Asher woke up on the bed. A naked Joon, Genevieve, Tiffany, and Zora were around him. Last night felt like a bad dream. The visions he saw were slowly fading, but there were some images that couldn’t escape his mind. The sight of his girls' dead bodies, his own children’s deaths, his planet’s destruction.
“They’ll stick with you,” Nora promised, she sat in her rocking chair beside the bed. “They aren’t for sure, but consider it a warning. All of that could happen.”
Asher nodded. He wrapped his arms around the 4 girls. Holding them tighter. “Where’s Amanda?”
“She didn’t have it as bad as you lot,” Nora said. “The girl has some thinking to do. Leave her alone while she does. Her rejection of going with you to the trials may have changed her fate too much to keep up, and I think she sees that now.” Asher frowned.
He liked Amanda, and she was their friend. But he knew they didn’t feel the same way about one another. Sometimes she acted like she wanted more, other times she dodged them like the plague.
“What now?” Asher asked.
“Now, we wait,” Nora said. “These 4 are linked to you now. And your quest.”
“What?” He asked. “You didn’t say they would have to help.”
“I told you, you’re all linked through fate. I see now that they all need this, as much as you do.”
“Can’t we just-“
“No,” Tiff answered for Nora. “You’re stuck with us.”
“Yeah but I worry, I saw some things,” he didn’t want to say their deaths. He didn’t have to, she could read his mind.
“Our deaths? What do you think we saw?” Asher hadn’t thought about him dying.
“I saw it so many times,” Tiff said. “Over and over in different ways.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “But I also saw our daughter.” She had a smile on her face. “She was everything I dreamed.”
“Me too,” Zora admitted, sitting up. “Our daughters grew up like sisters.” She looked over Asher to stare at Tiff.
“You saw it too?” Tiff asked, a wide smile on her face. They soon were leaning over him and pecking one another on the lips. “They were-”
“Perfect,” Zora finished.
“Then we will ignore everything else,” Tiff said. “And focus on that.” They both laid their heads back on his shoulders. Legs moving to his thighs they hummed happily. Asher was more than a little surprised by their attitude. It really was worth seeing those awful possibilities to finally see them happy like this once more.
“You will still keep filling us up with fertile cum,” Zora said.
“Yes,” Tiff agreed. “And you won’t make any more kids until we have ours.”
“Of course,” Asher said. He kissed Tiff then Zora to seal the promise.
“Holy fuck that sucked,” Joon said. “I didn’t recognize any of that shit. Are you sure those are possible futures?”
Nora nodded. “Possible as far as your fate is leading you right now.”
“Damn, that was dark,” Joon said. As they got to know each other Asher noticed how tough Joon actually was. The Hard Tutorial had hardly been a challenge for her. Her past life must have been easier compared to what could happen. She shivered trying to forget what she saw. Asher had confronted her about what she knew of the future, but from what Joon currently knew, known of them had died. Her memories focused on familiar things, like certain dungeons opening or events, but since they had changed so much she hadn’t gotten too many memories lately.
“Yes, which is why you had to know what was at stake. Now Genevieve, quit pretending to be asleep and get up,” Nora said.
Gen opened her eyes. Luckily or unluckily she was snuggled up to Tiff. Tiff smiled as she turned around. Latching onto the naked redhead. Asher’s dick tried to harden, but he willed it away.
“I saw you in my future too, Genny,” Tiff said. She began nuzzling up into her neck. Tiff's leg wrapped around Genevieve making her stay close. “You are quite wild in the bedroom.”
Asher frowned. He didn’t get to see any sexy stuff in his vision. He felt jipped.
“Are you ready to have Asher pop your cherry?” Tiff asked as she kissed and nibbled the redhead’s neck.
“No,” Genevieve squeaked. She didn’t fight Tiff's advances. A gasp escaped her as Tiff bit her neck. ”I uh saw some things I need to take care of.”
“Like what?” Asher asked.
Tiff sighed and let her go. “I need to kill Pierre for one,” Gen said. “I saw some events that were not good.” She was bathed in light under the covers and was clothed. She scooted off the bed.
“Hold up girlie. You’re part of this quest now,” Nora said, stopping her.
“Are you sure?” Gen said. “There is a lot I need to-“
“Trust me, this will be a whole hell of a lot more fruitful than what you could gain not being a part of the quest,” Nora said.
| RED QUEST ALERT |
| League Prime is facing destruction. |
| Stop the calamity before it can destroy the headquarters of the Systemic League. |
| Time Limit: 195:12:21:05 |
| Quest Rewards: |
| ????????? |
| ????????? |
| ????????? |
The date on the quest put it after the first guild trial. All of their plans may be in vain because he loved his wives more than his planet. Asher knew he would have made the same choice, even if he knew the price. Tiff and Zora were worth it and so much more.
“Seriously?” Joon asked as she read the screen. “We have to save that place?” The others were also staring at invisible screens in front of them.
“Yes,” Nora said. “Asher is required. And since you all are linked to him. This has to happen. And it has to happen today.”
“What? But we have this conference?” Genevieve asked.
“A conference that is going on just fine without you,” Nora said.
“We have plans,” Asher said. “A schedule to take-“
“Over the world, I know,” Nora said. “But you agreed to the quest.” Her expression was firm as she stared at them each one by one. “As you would say, no take backs.”
Asher began to grumble. It was worth it to see Tiff and Zora act like their old selves. “How are we even going to get there?” Tiff asked.
“There are 12 dungeon portal jumps you will have to go through. Your window of opportunity opens in about 10 hours. And you’ll only have 1 hour before that window closes.”
“Fuck,” Asher said. This was happening way more quickly than he thought it would. “How will we get back?” He asked, more to himself. They could maybe use the portal from Prime to Elantontrin, then have the crew meet them on Elantontrin to pick them back up. The timing was not the best, they could be gone from Earth for the next 6 months.
“Actually, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Joon said. “I got a new skill. Let’s me assign a Home port. It's low level, but right now, every month I can create a port while ignoring distance. I was hoping to make it somewhere local and grind levels until the cooldown is shorter, but if we had to, I could make somewhere on Earth our home.” She bit her lip still reading the Red Quest screen.
“Why are you hesitating?” Asher asked. She didn’t appear happy about the idea.
“Do we really have to save Prime?” Joon grumbled. “I remember blowing this place up. Now I have to save it?”
“We blew it up?” Asher asked, a little shocked.
“We were in a dark place,” Joon justified. “I don’t remember specifics, but I distinctly remember pushing a button and the place crumbled and fell to the planet it orbits.”
Asher left that idea alone for now. He didn’t know much about League Prime, but what he did know is it was made by the founders of the League, the Primevals. Then when they got bored of it, the place was taken over by ass-hat high humans.
“How are we supposed to do anything with this quest?” Asher asked. “It’s so vague.”
“I don’t know. You have all the information I do,” Nora said.
“So what? We are supposed to hang out on Prime for the next 6 months?” Joon asked angrily. Then slowly her eyes unfocused as she thought of something. Her hand became alight as she brought out her Comm.
“Holy cow, New Year just happened,” Joon said reading the System Standard date function on the Comm. “The System Standard New Year.”
“Yeah so?” Asher asked.
“Oh my god. This is perfect,” Joon exclaimed as she began to think furiously. “I know just what we can do while we try to figure out this quest.”
“What?” More than one person asked.
“Time to go back to school,” Joon said with a wide smile.
—
They headed out of the Ethership. Nora gave them all the information she had, but Joon had talked them into getting excited for the quest. After a lot of questions, Asher too was looking forward to it. He worried about possibly missing the Dungeon Race. But he had been itching for action for a month now. He found himself smiling as he and the other girls ran into the old Parliament building. Genevieve stopped before they burst through the large conference room doors. Asher and the others stopped with her.
“Whats up?” Asher asked.
“I-uh-I can’t,” she said, looking at the doors with dread.
“I mean, you don’t have to come with us if you don’t want,” Asher said.
“Yes, she does,” Tiff said almost aghast.
Asher rolled his eyes. “I don’t care what Nora said. Things like this, we can choose.”
Genevieve stared at them and chuckled. “Oh no, I want to go with you guys. This sounds like way too good of an opportunity to pass up. I just…can’t kill Pierre.” She looked to the ground.
“What did you see that he did?” Asher asked.
“I don’t know what I saw,” Gen said, turning around. “I killed him twice in the vision. Both different times. One time he tried to kill me, then another he was on trial, and I just ended it. I don’t think I can kill him while he’s still currently innocent.”
“And you’re sure he's innocent right now?” Asher asked.
“I interviewed everyone. A lot of hints, but he never crossed the line,” Gen said.
Asher shared a look with Zora and Tiff. Neither of them had killed a person before, only Asher had. One of the things his mother had pushed into his mind lately was he couldn’t solve all of the world's problems with a sword. He could at least try to solve this one.
“I will give him a warning,” Asher said. “Tell your people what you need to tell them. When I see Pierre I will have a talk with him.” Gen gave out a long sigh. With a smirk she nodded.
“Is that going to be enough?” Zora asked.
“It’ll be a strong warning,” Asher said. “Besides, I don’t think these people fear me enough yet. Maybe I should remind them why I’m the one making the threats, and they’re the ones taking them.”
“Now I have to know what you will do,” Tiff said. “My melodramatic hero never disappoints.” Gen shyly smiled and they headed in.
The current speaker was someone Asher didn’t recognize. He stopped with their entrance, but soon continued. Asher scanned the room and found the Community Guild. Wayne was already looking at him. He got up from his chair. Squeezing through the seated crowd he came up to them. Zora and Gen were moving over to their respective guild members to give them their own warnings. Only Tiff and he were left to talk to Wayne.
“We have to go,” Asher said.
“Now? Why do we all have to go? Is there a bomb?” Wayne asked. He kept his words level, no real emotion in them to alarm people.
“Not you,” Asher said. “Me, Tiff, and Zora, we need to leave planet.”
“What!?” Wayne yelled. That got a few people's attention.
“We have a quest,” Tiff said. “A red quest. It’s taking us to League Prime.”
“Why the hell do you have to go?” Wayne asked, doing his best to calm down.
“No idea,” Asher said. “Something about my Hero System. I got pulled into it.”
“You have been gone for less than a day, you’re going to have to explain a little better than that,” Wayne said. Asher and Tiff shared a look. They gave him very broad strokes. “So you got looped into a quest to help my daughter?”
“Basically,” Tiff said, they didn’t elaborate.
“Fuck, hard to be upset about that,” Wayne said. “What does this mean? Will you be back for the Dungeon Race?”
“We don’t know. This could take a week or the next 6 months.”
“How will you get back?”
“Joon has a skill to teleport back to Earth. Worse comes to worse we can port to Elantontrin and you guys can pick us up,” Asher said.
“You know, I lost a lot of gray hair with my levels,” Wayne said while studying them. “Why do I feel myself getting grayer with you 2. I have a newborn you know, but you 2 are so much more work.” Asher wanted to laugh, both of his father-in-laws complained about him. The sad thing was he was right. Anita remarked often how easy their son was to handle. “This couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
“I know,” Tiff said. “But don’t blame my husband. Blame the System.” She put her foot down with that statement. Wayne took a deep breath and exhaled.
“Fine, fine,” he said. “How will we get home? None of us can fly.”
“Joon went to the Guild Hall to pick up Batman and Aneela,” Asher said.
“I thought we agreed no aliens.”
“I know, but she knows the ship as well as Batman does, and these people should really get used to the idea that we aren’t alone,” Asher said. “I will make Batman the co-captain. If you need anything, he can handle it.” Batman and his Pumakin bride had originally discussed starting a dungeon run group. They had gotten married 2 weeks ago, and hadn’t left the bedroom much since then.
“How long do we have till you need to go?” Wayne asked.
“4 hours,” Asher lied. He didn’t want to be stuck there all day. “But, there is something I need to take care of that you’re not going to like.”
“What now?” Wayne whined.
“That guy,” Asher said, pointing to Pierre. The man was staring at them from the side stage while the speaker currently talking finished up their speech. “Apparently he has sketchy history from the tutorial.”
“Pierre? I met him yesterday, he took us all out for drinks. He didn’t seem so bad,” Wayne said.
“He’s a psychic, were you wearing the protection talismans?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Asher said. “He tried to take advantage of some of the young girls in the tutorial. He practically stole this whole conference from the Rouge guild.”
“He said Rouge asked him to lead,” Wayne said. “Shit, you gonna have to kill him?”
“If we had actual proof I probably would,” Asher said. “Right now, I will give a warning.”
“Fine, save it for the end. I need you to meet some people. Give out some sage mana advice, and before you go, do what you need,” Wayne said. Asher nodded. A break soon followed. Asher did as he was asked. He gave some advice, told some stories from off-world. When Batman came in he gave the man a run-down, and everyone was on the same page.
Genevieve, Zora, Tiff, and Joon were soon next to him ready to go. “Excuse me,” Asher said to his group.
Without much preamble Asher stepped up to Pierre. The man was older, but he was a respectable level of 40. It was easy to tell he was one of the many instructors that had made it through the Tutorial.
“Oh, Asher Whitmore,” Pierre said, turning from his group to face him. “I wanted to meet you. What an honor it is.” He extended his hand out, Asher thought it would be rude not to at least shake his hand.
“Pierre,” Asher said. “I have heard much about you as well.”
‘All good I hope,” Pierre said with a chuckle.
“No,” Asher said, letting the smile drop from his face. The other man stopped chuckling. Asher let his voice carry. “I hear you tried to take advantage of your position in the tutorial. You know what I promised those who did, don’t you?”
Pierre began to sweat. “Those were baseless-” He shut up as he was lifted into the air. Asher condensed 2 tendrils of manifested mana. Invisible to those without Mana Sight, it would look like he was being raised in the air with Telekinesis.
“I have no time for games,” Asher said. “I have seen enough proof.”
“No! Don’t!” The man pleaded. Mind mana began pouring out of him. Fear was the main impression coming from the mana. Asher ignored it. Forming another tendril of Physical mana Asher sharpened it. Without a word he sliced it through Pierre’s arm. The man screamed as his arm fell to the ground. Blood poured out of him, but Asher released the mana holding him and let him drop the 10 feet to the floor.
“The next time I hear you did something to someone innocent, I will be cutting off something much smaller,” Asher said. He stole that line from Carrie Fisher, but he doubted anyone would catch it.
Looking around the room, no one moved to help the Frenchman. More than a few stepped away from him. “I keep my word,” Asher said, his voice boomed in the large room with Intimidation. A few began to shake from the power of his voice. “I was given enough proof to justify the punishment. Those that touch kids, will be shown no mercy,” Asher said. He left it at that. Let the rumors spread, with any luck they would follow Pierre for the rest of his life. The man could find a healer to fix his arm easy enough, but the memory would be there. Those that had thought Asher was all talk would pause as well.
He walked up to his group. Wayne rubbed his temples but didn’t say anything. “Good?” Asher asked Genevieve.
She blushed, “Very.” The French woman didn’t try to hide her smile.
“Sorry everyone, we have to run,” Asher said. Joon opened a portal, and the 5 of them stepped through.
Asher woke up on the bed. A naked Joon, Genevieve, Tiffany, and Zora were around him. Last night felt like a bad dream. The visions he saw were slowly fading, but there were some images that couldn’t escape his mind. The sight of his girls' dead bodies, his own children’s deaths, his planet’s destruction.
“They’ll stick with you,” Nora promised, she sat in her rocking chair beside the bed. “They aren’t for sure, but consider it a warning. All of that could happen.”
Asher nodded. He wrapped his arms around the 4 girls. Holding them tighter. “Where’s Amanda?”
“She didn’t have it as bad as you lot,” Nora said. “The girl has some thinking to do. Leave her alone while she does. Her rejection of going with you to the trials may have changed her fate too much to keep up, and I think she sees that now.” Asher frowned.
He liked Amanda, and she was their friend. But he knew they didn’t feel the same way about one another. Sometimes she acted like she wanted more, other times she dodged them like the plague.
“What now?” Asher asked.
“Now, we wait,” Nora said. “These 4 are linked to you now. And your quest.”
“What?” He asked. “You didn’t say they would have to help.”
“I told you, you’re all linked through fate. I see now that they all need this, as much as you do.”
“Can’t we just-“
“No,” Tiff answered for Nora. “You’re stuck with us.”
“Yeah but I worry, I saw some things,” he didn’t want to say their deaths. He didn’t have to, she could read his mind.
“Our deaths? What do you think we saw?” Asher hadn’t thought about him dying.
“I saw it so many times,” Tiff said. “Over and over in different ways.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “But I also saw our daughter.” She had a smile on her face. “She was everything I dreamed.”
“Me too,” Zora admitted, sitting up. “Our daughters grew up like sisters.” She looked over Asher to stare at Tiff.
“You saw it too?” Tiff asked, a wide smile on her face. They soon were leaning over him and pecking one another on the lips. “They were-”
“Perfect,” Zora finished.
“Then we will ignore everything else,” Tiff said. “And focus on that.” They both laid their heads back on his shoulders. Legs moving to his thighs they hummed happily. Asher was more than a little surprised by their attitude. It really was worth seeing those awful possibilities to finally see them happy like this once more.
“You will still keep filling us up with fertile cum,” Zora said.
“Yes,” Tiff agreed. “And you won’t make any more kids until we have ours.”
“Of course,” Asher said. He kissed Tiff then Zora to seal the promise.
“Holy fuck that sucked,” Joon said. “I didn’t recognize any of that shit. Are you sure those are possible futures?”
Nora nodded. “Possible as far as your fate is leading you right now.”
“Damn, that was dark,” Joon said. As they got to know each other Asher noticed how tough Joon actually was. The Hard Tutorial had hardly been a challenge for her. Her past life must have been easier compared to what could happen. She shivered trying to forget what she saw. Asher had confronted her about what she knew of the future, but from what Joon currently knew, known of them had died. Her memories focused on familiar things, like certain dungeons opening or events, but since they had changed so much she hadn’t gotten too many memories lately.
“Yes, which is why you had to know what was at stake. Now Genevieve, quit pretending to be asleep and get up,” Nora said.
Gen opened her eyes. Luckily or unluckily she was snuggled up to Tiff. Tiff smiled as she turned around. Latching onto the naked redhead. Asher’s dick tried to harden, but he willed it away.
“I saw you in my future too, Genny,” Tiff said. She began nuzzling up into her neck. Tiff's leg wrapped around Genevieve making her stay close. “You are quite wild in the bedroom.”
Asher frowned. He didn’t get to see any sexy stuff in his vision. He felt jipped.
“Are you ready to have Asher pop your cherry?” Tiff asked as she kissed and nibbled the redhead’s neck.
“No,” Genevieve squeaked. She didn’t fight Tiff's advances. A gasp escaped her as Tiff bit her neck. ”I uh saw some things I need to take care of.”
“Like what?” Asher asked.
Tiff sighed and let her go. “I need to kill Pierre for one,” Gen said. “I saw some events that were not good.” She was bathed in light under the covers and was clothed. She scooted off the bed.
“Hold up girlie. You’re part of this quest now,” Nora said, stopping her.
“Are you sure?” Gen said. “There is a lot I need to-“
“Trust me, this will be a whole hell of a lot more fruitful than what you could gain not being a part of the quest,” Nora said.
| RED QUEST ALERT |
| League Prime is facing destruction. |
| Stop the calamity before it can destroy the headquarters of the Systemic League. |
| Time Limit: 195:12:21:05 |
| Quest Rewards: |
| ????????? |
| ????????? |
| ????????? |
The date on the quest put it after the first guild trial. All of their plans may be in vain because he loved his wives more than his planet. Asher knew he would have made the same choice, even if he knew the price. Tiff and Zora were worth it and so much more.
“Seriously?” Joon asked as she read the screen. “We have to save that place?” The others were also staring at invisible screens in front of them.
“Yes,” Nora said. “Asher is required. And since you all are linked to him. This has to happen. And it has to happen today.”
“What? But we have this conference?” Genevieve asked.
“A conference that is going on just fine without you,” Nora said.
“We have plans,” Asher said. “A schedule to take-“
“Over the world, I know,” Nora said. “But you agreed to the quest.” Her expression was firm as she stared at them each one by one. “As you would say, no take backs.”
Asher began to grumble. It was worth it to see Tiff and Zora act like their old selves. “How are we even going to get there?” Tiff asked.
“There are 12 dungeon portal jumps you will have to go through. Your window of opportunity opens in about 10 hours. And you’ll only have 1 hour before that window closes.”
“Fuck,” Asher said. This was happening way more quickly than he thought it would. “How will we get back?” He asked, more to himself. They could maybe use the portal from Prime to Elantontrin, then have the crew meet them on Elantontrin to pick them back up. The timing was not the best, they could be gone from Earth for the next 6 months.
“Actually, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Joon said. “I got a new skill. Let’s me assign a Home port. It's low level, but right now, every month I can create a port while ignoring distance. I was hoping to make it somewhere local and grind levels until the cooldown is shorter, but if we had to, I could make somewhere on Earth our home.” She bit her lip still reading the Red Quest screen.
“Why are you hesitating?” Asher asked. She didn’t appear happy about the idea.
“Do we really have to save Prime?” Joon grumbled. “I remember blowing this place up. Now I have to save it?”
“We blew it up?” Asher asked, a little shocked.
“We were in a dark place,” Joon justified. “I don’t remember specifics, but I distinctly remember pushing a button and the place crumbled and fell to the planet it orbits.”
Asher left that idea alone for now. He didn’t know much about League Prime, but what he did know is it was made by the founders of the League, the Primevals. Then when they got bored of it, the place was taken over by ass-hat high humans.
“How are we supposed to do anything with this quest?” Asher asked. “It’s so vague.”
“I don’t know. You have all the information I do,” Nora said.
“So what? We are supposed to hang out on Prime for the next 6 months?” Joon asked angrily. Then slowly her eyes unfocused as she thought of something. Her hand became alight as she brought out her Comm.
“Holy cow, New Year just happened,” Joon said reading the System Standard date function on the Comm. “The System Standard New Year.”
“Yeah so?” Asher asked.
“Oh my god. This is perfect,” Joon exclaimed as she began to think furiously. “I know just what we can do while we try to figure out this quest.”
“What?” More than one person asked.
“Time to go back to school,” Joon said with a wide smile.
—
They headed out of the Ethership. Nora gave them all the information she had, but Joon had talked them into getting excited for the quest. After a lot of questions, Asher too was looking forward to it. He worried about possibly missing the Dungeon Race. But he had been itching for action for a month now. He found himself smiling as he and the other girls ran into the old Parliament building. Genevieve stopped before they burst through the large conference room doors. Asher and the others stopped with her.
“Whats up?” Asher asked.
“I-uh-I can’t,” she said, looking at the doors with dread.
“I mean, you don’t have to come with us if you don’t want,” Asher said.
“Yes, she does,” Tiff said almost aghast.
Asher rolled his eyes. “I don’t care what Nora said. Things like this, we can choose.”
Genevieve stared at them and chuckled. “Oh no, I want to go with you guys. This sounds like way too good of an opportunity to pass up. I just…can’t kill Pierre.” She looked to the ground.
“What did you see that he did?” Asher asked.
“I don’t know what I saw,” Gen said, turning around. “I killed him twice in the vision. Both different times. One time he tried to kill me, then another he was on trial, and I just ended it. I don’t think I can kill him while he’s still currently innocent.”
“And you’re sure he's innocent right now?” Asher asked.
“I interviewed everyone. A lot of hints, but he never crossed the line,” Gen said.
Asher shared a look with Zora and Tiff. Neither of them had killed a person before, only Asher had. One of the things his mother had pushed into his mind lately was he couldn’t solve all of the world's problems with a sword. He could at least try to solve this one.
“I will give him a warning,” Asher said. “Tell your people what you need to tell them. When I see Pierre I will have a talk with him.” Gen gave out a long sigh. With a smirk she nodded.
“Is that going to be enough?” Zora asked.
“It’ll be a strong warning,” Asher said. “Besides, I don’t think these people fear me enough yet. Maybe I should remind them why I’m the one making the threats, and they’re the ones taking them.”
“Now I have to know what you will do,” Tiff said. “My melodramatic hero never disappoints.” Gen shyly smiled and they headed in.
The current speaker was someone Asher didn’t recognize. He stopped with their entrance, but soon continued. Asher scanned the room and found the Community Guild. Wayne was already looking at him. He got up from his chair. Squeezing through the seated crowd he came up to them. Zora and Gen were moving over to their respective guild members to give them their own warnings. Only Tiff and he were left to talk to Wayne.
“We have to go,” Asher said.
“Now? Why do we all have to go? Is there a bomb?” Wayne asked. He kept his words level, no real emotion in them to alarm people.
“Not you,” Asher said. “Me, Tiff, and Zora, we need to leave planet.”
“What!?” Wayne yelled. That got a few people's attention.
“We have a quest,” Tiff said. “A red quest. It’s taking us to League Prime.”
“Why the hell do you have to go?” Wayne asked, doing his best to calm down.
“No idea,” Asher said. “Something about my Hero System. I got pulled into it.”
“You have been gone for less than a day, you’re going to have to explain a little better than that,” Wayne said. Asher and Tiff shared a look. They gave him very broad strokes. “So you got looped into a quest to help my daughter?”
“Basically,” Tiff said, they didn’t elaborate.
“Fuck, hard to be upset about that,” Wayne said. “What does this mean? Will you be back for the Dungeon Race?”
“We don’t know. This could take a week or the next 6 months.”
“How will you get back?”
“Joon has a skill to teleport back to Earth. Worse comes to worse we can port to Elantontrin and you guys can pick us up,” Asher said.
“You know, I lost a lot of gray hair with my levels,” Wayne said while studying them. “Why do I feel myself getting grayer with you 2. I have a newborn you know, but you 2 are so much more work.” Asher wanted to laugh, both of his father-in-laws complained about him. The sad thing was he was right. Anita remarked often how easy their son was to handle. “This couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
“I know,” Tiff said. “But don’t blame my husband. Blame the System.” She put her foot down with that statement. Wayne took a deep breath and exhaled.
“Fine, fine,” he said. “How will we get home? None of us can fly.”
“Joon went to the Guild Hall to pick up Batman and Aneela,” Asher said.
“I thought we agreed no aliens.”
“I know, but she knows the ship as well as Batman does, and these people should really get used to the idea that we aren’t alone,” Asher said. “I will make Batman the co-captain. If you need anything, he can handle it.” Batman and his Pumakin bride had originally discussed starting a dungeon run group. They had gotten married 2 weeks ago, and hadn’t left the bedroom much since then.
“How long do we have till you need to go?” Wayne asked.
“4 hours,” Asher lied. He didn’t want to be stuck there all day. “But, there is something I need to take care of that you’re not going to like.”
“What now?” Wayne whined.
“That guy,” Asher said, pointing to Pierre. The man was staring at them from the side stage while the speaker currently talking finished up their speech. “Apparently he has sketchy history from the tutorial.”
“Pierre? I met him yesterday, he took us all out for drinks. He didn’t seem so bad,” Wayne said.
“He’s a psychic, were you wearing the protection talismans?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Asher said. “He tried to take advantage of some of the young girls in the tutorial. He practically stole this whole conference from the Rouge guild.”
“He said Rouge asked him to lead,” Wayne said. “Shit, you gonna have to kill him?”
“If we had actual proof I probably would,” Asher said. “Right now, I will give a warning.”
“Fine, save it for the end. I need you to meet some people. Give out some sage mana advice, and before you go, do what you need,” Wayne said. Asher nodded. A break soon followed. Asher did as he was asked. He gave some advice, told some stories from off-world. When Batman came in he gave the man a run-down, and everyone was on the same page.
Genevieve, Zora, Tiff, and Joon were soon next to him ready to go. “Excuse me,” Asher said to his group.
Without much preamble Asher stepped up to Pierre. The man was older, but he was a respectable level of 40. It was easy to tell he was one of the many instructors that had made it through the Tutorial.
“Oh, Asher Whitmore,” Pierre said, turning from his group to face him. “I wanted to meet you. What an honor it is.” He extended his hand out, Asher thought it would be rude not to at least shake his hand.
“Pierre,” Asher said. “I have heard much about you as well.”
‘All good I hope,” Pierre said with a chuckle.
“No,” Asher said, letting the smile drop from his face. The other man stopped chuckling. Asher let his voice carry. “I hear you tried to take advantage of your position in the tutorial. You know what I promised those who did, don’t you?”
Pierre began to sweat. “Those were baseless-” He shut up as he was lifted into the air. Asher condensed 2 tendrils of manifested mana. Invisible to those without Mana Sight, it would look like he was being raised in the air with Telekinesis.
“I have no time for games,” Asher said. “I have seen enough proof.”
“No! Don’t!” The man pleaded. Mind mana began pouring out of him. Fear was the main impression coming from the mana. Asher ignored it. Forming another tendril of Physical mana Asher sharpened it. Without a word he sliced it through Pierre’s arm. The man screamed as his arm fell to the ground. Blood poured out of him, but Asher released the mana holding him and let him drop the 10 feet to the floor.
“The next time I hear you did something to someone innocent, I will be cutting off something much smaller,” Asher said. He stole that line from Carrie Fisher, but he doubted anyone would catch it.
Looking around the room, no one moved to help the Frenchman. More than a few stepped away from him. “I keep my word,” Asher said, his voice boomed in the large room with Intimidation. A few began to shake from the power of his voice. “I was given enough proof to justify the punishment. Those that touch kids, will be shown no mercy,” Asher said. He left it at that. Let the rumors spread, with any luck they would follow Pierre for the rest of his life. The man could find a healer to fix his arm easy enough, but the memory would be there. Those that had thought Asher was all talk would pause as well.
He walked up to his group. Wayne rubbed his temples but didn’t say anything. “Good?” Asher asked Genevieve.
She blushed, “Very.” The French woman didn’t try to hide her smile.
“Sorry everyone, we have to run,” Asher said. Joon opened a portal, and the 5 of them stepped through.
