“

“Milord, we have located him.” Aki informed Jaden as the party marched closer to the domain of the boss enemy.

“Good, how is Four?” Jaden asked pensively.

“Unconscious. His essence was on the verge of collapse from mana overuse, but we infused him with more energy. He should recover fully once his mana regenerates.”

Jaden winced. “Ouch, what happened?”

Aki shrugged. “We won’t know until he wakes. In the meantime, we are continuing the march toward the boss territory.”

Jaden nodded, deep in thought. “Make sure the Jeffs in front are being extra careful. The fact that the entire squad was taken out without any communication makes me nervous.”

Aki nodded. “As you wish.”

Jaden looked away as they lapsed into silence. Wordlessly, he glanced to where Niko and Lois were talking quietly to each other some twenty feet away. Jaden sighed as he glanced down to his wrist, tapping it lightly. A light blue shimmer where his finger pressed signalled the presence of his new personal shield; another ability he had gained from his cards. With an almost neurotic anxiety, Jaden opened his stat screen, staring at the new entry for his shield.

*************************************

Jaden Harris

Max MP: 522

Free MP: 261/261 (50%)

Stats

Strength: 10 (0%)

Agility: 10 (0%)

Fortitude: 62 (10%)

Endurance: 10 (0%)

Charisma: 10 (0%)

Intelligence: 208 (20%)

Magic Resistance: 10 (0%)

Personal Shield: 104/104 (20%)

*all stats are rounded to the nearest whole number

Jobs:

King of Games Level 6

Skills:

Blood Magic Level 4

Regeneration 2

Mimic 1

Titles:

Fop Level 1

Originator Level 2

Creator Level 2

Status effects:

None

*************************************

“I just hope it’ll be enough.” Jaden muttered to himself. He glanced to the others again. With some effort, he had managed to teach them the shield, blood magic, and regeneration skills. He could only imagine how fearsome Niko especially would be with the new skills combined. He watched as a panther burst from the nearby bushes. With the panther in mid-leap, Niko stuck her sword into its trajectory without looking; skewering it before it ever came into striking distance. Niko’s stride barely slowed as Jaden shook his head. The panther corpse stuck to Niko’s sword as she continued walking before falling off with a squelch.

Jaden suppressed a gag, looking away from the scene as Niko began cleaning the blood from the sword with a summoned rag. Jaden looked to Aki next, who was walking next to him. Aki had no expression on his face. On the opposite side of Aki walked a Jeff who served as his aide. Both summoned men had their hands on their weapons as if expecting to be attacked.

Jaden sighed, feeling out of place. Almost unaware of what he was doing, Jaden’s hand fell into his deck holder; fondling the cards within as if they could save him. He snorted, and began laughing as a realization passed through his mind.

“Milord?” Aki asked in surprise.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking that after I spent my whole life loathing my dad for being a crazy macho survivalist, I’m probably only alive because of all the time I spent in the woods with him. I guess it makes it harder to hate him, knowing that in his own fucked up way he ended up helping me.” Jaden’s laughter died down slowly as if someone had installed a dimmer switch on his voice box.

“I… see.” Aki replied, clearly uncertain how to react to the conversation.

Jaden shook his head. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“If you say so milord.” Aki replied noncommittally.

Jaden rolled his eyes, but remained silent.

As they walked, Jaden watched in curiosity as Aki periodically summoned Jeffs. He hadn’t paid much attention before, but now he found the process fascinating. He idly wondered if he could somehow improve the efficiency of his own summoning by observing the process. It was another two hours before the party crossed the threshold of the boss enemies territory. Jaden was fiddling with his interface when the notification appeared.

*************************************

You have entered the domain of the green dragon. Prepare yourself/selves for battle.

*************************************

A moment later, a scream of terror erupted nearby. “It sounds as though Four is awake.” Aki commented.

“We have to run! Everyone we have to retreat! We can’t win!” Four began yelling.

Jaden walked over to Four, and knelt over him where the carrying Jeff had set him on the ground. “What’s up?” Jaden asked nervously.

“It’s a beast! We need to escape while we still can.” Four whimpered.

“We have to at least try.” Jaden told Four.

“No, you need to run!”

Jaden simply shook his head, and stood. Already, trees could be heard in the distance; snapping in the path of the dragon. Jaden could hear Aki delivering orders as the Jeffs scrambled into defensive positions. As he activated his battle grid, Niko and Lois walked up beside him.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lois asked.

Jaden shrugged. “Aki is organizing the Jeffs. I’ll provide support and summons. I guess you guys are the heavy hitters.”

“So just the normal then?” She asked. Jaden glanced to Niko, who looked nervous, but remained silent.

Jaden nodded. “We don’t really have time to come up with anything clever here. It’s basically just gonna come down to a stat check I think.”

“Stat check?” Lois asked, having never heard the term.

“Whether we’re strong enough to kill it normally.” Jaden muttered apprehensively.

Lois nodded, and looked toward where the crashing sounds were getting audibly closer to the party. Her face was resolute as she began stretching. Jaden turned to Niko, but before he could say anything to her; Chance cleared her throat from behind him. Jaden jumped, turning to her with a mildly annoyed look.

“Hello, oh goddess my goddess.” He said sarcastically.

Chance turned her nose up haughtily, eyes betraying a twinkle of amusement. “Your sarcasm is noted, and not appreciated. Now is not the time though, so I’ll save your punishment for later. I have come here to aid you.”

“Aid us how?” Jaden asked.

Chance cocked her head at him. “More of a you, than an us really. I give you my official blessing for this fight. In this case, my blessing means that you may choose to circumvent fate one time; drawing either the exact card you want, or the card that would lead to the best possible outcome one time. It is up to you which of those options you choose. Use this gift wisely. It is… not cheap for a god to intervene this way.”

Jaden nodded solemnly. “I appreciate whatever sacrifice you made.”

Chance waved off his words. “It was just mana. A prophet such as yourself is worth far more than any amount of mana I hold.”

Jaden shrugged. “I’m still grateful. Thank you for thinking of me.”

Chance nodded, and seemed to vanish into thin air.

“Well, I guess that’s it then.” Jaden said, turning back to Niko. “I can’t think of anything else.”

Niko smiled at him. “I can.” She announced, before grabbing his hair, pulling his face down into hers roughly. Caught by surprise, Jaden stiffened reflexively; causing his lips to land on her nose. Laughing, she repositioned her face, locking lips with him in a way that both would describe as entirely euphoric. By the time they surfaced for air, Lois was making gagging sounds, and both Jaden and Niko were panting.

“For luck.” Niko said simply.

Jaden nodded; slightly dizzy from the sensation, and having to resist the urge to jump her right there. Lifting his hand up to brush it against her cheek, he smiled softly. “Be safe.”

Without a small laugh, Niko grabbed his hand with her own; nuzzling her cheek into his palm joyfully. After several seconds, she stopped nuzzling his hand, kissed the top, and released him. With that, she turned and walked toward the future battlefield. Jaden watched her walk with a dazed expression on his face.

“Wow.” He muttered, dropping his hand of cards.