“Is this the first time you’ve lost someone on a quest?” Lise asked.

The teleport dropped them off at the Fountain of Pyrene, and Nil used the maximum healing available to relieve all his aches and pains and repair the damaged nerves in his hands. Sensation returned to his fingertips immediately, and he looked the same as before the quest. In fact, he felt better than before. Though steep, the thirty-schema-tokens cost—approximately three thousand British Pounds—was worth it.

“This was my first group quest. Remember? I hadn’t had the opportunity to lose someone before. The Nexus sent me to a disaster area on an emergency mission once, and I worked with someone. It wasn’t enough time to get to know them, so I doubt the death would’ve impacted me as much, if at all. Solitary quests might be better. I doubt they’ll end with such a gut punch.”

“Avoid vampire hunting quests. Even when you’re solo, they often have bleak or depressing endings. You’ll often see the heart-breaking deaths of innocents.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nil said. “It was good working with you. Despite everything, I wouldn’t mind pairing up with you again.”

“Do you really mean that?”

Nil nodded.

“Well, once we get to Iron Realm, the Schema will let us invite people we’ve worked with before and friends on group quests. Look me up if you ever need my expertise?”

“What if I just want good company on a job?” Nil asked.

“I suppose that could work, too.”

The pair separated after neither found a way to break the awkward silence that followed. The Schema had already reclaimed the equipment they borrowed from the Nexus. There wasn't much for them to discuss now that the quest was over. Without Misu's eccentricities and roleplayer-like behavior, they didn't have much to grin or roll their eyes about. Nil was surprised when the woman hugged him before walking away. She smiled and waved before heading off to find her caseworker. Nil tried his luck with Layla.

“You look like you had a rough time,” Layla said when Nil claimed the seat opposite her. He was too mentally exhausted to engage in pleasantries. “I’m sorry your companion died. You did well, though. The way you baited that young vampire was—pardon the pun—bloody amazing. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“It just sucks, you know? We did everything so well, and I even took a bloody beating so the others could get by without getting grievously hurt. I don't understand why Misu had to rush ahead alone like that.” Nil wanted to throw or break something. “We had agreed that I'd go in first. They knew how Brutal Battery works. I'm built to take deadfalls to the face.”

“It looked like Misu got sick of playing the follower. I've been at this for quite some time, and it's not surprising how many Summoned end up with a hero complex.” Layla sighed. “I don't mean the drive to do good or help people but to pretend like they're the protagonist of some great novel. They want the glory of the win. It looked to me that Misu was the same. You and Lise found the vampire operation. You played bait and successfully hooked the mark. Lise extracted the information.

“Meanwhile, he did little besides support you. Helping the priestess with her ritual and then finding the moles in the order was Misu's chance to shine, but neither worked out. I believe he rushed ahead to convince himself that he found the vampires and probably wanted the privilege of slaying the coven leader, too. People like him rarely survive long as a Summoned. This is reality. There is no plot armor protecting you. Death and injury await the careless and foolish.”

The pair sat in silence for a while. Nil knew what she said was true, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. As the party's warrior, he was supposed to protect them, especially the ritualist. He had failed at his duties.

“Have you thought about how you want to spend your tokens?”

Nil nodded. He used two to increase Spark. Instead of banking the other for later, he spent it on Finesse.

* Might: Iron 1

* Finesse: Mortal 9

* Mind: Mortal 4

* Spark: Iron 2

Brutal Battery: Mortal 8

* Absorb: Mortal 8

* Expend: Mortal 9

Energy Instinct: Mortal 5

Feats:

* Haunting Visage

* Armsmaster’s Disappointment

* Through Sheer Grit

* The Power Of Belief

“You're so close to Iron Realm I can almost smell it,” Layla cheered, excitedly clapping her hands. “Ascensions are always exciting. The Schema will give you the opportunity to make Brutal Battery your own.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Absorb is getting progressively harder to rank up,” Nil said. “I just need it to hit Mortal-Nine and then get an Iron Ascension Token, and I'll be eligible for the arena.”

“I think Expend is growing faster because you use it actively. It seems you've also been getting creative with the ability.”

“There isn't much scope to do the same with Absorb.”

“Why not?” Layla raised a perfectly tweezed eyebrow as she leaned on the table. “You just channel it and let things hit you. Why don't you work on absorbing just a fraction of the force behind an attack instead of all of it? It would make fighting bigger opponents easier since you could move with them and force them to overextend instead of just stopping when they touched, creating openings for your Expend.”

“I—I didn't think of that,” Nil said.

Layla grinned. “Well, don't beat yourself up over it. I've been at this for a while and have seen enough abilities to learn a thing or two.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her desk. “As for the Iron Ascension Token, just check the quest list every hour after the minimum wait time passes. Quests featuring them as rewards show up occasionally, but they're high in demand and get scooped up swiftly.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” Despite the good news and gaining ranks in two attributes and abilities, Nil still felt fairly deflated. He was almost sure Isabella would get him into the qualifiers now. Yet Nil’s mind continued to drift to questions like whether Misu had a family or people who’d spend forever wondering whether he’d ever come home. Nil knew his people had similar worries whenever he left. That was why he made a point to message them regarding the probable duration. He needed a distraction and changed topics. “I might’ve made progress with the investigation.”

“Oh?” Layla raised an eyebrow. “Please elaborate.”

Nil looked at the visage, fiddling with a box in the corner of the room. She sniffed at it, rubbed her face against it, and even tried to open it. He pointed at the container. “First, can you tell me what's in the box?”

“Cursed relics. I’ve been studying them to understand better what's going on in your world.”

“Any reason why my soul weapon’s visage would be attracted to it?”

Layla frowned, pondering the question for a moment. “Perhaps it's attracted to the same type of energy that constitutes it. Similar types of magic often attract each other. Maybe it's why your soul weapon attracted and absorbed the Cursed Pupae’s energy during the last quest.” She looked at one of the open tomes on her desk and flipped through the pages before continuing. “Cursed Energy sources seek to absorb or assimilate one another to continue growing.”

“I thought that might be the case.” Nil sighed. “Then, if we are to continue, I’d like a guarantee. You’re going to use the resources you got in the Control World to help me get into another Ludus or pay part of my current expenses until I start making enough money from Apocalypse Arena.”

“I can’t just promise that,” Layla said, looking amused. “The information needs to be especially juicy and capable of advancing our investigation significantly. Even then, you’re asking for a lot.”

“Too bad.” Nil rose from his seat, preparing to leave.

“You can’t just leave it like that! Give me something. I’ll help, but I just can’t make such a big commitment without guarantees or the nature of the information you’re offering.”

Nil stared at his caseworker for a moment, wondering whether to push for something in return. There was a lot on the line. Nil wanted to help with the investigation since it would help close an important chapter in his life. A part of him believed that he could get used to living a reasonably normal life despite the visage’s presence if he solved the Cursed Energy mystery.

“Fine. I get it if you can’t commit much, but give me your word to look into it, if the information provides results.”

“I promise.”

“The visage behaves the same way it does now whenever I visit my sponsor’s office,” Nil said. “I’ve seen children in the building, and the reason for their presence isn’t particularly believable. Several suits have been filed against them over the past few years, and the police have started a few investigations, but nothing has stuck. Someone powerful and rich assisted in a cover-up.

“There is a strange knight in the ludus who acts weird, keeps silent, and never spars with anyone. I fear this person might be one of their projects. I don’t have any evidence or more than suspicions to go on currently. But—”

“No. I think you are on to something.” Layla pulled up her Schema interface and swiped through invisible prompts. She turned her swivel chair to look at the visage directly. “If it's behaving the way it is now, then it's likely your sponsor is working with Cursed Energy.”

“So you understand my hesitation. I rely on Symbiotech for my ludus membership and subsequent entry to Apocalypse Arena. If they find out I’m divulging information I learned within their building or assisting in an investigation against them, I’ll be in a fair bit of legal trouble.”

“Earth laws only matter on Earth,” Layla said. “We’ve had plenty of people try to file cases because of something that happened in the Nexus or on a quest, but from my knowledge, they never hold up. So you needn’t worry about that.”

“Perhaps. But losing the sponsorship and access to a ludus could still cost me dearly. I need to climb the Iron Gauntlet’s ranks a fair bit before I make enough money to support the costs without taking on three quests a month.”

“I understand.” Layla toyed with her interface for a couple of minutes before continuing. “I’ll look into finding a new affordable ludus for you. If I pull a few strings, there might be some way to get around registration fees. No promises, of course.” She smiled at Nil. “This is good information, and you should continue looking into this. I might have additional resources for this investigation by the time you’re done with the Iron Arena qualifiers. We’ll see each other soon anyway. You should be back soon for an ascension token.”

“I want to continue pumping Spark, too. If I had the rank I do now, the coven’s guardian wouldn’t have almost broken my arm.”

“Excellent. Do whatever you can to continue researching Symbiotech. I know it's risky, but maybe follow the visage and see if you can find something more concrete.”

“Will do.”