”You never told me what you were doing here in Maqi,” Ludendorff said, reclining once more on the bench.

”I joined a training hall not long after we met,” Nero answered, idly scratching under Jorry’s chin. “I’m here, as part of the final expedition.”

”Which hall?”

”Ground Sheer.”

”That’s a pretty good one I hear,” the general rubbed his stubble in thought. “You’re not planning on doing anything tomorrow, right?”

”I’ll probably explore the town a bit, but apart from that, I don’t have any other plans. Why?”

”I was thinking” Ludendorff began slowly. “Why don’t you join my recruits? They are a pretty good batch, baring this recent accident, and you all should be about the same level. Around level ten or twelve, right? I have a skill that gives more experience to people under my command, and since it just got to level thirty-five, I have a free slot you can use. What do you say?”

”Well,” Nero thought about it for a moment. He didn’t really have anybody else to partner with, not counting Jorry, and working with a team would be safer. The added experience would be nice as well. Kaesar would have to keep an eye on the group, he remembered talking about the competition between players with his sisters, but that didn’t seem too relevant in this scenario. He didn’t really enjoy working with others, but once and a while it was fine. “Sure, I guess I’ll join for the moment. Though I won’t join The Bank.”

”That’s fine,” the other player did look a bit sorry, but it didn’t take long for him to get over it. One more low leveled player in a faction of tens of thousands wouldn’t make a difference. “Recruit!”

***You have been recruited by General Ludendorff.

Accept: Y/N***

Nero clicked yes on the prompt in front of his eyes.

***New Recruit:

For the next twenty-four hours, you will be a recruit under Ludendorff. You will not be able to harm your General.

For every other recruit within 50 meters, you get a 1% boost to experience.

Current boost: 1%***

”That is an excellent skill,” Nero couldn’t help but comment.

”Ya, but I can only use it on others, not myself, and they have to be a lower level than me. Most of my General skills are like that.”

”Still, I can see why other people want to recruit you. So how did you join The Bank.” Ludendorff’s eyes lit up at the prospect of telling the story and, possibly, actually recruiting Nero.

The next few minutes were spent with the general retailing Nero about how, on his second day playing Gods’ Nature, he tried to hit on a pair of ‘ridiculously hot’ girls and getting brutally shot down. Being a persistent man, he kept trying to get their attention for a while before one of them got mad and murdered him. His first death in the game was a bit traumatizing but, while he was sitting in the Holy ground after reviving, the pair approached him and apologized. One thing led to another, and he ended up joining The Bank in its early stages. Though he was lower level than other leaders, he still held a high position in the organization due to the utility of his Nature and his loyalty.

To be honest, Nero was only half paying attention to the story. He made the odd comment to keep it going, but for the most part, he was concentrated on the feeling that arose in his chest halfway through. It was strange like he was feeling nostalgic for something but at the same time, he was relaxing after coming home from work. It was a good feeling, but a bit peculiar. Kaesar guessed this was the feeling one received when syncing up with the Holy ground. His business in the area finished, Nero decided to wait for Ludendorff’s story to end before he left.

So, with a few words of farewell and a promise to meet tomorrow morning at sunrise, Nero took Jorry and left. While he certainly wanted to wander the town to get a feel for it, Nero also had another motive, to train Jorry.

It wasn’t that the serpent was weak, other Gardner snakes would probably not have been able to contend against so many rats as young as he was. Since Jorry had evolved, he had grown considerably and was now surpassing two feet in length and was as thick around as Nero’s wrist. From what Kaesar had read about the species, they could grow to be over six feet in length so Jorry was well on his way to being a real giant and would be able to handle himself well enough once he was fully grown.

The problem was two-fold, the first and most apparent was that the pair did not have the years it would take for Jorry to reach full size. They would be facing monsters of significant power the next day. And that was the second problem, even if Jorry was fully grown he would be facing monsters that a standard black rat snake would never try and fight usually. Some more prominent serpents might hunt monkeys or such, but even the biggest would not work and hunt wolves. Of course, the most deadly snakes weren’t the largest but the most poisonous. Unfortunately, Jorry’s species were non-venomous so, until Nero thought of a way to evolve Jorry into a more deadly serpent, they would have to stick to physically fighting their opponents. Thankfully, since they were playing Gods’ Nature, there was a magical answer to all their problems.

”Do you remember what Medea said about magic and belief?” Nero asked as the pair walked along the almost deserted streets of Maqi. Well, Nero walked while Jorry’s head bobbed along beside as he rode Kaesar’s shoulder. It was only thanks to the occasional torch that lined the side of the street and fullness of one of the moons that Nero was able to see the serpent shake his head in the negative. “Were you asleep?”

”No,” the snake answered. “I was fighting a mountain.” Nero missed a step and almost tripped at the unexpected answer. Thankfully, his sense of balance was better than before due to the constant training that he was able to keep from falling to the floor. He stared at his companion for a moment, trying to figure out what the snake was talking about.

”Are you... trying to be sarcastic?” Kaesar asked hesitantly.

”Yep,” Jorry answered proudly. “Did it work, was it funny?”

”I’ve heard worse,” Nero admitted. “And I was almost part of a comedy gag, so I guess that counts for something. But if you want to convey sarcasm, you need to work on your tone. Try saying things in a more deadpan or dry voice. But anyway, since we’re probably going to be fighting some bigger animals from now on, you should learn a spell. Something that will help you do more damage.”

”Like what?” Jorry asked, excited at the prospect of getting a new method of hurting things.

”You could try doing what I did, only instead of growing claws, you could try to grow fangs. Or spikes around your body so that Bind will do more damage.”

”Oooh, I like that idea,” Nero could see the serpent’s dangling tail shake in excitement even as his eyes narrowed in concentration. A few moments of silence passed as the snake tried to create the spell. After a few seconds though, Jorry looked at Nero and asked sheepishly. “So, how do I do that again?”

Nero sighed once more, he seemed to be doing that a lot with Jorry it appeared. He spent the next few minutes re-explaining Medea’s talk about magic and belief. As Jorry tried once again to form his spell, Kaesar’s feel took him to the ramparts of the wall surrounding the village. It wasn’t very tall, all things considered, but it was enough to provide an advantage over any invaders. It also gave Nero a great view of the forest to the south.

It wasn’t a peaceful night, both because of the numerous people still in the plaza of the Holy ground, and because Nero could hear animals and humans from the woods. Since he had increased his sensitivity to 15, he could also taste a mixture of particles on the air. Fur, steel, and blood were only a few of those he could taste, though most he couldn’t identify.

Kaesar looked to the twin moons, one full and the other waxing. He was currently struggling over an issue that had been on his mind for a while.

His skills, The Nest and Assimilation, in particular, were pointing in a direction he wasn’t sure he liked. Nero wasn’t a people person, that was the simple way to say it. He could fake it when he wanted to and could be charming and polite if the situation called for it, but by nature, he was an introvert. Kaesar liked his space and privacy and didn’t go out of his way to meet new people. When he was forced to, he tended to remain silent for a time, trying to get a sense for their personality before actively engaging them. Even at home, when it was just him and his sisters, his idea of relaxation was to curl up on the couch with a good book.

But his Nature was pushing him in a direction that would contradict that. He got stronger the more creatures that joined The Nest and the more traits he assimilated. It was a method more suited to somebody that wasn’t so introverted. Natures were designed to grow with the user, to mesh with their personality and play style but it wasn’t perfect. Because of Nero’s limited time playing and his... adoption of Jorry, the game did not have a real representation of his day to day life, only what he experienced in the game.

It was one of the reasons he was still debating whether or not to recreate his character once the time limit was up. As it was, Assimilation still wasn’t at a high enough level for the few traits left that Jorry possessed that were desirable. There was one exception that Nero hadn’t tried yet, because he only thought of it recently, that he had hope would work. If it did, Nero would gain another tremendous advantage over others, though it wouldn’t be without some drawbacks. Still, that was for once he finished assimilating Jorry’s mouth. At the moment it was sitting at 96% completion, it would probably end tomorrow, and he would be able to test his idea out.

”Ahhh,” Kaesar was dragged from his thoughts by Jorry’s scream of surprise. Looking down to the serpent around his neck, Kaesar saw the snake start to uncoil and, with a thud, he fell to the floor before the human had a chance to catch him.

”What happened,” Nero asked as he bent down to pick up his companion. Jorry hung limply in his hands as he answered.

”I don’t know,” the little world serpent said, sounding distinctly tired. “I was trying to form the spell, I thought it was working! But then, I suddenly felt drained and my whole body just relaxed, and I fell.”

“Where you trying to form fangs or spikes?”

”Spikes, they sounded cooler.”

Nero held back the sigh at the simple reasoning. “You probably exhausted your mana. If you don’t have too much of it, forming more than a few spikes might have taken too much out of you. Once you absorb some more mana, try and make fangs instead, they’ll probably be easier..”

”No!” The snake shook its head obstinately. “I’ll get this, just watch. No spell is going to beat me. I’m gonna be a dragon!”

”Fine, but this time stay in my hands, so you don’t fall if you fail again.”

This time Nero really did sigh, though it was with a bit of fondness. Jorry reminded him of his sisters when they were younger. They used to be so headstrong and determined to do anything he could do. It was Nico more than Maude, but the latter had her moments when she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Especially when their father had died, they tried to do their best to help out around the house, though they tended to make more of a mess than anything. Still, they persisted, and now their housework was better than his own.

Looking back to the twin moons in the sky, Kaesar couldn’t help but think that if he could find others as interesting as Jorry, he would be a lot less hesitant to use The Nest.

The rest of the night passed by quickly. Nero spent a good portion of it wandering the town and helping Jorry with his spell. It took the snake significantly longer to create it than it took Nero and it was only when the sky started to lighten that the pair managed to come up with one that was both practical and ‘cool’ enough to Jorry. Kaesar was surprised, but it turned out to be better than expected. Once the pair were done, they made their way to house Ground Sheer had rented to drop off the bag before moving towards the southern gate to meet up with Ludendorff and his group.

It was more challenging to find the general than Nero would have expected. The sky was only starting to lighten, but the gate was already packed with traffic, people returning from a night of hunting to sell their stuff or early risers heading out on their own business. It took over ten minutes to find Ludendorff through the crowd, he was outside the gate and to the side to avoid the massive crowd but partially hidden by a group of people that surrounded him.

As Nero approached their eyes coincidently met and the general waived him over.

”I’m glad you could make it,” Ludendorff said while patting him on the back. Nero stumbled and almost fell from the difference in strength but managed to keep his balance. “We’re still waiting for a few more people who went to buy potions but while we wait I’ll introduce you to those already here.”

”Guys, this is Nero, this is his first game so go easy on him. From left to right we have the twins Killer and Slayer,” Killer was a large black man in leather armor who was armed with two serrated daggers that he was twirling idly. Slayer was the complete contrast, a small Asian looking woman wearing heavy iron plate who had a bastard sword strapped to her back. Both of them flashed Nero smiles in greeting, revealing serrated teeth. “Well, they claim to be twins, but nobody believes them. Killer is a scout that can function as DPS and Slayer is a pure tank build that can draw agro.” Thankfully Nero wasn’t as new as he once was and could recognize those terms without having to ask. He greeted the pair with a charming smile of his own.

”Next we have Newt.” A tall woman brown-haired woman wearing a robe and brass knuckles who nodded her head in greeting. “She has some healing and buffing abilities, but for the most part, she focuses on placing debuffs on the enemy. Beside Newt we have Hope,” a tiny slip of a girl who smiled up at Nero warmly. She wasn’t even five and a half feet and looked to be no older than sixteen at the most. She’s...” Ludendorff hesitated for a moment as if choosing his words carefully. “I guess DPS, but she mostly focuses on stun locking enemies and dealing critical hits.”

“Nice to meet ya.” Hope chirped happily, shaking Nero’s hand energetically.

”Nice to meet you too,” Kaesar responded while smiling down at the girl who didn’t even come up to his chest. He was reminded a bit of his sisters when they were younger and more energetic.

“Last but not least we have Hacker,” an androgynous looking man who was wearing a dark robe. The man gave a small wave which Nero returned.“He’s our mage and specializes in lightning magic, though he does know a few other spells. The other two, Fishfood and Clarent act as a second tank with some support skills and healer respectively. They’ve been gone a while so they should be back soon.”

”DPS, Tank or healer?” Hacker asked.

”DPS,” Kaesar answered, “with some utility skills.” He did not have the constitution nor equipment to play tank nor the skills for healing or buffing.

”Like what?” Hope tilted her head inquisitively as she asked.

”Disassembly and I can talk to animals.”

“Snakes?” Newt looked curiously at Jorry as he hung around Nero’s neck, his head swiveling around to look at the new people and his tongue flickering in and out to try and remember their taste. Which reminded Nero that he should start practicing with tasting people, in a non-creepy way of course.

”All of them.” Ludendorff drew a sharp breath. If he was any sort of decent general, he had probably recognized the strategic importance of that ability.

”So you know what monsters are saying when you kill them?” If any of the group were disturbed by Killer’s question, they didn’t show it.

”Not really,” Kaesar shook his head in the negative. “It is a bit complicated, but the gist of it is that not all animals or monsters have a high enough Spirit to be self-aware enough to talk. Only those that are strong, special in some way or spend a lot of time around other beings with high Spirit will be smart enough to converse.” Nero didn’t feel the need to tell them that from experimenting with Beast Tongue he had a way around that particular problem.

“Oh,” Ludendorff said a bit regretfully, but he smiled at Nero anyway. “Still useful though. So is that snake your weapon or something?”

”Or something,” Nero tried to imagine using Jorry as some sort of demented whip but decided that wasn’t a good idea. Who knows though, somebody out there might have a Nature like that. “Think of him as a summons, Jorry has his own skills and fights beside me for the most part.” When he wasn’t asleep that is.

“Can I hold him?” Hope asked hopefully, looking pitifully up at Nero. Jorry shook his head rapidly in senile but, deciding to be a bit petty, Nero agreed and took the serpent from his neck and passed it to the girl’s arms. The betrayed look Kaesar received told him that his payback for the snake sleeping through the trip was well received.

“Hello Jorry, my name is Hope,” she said softly as she scratched the snake’s scales. Apparently, Jorry’s aversion to new people was quickly dissolved by scratching that right spot under his jaw, as his eyes closed in bliss.

"What level is your disassembly at?" Ludendorff asked, ignoring the byplay between the pair.

"Only at level five."

"But you can take off fur and such right?" Nero nodded, and Ludendorff turned to the group as a whole. "Do you guys want to only keep doing bounties or do you want to focus on harvesting materials? You'll make more money that way but will level up slower than normal because you have to stop to harvest."

"Hey, Fishfood! Clarent! Over here!" Hope suddenly yelled, waving her arms to attract their attention. Unfortunately, she still held Jorry when she did, and if the look on his face was anything to go by, he wasn't happy with the swinging.

"Perfect timing you two." The general greeted the pair. "This is Nero, he'll be joining you for a bit. He knows the disassembly, so you need to decide whether you want to focus on leveling, like you have been, or slow down a bit but make some money by harvesting some monster pelts. Keep in mind you'll need to drag around a cart to carry them so you will need to take care of that."

"I think we should keep focusing on leveling and just take the bounties. That's why we're here in the first place," Fishfood answered. He was a tall man, a few inches taller than Kaesar and wearing some sort of robe with armor plates sewn on. He looked decidedly average with a standard straight sword at his waist and shield on his left arm.

"Plus I don't want to drag a cart around in a forest." Clarent was wearing some sort of leather tunic and was walking with a staff, giving her a wandering hermit sort of look.

"You guys?" Ludendorff asked the rest of the group.

"Hunting," Killer answered with a bloodthirsty smile and his 'twin' nodded in agreement. Newt shrugged her shoulders in an uncaring fashion.

"I wanna fight!" Hope said excitedly, her fist clenched in anticipation.

"Either way is fine with me. But most of us wouldn't be too much help with the harvesting anyway." Hacker pointed out.

"That fine with you?" The general asked Nero who merely smiled and answered with a 'No problem.'

"That's settled then, you two got the potions?" Fishfood and Clarent nodded. "Then you are all set. I'll say the same thing I mentioned yesterday. Goblins are all over the place so you can focus on them but don't fight if they outnumber you, are better equipped than you or have a spellcaster. Wolves and the like are pretty common but stay away from any that have fur darker than grey, we don't want a repeat of yesterday." More than a few of the group winced at the reminder of their grizzly death at the hands of a brown wolf. Hope whimpered a bit and raised Jorry in front of her face as if he would protect her. "Apart from that, if you want you can try a few of the dungeons in the forest just be careful and have fun."

"See ya teach."

"Bye."

"We'll be back."

As the group said their goodbyes to their general, they turned to the south to enter the forest. Nero reclaimed Jorry from Hope, who pouted a bit but let the snake go. He decided to hang behind the group a bit to get a feel for their dynamic and see how they interacted with each other. Unexpectedly, Fishfood also hung back and started matching Kaesar's pace.

"Sorry, I never really introduced myself. I'm Fishfood, I mostly work as a supporting tank. This is my computer wife, Caren." He reached his hand out to shake which Nero accepted, his brows scrunched up a bit in confusion at the last sentence.

"Hello," an electronic voice that was distinctly female said from somewhere nearby. Suddenly a floating head appeared over Fishfood's shoulder, it was colorless and flat, like a black and white picture on a grainy computer screen.

"Nice to meet you?" Nero half asked as he was more than a bit confused.

"Ha, I love the look on people's face when they see Caren." Fishfood guffawed.

"You're an asshole." The ghost head swiveled on his shoulder to give him a disapproving look.

"You love me anyway," he answered back with a cheeky grin. "Sorry about that, a little prank for new people. No hard feelings?"

"Sure," Nero just shrugged, more confused than offended. "But when you say your computer wife you mean?"

"Just that, IRL she's an AI, and we've been married for six years now. Because of that, we managed to create a character in Gods' Nature that is essentially two in one. I fight while Caren supports. Find that weird?"

Nero just shrugged, not really caring one way or the other. This was the first time meeting somebody who had a relationship with an AI, but he had heard about it before, so it wasn't entirely alien to him. It wasn't his life, so he really didn't care. To each their own.

"Good, so how long have you been playing?" Caren faded away again as Fishfood struck up a conversation.

The pair chatted for a while as the group approached the forest and entered. Nero took the chance to ask about various things like why they had joined The Bank, what were the benefits and how long they had been playing. He also got a bit more information about his current teammates and their skills. At some point, Killer separated himself from the group and pushed deeper into the forest by himself. He would come back every few minutes with an update, but nothing of note happened for over half an hour.

"We've got a group of six goblins a few minutes out, no mages or armor. We should be able to take them." Killer explained.

"Any other groups nearby?" Hacker asked.

"Not that I could tell, they didn't seem to be in a rush either, but they are wary and almost spotted me."

"Are they coming this way?"

"A bit west of here. There a few boulders we can hide behind, but the foliage isn't dense enough to really catch them off guard. If I was a higher level, we could use some camouflage skills, but for now, we'll have to settle for fighting them straight up."

"Standard formation then?" Fishfood asked to which most of the group nodded, drawing their weapons and getting ready for a fight. Slayer and Fishfood walked to the front while Hacker and Clarent went to the middle with the rest of the group surrounding them. Nero once more hung at the back, not used to fighting in a group and so deciding to wait for a good time to insert himself.

Ready for a fight, it did not take the group long to meet up with the goblins. The green humanoids also noticed them quickly and drew their weapons at the ready. This was Nero's first time seeing goblins, they were small creatures, not one of them was taller than five feet, but they were dangerous nonetheless. Each of them was covered in wired muscle and scars that spoke of harsh living, and they charged at the group with their weapons raised at impressive speed. Most of them were simply armed with crude wooden clubs, but one of them had two steel swords, and another had a shield that looked to be a barrel top.

The group was ready for them, however. Slayer rushed forward, her bastard sword swinging for two at once. The first jumped out of reach but the second tried to catch it on its club and was pushed back by the strength difference. The one who jumped away didn't get off scot-free, however, as Hacker shot a small bolt of lightning with a cry of 'lightning shot' that hit it in the torso, searing it black.

Fishfood took a different approach, he only tried to challenge the one with two swords. One of the blades hit his shield and decided to strike back under the goblin's arm. In doing so, he left himself open to the second blade, but he paid it no head at Caren appeared on his shoulders, and a beam of light flew from her eyes, blinding the goblin and allowing her husband's sword to gouge its side.

Newt was wailing on another goblin, there was no other way to say it. She didn't have a weapon barring her brass knuckles, but they seemed to be doing fine despite the enemy having a shield. She was raining punches on the unfortunate monster, and every time it tried to counter-attack, she would step closer and punch it in the face. There would be a flash of light, and it would pause for a second and Newt would go back to rapid fire punching. For some odd reason, she kept screaming 'Ora ora ora' with every punch. Nero guessed it was some sort of chant that applied the debuffs to her fists.

Hope was... well Nero had no idea what Hope was doing. It could be called fighting or dancing, it could also be called sadistic torture. She was weaving in and out of the goblin's range, and occasionally she would pull daggers, stilettos Nero realized, out of nowhere and jam them into the goblin. She aimed for joints like the shoulders and elbows and, at one point, the underside of the knee. With the blades lodged in its body, the goblin slowly lost the ability to resist or even move at all. Hope did all this with that same innocent smile on her face like she wasn't doing something that violated the Geneva convention.

Of course, Nero was only able to observe all this from his periphery vision as he engaged the last goblin as Killer went to support his sister.

"Evolve!" The bone claws covered his hands as he caught the club that was swinging at his chest.

The fight was surprisingly straightforward. The goblin was smaller than Nero but a bit stronger, so he had to use both hands to hold onto the weapon to keep it in place. Usually, that would only deadlock the pair, but Nero cheated. Once he had the weapon in his grip, Jorry launched himself at the enemy's face and wrapped himself around the goblin's neck. By the way, the monster's eyes bulged, Nero guessed that Jorry had used bind to constrict its air flow.

Nero grinned, that was the pleasant part. Last night the pair hadn't been able to entirely give Jorry his spikes. The snake just didn't have enough mana to support such constructs without them being extremely feeble. Instead, they had compromised. As Nero held the club in place while the goblin desperately tried to pull it free from his grip, he saw spikes, off-white and jagged, sprout from Jorry's scales. They were only there for a moment, but that moment was long enough to gouge the monster's throat and send blood gushing from the wound.

The humanoid grunted in pain, unable to roar due to asphyxiation, and let go of its weapon to try and pry Jorry from its neck. That was the wrong move, without needing to hold the club, Nero let it fall to the forest floor. While the goblin's hand reached to its throat to try and pull Jorry off, Nero's clawed hands buried themselves up the knuckles in its gut. By that point, the fight was over, and it only took a few seconds for the enemy to kneel over, dead.

"Good work," Fishfood said once the goblin had died. Apparently, with Killer aiding his sister, the rest of the group had rolled up the remaining goblins while he was fighting. They had apparently decided against helping and had just watched. Hope quickly picked Jorry back up and snuggled the snake to her face, ignoring the blood that covered herself as she did so. "Don't forget to get proof of your kill. For goblins, it is their ears since they change depending on their levels the guild can know what level they were when they died."

Nero only listened with half an ear as something was bothering him. There was a taste on the air, one he didn't recognize. It was a strong one too, it overpowered the flavor of blood even though a considerable amount had been spilled. Looking at Jorry being tended to by Hope Nero decided to keep it to himself for now.

****