“Ahem,” the quartermaster said, drawing Danielle and Ranger Flo’s attentions. “I need three more final decisions on tokens, here – a confirmation on the craft choice, and the last two young gentlemen need to make their final decisions known.”

  “Oh. I thought everyone had already chosen,” Danielle said.

  “I don’t know what to pick,” Jordan admitted. “Taking Boost Recovery was simple – I have a risk factor, so I take the Skill that deals with it. Now that I have another choice, though, I’m stuck. Danielle, I’m asking you as a fellow miracle-survivor; what should I pick?”

  “What? I don’t know, you can – ” Danielle paused, as a very odd feeling came over her. “You can pick anything,” she said slowly. “You can serve God faithfully using any of those three Skills, if you choose to.” Her eyes flicked to Gideon, who was suddenly going a bit pale.

  “I, um, OK, but which one is best?” Jordan asked.

  Danielle made herself eat another bite of chicken. “That depends on how you want to serve,” she said.

  “OK, well, um. You know how I was saying earlier that I was only alive because of the miracle?” he asked.

  “Sure. I understand why; Sadie, Akari and Marc were all right there, not to mention Vince, so if you’d actually killed me, one of them would’ve killed you for sure, the moment your Outlaw flag went on,” Danielle said. “Not to mention that God didn’t have to keep you alive to keep me alive, which means he chose to keep you alive. If God wanted you dead, all it would’ve taken was a slightly different angle of the Shield Burst throwing you against a tree or a rock or something.”

  “Yeah. And also, he somehow made all of you take me in on top of it. You taught me to fish and everything. Let me into the hunting party. Vince got to me the way he did because I thought I was going to die anyway. Because of the way the miracle went down, and the way you reacted to it, I don’t think that anymore,” Jordan said. “So, um, I owe God my life, right? Also you, a little, but I kind of feel like you’d just point me back to God.”

  “I definitely would. I like to think I’m a nice person, but forgiving that kind of thing is hard, and I wouldn’t be hanging around you if I didn’t believe it was God’s will. Like, not even just the general loving your enemies stuff, but specifically his will for me to keep you alive, and not just that first moment,” Danielle said. “Besides, we kind of all owe God our lives anyway.”

  “Right – um, right, so. If I wanted to give God back my life, um, especially – you know, not just lip service and showing up at prayer meetings, but for serious. Like that one guy in the Bible story, where the lady prays for a baby and she gets one and gives him to be an, um, apprentice priest or something?” Jordan rubbed his neck, looking embarrassed.

  Danielle opened her mouth to say she knew the story, but what came out was, “Jordan, you can choose that. You need to know, God is doing something with me and Gideon and someone else, and if you choose, you can be the fourth person. If you do choose that, though, then the time will come when you will be required to run into deadly danger. Withdraw the question, just take whichever Skill seems best to you, and serve God with that Skill to the best of your abilities, and you can run away from that danger like all the other normal, sensible people. Ask us again, though, and by asking, you choose the danger. You have to – how did it go again, Gideon?”

  “Protect the ignorant, even the evil, even your enemies, for the sake of God’s wisdom and glory,” Gideon said. “Jordan, you don’t have to do this. It isn’t a test. If you choose normal kinds of service, God will raise up someone else. Ask the question again, though, and we’ll tell you the answer – both of us, so you won’t have to wonder if Danielle’s just having hallucinations already. And if we tell you, the choice is made, and then you will have to do all the other things that come with it.”

  Jordan looked from Gideon to Danielle and back. “That’s heavy,” he said.

  “It is. That’s why we’re making sure you know what you’re choosing,” Danielle said. “You can choose a greater service for a greater glory, but it’ll come with a greater hardship, too. You’re not going to get tricked into this one. Eyes open, or not at all.”

  Jordan glanced around again. “I – I meant what I said. I’m dedicating myself to the God that saved me. If he needs someone to run into danger, I’m his guy. He can save me again if he wants to, right? Tell me which one to pick.”

  “Don’t,” Ranger Flo said suddenly. “Telling other people what to do with their System is always a risky proposition, not to mention illegal. Religious browbeating is not allowed.”

  “Who’s browbeating? I told him he didn’t have to do it,” Gideon said. “We both did! We told him God was OK with him just doing the normal Christian thing and serving God with whatever resources came to him. I believe it! It would be fine.”

  “Jordan, listen. I’m definitely feverish, so don’t just take my word for this,” Danielle said. “I’m going to count back from four, and then Gideon and I are each going to say what we think the right Skill is. If we don’t say exactly the same thing, syllable for syllable, then it’s just the mana-dizziness talking and you ignore the whole thing, OK?”

  “Uh, Danielle, we’re not supposed to put God to the test,” Akari reminded her.

  “We’re not supposed to speak for Him unless it’s scripture or a true prophecy, either!” Danielle said. “Do you know what Skill he should take, Akari?”

  “What? No, how would I – ” Akari suddenly broke off, an odd look coming over her face.

  “Here’s the countdown,” Danielle said, when she was sure Akari wasn’t going to continue. There were still people walking around, up and down the stairs and around the mezzanine above, but for some reason the background conversations had all fallen quiet. “Four, Three,” someone in civilian clothes walking down the stairs on the Sending Authority side suddenly stopped in place, “Two,” an unnerved looking man in Ranger browns came out of the Ranger station’s muraled door and looked back at them, “One, The choice is Detect Internal Temperature,” Danielle said.

  The words echoed around the grand foyer; even though she’d added extra words in front of the Skill name, Gideon had said the same thing, at the same speed, syllable for syllable, as Danielle had said – and so had Akari, Ezra, the Ranger man, the woman on the stairs, and someone Danielle couldn’t even see up on the second floor. As if that wasn’t impossible enough, into the profound silence after that came a message: “Now Hear This, a message from Peter to the SHAD party, What are you people doing? I was just compelled to say ‘the choice is Detect Internal Temperature’ and everyone in line is staring at me like I’m a madman, and I know this has something to do with you!” Around the building, other conversations started back up; someone above asked the unseen voice what they were talking about, the woman with no uniform hurried across to the doors with loud clicking footsteps on the hard floor, and someone in the Ranger office called to the uniformed man who reluctantly left off staring at them to go back through the door. Peter belatedly added, “Um, End Skill.”

  “That was creepy,” Heather whispered.

  “Stuff like that is why I’m not blowing off Danielle’s religious stuff anymore,” Sadie said.

  Tom shuffled nervously in place. “How did you do that?” he asked.

  Danielle looked at him. “I do not know,” she said. “All I know is, for a minute there, it was really not business as usual, but now the weird feeling is gone. From me, at least. I’m done having stuff to say about what Jordan chooses.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “It’s not just him,” Gideon said. “I have to switch my choice too. I’ll have a Detect Internal Temperature please, quartermaster.”

  The quartermaster raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought that was all about what this fellow was supposed to choose,” he said leadingly.

  Gideon shook his head. “I chose to be one of the four a while ago. The choice is Detect Temperature for all four of us. I wasn’t sure I was hearing right, because what does a temperature check have to do with protecting the ignorant and so on? I’m sure now, though; I wasn’t hearing wrong. Give me Detect Internal Temperature.”

  “Me too,” Jordan said.

  “You sure, boy? I heard these here religious folk say if you took it, you were gonna be in deadly danger,” the quartermaster prodded, though he also handed Gideon a token. Gideon looked at it, nodded, and put it in his pocket.

  Jordan held out his hand. “I live in building seven,” he said. “I’m in deadly danger every time I step outside my room. If the God that saved me when I was trying to be a murderer, and brought me here, and offered me this chance, wants me to run into some specific deadly danger for him, well then, at least he’ll keep me safe until it’s time, won’t he? Give me Detect Internal Temperature, please.”

  “That doesn’t mean you have a license to be stupid,” Danielle said. “Sometimes God protects us by reminding us to be careful.”

  “Don’t worry, I will be,” Jordan said.

  “Someone – Gideon – please respond to Peter and tell him not to make a big scene. Um, a bigger scene,” Danielle said. “I can’t, I’m not allowed to use mana for anything but tokens right now. For the rest of us, party secret, we do not want to spread this around.”

  “Why not? It was scary, but also kind of amazing,” Tom said.

  “People who didn’t hear it for themselves will take it for a hoax and get mad at us,” Danielle said. “Or Systemists will take it for blasphemy against the System and get mad at us. Or Theocracy Party people will get funny ideas and expect us to do it again on demand, which we can’t, and then they’ll get mad at us.”

  “Can I have permission to tell Peter the truth, though?” Gideon asked.

  Akari stood up. “Yeah, we can’t lie to him when he was in it. Is he your fourth person?”

  “Beats me,” Danielle said. “Maybe he was just a person who listens to God and had the Skill to contact us, so his involvement could confirm that it wasn’t just happening in the building.”

  “I don’t know either,” Gideon said.

  “Either way, the point is not to lie, the point is to stay off the topic altogether. Don’t lie,” Daniellle said. “If we don’t bring it up, nobody will really know it happened except these two Rangers, and I don’t think they’ll be spreading it around either. It’s not like random people are going to quiz you.”

  “What if they ask why I’m suddenly going around taking temperatures, though?” Jordan asked.

  “You can tell them you believe God wanted you to take the Skill, just don’t tell them about how you confirmed it,” Danielle said. “Seriously, I don’t need that kind of, what’s the word.”

  “Notoriety?” Ranger Flo suggested.

  “Uh, sure, close enough. I don’t need it, and you don’t either, Jordan,” Danielle said. She gave him a very serious look, then reluctantly started in on the salad. It wasn’t the freshest greens she’d ever eaten, but she was willing to admit that it was probably a good idea.

  Gideon nodded. “It’s about serving God, not getting famous. I think everyone but Danielle’s got our tokens now, so let’s go get back in line and try not to look like gossip-fodder.”

  “Look tired, and you’ll look like everyone else going into my line,” Ranger Flo said. “We do need to bring Danielle, though.”

  “And she needs to pick a craft token or two first,” the quartermaster reminded them.

  “Oh, right – Stranger Ranger said wood, because it’s easy to get,” Danielle said. “Sadie’s got that too, though. I’m already working on bone, which I’m not giving up on even though I think Jordan also has it. Maybe I should stick to wood.”

  “Got a leatherworker in your group?” the quartermaster asked. “If you have bone, you’ll have hide, too.”

  “That’s true, and we don’t have anyone yet, but a bunch of us are working on Tan Hide,” Danielle said.

  “Then let me suggest Pierce Leather. It sounds over-specific, but it’s one of the better gateway leatherworking Skills, because the holes you make with the Skill are stronger, less likely to tear out or stretch out. Like all the craft Skills we actually sell, it also has a high rate of leading to more Skill unlocks in the same field, and since it is badly underappreciated, I won’t feel too bad about letting you have it at a discount. Say, Healer, can I sell her Wood Carving separately, if it’ll speed this up?” the quartermaster asked over Danielle’s head.

  “Sure, but not until Bea gets back. Transparency, and not taking advantage of potentially feverish patients and so on.” Ranger Flo paused, and took in Danielle’s indecisive expression. “Danielle, taking another leatherworking Skill might speed up the process of unlocking Tan Hide.”

  “That’s the one!” Sadie exclaimed. “I don’t mind if you double up on Carve Wood later, but that’s the one for now!”

  “No kidding!” Heather agreed. “Am I allowed to buy that one too?”

  “In two weeks, yes, for 300 mana,” Ranger Flo said. “If you still need it. Right now, Danielle? Are you taking it?”

  “Yes, all right, Pierce Leather. I need a sixth one though. Should I just take Carve Wood for that?” Danielle asked.

  “Have you considered taking something from that underused Skill Tree you mentioned?” the quartermaster asked, but Danielle could see he was fiddling with a couple of Skill tokens on his side of the counter.

  “I don’t want Observation Skills right now, I’m already learning a new sensory Trait,” Danielle said.

  “You probably don’t want Mana Sight either then,” he said, setting one of the tokens aside.

  Danielle chucked. “Mana Sense is the Trait I’m learning to handle,” she told him, “so no.”

  “You recently obtained Mana Sense? Are you a Mana Caster?” he asked in surprise.

  “Enhancer, going for the General class,” Danielle said. “Mana Sense filled the last requirement to unlock it.”

  “Oh, I see. I was going to suggest a cleaning Skill, but if you’re already that deep into mana manipulation, may I suggest Carve Staff? You’d think it would only be of use to Staff Casters, but it’s a prerequisite for a surprising variety of Skills that allow Enhancers and Mana Casters to work together. If you don’t already know any Mana Casters, just wait a few weeks, they’ll make themselves obvious soon enough!”

  “Ooh. I do know a Mana Caster, and I’d love to be able to work with her on things,” Danielle said, then reluctantly added, “but I wonder if I’d use a cleaning Skill sooner? Or even a hunting Skill – like I know a Predator guy who isn’t a murderous waste of Room space, so he’s trying to pivot to Hunter, and he got this Career Skill that lets him tell which deer are best to target to keep the herd healthy. Problem is, he’s in a different hunting party, so I can’t take advantage of it unless we hunt as a group of eighteen, which is a lot. Is there any chance you have that?”

  “I’m afraid that sounds like a rather high-tier Skill, miss – too high for him to really have, in fact,” the quartermaster said. “Did you see or hear any of how he actually activated or used the Skill?”

  “I didn’t hear it happen, but he mentioned targeting the Skill on ‘a male deer past his prime,’ if that means anything to you?” Danielle said

  “Oh, that actually sounds like a creative use of Find Prey,” Ranger Flo put in. “Are we stocking that one right now? I know it comes and goes.”

  “We are not,” the quartermaster said. “Precisely because we have a new Sending, and one that is close to Return. Those are bad times to make Find Prey generally available.”

  “Ah. Nuts. Too easy to abuse?” Danielle asked.

  Ranger Flo sighed. “Would you want a member of the Wolf Pack org to be able to ‘target’ a finding Skill on you?”

  “It can do that? What defends against it?” Danielle asked, suddenly worried.

  “Your resistance Trait, for starters,” Ranger Flo said. “There are also some higher tier Skills that specifically resist active searches like that, but they’re even more heavily restricted for various reasons.”

  “Ugh. All right, give me Carve Staff and make a note that when Ranger Flo and Agent Bea come to try and sell me stuff to get back their agencies’ mana, I’m interested in hearing about the cleaning Skills and Find Prey if they’re willing to authorize my party to have it,” Danielle said. She looked at her salad; she’d eaten all of the toppings off of it, and there never had been any salad dressing, so she started rolling up the lettuce into a little wrap, contained by the two biggest leaf sections remaining. She carefully emptied the last bits of lettuce and radish out and ate them, then held out the empty clamshell when the quartermaster slid forward a stack of tokens.

  He laughed. “Making a Skill salad are we, now?” he asked. “All right then. Here’s the epidemic recovery Skills as the base,” he set one stack of tokens inside, “and here are Pierce Leather, Manadepth Perception – you know that’s an expensive one, right?” Danielle nodded, and he continued, adding more tokens as he spoke, “here are Carve Staff and Spear Apprentice, and here is Falconry Apprentice. Don’t forget you need a book to go with that one – like all Apprentice Skills, it’s a semi-lore Skill that assumes someone will be teaching you the lore proper.”

  “Oops,” Ranger Flo said.

  Danielle sighed. “I trust you can add it to my tab? I know books don’t make for easy round numbers by themselves, but if I need it to use the Skill – “

  “Yes, don’t worry, we’ll get it to you with the enhanced equipment when we get back,” Ranger Flo said. “Munch that lettuce wrap while we walk.”

  Danielle closed the clamshell over the small pile of tokens and dropped it into her satchel.

  “Couldn’t you have used your token purse?” Ranger Flo asked distractedly, making sure all the other members of the party were moving with them.

  “It’s a little over-full to take all of these,” Daniellle said. “Hence the need for the strong-box.”

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