There were a lot of things that kept me occupied the next day, when I couldn't sleep anymore but wasn't really rested yet. One of the big ones was going back over notifications from when I was absorbing the Fairy Crystal. That had proved that something was still very wrong, because while I got notifications that stats increased (most notably when feeding XP to the broken edges of my mind), the gains didn't line up with what my Dungeoneer Card said my stats were. It was more like a wrench had clearly been thrown into my Card; although as far as I could tell, the Card's reading of my abilities was right, they just didn't line up with what they had been before. Some were higher than they should be (especially mental and magical ones), some a little lower (physical scores mostly), and there was a hole in the screen where my Intelligence ought to be. When Merry tried to examine the window from inside, she found immediately that there were "mechanical" pieces missing from that section, which didn't account for anything else, but definitely did suggest that something was still amiss.

Once she fixed that--with the "fix" being literally moving things around as far as I could tell, but then she was literally magic--we tried other things. I was eager to see if she got any insight into things when I used the Skill Sage skill, which seemed like a relatively harmless thing to do while my head, magic, and engine were possibly not working right.

As this was the first skill I was deliberately triggering while she watched, she just couldn't stop herself from poking at it. She described what I was doing as pulling on loops and threads connected to the engine, and a thread would kind of "slinkey"--I don't know why she used that word--with one end bounding against my head, and then the other end coming loose from the engine and attaching to a node attached to the huge complicated thing that I was riding in order to control stuff.

I asked her to try to visualize the thing I was riding, and all I got was a picture of metaphorical-me on a throne strapped to the side of a rocket with glowing bungees, with the rocket and the bungees being the engine and loops from before. So... not a terribly useful metaphor, certainly not to me. The idea of having the engine in the first place, that was interesting, but the chair? Not so much.

The other thing that wasn't helpful, at least not to Merry, was the output of the Skill Sage. The metrics it was reading--the growth rate and points--clearly existed, but there was nothing obvious to do with them or about them. I guess they didn't leave the manual for the skill laying around inside my head; it wasn't like she could just flip a switch and make the skill upgrade so that I could spend my Growth Points. Maybe when the skill improved, a better version would be "downloaded" from the master key she'd mentioned?

Yeah, hey, on that thought. Merry was poking at the skill that we identified as Telekinesis. This one is your fave, right? After I moved that bag of points out of the way... it feels like something's off with this thing. I could swear it looks damaged.

That was of course not what I wanted to hear, and I asked her to try to show me or explain what she was seeing. And it was... weird. A thing that looked like a pipe had a slot on it, and the slot showed that exhaust or something had been leaking out, with a little bit of something stained or burned around the edges, which didn't seem healthy to have in your brain at all. Still... was this perhaps how I cheated? Or a side effect of it? Without activating it, I have no idea. But I agree, and she was agreeing with a half-formed thought of mine, which was still weird to me, that has to wait until you're better.

Louise returned from the Tavern with an approximation of Earth food for our lunch. Among other things, you could buy food there using monster corpses as payment, which of course I had in abundance, since they were a standard drop. It was... pretty clear that they didn't actually use the corpses as ingredients, since undead pig meat didn't turn into salad greens no matter what you did to them. Dungeoneers as a general rule just tried not to think about it, especially when the corpses were completely inedible, like skeletons, constructs, or giant animated piles of poop. Just... just don't ask about that one. You don't want to know.

Anyway, I got a big bowl of Chinese food--pork and noodles--and Louise had a massive burrito, I think filled with chicken. We each envied the smell of each other's food, but they didn't really seem like they'd mix. We'd have a chance to swap later, if we wanted; I could stare at her hot steaming bowl and while she salivated over my meaty burrito. Or... or we could do something else. Yeah, maybe something else instead.

"How did it go?" Louise had been interested in my progress all day, and I'd done my best to keep her up to date, although I kind of wasn't used to sharing my thoughts with people. To a certain degree, it was upsetting, because every time I had to stop to summarize a thought, it completely threw off what I had been thinking about, but it was also something that I really did want to do, so... so that was fine. Weird, kind of, but fine.

"Merry says that the growth points on skills are tangible things, like some kind of currency that is attached to a skill. She said she might be able to transfer them from one to the next, since they look kind of generic, but that seems iffy to me."

"If they're some kind of currency, can you spend them they way you spend class points?" Louise crossed her legs on the bed across from me, looking at the last little bit of her food like she was debating finishing it off.

I hadn't been thinking about that, but it made sense. The problem was, the Skill Sage window had suggested that there were predefined things to spend those points on. "Maybe." Was it like the difference between using a predefined Class and having a self-made one? Could I just wish changes to my skill? "One way or another, I don't want to mess around with it until I'm better. I still get woozy if I move around too much."

Louise nodded, deciding after a moment to just wrap up the rest of her food, and then she blipped it away into her inventory, where it would remain fresh. "What about Merry? How is she doing?"

I had kind of taken it for granted that the Fairy was healthy, but of course when I thought about it, it was a very real possibility that she was sick or had some kind of needs I didn't know about. Still, she popped into my mind's eye, this time a little further back so she didn't take up a large section of my attention, where she laid on her stomach, kicking her feet idly as though bored. I'm fine. I appreciate that she cares, and that you do. I'd let you know if I needed you, but uh, it does feel nice to be asked. In spite of her half-lidded eyes, the smile on her face was comfortable and friendly. If you want to tell her more, uh, tell her I've got a little privacy and that you haven't been rude or mean and so we're basically just roommates getting along well.

I repeated that, more or less verbatim, Louise's face brightened. "When Merry can come out, I have to ask her what it's like to be in there. I can't imagine what that has to be like."

It's like... hang on, I know you had the right image for this. Uh... living next door to a one-room movie theater. Loud noises, people get grumpy if you come out and block the screen, but it's interesting and there's stuff going on behind the scenes that's kind of cool. I could swear that her smile got a little crooked when she mentioned me being grumpy; I thought I was dealing with her well, but yeah, honestly, it was not very cool to have... to have the "movie" messed with, I guess? The analogy made sense. And I'll be good, I promise. But my spaces are cramped and it's lousy to be alone.

Louise pursed her lips slightly and leaned back as she thought about that analogy. "That sounds neat," she said after a moment "Especially since she's actually magic and the behind the scenes stuff is more than just film and speakers and wires. It has to be like a fantasy story where you live next to a hole that goes into the movie someone else is watching."

Your friend is fun. Merry just grinned at me. I think we'll get along when... or if someday I get to come out and play. I frowned, not at the concept of losing her, but at the doubt in her "voice" when she suggested that she would never escape. Was she really thinking that, with all the power we were able to access, she'd remain stuck here? Well, you still might die to this Quest guy. Or you might chicken out and lose your magic and then I'd be stuck with nothing.

I chose to ignore that whole line of reasoning, noting as nonchalantly as I could that it was a little disturbing that I was very quickly getting used to Merry responding to thoughts I hadn't "spoken". Somehow, she seemed chagrined by that... commentary, I guess, as she stopped smiling and kicking her feet and studied me. Okay, that bothers you. I'll... think about it. I gotta have boundaries, too. We gotta stay friends, right?

I felt a lot better with her seeming to really understand that, because it wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to yell at her about. I'd thought when I got into this that I was going to end up with something a lot more like Cassie--like the rest of life, really. I thought Merry would be distant and I could more or less decide what to share and walk away whenever I needed to, even if we had to keep working together in the long run. But this... this was like having a daughter sprung on you out of nowhere, someone who was needy and had nowhere else to turn, and if you walked away or didn't help her with life's little frustrating and disgusting problems, then her life--and probably mine--would just quickly go downhill.

And I appreciate that you wipe my metaphorical ass for me, replied Merry with a small, somewhat shy smile, I'll repay the favor, I promise.

Around that time, I got a UI notification that told me that Harry had replied to my message, and I pulled out my mobile message tool. I'd told him the basics of what I'd gone through, and that I'd get back to him when I had real news. His reply was, "We will meet you at the exit whenever you are done. There is a lot of interest in this. Do not mention fairy to locals, IDA has need to know rules. BTW have cash for your item. Had higher cash offers but one came with very rare skill books you might like, if you don't I'll buy them back from you. $280M."

I swallowed. I'd been keeping the thoughts of swimming pools full of cash out of my head since I entered the dungeon, but now I probably had more money than my entire hometown combined. I was tempted to ask about the skillbooks, but... I forced myself to put the item away, because the sheer thought that I actually had that money, or was about to have that money, was already making it difficult to focus.

Merry gave me space, and after seeing that I was shaken, Louise did too, though I had no doubt she'd ask in a little while. I tried to do that thing where you just breathe, eventually the part of my brain that was really and truly stunned by the thought started to slowly move again, and I had to wonder just what the hell I was supposed to do with it. Sure, almost certainly that cash would be eaten up by preparations for this upcoming fight, but in terms of "mortal" money--non-dungeoneers, non-bajillionaires--I was in a position where I could easily buy a dozen small businesses with room left over for a nice house. It wasn't the kind of cash where I could buy a large corporation or multinational, but...

No, in all likelihood, I needed the best equipment I could get, small things with powerful enhancements and a pair of really good swords I could dual-wield. I'd also have to do whatever it took to get training, and if I could pay for it, that would probably make it easier. And... probably travel. Harry had mentioned Cultivation was more popular overseas; if I could find out more about it there, I'd know if there were any weaknesses to exploit, strengths to watch out for, and whatever else.

I'm sure they'll be more than happy to tell a foreigner how to kill people like them, quipped Merry quietly from somewhere in the back of my head. I'm not really studying your memories of world history but uh, sounds like white people have a bit of a reputation maybe.

I looked down at my hands, conscious that I'd probably gotten off on my jail sentence exactly because I was an all-American boring-ass rural white bread nobody, with money from the Dungeoneering that elevated me far enough out of poverty to make me into a temporarily well-off suburbanite. If going overseas meant seeing the flip side of that coin... well, that would suck, but what choice did I have?

Dunno. Instead of thinking about it, you should probably just ask, though.

Ask... I knew what Merry was saying, but somehow, my thoughts drifted instead to Bo, trapped in his floor of hell, or whatever. It was certainly too dangerous to approach, but if he was still a Dungoneer, I wondered if perhaps the messaging system would let me talk to him. I sent Harry a quick question to see if he could find out the guy's contact ID, since he had promised to find a dossier. That would at least tell me if he was tortured or twisted by the power controlling him, or if he was halfway sane.

Harry got back to me about ten minutes later. The message didn't mean anything to me on the portable item, but when I went to the Messaging Center itself, that version of the message included a contact card that I could add to my address book.

I thought about it for about ten minutes, which Merry and I both mentally agreed was probably not long enough, before sending Bo Yuebing an introduction message:

"You don't know me but I am sent to try to destroy or save you. I'd like to talk to you if there is any possibility that we talk or meet peacefully."

I knew that actually meeting was off the table, but I wanted to see what his response to that suggestion--or any of it really--would be. What I didn't at all expect was an instantaneous response:

"Hello, Dungeoneer. I see you are trying to reach my Knight. Interesting that you would consider trying to save him, but I assure you, that is beyond your ability. More than likely, you know nothing of my kind, but I assure you, as I assured him: my power is limitless compared to your own. Still, I was never expecting a Knight, not from such an insignificant little dungeon, and so I'll feel no insult if you destroy him, though you will doubtless die trying. I hear that many others have before you.

For speaking with him, I deny you this, for what was left of him is mine and mine alone. Meet him, if you are prepared for death, but do not expect to save him. Bend every last shred of your will to his death if you wish to live. That is the rule of the Dungeon."

Unusual for messages, there was a signature, a name that was effectively unreadable to me, even though the script was technically legible-- Ca'aldialzua or something similar. Merry immediately popped to the fore, studying the signature, and gestured for me to close the window, which I did.

That bitch is magic as fuck, Jay, said Merry, with a very definitely worried tone to her voice. The message itself is scary. I don't think she was looking back at us through it, but uh, her name was definitely a connection to her in a magical sense. You might not be able to do anything with it, but I'm pretty sure if I touched it she'd come crawling out of the fucking window and smear us across the walls. Well, mostly you, I guess, but I wouldn't survive it, for sure.

I mean, I was scared enough that she was intercepting system messages, that she had enslaved a Dungoneer who was definitely powerful enough to kill me, and that she was hiding not very far away. The last thing I needed was to think of her crawling out of a hologram like the creepy chick from the Ring to slaughter me if I thought of her name in the wrong way.

Yeah. Well, I don't think we did anything, and I don't think she can do anything unless we do. But, for future reference, big nasty bitches like that, yeah, their name alone can probably connect you to them.

I sat there and soaked that thought in for a moment, and then my thoughts drifted in two different directions. Because I had the name of at least two very powerful entities--I only knew one, exactly, but I'd heard the other one from him. Assuming, of course, he hadn't been lying about his name, but somehow, I didn't think he would.

That left two questions: Would Herman really be okay with me reaching out to him without Kamau as a middleman, and would I actually be okay talking to Herman without Kamau as a middleman?