“So this is how to play the game?” Trish asked, as she looked over his orange and coffee grove. The trees were all bright green and the place smelled great as the warm winds rustled the leaves. The sky was cloudy over-heard but that helped cut down on the heat a bit, if not the humidity.

“Pretty much. It's honestly a little surprising how much work there is to do. There is always something to build, more crops to harvest, projects to work on, quests to do. It would likely take me a month to get everything where I wanted it. Then I’d likely have even more stuff I wanted to do. I’d build more store-houses, find a better way to transport goods. I’m thinking of an enchanted glass tank for orange juice, I could probably make the glass unbreakable, as well as chill the OJ inside.” Winston said, scratching his chin.

“You’re cute when your being serious.” Trish said as she leaned down and kissed him.

“This is my life, it’ll probably be my job for years, even after I’m out of high-school. If I can keep expanding and find some customers I can make good money.” Winston said.

“Your not going to college?” Trish asked.

“Don’t see much reason to. I’m basically running my own business. I mean, a few accounting and tax classes might be useful but I don’t really feel like sitting through freshman biology, math, english, and the half-hundred other pointless classes just to get a degree like the two million other people. There’s no point.

Back when degrees were rare they meant a lot. Now everyones got a bachelor's and I know people who have masters degrees working at Walmart. ” Winston explained. “Are you planning on going?”

“Haven’t decided really. I always imagined I would but I’m not sure what I’d want my major to be.” Trish said. “Maybe engineering or something? I honestly thought about going into the airforce or navy for a year or two to pay for it.”

“Have you ever even been on a boat?” Winston asked.

Trish shrugged and Winston couldn’t help but watch the motion. Even after being together for months he still loved just looking at her. She really was beautiful, tons of curves and a girl-next-door face. Winston smiled and pulled her back in for another kiss before letting her go again.

“Well, I wanted to get started on building a shrine but I don’t think it’ll be safe. Looks like someone finally found out where I am and what I did. Someone tried to kill me earlier but Brad’s ward did for them. I even got a red name for an hour.” Winston told her as the two kept walking through the trees. Kisha was hoeing the garden and Winston lead Trish over to her.

“Kisha, this is Triska Treesinger, my girlfriend. Trish, this is Kisha my apprentice.” Winston said, making introductions.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Trish said. Kisha looked at her with a frown, but finally greeted her back. Winston watched as the two sized each other up for a while but finally he sighed and lead Trish away, leaving the lizard-girl to her work.

“I think my guild found out where you are. They had a couple meetings behind my back yesterday.” Trish said. “I’m not sure what they’ll do but it’ll likely be something bad.” She sounded more resigned than angry.

Winston shrugged. “I always knew it would happen. I knew that going in but a few days of getting camped is worth 7 grand. Don’t let it bother you. You’re guild will have to step in eventually, even if they’re the ones that set it up. They can’t have assassins and bounty hunters from other guilds running around their territory for too long. It’ll make them look bad. Likely they’ll just want a bribe of some sort. It’s worth more to them to punish me, then make me pay them off rather than chase me off to someone else's territory.”

“And you’re alright with that?” Trish asked, a little surprised.

Winston shrugged.“It’s not like throwing a fit or starting a war would accomplish anything. It’s the price of doing business. I’ll just think of it like taxes. After all the only difference between taxes and a protection racket is where the government can convince the people it’s legitimate.”

“You’re always so full of positivity.” Trish laughed.

“Speaking of tons of people coming to kill me can you top off my wardstones? I can keep them running if I fill them up when I log on, then again when I get off for the day but I don’t have enough to actually fill them, Especially if I come under attacked again.” Winston said.

Trish smiled. “I suppose I can…. But you better have bought me a good present.”

Trish walked over to the nearest stone and started dumping in mana. The stone started to glow and Winston walked over to see how much she was putting in. She didn’t stop until she’d added nearly 2500. That would last him a few days. At least until things really heated up. He doubted the ward would hold. Shame, he’d just bought the damn thing.

“I hope you’ll like it. It’s not great or anything but I think it suits you.” Winston said. “When do you want me to come over tomorrow?”

“Dinner is at six, so that’s fine. They’ll be a ton of people there you won’t know. We’ve got a pretty big family. You sure you don’t want to spend Christmas-eve with your family?”

Winston snorted. “Yeah right, I’ll see them all on Christmas anyway. I’d like to avoid dad as much as possible. He’s been getting worse lately. Its like now that I’m doing something and not letting him get to me he’s becoming even more of an ass.”

“People are like that. Ignoring some bullies will make them get board and stop, ignoring others will make them act more extreme until they cross a line and get slapped down.” Trish said.

“He’s definitely getting there.” Winston replied. “Even Josh is starting to get mad at him and it takes a lot to piss Josh off.”

“He has terrible taste in women.” Trish muttered. Winston laughed.

“You really hate Jessica don’t you.”

Trished sighed heavily. “I really do. She’s such a self-centered little….” She made a growling sound that was more cute than ferocious but Winston chose to keep that to himself.

The two walked around chatting. Winston showed her his oven and all his barrels of fruit. He showed her all his farming abilities and what they could do. He talked about troll, the markets, some of the problems he was having and his plans for solving them. She talked about the guild, the base they’d built on the floating continent, the dungeons they’d run, and the fights they’d gotten into. Winston had heard of some from the net and streams but many battles hadn’t been reported. The BloodHounds were only a second tier power after all. Only the really big guys got much time on the gaming news. It was pleasant, Trish and Winston saw each other a lot but they only really got to spend time together a night or two every week.

The sun was setting when the next attack came. This time it was a fireball smashing into his wards that let Winston know someone was there. The wards rippled but held and they let out a rumble like a building thunderhead.

Trish reacted instantly as if she’d been expecting an attack the entire time. She quickly summoned two spirits. The first one, was a water spirit. It was tall, but shapeless and it stood silently as she summoned a jagged lightning spirit. She absorbed that one. Her hair standing up and her eyes filled with crackling electricity. She rushed towards the North side of Winston’s farm, the direction the attack had come from. Winston ran after, looking for Bog and making sure she wouldn’t run out and get killed.

“What’s happening!” Winston heard Kisha yell from near the garden. Winston swore as he kept running.

He turned and yelled back to her “Just get in the hut and hide!”. Trish and he kept running towards the edge of his wards.

They made it just as a second fireball came in. Trish waved a hand and her water spirit shot a ball of water at the incoming fire and doused it before it impacted. Then she released a blast of lighting from where the ball had come from. Her attack seemed to have missed because a spike of ice rocketed towards the barrier a few seconds later. The spirit couldn’t stop it and it smashed into the ward, creating another rumble of thunder.

The grounds North of the Winston’s farm were light jungle, a few thin trees poked out of the thick undergrowth and a slight incline rose to a low hill. The attackers were up on the hill somewhere but It was hard to see anything in the failing light and the thick brush.

Trish commanded her water spirit forward to attack and let loose another blast of lighting with little effect. Winston didn’t know what to do. If they ran out there they would likely get peppered with spells and arrows until they died.

Another ice spike flew from a slightly different direction, as if the attacker was moving, but Winston was ready this time. A blue shield appeared in the sky, shattering as the spike impacted but deflecting the frozen missile into the ground. Trish didn’t react, instead she just watched as her water spirit was hit with arrows and ranged attacks.

“I count three, two archers and one mage, but there might be a few melee fighters as well.” She said. The third ice bolt formed in the distance and Trish hurled her bolt of lighting just as it came rocketing towards the barrier. There was a distant scream that Winston heard even over the clap of thunder. He just managed to deflect that spell again but then two glowing arrows streaked in and hit the barrier. There was a loud ‘BOOM’ and the ward collapsed.

“I just paid for that you Assholes!” Winston yelled into the twilight. Two more arrows came flying at him but he ducked behind an orange tree. If he couldn’t see them well, they likely couldn’t see him, unless they had night-vision anyway.

Trish raised her hands as if throwing another lighting-bolt but instead a lighting nova seemed to explode from her. The range was short and it quickly grounded itself but it revealed a girl in a dark hood standing a few feet away from her. The assassin seemed to be stunned because she didn’t move at all as Trish pointed her hand and blasted the girl in the face with a bolt of lighting from about three feet away.

“Predictable…” Winston heard Trish mutter.

He winced as the charred corpse topped backwards. Two more arrows came in and this time they hit. One stuck in Trish’s side while the other seemed to explode and blast her backwards into the orange trees. Winston ran over to her with Bog trailing behind him.

“Can you heal me?” She asked with gritted teeth. She had a hand pressed over the bleeding wound but her eyes were still looking up the small hill.

“Nope, protection only. I’d use it on you but it’ll light you up like a giant blue torch. I doubt it would stop one of those arrows anyway.” Winston said as he peeked around a tree. He couldn’t see anything. Winston tried to come up with some ideas but charging the archers seemed to only viable plan. He just couldn’t see anyway that it would work.

“I could cast it on Bog. She might draw their attention long enough to get you a shot. She’s got quite a bit of HP for her level.” Winston whispered. Trish pulled a red potion out of her pack and drank it as he pulled out the arrow stuck in her side.

“On three then.” Trish said.

Winston counted to two then yelled “Bog Fowl Charge!” As he cast shield of faith. That emptied out his faith points but it had to be done.

The blue armor and green aura from Bog’s skill lit up the bird as it took off at a dead sprint. Winston took off after her with Trish close on his heels. Two arrows flew at Bog, but they’d misjudged her speed and she crossed the sixty or seventy yards to the attackers in just a few seconds. The next volley came, but this time it was only a single arrow. From the shorter distance Winston could actually see where the shot came from. Trish must have as well because another bolt of lighting bolt flew from behind him and smashed into the archer. That just left the glowing Bog and her battle with her shadowy attacker. She was hurt and the archer was higher level, but in melee Bogs size and strength made up for some of the handicap. Still, with everyone else dead there was no need for her to keep fighting.

“Bog return!” Winston called. She let out an indignant squak but ran back to him. That cleared Trish’s line of fire and another crackle of lighting ended the fight.

[You Have Leveled Up]

[You Have reached Level 16]

[You Have Leveled Up]

[You Have reached Level 17]

[Taming Skill has Increased]

[Current Rank: Beginner II]

[Shield of Faith has Improved]

[Current Rank: Beginner III]

Winston snorted. He couldn’t gain experience from monster killing, but apparently killing five players thirty levels higher than he was could still bump up his level pretty fast. Shame he wouldn’t get to keep those levels once they came back. Then again, the stat gains would have been pretty bad if he had kept them. He’s just leveled up yesterday. Two more levels was way too fast. That was one of the few benefits to losing levels by dying. You lost the attributes from leveling as well, but you could get more if you leveled back up more slowly.

He looked over at Trish who was looting bodies.

“You just came out here to protect me, didn't you?” Winston asked.

“Mostly, but I really did want to see your farm. Why does it bother you being protected by a girl?” She asked as he handed over a pair of leather gloves and gold coins that had dropped.

“Not at all. A fighter I am not. There’s no use acting macho when I have no real means to attack.”

“Good, because if my guild can pretend they’re not the ones that leaked your location than I can pretend I was just out here by coincidence. “ Trish said.

“Yeah, but you won't be able to stop them. They’ll just keep coming till they manage to kill me. Better to just face it, otherwise they’ll likely burn my whole farm down.” Winston said.

“So you’re giving up?” Trish asked, her voice hard.

Winston turned his head to really look at her. He raised an eyebrow. “You should know me better than that, but bravery is only useful if you’ve got something you can do with it. Right now, they’ve got every advantage. You could take me to the outpost you guys have, or even back to your guildhall but that would just delay the problem. The powers that be want to send me for a few respawns. That’s fine, you can’t lose skill levels and that’s the only really critical part of my build. Vengeance can wait.”

“That sounds more like you.” Trish said.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have any options though.” Winston continued. “The goal here isn’t to win its damage control. I need to give them what they want in the way most beneficial to me. How much can that boar of your’s carry?”

“Why?”

“Troll will be here early tomorrow to pick up my crops and deliver supplies, but if he comes here he’ll die and I’ll lose everything. I figure we’ve got three or four hours until those idiots get back here. We load your boar with the coffee, chocolate, my gear, and however many barrels of oranges we can fit. Then you take them say… five or six miles towards Waith harbor and leave them somewhere off the road in the jungle. Maybe dig a whole or something to stick them in.”

“We send Troll the coordinates, he picks up my stuff and takes it to market and drops everything off. That way those idiots out there don’t get any of it. Then I just log out. They’ll find my body and kill me, but it’s Christmas, I wasn’t planning on logging in for a day or two anyway. Then you go to your guild and find out what I need to pay them to get them off my ass.” Winston finished.

“I don’t like it.” Trish said sourly. Winston shrugged. He didn’t like it either but it was the least painful option. Even if they burned down his farm he’d still have all his money. All of it was in the bank. Having to replant his trees would be annoying but not the end of the world.

Kisha came out of the hut and started to look around with wide frightened eyes. “Are they gone?” She asked.

“For now, but they’ll be back in a few hours. Take some coins, fruit, and whatever else you want and head back to your village. It’s going to be too dangerous here for a few days. Come back in three days if you still want to be my apprentice.” Winston told her. Kisha’s jaw took on a stubborn look before she looked back towards the hill and got scared again. Then she nodded and started to pack.

“Alright, let’s move we don’t have much time.”