Andrew

If there's anything to know about what changed with the permanent list of distances to all of the enemy champions, it's that it's become constant mind-games.

There's four types of strategy here that I've seen thus far:

One, stay away from everything.

Two, close in on anything nearby.

Three, stay at a particular distance and wait for an opportunity.

Four, meander and stay hard to predict... or maybe they're just indecisive?

Either way, constantly watching the numbers is a chore, but not one I take lightly.

Ideally, I'd like to have someone else do it, but I'm the only one who can see it out of the entire group.

"Andrew, you look like you're about to go cross-eyed." Polyu mocked.

"I'm sorry I'm invested in the safety of the group Polyu." I retorted.

"Oh lighten up, we didn't know when the enemy champions were coming when the village was still standing, what's the harm in looking away every once in a while?"

"We did know when they were coming because we had twenty-four-hour guard-watch."

"Twenty-four-hour?"

It reoccurred to me that the Fifskae weren't from Earth again. "Excuse me, constant watch. There's twenty-four hours in a day where I'm from."

Polyu looked up in contemplation. "Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that... it's still so odd to me that there's a place with days that long."

"Just wait until you guys see it, it's great."

Polyu shrugged. "It can't be much worse than Fissifa."

"That's the name of your planet right?"

She nodded. "Mhmm, sure is."

"Fissifa? What's it like?" Sydui asked from the other side of me.

We both were taken aback by that... even knowing that she wasn't born on the planet didn't make it any less strange to hear.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Polyu furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't really have a lot of fond memories of Fissifa, but what I can say is that it's big... like you don't really understand how many Fifskae there are there until you see it."

Sydui nodded, only giving a simple "Hm" as her response.

I had to break the contemplative silence before it could begin as a number suddenly started changing. "Everybody! Turn right!"

That killed the mood pretty efficiently.

As much as I hated to admit it, I was starting to go insane over the list, so I turned some of my attention to a simple experiment I thought of recently... about the time I added the tubes onto Hole Puncher.

I took a few lengths of rope and tied one end to The Great Stabbinsky, and the other to a Gem Of Skill Storage.

"Sydui, would you hold this for a moment please?"

"I fail to see the point, but sure."

I called The Great Stabbinsky back to my hand.

Sure enough, the rope was still attached.

Sydui still didn't seem to get it.

"All Nemeses, I'm going to need your attention for a moment! There's been a change in the tactical situation!"

"Do you want me to be there?" The Stalker asked.

It's strange, he's usually so audacious... but he just doesn't talk at all recently.

He had been being so quiet that I simply forgot he was there half the time.

I considered his question. "Yeah, I'll need you there too."

"I see." He replied.

My eye twitched. "Okay listen, I need you to talk more, because when you give me the conversational equivalent of 'k', it makes me want to scream."

"I figured that you didn't like my company, so I shouldn't talk."

I pulled down on my bottom eyelids in annoyance. "It's more frustrating for you to say nothing all the time. At this rate you're just being a freeloader."

"If you're so annoyed with my presence, you could finish what you started and just kill me."

I yelled in frustration.

For a moment, I swear I saw The Stalker grin.

"Um Andrew... not to interrupt, but you called us?" Hund inquired.

I jumped a little bit. "How long were you there for?"

"For basically the whole thing, it sounded like an emergency."

"It is, I just got sidetracked." I regained my composure and turned to the Nemeses. "Let's talk about dynamic [Skill] storage."

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Yuluulth

I have to say, after Seliel and I came back, it was a little awkward sitting back down for the game.

I was just so giddy I could barely think straight.

"Did something good happen Yuluulth?" Lviyr just about accused.

"Oh I'm sure you know exactly what happened Lord Smug." I countered.

Lviyr turned back to his viewer knowingly. "I'm glad you had a good time."

"Oh shove it Lviyr."

"I was trying to congratulate you, but take it however you'd like I suppose."

I chose to drop it.

I focused back on my viewer and saw my champion was injured and a bit annoyed looking.

I looked at his kill logs and saw [Malisen The Pactmaster].

I looked over at Yonstyr to confirm it, even though I knew it was a fact.

Yonstyr's head was still against the desk.

I turned my attention back to my viewer, trying to figure out what kind of thing I could possibly say in apology.

One thing's for sure, if I tell him why I was absent, he'll be furious with me, so let's not do that.

I opened Modelcrop and started writing out a letter... it was much easier to add it as a model instead of trying to write it with Deathworld Game's super imprecise interface.

I decided it would be better to simply tell him it was a lapse in my powers and ask if he'd like anything in exchange.

He told me that what he wanted was to have his injuries healed.

I looked at the number of points I had from our [Worldbinder]'s shakeup.

I barely had enough to offer him a small AOE heal burst.

I had some plans for these points, but my champion's overall wellbeing is more important than those strategies... especially when it's my fault he's like this.

I mean, how am I going to win if he's dead right?