I almost wished they’d try something, just so that my labyrinth monsters could have some fun pacifying their rebellion.
That took care of that. And over a minute to spare before the Droogs were due to show up.
“So, what now?” Lianna said, and I was keenly aware that all of Teams Spice and N3m3s1s were watching me.
“Now we block the way out of the dome,” I said. “Hey Sonia?” I said to a member of Team Spice, a serious-looking woman with the curliest hair I’d ever seen and a high mastery of Earth affinity. “Think you can build a nice thick wall in front of it?”
Sonia grinned at me and nodded enthusiastically. So much for serious. “You got it, Daniel.” She skipped over to the dome and used her power to raise a massive stone barricade that would effectively trap the new arrivals in the dome. Sure, I could’ve done it myself, but I was trying to give others chances to shine.
“And that’s time. The next team should be here now,” Lianna said.
“Droogs,” Kiki sneered. “Those guys creep me out, trying to make me drink milk all the time and staring at my tits.”
“No disrespect, Kiki,” Grace said, “but it’s hard not to.”
“Well yeah,” Kiki said, placing her hands under her breasts and bouncing them a little, “but why do they have to be holding scissors while they do it?”
“What’s to stop them from using Earth to open up a new door from the inside?” Tiff said, tearing her eyes away from Kiki’s bosom.
“I’m betting they won’t think of it,” I said, doing the same. It really was hard not to stare, especially when Kiki jiggled them like that. “When people see a door they tend to stop looking for other ways out.”
“Just in case,” Tiff said, “let’s keep an eye on the dome from all sides.”
“Smart,” Lianna said.
Tiff flashed a coy smile at Lianna then turned and issued a quick command to her team. They acknowledged the order then scampered off to set a loose ring of watchers around the dome. Dang, that’s leadership.
“What about when Invictus comes?” Kiki said, fidgeting with one of her long blonde pigtails. I guess she wasn’t looking forward as much as I was to Troy’s reaction when he found out she’d switched sides. Personally, I couldn’t wait to see his stupid smug face when he saw N3m3s1s cozied up to the rest of us.
“We keep them in there too,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure Troy has Earth affinity,” Tiff said.
“He does,” Kiki and I said at the same time, causing Tiff to quirk an eyebrow. Tiff hadn’t raised her evaluation power to Expert like Kiki had and wasn’t able to see another team builder’s Status yet, so she must’ve been wondering how we were both so certain about Troy’s affinity.
“Well he might be an asshole but he’s a clever one,” Tiff said. “He’ll probably figure it out.”
“It should take him a while, at least,” I said. “The door opens outward so they won’t immediately know why they can’t open it.”
“I wonder how long they’ll spend trying to figure out how to unlock it before giving up?” Kiki said with a devilish grin.
Tiff laughed, then turned to me. “Daniel, while we have no problem working together and going along with your weird plans, do keep in mind that we all still need to go claim some rooms and get tokens. This is a competition, after all.”
“About that,” I said. “What would you say if I said we could all share equally in the rewards for this quest? Even Invictus and the rest.”
“You’re suggesting we all agree to end with the same number of tokens,” Kiki said. “You really think Troy’s gonna go for that?”
“He will if his only other option is for him and all his allies to get nothing while the rest of us all get the first place rewards,” I said.
“What about the control of this Citadel?” Kiki said. “That goes to the winning team and we can’t all share that. And let’s face it, if it comes down to who contributed the most then, well, I think you’ve got us all beat. It’d be just like in the Light Dungeon.”
“You know about what happened in the labyrinth?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Kiki huffed and put her hand on her hip, giving me the Oh Please treatment. “You aren’t the only one who’s been busy and knows things, you know.”
I resisted the sudden urge to pat her head. “Yeah, well, I’ve learned from that,” I said. “That’s why Team Player is going to take one less token than everyone else.”
“We will?” Lianna said.
“We will,” I affirmed.
“You’ll purposefully take second place while everyone else ties for first? Why would you do that?” Tiff said.
“Sportsmanship?” I said.
“Oh,” Lianna said. “I get it now.”
“You really don’t want it?” Tiff said.
“It’s not that I don’t want it, Tiff,” I said. “It’s just that we already have three dungeons and there’s something else I want more.”
“Ah ha!” Kiki said, stomping up and getting in my face. “I knew you had a trick up your sleeve. What is it you want more, then? Some special treasure? It must be pretty great if it’s worth more than a dungeon.”
Lianna inserted herself between Kiki and me. “It’s not a trick, Kiki. Believe it or not, what this guy wants is for everyone else to get stronger, and I do mean everyone.”
“Huh?” Kiki said. “That’s stupid.”
“Actually, I can see that,” Tiff says. “The way you stood back and let Achmed and me solve the cult quest so we’d be sure to get the rewards. And how you give away incredible items, like how you gave me this awesome whip.”
Kiki scowled at the whip in Tiff’s hands. “You got that from him?”
“It makes sense now,” Tiff said.
“No it doesn’t,” Kiki said, smacking my arm. “Nothing you do makes any sense to me and I don’t get it. It’s like you’re playing a completely different game than us. I just don’t get you!”
“I’m really a pretty simple guy,” I said.
“I can vouch for that,” Lianna said.
I gave in to the urge and reached out to pat Kiki’s head. She flinched, but didn’t stop me. “You’re a smart cookie, Kiki. Spend some more time around me and you’ll figure me out.”
“Who’d want to spend time with you?” she said, raising her chin proudly, although still not making any effort to stop me from stroking her hair. I became suddenly aware of how many people were watching us and pulled my hand back on my own before it got even more awkward.
“So which team will get the Citadel then?” Tiff said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how the game resolves that, honestly,” I said. “You’ll probably have to play another game to see who gets it.”
“Ugh, not more dodgeball, I hope,” Kiki groaned.
“Sharing the prize, huh?” Tiff said, flicking her thumbnail in her teeth as she mulled it over some more. “What about the teams already out there collecting tokens? I’m sure Achmed won’t have a problem going with any plan you dream up, but what about Team Ninja?”
“They’re a smart bunch with a good leader,” I said. “I’m sure they can be convinced.”
Tiff’s eyes dropped to the pistols holstered on my belt. “I have no doubt you can be very convincing.”
“You really want one of these, huh?” I said, running my hand over the grip of one of them. “You sure you don’t mind an older model until I can make you a better one?”
Her eyes lit up. “I don’t mind!” she said quickly.
“Then here you go,” I said, and a P1 appeared in my hand. I demonstrated loading it before offering it to her. She accepted it reverently.
P1 Pistol
Tell me, punk. Do you feel lucky?
Powers:
Bang! - Fire a projectile
“This was the first prototype, nothing fancy and kinda ugly but all it needs is the crossbow skill to use.”
In my defense, I didn’t know I was being a total jerk. I mean, yeah, I could see her Status so I knew perfectly well she wasn’t skilled in the crossbow, but I thought giving her a gun she couldn’t use was playful teasing. But the sudden transformation of the look on her face from joy to disappointment made me realize I had much to learn about playful teasing.
Fortunately, Tiff was resilient. “I suppose I’ll just have to learn crossbow when this is over,” she said.
“Don’t bother. The newer versions need the pistol skill.”
The disappointment slid a notch toward despair and she gave me a look like I’d killed her hamster. “There’s a pistol skill? In a fantasy setting?”
“Well, there is now.” It was for the best that I didn’t mention how I got it.
I decided to stop teasing her. You’d think I would’ve been better at teasing, considering how much of it I received. Apparently not.
“Don’t worry about it,” I added hastily, “I can teach you when I give you a better gun. I’d already decided to make you one, anyway. I could see how much you liked it.”
“Seriously?” Tiff said.
“Yeah, of course.”
Never mind that I had it in my head to arm everybody with a trimmed down version that only shot incapacitating shocks and regular bullets: set your phasers to stun or kill, Redshirts.
“You’re really gonna make one for me?”
“Yes,” I laughed. “I’ll make one just for you, Tiff, just tell me how you want it to look. But you will still need to learn how to use it. Another new skill to learn from the ground up.”
“I know,” she said, “exciting, isn’t it?”
I got a sudden premonition of what she was going to be like once she leveled her pistol skill to Expert or beyond. Now that was exciting.
“For now, go ahead and give that one to someone on your team who does know how to use a crossbow.”
“I know just the person,” she said, then began trotting over to one of her teammates. After a few steps she stopped suddenly and turned back halfway, saying, “Thank you, Daniel. Seriously.” Then she continued on to bestow the P1 on a lucky teammate.
I noticed Kiki was staring at me even more intently than usual.
“I don’t see a pistol skill in your Status,” she said. “Nor any crafting skills, for that matter. I don’t see any way to explain what you can do.”
Busted.
Up next: The Status is a lie