With 20/20 hindsight, I can pretty safely tell a couple reasons why Gertrude couldn’t be the [Demon Lord]. I’ll let you in on the most obvious one. It is best if the [Demon Lord] is actually beatable. Gertrude’s battle prowess mixed with her own secret blend of crazy would probably have led to nothing but the entire realm being filled with scorched earth as she slaughtered anything that moved from one end of the realm to the other.

Yes, she still scares me to this day. No, I do not have recurring nightmares about her… I don’t sleep after all.

But enough about the grandma of my non-existent nightmares. Let’s catch up with the rest of the party.

---

As amusing as the scene would’ve been for Garrett to be teleported into town while he was still in a screaming [Rage] from his last kill, unfortunately, the time that he got to spend looking at skill options before being transported gave him time to calm down. And also pick up the [Greateaxemanship] skill. A purchase that made him pause and do some quick mental math. Wait a second. I had 8 skill points at level four. That’s 2 per level. I purchased [Rage], and then I was at 3. But I hit level 5, spent another 5 points, and I still have 5 left over? Do you get extra for hitting level 5 or something? He mulled it over while he still had his hand on the obelisk. I guess I can check with everyone else.

His sudden appearance startled a boy who was using a wheelbarrow to move some cut logs. The wheelbarrow fell over, and the logs spilled out on the ground.

Before Garrett could do anything, the boy ran off, yelling, “Dad! Dad! There’s another one!”

Another one? Ah. Jake and the others must be nearby. He confirmed it by closing his eyes and trying to locate the party and noticing that they were close. He even noticed Lindsey suddenly behind him. “Well, except for Titus, the gang’s all here. Wait, are we missing a member?” Garrett did a quick headcount and realized Megan was missing. Hope she hasn’t gone [Rogue]. He chuckled to himself.

Garrett walked over and began picking up the logs and putting them back in the wheelbarrow when he suddenly felt the party coming towards them. And one of them was coming in way faster than the others.

“LIIIIIIIIIIINDSEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” A certain cat-eared [Sorcerer] yelled at the top of her lungs as she charged the [Knight] at full speed. She leapt towards the [Knight] at the last moment in a move that Garrett wasn’t sure whether it was a hug or a tackle. The bunny-eared [Knight] wasn’t phased though and had already been materializing her shield. She stood her ground, and Sam got a shield right into her stomach. You could practically hear the air leave Sam’s lungs as she hit the ground.

Garrett and the rest of the party that had been following behind her stared at them both baffled. Sam held up a hand. She gasped out, “Don’t worry. I’m fine.” She sucked in some air. “I forgot. No glomping in public.” At that, Lindsey nodded and then grabbed her hand to help her up.

Then like nothing happened, the two had their own guarded conversation. Fairly literally. Since Lindsey had her shield out, she used that instead of just holding up a hand to whisper to Sam. And for once, Lindsey was doing most of the talking, and Sam was mostly just providing commentary.

“Oh, no! How terrible!”

“Aww, how sweet.”

“No way. He didn’t!”

“With his bare hands?!”

Garrett was grateful that his greeting wasn’t a full-speed tackle. Jake just walked up to him while stumbling a bit, gave him a hug, and said, “Good to see you made it old-timer! You had me worried!”

Garrett gave Jake a small noogie. “Oh, you know. Us sage types have to take our time. Makes us seem extra mysterious.” He released Jake and asked, ”And how did you hit level 6?”

“I must’ve hit 6 from whatever you were fighting, so I guess you will have to tell me!” Jake grinned. “But that can wait a bit, this village is throwing us a feast! All of us are helping out, so why don’t you and Lindsey pitch in too?”

“Sounds like a plan. Who is in charge here?”

Jake pointed to the slightly trembling [Village Elder]. “Wilfred is. He should be able to help you find something to do.”

Garrett towered over Wilfred, but he tried his best not to be threatening. He held out his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Garrett the [Berserker].”

To his credit, Wilfred took the hand without backing down and replied, “It is a pleasure. With a physique like that, you could probably help out our [Lumberjacks]. We were planning on having a bonfire to go with our feast tonight.”

“I would be happy to help.” Garrett nodded to Jake, “We’ll catch up later. I bet you have some stuff to fill me in on, too.”

Jake nodded, “Yep, quite a bit, but tonight should be a perfect time to do that. That and if Titus shows up in time, maybe we can all hear the prophecy together!”

Of course, there is a prophecy. Garrett sighed. I never did like that trope. I hope we can puzzle out what it means before the ambiguous wording inevitably bites us. However, Garrett didn’t worry about it for too long. He walked alongside a cart that they took out into the woods and soon was busy with the business of falling trees.

The rest of the party also was busy with their preparations, and their peaceful day passed quickly.

----

Unlike the others, Megan’s day passed slowly. When the other party members had been parcelled out among different houses to sleep in relative comfort, Megan instead had to forfeit all of her stolen goods to what passed for the town [Guards] and then sleep on a rough cot in a jail cell. I didn’t even think they would have one. How did they use to punish thieves in our world… That brought up an unpleasant thought. Didn’t they use to chop off their hands!?

She got up and examined the simple cell. This doesn’t seem like it is meant to hold people long term. Maybe I can find a way to escape? She studied the lock on the cell door. Lockpicking had never been her strong suit. She always found it much easier to just swipe a key first, so she had serious doubts she could make it out.

And even if I did pick it and get out. Then what? I end up as a fugitive with no food and no idea where to go. I don’t even know where I would go! She berated herself for almost going out on yet another half-cocked scheme.

She stopped thinking of ways to escape and instead just looked around the jail. Then she saw the simple lamp on the table. And she wanted it. She had to have it.

“Again? Already?” Megan sighed and put her back to the cell door to try to pretend the lamp didn’t exist. It didn’t work. She still wanted it. Badly. Exasperated, she slid down to the floor and put her head in her hands. They fixed Tim’s physical issues when they brought him here, why do I feel like my problems got worse?

----

Jake was amazed that the preparations were able to be completed before nightfall. When he saw that they were in a small medieval village, he really didn’t expect much when they said they would throw a feast. His meager expectations were greatly surpassed.

A roaring bonfire had been lit near the obelisk. Tables had been dragged out into the town square, and nearly every single one of them was filled to the brim with food. It was all relatively simple. Simple meat dishes like beef and pork, pies for dessert, and then some fresh fruit. The thing that was most surprising for Jake was that none of the fruit that was available was any special fantasy world fruit or anything. He was kinda bummed but tried to be optimistic. That doesn’t mean special fantasy fruit doesn’t exist! There’s still hope it is out there!

Jake and the rest of the party loaded their plates up with food. He eyed Garrett’s plate that was heaped full of meat with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, old man, weren’t you always getting on my case about eating my fruits and veggies?”

Garrett just laughed. “It’s a feast! And I feel like this new body needs a lot of protein anyway.” He looked over at Sam’s plate that contained only pie. A whole pie. “Nevermind, I think she’s got the right idea!”

Lindsey, who had a much more balanced plate, leaned over and took a spoonful of Sam’s pie. Sam covered her plate with her arms and hissed while Lindsey just grinned. That gave Garrett his opening, and he stole a spoonful too. Sam’s noises of consternation caused the entire party to laugh.

Jake chuckled too. It’s good to see everyone getting along. He thought for a second. You know, maybe losing two party members was for the best. Megan obviously can’t be trusted, and I feel like Titus might end up a liability despite his best efforts-

Jake was startled out of his thoughts by a cough. He turned around to see Wilfred standing there with one of the [Guards]. “[Hero] we brought a copy of the prophecy that we mentioned earlier. As I said, it is... Oddly specific. I thought it best if you and your party took a look at it since I doubt you would take my word about it.” Jake reached out a hand to grab the scroll, but the elder held it away from him. “Please don’t touch it with dirty hands. I will lay it out on the table.”

Jake nodded, “Got it. Hey everyone! Gather around, and let’s read this prophecy about us or whatever.” The group huddled up around the scroll. And read it. Then they read it again.

“Thoughts, anyone?” Jake murmured.

“Well, he wasn’t lying when he said it was oddly specific,” Garrett said.

At the top of the scroll, this was the first line. “The [Hero] prophecy as written down by the [High Priest] Edward.” There was a bunch of introductory drivel after that the party didn’t really care about, but then it got interesting. “...and after my 7th hour of [Meditation], I received the clearest prophecy from System I have ever received. I noted it down as follows.

‘Listen up because I won’t repeat myself. You have a [Hero] coming into the world soon. Yes, that is a class. His name will be Jake, and he will show up in a remote part of the Vir empire. This should concern you because a [Demon Lord] who will threaten the world will be coming to the world soon after. And yes, that is also a class.

What does the [Demon Lord] want? Well, he wants to activate each of the four dungeons for the elements. He will try to enable them in this order. Earth, which will be found in the deep swamps to the south. Water, which will be found in the farthest reaches of the frozen north. Fire, which will be located in the largest volcano to the east. And finally, Air, which will be found on the top of the mountains in the center of the realm. If he succeeds in activating those 4 dungeons, then he will be able to open a portal to the demonic realms in the far west in the ashlands.

Him succeeding is obviously a very bad thing. That’s where the [Hero] comes in. The [Hero’s] quest will be to travel to the elemental dungeons and beat the [Demon Lord] to activating them. If he activates even one before the [Demon Lord], the portal will not be able to open.

Got all that? Good. Now, this message will need to make it out to the [Hero], so make sure to send a copy to each village in Vir. Don’t skip any no matter how small.

And this part is for you [Hero]. Don’t you dare leave town without your entire party. That includes your [Berserker], [Knight], [Cleric], [Wizard], [Sorcerer], [Rogue], [Ranger], and even your [Half-Demon]. Don’t think you can skip town and start your adventure without one of them.

I feel like I am forgetting something... Oh yeah. Back to you [Pope] guy. About 1000 adventurers are going to be popping up in towns across the world. They are going to be utterly unused to your culture and also way stronger than you. Also, dungeons will be appearing around the world, and more monsters will be spawning than before. Good luck with that.’

Needless to say, I was perplexed by the address of [Pope], among other things, but...” The [High Priest] had some extra rambling at the end, but the party mostly just ignored it.

Garrett noticed the sour look on Jake’s face. “What’s the matter, Jake?”

Jake sighed. “It sounds like we are being shoe-horned into keep Megan in the party. I really don’t like the idea of having someone we can’t trust around.” Jake looked back over the prophecy. “Well, it does just say that we shouldn’t leave town without her. Maybe we leave town and then drop her off at a jail somewhere else or something?”

The [Village Elder] turned a bit white at that. “You… You wouldn’t, would you [Hero]? The [High Priest] even mentioned his interpretation that it would take your entire party to save the world from the [Demon Lord]!”

“Where did he say that?” The Wilfred pointed towards the boring bit at the end of the prophecy. “Oh. So he does say that.”

Jake turned and addressed the party. “Well. That barely sounds like a prophecy, but I guess it was pretty dang clear. Since we have to wait to go on our adventure until Titus is out anyway, I say that we leave Megan locked up til then. After that, we head out to the Earth dungeon. Anyone have any problems with the plan?” His question was met with nos, and head shakes. “Alright, then for now..” Jake grinned. “We enjoy the feast!” The party cheered and went back to the joyous work of consuming a large amount of food.

Meanwhile, Jake examined the party screen where he saw Titus’ name and the option to kick him, currently his only connection left to the missing party member. I hope everything is going alright with you, Titus.

----

Things were not going alright with me. After Gertrude had left and I was back on my own, I went back to the spot with 4 ants and tried to farm them. It went fine, except I didn’t realize how low on HP I got after several rounds. Usually, that wouldn’t be much of a problem since I would just die and go back to the obelisk. However, something awkward happened.

I was down to my final HP, not that I could tell, and I was swinging at the last ant in the room as it was going in for a bite. The bite and my punch both landed at the same time. The ant disappeared, and I fell to the ground, unable to move.

With no enemies around, I opened up my status and saw my HP was staying exactly at 0 HP. Isn’t it supposed to decrease when you are... The light bulb came on. Oh no. It decreases if you are below 0 HP. I am exactly at it. Am I stuck like this? No, it should be fine, the next set of 4 ants will respawn, and they will finish me off, right?

I waited a few minutes for them to respawn. Nothing. I’m pretty sure they would be back by now if they were going to spawn at all. I started shouting. “Hey, uglies! I’m in here! Come and get me!”

Eventually, my yelling did end up attracting some ants. 3 elite ants to be precise. As they entered the room, I stopped shouting. “Just my luck. The only ones that actually hurt when they kill me!” They meandered slowly over to me. “Come on! Get it over with!” I started shouting at them again, but they still just slowly walked over to me. When they finally killed me, it took only 5 attacks. 5 painful pincer attacks.

I was still screaming when I respawned back at the obelisk. I will kill those insignificant bugs! My thoughts immediately turned to revenge, but common sense managed to get in control just in time. Wait wait. Slow down. I won’t be able to hurt them. They will just stay black, and I won’t be able to damage them. That thought depressed me further. If I can’t kill the elites, how will I get to level 5 then? I sighed. That can be future Titus’ problem, I guess.

First step, level 2. Which I am guessing will take me dozens of ants, even with me getting all the experience. That turned my thoughts to the party. Wait. Or am I? Are they siphoning off my XP? I know that I didn’t get XP when they kill stuff, but do they get XP when I do? I opened up my status and stared at the option to leave the party. What do I gain from being in this? They can’t see my status. I don’t get XP. Is there any reason I need to stay? I scratched my head and racked my brain for any merits. It might change where the tutorial sends me? If there are multiple outside spawn points, then it would make sense to group players by party... But that’s a major if. I have no idea what happens to people when they leave.

I kept thinking and then remembered the obelisk. It killed me because I tried to claim it when I was in the [Hero’s] party. If I wasn’t, maybe I could access it? It’s settled. I left the party. A part of me felt like I had made a mistake, but I was more curious if there were any upgrades I could get.

I walked over to the obelisk, put my hand on it, and intoned the magic word. “Upgrade.”

System: This obelisk does not belong to an allied faction. Would you like to claim it?

Yes.

System: Initiating claim

It took a second, but it succeeded, and I got another notification.

System: Zone, Tutorial Cave, has been claimed by the Demon Lord Faction

System: Warning! Obelisk is locked into training mode

Huh. I wonder what training mode means? Oh well. Let's check out the upgrades!

Choose which points to spend:

Skill Points (0 remaining) - Error, skills locked

Spell Points (0 remaining) - Error, spells locked

Class Perk Points (0 remaining)

Well, that’s disappointing, but I can’t say unexpected at this point. I closed out of the obelisk. So my only options left are... Git gud, I guess?

I walked back to the four ant room and did some thinking about my strategy. What are my main goals here?

I came up with a rough list that was something like this.

Don’t run out of HP Don’t run out of SP Kill enemies

Yes, listing out this incredibly simple list made me feel like I was an idiot. However, it’s not like that was anything new. The surprising thing was that it was actually helpful. You know… If I didn’t have to worry about number 2, I would be able to play the fights a lot safer. I could dodge around plenty and not worry about kiting. If only there was a way to keep track of it in combat...

Then the lightbulb went off, and I felt like even more of an ignoramus. My palm met my forehead with enough force that I actually lost a hit point. “You can still open your status-“ I growled and closed the opening screen, “in combat Titus. You have had a way to check your SP all along.”

I tried jogging to the cave while opening and closing my status to try it out. It wasn’t as simple as I hoped. “Okay, and check… Now! Status!” I tripped as the screen came up and I could no longer see where I was going. I looked over my status while sprawled out on the cave floor. Yep. 148 SP. I closed it.

I tripped three more times out of four on my way to the room. Honestly, I was shocked that I managed to keep my feet even once.

When I reached the room, I let my SP recharge and tried to practice opening and closing my status as fast as possible. I got it down to half a second at best. It’s weird because you have to think status- It popped open. Ugh. I closed it. You have to say or think the word to open it, but closing it doesn’t have a word? Just a general desire to want it closed?

I kept practicing a bit more and then noticed my SP was back to full. Though I was missing a single HP from my facepalm earlier. Well, no time like the present, I guess. I charged into the room and engaged the first ant.

I did my usual kiting strategy, but I paused for a second to check my status after I got my first kill. That second was just enough for one of the ants to grab my right arm, and another ant to grab my left arm.

System: You are grappled and cannot move

Biting back several curses that wouldn’t have come out right anyway, I saw the 3rd ant approaching me from the front. Didn’t Garrett mention Lindsey breaking grapples like this? I tried to leap up off the ground and then off the ant. Instead, it caught my foot. I was now being held in the air by my left arm, my right arm, and my right foot.

You would think that would be horribly uncomfortable, but it wasn’t doing any damage, so I was actually fine. Well, mostly. I was stuck awkwardly kicking the ant in front of me with my left foot until it finally died.

“Well, it appears we are at an impasse.” I glared at the ants who had both my arms grappled. I pondered what to do and checked my status, and saw I still had 76 SP left. A little more than half after all that? And I have only gotten hit.. 3 times. Wow. Say what you will about what that crazy woman put me through, but it definitely helped. I frowned as I thought a bit more. If I take 3 damage killing 4 ants... Then I am dead with my current HP after 133 ants. I might have to kill more than that to hit even level 3... Unless I was right about the party siphoning my XP. Either way, I really need to avoid chip damage better.

I finished my musing and looked at the ants that were still staring at me and not doing anything besides holding my arms. “You guys are really dumb, you know that?” But here I am caught by you, so what does that make me? I wondered what to do for a bit before deciding I could try Lindsey’s move anyway. I was just going to try it without a springboard in the form of an ant.

I put my right foot forward and attempted to do a backflip. It went.. Poorly. I barely got any momentum before the ants arrested it and caused me to fall flat on my back to the floor. The good news was that my fall ended up doing what the flip couldn’t and broke their hold on me.

I managed to curl my legs up to avoid their next grapples and turned it into an awkward backward somersault. After that, I popped back up to my feet. It took a while since I was playing it as safe as possible, but I still had 35 SP to spare at the end of it all.

I grimaced. 4 down. Who knew how many I had to go. I walked back to the hallway to rest and mentally prepared to fight the same enemies over and over again.