Samantha frowned when she saw Nathan entering the school, another girl accompanying him. She knew he wasn't a one-girl kind of guy, but he did promise he'd go for more than just sex when she agreed to dating him with him having a harem.

Yet he went to find a familiar and found another lover? That bothered her.

Nathan walked straight towards her, giving her a small hug.

"Katie," he said. "This is Samantha."

"The girlfriend?" Katie asked cautiously.

"Yes," Samantha stated. "The girlfriend."

"You can share," Nathan told her. "Agreement, remember? Did William take the chance?"

"What chance?" Samantha was confused by the sudden question.

"To have sex with you while I wasn't around."

Nathan was being serious with the question, as he had fully expected William to do so while he was gone. Her reaction, however, told him that his expectation did not match up to reality.

"No," she snorted. "Pretty sure he's scared of what you'd do if he touched me while you weren't around. Or while I was pregnant, considering you stopped with me after finding that out."

"Don't want to risk any harm," Nathan stated.

"It's perfectly safe to have sex while pregnant if I'm not having health issues," Samantha rolled her eyes.

"I'd rather not risk," Nathan told her. "Also, superfetation."

"The hell is that?" She asked.

"When the automatic shit that prevents you from being able to get pregnant while pregnant fail," Agent Samtol said. "And you get pregnant again as a result of having sex during pregnancy."

"That," Nathan said, then kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry, condoms-only until he's born."

Samantha snorted, and Nathan looked at Katie.

"Orientation."

"Right," she said, then walked off, joining the other survivors from her batch.

"She was having a hard time sleeping," Nathan told Samantha.

"And?"

"And I let her sleep with me," Nathan said, and she raised a hand. "I didn't have any condoms. Didn't happen."

Samantha let out a sigh of relief, and Agent Samtol cleared his throat. Nathan looked at him, raising an eye.

"Your parents wanted to see you," the agent said. "They're very insistent on it."

"Are they in the tent outside?"

"Uh, no," he said. "Unfortunately, we had to break protocol and let them into the building. I can see where you get your youness from. They're this way."

Nathan nodded and followed the agent, kissing Samantha on the cheek on his way past. A few minutes later, Nathan was in one of the unused classrooms, where his parents were sitting at a table. As soon as he entered, they stood, his father glaring at the agent, who quickly retreated.

"Nathan," his father walked forward, putting his hands on his son's shoulders. "Are you doing alright?"

"Yes."

"Good," his father said. "We've heard about what's really going on. How are you doing?"

"I need some supplies," Nathan stated, and his father snorted as his mother rolled her eyes.

"What do you need?" His father asked.

Nathan looked around, then walked over to a cabinet and opened it, opening several until he found a stack of paper and some pens. Grabbing a sheet and one of the pens, he returned to the table, then began writing the list.

"What do you need all of this for?" His father asked as he read the list.

"The game," Nathan stated, continuing writing down the items he wanted. "I'm learning enchanting, and this is going to help me."

"They demonstrated a bit of magic as a form of proof," his father frowned. "That Keith boy, particularly."

"The one teaching me," Nathan nodded. "He specializes in enchanting."

"What do you need blank playing cards for?"

"Project," Nathan grunted. "Make sure they're finished, but blank. Rounded corners."

His father nodded, and Nathan finished his list in silence, then handed it to his father.

"Three days?" He asked.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," Nathan said.

"Can you tell me about what you went through?"

Nathan nodded, then sat down, his father returning to the seat beside his wife, and Nathan began explaining everything he'd been through. His parents listened intently, and when they finished, asked him what his plans were.

"To figure out what's behind the game," he answered. "And then destroy it."

"Alright," his father said. "Let us know when you do."

Nathan smiled, then wished them well and left, hunting down Keith, who was sitting in another classroom, muttering as he worked his fingers over a piece of metal. Clearing his throat, the warrior sat down, and the wizard looked at him.

"Welcome back," Keith said. "Did you see your parents yet?"

"Yes."

"Good, good," Keith muttered, returning his gaze to the piece of metal, muttering a bit more under his breath.

The metal broke away into nine smaller pieces, each two inches on each side and a quarter of an inch thick.

"There we go," he muttered, sliding one of the pieces across the table to Nathan. "Do a strengthen rune on it, and this time, use your magic. Do you want to use an inscribing pen, or just your finger?"

"Pen."

Keith pulled a sleek black pen with a blue tip out and slide it across the table. Nathan grabbed it, then pushed his mana into it, much like when he used force magic, and began to draw the strengthen rune onto the metal, pure-white lines forming where the pen touched. It took him twenty seconds, and when he finished, he slide the square to Keith.

The wizard picked up the piece of metal an examined it, turning the metal over in his hands a few times, muttering under his breath.

"It's good," Keith nodded. "I'm a bit jealous, actually. Your first try, and it's functional. Won't even break, no matter how much air pressure I apply to it. That's a testament to just how much magic you have. With practice, you'll be able to make them much faster."

Nathan grunted in response, and Keith slide the other eight squares across.

"Try eight of the other runes," Keith told him. "Keep in mind that they might not do anything, since they're just on a coin and not, well, you know."

Nathan immediately got to work, sliding each square back to the wizard when he finished. Keith inspected each square, then sighed, leaning back in his seat, sighing.

"Dammit, Nathan," he said. "Why do you have to be better than me? It's like you're born to be an enchanter."

Nathan flashed him a grin, and the wizard looked at him, then rolled his eyes.

"I can still draw a rune in a second and have it functional," Keith told Nathan. "So I've got you beat there."

Nathan laughed, then Keith hid the rune-inscribed squares. With those put away, the pair made their way down to the cafeteria, where they ate dinner with the other survivors. That night was spaghetti with garlic bread, and Nathan was pleased it wasn't the usual cafeteria-quality food, but actual food. He rated it at a two, making Samantha and the rest of his team laugh.

After dinner, Nathan was shown to his new room, which had a twin bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and two bookshelves with the textbooks for the classes he'll be taking there for the rest of the school year. A minifridge sat underneath his desk, and a set of cubbies beside the shelving revealed a few items, such as packs of paper and writing utensils.

Walking to his desk, where a laptop rested, Nathan ignored the device and picked up the book instead. He had asked Keith for enchanting help, but hadn't expected an actual book on it. Enchantment Guide.

Grunting, he kicked off his shoes, then climbed onto his bed and started reading.

"Nathan?"

"Yes?"

"Okay, wasn't going to say this, but are you aware that you can just think your comments to me?" Ichtvar asked. "So long as you're directing them at me, I can hear your mental comments."

"Okay," Nathan stated. "What did you want?"

"I lack the ability to observe the world while contained like this," Ichtvar said. "I'm not asking to be released but… I was wondering what you were doing."

"Reading up on enchantment runes."

"Release me if you wish for me to look over them. I know a bit about them. I've helped more than a few enchanters in my time, though it has been… at least a thousand years. It's been a long while. But my memory is as sharp as always, so my aid may be of use."

Nathan nodded, then stripped his torso bare, allowing Ichtvar to pull out of him. The ancient phoenix hovered in the air beside Nathan, despite his wings being tucked in. Looking at the bird, Nathan attempted to read the magic. He couldn't understand any of it, so he gave up trying for then and went back to reading the book. Maybe one day, he could read magic like Keith.

"Why are they recommending such an outdated endurance rune?" Ichtvar asked, and Nathan looked at him.

The bird looked around.

"Do you have any paper?" Ichtvar asked.

Curious to know what the ancient bird thought was a proper rune and not an outdated one was, Nathan set the book down and walked over to the cubbies. He pulled out one of its boxes, then a few sheets of paper, which he set on his desk.

The ancient phoenix floated over to the desk, and lightly dragged a claw over the paper, forming a rune similar to the one in the book, though different in several ways.

"Costs the same amount of mana to make," the phoenix told Nathan. "But it's far more powerful and far more resilient. Are you sure that's an up-to-date tome?"

"Yes," Nathan answered. "At least, they've assured me it is."

"Hmm…"

The phoenix flicked a wing, and the tome flew up into the air and onto the desk. The bird began looking through the pages, leaving Nathan to wonder what it was doing. The teen climbed back onto his bed, folding his legs together in front of him, and watched.

"This is so horrible," the phoenix muttered after a few minutes.

A shimmer of magic surrounded the book, which grew in size, both in width and length, as well as in thickness.

"There we go," Ichtvar muttered as Nathan raised an eyebrow, a gesture that went unnoticed by the bird, who was completely into what looked to be adding in more runes to the book. "And if I do this enchantment to it, then the changes will only be visible to Nathan."

He continued to work, and after nearly three hours, finished adding in new runes and their explanations. Satisfied, the bird looked at Nathan, then flew back into his chest, merging back in, his red-and-gold marks fading away immediately.

"There," Ichtvar told Nathan. "I made some changes. The tome will look as it always did to others, though you'll be able to see the changes. Once you've learn the runes I put in, they'll fade away, the tome eventually reverting to normal. You can share the knowledge if you wish, but only you can read it directly from the book."

Nathan pulled the book off his desk and started flipping through it, impressed by the changes and new runes. Ichtvar left plenty of notes on all of the runes, including the ones that the book already showed, removing what he considered 'pointless information'.

When he reached the back of the book, where the entirely-new rune types were given, Nathan found himself smiling, just a little. Some of those runes would certainly help with his personal projects.

"And these runes will do as you say?" Nathan asked.

"Of course!" Ichtvar sounded offended, and Nathan felt a prickling sensation that supported that thought. "I've been doing runes since long before your people's primitive states and have put in all of my runic knowledge."

"How old are you?"

"Roughly two hundred million years old," Ichtvar responded, though Nathan wasn't sure if he was being completely honest. "So consider yourself lucky. By the way, how do you feel?"

"I've a bit of a headache, why?"

"Because I'm technically much too powerful for you," Ichtvar responded. "Or rather, for your rate of regenerating mana. Normally, when someone binds with a familiar, their rates increase immediately to help compensate, especially if the familiar is much more powerful. Then again… it's probably a demigod thing to not."

"So this headache is from the contract, and not from keeping you in me?" Nathan asked.

"Correct," Ichtvar responded. "Based on the previous time something so powerful contracted with a magician, when the last demigod existed, I'd say that you'll adapt over the next several days."

"The last demigod?" Nathan asked. "Merlin?"

"He didn't exactly advertise what he was," Ichtvar said. "How did you know?"

"Similarities."

"Ah."

A knock at the door interrupted the conversation, and Nathan answered it to find both Katie and Samantha there. Based on how they were standing, he assumed that they'd come to some sort of agreement. There was no tension there, and no hostility from Samantha or hesitation in Katie, unlike when his girlfriend had first seen Katie.

"What?"

"May we come in?" Samantha asked, and Nathan gestured for them to, walking over to his bed. "Thanks."

The two girls entered his room and closed the door.

"You know," Samantha said. "If we were minors, they'd probably not allow us in the boys' rooms. Good thing we're legally adults?"

"I mean, they know most of us probably had sex at some point," Katie said. "So they probably figure it's fine, especially since apparently, most girls leave pregnant."

"I'm still amazed that you didn't," Samantha told her. "Most guys just ignored the condoms, and the girls let it go, too. No one thought they'd be making it out, so why bother?"

"I didn't care," Katie shrugged. "None of them actually caught my interest."

Nathan picked up an odd tone in Katie's voice. He was pretty sure there was a story behind her not having sex in the game, especially since, as the agents suspected, there was a mind influence to push the players into having sex.

"And you just happened to fall for Nathan?" Samantha asked.

"He's not like other guys I've met," Katie shrugged. "Something about him just resonates, I guess?"

"Girls," Nathan said, and they looked over to find him under his blanket, his pants and underwear very obviously on the floor. "I was getting ready for bed. Either leave, get to the point of why you're here, or get in my bed with me."

"Are you naked under there?" Katie blushed a little.

"Very," came the response.

"They want us to wait a week," Samantha said. "Before reentering at all. They do recommend entering, though, even though our lives are at risk, and doing easy, Beginner-Rank games until those become easy, then to do Easy-Rank games a few times. They want us to do at least five of each before we reach the twenty-five day mark, and we can go in groups. Otherwise, we won't be strong enough to even think about challenging the next game we're forced into.

"From what the others have said," she continued. "Most of the Beginning-Rank games are doable in groups of only three or four. There's also something called the Tower, which grows increasingly difficult the higher you go, which makes for great training. A few of us were planning on challenging some stuff as soon as they tell us that we're clear to go, and we wanted to know if you were going to join us."

"No," Nathan stated. "And the Tower is solo, according to our guides. I've got plans. Maybe on another trip."

"Alright," Samantha said.

"So," Nathan glared at them. "Bed? Or leave."

"Leave for tonight," Samantha answered. "Though don't expect to be alone every night."

"I won't."

The girls left his room, and Nathan quickly fell asleep.