With the alarm siren still blaring, we carefully proceed further down the stairs until we reach an open cave of sorts.

But before I can really take in the view, a bunch of knights armed with strange-looking guns stop us, "Halt!"

I raise my arms as to signal surrender, "So much for not a trap..."

Therese signals the knights to stand down, "At ease, he is with me. And here I thought the creature was acting up again... Clara, didn't you prepare the whole paperwork for Jared?"

Clara protests, "I did. His ID card was entered into the security system and everything."

Therese is surprised, "Huh, really?"

One of the knights clarifies, "Seems to be a false alarm then. I apologize for the inconvenience, Therese."

Therese asks him, "So the creature is still secured?"

He responds, "We also thought the alarm was because of it but at least in our cursory check it was still inactive. So we thought there was an intruder."

"Why don't you have different alarms for those two causes?"

Therese answers, "Jack broke it, so we just wired both to the same signal until we find materials to repair it."

The soldiers take their leave.

"And he continues to be a headache even from beyond the grave..."

Carla responds, "Jack isn't quite dead yet..."

Therese admonishes her, "Carla, he didn't need to know that!"

She replies, "Huh? I thought he knew already..."

"What is that about Jack being alive? I thought he died in the dungeon?"

Therese sheepishly admits, "That's just the official story. Though for what it is worth, he might as well just be declared dead. Well, he had an accident with that section over there", she points toward what looks like a greek temple covered in a green beehive barrier.

I can't really make out any details from over here, but it's giving me the creeps, "What is that?"

She answers, "To make a long story short, all those questions I couldn't answer until 'later'? That's the reason. I can explain in a moment, but we should first meet Karen, the leader of the research team. Clara, I'll take the rest from here, you can go back to your other duties."

Clara salutes, "Understood. See you later", then she heads back.

"Follow me, Jared", orders Therese.

We start walking.

Now that I have some time to look around, I see several block houses and tents, just the bare minimum to qualify as a home. Do they all live here underground?

In a few tents, the knights from earlier are putting the strange guns back into what could be recharge stations, attaching some cables to the guns.

What are these weapons? They look mostly like hunting rifles but two green pipes connect the front to the back and instead of an ammunition chamber it has a transparent-black box filled with blue-tinted exploding clouds.

What does [Appraise] say for them anyway?

Ah, so that were the Magitek weapons Therese talked about.

In another tent, it looks like scientists are doing science things, writing stuff on a whiteboard. Another plays around with a Magitek Rifle. If I had to guess they're working on an upgrade for it.

"-ved. Hey, are you listening, Jared?", Therese berates me.

"What? Uh, no, I was taking in the scenery."

She grabs her forehead, "Oh, for the love of... I know this is a lot to take in, but you need to pull yourself together. I said we've arrived."

"Yeah, yeah."

We enter a tent. And of course, there's a bunny-eared girl just sleeping on the table.

"Hey, Karen!", Therese shakes her awake, "Hey, wake up!"

"Uwah?", the girl wakes up and stretches herself like a feline.

"And that is your genius scientist?"

Therese answers, "I never said anything about genius, but yes. This scatterbrain is Karen, the leader of the research team. Karen, if you're awake enough to process human speech, this is Jared."

The girl yawns, "Is he now? Perfect! Nice to meetcha!"

"Uh, likewise. So, what exactly is going on now?"

Therese explains while Karen inspects my body, "Please don't mind her eccentricities, she's too curious for her own good."

"I... noticed. Can you stop this invasion of privacy, Karen?", I push her away, "I have Lucia for that. So, what is it about?"

"Ahem", Karen clears her throat, "I wanted, needed, to see a Lost One. We have a lot of research data from ancient times but I have a hard time believing some parts of it", she creeps on me again, "Hmm... disappointingly normal even..."

I shove her off again, "Knock it off! If this is the only reason for coming here, it was a waste of time."

Therese adds, "Not quite. We still have to explain the things you wanted to know."

"Then do so - and keep this tick away from me", I push Karen away for the third time.

Karen pouts, "Come on! Do you not have the slightest bit of curiosity in your body?"

"Maybe a little bit. How about a trade? I let you indulge in your curiosity for a bit and I get some of your blood."

She thinks about it, "I mean, I gu-"

Therese furiously interrupts her, "Jared! Haven't you seen wh- I mean, can't you two behave, please?"

"Then start talking. What's with all the secrecy?"

Therese orders, "Karen, you tell him about it, that's your area of expertise."

The beast girl agrees, "Will do. Though I think it would help if you see it firsthand. Follow me!"

She enthusiastically grabs my hand and drags me along. Therese follows with a sigh.

We head towards the sealed-off temple Therese pointed out earlier.

We stop a few meters before the green barrier encasing it.

She cheerfully announces, "We're here!"

Now that I can take a closer look at the 'temple' contained within... it is a mess. Everything inside the barrier is just a pulsating, pixelated mess, changing colors seemingly at random between white, green, yellow and black for what I earlier assumed to be marble pillars. All of that is overlaid by what reminds me of the static of a disconnected CRT TV.

Not even the geometry inside seems to make sense. The stairs leading inside the temple look to be closer than the pillars decorating the path towards the entrance. Pillars seemingly hide behind the temple's arch...

I want to look away, but I can't, it is strangely hypnotizing.

"Okay, so what am I looking at?"

Therese adds, "That's the cause of most of our real problems."

If this is the cause of many problems, I'm happy I didn't order the unknown building to be constructed...

Karen explains, "I present to you... this something. Allegedly, one of the previous Lost Ones dubbed this a 'Glitch Area'. Does that ring any bells?"

"I guess so. But this doesn't narrow it down much."

She continues, "Anyway, this area is connected to our local dungeon. According to what we know, every major dungeon has such a Glitch Area attached to it, all of them sealed in such a barrier. Seemingly, only minor dungeons don't have one."

"Weren't there like thirty major dungeons? And all of them have such a death zone?"

Therese answers, "Supposedly, there were originally thirty-two major dungeons but they were cut down to about a dozen before the first Glitch Area appeared."

"Alright. That reminds me, I've seen some glitched spots in the dungeon before but not to an extent like this Glitch Area. Well, some monster touched them and exploded anyway."

Karen scratches behind her ear, "Then they were lucky. Normally, anything touched by such a glitched area becomes heavily glitched as well."

Therese interrupts, "If you want to see what that looks like, I can show you Jack when we're done here. He... got the full load."

"I've seen some glitched monsters, they didn't seem so bad off. Maybe a bit off-color, non-standard stats or skills."

Therese responds, "In that case, they only got a small case of glitch contamination. Let's call that 1-2%. Jack basically got the equivalent of over 80%. You wouldn't recognize him anymore. Or rather, 'Jack' himself is just gone."

"And if it wasn't for that barrier, the Glitch Area would spread and infect the whole world?"

She sighs, "Pretty much."

So if just one fortress falls the whole world is pretty much done for? Ugh, thanks for nothing, Jeff.

The more I hear, the more I feel like the deva's 'bad bosses' had the right idea. Unending monster floods, an unrestricted demon army, a god-level Lich, these Glitch Areas, and at the end only awaits the people here soul destruction or monsterization... This seems more and more impossible. Just save everyone the suffering and blow the whole world up...

I can only shake my head at this madness, "Therese, you said that 'this' was related to why you spared me or why Darius is in charge. How is that related? How does anything relate to this... madness."

She pats me on the shoulder, "Ask that creature living in that area."

Karen interrupts her, "There's a monster or something living inside that area. According to what we know, it only moves while a Lost One is in this world. Otherwise it just... sits in a corner and sleeps, for a lack of a better term."

"I haven't seen a creature in that temple. Where does it hide currently?"

Karen sounds confused, "Uh, what temple?"

I point at the barrier, "The one in that glitch area."

Therese is also puzzled, "There's nothing in there, Jared. It is just an incomprehensible mess."

"Oh, so it was just a Rorschach test. My bad."

She replies, "I've no clue what that is either, but if it helps you to make sense of it, sure, be my guest."

Karen butts in, "Anyway, we don't know where it is most of the time. We aren't even sure whether the barrier really holds it back or it is just toying with us."

"Does every Glitch Area have its own creature or is there only one here?"

She scratches her head, "We're not sure actually. There were sightings in every area, but since we have no way for quick communication we can't really narrow down if it is a unique creature per area or if the same being can travel between those areas."

"What? Does that mean we have potentially a quick-travel connection between several towns?"

She answers, "Uh, only if you could somehow be immune to the glitch effects. And as far as we know, that is impossible."

When all of this is over, I kinda want to explore this area. As much as a mess the afterlife is, the devas should clearly have a glitch-proof space suit or something.

I sigh, "Was afraid of that. What else do you know of this inhabitant?"

Therese answers, "Not much really. Supposedly when you decipher its name you get the original name of the Lost One that caused its activity. Though that has supposedly failed a few times in the past. Like they got 'Tiffany' for a male Lost One, or 'Joe' for a female."

Seems like someone used the option to change their gender on transmigration but the people here don't understand that concept.

Though learning my previous name might be helpful in triggering other memories, "And what did you get for 'my' glitch monster?"

Therese shrugs, "It was just blank."

So much for that, "If I might hazard a guess, that's probably because my Lost One title got damaged... If there truly was such a link, this would have damaged it as well."

Karen is curious, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing I can change anymore. Anyway, back to the original question. Does that mean that creature started moving shortly before our first meeting, Therese?"

She nods, "Yes. I didn't want to believe it at first, but you behaved so far out of the norm, that I had to give it a shot."

Great, so my ass was saved because a random glitch creature woke up from its eternal slumber... maybe I should say thank you if I ever meet it...

"Fine... and what's the relation to Darius? How does he being the commander in charge despite his ineptitude relate to this... thing?"

Karen explains, "You see this barrier, right? It requires maintenance. Specifically from three specific types of energy. One of them is high-ranked elemental mana. It requires several donors that have at least the second rank in a form of elemental magic, and then across all donors, we need about 20.000 MP. You've probably seen my status already. My 'mana seal' status means my MP is used for that type of maintenance. Including me, we have three casters donating all they can and even that isn't sufficient for much longer. As far as we can tell, the barrier is slowly losing strength."

I throw a stern look at Therese, "I thought you had no magic casters at all and now you have three?"

She defends herself, "How could I admit to that without revealing everything here? Even so, it is exactly as she said. We may have three casters, four with you, but they are in no position to use their spells. All of their MP goes to keeping this Glitch Area under control. They can't even enter the dungeon as that would cut off their link. Establishing a new one takes about a week."

I sigh, "I feel like I should once again extend my offer for creating familiars. If only to keep that barrier going at full strength... Does this donation link require a title? This would be the only problem I can see with that option."

Karen explains, "No, a title is not needed. But I don't understand how familiars play into this. I know that you as a vampire can share a few skills with your familiars but this would never satisfy the need for higher-ranked magic."

"Not that, but I recently got a title that allows my familiars to add classes without Class Cores until they have as many classes as my summoned spirits, which would currently be five."

She thinks for a bit, "I'll have to double-check what we know on the topic of familiars, but I'd like to at least discuss that with some aides and peers. May I ask which skill you're currently sharing?"

"Fine by me. We're currently sharing [Sleepless] and [Ageless]. Though I'll have to add the condition that those that become familiars should be able to assist in the fortress defense in case of emergency. We plan to leave the fortress after the current monster flood is taken care of, and I could rest better if I knew my property to be well defended."

She nods, "Noted. Also, please refrain from choosing the final skill without consulting me. We have a whole library on skill data, and I'm certain I can give you some unique insight at least."

"I'll keep it in mind. What else do I need to know about the barrier? What are the other two energies needed for maintenance?"

In the corner of my view, I can see some new movement in the Glitch Area but I can't make out what exactly changed.

Karen explains, "Well... The second would be actual life force. That's where Darius comes in. The post of commander was rigged to require attunement to a certain gem that stands in the commander's office. This gem feeds on the life force of the one attuned to it."

This feels very scummy, "Wait, so just being the commander kills him?"

Therese interjects, "Not quite kill but it causes him to age rapidly. About five times as fast. Physically he may be 29 now, but in reality, he has only lived for 14 or 15 years."

Why do you have to make me feel pity for him, "So I take it the office of the commander is just for show? With that limitation, there's no way he ever had an acceptable level of leading ability."

She admits, "Kinda. There isn't too much commanding that needs to be on a high level, for that, I serve as an advisor."

All of this is so messed up, it annoys me, "You have two months."

She is confused, "Huh?"

"I give you two months to come up with a damn good reason why you and Darius shouldn't become my familiars."

Therese tells me annoyed, "I already told you, that is pointless. I have only a few more months to live anyway."

Karen sounds curious, "So that's how old you really are."

Therese yells angrily, "Oh, will you let it rest, Karen!", she sighs, "it is pointless, Jared. This Glitch Area literally poisons our environment, it kills us, and accelerates the end of our time. According to research data from ancient times, before this Glitch Area existed, our life expectancy was at least 150 years, some even living to 300. Now we're down to a hard end at 37 and some change."

What kind of superhumans live in this world? They could live for 300 years, laugh at gravity and can grow dozens of times more powerful just by reading very hard... no wonder the demons want to conquer it.

"All the more reason to try it, Therese. [Ageless] claims to reverse detriments caused by advanced age, and by my understanding, this should count then. Should you make it past your artificial expiration date and still refuse to serve under me, I'll allow you to die peacefully once we've taken care of the artifact, but not before then. You should respect your own well-being at least that much."

Therese is speechless, "I'll... think about it."

There's more movement in the Glitch Area, I still can't make anything out.

"Okay, and what is energy type three?"

Karen explains, "That is simple. Item Essence. We just throw any old item that isn't useful anymore into a special blender over there and call it a day", she points toward the closest building next to the barrier.

Any random item? I hand her a bar of titanium, "Would that work as well?"

She examines it for a moment, "It should but it would be better used to craft equipment, that is some high-level material."

"Already tried, didn't find anyone that has a high enough crafting skill level."

Her ears droop down, "Pity... Well, anyway, that is all on how to maintain that barrier. Aside from that, you need to know that it does NOT keep non-glitch stuff in or out. Should you be like Jack and try to lean on it, you would just fall in and then... well, then it is too late for you."

"I'll... keep that in mind. Mind if I ask how this barrier was created? Can't you research a polarity-reversed version to keep the monsters out?"

Therese explains, "Creating it required the sacrifice of a person who possesses a sufficient amount of divine energy. This was either a Hero or a Lost One. If you value your life, you should never mess with the barrier. And as I said before, this whole thing needs to be kept a secret, knowledge of it would only cause panic. Not even the church knows about it, please keep it that way."

I nod, "Yeah, I agree but I want to at least inform Lucia, possibly the rest of my main party as well."

Therese is ambivalent, "I expected as much. Ultimately it is your call, but I insist you keep the spread of that knowledge to a minimum."

"Yeah, that is not a question. Also, I'd like to have my spirit Elly exchange information with you. Therese said that you were researching among other things the formula for class stat requirements, and she has that at least."

Karen is happy, "Oh, that would certainly be useful!"

The movement in the Glitch Area intensifies. I can finally make out something that looks like a person. It reminds me of someone I knew in my previous life.

Unwittingly some words leave my mouth, "Is that... Cliff?"

Therese corrects me, "Whatever you see there is not real. It is just the static noise playing a trick on your senses."

I have to agree, "...yeah, probably."

What seems like a creature gets closer, but stops at the barrier. Reflexively I try to [Appraise] it.

"Nothing? The status is just empty?"

Karen explains, "Yeah, it doesn't seem to be a real lifeform, there is nothing to [appraise]."

"And the name? Didn't you say it was blank, empty? That looks like the usual glitch gibberish to me."

Therese answers, "We have a team of experts who kind of cracked that code. To be blunt, it is... a mess. Just decoding a single name like that takes weeks if not months. And given our track record with just the names of Lost Ones, we're never certain if our results are even close to correct. We can't even take guesses from context as that rarely exists."

"I'm more surprised you can make any sense of it at all. Between the randomly changing, non-sensical symbols and everything."

Karen is ecstatic, "That's the beauty of it. You have to consider which symbols appear, in what order and the exact delays between changes. A single cycle can take between two and five minutes before it repeats. Of course every, uh, letter has its own cycle."

"Now I understand how you would consider weeks for a name 'quick'. Anyway, what do we do with... uh, where's the creature gone to? It was just there a moment ago?"

The alarm siren starts again.

"Jared", a worried Therese tells me, "do not make any hasty movements, it is right behind you."

Behind? Shit.

I slowly turn around, "Uh, hi? I'm Jared. Nice to meet you?"

Before me stands... something. If I could imagine the Glitch Area to contain a temple, this static mess in front of me is just nothing. Maybe a wobbly ball? But besides that, I can't make anything out.

If the theory is right that this... thing shares some features with the original life of a Lost One, then it seems only to extend to the name, and even that is wrong. I obviously must have had a name in my previous life, even if I can't recall it currently...

An otherworldly noise fills the room, "N̵̗͘o̶͔͘,̵̭̿ ̴̭̿ỳ̷̟õ̴̖ű̷̱'̷͉͗r̸̡̉ȅ̸̘ ̷̭̊n̴̝͠ō̴͓t̴̡͐ ̸̩͆m̴͎̚e̶͍̊.̴̧̍", I guess it just responded to me.

I have no idea what it could've just said, "Hey, no need to be rude, yeah?"

"F̷̩͌o̸͕͘ṛ̵̈ĝ̷̡ĕ̷ͅṱ̶̂ ̶̞̆i̵͕͐ẗ̶̺.̸̩͘ ̸͉̇Ĩ̶̻ ̵͚̉d̴̰͠o̶̊͜ņ̴̀'̵̣̍t̷̛͕ ̸͜͠ẉ̷͑ä̴͜ń̵̹t̵̳̚ ̵̝̏t̴̝̔ö̶̻́ ̵̞̈́p̵̯̊l̶͇̆a̴̜̋ÿ̷͙́ ̶̦̅w̸̭͠ì̵̡t̵̝̆h̵͙͝ ̶͚̇y̵̡͛ō̷̻u̴̻̓ ̷͙͝ȧ̶̠n̷͔͆ẏ̷̫m̵̫̈ǫ̴̛r̷̭͌è̸̮.̶̟̓", then some smog obscures my vision and the glitchy mess is gone, then the alarm stops.

"So much for the barrier being secure..."

Karen is alarmed, her rabbit ears stand up, "That has never happened before. Uh, can we go back to my lab? We should really get checked for any new infections!"

At least she doesn't want to talk to a manager, "Yeah, let's go back. This whole area gives me the creeps."

Therese adds, "Someone should also check the area where it appeared for contaminations..."

We quickly walk back to her tent and Karen grabs an assistant, "Guys, code FML, get moving."

The assistant grabs what looks like a Geiger counter and checks Karen with it, "Negative, no glitch infections."

Karen is relieved, "Lucky. Okay, Therese next."

Yeah, keep the best for last.

The assistant performs the same test on Therese, also finds nothing and gives her a thumbs up.

"Okay, last one", Karen orders the assistant to check me.

He sounds unsure, "Can you check these values, Karen? The result makes no sense to me."

She gestures for him to hand the device over, "Sure, gimme."

She holds the device at various angles to try and make sense of the results, "Nope, I got nothing, He actually emits much less glitch radiation than a healthy person but he has highly elevated distortion levels?"

I can take a guess, "I think I know what is going on. I, uh, had a minor accident where I acquired a glitched title. That should explain the increased value. As for the other... I guess because of my increased regeneration stats it is suppressed."

Karen isn't convinced, "Not sure I buy that, but it sounds possible at least. Well, I'll let you off the hook for now but I'd prefer it if we could check you every day or two to be on the safe side."

I nod, "Yeah, that is reasonable, Karen."

She asks me, "Say, how many familiar spots could you spare for this operation?"

"We're not sure yet how the hard cap works with both me and Lucia sharing the skill, but if 20 is the absolute limit, you could have up to 7 familiars. For our travels, I want at least two full parties, which already take up 13 familiars. Though I'd prefer it to include Darius and Therese as familiars as well."

She nods, "I understand. As I said earlier, I'll discuss it with my colleagues. You said earlier that your familiars could gain up to 5 classes, right?"

"Yeah, though that will increase sometime in the future. Just need another Class Core or three and the required exp. We already put in the paperwork for another Class Core, so it is just a matter of time."

Karen thinks for a moment, "Yeah, then I can't help you there. We are testing a method to create artificial Class Cores but the ones we got so far are very restricted in which classes you can take with them."

Therese holds her mouth shut, "Karen! That was supposed to stay secret as well!"

"Too late now. Even if they are restricted, how many of those could you produce?"

Karen frees herself from Therese, "Uh, given the resources we get... about one or two each year?"

I let out a frustrated sigh, "Got my hope up for nothing..."

The bunny girl grabs writing utensils, "Jared, may I ask you some things about how you felt when you saw that glitch creature for the first time?"

"What do you want to hear? That I was terrified?"

She takes some notes, "You called it 'Cliff' before, did it remind you of someone?"

"Kind of. I had this uncanny feeling as if it was one of my coworkers from my previous life, but at the same time it gave me a feeling of disgust."

She scratches her ear, "Huh, strange. According to notes left by previous generations, Lost Ones saw a reflection of their previous life in it."

"If that is true... it is probably linked to the actual Lost One title, not the person. My title... got damaged. But what does it matter?"

Karen shrugs, "I'm a researcher, I try to get my hands on as much data as I can. If it helps us to get even one step closer to solving this glitchy mess, taking note of even these small details was all worth it."

She asks me a few more questions about how I viewed the incident from my side, "Uh-huh. Got it, that are all my questions for now."

"Alright, what now?"

Karen stammers, "Uh, now... we, uh..."

Therese interrupts her stammering, "What our socially inept rabbit wants to say is that we're done for today."

Ah, so Karen doesn't know how to end a conversation either, "Didn't you want to show me Jack, or what remains of him?"

Karen asks, "Therese, can you take care of that yourself? Our discussion just now gave me some ideas I need to write down before they slip away."

Therese answers, "Sure thing, harebrain. Follow me, Jared."

"Sure. See you later, Karen."

Karen waves, "Yeah, later! ...damn, what did I think of again..."

Harebrained indeed...

We walk a few tents over into a solid block building.

"There he is", Therese shows me an around three-meter tall glass tube filled with a dark blue liquid, and in that liquid floats the body of an unconscious person.

If that is supposed to be Jack, he is beyond recognition. All of his body is covered in similar distortions as the glitch creature was. If I didn't know that was supposed to be him, I would've said this either the same glitch monster again or at least a second one of its kind.

Not even [Appraise] recognizes the artist formerly known as Jack.

"That is quite hard to believe. Is there even any point in keeping him alive?"

Therese shakes her head, "For Jake's sake? No, he is gone. There's nothing that can be done for him anymore. But we keep his remains around so the scientists can study the glitch phenomenon."

"I don't quite understand... how did he even get out? I assumed that the barrier would keep him inside once he fell inside and got contaminated."

She answers, "We don't know. Karen theorized that he was infected but it took a bit to fully mutate him. In that transitional state, he didn't count as a glitch yet."

"I guess... well, I've seen enough for one day. Can we call it for today, Therese?"

She agrees, "Yeah, let's go back. I still have more work waiting for me. Also, just to remind you, if you should ever run across Jack's mate, don't tell him the truth. Jack fell in the dungeon, end of story."

Can't believe someone would put up with Jack, but I answer in a mocking tone anyway, "What are you talking about? Of course, he died in the dungeon, there's no such thing as a Glitch Area."

With that, we head back.

I can't wait to tell Elly that I've condemned her to even more work. Though maybe she'll enjoy being on the other side of an examination for once.