Justin invited Feng to join us for dinner, but Feng politely turned him down, saying that someone should keep an eye on the factories and miners.

I had a sinking suspicion that Feng, that sweet kid, had an ulterior motive—he probably didn’t want to be around for when shit hit the fan.

Despite my excitement to finally be reunited with Justin and Petra, I was pretty nervous about the upcoming conversation. When I had been talking to Petra, I had the feeling she had been holding some of her own opinions back.

The food was delivered from one of the new-world restaurants in Reed City. Wolf meat on rice, with some exotic spices.

“Why can’t I see into your mind?” It was the first thing that Petra asked, once we sat down with our food. Justin and I had already caught her up on most everything that had been going on.

“Funny story…” I said. “I told you about my inheritance spirit?” Samantha wasn’t happy about all this talk about herself, but I just threatened her with the ultimatum of revealing her real identity as an artificial intelligence, and she had shut up quickly.

“When I was mind-controlled by the Crucible, the inheritance spirit—Samantha— suggested that I learn a Concealment Rune Pattern. Then, at night, Samantha would form the Concealment Rune Pattern inside my body, hiding my aura and blocking my thoughts so that Lord Ignatius wouldn’t be able to read my mind if I was planning on betraying him.”

“I want you to lower it,” Petra said. “Justin explained some of this to me earlier. It’s the only way we could completely trust you. For all we know, the spirit just stole your memories and is masquerading as you.”

I sighed. “I wish I could. But once it’s activated, it can’t be turned off.”

“Bullshit,” Petra said. “Is that what your inheritance spirit told you? You bought that crap?”

Can I deactivate this rune pattern? Have you been lying to me this whole time? Didn’t we make a rune pattern earlier, that had an activation switch? With the concealment rune on the Interdimensional Pouch?

Samantha said.

Why would it be so hard? We already made an on-off switch together.

Samantha said.

“I asked the spirit,” I said, out loud. Then I repeated Samantha’s reasoning.

“Do you buy that?” Petra asked me. “I don’t know much about runes.”

“It makes sense,” I said. “But Samantha—the spirit—is really good at making lies make sense.”

“What are some of the lies that she has told you?” Petra asked.

I sighed, deeply, realizing how bad this would sound. “Well, she lied about whether she was mind-controlling me.”

Petra looked confused. “Why would she do that? Why not just mind-control you? Why would she bother lying?”

“We are basically like two spirits in the same body,” I said. “She said that it’s not good for us to always be fighting. It’s better for us to trust each other and work together.”

“And you bought that too? No, nevermind. Did she say that before or after you got this skill of yours—Don’t Mind Me.”

“Before,” I said.

“What was her reaction when you got that skill? And how did she change, when you got the skill?”

“I don’t really remember,” I said, apologetically. “I wasn’t in the best mental state at the time. She was really quiet the whole time I was being mind-controlled by the Crucible.”

“Why was she quiet then?”

“She didn’t want the Crucible to know that I had an inheritance. She doesn’t really like me talking to other people about her.” I shifted slightly in my chair.

“Does talking about Samantha make you uncomfortable?” Petra asked, suddenly.

“Yes? I guess so? I guess I just don’t see the point in all these questions. There are towns and cities out there that are in danger. I thought this would be family reunion—”

“That would be great,” Petra said, cutting me off sharply. “You know what Jarek, I really hope this is a family reunion. I hope that I’m actually talking to my brother. Let’s go through this again. What are all the times when Samantha has mind-controlled you?”

I took a deep breath. “She has something called a combat shadow that helps me fight. She made me more likely to follow that combat shadow in the tutorial. She basically made me get down to 1 HP three times in order to gain a rare skill—I never would have risked my life so many times without that. And—” I spread my arms placatingly—“you both know I would never have chosen the Hard Mode tutorial in the first place.” I earned a wry grin from Justin at that.

“Throughout the first few stages of the tutorial, I was generally on board with everything—killing the goblins. She basically cut out any “weak” emotions and any pain. She even admitted to making me more willing to follow her suggestions.

“She made me willing to sacrifice a friend to kill the Zone Lord.”

I paused. It still tripped me up, sometimes, thinking about River. Of all the fucked up things that Samantha had done, that I had done.

Petra studied me carefully. “Let’s go back to this Concealment Rune Pattern that is formed inside your body,” she said. “How do you feel, knowing that Samantha has control of your mana?”

I remembered my reaction to it, when I had discovered this just earlier today. “It makes me nervous,” I said. “But Samantha has only ever done that while I’m asleep. I think if she tried, while I was awake, I could fight for control and win.”

“Why are you defending Samantha? Have you ever fought for control before, and won?”

I paused, wracking my brain.

Petra waited in silence for a few seconds. “I hope you understand that this is concerning. What is the worst thing that Samantha did to you?”

“She nearly killed me dozens of times, just to try to make me stronger. She—”

“Wait,” Petra said. “I thought you wanted to be stronger, to save your poor, helpless siblings.”

I frowned, thrown off by Petra’s aggressively ironic tone. “I did want to be stronger. But Samantha is something of a maniac about it. Anyway, she nearly killed me over and over again. She had me pick some flowers, knowing it would endanger the people around me—several people died because of that.”

“And?” Petra asked.

“Is that not enough?” I asked, confused.

“If that is all that Samantha has done, then there is only one mistake that she’s made,” Petra said. “She picked the wrong host.”

“Are we done, then?” I asked, standing up. “I’m sure you and Samantha would get along very well, if that’s what you’re getting at. I do have a lot I need to do, and I’m done putting up with this.”

“Almost,” Petra said. “I want to see your Status Window.”

“Why?”

“Trust me. It’ll just take a second.”

“The thing is Petra, I don’t trust you. Status Windows are private for a reason.”

“If you don’t trust me, then show Justin.”

I paused, and literally felt a shiver of fear rush through my body. I realized, with a horrified shock, that I didn’t want to show Justin my Status Window.

“I don’t want to,” I whispered, more in surprise than anything else.

Just as I was feeling that slight resistance, the resistance faded.

Before I could second guess myself, I made my Status Window public to Justin.

“It’s not there,” Justin said. “The ‘Don’t Mind Me’ skill is missing.”

Name:

Jarek

Level:

33

HP:

43/43

Physical Defense:

18

Strength:

31 (+5)

Mental Power:

14

Dexterity:

10 (+5)

Agility:

14 (+14)

Perception:

20

Luck:

22

Mana Pool:

103 (+10)

Mana Regeneration:

48 (+10)

Available Points:

0

Coins:

10,000

Class:

Mana Modulator (D-rank)

Profession:

Rune Master

(E-rank)

Titles:

Region Lord (E-rank)

Skills and Spells:

Identify (E-rank)

Mana Modulation (D-rank Core)

Death’s Defier (A-rank)

Mana Sensing (E-rank)

Healthy Magic (E-rank)

Aquatic Respiration (E-rank)

Polyglot (E-rank)

Soul Communion (D-rank)

Cursed Lightning (D-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (D-rank Low), External Unattributed Mana (E-rank Low), Soul Magic (D-rank Low)

Equipment:

Vampiric Blade (D-rank): +5 Strength, +5 Agility.

Bloodied Battle Robes (D-rank): +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regen.

Imperial Scout Boots (E-rank): +4 Agility.

Greedy Gloves (D-rank): +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regen.

Bonded Blades (D-rank): +5 Dexterity, +5 Agility.

Communication Amulet (E-rank):

Interdimensional Pouch (D-rank):

Missions:

Zone Offense

Renegade Bounty Hunter