‘Interface. Combat log,’ I mentally gave the commands to see how well this mission had gone. My eyes went wide at the amount. That was insane. ‘Avatar!’

COMBAT LOG

4 Bears (High): 621 EXP
1 Full-Partial Ancestral Spirit (Boss): 124,212 EXP
TOTAL: EXP 124,833

Mes appeared as I kept looking over the numbers. Mes appeared roasting a large bear over a firepit. I felt a bit ill about that. The bears were very close to cats. They had claws and were intelligent creatures. Still, it wasn’t my place to question Mes’s habits and appearance.

I noted they were still wearing the eyepatch. ‘Mittens! Very good job.’

‘How did I get that much? The Great Bear was weaker than the Snake Ancestral Spirit?’ I asked. Mes smiled at me and chuckled slightly.

‘EXP has nothing to do with ability. Even for ancestral spirits Mittens. The Great Bear poured everything they had info manifesting for that fight. Since a bear called on it, there was more compatibility. The amount of energy invested was immense.’

‘That is why it take so long to defeat compared to that snake you fought. The only bad thing was that it didn’t fully manifest. But that kind of fight would be quite dangerous to you,’ Mes explained.

‘That’s a lot of experience points.’ I was thinking what I should spend them on, or if I should save them to buy a higher authority level. That seemed absolutely critical. And now the one million EXP didn’t seem as daunting as before. The problem was that I needed more everything to fight better. That way I could gain EXP more quickly.

‘It is a tough decision. Again, I highly suggest investing in your stats. They allow for the base you to improve.’

‘Mes, you have to help me over Mousethief, right?’ I asked.

‘You are the User, Mittens.’ That wasn’t an answer.

‘That isn’t an answer Mes. If I asked you what skills I needed to counter Mousethief, what you recommend?’ I asked. Mes paused in spinning the bear carcass over the fire pit and looked at me. I felt a shiver go through me.

‘You want stats Mittens. They are the basis to everything else.’ Mes clearly couldn’t say anything else, but was clearly giving me advice. Why did Mousethief give me Mes? His explanation about goals not aligning seemed to make no sense. Time to clarify things.

‘Mes. If I retired to an island and didn’t kill anything anymore. Would you get upset or do something?’ I asked.

‘I cannot harm users.’ Again, that wasn’t an answer.

‘You can manipulate things, events. What would happen?’ I asked. Mes didn’t respond, which was an answer in itself. That kind of implied Mousethief was telling the truth, but I still wasn’t convinced. ‘Is there a feature to let someone kind of be a user but get EXP from them?’ I asked as I realized what Mousethief was doing.

‘There is such a feature. Team.’

‘And could someone be in a team and not know if there was another team member, if they didn’t have the feature or the required authority level?’

‘I cannot answer that User Mittens,’ Mes replied. I closed my eyes as everything made sense.

‘Mes, what is my name that you have to call be my.’

‘Your name is User Mittens,’ Mes said. They had been trying to clue me into things for the longest time.

‘Thanks for listening to all my complaining and hypothetical questions Mes,’ I said. Mes went back to spinning the roasting bear.

‘Not a problem Mittens. I am here to listen to any pointless questions you might have that aren’t important. I am more than happy to help you in any way I can. My ability to interact with this world is limited. Very limited unfortunately.’

All the pieces were rapidly falling together. Mousethief was using me to get more EXP and to empower himself even further. All that talk about money and an island was completely pointless and a charade, so I didn’t guess what was really happening.

I felt an overwhelming sense of fear. Mousethief was arranging everything on my behalf. Sending the stone that linked to Mes way ahead of time, would mean he didn’t have it with him. He would arrange the missions. My father would never bend to his will. But me, stupid Mittens, I was an idiot.

Mousethief far more dangerous than any other creature. Mes was clearly willing to help me. But why? Was Mousethief doing something Mes didn’t like? I needed more information to understand Mes. I was missing a lot of things about Mes. The real question was if I should trust Mes or not?

What if Mousethief had told Mes to give me advice to direct me in a certain way? I didn’t understand the privileges and rules Mes and Mousethief had in relation to each other. Was I really that useful to get EXP from? Why didn’t Mousethief just go off on his own to kill creatures and EXP?

Now that I knew all of this, it was clear that Mousethief was exploiting in a way I didn’t understand. It also didn’t escape my notice that I realized all of this after I had increased my stats. That was the deciding factor to trust in Mes’ suggestion to keep increasing them.

I increased my max Wisdom to 500. That cost 120,200 EXP. I was not going to be a stupid creature. I needed to understand what exactly was happening around me. It didn’t escape my attention that Mes never recommended the Wisdom stat.

If Mes was limited and reporting to Mousethief, then I could only hope that they wouldn’t report my thoughts. I thought about confronting Mousethief, but my danger sense triggered at that thought. It was really that dangerous?

Mousethief could move around silently and was hard to spot, unless he wanted to be spotted. He easily got his way about several things. He seemed unconcerned about Mes’ warning after the volcano had appeared on the island or the eldritch being.

The worst part was that the stronger I got the stronger Mousethief was getting if he was taking my EXP in some way. I didn’t know anything about him either. I knew he was quirky and loved driving. But everything else about him, left me confused and trying to separate truth from lies.

Mousethief probably had social skills of some kind. Also, something that would let him know if I actively moved to target him in some way. That was why my danger sense activated. Mes had also recommended that skill right away.

The moment I thought I was getting control over my life, the more I realized how little control I actually had. I couldn’t even tell my father any of this. It would raise too many questions and Mousethief would know. If I did go after him, then I would need to strike instantly. That was when the danger sense came back, and I let go of that train of thought. Mousethief was my trusted friend.

No sense of danger. I felt even more on edge. Would Mousethief know if creatures were his enemy? That was a scary thought. The only thing I could do was get stronger and wait. Mes said they could create almost any skill. Mind altering skills? Reality altering skills?

They would be expensive. If there was a plan, to make me gain EXP for Mousethief, then it was clear he had a very large number in mind. Whatever he wanted was insanely expensive. And he didn’t want to take any huge risks in getting that EXP.

With how much ancestral spirits were worth, he might also be trying to lay low in his own way. I had thought that ship had sailed, but it was clear that creatures didn’t view Mousethief with suspicion. Southpaw didn’t like him, but that was due to helping out my father. Not Mousethief himself.

Oh, Warrior save me. It was worse than I thought. I had to force myself to breathe not to panic. Everyone around me was being manipulated. That meeting about the volcano, Mousethief hadn’t been there. Why? It made no sense.

He should have been part of that meeting. But he was overlooked. He was overlooked in so many ways that didn’t make sense. Like pulling out boxes in the middle of the Organization and no one catching on. He had admitted as much he had skills to deflect attention.

But if he had those kinds of skills, then that implied he had a lot of other skills that were much more sinister in nature. Well, Mousethief was clearly my friend and trusted companion. There was nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing at all.

I got up and raced to the bathroom attached to my cabin and puked in the toilet. I felt ill and worried. I went to the sink, splashed water on my face and rinsed out my mouth. “Mittens, don’t panic. You are a clever cat.” I said that to myself and made my way back to my bed. At least I was going to get smarter. The real threats out there weren’t the snakes that would eat me in one bite. But friends who might betray me.

I had no proof and Mousethief is my friend. I couldn’t get to sleep as I kept repeating that phrase over and over in my head. Mousethief is my friend. I trust Mousethief. Over and over I couldn’t risk him acting out. If he had a higher privilege level then me, he would know all my features and skills.

The most important thing going forward now was to think of things that made sense in both combat and in a general sense. Mes was right stats, were an increase in my base ability. I needed to focus on them. Then I would need to save up EXP to get a higher authority level with Mes no matter what.

I didn’t believe that Mousethief would have the EXP to purchase an even higher authority level since the first one cost a million EXP. Just having one over me would be more than enough. Mousethief wouldn’t have more unless he was immortal.

That made me freeze up. How old was Mousethief? I had just assumed quite a bit. But Mes had indicated it could increase my lifespan. How long has Mes been working with Mousethief? How much EXP had Mousethief accumulated?

These were questions I wouldn’t be able to answer. If I asked Mousethief about his family or background, it would immediately alert him. There was no way I had enough skill or Mes skills to draw information out of him in a verbal exchange.

I was hopelessly out matches in every way. It was incredibly frustrating to be in such a situation. My stomach heaved, and it wasn’t due to the rocking of the ship. The walls of my cabin seemed to be pressing down in on me.

Just like with the mission or quest Mes had to investigate various locations, I could do nothing about that. I could do nothing about my knowledge. I needed to wait and pay attention. Slowly improving myself while looking for information.

My involvement and Mousethief’s trap clearly pointed to wanting something worth millions of EXP. I kept coming back to that thought. A tier 4 skill or higher? How powerful would they truly be. If I spent ten million EXP, what kind of skill could I get? I couldn’t ask Mes since anything above tier 3 was restricted based on my authority level.

Authority level, not knowledge or access level. The wording was key. Mousethief had authority over Mes. My mind kept going in circles over and over. If this was what it meant to be wise, then I almost wanted to go back to being ignorant. Ignorance was bliss, but it would be death. I wanted to control my future. I had to be willing to face these unpleasant truths.

***-***

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