The heal mercilessly hit me every thirty seconds or so, making it hard to concentrate.

Victor paged through a stack of identify scrolls before stopping on a yellow one.

When it came to enchantment potencies DO wasn't very creative. There were six different ranks. Green being the weakest, then blue, purple, yellow, orange, and gold being the most potent.

I would have used an orange one to be safe but it wasn't my resources so I didn't care. That and another wave of pain spread through my body.

The heal-over-time spell was wearing down but it wasn't going fast enough for my tastes. It didn't count as a buff so I couldn’t voluntarily dispel it.

Molly drifted next to me and lightly tapped my arm. “Wh—” She cleared her throat. “Why do they think you're dying?”

Victor removed the scroll from his stack and stared.

“I don't know,” I said.

Raccoon balanced on my shoulder and sat down. “They’ve only ever seen one case like yours before and that patient died,” he said.

“Thank you, Raccoon. For looking out for me,” I said then relayed the information to Molly and Victor.

Victor shook his head. “That doesn't mean you have what the other patient had.”

I shrugged. What did I know? Nothing.

“Do you know the name of what you have? We can look it up for you,” Molly suggested.

Raccoon blinked a few times. “They didn't say.”

“Don't know,” I said.

Victor proffered a hand. “The amulet?”

As I pulled it from my inventory Victor whistled.

I laid it in his hand.

He lifted it by its chain. “Looks standard issue.” He glanced at me. “You sure he dropped it and not a guard?”

“It was his,” I responded.

“Okay, I'll start with yellow but will jump straight to gold if that doesn't do it,” Victor said.

The runes danced on the page as Victor invoked the spell. The scroll crumbled to dust. He placed a hand on the amulet and it lit up briefly before fading.

I crossed my arms. “Gold?”

“Yeah,” he said.

He turned to his book, pulled a crystal from his pocket, and cracked it. Tendrils of ghostly blue energy burst from it and then slowly seeped into his skin.

He dropped the broken bits and they shattered on the ground.

Molly hovered next to me.

I couldn't stop thinking about her identity. “Are you… George?”

“Uhm,” she said before glancing at Victor.

He shrugged.

“Yeah…” Molly said.

“Want me to use your in-game gender pronouns?” I asked.

She nodded but otherwise kept quiet.

“Why don't you…” Was it rude to ask her this? “You know, change your name IRL?” I asked.

She shook her head. “It’s not like that.”

“You're not trans then?” I asked.

Her hair bounced as her hands jutted out. “No, I mean, yes, well, kind of. I can't…”

I raised an eyebrow. “Can't what?”

“Even if I wanted to, I can't change anything,” she said.

“Nanobots—”

“Won't work on me and I'm allergic to almost everything,” she said.

My heart sank. “You could—”

“Don't. I don't want to talk about it. Let's just keep roleplaying. I'm Molly, that's it,” she said.

If nanobots weren't keeping her alive, what was? And how was she in the game?

Molly was nice enough and I didn't have anything against trans people. In fact, nanobots were able to change a person's body in any way they wanted so it was weird that it was even an issue.

I wondered what type of body displayed when she was charmed. Did she have an AR avatar integrated as a representation of herself? Was her avatar how she wanted to be seen?

I didn’t know what would happen when I died or fainted. Would I be kicked back into my Avatar from my home server or would I look like Inethiel staring at a copy of myself? When selecting a character, I was a floating orb of light. Maybe that’s how I would look?

Either way, Molly didn’t want to talk about it.

The hut suddenly brightened as Victor began chanting.

There was something I could talk about. “I talked to Fen Li and—”

“I saw,” she said.

I smiled. “Gazing?”

She nodded.

“So you know that they are getting Kevin and me invites to the Had-E-Verse?” I asked.

Her hands twisted behind her back as she bobbed in the air. “Yeah.”

“If I can get you an invite, I will,” I said.

She hugged my arm. “Thank you!”

The debuff finally faded and I felt a sense of relief.

Raccoon tilted his head and passed a hand through Molly’s head.

Her eyes were closed and she didn’t seem to notice.

He then lept toward where she leaned and fell through her. His claws made ripping sounds as they snagged the fabric of my cloak.

Little spikes of pain poked at my skin as he climbed back onto my shoulder.

“Interesting,” he said.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to get an invite for Molly when I didn’t know if I was going to be able to use the code myself.

The light faded and the amulet took on a blue hue.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“What do the symbols on it mean?” I asked.

Victor ran his fingers across the wavy lines and hammer depicted on its front. “It's the symbol of the Tideforged guild.”

“Tide?” I asked. There weren't any oceans near here.

“It's a guild down by the river,” he said.

That made more sense.

“They craft all the jewelry for Lily's alliance.” He tapped it and pinched his fingers together. “This one seems pretty standard. Buffs to Strength, Agility, Physique and— What's this?” he asked himself.

I got up on my tiptoes. “What?”

“It has a unique skill on it,” he said.

Molly drifted away from my arm and toward Victor. Her hand rested on her dagger. “Ooo can I see?”

He would have to show her because I was pretty sure sharing our menus was an implant feature and not a game one.

“Here,” he said as he made a twisting motion.

“Defenders Rally?” she said and ran her finger through the air. “Aww, I can't see what it does.”

Victor released his fingers. “Only the owner can see what it does.”

“I think he used it when we fought,” I said.

The formation they had created was damn near impenetrable. If we hadn't been attacking them from the inside, I doubt we would have been able to penetrate their guard. Unless I pulled off something crazy like climbing over them. Shamblers weren't smart enough to do stuff like that on their own.

Depending on what the skill did it could help quite a bit when I jumped out of my body to command my allies. “Lemmie see.”

Victor handed it to me and it disappeared into my inventory.

The description said:

Amulet of the Defender

Strength + 10

Agility + 10

Physique + 10

Special Ability:

Defenders Rally: Nearby allies' armor quality is fortified by one.

“It raises allies' armor quality by one,” I said.

“That’s a spicy one,” he said.

Molly skipped in place. “How can it raise armor quality?”

“Light armor like cloth acts as if it were leather,” he explained. “It’s probably just a back-end numbers thing.”

“Junk,” I said. Junk that I would be wearing under my clothes.

Molly rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

“Ever seen an Elven sing-sword’s, notched sword?” I asked.

Molly’s attitude changed. “No.”

They were a lot like wider Japanese katanas but with pieces cut out along the top. I laid out the two weapons on Victor's counter and a quiet whistle played as I set them down.

“Never thought I'd see one of these in my shop,” Victor said as he ran a hand along one of the blades.

Ms… Azerail, a whisper echoed in the back of my mind.

Instinctively I pulled out the Zix sword. It dangled below my waist. Zix!

One of the runes on the handle was lit up.

Help… me, he said.

The rune dimmed and the heal debuff reapplied itself to me.

“Damnit,” I muttered as the pain hit me. The sword disappeared into my inventory.

Victor and Molly were too distracted by the notched swords to notice what had happened.

Raccoon tugged on my hair. “Why did you bring it back out if it hurts you?”

“I heard Zix,” I whispered.

Raccoon’s eyebrows rose. “I didn't hear anything. Wait…”

He paused for a moment.

I waited.

“You didn't hear me?” he asked.

I shook my head and whispered, “No.”

The hut glowed purple as Victor began his inspection of the swords.

“That won't do,” Raccoon said.

I poked him. “Don't break anything.”

“What?” Molly asked.

She was staring at me. “Talking to Raccoon.”

“Who is he?” she asked.

Shit. I didn’t know what to tell her.

Raccoon pulled my hair again. “You said you trust her.”

“Do not pull my hair,” I scolded.

His little head dipped. “S-sorry.”

“It hurts,” I said.

Molly floated there waiting.

“He’s a new friend of mine,” I said.

She didn’t move. “You should lower your pain settings if it’s bothering you.”

That was a good idea. I maneuvered through the game’s settings and found it. The option was lit up but the little slider was missing.

I uncovered an arm and ran my fingers along my skin. The sensitivity was the same as it normally was while gaming.

“Raccoon, have you looked at your settings?” I asked.

He pinched his little fingers together. His mouth dropped and he smiled. “I don’t have to use the console to change all of this?”

I smiled as his hand flew around in front of him.

“That makes things easier,” he said.

A group invite notification popped up. It was from him. I tapped it and hovered my hand over the accept button. “This will probably hurt.”

“Wait!” he screeched. “Like by the door?”

I nodded.

“Hmm, wait till I say and then accept,” he said.

Molly squinted. “Are you joining a group with him?”

“Yeah,” I said.

She closed in on Raccoon. “Can you invite me too?”

“Do we have to—”

A pang of pain passed through me. It was little more than a minor stomach ache but it was frustrating. “Yes, invite her.”

The room lit up purple as Victor cast his spell.

Raccoon scurried into my hood. “ Three, two, one, go!”

I pressed the button and it played out as I expected, with me clutching my temples wishing the pain away.

Raccoon was out of sight so I couldn't see if he was in pain or not.

You okay? I asked.

A series of panting breaths hit the back of my neck. I’m fixing that next if I have to break everything in this world.

The game? I asked.

No response.

A notification slid into view saying Molly joined the group.

Hey, she said.

I smiled as another wave of pain hit. Hey.

Hi, Raccoon squeaked.

Victor gestured toward the swords. “Want to have a look?”

They were both emitting a barely noticeable silver glow. If it wasn't dark in the hut I wouldn't have noticed.

“What are the buffs?” I asked.

Victor tapped one. “They each have bonuses to agility and a minor wind enchantment that enhances the airflow around them. It makes it easier to swing and enhances airflow through the slots.”

I wondered how the air passed through the cutouts fast enough to cause sounds. It ruined the mystique in a way.

“This junk should sell well,” I said.

Molly scoffed.

My composure nearly slipped when I made eye contact with her. I wasn't exactly roleplaying at that moment but it was fun seeing Molly react the way she did.

“What else ya’ got?” Victor asked.

We spent the next half hour going through all of the equipment that dropped from Koffer’s crew. The most notable was the plate armor. Each set was decked out with runes enhancing their Strength, Physique, and armor quality. It was no wonder why I couldn’t bend them.

I avoided asking him to identify my Kumo hairpin, just in case it was cursed. It was going directly into the bank. Which happened to be my next destination since I had a ton of gold on my person.

“I promise to come back again to talk about the sword,” I said.

Victor lifted the flap to his hut as I pulled my hood over my head. “Lass, if you ever need a place to talk, I’m ‘ere for ya.”

Raccoon covered his ears. He had been quiet ever since we all joined a group together.

I nodded to Victor while giving him a smile.

Molly swished out of the hut, hands behind her back as she skipped through the air.

To the bank nightmare crew! I said.

“Bye, Victor!” Molly said with a wave.

A sudden bout of nausea passed through me. Victor grabbed my arm, steadying me.

Raccoon fell off my shoulder and hit the ground with a sickening crack. Blood began pooling under him.

Most of my dizziness passed quickly but I found myself struggling to catch my breath.

“What happened?” Molly asked.

I wasn’t feeling well. “I think I need to sit down.”

There were still people waiting in line to get their items examined and they were staring.

“Over ‘ere, lass,” Victor said as he sat me down next to his hut.

Raccoon didn’t even react to Victor’s speech.

“Can you get him?” I asked as I pointed to Raccoon.

A loud ding sounded in my ears causing a searing pain to spread through my brain. A large number popped into my vision.

Notifications? I thought.

Raccoon began twitching in what looked like a seizure.

Victor scooped his little body up and brought him to me.

He stopped trembling after a moment but remained quiet.

“It’ll be okay, Raccoon,” I said.

It had to be.

I couldn’t lose another friend.

***