Koren and Vyrania let out simultaneous groans upon seeing who the man behind the shout was.

‘Man’ might be being generous.

Rilen was standing on the shore behind us, flanked by three others.

He did not look pleased. He had been the one slow-clapping, and by joining in, we had ruined his entrance.

Still, a smile spread across his petulant face when he saw our reactions of dismay at his arrival.

He looked different than when I’d first seen him in the tower. For one, he was wearing body armor that looked a bit like very shiny plastic. He also had an obscenely large sword on his back that even with his almost seven-foot height and being at an angle nearly scraped the ground, and another still large but not quite so ridiculous one at his waist.

As for the other three with him, even though I’d not seen what they really looked like—they had been tree golems the last time I’d encountered them—I could tell who was who simply from their mana. It was Arcturus, Jadriel, and Daranth. Sarixia was missing, which was understandable given how she’d left our last encounter.

Even without inspecting them, I could tell they were all Steel, though discerning their levels from their mana was more difficult.

Arcturus was a large man even compared to Rilen. He looked to be about my age, but was maybe younger given his race. He wore large metal pauldrons, no shirt, and what looked like regular old shorts. I didn’t see any weapon.

Jadriel was a little smaller though still large, maybe six and a half feet tall and closer in musculature to a movie star than a bodybuilder, though whether muscle size indicated strength at all anymore was something I didn’t know. He wore a bandolier over sleeveless plate armor, his arms covered in a mesh material. He appeared to have a distinct lack of pants, but I didn’t look too hard.

Daranth was dressed the most normally out of the four, wearing what looked like a simple suit of light plate armor, a crossbow hanging from one side, an axe from the other.

“You never give up,” I muttered, glaring at Rilen.

“I already told you flattery is not going to save you.”

“I believe that was an insult,” Arcturus said from beside him. He didn’t seem to care one way or the other.

Rilen did. He glared at me. “That’s even worse.”

“What are you going to do, kill me twice over?”

“Who said anything about killing? I had to pay again for another gateway thanks to you. You’ll be earning that back for me, with interest.” He flicked his hand casually in my direction and a collar trailing spectral chains suddenly appeared in front of me and snapped around my neck.

Then exploded.

Bob cried out and dropped his vapestick, but I was too stunned to move.

My heart was pounding, but I seemed uninjured.

“What was that?” Rilen asked angrily.

I shook my head. “I’m just too powerful for you now.”

Koren suddenly appeared by my side, looking ready for a fight.

He was a little late, but it was the thought that counted.

“Burnt bollocks,” Jadriel said, looking at something I couldn’t see. “It’s a Village.”

“So?” Rilen asked.

“It’s a safe zone. Looks like this entire part of the town is covered.”

“Foiled again, Lenny,” Vyrania said, coming up beside Koren.

Rilen’s face reddened, his jaw muscles working. The smaller sword on his hip flew out and rocketed toward me, slamming into my chest and bouncing harmlessly off, though Bob dropped his vapestick again just as he was picking it up.

It still rocked me, emotionally if not physically. I didn’t have the slightest chance to dodge it, or even react at all until it had already bounced off and hit the ground.

I’d been too enamored with myself for reaching Copper, but I still had a long, long way to go. The ease and speed with which Rilen attacked proved that to me. If it hadn’t been for the entire town apparently being a safe zone, I’d be dead.

Or his slave.

“What is going on?” Bob asked, staring down at the sword. He took a hit of his vape and let out a contented sigh.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He seemed far less concerned than he should be.

The sword rocketed back to Rilen’s holster, and he stood there, scowling at us.

I opened my map to see if it showed how far the safe zone extended, forgetting that I wasn’t in a broadcast area.

There was a pop like when I’d taken my first step toward Copper, but instead of my body igniting in pain, my mana did.

Then it was gone as quickly as it had started, and, to my surprise, a map appeared, showing me the entire town as well as some information about it.

Byron Bay

Level 13 Village

According to my map, it wasn’t the entire town that was a safe zone, only the downtown. Everything besides those few blocks were considered outside of the safe zone, as was the ocean and a sliver of beach, which I was uncomfortably close to the edge of.

A few feet farther back and that sword might have gone right through me.

I noticed another item of interest on the map and made a mental note to investigate it later.

“Come on then,” Meredith, still wearing nothing but drenched undergarments, called from near the collapsed Titan. “Safe zone ends on the beach. Why don’t you come out and face us.”

I wondered how she knew about the safe zone. As tower staff, was she given a map as well, or could she somehow sense it?

I looked at the corpse of the Titan we’d just fought, confused. Had that been inside or outside the safe zone?

Rilen looked at Meredith and grimaced, quickly looking away. “You’ll not distract me with your wiles, wench.”

“Appears I already have, boy.”

“I know better than to fight tower staff.”

“Smarter than you look.”

Rilen began to respond, but was interrupted by a portal suddenly opening on the rocky embankment behind him from which a horrific monstrosity came tumbling out.

He shrieked and leapt away. He must have activated his card that allowed him to jump abnormally large distances, because he flew so high into the air that I could no longer track him.

Unless he could alter course, he was going to land far outside of town, and far outside the safety of it.

That was okay by me.

Arcturus sighed heavily, looking at the newcomer. “Oh great,” he said in a dead voice. “The Corporation’s here.”

“Indeed I am!” the frog-squid man shouted, with far too much joy.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

Arcturus turned into what looked like a crow and flew off.

Everyone watched him go.

When he was gone, all eyes returned to the newcomer.

Jadriel and Daranth looked very uncomfortable at having been left behind.

“Ah, prospectors!” the frog-squid shouted happily at the two of them. “Which one of you is Noah?”

Both swiftly pointed in my direction.

“The pretty one,” Jadriel said, then both made their exit as the frog-squid turned my way.

He let out a cheer, clapped his tentacle-hands together, then barreled down the embankment toward me, tripping and rolling in the sand, then popping back up, now covered like a sugar-dipped donut.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” Koren said.

“What? Where are you going?” Vyrania asked.

“I have some little birds to follow.” With that, he stuttered out of view.

“Hello hello!” the frog-squid shouted as he reached me. Sand sprayed from his over-large mouth and hit me in the face.

I grimaced, wiping it away.

Vyrania leaned in and whispered, “You’ll want to wash that off. It’s caustic, and at your rank will eat through your skin.”

“Caustic?” I asked in concern.

I wanted to head down to the water to wash it off, but with Rilen and his cronies in the neighborhood, I wasn’t going to risk leaving the safe zone even briefly.

Unless my face started to melt.

“It’s such a fine pleasure to acquaint you with myself,” the frog-squid said, moving to block my path as I tried to get past him to the water fountain outside a nearby building.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, the skin on my face where the spit-soaked sand had hit beginning to tingle. It didn’t quite burn yet, but I could feel it intensifying.

So much for this being a safe zone. Apparently the rules didn’t apply to him.

Vyrania easily moved past him—he wasn’t even focused on her—running up the embankment at top speed.

“Are you joking! Don’t leave me here.”

“I assure you I will take splendid care of you my lovely girl,” the frog-squid said. “My name is Semermen Lassmen Bondmen Serment, and I represent The Corporation.”

“I’m a guy.”

“Of course my dear, and a very lovely delicate guy you are.”

Bob snorted from beside me. “He is a pretty one, ain’t he?”

I saw Vyrania returning, holding something in her hand.

Before I could react, she hurled it at my face. It was a bottle of water.

“Ow!” I cried out as it bounced off my nose. Though I was only startled, not hurt.

“Wow your reflexes are bad.” She picked it up then poured it over my face, washing the sand away.

“Watch it,” Bob hissed, jumping back as though the water would burn his feet.

“Ah, this is a bath!” Semermen exclaimed. “I’ve heard of these wonderful things. Many of your movies feature them extensively.”

“Who are you?” I asked, wiping my face dry. It still tingled, but at least it wasn’t getting any worse.

“My name is Semermen—”

“Yeah, I got that. What do you want?”

“For you to ask consistent questions.”

“What?”

“I am here in regards to your store. A wonderful, grand store. We are very proud of your gumption.”

Rather obsequious. I was immediately suspicious. “What is it you want from me?”

“Oh, to the contrary my precious one, it is I who is here to help you! Much help shall I render.”

Now I was even more suspicious.

“And how do you propose on doing that?”

“Don’t listen to anything he says,” Meredith said, coming up beside me.

“Ah, I apologize valued employee, but you are not authorized to take part in these discussions, and so I must insist you don’t continue to not cease your interactional intervention.”

Meredith scowled, shook her head, and said to me, “Don’t forget to loot the Titan. We left something for you.”

“A wonderful gift truly indeed!” Semermen shouted in a very strange tone of voice, staring blankly at Meredith, his eyes undulating.

It gave me the creeps.

Meredith huffed again and stormed off down the beach, Harold trailing behind her, toward where the rest of the tower staff were already going right back to playing in the ocean as though they hadn’t just fought a giant, Titan-class coral monster.

Now it was just Vyrania, Bob, and I.

And the alien.

Semermen turned to Vyrania. He stared at her, saying nothing.

“I’ll just meet you at the store,” she said to me, then quickly walked away.

“Hey!” I called.

Bob looked at her, at me, at the frog-squid. “I need a beer.”

With that, he left as well.

Semermen’s wide mouth stretched into his idea of a smile, and he rubbed his ‘hands’ together. “And now,” he said with much gusto, “we can get down to business.”