So after a bit of rest and relaxation and me having some private time with Louise, we eventually got back underway, and true to Max's boasts, we did immediately make pretty good time, in part because "the floozy"--Max's tube-dress wearing wizardess who banged that other guy in public and made everyone else grumpy, whose name was apparently Amy--apparently just had a big-ass Humvee in her inventory that she pulled out. Since it was hers, of course, she got to drive, while Max by some unspoken agreement manned a big ol' mounted crew gun on top. There was enough room for the rest of us inside, with Amanda riding shotgun and the paladin-type guy clammed up next to us like he wanted to forget that any of this was happening.

I considered asking him what his deal was, but honestly, Amy's driving was bad enough that even with telekinetic sense active I mostly just didn't want to do anything but cling to my seat. Although banging your head on things when we went over bumps didn't hurt too bad... the shock of it was disorienting, and feeling mildly helpless didn't help.

The second biome, fortunately, was pretty straightforward, at least on a speed-run like this.

Susie had talked me through it before, like she had talked through everything. The whole dungeon was a series of military scenarios, and this one in particular was attacking towns with slowly increasing fortifications and levels of military savvy. They had dungeon items and stuff, of course, but the first couple floors were relatively low tech levels.

This biome was actually pretty popular in terms of grinding for items, because the villages had dungeon item variants of non-weapons just kind of laying around--agricultural tools, carpentry tools, smithing tools, weaving tools, that kind of stuff. So, there were actually some people just kind of wandering around killing things and looting everything, which left the floor in a constant state of being solved, so the jump point for the next floor was open as soon as we got there. The next couple floors were similar, but Max at least had to touch the trigger a couple times.

By the time we hit floor 15, it was a little more complicated, though I didn't get a chance to taste any of that. We went through three defense camps to get to the village, two guarding a bridge over a river, while one guarded a gate through a long but not high wall. The village itself had a moat, which wasn't much use because we went straight through the main gate anyway. The village was also on fire, with one Dungoneer standing on top of a burning thatch hut and laughing maniacally as we passed.

Amy just honked as we passed, and Max waved at the guy, laughing. I... felt really uncomfortable with the whole thing, honestly. Susie and Louise didn't even really bother looking out the window.

Floor eighteen graduated to a scenario that actually forced us to leave the Humvee--specifically because the road was mined as it passed through a forest where gunmen waited in the trees. Presently, most of those enemy gunmen were dead, and again, there was a lot of fire going on, which is not what you normally want associated with a forest, but it wasn't a significant danger to us. Louise, like me, seemed bothered by the wanton-ness of the carnage, but Susie had clearly seen it before.

It wasn't an egregiously long trek through the section of mined road--maybe a mile, if that, enough time I started expecting Max to start doing Max-y things. Instead, he took point, hauling around a flamethrower that was about half as big as he was, intensely looking to the trees for any sign of an ambush. Stress, it seemed, even got him to shut up, which I suppose shouldn't be all that much of a surprise, but somehow it was.

And then we were past it and driving again, until we got to a relatively thin iron-plated gate, the last of the checkpoints before the village, which was not actually currently open--it was shiny as though it had just been respawned. I vaguely sensed Max pull something out of his inventory, and realized it had to be a bazooka only a few moments before he fired it.

And then we went through the gate, into a small group of people-shaped dungeon monsters. The efficacy of Max's mounted gun made me wonder if the Humvee was actually a relatively high level item, or maybe just the gun... or maybe, whatever Gunner class that Max had increased the damage of weapons he used? I still hadn't actually asked, and that kind of class couldn't keep relying on higher-power bullets or whatever forever, could they?

Anyway, the car slowed down enough that Susie got out and laid into the hordes with her own gun, which again was still enough of a powerhouse that the encounter was a joke.

"Damn, girl," said Max, apparently still focused enough on the combat to not get completely derailed. "That's a damn fine gun you got there. Can I borrow it?"

"Not a chance," replied Susie, instead climbing back in.

Max didn't stew on it, not least because he had to turn and shoot something else coming around a corner, but then we were on and moving again, and he put it behind him.

The village, again, was being actively looted, so the gate and the exit were both open, which left us headed straight for the boss floor without having done much, and having spent barely an hour. With just the three of us, it would have taken a lot longer just to walk through if nothing else, so I couldn't say I was disappointed.

Now, boss floors were one place where we couldn't just count on outside help--any particular group still had to clear the boss on their own, and there was a one-hour wait period after a boss' defeat. On a floor like this (and this was more Susie's knowledge than mine, though I'd heard the same stories before, mostly apocryphally) there might be long lines waiting for the next boss spawn, and groups squeezing as many people in that'd fit just so more people would get past it in one cycle.

In keeping with the general theme of the biome, of course, we had to first assault a castle.

We only took the Humvee as far as the front gate. Someone had opened up a hole in the gate large enough to walk through, but not drive, and after that, it was probably impractical anyway. So Max went through, this time with a pair of submachine guns with something clipped to the feeders that I assumed was magic, because when he pulled the trigger, those guns dumped out more bullets than could possibly have been stored inside.

The area on the other side of the gate should probably have been littered with corpses, if people were keen to leave those lying around. There were smashed parts of the scenery, but nothing of value; even Max, since he was solo-killing things, automatically picked up his spoils and didn't need to stop and recover them.

The main thoroughfare that led to the castle was reasonably empty, although some Platinum Knights rolled out of the alleys and side streets as we passed, along with a Drunken Brawler, who managed to dodge a lot of Max's gunfire, but Amy, their wizardess, cooked him with magic no problem. We didn't see anyone else, but there were signs of activity in other parts of the castle town--probably looters in places where there would be better stuff, since the only shops along the main street were an inn and a general store, which was completely smashed. Max didn't even spare a look at the place, and so I didn't investigate, figuring it had already been looted.

The castle town was closed off from the castle grounds by another gate, this one intact; Max again solved it efficiently with a bazooka. I thought that the paladin seemed like he wanted to cry as he watched the big medieval structure blasted apart, but he didn't say anything. I was getting the distinct impression he really didn't want to be a part of this group, and like us was tagging along for practical reasons, or else had been dragged into it somehow.

You're avoiding talking to someone new, again, pointed out Merry. I humored her by looking the guy over, but everything I saw in him screamed that we were different kinds of people and wouldn't get along. He had an incredible amount of tension in his face--from dealing with Max, in part, I'm sure, but also something else, like a deep-seated hatred or angst in him. I looked at him Max and Susie stepped through the new gap in the gates and addressed the people on the other side, but I couldn't shake my impression that we'd never be friends.

And yet, that's all, said Merry in my head, just as I was starting to discard the whole train of thought again. You may not be friends, but you aren't trying, like you're going to be hurt by the guy. You're scared, Jay, and that's no good. You can do better.

I considered that on the way into the castle, but I didn't... I wasn't really thinking... hard about it, you know? Somehow, I wanted the act of trying to make friends to be rewarding, and this... this didn't seem like it would be, even if I went out of my way. But at the same time, was that all part of the same bullshit? It had to be.

I got interrupted in the act of trying to make smalltalk as we rounded a corner and found a bunch of people standing around bullshitting, in what turned out to be a miniboss zone.

Somehow it took effort just to notice that I was tuning out the conversation as Max and Amanda greeted and bullshitted with them. Like... I knew I didn't care, but it was only this constant prodding from Merry that got me to realize that it was... well, out of my control, to a certain extent. I was antisocial, yes, but... was I really supposed to not tune out people talking if I...

...what exactly went at the end of that question? I shook my head, confused--or maybe, just repressing something. I wasn't... I mean, I wasn't deliberately...

Scared, yeah. And it was something like you hate them. I dunno, it might be your mental, uh, whatsit-skill? Not the one you got, the one you had. The ghost thing.

I... I took a deep breath and tried instead focusing on my Telepathy skill, knowing that all I was really interested in was a better look at what I might actually be sensing. Somehow, this use of the skill felt normal, natural--not even like slipping into a pair of glasses, more like wearing sunglasses to help you look at something too bright to see, before.

The first impression I got was from the paladin, and not because he was closest.

He seethed. Every moment he spent around Max and Amanda made him more and more disgusted not only with them, not only with himself, but with fate, humanity, the gods... or at least, that was the pattern of thoughts that rolled through his head. It took me a minute, but I realized quickly enough that he was trying hard to maintain a head of steam and rage, so that he wouldn't fall into depression.

Louise, nearby, was (as I kind of always figured) nervous, sometimes bordering on panic, but keeping control with some kind of faith. She glanced at me almost as soon as my attention landed on her, and I looked away immediately.

Max was Max. The things I'd seen in him--his inability to think about more than one thing at a time, his craving for attention, and his greed and need to swagger, all those were there overlaid on top of a real person. I couldn't see more of him from here, but I could see that there was more, which was all I could really expect from a passive use of the skill.

The others in his party were equally transparent, each in their own ways, and each (of course) had the core of a real person inside of them; the wizardess, who I might have thought would be a little deeper, really only seemed to be slightly more human, so it couldn't just be a matter of intelligence, though exactly what was involved, I didn't know. And each of them, except only the paladin, seemed to pulse at least a little in time with each other. They were friends, but more than that, they were becoming more like one another, adapting to being together.

Merry, apparently, was intrigued by this thought, and I felt her poking her way into my thoughts as I examined the results of the skill. Whatever I'd sensed, or understood from my senses, she didn't quite get, which was a little weird considering how often she understood my thoughts.

Not that weird, she answered, dismissively. I'm not you, I'm just riding around in your, uh, special-body. Dungeoneer thing. Your thoughts are here, and she kind of patted me, mentally, and I can kind of see them, but deep things are... deep, yeah? So I don't quite get what you're seeing, but... she nodded as she confirmed what she was looking for, I guess the beating-together thing is really there, yeah.

I studied what my telepathy told me, turning finally to Susie. She was... well, at least part of her was still obsessing over her temporary NPC girlfriend from the assault floors, while another had kind of built walls against Max, trying not to match his rhythm at all, and part of it was trying to figure out if I was going to be good for Louise... she was complicated, and I appreciated that.

Anyway, I'd once again managed to completely ignore what was actually being said, and we were moving past the group of people who'd been waiting on the miniboss, and we were heading into the castle proper.

There was a big entry hall, shiny where it wasn't destroyed or looted. A big staircase led to an open hall where a bunch of people were waiting in line for the boss fight to come off cooldown. Our timing was decent--the big clock was less than fifteen minutes--and the crowd was small enough that we'd presumably be able to fit into the boss room.

This time, some of the chatter did get my attention.

"Hey, man," said a guy close to the entrance, with slicked-back hair. "Guess what, we got a fuckin' show going on today."

Max, immediately, responded cheerfully. "Hey, what's going on! What kind of show?" And he moved forward to trade high-fives and fistbumps with the guy.

"Stupid dumbass in green over there wants to solo the boss. Might take a little longer, but eh, once he goes down we'll pull his ass out of the fire."

I looked over for the "dumbass in green", finding a man trying desperately not to freak out. He was dressed in gem armor from the first biome, I thought, and my telepathic sense told me he was focusing all of his efforts on not losing his nerve, and not thinking at all about the fight. I... I felt bad, watching him. As much as it stung to have people mocking him now, I also didn't think he'd win, which would just make it worse on the other side. And while I thought I might, maybe, succeed where he failed, that would do nothing for his pride, and also delay everyone else getting through by a long time.

At the same time, I hesitated to give him advice. I didn't know the boss coming up at all, and what good was general advice at a time like this?

"Are you okay?" Louise stepped up next to me. I started to study her with telepathy... but, aware she'd asked me to wait, turned off the skill, instead.

"Just a little upset." I shook my head. "I don't think he'll make it, but..."

The man in green snapped his head towards me, and he grit his teeth so hard you could hear it from ten feet away. "The FUCK do you know?" he shouted at me, and he picked up a big ol' broadsword that had to be twenty levels above anything I owned. "The fuck do ANY of you know? You don't know me! You don't know... fucking, solo diving! I can do this! It's fucking NOTHING!"

There were some muted laughs that distracted him, and a lot more eye-rolling. I just looked back at Louise and shrugged. "His head isn't in the game. Unless he already knows this fight by heart, he's going to miss cues and stumble into attacks he can dodge. A real challenge fight means total focus, and I don't think he'll get that back, not from where he is right now."

"You fought a boss solo, before?" asked slick, ignoring something Max was telling him.

"My entire first dungeon dive was solo," I summarized for him. "It's most of what I've done."

He didn't seem to believe me, which was fine. A part member of his, judging from her position, stepped up behind him and continued the conversation, though.

"I don't think anyone here would buy that shit for a minute," she said frankly, "since you're clearly being carried. The hell are you even in this dungeon for? You're under-level."

"I have a quest to get to the God's Tower."

"Yeah, but, if you're a solo diver, getting up to a reasonable level won't take you that fucking long. The experience bonus for an under-leveled solo kill on a boss is scary."

"I have my reasons." Reasons that I was less and less sure of, honestly, but it was a little late.

"Wanna spar? I promise not to kill you." She pulled something out of her inventory that was basically a double-ended poleaxe--the heads were positioned, on on either end of the pole, so that if you turned the pole in a consistent direction, it would hit with both blades.

I glanced at her level--72--and looked at Louise, but saw no reason to decline in her eyes, either.

"Sure." This wouldn't be easy, but... fighting Bo would be worse, one way or another. I might as well get used to it.