While Lumel’s Dimensional Pocket did have a bit of a stasis effect thanks to one of her passives, understandably, she wasn’t the biggest fan of lugging around a corpse with her everywhere she went. As such, the first thing they did after waking up the next morning was pay Frank a visit.

  “Most people bring back a shirt from their travels. Or a stupid magnet to slap on the fridge,” Frank grunted, frowning at the corpse they’d deposited on his basement table. “...This is a new one.”

  “He was level 81. Some sort of evolution beyond Guardian of Relics,” Vin explained, getting a rare look of surprise from the always-grumpy Healer. “We don’t know why, but one of his abilities seems to still be functioning despite the fact that he’s dead. We were hoping you could take a look.”

  “Can’t say I have all that much experience performing autopsies, but I can try,” Frank shrugged, peering more closely at the corpse. “Why is his body covered in small stab wounds?”

  “Early testing, courtesy of Alka,” Vin drawled. “And thanks for your help with this, Frank. I figured it might tell us a thing or two about the higher levels.”

  “Like I said, I don’t know how much help I’ll be on a body that’s already dead, but I’ll do what I can. Are either of you injured?”

  “No, we’re fine. He sort of… killed himself.”

  “Good. Then get out of my hospital.”

  As they followed Frank’s orders and let the Healer get to work, Vin shook his head in an attempt to clear it. “That was so strange… I’d intended to tell him about the bonuses gained from prestiging and what not… but it just didn’t happen. It wasn’t that I forgot, but more so that the information just seemed unimportant all of a sudden. Like it wasn’t even worth bringing up.”

  “I know what you mean,” Lumel nodded. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but the same thing happened to me after I prestiged. I’d planned to tell you about every aspect of my new class, but the additional bonus just seemed so irrelevant at the time. I don’t know if this is something I’ll ever get used to now that I know what’s actually happening.”

  “I almost wish it was one of the Gods actively threatening us instead of just making the information feel like something not worth mentioning,” Vin admitted as they headed over to the mess hall. “Getting threatened by a higher power is something I’m at least used to, as weird as that is to say. Maybe we could try writing the information down and giving it to those who haven’t hit the second prestige yet?”

  “Maybe… I doubt it would be quite that easy. Though with the sheer number of unique passives and abilities contained within the System and its many classes, maybe there are some methods out there of conveying the information that not even the Gods conceived of. Perhaps a thrice prestiged Writer is capable of recording the information in print and passing it on. Or a high level Mind Mage can combat the weird defenses that are in place to stop us from telling others. There’s no way to know without just trying different stuff and seeing what works. The influence is just too subtle.”

  “I don’t think I like this aspect of the System,” Vin admitted, shivering slightly at the thought of the Gods cautiously watching his actions with their fingers hovering over a big ‘don’t’ button.

  “The Gods provide us with power beyond our wildest dreams,” Lumel shrugged, smiling at him. “Who are we to judge if they deem it necessary to restrict us from talking about this one bit of it? And it’s not like we can’t talk to one another, just lower prestiges.”

  “I guess…” Vin had another point he wanted to make, but was halted by a familiar face he hadn’t seen in quite some time walking toward them.

  “Glad to see you’re still alive,” Golrim said, his strangely eternal smile front and center as always. Despite having joined Terra and functionally becoming the council’s advisor on just about everything, Golrim hadn’t changed much since that first day he’d appeared out of nowhere and tried to make a deal with them. His mismatched leather armor certainly looked cleaner than it had, and the crossbow at his hip was definitely one of Myers’ own make, but there was no fixing the jagged scar running through his missing eye. “I was hoping to check up on you, so Spur asked me to deliver a message in his stead as well. It’s finally time to hunker down.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that,” Vin said, sighing at the news. He’d thought this was coming, but he’d hoped he had another day or two. “Already though? Isn’t it a bit early?”

  “It’s been twenty-five days since wave four arrived,” Golrim explained. “As you well know, there should be forty days between waves four and five, but Spur isn’t taking any chances this time around. Not after a good quarter of the fourth wavers didn’t make the trip, and the strange, extradimensional epic monster showed up to attack. Waves three and four came early as well, and while two data points isn’t enough to make a solid model for prediction, hopefully we’ll have a better idea of what to expect going forward after this wave.”

  “So basically, we need to stay in town and be ready for the next wave of monsters to come at any moment,” Vin said, shaking his head. “Great.”

  “It's not like you couldn’t use the time to finally learn your first tier 3 spell,” Lumel pointed out, giggling at the sour look on his face. “This will be good for you!”

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  “This will be boring for me,” Vin drawled, rolling his eyes. “But yeah, it’s probably for the best. Anything else you wanted to talk to us about, Golrim, or were you just the bearer of bad news?”

  “A few quick things actually. Starting with Lumel here,” Golrim said, turning toward her. “Spur was hoping you either already had, or might be able to design a ranged version of your Isolate Dimension spell, in the event that more of those epic monsters spawn in with the next battle. While it’s good to know Vin and Alka can take one down if necessary, he’d prefer if other warriors could as well.”

  “The spell wouldn’t be the problem… Coming up with a way to resist the monster’s paralysis effect is the bigger issue,” she pointed out. “Not to mention Alka’s weapon has mithral forged into it. Regular steel might not work on such a monster even if we bring it fully into this dimension.”

  “The weapon material is a good point… But at the very least, we actually have a plan for that first problem,” Golrim said, his grin growing wider. “Vin, you said your Epic Monster Slayer title should provide resistances against monsters, right?”

  “Yeah, though I haven’t really gotten the chance to test it yet.”

  “Well you’re about to. On a rather wide scale. We finally got Terra its own Strategist, and their Capstone allows them to share the effects of someone’s title or passive with a small handful of others. Not many, but at the very least, we can give the Slayers your own title for the duration of the battle.”

  “That’s amazing!” Vin laughed, happy to hear that the lives of everyone wouldn’t just be placed into his hands should another epic monster show up. “Who was it? Someone from the fourth wave?”

  “Yes. She was a professional ‘Go’ player back on your world. Apparently one of the best. A rather interesting game, I must say, though I imagine I would enjoy it more if she didn’t utterly crush me every time we played a match.”

  “‘Go?’” Lumel repeated, looking confused. “I’m not sure if that’s translating right. What’s the game like?”

  “I’ve never played it myself, but I’ve heard of it. You move around a bunch of little stones and try to collect them, or something? Sorry, I don’t know the details,” Vin admitted. “Though that’s not the important thing. The fact that we actually have an official Strategist is huge!”

  “Indeed. It’s why I’ve been so absent these past few weeks. I’ve taken it upon myself to teach them all about Edregon and ensure they were leveling safely and comfortably,” Golrim explained. “I told you before, nothing is as important as a high level Strategist when you have battles to be won. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that Terra’s continued survival rests entirely in her hands.”

  “Wow, no pressure or anything,” Vin said. “Though glad to hear you’ve got a project to keep you busy and out of trouble.”

  “When have I ever gotten into trouble?” Golrim asked, smiling all the while. “Anyway, I need an update on you and your teams’ abilities. Spells, passives, artifacts, anything and everything you have in your possession to work with. It’s critical that our new Strategist knows all the tools she’s working with.”

  “Everything?” Vin repeated, a slight sinking in his stomach hitting him as he realized he’d already have to lie about the gem of resurrection tucked away within his Dimensional Sheath. He knew he’d have to sooner or later, but they hadn’t even been back in town for a full day yet.

  “Only if you want Terra and everyone in it to have the greatest chance at survival,” Golrim shrugged. “Your call, really.”

  Resigning himself to his fate, Vin cast Still Wind and began listing off all the new spells he’d learned over the past couple of weeks. Golrim seemed appropriately surprised as Vin listed off spell after spell, and the Logistician jotted them down one after another on a small notepad he’d pulled from his pocket. Unlike Kym, Golrim didn’t have a flawless memory. Once he’d gotten to his prestige class, Vin surprised himself by talking about his class ability.

  “The prestige class ability occasionally lets me see things that others don’t seem to be able to. I’m still working out the specifics, but-wait!” he stopped, blinking as he only just realized what had happened. “I can talk about my class ability! You’re in your second prestige already?!”

  “Ah, finally encountered that fun aspect of the System, have you?” Golrim asked, chuckling at the look on his face. “Yes, I’m a level 46 Expert of Numbers. Not a very flashy-sounding class, I know, but it’s perfect for my intentions. I haven’t been able to talk about my own class ability with anyone around town, but from what I’ve gathered, my class ability functionally makes my mind work the same as one of your ‘calculators’ back on Earth.”

  “Oh wow, that’s amazing,” Vin said, realizing Golrim had basically become a living supercomputer. “I imagine that has to be useful for your calculations.”

  “You have no idea,” Golrim grinned. “But back to your own class ability. Any ability to allow one to see secrets kept from others is a remarkably strong one. I doubt I have to tell you that information is the real key to power in this world. And for someone like you, one who roams the world encountering any number of strange sights, I imagine you’ll get quite the use out of it.”

  “My own class ability isn’t nearly as exciting,” Lumel admitted. “It grants additional experience for certain things rather than anything fancy.”

  “Bonus experience is huge, especially when it comes to the slower leveling past level 40,” Golrim said, giving her an encouraging smile. “Not to mention it might help you keep pace with Vin and his insane leveling speeds.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping,” she admitted, blushing a little as Vin looked at her.

  “Anyway, that’s all I need for now. I’ll go add this to our list of resources for our new Strategist to go over,” Golrim said, tucking away his notes and giving Vin a pointed look. “If I were you, I’d take advantage of the next week or so in town to finally learn a tier 3 spell like Lumel recommended. Gods know you could really use one.”

  With that, Golrim waved and headed off, leaving them to their breakfast once more. After being told to finally learn a tier 3 spell yet again, by Golrim of all people, Vin threw up his hands in exasperation.

  “Alright already!” he said, causing a nearby Earther to jump as his arm flashed bright blue. “I’ll learn the damn spell!”

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