The party continued long after Ersabet and I left for our rooms. I could still hear laughter and song echoing through the stone halls of the building.

I went to my room and collapsed onto my bed, taking a moment to simply relax.

The party had been fun. I had met a few more of the human Hunters. They seemed like nice enough folk to me, at least as nice as monster-killing folk could be.

Thankfully, there was no more drama with the Kurskins, but Djadja’s message couldn’t have been clearer. They were coming for Ersabet. It seemed more out of lost pride than any reason related to the war between their people.

Just another piece of shit added to the ever-growing pile of shit I found myself in.

I couldn’t help but to continually question myself and my goals. I didn’t know what I was doing, and the only goal I had at the moment was to get these people to stop hunting Kitz. But my distress was underlined by my indecision on exactly how I should go about playing this fucked-up game. Val just wanted me to get stronger, and I did want that. But I also wanted to help my people. I wanted to protect them from the evils of the Triarchy. My goal should be to become a thorn in their side, to kill as many of them as I could, but instead I’ve been questing, playing the game.

I told myself that once I got this quest over with, I’d start playing a different type of game. But first, I needed to save Kitz.

‘Hey Val, I need to run some things by you.”

She popped into existence in a wooden chair on the other end of my small room at the Hunters lodge. She had her red hair up in a messy bun, but of course, she still wore a black dress. Although, this one was a more casual style than I would normally see her in.

‘Whatever may I do for you, my dear?’

I had been lying in my bed, so I moved to sit on the edge. “I’ve been thinking about Kitz’s quest, well, the reverse side of Kitz’s quest, actually. Now that I’m a Hunter, can I accept a quest to hunt Kitz?”

‘Yes, you can. Kitz’s information and presumed location are on the Job Board. You haven’t interacted with a Job Board yet, but it's simple. There are multiple Quests to choose from. It’s just a piece of paper with some information on it, but if you remove that piece of paper from the Job Board, it will become an official quest.’

“What is required to complete the Hunter’s quest for Kitz?”

‘To put it simply: Wanted, dead or alive,’ Val said. ‘There’s a better reward for bringing him in alive, which, lucky for him, saved his life.’

“Won’t they just kill him when they bring him here?”

‘Yes. Master Roan will offer little Kitz’s life as a gift to Mother Erda. He believes She will bless himself and his flock.’

“Wait, did I just join a cult?”

“In a way, yes. But it is really only Master Roan and a few others who are devout. The rest of the human Hunters just want to make money to feed their family. It pays well if you have the heart for it.”

That was good to hear. I hoped Minna was one of the sane ones.

“Okay, back to Kitz. Can I cheat the system and fake his death, thus saving him?”

‘In real life, you could,’ Val said. ‘But under the System, it won’t work. Proof of death for the Hunters is both hands and both ears. Parts may vary depending on the creature. But it would be hands and ears for Kitz. If you were to acquire someone else’s hands and ears and tried to pass them off as Kitz to Master Roan, you may get past him, but you won’t get past the System. It will know Kitz still lives, and the contract will not expire. You’ll receive no System-generated reward or experience, and poor Master Roan will write up another contract for Kitz the following day, not even realizing he’s doing it. The System will not let you cheat a quest.’

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“Well, there goes Plan A,” I said, frustrated.

‘Do you have a Plan B?’

“Yes, but it’s complicated. And a long shot.”

‘Now you must tell me.’ She leaned forward. ‘Let me help you, Ethan. I know we’ve had our differences, but I’m on your side until the end.’

I looked at her for a moment, meeting her beautiful gaze. Her gentle smile made it hard to hate her.

“What’s the end?” I said.

Val cocked her head. ‘What do you mean?’

“I mean, what’s your endgame? What are you using me for? How are we going to save the world?”

‘Must you always ask multiple questions at once? It is supremely annoying.’

“I’m listening,” I said.

‘Our current endgame is to steal a Voxal Controller.’

“And what will you do with it after you recharge yourself?”

‘I can’t do anything with it,” she said, a sneer on her face. ‘It requires physical touch to use. You will be the one who uses it to recharge me, and you will be the one who uses it to save the world.’

“You told me the Controller would help me find my wife and recharge you. You didn’t mention anything about us using it to save the whole freaking world, Val.”

‘I didn’t want to overwhelm you.’

I rolled my eyes. “So, how will this device let me save the world?”

‘With the Controller, you will have access to every skill, ability, and spell in the game. Plus, with me aiding you, you can alter the local coding. You will be a god but only within its allowed coding field, which is about a twenty-yard radius around you.’

“Then what?”

‘Then you save the world.’

I was growing frustrated. “How Val? How do I save the world? Spit it out!”

She crossed her arms. ‘Fine. I guess there’s no harm in telling you the plan at this point.’ She let a long breath of annoyance. ‘We make you invincible, fly to the troposphere, and locate the generator for the zero-point energy field. It’s like a space station. Once we’re there, you kill everyone, and we take over. At that facility, we can alter anything within the field however we please. We can turn all the Kurskins into sheep if you want.’

“Can we bring back all the people that weren’t reconstituted?”

She shook her head. ‘No, their organic essence was used in other ways. Their molecules are too far scattered to find. However, we could bring peace to those who still live.’

I already knew those who weren’t rebuilt for the game were likely long gone, but it still hurt to have it confirmed. At least there was some hope for those who lived. I prayed again that my wife was among them.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me all this earlier? If there’s a chance I can save the rest of the humans on Earth, you know I’ll do it.”

‘The only future you should be looking forward to is tomorrow. Your only mission right now is to grow stronger, learn to fight properly and stay alive. Stealing the Voxal Controller should be the last thing on your mind.’

I nodded. “I understand. Still, you could have just told me.”

‘We are speaking in circles now, Ethan. May we please get back to the subject at hand?’

I looked at her, confused. “Huh?”

‘You’re Plan B, you nincompoop! What is your plan to complete this ridiculous quest?’

“Oh,” I said. Val’s revelations had caused me to completely forget why I had talked to her in the first place. “Master Roan is a special NPC right? Like Tara?”

‘He is.’

“How much free will does he have? Can he be influenced to kick the Kurskins out?”

‘Master Roan’s programming is quite thorough, from what I can tell. He exists solely to provide Players with a continuous line of quests. You’d have better luck convincing him to kick out all the humans before he ever thinks about kicking out a Player.’

Damn, I had been worried that that was the case with Roan.

“Hypothetically, what would happen if he died or was forced out of leadership?” I said.

‘His shadow, who you have not yet met, would take over operations. He would act in a similar manner as Roan.’

“And if he dies?”

‘Then the Hunters are no more unless someone steps up to lead them.’

Well, that was one way I could end this quest, but I wasn’t about to murder two innocent humans who had no control over their actions. I would have to find a way to force them out.

“What about the rest of the Hunters? Do you know anything about them? Are any of them special NPCs?”

‘No, they are just ordinary humans. They’ve chosen to become a Hunter for a myriad of reasons. Some of those reasons could be due to their prefabricated history, but none of them are purposefully programmed.’

Good. That meant I might be able to sway them to my cause. If these Hunters truly wanted to rid the world of monsters, I would find a way to show them the truth, to show them that they were hunting the entirely wrong sort of monsters.