John stumbled out of the servants’ entrance, taking deep, gasping breaths. “Has… has the Queen been killed?”

Patrick’s voice was empty. “The Queen… she’s gone.”

“What? How could she have left? Is there another secret-”

Jane spoke up, interrupting her brother. “That monster just… disappeared! I was standing right beside her, about to strike her down! But then she just wasn’t there!” Fury flowed from her in waves.

Ask her if the Queen said anything before she vanished!

What?

Just ask her, John! Trust me!

“Jane?”

“What?” Her irritation was evident.

“Did the Queen, uh… speak before she vanished? Did she say anything?”

Jane paused, thinking back. “She said… emergency… something?”

Did she say emergency log-out?

“Was it emergency log-out?”

“That was it!” She stared at him. “You were still stumbling up the stairs when she disappeared. How did you know what she said?”

“It was, uh… Hud! Hud told me!”

The gathered fighters started whispering.

Jane turned to them. “We’ve waited here for too long! Secure the castle!” She eyed what was left of the royal-guard; they were all moaning, clutching their heads in pain. “Make sure there aren’t any people still under her hold and look after the ones that are recovering.”

Moments later, the room was empty, except for Angus, Patrick, John and Jane.

“John, do you know where the Queen is?”

“No.” The knight answered.

Yes.

“Sorry, I mean yes.”

Where is she?

She’s at the City.

Which city?

No, the City, with a capital ‘C’.

Where’s that?

No-one knows. There are theories, of course, but-

How did she go there then?!

It’s a place only Users can go – once you reach level 5, you can teleport there, in one of two ways. Say ‘log-out’ and wait an hour, or say ‘emergency log-out’ and teleport instantly. The second option comes at a cost, however.

What’s teleport mean? And what’s the cost?

Teleportation is moving from one place to another, without going through the space in-between. And it will reset your level to 1, if you choose the emergency option.

“Ah, I get it now.” John turned towards his sister. “She moved to a city full of people with Huds because the Queen was level five! Now she’s only got one level because she used the emergency option, rather than the one-hour teleport!”

Simultaneously, Jane, Angus and Patrick blinked.

“John, they don’t know about… Hud, yet. You’ve explained this to me already, and even I don’t understand what you just said!”

John, repeat after me. Word for word, don’t try to explain it your own way! You are really, really bad at that. Like you cannot be worse at conveying information!

The average knight sighed. Fine. What do I say?

*****

“So you’re the only one that can go to the City?” Patrick questioned.

“Yes, because I have a Hu- I mean, I’m a user.” John responded, pride tinging his voice.

Actually…

What?

Right now, you’re the only user here… but there is a way to turn someone into a user.

Uh… excuse me? Could you please explain?

You can sacrifice one level, to create one personal-system-unit.

I can make more of you?

Well, they wouldn’t be me, they’d be a blank slate that would create and develop a personality based of their host, but sort of, yeah.

Huh.

“So, Jane?” He asked.

“Yes?” She had a questioning look in her eyes.

“If I said that I could make you into a user, what would you say?”

Jane’s eyes narrowed. “I’d say that I want to become a user as soon as possible. How do we make that happen, John?”

How do I make it happen, Hud?

Well, you can’t do it yet since you only have one level. And there is a downside – for each level you spend to create a PSU, the required experience to gain the next level doesn’t drop.

What does that mean, exactly?

Let’s say that to reach level two you need two experience and level three needs three experience. You reached level two, but dropped a level because you made a PSU, to reach level two again, you’d need three experience. Because the experience required to level-up gets exponentially bigger, you really shouldn’t make too many PSUs.

Well, I want to at least give Jane a PSU… so what now?

John, it’s time to power-level!