Chapter 2

New Prospects

"I don't remember any woman as hairy as you," the man said. “Are you looking to die too?”

Hannah abruptly choked off her humorous fake-crying, a grunt filled with indignation slipped out of her mouth. What did he mean by that? Sure, she looked more feline than human right now, but that comment was uncalled for.

The man jumped, crouching down almost two meter away from where he was earlier standing, staring menacingly at her. He was a squirrely one, that was for sure. Something seemed wrong with the man. “I'm Hannah. Who are you?”

The man didn't answer, just kept staring at her as if trying to figure out what she wanted. His equipment looked better than most she had seen; the blue head-band with three dark gray metal squares, the dark gray cloak covering up a dark red shirt, the dark brown pants with the swirling pattern that seemed to almost move when she looked closely; it all indicated that this man at least had gone beyond Level 30 and could be considered a fairly strong player. It would be best to befriend this person. Especially since he had killed three other players without even batting an eye and was shrouded by that barely seen baleful Aura.

“Come on. I mean no harm,” she said again, trying to coax out some response. She morphed back into her Human form. If he recognized her, he might relax.

Her body shrank significantly; now she stood at barely 1,6 meters. Her fur retracted, leaving behind her normal skin with its slightly tanned hue. She had kept her original appearance when she entered the game, and had only made some minor touch-ups, such as increasing the tan of her skin. Now, the only thing that differentiated her from a normal human was that she still had her Beast-form's ears on top of the sides of her head; they were black in her human form. Swinging the tail of long braided black hair to her back, she began folding up the flaps on her clothes to not look as much like a large ball of leather and fur.

“You?” the man said, the caution in his eyes lessening slightly, but not much. She couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with the guy. He continued, “you're the girl that sold me my former pants? Right?”

“Yes,” she said. He had finally remembered. How come he didn't recognize her voice? Well, no matter. “I saw what you did in the Magician's Guild. How did you do it? And why? I've heard that it's a lot more difficult to play this game when you have a negative alignment. You should be more considerate of others.”

“Hah... hahaha...” the man laughed at her. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But, sure, why not... It was an accident.”

“An accident?” she asked, incredulity expressed in every syllable. “You're right, I don't believe you. If you don't want to tell, then it doesn't matter. I came here to ask for your help. Answer some of my questions and I'll give you a few silver coins, how about it?”

“Nah,” the man said, quickly looking down at the NPC on the ground then back at her. “I don't have time for idle chatter. I need to get away from this area. There's already a bounty out on me, and I won't agree to being killed by anyone.”

“Fine,” Hannah said. She didn't mind taking a walk. “I'll just follow you until you have time to answer me.”

The man twitched, his blank facial expression growing a slight frown. “You can't. I don't trust you.”

“Don't mind that. What's your name?” she said, not waiting for an answer. “I'll just walk in front of you and keep in sight. That way you can attack me with that metal pin you're holding in the air. Clever way of using those pins you bought, by the way.”

The man looked at her for a long while, his body completely still, as if ready to move at the blink of an eye. Then he shrugged. “Go down to the ground and keep in sight then. If you're not here to try and kill me, I'll not attack you. My name is Jay.”

“Hey, Jay... right away,” Hannah said, taking a step backwards, falling straight down behind the large branch she stood on, morphing into her feline form in the air. As she approached a lower branch she slashed out with her claws, altering her flight through the air to a branch a few meters to her left. Then she stepped lightly on it with the pads on her feet, Flash Stepping down to the ground beside the NPC, startling him.

She looked up, watching as Jay slid down his rope at a slow pace. He looked very cautious. “So, what brought you here?” she asked the NPC.

“I was a forest guide for those three Immortals,” the NPC pointed to the three bodies on the ground. By now, their bodies had already begun to dissipate into a transparent heat haze that slowly rose into the air. After a few more seconds the bodies shimmered and disappeared in a slight flash of light.

Jay touched down to the ground and looked over vigilantly. Why did he have such a fearful mindset? She couldn't figure out Jay's behavior. “So, where are we going in such a rush?” she asked him.

“That doesn't matter to you,” Jay said. “Bokar, you said something about a place I could go and not be attacked because of my negative alignment. Was that true?” Jay walked over to where the bodies had been earlier and crouched down, picking up something from the forest floor at each body's earlier location.

“Yes,” Bokar, the NPC, said. “It's a small mining camp about six kilometers away from here. I'll show the way. Just, please, don't kill me.” Bokar shivered slightly, but didn't look very afraid. “They might even be in need of a person with your abilities, Lord Immortal. You are an Assassin, are you not? Or at least a killer for hire of some sort.”

“I'm not an Assassin,” Jay said with the first heated emotion Hannah had heard from him. “And why do you keep calling me Immortal? That's just strange.”

“But... you are immortal,” Bokar said, as he began walking towards Hannah—she had started walking backwards, looking at Jay to try and figure him out. Jay following by Bokar's side. “I can't think of a more appropriate description for you, unless it is Undead. But Undead are usually deranged and bloodthirsty, so you can't be that...” Bokar suddenly grew silent, looking at Jay with a disturbed expression. “No, you can't be Undead, right? He wouldn't keep me or the Beast alive then,” he said as if mostly talking to himself, but continued, “I have seen some of you die, and a few hours later come back to pay for my services. Isn't it true that you won't die like us when you are killed?”

“For some...” Jay said, but stopped talking abruptly, then continued as if not having said those first two words. “No matter, just show me the way to that mining camp and I'll let you go. And you! Stay ahead of me or I'll instantly kill you.” Jay pointed at Hannah.

How rude! she thought, but she soon forgot about her indignation. It was truly good to be back in a forest as old as this. It was beyond fun to jump around the lower branches and climb the trees. She ran along for a while, using low hanging branches to lunge up into the air and somersault through the air. She was enjoying being back into the forest, and was taking her time having as much fun as possible. She could ask Jay about whatever was down below the Magician's Guild when he trusted her more.

After they had spent ten minutes inside the forest, the forest had grown older and older. Now the trees were so large that their roots made hills and walls higher than a man. They continued on, walking the winding paths between the roots, when suddenly Bokar spoke out.

“Phew,” Bokar said. “Now I feel a bit less tense. I'm finally safe. Thanks for not killing me, Jay.”

“What are you talking about?” Jay asked in a flat tone. “I can still kill you. See these two pins floating in the air in front of me? At a moment's notice I can fling them with so much force that a single one of them would blow your head to smithereens.”

“No, no...” Bokar said with what could only be called suppressed bafflement. “We're in the Forest's domain now. If you attack me here, the Forest will destroy you.”

“What nonsense is this?” Jay asked.

Bokar wiped at the sweat appearing on his forehead. This is turning interesting, Hannah thought.

“In the Forest's domain, all of us that has paid allegiance to it will be guarded by it. If you attack me, you will not survive me long,” Bokar tried to not sound threatening, just explanatory.

“I don't believe you,” Jay said. “I don't like your sudden rebelliousness. Are you saying you won't take me to that mining camp now? If so...”

Before Jay could continue, Hannah had to interrupt before things got out of hand. “Jay, the NPC is telling you the truth.” she turned to look at the NPC. “You're what? A Forest Keeper or something?”

Bokar looked at her with hostility. She couldn't figure out why. “Yeah, something like that. I'm a Ranger of the Forest.”

“See,” Hannah said to Jay. “The NPC is of the Forest, which means that their guardian deity or something protects him. I was told about the Forest in my tribe's camp. It's some sort of god-like creature that has control over enormous swaths of land. In its land there are only ancient forests and no one dares to even cut down the trees there because the Forest might take offense.”

“Shut up with that enpeesi,” Bokar suddenly burst out. “I don't like the tone you Immortals use when you calls us that.”

Hannah was startled. The NPC cared about being called NPC? What was that all about. She didn't even think it could care about such things. “What do you want to be called then?”

“My name's Bokar. I'm a Forester. Not some en'pee'si,” Bokar said.

“Enough,” Jay said, interrupting their interesting conversation. Hannah didn't like that, but she had to try and not rile Jay; after she got her answers, then that might change. She didn't like Jay's strange behavior. Jay continued speaking, “I don't want to make noise and have others find us. By now I can only imagine how many are trying to find me for my bounty. Bokar, how did you find me?”

“I followed your scent,” Bokar said. “I used this,” he pulled out a thumb-sized bumpy worm that squirmed on his hand until it pointed at Jay with its two small beady black eyes. “It's a Snifferwyrm. They are very useful when you want to hunt something.”

“How is that possible?” Jay asked. “I had anti-scent magic in place.”

“You can't be very good at it then,” Bokar said, his attitude remarkably changed when they entered what he said was the Forest's domain. “This thing is only good at picking up scents, but it does that very well. That might also be the reason why. Not many would be able to find you if you used magic that erased your scent.”

Hannah felt left out. Why didn't they ask how she had found him? “I found you that way too. You smell like pale yellow with flecks of sparkling silver.”

Jay stopped walking, his eyes widening. “What?”

“You smell like pale yellow with flecks of sparkling silver,” she said again. Did he not understand me? she asked herself. “Hey, come on. Can't you answer my questions now?”

“Later,” Jay said, shaking his head.

“Later when?” she asked. But when she got no answer, Hannah ran off again, jumping from large tree root to large branch, bouncing off trees all around in ever increasingly difficult acrobatic movements until she started getting Experience from the more extreme of her maneuvers.

- - - - - - - -

Jay was getting dizzy from looking at the tan feline creature that ran and jumped around in front of him as their little group quickly traveled through the forest. They had been moving for a bit more than thirty minutes now and he was starting to feel winded. Slowing down his pace, Jay took out his canteen of water and some biscuits, then drank and ate; it made him feel a bit better.

“Hey,” the cat-creature said. “Share some food, why don't you?”

Jay couldn't be bothered to even say no. He had too many of these rock hard biscuits anyway. He threw one at her and she grabbed it from the air and quickly bit it in two, crunching on it with an ever growing distaste on her face.

“You don't have anything better than this?” the cat-creature said, spitting out the biscuit. “It tastes like chewing soft wet sand.”

“If you don't want it, give it back,” Jay said, holding out his hand. Hannah threw half the biscuit back and Jay stuffed it in his mouth directly after he caught it. “Can't waste food like that.”

“You're strange, you know that, right?” Hannah asked.

“From my point of view, you're the strange one,” Jay answered, but not really caring what she thought. He had lowered some of his guard against this cat-creature called Hannah because she didn't seem to be capable of hostility. Her juvenile jumping and running around, showed him that she had, if not an innocent, at least a childishly playful personality; such a personality was less likely to be hostile.

“We're here now,” Bokar said, interrupting Jay in his train of thought.

As they walked out from beside a tree trunk that was almost twice as tall as Jay, a clearing opened up and cordoned off sections of ground had plants growing in them. In a wooden-fenced pen lay more than twenty large wild pigs, their shaggy hair and long tusks made them look rather ferocious... if it wasn't for their lazy postures, laying on the ground slightly snuffling and snoring. Beyond the fields was a tall rocky vertical cliff-side, its reddish brown stone wall stretched more than two hundred meters into the sky and almost five hundred meters wide before it was covered from sight by the ancient forest. In the cliff's middle was a ten meter wide crack, widening the higher the walls climbed, but only slightly.

“The mining camp is inside that ravine,” Bokar said.

“How many people are there?” Jay asked, his senses growing ever more alert for danger now that he knew people were near. People were more dangerous than mere beasts, and he had to take care not to get attacked because of his Murderous Aura. “What are their Levels? Professions? How likely is it they will attack me?”

“Settle down,” Bokar said, the look in his eyes was growing slightly weird, as if he was looking at something he couldn't understand. “There are less than a hundred people here, including women and children. The only reason I showed you this place is because I think they could need the help of someone like you; someone with skewed morals. I'll take you to the foreman and let him tell you about it. I only heard some when I was last here to sell some furs and get supplies.”

“I'm not going there before you tell me more about the people there,” Jay said, grinding his feet into the brown mulchy earth as if trying to root himself to the ground. “I won't take unnecessary risks. What are their Levels and Professions? Who is the most dangerous person there? This foreman guy, right? What is his Level and Profession? I won't go there before I know I can survive if they attack me.”

“Why do you care so much?” Bokar asked. “You're immortal. What does it matter if you're killed?”

“I can't accept the losses a death would bring,” Jay said, sidestepping the truth, but trying to convey some of it. “Just tell me.”

“The foreman is named Paksir, he is a Level 58 Blacksmith. Most people are lower than Level 20 though. And less than ten people have combatant Professions, none has a Level higher than 40. Satisfied?” Bokar asked.

“And how do I know you're telling the truth?” Jay asked. He couldn't take the risk. A hundred or so people wouldn't be easy to run away from if they all attacked him. “You go get the foreman and come here. You said he needed someone like me, right? Then ask him to come here and talk to me.”

“You're a real coward, aren't you?” Hannah asked to the side.

“Shut up,” Jay said. “Prudence and precaution isn't cowardice. You try walking around with a negative 10000 alignment and see how safe you'd feel.”

“10000?” Hannah asked, her eyes widening to almost twice their size, her slit pupils narrowing. “No wonder your Aura even made me feel scared. That must be some record or something. Maybe it would be better for you to go back to a city and turn yourself in. You'd have to die a hundred times to get your alignment back to zero, and you would lose all your Experience, but at your low Level it wouldn't matter too much anyway. I don't believe its possible to come back to a positive alignment from it being that low.”

“I can't,” Jay said, not wanting to explain his reasons. “Why should I pay with my life for something I didn't do?”

“Well,” Hannah said. “Even if you killed those people in the Magician's Guild by accident, you still executed those three players earlier without a second thought. That isn't really how someone innocent acts.”

During their conversation, Jay noticed Bokar backing away slowly. “Where are you going?” Jay asked. “Go tell the foreman to meet me here, and if you bring anyone except him, or bring a group of people I'll run away from here. But I'll never forget it, and I will come back for your lives when I can take them without risk. Now run.”

“It's just, I've seen the devastation from when you Immortals fight. I was backing away because you two are almost letting off sparks with your conversation.” Bokar said. “I'll go right now. Just wait here, no need to threaten me. I know there is no point in going against an Immortal. Even if I could kill you, you'd just come back. And the Forest only protects against unprovoked violence, so I won't be starting any. It wouldn't do to lose my protection because you could claim self-protection.” Bokar walked off to a trail that went inside the ravine in the distance.

“Interesting,” Jay said, thinking about this Forest's domain. If there really was a creature that could monitor all the forests and it even had laws that people had to follow in its territory, then Jay had to take care not to provoke it. He had not found many creatures running around the forest during their travels here, but that was probably only because the Murderous Aura made creatures feel an instinctual fear and therefore avoided him; some extremely powerful creature wouldn't care about such things.

“Hey,” Hannah said, interrupting Jay's thoughts. It was growing frustrating to have her here. “Jay, you said you would answer my questions earlier. Isn't now a good time for that?”

“Sure,” Jay said. Though he was reluctant, it was still better to get this out of the way so that they could go their separate ways. “What do you want to know?”

“Many things,” Hannah said. “First, what was that black smoke? It killed an NPC with a Level higher than 50 in seconds. Second, what is down in the sewers? What is the Magician's Guild hiding? What were you doing down there?”

“You stopped numbering your questions,” Jay said, stalling for time. How much should I tell her? He thought to himself, awaiting the whispers of Claudine's sporadic advice.

Why not everything? Claudine answered without reason. It doesn't matter how much you tell now anyway, right? You can't go back, and the Quest is gone.

“The black smoke came from me burning a boss Slime to death. When the slime died I got the power to move the smoke it emitted from being burned with my thoughts, and I accidentally told the smoke to go above ground, where it then killed all those people,” Jay explained. “At first, when I entered, there were lots of small critters and crap in the sewers; the rooms and corridors were made from almost rotting stone. It only changed on the third floor; there were lots and lots of Slime-creatures there, but I killed most, if not all, of them. I don't know what the Magician's Guild is hiding, and I don't care. I was doing a Quest down there. It was to explore and possibly eliminate whatever was down there. I got it from someone named Rolan Fairwater. Enough information for you?”

“What about any sealed passage on the third floor?” Hannah asked.

Could it be she knows something more about any lower floors? Jay asked himself, almost waiting to get an answer from Claudine.

Maybe? I don't know, Claudine answered. Ask her about it?

“What are you talking about? Explain and I might be able to tell you what you want to know,” Jay said, trying to get some information in exchange for what he gave.

“I overheard Rolan and his brother talking. The brother said something about using the Slime you killed as a means to open a sealing stone down on the third floor in the sewers.” Hannah said, seemingly not trying to hide anything. “Rolan was killed after their conversation. His brother pushed him out the window and down into the sea of black fog you had sent to the Magician's Guild grounds.”

“Did they say anything about what was beyond the seal?” Jay asked, ignoring her last comment.

“Only that it would bring power,” Hannah said. “But that doesn't matter. Wouldn't it be fun to explore down there? A place no one has entered since the game started must be exciting to explore. And the place is in the middle of a large town and no one has entered it; that must mean it's a high level area. There might be treasures.” her eyes sparkled with almost blinding flashes of light as she said the last words. “Help me open the seal and explore the ruins. Since you made me aware of the place it's only fair to share the fun, wouldn't you agree?”

“Not interested,” Jay said, thinking back to the enormous snake that had guarded the ring he had taken. He really didn't want to open a place that might let that thing loose. “If that's all, please leave now before I think you're here to try and take my bounty.” He positioned the metal pins in the air to be between him and Hannah—with his large increase in Mana from upping his Wisdom to 180 he could hold at least ten pins in the air at the same time without the Regeneration producing less Mana than he used to hold the pins in the air; it was great. Now, if only he could get a few strong Spells and he might just be able to become a Magician, he just had to take a slightly different path to becoming one. Maybe he could become a Magician Assassin or something?

“Come one,” Hannah said, a slightly whining tone entering her earlier happy voice. “It'll be more fun to adventure with someone else.”

“Go ask someone else then,” Jay said, dismissing any notion of going back to Garam's Gorge town right now. “There are too many unknowns for anyone to even begin thinking about what to do beyond that sealing stone. How do you even open that? Do you have an answer?”

“I'll just smash it with my fist or if that doesn't work, my weapon,” Hannah said, smiling. “That's easy. Now will you come with me?”

“That isn't even close to a plan,” Jay said, trying to hide his utter shock at that simplistic answer. “First you should learn what kind of obstruction is closing off the fourth basement floor of that old underground structure. Then you should find at least two ways of removing said obstruction. Before that, you can't do anything else. Especially not include me in your plans.” Why was she so adamant that he follow her? Did she want to kill him for his bounty after all? Jay looked at her with squinted eyes, trying to catch any glimpse of falsehood in the woman.

“Boho,” Hannah said, rubbing her eyes with her hands, then sticking out her tongue as she removed her hands and continued, “that seem troublesome, but I have to ask: how do I find the answers to those questions? And if I find a more concrete way of getting rid of the seal, will you go with me there then?”

Exasperated by Hannah's reluctance to leave, Jay could only think of one way to get rid of her. “How about this? Figure out how to get rid of the seal and then ask me again, okay?”

“Fine,” Hannah slightly pouted, but seemed willing to do what he said. “How do I do that then?”

“Need my help with all the answers?” Jay had to ask, but didn't wait for an answer. He had an idea on how to make this into an opportunity for him and he wouldn't squander it. “First, find a place with lots of information. Preferably the Magician's Guild Library or maybe steal Rolan's brother's books? You could maybe find where the Magician's Guild have their Spellscrolls and search there to see if they have any Spells that might be able to open the seal by force or deciphering. Steal or buy all the books and information you can find about what might be under the Magician's Guild, and when you've found at least one answer to how to open the sealed passage down, you can come and ask me again. How about that?” If she really found the place where the Magician's Guild had their Spellscrolls or some other place that Jay could steal Spells from, it would be great.

“Okay,” Hannah said. “Add me as a friend, then I can report back about what I find out.”

“Go find the answers now,” Jay said after they added each other on the Friend List. “I'll be traveling around for now; I can't stay in one place for long while my Murderous Aura is active.” He sighed. “This will be so troublesome.” He paused for a little while, waving his hand in an off-hand gesture. “One thing you should tell me directly is if you find a way to sneak into some hidden or restricted places in the Magician's Guild. There might be something profitable to take from such places. I can take everything and then we split the things. It doesn't really matter how much lower my alignment gets now anyway; so, the question to steal or not to steal doesn't matter any more, only profit matters.”

“Harsh,” Hannah said. “Well, I don't mind. As long as you don't try to attack me, I don't care what you do to others. It's not as if this place is reality. Playing the bad guy can be fun too, I guess. I'll leave now then, talk to you later.”

Watching Hannah lope away, Jay felt his tension dim by continuous increments. When he didn't see her anymore, he crouched down in the hollow where root met tree trunk and waited for that Bokar fellow. From the place he sat, he could see any threat that approached, but just to be safe he increased the metal pins floating around him in the air.

It didn't take long before Bokar was back. Behind Bokar walked an elderly man in plain gray clothes—he could only be called elderly because his short hair was white—his muscles were as fit as any man in his prime, bulging out of his sleeveless shirt, his dark brown eyes had wrinkles at their corners. A smile was on his face... until he saw Jay. Then the man froze in his tracks, slightly frowning, shaking his head.

“This is the man I told you about, his name's Jay,” Bokar said to the elderly blacksmith. “Even though his Aura is terrifying, he seems like an alright person, for an Immortal.” Bokar motioned to the blacksmith. “Jay, this is Paksir.”

“Yes,” Paksir said. “That.. it only surprised me. You are an Assassin, correct?”

“No,” Jay answered. “I'm no Assassin, but I don't mind killing for profit. So, what do you want from me?”

“You see,” Paksir began, hesitating over something. “I don't know if this is a good idea, Bokar. We can't go against Immortals. They can't be gotten rid of as easily as normal people, killing just stalls them at best. There will be trouble.”

“It's your choice,” Bokar said. “I just hope you don't regret it later when this mining camp is disbanded and everyone leaves because they can't work here anymore.”

“You're right, of course. There is no real choice, they can't be allowed to take our livelihoods without a fight,” Paksir said, slowly shaking his head in sorrow. “I'm Paksir, Lord Immortal. I would like your help to reclaim our iron ore mine. It was taken from us by Immortals such as yourself. They even killed some of my people when they went to mine while the Immortals were there. After that, they set up an energy barrier at the opening of the mine that is impossible to walk through if you don't have their special identification talisman. The only good thing about that barrier is that it shouldn't be very difficult to break by force. They came here, and took everything from us.” Paksir sighed. “This place was built by me in my youth after I found the iron ore while exploring the caves in this area. I cannot abandon it. Lord Immortal, would you please help us?”

“What exactly is it you want me to do?” Jay asked. He had some idea of what this might entail, but he still wanted the man to say that Jay should kill the players that took over the mine.

“By any means necessary, reclaim the mine for us, so that we can use a Magician of our own to set up a much more powerful energy barrier that only we can pass,” Paksir said. “We bought a talisman with an energy barrier that I think even Immortals would have trouble breaking down; nothing like the puny one that is there right now. It's just that if we attack them, they cannot die, but we can. How could we face such a foe? Make them give back the mine to us. How you do that is up to you.”

“You mean to say that I should kill all the people in the mine and then give it to you,” Jay said. “This is to make all the blame fall on me, correct? Immortals fighting Immortals has nothing to do with you, is your way of thinking, right? Why should I take this risk?”

“We will pay you, of course,” Paksir said.

“What will you pay me to resolve this problem for you?” Jay asked, somewhat curious about potential rewards. Maybe he could negotiate with the players and settle this peacefully?

“Two gold coins,” Paksir said reluctantly. “I can't pay more.”

Two gold coins, that isn't worth increasing my enemies for, Jay thought.

Why not? Claudine asked, but continued before getting an answer. It's not like your bounty will disappear any time soon. A few more enemies might not really matter. And think about the Experience. Lots of weak people with Crafting Professions are there just begging to give them their lives and Experience. It shouldn't be too difficult to kill them. The only problem is that energy barrier.

When you say it like that... Jay thought back, and said, “I think you can do better than that. Just two gold coins for saving your mining camp? For saving your life's work? How about this instead: give me two gold coins, reduce the prices on anything I want to buy from you in the future, give me a good chain mail or other light metallic body armor and tell everyone in this camp to never tell anyone about me being here. If you can give me those things, I would consider trying to help you. I won't know if I can help you before I've seen that energy barrier thing.”

“That...” Paksir seemed a bit stumped for words. “I think I can manage those conditions. But I won't promise anything before you tell me that you can break open the barrier to the mine. You go and investigate that and let us talk after that. Time is of the essence, so please don't take to long with your investigation.”

“Fair enough,” Jay said, thinking the same. It wasn't a bad deal. If he could help this place he would be able to barter here and get what supplies he needed. It was worth enough to at least try helping them get rid of their problem of player's mining their ore. “Until then, can I go into your camp and look around? I might need to buy some things later, and I want to know where things are.”

“That should be fine,” Paksir hesitated slightly. “As long as you do not start any trouble.”

“I won't start any, but if anyone starts trouble with me, they'll pay with their life. Inform your people,” Jay said coldly. There was ample reason to be threatening; Jay didn't want to risk being attacked if he could avoid it.

A couple of minutes later the three of them were walking down the packed dirt road inside the slowly widening ravine. Some hundred meters in, the road started having stoutly built wooden shacks by its side. The shacks were small—at most they could house one person with a bed. The small shacks looked well made, but too small to be called anything close to a house. How could they live in those small places? At this moment, Jay saw four people walking out the door of one of the smallest shacks. It amazed him; they shouldn't be able to fit inside the small shack. Then he figured it out. “There are caves carved out behind every shack, right?”

“Yes,” Paksir said, looking at Jay with a raise eyebrow. “What of it?”

“Good construction sense, that's all,” Jay said, trying to be amiable.

As Jay passed by the shacks, the people that saw him shut their windows and doors, closing themselves off from the outside, the people that didn't see him until they were outside all jumped and shuddered when they saw him, averting their eyes. To Jay, this was for the best, he didn't want them to remember him being here.

The only thing that looked out of place was that in a nook between two shacks sat a young man carving a piece of pale white wood. The youth muttered to himself as he carved. “It's soon time for tribute, but what does the grown-ups do? Nothing. They say it's not my business. Not my business? My father...” Jay stopped listening to the youth after they passed him, but couldn't help but ask, “what's that tribute thing?”

“Oh,” Paksir said. “That's nothing, just a tribute we have to pay every tenday for our use of this land. You needn't bother with it.”

“Is that so?” Jay asked rhetorically, it didn't seem to matter much.

“Yes, yes...” Paksir said, wiping a hand on his left leg. “It's nothing important. I just hope the mining Immortals know that they need to pay tribute, otherwise...” Paksir didn't continue talking, but frowned slightly.

Jay thought about asking what that was all about, but it couldn't be anything important to him. And he didn't have the time to spend on trying to do anything but survive right now. He had to find a good place to hole up and figure out what he would do next. “Is there any place I could stay here? Like an inn? Or a bed in an empty room?” he didn't forget his need to sleep, knowing that the little time he slept at the top of a tree wasn't enough time to balance out him neglecting it for so long.

“Sorry,” Paksir said. “This place only have the homes of us that live here. There has never been a need for an inn or anything like that.”

“Then maybe you have a bed to spare for me?” Jay asked, not really wanting to sleep in someone's home, because they might attack him in his sleep. But maybe he could bar the door and feel safe that way.

Paksir was quiet for quite some time before answering; they walked through the tiny village and ended up in front of a slightly larger shack. “Sorry, I'm not saying I don't trust you, but I can't have someone that smells as much of death as you in my home. I have to think of my children. You could find a small cave somewhere around here, there are a lot of them. That should be enough for your short stay here.”

Jay figured he would get that answer as soon as Paksir hesitated, but didn't mind much. A small cave somewhere no one knew about actually sounded better than anything else right now. “Point me to where these caves you speak of are then.”

Paksir smiled gently. “There are thousands of them in this ravine, just throw a stone and you'll find one. Pretty much, anyway.”

“Good, thanks,” Jay said. “Should I find you here when I'm going to investigate the energy barrier? You need to tell me where the mine is.”

“That... here,” Paksir said, holding out a Map-pad. “Touch your Map-pad to mine and I'll imprint it with the mine's location. You can just use the Map-pad to go there whenever you want. Come back when you've investigated the energy barrier.”

Unclasping his Map-pad off the strap on his belt, Jay held it out to Paksir, who touched his Map-pad to Jay's; a yellow dot appeared on the flat surface of Jay's Map-pad. The mine seemed to be less than a kilometer away according to the empty space from where he was now standing to where the dot was. “Okay. Then I'll be off now,” Jay said and walked off before waiting for an answer.

Jay walked deeper into the ravine, looking at cracks and crevices in the rocky ravine walls. After he had gone far enough away that the bends and crooks in the ravine hid him from anyone watching from the mining camp, Jay uncoiled the rope around his waist. He had seen a great cave more than ten meters up on the cliff side. He sent his rope up, coiling it around a rock, wedging it into place to hold his weight, then he sent a massive burst of Mana into the rope, propelling himself up with one swift motion.

He landed where his rope was fastened, pressing against the steeply sloping cliff side. Looking inside the opening in the rock wall, he saw what looked like a perfect cave; it went down and into the rock wall, making it impossible for anyone to see him from the road. The cave was deep enough to avoid rain, but not so deep that Jay had to worry about potential enemies coming from some tunnel; he could clearly see all of the little cave. Quickly, he scrambled up and inside the cave, sitting himself down, his back against the rough stone. He felt like he had finally found a fairly safe place, a place where he could rest.

Closing his eyes, Jay fell asleep within moments.

Author's Note: Hello everyone. Hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter. This was actually supposed to be two chapters, but I spent a few hours today making two chapters become one with some editing and rewriting. I did this as an apology to those that I haven't answered in the comment sections, which I earlier said I would. I didn't forget it, but I also didn't have time to spend on this blog-project; other things became more urgent and I had to use my time on those. So, all I can say is that life got in the way. It isn't much of an excuse, and unfortunately, I can't do much about it.

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this longer chapter and have begun to see some of the deeper story-line. I was a bit apprehensive about having the first volume be as strange as it might seem, and I don't really know if the main theme I tried to get through was too obscured. Maybe my refutation of the expression “Ignorance is bliss” wasn't easily perceived. Did any of you see that theme? I got curious and had to ask.