When all was said and done, I almost couldn’t help but think that nothing of actual value had been lost as a result of that last demon wave. Well, besides my status as someone amongst the living. My entire situation was a mystery to me still, and I felt it would take some time and some additional information from the system before I truly understood what had happened.

  The good news was that we survived another demon wave, and the attempted coup by Luis. The amount of loot that had dropped… was extraordinary to say the least. We had the drops from over 110 demons and then the Behemoth mount and boss. When all was tallied up, over twenty pieces of equipment had dropped; fifteen skill books, three of which were of a higher-grade; and an innumerable amount of rations and potions.

  The abode had gained fifteen levels, which was less than I had expected, but still good. The exp curve was not linear, and getting even higher than we were now would only be achievable during the next demon wave. That or particularly difficult quests might do it.

  It was still only morning when the battle ended, and despite time being a blur, it had been a little over an hour from start to finish. That quick victory was mostly accomplished due to the advantageous position we held. With a small entrance way and our impressive AoE, we could turn any amount of demons into loot if we could only hold them in place long enough.

  “What a day…” Richard wiped his sweaty brow and put a hand on my shoulder. “These are the higher skill books.” There were three and I took them happily. I hadn’t seen them but after reading the text it made sense why they were passed to me.

  These skill books required you to be level 30, and moreover that you only had one available skill slot. I guess that this restriction was to prevent some freak accident from occurring where a level 30 that had been carried immediately learned three greater skills: a situation we might have been in the process of creating ourselves. Mark could have been something like that, and it actually was interesting to think such a contingency had been considered by whatever system governed the rules we now lived by.

  Thomas said Mark would pick a class after his last big exp gain, and yet that hadn’t happened yet. He was already level twenty-two now, with the rest of the group resting at level 29 or just barely away from being able to take the greater skill. I didn’t know what he was holding out for before, but now was the time to stop the delaying.

  I kept the three books and hunted down Alan who was still collecting loot, “Give all the skill books to Mark and tell him it’s time to pick a class.” He nodded. “Who has all the loot?” I asked. It was usually him that did so.

  “Anna got it all this time.” Which wasn’t a big surprise.

  I eventually found Anna just outside of our abode with Maria and, surprisingly, Lidya. “How were the drops?” I asked.

  “Mostly side upgrades.” She shrugged. Her standards for loot had grown… extravagant. Frustrating but understandable. We had raided the coffers of a kingdom that existed for who knows how many countless years, most of our gear was well above our level at the time.

  “Okay, pass me all the jewelry and give the new group pick of the rest of the loot.” I looked to Lidya, “I will let you be responsible for that.”

  She seemed apprehensive and about to say something, but eventually nodded in understanding. “I will.”

  Back when the incident happened I had made no distinction between her and our captors. As much as I wanted to, it would have been naive to trust her fully then.

  “Sorry about before.” I left her those parting words. Some of the unease on her face lightened as I left. She was going to be given gear for free? And was in charge of it?

  Honestly, none of this delegating did anything for me right now. Everything seemed to be coming through a thin veil of fog. A cover over my thoughts that left me feeling detached from everything. Scary though, was just how much more efficient I was with this veil. “Have you seen Jessica?” I asked Thomas when seeing him near the abode gate.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Last I checked she needed to rest inside. Rebekah should be with her.”

  I nodded, “Good job today.” While patting his shoulder as I passed.

  He smiled awkwardly, “Mike… about before…” I knew what he was referring to already. Maybe without this strange feeling in my head I would have been mad, or feeling a little betrayed, but I wasn’t, not now.

  “It was the correct call.” I said. “If anything, I’m more confident in you now.” He would make the correct choice to save as many people as possible, even if that meant giving up on someone. If the world wasn’t like this some might think it selfish, but it was that hardened resolve you needed to survive now.

  He smiled awkwardly, “Right.” It was the most lacking-in-confidence sounding response I’d ever heard from him. Still, it was something he needed to reconcile with himself. Until the situation presented itself you didn’t know what kind of person you were. Thomas found out today, the question was whether he liked what he found.

  I left him to his thoughts and started to fiddle through the jewelry as I approached the abode. There were only three pieces, all of them rings. It seemed amulets were a bit rarer, and only one out of the three caught my attention. I had taken them because jewelry in general was hard to acquire; it seemed to me that Marcus’ new team deserved the pick of that loot at least.

  Jessica was inside the abode laying back on the couch with Rebekah laying across from her, it seemed they were both utterly exhausted. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” I said softly, just in case they were actually sleeping.

  Fortunately, or unfortunately, the only thing either of them moved was their eyelids. Which was eerie to say the least, and I almost expected to be scolded for bothering them. “Not particularly busy.” It was Rebekah who responded, in an oddly questioning tone. As if to say, what do you want? We’re resting…

  I handed her the first two rings that had nothing remarkable about them, “Let Marcus decide who takes those these two,” I said, “but this one is for you.” This was a good ring, and I had considered if Thomas should have it. It was the only one of the three that had a skill and wasn’t just purely for stats.

  Thomas excelled at minimizing damage through shielding and rarely had to cast large heals. Rebekah on the other hand had a long cast-time heal. Being able to instantly dump a massive heal into anyone who needed at a moment’s notice was invaluable. This was someone’s second life-line.

  Needless to say, the questioning look disappeared immediately. “Should… should this really go to me?” she asked.

  “Your biggest heal is a three-second cast if I recall. That’s the longest heal I’ve seen so the ring is best used by you.” She nodded and didn’t argue. Instead I watched her use Presence of Mind immediately. It was remarkable to see the unassuming ring begin glowing with a beautiful verdant green.

  “I stored it.” She said. “It took three times the MP of the actual cast, and I still needed to wait the three seconds for the ring to absorb the spell.” Which was good information to have, she couldn’t use it and instantly cast, the skill DID need to be stored beforehand.

  I looked over to Jessica who had been quietly watching, “And this is for you.” It was one of the greater skill books, and the only one that remotely fit her current style of play.

  It was the best choice of the three, and suited her play style as a scout well. She would be a bit more deadly with the first strike damage, too.

  “Can I see the other two?” She asked.

  I passed them and then sat on the couch to relax. Richard burst in the front door a moment later, “Ahh it’s good to be done.” He sighed. “How long do we have Mike?” He walked over slowly as the gear on his body disappeared into his inventory.

  I opened the tab for the abode and was flooded with information, mostly from the levels. At the bottom was not what I was expecting though. The time should be going up… so why did it go down?

  “I think…. Just two weeks.” What a nightmare this was becoming.