“Hijo de puta!” Mika shouted, respawning on Floor 10.

She'd been on Floor 14. The checkpoint had been so close!

And then the ghosts had swarmed her.

She stormed over to the diner, muttering curses in two languages.

Staab and Samuel were at a booth with Bacon and Kimi. Mika slid onto the bench next to Sam and thumped her forehead on the table.

“Didn't work?” Samuel guessed.

Mika held up her middle finger.

“To catch you up,” Kimi said, “Nikki finally replied, and says she hasn't had any problems.”

Mika lifted her head. “Seriously? How?”

Staab smirked. “Take a wild guess.”

Mika sat up. “Ok so she’s giving out food and acting super cheerful. Still, that requires her to talk to people. I don't get that chance.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never really tried talking to people,” Kimi said. “At this point everything in the dungeon with over two brain cells recognizes Nikki as Happy Food Person. And Avi as Quiet Food Person. Their goal was to make friends with everything, and now all their friends are helping them.”

Samuel tapped his notebook. “So far the only people able to advance are those with charm magic or an invisibility and teleport combo. Confirmed it with Bacon, 9 and Ringo’s groups. Avi and Nikki are the only outliers. We have to do what they do.”

“Ok, but…” Mika stopped. She looked at Bacon. “You’ve got cooking pretty high, right?”

Bacon smiled sweetly. “Why yes, yes I do,” she answered.

“I wish this cycle we were in groups,” Staab said. “Holding out a plate of cookies and asking to not be ambushed will feel… silly.”

“Where will you get cookies?” Bacon asked flatly. “Can't bake on a campfire.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Samuel pointed to the diner’s kitchen door.

“Well, you can bake on a campfire,” Kimi said. “But we can also just use the oven here.”

Bacon frowned. “No. That’s- No, we can’t go in there.”

They all looked at Mika.

Mika was glad she didn't have cat ears displaying her emotions at the moment. She smiled at Bacon, hoping it didn't look like she was keeping a major secret. “Sure we can, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Ok, what’s going on?” Bacon asked.

Apparently Mika had failed.

Samuel nudged her, getting up. “Come on, catgirls, let’s do some cooking!”

Bacon stared at the group, eyes going wide. “Oh that explains so much.”

Mika glared, letting Sam and Staab out of the booth. “Like what?”

“For the record I was never a catgirl,” Staab said. “Everyone else was, at some point or other. I was just a mob.”

Bacon smiled at Mika, following Kimi out of the booth. “Let’s just say you and your group are… special. Now let’s bake some cookies!”

*****

.

.

.

The Director frowned, watching the lead player. The one spreading chaos through her dungeon. The one who had carefully planned this cycles in advance.

Nikki.

A few cycles back she’d left messages in bottles on the first ten floors. The notes had been destroyed, but the Director still had videos showing Nikki handing them over. Clearly the notes had been plans. And after getting ahead of everyone, which she was easily able to do with her teleport once her friends stalled everyone else, telling people on the lower floors what to do was easy. She handed out food, telling them her plans.

Nikki would have used the messaging system for this, if she’d had access to it. The Director now wished she’d given the girl access, if only to be able to read the messages herself.

Surely not everyone was bribable with pizza and cupcakes. Surely Nikki had some enemies. Somewhere.

Although someone this cunning might truly be able to charm everyone.

The player in second place was Y. He was simply using invisibility and teleport to slip by everyone unnoticed.

But the third, somehow, was Avi.

The Director didn't find it unusual that members of Nikki’s core group were in the lead. Nor did she find it strange it was these two specifically. Kimi had stayed behind to talk to the other members of Admin 6’s group, as she had a tighter bond with them than the two men.

Y getting ahead was something the Director could allow. Other players were using the same strategy as him. It was fine.

But of the fifteen players with access to silver magic, only two people used it.

The Director decided it was time to reduce that number to one.

Admin 6 had made random mobs players, after all. Surely he wouldn't mind if she switched one mob out for another.