Spend the points

I dumped the two points into Will, bringing it to fifteen and hitting the next threshold.

Three new Talents unlocked.

Iron Will

Prerequisites: Will 15, Unyielding

Your resistance to outside influence has become something you can actively rely upon.

Effect:

• +30% resistance to magical and supernatural attempts to influence your thoughts, emotions, or decisions.
• When you consciously resist an external influence, your Will is treated as 2 points higher for that resistance.
• Fear, intimidation, pain, and coercion have a reduced effect on your ability to act.
• You receive a System notification when an effect attempts to override your will.

Presence of Will

Prerequisite: Will 15

There is something different about someone who has learned that their own will is enough.

Effect:

• +10% effectiveness to Will-based actions.
• Your confidence and determination become perceptible to others, granting +10% effectiveness to Intimidation and Influence when you deliberately project authority.
• You are less susceptible to involuntary emotional reactions caused by fear, awe, or supernatural presence.
• When you consciously assert yourself against a supernatural creature or magical effect, there is a small chance of causing it to recognize your resistance.

Resonant Resolve

Prerequisites: Will 15, Resonant Mind

Your mind and magic have become so closely intertwined that attacks against one increasingly affect the other.

Effect:

• +20% effectiveness when using Will to resist magical effects.
• Successfully resisting a magical effect temporarily strengthens your magical stability, granting +10% spell stability for 30 seconds.
• While maintaining concentration on a spell, your Will partially protects you from magical disruption.
• When resisting magical control, your Mana cannot be forcibly expended without first overcoming your Will.

Presence of Will was the only one that remotely interested me, and even that seemed… meh.

Part of me kept looking at Shared Sensation. If I could link myself to Valentia or Ami, then I'd know when they were in danger. I wouldn't have to rely on a quest to tell me. And since they kept showing up as optional objectives, I wasn't exactly filled with confidence in the System giving me those quests.

Arcane Efficiency and Elemental Affinity were both good for conserving Mana.

I didn't want to touch Intimate Attunement after my last bout of stupidity.

Read the Heart seemed like the Empathy version of Analytical Appraisal, which made it feel redundant.

Resonant Casting looked useful for reducing casting time.

Other than that, there were a few social Talents and some stealth-related ones.

“Hey, guys. I want your opinion on a Talent, since it potentially involves you.” I read them the description for Shared Sensation.

“What do you think? It might help me know when one of you is in danger. But it needs you to be willing. And I might sense… other things. I don't want to creep you out, so if you don't think it's a good idea-”

“Sure,” Valentia said.

“No,” Ami replied at the exact same time.

The two looked at each other and immediately started whispering back and forth, too quietly for me to make out the words. Maybe if I dumped a few points into Perception…

Ami seemed to get angrier the longer they argued.

“Hey, guys?” I interrupted. “Don't worry about it. There are other options. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.”

“That’s not-” Valentia started.

Ami grabbed the sleeve of her dress and tugged so hard the blonde nearly fell over.

I decided not to ask. I chose Arcane Efficiency and Resonant Casting. “I picked something else, so no worries.”

I cast Mend to repair my shirt, then fixed Valentia's dress, and finally repaired Ami's armor.

We settled down for the night, everyone wary in case something else found us.

I took first watch to give the girls a break. While I sat there staring into the darkness, I kept going over all the bad decisions I'd made since arriving in the Five Realms.

All the documentation and waivers I should have read. The things I'd done and said. The Attributes and Talents I'd picked. Sensual Resonance still bugged the shit out of me.

What the hell was wrong with me? You know, aside from the fact that I was going to die in a few days. In a video game. Because I was an idiot.

Exit.

Yep, still fucked.

I woke Ami after several hours and lay down, but I couldn't sleep.

My mind just kept going over the same things again and again. A loop. No. More like a downward spiral.

“Ye awake?” Ami's voice was so soft I almost missed it.

I turned toward her, her violet eyes watching me from across the dying fire. “Yeah. Can't sleep.”

As if that wasn't obvious from the fact that I was, in fact, not asleep.

She nodded. “Thank ye. For saving us earlier. I…” She paused. “I donna like fightin'. Pretty obvious, yeah? Never liked it. But Valentia is… important. I gotta do better. I canna rely on ye all the time.”

“Right now, we need each other.” I sighed. “That's not…” I stopped and tried to find the right words. Then I sat up so I could talk more easily.

“I'm going to die in a few days. I don't think this System Sage is going to be able to help.” I chewed the inside of my cheek.

“I don't know what happens after that. The rational part of my brain says you guys are just AI-driven reactions to the actions I take. That you're not real. And that when I die and someone finally notices because of the smell coming from my apartment, they're just going to unplug me and turn my computer off.”

I swallowed. “And dying doesn't scare me much anymore. I'm starting to come to terms with it. Yeah, I'm angry and frustrated that it's going to happen, but it's pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point.” I looked into the fire. “But…”

I ran a hand over my face. “I'm worried about what's going to happen to you two. When they shut off the computer…” I shook my head. “The rational part of me knows you'll just be stored in a save file somewhere and be fine once someone boots the game back up. Assuming they do that. But what happens in between?”

“The last time I logged out, it seemed like time still passed in here. That shouldn't be possible. And maybe the AI just made a bunch of calculations and filled in the time with what it thought you'd do, then moved you around and gave you memories of what might have happened.”

I stared into the darkness beyond the fire. “But there's a big part of me that desperately wants you two to be okay. That wants the game to keep running after I'm gone so you can live your lives and be happy and not have to worry about reality.”

My voice caught. “And I don't know how to make that happen.” I took a breath. “I don't know how to make sure you two are safe and happy. And that, more than anything else, scares me.”

Ami watched me, the flames reflected in her violet eyes. She didn't say anything. What could she say?

“Sorry to unload all that on you.” I took a deep breath and laid back down. I closed my eyes and tried to shut off my brain.

“We'll figure it out…” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.