Standard Binary Bulls**t
Chapter 80
"So, in summary, your sleep spell won't wear off until you break it," I said flatly. Aaron's explanation had been technical and took nearly ten minutes to complete. I had only managed to stay focused through it out of pure embarrassed horror. I'd already sent Dawn over to the farm with a couple of potions to sort the girls out. No sense in them dying of thirst while I decided what to do.
"Yes, Mistress," Aaron said quietly. He was still visibly cowed by my earlier explosion when I demanded answers. He stood awkwardly, looking at me where I rested on the couch. Henry was nearby but sat slightly apart from me.
"Okay, in the future, if I ask you to do something, assume I'm an idiot when it comes to magic. Explain things like duration and stopping conditions because frankly, I'm an idiot when it comes to magic," I said flatly. This little fuck up was my fault, or at least mostly my fault. I hadn't explained the point of robbing the girls at the farm or my lack of desire to hurt them.
I'd taken it for granted that Aaron would understand. Wrong move on my part. He didn't have much to do with me, day to day, and this was a novel situation anyway. Honestly, I was probably lucky he hadn't put them under a spell that couldn't be lifted without fairytale bullshit getting involved.
"Understood," Aaron said simply.
"Also, you're not in trouble. I was upset, but it's nothing that you need to worry about. You can get back to your project. I'll let you know when I need them to wake up," I said finally. Aaron nodded more politely than usual, then took off without even a second thought.
"Can I kill them?" Chris asked. He'd come in, apparently drawn by the scent of chaos, since no one had told him what was going on.
"They're probably more useful to me alive, so no," I said bluntly.
"Okay, but the two in the safe zone. When they come out, they're free game, right?" Chris asked. I got a 'trying to act cute' vibe off him and felt a little disturbed even as I laughed.
The girls were trapped in the safe zone that wouldn't take them back to the surface. They could only attempt to descend further down, which was a death sentence without a mage loaded with max fire resistance spells or specialized gear. They had neither.
They were between the devil and the deep blue sea. I could edit the dungeon to let them cross back through the skeletons’ area, maybe see how they fought without the necklace's interference. Or I could force them to descend and die of heat exposure or in the jaws of hounds.
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"Chris, honestly, I'm going to give them a way out. They were being mind-controlled. They didn't come here because they wanted to," I said firmly.
"Also more useful alive, then?" Chris asked irritably.
"Hopefully. I'll reconsider if I can't come up with a compromise, but I'm going to try," I added. It was possible the girls wouldn't work with me. However, I didn't feel like they were enough of a threat for that to be a problem. Or at least it wouldn't have been usually. I'd have weeks, if not months, before they could send any retribution my way if I let them go.
Unfortunately, I was more vulnerable than before. So long as my ability to buy things for my dungeon was frozen, my defenses were effectively stagnated. I'd only be able to offer so much compassion under the circumstances, no matter my preference.
On the bright side, I still had relative control over the situation. Mira and Hetcha at the farm wouldn't be aware of the time-lapse. I could manipulate that to my advantage.
Mina and Andrea would know, but they were pretty much trapped. I didn't feel great about holding the four girls prisoner. But, I'd still work with what I had.
Chris left in a huff, and I didn't try to call him back. His mood was off, and I wasn't in a condition to sort through his issues. Not on top of my own at the moment.
We could chat when I was feeling better, or at least I adjusted to how I felt. A state I hoped wouldn't be my new normal. Suboptimal was better than a worst-case scenario, but that didn't mean I'd want to deal with it long term.
Alone with Henry, I found myself struggling to run through all of my mana before refresh for the first time. I'd underestimated how long certain items would take to deconstruct. That left me without enough time to put more expensive items in. I was forcing a slew of trash through so I wouldn't waste any mana.
It was possible that nothing would happen at refresh, that it would stay zero. Despite that, I didn't try to reserve any. If it froze, it wouldn't matter if I held on to some dregs or even the full amount. I couldn't use it for anything.
"Bleaker thoughts never formed," I thought miserably to myself. I was past the point of active fear, of worrying and trying to come up with plans. I was at a stage that could only be called resignation. I didn't have enough knowledge or time to do a single fucking thing, so the chips were going to land where they landed.
"You're scared," Henry said softly. I looked over at him, only turning my head where it rested on the back of the couch. My interface was in share mode, and we could both see the system clock counting down to refresh. I nodded, and he took my hand.
Finally, the system clock hit zero, and I felt a rush of vertigo. It wasn't like upgrade sickness, at least not entirely. That came with visions and horror this experience lacked. It just made me feel sick to the stomach I didn't have.
[System Alert]
[You are being reassigned to a new server. Would you like to have your alignment reassessed? Selecting no will result in restoration of the default setting of Chaotic Evil.]
[Reassess: Y/N]
I looked at the message and was relieved to find it in the correct font this time. Looking over at Henry, I found him frozen but didn't feel any fear at the discovery. Either the system's suppression function had kicked back in, or I was just numb to terror at this point.
To assess or not to assess. I supposed that if nothing else, at least whatever I ended up with would be influenced by me instead of just a random assignment. Hopefully, that would count for something.
Despite not knowing what precisely this assessment would entail, I chose yes.