Blake made the rounds, talking to every civilian and learning as many details as he could. He wasn’t a particularly good listener—though others often thought so. He was more like an…extractor. Of information. Of personality. He was mostly just curious, and didn’t care about these people’s lives. Unless they were interesting, of course. Which they mostly weren’t.

Linda was a clothier. Huan was a builder. There were three people from China, two from India. Two from Nigeria. Everyone else was the only person from their country. These people came from this tutorial, these other people came from a different one. Five men and seven women, twelve civilians all together. They all thought being with a group of players would be the best thing, but now they weren’t so sure. ‘We need players to protect us, not lock us in a cage!’ ‘Maybe it’s better to risk our lives out there.’

Apparently a few had already signed on with Sebastian and crew, all men, doing various things around town. The other civilians didn’t consider them traitors, exactly, or hate them for it, but it was fair they thought somewhat less of them.

Blake tried to tell them things would be fine, that sooner or later things would improve.

‘How do you know?’ asked Huan, with an almost offensive naivety.

“Because that’s what I do,” Blake had smiled. “I know things I shouldn’t.”

With every person he spoke to, after he had enough detail, he tried to improve the relationship slightly with Mental Influence. As it turned out, his mind powers worked rather terribly on civilians. As in hardly at all. It wasn’t strictly necessary for his plan, but still an overall disappointment. Perhaps there would be other powers in the future that worked better.

At last he made his way to a little Asian woman who’d been watching him from the beginning. She was rather plain and intense looking and he practically sighed as he sat down next to her with a smile.

“Hi. Figured I’d get to know everyone. What’s your name?”

The girl’s bright, and rather unusually green eyes narrowed, staring at him intensely.

“I’ve been watching you.”

Blake held his smile, thinking yes, I’ve noticed. “Oh? I hadn’t noticed.”

“You’ve been talking to everyone, but you don’t like it.”

“Oh that’s not true,” Blake clung to every scrap of remaining charm. “I like people.” He winked. “Well, some people.”

“What is it you’re trying to accomplish?” the girl said, seemingly immune.

“Well aren’t you the nosy one,” he said with the same levity. She ignored that too.

“You’ve been using magic on them. Have you tried it on me?”

Blake froze at that. The fact was, he had no idea what the different classes of civilians were and what powers they might possess. Maybe she was some kind of mage’s apprentice.

“What makes you think that?” he said somewhat more neutrally.

“I can sense it.”

“That’s a very interesting civilian ability,” he said, “what class are you?”

The girl’s intense gaze didn’t flinch from watching his eyes no matter how he looked away and back again. “All I want to know is if you’re a fool, or if you’re cunning,” she said. “Because I need a cunning player with magic.”

Blake no longer had to pretend to be interested. He leaned a little closer to the girl and brought his voice to a whisper. “And why should you need that?”

She sort of bit her lip and wrapped herself in her baggy sweater as if worried she was being watched. Then she took a deep breath and spoke low. “Because I’m not a civilian. I’m a support class that boosts mana users.”

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Blake blinked but otherwise tried not to show his confusion. “Then why are you in here?”

“Because I can hide my status,” she said. “They think I’m a civilian.”

Wow, well that sounded…amazing. Blake could have waltzed into the camp without a care in the world. Blake watched the girl and decided her eyes were as intelligent as they were pretty. By revealing her secret, though, she had already decided to commit. Blake smiled and leaned a little closer. “I think it’s time you tell me everything you can do for me.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed, and looked a little frightened. “Why is that?”

“Because I know by telling me your secret you think I’m your best chance. You’re all in now. So. What can you do for me?”

The girl’s shoulders sagged slightly, but her eyes held firm. “Do you need more mana?”

Blake raised a brow. “That’s literally almost all I need.” The girl smiled and took his hand. Hers were incredibly soft and small, and a little cold. Then he felt like he’d licked a battery. A shock pulsed through his arm and his mana bar pulsed with a purple light. He knew instantly he was re-charging faster. Much faster. He fought the smile that threatened his lips.

“Cast a spell,” the girl said. “But don’t let go of me.”

He happily obliged, sending another spike of friendliness at the closest civilian with Mental Influence. He watched his ‘purple’ mana bar and realized…it hadn’t dropped. Not even a little.

“As long as we touch, you can use mine, too,” she explained. “Though perhaps in the future we need only be close, when I have obtained more levels. Your re-charge should be at least triple.”

For a long moment Blake found himself just staring. She was literally the answer to nearly all his problems. And here she was, just some random person trapped in a cage in the middle of nowhere, waiting to be found. He nearly laughed. Mason was always calling him lucky. It was true, he supposed, by any objective standard. Not that he’d ever admit it.

“What’s your name?”

“Seul-ki.”

In a moment of whimsy, he activated Mental Influence, using the girl’s own mana to increase her trust. The same resistance he’d felt against civilians seemed present in her, despite now knowing she was a player. He wasn’t sure if it was her ability to disguise, something to do with statistics, or perhaps just having mana. But he’d learn.

“Well, Seul-ki,” he said. “I think we’re going to be very good friends.”

The girl smiled shyly and looked away, then Blake used Mental Influence on any civilian in the right mood until she said she was out of mana, which seemed to be about as much as him. This meant she not only doubled his overall capacity, but it seemed she was correct about his near triple re-charge, which increased again with meditation. The boost was staggering, but even so, he didn’t think it would be enough. With every use of Mental Influence he felt a certain ‘effectiveness’ level of the desired mood. And he could tell it was hardly changing on these civilians. He was, in other words, going to have to rely on plan B. He practically cringed at the thought. Plan B was the truth.

First, he talked to Hank. Then he asked everyone to huddle up so they could talk as a group, which they eventually did with a certain degree of confusion. Blake met their eyes one by one, then spoke quietly.

“I assume you know the chief wants you all as slaves.”

They all exchanged various looks of concern or resignation, but not exactly surprise.

“That’s why I’m here,” Blake said. “He thinks my class powers can make you agree, can screw with your minds. But they can’t. And I wouldn’t anyway. But I need him to believe.”

Billy the Brewer scrunched up his face. “Why?”

“Because I’m not alone,” Blake smiled. “And my allies and I are going to kill this bastard of a chief, and make this place right.”

A fair amount of eyes widened at that.

“But…if we sign,” said Linda, “we’ll be bound to this guy. God knows what he’ll do.”

“First things first,” Blake soothed. “I just need the men to sign a service contract. It’ll buy me the time I need. Anyway, it won’t last long. My brother and I will kill Sebastian sooner than later.”

Blake saw the moment of concern in Hank’s eyes, but the old angler covered it well.

“Where’s your brother?” said Huan.

“Coming.”

“He has others with him?”

“He has enough.”

“Why should we trust you?” said Billy, with an almost puppy dog kind of hope in his eyes.

“Because when Sebastian’s dead I’m going to take his place. And I know civilians are vital, not pawns to play with. I’ll never force anyone to do anything. Every contract will be negotiated in good faith. We’ll build this place together, like the community it’s supposed to be.”

Most of them liked that, but they were still wary.

“Nice words, but for now it’s all it is,” said Huan, no doubt for all of them. “We’re still trapped in a cage.

Blake nodded because of course that was true. “You believe in fate?” he asked.

“Not really,” said the older man.

“Well I do,” Blake grinned, showing nothing but confidence. “And fate put me here with you, with everything I need to destroy the man trapping us all. And the reality is they’re going to treat you like animals until you do what they want. I’m offering you a chance for a better life. A good life. Such as it is now. All I’m asking for is a bit of time.”

The men in particular all exchanged looks, and Hank came in on cue.

“I’ll do it. I’ve been with him from the start. I know he’s practically a kid, but he’s smart, and lucky as hell, and I think his brother is a genuine badass.”

The others looked at the older man, and it was clear his words swayed them. They slowly nodded, and Huan spoke for them again. “Alright. We’ll give you your chance.”

Blake smiled at them all. “Thank you, my friends. Now listen, because we’ll have to be tricky. Here’s how we’ll do it.”