《A Robbery Of Goats》 Chapter 1: To Get One’s Goat Rowan stared at the sea of endless warm white. He floated soundlessly, wholesomely, peacefully- ¡°Get this turtle strangling, tree pounding, pie whacking piece nonsense stared you heap of wiggling screws and bolts! I have waited long enough.¡± [I take it, then, that you have completed your mandatory moment of relaxation, Mister Walker. Do take notice that, if you once again use prohibited language, you shall be put back in timeout.] ¡°Yes, I have taken notice, you unwelcome piece of ones and zeros. This is the third time we have had this conversation.¡± [Indeed, your slow uptake of basic information has undoubtedly been shocking. Now let us move on¡­ Three hours and 23 minutes ago you have died.] ¡°So I have noticed.¡± [Per your life insurance, the continents of your memory chip have been uploaded to the AFTERLIFE servers. Here you can live the rest of your afterlife without the petty concerns of mortality. Now you must choose what world server you shall be uploaded to.] ¡°Legends of the Knights of the Revengeance, the Return of the Reckoning.¡± [Pardon me?] ¡°The stupid fantasy video game one, I don¡¯t know what it is called.¡± [Ah, that would be Aard, our high quality ¡®free to live¡¯ Role Playing Game (RPG) experience. Do take notice that your level of insurance allows free entry to some of our premium experiences. Are you sure you do not want to hear your other options?] ¡°No, the nut juggling, zucchini gagging mountain of blubber that caused me to end up dead is in the fantasy video game one. And I plan to go pay him a visit.¡± [Excellent, let us proceed then. The next stage is character creation, this process is fully randomised.] ¡°Ok, go ahead¡­¡± [But for only 149.99 ? you can buy the character personalisation package! This comes with the basic suite of character creation tools and options.] ¡°Wait, what?¡± [And that is not all, for an additional 99.95 ? you can buy the extended option-] ¡°No, no, stop, no! I ain¡¯t buying anything, what is this madness?¡± [In order to recuperate to cost of AFTERLIVE¡¯S high quality ¡®free to live¡¯ experiences some parts of the feature set will be sold at a small premium. This ensures that AFTERLIFE can make its most popular product available to everyone. Even those without the financial means to pay the upfront or insurance fees.] ¡°What part of 149.99 ? plus 99.95 ? is supposed to be a small premium?¡± [The AFTERLIFE merely wishes to offer ¡®options¡¯ for its economically diverse player base. We can assure you the economy-class option will result in a satisfying experience regardless. Do you wish to hear the rest of the high-value character customisation offer?] ¡°No, go fiddle some other donkeys with your marketing excrement. I am not paying a dime extra for you to copy over some ones and zeroes. Besides, I am completely broke anyway, haven¡¯t got a dime on my account.¡± [Excellent, we will generate your character then. And done.] A second being now appeared in the white void. ¡°It is¡­ A goat in a dress.¡± [No, it is a female Capra. Goats do not stand on two legs, Mister Walker.] ¡°It has a beard and claws¡­¡± [That is indeed correct, Mister Walker. If you are unsatisfied with your character you can reroll it for a small payment of 19.95 ?.] ¡°I told you I don¡¯t have any money!¡± [Then we are done here, Mister Walker. Have fun.]
In the middle of a sunburned boneyard stood a tiny goat creature that had not been there a moment ago. She looked down at her claw-tipped fingers and flowery pink dress. ¡°FUUU-¡± But before she could vocalise her nuanced thoughts the profanity filter kicked in, freezing her in place. Then, pushed by a small gust of wind, she unceremoniously toppled over and landed head first in a nest of ants. She was certainly thinking of the glorious journey that awaited her, as she watched the workers marching up her nose. No doubt she would make countless goat friends along the way and maybe even meet her own goat prince riding a white donkey.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. A swarm of ants bites you for 2 damage. Go now, tiny goat, your destiny awaits! A swarm of ants bites you for 2 damage. Profanity timeout released. ¡°Gyaaaaaaaa!¡± After carefully prying the twelfth ant out of her nose, Rowan staggered to the shade of a nearby rock. It was hot, unbearably hot. Within a handful of minutes her fur had become a sweaty soaked rag and the animalistic musk she released was¡­ odorous to say the least. ¡°You got to be kidding me.¡± Her feet were hooved, on her head grow curled horns, and she was quite sure the usual undercarriage that used to hang between her legs was missing. ¡°How the¡­ fermenting rat corpses am I supposed to strangle that pungent frog-humper like this.¡±
Personal Quest Added: Strangle That Pungent Frog-Humper Task: Strangle Olivier Oldward the Third You seek to strangle Olivier Oldward the Third, which might prove quite difficult for a goat as he is notoriously well guarded. Why don''t you start with something simpler first?
The words flooded into her brain in the form of pure comprehension. ¡°Thank you, game. I hadn¡¯t figured that out yet. What about you tell me something useful next time.¡±
Personal Quest Added: Hit the Road Task: Stop sitting around here and find civilisation before you starve to death.
¡°Never mind, just be silent.¡±
The sun slowly crawled over the blue sky, seemingly chasing around a second sun that was about to pass beneath the horizon. The tiny goat creature leapt from shadow to shadow. The soft sounds of her hooves tapping against the scorching hot ground were only heard by the wind. But after a good few hours, the first visages of dusty city walls rose into view. Behind the first set rose countless more, all forming concentric circles that soared ever higher. With all roads leading to a glorious palace in the clouds. Traders, caravans, adventures and other odd folk crowded at the city gate. A myriad of scrappy looking people sat on small tarps, attempting to peddle various peculiar rocks, plants, and dead animal bits. Goods were inspected, taxes were played and bribes changed hands. Rowan finally came to a halt between the eclectic crowds of travellers queuing up for the gate. Few among them were humans, most of them far from it. Orcs, minotaurs, lizard people, although most of them even managed to look half decent by human standards. At least far above the standard set by a tiny bearded goat in a dress. Rowan stared at the checkpoint, tolls and taxes clearly marked on sides of the road. 13.50 ?, admission fee non-citizen, bank withdrawals possible. ¡°You got to be kidding me, this simulation runs on real-world currency?¡± She looked around at the barren wasteland. Further on a shanty town stood against the wall. Its inhabitants counted creatures similar in size and beauty to Rowan''s current form.
Personal Quest Complete: Hit the Road As a reward you get to not die of starvation, wee! Personal Quest Added: Get to Work Task: Work in the ghettos to earn your passage through the gate.
¡°Work?!¡± She scoffed. ¡°I haven¡¯t worked a day in my life and I am not about to-¡± Boff- a sudden impact at the back of her head send her rolling over the floor. You took 5 points of dirty boot damage. ¡°Look Bob, told you goats could fly.¡± Animalistic laughter rang out from behind. Rowan attempted to scramble to her feet, but before she could do so a large hand grabbed her by the leg. With a single motion she was lifted into the air and dangled upside down. ¡°Now goat, that¡¯s what your kind gets for standing still in the middle of the road.¡± At the other side of the arm was a squat looking ogre with shoulders that seemed unnaturally broad. His voice contained power, but a glance at his beady eyes revealed that intelligence had not come along with that. ¡°It is quite impolite to flip over a lady¡¯s dress like that, you know.¡± The ogre¡¯s eyes wandered upward. A fact that could have scarcely interested Rowan back when her hose used to hang there and even less now. ¡°Ey look, this goat is a bi-¡± The ogre paused, searching his vocabulary for a non-curse word to describe a woman, but woefully falling short. ¡°Bovine, bohemian, behemoth, bacchanalia, braggadocio?¡± It took a while for the ogre to realise he was being made fun of, but after his compatriots stated to chuckle it clicked. ¡°Shut it goat! You smell.¡± ¡°Excellent retort.¡± Now Rowan had, at this point, expected to be thrown. She had concluded that it was probably the most effective we to get him to release his grip. But she had quite understated the ogre¡¯s strength. And as she soared through the sky she found that she had an unsettling amount of time to contemplate her mistake. With a frightening crack, she landed a good couple of dozen feet away in a filthy ditch. You take 30 pissing of ogres while you are tier 0 damage. ¡°That is what you get, garbage goat!¡±
¡°Uuuuugh.¡± Rowan checked her limbs and concluded that they were still firmly attached to her body. Her ribcage, however, feels like it was on fire and she would not be surprised if one rib was broken. She slowly crawls back out of the ditch, taking short breaths to reduce the pain. The ogre and friends had gone back to standing in line, having lost interest. As they moved closer to the gate, they got locked in-between countless carts, horses and other people, forming a solid block of bodies. ¡°Well, at least I know who I am going to rob first.¡± She swallowed the pain and started a slow tread to the line. Having your head come up slightly higher than a man¡¯s knee was proving inconvenient in many ways. But when carts, horses and people get packed this thickly it was a godsend. Nobody looked down, they couldn¡¯t. Their view would be blocked by the objects in front of them. So Rowan could weave, duck and dodge under carts and between horses without problems. Before long, the fat legs and howling laughs of ogre and friends were right in front of her. They all wore armour made of hard leather combined a shirt of chainmail. Their large packs and belts were filled with pouches and knives. This, along with their heavy clubs and swords revealed that they camped out in the wastes on a regular basis. Rowan felt up some of their knives until she found one that smoothly slid from its scabbard. It had been a well-made once upon a time, the steel and handle were of high quality and the tip was still razor-sharp. But the owner had seemingly hacked through bone with it and most of the blade was now dull as a butter knife. She took a couple of steps back and aimed for a loose pack tied to the rucksack of the rightmost ogre friend. As her hand slowly took the weight of the pack the tip of the knife easily slid through the soft leather straps. She took the pack and threw in over her shoulder while eying her next target. With a couple of smooth steps, she manoeuvred near the bonehead himself and took his waist coin pouch in a similar manner. Rowan hopped back under a card and cut the remaining leather bands down to her size. By tying a couple of knots turned it into a small backpack. Just as she stuffed her knife down her belt a furious roar erupted beside her. ¡°Thieeeeef!!!!¡± Chapter 2: Arachnogoatia It seemed like Icidae¡¯s nightmare would never end. Her mother had long ago disappeared, taking their money and any chance of them living a normal life along with her. Since that day her father had kept on drinking, drinking as if the world had ended. Their debts kept on rising and their situation kept on getting worse. She did not have good looks or a slim figure. Because of their financial situation, decent quality clothes had been out of the question. And above it all, she was a social wreck. Icidae did not know where she had gotten her soft and emotional nature from. It wasn¡¯t from her mother, and father was only concerned with his own misery. But needless to say, the wretched boiling pot that was high school turned out to living hell for her. But time marches relentlessly on, hell or no hell, and she grew into a reserved and quiet twenty-year-old. A cheap laptop had become her own little safe space as she drowned herself in the word of old MMORPGs. Control, destiny, reward for one¡¯s hard work, and blessings for one¡¯s virtues. The games provided her with all the things she lacked in her real life. But then, on a cloudy Tuesday morning disaster had struck again. She suddenly woke up in a hospital bed, no recollection of having gotten there. The nurses'' expressions were cold, the doctor¡¯s grave. A sudden cerebral infarction had toppled her on the way to her college. The cause, Brain cancer, incurable. The damage to the brain was already too severe and would kill all on its own. No more words were necessary, she would die, and it would not be long before she did so. Thus she waited, partially paralysed, for the end to come. Her father did not show, nor did he call¡­ And so, all alone, she died. Death, of course, was not the tragedy it used to be. The AFTERLIFE had been made real and even the completely broke Icidae could nowadays take part. So with a slight feeling of enthusiasm, she arrived in the warm white void. However, that feeling of relief did not last long¡­ With absolute fear and disgust, she looked at the creature before her. Eight long hairy legs, a thick furry abdomen, eight gross eyes of different sizes and clicking horrid jaws. Half humanoid half arachnid, at the size of a child¡¯s tricycle. Like a mutant female gnome tied to a ¡®house of horrors¡¯ prop spider. Completely and utterly disgusting, gross, wretched, filthy¡­ ¡°Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope¡­¡± [If you are unsatisfied with your character you can reroll it for a small payment of 19.95 ?.] ¡°Go burn in a fire, you know my credit status!¡± [Then we are done here, Miss Salt]
¡°Thieeeef!¡± All feed halted in an instant and hands reached to check their belongings. ¡°Not good.¡± Rowan mumbled to herself. She had expected it to take longer for them to notice, but it seems they had been patting down their belongings regularly. The line started to split as the ogre stomped around in a raging fury. Rowan looked around for an escape. This cart gave her some shelter, but it was far from a foolproof hiding place. Slowly the line moved back into motion, swirling around the trio. Judging from their gazes, they were monitoring the back end of the line. Expecting (correctly) that the perpetrator was going to attempt to sneak in after them. She had the feeling that if the ogre would spot her nearby, stolen goods or not, he would pound her into mush regardless. Forward it was then, and it had to be quick. With a couple of well-timed leaps, she moved from shelter to shelter and emerged in front of a well-filled carriage. The gate was handled by a hand full of guards and the line roughly split in three. One for heavy transport and two for regular travellers. Rowan shelter had started its curve toward the first, leaving her only short moments before ogre and friends would spot her among the crowd. The second line would take at least a hand full of minutes to get through, and the last seemed to have ground to a complete halt. She took a quick glance at the front, where some spider person seemed to be throwing tantrum. Even with the inhuman eyes and terrifying jaws, Rowan could, at a single glance, tell it was one of ¡®those¡¯ people. She did not have to listen to the spider¡¯s tear-stained wallowing to understand exactly what was happening. The guard''s tired ¡®not another one of these¡¯ expression told her more than enough. With a grin, Rowan stepped to the front of the line. ¡°Oh, the humanity, poor Miss. My heart is so moved by the tragedy of your tale that I will pay for your entry.¡± The spider¡¯s wailing finally stopped and the guard looked relieved he would not have to get the insecticide after all. Rowan threw the necessary coins on the desk. Helpfully, they had been labelled with their value. And walked through the gate without looking back. Somewhere far back an ogre still roared, but he was not going to get his vengeance today. Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­ Rowan moved her chest around a little and concluded it felt a lot better than it did before. It seemed that, if she had broken ribs, they had not cracked all the way through. ¡°So, I am inside the city, what now? I need info, both on the frog-humper and possible locations of my old colleagues¡­ if they are around. Also, this money won¡¯t last me a week, so I need a plan for my next ¡®job¡¯.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­
Personal Quest Complete: Get to Work You have managed to get into the first ring of Greadig the city of Greed through theft and skulduggery. With this you have risen from tier 0 to a tier 1 class, ascending from [Goat] to [Novice Criminal Scum]. Also due to your perpetual hard-headedness (well ok, actually because of your ascension), you gained the skill [Bonehead]. The first hit in combat you receive will never be lethal, a perfect ability for your common criminal goon. Personal Quest Added: Planning Ahead Task: Find info on: the frog-humper, old acquaintances and a good place to rob. Also, find a way to get rid of the spider, it creeps me out.
Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­ ¡°[Bonehead] ey, fascinating. Although, I don¡¯t like the idea of fighting things that can kill me in a single blow. But I might need to go and pay some attention to this whole game thing if it doles out magical powers like this more often. It could get quite hairy if an enemy catches me off guard with one.¡± Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­ As Rowan moved through the streets mumbling to herself the soft tapping off hairy paws on stone was ever-present. She had ignored it for a while, but it had proven surprisingly tenacious. With a loud sigh, she turned around. ¡°I ain¡¯t taking care of a damsel in distress, get lost. You were useful for getting through that gate as fast as possible, but do not mistake my actions for pity.¡± Icidae halted in shock, tears welling in her eyes from the word go. She was about to open her mouth when Rowan cut her off. ¡°Yea, yea, I am sure your life was absolutely miserable and you were dealt a bad hand. I can see it in your eyes, people like you are a dime a dozen. Unfortunately, life is a bi-¡­ set of cockroach carcasses and above that, hardly fair. But people like you, who go ¡®woe is me¡¯ and toil in their own misery, those disgust me. Grow a horse pissing spine and strangle those who wronged you instead of kneeling and begging for their mercy. I offer no help to worms.¡±
Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­ click, click, click, click¡­ Icidae wanted to cry, to hide, to run away, but instead she followed. Her feet tapped on the hard ground and her mandibles clicked in frustration. The disgusting sound made her stomach churn witch made them only click faster. Normally she would have run away to cry, as she used to do after rejection. But something made her stay, and follow. She was weak, she knew she was, but this was not real life. This should have been a video game, her home turf. Yet it had scarily resembled one since she had come here. No fighting goblins, no raiding dungeons, no handsome princes, no adventure and no mighty dragons. Just hunger, scorching sunlight, eating bugs to survive, living in filthy slums outside the city walls, and this wretched, horrid, disgusting body. But just now, for the first time since she came here something happened that felt like a video game. She had heard that type of speech countless times before, in an endless number of variations. A plucky hero, a gruff wizened mentor and the speech of rejection after their first meeting. No, I shall not train you, young one, you are not ready. He has no talent. There is too much anger inside him. And what did the hero do then, sulk and give up? No, he showed he was worthy, regardless of the old man¡¯s commands. She stared at the goat''s back and wondered, was it even a person? Could it be an NPC made especially for her? Could this be part of a story quest? She knew that the dynamic quest generation and AI systems of Aard were impressive. But it was hard to communicate the extent of the system''s features in a form post. So she did not know what fell inside its capabilities and what did not. How could she tell if the goat was an AI? Would it tell her if she asked? That speech was quite odd, she had never met an actual person who talks in such a domineering manner. Then she felt something enter her mind.
Personal Quest Added: Proving One¡¯s Worth Task: Get Rowan to take you under her wing, well¡­ furry arm, whatever works.
That was it, she was sure now, this Rowan had to be an NPC! This made an enormous weight fall from her shoulders. It wasn¡¯t a backstabbing worthless human, it was a computer, a quest giver, a party member, something made to entertain her. She knew how to deal with those, she had done so for fun for most of her life. Yes, all she had to do was to ¡®be the protagonist¡¯ and then everything would finally be fine¡­ Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­, click, click, click, click¡­ Rowan was quite annoyed. Not at the spider, she was frustrating, but a minor matter in the grand scheme of things. Although the clicking sounds she made were quite unsettling. No, Rowan was annoyed because she had misjudged the spider¡¯s character. Her capability to read people¡¯s personality was one of her greatest assets. But she had somehow managed to severely misread some simpleton¡¯s emotional state. And even worse, she failed to see what had gone wrong. Even after the simpleton had shown significantly divergent behaviour. Her experience told her that even minor rejection should have caused the damsel in distress to crawl up into a ball. But the damsel had continued on following her. Albeit while making creepy clicking sounds. Was this some variant of the damsel personally or a completely different type? Rowan glanced around, the city¡¯s strangeness was not helping her mood. It had looked like ¡®normal¡¯ sun-scorched badlands on the other side, but after passing through the gate it had turned peculiar fast. Most of the roads and houses were built on a foundation of wooden mesh, not dissimilar to scaffolding. The construction sunk into shimmering rivers of dust that flowed between high rising roots of the countless trees. And an insufferable pressing heat hung in the air as brown rain-like dust globules pelted down from the sky. Dense foliage rose all around, blocking out the sky completely. Old horrid looking trees weaved in and out of houses unperturbed. Large putrid flowers oozed from corners and crevices. Seas of leaves mangled with clusters of thorns. Strange gangly vines wrapped around nearly every free surface. And all of it looked dry and dead, bearing the colours of a desert wasteland. Spikes, flying buttresses and arches covered everything that wasn¡¯t already drowned in plants. Droplets of dust seemed to agglomerate and flow like water down the sloped roofs. The odd substance itched unpleasantly as made its way through Rowan¡äs fur and dripped into her dress. Like a freak swamp, the flowing dust rivers bubbled and oozed with countless fish, insects and other dead looking plants. And that merely described the environment. Leaving out the shops, markets, fights, people, and other goings on that were all equally as peculiar. Tap, tap, tap, tap¡­, click, click, click, click¡­ Rowan walked through the bustling city streets as they slowly gave way to dingy alleyways. The path went quiet as the noises of the main road slowly faded in the distance. ¡°So, where are we heading?¡± At those words she turned, this nonsense had lasted long enough. With a smooth motion, she swiped her knife out of her belt and pressed it against her pursuer¡¯s throat. ¡°Where are ¡®we¡¯ heading? Well, I am going finding to find some rich guy''s house to rob, so I can pay for a nice room in a high-quality inn. Then I am going to find out if my old colleagues so I can go request a couple of murders. And finally, I am going to strangle Olivier Oldward the Third and also steal everything he owns. On the way there I will probably encounter and inflict untold misery, death, torture and trauma of both the mental and physical kind. If that sounds like your cup of tea, Miss Spider, feel free to join me.¡± By all accounts that should have done it, even a mentally stable person should have fled. But there the spider stood, only flinching ever so slightly. It was like she knew that she was going to get a blade pressed to her throat the moment she spoke up. Her eyes stared back at Rowan with a strangely dissonant expression, half instinctual fear and half strange amusement. ¡°Sounds like fun, count me in.¡± Chapter 3: Goating Along Rowan stared flabbergasted while still holding the knife to the spider¡¯s throat. ¡°You seriously intent to come along?¡± ¡°I will come along, regardless if you let me or not.¡± ¡­ What is this nonsense? Who was this person? Where did the damsel in distress go? No, Rowan had to stop doing this, the opposing party was grasping control of the conversation. Rowan led, she did not follow. It was time to stop being shocked that the spider did not follow the predicted patterns. She put her knife back into her belt. Being off centre puts you in a position to be used, grasp control. She had found something she did not understand, so she shouldn¡¯t try cramming it into a pre-existing box. Study, adapt, learn¡­ ¡°You know what, fine. We will play it ¡®that¡¯ way then. The name is Rowan, what is yours?¡±
Midnight had passed and an all-devouring darkness had fallen over the city. Two beings stood at the bottom of a steep stone wall, their peculiar forms only lit by faint starlight. The heat of midday had given way to a sudden cold and the two of them had wrapped themselves in thick cloth. They stared at a set of small windows about three to four stories high, but no light shone behind them. ¡°Are you sure this mansion is empty?¡± Icid chittered. ¡°You should have paid attention to the conversations of the locals while we were eating. Intel is the cornerstone of any successful activity and the drunk and merry tend to divulge it for free. Some of this house¡¯s servants were sitting two tables ahead. The head of the house is conducting a trading mission and won¡¯t be back for at least a week. The wife and children are visiting a relative, they will arrive back tomorrow afternoon. From the other menial talk it became clear that the staff itself lives in rooms on the ground floor. Past nightfall everything above that should be fair play, as long as we are quiet. The information is far from airtight, but it¡¯s a miracle something so decent popped up right away.¡± Icid stared up at the nice decorated roof and fancy high walls and strange thrill run through her being. It had been a pleasant evening so far. From the moment she had discovered that she was talking to an AI, Rowan had become quite easy to converse with. The goat had turned out to be a bog standard old crook out for revenge character. Old hat, seen it a thousand times before. Well, she probably wasn¡¯t actually very old, but somehow she gave of a constant grumpy old man vibe. Icid did not play rouge characters in video games, she preferred being the straight up hero. But she was not going to be picky at this point. If the quest told her she would be a thief, she was going to be a thief. She would do almost anything if that would mean things would start resembling a video game at this point. Besides, her new pet AI had paid for a quite handsome dinner. Her first proper meal in ages, which had put her in a very good mood. Although she did have to conclude that regular chairs were her new moral enemies. Her abdomen stuck out far toward the back and could not be folded forward the way human legs do. This made the back of chairs made them impossible to sit on. She had attempted to climb onto one at the bar for quite a while to no avail. Eventually, the staff took pity on her and they fetched her a stool. It was still unpleasant to sit on as she had to clamp around it with all her legs, but at least it was possible. To her surprise, they had not drawn significant attention from the crowd. It seemed everyone in the bar was quite used to hideous monstrosities showing up for dinner. It even had a hand full of extra small tables they could sit on. She did wonder how many of the bar''s patrons were human and how many were NPCs. It was embarrassing to walk around as a disgusting spider between all the somewhat normal people. But while she was with Rowan she had felt in her own little bubble, so the stares had not been as painful as they once were. In the end, after stuffing her face full of food, they had gone on a small shopping spree. Returning with an assortment of bags, knives and other knickknacks. It had been surprising how easy it was to get Rowan to take her along. But on the other hand, she was just an NPC, so the quest probably had some leniency to ensure the story could progress. And now she stood outside in the middle of the night with a fair bit of excitement. They were going to do a robbery, a good old midnight heist. Part of her was frightened, of course. But then, this was a quest, so she was quite in her element as well. ¡°How are we going to get up to the windows, do you have a grappling hook or something?¡± Rowan stared at her blankly. ¡°Icid, what are you right now?¡± ¡°Slightly peckish?¡± ¡°No, you squirrel brain. You are a spider, at least partially so.¡± Icid stared at the flat vertical wall before her. ¡°Oh, you want me to walk up the wall. Nope, can¡¯t do, I ain¡¯t Spiderman. Just because I have got eight legs does not mean I can randomly start walking walls.¡± The goat¡¯s expression shifted to bemused annoyance. ¡°You haven¡¯t tried, have you?¡± ¡°Well no, of course not. Who would go walking up walls, you will hurt your-¡± With a flash Rowan moved, reaching inside Icid¡¯s mouth and grasping one of her fangs between her fingers.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Do these excrete venom Icid?¡± she spit out in clear frustration. ¡°Oo-phf coursse no-ott¡­¡± Rowan''s eyes burned with fire. ¡°This is the problem with you, you flea brained princess! These fangs have ducts in them, I could see then ooze liquid while you ate. You excrete venom, but you prefer to deny reality instead of accepting you are a spider now, so you did not even consider checking. Did you know you got spinnerets on the end of your abdomen? Did you even think about asking yourself why your hind leg''s joints allow you to angle them behind your back? It didn¡¯t even cross your mind that you could make thread. Even though your body made it painfully obvious you are able to. I have, multiple times, seen you stumble because the bi-claws were not properly detached from the ground. Let me guess, all you thought was: ''Gee, isn¡¯t it annoying that I got these weird claws at the end of my legs that automatically hook into the ground if I don¡¯t think about them.'' Just from the sound your legs make with the ground I know you have adhesive glands there. But you have no doubt failed to notice that too. Could those, in combination with the bi-claws, have something to do with a spider¡¯s ability to scale vertical surfaces, you think? You know, you could have climbed over the city walls at midnight. It would have spared you that entire ¡®drama at the gate¡¯ fiasco. So, don¡¯t give me this ¡®I ain¡¯t spiderman¡¯ nonsense if you did not care to check.¡± Icid staggered back when Rowan released her fang. She looked up at the windows that now seemed very far away. ¡°Can¡¯t we-¡± She let out a small yelp as Rowan leapt onto her back. ¡°Get moving or will start tearing your eyes out one by one, my dear princess. You got eight anyway, so you can stand to lose a few.¡± Hesitantly, she put her first pair of feet on the wall. ¡°Good, now relax the muscles in those legs. The claws should hook into the wall via the natural tension on the tendons.¡± ¡°Like this?¡± Icid asked with a nervous voice. ¡°Yes, you can see the tips digging into the stone. Now you can try pulling on the legs by controlling only the segments near your cephalothorax.¡± ¡°My what?¡± ¡°The front part of a spider¡¯s body, where its head and legs come out off. Or in your case where your waist connects to the spidery bits.¡± Icid gave a yank on her front legs, causing them to shoot off the walls. ¡°No, no, you¡¯re being too hasty. Don¡¯t put tension on the ends, only pull with the first few segments. Try it again, relax your breathing. Be calm and controlled.¡± Slowly Icid put her legs back on the wall. It took a bit before the tension left them. She was not used to relaxing her muscles and it was quite hard to do so with the building nervousness. She contracted the first few bendy parts of her legs and felt herself getting pulled toward the wall. ¡°Yes, good, like that. Now move up the next two pairs.¡± She shuffled closer and added the other legs, causing her weight to balance on the last two. ¡°Now use all your other legs to hang so you can lift the last ones.¡± Icid her heart pounded in her throat. Countless bad memories of gymnastics classes came flooding back. Her instinct told her to put force on her legs to pull herself up, but that would just cause them to detach from the wall. An image of herself tumbling off the gymnastics rack when she was about ten flashed by. The roaring laughter still echoing as clear as it had back then. Her arms trembled and sweat started dripping into her neck. Another image, this time she was thirteen and taking a physical examination. Tears welled in her eyes as the others run ever further out of sight, leaving her far behind. She could feel her throat clog and her breathing grew hoarse and raspy. More images formed. Her chubby sixteen-year-old legs wobbling while a sea of sniggers rang at a bully''s insulting comment. Her whole body shook as tears started flowing from her eyes. ¡°I-I c-can¡¯t-¡± ¡°So this is where our little adventure ends, Miss Salt. A mere damsel in distress in the end after all.¡± The cold words were spoken in a mere whisper, but rang with crystal clarity. Other images formed in a flash. Scenes from her favourite video games, the hero downed, beaten. The villain overhead, giving a sarcastic ¡®guess you¡¯re not the chosen one after all¡¯ speech. Icid grid her teeth, creating a loud gnashing sound with her fangs. ¡°No, I am not going to give up. I have done enough of that already.¡± Rowan fur tickled against her back as a soft chuckle rang in her ears. ¡°Now, that is a far better expression. It seems you keep being full of surprises.¡± The claws of the goat wrapped around her arm and brought her hand to her neck. ¡°But you are going to have to calm down a bit. With your heart pounding like that we will be plummeting to the ground in no time. Close your eyes, breathe in slowly through your nose. ¡­ Good, let the air fall through you, down the eternal sea of your lungs. Let it flow through the great rivers into the great centre of the soul. From their ever forward, forward down your wells and into your clouds. Feel it plummet through your waist and under your legs, back down to the eternal earth. And breathe back out. Now slowly breathe back in. ¡­¡± The odd quiet of the night once again fell as Rowan''s words reduced to ¡®Breathe in¡­ and back out¡¯. Icid body tingled as she stared at the wall. She rested her weight on her front legs, letting gravity pull her vertical. Her hind legs slowly lifted and planted themselves with the rest. Then she moved, like clockwork, no thought, just walking forward. Her lengthy front legs made long forward strides while her other limbs followed in offset rhythms. When she first arrived, she learned to walk in a wider scuttle, moving with an even rhythm. Something about her legs moving in this uneven tread used to make her stomach turn. Now, with her legs bending closer around her body, she could clearly see why it did. This was that really creepy stalking spider walk. Slow, menacing, deliberate and deadly. The movement of an animal. But, within the black night, the slow breeze and with the rising height, she somehow felt it all was¡­ fine. She was a disgusting spider. The creepiest thing that ever crept. A wall walking, silk making and venom spewing monstrosity. And at this moment that all was¡­ fine.
With a bit of effort, they squeezed themselves into the small window. As soon as she planted her feet firmly back on the floor, she felt like a wire snapped inside of her. The dizzying height, the fear and the darkness seemed to assail her all at once. Instantly, she sunk through her legs and slumped onto the ground.
You have ascended from a tier 0 [Spiderling] to a tier 1 [Novice Arachne]. Due to your act of creepily creeping through the creepy dark, you have grained the creepier power of [Lesser Regeneration]. You will recover from wounds at a highly accelerated rate and can even regrow limbs.
¡°Good job, rest here for a minute and then get up quietly. We don¡¯t have much time to lose, our job has started.¡± Rowan whispered as she lit an oil lamp and covered it with a thin cloth. ¡°Ha ha¡­¡± Icid watched as Rowan started tearing through the bedroom they currently resided in. Ornate pipes, forgotten bits of cash, gold plated candle stands and silverware spoons where all disappearing at a staggering rate. She watched entranced as Rowan ran her nails over the internal ridges of all the drawers and closets with near-mechanical speed. Suddenly Rowan halted while running over the internal grooves of a fancy old dresser and pulled out an old rustic key. After finishing her round she tried the key on the lockbox near the mirror but it didn¡¯t fit. ¡°Icid, light your lamp and see if this key fits a door on this floor. I will pick the lady¡¯s jewellery case the old way. If you hear any footsteps, you extinguish your lamp and go hang on the ceiling immediately, even if you think it¡¯s me. Am I clear?¡± ¡°Uhm, the ceiling¡­ I will do my best-¡± ¡°No, not ¡®your best¡¯, you will. Now go.¡± Rowan¡¯s eyes gleamed in the very faint light while she handed the key. Icid clumsily sparked a light in her lamp and covered it similarly to Rowan¡¯s. Then she opened the door leading into the empty hallway. Chapter 4: Goating Danger The house lay silent, except for the occasional crack of the wood cooling in the frigid night wind. Icid tried to do the creepy spider stalk, but more she thought about it, the less she became capable of doing so. After a while, she gave up and returned to her usual scuttle while moving extra slow to reduce the sound. The hall was lavishly decorated with paintings, carpets, dressers and chandeliers. It was clear that the people who lived here were very well off and liked to display their wealth. She tried a couple of doors and found that most of them had, not unexpectedly, no lock at all. More bedrooms came by, some belonging to children, others likely for guests. For a little while she expected a bathroom next. But then she recalled that this world had no plumbing and no one was going to carry a bath¡äs worth of water up four flights of stairs. Then, at the end of the hall, she finally met a heavy closed door with an ornate lock. She took out the key they had found and started moving closer. When she was about to insert the key a faint prickling sensation ran through her arm. Looking closely, faint carvings on the door seemed to shimmer. ¡°Magic?¡± Icid halted, the door was engraved with something. This simulated world features magic, so she deduced it was likely some kind of spell. The question was what kind. An alarm would be bad, but in that case, she would likely have triggered it already. Maybe it was something that protected against lockpicking? She felt excitement run through her as she eyed the carved runes. ¡°Magically protected doors, this is starting to become a proper RPG all of a sudden.¡± She put the key into the lock and with a stratifying tick it started to emit a faint glow. ¡°No magic will help you if you leave your reserve key lying around, I guess. Although this outcome is almost kind of boring.¡± Icid turned the key and the door opened smoothly. Inside was a small windowless study. Stacks of thick brownish papers filled the bookcases the lined the walls. Quills, ink stones, carbon powder, writing candles, abacuses, and reading loops lay scattered on the desks. She made her way inside and closed the door behind her. Her eyes immediately fell on a set of out of place objects. Bulging leather pouches and a collection of gorgeous rings. She lifted one of the bags, the shape of coins was unmistakable. Her lips formed into a greedy smile, she had no clue how much money this was, but it was certainly not little. After a life of nightmarish poverty, the prospect of literal sacks of money made her wobble on her legs. With frantic excitement, she stuffed the pouches into her bag and moved over to the rings. There were at least a dozen, all exactly the same. She picked one up and studied the design. It was gold, set with a murky blue crystal held in place by dragon¡¯s maws. The craftsmanship was astounding and the smoky crystal seemed to swirl in the light of her lamp. A bit tacky for Icid¡¯s taste, but she wouldn¡¯t mind wearing one if it made her able to shoot fireballs, or something like that. Creaaak- the sound of a creaky stair or loose plank rang through the hall. Icid snapped alert, listening with her full attention. She heard a stumble, closer this time. Looking around in panic, she made for the wall while putting out her lamp. Breathe in¡­ breathe out, breathe in... breathe out. She closed her eyes as she pulled herself upwards, letting instinct move her forward. The room was high, and the ceiling lay deep into the all devouring darkness. After a while, her front legs hit the ceiling and hesitantly latched on. Set by step she angled herself upside down. She expected that weird heavy headed feeling you get when your head is lower than your body, but it never came. When she opened her eyes everything was pitch black, but gravity told her that she certainly was on the ceiling. Then she waited, alone, in complete silence. She attempted to listen for more steps, but the house had become completely quiet. As time passed strange comfort set over her, causing her heart to throb even slower. The blankets around her felt warm and cosy and she had to work to suppress a yawn. Had she imagined the sounds? Had it been Rowan moving around to the other rooms? That would seem uncharacteristically clumsy for her. Should she go check? She pulled her blankets a little bit closer, feeling the warmth around her. Maybe she should wait just a little bit- Loud tapping noises rang through the room, bringing her back to reality. A burned smell seemed to fill the study and the splintering of wood could be heard. With a sizzling flash and a sea of sparks, the door¡¯s lock seemed to melt through in an instant. Releasing a thick cloud of smoke. Icid felt panic build as she watched the events unfurl. Her little upside-down hiding spot suddenly felt quite comical. When put up against people who could liquefy locks. She clasped the ring she still had in her hand tight as she desperately tried to control her breathing. The door opened and a hooded man stepped inside. He was burly and heavily armed. Multiple knives and a sword could were on his person and his heavy musculature was visible through his multiple layers of clothes. With a flick of his hand, he ignited all the oil lamps, causing the room to flood with an unpleasant intensity of light. Icid could see herself shake in panic. He was so close that if she stretched her arms she might be able to touch his hood. He looked around, left, right, down¡­ and moved to the desk. An odd quote seemed to float to the top of her memories. Game design rule 1, players never look up. She did not remember where it came from, nor did she know if it was applicable to real life. But as it relieved her panic ever so slightly, she was happy to believe whatever it told her.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The invader leaned over the table to inspect the rings. ¡°Look at that! This is a goldmine, how did he manage to get hold of this many?¡± The hooded man excitedly took out a small pouch and started moving the rings inside. As he worked a glimpse of movement Icid¡¯s eye. A woman with long black hair leisurely strolled into the office. Even hanging upside down in a corner Icid could tell she was an absolute beauty. Not only was she one of the few actual fully fledged humans she had seen. Everyone normal looked significantly more elegant if you lived between goats and spiders for a month. But she also featured of unblemished skin, deep emerald eyes and nearly unrivalled curves. She moved with a supple ease and seemed to produce no sound whatsoever. Within moments she had closed the distance and her body was inches away from the man¡¯s back. Icid eyes followed her as if transfixed, carried on the ocean of waving black. Suddenly time seemed to slow down to a crawl as a horrifying wet ripping sound erupted from the man¡¯s throat. Icid watched paralyzed as the man attempted to gasp for air, but only produced a gurgling choke. Red flowed, oozed, bubbled and spilled out in unsustainable quantities. Moments later the end of a long knife erupted unceremoniously from the other side. Icid wanted to scream, to run, to help, to hide, to look away, to do anything, but her mind refused to move. It was as if no true comprehension formed, only shards of disparate facts floating in the nothing. The man twitched and convulsed as the blood flooded into his lungs, his eyes rolling unseeing in all directions. With a second nightmarish rip, the blade exited from the front. A flood of thick red splashed on the table as his throat tore completely open. After a final twitch, his head slid backwards and with a loud crack doubled over against his back. It was as if Icid lights had gone out, her mind seemed devoid of anything. She stared at the red-tinted nothing before her. Things lay topped in great heaps just beyond the edges of reality. Dreams, very old dreams. Dreams of a happy family. Dreams of a good career. Dreams of friends and lovers. Dreams of riches and luxury. Dreams of loyalty and respect. How long had it been since she last had dreamed like that¡­ After a while, it seemed better to just stop thinking, only concern herself with right now. No pain of the past, no fear of the future. It is easier that way, far less torturous. There were other heaps too, closer but still at least an impossibility away. Heaps of hatred and revenge. No happy ending, no progress, just bloodlust. She desired to make them pay, her mother, her father, her many bullies, and the countless others who wronged her. But she had never tried. She always saw nothing but failure in herself. No matter how wretched people they were, they all had seemed so much more blessed. Blessed with good looks, high grades, money, talent, allies¡­ How could she even hope bite at their ankles? So she sat, telling herself she was the good girl. That must be the reason why she could not hurt them, she was just too nice. The ugly duckling with a heart of solid gold. Boff- somewhere a body fell lifelessly on a desk. The edges of reality shook, drawing ever closer. What would they eat next, what was there even left to give? Let it take what it wants, all of it. There is nothing worth protecting here¡­ As she turned a set of beady half-closed eyes stared. Black lumps of coal from where not a slither of light could escape. A goat, a goat on top of another small pile. Somewhere close, inside reality, still hers. Good memories, video games, a small haven in the sea of chaos. It did not solve problems, nor did it pay rent, but it was comfort nonetheless. There was hope there somewhere, unrealistic hope, but there it was. Hope of heroes, princes on white horses and adventures to the lands where be dragons. And it hurt, it hurt so bad. This hope was tainted with spiders, desert wastelands and crazy murderers. Let it take it all. Push it away, so far out of reach until there is hope no more. Then the pain should stop, surely it will stop¡­ She once more looked into the jet black eyes. They stared back, drilling inside her, seemingly seeing everything. The hatred, the fear, the weakness, all things disgusting about her. ¡°Why did you even take me along?! You knew I was a worthless person, why did you even let me close?! Why, why, w-why¡­¡± The goat spoke no words, it did not need to. It knew the answers, and it knew she knew the answers too. Even if she refused to see them. Icid stumbled forward, to the fallen heap. Countless dragons lay defeated, treasure piled into the heavens. She walked over floors of god tier weapons and climbed mountains of max level characters. Armies of knights bowed to her feet and jewelled crowns stacked on top of her head. Bards sang her praises and countless companions vowed their eternal friendship. Deeper, deeper, there sat the goat, on a mountain of corpses. All whom she ever loathed, dead at its feet. Her father, her mother, her bullies, everyone¡­ ¡­ Then something inside Icid broke. Snapping straight in half, irreversibly damaged. She crawled, dug and pulled, toppling the rising memories on top of her. Within the nothing drummed a rhythm, pounding like a heartbeat. An ancient powerful beat, a song without a melody. Numbers flowed, tables formed, spreadsheets ever stretching and flowcharts reaching into infinity. Logic, cold emotionless logic, eating the corpses, devouring them, leaving nothing but stats and numbers. War, conflict and hate flowed into the sound. Anger, the desire to hurt and take from others given form. Tens of thousands of quests branched in ever flowing lines, weaving infinitely detailed spectral flowers. Loot tables, stat sheets, spawn rates, world maps, movement patterns¡­ Facts immutable, logic infallible, hers to control, nothing to fear. Icid opened her eyes. A thief lay dead, backstab, critical damage. The assassin moved, prying the bag of rings out of his hand. Those had been both the invader¡¯s objectives, the rings. She and Rowan had been nothing but incidental rats. She closed her fingers around the ring she still held, hiding it inside her palm. A token of clear importance, the key item to drag the heroes into conflict. Their path into whatever was being fought over. Clockwork whirled inside her head, comparing, observing. Black hair flowed as the assassin turned, gracious as the wind, soundless as the night. A nemesis unbeatable, levels exceeding Icid¡¯s manifold, the supposed to lose fight. The enemy would look at the rat. Just the slightest hint that she saw all, narrative tradition dictated she would. The deep emeralds flashed, for an instant, to the dark ceiling. Their eyes met. Icid could feel her body freeze, instinct locking her in place. A pure rush of adrenaline hit her. Fear, primal fear, a fear of death. As she looked into the venomous green eyes, she could feel herself smile. That woman was everything she loathed. A perfect representation of all the bullies she had ever met. Eyes that did not even consider her people, beauty beyond her reach and overwhelming authority. Every fibre of this person Icid would loathe, she could feel it. So predictable¡­ Somehow she could see the future unfold before her with crystal clarity. They might be rats, but they were convenient to the assassin. Scapegoats. A robbery and a murder, three parties would be out for blood. The owner of the house had been gathering something dangerous enough to warrant this level of attention. He likely did not work alone and he and his compatriots were going to want their stuff back. The authorities would be informed of a robbery. A robbery of one of the richest citizens around. They were not going this one slip easily. Their reputation would be at stake. And then the thief lay dead, no doubt part of a larger band. He has not even seen his attacker, but he did not seem like the person who was going to take a loss like that lying down. All the assassin had to do was to notify the police that a goat and a spider had been climbing up the wall. The information would spread itself from there. Simple but effective. Icid smile widened, night raids, nail-biting boss fights, dangerous chases and narrow escapes. Let it come, let it all come. Grind those levels, farm those items and complete those quests¡­ The difficulty had been set to maximum, they could afford no more mistakes, every advantage was essential. Eye contact broke, and the assassin strolled out of the room. ¡°He hehheee¡­ I will take it all, just you wait, you black haired sockpuppet.¡±
Skill gained, [All Consuming Song]. Chapter 5: Locking Horns Rowan leaned against the wall of the hallway. She stared as the lady approached. There was no point in hiding, she could tell. The lady was good, inhumanly good. Her movement, her awareness, her soundlessness¡­ Hiding would almost be a joke. If the lady had desired her dead, she would have killed her before she had even noticed the invader¡¯s presence. The lady had wanted to be seen, to display the gap between mortals and perfection. Flaunting herself to the common thieves prowling around on the dirty floors. So Rowan leaned back and stared, taking in every detail, every graceful step and every lovely curve. Something burned inside her, something she had not felt in a long time. Was it lust, awe¡­ jealousy? It had been so long since her insides had stirred like this, so she found it hard to tell. Maybe it was a bit of all of them... or a lot of all of them. Gracefully the lady stepped past, giving the goat just the slightest flash of her perfect eyes. Rowan felt a final shiver run through her body as her black hair disappeared out of sight. ¡°Marvellous¡­¡± Rowan strolled into the office, observing the corpse. ¡°Look at that, it is one of the ogre¡¯s friends. This is becoming quite a tangle of crazy coincidences.¡± A soft tapping sound came from beside her as Icid climbed back down. She let her eyes wander over the spider. Icid carried a euphoric smile and her eyes rang with the dissonance of a thousand un-tuned bells. Her mandibles let out an occasional soft click while she muttered. ¡°Do you need a little more time, Icid? I don¡¯t hear any more movement so we can probably afford to wait a while.¡± The spider''s head tilted. ¡°No, I am good. Things need doing, so we better spent our time working. Before long we will have at least three parties coming for throat, we should loot everything we can. The money might come in handy, especially when the authorities get involved. We will catch the blame for this either way, score or no score.¡± Glee dripped from the voice, a childish joyful glee. As if nothing could please her more than the idea that she would soon be hunted. Rowan mentally moved Icid from the harmless to the potentially dangerous category. Taking note to no longer fully drop her guard if she was around. Something stirred in those eyes that was not there before, something that might be able to kill if pushed too far. She had expected to find the spider dead or traumatised, but even her mental breakdowns were apparently absurd. But this was good, it wasn¡¯t any fun if toys broke too early. If she even retains part of this mania once she has slept away the night, she might even stand a chance of becoming quite interesting. Such a fascinating place this simulation was turning out to be. ¡°Excellent, you are spot on. We have much work to do. But first I must know what happened here.¡± A small amount of morning light filtered past the thick curtains of the two-person bedroom. Everything inside was about two thirds the regular size, from the doors to the windows to the furniture. But this fitted the spider and goat just fine, or one might even say it fitted them perfectly. The rest of the inn was similarly well maintained, while managing to refrain from looking gaudy. It was a good place, old-fashioned labour and care. ¡°Are you sure you are going out again?¡± ¡°Yes, I am quite used to pulling all-nighters. This stuff needs to be out of our hands before the authorities get notified of the robbery. But you should sleep. I can tell that your awareness is starting to suffer severely.¡± ¡°I am fi-¡± ¡°You are not. There will be no discussion. You will clear your mind and sleep, you are a danger like this.¡± Icid scuttled side to side in frustration, her eyes were calmer than an hour ago, but far from stable. Rowan watched as the awkwardly stretched herself over the bed, her legs bending out over both sides. After strolling over she gave a soft jab with her knuckles at a bulge at her lower back. ¡°Kyaaa!¡± ¡°Let me guess, you have terrible pain in your back when you get up in the morning?¡± Icid eyed her with a bit of apprehensive annoyance, guessing from the tone that she was going to be lectured to. ¡°Your body is not fit to sleep like this. Normally your spine makes a ninety-degree curve at your cephalothorax. The spine itself is very flexible, more so than a human¡¯s. It is a surprise it even bends to allow your rump to be angled horizontal. But it is not good to have it bend this far the entire night. Your back should be supported in its natural position while you rest.¡± ¡°What would you have me do then? It is not like this inn contains beds especially for spiders. I am sure the lovely owner would have told us is she had some.¡± ¡°There are three options I can think of. Sleep on a chair, hugging the back while clamping your legs around the seat. Far from optimal, but it likely gets close to a natural position. The second is to suspend yourself in a web you have built. This should be the most comfortable, but it is a bit too late for that now as you have never spun web before. The last is to go hang on the roof, your body attaches itself passively so you can likely sleep upside down without falling. Probably, no guarantees till you try though.¡± To Rowan¡¯s surprise, she chooses to climb up the wall instead of talking back. ¡°Coming around to the ways of the spider, Icid?¡± She paused, stared vaguely at her legs and then yawned. ¡°It felt comfortable to hang upside down¡­¡± Her clicking was becoming soft and hazy and her thoughts seemed to have difficulty connecting. ¡°Good, that will make things easier later. Sleep well, Icid.¡± Rowan exited the inn and stepped into the warm morning light. The air was still frigid, but the sun already burned with unbridled fury. Goats, sheep, dogs and horses walked upright in their morning commutes, filling the air with the scent of an animal barn. The more traditional orc or goblin passed by as well, moving along hastily over the rickety walking bridges. Now that the dust ¡®rain¡¯ had stopped, countless gnarly birds, thorny monkeys and scaly insects had appeared in the ever-present trees. They filled the air with the overwhelming sounds of life. The cacophony of animal noises flooded over the frothing rivers with a loudness one would scarily hear outside of the deep tropics. Rowan turned and faced the spring at the centre of a giant market square. A cooling mist drifted by, which mixed with the cold air and burning sun to create a heavy pressing feeling. Large blasts of water spat forth from the ground and pushed back the flowing dust in a large circle. Then after a couple of meters, the water seemed to disappear back under the brown froth, as if being pulled underground.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. An endless stream of people crowded together and swarmed like bees in order to get their supply of water. Oiled buckets, leather flasks, heavy jars and ornate pots where dragged up and down at a staggering rate. Families bathed in shallow platforms at the edge where the water meets the dust. Mothers washed their children, fathers rinsed themselves after a day hard labour, young ladies frolicked and young boys ogled. Then they climbed out stark naked onto the raised walk bridges and got dressed between the bustling market stalls. Rowan hoisted her heavy bags of loot further over her shoulder and set off at a fast trot. ¡°What is up with this simulation? I had expected some elves, dwarves and wizards but this is a bit excessive.¡± She gritted her teeth, her severe lack of knowledge was starting to become evident. Just how many things had slipped her by because did not know to look for them? For instance, what happened to people if they died in this world? She could not imagine the AFTERLIFE would just delete them. Were they placed back with some kind of penalty? Could the place of respawn be controlled? If so, how was criminal law enforced in this world? And what kind of organisation controlled it, an AI-driven one or a player driven one? If you could change your character or skip the outer gate by paying, what other things can be gotten using real-world money? So many questions, she had been far too hasty to act so soon. They needed someone with knowledge if they were going to get through this, preferably someone trustworthy¡­ Rowan twisted and turned through the streets. Always moving toward the grime and decay, ever deeper into the dingy alleyways. Craftsman¡¯s stores gave way to shady brothels, market stands sold goods unmarked and more and more people walked with their hoods down. The wooden walkways went rotten and countless gangly roots spilled onto the path. As she turned into a street completely devoid of any decent looking citizens she finally came to a halt. ¡°This should be deep enough.¡± She slowed her tread, giving her eyes the time to observe all the details of the streets as she passed them. For a good half an hour she wandered through the gloom before coming to an abrupt halt. Her attention was piqued by a ramshackle store without any signs or nameplates. Judging from the display it sold nothing but a handful of dusty buckets and old brooms. Under the window, the faintest mark caught her eye, a dot, a slightly angled line and a triangle. A haphazard collection of common vandalism to most, but Rowan knew better. The eye, half closed and out of sight, one who trades in things not to be seen by the common gaze. Luck was with her today, this was going to make things proceed much faster. A muscular bulldog sat in the front smoking a rustic pipe while an old grey hyena milled around behind a filthy counter. ¡°I have a handful of names and I am looking to buy their whereabouts.¡± The hyena turned and eyed Rowan suspiciously. ¡°Interesting, we don¡¯t often get Capra here. What might the names be, little one?¡± ¡°Niff Bullwalk, Scrounger Jack, Old Yu, and Finch Junior¡± The bulldog cracked his knuckles while the hyena leaned over the counter. ¡°And who is asking?¡± ¡°Rowan ¡®Oil¡¯ Walker.¡± The hyena licked his lips as he took out a thick notebook. ¡°Oh that is quite interesting, dead for about a day or two, I see¡­ Now, the collective ¡®we¡¯ had not quite expected you to join our little world.¡± He took out his quill and scribbled a tiny note on the register. Then he turned to face Rowan again. ¡°Out of pure curiosity, what brings you to this wretched hellhole of a simulation, Mister Walker? From your record, you don''t strike me as the type of person who cares for video games.¡± ¡°I have come to strangle Olivier Oldward the Third.¡± There was a small moment of silence before both the bulldog and the hyena exploded with laughter. ¡°Haha haha ha, now that is the best thing I have heard all week!¡± ¡°Hehe he, all week? What are you talking about, that level of stupidity rarely pops up once a month!¡± Rowan waited patiently as the two took a significant amount of time to get over their laughing fits. ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to have big dreams, little goat. But maybe you should aim for something more your¡­ size. I won¡¯t stop you if you plan to go kick the shins of the king of greed. But don¡¯t expect any help once he drags you down to his private dungeon. There is a lot of new ways to have fun with people if they can¡¯t die, if you get what I mean.¡± ¡°I am not in a hurry, but he will get what he deserves.¡± ¡°Sure, sure, shall we move on to the names then? Let¡¯s see, Niff Bullwalk, prison 254-year sentence. Charges include explosions, murder, theft, more explosions and also some non-explosion related property destruction. Unless you want to add ¡®breaking into Aard''s best-guarded prison¡¯ to your list of ridiculous goals, I would put that one out of your head. Old Yu has been elusive as of late, to everyone¡¯s utter surprise, so I have nothing on her currently. Finch Junior is in hiding somewhere in the third ring, as he pissed off some of the greed kings goons. Nothing you can do to get him out of there, I am afraid. Unlike you, he got some survival instinct so he won¡¯t budge. I can hand you Scrounger Jack though, that one is a piece of cake. Same rate as in the real world.¡± Rowan tossed two of the bags of coins Icid had found on the desk. ¡°That should more than cover the cost. I also have a couple of tidbits that need answering.¡± The hyena weight the bags of coin with his hands and after a while smiled with a satisfied expression. ¡°Ask away.¡± ¡°No, yes, and another yes. No, I cannot get someone to transfer money from an offshore account to your universal id account. And indeed, only currency from your universal account can be used here. We do run a business network through the world of the living, but it is not that simple. A dead man¡¯s money does not let itself be moved easily at the best of times. If the money in question is dirty, that becomes nigh on impossible. Especially if it needs to go to into the universal credit system. You know how difficult it is to move tainted cash onto there. That is the reason no one in our business tends to bother with the account anyway. But no doubt you knew that already. Moving on to the first yes. Yes, I can get you citizen passes and as you have guessed. Doing that through my channels is going to be cheaper, faster and less of a pain. I can only get you the passes though. Clearance to the higher levels requires quite some work on your part and I can be only of limited help there. Then the second yes. If your stuff needs to be flogged right now, I am willing to buy. But at a reduced rate, of course. Was that everything?¡± Rowan flung the bag onto the counter, creating a loud metallic cacophony. ¡°Mostly, there is one last thing I want to know out of curiosity.¡± Out of her pocket she fished the golden dragon ring. The eyes of the hyena went cold and the bulldog stated growling softly. ¡°I guess this is a no go on the ring then?¡± He leaned in slightly closer and glared deep into Rowan''s eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you go into a dance of death with the king of greed. The collective ¡®we¡¯s¡¯ relationship with him is tenuous, but at least he knows his boundaries. Your lunacy is unlikely to cause us any trouble. But if you want to do business with this establishment, you better go toss that ring into the first river you come across. Disaster is the only outcome possible if that cult of lunatics gets involved.¡± Rowan stared back into the hyena¡¯s large grey eyes. There was fear, some anger as well and a slight hint of something else, but what she could not quite pin down. She shoved the ring back in her pocket. ¡°I will make sure it disappears then. When do you think the passes are ready?¡± The tension dissipated and to mood returned to normal. ¡°Ah, if you come back in a day or two I should have them done. Although if you plan to go after Scrounger Jack, it might be better to have it all arranged at a branch closer to your target. He lives at the 97th point clockwise from the central gate, first circle, otherwise known as the bloody heights. Will take you at least 15 days on foot, three to four if you pay for transport on a dustbuck drawn carriage. A large assortment of guilds has their offices there. The city block tends to turn into a battlefield over some dispute every couple of months. That¡¯s the reason for the ¡®bloody¡¯ part of the name. I would try looking for Jack the bars at the adventure¡¯s guilds. If you looking to swindle people, that is the place to be. Also pay a visit to Gwul¡¯s Inks, I will let them know how much your stuff was worth, so you can settle the payment with them.¡± ¡°Three to four days crammed in a cart with the spider. That is going to be¡­ special. Ah well, I will figure something out, thanks for the service. May the business be good.¡± ¡°May it indeed. And don¡¯t forget to dump that ring.¡± Rowan stepped out of the door while making a noncommittal hand gesture and walked into the burning hot day.
Personal Quest Complete: Planning Ahead You have discovered the frog-humper now goes under the title of The King of Greed and is widely seen as a bad person to cross. You have also found the location of Scrounger Jack, who already sounds like the most reliable guy around based on his nickname alone. Lastly, you have found a good location to rob. But you had already raided the place before you found the other bits of info, making this bit of quest dialogue seem quite out of place. Also, you seem to have taken in the disgusting spider as your pseudo-apprentice, you weirdo. As reward for your efforts you are promoted from the Novice rank to the Lesser rank, making you Lesser Criminal Scum. As you did not once test out the awesome power I gave you last time, I considered not giving you another one as punishment. But you are screwed enough as it is so I will overlook your impudence. You have gained the skill [Hidden Blade], one small dagger is always hidden on your person. Party Quest Added: Better Get Jack Members: Rowan ¡®Apparently something with Oil¡¯ Walker, Icidae Salt You expect at least three parties: Ogre and friends, Ring Collectors and the National Guard will be out for your blood before long. You better convince someone who actually somewhat understands what is going on in this world to join your walk to the gallows. Chapter 6: Spread Sheet Spider Icid woke up inside a video game. She had been in one for about a month, but this time she unmistakably awoke inside one. A set of quest updates flashed through her head as she opened her eyes. Light crept through the thick curtains of the rustic inn. Her first party member was sleeping on a bed next to her. The mouth-watering scent of food being cooked over a wood fire wafted through the cracks. Decorated wood columns fanned into small overhead arches that held up the roof. Between them spanned panelled walls with occasional stained glass windows. Within the glass were the pictograms of strange beasts all moving counter-clockwise. The floor was covered with strange straw mats that were soft but firm. And old stone hearth stood against the back wall and was decorated with bells on strings, stone bowls, oil lamps and candles. All she had to do is find a way to turn the room right side up and then this would look exactly like she had hoped for. ¡­ ¡°Ah yes, Rowan told me to go sleep while hanging on the ceiling¡­¡± Her back did feel painless and her body seemed otherwise well rested. For a little while she looked at her spidery legs. They might not score high in the charm department, but this wall climbing might actually be quite powerful. Abilities that ignored terrain restrictions tended to be hard to balance. Even if the developer fiddled with them often. But then, this was a full-fledged simulated world and not a hand-coded game, so who knows. Before this, she had not thought of it in purely mechanical terms. The realness of the world had made it hard to look at her person in a video game way. She might have an F minus in the cute stat, but if Rowan was to be believed, her body had at least three extraordinary abilities. The [Wall Climbing] was confirmed. She turned around to look at the end of her abdomen, there were indeed small creepy appendages there. What did she call them, spinnerets? Now the question was how somebody ¡®makes web¡¯ so to say. She tried squeezing and relaxing the many weird muscles in the spidery part of her body until a thick clear fluid started oozing out. Instinctively the spinnerets seemed to twitch and hooked into the sticky liquid. ¡°Ohh dear, that is sickening.¡± She took a couple of large breaths and envisioned a bright future filled with allies, castles and fighting dragons before her. ¡°Its¡­ just¡­ a¡­ game. Explore, expand, exploit, exterminate. Optimise your build, use your abilities to their maximum potential.¡± With new resolve, she took the tip of one of her hind legs and tapped it against the fluid. When she drew it back the spinnerets weaved the fluid into a fine white thread. The tread was semi-transparent and very stretchable, but seemed to rapidly become tougher as it was exposed to the air. She rubbed the sticky end against the ceiling, causing it to detach from her leg with surprising ease. ¡°Well ok, that is thread. Don¡¯t really see the befit right now, seems cheaper to buy twine and a pot of glue. Is it one of those levelling skills? Man, I really need to find a way to get the [Inspect] skill so I can take a look at my stat sheet.¡± Icid had read a bit about the game before she came here. It was supposed to the spiritual sequel to the greatest VRMMORPG ever made after all. And by most accounts, it was the most advanced video game on the market, but no one was going to pretend it was actually very good. Horrid monetization practices had plagued it since launch and that had only gotten worse over time. But as it was one of the few fully free offerings, it always had a steady stream of new arrivals. These people tended to be dirt poor, of course, so they provided an insufficient amount of income for the parent company. For this reason the monetisation model of ¡®free to live¡¯ experiences would almost always shift to accommodate the ultra-rich. In a way the scheme was perfect. The rich got a large bulk of miserable poor peasants to scorn at, so they could feel better about owning their large castles and armies of NPCs servants. While the money they spent on those castles funded the development for everyone else. Albeit that this tactic tended to require that the poor masses remain poor for the rich to keep enjoying their wealth. Happiness might be absolute, but status can only ever be relative. In regular MMORPG¡¯s the amount of currency you could get in each quest rises exponentially as the game progresses. In Aard this is reversed, as the game goes on the amount of money a regular person can make in a day levels off. This is partially because Aard pegs its currency to the universal credit, allowing real money to be spent instead of in-game coin. To avoid massive inflation, the influx of money into the digital economy is regulated. At least for the poor scrubs. The ultra-rich tend to spend their cash on products offered by AFTERLIFE directly or on buying things from the other ultra-rich. For instance castle construction, plots of land in the highest circles, NPC servant wages, votes in the political system, etc. Money that flows into the economy via these ultra-rich rarely makes its way down the financial totem pole. So they are exempt from most hassles of taxes and dynamic item prices.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But the commoners have their financial livelihoods dependent on what economic circle they live in. By adjusting prices of inns, food stores, rent and so on, AFTERLIFE can hold control on the average daily income in each of those economic layers. The balance is set in such a way that you will hit a dead end midway trough levelling. Your income no longer increases significantly, but the difficulty, importance of high-end gear, social status and your home base does. By that time you are living a good life by modern standards. A moderate size family home, free on the weekends, some magical tools to make life easier, a garden well or other water source, maybe an NPC servant or two. But scarcely a life you would expect in a world of wizards, castles and dragons. Which is especially grating as the castles of the people who do have all of those things can be seen from everywhere. Now there are ways around that. Money does not flow through the economic layers homogeneously. This leaves opportunity for you to amass wealth by excelling over other people. Or robbing people, form Icid¡¯s current experience that worked quite well. She looked over at the two remaining bags of cash that lay piled in the corner. But still, this was a silly amount of money to get as a reward for robbing an NPC owned mansion. Robbing real person¡¯s home carries prison sentences if you got caught, albeit digital ones, so it was rarely done. But as playing the thief character had been a traditional staple of role-playing games. So they had included some limited (non-criminal) support by allowing you to rob special houses owned by NPCs. There was a comically low punishment for getting caught robbing those, only a couple of days in jail at most. But there was no way a quest NPC was going to send her to rob the house of a fellow player. So she had not bothered checking. But this stack of coins almost made her worried. The guards would come because of the whole stuff with the rings, the lady and the corpse. But that was likely part of the quest, so..., it should be manageable. Returning to the topic at hand. She had her venom left to test, but unless Rowan was willing to volunteer that might prove difficult. Suddenly she remembered she had gotten [Lesser Regeneration] as well. For this skill she at least had a description, something along the lines of quick healing and limb regrowth. That could both be great or terrible depending on the speed. No doubt she would find which it was at the most inopportune time if she ignored it now. She held one of her legs out in front of her. Somewhere in the middle of a red void, a goat whispered on top of a pile of corpses. It¡¯s all just numbers, none of this is real, knowledge is the root of all power, be the chosen one¡­ Fear of pain seemed to fade and her ears filled with the sound of pounding drums. She wanted this, this was the only way forward. Castles, loyal servants, royal dresses, gallant princes and jewels set crowns. Do it for those. Throw away the pathetic human, it is not needed, nobody liked that person anyway. Within a flash, her fangs had cracked through the shell around her leg and dug into her soft flesh. Burning hot pain flared up in an instant, causing her to reel back. ¡°Ah, that hurts! FUU-¡± Profanity lockout triggered Icid muscles locked in an instant, causing her to drop from the ceiling. Halfway through the fall, the tread, which was still attached to her abdomen, snapped tight. This forced her into a graceful swing, but that quickly ended when her face collided with the floor. A harrowing scraping sound erupted as her momentum continued to drag her across the rough wood. You took 4, I am apparently a cannibal now, damage. You took 2, spider venom (natural resistance), damage. You took 4, my face got smeared over the floor, damage. To add insult to injury someone downstairs was tapping a broom against the ceiling, demanding that they stop making a racket. Rowan instantly leapt out of her bed and jumped onto the floor. Her eyes were squinted so tight, barely a line of the eyes was visible. She pulled a knife seemingly out of nowhere and threw it at the thread, sending Icid tumbling down to the ground completely. ¡°Aah! I am sorry I woke you up, I-I was ju-¡± ¡°Be silent.¡± Rowan''s voice had become a mere whisper, but managed to carry a frightening coldness nonetheless. For a hand full of seconds they sat in silence. ¡°Icid, put on your clothes, be quick.¡± ¡°What do you¡­, what is going on?¡± ¡°You took the worst time possible to indulge yourself in a truly perverted level of self-flagellation. The enemy is at the door.¡± Rowan rushed into her clothes at a staggering speed. Icid, on the other hand, found herself struggling with one of her legs limp and useless. ¡°Come on, hurry up, or I will kick you out of this window without clothes on.¡± Icid pushed away the pain and forced her semi-skirt and jacket on. When she grabbed her bags she saw Rowan tossing a hand full of coins under the bed sheets. ¡°Why-¡± ¡°Always pay appropriately for good service. The broom tapping was an old-fashioned warning. No one cares if you are loud in near dinnertime.¡± At that moment a loud bang erupted from below and the sounds of heavy boots flooded through the building. ¡°Time to leave, get to the roof.¡± Rowan hopped out of the window and made her way up, seemingly capable of scaling walls just fine without a spider mount. Just when Icid got the windowsill the small door smashed open and a couple of men tried to squeeze their wayside. ¡°Halt! By the jurisdiction of the 1st circle royal guard, you are under arrest!¡± For a second she stared into the yelling man¡¯s soft eyes. A scrappy leather coat, a worn badge and greying feathers on his raven-like head. The good detective, dedicated, honourable and eternally broke. In a flurry of legs, he dived forward and grabbed her by the arm. Strong bony fingers, his flesh on hers. Rapidly ruby red flooded around her, coiling around her longs, prickling her throat. Drums build, faster, louder. How dare this piece of code touch me? Her restraints seem to evaporate, her fangs itched and the song soured louder. Then she bit, liquid anger seeming to flow into her very fangs. Bone cracked and the taste of iron flooded her mouth. This time she could feel something gushing out of her, streaming into the warm veins. The bird-faced detective went white and as he instinctively jerked back. She felt the fluids ooze from her mouth and onto her clothes. The detective¡¯s blood gushed out like water, staining large portions of the floor, causing men in the doorframe to freeze. She had hurt a man, poisoned and injured him. But as the song pounded, and the blood gushed into her mouth she felt strong, in control. Their worried gazes, their stammering steps, they sent chills down her spine. As they stared, they saw danger an enemy. Not weakness, failure, no fat ugly nerd. She couldn¡¯t help but smile, this¡­ felt good. Without another moment¡¯s hesitation, she leapt out of the window and joined her ally on the roof. Chapter 7: A Tangled Web of Thoughts Rowan woke from her journey down the night-time rivers. Her body felt clammy and the stirring heat of life ran through her limbs. The images from her dreams flowed through her unsettled head. Deep green emeralds floating in a void black sea, supple spotless limbs moving ever so slightly. Sensual, taunting, dangerous. Movement with inhuman precision, a stride that barely seemed to contact the floor, as if suspended on the shadows of her soles. Deep arousing green eyes that darted with such speed that they moved almost imperceptibly. Smooth pink ears that seemed to hear even the rustling of hairs. A rush of bewitching heat flowed down Rowan¡¯s body. She hugged the sheets somewhat tighter, letting the heat slowly dissipate. It had been long since something had stirred her this badly. Let alone a woman. Somewhere further on, she heard the sound of Icid moving around on the ceiling. Rowan went back inside her head. Lust, desire and even envy, all of them so strong they felt choking. But in a way, that was most pleasing of all. She could still feel like this, overwhelming want filling her mind to the brim. Quietly she lay with her eyes closed, enjoying the trapping of humanity. While the background, she listened to Icid¡¯s fumbling. Her movement was stronger and more confident than yesterday. She had miles to go, but there was no denying that she had made an uncanny leap in mental fortitude since they met. As time moved on occasional click from Icid mandibles revealed some annoyance. Rowan decided she was probably going to have to teach her some skills. If she was going to keep the spider around longer. And she might, as she was turning out quite the fascinating pet. She was going to need some basic training in hiding her emotions. And actual fighting practice might, that would at least help with controlling her movement better. Suddenly the voices in the dining hall below grew quieter. She focused her hearing while Icid voiced her disgust at something. After a while faintest sound of gruff and stilted speech made its way through the cracks of the walls. Rowan opened her eyes just in time to see Icid gouge her own leg and swing a quarter circle head first into the floor. For a second, she stared in utter bafflement at the display. Questioning what kind of horribly distraught creature she had taken in. She had encountered people who were into some weird stuff, but this, this was quite on another level. But not a moment later someone tapped the end a broom against their floor, confirming her lingering suspicions. Rowan snapped herself out of her shock induced paralysis, the enemy is here. They had moved fast, far faster than expected. Rowan had thought that the lack of modern means would slow their search. But judging from the timing they must have gotten on their tail instantly. This was bad, she had hoped to catch a carriage long before it got this far. She jumped out of bed and told the spider to get dressed. After throwing on some clothes herself, she took a glance out of the window spotted no reinforcements waiting outside. ¡°Good, they don¡¯t see us as competent then. With any luck, it is just a set of the lowest rung goons.¡± Looking around, she saw Icid struggling around with her clothes. She was slow, too slow, they did not have time for this. ¡°Time to leave, get to the roof.¡± Rowan jumped into the window and made her way outside. The goat and the spider dove over the roofs as the guards chased them down below. Icid leapt and climbed between the buildings and endless gangly tree. Her movement improving with every jump. Her body seemed to heal as Rowan stared at it. The wounds on her face closing and her 8th leg coming back in action in a hand full of minutes. At the start, she had worried if she was going to have to leave Icid behind. But after the first hand full of hesitating leaps she once again proved extraordinarily adaptive. Within minutes she was throwing her body over gaps many meters wide like an absolute madman. No fear of death, legs held upward into full running leaps, like instinct was burning the ways of a spider into her mind. Even when she missed, she managed to grasp onto the wall and drag herself back on. Lines of blood and drool flowed from the corner of her mouth and her many eyes had gone wide as if overdosed on adrenaline. Rowan felt herself starting to fall behind as her tiny goat legs proved inadequate for the ever larger leaps the spider was making. Below her, the occasional crossbow bolt or flintlock rifle fired, the running shots coming ever closer. ¡°Hurry up Rowan, the coppers might get ya if you keep running that slow!¡± Joy, once again her voice rang with that childish joy. The closer her body came to going all out, the further she seemed to sink into delusions. ¡°The day you outrun me is the day I will be in my grave. Now get down to those large leaps over there so we can finally lose these rotworms!¡± Rowan found herself smiling again. It was utterly messed up, the girl¡¯s already unstable mind seemed to be getting its inhibition reduced by her own body. Yet to see a being so pathetic spread its wings. To see the damsel in eternal distress claw at her own cage that was the type of exotic gem Rowan had always loved most.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. A diamond with a trail of blood behind it, a jewel cursed and crooked, a one of a kind piece of literal narrative gold. The only true shame was that she didn¡¯t get to wrench it out of the hands of someone else. Her hooves tapped on the soft wood and her beard fluttered in the wind. A large gap appeared before them, a frothing river of dust between two houses. Drifting bones, long-fanged fish and greater horrors down below. The spider leapt as only a spider could. Six engines firing in parallel, flinging the body through the air. Two long hooks launching ahead, finding the opposing surface. A dozen meters, a bridgeless river, crossed in a single jump. The guards halted, they knew one target was lost, so they turned to face the one that remained. Crossbows and flintlocks were raised in anticipation. Rowan dove into an all or nothing run, her hooves pounding against the roof. One step, two steps¡­ the end rushed close. She drew both her legs parallel and planted them at to outmost edge. Air rushed into her lungs as she sunk through her knees as far as she could. Momentum tilted her forward. This was it, the edge, the last fraction before the fall. She threw all force she had into her hooves. The shoddy roof buckled before sending her flying off with a loud crack. Air rushed past, rustling her fur as the distance halved, then it halved again, and again. Rowan stretched out her claws, reaching for the other side. With mere inches to spare she grabbed onto the ledge. The second her fingers contacted the wood she knew she had made a mistake. With a wet snap, the rotten wood splintered in half. She reached into the shadows with her right hand, as if willed into existence, a cold metal grip contacted with her fingers. [Hidden Blade] She wrenched the blade out of the nothing as she fell and thrust it into the wall. Rowen held on with all her strength as the dagger dragged her to a sudden halt. Loud bangs roared as black powder combusted. She could feel lead shrapnel smash into her right shoulder. ¡°Ghaaa!¡± Rowan suppressed the urge to swear at the top of her lungs. Swinging up from her left hand, she managed to get a foot on the dagger. She looked at the rotten ledge two meters up, she could reach it, maybe¡­ But her weight would likely tear the wood again. Then eight eyes appeared over the edge, still frenzied but clearer than before. Concern was housed in every one, a simple human concern, the innocence of those not used to death. A crossbow bolt missed Icid¡¯s head and struck the ground behind her. She flinched, but didn¡¯t move, then she extended a hand. ¡°What are you waiting for!¡± Rowan sunk through her knees and leapt, her claws hooking around spider''s arm. With an ungraceful pull, they landed on the roof, rolling out of the way of another volley of shrapnel. Slightly flustered she started into the spider''s many eyes¡­ ¡°Thanks, Icidae.¡± The carriage driver looked in shock at the two potential passengers that had arrived at his cart. First, a goat, that was bleeding profusely from her shoulder to the point that most of her fur had been dyed red. Secondly, there was a spider. She was in better condition, but was also stained in blood and her eyes glared like she was tripping on something really, really bad. ¡°No questions, we will pay triple rate if you can leave this instant for the bloody heights.¡± The goat¡¯s words rang clear and concise. The driver looked around, they were alone. ¡°Hop in¡­¡± As soon as Icid closed the curtains the cart immediately set off. Rowan laid herself down on the bench face down. ¡°Icid, the bullet needs to be taken out of my shoulder¡­ The infection is going to be bad enough as it is.¡± Rowan cursed her carelessness, she had no clue of this simulation featured antibiotics. She should have taken far less risk. If the level of technology here was fully medieval, a simple infection could leave her bedridden for weeks or even kill her. The spider scuttled closer and leaned over, inspecting the wound. ¡°Driver, do you have a low-quality regeneration pot?¡± ¡°Sure, try one of the crates on the left. But you should remove the metal from the wound first, the cheap ones don¡¯t perform miracles.¡± Without warning, Icid pried the wound apart with her fingers. ¡°Ahh, careful! Wash your hands, the risk of infection is bad enough.¡± ¡°Icid eyed her with a strange suspicion. No, it won¡¯t, once we throw on a regen pot, the wound should close in a handful of minutes.¡± ¡°A regen whut- aah!¡± With her second hand, Icid started digging into the flesh, ripping the wound further. ¡°Sit still, you crybaby! Your fur makes this work difficult enough as it is.¡± ¡°No, you go behave like a normal person and get a scalpel and tweezers! Why the infernal horseflies are you completely unperturbed by digging into a bleeding wound?¡± A pleased smile appeared on Icid¡¯s face, resulting in a manic expression when combined with her dilated pupils. Then she cleared her throat. ¡°Let me tell you about the time I got hit by a motorcycle.¡± Rowan convulsed in agony as Icid dug her fingers deeper. ¡°No thank you! No one wants to hear about your miserable past, damsel. Especially not me right now. Gyaaaagh!¡± ¡°Oops, though I saw the bullet, but it was only your shoulder blade.¡± ¡°Lies!¡± ¡°Where was I, so I was walking home in tears after some bullies had thrown my backpack in the pool. They tended to do that from time to time.¡± ¡°I am starting to think you deserved every bit of tha- aaaaah!¡± ¡°So some punk tears through the park on his motorcycle while looking at his phone and hits me square in the back. Then he drives off, leaving me for dead, of course. It was just a fat nerd anyway, nobody will miss her. So after thirty minutes the ambulance finally comes to lift me out of the pool of my own blood. Their first reaction, well that does not look good. And yes, it wasn¡¯t good. Legs broken, spine over-bend, muscles torn and my lower internal organs almost completely liquefied. Oh look, there is a piece.¡± Icid held a thumb size piece of broken metal in front of Rowan¡¯s eyes. ¡°That looks like it is only about half¡­¡± ¡°Yep, we aren¡¯t done yet. So yea, I managed to live through that one by a hair, but my organs never fully recovered. The first couple of months the bunch was so unstable that it tried to leave through the back end on a semi-regular basis. Imagine that, looking at your own insides attempting to escape your body. But after a while you get better at handling it, humans can adapt to a surprising number of things. So for all the weaknesses and phobias I have, I don¡¯t feel much when looking at simple wounds and blood. Ah, that would be the other half.¡± After another excruciating yank, a second piece of bloody metal was discarded on the floor. Rowan breathed ragged breaths while attempting to cope with the horrid pain. ¡°Man, you turn cruel when the mood strikes you. I don¡¯t see how you got bullied for all those years.¡± Icid let that comment hang in the air for a couple of moments while she rummaged through the boxes. ¡°You think it would have stopped them?¡± ¡°Blood and pain levels of cruelty? It might, depends if we are talking normal delinquents or people who got actual screws loose.¡± Another silence fell as Icid fished a red coloured bottle out of one of the boxes and read the label. ¡°I don¡¯t get like this with other people¡­ Talking like this, fighting like this, extending a hand like this or being mean like this. I can do that with you¡­ Because you are not real.¡± Chapter 8: Venomous Minds ¡°Ah, I am not real, you say¡­ May I ask what makes you think so?¡± Rowan stared into Icid¡¯s most front facing eyes. ¡°Logic dictates that you¡¯re an NPC. That would simply make most sense given your actions.¡± ¡°NPC? A non-profit company?¡± Icid rolled her many eyes and uncorked the regeneration pot. ¡°I know it¡¯s pointless to tell an AI to ¡®drop the act¡¯. But pretending to not know what an NPC is, seems like quite the desperate denial of reality.¡± Rowan weighted her options for a little, but decided they all would end up in the same place anyway. ¡°So I guess NPC means AI then?¡± Icid tipped the flask, making its contents flow into the wound. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be replying with a resounding ¡®I am totally real, honest¡¯?¡± Rowan let out a relieved sigh as the pain finally started to lessen. ¡°Well then, let us have that hypothetical conversation. I am totally real, honest.¡± ¡°Prove it.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡­ ¡°Listen Icid, doubting the reality of the world around you is always dangerous. But inside a simulation, it is the road to madness. We are dead, you might think of me as an AI, but you are simulated memories at most. In the end it does not matter if I am simulated memories or an AI pretending to be simulated memories. There is not much difference. The problem comes when you start thinking of me or other beings around you as not real. Once you see nothing but actors, all there is left to do is burn the stage. This is the AFTERLIFE, everything is fake, so nothing is fake. I can¡¯t prove to you I have once lived, I cannot even prove that to myself. But I can tell you that I am real, even if there is no evidence to support my claims. Because I believe it so.¡± They spent a long time in silence. Some of the cityscape flooded in through the thin cloth covering the wood frame, allowing some limited one-way viewing. The rough wooden roads rolled ever on, passing by unchanged for many miles. This city contained very limited stone construction. Cloth and wood seemed to be the only major building materials, with bone a far third. The sounds of the city continued on, unchanging and unbroken, without reprieve. People talking, working, living, all slowly burning in the hot sun and dry dust. Sometimes the creature that pulled the card would make a loud snort. It was a horse-like being. Although judging from its species name dustbuck, deer-like would be a better description. They were hardy things with loose hides, horns growing like spiralling scrubs and thick hair that coloured an earthy red. Every single one looked starved, with the forms of their bones showing even through the thick skin. But this seemed to be the way these beasts are, regardless if they were well fed, always starving and dusty. After a long, long time Icid finally looked up from her murmurings. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Rowan dragged herself straight and tested her shoulder. ¡°So be it, there is nothing I can do to help with that.¡± ¡­ ¡°Anyway, this regen stuff is quite a miracle in a bottle. My wound seems to be healing so fast I can almost see it.¡± Icid glared at her with a noticeable amount of frustration. ¡°Well, it is literal magic in a bottle, so that is not surprising. Not th-¡± She bit her lip and looked away. ¡°Not that you don¡¯t know that already? If you were expecting an AI to admit it is an AI, then you were fighting a losing battle from the start, little spider. We will be in this cart for a couple of days. It would be beneficial to both of us if you engage in merry conversation instead of moping around.¡± After angrily clicking a couple of times, Icid put out a cloth on the ground and sat down. It was either that or hanging on the walls as she did not fit on the benches. ¡°That was quite a poor display on those roofs, you were a hair¡¯s length from falling. The dustmites would have torn you into bits as soon as you would have hit the stream. I would have expected better from the highly experienced Rowan Walker.¡± Rowan made a dismissive sound with her nose. ¡°Both this world and this body put me quite far out of my comfort zone. The muscle strength of these tiny legs is shockingly low and my small size makes me unsuitable for all-out combat. It is taking me longer than I had anticipated getting used to the changes. Especially when it comes to parkour, apparently. But that will fix itself in time. I must say you did well, although you legwork needs serious refinement. But you overall output was more than astounding. People tend to not be able to throw themselves over large gaps, it requires serious suppression of your instincts. It is probably a waste to ask, but¡­ have you gone through some combat training before you got here?¡± ¡°Combat training, like karate and stuff? We had to do some introductory lessons in high school, but other than that, not really.¡± Rowan looked around the cart and probed the floor a couple of times.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°No, not karate. More like... kill or be killed combat training. The real stuff, bone breaking holds, effective chokes, knife deflecting and other useful things like that. But that you haven''t is not surprising. It at least gives us another thing to do for the next couple of days. Luckily the floor seems quite sturdy.¡± Icid stood back up, eyeing Rowan suspiciously. ¡°What do you mean ¡®Luckily the floor seems quite sturdy¡¯?¡± Rowan gave a smile full of teeth. ¡°Before ¡®that¡¯ I will need to have something cleared up. Last time, when I asked you ''why you wanted to come along'' you answered ¡®because it sounds fun¡¯. That might work for following a stranger into trouble, but as you have noticed my occupation tends to attract danger. I highly doubt you are still here, pulling bullets out of my back, because ¡®that sounds fun¡¯. I want you to know, that you can get off here if you want. If you keep your head down for a while, you will be able to get away with it. Lock yourself up in a shady inn for three months and then come out under a different name. With medieval level technology, they don¡¯t have many options for finding you. I can give you most of the coin we have. If you live frugally, it will last a long time. You don¡¯t have to do this, the stealing, the fighting and the eventual murdering this road will end up at. Our last twelve hours were only the tip of the iceberg, the real journey has not even started. It is still early days for you, you can still get out.¡± All eight eyes rolled forward to gaze into Rowan''s black lumps of coal. ¡°I don¡¯t want out.¡± Another dismissive sound escaped Rowan''s nose. ¡°That is all well and good, but that leaves me with another problem. I do still not fully understand what you what. Or to phrase it differently, what do you hope to gain from our cooperation?¡± She wavered a bit, her eyes rolling back to their original positions. ¡°Well eh¡­ Money, I guess-¡± With a sudden burst of motion Rowan dove and slid under Icid abdomen. In a single motion, she grabbed slightly behind the cephalothorax and jammed her hooves into the floor. As the force tilted her forward Icid¡¯s entire body started to roll over her abdomen, lifting her legs off the floor. ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaa!¡± Boff- Icid toppled onto her back, allowing Rowan to lock her hooves around her sides. Icid¡¯s legs flailed, but were unable to make the 360-degree bend needed to get at the attacker. Her arms fell short too, and could not reach over her cephalothorax while she lay stretched out. ¡°Now Icid, money is quite a nice answer. It is a partial truth. That is why it works well as a lie. It also isn¡¯t a glamorous or moral answer, which helps to make it convincing. But you had to go put an ¡®I guess¡­¡¯ behind it. People who do something for money, are sure they are doing for money Icid. You won¡¯t get an ¡®I guess¡¯ with them. Money is cold and calculated, to do something for gold and riches leaves no room for doubt.¡± ¡°Get off, you garbage feeder! Why the corpse flies did I need to get suplexed for that lecture.¡± ¡°First off, a suplex is a backwards throw, this did not even resemble one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡± ¡°That is obvious, dear. But secondly, if you are going to come along, you will need to get some rudimentary combat training done. Preferably, I would have someone drill you on the entire ¡®art¡¯ for a handful of years. But I lack the resources and can use the extra hands.¡± ¡°I did not consent to this, let me go!¡± Rowan''s eyes went stone cold as she produced a small chuckle. Then in a flash, she jumped between the flailing legs and ended on Icid¡¯s rump. Before Icid could react, Rowan had wrapped her claws around her soft neck. The carriage went quiet as the flailing stopped. Icid hesitantly swallowed as she slowly turned white. Rowan moved closer till their foreheads touched. ¡°Consent? You decide to be taken under the wing of a criminal, and then you expect to be asked when you want to train or not? Let me make something very clear, Miss Icidae Salt. Right now, you are a liability to me. That chase would have ended in a fraction of the time if hiding had been an option, instead of dumbly outrunning the guards. But you can¡¯t be trusted to hide, to know where to regroup to or be capable of not drawing attention to yourself. To disappear in the middle of a chase is an art that needs to be taught. Half the reason I let you close is because you are interesting. And if properly trained you are likely to develop further. But do not confuse, being allowed you to backtalk me, into getting the idea in your head that we are equals. I am in command, and you will follow orders.¡± Rowan''s voice had become nothing more than a growling whisper at the end. ¡°Throw me off, little spider.¡± ¡­ ¡°Throw me off, or else.¡± She leaned in, her sharp claws slowly digging into the flesh. Icid produced a shocked rasp with her throat and started an uncoordinated struggle. Latching onto Rowan¡¯s arms, she tried to pull the claws off her neck. ¡°Useless movements, my arms carry the weight of my body along the axis of gravity. From that position you only pull them more down.¡± Slightly more desperately she tried to throw her body left and right, but she was unable to get Rowan to budge. She slowly became a porcelain white as she tried to breathe with half of her air pipe closed. Tears welled in her eyes as she flailed around. ¡°Oh, come on! Are you going to be like when an actual enemy comes for you? Completely locked up because of a smidgen of aggression? Bite me, claw at me, use your legs, use your threads! If you don¡¯t even plan to fight, there is nothing I can teach. Like this, in the road we are going down, you will be dead in a week.¡± Slowly Icid¡¯s pupils started to dilate as her fear started to mix with anger. She wrapped both of her arms around Rowan¡¯s left and then pulled it closer. Almost instantaneously her fangs flashed outward as her head lunged forward. Rowan aggressively shifted her weight to the right, pulling her hand free. ¡°Good, that is a start-¡± Boff- four legs connected with the left side of her head, sending her toppling even further to the right. Icid carried her momentum through and rolled over her other legs. Bringing her back to a standing position with Rowan lying below her. ¡°Good, that works for getting me thrown off. But what do you do now, dear?¡± Icid produced a couple of angry clicks, but otherwise stood indecisively. After waiting through a couple of seconds of hesitation, Rowan sighed and rolled sideways. This knocked the bi-claws out of the ground counter to their functional direction. With a couple of long strides, she circled behind Icid¡¯s abdomen and leapt on her back. As Icid tried to turn Rowan moved her arms under her armpits and then folded them back, clasping them together behind the neck. Icid let out an animalistic hiss as her eyes turned completely bloodshot. ¡°Good, let us return to my earlier question. What do you hope to gain from our cooperation?¡± After a couple furious ragged breaths, Icid answered. ¡°The power to harm those who wronged me. To wrench out the eyes of little AI goats who don¡¯t know their place.¡± ¡°Ah, now that is an answer I can work with. But is that all? Vengeance is a fine motivation, but you don¡¯t strike me as a person wholly consumed by it. There is too much ''want'' left in you for that.¡± Another pause, longer this time. ¡°Respect and loyalty¡­ I want people to bow, willingly, like knights before their king. Glory, castles, dresses, crowns, lovers, friends, servants... I want it all.¡± ¡­ ¡°Go ahead and laugh, I know I sound like a psychopath. I don¡¯t even know where I got the idea from, it just was¡­ there one day. This is what you wanted to hear right? This was the whole reason you attacked me so aggressively.¡± ¡°Oh, my dear Icidae, if only you were like this all the time. I would go on my knees and propose to you right now. If we would be capable of bottling whatever ludicrous stimulant your body loads into your brain when you get angry, we could be billionaires by tomorrow. Now Icid, for the last question. Do you want me to teach you? It will hurt, mentally and physically. I will break your body and mind, turning it into a lethal weapon. You will gain comrades, become friends with them, love them, and then you will see them get killed before your very eyes. Moments will come when allies will have to be sacrificed and brothers left behind. There is no telling what other terrors may befall you. Once you say yes there is no longer a going back. I will drag you with me, regardless if you scream, cry or beg me to stop. This is my last warning. I can get you what you want, but beyond this point there is no return. Icidae Salt, will you be my apprentice?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t scare me, goat. I will be your apprentice, I decided so the moment we first met.¡± Rowan grinned widely. ¡°Excellent, let me show you an actual suplex then.¡± Chapter 9: Better Goat Jack As the days passed the cart rolled on. Icid and Rowan trained, getting accustomed to their bodies. And as they sat down for the last stretch of road they felt the familiar rush of knowledge flooding into their head.
You have ascended from [Lesser Criminal Scum] to [Criminal Scum] gaining [Blast Leap]. You can now make a high power leap exceeding your natural capabilities, but doing so will damage your legs severely. You have ascended from [Novice Arachne] to [Lesser Arachne] gaining [Fury]. You can now, at will, activate all your learned combat procs at once. But you will suffer severe exhaustion once [Fury] fades.
¡°So, I became just ¡®Criminal Scum¡¯? What does that even mean? Why does only to front part change now?¡± Icid rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s rank ascension, not class ascension. Besides, it is the ¡®collective tier¡¯, which is an agglomeration of all your individual levels. Little information can be gained from it except your global power.¡± ¡­ ¡°Those words mean nothing to me.¡± ¡°Fine, fine, I will give a quick summary. That ¡®Criminal Scum¡¯ is your class. It consists of two parts. A class tier growing from 0 to high, described by a specific name like Rouge or Mage. And a rank going from Novice to Greater, representing your overall strength in that class. For each tier, you will have to ascend through all the ranks to advance to the next tier.¡± ¡°Right, I derived most of that, but what does it represent and how does it work?¡± ¡°Well, it represents lots of things we can¡¯t see right now. The developers wanted to make to spreadsheets optional, so that the average player can better emerge themselves. It requires someone with the right skills to look into the details. But if you could, you would be concerned with three numbers. Your level of body, mind and soul. Those are the major determining factors for your tier, rank and class. As you play the game you get levels in various things like: [Body (Capra) level 3] or [Mind (Thief) level 5] They determine your current set of abilities and collectively give you your class. Although you can get more than three skills: [Mind (Thief) level 5] [Carpenter level 2] You can only have three active at the same time, one of body, one of mind and one of soul. In order to swap them out, you have to go through a set of long and complicated procedures. There are a lot more nuances, but that is the global outline.¡± ¡°So things are happening that we can¡¯t see. They combine into something that tells us practically nothing. And this results in a system for which we cannot predict the future outcomes?¡± ¡°For now.¡± Rowan sighed loudly. ¡°Driver, how long till we arrive?¡± ¡°We are pretty much there, just tell me where you want to be dropped off.¡± A goat and a spider walked into a bar. Some of the late night crowd had already gathered. The last vestiges of half-eaten spit roast, baked potatoes, spiced bread and smoked sausages were being carried off to the large kitchen. An impressively large hearth stood as the centrepiece of the room. New arrivals huddled close to drive away the chills from the sudden cold snap outside. It was ornamented with stringed bells and stone bowls as all hearths were in this world. Most of the bar''s patrons wore their full suits of armour and weapons proudly. Except for the occasional long polearm or face covering helmet. Talk of business and money mixed with old-fashioned drinking and merrymaking. Elves played cards with minotaurs and wraiths peered over maps with lizardmen. A dwarven bard sang raunchy songs on a small stage, accompanied by the occasional cheer or tossed coin. The Rowan looked around and after a while gesturing to Icid that she should follow. Nobody glanced at goat longer than a second. To the spider, they gave a slightly longer look, but eventually turned back to their own business nonetheless. Rowan and Icid walked unperturbed through the joyous crowds to a table in the far back. Six people were already seated and had become engaged in a rowdy game of cards. Three old hands, clearly distinguishable by the quality of the gear they were wearing, played on the left. A duo of newcomers sat beside them in unimpressive armour.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. One was a shy looking boy rabbit and the other a sharp-eyed girl bird. The boy''s gear seemed of similar make to Icid and Rowans starting equipment. And although the girl''s amour looked like starter equipment too, it was clearly of a more expensive make. The last person at the table was a man whose fashionable clothing would be noteworthy, if they were not completely overshadowed by his enormous moustache. Rowan and Icid had left their own armour in storage as soon as they arrived in the bloody heights. Instead of the shabby stuff they used to wear, they were now dressed in a set of fine fabrics adorned with decorative pins and buttons. They had also bought nice form-fitting leather bags, pouches and some simple jewellery. Icid did not like the idea of leaving her armour aside for normal clothes. It went against every video game principle to go around questing without combat gear. But Rowan had found it of high importance that they displayed some class. They had hoped to buy some good gear, as was the standard clothing for most travellers. But good quality amour was insanely expensive, so they had settled for civilian attire. ¡°Look, look, more newcomers to join the table. Come here, don¡¯t be shy!¡± The moustache of a man waved his hands and fetched a couple of chairs as Icid and Rowan approached. Rowan took her seat opposite the moustache without question and Icid moved on the stool beside her. Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, the man started speaking again. ¡°We were just discussing it would be good to have some more hands around the table. You familiar with the rules? Of course you are, there is no way young lasses like you aren¡¯t. Don¡¯t worry, we play with small bets tonight.¡± He rattled at an amazing speed, giving Icid scarily the time to interject. At this point, she had not the slightest idea what card game was even being played. But in seconds, someone had already stuffed cards into her hands and betting had started to the other side of the table. Before she knew it was her turn and all eyes pointed in her direction. ¡°Ehmm¡­¡± She felt herself turning beet red as she looked and the eight of hearts and three of spades in her hand. Was this poker or something? Was her hand good? Before this she had literally only played variations of old maid, thus she had no clue. But the pressing atmosphere of all the people watching made it very hard to admit that. She did not even know why Rowan suddenly wanted to go inside and play cards. The last couple of evenings they had walked in and out of bars without asking questions and rarely even stopped for a bite to eat. Rowan had told her to not ask about Scrounger Jack anywhere, in case it might attract trouble. Was he here at this table? Why not ask him to talk in private? She just wanted to watch the game, not play. Why did that man have to put cards in her hand without asking? Her discomfort grew as she looked at the stack of bets. She had always thought of gambling as a pastime where the poor tied albatrosses around their own necks. A hobby for people like her father. I don¡¯t want any of this, I don¡¯t want any of this. Just when she was about the attempt to escape. ¡°She calls.¡± Rowan barked as he shifted a stack of coins Icid way. ¡°Right¡­¡± Icid hung her shoulders and fished out five bucks, adding it to the pile in the middle. The game continued on as the moustachioed man started talking again. ¡°So, now that the game is underway let me introduce everyone. The three gentlemen are veterans of the guild: Bob, Willcus and John. Then we have the two fresh recruits. The handsome lad over here is Rid.¡± On those words, the rabbit made a small and embarrassed bow. ¡°And the lovely lady on the other side is Revvel.¡± The bird gave a small nod, her sharp gaze drilling into Icid¡¯s many eyes. ¡°Who am I forgetting¡­ Oh yes, me. The name is Jack, Jack Goodwill. I am not officially part of the guild, but come here to do business often. I arrange trades and non-corporeal value and meditate to get property to come up for sale, in-laws getting written, and to ensure countless other agreements being signed or voided. It is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡± He stood up from his chair and made a gallant bow to both Rowan and Icid separately. Icid could not help but give a grimace. Was this the person who they had spent almost a week travelling and searching for? He was quite squishy, looked completely un-athletic, was boisterous, but also quite pleasant and was above all very loud. She had a hard time imagining him partaking in hard-core criminal activity. He seemed like the type of person whose conflicts with the law were limited to public drunkenness and attempting to flirt with the policewoman giving him a parking ticket. Well, his occupation seemed a little wormy, but he just looked too much like a cuddly teddy bear to do actual harm. ¡°So, my dear guests, who are you and what brings you to our table?¡± The gazes completely ignored Rowan and went straight to her. She started to become sweaty at all the attention. It felt like she had been dragged in front of the class and told to explain why she hadn¡¯t done her homework. Too many people, too many strangers, too many ways to get hurt. ¡°Ehh¡­¡± ¡°This is my colleague, Icidae Salt. We run a small trading business, dealing in speciality goods. The night was turning frigid, so we thought we would go talk with the locals to get¡­ a lay of the land, as it were.¡± Rowan took over the introduction and a weight fell from Icid shoulders. This wasn¡¯t like the past, she wasn¡¯t here alone. She had her goat. Her somewhat crazy, rough and venom tongued goat. Even after about a week of crying, throwing insults and failing horribly, she was still here, still at her side. Noticing Rowan¡¯s furry warmth at her side and leaned in somewhat closer. A small comfort came over her, like a soft blanket. It was alright, her crazy crook of a goat would talk them all under the table, even if she messed up. Jack flipped over some cards and took another hard look at his own hand before continuing. ¡°Very interesting, what type of speciality goods?¡± ¡°Collectibles mostly, prised rings, rare jewels, paintings. Objects that hold greater value due to their reputation than their pure utilitarian use.¡± The ends of Jack¡¯s moustache twitched and something stirred inside his eyes. ¡°Do you have anything particular you are selling right now?¡± Rowan shifted in her chair and leaned over the table. ¡°Well¡­¡± She paused for a moment and seemed to be thinking on something. ¡°It is not quite for sale, and I shouldn¡¯t be showing it at all, but¡­¡± Everyone leaned in closer, clearly becoming interested. ¡°I got my hand on a most interesting specimen recently.¡± With that rowan fished out an ornate box from her pocket. She made a check to see if no one from the other tables was looking. The box opened with a soft click, revealing the gold dragon ring inside. Gasps escaped from the table¡¯s other occupants, with the exception of Revvel and Jack. ¡°Isn¡¯t that one of Scha¡¯vun pact rings?¡± ¡°Must be, it fits the description perfectly.¡± ¡°Do people collect those? That sounds like a good way to get a knife thrust into your back, or worse.¡± ¡°The rich will collect anything they are not supposed to have.¡± The veterans broke into an excited discussion and even the quiet Rid seemed eager to join them. Once again the ring proved somehow important¡­ Were all these people NPCs? Held the ring importance outside of Icid¡¯s personal questline? Were none of them NCPs? Did the AI system feed information to players beforehand, knowing it would be useful for another player¡¯s questline later? Icid¡¯s head started to throb, so she shut down that train of thought. At least Rowan was right on one point, thinking on these matters goes nowhere. All she could do was believe, preferably believe that they were all AIs. Nothing worse than an actual human after all. Suddenly Revvel¡¯s voice cut through the discussion like a knife. ¡°It is obviously a fake." Chapter 10: The Bird Princess ¡°Is that so?¡± Rowan asked with a warm voice. Revvel ran her hand through the mass of feathers on her head, straightening it back into a hair-like shape. It was clear she had taken meticulous care in creating her character. Her silver crown of feathers flowed from her scalp down over her shoulders. From behind her ears grew another set of additionally long fluffy strands that hovered over the rest like ribbons made of the finest silk. And crystal-clear blue eyes stared from below a sharp brow. The corners of her jaw were smoothly rounded and flowed elegantly into her porcelain white neck. The subset of bird-kin she had chosen had a human mouth, which in her case was lined with soft rosy lips. Only her tong, which Icid could only catch the occasional glimmer off, seemed to have an unsettling curl to it. After a bit of contemplation, Revvel leaned back in her chair and continued. ¡°I mean that is obvious right? Scha¡¯vun is notoriously well guarded when it comes to their guild items. And you are telling me that these low tier shmucks obtained one of their pact rings? I mean, what rarity tier is a Capra even? That must be minus two unlisted or worse right? The day I trust people that roll characters like that, is the day you can put me under the ground. These guys are swindlers, plain and simple.¡± The veterans sunk back in their chair deflated and now eyed Rowan angrily. Icid took a quick look into Revvel¡¯s eyes. She knew that expression too well. A porcelain princess and her posse, deciding that the new guy was not welcome. Like a school bully ousting the fat kid from her group. Revvel did not need to know if her statement was accurate, only the intent of the words mattered. The princess leaned a little closer till her shoulder rested against one of the veterans. A gnawing discomfort started running through Icid body. She did not want this fight, she had lost it too many times already. Countless new schools, countless new beginnings, countless new opportunities. In the chaos of a newly forming social structures, it is easier to get drawn into a group. There is safety in belonging, there is safety in numbers. Being part of someone ''posse'' protects you from both those within and those outside the order. The black sheep, the loner, or the outsider on the other hand, is fair game for anyone to harass. She had gotten into a group a couple of times, by licking the boots of other porcelain princesses, as seemed customary for those on the bottom of the social ladder. But it never lasted long, she was always the weak link. And the day would come they would stare at her with those eyes. She was out, no longer wanted, to be eaten by the wolves. Cold sweat formed, she wanted to disappear, to go anywhere else. She tugged Rowans indicating she wanted to leave. But Rowan just sat there, returning the veteran¡¯s gazes with a pleasant smile. Slowly the game crawled back into motion, every call or fold interrupted by a smattering of menial conversation. Jack turned over three cards on the table, causing someone to raise the stakes by 15 ?. Then an unexpected and wavy voice asked a question. ¡°Can I have a look?¡± Rid mumbled, while still staring at the ring. ¡°Sure Lad, go ahead. But please be careful with it.¡± Rowan answered. Rid spun it around in his fingers a couple of times and finally held it against some candlelight while inspecting the crystal. ¡°Well, if it is a fake, it has me beat. It fits the descriptions I have read perfectly. Both the soulstone and the craftsmanship seem authentic.¡± Rid¡¯s eyes wandered over the table and eventually crossed Icid¡¯s. She attempted to return his gaze with a warm smile, like Rowan always did. Alas, it seemed she had the technique not quite mastered and slight blush formed on Rid fleshy nose. He tried to return the smile, but had obvious trouble knowing in what pair of Icid''s eyes he should look. After a moment or two looked away embarrassed. He seemed like a good kid, shy but honest. Then Revvel¡¯s voice rang out like a hand full of broken glass. ¡°What do you mean furball? Don¡¯t tell me you believe these two. They are obviously up to no good.¡± Rid sunk into his chair and he looked away from Revvel¡¯s gaze. An annoyed click escaped from Icid¡¯s mandibles and before she could stop herself words had spilled out of her mouth. ¡°I don¡¯t think he needs a birdbrain to decide what he thinks, he seems smart enough himself.¡± Icid knew she had poked the bear too hard the second she closed her mouth. White hot rage seemed to be spilling out of Revvel¡¯s eyes so densely she could almost see it crystallise into physical reality. ¡°Keep your mouth shut, you filthy insect.¡± Icid narrowly managed to suppress giving the obvious response to that statement. But someone else at the table else turned out to be unable to restrain their ¡®well actually¡¯ habit as much. ¡°Well Revvel, spiders aren¡¯t actually insects. They are arthropods, insects don¡¯t have eigh-¡± ¡°Mouth¡­ shut¡­ Furball.¡± Rid sunk deeper into his chair at the venom coated words.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°It does not matter if she is an insect or not. What counts is that I will not let myself be insulted by such a digesting, creepy and putrid creature. Besides, those spider things are an exalted rarity race. What kind of person spent the money to roll ¡®that¡¯ when they have the option of picking an elf? A fat ugly perverted male nerd with a disgusting fetish for spiders, that is who!¡± Icid started blankly into Revvel¡¯s eyes. ¡°You think I am a man?¡± ¡°I know you are.¡± For a while, Icid was so flabbergasted that all she managed to say was ¡°Oh¡±. ¡°Ha, told you it was a man! It became so shocked that its little ploy got found out that it cannot even come up with more lies to defend itself.¡± Rowan remained silent and did not react. Jack made a calm ¡®who cares¡¯ gesture. And half the veterans seemed to be spoiling for a fight while the other half wanted nothing to do with this. Revvel''s blood seemed to boil even hotter at the lack of righteous indignation and raised the stakes by another 50 ?. Rid folded and one of the veterans joined him after some self-deliberation. Icid was about to fold too when she noticed Rowan making some gestures with her hands. Normally, she would not have noticed. It was quite out of sight for everyone, tucked away under the table. But her rearmost eyes had been pointing sideways. She had only two eyes that were actually any good, the others all suffered from a very short range. But those eyes did provide a very wide field of view and were very good at capturing raw motion. In a relaxed state, her eyes tended to spread to cover a large field of vision with her only actively moving the good pair. But this looked absolutely horrifying. Eyes were not called the window to the soul for nothing. Any oddity inside them was additionally noticeable to humans. We are literally hardwired to observe them with special care. Having a wide range of vision was probably very advantageous. But after looking at her reflection, she had decided it was so horrifying that is was a step too far. The creepy spider stalk she could live with, it at least had a sense of power behind it. But this was just sickening. So in normal situations, she forced all of them to stare at the same point. Or so she thought, she must have been getting really tired. This game was draining her energy by the minute and she must have started slipping at some point. Seemingly Rowan had noticed her wandering eyes and was making a motion indicating she should call. At this point, Icid had no idea where this game was going, what Rowans plan was, or why all this smoke and mirror stuff was necessary. All she could do was go along, so grudgingly she called. After a while, Revvel rose from her seat, still not satisfied. She walked over to Jack and took the ring from the table. ¡°Say Mister Goodwill, if I remember correctly, you have greater appraisal skills, do you not? Shall we once and for all put an end to this discussion and confirm the ring¡¯s legitimacy?¡± She leaned into his back a bit, holding the ring in front of his face. Jack¡¯s expression became that of a man between that of a man stuck between a rock and a hard place. You did not have to look at the moustachioed teddy bear for long to conclude he was an avid connoisseur of the female form. And Revvel was a beauty worthy of attention. But he probably did not want to fuel the fires of this augment any further. He had invited these guests to the table, but it had turned into quite a mess. Revvel leaned in a bit further and put an arm around his shoulders. After producing a strange muttering should, he reluctantly accepted the ring and started studying it. ¡­ ¡°This is a marvellous piece indeed. A one of a kind creation to be sure. An apex of craftmanship, but an imitation nonetheless.¡± He put back the ring allowing Rowan to return it to her pocket. ¡°You are just handing that back after all the lies and deception?! These people are crooks, they will certainly attempt to swindle someone else with it.¡± One of the veterans smacked the table in agreement. ¡°Yea, we should be throwing these people with the dustmites instead.¡± The other veterans got ready to leap out of their seats. Rid sunk so deep into his chair he was now almost completely under the table, while Rowan reached for something in the shadows. Icid turned her eyes toward Jack, whose word the table seemed to be waiting for. ¡°Now, now, let us not be hasty, Bob. If you remember correctly, they have never claimed the ring was real. Far from it, in fact, they have not even told us what it is. It was us, not them, that decided it was a real Scha¡¯vun ring. They also clearly stated they were not looking to sell the piece. So unless you have a way of convincing the guards that owning a fake ring is a crime worth drowning someone over, you better not. Now let us at least finish this game, so everyone can go their separate ways.¡± The table remained cold for quite a while, and the remaining conversation was stilted. Luckily a barmaid walked by close enough for Rowan to place an order. Within a short amount of time the table was loaded with mugs of various alcohols and an assortment of smoked meats. Which improved the mood significantly. At least for the veterans, who stuffed their faces from the word go. Rid and Jack joined in happily as they did not seem to mind the guests to start with. With that, the table¡¯s atmosphere became a lot warmer. Except for Revvel, who seemed to only be getting angrier as rest started to enjoy themselves. She slammed her hand on the table and raised the stakes with another 100 ?, causing the two other veterans to begrudgingly withdrawal. Rowan and Jack called immediately and Icid followed after she saw no further instructions. Jack flipped over the final card, a queen of hearts. Everyone rustled with their cards for a moment, back Jack once again broke the silence first. ¡°What about we make this bet a little more interesting?¡± Rowan tilted her head ever so slightly. ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s add that fake ring of yours to the pot. I am sure that Miss Revvel¡¯s¡­ excitement, could be quelled if she gets a chance to derive you of it. And I will not lie. The ring fascinates me and I would be quite interested to add it to my collection of curiosities.¡± ¡°Ok, I see where you are going with this. But that gives us what you want. The question remains what you will put up in return. Even a well-made fake can fetch a high price to the right buyer.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t name what you came in for, then? Oh, don¡¯t pretend you actually came here to get ¡®the lay of the land¡¯. You two have yet to ask a single question. Seemingly you have no interest in selling the ring as well. The reveal would have been handled far differently if you did. Firstly you would have never approached a group like ours. Too many walks of life, too much different experiences, far too large a risk of the fake being found out. Even if you mistook us for a homogeneous or fallible bunch, you would have given a proper marketing pitch first. Distance yourself from the fake object, make it seem you got it on accident and were looking to sell it cheap. Yet you didn¡¯t. You presented it with a cold open, a display of confidence. It was a business card, something that sticks in people¡¯s minds. So, what do you two actually want?¡± Icid stared into Jack¡¯s small eyes. The sudden leaps of logic were staggering. Where all Rowan¡¯s old acquaintances like this? The goat herself let out a soft chuckle. ¡°Well, I guess you got us cornered there. It is indeed true that we showed up with an intention other than having a nice chat. We need some work done of the¡­ incorporeal kind, as you put it so nicely. I guess that if you were to offer up your services against the ring we would get close to a balanced deal. That only leaves¡­¡± Rowan eyed Revvel for a moment. ¡°Miss Revvel, to be honest, you have nothing to offer that I want. So we are going to have to settle with a blank favour on your end. I take it you are a person who is true to their word?¡± Rosy lips formed into a lovely smile. ¡°Of course, I always keep my word. As long as it is reasonable, I am fine with betting a ¡®small¡¯ favour.¡± Icid doubted that strongly. Scratch that, Icid knew that to be false. There is no way, a wormy princess like that cares for honesty. ¡°Excellent, then our bet set!¡± Chapter 11: Damp Goat Revvel giggled, an unpleasant hollowness contained inside. No doubt she thought they had the game in the bag. Then Jack threw his arms wide. ¡°Well then, there is one thing that needs to be resolved.¡± He thrust an open hand toward Rowan. ¡°You have failed to give us your name, little goat.¡± A tooth filled grin flashed by as Rowan took the hand. ¡°Ah, how rude of me. The name is Rowan, Rowan Walker.¡± For a second the pleasant visage of the moustachioed bear seemed to crack. An angry and frightened man now stared from the other side of the table. The ends of his moustache twitched and his small eyes seemed sunken in their sockets. But as fast as it appeared, it vanished, leaving nothing but a pleasant smile. ¡°What a fascinating name, nice to meet you, Miss Walker. Let us end our night here then, full-house.¡± Revvel threw down her tree of a kind, but did not seem to mind her loss. All she cared for that was that the newcomers did not win. Icid checked her hand, but was quite convinced she had nothing. ¡­ She blinked. In her hand was an eight and ten of hearts. Icid was sure she used to have- ¡°A pair of threes.¡± Rowan threw his cards on the table to a wall of mocking laughter. ¡°Well, I guess we won¡¯t we cooperating, after all, Rowan Walker. Unless your pet spider has been pulling the wool over our eyes the entire time, and I don¡¯t think she seems capable enough to do so, then your entire side has nothing. I must say, there are people who are poor at gambling, but those are some disastrous odds to bet on. Do you even know the rules? Well, I guess it is a befitting level of intelligence for a goat.¡± Revvel spoke softly, pleasure dripping from every word. Meanwhile, Jack sunk into his chair, seeming awfully relieved. ¡°Ughm.¡± Icid cleared her throat and stared Revvel straight in the eyes. She knew little about poker, but some bits that are just common knowledge. And this, this was the poker they played in movies and Icid knew her movies. She had thought it was for a while, but after the full-house she was sure. Besides, she was not stupid enough to not realize that Rowan had swapped out their cards. With a sickening grin, she put her hand on the table. ¡°Straight flush¡± Revvel¡¯s eyes widened and Jack went white. Icid¡¯s grin widened further, who knew cheating would feel this good. ¡°Well, well, look at that. Seems my ¡®pet spider¡¯ had the wool pulled over your eyes after all.¡± Revvel knocked her chair over with a bang and stormed from the table, rage oozing from her evry pore. The veterans stood up in a confused flurry and followed her, muttering curses under their breaths. Rid took the time to make a small bow and then took his leave too. ¡°I must be honest Oil, on the list of people I would never want to see again, you might even rank above my first wife.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an honour to have that much-coveted distinction.¡± Rowan¡¯s face deformed into a self-stratified smile while Jack¡¯s became stern and cold. ¡°You know, the reason I got into this whole video game simulation thing is because people like you don¡¯t show up here. And I prefer it stay that way, so go be off. Leave a dead man in peace.¡± Rowan put her feet on the table and picked up one of the remaining mugs of alcohol. ¡°Enjoying life here Jack? Chasing the skirts of simpletons riddled with mortal imperfections. Scamming locals out of a couple a hundred dollars by cheating at card games. Travelling from bar to bar, night to night, always the familiar stranger. That almost sounds like work to me Jack, boring work.¡± Jack¡¯s expression turned pained. ¡°I get to be alive tomorrow, Rowan. Well¡­ free. Not behind bars at least.¡± Rowan took a large swig from the mug and peered to the ceiling for a while. ¡°So this is good enough for you now? Just making the rounds till you¡¯re in the ground, forgotten? I considered you among the best of the best once. Eyes and ears that heard everything, knew everyone and forgot nothing. A snake¡¯s tong so blessed it could convince rock it was water. The mole, the grifter, the greatest con-man.¡± Jack¡¯s ears turned a soft pink and his expression softened. Alas, Rowan¡¯s tong gave no reprieves for long. ¡°But now, it seems I can hardly say so anymore. I had to even tell you my name, pathetic. The old you would have known it was me before I even gotten through the front door.¡± Icid looked into the man¡¯s beady eyes as his moustache quivered. Countless emotions seemed to flash over his face, all mixing into a tangled mess. ¡°I don¡¯t need this, Rowan. I have left, and I will not turn back. To slowly become normal is a blessing provided only to the sane. My mind will rot, going senile in the monotony. Until one day the last strands of hunger in me die. And then I will live happily as a sheep forever after.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The end, no more playing god. I will get you some connections for that bet I lost, but that is all.¡± Rowan put the mug back down and stared into Jack¡¯s eyes. The candles flickered and the sounds of the bar swept over the quiet table. The bard set into a slower song, whispering of things long past. ¡°Never mind, Jack. If you don¡¯t want in, there is no need to involve you further. Forget what I said. I am not going to drag a friend to hell, if he found peace. It would have been a pleasure to take you along. Like in the good old days¡­ But those times had faded long before any of us started dying, hadn¡¯t they?¡± With an excruciatingly long sigh, Rowan got out of her chair. Icid stared at the goat, who seemed to have aged decades in minutes. Her eyes seemed sunken and her furry beard was ragged and uncertain. ¡°Let¡¯s go Icid, we have plans to make.¡± Icid got hesitantly to her feet. Jack expression seemed still stuck between a flurry of conflicting thoughts. She wanted to say something, but she failed to find the words. After a couple of breaths, she threw out whatever drifted to the top. ¡°It was¡­ interesting to meet you, Mister Goodwill. May fortune smile upon your future endeavours.¡± Pointless drivel, menial small-talk, boilerplate water-cooler conversation. But still, Jack¡¯s eyes seemed to regain some light as they turned to face Icid. ¡°This is a very, very weird road for you to walk little one. I do not know what debts you owe, but it could scarcely be worth the risk. Especially for someone like you.¡± Rowan signalled it was time to leave and started a calm stride to the door. Icid turned once more to face the moustachioed man. ¡°There are no more debts¡­ I am here because I want to be, Mister Goodwill.¡± And then she followed Rowan into the cold night. Rowan leaned against a nearby railing, staring into the flowing rivers of dust. Dustmites swamed restlessly under her gaze. They snapped their long jaws and made small leaps attempting to eat her toes. Icid settled against the railing as well. Bones drifted by, a poor soul who must have fallen in upstream. ¡°Say Icid, do I sound like an old man when I talk?¡± She blinked at the unexpected question. ¡°An old man? Well, sometimes you display the grumpiness of an elder chasing the children of her lawn. Why do you ask?¡± Rowan stared at the glistening stream, her expression sullen. ¡°My actual age does not bother me. What matters is that the world seemed to have moved on without me. ¡­ Bear with me for a little, I have got some complaining to do¡­¡± Icid stared into Rowan¡¯s black lumps of coal and made a small smile. ¡°I am all ears.¡± ¡°Our greatest heists have happened more than a decade ago. We were of the highest calibre, legends, the best. Alas the important word in that sentence is ¡®were¡¯. As time went on, more and more things started going wrong. Brothers and sisters dying, getting caught, turning traitor¡­ Our targets shifted from being the best, to staying alive. And we have not topped our past deeds since. But the mistress of time is relentless, no matter if you take less changes. Our bodies and minds kept on decaying and slowly we became worse and worse. I sunk so far that even a low tier assassin could put me under the ground, apparently. And now I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting an old friend. Once the best of the best, who has become a fat slug whose flame has gone out. It leaves me to wonder if I have become that delusional fool stuck in the past. Trying to poke the bear that mauled him by going into its cave. Just to prove she still has it.¡± Merry voices sang slow songs in the distance, sounding far away and hollow. The dustmites snapped their fangs and the cold wind chilled to the bone. In the silence and the cold Icid once again grasping for words. But this time they came easier, almost without effort. ¡°You are mad, absolutely mad. But that doesn¡¯t matter to me, Rowan. Nor does matter to this world. You are dead, outside the bounds of age and time. Video games are cauldron made to crystallise the fantastical and the impossible. Every one I have ever played rewarded the mad, the bold, and the inventive far over the safe. The laws of the real world reward conformity and safety by its very design. But humanity has always dreamed of more. Magic, gods, fairies, and dragons, searching for a world were wanderlust is the order of the day and the other is the norm. So when given the possibility to create worlds outside our own, those principles were the first inserted. The more impossible the mountain seems to scale, the more likely a video game is to let you scale it. So, my little mad robber goat, let us find a way to scale it together.¡± A faint smile appeared under Rowan¡¯s sunken eyes. ¡°I think the mysteries of your mind are slowly falling into place, my dear Icid. But that does not change the fact we are in a problematic situation. We are both the size of children, and judging from the conversation, we will not grow naturally. The people we came across the last few days made it awfully obvious that superhuman abilities are the norm here. Strength less than a human, like ours, is an oddity in the upper layers of society. Well, you at least have a somewhat useful body. But I must amid I am starting to find it hard to figure out what to do with mine.¡± ¡°It might not be as hard to make alterations to that as you think.¡± A third voice cut through the conversation from behind. Jack strolled in and took place at the far end of the railing. ¡°This place is maintained by people hungry for money after all. And they happily incentivise you to go extract cash from the economic layers and hand it to them. It is true that being a Capra places you in a bad spot, but not an insurmountable one for people with skills like yours.¡± Rowan and Jack turned to face each other once again. ¡°I thought I would at least hear what you planned to do, Rowan. It will leave me wondering while I try to sleep otherwise. The members of Scha¡¯vun are a troublesome bunch to get involved with. Especially if you have no clue what you are doing.¡± ¡°Ah, the ring. That was merely incidental. We came across a stack while robbing some bloke¡¯s mansion. Some otherworldly goddess strolled in and nicked the rest. She was wearing a one like it when she came in too. I was hoping to invite the lass for a nice dinner, but otherwise, the ring holds little relevance to me.¡± Jack let out a deep sigh, his very life seemingly escaping from his longs. ¡°What is it then?¡± Rowan smiled, deeply and calmly. ¡°It is Olivier Oldward the Third I am after.¡± Interlude: Everywhere Always Worms Finch looked down at his half-eaten bowl of bleak root porridge. Many of Aard¡¯s low-quality produce was grown underground. Both land and water were very sought after, making sun grown crops expensive. Food could be grown in the endless network of underground tunnels, but its taste was limited. The flows of dust or ¡®aard¡¯ as it is called contain a degree of magic, allowing for certain plants to grow without light. But all of it tasted ¡®ok¡¯ at best, especially the fast growing roots. He fiddled with a hole in his brown coat. From the corner of his eye observed the goat and spider while they followed a moustachioed man. Part of them did not want to see it at all. The girl, especially, the youth and innocence in her eyes pained him. But it was them, no doubt. The two who had robbed the baron¡¯s house. His arm still stung when he thought about the bite the girl had given him. He had been a fool for presuming them to be harmless when attempting his arrest. But few could blame you for assuming incompetence when going up against a Capra and a Spiderling Arakne. Not that he wasn¡¯t blamed, of course. The chief had been looking for a reason to get him shipped out of sight and this bit of negligence was the final drop. So now he was stationed in a place where no right mined guard wanted to be, the bloody heights. But his chief had not been the only one that took his failure to secure the criminals poorly. Not long after his failed capture had been reported, a group of thugs had assailed him in an alleyway and spread his face over the floor. He had no clue why the wanted info on the suspects of a simple robbery, but they certainly had no qualms about blooding their hands to get it. And then he still had before the baron, who seemed to have turned into a screaming ball of rage when he arrived. When he left Finch could be sure that he would be last in line for a promotion as long as the stolen belongings were not found. He placed his bowl on the counter and started a slow walk as the trio turned the corner. His shift might have stopped many hours ago, but an old bird¡¯s duty never truly ends. Chapter 12: Beasts Ascending The dingy room was filled to the brim with countless small objects. Jars lay filled with dice in all colours and sizes, all of them loaded. Drawers were piled full with marked playing cards, coiled contraptions and foldable mirrors. And old yellowing documents lay in stacks on large shelves lining the walls. ¡°You are mad, Rowan! Hopelessly mad!¡± Jack paced up and down his room while making wild gestures with his hands. ¡°You would need money that can build a nation and experts only found once in a lifetime. Listen, you walnut, Olivier runs this place! He owns most of it too, with literal armies at his side. What do you even plan to do? Steal the Thrown of Greed¡¯s dungeon core or something?¡± Rowan had seated herself on a nearby chair and was paying only half attention while using a knife to clean her hooves. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means, but I like the idea already. Maybe we can involve the Scha¡¯vun fellows as well. I still don¡¯t know who they are, but everyone seems to get very excited when they come up.¡± ¡°No, just no! The money it will cost, the people you will need, the enemies we will make, and all the things that can go wrong. Just-¡± ¡°Has any of that stopped us before?¡± Jack halted his pacing and stared. ¡°We were in our prime then, Rowan. Now we are¡­¡± ¡°Dead, immortal, un-ageing, our minds bathing in eternal youth. We are in our prime, our eternal prime.¡± Jack slumped into another chair, his hair looking puffy and his expression exhausted. The silence lingered for a while so Icid stood up and walked around, looking at dusty picture frames. There were photos of jewels, vistas, people and places, and all of them exuded a mystic grandeur. They stood layer after layer between the cards and the dice, like a shrine to the art of the shadows. ¡°I don¡¯t get what you are so scared off, Jack. The worst they can do is put you behind bars, and even then you can still attempt prison break. Your life is no longer on the line, and part of you wants in. Even this very room is a palace to the life you used to live. So why are fighting back so hard?¡± ¡°Ohh, my dear friend, stop this torture. You of all people know the answer to that. To take your offer is to hold a mirror to the last decade of my life. And I am horrified to have an honest look at what I have become. To see the decay, the waste, the life I have let slip through my fingers. I know my mind and body are a mere shell of what they used to be. I know that, Rowan. Of course, I know. But it still hurts, it hurts to look in that mirror. To wonder if you ever can make up for the time lost, if you can ever regain the greatness of the past. No¡­ not to regain it. That is not good enough, is it? How can you even fight for an ¡®as good as it was¡¯. The past failed us. That is why we are here. If you want to move forward, you need to desire to surpass the past. To imagine an even greater future. But when I look in that mirror, I no longer see greater glories. I see a man who has trouble climbing a set of stairs. That is why I am afraid.¡± Lights danced in Rowan''s jet black eyes as she watched. Then her usual toothy grin replaced with a blank expression. ¡°Well, the mirror is out of the bag now, and is no more putting it back. So, how does your reflection look?¡± Jack swiped a bottle of spirits from a shelf and took a couple of large swigs. ¡°Like a man who is better off dead.¡± Then he let out a sigh that seemed to carry away his very essence. ¡°So, have you two ever heard of Evolution Catalysts?¡± Icid was the first to respond. ¡°Oh, those are the things you can use to ascended and body type skill, right? You can evolve up the species tree with one. Expensive and very limited in supply, I have heard. The online forms said it is far cheaper to buy character changes directly from the in-game store.¡± Jack gaze turned and observed Icid for a little while. ¡°Well, that would be true if you were to do honest work and wanted mostly cosmetic changes. In-game stores are run directly by the AFTERLIFE and are thereby subject to real-world laws. The in-simulation citizen protection acts and stuff. They ensure basic consumer protection. But they also involve some rudimentary 1st party responsibilities like good faith dealing. This forces the companies to do some basic ¡®is this good stolen¡¯ checks, even if that goes against the simulation¡¯s design philosophies. We can only steal items that someone else had already bought, as stolen cash is tainted. Character Changes is a service and thus there is no item to steal. So unless you want to do white-collar work for it, that is out of the question. Even more importantly, it is impossible to get a species that has strong attributes with that system, unless you are a filthy rich. The best way to get one of those is by making random rolls for a good base character and then evolving it to something decent. That brings us back to evolution stones. Come, take a look here.¡± Jack pulled out a large map from under a big stack of paper. It displayed the city of greed along with countless marks and lines.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°These are the production sites of most high-value goods and their distribution routes. All commodities that interfere with the AFTERLIFE¡¯s ability to sell you something have highly limited drop-rates. Or rather, they have a monthly pool of allowed drops that cannot be exceeded. The more the item is farmed, the less it drops, until it stops dropping altogether. This causes these [Spawn Limited] items to retain a permanent high value. Evolution stones are among the most desirable, as they hold certain advantages over the Character Changes system. They drop in low-level areas dungeons/mine biome type. So for instance here, here and here.¡± Icid looked over the areas he pointed out. Small marks displayed the properties of monster-infested areas in the endless city. ¡°And what about this one.¡± She pointed at a large blob close by surrounded with countless transport routes and numerous terrain types, under which dungeon/mine was one. ¡°Olivier¡¯s territory¡­ and Scha¡¯vun hunting ground.¡± ¡°Perfect." Rowan said. "Now can someone finally give me a clear explanation what these Scha¡¯vun fellows are? Everyone seems to dance around the topic like it is a taboo.¡± Jack once again sighed. ¡°A guild of Role Play fanatics who want to put a daemon overlord on the throne of greed. That is the description you get if you distill them down to their barest essentials.¡± Rowan looked perturbed for a moment. ¡°That sounds¡­ childish. Why does anyone take ¡®that¡¯ seriously?¡± ¡°Time, consistency and results. The guild itself originates from a long-dead RPG simulation also made by AFTERLIFE. That game was one of the most famous ever created, but after decades of operation the competition had long since caught up. Keeping the servers operational had become a financial drain on the parent company. Years ago, it closed and its inhabitants were moved to Aard. A number of their members have been dead for longer than most people here have lived. Most of them are highly competent, intelligent and completely mental. Absolute video game fanatics to the very core. They can only think in terms of raid bosses, daemon lords and apocalyptic warfare. And all of them loathe this place. The commercialisation, the relative peace, the stagnant political system, the stranglehold of the rich, the borked progression system, all of it. They want this world to change, to knock the current social structures to the ground. So they wreak all kinds of havoc against the top of society. Causing undead invasions, releasing dragons, stealing artefacts and engaging in general guerrilla warfare. By now they have been around so long they have become part of the scenery of Aard itself. But yea, that region has been experiencing a lot of Scha¡¯vun¡¯s tell-tale merrymaking as of late. Security is on high alert and-¡± ¡°And not watching out for a simple robbery, they are watching out for maniacs. Sounds to me like they dragged additional folk from other locations to serve as a makeshift army. That means new patrol patterns, makeshift communication hierarchies and lots of poorly practised footwork to throw wrenches into. All you need is a distraction and the rest of the plan writes itself.¡± Jack took another swig from his bottle. ¡°Fine, fine, we will do a scope of the site. We need to get you pathetic lot some levels anyway. It is a good opportunity to do some training.¡± ¡°Good, good!¡± Rowan grabbed more bottles and two glasses. ¡°Then we can finally get this adventure started properly.¡± Icid accepted a glass and peered into its murky contents. The scent of ginger, cloves and nutmeg combined with the unmistakable smell of distilled alcohol. Jack did not comment on the fact he was being served his booze in his own house, but he did make a loud nasal sound when the glass was pressed into his hand. Rowan cleared her throat and struck a dignified pose. Or at least Icid guessed that was her intent. But as a goat it looked more like she was making a desperate attempt to look over the table. ¡°My beloved old friend and lovely new spider apprentice. We have few in number, but I feel we have the foundation of something great. I had hoped it would have been easier to get old comrades to join, but for now, we will have to make do without. This world to me, I must say, is a confusing piece troll intestines. But it matters not, as you two seem to find a semblance of logic where I fail to see any. On the other hand, humans are still humans, even if they are now spiders. So I hope my old world knowledge may still come in handy. And I firmly believe that, with your assistance, we will be capable of separating this ream¡¯s sheep from their wool. Cheers!¡± Everyone took a large swig from their glass of mystery alcohol. Jack topped off the glasses again and took the word. His tone was slower than at the bar, but there was a power behind it that felt equally pleasing. ¡°My old friend and my new friend. I am a fat worn out blob, and you two are out of your league. The last time I heard anything about a Capra achieving something it was as a living football. And Miss Icid, your social skills are so poor that they might rank below your current level count. But you made it to here and together we might make it even further. Tomorrow I will request to tag along with some of the Rattling Ravens as they go on their daily raid into the Palace of Roots. This will bring us right to the heart of Oliver¡¯s operation, tagging along with the very people who delve for the rare drops. We can gather the intel on the sight and gain some hard needed skills and levels in one fell swoop. They will be reluctant to take you, as you are absolute scrubs, but I will put in a good word. It will be dangerous at your current rank and the penalty for death is severe. But if old Oil and his apprentice cannot even get themselves through a dungeon¡­ then this whole operation is pointless anyway. Cheers!¡± Another load of pleasant brown goop went down and Icid felt the world spin. She was not used to drinking, and this was heavy stuff. But she was not going to let that stop her. Tonight was turning into a good night, and it sounded like tomorrow was going to be better. So she was going to let the wind steer the ship, and walk down this strange road. Glasses were topped off again, and the night blurred together in a clutter of memories laced with cinnamon. Party Quest Complete: Better Get Jack Members: Sarcastic Goat and Complainy Spider Jack joined your ragtag group of fools at last! At this rate, you lot will be a mere 1254 years old by the time you reach Olivier¡¯s doorstep. Luckily, you have made plans to finally go make plans to do an inspection of a place to later maybe go do something useful at. Progress. Also, the spider is now a regular Arachne instead of a Lesser one, rejoice! She gets¡­ I dunno¡­ [Webbing Instinct], that would be funny I guess. You instinctively know things about building webs now. And to make it interesting you get the un-suppressible urge to build them occasionally, rejoice! Now go get your stats appraised already, so I can tell you something useful next time, or I will give you even weirder abilities. Be warned. Party Quest Gained: A Good Old Dungeon Run Members: Goat, Spider and Mustache Now you will set out to make an inspection of the Palace of Roots, a famous low to mid-level dungeon. You are under leveled for it, but surely it will all be fine. We only have the Scha¡¯vun, the authorities, the King of Greed, and monsters in a single place. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Chapter 13: Feather Dance No matter how long the night, on some days, the morning still arrives far too early. Icid¡¯s head burned like someone had filled her skull with smouldering coals. Next, an unpleasant cold draft flowed over her body, sending shivers down her spine. Then something stumbled around next to her, making an unbearable racket. She opened her eyes, facing the harsh light of morning. The world was once again upside down, as it was often as of late. Although things were a bit different today. Firstly, she was naked, no semi-skirt, no blanket, nothing. Secondly spider webs¡­ ¡°uuuuughh.¡± When she attempted to move another large flare of pain shot through her head. She was in the middle of a giant spider web, or at least the beginnings of one. Not the famous net shaped type, but one of those hole shaped nests. Most of her body was vertically against the wall, with her rump lying on the floor of the structure. Her hind legs curled around her while two front-facing pairs stuck out the front of the entrance. Boff- more loud trashing and stumbling. Icid moved her head out to look, slowly this time. A boy rabbit struggled around on the floor, getting more and more entangled in strands of spider silk. He attempted to swing around a long wooden staff, but only pulled the tread more around himself. ¡°Rid?¡± He stopped rolling around and cast a glance upward. His small nose went an instantly beet red and he turned his head away in embarrassment. ¡°I-I am so sorry. Miss Rowan asked me to come g-get you¡­ When I stepped inside the living room I tripped into the web and couldn¡¯t get out. I had no idea you were sleeping he-¡± ¡°Uuuughhh, don¡¯t talk so loud. My head hurts enough already.¡± Icid wanted to move back into the hole, to hide her body. But she would be in view regardless, even if it was the instinctual thing to do. Hide the same, the nudity, both the human and the spider. But glancing at the rabbit toiling in the strands of her web, looking away all embarrassed, it felt so¡­ pointless. She was ashamed how this body looked, even with clothes on. But right now the only thing that entered her head was ¡®who cares¡¯. It all felt so unreal, so far removed from reality, that it did not seem to connect. Who cared if this guy saw her naked, who cared if anyone did? What would be improved about this situation as she where to hide? Her purity as a maiden? Her social standing? Her innocence? Right, nothing that she had or cared for. She took a glance at Rid again. Somehow his embarrassed jolts seemed¡­ childish, weak. Like someone lacking control, or not having perspective. Her nudity was not worth this much fussing, it was scarily worth a mention. After a deep breath, Icid stretched her limbs and climbed out of the nest. Her clothes lay in a nearby corner, not unlike she used to do in her own room. Rid was now trying to break the thread by brute force, having given up on his staff. As Icid put on her jacket she regurgitated some of Rowan¡¯s endless ¡®advice¡¯ at him. ¡°Stop struggling, you will only make it worse. Move deliberately, with thought. Any unnecessary motion is another thing that can go wrong.¡± ¡°Ahhh.¡± Rid paused, taken by Rowan¡¯s generic drivel. Then he set about flailing in a calmer manner. Icid took the time to observe Jack''s living room. She could recall very little of last night, and what she did recall was very weird. Stacks of bottles lay strewn across the floor, enough to get even Rowan and Jack smashed. It turned out that both of them are quite a danger when drunk. This became quite obvious when a fourth person had joined their party involuntarily. Rowan had dragged him inside through the window and Jack poured a full bottle of rum down his throat. By the time he got back to his feet, he was too drunk to walk and collapsed over a nearby chair. But Icid had a hard time recalling what he even looked like, the poor lad. Jack¡¯s living room itself also did not get out unscathed. It was now newly decorated with her new spider nest, tucked into the far corner. Even if it was still unfinished, it must have taken hours to build at least. She had no clue how she had done it, or why, but looking at it, she almost felt proud of her achievement. Other, albeit less well constructed, webs sat in other corners of the living room, including next to the door where Rid had fallen. He had managed to free part of himself now, but his arms were still completely stuck. Unlike Revvel, his character seemed much less intentionally crafted. His rabbit species was cute, but lacked a certain humanness. The feeling was hard to put into words, but creatures like orcs and goblins carried a certain autonomy within their appearance. While the goats and rabbits had an underlying animalness in their facial structure that made it hard to take them seriously. Icid¡¯s eyes glided over at his feet while he crawled around on his knees. Most of his body was very human-like, albeit covered in fur. But the bone structure in his legs was quite exceptional. They had a far more pronounced s-curve than human legs, sticking out in the front and back, even in resting position. The construction was like that of a spring and his walk tended to have a significant bounce to it. Even his long feet only partially touched the ground, with only the front end making contact. Rid did not wear boots, but why Icid was not quite sure. He could not wear human shoes, of course. But if the stores stocked spider and goat fashion, they should stock rabbit clothes too. The undersides of his feet looked soft given the circumstances. A bit like a cat¡¯s paw, always shockingly squishy for something someone walks on. With a smile, Icid extended one of her legs and gave a soft poke. Rid yelped and fell face first back into the web. ¡°Why oh why do you have such big soft feet, mister rabbit?¡± He turned so red the rose glow was visible through his thick fur. He once again started flailing around, having completely lost his calm, and was getting himself only further stuck. After a couple of giggles, she took pity and pulled out her knife. ¡°Never mind, here take this. So, you said something about coming to get me?¡± Rid managed to free his arm after a couple of clumsy cuts and sat up. ¡°T-thank you, Icidae. Yes, I am to take you to my guild, the Rattling Ravens. From there we will go to the meetup point. You will join us while we make a loot run in the Palace of Roots. Miss Rowan has already collected your gear.¡± A sudden and unsettling thought appeared inside Icid¡¯s head as Rid spoke. ¡°Who is this we exactly?¡± ¡°Revvel, you are here¡­¡± The bird princess returned a cold glare. ¡°Unfortunately, I am indeed here. Well, that is not quite true. This is my job, so of course I was going to be here. The unfortunate thing is that you are here too.¡± Icid gritted her teeth while trying to fight her pounding headache. ¡°Now, now, ladies, please be respectful. We are going to be together for quite a while, so try to get along.¡± Jack bounced onto the gathering place with merry excitement. He was dressed in lightweight leather armour that was at least two sizes too small, accompanied by a rapier and a large leather-bound book. A light brimmed within his small eyes that was even more wholesome than his regular expression.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Bob, the dumbest and most brainwashed of the veteran goons also strolled onto the meetup point. He, in contrast, looked pissed. ¡°You lot are going to get slaughtered down there, you understand that, don¡¯t you? And we won¡¯t be dragging your corpses back up when you do. There is a large difference between fighting with people who can defend themselves and having to defend tier 1 shmuck.¡± ¡°Your comments were clear the 15th time, Bob. No need to repeat it any more. You accepted the deal and have been paid. Just do your work like you always do and we will manage ourselves.¡± Rowan said, as she strolled onto the square. Bob spat on the ground. ¡°I am helping you because Revvel owns you a favour. Not because of the meagre compensation you offered.¡± The bird princess looked away. She likely had not expected this favour ever to come into play. From her point of view, it had been likely that she and Rowan would never meet again. But it seemed Rowan had played the favour card when the veterans were present. They might be brutes, but they did at least consider themselves knightly and honourable. So she couldn¡¯t wiggle her way out of this one. And Icid would almost take joy in that, if it did not mean they would be spending the better part of two days together. ¡°Good, that makes everyone. Now let¡¯s get in the cart, we can put everyone on the same page while we travel.¡± Jack said, beckoning everyone to follow. The cart was cramped, so small it would have narrowly fitted six humans. But unfortunately Icid was not a human and could not sit on backed benches. So she reluctantly hung from the wooden framework that held up the oilcloth roof. Rid still had his staff from before and it now battled for Icid''s precious ceiling space as well. Bob was in full plate with accompanying greatshield causing Rid and Revvel to be squeezed against the wall. Revvel herself had a very large longbow that she also tried to shove into Icid¡¯s face, while it was very clear it fitted on the ground just fine. Altogether only Jack and Rowan seemed to have proper space to breathe. So Jack, as per usual, took the first word. ¡°Good, good, it is a bit of a tight squeeze, but it seems everyone found a spot. Now let us review some matters, we are going into a dungeon so it is important that everyone knows who does what. As a Grimoire Keeper, I can read your stat sheets for you. So I will give a quick overview of everyone¡¯s abilities.¡± Icid lowered herself in excitement, and to dodge another poke of Revvel¡¯s bow. Now, this was her area of expertise, stats and skills and compositions. She would almost consider getting one of the Grimoire classes herself, too make sure she always had the numbers at hand. But as she already had a party member with the skill, so that would be a waste. ¡°We will start with me this time. I am a humble Grimoire Keeper. That is tier 3, for those who do not know their classes by heart. It is of the family of Grimoire classes, which contains a variety of spell-casters that specialize in non-combat magic.¡± He gave a couple of taps on the big leather bound book hanging on his side. To everyone¡¯s surprise, the book gave a violent jolt and started growling. With another whack from Jack¡¯s hand, the book stopped ripping its bonds apart and the growling stopped. ¡°Lively lass, this Grimoire is. Unfortunately, this is about the best you¡¯re going to get at tier 3. Not pleasant, but powerful. But I must admit I am not set up for handling dungeon runs. Most of my spells are strictly non-combat. Appraising goods, writing magical documents, and some minor summoning. I have some wards and magic detection, but that is about it. So, let us move on to someone else. Bob, our Tower Knight. A tier 4 tank on legs, is a moving mass of steel. He is the one that will get hit so you don¡¯t have to.¡± Bob slammed his gauntlets into his breastplate causing an ear-piercing metallic clang. Revvel gave small applause and Rid nodded respectfully. ¡°Now then, moving on we have Revvel, a tier 2 Windwalker. Confusing name, but that is because it is a rare variant of the Archer class. She does what an archer does, but better. And we have Rid, our tier 2 Mage, plain and simple. He shoots fire, he shoots ice, all very useful stuff.¡± Rid made his usual embarrassed gestures at the praise. ¡°Now on to the new blood. You probably do not know your sheets yet, so let me give them to you in full.¡± ¡°Pathetic.¡± ¡°Thank you Revvel, your constructive feedback is invaluable like usual.¡± Icid looked up in surprise at Rowan¡¯s unusually annoyed retort. Revvel, in turn, made a pleased smile. ¡°I mean, we can make this long or short, but there is no arguing with facts. Your levels are trash, your build is trash and your skills are trash.¡± Rowan cracked her fingers one by one, giving the words a bit of time to sink in. Icid instinctively crawled back a bit. She could feel a weird prickling in her legs that caused memories of getting suplexed to bubble to the surface. ¡°I think you might place too much value on tables and numbers, Revvel. No amount of magic fairy dust will save you if you do not know how to fight.¡± Another chill went down Icid¡¯s spine, causing her to jolt. She looked around, but she seemed the only one to have that reaction. Revvel giggled and folded her legs in the cramped space. This caused the tip of her shoe to hover inches from Rowan¡¯s face. ¡°Was that a threat, you little farm animal? You seem to have a hard time knowing your place. Your level displays how well you can fight, that is what they are for. But if you want me to stomp on you for a little while to prove it, I am happy to oblige.¡± Rowan jumped up, but simultaneously Jack¡¯s hand grabbed her in the neck and pressed her back down. They turned to stare into each other¡¯s eyes with both their faces distorted with unmistakable fury. A couple of moments passed, punctuated by more of Revvel¡¯s giggles. Rowan muttered something under her breath, but sunk back into the bench. Within a flash, her face had gone unreadable again, but her void-black eyes retained an unbroken gaze at Revvel¡¯s throat. Icid took note not to vocally put Rowan¡¯s capabilities into question. A thief¡¯s pride appears easier to hurt than she had expected. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think it is that bad¡­¡± Rid¡¯s shaky voice cut through the silence. ¡°Hidden Blade is seen as quite a good skill. It is not very rare but it has a lot of growth potential. Luckily you got it early, so you have a high chance of getting its derived skills. Also the Criminal classes, Thief included, are notoriously hard to level. So having it be your highest level ability is an achievement upon itself. Besides, Bonehead is exclusive to Capra, so people tend to forget about it. But it has real utility in dungeons with traps or ganking players. If you work to get access to Shadow Magic as your soul skill and raise Hidden Blade and Bonehead to obtain their derived skills it will make for a decent Assassin build.¡± ¡°She still does not have a single source of direct damage though.¡± Revvel cut through with an unwelcome comment again, causing more gritting of teeth and cracking of knuckles to occur. Icid however, was starting to break out in a cold sweat over what was going to happen next. Jack cleared his throat and took the word again. ¡°Well, let us put that out of mind for a while and move on to Miss Icidae.¡± ¡°Hahahhaa, it got the Beggar¡¯s curse!¡± Like clockwork, Revvel burst out in mocking laughter, causing Icid to become beat red in embarrassment. The Beggar¡¯s Curse was, as its name describes, a curse that befalls beggars. She had gotten it while she lived in the slums outside the first ring. No one knew exactly what the Beggar¡¯s Curse did, but peculiar misfortune tended to befall those how had it. And as it was a special category skill it was always active and was almost impossible to get rid of. In a word were money ruled, the Beggar¡¯s Curse was considered the highest mark of shame. This time Jack¡¯s warm voice was the first to interrupt Revvel. ¡°Well, the rest is actually quite good. She does not have many levels besides on her Arachne form, but that is a high tier species so it gets lots of skills. The Thief class plays nicely with Arachne skillset and even has some unique variants down the line. I don¡¯t know about Dark Heart and All Consuming Song, so they must be quite rare as well. In any case, special abilities are, in most cases, a lucky thing to get. As long as she puts focus on levelling her mind and soul skills she can become quite a powerhouse.¡± But princesses never let their tongues be silenced for long. ¡°Oh, why is everyone so eager to take it up for these two whackjob weirdos. That rhetoric only holds up if it evolves its body down the Arachne line. We all know that if it chooses for a human-ish form later it will lose most of the skills it has right now. But of course, that would be me assuming human levels of reason. It is completely possible that ¡®it¡¯ over there gets off on becoming an even larger, more disgusting spider.¡± Burning hot blood started to rush to Icid¡¯s head. She clicked with her mandible and spider-stalked toward the bird princess. Still upside down, she gazed with all her eyes into Revvel¡¯s cold blue crystals. ¡°You know what, you hollow ball of feathers, maybe I will. Maybe I will become the most gigantic, creepy, disgusting spider that ever crawled across this server. Maybe I do care more for the raw power, for the numerical advantage, than for vanity. And when I do, little bird, you better sleep with your eyes open. Because vain chicks make for excellent dinner.¡± Revvel swung with her bow to get Icid¡¯s drawn fangs and clicking mandibles away from her face. But when compared to Rowan¡¯s attacks, it was as if it happened in slow-motion. With ease, Icid caught the bow with her free hand and pushed it away. Revvel¡¯s face contorted into a harrowed expression as she peered into the spider maw. ¡°You aren¡¯t scared of tiny spiders, are you, little avian?¡± ¡°Stop this, leave me alone!¡± Revvel¡¯s free hand shot out in an attempt to hold the advance, but Icid caught it all the same. Her fangs itched unbearably, she wanted to bite that soft neck. Laughter, blood, corpses and goats danced in her head. She wanted to bite, she needed to bite, she had to bite¡­ She- Creeaak! Chapter 14: Rabbit Enflamed Icid wakes with a pounding headache, seeing nothing but legs. Armoured legs, rabbit legs, goat legs¡­ Revvel¡¯s howling laughter echoed somewhere above while the wood floor moved, trembling up and down. Icid¡¯s limbs felt weak and shaky, like someone managed to simultaneously slap every all muscles at once. ¡°Uuugh, where am I?¡± ¡°Khaahahahaaa! Brilliant Rid, your spell got her so good she completely lost it!¡± Beside her, in an upside-down universe, Revvel sunk through her knees in her manic screeches of joy. Icid tried to move, but found that her legs were suspended in the air. She concluded that she must have fallen down. With effort, she pulled herself back onto a nearby wall. Everyone stared at her, except Rid who looked the other way while clenching his staff. A mix of anger and confusion set over her. ¡°Why?!¡± She bellowed. Rid twitched, but didn¡¯t move. Then he spoke, his voice stronger than normal. ¡°You do not attack your fellow party members. That is a sure-fire way to get everyone killed.¡± Fury boiled in Icid¡¯s veins, as the pain of the spell lingered. ¡°Hypocrite.¡± Before Icid could say more Bob had grabbed her collar. ¡°There is quite a difference between a stun spell and attempting to tear someone¡¯s throat open. And that is something you better remember if you wish to get out of the Palace of Roots alive. If you attack one of my comrades again, I will personally stuff you under the ground. Do you understand?¡± Icid looked around for support, but both Jack and Rowan had put on stern expressionless faces. ¡°I wasn¡¯t attacking anyo-¡± Bob tightened his grip and pulled Icid closer. ¡°Stop your drivelling. Unlike you untrained lot, we actually know what we are doing and can sense the intent to harm. It does not matter you hadn''t yet, you were about to. Now, go be silent and reflect on actions toward the people who will be defending your life in an hour.¡± Frustrated tears started to form in Icid¡¯s eyes. Why was she always the one that had to sit and take the abuse? ¡°But s-she-¡± ¡°Silence, you dumb child!¡± With an aggressive push, Bob released Icid and sat back down. Icid crawled back into the furthest corner of the cart and hug her knees. Why did it always go like this? Why was the princess allowed to do and say as she pleases while she gets screamed at? Why had even the kind Rid turned against her? She didn¡¯t bite anyone, right? It was all just an act, right? Just an impulse of the moment. She would not have bitten anyone, right? ¡­ A couple of minutes later the cart arrived at its final stop. Icid and Rowan sat in silence, while the rest had resumed the regular small talk. Icid felt alone. Especially surrounded by all these people, she felt alone. Jack had not taken her side, Rowan had not taken her side, and Rid had even hit her with a spell¡­ Everyone exited the cart one by one, leaving her and Rowan alone for a second. Icid sneered at her, putting all her bottled up rage into a hateful stare. ¡°You have to learn to pick your battles better, Icid. That has not the time nor the place to attempt physical aggression. Such actions put us all in a bad place.¡± Rowan responded. It did not help, the words burned, stoking the fires even hotter. ¡°You provoked her too. And you didn¡¯t even pick my side when that brute was screaming at me.¡± Icid¡¯s voice was loud and hoarse, causing some sniffling laughter to erupt outside. ¡°I know what is appropriate and when to stop, Icid. And you made a mistake, so you will have to bear the consequences. I will help you, when it is justified. But I refuse to take the fall for your mistakes.¡± Icid hissed, but failed to find a retort. Rowan let out a loud sigh and beckoned her closer. ¡°Listen Icid, the time will to put that empty husk of feathers in her place will come. But you have to wait for the right moment. She is proud and vindictive, and you invaded her space and scared her. One thing you can be sure of, she is not satisfied with you getting zapped.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. She will come for you at some point and attempt to knock you down a peg. But to do so she will need to drop her guard, to move away from her ally¡¯s and out of sight. Freeze your anger for now, and control your emotions. Be calm, stable, calculated, and forward thinking. Not a slave to your emotions, but a master to them. Once she comes for you, be ready, and unleash your rage then.¡± Rowan extended her hand, inviting her to come outside. Slightly flustered, Icid accepted, pushing her anger deep into the place where the goat dances. Olivier¡¯s Tree, the castle atop the Palace of Roots, was a marvellous combination of splendour and mistrust. It sat in the middle of a giant aard river with an ominous roar that could be heard from miles away. In a ring around the castle, giant spikes sat sunken into the ground. They were so large that Icid guessed they had to have been created by magic. The structure only one entrance, long and very narrow bridge. It fitted exactly the width of a set of rickety rope-drawn carts. Or the wheels of the carts to be more accurate, as the sides extended a horrifying amount over the gaping depth. There were three stops in total: the start, the end and the checkpoint. The start and end are self-explanatory, but the checkpoint is quite interesting. It sat in the middle of the river on the only support the bridge had, a column made of wooden mesh. In the checkpoint, every passenger gets searched to ensure that have not taken any of the dungeon''s loot. Olivier owns the dungeon after all, and he does not take kindly to people taking what he considers his. You only get in under a contract, with the requirement that all items found inside are traded in against fixed rates. Rates that are pennies to the dollar compared to market value, as one might expect. This is how most dungeons in Aard operate nowadays, with the exception of the higher tiers. But commoner scum cannot go there, so the peasants are stuck with signing away their rights to all their loot. This specific checkpoint works so well because everyone sits in a rickety cart with nowhere to go or hide. This gives the guard apple opportunity to scrutinize every passenger. The process takes an ungodly amount of time, especially with the carts being one track only. This gave the added bonus that peasants have ample time to admire the horrifying depths below, in which they would be thrown at the slightest suspicion of theft. ¡°Dungeon traffic jams at border checkpoints, truly the apex of civilised video gaming.¡± Icid complained, as she finally stepped onto Olivier¡¯s Tree. Rowan seemed equally annoyed, Jack smiled, and the rest pretended she did not exist. She cursed and pushed back her feelings again, following the group into the main hall. It was a lofty affair, decorated in red and gold. The sheer gaudiness of it all seemed to scream: this place is so secure that I can hang my walls with gold, so don¡¯t even try stealing a single lesser regen pot. There were three doors and an elevator in the room. The first door led back to the carts. Guards stood around the second leading Icid to assume it connected to the vaults and the inner castle. Only the elevator remained, which went straight down into the ground. Small parties of adventures stood around the space discussing strategy and profits. Most of them were armoured in early game gear, with one leader figure per party in better stuff. They slowly moved along with a blob of similar folk to the centre. Icid was about to walk out into the line when Rowan grabbed her head and pushed her down. ¡°Stay out of sight, problems from the left.¡± She glanced between the legs. Nothing but guards and patrols caught her- Wait, is that the guy who died in the mansion they robbed? Icid was not good with faces, but this one she had a hard time forgetting. The look in his is horrid unseeing eyes as he got killed was burned into her retinas. The man was among a patrol of hired reinforcements. Icid could tell them apart from the regulars as they wore their own sets of armour. To mark them as guards, they wore a pin of the Olivier household. An ogre, as Rowan had described to her, was among the lot. ¡°Why are they here?¡± Icid asked. ¡°No clue, stay behind the crowd, but keep moving. They will make a quarter turn at the end of the hall so we cannot afford to stop.¡± They walked forward, moving along with another group of new arrivals. There was no cover, no tables, no desks, only open space between them and the elevator. One good glance between the legs would reveal them immediately. Luckily Ogre and friends were not the most attentive of personnel and mostly stared ahead of themselves. Time seemed to crawl forward as Icid and Rowan mixed between the tangle of legs. Then the adventurers stopped, a hand full of meters before the elevator. ¡°Let¡¯s go over the composition one more time before we enter will we?¡± The leader spoke up, causing a moans to erupt all his party members. ¡°Goblins ambushes are our main concern during most of higher leve-¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this Icid, the rest is already getting in. If we wait any longer they will turn and spot us nonetheless. Let¡¯s go!¡± Rowan started moving with rapid speed to the closing elevator. As they ran past the line, the wire contraption swung into motion and the elevator started its rapid descent. Ogre and friends turned at the same time. After a couple of moments a loud yell rang across the hall and they stormed in. The ogre was fast, his long legs covering multiple meters per step. But Icid and Rowan had already closed most of the distance when he started. Rowan arrived first and vaulted into the box as before it disappeared into the floor. Icid hesitated for a second, looking at the cable descending into the black void. Foul cries rang out from the bellowing ogre, who was now mere meters from the elevator. After a deep breath, she closed her eyes and leapt. She hid the top of the elevator harder than expected and nearly slid off. Without her bi-claws, she probably would have, but at least she had those going for her. Before long Revvel¡¯s annoyed cries echoed through the long shaft. ¡°Why did you have to do that for?!¡± ¡°Because it is impolite to make fair maidens wait, now be happy. I doubt Olivier¡¯s guard cares as long as we bring back loot.¡± Rowan answered in a casual tone. ¡°By the way, are you alright Icid?¡± She added. Icid looked at the shaft. It was also single file, but the walls had wide spacing between them and the elevator. ¡°Yea I am good, coming in!¡± She moved carefully over the sides and lowered herself into the basket. After a single glance inside she stuffed herself onto the ceiling of the box, as the elevator was also cramped, as everything seemed to be on this journey. ¡°You two are absolute morons.¡± Revvel continued, while making her way to the edge of the elevator. Icid closed the distance Revvel had created, pressing her head close. ¡°Thank you. It is good you understand, Revvel. We are morons, insane even, and very happy to get to spend the day with you.¡± Revvel glared back. ¡°The feeling is mutual, little spider.¡± Chapter 15: Fang to Fang With a clang, the elevator halted and the crew flowed out onto the moist floor. It was a peculiar place, the walls consisted of a hard mud-like substance overgrow with moss. Countless tunnels, most of them too small to walk in, coiled in all directions. A howling wind ran through all of them, carrying an endless supply of humid air and droplets of moisture. ¡°Where are we?¡± Icid yelled. ¡°The howling tunnels.¡± Bob, replied. ¡°A network of dustworm nests that would span for miles if Olivier had not cut it off with stone spikes. We better move, staying here is nothing but trouble.¡± Pushing against the winds, they crawled from shaft to shaft. Bob lead, as he seemed to know the way, even if to Icid every tunnel looked the same. Him, Rid, Revvel and Jack had to crawl on their knees, something Rowan and Icid were spared of due to their size. Everyone proceeded quietly and listened to the odd sounds carried by the wind. Clattering, moaning, streaming and tapping. They were occasional, but unsettling. Enough for Icid, who was back of the line along with Rowan, to let her eyes wander wide. Was that the grunt of an ogre she heard? She listened again. Nothing but howling. Revvel walked in front of them, dragging her knees through the filth with frustration. Rid and Jack were between her and Bob, but the paths were so bendy that they were out of sight most of the time. Not that it mattered, as Jack was so out of shape that his gasps for air were clearly audible. Everyone carried their own oil lamps. Not the cheap common ones, but an expensive kind that was resistant to most kinds of abuse and that did not leak when held upside down. Unfortunately, they were not half as effective as someone out of an electrically lit world might expect. The flame was weak and the lamp''s metal construction blocked a lot of the light. In the darkness they cast long shadows everywhere, causing an ominous dance of light and dark contrast. The only thing Icid could compare it to was her experience going through a tiny crawlspace with a low-quality flashlight. You only see exactly where the lamp shines, and if you are bent over the lamp in a crawling position, that is very little. A set of particularly ominous screams echoed through the tunnels. Icid reared around to look, but saw nothing but dark tunnels. Sounds in the dark tend to niggle at that primal part of our brain, the parts that used to keep us safe from wolfs and other dangers lurking in the night. And after another howl nervousness got the better of her and she pulled Rowan aside. ¡°Just how are we going to deal with that ogre later, won¡¯t they be out for our blood?¡± She whispered. Rowan pulled a pained expression. ¡°Not will be, they already are. Luckily the elevator was one way and takes a long time to get up and down. But we can be sure that they are chasing us as we speak. We can praise the divine that this is a maze, or else would be fighting for our lives now.¡± Icid scuttled around in discomfort. Now howling winds now seemed filled with the far-off screams of angry soldiers. ¡°But how do we get back up? And won¡¯t they recognise us once we return to steal their stuff?¡± ¡°Those are problems to be solved when the time comes. All we can do right now is be flexible and keep our eyes open.¡± As they talked the pathway opened up and spread out to a set of open chambers. Bob stood still at the edge, his expression hidden behind his helmet. ¡°Egg chambers¡­¡± Rid mumbled. ¡°Should we have taken the second left after all, Bob?¡± Revvel asked. ¡°No, the path was correct, these chambers are new.¡± ¡°But how could that be, this place is fully cut off from the other dustworm networks. The last one should have died years ago, there are no adults left to build new nests.¡± Revvel replied, sounding nervous. Bob thrust out his lamp to observe the chamber. Thousands of black, pulsing, slimy things covered the floor. ¡°What the- Those ain¡¯t dustworm eggs¡­ By the mites, this is bad!¡± Those last words reverberated through the open chamber with an unsettling loudness. Bob gasped, fearing what was about to unfold.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The wet sacks pulsed louder, fleshy membranes moving alongside each other. In the uneasy light of the lamps, they seemed to swell. Then they burst with horrible ripping sounds, releasing balls of mangled horror. ¡°Run!¡± Bob roared as he dived back into the tunnels. At the yell hundreds, maybe thousands of other eggs burst open. The room flooded with a coundless moist clicking sounds. Revel screamed as the floor became a flurry of legs and leapt backwards. She collided with the back wall and slid down onto the ground. ¡°Icid snap out of it!¡± At Rowan¡¯s command, Icid felt herself return to her senses. Jack was already moving and hoisted Revvel up. The sea of horrors flooded close, legs skittering and claws snapping. ¡°Wall of Flame!¡± Rid roared. Blinding light flared as the ground exploded in crimson. Icid scuttled back in the nick of time, and started her run to the pathways. Some of her eyes observed Rid¡¯s, whose expression seemed cold but calm. An odd resoluteness was within them, not unlike after he had zapped her. This caused something to click inside Icid¡¯s brain, something so obvious that she felt foolish she had not seen it sooner. She should have known when someone as shy and frail as Rid had an occupation as dangerous as dungeon raiding. There was a love behind it, a love for video games, a love for heroes. Then she roared. ¡°Get back in formation, rabbit brain! Glass cannons go in the back!¡± Rid jolted upright and sprinted into the cave, Jack and Revvel leapt in after and as the flames diminished Rowan and Icid dove in closely behind. ¡°All here?¡± Bob yelled. Five conformations followed in rapid succession. They moved through the caves as fast as they could, which was still horrifyingly slow. Especially Bob, with his heavy armour and large build, had a hard time moving at speed. Icid had to sit there, looking at Revvel¡¯s behind, while seas of popping sounds came ever closer. And as they moved deeper the noises inside the tunnels changed. First, there were only the howling winds and the clicking. Then occasional screams from other directions stated flowing in. And as they crawled further the sounds of full-fledged pandemonium echoed through the tunnels. ¡°What the mites is going on?¡± Revvel screeched. ¡°Someone must have infested the tunnels with adult Diggers! We need to get down. They can¡¯t dig inside the Palace of Roots, go right.¡± Bob roared back. They crawled through the narrowing tunnels as fast as they could. With every breath the screams and the clicks seemed to come closer. Then, as Icid cast another glance behind, she saw the first reflections of lamplight in countless eyes. ¡°They¡¯re here!¡± The rest threw a panicked glance over their shoulders and hurled themselves into a frantic forward scramble. ¡°How much further, Bob!¡± Jack yelled. ¡°We should hit a clearing soon!¡± The clicking and popping mass moved closer and closer, bringing the horrors into clearer view. They seemed to consist of nothing but gaping maws with countless insect legs. Their teeth and mandibles were haphazardly placed around their digestive pits, as if designed by a particularly cruel god. ¡°Revvel, move it!¡± Icid yelled. But it was pointless, the line was stuck, and she could not help that either. Rowan turned, drew her dagger and faced the horde. ¡°Icid, take the ceiling and give me as much web as you can. We will have to fight!¡± Icid stared at the swarm. Countless horrid eyes looked back at her, accompanied by twice as much sickening mandibles and ten times as many sharp fangs. She swallowed and went deep into her mind. To the red place, the bloody place, where the goat danced atop the pile of corpses. Then the drums set in. She made two sideways hops, putting her upside down with her back turned to the enemy. Rowan dashed underneath, blade at the ready. Icid pulled a thread, she fanned out a tick batch of it with her hind legs. Then the diggers strated leaping, mouths open wide. Three got sliced by Rowan''s blade and two others dug themselves into Icid¡¯s outstretched legs. With a painful jerk, she managed to get the end of the web loose and into Rowan¡¯s hands. Then Rowan went about hurling it while attached to the fresh corpses. As soon as the blood of the dead horrors struck the horde they started tearing the corpses apart. Icid¡¯s thread flowed ever outward into the swarming ball of diggers. Rowan separated the stragglers of Icid¡¯s legs using her knife and hurled their corpses atop the coiling mount. It grew and grew, diggers swarming over each other, pulling in more thread. Crushing and choking sounds started to rise from inside. ¡°Can you walk?¡± Rowan yelled. Icid cut the line and shifted her weight onto her front three pairs of legs. Her rear pair of legs burned like there was no tomorrow and grew steadily worsened while the detached mandibles remained inside her wounds. ¡°No, I will need a hand.¡± She detached half her legs from the ceiling and made a painful spin onto the hard floor. Rowan kicked back a new wave of assailants and pulled Icid up around her waist. Icid bit her lip and swallowed the pain. Then, as fast as they could, they rushed down the path. While ducking and weaving they dove through hallway after hallway, but the others were nowhere to be seen. The tunnels split to countless indistinct branches, all of them filled with the echoes of screams and clicking. Their frantic escape went on for what felt like hours, encountering nothing but moss and damp soil wherever they went. Then, at the end of a particular narrow tunnel, the floor gave way to a great opening into a large tree root lined chamber. Icid tested her legs, Lesser Regeneration had managed to push out most of the broken digger fangs. ¡°Can you carry me down?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Yea, if we go slowly.¡± Rowan hopped on her back and they started their descent. As soon as they exited the tunnel the howling winds seemed to die down and with it, the echoing stopped as well. In the sudden quiet the gasping breaths of both Rowan and Icid became clearly audible. When they reached the floor, they spent a moment listening to their own breaths. After they had calmed down and Icid had managed to get the last pieces of cartilage out of her legs, Rowan took the word. ¡°That was something special.¡± ¡°That is one way to describe it.¡± Icid replied with a painful smile and then added. ¡°So what now?¡± ¡°I suggest any direction that is not up, preferably something better defendable then this room.¡± Icid looked around, the room consisted of naturally created voids between large webs of roots. Entrances and exits were numerous. ¡°Are we just going to move forward then?¡± She said. ¡°I see no other options.¡± Rowan took the front, Icid followed closely behind and so they headed deep into the Palace of Roots. Chapter 16: Monsters’ Domain Icid felt a familiar rush of knowledge enter her head. But, unlike the usual sarcastic prattle, there was a fast mechanical simplicity to it. Web Spinning lv. 4 --> lv. 6 Webbing Instinct lv. 2 --> lv. 3 She looked around. Nothing moved, only endless shadows and roots. It felt suspicious for the announcer to drop its ridicule, like an attack could come at any moment, but nothing happened. Icid calmed a little and considered the info. She had only gotten skill levels, nothing very useful. Her Arachne level capped, so she was not going to get new skills in that field anymore. All out brawls were not going to raise the Thief skill either. She cursed softly. If she continued like this she was going to stagnate. She needed a soul skill, an alternative to her regular methods of combat. She needed magic. Icid dug through her memories, attempting to remember what options existed. Of all systems in Aard, the magic system was the most obtuse. This was to be expected as the act of doing magic has no equivalent in the real world. The forums said to be like a six sense, moving phantom limbs. Not unlike how she knew to walk on eight legs or spinning thread, Icid guessed. She attempted to probe with her mind as she moved. Like a child attempting to bend a spoon, force without force, strain without contact. She tried to telepathically lob stray rocks or ignite the loose wood, but nothing happened. No resistance, no signals, no feedback, nothing. Then Rowan halted. Icid listened in alarm. Soft creaks, those of bending leather and rustling fabrics sounded in the distance. Rowan made a couple of hand gestures, sending Icid to go prowl around on the ceiling. Hiding in the shadows they put out their lamps. Icid held her breath in the opaque dark. Slowly her sight adjusted to the dark, causing her to notice the blueish glow she had missed in the light of her lamp. The view was poor, but still clear enough discern the walls from open space. Rowan took the lead, moving between cover and shadow. As they prowled the glow became stronger, seeming to wrap around the roots like a fluid more than light. The roots became thicker and sparser, expanding the view. They halted again, listening for more rustling. Nothing, only silence. Rowan made a gesture in front of her rump. Stay put. Icid understood in an instant and connected a thread to the ceiling as quietly as possible. Then Rowan moved forward, peering around the larger sets of roots. Right on the beat, they emerged from the shadows. Green and in ragged clothes, noses bulbous and knives drawn. Goblins. Icid put her feet onto the line and lowered herself behind the pair. She reached for her dagger, but stopped. The bare green neck of the closest creature was visible under the weak glow. She hesitated, should she a stab with a novice dagger, or tearing his throat apart with her fangs¡­ It would be disgusting, animalistic, feral¡­ but optimal, true to this world nature. Just another attack, the better skill, nothing weird about it at all. Yeah, just pick the one with better numbers, right? She bared her fangs, and bit. Venom rushed, and veins tore apart. The goblin scarcely managed scream before the soft flesh of his throat tore into pieces. Warmth spread through Icid¡¯s body, the strange delight of feeling the body go limp and lifeless. Hot blood flowed into her mouth, both sweet and savoury. The other goblin turned, ready to leap, but there was no need to release her prey. His eyes flared up in shock as Rowan¡¯s blade struck the instant he moved. More blood splattered on the ground, and the second goblin fell. Icid head buzzed with a strange harmony, like the song, but a different sound. Melodic and simple, the sounds of nature going its course. She felt the worms crawl in the earth, the bugs skittering in the branches and the rodents gnawing at the roots. It was a wholesome feeling, a feeling of belonging. Icid sat in silence for a while with the goblin still dangling from her mouth while Rowan stared. The adrenaline faded and her mind came back to earth. Her eyes moved to stare into Rowan¡¯s and she snapped back out of her trance. The whole thing felt a lot less sensible now that the heat of combat had passed. Monstrous even, in a way. She dropped the goblin, causing it to fall to into its own blood with a wet thud. Rowan tiled her head and spoke with a strange tone.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Do you find that¡­ fun?¡± Icid tilted all her eyes away, avoiding her gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t- I-it just kind of happens. I guess it feels good, in a way. Powerful, dominant, frightening¡­¡± Another moment of silence fell. Shame and embarrassment mixed into a horrifying cocktail of self-doubt. Icid opened her mouth to speak again, but the words seem to come out all garbled. ¡°I-I won¡¯t, don¡¯t - ehhh. I know, know but- uhmm.¡± ¡°It does not matter, Icid.¡± Rowan threw her arms wide, like she asked the world to look at her. ¡°You might even be doing things just right. I used to be a thief, a criminal and a crook in a world where those things are seen as vile. That is why it worked, because of the inherent lies of society. Cheaters don¡¯t prosper, crime does not pay and countless other idioms. All of them lies. Being the bad guy pays and cheaters win big. But society needs those lies to be believed, or else everything will collapse. The world cannot consist only of crooks. It cannot even survive consisting partially of crooks. It needs a hundred, maybe even a thousand sheep for every wolf, otherwise there will be nothing left to steal. And this world most likely is not much different. Icid, for the better or worse, you take quite a delight in your animalistic impulses. That just is, you cannot change that. The question is, what do you do with that impulse? Do you suppress it, or learn to control it? It might even be exactly what we need right now.¡± Icid stared back, blood dripping from her chin. ¡°Nope, not going there, thank you very much. Let someone else be the psychopath. I don¡¯t want any of this. It was a mistake, a spur of the moment thing. Nothing weird, all completely reasonable. Only fear, that¡¯s all. I am not doing that again, just not, ok?¡± Rowan let out a deep sigh but did not make any further comments. She ruffled through the goblins belongings. Out came rope, regen pots, some food, but nothing of interest and set forth into the blueish glow. Icid trailed behind, rattling an endless stream of excuses why her biting thing is a one-off incident. Well, two off if you count the time she bit the detective, or three off if you count when she almost bit Revvel. The more she talked against the silent Rowan, the more of a mess her excuses became. After a while she gave up and followed quietly. They were now walking around an enormous hole from which the blue glow seemed to emanate. Thick flows of aard leaked from the ceiling into the debts below. ¡°You hear that?¡± Rowan asked. Icid closed her eyes and listened. ¡°Panicked voices, a couple of them.¡± She concluded. ¡°Not just voices, Jack and the others. About two floors down, I think.¡± Rowan hopped on Icid¡¯s back. Icid was about to start her climb down when Rowan ran her arms under her shoulders and folded them behind her neck. A memory of her first night of combat training in the dustbuck drawn cart bubbled to the surface. Then Rowan started whispering into her ear with, the tone that reminded her of a purring cat. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the promises you made when I took you as my apprentice, Icid. I told you there would be murder, suffering and blood. That we would both receive and deal it. You accepted those terms wholeheartedly that day. Do not forget that.¡± Icid shuddered, but did not respond. Then she set off with speed down the steep wall. Bob slammed his weight into the approaching horde of goblins. The path was too wide, he knew it. They had hoped for a choke point, but the attackers had caught up before they could find one. ¡°Firebolt at point black!¡± Rid yelled. Bob ducked in the nick of time as an explosion slammed into the pile. His eyes burned as the ash and smoke flooded into his visor. Then he felt the weight of the stack move. He made a wild swing with his sword to his left. Even with his eyes blinded the piercing scream made it clear that he had struck his mark. As he pulled back his blade, arrows whistled past his ear. ¡°Leak on the left.¡± Revvel roared. He cursed and forced open his eyes. Many goblins lay charred, but countless more streamed in to replace their number. They rushed both sides tirelessly, hoping to get them surrounded. Why were there so many? It was like someone had driven all of them out of their nest and onto the surface. Jack jumped into the left flank with his rapier, but the space was too wide for two close quarter combatants. Bob made another swing on his left. One goblin fell, three others jumped over his corpse and took the flank. This was it then, slaughtered by a pack of tier 1 goblins in a noob dungeon. He would lose most of his levels, the system would randomize his character and his armour would fall into the depths below. Would he still be able to provide for his family? What would they pay the bills with while he attempted to regain his levels and equipment? Rid screamed something and an ice lance hit two of the leaked goblins. Pointless, six or seven more jumped in the instant they fell. They rushed past, ignoring the melee line and going straight for the squishy dps layer. Revvel held her bow out in front of her, attempting to shield herself from the swords. Then suddenly the attackers sunk through their knees and tumbled into the depths below. Daggers flew at stunning speed, piecing arteries and air-pipes left and right. Three goblins turned and dashed toward their new assailant. Screeching like frenzied badgers as they rose their blades high and- Boff- long legs shot out from the dark chasm and threw them off their feed. Before they even hit the ground Rowan roared ¡°[Blast leap]¡± and kicked them down the depths with shocking force. ¡°By the mites, you are late!¡± Jack roared. ¡°Love you too.¡± Rowan replied. Then another wave of goblins clashed against and over Bob¡¯s great shield. ¡°Shut up you two and plug the holes!¡± He yelled. Rowan jumped in and Icid moved along the chasm wall. She hacked away at ankles for a while, but it did not take long for the goblins to start avoiding the edge. Then she gave up trying to be smart and jumped into the fray. Blood flowed buckets at a time as blades stabbed, arrows flew and flames exploded. After a while, everything blurred together into a haze of red frenzy. Blades sunk into goblins, goblin teeth sunk into Icid. At some point, she seemed to no longer have a blade at all. Somewhere she heard herself whisper the words [Fury], but all of it seemed so far away. This time she could feel it. Inside the flow of blood, inside the drizzling aard, inside the scurrying critters and inside fragile hearts. The illusive phantom limb, the stray arm of the sixth sense, the crystallisation of life, the magic itself. It rustled with many sounds: foreign and dissonant sound like those in Rid¡¯s staff, strange but pleasant sounds like Rowan¡¯s eyes and the thrilling pulse of the blood. It was a new but familiar song, echoing the notes of her spider¡¯s stalk and the comfort of her webs. Something instinctual, something feral, the primal magic of beasts. Then, only half aware, she bared her fangs.