With Relian getting farther away by the second, Luke followed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him before rushing to the stairs. There were more people on the stairs, but Luke ran past them as fast as his legs would carry him, almost falling several times.

  "Ray!" he shouted. "Relian!"

  He ignored the people giving him weird looks as he waved his staff around, trying to find his friend through the invisibility of stealth. At the bottom of the stairs, he still hadn't found anything, and Luke ran toward the front door of the apartment building and threw it open, then stood there panting.

  People milled about on the sidewalk, so many people. Cars on the street. Honking. Laughter. So much sound. There was just no way he'd find Ray in all that. How was he even supposed to search for someone invisible?

  Luke tilted his face to the sky and shouted, "Fuck!"

  He needed to do something. What? His first instinct was to call the cops, but that wouldn't accomplish a thing. They'd go into the apartment, find the bodies, and accuse Ray of murder. No, that wouldn't do. Not at all.

  Luke's next thought was to call Ray's mother, but that would be an even worse idea. Instead, he called Milla.

  She answered right away.

  "Hey," he said.

  "What's wrong?" Milla asked. "You sound strange."

  Luke tried to calm his breathing. "I'll tell you later. Can you give me the number of someone at the DIA?"

  "Yeah, I'll text you," she said. "Are you sure you're all right? I can come to you."

  "No," Luke said. "It's fine. Just the number."

  "Okay then," she said, sounding skeptical. "Mom wants us to come home for dinner tomorrow night. Can you make it?"

  "Sure," Luke said. "The number."

  "There. Texted it. You're scaring me a little, brother."

  "I'll be fine," Luke said. "Talk to you later."

  He hung up, copied the number from Milla's text, and called it.

  A woman introduced herself as Agent Johanson, her voice smooth and calm. Professional. Luke explained how he'd gotten the number, about what happened in the pink dungeon, and about Ray and the apartment. The words just spilled out of him, and Johanson listened with minimal input.

  "You need to help me find him," Luke said. "Please."

  "We will help you," Johanson said after a moment of silence. "But this is a delicate situation, especially with the mayor having been killed today. Do you know of any Integrated who might be able to track your friend?"

  Luke considered the question, thinking of all the people he'd met. "No, I don't think so."

  "Our database of Integrated is growing by the hour, but unfortunately, I know of no such class or item that can accomplish what you're asking. We will rendezvous with the local authorities and the FBI. Ray will resurface, and we will find him."

  "Thank you," Luke said.

  "Please stay reachable, Mr. Quinn, and we will let you know once we find something. If there are any developments from your side, I'd appreciate your call."

  "Of course," Luke said.

  Before the call ended, Luke thought of something else, a person he just remembered when racking his brain for potential Integrated who might help. This one would be no help at all. "There's something else."

  Johanson sounded surprised. "Oh?"

  He told her of Mia and the being that seemed to have taken over her, and what had happened to the old rocker. The image of him being squeezed apart sent a fresh wave of nausea through Luke. Johanson promised they'd look into it, and then the call ended. Luke just felt drained. His phone dinged with an email proclaiming his two auctions had concluded. The goblin and the knight corpses had sold for a total of $70k, and an Integrated courier would come to pick up the items early the next day. Luke didn't even care about the amount of money. With that and the sum from Alan, he wouldn't have to care about that sort of thing for a long while. Credits would be more useful going forward, anyway.

  At that moment, money was the furthest thing from his mind. Ray needed help. The DIA would help Luke, but this wasn't enough. He needed to do more. His profession, Luke realized. Seeker. He opened his interface and read the description again.

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  Trace and uncover the secrets of the greater system.

  This was one of those secrets, wasn't it? He focused on the description of the Profession itself and on the Sense Dungeon skill, trying to will it to evolve somehow. He needed a Sense Integrated skill or something similar. That would be useful. Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

  "Guide!" Luke shouted into the thin air, drawing quite a few stares again. "Guide!"

  The enigmatic entity didn't appear, of course. Luke was on his own without a clue what to do, with no idea how to help his friend or even find him. Relian had set the stage from the moment they entered the dungeon. It had just been a game where the boss's ultimate goal was to escape the confines of the dungeon and return to the greater system.

  The horse flesh monster under the wooden platform that pierced Ray's shoulder when they escaped had something to do with it. Luke was sure of it. Relian allowed Ray to get close enough to attack him. He'd known about Ray all along and just made it seem like he didn't, allowing the party to achieve victory, fooling even the system itself. Then, once his plan was done, an army of undead chased them out of the dungeon to make sure they didn't have time to question any of it.

  That bastard had embedded himself in Ray somehow and was taking over, but the process wasn't complete. Luke had seen Ray in there, frightened, but Relian was directing him and had forced him to kill his roommates. The Fallen Shepherd was taking over Ray. Time was of the essence.

  Luke squeezed his fists. He wanted to fight. To do something! Instead, all he could do was prepare. There was nothing he could do except grow stronger and figure out a way to kill Relian and excise him away from Ray when the moment presented itself.

  Had Relian fooled Guide and the Greater System itself, or had it just allowed the bastard to get his way? One day, Luke would find out, and he'd punish whoever was responsible for this travesty.

  Stronger. He'd grow stronger, and he'd wipe that smile off Relian's lips and show him he wasn't welcome on Earth. This was Luke's turf, and he wasn't about to let that monster live here. To do that, he first needed sleep.

  When Luke got home, he crashed on his makeshift bed and fell asleep in an instant.

  He woke from the sound of someone banging on his door. Luke got to his feet and shuffled over. His phone said it was 9 AM, but it felt like he'd slept less than an hour. Peering out through the peephole, he saw a logo he recognized, and Luke realized who this had to be.

  He opened the door.

  "Here to pick up the items?"

  "That's right," the courier said, a brilliant white smile on her face. She was small and thin, with brown hair and a small button nose.

  "Don't you need a cart or something?" he asked.

  She laughed. "Just initiate the trade and give me the items. Once I have them in my inventory, I confirm with headquarters, and they release the money to your account."

  "Trade?" Luke asked.

  "Yeah, like this."

  Integrated Sofia wishes to trade with you. Accept? Yes/No?

  Luke selected yes, and a window appeared with his inventory next to it and hers to the right of that. He took the Knight and Goblin corpses and placed them into the trade window, and with a thought, accepted the trade.

  "Haven't tried that before," Luke said.

  "It's simple enough," she said, giving him another smile. Her eyes unfocused for a brief moment as she checked her interface. "Everything seems to be in order here."

  She stepped back and half turned.

  "Don't I need to sign anything?" Luke said.

  "Nope," she said. "We're all good. The money should be in your account now."

  "Cool," Luke said, nodding, and then she was gone again.

  Such a weird thing, selling corpses, but you had to roll with the punches. Next time, though, he would sell for credits, not dollars. Soon, he figured, credits would rule the world.

  Luke was about to close the door again when a muted sound reached him, almost like a footfall.

  "Ray?" he asked the empty hallway.

  A neighbor opened their door, and a bunch of children spilled out. Must've been the sound of them getting ready to leave that he'd heard.

  Once again, he felt the weight of what he was trying to accomplish. Finding and catching someone with perfect stealth. He should have picked Weavesense.

  Hidden from view does not the weave obscure.

  It sounded like a useful skill when dealing with Ray, so it would be his next pick, without a doubt. But he needed to reach level 12 to get another point, and his Sense Dungeon skill didn't tingle. There were no new dungeons about to open up as far as he could tell. So that sort of experience gain would have to wait.

  Another way presented itself, though. Tim from the hospital had called him while Luke slept, then sent a text.

  "We've got more cases for you if you're looking to practice some more," Tim texted. "Come over whenever you want. I'll be your liaison. Tomorrow, I'm heading to the orb myself with some colleagues. We're all going to pick the Lifeweaver class. Think of all the good we'll be able to do."

  More people picking the Life Weaver class. Luke wasn't sure what to think about that. To him, he was the Lifeweaver, and it felt wrong somehow that others would have the same class. But, from a logical perspective, he knew he wasn't unique. There was nothing that said he should be the only one. With leagues of Lifeweavers, medicine would change forever, and for the better. Still, it irked him, despite how much he hated how it did.

  Heading to the hospital didn't sound like such a bad idea, since he needed to find some people to talk with regarding pain, and this would provide both a much-needed distraction and a way to get stronger, so he texted back.

  "I'll be in today. Can you arrange so I can talk with someone in neurology? And maybe someone in the pain clinic, if your hospital has one?"

  After that, he texted that influencer, telling her to bring her brother to the hospital so he could take a look at him there. She replied, agreeing to it.

  Before forgetting, he also texted Penny, Mateo, Hannah, and Colt, telling them of what was going on with Ray. They were there for the dungeon. It was only right that they knew Relian had used them all to escape by infecting one of them.

  Since it was still early and Luke's stomach grumbled and complained, he dressed in his one pair of clean workout clothes and headed out to get something small to eat before returning to the gym. Another session under Vasilij's tutelage would take his mind off things. After that, he'd need to go buy some more clothes, because he was running close to having nothing to wear, especially since almost everything he put on ended up being covered in blood. For now, though, he needed to get stronger, not just of mind and skill with his Lifeweaver powers, but strength of body as well. It was time for more squats!