“Five hundred people?”

  “Indeed.” Noctarus nodded eagerly, black eyes intense.

  Well, it hadn’t taken long for the gloves to come off. Noctarus might pretend to be a kindly creator of undead, but to casually ask for 500 sacrificial humans was nothing short of insane.

  I tensed to spring at him as I said evenly, “I guess you still don’t understand humans. Even if we had ten thousand more people than we do now, we’d never hand over people for you to kill and turn into zombies.”

  Just as I prepared to leap at him in a desperate attempt to gain an advantage, Noctarus held up his hands in the universal sign of peace. He shook his head quickly and said, “No no no. You misunderstand. I do not want 500 sacrifices. I need 500 workers to help us.”

  “Explain?” I asked, not letting down my guard. If he made a single aggressive move, I’d go for his throat and try my new Poniard of the Random Were. Might get me killed, but a lucky were evolution might give me the chance to kill him.

  “Misunderstandings are so easy when first negotiating between races. Even face to face, I nearly started a fight instead of a pact of peace,” he said with a little chuckle like rocks shaking in a dusty box. “I need living humans to willingly come help my people repair our ships.”

  “Fix your ships?” I dared relax a hair, but he wasn’t making sense.

  “Indeed. That is what is preventing us from leaving. With the help of your people, we can get my ships afloat in 3 days. That’s all I need. 3 days. Then my people will board our boats along with Alpha and his werewolves. Together we will sail up the waterfalls with all our forces and escape this death world."

  "Your ships sail up waterfalls?"

  "Not usually, but I've been charging an energy crystal for months on the ambient mana of this place. It can fuel a unique spell to open a portal from this monster spawn world back to my home.”

  Intergalactic teleportation? That sounded super powerful. I’d love to learn more about that. Getting rid of both bosses in 3 days would be fantastic too, but I doubted it could be so easy. Besides, he was claiming he’d been there for months. Cyrus had said Earth was approved as a contestant in the game at the last minute. How could Noctarus already be on the planet?

  Were there other planets competing? We hadn’t seen any direct evidence of that, and Cyrus hadn’t answered when I asked him, but I still suspected there were aspects of the game we still didn’t know.

  “So Alpha and his werewolves will just go along with your plan?”

  “Only when the portal is open and the way back to our world is clear. Until then, they will fight tooth and claw to kill every last one of you. Alpha insists that the only way to save our home world is to strengthen the pack by killing most of you and turning the rest.”

  “That’s going to be a problem.”

  “I have calculated optimal responses to minimize the damage the pack will do to your forces,” Noctarus said, holding up the papers again.

  I turned away, gesturing him to put them down. “Maybe, but let’s go back to another point. You said something about a monster spawn world?”

  “Of course. Not all worlds in the multiverse spawn random monsters. This game world might be slightly different than most, but it does share the monster spawn trait of some other tiers. Most monsters spawn from the condensation of ambient mana. A smaller percentage, generally higher-leveled, sentient beings, such as those you will face as bosses, are populated from other worlds.”

  He grimaced. “Apparently, Alpha and I now fall into that category while we reside upon this planet. When you kill monsters, you no doubt receive prizes, which are generated from some of the mana involved. The system harvests the rest of the released mana, but I do not know for what purpose.”

  That was an interesting take on things. Monsters spawning from mana, I could believe, but Cyrus had suggested there was a price to pay for loot boxes. Or maybe loot boxes were something else, and Noctarus was referring to the monster drops when we used our loot ability.

  I finished my ale and tossed the tankard back into my inventory. “So you’re suggesting we help you complete your quest and escape. Assuming that was even possible, would we still win our quest?”

  Cyrus didn’t say anything. It was weird that he hadn’t interjected at all during the entire interview. That made me as nervous as sitting in a room with a level 59 necromancer boss. What game was Cyrus playing here?

  Noctarus spread his hands wide. “Indeed. I am prepared to swear that none of my zombie sailors will harm any of your people while you assist us in our work.”

  “What about the other humans you captured?”

  Noctarus shrugged. “Unfortunately, they did not work out. They were too weak and quickly died.”

  “They just died,” I repeated slowly, tension returning with a sudden battle lust. Noctarus represented an overwhelming and mostly unknown threat, but hearing him so casually talk of killing humans triggered a boiling rage.

  I’d been captured and nearly died at the hands of his hunt squads. I’d helped free William and Joey, then Leah and Perrin. They’d killed, kidnapped, and terrorized my people.

  Noctarus paused, as if realizing what he’d just said. “I am very sorry, Lucas.”

  “Are you really?”

  “Indeed. Now that I know your species better and see that you are growing stronger, my plan could work.”

  “You’ve killed my people and now want us to simply forget about all that and work with you?”

  Noctarus held my gaze, his black eyes unblinking. “I do, for the simple reason that if we do not find a way to work together, we must revert to the way of force. Believe me, you do not wish me as an enemy, Lucas.”

  He said it with such calm conviction that it chilled my anger. He was right. I really didn’t want to fight him, not yet. Here in the seat of his power, my chances of escape seemed minuscule.

  “How could we possibly trust anything you promise?”

  “By the simple necessity of survival. The system is unyielding and merciless. One must be strong, but also clever. Should we reach an impasse and resort to violence, at minimum many of your people will die. The likelihood of you defeating both my forces and Alpha and his pack are infinitesimal, but you could try. Instead, I am offering the chance to find an alternate solution where all of us could benefit.”

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  “Threats aren’t the best way to encourage humans to cooperate,” I said evenly.

  “I make no threat, but state mathematical truth.” Noctarus leaned forward slightly and the room suddenly chilled and darkened. His voice dropped lower and he said simply, “Choose your path wisely, Lucas. Are you willing to negotiate, or do you wish to make me your enemy?”

  I resisted the sudden urge to swallow. Some of Noctarus’s aura flared, either because his control slipped or because he wanted to remind me of his raw power. Either way, it worked. His aura felt at least as strong as Alpha’s, and I was stuck in his small office with no idea what kind of powers he could unleash upon me, or if it was even possible for me to kill him.

  That made the choice pretty simple, at least for now. I forced myself to relax and sit back slightly, although inside, I was primed to fight for my life. “All right, Noctarus. I’ll listen for now. I prefer negotiating to fighting, if possible, but you have to admit you owe us some kind of compensation.”

  The chill evaporated and he shackled his aura. Once more the necromancer gave me his odd dead-eyed smile. “Wise choice, Lucas. My plan already includes many concessions to assist your people in making enormous strides.”

  “And what about Alpha? Will he abide any pact we make?”

  “Unfortunately, Alpha does not believe in my plan.”

  “Not surprising.”

  Noctarus sighed. “His opposition will prove irksome. He believes that if he can kill all of you, he can make the pack strong enough to storm the third stage in your stead.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “I do not believe so. Our quest does not include the third stage, but he will not listen. He and I must find a way from this stage. Neither can succeed while the other fails.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Our quests are linked. We are all from the same home world. The wolves of the pack too, as well as my zombies.”

  Noctarus leaned forward slightly. “Have you not wondered why the pack are called Waterlogged Werewolves? They cannot grow strong enough to defeat our home world enemies unless I can provide them transport home. I cannot do that if they are too weak. We are bogged down by each other's needs for the same resources: you.”

  “So you need us to work, and he needs us to die. Sounds like you could easily use us, then feed us to Alpha and his pack once your ships are ready.”

  “Did you not look at the maths?” Noctarus snapped, his calm facade cracking. “Fighting and killing each other is sub-optimal. My plan works around that need for killing between us by harvesting all the mana-generated monsters and providing them to you humans.”

  “Why don’t you repair your own ships? Your zombies are higher leveled than most of us.”

  “The water is poisonous to undead. More than the briefest exposure results in their flesh melting. It is harmless to living, such as you and your people, however. My zombies do not gain experience except for killing werewolves, humans or, more importantly, for getting your people to willingly help us with our quest. All you have to do is get your people to the lake near my castle. There, I can protect you from the pack.”

  “We can’t live in a lake.” Was there a way to use the deadly waters of the lake against the zombies, though? Worth considering.

  “Understood. We will work with your crafters to build large rafts to live on for the 3 days our work will require. My zombies will also capture monsters and bring them to the rafts for your people to kill and easily gain levels.” He shook the papers in his hand. “The maths don’t lie.”

  It sounded totally fishy, no matter what he made his numbers say. I leaned back, mind racing. Could we really make it work? I doubted it, but what if? How many lives could we save? More importantly, if I pretended to go along with him for now, could I escape?

  “So let’s make a huge assumption that I believe you and your formulas. I still need to understand what else we get out of working together?”

  “Not getting slaughtered or enslaved, for starters. Easy levels as my people hunt and capture monsters for you. And of course, once we leave, your quests will be completed by default and you can proceed to the third stage early.”

  “I’m not convinced you can capture enough monsters to level all my people enough to survive up on the third stage.”

  “I admit, I have not yet completed my calculations on the most efficient harvesting of monsters, but I believe we can make it work. Perhaps joint hunting parties.”

  Could we trust the zombie teams to not kidnap everyone who went out with them? They were tough, resilient, and had a lot of firepower. Assuming they didn’t immediately double-cross us, they could help a lot of the lower-tiered people level faster.

  Noctarus added, “And of course, you as the representative of your people who showed the vision to help arrange this alliance, will be rewarded too.”

  “What do you have in mind?” I’d take extra rewards any day. Hopefully he wasn’t planning to offer me an early undead afterlife.

  He regarded me for a moment, that dead-eyed stare locked on mine. Then he nodded slightly to himself and said, “I propose to tutor you in techniques for higher levels of mana manipulation.”

  “Mana manipulation? We can already use our spells.”

  The old necromancer chuckled, a dry, rasping sound, and made a dismissive gesture. “That is but the first baby step in truly mastering the power of mana.”

  “Why would you offer to teach me? Sharing insights will help me, and could put you in a weaker position.”

  Noctarus smiled in a way he surely intended to be warm, but his dead eyes just made it kind of unnerving. Was he so confident in beating me that the idea of helping me get stronger didn’t bother him?

  He said, “Consider it a show of good faith. I need your help and I am in earnest. Conquering your people would be an annoying hassle and push back my timeline. If you provide the assistance I need, I can complete my quest far more easily, so in return will happily help you complete yours.”

  I doubted it. No one was that altruistic. Noctarus wanted something from me personally, but what? Killing me and turning me into a zombie clearly wouldn’t help his cause, or I bet he would have already unleashed his dark magic upon me. So what did he want? Why make the offer to train me?

  I was tempted. The old necromancer was clearly highly educated and learned in the arcane arts. His particular branch of study didn’t interest me, but there was so much we didn’t know yet about the multiverse, about magic, and about the whole insane system.

  The knowledge Noctarus was offering might well be a trap, but could I afford not to take the risk? Besides, could I learn more about him and his powers? That might give me vital insights into fighting him.

  “So what’s the catch?”

  “Catch?” Noctarus frowned. “I do not understand.”

  Hmm. Most phrases had translated well. Strange that he wouldn’t get that one. Quid pro quo had to be a universal truth.

  “What do you get out of helping me? Even in a show of good faith, I can’t believe you don’t expect to gain something in return.”

  “Indeed, there are three things. First, consider it part of my apology for taking the wrong course with your people initially. Second, I hope that by helping you that you will see my offer of cooperation is genuine, and third, we come from different worlds, so our journeys are different. I can sense human souls, which in my line of work obviously piques my interest. Therefore, by teaching you, I hope to gain better insights into how human souls can be insulated to defeat death.”

  “You mean, turned into zombies.”

  “That is one possibility, but not the only one. There are various tiers of necromancy that result in differing outcomes for those who seek an undead afterlife.”

  “Like zombies versus ghouls versus liches?”

  Noctarus’s eyes widened. “How do you know such things. You are not walking the path of necromancy. I would sense it if you were.”

  “Nah, nothing like that. I’ve read enough fantasy books and watched enough bad horror movies to know the basics.”

  “What do you mean? What is a movie?”

  “Nothing. On my world we don’t have the system yet. No multiverse, no magic, but I’ve been finding a scary amount of our folklore and legends walking these lands. We have legends of undead.”

  “Ah, I understand. That is a common occurrence. Officials from the system will visit planets being considered as candidates for induction within the next several thousand years. They will often seed some basic information, often disguised as folklore, to help push the indigenous peoples of the world to evolve more quickly.”

  “Really?” I’d just figured Cyrus was messing with us by creating monsters that drew on old myths and legends from Earth.

  Noctarus leaned back, hands tapping the armrests of his comfortable chair. “See? I have much knowledge I can impart to you that will be of great worth to your people. I would be honored to do so if you will seriously consider my offer and take it back to the rest of your leadership.”

  I still didn’t trust him, but I’d be a world-class idiot if I passed up this opportunity to learn valuable information instead of dying in a no-win death battle. Hopefully I could actually learn something useful before he inevitably double-crossed us.

  “All right, Noctarus. You’ve got a deal. When do we start?”

  “Right now.”