40

So, that was what I did. After prefabricating a dozen one-hundred-layer bars until my Strength went up to an even sixty-five overall, I left the others at the smithy to continue raising their stats since their stat needs differed from mine. Then I simply made my way to the south gate even in the dark and went for a jog. At first I stayed within a hundred feet or so of the road where the forestry was thinnest.

When I ran out of stamina after only a few minutes of running for over a mile without gaining any Agility points, though, I moved another hundred feet deeper into the forest where the trees started growing a little closer together and ran back toward the gates. This time I ran into a confrontation.

I simply left the trio of ferecats behind after a fourth had been snatched from the ground by Duck. Cweeper, who was left by the gate, was simply whittling randomly at sticks on the ground by the roadside when I came back. After a brief rest to feed my familiars, though, I went two hundred yards into the forestry until I was attacked again.

As soon as a quintet of hunter imps I started running again, heading south in the same direction as the road while weaving around trees. The hunter imps, though, were not so easy to shake and the trees here grew so close together they they got to show off their pursuit predator bodies by leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk. It was actually kind of scary.

One by one, though, an even fiercer and higher leveled night predator would swoop down and snatch the hunter imps right out of the air or off of a tree. By the time they were gone I finally received a point to both my Agility and Endurance. However, I was still far from done here.

After an hour of running back and forth from the city wall to as far out as I could get before getting tired I started figuring out how this system worked. While weaving through the trees and stuff was capable of giving me points in Agility, there was a point where I gained Endurance- which was higher- before I gained Agility. Then, while running from ferecats, it was almost as if I was being rewarded as soon as Duck finished assassinating them.

In this fashion, I figured out it was more Agility profitable to just walk until enemies appeared and then run away. By the time I returned to the city half an hour before the sunrise, my accumulative Agility had finally reached eighty and my Endurance had even hit eighty-seven. That did not mean I was done, though, because I could take advantage of and share this method with the others. All of today could be an Agility training day if the others did not have any important quests.

Thinking of that, though, reminded me that I still needed to commit in full to my own quest series. Lana was probably worried sick wondering if I had simply left the city or not. I DID promise to take her hunting but never did, too.

Returning to the smithy with this goal in mind, I find the others relaxing once again around the big anvil. Calling them out of the building, I call a quick farewell to Agar and Canley and lead the way deeper into the city. Lil and Agnes and even Oleander were complaining about wanting to let their characters sleep but I just told them to ride on somebody's back. Of course this meant the exhibitionist would have to climb on me, spend several minutes making awkward jokes, and then end up drooling on my head.

After a while, though, even the others began wondering where we were going as the streets became thicker and busier. Somehow, even with beast-drawn carriages rolling by us through the middle and upper class districts Oleander just snored. I had honestly kind of hoped that traveling through the streets this way would keep her awake the way it did Lil and Agnes.

I told nobody anything but the only person to keep quiet sent me a message asking if we were going to the nobles. I just looked over at Go and laughed, hoping it would wake Oleander so she would stop drooling. In some games dryad fluids were valuable, but hers were half human and all gross.

When the rundown estate at the edge of the upper class district came into view the others quickly realized where we were going. I was finally going to present everyone to Lady Mara and Lana hoping to incorporate my friends in the quest so that my future clan would acquire more benefits. They probably did not think there would be any benefits found in a place like this.

The lock on the gate had been put back together but I still just slapped it and it fell apart to let the gate creak open on its own. "Home sweet home," I inform the others with a laughing, walking casually into the property before cupping my hands around my mouth. "Mr. Harlow! Lady Mara! Ms. Lana! Hack is back!"

Just as I was leading the group up to the front doors of the manor the doors opened to reveal a cleaned up Mr. Harlow in a smart looking double breasted suit with a swallow tailed coat. The clothes were not the usual black and white butler attire but instead were probably house colors of midnight blue trimmed with a vibrant magenta silk.

Standing in the doorway, Mr. Harlow clasps his hands behind his back and looks at me with a slight frown before asking, "Mr. Hack, are these some of the associates you told me about?"

"Yes, Mr. Harlow, this is my party and future clan," I reply with a low nod of my head before gesturing to Go and Papi to my left and right. "This is Go-Croak, a man of few words but much wisdom. This is Papi, he's a paladin who makes you question the moral quality of paladins. This is his daughter Lil and Go's sister Ivana. Next is the manther, I Got Skooma, and his sister Agnes. This rest of my merry band are our house merchant and assassin, Merc Merch, our house alchemist and main mage, Oleander, and the walking fortress here is Stonewall."

"Well met, I am the steward of this household and you may call me Mr. Harlow," the old butler says while meeting the gazes of each of my friends in turn with only less of a frown than before. "Have you finished your business, Mr. Hack?"

"I have completed a major step in my training and I am here to finally offer my services to Ms. Lana as a retainer," I state loudly and proudly, asking Melpomene in my head to show Mr. Harlow my titles from last night. "With me are my companions who follow me into battle and will naturally follow me into service. While I might be strong, I cannot face twenty-two-hundred enemies alone."

Staring in awe at the message windows displayed before him, the only thing that Mr. Harlow can say at first is, "My gods."

Nodding my head in understanding, I say, "Don't worry, I know that feeling. After I got those titles I started screaming my head off like I had just been handed a throne and crown. Sir Beryl was happy, too. But, see that bit about the eldest guardian? These guys are the other guardians."

Looking at my friends with much less dissatisfaction than before, Mr. Harlow happily bows his head toward the group as a whole before stepping inside and out of the way to let us enter. Then, he lead us across the large foyer and down a large hallway behind the stairs Lana and I took previously. Once in this hallway, though, I could hear piano music.

Just a few minutes and another hallway later, Mr. Harlow brought us all to a large music room or large ballroom with a stage at the far side on which a number of instruments were stationed. Sitting at a unique solid ivory grand piano was Lana with Lady Mara in her wheelchair behind her. The music being played was not something I recognized but was still oddly familiar despite the fact that I could tell Lana was not exactly playing it well.

"Lady Mara, Ms. Lana," Mr. Harlow calls softly from a few feet inside the room, keeping all of us just inside the doorway.

When the music stopped and both of them looked up, Lana's face brightened like a sunrise as she suddenly started smiling and jumped up excitedly. "Hack, you're back!" She calls out as she hurries down from the large dais and over toward the doorway. "Are these your friends? You should have come by yourself first so we could have prepared to entertain guests, silly!"

"Oof, etiquette," I say with a quick grimace before just smiling at the excited young lady in front of me. "My bad. we're all a big group of slobs, just point at something and say kill when you want to put us to work. Speaking of which, Lana, may I serve as your guardian and servant until such a time as I am no longer needed?"

The young lady before me was much different than I remembered. The casual and spirited sundresses and free flowing hair were a thing of the past, replaced with a proper shirt, long skirt, and sweater while her hair had been neatly trimmed closer to her shoulders and pinned back behind her ear on one side. She still had a young and coquettish appearance, but she stood straighter with her chin a little higher than before and her eyes had more light than before as well.

She was staring at me in shock with her mouth open in a small 'o' at first, but then she cries out, "Yes! Of course, yes!"

Then, surprising everyone, she leaped forward and threw her arms around my neck in a tight hug. Caught as off guard as she had been, I could only awkwardly glance at Mr. Harlow before carefully returning the gesture with my hands high up by her shoulders. The brief thought of ruined underwear suddenly eased the awkward.

When Lana finally let go of me after a second or two too long, I gestured for her and Mr. Harlow both to go up toward the dais. Following behind, I address Lady Mara at the bottom of the dais with an award bow and say, "I'm sorry if I am not good at my job, at first, but I promise I will get better with time. If I may, I would like to show you all my information as a show of goodwill and trust. As you'll see and as Mr. Harlow can attest, some of the information here is quite shocking."

[I do not suggest making a habit of showing your information to too many more people, especially NPC. Another moderator or other AI function can pull any information from any NPC. Dead or alive. There are similar methods available to players, as well]

Thanking Melpomene in my head with honest gratitude, I simply stand there and enjoy the ever changing expressions on their faces as they go through my skills and titles with one information window after another blossoming like a giant hologram flower in the air between us. I was honestly surprised at how much crap I had piled up, just thinking about trying to keep track of it was giving me a headache. The only thing I was really concerned with was which titles were passive and what the accumulative stat value was.

"You're… a psychic?" Lady Mara asks suddenly with an odd tone of voice that made Mr. Harlow frown in my direction.

Catching on quickly, a shake my head regretfully and say, "Not the kind you think, m'lady. My sword is inhabited by the soul of a fellow classless, I found their body after saving Lana and from their weapons I made a haunted sword. This sword, as you can read in the equipment area, feeds on undead. If I were to channel any spirits here… it will not be good."

Nodding her head in understanding, Lady Mara says, "I thought as much but felt it would not hurt to ask. Thank you."

"Of course, I only regret I lacked the forethought to mention this beforehand," I reassure her quickly, lowering my head to content myself with staring at the floor.

"How did you realign your spine and body?" Lana asks curiously after reading my Spin Specialist information. The others had asked me similar questions and all reacted in a similar fashion.

Raising my head to meet her gaze, I say, "As a classless, the skills I learn are either self developed or gifted to me. I have not been lucky enough to receive any such gifts, so my skills are self made and… hazardous. I broke my spine last night using 360 Edge too many times in a row. After I was healed my body was…adapted. That title or perk about possums is from when I had to play dead for over a minute behind enemy lines while my body was adapting. No, I did not soil myself, but a goblin cursed me with Goblin Territory that went away when we completed the event."

"You poor bastard," Mr. Harlow says suddenly, earning himself a shocked and disapproving look from Lady Mara.

He simply walked over and whispered something in her ear. Then that sweet and slightly scary little old lady just looked at me with such an aching pity and said, "You poor bastard."

"Yes, I know," I say softly as chuckles and shameless laughter could be heard from the opposite end of the room where my friends were gathered.

*