There’s a saying that I don’t necessarily agree with that only the guilty run. It’s more accurate that only the people who are guilty, or who think there is a good chance they will be convicted, or who are in too much of a blind panic to think rationally, run.

So, I guess, in my case, I fell into all three categories. Huh.

----

Jack ran as fast as his 9-year-old legs would carry him. “Dad! Dad! He’s here!” He made it into the front door without knocking any of the snow off in his excitement.

“Woah, slow down there, son,” Wilfred called out from the dining room. “Who’s here?”

“The [Half-Demon] guy! The one the [Hero] was waiting for!”

“Oh, he is?” Jack thought he could hear something muttered from the other room that sounded like “about time.”

“Hurry up, dad! We gotta go out and meet him!”

Wilfred put his outer winter clothes on methodically. “He made us wait this long, he can afford to wait a bit himself.”

“But daaaaaad!” Jack pouted. Jack waited and waited for his father as he put on his snow clothes and then also his boots. As soon as he was done, Jack grabbed his hand and tried to drag him along as he ran back to the obelisk.

His father humored him, and they were soon crunching through the snow that came just a few inches up their boots. They soon arrived at the obelisk with no one around, to Jack’s confusion. “But, he was right here.”

Wilfred’s eyes widened as he saw the tracks. “Jack, didn’t the [Hero] say that their [Half-Demon] party member didn’t have any weapons?”

“Yeah. And I didn’t see a sword or nuthin on him either.”

“Go get the adventurers immediately. He just took off into that wolf-infested woods without a weapon.” Wilfred grimaced. “I only hope that we aren’t too late.”

----

System: Zone entered, Faroff Forest. Faction - Neutral

I made it into the woods without incident and paused a second to catch my breath, remembered I didn’t need to, and then decided to stop and think for a second. I haven’t heard anybody chasing me. That’s good. The snow will also slow them down a bit when they decide to. The bad news is that it is leaving them a trail right to me.

I turned over a few half-baked plans like jumping from tree to tree or trying to cover up my footprints before I heard shouts coming from the village.

I took off deeper into the woods. I can’t run forever. I will have to find some way to cover my tracks and hide. My thinking was interrupted by howling coming from behind me. Okay, that was either the howl of a normal wolf-. A wolf with black fur and red eyes burst through the foliage. Or it was definitely the howl of a wolf-like monster. Neat.

“Only one of you? That’s hardly a challenge.” I grinned and got ready to fight. Then the second appeared. Then the third. An entire pack appeared on the scene and started circling me. “On second thought, you win this round.” I spun around and hightailed it through the last remaining opening in the encirclement.

Opening was a bit generous of a term for it. I was flanked by a wolf on my right and left as I broke free, and they both lunged at me at the same time. I dove at the last second, and both of them went over me. I scrambled to my feet as they and the rest of their brethren were soon hot on my heels.

----

Jake and the rest of the party had been surprised to hear that Titus had finally made it. The joyful mood turned deadly serious when they heard where he went off to. The party immediately took off. “Why would he run off into the woods alone? Doesn’t he know there are monsters out there?”

“Not necessarily,” Garrett replied. “He has been in the tutorial all this time. Also, he probably got spooked by the system message that came in. You have to admit, he does look quite a bit like a [Demon Lord].”

“But everyone knows that we were waiting on a [Half-Demon]! Why would he run?”

“You know that, our party knows that, and at this point, most of the world probably knows that. Titus just got here and doesn’t, though.”

They came across several sets of tracks and also heard familiar howls. “Son of a.. We’re going light! Lindsey, protect the casters!” Everyone nodded. The slower [Wizard], [Cleric], and [Sorceress] were left behind with a [Knight] as protection. Meanwhile, everyone else took off at a faster clip.

“This isn’t good, Jake! He’s headed right towards the dungeon!”

There were many times Jake wished he could swear in this new world. This was one of them.

----

I was just barely able to keep ahead of the wolves. Then they were joined by a much bigger one who was also faster. It lunged at me, but I somehow managed to dodge it with a roll. I kept my momentum and was back up and running immediately.

How am I doing on stamina? I was worried about checking. However, a quick peek at my status showed that I was at 213 of 270. I feel like I would have been low by now. I am sorry for ever doubting you [Athletics]. I love you.

My unrequited love of the skill was cut short as I saw my salvation. A cave! A chokepoint! I dodged a couple snarling wolves and ran with my new goal in sight.

The entrance to the cave was pretty large, at least 10 feet wide, but it would at least make it more difficult for my incredibly agile opponents to maneuver. I ran a bit inside and then immediately turned around and got in a fighting stance. “Alright, who’s first?”

I was surprised when the wolves paused and remained about 20 feet back from the cave snarling. Even their alpha. “Ha! Too scared to take me on?” I jeered at the wolves a bit and then heard a deep roar from behind me. Oh. The wolves weren’t scared of me. I turned around and saw the biggest bear I had ever seen with, you guessed it, black fur and red eyes.

That was more than enough of an opening for the alpha wolf behind me. It came at me with a snarl and a lunge, and I just barely had time to turn around. It rammed me, and I was soon pinned to the cave floor by a beast that outweighed me by at least double. It was an awful position, but I was fortunate that both the bear and the other wolves seemed content to watch the alpha wolf solo me.

I was just barely able to keep its snarling fangs away from my face with both hands. Then the pressure briefly let up on my left side. Before I could wonder what it was doing, its claws raked across my chest. I screamed out in pain. Just like that, I was down 10 HP. I felt it let go yet again and decided to counter-attack. I let go of its face with one of my hands and decked it with all the might that my poorly leveraged position would give me.

It barely even flinched, and the claws raked me again. 160 of 180 HP. Think Titus! You have to get it off you! The next time it stopped pinning me, I tried to shake it off. It was useless. 150 of 180 HP. Wait! I have that new skill! The next time the pressure abated, I let loose with a left hook. “[Elemental Strike]!” My fist thudded into the wolf’s skull with no additional fanfare. Why didn’t it work? The claws raked me again. 140 HP. I had no idea how to activate the skill, but I knew it was my only chance.

I tried again. “[Elemental Strike]!” It did nothing, and I was down to 130. How does this dang skill work?! The claw let go of me once again. I panicked, and reflexes took over. “[Fire Strike]!” This time my left fist caught ablaze as I punched the wolf across the face.

The surprised wolf yelped and tumbled off me, and I was up and running outside of the cave before I could even register what I had just done.

If an alpha wolf was doing 10 damage, I was in no hurry at all to find out what a ticked off bear would do.

As I sprinted at the encircling wolves, one of them lunged at me from my left. I pivoted towards it and hit it with a straight punch. “[Fire Strike]!” No monster present was more surprised than I was when that dropped the wolf, and it didn’t get back up. After that, it was like a dam broke, and wolves were suddenly lunging at me from everywhere.

The wolves attacked me faster and more ferociously than the ants that I was used to fighting, but I was also faster and more ferocious than I was in the tutorial. I was a whirlwind of flames as I dodged, weaved, and [Flame Striked] the dark hounds. A punch here, a kick there, an elbow to the head of a wolf that latched onto my back, I found that as long as it counted as a “strike” it was eligible for the flames from my new favorite skill. Sorry [Athletics].

However, the wolves were winning the war of attrition. Their bites were doing 10 HP per hit, and I was down to 80 HP, with almost half of them left. To make matters worse, I checked my status and blanched when I saw I was already down to 140SP. [Fire Strike] is working great, but it’s really burning through my stamina.

Then the alpha rejoined the fray, with a grumpy bear also following along behind it. Right. Don’t get too caught up fighting the small fry. You have bigger threats still coming. I killed another overeager wolf as I tried to think up a plan. Climb a tree? No, bears can climb.

I didn’t get any further before the alpha lunged at me. I hit the floor and kicked upwards with both feet while activating [Fire Strike]. Both of my feet lit on fire as I hit and launched the wolf back behind me several feet.

I popped back up. The wolves were currently content to circle around me, including the alpha who snarled at me. I kept my head on a swivel and continuously watched the wolves around me. It’s like they are waiting for something? I was glad for the reprieve but also concerned.

Then I remembered the gigantic ursine in the room. It rushed me at a speed that was just a bit under the alpha wolf, and I barely managed to spin out of its way.

A wolf lunged at me at the same time, but I just carried my momentum into a [Fire Strike] that put it down.

That was enough of an opening for the monstrous bear, though. Its heavy paw slammed into me, and I went flying several feet and then tumbled end over end. I rose a bit unsteadily to my feet.

A quick check of my status, and I saw I was down to 50 HP. 30 HP from that single attack. Tree it is. I turned around and sprinted towards the nearest tree with wolves right behind me. When I got close enough, I jumped up and grabbed a branch, and then pulled myself up to it. I barely managed to avoid some of the jaws that had jumped up and snapped at me when I did so.

Just to be safe, I climbed from that branch up to an even higher one. Okay, the bear will probably climb up after me. I just have to find a way to dodge its attacks and retaliate from up here. If I can knock it back onto the ground, even better. The bear ambled its way up to the tree. I got ready. Okay, here we go. Now we learn how good it is at climbing.

The bear raised a paw. And then swiped it across the tree trunk. I paused for a second and then started laughing. “Ha! Stupid bear! Can’t even climb a tree!” It ignored my jeers and swiped a second time at the trunk. My laughter stopped as I felt the tree shudder a bit. No way. A third swipe and the tree was falling over. “STUPID TERRAIN HP VALUES[1]!”

I dove clear of the tree as it was falling and landed heavily. I scrambled to my feet but had to kick a wolf or two in the face to do so. I ran over to the next tree and jumped to grab a branch. At the same time that I managed to grab hold, the alpha wolf managed to jump and bite me in the side.

After the initial shock and pain, the thing that surprised me the most was that I was able to hold both myself and the giant wolf off the ground fairly easily. We were in the awkward stalemate for a couple seconds. Well, I have to get it off somehow. I let go with my right hand and brought it down hard on the wolf’s head again and again. “[Fire Strike]! [Fire Strike]! [Fire Strike]!” The fourth flame empowered strike was finally enough to make the wolf let go. That let me grab the branch again and pull myself up. I was down to 25 HP. Ouch, bite is worse than claws. Got it.

By this time, the bear had gotten over to the tree and took its first swipe. I can’t afford another run to a tree with that alpha chasing. I looked down at it and saw that it was limping a bit. Maybe I don’t have to. The second hit landed. Now or never. No respawns. This is probably a terrible idea. The third strike landed, and the tree started falling. I jumped out of it with a flying, or I guess falling with style, [Fire Strike] kick.

The alpha was too surprised to move. My kick caught it directly in the head. Its head snapped to one side, and it fell over and didn’t get up. I didn’t exactly stick the landing, but I popped up, ready to fight.

The remaining wolves were standing at a distance from me and seemed hesitant. I thought back to the elite ants who ran away. Time to be intimidating, I guess. I laughed at the top of my lungs and slammed a [Fire Strike] empowered fist into my other palm. “Who’s next!?” The wolves shrunk back.

The bear did not. It growled at the wolves, and they also slowly got back into formation. Then they all charged me together.

I ran for the closest tree again. I took several scratches from the wolves, but thankfully no bites. However, I was down to 17 HP.

If I hadn’t aggroed that dang bear, I could have just killed all the wolves! What do I do? Try to just fight the bear? I mentally pictured me doing a flying kick on the bear, and then it dropping me with a single swipe. Yeah, no. The bear struck the tree I was in. If I just keep running, they will just wear me down! What do I do?! The bear attacked a second time. I was starting to panic. The bear raised its paw a third time, and I prepared to run yet again.

Then two arrows came out of nowhere and lodged into the bear’s side. It roared and turned to face the new threat. Two more arrows caught it in the face as it turned. I was finally able to see my rescuers.

The party had come to my rescue. Wearing new winter clothes that looked like they had been made out of dark wolf pelts, they charged onto the scene. Jake was in the lead with Garrett close behind him. I was a bit amused to see that Garrett was still not wearing a shirt. Emilia was in the back and had climbed a tree herself. I looked at the distance that she was shooting from and whistled. Daaang. That has to be a couple hundred feet!

As they got closer, I half-expected to hear Jake call out orders, but it was eerily quiet on that front as the party just nodded to each other.

Garrett charged up to the wolves and slew one and then another with heavy swings. At one point, a wolf lunged to get him, and I was shocked when he simply ducked and arrow took it in the head.

While Garrett and Emilia were making short work of the grunts, Jake had charged up to the bear. They started circling each other slowly. Then I noticed the electricity arcing off Jake’s sword. I didn’t have long to admire it, though. Megan suddenly appeared behind the bear and stabbed it with her knife and shouted, “Now!” She then dove off to the side.

The bear reared up and roared, and Jake suddenly vanished. There was a noise like a thunderclap, and he was suddenly standing behind the bear. The bear faltered for a second and then fell over. Jake looked around for a second, and then he finally saw me up in the tree. He called out. “Always the troublemaker, aren’tcha Titus?”

I hopped out of the tree and slowly walked over to him.

----

There were a couple of things Jake expected when he saw Titus walking over to him. Maybe a wisecrack, maybe thanks for saving his life, or maybe something as simple as a “good to see you.” What he didn’t expect was the look over anger that came over Titus’ face. As such, Jake was caught completely flat-footed when Titus reared back and punched him in the face

Jake fell to the ground heavily.

“That’s for leaving me behind in the tutorial!” Titus shouted out.

Jake almost snapped but stopped himself. Staying on the ground, he focused on his breathing instead. Breathing. In. 2. 3. 4. Hold. 2. 3. 4. Out. 2. 3. 4. Hold 2. 3. 4. He repeated his breathing techniques thrice more, and then was finally in control enough. Why does it always take longer with Titus? Okay, see his point of view. He was down there alone and without a weapon. Even if we didn’t try to, we did leave him behind. Even though it wasn’t in my control, I think he still probably deserves an apology.

Jake rubbed his jaw where Titus had clocked him and said, “I guess I probably deserved that. I’m glad that you were able to make it out on your own, Titus. Sorry that we couldn’t be there for you.”

That took the wind out of Titus’ sails. He stood there a bit sheepishly and then finally offered Jake a hand up. Jake looked at him, quizzically. “I’m still ticked about you leaving me, but you guys did just save my life for real. Sorry. And thank you.”

Score one for de-escalation. “Well, let’s get you back to town.” He looked around at the wolf and bear corpses and the scattered arrows. “After looting, of course.” Jake put away his sword and started going up to corpses and looting them. “And we can have Andrew… Right. No healing.” Jake looked at Titus with concern. “Are you going to be okay?”

Titus looked excited for a second. “Actually, I think so! I was able to get a perk for slow health regen, and another one that lets me use skills!” Then just as quick, he was back to solemn. “And then... Nevermind.”

That was odd. Eh, probably not too important. “Fair enough, want to try looting?” Jake motioned to the giant wolf that Titus had killed. He must’ve learned quite a bit in the tutorial. There’s no way he would have been able to take one of those down back then.

Titus touched the corpse and intoned the word. “Loot.” He grimaced as nothing happened.

“Ah man, I was worried about that. No inventory means no looting?” Jake asked. Titus just replied with a nod. “I was worried about that when we found out that even the villagers have inventories. We’ll just have to keep track of your stuff separately and have someone else carry it. Oh yeah, before I forget.” Jake sent off a quick party invite to Titus that he quickly accepted.

Titus paused as he saw Emilia crouch down to pick up an arrow. “Has she always recovered her arrows?”

Jake felt a slight headache coming on but answered anyway. “Yeah, remember? You even helped with the first one she recovered. The one that she shot you in the back with?”

Titus looked like he was contemplating that for a second and then just laughed. “Yeah, I guess I had forgotten about that.” The laugh seemed a bit forced, but Jake just let it go.

After a bit more looting, the place was clear, and Jake called for everyone to group up and head out.

Garrett and Emilia rejoined, but there was no sign of Megan. Jake felt for her via the party and then called out to her. “You know [Sneak] doesn’t hide you from the party, right? Get over here, Megan!”

Megan appeared behind a tree a short distance away. Megan shook her head, no. Jake glared and pointed at her and then Titus. She made a pleading gesture. Jake made an X with his hands and then acted like he was scrolling through the party menu. She waved both of her hands and then gave a defeated look.

She walked out and then called out. “Hey, uhh, Titus. Do you have a minute to talk?”

---

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that Megan’s face was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in ages (though, seeing as the only competition was ants and the [Hero’s] ugly mug, that isn’t saying much). Either way, my words did not come exactly as smooth as I would have wanted. “Um. Yeah. Yes. About what?”

“Well, about what happened 6 months ago in the tutorial. And can we talk in private?”

I stopped walking and froze halfway through. “Wait, wait, wait. 6 months ago? I was down there for that long?” I looked at the party. Oh, it’s a joke! I laughed. “Nice try, guys, I’m not that gullible.”

Jake looked at me, quizzically. “No joke here. We’ve been waiting for you for 6 months. We even found out that they use the same calendar here and everything.”

“There’s no way..” I thought back over the tutorial. Everyone got out except me and Gertrude in the first 2-3 days, right? Then Gertrude was a day after. Then I hit level 4 by myself and searched the entire dungeon. That ... might have actually been a couple days by itself. Then the final fight. I stood shocked as I did some mental math. 6 months is about 180 days. Let’s round down to 20 hours per day. 3,600 hours. Each time I regened stamina may have taken 15 minutes or more, I didn’t have a way to track, so let’s go with 4 breaks per hour. Or I guess half that since I spent half my time or less resting. 7200 stamina regen breaks. I thought over the countless times I had to restart. The multiple attempts it would take just to finally die with just a couple dozen ants left. That is actually, entirely possible. No way, was I really?

“Earth to Titus. Or I guess. Placeholder to Titus. Do you read me?” Jake waved his hand in front of my face.

I smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess I just realized how long I was down there.” Then I finally noticed what he said. “Wait. Did you just say Placeholder to Titus?”

Jake sighed. “Yup. That’s the name of this world, I guess. We learned it from the [Village Elder]. We laughed at him, but then we didn’t have much we could say to his counterpoint. We do come from a world called ‘Dirt’ after all.”

When AltSys said the game wasn’t finished, he wasn’t kidding. Fortunately, I managed to keep myself from totally spacing out again. “Yeah, I got nothing to say to that either. Dang.” I then realized that I had left a certain [Rogue] standing there sheepishly. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, we’ll just drop back from the party as we walk?”

“That will be fine.” She grimaced like she was having teeth pulled.

Geez. I guess I just need to apologize quickly for 6 months ago then. She really doesn’t want to talk with me. We continued walking, but let the rest of the party get quite a ways ahead. I started talking in a normal voice, “So, I guess just let me say..”

Megan shushed me. I looked at her, confused, and then she pointed at Emilia and whispered. “[Ranger] ears.”

I dropped volume to match her. “Oh. Got it. Anyway, umm, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for embarrassing you back in the tutorial. I didn’t mean to, but my people skills aren’t great, and sometimes I do idiotic stuff like that and make things awkward.”

Megan looked confused for a second and then murmured. “Apology accepted.”

We walked along in awkward silence for a bit. I finally broke it. “So, if that’s all, then we are good here, right? Unless there was something else I should apologize for? I will have to be honest with you if there is something else I really don’t remember it.”

Megan stopped walking. “Wait. You thought Jake separated us out so that you could apologize to me?”

“Uh. Yes?”

Megan let out a barking laugh that caused Emilia to turn her head. A quick glare from Megan, and she was back to watching the forest in front of them. “So, what about me abandoning the party in our first fight?”

“I assumed you got scared or something. There were a lot of ants.”

“Catching me when I was [Sneaking]?”

“Oh! Is that what you were doing? I just saw you when you crouched down, and it looked funny.”

“Announcing my need for a bathroom to the world?”

“I already apologized for that!”

“What about how you were avoiding me?”

“You were avoiding me too! I assumed that we just weren’t going to get along, so there was no need to exacerbate it!”

“And how you were constantly watching me?”

“I wasn’t constantly watching you!”

She gave me a flat look.

My words came out before I could stop them. “Okay, I watched you because I thought you were cute!”

“Cute?” Her face switched rapidly from a look of surprise to a slight blush, and then she burst out laughing yet again. “Oh my god. Titus. Wow.” Her sentences came in short bursts as she tried to catch her breath. After a second, she finally did. “Here, I thought you were some mastermind who had caught on to all my schemes and was planning to use that knowledge as leverage.”

I really didn’t know how to take that. “Uhhhh... Thanks?”

Her tone turned more somber. “In reality, I abandoned the first fight to go look for treasure. I was constantly sneaking around because I was stealing from most everyone in the tutorial, and because I was a thief back on earth. I didn’t help in that one fight because I am a pacifist,” she paused and then muttered. “Or at least, I used to be.” Then like nothing happened, she was back to normal volume. “And I avoided you because I thought you knew about all of that and were waiting for the right moment to turn me in.”

I glanced back and forth between her and the party. “Are you sure you should be telling me this? I imagine the party will be pretty mad-”

She cut me off. “They already know.”

“Oh.” I didn’t have much left to say after that. “So... Are we good then?”

She laughed. “I think so, Titus. Welcome back to the party.” She took off to catch back up to the rest of the party but turned around briefly. “By the way, you’re not too bad looking yourself.” She shot me a wink.

I missed my next step and face planted in the snow.

----

Sam, the [Sorceress] was tired of running. “Could we please slow down for a bit?”

Lindsey shot her a look that conveyed, “You know that a party member is in mortal danger, right?”

“Yeesh! I know! But it won’t do us any good to get there and be out of stamina!”

This time the look was disappointed and said, “You know you have half left, right?”

“Fine. I’ll keep running. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. And some of us have smaller stamina bars, you know!” Sam grumbled to her silent friend.

All of a sudden, Tim stopped running. Lindsey motioned for him to keep going, but he refused. He sighed and then spoke. “Do I honestly have to explain it to you plebeians?” The party rolled their eyes as he sniffed and then launched into his explanation. “Very well. Emilia’s stamina points started decreasing about a minute ago. That would correspond to her beginning use of her [Double Shot] skill. Garrett’s HP then had a corresponding decrease, which must have correlated with the beginning of the melee. That has also ceased. Finally, Jake’s stamina also decreased by a large margin instantaneously. Based on his modus operandi, that means that he has slain the remaining enemy combatant that was the most disadvantageous to the party. Ergo, there is no need for us to exhaust ourselves since the skirmish is already finalized.”

Andrew coughed. “Uh. Good eye, Tim.”

“Of course.”

If that little turd wasn’t our best source of AOE. Sam glared daggers at the pretentious little snot. Then Lindsey put a calming hand on her shoulder. Sam sighed. Yeah, I know. Andrew thinks it is just a phase and that he will grow out of it. We also don’t want to tick off a temperamental kid who is literally a walking talking firebomb.

They started moving towards the party again, but this time at a walking pace. Sam stuck out her tongue at the kid when he wasn’t looking. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.

----

After trekking for a bit, we finally met back up with the rest of the party. I waved at them and said, “Hey guys, good to see you again.” They greeted me back, except Tim, who just rolled his eyes. That was when I noticed. “Woah. What have they been feeding you, Tim? You sprang up like a weed!” Where before his dad had a foot on him even as a 5-foot tall dwarf, Tim had now caught up and slightly passed his dad.

“It would be my preference that you do not equate my personage with common greenery.” He sniffed and looked away from me.

The attitude was new too. I was taken aback for a second and then responded. “Ah, yeah. My bad. However, it’s a pretty common simile, it’s not like I was saying that you actually are a weed.” That seemed to somewhat mollify him. I looked over at Andrew, “By the way, when did you teach him words like equate and personage?”

Tim interrupted him before he could speak. “I acquired that information myself, thank you very much.”

I looked at him, puzzled. “How? From a book or something? It’s not like you can just learn new words out of thin air, right?” Tim finally decided that he had enough of trying to explain it to me, and he stomped off back towards the village. Andrew quickly followed after him.

I looked between the remaining party members. “Uh. Was it something I said?”

“Nah, he’s just a brat.” Sam chimed in.

“Ah. Thank you for your verdict, oh wise [Sorcerer].” I gave her a mock bow.

She cocked her head. “[Sorcerer]? Didya hit your head one too many times in the tutorial?”

It was my turn to be confused. “Aren’t you a [Sorcerer]? I thought I remembered you introducing yourself as one. Am I just crazy?”

She laughed and then winced and rubbed her head. “I’m pretty sure I introduced myself as Sam the [Sorceress], so you must be crazy.” Everyone else looked like they agreed with her version of the story.

Hmm. I distinctly remember her saying [Sorcerer] before. And there was earlier with Emilia and the arrows too. Hmm. One thing could be a coincidence, but two things that I remember different than the party? There’s also the headaches. I thought back to my conversation with the admin. Altsys mentioned the world wasn’t finished. Could they patching it and then just retconning people’s memories? And I am immune because of [Memory Protection]? I guess, but why would they do something so needlessly convoluted? I finally realized that I was spacing out like an idiot yet again, and the party was looking at me. I decided to just roll with it. “Yeah, must have misremembered. My bad.”

An awkward silence descended on the party, and I motioned toward the village. “So, uhh. Shall we head out?”

Jake took charge again and started walking. “Yep, let’s get moving! We should see if the [Village Elder] can arrange another feast now that you are here.” He paused. “Wait, can you still not eat or drink?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, but I also found out I don’t have to, so tradeoffs, I guess.” I mentally filed away the fact that he mentioned drinking when I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen anyone drink anything in the tutorial. I didn’t say anything since I didn’t want them to think I was any crazier than they already did. “So, I guess we got some catching up to do since it has been 6 months. What all happened in the outside world while I was in the extended tutorial?”

“Well, there’s the prophecy with the [Demon Lord].”

And there it is. I covered up my unease with a laugh. “Let me guess, some needlessly wordy, poetic prophecy that is about how the chosen [Hero] will defeat the [Demon Lord] that isn’t any help at all?”

“No! That’s where it’s weird. The prophecy is super specific and lists each of our party members out by class and where we will need to go and everything! Even you are in it!”

That line made me sweat more than anything. Calm down, Titus, if they thought you were the [Demon Lord], they would have probably turned on you by now. Probably. I kept it simple, “Oh?”

“Yeah, they called out your [Half-Demon] class, and part of the prophecy was that the party shouldn’t head out to the first dungeon until we had the entire party here, so it is actually one of the main reasons we stuck around here instead of going out and looking for you.”

“I’m glad it did then.” I breathed a sigh of relief out of reflex. Wait, it mentioned my [Half-Demon] class? That is made up, though. That doesn’t make sense unless… Why would AltSys make up a prophecy? What’s the point? “Yeah, I’ll definitely want to take a look at that when we get there. Anything else new come up?”

Jake thought for a second. “Well, you remember Richard and his party?”

“Ah, yes, Floom Scurvy.” I nodded sagely. “What about them?”

“They’ve actually been organizing some sharing of information among everyone. Their [Wizard], Ethan, managed to learn a [Message] spell from one of the [Mages] from this world. It lets you send a message to someone you have met at the cost of one mana per word, and they also get to reply.”

“Oh, nice… One [Wizard] casting that wouldn’t help much, though.”

“That’s where the networking comes in, though. They’ve been building up a network of [Wizards], and [Sorcerers] with the [Message] spell in each of the different kingdoms. They’ve been passing on information about skills, spells, and even subclasses.”

That sounds really helpful. I wonder if I can find out anything about my new skills. Then I noticed the new addition. “Wait. What’s a subclass?”

Jake laughed and said, “I will let Garrett answer that one.”

I turned my attention to him as he sighed. “Subclasses are classes that an adventurer can take that are normally only for non-adventurers.”

“Like what? And why does Jake think you should explain that?”

“Because I am the only one who picked one up. I got [Lumberjack] before we knew that you could only get a single sub-class.”

“Oh, wow.” I thought through the ramifications of that. “So is everyone in this world just super specialized?”

“Ah, no. My bad, I left out a part. You see, non-adventurers can have as many different sub-classes as they want. So, non-adventurers can be a [Tailor] and a [Lumberjack] and a [Village Elder] all at the same time. Those classes also function differently since they level up by doing actions related to that class instead of killing monsters.” He paused. “Or I guess, all adventurers just have ‘killing monsters’ as the action that you do to level. Either way, they also don’t level up immediately. They have to go to one of the obelisks to do it.”

“Huh. Weird.”

“Oh, and subclasses also seem to be capped at 10 as far as we can find out. We aren’t sure about adventurer ones yet since no one has gotten that far yet.”

“Oh, really? I hit level 8 when I left the tutorial. I thought everyone would be way past that by now.”

Jake whistled, “Wow, you’re right. It does say you are level 8. Nice. That actually puts you at about the highest we know because I’m the only other one who has managed that. XP has been super slow after 5. How did you manage level 8 on tutorial enemies?”

I related the story of how I managed to beat a boss through mostly sheer luck. I also related how I was able to pick up [Martial Arts], [Athletics], and [Elemental Strike]. I decided not to tell them about my impromptu meeting with a game admin and about my ridiculous number of points I spent on [Memory Protection]. “Also, I managed to get both [Martial Arts] and [Athletics] up to level 4!” I felt pretty proud of myself.

Then Jake burst my bubble. “4? Nice! I have my [Swordsmanship] up to level 6, but my [Athletics] is capped at 5 for now. It turns out if you want to raise the cap, it costs double the initial cost of the skill, so it gets pretty expensive.”

Jake casually passing me up might have set me off if Garrett didn’t interrupt. “Yeah, but that’s just because of your class.” He turned towards me. “The rest of us are right in line with you and getting our skills up to level 3 or 4, he’s the only one who has been dealing with capped levels.”

“Except me!” Megan piped up. “Both [Sneak] and [Steal] are at 5. Though they uhh, kinda started at that level.”

Good gravy, how much did she steal on earth? I thought about the retroactive XP and how much it took to get me to level 4. The rest of the party seems okay with it, though, so I guess she must have turned over a new leaf or something? I’ll have to ask about that later. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask. What does [Athletics] actually do?”

Jake looked confused. “Didn’t you pick that one up?”

I mirrored his confusion. “Yeah? And I could kinda guess what it was doing, but it would be nice if someone has confirmed it.”

“Weeeiiird. Normally when you pick up a skill, you get information about how to use it and what it does. You didn’t get that?”

I sighed. “Nope, nothing like that.”

“Well, [Athletics] just helps with basic Stamina usage. It doesn’t do anything for skills but running, jumping, swinging a sword, and all that stuff will use less stamina. It’s especially good for running, though.”

“That’s what I thought, but it’s good to know for certain. And it definitely saved my bacon back there. I would have been low on stamina before I even reached the caves.” Talking about the skills made me curious. “Do we have any info on [Detect] or [Survivor]? Those were the other options I had, and I didn’t pick them because I didn’t think they would help.”

“Hmm, those don’t sound familiar. Any idea how you unlocked them?”

“Unlocked them?”

“Yeah, you have to do something before a skill becomes available. For the weapon skills, you have to actually fight with the weapon. For [Athletics], you have to run out of stamina.”

“Nope, no ideas.” The conversation died out a bit, but I realized I was still curious. I turned toward Sam. “What kind of skills do the casters get? I know you had [Quick Cast], but did you get anything else since then?”

Sam sighed, “[Wizards] and [Sorceresses] get skills so slowly! We only get a measly one skill point per level!”

I can relate. I decided not to verbalize that thought since I had managed to get basically 10 skill points worth of skills for free from achievements.

“We had the general ones available like [Athletics] and stuff, but [Athletics] isn’t a great skill for mages because we don’t do as much running around. Then the next option are the elemental skills.”

“Elemental skills?”

“Yeah, that’s what people are calling them. After you have two spells of a type, it seems that you can pick up a skill to make them stronger. Tim wants to pick up [Ignis] to increases the power of his fire spells, but he needs to hit level 8 first since he picked up [Overchannel].” She sighed. “I’ve been debating picking up [Terris] and going the earth route, but I already wasted some of my spells points picking [Fire Bolt], so it would be a while.” She grumbled under her breath, and I couldn’t catch what she said. “Anyway, it doesn’t help that I basically have to cast [Earth Bolt] with [Quick Cast] to make it bearable in the first place.”

“Well, why wouldn’t you cast it with [Quick Cast]? Doesn’t that just increase your damage output anyway?”

“But that’s not the point!”

“Then... What is the point?”

“Come on! Show him the full chant!” Jake called out. “Do it! Do it!”

Sam hissed, “Fine!” She facepalmed with one hand and then started the chant with the other hand holding out her wand. “Earth rock my foes. [Earth Bolt].” The bolt obediently formed and thudded into a tree in the distance.

I tried to stop myself from laughing but still snorted.

“See what I mean! No one will say,” she adopted a deeper, manlier voice, “there goes Sam the mighty [Sorceress]!” She went back to a normal voice. “No! They will just laugh about how the starting dang earth spell has a dang pun in it!”

I managed to get my almost laughter back under control. I thought for a second. “Well, have you considered getting one of each of the elemental spells then instead? You could be like the Avatar!”

She gasped. “That is a great idea! Sam the [Sorceress]! Master of all 4 elements! I am so picking up [Air Bolt] when I hit level 8! Thanks, Titus!”

“No problem.” What kind of advice did I just give her? Eh, it will probably help to have elemental damage of each type, right? It should be fine. Tim’s got straight up damage covered anyway it sounds like. “Well, this has all been good to know. Anything else important that I should know about?”

Jake spoke up first. “Oh yeah! I forgot! So much has changed the past couple months. I forget what you have and haven’t seen. Anyway, I got a couple of perk points and picked up Map Interface and Enhanced Party. The map shows the surrounding area and also lets me mark quest objectives. The Enhanced Party makes it easier for us to determine what the other party members are doing and also lets us see your HP bars and stuff!”

I frowned. “I still don’t get to see yours, though, eh?”

“Yeah, sorry. You show up under the section for NACs for some reason. At least we can know when you are going to run out of stamina now.”

“Wait. What’s an NAC?”

“Ya know how normal games have NPCs and then PCs? Well, here there are NACs and ACs. We think the AC part stands for adventurer character or something.”

“Ah. Makes sense. And why did you already have that setting on?”

“We added some of the [Guards] to our party a couple times when we were out protecting villagers. It made it easier to track their HP so Andrew could [Heal] them.”

That covered most of the things that were new with the party, and we soon found ourselves back in the village.

“First things first,” Jake said. “We have to show you a copy of the prophecy.” We went to the [Village Elder’s] house first, and he answered the door.

He had a sour look on his face, and I was pretty sure that I heard him muttering “nothing but wolf meat, always dang wolf meat” before he opened it with a curt, “What do you want?” His mood seemed to lighten a bit when he saw me with the party, and they mentioned that they wanted me to take a look at the prophecy. He kept a copy with him, so he had us come inside, and he unrolled the scroll for me on the table.

I read it through. Then I read it through again. This is definitely AltSys. He specifically says [Half-Demon] even though the class doesn’t exist. Why does he go into such detail, though? It sounds like all we have to do is have Jake “stop” me at the first dungeon, and we are golden. Why do we even need the rest?

“Uh, Placeholder to Titus.” Jake waved his hand in front of my face.

“Sorry, was just thinking about it.”

“Not that much to think about, right? It has specifically which classes need to be in the party and even which direction we need to go.”

“Well, I guess I just didn’t understand all the extra detail. If we just stop him at the first dungeon, then we don’t need the other parts of the prophecy. So, does that mean the prophecy is saying this is going to come down to the final confrontation?”

Jake looked thoughtful. “Huh. Didn’t think of that. Let’s hope not.”

Well, we can just nip this in the bud and then find a way home for me. So let’s get this show on the road. “So when are we leaving?”

Jake looked around at the party. “Tomorrow? That work for everyone? Get out on the road quick so we can beat the [Demon Lord] to the dungeon?” He got nods from the assembled party. “We’ll double-check with Tim and Andrew, but we should be pretty much ready to go. We’ve tried to keep our inventories stocked up and ready for whenever you got here.”

Nice! Glad that they are on the ball. This should be easier than expected. Then I had a thought. “Will the village be okay with no adventurers? I mean, you guys have been killing a lot of mobs for them every day, right?”

Wilfred overheard from the other room and interjected. “The level up stone, or obelisk as you adventurers call it, does more than just let us level up. It also keeps out most monsters that would attack.” He paused. “And as good as it has been to have you here [Hero], we would be grateful if your party left as soon as possible. Dark wolf meat does get tiring after a while.”

“We’ve uhh, worn out our welcome here a bit, I think,” Jake whispered. “Turns out that people don’t like it when you flood a small village’s market with a bunch of low-quality meat and more pelts than anyone knows what to do with.” He looked over at Megan. “Also, I don’t think the village ever fully forgave Megan for stealing.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. She looked chagrined. “That’s probably fair.”

Yet another story to ask about later. I thought.

“Either way, we’ve overstayed their hospitality, I think. So it’s a good thing our [Half-Demon] finally showed up.” He gave me a cheeky grin. I just rolled my eyes. “I’ll go find Tim and Andrew and make sure they are good with the plan. Then let’s ready up and hit the hay early so that we can get going early tomorrow!”

The party broke up to go do their preparations. Meanwhile, I went outside and realized that I didn’t have anything to do to prepare. Let’s see, the party has to worry about food, water, extra clothing, arrows for Emilia, and maybe health potions? Oh, probably bedrolls or tents too. I looked around. And I either don’t need or can’t use any of that. I examined my adventurer’s clothes that I had gotten just like everyone else. No, wear or tear at all. That, combined with the fact that I barely even feel the cold, means that I am probably good on clothes too.

“Hey, mister! Are you really a [Half-Demon]?” The boy I saw earlier interrupted my thought process. It looked like he had retrieved his arrow, or had an extra one.

“Are any of us adventurers really any race?” I mused mostly to myself and saw that my 9-year-old audience wasn’t impressed. “I guess so. That’s what the system and my status-.” My status page popped up, and I peevishly closed it. “And my stats say that I am. That and my face, horns, and teeth are a dead giveaway.” I pulled back my lips to show him my fangs at that point.

He wasn’t too impressed. “If you are only half, I wonder what a full demon looks like? Are their horns like twice as big? Do they have razor-sharp claws instead of fingers?”

I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” The conversation stalled a bit after that, and he started testing his bowstring with the arrow on it. “Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

“Is what dangerous?” He kept toying with the bowstring.

“You know, giving a kid a bow and arrow? Aren’t they worried you will poke your eye out or something?”

He looked at me like I just grew an extra head and announced that I had come from the moon to sample all of the world’s cheese. “How would I do that?”

“You know, you trip with the arrow, and it goes toward your eye-.” I finally caught on to his reasoning. With the revelation, I sat down hard on the ground. The snow cushioned me a bit, but I didn’t notice the cold. I was too busy processing. Of course, they have no problem. He trips and falls and pokes himself in the eye? Oh, just some HP damage. Just rest it off. Completely common sense. Yes. Common sense.

I don’t know why it took this long, but I think this was the first time I truly realized what it meant to be in a different world. I had never had one before, but I could feel what I could only assume was a panic attack coming on. Just deep breaths Titus. But you don’t need to breathe either. I started rocking a bit back and forth and was oblivious to the youngster a few feet away from me who was calling for me.

I chose not to think about it earlier, but this is a game world. I met an admin. Do I even exist? Am I just ones and zeros in a program somewhere? I started hyperventilating even though I didn’t need to breathe. Does anyone exist? Is anything I know real? What if-

My existential crisis was interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. “Mister, are-”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I screamed at the hapless child. He looked shocked for a second and then burst out into tears. Oh, dang it. I tried to do damage control. “Look, kid, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” He was past the point of consoling, so I tried to just find out where he lived to give him back to his parents. And that was how I ended up walking back to the [Village Elder’s] house with a kid in tow.

Jake saw me at the tail end of it as I returned the kid to his dad and apologized for snapping at him and making him cry. As I walked off, Jake caught up to me. “You aren’t good with kids, are you?”

I sighed. “No, not really. I preferred dealing with computers. You didn’t have to worry about making those cry.”

“Yeah, you didn’t strike me as the good with kids type.” We settled into an awkward silence.

“So, did you need something [Hero]?”

“Not really, just got finished with my prep early and figured I would check in on ya.”

“Ah, you didn’t draw the short straw for who had to make sure I didn’t cause any trouble?” I joked. Jake paused. The pause spoke volumes. “No way. You guys actually discussed and determined that I need a babysitter.”

Jake crossed his arms. “Hey! In our defense, we were gone for maybe 10 minutes, and you already made a kid cry. Also, you still don’t have a weapon, and that makes things sketchy since you seem to have a tendency to attract monsters.”

“Thanks, [Hero], but I don’t need a babysitter. Go save someone else.” I stalked off.

“But you aren’t safe-”

“I won’t leave the freakin village, okay? Just leave me alone.”

I left a befuddled Jake behind and went to the edge of the village. I sat down in the snow and then scooped some of it up. I tried making a simple snowball and was disappointed. I could pick the snow up, I could start to pack it, but it just wouldn’t stay together. “Can’t make a snowball, can’t build a snowman. I bet it is common sense in this world that snow is just background decoration for when it is cold,” I muttered to myself.

I just sat for a while. I thought about things that happened since I had come to this world. I thought about life. I thought about existence. I think, therefore I am, right? That’s how that famous philosopher put it? The only thing I can prove conclusively is that I exist on some level. I picked up some snow and watched it fall through my hands. The issue is that I don’t know what level that is. I could be a real person that somehow found myself in a world of magic and levels. Or I could just be a collection of bits simulating the entire thing.

I agonized over those thoughts for a while but eventually came to a conclusion. “You know, it doesn’t matter. Whether I am real or not doesn’t change what I am going to do, and what I am going to do is find a way home.”

Ah, yes, home. What do I even remember about it? The answer was not much. I remembered having parents and an older brother. I remember working as a programmer and enjoying it. I could even remember that I graduated college with a degree in computer science. However, I couldn’t remember any of the details. What is my mom’s name? Where did I work? Where did I go to school? The answers to all those questions were frustratingly empty. “So much for freakin [Memory Protection].”

My fretting was interrupted by a crunching noise from behind me. I turned to look but didn’t see anyone. Then I saw a set of footprints that just stopped. I looked at the footprints and then up at the invisible woman in front of me. “Megan, that is just trippy.”

She reappeared. “Aw, footprints gave me away? Dang. Well, I think you are the first to catch me, so congrats.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah, it’s getting close to bedtime if we are going to get up and get an early start tomorrow, so I volunteered to come get you.”

I never did explain that I don’t sleep, did I? Huh. She offered a hand and helped me up, and we started walking back into the village. “So, where am I sleeping then?”

“I think Jake and Garrett mentioned that they had extra room in the house they are staying in,” Megan said. I grimaced. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, I just got into an argument with the [Hero], so that is going to be a bit awkward.”

“Ah, is that why you were out here, brooding?”

“I wasn’t-” she just gave me a look. “Fine. I was brooding, okay? But as part demon, I’m pretty sure I get racial bonuses to that or something,” I grumbled.

“Well, just explain yourself to him! He’s pretty understanding and forgiving honestly.”

“Great, another one for the [Hero] harem.”

“Yeah, no. Eww. He makes a good [Hero], but he’s just not my type.”

“What is your type, then?”

“Oh, you know. Brooding bad boys are pretty up there on my list.” She pointed to one of the houses and said, “That’s theirs. See ya tomorrow!” I had followed where she pointed, and by the time I looked back at her, she was gone.

Well, I’ve improved. I managed not to faceplant this time. And that hint was giant enough even I could get it.

I didn’t dwell on it too long. I went into the house and apologized to Jake for running off on him earlier. Just as Megan expected, he forgave me readily.

I found out that my sleeping arrangements consisted of a bedroll on the floor in the front room near Jake’s. Apparently, that was the better alternative because there were only two rooms in the tiny house, and the [Berserker] snores.

We turned in for the night. I soon found that I had traded outdoor brooding for indoor brooding. I really should’ve just told them I don’t sleep, but I think they might actually catch on that I’m not a [Half-Demon] if I keep revealing stuff like that. Altsys did warn me to sleep on it before letting the team know I was actually the [Demon Lord]… And I still don’t get why. Jake would probably roll with it. I have no plans on actually opening the portal like the prophecy says. So, why would he say to sleep on it? I chewed on that thought over and over again, but couldn’t figure anything out.

I turned over to my other side. Then there’s also that bit with Megan. Was she just flirting? It seemed a bit too obvious for that. Was she just trying to mess with me? As per my usual pattern with girls, or at least, what my patchwork memory said was my pattern with girls, I overthought everything. Also, even if she was attracted to me, that’s just to this “bad boy” look, right? That’s not who I really am. Also, I plan on leaving, so there’s no point in pursuing a relationship with someone who is staying anyway, right? I came up with all sorts of reasons why it wouldn’t work out, or why it was a bad idea.

I stewed and brooded over things for quite some time. Finally, my contemplation was interrupted by a message from the system.

System: You have entered an opposing faction’s zone after midnight. Valid allied or unclaimed zone is adjacent. Beginning monster wave

I bolted upright. That’s not good.

[1] In many games, the terrain is static and won’t be hurt no matter what you do to it. To make things a touch more realistic, game designers often give certain pieces of the terrain hit points too. The easiest way to do that is to just have terrain be completely unaffected until it hits 0 HP and then it suddenly is destroyed. That is precisely what I experienced here with the tree falling when it was “destroyed.”