The rest of the day at the dojo was a bit of a blur. Sifu expressed his disappointment that I had missed so many kung fu training sessions so the subtext was clear: I had better not miss the next one.

I learned that Chika had made good on her promise and had also been training at other dojos, but without Jack Of All Trades her learning curve was much steeper than mine. She’d only managed to add Competent proficiency in the Rat Clan’s muay thai and the Monkey Clan’s judo so far, which was still impressive and a testament to her natural martial arts ability. She really was determined to get skilled enough to be able to learn omni-do. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I’d added a whole lot more techniques to it since she last saw it, so many that it was pretty much impossible for anyone else to ever get the base skills to learn omni-do, but I had an idea about how to work around that.

My friends were keen to tell me about all I’d missed in the past few days, especially their quests and other adventures. Their team quests were finally starting to allow unaffiliated Players to participate; that this had happened after I formed my own team, disqualifying me from these expanded quests too, surely wasn’t a coincidence. But it did mean that they could now officially do quests with the members of the Round Table.

I could immediately notice the change in the group dynamic, they all seemed a lot closer with one another than before. That only made me feel more distant from them. I tried not to let it show, but I caught Sigrid staring at me several times with a worried look.

Still, I was glad that everyone else was able to work together, at least. The rewards were getting better, too. Nearly everyone now had a significant magic item and a decent stash of gold, and I hadn’t been the only one to pick up new powers, either. In addition to abilities occasionally gained through quest rewards and observer generosity, several in the group had suddenly gained a new Power when evolving a Skill to Expert level. Because they’d mostly been fighting, the skills they’d advanced had been combat-based, and the new Powers they gained were specialized fighting techniques that solidified and amplified the way they'd been using their abilities.

It was as though System was acknowledging their individuality, customizing their build to fit their personal styles.

Kenji Hachiman

Powers:

Are You An Assassin? - Competent: Increased damage from surprise attacks; requires Ninjutsu (Expert)

Katherine Walker (Kay)

Powers:

Nowhere To Hide - Competent: Shoot arrows around obstacles; requires Archery (Expert)

Arthur Crenshaw

Powers:

Sword Slash That Breaks The Wind - Competent: Make a ranged sword attack; requires Sword (Expert)

It was great to see people getting so strong. Shame all those special moves only unlocked once you reached Expert mastery in a skill, though. Beyond my meager reach.

I tried using my new power to copy Arthur’s Sword Slash after he demonstrated it for me by slicing a target dummy in half from over twenty feet away, but my Sword skill was only Competent so it didn’t work. That was also disappointing, but I was in no position to complain. Versatility For The Win was still an incredible ability. With it I was able to surreptitiously copy the regular powers people had, the ones without mastery restrictions, and each time I did my Synthesize intuition gave me the sense that my new mimicking power opened the door to a whole new world of power cheats.

I was dying to test some out, but the combination of synthesizing Versatility For The Win and Sifu working me extra-hard in training had left me feeling pretty zapped, and people wouldn’t leave me alone for a second. In addition to wanting to tell me what they’d been up to, they all wanted to know about the labyrinth. Apparently, I was the talk of the town.

The appearance of the global notification that a dungeon had been solved and was now controlled by a heretofore unknown team, and the addition that mysterious new Team Player at the top of the team rankings, had created quite the buzz among all the Players. It was an unexpected twist. Enough people had stumbled upon dungeons by now that everyone knew they were out there, like how Wayne and Bruce had found the Death Dungeon, but up to now everyone who’d found a dungeon had been overwhelmed by its difficulty, like how Wayne and Bruce had barely managed to escape from the Death Dungeon alive. Which, as Stratos had told me, was how it was supposed to be.

Nobody knew what controlling a dungeon actually meant, but it sounded good and they wanted it. Eventually news had seeped out — probably thanks to Kiki — that the mysterious Team Player was just one person. Now everyone wanted to know who I was, and more importantly, how the hell had I solved the Light Dungeon?

Out of nowhere, Sigrid approached me as I was heading to the bath after the kung fu training session.

“What are you wearing tonight?” she said.

“Uh, what?”

“To dinner. What’re you planning to wear?”

Sigrid had wasted no time taking it upon herself to arrange dinner for me and Morgan that very night. I'd had zero say in the matter.

“I dunno. It’s just dinner.”

She crossed her forearms in front of herself in a big X. “Aaaahhhn. Wrong. I figured this was the case. Don’t worry, I’m on it.”

Then she left as quickly as she came, striding away like a woman on a mission.

A few hours later, I was laughing with Lancelot, Galahad, Arthur, and Kay about the Gorgon-made stone statue of Lancelot that now held a place of honor in the courtyard. The remnants of her serpent hair had been removed, and the statue’s extended hand now held a bouquet of flowers, replaced each morning by Shannon when she tended the garden. It reminded me that I had a present for them. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a chest.

“What’s that?” Arthur said.

“It’s yours,” I said. “It’s the Chimera’s treasure. I’m not surprised you missed it, it was buried under a ton of rubble. I fetched it out before letting the Chimera respawn.”

They tried to get me to open it for them, but I refused. I could’ve picked the lock in no time, but then my Murder Hobo power would’ve affected what was inside, and I wanted to see the difference it made. It would mean less treasure for them, but this was an experiment I wanted to make so I promised myself to make it up to them later. You know, in the name of science. The results were significant.

When I’d opened the Gorgon’s chest there were three powerful items inside, but when Arthur zapped this chest open with a lightning bolt — less finesse than lockpicking, but quicker and just as effective, provided you didn’t mind cleaning up the mess — there was only one item and some gold.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Trojan Bow

The bow used by the Trojan Prince Paris to kill the (not quite) immortal Greek Hero Achilles. Powers:

Show Me Your Heel - Greatly improves accuracy at long range

Who Needs A Sword? - The bow has an extremely sharp edge and can be used as a potent melee weapon with the Archery skill

You Can Run, But - Doubles effective range

“Well I think we know who gets this one,” Kay said with covetous eyes before clutching the bow then cradling it to her body, stroking along its limbs. “My precioussss...”

She was just about to test it on a practice target when Sigrid came and grabbed my arm, forcibly leading me away. “Sorry,” she said, “I gotta borrow him.”

When we got into my room, Sigrid let go of my arm and went over to the bed where a trim black suit was neatly laid out. “Okay, get dressed,” she said, picking up the pants and handing them to me. “I want to see how this looks.”

I was starting to get flashbacks to my high school days and the makeover phase of the early days after those girls befriended me. I have the fashion sense of a stale cracker, so any time I’ve looked good in my life it’s because someone else chose my clothes for me.

Sigrid watched as I started undressing. “Hurry up,” she said, fidgeting.

“Aren't you gonna turn around or something?” I said.

She looked at me with blank eyes. "No."

"This is sexual harassment."

"I can see how you might think that," she said, "but my interest is purely academic. I didn't get a good look at you this morning, and I want to see the fruits of all my labor getting you into shape."

"Whatever."

Once I'd finished putting on the suit, she looked at me and clasped her hands in front of her. “Nice,” she said. She came over and fussed with the jacket, straightening it on my shoulders.

“Where’d this come from?” I said.

“Custom job,” she said. “The clan has some good tailors, it fits perfectly.”

The suit was nehru-styled like my armored adventuring coat, but shorter and pure black, worn over a white shirt barely visible at the collar and cuffs, and matching slim black pants. The thin white line of a neatly folded handkerchief peeked out of the slit of the pocket on my chest.

“How do I look?”

She took a moment before answering. “I wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with you.”

“Wow, that’s some high praise.”

“Shush you, let me fix your hair.”

“Quit fussing,” I said, slapping her hands away. “It’s not a big deal, I’m just paying her back for stealing her sandwich.”

She ignored my protests and fiddled with my hair. “Shush.”

A short while later I was in the courtyard waiting for Morgan. “Why do I feel like I’m waiting to pick up my prom date?” I said to Sigrid, who was waiting with me.

You know those movies where the nerdy girl takes off her glasses and wears her hair down and suddenly the plain duck’s turned into a swan? Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, Morgan was always pretty, but when she came out of her room with Nina, that charming girl-next-door had been replaced with an elegant beauty. She wore a red dress hemmed just above the knee, with a slit up one side to her hip, and which hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, with her face framed by a lock of hair falling down on either side. I could see why she got a lot of tips as a bartender.

“Glad I made a fuss now?” Sigrid whispered.

“Shush,” I replied.

Nina led her over to us beaming like a proud parent. I got the impression that she had done for Morgan what Sigrid had done for me, although the results of her makeover were a thousand times better than mine. Still, it made me feel better that Morgan needed the same kind of help; it made her just a little bit more approachable.

Sigrid elbowed me out of my daze and cleared her throat. “Say something, dummy,” she whispered.

“Oh, right,” I said. “You look good, Morgan.”

“Oh my god,” Sigrid muttered to herself, but I was close enough to overhear. “Good? That’s the word he picks? Good?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Morgan said.

“No, I mean,” I began, but then I saw the sly little smile dancing on her face. “Why is everyone teasing me all the time?”

“Because you’re adorable when you get all flustered,” Nina said. “Now go on, you two. You need to get a move on if you’re going to get back for the campfire tonight.”

“Campfire?” I said.

“You’d know about these things if you weren’t always off playing house with your Doppelganger harem,” Sigrid said.

“His Doppelganger what now?” Morgan said.

I shot what I hoped to be a death glare at Sigrid, but I must’ve failed because she only laughed and pushed us toward the gate to the street. “Get going, he’ll explain on the way.”

I could hear Sigrid and Nina still laughing as Morgan and I walked together. It took me nearly the entire way to tell the whole story of the Doppels, and by the time we reached the restaurant Morgan was laughing too.

It was a small restaurant, intimate you’d call it, not overly fancy but still one of the nicer places in the city. Sigrid had made us a reservation and they were expecting us. I was surprised to discover the server who greeted us and led us to a table wasn’t an NPC, she was a Player.

Lianna Drake

Unaffiliated

Affinity:

Life - Novice

Gifts:

I Get It - Quick learner

It’s Fine – Things work out

Powers:

Don't Mess With Me - Competent: Cause fear

Rock On, Tommy – Novice: Second affinity with Earth

You Don’t Scare Me - Competent: Resistance to fear and intimidation

Skills:

Appraisal - Novice

Eidetic Memory - Competent

Finance - Novice

Organization - Competent

What a crazy set of abilities. It was hard to figure out what kind of class or profession she was supposed to represent. And zero obvious combat effectiveness. I guessed that’s why nobody wanted her on their team. Still, there was something there...

I remembered her from the convention, not so much because she was attractive, although she definitely was, but more because of what I’d seen her do. She’d been working at a buy and sell merch table. I’d pointed her out to Stratos when I saw her agree to buy a guy’s entire card collection. The guy had told her that someone else had offered him a thousand bucks for his cards and he’d sell them to her if she could offer more. I’d caught a glimpse of a few of his cards as she flipped through them in the binder, and hidden among them were cards easily worth twice that, and those were only the ones I’d managed to see.

She could have walked away with a sweet deal by offering him only a bit more than one thousand dollars, but instead she told him he’d be getting completely ripped off if he sold them to anyone for less than double that. She explained what his whole collection was worth and his eyes goggled, but then she said that if she paid him full value she wouldn’t be able to turn a profit when she resold them, so two grand was as much as she could offer. He sold her the cards without hesitation.

Not only did she know her stuff, but she also handled herself honestly and ethically, not taking advantage of a poor shmuck who clearly hadn’t done his homework. The best deals are when everyone's a winner. I’d been impressed, and I remember casually saying as much to Stratos.

A sudden knot formed in my belly, twisting my stomach uncomfortably. Now, because of that off-handed remark I'd made to Stratos, here she was on Crucible working as a waitress.

It wasn’t until she cleared her throat that I realized I’d been openly staring at her for some time.

“Is there a problem?” she growled, scowling at me.