The next day Bumblebee burst into the company warehouse and yelled, “Rush 18 baby!”

  Luke chuckled and said, “I take it your flying lessons went well?”

  “I stan for you, Luke. Your idea was perfect. I got a level in Evade, and three in Rush. Do you know what this means?”

  “You're a better Driver now? Wait, no. Eighteen. That’s the next threshold, isn’t it?” Luke asked and sat up.

  “Hell yes, it is. As soon as I kill me some monsters, my class will level up too. At the third threshold, I’ll sacrifice a monster core and one of my skills to get a better one. Specialist White said if I sacrifice Evade and get Boost, I’ll be three times as fast when I use them together.”

  “Nice, that’s a good synergy. But you’ll need to sacrifice more than just a core and a skill. The book Cormac gave me says you should sacrifice a runed item too.”

  Bumblebee deflated.

  Luke chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll make you something good.”

  “Thanks, man,” Bumblebee said earnestly. “You a real one, no cap.”

  Luke rolled his eyes at the slang. He knew Bumblebee was doing that to mess with him. Two could play at that game.

  It was morning on Kalibutan, so normally it would be monster killing time. Luke decided to do a bit of crafting first. He grabbed his tools and some sheet metal. He pushed Machine Bond into his prosthetic leg for the class buff and got to work.

  Vanessa came in a bit later, super excited for her new training idea. She had driven around Norfolk Complex and hidden random stuffed toys everywhere. Her plan was to go on a run around the complex and have the new hires spot the toys. It was training for spotting monsters in the wild, along with the planned physical exercise. Luke praised her initiative and sent them on their way.

  An hour later, Luke had a runed item for Bumblebee and one for himself. He could hit level twelve today, his own threshold, and wanted to have the best sacrifices available.

  “Whatcha got there?” Sandwich said. Vanessa wasn’t back from the run yet and he was bored.

  “Just some runed tools I threw together. If Bumblebee or I hit our next threshold today, we’ll sacrifice these to improve our class on the level up.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “Yeah, each threshold you have to sacrifice something more. When you hit level six, it’s just a tier three core. At level twelve it’s a tier three core and a runed item. At eighteen, it’s all that and you have to sacrifice a skill too.”

  “Good to know. So, um. What exactly did you make there?”

  “You’ll see. Bumblebee, come over here,” Luke yelled.

  Bumblebee put his phone away and got up from the office couches. He walked to the back of the warehouse and said, “What’s up, bossman?”

  “This is your runed item you can sacrifice when you hit eighteen,” Luke said and held up a metal helmet with a visor. “It’s got extra reinforcements and elemental protections. It’s set up to suck up any electric or fire elemental attacks. I call it an Elemental Denial Helmet.”

  Bumblebee put it on and said, “Not what I was expecting, but still pretty cool. Thanks, bossman.”

  “Yeah, I just realized Elemental Denial Helmet is a bit of a mouthful, you can just call it your No Cap.”

  Bumblebee’s mouth dropped open and Sandwich burst out laughing. Luke joined in, finding his own joke hilarious.

  “All that for a lame-ass dad joke? I’m disappointed in you, Skywalker,” Bumblebee said and took off the hat.

  “What did you make for yourself? A bat that tells jokes?” Sandwich asked.

  “No, it’s my attempt at an immovable rod. It uses a Master Inertia rune to remove momentum from the bar of iron.” Luke pointed out the runes and the embedded tier one core. At full power it would probably stay motionless for half a minute before cracking the core.

  “That’s, neat, I guess,” Sandwich said.

  “Not a fan of DnD, I see. Well, I’m sure you will be excited to see what I crafted yesterday. The red beauty in the corner is Mark IV. I made some adjustments to the Mark II while I was at it. My old armor is all yours now.”

  Sandwich walked up to the twelve foot tall Mark II armor with the four spell rifles poking out of the forearms. His face lit up when he realized all that firepower was his now.

  Luke pointed to the belt he had added, “Your belt has a bunch of different monster cores in it. This way you can touch one and summon a monster. I know you can only use each one once, but you can swap them out every time you come back to Earth. Luckily, your soul summoning doesn’t use up the mana core, so you are only borrowing the cores from our treasury.”

  “I love it. Thanks so much, Skywalker. I take back all the bad things I said about you behind your back.”

  “Hey!”

  Sandwich just laughed and climbed into the new mech to try it out.

  When Vanessa came back with the trainees, Luke had Bumblebee take over the training and took Vanessa and Sandwich to Kalibutan. They had leveled up their skills, now it was time to level up their classes by picking some fights with monsters.

  Bumblebee wanted to level up too, but Luke told him he could kill monsters tomorrow. He would be the best person to train the new hires with their elemental clubs anyway. The No Cap would be perfect for training.

  The lucky three headed out, ignoring Bumblebee’s complaints. On the other side of the portal, Luke paused to talk to the orc guards. He still needed to do something about that IRS audit and power armor design demand. A proportionate response.

  “Hello, Seneschal Cormac asked me to pass on a message from Lord Edobar. The purple coats offended him, something to do with an audit. He wants you to bar them from Kalibutan for the day,” Luke said imperiously.

  The orcs looked at each other for a moment before the taller one said, “And who am I addressing?"

  Luke flipped up his visor and said, “I am Luke of Machines, a recognized member of Lord Edobar’s court. He couldn’t be bothered to use the normal channels and asked me to do it instead.”

  The orcs looked at each other. At this point they recognized him, having seen him go through the portal every day. They may or may not know he had a class, but they knew he belonged here. Luke patiently waited for them to decide if they wanted to do what he asked or risk the ire of the royalty.

  “We’ll turn them away today, and make sure they know it has something to do with an audit. But next time you’ll need to have a letter from Seneschal Cormac,” the orc said.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Will do. Thank you, keep up the good work.” Luke said and headed off.

  He was glad that worked out. He might harass the billionaire more later, but for now, turning away all of his scientists should be good enough for a first salvo. Atticus Adelson would get the message that his meddling wouldn’t go unpunished.

  While they jogged towards the city to drop off Jinx, Luke commanded his magic drone to start hunting monsters in the slime territory. Since they didn’t want to collect the cores in that area, it was something the drone could do on its own. He gave it instructions to send him a picture of its target before it fired because he didn’t fully trust it not to kill a slime or a passing person.

  When they got to Bona Urbo, the sun was up and it was after breakfast time. A few dozen dwarves were heading out of the city to work on the fields, along with a few orc guards. Before the humans passed them, something strange happened all across the village.

  An image of a huge head appeared all over the city, one at every intersection. It was an illusion of Lord Edobar’s head. The image cleared its throat and said with a booming voice, “As some of you heard, last night our coalition lost the first phase of the Malamon. This morning, the staff of Bona Urbo were chosen to compete in the last phase on the third day of the Dragon.”

  There were cries of surprise and fear from several people nearby. Apparently most people out here hadn’t heard the news.

  The lord continued uninterrupted. “It is a disappointment, but an outcome we have planned for. Do not fear. I will not allow my staff to be a disgrace. We will win this Malamon and everyone will return home trailing glory!”

  Lord Edobar paused and there was the sound of cheering in the background. He said, “To ensure that victory, the heads of every department and their seconds are commanded to meet in the heart plaza now for a planning meeting. We will discuss our glorious victory and begin preparations. The meeting starts in ten minutes.”

  As soon as he stopped talking the illusion cut out and everyone in the village said, “All glory to Lord Edobar Falodun.”

  A pair of farmers started hustling towards the village center and the rest continued their way out to the fields. They were chattering to each other in hurried voices, too fast for Luke’s cell phone to translate.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Vanessa asked.

  “Sorry, I should have set you up with a translator too. Remind me when we are on Earth and I’ll set it up for everyone on the team. That was the lord of this village, giving them an announcement,” Luke replied.

  “Did something happen? It seemed serious,” Sandwich interjected.

  “As serious as things get. A group from the big city wants to take these people’s jobs. They started a competition and won the first round. Now they are going to do a second round of competition. The losers get sacrificed to the gods.”

  “What. The. Hell. You better not be joking,” Sandwich said and stepped back.

  Vanessa had a disgusted expression on her face, but she didn’t say anything. She knew this was coming because they had discussed it after Luke’s meeting with Lord Edobar.

  Luke said, “I’m not joking. The portals between our worlds, and other worlds, are powered by ritual sacrifice. I didn’t mention it before because the thought turns my stomach. It’s messed up.”

  Sandwich looked behind himself where the shrines and the portals stood. “That’s despicable. I felt the shrine take some life force the one time I prayed. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they suck people dry to punch a portal across the cosmos. Not sure if I feel comfortable going through the portal anymore.”

  “Yeah, I’ve thought about that too. I think it’s more important to focus on the gods themselves, not the portals. I’ll keep growing in power the longer I’m here, and use that power to limit their influence here and on Earth. I have a feeling there are plenty of people here on Kalibutan that feel the same way. You never see people praying to the shrines they installed.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Sandwich said distractedly.

  Vanessa clenched her fist and released it over and over again.

  “What are you thinking, Vanessa?” Luke asked.

  “I need some time to digest this.” She started walking faster. “It’s good we are going out hunting. I feel the need to blast something to bits.”

  Luke nodded. It was an uncomfortable topic. He still didn’t know what the right path was. He had decided on one thing though. When Lord Edobar asked him to participate in the Malamon he hadn't planned on going through with it. Now that he knew their lives hung in the balance, he felt guilty. Like he was a coward for not wanting to risk his own life.

  Before they got to the runewright’s shop, they met her slithering their way. Kruro waved and said in English, “Luke, glad to see you. I have a letter for you from Lord Edobar.”

  “You came out here to hand deliver the letter? I was coming to see you,” Luke said.

  “No, I am responding to Lord Edobar’s summons. As the Outer Runewright, I will compete in the second phase of the Malamon.” She spoke confidently, but her eyes darted around nervously.

  “Wait, does this mean you could die if the village loses?” Luke asked, horror rising.

  “It does. All the heads of households outside the aristocracy will die if we lose. But Lord Edobar is a strong leader. We will succeed.”

  Vanessa rushed forward and hovered her hand over Kruro, unsure if a hug was appropriate. She said, “Do you have to participate? Can you escape? I’m sure we can sneak you through the portal to Earth.”

  Kruro slowly dropped her hands. “Even if I could betray my lord and break my oath, I wouldn’t. I’m a true person and won’t deny myself. For better or worse, my path is chosen. Speaking of which, I must go. Luke. Read the letter.”

  Luke stared dumbly at the letter in his hands while she quickly slithered away. He popped the seal and unrolled the scroll. It was a short message, written in English.

  Luke of Machines. Avoid all three estates in the coming days. Continue your culling work and divert the titan. Until I call you back, stay away so that my enemies forget you and do not draw you into their plans.

  -Your Lord Edobar

  “Isn’t there something we can do?” Vanessa asked. She was back to making a fist over and over again.

  “Maybe. But we’ll have to continue this conversation outside. Lord Edobar has ordered me to stay out of the villages for the next few days.”

  “What? Why?”

  “If people see me around town, they’ll remember I exist.”

  Lord Edobar wanted him gone so that the political maneuverings around the Malamon wouldn’t account for him. The elf wanted Luke to be his ace in the hole, a platinum classed fighter to swoop in at the last moment and win the day.

  The problem was that Luke had decided he didn’t want to risk his life in a fight to the death. Not for some spoiled elf. He might actually consider risking his life to save his friends, but how well did he even know these people?

  Luke continued. “Anyway. I’m feeling the same thing you are, Vanessa. I want to blast something to bits.”

  The three of them swept through the north eastern portion of the peninsula, prowling for danger. As they walked, Luke got multiple requests from his drone. It had found a monster, but kept thinking that slimes needed to die. Luke denied the requests and sent it looking for other monsters.

  Almost five miles away, the humans found Lightning Bats, a small swarm roosting in the upper canopy of a dead tree. Luke’s attention was drawn that way when he heard a faint pop of electricity. He led the crew to the tree and activated the new weapons system on Mark IV.

  Two air rifles popped out of panels on his back, levering themselves over his shoulder and swiveling around with a thought. Machine Bond let him know that they were ready to go and fully loaded.

  Obviously, he couldn't use the lightning bolt against the bats, but his ice bolt should work just fine. The oversized tubes in his forearms held fire and sawblade spells, and that would be even more effective.

  Sandwich saw him getting ready and he touched the belt Luke had made for him. It held a dozen monster cores, each one from a different monster. He flung his hand forward, entoning Echoes of the Dead as he did. A pink ball of energy resolved itself into a tall and thin canine, a summoned Stalker Jackal.

  Vanessa couldn't create her own elemental spells yet, but Luke had inscribed runes into the palms of her gauntlets. She could create fire and ice at will now, as long as she was in her mech.

  Deciding on blades and ice for his opening salvo, Luke made sure the others were ready and held up his right hand. He fired the converted mortar in an arc towards the highest branches. The spinning blade spell was ten feet wide and just barely reached the top of the tree before falling. The blade ended up impacting the tree vertically and missed every monster. It did however hit three key branches, and left most of the swarm in freefall.

  Luke laughed and used Machine Bond to control his over the shoulder spell guns. He fired his ice bolts over and over again as the four foot tall monsters tried to figure out what was going on. Vanessa joined him, throwing ice and fire balls faster than any professional baseball player.

  The monsters didn’t stand a chance.

  Six of them died within the first six seconds, and the remaining twelve didn’t last much longer. Vanessa’s spells were hitting hard enough to cause elemental splash damage. Luke split three of them apart with a single oversized sawblade spell. Sandwich’s summons jumped up and snatched a few of them out of the air before they could get close to counterattack. He used his new-to-him spell rifles to add small ice and fire balls of his own.

  Eighteen monsters, dead before they even realized who was attacking.

  “Hell yeah! Two levels!” Sandwich shouted and tried to jump in the air. His heavy suit quickly brought him back down to the ground.

  “One level for me,” Vanessa said and stared at something only she could see.

  “And me too,” Luke said with a smile.

  The fight had been quick but that was all they needed to see their classes level up. The book Cormac gave him said that leveling up would require more difficult enemies once he passed the second threshold, but they weren’t there yet. Hopefully, Luke would get there today.