Bex hefted her backpack, scowling over her shoulder at Gero. “I still say you should give me another shot.”

“Nope.” The big kobold could not be swayed. “You get one shot at lifting the club until the next full moon.’

“That was just a warm-up, though!” Bex insisted, batting aside a stray branch as the group made their way through the forest home of the Razed elven waystation. “I just gotta do a few quick stretches and then blam, I’m lifting that club baby!”

“Sure, absolutely.” Gero flicked the honorary kobold in the back of the head. “Next full moon.”

“I get it,” Supu offered, the hulking dog-mountain folding his ears sympathetically at the pouting Player. “I can’t lift it, either.”

“Really?” Bex glanced over the empathetic kobold, noting that he was several feet of solid muscle both vertically and horizontally. “Crap. I gotta put more points into Strength.”

“So are you a Physical-type class, then?” Shin assumed Players weren’t assigned classes in the same way he and his companions were, but the full details were still murky. “Or do you still not have one?”

“Mm, Players are just ‘Adventurers’ until Level Five. Then you get a Class Selection based on a bunch of stuff.” Bex began ticking factors off on her fingers. “Stats, quests, who you’ve been hanging around…pretty much anything can wind up being important.”

Okay. Shin liked his class? But the Player way of doing things was, as usual, fascinating. “So can you brute force certain classes?”

“Kinda! For the basic ones, at least. Like, if you really want to be a Mage, getting Experience by reading books on magic will usually let you at least become a basic Caster. The more unique ones can have some wild requirements, though.”

“Such as…?”

“Hm. Oh!” Bex perked up, flashing a cheeky grin. “Okay, so there’s this one called Dashing Scoundrel? It’s like a Rogue offshoot, uses Presence for everything, like B minus-ish in the tier ranking? The final requirement for that one is stealing a kiss from the Faction Leader of a Kingdom.”

Gero snorted a laugh at that as Momo held a hand over her mouth, eyebrows rising in amused disbelief. “They really have to do that?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. People are always trying to run up and kiss King Majesty and just getting immediately beheaded; it’s super hilarious. I’ve got a great mash-up of it; Iemme send you a link to–”

Bex trailed off, prompting Momo to tilt her head. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” She frowned for a moment, then managed a rueful shrug. “I dunno. I keep forgetting you guys are…uh, well. Yeah. It’s just a little weird sometimes.”

The girl was clearly uncomfortable with the subject, and frankly? Shin didn’t mind changing the subject one bit. This sort of talk made his brain start to itch. “Well, Bex, you could always just take lessons from me instead of Gero. Then you could just forget about Strength entirely!”

“Haha, aww, thanks! But I want to hit stuff.”

Gero beamed down at Bex before offering Shin a lordly look. “She’s a smart girl, Shin. She’s got taste.”

Shin wouldn’t give up that easily. If he couldn’t get a Class Selection of his own, he’d just use Bex as his cat’s paw. Er, dog's paw. Whatever. “You could do both, couldn’t you? Maybe you’d get some sort of melee-combat leader class?”

Bex wouldn’t be moved, just as resolute as her would-be mentor. “Nah, I’m already taking lessons with Priestess Momo, too? My friend says if you cast too wide of a net you risk not hitting any upgraded classes. Besides,”–She made a bit of a face–”I don’t like playing Bards very much.”

Shin stared at Bex for a moment, his lips pursed. And then he raised an eyebrow at the exceptionally pleased-looking Gero. “You told her to say that, didn’t you.”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Hanbun piped in, her scouting circuit having weaved her momentarily back within range of the conversation. “You’re studying at the Shrine? I didn’t know you were interested in the Great Mother.”

“Oh dude, I am all about Tasan Okaa! She’s the whole reason I found you guys in the first place!’

That was new information. The timing checked out, though; they’d created their Goddess in the morning, and Bex had appeared that very night. “How’d that work?”

Bex took a few moments before responding, seemingly trying to decide the best way to navigate her answer. “Okay, so, because of the Edition I have, I got to make an Advanced Start?” She glanced around and could see she’d already lost practically everyone. “Right, lemme start over. I wanted to show up in a Tribe that had a Deity with as few Mandates as possible, and Tasan Okaa was the only one who had none.”

Ceril scoffed, apparently deciding this was his moment to make his grand entrance into the conversation. “This Dog Goddess must be incredibly weak, then. The Pantheon of the Oaken Elves is as myriad as the leaves of the trees, and they all have an enormous amount of Mandates!’

“Uh yeah, I know.” Bex rolled her eyes. “You can’t do literally anything for one Oaken Elf God that doesn’t mortally offend three other Oaken Elf Gods. That’s part of why no one rolls Oaken Elves.”

Shin couldn’t resist asking. “What other reason is there?”

Bex balked at the silliness of the question. “The other reason is that Wood Elves exist? So…why do that, ever?”

Ceril immediately decided this was the moment to make his grand exit from the conversation, muttering something about the War Among Trees and pride and proper branding under his breath. Shin couldn’t fully enjoy witnessing the obnoxious elf getting slammed down on, however. Bex had said something that gave him pause. “So does that mean anyone can see that our Goddess is all reward, no risk?”

“Welll~, maybe?” Bex shrugged. “They’d have to have a Special Edi-uh, have special access to all the options first? Which, sure, is like maybe fifteen million people?”

Fifteen Million. That was the Biggest number Shin had ever heard. If anyone had ever said that number to Shh the Mongrel, he would have immediately gone and found a hole to lay down and die in. Because nothing in life would ever be better than that.

At the moment, however, its Bigness was more a cause for concern than celebration. “With that many people, shouldn’t we be flooded with Players by now?”

“Oh nah.” A few of the other kobolds let out sighs of relief as Bex explained her reasoning. “First off, most of those Players already have characters, and Magica is super alt-unfriendly. And the System made like twelve specific recommendations before I managed to find the option for Shinki Itten. I think you’re pretty safely hidden, for now.”

All of that had sounded good, right up until that last bit. “For now, you say.”

“Yeah. If the kobold Goddess is as optimized as I think she might be, people are gonna find out. Magica’s already been min/maxed to hell, and if I’ve found gold then other people are gonna come with shovels of their own.” Bex seemed inordinately excited by the prospect. “Who knows? Kobolds might wind up being the new meta.”

Shin didn’t want to be the new meta. The old meta was great; let the old meta keep doing its thing. But there was no use worrying about tomorrow’s worries today. Besides, the perpetually burning ruins meant they’d reached the Razed waystation, and the end of the zone. “Alright, we’re here.”

“Hmph.” Ceril’s mouth turned into a hard, thin line as he took in the ravaged state of his one-time post. “Hmph.”

“Yes Ceril, it’s a tragedy what happened here.” Shin crane his head around, confirming that the elf was still unwilling to make eye contact with him. “Who could have committed this travesty?”

“A Red Player.” the hapless Oaken Elf mumbled, any emotion beyond hangdog defeat quickly draining out of him. “A Red Player did this, for sure.”

“Hm, you know what? I think you’re right.” The Schemer gave Ceril a pat on the back, causing him to flinch so hard he nearly ripped out of his own skin. “You’re like a detective or something.”

“I’m definitely something…” Ceril muttered under his breath. No other insight appeared to be forthcoming.

Gero turned towards Hanbun and Supu, the two warriors standing smartly at attention as she addressed them and the small contingent of kobold combatants they led. “You know what to do?”

Hanbun immediately nodded. “We keep watch on the zone exit and entrance, and we are to be politely suspicious of anyone we may find!”

“Good. Stay in contact with your counterparts at the barrier to our zone, and keep our people safe.” The two kobolds nodded in acknowledgement, efficiently turning to their task as Gero rejoined the rest of the group. “So that’s us, then?”

Momo seemed a bit apprehensive. “You’re sure we don’t need more people, Shin?”

Her concerns weren’t unfounded. In addition to herself, Shin and Gero, their group only consisted of three Archers and Koda, the stoic blacksmith. And Mimi, naturally, although the chances of the scribe doing anything besides taking down anything Shin said that even bordered on being witty were low.

It didn’t help that their plan was to seek out a meeting with a faction that they’d had nothing but hostile encounters with so far, either.

Still, Shin was confident. “When the time comes, Momo, we’ll have all the people we need.”

Mimi considered that, tapping his quill against his lip. And at length, he decided that was not witty enough to record for posterity. Shin couldn’t blame him.

————————————————————————————————

Two whole zones beyond their own. Even as a mongrel, Shin had wished for the world. But back then, the ‘world’ was just his zone, and not necessarily all of it at that. Now, once again, he found himself having gone further than any mongrel ever had before.

He assumed, at least. It was technically possible that there had been a mongrel who, long before Shin had ever popped, managed to somehow make it a zone over so they could be killed by boars instead of guards. Before the cyclical harvest of mongrel lives was broken, practically any knowledge of previous generations was lost to the wind.

It still seemed unlikely, but Shin resolved to keep his eyes open and his nose sniffing for any sign of this theoretical mongrel folk hero.

There was no sign of them here, though. This zone appeared to be a continuation of the last, another idyllic forest framing the grand majesty of the river as it churned powerfully towards Shinki Itten Village. Ceril breezily informed Shin and the group that this zone was much like the two before it, having only a pair of exits and entrances. Unlike them, however, it lacked a Conquest Node.

“Does this zone have some guided purpose?” Momo asked, watching in awe as fireflies lit up the misty dusk evening. “Or is it just a really nice place?”

“Resource Hub,” Ceril mumbled. “The deer here are good for Leather, and there are a decent amount of Intermediate Herb Nodes.”

“The next Conquest Node is one more zone further?” Ceril nodded, and Shin unburdened himself of his backpack. “Okay. Well, I think we should probably camp for the night while we’re still within reach of the others. Agreed?” He glanced around, the others all voicing their approval. “Alright then. Who has the first watch?”

One of the archers, a copper-haired fellow by the name of Colbe, raised his hand. “Me.”

“Alright, I’ll relieve you after an hour and a half, and then we’ll go through the usual rotation. Shoot Ceril in the back if he tries to run, okay?” Nods all around and a bit of light heaving from the elf. “Okay. Let’s get some rest.”

“Gosh, this is weirdly exciting~,” Bex gushed, pulling a small pouch from her knapsack that began to open up into a sleeping bag once it was placed on the ground. “It’s like we’re having a slumber party or something. I haven’t had one of those since middle school. Hopefully this time no one’ll call their dad to come pick them uuuh!”

Momo raised her eyebrows in concern. “Bex? What’s wrong?”

The Player erupted in flaming scarlet, eyes darting about madly as she simultaneously tried to gawk and avoid eye contact with anything. “W-what are you guys doing?”

Shin frowned, glancing curiously at the others. As soon as the call for sleep had been made, he and the kobolds had immediately found a relatively soft place on the ground and curled up together in a giant ball. Pretty standard stuff. “Sleeping?”

“I, but, you–!” Bex trailed off in an embarrassed huff, scowling in disbelief at Shin. “You get all blushy and awkward from even a little flirting, but you’re seriously cool with using each other as living pillows all night?”

Gero craned her head out of the kobold ball long enough to share a dismissive look with Shin. Bex seemed like a nice girl, and she was clearly leagues better than any other Player they’d ever met? But even still, she had some strange hangups. “There’s still plenty of room, if that’s your worry,” Gero offered. “You could definitely squeeze in over–”

“No, thanks, I’m fine, God.” Bex started back towards her sleeping bag, only to stop in her tracks when she felt Ceril’s eyes on her. “Um, what?”

The elf smirked triumphantly. “See? I knew you were more like me than those people.”

Bex balked. “Oh God I’m the one calling my dad to come pick me up! Oh yuck.” She snatched up her sleeping bag and dragged it over to the night time pile, wriggling into the bedding and then plopping her head onto one of Gero’s legs as a pillow. “There. This is an adventure, so I’m meeting you halfway. I’d better still be one of the cool kids.”

Shin had no idea what that meant. But he still kinda did. “You absolutely are.”

“Yeah I am, and don’t you forget it.”

Despite her protestations, Bex was soon as soundly asleep as the rest of the pack. But not Shin. He was wide awake as she stared up at the night sky, comforted by the warmth and breathing of his packmates yet restless all the same. Things were nice right now. Good friends exploring a new zone, working through fascinating ideas and discoveries…it all still felt innocent, in a way. Like they still had a connection to those blameless, if troubled, days they spent as mongrels.

Shin couldn’t know for sure, but he had his suspicions about what might happen when they crossed into the next zone. And if those suspicions were correct, he knew that these innocent days were going to be in short supply. Maybe lost forever.

So he simply stared up at the sky, willing this moment to last as long as it could. Because once it was gone, there would be no looking back.