“Why am I carrying you again?” He asked. “You’re the one that can fly.”
“My legs hurt,” she said shyly. Her voice was very softly whispering in his ear, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Used to the shamelessness of Tiffany it was nice to have someone with a change in attitude. Atalanta’s confident demeanor had also softened since her confession.
“Do you want me to keep calling you Atalanta?” He asked.
Her arms tightened around him. “If you wouldn’t mind. Not used to Alice in all honesty.”
“How’d you get the name?”
“I always liked mythology. Supposed to be the greatest woman hunter,” she said a little more confidently.
“Nice. How about Lanta instead though?”
“Why do I need a nickname?” She asked.
“Well if I know Tiff, she will make one. And would you prefer Atty or Lanta?” Asher asked.
“Ugh. You’re probably right,” she said. “Lanta is fine, I guess.”
“Thanks, Trinity,” he said. She smacked the top of his head. He laughed loudly. Looking up he noticed Tiff and Abby at the fire on the beach. The 4 of them stared at one another. Asher slowly let Atalanta down. The orange haired girl slowly walked around him. Looking down, blushing as the girls stared at them.
“Yes!” Tiff finally broke the silence. “Do I know my man or what? Pay up bitch.”
Abby grumbled. Tiff pushed an invisible button then walked into the treeline. Asher and Atalanta walked up. “What’s up?” He asked.
“Tiff, Batman, and I had a bet on who you’d seduce next,” she said.
“I didnt-“ he tried to say. She looked up at him, her face stern. From Atalanta’s shy look he stopped himself.
“I bet on Keera, Batman said Ming,” she grumbled as Asher and Atalanta moved to sit around the fire.
“Didn’t Tiff tell you Keera had a thing for Tosh?” Asher asked, by her look she did not. “I don’t do this on purpose,” he said grumbling. “My money would have been on you. I know you want this,” he said with a wink.
“Right. I still remember the low level kid whose ass I kicked,” she said. “I don’t mix training with pleasure.”
“Ha, cus you get pleasure from training,” he mumbled. She heard but didn’t deny it.
“Thanks babe, you made me an extra 100 Syscos,” Tiff said walking up. She kissed him on the cheek and sat on his lap. “You do it?”
“No,” he and Atalanta said.
“What?” Abby asked. “Give me my Syscos back.”
“Are you ever going to?” Tiff asked. Neither of them said anything. “If he seduces someone else I’ll give the money back,” she promised. “But I consider this my win.” Abby grumbled but didn’t say anything. Tiff ground herself on his crotch. Asher knew he didn’t deserve her. “Got that right,” she said, reading his mind.
The 3 of us should talk, he thought. She nodded.
“Where’s everybody at?” He asked.
“Most are at a group of tents we have set up near the old bug hive I wiped out,” she said. “Your parents went on a ‘walk’,” she added with quotes. He rolled his eyes. They could all guess what they were doing.
“Let’s call them all here,” he said.
“Can’t use Comms,” she reminded. “Gonna have to wait. Let’s go,” she said, dragging him away. “Atalanta, you too,” she ordered. The strong System User hesitated but followed.
When they were far enough away Tiffany turned and faced them both. “Explain,” she ordered. They did. Asher first. Trying to explain what he had to do to save her. Eventually Atalanta explained her trial.
“Good,” Tiff said when they were done.
“You’re not mad?” Atalanta asked.
“I thought you met an alternate universe me?” She asked.
“I think I did. But you were a lot more angry then,” she said.
“Oh, well you may not know. But I have Telepathy now,” she said. “I’ve heard you lusting after me and him since you came back a few days ago. Why do you think I did the bet with the others? I knew it was only a matter of time,” she said with a wide grin.
“You knew?” Atalanta asked.
“I knew,” Tiff said. The look on her face made him think that she knew everything. “The only reason I didn’t nip it in the bud is because when you pictured us having sex, we were all there.” She stepped closer to Atalanta. The orange haired girl looked down shyly. She was way different than the cocky and pissed off Atalanta he got to know…not that he knew her all that well anyway.
“Tell me Atalanta, why didn’t you jump him last night?” Tiff asked. “I know the reason, but you should tell him.” His wife turned Atalanta’s head to face him.
“I’m a…virgin,” she admitted. Asher was a little stunned. He guessed she was in her mid-twenties and with the life she led he expected a bad childhood for her.
“Hooray, good for you. We should make this special,” Tiff said, clapping her hands. Then she leaned in and kissed her. Just a peck on the lips, quick and to the point. Tiff drew back, but Atalanta looked a little sad it was over. “Do you want to wait a little bit? Maybe get to know us more?” Atalanta nodded, but didn’t pull away. “That’s fine with us,” his wife said. “We don’t push. But I want to know now. Is this a long or short term thing for you?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m still struggling with the fact that the trial wasn’t some figment of my imagination.”
“Fair enough. Let me tell you about the others. First there’s Zora. She’s this sweet little girl. About 5’-2” with this almost white hair. I love her a lot and she’s stuck on Earth…” she began walking Atalanta down the beach explaining their situation. Asher watched the master at work. Her hand slowly moved down to Atalanta’s ass as they walked.
—
His parents eventually came walking down the coast back to the group. Their hair was wet, but he ignored it. They stood on the sandy beach. He had pulled a large table from his ring and set the manifested map on top of it. The large crystal towered over behind him as everyone gathered around the table.
“Did everyone get the quest?” Asher asked. People nodded. “Contribution screen?” They nodded again. Asher pulled it up.
| CONTRIBUTION BOARD | ||
| 1 | Ezarian | 550 |
| 2 | Alfa | 510 |
| 3 | Bezeret | 490 |
| 4 | Fondo | 485 |
| 5 | Asher | 485 |
| 6 | Abby | 450 |
| 7 | Elios | 450 |
| 8 | Abbedeel | 440 |
| 9 | Aeota | 430 |
| 10 | Azhonymus | 430 |
| 11 | Abby | 420 |
| 12 | Prillish | 420 |
| 13 | Maggam | 400 |
| 14 | Batman | 380 |
| 15 | Ming | 375 |
| 16 | Teazen | 370 |
| 17 | Vincent | 360 |
| 18 | Kerek | 355 |
| 19 | Fin-Mara | 350 |
| 20 | Alexandria | 340 |
| 21 | Kerek | 320 |
| 22 | Toa | 310 |
| 23 | Nadir | 310 |
| 24 | Peik | 310 |
| 25 | Um | 275 |
| 26 | Croimo | 260 |
| 27 | Bishop | 230 |
| 28 | Wiccoran | 225 |
| 29 | Tiffany | 200 |
| 30 | Raus | 175 |
“As you all see we are pretty low on the list. But to me, getting everyone together was the important part. Now we need to get serious. We have 27 days to make sure all 11 of us are in the top 30. And of course make sure we have the most points.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “The way I see it, we have 2 options. We can all split up, and pick an area to grind.” There were a few frowns. “I don’t recommend this. There is something going on here. I just want to make sure we all want to group up before I explain. Does anyone want to go off on their own?”
The one he had worried about going on their own, Atalanta. Now the Matrix girl appeared to be meek to Tiff’s whims. His wife showed him a big smile in response to his thought. With Atalanta out of the way he looked to Vincent and Ming, they appeared to share a look.
“I’d prefer to stick around I think,” Vincent said. Ming nodded.
Omg they like each other, Tiff thought at him. Change of plans, group them together. Asher rolled his eyes but slowly nodded. She beamed a smile at him. Tiff had gotten matchmaking fever lately.
“Good. With that you all need to understand that this planet could explode,” he admitted. There were a few surprised looks. Even Tiff got serious. “This,” he said, bringing up his phone. It had a picture he took earlier. “Is a Mana Branch from the planet’s Leyline. They’re what the System upgrades to increase the Tier at home. These are typically very deep underground. This one was sticking out of some sand on the surface. Atalanta accidentally touched one. And it knocked her out for 3 days. So be sure to stay away.”
“Where was this at?” Keera asked. He knew what she wanted.
“If there’s one, there will be more. Don’t worry about finding them,” he said. She nodded. “I’m sure all of you have noticed the weird coating on the trees. They’re basically fossilized on the outside. This is because of the condensed mana in the air from the Leylines being so close to the surface.”
“Is that why there are these giant crystals coming from the ground?” Nadir asked. A dozen feet away an 8 foot diameter 30 foot tall crystal stuck out from the ground. It was shiny, and opaque, but Asher didn’t sense anything wrong with it. There were quite a few in the area they had landed.
“Kind of,” Asher admitted. “It’s not uncommon for Mana Crystals to form on a planet's surface. A big one could be worth a lot of money, but since the crystals are so dirty, I doubt they are worth much.”
“Why are the Leylines showing?” Batman asked.
“That is something called Mana Corruption. During my Roktai Trial I went to a planet where this was happening. I didn’t know at the time, but this is not normal. It happens when either the Leylines are corrupted to begin with or something is messing with the Leylines. I didn’t stay long enough to find out back then.”
“What does this mean for us?” His mother asked.
“2 main things,” he said. “Increased danger. I’m sure you all noticed that every monster we found had some kind of magic. That is not normal. Magic is typically only saved for Boss monsters. There are some variables, but with the corruption, mana in the air allows these mob monsters to pretty much have as much mana as they want. The exponential amount of mana is also causing them to evolve at an increased rate. The mammoths are a good example. I doubt they were always fur less. And of course the same changes are happening to this planet. Like our planet is expanding with the Tier raising. This one is probably expanding and contracting. There could be earthquakes and tsunamis that happen randomly.”
“Do we need to worry about ourselves being near so much mana?” Nadir asked.
“Not how I understand it. The way it was explained to me was the System only allows users to have so much MP. Since monsters don’t have a System it affects them more. As long as you don’t touch the Leylines or Branches you should be fine.”
“What’s the other thing? You said increased danger was one thing,” his mother said.
“Increased rewards,” he said with a smile. “I can see you’ve all already gained levels. This planet has the feel of a mid-Tier II. We should expect to see level 30 to 40 monsters. But with the mana fluctuating I expect there will be spots with higher levels.” Asher pointed to the map at the table. “We landed here, at the Southern part. We have this whole continent to explore. If my guess is correct the Mana Leyline Root will be at the center. At this white part.” At the center was a white section of the manifested map. Everything else was colored green or light brown on the map.
Asher continued. “I propose we split into 3 groups again. Like we did in the dungeon. We can’t make a raid group or it cuts our experience gains in half.”
“I’m not splitting from your father,” his mother said.
“I don’t expect you to,” Asher said. “Ming, you got a healing skill recently, correct?” She nodded. “I propose group 1 is made up of Vincent, Ming, Nadir, Tiff, and Atalanta.” When Tiff learned about Atalanta’s feelings she demanded to be grouped up with her. “Group 2, Bishop, Ria, Batman, Abby, and Keera.” The others looked around, mentally going over the others' skills.
“And what will you be doing?” Abby asked.
He pointed to the map. “I would like each group to go West or East of the center. You decide which. I will go through the South and to the North of the center. I’d stay with you, but I feel like we all could use the levels, and contribution points. We have 27 days. I’m guessing we have 100s of miles to cover. So we all plan to meet just South of the white area on the map 17 days from now. If we can’t find a good spot to grind points and XP we will take on the center, and investigate the Leyline.”
“Oh my God! Horsies,” Tiffany yelled looking behind him. She clapped happily. Asher turned around to the ocean to see very large horses running on the water. About 200 feet out there were 10 running in a group. Their fur matched the dark purple of the ocean. He could feel the Water Mana pouring off of them from the shore.
“Yeah, this planet is weird,” Asher said as they all watched the horses gallop by.
“Why am I carrying you again?” He asked. “You’re the one that can fly.”
“My legs hurt,” she said shyly. Her voice was very softly whispering in his ear, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Used to the shamelessness of Tiffany it was nice to have someone with a change in attitude. Atalanta’s confident demeanor had also softened since her confession.
“Do you want me to keep calling you Atalanta?” He asked.
Her arms tightened around him. “If you wouldn’t mind. Not used to Alice in all honesty.”
“How’d you get the name?”
“I always liked mythology. Supposed to be the greatest woman hunter,” she said a little more confidently.
“Nice. How about Lanta instead though?”
“Why do I need a nickname?” She asked.
“Well if I know Tiff, she will make one. And would you prefer Atty or Lanta?” Asher asked.
“Ugh. You’re probably right,” she said. “Lanta is fine, I guess.”
“Thanks, Trinity,” he said. She smacked the top of his head. He laughed loudly. Looking up he noticed Tiff and Abby at the fire on the beach. The 4 of them stared at one another. Asher slowly let Atalanta down. The orange haired girl slowly walked around him. Looking down, blushing as the girls stared at them.
“Yes!” Tiff finally broke the silence. “Do I know my man or what? Pay up bitch.”
Abby grumbled. Tiff pushed an invisible button then walked into the treeline. Asher and Atalanta walked up. “What’s up?” He asked.
“Tiff, Batman, and I had a bet on who you’d seduce next,” she said.
“I didnt-“ he tried to say. She looked up at him, her face stern. From Atalanta’s shy look he stopped himself.
“I bet on Keera, Batman said Ming,” she grumbled as Asher and Atalanta moved to sit around the fire.
“Didn’t Tiff tell you Keera had a thing for Tosh?” Asher asked, by her look she did not. “I don’t do this on purpose,” he said grumbling. “My money would have been on you. I know you want this,” he said with a wink.
“Right. I still remember the low level kid whose ass I kicked,” she said. “I don’t mix training with pleasure.”
“Ha, cus you get pleasure from training,” he mumbled. She heard but didn’t deny it.
“Thanks babe, you made me an extra 100 Syscos,” Tiff said walking up. She kissed him on the cheek and sat on his lap. “You do it?”
“No,” he and Atalanta said.
“What?” Abby asked. “Give me my Syscos back.”
“Are you ever going to?” Tiff asked. Neither of them said anything. “If he seduces someone else I’ll give the money back,” she promised. “But I consider this my win.” Abby grumbled but didn’t say anything. Tiff ground herself on his crotch. Asher knew he didn’t deserve her. “Got that right,” she said, reading his mind.
The 3 of us should talk, he thought. She nodded.
“Where’s everybody at?” He asked.
“Most are at a group of tents we have set up near the old bug hive I wiped out,” she said. “Your parents went on a ‘walk’,” she added with quotes. He rolled his eyes. They could all guess what they were doing.
“Let’s call them all here,” he said.
“Can’t use Comms,” she reminded. “Gonna have to wait. Let’s go,” she said, dragging him away. “Atalanta, you too,” she ordered. The strong System User hesitated but followed.
When they were far enough away Tiffany turned and faced them both. “Explain,” she ordered. They did. Asher first. Trying to explain what he had to do to save her. Eventually Atalanta explained her trial.
“Good,” Tiff said when they were done.
“You’re not mad?” Atalanta asked.
“I thought you met an alternate universe me?” She asked.
“I think I did. But you were a lot more angry then,” she said.
“Oh, well you may not know. But I have Telepathy now,” she said. “I’ve heard you lusting after me and him since you came back a few days ago. Why do you think I did the bet with the others? I knew it was only a matter of time,” she said with a wide grin.
“You knew?” Atalanta asked.
“I knew,” Tiff said. The look on her face made him think that she knew everything. “The only reason I didn’t nip it in the bud is because when you pictured us having sex, we were all there.” She stepped closer to Atalanta. The orange haired girl looked down shyly. She was way different than the cocky and pissed off Atalanta he got to know…not that he knew her all that well anyway.
“Tell me Atalanta, why didn’t you jump him last night?” Tiff asked. “I know the reason, but you should tell him.” His wife turned Atalanta’s head to face him.
“I’m a…virgin,” she admitted. Asher was a little stunned. He guessed she was in her mid-twenties and with the life she led he expected a bad childhood for her.
“Hooray, good for you. We should make this special,” Tiff said, clapping her hands. Then she leaned in and kissed her. Just a peck on the lips, quick and to the point. Tiff drew back, but Atalanta looked a little sad it was over. “Do you want to wait a little bit? Maybe get to know us more?” Atalanta nodded, but didn’t pull away. “That’s fine with us,” his wife said. “We don’t push. But I want to know now. Is this a long or short term thing for you?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m still struggling with the fact that the trial wasn’t some figment of my imagination.”
“Fair enough. Let me tell you about the others. First there’s Zora. She’s this sweet little girl. About 5’-2” with this almost white hair. I love her a lot and she’s stuck on Earth…” she began walking Atalanta down the beach explaining their situation. Asher watched the master at work. Her hand slowly moved down to Atalanta’s ass as they walked.
—
His parents eventually came walking down the coast back to the group. Their hair was wet, but he ignored it. They stood on the sandy beach. He had pulled a large table from his ring and set the manifested map on top of it. The large crystal towered over behind him as everyone gathered around the table.
“Did everyone get the quest?” Asher asked. People nodded. “Contribution screen?” They nodded again. Asher pulled it up.
| CONTRIBUTION BOARD | ||
| 1 | Ezarian | 550 |
| 2 | Alfa | 510 |
| 3 | Bezeret | 490 |
| 4 | Fondo | 485 |
| 5 | Asher | 485 |
| 6 | Abby | 450 |
| 7 | Elios | 450 |
| 8 | Abbedeel | 440 |
| 9 | Aeota | 430 |
| 10 | Azhonymus | 430 |
| 11 | Abby | 420 |
| 12 | Prillish | 420 |
| 13 | Maggam | 400 |
| 14 | Batman | 380 |
| 15 | Ming | 375 |
| 16 | Teazen | 370 |
| 17 | Vincent | 360 |
| 18 | Kerek | 355 |
| 19 | Fin-Mara | 350 |
| 20 | Alexandria | 340 |
| 21 | Kerek | 320 |
| 22 | Toa | 310 |
| 23 | Nadir | 310 |
| 24 | Peik | 310 |
| 25 | Um | 275 |
| 26 | Croimo | 260 |
| 27 | Bishop | 230 |
| 28 | Wiccoran | 225 |
| 29 | Tiffany | 200 |
| 30 | Raus | 175 |
“As you all see we are pretty low on the list. But to me, getting everyone together was the important part. Now we need to get serious. We have 27 days to make sure all 11 of us are in the top 30. And of course make sure we have the most points.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “The way I see it, we have 2 options. We can all split up, and pick an area to grind.” There were a few frowns. “I don’t recommend this. There is something going on here. I just want to make sure we all want to group up before I explain. Does anyone want to go off on their own?”
The one he had worried about going on their own, Atalanta. Now the Matrix girl appeared to be meek to Tiff’s whims. His wife showed him a big smile in response to his thought. With Atalanta out of the way he looked to Vincent and Ming, they appeared to share a look.
“I’d prefer to stick around I think,” Vincent said. Ming nodded.
Omg they like each other, Tiff thought at him. Change of plans, group them together. Asher rolled his eyes but slowly nodded. She beamed a smile at him. Tiff had gotten matchmaking fever lately.
“Good. With that you all need to understand that this planet could explode,” he admitted. There were a few surprised looks. Even Tiff got serious. “This,” he said, bringing up his phone. It had a picture he took earlier. “Is a Mana Branch from the planet’s Leyline. They’re what the System upgrades to increase the Tier at home. These are typically very deep underground. This one was sticking out of some sand on the surface. Atalanta accidentally touched one. And it knocked her out for 3 days. So be sure to stay away.”
“Where was this at?” Keera asked. He knew what she wanted.
“If there’s one, there will be more. Don’t worry about finding them,” he said. She nodded. “I’m sure all of you have noticed the weird coating on the trees. They’re basically fossilized on the outside. This is because of the condensed mana in the air from the Leylines being so close to the surface.”
“Is that why there are these giant crystals coming from the ground?” Nadir asked. A dozen feet away an 8 foot diameter 30 foot tall crystal stuck out from the ground. It was shiny, and opaque, but Asher didn’t sense anything wrong with it. There were quite a few in the area they had landed.
“Kind of,” Asher admitted. “It’s not uncommon for Mana Crystals to form on a planet's surface. A big one could be worth a lot of money, but since the crystals are so dirty, I doubt they are worth much.”
“Why are the Leylines showing?” Batman asked.
“That is something called Mana Corruption. During my Roktai Trial I went to a planet where this was happening. I didn’t know at the time, but this is not normal. It happens when either the Leylines are corrupted to begin with or something is messing with the Leylines. I didn’t stay long enough to find out back then.”
“What does this mean for us?” His mother asked.
“2 main things,” he said. “Increased danger. I’m sure you all noticed that every monster we found had some kind of magic. That is not normal. Magic is typically only saved for Boss monsters. There are some variables, but with the corruption, mana in the air allows these mob monsters to pretty much have as much mana as they want. The exponential amount of mana is also causing them to evolve at an increased rate. The mammoths are a good example. I doubt they were always fur less. And of course the same changes are happening to this planet. Like our planet is expanding with the Tier raising. This one is probably expanding and contracting. There could be earthquakes and tsunamis that happen randomly.”
“Do we need to worry about ourselves being near so much mana?” Nadir asked.
“Not how I understand it. The way it was explained to me was the System only allows users to have so much MP. Since monsters don’t have a System it affects them more. As long as you don’t touch the Leylines or Branches you should be fine.”
“What’s the other thing? You said increased danger was one thing,” his mother said.
“Increased rewards,” he said with a smile. “I can see you’ve all already gained levels. This planet has the feel of a mid-Tier II. We should expect to see level 30 to 40 monsters. But with the mana fluctuating I expect there will be spots with higher levels.” Asher pointed to the map at the table. “We landed here, at the Southern part. We have this whole continent to explore. If my guess is correct the Mana Leyline Root will be at the center. At this white part.” At the center was a white section of the manifested map. Everything else was colored green or light brown on the map.
Asher continued. “I propose we split into 3 groups again. Like we did in the dungeon. We can’t make a raid group or it cuts our experience gains in half.”
“I’m not splitting from your father,” his mother said.
“I don’t expect you to,” Asher said. “Ming, you got a healing skill recently, correct?” She nodded. “I propose group 1 is made up of Vincent, Ming, Nadir, Tiff, and Atalanta.” When Tiff learned about Atalanta’s feelings she demanded to be grouped up with her. “Group 2, Bishop, Ria, Batman, Abby, and Keera.” The others looked around, mentally going over the others' skills.
“And what will you be doing?” Abby asked.
He pointed to the map. “I would like each group to go West or East of the center. You decide which. I will go through the South and to the North of the center. I’d stay with you, but I feel like we all could use the levels, and contribution points. We have 27 days. I’m guessing we have 100s of miles to cover. So we all plan to meet just South of the white area on the map 17 days from now. If we can’t find a good spot to grind points and XP we will take on the center, and investigate the Leyline.”
“Oh my God! Horsies,” Tiffany yelled looking behind him. She clapped happily. Asher turned around to the ocean to see very large horses running on the water. About 200 feet out there were 10 running in a group. Their fur matched the dark purple of the ocean. He could feel the Water Mana pouring off of them from the shore.
“Yeah, this planet is weird,” Asher said as they all watched the horses gallop by.
