"Senior Chief!" Rocko barked.

James froze where he was and looked back at Rocko. Blinking a few times, he looked down and found the wooden box with the Amulet was in his hands.

"Put the box down, Senior Chief," Rocko ordered.

Looking back at Rocko, James blinked a few more times before shaking his head and putting the box back into the hole in the floor. Once the box was out of his hands, he scuttled backwards away from the altar.

"Holy shit, he muttered," he muttered, a tremor in his voice.

"What were you doing? I thought I told you not to touch the Amulet." Rocko asked.

"I don't know. You were gone for a while, so I started to doze off. Next thing I know, you are yelling at me," James explained.

"I didn't yet," Rocko said quietly.

"That was a pretty good drill sergeant voice," James said with a tight smile. Picking up his kit, he moved to the far end of the temple and sat down. The roof covered it, but the sun was out, and it was almost noon at this point. Rocko had been gone for several hours. "Any luck?" James asked.

"Actually, better than I thought. I spoke with some knowledgeable people of such things, and they have indicated that what I am planning on doing should work. They also offered some suggestions to make the chance of success that much better." Rocko says, sitting on a piece of rubble.

"Alright, let me give me the report," James asked.

"Do you want the finished product or the weaving path I took to get there?" Rocko asked.

"Just the end. I am sure the journey is important, but I am not sure if I will understand half of it. So, just shoot right at the target," James said, slicing his hand forward like a blade.

"Very well. Several new Races will be available to you when you take the reset option. Dragon is one of them. But like the Dragon, some of them are traps. They look good in the short term, but they either have very large holes in their build or are all sprint and no race."

James nodded. Rocko talked slowly again, but his cadence was still faster than when they first met. Although James wanted him to hurry, he also understood that Rocko was doing his best.

"Best option will be a Shadow Lord at level 5 and the Race called Glrick," Rocko stumbled over the word. James tried to pronounce it himself but stumbled over the GLR sound.

"The Race gives you many options which are not available to any other Race at the start. The first option is something called Astral Traveling. This is an Advantage that allows you to move from two points in the world through Astral Space. Doing so is very dangerous but is much faster than travelling the distance on foot."

James nodded, "Sounds good. I remember something about Astral Traveling in one of the games I played when I was a kid. It is like a layer on top of this layer which some creatures can step to and from."

"Exactly. The Glrick is one such creature. The other huge Advantage is something called PSI Powers. They are similar to Magical Powers, but not. They ignore most magical defences and magical resistances." Rocko explained.

"That is good, then. Having an attack like that prevents it from being stopped." James said.

"And detected." Rocko agreed.

"What about protection from Magic?" James asked.

"The Race starts with Magic Resistance to Tier 3. You will buy up to Tier 4, and you are going to improve it to Stalwart Magical Resistance." Rocko advised.

"What does the Stalwart effect do?" James asked.

"Increases the resistance," Rocko explained. As James nodded, Rocko continued, "You will buy five special Skills. The first is Glrick Swordsmanship, Evasion, Mental Resistance, Intelligence Gathering and Astral Navigation. That last one you need to buy up to level 5."

James made a mental note, "Okay. Glrick Swordsmanship something special?"

"Yes, you would not be eligible for it until you reached level 20 in Melee - Sword, but because this is a reset, you can bypass some requirements. This Skill is much better than the base Skill."

"I remember you talked about Evasion before, so that is good. What about Mental Resistance? I take it that it is important, but why not pick it up later?"

"Because the only way you can pick it up is after being the victim of a mental attack. And by that point, it may be too late. If you have the Skill to start, it will help in the long run, and it is a prerequisite for a PSI power."

"Sounds good—Intelligence Gathering. I am familiar with the concept. I did a lot of that before I died." James paused and shook his head at what he said, "Anyway, we used to do recon, tailing, and observation to gain info on our targets."

"The same here. It also includes the ability to compile the information and see patterns." Rocko agreed.

"Wish I had that before. And lastly, Astral Navigation is so that I can move safely instead of blundering around." James added.

"Correct." Rocko smiled. "There are four special Advantages that you are going to need. The special Advantage is Special Equipment - Glrick Sword. It is a specially created blade and works in both this space and Astral Space. The second Astral Anchor; is a power that allows you to specify a location as an Anchor point. It allows you to travel to it instantly and prevents Astral portals from being created in its proximity, except for yours. The third is Shadow Meld; this is a special power that is required for you to get the Class Option of Shadow Lord at level 5. The fourth is Conceal Status; this makes it difficult for people to know that you are a Champion by just Inspecting you."

James took a moment to absorb that information. The weapon made sense. And if it worked in both normal and Astral Space, it would be even better. It also implied that normal weapons didn't work in Astral Space. The second Advantage gave James insight into what Rocko was planning. He wanted a base of operations that he could quickly return and have it protected from Astral creatures entering. That made sense. The Shadow Meld thing was not in line with what he was expecting. But it sounded like Rocko wanted him to take the Class Shadow Lord. "So. Shadow Lord?" James asked.

"The people I consulted with agreed that the Shadow Lord was the best option with this Race. I married two very strong powers that reinforced each other." Rocko explained.

"In what way," James said, playing along with asking the question Rocko was creating.

"The Glrick is very strong at moving around and has many PSI powers. PSI powers are something that most Champions will not be able to counter. They are also competent swordsmen but not stellar. The Shadow Lord is a master at stealth, sneaking around and ambushing. But they are also very good at gathering intelligence and spying on people. This Challenge is messed up in several ways, but the main way is that the people are hitting back and attacking Champions. The other is that the people share a lot of information about the Champions. There is an old saying in my world. Knowledge is Power. If you gather the right information and spread it around to the right people, you can have the people take care of the Champions for you."

James pondered that information; Rocko was getting damn right verbose. "I am not a fan of this Challenge. I hate the idea of killing other Champions just to win a game. But if I am going to survive, I may not be able to wait until the bottom 500 die of natural causes."

"Exactly. Also, remember that, even if you die, you are not gone. You are just removed from the game. Having the people work with you is part of the master plan. The Advantage allows you to mask the fact that you are a Champion and allow you to integrate yourself into normal society. This will allow you to be the spider in the middle of the web."

James twitched, "I hate spiders."

"Work with me here, James," Rocko admonished.

"Fine. I see what you are saying. These PSI Powers, you have a list?"

"I do. We can go over your options just in case something happens in the Avatar Creation room, but the first thing you will do is summon me as your guide. You will also spend 30 points to allow me to advise you.

"You sure I won't need the points later. Perhaps I should just spend the 20." James said with a smile.

"Oh, ye of tiny wit." Rocko mused.

"Fine, should we do this now, then?"

"Let me give you the list of PSI Powers and then go from there. We will discuss them, so you understand what and why, and then we will go through a couple of other options. I am not sure how many points you will get, so I am trying to consider all my options." Rocko explained.

"Understood," James sat up, and they started to go over the list of PSI Powers and then over all the options discussed already. James was well aware of how important it was for everyone to bewareaware of the plan, what the contingency plans were, and what the SNAFU plan was. There were external forces at play. You could never expect a plan to survive contact with the enemy, and James knew that forces were messing with him already. The odds of him being dumped in this dungeon and ending up in this temple and finding this Amulet were too convenient. Add to that the fact that he pulled toward the altar.

"What about my gear?" James asked.

"You are going to hide it around here. Then, you will come back here and get it when you return to this world. That is why I recommended Astral Navigation 5 to start with. It is important to arrive here without attracting too much attention in the Astral Space." Rocko explained.

With that done, James moved out of the temple ruins and found a place to conceal his backpack, bow, sword, and holding bag. James decided to conceal all the items in different locations. If someone found one item, they didn't find all of them. Next, he took the box out of the hole under the alter and moved the alter back where it was before. He wasn't sure why he felt like that was important.

"You don't think this will work out the way you are hoping, do you?" James asked Rocko.

Rocko looked up and smiled, but it was a pained smile, "Actually, I think that you will be just fine. I don't think that I will be assigned to you when the option comes up for you to get your guide. I think that you may get someone else."

James frowned, "I hadn't thought of that. Do you think they won't let us team up again?"

Rocko just shrugged. "I wish I knew. But, the people I consulted with said it was a high probability that we would not be paired up again. I am sorry. I am trying to prepare you the best I can."

"Going above and beyond, I say," James said.

"Kind of you to say."

"That means you won't get the surgery to repair your wing." James realized.

Rocko shrugged again, "Small price to pay if this works."

"No, it isn't. That is a huge ass price to pay." James frowned, "I wasn't going to say anything because I don't know enough about your world or your situation, but I may have a solution that works in my world for your wing."

James paused, waiting for Rocko to decide if he wanted to hear the advice. "I suppose that giving advice can go both ways," Rocko said with a grin.

To the best of his limited ability, James explained about bone re-breaking and realignment. It was not a common problem with modern medicine, but he was aware of a friend who had his arm bone twisted in the cast and had to have the arm re-broken and then pins and screws put in place to keep the arm straight for the second healing. James just hoped this worked for his friend.

"Thank you, James. I will speak with the healer and see if this will work." Rocko said with a smile. "I hope I see you soon."

"You too, Rocko. Stay frosty." James replied.

"Stay hard," Rocko responded as James touched the Amulet and selected the option to Reset his Avatar.