Chapter 49

  Thirty more goblin prisoners were collected before news that the bounty was canceled reached the scavenging parties, of which there were many that were associated with the Arashantos Haven. The ten percent experience buff that they got for grouping with other guild members—and every scavenging party got a guild invite in exchange for promising to share their spoils with the guild in exchange for contribution points—made membership a sought after privilege.

  While there was some initial discomfort with the ruthlessness of Eli’s testing on the goblins, when he announced that further testing wasn’t necessary, the decision was made among the other survivors to use the captured goblins for training, a practical decision which was seen as just as ruthless as Eli’s testing in the first place.

  And Eli had nothing to with it; the decision came from Miguel Phelps and he made certain that everyone knew about it.

  Miguel’s own class was “Information Broker,” and, surprisingly, he had gained three levels in it since he had been released from government custody. He was uncertain what, if any, perks his class gave him. Aside from being in the best shape of his life, having shed thirty pounds of fat and gained half of that in muscle, he didn’t feel like his combat reflexes were enhanced to a superhuman degree like a warrior or rogue. And he didn’t feel any connection to the arcane, although he did have a small supply of magic.

  What he did have, however, was the ability to retain information that went beyond what he’d thought possible, as well as the ability to see connections which he thought that he might have missed before.

  When he’d heard the rumors of Eli’s unsettling use of goblin test subjects, he’d immediately come up with the plan to counter that. And so began the first round of the high school’s Arena. He put his name everywhere to make certain that the refugees knew that it was his idea and not the kid’s.

  The goblins were actually enthusiastic participants once the rules were explained to them. That they wouldn’t be ‘allowed’ to kill anyone thanks to the presence of higher level guards didn’t mean that they couldn’t try.

  The stated purpose was to get the level one refugees more confident in their abilities so that they might group up and challenge a dungeon on normal or easy mode.

  Among those who had already delved the dungeon and were waiting to re-enter, which made up about ten percent of the population of the Haven, the stated purpose was personal amusement as they watched the level one idiots swing about with baseball bats and similar weapons.

  They intervened to keep casualties from happening, both among the humans and the goblins, who were allowed to survive their bouts so that they could fight again another day.

  But they also placed bets. And they also cheered and jeered at the human combatants.

  Phelps knew that he didn’t have the moral high ground to stand on for this decision. Indeed, he was waste deep in sewage on this one. But the positive note was that it did have the desired effect; many parties formed after taking on a goblin team and emerging victorious. They politely requested a guild membership before entering the dungeon.

  It would be a few days before any of them emerged, but Miguel wished them well.

  Then another emotional gut-punch arrived. Specifically it arrived in the form of a few dozen post-cards, which simply appeared out of the air in front of the addressee, who was listed in such terms as ‘My Mom,” or “My Dad,” or in a single case “Daddy.”

  The front of the postcard had a group picture that looked like it had been taken by a school photographer, and the back had childish handwriting.

  It was a message from the missing kids, the ones who had formed their own groups when the dungeons emerged and challenged the system. The messages were short, both by the necessity of fitting the message onto the back of a postcard and also because they were written by children under the age of twelve. But after requesting access to every card that had arrived in the Haven and being permitted to read the messages on them, he determined the rules of Very Easy Mode pretty quickly.

  To be certain, he confronted Eli about it while the boy was in the science room, researching who knows what about his class.

  “We need to ask the Titan about Very Easy Mode,” he said.

  “Yeah, sure, I’ll add it to the list,” the kid agreed.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “No, this is high priority,” Miguel said. He passed over one of the postcards. He’d promised to return it, but he had extracted permission to keep it for a few hours to show some of the other members of the Haven’s hierarchy.

  Eli read the back of the postcard for a few moments, then shrugged. He conjured Gabri, who was growing to be an increasingly rare appearance. Once the little faerie was dressed, they convinced him to repeat the salt-ritual to put them in contact with Erandius.

  The Titan appeared a moment after the wind magic put the ritual in place. “Hello again Eli. I see you have been busy. Your name continues to appear in this world’s consciousness as a beacon of hope.”

  “Erandius. I won’t hold up too much of your time. I need answers about Very Easy Mode. What is it’s purpose, it’s parameters, and what happens to the kids who ‘fail?’”

  “The purpose of Very Easy Mode, as it is called by the system of this world, is to provide the children who might reach the point of being useful to the conflict a place to develop. And the time to develop. Time is accelerated for them considerably, to the point that by the time they emerge at a biological age of fifteen, or sooner if they complete the tenth floor before then, only a few months shall have passed on the surface. They shall have advanced opportunities available to them at that point allowing them to catch up to those who were of age when the system arrived.

  “As for it’s parameters; any child under the age of twelve is eligible. A party with a mixture of such children and adults will not be able to enter together. The children are grouped into cohorts and trained to fight with the enhancements of the system, gaining one level per floor as they go deeper into the system. They earn privileges for advancing, such as better food and the ability to contact the surface.

  “And there is no failing this mode. It is not designed to be a deathtrap the other difficulties. The children will be ejected once they reach the biological age of fifteen whether they’ve completed the dungeon or not, and at that point it is on them to survive what is to come. This is just an effort to give them a chance to be less of a burden upon the front runners of the system such as yourself.”

  The Titan finished talking, and then his face turned slightly, his attention obviously drawn by something else. The connection cut out without ceremony.

  Eli turned to Miguel, who had been recording the entire action with a cell phone. Miguel nodded at him, and the video was forwarded to his government contacts, the media, and uploaded to their website within moments.

  Gabri stuck around for a while after completing the ritual for Eli and spent that time criticizing his efforts at preparing for floors 11-20. That criticism slowed when he found the ‘dog-tags.’

  “How did you make these?” The faerie asked.

  “John Sr. and Junior hijacked an engraving machine that’s designed to make identification tags for our pets,” Eli explained. “I’m a little surprised that it worked, but we tested them on goblins and they were quite effective.”

  The faerie frowned, then continued to go through the preparations. From Eli’s blasting rod, which was a carefully etched brass rod, the kind that was meant to be decorated with a lathe but had been left as a simple dowel instead. The designs on it had been altered slightly to make them work as a cylinder instead of a flat surface, and the reverse end had also been etched with the hyper-coagulation ritual.

  The little faerie then inspected the boy’s gear. The leather jacket had been replaced by a new jacket. Also leather, but new. And the enchantments were performed by Lucy, who was growing increasingly proficient in her craft. The bulletproofing enchant was still there, as were enchantments that were supposed to increase the tensile strength common armor materials, including the materials of the armors that the other party members had purchased through the System’s Shop Kiosk, which had appeared suddenly in the High School cafeteria.

  And then, finally, the weapons.

  Eli had a switchblade that had been inscribed with blade enhancing rituals which he could spread to the rest of the party with his spread enchantment ability, Transference, and he had a billy-club which was enchanted with the same magic circle that he’d once put on his baseball bat for bludgeoning damage, which he could likewise spread around to anyone who wasn’t using a slashing or piercing weapon.

  His final weapon was one designed to help out the ranged members of the party. It looked like some sort of ninja-tool. He’d purchased it from the system unenchanted for fifty points. It was made of high-quality steel. Ten feet of chain, which he kept wrapped around his waist like a belt, and on one end a weight that carried an ‘impact’ enchantment.

  On the other end of the chain was what looked like an oversized arrowhead. The initial version of the tool had actually been a grappling hook, but he had found this as an alternative. It was a grappling hook, but an unusual one. It was meant to be thrown by a user with system-enhanced strength and pierce a target rather than grapple onto the edge.

  After some testing, they’d determined that the impact rune on the weighted end of the grappling hook amplified the damage caused by Elaine’s bullets by a considerable amount, while the bladed half of the grapple was close enough to an arrowhead to resonate with the crossbow bolts and Sophies more traditional arrows.

  In short, Eli was rather proud of the improvements he’d made to his kit in the last five days.

  “Okay, so maybe you’ll actually not be completely useless to your party this time,” Gabri said before disappearing. “But don’t count on it!”

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