Mr. Georges’s intense statement hung as he relaxed back into his chair. He watched for a reaction from Jay, and something about his smug attitude implied he wanted to see an explosion. It was bait.
Jay wasn’t sure why Mr. Georges baited him. There were too many possibilities for what the lawyer might be concealing. He could be angry without showing off that anger. The whole situation put Jay out of his element—but he didn’t want to be the fool. He needed to understand more of the situation.
“Why?” Jay asked, keeping the question simple. His goal was to keep Mr. Georges talking for a little while. It wasn’t likely that the lawyer would slip and reveal anything secret. Still, Jay at least needed to understand the whole story.
“Why? Why did I turn off the ability?” Mr. Georges interpreted the simple question as a continuation, which suited Jay perfectly.
Jay didn’t react to the question, resolute in keeping Mr. Georges talking. The lawyer’s face frowned in displeasure.
“I’ll try and explain again, but in simple language,” Mr. Georges stated as if he were being asked to carry a mountain on his back. “Your Synthesization ability’s origin isn’t something we can confirm. It’s not in any documentation for the class, but it clearly comes from the server node that holds the Monster Hunter class data. Access to that is still limited. Since we can’t confirm the intent of the design, we’ve removed the ability to maintain game balance.”
“What is unbalanced?” Jay asked, trying to see how the lawyer would defend his position. He had no lofty expectations of winning an argument against a proper lawyer but wanted to understand Tumult Corp.’s narrative. Their decision was straightforward, and he doubted it would change. There were ways to adapt to the loss of his most flexible ability. Especially since the party now had free roam to grind Mercura Island creatures. Depending on the difficulty of crocodile questing and the second trial dungeon, the party might reach level 50 or higher before leaving the island.
Mr. Georges checked his watch before he responded. “I’ve only got a few minutes left for this conversation, so be prudent with your questions. The unbalanced portion of the Synthesization ability is the flexibility with which it can adapt based on monsters in the Bestiary. We saw you fly, Jay. The game has no flying mounts or other flight methods available to player characters. You won’t be able to convince me of the balance—it isn’t fair to the other players.”
“What if I avoid the flight ability?” Jay asked. There was no reason to attempt or feign incredulity. He had foreseen something exactly like this causing problems. The reckless use of flight to chase after Lyle had been a serious risk.
He had hoped nobody was watching then, but this information was useful. Mr. Georges had confirmed that someone was either watching tapes or Tumult employees were dedicated to observing him around the clock.
“In that case,” Mr. Georges began, taking great lengths to make his boredom with the conversation clear. “There would still be the issue of flexibility. With Synthesization, your total number of abilities exceeds every other class, even those designed to have higher numbers available. That’s just with the Synthesization slots. If you include all your ability combinations, the number is staggering.”
Jay considered the words momentarily since he couldn’t find a proper answer to the problem. The power did appear unfair, primarily since he had utilized Synthesization abilities against other players in PVP.
“Since my task is important to your continuance of the game,” Jay pointed out, “wouldn’t it make sense for me to have a powerful character?”
“I’m afraid our contract stipulates nothing about Tumult Corp. putting your task on easy mode,” Mr. Georges sneered. His tone dripped with mockery. “If we were willing to break the game, we could just break our previous agreements and manually force the creation of a Monster Hunter character. We wouldn’t even need you.”
The lawyer’s eyebrow twitched slightly as he spoke. The only reason Jay noticed was the break in the stone mask. Mr. Georges presented a firm visage and rarely broke. Obviously, Jay was really getting to Mr. Georges—which gave Jay a sense of pride if he were honest with himself.
“Why do I get the sense you don’t care much if I succeed?” Jay asked, ensuring his words contained proper levels of returned mockery. “I’m not feeling very supported. I might have to leave a bad review.”
“Would you look at that?” Mr. Georges smirked, tapping the face of his watch. “Playtime is over, and the adults return to work. Run along, now.”
He didn’t give Jay a chance to respond to his taunts. Tumult Corp.’s legal department head whirled from the room, leaving Jay alone in the man’s office. There wasn’t anything for Jay to mess with besides the pens on his desk.
Jay left the personal office and made his way out of the building. He stopped only to force a smile as he passed Claire. There was no joy coming from the knowledge that his ability wouldn’t be returned. But the change in professionalism, the lack of decorum that Mr. Georges treated him with—that was worse.
After returning to his car, Jay slammed his fist into the passenger seat, opening a small tear that joined the other wounds in the old car.
***
The process of holding onto anger long-term was arduous. By the time Jay arrived at the spot to meet Taylor Lynn, his anger had waned. A small pebble of fury was left in place of the tower of rage. From that rubble emanated intrusive thoughts about the conversation with Mr. Georges. He couldn’t get it out of his head.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
The spot was an old drive-in movie theater near where Jay and Taylor Lynn attended college. Taylor Lynn had made friends with the owner, Greg March since he had also enrolled at the same college. He was the same age as Jay and Taylor Lynn. His father had opened the company but died of a heart attack. Greg took the business over after his father’s death.
He had always been willing to let Jay and Taylor Lynn use the screens outside the usual nighttime shows. Sometimes he would join them, but often he left them alone to manage his business and complete classwork.
Now that Jay was older, as he thought it over, Greg had probably been in love with Taylor Lynn, too.
Taylor Lynn was waiting for him, sitting on the trunk of her car like an ordinary person would sit on the tailgate of a truck. But she was too strange.
She was wearing a purple dress printed with a floral pattern. Jay recognized it because he had once told her it was his favorite. Her smile could ignite a room when she first saw him but quickly turned to a frown when she recognized the tension he carried.
“Is everything alright?” Taylor Lynn asked. She patted the seat next to her on the trunk. There was barely space for two people, but Jay wasn’t in the mood to protest. Thoughts of his previous meeting reeled his brain so thoroughly that he wouldn’t notice the minor discomfort.
“Just not having the best day so far,” Jay explained. “I’m sure I’ll get over it.”
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I don’t know. I’m worried I’ll start screaming if I start talking. Ultimately, what is bothering me doesn’t matter; I’ll figure it out.”
“Are you sure?” Taylor Lynn questioned. “I’m here for you. You know.”
She doubtlessly remembered the last time they had deeply talked was when Jay had broken down. The moment when he had blatantly lied to her with fake tears. Given her disposition, she wasn’t aware of that.
“I really don’t know if I want to talk,” Jay reiterated. “But I’m glad to see you and happy you asked me here.”
Taylor Lynn bit back a comment that he assumed was related to how he didn’t seem happy to see her. “I’m happy to see you, too. It feels like it’s been so long since we hung out in the real world. I know it’s only been a week or two of game time, but it feels like forever.”
The truth was that they didn’t really hang out more than once a month before the game launched. There were various reasons for that, but Jay kept her at arm’s length, mainly because of the lingering, unreciprocated crush he held for her. Like the thoughts of his previous meeting, he just couldn’t shake it.
“Yeah, it kinda does,” Jay acknowledged. “After we found the hut, there’s been so much going on in the game. Even when I took breaks from the game while people were at work, I felt like I was chasing my tail out in the real world.”
“Are you worried because Sarah pushed herself into the expedition?” Taylor Lynn pondered, though the question wasn’t even addressed to Jay directly. “I know we just saw Lester lose his character, so I’m sure you’re thinking about what could happen to Sarah. Do you know what happens if her character gets deleted?”
“That’s part of it,” Jay dodged. Now that Lester was out of the picture, he couldn’t lie to her again. They were in the real world, at a spot only the two knew about. A place they hadn’t been in years. Jay was still unsure why she chose the location, but it was perfect for coming clean.
“But truthfully,” he admitted, “I don’t think Sarah’s in danger. I know they’re keeping their eyes on our progress. If her presence on the island caused her physical danger, they would have said something about it. They would have found a way to get her off the island.”
“You seem really convinced,” Taylor Lynn pointed out. “Why? If… I’m allowed to ask that.”
“Why wouldn’t you be allowed to ask?” Jay questioned, stepping over the other question for the moment.
Taylor Lynn suddenly became very awkward. It took her a full minute to answer. He wasn’t watching, but he swore he felt the gentle rocking in the car of her shuffling slightly closer to him. His mind was on Mr. Georges, anyway, so he gave her space to find the answer.
“It doesn’t feel like you want me around, to be honest,” she suggested. “I know you’re busy and everything, but—I don’t know. It feels like we’re barely friends.”
Jay remembered becoming cross with her several times throughout the game. He remembered being annoyed that she took Lester’s side on some internal party issues instead of his own. Suddenly, Jay saw the events as they had happened from her perspective. It didn’t feel great; he definitely could have been kinder. She had supported him when he needed it, even though he had lied.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel unwanted,” Jay assured her. “I guess I let myself get wrapped up too much in the whirlwind. Truthfully, I didn’t like Lester that much, but it did seem like we needed him. So I put up with it. When he was hanging around you, I didn’t really want to deal with him. But I think I understand that he was the only person you could really talk to. I’ve been so much in my head, and the others aren’t even in the same generation as us.”
“Okay,” Taylor Lynn stated. Jay looked over at her to read her expression. She didn’t seem upset. There wasn’t any anger on her face, either. To Jay, her face looked at peace with everything.
“You asked me why I was so certain that Tumult would have brought Sarah out if she saw in danger,” Jay said, shifting the conversation back.
Taylor Lynn nodded for him to continue, pushing the red hair that fell forward back behind her ears.
“They have so much to lose if Sarah gets hurt,” Jay pointed out. “It’s the only reason I let them handle her care, to begin with. The bad publicity could bury them, especially with the newness of their technology. If they suspected anything, they’d have to prioritize her safety.”
“That makes sense,” Taylor Lynn acknowledged. She didn’t seem as convinced as Jay was. Something still bothered her, but he noticed when she pushed herself a little closer again. She smiled over at him and turned back to look at the nearby trees they faced.
“A minute ago, was that a bad ‘okay’?” Jay asked, restarting the conversation. “A lot of people say that when they’re upset. Are you upset?”
“Your non-apology apology is accepted,” Taylor Lynn teased. “I’m not upset; I just want things to go back to the way they were.”
That was Jay’s cue; he started telling her the story. His story.
He explained the unique dungeon and what he found there. The dungeon held a distinctive NPC that he spoke with, who unlocked special monster powers. Angela Kitt also assigned him a special quest to enter the ranks of the Angerine.
He explained how Ichabod and Lucille had been working against Lester. Jay figured that part didn’t matter since Lester’s character had been deleted. He wasn’t the guild leader anymore; Jay assumed Lucille or Ichabod had taken over. There wasn’t much information they could see while stuck on Mercura Island.
After that, the story brought him to the necessity of finding the second secret dungeon hidden somewhere on the island. He finished the explanation by bringing Taylor Lynn up to speed on his day. Her expression turned compassionate when he explained the setbacks from losing out on his Synthesization ability.
After the story was over, she turned back to him to stare. There wasn’t any intensity, but she was taking him in. Jay wasn’t crying this time but was confident he didn’t look great. Taylor Lynn, precisely as she had comforted Jay years previously, leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
Given their history, it was a breach of decorum.