Chapter 17

The moment he got to the square he was surprised to see that two groups had formed. The first was centred around Mike and Charlotte and contained most of the team. All the younger guys, Andrew, Beatrice and Felicity and they were drinking. The second group comprised Jules, Joanna and Omala were not.

“Why aren’t you?”

He nodded towards the others who were laughing away in good spirits.

“I didn’t feel like it,” Joanna said simply. “I am glad to be free of the dungeon. But just using that freedom to drink every day. No thanks.”

Adrian glanced at Jules who he knew had no issues with getting blind drunk.

“A birdie told me you were doing something stupid, and I could get drunk or wait around and potentially do some bashing.” She shrugged. “It was a simple decision.”

Omala said nothing.

“Can I join you?” Adrian asked.

“Of course.” Jules promptly reached over and lifted the stool Omala was sitting on back a little to make room for a fourth.

“Hey,” Omala squealed but was laughing as she was moved.

Adrain’s telekinesis was still not as strong as he would have liked it to be, but it had grown enough to grab a nearby seat and pull it into the newly created gap. Adrian sat down, smiling.

“What were you talking about?”

Jules smiled sadly. “Kozzie, Leslie,” then she pointed at Omala, “Adarsh and Ginni.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Sometimes you want to celebrate the life your loved ones lived rather than mourn,” Omala said quietly.

He looked at Jules but she was calm. Far from the point of moving on, but accepting the situation at least.

“I…”

“That’s ok,” Joanne said, “It would be nice to change topics. What crazy plan are you up to this time?”

“Crazy? Why does it have to be crazy?”

Jules laughed. “Adrian, your plans always are.”

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

“You fluke something once and you think you are invulnerable,” Joanne interrupted. “You’re like a three-year-old. Then again, you have ridiculous luck.”

“There’s no luck stat,” Adrian objected automatically.

“Says the guy with it maxed out.”

“I’m serious.”

“We know,” Joanne continued, a smile telling him she was teasing. “So what crazy thing have you been roped into doing?”

“Just some scouting.” He waved a hand as if it was nothing.

“Just some scouting,” Joanne mimicked. “And you are doing it because?”

“Everyone else who has tried it has died,” Jules answered.

“Something like that.”

Jules patted him on the arm. “I can’t help with the scouting, but we’ll be waiting to deter them if they chase you.”

“Great, but Jules I was hoping you could do me a favour.”

“What?”

His bag of holding opened and a glowing chip floated out. “Get this to Emily if I die.”

Jules’s hand touched the chip, and she almost recoiled in shock. “There is like eight million here.”

“Yeah, if I fail you won’t have access to my body so…” Adrian suddenly thought about the stuff he had gathered for his family. The shintopur cores floated out and then the smaller bag he had put the berries in. With the energy, he was sure that Emily would be able to find someone to turn the berries into something useful… eventually, as he doubted there would be anyone skilled enough yet. “Will you?”

“Yes.” The items disappeared. “We are still going to be there in case you need help.”

“Thank you.”

A muscular guy brought over dinner, handling six plates like a pro.

“What?” Adrian asked in surprise, staring at the food.

“Oh, we ordered a little while ago. Apparently, they have a level 24 chef and we couldn’t resist seeing what he can spin up.

“Chefs are fun to watch.”

“I know,” Omala said immediately. “I got Jerome to make a second breakfast just so I could see him work.”

“I got two because they were yummy,” Jules admitted. “Didn’t bother watching him through.”

“I think Omala thought he was cute,” Joanne confided way too loudly.

‎ “I did not! You’re a liar.”

“What did you order for me?”

Omala shook her head. “Nothing specific. We paid for a banquet for fifteen people. We figured we would doggy bag the leftovers. Eat whatever you fancy.”

Adrian nodded and started with a plate of appetisers. Little bits of meat on biscuits, a tiny piece of lettuce with multiple layers on top of it. They were individual pieces of artwork that were almost too beautiful to eat.

They were both tangy and crunchy. “God, these are good. Are there anymore?”

Two hours later, he was barely able to touch the desserts when they were dropped off. Too full for what he planned that night Adrian put away his fork.

“I recognise that look,” Jules said. “It’s business time.”

Adrian looked around with his normal vision and it was full night. “I’m going to head out in about half an hour.”

“Good,”

Jules jumped at the voice, but Adrian just turned to peer at Kiyoko. “Were you trying to surprise me?”

“Her,” she nodded at Jules.

Terrible choice.

Zap.

Kiyoko squealed her hand jerking. Adrian felt guilty on Jules’s behalf after all the oracle was like ninety and you did not do that to your elders.

Jules smiled sweetly, clearly not having any of Adrian’s moral hang-ups. “Sometimes when I’m surprised I lose control.”

Kiyoko smiled straight back. It was chilling. Even some of the cheerfulness on Jules’s face faded. “It’s ok, dear. I won the bet.”

“What bet…” Jules stammered, realising how some people might react to seeing someone who was old enough to be their great-great grandmother getting electrocuted.

Kiyoko ignored Jules and looked straight at Adrian. “I think you’ve probably planned this in your head, but I have some ideas. First, use your teleporter plate to escape.”

“I was going to.”

“Do you have a map?” Purely with his telekinesis he snatched up the plates arrayed before them and sent them floating over to plop down on the table the others were drinking on. Then he plucked the large map Adele had bought out of his bag and moved it in front of them. At his prompting, it zoomed in on the area he needed to scout. The map was more detailed than he expected, probably as a result of all the memories Kiyoko had pumped into his brain.

“Here,” Kiyoko instructed, drawing a line around the map. “You want to place the teleport plate along this line. That way when you get to the centre.” She used fingers to measure the distance. “You will be able to teleport away immediately.”

“Good. I assumed you would have, but if you don’t talk about it you end up looking like an ass. You can also use these as distractions.” She handed him a series of balls. “You place them down and then trigger them remotely. To something using Magic Focus they’ll look like a person.”

“Is that similar to the trick Mike set up for the meerkats?”

‎ Her eyes rolled back, showing only whites for a moment before clarity returned to her eyes. “Yes, but these are higher quality. The mana octopods would not be tricked for even a second by those baubles. Now, these are good, but better if you do some pre-work.” She drew a line. “If this is your teleport plate. Distractions, here, here and here. Might give you the breathing room to escape. Place the teleporter down and then approach from a different angle. Right.”

“Makes sense.”

“Take it slow.” The oracle was looking at him intensely. “You have eight hours. Use it. When you are discovered, then go as fast as you can inwards.” Her finger stabbed on the map. “We have one chance. You fail and they’ll adapt to make it harder next time.”

“Traps? Surprises?”

She gave a helpless shrug. “Not to this point.” She pointed to an area slightly beyond the area he was to place the teleport plate. That was as far as their vision went.

“One last thing,” Adrian said. “I’m not sure my teleport plate has this distance. Especially if they are doing…” He wasn’t sure how to say it but if the interface communication did not work, there was no reason to believe that teleportation would be unaffected.

Kiyoko smiled. “Good boy. I was wondering if you would pick this up.” She pulled out a large, complicated crystal. “This is a one-off boost. It extends your range almost ten kilometres. It should be able to power through any dampener they have in place. There is no absolute lock,” Kiyoko assured him. “We would’ve sensed something like that.”

“Thanks. Were you actually testing me?”

“Of course, I had a bet. I won.” She winked.

“How many bets do you have on us? And who lost?”

“I can’t answer that.” The old woman smiled like a little girl, laughing at her own secret. “But I’m the only one who won. You’d have to be an idiot to bet with an oracle.”

He patted the crystal. “Thanks for this. It’s sort of important.”

“I won’t be able to come with you, so for now it is goodbye,” Kiyoko said. “Jules!”

The berserker jumped like someone who had been caught eavesdropping and came over immediately. Kiyoko held out a hand and Jules passed some energy over. “You guys wait here,” Kiyoko continued, pointing at a spot on the map. “The town-maintains lookouts from there so it won’t trigger an octopod response. However, stay out of sight. If they catch your level,” she was addressing this to Jules. “They might get concerned. When you see him trying to escape. You come down to here!” Her fingers highlighted a point right on the edge of octopod territory. “Adrian! Just to summarise, you enter here, place teleport plate here, and move half a kilometre along the perimeter. Then sneak in. Then, after teleporting, you exit to Jules.”

Adrian nodded in agreement. There was no point arguing. This was the system doing the calculations. “What are my chances?”

“No idea,” Kiyoko told him. “This plan gives you the most chance of surviving if the octopods are hiding something dangerous.”

“I guess it’s time.” He got up and looked back at the other table. The rest of his group were all drunk and enjoying themselves. Just like it had made his heart swell that Jules was willing to help him, it hurt a bit that these others thought otherwise.

Kiyoko hit him on the shoulder. He knew she had tried to hit hard, but he hardly felt it. “Psst. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I told them to get drunk. Them being involved makes things harder.”

‎