Now some of you may be thinking, “You are just now getting the ants figured out? After 7 chapters worth of tutorial?” And the problem is that before I came to the new world, I wasn’t much of a fighter or a tactician.

The only thing I had ever taken a swing at were those punching bags at the arcade that rate your hit (which I never got a high score on).

And for tactics, the closest I got to that was playing chess or strategy games. And I was only decent at those. In chess, I was good enough to stomp the average person who didn’t play chess, but also bad enough that pretty much anyone who had an actual ELO rating would stomp me. The same was true with strategy games. I was better than average, but that still left me a far, far, ways away from the foresight, planning, and skill level that people at the top of the ratings would show.

So yes, it did take dozens of deaths before I finally figured things out. But I did it! Go me!

----

Jake was having a fairly lazy morning. The village wasn’t entirely sure what to do with the adventurers, aside from Garrett who seemed to have been claimed by the [Lumberjacks], so Jake was content to just walk around for a bit.

Not to say that there wasn’t a bit of excitement that morning. Jake had woken up early to a notification that Titus had left the party. A hastily called team meeting determined there wasn’t really much to do about that. It didn’t affect that much since Titus was barely in the party according to the system anyway, but the primary concern was what to do if he ended up spawning in another village. The solution they came up with was to send a [Messenger] to the capital with the message that basically boiled down to, “Lost [Half-Demon]. If found, return to Faroff.” They would have sent it with the [Message] spell, but it turns out that only bigger towns and cities tended to have someone capable of casting that.

Just for kicks, Jake decided to check up on everyone. We have.. Garrett off in the forest. Lindsey and Sam over in one of the houses. Andrew and Tim in another. Where is Emilia at?... Also off in the forest? Huh. I wonder if the [Hunters] actually managed to talk her into going out with them.

Then Jake noticed Garrett’s HP drop just the slightest margin. He laughed it off. Be careful how you swing that axe you big lug. Then it dropped again. Jake’s smile vanished. A third drop and Jake was already sprinting towards the forest and calling out the alarm. “Party! To the forest! To Garrett! He’s in trouble!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jake took a second to marvel at his new body. I feel like I am almost as fast as a professional sprinter. And I don’t get tired until my stamina starts running low. These new bodies are insane.

System: Zone entered, Faroff Forest. Faction - Neutral

Jake kept running down the road and noticed one of the villagers was running back towards the village. The villager called out, “Help! Monsters! They have the [Lumberjacks] pinned down! The big guy was trying to stop them, but- ”

Jake was surprised by a notification.

System: Quest offered. “Save the Faroff lumberjacks!”

Quest details - The lumbering party from Faroff is under attack from monsters! Defeat all attacking monsters and save the lumberjacks!

Reward: None

Decline/Failure: None

Jake didn’t even slow down. He shouted as he ran past. “On it! Go back to the village and warn them! Make sure the rest of my party is coming!”

System: Quest Accepted

At the bottom of his screen, he now saw the text. “Kill Monsters: 4/25.” Doing good work, Garrett, but you won’t last at this rate. Garrett had lost almost half his HP. If only I knew exactly where the monsters were at! He tried to focus on Garrett’s location, but it was a bit vague at this distance and also hard to focus on when sprinting. Com’on! Work with me stupid game!

Then Jake remembered his perk that he had purchased. He opened his status and practically screamed. “Map!” It activated and gave him a minimap on his screen that started displaying red dots. He corrected his course and started heading towards the closest of them. That was close, the road would have taken me the long way!

Jake started running through the woods and soon heard the sounds of Garrett’s [Rage] induced yelling. He ran into the clearing and was almost stunned by the sight. Garrett was surrounded by more than a dozen black-furred wolves with his back up against a tree. Unlike what Jake had thought, it didn’t look like he was enraged. He was instead yelling to intimidate the wolves, but it didn’t look like it was doing much. They would back down for a second after he yelled, but they would form back up around him immediately after. The bodies of four wolves to the side showed the cause of the uneasy stalemate.

Up in the trees were the [Lumberjacks], and their discarded axes littered the ground. Jake was relieved that they were safe, and he could focus on the enemies.

Until he saw a flash of fur, and suddenly, one of the [Lumberjacks] that was on a very low branch was swept off. The helpless logger fell to the ground and was soon pinned by massive paws. Jake honestly mistook the monster for a bear at first since it was just so big. Before he could question what it was, the system interjected.

System: Quest Updated

The new readings were now, “Kill Dark Wolves 4/24. Kill Alpha Dark Wolves 0/1.” Jake was stunned. Until the alpha bit the defenseless lumberjack in the neck. He went still but began screaming.

That snapped Jake out of his reverie. Save him! You have to get there before the next bite! Jake started sprinting and pulled out his sword. He yelled out at the alpha, “Hey, ugly! Over here! Try me on for size!”

The alpha did turn to look at him with his merciless red eyes but turned back to his prey as if Jake was insignificant. No, no, no! I won’t make it in time! And even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to kill it fast enough!

He was 40 feet out. Then 30. The alpha went in for the final bite.

Com’on! System! I’m the [Hero]! Isn’t there a special ability I could have to stop it!? Please! Some way to kill evil like this with one strike!?

To his utter shock, the system responded. The world felt like it was going in slow motion.

System: Heroic Mentality detected. “Defeat Darkness with a single blow”

System: Heroic skill unlocked. Sunder

Yes! Bits of knowledge about the skill were just suddenly there. He was 25 feet away, and the alpha had put its jaws around the man’s neck. Jake started charging the skill, and electricity started arcing around his sword.

Just a bit closer! 20 feet away. The alpha’s jaws were starting to clamp. There! “[SUNDER]!” There was a sound like a thunderclap, and Jake crossed the remaining distance in an instant. His sword sliced through the alpha, or as much as the censored game world allowed, and Jake came to a stop a few feet behind it.

Please tell me it was enough. Please, please, please. Almost hesitant to look, Jake turned to see the alpha still on top of the man. Oh no. I was too late. I wasn’t strong enough. Jake almost collapsed to his knees out of despair, though the hefty stamina cost didn’t help there either.

He was brought out of his pity party by a voice beneath the alpha. “Would you hurry and get this thing off me?!”

The quest counter ticked up. “Kill Alpha Dark Wolves 1/1.”

The entire clearing, including the wolves, was staring at the slain alpha. Garrett took the opportunity to cleave through 2 more dark wolves with a single swing. He called out to Jake, “About time you showed up! What’d you do? Stop for a nap along the way?”

“Kill Dark Wolves 6/24.” The counter ticked up again.

Jake shoved the alpha off the villager and helped the man take a drink from his health potion. Some of the wolves broke off from Garrett and started circling him.

“Us young’uns need our beauty sleep. Not that an old fossil like you would know!” Jake helped the villager to his feet and motioned for him to stick behind him. Then Jake warily approached the wolves that had encircled Garrett. Jake kept his sword pointed outward towards the wolves, and kept switching between them to keep them at bay. The wolves seemed content to let Jake and his follower get through to Garrett and then surround them again.

“What’s their deal? They haven’t attacked me once yet.” Jake puzzled aloud to Garrett.

“They are smart little guys. They’re waiting for an opening. In fact, I took most of my damage helping everyone up into the trees.” Garrett said without taking his eyes off the wolves.

“Ah, so if I were to help this guy up into the tree, they would probably attack me?”

“Yeah, but no need just yet. We have reinforcements on the way.”

Jake focused on his party members but decided against closing his eyes. He could indeed feel them approaching. “So, we just stay in our standoff ‘til they get here?”

“Sounds good to me.”

The first one to announce their arrival was a certain elven [Ranger]. “[Double Shot]!” From one of the trees a hundred feet away came two speeding arrows that stuck into the wolves nearest to Jake. The counter jumped up to 8.

“Now!” Jake shouted. He turned his back on the wolves and helped the lumberjack into the tree. As the people in the tree reached down to help him up, two wolves jumped at Jake’s exposed back.

Garrett was able to kill one of them in midair, but the other got through and latched onto Jake’s back with its teeth.

Jake shook it off and flung it back into the sea of wolves. Meanwhile, Garrett was struggling with two of his own until another shot from Emilia took them one of them out. Wow. Nice shooting, Emilia!

Jake’s admiration was cut short by a shout across the clearing. “Tada! Sam, the stupendous [Sorcerer], is here! Eat this, you mangy mutts! [Quick Cast]! [Earth Bolt]! [Fire Bolt]!” Both bolts flew true, and two more wolves were slain. The counter was now up to 13 of 24. The remaining 11 wolves all decided to charge the [Sorcerer]. After a stunned second, Jake and Garrett both followed on their tail.

“Oh, no! Who will save me?” Sam cried in fake distress as Lindsey walked up beside her. “Oh, brave [Knight]! Won’t you rescue this damsel in distress?”

Lindsey just rolled her eyes and whispered a barely audible. “[Guard].” One of the dark wolves thought they had an opening on Sam and lunged at her, but Lindsey and her shield whipped around in front of it with supernatural speed. She blocked three more wolves like that before Jake and Garrett managed to catch up.

As Garrett and Jake slew one apiece with violent swings and the counter ticked up to 15 of 24, the wolve’s morale broke. They took off away from the [Hero] and [Berserker] and ran away, back towards the village.

“We have to stop them! Hurry!”

The party charged after them, but the wolves beat them to the road. Where a [Cleric] and [Wizard] saw them while coming from the other direction. “Okay, Tim, remember. Make sure that there are no allies in the way.”

The tiny [Wizard] didn’t respond and simply sniffed imperiously and then started casting. “[Overchannel]. [Fire Bolt].” The wolves saw the magical buildup too late and tried to run. They couldn’t outrun the spell, though. The enlarged bolt of fire flew and hit directly in the center of the group. Everything within a 10-foot radius was immolated.

Jake whistled as the kill counter ticked up. Dang, isn’t that way bigger than last time? At this rate, Tim might become the most dangerous of us all. He finally remembered where they were. Wait, won’t that start a forest fire!? Fortunately, Jake’s concerns were unwarranted, and the fire immediately died down. Oh, I guess game logic is helpful sometimes.

“That was amazing! How do I become a [Wizard]!?”

Jake was surprised at the young voice that came out of the woods before he noticed Jack, the [Village Elder’s] son, was hiding behind a tree and had watched the tail end of the fight. Jake just grinned at the excited kid. A bit dangerous to be sneaking out, but hey, we cleared out all the enemies, so it should be fine.

That was when Jake noticed they still had one enemy left. The remaining wolf burst out of the trees and headed towards the young kid. “Tim!” Jake shouted to the [Wizard].

Tim started to cast. “[Fire Bolt]!” The spell failed. “Not enough mana!” Tim screamed. “[Mage Bolt]!” His second cast succeeded and nailed the wolf, but that wasn’t enough to stop it.

It leaped in the air. Jack cowered in fear. Jake was too far away for [Sunder] to reach. Then suddenly, Megan appeared out of thin air and intercepted the wolf. It latched onto her forearm before she stabbed it with her knife and then threw its dead body away from her.

The kid started bawling. Megan stooped down and wrapped him in a hug and started whispering to him. “It’s okay. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you now.”

What is she doing out here? Jake’s attention was then grabbed by notifications from the system.

System: Quest completed. “Save the Faroff lumberjacks!”

System: New Achievement. Quester. Class Perk Points Gained 1

System: New Achievement. First Quester. Class Perk Points Gained 1

Oh neat, I can get the [Enhanced Party] perk now. Jake shook his head. Focus Jake, focus. Don’t let the [Rogue] sneak off!

He walked up to Megan and the bawling Jack and looked on awkwardly for a bit. “Uh, Megan, we should get you back to your cell. Thanks for your help, but I can’t imagine they will be happy you escaped.”

Megan didn’t respond.

“Uh, Megan?” Jake shook her gently.

“Oh. Yes, of course.” She let go of the now sniffling Jack and let Jake lead her away.

Jake called out orders. “Hey, Garrett! Why don’t you take Jack back to town and make sure the village knows what was going on? Andrew, why don’t you and Tim meet up with the rest of the party and make sure the [Lumberjacks] are safe? I will see Megan back.”

-----

A knife. A kid. A monster.

The two instances were hardly related, but it was still enough to dredge up memories of the worst day of Megan’s life.

A sleeping 5-year-old. Her two loving parents. A crash during the middle of the night.

The noise had been enough to rouse young Megan from her sleep, and she had padded out sleepy-eyed wondering what was going on. Then she heard her parents yelling and screaming.

Wide awake, she ran into the living room.

Blood. A knife. An intruder.

Her father tried to keep the man at bay, while her mother grabbed Megan and ran. It wasn’t enough.

A stumble. A yell for her to run. A stalking monster.

With tears in her eyes, Megan took off at a run and left her mother behind.

A dead end. Police sirens. A looming murderer.

Megan cried as the man approached her.

A manic grin. A raised knife… A gunshot.

A police officer held her and whispered to her. “It’s okay. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you now.”

Megan came back to her senses as Jake shook her. She didn’t have enough in her to fight being taken back to town.

------

Jake had mostly written Megan off before that fight, but afterward, he wasn’t as sure. Either her acting has gotten even better, or there is more going on with her than I thought. “So, you wanna talk about it?” Jake asked as they were on their way back to town.

“No.” Came Megan’s flat reply.

“Well, I can understand that, I guess. But if you need someone to talk to, I wouldn’t mind listening.”

There was a pause for a few seconds before Megan replied with a quiet, “Thank you.”

After Megan and Jack were safe back in town, Jake and Garrett went back to the woods to check on the rest of the party and the [Lumberjacks].

Andrew [Healed] any of the injured, and as they were discussing what to do with the wolf bodies, they learned from the villagers that you could get the items from the wolves by touching them and saying “loot.” When they did, the body disappeared, and the items immediately showed up inside their inventory. They managed to loot wolf meat, a couple wolf pelts, and surprisingly, several gold coins.

Jake asked the villagers about it, but they saw nothing out of place with monsters dropping gold and looked at him like he was the one with the strange logic. He dropped the matter fairly quickly.

In the end, the party decided they may as well stand guard for the [Lumberjacks] since they were already out there. With the increased number of monsters that were spawning, guard duty ended up becoming a daily occurrence.

----

While the party had been dealing with their first quest, I was still farming that same group of ants.

Despite the issues I had the first time, I ended up eventually being able to defeat the group with minimal SP expenditure and without taking a hit. Which was a good thing since it turned out it took 25 times, or 100 ants, for me to finally hit level 2.

With the extra speed from the level, I felt more confident and just started roaming around looking for fights since it was faster than waiting for the ants to respawn. It took a long time, but I soon passed the 100 mark. Then the 200 mark. Then 500.

Please let this be it. I begged as I killed the 1000th ant since I had hit level 2. I checked my status and just gave a long sigh. If I was able to hit level 3 off them, I surely would have by now. At least I confirmed the party wasn’t siphoning my XP. Oops. Sorry for leaving guys.

I took to wandering the tunnels. I was pretty much at a loss. I knew I couldn’t fight the elite ants because they would just stay invulnerable to physical attacks, and then I would have no way to fight them. That left fire ants. I paused at that thought. I guess I do know where some fire ants are.. But there is no way that I can take on the room that killed Gertrude, right?

I eventually decided to wander down the path that our party had gone down initially. The 5 ants weren’t that big of a deal anymore now that I was level 2, so I just took them out and kept moving on. Maybe I can see what Megan was off doing while the rest of us were fighting.

I managed to notice one of the secret passages and went down it to find a chest that was already looted. “Ahh, so that’s what you were up to!” I chuckled. I found another chest that she had looted and then came across the chest with a round shield next to it. I picked it up. “Why would she leave this behind?” I muttered.

I had a slightly panicked moment when I remembered that I couldn’t equip stuff. I winced and expected it to fall to the ground. I was surprised when it didn’t. “Wait. Are you special? Can I equip you?” As I was starting to put it on, it phased through my arm and fell to the floor.

“Fine! Abandon me like everyone else, you traitor!” I kicked the shield roughly across the floor. That made me stop for a second. “Wait. I can kick you, but not hold you?” I picked it up again with both hands. It stayed there. I waited a second. Then two. Nothing.

“But if I try to equip you..” I motioned to do so, and it phased through my arms again. “Ah. I guess that does just confirm that I can’t equip things, but I guess carrying them is fine.” I picked it back up and tucked it under one arm. “Well, maybe I can find a marker or something to draw eyes on you and name you Wilson.”

I brought Wilson back with me to the main obelisk room. I had to drop him to fight the 5 ants that had respawned, but he didn’t seem any worse for the wear. I leaned my new companion up against the obelisk and went out exploring again. I did not find much. Well, until I found the group of 3 roaming elite ants. I tried to run, but they made pretty quick work of me.

It took a little bit to get used to my level 1 speed and strength again, but I was getting used to the level changes. When I was sure I remembered how my level 1 body worked, I went off and killed ants until I hit level 2 again. Then it was back to exploring.

I explored for hours. I went tunnel by tunnel (except for the scary one that had killed Gertrude). I didn’t find a trace of any fire ants.

Eventually, I made my way back to the starting room and sat down on the obelisk platform. There is no way that I can defeat 30 ants in one fight. I just don’t have the stamina for it. A lightbulb went off. Unless... It doesn’t have to be a single fight, right? My only goal is to kill enough fire ants to level, so I just have to kill a few of them and then drop out of the fight! But how do I do that... My eyes roamed over the doors that were spawned by the hospitality protocol. That will work. These ants are definitely not in my party. I grinned and put my plan into motion.

I walked to the room where Gertrude had initially lost her torch and got ready. The 20 normal ants charged me with the 10 fire ants following up behind them.

Without missing a beat, I immediately took off running. Fortunately, I was faster than them now that I was level 2, and all they could do was trail behind me.

I made it to the obelisk room and then turned to fight. I stopped only long enough to take out one of the ants before I made a beeline to the closest door, which happened to be the bathroom. Without pausing, I opened the door and went in. In the safety of the lavish lavatory, I leisurely looked at my status to see how long I would have to linger… I make no apologies for my alliteration.

85 of 165 SP. That will take a minute or two.

I closed my status and then glanced over at the bathtub. Eh, I have to wait for my stamina to come back anyway. Why not? It seemed a bit wasteful to clean up right before going back out to fight, but I didn’t have anything better to do. I once again turned the water on as hot as it would go, but it still only felt lukewarm.

I settled into the tub and finally noticed the amount of steam in the room. “Oh. So this is actually hot, but I don’t feel it? I guess it might be Heat Immunity instead of [Fire Immunity]?” I mused and thought about nothing for a bit and simply relaxed.

I was so spaced out I didn’t even notice I was sinking lower into the tub. Before I knew it, my head was underwater. It still took a few seconds for me to notice. Oh, sit! Drowning would be such a stupid way to go! I yanked my head back above water and then realized. Wait a second..

I took a deep breath and then submerged. And stayed there. I felt fine. A minute passed, and I was still fine. I exhaled while still underwater, and I was still okay. I popped back up. “So, I guess I just don’t need to breathe? This race and class are weird.” I complained to no one in particular.

I finished cleaning up and then prepared to go back out and fight. I opened the door and stepped out. Here’s hoping that they stayed instead of resetting... I dodged an attack that came at me as soon as I reappeared. Thanks, game. Perhaps one of the first times I had managed to think that and not be overly sarcastic.

Since they weren’t going anywhere, I took out 16 of the 19 remaining normal ants and then retreated back into the dorm room to take a break. I recovered my stamina and then repeated the process. It ended up taking 4 total loops and during the process I found out that it took 25 hits to kill a single fire ant.

It was a bit of a slog, but I was able to repeat the entire process again and again. I was happy to note that my 10th loop (aka my 100th fire ant kill) was enough to net me level 3. I then realized. Wait. I’m stuck now, aren’t I? 100 normal ants to level 2 and you can’t kill enough to hit level 3. 100 fire ants to level 3 so... I’m left with elites that I can’t hurt? After a second or two, I had an idea. “Wait. There are mimics too! Maybe I can fight one of them to level up!”

A few minutes, and one round of mimic digestion, later I was respawning back at the obelisk. “Nope. That was an awful idea. Those things are terrifying.” I glared at the shield that was propped up against the obelisk. “Wilson, why didn’t you warn me that was a bad idea?”

Several hours later, after a repeat of both leveling loops, I was back up to level 3. I was debating what to do and decided to just lay on a bed in the dorms for a bit when I found I couldn’t enter them. “Oh yeah. Hospitality protocol expires. Has it really been that long?” I remembered the giant electrical storm that built up whenever I activated it and then the tiny shock that it gave me. I chuckled. It had me all scared, but then it just did 1 damage... That gave me an idea.

It was a bit risky because there was a chance that I would end up being spawn camped[1] forever, but I knew I needed to level up somehow. I went back to the spot with the mimic, where we found the 3 elite ants. They weren’t there. I frowned but decided to wait. I’ve seen them other places too, so maybe they roam around?

I didn’t have to wait too long before my suspicion was confirmed, and the three elites showed up. As soon as they noticed me, I immediately sprinted back towards the obelisk room.

It was a close chase. They were a bit faster than me, but fortunately, I was able to keep from taking any hits as long as I dodged at the right times. I made it back without incident. Here is where it gets tricky.

I hopped up on the platform and was followed by one of the ants that had outrun its brethren. I had my back against the obelisk as it charged, and like a matador, I stepped out of the way at the last second. I then grabbed it and pushed with all my might to keep it touching the obelisk. “Activate Hospitality Protocol!”

Once again, the swirling electricity formed on top of the obelisk. It did a small shock to the pinned ant... At first. Then it just kept going. I finally realized my mistake. As the current arced through my body along with my victim, I ended up yelling out gibberish that I would have difficulty approximating with the vowels in the English language.

I was saved from electrocution when my captive finally switched to having a white carapace, and the shock died down. I killed it with a single good punch and then turned to the others. “Who’s next?” I swear the ants actually looked back and forth between each other for a second. Fine by me. Status. I looked it over and saw that I had lost just under 40 of my 120 HP. I have just enough to take out both. Let’s do this!

I seized on their hesitation and grabbed the closest enemy to drag it to the obelisk. It was quite a struggle, they are strong buggers. However, the other one thought that was the opportune time to charge me. It thought wrong. I dropped my grip on its friend and spun to the side of my new target. I slammed it into the obelisk and yelled, “Activate Hospitality Protocol!”

The electricity started back up, and the free ant tried to knock me away to save its friend. That was its last mistake since I was then able to hold onto both of them as the electricity did its job.

Thankfully, my screaming time was cut short as both remaining ants activated their magic protection in about half the time as the first one. Four quick punches earned me the victory.

I gave a slightly unhinged laugh and sat down for a minute. Just one more. One more elite ant to hit level 4. And I did it all by myself. As soon as my stamina hit full, I went and aggroed the same set of 3 elite ants.

I once again made it back and stood in front of the obelisk, but this time they were even more hesitant about approaching. I eventually managed the same bait and switch where I grabbed one of them and then pinned its friend to the obelisk instead.

That kill was enough to level me to 4.

“Who’s next!?” I roared and turned to the remaining enemies as I staggered from the level up. The two elite ants. The scariest enemies I had found in the tutorial. And they both turned tail and ran. My glare turned to puzzlement as I watched them take off. “Huh. Not what I expected.”

I collapsed to the floor in a heap and then raised a hand into the air. “Victory! I hit level four all by myself! Take that stupid game world!”

Then the thrill of my success faded, and I remembered that level 4 wasn’t the end goal. I paused and thought for a few seconds. “Now what?”

-----

Jake and the rest of the party were eating dinner in the [Village Elder’s] house. It had been a bit soon to declare another feast, but he thought that the least they could do was give the saviors of the [Lumberjacks] another big meal as thanks.

As such, the party was currently eating a lot of food once again, and also discussing the fight. Garrett had told about how he had helped the villagers into the trees and fended off the initial wave of dark wolves, and Jake had just finished telling his story of unlocking [Sunder]. “I have to admit,” Jake continued. “When I hit that alpha with [Sunder], and it didn’t go down, I thought for sure that guy was a goner. I didn’t notice at the time either, but I think it took something like half my stamina. It was a good thing you guys showed up when you did because between Garrett’s HP and my SP, I think we only had about 1 full adventurer there.” Jake chuckled. He then turned to Emilia, “Great shooting, by the way. Was that a new skill?”

She looked pleased and then nodded. “Yes! I picked up the [Double Shot] skill. It was a lot easier to use than I expected. Maybe having [Bowmanship] up to level 3 helped?”

“Hmm, maybe. It’s hard to tell whether the weapon skills help with form or anything.” Jake turned to Garrett. “And you ya big lug. Nice job keeping them at bay. When I heard you yelling, I thought you had gone and [Raged] again.”

Garrett looked thoughtful. “Yeah, that really wasn’t the place to be [Raging]. It’s way too hard to protect people.” Garrett snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah! I forgot to mention this earlier, but I have 5 extra skill points from nowhere. Did everyone else get extras for leveling to 5?”

There was a chorus of nos and headshakes, and then one nod from Lindsey. Sam was the only one to catch it. “Wait, you got extra skill points?” Lindsey nodded and then whispered to Sam. Sam listened and then told the party. “She says that dying reset her to level 1, but since it didn’t take away her [Shield] skill that she ended up also being able to get [Guard] and [Swordsmanship].”

Garrett nodded, “Ah. That makes sense. I picked up [Rage] before I died too.”

Jake cocked his head. “Hmm. Doesn’t that mean that dying and then respawning in the tutorial is actually a benefit?”

Garrett thought for a second before replying, “Well, only if you managed to pick up a skill before you die. Or a spell maybe. And there didn’t seem to be many options.”

“Maybe all of the options are just really expensive? I mean, I saw one for a [Stance Change] skill that was 10 points, and then it went away when I dropped below 10.”

“Maybe..”

The conversation almost came to a lull, but Sam burst in, “What about our thanks for coming to save you, Jake? Lindsey and I were purrrrty great, weren’t we?” Whether it was at the cat pun or the statement itself, Lindsey responded with nothing but a sigh and a facepalm.

Jake just laughed, “Yeah, you guys were. [Earth Bolt], eh? I thought you already had [Fire Bolt], are you switching over from fire spells?”

“Tim also was going fire spells, so it seemed like a waste to double up.” She pouted briefly. “But yeah! I went with earth because we don’t know if we will run into any other enemies with fire resistance like those red ants. Or ones that have full immunity like Titus does.”

The mood sobered a bit at the mention of the missing party member, so Jake tried to keep the discussion going. “What about Lindsey? That was a new skill, right?”

“Oh yeah! [Guard] lets my lovely [Knight] protect a single target, and then perfectly block anything that attacks them.” Lindsey was giving Sam a level look through all of this that Sam was doing her best to ignore. Sam finally caved. “Okay, okay! I get it! Don’t needlessly throw myself into danger just because I know that you will be there to save me!” The stare continued. “Oh. She also mentioned it used quite a bit more stamina than blocking for herself.” Lindsey finally nodded in satisfaction. “What about you, Tim? Did you get anything new?”

Tim only briefly looked up from his food before he started cutting his next piece of meat. “I deign to believe that my heightened skill level with [Overchannell] was a sufficient increase in potency to match my improved rank in spite of my lack of any new secondary or tertiary acquisitions.” He sniffed once imperiously and then began eating again.

Jake thought through that for a second. That was rude. Yeesh. Is he going through a phase or something?

Andrew looked a bit puzzled and like he was about to say something to Tim. He stopped himself, shook his head, and turned to the group. “Kids. I don’t know where he picked up half of those words. Anyway, sorry that I wasn’t much help in our fight. The only new things I got were [Overheal] and a new spell [Cure]. The first one lets me heal you guys a bit above your max, and the second is basically just a bigger [Heal] which we didn’t need.”

The talk turned to less serious matters, and the dinner soon was winding down. Then Garrett noticed Jake making up yet another plate. “Still hungry after all that?”

“Nah, I was planning on bringing Megan a plate. She did save Jack from that wolf. Assuming it is okay with the chief?” He directed that question at Wilfred, who had just returned to the room.

“[Village Elder], not [Chief],” Wilfred corrected Jake. “But yes, I wouldn’t be opposed to you bringing food to my son’s savior. I already stopped by to thank her in person, but please make sure to pass along my gratitude once again.”

“Sure thing,” Jake nodded. He grabbed the plate and headed to the door while getting a strange look from Wilfred. “What?”

“Aren’t you going to carry that in your inventory? Don’t want to spill it or let it get cold.”

“Huh. Didn’t even think of that.” Jake pulled it into his inventory. “Guess it will take some time to get used to having that.”

Wilfred shook his head and muttered, “No inventory in their old world. How did they manage?”

Jake ignored that and gave a quick wave to the party, “Well, see ya later.”

He made his way across the village to the solitary jail cell that housed the party’s [Rogue]. When he got there, she was staring idly up at the ceiling. Without even looking his way, she broke the silence first. “You know, I didn’t break out. They let me out to help with the monster attack.”

“That sounds reasonable.” Jake paused. “But given your track record, I don’t think I can take your word for it.”

“That’s fair.” Silence stretched out for a bit, as Jake just grabbed a chair and dragged it over next to the cell bars. Megan was the first to break it yet again. “Did you need something? If not, can you leave me alone? Sitting here and thinking about the mess I got myself in is bad enough without you here to gloat too.”

Jake sighed. “Not here to gloat. I actually came here to give you this.” He pulled the plate of food out of his inventory. That was finally enough to get Megan to sit up and look at him. “But, I’m not quite sure how to give this to you when you’re in there.”

“Put it back in your inventory, stick your hand through and then pull it back out.”

“Huh, never would’ve thought of that,” Jake said as he followed her instructions.

“Me either, that’s just what the [Guards] did.” Megan took the food and then sat back down on her bed. “Thank you.”

They sat in silence for a bit longer as Megan ate. “I still don’t get it [Hero], what are you doing here? Don’t you have a [Demon Lord] to slay or something?”

Oh, they didn’t tell her the prophecy. That’s probably for the best. “The party and I have to stay in town for a while.”

“Good to know, but that’s not what I was asking. What are you doing here?” She gestured to the cell. “You gave me the food, but why have you just been sitting there watching me? It creeps me out.”

Jake sighed, “I guess I’m trying to figure you out. You’re obviously a thief and a liar, and if I had to guess you were like that before you came here. That all makes sense, and it kinda explains why you weren’t helping us with the fights in the tutorial, but I don’t get it. Why save the kid? Why not run away since none of us have been able to find you when you are [Sneaking]?”

Megan snorted and laid back down on her bed. “Yeah, because thieves definitely enjoy watching little kids get mauled by wolves.” She rolled her eyes, “And sure, I’ll just run off to another town.” Her tone turned deadpan. “Because the two-week journey with no marked roads will definitely go well.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize we were so far off in the boonies.”

Megan snorted again. “[Hero], the town’s name is Faroff. What did you expect?”

“Okay, okay. One last question and then I will leave you to your sulking. Why was killing that wolf so hard on you?”

Megan paused for a few seconds. “It brought up bad memories.”

“Let me guess. Your parents?”

Megan bolted back upright. Her eyes narrowed. “How did you know?”

“Honestly? Lucky guess. That and it seemed to be a theme with our party.”

“Well, congrats, you guessed it. It was my last memory of my parents.” Megan laid back down and continued in a monotone voice, “When they were stabbed to death in front of me... With a knife.”

“Oh. Uh. I’m sorry. So, the reason you weren’t fighting the ants-“

“Was because I’m a pacifist.” Megan examined her hands. “Or... Was a pacifist.”

Jake paused and thought for a second before replying, “I guess I just don’t understand how that works with stealing from people.”

She sat back up and gave him a pointed look. “Hey. I was a thief, and I was a burglar. But I was never a robber.”

I guess I never realized there was a difference. Jake decided to keep that thought to himself. “So, how did you end up becoming a thief?”

“You said the last question was going to be the last one.” Megan laid back down and sighed. “But, you aren’t going to leave me alone until I tell my entire tragic backstory, are you?”

“Probably not.”

“Fine.” Megan composed herself for a second, and then she sounded like she was telling a fairytale to a kid. “It all started when little 5-year-old Megan had her parents killed in front of her. She got bounced from bad foster home to bad foster home..”

That sounds familiar. Jake sighed.

“Until one day she had it. She ran away onto the streets. She stole to keep herself alive at first, then she stole to make herself more comfortable, then she stole because she could, and then finally she stole from the wrong people.” Megan stared off into the distance. “And that was the end of her freedom. She still stole things, but only what she was told to. She was protected in a way, but she hated the people that had her on a leash. Until eventually, she stole away from them and regained her own life. And that was enough, she would leave behind a life of thievery, she promised herself.”

“But,” she continued. “She found out that it wasn’t so simple. She found that things called to her. That she had to have them. That she needed to take them, even when she could buy them. Especially when she could buy them. She thought that one more time wouldn’t hurt. Then it turned to two. Then three. And then before she knew it, she was caught again, and the people she ran away from found her. She was back to square one.”

Her voice got more animated. “And then a miracle happened! She was brought to an entirely new world! This was surely her real second chance! She could finally change and live a new life, but she had the attention span of a squirrel and the impulse control of a …” Megan’s story ground to a halt, and her voice went back to normal. “What’s an animal with low impulse control?”

“A dog... Who sees a squirrel?” Jake offered the first thing that came to his mind.

“The impulse control of a dog who sees a squirrel,” she tried to say in her fairytale voice. She shook her head and continued in her normal voice. “Eh. Needs work.”

She continued telling her story in her normal voice, but Jake could hear the exasperation in it. “Anyway, she stole things again. Like an idiot. And then she stole the [Hero’s] sword because she thought he would have good stuff. Like an idiot. Then she somehow ended up in his party even though she literally just stole from him. Because HE is an idiot.”

“Hey!”

Megan just looked at him.

“Okay, fine. You may have a point.”

“She made the best of things and decided on a grand scheme to steal from the party after they made their riches. Only to get foiled by the party leader literally getting put on [Trial] the first night that they were in the outside world.”

“I never thought I would be grateful for being put on [Trial],” Jake chuckled. Then he turned more serious. “So, now what? What are you going to do next?”

Megan sighed. “I’m going to wait out whatever my sentence is. I’m going to go as long as I can without stealing things, and then I will inevitably start back up, get caught, and then end up right back here.” She looked around. “Or maybe a cell in a different town. Because I’m not entirely stupid.”

“That’s a pretty bleak way of looking at things,” Jake mumbled.

“I like to think of it as realistic. It doesn’t matter which world I’m in, that is just how things are going to end up.”

Well, we have to keep her in the party, so I might be able to work with this. Or at least... make the best of it that I can. “What about trying your hand at adventuring? Going on quests? Saving people?”

“Pft. Me and what party?”

“Just assume you found one that was willing to take you in.”

Megan thought that over. “I mean, as jobs go, it wouldn’t be the worst. There is that whole chance of death thing that is a bit of a downer. But,” she paused and closed her eyes. “I wouldn’t mind saving kids or their parents so that they don’t have to go through what I did. Though I can’t be sure that I would even be able to fight.”

Do I believe her about any of this? I don’t know. I think she’s telling the truth about being a klepto and wanting to change, but who knows if that isn’t just an elaborate story to try to get me to pity her. Jake stood up, walked away, and turned that thought over and over in his head. He eventually came to a conclusion. I guess in the end it doesn’t matter too much. Stupid prophecy. Well, either way, as long as she doesn’t know about it, she won’t know that we are stuck with her… Jake came to his decision.

“I’d like to make you an offer,” Jake turned back towards her and looked her in the eye as he sent her a party invite.

Megan raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t react. “Okay, what’s the offer?”

“The offer is this. You join our party and come with us on our quest to defeat the [Demon Lord]. You will be treated just like any other party member, but with a few conditions.”

Jake held up his index finger. “First, you have to help the party, just like any other member. And that will include combat unless you really do have a mental block there. We’ll try to start you off slow to see about that part.” Jake added another finger. “Second, you will have your inventory searched for stolen goods daily.” Jake paused. “As soon as we find a way to do that. Anyway, if we find any, you will agree to whatever punishment the local authorities come up with.”

We need to keep her on a short leash, but what else is there. An idea came to him. Ah, that’s a good one too.

Jake held up a third finger. “And last, you will not go off on your own or leave the party when we are in town or around people.”

“Let me get this straight,” Megan replied. “You will let me back in the party if I fight alongside everyone else, have my inventory searched daily, and agree to be babysat whenever we are in town?”

“More or less.”

Megan thought for a few moments. “Sure. Why not? Especially since I can’t imagine the rest of the party will agree anyway, so it’s not like it matters.”

The system informed Jake that Megan joined the party, and he finally realized that it was getting dark outside.

“Alright, well on that note, I need to head out since it’s getting late. See you tomorrow.”

“Yup, you know where to find me.”

As Jake walked back to the house where he was going to stay the night, he was already thinking of how to get everyone on board. Garrett will be an easy sell. I just have to phrase her klepto tendencies as “stealing addiction,” and he will immediately be trying to help her “break the habit.”

He looked at the next entry on the party list. Emilia will be a hard sell since she was happy to see Megan kicked once she found out she was a thief. Oh, Andrew probably will be too because he doesn’t want “bad influences” around Tim. For those two, I guess I just have to stress that this deal makes the best of our situation since we are stuck with her. I guess I can also see if they have any other stipulations that they want to add.

Sam and Lindsey... I don’t have a clue what they think about this, guess I will deal with that after I find out.

I feel like I am forgetting someone. He looked through the party list and saw everyone accounted for. Then he remembered. Right. Titus. Those two didn’t seem to get along well, but if the rest of the party goes along with it, I think I can get him to go along with it too.

Jake sighed. “It would be so much easier to just kick her out, though. Stupid prophecy.”

----

While Jake was having party complications, I was dealing with leveling ones.

“There has to be a way to get to 5, right?” I sat near the obelisk, muttering to myself. But what would give more experience than an elite enemy?

I hmmed. This entire zone was created as a dungeon, so why would it not have a boss? And if I was a boss room, where would I be?

That thought was finally enough to put me on the right track. “The door the elites are guarding!” I shouted as I jumped to my feet. “That’s it! They must be guarding the boss! That’s how I will hit level 5! You’re a genius, Wilson!”

The shield did not respond. Which is undeniably a good thing because I probably would have lost what remained of my tenuous grip on my sanity.

I made my trek back to the room that had given Gertrude her first death and then waited for my SP to fill back up. I also looked at my meager 15 HP remaining. Okay, no point in trying to fight anything in there. Just run past all of them and see what is down that tunnel. If the boss kills me, at least I know how to get back to level 4. I psyched myself up and sprinted into the room.

The ants all charged me except for the elites who just stood there. I juked the normal ants and spun around them, and then realized I didn’t have enough space to get around the fire ants. I jumped and managed to hurdle them instead. Wow. Definitely couldn’t do that at level 1. Maybe not even level 3.

As I started approaching the door, the elites finally decided to charge me. I slid on the ground and went between them as their pincers snapped the air just a few inches above me. I popped back up and ran into the tunnel with my enemies in hot pursuit.

I barely made it in when suddenly a slab of stone slammed the tunnel shut behind me. That’s not ominous or anything. I saw the tunnel curve upwards slightly and then noticed that there was red light coming from that direction. I walked towards it and then found myself stunned for several reasons.

The first was the drastic change as soon as I poked my head out of the opening. I was at the top of a rocky hill. Down the slope was a room the size of a couple football stadiums all packed together. There was lava pouring down some of the rock faces in what were essentially molten rivers, and that was what had been providing the light I had seen. And finally, the room was absolutely filled to the brim with giant ants. There were normal ones, elite ones, fire ones, and even 2 species that I didn’t recognize.

The second reason I was stunned was the notifications I received.

System : Spawn point updated

System: You have entered a dungeon boss room! You will be unable to leave by any means until the dungeon boss is defeated.

The third and final reason? I saw the first thing, besides text, that had ever decided to grace my HUD. A single health bar that filled up to full and was titled “Giant Ant Queen.”

I swallowed nervously as I looked down on hundreds of ants that had all turned in my direction. “Well, I guess this will do it.” I slid down the hill into certain death.

[1] Spawn camping is a tactic in video games where you wait at an area where an enemy respawns and kill them over and over since they will keep coming back in the same spot