Legendria, Sheko Ruun, Knife Juggler.

  Sheko spawned in and immediately felt a difference from the last time he had logged in. Examining himself, he quickly realized that he was only wearing simple cloth and Odysseus instead of the leather armor he had before.

  “Wonderful. Hopefully, they weren’t burned off,” he muttered.

  Checking his inventory, Sheko discovered it wasn’t just his clothes that were missing—his entire starter inventory was gone as well.

  “Great. Just great!” he shouted in frustration, drawing the attention of those around him.

  A nearby master, dressed in golden silk robes accented with royal navy details, approached him. “Are you alright? You’re making quite a scene. People are already on edge from the rumors, so I suggest you don’t make yourself look suspicious.”

  Sheko took a deep breath to calm himself. “Yeah, I’m mostly fine. It’s just that I lost literally everything I had when I was killed yesterday.”

  The other master nodded sympathetically. “Boy, I know that feeling. Never duel a fairy lord—they’ll make you give up everything you own, no matter the result.”

  Sheko relaxed a bit more and asked, “Okay, thanks for the advice. You’re talking about the Superior Job thing, right?”

  “Yeah. I guess everyone logging in now probably knows about it. Wild, huh? Makes you wonder what the max level for embryos is. There are already a few of us who’ve hit Rank 6.”

  “Wait, us? You’ve maxed out an embryo? Who the hell are you?”

  “Oh, I’m not that special. Nate Azure, 21st in the kill rankings and 8th in the duel rankings—though the dueling scene here in Legendria is pretty disappointing because we have Gideon not too far away.”

  “You’re just humblebragging now,” Sheko retorted with a smirk. “Well, I’d guess you know where The Silly Daredevil is?”

  “Guilty, and yes, I do.” Nate gave him directions before adding, “Though I think it’s closed today. I passed by earlier, and there was a sign saying it’s reserved for an event.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s probably us. Finn reserved the place for the raid party.”

  Nate looked at Sheko again before snapping his fingers. “Ah, you’re that crazy acrobatics guy! I saw the video—very cool. Not sure what your glove does, though. I hope to see you in the arena sometime.”

  “Thanks, that’s a big compliment. Anyway, I think I’ll be off now.”

  “Good luck. Enjoy the party!” Nate said with a wave.

  Sheko made his way to the news office, his thoughts racing.

  Wait... damn, why didn’t I ask Nate about Superior Jobs? He almost definitely would’ve known more than whatever scraps of information you can get from the forums. Then again, maybe I would’ve just made him hostile. If those jobs truly are so formidable that they elevate Tians to the level of players—players who all possess some broken abilities—could Emilia have been lying about her level? It would make so much more sense if she had a Superior Job. I can’t imagine someone being so powerful as to manhandle someone supposedly boosted to over level 500 by their embryo otherwise.

  As he approached the doors to the news building, he was met with a chaotic scene. A mob of players crowded the entrance, while a few Tian employees appeared to be stuck in the middle, trying to push their way inside. Sheko’s eyes scanned the crowd, and to his surprise, he recognized some faces from the raid—some of them worryingly more than once.

  Unless an inordinate number of raid party members decided to randomly choose the same generic avatar design, this must be a case of identity theft, he realized grimly.

  Damn it. Of course there are shapeshifters in this game. Why wouldn’t there be? There’s an entire subsection of fey monsters that can create illusions or shapeshift to steal someone’s identity. And if there are players with abilities like that, they could probably mimic equipment too. Identifying someone by their unique embryo alone wouldn’t be enough.

  His unease grew as his gaze landed on undeniable proof of his fears: someone wearing his face. The imposter was clad in a replica of his leather armor from the raid, complete with a copy of Odysseus—worn on the right arm instead of the left. The fake Sheko made his way into the building, and the shouting from the mob surged around him, echoing Sheko’s own rising voice.

  “There are imposters trying to steal the loot!” many people yelled, their accusations blending into a chaotic chorus.

  Sheko froze, debating his next move. Before he could act, the doors swung open, and Emilia emerged. She carried his imposter by the neck, the look of calm authority on her face unshaken as the imposter squirmed in her grasp. The fake clutched a copy of one of Sheko’s throwing knives and flailed, trying to stab her.

  Without missing a beat, Emilia hurled the imposter to the ground. The crowd grew silent for a brief moment as she clapped her hands together with enough force to make those closest to her cover their ears.

  “Shut up and form two ordered lines!” she commanded, her voice cutting through the noise. “On the right, anyone who wishes to enter the DIN archives. On the left, any other miscellaneous reasons—that includes fellow employees. I’m sorry, but our doors will remain closed until there is order.”

  Sheko forced himself to ignore the massive line forming ahead of him as the chaotic mob began to organize. He had already spotted another imposter of himself in the crowd. The one Emilia had thrown out earlier had slipped away into the street, lost among the sea of people.

  As the mob reshuffled into two lines, Sheko realized with growing unease that there weren’t just one or two imposters mimicking him—he had spotted at least five so far.

  Why are so many of them impersonating me? They’re sabotaging themselves. Emilia, and whoever else is checking visitors, will only scrutinize them more because of this. Emilia knows me personally—maybe they don’t realize that. They’re probably using my identity because I’m not part of a large group and had still managed to secure one of the top contribution slots during the raid. That must mean they think the extra challenge is worth the reward, he speculated.

  The left line was moving at a snail’s pace compared to the right. The right line, which was at least twice as long, admitted groups of ten every few minutes. The doors would open briefly, allowing a cluster of people inside before shutting again. In contrast, the left line admitted individuals one by one, with the doors opening just enough for the person to pass through before slamming shut.

  Whoever was filtering the left line was meticulous. Decisions on whether to admit or reject people often resulted in loud protests from those turned away. The presumed imposters yelled in frustration as they were escorted out, their complaints blending into the general cacophony of the crowd.

  More people joined the left line as Sheko continued to observe. Among them, he noticed Stein. He was fairly certain this was the real Stein because of the distinct dark green cloak he wore, identical to the one from the raid. Beneath the cloak, Stein sported the two-piece gauntlet and chest plate armor set that matched perfectly with his raid outfit.

  Stein waited in line for about five minutes before losing patience. Stepping out of the line, he began marching toward the doors, but he stopped when he spotted Sheko.

  "You look pretty convincing," Stein said. "At least you had the sense not to copy the armor. Someone sent me a carrier sprite asking me to come help with the mess here. They didn’t explain much, but I get it now. Tell me quietly what your embryo does, and I’ll get you and the others inside quickly."

  "I believe you’re really Stein," Sheko replied, "but I don’t think this crowd is going to let us pull that off. Better to just wait. Besides, you died in the raid too. Why would they let you pick people randomly and bring them in?"

  "Come on," Stein said. "There aren’t that many imposters mimicking me anyway, and they’re all terrible. Not one of them even bothered to copy my chest piece. Seriously, how does anyone plan to impersonate someone without replicating their entire embryo?"

  The line progressed slowly as they talked. Sheko was now closer to the entrance, though there were still four more "Shekos" ahead of him—and one behind him.

  "I was wondering," Sheko said, "what is your embryo? How does it work with two armor pieces?"

  Stein was about to answer when the door swung open forcefully. Mai stepped out onto the platform, her presence commanding attention.

  "Okay, that’s it!" she called out. "We’ve already had five Shekos try to get in. Everyone who’s supposedly Sheko, raise your hand and come up here."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Sheko immediately forgot his conversation with Stein and rushed up the stairs to form a new line alongside the imposters. Mai, channeling the stern demeanor of a drill sergeant from a movie, began walking down the line of identical faces. The effect was somewhat undermined by Raggedy walking beside her, looking entirely out of place.

  Once her performance ended, Mai got straight to business. "What is your embryo’s name?" she asked.

  Everyone answered in unison, "Odysseus," each adding some kind of title.

  Damn it, Sheko thought. I didn’t tell her the full name.

  Mai didn’t seem fazed by the variety of responses. Moving to the next question, she asked, "What does it do? Answer individually."

  Sheko tried to match the words he had used originally. "It spins stuff," he said, then added, "You thought I was disappointed with it."

  The others leaned toward him but said nothing. However, the imposter next to him added a similar anecdote, likely trying to seem credible.

  This question was enough for Mai to dismiss three of the five imposters immediately. Then, she asked the question she probably should have started with: "What is your chat app name tag?"

  The imposters visibly faltered. Both tried to explain that they hadn’t shared their tags, claiming they were new and barely knew each other at the time. While their excuses were true, Sheko—or rather, Kai—actually had spoken with Mai in the real world.

  "Hi, Lunatic," Sheko said confidently.

  Mai silenced him by putting her index finger on his lips, then took him firmly by the arm and led him inside, ignoring the imposters’ indignant shouts that he was the fake.

  "I actually met Stein outside. We should probably let him in as well," Sheko began, but Mai quickly stopped him.

  "Maybe in a moment, but just listen," she said. "I need a few minutes to rest. Finn is in the back with Jake, helping to guard the loot. Either help identify people or go to the back to help them. We already had someone slip by and almost get out."

  "This has all been going on since today?" Sheko asked.

  "No, it started yesterday," Mai replied, rubbing her temples, "but today has been so, so much worse. Why is everyone trying to get into the archives? There are so many inside that Emilia said they had to start a time limit for visitation."

  "It’s probably because of the King of Sabotage and the superior jobs stuff," Sheko explained. "Honestly, I’d be going crazy too if I thought I had a chance of getting one."

  "Okay, you know what? Let’s go to the back, and you can fill us in on what you just said. Are you telling me that someone called the King of Sabotage is making people storm the DIN archives somehow?"

  "Yeah, I guess I didn’t explain that very well. I’ll wait so I don’t have to repeat myself," Sheko said.

  They walked quietly for a minute before stopping in front of a dark metal door. Mai knocked on it in a peculiar rhythm, and Jake opened it from the other side.

  Before they entered, Raggedy spoke softly. "Welcome back, Sheko. We’d be happy to have you back on the team."

  "Raggedy, don’t make us sound desperate," Mai interjected, "but yes, I agree. It’d be... nice to have you back on the team."

  "Is there even a team without me, though? It was just me and you last time," Sheko teased as they stepped into what appeared to be a fortified archive.

  "Why did you have to ruin something nice?" Mai retorted. "Anyway, yes, the two noobs who miraculously survived the raid came to me and asked to join us. They figured since we both had similar playtime to them but greatly outperformed them, we’d could help them improve. Also, Nue is still with us—she’s halfway to maxing out War Journalist."

  "That’s good news. Anyway, I don’t see any noobs here, so I guess I’ll meet them later. Let me get to the superior job stuff," Sheko said.

  Finn, who had been sitting quietly with his head drooping, suddenly perked up. "What?"

  "Uncanny," Sheko murmured absentmindedly, reminded of Tsuno that morning. Refocusing, he continued, "It’s all still not fully confirmed, but apparently someone killed a special NPC with a unique job and supposedly took it from them. That person claims to be the King of Sabotage. Kind of ironic to announce publicly that you’re the best infiltrator, huh?"

  "Anyway, since about three hours ago—real-world time—the forums have gone absolutely wild with speculation. A group of people claiming to be wiki editors has started an in-depth investigation to gather any information they can about it."

  That’s just what they call their multinational clan. One of the teams from the raid is part of it. They’re pretty good—they only lost two members, and one of them was just level 50. Anyway, they came back with their two respawned members and then went to the archives. They said something similar about superior jobs. Go on."

  "Eh, yes," Sheko continued. "Well, maybe they can explain it better than me. But anyway, I think the story is pretty trustworthy since Altar's royal family has declared that any player who kills a superior job holder will be put on the wanted list and hunted down."

  "How is that any different from what they already do against cold-blooded murder?" Jake asked.

  "Well, I think putting someone on the wanted list is supposed to be an extreme measure," Sheko replied, though he began to doubt the seriousness of the threat himself.

  "Well, I don’t know about it," Mai said. "Anything else you can share?"

  "Otherwise, I think from the rumors that superior is the right term," Sheko said. "People who’ve challenged NPCs with superior jobs have all confirmed that they’re incredibly powerful. Powerful enough to beat high-level players with high-rank embryos.

  "It doesn’t even seem to matter what job we’re talking about. For instance, a Tian with a job called The Gourmont apparently managed to defeat—with great difficulty, mind you—the 10th-ranked duelist from Granvaloa. Or so the story goes."

  After that, the conversation shifted to catching up on the last three days from the Dendro side. This was followed by another round of light cursing at Phantasm and the process of handing over the loot to its rightful owners as they arrived. Fortunately, less than an hour had passed before everyone but one player had come to claim their chest.

  Finn confirmed that a majority of the remaining raid members had agreed to hand over Phantasm's chest to Mai and Sheko.

  "I think it's too much for us to keep it all," Sheko said. "If it’s fine with you, Mai, I think we should each take one item from it and share the rest with the others."

  "Yeah, alright," Mai replied. "I was thinking something similar."

  They took the chests, and Finn handed Sheko a small pouch—a temporary inventory for him to use. Heading toward the exit, they were stopped by Emilia, who held the door shut.

  "It's that idiot, Phantasm," she said, frowning. "I don’t have my sword with me, and no one else wants to take a chance with him. Mind getting it for me?"

  "Why don’t you just carry your sword with you?" Sheko asked.

  "I’m strong, kid, but not strong enough to lug that thing around all day. Just go get it."

  "I think I have another option," Sheko replied.

  "Please don’t tell me you think you can beat him," Emilia warned. "You’re quick in the air, sure, but you wouldn’t kill him even if he let you try. If he could block my strike, he’s way out of your league."

  "I’m not sure I can’t fight him," Sheko said, "but I wasn’t planning to anyway." He pulled a black gem from the borrowed inventory pouch. "This was among the stuff Finn said was for us after you killed Phantasm."

  "When you say us, you include me and Nue, right?" Emilia interjected.

  Sheko hesitated but knew better than to argue. "Yes, obviously. Anyway, this is his shadow summoning medium. I’m sure he’ll want it back. Open the door—I’ll talk to him. Maybe he won’t assume I hate him as much as you do."

  Emilia stepped aside, and the heavy wooden door flung open. Phantasm, apparently pushing against it the whole time, stumbled in.

  "Give me my raid reward chest!" he shouted. "You can’t steal my stuff like that!"

  How old is this guy? He has to be a child. There’s no way an adult could be this blind.

  "You tried to steal from others," Sheko replied calmly. "This is only fair. But I’m willing to talk—if you stop screeching for a moment."

  "Who the hell even are you?!" Phantasm snapped. "I’m here to demand my stuff from Finn, and I expect compensation as well!"

  "I’m the guy you tried to steal from, you—" Sheko started angrily, but Phantasm cut him off.

  "Oh, that loser who danced around doing no damage for so long you had to beg me to distract the boss so you could kill it? Good job dying to an immobile monster with less than 10% HP left."

  Sheko took a deep breath and raised the gem in his hand. "Here’s the deal. You can try to take back your stuff from four battle-ready players, or you can listen. I’ve got your precious summoning medium. Which means you don’t, and right now, you’re more bark than bite.

  "I’m generous, so here’s my challenge: a duel. One week from now, Dendro time. If you show up, you get your shadow back. If you win, you’ll also get your loot chest from the raid. But if I win, you owe me two Lifesaving Brooches."

  "You’re insane to demand that!" Phantasm scoffed, though a smirk crept onto his face. "You’ve already stolen my items, and now you’re holding them hostage for negotiations." He paused, chuckling to himself. "You know what? Sure, I accept. I can wait a bit longer to publicly humiliate you. I’m sure you know you can’t win, so you made your demands as ridiculous as the idea of you beating me."

  With that, Phantasm spun on his heel and marched away, his black trench coat flaring dramatically behind him.

  Once the bizarre master was out of earshot, Finn broke the silence. "Is he roleplaying, or is he an actual walking parody?"

  "I wish he was roleplaying," Mai replied with a sigh. "But I don’t think he is. Sometimes, people are just that awful in reality. It’s kind of sad that, in here, he gets superpowers to match his awful personality."

  "You should've made him sign a contract," Emilia said, looking after the retreating Phantasm.

  "What would that have done?" Sheko replied. "It’s illegal for players to make legally binding contracts with other players for in-game actions."

  "Not a basic contract," Emilia clarified. "A magical contract. They’re used everywhere in Legendria because the fey love them so much. Magical contracts bind both parties to fulfill the agreement or face a fitting penalty for breaking it."

  Mai jumped in before Sheko could respond. "How could a contract catch when there’s a breach by players? What, does the game scan your brain constantly?"

  "It’s not a game," Emilia said, her tone serious. "Binding contracts have caused the downfall of royal houses and even famines in the past. But yes, once a contract is formed, the magic evaluates the intent of both parties and any specific stipulations. It enforces itself when necessary."

  The group fell silent after that, none of the masters pursuing the subject further. Sheko suspected they all individually reached the same conclusion: they didn’t want to know more.