Everything unravels eventually.

“I can’t believe he finally dropped it.” John was beaming as Rave and himself were walking back to the Arcade. They had skipped school again and had went morning hunting. Needless to say the Tree of Life was actually not all that effective anymore. Currently they needed to kill him around seven times to get a single level-up. Still, because they hadn’t had to spawn him he was a quick kill, although the fight itself took a bit because they needed to cull down one to five trees, depending on where the fucker spawned.

“You are getting way excited over a stupid item.” Rave giggled as they entered the restored district where the entrance of the Arcade barrier was located. “I mean the ‘Hoe of Hoe’s’, really?”

“It isn’t even useful!” She continued. “Well, no, but it’s still worth money. Also, my inner completionist likes it to get every drop once.” John defended. He had found out that he could easily sell items over the auction himself if he just, well, sold them. The Abyss just pulled them out of his inventory and founded him the money the second it was sold. Spatial magic was awesome like that. “Besides that, now the only item I haven’t gotten yet is ‘The branch of knowledge’ I really want to know what that does. It must be pretty good to be Epic.” “Nah, we all know Epic items always suck.” Rave said while rolling her eyes in ridicule.

“We also know that a higher level always equals a better person.” John teased the fact that he had reached a higher level than her. “No, your powers are just pure BS. Ya have no chance in beating me.” “Want to test that?” John dared as they entered the Protected Space that was their Headquarters. “Oh? No, using Aclysia though!”

“I have been informed that I am crucial part of Masters battle strategy, Mistress.” Aclysia spoke up from the background. She was following them in a step distance. “Yeah, she is my tank!” “She is a tank alright.” Rave said and stormed around on her heels, throwing a punch at Aclysia. The punch hit her straight in the chest but Aclysia only took a step back while Rave started waving around her hand in pain. “It hurts.” She complained. John checked on Aclysia, his Guardian only had taken 8 damage. That was thanks to Ironhide, the Attribute reacted to malevolent intent and made her skin extra durable. Aclysia was currently maybe the strongest part of their party in a 1vs1 scenario, purely because of her defences, Ironhide combined with a skin that wasn’t rubber was a pretty insane wall to get through.

As he usually equipped her with the Sword of Glory she also had pretty good offensive power. Treants couldn’t even scratch her and she could strike them down with a few strokes. Even when she did get damaged, like right now, her insane regeneration meant that it was pretty much meaningless within the minute.

“With my Aura I could take out one of ya guys.” Rave finished rubbing her fist. “But not both of you.” “You actually think that you could knock out Aclysia?” John wondered out loud. “Yeah, it would take about two hours but I could widdle her down.” Rave answered and then pointed at John, “You on the other hand I could beat in three minutes max. You are so used to having a frontline that your defence is just pure garbage.”

Well she wasn’t wrong. He could probably defend against her with Gnome for a relatively long time, maybe even forever depending on if Rave tore down the earthen walls he would erect faster than he regenerated mana but then he would just be safe in a stalemate. If he had a way to secure himself even better he could use Gnome in a more aggressive fashion.

“Well, without a healer around I’d rather not try anyway.” John said, “way to dangerous. Don’t want to hit you with Mana Ray.” “And I don’t want to get hit by that.” Rave completely agreed. Skill was bonkers, ripped apart Treants in one go and left nothing but a manafied mess of wood. The range also increased by four metres a level. If he assumed that his skill went up to level 100 that meant that Mana Ray would hit a max range of 500 metres, that was half a goddamn kilometre and the attack always went perfectly straight. He would need to find out how to get better eyes because with that kind of range and projectile sniping was only a question of how well he could aim.

“I should probably invest in some new skillbooks.” He changed the topic. “Like, what do you want?” Rave asked as they closed unto the door of the Arcade, “Probably should get the other basic Elementals to increase my versatility a bit. Other than that, some defensive or mobility skills. I should get some items that properly increase my Mana Reg first though.” “Why that? Can’t ya create something?” “Mhm, slight problems with that,” John answered as he set foot into the building. “Levelling Craft and Enchant is a bitch. It costs a shitload of Mana and the rewards are not that great. I mean all my materials got used up making this one ring.”

“It’s not even that good and doing stuff without Ectoplasm just isn’t worth it.” He pulled back a chair and sat down on the conference table. “And Ectoplasm farming would be super boring…” Rave lamented and planted her arse on the table. John pulled out his phone, “Yep. Maybe I should try getting the Achievement for Tier 0 Undead to see if the Spectre spawns instantly. I doubt it though, Ghosts are Tier 3.” “How about ya work on overcoming that ‘Gap’ already?” She asked and raised her legs dangling legs one after the other, “We out-level Treants so hard you could beat the boss on your own by now.”

“Mhm, yeah we could do that as well. Would need to level Create I.D. some more then.” John mumbled and looked around. “Where are the others by the way? Didn’t think Victoria’s appointment would take that long.” The Russian (yes, he had asked in the meantime) sniper had excused herself for some ominous appointment and didn’t bother to tell anybody what exactly it was. Okay, she had no obligation too, Jimmie didn’t tell anybody what he was doing at the hospital either but at least he told them where he was. ‘There is a reason why her Charisma is so low.’ He thought and sighed, Victoria also denied joining his party but still tagged along because it was good money.

“Well, Jimmie is probably down below and Baldy…well let’s make the test.” Rave breathed in and then shouted in the direction of the stairs, “WE HAVE YOUR MONEY, BALDY!” There was some rummaging and then a loud curse. A few minutes later Travolta came stomping down the stairs. “FOR FUCKS SAKE RAVE!” He screamed angrily, “I almost dropped what I was working on.” “What would that be?” John probed, “None of your fucking business is what it is.” Travolta jabbed right back. “Now give me my fucking money.”

The transaction was made and Travolta grunted in satisfaction. “Good, fucking Bloodfallen are a major fucking annoyance.” “Better with them though, right?” “Yeah, still dislike being on the call of somebody. We also might be pulled into some of their shenanig---“

The building trembled. Accompanied by the sound of a nearby explosion glass and wood all over the place rattled as strong vibrations went through the floor. It was over as quickly as it come but Travolta was already out the door before Aclysia, Rave or John had realized what even happened. “Jimmie!” Rave then said and jumped on her feet. One after the other the trio followed Travolta out the door.