“Now it gets interesting,” I said as more people drifted over, dragging chairs with them. A few folks from the Army side of the room joined in too, boots thudding against the floor as they settled in. The room looked and sounded like an informal seminar was about to kick off, the air buzzing with curiosity and recycled convention-center air.

  “I admit, I played with him a bit,” I continued. “I wanted to convince him that cultivation wasn’t compatible with the Game as it exists. It’s all fixed amounts of MANA, modified by class and level. Maybe other things later as we hit higher levels.”

  One of the newer watchers raised a hand. “You think that’ll happen? We’ve seen titles up to Level 24 worldwide, but nothing about cultivating MANA.”

  I stretched a little and nodded toward him. I didn’t recognize the guy.

  “What we see now isn’t everything we’re going to see. That includes lower-level spells and probably techniques too. We’re only a couple weeks into this thing. Whatever’s behind it doesn’t want us learning everything at once.”

  “New players coming up will have it easier. They’ll build better characters than we did. That’s already happening. It means they’ll eventually outstrip us at the top levels.”

  I paused, looking at all the faces turned toward me, the expectation hanging thick in the air. I took a long breath and let it out slowly.

  “And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. In fact, we want that to happen. They’re the ones who will have to fight the bigger spawns that are coming.”

  That earned a few uncomfortable mutters and shuffles.

  “But back to my story. I played the ‘Old Master’ for him. Blaze and I put on Mage robe drops. I had them kneel on some floor pillows and fed him what I’ll call ‘ancient master wisdom.’”

  Their expressions shifted, a dozen people leaning in like they expected me to drop some hidden teaching. I let it build, then I gave them my gotcha smile, “Then we had leftover pizza.”

  Laughter broke across the room. I leaned back and laughed along with them.

  “I recommend Sandy’s Pizza. It’s about a block north of the square. Good pizza and they’re Game Friendly. They let one of their people off to fight the World Boss. At least one that I know of.

  “We tried a couple things with a MANA BATTERY to see if Blaze or I could feel the MANA,” I said. “We could see it on our System Screens pulling from the battery and transferring MANA back in. When I tried it...I got stuck.”

  “What do you mean stuck?” Charlie asked. “How do you get stuck transferring MANA?”

  “It wasn’t the transfer,” I said. “It was the cycling. Pulling it out and pushing it back in repeatedly. As fast as I could. Blaze had to knock the battery out of my hand to break the loop after about half an hour.”

  “A half hour of cycling MANA?” someone called out, incredulous.

  “Yeah. It felt like five or ten minutes to me. I was down about 30 percent of my overall MANA. Blaze got help from the Healer next door and Ingrid...who brought her whole ambulance crew.”

  A ripple of concern passed through the crowd.

  “There wasn’t anything wrong with me they could find, except for physical and mental exhaustion. That was the good news.”

  “What was the bad news?” Paul asked. He looked worried.

  “The bad news was I got told to get my ass to the hospital or to my doctor for a full checkup. I planned on going to the hospital...they’ve got all the good toys. It’s on my list after I leave here today.”

  Several people took notes. Dr. Peters among them.

  “That means I have to do it today or there’ll be even more people on my ass about it,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

  “Where the leakage came from...if it was leakage and not just MANA spent in the process...that’s a question for you folks at the GRA,” I said. “You have more tools and more access to measuring things than I do. I’m just here to tell you what happened, just like I promised.”

  Some of the watchers had that look...the one that meant they wanted me to redo the experiment right here, right now, even without proper monitoring or with whatever junk or equipment they could grab.

  “Not happening today, I thought.

  “Don’t worry,” I said with a tired smile. “I’ll let you know more when I learn more. But you’ll have to take it from here. I’ve done my part. And you can keep Washington happy with the info.”

  Dr. Peters actually laughed. “You don’t know them very well. They’re going to want a lot more than you just gave us.”

  “Then you’ll have to design the experiments and run them to get what they want...and what we want. Let me know when you have something.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  I played the old man card and stood slowly, using the chair for support. My knees weren’t thrilled about it, and I made sure everyone could see that.

  “Paul, Charlie...let me know what you find with that question I asked.”

  That put the attention on them as I made my way slowly outside to my van. Once I was safely outside, the laughter cut loose I couldn’t hold any longer.

  I wasn’t laughing at the people in there. I was laughing at the absurdity of it all. It sounded like something out of comedic fantasy or a cartoon. Except it wasn’t. It was real. And half of what I’d said, I believed.

  So was my ability to feel Ley Lines when I walked through them. Or the pressure inside the SYSTEM STORE...like walking into a dense, invisible fog. I felt it now more than the first time I went in. That whole place was a MANA construct. How powerful would a DISPELL MANA need to be to erase it? I doubted Level 100 would be enough.

  When I reached the hospital, Ingrid and doctors Lewis and Serrano were waiting. That did not bode well. I put on my happy face as I walked in.

  “Will,” Ingrid greeted me. I know you know Doctor Lewis and have met Doctor Serrano.”

  I nodded to all three. “Let’s get this over with. See if you find anything Ingrid didn’t. I brought MANA Batteries, but I’d rather avoid another loop.”

  “We’ll try,” Dr. Lewis said. “We have a room set up. Your orthopedist is waiting to give you the checkup you’ve been avoiding for months.” Ingrid grinned. At least she didn’t laugh...or say ‘gotcha’ out loud.

  It only took ten minutes for him to go over me and tell me my legs were better than expected. When he asked if the Game had anything to do with it, I said possibly. Healing spells and increased HEALTH stats might have real-world benefits. I mentioned my suspicion that higher stats affected INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, STRENGTH and so on.

  He agreed it was worth testing and said when Ingrid got REJUVENATION she ought to try it on me. Then report the results. I agreed. It wasn’t going to make my legs worse. And they were better after the years since the accident.

  After he left, the two “good” doctors had their turn. Ingrid helped. I wasn’t sure I’d forgive her for enjoying my suffering torture of a full physical and then some.

  They drew multiple vials of blood...felt like half a gallon. Tested for infections, organ function, electrolytes, toxins, foreign material. Results would be back tomorrow morning.

  The time was shorter than usual because their labs weren’t as busy as they were before the GAME started.

  Then came the electrodes. Techs hooked me to an array of machines...EKG, EEG and a few three letter machines I didn’t recognize. They didn’t explain all of them.

  Nearly two hours later, Dr. Lewis finally asked the question I’d expected.

  “Will, are you willing to go back into the loop so we can observe it? Ten minutes should do it.”

  I looked at Ingrid. “If they go past ten to fifteen minutes, you break me out. Ignore them. That’s half the time of last time. This will be the only repeat unless you find another sucker who can do it.”

  The doctors exchanged looks. The techs they’d brought in shifted nervously. Ingrid was the last to respond. She picked up her EMT bag off the floor and set it on a tray table. Then reached into it. She pulled out her white tunic, chainmail hauberk, winged helmet, a one-handed axe, and a Thor’s hammer pendant and put them on the bed next to me. She put them all on without a word.

  She held the axe in her right hand. Her left held her Thor’s hammer pendant out.

  “In the name of Odin, you will stop when I say stop,” she said. “If you refuse...I’ll consider RESURRECTION after a few minutes.” She let go of the pendant and slapped the ax head against her other palm. “Otherwise, you’ll meet Hel. So say I.”

  Everyone but me stepped back. They all knew Sally the EMT. This was Ingrid, Priestess of Odin. With that ax...I’d put money down on that it was sharp enough to shave with, if Bhaarrt had sharpened it.

  I’d seen cartoon gulps before. This was the first time I saw real ones. Their eyes kept flicking toward the third-story window like they were calculating the odds of surviving the jump.

  They’d have a better chance surviving using the window, in my not so humble opinion.

  She waited until every single person verbally agreed. Only then did she step back.

  “Ready?” she asked me in something closer to her regular voice.

  “With a Valkyrie as my guard. Anytime.” I said, smiling.

  Looking around the room, I told them, “Let’s do it.”

  They did. We did. I didn’t enjoy it but I got through it. It wasn’t as bad this time. It was still bad coming out of it.

  Twenty minutes later, I was sipping something orange-flavored while my head cleared. I’d slipped in faster this time, letting it happen instead of fighting it. I remembered more of it too. It wasn’t as frightening this time. I didn’t want to repeat it.

  I came out faster and recovered faster too. Sally was back to being Sally. It wasn’t a split personality...just a persona. SCA folks do that all the time. Gamers too. Eventually, some people merge them.

  They’d recorded the amount of my MANA pool before and after. My System Interface number was the same, but it felt like more. Maybe it wasn’t a full point yet. Maybe something subtle shifted. I didn’t know, but I told them honestly what I felt.

  Ingrid and I walked out together. We didn’t speak until we reached my van.

  “You feel OK to drive?” she asked.

  “I think so. Thank you for keeping them from going too far. That’s the scariest I’ve ever seen you. Second only to when you chanted ‘Blood for Odin’ at the quarry.”

  She snorted softly. “Blaze suggested it when she heard I’d be here. It’s fun dressing up, but sometimes the Priestess of Odin feels like she’s trying to take over. The quarry was one of those times. I let it happen. It worked. Even if we didn’t need it.”

  “Oh, we needed it alright. It got everyone into the fighting mindset, even the people in the convention center. Powerful and scary as the same time. The ‘can’t leave battle’ effect is scary. People are going to die that way.” Ingrid looked serious, and like a warrior even in her ambulance clothing.

  “Father Stoddard told me that,” she said. “He felt an urge to kill, and he’s always been a man of peace. He thanked me for helping everyone get ready. Including him.”

  “We felt you both over audio and party links,” I said. “For a second, I thought I saw wings on you.”

  She nodded. “Others said that too. I’m almost level 10...I get them next level. They make my blessings and curses stronger. They make me stronger. At first, I’ll glide more than fly, but full flight comes later.”

  “You’re a fighter as well as a Healer,” I told her as we stood by my van. “Need a ride? I can drop you anywhere.”

  “Thank you, no. My truck’s in the employee lot. We’ll talk later.”

  “That we will.” I replied.

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