[NR] Supposedly No Fighting - Chapter 665

Jason’s breathing is even though showing signs of strain. He had been at his tenth meridian for hours now and it was almost clear. The intention of this session hadn’t been to clear an entire meridian.

However, it has been partially cleared already and he is so close now. Besides, Courtney hadn’t messaged him and so he wasn’t needed yet. Though he would have to close out the session soon. His thoughts on mental stamina coming home to roost.

Jason picks and probes at the blockage. Grains of sand scraped away. He can feel that there isn’t much farther before the blockage is pierced through. Yet his mind grows tired.

Pick, pick, pick. Jason steadies himself, the breakthrough is near. Pick, pick, pick.

Then it happens. A grain comes away and there isn’t another behind it. Power begins to flow and as Jason works to widen the gap, that flow pulls away more of the blockage.

Some might stop at this point and allow the natural flow of power to finish clearing the meridian. For once, Jason decided to count himself as part of that “some”. It isn’t like he had shortcut clearing the meridian.

A “some” he wasn’t going to be a part of, would try and drill a hole through. That technically works, but the flow of power through such a small hole can cause problems. Much better to dig it out.

Jason watches the meridian for a moment longer, but everything seems in hand. He flops back, arms stretched out. Body fresh, mind slush, it takes him a few minutes to gather himself.

He slumps into his capsule; the lid refuses to close at first. Jason straightens himself and finally he finds himself in his private room. Not that this solves anything. A fresh body doesn’t help when the mind is tired.

Jason shuffles into the portal to NeoRealm. The only fix is time and thankfully, NeoRealm has more than enough of that for him. Even better, when he wakes up in his NeoRealm body, it is dark outside.

With that in mind, he could go to sleep now. However, responsibility pulls at him. Jason gets out of bed and stumbles to the bar, where he leaves a message for Rosha and Courtney that he’s back in. Then, responsibility discharged, he heads back to bed and zonks out.

Next day, about mid-morning, Jason wakes up. “Arg, it’s been a while since I pushed myself like that. Should not have done that.”

Someone knocks at his door and then Rosha stage shouts through it. “Yo! Jason. Heard you muttering to yourself. Get on down to the common room. We’ll order up some food and fill you in on the nonsense that has happened.”

Jason, “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Down in the common room, he finds Rosha and Courtney sharing a plate of meat and bread with Lily nibbling at a bowl of greens. They wave him over and points at the bowl of soup.

Rosha, “We figured you’d be up soon after you didn’t wake up earlier. Ordered our own lunch, but not being sure on you, we left it. Hope you like bean soup!”

Courtney, “They’re, uh, not exactly getting much fresh meat right now. Don’t want to waste it.”

Jason nods, “A fair worry. Pushed myself a bit yesterday and needed a good night’s sleep to recharge.”

Courtney, “Anyway, the council finally settled in just about what we figured out around sunset last night. Almost as if they didn’t want to keep arguing another day and so settled.”

Jason, “So what’s our job? Are we escorting them out or something?”

Rosha shakes her head, “Nah, they kicked them out at the crack of dawn. Did a whole ceremony thing for it and everything. Though Helina said that was more of a show for the townsfolk than anything else.

“Our job is going to be similar to what we’ve already done. Staking out the fields and watching for more people coming in to steal. Though this time, we aren’t there to attack them. The town is going to have some people ready to come in and handle it.”

Courtney nods, “They suspect that next time the people coming won’t be such a small group or that weak. You and Rosha will be watching, while I’ll be at the edge of where I can detect my shadow spheres. Once I get the alert, I’ll sneak back to the guards to report it. At no point should either of you join the fight. We aren’t going to get paid for that and besides, fighting isn’t our responsibility.”

Courtney pauses and then sighs, “So when it inevitably happens, try to find one another. Better to have someone at your back that you can trust. Siegfried promised bonus rewards if your reason for joining the fight is in any way justified.

“Though you might notice the lack of a quest for this. He has to offer the reward under the table because there was no way the council would okay it up front. Of course, Helina is laughing her butt off at how things are playing out. She’s betting that the next fight will not only involve all of the criminal travellers, but also whatever is causing this event.”

Jason closes his eyes with a frown, “Sounds like something the System would do. Why don’t the guys out in the forest realize this?”

Rosha shrugs, “You would think being players, we’d all have the genre savvy perk. Then again, they might see it coming and want to take on the challenge. Given what we know, we obviously would never do things we wouldn’t do irl.

“However, there are more than a few players cosplaying as bandits out there. All for the thrill. Though I suspect what we’re seeing here is corporate stupidity. Which you would also think people would realize at this point?”

Courtney shrugs, “We’ve had to fix a hole in the Ozone layer 3 times. Three times and after the first two times? People not only forgot the lesson, they downplayed it! Treated it as if we hadn’t actually done anything. So here we are, likely facing a medium size company thinking they’re the hot new thing and nothing can stop them. Sigh, we simply have to do what we can.”