Rydr's jump launched him into the air and instantly smashed his head into the lowest branches of a nearby tree. The branch, almost as thick around as Rydr's head, broke in half at the impact. The giant saw stars and furiously rubbed his head even as he fell.

What he did not expect was how far he would fall. That brief disconnect between his expectation and reality was enough so that he hit the ground feet first and immediately keeled over.

What the hell?

Syrna and Urginok leaped away for Izor's voice and turned around, ready for a fight. While there was no fight, they did find an exhausted homeless man in a dirty, blue bathrobe with his hands on his hips as he threw his head back and cackled.

They glanced at each other, then at the crazy man, and finally down at Rydr, who still writhed on the ground and rubbed his head.

Izor ceased his cackling to stare at Rydr's new companions, his grin stretched from ear to ear. Both divers were assaulted with the same sense of vertigo that affected Rydr when he had first seen Izor. It was like looking at a malnourished, exhausted skeleton bag that had the energy of a five-year-old.

They watched Izor look upright as they heard a thunderous crash. The branch that had met Rydr's head broke off completely from the tree, some ten feet above their heads, and plummeted towards Rydr.

Urginok started to move, but his effort to save his new teammate was wasted. Just as the branch would have fallen on Rydr's prone form, Izor stretched out his hand.

A translucent blue barrier appeared above Rydr's head and caught the falling branch, stretching out in the center as it accepted the branch's weight. Rydr was nearly pressed to the ground by the barrier until he shouted, "IZOR, get this damn branch off me!"

Rydr's bellows only served to release another round of cackling from the eccentric mage.

Izor said, "Well, I could remove the branch, you know, but you could remove it yourself if you used-"

"I. AM. NOTTA MAGE!" Rydr screamed at this specter of arcane knowledge. The branch was much larger upon closer inspection. Rydr wished the inspection happened anywhere, not on top of his face.

A desperate look towards his teammates showed Syrna and Urginok restrained by bands of blue light that glowed brighter the harder they struggled. Similar glowing gags covered their mouths.

Izor hummed and stroked a beard he didn't have, "We can agree to disagree on that point." He continued to gesticulate his hand, thoughtfully in front of his own face.

"NO WE FU-" Rydr's insults morphed to an inarticulate cry of rage as Izor sat on the branch where it rested nearly on his face.

"Now, now, Rydr, we wouldn't want to attract any wolves now, would we?" Izor paused, his face full of anticipation, but Rydr's anguished screams of denial never came.

"Rydr? The silent treatment is very childish, Rydr." Izor looked down between his legs.

Rydr pressed his face firmly into the dirt. His neck twisted painfully to allow him access to his earthy hiding place. Don't lookup. Don't lookup.

Izor, for once, was stumped. He couldn't understand why Rydr would imitate large birds, but right before he opened his mouth to ask his unfortunate recruit, Rydr released a pained whine.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Izor leaned closer, his head down between his knees he bent so low.

More than anything else, Rydr held one wish dear to him. More than his desire to change himself or to make Izor leave him alone. "Please...get a longer...bathrobe..."

The game earned its R18+ rating at that moment. Rape was impossible because of system underwear. Even a god couldn't remove them against the diver's will. Furthermore, the diver must be eighteen years or older to play.

The system never affected flashing.

Syrna and Urginok stopped struggling when they realized Izor wasn't there to attack them. However, neither of them were prepared to see their giant teammate tea-bagged by living taxidermy. They leaned into their restraints and shook uncontrollably.

Izor thought they wanted to ask about magic, so he released them. He did not receive any questions about magic. He did receive a peal of uncontrolled laughter as the archer and tank rolled on the ground, tears streaming from their eyes as they pointed at Rydr and laughed.

"That's karma there, bud!" Urginok managed to squeeze words out between laughs. Syrna was completely helpless. Any time she turned to look at Rydr again, she just broke down into more giggles.

It took several minutes for both of them to calm down, by which time Izor released Rydr and shredded the massive branch into so much confetti.

*****

Rydr sulked against a large tree, away from the others, and thoroughly ignored Izor.

That lasted until Syrna walked up and put a hand on his arm. "You can keep your stats if that's what you have to do to get them," she whispered to him. Rydr's aggrieved expression crumpled further at her obvious mirth.

Syrna continued, "I mean, no judging, but this is just a game after all. I don't think you needed to go that far..." Rydr covered Syrna's mouth with his hand, stopping the false sympathies.

Urginok had a good laugh at Rydr's expense, but spoke up, "Come on, Syr, all adventurers pimp themselves out...for the best quests..."

Apparently, Urginok just wanted to hammer a few nails into Rydr's coffin. Rydr picked up some of the sawdust from Izor's destruction of the tree branch and threw it at Urginok's face to shut him up.

Urginok was lost in his giggles and started to hack a lung out as he accidentally inhaled some of the sawdust. His face turned red as he kept coughing and somehow still laughed.

Izor's head bounced back and forth, a bemused expression on his face.

As if you don't know exactly what they're making jokes about...Rydr thought.

"So, what do you want?" While a part of Rydr loved to goof off with the others, something he hadn't gotten to do growing up, he kept his mind firmly locked on getting the pickax and becoming a smith.

The longer this took, the greater the chances someone found Rydr's pickax.

"Well," Izor looked at Rydr sideways, a coquettish expression on his face, "if you wanted to join the Mage's College-"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Next."

"Then perhaps a cup of tea while we study-"

"Next."

"Will you stop saying 'next?'" Izor exploded at Rydr, whose mouth was open for Izor's next brainwashing attempt.

"Well, I thought I could skip this whole conversation if I said 'next' enough times." Rydr watched Izor's face fall and grinned. Any time he could get the eccentric to shut up about magic instantly ranked in Rydr's top five most satisfying things to do.

"That's super rude." Izor pouted. Rydr's face cramped at the sight of it.

"You kidnapped me in broad daylight," Rydr accused.

"Well, I was excited-"

"Locked me in a tower." Rydr talked over Izor blithely in his attempt to lambaste the screwy mage.

"You were never chained-"

"And prevented me from leaving until you forced me to accept those letters and scrolls! You shoved them into my head!" Rydr stomped towards Izor with every word and eventually grabbed him by his bathrobe's collar to shake him.

"Give me back my stats! Those could've been put towards Strength!" Izor started to cackle as Rydr shook him violently, a single hand raised to stroke empty air like a beard.

Urginok came up behind Rydr and said, "Come on, man, this sounds like he wants to give us a quest. He even sought you out. Give the guy a chance to talk."

Eventually, Rydr listened to Urginok, ignored Izor's laughter, and decided that he was right.

Regardless of what Izor had done to him before, he was still a high-level NPC for their starter village.

It was probably unwise to turn down a quest that was liable to give better rewards than average.

Rydr let go of Izor after he thought things through and nodded at Urginok. It was entirely possible that any other NPC would have already TPK'd their party for what Rydr had done.

They both stepped away from Izor, and Urginok motioned for the mage to continue.

Izor bobbed his head at Urginok and said, "I know I mentioned it back in the tower, but there is a wellspring of natural mana somewhere in this area. The plant growth is a side-effect of its power." He picked up a stick and started to draw in the dirt.

There wasn't enough clear dirt for him, so Izor frowned and flexed his magic to shred the undergrowth at his feet. It looked like high-speed blades flashed through the plants, crisscrossing it several times to reduce the plants to mulch.

A sudden, stiff wind picked up the mulched plant matter and blew it away to reveal a nice little dust patch for Izor to draw on.

Try as he might, Rydr couldn't see the spell activation. His [Third Eye] skill allowed him to see the ambient mana, which did look a little more disturbed than normal.

However, Rydr couldn't see the spell's structure or gathering point like other magic sources. At most, the area of the spell looked like it stirred up dust in the air.

Rydr disabled [Third Eye] when Izor spoke again. The mage's secrets were his own for now. Out of the corner of his eye, Rydr saw Syrna watching the mage's display intensely.

"As I was saying, the wild mana is causing plant growth. It wouldn't be an issue in a larger town with more adventurers, but even with the influx of newcomers to the town, it still isn't enough to make the surrounding area usable again." Izor drew a rudimentary well on the ground, the kind everyone thinks of with a stone wall. Clean lines of mana branched off and led to plants, a small version, and eventually a big version on the surface soil.

"I would like to enlist your help in finding the wellspring and either calming or outright stopping the flow of mana." The next drawing was the well again, but with a large rock on top to "seal" it.

"It might not be obvious at first, given the aid you Travelers have rendered, but the town of Grotto is starving. Plants choke the fields, and it's all anyone can do to keep the growth out of their own homes, let alone help each other." Izor looked up to meet each of their eyes pointedly. "I've been looking for months to no avail. I need to stay in the town to keep up the magical barrier I've been maintaining to ward off the worst of the plant growth."

Izor's whole demeanor shifted, his eyes sharpened, and his eccentric smile faded away. He bowed deeply to them, "Please, help me save the town; otherwise, Grotto won't make it through the winter. I don't have much I can offer you, except for my skills and knowledge."

Izor bowed to them again, "Please!"

All three divers stepped back, away from the normally flippant Izor's serious change, especially Rydr. Rydr was puzzled as to why Izor would be so serious about a town he had been sent to for what amounted to a research project.

Syrna was the first to break the silence as Izor still bowed. "I know that you are mainly trying to recruit Red here, but I'd like to help if I can ask a favor from you?" She was a little unsure of herself since it was obvious that the quest was intended for Rydr.

Rydr noticed Syrna pensively wringing her hands as she asked.

Izor straightened up and answered, "Rydr would be the primary quest holder, but I see no reason why he couldn't share his quest with the two of you. It would be up to him."

Syrna nodded, absorbing his answer, before she spun, grabbed Rydr by the elbow and led him a few meters away.

"What's up?" Rydr raised his eyebrows as he looked at the blonde, unsure why she led him away to ask him something.

Syrna looked at him, grumbling to herself, before she said, "I want to ask Izor if he can teach me how to Enchant." She started to wring her hands again, "I know I already agreed to help you get your pickax and finish your quest and all...but could you accept his quest for me?" Then she bowed even lower than Izor had, which unnerved Rydr greatly.

Rydr failed to see the small bully he knew. The look in her stormy gray eyes stopped him from making a joke.

Rydr hesitated for a moment before he opened his mouth, "Why?"

Syrna looked up through her blonde bangs without pulling out of her bow. "I have an idea for how to make my own playstyle, the way you already are. I need a lot of Crafting skills and especially Enchanting to make it work the way I imagine it."

The prideful diver looked back at the ground, "I will sign a contract, agreeing to make things for you, if you help me get the skills I need. Please." Obviously, asking grated on her pride, and Syrna knew that the offer hinged on Rydr, saying yes in the first place. She didn't even know if Izor could teach Enchanting to her.

Rydr was frazzled, unused to people bowing or asking him for things like the rest of his family might be. More to make himself comfortable than to assuage Syrna's pride, he picked her up by her shoulders and set her upright.

"Of course, I'll help you. You're already helping me with my quest, even though it killed you once already." Rydr cast about in his mind before he said, "How about this? We can make a party agreement between the three of us. Like, " he scratched the back of his head, "whenever appropriate gear drops, it will go to the person who can use it best. We can use our crafting skills to help each other..and...I don't know, just have other people you can always play with and rely on to help each other." Rydr finished lamely.

The giant braced himself for her response.

Syrna stayed where Rydr placed her after pulling her out of her bow, literally off the ground, and put her down again. She watched as the giant in front of her squirmed the same way she had when she felt she was making a selfish request.

After a few moments, her expression still unreadable, Syrna waved to Urginok, who looked up from his hands and hopped off his tree stump to come over.

The tank crossed the clearing quickly, passing by Izor, who hadn't dropped his serious face yet. The mage still waited patiently for Rydr's response.

"Done with your secret meeting?" Urginok waved his hands to show he was kidding when Rydr's eyes went wide in panic.

Syrna nodded, "I wanted to propose something, especially since we all have non-standard builds in mind for our avatars." Urginok and Rydr nodded at her.

She released a breath and continued to say, "Why don't we agree to party together? At least for the near future. Equal rights to gear, if it's appropriate for you."

Syrna gestured between herself and the giant, "Rydr and I can split the crafting materials to whoever can use it better and..." she visibly drew herself back, "Why don't we just agree to function as a core guild team. Support each other, help each other with resources...most other people in the game will leave us way behind because they'll all join the super guilds to get an edge. Why don't we just do our own thing and try to be self-sufficient in our party?"

Rydr was on board for everything Syrna said so far, but he held his breath and watched Urginok. While Syrna thought along the same lines as Rydr did, they already wiped once because they needed at least a tank in the party.

Urginok's decision would make or break their fledgling team.

Urginok took his time to answer and even paced back and forth a little before he spun on his heel to face them.

"Alright, I'm in." Then he stood there and grinned at them.

"Just like that?" Syrna asked him, incredulous.

"Just like that," Urginok nodded.

"Besides," he continued, "You guys were the only people to let me into your party after I told you that I wanted to tank without a shield. I don't know what I have to offer the party in the long run, except for being a meat shield, but if you've already decided that you want me in the party for the long haul?"

Urginok shrugged ruefully, "Why would I say no to folks who have already accepted me and will help me with my gear?"

Rydr and Syrna exchanged looks before they nodded to each other. Rydr stuck his hand out, palm down.

Urginok looked nonplussed for a moment before he smiled again and put his own hand over Rydr's.

Syrna looked at both of them before she huffed, "Dorks," and put her hand on top of theirs. They pumped their hands once, sportsmanlike, and pulled their hands back. All parties felt the dorkiness of the gesture.

Rydr turned to face Izor, who watched him expectantly. He nodded once, "We're in."