System Message: The hidden quest Second Angerine Trial updated! Use the Compass of Mercura to travel to a remote island and discover the second dungeon of the trials. The second trial is located somewhere on Mercura Island.
“Wow,” Jay said, still processing the pair of lengthy messages from the system. “Three warnings. This thing is not playing around.”
Thanks to the new item transfer features, the compass displayed a tooltip to everyone in the room. The party was trading looks when another random player entered Nora’s shop.
When the player saw the strange standoff between the party, they promptly turned and left the shop. Nora’s mouth hung open with her prepared greeting frozen on her tongue.
“How much did you pay for the item?” Jay asked Nora, keeping his tone what he hoped was reassuring. “I want to ensure you’re properly reimbursed for every gold Print. I sincerely appreciate that you really went out on a limb for me.”
“It was three thousand and—” Nora started to say but was interrupted by Lester.
“There’s no way. As your guild leader, I absolutely forbid you to use this item. If you die on this screwed-up island, the Monster Hunter class probably perishes with your character. Not to mention that I’m absolutely not going to this island as your tank.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Ken said, immediately stepping into the fray. He took a few steps closer to the guild leader. “This is a serious opportunity. Reward is always based on risk. There could be world-changing events available on this island. I mean... think about how often we can play without kid gloves protecting our characters. This is an opportunity to push the game’s immersion even further.”
Jenny quietly tried to back up her brother. “I know it’s scary—”
“We just spent a few days leveling up to twenty,” Taylor Lynn interrupted. “And you’re seriously going to risk getting our characters permanently killed. Tumult only allows one character per account. Think with your brain. Would we even be able to create a new one?”
The room slowly morphed as people figured out what side they were on. Taylor Lynn and Lester stood together as a formidable united front, but the twins joined Jay on his side of the store. Ignoring the ongoing argument, Jay tried speaking to Nora again.
“How many gold Prints, my friend?”
Taylor Lynn pushed on forcibly, leaving no opportunity for Nora to reply. Her red hair was flailing violently as she yelled at Jay. “Jay, please. Think with your head for once. Just because there’s some special item… you don’t have to be the one to use it. This is the angel feather all over again.”
Seeing she could not reply to Jay’s question, Nora found a small piece of parchment. While Taylor Lynn was ranting, Nora dipped a quill into some ink and scrawled a number on the parchment piece. When she slid it over to Jay, he read: 3,587 gold Prints.
Taylor Lynn’s pleading was rude, so Jay didn’t reply directly. Instead, he summoned a bag of coins from his inventory, but Lester placed his character avatar directly in front of him. The move blocked Nora from Jay’s view and caused him to scowl in the other player’s face.
“I said,” Lester stated calmly, “we’re not doing this weird island expedition. I’m making the call as guild leader. The risk to the guild is too high for me to go. And if I can’t go, the party can’t go. Perhaps, another party in the guild will be interested.”
Jay set down the bag of coins for Nora but left the compass item on the counter. The bag contained 4,000 gold Prints. It was more than what she wrote, but Nora deserved it.
He took a deep breath and turned to present the situation to Lester. “Listen, you don’t have any leverage. Ask Taylor Lynn. I wanted a guild to accelerate my speed this time, but I’d be much happier playing without you. Some kind of power trip isn’t the right play here. I’m under a contract with Tumult, and this item will help meet my goals.”
Ken and Jenny’s eyebrows shot up since the information was revelatory for them. As Ken adjusted to the information, his face lit up as several of his suspicions fell into place. Taylor Lynn had already known, and Lester had seemed aware, probably from his connection with his brother.
“That’s how you wanna play it?” Lester asked. “You’re going to quit before your guild gear is even finished?”
Jay remembered Lucille’s words about how she wasn’t ready to look like a fool in front of her guild yet. In truth, Lester didn’t have a lot of leverage—but he did have some. Jay wasn’t prepared to thoroughly burn his bridge with Lucille. That bridge led to a lot more information on things Jay was curious about.
Jay picked up the Compass of Mercura from Nora’s countertop, brushing Lester to the side. With a flourish, Jay stowed the item inside his inventory. “I don’t plan on quitting the guild. Not unless you force me to, but you’ll have to do better than ‘because I said so’ if you want me to listen.”
Lester’s eyebrows twitched. He clearly wanted to say something pointed but was holding back. His fists clenched, opening back up slowly as he forced himself to remain calm. The anger slowly melted from his place, replaced by a stone-cold mask of authority.
“There’s too much risk. We can’t assume we get to recreate characters if we die on the island. We also can’t assume you can create a new Monster Hunter, even if we can make new characters. Even in the best case, such a setback will cost us multiple days. Plus, unless we set some aside in the guild bank, we’ll lose all our gold.”
Jay had to acknowledge Lester’s point was somewhat reasonable. There were a lot of risks, but he couldn’t ignore the chance to explore an unknown island. Moreover, following the quest chain was an absolute necessity.
Jay felt a sneaking suspicion that there was a reason he was being directed toward the island. After all, he had needed what he found when the game led him to the goblin town.
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As they continued their argument, Jay glanced at Nora leaving her counter. While the conversation raged on, she carried a sign out of the shop that simply read: temporarily closed. Briefly stepping outside, she left the wooden sign hanging on the doorknob.
“So that’s the risk part,” Ken pointed out. “You’re harping on that, but we should take a moment to consider the rewards. A special island might have really cool Bestiary entries for Jay.”
Taylor Lynn opened her mouth to continue protesting, but Ken forged on. By his side, Jenny simply nodded her support of her brother, smiling encouragement at him.
“There are likely to be few, if any, other people. That would give us a chance to surge past other players in level, which would be a huge advantage. We could even find some exclusive gear or quests.”
When Nora returned to sit behind her counter, she pulled a small novel-sized book from behind the counter. Jay spotted the cover, which had a rabbit jumping from a hat. Shining in the sky above the rabbit was a green sun. The scene was as nonsensical as the title, Little Red Rabbit Food.
“It’s a nice idea, Ken,” Taylor Lynn acknowledged briefly before forging ahead with her agenda. “But ultimately, we don’t know anything about this island. Before we even consider going, we have loads of research to do. We need to talk to information brokers and other players, finding out anything there is to find.”
Lester jumped in quickly before Jay could speak up to fuel Ken’s fires. “And all that time would come away from the time we could be leveling. If we just focus, prepare well, and use Jay’s advantages running dungeons, we’ll most likely soar past other players. We don’t need the island.”
“We could just play more,” Jenny offered. “We’ve been spending a lot of time on other things, not fighting together as a party. That would give us extra time for research.”
“Fair enough, we could play more,” Lester agreed. “But if we decide to increase our schedule, aren’t we better served by using that extra time for more dungeons and quests? We can do that in Elvish territory.”
Jay heard all of their points, but none mattered to him. His decision was already made. The other players would need to decide if they were coming with, of course, but Jay was going to Mercura Island.
He cleared his throat, catching the attention of everyone in the room. Even Nora looked up from her book, watching Jay with idle curiosity.
“I’ve already decided I’m going. That choice is already made. I’m not going to force any of you into joining me. I can always look for players interested in a more hardcore experience for a few levels. I can even look outside the guild, if you prefer, Lester.”
“Who knows if it’ll only last a few levels,” Taylor Lynn muttered. Jenny looked at her sadly, but had already placed herself on her brother’s side.
Jay tried to make eye contact with Taylor Lynn. He hoped they could have one of those moments of communication where everything passed wordlessly. No such moment appeared. When he met her eyes, she looked away, disappointment clear on her face. Their friendship could endure, but he would need to speak with her soon.
Lester scowled, giving the immediate impression that he would not, in fact, prefer that Jay use people outside of the guild for the expedition. Like Ken had proposed earlier, Lester knew the island was an opportunity.
Jay honestly felt Lester was being a little cowardly. Lester wanted the guild to see the benefits from the strange item, but he didn’t want to personally take the risk.
Other games were out there, even if the party could not play Tumultua. Lester would lose out on his guild, but Jay stood to lose out on millions of dollars. Lester had said previously he was interested in helping bring Monster Hunters to the game. His interest was in the historical opportunity doing so presented him. Now, given another fantastic prospect, he was fighting it.
Silence fell over the group as the other party members focused on the decision before them. The moments passed so soundlessly that Jay could almost imagine the ticking sounds in his head.
Finally, Lester turned to leave, showing every sign of being fed up with the conversation. He stomped his way to the door as Taylor Lynn turned on Jay.
Her glare was piercing. When she spoke, there was no trace of her sarcastic tone. No traces of her constant teasing were present. Only real anger remained. “You always do this. Any time something good happens, you mess everything up. Now we’re back to the real reason we can’t be in a guild: you.”
Pausing at the door, Lester called back, “You can find yourself another tank. I’ve invested in this character, and I’ll be keeping him.”
Taylor Lynn’s eyes flicked to the door. Part of her wanted to go, but her eyes looked to Jay again. After that, she just glued them to the floor. Jay definitely needed to speak with her soon. She wasn’t mad anymore—she was hurt.
“He’ll be back,” Ken said smugly. No one disagreed with him aloud, though hopes throughout the party were not high.
If Lester heard, he’d decided to ignore Ken entirely. Lester closed the door as he left, only for it to reopen a few moments later. A woman wearing plate armor entered the shop, and Jay instantly recognized her.
Her character was human instead of Elvish, which surprised Jay. The human avatar was mostly her authentic appearance with only minor changes.
“You know,” Sarah said, her tone appropriate for discussing an ongoing conspiracy. “If that guy doesn’t want to tank for you, I’m happy to do it.”
“Sis?” Jay asked, dumbfounded at her sudden appearance.
The remaining party members and Nora fell silent to allow the siblings space to talk. Despite their silence, everyone watched intently as the reunion took place.
Jay walked over and hugged his sister, even though they were currently game avatars. In response, Sarah awkwardly patted the back of his shoulder, caught off guard by the gesture.
Sarah Miller wore resplendent gunmetal armor trimmed with gold and decorated with gold inscribing. She carried a shining silver shield and wore a longsword strapped to her hip. Her character was listed as a level 20 Paladin.
She added, “You know, if you’re going to dress like a cowboy, I’ll have to ask mom to start putting your clothes out again.”
“What are you doing here?” Jay asked, still in shock. “You’re supposed to be in some kind of extended treatment or diagnostics or something. You didn’t respond to my text.”
Sarah winced. “Sorry about that. I forgot to text you before they put me in full dive. Apparently, the diagnostics involve extended periods inside of their game. A little weird and science fiction, but I don’t feel any pain. That’s something.”
“But how did you find us? How did you get here?” Jay asked.
“Casey told me where to find you,” Sarah said, which made some sense. On the other hand, it didn’t explain how Casey knew where to find Jay. The most likely candidates were, of course, Lucille and Ichibad.
“I mean… how did you even get to the Elvish territory?” Jay asked although he was quickly forming a theory.
“Some anthropomorphic bear told me how to find you. The bear set me up on this whole quest chain, eventually leading me to early passage into Elvish territory. He said the only thing I owed him for the information was that, when I saw you, I had to say, ‘you’re welcome.’ So I guess you’re welcome.”
Her flippant attitude in the face of an absurd story was very Sarah.
“Do you mean a cat?” Jay said, absolutely perplexed by her story. He assumed Sarah had just gotten the animal wrong due to all the fur. The reunion was obviously what Ichibad had alluded to when mentioning a gift the previous day. “He was a Cat Sith class, right?”
“I know what a bear looks like, Jay,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes as only a little sister can. “So, what’s this I heard about an island vacation? There better be a nice beach.”