CHAPTER XX: YOU ARE WORTHY.
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{03:55 LOCAL TIME 14TH MAY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
PRIME-
Colonel sputtered awake with a splash of water in his face. He opened his eyes to a bemused Soto looking down at him. “Raise and shine Jake, we got a girl to talk to, a quest to finish, and some zombies to kill. Stop sleeping on the job boss.” He was still pouring water from a too-small water bottle. “Hmm, that's a lot more water than I anticipated.” He looked at the now empty clear flask.
The water other than being cold, was actually pretty refreshing, Colonel had to admit. Soto offered him a hand to pull him up. “Did you have to pour all of it on me?” Colonel asked with a bit of irritation, his ruined shirt finally losing the battle with gravity now that it was soaked. They fall to the ground with a wet splat.
“Nope... But it was funny as hell.” He laughed looking at the shirt. Then turned back to Adia and winked at her. She chuckled at his antics. “I just learned we just have to clear the top floor to clear a Dungeon to prevent a Monster Horde. So we get to be heroes.”
A shared look between Adia and Bour happened so quickly that if Soto weren’t looking at them, his INSIGHT skill wouldn’t have caught it.
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< G-SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Insight is now Student 8}
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“Something’s wrong?” Soto asked becoming a little guarded since Colonel was still vulnerable. “Did I say something wrong?”
Colonel sensing the mood steadied himself as the two mentors looked back at them “Well this a Diamond Dungeon on the cusp of EPIC. So it works a little differently.” Bour started.
“Especially since the Dungeon Lord has left it is more a kin to a wild Dungeon now, not that Rogue Dungeons follow the rules fully, but they have to stay within most rules.” She smiled at Soto. “I think I like you, I have room in my harem for someone like you.”
Soto blushed slightly, before raising his left hand pointing at the tungsten ring on his ring finger. “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.” He smiled back at her as she pouted cutely.
“His wife is Puerto Rican, from the island, so she would kill him for cheating on her even in a game,” Colonel said getting a nod from Soto.
“Totally worth it with you I’m sure.” He smirked. “But I like this game, and my life way too much to even think about messing up my marriage.” He shrugged in acceptance.
“I can respect that,” Adia said coldly.
“Even if it is stupid,” Bour said. “Who says your wife can’t have a harem of her own.”
“Because I would kill them all,” Soto said like he was making a grocery list.
“They are a little toxic,” Clyde said as Bour and Adia looked at Soto weirdly.
“Not anymore, that was just in our twenties and thirties. We have matured since then.” Soto said sheepishly.
“You just threaten to kill... you know what? Can we just wake up Nicole, and talk to her now?” Clyde asked moving on.
“You owe me a bottle of water by the way I only have three left, and two belong to Sugar,” Soto said
“Well, you shouldn’t have used all of it then. What the hell is up with the time stamp? Am I reading that right?” Colonel asked. “Did I sleep for two more months?”
“If yours says May 14th, then yes you are... reading it right, that is also why I woke you up,” Soto said.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“What? Why is time moving so fast all of a sudden?” Clyde was very confused by everything still.
“Dungeon time is different from outside time,” Soto said matter of factly.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me? Can you break that down?"
Soto rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “I thought that was the best breakdown. We are in a Dungeon and the time outside is moving faster than the time inside of the Dungeon. Therefore, the time stamps are useless until we beat the Dungeon.” Soto snapped back.
“And what is a Dungeon in this game?” Colonel asked his Sergeant Major, who seemed to have much more knowledge than him.
Soto turned to Adia and Bour. “That was where we were at in the conversation actually.”
Adia started to speak when Colonel put his hand up like a child in a classroom setting.
“What?!” She said with a little heat in her voice. Rejection didn’t look good on her.
Colonel looked to Soto who just shrugged and gave the ‘just go on symbol,’ with his hands.
Colonel sighed at his friend. “Well, I was going to say let's wake up the girl so you don’t have to explain this multiple times.”
“Photographic memory, remember?” Soto tapped his temple smiling.
“Yes, and while that is true, you are still awful at explaining things. Most people cannot pick up the concepts you are putting down at a glance like you.” Clyde explained like he had said the exact same words a hundred times, and he had.
“Hmm, good point.” Soto conceded.
“So Adia and Bour, we will wait until we get Sugar back in our team. Are you okay with waiting?” Colonel asked the Adventurer trainers.
The mentors’ eyes fly open. “What do you mean back in your team?” Bour spat out.
Colonel hesitated to answer. Soto not so much. “Yeah as soon as Nicole showed up Sugar had left the team.”
Again the mentors share an unreadable look. Colonel’s eyes narrow at the action. “What?”
“There are only a few ways to leave a team, and I have never heard of, or seen the same person leave a team because they think they are someone else,” Bour said
“Nicole had to be a completely different person from Sugar, for the game to decide that she wasn’t the same person,” Adia added looking at the girl curled up in a ball on the ground. “Have you ever seen someone’s base class change so drastically Bour?”
“No Las I haven’t, only after the True class specialization does someone's base class change more into their play style. But those players are much weaker than the ones that stay on their base path.” Bour explained.
“Does that mean that Nicole is another person entirely?” Soto asked.
“That is what I would have said if you had told me the story, but watching her change the way she did, even as her pet changed, I would have to say, she thinks she is a different person,” Bour said.
Adia looked at her passed-out form sadly. “The things her fragile human mind must have gone through in her life. Most short-lived races have little defenses against mental traumas. Her mind must have been broken multiple times. Then the stress of tonight made it all much worse.”
“And she mentally created Nicole to protect herself,” Colonel alleged.
“That seems to be the gist of it.” Soto agreed.
“I’ll wake her. I don’t want you wasting all of our water.” Clyde suddenly paused and frowned thinking. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really, why? I never get hungry when I am gaming.” Soto said. “But I was thirsty so I did take a sip of water before I poured the rest on you.”
Soto looked to Sugar eyes widening in a smile. Clyde looked at Soto. “Don’t say it.” He warned.
“Pour some Sugar on me.” Soto started to sing. “In the name of love.”
Clyde moaned his displeasure. “You couldn’t help yourself could you?” He deadpanned.
Soto ignored Colonel’s moaning protest as he butchered the lyrics. “Can’t find enough.”
“I don’t think those are the words,” Clyde said as he turned back to Nicole, and walked over to her. “Stick to the LOX and DMX man, classic rock might not be your thing.” Clyde chuckled as Soto stopped singing abruptly in mock outrage.
“That's racist my friend. Just because I am from the Bronx don’t mean I can’t sing classic Rock.” Soto responded breathing heavily for dramatic effect.
“No your total lack of singing ability is the reason why you can’t sing classic rock. The fact that your photographic memory does not translate to music is a small blessing.” Clyde smirked.
“Every enhancement has a weak point, I will sacrifice, that any day to see and remember any and everything else,” Soto said. He frowned seeing Colonel wasn’t listening to him as he stooped down next to Nicole’s prone body. “That's rude,” Soto said as Colonel smirked again.
“Nicole you in there?” Soto moved and stooped next to Colonel and tapped on the top of Nicole's head.
Her red hair was matted with sweat and blood, Colonel’s blood. Soto looked between Nicole and Colonel. “Bruh, you lost a ton of blood.”
“Couldn’t be helped.” Clyde looked around, but other than the blood on Nicole and himself, all the other blood had disappeared.
“Yeah, that's creepy, the Dungeon started absorbing it as soon as it touched the ground. It's like that scene from three hundred the movie.”
“Please, not another movie reference,” Clyde begged him wearily.
“Come on, that scene was epic, but there was literally no blood on the ground afterward.” Soto continued undeterred. “I mean the sand would absorb some of it, but they were on dirt, and we both know that dirt doesn’t absorb blood that quickly.” Soto finished.
“They are filmmakers Soto, not historians, one, and two, that was the inaccuracy you are worried about in that movie?” Clyde replied.
“Good point. We do love to glorify European heroes don’t we, the real good guys of that story were probably the Persians the whole time.?”
Clyde shrugged noncommittally as Nicole finally began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed her temple.
“Where am I?”
“You are safe,” Colonel whispered in a concerned fatherly voice.
Nicole tried to dawn her armor, but then a sharp headache returned, and the spell failed, which caused a backlash. She screamed in pain. Colonel hugged her. She tried to fight back, but between the brain-melting feeling, and the fact Colonel was just stronger than her, even with her higher level, she couldn’t escape.
“You are safe Nicole, your body has been defended.” Colonel’s calming voice soothed her a little. The tension suddenly left her shoulders, and though her hands were just on her side she leaned into the hug.
Colonel looked into Nicole’s amber eyes. “Nicole,” he started then paused, not knowing what to say next. The fact the game recognized her as a completely different person was disconcerting, he had to be very careful with his next few words.
“You are worthy!”
“Three words, those three words changed the course of history forever.” The narrator said forebodingly.
Colonel wasn’t sure if the Narrator was helpful or not, but it did keep him engaged in the game. Maybe that was the point.
Colonel pulled away from the hug and looked the Knight in her face. “You are worthy Nicole.”
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< ALERT >
{Sugar has rejoined your team!}
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Colonel blinked at the prompt.
“Hell yeah!” Soto exclaimed.