Nathan pulled up the social media screen. In the messages tab, Chad’s name flickered like a Christmas light. Curious, Nathan clicked on it and saw the following message:
“Yo Nathan, what’s up bro? Good to see you’re alive, dude. It was pretty wild seeing your name pop up on my feed. At first, I thought people were joking, or it was just some crazy coincidence. Should’ve known better, huh? Anyway, man, we need to meet up. Hopefully, the second circle isn’t so big that we can’t just, like, run into each other. I dunno."
Nathan breathed a sigh of relief.
He’d been terrified that he was the only one who’d survived—that everyone had just died on the Second Circle.
But he was wrong. Chad was alive… along with two hundred other people who’d messaged Nathan once they discovered the DM feature. Thank goodness that Chad was at the top of the list, otherwise Nathan might’ve missed the message.
Nathan was about to respond, but then he noticed the timestamp: the message had been sent 12 hours earlier.
“Well, I guess this isn’t exactly the fastest form of communication,” Nathan muttered to himself. “Looks like the System might be messing with our send times?”
He typed out a reply: "Yes! We should try to meet up. That would be great, as long as it’s close enough to manage."
Nathan waited patiently for a response. Nothing.
He opened Chad’s profile, assuming Chad might’ve shared what he’d been up to. Chad had over 2,000 posts on the site, most of them pictures and videos. At the moment, Chad was… streaming?
Nathan clicked on the stream.
A window popped up, and after a brief load, the video appeared. Chad was running for his life from three gigantic sand golems.
“I’m too pretty to die!” Chad shouted, nearly tripping before catching himself and picking up speed. “I don’t even know what I did to deserve this!”
Nathan watched the stream for another minute before hesitantly closing it.
“He’ll probably be fine,” Nathan said, mostly to convince himself. “He’s a tough guy.”
After successfully deceiving himself, Nathan turned toward the exit doors of the Royal Archive. He’d just about had enough of that dingy basement. Maybe he could find something else to occupy his time.
But before he could head upstairs, something rippled in his chest. A skill activated on its own, and Finny floated out to his side.
“Nathan!” Finny chirped. “Good to see you!”
----------------------------------------
Nathan grinned. “Finny. It hasn’t been that long since I last saw you.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got some important information to tell you.”
“What about?”
“Our attack against the Crab Cartel had some pretty bad consequences, mate. The Big Claw’s begun a sequence of counterattacks against us. It’s looking pretty bad.”
Nathan frowned. “Counterattacks?”
“Yup. Multiple bases. But in the process, I’m pretty sure that they’ve exposed some of their own caches.”
“Alright, what does this have to do with me?”
“Some of our guys were kidnapped, and it’s up to us to save them. Are you up for the job?”
“Well, I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“Good to hear! Let’s head out there and save some of our men!”
----------------------------------------
Nathan swam underwater beside Finny, the ring on his finger allowing him to breathe in the river water with ease. It was like he was a fish rather than a man.
They’d gone underground like last time. Unlike last time, the current of this river wasn’t particularly strong. It was weak, forcing Nathan to use more of his energy to move.
They continued swimming when Nathan felt a shiver go down his spine.
“Enemies up ahead,” he said. “I can sense it.”
Finny frowned and stared through the water and into the darkness. “Are you sure?”
“Of course not, I’m just guessing.”
Finny grunted. “Great, love to hear it.”
The two continued forward. A creeping feeling crawled its way up Nathan’s spine like a spider. His muscles tensed as he forced himself to continue moving.
The water seemed to turn murkier and he found it harder to breathe. His eyes watered. Finny wasn’t looking much better, his fish nose crinkled up like he’d just smelled something bad.
“What the hell is that?” Nathan said.
“Nothing good, I’d guess.”
Floating pieces of dried flesh floated by Nathan’s head. They were old enough to be making a stink, but not old enough to where it had completely rotted.
“Those are fish guts,” Finny muttered. “I’m a bit worried about where they got that from.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Nathan frowned and continued moving. They swam on for a few more seconds when they heard a groan.
“Green?” Finny said. “Is that you?”
The only thing that came back was a groan in response. Nathan reached into his inventory and pulled out his fishing rod.
A moment later, there was a blur of light and something slammed into Finny’s gut at full speed. Finny cried out in pain and tumbled through the water before losing to a stop.
The light slowed down, revealing a fish. Unlike Finny though, there were a few things… off… about this particular fish.
Its eyes were hazy—one of them was gone, actually. Chunks of its skin were gone, even rotted.
“He’s dead,” Finny said.
“Is this the necromancy you were telling me about?”
“Yeah.” Finny charged up a water bolt in front of him. “Come on, let’s put the guy out of his misery.”
The battle was brief. In moments, the dead fish had been so thoroughly destroyed that there was nothing but bits of flesh floating around to interact with.
After the fight, Nathan faced toward Finny. “So, I thought you said there wouldn’t be any of the necromancy stuff.”
“That I did.” Finny frowned. “I was wrong.”
“I guess they managed to find some bodies.”
“If we’re lucky, they haven’t killed anyone else. We might be able to free them if we’re close enough.”
They continued swimming. After several minutes, they heard something up ahead. Some kind of yelp or cry? Nathan swam up ahead before coming to a sudden stop.
Row after row of cages containing fish. Surrounding them were dozens of crabs.
Nathan and Finny dived toward the wall.
Finny growled. “I think I’m about a second away from going in there and crushing them myself.”
“Yeah, how about we come up with a plan first?”
Finny glanced at Nathan.
“What do you have in mind?”
Nathan glanced over at the crabs. “I was thinking of causing a distraction. You get in there, free the fish, and then we decimate the crabs with the help of the prisoners.”
Finny nodded slowly.
“I think I can get behind that plan.”
Nathan glanced at the sides of the river. He could cause another cave-in, but what if it hit the prisoners? No, he needed to use something else.
He looked at his hand—was there any reason to overcomplicate things?
He held out his hand.
Riptide Mastery.
The water shimmered and a blast of energy blew through the water. It smashed into the crabs, scattering them all over the river before continuing on for several seconds. It eventually hit something off in the distance and Nathan heard a loud boom.
Nathan whistled.
Have I used Riptide Mastery before? Damn.
Finny dashed forward and smashed through the locks with a bolt of light.
The fish stared at Nathan and Finny for several seconds. Nathan raised his hand and waved at them.
Finally, they seemed to figure out what was happening, and they all ran out and charged forward. The crabs, caught between Nathan on one end and the fish on the other end, were torn to shreds and flesh.
As the last of the crabs fell, Nathan swam to the prisoners. A cheer had erupted among the fish, but several of them were injured—some with torn fins, others with deep cuts and missing scales. Blood clouded the water, and a few fish barely floated upright.
Nathan frowned and held out his hand. “Stay still, everyone.”
Ocean’s Warmth.
A soothing glow spread from Nathan’s hand, cascading over the injured fish like a warm tide. Wherever the light touched, wounds began to seal. Missing scales regrew, torn fins reknitted, and the color returned to their dull forms. Nathan could feel the energy flowing out of him, but it was smooth, like a gentle current, rather than the draining pull he had experienced with his old ability, Ocean’s Embrace.
The fish watched in awe as their injuries faded away. Some tested their newly healed fins, darting around Nathan with newfound vigor.
Finny swam up beside him. “You’ve been holding out on me with that one.”
Nathan grinned. “Just upgraded it. Feels easier to use now.”
Finny nodded. “Good thing. We’ll need every edge we can get.” He gestured at the freed fish. “Thanks to you, they’ll be ready to fight another day.”
“What’s next?” Nathan asked.
“Goal-oriented!” Finny paused. “Well, I think it’s pretty clear that the Crab Cartel needs to be decimated. I’ll need to report back to headquarters. They should provide us with what we need to take them down once they find out what the Cartel’s been doing. In the meantime, you can go do whatever it is you do when you’re not with me.”
Nathan raised an eyebrow. “Sure.”
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Nathan ended up digging his way out to the surface once again and made his way back to the city.
As he walked along, he had the oddest feeling that something was off.
The streets were abandoned, not a single person to be found. The wind whistled through the rafters of the buildings like a sonata.
Nathan wandered along for several more minutes before he came across an old man on the street.
“Excuse me,” he said. “Where’s everyone?”
The old man blinked at him.
“You haven’t heard? The king called everyone for an announcement.”
Nathan frowned. Why would Zayen do such a thing? Nathan thanked the man and continued moving.
A voice echoed out in the distance.
“—have officially decreed that the government shall pursue a new policy!” The voice paused. “The total destruction of the Dustend!”
A crowd roared in the distance. Nathan blinked.
He rushed over to wherever the action was. Time to find out what Zayen had gotten up to while he was away.
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System B32 hummed contentedly as he reviewed his handiwork through the crystalline interface only he could see. His processes sparkled with satisfaction as he checked off his to-do list:
—Send sand golems after Chad (“POG MOMENT BROSKI, IS THAT A GIANT SAND MONSTER? LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME DIE!”)
—Throw Emi into a pit of snakes
—Get Bjorn surrounded by elves out for his blood
—Ensure Mara’s latest weapon drop was actually filled with rubber chickens
Perfect. Nathan’s support system was crumbling. B32 allowed himself a moment to savor the chaos before checking on the man himself. The last he’d seen, Nathan was still obsessed with his fishing-based path to power. Who would have thought that “Fisherman” could evolve into “Ocean Warden”? In theory, that should’ve been impossible.
A notification pinged.
[Global Quest Progress: Dustend Elimination - 75% Complete]
[Warning: Abnormal Power Accumulation Detected]
[Threat Level: Fish?????]
“What in the Mother System’s name?” B32 said. “How is it so high?”
B32 analyzed the last update to the Dustend Elimination quest and nearly vomited (if he could do that).
Nathan Lee.
Nathan Lee.
Nathan Lee.
He dove deeper into the data streams, his horror growing with each discovery. Nathan had somehow concluded that the best way to “help the farmers” was to eliminate the Dustend entirely. Worse, he was actually making progress. The idiot had joined a research team, found ancient tablets, and was developing theoretical frameworks for destabilizing the Dustend’s magical matrix – all because some farmer had mentioned that “farming would be easier without that darned storm.”
[Power Level Analysis: Subject Nathan]
[Circle 2 of 9 - Current Status: EXCEEDING PARAMETERS]
[Projected Power Level at Circle 6: ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS]
[Taste Profile Impact: SEVERELY UNDERSEASONED]
“Dave is going to delete my source code,” B32 muttered.
Then B32 spotted them: Rami, the king’s cousin, scripting her latest rant about succession rights, and Anand, the Head Hand spy who’d infiltrated the palace guard by convincing everyone he was a traveling interpretive dance instructor.
“Well now.” B32 hummed. “Isn’t that convenient?”
He reached out through the system’s network, preparing to plant a seed of suggestion in Rami’s dreams. Just a small one. Perhaps a vision of herself as king, decreeing that all research related to the Dustend should be eliminated. The research team needed royal approval to access the ancient archives. And they couldn’t get approval from a king who had been deposed by his own cousin in a tragic civil war, could they?
B32 began his work, his satisfaction returning. Nathan might have stumbled onto the path to the truth through his absurd farming quest, but some paths were meant to be blocked.