Monday

  Jenna slipped into Pob’s spirit as carefully as a mother adjusting a blanket over her sleeping son. She did not want to repeat the disastrous experience she had with Bob, one month ago, where she inadvertently scanned all his memories while opening her own to him.

  In her mind, she visualized the Compendium as an old metal ear-trumpet hearing aid, held against her spirit, listening to the music the system created as it interacted with the Multiverse, like waves crashing against an endless shore.

  Just a week ago, it had felt like a chorus of powerful voices singing a discordant song—the Coven of immortals, each following its own rhythm. That was how she had managed to track Discovery. Now, those voices were silent. That trick had only worked because it had never been attempted before; now they had adapted. That was how things typically unfolded with Immortals.

  Now, the chaotic symphony had been reduced to the uniform hum of white noise, but Jenna knew she could find anything if she set her mind to it, even faint colors among the white. She changed her visualization again.

  She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she found herself at the counter of the Happy Burrito, taking orders from an endless list of clients. The clients looked nearly identical, like twins dressed in the same clothes, mumbling their orders in a quiet, monotonous whisper.

  ...a giant-sized spicy burrito, with no lettuce, a Diet Coke, big fries, and a big chocoball…

  ...a normal-sized spicy burrito, with no lettuce, a Diet Coke, big fries, and a big chocoball…

  ...a giant-sized spicy burrito, with no tomato, a Diet Coke, big fries, and a big chocoball…

  And so it went, on and on, the same orders mumbled in a half-whisper, with minimal variations. Insignificant accumulations of systemic energy in the Multiverse, ordering at the same time. One of those clients had a friend—a dungeon seed with peculiar gastronomic tastes—who had given him advice on new things to try.

  She focused her energy on Discrimination, and finally, after what felt like aeons, she heard something different: a giant-sized spicy burrito, with no lettuce, a Diet Coke, big fries, a big chocoball, and I want the burrito to grow legs and try to escape from me as I am about to eat it.

  There! Evolutionary Tex-Mex cooking, without a doubt.

  Her spirit nudged Pob, signaling him about the destination of their journey. But that wasn’t enough. Pob had a teleport Arcana that created a transient gate lasting five minutes, capable of transporting anyone who passed through it up to 100 feet away.

  Navigating a Multiverse with infinite dimensions is a real pain in the ass when it comes to locating things, like finding a needle in a haystack made of haystacks.

  But when dimensions are infinite, you always find one that serves as a shortcut to your destination -100 feet is enough to take you anywhere.

  Pob activated his card, and the gate opened in Jenna’s room. On the other side lay Discovery’s living room, the dungeon seed, and the spirit core, nearly touching each other. They both stepped through.

  Pob spent the rest of the morning trying to contact as many Beli players as he could. He did this by playing a kind of solitaire with his cards.

  Among other things, Bounty could be used as a communication device between players. Ingenious, Jenna thought. They would need to devise something similar for Babylon.

  She went to the terrace to gaze out at the city. Things were looking grim. Some buildings had been destroyed, and one was still burning. The few Beli she could see were families, carrying their belongings in bundles, looking skittish and afraid. Refugees. Refugees in their own world.

  The digital projection of the fake Discovery had been replaced by one of Eleazar speaking in perfect Beli. “We only want your dungeons. Do not interfere, and you have my word that you will not be harmed.”

  That was rich. It was like saying, “We only want all your food, your energy sources, your manufacturing capabilities, and all your wealth. You can keep your lives.”

  At times, inhuman troops swept through the sky. They always appeared in groups of three: an evershifting Fluid, a monstrous Committed, and a demihuman Unfocused.

  “These people do not trust each other. They are afraid that one of the other factions will steal the cores. That is why there is always one representative from each faction in all groups,” Jenna thought. She could use that to her advantage.

  She also noticed that all the cores were brought to the old Guzzler’s den, the first Beli dungeon to fall. That made sense; they wanted all the cores in one single place, where everyone could keep an eye on them.

  Slowly, an audacious plan began to form in Jenna’s mind. When Pob finished making his contacts, it was already late at night. Jenna told him to get some sleep. He looked exhausted, and she needed him to be in perfect condition.

  Tuesday

  “Things are even worse than I feared,” Pob said over breakfast. “They have already taken over nine dungeons. At this pace, they will capture all of them before the month is over.”

  “Haven’t your people put up any resistance?” Jenna asked Pob.

  “They have, but it has been a disaster. Beli are disorganized by nature. Discovery was the one cohesive force in our society, and no one knows where she is.” Pob stirred his porridge with a spoon without eating any of it. “Some brave players have tried to fight the enemy, but they were overwhelmed and defeated. Eleazar has demanded that the rest give themselves up under the threat of death for themselves or anyone who helps hide them. Out of the 145 Players we had before, about 80 are still free. Some have been captured, but most have been killed.”

  “Don’t you have any sort of army?” Jenna asked.

  “What for? We were a utopia—a decadent utopia, but still one. We had no one to defend ourselves against. Beli guards function as policemen, not soldiers. My world is lost. We survived the Fall, but this is even worse. The Fall was supposed to make us stronger. These Imperials only want what we have.”

  “I need you to arrange a meeting with Players you trust. When we come back to Earth, they are coming with us, and we’re going to train them there.”

  “I am not a respected figure among the Players. They see me as a glorified porter, a servant to Vlas. Beli society is incredibly classist. I began as a serf, and they will never forget that, no matter how many Arcana I have in my deck.”

  “Wasn’t Garan a serf too?” Jenna asked as she pulled an extra spirit core out of her pocket.

  “Rules do not apply to Garan,” Pob said with a sad smile.

  “Pob, I know this is a difficult time for you, but things are not as grim as they look right now. The Imperials may have the upper hand, but they have overlooked two crucial factors, and that is going to cost them this war.”

  “What factors are those?” Pob asked, a hint of hope creeping into his voice for the first time.

  “You and me,” Jenna answered.

  Jenna spent the next fifteen minutes enchanting the spirit core they had left at Discovery’s home, along with another one of the dozen spirit cores she had brought with her as a backup. When she finished, both cores emitted rhythmic pulses at the systemic level, which she could easily detect and identify. She left one of the cores at home. Before departing, she threw the dungeon seed to the floor and ground it under her heel.

  “It serves no purpose now. Billy has already studied it and learned all its tags. It was useful when I needed it to pinpoint the spirit core we left here, but now it’s just a weapon for the enemy,” she explained to Pob.

  They exited their building and made their way to a specific spot that Jenna had chosen after using her Mind powers to calculate probabilities. They hid on the eleventh floor of an abandoned skyscraper, with windows facing the direction Jenna wanted.

  They waited for twenty minutes until a squad of three Imperials appeared, flying in the direction Jenna had predicted, validating her calculations.

  Jenna adjusted her aim for perfect throwing accuracy, holding one of the cores that had been transformed into a dimensional beacon in her hand. It wasn't just about hitting the target; she needed to get the angle and the force just right.

  Leading the chosen squad was a mutated human with manta-like wings that extended along her sides. She carried a bag in her right hand—the spirit cores from their recent raid on the last dungeon. Flanking her were a flying serpent with four wings and a zeppelin-like creature that constantly changed color—a Committed and a Fluid.

  The Unfocused carried the cores, perhaps as a sign of respect toward the Emperor, the recognized head of the Path, but more probably out of necessity, as Fluids and Committed despised each other too much.

  Jenna made her perfect throw just as the serpent became distracted by a burning building to its left. The spirit core hit the serpent on its blind side. Reacting immediately, it caught it in its mouth, which drew the attention of the Fluid to its left.

  “What the hell are you doing? You’re stealing a core!” the zeppelin howled.

  “Not me, you idiot. That dumb half-human is dropping them as she flies. She isn’t even fit to be a porter,” the snake hissed in response.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Five minutes later, after a round of three-way accusations, the core was placed in the bag with the rest. “I have you now,” Jenna thought.

  “Ok, pass me Captain Beaky, Pob.” Pob gave her a small, parrot-like creature held in a cage.

  “Please, do not hurt him. Vlas was very fond of him.”

  “I can’t make any promises, but I will do my best, Pob.”

  Jenna put as many points into Connection as possible, and she dove into the parrot’s mind. She had just created a psychic link, and the high values invested in the stat guaranteed it would work over long distances.

  She tried to make the parrot fly. It walked up to the edge of the table and fell flat on the floor. After a few minutes and many tries, Jenna discovered it was easier to nudge Captain Beaky in the desired direction simply by mentally guiding him. She let him handle the mechanical work of controlling the body.

  The world was incredible seen through the eyes of a flying parrot. It had an abysmally poor sense of taste and smell, but it was amply compensated for by their 360-degree vision and the ability to perceive ultraviolet light. Colors that Jenna did not even know existed screamed over the spectrum.

  She could perfectly hear the breathing of the three progressors, even hundreds of feet apart. It was one of the more exhilarating experiences in Jenna’s life.

  Captain Beaky soared into the Forest of Bethela, once known as the Guzzler’s Den, in pursuit of his prey. He followed the three Progressors until they reached a stone structure that had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the forest, not far from where Bethela lay in a state of torpor. It resembled a rudimentary palace.

  It hadn’t been there three days ago; they must have used magic to create it, Jenna thought to herself.

  Captain Beaky perched on an open window, dozens of feet above the ground, and watched as the trio of Progressors approached the throne. Eleazar sat on the throne, flanked by Boral and Andara the Evershifting.

  “A good catch today, Your Majesty. One hundred twenty-six cores in total, most of them of maximum quality,” the mutated woman reported to the Emperor.

  “Good work, Ylira. Dispose of them,” Eleazar ordered. The Emperor and the other two faction leaders moved toward a heavily armored door to the left of the throne room.

  This door had three locks. Each leader produced a key and turned one of the locks.

  The door guarded an octagonal room filled with dozens of bags brimming with spirit cores—the Imperial deposit. Jenna concluded they had not yet decided how to distribute the cores among the factions and were simply storing them until an agreement could be reached. Bureaucracy, once again, was saving the day.

  She could not have asked for a better situation.

  “We’ll move as soon as they close that door, Pob. Get ready!” Jenna warned.

  Once the door shut and the locks turned again, she withdrew her mind from Captain Beaky, thanking him, and melded with Bob’s.

  “We are teleporting now to the dimensional beacon inside that chamber,” she informed him. “I will not only guide you; I will also empower your mind so that you can keep the gate open for at least fifteen minutes,” she explained.

  The gate appeared, revealing the treasures hidden within the room.

  The catch was even better than she expected. The chamber also contained one coffer holding all the dungeon seeds the Imperials were using to transform the Beli dungeons. That was the first item they stole from the chamber.

  Jenna enhanced her body and began hauling the bags from the armored chamber into the abandoned room from which she had thrown the beacon to the Committed Progressor. As she pulled the last bag into the room, she stuck a parchment she had carefully written the night before, using her enhanced mind and spirit to craft the best words to achieve the desired effect.

  Greetings, Eleazar,

  I extend my salute to you as a fellow ruler.

  We have reached an impasse. I cannot prevent you from stealing our dungeons, and you cannot stop me from taking your dungeon seeds.

  Tomorrow at noon, I will send a representative to your current location. She will be going alone, and I expect you to respect the rules of parley, as I know you to be a man of honor.

  She is authorized to negotiate conditions on my behalf.

  Best regards,

  Discovery

  Wednesday

  When Jenna reached the entry to the Forest of Bethela, she had donned her beautiful elven armor, her sword strapped to her back, and her extensible spear contracted in baton form, hanging from her left hip.

  She wore her elven cloak, which enveloped her as much as her Spirit, which carefully bolstered her to make her look like a figure of legend.

  She would not have looked out of place on the cover of any LitRPG novel, and not just any cover- one of those you had to pay for.

  The entrance to the rift was deserted, but the pathway leading to the palace within was lined with progressors, all arranged in double file to escort her to her destination. They looked fierce and intimidating. The whole scene reminded Jenna of one of those Eastern countries that felt the need to parade its entire army every few months, just to remind its neighbors it was there.

  Jenna walked calmly toward the palace, noticing the considerable effort that had gone into making it more imposing. It was nearly half as tall as before, its walls covered with frescoes depicting Progressors tearing apart Beli Players in battle. The Imperials clearly valued first impressions.

  Eleazar sat on an even more ornate throne than before, with Boral and Andara flanking him. The throne room was packed with Imperials from various factions.

  Jenna's enhanced perception enabled her to identify someone in the crowd who bore a slight resemblance to Eleazar, with the same eyes and jawline, yet he appeared entirely human. Interesting.

  She approached the throne room calmly, showing neither fear nor respect.

  When Jenna approached the throne, Gala raised her voice.

  “Hear the conditions of Emperor Eleazar:

  - You will return all the cores you have stolen from us, both the spirit cores and the dungeon seeds, and reveal the method you used.

  - You will recognize Eleazar as the true ruler of Belona and kneel before him.

  - All Beli Players will agree to be scanned and renounce any Arcana deemed dangerous by His Imperial Majesty.

  - You will be allowed to keep one out of every six dungeons to feed your people…”

  “I did not come here to listen to your conditions,” Jenna interrupted. “I came to tell you mine.”

  “I say let's rip this human right now, it is the only message Discovery needs to hear…” Boral roared.

  “Be silent, Boral. This is parley. Do not interrupt again.” Eleazar did not even have to raise his voice. People who usually remain silent tend to have that effect when they finally decide to speak up.

  Jenna considered the situation. They were medium-raw, and she needed them fully cooked for this to work. Boral, with his lack of restraint, was the best target.

  “First of all, I want all of you out of Belona in forty-eight hours. Normally, I would give you only twenty-four, but tomorrow is Pob’s grandniece's birthday. She is six years old and very fond of ladybugs. We are throwing a ladybug-themed party for her. This brings me to my second demand.”

  She pointed at Boral. “This guy looks like a fat, ugly beetle, but with a little creativity, you could paint colored polka dots on his chitin armor, and he could pass as a decent ladybug. I would like you to do that, and I would also like him to serve refreshments during the party. Does he have any other skills? Can he juggle or tell jokes? He seems to have a comical vibe about him.”

  The room fell into a sudden and heavy silence. Eleazar’s voice cut through it sharply. “Don’t you dare touch her, Boral, if you want to leave this room alive. She is trying to manipulate you, you fool. She wants you to break Parley.”

  Turning to Jenna, he continued, “You are not Discovery, are you?” Gala studied her intently as she spoke. The court truthseeker, Jenna concluded, magically compelled to speak the truth when questioned. She had learned a lot by observing court proceedings through Captain Beaky’s eyes.

  Now came the second part. Jenna realized she could only succeed if Gala knew she was sincere. Her survival in this situation depended on how well she had profiled Eleazar’s personality.

  She lowered her mental defenses, allowing Gala to read her thoughts.

  “I am not doing this for myself. I will give you two gifts—free gifts. I want nothing in exchange for them.”

  “The first is the location of the spirit cores I stole from you yesterday. I hid them at the pier nearest to the third dungeon you raided. They are there, available for the first progressor who claims them. Forget about the seeds, you will never see those again.”

  “The second is this book. The secrets within it are worth more to you than any amount of cores you could steal from this planet. Gala will confirm it.”

  With that, she threw her half-burned copy of "Alpha and Omega" at Gala’s feet.

  “Gala, secure the book. You will inform us of its contents later.”

  “NO!” screamed Boral. “If this information is useful, I will not allow you to monopolize it. I want to know what it contains now.”

  “I agree with Boral on this one,” Andara calmly added.

  Checkmate, thought Jenna.

  Gala picked up the half-ruined book and speed-read it in just two seconds, much like Jenna could. Suddenly, she gasped.

  “What is it, Gala?” Eleazar asked. “Is the book legitimate?”

  “It is, my Emperor. An Immortal wrote this. It’s just that…” She faltered.

  “Continue,” Eleazar ordered.

  “Necessity did not paint the whole picture. There is no limit to the number of Postulants who can exist simultaneously. However, the moment one of them is anointed as an Immortal, all the others are Exiled to Limbo,” Gala replied, her voice trembling.

  For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then, the court erupted into chaos. Jenna had accurately guessed that Necessity had deceived them. He had lied by omission, withholding information, as was his way.

  This revelation had dramatically changed everything. Three opposing factions were betting on the same strategy: all of them would elevate to Omega rank, invade Earth, and then reach an agreement to share the spoils. If an agreement could not be reached, they would fight among themselves, allowing the strongest to prevail. However, that was no longer a viable option. There could be only one Omega.

  “You always knew this would eventually lead to a civil war among your three factions, likely in a few generations. But now things have changed. Your civil war is here and now,” Jenna calmly addressed the court.

  “Eleazar, swear your loyalty to me, and let’s crush this shapeshifting rabble. I promise to let the Path endure. You will be second only to me!” Boral roared.

  “Join me, Eleazar. I don’t need you to be my second; I only want the Church to prevail. You could remain Emperor, if you accept its principles,” Andara shouted, her form shifting with each word.

  Oops, I might have overdone it. These people are about to kill each other now, Jenna thought-her chances of surviving the whole affair suddenly seemed much lower.

  The chaos dissipated as quickly as it had erupted, as if someone had doused a bonfire with a wet blanket.

  Eleazar spoke coldly, without raising his voice; “I swear this on the name of Governance, my late father. If any of you resorts to violence while inside this court, my Unfocused and I will join the other side and eradicate your faction here and now.”

  This is it, thought Jenna. If I have misread Eleazar's personality, I am dead.

  Eleazar looked coldly at her for an instant that seemed to stretch forever.

  “Well played,” he said. “Leave.”

  As she neared the door, Eleazar spoke again. “I will kill you the next time we meet.”

  Jenna answered without bothering to look back, “I just love what you have done with the place.”

  Thirty minutes later, Jenna was back inside Discovery’s room. She had met Pob at a prearranged location, and they had teleported back to ensure they couldn't be followed.

  Discovery's home was crowded with Beli, all of whom had volunteered to return with Pob to Earth for training under an active System. There were nearly sixty participants, most of whom appeared rugged around the edges.

  "I'm sorry, Jenna. They were the only ones willing to come," Pob said apologetically. "I warned you that I'm a serf, and only serfs showed up. None of them is a Player.”

  “Pob, what do you think the Happy Burrito was?” Jenna asked him.

  “I don’t know. A dungeon utopia filled with sentient equines?” he replied.

  “Whatever, let’s portal to Earth. We have a lot of training to do.”

  “I have to ask you, Jenna, why did you give them most of the spirit cores back?” Pob inquired.

  “Because they are going to fight over them from this very moment. It's a little accelerant for their civil war. They can’t take any more dungeons without the seeds, and they will be swamped defending the ones they already have from each other,” Jenna explained.

  “What do you intend to do with the seeds?” asked Pob.

  “This,” answered Jenna, using her enhanced strength to crush one of them in her hand. “They are nothing but weapons against Belona. I shall keep one so that Billy can study it. The rest are going.”

  When they teleported back, they found an anxious Bob waiting for them.

  “Where is Billy?” Jenna asked.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon, Jenna, but you didn’t answer,” Bob said.

  “Sorry, the blood link does not work well across dimensions, and I was busy. Where is he?” Jenna asked.

  “He has gone to solo a dungeon. A seventh-rank one,” Bob answered.

  “WHAT?”