As soon as Kaldalis leaped off the platform and into the void, the System re-asserted itself. His UI reappeared, and barely a quarter-second later, he landed in an ungraceful belly flop into the pitch-black ocean.

With his new fishing rod equipped, he wasn’t in any danger of drowning, but he was still emotionally unprepared for the experience, and flailed and sputtered underwater for a moment before regaining control of himself.

He surfaced before swimming back to shore, wanting to change his rod back for his spear. He didn’t want to admit it, but having his weapons be inaccessible while in the Lataxinan vessel had made him feel vulnerable. It was good that they had been friendly, but if they had turned hostile, he would have been practically helpless to fight back.

Then again, his fighting skill was primarily from his skill rating within the System, wasn’t it? Without it, he didn’t know if his martial prowess would carry over.

It took a moment to orient on the moonlit beach. The combination of the time he had spent in the Paths Between Paths and the change in momentum and direction between flickering and flickering back was disorienting. He had to turn almost all the way around before the shadowy island loomed out of the dark before him.

With the swimming rules of this gamified world, he cut through the water quickly and easily. As he emerged onto the sand, the Lataxinans’ work proved its worth. The water beaded off his armor, like rain off of a freshly-waxed car.

Before looking around the beach, he took a moment to examine the new ring on his finger. Considering it had technically come from outside the system, he was impressed that the Lataxinan’s understanding of the world translated into something that actually popped up a description, let alone the attached effect.

Dedication Ring

Adornment

Use effect: Grants 150% experience gain from kills.

Duration: 60:00

Cooldown: 19:52:36/20:00:00

Unfortunately, it seemed like it had spawned with its charge already expended, as the cooldown continued to tick down before his eyes. But it was a tremendous bonus for a whole hour. He supposed it would be incredibly valuable to remain aware of the timer and spend his evenings farming for experience. The part of his brain that was still an accountant informed him that he should be capable of farming at least a level a day with this.

More, if he could bring his team and throw caution to the wind.

When he returned his attention to his surroundings, he found that Heluna was waiting for him on the beach. She had sat down in the sand, and was now looking at him with a relieved smile. He realized he must have been gone for at least thirty minutes, maybe more.

What would he have done if their positions were reversed? If Heluna vanished into thin air for the better part of an hour, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to sit calmly and wait.

Heluna trusted him.

Trusted him to return.

That said almost as much to him about her feelings as eight thousand fish.

“So how the fuck was your trip?” Heluna asked as she got to her feet. “Beat down any assholes while you were there?”

“The Lataxinans were great,” Kaldalis said. “Surprisingly nice. I didn’t have to beat down anyone, actually. Uh. One second, though. Before we talk about that, I have something for you.”

Kaldalis produced from his inventory the stuffed toy he’d bought in Baimer, and the handful of blue flowers he’d picked before he got kidnapped. Heluna looked surprised and delighted when he handed them over.

“I’ve been meaning to give you these since I got back from Baimer,” Kaldalis said. “But everything’s been moving so fast… And once I tell you what happened with the Lataxinans, things will need to move fast all over again. I wanted to take this one quiet moment to do this so that I don’t forget.”

“This is…” Heluna said, holding the flowers in one hand and the stuffed soakanine in the other. She looked back and forth between the two gifts with a big smile on her face. “If my hands were’t fuckin’ full now, I’d be trying to use them to give you a proper thanks. So for now I’ll just say thank you, hun.”

Kaldalis wasn’t sure exactly what she was suggesting, but he got the impression from her grin turning to a smirk that she could see the heat rising in his cheeks at the comment. She took a moment to put the flowers and toy into her inventory before reaching out and snaking one of her now-free hands around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. Despite the way she pressed her body to his, the kiss itself was quick and chaste, and he felt a little disappointed when she started to pull away.

“Is that all?” Kaldalis said, feeling a smile spread across his face. “I guess I should have gotten you one of the larger stuffies, huh?”

“You’ve got a lot of shit to do, don’t you?” Heluna asked. “I don’t want my dumb ass groping at you to be a distraction while you’re-”

Kaldalis silenced her with another kiss. His put one hand around her waist and brought the other to cup her cheek. She made a squeaking sound of surprise and mirth at first, but leaned down into him with a fervor that only intensified Kaldalis’s own feelings.

Heluna’s hand around his neck tightened. Her other arm went around his own waist, and the tension in her muscular arms made it very clear that he wasn’t going anywhere until she felt she’d thanked him properly.

For a few enjoyable moments, there was no mission.

There were no Lataxinans, no Monsoon, no dimension-drilling monstrosity, no Contender, no raid, and no Infernal Horde.

Here and now, there was just him, Heluna, and the sound of the waves lapping against the beach behind him.

For a few moments he wasn’t an intruder in this world - much less an unwanted one.

The way Heluna held him, he felt very wanted.

“That’s more like it,” Heluna said breathlessly, when she finally let Kaldalis pull away.

“Yeah,” Kaldalis agreed, feeling slightly embarrassed about how out of breath he felt, too. “Thank you.”

“So, uh,” Heluna said, clearing her throat and untangling herself from their embrace. “You had, uh, the fuckin’ Lataxinans, huh? That was a thing that happened, right?”

“Right. Right. Right.” Kaldalis cleared his throat and ran his hand through his close-cropped hair, trying to ignore the shiver he felt when his hand brushed one of his horns. “Give me a second to try and remember what I was doing.”

Heluna laughed, and Kaldalis easily detected a note of pride in the sound. He let her have her moment. After the plan got underway, he likely wouldn’t have much time to spend with her. She deserved to enjoy how much power she had over him while he could allow her to exercise it.

“The Lataxinans aren’t total assholes,” Kaldalis said once he got his racing heart to slow down a bit. “I know that doesn’t sound like much, but the entire time I’ve been here, every faction I’ve had to deal with has felt like some flavor of asshole. Meeting with people who seem like the straight-up good guys is a goddamn novelty.”

“Alright, that’s good,” Heluna said. She reached out and clasped his hand, gently pulling him back in the direction of Cotanaku. “About fuckin’ time someone worked with you instead of against you.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Kaldalis grumbled, letting her take the lead on their walk up the beach. “But they did give me a job to do. Not just that, they did it in plain words with clear and obvious instructions.” He shook his head. “Though they did give me a pretty tight deadline.”

“Anything you need to talk through?” Heluna offered. “Or anything you need my ass for?”

Kaldalis felt a lewd suggestion nearly tumble out of his mouth, but he managed to keep his mind on the actual task at hand.

“The first order of business is the Contender,” Kaldalis said. “I would rather keep you out of being involved with that altogether.” He grimaced, remembering his encounter with the Contender after returning to Cotanaku from Baimer. “He already… Indirectly… Sort of… Made a threat against you.”

“Son of a bitch,” Heluna cursed. Kaldalis could feel her grip on his hand tighten. “He was smart to say that shit to you instead of me. If he said that to my face he’d be three buckets of fuckin’ chum in six minutes flat.”

“Right, that’s why I don’t want you involved,” Kaldalis said, trying to turn her anger to his advantage. “If the Contender mysteriously becomes shark bait while he’s in Cotanaku, that doesn’t bode well for our relationship with Zara.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Give your muscles a rest and let me handle it with my silver tongue.”

Heluna’s anger vanished quickly at that. He could see a sparkle of amusement in her eyes, but she didn’t made whatever joke she was thinking of.

“After that, it’s go time,” Kaldalis said. “And I might need you for that.”

“What’s go time, then?” Heluna asked.

“In six days at the most, we’re going into the raid outside Kayore. Dymythrae. The Vault of Ghosts,” Kaldalis said the name of the raid in an ominously dramatic tone. “Once we can get in, having you behind me would really help.”

“Fuck yeah,” Heluna said, leaning over to give Kaldalis a kiss on the cheek. “Just let me know when and where. I’ll follow your ass into hell itself, and enjoy the view all the while.”

“Running a raid group is a whole other kind of world,” Kaldalis grumbled. “I need to get food and pots arranged. And I should see if Courbois knows what the party size is supposed to be. And that’s after dealing with the Contender to even be able to enter- oh no.”

Kaldalis put his free hand to his forehead. “Oh no, not again.”

“What?” Heluna asked, audibly alarmed by his change in demeanor. “Something wrong? Need me to fuck someone up for you?”

“No, no,” Kaldalis said with a weak chuckle. “I just remember I swore I’d never do one of these again. And it’s not exactly the same, but a rose by any other name…” He sighed. “Don’t worry about it. We gotta do what we gotta do. I just really hate attunement quests.”