The hulking body of the minotaur seems so small, now that he’s splayed flat on the grotto floor. Baco is happily gnawing on one of the monster’s hooves, some sort of mythic chew toy. Sadie is snacking on cheese, and Jes is sitting in ultimate peace, humming.

  When I note Jes is humming, I don’t mean with her mouth. Somehow, the whole of Jes’ body is humming. I walked around her to check it out, and yeah, she’s emitting this low and not unpleasant tone, like the echo after a gong, or maybe one of those cool Tibetan singing bowls that you rub a stick around.

  This world definitely has unique surprises. I should stop being so surprised by things like self-replenishing chalk, signs some people don’t see, and labyrinths that are impossible to map. The rules here, if there are any, are quite different.

  “Get any levels in skills?” I ask Sadie.

  She nods, savoring a piece of cheese that was in the supply room clearly for satyr tastes. I tried it. It tastes like feet. Not that I go around tasting feet.

  “I went up in some jump skills,” she recalls. “New one that showed after you left me was Leaping Acrobatics. That must have been where you did a weapon flair while I did the jump. I’m not sure that one would have unlocked without both of us being together. A synergy skill.”

  Huh. She got a skill from that, but I didn’t. Also of interest is the fact that when I was in her, I didn’t see her skill notifications. Notifications must be attached to the psyche, like the skills are. I wonder if she saw them through her eyes while I was looking out the same eyes and not seeing them. More interesting to me, since I forget to read half the notifications anyway, is this idea of a Synergy Skill. This seems to be a new skill that had a prerequisite from my skill set and hers. I wonder if I try to do something during one of Baco’s charges if we get an unlock. I don’t think I can weapon flair tusks.

  Time to see what the loot fairy brought us for defeating a big bad. I walk around our trophy. Definitely don’t want that loincloth skirt thing he’s wearing. As I’m circling the corpse, I now see that his musculature is completely wrong. There’s bulging muscles where there shouldn’t be. His arms seem to have some kind of muscles down the sides, like extra biceps. It all makes him look even bigger and fiercer. Those bracers on his wrists are interesting. I know items seem to come with a magical size alteration, but his wrists are swollen muscular things that are nearly as thick as my waist.

  “Sadie, give me a hand tugging this goon’s bracers off,” I say.

  “We already all have bracers we got from the supply room,” she points out.

  I start yanking the metal studded bracer off his gnarled fist, bigger than a large pumpkin. “I want to try something.”

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  She shrugs and obliges, tugging the bracer off. We free it and I have a strange blood-stained bracer made of what might be leather, if not some flexible metal, with big round iron rivets.

  “Does it have to be a bracer?” I wonder.

  “It would be a very foolish hat,” Sadie says.

  I put it on the ground and step in. “I was thinking a belt.”

  As soon as I say it, it narrows and changes dimensions, widening to fit my waist. I reach down and pull it up. It reacted as soon as I said what I wanted. It cinches tight on my waist.

  Sadie taps the belt. “Not sure that’s going to provide much protection.”

  I tug my old belt off from underneath, and tuck my stake sized spear in. “No, but it looks cool.”

  She scratches her ear, looking dubious.

  “Some gear is just for looks, okay?” I explain. “Makes me look tougher.”

  She sucks her lips in, not saying a word.

  It does. It’s a cool belt. She doesn’t understand summoner fashion.

  I hook my thumbs in my new, absolutely cool looking belt, and stroll around the minotaur, admiring our kill. If I were some sort of barbarian profession, I would consider taking that head and turning it into a helm and cape or something, but I have no clue at all how to do that kind of thing. Also, that’s just a little gross. This guy’s face is this human bull hybrid that I’m not sure I would want to be what people see me as anyway. My own horns are good enough. Looks like his weren’t very strong, because they’re cracked, and the tip of one snapped when he hit the dirt. I wonder if he ended up taking some sort of damage from impaling me. I wonder if we can use those horns for something. Even if we could use them, we don’t have a saw.

  The stake tucked in my belt buzzes, like I’m getting a call on silent. I look around. No perception triggers. I pull the stake from my belt and it becomes a spear, deciding for itself.

  “I’m having a glitch or malfunction,” I tell Sadie. “My spear’s acting strange.”

  “Wave it around a little bit,” she suggests.

  It’s a spear, not a wand, but she hasn’t led me astray yet. I gently swish the spear around.

  It tugs.

  Like a mythical magnetic metal detector, the spear is leading me, buzzing and tugging. It points a few paces away from the minotaur. I take several steps and it is clearly pointing at the broken tip that snapped off the minotaur’s horn.

  “William Stakespear, what are you trying to tell me?”

  I tap the black point of the horn with Stakespear. Things happen. Lots of things happen.

  The tip of the horn turns to black mercury. It slithers onto the end of the spear and reforms into a wickedly sharp barbed head that glistens like obsidian. The entire length of the spear pulses, a living thing, a snake taking a deep breath. Where the pulse passes up the length of the shaft, it reveals a gorgeous black material, etched in complex scroll work patterns. Parts of the indented scrollwork fills with brass or bronze. The moment the entire spear is upgraded, there is the sound of a heavy hammer striking an anvil. The fit in my hand is warm and comforting, the balance effortless.

  I turn it into a javelin. It’s black, with ends reinforced with the yellow metal. As my easy to carry stake, it’s a reflective black shard with a metal cap at the wide end. I return it to spear shape.

  Impaling Spear

  The words hover over the haft and fade. This must match up to my new double level Impale increase. I do a weapon flair, swirling it in butterfly patterns in front of me. It leaves streaks of black and gold lingering in the air that fade in sparkles at the end of my flashy display.

  “Awwww, yeahhhh,” I breathe.