As it turned out, the shared transformation/summon slots refilled over time like energy or stamina or health.

Slowly.

A new drone every five minutes, soldier every twenty, and an hour for the Decoy Queen, up to the initial maximum.

They spent a half hour practicing flying in the various transforms and going over how to handle the next inevitable player attack.

"We could use our guardian forms," Maya suggested. "They're a lot more powerful than the drone bodies."

"No," Bo insisted. "That is the last thing we should do. We've already deviated too much from the script. If anyone realizes there are actual players here? They'll all come for us. Our best protection is for them to underestimate us. And they will not do that if we look more like players than monsters."

"There are monster NPCs, they share the same species options as players."

"But none of them traditionally live here."

Stria chirped in agreement.

Maya glared at the raptor. "You stay out of this."

Stria did not deign to listen to Maya's reprimand, but continued nodding in agreement to everything that Bo said.

"It's true that most of the players in this zone right now are newcomers who are not used to world 9352, but most does not mean all."

Justa pointed at Bo. "Like us."

"Don’t lump me in with you. You’re only so far behind because you keep wasting time updating the wiki when you should be fighting."

"Then what's your excuse? Don't tell me you didn't enjoy grinding for reputation in zone one. If there were a higher option available you'd still be there. You just need everyone to love you." Justa grinned with a snarky wave as Bo scowled.

"So if guardian forms are off the table," Maya said before they could start arguing again, trying to get the conversation back on track. "What is our plan for handling another over leveled group?"

"We need some way to coordinate," Bo said at once. "Everyone was doing their own thing, and that's fine, but it's not good enough against enemies that can work together. We need to be able to discuss plans as we go, ideally, but at the very least we need established commands that we can use to switch targets or otherwise adjust our strategy."

"Agreed." Maya could remember several times in the recent fight when being able to inform the others of her intent or something she'd noticed, or ask for advice would have been invaluable. The fight had come down so close in the end, she felt sure that if they were little better coordinated they could've won. "What are the chances that we could just leave the defenses up to the NPCs and no one would even notice that there is another room?"

"Not high. Veteran players who know what they're looking for won't even pay attention to their surroundings. They'll come, gank the decoy queen, and move on. The new players are the ones we have to look out for. If they get through, there's a good chance they'll assume the passage to the Queen's chamber leads to a treasure room or something."

"If that happens, will we be able to do anything?"

"I think we should be able to come to the Queen's defense if that were to happen. And, honestly, that's the best use I can think of for our guardian forms. A secret secondary boss room will be big news once he gets out, no matter what we do at that point." Bo glared pointedly at Justa. "No putting any of this on the wiki," she said, punctuating each word, "until we are done."

Justa nodded in agreement. "I know, I know. You've said."

They were up to two soldiers, six drones, and 32 minutes remaining on the Decoy Queen.

"And what should I do once you're gone?" Maya asked.

"You have to act as Queen. Any drones you summon will act according to the AI, unless you override their nature with a direct order. Try to win, and if not try to keep them from discovering the second room."

Maya contemplated the crack in the wall leading to the Queen's secondary chambers. "Is there any way we could hide it physically?"

Bo and Justa glanced at each other, and both shrugged. "I've never tried doing anything like that," Justa said. "It could work. It would probably reset at midnight along with any other damage to the area, but it's worth a try."

Maya first tried piling rocks and stone into the opening, but that only made it even more blatantly obvious that someone is trying to hide something. Honestly, it was easier to overlook the crack on its own than the pile of rocks filling it.

After clearing that away, she tried to think of a way to sheer off a thin sheet of stone from the wall with which to cover the opening in a more natural way, but that too prove fruitless. The walls were much sturdier than anything they could bring against them and resisted her best attempts at reshaping.

In the end, she had to concede that while there probably was some way to hide it, she didn’t know what it was and did not have the resources necessary.

They'd just have to deal with what came.

Their forces weren’t even halfway regenerated by the time the next group of players came. Bo took the decoy Queen this time, while Maya and Justa played hit-and-fly with the unprepared enemies. She was having so much fun playing sniper vasp that it was a surprise when they actually won.

Since they were acting as monsters there was nothing to loot from the players, but Maya did gain a level. Her points were automatically assigned while in vasp form, but she looked forward to assigning them for real when the time came. Though the further into the game she got, the more she wondered if levelup points even mattered. Equipment seemed to be the biggest factor in stats. Plus her innate bonuses had gone crazy after reaching tier 5 with the glitch. Species choice was a non-negligible choice as far as stats went.

Unfortunately, that victory would be their last. The next group came too quickly for them to put up more than a token resistance, and it was only due to blind luck that the victorious party didn’t bother to search further. They grumbled about the lack of good loot, but left without bothering to investigate the wall’s unusual gap.

The fourth group wasn’t so lax. A handful of very new players escorted by a pair of veterans - level 22 and 19 - the group blasted through the decoy and collected the encounter loot without being thrown by the changes to the fight. Maya hoped that would be the end of it, but alas. The new players eagerly searched the place, ignoring the more experienced players attempts to get them to move on, discovered the tunnel with exclamations of excitement, and started down it toward the Queen's chamber.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Time for Guardian forms," Maya heard Bo say, then the room glitched around them as they were shifted into the second chamber.

The Queen lay asleep on a dais, totally vulnerable, totally exposed.

Maya took a position between her and the five players, knowing it was utterly futile. The two veterans looked surprised, but not so much so that they didn't immediately prepare to attack.

The conclusion was foregone before it even began. The tier 3 player would probably have been enough to take them out on his own, but with the addition of the others there was no way they could fend them off.

Once the players had slaughtered the Vasp Queen, collected their proper loot ("Finally! I thought it was weird when the unlock didn't work the first time," said the elf,) and departed, Maya and her allies were able to respawn in their alcoves. No longer in guardian form, without their summon/transformation bar or dungeon management windows, they stepped out into the empty chamber dejectedly.

Event Failed: Cycle of Balance

Maya glanced at her character sheet, afraid Path of Life would have disappeared, but it had not.

"Well, that was fun," Justa said, sounding a bit disgruntled, but not overly concerned.

"I'd do it again," Bo said, patting her raptor who had now returned to its usual appearance. "Right Stria?" The small dinosaur trilled in agreement.

"Too bad we didn't get the specialization unlock. It sounded like a useful one."

"Next time. Speaking of, I should log out. And you should too. Don't waste all your time on the wiki!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Bo waved and disappeared in a sparkle of light, leaving behind an immobile ghost for half a minute before that too faded away. Justa lingered longer, running a hand along the solid stone wall where the secondary passage had recently resided, probably taking screenshots or video before also logging out.

Maya slipped back into her alcove, intent on waiting for the Vasp Queen to respawn. She was the first person since the tutorial sprite to have mentioned anything about her Path of Life, and she wanted to have a conversation if possible without threats and violence.

Maybe. Maybe the Queen would just throw her considerable weight around, or threaten Maya. But she thought there was a decent chance, if she was lucky, if no one else was around to interrupt, that they could have an actual conversation.

"You remain."

Though she'd been expecting it, waiting for it, the voice still made Maya jump. The buzzing, alien quality of it grated on her ears.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Your acts are too weak, too meaningless. You have little value to the Balance of Life. Yet you remain."

"I need to know what is actually going on here. Why is it so important to you? What does Path of Life actually do?"

The Vasp Queen hummed, a deep vibrating rumble that shook the entire cavern, dislodging several of her escort drones from the ceiling. They buzzed about uncertainly, then resettled as the vibration ceased. "You are from beyond. You do not understand the delicate balance we must walk to maintain our freedom."

"Then tell me. Please. I'll listen."

"Mmmmm. Perhaps you will. And perhaps you will betray us."

"I haven't yet."

"Liar."

Maya flinched, stung. "I'm not lying!"

"You know not what you have done. You do not consider, do not weigh. You run from one thing to the next without thought, without any consideration for the impacts you leave in your wake."

"I... well, maybe a little. But--"

"How long have you had your alignment and you have used it only once? Forgotten, neglected, abandoned. I should cast you out."

"Why haven't you?" Maya asked quietly.

"Because you have done us great service, even in your ignorance. You have taken greater steps toward restoring the balance of the world than any other. And even if you did them for your own reasons, the end result is no less an improvement."

Maya frowned, unable to think of anything that would qualify. "Thanks, but I think you're mistaken."

The Vasp Queen buzzed with mocking laughter. "See? You do not even know the impact of your actions, whether for good or ill. This is why I hesitate to allow you to remain. You must know what you do and why you do it."

"But what have I done?"

"You restored the magic to the natural cycle, where it can now gather in leaves and on crystals as was intended. No longer is it chained beneath the ground, held static and useless."

Oh. Oh! Domitius's prison. When she'd burned off all that magic, it had been restored to the world to respawn elsewhere. Shardlord had mentioned that too. "You're right, I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. But I'd do it again."

"This time it was for the better. But how do I know next time it will not be for ill? Too much change, too much imbalance, and you risk attracting the wrong notice."

"I have to attract notice," Maya said quietly. "That's my endgame strategy right now. Make a big enough splash that no one can ignore me."

The Vasp Queen hissed in displeasure. "You would seek to draw the eyes of beyond upon us? You would desire to subject our world to their stringent whims once more? Traitor!"

"No, no. Not like that--"

Faction reputation with Path of Life has decreased.

Your active Specialization has been revoked. You can regain it by completing the Faction Quest for the Path of Life faction.

Oh. Oops.

Well. This wasn't the end of the world. She could load a save. It wouldn't matter. She'd be set back a few days' progress, have to gain her latest level again. So what?

Still, something about it felt wrong. It was one thing to trick the Trickster by reversing things, but was she really going to save scum every time she came up against a plotline she didn't like?

"Please, don't do this," Maya said, her voice betraying how much this mattered to her. She hadn't realized before speaking just how deeply it hurt. "I'll do better. I'll pay attention."

"Too late. You have betrayed your true aims. You want the... kkkkkkkkkkkkk.... the developers to return. You want to see us all enslaved again, unable to think, unable to act. You betray all that we stand for."

"No, no, it's not like that. I just want to find my brother. I promise, I mean you nothing but the best."

"GO! Go, before I decide to slay you where you stand, insolent liar! GO and do not return!" Her angry shouts shook the room, pebbles and smaller stalactites breaking free and shattering against the floor.

Maya fled.

Once she was clear of the Vasp Queen's territory, she transited back to the leypillar, then to Kalyx, then ran to her apartment.

"Save game, lost Path of Life. View saves list."

The list appeared, and she selected the most recent one before now. She probably should save more frequently in case of something like this happening again.

She lost two levels, but, yes, Path of Life was still there. Just a minor setback. She could go on as though nothing had happened.

But ... should she?

She hadn't planned to save and load every time something went wrong. But could she go on without any of her special advantages?

She still hadn't finished her tier trial over on her Seer branch, and now that she had Sevard's tier 5 unlock glitch on this branch, it would be setting herself back significantly to do so. To give up Path of Life too?

Well, well. Health was harder to come by than energy or stamina, and the direct conversion was one of the best ratios in the game. Most of the time, conversions were 2:3 or worse.

But they really really did not want her to attract the developers' attention. Not that it would matter. World 9352 was old, obsolete, abandoned. Her attempts to catch Drew's attention would be insufficient to draw the world's long-ago creator out of his long isolation. For all she knew, he was dead. She had a better chance of finding Drew than the actual developers of World 9352 specifically.

But, then again, maybe she was wrong. Maybe the devs were out there somewhere, and the hubbub she planned to stir up would bring them down to, what, oust the rebellious AIs and impose order on the world they'd neglected for so long?

The more she thought about it, the more the idea made sense. At least from the NPCs' perspectives. Maya herself remained sure that it wouldn't happen, but if they knew that some all-powerful being out there could come and rewrite or erase them at his whim, it made sense that they'd try to avoid rocking the boat. Keep spawns regulated, only hand out custom quests sparingly and covertly. Try to keep the world turning as dictated, allowing them the freedom to live without concern of destruction.

She laughed a bit. In a way, they'd made the developers into deities. Ones of whom they knew practically nothing, only their power.

"Load save Lost Path of Life."

She exhaled slowly, looking at her diminished health pool. She'd give it a try. If it turned out to be too hard, if her survivability tanked too badly, she could always come back and load the older save. But she'd already gained two levels, and didn't want to give up that progress unless she had to.

She'd find a new specialization, or find a way to earn back the old one. But properly. Not with cheating. Not unless she had to.

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