What’s my name? Should I tell her? Or should I give her my alias? Should I make up a new alias?

The giant cleared her throat, sounding impatient.

“Burion, Burion Belov,” I answered. I figured going with the alias my team knew was best. If she were to meet them somehow and called me by a different name . . . well, things could get awkward. More awkward than just meeting a giant.

She smiled, her teeth were not sharp or pointed like some of the kin, nor were they square and flat like other races of the kin. “Pleased to meet you, Burion. It’s been so long since I’ve had someone to talk to. You’re going to have to tell me all about the outside world now. How have the kin progressed? Are you many nations or just one large nation? Do you still enslave others or have you matured past that? I have seen plenty of parties made up of many different Kin in my lair, so I assume you don’t have the same problems with racism that we humans did. Or is the nation I’m located in some manner of utopian society? Where is my lair now? I haven’t moved it in so long, it takes a lot of energy you know. Do you think I should move?”

It was too many questions to answer at once, especially with the way she was rapidly firing them off.

“Calm down,” I finally snapped. “I can’t answer anything if you don’t give me a chance to reply. And please, put me down.”

The human blushed, “Sorry, did I mention it’s been a long time since I spoke with anyone?” She set me on my feet on the arm of the throne. She then sat in the throne, pulled her knees up to her chest, and rested her feet in the seat just below the arm where I stood. Doing so gave me a much better view of her footwear and I breathed a giant sigh of relief. They weren’t made of rabbit-folk heads, just made to look that way. They actually looked kind of cute in a mocking sort of way that any rabbit-folk would find offensive.

I straightened my clothes and tucked my shirt back into my trousers. Once I was satisfied, I addressed the giant. “What do you mean, how have the kin progressed?”

“Your technology? Are you heavily reliant on magic? Machines? A mix of both? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with the Technomancer Job yet, but I admit, I don’t pay much attention to those entering my lair these days,” she rattled off.

“Um, magic and machines . . . I’m not sure what machines are exactly, but we are mostly not reliant on magic. Though not many of the kin have magic.”

The human nodded, “Interesting. A machine is like a crossbow. It uses science to work.”

I nodded, understanding finally coming. “So, like muskets and pistols or wagons.”

“So, you’ve developed gunpowder. This is good to know. I’ll have to update my loot table to start including things with that level of technology. Sadly, your people are not quite ready for Technomancy. A few hundred more years and you might be. Now, what about your governance? Kings and queens? Elected governments? Theocracies? What’s the political landscape look like?”

“Many nations, mostly kings, queens, emperors and the like. Two or three theocracies, I think. A couple nations use a council. I don’t know of any that use elected governments currently. From what I remember from history lessons, elected governments are usually plagued with corruption until they eventually collapse and a dictator takes over,” I answered, digging deep into my limited knowledge. It was something I had just started learning from my Handler before this mission emerged.

“Sounds about right,” she said with a sad sigh. “I’m afraid you’ve a long way to go before your people are ready for that kind of governance. Oh well. What about slavery and racism?”

I shrugged. Both existed. Most nations frowned upon both but there was only so much that could be done to put a stop to it short of war. “Slavery is banned in most nations. Racism exists. There are just too many of the kin of different races all over the world. Some kin see themselves as superior to other kin. I don’t think it’s too bad in most places.” I was reminded of my Handler’s story about the horse-folk and zebra-folk. Where was that again? I couldn’t remember so I focused on the giant.

She frowned, a look of disappointment evident on her face. Eventually she sighed and changed the topic, “So, where is my lair now? What is my host nation like?”

“You're located near the city of Mancer. Which hosts an academy that helps train us to use our skills and magic. Kin from all over the world attend. It's a good place, I think,” I answered.

She smiled at that. “Good, if it was an evil nation, I might have to force a lair break.”

“Can you do that?” I asked, not liking her willingness to kill so many with something like that.

“Of course, I am the lair. I can do whatever I want in this place. It will take a lot of resources and I’ll probably have to move afterward, but I could do it if I really wanted to,” she answered.

“What does that mean? The, uh, part about you being the lair? Aren’t you a human?”

She grinned, as if I’d asked something clever. “I’m both. I am Yum Kaax, that’s Yum that sounds like J-oh-uhm and Kaax with a ‘K-ah.’ I know, strange spelling. I am named for the ancient Mayan Deity of the forests. Long ago, goodness, must have been seven or eight apocalypses ago, I was part of an experiment to create extra dimensional spaces, the lairs. We succeeded, but found that in order to stabilise these spaces, we needed to tie a soul to them. I volunteered and the system adapted. Now, I am both a lair and a human. My duty is to maintain this space, which unfortunately requires energy. When one of you dies in the lair, my energy stores fill up and my existence continues on. Those of you who survive get rewards, and the cycle continues.”

“Anyway, I’ve seen humanity rise and fall so many times it’s difficult to keep track. Though, I think this is the first era of the Kin so I’m interested to see how far your species will go before you cause your first apocalypse and are made to start all over again,” she explained.

Lairs made so much more sense now. They were thinking, living things. They weren’t just the result of random chance but made by design, and not the system’s design but Human design. I also understood the desire to live. I didn’t like that the lairs tried to kill those who entered, but when it was kill or be killed, you did what it took to survive.

Stolen novel; please report.

I just had one very important question left to ask, “So, what happens to me now?”

She quirked an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“I mean . . . are you going to kill me?” I asked.

She snort-laughed and blushed in embarrassment all at once. “No, you made it here. That is a major accomplishment, something that has been done just twice before in all my millennia of existence. No, you’re to be rewarded.”

Achievement Earned! Blessing of Yum Kaax.

That made me blink in surprise. I quickly opened my achievement menu to see what it would do.

Achievements

Blessing of Yum Kaax - Increased chance of beneficial encounters when you are among the trees.

“What does this mean?”

Yum smiled again. “It means that you will have a very slim chance of having good luck when you are in a forest. That might mean finding a rare mushroom that, when properly prepared, will expand your mana pool double its current state. Or you might be faced with a beast who will push your growth in a direction you wouldn’t have thought of on your own but that will have a great impact on you. The possibilities are endless.”

“Doesn’t that mean I also have a chance of dying horribly among the trees?” I asked. Fighting a beast that would push me like that sounded dangerous.

Yum rolled her eyes, “Of course it does, that’s the best part. You will never grow faster than when your life is on the line. And you’re a hero . . . without the Job, but still a hero. That means you’ll grow even faster.”

Her mentioning my status as a hero without the Job paralyzed me for a moment. I wanted to know how she knew that. I came to my own answer just as quickly. She was the lair. The lair knew there were heroes. That must have meant she had a way to tell I was one of those with the hero achievement.

“Okay, so, I’ve rewarded you with an achievement. Next, you need a skill or two .” She looked into the air where I had seen the system window before and continued in a commanding tone, “Computer, evaluate subject and recommend appropriate skills.”

The window popped into the air.

Evaluation in progress . . . evaluating . . . evaluating . . . results.

Shadow Claws & Light Claws

Linguistics & Sociolinguistics

Light Attunement & Light Manipulation

Mana Sight & Mana Kinesis

“Hmm,” Yum hummed, reviewing the list. “Any preferences?”

I wanted all of them except the Light Attunement and Manipulation. I knew those would be stronger if I learned them on my own. Shadow Claws and Light Claws also sounded great. They were exactly what I wanted to complete my combat capabilities, but I was already working on creating the skill on my own after the dean was unable to locate the skill stones. It felt like that would waste all that effort. Linguistics and Sociolinguistics were very tempting. They would have the biggest impact on my Job as well. Then there was Mana Sight and Mana Kinesis. I’d never heard of either skill. So, I asked.

It seemed Yum Kaax was only too happy to answer. “Mana Sight is the ability to see mana. It helps with things like magical traps, invisible spells, seeing spell structure, that sort of thing. It’s very useful but requires a lot of control, which you apparently have. Mana Kinesis is the art of moving things with mana. Similar to Telekinesis but also very different and using a very different kind of magic. Again, lots of control needed, but very useful. You can flip a switch from across the room. Need to move a boulder? Just lift it up and move it with mana. It’s also a precursor skill to learning Mana Bolt and Kinetic Bolt which are precursors to learning Shadow Bolt and Light Bolt, very powerful magic indeed,” she explained nonchalantly.

I’ll admit, if I was going to go the pure Mancer route, those last two would be amazing. But I wasn’t a Mancer. I wasn’t any kind of a Mancer and probably never would be. I was a Shadow Agent. I worked for the good of all and if I did my Job right, no one would ever know I was there, or I would just be a faded memory. If I wanted to keep moving forward on the path of the Shadow Agent, then I needed to do what was best for that path. And that meant getting the language skills. Still, those other skills were so tempting. I could see their usefulness if I changed my Job to the Unsung Hero in four years. But did I really want that? I liked being a Shadow Agent. I liked the idea of making my mother proud of me.

With great reluctance, I spoke, “If it’s my choice, I’ll take Linguistics and Sociolinguistics.”Even as the words left my mouth I felt a pang of regret. Who knew if I would ever have the opportunity to learn those again.

“Really?” Yum asked, sounding surprised. “I thought for sure you would take the Mana Sight and Mana Kinesis. They are the more powerful option by far. But you want the language skills? Can I ask why?”

“I’m a Shadow Agent. Those skills will let me do my Job better,” I answered. My Job skills had really stagnated since I’d come to the Academy. If not for Shadow Cloak I wouldn’t have anything to show for my actual Job development.

Yum studied me then smiled. “You really are the Unsung Hero. Very well, I will give you Linguistics and Sociolinguistics.” As soon as the words left her mouth a small pedestal appeared next to me with a small reward chest. I looked to Yum to confirm it was okay and she nodded.

I opened the chest and found . . . three skill stones. I looked at her in confusion.

Yum leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially, “I never said I couldn’t give you more . . . just . . . if you meet any of the other Lair Lords, don’t tell them I did, yeah?”

I grinned and nodded. I could appreciate bending the rules a little. I did it all the time.

I took the skills one after the other. Linguistics and Sociolinguistics quickly joined my skill list. I didn’t know what she had planned with the third skill stone, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Skill Stone – Mana Kinesis – Would you like to learn the Mystic Skill Mana Kinesis?

I thought yes and the stone crumbled to dust.

“Good,” Yum said with a firm nod. “Okay, all rewards are done. Now, if I may, I have a little advice for you. You might be the Unsung Hero in achievement only, but the world . . . the system doesn’t care if you have the Job. You exist to stop whatever is coming, you and the Storm Hero both. However, because you did not take the Job, your path forward will be significantly more difficult. You won’t have the advantages of having a Hero Job. You will need to work harder than the Storm Hero just to keep up with him. If you don’t . . . the system will make you and those around you suffer.”

I nodded, considering her words. I didn’t like the sound of the system coming for me. I didn’t like the idea that I had somehow disadvantaged myself by choosing Shadow Agent over The Unsung Hero. At the same time, I was a little excited by the challenge.

Yum smiled again and clapped her hands, “With that out of the way, your companions are about to start on the final hunt. Let’s see about getting you to them, yes?”

“And how do we do that?” I asked. I doubted I could run fast enough to catch up to them.

“Easily,” Yum said, pulling her hands apart and creating a swirling blue portal. “Just jump on through and you’ll appear close-ish to your companions. With your skills, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them. Now, good luck, Unsung Hero.”

I smiled up at the Human Lair and said, “Thanks for everything.” I jumped for the portal and just like the portal leading into the lair, I was instantly somewhere else, any evidence of a portal gone. I was back in the jungle and a single deep breath brought all the scents of my team to my nose. They were close.

I heard a whisper behind me, “Oh yeah, and don’t tell anyone about me. No one is supposed to know we exist.”

I smiled. I certainly wasn’t about to tell tales about someone who helped me so much.