29 days until the anniversary - A Sweet Outing Turned Sour

  Once Kai returned home, he quickly ran to his room, catching his mom reminding him that they were having dinner in Infinite Dendrogram today. He shouted back in the affirmative and then logged in to return everything to Chris at his tavern.

  After calming Chris down, he gave a more detailed explanation of the entire deal with Phantasm, realizing that Chris might not have been fully caught up beyond what he had heard during the party and the arena match yesterday—or technically three days ago in Dendro time.

  Once that was dealt with, Sheko shifted gears and asked Chris about joining the Wiki Editors. In truth, while Kai considered himself well-read, he wasn’t very good at putting his ideas and knowledge into writing. Still, he knew that even if he couldn’t contribute as a writer, he could provide valuable information and help the guild access dangerous places to explore. It was a noble cause—charting the frontiers of Infinite Dendrogram and sharing discoveries with the internet rather than hoarding knowledge for personal advantage.

  However, Chris refused. Even though Kai had come to help, he was also the reason Phantasm had become a problem for the guild. The Wiki Editors required members with good judgment to maintain diplomatic ties with Tians, which were crucial to their efforts.

  Their conversation stretched on, shifting between their experiences in Dendro and random topics—some prompted by Sheko on purpose, others by accident.

  Eventually, Tsuno and their mother entered the pristine and spacious tavern. Both Tsuno and Sheko were amused by Chris’s scowl when their mother, instead of marveling at the tavern’s impossible, physics-defying size, simply complimented how clean it was. After all, she had just walked through a door in what appeared to be a single-story hut, only to step into a two-story tavern capable of seating dozens comfortably.

  Once hasty introductions were done, Tsuno wasted no time pushing Sheko toward the exit, calling their mom before she could get caught in a long conversation as usual.

  As they made their way out, Chris casually reminded them to be careful when dealing with the fey, even if they were just going on a tour of the Court of Sweets.

  Their visit started on a high note when Trisha handed them both golden armbands, each adorned with two tiny gemstones and several empty indentations—presumably for more gems to be added later. Their mom explained that Frieda had given them to her. The armbands served as identification, marking them as humans with access to the upper city. The clear diamond allowed entry into the lower commercial district, while the pink quartz granted access to the sweets district.

  It was almost surreal to realize that the fey loved sweets so much that they had an entire district dedicated to them.

  With their armbands displayed, they were allowed through the entrance to the treetop elevator without any fuss. Moments later, they were launched into the air by a permanently installed magic circle at the tree’s base. The sensation was exhilarating, and Sheko couldn’t help but feel envious that the rest of the city didn’t have similar transportation systems.

  The evening was incredible, though Trisha spent much of it adamantly trying to convince Sheko to try mysterious pastries and fruit fritters—somehow convinced that the immersive nature of Infinite Dendrogram would make Kai more open to experimentation.

  It was also confusing to hear her refer to Tsuno and Kai by their real-world names the entire night, even after they repeatedly explained why you should never share personal information online.

  No matter how realistic Dendro was, no matter how much Tians thought and felt like real people, some hard-learned lessons about online etiquette couldn't be ignored.

  Never share who you are online.

  You never knew if someone untrustworthy might get ahold of that information and use it against you.

  At first, they were daunted by the outrageous prices listed in the shops, but their mom simply mentioned Frieda’s name, and the vendors would comply—eyes always gleaming with greed. By the second ice cream shop, Sheko had grown suspicious enough to ask Trisha directly.

  She only shrugged. "Frieda told me she has us covered."

  That answer didn’t exactly put his worries to rest, but he wasn’t about to sow seeds of distrust just because of his suspicions.

  Once they were full, Trisha asked them to come see her workstation.

  Sheko was actually very interested in knowing what his mother was doing to earn the favor of a fey wealthy enough to fund their entire night out. And to be clear, they hadn’t been stingy about what they ate—far from it. The prices in the upper city were insane.

  Maybe Chris was truly generous, after doing a rough mental calculation, Sheko realized their expenses tonight had easily outweighed what it had cost to fund an the entire raid after party.

  So what exactly was his mother doing that was so worthwhile to a fey with such deep pockets?

  Apparently, she was taking pictures.

  Her cushy alcove overlooked the arena from such an angle that she could use multiple telescopes to watch any match in secret.

  Beyond the arena, Sheko could also make out mage battalion training grounds and, just barely, the forest clearing where he had started his own training.

  His mother’s job was simple: take pictures of interesting fights or mages experimenting with spells, then sell those pictures to Frieda.

  Apparently, the fey loved pictures of Masters in action.

  It was only when Sheko realized that he couldn’t spot a camera among all the equipment lent to his mother that she finally explained—by summoning her Embryo.

  Or at least, she tried to.

  Before she could start explaining the embryo materialized as a short girl with glossy, glassy eyes in front of them, wearing a black gown with intricate spider embroidery.

  She introduced herself as "Anansi, Trisha’s Maiden-with-Arms-type Embryo."

  Immediately, Tsuno burst into tears.

  Her sobs only grew worse as both their mom and Anansi tried to comfort her, while Sheko—watching from the side—muttered that something like this was bound to happen eventually.

  Tsuno was inconsolable for the rest of the night.

  After finally calming down—if only a little—she realized she should probably disconnect rather than sit there, overwhelmed by embarrassment over her outburst. Without a word, she logged out and locked her door.

  Sheko and Trisha remained behind. As they sat together, Sheko explained to his mother what had caused Tsuno to cry.

  He reassured her that neither she nor Anansi—who was still trying to apologize—had done anything wrong.

  In his own words, "Tsuno could be a bit of a brat when she didn’t get what she wanted."

  She had wanted a Maiden-type Embryo from the very start, even before logging into the game. She had some kind of plan that she believed would increase her chances of getting one.

  When her Embryo first manifested, she had been upset, but over time, she had grown content with it. Now, she was even quite proud of it.

  When Trisha asked what Tsuno’s Embryo actually was, Sheko dodged the question.

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

  Unlike him—who was constantly walking around with his black metal gauntlet on his left arm—Tsuno didn’t have any obvious Embryo with her.

  he answered somewhat truthfully that "Tsuno’s Embryo was a bit awkward to carry around, so she stores h...it away." almost slipping and saying "him" instead "it".

  Trisha sighed. Since Tsuno probably wouldn’t feel better walking around with her while she was still upset about Anansi—who even offered to remain sealed in her mark if it would help—Trisha decided on an alternative.

  Tomorrow, Sheko would take Tsuno out for a fun day instead.

  28 days until the anniversary - Sister Brother Bonding

  Kai grumbled a bit about Mom forcing him to waste a day with Tsuno before knocking on her room’s door. He didn’t have much time today since he had to study for another test.

  Even if, at this point, failing a test wouldn’t prevent him from getting recruited—at least, he hoped so. This whole year barely felt worth it with how shallow most of what they were taught was, but it was his last chance at getting into the elite programmers’ program.

  Once Tsuno finally woke up and heard Kai calling her from the other side of the locked door to eat a very, very late breakfast, Kai had no idea if she had slept the whole day until he came back from school or if she had gotten up at some point before going back to sleep.

  She reacted sleepily to their mom trying to make small talk but immediately jumped when Kai told her they would go do something fun that she wanted today.

  He absolutely didn’t expect her to ask him to practice capoeira with her first.

  She had trained intermittently for two years, quitting twice—the second time for good. Back then, she hadn’t been enthusiastic about it either, and Kai knew it wouldn’t stick from the start, even when he tried to convince her to give it a shot.

  As siblings, there was always some reason they ended up hitting each other throughout the years. And while Tsuno could hit with brute strength, Kai had always been stronger and could overpower her if she was throwing a tantrum—even without using much force.

  Now, years later, with Kai much stronger and getting back in shape, there wasn’t much point in Tsuno practicing with him before she first got her basics drilled in.

  Kai wasn’t a very good teacher or martial artist—at least in Infinite Dendrogram, his avatar enhanced his skills—but still, he could teach Tsuno quite a lot.

  After an hour of Kai drilling her in the basics, they finally went inside and logged into Infinite Dendrogram.

  Tsuno wanted to shop for new equipment, adamant about getting a robe that was as good as or better than Sheko’s coat.

  He wasn’t against the idea, but he was broke at the moment—he hadn’t even found time to recoup after the arena fight two days before.

  This, however, sparked an idea in Tsuno’s mind.

  She led them into a dark alley, then walked into the backdoor of a shop.

  But instead of some backroom in a small shop, it revealed a hidden underground entrance.

  After ten minutes of silent walking, Sheko and Tsuno emerged into a small, densely packed room full of spectators watching a brutal fight in a ring—no force field in sight to prevent grievous injuries or death, no barriers protecting the spectators like in the arena Sheko was used to.

  Apparently, she had come here a few times with Kaizo as an enforcer rather than a participant.

  There was a lot of money moving around, as some very wealthy patrons of the underground fight ring wanted their fights to involve real risk to make them more "exciting." Of course, the combination of real danger to the fighters and the refusal to spend money on spectator protection made the entire venture incredibly illegal. Some unfortunate Tians even found themselves selling their lives for a chance at riches in the ring.

  According to the lore, the secret arena had existed long before Masters appeared in large numbers. To prevent Masters from ruining the excitement for the patrons, the arena adapted its rules.

  Any Master wishing to participate for money had to sign a contract that would repossess everything they owned if they died in the ring. Apparently, the organizers sometimes took liberties in interpreting the contract—killing Masters who lost and displeased them before they could even leave the ring.

  Sheko really didn’t want to participate, but Tsuno kept insisting until he gave in.

  At least, in truth, he didn’t have much to lose—Odysseus couldn’t be stolen from him, and even if it was destroyed, it would simply take time to repair itself.

  Sheko, however, became very interested when he was told that if he won in under a minute, he’d double his 250,000 lir reward.

  He was set up against a level 200 Tian swordsman. Their clothes were rugged, their face unwashed, but their sword was a work of art.

  Sheko was initially apprehensive about fighting, hoping he would face a Master instead and avoid hurting an NPC. That hesitation disappeared the moment the Tian charged at him, nearly taking his head off while he was still debating the situation.

  Sheko quickly returned the favor.

  Grasping the Tian’s sword arm as he passed behind his back, Sheko spun and broke his arm.

  The Tian immediately admitted defeat, and Sheko saw no reason to kill him—but as he turned to leave the ring, he was attacked.

  Sheko had expected it and dodged, avoiding further hostilities.

  They remained in the underground arena for another two hours.

  Sheko watched as Tsuno killed two Tians, and he began to question whether he should continue letting her stay with Kaizo. In the end, it was just mindless combat—but it still felt a bit wrong to kill the NPCs.

  The new wealth in their shared pockets, however, was a great and cruel incentive to participate.

  Sheko also knew that he had only avoided death because he had dodged the attack and escaped the ring, nullifying the contract he had signed. He had no chance at stopping the cruelty being perpetrated.

  The enforcers were all flaunting their Embryos. The ring seemed to dislike Masters participating—but loved them as enforcers.

  25 day until the anniversary - Training Ravens

  Kai was ecstatic to return to Infinite Dendrogram after having to write a pointless, lengthy essay about his final project—eight pages of repeating the same ideas in different words. Somehow, his teacher absolutely loved it.

  Kai wasn't even sure if the teacher had actually read it or simply appreciated it for not being another maze-solving algorithm like most of the other top students had opted to create. His chess-solving bot was pretty terrible, but at least it could finish a game and had some logic guiding its moves rather than just choosing completely random ones.

  Now that studying was truly done—no more tests or forgotten essays (probably)—he was free to return and train.

  He met Mai at Chris’s place, and they planned to grind for levels today. He considered telling her about the underground arena but knew she would object. Sheko also disapproved of using it as a grinding spot, but Kai couldn’t ignore that Tians, especially high-level ones, were a treasure trove of resources.

  He didn’t know how many NPCs Tsuno had killed in the arena, but she had already caught up to his level, and Achilles had evolved to his third form as well.

  All of his plans, however, were postponed when Mai told him that Phantasm had tried to come see him with his other friends. Chris had turned them away because of what had happened, so they went to the arena and told Mai to bring Sheko there once he showed up.

  She told him they seemed quite chipper and scrutinized every word Sheko said as he tried to summarize what had happened between him and Phantasm. She was skeptical but agreed to join him on his visit to the arena—maybe to confirm his retelling instead of just taking his word.

  It bristled against Kai’s personal pride, but he knew he had earned such skepticism.

  Sheko was prepared for hostilities to flare up. After all, the group in black had time to create their own narrative and come after him for whatever reasons—whether justified or completely made up.

  But when he arrived at the arena, he was stunned when Phantasm stepped forward and offered him a handshake and an apology—not just for causing him trouble, but hidden between his words was gratitude for speaking with his friends.

  Mai was a little confused as to why they had brought them to the arena if all they wanted was to build a bridge and say they were cool now. But Sheko turned to her, just as confused by her question, and answered for all of them:

  "You wanna fight, right?"

  The rest of the group nodded, and Mai sighed before enthusiastically joining in as they drew sticks to decide who would go first.

  Apparently, they had the arena booked for the whole day, courtesy of the sneaky teleporter—Astraeus—who had arrived earlier than the rest to make the arrangements.

  They fought for much longer than Sheko had ever intended, somehow using up the entire time slot Astraeus had secured for them.

  They didn’t stay in the arena the whole time—sometimes, some of them would leave to gather new weapons or change jobs to experiment and improve. They fought one-on-one, in teams, and in pitched battles of one against all.

  Save for the few moments Sheko had to go all out and focus, he had the most fun since his run through the Crystal Caves.

  He could have won some fights he lost if he had been willing to go all out—but when he did, there was no room for emotion or showmanship. Losing while going all out was even worse because he didn’t even get to enjoy the fight. Not to mention the odd looks everyone gave him when he did.

  The change when he focused wasn’t even subtle. Normally, he avoided using Odysseus to overwhelm his opponents—he considered it cheap.

  Even compared to Mai who bombarded everyone with single-use petrifying bombs made from Raggedy's discarded arms—arms that, after evolving mid-match, could now crawl toward her enemies on their own—the whole group was extremely offense-focused, making their fights end quickly.

  The only exceptions were Phantasm and Mai.

  Phantasm, thanks to his ludicrous stats—his ultimate skill allowing him to use all of the additional jobs Wukong held for him at the same time.

  And Mai, thanks to being able to stack several alchemical buffs that should've killed her due to overdose debuffs—but instead, she transferred them to poor Raggedy, who could barely be recognized once a fight started.