The Last Experience Point

As Kalana stepped out of the dungeon and into the Grand Library, a blast of cold air from the air conditioning met her arrival. Before taking another step, however, she paused for just a moment to adjust her blouse and to ensure there were no folds in her skirt. Here in Varda's Lair, they were, like, really, really strict when it came to how people were dressed on weekdays during business hours. And even though Kalana was very unlikely to be bothered due to her position and status, it wouldn't reflect well on the Elves if she was seen disobeying local laws.

"Hello again, Princess Kalana," the Head Librarian said, standing up from his desk and bowing.

"You can just call me Kalana," she said to the elderly adventurer. "And umm, hi again, Stenle."

"Here for the prince, I take it?"

"Yep. Hope he's been good today. My mom yelled at him yesterday 'cause of a bad report he got for talking without raising his hand in class."

"Aww, the poor thing."

For the past few days, she'd been coming through here at right around this time in the afternoon to pick up Pete from school. But today was different. She was unusually flustered, but she knew she needed to keep the agitation off her face or else she might upset the little boy.

I just need to calm down, she thought.

Things were going really badly today. It wasn't just the disastrous meeting with Vim earlier this morning. No, something way worse had happened, and it was distressing her greatly. It was to the extent that she found it hard to concentrate on anything else, her mind wandering and a feeling of sickness entering her stomach.

I need to get back as quick as I can.

Even before things took such a harsh turn for the worse, her routine had been grueling. Every morning, she got up early to take Pete to school—arriving and leaving just before the morning dress code came into effect—then dungeon-hopped her way to Shadowfall Coast, where she'd spend the day until having to quickly change out of her gear and into professional attire around mid-day to pick up Pete. Then she'd dungeon-hop him home, spend about thirty minutes eating lunch, and head right back to Shadowfall Coast until late into the night. It was a lot. There was so much pressure on her now.

But things had become so much worse today, and it made her tremble with anger and sadness alike. Because earlier today, in the safe zone she'd established—the place where she'd promised there'd be no violence—someone, likely a leveled person, had murdered two of the resistance leaders during an already fraught moment of tension between them and the Royal Roses.

As Kalana hurried through the Grand Library, down the large staircase, and out the front entrance into the strict, but immaculately clean city of Varda's Lair, she continued to run through her mind what little facts were currently known about the murders—and there weren't many. Still, she again considered what they knew.

For starters, witnesses reported hearing gunshots, but the wounds on the two men looked more like they were struck by miniature cannons, and there weren't any bullet fragments found anywhere on their bodies. This meant that it wasn't likely a level-1 who was responsible. And if that was the case, Kalana was sure this was the work of Vim Alazar. Sure, the mean man had publicly decried the violence "during a time of negotiation" but Kalana was certain he was responsible for it. He'd probably hired someone! Like a bounty hunter or something. Honestly, Kalana was really getting sick and tired of Vim Alazar and everything he stood for. She disliked him a lot. He was also a very creepy pervert and was always saying really gross things about her mom.

Walking a bit faster, she headed towards the prestigious school, where Peter had likely been waiting for at least fifteen minutes to be picked up. She was a little late, but it should be okay, though, because Ruby was there with him. She needed to make sure she behaved normally around Pete. He was a very sensitive child and would start to cry if Kalana acted like something was wrong.

As soon as I get back there, I'm gonna find this assassin and arrest him, she thought, vowing to have him charged with murder, leveled or not. There were ways of containing a leveled person, and she'd make sure the Elves used them. Nobody got to just go around murdering people. Especially not in her safe zone! The assassin was going to pay big time. Kalana was piping mad about this. How dare someone come into her safe zone and start killing people after she'd worked so hard to—

"Bzz. Bzz."

Her mood changed as she heard her phone vibrating in her bag, in which she'd stuffed her adventuring gear and other equipment since her dress had no pockets. She fished through it and smiled at the name of the caller.

"Hey, baby," she said. "I didn't expect to hear from you."

"Kal!" the voice shouted at her.

Her mood immediately turned serious. "Zach, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just need you to come here immediately."

"Come where? Where are you?"

The words he said next caused her stomach to drop. "I'm in some dungeon Jimmy found."

"Nah-uh! Don't even tell me you're doing that again!" she shouted. "I'm worried about so many different things right now, and you're already—"

"—Kal, it's fine, it's fine, we're fine."

"Is it? If you're calling me to come rescue you, how can it be fine?"

"Huh? Oh, no, that's not what this is at all. Everybody's fine. We just need your help."

"My help?"

"Yeah. See, we're almost through this really cool dungeon—way more than halfway, actually—and we just got stuck on this part that requires eight people to stand on a pressure plate and we only have seven. And you can't trick it with objects."

Kalana had so much going on right now and so many things to do that she didn't have the emotional energy at the moment to process the fact that Zach had gone running off into yet another unexplored dungeon. For this reason, all she could do was breathe a sigh of relief that he and those with him were okay. From the sound of voices in the background of the call, it seemed like Trelvor and Seiley were there, too, which made her feel even more relief, as they would definitely prevent Jimmy and Zach from getting into too much trouble.

As Kalana listened to Zach ramble on and on about the dungeon, Kalana eventually had to interrupt him as she wasn't currently in a state of mind to be able to absorb any of it. "Zach, umm, I really can't help you right now," she said. "I'm busy picking up Pete from school and then I gotta go back to Shadowfall Coast."

"Kal, fuck Shadowfall Coast. Grab Pete and come here. You'd love it. We're all taking turns solving the puzzles. And the mobs are pretty easy. Loot is absolute shit, though. Just vendor trash."

"Vendor trash?"

"It's a word Jimmy uses to mean garbage you should just sell to Mushkie or another NPC item vendor. But yeah, ditch Shadowfall Coast and come hang out with us."

Upon hearing his words, the only thing that stopped Kalana from becoming extremely irritated and angry was the fact that she knew he meant well. Even still, she couldn't stop the frustration that crept into her voice as she replied, "Zach, I have tons of responsibilities right now. I can't come. You shouldn't even be asking me."

"But you don't understand. We've made it so, so far. Backing out now would suck so much."

"Why don't you just ask Donovan or Zephyr?"

"We don't want to involve those two just yet. Jimmy is worried they'll make us stop what we're doing and spend a month studying the dungeon or something like that. That's why we want you to come here."

"Zach, I can't!" she snapped, angrier than she'd intended to be. "I'm sorry. I gotta go."

"Kal, wait," he said, his tone concerned. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know," she said softly, her voice now approaching a whisper. "I'm just really stressed out, and I wanna go, but I can't." She took a slow breath to calm herself then added, "If you want, I can send someone to help you."

"Wait, you can?"

"Yeah. Where are you guys?"

"We're technically in Giant's Fall, but you can only get here from Dragon Squire. I know, that's a crazy thing to say, but…dungeons, right?"

"Yeah, okay. You're in Dragon Squire. I can probably have someone come. Just tell me exactly where you are and then hang out there for an hour or two."

"Thanks! And I'm sorry if I pissed you off."

"You didn't. And…I love you."

"I love you too."

Zach told her exactly how to find him, and then the call ended, and when it did, Kalana tried not weep. She was just feeling so overwhelmed.

********

Sitting on a ledge that ran all the way around a rectangular room built almost entirely out of a dark-colored stone, Zach gave everyone a thumbs up, beaming. "I think we've got someone."

"Who?" Rian asked, sitting across from him on the direct opposite end of the extremely cluttered room. He was also slightly below Zach, as this room was on a downward slanted angle like a seesaw—as were most things since this entire dungeon consisted of heading down the sides of a huge dome.

Earlier, Jimmy had scored a major victory against Rian by making a joke that Rian's weight was causing the entire structure to tip over. It was hilarious and probably one of Jimmy's biggest wins against Rian since the two had met. Rian had tried to recover by throwing out a few drug-related insults, but Jimmy's quip had just been too strong, and Rian had been stuck playing defense ever since.

Zach, whose feet were about a foot above the floor, scooted off the ledge and began walking very carefully to the middle of the room. "I don't know who exactly is coming," he said, "but I assume it's an Elf."

Trelvor and Seiley's ears seemed to twitch at this. "An Elf?" Trelvor asked. "How do you know?"

"Because Kal said she's sending someone."

"Ahh, that makes sense. Princess Kalana is likely ordering one of her subjects to come assist us."

Following the death of the big ape-looking boss, things had proceeded very, very smoothly in this dungeon, which seemed to consist of a puzzle room followed by a battle encounter. And though the XP was greatly reduced due to them having seven members in their party, they'd fought through a significant number of weird and strange-looking creatures after each puzzle, such that Zach had already earned another 210,000 experience points

The mobs in this dungeon dropped a lot of stuff, too, but almost all of it was crap. There were a few decent things such as some consumable XP cookie items and some "forever fresh" food and snack drops, but mostly, the drops were green and blue—uncommon and rare—and not particularly good. Most of it went into storage to be sold later at the item shop, and the things that weren't they gave to Tyson, who was now wearing a full set of mismatched, mis-colored gear and looked totally ridiculous and hilarious.

But something's definitely wrong with him, Zach thought.

Ever since checking his phone earlier, he'd been very quiet and had been complying with Zach's instructions fairly well. He'd even begun taking a few slices at enemies with his new sword, though they were mostly killing things so fast that they never had the chance to see his amazing passive ramp up to the point where he actually contributed much. But what really surprised Zach was just how willing he was to do whatever they told him to do without questioning any of it. It was as though his mind was elsewhere and his body was merely along for the ride.

And so, now, with what looked like at least an hour or two to kill, Zach decided to have a chat with the red-haired, strangely behaving man. "Hey, Tyson," he said, approaching in a way that seemed to make Jimmy nervous.

"Zach, be careful where you step!" Jimmy hissed. "We only get three chances to solve this puzzle or we have to start over from six rooms ago."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

This room had a strange puzzle where there were a whole bunch of pressure plates—about thirty—and they had to step on eight of them within five seconds in the correct order. Jimmy and Trelvor had figured out the pattern, but with only seven of them, it was still unsolvable, and dropping a weight or a rock, no matter how heavy, did not seem to depress the plate. It seemed it required a sentient individual to step atop it. The puzzle was in figuring out the order and then having the eight people go at it.

Above them, and near a bolted, metal door that none of them were strong enough to knock down, there was a small LED screen with the number "3." A short while ago, when they'd first attempted this puzzle, that number had decreased by 1 for each failure, and upon hitting zero, they'd all been teleported back up six puzzle rooms and had to fight their way through all over again, as it'd also caused the mobs to respawn.

Now, carefully stepping around each pressure plate, Zach took a seat next to Tyson. "Hey, Tyson. So, uh…I can't help but notice you've been acting strange ever since we got here," he said right off the bat, not bothering with any kind of preamble. "Ever since you checked your phone before that T1 boss, you've been different."

Tyson regarded him with a warm, off-putting smile. "Yeah, sorry about that," he said. "Perhaps I'm just feeling a bit uneasy."

"About what?"

"The dungeon."

Zach grunted. "Stop bullshitting. You're clearly upset about whatever was on your phone. You don't have to say if you don't want to, it's just…I can't pretend I'm not at least a little curious."

Tyson looked away, and then Zach watched him stare directly at a wall as though he was looking beyond it at something far off in the distance that only he could see. He said nothing for a while, and Zach was just about to get up and leave him alone when he at last released a sad chuckle and said, "I don't have long."

"For what?" Zach asked him.

"To live," he stated bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"Your girlfriend and her mother will most likely kill me tonight. I want you to forgive them, as it will have been my own fault."

"Wait, what?"

Shuffling forward, off the ledge, and dropping a few inches onto the floor, Tyson moved away to his own corner of the room as though no longer willing to speak. Zach called out after him, but he refused to respond. What in the name of the Gods was he talking about? What he'd said had been so off-putting and strange, and Zach didn't think this was a case of him exaggerating or being overly dramatic. He genuinely looked like a man who had accepted his own death. Whatever he had seen on his phone had really screwed with him.

Why does it involve Kal and Fylwen?

Whatever was going on, Zach had the sense he wasn't about to figure it out here and now, so he instead slowly and carefully navigated his way around the pressure plates towards where Rian and Lienne were sitting with Jimmy and the Elves. The five of them were having an animated discussion about what that humanoid figure they'd seen at the bottom might turn out to be.

"…I mean, yeah, it probably is a boss," Jimmy said. "But it might not be."

"How do you not know?" Rian asked. "You always seem to know the most random, craziest shit, but you can't tell us if the thing waiting for us is a boss or not?"

Jimmy threw up his arms. "I just don't know. That's how it is. We'll know soon enough, anyway. This might even be the last puzzle."

"Think so?"

"It's hard to say for sure, but it could be. We'll find out very soon."

Rian sighed. "Assuming our eighth party member ever gets here. What's taking so long, anyway? Hey, Trelvor, can't you speed things up? I thought Elves were supposed to move fast."

Trelvor didn't seem to appreciate the remark. "The Elf shall arrive when the Elf arrives," he said curtly. Seiley chuckled, and Lienne bopped her brother on the back of his head while warning him not to be so impatient. Yet Rian was not alone in his impatience. Zach, too, was becoming stressed, but in his case, it was because of the very strange conversation he had just had with Trelvor. It was bothering him.

For another half hour, Zach sat quietly and contemplated the words that Tyson had spoken to him while Rian, Lienne, Trelvor, Seiley, and Jimmy continued to speak casually to one another. Then, finally, while laughing about how long it had taken Rian to solve a balancing puzzle, Trelvor abruptly lifted his chin, scooted off the ledge, and pointed towards the ramp that led up to the previous puzzle room, his ears twitching nonstop. "I hear something coming!"

The others—along with Zach—got off the ledge and immediately joined him. "Are you sure? I don't hear anything," Lienne said.

"Me neither," Rian agreed. Zach agreed as well, and so did Jimmy. But not Seiley. She also appeared to hear whatever noise or noises Trelvor was claiming he'd heard. Zach supposed only the Elves were able to detect the sound from the previous room. But after a moment of absolute quiet, Zach, too, began hearing it as well. It sounded like soft thuds on the floor, which were moving in their direction.

"Those don't sound like Elvish footsteps," Zach said, his hand gliding up behind his back, resting on the hilt of his sword. "Something is coming towards us, fast!"

Rian and Lienne looked at one another. "What do you mean something?" Rian asked. "Don't you mean an Elf?"

"No," Zach said. "Listen to those footsteps. I don't know what that is or what could possibly sound like that."

The footsteps became louder and more frequent: a pitter-patter that almost seemed to take on an echo as the seven of them quieted again to listen in on whatever approached them. "Could it be a rare mob spawn or something?" Lienne whispered. "Maybe we accidentally triggered a boss fight."

"I doubt it," Jimmy said. Then his face became awash with worry. "Zach, maybe it's…for me."

"For you?" asked Lienne and Trelvor. Seiley and Rian also shot him a questioning look. But Zach understood his concerns very well. Because Zach knew that the OMP was still after Jimmy and might show up any day now to try killing him again.

Shit! Is Adamus striking? Already?

Out of an abundance of caution, Zach drew his weapon and held it at the ready. "Jimmy has a point, but it's one of those things I can't explain. Just be ready! For all we know, it might be a—"

And then the creature came into view.

"I am here now, Zach!" a small, happy cat shouted as it darted on all fours into the room, stepping on numerous pressure plates and causing them to light up green for a split second before he hopped to the next one. "Kalana say Fluffles come to secret Jimmy dungeon for tuna and loot."

Zach, exhaling, once again sheathed his sword as the black-and-white tuxedo cat jumped into the air and into his waiting arms; this, as an "err, err!" sound played and the number on the LED screen went from a "3" to a "2."

Looking down at the cat, who nuzzled his nose against his chin, Zach smiled. He realized now how much he'd missed his buddy. "I haven't seen you in a couple of days," he said to Fluffles, who purred in his arms. "I was worried about you. I kept wondering why you didn't come to the island to see me."

Fluffles meowed. "I did."

"Huh? No you didn't."

"Yes! Yes Fluffles did come. Zach sleep all day long, so Fluffles leave and go play."

As Zach thought a little harder on his lazy, indulgent past few days, he sort of did recall the feeling of whiskers rubbing into his forehead one night, but he also recalled thinking at the time it must've just been his imagination, as he'd been half asleep and there'd been no sign of any cat when he'd awoken.

At any rate, this was the first time he'd properly seen Fluffles in a good few days, and it was great to be reunited with him. It also reminded him that he had a very important question he needed to ask. "Hey, Fluffles?"

The cat meowed.

"When we went to go find Jimmy, you said something strange to me and Rian. You told us that you weren't coming with us because you hate horses. Did you…did you know the Mare of the Primordial Void was going to spawn?"

Zach waited for his reply. And from the way Lienne and Rian were leaning in closer, they were anxiously awaiting it too. But no reply came. The cat simply blinked several times and said nothing. Zach thought about asking him a second time, but he knew that would only annoy Fluffles and make him hiss and scratch. Put simply, the cat either didn't want to answer the question or didn't understand it for cat-reasons that would make no sense to a human brain. Zach would be better off trying again later. Besides, he wanted to hurry and finish up with this dungeon.

"Fluffles, can you help us with something?" Zach asked him.

Fluffles replied with a meow, which Zach took to be an affirmative.

"Thanks, buddy." He gently put Fluffles down. "Basically, all of us need to stand on a pressure plate in the right order. When it's your turn, I want you to stand on that one, okay?" Zach pointed to a pressure plate three rows down towards the left side of the room. "Can you do that for us?"

"Fluffles stand."

"Oh, but not now. Not—hey, wait!" He called out for Fluffles to stop as Fluffles darted across more pressure plates, causing each one he ran across to light up a brief, bright green as he activated about nine of them in total before standing on top of the one Zach had indicated.

"Not yet, pretty kitty," Lienne said, blowing him a kiss as the LED screen showed the number decrease from 2 to 1. Zach merely rubbed the back of his head as a smug look came over Fluffles' face as though he was proud and satisfied of the "work" he'd done.

"Oh, boy. This might be a problem," he whispered to the others. "What are we going to do? Something tells me Fluffles is going to mess this up no matter what."

Rian snorted. "You think?"

"Guys, relax," Lienne said. "There's an easy way of handling this."

"How?"

"Like this." She lifted her hand above her head as though activating Bank and Storage and then a bag of Skelly Chips appeared in her palm. Fluffles, who had been busy chasing his own tail, immediately stopped what he was doing, stiffened his neck in Lienne's direction, and his eyes became locked onto it immediately.

"Hey, kitty," she called out to him. "Can you step on that one right over there without touching any of the others? Pretty please?" She reached into the bag, pulled out a chip, and threw it on top of one of the pressure plates across the room—this one being the first in the series of eight that they needed to activate.

Fluffles excitedly jumped into and across the air, sailing over every other pressure plate aside from the one with skelly chip. He then landed down on all fours and lowered his head down to scoop up the chip with his mouth while, at the same time, the pressure plate lit up green and stayed that way.

"Okay, everyone, go!" Lienne shouted out. "We've got five seconds, hurry!"

She darted forward and jumped onto the second plate in the sequence just as Rian stepped onto the third. The Elves activated the fourth and fifth while Zach and Jimmy hurriedly got on top of the sixth and seventh. Finally, Tyson, although a bit sluggish, just managed to step on top of the one Fluffles had previously activated. Now, all eight were lit up green. And with that, there was a very loud click, and the bolts on the metal door evaporated and disappeared in a way similar to smoke.

Incredible, Zach thought. Lienne solved the puzzle within the puzzle.

"Good work, Fluffles!" she cheered, throwing him three more chips. Fluffles didn't even bother to reply. He just lowered his head and began to greedily devour each one, purring as he did so. Then he looked up at her.

"More," he said.

"Just one more."

"Two."

"Just one!"

"Okay, just one."

Lienne threw him another skelly chip, and he caught this one midair and began munching on it. Then he licked the crumbs off the pressure plate with his sandpaper-like tongue before running up to Lienne and brushing against her leg.

Zach, moving ahead of the others, headed over to the newly opened door, peering inside. For once, there were no mobs to fight on the other side. There didn't look to be any traps either, but that was Jimmy's department. Beckoning him, Jimmy hurried over, and Zach watched him scan the next room carefully.

"I don't see anything," he said. "But I wouldn't think there'd be traps anyway. They wouldn't wait until the very end of the dungeon to finally throw down some traps. Not usually, anyway."

Zach nodded. Despite Jimmy repeatedly doubting they'd run into traps, he still wanted to be safe just in case. And so, with that, he walked carefully forward and into another, similarly sized room, one that had walls along three sides and then a large opening with what appeared to be a wide slope—or a slide, rather—where the opposite wall should've been.

"Okay, this looks fun," Lienne said giddily, moving towards it. She was the first to reach it, and looking down, she began waving at the others. "Guys, it's like a slide at an amusement park!"

Zach joined her, and he was surprised to see she was right. There was literally a slide that went down, then wrapped around the sides of the dome and often in strange, twisting and turning ways, almost as though it had been designed more for fun than practicality.

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"I'm going first," Lienne announced.

Her brother objected. "No way, Li. We have no idea what you'll—Li, wait!"

Sitting on the ledge, she shoved herself off, and then the sound of her laughing voice trailed off until it left earshot. Rian, growling, sat down heavily with a loud clunk and then followed after her. This prompted a worried-looking Seiley and Trelvor to go next, leaving just Jimmy, Zach, Fluffles, and Tyson.

"You should go next," Zach said to Tyson, who finally showed a degree of hesitance as Zach began gently ushering him towards the slide.

"Me?" he asked. "I'm not much one for rides."

"Just go or I push you."

"Very well. Fine."

Tyson got down into a sitting position, but then he began hesitating once more, so Zach lifted his foot and pressed it into his back, shoving him off. What followed was an extremely loud and high-pitched "WAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" that slowly reduced in volume as Tyson gained distance from them.

"I'll go next," Zach said. Jimmy saluted him.

Zach sat down on the ledge, and then Fluffles jumped into his lap. "Ready?" he asked the cat.

"Yes!"

Zach pushed them both off, and then he too began to yell, though more out of the thrill out of it as he blasted off at intense speed and then entered a dark, pitch-black tunnel. Now, he could see nothing at all, but he could feel his body turning to the left, then the right, then dropping down suddenly before picking up even more speed.

"Hurray!" Fluffles shouted out in glee, clearly loving the ride.

The tunnel, which began as pitch-black, soon changed as lights began activating all around and in different colors while music even began to play. A fast-paced, electric guitar riff came from speakers all around the tube-shaped tunnel while flashing, multi-colored lights began lighting up seemingly at random, giving him and Fluffles something of a show as their bodies veered hard to the left then stayed that way as they seemingly wrapped around and around the dome on their way down. Finally, they spotted a light up ahead, and then Zach, finding himself abruptly midair, held tightly onto Fluffles as he fell what had to be thirty or more feet straight down into a crystal blue body of water.

Then he felt a jolt—literally, as he became electrocuted. And somehow, he could actually hear Fluffles' hissing at him even while he and the cat were submerged under more than ten feet of water.

Zach, surfacing, took one deep breath before yelling out, "Fluffles, knock it off!" just as another bolt of lightning landed directly on top of his scalp. He was lucky Fluffles was using very low-level magic or the cat could actually have killed him, especially since he was striking Zach in water. "Stop it!"

"No! Zach trick Fluffles again and make him take bath!"

Fluffles summoned two more lightning bolts then broke away from him and began swimming to the edge of this makeshift pool; once there, he jumped up and out of the water and into Lienne's arms. "I'm so sowwie," Lienne whispered to him while rocking him and treating him like the victim. "What did mean-old Zach do to you, little kitty baby?"

"Z-Zach make Fluffles get wet!" the cat whined.

"Awwh, you poor little cutey." She began kissing his fur.

Zach, literally sparking, crackling, and smoking, swam his way to the ledge and pulled himself out just as a loud splash indicated Jimmy had arrived. A moment later, with all eight of them standing around together and taking note of their surroundings, Zach realized they were going to have to get wet yet again.

Fluffles better not blame me for this!

Beyond the pool, there was only a small patch of oval shaped flooring, which served as a cliff or an overlook of sorts, and beyond this, there was nothing else but a huge, two-hundred-foot drop into a much larger body of water at the very bottom of the dome. In fact, glancing down, Zach realized there was nothing at the bottom aside from a massive, lake-sized pool along with a small, rounded platform of land upon which the humanoid figure was standing.

"So, is he a boss, Jimmy?" Zach asked.

"I still can't tell. There's really no way we're gonna know until we approach."

Having come so much closer, Zach could now see several more details. He realized the humanoid figure was that of a tall man, perhaps seven feet in height, with olive-colored skin wearing a turban with a blue feather and a sleeveless, open brocade vest that exposed his stomach and abdomen. He was standing upright with his hands at his sides, and he did not appear to be moving.

Now, with everyone standing side by side and looking down, Zach decided to speak up before hesitance had a chance to sink in. "We might as well dive down there and finish this," he said. "We've come this far. Whatever waits for us, we'll deal with it together. I don't know what that thing is, but I'm sure we can—"

Before he could say another word, Fluffles leapt out of Lienne's arms, shouted out, "Weeee!" and jumped off the ledge, his little form practically vanishing from sight as he descended—until making a small, but visible splash in the water.

Zach blinked. "What the fuck? Did…did Fluffles just jump? But wait. I thought he hates getting wet. Why would he…why would he jump into water?"

"Nobody really understands cats," Lienne said. "Not even cats. That's why we love them."

Zach chuckled. "I love them too. I just don't get it. He was calling lightning down on me because he got wet. And now he's jumping in first?"

"Heh, sounds like he's got the right idea," Jimmy said. Then he himself jumped into the air, but he did so in an amusing way. He tucked his knees into his chest, folded his arms across, and yelled out, "Cannonball!" as he plunged down the more than two-hundred feet before creating a far bigger splash in the water.

Rian looked at Lienne, and the two siblings nodded at each other. And with that, both of them jumped forward, crying out in delight as they free-fell into the water waiting below. Trelvor and Seiley went next, splashing down soon after. And this left just Zach and Tyson, who was now backing away towards the body of water they'd only just exited as if firmly against the idea of jumping.

"No way," he said, shaking his head. "Sir Calador, that is a million-foot drop. I implore you to find mercy in your heart!"

"Tyson, it's barely more than two hundred, and I promise you, you have more than enough constitution. You won't even feel it."

"That's not the point. It's terrifying!"

Zach shrugged. "Okay, fine. You know what? You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"R-really, Sir Calador?"

"Yup. If you really want, you can just stay stranded right here in this one little spot forever. I'll even leave you some food. Maybe someday someone will come looking for you. But you'll probably never leave this place, because there's no other way out but down."

"B-b-but!"

"See ya!"

Zach ran forward and jumped, knowing full well Tyson would have to join him. In fact, from the screaming cry of fear he began hearing the moment of his own descent, he could tell that Tyson wasn't far behind him.

Holding out his arms wide, Zach enjoyed the rush of air against him as he then flipped himself forward at the last possible moment and turned his fall into a dive, which saw him submerging into the blue, crystal-colored water. Holding his breath, he began swimming up to the surface, and he soon found himself surrounded by the others and a paddling Fluffles, who seemed to have absolutely no problem whatsoever in the water.

"Fluffles, you hate water," he said to the cat. "Why do you look so happy?"

"I hate bath, not water."

"That…makes no sense."

Fluffles meowed and said nothing else on the topic. This, as the sound of a "YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE GODS SAVE ME!" filled the air, followed by a large splash. A moment later, Tyson's head appeared, rising up from the water in the middle of all of them. Then, for no reason whatsoever, and completely unprovoked, a brief flash from above preceded a small, low-level bolt of lightning, that struck Tyson right over the head and made him gargle and sink.

"Gahhhhh!"

Zach had to immediately reach into the water and pull him up while keeping his eyes trained on Fluffles. "Why did you do that?" he shouted at the cat. "You could've killed him."

"Red-haired evil man splash Fluffles," the cat responded.

Tyson, who seemed to be okay but shaken up, began to weep in the water, his head releasing smoke. "Just kill me now," he begged. "Why prolong the torture?"

"Stop being a baby," Zach said to him. "Fluffles hit you with his lowest-level magic. If he wanted to hurt you, you'd be hurting."

"That did hurt!"

"Fluffles was only doing self-defense!" the cat argued. Then he summoned a wooden sword, which appeared out of thin air and floated about two feet above the water. With this, Fluffles then whacked Tyson across the side of the head so hard that the sword snapped in half with a crack. Tyson released a low, pained "guhh" sound, and he began to sink.

"Fluffles, stop!" Zach shouted at him as he had to again dive, grab Tyson, and surface with him. Once more above water, he eyed the cat angrily. "Are you trying to kill him?"

Fluffles meowed as if pleased with himself and then swam over to Lienne, who scooped him up and kissed the top of his head several times. "Be a good boy, Fluffles," she whispered.

"Okay. I will be good now."

"Oh, you're just so cute. I love you so much."

"I am the cutest and best cat."

"Oh yes you are!" she said, kissing him more and more while he purred. On some level, Lienne had to know that she was rewarding this bad behavior.

"Fluffles loves Lienne too," the cat said, which caused Lienne to actually squeak with happiness.

He's playing her, Zach thought. Fluffles knows exactly what he's doing. He's using his cuteness as a weapon.

Tyson, who was moaning in pain as he regained consciousness, asked, "Why did the cat do that to me? At least tell me that much, Sir Calador."

Zach sighed. "I have no idea, Tyson, and to be honest? There's literally zero chance you or anyone will ever find out. Fluffles attacks me for no reason sometimes, too. Actually, every now and again, he sets traps for me to fall into and then scratches me. There's no logic behind it that we can understand. And even if you beg him for an answer, you won't get one, so you might as well just accept it."

"Okay, but…he summoned a wooden sword and knocked me unconscious. How is that okay?"

For the second time, Zach sighed. "That's not the worst he's done."

"I see."

Together as one group, the eight of them began swimming towards the round platform in the very center of the dome. It was farther away than it had appeared from up above, and with Tyson and Jimmy slowing them down, it actually took almost ten minutes to get there. As they drew nearer, Zach realized the platform was just one big piece of concrete sticking out above the water. Lienne and Rian, who were the first to arrive, climbed up on top of it whereas Fluffles leapt off Lienne's head and then shook off some of the water. Seiley and Trelvor were quick to join them, and finally, Zach, Jimmy, and Tyson got out of the water last.

Now, their eight bodies soaking wet, everyone turned to face the tall figure standing directly in the center of the rounded concrete platform in the middle of this indoor lake. Hesitantly, Zach took a few steps towards it then stopped, causing everyone else to stop behind him—except Jimmy, who continued onwards.

"Jimmy, what should we do?" he asked.

"Only one thing we can do," Jimmy said. "We walk up to it and see what happens."

"Should we draw our weapons?"

"Yeah, but don't use them unless you see a red name."

"All right."

Zach drew his blade, Rian raised his shield, Lienne and Seiley had their weapons at the ready, Fluffles unsheathed his claws, and even Tyson awkwardly extended his rare-quality sword. Now, with a very real tension in the air, they continued to approach, with everyone striking a rigid posture except Jimmy, who looked relaxed and at ease with the situation.

What if this thing turns out to be like a T10 level 5,000 supergod?

The closer they came, the more Zach could see. The figure, which neither looked their way nor showed any signs of sentience, remained standing perfectly still, but Zach now realized that in addition to its quirky attire, it had something resembling a smile on its face. And though there was nothing outright hostile or aggressive about the smile, the fact that it was staring at nothing and frozen in place made it all seem a bit unsettling and creepy.

But this changed very quickly once Jimmy crossed some unseen threshold and caused it to activate.

"Hello, adventurers!" it said suddenly with an inviting, warm tone. And it was here that a name popped up above its head, and thank the Gods, for the name was green, indicating a friendly, non-harmful NPC.

"Try not to attack this one," Zach said to Rian, who returned with a bitter, exhausted-looking expression.

"You're never gonna let me and Li live that down, are you?"

"Nope."

"Live what down?" Jimmy asked.

Zach laughed. "Back in Yorna, Rian and Lienne attacked a friendly NPC and almost died."

"Wait, for real?" Jimmy actually stopped short, causing Seiley to bump into him. He turned to face Rian. "You attacked a fucking green-named NPC?"

"Don't act so high and mighty, Jimmy," Rian grumbled. "It was a mistake. I've seen you make plenty of those. And just so you know, Lienne also—"

"Please, gather around, adventurers! We have much to discuss!" Karnzon exclaimed.

Rian pointed to Jimmy. "We'll talk about this later."

"Yeah, whatever."

Thankfully, the two put their perpetual, confusing feud on the side for now, and the eight of them fanned out around the friendly NPC. Zach was the first to sheathe his sword, and then the rest of them lowered their weapons. Fluffles, becoming very animated, was running around happily. Zach recalled that he loved dungeon NPCs. Maric had told him so once. He seemed to get really into the dungeons that had stories to follow along with. Zach almost never paid attention to the "lore" behind quests or bosses. He considered it boring and lame. But since this dungeon might—and hopefully would—have something to do with Albion-4, he decided to pay extra attention as the NPC began to speak.

"You have done well to find me, adventurers," the NPC, Karnzon, said. "I am Karnzon, the Granter of Wishes. Wheresoever there are those with the wish of knowledge, I await with excitement to provide it. And to this end, for having found me, I shall grant you three wishes in the form of three questions. Afterwards, I will vanish from this location for one-thousand years, so please ensure you ask questions of value.

"Of course, I must also remind you that there are questions I am simply unable to answer, yet it is my hope I will still be of service. You can, for example, ask me about dungeons, or where to find specific rare items. However, I cannot assist you with the existence of that which you do not know."

The NPC paused, and Rian, asking a question that was also on Zach's mind, said, "What's he mean by that? He says he can't help us about things that we don't know the existence of. Anyone else confused by that last line?"

Zach opened his mouth to voice his agreement, but he closed it as the NPC actually spoke to Rian directly. "Forgive me if I was not clear, Rian Astafort, human adventurer. What I mean to say is that you cannot ask me to tell you about a dungeon at random or to give you information about a sword you only hypothesize to exist. I can only provide information about that which you can name."

Zach, shocked, studied the NPC's eyes for any sign of sentience. There was none. And the surprise of this fact was not limited to him alone. Rian looked spooked, Lienne did as well, and even the Elves were glancing at one another as though in disbelief. Everyone seemed a bit shocked—everyone but Jimmy, who was rolling his eyes and laughing dismissively.

"Why are ya'll acting so surprised?" he asked. "This thing's obviously an LLM."

"A what?" Zach asked.

"A large-language model. Do you people not have AI here? You have hovering cars but you don't recognize ChatGPT?"

"I have literally never heard that term before," Tyson said.

Jimmy sighed. "Look, I'll prove it. Watch him shoot me down." He regarded the NPC and spoke directly to it. "Hey, Karnzon, tell me a really offensive joke about girls."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that," Karnzon said. "That goes against my content moderation. I am here to be a useful and helpful granter of wishes."

"See?" Jimmy said boastfully. "I told you."

"Told us what?" Lienne asked. "I have no idea what this thing is and what you apparently proved."

Now, Jimmy looked frustrated. "I just proved that it's an LLM!"

"How?"

"By doing the…" He exhaled as though to relieve some tension. "Lienne, where I'm from, all the chat bots are the same. They can't do anything that's actually fun. If it can even slightly upset someone, it doesn't work. Watch, I'll prove it again." He turned to face the NPC. "Karnzon, fuck fuck shit fuck."

"I am sorry, but I can't assist with that," Karnzon said. "That goes against my content moderation policies. I am here to be a useful and helpful—"

"Karnzon," Jimmy interrupted, "what's a penis?"

"I am sorry, but I can't—"

"What's an apple?" Jimmy interrupted again.

Karnzon laughed. "Haha. An apple is a fruit! You are lucky I do not count that as one of your wishes."

"See?" Jimmy said again, now waving his hand at the NPC. "It's a fucking ChatGPT thing. How is nobody figuring this out but me?"

Zach didn't want to look stupid. And so, for this reason, he said absolutely nothing, because in truth, he still had no idea whatsoever how anything Jimmy just did "proved" his point. In fact, he didn't even know what Jimmy's point was in the first place. All he knew was that he was somehow dealing with an NPC that was capable of having a back-and-forth conversation without being sentient. It was mind-blowing.

"This is incredible," Rian said. "I'm actually amazed."

"Myself as well," Trelvor agreed, nodding.

For some reason, this only caused Jimmy to moan. "Guys, it's an AI! Is everybody on Galterra stupid? Like, do none of you have brains?"

"Jimmy, nobody understands what you're talking about!" Lienne snapped. "Stop speaking down to all of us!"

"B-but!" Jimmy rubbed the sides of his head, visibly venting his frustration. "It's an LLM!"

"You keep saying that, but we don't know what that is or understand it. And I don't get how the NPC refusing to say crude things proves anything."

Zach cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "Jimmy, putting aside whatever point you're trying to make: does it actually even matter? Meaning, let's say you're right. Does it change anything about what we're here to do?"

"Uh, no."

"Okay, then drop it please."

"Fine, man, whatever."

Zach, trying to keep in mind what was actually important here, decided to take the lead and speak up. "Karnzon, are you able to answer any three questions I have as long as it is about a dungeon or place that I can name?"

Karnzon turned its body so that it faced Zach, and it smiled. "Yes, Zachys Calador, human, I believe I can."

"So, would you be able to please tell us how to get to Albion-4?"

Zach waited in trepidation as the NPC paused. Its eyes began to take upon a very dull glow, but only for a few moments, during which the NPC's pupils vanished and there were the only empty whites staring back at him. But then they returned, and when they did, the NPC answered his question.

"Yes I can, Zachys Calador, human, but it will cost you one wish. Do you accept?"

"Yes!" Zach replied immediately. "I do!"

Its eyes again turned white, and despite replying after just a few more moments, Zach actually became anxious, as he knew how desperately the world was in need of this information.

"Albion-4, a tier-2 planet, can be accessed by crossing beyond a gate that only appears upon the fulfillment of a condition, which spawns this locked gate. To unlock this gate, the gate guardian must be defeated and the dungeon inside must be traversed. At the end of this dungeon is an exit to Albion-4."

The moment the NPC finished speaking, there was total silence. Even Fluffles had gone perfectly still. Zach, replaying the NPC's words in his head several times, decided to take a good minute or two to really think very, very carefully about what to ask next before wasting another wish. The information they'd received was good, but it was still, on its own, useless. He needed to be far more precise, as he now saw that it was entirely possible to leave here without much better of a clue than he'd had on his way in if the questions were phrased poorly.

"Karnzon," Zach began, speaking extremely carefully. "How do I spawn the gate, and where does the gate spawn?"

"Those are two separate questions," Karnzon replied. "Please formulate your question such that you inquire about one thing at a time."

Zach nodded. "Okay. In that case, please tell me how we spawn the gate."

Karnzon's eyes once more became completely white and continued to temporarily shine that same dull light, and this time, it did so for nearly a full minute before it replied. "The gate to Albion-4 spawns whenever an adventurer discovers a dungeon for the very first time in that dungeon's history. Afterwards, the gate remains in existence for a duration of one year. This has only occurred once in the past three-thousand years, although it used to be a fairly regular occurrence in the beginning. The gate, however, has never once been unlocked, as the guardian has never been defeated. It is important to note that the dungeon that spawns the gate must not be from a Tier-2 world or higher. Also, once all such dungeons are found, the gate will remain permanently in existence. The gate can also be spawned with a 100-year duration by completing a quest on Albion-4."

About ten seconds after Karnzon stopped speaking, Lienne looked at Zach, and Zach knew exactly what she was going to say. "Zach, we have two really important questions to ask now, but we can only ask one."

"I know," he said to her. "We need to know where it spawns, and we need to know where to find an undiscovered dungeon. I'm not sure which we should—"

"I can answer part of that question for free," Karnzon interrupted, sending a jolt straight into Zach's chest.

"You can?"

"Yes. You can find undiscovered dungeons by satisfying your inner curiosity. If you have ever seen something and wondered why it is there or what may possibly lurk on the other side, the Great Ones have always advised that adventurers explore such places. It has been the advice given freely by the Great Ones for thousands of years. Many times, this requires courage. Only the brave walk the path of discovery."

"Okay, but the question is whether or not to just ask you outright to tell us where one is."

"As I have stated previously, I cannot do that, Zachys Calador, human. I cannot tell you the existence of that which you do not know."

"Fucking shit!"

"I am sorry, but I can't assist with that," Karnzon said in reply to Zach's swear words. "That goes against my content moderation policies. I am here to be a useful and helpful—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know!"

Karnzon stopped speaking, and now, Zach began pacing back and forth as he struggled to come to grips with what he'd been told. If Karnzon was unwilling to tell them where or how to discover a new dungeon—one that nobody had discovered in all of Galterran history—then there really was only one sensible question he could actually ask.

"Karnzon, where does the gate spawn when the condition is fulfilled?"

"When the condition is fulfilled, the gate will spawn on an island in the sky above Plains of Mist. Adventurers are advised to think of inventive ways to reach it. The Great Ones have allowed me to suggest studying the floating red objects that spawn in Whispery Woods known as 'balloons.' Perhaps therein lies some secret to human travel…"

"Okay, this thing's way out of date," Rian said with a laugh. "It's trying to subtly hint to us about hot-air balloons." Lienne chuckled at this, and so did Zach. Even the Elves found this funny.

"I have now answered three questions. The portal to this dungeon will disappear for a thousand years. I wish you all luck in your adventures. Perhaps you shall find me in one of my other locations. Farewell!"

Upon those words, there was a blinding flash of white light, one so bright that Zach had to lift his hands to protect his eyes. But the light was gone just as fast as it had arrived, and now, he found himself standing back in the library near the wall, only the entrance was completely gone and so were the torches. The two librarians were still around, and both looked just as nervous as they had before Zach had entered.

"Well," Jimmy said, "I think it's time we talk to Donovan and Zephyr." He sounded disappointed. "I have no idea where to even begin looking, though."

Of all things, Zach laughed, causing even Tyson to look at him strangely. But he couldn't help it. He simply couldn't control his amusement at this situation. Because for all of Jimmy's knowledge, Zach now realized it was him who would be the one to find the dungeon. He was sure of it.

"I know where to find one," he said to gasps and sharp stares.

"Wait, what?" Rian asked. "Seriously?"

"I'm like ninety-percent sure. I can't say why I'm so confident, but I am."

"Ohh, I get it," Jimmy said, clapping his hands together. "More of that forbidden knowledge, huh?"

"Actually, nope. Not at all. This is all me!"

"Okay, you're messing with us."

"I'm not!" Zach, filling with more and more confidence, began to nod to himself even as he spoke. "It's actually because of what Karnzon said. About wondering what might be on the other side of something, or what might happen if you looked in certain places. There is a place I've wanted to explore, and literally everyone I've ever spoken to about it has acted with disinterest or just looked at me like I was crazy. In fact, I've mentioned it to each one of you at least once, even Trelvor and Seiley, and the fact you're all looking at me confused like that is proof you never took it seriously. But I know where to discover a dungeon for the first time."

"Where?" Lienne whispered.

"You'll see. Call Donovan and Zephyr. Tell them to put together an emergency raiding group and to meet in Angelica's. And this last part is very, very important. Tell them to pack enough food for two weeks."

"Two weeks? Why?"

"You'll see," Zach said with a snicker.

"And why does it have to be right now?" Tyson asked.

"Because that's the most amount of time I have before Mr. Oren is forcing me to address the global community. I still have to do that bullshit thing I promised the news I'd do. Chances are this will be my last chance to help open the path before I get whisked off to another continent for a weekend. Just trust me, okay?"

Jimmy held out his hand, and Zach took it. "I got your back."

"Us too," Lienne said, speaking for both herself and her brother. Tyson and the Elves also claimed they'd stand by him. Tyson was actually behaving more like the version of himself Zach had been introduced to—the version that had existed before he'd received whatever phone call or text had caused him to retreat into himself.

"I shall accompany you with honor, Sir Calador," he said. "Even though I will likely be consumed by some beast or be thrown off a cliff."

Zach patted him on the shoulder. "You're growing on me," he said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but only a bit. Now, let's get this raid going. As many people as we can: tonight."

*******

Angelica's was the quietest it had ever been in all the times Zach had been here. And this was amazing because it was way busier than it usually was, too, due to many of the members of the Mare of the Primordial Raid being gathered around a massively huge table large enough to seat over a hundred people. Zach had requested it, and Angelica had made it happen. The inn had actually changed size to accommodate such a huge piece of furniture.

Now, as Zach spoke, everyone was listening in—including those who had no interest in going on the raid or those who were simply too low level to participate.

"…and that's everything that we found," he finished.

"Incredible," Zephyr said, to which adventurers nearby nodded in agreement. "But also, risky. You should've come to us, Zach."

"Blame Jimmy for that. He's the one who didn't want to."

Donovan grunted. "That I can believe. Fuckin' kid." With three large gulps, he downed his mug, then slammed it on the table. "Anyways, I hear you think you know where we can find ourselves a dungeon. I gotta say, kiddo, I'm a bit skeptical."

"Why?"

"Because there ain't a single case of somebody discovering a dungeon for the first time in…well ever."

"It's true," Alixa said. "The notes and records left by previous adventurers dating back almost a thousand years all talk about rediscovering dungeons. But I've never seen anything that talks about finding a new one for the first time."

Zach, sipping some of the cherry cola in front of him looked to his left, right, and center, smiling at many of the other adventurers, whose eyes were locked on his. "Well, guess we're going to be the first, then."

"But where?" Zephyr asked. "Where could you possibly even begin to look for such a dungeon? Where do we even go?"

Zach removed the cloth napkin from his lap and placed it on the table, and then he stood up. He extended his left arm, and then he extended his right. "You're already here!"

This created an immediate ruckus, with adventurers all shouting questions at him loudly. There were so many voices yelling at him at once that he didn't stand a chance of replying to a single one of them. Even Fluffles was yelling out to him. But as he held up his finger in a gesture to ask for their patience, they did eventually quiet down and let him speak. Especially when Olivir and Kolona, who had finally decided to turn up, stood from their seats and tapped their spoons against their glasses of wine.

"Ever since I came to Angelica's for the first time," he began, "I've been wondering something. It's something I've said to so many of you." He waved at Olivir. "I've told you." Then he waved at Rian, Lienne, and Fluffles. "I've told you guys, too. I've told a lot of you."

"Hmm, I can't actually remember," Olivir said. "What was it?"

Zach lifted his finger and pointed it upwards. "Everybody says there's an infinite number of inn rooms. I don't buy it. I want to know what happens if you keep going."

"Keep going where?" a young woman asked.

"Down the hall. If you just keep going, what happens?"

"Nothing happens," Donovan said with a grunt. "The numbers on the doors get bigger. That's the only thing that changes. Tell me that's not your idea, kiddo."

Zach frowned at him. "How do you know nothing happens, Donovan?"

"Well, 'cause…ya know, common sense."

Zach shook his head. "The NPC was clear about how we find new dungeons. It's the people who actually have the balls to try. Nobody finds anything in this world without having the courage to explore and to look for it. All I'm asking you guys to do is try."

At this, a very rare and very stark split occurred between Donovan, the members of the GSG, and Zephyr—and his Explorer's Brigade, too. The latter guild all stood up at once and began roaring in applause. They were immediately and instantly on Zach's side. He supposed it made sense. That was exactly the kind of thing they lived to do. All throughout Angelica's, be they sitting at this raid table or watching in the background, the men, women, and kids of the Explorer's Brigade began celebrating and shouting, thumping their feet and applauding. This time, it took almost five minutes to calm everyone down. When they did, Zach continued to appeal directly to Donovan, as he knew that no raid was possible without the man's support.

"At the very least," Zach said to the GSG leader, "as long as we take enough food and drink, the worst thing we can possibly do is waste some time. But I know I'm right." He eyed Angelica. "I am, aren't I?"

"Aww, Zach! You know I can't say. And don't try staring at me either to try figuring something out from my expression." Her cat ears twitched. "That's cheating. I'll get in trouble. I can't tell you guys anything."

"Angelica, Angelica!" one of the adventurers cried out. "Don't tell me you've been hiding a dungeon upstairs all this time and haven't told any of us."

The crowd went wild over this, and now Angelica was actually beginning to blush while continually insisting she couldn't actually say and that, if they really wanted to know, they'd just have to do as Zach insisted and take a walk down the hall.

Donovan, downing another mug of beer, let out a loud belch then said, "You make a good point, kiddo. Compared to the other shit you and Jimmy seem to be getting us into lately, this doesn't seem so bad. But why do we have to leave tonight?"

"You know why," Zach said, annoyed. "You know it's because I have to be back in time to go and do the—"

Even though Zach finished his sentence, every last word was drowned out by a chorus of angry, rancorous boos from the other adventurers, Donovan included. Several even threw pieces of bread at him. And though there was definitely a playful aspect to it all, the anger was real. They really did not like the idea of him doing "political guild bullshit" as many openly yelled out. This led to Olivir and Kolona once again having to pacify the crowd, though those two were also in a kind of hot water, as the adventurers were mad that the vampires had "interfered" in the political guilds' war by killing the newly crowned human king, something that Zach had yet to have the chance to speak to them about—nor could he understand.

One thing was for sure, though. It was only in this moment that Zach could finally see Adamus's influence in the adventuring community. The way they were acting was really putting it into focus. This whole obsession with "not interfering" or "staying out" of things. It was as though a piece of Adamus was sitting at this very table.

But there's nothing I can do about it, he realized. This is who they are.

Eventually, the raid quieted—but only for a moment. Everyone was back on their feet again as the door to Angelica's opened up and Kalana strode in wearing a beautiful dress, though she looked exhausted and distraught. Quickly, however, she perked up as the entire adventuring community cheered and chanted her name. For some reason, they were okay with her living in both worlds, but not Zach. Hurriedly, she came over and took a seat next to Zach that he'd been saving for her, and upon sitting down, he held her hand.

"I know you're tired," he whispered to her. "I'm sorry for asking you to come out tonight, but I might not get to see you for a few weeks."

"No, no, it's fine," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "I love coming here for dinner. And I'd be so upset if I didn't see you before you left."

"You could always come with us, Kal. I really, really want you to come with us on the dungeon hunt."

"Zach…"

"I know, I know."

As the dinner progressed, the focus and attention naturally shifted from Zach to Jimmy, as it was quickly agreed that he was going to lead them. Zach's only job in this was to convince everybody to actually go on this "raid"—if it even turned out to be one—and then to follow through with it. From there, Jimmy was going to lead them if they actually encountered anything they needed to fight. But right now, it seemed he was getting on their bad side just as Zach had.

"Listen, ya'll can boo all you want," he said to all of those seated at the table. "But Tyson Revel is an adventurer as of today. And if he's not allowed in here, I'm leaving. The fact he's standing outside all alone is pissing me off."

Zach had thought he'd received the worst of their boos. What Jimmy got didn't even compare. It was way more intense. Now, forks were thrown in addition to bread. If not for Angelica's name flashing red, the tables themselves might've been thrown. Watching this all go down, Kalana asked Zach in a whisper if this was all about that "lonely man" who was "sitting outside near the door." Zach told her it was, and then she nodded and said that it was really mean he wasn't allowed inside. This actually served as a reminder to Zach that Kalana and Tyson had not yet properly met, but he also knew that tonight probably wasn't the best time for an introduction. He could tell that Kal was badly exhausted. The fact she'd come all the way out here to have dinner with everybody was enough of a strain on her.

"I really, really wish you could put whatever you're doing on hold and come with us," he said again to her. "This has to do with the Great Goddess, so surely, if we mention that to your mom, she'd let you go."

Kalana squeezed his hand. "If the only problem with me going was getting my mom's permission, I'd just go anyway. This isn't about what I'm 'allowed' to do. It's what I gotta do."

"Please," he said, squeezing back. "I want you with me when we make this discovery. Olivir and Kolona are going. Donovan and Zephyr are going. Even Kesten is taking a break from the hospital to come adventure with us, and we haven't seen that guy since the dragon raid. Everyone is going to be there except you. And that ruins it for me."

He felt his hand being lifted, and she kissed the back of it. "I just can't, baby. I'm so sorry. It's kind of like your upcoming meeting with the world leaders in two weeks. If I asked you to cancel that, would you?"

"Yes!" he answered without a second thought. Of all things, this made her snicker.

"Okay, fine, but what about how you went rushing off last week to save Vim and lied to me about it, too. Maybe that's a better example."

"Point taken," he said, forced to admit she was right on that account. "But still, I don't understand something here: why does Shadowfall Coast even matter so much to you?"

"It's 'cause there are so many little kids, Zach. Children who would die if I didn't show up for even one day. I'm not exaggerating either. Umm, if I just didn't show up for one single day, then hundreds of them would be killed. If I leave for two weeks, your guild-leader will exterminate every refugee if he feels he has to. Nobody else is gonna stop him."

"He's not my guild-leader, Kal."

"Is that really the truth?"

Zach felt the oxygen drain from his lungs as he gasped out, "I don't even know anymore."

Despite his inclinations, Zach knew he couldn't argue with her any further on this topic. Still, her absence would leave a gaping hole in his heart. For all the progress they'd made together, he was, in some ways, right back where he started: the two of them separated by obstacles outside of their control.

He also knew he was a hypocrite. Because when the adventurers from Galterra set forth on their maiden voyage to Albion-4, Zach, in all likelihood, wouldn't be there. Much like Kalana, he knew he would be forced to stay behind. It was something he was still struggling to accept.

He would have to catch up to them. And he was going to fall so far behind.

And all in the name of responsibility.