Chapter 74

“[XP Mask] is a unique bloodline skill,” System said.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that?”

“You never asked.”

“Aldrick,” Zea cut in. “You’ve got a vein in your forehead that’s looking like it’s about ready to burst.”

“I… it. Just sometimes, it. So. Mad.”

He was hardly intelligible, but that was as much as Luke cared to say on the subject. He took a deep, deep breath, counted to ten, counted to ten a second time, and said through clenched teeth, “Are there any other unique bloodline skills?”

“Quite a few, but they are currently locked.”

“Can you show them to me anyway?”

“Certainly.”

A window popped up in front of Luke detailing several skills. The first one was something called [Analyze], which he could use to peek at the status of other living creatures. That would be fantastic once he took [XP Mask]. It wouldn’t replace being able to feel the XP of other creatures, but if his perception was high enough, he figured it wouldn’t make much difference.

Another one was called [Stat Assignment], which seemed to do nothing more than let him rearrange where he’d allocated his AP. He supposed it might be a nice reset button, or if he needed to pump one particular stat for something and then change things back. The description said it took an hour to adjust, so he doubted it would be useful in combat.

They started getting wilder after that. There were skills to adjust other people’s stats too, or to remove or add skills to their status. He found one that would inflict status conditions at any duration, even permanently, and another one that would fabricate raw materials out of nothing. “This is like having debug mode,” he said. “Why does this even exist?”

“The SysAdmin abilities were implemented as skills as a way to reconcile them with the system as a whole. They are generally used only by the gods themselves, and only sparingly.”

“And if my bloodline was purified enough, I could do that? Just, look at someone and tell them, ‘No, you don’t get to have agility anymore,’ and set it to 1. Or take away skills from them.”

“That is correct.”

“Why the hell am I going on this long-ass road trip then?”

“Some commands cannot be executed except at the console. Creating new skills is one of those commands.”

“So what you’re saying is, if I ever want to get home, I’m going there one way or another. But theoretically, I could still bring back my family even if I never made it that far.”

“Um, Aldrick,” Zea said. “I’m sure you sound a lot less crazy to yourself than you do to me, but can we maybe get this campsite broken down and get going while you talk to yourself?”

“Oh! Shit, yeah. Right.”

While they cleaned everything up, and Luke snacked on some of the food they’d made, he told her about what he’d discovered. “So you really could reset me,” she said. “But that would mean finding a ritual master to do the bloodline purification ritual on you. Or…”

“Or what?” Luke asked, pausing in his work.

“I could do it.”

“You could do… the ritual?”

“Well not yet, but I could spend AP on it. It’d be temporary, right? I’d have to gain a few levels to take the first rank, maybe a few ranks even, but then after your bloodline is pure, you could just wave your hand and reset it.”

“That might work, but if something goes wrong, you could be heading into an early grave.”

It was a better plan than anything he’d come up with, and he could help her level up too. The system didn’t seem to factor contribution much into XP. It just divided it in half and doled it out. That meant that he could fight things that were level 20 or 25, get her a sling or a crossbow or something, and as long as he was helping, she should level quickly.

He tried to remember how much AP the skill needed, but couldn’t. Then he shook his head and laughed at himself before opening the skill store and checking. Rank 1 was 50 AP, and it would surely go up insanely fast from there.

“Um, so this is kind of rude to ask, but what level are you? I’m not sure how much AP this skill needs to max it out, but it’s going to be a lot.”

“We… we could trade statuses,” Zea said. “I trust you.”

“We can?” Luke blinked in surprise. “How do we do that?”

“You have only to will it to her,” System said.

“Just kind of think about sharing it with the person you want to see it,” Zea said at the same time.

“Oh, that seems easy.”

Luke did that, though he wasn’t sure if it worked. Before he could ask, a new status window opened up in front of him with Zea’s information on it. She was level 12, but with 23 unspent AP. He was guessing those were new levels from killing the inquisitors last night. Her stats were low, but that wasn’t surprising. Perception was the highest at 10.

She hadn’t been kidding about her skills though. There were two dozen of them at rank 1, and he wasn’t even sure what most of them did. “What the fuck is [Arcano Dynamics]?” he asked.

Zea wasn’t listening though. Her mouth hung open, but she didn’t look impressed, just horrified. “Oh gods, this is awful,” she whispered. “It’s all just… fighting and surviving. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

“Huh?”

Zea crossed the camp and hugged him tightly. “It’s not fair what they did to you,” she whispered, her face buried in his side. “You’re like one of those gladiator slaves, nothing but pain and blood and struggles.”

“Hey now,” Luke said, gently pushing her back to look at her. “I told you, it’s not like that. I’ve only been here for two months, and yeah, they’ve been kind of shitty here and there, but it’s not all bad. Plus I got to meet you. You’re pretty flexible for a girl with only 5 agility.”

Zea sniffed, then gave him a shove and said, “Oh shut it. You jerk. See what I get for trying to show you some sympathy.”

Her eyes unfocused for a moment, and she said, “Luke. So that’s your name.”

“That’s me. I guess we should probably both come up with new identities moving forward.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said, still not looking at him.

Luke waved a hand in front of Zea’s face to get her attention. “Hey, it’s really not that big of a deal, okay? Yes, it was kind of scary and it sucked to live through, but I’m fine. Everything is okay. I’m going to do this thing, and I’m going to revive all of my family members that this world killed, and then… I don’t know. They’re all going to go home, maybe? Or we’ll stay here. I haven’t figured that part out. I thought I knew, but… things change.”

“Let’s think a little less long term for right now. We need to start walking. You need new clothes. And I am damn certain not planning on spending another night sleeping outside.”

At Zea’s prodding, they started walking again. She fed him a hundred questions to ask System, almost all of them things he never would have even thought to ask about, and though she had a lot more luck than Luke did, by the end, she was just as sick of talking to it as he was.

“Why did you ask about evernight deposits?” Luke asked. “Also, what’s evernight?”

“It’s an enchanter thing,” she said. “I need some help keeping up with your stats. I’m fucking wiped out over here and you haven’t even broken a sweat.”

Luke looked down at her in surprise. “Do you want to take a break? Or… I could carry you?”

She scowled up at him, but said, “A break would be fine.”

They found a little glen with a few big rocks in it and sat next to one. Luke used it at a backrest, though he didn’t really need it, and Zea laid next to him with her head on his lap. “Maybe I should put some points into my stats,” she said. “It would push back the ritual skills, but I know you could go faster if you weren’t waiting for me.”

Luke hid a wince, but it was true. Zea moved a lot like a regular person from Earth, both in terms of speed and how well she made it across rough terrain. Luke would move at least five times faster and without the need for a break. They were also going to lose a significant portion of their travel time while she slept. If he got four hours in a night, that was more than enough. Zea wanted at least eight, and preferably ten or eleven.

“You know I’m not going to leave you behind, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Zea said. “I still feel bad about slowing you down.”

“So, I had some thoughts about that. You’re going to need to level up quickly, which means killing monsters, but your stats are so low I don’t really feel like it’s safe for you to even get near the kind of monsters I fight. A stray hit could kill you.”

“Yeah, but… every point I waste on stats is that much farther away from getting you the good bloodline skills.”

“It won’t matter if you’re 1 AP away from getting the skill if you die,” he said. “Besides, you know… I don’t want you to die, regardless. You’re kind of important to me.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome.”

“Awesome pain in the ass sometimes, but… yeah. I think I’ll keep you around for a while.”

Zea jabbed him in the ribs with a finger. “Please. Least you could do. So, stats first?”

“Some, definitely. You should consider a few combat skills too. I’m planning on doing most of the killing, but you’re going to have to do at least a little so the system will give you half the XP, right?”

“I could throw rocks at it or something.”

“Maybe a crossbow,” he suggested, thinking of all the goblins that had carried them. Luke thought he might be able to make one sized for Zea, but it would probably be better if they bought it from somebody a bit more capable than him.

“Okay, stats first. Then skills next time. Can’t believe I’m doing this, but… here goes.”

Her whole body stiffened as she boosted up her stats, and he could visibly see muscle swelling in her arms. She’d been in good shape before, but now she looked lean, and maybe a bit too toned for her clothes. It wasn’t a bad look by any means; they just weren’t as loose as before.

“How you feeling?” he asked.

“Holy shit, that feels amazing. It’s no wonder you’ve bumped yours up so high. I can’t even imagine what 36 stamina must feel like.”

“It’s pretty cool to be able to run all day and never run out of breath,” he said. “You need a minute to adjust?”

“Yeah, just… let me soak it in for a bit before we get going.”

That was reasonable, he supposed, but he remembered his first few big stat increases and how much energy he’d had right after.

“Hey,” Luke said.

“Hmm?”

“Come here.”

“What?”

“Just come here,” he repeated.

“I’m already here.”

“Yeah, but it’s hard to kiss you all the way down there.”

She smirked up at him. “Don’t see how that’s my probleeee-eaaaah!”

Luke scooped her up into his arms and pulled her onto his lap, where she received a thorough kissing, one that she returned quite vigorously. “This was not how I planned to spend my break,” she protested weakly.

“Plans are for changing,” he told her.

“Is that a fact?”

“It is.”

Their break ended up lasting a lot longer than they’d planned, but neither of them minded.