Chapter 16: A slight case of Chronophobia.

  Pulling back the curtain I felt my heart thundering in my chest. The Alleycats were the next act to take stage and although they seemed to have a devil may care attitude towards facing a room full of strangers, I feared for them. These people, most of them would only see the Panthera as dungeon born monsters. Looking out at the adventurers enjoying the comedy show, put on by a B-rank half-elf, I wondered if their laughter would morph into irate sneers of outrage, once the Alleycats stood before them. Releasing the curtain and turning to see the furry faces of my Panthera, I let out the breath I had been holding onto.

  “They ain’t evolving because they ain’t eating the right materials.” Commented Armstrong.

  The four of them had been discussing Monk’s care of the iron hide boar piglets. After I had left, I had admittedly completely forgotten about Peppa and George, luckily, the piano playing leopard had taken a liking to the infant swine.

  “You should probably be feeding them dreadwood sap.” Said Simone. “The iron hides eat it directly from the trees so that’s most likely how they gain their elemental aspect.”

  “Forget that.” Denounced Monk, sipping some of Chef’s party juice. “I want to see if I can kick start a new transformation.”

  “Feeding them scraps hasn’t exactly worked for you, has it?” commented Mingus.

  Remembering my approach I said. “Have you tried feeding them a diet of vitalaberries?”

  “You know the skin of those causes paralysis right.” Laughed Monk. “every time you fed them, they would freeze up a couple of hours later.”

  “Oh, that’s not good.” I said wincing. “Have you guys worked out your arrangement yet? All this talk about boars is a bit of a distraction.”

  “Osc… I mean Mantis, we play every night after fighting back hordes of spider monkeys. You know we can handle this right.” Said Simone, her brows raised.

  I hung my head. “yeah, I know. It’s just there’s a lot of people out there and they’ve never interacted with Panthera before.”

  “Good thing we won’t be interacting with them.” Laughed Armstrong.

  Mingus added. “Yeah, we’re here to show them the swinging sounds of jazz. With my rhythms.”

  “And my bass.” Picked up Armstrong.

  Monk threw in. “and my sweet melodies.”

  “We’ll have them captivated with every syllable I sing.” Finished Simone.

  I sighed and then choked as a cacophony of applause sounded behind the curtain. “Shit, its time. You’re on.”

  “Mantis, dude.” Said Armstrong. “You gotta go on and introduce us first remember.”

  I let out a silent scream in my mind heard only by Anansi. As I grabbed the curtain with my clammy hands, I felt my breath catch in my throat all over again. always my minds saviour, the friendly neighbourhood spider god filled me with courage, and just a little bit of arrogance.

  “How’s everyone doing tonight?” I called out the question, receiving cheers in response as I took centre stage. “With permission from lord thick head Thane himself, I bring to you a group of Panthera that freed themselves from their orcish slave masters.” The adventurers raised their cups and cheered even louder. “So, without further a due let me introduce them.” I gestured to the left. “Give it up for Monk on the keys.” The leopard stepped out stooped down and made his piano appear before him. I continued my intro as he played an accompanying melody. “Now, clap your hands or tap your feet, for Mingus on the drums.” The lynx stepped out of the curtain and made his drum set appear to my right. “What’s a song without a bassline, Armstrong help us out here buddy.”

  “I’ve got your back dude.” Chuckled the main coon stepping out and spinning his double bass behind me.

  With the rhythm going I reached out a hand to the crowd. “She’s got the smoothest voice ever to bless your ears. She goes by the name Simone, but she’s the heart and soul of the one and only jazz band in this here biome.” I raised my voice with my pronouncement. “Now drain your cups and stomp your feet to the sweet sounds of the Alleycats.”

  As I stepped of the stage, the band played louder, and Simone stepped in from behind the curtain singing. “L is for the way you look at me. O is for the only one I see. V is very, very extra ordinary.”

  I scanned the room as I made my way to the bar and found that there was scarcely a soul in sight that wasn’t mesmerised by the sound of the band playing. I did however notice, as I stood at the bar waiting for the landlord to serve me, that there were a handful of furrowed brows. Gods eye allowed me to scan each of the unhappy punters and it became evident that they weren’t adventurers. I wasn’t sure if it was my anxiety or intuition, but something felt off to me. mingled between the adventurers, wearing salty frowns, were the displaced members of the merchant’s guild.

  “Those Panthera are talented bards.” Commented Tani placing a glass next to me.

  The white scaled Tokage caught me by surprise. “Oh, hey. Yeah, they’ve reached expert rank in every instrument they could craft.”

  “They are crafters as well?” She gave the band a curious eye. “Please, tell me. Are they too following the path of a ranker.”

  “I’m not sure if I should have told you that.” I said picking up the glass and giving it a sniff. “ooh, this smells sweet what is it?”

  “You wish to avoid my inquiry.” Tani made a strange hissing sound. “I understand. The drink you hold is designed specifically for us NPCs. It permits us to relax when our every urge is demanding the blood of monsters and the thrill of questing.”

  She threw me with the gaming terminology but also caught my attention with the implied alchemical product handed out to everyone in the building. I decided to scan the drink before asking her what she meant.

  Calmaid.

  Alchemical benefits: reduction to violent tendencies.

  Uses: beverage.

  “I’m sorry but I think I’m going to need my edge tonight.” I said passing the drink back to her. “Can I ask you what you meant by NPC?”

  “It is easy to forget that you are new to the guild. The term is shorthand for non-participating character. It was quite the shock to finally enter this zone and discover we would be indefinitely trapped inside this fledgling town. The calmaid helps with those frustrations.”

  “Imagine how I feel.” Said the pub’s landlord, a haggard looking elf. “I came here to develop special brews and can’t even gain access to any of the rainforest’s unique resources.”

  “At least you are gaining experience from the sales, Callim.” Said Tani.

  The Landlord shook his head. “I’m a brewer, not a merchant. The experience I gain from brewing calmaid is minute.”

  “Why’s that?” I asked struggling to take my eyes off of a particularly angry looking merchant.

  The brewer placed a fruit that looked like a swollen fig on the bar. “It’s made from serenas the most common fruit in the system.”

  “Oh, it’s an item quality issue.” I dipped my finger in the glass and stored away the calmaid replacing it with fresh dreadwood sap. “Could you brew this into something. It’s rare quality.”

  Callim gave the sap a sip. “It’s sweet.” His eyes went wide and his ears reddened. “My stamina gauge just replenished.” He snatched the glass and ran into the back room.

  Tani let out an unexpected giggle. “You are a terrible trader. First you fix everyone’s gear for next to nothing and now you are just giving away rare alchemical components.”

  “I’ve got plenty of that sap to go around, it’s not a bother.” I said, my attention drifting back to the irate merchant. “What’s that guy’s problem?”

  “Who?”

  “The city elf over there with the mean look on his face.”

  “Oh, him.” Tani’s tone turned sour. “That is Hangom, the deputy manager of the merchant’s guild. He is an incorrigible cur. Master Taro mentioned that he is refusing to request any contracts for the eradication of the spider monkeys unless our guild is willing to lower the rewards.”

  “What does their guild master have to say about that?” I asked, watching the Dwarf get pushed away by an armour-clad adventurer.

  “She is still trapped within the merchant’s guild building. It is said that only a third of the staff died in the initial outbreak while the rest are holed up in their offices.”

  “Give it some time, those monkeys might be savage monsters but they’re smart and resourceful.”

  “How would you know that?”

  I ignored her question and rose to my feet when Hangom and a couple of merchants made their way to the stage. Getting closer, I listened to the dwarf berate the audience.

  “This is insanity.” Yelled Hangom. “These are monsters, each of them are nothing but potential resources.”

  The band kept playing and I stalked in closer. If things got out of hand, I would happily send the merchants on an express trip to the cemetery.

  “Listen to him you fools.” Screamed an elvan merchant, leaving the audience and standing next to Hangom.

  More sour faced merchants joined their deputy manager, and it was evident that I would have to intervene. There were six of them in total now and as I drew in, I withdrew my machetes. They weren’t warriors, they weren’t even fighters, putting them down would be as easy as. My murderous intent fell away as a spike of ice collided with the elven merchant’s skull. I guessed that someone felt the same way I did. As the elf’s face turned blue the rest of the gathered merchants, bar Hangom, dispersed and when the elf popped into red mist, the deputy manager lost his shit.

  “You would fight your own to protect these monsters.” Yelled Hangom, drawing for a knife.

  I ran in, gripping my machetes tightly ready to cut his fucking head off, but before I could get to him another dwarf stepped in and brought a familiar looking war hammer down on the deputy manager’s head. Hangom morphed into red mist and the adventurers cheered.

  “You worried for nothing, mate.” Said a voice to my right.

  Depositing my machetes and letting out a breath I turned to see a face I recognised, but I couldn’t recall his name. Luckily, all I had to do was scan him.

  Gregory Smithe

  Race: city elf.

  With his name floating above his head, I remembered. “Weren’t you the guy…”

  “That tasted the tip of your spear.” He finished my sentence with an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry there’s no hard feelings. Master Taro made it clear that the Panthera are under the guild’s protection. I’d have run that merchant through with my blade but old bold hammer got there first.”

  “So, everyone here is willing to keep the band safe?” I asked, finding it hard to believe.

  Gregory nodded. “Even if Master Taro hadn’t ordered it, you’re the S-rank champion. We’d protect them anyway, especially after what you did to Largato and Nym those two are literally the worst.”

  “Right, so I don’t really need to be here, do I?”

  “Have you got somewhere else to be?”

  “It looks like a nice night for scouting. Can you do me a favour?”

  “Depends on what it is.”

  “Could you make sure they get back to Bigmin’s shop if I don’t get back in time?” I eyed the sword on his hip. “I’ll craft you a new rapier for the trouble.”

  “I’ll stand vigil for a new blade, Mantis, sir.”

  Gregory gave me an odd salute and I gave him an awkward thumbs up in return. Feeling confident that the Alleycats would be treated fairly as long as the adventurers were around, I made my way to the town gates. Holding up my identity stone I passed through and immediately zipped up to the tree branches. My passage over the chaotic monster riddled battle grounds was rapid as I zipped from tree to tree, listening to the screeching, chittering and snarling monsters as they mindlessly fought over territory. It took a while, but I finally reached the border of the zone and slowed my pacing.

  I searched for tracks, displaced earth, broken stems, anything that would indicate that the orcs had been nearby. After an hour or so of searching I finally came across a burnt-out fire pit. Dropping to the ground, I discovered that ashes were cold, and I was barely any closer to finding my prey. I carefully inspected the ground and was delighted to find that although there weren’t any footprints there were drag marks heading in a south easterly direction. When I focused on those marks they glowed, and I gained a sense of understanding. Zipping back up to the branches I followed my intuition and found that each time my eyes fell upon another portion of disturbed earth, the glow would trigger, and I knew which way to go.

  It was a slow process. I found three more cold fire pits and eventually, after another hour of tracking, the source of the drag marks. I looked down at what was obviously an abandoned camp, mentally screaming at myself for wasting so much time on a goose hunt. I wanted to drop down and trash the empty tents, turn over the cast iron cooking pot and melt the cages that once held the Panthera to slag.

  “We were hoping that the orcs would come back to reclaim their gear.” Came a croaky voice from out of nowhere. “Ruben got pretty angry when he saw the Panthera in those cages there, I’m guessing they’re afraid to return to this spot.”

  The voice seemed to be coming from a tree to my right, but I couldn’t see anyone there. “Umm, any chance you could show yourself, please?” I asked in the friendliest voice I could.

  “Over here.” This time the voice came from my left.

  I turned my head to see a blurry portion of a tree trunk. squinting I asked. “Are you cloaking yourself?”

  Focusing in on the blur, my eyes began to sting, and my mana bar drained a little. From the feet up, the blur transformed into a person. His skin was a tan colour with dry murky grey patches and his face was all angles, with an elven chin and jagged droopy ears that looked as though they had been unnaturally elongated. The freaky looking guy didn’t seem to realise that I could see him so before I spoke, I gave him a quick scan.

  Name: Ratsy Augustine

  Race: Half-Goblin

  Level: 53

  Class: Expert Stalker.

  “Oh, I had assumed that goblins were on the same side as the orcs.” My comment seemed to frustrate the expert stalker, so I quickly added. “I’m sorry if I caused offence.”

  “No, not offended. Not a goblin either.” He waved his hand at me. “Can you actually see me?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know I just focused on where I thought you were, and you appeared.”

  “That shouldn’t be possible. I didn’t sense any divination magic.” Ratsy sniffed the air. “there is mana flowing from you, but not a spell.” Suddenly he was next to me sniffing at my face. “A skill?”

  “What the fuck.” I zipped away, but when I landed on the tree branch opposite me, the Stalker was already there. “How are you doing that?”

  “It’s an ability.” He said falling from the tree and appearing next to me again. “It allows me to be wherever you are.”

  “Stalker, right.” I sighed. “I guess you’re going to follow me.”

  “Wrong, I’m going to take you back to town.” Croaked Ratsy with a wheezing laugh.

  He placed his hand on me and suddenly the world shifted. My stomach flipped, my vision blurred, and I was back outside the town gates. After wasting hours of my time searching for a camp that turned out to be abandoned, I probably would have given up and returned to town anyway, so Ratsy bringing be back wouldn’t have been much of a problem if a certain island elf wasn’t wating for me at the gates.

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  “Oh, hi Ruben.” I said staring at the ground, feeling like a little kid.

  The towering island elf looked down at me with a slight frown on his face. “You promised you wouldn’t do that.”

  “I know, it's just. They’re out there, suffering.”

  Ruben placed a hand on my shoulder, the weight of it surprised me. “We’re doing important work out there. Dungeon borne monsters are sacred beings where I come from and the orcs treatment of them must be stopped but not by an amateur adventurer.”

  “I can help.” I said, hardly believing my own words. “I could come out and support your team, or craft you guys some gear or something.”

  “We will need your help once we have found the warlord’s location. Until then, the best thing you can do is wait.” The Island elf patted me on the head.

  I tried to brush his hand away but there was no give, stepping away from him I said. “You’re strong.”

  “And I’m terrified of the warlord.” Ruben’s jaw clenched. “When he’s done training his forces in the level twenty zone, they’ll descend on Firston with all their might.” He looked back at the town gate. “With the way things are now there will be no survivors.”

  “What about the mages and the adventurers?”

  “They’ll put up a fight but most of them are low levelled aspirants here to advance their classes. There’s no soldiers, no one fit to lead an army. Even if my team can take out the warlord and his elites, this town will probably still burn.”

  “I understand.” I said walking past him and holding up my identity stone. “I’ll stay in this zone and help the town prepare.”

  I knew Ruben was stronger than me, honestly anyone over level forty was with my current stats but for him to be so genuinely pessimistic about the survivability of Firston’s residence made me shiver. As I walked back to Bigmin’s shop, I thought the things I could do to prepare the citizens of Firston. I couldn’t just invite everyone to Shumi and help them level up, that would either leave us with little to no resources or lead to the deaths of the ill-equipped adventurers. I could possibly build up the towns defences but that would mean organising with Lord Thane and honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could tolerate being around that guy for too long.

  Maybe I was tired from the long day or just feeling a little overwhelmed because before I managed to reach the town centre, every thought I put towards helping Firston felt like it wouldn’t work. I even started doubting the plans I had made with my cabinet. My shoulders felt heavy, and my head ached something fierce. Was I in over my head, was I playing a role I was ill suited for, most importantly was I going to get the Panthera killed.

  Reaching Bigmin’s shop I found that Gregory was actually standing outside, waiting for me. he explained how the Alleycats had finished their set and returned to the shop with an entourage of adventurers. Most of them were still inside and he figured that with the way I brutally murdered the black smiths, it was best that he waited by the door to explain the commotion. I respected his forethought, although I knew a party when I saw one and made a mental note to craft him a rapier in the morning.

  I didn’t join in with the Alleycats antics that night, I was too wound up. I just laid in my bed while the rowdy crowd cheered, laughed and sang about being cats. It took a while for me to drift off but when I finally did it was to the sound of Simone singing the songs of her name’s sake. When I woke the next day, I struggled to leave the void. I just stood, floated, I don’t know, I just did what disembodied consciousnesses do when they lack motivation. Staring into the bright light of my experience I almost considered levelling up, pouring all of it, every drop of XP into my level bar and rushing out to see if I could stand against the warlord. I couldn’t though, if I was going to keep on track to maximise my potential gains, I had to stay at level one. I have to admit though, when I looked at my stats it was tempting to level up just a little bit.

  Name: Oscar Hollow

  Race: Human

  Level: 1

  Class: None

  Linked familiar: Anansi

  Attributes.

  Strength: 32

  Dexterity: 32

  Constitution: 26

  Intelligence: 38

  Wisdom: 33

  Charisma: 26

  Luck: 2

  Status conditions: Anxious.

  Resistance: bladed-weapons 50%

  bug-type 50%

  Weakness: Fear of imminent war.

  Gaining the boost to my Con stat was nice but my growth since coming to Firston was pretty pathetic. I wondered if the Alleycats were going to resent me for their inability to gain new skills while in this low-level zone. Thinking about Berlioz’s team, I realised that they could be doing just about anything while I floated in the void, avoiding the world. Did time start passing when I became conscious in the void or was the place like a dreamscape, lacking entropy, allowing a second to unravel into infinity. Either way, it was time for me to face the day.

  I awoke to reality the best way anyone can, with the smell of bacon drifting through the air. Even with the great start to the day, my mood was extremely low. Like a zombie, I allowed the scent of meat to guide me into Bigmin’s dining area, where I found the Alleycats sat with Ambrose. The wood elf paladin was laughing between bites of bread until he saw me and adopted a disappointed look.

  “Too busy partying, were we?” Asked Ambrose, with a shake of his head. “What happened to meeting me after the Alleycats’ performance.”

  I froze, struggling to remember why I was supposed to meet him, and Monk filled the empty air. “Come sit Oscar.”

  “Mantis.” Corrected Simone.

  Monk waved the correction away. “Come, I made plenty to eat.”

  Sitting down and still feeling a little lost for words, I gave Ambrose an apologetic look. “I might have forgotten what I was supposed to do last night.”

  “It’s fine,” Said Ambrose rolling his eyes. “It’s not like I waited outside the mages guild for hours reconsidering our friendship.”

  “Oh shit, that was it. Did they agree to let me in?”

  “You know, Oscar.” Said Monk talking over Armstrong as he corrected him. “Usually, people apologise for something like that.”

  “Even the orcs would have a little civility between them.” Agreed Mingus.

  I felt like shit and didn’t like being ganged up on, but they were right. “I am sorry, Ambrose.”

  “But you had something really important to do.” Interrupted the wood elf. “like I said. It’s fine. Finish your breakfast and I’ll catch you up while we hunt.”

  Ambrose might have said it was fine, but I could tell it was anything but. There was a sudden change to the paladin, he was colder, more professional and he’d even stopped flirting, which was great but also made me feel guilty. While we traversed the trees in the level ninety zone searching for sword ants, Ambrose filled me in on the situation with the mage’s guild. They were willing to meet with Chef and make a deal for the potions but were reluctant to allow me entry into their guild. I was hoping to win them over with my wit and charm but honestly with the way I was feeling, I’d probably have just upset them too.

  It didn’t take us long to snipe our prey from above but when we discovered an ant variant I hadn’t seen before we opted to stay a little longer and test the monster’s capability. With a quick scan we found that the weirdly flat and large grey creature was dubbed a shield ant. Ambrose was still using my mantis bow, and Berlioz had crafted me a new crossbow that had multiple effects that I was eager to test out.

  Taking a seat Ambrose said. “Try an acid arrow first.”

  “I need to trap it before I do anything else.” I replied willing a resin bolt into the chamber.

  My bolt flew true and collided with the ant’s leg, I was surprised to see that the thing barely flinched, but the dread wood resin hardened rapidly trapping its legs in place. After that I fired the acid bolt at the monsters ridiculously wide back and it just bounced off and sizzled on the ground. The Fire bolt did the same and the blade bolt stuck but was shaken off seconds later. I considered jumping down and testing out my machetes on the thing, but it looked like it did bludgeoning damage and that would have been an easy win for the impenetrable ant.

  “Can you see what your magic will do?” I asked Ambrose, with a smile and a shrug.

  Rolling his eyes and sighing, he wordlessly stood and placed his hands together. A light grew between his hands and shot out with a pop of displaced air. The light hit the ant and for the first time it cried out in pain but there was no mark, and the monster still didn’t really show any concern.

  “This is getting boring.” Complained Ambrose, “Can I use one of the mantis arrows?”

  “At this point we’d be stupid not to. Tell you what if this doesn’t work, I’ll give it a full scan.”

  Ambrose knocked the arrow and fired before saying. “Wait you didn’t analyse it.”

  But I didn’t need to, the arrow lodged deep into the ant’s back, killing it out right. After we collected the creature’s remains, we returned to Shumi.

  With all the new homes built in the trees surrounding the clearing and the stage relocated, I could hardly recognise the place. It felt surreal, like none of them needed me anymore. What made things worse was that I didn’t get to spend any time with Berlioz as he was busy planning something with Kali, Ivy and Talim. Desperate to spend some time with at least one of my cabinet I went to find Chef, but he ushered me out of the kitchen as him and his brothers were preparing potions in mass and refused to let me distract them. Seeking out Lachi led me to the construction site above the vitalaberry tree, but once again I wasn’t wanted. George caught me before I could get too close and insisted that I allow Lachi to see his vision through to completion without interruption.

  I returned to Bigmin’s shop shortly after that, my head hung low and the chat between me and Ambrose as dry as my left foot. The Paladin hung about in the shop, helping the Alleycats set up displays and explaining the workings of the credit system to them, while I went to my room and sat on the edge of my bed, aimlessly staring at the ceiling. I didn’t leave my room after that, there wasn’t any point. The Alleycats were safe with Ambrose and the rest of the adventurer’s guild watching their backs, Chef would be dealing with the mage’s guild, ensuring that they didn’t help the merchants, and it would be days until I was needed again.

  The next day was much the same, although Ambrose was back to his old self so at least I didn’t have to feel guilty about that. I spent the day hunting shield ants and found that they would break their own necks if caught with a resin bolt to the mandibles. I couldn’t find Berlioz that day, apparently him and Kali were taking the ant colony really seriously but when I offered to help, Talim and Ivy swore that they had it under control. I did spend some time fussing over Peppa and George, the piglet not the foreman, and that relieved my stress levels a little, but again, after I returned to Bigmin’s shop I spent the rest of the day in my room trying to ignore the sounds of happy shoppers coming in and out of the building, while I wrote out new stories of our gods. I even added a few Anansi tales. It reminded me of the live streams I would do, the old gods were a great topic to broach on those stormy nights.

  It went on like that for three more days. Lachi had decided to build using artificing, which was great and totally something I hadn’t considered possible, but it also meant that the temple was taking a lot more time than we planned. Each day was as dull as my life on earth, even hunting became a chore. Ambrose had grown tired of trying to cheer me up and was rushing our trips out, eager to spend time learning about our gods from the tiger. Sure, I could have told him the stories while we hunted, but Lachi had the ability to bring the gods to life with his performances and I was missing the skills and motivation to preach on his level. The gods were best suited in Lachi’s paws.

  Spending my time like this was draining. Was I even spending time, it felt more like wasting, wasting away, waiting for something, anything, to happen. I feared the war against the orcs. I was terrified to lose my cabinet, to lose Berlioz. I couldn’t ask Bigmin and Ambrose to help but if the Adventurers guild were going to support our forces, the two of them would be dragged into it whether they liked it or not. The Alley cats were doing their part to keep our new friends safe; Berlioz had taught each of them the artificing skill and with the components we were bringing back, they were able to craft bespoke items to give the adventurers a fighting chance for when the warlord came. That was the problem though, it seemed that every day I became less integral to the Panthera’s survival and no matter how proud I was to see them flourish, I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t needed.

  While I sat in my room, doing my best to stay out of the way I received a message from Berlioz. My mood was so low that I tried to ignore the beeping for a while but eventually I summoned the motivation to listen to the voice message and honestly if I hadn’t listened to it then, I probably would have let another day foolishly go to waste.

  Berlioz Hollow: “Hey buddy, I heard you’ve been shutting yourself away. I know you want to get out there and help our people but there’s still a lot you can do to help here. Depressed or not you need to keep active. Remember what you would do when your brother was in hospital and you couldn’t visit him, you would build those lego things to impress him when he came home. Have you built that enchanting table you designed yet? You can impress me with the runes you inscribe. Anyway, I just wanted to check in and tell you to stop being stupid, how are we supposed to get any work done when we’re all here worrying about you.”

  I don’t know if it was Ambrose or the Alleycats, but somebody was worried enough about my behaviour that they reported back to Berlioz. He was right, I was being stupid. Making everyone worry about me when they were busy with important work was just selfish. I had allowed myself to hide away when I should have been supporting everyone. I hadn’t even called a cabinet meeting to discuss progress. I decided that I would do exactly what Berlioz suggested and craft the enchanting table. The table I had taken from the orc shaman’s tent had been made of orichalcum and was extremely durable, the one I planned on making was going to be crafted mostly of mithril in the hopes that the magically sensitive material would have some effect on my enchanting efforts.

  Just thinking about the project gave me the motivation to get moving, but when I placed my hand on the door handle, I froze. Almost a full week had gone by with me ignoring the world and I was terrified to go out there. With the merchant’s guild infested with spider monkeys, the Alleycats had made Bigmin’s shop the only viable option to restock on basic resources which meant the place had gone from a quiet refuge to a bustling business. Merely hearing the discordant babble of busy shoppers through the walls of my room was enough to overwhelm me. Just as I was about let my hand fall away from the door handle, I felt Anansi tighten his grip on my wrist.

  “You’ve been quite the last few days, buddy.” I said pulling back my sleeve.

  The spider hit me with a wave of shame, making my cheeks redden beneath my mantis mask.

  “I wasn’t going to turn back; I just felt a bit nervous you know.”

  Anansi dammed the shame with determination, and I pulled the handle down.

  Before stepping through the doorway, I made a desperate request. “Could you help me through the day, I don’t have it in me to meditate and face my feelings.”

  Feeling the pride that came from supporting a loved one, my heart swelled, and I made my way to the shop floor. It was the sound the hit me first, a multitude of voices filling the air none of them discernible. Next it was the sight of eyes falling on me, each surprised glance bringing a brief pocket of numbing silence. Anxiety caused my hands to tremble, and saliva caught in my throat as I tried to swallow. Anansi made me move, focusing my mind on making it over to the storage cupboard. Each step I took was as slow and laboured as my breathing. A few shoppers tried to talk to me, but their faces were a blur to me and their words fell on deaf ears, my only goal was that cupboard.

  When I finally made it to the cupboard, I noticed that Somone had altered it with reeds of holding. Pressing my hand on the large storage object I opened my inventory tab and was shocked to see just how much stuff was stored inside. There was loads of dreadwood, tonnes of ore and hundreds of monster cores as well as more monster parts than we could possibly need. Transferring a bunch of mithril ore into my reed pockets, I took in a deep breath and turned around. Looking over the busy shop, I saw Armstrong at the counter taking orders from a long que of people that lead out the door. Simone was in a corner working on some kind of staff or spear, I wasn’t sure, and Mingus was by the door handing out complimentary pastries. With the que in my way I wasn’t sure I could handle getting out to the forge, there were far too many people and the thought of passing by them all was enough to send shivers down my spine.

  Luckily Monk unwittingly came to my rescue when he came out from the back office waving a few sheets of parchment in the air and shouted, “This place is too crowded. If you’re here for custom made gear, take one of these and fill out your request at home.”

  “I’ve been waiting since last night.” Shouted an irate elf.

  I almost withdrew my machetes, but Mingus responded. “There is currently three of us tending to the customers, while Simone is the only on crafting. If you would all kindly take an order form and a free pastry, we can get your gear made while you all enjoy your day.”

  “Remember though.” Shouted Armstrong from behind the counter. “If you can’t afford what you’ve requested, it will be up for sale to anyone that can.”

  I stood stock still, with my back against the cupboard while I waited for everyone to leave. It only took a few minutes, but my nerves were so frayed that every glance my way and every annoyed face felt like a threat. When the shop was empty but for my Panthera, I made for the door. Once outside I came across another cause for regret. Gregory, the rapier wielding adventurer, was standing outside the gated forge turning people away and handing out order forms. With my mental health in a shambles I had forgotten to craft him a new sword, I wanted to scream at myself, I needed to snap out of it, but it was all too much. Deciding I would at least make good on my promise to the city elf, I searched through my inventory, took out a few components and sat on the floor.

  To start with, I stretched out a bar of Voidite, which drained my mana rapidly, but a potion fixed that. With the blunt Voidite blade ready the rest was pretty easy. I used ant chitin for the hilt and guard, fusing pieces of acid, shield and blade ants together and then wrapped the hilt in fire tusk and iron hide boar leather. Once that was done, I burned through my mana again pocking holes through the flat of the black blade. Adding white studs of fire tusk to the blade made for a badass contrast and would allow for a pretty devastating flame attack. Wanting to try something new, I took out an acid gland and rolled it in my palms until it fit at the base of the hilt. The gland couldn’t be used as a pommel as it would break too easily but with a splash of resin and a healthy sprinkling of Iron hide bone dust, I formed a shell around the component that could dent steel.

  When I was done, I stood and found that Gregory had been staring at me. awkwardly, I held out the rapier and ignited its black blade. The flames were an eldritch green due to the corrosive effect added to them. The city elf saw them and froze with amazement. when I handed him the rapier, I realised I had forgotten to sharpen the blade but that was as simple as grabbing it and passing my hand over it.

  “I’m sorry you had to wait so long.” I said finding it difficult to look him in the eye.

  He didn’t reply, he was too stunned by the quality of weapon I had handed him. Instead of watching the city elf admire the black bladed sword I had handed him, I took my place at the forge. With the forge already lit I merely had to pump the bellows for it to reach the required temperature. Smelting the ores was just as easy, with my skill ranked at expert my movements were fluid and precise, meaning that it only took a few hours to turn the ores into pure mithril ingots. While worked my mind was still, no more self-deprecating thoughts, no fear of the impending war and my heart beat at a slow steady rhythm for the first time since I agreed to wait for Ruben and his team to need my assistance.

  With the ingots stacked up and my stamina low, I considered calling it a night but the second I did that my mind started to drift to that dark place again. Shrugging it off and glugging down a stamina potion I decided that my mind needed saving from itself. I was about to start heating an ingot when I realised that I could quite simply use artificing to craft the table, sure I’d exhaust my mana but I still had several potions left. Picking up my first ingot I pressed my hands on it and pictured stretching it out into the shape of a table leg. My hands moved with about ten percent of the resistance the Voidite gave me and my mana bar barely budged an inch. Holding the leg in my hand I laughed to myself before pulling out the designs I had drawn out.

  Hours went by, I shaped mithril like it was clay and only once allowed myself to be distracted when the Alleycats made their way to the pub for their nightly performance. By the time they came back with their adventurer entourage in to I had finished the table and was starting work on the tools. I repurposed a mantis dagger for the engraving tools and made an etching tool out of acid ant chitin. For the strange hollow tool that the system designated as an essencer I allowed the artificing skill to take control. Laying out a small piece of every material I had on the enchanting table, I stared until they began to glow. Voidite was perfect for the outer casing, while mithril shone gold when I focused my mind on the internal cylinder. The pointed tip called for a mix of acid ant chitin and mantis blade, and the strange funnel at the top practically begged to be replaced with a reed of holding.

  Those small tools took longer than the table itself, from the moment I started smelting the ores, but when I was done, I sat back and felt good. I had begun to forget what that feeling of accomplishment felt like. It lifted my heart for a moment and made me feel like I could handle whatever the system decided to throw at me, but at the same time it filled me with guilt. What had I been doing, wasting my time allowing myself to sink into a despair that wasn’t even warranted, why, because someone bigger and stronger than me was handling a job that I thought was my responsibility. Berlioz was so right that I was embarrassed at the thought of it. I laughed at that realisation, I laughed out loud, almost maniacally and when I was finished laughing, I put my enchanters table in my inventory and turned to look through the window of the shop.

  Monk and Simone were performing for the Adventurers that had followed the Alleycats back from the pub and the vibe looked electric. That was what I was living for, that was my purpose. Not just the survival of my Panthera but the joy that came with it. I had seen the care Ruben showed for the Panthera that Lord Thane held in his manor, and from that care and consideration I knew I could trust him. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt good about what was to come. That is until I turned around and saw a distortion in the air. Just like when I had met Ratsy, there was a body shaped shimmer that was barely visible. It hurt my eyes when I focused on it, but I made sure to stare until my mana began to inch away.

  “You can see me, can’t you.” spoke the shimmer with a feminine voice I half recognised. “Oh, how I love a good surprise.”