We made it back.

I thought I was going to die.

Part of me wanted to.

I consider it a major victory that I had managed to keep my breakfast down, but there was no time to rest. Jane and Andy were already waiting for us in their kung fu uniforms so Sigrid and I quickly changed and we went together into the training room.

“Hey Sigrid, weird question” I said. “Did you sweat?”

“Say what?” Jane said. “Just what exactly did you two get up to this morning?”

“You know what? Come to think of it I didn’t,” Sigrid said, ignoring her friend.

“Me neither. I noticed it after training in the dojo too.”

“Now that you mention it...” muttered Jane.

“I don’t think these Player bodies perspire,” I said.

“That is weird,” Sigrid said. “I keep forgetting this isn’t my real body. It looks the same, feels the same, responds the same.”

“I know, I could hear your moans all the way in my room,“ Jane said.

Sigrid sniffed her armpit. “Huh. Fresh.”

Jane pouted. “Stop ignoring me!”

I ignored her. “I have my thoughts about that.”

I hadn’t shared what Stratos had told me during our private conversation in the arena with anyone. That would lead to questions about why I was having private conversations with them, and I’d rather have avoided that. I suspected that the reason we didn’t need to sweat is the same reason I can create a fireball in my hand without getting burned or coat my hand in ice without feeling cold. The nanobots in our bodies must have a function to regulate temperature. The sweat thing isn’t a big deal, but it made me wonder what other adjustments the Player bodies made.

“Tell me later, Sifu’s glaring at us.”

As I’d feared, it was another punishing lesson, made a hundred times worse by the pain and exhaustion I felt after the run, but at least I leveled up my kung fu skill to Competent. Neither of the girls had even learned the kung fu skill yet. It was a pleasant discovery that Jack Of All Trades didn’t just let me learn things quickly, it let me advance them faster too. What a shame I couldn’t advance them very far. Good At Everything was a true mixed blessing.

We still had some time before meeting up with the rest of the team, so I quickly changed into my armored coat and went into the courtyard to practice. I’d been so busy I hadn’t had the chance to explore the new abilities I got after I died. The first thing I did was go the weapons rack and start grabbing things, then stuffing them inside my inventory. It didn’t matter how big it was, from a three inch knife to an eight foot halberd, they all vanished easily into the small circle of the inventory’s opening. Then I put my hand inside and thought about a sword, and immediately felt something firm against my palm. I closed my fingers around it and pulled out the sword I’d been picturing in my head. I stuffed it back in, let go, then thought about the halberd. Again I felt it in my hand and could pull it out.

So handy!

I left an assortment of weapons in my inventory, including several spears; I couldn’t wait to surprise Sigrid with one the next time she was in need.

Next on the agenda was the new power I’d received the day before. I hadn’t used Synthesize yet because I wasn’t entirely sure how, but now was the perfect opportunity to begin experimenting with it. On a whim, I asked System.

“System?”

System: Player?

“How do I use Synthesize?”

System: Select ability to modify

“You mean like a skill or power?”

System: Affirmative

Cool. I wasn’t sure I wanted to mess around with my powers just yet, so for now, I decided to see what happened when I combined skills. I mean, I could always relearn them easily if something screwed up, right?

“Select karate.”

System: Select ability to combine with Karate

I didn’t want to mess with kung fu either now that I’d leveled it up again, so...

“Select tae kwon do.”

System: Synthesis of Karate and Tae Kwon Do will result in a new Skill; select name for new synthesized Skill

“Oh geez. Um...let’s call it, I dunno.” What the hell do I call it? A lot of Japanese martial arts end in do, which means the way. Like kendo, the way of the sword. If this worked, I had the idea of combining all the combat skills I learned into it. That would make it the way of everything, so... “How about omni-do?”

System: Synthesizing Omni-do

“Whoah.” All of a sudden I felt dizzy and exhausted, like I’d used all my mana in one go.

System: Synthesis successful

System: You have learned Omni-do

“Rock and roll. Let’s see my Status now.”

Daniel Lamont Team Builder Affinity:

Air - Competent

Darkness - Novice

Death - Novice

Earth - Novice

Fire - Competent

Ice - Novice

Life - Novice

Light - Novice

Nature - Competent

Shadow - Novice

Void - Novice

Water - Novice

Gifts: Good at Everything - Player can develop Affinity with all elements; Restriction: cannot evolve mastery in any Affinity, Power, or Skill beyond Adept level

Hands Off My Stash - Extra-dimensional storage space

Jack of All Trades - Learn any Skill through brief observation

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Murder Hobo - Better chance to get better loot Powers: All Shall Be Revealed - Competent: See any status

Synthesize - Novice: Combine abilities

Skills:

Affinity Control - Competent

Brawling - Novice

Cartography - Novice

Game Design - Competent

Karate - Novice

Knife - Novice

Kung Fu - Competent

Laying On Hands - Novice

Omni-do - Novice

Spear - Novice

Sword - Novice

Tae Kwon Do - Novice

Teaching - Novice

Trivia - Novice

Holy crap, my status was getting long. But the new skill was there.

Omni-do - Novice: Custom martial art synthesizing the techniques of Karate and Tae Kwon Do

As I was studying my Status, in my periphery I saw the girls enter the courtyard together with Andy through the door from the communal area. Jane munched on a roast chicken leg, or at least the leg of whatever passed locally for chicken, while they continued a conversation they’d been having inside.

“Oh, I know another one: the Spiderman movies,” Sigrid said.

“Which ones?” Jane said with a suspicious frown.

“The animated ones, of course. With the spider-verse.”

“I will allow that. Especially the second one. That reminds me of the whole Quantum Realm in the Ant-Man flicks.”

“I don’t know if that counts,” Sigrid said. “What about the Super Mario Bros Movie?”

Jane winced. “I’m embarrassed on your behalf that you thought of that, but yes, I think that does count.”

“Would Enchanted count?” Andy said.

“Totally. Its sequel, too. What’s it called?”

“Disenchanted,” Andy said.

“That’s the one,” Jane said through a mouthful of mystery drumstick meat. “I’m surprised you know those.”

“I have nieces.”

“Jumanji sequels!” Jane said.

“Definitely,” Sigrid said. “I love those.”

“Ruby Roundhouse is my fucking hero,” Jane said.

Sigrid rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “Come on, Jane.”

“Yeah yeah, so I’ve got a potty mouth. Live with it.”

“Hey Daniel,” Sigrid called. “Whatcha looking at?”

“Hey there. Just my Status.”

“Yeah?” Jane said. “Got any new skills? Can I see?”

Sigrid placed her hand on Jane’s arm. “Jane, I think that might count as a rude question around here.”

“Maybe,” Jane said, “but this guy can check ours out any time he wants. I think it’s only fair.”

“You make a good point.”

“Come on Daniel-san,” Jane said, “we’ve shown you ours, now you show us yours.”

“You sure?” I said. Jane nodded, Sigrid shrugged. Andy grinned.

I really didn’t want to have to explain my new powers, but they had a point. Fair is fair. I told System to share my status.

“Holy motherloving heck!” Jane cried, then whispered to Sigrid, “Is that better than swearing? I learned it from Daniel.”

Sigrid sighed again. “Not really, no.”

“I get the new skills, but where did that power come from?” Andy asked.

I gave them the TL;DR version of what happened when I died, leaving out the parts about Stratos and the Unnamed Observer, and just saying that Synthesize was a reward. I left it to them to assume that it was because I died by sacrificing myself, not because I’d spent a day with Stratos choosing them to get abducted. The guilt was like an entire war pig in my stomach.

“Well, damn,” Jane said. “You’re welcome for saving my life.”

“And what about the new Gift?” Sigrid said. She was a sharp one.

“It came along with Synthesize. I was hoping to surprise you with it later, but...” I opened up my inventory and stuck my hand inside, pulling out a spear.

Sigrid laughed. “For me?”

“I did say we should get you a few extras.” I pulled out another. Then another.

All of a sudden I started wobbling and would have fallen over if Sigrid hadn’t been there to catch me. Jane was right there with her, studying me with concerned eyes.

“What’s wrong, are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Just a bit drained. I used a lot of mana testing out Synthesize. I need food or rest.”

“Rest isn’t an option, we have a team to meet. Here,” Jane said, thrusting her half-eaten drumstick in my face.

I took it from her and tore a strip of flesh off, feeling a bit better after I swallowed it. It almost tasted like chicken. Almost.

“Thanks.”

“Oooooh, an indirect kiss,” Andy said.

“Huh?” Jane said.

“Don’t try to deny it, I saw the whole thing.”

“Deny what?” Jane looked down at me, brow furrowed. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

“Yes,” I said, wincing with embarrassment. “Just ignore him, please.”

She continued to frown at me for a few seconds, then her face lit up. “Oh, I get it. From my lips to yours, and indirect kiss via chicken leg.”

“Why can’t you just ignore it?” I pleaded.

She leaned down until our faces were inches apart and traced a greasy finger along my cheek. “Enjoy it, Daniel,” she purred. “Consider it my thanks for saving my life yesterday.”

I felt her breath in my face, her body close to me. I couldn’t look in her eyes. She was so out of my league.

Then she wiped her hands on the front of my coat, stood up, and said, “You should save that chicken bone, could be worth something someday after I win this whole thing.”

Later, once I’d finished eating the meat off it, I snuck the bone into my inventory when nobody was looking.

We were soon working our way up Dagger Street toward the middle of town. Coming the other way were none other than the Iceman Chuck and his pal Greg. We noticed each other at the same time, and I saw both their eyes widen before Chuck grabbed Greg’s arm and pulled him into the nearest door, which happened to be for a dress shop.

Guess they weren’t so brave when they’re outnumbered.

I saw Jane and Sigrid glare into the shop as we passed it, both with their hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw.

Those girls were awesome. I owed them a lot. If it weren’t for them, I probably still wouldn’t have had anybody on the team yet.

“Hey guys,” I said. “In case I didn’t properly say it before, thanks for your help with getting people onto the team.”

“You know I’m happy to help,” Sigrid said.

“Yeah, you say this like it’s a big deal,” Jane said. “Besides,” she reached out to squeeze my cheek, “you were so sad and pathetic, we couldn’t help but take pity.”

I knocked her hand away. “Gee, thanks.” She laughed and gave me a wink. “And it is a big deal to me. Jeez, you’re making this hard. Look, what I’m trying to say is—”

“We know what you’re trying to say, Daniel,” Sigrid said. “It’s okay, really. You can stop apologizing for wanting to use us.”

“What’s this about Daniel using you? Can I get in on that action?” Andy said, earning a playful shove from Sigrid.

“I’m sure we probably would’ve started helping with recruitment anyway even if you hadn’t asked us to,” Sigrid said.

“Because you would’ve been so terrible at it we’d have had to step in just to save ourselves from your embarrassment,” Jane said.

“No, well yes, but mostly it’s because we like you,” Sigrid said, “and we want this to work as much as you do. Right Jane?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure,” Jane mumbled. “What she said.”

“After all, isn’t that what a team is?” Sigrid said. “A group of people working together, each contributing what they’re good at?”

“Word,” I said.

“Ugh, no!” Jane said, pretending to gag.

“No?”

“Never say that again,” Jane said.

“But it’s cool,” I said.

“Not for you it isn’t. You don’t even know what’s cool.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” Sigrid said.

“Is it?” Jane said.

“I do too know what’s cool,” I said. I closed one eye and flashed a peace sign around the other. “See? I’m da bomb, yo.”

“Oh god, no,” Sigrid said.

“Right?” Jane said.

Sigrid sighed. “Yeah, I hate to admit it but you need to listen to Jane on this one, Daniel. Please, just...no.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling crestfallen.

“Don’t worry about it, just embrace the real Daniel. He’s more than cool enough.”

That’s when I discovered that Sigrid could pull off a smile dazzling enough to give even Jane’s a run for its money.