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Malika was beginning to think that she had an uncommon knack for magic.

It wasn’t like she’d been unaware that she had the makings of a good Mage. She’d worked out how to cast rudimentary spells all on her lonesome, with little to no help or support from others. In fact, they’d done the opposite! Her mom and her dad and Orn’tol and any of the mages she’d approached had all turned her down, saying she needed more time and more maturity before she could ‘dabble in forces she does not yet understand’ or some such nonsense. No matter what mastery of a spell she tried to impress them with to prove that she was ready, they just gave her the same tired old lines as before, as if reading from the same weathered script. Immersing herself in magical studies was a chapter of her life that she’d been ready to read for ages, but whenever she turned the page, all the book said was ‘keep waiting’, endlessly repeated.

Maddening. Simply maddening. In what other path of life was someone advised to take two steps backward every time they took one step forward? Not once had anyone ever congratulated her for her self-taught successes. While Malika knew that they were only concerned for her safety, there was a point where the warmth of concern became the cold of constraint, and none of their arguments in favor of forbearance had ever held much sway in her mind. Fireballs and minor bolts of lightning were mere rudimentary spells, and she’d learned early on not to practice indoors! It’s not like she was doing anything dangerous.

Not in front of them, at least, but as they’d never found out about her secret training sessions and still rejected her when they were under the impression that she’d only been practicing simple spells, their arguments remained invalid.

So yes, on most levels, Malika was aware that she was going to be a good mage. A great mage, even! She could scarcely wait to sit down and show her teachers what kind of apprentice they’d been missing out on for so many wasted years. Maybe then they would finally give her a proper explanation for why they’d stonewalled her progress. Magic had the potential to kill and maim, but swords were no less deadly and the Ranger trainees began their teachings on how to wield a blade without nicking themselves at an early age. She was not some simpleton sticking her hand into an open flame; she was summoning an open flame into her hand. The latter was so much simpler! And if Malika had figured out so many of the basics without anyone’s help, and without it resulting in a single scar to her name, then she had to imagine that others just weren’t trying hard enough.

After watching Rob the Human engage in a battle of wits with a piece of paper for hours on end, she was no longer quite so certain in that assumption.

Malika had heard tales of Humans, and plenty more of the Village’s Human in particular. While she’d rarely had a chance to meet many Humans before...before...anyway, the point was that she knew that the best mages largely consisted of them. While the other races could produce spellcasters of equivalent ferocity, it took much longer without Fast Learner quickening their rise to power, and not all members of the other races had an aptitude for magic. A highly-leveled Ranger would be able to use naturally learned Skills like Step of the Wind, and Class Skills like Curved Arrow, but sensing even the mana at the very tip of their nose might be beyond their capabilities. Conversely, while some were more talented than others, every single Human had the inherent capabilities to be a middling mage at the very least. Whether it was an ember or a roaring flame, the spark of magic lay dormant in each and every one of them.

But if that was the case, then why hadn’t Rob cast a spell yet? It had been two whole days and he was still poring over the visual instructions on how to learn Sense Mana! And furthermore, how did he not have that Skill yet in the first place?!

“Elder Duran?” Malika whispered, taking care not to interrupt the Human from his one-man-mission. She had a feeling he would hold a grudge against whoever did.

“Yes?” The Elder replied, his cheeks tightening. The aged man had been on edge as of late. Always tensing up whenever she asked him a question, like a scared rabbit that had heard a Firebomb go off in the distance. The long journey north must have taken on a toll on his old bones.

“Why has Rob not yet learned Sense Magic?”

“He is progressing at a more than adequate rate for a Human novice, Malika.”

“Oh.” She paused. “It’s just that I have Sense Magic at Level 13. Is that higher than normal for my age?”

The Elder closed his eyes and sighed. “Please return to your studies, Malika.”

Even now, they deny me the answers I seek, she grumbled to herself. I’m old enough to handle whatever the truth is! Either you’re lying, and Rob is more of a dullard than I anticipated, or you’re not and I’m just-

Malika froze. She’d turned the page into the next chapter of her life, and didn’t like what the opening sentence read. “Elder Duran?” She asked, in a very small voice. “Am I abnormal?”

Elder Durance flinched. It was for a brief instant, and he hid it well, but not well enough. “Young Malika, you are gifted,” he explained, adopting the tone of a kindly grandfather. “Never think of yourself as abnormal. Would you have considered Riardin as such for being an exemplary Ranger? Of course not. You have a shining future ahead of you as a Mage of some great renown, and as far as I or anyone else is concerned, that is something to be celebrated and nurtured.”

The cadence of his words nearly brought on a wave of tears, touching upon distant memories of soft hugs and bedtime stories that she’d long-since buried away. She wanted to wrap herself in the nostalgia and close her eyes, but unfortunately, there was more that she needed to know. Elder Duran might not have been lying, but any intelligent person knew how to obscure the truth without ever uttering a single falsehood.

“If you were to teach someone in the Village capable of learning magic,” Malika started. “And if that person worked twice as hard as me, would they be able to learn as quickly as I have?”

The Elder didn’t answer. He sat there for a few seconds with a pensive expression. “Malika…” His shoulders sagged. “I doubt most people would be able to learn as quickly as you even should they work ten times as hard.”

Oh. Malika turned away from him and pushed her knees up to her chest. Elder Duran was trying to assuage her fears, but his words of comfort went in one ear and out the other. I think now I understand why adults sometimes lie.

She gazed up into the sky. Vibrant multicolored lines flowed through the heavens, tides of energy and brilliant life carried across the world by an aetherical wind. She slowly lowered her gaze, seeing how some of the lines drifted downwards and infused the lands with mana, granting life wherever it touched. Breezes blew, grass grew, people breathed, and mana was there, pulsing through everything and everyone like a universal heartbeat. It was thick and thin, bright and dark, always moving, never constant. Sometimes it whispered to her, little giggles that helped soothe her soul after an especially bad night of remembrance. Sometimes the whispers were somber, nearly pleading, wishing for help she had no way of giving. The mana trailing to and from Reviton City was often like that – not quite dead, but weak, contaminated with a festering poison worse than a thousand snakebites coursing through a single person’s body.

And even then, even at its very worst, it was still beautiful. Mana was as much a part of the world as the air itself. It was ubiquitous and awe-inspiring. She could sit and watch the flow of lines for hours on end, puzzling out the inner workings of the universe, wondering how she might cast a spell if she tugged one line here or another line there.

What if...Malika pressed her knees tighter to her chest. What if no one else can see this?

She’s never had reason to think otherwise. Why should she, when it had come so naturally to her? A person was born, then stayed a wailing potato for a year or so, and then learned to walk, learned to talk, and then to Sense Mana. It was the natural progression of life. She’d acquired Sense Mana Level 5 before her baby teeth had fallen out, and it wasn’t through any effort on her part. Not when mana was everywhere – you would have to put in effort not to observe it. Some poor souls couldn’t sense it at all, yes, but she’d viewed that as a type of blindness. Some people lacked one kind of sight, and some people lacked both, and it was a tragedy either way.

But what if everyone was blind? What if all those times she’d pointed to the sky in rapt wonder, her parent’s joyful laughter hadn’t been them sharing in her joy, but rather them humoring the whims of their precious little girl?

Malika shivered. It was one thing to want to show up stuffy old professors who had been too reticent for too long. The idea that she might actually be fundamentally different from everyone else was…

Lonely. Scary.

“FUCK YES!”

Malika and Elder Duran jumped in place as they turned their attention to the Human. Rob was wearing a savage grin and poking at the sheet containing his lesson instructions with an outstretched finger. “Thought you could keep me busy until my eyes started bleeding, but check it out: Sense Mana Level 1, motherfuuucccckeeer!”

His grin morphed from vengeful to jubilant as his gaze swept across the clearing. “I can’t see many of the motes, but I can see them, and not just for an instant out of the corner of my eye. It’s...it’s really cool, actually. Wow.”

Flashes of wonder swam through his eyes as he took in his surroundings, seeing them for the very first time. “Like little fireflies,” he whispered.

A few seconds passed where the Human sat in quiet contemplation as he came to terms with his expanded understanding of the universe. Then he sprang to his feet with a jolt. “Hey, Duran, that’s enough of a lesson for today right?”

“What? Oh, yes, of course. Very well done, Rob.”

Rob smiled from ear to ear. “Thanks, Mr. Miyagi. Same time tomorrow?” Without waiting for an answer, he took off towards the other end of the Deserters’ camp, unaware or uncaring of the many confused looks he was eliciting from the crowds. “Hey Keira!” he yelled. “If you look me in the eye and say ‘You’re a wizard, Rob’, then I’ll owe you like three favors!”

Malika was torn between wanting to burst out laughing and exulting in her newfound sense of inner peace. What had she been so worried about, again? Feeling different? Being isolated? Rob had been yanked from his world and was the only Human left in Elatra. He had been here for a mere several months, and a good chunk of that time was spent being a pariah. He’d gone from Level 1 to Level 30 during those several months in a meteoric rise in strength that he didn’t seem to fully realize was borderline terrifying. He was one of the Blightkillers, and Malika still couldn’t figure out if Lenora’s cult for him was supposed to be in jest or not.

If someone like that could find friends and a place in this world, then what excuse did she have?

Malika grinned. The matter was so exceedingly simple once she stopped letting her insecurities get the better of her. She was different – so what? She wasn’t the bad sort of different. This was the kind of different that would make her the greatest mage in the world! If others were blind, then she would simply have to be their eyes for them. People would be lining up to be her friend, and she would be able to protect all of them by sinking their enemies into a dreaded mire of clawing death. There were no downsides! Sure, she’d have to prune away the people looking solely to cozy up to a high-Level person, but she had decades to figure out who to put her trust in. At the end of her road, she’d have a group of dependable companions and the ability to rain hellfire on her foes, and what more could she possibly ask for out of life?

Elder Duran was giving her that worried look again, so she made sure to smile wider to put him at ease. She wasn’t sad anymore – everything was going to turn out great!



The day after Rob threw a minor celebration over learning Sense Mana – the spellcaster equivalent of getting excited over filling in your name on a test sheet that you knew none of the answers to, but he was too hyped to be embarrassed – Vul’to contacted the rest of the trainee squad and organized a meeting to discuss matters of ‘party composition’, whatever that meant. Considering that all of them had leveled up several times in the journey north, and that Zamira was taking to her new Class like a bird that had discovered its wings, Rob couldn’t see where any adjustments needed to be made.

Unless Vul’to was thinking of changing his Class, in which case he would have to get in line. Rob would summarily bump him to the front of the line, of course, but Vul’to would have to be the one to explain to all the salty Elves why yet another Combat Class user was getting to play around with the daily usage of Class Alternation instead of any number of the dozens of Utility Class users who wanted to switch to a Class they’d be able to better-defend themselves with. Thankfully, those requests had died down as the Deserters neared the outskirts of Ixatan and the monster attacks declined in frequency and severity, but the initial few days after revealing he could Alter Classes had been an utter madhouse.

Zealous as she is, it was nice of Lenora to offer to field those requests for me, Rob thought. I was well past my limit on fending off mediocre bribes.

You do realize she’s just taking the bribes for herself?
Diplomacy pointed out. Multiple, conflicting, simultaneous bribes.

Yes, and that’s hilarious. I don’t care what shitstorm she gets herself into as long as I’ve got my umbrella of plausible deniability.


Rob rested his back against the tree with the softest bark and waited for his friends to show. They should be arriving shortly, assuming none of them got ambushed by fearsome monsters or gossiping busybodies. The latter would take more time to deal with than the former. In lieu of any better way to spend his time – Duran had warned him against continually practicing Sense Mana, something about needing to let his eyes and brain rest – Rob pulled up the Party List and gave it a once-over. Maybe he would be able to figure out what Vul’to had been getting at.

Keira
Level:
33
Warrior Level: 29
HP: 320 / 320
Stamina: 291 / 310
MP: 260 / 260
Status Effects: Boredom (Mild)

Zamira
Level:
24
Swordsmaster Level: 22
HP: 320 / 320
Stamina: 205 / 250
MP: 200 / 200
Status Effects: Content (Moderate)

Vul’to
Level:
22
Ranger Level: 19
HP: 290 / 290
Stamina: 232 / 250
MP: 190 / 190
Status Effects: Anxious (Advanced)

Orn’tol
Level:
21
Ranger Level: 18
HP: 340 / 340
Stamina: 197 / 240
MP: 160 / 160
Status Effects: Wary (Mild)

Malika
Level:
14
Archmage Level: 4
HP: 200 / 200
Stamina: 53 / 110
MP: 176 / 330
Status Effects: Excited (Moderate), Anxious (Mild)

Taleya
Level:
34
Ranger Level: 31
HP: 330 / 330
Stamina: 321 / 360
MP: 230 / 230
Status Effects: Boredom (Mild)

Alistair
Level:
29
Ranger Level: 27
HP: 294 / 330
Stamina: 218 / 360
MP: 230 / 230
Status Effects: Broken Right Arm

Rob had only meant to skim through the List for a few seconds, but the longer he read through, the more he realized how much there was to unpack. It was one of the few times since the beginning of the expedition that he’d been able to fit all his friends in his Party at the same time. People weren’t bleeding out of gashes that spilled their intestines out on the ground, or nursing bones that had been twisted into pretzels, or asking him if a limb would Regrow more quickly if they kept the old severed one as a good luck charm. There were no fires to put out, literally or metaphorically. Alistair’s broken arm was the biggest pressing injury in the entire expedition that he needed to offer his Regeneration to, and after three weeks of frenzied running from one end of the procession to the other, knowing that a second of delay might be the deciding factor between whether someone lived or died, Rob was ecstatic than his duties as a portable medbay were being made obsolete.

A far stranger feeling settled over him when he looked at his friends’ progress. Each of them had risen several Levels since embarking from the Village. By Elatra standards, it was an impressive increase, coming about as a result of their continued effects to protect the civilians combined with nepotism affording them more opportunities to share in Fast Learner than the other Combat Class users got. Without Fast Learner, and in less turbulent times where Dungeons weren’t aberrant and monsters weren’t coming out of the woodworks, it could take a non-Human years to gain a single Level.

Objectively, Rob knew this, but all he could think of when looking at his friends’ collective Levels was ‘Oh, that’s it?’, because he was already Level fucking 30. Keira was the only one still a higher Level than him, and considering that his stats were somewhat inflated, he might actually have a higher stat total than her regardless. Even by Elatra’s nonsensical standards for personal growth, where slaughter equaled success and consistent training didn’t matter as much as being put in life-threatening situations, it didn’t really feel earned. His friends had been fighting and training for way longer than him, Keira especially, and while they were still more skilled than him, if this pace kept up Rob was going to soon reach the point where none of them outside of Keira would be able to touch him in a spar. He would be too much stronger, too much faster, and their years worth of honing their craft would mean nothing in comparison to him having been given more magical system steroids than them.

It left a bad taste in his mouth. Duran had warned him that his Leveling progress was nutty, but the lecture didn’t fully sink in until he measured himself against his fellow peers, who just two months ago had clearly outshone him. Their efforts deserved more.

Of course, he only felt this way because they were his friends. Elatra was a place that took a mile if you gave an inch, and he was going to cheat his ass off until things stopped trying to kill him – or weren’t able to anymore. Rob simply wished that his friends could cheat as effectively as him. Utilizing a shared portion of Fast Learner wasn’t the same thing as having the real deal. Otherwise, he was totally fine with breaking the bell curve. He had no qualms with creeping up on Taleya’s Level despite her Level being double his not too...long...ago...

Okay, Rob thought, sighing internally. Why is Taleya in the Party this time?

I actually remember this one,
Diplomacy said. You were distracted by your spellcaster training, she asked if your Party had a slot available, and you mumbled an acceptance to her Party Request while your eyes were busy following several intertwining motes of mana.

Why can’t we put Lycia on the list instead?
Rob scratched his metaphysical chin. Lycia is cool. Unlike Taleya, she actually likes me. Granted, she mostly likes me because I regrew her leg, but there’s been weirder things to start a friendship over. Why is she never in the Party?

Diplomacy shrugged. You didn’t offer, she didn’t ask?

Making it official then. Lycia is the new Default Ranger. At least until I make one or two more friends and the Party gets filled up on its own without needing any spares or plus-ones.

So what you’re saying is that Lycia will remain the Default Ranger for the rest of your life?

Bite me.

Can’t,
Diplomacy chuckled. I don’t have a mouth.

Rob was about to retort when the Skill let off a pulse of anxiety. You okay man? Rob asked. Is ‘man’ okay? Did we ever decide on what gender to use? Wait, shit, am I sending these thoughts or keeping them to myself? Still not sure how that works sometimes.

Diplomacy’s anxiety faded as Rob somehow managed to put his foot in his mouth without ever actually opening it. And you wonder why Deception remains at Level 2, it mused. Don’t worry, I’m doing well. I just remembered that...well, last night, I dreamed.

Rob caught on a moment later. For the first time?

As far as I am aware, yes,
Diplomacy said. I dreamed of freedom, and a song. That’s all I could recall after waking up, but I remember it felt...comforting. Hardly a revelation worth getting excited over, but, well, I wanted to share, if that’s alright with you.

Of course it’s alright with me,
Rob said, smiling internally. Thanks for keeping me posted. I hope you dream again tonight, and that it’s a pleasant one.

I hope so too.


The two of them waited in companionable silence until the rest of the trainees arrived. After everyone had gotten situated, Vul’to looked each person in the eye, nodded, and opened his mouth to begin speaking.

Malika beat him to it. “Malika’s Rangers are ready to go!” She yelled, pumping her fist in the air. “So what are we doing here, exactly?”

Rob and Keira both snorted. Vul’to’s mouth hung open as he struggled to put his train of thought back on the tracks. Orn’tol’s seemed entirely unsurprised, and Zamira shook her head slightly.

“Our group is not named Malika’s Rangers,” Zamira said, patiently.

“Yeah,” Rob snickered. “We’re called Rob’s Rangers. I trademarked it and everything.”

“Not that either,” Zamira said. “In fact, the name is less appropriate now than ever before. Only Orn’tol and Vul’to are Rangers. Keira is a Warrior, I have changed my Class to Swordmaster, Malika is a spellcaster, and-”

She cut herself off with a wince. Everyone else stayed silent. No one wanted to finish her thought: that they also had two less Rangers in the group than they used to.

“A-anyway,” Zamira said, momentarily flustered. “I see no reason to label ourselves as such. Furthermore, I question your insistence on the moniker, and can fathom no reason outside of you attempting to position yourselves as the leader of our group.”

“Oh god no,” Rob shuddered. “Fuck that. Someone else can be leader. My argument for the name is simple: alliteration. Rob’s Rangers rolls off the tongue. Something like Zamira’s Rangers, I’m sad to say, does not.”

The corners of Zamira’s mouth twitched downward. “That logic is nonsensical at best.”

“No, no, he has a point,” Vul’to muttered.

“I do?” Rob said. “I mean, yeah, of course I do. Think about it. What other name matches?”

“Riardin’s Rangers,” Keira forcefully stated. She waited until she had everyone’s attention before continuing. “It ‘rolls off the tongue’, as Rob said, and more importantly, it pays tribute to those that we lost. The man himself, and those Rangers we knew who trained under him: Men’ta, Alia, and Tarric. If we must designate our group with a title, then we shall be known as Riardin’s Rangers, and I will accept no other name in its place.”

She didn’t phrase it like a debate, and no one tried to make it one.

“If I may start over?” Vul’to said. “There are several reasons why I wanted the members of Riardin’s Rangers to meet.” He glanced at Keira, who nodded in satisfaction. “We’re approaching the end of Elven territory. By mid-tomorrow, the Deserters will have left Ixatan behind, and a few hours after that, we’ll be entering the abandoned realms of the Humans. It will be a great step forward in the truest of senses. Before we embark upon that new voyage in our lives, I wanted to ensure that we all had a brief respite during which we had the opportunity to air any lingering concerns that any of us may have. If something is troubling you, then please speak up, as you are in good company. Now is the time to show one another not just our support, but our trust as well.”

It was a very touching sentiment that no one replied to. Rob quickly glanced at each person in the group to confirm that they had not in fact been replaced by space aliens in disguise, because there was no way none of them didn’t have at least one or two concerns they’d like to air, himself included. But alas, he looked upon his people to find that they were scratching their heads and averting their eyes, waiting for someone else to find their fifteen seconds of courage and break the initial barrier of awkwardness.

Well, never fear, because Rob was here! It was up to him to be the one to take the plunge. All he had to do was come out and admit to everyone that the system was growing brazenly antagonistic towards him. And would prefer that he was dead. And that one of his Skills had become self-aware.

Yup. Super easy. Barely an inconvenience.

Oooorrrr he could keep the conversation moving and slip those revelations in later. “I hereby nominate Vul’to as leader,” Rob stated.

Vul’to sputtered. “Excuse me?”

Rob grinned at him. “You called a meeting just to check on our mental health. Seems like a pretty leader-y thing to do, doesn’t it?”

“It’s not the sole reason why I brought everyone here, and last time this sort of thing happened, Zamira was the one to initiate proceedings. She called us to attention, and from what I heard, did a remarkable job at improving Keira’s mood.”

For some reason, Zamira hung her head, her cheeks pinkening with color. Vul’to continued on, not noticing the effects his words had caused. “I don’t see why we need to institute a leader, either. We’re a group of friends, not a Seneschal-funded military corps.”

“We may not need a leader,” Keira began. “But we’re no simple group of friends, either.” She hesitated and glanced at Rob, seeking for wordless permission. Rob gave her two thumbs up, nodding as he watched the tension flow out of her.

“As long as Rob is with us, we’re going to stand out,” she continued. “Aside from being the last living Human, his ability to share Fast Learner with us gives us a long-term advantage over every other living being in existence. Surely you’ve noticed how quickly we’ve begun to close the gap between ourselves and the full-fledged Rangers, who have decades and sometimes centuries more experience than us?”

She tensed, before quickly running over to Rob and putting a hand on his shoulder. “That is not to say that Fast Learner is why I count you among our number. Without it, nothing would change. I swear. You are a stalwart companion, a true friend, and-”

Rob grabbed her hand and gently took it off his shoulder. “I know, Keira, I promise,” he said, with a hint of laughter in his tone. It was cute how badly she was trying to avoid a repeat of their minor blowup back in the Village, but it wouldn’t be fair to let her torture herself any further. “You guys aren’t a bunch of gold diggers. But the reality of the situation also can’t be ignored. Fast Learner gives all of you a permanent leg up on the competition.”

“Only until our Levels equalize with the other Rangers,” Vul’to interjected. “Then you’ll be switching people in and out of the Party as necessary so that no Combat Class user in the Village falls behind the others, correct?”

Rob burst out laughing. “Absolutely not,” he stated. “Maybe that’s what you would do, Vul’to, but I’m a lot more narrow-minded than that. Otherwise I would be including one of the low-Level, freshly-minted Combat Class users who formerly used a Utility Class in my Party.” They’d certainly be a better pick than fucking Taleya. “No more than a select few, chosen by me, are going to get to partake in Fast Learner’s tasty EXP boosts on the regular. It’s a very exclusive club consisting of the people standing here right now. You’re my friends, and they aren’t. I honestly don’t care if any of the other Rangers fall behind as long as it helps keep you guys alive.”

Vul’to let out a long sigh. “That is, in a sense, appreciated. But it may be wise for me to remove myself from the Party regardless, and not for the reasons you might expect I’m about so say.” He drew himself up and clenched his fists. “I recently acquired a Skill that grants me +3 to all my stats when not in a Party.”

“Oh my,” Zamira said, her eyes widening along with everyone elses. “That’s...quite potent. I can see why you would want to capitalize on that bonus. But are you sure it’s worth giving up Fast Learner for?”

Vul’to looked at them, misery written plain on his face, and told them. About how he’d acquired his Skill, and what its Description said.

Rob’s fingernails dug into his palms.

“I...want to stand by all of you until the very end,” Vul’to said, his eyes watering. “But I worry about what my Skill implies. Perhaps it means nothing, but the system is rarely so...overt, in its descriptions. I can’t fathom why it would have described my Skill as such if not to make me aware that I am a liability to those who fight alongside me.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“The system called me a Coward,” Orn’tol muttered. The others – Rob excepted – looked at him in shock. “And every time I’ve had to retreat, it strengthens that very same Skill.” The boy smirked. “It’s up to Level 6 now.”

Orn’tol glanced at Rob, who finally let the dam break. “The system does not like me,” Rob said, hating how hoarse his throat sounded. “It’s made that clear on many occasions, both major and minor, in everything from stat point increases to Skill Descriptions to directly speaking to me. I think I was supposed to be some sort of entertainment for it, but it doesn’t like that I’m still alive. Its most recent message told me to ‘quit bellyaching’ when it refused to fix a problem with one of my Skills. I’ve kept it under wraps because it would’ve made me sound like a fucking lunatic, but I guess we’re airing out all our dirty laundry now, haha. Ha.”

Keira’s grip on his hand tightened; he hadn’t realized that he had never let go. “Rob, why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, in a tone of worry laced with hurt.

Rob gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “What would be easier to believe? That the impartial, unfeeling arbiter of the world had taken a special interest in shitting on this one particular Human, or that the newcomer who’d suffered severe brain damage on several occasions might have one or two screws loose up top?” He shook his head. “Without Vul’to and Orn’tol to corroborate with their own experiences and make me sound like less of a lunatic outlier, I don’t know if I would have ever talked about this.”

Keira turned away, but not before Rob caught a hint of shame in her expression. A few seconds passed before she looked back at him with steel in her eyes. “I believe you.”

“Thank you,” Rob said. The weight in his chest lessened, but not by as much as he would’ve wanted it to. “There’s...a problem, though. Outside of my own personal grievances with reality putting me under a magnifying glass on a sunny day.”

He stopped short from what he was about to say next. This next bit, a lovely theory he’d just thought up while hearing Vul’to’s tale, was somehow an even worse thing to throw out into the open than what he’d just admitted. If revealing his theory backfired, he would be a social pariah all over again, and this time he wouldn’t be able to blame them. The smart thing to do would be to say absolutely nothing and deal with the consequences as they came – if they came. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

But keeping them in the dark might put them at risk. And they deserved far better than that.

Have faith, Diplomacy whispered.

“Have any of you ever heard of an instance of the system being malicious to someone, anyone, before I arrived in Elatra?”

The following silence was deafening.

“Yeah,” Rob muttered. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Orn’tol and Vul’to lived their whole lives without this happening until I showed up. The system’s eyes are on me, which means its eyes are on the people around me. I think you two are, for lack of a better term, some form of collateral damage. Or collateral entertainment.”

And if you cut ties with me, it wouldn’t happen again, was the unspoken suggestion.

Rob couldn’t face them. “If you want, you could put it to an anonymous vote,” he mumbled. “That way no one would feel pressured-”

“No,” Keira stated.

“No,” Orn’tol stated, not one moment after.

Then Zamira, Vul’to, and finally Malika, who even had a bright big smile on her face. It took them less than three seconds to come to their collective decision, and to throw their lot in with the risky bet.

“You fuckers are crazy,” Rob said, his hand trembling in Keira’s grip. “Reality itself is putting me on blast. Do you have any idea what that means?”

“No, and neither do you,” Keira said. “Admittedly, it is a terrifying notion to consider, but after coming face to face with a Blight, ‘terrifying’ has become a much more relative term.”

“If what you say is true,” Vul’to began, his voice laden with cold fury. “And the system might have had something to do with Tarric and Alia’s deaths, then the absolute last thing I’m going to do is abandon another friend to its clutches. No. I will never let a tragedy like that happen ever again.”

“After all you’ve done for me, abandoning you at this juncture would mark me as a person of low moral character,” Zamira said. She gave him a small smile. “The fact that you are a staunch ally who makes for quite enjoyable company merely changes protecting you from something that would be my duty, into something that would be my pleasure.”

“You’re my friend,” Orn’tol stated, as if that was all that needed to be said.

Malika looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think you're winning this argument, Rob the Human.”

Rob chuckled and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “Bastards. Crazy bastards, every single one of you.”

Mercifully, they gave him a minute to compose himself, after which he took a deep breath and exhaled. “Fuck it. You guys up for learning another piece of Earth culture?”

After some directing, the six of them gathered in a circle, each of them sticking an arm into the center. “Perfect,” Rob said. “Now we just count to three and yell out whatever inspiring thing that comes to mind while raising our arms up into the air. Boom; instant title card.”

“What’s this called?” Keira asked.

“I have no idea, but it’s fun.”

Two implicit, unshakeable oaths were made among Riardin’s Rangers that day. The first was to look out for one another, to have each other’s backs, and to support each other through the worst of times. The second was to stand in defiance against any threat, no matter how all-encompassing or overpowering it may be. The world may have been a harsh, cold place, but by coming together as one, they could make it just a little bit warmer.

Many such similar bonds of brotherhood had been declared in the past by other groups of people. Underdogs flocking together to avoid being trampled underfoot. Unfortunately, underdogs are underdogs for a reason. Their eventual defeat is the standard path that history tends to tread. Inspiring as their coming together may be in the moment, in most instances, bonds of brotherhood don’t end up amounting to much. In most instances, the course of history isn’t altered by a cheesy team circle exercise.

In most instances, anyway.


--


Thanks for reading!

Comments

Lictor Magnus

Riardin’s Rangers! I’m glad everyone came clean relatively quickly. I appreciate that your characters act like real people and make sensible decisions. Everything comes across as natural.

kamikazepotato

Thanks for the kind words! This was a pretty pivotal scene, emotionally speaking, so I'm glad it landed for you.

Ziggy

“It’s just that I have Sense Magic at Level 13." Okay I haven't read the rest of the chapter yet. Because one, this is funny. But two, this will strain the sense of disbelief just a wee bit for anyone that thinks about it. Even if you're so talented or determined you unlock a skill requiring like 80 dexterity when you only have 50, the skill still makes it clear that it generally requires 80 dexterity. Everyone in this world seems to be aware that one can get skills without meeting the stat requirements, it's just reeaally difficult. Sense magic 13 should have a huge requirement of the Magic stat that I don't think Malika could hit even if she put every one of her stat points in it. I mean can easily just say there's some mechanic at play or something. Not a big hole, but had to point it out.

kamikazepotato

I might consider lowering it later if the number comes across as too high, but for now I'll just say that Malika is not normal. No one in hundreds of years has been able to choose Archmage.

Anonymous

Thanks for this awesome chapter. Will there be a timeskip in chapter 50? Considering the foreshadowing it seems like it.

kamikazepotato

You're very welcome :) It's not spoilers to say that there won't be a timeskip, actually, although I understand why you might think that. It does kinda give that impression.

Macronomicon

I mean, isn't dropping out of the party basically that kid's trump card now? He can still indulge in Fast learner like 99% of the time, but if he's gotta fight 1-on-1 and his friends aren't there, or some other extenuating circumstances...i could totally see using it to survive a tough fight.

Anonymous

Question: can diplomacy invite people to the party? Because that'd be a very useful thing. If Vul'to could leave the party for the stat boosts and regardless of how busy rob is diplomacy can send an invite.... Vul'to could get the stat boost to fight something then accept the party invite right before he kills something guaranteeing that he both gets the "not in a party" advantage and the quick learner advantage.

Marble

This chapter was really enjoyable

Anonymous

I agree. Not only was the subject matter fun and more positive, but I thought the writing was a bit more polished and tight. Even tho it was mostly (all?) talking, it felt fast paced and entertaining. It reminds me a little bit of old Cary Grant movies (which I've always loved).

Faiir

Admitting to everyone that the system was growing brazenly antagonistic is TIGHT!