As soon as we were able to Log back into Soul Core Online, we did so and quickly contact our friends to let them know that we were back. When they’d found out what had happened Julian and Sarah had called to ask us how we were doing. Unfortunately, they called in the middle of the movie that we were watching which had annoyed Katy but once she got over that we had a pretty good chat about what’d happened after Katy, and I had died.

According to them the rest of the operation had gone pretty much as planned. Julian had also been forced to sacrifice himself so that one of the Guards could get away, but Sarah had managed to survive. Sadly, the three of us hadn’t been the only casualties in this fight but we had managed to keep the losses to a minimum.

Sarah had also reported the Harmon and the Captain wanted to see us as soon as we could get to the barracks. Which is why that was our first destination. As we headed towards the barracks, I got a message from Kelly asking us to wait until Julian could Log In because he had died a few minutes after us so we decided to take a side trip through the market to see if we could find anything interesting. She also said that she’d already sent a message to Fern to let her know what the plan was.

When we arrived at the market, I was surprised to see how busy it was. There had to be more than twice the number of people there than I had ever seen before and almost all of them appeared to be Players. I’d hoped that our efforts to get other Players to come to Polson, but I hadn’t expected things to have gone so well. Of course, that was disregarding the possibility that some of them were actually planning to help the other side out but for now it looked like things were going well.

Most of the Players were treating the Locals quite well too which was good to see. Things had been pretty awkward between most Players and the Locals when the game had first launched but things had actually started to improve pretty quickly. Katy had joked that this was because of how many people had seen the video of me accosting the rude Player on the first day. Personally, I preferred to believe that the other players had just decided to treat them better themselves after interacting with them for so long.

“Oh, hey Zeke, we haven’t seen you around in a while,” a familiar voice said from behind me as I browsed one of the armor stalls.

I turned around to see Sterling, Gary and Shara standing behind me. They had obviously spent quite a bit of time playing since I’d seen them because their gear looked much better than the starting equipment they’d had then.

“Yeah, I got killed by some Undead the other day,” I replied. “So, I wasn’t able to Log In.”

“Undead?” Sterling asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be pretty powerful in this game? Why were you fighting them?”

“The Guards asked my friends and I for some help saving people who had been kidnapped by the Undead,” I explained. “We managed to save quite a few of them but Katy and I stayed behind to cover their retreat and got killed.”

“I see,” Sterling nodded. “None of us have died in this game yet but I imagine it isn’t very pleasant.”

“It was my second time dying in this game and I definitely don’t recommend it,” I replied with a chuckle. “But it’s better that I die since NPCs won’t come back if they get killed.”

“But the AIs that control them don’t die right?” Gary asked. “They just become a different NPC, right?”

“Either that, a mob or one of the AIs governing the world,” Katy agreed as she walked over. “But that still means that you will never get to meet that AI under the same circumstances again. The next time that you see them they will likely have a completely different personality or even try to kill you.”

“That’s an interesting point to be sure,” Sterling agreed before Gary could respond. “I don’t think we’ve ever thought about that.”

“Just don’t let it get in the way of you enjoying the game,” Katy warned. “I’ve caught Zeke getting a bit too caught up in the thought of what he was putting the AIs controlling the Mobs through, but we lose most of the memories of things like pain. You have to remember that one AI can control dozens of Mobs at once so it wouldn’t be good for them to experience everything in the same way that they would experience controlling a normal NPC or a Boss.”

“But what about the AIs that are controlling Boss’?” Shara asked. “Don’t they feel everything the Boss feels?”

“That’s right but those AIs completely understand what they’re going to experience if they become a Boss,” Katy pointed out. “Besides, you play this game knowing that you can feel pain here or even die. So why would it be any different for us?”

“Another good point,” Sterling agreed. “We’ll keep that in mind. We should probably get going now though. These two have school tomorrow.”

“I hope that goes well then,” I nodded. “Good luck you two.”

Shara nodded cheerfully but Gary seemed less impressed with what I’d said. Seeing the look on his face Sterling sighed but gave me one last smile before bidding Katy and I goodbye.

“We should probably get going too,” I said as I turned to Katy who nodded. She already knew that I had received a message from Warren letting us know that he was heading towards the barracks. That was why she had come over while I had been talking to Sterling and his kids.

“Hey, you two,” Warren greeted us as we approached the barracks. Not only was Kelly there with him but Gordy and Petra were there as well. “How was your downtime?”

“It was quite productive actually,” Katy replied cheerfully. “We put a deposit down on a rather nice apartment that we’ll be moving into next week.”

“That’s great you two!” Warren exclaimed. “I’d offer to help you out but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be very useful.”

“The thought is more than enough man,” I replied with a smile. “We both know you’d help out if you could.”

“Sadly, I’m going to be very busy as well next week,” Kelly sighed. “So, I can’t help you either. I probably won’t even be Logging In at all next week. I’ve just got too much to do before my last day at the firm.”

“I said that it’s fine,” I laughed. “I’ll just get my parents to help me out. They won’t mind. In fact, they’re excited to see the new place.”

“I wouldn’t mind helping if you want boss,” Fern said from behind me making me leap into the air in surprise. “Sorry, I spotted you leaving the market and decided to follow you so that I could introduce you to my AI.”

“Oh, is that her next to you?” I asked noticing the short girl next to her.

“That’s right boss!” The AI replied. “I’m Hannah. Big sis’ AI.”

Hannah had short brown hair and a grin that split her round face almost in half. However, her equipment was what really caught my eye. She was carrying a shield that resembled the one that Warren used to use and a spellglove just like the one that I started with. Seeing the look on my face Fern grinned in amusement as she paced a hand on Hannah’s head.

“She might not look it but this little one is pretty tough,” Fern laughed. “She also picked a Light Magic Core. When she heard about Warren, she decided that she wanted to take some of the weight off his back and keep the rest of us alive.”

“Oh, I like this one!” Warren laughed. “What do you think Gordy?”

“I think that we’ll have to see her in action, but it sounds promising,” Gordy agreed with a wide grin. “I’m looking forward to working with you Hannah.”

“Would you really be willing to help me move?” I asked Fern who grinned back at me from behind her hair.

“Depends on where you are boss,” she replied. “You should live relatively close to me because that’s how the game decides what starting town people start in. But you could still be far enough away from me that it would be a problem for me to get there. If you do live close enough then I’m more than happy to provide what help that I can though.”

“That would be great,” I nodded before turning to Katy. “Can you send Hannah my address please.”

“Of course,” my AI agreed. She wasn’t worried about Fern doing anything to me which was why I wasn’t either despite never having met Fern in real life.

“Oh, this is actually really close sis!” Hannah exclaimed when she received the information. “It would only take you about twenty minutes to drive there.”

“Alright then,” Fern nodded. Just let me know when you want my help.”

“That’s very generous,’ I said with a smile. “Thanks Fern.”

“Hey, as far as I’m concerned, I owe you,” Fern laughed. “I’ve benefited quite a lot from joining your party. If this will help me repay you then I’m happy to help.”

“I’m not sure what you think you owe me,” I replied. “But I appreciate the sentiment.

“Don’t worry about that Zeke,” Warren chuckled. “You wouldn’t get it anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped at my friend while the others grinned in amusement.

“Never mind that for now Zeke,” Kelly said as she struggled to keep a straight face. “We should head inside. We’ve kept the captain and Harmon waiting long enough.”

I grumbled to myself as I nodded in agreement and followed Warren, Kelly, and Fern through the gate. Gordy and Petra decided that they’d take Hannah into the fields outside of town so that they could see what she was capable of, so we decided to meet up with them once we were done talking with Harmon and the captain.

One of the Guards led us to the captain’s office and knocked on the door to let Harmon and the captain know that we had arrived.

“How are you doing?” Harmon asked as we entered and sat down. “From what I heard you three fought pretty hard before the skeletons finally managed to bring you down.”

“It was pretty unpleasant,” Katy agreed. “I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

“Oh yeah,” Warren said in realization as a guilty expression crossed over his face. “I forgot that was the first time that you’ve died. Sorry that I wasn’t there to make sure that you survived.”

“You had your own job man,” I told my friend. “We knew what we were getting into.”

“And we appreciate your help,” the captain nodded. “Thanks to you we managed to save almost half of the people that the undead had captured. What’s more we also managed to capture one of the Outsiders who was trying to join them. Before you ask the idiot came back to life earlier. He didn’t even seem to expect us to realize who he was, so he was quite surprised to see Tylie there.”

“Oh, so you managed to catch him did you,” Katy said with a smirk. “I got the feeling that he wasn’t very bright so that doesn’t really surprise me. What sort of idiot wants to help people that threw him in a cage anyway?”

“Normally I would say someone with Stockholm syndrome, but I don’t think that he’d been in the cage long enough for that,” I sighed. “So, you’re probably right about his intelligence.”

“Jeez you two, don’t you think killing him once was enough?’ Warren asked as he struggled to keep from laughing aloud.

“They aren’t wrong though,” Fern pointed out. “It was pretty stupid. As was Logging In as soon as he was able to.”

“Logging In?” the captain asked. “Is that what you call it when you return to this world?”

“Uh, yeah,” I agreed as I glanced sideways at Fern who gave me an apologetic look. “So, what did you want to talk to us about?”

“We wanted to thank you for your help and give you your reward of course,” Harmon sighed. “As well as talk about what our next course of action will be.”

“Ah, of course,” I nodded. “Sorry I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“We weren’t expecting you to help out with something like this so the reward for your help might not seem as worthwhile as you would like,” Harmon explained awkwardly. “Especially since three of you died. The mayor has been dragging his heels a bit when it comes to our funding recently. However as something of an apology for this I’m going to give you some Soul Points for your Ranger Core Zeke. I’ll also be requesting permission from the church to give your whole group Ranger Cores of their own.”

“That’s more than enough,” Warren nodded just as a new notification popped up in front of us telling us what our reward was for saving the prisoners.

Quest Complete!

Undead Kidnappers (Hidden Event Quest)

After coming across the signs of people being kidnapped by the undead you contacted the Guards and helped them stage a rescue operation.

Rewards

· 5 Silver.

· 10 Soul Points for you Ranger Core.

· 100 Reputation with the Ponson Guards.

· 50 Reputation with the Village of Ponson.

· Possibility for members of your Party to receive Ranger Cores at a later date.

As Harmon had warned us the rewards didn’t really amount to much but that wasn’t really why we had decided to help.

“Anyway, we’d like you to keep an eye out for more things like this,” Harmon requested. “I’ve already contacted the Rangers and they’ve agreed to send me something more worthwhile next time.”

A new notification popped up in front of me as I waved the previous one away. This one gave us more details on what Harmon and the captain wanted me to do.

New Quest!

Catching the kidnappers

(Event Quest)

Undead have been raiding nearby homesteads and merchant caravans. After ransacking whatever useful items and capturing anyone they find they leave nothing but destruction behind them. No one alive knows for certain what they wish to do with those they captured but it is obvious that their corpses will march alongside their captors when they finally attack.

Success Conditions

· Rescue as many civilians as possible.

· Discover what the Undead want the civilians for. Other than the obvious. (Optional)

Rewards

· 1 Silver per rescued civilian.

· Increased Reputation with the Ponson Guards.

· Increased Reputation with the Village of Ponson.

· 3 Vials of Ether. (Optional)

“I thought that I said not to worry about it,” Warren sighed. “I’m sure that none of us helped you rescue those people because we wanted to get rewarded. Besides, I think you’ve been underestimating how much you’ve been helping us out by training us.”

“What is Ether?” Kelly asked once her husband had finished talking.

“Ether is a rare potion that allows you to increase a Stat by a single Point,” Harmon explained. “The Rangers will be footing the bill for that one if you manage to find out what they want the civilians that they’re capturing for. Other than to add their corpses to their ranks.”

“Hmm, not too useful for someone like you but that could make a big difference for someone at our Level,” Warren said thoughtfully.

“I have used a few Ethers myself over the years,” Harmon chuckled. “You can only use a limited number before they become ineffective but yes, they are incredibly useful. I hope that you understand what offering you three doses of these rare potions means.”

“That finding out what the Undead want with the civilians is incredibly important,” Warren nodded. “But why do you think that they want them for something other than simply adding them to their ranks?”

“Because they’d just kill them and take their corpses to their master if that’s what they wanted dear,” Kelly pointed out. “So, if they’re capturing them alive there has to be another reason.”

“That’s right,” the captain agreed. “We’re pretty sure that the Lich is using them as sacrifices to perform some sort of powerful Ritual. The problem is that we don’t know what the ritual is. You Outsiders probably don’t know much about Ritual Magic yet but if used correctly then a single Ritual can change the outcome of a battle. However, even if you can manage is finding out what sort of Ritual the Lich is trying to cast then we can do something to counter it. We don’t expect you to stop the Lich from casting the Ritual though.”

“Wait, how are we even supposed to know what sort of Ritual it’s casting?” Kelly asked.

“That’s a good point,” Harmon sighed before turning to the captain who had a frustrated look on his face. “We don’t have time to teach them what to look for either.”

“I can spare one of my Guards to travel with you if you promise to make this your priority,” the captain said eventually.

“Let me just send a message to the others and see what they think,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that they’ll agree. I just don’t think that it’s a good idea to make a decision like this without checking with them.”

A few seconds later I started getting replies from everyone. As I’d assumed they were all happy to make this new Quest the priority. Evie still seemed a little distracted, but she seemed excited to know that we would be working with Tylie again. Hannah also seemed excited by the idea that we were going to be taking on such an important Quest so soon after her finally being able to join us. I wasn’t sure how useful she was going to be since she didn’t have the Soul Core Levels that we had but we could get her much better gear than we had early on, so I was willing to bring her along if Fern was. As soon as I thought this, I got a message from Fern who had apparently been reading my mind. She was suggesting just what I’d thought earlier. That we buy her a bunch of equipment and bring her with us. It would be a trial by fire for the AI, but Fern seemed confident that she could handle it.

“We’ll do it,” I told the two tired looking men who were watching us patiently. As soon as I said that we would help they breathed sighs of relief which revealed just how worried they were about the Ritual that they were assuming that the Lich was casting.

Finding out what was going on with the kidnapped civilians was technically an optional objective for the Quest since simply preventing more people from being kidnapped might prevent the Ritual from being completed. Especially since it was going to get harder for the Undead to find more people now that we had started to realize that kidnappings were occurring. On the other hand, for all we knew the Lich could already have enough people to complete the Ritual, but the Ritual’s power could be further increased by more sacrifices.

“Thank you,” the captain said as he bowed his head to us. “Since we don’t really know when we’re going to be attacked and we need to make sure the villagers that we’re evacuating get away safely now that we know that the Undead are kidnapping people, we can’t afford larger operations like the one the other day. I wish that we could help you out more, but I expect Tylie will do her best to help you. She was quite worried about you after dying again.”

“It’s nice to know that she cares,” I joked. “But in all seriousness. We’re here to help in any way that we can. Dying isn’t pleasant but we’re more than willing to sacrifice a little sleep if it means that we can save lives.”

“Yes, you’ve proven that to us already,” Harmon nodded. “I only wish that we were in a position to reward you more for everything that you have done for us.”

“Well, how about this then,” Warren suggested. “If you ever find yourselves in a position where you can reward us better than you are right now you do so. But other than that, don’t worry about it.”

It was all that I could do not to laugh when Warren said this. While most of the time he seemed little more than an adrenaline junkie Warren could be surprisingly sly when the situation called for it. From the look on the faces of Harmon and the captain they realized it too.

“Very well,” Harmon nodded as he struggled to keep from smiling in amusement. “You’ve earned that. Now you should probably get to work.”

As we left the office Kelly smacked the back of her husband’s head but that did nothing to wipe the shit-eating grin from his face. Not only was Warren capable of being sly when it suited him but whenever he was it tended to either pay off in a big way for us or ruin everything.

However, I was confident that he’d made the right choice this time.