Shortly after waking up, misplaced and confused, Nick had found a System event called a Trial in the old underground Santa Fe Railroad tunnels downtown. According to him, while wandering around in a daze, he’d found a pair of gilded, thick doors. That was when the low-threat quest had popped. There were also mobs and loot located around the trial, and while he hadn’t gone into specifics, Nick mentioned he’d managed to sell his haul on the market for over forty thousand selve. He was assuming, probably correctly, that whatever was inside the trial itself would only be more lucrative.

The tunnels were derelict, abandoned, and mostly closed off, so the likelihood of another User stumbling upon them was low. But Users in the know were likely already scouring the city for hidden events and dungeons, so it was only a matter of time.

I wasn’t in love with the idea of delving blindly into another unknown. The system’s low-threat parameter seemed dangerously elastic, with an extraordinarily high ceiling. The trouble was that I had no way of explaining that to Nick without either raising suspicions or outing myself. And as unintentional as it was, Nick had dragged me into this. It seemed like a waste to not at least get something out of it.

I needed to partition.

Everything was recontextualized after the meeting. When I was completely anonymous, there was no real downside to spending time at home. But Daphne’s crew—if they were, in fact, the ones to take Kinsley’s father as well—had shown a clear tendency towards playing hard ball.

I had no idea what I would do if someone attempted to do something similar with my family, and I had no desire to find out. Best to just avoid being in that situation in the first place.

Kinsley’s door opened.

Instead of taking me back to Estrada’s or somewhere else, I found myself in my kitchen, taking in a situation that was reckless at best. Kinsley and mom, sitting at the dining room table, looking over the laptop.

A vein popped out on my forehead. “What the hell?”

Kinsley was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a floral print t-shirt I was pretty sure belonged to Iris, and scrambled to her bare feet as I appeared. “Oh. Hey.”

Mom waved at me, too engrossed in the computer to even bother looking up. I felt my irritation growing stronger by the minute, only some of it attributable to

“You are not supposed to be here,” I said through gritted teeth.

Kinsley, for whatever reason, seemed surprised by my reaction. “Sorry. I know you wanted to keep things separate, but—“

“It’s not a personal preference, Kinsley. And you know the reason all too well.”

A look of guilt flashed across Kinsley’s face. There was a snapping noise as the laptop shut, and mom stared at me in irritation. “I invited her over”

Fantastic. I rubbed my temple. “Do you mind if I ask, why?”

Mom’s eyes were bloodshot, and she went from looking irritated to angry in a split-second. “This project is both incredibly complex and in-depth. Where exactly did you want the work on the website to happen?”

I was taken aback by the heat of the question. “Estrada’s.”

“The apartment Kinsley’s staying at has no internet whatsoever—it’s barely working here for that matter, unless you jump through so many hoops you’re not even working on anything recognizable anymore—the community center has been shut down for years, and the so-called system hasn’t implemented the necessary features for voice calls. So please, pray tell, How else were you expecting this to happen in such an impossible timeframe?”

Kinsley awkwardly looked between the two of us, not sure what to do.

A half-dozen, mostly derogatory responses went through my mind, all centered around the fact that this was starting to feel like a mistake. The only thing that shut me up was how bedraggled mom looked.

“When was the last time you had a drink?” I asked, unable to keep my tone level.

Kinsley jumped in. “Two hours ago. Eleanor gave me her schedule, and I’ve been making sure she sticks to it.”

“That should be Ellison’s job—“

Mom shook her head. “Ellison, and Iris, are both passed out in their room. They were both falling asleep in the car.”

Kinsley gripped her arm with one hand. “You’re all helping me. I want to return the favor, however I can.”

It was already done. Between this and what happened with Nick, it felt like everything was falling apart, but bitching about it and picking a fight wasn’t going to do me any favors. “Fine. Make sure she sticks to the schedule. I’m going to be away for a few days, but I’ll be back before the timer reaches zero. Kinsley, when you leave, use a door.”

“I generally do,” She quipped

“You know what I fucking mean.” I called over my shoulder, my voice cold.

Small footsteps followed as I headed into my room and began to pack for Nick’s. Kinsley entered with her arms crossed.

“Why are you being such a dickhead?”

I turned on her, sticking a finger in her face, “You’re literally being hunted. I’ve gone out of my way to keep them out of this for obvious fucking reasons. Up to this point, they’ve had a reasonable amount of distance from everything.”

“Please. Like this isn’t about you.”

“What?”

Kinsley rolled her eyes. “You just didn’t want me to know where you live. Because of this whole clandestine game you’re running on the side.”

I held both hands out in exasperation. “It’s all of the above.”

“I kept my mouth shut about having a level available while people twice my size were kicking the shit out of me. It's obvious I can keep a secret,” Kinsley insisted. “Not only that, but when we talked, before you dropped me at the professor’s, you implied we had a lot in common. So, why won’t you trust me?”

“Because it’s simpler and safer that way,” I said, stuffing two more shirts into my inventory. There was no point in mentioning the fact that any similarities between us probably made me less inclined to trust her.

“Can you at least tell me where you’re going?” There was very real concern in her voice.

I closed my eyes. “I can’t say.“

Kinsley pulled at her hair in frustration.

Somewhat surprised at myself, I continued. “I’m in trouble, and I might be screwed if I can’t find my way out of it.”

“What can I do?” Kinsley asked.

I watched her for a moment. “If I disappear, keep my family on payroll. They’re all hard workers—“

“Done,” Kinsley said immediately. “I’d rather you not disappear, and I might not be as well positioned as we talked about, but I need the help. I can at least do that.” Something in the sentence caught my attention.

“Why wouldn’t you be positioned well? Your level is skyrocketing.”

Kinsley looked away. “It is. But I’m running out of inventory.”

Damn it. I sat down on my bed with a growl. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Didn’t have a chance to, you got all territorial the second you came in the door.”

I paused, thinking it through. “What happened to the generic stuff being unlimited?”

“I thought it was.” Kinsley agreed, “But I just got a notification that toilet paper was down to fifty percent capacity. From what I’ve read, it looks like I restock once a week.”

“Why is it always toilet paper?” A long sigh escaped my lips. That was a serious bottleneck. I had hoped that once the site was available to the public, we would dominate the market on the principle of accessibility and convenience. On the other hand, the quest had charged me with creating the merchant’s guild. It logically tracked that the guild would include more than one merchant.

A notification popped in front of my eyes.

Quest: The Cradle of Civilization

Primary Objective — Recruit more Merchants for the Merchant’s Guild.

(2 of ???)

Personal Objective — Remain unidentified by other Users.

Threat Level: ???

EXP GAIN (L)

Time Limit: ???

Reward: Increased relationship with Kinsley, Merchant. Allies within the Merchants Guild.

Reward: Progression towards Vocation ???

My stomach twisted as I read over the quest. Not for what was there—the second stage of the quest pretty much aligned perfectly with the direction we were already headed—but for what was missing.

“What’s wrong?” Kinsley asked.

“The secondary objective disappeared,” I murmured, navigating through the system screens to the completed quest log. It was missing from the completed quest as well, but I remembered it regardless.

Achieve the Primary Objective before greater violence erupts.

Its absence meant one of two things. Either there was no longer a possibility of greater violence. Or—far more likely—it was no longer an achievable objective. Meaning greater violence was inevitable.

Almost automatically, I pulled up the countdown clock.

Whatever was happening at the end of that timer, it wasn’t good.

“See if my mom can come up with some subtle way to solicit other merchants on the site. I’ll try on my end, but my hands are tied for the immediate future.”

Kinsley nodded. “Keep in touch. I made a group chat in the guild, so if you need updates on what’s happening on our end, it’ll be there.”

/////

An hour later, I entered the lobby floor of the adaptive dungeon. I had no intention of going up to the fifth floor, but the dungeon itself represented a protected space away from prying eyes.

It was time to level and, assuming I could find a way to protect myself, see what the new summon could do.