seemed so frustrating to have to keep up two bodies at once. It made me at least a little thankful that I only had the one world to live in.

“What about you, Bellcandy? Are you going to go try to find Dull Beauty and make better friendship with her?” I asked.

Bellcandy blushed furiously, his tiny cheeks going as pink as I’d ever seen them. Akwa burst into giggles.

“What?” I asked, uncertain once again. “What did I say?”

“How about you Gell?” Bellcandy asked without answering. “What have you been up to while we’ve been offline? I saw the way you were eyeing that junior developer guy.”

“Oh yeah! I wanted to tell you guys about that! Tyrone showed me pictures! The Empire State Building was so pretty! It's too bad it collapsed… But what monuments have you been to? Have you been to Mount Rushmore? The Great Wall of China?”

Akwa laughed, amused by my excitement, while Bellcandy frowned as if he hadn’t got the reaction he’d expected. Was I supposed to be embarrassed about my other friends?

“I’ve been jack-diddly, that’s where,” Akwa said, and actually sounded a bit disgruntled about it.

“Jack-Diddly? What’s that? Is it a statue or a building? Ohhh, is it a bridge?”

“It’s nowhere, silly,” she said with another laugh. “Traveling is expensive and if you don’t have money you can’t really go anywhere. That’s not entirely true though. I have seen the Alamo.”

“The Alamo? What’s that?”

“I don’t remember,” she said with a shrug before snickering.

I quirked an eyebrow at her, confused.

“Sorry. That was a bad joke. So, is this the plan for today? Grilling me about monuments in our world?” she asked, taking a seat and gesturing for me to do the same.

“For as long as I can keep you here, I guess!” I replied. “Sorry. I know you’ve got other things to do, but you’re my only friends online right now.”

I slumped a little in my seat, thinking of my two first human friends.

“Gell?” Akwa asked, picking up on my mood shift. “Something wrong?”

“Yeah. I did have a more serious question to ask,” I said, meeting her eyes. “I have some other friends. I don’t think you’ve met them yet. Their names are Iron and Amy, and they’ve been gone from Tread the Sky for a really long time.”

It had been almost thirty cycles by my count. More than two of the days humans used.

“You’re worried about them?” Akwa asked, worriedly.

“Yeah. I’ve sent them messages but when they aren’t logged in, sending them messages is kind of like shouting at an empty room,” I said, thinking of the fake room Francis had put me in when I’d first discovered the truth about what I was.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Akwa said worriedly.

“Is there anything you could do? Could you maybe add them to your friends list in your world and send them a message?” I asked, hopefully.

She hesitated. “It doesn’t really work like that. Well, it kind of does, but they have different contact information. Do you know their com-code? Maybe their phone number?

“Phone number? What’s a phone?” I asked.

“It’s… nevermind,” Akwa said. “Basically, there isn’t a way to find your friends in my world without knowing their contact information. Their real names-!”

“Oh! Oh I know Iron’s real name! It’s Derek! Yeah. Amy used it like magic to get him to stop talking and I thought it was a magic word I could use to get other people to stop talking but apparently it doesn’t work like that!” I said, beaming.

“...would help but even that wouldn’t guarantee I could find them,” Akwa finished lamely.

“Oh,” I said morosely as her words caught up to me. “Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do but wait until they log back in. Thanks anyway.”

“Do you know their last names?” she asked. “If you’ve got that then there’s a chance I could find them. There are eleven billion people in the world though. That’s a lot of Dereks.”

My eyes widened in shock. “Eleven billion?”

She winced, looking vaguely uncomfortable for some reason. “Uhm. Yeah. It’s actually a pretty big problem in our world. We don’t like to talk about it much. Do you know Derek’s last name?”

I frowned, my mind still reeling at the sheer number of humans in their world.

“Sorry,” I said absently. “They’ve never told me.”

“Well, I hope they’re okay. I’m gonna log. I’ll see you guys later okay?” Akwa said, nodding to Bellcandy and myself as she did.

“Yeah. I’m getting off too,” Bellcandy said sympathetically, hopping off the table as he did. “I hope Amy and Iron are okay. They’re sweet folks. But they seemed really attached to you, Gell. I doubt they’d stay away if it wasn’t for something important.”

“That just makes me worry more!” I said, feeling a strange lump in my throat like I’d done something wrong. “Thank you though. I’m… sure they’re alright.”

We all stood and walked towards the exit of the adventurer’s guild for some reason. I wasn’t sure why. They could leave this world from right there in their chairs if they wanted to, but it felt natural to be going somewhere when my friends were leaving.

Again.

“Hey, Gell,” Akwa said awkwardly. “I’m not sure if I told you but my alternate character is a Rogue.”

My eyes brightened. “Oh, that makes sense. I thought it was really weird when you tried to do a flip over that raptor in heavy body armor. It looked pretty silly. Did you develop an instinct to dodge like that?”

She blushed lightly then scowled. Bellcandy laughed as he lifted in the air to log-off.

“Anyway,” Akwa drawled, glaring at Bellcandy good-naturedly. “I have some lower level rogue stuff for you. It was just collecting dust in my inventory so I figured maybe you’d want it?”

“Rogue stuff? Like what!?” I asked excitedly.

“Just, some things to make you more dexterous or stealthy. I’m particularly fond of the cloak,” she said. The trade menu appeared, indicating Akwa was initiating a trade. Then items started appearing.

“Even-Shroud Cloak of the Hawk”

Unique Cloak

Armor Class: Light Armor

+108 Armor

+27 Dexterity

+19 Strength

+7 Vitality

+10% Theft Chance

+10% Critical Hit Chance

+20% Critical Hit Damage

The effectiveness of stealth is doubled.

Durability: 67/67

Requirements:

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 45

Level: 14

“Oh wow!” I said, just noticing the first one. More and more items kept appearing in the menu though. Two rings, a necklace, a hood, a pair of wrist guards, and a pair of pants and boots to go with it all.

“Luna Ring of Deft Hands”

Unique Ring

+30 Dexterity

+10% Movement Speed

+10% Theft Chance

Requirements:

Level: 12

“Eigen Daigen”

Unique Amulet

+25 Intelligence

+10 Elemental Resist

Physical Damage Reduced by 15.

Elemental Damage Reduced by 15.

+10% Movement Speed

+10% Theft Chance

Requirements:

Level 15

“Hanged Man’s Hood”

Unique Cowl

Armor Class: Light Armor

+55 Armor

+17 Dexterity

+19 Strength

-7 Wisdom

You take double damage from slashing weapons.

If you would take physical damage, your attacker takes double the damage dealt.

Requirements:

Level: 12

Dexterity: 35

Wisdom: Cannot be higher than 80.

“Wristguards of the Bear”

Rare Gloves

Armor Class: Light Armor

+32 Armor

10% Increased Attack Speed

+25 Vitality

Requirements:

Level: 12

Dexterity: 44

“Leeches Breeches”

“Who says hard coins are the only thing one can steal? The true thief takes life as easily as the contents of a pocket.”

Unique Pants

Armor Class: Light Armor

+60 Armor

+20 Dexterity

+20 Vitality

+20 Charisma

40 Life Stolen on Hit

+10% Theft Chance

Requirements:

Level: 15

Dexterity: 65

Wisdom: 15

Strength: 10

Durability: 40/40

“Good Soil”

“The boots of the Dark Smith. An unintended consequence of his suicide, the clothes he wore were imbued with the properties of Rose and Thorn.”

Unique Boots

Armor Class: Light Armor

+25 Dexterity

+10% Movement Speed

Additional Bonuses when equipped with Rose or Thorn.

+30 Life Stolen on Hit

+30 Mana Stolen on Hit

2% Chance to Automatically Steal on Hit

Requirements:

Level: 15

Indestructible

“There’s… also this,” Akwa said nervously. Instead of putting it in the trade menu, she held it out. A glowing orange orb. I recognized it immediately. I’d seen one almost every time Red Thorn had killed me in the depths of Dungeon Home. They were what she’d been farming me for.

“A sovereign class Dexterity Crystal,” I said softly, eyeing her. “H-how did you get this?”

She shrugged with feigned nonchalance. Something was making her nervous but she was trying to hide it. “Found it on my alt, like I said. But my Dexterity is already pretty high. I figured you might be able to use it more than me.”

“I…” I gulped, almost afraid of the thing. If any of these adventurers knew that I dropped these when I died, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to leave Variak safely again. The more Dexterity I had, the better.

“Take it, Gell,” she said insistently, placing the crystal in my hand. “You deserve it. If I can help you be a better thief then that’s less fighting you have to do. I want to help.”

“You’re just giving me all of this stuff? I… Akwa I can’t afford even one of these items!”

She smiled. “That’s why its a gift, silly. Just… think of this if ever you have reason to be mad at me, okay?”

“Thank you, Akwa.” What else could I say? I accepted the trade, and watched Akwa log off with a smile and a wave.