Where Your God Is - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

I grinned as the stacked roast beef was set before me by a waitress, along with a cup of au jus dipping sauce and a large soda the size of which you could only find in an American truck stop during the nineties before people realized that downing your body weight in liquid sugar might be bad for your health. Smooth cheese nearly flowed down the edges of the toasted onion-bun and over the meat, the combined smell of swiss and cooked meat.

“It's been so long,” I sighed.

The waitress giggled and, belatedly, I realized there was a colored name floating over her head instead of a washed-out gray one. “Be careful there, hun. We've gotta watch our figures!”

I grinned at the hourglass-figure of a girl, noting her blonde hair with a pink stripe and hazel eyes. “Normally yes, but here in the game you can eat anything you want and not gain a kilogram.”

<<Akkarri>>'s eyes widened as she stilled. “OMG! I can't believe I didn't think of that already. I'm so going to eat cheesecake until I can't stand it anymore!”

I... giggled, being man enough to admit it. I had plenty of practice playing at being a girl when hanging out with my sister and the others. “I know, right? After that you can try the same with parfaits.”

Akkarri bounced and... bounced energetically. “So right! Thanks, um-” She floundered for a moment, then followed my innocently pointing finger upwards. “Kirito!”

“No problem, it's cool you got a job here. Is that a common thing?” I asked with a shrug, taking a long pull from the straw.

Ah, classic Mountain Dew... banned IRL, but legal here!

“Oh yeah,” Akkarri nodded, shifting a hip and twirling her hair around one finger. “There are a couple of other girls here at this restaurant and I know a guy who's doing janitor stuff for another business. I hear plenty of people are trying to pick up jobs just to have some extra pocket money and fill the day. Can't spend all your time in the big library or watching movies or whatever.”

“Truth,” I nodded, then dipped my sandwich and took a bite of heaven.

It made sense that as much as people might treat this like a vacation for a week or two, most people just weren't comfortable with 'freeloading' beyond that. If you wanted to make the big col, the in-game currency, you went into one of the crafting trees, but SAO allowed anyone to pick any job they wanted. Even a completely mundane one.

“OMG!” Akkarri yell-whispered, her eyes widening again. “Does that mean you're one of those Clearers?”

I swallowed and took another draw from my soda. “Yep, my friends and I spend most of the days killing monsters and stuff, but they're off doing their own things in the city right now. So I decided to get lunch. None of them really like heavy meals...”

Sinon needed new ammunition and was trying to track down a better crafter. Leafa was feeling a little melancholy and had wanted to spend the day at a kendo dojo. The building was actually for training basic sword skills and arts for those who were too gunshy about 'real' combat, but it reminded her of our grandfather's place. Argo, on the other hand, was weaseling out new deals and trading information like the rat she was.

She looked down at my large sandwich and nodded. “Yeah, sometimes a girl's just gotta have some meat, I know that feel. But, wow! That's so cool! I could never do something like that.”

“It takes all types. I just hope everyone else is getting ready for the boss battle coming up soon,” I replied, dropping the tidbit as I took another bite.

She clenched the silver serving tray under her breasts. “I heard about that! You're going to be running in there with them? A thin little thing like you?” Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with one hand. “Oh, no offense!”

“None taken,” I shook my head, swallowing. “I'm a light crit-stacking build so I don't have to be strong with huge muscles.” It was an easier answer than trying to explain the disconnect between IRL strength and a strength stat. The former required sinew and mass, the latter required a bigger number.

Still, the filthy casual nodded in faux-understanding. “Well, I've never been a big gamer, so I'll trust you know what you're doing. I just logged on 'cause it was the next big thing, ya'know?”

Her cheer deflated slightly, and I cleared my throat to draw her attention away from darker subjects. “Hey, since I'm not going to blow up like a balloon, do you think I could get a plate of fries and another sandwich?”

Akkarri giggled and nodded, her attitude bobbing back up. “Sure thing, hon! Gotta' get you big and strong for that fight! Everybody's hoping we make it to the next floor!”

Even as she spoke up, I could see a few players around us note what she's said, whispering amongst themselves. Good. I had faith that we'd clear the boss, especially with the scouting I'd done, and it would matter more if there was some hype to the event. It had been a little over a month now, and people needed some good news, a sign of real progress to pin their hopes on.

“Hey, uhh-” A voice started as a scraggly guy stepped up to my table wearing a shy grin and scratching the back of his head.

“I'm in a committed relationship,” I replied sternly as I licked one of my fingers, having long-since learned not to give even an inch to pick-up artists.

There was a spate of laughter from a few tables over, raucous and loud. I turned my head to glare over my shoulder at the group who'd overheard and raised a delicate finger straight up. That only got a few catcalls and faux-scared groans.

Fuckin' pigs.

Turning back, I looked up at the guy who'd approached, ready to commit his name and face to my shitlist-

<<BALLSDEEP69>>

-and blinked.

“Ah... my name's actually Klein,” he laughed awkwardly, waving his hands awkwardly. His scruffy starter-gear ruffled as he moved, no armor pinning it down to keep it in place as his stiff red hair jutted from his head, looking as though he was repeating something for the hundredth time. “I-it was just supposed to be a-uh, a joke account. For starting out! I swear I'm not a weirdo!”

...and stared.

Keeping my eyes locked on him, I picked up my drink and sipped from the straw. “You still came over to hit on me, though.”

“It... was a bet...” Klein admitted sheepishly.

On the one hand, that kind of shit bugged me and despite having grown up in Japan this time around, I still retained some western values about what kind of interaction was appropriate when asking a woman out. On the other hand, provided Klein hadn't been butterflied into a raging asshole by my actions in some way, this was also just plain fun to throw shit his way.

“In the future, don't approach a girl sitting alone at a table when you have a group of friends to back you up. It's vaguely threatening to some women,” I replied levelly.

Klein winced. “Uhh... sorry, again.” He looked about listlessly for a long moment.

“Ask her, fearless leader!”

I opened the cage inside my heart and freed another bird to fly his way. There were sounds of further good-natured ribbing likely enhanced by social lubricant.

“Look, uh... mind if I sit?” Klein asked.

I shrugged and waved at the chair. “As long as you and your friends don't follow me if I stand up to leave.”

Klein grimaced, but seated himself. “We won't. So, ah... I overheard you talking to the waitress about being a Clearer?”

I nodded, popping the last of my sandwich into my mouth and speaking roughly around it. “Pretty much. What do you want?”

“Well, me and some of my friends from outside the game all logged on together,” Klein started, gesturing to the crowd of guys now talking and eating amongst themselves as they occasionally sent looks our way. “We were talking about forming a guild. Unofficially, ya'know, since guild registration doesn't open up until the next floor. At least, that's what the guide says.”

Perking up at the oncoming waitress, I accepted the plate she offered me and dismissed the silent inquiry she directed Klein's way. Experience had told me it was an offer to bail me out if I felt I needed it, to rescue me from a bothersome guy.

“You want something then?” Akkarri neutrally to Klein, eyeing his username.

“Ah, just some fries and a beer?” Klein asked hesitantly, looking to me for confirmation since he knew he was on somewhat thin ice. “Yeah, that please?”

“Alright, be a few minutes,” Akkarri nodded, walking away after giving me one last cautionary look.

Even in a world where you could hard-block sexual assault with the firmament of the world's rules backing you up, old habits died hard. Looking back to Klein, I prompted, “so, a guild?”

He blinked, then nodded. “Y-yeah! Anyway, we're all new to the game and were looking for someone to teach us the basics. I mean, we've been taking it slow and grinding levels in the starter zones, but now that we're all level fives we thought we were ready to go a little further out. And if you're a Clearer and know what you're doing...”

And aren't dead already, but I suppose that goes without saying.

“I'm afraid I'm already in a group. They're other girls, so I'm not sure how comfortable they'd be partnering up with a bunch of guys,” I replied, watching him closely as he sighed in resignation. That was a good sign. Some guys decided to get angry over a 'girl' refusing to join their party. Even if that wasn't the reason I'd gone with a feminine-looking avatar, it had served me as a good litmus test for personalities. I could take negotiation, sweet-talking, or even outright begging, but anger was a huge red flag. Klein's resignation spoke well of his ability to take no for an answer, though.

“That said, I can point you to a couple of areas you can safely farm at your level,” I offered, and the man perked back up. Snapping up my menu with a thought, I waded through my inventory with a few instinctual twitches of my eyes and head, the mental gestures still having a tiny bit of bleed-through on my digital avatar. Finding what I wanted, a scroll materialized in front of me and dropped to the table next to my plate.

Using a clean finger, I flicked the parchment over to Klein, who took it and unfurled the document. “That's a map of the surrounding regions. The areas in green are where you'll want to go. Yellow areas are dangerous for your level, but you can handle them in a pinch, especially if you find a more experienced beta player willing to help you out. If you're playing it safe, stay away from those. Red areas are extremely dangerous, don't go near those. That's a TPK.”

Klein winced, but grinned in gratitude as he bowed his head. “Thanks so much, Kirito-san. I really appreciate this. Since Wutan is leaving the group...” He shrugged, wordlessly conveying they'd hit something of a rough patch.

I hummed, tempted to leave it there, but decided to poke things. Even if he'd been a bit of a goober in our first meeting, Klein seemed like good people. “Why's he leaving? Can't take the combat? It's not for everyone.”

Klein shook his head, grimacing. “Ah... well, it's not that. Wutan just... he's bad with swords and knives and stuff. The fighting is okay, he just doesn't handle them well.”

Social etiquette whispered in my hindbrain and I realized there was some kind of personal story there I probably shouldn't pry into. Instead... “Has he tried unarmed combat?”

“Ah...” Klein hesitated, rubbing at his chin. “I thought you could only do that with the <<Martial Arts>> skill that unlocks next floor?”

I shook my head. “That's a common misconception even with the guide clearing it up. That skill gives you better damage and critical chances with unarmed strikes, but there are a few sword arts which you can use unarmed. They're listed in the index in back of the second guide book that came out two weeks ago.”

Klein blinked. “Uhh... there are two of them?”

I stared at the doofus, then immediately scrolled back through my inventory and popped out two books. “Here. It's the second and third books.” I paused, then popped out more copies. “In fact, take a couple of each. That way you can have multiple people in your group reading each of them at the same time.”

Klein straightened in his seat, eyes wide, then stood and bowed deeply. “Thank you very much!”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Thank me by keeping yourself and your friends alive.” I took a breath to dismiss him, then decided better of it and knocked the table as he moved to pick up the books and walk away himself. “Sit.”

Stiffening in surprise, the redhead did as he was told and sat. I eyed him thoughtfully as I took a bite of my new sandwich before taking a pull from my drink. “Okay, first off. How are you healing?”

“Ah... we've been doing potion-chucking,” Klein admitted readily. “It's expensive, especially since you have to buy the ones you can throw at people and not just drink, but Wutan might take up crafting since he's not going to be fighting.”

I grunted and reached out to tap book two. “Alright, that was the method described in book one. We were struggling to get the first volume out so that all the newbies would have some kind of grasp on how to play before running off and getting themselves killed. The second volume details the other ways you can do healing. If your dude ends up crafting, that's good, but if you want a backup you might think about it.”

Klein nodded eagerly. “What are they? If you don't mind me asking?”

“They're detailed in chapter three,” I nodded to the stack again, “but your options are the potion-chucking method, <<Guardian Blades>>, recruiting an acolyte, and <<Healing Shivs>>.”

Akkarri dropping off his food and drink derailed us for a moment, but after he got that sorted and paid, I continued. “<<Guardian Blades>> are people who go to one of the churches in the various towns and do a series of quests for the local clergy. Once you finish the third one, they'll offer to bless a blade for you. That blade will have its attack stats totally nerfed, but will see a big increase in durability. The main thing is that you can use it for healing sword arts. There are a couple of different ones, but they come in targeted, AoE, short range, and medium range right now. Later floors have ones that heal more and are more versatile.”

“Okay, that sounds like something we might be interested in,” Klein nodded, flipping through the book in one hand while eating a few fries with the other.

“The second has to do with the clergy at the churches, too. Instead of doing a quest line for the church itself, you approach an acolyte and start grinding affection with them personally.” Klein raised an eyebrow, obviously not picking up on the gamer term. “Doing them personal favors and stuff. Helping them out with chores, retrieving lost items, paying for their bar tab... that kind of thing. Anyway, if you do that long enough, they'll offer to accompany you on your journey. That'll give you an NPC who can heal following you around.”

“Nice!” Klein grinned.

I waggled a hand and he blinked. “Eh, kind of. Acolytes, at least most of them, are really straight-laced. Having one following you around will stop you from taking a lot of quests or special events. You can't work for the <<Thieves’ Guild>> or <<Assassin's Guild>> with one in your party, for instance. They'll also get upset and leave if you do typical murderhobo gamer shenanigans, like rolling up to an NPC's farm and stealing everything before burning it to the ground. Do shit like that and they'll just leave, which makes all that time and money wasted, especially if you gave them gear to keep up with the rest of your group.”

Klein hissed in a breath, then his eyes skittered to lock on to one particular guy at the other table. “I'll... uh, keep that in mind.”

Yep, every group has one. At least one.

“And what about... healing shivs?” Klein asked awkwardly, looking between the book and me. “How'd those work?”

I chuckled. Those had been my little contribution to the game, since apparently the joke didn't exist in this world. Kayaba-sensei had laughed himself sick over it the first time I'd casually dropped the phrase and, despite the look Rinko was giving him, immediately called a design team to see about viability. I'd complain about having 'my' idea stolen like that, but he'd also written me a digital check on the spot for compensation. Five zeroes had a soothing effect on the situation.

“Healing Shivs are a special category of weapon that you get by talking to one of the underworld guilds. Thieves, assassins, red light district... basically organized crime. They have crafters on their payroll and make swords that are... kind of the opposite of Guardian Blades? They're low durability but add to their crit modifier. The sword arts you pick up to go with them allow you to sacrifice that crit modifier to fill a gauge on the blade every time you damage an enemy. Once it's full, you can stab an ally and heal them.”

Klein stared at me oddly. “I, uh... think we'll be good with one of the other options, thanks.”

I snorted, shaking my head and taking a sip of my drink. “It's a high-skill build with a lot of moving pieces. Solo players really enjoy the tactic because it lets them heal themselves without having to have a free hand for items.”

Klein cocked his head, likely wondering how that worked for a brief moment... then he paled, realizing what I was getting at.

Yep. Use sword on self. Heh.

“Yeah, I think we'll pass on that,” Klein shuddered, then paused. “Uh... since you're so experienced, can I just ask a few more questions?”

Having taken a bite and now with my mouth full, I extended a hand and rolled my wrist, giving the gesture for, 'Go on.'

“I just wanted to know about how the religion system works? I've heard a lot of people arguing about it and whether or not it's worth it,” Klein admitted, grimacing. “It's really confusing and I'm not sure what to believe. I've even gone and talked to the NPCs a bit, but I don't know enough lore to make heads or tails of what they're saying.”

I nodded. “Yeah, we kept getting complaints about that sort of thing. That's chapter...” I cocked my head and squinted. “Seven, I think? In book three. Somewhere around there. Anyway, yeah, there are ten deities-”

“I thought there were nine?” Klein interected, his brows furrowing.

I shook my head. “No, ten. That's another big mistake. The Big 9 are the most common, they have major temples in the big cities. Their domains are fire, water, wind, earth, healing, crafting, knowledge, leadership, and war. Outside of the big cities, you'll really only run into the god of healing's temples. That's Zonzwafi, unless you're in a specific zone aligned with another element or a crafting town or something.”

“What about the tenth?” Klein asked, throwing another few fries in his mouth.

“That's Khariman, the goddess of shadows,” I replied. “She's unpopular, since she's prayed to by a lot of the underworld elements I mentioned earlier. She's not quite evil, but a lot of her worshippers do evil stuff, so regular NPCs don't like you mentioning her and she's not publicly acknowledged as being one of the main deities.”

“Alright,” Klein nodded, “so... is it worth it to pick one? And how do you do that?”

I shrugged. “There's a full table of the effects in book three if you're into math, but it basically means all your sword arts of the chosen alignment go up in damage by about ten percent. That's not exact and it can vary by the last time you made an offering or tithe and some other effects, but it's about ten percent. The downside is that the elemental sword arts outside of your own style get a debuff, but you're compensated for that. You can open special quest-lines that will get you more powerful elemental sword arts from your specific church. That's for the elemental ones.”

“And the others?” Klein pressed thoughtfully.

“Healing should be obvious.” He nodded at my assertion. “Guardian Blades usually go in for that. Crafting gives bonuses to items you make. Usually something in the realm of higher attack, damage, defense, durability, or special your weapon, armor, or shields have. I'm not a crafter, but I've heard you can toggle it to the specific aspect of your project once you figure out how it works.”

“Knowledge and War are kind of two sides of the same coin,” I continued, taking a drink of my soda. “Bonuses for the first domain will give a bonus to any non-combat skill's effectiveness, with the obvious exception of crafting and the less-obvious exception of any skill that falls under the Goddess of Shadows' domain. Those are skills like sneak, hide, forgery, disguise, etc...”

“Makes sense,” Klein nodded, finishing off his fries and taking a long draw from his half-full beer. “I'm guessin' that War gives a bonus to all combat skills?”

“Except sword arts,” I replied. “War affects things like parry, block, dodge, unarmed attacks, grapple, and a few other things. You get less variety than with Knowledge, but I've never heard a front-liner complain about not being able to decipher an ancient script properly when a goblin is trying to eat their face in combat.”

Klein barked a surprised laugh. “Ha! Yeah, I can see that, so...” He blinked. “Wait. You said you can use some sword arts unarmed, right? So how's that work when you pick the War God? Cause you just said he enhances unarmed combat skills, right?”

I chuckled and leaned back, beginning to feel full, and stretched. “Ah... welcome to the start of glorious edge-cases! Okay, so there are three sword arts that you don't, technically, need to be holding anything for. They are <<Hilt Smash>>, <<Shield Bash>>,-”

Klein opened his mouth and I held up a hand. “Yes, I am aware that a shield is not a sword. Neither are polearms or daggers and they have sword arts for them as well. So do whips. It's the name of the game, though, so just roll with it.”

Sensei got so tired of that argument that he actually threw his chair at the last person who tried to nit-pick the topic. That was probably why they were the last person, actually.

Klein's mouth closed and I continued. “-and <<Steel Punch>>. The last one is when you punch someone while either holding a pair of brass knuckles or the handle of a sword or dagger. But you can trick the system into letting you do all of these by wearing a set of rings on the fingers of the hand you want to use or a pair of bracers.”

That particular bug hadn't been found until relatively late in the beta and while we'd tried to fix it, the AI that ran the titular sword arts just didn't understand the distinction we were trying to teach it in time for release. It was on the docket for... about a hundred other things that were a 'priority' to keep watch on with the main release to see if it proved a debilitating bug or an interesting quirk we'd leave in.

“So if you choose the God of War, which will give you a bonus to unarmed strikes, you actually can trigger those sword arts while not holding a weapon, which is what the system is watching for. That means those specific sword arts and their evolved versions later on in the game will get the diety bonus.” I snorted, crossing my arms over my chest. “When you combine it with the <<Martial Arts>> skill on floor two, you actually get something that's pretty competitive.”

Klein looked at me with respect. “Whoa... you really know your shit-er, sorry.”

I rolled my eyes. “I cursed at least once during this conversation, don't worry about it. That sound like something your friend would be interested in trying?”

The redhead nodded eagerly. “Yeah, yeah! That sounds right up his alley!” He rose again, then stopped, turning back to me with a sheepish expression. “Listen... you've already helped me a lot and I feel really awful for asking something else, but...”

I rolled my eyes tiredly, pretending it was a chore. “As long as it's the last one; hit me.”

Klein nodded. “So, one of my bros, Kekkles... He keeps bitching and moaning about there not being a magic system. He logged on to play with us for day one and everything, but he really bought the NerveGear for RECT's new game coming out in a few months.”

“The new Warcraft thing, I heard about it,” I nodded. I'd also seen it in alpha testing and really hoped they cleaned it the fuck up before launch. Word was that the old fogies at Blizzard weren't sure about the whole VRMMO shift and had outsourced it to cut costs and drop the title if it started floundering. I called that a self-fulling prophecy, but what did I know?

“Anyway, I heard some people say that there were casters in the beta and just wanted to know if you knew anything about it?” Klein asked.

Knowing what had been coming, I hissed in a deep breath and sighed it out as I looked over to the other guys, then back to Klein and rubbed my eyes tiredly. “Okay, so... you guys know each other IRL, you said?”

Klein nodded hesitantly, “Yeah, but-”

I waved him off. “I'm going somewhere. So, whenever you get out, if one of those guys die, all of you are going to have to face their family and tell them what happened?”

Klein looked shocked and borderline angry as he slammed the table. “Look, I'm trying to make sure that doesn't happen-”

“Which is why I didn't put what you're asking for in the guides,” I interrupted him pointedly, pointing at the books and stopping him cold. “I wrote half of those damn things and I argued with the other person not to release what I'm about to tell you. So I'll ask again, are you good enough friends with those people that you're going to have to explain to their families how they died?”

Klein swallowed convulsively and stared at me for a long moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I am. I'm the one that came up with the idea to play together on launch day. It's on me that they're all stuck here. I want them to be tough enough to survive and not be stuck in the main towns for however long this takes just sitting on their asses. They voted and want to help clearing. It's my job to get them the skills they need.”

I met his gaze for another long moment, then sighed again and pulled a piece of paper out of my inventory. “The thing about spells is that the creator of the game went on-record as hating magic systems, at least for this game. He wanted to make something a lot more visceral and personal than just shooting a fireball at a monster. He wanted to force people to get up close and personal and stab it.”

Klein eased back into his seat, looking calmer. “Yeah, I saw some of those interviews, which was why I didn't believe the people who said there's a magic system.”

“The thing is... games aren't a one-person project,” I continued as if he hadn't spoken, drumming my fingers on the folded slip of paper. “A... vocal minority of the dev team-” At least, the ones that had been willing to speak up. “-wanted some kind of magic system beyond sword arts in the game. That's one of the reasons the NPC priest acolytes have healing magic. Kayaba didn't want players to be able to cast it, so everyone came to a compromise in giving players access to healing in a few different ways.”

“So... I'm gonna' go out on a limb here and say something similar happened with magic?” Klein asked, draining the last of his beer. “And how do you know all this, anyway?”

“I got friendly with a dev back during the beta,” I lied off-handedly, then grimaced for effect. “Dunno' if they're still alive...”

Klein grimaced and looked away. “Right. Sorry, didn't know.”

“Not your fault,” I replied and took a long sip of my own drink. “So, yeah. A group of devs decided to draw up a magic system on their own time. They went behind Kayaba's back and handed it to Sugou Nobuyuki, who was serving as Kayaba's VP, so that he could take it to the Board of Directors.”

Klein was apparently well-versed enough in office politics to know what that meant as he released a drawn-out curse and looked longingly at his empty beer. “So how'd that turn out?”

“Sugou was nearly fired by Kayaba,” I deadpanned. “Then some unrelated stuff came out, you might remember it in the news, and he did get fired. Then sued. And sent to jail.”

Because it was such a surprise to find out the psychotic asshole with a god-complex had a string of sexual assaults and violent behavior he'd kept quiet behind the scenes. Really, color me shocked. It was just such a shame that some scoundrel leaked all that data to the press...

“Okay, yeah... I do kinda' remember that a few years ago,” Klein nodded, then shook his head. “But about the magic?”

“So the Board of Directors forced Kayaba to include it in the game on the basis that Sugou had made compelling arguments that a game without a magic system was a risky investment despite the novelty Kayaba wanted to cater to in doing just that. So Sen-er, Kayaba did put the system in the game... after he gutted it and heavily restricted the spell list, added a bunch of storyline requirements, and buried it in a hidden questline where barely anyone can find it.”

“Aaaaah,” Klein drew out the non-word with a look of realization. “So... it's non-playable?”

“Eh, I wouldn't say that,” I replied with a grimace. “You just can't wear armor while doing it, there's an extended cool-down for spells and post-spell freeze on your character for longer than sword arts, and you can't be carrying any weapons other than the casting focus. Not even in your inventory.”

Klein pulled a disgusted face. “Dude!”

I nodded. Not really one of my sensei's finest hours. “The saving grace is that the AI running the game, Cardinal, fleshed out the stripped-down version Kayaba put into the game. It is playable. I ran an alt in the beta that used it.” Glaring straight into Klein's eyes, I drove home what I was about to say. “That avatar had the most deaths of any of my accounts. The SAO magic system is an expert-level crapshoot. The problem is that, if you tell gamers something is difficult-”

“-everyone will want to try it to prove they're a badass,” Klein winced.

“Which is why I cut it from the guide,” I explained with a grimace and pushed the paper forward. “So if your friend wants to run it, here's how to access the quest line and a few other notes on doing it. My advice? Don't. It's a deathwish build unless you have a rock-solid party to run with, and even then it's dangerous as all hell.”

“<<Bladequill Bookmark Quest>>,” Klein read off the heading and nodded. “I'll talk to the guy about it. He likes running casters more than anything, but this might be a bit much even for him.”

“If he ends up doing it, just don't tell anyone else about it,” I shrugged unhappily. “And destroy that note after he's finished the quest and read it over a few times. The last thing we need is a bunch of internet tough guys getting themselves killed with a janky spellcaster build.”

“Will do, thanks again Kirito,” Klein nodded, finally standing up to his full height.

I shrugged. “It's the least I can do. Stay careful out there, you hear?”

“Don't have to tell me twice,” Klein laughed as he picked up all the material I'd given him.

“See ya’ later, Balls!” I cried as a parting shot. The redhead winced, his gaggle of friends bursting into laughter at his expense.

“My name’s Klein!” He shouted back.

“No it’s not!” I laughed one last time and stood, popping my neck in the process. The whole conversation had given me time to run down the digital indicator on being 'full' and therefore feeling lethargic, even if I hadn't actually eaten anything. Regardless, though, I had energy to burn. Even if I couldn't leave the <<Town of Beginnings>> alone by mutual agreement with the girls, there were plenty of ways to get in trouble locally.

~~~

So, first off, Vote Results!  Tallying both Patreon and Subscribe Star with all total Bonus Tier Votes...

Industrious: 86

Winning Peace: 86

...which is a tie.  Ah, I suppose I can try that?  Let's see how a tie works out.  Both of them get the same amount of attention, then.

The New Ron is a much more distant third, with Where Your God Is at a closer fourth, and Nexus Event taking up last.

Which, uh... I know I was going to have a chapter out for, but... my brain had other plans.  So enjoy a chapter of Where Your God Is!  Featuring everyone's favorite character!  BallsDeep69!