Chirp.

  “I don’t like it either, she has the glowing red eyes again.”

  Squeak Squeak.

  “No, I don’t think she will be able to handle all of them alone. We’ll have to intervene at some point… keep an eye on them.”

  Alexander dropped the disk spell landing in a crouch as he took out his grease pen. He managed to draw four small glyphs on the ground before Flick started squeaking an alarm. Leaping back into the air he moved closer to the orc circle in time to see Ridley get a face full of black smoke. Watching Ridley’s body go limp confirmed his suspicions, Alexander would need to pull her out of harms way.

  As the Orc lifted an ancient weapon called a Naginata in the air, Alexander projected a shield over her body. Timing it with the confusion caused by his intervention, he gestured and lifted her in the air with a floating disc. All of the spell burdens started to add up in Alexander’s mind, so when he lifted himself to meet Ridley he started to feel mentally taxed.

  As Ridley reached Alexander she was beginning to shake her head, overcoming whatever toxin was spewed into her face. She gagged as she began pushing herself up. Over her shoulder Alexander could make out a confused face on the Orc leader which slowly turned to rage.

  “You dishonor our sacred combat! Come fight you trickster!” he spit in furry.

  Alexander shook his head in bemusement. There is no such thing as sacred combat, so trying to bait him with foolish notions of honor in battle was pointless. Turning back he noticed Ridley’s cold red eyes on him. Her expression was even more hauntingly enraged than the orcs.

  “Out of mine way, Roman scum!” She screamed as she jumped of of her disc and planted a knee into Alexanders gut. He mentally congratulated himself on preparing a bullet proof vest for the event, then chastised himself as he was launched off of his floating disk.

  As the pavement flew towards his face he shouted, “Forceful wind!”

  The gust pushed upwards enabling Alexander to flip awkwardly in the air and land on hands and knees instead of his face.

  “Flick, be ready.” He whispered.

  Alexander gauged Ridleys position as she was preparing to leap off the disk to attack him. As she bent her knees for the leap he released the disk causing her to fall straight downwards in the middle of the four glyphs he had hastily drawn before her extraction. When her foot hit the ground it triggered the four runes causing shields to spring up simultaneously around her, and they began to slide inward boxing Ridley in.

  Ridley took a second to realize she was caged from four sides. She looked around for a second before she decided up was the best way out. Expecting this Alexander signed casting forceful wind as full-strength just as she leapt in the air, crushing her into the ground.

  “FLICK! GO!” Alexander pointed.

  Flick sped forward, jumping into Ridley’s shadow. Instantly releasing an electric shock. Alexander saw her body go rigid from the continuous charge of electricity flowing through her body. Alexander ran forward and pulled out a feather shaped hair pin he had purchased and enchanted the previous day.

  ^

  Hairpin of Minor Resolve

  A hair pin that moderately strengthens the users mental resistance to magical influence.

  Alexander clipped the hairpin on Ridley and heard her scream.

  “NOOOOOO! You abominable meddler! Thine end will be torturous at my hands!” She shouted before her eyes flicked from red to normal.

  “You old hag! Get out of my head!”

  Ridley shouted desperately before her eyes went red again and she pushed herself to her feet against the wind.

  “Shock her again flick.”

  The built up wounds, pressure from the wind, and electricity forced Ridley to her knees as the shields finally pushed in on her from all four sides, binding her in place.

  Alexander moved forward but her will was not yet broken as she flexed her body.

  “DO YOU HEAR THEM WIZARD? THE SCREAMS OF MY DAUGHTERS?” She shouted twisting and flexing her body, “…OF MY PEOPLE!? MY TORMENT OF THEE WILL TEAR YOUR VOICE OUT OF YOUR THROAT! YOU SHALL DROWN OUT THE SOUNDS OF MY CHARGES!” Alexander saw the shield crack as he reached out and touched the hairpin, then pulled up his most recent prompt.

  ^

  Quest rewards:

  -Equipment upgrade of choice

  Choose equipment to upgrade

  The cheap silver hairpin immediately started glowing and grew to the size of a large feather with subtle glowing color accents peaking through the silver. It now prominently filled out the side of Ridley’s head.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  ^

  Hairpin of Mental Fortitude

  A hair pin that greatly fortifies a person wisdom.

  All mental influences from outside of the wearers permission are severely weakened.

  Alexander relaxed as Ridley’s eyes regained their original green hue before her head slumped against a shield as she passed out.

  “All clear Flick.”

  Alexander pulled the other disc to the ground and dispelled one of the the glyph shields. He caught Ridley as she fell and helped her to lie down on the disc before checking the area around him for attackers. The orcs had parted to let their leader approach. Alexander sent the disc towards the other group of humans, who seemed to be in full control of their battle now.

  Seeing Ridley approach the back line he stood and turned to face off with the remaining army.

  “What is this you do?” The giant orc tilted his head in confusion. “Too many tricks for sorcerer. Bind, shield, soar, wind, mind.” He spun his Naginata and rested it on his shoulder.

  Alexander searched his mind for a strategy on how to fight the army.

  Awesome displays of power should be rare, and overly dramatic. For they are foolish by nature. Gruffel had said.

  Alexander reaching into his backpack and grabbed his second thermos of coffee dramatically.

  “Who am I?” Alexander asked with a thundering voice. “You dare ask while invading my place of work!” He took the cap off the thermos and downing its contents. The corner of his vision showed a mana bar fill quickly.

  Tossing away the thermos he gestured dramatically, creating a wide non-damaging wind to swirl around him. The remaining puddles of water were caught up in a mist and spun in a circle around him.

  “I am the Human Resources Manager of Congo, and you trespass on private property!”

  He gestured his hand up and lifted himself into the air with a new floating disc. Another hand motion cast minor illusions forming several balls of fire, he flicked his wrist and made the fire spin in a circle around him.

  “I have tamed a dragon!”

  Flick jump on his shoulder and showered sparks from his mouth.

  “I have plundered the halls of a warlock!”

  Alexander thought of anything else he had done that might sound impressive.

  “I have collected hundreds of rocks!”

  Alexander made one of the fireballs change into the form of a magic stone which he lifted with his hands.

  The orc leader, who had previously looked impressed looked confused at the claim.

  “I am ALEXANDER THE WIZARD! I suggest you stop damaging property or you will suffer the wrath of the American justice system!” Alexander shouted with as much gusto as he could.

  ^

  You have gained two levels in Acting!

  You have gained two levels in Intimidation!

  Caloom the Orc slammed his face on the ground so hard the pavement cracked. Alexander could hear the reverberating thud over the shrieking winds. Immediately the massive orc started groveling. The other orcs looked about confused at their leaders action.

  Caloom lifted his head and began shouting, “Shamalc! Shamalc! Igta boodo.” Then he turned back to Alexander and slammed his head to the ground again. The other orcs all began falling to the ground groveling.

  “Forgive them great one. They do not understand, as they have no translation.”

  “Oh, thats alright.” Alexander said losing some of his grandeur.

  “We have unknowingly stumbled onto your sacred Wizard grounds! Please do not turn us into fish and bugs!”

  Lowering himself to the ground he was wary of a trick. Middle school pranks weren’t so far out of memory. Carefully he approached the orc leader.

  “Do you acknowledge your fault and liability for this event?”

  “Yes, this is our doing. We would not have stepped into a wizards domain willingly.” Caloom explained.

  “It may be best for everyone if you return to your homeland then.” Alexander suggested.

  “When a tribe chooses to invade a foreign land, we forfeit the right to return. We fight to the death or come to an agreement with the leader of that land, however no tribe would invade wizards land as the would surely turn to dust if ever they did! Would you accept our allegiance instead? We will work hard to find the Lexus of Power!”

  ^

  You have taken the original summoning totem of this army and subdued it. Do accept the allegiance of Sharon’s army?

  Alexander pondered on the notification for a second. Looking around at the orcs he pulled a stack of flyers out of his back pocket. Handing them to Caloom he asked, “Can all of the orcs here lift at least 80 pounds unassisted?”

  The orc lifted an eyebrow before looking down at the fliers.

  “Yes, great one.”

  Alexander grinned a manic grin as his new ploy unfolded in his head.

  Quest Update:

  Stop being awkward:

  Your boss wants you to learn how to interact with people by recruiting employees.

  Objective: Recruit new employees

  Quest rewards:

  -200 xp per recruit

  -3 silver per recruit

  Current Recruits: 122

  -Harvey the Game Master-

  They did it! They staved off the disaster that was caused by… by his stupidity and ignorance. He felt a wave of nausea hit him as he looked at the death toll that was still rising.

  “FOCUS! Be productive now and have a mental break down later!” Harvey chided himself, taking inspiration from Alexander.

  Alexander the genius! He was a sight to see.

  That thought in mind he went to help Alexander as he knew he would need him. He had been playing the wrong game this whole time. This wasn’t a dungeon crawl or a top down strategy. This was inter dimensional chess, and Alexander was his Queen… well not queen, that sounded odd in his head… most important strategic piece…

  “Get back to work!”

  He went to setting for a global condition and used an insane number of resources to calm the populace. Something he had seen before but never imagined needing to use as he wanted the slow reveal, but his hand was forced.

  He sent non-player quests to officials as a bribe to make changes happen in governments. He checked hundred of settings, realizing random things were switched on that could not be turned off. Things he had never seen before were now options he never knew he had.

  He saw almost a hundred notifications unread from when the dimensional integration safety measures were turned off.

  ^

  Notice: Bloodline Awakening Activated

  Warning: Unrecognized bloodline detected

  Warning: Unrecognized bloodline detected

  Warning: Unrecognized bloodline detected

  Harvey flipped through over fifty notifications about bloodlines. Finally he got to a new one.

  ^

  CRITICAL WARNING: The Will of the World has awakened on planet Earth.

  “Whaaaaat… that sounds, bad? Maybe?”

  He flipped through a few dozen that didn’t seem terrible, but he notated them anyways, but the last message made Harvey go cold.

  Congratulations! You are now level 2!