Chương 82: Things That Bite

Meno woke on Monday morning to annoyed knocking on his door. For once, sleep had done its job. His head felt clear, his eyes did not scrape when he blinked, and his body had stopped vibrating with launch-week damage. He sat up, listened to the knocking continue, and immediately lost some of that peace.

"Yeah, yeah." He opened the door to three delivery guys waiting outside with mountains of boxes stacked on dollies and tucked under their arms. The front one looked impatient enough to charge by the second, and Meno stared at them until the memory clicked into place. Jaxxon had wasted no time. The front guy shoved a tablet toward him, and Meno signed where he pointed.

"Where should we put them?" Meno looked back into his apartment, where there was barely enough space for himself, the broken chair and the capsule. The boxes were not going to fit cleanly anywhere. They were going to become a new section of the apartment.

"Just here," Meno said, pointing along the wall.

"Stack them." The delivery guys moved fast. Boxes came in one after another, neat black packaging with subtle branding, nothing loud or neon. They stacked everything near the broken chair, signed out, and left before Meno could think of a human way to say thanks. The door closed, and the apartment was quiet again. Meno stared at the wall of stuff, then opened the first box. Heavyweight plain tees, all in colors that did not scream for attention. Black, charcoal, navy, olive, stone.

The fabric felt expensive in a way Meno could not describe without sounding like a person who cared about fabric. The second box had trousers: clean tapered cuts, soft waists, no stupid logos. The third had overshirts, the fourth had minimalist sneakers, and the fifth had a sharp dark jacket that looked like it belonged to a man who paid rent before the reminder email. Every piece had JaxxonVale's brand name somewhere small and tasteful.

It was the kind of stuff that made a person look accidentally polished even half-asleep, which felt unfair because Meno had spent most of his adult life looking accidentally evicted. He put away what fit into his wardrobe and left the rest in boxes. A lot stayed in boxes. Then he checked Veyrath. Server Status: Online A post from one hour earlier sat at the top of the site.

Emergency Maintenance Completed Several issues related to faction-state handling, allied collision exceptions, and mount-state combat attribution have been addressed. Thank you for your patience.

"That says nothing," Meno said. It told him enough to worry and not enough to understand. Whether dropping a Gravewurm from a cliff still worked remained unclear, and the vagueness felt intentional. Meno closed the page, but the call he had been avoiding stayed there in his head, waiting. Before Veyrath could eat the rest of the day, he picked up his phone and called Aurelia. She answered after a long enough ring to make him regret having hands.

"Hey," Meno said.

"How are you?"

"Hey," Aurelia said.

"Are you streaming this call?"

"Nope. Are you?"

"No. I just had breakfast," Aurelia said, still calm. Meno stopped pacing near the kitchen.

"Look, I'm sorry. What happened on stream was not on purpose. I'm always live, and everything starts washing together. I forget the boundaries." Silence held on the line. Meno listened to the faint sound of his own apartment, the capsule fan, the cheap fridge hum, his breathing turning too careful.

"Meno," Aurelia said at last, voice steady, "I don't know how I feel about all this yet." He did not interrupt.

"It has been fun and exciting at times," she said.

"Deeply worrying in others. I don't wish you to change. I like the way you are, but I don't think you have it all figured out yet." Meno pressed his free hand against the counter.

"You say you love me," Aurelia said, "then you admit you believe it's all pity from me on the same day. This is not a good start for a serious relationship." Pressure tightened in his chest, and his stomach rolled, sudden and sour, like he was going to be sick.

"I…" Meno swallowed.

"I'm not good at this. Can't you be a bit more understanding? I never lied to you. The whole thing just messed with my head."

"Sorry, Meno," she said, her voice softening.

"I just don't think this will work." He closed his eyes.

"I cannot be constantly dragged into your streamer spirals," she said.

"Not because I don't like you, but because we will both forget what is real and what is content. As you get more famous, it will only become harder to tell."

"Do you want me to stop streaming?" Aurelia took a breath that caught slightly.

"I told you I don't want you to change. You are a great streamer, and I respect your skill as a player. If you changed yourself for me, I'm not sure I would like you anymore." Meno gripped the phone harder.

"I should have never led you on in the first place," she said.

"That is my fault."

"What are you saying?"

"I think it's best if we don't talk anymore," Aurelia said, her voice wavering.

"For both of us." Meno raised his voice before he could stop himself.

"I can't accept that."

"I'm sorry," Aurelia said.

"Goodbye, Meno." The call ended. Meno stared at his phone for a long time. The screen dimmed once, and he tapped it awake without thinking. Then it dimmed again. Her name stayed there in recent calls, ordinary and small, as if the phone had not just cut a hole through the morning. She liked him, did not want him to change, and still did not want him close. Meno could not fit those three facts together without one of them cracking. His stream had made things feel staged.

His insecurity had made her affection feel like charity. His life had narrowed around Veyrath until even real feelings came out with chat waiting to clip them. He went to the kitchen and drank a large glass of water. The water did not help.

"This makes no sense," he said to nobody. He opened the fridge and ate whatever was left in it: a few bites of cold leftovers, half a wrapped slice of processed cheese, and a spoonful of something he decided not to inspect too closely. His body wanted fuel, even if his head could not understand why the day continued. Aurelia liked him from a distance, and that was the part that kept snagging. Maybe she worried his love was just collapse wearing a nicer name.

Maybe she thought that once he became popular and stopped feeling pathetic, he would look at her differently. Maybe she thought he would keep the relationship for content even after the feeling changed. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Every explanation scraped worse than the one before it. He really did like her. Not because she was rich. Not because she was beautiful, though she was.

She had that clean spark around her, the one that made a normal sentence feel more important when she said it. She had skill, tolerance for his nonsense, and a way of looking at him that made him want to be sharper without pretending to be someone else. So what was the problem? Meno walked through the apartment like he had hit his head and kept moving afterward. The confusion was easier than the answer, so he stayed inside it on purpose because he knew what waited when confusion ran out. Pain first. Rage after.

Then some stupid action he would regret on stream. He needed Veyrath before any of that found an exit. There was no need for another outburst. It was over, expected, obvious, and none of it mattered, which was a lie so thin it tore while he was still thinking it. Meno climbed into the capsule and turned on the stream. He had around eight hours before Bradbaron's birthday party.

It had started as a chore, but now he actually wanted to go, if only to stand somewhere that was not his apartment and let other people talk. [Login Complete] Viewers returned in trickles, then waves. not banned alive maintenancegod worm patch?

"Not banned yet," he said.

"Anyone from the raid still here and online?" me me I'm level 12 take me Monday morning worked against him. Most of the Wurm Express raid probably had jobs, classes, or sleep debt. The Ashfang XP buff was gone, the reset had erased the Grave Crown banner, and nobody had planted a new one yet. Veyrath had only been back for a little over an hour. Meno did not see the names he wanted in chat.

He summoned the Gravewurm, climbed on, and started back toward the ridge where the emergency logout had thrown everything into black. The ridge was empty. Just black stone, heat shimmer, magma channels below, and a zone that looked calmer. He dismounted and sat on the ridge.

"I'm waiting," Meno said.

"If anyone from the raid is here, log on. I need at least five people for Sunken Spire. I'll unlock Bloodwake for all of you." can I come me me I'll learn fast carry pls bloodwake store open"Not taking random people. Sorry." booo elitist you need us take Pete"I need above forty and people I know are not useless." Chat booed harder, which meant they understood. Fifteen minutes later, Meno almost gave up.

Then a figure appeared on the ridge, loading into the world with a staff in hand and a long dark beard on a young adult face. The beard made him instantly recognizable. [Morfoos | Class: Oathbound Priest — Level 41 | Ability: Oathtaker]"Hey!" Morfoos said.

"I really do want the subclass. My class doesn't have anything as cool as Preypool." Meno invited him.

"How does your class actually work?" Morfoos adjusted his grip on the staff.

"I take an oath for a set duration. Like, I will only heal one person, or I will only use area heals. While it lasts, I get bonuses. If I break it, I suffer a status effect, mana loss, that sort of thing."

"That seems strong," Meno said.

"But not flexible."

"Yeah. I didn't expect to do much PvP, to be honest. It's good in raids because the oaths also reduce mana cost." [Party] [Morfoos joined.] Five more minutes passed before a woman with copper-orange hair appeared near the ridge, her dark robes red at the edges and her offhand orb glowing faintly from the Ashfang drop. [Ruinelle | Class: Siegeflame Warlock — Level 43 | Ability: Destructive Cycle]"Great," Meno said.

"I was hoping you'd come. Your class does a lot of damage."

"Hey. Thanks," Ruinelle said with a smile.

"What is the actual mechanic?" Meno asked.

"It's not complicated," Ruinelle said.

"Every third destructive spell empowers my next major nuke, so my strongest damage comes in predictable burst windows." Meno nodded.

"So burst planning."

"Pretty much." [Ruinelle joined.] They waited another ten minutes, but nobody else came. Meno checked the party list, then the empty ridge. Three people was not enough. Four might be possible if they were insane, which meant he would try it.

"Hey, guys," Meno said to chat.

"Nobody else here?" they have lives Monday morning jobs diff busy take randoms Five more minutes passed before a woman with long braided black hair appeared, stretching one shoulder like she had actually run somewhere before logging in. [Nix | Class: Nerveshredder — Level 42 | Ability: Synapse Break]"Hey," Nix said.

"Sorry. I was working out when you came on. Had to rush home."

"My bad," Meno said.

"Didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"You did, but Bloodwake sounds worth it."

"What does your class actually do?" Meno asked. Nix rolled one dagger between her fingers.

"Combos build control power. My next stun, silence, or interrupt consumes it for an enhanced effect and heavy direct damage, even if the target resists the control." Meno glanced at her weapons.

"So control rogue with lower uptime damage, but better burst and better crowd control."

"Exactly. Good when you need damage in a short window. Not as good if the boss is a training dummy."

"Boss has mechanics," Meno said.

"Short windows might matter." [Nix joined.] They waited another five minutes, and Meno hoped for a tank. The world gave him a small blond woman with a messy ponytail and bright robes. [Orlaqt | Class: Daydreaming Saint — Level 41 | Ability: Crisis Only] Meno stared at the class name. Saint usually meant strong healer. Daydreaming sounded like the system had attached a warning label. Crisis Only could mean clutch healing, or it could mean half-useless unless everyone was already dying.

"Heeyhoo," Orlaqt said.

"Oh, I see you already have a healer. That is too bad."

"It's fine," Meno said.

"Don't worry about it. I just need fishbai—" He coughed.

"I mean, you are welcome to join." Chat lost it. FISHBAIT he said it Orlaqt run honest leader subclass bait Orlaqt put a hand over her mouth and chuckled. Meno moved on before the clip grew legs.

"So what does your class do?"

"My healing gets way stronger when people are almost dying," Orlaqt said in her bright, cutesy cadence.

"But healing allies above half health costs more Mana. Close to full, it gets super expensive." That was actually a good fit for him. Panic Pump set his HP to one, Self-Control turned healing into shield recovery.

"Okay," Meno said.

"That is useful."

"Oh, yay." [Orlaqt joined.] Two healers, one warlock, one rogue, and him. No tank. Meno did not like it, but he liked wasting more time even less. He summoned the Gravewurm.

"Get on." The five of them climbed on, which felt absurd after running twenty passengers. The mount's back looked almost empty. Meno used its jump to cross the ridge and land on the far side toward the sea, then followed the coast while Southreach rose in the distance. They would not enter the city. Meno had no idea whether Grave Crown players would get attacked by Southreach guards. Technically, the kingdoms were still at peace when no banner was active. At the edge of Ashfang Volcano, they crossed the water.

Bloodwake had spoiled Meno. Morfoos swam too high, then too low, then paused like he had forgotten how depth worked. Ruinelle moved with careful strokes, and Nix handled herself better than the healers, though she still looked slow compared to him. Halfway across, a shark attacked. It came from below and latched onto Orlaqt, dragging her underwater. Orlaqt made a sound that turned into bubbles. Nix was there the next second.

Her dagger flashed, and a plain stun slammed into the shark's head hard enough to freeze its body mid-thrash. Meno kicked in with Bloodwake speed, Ruinelle's first fire spell hissing through the water as steam, and together they cut the shark apart before it could drag Orlaqt deeper. [Blackfin Reef Shark defeated] [Loot: Torn Shark Fin] Orlaqt surfaced coughing, then laughed weakly.

"The fishbait works." FISHBAIT META Orlaqt MVP shark approved poor saint Bloodwake soon The rest of the journey went smoother. They reached shore, Meno pulled the Gravewurm out again, and they rode along the coastline until Serpent's Wake Coast took over the view with black spires and ugly surf. A few normal-threat monsters wandered too close, and the party cleared them without trouble, though the XP barely moved. Then they dove. The swim to Sunken Spire was tedious for everyone except Meno.

Morfoos panicked once and swam upward for air instead of down toward the glowing entrance, forcing Nix to grab his robe. Eventually, they reached the entrance. [Dungeon Entrance: Sunken Spire] Recommended Level: 40–50 Party Size: 1-5 Meno looked at the others.

"Okay. Stay in the starter bubble. With my new axe, I can probably clear the first floor in three minutes. Then you all get Bloodwake, and water stops being a problem." Viewers: 97, 622 timer on 3 min claim axe test carry store go go The Rare III Ashwake Cleaver changed everything. The old axe had been strong because Chain Madness was absurd. This one made each ten-attack burst feel like cheating.

Scorpolas that used to demand attention folded under the first opener, and the fifth-hit Ashburst tore through packs even when the fire aspect was not ideal underwater. Meno moved fast: Panic Pump into Chain Madness, axe sequence, dagger cleanup with Chain high enough to delete what needed deleting. The crab died before chat finished arguing about the timer. [Boss Defeated: Etched Leviathan Crab] Clear Time: 02: 47 Chat approved.

UNDER 3 axe diff carry god crab retired too easy The XP was low enough that Meno barely looked at it, and once the four party members accepted Bloodwake, the starter bubble became a swimming lesson with cheat codes. Morfoos dove, shot sideways, overcorrected, and laughed. Ruinelle glided in a smooth loop. Nix tested turns like she was already thinking about PvP angles. Orlaqt got a drop. [Rare III Leviathan Pearl Strand] Type: Necklace Manaflow III: Mana regeneration increased by 18%.

Deep Hymn III: Healing skill effects increased by 12% while underwater. Orlaqt held the pearl necklace with both hands and giggled. Morfoos looked at her, tried to keep his face straight, and failed by one corner of his mouth.

"Lucky," Meno said.

"I will use it responsibly," Orlaqt said.

"Suspicious answer." They descended into the tunnel beneath the crab arena, swimming through dim green light while Meno refreshed the mechanics.

"Second floor is a huge ring chamber. Murky water. Big shark. The prompt is on the Scorpola Ritualist riding it, not the shark. Shark does charge passes, rider makes the entire chamber spin, and the center becomes the only safe place."

"And the fish corpses?" Nix asked.

"Ritual phase," Meno said.

"Five corpses rise. If the shark eats them, it enrages and deletes people. I think we need to hold or move them away from the shark, maybe one person per fish." Morfoos made a face.

"No tank."

"Yeah," Meno said.

"That is the issue." At the tunnel's end, the dark water of the second floor waited ahead. Meno tightened his grip on the new axe.

"It's time to see if this has a point," he said.

"Or if I dragged you all here to waste time."

"As fishbait, I feel sparkly and important," Orlaqt said, raising one hand. Nix snorted. Meno looked into the murky chamber and, wished they had Almos or Sabra. Failing that, he had two healers, a control rogue, a warlock, one new axe, and a morning he was not willing to sit alone with.

"Stay sharp," Meno said.

"If the shark comes from the side, scream."