Another day, another dollar. Jack had been surprised to not feel sore the next day, and even more surprised when the guards had asked them if they wanted to redo the dungeon. He had expected it to be too much for the group, but everyone seemed to be receptive to it.

This time, he’d at least make it to the end.

“Take the ones to the right, any stragglers should be left to my puppets. Do not fight if you’re not Liam or Arturo, unless you absolutely have to.” Jack said, sighing in frustration as he walked forward with his spear, making sure no one in the group acted out too much with “Strings of Fate”. They were all too rash at times, going in despite having no need to, especially the immature Elijah…

So he kept them subdued with his magic, all except for Jack and Arturo, who had enough constitution to do as they wished. He’d have made Mary into a frontliner as well, but someone needed to stay back and protect the hierophant, Charlotte. Since Mary was the only one with a good constitution that could also attack from long range as well as close, she was the best choice for a vanguard.

Before they’d come back here, he had made sure to gain a proper knowledge on all of them. Fortunately, he hadn’t really needed to pry the information out of them. That was all thanks to the princess. “Liam, keep yourself cautious, you may be at a higher level but you can still be hurt.” Liam dodged the lunge of an offhand goblin, slamming his shield down onto their back and shattering the ground in the process.

That thing was definitely dead.

“...yeah.” Liam said, his eyes never once meeting his.

Jack just smiled, shoving his spear into the heart of a goblin kicking its legs, throwing it aside, allowing Gobbo and his newly named Goblin, Gobpup, to take care of it. They both slashed at it with their daggers, large enough to look like swords in their tiny hands. He could see Liam glance at him and the goblin’s with some fear and caution, even as he brutalized another goblin without any remorse.

The poor guy still seemed uncomfortable around him. It seemed their little conversation last night must have gotten to his head. Good. At least the argument had ended without anyone being hurt. He waited until the shuddering goblin beside him slumped to the ground before releasing his hold on the spear. His body felt stronger, better… He was glad to have had that talk before they had come back to the dungeons.

It seemed he had ‘leveled’ up.

_____________________________________________________

Jack had never really felt embarrassment, it just never seemed like a feeling worth delving into. Now, though? Well, if there was ever a time for embarrassment, it would have been now. “...so no, Jack… You don’t get twice as strong when you level up, and Leveling up doesn’t mean to go up a level… No, wait. It kinda does, but not really. Uh.” Liam and Charlotte seemed frustrated at him, which frustrated him in turn. He had never had a problem learning in school, but he’d also had proper teachers.

This?

“You just become… stronger, I guess? Liam, I haven’t played any of those types of games, is that really it?” Charlotte said, to which Liam groaned. “You too? I thought we were explaining this to Jack… It's not just strength, usually they also mean new skills and powers. I got one when I became level 2, I think… You did too, right Char?” She nodded, opening her status in front of them. Jack nodded, less to affirm Liam and more to affirm his own thoughts. The thought that these two were very bad teachers. He’d gotten the gist of it, though, even when they tried their best to do otherwise.

“So, Leveling up makes you stronger proportionate to the rank… And it doesn’t just include strength, it also includes skills and possibly other types of rewards. And by what you two are implying, it seems that it’s harder to level up the larger the number becomes… ” The look of shock on the two made him feel a bit insecure of his answer, until they spoke up.

“Ah, yeah… That’s basically it, I guess? Wow, guess we must be good teachers, huh Char?” Liam went to slap the girl’s back, before seemingly stopping himself. It seemed his friend had taken his words to heart. The girl was also beaming, not once noticing the inner turmoil of his friend. “...Is that all you wanted to ask, Jack? I mean, by the way you guys were acting it was like you were asking me to hide a body or something.”

Jack laughed at the joke, hoping it was, in fact, a joke. “No, of course not. We were just wondering how you felt about all this. About everything.” He noticed the confusion on their face, before realization set in. “Oh, you mean the hero thing?” It unnerved Jack that ‘Hero’ was the word Liam was using to explain this situation. This was a hostage situation, one that was a bit lax, sure, but still. They were forcefully brought here, and were blackmailed with their lives.

Why was none of that showing up on Liam’s face, then? “I mean yeah, It sucks but… It’s not like there’s anything we can do about it, right? They need us, and we need to help them if we don’t want the world to end…” Their posture immediately straightened, and their eyes seemed more relaxed. They even seemed to have a sheepish grin on their face, as if saying, “~ah, what can we do?~”

It was baffling. Why did talking about this make him more comfortable? Jack’s eyes turned to Charlotte, who seemed to be just about as uncomfortable as him. Liam was buying into this whole debacle way too much, and it was too the point that it may have been unhealthy. He had to set in some seeds of doubt.

He had to lie.

He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Liam… There’s no proof that what they’re saying is true. You know that, right?” The way they stiffened made him wonder if he had been too blunt, before Liam suddenly started laughing. It was jovial, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Hahaha! Dude… You can’t still be thinking that this isn’t real. Like, Abby shot a beam out of her hand… your hand was fixed up immediately. Hahaha…” They paused for a second, before looking away from Jack’s prying eyes.

”We killed monsters…” The amusement seemed to drain out of his voice, never once looking up from the floor.

Even as this was happening, Jack couldn’t help but wonder if this was all planned out. If the princess or the rest of the royalty were planning on using their guilt and insecurity to mold them into proper soldiers… It would have been effective, at least. Even Jack wasn’t immune to the idea of blackmail.

He put on an idiotice grin, placing a hand on Liam’s head. They tried pushing him away, but not enough to the point where he thought he was doing something wrong. “What the hell are you talking about, dude… Of course I know this is real. I mean… look at them.” He pointed to the two goblins, who had still been on the floor. “I really don’t think they’d let us do that if it was just a prank.” He laughed again, and this time Liam tried chuckling along.

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It was enough to make him think it was time to pull the question.

“It’s the princess I’m worried about.”

___________________________________________________________________

Gods, they looked magnificent. The group stared in awe as a goblin the size of Arturo stood in front of them, holding a sword the size and weight of a normal goblin. They held a sneer on their face, chuckling to itself as it neared them. It was the only one among the group of goblins with clothes that seemed to fit him, somewhat, but what made it a bit more menacing was the armor pieces it had. In that sense, it was better armed than most of them.

Jack wanted it.

He wanted it badly.

Jack had to get it first. “We can’t just rush in… Everyone, stay together. Liam, Arturo… and I will take it from the side.” Not bothering to listen to their approval, Jack eagerly went to run in, before he was stopped by Mary. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Jack?” Her voice was angry, as if she was looking at a child who broke a voice. He tried pulling away from her, only to stop as he felt his bones creaking.

There just wasn’t time for this, Arturo and Liam were already beating the creature down. Getting on one knee, he grabbed the hand holding him, a look of pain on his face. “A-ah… You’re hurting me, Mary.” As planned, the girl let go in surprise, allowing him to roll out of her way and run into the fray of battle. Behind him, he could hear her scream. “Jack! You bastard!” She wouldn’t just leave Charlotte alone, however, so he knew he was safe.

Brandishing the spear, he shouted at his two goblins to stay by his side. Ever since he’d used ‘Train puppet’ on the unnamed goblin, it had started moving with the same grace as Gobbo. It even blocked a few strikes that would have hit Jack otherwise, so he couldn’t help but feel grateful for its existence. It had taken him an hour into the dungeon before he’d decided on giving it a name. It was a lazy one, but nowhere near as Lazy as Gobbo, he supposed.

“You two, strike at its legs. I’ll hit it from behind. Strings of Fate, Weaving Fortune” He let go of the strings on everyone else, instead focusing on the strings inside himself. When he used either skill, they always helped in subtle ways, making him better at certain things and less hesitant in others… Combining them both? Even with his new shift in strength and balance, with his new burst of agility and dexterity, he felt comfortable in his body.

He wouldn’t make any mistakes in this fight, now.

The two fighting the massive creature turned to him in shock. “Jack!? What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to… hrk!” Without any hesitance, the massive green monster took advantage of Liam’s momentary distraction, swinging their sword in their direction. He was barely able to block it, being thrown back from the force. His goblins didn’t even get the chance to attack as they were also thrown aside with little to no effort. That brute strength…

Jack wanted it.

The sword came at him next, and he dodged out of its way in time to slash at the monster with his spear, leaving a small wound in its stomach. He might as well have stuck it in the eye, considering the horrific roar that came out of its mouth. It tried attacking him, but they were stopped by Arturo, and his new, fancy weapon.

A massive mace.

The creature barely stopped the swing, parrying it to the side before punching his friend in the stomach. It seemed enough to knock the air out of Arturo, but not before he managed to grab their arm, picking them up by the waist and dropping them to the floor. “...Jack! Get away from here… You’re going to get hurt!” The big man gasped out, trying to pull the sword out of the creature’s hands as he smashed their face in with his fist. Even in the heat of battle, Jack couldn’t help but be surprised.

Weren’t they angry at him?

Without thinking, Jack brandished his spear, jamming it as hard as his body could manage into the inbetween of the green monster’s muscled wrist. It screeched, letting go of its sword and kicking off Arturo in a fit of rage. It looked at Jack for a moment, before grabbing the spear with the hand that was pierced, and smashing the wood with its bare hands. Its green face was tinged red as it jumped off from the ground, charging at him.

Jack would have run at this point, but Arturo and Liam seemed down for the count, and running now would put the healer in danger, which would be terrible…

He needed her to heal his new puppet’s hands, after all.

“Strings of Fate, Weaving Fortune… Capture Puppet” His strings mellowed out, pulling gently towards the charging monster. He wasn’t scared, knowing that in its anger its attacks would become predictable, that its strings indicated exactly how its body would move. He swiveled to the right, ignoring the punch thrown his way. He found it amusing that it used its injured hand for that, but this wasn’t the time for those types of thoughts.

The strings had finally closed in enough to capture the bastard.

He laughed as his mind started exploding in agony, a sharp, horrible pain that reached the inner depths of his being. The same seemed to be happening to them, letting out a roar so loud that for a moment, all Jack could hear was ringing. It almost crumpled to the ground, before putting an arm below it to catch itself, looking up at him with all the hatred in the world. This creature was strong, to the point that even in this horrid state it was capable of putting up a fight. He had to continue this fight.

“Gobbo, Gobpup… Hurt him.” The words were laced with some unknown energy, and he looked to his right to find the two almost magically rise up from the ground, with no support or anything from them. He watched in disgust as they basically flew towards him, the two’s bones and muscle waving around erratically as they did so. For the first time, he looked at them and understood his class.

They really were puppets.

They brought their daggers down on the monster’s back, sinking in far deeper than Jack would have thought. The monster screamed, trying to pull them away from him as the two continued to stab it. At some point, it stopped yelling, merely groaning in agony as the goblins continued violently stabbing it, before crumpling to the ground. The strain on his mind lessened, ever so slightly, and he saw the strings on the creature shift and change to meet his…

But it still didn’t snap away.

Cursing, Jack turned towards the group, his eyes wild and dangerous. “Charlotte! Get over here!” His eyes scanned the area, ignoring the concerned looks of everyone, including Liam and Arturo, who he had still considered incapacitated just moments ago. He looked past them all, focusing on the shivering young girl hiding behind Mary, looking at him with eyes of fear.

He didn’t care.

“Charlotte!” He shouted, baring his teeth in anger for the first time in almost 9 years. He didn’t care about what they thought of him at the moment, didn’t care of what they’d see him as afterwards… Right now, there was something in front of him that he wanted, that he needed.

He wasn’t about to let a stupid girl’s cowardice get in the way of that.

“Strings of Fate. Charlotte, calm down and heal the monster.”

His words came out full of energy, full of the magic he felt when he pulled the strings around him. And for a moment, everything went his way. Charlotte, as if woken up from a dream, ran towards him with a new resolve. She stopped the moment she hit his back, hiding behind him as she stuck out an arm out. “H-healing… Healing Bolt!” She still seemed scared, but the fire in her eyes to accomplish the task was clear.

He had never been so thankful for someone else’s existance until that very moment.

The monster in front of him had mutiple wounds on its back, only growing more terrible and plenty by the second as his goblins had basically latched onto its back. Even with that horrible scene in front of him, a noticeable chunk of the wounds closed up in the time the girl had used her spell. Her eyes widened in shock, and he almost told her she was doing well until she shouted out once again. “M-mass Healing!”

The words seemed almost ethereal, crushing everyone around him, including the monster, in a bright, yellow light. He watched in horror as the light appeared above him as well, covering him in a faint, sparkling gold.

Then his mind went on the fritz.