Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

Jin simply stared in numb shock at her newest ability. At first glance, it didn't seem too bad, honestly, but she just kept picturing herself as the Miasmire Kraken, breathing out the attack that almost killed her. For her to unlock something like this, did it mean she was slowly becoming the monsters she hunted?

The part that scared her the most, though, was that she wasn't sure if she actually cared if she became a monster or not. Perhaps that was exactly what she needed to become in order to stay alive long enough to make sure the others lived too.

Karam dealt beside her to the right and placed his hand on her shoulder as he said, "You're not a monster, Miss Jin. We've grown up seeing all sorts of different abilities. I don't think someone as caring as you would ever become a monster just from unlocking a new power."

She looked at him in confusion as she parroted, "Caring?"

"Of course," he replied with a firm nod. "You've risked your life multiple times to protect us, when you definitely didn't have to." Karam glanced up at Alim and slowly said, "I'm sure you remember a time Jin cared about you and proved she wasn't a monster."

Alim looked like he was trying not to smile but failing as he signed to both of them. "When you set a noble on fire and got punished for it, instead of letting her keep hitting me. I knew then that you weren't a monster like Lady Shahara was."

"Brother believes in you," Liraz signed with a small shrug.

"I knew you weren't a monster as soon as you handed me that Chaos Aspect instead of keeping it for yourself," Haida said from behind her. The taller woman squatted down on her left and put a hand on her arm as she quietly added, "And even if you became one, we know you'll still be on our side, fighting for us. We're not going to leave you behind because of what you had to become in order to survive and help protect us, Jin."

"I haven't known you long," Rayyan began, surprising Jin by speaking up, "but you really could have just killed me and taken the Spirit Gem I had when we first met. I think the fact that you didn't is proof enough you're not completely a monster."

That managed to make Jin smirk as she looked up at the Lover and asked, "Not a complete monster? But mostly a monster?"

"No," Rayyan replied quickly with a shake of his head. He grinned and clarified, "Probably closer to half a monster. You were very impressive against the Kraken, after all." The Lover tilted his head in thought as he said, "There's an old saying I've heard that goes: to defeat the enemy, one must understand the enemy. If all your enemies are monsters, then doesn't it make sense if you learn to become like them? At least, during the times you need to fight them, I mean."

"I don't think the sayings from my world went quite like that," Jin muttered, wondering if he was right and if she was worrying over nothing. She looked over at the little Slime Kraken that Liraz was now hugging against her chest. The little girl smiled with a row of sharp teeth that reminded Jin that maybe she wasn't the only one becoming more monstrous with every new ability.

Maybe Spiderman's uncle wasn't entirely correct about more responsibility coming with more power; maybe with more power simply came more intimidation one could wield. She guessed that it also came with more questions about morality. What really made a monster monstrous? Karam seemed to think it was a lack of caring that made one a monster, but was that all? And if one day she really didn't care about anything anymore, would that be the day she became a monster?

Hadia shook her from her thoughts a moment later and asked, "How about I make a meal, and we can talk over what Pax revealed, yeah? I'll hold Rayyan's portion hostage until he spills everything about the floor boss."

"Oh come now," Rayyan scoffed lightly as the others began to stand to go into the cabin. "I didn't truly mean to hide it from you all. As I said, I don't see how our group could possibly take on that many goblins at once. Even if I have seen you take out those camps, you've been doing it during the days when they sleep, not taking on a horde of dozens all at once."

"Miss Li has done fairly well at handling swarms we've come across," Karam pointed out as he offered Jin his hand to help her stand. She took it, even though she didn't really need it, and walked with him to the kitchen.

"Yes, but not a hundred at once. We would easily get overrun in an instant, and the boss would just simply sit on its little throne balcony and watch it all happen," Rayyan explained, sitting down at the table with them.

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Jin pivoted to help Alim grab plates from the small cupboard to set the table with. She decided to simply translate the conversation for him as they moved, so he could give input if an idea sprang to mind. Jin knew she could handle battle strategies fairly well, but that mostly came from playing video games, which wasn't always a great translation.

Monsters here didn't usually have game guides or guilds of obsessed players dying over and over again to learn the best strats. Rare spawns like that Kraken were definitely a learn-it-on-the-fly type that would result in permanent death if they didn't learn quickly enough. However, they would sometimes run into the same types of monsters, like those Ironhorns on the last floor, so they were able to adjust their tactics with each encounter.

However, with a floor boss, there might be a little bit of both in the mix. Jin had confirmed that most monsters that spawned in the tower didn't "leash" or "tether" back to the point they would spawn in, like many video games had. Basically, in a game, they could run away, and the monster would eventually stop chasing them to go back to where they had first encountered it. They didn't do that here. No, they would chase them forever until one or the other died. The only monsters they had run into so far that didn't chase, were ones that were bound by terrain, like some fish—though plenty had jumped out of the water to attack anyways—and some floravals that were rooted in place, or the ones that were guarding something, like the Murkshell Turtle and its eggs or the Fenstalker with its tree of divine fruit.

Floor bosses seemed to be more location-locked so far, and after talking with the others about what to normally expect, they confirmed that being bound to a specific spot on the map was more common than not. Rayyan started to explain that that wasn't the case with this floor's boss.

"It roams around at night, when the goblins are most active," he said, bringing up his own map on his bracelet. He pointed to spots on the display as he continued. "The Fighters spotted it around here and here. Nawal, their mapper, believes it travels in a large oval around the inner portion of the swamp but becomes practically invisible during the day when it makes camp before continuing on the route the following night."

He looked up from his map to meet Jin's gaze. "They have a base that looks almost exactly like that one we have, but it's bigger and moves, so it carries their whole caravan of goblins around. I'm betting it seems invisible because it simply looks like a tree from afar."

"Do we have to kill all of the goblins and the tree base to count as defeating the floor boss, or is it just one particular target?" Jin asked, still translating for Alim after setting down the dishware.

"Multiple targets for a boss is extremely rare," Karam interjected. "While it's not completely unheard of, I can only recall one time that happened. Though I'll admit it's not like I've watched every single boss encounter."

"Some of them aren't available to the public to watch," Hadia added as she tossed more cut vegetables into a larger bowl, which Liraz was helping to stir as she stood on a small cube of slime to reach. "They say the recordings are 'too sensitive' for the public, which is complete shit in my opinion. They're probably just wanting to hoard the knowledge for themselves or something equally controlling."

"I overheard them call the boss 'Goblin Chief Goburakasha,' and talk about the oversized goblin that seemed to be leading the group," Rayyan said, turning the conversation back to their more immediate concerns. "So I believe we just need to defeat that one. However, as I said, it's surrounded by a small army."

"What if we create a diversion?" Karam suggested, grabbing some seasonings to set in the center of the table for them. "I remember this one time when my friend, Veronica, and I did something like that. We went to one of the Lovers' clinics, and she made a big fuss, getting everyone's attention—even bit one of the healers—while I grabbed some of the medicine we needed from behind the counter."

"Wait, you actually broke the law and stole something?" Jin asked incredulously as she sat down in her usual spot.

Karam flushed a bit as he explained, "Only because an elder needed some medicine. The elders in the Service Sect aren't exactly well cared for. If anything, they become more neglected over time, seen as a burden on society as their body begins to fail." His words brought a melancholy upon the group as the others nodded along to Jin's surprise. "Some elders in the other Sects may be taken care of more for their knowledge and experience, like within the Workers' tradecrafts, or Whispers who specialize in research, or Lovers who practice healing. But other than those with noble blood, once you can't be useful, nobody cares if you die."

"So this elder you knew was sick, then you and Veronica stole some medicine for them? I'm guessing it worked?" Jin clarified.

"Yeah," Karam answered, his smile returning. "They got better really quickly and lived another three years before passing. We knew that we couldn't keep them alive forever, but that elder had been really strong before coming down with that cough. Not like when they passed later and other problems began appearing."

Jin had to mentally double the number of years again and figured getting an extra six Earth-years of life out of the simple petty theft was probably worth the risk. Not that she was exactly against defying authorities to begin with, especially here in a place that seemed so… heartless, at times.

She shook her head at the thought, not wanting to tackle even more moral dilemmas today, and refocused on the original suggestion Kar had made. "So, you're thinking we should have someone make a big fuss like your friend did near the boss's base, then make a run for it while the others take down the boss, or maybe just split up their forces a bit that way?" She turned to Rayyan and added, "Do you think the moving base would chase after the diversion or stay on its normal path?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think we should test it in case it does have the odd chance of chasing us down until we're dead or manage to lose them, and I don't like our odds of losing them in this swamp either," Rayyan replied with a grimace.

"I'll do it," Hadia said, setting the large bowl of salad down in the center of the table next to the seasonings while Liraz put down a smaller bowl of an oil dressing that Jin wasn't entirely sure didn't contain some kind of slime. "I know I'm not as fast as Jin, but my charge ability does let me target inanimate objects I can boost with, and I'm more resistant to being taunted or seriously injured. If we plan the route before I run it, set a few traps that I can avoid, I think my chances of escaping are pretty good."

"Then you want us to try taking on the boss or whatever gets left behind without you?" Jin asked in surprise. That plan sounded a little more reckless than the group normally supported.

Hadia merely shrugged, though, and pointed out, "You don't have to attack if you think it'll be too much, and we can regroup and try again later. If the slip was right, though, we've only got three more nights before the Fighters will be taking on the boss, and then nothing will distract them from coming after us before going to the third floor."

Jin turned to Alim to get his opinion on the matter, but he simply shrugged and wrote in the air, "I think Hadia's right. If we want to keep them from focusing on us, we'll need to keep them focused on whatever challenges the floors still hold for them. We've probably only survived this long by keeping ahead and staying unpredictable."

"And the fact that this floor is so large that they haven't found your base yet," Rayyan pointed out, taking a bite of the salad with plenty of the oil dressing.

Alim nodded to concede the point after Jin translated.

"If the bases can move after upgrading, then the size of the floor might not be as much of an issue, which is probably why Pax was so concerned about it," Jin added as she thought through their options. Letting out a heavy sigh, she finally agreed, "I guess Hadia's going to get some practice as a diversion tonight, then. Let's plan to get some sleep after we eat if we're going to try a night hunt. Don't need anyone getting sleepy while Hadia's running for her life."