I sat on the floor of our new home, feeling somewhat unwelcome under my own roof thanks to the tense atmosphere. My eyes were locked on Nabeeh, and I waited for her to speak.

  "Look, Ash, I'm not stupid," she said, taking a bunch of grapes from the basket. "After I calmed down a bit and thought about what you guys did, I can say that I understand, even though I don’t condone it.. You prioritized your team, and that’s fine. I wasn’t part of it yet, at least not in the way I am now…or was? We’ll get to that in a bit I guess.”I nodded, relieved she wasn't starting with accusations, though it pained me a bit to hear she was thinking in a possibly past tense of our team.

  "But," she continued, her voice hardening, "I hate that it came at the cost of others who took the same risks. I've been in too many parties where the leader justified hoarding loot under the guise of 'team strength.' I refuse to be part of another one, no matter how much I like you and the others."

  I took a deep breath. “I’ll have to admit that before you pointed it out, I hadn’t thought of it that way at all. I wasn't intentionally trying to cheat you or the others," I said. “Now, do you understand why I’ve kept this a secret?”

  She nodded.

  “I do. And that’s not the part I mind. I said it before, we all have secrets, but what you did with it, that was wrong, in my eyes. You didn’t have to take it all for the three of you.”

  “How exactly do you suggest I guide other adventurers to pick the right carcasses without exposing my ability?” I asked, trying to come up with an answer myself, but I couldn’t come up with anything so quickly. “Just the knowledge alone is dangerous, Nabeeh. You do understand that, right?”

  Nabeeh frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but took another second to gather her thoughts. "You could have—"

  "Before you say that I should have played it fair,” I continued, "No system is truly equal. Statistically, some people will always get more, and some will always get less. The burden falls on me to ensure complete fairness among an entire raid. That is what you are saying, isn’t it?”

  Nabeeh's eyes narrowed, but she shook her head slowly.

  "No, it is not, but you have a point," she admitted. "Even then, that doesn't make it right. You could have found a way if you truly wanted to."

  “When we work as a party, it is simple. We fill up on the carcasses with gems, and we split them equally. I’m sorry you had to find out this through a slip of the tongue, but believe me when I said we planned to tell you about my ability to detect carcasses in due time.”

  “When?”

  “Today was supposed to be a test,” I said, and sighed. “Both of how we work together as a team outside of a dungeon, but also about how you react to seeing my stats and class. Yes, it’s weird, and yes, it’s a secret. If you managed to keep it to yourself for a few days, that would show you could keep your mouth shut and not gossip around. I needed to see you getting drunk in the tavern. You can think of me what you want, but I’m not putting any of my family or friends in danger because of a loose-lipped magician. No insult intended.”“That’s fine,” she said after popping a grape into her mouth and eating it up quickly. She sighed and rubbed her temples. “Look, how about this? When we go out to do dungeons, instead of grabbing every carcass with gems, take what statistically would have been that of the party. Don't leave gems behind, of course, but don't take everything. Let our fellow adventurers get some gems too so we don't fully screw them over."

  I considered her words and shook my head.

  "Let's get the others," I said. "I want to hear what they have to say, too."

  I called for Knut and Eryn, who joined us quickly. So quickly I figured they might have been listening upstairs, and they settled with us on the floor around the food basket.

  "Nabeeh has a suggestion," I explained, and repeated her compromise.

  Knut nodded thoughtfully.

  “Acceptable," he said. “Fighting in rooms with others, take our share. Alone? Take everything.”

  "I'm not against using your golden-birdness to get us an advantage," Eryn added, "But I also don’t want it to become common knowledge we have a way to manipulate gem drops. Or something. If that makes sense?”

  “Exactly,” Nabeeh added hurriedly. “I'm not some charity, but I do want to know that we didn’t screw anyone over on purpose. It’s a thing of moral, nothing else, and I won’t compromise my beliefs over an advantage.”"Nobles would take gems for themselves," Knut said.

  "Not all nobles.” She ran a hand up and down, pointing at herself. “But, yeah. Like nobles."

  I looked around at my companions.

  "Alright," I said. “Going forward, if we are a part of a raid and have to cooperate with other parties, I won't manipulate loot so others get nothing. We will take our fair share, and no more or less.”

  “As if,” Roq snorted in my mind. We both knew this was a lie, one that I didn’t feel quite comfortable about, but she didn’t have to know. It’s not like people would be going about and telling everyone how many gems they got from a run.

  Nabeeh visibly relaxed, and some of the tension left her shoulders.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I mean it.”

  Eryn smiled and reached over. Nabeeh took her hand and they squeezed.

  “You weren’t wrong,” Eryn said, smiling. “Though your presentation could have used some makeup.”

  "Can I ask you something?" I said and Nabeeh nodded. "You didn’t seem particularly surprised about my ability. Why is that?"

  A flicker of something—pain, perhaps, or memory—crossed Nabeeh's face. "Because you're not the first person I've met who could do that,” she said quietly.

  That caught me by surprise.

  "What? Who else—"

  "My uncle," she said, her voice distant now. "He was a classless scavenger.”

  “Which weapon?” Knut asked.

  “None,” Nabeeh replied questioningly. “Why?”.

  “So he had no weapon?” Eryn asked. “How is that possible?”

  She looked at me.

  “He walked with a cane if that counts?” Nabeeh said.

  “Combat cane?” Knut asked.

  Nabeeh chuckled.

  “No, he really didn’t fight. He rented himself out to adventuring parties, especially for dungeon runs, to help identify which carcasses were gem-filled.”

  "What happened to him?" Eryn asked. “You said ‘was’.”

  Nabeeh's expression darkened.

  "He became wealthy. Very wealthy. Then he backed a coup against the King of Azbara when…” She trailed off and took a deep breath. “Anyway. The coup failed, and he disappeared into the desert. No one has seen him since. He’s most likely dead.”

  I sat back and relayed my question to Roq.

  “Think he had a soul weapon?”

  “Maybe. But I’ll tell you one thing. I’d never forgive you if you’d forged me into a glorified walking stick! The indignity. What bonus would it even give? Make the wearer more obnoxious? Less likely to engage in charity?”

  “What was the coup for?” Eryn asked as I chuckled under my breath. Roq truly had a way with words.

  Nabeeh waved a piece of bread she’d taken a bit out of and for a moment I thought it was about to fall to the floor, but she caught it. Unlike her staff…

  “I’ll tell you another time. Enough conflict for one day, and the food is getting cold. We should dig in.”

  “True.” Knut rummaged through the basket and froze, swallowing loudly. “Chicken leg.”

  “Go for it,” I said.

  “Inform him he is to save some grease for me!”

  Knut stuck both hands into the basket and came out duel-wielding chicken clubs.

  “Happy day today. Good hunt. Good shield. Delicious chicken!”

  “I’ll spill some on you in a bit. Patience.”

  “Make sure to really get it into my corners. I don’t want to turn ashy. And maybe…a bit of beer?”

  I reached into my pouch and pulled out a smaller leather sack, which I tossed to Nabeeh. I’d agreed to it with Knut and Eryn on the way over.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Here," I said. "A gesture of good faith."

  She caught it, her eyebrows rising in question.

  "Mind gems," I explained. "One from today's hunt, and four from the dungeon raid, which is your share, about a fifth, of what we earned there."

  Nabeeh opened the pouch, her eyes widening as she counted the gems.

  "This is... generous," she said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Thank you. But, is it really a fifth?"

  "Close enough," I replied with a shrug. "But let me be clear, Nabeeh. We want you on the team. What we don’t want is someone who's going to complain constantly. We are an exceptional team as you saw today. Now ask yourself this. If you had to pick random carcasses, would you have gained this many gems from the dungeon?"

  Nabeeh exhaled slowly, the last of her tension seeming to leave with her breath.

  "Fair point,” she said. “I’d love to stay and see how we do as a team, and if our next dungeon run is as fruitful." She closed the pouch and tucked it away. "I might not agree with all of your decisions, but I will try to keep my…worries to myself, and no matter what happens, your secret is safe with me."

  "Then welcome to the team," I said, extending my hand. “Again. And please remember that out there in battle, there is no second-guessing. You follow orders, and only once we’re back do you raise concerns. We can’t be one of those parties that fall apart due to everyone wanting to be ‘heard’ or ‘getting to decide what the party does’. Things don’t work like that here. We do what’s good for the party first. Always. With that little addition about dungeon raids.”

  She shook my hand, her grip firm.

  "I’m here to survive, thrive, and grow more powerful, same as you. As for what you guys have done for me so far, yes, I can see. I really do, and I agree. Let’s do this.”

  "I can work with that," I said, my lips turning up into a grin. “Let’s dig in.”.

  "Well, that was tedious," Roq complained in my mind. "All this talk of fairness and sharing. Bah! In my world, wherever that was, the strongest took what they wanted, and the weak either got stronger or perished. Simple, effective, and most importantly, we didn’t require any lengthy conversations!"

  “How would you know that, Roq? Are you starting to remember more?”

  “No, but I feel it. I know it. In my bones. Just look at me. I’m the strongest, and I take whatever I want. And when I’m not strong enough to take it, I bide my time, grow stronger, and take it later.” “Sure,” I said, humoring him. “But leadership isn't just about being the strongest. Not out here on the frontier. It's about balancing fairness and pragmatism."

  "Boring!" Roq declared. "But I suppose if it means more killing in the long run, I can learn to tolerate it."

  To satisfy my hammer, and not at all because Ma made the best blasted fried chicken in all of Dawnwatch, I grabbed a leg and bit in, letting some of the juices drip down on Roq as discreetly as I could. They didn’t disappear into the metal like blood did, but Roq still hummed contentedly in my mind.

  With the delicious food, the atmosphere gradually lightened as we ate and there was no more chatter about unfair behavior and the like.

  "So, what's next?" Nabeeh asked between bites. "More Shardfangs?"

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “We only got three mind gems from all those we killed today."

  "That's normal, isn't it?" Nabeeh said, shrugging. “We could get twenty to thirty gems a week if we go each day and the spawn rates hold.”

  "For us? Three mind gems is far from normal.” Eryn laughed. “We usually get at least one per ten kills. Often more."

  "What?" Nabeeh looked shocked. "That's absurd. I’d consider myself lucky to get one gem per thirty to forty monsters."

  “Hunt tough monsters," Knut said around a big bite of chicken. “More gems."

  “I guess," Nabeeh said thoughtfully. “Does it really matter? I mean, did anyone prove it by actually doing so?”

  “We’ve been doing with the three of us what a normal party of five would do, and done much of it with both of us as scavengers,” I said, nodding at Eryn. “With you joining the party and me now classed, we’ll likely have to find tougher prey to keep the drop rates up.”

  “Maybe that would explain it,” Nabeeh said. “I’ve never been with a group hunting yellows or oranges with less than a full party. Still, those rates are exceptional, even with your ability to sniff out gems.”

  “We have a choice to make. Go for tougher prey, or farm weaker monsters,” I said. “Thoughts?”

  “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer. But just in case you were wondering, I’ll put my dignity aside for a moment and tell you in simple words that even you can understand. Hammer wants to bonk powerful monsters. Drink blood. Grow stronger.”

  “Got it.”

  “Challenge makes growth. Growth good for party,” Knut said.

  “I’d say we stick to what we know,” Eryn said, a chicken wing held elegantly between two fingers. “I’m all for pushing past our comfort zone, but not too far.”

  "How far away are you from your class gem, Eryn?" Nabeeh asked, wiping her fingers on a cloth.

  Eryn smiled.

  "I'm at level nine now, with four out of ten gems, after giving you four from the dungeon run. Afterwards we'll need the fifty mind gems for a class gem. Fortunately, not everyone wants to be a healer so its not that expensive."

  "That's impressive," Nabeeh said. "And I do appreciate the gems. What about once you get your class gem, what's next?"

  "Knut," I said without hesitation. "The three of us will pool our resources until he gets his gem."

  Knut visibly shivered, his massive shoulders tensing.

  "Is it really that bad?" Eryn asked, her voice soft with concern. "Becoming classed I mean."

  “No. It was easy. Fun actually.”

  Nabeeh's expression darkened.

  "Worse than you can imagine," she said, her voice dropping to almost a whisper. "I remember every moment of it. They tell you it's different for everyone, but the pain..." She shook her head. "I kept wishing I would black out, just to escape it for a moment. But no. It kept me awake and conscious for every second of agony."

  She stared into the distance, her eyes unfocused.

  "It felt like my bones were being pulled apart and reshaped. Like my blood was on fire. And my mind..." She tapped her temple. "It was like someone was carving new pathways into my brain with a hot knife."

  "How long?" Eryn asked, her face pale.

  “Seventeen hours," Nabeeh said flatly. “Seventeen hours of uninterrupted torture. And when it was finally over, I couldn't move for another day."

  “Pft. Ineffective. Bet she only gained a standard fifty percent to her stats as well.”

  Knut nodded grimly.

  "Bad," he confirmed. "Very bad. Torn apart, rebuilt wrong, then fixed. Screamed till no voice. Full day."

  “Not everyone is so lucky as to have a Roq.”

  “Sarcasm?”

  “Not fully. It was horrendous, but I’m glad you were there with me. Even more so for the gains.”

  “You should be.”

  Eryn swallowed hard.

  “And you, Ash?” Nabeeh asked. “How was your breakthrough?”

  I hesitated.

  "It was... intense. But Roq—" I caught myself. "I mean, it felt like being bashed by a rock until every bone in my body was crushed and then rebuilt. And then it’d start all over again. Took more than long enough.”

  "So what do we do then?" Nabeeh asked, looking around at all of us. "If we're going to push for tougher monsters, we need a plan."

  "First, we need to earn," I said, leaning forward. "Pa's going to sell some of the Shardfang carcasses for us so we'll have some cash flow in the short term. We've gone up against Shardfangs with ease, so now we need to find something we can farm at a decent pace until we outgrow that, too.”"What about hive mind?" Knut asked, his brow furrowed in thought. "Do we try kill, or maybe call party of level sixties? Slay. Easy. Single sixty enough. You survived battle. I block blow with only small wound.”

  “You were wounded?” I asked, surprised by the admission.

  “Tiny scratch,” Knut said dismissively.

  "He had a two-inch piece of wood pierce his chest plate," Eryn said, giving Knut a stern look. "Thought he told you."

  Knut waved it away as if it were nothing.

  "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Is that my job? Am I supposed to tell you about every arrow Eryn looses, also?"

  "No, but from now on, when my party is wounded and I don't know, you tell me. The least I can do is know, Roq.”

  "He is in one piece."

  "You know what I mean."

  "I don't. It's his job to tank. He did his job."

  "Yes, but I should have known he got wounded protecting me."

  "Would it make you act differently in future?"

  "Maybe not, no. But... I'd have thanked him."

  "Then thank him now."

  I pondered for a moment as something didn't sit right with me, and then I realized it.

  "You know what it is? It's about me understanding the limitations of my team. If I didn't know he got wounded from that attack, I might have put him in a situation where I thought he'd be fine but it could actually have killed him. And before you say it's his job, keep in mind that if he dies, I might die, and you could end up back in the hive mind's grasp. Is that what you want? To be a slave to its whims? I'm pretty sure monsters don't give out satin cushions, chicken juice, and apple pie with milk."

  "Fine," Roq grumbled. "I'll tell you if they get hurt. But only if it's serious. I'm not reporting every paper cut."

  I was pulled back to the conversation as Knut repeated his question.

  “Hive mind? Send level sixties?"

  "Like Edwin said, apparently, if they put higher level adventurers at rifts for too long, the monster presence increases," I said. "It's like the rift responds to the threat level. Maybe it is weak because we are?”

  “If the hive mind reacts to stronger adventurers,” Nabeeh said, "What does that mean? It’s a sign of intelligence, but if it is smart, why haven't the monsters overrun us already? Are we so evenly matched?"

  "Or is something else going on?" Eryn added. "Are we a feeding ground for them? Like cattle they don’t want to eradicate?”

  "They don't eat us, though," I pointed out.

  "Maybe they want to," Nabeeh said, absently fumbling a chicken bone, dropping it in her lap. "We haven't seen what happens if they actually win."

  “We have. They don’t want to just eat you, no, they want to consume your soul and keep it around for all eternity!”

  “True.”

  Knut grunted.

  “Maybe don’t care.”

  "What do you mean?" Eryn asked.

  “Could they be using us for training?" I wondered aloud. “Something just like we are doing? We use them and their bodies to become stronger, so what if they are doing the same?? If they are so strong that the adventuring guild is afraid of sending in level sixties, why don't the monsters just overwhelm and kill us? You know,” I said, thinking back to my encounter with the hive mind. "If what the hive mind showed me is true, the monsters have killed worlds before. If they are that strong, wouldn't that mean they could eradicate us whenever they want to?”

  "Mistake," Knut said firmly.

  "Care to explain?" Nabeeh prompted when he didn’t elaborate.

  Knut set down his chicken drumstick and wiped his hands.

  "Push too far. Too fast. Many fights. We combine."

  "And the gems," Nabeeh added, seeming to understand his point. "The more they send through, the stronger we get unless they manage to kill our adventurers."

  "So you think that if the monsters are somehow guided, they made a mistake when they invaded?" Eryn asked, looking between Knut and Nabeeh.

  "Big mistake," Knut said and growled.

  "Sure, big mistake. We'll kill them all," Eryn said, waving a hand, but her brow remained furrowed. "But why exactly is it a mistake?"

  "Tell them it might be that they've attracted too many enemies at once," Roq chimed in. "Or perhaps there is something unique about this world. Like you finding and forging me. That is unique."

  His words sparked an idea. Not that Roq himself was the unique thing, but...

  "What if there's something unique about us?” I said slowly. "If we assume the hive mind's threats were true, then they've invaded multiple worlds. Maybe we're unique in our ability to use mind gems and class gems to become... more than the other species they’re fighting. The transformation nearly killed me, but it made me significantly stronger."

  Knut nodded thoughtfully.

  "Plausible. But, strategic mistake. "Old Norheim Empire failed. Two direction attack. Spread thin.” He gestured with his hands, showing two fronts. “Hold Frostmarch. Fight Tharungia. Lost both."

  He tapped the floor with his finger.

  “Monsters make mistake. We too tough. Survive first wave. Turn into classed. Fight back.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm. “But focus not here. Not yet."

  We all fell silent, considering his words. It was perhaps the most I'd ever heard Knut say at once, and his insight was surprisingly astute.

  "If that's true, then what does it mean that the attacks are now ramping up?" Roq asked.

  I relayed the question, not mentioning it came from Roq since Nabeeh wasn't privy to his existence yet, and then replied myself.

  “It means we need to push faster. We can't afford to level slowly and squander a potentially unique chance to seemingly out-level our opponents. We need to do everything we can.”

  “I agree, but what’s next?”Eryn asked, her voice laced with excitement.

  "Tomorrow, we go to the guild," I said. "It's time to pick up some quests.”

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