Sid POV

  “It wasn’t me. It was my skill; it was like alarm bells were going off in my head. I’d never felt that way before, even when facing that goblin leader,” Sid lied, rubbing his forehead and taking short breaths to sell it. He looked down, away from George’s face, but his eye caught on the name tag. George was wearing someone else’s uniform. The uniform carried a stale, sweat-heavy smell, with a hint of iron.

  Sid gave a weak smile, nodding his head. He hoped his acting was enough to fool George. But looking at the wide-eyed state of Aditi, it seemed like she was not buying it. It did not matter; he just needed to know his skills. Then he could kill him before he became a problem, Sid thought.

  George walked up to one of his people, who handed him a diary with a pen clipped to its cover. He tossed the diary and pen over the firepit at Naga. “Write the names of people who have skills, the names of those skills, whether they are common or uncommon, and a brief description of what each skill does.”

  Naga was surprised but still caught the diary with both hands. The pen, however, flew off a few feet away. “Why do we need to do this?”

  “Because we are in this unknown, unfamiliar place, and we need to document these details to ensure no information is lost,” George said, extending his index finger.

  “It will help us create balanced teams, with people whose skills complement each other.” He extended his middle finger to make the count two on his right hand.

  “What if someone doesn’t share their skill details?” Aditi picked up the pen and passed it to Naga, while sparing a quick glance at Sid.

  Did she think he had lied about his skill? Sid brushed the thought away before turning his gaze to George.

  He had seen that diary before, carried by George’s underlings as they took note of the skills of every new person who joined their camp. He had seen people get beaten to a pulp for lying about their skill. Some of them had even disappeared, never to be seen again.

  “What are you afraid of? That someone will kill you and take your skill?” George asked, flicking his hand in a dismissive gesture.

  Sunny leaned forward. “Nothing like that. We know people don’t drop skill crystals upon death.” His voice was calm and even, as if stating a fact.

  Sid schooled his expression from changing when he heard that absurdity. He did not know how they had reached that incorrect conclusion when the opposite was so easily verifiable in this hostile environment. People, just like monsters, dropped one of their skills at random when they died—it will be common knowledge soon.

  There was a brief pause, and then booming laughter erupted from George. “Who told you that nonsense?”

  Sid noticed everyone except Naga and the doctor looked at George with wide eyes.

  “People drop their highest-level skill upon their death,” George said after clearing his throat. “I’ve seen it twice. Both our boss and one of our teammates dropped uncommon skill crystals after they died.” His tone was more sombre towards the end.

  Sid was taken aback by George’s incorrect hypothesis. He had hoped George would leave him alone for the time being, since Sid possessed multiple skills and there was less chance of anyone getting his uncommon skill. He had thought he would only have to worry about Rohan being in danger. Now he had to worry about both of them.

  Sunny turned his glare on the doctor, who had likely told everyone that people did not drop skill crystals. “Why did you lie to us?”

  Naga turned to face Sunny, blocking the doctor from his glare. “We wanted to avoid panic and infighting in the group, particularly with people scrambling to absorb skills as soon as they dropped.” His words were gaining conviction as he spoke more, and he glanced at Sid during the last portion of his sentence.

  “Still, it doesn’t mean you can withhold information from us,” shot back Sunny, pointing a finger at Naga.

  “This is why I want to document information, to prevent such instances.” George’s voice cut through with ease.

  He sat down on the log he had moved earlier, putting one leg over the other. “Don’t you guys have a system for distributing skills? What’s this I hear about a scramble to get skills?”

  Sid cut in before Sunny could respond. “Yes, we have a system. The priority is given to the team who killed the monster, then to all the scouting teams, and finally to the people at the camp.” He walked closer to Naga and his party, hoping to show his solidarity with them.

  Sid realized Naga was losing social capital after the lie about the skill crystal was exposed. They were fighting among themselves in front of a third party. He wanted to prevent a full takeover of the leadership by George, and he preferred Naga over George any day.

  George leaned forward in his seat, planting both feet on the ground. “That’s too complicated. Why don’t we collect all skill crystals and assign them to the best possible person?”

  Sid gazed at Naga until Naga noticed, then turned around and said, “That’s not very practical. People might have absorbed skills in the middle of the fight to survive.”

  “Yeah, let’s not change how we distribute skills.” Naga stepped in, his voice steady and more confident now.

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  “Alright, alright. Why don’t you guys fill in your skill details in that diary?” said George. “Then we can plan out the teams and end this meeting.”

  Naga sat back down and opened the diary, flipping through the first few pages. Sid also studied the diary, looking over Naga’s shoulder. It appeared to be a policeman’s work diary with case numbers, names, and other minor notes.

  Naga closed the diary and looked up at George. “What about the skills from your group?”

  “Turn it over.” George extended his arm, palm facing up, then flipped it down.

  Naga opened the diary from the back, and there it was—a list of names, skill names, and their descriptions. The handwriting was not uniform, and three names were struck out. Two of them had uncommon skills, from the looks of it.

  Sid could not find the name George on the list and turned his gaze to George. “What’s your name, sir?”

  “I thought you checked out my name tag.” George’s voice had a joking tone, the corner of his lips curling up.

  Sid shook his head.

  “It’s George, as I’ve already told your friends.” He stood up from his seat, taking out a knife, a smile forming on his face. “I forgot to write my skills there, as I got it recently. No worries, a live demonstration should be better.”

  George used the knife to slash his palm. He held the palm out to show there was no blood. “My skill’s called Bark-skin. It makes it very difficult to hurt me.”

  He struck his palm again, this time keeping his gaze fixed on Sid. Instead of the sharp iron smell of blood, there was the clean, almost woody scent of knife oil.

  That complicated things, Sid thought. Once he realized he would likely be a target, he had been planning to lure George to a secluded location and finish him with a knife to the throat. That would not be easy now. From his earlier show of strength, he had another uncommon skill, either Power-strike or Enhanced Strength.

  Sid noticed the intense gaze from George and returned it with a smile. That answered whether George had believed his act earlier. An early warning type uncommon skill was too valuable to ignore, regardless of how harmless he acted in front of him. “Any other skills we should know about?”

  He was already on George’s hit list. He might as well get the maximum intel on him. After all, George had taken a different path than in his memories, and Sid doubted his skills would remain the same as what he remembered.

  “I also have a skill called Mana Shield.” A translucent bubble formed around George before disappearing. He looked at Sid and smiled. “Can you add my name to the list as well, kiddo?”

  Sid extended a hand out to Naga, who was observing the exchange with narrowed eyes. While entering George’s details, he noticed one of the skill names struck off was Enhanced Strength, so that should be his third skill. There was another uncommon skill with its name struck off, but it had been blacked out by repeated strokes of ink and was not legible.

  Sid then turned to a different page and added his list of skills alongside his teammates. He did not bother to lie, since many people at camp knew their skills and they were not asking for the current level of each skill. Even that was not a secret since Aditi left their team. He resolved not to share any of their future skills outside the team.

  Naga took the diary from Sid and filled out the details for the entire camp.

  “So what’s the plan for today?” George asked, walking over to Naga.

  “We have two teams out scouting the surroundings. They should be back soon.” Naga closed the diary and handed it back to George. “Your team and Sid’s team can guard the camp tonight.”

  George opened the diary and went through the names and skills. “Sid has the skills required for a scout. Why is he on guard duty and not out there leading the scouts?”

  Naga cleared his throat. “They just got back today.”

  “Yeah, therefore, documenting skills is necessary. We need to have people with skills similar to Sid’s be part of the same team. I think we need to shuffle the teams.”

  George looked back down at the list of names, possibly trying to identify other people with similar skills. “Sid, why don’t you join…”

  “No,” Sid said, voice stern, eyes narrowed, and taking a step back so that he was out of George’s arm span. Although he believed George would not attack him in this setting, there was no harm in being cautious. In fact, he welcomed any form of aggression from George; it would help with picturing him as the big bully and help alienate him.

  Sid was done with making concessions to this psychopath. If a sneaky assassination was difficult with his current skill-set, then a more open resistance was better.

  “Excuse me.” George’s expression tightened for a moment as Sid stayed silent and did not explain himself. “What did you say?”

  “I said we are not shuffling teams based on what you say. We already have a good rapport within the teams and should not change that. Right, Naga?”

  Based on what Sid knew, Naga would not want to give up power either. Sid was basically extending a hand for him to stand against George.

  Should Naga back George, Sid would depart with Varun, Pallavi, and Rohan if he came on board. Although this camp was convenient, it was not important enough for him to alter his long-term plans.

  Naga stepped in between Sid and George, meeting George’s gaze. “We will not be shuffling the existing teams.”

  The rest of Naga’s team also stood, almost in a semicircle, facing George.

  George closed his diary and raised both hands to shoulder height, laughing. It was a laugh that did not reach his eyes. “We don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

  He took a step back to join his team, who only moved towards him when they saw his look.

  “My team will join the watch tonight.” George pointed to one of his underlings. “He can help you plan the work distribution of others from our group.”

  He handed the diary to the same man and turned back to face Naga. “Can you have somebody lead me to the lake? I’ll freshen up a bit; it was a long walk to reach here.”

  Naga nodded at Bunty, who stepped forward and led George away. The rest of the group soon dispersed after discussing work allocation. Sid stayed back late so that he could have a private word with Naga.

  “Thanks for having my back,” said Sid, once everyone was out of earshot.

  “About Aditi. It was her wish not to go on scouting trips. She seemed scared after your last trip.” Naga looked away for a moment, then back at Sid.

  “That doesn’t matter. You need to be careful of George. I feel he is dangerous,” said Sid, leaning in and meeting Naga’s gaze.

  “Don’t worry, Sid. This is not my first time dealing with a hostile takeover.” Naga had a smile on his face. “Besides, I’m used to dealing with SPs and Commissioners; what can one inspector do?”

  No, Naga, you were used to dealing with normal people, not superhumans with a god complex, Sid thought grimly.