CHAPTER 142
“Trying to change Mus’s mind went badly,” Michael said with a sigh.
“They’re traitors.” Joline spat. “And nothing we say has changed their mind.”
“Can you blame them?” Michael asked. “Particularly Frank and Hao. They were locked in a prison where the serial killer was picking them off one by one.”
“One of them might be the killer.”
“No one believes that.” Michael said firmly. “Not even you. So don’t throw that shit around.”
Joline hesitated. “All we needed was to show a united front. They would have got what they wanted.”
“Would they?” the healer countered. It sounded like a rehash of an earlier discussion. “None of the three chosen were on your list.”
The two of them fell into what had to be a helpless silence.
“Can you summarise what’s happened?” Everlyn asked.
“The otter went back on its word. It also reduced the spots to three!” Joline said. “I’m not sure why he changed his mind, but it might have been his initial estimate of size was off. Anyway, during that cursed party, he sounded out people who would be interested in helping his race. He approached individuals directly instead of coming through me, and the personal offer was attractive. Food, shelter, hundreds of levels and because you’re getting lost skills and teaching them lots of ranking points.” She sighed. “He told them that’s what you got personally, and then discussed compensation to the wider group. That made it even more enticing and I think twenty to thirty signed up. Once that was done, he started auctioning them off against each other to lower the extra he needed to chip in.”
“You would have done the same, presumably?”
“Shut up, Tom.” She glared at him. “Yes, I would have. I’m pissed off that I didn’t quarantine him from everyone else. That’s all we had to do. Close ranks for a night and this mess would have been avoided.”
“How is Tom involved?” Everlyn asked. “We’re not strong enough to fight birdbrain let alone Mus and the griffin together.”
Joline sniffed. “Mus wants to talk to you. Hao and Frank apparently insisted you receive stuff. That gives you a chance to convince them to come back to humanity’s side.”
“Give it a rest Joline.” Michael told her.
“No.” her eyes were wild. “It has been proven to work. We form a union and while we won’t get anything like the original deal, we’ll be able to get an awful lot back.”
“You’re a bank CEO. You want to unionise us?” Everlyn asked in disbelief.
“Yes, unions work providing you can keep a unified front and offer service that the business can’t get elsewhere.”
“When you were a big shot executive did you ever bust a union?” She pressed.
Joline nodded.
“I reckon Mus has more leverage than you did when you busted them. If pushed he can just start killing us.”
“He’s not human.” Joline stated. “We get Hao and Frank on board, and he’ll have to pay. They both respect you, Tom. You’re our way in.”
Tom glanced at Michael. “What do you think?”
“I think the ship sailed when he got thirty people provisionally accepting his offer.”
“We had a good deal.” Joline said in frustration. “We can’t abandon it.”
“Unfortunately, given the state of our negotiation position we don’t have a choice.” Michael continued.
Joline moved and linked arms with him. In a way, Tom knew was supposed to be comforting. He hated it, but walked when Joline did. “Talk to them. Remind them of their importance to humanity and what they’ve done is disloyal. But don’t use that word specifically, as it will put them offside. Debate common good and looking after all humans.” There was a pause. “Call their actions a failure to coordinate effectively with everyone else. You can assure them that if they come over to our side, we’ll still send them as our three volunteers.”
“Will we?”
Joline shrugged. “Probably, but it’s not that simple.”
“How many people want to go?”
“A dozen maybe.”
“At least twenty and possibly over thirty.” Michael corrected.
Tom extracted his arm. “Joline, I appreciate your passion, but you know that this is over.”
“I’m asking you to try.”
“I’ll see.” he answered neutrally and then they walked around the fortifications and saw Mus still in the camp in his pool of water. The otter made a very human like wave having obviously learnt it over the last twenty-four hours.
“I’ll wait here.” Joline said stiffly.
Tom looked at her curiously, but approached Mus without hesitation. Only Michael and Everlyn followed him. “Joline not coming is a bit of a surprise.”
Michael snorted. “She’s worn out her welcome.”
“Greeting’s Tom.” Mus said formally when he was close enough to talk. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”
“Same, but I expected you to have left already.”
Mus’s whiskers twitched. “Well, that event was delayed due to you not being present.”
“Me, why? Surely I’m not that important.”
“I choose to get out but.” Dominica said suddenly. “I didn’t want those running the place to get anything. My friends and people I saw doing the right thing were the ones I wanted my payment to go to. Like you.”
“Why? I don’t know you.”
“Because I laughed when you fell and despite that you went out and helped and did your best. Then you put your money in for a teleporter. You tried to make things better. It is admirable.”
“I couldn’t find the killer.”
“None of us could?”
Mus waved a paw. “You have looked into the killer.”
“Of course.”
The explorer examined him intently then sagged a little and the body language translation skill made Tom think of resigned disappointment but the projection felt broken because that mix of emotions did not belong in the conversation. “If you’ve done what I suspect I may have something that can help. There are various approaches I might be able to boost even if I can’t facilitate discovery directly.” That comment was thrown over toward Frank and Hao.
Presumably both had badgered Mus about the opportunities to find the killer.
“But you’ll have to tell me what you are doing. My stock is limited.”
Tom weighed the cons and benefits. He was relying on a single high-level skill. Mus might have something to boost or compliment that and he couldn’t see the harm in telling it about what he was doing. “Is it possible to have privacy?”
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“I can do that.” Mus assured them.
“You really kicking me out, Tom?” Michael asked.
He nodded.
“So you do have some sort of plan to catch the killer? I thought so.” He laughed. “And everyone’s a suspect, including me?”
Tom said nothing.
Michael turned to go, and then stopped. “Tom and Everlyn I commend your caution and good luck. I’ll tell everyone else Mus wanted to show you his gifts in private.”
The healer left apparently not at all annoyed at being sent away.
“Nobody outside of us six can overhear now. Can the three coming with me stay or do you wish privacy from them as well?”
Tom considered that carefully. “Are you sure they’re not the murderer?”
Mus shrugged. “As certain as I can be. However, they’ve said their goodbyes. We’re leaving straight after this, so they won’t get a message out.”
He took a deep breath to steady himself. “A few nights ago, I purchased a True Dreaming that I hope will help me find the killer. I got it with all my credits: a massive investment in fate and the Spectaculi auction and it works by letting me see the past, including a ward breaching function.”
“Spectaculi?”
“It’s an auction for competitors that only ever has a hundred items in it but has a quick turnaround.”
Mus nodded. “And fate?”
Tom cursed his loose tongue.
Mus’s whiskers twitched. “Just teasing. I know about your racial trait. And this True Dreaming lets you see the past? What are the criteria?”
“Um, stuff relevant to me.”
Mus suddenly fell back frantically cleaning his whiskers. He thrashed violently in the pool with water going everywhere. After a short time for him, he re-emerged.
“What did I say?” Tom asked, confused about the reaction.
“I put things together. It explains so much about how strange that first day’s interactions were. I kept baring my teeth, and you were able to ignore it. It was because you knew I was coming and the skill let you know my general mindset.”
Tom knew his cheeks were reddening.
“Ah, blushing. One of the hu-man involuntary emotion windows like our whiskers.”
“Yes. I did. I appreciated you were not a monster, no matter how callous and uncaring you tried to be.”
“Pity,” Mus said his whiskers twitching. “Things would have gone smoother for me at the start if you were cowered but then it wouldn’t have been as fun.”
“And this skill will let you find them.” Dominica interrupted in excitement. “It actually works?”
Mus looked at him.
“I don’t know.” Tom admitted. “I hope it will, but… results have been less than impressive so far.”
“I might have something to help.” Mus said quietly. “I assume this skill is above tier six.”
“Seven.”
“Then yes, it could boost it. I know tier seven sounds remarkable and should solve the issue, but divination skills are tricky and they have weaknesses. For example, I have tier four anti divination wards active and I would back them against most tier eight oracle skills. The fact your tier seven version penetrated it means it must be a very specialised ability. It has significant restrictions doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it triggers once a night, is exclusively for past events. I can’t direct it and it views events through a unique lens.”
Mus nodded thoughtfully.
“Will it be sufficient?” Dominica asked in concerned. “You make it sound like a tier seven skill might not work.”
Mus glanced at her. “We don’t know enough about the killers. If they only have tier 4 anti-divination events, then eventually yes. If they have tier six defences, then it’s doubtful, though, if I boost it. Let me think and we can discuss it after you look through what I’ve prepared.”
“When you find him, then kill him for me.” Dominica ordered.
“I will.” Tom promised.
Mr Phillips or Frank, as Tom should think about him, and Hao nodded in agreement. Especially Frank. He had been on duty when Reilly was killed and probably hadn’t forgiven himself.
“I don’t blame any of you for taking this opportunity.” Tom told them. “I don’t blame you at all. Him.” He pointed at Mus with a small teasing smile. “Well, that’s a different matter.”
“Mus hasn’t done anything wrong,” Hao argued immediately. “He was upfront about the deal discussed with Joline and the loophole and that he intended to use it. Many of us offered to travel for free, but he refused and said that the minimum compensation was a million in value plus any personal stuff we negotiated and unlike with the Joline deal we got to choose who that went to. But that’s not why I’m here. It’s self-preservation. The murderer was picking those of us off in the prison one by one. I would have gone for free to get away. I haven’t condemned myself to the tutorial and competition just to die. It’s important I contribute something. I have to because,” he stopped talking abruptly. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does.” Mus disagreed quietly. “And from my discussions with Tom he knows where you’re coming from. Almost all of you have the same motivations. The tutorial that DEUS put together sounds like a disgrace. To put a race that has evolved from tribal origins, a social race into that situation, is horrible. DEUS does what she does to maximise the chance of winning, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.”
“What does it mean?” Tom asked curiously.
“It’s not something to talk about and the information is unclear. The common belief is that her races end up as first or last in their competitions. She gambles, launching big bets that often pay off spectacularly, or are a complete disaster.”
How Mus was talking about DEUS set alarm bells off in his head. “She was your deity wasn’t she?”
“Yes, but it was thousands of generations ago and the GODs are very hands off outside their entertainment or game or whatever the competition is classified as, so she is less important to my people now.”
“Are they truly immortal?”
The otter was suddenly very serious. “That’s a dangerous question, and the only answer is yes. But…”
“Yes, with a but.” Tom challenged automatically.
“There are legends of fallen GODs, and it is said on Existentia everything is possible and GODs might be fallible.”
Tom took a cautious step backwards, sensing the danger of what the person had revealed. “Blasphemy.” He whispered.
Mus’s whiskers twitched and then he collapsed and then he fell into the bath desperately cleaning them. “That was not… blasphemy. Your face.”
“How is that not blasphemy?”
Mus recovered. “I forget how little you know. Those rules only apply if you are a worshipper of a GOD or attack the eight higher GODs as a collective. All competition users are automatically enrolled to worship their patrons. I am a priest of MISTIC. He is not one of the eight and is a minor god of mischief and change.”
“What is DEUS the god of?” Everlyn asked curiously.
“She is one of the eight.” Mus said simply. “She doesn’t have anything that defines her. Her priests talk about her as being a champion of balance and change.”
“Why wasn’t this anywhere in our reading material?” Everlyn asked in frustration.
“One does not question the purpose of GODs when you are at their mercy.”
Everlyn bit off the question she had been about to ask, catching the warning in Mus’s tone. What he could say as a priest of MISTIC was not necessarily anything they could repeat.
“In any case, Tom, I have a gift for you. You can choose from any of these three options.”
The otter waved and three piles appeared.
“Can I mix and match?”
“No, there is a principal item in each. The rest is balancing.”
Tom nodded and ran his eyes over what was offered. “Are these really worth three million?”
Mus’s whiskers twitched. “A bit arrogant there. Unsurprisingly, these three have close friends who were rewarded as well as you. This is the share they have agreed to allocate you. There is a little over half a million in value.”
“Friends and some general stuff for the council to use on behalf of everyone.” Hao said quietly.
“Yes,” Mus agreed.
“So, what do we have here?” Tom asked Mus not wanting to spend ten minutes individually examining everything in each of the piles.
The otter moved almost blurring forward and extracted three items and displayed them prominently at the front. “There are all tier five equivalent and the key part of each package.”
Tom examined each of them.
Spell: Ranged Heal - Tier 4
This is an active focus heal that has the requirement that the target is within forty metres and can be physically seen by the caster. Can heal multiple people at once.
“That’s not tier 5.”
“No, it’s a peak tier 4 spell and that forty-metre range is huge in a typical fight. It also comes with an affinity stone that will boost the spell levels, which vastly increases the package value. The other discrepancy you’ll probably notice is that even with points I’m pricing it higher than you would expect. It’s because of the demand for Spells and Skills is basically infinite and the supply is low. The price for an ability from a loot portal is far more than what you get from the competitor’s experience shop.”
“My touch heal expertise will start that spell at five.”
“Then the extra levels from the affinity stone might push you to eight.” Mus said reasonably. “Or at least get you close enough to it that within a couple of years you can get that level eight threshold benefit.”
“Do you know what those benefits are?”
“No, I don’t.”
“You can purchase that information.” Everlyn said from next to him.
“I know.” Tom said to her. “But I don’t see the need to spend the experience on it. I don’t think a tier four healing spell is a good fit for me.”
“Then we look at the next item,” Mus said immediately.
Item: Magical Armour Collar - Tier 5.
When activated creates a full set of armour over existing armaments.
Can be used for sixty-four minutes per day.
Soul Binds on use.
“That one’s fascinating.” Mus told him. “It’s peak tier five because it covers all of you and goes over your clothes and armour. Hu-mans fit into the range of body shapes it covers. For a hu-man of your diminutive rank, it provides unparalleled defence.” Mus’s whiskers twitched. “Combine that defence with your pants, making it impossible to move you. It will make you a fearsome warrior.”
“And the armour it creates is genuinely tier 5?”
“Yes. While its charge lasts against monsters in this area, you are basically indestructible. Particularly you with your healing abilities.”
“It’s nice.”
“Before you fall in love. You should check the final piece.”
Item: Treasure Compass - Tier 5.
Three-dimensional needle pointed and will point at the most valuable object with three hundred metres that is not claimed by a sapient.
Useable once per day with a duration of an hour.
It will also beep if you are passing within a hundred metres of a treasure with a tier value of four or above.
“This one is not peak tier five, but it is an excellent piece. If you wait for the right time to activate it, you can turn it on and run around picking up multiple items within that hour.”
“What it’s not bound to the first object it finds.”
“Nope, you collect the most valuable and then it will point to the next, and so on.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Which one are you considering?” Mus asked curiously.
“Can I have a moment to think?”
“Of course, but there is one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about. It’s about what you mentioned earlier. Would you consider buying something that might enhance your True Dreaming skill?”