The World Which Is

“Hey, Brandon,” I call out, running to catch up to him. He’d stayed well ahead of us as soon as we were moving this morning. I figured that for all that he acts like he doesn’t care, he doesn’t look forward to the insults Helen throws his way. “I have a question.”

He looks concerned for a second, then smiles. “Shoot.”

“How come I didn’t get any advancement for the animals I killed on my fighting quest?”

“You didn’t?”

“I must have killed treens of different animals by now as part of practicing my bow and tracking. That should put me past the fourth step of that quest, but I’m still not done with it.”

“That’s because you didn’t fight them.”

“I killed them.”

He chuckles. “Did you notice that you don’t have to kill a creature for it to count?”

“Yeah, but I don’t see what it’s got to do with it.”

“It’s not about killing it, it’s about fighting it. Basically, it’s about getting to know it, and that doesn’t happen at a distance. You need to get in up close.”

“So, just exchange a few punches and it registers?”

“Never looked at if there’s a ‘minimum number of hits’.”

“Really? I’d think you’d look for a way to make it easier.”

He laughs. “I have way too much fun fighting. I don’t want it to be easy.”

“Then, if I want those kills to count, I’m going to have to get in with my sword.”

“I wouldn’t bother. Those aren’t about completing quests, they’re about your skills. Archery is what you need to work on.”

“I need to speed up my quest completions.”

“And why’s that?”

“I did like you said, figured out my build and committed to it. I need fifteen ability points.”

He whistles. “Are you looking to unlock everything?”

“Fifteen points isn’t going to do that. I want to get healing and teleportation.”

“You know that ability isn’t going to get you home all that much faster, right?”

“You know anything about the Aetheric lands?”

“They’re dangerous. There isn’t a lot written about them, and I haven’t met anyone who admitted to traveling through them.”

“That’s interesting, but I want it for the teleportation itself. Blink sounds like it’s going to be useful in combat, and there’s bound to be more beyond the moving from one place to the other without crossing it. Helen didn’t know much about that kind of magic. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t gone for that. It would give you an advantage in fights.”

“At a sacrifice of my strength and dexterity. Ten in Aether doesn’t let you do anything significant when it comes to magic. You need the kind of numbers my sister has. Her Aether has to be in the triple treens at this point. We don’t get class bonuses toward that. I worked out early on I wasn’t smart enough to learn all the stuff needed to do magic.”

“But we get a class boost to our intelligence,” I counter, and he grins.

“And now I’m smart enough to know I’d rather punch my way out of a problem than magic it away.”

“I think it’s going to be a good investment for me.”

“Just don’t forget you have to be able to survive what you’re fighting for it to matter to the quest.”

“I’m not, and on that subject again. How broad does a subject have to be to qualify for the research quest?”

“It has to be something different from what you’ve already researched. What do you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking that researching creatures and animals will also count toward training my zoology and cryptozoology skills.”

“It will. But you need to make sure the book you’re reading is accurate. There are a lot of people out there selling junk knowledge. The system doesn’t accept that for the quest.”

“The clubs make sure the books they have are accurate, right?”

“Oh yeah. The last thing they want is to be caught with junk books. The libraries are also good about that, but because of how much more they hold, you can’t be certain with recent additions. If you want to be absolutely certain about the information you get, then you want to deal with the academies, but those are expensive.” He grins. “I have an in at the one in Detroit, which is how we’ll find out everything we need about The Nox.”

“Someone you slept with?” My face heats up. It doesn’t matter I made a conscious decision to say that, or maybe it’s because of that. Sex isn’t something I’m used to talk about.

“Multiple someones, but—” he looks at me. “You actually asked that? I thought sex was one of those subject you really didn’t want to deal with.”

“I’m trying to get comfortable with it. Talking about it, not doing it.”

“Oh, you’ll get comfortable doing it, too.” He smirks. “Unless doing it while uncomfortable is what you’re in to.”

And now my face burns. So much for getting comfortable with this. And I am not referring to the tightness in my pants.

“And that kiss didn’t mean anything.”

“I figured as much. Heat of the moment and all that.”

“So thanks for not taking advantage.”

“I wouldn’t Dennis.”

I’m surprised, but appreciative of the admission. For as forward as he is with everyone we’ve encountered, he’s good about respecting my boundaries.

“How many caches are in ruins?”

“It varies from ruin to ruin. The larger the ruin the more it will have, obviously, but unless you have access to a map where they are all marked, the only way to know you’ve explored all of them is to hit a hundred percent on the ruin’s exploration.”

“How tough is that to accomplish?”

“It’s mostly tedious work. You need to walk all of it, so you want to map your progress. You need to find all the caches, and you need to defeat the area bosses.”

“I have to fight monsters for the exploration to be complete?”

“You, with the help of your team. It’s the main reason we usually work with a team. It makes the whole thing easier.”

“You were alone when we met, and I get the sense it wasn’t because they’d stayed behind or gone ahead.”

“I mostly work alone, that’s true. But I’ll find people if I feel what I’m going to do needs them. Unlike someone like Xander Poop, it’s a case-by-case thing, instead of not being able to do anything without my entourage.”

“I’m glad you agreed to work with me, then.”

He rolls his eyes. “And leave you at Poop’s mercy? Not a chance.”