“Oh, come on”

John glowered at Sera as she shook her head at him.

“What did I do wrong?”

“You should have killed them.”

“What?”

“You heard me, unless you need me to say it slower.”

“How is **** the best option?”

“This is the Abyss, John. It’s a different set of rules. It’s kill or be killed. Mercy leaves loose ends that can get stronger and strangle you later on. Next time they come for you won't be nearly as easy.”

“No, I refuse to think that way.”

Sera leaned towards John's face, her eyes narrowing as if searching for an active brain cell.

“You won't have a choice,” were her last words before disappearing in a dim flash of light.

Scarman appeared lying on the sidewalk under a bus stop bench. He looked like a homeless man taking a nap. John turned and started walking towards his dorm, hoping to find something to eat on the way there to keep his stamina up.

After about an hour of uneventful meandering down side roads and back alleys looking for something to eat, John walked by an open door to a restaurant. The smell of cooking food urged him to walk in and check their prices. He was greeted by the familiar feeling of entering a barrier, accompanied by the manifestation of his aura.

"What the f-"

"Welcome to the Firesmith culinary arts program satellite campus. Would you like a chair or a booth?"

John was interrupted by the maître d’, who was a slim and feminine water elemental. Her body was obviously made of water and mostly transparent, but there was a certain texture to it that defied explanation. Her surface seemed to form a dress shirt and skirt. Sera's sigil glowed brightly on the menu she held. He cast observe as he answered.

"Booth, please."

Level 50 water elemental

A powerful being of pure mana water, often more suited for healing than for combat.

"Right this way, sir."

John followed the elemental up a flight of stairs to a booth near the edge of the dining area. It was a large octagonal room with a door to the kitchen on every wall. Booths lined the walls and dotted the room, separated by dining tables surrounded by chairs. There was plenty of space between tables for servers to walk by with trays loaded with food.

"Here is our menu and here are your utensils, your server will be right with you. Enjoy your meal!"

"Thank you, you too," was John's eloquent response.

She giggled as she walked back to her position at the door, her hips swaying with every step. John shook his head and sighed. He looked over the menu; it seemed pretty mundane. Burgers, cold sandwiches, warm sandwiches, salads, soups. It was only when he looked at the ingredients that his eyes widened in shock. 100% manticore meat steak, camahueto ground beef patty, turkheir slices, millennium aged cheese, minotaur beef stew, dryad-grown lettuce, nymph-grown herbs, and many other options he had no time to read before being snapped out of his concentration by a server.

She was dark skinned with a golden mane of unruly curls tied back in a red bandana. She had a modest chest and an ample ass. She wore a variation of the Firesmith uniform, adding a burgundy server’s apron (that she had filled with pens and notepads) and a black server’s tray (empty at the moment).

“Hiya! I’m Tessa, and I’ll be your server today. Can I getcha somethin ta drink?” She smiled brightly at him as she held a pen to her notepad. Her green eyes shone with a cheery energy and her bubbly attitude was contagious enough to put a smile on John's face. He hadn't even looked at the beverage section of the menu. He skimmed it quickly and found there were no prices next to the choices.

“Uhh”

“If ya need more time, I can come back in a bit.” Her smile didn't waver.

“Um,” John thought back to the elemental, “I'll just have a water.”

“Comin’ right up!” She left John to get him his water.

He decided to play it safe and choose a “classic” erymanthian ham and millennium cheese sandwich. He kept his selection in mind as he opened his gamer interface to read the messages he had ignored during the fight.

Encounter Complete!

+5,000 EXP

+$500

+200 Summon EXP

Achievement unlocked!

Elemental Disadvantage: you fought water mages with fire spells and survived, a feat few can claim.

+2 INT

+2 WIS

Achievement unlocked!

Outnumbered and Outgunned: you fought a group of enemies that not only outnumbered you but also was much stronger than you. You're lucky they were idiots.

+1 STR

+3 CHA

Achievement unlocked!

Great Expectations: repeatedly have people underestimate you.

+1 CHA

+A reputation for being much stronger than you seem

Achievement unlocked!

This has been a Public Service Announcement: make a statement to any potential enemies that you are not to be trifled with. Can you back it up?

+1 CHA

Level Up!

+5 stat points

Level 10 surpassed!

+5 stat points

Level 10 Game Patch installation begun!

Projected completion: Friday, 6pm

John reeled at the new information, an incoming patch of the magical operating system that controlled his existence. The possibilities roiled in his mind so turbulently that he didn't notice Tessa coming back with his water.

“Here's your water!” She held it out to him but he stared ahead at empty space, unaware of her presence.

“Hello? Anyone there?” She giggled as she set down the cup. “You mages and your meditation trances. Every chance y'all get and you're off in your own little worlds. Lay doesn't do this to me.” She sighed, the gleam in her eye taking on a hungry glint as she walked away.

John snapped out of his deep introspection as an ice cube shifted in the cup, the soft clinking sound resonating in his soul. The system pinged.

Status effect: calm waters

What's that supposed to mean? Where did it come from? Why now and why me?

Questions plagued his mind, but he did not panic, rather he considered them all calmly and accepted he could not find the answers on his own at the moment. He sat contentedly with his water, taking cool and refreshing sips every now and then as he waited for his server to come back and take his order. It wasn't long before Tessa came back, her bubbly attitude as refreshing as the water he drank.

“Have ya decided on an entrée?”

“Yes, I'll have a ‘Classic,’ please.”

“Yessir, I'll be back with your meal shortly.”

Tessa hummed to herself as she wove through the bustling cooks in the kitchen. There were constant cries of orders being served, orders being started, and ingredients being demanded. She ducked under floating serving trays and sidestepped hovering work stations as she made her way to her own. Chattering air elementals flew every which way delivering the ingredients demanded by the cooks, tiny whirlwinds of packaged food and rapid conversation. Runes glowed softly in every hue all around her, along with sporadic flashes of bright magic, giving the kitchen more of a nightclub feel than the tidy orderly space it truly was. Once at her own station, she donned her enchanted gloves and began work on her customer’s sandwich, her face a mask of uncharacteristic seriousness.

First she cleared her station of any leftover food debris from preparing the last meal, then she reached for the magic inside herself and began to channel it. Runes glowed a warm yellow all over the workstation as she reached into an item summoning circle on the surface. From within the circle she pulled a set of knife handles. She concentrated and activated the mana blade, an infinitely sharp manifestation of her mana protruding from the handle. A small smile pulled at the edges of her mouth; she loved how similar to a lightsaber her knife looked. She turned her head to the ceiling, watching for an unburdened elemental. She called out to a pair of them flying in little circles chasing each other and giggling.

“I need erymanthian ham and millennium cheese!”

“Yes ma’am! Yes yes ham and cheese yes but like old cheese and the biggy big boar ham that tastes super yummy yes ma’am yes ma’am!”

“Yes miss Tessa miss missy miss Tessy Tess Tessa erymanythianymanyhammy and millelilalilelilelinumnum cheesy just for you I’ll bring them!”

Tessa nodded curtly and reached for a different item summoning circle.

His calm lasted all throughout his meal and his walk back to the dorm. The ham was perfectly spiced and seasoned but dry. Its flavor was like mundane ham but sweeter. The cheese’s flavor was as unidentifiable and vague as its name. It seemed to be a mix of Cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss, and Brie. They combined surprisingly well to create the “Classic” sandwich. His walk was uneventful, the rush hour traffic still an hour away. As soon as he crossed the threshold and closed the door behind himself, his calm was replaced by a burning desire to level up and become strong enough to back up the threats he had made.