Chapter 41

Chapter 41

I gripped the seat of my chair tightly. Nick had no idea how badly he was fucking me. This situation had gone from bad, to worse, to nigh unrecoverable in less than a minute.

It didnt change the fact that his offer was, perhaps, the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for me.

I had my suspicions about the purpose of all of this. My own innate paranoia, my first experience with other Users, along with the Allfathers warning all led me to believe that there were going to be serious complications down the line that made User life far less glamorous than it initially appeared to be.

But Nick didnt know any of that. Given the miraculously fixed injury and sudden appearance of a store when most people were hungry and on the verge of starvation, he probably saw all of this as a lucky break. A dam of withheld karma, finally raging free.

And unlike an endless supply of assholes who would take that luck and run with it, abandoning anyone and everyone less fortunate than themselves, Nick was the one person not only willing, but excited to share a windfall.

Nick was still waiting expectantly. Jinny and Sae had stopped whispering, and Saes eyebrow rose slowly.

And behind me, I could feel Buzzcut, also watching.

My initial thought was that this was bad. More than bad. And as panicked as I felt, there was only one title that could help me now.

Bracing myself, I swapped into

It hit me like a brick. What was Nick doing? What was he doing? Why the fuck was he talking about this in such an open setting? Id gone to such massive lengths to make sure I stayed anonymous, and with this one dipshit move, he ruined everything.

My panic rose, the acid gurgling in my stomach bubbling up and burning my throat, my eyes flicking back and forth as my breaths came in shorter and shorter gasps.

Time slowed down. It was happening again, The same thing that happened in the hospital parking lot. My hands were not my hands. My body, not my body. The imminent peril and impending doom was irrelevant because it wasnt happening to me.

Only, this time. I wasnt tied to my body, either. I stood up from the chair, leaving my body behind. The avatar that I left behind seemed totally calm, taking a sip from the tiny cup of his Turkish coffee as I stepped back from him, incorporeal, studying the layout of the room.

Well, this is a mess.

For once, I let take over my thoughts completely.

I didnt walk so much as float over to Buzzcut, studying him. In the dilation of time, he was clearly staring at the body I left behind, waiting to see what happened.

Have to assume hes heard every word thus far. He was already following Nick. These guys are big time heavy hitters, already established enough that they didnt even bother recruiting at the Open Forum. So for Nick to have their attention? Im guessing they already know he can do this, or at least suspect it.

My initial thought was to reject the offer and get the hell out. But Im uncertain if thats the correct call here. Because who in their right mind would say no to this? An overly cautious person might if things werent so badbut in the middle of a shortage where the alternative to saying yes would essentially be starving? The only reason someone would say no would be if they had something better lined up.

Buzzcuts here for Nick, not me. If I accept, his focus will still be on Nick. Hell want to know how often he can do it, what the limits are, how powerful the class is. A page is generally an assistant to a knight, so likely not that powerful. It wont be hard to spoof it. And apart from the fact that Im taking up a possible slot, Ill likely be of little interest. The danger will come if they attempt to recruit Nick, and he passes. But if I reject this offer, Buzzcut will wonder why. And unlike Nick, I have plenty to hide.

The parameters of my personal objective were specifically to remain unidentified by other Users. I had to assume that was referring to my identity as an Ordinator. At the time, Id thought that the best way to do that would be to pose as a civilian. Revisiting that idea, I wasnt certain if that was correct. Judging from what had happened at the Open Forum, there was still a significant rift between Users and Civilians. Even more open-minded guilds like the Adventurers Guild would likely keep Civilians at arms length in a way they were much less likely to restrict Users.

Maybe he was doing me a favor after all.

More importantly, Nick was completely oblivious to the fact that he was in deep shit. If I said no, there was next to nothing I could do to interfere.

I blinked back into my body.

The feeling of panic was still there, but inert, like a rubber band that had already snapped.

I have been excited for it, but maybe its crazy to just jump in without testing things first. Jinny chuckled nervously.

Sae looked towards Nick, confused. But you said it was time sensitive

It can wait a few days, Nick interjected quickly. Plus, who couldnt use a good old training montage?



I generally held Nick to a higher standard, but I had to give him credit here. He wasnt freaking out.

And if I decide this isnt for me, you can rescind the User status? I asked. It was better to give Buzzcut as many alternatives to killing me as possible, if the class was what he was after.

Nick nodded. With the press of a button. So to speak.

Thats all I have then, I shrugged.



User: ???, Class: ???, LVL: ??? User: Matt, Class: NPC, LVL: N/A User: Matt, Class: Page, LVL: 3.

Once I selected the third option, another prompt immediately followed.



There were options for both the Merchants, and surprisingly, Adventurers Guild. They hadnt removed me yet, though my view was still restricted. There was also an option to change my listing on the Adaptive Dungeon leaderboard.

It was something to consider changing later, but there was no reason to overcomplicate things when we were already reaching critical mass in that regard.



I watched as a series of bogus stats overlaid my own. It even gave the option to distribute stats for the previous level.

Holy shit, I said aloud, as much for Buzzcuts benefit as everyone elses Its really that easy?

Nick shook my hand. Just wait until later to distribute them. It doesnt last long but when you first slot them in, it stings like a bitch.

Jinny welcomed me aboard wholeheartedly. Sae wasnt as enthusiastic, but still seemed happy to have the group rounded out. I did my best to make idle, unimportant small talk and discussion around what the various stats did as I thought through next steps. Exhaustion danced around my temples as my distant fantasy of going home and sleeping slowly drifted away.

Eventually, I excused myself and we parted ways.

It took nearly a half an hour to ensure no one was following me home. I messaged Kinsley and asked for a door, just to be safe. Id done my best to throw Buzzcut off, but if they were as cold-blooded professional as I thought they were, that wouldnt matter. I needed every contingency possible, and that meant using my level-up to try to find a safe way to get the new summon onboard.







Doubt it, I grumbled to myself, checking behind me to make sure I was still clear. Whenever Nick said Id love something, it was almost guaranteed that I wouldnt.