“You're up early,” my dad remarked as I came down the stairs. There he was in his chair, still watching those old cartoons that never got old for him no matter how many times he had seen them. I blinked a couple times, letting out a yawn.

“It can happen,” I shrugged back as I continued on my way to the kitchen.

“Guess you and your friends logged out of your game early, huh?” he then said.

Ah-heh... ah-heh-heh-heh...

“Something like that,” I replied.

“Huh. Your mom left already; she had a couple of early-bird clients today. There's waffles left, or you can have some fruit.” dad then told me, presumably returning his attention to the cartoons just after doing so.

W-waffles? “Left”? Don't they usually come in a box anyway? I wondered to myself with confusion as I reached the kitchen. Heh?! I then wondered in amazement as my nose caught up with my eyes; there on the table were homemade Belgian waffles on a platter.

“Y-you made Belgian waffles today?!” I called back with excitement.

“What's that you always tell me?” he returned. “'It can happen'?”

I could imagine the pleased but sarcastic look on his face as he said the words.

“Thanks, dad!” I exclaimed, and he chuckled from the other room.

Needless to say, I relished breakfast that morning, and after getting ready for the day I was then out the door to the bus at the usual time. Ty seemed more alert today for some reason as I got on, or maybe I was overthinking things.

Come to think of it, if I feel fine right now why the heck was he so tired a couple weeks ago when he first started playing? Unless... of course... he just 'played' straight through without thinking of the consequences...

“Yo.” he said as I sat down.

“Hey.” I replied.

“Saw some forum posts this morning.”

Here we go.

“Something about a bunch of chicks running around with some giant-@$$ dog thing in Xuanpu.”

“Th-that so?” I returned.

Well it's not wrong...

“The hell you into now?” he said in a quieter voice.

“Some sort of epic quest line, I guess. Remind me next time I want a game house to just look for a price tag...” I replied.

“You doing another one of them impossible quests just to get a dang house?” he said to me with bewilderment.

“Now that you say it like that it does sound really stupid...”

“Damn right.”

“But then again you haven't seen the house. Ahh... I guess it's more of a castle.” I then said, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Aight. I can get behind that a little bit.” he shrugged.

“What about you guys?” I wondered.

“We 'got Mount Fang, after all,” Ty said, “But Wild's talking about getting some mats and stuff together for a PvP fortress in one of the free-for-all areas, y'know?”

“Oh cool!” I said, and then tapped the side of my head. “We found out last night that if you craft something like a silver oak into something like a waggon you can put it in magic storage and take it out later.”

“Da hell?” he gave me a funny look, and then slowly nodded in realization. “Ohh, I get you, Dans. You're saying that if we add magic-based mats into something like a wall or a foundation we can store it there and then place it out on the landscape later.”

“The ultimate manufacturing trick for PvP battles.”

“'Bet the GMs patch it up if too many people start doing it.” he said with a grin.

“So don't tell too many people.” I grinned back.

“Let's have some fun with it while we can, yo!” he said, gently pounding my shoulder with a friendly fist.

After revealing that little trick to him for future reference we talked a bit about all the upcoming assignments we had to turn in, further grounding me back in this reality for the time being. When we got off the bus I was less excited than I had been, but Ty carried on the same as ever, giving me the usual flick before heading off to his locker. I found Rachel waiting when I got to mine, and she greeted me with a smile. I smiled back, and opened my locker to get my morning books ready.

“We should finish up with our extra-credit assignment during lunch hour today; we have to turn it in tomorrow, after all.” she said as I did so.

“Oh right!” I suddenly recalled. “I think everything is on the data-disc anyway, so we can definitely do that,” I said, and she nodded back.

You can probably intuit what a data-disc is, but I'll tell you anyway. It's just like it sounds, a storage device for data created on computers and such, durable, portable, and it has exceptional longevity compared to other devices that came before it.

“Good thing we have a club room with computers now,” I said as I finished sorting my books and shut the locker.

“Right?” Rachel said in agreement. “I can't really imagine a world without them, though I can play around in one through them!” she smiled.

“They do lend themselves to that sort of irony,” I agreed as we went to go and sit down. “We create these fantastical devices out of science-fiction tropes and use them to play around in worlds that are primitive by comparison. Not that I'd have it any other way,” I shrugged as we took our seats.

“Same.” she nodded back. “But more importantly: you're fine with Halloween, right?” she then asked me, a subtle smirk on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

“No dresses.” I said adamantly, with as stern an expression as I dared to give her. She giggled, patting my hands.

“I promise. And no loopholes, either, as a bonus promise.” she replied, and I sighed in relief, which made her snicker some more.

Morning classes seemed to drag on more than usual, or maybe it was just my brain trying to reconcile being a student at school who needed to learn stuff for tests instead of a stealthy rogue-assassin running around an epic countryside undertaking heroic quests. Yeah, that was probably it. Although I do remember our science teacher clearly stating that our extra-credit assignments were due tomorrow, if we had done them.

Then the lunch hour came, and Rachel and I went to switch out our books, grab the data-disc, and head for the club room. We found Mary and Anhe already there, and as we situated ourselves at one of the computer desks Ellie and Andrea joined us.

“Hiya!” the blonde girl said as they came in.

“Hey!” Mary smiled, and Anhe waved back shyly.

Still? I wondered to myself as I looked over, and then looked over at Rachel. There was a lop-sided grin on her face, as if she was thinking the same thing as I was. I softly smiled back, and then brought up our project on the computer.

“Boo! Homework. I wanted to talk about how we're gonna finish that quest tonight, now that we know how to stay in-game all night without too many consequences.” Ellie said as she looked over at us.

“They'll notice when the power bills go up,” Andrea said as she sipped from her drink.

“Eh-heh,” Ellie smiled back sheepishly.

“I think we can try one more night that way... Anhe?” Mary asked.

“I would not mind doing it again. It was fun!” she said to us.

“That leaves... Rachel?” Andrea called over.

“Hmm? Oh, I guess. As long as we get homework done first.” my girlfriend replied.

“Of course! And I hope there's a printer for that somewhere...” Andrea said.

“There is. It's on the other desk, but it should work fine.” Mary said to us.

“Gotcha,” I nodded. Rachel and I tweaked our report a bit more, and then when we were satisfied with it we printed it out -- with fifteen minutes left for us to enjoy lunch.

Meanwhile, the others had been discussing our quest objectives in Panarena. And a possible holiday trip over Christmas Break. But mostly the former. As Ellie now recalled for us, we had three places left to examine: Yu, the port city in the north; the Mystic Mountains, the fantastical pillar-range to the northeast of the Forest of Dreams; and finally, the area around Heaven's Mountain.

“I'm guessing we'll find decisive evidence for villainy soon,” Mary said ponderously. “But from what we've been through so far I'm starting to wonder if there's a third faction we don't quite know about in this quest chain that's trying to pit the general against the emperor,” she then noted.

“Ooh, that's possible,” Ellie nodded.

“Hmm. That kind of thing can happen,” I nodded in agreement.

“Now that we have that person's crest we should try to find out more about it,” Rachel then said. “I totally forgot we had it by the time we got out of there,” she said with a sheepish look.

“And then we were all too relieved about having escaped that place to think about what we had picked up,” Andrea nodded.

“Lana has it, right?” Ellie asked her.

“Yep, she has it,” Rachel nodded back.

“Oh! I wanted to ask about Lana,” Anhe then said. “She has a phone number, yes?” she asked.

Ahh... oh. Big oops.

“Sh-she's not in the habit of just giving it out, though,” Rachel said. “It took me two weeks to get it myself.”

Bleh. I gave it to you on day one.

“Ohh... I see. I will just have to get to know her better, then!” the other girl decided.

Oh Mary, your little lamb isn't quite as shy as you thought.

“You're suddenly obsessed with her, huh?” Andrea asked her.

“Hmm... I am not sure why, though.” Anhe remarked. “She's very cute, though.” she added, and then looked over at me and Rachel. Anhe blinked, and then made a studious face. “The way you two are sitting...” she remarked after a moment, and then shook her head.

“Hm?” Rachel wondered.

“It reminds me of how you sit with Lana.” Anhe said with a soft smile.

Eh? Oh... I guess it is nearly the same, huh? I thought to myself.

“True!” Andrea nodded. “What if Sean was secretly Lana?” she then said to the other girl in a loud whisper.

Gyeck!!

“Hm? Hmm...?” Anhe said in a puzzled tone, considering the question. “That would be weird!” she said with a big smile.

“Right?” Ellie agreed. I wanted nothing more than to stick my tongue out at her at that moment.

“… But, Lana is nice. And Sean is also nice, I think. For a boy. If there was a boy who was doing that in a place like Panarena, I think I would definitely be more comfortable with him than most other guys.” Anhe continued.

“Oh?” Mary asked her.

“Because Lana seems very much a girl to me, even though she is very... tomboyish, you say?” the younger girl said, and Mary nodded back. “If a guy goes to that sort of length to understand girls, he cannot be so bad!” she said with conviction.

Wh-what do you know, I thought to myself with amazement. And then another thought took hold of me. Haaang on a second! What exactly do you mean by saying Lana seems very much a girl to you...? “Tomboy” I get! But, but, but--!!

“I'm sure you're right,” Rachel said to her, patting me on the head. I could see the edges of her lips twitching, as if she wanted to break out laughing right then and there. The bell that signaled the end of lunch rang then, and the six of us parted ways, Andrea giving me a sly wink as she left the room. Rachel patted my arm, smiling at me.

“I know I did it to myself, but that was a bit much all the same...” I remarked as we headed off to World Cultures.

“True, you did do it to yourself.” she said softly. “It was kind of funny, though, hearing her thoughts on it.”

“I swear you were about to crack up before the bell rang.” I noted.

“I really was!” she said with a giggle. “Just so long as Lana stays a 'family secret', so to speak.” she then smiled, and I replied with a soft smile of my own.

“I can always accept that.” I said, and she nodded back.

Afternoon classes, which I always preferred, seemed to sail by without a care. In our Theater class, “You and I, Us and Them” still held the top spot for spring productions. The final vote would be cast tomorrow, Thursday, and then on Friday we would hear the results. I could definitely hear some barely-hushed chatter speculating that Rachel and I would be perfect for the lead roles in the musical. It was hard to restrain myself from asking why, beyond the obvious, of course. For the past several years I had gone by as an unnoticed recluse and now suddenly I was the talk of passersby and the whim or fancy of thespians imagining me as the star of a show.

N-not my thing... it's just not my thing! I thought to myself with a sigh as that class ended. Rachel and I made our way to Chinese, and she looked at me curiously.

“Do you... not want to be in the musical?” she asked me, and I looked back at her with a semi-blank expression. “I mean... I kind of bluffed you into it, and you agreed, but...” she continued with an awkward smile.

“I... don't hate it... I mean, I do enjoy it, really,” I told her, quickly amending myself as her face fell at my initial words and then suddenly brightened back up at my explanation. “I just don't want to be the star of the show or anything like that...” I said, and she playfully nudged me.

“They'll make us do try-outs for it, first. It's not like it'll be a drawing to see who gets what part. But I think I am going to try out for the leading lady, at least... so...!” Rachel said to me, and I gave her a look of surprise.

“Y-you're going to try out for Bellina?” I asked her.

“That's right. So I want you to try out for Theo.” she said to me as we reached the door to our next class, smiling as she went inside first.

Oh boy, I thought as I followed her in, she's gonna do the thing if I resist, isn't she? My face partially crumpled in the realization that I might soon be under attack from that merciless one-shot attack I refer to as “the pout”.

“You will, right?” she then asked as we sat down, the features of her face aligning themselves into position for the expression in question. I knew it. Oh boy. Here I go...

“Ahhh... sure!” I said with a faint grin, and she smiled back.

“Good!” Rachel replied. “At least do that much, even if it's just for me.” she added in a softer voice.

“Always.” I whispered back, and she smiled again as class was called to order.

When that last hour of education was over, the two of us returned to our lockers and got ourselves ready for the rest of the afternoon. Promising to meet via video-call for homework later, we went to our separate buses, and were soon homeward bound.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“It's not that hard once you see how it works,” Rachel said to me, trying to explain a math problem.

“Simple math is all I need,” I grumbled back softly. “I don't need 'pi' or 'tango' or any of these other things. If I know two and two is four, that's good enough!”

“It's tangent: sine, cosine, and tangent.” she returned with a smirk.

“Ugh!!” I griped back. “Who comes up with all this stuff anyway? And besides, aren't you usually on my side with math?” I added with a half-grin.

“True! But if we get through this course we don't have to take another math class for the rest of our time at this school, don't you remember?” Rachel replied, a smile on her face.

“Huh?” I wondered, and then flipped through the handouts for the course's introductory page. Sure enough, there it was.

Mathematics 201: an experimental course covering the basics of geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and statistics … Completion of this course with a satisfactory grade will exempt the student from further mathematics courses if they so choose.

“…!!” I couldn't even think of one word to say. I gaped at the paper like a fish trying to get some water, and Rachel nodded at me.

“See? Let's do our best this, and we'll definitely never have to look at another equation ever again!”

“Wh-what kind of lax curriculum is Dr. Robertson promoting at this school?” I suddenly wondered, reminded not only of the more out-of-the-box philosophy of education our school had but also the inclusion of our club as a legitimate club.

“Hmm... I think he's less concerned about the stereotypical basics and more concerned with getting students interested in things they already like and trying to get them to see how those things can be applied in real life, or at least that's what I get from talking with Mary about it,” Rachel replied thoughtfully.

“Come to think of it, I kind of had those same thoughts about that very thing a while back...” I realized.

“Let's pay them back by getting through this with green marks!” she returned with a smile. I sighed gently, smiling back at the angelic features on the screen before me.

“Let's do that.

***

Once homework had been finished (with a lot of help) and dinner had been eaten, I was released into the wilds once more to resume my natural activities in my natural environment. Upon logging in to Panarena, I found Fyu sitting upright, his eyes steady on the horizon to the south and east as the rest of us materialized. I made my way over to him, and his eyes briefly turned towards me before resuming their focus in the distance.

“Hail, masters. It is good you are here. I see trouble on the horizons; a group of what may be bandits, heading for the walls of Yu.” he told us.

“You think it's related to our quest?” I asked him.

“It is not impossible,” Fyu nodded. “Yet it may also be a coincidence. There was no other trouble these past few days, however, so I am more skeptical of coincidence.” he told us.

“Let's hurry up with our quest here and then head for the Mystic Mountains,” Lizzy said as she took in the words. “I bet we run into something involving the bandits whether we go after them or not.”

“They may have also been meant to come along later, and our log-out hastened their interference -- if they're a part of the quest, that is.” I remarked. “It could just as easily be a random event, like the ones in the Eldritch Tomes.”

“Oh right!” Lizzy exclaimed. “Well, what d'ya say? Wanna head them off?” she then said to us with a merry gleam in her eye. The rest of us decided to go along with this sorta-plan, and we hurried to get into a position where we could waylay the waylayers.

When we get finished with this quest, so help me, I don't care how boring it is, I'm going back to normal grind-quests... I thought to myself as we did.

Sure enough, the bandit party ended up being a side-event of the quest we were on. One of them had the strange badge we had been coming across, and another bore the crest that Ariana and I had discovered from our would-be interrogator. We entered Yu after dealing with them, and set to work on our main goal.

Yu was the main port-city for Xuanpu in the north; there were two outlying ports in other areas that had direct transits, Gatz in the Firelands and Fizero in Stormwraith Hold. Neither of those were important right now but it was handy to know for future possibilities, I suppose. There was a strong naval presence in the city here, though it was apparently not as strong as the main royal navy in the Crystal Ocean to the south. Aside from that this place was mostly a haven for fishermen, merchants, and smugglers as well, along with the occasional pirate. The latter two groups had their own port in an area that was kept well-hidden, according to the rumors we picked up from NPCs. Yet when we had cleared the main goal of finding out more information about what was going on in Yu -- strange shipments and inordinate amounts of weapons and arms from other kingdoms, along with rumors of foreign mercenaries inbound -- we found that another goal had emerged.

“And why am I not surprised it wants us to try and investigate these secret ports?” I remarked as we reviewed the objective together in a local tavern.

“I wonder if it's any use splitting up...” our smith sighed, a bemused look on her face.

“Probably not.” Healina shrugged.

We looked over the local map of the area, examining the contours of the land and picking out spots on the coast that seemed likely. Ariana and I were betting on a spot about half a mile northwest of the actual harbors, while the others were dead-set on a location that was near to a mile east of them. Well, except Anhe, who wasn't saying anything about either option.

“Anhe?” Maryn asked her.

“I do not know which seems best. Both locations seem good to me,” the younger girl replied, an almost sad look in her eyes.

“There's one way we can be sure.” Ariana then said, and we turned to her. “If we can sneak into the lighthouse tonight, we can keep a watch on the coasts and see where the 'shadier' merchant ships head towards.”

“Oh, good idea!” Heali agreed at once.

“That means you and Lana will have to go.” Lizzy said. “The rest of us will have to stand by and wait somewhere.”

“True.” I returned.

“It's practically night already,” Maryn said to us. “You two should wait about another hour or so and then go. We'll rent a room at the inn across the street and wait for you.”

“That works!” Ari smiled back.

“Be careful!” Heali said to us as we all stood up to go our separate ways. A few more farewells were exchanged, and then Anhe turned back as the other headed out, coming over to take my hands.

I looked at her in surprise; Ariana had a concerned expression on her face. Anhe looked up after a moment, smiling at me as she squeezed my hands. I suddenly had a similar feeling to the one I'd gotten when Angelfire nearly did something similar.

“Please be careful, Lana.” she said to me in a soft voice, and then followed the others to the inn across the street. I stood there blankly for a moment, and then Ariana put a hand on my shoulder.

“You okay?” she asked me.

“I... well,” I turned to her, mustering a smile, “Let's take her goodwill and get going.” I said, and she nodded, unsatisfied by the answer but unwilling to press me at the moment. We strolled around the city for another hour or so, and then, with the aid of my shadow sharing, we scaled the lighthouse and sat down to observe the northern horizons.

***

“Honestly though, you could stand to be a little less dense,” Ariana said to me as we continued to keep watch. A cringing look came to my face. We had been chatting about Anhe's actions and its implications for about twenty minutes now after about two hours of mostly silent watching; I was trying to pass it off--not in the way that a total cad would do so, just in the way that -- you know, I'll let the conversation speak for itself.

“You know how I feel, Ari, about us, and about them. Anhe caught me off guard a little, and I felt embarrassed about it, but I wasn't thinking anything untoward.” I told her.

“That's true,” she said, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “But you could stand to show it a bit more. Maybe we should just tell her the truth now. She seems surprisingly more accepting than we might have guessed at first!”

“That's true,” I agreed, monitoring a ship that had just come into my sights, “But I think it might be best to let her do the actual asking, or maybe wait for a clue from Maryn...”

“Maryn is another story...” Ari quipped back in a tone that seemed to hover between conflicting emotions.

Oh, snap, again?

“D-did she say something?” I asked her.

“What's that stutter about?” she wondered suspiciously.

“I just don't want you to think that I of all people would be--” I started, and then she cut me off.

“You're right. I'm sorry. I overthought it.” Ariana then said. I switched off my skill, and turned to her, embracing her from behind as her own skill got paused.

“I'm sorry.” I said to her softly as she took my hands. A moment passed by, and then I spoke again. “All of this is still new to me. I'm not used to being anywhere near attention, at least not the friendly kind. I'm not purposefully trying to make you uneasy with the way I react to some things, it's just that I don't know how to react sometimes.” I continued, and she reached a hand back to stroke my hair.

“It's okay. I'm still new to it also,” she replied softly. “This is the first time things have been stable for me in any sense of the word, and maybe part of me is subconsciously expecting things to destabilize again. That's always my biggest fear. I'm sorry if it comes out on you.” she said to me, a tear falling from her eye.

“Ari,” I whispered, holding her tighter. We sat like that for a moment longer, and then we both caught something with her farseeing skills. “What's that?” I wondered, and she zoomed in on it.

“No colors,” she remarked, zooming out again to see where it would turn. “Wait, I do see a flag after all; it's the same design as the badge.”

“Hmm,” I mused, watching the vessel intently. When it got closer to the coast, it veered towards -- the north. We watched it for another ten minutes to be sure; sure enough, it started lowering its sails as it approached that point the two of us had estimated on the map. “I knew it, there's some sort of cove there, after all. Wait, I get it; the cove might be hidden by certain tides and this is one of the only times they can get in or out,” I said, and Ariana nodded back.

“That would make sense,” she agreed. We waited a bit longer, and then observed it vanishing into a cliff. “Let's get the others!” she then exclaimed, and the two of us descended from our perch in secret and made our way to the inn.

When the others heard that the ship had gone north instead of south, Lizzy and Maryn exchanged an amused grin while Healina simply sighed. Anhe jumped up at once, ready to go, and with that inspiration the others got up as well so we could make our way there. We crossed the distance in a fairly short time, heading up to the spot where we had last seen the ship.

“It disappeared around here,” Ariana said, once again activating her farseeing skills to search; as we had thought, there was a cavernous entrance just large enough for a ship to get through, but the water level was now rising so as to make passage unsafe.

“Two options: hunt for a side-door, or swim.” Lizzy said.

“Let's do both,” I returned. “You take Anhe and Maryn to scout for a side-door, since you're the heavier fighters; Ari, Heali, and me will slip in through the main entrance here. It's easier for the three of us to hide once inside.”

“By that logic you three should search for the side-door and we should go through the seaward entrance as a distraction; besides, with a ship just having come through it they'll be a bit more alert.” Maryn said, and rightly so, I might add.

“Or maybe they'll be focusing on taking the cargo or whatever the ship brought in into town for sale, and the side entrance will be more heavily guarded now. With a ship just having entered, they could be more lax watching the seaward side at the moment,” I countered.

“That's a fair point,” Maryn agreed, pondering the dilemma we now had. Healina and Anhe exchanged a glance with each other while the rest of us mulled it over some more.

“No,” I then shook my head after a moment. “Let's stay together. We'll all go in the seaward side, since we know where it is.” I told them, and they all agreed to this. We took off our gear, and dove into the ocean from the height of a cliff that jutted out over the waters below us.

As I suspected, Healina, being a Sea Elf, had the easiest time under the waves. She also spotted something Ari and I hadn't considered, that there was another side entrance under the water small enough for us to slip in through. We made our way inside through this, taking note of a sign next to it as we did. Our swim made its way through a long, winding tunnel that eventually surfaced us in a small cavern, where we put our gear back on and took stock of our surroundings.

“What did that sign say?” Maryn asked.

“Hmm... 'Pan Zan', I think,” Anhe told us, and Healina nodded.

“That sounds like something from the guide book; the Secret Pirate Haven of Pan Zan.” she added.

“Ooh, 'secret haven'; I like it!” Lizzy said as she stretched herself.

“And we should really craft some swim gear for next time...” Anhe then remarked, blushing as we started off.

“Hmm?” I wondered, and then immediately affected a bemused expression.

“Are you not embarrassed?” Anhe asked us shyly.

“Hmm...” Lizzy rubbed the back of her neck. “We've seen each other a few times before up to this point; but it would be interesting to see if swim gear had any bonuses we could use,” she remarked.

“That's an unexpectedly diplomatic reply coming from you,” Healina said with surprise.

“I can be nice! You know I can! That was perfectly nice!!” Lizzy snapped back at once, Heali fending her off with a cheeky grin.

“Besides, if Lana really was Sean, would that not be embarrassing for all of you?” Anhe then wondered. Healina and Lizzy turned back to her, while Maryn and Ariana exchanged a goofy smile. I checked my map idly, pretending to be more focused on it than the conversation.

“Ahh... well, I guess I don't quite see Sean in a romantic light anyway... more of a dopey little brother that needs watching,” Lizzy remarked.

Oy...

“Same.” Healina shrugged. “I used to share a bath with my cousins when I was little, anyway, and they were both guys.”

“Oh? So you see him as family, in a way?” Anhe returned.

“He does fit the hopeless little brother role quite nicely, doesn't he?” Maryn remarked.

Oy...!!

“Hmm... I do not know!” Anhe replied. “Maybe a hopeless older brother?” she smiled.

… Oy!!

“What do you think, Lana?” Lizzy called over to me.

“I think we have a quest to get on with; we can discuss Ari's boyfriend another time.” I quipped back, suddenly alighting on something I saw on the map. It was our objective.

“True.” Ari herself spoke up, coming over to see what had grabbed my attention. “Is that... is that on the ship which just sailed in here?” she wondered as the others came over.

“I think you're right,” I nodded back.

“Let's hurry, then,” Maryn said, and the six of us started off in earnest, making our way through the caverns to find the newly-arrived ship.

We fought our way through several guard-patrols and a few rooms of pirates and smugglers gathered together over card games or ale-drinking contests, finally emerging in a spacious cavern where nine ships were docked. I turned on Shadow Sharing to keep us obscured while we searched for our target vessel, keeping an eye on the patrols that were rhythmically wandering about. There were fifteen of them, and over four times their number idling about in random places around the cavern.

“The quest objective hasn't moved yet, so it must still be on the ship,” Ariana whispered. “It's that one, the junk with the pinkish-red sails folded down.” she pointed; the flag was still fluttering lazily at the top of the mast.

“There's thirteen in our way directly, five patrolling and eight on the ship itself,” I said quietly.

“But unlike traditional games, once we start attacking any of them, they'll all notice us,” Lizzy reminded us.

“How about the rest of us act as a diversion while Lana goes and gets the quest item?” Healina then said. “I mean, do something--I dunno, more thief-like for a change,” she said to me.

“Y-you guys suddenly started grating on me tonight...” I muttered.

“Hmm? On who? I thought we were ragging on Sean earlier?” Lizzy remarked innocently.

“But you're right, let me try that out for a change.” I quickly said, and the others nodded back at me. “Okay; get ready, I'm going to deactivate Shadow Sharing and scoot into Shadow Veil,” I told them.

“Ready!” Maryn said as she held up her sword and shield once more. I switched off the skill, and she, along with Lizzy and Anhe, charged into the pirates with a yell while Ariana and Healina prepared their skills to help them. I vanished again, scurrying over to the junk that Ari had located. The pirates that had been aboard it were now after Maryn and the others; I caught a glimpse of their levels as I slipped by them.

S-seventy? Ehh, they'll be fine as long as they keep Healina safe; actually, with Ari's small heals and Anhe's defensive techniques boosting Healina's own skills, I wonder if we could take on a world-boss someday? I thought to myself as I opened the door quietly and went into the cabins. I noticed my XP bar going up several times as I stalked through the ship; party experience is not good for nothing.

Once I reached the cabins, I searched everywhere: shelves, chests, drawers, under the bed and tables, in the rafters; eventually I came up with a couple of rings and a book, but the quest marker was still on the ship. A bug? Wait, no, not a bug... it was pointing down. There was something else here, down in the hold. I slipped into the shadows again and made my way down. The marker directed me to a large safe, which I promptly tried to open.

Eh...? It won't... oh, I need to pick the lock, I mused as I tried the handle. Well *duh* I need to pick the lock, I reminded myself with a shake of my head.

Now this was something I hadn't tried since playing the Eldritch Tomes. As someone who played a shadow-type character, I had naturally put points into the lockpicking skill, but I had almost never used it. Mostly I had bought tomes from trainers to keep it up to par with the skills I used more often.

This is a nice change after all, I decided. Suddenly I heard the hurried thumping of people racing into the interior of the ship, and a familiar voice shouting orders.

“Hurry! Hurry hurry hurry! We have to save Lana!” Lizzy called out.

Ehh? Save me? From what? I wondered as I continued picking the lock, and then suddenly I felt a cold chill run down my spine.

“So you think you can waltz in here and rob my safe?” a deep and threatening voice said from the shadows. The door burst open behind me, and my five allies rushed in.

“Lana!” Ariana called in a desperate voice, almost fainting in relief as she saw me alive.

“Get away from it, now!!” Maryn shouted to me, and instinctively I did a barrel-roll towards them, jumping to my feet and taking out my daggers.

“What was that voice??” I asked hurriedly.

“A pirate champion-elite boss; he suddenly appeared in the caverns and--”

“Ha!!” the thing in question shouted, suddenly materializing from the shadows.

On pure instinct I dived into the shadows while Maryn bashed him in the face with her shield to grab his attention. Her successful diversion allowed me to use Shadow World, and I launched a series of furious attacks, Thousand Needle Strike, Flurry of Knives, Doomstrike, and Heart Stinger among them. I slipped back into the shadows while Anhe and Healina buffed us all up, the former launching her own attacks in tandem with Lizzy and Maryn while Healina turned to healing. I slipped over to Ariana's side and took out my bow, attacking when she used her magic.

For all the hitpoints he had and all the damage he could do--Healina had her work cut out for her this time--he never really used any special attacks and neither did he summon up or call any minions, so we were able to whittle him down and finish him off in a reasonable ten minutes or so. Once he was gone, a key materialized in my inventory, and I let out a long sigh.

“So much for being a proper lockpicking thief,” I said exhaustedly, taking the key and using it on the safe as Ariana giggled.

Upon opening it, we found a trove of nice items, mostly potions, scrolls, and coin, along with a ledger-tome that finally updated our quest log. Now we only had the Mystic Mountains and the place around Heaven's Mountain to check.

“These are some nice potions!” Healina said as she examined them. “Ooh, crafting elixirs! And critical success boosters!”

“Nice!” Lizzy exclaimed with delight. “Well, we're that much closer to another level and our quest is coming along nicely. Let's get out of here and hit the mountains,” she then said, and we began hastening out of the ship.

“Hey.” Ari patted my shoulder; I turned to her, and she pressed her lips against mine. “Thought I was going to lose you for a moment,” she said, and I smiled back.

“It's not like we actually die,” I said as we went to catch up with the others.

“I know. But still. It'd be a blight on our name if one of us died now,” she grinned.

“That's true!” I agreed.

“Come on, lo--ahhh, Lana! And Ari, too!” Lizzy called to us as we exited the ship and found them on the jetties waiting. We hurried after them, and began making our way out of the caverns to return to Fyu.