Kaleb stood on the edge of the river and waited. The beast had only been under a minute and Kaleb wasn’t 100% sure it was dead. If Kaleb was honest with himself, he kind of wanted the Ifrit to be alive. That bit of information about crafting materials had piqued his curiosity. As he waited, he called to Jar-lock and his group.

“Y’all ok?”

Jar-lock panted back an answer. “Yeah. But Mana exhaustion SUCKS!”

“Looked like you had plenty left.” Kaleb said sarcastically, still staring at the river.

“HA! I think my ambient Mana conversion rate is higher than theirs.” Kaleb heard Jar-lock helping his friends up as he spoke.

“Your what?”

“Mana conversion rate. You were right. We can take in the surrounding Mana and use it to power spells. It saves us from using our own Mana pools. The Area of Study opened when we tried it.” Jar-lock explained as he checked his Sorcerer friend.

Kaleb finally turned and stared at his friend. “Area of Study?” He asked.

Jar-lock waved his hand. “Later. How’s it looking?”

“Seems like it's dead.” Kaleb said.

“Ugh! You sound disappointed.” Said the Wizard groaning as she got to her feet.

Kaleb shrugged his shoulders and was about to answer when a fiery portal open to their left. Before they could react four Lesser Ifrit seemed to tumble out. Kaleb drew his sword and stepped between the little critters and the exhausted magical trio. He wasn’t sure if they could help, but he thought it best to be the vanguard.

“Wait! Ugh. See if you can stun them.” Said the Sorcerer also trying to get up.

“What?!”

“It was why we tried to summon them. We wanted to bind a magical beast.” Jar-lock explained.

Kaleb was gob smacked. “I ask again: WHAT?!”

The Wizard and Sorcerer looked a little ashamed but Jar-lock shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah. Like you haven’t had something you tried, blow up in your face. How’s the new arm?”

Kaleb gave a nod. “That’s fair, but only I got hurt when that happened. You lot summoned a Greater Ifrit!” Kaleb had to side-step as the Ifrit tossed fireballs.

“How do you know it's a Greater -” The wizard asked.

“No time!” Kaleb yelled as he dashed forward. The imps were getting closer, trying to bring the magical trio within range. The Ifrit seemed surprised by his charge. But they reacted quickly reorienting and trying to pelt him with fireballs. Kaleb ducked and weaved as he approached.

He got to the line of Ifrit side-stepped around them. Kaleb tried to put some of them in their own cross-fire while he lined up Shocky. He fired a quick electrical shot into the chest of the nearest Ifrit. The blast sent the small creature back into its friends. He saw that two of the Ifrit seemed stunned from blast as the other two struggled to get up.

He charged into them smacking a third Ifrit with the edge of his shield knocking it out. Stabbing his sword into the prone form of the last Ifrit Kaleb yelled.

“Whatever the hell you three are going to try, you better do it now.”

Kaleb kicked an Ifrit closer as he heaved the other two toward the three magic users. The magical trio stood and seemed to gather themselves. As Kaleb got closer Jar-lock waved him away.

“There’s fine, back away.”

Kaleb dumped the Ifrit just as the stun seemed to wear off. The Ifrit collected themselves and gathered fireballs in their clawed hands. Jar-lock made wide hand gestures as the Wizard wave her wand and the Sorcerer’s necklace glowed.

“Per Elementa, ego ligaveruntque eum ad me!” The trio shouted as one.

Three identical golden circles appeared below the Ifrit and they seemed to freeze up. Kaleb looked between the Ifrit and the magic users. Something froze both groups in place and the magical trio seemed to be discussing something but Kaleb couldn’t hear them. A little over a minute later and Kaleb finally heard the Sorcerer say something.

“SHIT!” The Sorcerer recoiled and fell to a knee.

The imp floated up on the golden circle and swelled and contorted. Kaleb watched, frozen in amazement and disgust as the Ifrit’s flesh pulled into its chest. The flesh gathered in a grotesque ball in the center of the creature’s chest and glowed. The ball glowed bright red and was getting brighter.

“Kill it quick!” Yelled the Sorcerer, snapping Kaleb out of his reverie.

Kaleb charged the Ifrit as the flesh ball imploded in a bright light. It sent a wave of heat rolling over the surrounding area. Kaleb closed his eyes against the sudden heat. When he opened them he sighed at the sight of an Ifrit Soldier standing where the Lesser Ifrit had been. Kaleb clenched his teeth in annoyance and continued his charge.

The Soldier smirked and jumped sending a spinning back kick at Kaleb’s face. Kaleb ducked the kick and sent an upward swing at the Soldier. The Soldier seemed to twist in mid-air avoiding Kaleb’s swing but landing awkwardly. Kaleb pulled his metal fist back and punched into the side of the Soldier’s head. The soldier went down, thrown completely off-balance. Kaleb stood over it and stabbed downward.

The Ifrit kicked up into Kaleb’s wrist sending the stab off target. Over-extended Kaleb felt the Ifrit’s other foot connect with his knee. The Soldier back rolled and stood as Kaleb stumbled and caught himself. The pair squared off again, Kaleb ready to send another spike into the soldier’s chest.

Kaleb charged forward and sent a wide swing at the Ifrit. The Ifrit blocked it the same as the last one had, grabbing Kaleb’s wrist. Kaleb jammed his Metal arm forward and fired.

*Thunk*

The sound of rushing air seemed to echo in Kaleb’s ears. He was out of spikes. The Ifrit took advantage of Kaleb’s surprise and sent a palm strike into Kaleb’s chin. Kaleb’s head snapped back as the Ifrit a hard kick into his stomach. Kaleb slid backward, happy his armor had taking the sting out of the kick. The Ifrit seemed annoyed as it went into a charging tackle.

Kaleb side-stepped the tackle and raised his sword to strike when he heard Jar-Lock.

“Lacunae Stiriaque Impexis!”

A large icicle took Kaleb and the Ifrit by surprise as it punctured straight through the Ifrit’s chest. Kaleb turned to look at Jar-lock as the Warlock was just lowering his hands. Kaleb looked at him incredulously.

“What?” Jar-lock said. “You were taking to long.”

Kaleb grunted as he turned back to the Ifrit Soldier. It clawed at the icicle in its chest as the surrounding skin blackened. Kaleb walked over and stabbed into its throat as it feebly tried to defend itself. The thing gurgled and fell over, dead before it hit the ground. Kaleb looked back at the Magic users and noticed the two Lesser Ifrit standing beside the Wizard and Jar-lock.

The Wizard was looking smug as the Sorcerer looked crestfallen. Jar-lock, however, was staring at the river. Kaleb was about to ask what he was looking for when his mind caught up. Something had summoned the Lesser Ifrit, which meant…

*SSSSSSSSSSSSSS…*

The water hissed and bubbled as Kaleb turned back to the Sorcerer. “You might get another chance.”

The surface of the water swelled as a pair of black horns appeared. Kaleb walked closer and Jar-lock seemed to gather Mana. The river had put out its fire mane and the bright red hue of its skin seemed to have dulled. The beast gripped the cement ridge next to the river and lifted itself halfway out of the water. Kaleb charged with his sword as he yelled over his shoulder.

“Hit it as hard as you can before it can reignite itself!”

“No shit!” Yelled the Wizard.

Kaleb stabbed down into the Ifrit’s large clawed hand. His blade sunk deep into its flesh and bright red liquid bubbled out of the wound. The beast flinched slightly and glared down at Kaleb. It raised its other hand to slam it down on Kaleb like he was a bug. Kaleb heard Jar-lock’s icicle incantation again and white spear pierced the Ifrit’s chest.

The Greater Ifrit’s reaction differed greatly from when Kaleb’s attack hit. It recoiled back at let out a roar twisting its attention to the Warlock. Kaleb was a little miffed at being ignored, but he figured it was for the best. The creature was still trying to raise itself out of the water. Kaleb sent an electric shot at the Ifrit‘s head as Jar-lock continued to summon and throw ice spears and the Wizard pelted its chest with water balls. The Sorcerer seemed to be recovering his Mana.

The Beast locked up when Kaleb’s ball of electricity hit its wet body. It surprised Kaleb that his stun had activated so quickly but he took advantage. Jumping onto the Ifrit’s arm he climbed up near its head. Once on its shoulder Kaleb hacked away at its neck. It’s red lava-like blood seeped down its throat and chest. Kaleb could see its jaw clench in pain as it struggled against the stun effect.

Kaleb swung away at the Ifrit’s neck when he heard Jar-lock scream something and a shadow fell across him. The Ifrit was no longer stunned, and its large hand gripped Kaleb and flung him at Jar-lock and the Wizard. Both dodged as Kaleb collided with the hard asphalt and rolled until he hit the opposite curb hard. Kaleb sucked in air and tried to stop his vision from swimming.

*Toughness Skill level up*

Health increased by 6%

Incoming physical damage decreased by 2%

*Toughness Skill level up*

Health increased by 7%

Incoming physical damage decreased by 3%

“What’s it doing!” The Sorcerer shouted as Kaleb waved the notifications away.

Kaleb cleared his vision and stood as a bright orange light lit up the street. Looking up Kaleb sawing the Ifrit was holding its hand palm up. Floating above that hand was a growing fireball. It was the size of a wrecking ball and was getting bigger. Kaleb readied another electrical shot as Jar-lock and the wizard continued their own attacks. Just as Kaleb shot his ball of electrical energy he heard a strange scream.

“MASS ATTACK!”

A large pink ball of muscle slammed into the Ifrits face. The Ifrit’s head jerked to the side and the wound on its neck tore wider as it recoiled from the blow. The large muscled Super Kaleb had met by the pond fell to the street and landed on his back giggling. As the Ifrit tried to collect itself Kaleb heard a rifle shot and saw a round enter the wound at the Ifrits neck. Kaleb wondered what the duck was thinking when a large explosion came from the creature's neck.

It’s an explosive round. Kaleb thought as he watched the Ifrit rock forward violently. It seemed to lose strength in its arms as it head slammed to the ground. The magical trio seemed to have the same idea as Kaleb. As he charged they sent various spells of ice and water into its face. Kaleb jammed his sword into the Ifrit’s eye as a water ball, an icicle, and what looked like a strange mix of the two hit the Ifrit in the face.

The creature gave a grunt of defiance and tried to struggle away. Kaleb twisted his sword around in its eye as he felt the Ifrit slip back toward the river. Removing his sword Kaleb backed away, disappointed at the loss of materials but not knowing how to stop the Ifrit. Suddenly, the Ifrit lurched forward, sending a final claw attack crashing down toward Kaleb. Kaleb couldn’t react quick enough as the attack came down on his head.

*BAM!*

Kaleb opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them. As he looked around, he saw a golden bubble around him. The claw attack stopped half a foot away from his head. The hand slipped off as the Ifrit lost all its strength and died, half of its body out of the river. Kaleb turned to look at Jar-lock as the gold bubble disappeared.

“FUCK YEAH! Go Magic!” Kaleb cheered as he fell onto his back. He could hear the sounds of sirens in the distance and wondered why they were always late. The magical trio gave exhausted laughs at Kaleb’s words before collapsing themselves. Kaleb heard deep-voiced giggling and turned his head to address the super-strong Super.

“You two showed up just in time.”

The large Super stopped his giggle and looked at Kaleb. “We were here for a while. But Dead said not to attack until we got a chance.”

*Quack*

“Don’t tell them that, moron.” The duck’s communicator said as he walked down the street toward them.

Kaleb tried to get angry, but found that he really couldn’t. Gamers would game, and kill stealing was just another part of playing, annoying though it was. In the end though, they must have decided not to chance it without a group. Kaleb caught the duck’s eye and gave him a shrug of indifference. The duck seemed to relax and took one of his hands away from his hip holster.

“WHAT?! Are you serious?!” Kaleb heard the Sorcerer start indignantly.

“People who summoned the damn thing don’t get to be angry.” Kaleb shouted back at him.

“I didn’t even get one.” He retorted petulantly.

The mention of the Lesser Ifrit reminded Kaleb of Jar-lock’s new pet. Looking around though, he couldn’t see either of the bound Ifrit. He gave Jar-lock a curious glance.

“We dismissed them to their home plane when the giant Ifrit woke up. We didn’t want it to gain control back from us.” The wizard nodded at this explanation before asking the Sorcerer.

“What happened with yours, Varlin?”

The Sorcerer, Varlin, looked a mix of embarrassed and anger. “It said it was weak. It asked for my power so it could recover before it would accept my contract.”

“Oh, come on, we knew they would try to trick us.” Jar-lock said.

Varlin looked about to argue, but he seemed to think better of it, nodding. Kaleb looked between the three and then asked Jar-lock.

“So how the hell did you three end up summoning a Greater Ifrit?”

*Quack!*

“THEY summoned it!?” The Duck asked.

Kaleb just nodded as he waited for Jar-lock’s answer, But the Wizard interrupted next.

“You said that before, how did you know what kind of Ifrit it was?” She asked.

Kaleb tapped his headband. “Villains Compendium. It is useful.”

The other Super glanced at the HeroLink bracers they all wore instead of Kaleb’s headband. As Kaleb understood it, the bracers served the same function. But it looked like they hadn’t been using it. Kaleb heard the duck step closer looking at his headband.

*Quack*

“That is smart. Hands free and does it still record?” He asked.

Kaleb nodded staring up at the duck. He didn’t have spurs, but he dressed like an old-fashioned cowpuncher.

*Quack*

“That’s great. Scanning with the bracer is a pain in the ass.”

Kaleb glanced around noticing that the others were all nodding. Except for the muscle man, he was lying on his back and staring up at his clenching fists. The duck thrust his hand out and quacked again.

*Quack*

“Name is D34d–I. Where did you get it?” Kaleb blinked at how Dead-eye spelled his name as it appeared over the duck’s head. But he shook it off and stood.

He shook the duck’s hand and said. “Professor Pack Rat, Crafter and Mundane Super. Built it myself.”

“But you're a lizard-thing. Why call yourself a rat?” Asked the still prone mass of muscles.

Kaleb was about to answer when the duck waved him off.

*Quack*

“Leave him. His alien race makes him incredibly stupid. Apparently their used as cheap labor throughout most of the galaxy.”

“Who would choose that?” The wizard asked as she and the other two magic users moved closer to talk.

Kaleb noticed that the police had arrived and were moving to secure the perimeter. D34d–I glanced around as well before he answered.

*Quack*

“IRL he runs a pretty big company. He says this is a great way to decompress and let those problems go.”

Kaleb nodded at that answer. People played games for many reasons. Seeing a familiar face Kaleb moved to talk to the police. As he moved away D34d–I called after him.

*Quack*

“I want one of those headbands, professor.”

“We will talk after the debrief. We have to discuss THAT, anyway.” Kaleb called back pointing at the half-submerged corpse of the Greater Ifrit.

Jar-lock and his group followed Kaleb as he approached the gray-skinned officer. Officer Battlehorn, looked surprised then incredulous as he watched Kaleb approach. He tapped something into his HeroLink and asked.

“Man-Rat not enough for you, Professor? You have to go and take on a B-ranked lieutenant of the Fire Realm?”

Kaleb smiled toothily. “I like to stay busy.”

“Man-Rat?” Jar-lock asked.

“Rat-man.” Kaleb said. “Long story.”

Varlin behind Jar-lock had a greedy look in his eyes. “A B-rank Ifrit. Think what we’ll get for that.”

Battlehorn’s good humor seemed to evaporate as he scolded. “You three won’t be receiving anything.” He indicated Jar-lock’s group. “You will be lucky if you're not fined after the HLO review the footage. Speaking of Professor…?”

Battlehorn held his hand out as Kaleb snapped his memory crystal out of its housing. Handing it to Battlehorn, Kaleb looked at Varlin. The Sorcerer looked annoyed while Jar-lock and the Wizard looked resigned. Battlehorn attached the memory crystal to his tablet and reviewed the footage. Kaleb looked over at D34d–I and his friend talking to another police officer. The strong man waved excitedly when he saw Kaleb looking.

“Ok, preliminary viewing of the footage matches with the accounts given to us by your respective Handlers. The HLO has deemed that Jar-Lock, Varlin Marlo, and Vivienne Breezewar will not be receiving any compensation for causing this incident. All proceeds and materials will go to the Professor here, D43d–I, and… Mass Chuckfist?”

Battlehorn finished with a curious glance at the other two Supers in the street. Seeing Mass still waving madly at Kaleb he let out a loud sigh. Shaking his head, he handed Kaleb back his crystal. He gave them a small nod before walking away, Kaleb thought, rather quickly.

“Oh, come on!” Screamed Varlin. “How else were we supposed to get a summons?”

Battlehorn didn’t even turn around. “Maybe you should have listened when your Handler’s said you weren’t ready.”

Varlin’s face went purple at Battlehorn’s words and he looked ready to either scream or cry when Jar-lock placed a hand on his shoulder. Varlin panted loudly for a few breaths before he exhaled and seemed to calm himself. Vivienne looked around at the large Ifrit’s body and asked.

“What do you plan on doing with it? That rhino-guy said you could get materials from it.”

D43d–I’s mechanical voice spoke from nearby. “Yeah, the other officer told us the same thing.” He had approached with Mass and was looking at Kaleb for his answer.

“You two can loot it, just let me get an arm and maybe a horn.” Kaleb shrugged as he looked at the Greater Ifrit.

“And what will you do with those?” D43d–I asked. Kaleb thought he was smiling, but it was difficult to tell with his duck's bill.

Kaleb just shrugged again. “No idea, I might get armor out of the skin. Maybe some weapons out of the horns and claws. Anything else I would have to figure out after I got back to my lab.”

“And if you could get those items enchanted?” Asked Varlin who looked hopeful.

“You’re an Enchanter?” Asked Kaleb reaching into his pocket.

Varlin looked embarrassed. “I’ve been dabbling a little.”

“Can you tell me how this is made of and where I can get more?” Kaleb asked excitedly. He held out the round glass bottle half-filled with health potion.

Varlin took the small bottle and held it to his face. “Analyze.” He whispered.

The bottle glowed and shook. Kaleb thought he would jump out of his skin. If something happened to that bottle his chances of getting health potions went down. Thankfully, the shaking stopped and Varlin pulled the bottle away.

“Where did you get this?”

“I had a session with an in-game trainer. He called me useless and used me as a punching bag. Afterward he gave me that. Half of that healed my broken ribs and most of my bruises.” Kaleb explained.

“Of course it did, this is a high level Health potion. An experienced Alchemist made it.” Varlin said almost reverently.

Kaleb could feel his excitement dip. “So I need an Alchemist?”

Varlin tilted his head side to side. “Mmmmm, yes and no. Alchemy is a subset of Enchanting. With time and study I could create health potions. It will be a long time till I can do something of this level though.”

“If you could sell me some when you do that would be a huge help.” Kaleb said excitedly

Varlin looked and Kaleb then the Greater Ifrit corpse and grinned widely.

“Varlin…” Vivienne said warningly.

“Relax, Viv.” Varlin put his arm around Kaleb shoulders and turned him to look at the Ifrit. “If you could craft me something from that. I’ll sell you my first batch dirt cheap.”

Kaleb grinned at Varlin before he had a flash of inspiration. “What do you suppose would happen if I combined the heart of a Greater Ifrit with that?” Kaleb pointed down at the necklace Varlin wore. They way it glowed before, Kaleb assumed it would be the player’s Foci.

Varlin had a stunned look on his face before he cast a glance at D43d–I and Mass. The duck had watched the whole exchange and seemed interested. Waving his thumb between and himself and Mass, he said.

“Get us some equipment too and you can have the whole corpse.”

Kaleb was smiling so hard his face hurt. “Shit, with that much material I could outfit us all and have more to spare.” He turned serious as a thought occurred to him. “But, PLEASE, keep this on the down low. I don’t want to spend all of my playtime building people's stuff.”

The group of players all nodded in understanding at Kaleb’s plea. Jar-lock smiled wide and Vivienne seemed happy to be included. Kaleb approached the giant corpse and peered over the ridge into the water. The Ifrit’s legs were underwater, but the rest of it seemed up on dry land. It surprised Kaleb that the corpse was still hot. Not as hot as it had been when it was alive but still hot.

Kaleb turned back to the group as they all approached. “Now, how the fuck do we move this?”