Orrin hesitated. Where do I even begin?

“Uhm...I’m not sure where to start...” Orrin trailed off.

“Where are you from?” Tony’s eyes were wide with child-like glee.

“Earth. It’s a planet with no magic or system. We don’t have monsters or demons,” Orrin said. “I mean, some people believe in demons and angels but nothing like things that actually walk around and harm you in plain sight.”

“I’ve read about other worlds with no magic. We can talk more about that later. How did you get here? Was it a cave you walked into? Or an armoire?”

“What? No. I- We got hit by a truck.”

“What’s a truck?”

Orrin let Tony go off topic, explaining cars to the best of his limited ability. The topic of transportation brought up trains, planes, and space travel.

“You visited a moon?” Tony’s face held complete disbelief.

“Not personally, although I guess if I were rich enough in a few years I could. A bunch of billionaires are trying to make space travel more accessible.”

“What’s a billionaire?”

“Someone who has more money than they could ever spend basically,” Orrin said with a shrug.

Tony leaned back from his spot over the table. “You let me get distracted. Tell me more about your class. Summoned otherworlders don’t usually change from [Hero].”

“I’ve told you. I’ve always been [Utility Warder]. It was the only choice left after-“

“What do you mean choice?”

Orrin sighed and relented. “When I first arrived, the system gave me a bunch of error messages and then rebooted or something. Then it started to...read my mind? No, that’s not right. It’s like it was responding to my wishes. I got this long list of classes with things like [Wizard] or [Fighter] or even [Farmer].” Orrin let out a laugh. Tony did not laugh back. In fact, his face had gone slightly chalky.

“Go on,” the voice in Orrin’s head said with a reedy timbre.

“I started thinking of what kind of things I’d like to be and do you know? Like, healing and buffing but with the ability to do damage. That part hasn’t really been a major focus I guess, but all the classes disappeared as I thought of different things I wanted. They all disappeared.”

“And then?” Tony was leaning back in his chair again, trying to look less interested than his voice sounded in Orrin’s head.

“The system created [Utility Warder].”

Tony stared into Orrin’s eyes for a moment before asking his question. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Orrin shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s relevant.”

“It is.”

“Sometimes, the system says I have Administrator Access, whatever that means.”

Tony slipped and his chair tumbled backward. He fell to the ground.

“Tony? Are you okay?” Orrin pushed his chair back and hurried around the small table. Tony was already pushing himself to his feet.

Orrin reached out his hand and Tony scrambled backward.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. No more questions. I’ll never say a word and...”

Orrin tuned out the rambling in his mind and looked down at the broken shell of a man scooting backward on his hands, his legs scrambling to catch purchase as Tony tried to get away from him.

“Tony? What the hell? Stop.”

“Yes sir,” Tony’s voice quivered in his mind and the old man held still. His eyes closed and Orrin saw tears start to flow. “Please. I’m sorry.”

A small and dark part of Orrin’s mind calculated how much information he could get from the shaking and pale senior citizen cowering in front of him. Whatever Administrator Access meant, Tony was terrified of it. Terrified of him. He could make him tell him everything about the world or even use his mind magic to get the information he needed to survive. Maybe even the information needed to get home!

That’s not me, Orrin shook his head. He reached out and grabbed Tony’s hand, pulling the man to his feet.

“Listen. I don’t know what Administrator Access is. Even if I did, you have no reason to be scared of me. You saved my life and I’d consider you a friend,” Orrin said as he helped the man right his chair and sit back down. “I’ll get some more tea. Just relax.”

Orrin busied himself in the tiny kitchen, pouring more tea from the kettle and bringing the honey and milk to the table with him. He let Tony mix his own and sat quietly, letting him gather himself.

“You really don’t know what you can do?” Tony’s eyes flickered up and then back down as he twirled his spoon in the tea. “This isn’t just a test? I always thought you were a myth.”

“I’m still the same guy who threw up all over your sheets a few weeks ago. I’m learning as I go here,” Orrin said.

Tony let out a sigh and sat upright again in his chair. Orrin hadn’t noticed how much he’d sunk in on himself. “Administrator Access is a legend. Something that every country and king would try to get their hands on. Only fragments of stories remain and most people believe it’s not a real thing, but what does exist is terrifying. Administrators could change a person’s class, grant Quests, and change the course of a person’s life! Or they could rip every skill and spell you’d ever learned away and leave you without the system completely. Every story I’ve ever read with an Administrator has at least one in the role of a bad guy, taking everything away from a person.”

“So are they people or gods?” Orrin asked.

“What’s a god?” Tony’s face was puzzled at the new word. His entire attitude had changed from five minutes prior.

“Someone who sits in the clouds and either messes with people’s lives or does nothing as we screw everything up,” Orrin replied. “I guess that’s not fair. Some people believe they do good...or are good. I’m not explaining this well, am I?”

“I’m not sure,” Tony answered. “Administrators were just people. They lived a long time but they could die. Some records seem to show they lived among us but others say they ruled. It’s a big topic for historians.”

“So an Administrator is just a class? That makes no sense. I’m a [Utility Warder].”

“No. They had their own classes. Usually unique or rare ones. One reputable history book that survived the breaking of the world spoke of a few of them. A group that had led everyone into a golden age of sorts. They each had massive powers and were in the eighties to nineties in level. They just had Administrator Access as well.”

“And that’s what you’re scared of? That I have this power? I barely know what it does.”

Tony sipped his tea as he answered. “That’s honestly more terrifying. What if you get mad that I basically forced you to tell me and take everything away from me? If you take away my skills and spells, I have enemies that would rain down upon me within the hour. I’m not scared of death but they wouldn’t kill me.” He shivered.

Orrin considered his words carefully. “Tony. If I ever accidentally used a skill on you, I’d figure out how to undo it and protect you until I could.”

He watched the man slowly unwind a bit more. They sat in silence. Orrin had finished his tea and couldn’t drink anymore. He stood and put it in the sink.

Orrin turned around and leaned on the counter. “What exactly could an Admin-“

Quest Complete

Defend The Wall- Help push back a Horde

Reward: Calculating...

Horde Type: Demon Fogbinder x 2

Participation: >1%

Calculating...

3,500 XP

Level 12 Obtained!

+10 AP

“Ah, what the fuck?”

Tony paled again. “What’s happening?”

“Quest completion? Oh shit, did killing those few Fetid dogs count as repelling a Horde? Shit. I’m going to kill Daniel.”

It took a few minutes for Orrin to explain the Quest and everything that went into avoiding it, only for the [Hero] to ruin it all.

Tony let out another one of his inaudible laughs using his real voice. The gasping sound made Orrin’s skin crawl.

“So...after all Silas went through to keep you away until you could gain an actual large amount of participation...your friend drags you into a battle and kills a few pups. Oh, that is too good!”

Orrin was scratching the counter, trying to pick a small fleck of paint off. “Yeah. Hilarious. Just a waste of a great opportunity.”

“Oh, please tell me that his daughter also helped? You mentioned Daniel shared the Quest with her. I wish I could see his face when she-“

“She didn’t go out and help, so she probably still has the Quest,” Orrin cut him off. His head snapped up. “I can have her reshare the Quest with us! We can...” Orrin trailed off as Tony shook his head.

“It doesn’t work like that. Quests are unique things. You can’t game the system like that. It’s been attempted. Usually, the [Hero] is the only one who can give a quest. It might actually be that if he completed it, the Quest will disappear from anyone else he shared it with.”

“But the level Quests didn’t disappear,” Orrin started to pace. “If that one didn’t, then maybe this one will be there still for the rest of the party.”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Most of the information on the [Hero] class is locked up tight by the nobility and foreign governments. I’m not sure any one person actually knows even half of what must exist on them.”

Tony fell into silence again. Orrin tried to remember what they had been talking about, but the disappointment of getting the quest dulled his memory. Instead, he asked, “So, are you still willing to tell me more about the world? Or should we wait until after I do my best impression of dying?”

Tony smirked. “If you survive, I’ll be your guide to this crap hole. You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Orrin grabbed the pitcher of water off the counter. “I’m bringing this up with me. I remember how thirsty I was last time.”

Tony stood and gestured to the door. “Up the stairs. You remember the way.”

Orrin grimaced and climbed the steps to hell.

Orrin’s first time detoxing from [Mind Bastion] and [Blood Mana] had taken four full days and most of the last night. The second time lasted five full days.

The only difference was that Orrin remembered every excruciating minute this time.

He cried in pain as lances of fire spread through his veins and screamed as something pierced the back of his eyes with cold iron. Tony tried to feed him, but for the first three days, Orrin had no appetite and barely could keep water inside before vomiting bile down his chest. When he finally did keep some bread down, each swallow was glass, cutting his throat as the sustenance settled in his empty stomach like a weight.

Never again, he cried to himself, hugging a pillow and wet with sweat. Never again.

Daniel never came to check up on him.

One day short of a week later, Orrin woke from his first sleep of more than two hours. He remembered Tony singing to him again, even though the man had stayed downstairs. He’d drifted and dreamed of his mom. She was making him pancakes and yelling at him to come downstairs. He could almost smell them.

His stomach rumbled and Orrin held the wall for support as he stood.

“Wait for me, I’ll help you down the stairs,” Tony’s voice said in his head.

Orrin let the old man take most of his weight as they made their way to the kitchen. Tony had some boiled eggs and toast smeared with honey on a plate ready for Orrin.

“Thank you. Again,” he rasped out as he slumped into the chair. He ate ravenously and downed an entire pitcher of water. Tony just sat quietly and waited.

Orrin finished his plate and wiped his mouth.

“If you do that again, it’ll likely kill you,” Tony whispered in his mind. “You need to learn to control yourself.”

“I survived, didn’t I?” Orrin said, feeling a little cocky. Is this how Daniel feels all the time? Lucky and invincible?

“Only because I used every trick I have to keep you from going insane or drifting off in your sleep,” Tony said. He blinked hard and shook his head. “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep now. I haven’t been able to get much, what with watching you. Don’t leave. We need to have a long chat.”

Orrin nodded and pulled up his status. I can get a few new-

Tony stood and put his hand on Orrin’s shoulder. “And don’t buy anything. If you have extra ability points, you’re going to need them.” He stumbled up the stairs, leaving Orrin alone in the kitchen.

“What should I do then? I’m not tired anymore?” He yelled up the stairs.

The response came back crisp in his ears with condescension. “Clean up your mess.”

Orrin groaned and grabbed a mop.