“Okay, okay, I got it,” I said. I took a deep breath. “To my friends - new and old. Thank you for believing in me, for believing in DGW, and for putting your lives on hold to deal with my bullshit.” There were soft chuckles as I continued. “I’ve never had a lot of friends-” I looked at Jeremy, then Kink and T. “-and was never really comfortable in my own skin. Yet, somehow, dying and being reincarnated in a virtual female avatar has fixed both of those things.” There was more laughter, and I felt myself relaxing. “To Denise and Ryan,” I said, turning to them. “You two were there for me almost at the beginning of this crazy adventure, and your advice and friendship has been wind in my sails since day one.” Ryan raised his Champagne in reply, and Denise nodded. I turned to Harold. “Harold, your attention to detail and organizational mind is an inspiration and I think I speak for all of us when I say that you have become the backbone of this Guild.” Grunts of agreement went up around the room.

“And he saved your ass with Ysillith,” Kink added, prompting renewed laughter.

“And you saved my ass with Ysillith,” I agreed. Harold nodded acknowledgment, a smile on his face.

“To Ray’s Angels,” I continued. The six of them let out a raucous cheer, clinking their Champagne together. “All of you have saved my ass at one point or another over the past couple weeks. Having your steady hands and spells next to me on the battlefield has been an honor.” More cheers rose up, then quickly dwindled as I turned to Jeremy, Kink, and T. I felt my throat constrict as I looked at them. “To Jeremy, Kink, and T-” My voice faltered and I tried to clear my throat.

“Goddammit, Ray! If you cry, I’m gonna cry!” Jeremy said. More laughter filled the room as I tried to compose myself.

“I believe it was you that said real men cry,” Kink said to Jeremy, a smirk on his face. Jeremy could only nod so his voice didn’t betray him.

“Ahem, I’m not going to cry,” I said firmly, trying to convince myself as much as the others. “When I first realized I couldn’t logout, it was Jeremy I called. The sound of some porno was playing in the background when he answered-” The men laughed, the woman scowled and groaned. “-But that’s Jeremy - unapologetically himself.” Jeremy raised his Champagne in response. “He’s brash, he’s loud, he gets under people’s skin almost instantly-”

“Hey!” he cried, his smug look disintegrating.

I held up my finger and continued. “And, he’s the best friend anyone could ask for.” His expression changed, a beaming smile on his face now. “He dropped everything to come and support me in the scariest moment of my life. He charged Ysillith without a moment’s hesitation - and I know, this is just a video game, but there isn’t a single doubt in my mind that if we were out in the real world, he would have done the exact same thing.” He nodded, a tear beginning to crest his eyes. I turned to Kink and T. “And he introduced me to Kink and T, who have become my best friends as well.” Kink smiled and T nodded. “Even though they tell me I’ve recently died,” I said to the entire group. “I’ve never felt more alive, more loved. So…thank you - to all of you…” I trailed off awkwardly, not sure what else to say. “I-I guess that’s it-”

Shouts and applause erupted across the basement, shocking me silent.

“Brav-fucking-o!” Bart shouted.

“What a fucking speech!” Tear agreed.

Denise turned to Jeremy. “I thought he wasn’t a good public speaker?”

Jeremy shrugged, wiping at his eyes. “I’ve never seen the guy put more than five words together in a crowded room. I haven’t cried this hard since they canceled Sailor Moon.”

The blood rushed to my face and I looked away in embarrassment. Then I remembered the Champagne in my hand and I had something to do to distract from my obviously flushed face. “Let’s pop these bottles!” I shouted.

More cheers went up as we all opened our bottles. A quick mental trigger and a dozen corks shot out with an explosive pop. The developers knew what they were doing with this item.

Bubbly spilled over the lips of our bottles as we brought them to the center, clinking them together before gulping it down. The taste was spot on, the effervescent liquid splashing down equal parts throat and clothes. In a few scant minutes, we were all soaked, though the floor of the basement magically soaked up our spilled libations. That was convenient.

When we had drunk our fill - spilling more than we drank by far - the moment came to finally select my Skills. We gathered around once again in anticipation and this time, I didn’t leave any room for objection.

My finger hovered over the confirmation button for only a half second, then I pressed it.

The skill bar in my interface immediately populated with all my new skills.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“It’s done!” I shouted, not believing it even as the evidence stared me right in the face.

More cheers rose up, and we all high fived each other in celebration.

When we settled down a bit, Denise spoke up, a twinkle in her eye. “You know what comes next right?”

We all shared a confused look, her excitement rising when we didn’t immediately understand what she was implying.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Denise looked pointedly at each of the Angels. “Time for a pressure test…”

As one, the six Angels started chatting excitedly. I felt my stomach flip once I understood the implications of what she was saying.

The Angels and I were going to fight…

—

The six Angels faced off with me across the Training Room. Kink, T, and Jeremy were with the actors outside of the combat zone, observing. The Training Room itself was as large as the entire first floor above, the size of 4 or 5 rooms. The actual arena had a 15-meter radius, but no obstacles or breaks in line of sight. Just a large circle made of tightly packed sand. The arena could be activated to allow non-lethal combat for as many participants as you could fit inside the area. When a player’s HP hit 0, they were teleported outside the arena, fully healed.

I eyed the six players arrayed across from me. Bart was the sole healer, so he was my first target. Tear was a rogue and would be hard to pin down. Bell as a mentalist wasn’t my priority. Her debuffs were quite debilitating, but my [Peace of Mind] ability would strip them off just as fast as she could cast them.

The other three Angels were Lox, Yuri, and Laurel. Lox was a Berserker and could dish out damage fast. Yuri was a Longshot and would be nearly useless in the tight arena. And Laurel was an Elementalist and was my second target after Bart.

Bart cast buffs and healing over time spells on everyone as we readied to begin. Denise as our Trainer was manning the arena controls.

“Everyone ready?” she asked.

“No,” I instantly replied to soft chuckles. “Go easy on me, guys.”

Tear scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’ve been itching to see what you can do at full power.”

“Yeah,” Bart added. “Going easy on you would be a disservice.”

I shook my head. “I was only kidding.” Sort of, I didn’t add.

“Here we go, then,” Denise said.

A notification appeared in my vision:

Combat begins in:

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Begin!

Immediately, I activated my trio of core skills - my deflect, my bleed on deflect, and my regen on deflect. I had debated on activating the trio instantly or waiting for them to make the first move. But my instincts said to go hard and fast.

With the trio of skills activated, I dashed forward. There was no tank among the six of them, but Lox had the most health and positioned himself between Bart and me. My glaive crashed against Lox’s two swords, our strength well-matched. The others fanned out behind me, but no one attacked.

They were waiting for my deflection to wear off. I realized Lox was trying to stall me, so I pushed him back and disengaged, turning to lunge at my next priority target - Laurel.

Her eyes went wide as I suddenly changed direction, sprinting towards her. I felt a slash of pain on my back - a distracting blow from Lox. The attack was deflected, and a status notification appeared over Lox’s head, indicating he was now bleeding. If he moved to impede me, he’d take the bleed damage.

I knew that Laurel had a single charge of [Blink], as well as [Freezing Wave], my very first skill. So as I neared her, I preemptively cast [Peace of Mind]. Right on cue, she cast [Freezing Wave], the icy cold lashing against my ankles. The rooted debuff appeared in my interface, then cleared almost instantly. I had anticipated Laurel would [Blink] after casting the skill, but she had miscalculated. She looked on in surprise as my glaive stabbed through her gut and out her back. She was instantly teleported away - a one shot kill.

And I still had 10 seconds left on my skill trio.

Bell hit me with a [Horrify], and my limbs went weak - but only for a split second. Then the effect was cleared, and I was after her next. Lox’s bleed effect was still active, but he decided to intercept anyway, his health ticking down with every step. I saw him moving out of the corner of my eye, but kept my focus on Bell, pretending I didn’t see him.

When he was nearly within striking distance, I cast my own [Freezing Wave], rooting him in place. To my left, I noticed Tear suddenly appear, knocked out of her stealth by the ability. She immediately activated a skill, clearing the effect and vanishing from sight, but I wasn’t worried - my deflect was still up.

With Lox still rooted, I was able to run around him, avoiding his desperate blow as I raced towards Bart. Bart was mid-cast when he saw me, and chose to finish the spell rather than flee. Lox’s rooted debuff cleared - presumably from Bart’s spell - but it was too late. My glaive sliced into Bart’s clavicle, taking him down to less than half health. I pried it free and chopped at his thigh before he could even respond. But he wasn’t dead yet. I went for a third strike when he activated his [Repel] skill, launching me back across the arena. His health was deep in the red, and he rushed to heal himself.

I was too far away now to close the distance before he could heal, but his skill had inadvertently knocked me closer to Yuri, who hadn’t made a single move yet - all his attacks would trigger my deflect.

And now he was within striking range.

From my back, I swung out with my glaive, the blade striking him above the knee and shearing straight through. The Hobbled debuff appeared over his head, and he fell to the ground, unbalanced. I jumped to my feet, rushing to finish him off. Tear used my distraction to attack.

As a Cutthroat, she had the best sneak attack skills in the game. And they were all useless against my deflect. A barrage of strikes came at my back, each deflected in turn. The Bleed debuff stacked on her, while my regen went crazy, keeping me at full health even as one of Tear’s attacks managed to bypass the deflect. She had no way to clear the bleed, and so was stuck in place. I struck back, using my superior strength to bypass her attempt to block. My strike pushed through her guard, cleaving her neck in an insta-kill.

Two down, four to go…