The merchants took off while we were still asleep, but left us some provisions for a couple of days. So, I didn't curse them out too much for abandoning us.

The trip to the watchtower lasted most of the day but was fairly uneventful except for a few random encounters with the local wildlife. Nothing that caused us too much problem or earned us any significant treasure or experience. We were all tired and zoned out from the monotony of the walk, when we met the path that led through the woods and wound up a hill to the tower. The sky was growing dark behind it.

"We should camp here for the night and approach it in the morning," Tanner said.

"Screw that," I said. "We should go now." The day felt like a waste. We were in the most epic game world ever invented, and we'd just spent ten hours walking down a country lane. I was anxious to level up and get better loot.

"Yeah, now." Josh agreed.

"Aaron? What do you say?" I asked, drawing him into the debate. They slowly nodded. "Three against one."

"Look," Tanner said, trying to sound reasonable, but his anxieties were on full display. "We'll probably get attacked on the way there which will leave us weakened, so we'll end up sitting ducks while stumbling around a dungeon in the dark."

I said, "We're probably going to get attacked if we stay here. At least up there, it won't be by a bunch of useless randos. There might actually be treasure. Also, it's a dungeon—it's going to be dark in there no matter what."

"And," Aaron said, backing me up. "Both Mack and I have some stealth going for us. Between that and the dark, we might be able to have the element of surprise on the above-ground levels where there might be windows. We can clear out the first few rooms, and find a place that can be easily guard and get some sleep."

Josh said, "It's a tower, but it looks like a weenie." That extra point of Intellect hadn't done much. Although to be fair old Josh probably would have made some kind of penis joke about it. It just would have been a little less fucking pathetic than that.

Tanner finally grudgingly agreed. 

About halfway up the hill, after the sun had gone down, we were set on by a pack of wolves. I counted nineteen in all, but I only did that after they were all dead, so maybe a few ran off during the battle.

It took us way too long to fight them, and it sucked away a lot of our Life Balance making resting more of a impending necessity. Everyone took injuries, and Josh used up all his Mystic Energy healing Tanner and me. Which left him and Aaron a little beat up. Aaron had a healing potion but wanted to save it for maximum impact, which seemed wise considering it was good for 20 points, and he'd only lost 7.

I took a look at my character sheet and couldn't believe my stupid bad luck. My experience sat at 999. "Grrr! This sucks! 1 point—one!—from level 2! If only I'd killed another of these mangy mutts." I'd slayed six but one more would have set me over the top. We needed to get to the tower and start some monster killing fast.

We reached the crest of the hill, and hid behind some bushes, checking out the tower. At one time, there would have been doors closing up a portal high enough for a man on horseback and wide enough for two abreast, but the doors were long gone. From the open gap, a fire flickered. 

I wanted to go check it out with Aaron, but Tanner didn't think Aaron was in any shape for it. 

"I'll be fine," they said. "We're just going to have a look and report back."

"Well, make sure you keep that potion handy," Tanner told them.

I slapped Tanner on her shoulder. "Your maternal instincts are really kicking in, girl. Don't worry, I'll take care of your little daughter for you, and make sure she's back before curfew." I was gratified to see her give me the stink-eye as we walked away.

With Aaron using their Stealth skill, and I using my cloak, we snuck up to the doorway. Around a campfire sat six humanoid creatures. They were squat (maybe four-and-a-half feet tall) and ugly as fuck. I glanced in the system and confirmed they were goblins. This was too good. We just had to wait for them to go to sleep and attack. I signaled to Aaron, we should get back to the others.

But then, suddenly, a seventh goblin stepped out from the side of the door, right in front of me. My cloak could only do so much and was useless against direct eye contact from a couple of feet away.

We both seemed pretty surprised to see each other, but he quickly recovered and shouted out an alarm. I cut him down, but it was too late. The others were rushing us. The first one out the door didn't see Aaron and got knifed in the back. It dropped instantly but was soon replaced by two more. We were going to be overwhelmed.

Luckily, our friends heard the commotion and came running. Tanner started using that static electricity trick of his, and Josh waded in with no sense of self-preservation, bashing every goblin within reach with his staff. This gave Aaron a chance to get out of the fray before he took any more wacks with from a grog-like goblin with a spiky club.

My saber slashed through across the stomach of my new foe, and its intestines spilled out. But before I could celebrate, a spear caught me in my side. Josh dropped a goblin and another keeled over from electricity. There were only two left, and I was determined to take out the son-of-a-bitch that stuck me. Josh faced off against the other.

Unfortunately, with a decrease in targets, Tanner decided giving me a hand and his spell robbed me of half the experience from the kill. And then, Aaron did the same to Josh by flinging his throwing knife into the creature's neck. But the goblins were all dead.

"What happened to check it out and report back!" Tanner screamed. 

I almost had to laugh seeing her all worked up in the elk-girls body. Her fists squeezed up at her side like a petulant teenager. 

"Don't get you're panties in a bunch, babe," I told her. "We're fine."

Except, I knew we weren't. We'd won the battle but only barely. We'd have to do a lot of resting and healing.

However, the important things was I was now level 2.

With the new level, I got 3 more Life Force points as well as a new class skill of my choice. I picked Blade Art, which at level 1 gave me a chance of finding gaps in opponents armor.

I looked at my new character sheet.

 

I couldn't help but cringe seeing my stupid special skill sitting there. The system's description of it read:

At Level 1, the Heat skill allows you to emit a musk that will bring allies running to you. Perfect for when you need aid, either on or off the battlefield. Allies will receive temporary bonuses to Finesse (+2), Stamina (+2), and Life Balance (+2), as well as their hidden score for Arousal Potency (+4).

No one could ever find out about it. I would never, ever, fucking use it. Never!

It did make me curious about what the hell Arousal Potency was, and after a deep dive into the archives, I came across one short reference that said:

All players have a hidden stat for Arousal Potency, which works on a 0-8 scale like Life Balance. But whereas, Life Balance starts with a norm of 8 and works downward, Arousal Potency starts at zero and works up at a rate of 1 point a day (or more, if affected by a modifier). When it reaches 8, the player will suffer adverse effects. Arousal Potency can be lowered be sexual acts with points varying depending on the act.

That was it. Nothing was written about what the "Adverse effects" were or how many points got subtracted for each time we fucked. Was my romp with Griff, worth 8 points or 1. There was no way to tell. Just like there was no way to tell how many I'd accumulated so far. I did try to contact Katie about this, back when I first found out about my special skill, but all I got was the message: "The system AI is currently occupied. You're request has been put in the queue. Please stand by ..." And so far, I was still in this stupid queue, and I wasn't holding out much hope of her ever getting back to me.

But back to the watchtower ...

The goblins didn't have a whole lot in the way of loot, but with how little we owned, every bit helped. We managed to pull from their bodies: 48 silver, 57 copper, 1 small pearl, 3 potions of healing, 1 potion of mysticism, and 1 ring of [???].

"Well, it's obviously a magic ring," Aaron said. It was a slender band of white metal with a small hollow loop attached to the side as the only decoration

Tanner said, "Or cursed." He took a gulping breath obviously worried about the possibility. "And if it is, we would get whatever negative effects it holds and wouldn't be able to take it off."

"We could give it to Josh to test," I said.

Josh said, "I don't want no girly ring."

"No." Tanner said. "We can't just give him all the shit jobs because we can trick him into it."

"You're the one who magicked him into ..." I swept my hand in front of Josh, demonstrating I meant the entirety of him. "This."

"Yes, I know. But he's already next to useless. We can't take the chance it will make things worse. Plus, his whole poverty thing won't let him wear a ring. It has to be one of the three of us."

Josh nodded. "The pretty ring. should go to a pretty lady."

No one wanted to volunteer. I don't know why the other's were so hesitant, but the whole Heat skill was fresh in my mind, and I knew how twisted Katie could be. The suggestion of rocks-paper-scissors came up but that doesn't work very well with three, so we settled for drawing straws. And son-of-a bitch if I didn't lose!

I held it out, poised to slide it on my index finger. "Here goes nothing." My breath grew ragged. Why the hell had Tanner put it into my head it was cursed? Closing my eyes, I shoved it on.

 

I opened my eyes, and my hands were gone. "Holy shit! I'm invisible!"

"Not quite," Aaron said. "We can still see your clothes."

Sure enough, my armor and boots were still solid and visible. Everything else was gone though. Even when I grabbed my tail I couldn't see it.

I pulled off the ring and tossed it to Tanner. "Here. You should have it." He asked why, and I explained, "Because I have a Cloak of Hiding. And it's not like you can wear armor anyhow, so stripping naked won't impact you."

"You expect me to go into potential battles naked?"

I shrugged. "Sure. And think of how surprised our opponents will be when the fifteen minutes runs out."

Tanner was about to object, when from above someone called out, in a hesitant voice, "Hello?"

We froze.