“Well, first off, let's slow down a bit. I understand why you are angry, but what do you think charging around the city looking for Deric is going to accomplish? Do you have a plan? Are you prepared for traps?” Lan asked.
It was a few hours after Jay had left the area that the spotlights had led him to. He now sat in a half-destroyed parking garage sheltering from a downpour that had started shortly after he left.
I--
“Don’t even try it.”
They had been arguing like this for hours. Jay knew it was a dumb idea. That he wasn’t prepared for any of the things that Lan brought up, but he couldn’t think of anything better. As much as he wanted to listen to her, something just wouldn’t sit right with him if he let people suffer when he had the power to do something.
Well, what if--
Lan let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Just stop for a moment, Jay. You remember a few hours ago when you said you would listen to my advice?”
Yeah but--
“No buts, Jay. Keep your goddamn word and get the fuck out of this city. I know how you feel. I know what you're feeling. Trust me, though. If you do this shit in anger when you're still this weak, you're just going to end up dead. Leave, come back stronger, and then save all those people. I’m sorry, but it's just not worth it right now.”
Jay sighed as he leaned back against the cold concrete wall. He wanted to say something else, and he wanted to argue more, but he knew she was right. He had no clue what Deric had up his sleeve. That damn mechanical chimera was proof of that. He shut his eyes, exhausted from the day's events.
Fine, we can do it your way.
“Thank you.”
They sat in silence for a long time after that as Jay organized his thoughts. He still didn’t like this outcome, but at least he would get to come back for that asshole when he was stronger. With thoughts of the days to come filling his mind, he slowly drifted to sleep in the cold parking garage.
Jay awoke late the next morning when the sun began peeking through the side of the garage. He groggily pushed himself to his feet, stretching to try to work out the soreness from sleeping on the hard ground in an awkward position. Yawning, he made his way out of the structure, wishing he had something to brew a pot of coffee so he could chug it.
“So, you ready to head out?” Lan asked.
Jay sighed. Yeah. I still wanna stop at Jett’s place on the way, but I'm ready.
“That’s fine. Just make it quick.”
He nodded as he began heading in that direction. It took about an hour of strolling through the city before he made it back to where Jett lived. He had to change routes multiple times as explosions began echoing from the direction he was moving in, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with whatever that was. When he arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to find the house still intact. The surprise he didn’t appreciate was the ten people standing and sitting around the front of the house eyeing him as he got closer.
“The hell you want?” a man, dressed in a sleeveless leather jacket and ripped blue jeans, asked.
“I’m looking for Jett,” Jay responded.
“He's not here.”
“Then where is he?”
“Up your ass--w!”
A woman approached from behind, flicking the man in the back of the head. Her black hair was cut short. She was wearing a pink crop top and jean shorts, leaving both her mechanical legs in plain view.
“Ah, don't mind Auzi. Jett is inside. Come on, I'll take you to him.”
“Salais, we can’t just take anyone in!” Auzi yelled.
“Ah, quiet you. Even if he's looking to fight, you know Jett would love that.”
“Still.”
“It’s fine. Just leave it, I know what I'm doing.”
Auzi sighed. “Fine. Do whatever you want, sis.”
“So, am I good to go in?” Jay asked.
“Yeah, come on,” Salais said, turning towards the house while still glaring at Auzi.
Jay followed, ignoring the several scowls and pairs of eyes that focused on him as he entered the house.
“So, what do you want with Jett?” Salais asked as he closed the door behind him.
“I met him the other day, but didn’t have a way to stay in contact with him at the time.”
“Huh, so you’re that Jay guy? Where did ya get the armor?”
“It was my leaderboard reward.”
She whistled. “Damn, must have had to place pretty high for that. All I got was some shitty rings that boosted my physique by a few points.”
Jay shrugged. “Maybe I was just lucky.”
“Uh huh, I'm sure…“ She paused as she entered the living room before yelling. “Jett, you’ve got a visitor!”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The crashing of weights followed by rapid footsteps came from upstairs as Jett called out. “Who is it?! Are they here to fight?!”
“No, or... maybe,” She turned toward Jay. “You here to fight?”
“Uh, probably not this time.”
“He's not here to fight!”
The rapid steps that thundered down the staircase slowed as Jett came into view. “Ah, shame. So, who the hell are you, anyway, and what do you want if it’s not a fight?”
Jay sighed as he placed his bracelet in his inventory, causing his armor to once again turn invisible. He pulled out his phone and a charger. “It’s me again. I know you asked about a phone the other day, and I managed to find one. It probably doesn’t have service anymore, though.”
“Oh, shit, Jay! How have you been? I thought you might have died after all Hell broke loose the other day, and I didn’t see any signs of you.”
“I was, uh, stuck in a dungeon.”
Jett nodded. “Makes sense. Anyway, you can charge it up while you're here if you want, but it's not gonna be necessary.”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause Izzy figured out this system shit has a chat function that the assistants weren't allowed to tell us about. Something about ‘only being able to discuss things after we figured them out for ourselves if it wasn’t considered a basic part of the system.’”
“Oh, thank God!” Lan said within his mind. “This was going to be painful to watch without that function. Good on her for figuring it out.”
Jay ignored Lan, for now. “Oh, huh. How does it work?”
“Here.”
A screen popped up with the word.
**Jett has invited you to chat. Would you like to accept?: Y/N**
**Menu Unlocked: Chat**
Another window appeared as soon as Jay accepted the request.
Jett: Hello, can you see this?
Blue Raven: Yep, can you see this?
Jett’s eyes went wide as he read the message and turned back to Jay. Jay wanted to curse. He should have known better. Of course the system would use the name he had given it.
Jett nodded. “Nice! I knew something had to be up when I didn’t see your name on the leaderboard. Why did you decide to go with an alias, though? You don’t seem the type. My assistant tried to convince me for days to make one, but I told him to fuck off. I ain’t scared of people knowing who I am. In fact, I welcome it. I would have thought you would be the same.”
Jay shook his head. “While I do enjoy fighting more than I would have thought, I’m still not looking to put a target on my back. That’s also why I didn’t start with a class that automatically made me an enemy of a goddess, unlike someone I know.”
Salais scoffed at that.
Jett let out a laugh. “I know, but the class was just too good. The mark from her doesn’t go away when you tier it up, either. Apparently, it’s something to do with one of the skills it gives, not the class itself.”
“Huh. What is the skill?”
“Soul Dominion.”
“What does it do?”
“No clue. I still haven't been able to get it past Level 1.”
Lan? Jay asked internally.
“You just had a conversation about how I’m not able to give you advanced information unless you figure it out. If Jett’s assistant hasn’t told him about it yet, what makes you think I can?”
Well, I was assuming that his assistant could know less than you.
She sighed. “While you're not wrong about that, he still has access to a skill database while in this position, so our knowledge is essentially equal.”
“Anyway, anything else you need while you're here?” Jett asked. “You sure you don’t wanna go for another spar?”
Jay sighed. “Not today, sadly.” He looked down at his phone. “I should still probably get this thing charged, if that is alright with you.”
“Yeah, go ahead. There should be a plug near the couch you can use.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Don’t mention it,” Jett said with a wave before moving up the stairs again.
Jay plopped down on the couch, relieved to finally be sitting on something comfortable that he didn’t know he needed. He reached down, plugging the phone into a nearby power strip as Salais sat down beside him.
“So, what’s your story?” she asked, leaning far closer to his face than he’d expected.
He could see every detail this close, from her emerald-green eyes to the tiny silver nose ring.
“Uh, I thought you knew about me from Jett,” Jay said, backing up on the couch slightly.
“Oh, I did, but I always like to get both sides of the story. Hear the good stuff straight from the source, if you know what I mean,” she said with a wink.
“I’m, uh, not sure what this is, but I'm not interested.”
He wasn’t really opposed to the woman, but if he was reading her signals correctly. He wasn’t into anything casual at the moment. He’d had his fair share of that when he was younger, and it wasn’t what he wanted. It wasn’t something he had time for, either.
“Suit yourself,” Salais said, folding her arms and moving to the other side of the couch.
Jay sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back, shutting his eyes and fully stretching out. He glanced down and saw that the phone had reached 10%, which was more than good enough for now. He stood, disconnecting the charger and placing both items back into his storage space.
“Thanks for letting me in, by the way.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said, avoiding looking at him.
“Uh, yeah, sorry. I’m going to head out and tell Jett I said bye when you see him.”
She sighed. “Will do.”
Jay turned to leave.
“Wait a moment.”
“Yeah?” he asked, stopping and looking back over his shoulder.
“Is it the legs?”
“Uh, what?”
“Are the legs the reason you’re not interested? It’s just that... my brother keeps making jokes about them ever since this whole mess started, and I'm starting to think he is right.”
“Oh no, I think they look just fine on you. I just don’t have time for anything right now.”
“I…” she paused, letting out a long breath. “That’s understandable. But you do look too good to pass up. I love a man who isn’t put together.”
**Salais has invited you to chat. Would you like to accept?: Y/N**
“Send me a message if you ever change your mind, or if you just have some time to kill.”
Jay selected ‘Y’ before turning back to the door. “I’ll do that. Thanks again.” With that, he re-equipped his bracelet and exited the house. A few of the people outside glared at him as he passed, but he didn’t care. As soon as he was slightly past the house, he broke into a sprint, heading for the edge of the city. He had a promise to keep, and had run out of excuses to keep Lan waiting. He ran for a long time before the sprawling cityscape finally faded, and he found himself back in the forest he had hid in just days before.
He noted the location of every dungeon that he found and ended up stopping once more to charge his phone up the rest of the way. He still hadn’t worked up the courage to open it--to face what he knew was likely inside. Jay wasn’t prepared to face that yet. He wasn’t sure if he ever would be, but he would rather have them than not when this was all said and done. The last words he had said to anyone on that phone were said in anger. Words he couldn’t take back, and now he wasn’t sure if he would ever get the chance to.
Jay pushed those thoughts from his mind as he came across the entrance to a Level 15 dungeon not too far into the forest. He took a few moments to catch his breath before diving into the structure. It was exactly the kind of distraction that he needed right now.
