I took my leave of them after telling them to figure it out between themselves and headed for my office. That math book wasn’t going to edit itself. Glancing out the living room window, it looked like just rain again. No more thunderstorms.

  Setting my coffee down, I pulled up the files. After a deep breath or two, I started in again. I could read most of the sentences, but that didn’t mean I had a clue about the math. A few bits here and there made sense, but overall…nope.

  About a half hour before the next spawning, my editing got interrupted by a message from Ryan.

  [Ryan:] [William of Brinsford] [We’re short a tank for the next spawn. Can you help again?]

  I finished marking the paragraph I was working on before answering.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Ryan] [Sure. I can help, and I might have a warrior to do it. I want to see how he handles spawns.]

  [Ryan:] [William of Brinsford] [Has he fought them before?]

  Returning to the living room, Blaze and Li-chen were still on the cushions, talking. Blaze leaned against the couch with her legs outstretched, while Li-chen had shifted down off his knees, legs partially tucked under him.

  “Hey, Li-chen,” I shouted. “Have you fought against spawns? Current ones?”

  “Yeah. Why?” he called back.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Ryan] [I got your tank. Blaze and I’ll backstop as a second party.]

  [Ryan:] [William of Brinsford] [Thanks. See you in a bit. Storm seems to be dropping. No lightning now.]

  Of course, after he sent that, I heard distant thunder. Still, the rain had eased…a good sign.

  “Li-chen,” I said, startling both of them. “Gear up whatever you use for fighting. Our guild’s short a Tank for the next spawn across the street. And you’re tanking it.”

  Li-chen’s face froze. “I’m not a tank. I’ve never tanked. Don’t have the equipment or build for it.”

  I smiled at the shocked look on his face.

  Then I laughed. “Neither did I during the first spawn. I tanked it with my rapier…in shorts and a t-shirt. Granted, this one’s harder than three Kobolds. All you need to do is keep their attention while the casters take them down. Do any damage you can. You’ll have a shield in front of you that you can hit through.”

  His mouth hung open for a moment, disbelief written across his face.

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “Very. If not, Blaze can do it.” I looked at her. “Didn’t you say you’ve done it for some of your brand-new agents?”

  “Yes, but that was a few days ago. One of my assigned agents is a Warrior…he usually tanks it. I need a couple of minutes to put gear on,” she said, pulling up her sleeve and checking her watch. “More than enough time.”

  Li-chen glanced back and forth between us like he still didn’t believe it. Then he shifted up into his previous kneeling position. “I’ll do it. You’ll both be there helping?”

  I laughed. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything. You’ll have four people nearby who know what they’re doing… including the best spawn fight Healer outside of Ingrid.”

  I headed to my room to get the gear I hadn’t replaced yet. On my way back, Blaze was already geared up. Donning my baldric, sword, and belt with pouch, hat and cane, I was ready.

  Looking through the living room window, I saw Meg and Ryan crossing the street. Umbrellas up, raincoats on. Morticia was with them…her black raincoat somehow more stylish than practical.

  I cast minimum MANA ARMOR on Li-chen, then on Blaze and myself. Testing it as a raincoat worked fine. The rain wasn’t hard enough to damage it. Lightning, though… that would go straight through. The armor let air through…nothing harmful, but protective enough.

  The street was mostly empty, given the storm, though a couple of cars crossed 19th on Main Street. Some people braved the weather.

  We met about twenty feet to the side of the sign, all of us avoiding it in case of another bolt. I wondered where Morticia found a black raincoat. She’s more into black than I am.

  “Guildies,” I called to them. “Meet Li-chen. He’ll be tanking this for you. Blaze and I will be your second squad and set up the box. He’s a level four Martial Artist Warrior…never tanked in his life. Have fun with him.” I laughed, and Blaze and I stepped aside. The three of them talked to him…I didn’t bother listening. I’ve heard the new person spiel before.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “How do you think he’ll do?” Blaze asked.

  “About as well as I did my first time tanking…probably better.” I laughed. “The two of us should take them down pretty fast. Give him a chance…I want to see him in action. I’ll tell Ryan to let him get some combat in.”

  A minute before spawn time, Blaze had FIRE SHIELDS up on both sides, and I had a three-foot-high MANA SHIELD at the end for Li-chen to stand behind…He’d be punching and kicking over and through it. Instead of straight out from the door, the box was angled to keep us away from the sign frame.

  The first spawn out the door was an Orc Warrior. Big. Level 5, according to my COMBAT STATS spell. Two Level 4s followed, plus an Orc Mage. Morticia waited until everything emerged and hit the Mage with her CURSE spell. She was Level 3…hopefully close to Level 4.

  The Mage doubled over, holding his gut before he could cast. Nice timing. “She’s got it down”, I thought.

  Ryan’s LIGHTNING BOLT slammed into their big fighter, slowing him but not stopping him. Blaze hit their other fighters with FIRE BLAST. It didn’t stop them, but slowed them…incoherent screams carrying over the rain.

  My MANA BLAST dropped one of them, adding to what I guessed were the Orcish shouts of “I’m going to kill you for that!”

  The Mage managed a LIGHTNING BOLT at Li-chen. It hit, fouled up a kick he was using…didn’t drop his armor, didn’t hit as hard as intended, but kept the Orc’s attention on him.

  Ryan hit the Mage again… didn’t drop it, didn’t cast either. Blaze dropped another FIRE BLAST overlapping fighters and Mage, and the Mage fell backward, not moving. One down.

  Li-chen kicked through the wall at the first Orc to reach him. It bounced into the Orc behind it…both down. Next Orc got a flurry of punches, followed by a leg sweep. That stopped its advance. Ryan’s LIGHTNING BALL behind them dropped another.

  By the time the last fighter reached Li-chen, it was half dead…he finished it. Blaze’s FIRE BALL had cleared the rest. Fight over.

  Blaze and I took a share of coins…left the rest to the four of them. Li-chen got a 10-slot Inventory Pouch and a sword to keep or sell. The three Irregulars split the rest, and set aside a couple of things to go into the Guild Bank for others who’d need it.

  Our guild was big enough now to fight multiple spawns simultaneously…raking in experience and coins. More than before, thanks to the 5% Guild Bonus for majority guild fights. Li-chen didn’t get it, not being a member…but it made a noticeable difference for the rest of us.

  We dropped the funnel shields and slipped into the building out of the rain to talk about the fight.

  “How did you feel after tanking a spawn?” I asked Li-chen.

  “I did what you said…yelled at them to draw aggro. After that, same as before. I hadn’t fought all Orcs yet.”

  “Get used to it. That’s standard now for the original spawn times. The in-between ones are weaker…probably so weaker or new players have something closer to their level.”

  “I’ve heard that,” Li-chen said. “I’ve been doing mostly pick-up groups. When they need extra fighters, I jump in. Weapon classes are starting to outnumber regular classes.”

  “You go with your market,” I said.

  “Thanks for the armor. Kept the rain off…stopped a few hits too. You guys are much better than those I’ve fought with before.”

  “Thanks,” Ryan said. “Meg and I have been at this since the first spawn. Will helped early on…Blaze too, when she had time.”

  We both nodded and smiled.

  We bid them farewell, crossing the street before MANA ARMOR wore off. Much better than my improvised umbrella earlier.

  “Now you know what it’s like to tank,” I told Li-chen inside. “You had it easy. Switching targets when multiple attackers approached…that’s what tanks do to keep aggro while we kill them.”

  “I’ve done that before. Martial arts higher ranks require fighting more than one opponent. Nothing new there.”

  “Done and taught,” I said. He nodded.

  “It’s not required in fencing, but you end up doing it,” I said, hanging my gear. “Were you watching MANA? Did it feel different? Could you feel the Ley Line?”

  Shaking his head, “No. Wasn’t paying attention…I don’t think we were on it. They came straight out the door… almost between your house and the next. The line goes through your garage…they’re not very wide I’ve been told.”

  “Not wide at all. Even the line when the System Store was created wasn’t all that wide. Normal lines are about as wide as my palm. Normally, the Guild puts the funnel straight out the door…been doing that since they came up with it.”

  “They created that? Almost everyone uses it.”

  “I can’t guarantee first…but we’re pretty sure they were the first to report it to the government. Spread across the country. Someone else probably thought of it, too. They were short of tanks, heavy on casters, and came up with it. I use it solo.”

  “You can solo spawns?” Li-chen’s voice rose. Blaze laughed.

  “Will started clearing county spawn sites,” Blaze said. “Not enough players…he did four adjacent sites, morning and afternoon.”

  “Yeah. Easy to overpower…box them in, A-O-E. down. Not much experience, but it added up. Once Shamen showed, CURSEs hurt. Then I asked a guild member to heal…she leveled up fast.”

  “Was that Ingrid? Our Healers talk about her.”

  “No, NurseMellissa. Dual-class Thief and Healer…ICU nurse. Designated Healer for Sneak and Peek Squad. Learned dual class first day…leveled fast in our first day’s battles.”

  I chuckled. “Don’t worry…she’s got your back. Healing and backstabbing.”

  Blaze and I laughed at the look on his face.

  “She goes out with Will for county spawns… just the two of them,” Blaze said. “She’s also helped me with FBI agents I’m training.”

  “The state FBI office rotates agents to Eddington for a week or two…learning the Game and gaining experience,” she added.

  “We’re fortunate we can do this. Most can’t. Regular jobs are the main reason. You can’t live on game money yet. System Tavern has good food. Warning, we’ve only tried the top end.” I said.

  “High end only. We’re afraid to try low-end food and beer,” Blaze added. “Everyone I know went most expensive. Probably safe, but….”

  “…Better safe than sorry,” I added. “Unless a Healer is with us who has Cure Poison.”

  Li-chen looked between us, watching us laugh. Double-teaming like this…was confusing.

  “You’re welcome to stay at least the night,” I told him. “Maybe get a few more fights before heading home. I’ve got a book to edit…my day job.”

  I took my coffee to the office, leaving them to talk about the Game and cultivating MANA however they liked.

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