Nara and company were still on the road, traveling toward wherever the quest was taking them. Once they were out of the tall grass, they picked up their pace and made good time on the trade route's wide, hard, packed dirt. At least, that was until the rains hit and turned the road into mud. By the end of the second day of rain, they were dirty, tired, and cranky.

"I thought going on a world quest would be more…exciting," Brenda whined, scraping mud off her boots. They were resting under a shelter they put up to block the rain. None of them had thought to bring a tent large enough for all of them, so they managed to cobble one together from their storage items.

Parish cast clean on the grumbling woman, and a layer of mud fell off her, adding to the mounting pile at her feet. Brenda gave Parish an appreciative nod before plopping into one of the many chairs strewn haphazardly around the campsite.

Nara was sitting next to Parish. Staring at a piece of parchment in her hands with her brow furrowed in concentration. She suddenly exclaimed, "The contract guy!" When everyone stopped talking and turned to her, Nara smiled sheepishly, "Oh, uh, sorry. I just remembered where I knew this guy from," she held up the parchment, "he was the one who signed off on the jobs Sam, and I took at the guild as well as the job that got Arron and Alina killed…the first time.

"Oh yeah, I remember that little weasel now," Brenda said, leaning forward to see the parchment better. She whistled softly, "One hundred and fifty gold for his capture and return. That's going to attract a lot of attention."

"I believe the fact that he is suspected of hiding out here in the Beastlands makes it more difficult to capture him. If I recall, he is nothing more than a low-level clerk, so the high reward is likely because of his location." Chad said contemplatively.

Their group had picked up the parchment from a passing caravan. One of the guards escorting the line of wagons was a guild member. After noting their badges, he told them of the bounty and handed them a copy of the contract. It read:

Thomas Harding

Wanted Alive and Undamaged.

Reward: 150 gold coins

Last Known Location: Joining a trade caravan departing for the Beastlands.

Success Conditions: Thomas Harding's safe, undamaged return to the Helms Peak Adventurers Guild for questioning regarding crimes against fellow guild members.

Failure Conditions: The death or dismemberment of the target. Any lasting psychological damage to the target resulting from his capture.

"I wonder what he did," Nara said absently, looking at the parchment's sketch of the man's face.

“I would suspect it involves how the Church of the Light found you and Sam,” Parish said to Nara, placing a hand on her shoulder. “The only way they could have located you so quickly is if someone in the guild sold information regarding the jobs you were on.”

"It makes sense," Chad said in agreement. "Although we cannot know for sure, I believe the raid event was specifically planned to kill or capture you and Sam. And the church would not have devoted that many resources only if they were certain of your general location."

"Too bad it says no psychological damage," Brenda said, getting some bizarre looks from Parish, Chad, and even her sisters. Looking around nervously, Brenda asked, “What?”

"You have to know that condition is only there because of you, right?" Chad asked.

Brenda blushed and mumbled, “That was over a year ago, and I paid to have her limbs reattached. How was I supposed to know she would be so weak-minded.”

"You cut your target's limbs off and cauterized them!" Chad was incredulous. "She was just an apprentice blacksmith who stole some supplies, not a hardened warrior!"

"How was I supposed to know that!" Brenda defended, adding, "Besides, she was huge! It just seemed easier to transport her body and put the limbs back on after I turned her in!"

Nara was afraid to ask but had to know, “Brenda, did you dismember someone just because it was easier to carry them?”

“Yes, she did!” Chad was obviously a little bothered by the fact.

“Oh, wow, that seems a little…um…extreme,” Nara finally commented, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, she learned her lesson," Parish said, looking at Brenda, who flushed and looked down, "Now the guild makes sure to add the bit about not causing permanent psychological damage to all the relevant contracts.”

“Look, I did learn my lesson, and besides, the apprentice is fine now! She even made some of my daggers recently and did not scream or faint when I showed up to pick them up; see!" Brenda held up a couple of long daggers as if they explained everything.

“I see…” Nara said slowly, “Well, I’m glad you learned from the experience.”

“Yeah, I found out people are weak," Brenda grumbled, and then she brightened up. "But not Sam! If I had a choice between fighting that freaking spine beast from the raid or her, I would choose the spine beast every time! She is like a whirlwind of pain and death! Remember that time she yanked that spike out of her chest like it was nothing more than a mild irritation!?! And did I hear Naris mention the last time any of you saw her, she had been cut in half and was still fighting?” Brenda shook her head in admiration, “What a role model.”

Nara thought Brenda was joking, but when the other quadruplets nodded somberly, she realized they were all serious. "She is also kind and gentle, not just some monster," Nara defended. She wasn't sure why she needed to defend her friend, but Nara knew she didn't want them to think of Sam only as some masochistic psychopath.

“That she can be,” Parish piped up from beside her, “she is definitely gentle in all the best ways.”

Nara couldn’t help but grin at the distant look in the Battle Healer's eyes. She knew what Parish was thinking about.

“Yeah, she loved you up pretty good, I hear,” Hanna piped up with a sly grin, “It made Brenda jealous.”

“Hey! I told you I was more interested in that beautiful Bloodmorph!” Brenda snapped. “Why should I care how Parish gets her rocks off? Besides, it sounds like Sam is not exactly a one-woman gal.”

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

“Yeah, she made that very clear the first time,” Nara said, then winced when everyone looked at her, and then said, “Oh, ahem, I just assumed all of you knew.”

“Well, now I am jealous!” Brenda roared, slapping her leg with a laugh. “Man, I bet she’s a beast in the sack.”

"She is powerful but gentle," Parish said.

“Maybe to you two dainty little things, but I bet she and I would utterly destroy a room…or maybe a building…”

“Can we change the subject, please?” Chad asked, getting a chuckle from Naris.

“We can discuss formation tactics so we are prepared for when we arrive at the quest destination,” Parish suggested. Everyone groaned, but they all knew she was right. There was no way of knowing what they would face in the coming days and cycles.

Just then, they all felt a light vibration in the ground beneath them. It wasn’t enough to make them feel in danger, but it did make them all look around for the source of the distraction.

Nina pointed to the horizon where a cloud of violet and black was forming in the sky, “Is that color normal for the Beastlands?”

After a few moments, Nara saw what Nina was pointing at and whispered, “Sam, what have you done?”

***

Sebastian, or 'Snaky' as Sam had referred to him, was speaking to his life mate about how they should prepare his most recent kill for their dinner when they both stopped talking to extend their long, forked tongues out of their mouths. Using their tongues, they both felt the vibrations. It was slight but unnatural.

"What has happened, my love?" Cliss, Sebastian's life mate, asked with a hint of worry.

“I do not know, I will—" He cut off his response when a familiar color began painting the distant horizon. "HER!" he hissed, and, telling his Cliss of his intentions, he slithered off to inform the chieftain of his suspicions.

***

Sam groaned. They were thrown through the air from the shockwave who knows how far and then bounced across the grassy landscape even farther. Her Rebuild skill was out of mana, so she felt everything as she lay half-pinned under an enormous Bloodmorph. Sam extricated herself from Lupie's blood saddle and checked on her companions in their party menu. Seeing they were okay, she sighed and checked on S-2 with her data link, finding the droid functional but severely damaged.

“Mistress, what have you done?” Lupie’s question surprised Sam.

Everything was dark from where she was, so Sam crawled atop Lupie’s enormous body to look around. She gasped when she saw what Lupie was talking about.

In the distance, a rapidly expanding mushroom cloud of violet and black grew. Arcs of lightning cracked across the sky and through the roiling mass of dust and debris, threatening to blot out the sun. The ground around them was still shaking from the low rumble originating from the blast site.

“I…I…don’t know,” Sam stammered but then composed herself, “Wait, there is no way I did all that. Even if I detonated every crystal I have ever made, all at the same time, it wouldn’t have a fraction of that power!” Sam dove into her messages to see if she could find an answer.

Congratulations! Your spell Override has leveled up to level 2. Mana cost is slightly reduced.

Your party has defeated Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid [Level 71]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above your own.

Congratulations! Your skill Tech Link has leveled up to level 3. Mana cost is slightly reduced.

Your party has defeated Multifunction Hyperlite Attack Droid [Level 68]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 10 or more levels above your own.

Congratulations! Your spell Void Bolt has leveled up to level 9. Mana cost is slightly reduced.

Your party has defeated Hyperlite Attack Drone [Level 51]. Less experience is awarded for defeating an enemy below your own level.

Sam skipped through the messages until she found what she was looking for.

‘Bing’ You have gained the title Mad Scientist.

By using items you created outside the item's intended purpose, you caused a chain reaction, resulting in an explosion that vaporized over fifty of your enemies. For this achievement, you are granted the title Mad Scientist. Plus 10% power to all items you create. 1% chance for items you create to double in power upon completion. 0.01% chance for items you create to be granted the ‘Mystic’ classification. 0.001% chance for items you create to be ‘Immortal.’

"So, the explosion resulted from some kind of…atomic or nuclear reaction or whatever the magical equivalent is to my mana bomb?" Sam wasn't sure, but that sounded like what was in the message. She groaned again, "I have a feeling I just attracted every lifeform in the Beastlands straight to me. On a positive note, if Nara is worried about me, she won't be any longer when she sees this…at least I hope she sees this.” Then Sam's thoughts caught up to her, and her face scrunched up in annoyance a moment later, "Oh, and screw you System! Mad Scientist!?! Really!?! Give me a break!"

Sam looked through the long list of kill and auto-loot notifications. She was surprised when not one but two mechs showed up on the list. When they were fighting the mechs, she hadn’t thought of them as enemies but as armor; to Sam, it was no different than destroying Chad's armor. She read the description in the notification to see if it explained anything.

Your party has vaporized Hyperlite Mobil Armor [Level 100]. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 40 or more levels above your own.

The enemy was automatically looted.

Loot Received:

2486-System Credits; Large Hyperlite Mana Core [Level 100]; Hyperlite Control CPU x 6; Hyperlite Optical Sensors x 8; Hyperlite Wiring Harness x 25; Hyperlite Microswitches x 127; 87 Liters Nano Fluid; 465kg Nanoflex Synthetic Muscle Fiber; Seeker missile pod x 1; Seeker missiles x 28; Heavy Laser x 4; Explosive Projectile Launcher x 1; Mag Grenades x 57.

"Well, that wasn't helpful," Sam mumbled, "And why am I suddenly getting system credits? Weren't those turned into personal experience when I killed the creatures the church brought to this planet? Maybe it's because this world is getting close to supporting a System shop network. That would be so cool! Maybe I could buy what I need to get off this planet!”

Sam tried not to get too excited about the prospect of going to an intergalactic shopping mall and, well, shopping. She reminded herself that even if she did find a System shop somewhere, it wasn’t like she had that many credits to spend.

Sam checked her inventory for her credits since she had no idea if they were digital currency or if there was a physical component. When she couldn't find anything in her inventory, she checked her interface, and sure enough, her credit amount was displayed in the top right of her status screen. It read 12,662 SC. Out of curiosity, she pulled her data link out of its slot on her belt and checked if there was a payment app or something like that on it. She didn't find a payment app. However, she did discover her total value in all currencies and a list detailing her entire purchase history since arriving on this planet.

“That is pretty neat,” Sam said, looking through all her purchases.

“Mistress, do you think we are safe here?” Lupie asked.

Sam realized she was staring at her data link while a literal mushroom cloud was expanding a few kilometers away—a mushroom cloud she was responsible for creating. "Wow, I'm acting like a millennial," she thought, annoyed with herself slightly, before saying, “Yeah, Lupie, I think we are safe here. I’m not detecting anything like radiation poisoning in my messages, so I don’t think there is any real danger right now," she thought about that and shrugged. "Unless the blast attracts some powerful monsters, that is."

Lupie grunted and said, "I would not expect many creatures would be foolish enough to investigate this for at least a few days. Adventurers perhaps, but with the power of what you just did, I doubt many would be inclined to risk such danger."

“How far do you expect this can be seen from?” Sam asked, more to herself than her companions.

“It would not surprise me if Helms Peak saw this cloud, Mistress,” Lupie said cocking her head to one side as she stared at the cloud of dust and smoke.

Sam sighed. She was unsure about that, but Lupie was right to assume this could be seen for many kilometers. Looking down at herself, Sam sighed a second time. Her body was a mess; she hadn’t even noticed Lupie had a tentacle attached to her and was healing her as they watched the atomic light show.

After some thought, Sam said, “Lupie, I need to go back into my soul to change back to my Pathfinder class. I’ll wait until you and Nul are fully healed and have assigned your free points. Congratulations on the levels, by the way."

When she saw how many levels Lupie and Nul received from the blast, Sam kicked herself for not switching back while they escaped. She knew there was no guarantee she would have been able to, but she could have at least tried. Sam figured she missed out on at least four to seven levels. What bothered her the most was that her race hadn't leveled either; she assumed her class was the only one that would be affected, but her race had changed along with her class, so it made sense when she thought about it.

Lupie agreed with Sam, and the three of them entered meditation to heal faster, not even bothering to set up a shelter. After a few hours, Sam dove into her soul. It was time to become an Arcane Pathfinder again.