Lance spent the next few hours awake, going through the motions of a feigned sickness with mother and sister. His mother came in and lit candles and sprayed an excessive amount of aerosol. She made him rice and beans, fiber on fiber, after him explaining the liquid loss from every orifice. He eventually fell asleep on his bed, after flipping it. His mother swore she would talk to his dad about buying a new one. Not only had it stained but it stunk no matter how much she scrubbed. He awoke much later in the afternoon. He felt the weakness in him even still, but it was more tolerable, it was like he had run a marathon, without any practice. A soreness over every extremity he couldn't explain. He spent hours further scrubbing his helmet of more black ichor and puke, luckily it was rather easy as the inside seemed too sleek to hold anything unlike the tub. He thanked his lucky stars when he redocked it on the charger and it connected to his computer charging.

  A moment passed as a stream of notifications rolled across the Spectre dashboard. The amount was concerning, and not only were they from his companions, but the console itself. Warning messages and a slew of other notifications until its final line where his console was locked for 24 hours from this moment while it went under review. Lance got a little upset but he understood. He took his footage and played it back a few times. He noticed some differences and gaps where the video was simply not accurate to what he recalled.

  Firstly, Discern ingredients wasn’t active, nor Mana sight. Secondly it seemed to blip, one moment from Bam and Courage fighting to them against the wall of the bath limp while Wellyn loomed overhead. But the look on Wellyn’s face.. He hadn't remembered him crying. Soft tears in his eyes, only they didn't fall. He would have thought it just bath water, however on closer inspection not a drop of water was on Wellyn above his breast. Not only could Lance see that in the frames everything he remembered happening seemed to only happen in 3 seconds. Wellyn's palm over his face was the last thing he saw.

  He wondered how Reilly did. The thought of her alone on the other side made him wonder if she was alright, but considering Wellyns apparent speed he figured she was alright, he had received the most messages from her. Each of them seemed to have written him individually, though Bam was added to their group chat. The tone of the conversation there was starkly different from their personal messages.

  “ What the hell did you guys do to Courage?” - Valora

  “ Nothing, he will be fine. Im over here dealing with it myself, I think its because of the Redcap we fought” - Bam

  “ Yep definitely because of that, I'm sick as a dog. Taking the day off, we should meet up and take on floor three when you are next available. Heck I can take tomorrow off too…” - Reilly

  “ I'm all good, just a little oops.. Told her all about it now. Lance, Thanks for saving our ass.” - Courage

  “ What happened? A Redcap?” - King

  “ Bullshit you're all full of shit. IM CLEANING THIS UP OVER HERE C-” - Valora

  “ HAHAhaha She is not doing it alone. Bask in the ambiance. It’ll probably be two days for me as well okay byeee” - Courage

  “ My moms pretty pissed off, At least it sounds like I'm not alone.” - Bam

  “ Guys what happened.” - King

  “ FUCK YOU LANCE I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU. YOU’RE FUCKED MATE, THIS IS FUCKIIN PI-” - Valora

  “ HaA HAHAH GUYS SHES FINE. JUST MIFFED” - Courage

  “ bruh” - King

  “ I gotta do some chores. Moms calling, See you guys in a couple days.” - Bam

  “ Guys.”

  “ GUYS WHAT HAPPENED”

  “ Ffs…” - King

  Lance’s finger hovered over the reply. He figured everyone was dealing with the same circumstance. The elephant in the room was why. Hammering it further, How. He sat back in his chair when his mind went to the radio station his dad and he listened to. He didn't even have to think hard. His heart set on it being conclusive evidence that something really was probably changing within him and his friends. He wasn't even smart enough to figure out why, and honestly he didn't care too much. What he did with that information wouldn’t change that he was more eager now than ever to play. He was curious what changed but it wasn't until he noticed it. His finger still hovering a key on his keyboard. Discern ingredients. A faint outline around his skin, like an aura the size of a penny’s width. He brought his hand up to his face and turned it over.

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  “ Holy shit. “

  Nothing made sense until everything did. He was gaining his skills here in his body. Lance stood up and looked down on himself. He moved over to the mirror. He pulled at his cheeks and moved in close. That deep glow hidden in the depth of his pupil winked out, as did the ability with it. He wondered how, but the thoughts came back dry. He slumped back into his chair and began to check into the console messages further.

  It seemed like the timestamps for the first warning signs on the console started in the last 10 seconds of his gametime. Unfortunately it didn't link towards the recording but Lance knew it was the drink. The wild thing and the most probably fortuitous was that the short window of time was when all of the biometrics went haywire. He could only assume that the final straw was the puking, his soiling himself likely wasn't detected, but the first warning was moisture, whatever the black gunk was. It put a strange emphasis on how drastic the change in body functions went. Part of him wondered if he hadn't been on the compressed game clock would these symptoms be less disruptive? Or worse? To what degree would the console allow his body to peak in so many attributes without turning off, and what was the degree of tolerable risk? He came up with a method of testing when he next could play.

  He moved on to the messages of his friends. How much changed for them?

  “ Lance, firstly I want to say thank you for letting me join you and your friends. I know I can be a bit annoying, I don't know how to shut up - Reilly isn't the first person to tell me this. Your food is fantastic, I’ve always been a foodie. I don't know if it's the game, you, or the whole idea behind being able to eat without getting fatter like I always do, but I’d put your food up there with the most oddly tasty things I've ever had. I want more, and I will gladly take the Slop master role you gave me. That drink you made uh… I don't know why but everyone said we couldn’t tell you but Wellyn said we had probably a 20 percent chance to live. He said you taking it was only a 20 percent chance to die. The other thing you might be surprised to find out, we probably lost a few levels, and it has something to do with making a stronger wish? I didn't really get that part. But you probably only gained more levels. It made me a little sad to hear that part. Especially since you probably have to play solo now or something for a while. That's what Reilly said at least, she said you’d be fine. You better! And you better invite me over for more food. I can spare you the gross stuff, but uhm. I kinda ruined my bed, shower, and laundry machine. My moms super upset, I'm gonna have to pay it back and I don't have a job so I'm stuck doing all the chores for a while. Did that happen to you? Anyways, I think it's awesome what your name is btw! Just thought about it, we are Ham-Sammich! Or a Sammich-Hamstar! Or actually no the first one sounds better. Anyways later.”

  “ Oi. I really need a bit of explaining. I can't really remember what happened after we drank that vile drink you made. I’ll tell ya, my sister is a bit pissed. Luckily I was able to look at our recording a bit later but it goes black when Bam and I drink the stuff. I kinda. Made a mess. For reasons I can't explain, and my sister and I kinda play games right next to each other so there wasn't any hiding it. She’s probably gonna get mad at you once I explain. What I do remember, which brings me to that conversation we had. You're gonna out pace us. We have to take a loss to live but it's gonna make us better in the long term, the short version. The long version, we barely survived to get the chance, and apparently you're gonna level from it. Which means we would just hold you back. Doesn't mean you can't cook for us, just means we shouldn't dungeon together till the higher levels while we catch up. By the way did you know you can stay in someone's space even if they aren't logged in? I woke up at some point and I was there in your room, apparently because I was a customer for you, don't know if that's a loophole or intended, but Wellyn seemed pretty upset about the whole thing. Though I could only hear that because he was scrubbing and grumbling something in the bottom of the bath, I decided to go back to my space and not bother him. Bam was gone already and I don't know about Reilly but I heard some splashing on the woman's side, let it be. Anyways don't worry about us, we will catch up. I got a couple Tavern quests anyway and was gonna try them out. Next time you see me I'll have some good stuff to cook up! Later mate “

  “Lance. Keep going. I lived! I assume we all did! My class changed. Still magic but different. I think it’s better. Anyways when I get more stuff to cook I’ll come and I’ll bring the gems. Bam, Courage, Me, King, and Valora, all of us. I can't even explain how much we love your food and your creativity. Keep trying new food, make more stuff so i can try it, and don't forget to invite me when you make something spicy! I wish you the best of luck! Talk to you soon.~ RainbowButterfly”

  Lance, although bright for a moment, couldn't help but feel sad. Here he was, receiving lengthy explanations from everyone about why they were choosing not to play with him—their reasoning being that they were removing themselves as a burden. Lance hadn’t felt that way at all, and if anything they made playing more fun, made his bar full, and gave him reasons to cook. It's like that voice in the back of his mind, mocking him now. He wouldn't need to worry about its nefarious plans for his companions since they were gone. He had already come up with plans on what he would do once he returned to the tavern, now they shifted a little further. He buried all the would-be emotions popping up, focusing on one, excitement. He could explore again. It was time to become something better, to dive deeper into his playstyle.

  Lance begrudgingly did schoolwork for most of the rest of the day, a bit more cleaning, and slept. The following morning he woke up and used the “Im still sick card” to stay in his room. He dove down rabbit holes again on cooking, finding dishes in a particular category, homesteading. He concluded that the Forester's cooking style likely belonged to someone who lived in isolation, given the concepts he discovered during his research. That pushed him further into understanding the basics. Understanding plant life seemed to be a massive priority in this category. And he had just the idea to figure out if his hypothesis worked.