Day: 16 Survivors Remaining: 271

  Views: 543,209,912

  Followers: 151,473,284

  Favorites: 44,782,688

  VIP Points: 200,808,911

  I made it back to town just before dawn, more or less. The dark, gloomy, chill, rainy Ruin didn’t change much, regardless of the time of day. I waved to the gate guards, vaulted the wall, and enjoyed the cessation of rain inside Port Royale’s protective dome.

  Most of the town was quiet, but lights blazed from every opening in the Expanse. Seemed like the party was rolling non-stop now. Would it help? Honestly, I hoped so, although I doubted it. Time was growing short, so we’d have to schedule a meeting with Elizabeth to go through the actual numbers.

  I bet we could see everyone’s counts in that card catalog I usually forgot I had. It was definitely more than a little invasive, but for the good of Earth’s survival, we might need to scan the counts to verify if anyone was going to make levels with VIP points.

  If not, we had enough time to form hunting teams to power-level folks. Many of them wouldn’t like that approach, but they might not have a choice if they wanted to live. The longer we waited, the more people would fail to make the level cut and would get trapped on stage 3. My musings were cut short by a new message.

  Ruby: Lucas, where are you? Are you all right?

  Crap. I’d totally forgotten to send them an update. First Syvelis, then Vhaernos had totally distracted me.

  Lucas: Sorry for the delay. I had a bunch to deal with. I’m almost back to Wooster Hollow.

  Ruby: Are you okay?

  Lucas: Yes.

  Ruby: Good. You do realize that name for your castle is pretty silly?

  Lucas: What? It’s perfect.

  Ruby: I’ll see you inside.

  I could totally hear the sigh in her voice. What was wrong with Wooster Hollow? She must be over tired. Just before I reached my home, Eva surprised me with an announcement.

  Congratulations, Lucas! For reaching over 160 million VIP points, you gain another level. Stat points allocated, plus 6 free points.

  Ha! Level 47. Hadn’t expected that. I checked my counts and could only gape. They’d gone up so much faster than ever. Apparently duels to the death with members of Queen Marisara’s court, plus escaping Countess Syvelis, then sending her packing, had really drawn in the viewers.

  Congratulations, Lucas! For becoming the first human from Earth to receive over 200 million VIP points, you receive a Sapphire Showboat loot box!

  The sapphire box opened with the same escalating ratcheting fanfare as the last one. It would have been annoying if I wasn’t getting free stuff that might prove super helpful. The loot box disappeared with a final flash of blue light, leaving behind a scroll and 3 sheets covered with moving emojis.

  Emoji Trap Stickers. Common. Three sheets of 16. Use the emojis more. Your fans love them.

  I laughed and waved at the ceiling. “Thanks, guys! I agree, they’re awesome. Thanks for the reminder.” The mud-pit trap had worked beautifully on Syvelis.

  Ability Scroll. New tier-1 ability: Double Down.

  Double Down. Rare. Tier-1. Level 1. Double any resistance for up to 30 seconds per level. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

  Note: Due to your Intergalactic Guardian title, starting level increased to 2.

  I whistled and looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you for watching! This will help a lot.”

  Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. I had a lot of resistances, including some I didn’t think about much. Thanks to my Tiberius title, they were all at least 50. Now I could double any of them. That could give me a vital edge.

  How many times had I needed more Mental resistance, or one of my elemental resistances? I needed to pay more attention to all the available resistances so I’d be ready to trigger this ability without hesitation.

  I tried it out, willing it to activate on my Ethereal resistance, which was already at 100, thanks to that Moonlight Ring of Spirit. Instantly, I felt a pulse of warmth and sensed my body grow far more impervious to outside, non-corporeal influences as the resistance doubled.

  Nice. I willed the ability off after only about 5 seconds.

  “Hmm. I wonder . . .”

  I activated the ability again, this time focusing on Mental resistance, which stood at 106. Again the instant I willed it, the ability activated and another pulse of warmth rolled through me. My thoughts became crystal clear, my mind like an impenetrable fortress.

  I turned off the ability and laughed. “This is so cool!”

  “Didn’t take you long to realize you don’t have to keep it active for the full 30 seconds,” Cyrus said.

  “And I don’t have to wait the full 5 minutes before activating it on something else if I haven’t used up that 30 second window. I wasn’t sure it would work.”

  Cyrus’s voice turned deeper in the unmistakable imitation of Mufasa from the Lion King. “You must believe in yourself.”

  I smiled. “Not a bad rendition. So you’re saying if I’d doubted it would work, I would have failed.”

  “If you had doubted the idea, you would not have tried it and thus placed a false limitation on the ability. If left uncorrected long enough, it would have likely become a permanent handicap.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “That’s pretty deep.” Was I limiting myself in some of my other abilities and spells? Probably. That wasn’t a happy thought. I couldn’t afford false limitations.

  “You tread in deep waters. Good thing you have that Iron Lung ability.”

  As much as I wanted to keep dumping the free stats from my new level into Strength and Constitution, I resisted the urge. Both of those stats were high to begin with and were boosted a ton by my ever-growing Follower count that powered my Alpha title and my orc general Bone necklace.

  Dexterity was falling a bit behind and I couldn’t let it lag by too much. I had tons of great weapons and super high Agility, but if I lacked the Dexterity to handle those weapons well enough, I’d create another limitation.

  I savored the sense of power that flowed through me when I applied the new stats, and it motivated me to get those last levels to the all-important level 50. I was so close and couldn’t slack off now. I had to keep training and improving as much as possible.

  “So, Countess Syvelis mentioned she had a ‘friend’ help her get down to stage 3 and find that relic,” I said, glancing up.

  Cyrus didn’t respond for a few seconds. “She did indeed.”

  “Did that same friend help Vhaernos get down here to attack me too?”

  “Probably.”

  “Probably? You don’t know for sure?”

  For the first time I’d ever heard, Cyrus sounded a bit embarrassed. “No, I don’t. I can see the results of what they did, but I have not yet tracked down who it was who did it.”

  I considered the dire ramifications of that for a moment. “Do you have less control over the inner-world areas?”

  “Not at all. I run this world from the core to the outer atmosphere,” Cyrus declared proudly.

  “Have you ever had someone hide from you when you wanted to find them?”

  “No.”

  When he didn’t elaborate, I asked, “So, what does that mean?”

  “It means I’m dealing with a singular challenge.”

  Not encouraging. “Will that challenge keep interfering?

  “Probably,” Cyrus admitted, his normal excitement returning. “I’ve never had anyone keep their actions concealed for more than nanoseconds once I started focusing on them. This person has remained hidden for days. Days! Lucas, this is such an exciting challenge.”

  Maybe for him, but it had nearly gotten me killed. What kind of spy could evade the powerful AI on his own planet? It had to be someone from a high-tiered world with some over-the-top powers. Not good. Would they content themselves with just helping Marisara from the shadows, or would they try to interfere directly?

  We did not need yet another powerful enemy. Just getting to stage 4 and defeating Marisara and Thalorian was daunting enough. Having some other invisible entity plotting against us made me want to scream with frustration.

  Trying to keep my voice calm, I asked, “Can you get that relic back for me since Syvelis only got it with the help of a cheater?”

  Another hesitation. “No, I don’t think I will.”

  “Not having that relic will cause us trouble, won’t it?”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  I took a deep breath, fighting to keep from shouting. “You know they’re cheating, breaking the game you’re managing, so why not just fix the problem?”

  “Not until I find the spy. There are few possible explanations for how they’re evading me. None are good for you, and if I start actively unwinding their actions before I determine exactly what is going on, they could do something far more . . . abrupt.”

  I shivered. Was Cyrus admitting he might not be able to protect us from the secret traitor? The situation was going from bad to worse.

  Cyrus’s voice turned deadly serious. “This is a topic you will not discuss with anyone, not even your team. For your own safety, this must remain between us until I ferret out the traitor.”

  I nodded slowly. “Fine, but once you stop them, I’m expecting you’ll compensate us for the extra hassle.”

  “All great performers are rewarded,” Cyrus said, back to his normal good cheer. Then his voice changed to sound like Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes.

  “Come, Lucas. The game is afoot!”

  “I’m glad you’re having fun,” I managed.

  I considered our conversation and the troubling situation as I crossed town, but there was literally nothing I could do about it. Jeeves opened the door for me, ready as always, with a silver tray holding a hot towel and a slice of piping hot lasagna.

  I hadn’t even realized I was hungry until the delicious aroma of one of my all-time favorite dishes floated up and seized my nostrils with an unbreakable grip. I scarfed it down before reaching the living room where Ruby sat on one of the couches next to Nigel.

  My shaggy murder kitten rocketed across the space and slammed into my chest before I’d taken a full step into the room. I banished my armor so he didn’t brain himself against it, caught him, and hugged his shaggy body.

  “Are you okay, buddy?”

  “Even better.” He licked my face, and that’s when I noticed his eye.

  One of his golden eyes was surrounded by a very cyborg-looking bit of machinery embedded right into the skin. Identify triggered instantly.

  Nigel. Principal Mammoth Lion. Level 75. Familiar to Lucas Altan, this little guy is growing into a true powerhouse. With his level-75 power boost, plus the new cybernetic enhancements, Nigel is on track to become something unique and exceptionally deadly.

  “Level 75? When did that happen?”

  “I got a bonus for surviving the sneak attack of a legendary hunter,” he said proudly, and instead of speaking in kitten growls, the words emanated from his mouth in that same smooth, British accent Linguasight always translated it to.

  “You can talk?” I laughed.

  Nigel tilted his head and flopped both ears back in a sign of annoyance. “I’ve always been able to talk.”

  “Right. Sorry. I mean, you talk our language. Ruby, you can understand him now, right?”

  She grinned. “His voice is a delight. We’ve been sitting here having a long overdue conversation. Little Nigel is quite the conversationalist.”

  Nigel swelled with pride at her words, like his head literally grew before shrinking back down. I laughed and scratched behind his ears. “You’re the only person I know who can get a visual swelled head.”

  Ruby said, “When Tomas and I were healing him, Tomas used his cyborg abilities to give him the upgraded eye and add the voice box.”

  Incredible. Tomas’s new class was even more flexible than I’d realized.

  Nigel added, “He put something in my blood to help me regenerate faster, and I got a new ability at level 75.”

  “Which one? You might be the very first to reach level 75 out of everyone.”

  His head swelled again. “I got Fortress of Solitude. It doubles defense and constitution and hardens my fur into razor-sharp blades, but reduces mobility by 50%. I can keep it active for up to 30 seconds per hour.”

  I hugged the little guy again. “Fantastic!” That was perfect. He was already a devastating fighter. Now he was doubly durable.

  Ruby rose from the couch and joined us, scratching Nigel’s ears. She was wearing the fantasy equivalent to sweat pants and a soft, blue blouse, her red hair hanging in loose waves halfway down her back. “The cyborg eye should improve his ability to see through rain and other challenging environments and even zoom in on distant objects.”

  “Like my Spellseer’s Gaze. That’s perfect.”

  Nigel added, “I can see magic now, and I can finally use all that mana I get from you. My new eye can generate a magical barrier.”

  I dropped onto a couch and Ruby settled next to me as I regarded the shaggy young lion on my lap. “You’re just full of surprises today.”

  “Wait till I see that hunter again,” he growled.

  “Relax. I took care of him for you.”

  He huffed in disappointment until Ruby said, “There are other members of Queen Marisara’s court, though.”

  Nigel brightened, and I said, “Speaking of which, I had a run-in with one called Countess Syvelis. She has 1 of the relics we need for our quest, but she got away.”

  Ruby gasped and Nigel jumped to his feet, fur puffing out. “Where is she? Let’s hunt!”

  “She’s gone for now, but if we can get another crack at her, we can’t let her escape again.”

  “Can we?” Ruby asked, placing a hand on my arm.

  “Maybe.” I told them about my adventures after Nigel got wounded, from the fight with Nextharos to my capture and escape from Syvelis, to my brief and bloody duel with Vhaernos. I was so very tempted to explain what I’d learned about the secret spy helping them, but resisted the urge. For now.

  “You’re lucky to be alive,” Ruby said when I finished. “You took terrible risks.”

  I shrugged. “Nextharos was a calculated risk. I’d expected to have time to prep for Vhaernos, but Syvelis caught me totally by surprise. Still, Marisara’s down 2 more court members and I’ve got 2 more vaults to explore.”

  “That’s right,” Ruby grinned, but then gave me a serious look. “Are you really okay?”

  “I’d be better if I’d gotten Syvelis too.”

  “Do you think she’ll duel you again?”

  “She’ll have to, or she forfeits everything.”

  “She sounds too clever for a straight fight,” Ruby warned.

  “I fully expect her to cheat, but I’m working on some surprises of my own. Now that I know her abilities, I’ll have the advantage.”

  “She knows yours too.”

  “Not as much. I’ve got a wider range of possible attacks.”

  “What if she sets up a time to fight, but brings down half a dozen other powerful court members to ambush you?”

  I leaned back against the couch, idly scratching Nigel’s ears. “I’ll have escape plans in place for something like that, but I doubt she can. From what I’ve gathered, it’s extremely expensive for them to buy a pass to come down even a little bit. I doubt they’ll be allowed to send a whole war party.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Me too. My thoughts turned back to the mystery conspirator working within the gust of Arasha who had helped Marisara set that tier-1 containment trap in the dungeon entrance cavern. Cyrus hadn’t mentioned anything about finding them yet. Would they dare help sneak more members of the court down to hunt me, or would that give Cyrus the excuse he needed to finish them off?

  Having another unknown entity circling in the darkness increased the danger many-fold. I’d have to be careful.

  “Should I invite the others to come check out your new vaults?” Ruby asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “Not yet. I have some training to do.”