Charlotte's PoV

 

Charlotte was having a wonderful dream about a time when she was still a child. It was one of those dreams where you knew you were dreaming, so she took advantage of it. Her grandfather was teaching Charlotte and her brother how to fish. She still never liked fishing, but she loved it when her grandfather taught her new things.

Then she looked over and smiled as her brother caught a fish. He was unprepared and barely tightened the grip on his rod in time. Grandfather just watched patiently, but then her brother's footing slipped and he was pulled into the water. She really did love this memory.

As her brother got back to the shore he said irritably, "Why are we doing this! We can just go to the store to get fish."

Her grandfather would patiently dry the boy off, then he handed him the rod back after not saying a word. Looking back to her own fishing line she would still have no bites. But remembering her brother fumble, she made sure to keep a good grip on her fishing rod. The trio would return to an amiable silence while waiting for another bite.

Trying to stay quiet she would ask her grandfather, "Why do you fish? I don't mind it, but I think brother does have a point."

Her grandfather contemplated it for a few minutes and then said, "What good is a fish in the store if you have no money? Life always has challenges in store for us. Even if you never need to fish to feed yourself in your life, patience is always a valuable lesson. Too often in life the only choices we have are how we react."

"What do you mean?"

"Words said cannot be taken back. Too often angry words serve no purpose. They gain you nothing. But if you are patient and calm of mind, you have almost a super power. You can make those who would cause you trouble to be your friend, you can turn something bad into something good. There are always opportunities for those who are patient and make good choices."

Then she felt a tugging on her rod. Having kept a good grip through the conversation, she firmly held on as the fish struggled. Then she reeled it in. After she got the fish to her grandpa, he said "Good job Charlotte. You were patient and kept a good grip on your rod."

Then she saw her brother slacked jawed as she caught a fish before him! Once the fish had been put away all three of them returned to fishing. She was enjoying the amiable silence with her grandfather when the radio came on and made this god awful repetitive screeching noise.

With a sad realization she knew what it was. The radio wasn't making that sound. Damned phone, should have put it on vibrate. Waking up from her dream she reached towards the nightstand and quickly found her phone. It was too bright for her eyes to see the display so she just picked it up and said in a croak "Hello?"

"Hey Charlotte, it's Jim! I found a new employee that I'm going to bring around soon, but she kind of isn't here legally. There anything you can do about that?"

Charlotte tried to kick start her brain but it wasn't working too well. Glancing at her clock she saw it was 11PM. She was asleep for 30 minutes. Why did Jim seem to have a sixth sense for when she was asleep?

She asked "Do you really need this person? Getting citizenship takes a while."

Jim said "Remember you were talking about how it would be nice if we could create more of our product?"

Charlotte said slowly "Yes..."

"Well I found an expert on the process!"

Perking up she said "That's great! What kind of degree does she have? What school? Work experience?"

Jim cleared his throat and said "Yea, about that. Nothing. None. Nada."

Confused, she said "How can she be an expert without going to school?"

"School of hard knocks? I don't think they give out degrees."

Annoyed, she exclaimed "Jim! Seriously, are you sure this woman is qualified?"

"Very!"

Sighing she said "Well, at least she has some paperwork where she's from right? We need something. Passport?"

Clearing his throat he said "About that paperwork. Uhh.. dog ate it?"

Angrily she said "Seriously!?"

"No. She doesn't have any."

Like a mantra Charlotte repeated in her mind 'Patience. Opportunity comes to those who make good decisions and are patient.'

Finally calming down she said "How much time do I have?"

"Two or three days and I'll bring her over."

Dejectedly she said "Fine. I'll do what I can. Hopefully I can find a headhunter that might know this process a little better."

Jim said happily "Thanks Charlotte! I'm totally going to give you the employee of the month award!"

Annoyed, she said "I'm your only employee right now."

Then she thought about the deal she was brokering with Mr. Montgomery and said, "We finally hammered out the deal with Mr. Montgomery and everything is signed. Can you drop off one of the good versions of the drug later?"

Jim said "Sure, How much are we going to get for it?"

"Depends, but we had a good idea that we ran with. Basically for every extra year of expected life, we get a million dollars."

"How will you know that?"

Charlotte said "He just got an exam from three separate doctors. He will get one again the day after taking the drug. Then the number will be averaged and that's what we get paid in millions of dollars. That way everyone is happy that the pay is based on how effective the drug is. We also get 4 million up front no matter what the results are."

"Nice! Oh wait, actually there is a problem."

Of course. There always seems to be a problem. She asked "What is it Jim?"

"My car died. Can you come pick the item up? I'll drop a pin at my hotel."

She repeated her internal mantra 'Patience. Opportunity comes to those who make good decisions and are patient.'

"Fine Jim. I'm on the way."

Charlotte got out of her warm and comfy bed and started getting dressed. What bad timing to have car trouble.

***

Forrest's PoV

 

Forrest couldn't get back to sleep. Getting up he saw that Scarlet had the watch so he made his way over to her.

"How goes the watch?"

Scarlet shrugged and said "Not bad. Only a couple of those large centipede things. Fairly easy stuff."

Forrest examined her and she still had that distracted and worried look from the other night. Steeling himself he asked "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why? They were easy. You've killed some too."

Shaking his head Forrest said "No, what you're really worried about. You seemed more carefree before. But this past day you seemed worried. Do you want to talk?"

She turned her gaze and held him with her emerald green eyes and finally said "I'm different from you Forrest. Different from the rest of you. Some would consider my sense of right and wrong evil."

Seeing that this was a serious conversation Forrest put some concern in his voice and asked "Why?"

Scarlet looked out into the horizon that was starting to brighten up and said "I protect my home. I protect it in any way that I can. Even if that means killing so called innocents."

"Why?"

Scarlet replied "I've never actually thought about it too much. But I value the lives of my people higher than any number of so called 'innocence.'"

After a short pause she continued "It was how I was raised. Those with gifts get sent to special schools. Everyone there thinks like that. Even so, I don't think they're wrong. Xalross is the smallest of the trio of city-states. Fighting dirty is the only way we can survive."

Then Scarlet started cursing and covering her face. Forrest asked, "What's wrong?"

She laughed and said "If you were an agent from one of the other cities I would give you an A+. One of the first things we are taught is to never disclose our origins. I screwed up."

"Why is that so important?"

Seeming to go into a dull lecturing tone she said "If the opposition does not know the origin of the enemy, it makes it very hard to retaliate. Not only are there agents like us, but there are political factions that have their own agenda. Every target has many enemies. You can not strike those you can not find."

Glancing back over at him she pulled something out of a pocket and handed him a letter. After Forrest finished reading the letter he was angry. Furious. Not only was Scarlet a target but the destruction of their village was an afterthought!

Controlling his anger he asked "Where did you get this from?"

She smiled and said "That middle aged woman that you were so concerned with. The first night I overheard them planning to poison all of us. They were talking ever so excitedly about getting a hold of my head. And not in a kinky way."

Forrest gulped. He would have never known! The people that he had worried about were actually trying to kill them! Knowing that actually made some of his guilt go away.

Then Scarlet said with feigned annoyance "I was planning on taking my time with the pair too. If only our awesome tracker didn't leave us all alone and defenseless."

She raised a mocking eyebrow at him. He laughed. There she was, the always mocking jester.

"So what do you plan on doing?"

While examining her dagger she said with a smile, "I want to have a little chat with this Aaron fellow. I'm going to have the same pointed conversation that I was going to have with the pair that had that letter."

Of course when she said "pointed" she made a thrusting motion with the dagger. He gulped.

Forrest nodded and said "I'll help."

"Davis wouldn't like that. He wants peace."

That was true. Anything that would create hostilities between themselves and Jacksberg would not be looked on kindly. Especially after learning that the Merchant Circle attack force had been obliterated. What should he tell his friend?

After considering it for a few seconds he realized he had to tell him the truth. Davis won't like it, but he wouldn't stop him. Davis had his family to protect and he wouldn't rob him of knowledge that could cost them their lives. Finally he looked over to Scarlet and said "I'll come with you. Davis won't like it, but he'll understand."

She nodded and then with a wicked smile she said "I'll make it up to you."

Then Scarlet planted a kiss on his cheek and whispered "Later."

Damn evil jesters. Still, this one wasn't too bad.

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

As Forrest walked away her eyes lingered on him. Most people would run away screaming when she told them that she would kill innocents to protect her city-state.

Shaking her head she scanned the camp and saw that everyone was starting to pack up. Jim had returned late at night and they had a new addition to their party. The woman had been caked in dirt and looked like she was ready to fall asleep at any moment.

Looking over to Gwen she saw her preparing a late dinner. She was even using her new lightning spell to test how it worked with cooking. Absolutely insane. Jim said "Evening everyone! We have a new member for now! This is Milly!"

The dirt caked girl started waving nervously to everyone. Then Jim's eyes locked on Gwen and he shouted "No fair! You got a new spell?"

Gwen cleared her throat and said "Yea, after the battle near the temple."

Jim had an annoyed look on his face and said "You are so lucky! Do you know how many times I've used Sense Lv2 and I still haven't gotten a new spell?"

Maria said happily "I got a new spell too! I can heal from far away now!"

Jim's look of annoyance changed to exasperation when he said "Really? Even Maria got a new rank of Heal? You all are so lucky!"

Gwen said "Umm.. you can always try casting some more?"

Jim sighed and started gesturing at people one at a time.

Then Jim exclaimed "Yes! Gwen you are a lucky charm! I got a new spell!"

Everyone started looking towards Jim and she watched his eyes read something only he could see.

Then Jim said dejectedly "I got... Sense Lv3."

Scarlet was impressed. He already had so many other spells and now he had Sense Lv3. Not only that but he didn't have to guess what spell he had. Normally people had no idea what spells they had learned till they tried it. She had no idea what Sense Lv3 was. Scarlet asked "What does it do?"

Jim muttered darkly "Activating this spell will inform the user of all magic and projectile attacks in the nearby area. Range is based on Magic stat. Costs 10 MP per minute. Lasts until deactivated."

Wow. Any mage should be ecstatic at adding such a spell to their catalog. Ranged attacks were usually one of their biggest weaknesses, but maybe because Jim already had such a good defensive spell, his new addition wasn't that great?

Maria said happily "Try it! Try it."

Jim made another gesturing move and then his scowl got even worse.

Gwen asked "Well? How is it?"

Jim said annoyed "Spam. Endless spam. Seriously, I can't even read the text. It's going so fast."

Scarlet got a sense of foreboding and asked "Can you tell what direction it's coming from?"

Jim pointed. Just as she feared. Jim was pointing eastward, directly where Xalross was. Her home was under attack!

***

Jim's PoV

 

Jim got up early the next day with thoughts of trying to bring people over to Earth. Originally he was going to just try to set up a trade deal, but he felt with Milly seeming desperate it offered the perfect opportunity. Looking over at the sleeping Potion Maker, he was really tempted to see if he could use his patented drag n' drop method of spawning gear and try to bring her to Earth.

Man it was like an itch, he wanted to know so bad. Looking around he was hoping to find some wildlife to experiment on. Davis and Forrest seemed to be having an argument.

He would have been more interested if the obsession goblin in the back of his mind would stop tempting him to do something reckless. Gwen was in the middle of cooking breakfast. That brought him to the always playful trio; Maria, Princess and Fluffy.

Should he try one of them? Thinking about using a wolfie as a test subject, he watched Maria play with the dogs. Maria started waving around her staff and said "I cast Fire! Tremble at my power, evil fiends!"

Both the pups looked hurt by the comment and started whining. Then Maria stage whispered, "It's just make believe. I didn't mean it! Play along!"

Princess and Fluffy attempted to act the part of evil creatures, but they sucked at it. After snarling at her they would immediately look away and start to whine. Then Maria started waving around her white staff and said "Pow! Behold my mighty magic!"

Everyone did the beholding part, but nothing happened. Maria staged whispered again saying, "Fluffy! You were hit! Play dead!"

After an eye roll, the wolf got on his back and performed a theatrical death. Princess seemed to be laughing at her brother, then Maria waved her staff around again and then said "Pow!"

Princess made a quick dodging motion and then started prancing towards the girl. Maria said "Not fair! I hit you!"

Princess shook her head. "Yes I did!" More dog head shakes. Then it was too late. Princess fluff bombed Maria and attacked her face with licks. "Okay, okay! I missed! You win, let me up!"

Scarlet who seemed to pop out of nowhere asked Maria "You want to be an offensive spell caster?"

Maria seriously nodded and said "I want to be strong like mom! She beat up so many of those things, did you see her? It was awesome!"

Jim said "What, why do you want to be a damage dealer? You're already an overpowered healer. Three spells already, you greedy goblin!"

Maria said "I want to be a damage dealer too! If I keep casting spells, I'm sure I'll eventually learn one some day!"

Scarlet agreed saying "If you keep it up you will probably be the most powerful healer in the area. There are only a handful of people that have more than three healing spells."

Maria said stubbornly "I already have enough healing spells, I want to be a damage dealer too!"

After that Gwen yelled "Breakfast is ready! Come and get it!"

Breakfast must have been a magic word for Milly because she instantly woke up. The trio also headed towards Gwen for some food.

As they walked away Scarlet asked "Would you mind using your new Sense spell again and tell me the results?"

Seeing no reason to refuse, he did so. "Same as yesterday, Spam. Almost all of it is directly to the east."

Scarlet said "Thank you" and walked away. Deactivating the annoying skill he pulled up his blue boxes. Looking at the party screen it seemed everyone grew a lot stronger with the exception of Forrest.

Even he gained a few levels, not that it means anything. Jim would have traded the levels for not getting covered in centipede goo in a heartbeat. Jim continued to scan the new information.

 

Everyone had gained a ton of levels from that fight. Poor Forrest, he was ahead of the pack before they left King's End, now even the level three past him. The fact that everyone gained over 10 levels from that battle was nuts. It really showed how much of a mismatch that fight was.

Then he realized one number was a lot higher than expected. Why did Davis have so much HP? Jim tapped Davis on his party menu then clicked the spells button. He found his answer.

What kind of overpowered bonus was that? That's probably a free 50% bonus in Stamina alone! It really seemed the 'game' wanted to make him into a tank. Jim continued to scan for new spells and only found the two spells that he was already aware of.

The range of Heal was based on the Magic stat? Sheesh, if he learned that skill he could probably heal someone around the world. If only this 'game' would stop shafting him with these Sense spells.

Figuring he would spam Sense Lv2 to get a chance to learn a useful spell, he first tagged the wolfies.

 

There was basically no difference in stats between them now. Annoying stat caps. Seems like as they level up, more of his Greater Sources will be wasted. The only real difference was in Magic. Wolves didn't normally have a Magic stat, so they didn't get any growth if it was leveled.

Only a day and a half before they would reach Jacksberg. He wasn't going to use his cute wolves as test subjects. Hopefully he could find something he could use as a guinea pig on the road. He really wanted it to be true that he could bring over people from this world. It would be so epic!