Chapter 31

  Near the end of the week the girls filled in Wes on the dangers lurking outside. Their keen eyes had made out no less than twelve different individuals lurking outside. All of the smaller variety. Wes could only differentiate three of the smaller ones he had seen personally. Having had a total of seven different encounters with those Clan members.

  They only presented themselves for a moment when they took water, always by themselves, and they never went into the same location as the previous one. The caution they exhibited made Wes feel uneasy about their plan, but it was too late to change course.

  Keeping himself locked into his quest for Eternal Power, or whatever something like that looked like. Wes tried to keep focus on his agenda, not allowing his mind to roam for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Every time he caught his mind wandering, he used it as an opportunity to mold a different vision of what the very apex of power could look like.

  Wes only had to use cleanse once more for himself and the girls. They chose to hold their need to relieve themselves until they could go together in that little room. Needless to say, they became quite close over the week and a half it took Wes to accumulate the necessary experience. After one last look at his status, he headed down to their bathroom/meeting room.

  The girls seemed to intuit that it was time, so they followed. After the lattice to the meeting room was closed over Wes informed them that it was time. It only took Wes a few more minutes to hear the pop in his ears from leveling.

  Congratulations, Pather, you have reached level 10 in record time without acquiring a kill. For your willingness to abstain from conflict, you have been awarded the achievement Pacifists Envy.

  Congratulations, Pather, you have reached level 10. Joining the top 99.9999 percent of Pathers.

  Congratulations, Pather, you have reached Level 10.

  Wager life itself.

  A little stunned by the bombardment of messages, Wes couldn’t help but wonder what it meant his new achievement meant, but he couldn’t get a description of the others, so he wrote off trying to figure it out.

  Moving on, Wes brought up his Menu. Robotically, he almost selected his slot machine, but caught himself when, two rows above it, he saw a new game no longer faded out.

  Squinting his eyes to try and make out what was in the box, he sighed to himself after finding that it was impossible. All that he could see in the box was a circle with a bunch of different colors on it.

  Thinking to himself, Do I go with tried and true, or do I live my life a little dangerously? If I don’t choose it now, then I will be at a disadvantage later on. But it could lead to a sub-optimal outcome. Especially with how lucky I have been with my abilities. Decisions, Decisions.

  Remembering that he wasn’t alone, he whispered, “Hey, I got a question for you two. When it comes to the choice for getting my abilities, do you guys think I should risk playing a new game?”

  Phony replied, “This is your path, you must choose what is the best option yourself. To influence another’s decision is not done.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, sorry Wesley, you will have to decide for yourself,” Dozel added.

  Clicking his tongue, Wes quipped, “Thanks.”

  Returning to his status screen, Wes looked between the two, “Fuck it.”

  He selected his new option, and immediately, a large glowing wheel appeared. It was so large that he could not see most of the upper half, which was now hidden by the ceiling of their little meeting room. It also clipped through the girls' figures. Now that Wes was able to see them for the first time in days, he couldn’t help but feel a little relief enter his psyche.

  Looking at the lower half of the wheel, he saw a bunch of small stripes leading from the outer edge, only to grow thinner the closer they got to the middle. So many colors populated the wheel that he couldn’t name them all if he tried. Each strip of color had a number on it. After some close inspection, Wes realized that it was written like how his experience was written. Suspecting that he knew what it meant, he looked over the rest of the numbers he could see. The largest of which was 450,000.

  With half of the wheel blocked by the rock and soil above, he couldn’t help but feel that he might just die. A little hesitant about what he could do, Wes tried seeing if he could bring up the selection of games panel, but nothing happened when he thought of it. Seeing the girls start to fidget thanks to the giant wheel. Wes put his hand along the outer edge of the wheel, where smaller handles that resembled his slot machine lay. Upon making contact with the little ball and rod, he grabbed on and felt it was solid. The wheel moved a little with his slight hand movement, sighing, Wes proclaimed to the girls. “If I die, know that it's been fun getting to know you girls. Some of the best days of my life. Tell Nia thanks for everything, and tell Argyros to go Fuck himself.”

  Not willing to wait for a reply, Wes pushed the wheels' outer edge to the floor as hard as he could and closed his eyes. The sound of the wheel spinning, along with the loud clicks, drowned out whatever the girls were trying to say, thankfully.

  After half a minute or so, Wes opened his eyes and saw that the wheel was barely starting to slow down. He kept his eyes open as he started to see the wheel slow down more and more. Now he could start to make out the numbers if he focused hard. Not seeing anything higher than 750,000, Wes let out a nervous laugh in relief. Thankfully, he would not die today.

  As the wheel clicks became less frequent, Wes started to get anxious. The slower the wheel rotated, the slower it seemed to lose momentum. After another fifteen seconds, Wes made a note to himself. Don’t spin the wheel so hard next time.

  Click. . . Click. . . . Click . . . .

  When the wheel made its last click, nothing happened for a moment. Confirming the wheel was no longer moving, Wes went to bring up his status before he felt what he had on the water's edge during his awakening. Just like that day, he felt a pressure slam into his shoulders and push him down. The energy washed through him from head to toe. As the oscillations running through him died down, Wes opened his status.

  Name: Wesley of 29744C

  Race: Human

  Age: 27

  Unique Abilities: Imperial Over Metric, Back In My Day

  Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse, Stopwatch,

  Vigilant, Deviant, Symbiosis, H20,

  Party Chat, Topographer, Superscription

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Skills: N/A

  Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant,

  Pacifists Envy

  Trait(s): 3

  Current Status: Healthy

  Level 10

  Savings: 1,457,452

  Next Level: 20,736

  Level 10 Exp Per Sec: .024

  Current Exp: 3.6

  Wes went to fill the girls in, but his vision collapsed, dwindling until he was unconscious.

  ***

  Dozel listened as Wes fell to the ground. The energy she felt in the air was what she felt coming off of God's back in her Empire. The noise coming from outside their little hideout grew raucous. No doubt the smaller clan members must have felt the energy as well.

  Phony broke Dozel from her thoughts, “We have to go, now!”

  Jumping into overdrive, Dozel grabbed Wes, throwing him over her shoulder, and bolted out of their meeting room. Heading for the tunnel, they agreed on, while Phony followed behind, collapsing its walls. After Phony caught back up, Dozel asked. “What’s the plan now?”

  Phony’s silence suffocated the air, her reluctance coming across, “We wait until he wakes up. If he doesn’t wake up before they reach us, we break through to the surface and bolt toward our old mountain.

  ***

  Runar watched as the Moon clan flooded the cavern. Every Member within a hundred miles was headed in this direction. Runar couldn’t help but wonder if he should evacuate them all. This went against the purpose of the planet, but the Matriarch would most likely kill him otherwise.

  When he was going to make his move, he felt some of the Elders pull themselves through space around him.

  The most senior of the four around him said, “Where did that come from?”

  Runar pointed down, “It’s the Matriarch’s pet project.”

  The Elder looked below, “What are you going to do?”

  “I am not sure,” Runar answered.

  “Why are they down there?”

  “That is what I have been trying to sus out this entire time. They essentially trapped themselves down there, and none of them has the levels to fend off a direct confrontation with so many.” Runar explained.

  “I will deal with it.” The Elder offered.”

  Runar held up his hand. “Not until the last moment. I would like to see where this leads. If we have to pull them out, then they lose this opportunity forever.”

  The five floated in the air, watching the three young Pathers' hideout being overrun by dozens of Clan members. With another four dozen members on the way.

  ***

  Wes opened his eyes and found himself in his old clay-red house. He was lying in his bed made of old rags and cushions. The holes in the roof that allowed a pool's worth of water in were just as they always had been.

  A chair scraping into the earth told Wes he was not alone. He shot to his feet and laid his eyes on Marny’s. “Hello there, Weshley. Long time no talk, I’m assuming?”

  Wesley ran over to his sister and pulled her into a deep hug, “How, I.. uh.. I buried you.” Tears welling in his eyes, “I’m sorry for always being a prick, always making even the smallest shit, harder than it had to be. I’m sorry for all of it.”

  Pulling himself away from his sister, he could see she was the same as she always had been. Her deep brown eyes and sun-kissed white skin carried the same cracks in them that they always had from the dry air of their home planet.

  Marny said, “Please sit, Weshley.”

  Wes pulled himself away from Marny even though he didn’t want to, and took the seat next to Marny at their small table. “How are you here?”

  Marny smiled softly while caressing Wes’s face. “Awwe, where to begin? Are you still on our home planet?”

  Wes looked around and asked. “This isn’t it?”

  Shaking her head, “Well, are you?” Marny pushed.

  Figuring out that she didn’t know what happened in his last month and change meant this was not really Marny. “Are you a ghost or something?”

  Marny laughed out loud. “No, Weshley, of course not. More like a memory.”

  Feeling like his heart was about to break, he answered her original question. “I’m on a training planet with a few friends.”

  Marny looked around, and how long have I been dead for?”

  “A little over a month and a half, I think.”

  Raising her eyebrows in disbelief. Marny asked, “You made it to level 10 in that short of time? How many poor creatures have you killed? No, before that, how did you get off-world?”

  Wes filled Marny in on everything that had happened since she passed. Marny, to her credit, didn’t have any other big reactions. Other than at the mention of Argyros’ name. After he was done, Marny asked a few more questions about the girls and if he was happy.

  When they finished catching up, Wes couldn’t keep himself from asking anymore. “Marny, why didn’t you tell me you were a Pather? A high-level one at that.”

  Furrowing her eyebrows together, Marny frowned. “I never filled you in?”

  Shaking his head, Marny sat in thought for a moment before she said. “If I did not tell you, then it was for a reason. This version of me has been with you since you were 10 years old. Right before most get a quest, I implanted this memory of myself into you. To find out you lived another seventeen true years before awakening is so funny. I stressed over your awakening night and day.”

  Not satisfied with her answer, Wes said. “Notice you didn’t really answer my question.”

  “And I won’t. It would be quite stupid of me to answer this question when the real me had the luxury of extra years of knowledge and still chose not to answer. I have to trust in my judgment.” Marny answered.

  “That’s bullshit,” Wes shouted.

  “Language! Alive or dead, you will not curse around even the memory of me.” Marny demanded.

  “Sorry, Marny, I forgot. Picked up some bad habits, I guess.”

  “Well, cut out those bad habits with a knife if you have to,” Marny added.

  Nodding to her words, he moved on to his next question. “From what I know, you were a powerful Pather who rose through the ranks quite fast. You used curses; were you able to bless people as well?”

  “Yeah, my Unique ability and my trait really synergize with each other. Luck of birth is all. I wasn’t particularly special aside from them, though. And although my specialty was curses, I figured out later in life that I could really make a blessing depending on how I used it. Or at least it registered as a Blessing to our status.

  “Is that why it says Blessed as my current status?” Wes asked.

  “Probably. But what does your status say?” Marny asked.

  Wes tried to open his status and share it, but nothing happened. Looking at Marny with confusion gave away his intentions. “Won’t work. Just tell me what you remember.”

  Wes went over each detail of his status that he could remember. Marny offered funnier and funnier reactions as he filled her in on the peculiarities of his abilities.

  She confirmed that she was behind his large Mana pool even though he wasn’t awakened. Explaining that she would push mana into him each night while adding to one of her curses.

  Wes went to ask about more things he wanted to know, but Marny stopped him. “I know there is a lot you want to ask, but I can already feel this world destabilizing. Before my time runs out, I want to say I love you and I don’t regret a second spent raising you. And I’m sure the seventeen years that I spent after I placed this version of me into you were much the same. Time well spent.”

  Tears pooled in both their eyes. Wes asked, “Will I see you again?”

  Marney shook her head, “I have been waiting for this conversation for seventeen years. It’s all I could ever ask for. Not saying that the real me wouldn’t have put another memory in you, but it was incredibly taxing to do it once. So I doubt it.”

  “You have been waiting alone all this time?” Wes asked.

  “Always focusing on the wrong things, Weshley.” Marny stood up and patted him on the head while pulling him into a hug. “If I had to wait a hundred years, it would have been time well spent.”

  Wes could start to feel the world around him unsettle, pulling himself away from Marny, he stood up to take in her face one last time. She commented, “You have grown into a fine young man. Take care of your responsibilities earnestly. Always strive to be a good man, not the right man. And don’t forget to take care of your budding family, like I have with you. I love you, little Weshley, don’t you ever forget that.”

  Wes felt the stability of her figure start to go under his arms. “I love you more than anything. Thank you for it all, I will try and make you proud.”

  A tear fell from Marny’s cheek as she began to turn into whisps of energy, “You already have.”

  Wes stood in the rapidly dissolving room of their old house. Alone all over again.