Scott glanced at his powers section briefly then groaned aloud as he remembered that he needed to purchase at least one boom seed and gravitas flower. The friendship flower would be cool, but he didn't feel the need to spend experience points on it at the moment.

He bought his mystical garden doping agents then opted to buy a few other odds and ends for adventuring. Mostly, he purchased general purpose healing tonics and antidotes since he would feel much less afflicted by taking those for normal aches and pains instead of popping a thousand point Ru-Ru nut every time he took an injury. He then left to go and finish up by purchasing more credits for bounty star then returned and brought up his status menu once more.

[Name: Scott Davidson]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Feral Earthling]

[Lifestyle: Shroom Soldier]

[Level: 14][9000.00/14000]

[EXP: 68000]

[Life Span: 1 Year]

Hit Points: 915/915

Feroki: 420/420

Floral Power: 504/504

[ATTRIBUTES]

[Strength: 7.50] | [Resilience: 6.00]

[Vitality: 7.50] | [Dexterity: 7.00]

[Concentration: 9.00] | [Charisma: 6.00]

FEATS

[Superior Developmental Training]

[Superior Feroki Ice Blast]

[Lunar Hit Point Regeneration]

[Senses of the Beast]

[Life Force Enhancement]

[Bestial Resolve]

[Mind of the Warrior]

[Soldier's Resolve]

[Improved Floral Power II]

[Improved Floral Power Regeneration II]

POWERS

[Gravitas Super Jump][FP: 3]

[Burning Smash][FP: 0.75]

[Feroki Ice Blast][Feroki: 6]

[==]

Weaker than before, but not a bad start when all things were considered, he surmised. "Better potential than either of my other bodies at least."

If someone were to look at his current capacity and compare it to his Feral Kai nature previously, they would call him a fool for thinking that his current form held greater promise. They would be wrong, however. It was not a serious issue before due to his lack of experience points, but now that he had managed to acquire a goodly number of them his former fears were made palpable. While there was no hard-cap on level growth, there was most definitely a soft-cap.

Scott ran a hand down his chest then nodded. "As powerful as it was, Ferakai Third Class was already approaching its first plateau at level seven. Earthling peaked several levels earlier."

The soft cap for any bloodline was reached when most of their possible feat upgrades were taken. Once that happened, they would have to rely on racial skills and lifestyle abilities to grow. With enough experience points those feats and skills could be acquired quickly. What would happen after that, though? Sure, he could splurge for low-end general skills but only so many of those were available and they did not cost much in comparison. Lifestyles could be upgraded, but that posed a problem. What body did lifestyle upgrades apply to now?

Prior to acquiring the Life Werx he had gained some experience toward his next level through lifestyle upgrades, but those upgrades did not increase his level after he changed to the Ferakai bloodline. He would need to test it, but all signs pointed to a situation wherein a lifestyle only increased the level of the bloodline that he currently utilized. Its power could be added to a different bloodline, but the experience went to one body alone.

"Level isn't everything, in fact keeping it as low as possible could be good. It keeps the difficulty level from artificially shifting to some degree," said Scott. "Does limit higher level feats from spawning, though..."

Everything was a trade-off. At higher levels new feats could appear for a bloodline or lifestyle. Getting past the soft cap would be a problem, once all of the inherent racial feats and skills were taken, but doing so could raise that cap a bit an allow for greater capacity. Generalist skills and lifestyle upgrades would be the only legitimate method for advancement for a time once the cap was reached, but he surmised that even those were limited in scope.

Scott slowly rubbed his chin. "So, do I put all of my future lifestyles on one body to try to squeeze out an extra level or two?"

In all honesty, it seemed wasteful. Scott dismissed the idea almost immediately as it would inevitably grant him nothing more than slightly enhanced energy levels and hit points for the trade-off of higher difficulty. A D-class difficulty mission for a level one or two champion could easily be seen as H-Class for someone who was level ten, yet there was no reason to believe that the level ten champion was actually better. More to the point, the true difficulty of the mission would not change. The only differences would be the rewards earned. A higher level champion might have to work just as hard as the lower leveled one, but would get paid less for the equivalent labor.

Scott performed something of a thought experiment in his head based on everything that he learned to date. The ramifications were just as unsettling as he first surmised during the first few days he spent in the game.

If a level one champion earned experience then spent it all on equipment and items, outside of whatever it took to reach a point just shy of perhaps level three, they could easily have access to abilities that trumped someone who spent all their efforts to get a stronger body.

His thought experiment continued. Who won in a fight? Would it be the basic Earthling with maxed stats for his race, a plasma rifle, grenades, power armor, and feats designed around maximizing those assets, or some random level ten generalist who indexed his abilities slightly more toward martial arts?

Sure, the other guy could break concrete with his fists, and perhaps even use a few ki blasts, but would they be able to take down a low-budget Master Chief? No. In all likelihood, short of using stealth tactics and guerilla warfare the martial artist would be torn apart with high-yield plasma fire or frozen in place with a grenade. The martial artist is stronger, but non-union parody Master Chief would have naught a single fuck to give for such things.

Not everyone would get something like the Ferakai bloodline through discount shopping, either. Scott would happily rate his former level seven Ferakai self against the low-end wannabe Master Chief mentioned before on any day of the week and take an easy win. He had similar equipment and superhuman ability to use it.

Most people, in fact, would only have access to low-end bloodlines like zombie or shroom. While his lesser finances prevented it somewhat at first, given the fact that he needed to buy things from the exchange, the moment he opened up Bounty Star Scott's actual level became largely superfluous. With enough credits he could buy a starship. All he would need to do is find a way to move it between worlds.

Who would care how well level ten guy could punch in the face of that, or even be concerned with a lesser version of someone like Waldo? Blast his ass from orbit with extreme particle death! Hell, even raging lunar-crazed giant Scott might not have been able to put out enough energy to blast a shielded starship out of the sky. Though, such a contest would be a toss-up between the ship's maneuverability and shield strength compared to the bestial senses of the enraged catdog.

"Crafty bastards," remarked Scott as he considered Team Devil and the game that they designed. On the surface it seemed like the simplest of situations. Complete missions. Get points. Spend those points to level up. He saw the trap for what it was early on, but it was only now that he had a new perspective on the situation that he truly saw it for what it had always been.

The gods of Team Devil acted exactly like their name-sake. They dangled the fruit of easy power in front of people. Those who took it were inevitably destroyed by it. The story missions alone would see to that, as they were the central location for all truly useful treasures or serious experience point gains. People would naturally opt to take them, all the while their inflated levels would cause the system to show a lower threat rating than the true danger that they faced.

Scott barked out a self-deprecating laugh as the nature of the trap became clearer to him now. He mimicked what he thought people might say in the situation if they relied entirely on feats, attribute improvements, and skill upgrades. "I'm strong! I can do this! Why am I dying? Tell my children I love them! No, not the face!"

Inevitably they would think too highly of themselves, choose a mission slightly more difficult than they usually perform, and then die horribly. Some would be like him, and cheese their way back to life in some manner. Most would not. It was practically a guarantee, given how people loved to become complacent. Not everyone suddenly tossed into a fresh new hell rose to the challenge and became a hero; not even the people who had actually done such a few times already!

He groaned loudly as the truth, or a possible truth, reared its ugly head. The entire game was actually about resource management. He suspected it before, but was certain of it now. He was not in a death game, though obviously he could die on any given mission. In fact, he had done so several times.

No. He was now certain that he was not taking part in a death game. If it were an actual death game, there would be no respawn mechanic at all! Given what he learned from Daedra, and how the game was set up, he came to a disturbing conclusion. "The whole damned thing is like the world's most ridiculously intricate job interview."

As absurd as the words sounded in his ears, they rang true in his heart. Champions were supposedly people who went into various system worlds and handled problems for the gods, according to local lore and Word of Daedra. Team Devil, in that regard, might be the equivalent of a divine conglomeration of employment and talent agency. Sure, there was a claim that they owned those worlds but was the meaning literal or were there semantics at play? He was not certain that the truth mattered much in the face of his current reality.

Whether Earth was saved in the end or not, the game runners gained access to cheap labor to fix their broken shit. The so-called gods also upheld their contract with the 'invading alien race' from his home reality, while the employment prospects were weeded out.

"Guess that's one reason why they are so persnickety about contracts and their approval ratings. Who wants to hire janitors and exterminators from a shady company with a poor reputation?" Scott wrinkled his nose then snickered softly. "No wonder they were so eager to hurl rewards and compensation at me. Their reputation is all important. Competition in that market must be fierce."

Even if his talent agency theory did not pan out, there was still the part about how they owned so many worlds. They might not be looking to hire talent to outsource, they might be looking for full-time custodial engineers to work on their corporate projects.

Either way, the game had to have achievable victory conditions, or no one would trust Team Devil to be proper arbiters. It had to be entertaining or they would not gain viewers and sponsors. It also had to provide actual use for the worlds involved. There were layers upon layers involved in the process, and they squeezed every useful drop from each asset that they owned.

Scott laughed a little and shook his head gently in wry amusement. He raised up his hand then loudly cried, "Behold the mighty cosmic janitor! Tremble before his scrub brush and mop bucket, of ye wicked ones."

After his amusement abated there was a brief moment were he considered the nature of levels and difficulty ratings. Despite the reiteration of those thoughts, he did not end up in a mental loop. Instead, his thoughts hopped off on a different tangent.

Now that he understood more of what the game was truly about, a lot of things made sense. Specifically, his thoughts on off-world items. "That's why non-treasure items were destroyed unless they were put into expensive storage boxes... They weren't limiting us to be cruel, merely adding a layer of difficulty for clever recruits to overcome."

"Do enough to earn a spatial storage perk, and it helps a little. Even so, it costs a small fortune to upgrade it to the point where you don't need a ton of storage boxes. It all came down to meritorious rewards for successfully completing certain missions... Clever bastards," said Scott as he considered all of the information that he had gathered over the course of the last few weeks. He probably knew as much about the system as any other Earthling alive at this point, and all signs pointed to the job interview theory.

"We're all basically paid interns for a multi-dimensional corporation... Is this damned game even winnable?" he asked himself quietly. It was a thought that he had not long ago, and after careful recollection and consideration he believed his answer to be the same. All things considered, it should be a winnable scenario, but would Team Devil really give up all of their cheap interns so easily?

Continuation of his current mental masturbation would lead only to madness. His thoughts had gone round and round for some time now. Scott chose, instead, to take a brief tour of his home point to see what else might have changed. There was little else different save for his loss of storage boxes and closets. "You know, I get the whole body reset thing and paid intern bullshit. That's consistent with what happened before, at least... but why take all of my damned storage boxes? Was it a tradeoff to keep my spatial storage perk?"

"Have to ask Daedra next time she pops up," he mumbled to himself as he headed back to Hellespont.

He thought about what he was doing for a moment while he stood in front of his apartment door then snorted out a short self-deprecating laugh. "Finally have some friends in this place, and I still spend most of my time talking to myself alone in the dark."

"Wonder if those weirdos will recognize me?" he asked aloud as he stopped short of his door. He put his hand to the entrance plate then grinned. "Well, my apartment remembers me at least."

One would think that it would not recognize his finger prints, or whatever it used to identify someone. However, he chalked it up to his champion status. Stuff like that would simply recognize him if he was authorized to use it.

"Hey Scott!" called out Kitty excitedly as she ran over to him. However, mid-bounding stride she skidded to a halt and looked up at him with wide and curious eyes. "You shrank!"

"Scott's back?" asked Samantha from the kitchen.

"The proprietor returns?" asked Vita as she came into the foyer.

"Scott, why are you wearing a dress?" asked Samantha as she rounded the corner that lead into the bedroom hallway.

"It's not a dress, it's a tunic," he retorted lightly.

Chaine peaked around from the other corner and eyed Scott curiously. He then glanced over to Vita. "What did you do to him?"

"Me? Is it my fault that he has developed an appreciation for proper fashion?" asked Vita with a snort. She crossed her arms and gave Chaine quite the look.

"Well, at least he's got armor on under his dress," groused Chaine.

"It's a tunic," said Vita coolly.

Kitty padded around to Scott's back then hissed. "Gone! It's gone!"

"What's gone?" asked Saelil as she finally joined the group, half-full wine glass in hand. She eyed Scott briefly then nodded. "I see that you finally begin to dress appropriately, beloved."

"Right?" asked Vita with a bob of her head. Saelil turned to look at her then nodded in kind. Fashion was important, after all.

"Gone! It's gone!" exclaimed Kitty with a heart-wrenching rrowl of despair.

"What's gone?" asked Saelil once again.

"The fluffiness!" cried Kitty. "Our special bond!"

Scott chuckled at her antics then nodded to the group. "Yeah, lost the tail."

"You lost your tail?" asked Vita, surprised one hand rising up to lightly obscure her mouth even as she acquired an unsettled expression.

"Did it get cut off?" asked Chaine, a slightly aggrieved look on his face.

"No. Not really," said Scott.

"What really, then?" asked Samantha. She walked toward him, her head cocked lightly to the side.

Scott glanced toward her then offered a wry smile as she came to a stop nearby. "You know how I sometimes disappear then reappear looking different than before?"

"You went on another adventure?" asked Samantha. "Without m— Us?"

Several eyes drifted toward Samantha, but Scott opted not to tease her about the possible Freudian slip. Instead he shook his head then said, "No. As it turns out, the situation is worse on Dead Men Walking than the so-called gods thought. The server has gone invitation only, though we're still invited. I lost the town we had there, though. Probably won't exist anymore."

"You had a town?" asked Vita.

"Yeah, technically owned a small one on that world," said Scott.

"A land owner? Interesting," she said, a certain sparkle in her eyes.

Chaine slowly slid his eyes toward her while his face remained directed toward Scott. Those eyes gazed at her for a moment then slowly slipped back toward Scott. He said nothing, however he did release a long-suffering sigh.

"So, how did you lose the tail?" asked Samantha.

"Gone..." whispered Kitty, as though she had lost her best friend, "All that fluffiness, just gone... Poof!"

"Compensation bonuses. The god of that world basically bought the town rights from me for a great price, and Team Devil offered to pay me off as well." Scott offered the pony-tailed wonder another light-hearted smile. "Figured accepting was better than getting nothing, so here I am."

"Their reward was to cut off your tail?" asked Chaine.

Kitty rose up on her hind legs and sniffed the air. "You smell wrong..."

"Then don't sniff that," said Scott with a snort.

She released another rrowl of displeasure then made a huffing noise. Her antics, the stuff of brief amusement, drew eyes away from Scott long enough for him to take a breath.

The random companions and house guests commented among themselves briefly, save for Samantha. She merely stared off into space as though she had something on her mind.

Eventually, the topic returned to Scott once more. Vita having asked him about his compensation.

"The god of that world bought out the town, like I said." Scott nodded to her then continued, "Team Devil offered to reset my status and destroy most of my items. Though, I would also get a legendary home upgrade as well."

"That doesn't really sound like compensation," said Vita.

"No. It doesn't" agreed Samantha coolly. She glanced toward Scott. "You took it anyway?"

"Yes, but not for those reasons." Scott grinned at her. "Initially, I was going to turn it down. Couldn't do much about the hub-town, but I could say no to further divine bullshit."

"What changed your mind?" pressed the blond bounty hunter.

"The wording of the message mostly. Some of my stuff wouldn't be destroyed, things bought with credits for instance. Though, that only seems to have applied to stuff not in storage at the time..." Scott tapped himself on the nose. "The big thing, though, was that they claimed I could purchase the system things that were destroyed."

"You liked the idea of buying back stuff that you already had?" asked Vita incredulously. "That's... Uhm."

Scott looked toward her then shook his head, his vividly blue hair shaking for emphasis. "No, but given the chance for a legendary item, I decided it was worth risking things on a gamble."

"See, when they discussed the re-purchase of items I recalled that once something ended up on the list it tended to stay there. I've never really seen a limit to the number of a specific item that I could buy." He raised his hand and waved one finger around like an orchestra conductor. "It would not be much compensation if I was forced to rebuy rewards they gave me without some hidden meaning."

"You're going to actually tell us this meaning at some point, right?" asked Samantha with a sigh.

He tilted his head toward her. "Yep. See, I figured that if they were going to make me pay for the purchase price of the items then it seemed likely that those items might remain on my list... and they did."

"From that smug smile of yours, I take it this is a good thing?" asked Samantha.

"Indeed it is!" Scott pulled out his revival token. "This might not mean much to you all, but I can buy revival tokens now. I can also buy the tickets and treasure map items I got earlier."

Saelil peered curiously at the token then offered him a beatific smile. "Is that so? That's wonderful, I take it."

"Even better than that, during the exchange restructuring a discount menu opened. I was able to buy back a lot of my old stuff for one point each." Scott offered her a cheeky grin. "I have some pretty expensive additions to my list, and honestly just having that was worth starting over again."

Scott continued to regale them with his epic tale and then explained his Life Werx. The reactions varied. Saelil seemed intrigued while Kitty barely noticed. She was too focused on his lack of a tail. Samantha's eyes narrowed slightly but she said nothing, while Vita and Chaine proved to be polar opposites of each other. He seemed slightly disturbed by the prospect, while she offered a warm smile accompanied by a twinkle in her eye.

Chaine spoke up, "I dunno... Changing bodies is a little weird, isn't it? I've had to go through that sort of thing a few times and it's never been fun."

He blinked then raised his hand up before recanting his words, "Well, not long term anyway."

"What's weird about it?" asked Vita in a huffy tone. "What if he needs to wear a disguise, or needs a certain skill set in a certain mission?"

"You're alright with this?" asked Chaine incredulously. "I mean, it's his life and all... I won't judge even if I'm a little confused by it, but you never struck me as the type to be so open about such things."

"Changing oneself to meet the needs of the mission makes perfect sense!" Vita stomped her foot at Chaine then crossed her arms over her chest imperiously. "He's done nothing wrong, and I applaud his efforts to think outside of the ordinary."

"You're pretty determined for some reason," said Chaine, his tone mildly suspicious.

Scott also briefly found it odd that she would be so open-minded given her status as both a princess and a somewhat haughty maiden. However, the way she carried herself in that moment so proud and erect made his eyes widen in realization. Did this beautiful, if odd, parody of Zelda also have a Sheik version of herself? Did she cross dress as a man, or flat out use magic to change herself into a dude? Not that any mere bit of cloth could disguise all that imperialist glory!

His lips quirked into a goofy grin as various iterations a Female-Sheik, or crossdressing Zelda, rule 34 fan art floated to the surface of his mind. The Internet did terrible, and well-received, things to the princess whenever possible.

Which was Vita? As a parody of overly sexualized dank meme Internet Zelda, was she a princess who dressed like a dude, or did she magic herself up a manly bod? The latter would be hilarious, but the former would be the answer to many of his childhood dreams. Nintendo stated Zelda was the former, but what did Vita decide? Despite her nature as an apparent parody of the source material, she was still her own person.

Of course, she could always just be a forward thinker. He did not actually know her that well, outside of the eye-popping nudity and her quirky absurdities.

The discussion continued on for a time, inevitably petering out. Scott looked more or less the same as before, though somewhat smaller over all. In the end, the only one who could not accept the situation was Kitty.

She meowed plaintively and followed Scott around the apartment, a look of utter despair on her feline face. Eventually, he picked her up and lightly stroked her fur, but she proved inconsolable.

Finally, having had enough of her depressing antics, Saelil acidly said, "Will you cease that pernicious caterwauling? I can't even think!"

Kitty snapped back, her eyes wide and her words catching slightly in her throat due to her feline despair, "Can't you see that I'm in mourning!"

"He's not dead," said Saelil with a sigh.

"It was so young! So fluffy!" retorted Kitty. "We were tail-buddies, our mutual fluffiness was legend! Now it's gone..."

"Well, if he doesn't excite you anymore..." said Saelil with a hint of smugness in her tone.

Kitty hissed at her then pawed menacingly at the air. "I've already lost the best part! You'll take nothing else!"

Scott quirked an eyebrow. "My tail was my best part?"

The aggrieved cat disregarded his attempt at questioning her motives, and wriggled free from his grasp. She quickly padded over to Saelil, her hackles raised. "Let's do this! Rrowl."

"Do what? You're a little short for my tastes, flea bag," replied Saelil in a light and merry tone.

Scott rolled his eyes then chuckled softly. Let them have their fun. It was better than either of them moping around the house. Saelil had been strangely reserved since earlier when she had her headache.

He looked over to see Chaine and Vita, each sitting in different locations, but both watching television. It was some show about albino turtle-slugs mating, or something.

"Nature is just lovely..." he remarked as the slimy critters writhed atop each other while they unleashed cries reminiscent of one of those screaming goats on the Internet. How a slug could scream was anyone's guess, but nature had followed Jeff Goldblum's advice from Jurassic Park and found a way.

Everyone else occupied, Scott headed off to the bedroom. Inside he discovered Samantha resting atop the bed. She held one arm over her forehead while she looked up at the ceiling.

"Credit for your thoughts?" asked Scott softly.

"My thoughts are worth far more than that," she quipped lightly. Her good humor quickly died, however.

"Something wrong?" he pressed.

"Honestly?" she asked without looking at him.

"I'd appreciate it," he said.

She took a breath then sat up, her ponytail flapping around in time to her movements to land across her shoulder. "If you mean that, then come with me to my ship alone."

"No problem," said Scott.

"You'd leave everyone just like that?" she asked him curiously. Her eyebrow quirked upward and she leveled a narrow-eyed look in his direction. Those eyes judged him silently while she awaited his reply.

Scott squinted at her in approximation of the expression she held then offered a grin. "You planning to steal me, or something? I wander off alone all the time."

She snorted slightly then offered him a gentle smile. "True," she said. The smile shifted to a placid expression that showed little emotion. "Come on then, if you're so interested..."

They headed out, only stopping briefly to answer a quick question in regards to their intentions. Saelil and Kitty seemed mildly put out, but they would live. Samantha clearly needed to get something off of her chest, and it was obvious even to those two that it was a private affair.