Following the battle with Ysnik, Opix decided that we needed to get a room in the Mid Tier Zone instead of the old village we’d been staying at. If it was true that she had been tracking us since I spawned, then it wasn’t safe for us to return there.
The walk there was a little too quiet. Cerus wasn’t as boisterous as she’d been up to this point, Opix’s face was particularly more severe, and I personally couldn’t help but feel conflicted. On the one hand, we’d been robbed. Sure, she gave us our stuff back at the end of the battle. All except for Dogtooth’s sword. Still, the reason why stuck with me. It’d probably stuck with all of us, in truth. I’d ask more about that another time, but for now, I needed a nap.
The village in the Mid Tier Zone was a much more sophisticated version of the first one we stayed in. The buildings and roads were still made of stone and wood, but the materials were far more symmetrical and ordered. There were far more people out and about, all gathered in the main street thoroughfare connecting each directional entrance and exit to the city. The wind carried delicious scents from the many restaurants and bakeries in the area, though I didn’t have an appetite for anything in particular right now. The inn we stayed in was identical to the first one, except this one had three beds and a couch with a table instead of a leather chair.
Nobody said anything when we settled in. We each just silently claimed beds and laid down. I stared up at the ceiling, Cerus folded her hands on her stomach, and Opix rested his head in his arms. I knew we were all tired, but I really couldn’t take the quiet. Unsure what to say, I decided to start with something positive.
“Well, we’re on the Battle Board!” I tried in a voice that made it sound like I was trying to convince myself things were normal. I turned to Cerus. “You said you had a plan for me, didn’t you?”
The more I looked at Cerus, the easier she became to read. She wasn’t sad, she was angry. Very angry. She met my gaze and softened. “I do, Grim Hearts. We will discuss it soon. I am merely waiting for the foolish townspeople to rush into our room so that I may take my frustrations out on them.”
“That won’t be happening,” Opix said. We both turned to him, and it was his turn to look angry. “These people don’t have any fight in them. They won’t be participating in the Territory Quest. I’d be surprised if there were more than five alliances actively participating.”
“What makes you so sure?” I asked.
“The Felzian Queen,” Cerus said through gritted teeth.
Opix nodded as if that was enough to answer that. Reading my confusion, Opix explained. “There’s a Heavenly Gem on the line, remember? Having one of those puts you directly against her, because she wants the Heavenly Gems. By obtaining one… hell, by participating in this Territory Quest, you’re putting a massive target on your back. It’s safer for most people to just ignore it and move on.”
”You all have been talking about the Felzian Queen but I have no idea who she even is.” I leaned back into my admittedly comfortable bed, staring up at the brown wooden ceiling. “If she’s our enemy, I think I should at least know who we’re up against.”
“Chaos” was the word Opix used to describe her. Chaos for the sake of chaos. She was this stereotypical moustache-twirling supervillain from cartoons, except she actually existed and she made life in the Ellalara Belt a living hell for those in her way. In the past, she was a regular adventurer – fighting her way across the Ellalara Belt in search of the Heavenly Gems. She was notorious for being particularly childish, and so she was taken advantage of and made a laughing stock by almost everyone who encountered her. Nobody took her seriously…
…Until she got the Heavenly Gems. When she did, she became ruthless. She subjugated every Ellalaran world leader and killed the ones who didn’t accept her authority. She’d make shows out of killing massive groups of innocent people and she’d use her God powers to force people into death games and no-win Territory Quests purely for her own enjoyment.
She’d been at this for over a hundred years now. Cerus was adamant that her entire childish adventurer shtick was just that, but Opix seemed to think it was forced upon her by Final Testament. Either way, the why didn’t change the what.
Dogtooth and Ysnik were both proof of the Felzian Queen. Would Ysnik have tried to rob us if the Felzian Queen wasn’t a threat? Would Dogtooth have tried to kill me if he hadn’t been engaged in conflict with her? On top of that, another, far more morbid thought had begun to form in my head.
Could you blame her?
It was terrible. While I’d never advocate for the kinds of violence the Felzian Queen inflicted, I couldn’t help but compare the two of us. My own life wasn’t kind to me. People never saw me the way Mrs. Gertrude did. The closest people to me were my parents, and they made sure I knew how much they disliked me whenever they got the chance to remind me. The world was cruel. How much of it could one take before they decided to fight back against it?
I again compared the two of us. What would I have done in her situation? If I were back on earth and suddenly gained the keys to godhood and a free wish with the Heavenly Gems. What would I do then? Would I fight back against the world? Would I force my parents to notice me? Would I force the world to notice me? The longer it took me to formulate an answer, the more afraid I’d become. Afraid of myself.
I… I don’t know. I don’t know what I’d do.
More than love, more than friends, more than social status, I desperately wanted to be seen. I wanted to know that I existed, and I wanted the world to know that I existed. Was that not my main purpose in wanting to go back home? For them to see how strong I’d gotten? Then what? What happens after they see how strong I’d become?
I thought of the Felzian Queen, and her answer to that question. Mrs. Gertrude told me to fight to become my ideal person and celebrated the fact that I had the freedom to do that. Was the Felzian Queen doing that? Whatever her actual name was, was the Felzian Queen her ideal self? Right now, I was actively fighting to be my ideal. Is she who I might become?
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Still… no answer. The picture of my ideal self was both clear and blurry. I knew, vaguely, what traits I wanted to embody, but I had no clue what I would look like once I did. It wasn’t like I had a mentor or a role model to look up to. This was all uncharted territory for me, and I had to make it up as I went along.
”Onto lighter topics,” Opix began, snapping me out of my stupor. “We really should get started looking at the Battle Board. Have you guys looked over it, yet?”
“I never had an opportunity,” I answered immediately, jumping at the chance to change the subject.
“No time like the present,” Opix responded. He sat up in his bed. “While you do that, Cerus you can fill me in on this big plan you have for Grim.”
“Oh, right!” She responded. She’d gone right back to her usual self. “I will tell you over chat! Grim Hearts will be informed last! He had his chance and he blew it!”
“You’re gonna make me the leader of the Alliance so people can track us down, right?”
Cerus recoiled. “H-Heavens no.”
I looked over the Battle Network while Cerus and Opix chatted about her mysterious plan. It looked like a marketplace for one of those cash-grab mobile games. There were five boxes on the screen. The center one said “Marketplace”, the two on the left were “Leaderboard” and “Shop” while the two on the right were “Quests” and “Rules”. I ignored the right side and focused on the Marketplace for now.
There were six slots for purchasable items, and five of them had already been cleared out. The purchased slots had blurry outlines of what was available alongside a timer that counted down when the item would be replaced. The store replenished every six hours, and given how close each item's countdown was I could only assume they’d been bought by the same person or Alliance.
I felt my nerves and adrenaline dance around in my stomach as I looked at the remaining item on the Marketplace. It was right there. The thing that allowed the Felzian Queen to become who she became. The thing that brought me one step closer to home.
Green Gem of Greed - 2000BP
Created by the Fifth Overseer.
Assuming we could continue to get 200BP a day, we’d be able to purchase that Green Grem in ten days. Of course, Cerus’ 100BP gave us a head start and we can’t exactly predict running into more Ysnik’s every day. Opix was sure we’d be safe in the village, but if we wanted the big bucks we needed to do more than Battle Network Quests – we needed to pursue other Alliances. Opix began to speak at the same time I backed out of the Marketplace and tapped on the Leaderboard.
“Alright, Cerus told me all about her plan. You seem to already know what it is, so how do you feel about it? Are you comfortable being the leader of the Alliance?”
The Leaderboard was set up just like the Marketplace, except instead of items for sale it showed off members of the Battle Network. Front and center was a headshot of the Alliance Leader with their name and Star count, and below that was the name of their alliance, how many members they had, the exact amount of Battle Points they had, and their most recent location. There was text on the top right of the screen that said their location would be updated every ten minutes. If I had any apprehension about this plan, that all vanished the moment I saw how many Battle Points the top two Alliances had.
Ciz Weroz: 4-Star Reincarnator
Vri’s Vampires
1 Member
496 Battle Points
High Tier Zone
Ciz Weroz looked like she was the same age as the rest of us, with sheet-white skin and hair, pointy ears, and these creepy black eyes with red irises and black pupils. Despite her appearance and the amounts of Battle Points she had, she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.
Honeydew Henrietta: 3-Star Native
Solstice Serenade
6 Members
401 Battle Points
Master Zone
Honeydew Henrietta looked like… well, she looked like a furry. She had the head of a cow, with brown hair, a pink snout, and a gold septum piercing. Where Ciz looked petrified, Henrietta looked battle-hardened.
“Have you two seen the Battle Board? We could have over 1000 BP just by beating the top two teams! Of course I’m comfortable!”
“I told you he would agree! He is my thrall, I pick my thralls well! That is why I have taken the liberty of relinquishing my title of leader to him. There is no difference between Grim Hearts being the leader and me being the leader.” She winked at me.
I decided to check. I could tell she wasn’t lying, but I needed to see it for myself. Lo and behold, there it was.
“How the hell did they get this picture?!”
Grim Hearts: 0-Star Reincarnator
Galerose Alliance
3 Members
280 Battle Points
Mid Tier Zone
It was my fucking high school graduation photo! I didn’t look that different, but the fact that it was even here was horrifying. The only people who’d ever seen it were my parents and Mrs. Gertrude.
“Jobbernowl.” Cerus spat. “Did you forget that the System can peer into your brain?”
“That doesn’t make it any… you know what, whatever. That isn’t important. Right now, we need to discuss strategy.” I sat up as Opix and Cerus turned to fully face me. It was kind of embarrassing being on the spot like this. “Right now, people are going to come for us, aren’t they? What if we flip the scrip and target them instead?”
Cerus gave me a wicked smile. “Yes! That is what we will do!”
“Are we forgetting that we barely beat Ysnik? And she was alone.” Opix noted.
“Grim barely handled Ysnik. You and I were quite fine!” Cerus retorted.
“I agree. You guys fight well together, and I can play the distraction. That’s why I think we should prioritize Ciz Weroz first. She has almost 500 Battle Points and she’s alone. If we overwhelm her, we might have a chance.”
Opix bit his lip, contemplating the circumstances. “I think that might work, but we shouldn’t rush in right now. It’s getting dark, and we need rest.”
“I wasn’t talking about right now, I meant when we head back out.”
“Why not right now?” Cerus questioned.
“At any rate, we’re all still woefully underleveled. Since we’re in the Mid Tier Zone, the Quests available to us give significantly more XP, but we need to be careful now not to take ones that go on for too long like the Spotted Deer Quest.”
I nodded. Being around Opix and Cerus made me want to be a better fighter. Those guys kept up with a 3-Star while I’d barely been hanging on. As much as this plan relied on me being a 0-Star, I didn’t appreciate being the weak one. I wanted to be more useful, and the fastest way to do that was by leveling.
Cerus yawned. “I grow peckish. I will take leave now! The butcher closes two hours after dark and I would like to make Spotted Deer stew.”
Opix cringed. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna go to the store and find something else for myself.” He turned to me. “You want anything?”
“He does not! He will be sharing a meal with me, so that he may become big and strong.”
Opix gave me a regretful look. “Hope you enjoy it.”
I turned to Cerus. “It’ll make me stronger, right?”
“Yes!” Cerus declared.
“No…” Opix warned.
I was hungry enough that it didn’t matter either way. I’d take my chances.