“There, we now have a healer,” I told Paritor after we left the chaotic Chief’s Lodge, having signed up for two tunnel-clearing quests and one bodyguard duty. “We’ll meet them by the tunnel entrance. She has three new players with her. That completes our party.”

The healer I was talking about was Melonomi. This seemed an excellent start to inviting her to join Kezo’s party for the Great Hunt: two birds, one stone, as usual.

Thankfully, Melonomi was online. It turned out that the DPSer and tank carrying their party had left them for a stronger group. Quite normal for public parties. Normal in real life too. She and the newbies she was helping were about to call it a day when my message came—the divine providence that was Herald Stone at work.

“You’re okay with this arrangement, right?” I asked. Before considering inviting Melonomi, I had told Paritor we would help new players. I was about to complete the Blighted Tokens I wanted; I might as well look good to the public while doing it. But I didn’t actually tell him that.

I went with another reason—it’d be hard for us to form a good party. As a low-level tank, I was far from a bargaining chip to attract strong members. Paritor, on the other hand, didn’t seem to use a meta DPS build. That was a guess, as I had only a surface-level understanding of Mardukryon meta.

Nonetheless, summoners were usually for solo players, as they were a party unto themselves. They weren’t the best in any role. Add to that the higher bar for DPSers for public parties. A half-decent tank or healer could readily find one, but given the disproportionately large population of DPSers, people were pickier regarding the latter.

Paritor accepted my explanation, simply saying he scarcely joined parties, preferring to go about the game alone.

I intended to find out why. That’d be the key to us becoming closer. Someday, he’d reveal to me, Herald Stone, his would-be bestest in-game friend, what he knew of Mehubanarath.

We might even uncover new secrets of the Ancestral Flames. The Big M had tried convincing Kurghal Village to return to the old Mardukryon ways and relying on the golden crystals. But he failed, retreating to the Golden Forest to live as a hermit. With two Ancestral Flame users together, we were the start of the Big M’s dream and might unlock new avenues of progress.

“I’m very much willing to extend my aid to new players,” Paritor said. “I have heard about you being of great help to them. Very commendable. This’ll be my first time with such a big level gap in a party, mind you. On the rare occasions I’ve teamed up with others, we were close in levels.”

“Our healer is Melonomi,” I said. “You’re level fifty-six; she’s fifty-four. At least you got someone near your level. Not sure if you’ve met her before.”

“I haven’t. My interactions with other players are… limited.”

“Do note that while she is a Healer—capital ‘H,’ as in a member of the village’s Healer’s Lodge—she specialized in brewing potions instead of, you know, the conventional healing people would expect. And so, she has a hard time joining parties.”

“A relatable experience,” Paritor sighed, revealing a lot about him with three words.

“We’re just going to have a relaxed run, anyway, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem, will it?”

“No problem whatsoever.”

“That’s good,” I said, facing away from him to hide my grin.

My other goals were to test how strong Paritor was and if he’d work well with Melonomi and me. If the answer to both was yes, then I’d invite him to fill the last slot of our party. I pity the birds bombarded by my stones.

Paritor suddenly stopped. He had a constipated expression, more so than usual for a Mardukryon. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t pay attention to our path, not seeing the crap we were about to meet.

Here was someone that should be pelted with stones.

“Well, well, well.” BeetsByLudwig, the walking chemistry kit, stood in the middle of the road, hands on his waist. Flasks filled with volatile chemicals hung from his body, making him look like a Christmas tree. Between the two of us, he looked more the part of Mad Brewer Bawu’s student.

On his right was Wharton with his long sword and broad shield, also known as Wharmonger, the ever-sidekick. To Lud’s left was Nic—‘Quivercess’ was her in-game name—wearing a face equal parts exasperated and embarrassed. No doubt, if it were possible to whack Luds with her longbow to shut him up, she would’ve done it. Three more players stood behind them. I hadn’t met them before. This must be their complete party for the Great Hunt.

“My boy, Herald,” said Luds, “and, uh, the summoner guy with the funny name and way of talking.”

There he goes again with ‘my boy.’ I much preferred when he kept calling me ‘new guy.’ Way to go ruining my day of friendship. And I wasn’t the only one annoyed by Luds.

“It’s Paritor,” my newfound friend said. “It’s tiresome to keep repeating that it’s a play on words and that—”

“I hope you don’t teach Herald here some weird ideas,” said Luds. “The Cheeseman was bad enough. We don’t need more people running sub-par builds—”

“Sub-par equates below average,” Paritor said, seething. These two evidently had a sour history. “I assure you that my summoned fire spirits are more than a match for most DPS players in my range.”

Nic tried to intervene before things escalated. “Luds, we should get going. Remember the—”

“Inefficient, that’s what your summons are,” said Luds, ignoring Nic. “You have to go through the trouble of summoning, buffing them, debuffing the target, to end up with a much lower DPS.”

“It isn’t as slow as you make it out to be,” Paritor retorted. “Moreover, the aggregate damage of my summons, compounded by my buffs and debuffs, is enough to be considered competitive.”

“There you go again, speaking funny.” Luds chuckled as if Paritor wasn’t visibly angry and getting more so. “Thinking you’re better than us.”

You’re one to talk, I thought at Luds. Was this the time to stop them? Paritor had generated enough annoyance at Luds that I could later turn into camaraderie between us.

“Hey, there, Nic, Wharton!” I loudly said, stepping forward and putting myself between the two much bigger Mardukryons. “Long time no see! Well, we saw each other a few days ago. But this is my first time meeting the rest of your party.”

Nic picked up my lead and said, “This is Marcus, Baby, and Miko.”

Marcus and Baby were slightly taller than the rest. Bulkier, too, as they both wore heavy armor and carried shields and maces. In contrast, Miko was a tent of white and gold robes, holding an unassuming emerald staff.

“This is Herald,” Nice said. “The one who started the world quest.” The three each greeted me with excessive gusto that made me suspect they were trying to subtly shut down Luds. They must be good friends in real life not to ditch him and form a different party.

But Luds wasn’t giving the limelight up that easily. “Marcus and Baby are our tanks,” he said, muscling himself back into the conversation. “You heard that right—two tanks! Last Great Hunt, Baby was our main debuffer and secondary healer, but we convinced—”

“Forced,” Baby cut in with a deadpan tone.

“We convinced him to switch to Tanking Ocadules,” Luds said. He winked at me. “Wanna know why?”

I tilted my head, pondering. If killing fast was the goal, to avoid other parties stealing the kill of prized monsters, wouldn’t it be better to add another DPS? Or Baby could’ve just stayed a debuffer—they probably worked out the math on that.

“To steal—” Paritor began.

“To be more competitive,” Luds stressed. “How could you think of us as thieves, summoner guy?”

“We gotta lot of bosses stolen from under our asses,” Wharton said, putting his hands behind his head. “Tanks of rival parties taking the aggro and dragging monsters far away. That’s where Luds got—Ow!” Luds elbowed him.

“Under our asses?” Miko muttered, peeking from under the golden rim of her hood. “Shouldn’t it be under our noses?”

“Guys, let’s get going,” Marcus jostled aside Luds and Wharton. “One more round, and I’ll take over the missus looking after the baby.” He continued to the Chief’s Lodge without waiting for his party, muttering about waking up early and some things about his shift at work.

“One more quest it is!” Luds said. He then leaned towards Paritor and me, speaking low through cupped hands. “You see, there are special missions for those strong enough to go deep into the tunnels. A hint on what the top parties like ours are doing—we’re trying to punch through the other side so that the Great Hunt can be held without delay. You’re welcome in advance.”

“Go already!” Nic pushed him.

“Yeah, man,” Wharton said. “Ticktock, Marcus will disappear mid-quest if his wife calls him that his time is up.”

“See you some other time, Herald.” Luds patted my shoulder as he passed. “Don’t forget we’re Bawu brothers, tell me if something’s coming up. And, summons guy, prove your fancy theory during the Great Hunt. Easy enough, yeah?”

After Luds and his party were out of earshot, I said, “I see that he’s like that to everyone.”

Paritor only shook his head, resuming the trot to the south gate.

I kept pace with him. “Luds has also met Mehubanarath. But I didn’t tell him about the Ancestral Flame Ocadules, if that’s any consolation.”

Paritor wasn’t listening to me. Looking at the ground, he mumbled. “Great Hunt this, Great Hunt that. A narrow and one-sided measurement of a build.”

Thank you, Luds, for making my recruitment job much easier.

Paritor furiously whispered. “Moreover, he has a party. Without them, he’s nothing. Good luck being a solo DPS during the Great Hunt. As for me, I fair reasonably well on my own.”

I let Paritor stew, acting as if I couldn’t hear him.

“Hello, Melonomi,” I said, ending Paritor’s paragraphs-length litany against Luds. “I hoped you didn’t wait long. An… obstacle held us up.” Paritor awkwardly shimmied beside me. “This is Paritor. He’s going to be our DPS carry.”

“Nice to meet you,” Melonomi said. She introduced the new players with her. I ignored their names—Audience #1, Audience #2, and Audience #3, to the debut of my new footgear. Melonomi then initiated trades with us, giving us potion bottles. She explained, “There’s a bonus if you use my potions while we’re party mates. Don’t worry; those are free.”

“My gra-gratitude,” Paritor said, finding his voice. Curiously, he looked everywhere except at Melonomi. “I’ll do my utmost as your DPS.”

“Everything ready?” I clapped my hands. “Then let’s start with squishing some Garg-Ants!”