With my AAI connection request bouncing, I retrieved my tablet from my ring – I need to get a bag so it’s not so obvious I have a spatial item; and I’m in a store that sells them right over there – and tried to navigate from the children’s program I was previously watching to improve my speech to my language translation software.

  “Me am not being his,” was apparently what I said in a particularly horribly accented garble.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to fly Neily, I remember ever curve of your face. I helped you out of a tight spot and the payment was helping you into one.” She gave me a flirty look and grabbed my shirt, trying to pull me around the counter.

  Finally getting my tablet to the translation, I said, “Look lady, I am not Cornelius. I don’t know what the jebbie is going on. This is insane, stop.”

  “First, cut the ‘I don’t speak your language’ stuff, we both know that wasn’t true last time you were with me. And second, if you want to play music through the tablet, sure. Something with a good beat. Fast paced, I have stuff to do today.”

  I slipped out of her grasp, doing my best to not hurt her. I shouldn’t have worried as she was quite strong. I put the tablet directly in front of my face, maintaining far more calm than I expected, and said, “I am not him. I was brought to this world yesterday. Gabor is an asshat. Please stop. Please explain what is going on, I am confused and concerned.”

  Consultant survival tip #43: When dealing with someone who is both irate and won’t listen, do your best to get them to explain fully the problem. Usually, they will calm down and you can understand where there is a miscommunication. Or just if they suck and you want to extricate yourself from the situation, you can make up a good excuse based on their response.

  Isekonsultant survival tip #4: Don’t allow yourself to get pulled into a backroom by strangers when they are pissed, especially when they have superior cultivation. And don’t let them think you are Cornelius, that’s bad news!

  Isekonsultant survival tip #5: Stop putting the tablet in front of your face and limiting your vision of what is happening…

  I felt the tablet being gently but insistently pulled to the side. The woman, presumably Tilda, gazed into my eyes with a slightly haunted look. “You really aren’t him, are you? Oh jebbie, I am so sorry. I have a lot of pent up… well a lot of things when it comes to that man. And you really are an exact copy of him. Even that little dimple on only one side…” She sighed wistfully.

  Trying to regain a bit of dignity, she hiked an extremely fake smile onto her face. “Uh, welcome to Tilda’s Trifles and Treasures, the best general goods store in all of Pitola!” At my look, she muttered under her breath. “Sorry, all of Velez. I’m still a bit new but it’s been a few months.”

  At that moment, Gabor poked his head back in. A heavy object – paperweight? – flew at Gabor, nearly striking him right between the eyes before he brought up a hand to snatch it from the air. “Nice throw, you still got it. On my next delve, when it’s not all this null sodus, you wanna join?”

  Before she could answer, I stormed over and poked him in the chest. “Look, I am all for pranks but I don’t know what the absolute jebbie is going on and using this Cornelius sodus against me is too far. First, swear an AAI-backed guarantee you won’t pull something like this again. Second, apologize to Tilda and myself. Third, you’re buying me a nice bag here.” Looking back to Tilda, I added, “At an inflated price.”

  She smiled and laughed when I turned the tablet to face her.

  Running a hand through his hair and looking genuinely contrite, Gabor gave a sheepish smile. “Uh, I thought she’d just chew you out a bit. I guess I didn’t know the history? And I can’t actually swear an AAI-backed guarantee like that. I am prohibited by an AAI-backed guarantee to not swear one except with some additional layers of approval. But I am genuinely sorry, especially to you Tildy. I know you’ve had a hard time setting up shop and thought it might be lighthearted to remind you of someone from your past. Third, here, this one looks nice.” He picked up a rough burlap sack underneath a sign that said ‘free with any purchase of more than 1 silver’.

  Simultaneously, Tilda and I said, “I think we can do better than that.” Gabor laughed and Tilda looked confused so I turned the tablet back towards her again. She snorted and genuinely seemed to be coming around on her anger.

  “Gabor, how many people in town don’t have an AAI chip? This language stuff is really starting to be a hindrance. I couldn’t even congratulate a few of the kids today on how well they fought and I think I did a weird hand gesture?” I asked quietly.

  “Yeah, that is a problem you’re just going to have to deal with. Even current or ex delvers like Tilda here often don’t have chips.”

  Tilda chimed in, “They are so damn expensive. Even when I was raking it in in Pitola, I would have needed to save for a few years. If you are part of a merchant’s guild, they are heavily discounted but it wasn’t worth half a year’s wage when everyone spoke the language.”

  Gabor nodded sagely. “Risto is your combat teacher but I also set you up to go to school with some of the younger kids for a while so you can learn the basics of the language. Then, as you get better, you can progress to more advanced classes. There is only one language-specific teacher so you could also just follow her around all day but I think it would be hard. She’ll make you turn off your AAI in class, FYI.”

  Great, I am acting out the plot of Billy Madison? Man, what happened to Adam Sandler?

  “Thank you for setting things up but no more pranks related to Cornelius. It’s seeming like it’s actually something dangerous to me, not just a small joke. I’m just not sure what’s going on with it and you can’t tell me anything.”

  Isekonsultant survival guide 6: Set firm boundaries while being polite. You are still at a significant disadvantage in many ways but you need people to know what’s acceptable.

  Realizing if Tilda didn’t have an AAI, she couldn’t be prohibited from talking about Cornelius, I noted it down to swing back. I didn’t know if Gabor had as crazy of a block on me getting any information as Stannis did so I didn’t mention it.

  I was slightly upset heading out of Tilda’s because everything here was about 25-40% of the cost of what I’d bought in Zalano.

  Yes, my armor and weapons saved me, but I spent so much extra on things like rations!

  We headed back to the school with my new bag and a few other important items, including a small device I could power with my mana – or just stick in my ring for a bit – for keeping my teeth clean. I also had my eye on an automated clothes cleaning bin but it was 60 silvers and I didn’t want to dip too far into my emergency/living expenses funds.

  ***

  Shortly after midday, Gabor dropped me back off at the inn for my provided lunch and some time to decompress and do some self-guided learning. Instead, I had a lovely roast lamb sandwich and a panic attack.

  Upon arriving at my room, my brain decided to take over and throw a million questions at me. I tried to take notes on my tablet to keep myself from spiraling but just the fact I couldn’t even interoperate with it without a chip in my brain that was half magic/half technology caused my grip on my emotions and thoughts to deteriorate even further.

  Taking deep breaths, I began to push back tears.

  Will I ever see Earth again? Will I ever see my friends? My family?

  Sure, I hadn’t been that close in more recent years, letting the monotony of a steady but mentally and emotionally draining job wash out everything about me. But…

  And that thought sent me spiraling in a different direction. One thing I’d pledged to a friend when I was in college was to build a life worth living. A life worth telling the world about. Something people would envy, not because of the flashiness – I’d always sucked at the show-off social media posts – but because it was a life of impact, a life that made others jealous because of the excitement. That excitement could take many forms but one where my metaphorical heart demons weren’t keeping me up at night.

  Almost life health not wealth, though I hate that phrasing. And hopefully heart demons are only metaphorical here too…

  I had slowly let the world erode that dream, getting complacent with a mediocre existence that was moderately safe and not too challenging. Not striving for anything better because everything was ‘good enough’ or, more truthfully, ‘not that bad’. Even my constant body aches had crept up enough for me to not really notice.

  This could be that second chance. I needed to mourn the life I’d lost, mediocre – or mid as my little cousin would say – as it had become. Yes, enough money to easily cover rent and bills was nice but most days and weeks were spent working and then vegging on the couch, whether at home or in a hotel in a random spot across the US. Some reading – though mostly through audiobooks while playing video games.

  I have so many feelings on Wil Wheaton as a narrator. Great storyteller. Left you wanting on voices.

  Nothing that really scratched the itch I constantly felt but nothing forcing me to do better.

  But what do I actually to do here? What is a good outcome and how do I get there? It’s far more dangerous to me physically but there’s also a lot of opportunity.

  I have to be the thing that forces me to strive.

  I didn’t want to build a company back on Earth but do I want to here? Do I want to gain personal hard power as well as soft power? If I don’t have personal hard power – like the ability to actually physically cause harm is so foreign to me – would any soft power be useless when someone could still squish me? If I need both, which first? Simultaneously? Is that going to stretch me too far?

  And what do I need to change about me? Not just my goals and actions but about myself? I’ve been too passive. But do I want to go the charismatic asshole approach? What about the quiet and stoic type, where few words will do and none will do better?

  Be true to myself. I am someone who learns through interacting so I will continue to gather information through good ol’ chatting. But I should also start to cultivate informational assets and build out a network for my work. Not the duplicitous dagger in the night type but still, I’ll probably need to get a little more morally flexible… I’ll keep checking in and taking notes on what I’m thinking and feeling to make sure I don’t go full evil spymaster but I think this can work.

  This is actually exciting. Terrifying in a way but still exciting.

  But first, I need to mourn.

  And with that, I let the grief and trauma of the last two days take over.

  ***

  I wasn’t sure when I’d fallen asleep but I was startled awake by the noise I’d heard when I first came to Putijama. Like two large objects colliding and creating a mellifluent melody of misery. My hands were held out in front of me as if to stop whatever was causing the cacophonous calamity.

  I could feel the dried tears on my face. It was so long since I actually cried. Sure, those pet adoption commercials brought a tear to my eye but I hadn’t felt something so visceral since my grandma died when I was 15.

  Almost half my life since I had a real cry…

  I tried to use the self check-in list I vaguely remembered from an article someone sent to the group chat but really, I started to look at my panic attack and realized the spiral had been far quicker and probably far shallower than it would have been on Earth.

  Maybe this body reacts to stress differently? How can I get information on Barry and his experiments?

  What are my goals? Mid- or maybe short-term, I need to figure out this Cornelius thing. Mid- to long-term, I need to learn more about Barry. But most important is probably language learning.

  I pulled out my tablet to search for information but realized I didn’t even know how to write Barry in local letters. There was a message from Gabor. He was going to swing by at one and half bells past midday to take me for afternoon lessons with more kids, this time general learning about the planet as well as language. That gave me about 20 minutes – so glad this thing translates time into minutes – to wash my face and get ready.

  Logging into the Planet Web, I started to look up random facts like that the planet had a 300 day year and 12 months of 25 days each. Five days a week and five weeks a month, which mad things relatively easy. Luckily, no Roman calendar shenanigans with the calendar not actually equaling a year.

  Every day consisted of 20 bells so it was almost exactly the same time in minutes per day as Earth: 1460 versus 1440. Each bell was measured as two times the amount of time a rift instance cycled; so people could enter a rift or dungeon together but only if they went into the same instance.

  Velez was on a large continent but the information about places outside the Kingdom itself were restricted. There was even a warning when I tried to search around it that if I continued, my personal information would be noted for ‘further investigation of a foreign sympathy and curiosity’ charge.

  I watched a few minutes of Darko Defeats his Drills for preparing a few quick sentences – luckily my AAI could listen to my pronunciation and grammar and tell me where I was making mistakes; which was everywhere… I’ve always been sodus at languages and this is no better – in case I needed to do one of those horrible ice-breaker introductions to a bunch of six year olds.

  I really hope those are only an Earth-based torture and it isn’t throughout the galaxy. The universe? The multiverse? Something to investigate once I’m actually safe.

  The class was actually not nearly as bad as I was expecting. The teacher explained that I was displaced from another place that didn’t speak the same language and that I was here making a genuine effort to better myself and contribute to the Kingdom.

  That was enough to get the kids to be mildly interested but also not gawp at me like I was some weird creature. A few even tried to talk to me but it was a very stilted experience.

  No kicks to the shin or punches to the groin was a good enough outcome for me there.

  I was introduced to the language teacher who Gabor was able convince to do private tutoring in exchange some vague assurances I would clear nearby rifts that were now infected with null essence.

  So, after a long day, I was expecting to head back to the inn to eat, rest, and maybe learn a few more sentences.

  Risto and Gabor had other, far more nefarious, ideas.

  “Before we start, Risto, I know you are passionate about teaching, fighting, and my ability to help here. But, despite you teaching me, I want it to be clear: I owe you nothing. If you want me to pay for lessons, that can be a discussion.”

  I looked him in the eyes for a full ten seconds.

  “But, to be clear, I don’t owe throwing my life away recklessly at these rifts and dungeons. I know they are a problem and I will do my part but not because I owe you and not before I’m ready. Understood?”

  I had dealt with his type before and good natured hot heads tended to respond well to clear boundaries.

  Consultant survival tip #289: When someone who is generally nice yells, there is a reason. Dig into the reason. You can probably still work with them going forwards and often, they will go out of their way to help as recompense. But make sure to set boundaries and walk away – and let them know you’ll walk away – if they start yelling again.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Isekonsultant survival tip #7: Set boundaries early and often around what you are willing to do. It’s very easy to let things fester. You don’t know what you don’t know so let people you generally trust at least know where you are at.

  Damn, lots of my tips are around boundaries… Guess personal power really does corrupt people’s perspectives?

  Risto and Gabor looked at each other and winced.

  Gabor stepped in front. “Uh, yeah… about that… so, we signed you up for a delve for tomorrow.”

  Holding his hands up to stay my response, he quickly continued, “It’s not what you think. It’s the Ignition ceremony. They have two high-level people come into the rift with a group of 13 year olds who haven’t received any essence yet. I talked with the Council and some other higherups. They want people to see you as part of the town and this will help. Plus, you get to actually swing that spiky stick you got and kill something. It is very safe and it will help.

  “They wanted to run some experiments on the essence side around some of the null essence purification work they’ve been doing but the research team has only been even considering what you might bring to the table for less than a day. So I told them absolutely not until they could get some research from elsewhere and give us a better idea that it’s safe. I’m not going to shove you to your death. Stannis would kill me. Maybe literally.”

  Calming down, I simply nodded. “Okay, I get it. Though I did kill a giant green and white bat thing on the way here from Zalano. That’s what cut my forehead.”

  Risto looked mildly impressed but Gabor’s face darkened. “Those idiots couldn’t even keep a few contained? Ugh, I hate those morons from Struva. At least they didn’t try to shake you down.” At my look, he started swearing, including a lot of words I didn’t know yet.

  Completely ignoring him, Risto tossed a training mace to me. It was one covered in foam to blunt the blows but was much heavier. “Unfortunately, I can’t let you hit the kids with this, especially as you’re Ignited, despite a few of them deserving a good walloping,” he laughed while getting into a stance.

  “But this should help you get a better feel for wielding something closer in weight to your chosen weapon. I have to admit, morningstar wouldn’t have been my first choice but it really does suit you. Especially the length, will be great with your height. Now grab a shield and let’s see where we are actually starting from.”

  ***

  It was a pretty brutal training session.

  Luckily, they informed me I’d have accelerated healing so the evidence of getting struck hundreds of times would likely be gone before morning. I was hoping I could even get to sleep with how many proto-bruises were already forming.

  Still, I received some great feedback and tutelage and was able to share my AAI battle training program with both of them for review. It apparently was extremely predictable for fighting people and I’d probably get killed quickly in an actual fight but it was just the ticket for most delves. The creatures didn’t learn attack patterns well, at least for the first three Tiers or so.

  We started simply with learning how to swing.

  I wanted to use my actual morningstar but Risto quickly nixed that. “I know, you want to get the feel for your actual weapon. But this will teach you how to swing, not how to swing your weapon. If you only learn on one specific item, its balance can become a bad habit.”

  Gabor nodded. “Lost a few idiot friends to that coming up.” Risto and he both bowed their heads for a second before motioning for me to show them my form.

  Overhead one handed, over my shield, shield bash then swing, underhand, baseball, halfway between overhand and baseball, same for underhand and baseball, lots of two-hand variants, etc.

  Risto explained how each was used in combat and when it was typically the most useful. Then we started using training dummies to experience what an impact actually felt like rather than just swinging through.

  They put me through all the different swings trying to hit different heights as well. “Yes, your sideswing is your best but still needs a lot of work. See how it feels so different on something <3 feet> tall versus <4 feet>? You’ll need to train your arms until all of these are unconscious based on what you actually need for battle. But, now for the real fun.” The manic grin that spread between he and Gabor made my stomach drop like I was on a rollercoaster.

  This is going to be bad.

  I should have been far more nervous.

  As the AAI could simulate enemy movements over my own vision, it was great for practicing defending against different attacks as well as countering. They queued up 10s of beasts to simulate. Because my goal was battle control instead of a specific focus on offense or defense, they decided I need to ‘increase the realism’.

  Whenever an enemy attack landed, they whapped me with a cane in that exact spot, supposedly with the same force that I would have received.

  Press X for doubt.

  It hurt.

  Somehow every enemy could strike harder than that trainer at the UFC gym I’d gone to for a month before it got shut down for a myriad of different illegal activities.

  Could the little bunny really smash my nose hard enough to almost break it? These asshats are having too much fun.

  Gabor explained the thought process. “If you just focus on what it takes to defend and dodge, you aren’t dealing with the real consequences of a misstep. This is standard training for the military – though they do far more damage for a mistake – because it somewhat inures you to the pain and fighting through it.”

  There sure is a lot of pain for me to practice.

  But it actually was far more fun than I expected, especially when we went from one enemy to two in the simulations. Luckily, few of the rifts in the area at Tier 1 would have monsters that used pack tactics so two at a time was likely to be the limit unless I fought too slowly and/or caused a big ruckus, drawing more enemies to me all at once.

  After one and a half bells – almost two hours – they finally called it. “Okay, good work. Risto will see you tomorrow bright and early for your training with the kids again and I’ll drop you back at the inn. We’ll see if Vana forces you to bathe before you eat or will let it go until later.”

  “I bet two silver she makes me take a bath,” I said, holding my hand out to Gabor while composing a message to Vana.

  “No bet, I see that look in your eye. It’s just like my wife when she’s sending a sneaky message.” Gabor laughed and smacked me on the back.

  Risto shook his head. “I’m so glad I dumped Dragan. He bet too much too.”

  “And cheated,” Gabor added.

  Risto gave Gabor a wry look but nodded.

  I felt my face redden. Do I bet too much? Is that cheating, not telling your partner about it?

  “Anyway, Terry’s got the ceremony, remember? So no training tomorrow morning.” Turning to me Risto said, “Get some rest, someone will call on you after first bell.”

  ***

  After another night of quiet reflection, language learning, updating my notes app, and a surprisingly deep sleep, I awoke to someone knocking at my door. Without thinking, I opened the door bleary eyed.

  Vana gave me a good look up and down as I was only in my boxers and gave a wolf whistle with some fake grabby motions. “Okay kiddo, you have visitors downstairs. They said you have <10 minutes> before they leave so get a move on. At least put some pants on please. And no, I won’t hold breakfast over for you but you can grab a roll on the way out. They aren’t fully baked yet but that’s what you get for not informing me ahead of time. Ya dingus.”

  Before I could even think of a response, she was at the stairs chuckling darkly to herself.

  Weirdo. Delightful but still a weirdo.

  I met a group of what I assumed were 13 year olds downstairs – four boys and three girls – that were escorted by a man and a woman in full combat garb. Both felt powerful, though maybe not as much as Stannis or Gabor.

  “Apparently they didn’t tell you to meet us at the correct spot so we’re here. We charged a breakfast for each of us to your room for the wait.” The woman gave me a smug look as she quickly shoved the last of the food at the table into her mouth.

  The man gave no reaction. As in no muscle movement at all. If he hadn’t turned to me when I approached, I would have thought he was an incredibly lifelike statue.

  “Hi everyone, I’m Terry,” I said to blank looks. Realizing my mistake, I sent out an AAI request for temporary communication to the nine waiting people. [Error, only two AAI present you are not connected with in the vicinity. Try again?]

  At least both the adults – Aras and Dahlia – accepted.

  This might be awkward.

  Immediately, the kids started talking sodus about me thinking I couldn’t understand though I didn’t really care. But I also didn’t tell them I could understand. Neither did the adults so I figured it was fine.

  We walked out the eastern gate 20 minutes later and continued on for another 30 minutes. We met a third adult with a cart filled with adventuring gear, presumably for the kids.

  I didn’t care one whit about that though.

  I only had eyes for the jagged tear in reality, undulating through green and a black so dark it somehow transformed to white without me realizing it and quickly cycling back to dark. I could feel the power emanating from it. It resonated with my very being, my body and soul.

  Well, mostly.

  I turned to Aras. “So, I can feel this resonating with me in an incredible way. But I also feel a wrongness to it. It’s far less present than the amazing feeling though. Any idea what is up with that?”

  “Yeah, though I think you have it switched. The content and powerful feeling is the part that resonates with your affinity. That’s the green in this now mostly wretched portal. The taint is from the null zone that seeps into the rifts even out here.”

  Dahlia stopped outfitting one of the kids, brushing her long blonde hair away from her haughty face and came over. “No, he has it right. This here is a null affinity. He’s supposedly our savior.” Her acerbic tone was obvious but Aras didn’t seem to care at all.

  Is this guy a gargoyle?

  She smiled at me like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth then turned and faced the group of teens. “Okay everyone, let’s go over the rules so the ceremony goes off without a hitch.”

  ***

  Entering the rift felt somewhat like my core ignition just dialed down by 99%. It was simultaneously invigorating and a little bit manic-inducing.

  Around us, there was a forest that looked like it might have been verdant in the recent past but was withering, almost from a lack of life. Not only similar to a drought but something more fundamental. It felt like the stillness of a place that shouldn’t be, as though it were dead to time because it had already died. The feeling was fleeting but still profound.

  I guess that is the null influence?

  A gently moving mist – no, not water-based – surrounded us so we could only see about 100 feet with moderate fidelity in any direction. As I looked closer, it was made of small flakes of white – not snow but similar to tiny bits of ash – that floated through the air. It was serene, somber, and sad all at once.

  Aras stayed to guard us while Dahlia went to round up a few of the cat-like lizards of the rift. Each of us was equipped with a bracelet that controlled our allocation of essence on a kill. They were set to zero for everyone but the two leaders until each of us had our Cores Ignited.

  “Hey Aras, you feel like you are well above Tier 1, why are you set so high on your allocation of essence?” I asked, keeping alert even though we were supposedly not in any danger.

  He didn’t even turn to look at me, keeping his head on swivel. In a monotone voice, he replied, “We are both Tier 3s. We’ll shunt the essence. Null essence hurts, especially if you have only been in green essence; it’s dangerous for the kids. Too much null can supposedly hurt their foundations.”

  “So isn’t it dangerous to have them delve in general?” I asked.

  “Not really, we have workarounds. We don’t want the kids afraid of delving. We need the resources. And we need to prevent breaks. So, we take the pain instead of them on this first delve. You all I guess, if I include you.”

  I thought maybe he was being too honest but then realized he was actually speaking a different language to me. His AAI could interpret his meaning for transmission to mine. It was pretty amazing.

  If only everyone could afford an AAI.

  The Adventurers Guild and other organizations subsidized getting one if you contracted with them for a certain period and gave them the rift rewards from your delves. They even had a monitoring program through said AAI to ensure compliance. It was a double-edged sword. And it made me slightly worried about a backdoor into my brain but I’d probably already be dead without the electrical brain worm so I just needed to suck it up.

  “Makes sense, makes sense. Say, I’ve been wondering about spells and skills. I keep getting told to not worry about it until late Tier 1 – though maybe to start saving up now. Why is that?” I asked. I turned my head to project well enough at him but kept an eye out for lizzats – my amazing name for the cat-lizards – all the same.

  “Long conversation. It will ruin your foundation. But I need to concentrate. I feel something odd out there and need to focus on it.” He lifted the two short swords from the sheaths at his side.

  We all turned as we heard piteous moaning and Dahlia returned dragging a badly beaten and maimed muddy colored lizzat on a chain from each arm. “Okay, who’s up first?”

  ***

  We continued further into the rift with Dahlia and Aras taking turns at first to bring back the ugly scaly panthers – though some were more the size of large house cats – they’d beaten to a degree a child could easily finish it off safely.

  The typical ceremony process had each child’s allocation bracelet set to 100% of the essence for their one kill so they could feel the rush of power. With the null causing issues, they still cranked it up to 20% for each child and all of us down to 0% – leaving 40% each for Dahlia and Aras – but I could see the discomfort on each of their young faces at absorbing the essence.

  I was last to go but that didn’t bother me. Apparently, once we killed the eight spry lizards, there would be a group vote to continue or exit the rift. It was all theater as there hadn’t been a single vote in recorded town history to go back early. The guardians were there to stop any serious injuries and the children trained to delve since they were six at schools like Risto’s.

  Dahlia spent far more time on my bracelet than she had any of the others. She took out some tool from a spatial bag at her hip.

  “Dahlia, is there something wrong here? His bracelet should be just like any of the others. I’d like to be home by midday so we can get this meat into a stew for tonight. Always better when fresh.” Aras didn’t even turn and his bored tone while scanning the forest seemed more curious than annoyed.

  “Yes, I think I’ve got it. Here, let me take a look at yours too then you can go grab the final sacrifice.” After a second, she made a shooing motion and started working on her own bracelet with the tool.

  I gave her a quizzical look. “These bracelets are made for the Core Ignition. You are only here as ceremony and theater. Your cores were already Ignited. The bracelets needed adjusting for that.” She also used a different language to the one Aras spoke and the children understood.

  Aras returned shortly after with two of the ugly scaly yet furry monsters, one heavily restrained but with only a few cuts to its legs and a strap around its muzzle; the other was in much worse condition. He looked to the children. “Found two close together. We’ll let Terry Ignite then whoever wants can train against this one. If more than two do, we’ll draw lots.”

  Just as the others did, I quickly dispatched the maimed disgusting monster and then let the kids have at jockeying for who would take on the slightly more dangerous foe. The essence from the kill felt like a great rush with only a single bit of discomfort.

  My attention was more on Aras, who was looking suspiciously between me and Dahlia. Not knowing what he was on about, I simply ignored it.

  Consultant survival tip #29: There are always many things going on around you that don’t concern you. Stay out of them lest they start to concern you. A low-level consultant will always be a pawn and an easy mob to sacrifice in any internal political war. Keep your head down unless it really concerns you.

  Isekonsultant survival tip #8: When two vastly more powerful people, especially both personally and politically, are behaving suspiciously, stay out of their way and safe until your backing is strong enough that the consequences will stay their hands. No need to stick your neck into an opening if you don’t know if it’s a window or a guillotine.

  As they finished off the poor monster, I looked at the one I killed with a discerning eye.

  Up close, the brown and blue beast looked like someone tried to make it cute but failed miserably. The face would have almost looked like a dragon if not for the slitted eyes that were green flecked with white and black and the odd tufts of fur coming from seemingly random spots. The legs were covered in fur but the back was ridged scales.

  It had a tail but it was stubby and fur burst out of the back tip like the world’s worst sausage – scales covering an even less appetizing meal below.

  I think I’ll skip any stew featuring this bad boy.

  We continued on through to the end of the rift which had a larger lizzat with three nasty looking lieutenants by its side. Dahlia made quick work of dulling their danger level enough that it was a relatively quick fight.

  I felt like I was getting a decent amount of essence throughout and any tiredness from my sudden rude awakening was banished, especially by the fight with the rift boss. I managed to destroy a leg on each of the beasts but let the kids have the finishing blows as it was something of a boast.

  Dahlia collected our bracelets and made us wait as she recalibrated them, using the same device from earlier. Aras gave a quirked eyebrow for a fraction of an inch and then went back to looking stoic.

  There was another drawing of lots to see who got to dispel the rift reward distortion – a bobbing translucent ball of light that shifted from green to orange to yellow to white and then back – and I won. Two of the kids gave me a dirty look but most were just excited to see what came.

  Apparently, a typical reward was a few silver coins – or often just the metal that would be equivalent – or some other mundane metal like iron. The rewards were valuable but still, this was a low Tier 1 rift. According to records, very few ever admitted to getting much even if it did happen.

  I swiped with my left hand and placed my right below. A small rock fell towards the ground and I easily snatched it. I was disappointed it wasn’t even metal but I guess with two Tier 3s in the rift, it was somewhat inevitable we’d get a bad reward.

  I dejectedly walked back and handed the rock off to one of the kids. My head snapped up at his squeal, thinking we were under attack.

  “JEBBIE YES! It’s a qi stone! I bet it’s enough to get all of our readings done! And then we might even have some left over too!” He was jumping up and down, holding the hands of the girl next to him who looked ecstatic but was rooted to the ground.

  Eventually calming the kids down, Aras took the stone and examined it. “Feels about 25 charge worth. You can sell this for a good deal and each get a reward but I agree with Jerith’s suggestion to get your Caps checked at the town hall. What do you say?”

  The vote was 8-0.

  I’ll finally know why I am a lucky sodus!

  We jubilantly followed Dahlia out of the rift. Once the slight disturbance of coming back to reality passed, I realized it was an absolute sodus-show.

  With his spear pointed at Dahlia, Gabor yelled, “What the hell have you done? You’ll pay with your life!”

  Well, sodus.

  ***

  NOTES APP

  End of Day 2 Needs and Goals

  Current wealth:

  [~2 gold to spend, 2.7 gold reserved]

  Immediate Needs – INs:

  1) deal with Ignition ceremony

  2) prevent experimentation on me regarding null essence

  3) learn to fight

  Short-term Goals – STGs:

  1) train to not get beat by kids; be able to go five full minutes of training without a walloping from Risto or Gabor

  2) language learning to be close to conversational in under a month

  3) figure out this Cornelius BS

  4) begin training to be able to reach at least Tier 2 in the next year

  5) discover Innate Capability

  6) decide on Tier 1 essence splits

  7) do NOT hurt long-term cultivation; play it safe rather than do irreversible damage

  8) healing potion?

  Long-term Goals – LTGs:

  0) get to a safe level of power to not be squishable at all times

  1) get contact info for Axe, Liene, Esmeralda, Ivan, Stannis, Miklos, and Miklos' brother (Gabor)

  2) understand spells and why everyone seems to say they are dangerous

  3) begin finding market inefficiencies, start Galactic Trade Federation Empire 2.0?

  4) decide on long-term fighting style or find ways to cultivate that exclude fighting

  5) find a girlfriend/partner. Whatever they call them here.

  6) start to design a new sigil or house insignia

  7) Start to investigate this Barry business – why did he summon me? Where did he go?

  Previous needs and goals progress or accomplished:

  INs:

  1) leave Zalano before welcome is worn out – accomplished

  2) safe travel to Velez to the east and a safe place to sleep – accomplished

  STGs:

  1) contact info for Gabor – accomplished

  2) start training program – accomplished

  LTGs:

  None