Might as Well

“…as you can see, this piece here,” Liz motioned toward one of the countless crystalline parts on her workbench while throwing a quick glance at the chat. “will allow me to channel the requisite mana into the receptacle and execute the enchantment that I want.”

Liz followed that up by taking said part up into her hands and inserting it into the contraption that she had been making for the stream.

Streams like these were usually very chill and she used them to unwind from the craziness that was combat in Magic Unbound. Plus, it allowed her the opportunity to sit down and talk with her fans. It was rather important to maintain a healthy para-social relationship with them. That is how she made her money, aside from the contract from the AFK company.

“And there we are!” she declared proudly, holding up the crystalline machine she had been working on for the past hour. “My very own fart machine!”

She grinned at the watchers and put the small box down and picked up the equally small remote controller and pushed one of the buttons on it.

PFFFFTH

Instantly, the sound of a fart echoed around in her workshop. Liz laughed out loud while the stream chat rejoiced.

“That’s right people! This is peak magic engineering! Using the highest quality material to create fart machines! Coming near you in any retailer!” she exclaimed, pressing the button a few times to the delight of her audience.

They clowned around for a few minutes, but alas everything has to end. She placed the machine back on the bench, in clear view of the viewers.

She made sure her hands were clean with a quick spell, then made sure that the camera closed in on her upper body, making sure to leave the workbench in the periphery and her cleavage almost visible. Must keep the thirsty people engaged after all.

“And now, people, we come to the usual segment! The AMA part!” she announced and instantly emojis began scrolling down on the chat screen, most of them using her drones as the base. The artist who drew those emojis deserved every credit she paid out as the created art was very adorable, just like her drones that were buzzing around in the background following a semi-random path. “So, prepare your questions, people! Because I’m here to answer them!”

Liz waited for a few seconds and watched happily the number of viewers climb up. It was, after all, one of her popular segments, though nothing beat when she was jumping around in the fractures.

“Let’s see… The first question is from… Well I’m not going to read your name out loud, sorry, but your question is good,” she said with a mock reproachful look at the crude nickname. “Where do I get the ideas for the machines I make?”

“Good question. The answer is simple. I mostly craft what I need, or somebody else needs. Sometimes I create something to sell or entertain, like this machine here. I don’t really have to create anything new, just translate the real-life equivalent into crystalline mechanics.”

She watched the chat for a moment and selected another question.

“Next question then! Where did I get the skills for it?” she smirked directly at the camera. “You guys ask the question every time. And the answer is still the same: I’m not telling!”

Liz let the chat be outraged for a while before choosing another question.

“One more then! Can you make something for me?” she read out the question and nodded. “Another good one! Yes, I do commissions. On my website, there is a submission form that you can fill out, and when I get to it, we can do a deal,” she explained, pressing a virtual button on a screen that wasn’t visible to the viewers and the link of her website instantly appeared in the chat. “The link is there and you can check it out. However, a few caveats. Thanks to the contract I signed, I can’t build weapons and a few other things (the list is on the site) but otherwise, feel free to ask for things.”

The chat quieted down a little as people went to visit her site, but soon another question popped up.

“How do I decide which commission to take? I usually look at which one is the most interesting, or pays the most,” she admitted freely then shrugged. “A girl gotta eat somehow…”

She spent the next hour answering questions or banning people for their skeevy questions, however, finally, it was time for the last.

“Alright people, I’m sorry to say that nature is calling me, so this will be the last question for today. Let’s see who will it be…” she mused out loud as her eyes rowed over the rapidly moving chat. Then she spotted one that sounded interesting. “Ahha! Found one!” She cleared her throat and then began to read. “Would you join our guild?”

Liz looked directly at the camera which was represented by a see-through drone generated by the game so that her eyes had a place to focus on.

“I’m sorry, but the answer to that question is a no. Currently, I’m signed by an in-game company, and they have been very generous with their compensation.” Not to mention the favors that hung over her head. “So, I’m currently not looking for a new place to call home. But don’t worry, my loyal viewers! If I decide to part ways with them, you guys will be the first ones to know!”

She smiled and watched as the emojis flooded the chat for a few moments then continued with her stream.

“Thank you for watching! This was Summer Rose and see you next time!”

Upon hearing the words the virtual camera shut off and Liz collapsed on her desk, tired but elated.

One of the drones broke their routine and flew closer to her and buzzed inquisitively as it observed their tired creator.

The city of Brightgarden was coming along nicely. Technically it was always nice, but ever since Stephen and his friends settled down with their guild, Fauna Ark, it could be said that the city had bloomed.

And with the arrival of dozens of copycat guilds into the city and companies wanting to set up businesses, everything just kept getting more exciting.

The copycat guilds were mostly annoying, though a few managed to anger him as they used honeyed words or copious amounts of money to poach people from his guild. Though, thankfully they didn’t get anyone from the core group but several druids and herbologists were taken by people with money.

Thankfully, with AzureTiger at the helm of the finances, they could add a little more money to the salary fund, thus decreasing the possibility of people leaving the guild.

Then there was the AFK company. Building all sorts of facilities all around the city. Some advertised, some not. Honestly, he was a little jealous of the Heavenly Forest. Stephen did a little digging, and when he showed the prices he managed to find out to AzureTiger the girl almost punched him in the face.

Though the shopping center that the company set up was rather nice, and they were currently in discussion with them to sell their excess mount/pet/summon feed for some extra income.

Running a guild was hard work, but Stephen rather enjoyed it. Plus, he couldn’t help but notice how different people looked at him. People were admiring him. Him! Even Kim’s smile was different when she looked at him, not in a bad way, but there was something there that wasn’t when they had begun dating.

All in all, the game has improved his life in all manner of ways, now if he could find a way to armor Slathy, that would be the cherry on the top…

Stephen was walking around Brightgarden, just having fun, window shopping, and waving the flag, so to speak. Slathy followed him until they reached the big square in the middle of the city, then simply plopped down and waited until children began climbing on him.

He just smiled good-naturedly and began wandering around, looking for a gift to give to his girlfriend.

Half an hour later he was contemplating visiting the shopping center when he heard a roar. A roar of a beast came right where he left Slathy. Knowing that his sweet little angel wasn’t that big on roars he immediately turned around and began rushing toward the noise.

Stephen arrived at the square to a weird sight.

Slathy was standing in the middle with a gaggle of children cowering behind him, his fur puffed up to make him seem much bigger, though, with a rabbit that was almost ten feet tall when standing on its hind legs, that was rather unnecessary.

Opposite his loyal rabbit stood a giant grizzly bear, fur matted with dried blood and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth as it eyed the children behind his partner. Then a burst of laughter.

“What?! Is my bear not cute enough to play with?”

Stephen looked over and saw a man, not unlike the bear, in scuffed armor, almost a head taller than him, with a giant axe affixed to his back and his hands on his hips.

“Come now, children! Boris here wants to play with you! Leave that stupid rabbit behind and come behold what a true man is!” he exclaimed then began flexing, comically the bear began to imitate him, its muscles bulging under the unkempt fur.

Slathy just snarled and Stephen saw him tense, ready to launch himself at the bear. Knowing that the mayor would probably eviscerate him if there was a fight in the middle of the city, he decided to step in.

“Slathy, calm down!” he called out as he walked up to the commotion.

The watching crowd parted with ease, the NPCs present – and even the players – recognizing him.

The giant man turned toward him and Stephen saw on his face that the man also recognized him.

“Look, Boris, who graced us with his presence! The illustrious leader of a small pet shop!” The bear let out an approving roar but Stephen ignored it as he walked next to Slathy, placing his hand calmingly on the rabbit's fur. “Not like our amazing and manly guild, the ICE CASTLE!” he exclaimed, finishing the sentence with a roar while the crowd began to murmur. The NPCs were in awe, while the players realized instantly what this was. So did Stephen.

“Look, your bear is nice and all, but could you not? You’re annoying people and scaring the children…” he spoke while motioning toward the children who were still covering behind Slathy, clinging to his fur for reassurance.

“Ho! Are you calling me out you chicken?” said the man, sending Stephen a rather condescending look. “Not that I expect much from a guild that deals with rabbits, chicken, and deer!” continued the man. “If I want to see something adorable I visit my niece! A familiar must be strong!” The beer flexed its arms. “A familiar must be deadly!” The bear once again opened its maw, letting everybody see the deadly fangs in it. Some of the children had shorter arms than the biggest fangs. “And yours is neither of those!” finished the other man, pointing at Stephen and Slathy. “So the Ice Castle is here to show Brightgarden what a real guild is like!”

Stephen blinked a few times, then apologized in advance to the mayor and AzureTiger who would be dealing with bills, and spoke up in a flat tone.

“Slathy, crush.”

Lucrecia missed her knight in shining armor.

Granted, tales of his deeds were entertaining enough, but she wanted to feel his presence, bask in his aura of confidence. And most importantly, she wanted to know how to proceed with her plans. By now she had dozens of people placed in all sorts of positions in the city, all gathering information about the happenings, which was then fuelled to a small team of specialists that her mother put together, who in turn forwarded the important information to her and to her mother, and through her to Lucrecia’s father.

She then made sure that all applicable information reached the company her beloved owned, even if that disgustingly competent woman was in charge of the day-to-day business.

Which left her with not much to do…

Knowing that her admirable knight wouldn’t want her to sit on her laurels, she threw herself into studying.

Back when her mother started forcing lessons on her, they were rather boring. Who needed to know that much etiquette anyway?

She knew that he was a mage with considerable talent. Even her father, who was one of the strongest people she knew about admitted that her beloved was in a class of his own. Thus her research led to the magic that would complement him.

Shadow magic needed shadows to function, and what better way to create shadows than to shine a light on the area? Thus she chose light magic.

Wind magic was strong, but could be stronger with some help. The best way to strengthen wind magic? With lots and lots of fire. Thus, her second choice was fire magic.

Light and fire, just as her beloved used shadows and the wind.

Just the chance to fight alongside her knight, working in perfect harmony sent Lucrecia giggling in glee every time she imagined the deadly dance they would be able to execute.

For now, she was simply conjuring balls of light while throwing around fireballs, however, she couldn’t wait until she could conjure firestorms and illuminate the world!

And then…

And then, nobody would stand against Lucrecia and her knight!

After Dan announced that he was part of the company, the invitation to guilds created by people at the university sadly didn’t decrease in numbers. Hell, they even increased now that he showed that he was good enough to be recruited.

The game craze gripped the entire campus and Dan saw no end of it.

Everywhere he went, aside from classes, the only thing people could talk about was Magic Unbound and what happened in the game.

The forums were full of people theory crafting and there were even some computer labs that were coopted by some guilds to run simulations about builds and scenarios.

And to his astonishment, the phenomenon wasn’t just present on his university campus, but all over the world.

More and more websites were switching over to cover certain aspects of the game, while streamers all over the world followed along. Slowly, but surely (there were several news videos about it) the number of people playing other games began to decrease at a rather shocking speed. Not just to him, but to everybody else.

With Sam at the helm of the AFK company, he knew he didn’t need to fear missing out on interesting things, there was still a token of jealousy in his heart when he watched other people go on incredible adventures in the world of Magic Unbound.

Naturally, his main focus, when watching content creators, was mages and people who used magic. Sam had taught him a lot about shaping mana, but he hoped to glean something from the countless videos that kept showing up on the internet without break.

However, he was rather disappointed.

Most of the information shared with people was things that he either heard from Sam in his introductory lessons or knew were wrong from said lessons. It took a while to see it fully, but after the fifteenth video of a person bragging about slinging fireballs with only a word, he realized that Sam was way beyond anybody who was currently sharing information about the art of mana.

Thankfully, he was at a university, so there were a lot of people curious about the game, and they were also eager to apply the research skills that they had learned at school to the game, especially with the amount of money they could get for certain information.

Because that was a thing.

It was one of Dan’s friends who showed him the site when they went out for a meal (his treat, thanks to the AFK company) but apparently, there was a site where people were paying ludicrous amounts of money for even the smallest scrap of information.

When he got back home, he sat down and looked up a few things, and he was horrified to see that most of the things they did with Sam and the others would be worth enough money that he could live comfortably for at least a year.

If he included the lessons on mana control and such, then based on some rough calculation he would be set for years.

Not that he had any plans on revealing them, at least without Sam’s permission. It was pretty clear that his teacher knew much more. And with the way the world was turning, one's ability in the game soon would be rather important.

So, instead of making a boatload of money, he hedged his bet on his new friend. With the way they were going, soon Dan would be one of the best mages in Magic Unbound…

Now if he could figure out this pesky plasma magic…

Sighing a little, he closed down the website about the game and pulled up his homework. Despite the craziness of the world and the popularity of Magic Unbound he still had homework to do and tests to finish.

His future was pretty much set, but he promised to himself that he would graduate and he intended to keep that.

And who knows, maybe his real-life research would lead to a breakthrough in the game…

With Sam away doing who knows what but probably equally exploiting somebody while making somebody else’s day, Clarissa decided to knock out a few requests that came in for healing. With her new skills, knowledge, and items, going through those small fractures would be a child’s play.

Plus, while the money the company paid her was pretty nice, it never hurt to have more eggs in one’s basket.

Thus, it came to that she stood next to a swirling portal of a multi-use fracture, controlled by the guild, whose name she couldn’t even remember, leaning on her staff, waiting for the rest of the group to show up.

The first one to show up was the one who hired her. A man, with black hair and well-defined muscles wearing leather armor and wielding a spear. He smiled at her and greeted her with great enthusiasm.

“Hello, hello! Thank you for accepting our request once again! We have been having trouble with this one, and a competent healer like you would be a godsend!”

“You paid, I showed up,” she answered flatly.

The other man opened his mouth but after several seconds he closed it, not knowing how to answer that statement.

In the end, the two of them stood next to each other, Clarissa silently while the other man fidgeted a little.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long until the rest of the team arrived. There were five guys, each of them wearing all sorts of armor and wielding different weapons, while the women wore robes that accentuated their figures excellently wielding all sorts of magical foci that sang to her Mana Sense.

One of them, a pretty blond, who eschewed protection for looking well-put together and showcasing the figure god gave her in her designer robe colored emerald green, instantly zeroed in on Clarissa and exclaimed.

“Who is this?”

The spear wielder stepped forward, hands held up in a placating manner. “Now, now Isa, calm down. This is the healer I talked about. She is going to help us defeat the boss.”

The woman crossed her arm under her bust, which naturally attracted the eyes of the spear wielder. “That’s stupid! We don’t need some outsider to complete it! I can heal perfectly well!”

‘Ahh, now it all makes sense…’ Clarissa mused as the man who hired her tried to placate the target of his obvious affection while the girl in turn tried to use her wiles to get rid of Clarissa.

In the end, they agreed to give Clarissa a try, mostly because the fee was paid already as she always made sure to get at least a deposit. This was not the first time that somebody tried to get rid of her before they even began the run.

The fracture itself was nothing interesting. It was found in a brick building that was once used as an alchemy lab by some unknown alchemist. The guild found it when they were doing a cleanup after the Monster Break.

Inside were corridors made of the same brick and mortar, the monsters were either golems made of sludge or alchemical chimeras, created from forest animals.

They were not an issue, however, Isa was.

“What are you doing?”

Clarissa finished healing one of the knights who was ambushed by a snake who was altered to spew acid and turned to the green-clothed girl.

“Healing,” she answered while trying to figure out what her angle was.

“You’re doing it wrong! You should be focusing on the main tank!” she exclaimed, almost to the point of shrieking, and pointed at the spear wielder who was pretending to not hear the discussion.

Feeling like she knew where this entire thing was going, Clarissa still hoped to salvage the situation.

“But he was not hurt…”

“That doesn’t matter!” the girl said, nose held high. “A good healer knows that the most important thing to do was to keep the main tank alive. Everything else is secondary! If you want to be part of the group then you should pay more attention!”

Clarissa stared at the girl who clearly had more boobs than brain and sighed.

“Sure, sure…” After all, it was useless to argue with idiots.

The girl nodded, as if she won some kind of fight, then stalked forward to stand next to the spear wielder who looked rather uncomfortable.

The rest of the delve went the same way.

Clarissa would do her best to keep this group of amateurs alive, while dearly missing the chaotic yet professional behavior of her own team, while Isa would take every chance – real or imagined – to berate her and to educate her.

It was rather annoying…

“Why are you shielding him?”

“What is that spell, why aren’t you healing?”

“My mana is low, make sure it’s filled up!”

“Where are you aiming…”

Clarissa endured all with the stoicism that she gained by being a healer for the last several years. But she was pretty sure, that everyone aside from the idiot girl was aware that as soon as the contract was fulfilled she would be gone, and they would be blacklisted.

They were in a giant room that was once an experiment room for creating chimeras. There was a set of artifacts that could not be removed from the fracture on one side of the room that needed to be activated that would give them a few seconds of protection against an explosion that would herald the next boss, according to the people she was partying with.

As the party had done this several times, the parts needed to activate the shielding were found in short order and they were ready for the boss.

Clarissa with the others stood in the small place, ready to act as soon as the boss appeared.

She watched, interested as one of the people pushed a giant red button and the far wall began lowering with a hiss, releasing noxious green gas that began billowing toward them.

‘Ahh, so the shield protects us from the gas… interesting design…’ she mused as she watched the first part of the gas cloud make contact with the shield.

However, she couldn’t continue to observe, as suddenly there was a fleeting pressure between her shoulder blades and she was flying forward, out of the shield and into the incoming gas attack.

Sadly, even with her impressive shields and mana capacity, the entire event was designed to one-hit kill anyone on their level, so she could only watch in surprise as her health vanished.

[You died!]

[Do you want to resurrect?]

[Yes/No]

She clicked on the yes, and while the game played the usual resurrection scene, she called up the contract and sent a call to get the full fee plus the extra for the party killing her.

Standing up, she ignored the DMs from the idiots and began walking back to the headquarters as the gas was slightly acidic and decreased the durability of some of her equipment.

‘Yeah, I think I should take a break from the game… I wonder if sis is free…’

“What were the gains?”

“Reputation, some gold, recycled equipment, a few minor quest completions.”

His father looked back at the person talking, and David could feel the anger radiating from him. Meanwhile, Katie was sitting on the side of the room and elegantly snacking on some popcorn. Honestly, he really felt like joining his sister.

The operation to root out the pirates that had been recently harassing the people of Deepanchor should have been the cornerstone of their plan to take over the city. Despite that, while managing to exterminate a satellite base of the pirates, they had little to nothing to show for it.

With the vault empty and no notable prisoners, they couldn’t even recoup their losses.

However, what rankled his father, and caused his sister to laugh out loud while requesting popcorn, was that according to the person reporting, there was an unknown player who escaped with one of the prisoners. A player who used wind and shadow magic.

“What do you know about that specific prisoner?”

“Almost everything. It has become pretty big news in the city. Son of James Morrison, one of the bigger merchants. Thought to be lost at sea, however, it seems he was held by pirates and according to our questioning, they were planning to move him somewhere else. Most likely they planned to blackmail the family with his health and safety.”

“And the player who rescued him was…”

“Him, yes.”

David’s father said nothing, but he could practically hear the teeth grinding from where he sat.

“What did he gain?”

“The loyalty of the Morrison family,” came the prompt answer.

“Which he will use to set up a branch of his business…”

“More than likely, sir.”

“Sabotage it,” came the expected order.

However, instead of agreeing the man fidgeted a little before answering.

“I don’t think we have enough people for a proper job, sir,”

‘Now isn’t that interesting… Wonder what happened?’ David thought, ignoring his sister's quiet cackles. Thankfully, no blame could be placed on him as he was away from the city, training with the elite in a fracture that their guild controlled.

“Why?” His father was beginning to look a little red from anger.

“We set up our headquarters with proper security, but the head of security left a few ‘holes’ in defense – a rather common action, I was told – to funnel anyone wanting to intrude.” David nodded in understanding. It was a pretty logical action as there was no unsinkable ship or unconquerable castle, better leave a few holes where they knew the enemy could get in. “However, it appears that somebody leaked almost all of the holes to the criminal element of the city. We have been attacked several times since then, and not just by NPCs. Several criminal player groups tried their luck. So far we managed to beat them back, but if this continues then we will need more people.”

For a while the silence of the room, as his father processed the information, was only broken by Katie munching on her food. Occasionally, when the sound got a little louder, his father's eyes jumped to her, but David could only see a brief twitch before his eyes returned to the man who conveyed the report.

“How are our recruitments going?”

“Background checks holding everything up,” came another prompt reply.

Nobody mentioned that the intensive background checks were his father’s idea.

“What about hiring other workshops?”

This time it was David who spoke up.

“Won’t work, father. In gaming circles, hiring a gaming workshop for this kind of task is a clear signal of weakness.”

“How big of a signal?”

“Blood in the water.”

“Hmm…”

Once more the room descended into silence, broken by the munching of popcorn. For a few minutes, this state of affairs was held up, but apparently, their father couldn’t take it anymore.

“Anything to add, daughter?”

Katie giggled. Giggled! Then she finished the last part of the popcorn, stood up, smoothed out her dress, and gave their father a rather malicious smile.

“No, nothing, father. Good luck, though…”

And with that, she practically flounced out of the room and the teeth grinding returned.

David sighed and wished he could also leave, but alas fate prescribed a different journey for him.

“What should we do father?”

His father turned to him, thought for a moment then began speaking. Both he and the man still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room began taking notes.

The man may have been an asshole and a horrible father but nobody would deny he was a great businessman.

‘It’s a pity he is underestimating gamers…’ David mused, his thoughts turning to his sister’s mysterious boss who always seemed a step ahead of them.

“How the fuck did you do it?”

“A little elbow grease and some voodoo…”

Lucy glared at her nominal boss and couldn’t help but be astonished. He went out to check Deepanchor and came back with the support of a prominent merchant family after somehow finding the family’s lost son in the clutches of pirates.

“And the money?”

“They’re pirates, they had the booty and now I, or rather we, have the booty.”

Lucy looked back at Sam’s innocent face and then let out a sigh.

“Alright, I’ll begin the expansion to Deepanchor.”

“Sweet, that means I can go to the capital…”

Lucy knew to this day nobody managed to snag a piece of real estate at the capital, or any of the capitals around the world. According to the forums she frequented people had tried a lot of things from offering money to offering even more money and even simply taking it by force.

Nothing worked.

“Do you think you can get us some properties there?” she asked worriedly.

Sam shrugged.

“I have no idea. That’s why I’m going there to figure out a way…”

Lucy didn’t need a polygraph to tell that every word that left Sam’s mouth was a lie. But she didn’t mention it. Her friend earned at least that much trust.

“Alright, do you need any help?”

Sam thought for a moment but then shook his head. “Nah, I’m pretty good. Not to change the subject, but how about we change the subject: how is Heavenly Forest?”

Lucy nodded and took a moment to search out a few documents, if Sam was asking about the place then obviously he had something planned.

“We’re doing pretty good. The light fixture refit has been completed recently with the lights that Liz made. Feedback is entirely positive from the staff, due to less maintenance and gentler light. I don’t think the guests even noticed the change. The kitchen was also very happy with the equipment she built. Currently, she is doing a refit for the laundry room and cleaning team,” she explained. “Never thought I would see the day when a magical vacuum would be so interesting to me, but here we are…”

“Do you have a contact at the arena?” The arena locally was simply a place where the city organized events and people could rent fields to fight or train. To the players, it was the place where they could PVP without the danger of PK.

“Sure, they buy a lot of stuff from us… why?” she asked, looking at his friend with narrowed eyes.

He only said three words.

“Pay-per-view.”

Lucy's eyes shone with surprise and then let out a full belly laugh.

“You’re a fucking genius. After Liz is finished with the amenities around the hotel I’ll get her to set something up.”

“Good, then I think I’ll do a small resupply and then head for the capital.”

“Good luck, Sam!”

“Thanks! Have fun with the business stuff..”

Tim really liked the fact that he spent a lot of time making sure he had enough speed-enhancing skills, both passive and active.

Otherwise, he would have long fallen to his ex-guild. Their contract was pretty clear on these things. If the guild attacked him without provocation, betrayal, and such, then the contract was null and void, plus a little compensation for the trouble. Funnily, the compensation became bigger if he could survive for a week after the guild decided to eliminate him.

Not that he found much humor in it with his current situation.

The ritual was done in an out-of-way place to avoid any nosy government officials, wandering adventurers, or their competitions.

It took him an hour just to escape down the mountainside into the forest, where the chase turned into a hide and seek as several people from the guild tried to hunt him down, while no doubt several went ahead to block his escape routes.

He had to constantly either move when his skills were on cooldown or take down people that tried to ambush him. Thankfully, he was one of the more competent fighters in the guild. Most of them only joined to play assassins, concentrating on assassin skills that made them look cool. Only a few of them took the auxiliary skills seriously and now those skills were paying dividends.

Granted it also helped that while he worked in IT, his older sister was an amateur MMA fighter who liked to ‘practice’ with him when they were younger. While he hated every second of it, he at least learned a few things from it.

Mostly that he hated getting punched. So, he made sure that he had skills that allowed him to avoid being punched.

‘If I manage to get away in one piece, I’m buying Nessy a fucking cake…’ he promised to himself as he continued to dash between trees, constantly surveying the area.

It took a few more hours to lose his pursuers for a little while, allowing him to rest and take stock. He was down to his last few health and mana potions and his weapon had a few chips here and there from when he used it to get down the mountainside.

‘So, what now? They will want to complete the first mission their new god gave them or they’re fucked… which means, I’ll need to hide out somewhere. But where?’

Sadly, his musings were cut short when one of his sensing skills pinged and he spotted one of his guildmates heading in his direction. He was up and running instantly, surprising the man by dashing in front of him.

Thus, once again, he was running.

By the time he reached the plains he was rather annoyed. No matter what he did, his enemies always found him sooner or later.

‘No doubt, the demon’s doing…’

He needed a shield, and fast.

As he rushed toward the road that crossed the plains he saw something that sparked some hope in his soul.

It seemed Fate hasn’t decided to throw him away, as on the road he could see the very man that basically destroyed their group when they tried to assassinate him.

There he was riding on his giant wolf that was almost as famous as he was, in some circles, more famous.

Tim took a look behind him and activated one of his once-a-day skills and began running at an angle toward the road so that by the time the skill ended they would be at the same point.

At least hopefully…