"YOU KNEW!?" Jordan cried out looking at JohnWillStab and Alex in shock.

"Yeah, I tried to give you a hint," JohnWillStab replied.

"Y-you did?" he asked.

"Back when you asked me if I was suspicious of the old man, I all but screamed out the word OLD at you, I hoped you'd pick up on it."

"...huh...guess you're right."

"And I asked Alex if he agreed to show you they can hear us from outside the house."

Jordan grabbed himself by the head "How did I not notice that!?" he asked.

"At least now I know you can write a quest yourself on the blank quest paper we found... though I'm not sure what the limitations of the system are..." John thought.

"I caught on when I saw the guy with a slit throat, then I just looked back to the quest and saw that the guy was meant to be a young man."

Alex shrugged.

"I wasn't sure if JaneWillStab knew at first so I wanted to stay and make sure the kid was safe in case you spoke too loudly outside," Alex added.

"So you were concerned about him in the end..." Jordan sighed.

"Of course, though I found out Jo- JaneWillStab knew when he slipped me a piece of the quest paper via the karate-chop."

Jordan turned to JohnWillStab.

"Wait! Is that why you patted me on the back earlier?!"

"Yeah, I slipped the paper into your sack." he laughed.

"Though it looks like our original quest was failed... since all the patients died," JohnWillStab said pulling out the original quest paper which was now black.

"Failed to save at least 1/0 patients." read the page.

"Cowards..." Thal the sword sighed.

"What do you mean!?" JohnWillStab demanded.

"You could have stabbed the old man from the start... but you decided to extort the kid for XP..." the sword said.

"First of all, I would have saved the kid anyway." JohnWillStab began.

"Shouldn't you be happy about this kind of thing?!" Alex asked the demon-sword.

"I am not fond of those who lie... they're such a pain..." he sighed.

"Hey, demon sword, since we're stuck together, you think you could give me some cool demon powers?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Sure... though at your current level your organs will pop out of the nearest orifice..." laughed the sword.

"It laughed!" Jordan exclaimed.

"Did not." the sword replied.

"I'm sure of it!" JohnWillStab exclaimed.

"Such a pain..." the sword went quiet again.

"Anyway, our next quest is..." JohnWillStab paused for suspense.

"Quest difficulty: A"

"Quest level range: 9 - 10"

"Task: Investigate the abandoned mine near the Grimwood dig site."

"Reward: 2000XP, 15 gold, Miner's sack, Miner's lamp"

"Miner's sack?" asked Jordan.

"Do you guys things it's a propper bag?! Perhaps I won't have to carry my belongings in a regular sack." Alex dreamed.

"I think so." JohnWillStab shrugged.

"I'm more excited for the lamp," Jordan said placing a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it with his staff.

"I'm most excited for the XP!" JohnWillStab exclaimed.

"Wait, can you guys see that?" JohnWillStab pointed into the distance, a group of three walked.

"Yeah! People!" Jordan exclaimed.

"I guess more people were sent into this world now..." JohnWillStab thought.

The one in the front looked like a pale human, he had a dagger in his hand.

"The one in the front kind of looks like me..." said JohnWillStab.

Behind him walked a dark-skinned woman with long white hair, in her hand, she had a staff.

"Yeah, and the one behind the dagger guy looked like me..." thought Jordan.

Alex looked behind them and saw a human which looked like an exact one-to-one replica of Alex except with black hair and no glasses.

"Eh... I don't see the resemblance." Alex shrugged.

"Shit, they're coming our way! Everyone act cool!" JohnWillStab said in a hushed tone.

"Hey! You three!" called out the dagger from the doppelganger party.

"Hi" JohnWillStab replied.

"Hello! It's been a while since we ran into somebody out here!" Exclaimed not-John.

"Yeah, we're just levelling," John explained.

"I see, we're just merchants on a journey from the plains," not-John replied.

"He lies..." Thal sensed.

"Yeah, we're actually planning to get some XP too," he explained.

"Really? I guess having a high level is handy for a traveller such as yourself." John replied.

"Yes indeed."

"There's been trouble in the town we come from, so we hope to find some strong people to help us out," not-Jordan explained.

"Trouble?" Asked John.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with... we're just hunting some monsters since the quests are risky..." not-John replied.

"Lies..." thought the sword again.

"The plains are next on our levelling list, we'd be glad to help you out!" JohnWillStab offered.

"Really? You'd do that for us?" asked the not-Jordan.

"Of course!" Alex exclaimed.

The not-Alex remained silent.

"Hey, brat!" the sword spoke directly to Alex.

Before Alex could speak out-loud the sword continued.

"The black-haired one in back, it's an illusionist... most of what they said is a lie..."

"Why would the sword help us?" Thought Alex.

"Because I hate liers... that's all..." the sword replied.

"You can read my thoughts?!" Alex exclaimed in his thoughts.

"Look here... we're bound by a powerful curse... our very souls are twisted and weaved together."

"Does that mean you can see what I imagine too!?" he thought.

"Regrettably... I also see from your left eye... with time our bond will increase..."

Alex stood there quietly.

"Also, the illusionist is desperately trying to read your mind." added the sword.

"Wait! He is!?"

He looked over to not-Alex and saw him avert his eyes instantly, as soon as Alex looked away he went back to intensely staring at him.

"Right now I'm blocking that ability... though If you lend me a little mana..." the sword began.

"...I don't know... what will you do with the mana?"

"I will teach the illusionist... a lier by trade... a lesson..." the sword admitted.

"...Is that all?"

"You're such a pain... yes... that's all..." the sword relented.

"Fine..."

Moments later the illusionist began to scream, he fell to his knees and unleashed the contents of his stomach onto the ground.

He continued the scream.

"Alright! Alright! Stop!" Alex pleaded internally.

"Fine..." the sword relented moments before the illusionist planned to claw his eyes out, he passed out the moment Thal stopped whatever he was doing.

"What did you do to him!?"

"I trapped him in an illusion where he was forced to watch the b*e movie ten thousand times." the sword laughed.

"What the hell was that!?" JohnWillStab demanded.

"Eric what the hell!!" not-John called out, moments later the spell wore off and exposed both not-John and not-Jordan for what the really were, two men, one wielding axes the other holding a mace.

"He was trying to read my mind, so Thal thought him a lesson!" Alex explained smugly.

"Don't act like we're buddies now, damn you." the sword said out-loud.

Jordan reached for his staff as JohnWillStab cast the manoeuvre ability appearing behind the man with axes and slicing his throat open.

Alex shot a bolt of flames at the other one causing about half of him to burn off.

Alex finished both of them off with a horizontal slash severing both of them in half.

JohnWillStab levelled up to eleven.

"Woah! Eleven from just killing two players!?" JohnWillStab exclaimed.

Dexterity: 11 + 2(Gloves)

Perception: 12

Stamina: 8 + 4(Boots)

Athletics: 11

Strength: 9 + 1(Gloves)

Weapon skill: 13

Magic: 6

Intelligence: 8

Luck: 7 + 1(Ring)

Charisma: 1 + 8(Tits)

"If I wasn't such a nice person I'd say this is a great way to farm XP." JohnWillStab sighed a little disappointed.

Alex put Thal away, "Yeah, I'd feel bad if they died for real."

"That's right... they're not really dead, right?" Jordan asked.

"Of course not, if they came from the plains, they were at least high enough level to be able to afford some XP loss... unless they died a crap tone before." John shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right..." Jordan said breathing a sigh of relief, he didn't feel up to the task of murdering somebody for real.

"Now then... what about the Alex rip-off?" Asked Jordan.

"I guess we should wait for him to wake up... I have some questions to ask..." JohnWillStab replied.

"I wonder how long he's going to be passed out..." Alex wondered.

"No idea... hey let's bring him to the doctor-kid, it's like a five-minute walk, maybe he'll be able to wake him up!" John suggested.

"Good idea..." Jordan replied.

They picked fake-Alex up by his arms and legs and dragged him back to the hut.