"Finally!" Greg exclaimed as Chris climbed out of a small hole in the ground, followed by Dichonius and Jo. "Took you long enough."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Seeing as humanity hasn't been able to get beyond the twelfth level for centuries now, I feel like taking a week and a half to reach the surface is pretty quick."

It was about a week after the wedding and Chris had finally reached the surface. The City was still dealing with the fallout from the reveal of the Doppelgangers, but beyond a growing number of protesters in front of their headquarters, nothing much had changed. Chris had also connected a few dozen people to his world, mostly those with nothing to lose. He wasn't sure if it was the protestors scaring people off or just a hesitance to jump into something so permanent, but no one seemed particularly eager to sign up for the Eternal Tribe. Chris wasn't too concerned about it though. The benefits of the Eternal Tribe spoke for themselves, and eventually the City would catch on. It was only a matter of time.

"You must be Ver'varia." Jo greeted the nervous looking Elf, walking up to her and holding out her hand. "I'm Jo'vuntulla, Chris's mother."

"It- it's a pleasure to meet you." Ver'varia greeted her hesitantly. "I- I remember seeing you once, before… I was just a child, so you probably don't remember. Do- do you remember a smith named Nev'deton?"

Jo's eyes widened. "Yes! Half my armory is his work! He's who inspired me to get into crafting myself, though I could never match his skill. Oh, I would love to see what he could do with access to Coreforging." Jo paused, frowning at Ver'varia. "How do you know him?"

"He was my father." Ver'varia explained with a twisted expression.

"Was?" Jo grimaced. "What- what happened to him?"

"Jer'tunal." Ver'varia spat bitterly. "To him and half the other great craftsmen in the kingdom. Anyone who refuses to enslave themselves for that tyrant's ambitions!"

"He- he's killing craftsmen?!?" Jo exclaimed. "That- why?!?"

"In the words of the King at my father's execution: 'anyone who refuses to work for the betterment of the kingdom is working against the kingdom, and shall be executed as the traitors they are'." Ver'varia explained in an almost numb tone.

"I- I had no idea things had gotten so bad…" Jo muttered. She'd known Jer'tunal wasn't a good king, but this… this was worse than she'd ever imagined. "He has to be stopped."

"That's why we're here." Chris nodded firmly, turning to the other Greg. "So, this is supposed to be me?"

"Yup!" Greg nodded. "Don't worry, I made sure to stay under the radar, so no one will be shocked by any-" He cut off as Chris's tail stabbed into his chest. "You- dick!" He coughed. "You should have gone for the he-" He cut off as Chris's tail stabbed into his head.

"Sorry, it's been a bit since I've killed anyone. Well, at least since I've cared about doing it painlessly." Chris apologized, before absorbing the ability energy from the corpse and transforming into an exact copy. "Hm. Strong." He muttered, clenching a fist. "I should have killed one of your forms ages ago. Now all I need to do is enhance my ability to the peak."

Greg clicked his tongue. "That's a damn useful ability. Wish I had it."

Chris cocked his head. "Abilities are gene based. Maybe if you copied my DNA, you could get it. And then Andrew could too… and Victoria? Just like Andrew's ability in Beast World."

Greg blinked. "Huh… I'm sad now."

"Here, give it a shot." Chris shrugged, turning back into his base form.

"If this works, I'm going to be pissed." Greg grumbled, sending some smoke at Chris and analyzing his DNA. "If I could have spent the last week hunting and increasing my ability energy, instead of sitting in a damn inn bored…" Greg trailed off bitterly, as he created a copy of Chris and spent a hundred points to increase his ability energy, taking a copy of the Dragon sword and lopping off the head of his Elf self. "Motherfucker!"

"I'm guessing it worked." Victoria sighed. "That is rather disappointing." While they hadn't exactly been focused on hunting the past week, they'd had to kill their fair share of creatures while they gathered the various resources they needed to sell in town, and absorbing their ability energy to grow would have been nice.

Greg shook his head as he made another Chris. "Ridiculous."

Andrew pulled out the core while Victoria sent points into him, taking over the body, both spending the points to grow their ability and kill their other selves to regain their forms and abilities. "What did I just watch?" Ver'varia muttered incredulously.

Dichonius sighed. "It's better for your sanity if you don't ask. Their explanations are crazier than their actions. I'm Dichonius, by the way, Chris's father."

Ver'varia frowned. "Dichonius? That isn't a common Elvish name."

Dichonius smirked. "That's because I'm a Doppelganger."

Ver'varia's eyes widened. "You're- you're a Doppelganger?!?" She turned to Jo'vuntulla. "You had a child with a Doppelganger!?!"

"Aw, please don't tell us you're racist." Greg groaned. "That'd be a very disappointing revelation."

Ver'varia flushed. "I'm not- it's just- startling. Doppelgangers have been our enemies for centuries! To see our princess in a relationship with one…" She grimaced slightly. "I don't know what to make of it."

"What's there to make of it? Two people found each other and fell in love. It isn't that complicated." Greg pointed out, eyeing her strangely. "You are a little racist, aren't you?"

Ver'varia gritted her teeth. "It is normal to be confused by the idea of one of the most respected members of our kingdom in a relationship with one of our kingdom's most hated enemies! All my life I've been taught to watch for signs of Doppelganger infiltration! Forgive me if it takes some time to adjust to the idea of loving one!"

"I'm pretty sure that's literally the definition of racism." Andrew frowned. "The fact that a certain portion of a race acts in certain ways has no bearing on an individual. People are more than statistics."

"Statistics are a thing though." Victoria commented. "Not to justify racism, obviously, but when certain groups are shown to be more likely to do certain things, there's a natural tendency to associate people belonging to those groups with those actions."

"Sure, but that's because people are lazy and risk averse." Chris added. "It's easier to just avoid certain groups, than to risk getting hurt or to put in the work to actually get to know someone. Admittedly, people have limited time and the world is dangerous, so you can't really blame them for it, but still."

Andrew frowned. "I think… Okay, yes, bias is a thing, and it's natural to pick up a few as you go through life based on what you experience, but it's your responsibility to try and quash those biases whenever possible. Like, if a woman was raped and developed a bias against men, it's perfectly understandable but it still isn't right or healthy, so she should do her best to get over it."

Victoria grimaced at him. "You just had to go to rape."

"It was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about trauma." Andrew coughed, flushing slightly as he turned to Ver'varia. "So yeah, it's understandable if you're a little shocked at the idea of an Elf and a Doppelganger being together, but get over it, okay?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Ver'varia frowned at him. "I- am? I said I just need some time to adjust." She shook her head, turning to Dichonius. "Thankfully my ability gives me plenty of time to do so. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dichonius. I'm sorry my initial… confusion turned into such a mess."

Dichonius chuckled. "It's fine. It took months for Jo to stop sending assassins after me. I understand a few moments of hesitation."

Jo elbowed him. "I stopped sending assassins before you did!"

Dichonius coughed. "Yes, well, everyone has different adjustment periods. Plus, Elves kill Doppelgangers more than Doppelgangers kill Elves, so I had more bias to get over."

Jo rolled her eyes. "That's only because you prefer infiltration. If you weren't constantly sneaking into our lands, we wouldn't kill nearly as many of you as we do!"

"We only infiltrate because you hunt us! We need spies so we can avoid you!" Dichonius retorted.

"We wouldn't hunt you if you didn't spy on us!" Jo countered.

Dichonius sighed, shaking his head. "I highly doubt that, but I know you don't accept that."

Jo crossed her arms. "I don't see any reason why the Elves would bother with the Doppelgangers if not to stop spying and neither do you! You can say the Elves attacked first all you want, but there's no guarantee the Doppelgangers weren't already infiltrating before then!"

"Of course." Dichonius agreed with a slight smirk. Jo rolled her eyes. It was an old argument that neither of them had given ground on since they got together. If only they could find any evidence… she shook her head. She really hated unverifiable hypotheses.

"Well, we should probably get you two back to the City." Chris announced. "Then we need to figure out what our next step is."

"Ah, yes, send away the literal princess of the Elven Kingdom just before your plan out how to infiltrate it. Brilliant idea." Jo scoffed sarcastically.

Chris paused. "Fair point. What do you think our next move should be, then?"

Jo frowned. "If you don't want the kingdom to fall into chaos after you… remove Jer'tunal, then you need to get at least one of the Dukes on your side. Preferably all of them, but that's not exactly feasible."

"We were already planning on trying to get as many nobles as possible on our side." Victoria nodded. "Our issue isn't really goals, it's execution. Ver'varia's ability gives her decent social skills, mostly because she can take all the time she needs to react, but that doesn't give her any knowledge of etiquette. I mean, we were planning on posing as traveling merchants, so our etiquette probably won't matter too much, but knowing it couldn't hurt. Though that'd probably take some time to teach…"

"Ver'varia and Jo will both be connected to my world, so I could just give Ver'varia all of Jo's etiquette knowledge." Chris shrugged. Ver'varia blinked, opening her mouth to ask how, before Dichonius put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Right…" Victoria muttered. "Then I suppose the question is which Duke to head for first? And we'll obviously hit whatever nobles we can on the way."

"I'd recommend Duke Bal'xerez." Jo recommended. "He always seemed… noble to me. I can't imagine he supports what Jer'tunal is doing."

"He's doing a poor job of showing it, if so." Ver'varia grumbled. "He's been the most cooperative with all of Jer'tunals policies. The Duke that has shown the most resistance to Jer'tunal is Met'final. I'm honestly surprised Jer'tunal hasn't had him executed by now."

"Met'final would resist anyone! He just hates the fact that he can never be King because of the Blood Bow!" Jo retorted.

Ver'varia frowned. "How about Kal'pount?"

Jo shook her head. "He's too risk averse. He never sides with anyone if there's even a chance of it reflecting badly on him. There's no way he'd side with a rebellion."

"Then that just leaves Den'itala." Ver'varia sighed. "She isn't horrible I suppose…"

Jo snorted. "She's a cold hearted bitch, but… she does have principles. If you can get her on your side, I could see her being a steadfast ally. And of course, she's on the complete other end of the kingdom. I still say you should give Bal'xerez a try though."

Ver'varia's expression twisted. "We can't just walk up to every noble and ask if they want to overthrow Jer'tunal. If any of them rat us out, we'll have all the kingdom's cultivators hunting us! I'm sure you people will be fine, but that's exactly the chaos we're looking to avoid right? I don't think it's wise to risk that with someone who has shown Jer'tunal nothing but loyalty."

"We could test the waters a bit? Meet with him, throw out some lures, see if he bites?" Andrew offered. "Just because someone is loyal doesn't mean they're satisfied."

"True…" Ver'varia muttered hesitantly. "But how can we test without giving anything away?"

"We could talk about Chris?" Victoria suggested. "A rumor we heard about a potential royal in the City? Is the City common knowledge?"

"Among the nobility, yes. For traveling merchants? I doubt it." Jo shook her head, Ver'varia nodding in agreement.

"Unless we're merchants with wares from the City!" Greg exclaimed. "We could sell Coreforged devices!"

Jo frowned. "That would get you arrested more likely than not. All City tech is the property of the Crown."

Greg grimaced. "Well shit. I wanted to learn Coreforging."

"I can still teach you, it just isn't a good idea to sell anything until we take care of Jer'tunal. After that… well, demand will probably skyrocket." Jo grinned.

"Coreforging?" Ver'varia asked.

"It's basically a mix of forging and alchemy." Jo explained.

Ver'varia blinked. "Can- can I learn too?"

Jo smiled. "I would love to teach Nev'deton's daughter Coreforging."

"Is there anything that would help explain our knowledge of the City and any potential rumors we might have heard?" Victoria interjected, getting them back on track.

Jo shook her head. "Nothing I could think of. You'd have to be at least a Count to know anything about the City, or a trusted subordinate of one. You could also be a high ranking member of the King's Army, or the King's Shadows… of course, if you've been exiled to the City, you could know about it, but again, that would be more likely to get you arrested."

Victoria sighed. "Damn."

"Maybe we could complain about some aspect of Jer'tunals rule?" Andrew suggested hesitantly. "Something along the lines of how hard it is to find good craftsmen nowadays? I mean, if Jer'tunal is to the point of executing the ones that won't work for him, I can't imagine the quality of the remaining ones are all that good."

Ver'varia blinked. "That… isn't a bad idea. The decline of good workmanship is one of the most common complaints against Jer'tunal. Even if the Duke disagrees, he'd likely just dismiss it as merchants grumbling over lost profits."

"Okay, next question, is Bal'xerez a cultivator?" Victoria asked.

"Of course not." Ver'varia replied, giving them a weird look. "Cultivators can't be nobles. The King wouldn't allow anyone who could potentially challenge him to be in such a position."

Greg frowned. "How could he even stop them?"

"All cultivators are forced to swear oaths when they awaken. They aren't strong enough to resist the Blood Bow or the cultivators already under oath, so they have no choice." Jo explained with a sigh.

"Man, oaths are bullshit." Greg clicked his tongue.

"Fuck!" Victoria suddenly cursed. "We forgot to have you break your oath!"

Greg blinked. "Oops?"

Victoria sighed. "Anyway, if the Duke isn't a cultivator, I should be able to get some points into him, which will let me read his mind and gauge his reactions to our bait."

Ver'varia's eyes widened as she took a step back. "You can read minds?!?"

Victoria frowned. "Yeah? Why does everyone always freak out over the fact that I can read minds? Andrew just kills people! Greg dissolves them! Chris enslaves them! Mind reading is pretty tame in comparison!"

"Because there are plenty of things that can kill you out there, and you can resist Chris, but someone violating the privacy of your mind is… unnerving." Jo sighed. "Plus, the Tetrocs have everyone pretty scared of psychics… freaky spider-people that use their innate mental abilities to enslave people."

Victoria blinked. "That's- fair."

"Innate mental abilities, you say?" Greg grinned, rubbing his hands together.

Ver'varia gave him a horrified look. "You are the last person who should have access to another person's mind!"

"Whaaat? I would never abuse such an ability!" Greg exclaimed. "I'd simply enjoy having the option. I like having options." Greg chuckled.

Ver'varia shuddered. "That is not changing my mind."

"Thankfully I don't depend on your permission." Greg grinned.

Ver'varia let out a groan. "The fact that you people exist is a crime against nature."

"Lady, we are nature." Greg snickered.