While Jen communed with Pudding, she could also sense that Slim's anger was burning off as he stayed relatively close and patrolled the area surrounding the jump pad, and her AI told her that Tamako was still building up their defenses, and that Sam was working on a bush craft shelter and gathering more firewood. Jen was surprised to discover that Sam was actually enjoying the simple task of preparing the shelter after all the craziness they just survived.

About an hour later, Jen stood up and approached Sam. She could tell he was damn near dead on his feet, they all were, and she said, “Hey Boomer , you’ve go the first sleep shift, then Tamako, then me. Pudding is in meditation, but he is also maintaining those freakish zombies that are protecting our perimeter.”

Sam gave her a slight smile, nodded, and went to curl up under the lean-to shelter he made next to the fire. As he closed his eyes, he noticed Jen walk over to the only non-zombie dead wolf and loot it receiving a fur pelt, wolf meat, and several roach legs.

Several hours later when Tamako woke Sam up, he noticed that the fur pelt had been laid over him, Pudding was still meditating near the fire with a pelt wrapped around his shoulders, and surprisingly, Slim was back and was also resting by the fire.

It was starting to get dark, and Tamako pointed to several more bundles of items stacked near the middle of their little perimeter and said, “Slim tracked down the remaining wolf pack and their loot. Even though Slim doesn’t have access to his storage items, he was able to store new loot acquired on this deck and access his storage space freely. Also, I have set up several dead-fall traps, and sharpened punji stick traps outside our perimeter, check you AI for where the safe exit and entrance routes are.”

***

After Sam started his turn on watch, Jen texted Sam, “would you like to know what I’ve learned from Pudding?” Sam was not really physically tired, but his meditation focus didn’t feel like it was keeping up with the emotional drain he was feeling lately, and he just ignored Jen's text as he internally "spoke" to Kelly. I’m sorry Kelly, I figured we would be jumping to the Third Deck in a few weeks. Pudding, and this Oracle quest may put us many months behind schedule. Thank goodness for Jen, Tamako, and even Slim, but I’m still so lonely without you.

***

Jen noticed Sam did not reply to her text, and when she reached out with her psych skill, she could feel the emotions that were washing over him. She knew she needed to do something to startle him out of the funk he was getting into. Jen walked over to Sam while looking in Tamako’s direction, and said to him with an evil grin on her face, “When we get back to civilization, do you think I can get Tamako to model that wolf skin outfit for me again?”

Sam’s head accidently snapped towards Tamako when hearing her name get mentioned, and while blushing he said, “You weirdo! This is not a conversation I can have with you while we are all naked. Shit is weird enough as it is!”

Jen felt like she accomplished her goal, and said, “Whatevs grandpa, would you rather talk about what Pudding told me?”

Sam briefly covered both of his eyes with his palms, and said, “Sure, anything is better, I can’t even look at you or Tamako right now without feeling like some old creepy incestual pervert. Please don’t ever say something like that again, that’s a conversation you will need to have with Kelly someday, not a Sam conversation!”

Jen giggled to herself at making Sam squirm, and said, “I’m about to blow your mind!… Wait for it… Magic really exists!”

Sam rolled his eyes at Jen and sarcastically said, “Wow! Thanks for the 411 on that.” Jen’s mouth dropped open, “Damn you are seriously old! You do know that almost no one under 50 even knows that people used to dial 411 on their house phone for information right.”

Sam gave Jen the finger, and said, “seriously though, what did you find out?” Jen made a gesture of her mind exploding with her hands, and said, “We used mana supplied to us by the system when we were on Earth to do magic, and we use mana from our body to do magic in the Decks. When we get teleported, almost all the mana is drained from our mana system, so much so, that we go through mana sickness or withdrawal. Even after teleportation, Pudding was still able to turn those beasts into zombies because he used “Class-imbued” magic from The System. Class-based magic doesn't rely on personal mana!” On a previous Oracle Quest, where Pudding and the other deck droppers found the Oracle before the six months ran out, they were given a list of the skills needed to be granted magic classes. Jen gave Sam an “I told you so” look, and mouthed “boom!” as she made the mind exploding gesture again, and said, “That’s right, some magic doesn't require personal mana. That's really what Dickhead Deathless was using for his regeneration!”

Sam nodded slowly as he was thinking about what having unlimited mana could do for some of the crafting projects he'd been working on, but then being focused as ever, he said, “That’s mind-blowing thinking about being able to use that level of power, but all I want to know is the fastest way to get Kelly back. Is there a class that you or Tamako want?”

Jen replied, “Not sure, but our primary goal is to find something that will help us to safely do wild jumps between the Decks.”

Sam could see the excitement in Jen’s face as she was discussing the theories of what classes might do for them, but Sam recognized he was in an emotional funk, and even though he knew it wasn't completely logical, he said, “Jen, you rock! Thanks for figuring this all out, but what are the odds of us finding this oracle, and why don’t we just come up with a safe way to jump to the third deck right now?"

Jen paused as she gathered her thoughts before saying, “We have three options. 1. Stay here and try to find the Oracle; 2. Jump back to the Second Deck; or 3. Jump to a random transfer pad on the Third Deck, and since we haven't come up with a 'safe' way to do the jump yet, I'm not sure that's even an option. I think option one has the most merit, and we should spend the time trying to find the Oracle.”

Sam looked at Jen and raised a quizzical eyebrow, “O.K., please explain what’s so great about this Oracle, considering the loss in time and risks of even finding it?”

Jen moved closer to him and said, “well, according to Pudding and what Slim recently learned before meeting up with us, if you can find the Oracle it will answer any one question for each person, up to five people. It can’t tell you the future, but unlike oracles in stories from Earth, this Oracle will fully answer your question without trying to trick you or lie to you with half-truths.” Jen reached over and interlocked her fingers with Sam’s and said, “We need to find out exactly what we need to do to bring Kelly back. We don’t want to get to the Seventh Deck, only to find out we’re missing something that we need.”

Sam could read between the lines, and thought, The Oracle might tell us even the gods can't bring her back. Feeling it was unfair to ask Jen and Tamako to risk their lives rushing to the Seventh Deck, he held in his sorrow and simply nodded his head in agreement, and said, “I’m in a bit of a funk and just want to chill for a little while.”

Jen wasn’t a snowflake, but she appreciated that Sam put forth the effort to be considerate, and said, “O.K., cliff notes version for what you need to know right now. One, don’t mention class-based magic to anyone or we will be hunted down and exterminated by those that know of the class system. Two, as Tamako continues to use mana more and more with her fighting, she may also start losing much of her ability to fight after teleportation. Three, we will need to grind for loot to gain resources to hunt for the Oracle. Fourth, and last for now, time in the quest deck travels more quickly. One month on the Quest Deck equals one week on the Second Deck” Jen paused for a second, but just before Sam started to turn and relax into his watch, she said, “Sorry, but fifth, I think you need to rotate your multi-focus. You shouldn’t leave the same focus on meditation all the time, but rotate your focuses through your different tasks. You will see a decrease in efficiency initially, but then you will see an increase in performance and creativity. Just imagine how bored you would be, if you were doing the same thing every minute of every day.” Sam’s eye’s widened, “Didn’t even think of thank. You’re the best. Look... I love you kid, but now give me some alone time.” Sam had no idea what exactly Jen meant by grinding for loot, but didn't ask her any questions about it, so that he could just chill in silence for a while.