“If that’s the case, can we up our playing level to normal?” Ash asked, her voice hopeful. “We would level quicker that way.”
Nika looked around and everyone nodded. “Normal it is. I’ll make the change after we hit the shop and save tomorrow morning. Well, tomorrow noon more like it.”
She stretched and gave a big yawn which immediately ran around the table. As luck would have it, the guest lodgings were close. They all stumbled to the building and booked in for two rooms. It was nice to have a room just for the ladies. For one thing, it meant not having to listen to Dean’s snoring all night. Well, all day in this case. And after just one look at their faces, the inn keeper hadn’t even mentioned the tiger.
They planned to sleep until noon and then get right back into the game. First the item store, then the save point, and then the forest for some grinding monster hunts.
And hopefully, they’d live through tomorrow too.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Ash’s Mission
After only a couple of hours, Ash realized that she wasn’t going to be able to fall back to sleep. But that was okay. There was something that she needed to do on her own, anyway.
She got up and dressed quickly, being as quiet as she could. Both of their rooms were above the inn and shared a common bathroom. She had to walk past both it and Dean’s room on her way to the stairs. Ash stopped briefly to use the restroom and then sneaked past the other room on tiptoes.
Trotting down the stairs, her heart was lighter than it had been in ages. Actually, as light as it had probably ever been. Of course, her current destination could have a little to do with that.
She headed out and made her way to the communication station just shortly after nine. The day shift had already reported for duty, and she smiled when she saw Tyler standing behind the desk. Taking a deep breath, she opened the glass paned door and walked in.
He looked up as the tiny bell attached to the door went off and his entire face lit up.
“Ash!”
She grinned at him, walking a bit faster to meet him in the center of the room. “Hey, Tyler,” she said.
He threw his arms around her in a quick hug. “I was afraid I’d never see you again,” he said, giving her a hearty squeeze.
Ash leaned into him and enjoyed the closeness of the embrace. She hadn’t had much experience at this, and he was definitely the nicest boy who’d ever hugged her. She turned her head slightly and sniffed his hair. It smelled like a combination of lilacs and cedar.
She could get lost in a scent like that. No sooner than she’d had that thought, he began pulling away. Reluctantly, she let him.
Holding her at arm’s length, he looked into her eyes. “You should have told me you needed to take a terminal. I would have helped you.”
Ash gave him a sad smile. “You did help us. You didn’t turn us in.” She hesitated. “I hope it didn’t get you in trouble.”
Tyler shrugged. “Terminals get damaged all the time. It’s not that big of a deal to put another one on the out of service list.” His hands traveled slowly down the outside of her arms to end up holding each of her own. “I’d have done more than that if you’d asked.”
“Like what?” Ash asked softly.
“Like go with you,” he said. “I’ve lived my entire life in this town. And most of it has been spent wanting to explore the world. But on my own, it just isn’t safe. Especially not now, with Gaia and everything.” His voice lowered. “But with a party like yours, I could leave here. And I could help you too. I wouldn’t be a burden, I swear.”
Ash thought for a minute. Would the game count him as an ally when it came to increasing the numbers of the enemy? For some reason, she didn’t think so. If she remembered right, the game only considered actual players in its equation. That would mean that having Tyler along could actually help them.
Now that she thought of it, having Striker along probably would have helped them too. Too bad he was out of the game for a while to heal.
“Nika is our leader,” Ash said. “I’ll have to get her approval before I tell you that you can join us. But won’t you have to give notice here?”
He shook his head. “There is a list of men wanting this job. The position won’t be vacant long.”
“Okay then, but don’t quit until you hear back from me. I can’t see Nika saying no, but it really is up to her.”
Tyler nodded. “Well, here is hoping the Amazon likes me.”
Ash gave his hands one last squeeze and then pulled hers away. “I have to go now. I need to do some hunting outside the gates. We aren’t planning to leave today, just level... I mean, just try to clear the area of anything causing trouble.”
He looked concerned. “You’re going out now? Alone?”
She nodded. How do you explain that the monsters outside will base their numbers and strength on the hunter or party? Answer: you don’t. Not without telling him that he’s nothing more than a program.
And he sure as hell felt like more than that to Ash.
“Wait a minute,” he said, grabbing a sign from under the counter and sticking it to the door of the station. Then he opened a closet door that Ash would have sworn wasn’t there on their first visit. He pulled out a cloak and a long sword, donning both in the blink of an eye.
Turning to face her again, his face was set. “I’m going with you.”
She swallowed but didn’t say anything. Just gave him a brief nod to show she wasn’t going to argue his point.
After a brief detour to turn in the Hedge Witch’s quest and collect her new rod, they left by the gate heading out toward the orc camp. She didn’t want to risk running into the super leveled elves on the other side of town. That would be nothing more than a huge waste of time.
As Ash crossed over the town’s limits, the system’s voice asked her if she wanted to leave the party. She gave a quick nod, hoping that the others were still sleeping soundly and wouldn’t miss her. If her plan went well, she’d be back well before they woke up.
“So, why are you going alone?” Tyler asked as they crossed over the town’s limits.
Ash bit her lip, wondering how to best explain it. Finally, she went with the closest version of the truth she could come up with. “Well, I’m not very strong yet. The others have a better chance with the orcs, but I still need a lot of practice fighting before I will be of much use to the group.”
“That makes sense, I guess.” He smiled down at her. “Besides, if I can prove I’m decent with my mighty sword here, you can tell the Amazon that I’d be handy to have around, right?”
She laughed. “You betcha.”
Ash pulled down the area map into the upper right corner of her vision. There was a small patch of red dots just ahead and off the path to the right. “I think we’re coming up on our first fight,” she said. “You ready for this?”
Come to find out, not only was he ready, they made a pretty awesome fighting team. It didn’t take long for them to find a rhythm, and each battle took less and less time for them to defeat the monsters in question.
Two hours later, the area surrounding the gates had been cleared not once but twice, and those glorious words she’d been waiting to hear whispered in her ear. “Congratulations. You have reached level nine.”
She had taken a chance and upped her level to Normal after they had won the first battle so easily and it had really paid off. Now she was a full level above the others. One more level and she just might be an actual help with the orc battle. Not to mention the boss battle following.
A quick glance at the sky told her that it was nearing noon. The others would be up soon. Nika wasn’t likely to be happy to wake and find her no longer a member of the party. Ash had planned to get back before that happened, but she had been having so much fun with Tyler that time had gotten away from her.
She started jogging back to town and Tyler fell into step beside her. “Time to join the others, huh?” He asked.
Ash liked that he sounded a bit sad abou
t it. “Yeah,” she said. “You might want to go back to the station until I have a chance to talk with my group.” She didn’t want to broach the question of his joining them if she was in trouble for leaving the party without asking. Better to wait until they cooled down a bit.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
Purple dots appeared on her map just ahead, and she bit back a curse. They must have woken up earlier than she’d expected. A short minute later they stopped in front of a very pissed off Amazon.
It was a testimony to Tyler’s courage that he took one step between Ash and Nika. Not that he would stand a chance against her, but still, it was a nice gesture.
“Where the hell have you been?” Nika asked, her voice shaking with anger. “Do you know how worried we’ve been?”
Ash took a deep breath. “I’m sorry you worried about me, but the truth is, if I’m going to be of any help, I need to level up. So, when I couldn’t sleep, I decided to go hunting to get stronger.” She hung her head a bit. “I was planning to be back before noon. Am I that late?”
The Amazon was silent for a minute and Ash looked up to find her staring at Tyler.
“You went hunting with an NPC?”
Tyler, God love him, didn’t back down a bit. “If I’m an NPC, then the answer is yes, she did. And we totally nailed several groups of monsters too. The Riser’s Creek gates haven’t been this safe since Gaia showed up.” He took a small step backward toward Ash to whisper, “What the heck is an NPC, anyway?”
Ash thought quickly. “Non-party companion,” she answered. Then she turned to Nika who appeared to be eying Tyler with some thought. “And it did work, too, just like he said. I’m level nine now. And it really didn’t make sense just to lay there when I could be doing something useful.”
Nika took a deep stuttering breath, then gave a half shrug. “Well, next time the least you could do is leave us a note or something.”
“I will. And I am sorry,” Ash said, mentally kicking herself for not thinking of that ahead of time. A note would have been the polite thing to do.
They all trudged back to town and had a late breakfast, then geared up for the hunt. When they went back through the town’s gate again, they each had a trusty return stone in their pack, Ash was a party member again, and Evan had a shiny new sword from the market.
Nika turned the party’s level up to Normal and they headed for the nearest batch of red dots. Breakfast had taken long enough for the monsters in the area to re-spawn.
Tyler hadn’t left her side and Nika hadn’t said a word about his presence. Ash was taking that as a good sign. Then again, maybe she just wanted to see what he could do in battle. That wasn’t a problem with her at all. She already knew what Tyler could do with that sword of his.
Bring it on.
The first group of monsters was a large batch of spiders. Rather than taking the lead as she usually did, Ash noticed that Nika hung back, letting the others go ahead of her. Tyler and Ash fell into their earlier pattern of fighting and almost wiped out the entire spider pod on their own.
The pod left a couple of health potions and one mana, and after gathering up their loot, Nika finally gave Tyler a small nod.
“Not bad for a... non-party companion,” she said.
He looked from her to Ash and back again. “So I can join you when you leave Riser’s Creek?”
The Amazon hesitated.
Come on, Ash thought, he’s already proven himself to be a good fighter.
“We’ll see,” Nika said, then turned back to lead the others back onto the path, heading for the next batch of red dots.
It took all day, and dealing with a lot of monsters, but by the time they crossed back into Riser’s Creek, they were all well into their ninth level. Ash more so than the others, due to her earlier hunting. A few hundred more experience points and that wonderful voice would be whispering to her again.
This time Tyler left them when they got to town, saying that he needed to pack in case they wanted to get an early start in the morning. He gave Nika a look that said that he planned to be with them when that time came.
She didn’t correct him, either.
So when Ash went to bed that night, she had very sweet dreams indeed.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Amazon’s Quest
Nika woke before the others, well before the sun rose in the virtual world she had helped create. She lay there for a minute thinking about her options.
The Stolen Orc Treasure quest was the key to getting her powerful ax, which right now was very high on her priority list. Aside from that, the orc battle was the lead into the first boss fight with Gaia herself. Victory in that contest wasn’t anywhere near likely unless they managed to get to level ten before Gaia made her appearance.
It had taken them all afternoon and early evening yesterday just to gain one level. Even at Normal versus Novice. She really didn’t want to waste another day just leveling. So where did that leave her?
She opened the quest log and read the quest’s requirements again. The goal of the mission was to retrieve treasure stolen by the orcs. Namely, a precious family heirloom that belonged to the mayor of Griffondale. It was supposed to be located in a chest at the very center of the enemy camp.
Sounded a bit like stealing back something stolen to her. Which brought up a point. Even though their game hadn’t been originally designed with a thief class, it had one now. And they just happened to have one in their party.
If the rest of the party could distract the orcs long enough for Louella to steal the rose gold locket that should complete the quest. Then they could continue on to Griffondale, the next town, turn in the quest and Nika could collect her ax.
Hopefully, with all the monsters they fought before and after getting the locket, they would all level up to ten and be ready for the battle ahead. If they managed to get it done early enough, they could double back to the camp after they got the ax and possibly get the desert portal opened tonight.
Nika had trust in her attorney’s competence, but she didn’t know who or how many he was up against back in the real world. She wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about the fate of her company until she could see the situation herself. By actually being there.
Besides, the fact that he had yet to answer her email had her decidedly worried.
Just as she was wondering how upset the others would be with an even earlier wake up than planned, she realized that Ash was staring at her from across the room. Nika sat up and motioned for her to meet her in the hall. She needed to have a little heart to heart with the girl.
Ash followed Nika out the door and shut it quietly behind her.
“This is about Tyler, isn’t it?” Ash asked. “He’ll be a help, you know. You saw how well he fights. Even if he is just an NPC.”
Nika hesitated. “Yes, he would be a help to have along. Especially since his presence doesn’t seem to up the level of difficulty any.”
Ash was bouncing on her heels. “So he can come, right?”
She took a long look at the girl before answering. Her cheeks were rosy with flush and her eyes fairly glistened. All the signs of young, budding love. Which was exactly what had her so concerned.
“I don’t have much experience with having friends, Ash, as you’ve probably gathered by now. But now that I count you as a friend, I really don’t want to see you hurt.” She paused. “This world seems real while we’re in it, but it isn’t. Tyler isn’t real, Ash. He’s just code.”
Ash looked away then back again. “So is Striker, you know. That didn’t stop you from doing everything possible to save him, did it?”
Nika shook her head. “No, it didn’t. But I’m not in love with him, Ash. Can you say the same about Tyler? Because if you can, then I’m wasting my breath here.”
The girl swallowed. “I’ll admit that I really like him. But I know that when I leave the game, it will be over for good. Unless I can manage to save up for vacations to spend in the game.”
&nbs
p; “Saving up won’t be an issue. You and the others will have a lifelong access pass and gear when we finally get out of here. But you know you can’t live your life entirely in-game.”
Ash gave her a sad smile. “I wish I could, but, yes, I know that. But wouldn’t this qualify as a really long distance relationship? People have been known to make them work.”
“Yes, but usually both parties are real.”
A shrug. “I kind of like the fact that he’s a program, actually. I’ve been hurt too many times by the real men of the world. Tyler suits me just fine. As long as he isn’t specifically programmed to break my heart, he won’t.”
Nika thought of Blake and appreciated the girl not bringing her past love history into the argument. She definitely understood where she was coming from.
“Okay, then, he is now a companion to the party,” Nika said. “But please don’t let him become too much of a distraction, okay?”
Ash nodded, grinning.
The girls used the rest room facilities before waking the sleeping others, taking quick showers to cut the wait time for the two shower stalls. When they got back to the room, Louella was just coming out.
“I was afraid the two of you had sneaked off to level up without me,” she said. “If you are going to go leveling, please can I come?”
The girl was the most powerful of them all. That stood to reason as she had programmed her own class. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t still perks to leveling up.
Nika laughed. “We were just having a chat, but I think it’s time to get the lazy men up and get this day going.”
With her conversation past with Ash and hope that the night just might bring the opening of the second (and last) game stage, Nika’s day was looking brighter already.
Bring on the monsters.
In the end, they didn’t even have to wake the guys, as Evan opened the door as they approached. “Dean is just waking up, and I’m headed to the showers. If you girls want to start on breakfast, we can meet you down there in a few minutes.”
Sounded like a plan to Nika.
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