Chương 37: Curiouser and curiouser

George blinked as notifications cascaded through his vision, his heart still hammering from the chaos of the last ten minutes. VOTING ROUND—ONE Round Rating: 14 Ability Deactivated: From the Fragments to the Aftermath Ability Notification! Development points assigned: 17 Progress toward ability upgrade: 20/1000 Bonus Event Quest Update! Description: Survive a voting or hunting round. Completed: 1/X Reward: +1 Will, +10 gold, and +1 skill point for each round survived. +50, 000 clicks.

New Achievement: Level Eighteen +2 Gold +1 Skill Point +1 Will >>So that is what the ability means when it says "Time dilation activates at high threat levels." That is a huge advantage. I wonder if the dilation effect gets even higher when we're in more danger. >>I hope we don't find out. An angry gnacker, hungry snakes, and a despotic robot is enough danger for me. >>Agreed. >>I'm looking around the room and it seems like there were not many changes during hunting round one, but there were a few.

>>We lost some players. >>That'd be Nagle and… somebody else. George looked at the scoreboard. Scoreboard: Red Team: 18 Blue Team: 18 Total players remaining: 36 >>Looks like Nagle wasn't on our team. Go figure. >>Nobody deserved to die like that. >>I am sure some people deserve to die like that. When George looked around the room, he saw the slime had completely covered the floor of its enclosure and was steadily bubbling, bunching together, and emitting loud, messy slurping sounds.

The vordigan broodmother's enclosure was empty. Urdo, the knight with the horned helmet and giant mace, was wiping brown sludge off himself. The gnacker was still alive, but its fur was matted with blood in patches. The purple crystal jutting from the boulder had tripled in length, sending a lattice of shapes toward the ceiling. >>I noticed you left our poor nodling out in the hunting maze. What is the plan there? >>You can see through its eyes, right? >>It doesn't have eyes, but yes, you are basically correct.

>>And you can communicate with it? >>Yep. >>So tell it to crawl around and explore the maze. See if it can stay safe while exploring for us. Maybe it'll even find some prestige tokens and spy on what the other players have done in the rooms. >>Huh. >>Wow. >>Most of the time, you sort of lumber around in a daze, saying things like, "I thought these nanites were supposed to make me fit… blah, blah, blah." But then you have these bolt-out-of-the-blue ideas…

>>I had the idea while TLX was flying us around and my ability was active. Maybe that is what Knickknack Savvy is all about. >>While I think this plan reveals significant ethical gaps in your parenting philosophy, I haven't been this proud of you since you decided to burn Charlie James alive. >>Kudos. >>But I'm also reporting you to the Department of Social Services. >>Whatever. Tell it to get a move on. See if it can return to the arena and find where those other doors lead. We'll start from there.

It should be safe if it stays off the sand. >>Sure thing, boss.

"Hey man," Top said, knocking on the force field between himself and George again.

"You made it! It's crazy out there. What room were you in?"

"I was…" George started to answer, but Top tapped on the force field again and raised his voice to get Pine's attention.

"Hey, Pine," he said.

"Where were you, man? I hunkered down just like you said. Oh, but check it out. I did find this beauty." Top brandished a sleek black gun with two curved barrels above and below the grip.

"It shoots these purple blobs that eat through anything they hit." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Pine didn't look up when Top said all of this, so Top turned to June and showed her the gun. She looked at him with no expression until he looked away. Pine withdrew the same ornate wooden chair he had been sitting in last time from a dimensional storage space and then placed a saucer and teacup on the table.

Next, a teapot appeared in his hand, and he poured a dark liquid into the cup. It steamed like it was just off the boil. He put the teapot on the table beside the mug, then produced a quilted tea coozie with a flick and settled it on top of the pot. Only then did he answer Top.

"That sure is a neat gun, Top," Pine said.

"Just be careful what you shoot at." Then Pine turned to George and smiled.

"I'm real glad you made it, George. It looks like you even managed to find a token. Good for you." Pine gestured at the leaderboard.

Leaderboard Pinnacle (20 votes) Diamond (12 votes) Gold (8 votes) Silver (5 votes) • Neco—5 tokens, rating: 44 Bronze (3 votes) • Grey—3 tokens, rating: 31 • Sarala—3 tokens, rating: 30 • Pine—3 tokens, rating: 27 • TLX-448571001—3 tokens, rating: 27 Iron (2 votes) • Carthage—2 tokens, rating: 19 • Lady Greesh—2 tokens, rating: 18 • Webb—1 token, rating: 17 • George—1 token, rating: 14 • Ezra Deathmantle—1 token, rating: 13 • Dark Horse—1 token, rating: 9 • Loveland—1 token, rating: 9 • June—1 token, rating: 8 • Cassie—1 token, rating: 8 • Tinntannabel—1 token, rating: 8 • The Lie—1 token, rating: 7 • Vesper—1 token, rating: 7 • Misco Narisco—1 token, rating: 3 >>How did that glorified toaster find three tokens, save our bacon, AND read us the riot act all in one round?

>>He can fly. >>And he has more arms than us. >>And he knows what he is doing.

"Hey, George," Pine said.

"I was thinking about something during the hunting round. Right after we all arrived, you said something out loud before we started talking to each other.

"Oh, what was it? Something like, 'If you don't like it, get the fuck out of my head.' Do you remember that?" Pine asked and laughed.

"Who were you talking to?" George didn't respond. He couldn't decide what was better, speaking to Pine or pretending he didn't exist.

"I thought it was funny," Pine said.

"Here's a guy that looks bog-standard vanilla, but who is he talking to? Is he crazy? Is it telepathy? Or is there more inside that mirror helmet than meets the eye? Then, I started wondering if that might be related to how a level-zero nobody could kill Charlie James, a level-65 Glorified Maw. Anyway… food for thought." >>I don't know what it is about this guy! He walks the fine line between "friendly neighborhood serial killer" and "monster-in-human-skin."

>>I can't decide whether to grab a beer together and talk about our nefarious deeds or bolt the door and call the cops.

"So… Razza will be here in a minute. Anybody want to dish about their hunting round?" Pine asked.

"How about you, big guy?" Pine turned to address his neighbor on the left, Aeternum, the crystal golem, but the creature did not move or acknowledge his question in any way. Pine turned back to the others and made an oops face.

"Where were you?" George said.

"George, thank you for asking," Pine said.

"When the hunting round began, I found myself in this big room, basically a junk warehouse. It was just a room with nothing useful except a few prestige tokens. I did find a portal that let me peek at what Greesh is up to. That old dame is making herself a little hideout. No surprise there.

"George, getting on her good side wouldn't be a bad strategy for you, actually… as long as you don't mind doing her dirty work. She's one to take in pity cases as pets," Pine said. June cleared her throat noisily and spat something on the ground.

"He did this in the trial where I met him, too," June said.

"He is Mr. Chatty, looking for allies, giving out knowledge like little gumballs. But it is all bullshit." Pine laid both hands against his heart and leaned back as though he'd been shot, "June. You wound me." She looked away from him and stared resolutely forward.

"George and Top know the score. We're in a trial, but that's no reason why we can't be civil," Pine said.

"Top, did you really just stay in one place the whole time, waiting for me?"

"Yeah," Top said.

"I thought that's what you told me to do."

"OK," Pine sighed.

"How about this? Next round, find a prestige token or two. Do something for the team. >>While we have a second, is there anything you want to spend your gold on? >>I can see the merits of hoarding gold for a moment of need, but I'm also wondering if we should burn some gold to refresh our options and see what happens. >>Show me the user interface upgrades? ▼ Upgrade User Interface: (Free slots: 1/3) • Increase Maximum Upgrade Slots—20 gold • Discard upgrade—0 gold • Ultralight Filter—5 gold.

An update to your interface that lets you see different wavelengths of light. • Status Effect Notifier—15 gold. Your interface will notify you of status effects such as debuffs, temporary abilities, or health conditions. • Environmental Analysis Tool—15 gold. Scan and report on features of your surroundings. • Refresh Selected Option—1 gold >>Let's get the ultralight filter. Think that would help us see something that is invisible? >>If it gives us infrared, I think it would.

Purchased: Ultralight filter—5 gold >>Cool. We have infrared, ultraviolet, and a few other obscure visual filters. >>Here comes infrared. George's vision switched to oversaturated color tones of purple for cool areas in the room and red-orange for hot regions. He saw the other players' outlines in bright, warm colors. The space the ooze was slowly taking over was a cool purple. Aeternum, the crystal golem, was radiating heat and glowed white in George's vision.

The most significant change was the enclosure that was filled with the flashing darkness. George could see the figure of a human standing in the middle of it with its arms folded across its chest. >>Huh. Curiouser and curiouser. >>Normal vision, Nod. George's sight went back to normal. >>Here's the new user interface option: • Continuous Skill Menu Access—15 gold. >>We'll need that eventually, but we don't yet. >>Anything else strike your fancy? >>Refresh the environmental analysis one.

That seems like what Identify already does for us. Ditto for the status effect notifier. Purchased: Refresh Selected Option: Environmental Analysis Tool Purchased: Refresh Selected Option: Status Effect Notifier >>The new options are: • Visual Quest Item Integration—15 gold. Highlight quest-related items in your vision when you get near them. • Combat Log—20 gold. A record of combat events, including abilities used, damage taken, and outcomes. >>We just used our last interface upgrade slot.

We can ditch one of the other items if you want to buy one of these. >>Let's get the visual quest integration and drop Hidden Resource Detection. This seems like it will be a better version of that anyway, especially if it tells us where Prestige Tokens are since we have a quest for that. Purchased: Discard Upgrade: Hidden Resource Detection Purchased: Visual Quest Item Integration >>Want to see the familiar upgrades?

>>I don't think this a good time to start rolling around on the ground and screaming because you're taking over more of my body, do you? >>Point taken.

"Since we still have some time, boys and girls, let me tell you this," Pine said.

"There are players here that can't be killed by anyone during the hunting rounds except by extraordinary circumstances. That list includes Aeternum," Pine jerked his thumb at the crystal golem next to him.

"And the short baldy sitting on the ground over there." He gestured to the bald monk sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"We can put the slime on that list, too. It can technically be killed, but it will spread itself through so many rooms that it will be hard to do. The easiest way to be rid of it is to vote it out before it takes over," Pine said.

"So, as long as there is even a little slime in the maze, that thing is still in the game? That isn't fair. It is basically unkillable," Top said.

"That's why it is a good strategy," Pine said. Before anyone could say anything else, Razza's platform rose into its spot in the center of the room. The voidling screeched at him again, and he put it to sleep with another wave of his hand. And with no more preamble than that, he launched into the rules for the voting round.