As I ran after Tam, her little paws pattering across stone floors, I reflected on what precisely I could do to help the party and what might be our best bet in defeating our large opponent. I still hadn’t spent the rewards for us “elimating” the party Test Name.
Before falling asleep waiting on Wren, I’d spent some time combing through the system looking at what I could spend the credits on. Following the same pathway through my stats, I’d selected the Upgrade menu and this time nothing was greyed out and locked. In fact, it very excitedly flashed the number of in-system currency I had available in the corner of my screen.
121 credits.
Still I wasn’t sure why we’d been awarded them this time and in such an unusual sum. Did we need to kill people to get credits? If that were the case, spending what we had would have to be carefully considered before purchase because I’d strongly prefer to not become a mass murderer. I didn’t know about the others, but I could firmly say at least Wren would also like to avoid that fate.
Leaning up against the back of the shrine, the coolness of the stone seeping into my body, I perused what I could actually use the credits for.
Much like in RPGs, it looked like I could put some points directly into my attributes themselves. That, at least, made sense. If I was right about how each of these worked, then this was when I needed to start thinking about how I was going to be building my char– myself up to survive. My class was [All-rounder]. I’d initially thought it to be quite a weak start, and branching equally into all areas to be a poor idea, but in the past few situations, nothing except my concern about how limited I was by my low stats had hurt my chances. Should I strive to level up as balanced as I could and not specialise in anything? In any other situation, the thought was be idiotic…
I let my focus wander over the attributes, wondering if I could garner any more factual information on how each one affected us overall. If Gigi’s [Shield Wall]s were stronger than my own despite it taking the same amount of required stamina, and Axel healed faster and more efficiently than me even though we’d received similarly life-threatening wounds, then the attributes had to impact us on a deeper level. I lingered on the first attribute, CON, trying to work things out and it highlighted itself. A notification box popped up.
Upgrade CON for 5 credits? Accept | Reject
I rejected it, unsure about what that’d actually get me.
And, jesus, 5 credits? That didn’t seem like a fair exchange. Still, that meant 24 attribute value points I could increase, which would massively help me survive. I rechecked our party screen to see everyone’s levels, wondering how we were averaging after that XP explosion.
Just Friends Party | LVL 23
* Lee | LVL 3 | All-Rounder (Party Leader)
* Axel | LVL 3 | Combatant
* J̵̡̢̠͙͉̠͐̄̎̇͛͠4̵̱̳͎̦̳̖͂̀̐͛̑͗1̷͍̮͓͍̹̹̃̓̊̊͐͝ | LVL 1 | |̵̮̲̪͒̽͝|̷̡̩͚̏̊͑\̶̹̙̖̈́̀̊\̵͈̺͋̒͗͜\̶̡̡̘̌̇̍|̵̤̜̟̽̏̂|̶̛̝̝̻͗̕4̷͍̗̭͛͘̕4̶̺̰̟͗͐͒|̵̺̘̀̒͗͜|̷͔̣̠͆̑̌2̵̹͇̜̇͒̔/̶̧͓͎͑́́|̴̢͍̭̊́͒\̴̙̮̜͋͊̂(̷̧͍̺̂̍͝\̸̨̬̥̀̊̄5̵̟͓̮͐̀͛|̵̛̬͇̼͊̀
* Wren | LVL 3 | Synergist
* Tam | LVL 3 | Cutthroat
* Gigi | LVL 10 | Vanguard
Oh, god, Jye still hadn’t levelled up. That meant they were stuck on that level. I wondered about what kind of repercussions that’d have. As far as I could tell, levels were empty numbers and credits were what really progressed our stats. The attribute points were paywalled and that could only be bought out with the system-specific currency.
Well, maybe we could get more credits by selling stuff to Xanthe? That had been the whole point of my exclusive contract with them in the first place. Flicking through my inventory, I selected several non-essential items and thought about selling them. A new screen appeared. Wasn’t that always the case?
It was the same colour as the window that’d appeared in Twilight.
Transfer items to exclusive vendor for sale? Accept | Reject
After accepting, I wondered how long it would take for the products to sell. Well, Xanthe was a particularly persuasive merchant. They’d managed to get me on their side. Tam would have you think that wasn’t a particularly difficult thing to do, though. We’d just have to wait and see.
While I was in the window, I realised there was a little search bar in the bottom corner. Maybe this was where I could browse items currently on the marketplace? Selecting the button in my mind, the window extended out to display an array of items from what looked like olden day hair pins to devices that could’ve been some sort of futuristic weapon. Most of them were boasting costs in the millions as starting bids.
I filtered from lowest to highest and saw that even the cheapest auction items were well above what my wallet could afford. The very lowest price belonged to an [Ancient Message] that was penned by [REDACTED] and was 200 credits. It had zero bids. Who had that kind of money to throw away on a random letter?
As I continued to browse the auction house, I came to realise that the entire catalogue was rife with products that I couldn’t imagine anyone having any use for. This included things like [Legendary Fork of [REDACTED]], which appeared to simply be a bronze kitchen utensil, and [Vase of Invisibility], which was a picture of nothing. Both of them had several bids and were valued in the thousands. I couldn’t fathom who was trying to buy these things. Or where they’d come from.
Scrolling, I eventually came to a familiar item. [KMART 20cm Triple Rivet Chef’s Knife] for 3,419 credits. There were dozens of bids and it looked like there was still five days left before final sale. What the fuck? It was just… just a knife. We’d murdered three people and only been given 121 credits. Were their lives worth less than 4% of a shitty knife that was produced en masse? It didn’t make any sense. The only stuff that cost this much and really had no practicality was art.
Wait.
If this was all some sort of fucked up show, were items from our world something like collectibles? And if that were true, where had all these other things come from? A lot of them were simply unrecognisable to me.
Xanthe had said I was early to Twilight. And there’d been hundreds of people there when I’d visited the marketplace. I’d never thought about who those people could all be or where they came from. But Xanthe was a real person, I was sure. Not human, but real. Ergo, every other merchant and customer was also real.
There was a thriving and long established economy behind this fucked up situation.
That could only mean one thing. This had to have happened to other people before. Had to have been repeatedly happening.
I reflected on Xanthe’s words, hoping to glean even a nugget of context.
“My [REDACTED] that didn’t so I’ve a soft spot for you people, but many of the others did.”
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Were they referring to their own people? Xanthe’s species didn’t manage to do something, but some of the other races of merchants had? What was it? If it was connected to the same thing we were currently going through… Maybe their people hadn’t ended up winning whatever game we were being forced to play?
God, this was a lot to parse. The more I thought about it, the more I realised I needed to share it with the party. I needed someone to bounce ideas off on this, to make sure I wasn’t going crazy or making up meaning where there wasn’t any.
But it wasn’t a good time. Everyone seemed to be taking a moment to themselves. After we cleared the Dungeon, I told myself I’d voice all this to them. As I made up my mind, I closed the auction window. You couldn't make bids from it, anyway. Just view the current stock on sale. Any other player would have to make the dangerous trip to the time dilating realm of Twilight. But Xanthe said I only had to put in a request with them.
Returning my attention to the attributes I could upgrade, below them was my singular ability.
When I focused on it, it expanded to describe its use and further information.
[Channel | Unique Ability]
Use a consenting party member’s skills. Failure to use ability once activated will result in repercussions. Stamina and mana cost are equal to original party member’s.
Huh. That explained the time in the gym I hadn’t used Jye’s Load because I never got their consent. It’d sapped me of mana. I didn’t like how vague “repercussions” sounded, though. It seemed like it could mean very well anything. And who decided what counted as a “repercussion”? Trying to push past how ominous the description was, I focused on the words “Unique Ability.”
Did it mean I was the only person with this power?
I guess that made me feel a little bit better about starting off with such shit stats. But it was odd that this ability was in the Upgrade section of the menu and I couldn’t interact with it. Was I lacking something else that I needed to level it up? How would you even upgrade such an ability?
I wanted to ask the others, but everyone looked like they wanted to be left alone. After everything we'd just done and been through, I wasn’t about to interrupt their personal time. Still… Casting a hopeful glance to the last person I could rely on, it seemed even Axel was mired in his own thoughts.
I sighed and began weighing up the pros and cons of each attribute.
As I ran through the three-lettered items again and again, the world faded away.
Tam stopped abruptly, and I nearly tripped over her. Regaining my own balance, I noticed that her little bobtail was standing on end, her hackles up. She let out an angry growl, her haunches lowered to the ground, as though ready to pounce.
“What is it?” I whispered, trying to steady my breathing.
Being a cat, obviously she didn’t answer me.
“Oh, thank fuck. It’s you two!” came Jye’s voice from around the corner.
With a relieved smile, the redhead entered our view, walking at a fast pace toward us. I frowned, gaze flicking down to the still very aggressive feline at my feet. Whilst she’d never shown great affection for Jye, I didn’t think the giant generally elicited such intense hostility. Something was wrong. But what?
Not wanting to take my chances, I held out a hand. “Can you stop there for a moment?”
Jye’s head cocked to the side, confusion etched over their strong brows, but they continued to approach us.
“What’s wrong?”
“I said stop.”
“Why?” they replied, still closing the distance.
Tam hissed, and swatted at my shoe, claws bared. Do something, she seemed to say.
As far as I could tell, the Jye rushing towards us was the same one I’d seen less than half an hour ago. But they weren’t listening to me. And despite everything the redhead said, they seemed to follow my orders. Even when they were questionable. The situation with Wren hadn’t changed that.
I tried once more. “Don’t come any closer.”
They didn’t stop.
Fuck.
I borrowed one of Axel’s abilities, the vile tar flowing through me, and then summoning as much fear as I could, I shouted, “STOP OR ELSE.”
Their eyes widened and they flinched, coming to a stall a few steps away.
From how close Jye had come, I could see exactly what Tam had been warning me of. Everything about them was slightly off in colour. The inside of the maze wasn’t lit, not in any classical sense, but a kind of a fog of war existed. You could only see so far ahead and behind. Something within close proximity was evenly lit, as though you were casting a light yourself, but the further away something was, the darker it appeared.
As close as Jye was, they should’ve been lit up, saturated like Tam.
Instead, there was a murkiness to their colour, a contrast and hue that hadn’t corrected upon their approach. It was uncannily wrong.
This wasn’t Jye.
It was some sort of mimicry of our party member.
Just as I was about to start interrogating them, the fake-Jye turned tail and skittered back in the direction they’d come. I made a motion to pursue them, but Tam shot off the opposite way. Shit, she was still after someone from our party. And I couldn’t lose her and the chance to find someone else.
Swearing under my breath, I changed course and followed Tam.
We’d deal with whoever false-Jye was later. They’d reacted to [Intimidation]. It meant that they had to be another player. Using that ability out of everything had been a risky call to make, but I was trusting the story of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur and the past events that we’d gone through.
This Dungeon had no other difficulties except those tied directly to mazes and traps. We were only meant to work our way through the challenges or around them. Everything else we came up against was not part of the Dungeon. So false-Jye had to be a player or it was Jye under some sort of mind control. Both of which would be affected by [Intimidation].
Lungs beginning to burn, I yelled out, “Everyone, we’re not alone!”
A bellow echoed in from incredibly far away; the monster.
The snarky voice that came after said: “No shit, Sherlock.”
I was too out of breath to sigh, and managed to get out, “Doppelganger about. They're the wrong colour!”
This earned me silence in reply.
Yeah, I’d like to see Axel come up with some sort of sassy response to that.
“That’s racist, Lee!”
I repressed my groan, still sprinting after Tam as she darted around corners.
“What’s a doppelganger?” the giant called out.
Was that actually Jye?
Wren, from wherever she was, said, “It’s like a copy of you.”
She sounded close. I should’ve known Tam would hunt her down first. The cutthroat didn’t like to show it, but she cared about the young girl. I was actually glad that Tam had picked her. I was worried.
The way she’d described her surroundings as “dark” had made me extra concerned. She should’ve been seeing walls, just like us. It meant something was different with her or where she was.
Well, if the person speaking had been Wren this time. If the player hadn’t shifted into her.
I had to admit it was a good thing the mimic ability had such an obvious flaw. Based on the colour issue, it seemed the copied appearance relied on what the user could see. False-Jye must’ve spied the real Jye from down a hallway or something, leading to the incorrect hues and saturation.
The disguise obviously wouldn’t have tricked Jye, since they would know it wasn't themselves, so I’d hoped the mimic left them alone to try it on us instead and hadn't harmed them. The appearance wouldn’t punk any of us now, since I’d warned everyone. And even if it found anyone else to copy, so long as they remained a fair distance–
Shit.
They’d come right up to me and Tam.
The mimic might be able to become my perfect copy.
God, this was going to be annoying.