The swarm must have been one of the first to branch off as the group doesn’t meet anymore before they reach the next waystation. Once there Peter goes off to report the encounter while the group settles down at the free inn. They look back and forth. All of them want to talk about Peter, but none of them want to start.

Rosha in the end shrugs, “so he looks to be upholding his end of the deal? Then again, it is System enforced, so it wasn’t likely he would break his word.”

Courtney sighs, “I checked up on the information about the illusion spell that he provided. Not only is the System suppressing it, but it extends quite far. When I tried to post asking about it every single forum I tried it on shadow binned the post. Not just the usual shadowban either. Even if I logged out and checked I still could see it, but when I had some others check on it, it was gone on their end.”

“This includes the special forums that open up once you hit level ten so this is beyond the usual NeoRealm secret. Even with all of my resources and the resources behind Rosha, I am a bit worried about digging more. Some things just aren’t allowed to be shared.” And she shakes her head in defeat.

Jason purses his lips and takes a moment before he speaks. “You both know more secrets about this than I do. However, I have some of my own insights. The illusion variant from what I have heard must extend beyond the System. There are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, or so the saying goes. In NeoRealm the System claims to hold absolute control, but is that really true? During the time I have been in here I have met a couple people that seem to be in some ways outside of it.”

“In particular, there is my teacher for war stomp and Andrew. My teacher was on the edge of going beyond this world. Something very few players have managed, yet all that did are super important in their families, guilds, and corporations. As for Andrew? Well, he was basically the classic fourth-wall breaking character. For the System to allow him to delve so deeply into the secrets meant only for players is suspicious.”

Courtney leans back in her chair and runs a hand through her hair. “We are way too low a level for this nonsense. Me and Rosha should only be about 15 at the moment and with your leveling speed you’re likely around level 13.”

Jason rubs the back of his neck and laughs. “Well, not really. Both me and Lily are level 12. I’ve slowed myself down even more by sharing with her.”

Courtney rubs the bridge of her nose, “fair enough. So I think if we meet more swarms like the last, you should take them. It is clear your new skill is almost tailor made for tearing up swarms. From the looks of it, they try to share the damage but your Energy just keeps ongoing until it has to ditch the bodies you hit.”

“Though we won’t be seeing too many of that size. Along with looking into the illusion stuff, I also checked on the average size of a swarm cat swarm. Looks like during this season they tend to contain over a hundred cats on the low end. Our only saving grace is that unlike other times, each individual cat is on the low end of levels. These are all newly born swarms spreading out to find new areas to nest. The high level swarms stay at the old nest.”

“The biggest difficulty with these swarms is their health pool. Even if every cat only has a single hit point, that would be a hundred for the swarm. They won’t have just a single hit point so the number just inflates form there. Plus my specialty is healing and illusions. The first bit is still good to go, but all of my offensive options have gone kaput. A large swarm is going to break my illusions just because there are so many that some will interact with it, let alone what Peter explained.”

“In healing I picked up some buffs as Jason experienced. Good ol’ barkskin is perfect for your style of wading in. Rosha, given that you will need to go melee, I plan to drop a strength enhancement on you. With a staff, your best bet is sweeping strikes to keep them off of you. Being able to send the cats flying will be important. Just keep Jason between you and the main body of the swarm.”

They talk a bit more but then Peter arrives at their table. While he has a smile, it looks a little strained. “Welp, update on the quest. Looks like I might have to roam around a little. Shouldn’t change your plans too much. I will still travel with you, though on occasion I will nip off to clear up some cats. Seems some idiot fools that got hired to help decided it would be quicker to go to the source. Suffice to say, their area hasn’t been cleared. The guild is sending in a trustworthy party to clean up, but it means a few more swarms wandering around.”

“Like I said, though. Not going to change what you see or do. Just keep killing the swarms that meet us on the road. My job will be to keep the general density down outside of that so the swarms you kill don’t instantly get replaced. Anyway, since there is a chance of more danger, I figure I should preemptively give some tips. First though, let’s keep this part private.”

Peter pulls a small shell out of his pocket. The shell has been polished down to a pearly finish and across it has been carved runes that glow with power. As the three look closer they can see the runes spiral towards the mouth of the shell and that the inside is pitch black. Peter places it on the table and pricks his finger on the pointy end. It catches a single drop of blood on a rune right at the tip and small threads of blood spread across the shell. Once the blood reaches the shells opening a membrane forms over it. This crystal clear membrane quickly expands outward like a bubble to cover the entire table they are sitting at. As it slows to a stop, the membrane itself vanishes into the air.