Chapter Forty - 秘密持ちたいな 罪を感じたい

I woke up with pain all over my body and Alessandra’s grinning face in my view.

“No-a painkiller spell for you today-a,” she announced. “Punishment for being a naughty fiancée. Giving your poor girl such grief, oh my.”

“I’ll aim for a softer tree next time,” I said after wetting my mouth. It tasted like dead skunk. Or maybe just like dead Jane—how long does it take for dead bodies to taste dead? It must be a while or butchers would have trouble selling their wares.

“Come on, Jane. Not yet alive for ten seconds and cracking jokes already without even a word of thanks?” Charlie said. Just a moment. Charlie? What was she doing here?

“You’re right. Thanks, Alessandra,” I said.

“No need to thank me, aym only helping you heal faster. Charlie and Wynter brought you back.” Alessandra corrected me. So Wynter was the name of that ressurrectionist. But Charlie? She wasn’t a player last time I checked. Another last-second wild talent addition?

“Yeah, thanks, Wynter, for putting my soul back. And Charlie, thanks for…?”

“Getting your body back into a state where the soul would stay put,” Wynter said with a soft melodic voice. “Not many people can heal dead bodies, but she managed with ease.”

“It was nothing,” Charlie said with modesty. “I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, could I? And by the way, Ten says hi. I think she had her hand in this, too.”

“Who’s Ten?” Geri asked, but I ignored her.

“Thanks, Charlie and thanks, Ten. I owe you both.”

“Good girl,” Alessandra said and patted me on the head. “But that’s enough healing; ya have to dow the rest on ya own, ay am tapped out.” I could hear how tired she was in her voice, and her accent was off somehow.

“I’ll drive you home,” Charlie said. “You’re starting to look as fair as you sound.” What did that mean?

“But ay promised Cindy to take her out…” Alessandra protested.

“How about a compromise?” Livia interjected herself, saying something for the first time since I had woken up. “You can stay in tonight at Cindy’s place. You’re in no shape to go out, but that way, she’s not deprived of your presence.” It’d be a “sleeping like the dead” presence, but better than nothing, I supposed.

“Fine,” Alessandra mumbled, already half asleep. It seemed she had poured way more of her magic into me than she could afford. It made me feel a bit guilty, seeing how my healing ability could take care of that, too. Then my stomach rumbled like Mount Vesuvius in 79, and I felt what my healing was missing. Food.

“Can we relocate to somewhere with food, beds and showers right about now, please?” I asked.

🙚⚜🙘

I was a bit out of it afterwards, but I still remember how Livia and Sam shocked Charlie by lifting her car up to turn it around. I am not sure who got into which car, aside from me being in Charlie’s, as I wasn’t exactly in a shape to walk to Greg’s. I think I was squeezed between Livia and Sam, but I wouldn’t swear on it. I do remember arriving home to the fantastic smell of takeout that was stacked three boxes high on the living room table. Livia had had to have called ahead. It’s nice to have goons for such things. Everyone should have some.

The afternoon turned into evening as we ate, chatted, ate again, told Charlie about our exploits, ate dinner, and, one by one, made a trip through the bathroom. For some reason, the only ones who remembered to take fresh clothes into there were Marco and Megan—but that may have been because their old clothes were still fresh enough to be worn again. Marco could have gotten a bathrobe, like our other visitors, but he had to leave before dinner. It turned out his parents had a restaurant and he was filling in as a server in the evenings. And Megan…Megan wasn’t one for hanging out and had Greg drive her home after an hour or so.

I sat warm and cosy, snuggled under a blanket against Livia, my foot—the other one was a slowly and itchingly regrowing mess—up on the table, ready to fall asleep at any time, when Geri put her arms around me from behind. “Don’t you fall asleep now,” she shouted into my ear. “You’ve got a class selection pending. I’m to nag you until you do, system command.”

“You’re talking to the system now, too?” I asked. “What’s next? Alpha showing up here for a round of Mario Cart?”

“Who’s Alpha?” Rune asked.

I saw no reason to keep it a secret anymore, seeing how Geri and Charlie had had contact with the AIs already. “Top-level AI running this place. Generally nice woman, but she’s always at ten other places with her thoughts.”

“Sounds nicer than that Beta guy,” Charlie added. “He sounded like he had a stick up his arse, and not the fun way. While sending me text notifications!”

“Huh. Beta. I’ve never talked to a beta. It always was either Alpha or one of the Gammas,” I said without thinking. A couple of heads turned towards Gamma-9, who was clicking for virtual dates again. Yet she seemed to have noticed what was going on behind her as she held up her left hand and said, “I’m on vacation, so no comment from me.”

“I think that was comment enough, Gamma Nine,” Livia said.

“You have a system AI on vacation living with you?” Rune asked wide-eyed. Thankfully, someone must have convinced Wynter, who was sleeping soundly across the room, to pull back her suppression skill, allowing Rune to change into her favourite form.

I shrugged. “It just happened. Gamma was very helpful when the initial mess with our natural races not mixing well with the system happened, and then she just showed up in that body.” I was glossing over many things, but layers upon layers…

“You. Are. Stalling. Jane,” Geri said. “Get to your class selection before your sacrifice expires, whatever that means.”

“Ok, ok, I’m doing it now. Happy?” I said and concentrated on getting a class without waiting for a reply. Unique, with two human sacrifices, rounding up the team with conflicting concepts we were missing. Also, something that would allow me to pull all, or as much as possible, of humanity forward on whatever path the arseholes behind the system deemed most worthy of spending resources on. Something that would stop me from needing Alessandra after each troll.

🖹

You have been offered a class selection. Available classes:

“Saviour of Humanity”: You are the paragon to unite the human race on its way forward. You stand at the top, shining the way. The strongest human and a role model to inspire everyone. This class comes with a passive bonus to all stats, abilities and skills. The class abilities greatly boost your command of others to enable you to unite humanity. The class skills immensely boost your power as a fighter, allowing to to excel in both melee and magic.

“Light of a New Dawn”: From the downfall comes a new hope. You hold up the torch humanity can follow on the way out of the unavoidable chaos the global system activation will bring. Guide humanity out of the ruins and into the light of a new day. This class comes with a passive bonus to all stats, abilities and skills. The class abilities greatly boost your social interactions and your diplomacy and allow you to see into the hearts of others. The class skills boost your power as a fighter, allowing to to excel in both melee and rogue-style fighting.

“Two-faced Mastermind”: From the shadows, you pull the strings. In the light, you are virtuous. Two sides of the same coin. Night and day, united in you. You will never stand at the top, but all up there will have ties to you. You will never be the lowest of the low, but those there heed your command. This class comes with a passive bonus to all stats, abilities and skills. The class abilities are split into boosting your leadership and public face and pulling the strings through means like blackmail and extortion. The class skills boost your resilience and fighting power on one side while enhancing your cunning and social interactions on the other. Note: This is a hideable class. You can opt to display it as either “Commander” or “Mastermind”.

“Consul”: ERROR: No class description in SOL database. ERROR: Class not enabled for SOL. ERROR: Class requirements not met. ERROR: Racial requirements not met. ERROR: Error message not available. ERROR: Access to classified data denied.

🖹

Achievement earned: “Play it again, Jane”

You have managed to die twice. You have managed to love twice. You have managed to be loved twice. You have managed to kill twice. You have managed to provide twice the sacrifices needed for your class choices. The latter is the remarkable feat.

This achievement comes with a reward: You gain a second class slot. You can select a second class from your primary choice or wait to build up a better class selection. Note: A secondary class and its skills gain XP at half the rate. A secondary’s class abilities are reduced by one tier (if possible). Secondary classes may be set to either be hidden or to replace your primary class wherever your class is shown.

Those were some impressive choices. But I would be lying if I pretended to even think about taking the first two. Gamma’s hints about opposite directions made all the more sense now that I saw “Two-faced Mastermind” in my list. That class was the definition of opposites. It wasn’t the fighter-healer combo I had originally imagined, but now, with Charlie and Wynter showing up, I didn’t need healer powers anymore.

Ten had told me she’d realised too late what was happening to me. I actually had believed her, but she had been totally lying. Asleep in bed, indeed. But why the big theatre? Could it be that they feared they were being watched? Plausible deniability? It must be, at least to some degree. And they had Geri remind me of my class selection, not Gamma, who was sitting right there. Another indirection that seemed superfluous when taken at face value. They were doing their best to look like they didn’t put all of this in my lap. Like it had been a lucky accident. That meant it was important.

I thought about the “Consul” class for a moment. My ancient history wasn’t at an expert level, but I always found Romans and Latin interesting. If I remembered correctly, “Consul” corresponded to an MP, making it a member of a larger body. But with all these errors, all pointing to the class not intended for humans, that opened the question, what kind of body was that? I could fantasise about it for hours, but at the core of that, all would be the same suspicion: Something in a layer we humans should not have access to.

And while it was a gamble, it was a gamble I couldn’t not take. The only question was which class I should take as my primary and which as the secondary. It could be a coin toss, or it could be important. I had no way of knowing. In the end, I decided to go by the order I would use those classes. Consul was a long-term goal, pushing humanity forward a mid-term one.

“Two-faced Mastermind” as primary class, “Consul” as secondary one.

🖹

Implementing class. Please relax. This can take a moment.

Class “Two-faced Mastermind” details for Yoana ‘Jane’ Asterfield-YiLong

Class stage: 1/10, 0/10,000 XP

Stage boosts:

• +20% to all stats
• +0.5 to all non-Two-faced-Mastermind ability tiers
• +10% to all non-Two-faced-Mastermind skill levels
• +100% to lifespan

Special: hideable, options: “Commander”, “Mastermind”, “Consul”

Abilities:

• major mental split: You can compartmentalise your mind into three sections, capable of independent thought, morals, emotions and memories.
• minor identity split: You can split your faction allegiances, bounds, memberships, etc., into two independent sets and toggle between them freely.
• improved two-face aura: You can project an aura of either righteousness or menace at will.
• major second-hand fame: Actions done on your command reflect onto your fame and reputation, even for people who are not aware of them. If you possess one or more split abilities, this applies to the appropriate splits.
• minor alter ego: You gain a second form for each form you already possess that shares the same characteristics but cannot be mistaken for the same person. If you possess one or more split abilities, you can assign splits to forms where appropriate.

Skills:

• form projection (reality altering), Level 1, 0/50 XP: For a limited time, you can project one of your forms into a physical body.
• emperor’s clothes (magical), Level 1, 0/100 XP: You can project the illusion of clothes around you. Certain classes of people may be immune to this skill according to local customs and traditions.
• acting — you already possess this skill, you gain 1 level.
• persuasion (physical), Level 1, 0/100 XP: Improves your chances when trying to persuade others.
• blackmail/extortion — you already possess this skill, you gain 1 level.
• fast talking — you already possess this skill, you gain 1 level.
• fast thinking — you already possess this skill, you gain 1 level.
• commanding voice (magical), Level 1, 0/100 XP: Improves the effect of your voice when giving commands. You will be more clearly heard and understood by your allies. Creatures under your command will better follow your commands, also gaining a small bonus to executing them. Provides a bonus when using vocal skills (for example, intimidation) on non-allies, too.
• fighting — you already possess this skill, you gain 1 level.
• damage boost (reality altering), Level 1, 0/50 XP: Any physical damage you deal is enhanced by 10% per skill level of identical physical damage. Any magical damage you deal is enhanced by 10% per skill level of identical magical damage.
• damage boost (magical), Level 1, 0/100 XP: Any physical damage you deal is enhanced by 10% per skill level of random magical damage.
• dodging (physical), Level 1, 0/100 XP: Allows you to automatically evade attacks.
• damage mitigation (reality altering), Level 1, 0/50 XP: For each skill level, 10% of all damage you take is diverted into the immediate surroundings of the location the damage occurs. You are immune to tertiary damage from this skill.

Class “Consul” details for Yoana ‘Jane’ Asterfield-YiLong

Class stage: 1/10, 1/5,000 voters

Stage boosts:

• +10% to all stats (reduced to +5%)
• +1 to all non-Consul ability tiers (reduced to +0.5)
• +1 to all non-Consul skill levels (reduced to +1)
• +100% to lifespan (reduced to +50%)

Abilities:

• minor aura of presence: You are there, period. People can’t ignore that. (reduced to minor)
• minor aura of authority: You are an authority to people of lower standing. (reduced to minor)
• minor word of law: Your word is law. Does not work on people under the authority of another. (reduced to minor)
• minor word of judgment: Your word is binding. Does not work on people under the authority of another. (reduced to minor)
• minor word of execution: Your word is terminal. Does not work on people under the authority of another. (reduced to minor)

Skills:

• Vote (administrative), Level 1, 0/1 XP: You can cast one vote.
• Drone access (administrative), Level 1, 0/10 XP: You have access to one physical world drone. ERROR: Drone links are not available at SOL-GB-Liverpool-39. Contact maintenance to remedy this. (PLEASE!!! Don’t!!! —Ten)
• Mirror of authority (administrative), Level 1, 0/10 XP: This skill allows you to use a skill or ability of someone under your command once per day per skill level and class level.
• Strong Respawn (administrative), Level 1, 0/10 XP: Once per day per skill level and class level, you respawn at your respawn point with full health and no debuffs upon death.
• ERROR: Skill not installed on shard SOL-GB-Liverpool-39.
• ERROR: Skill not installed on shard SOL-GB-Liverpool-39.
• ERROR: Skill not available on shard SOL-GB-Liverpool-39.
• ERROR: Skill not available in SOL.

Oh my, unique classes were something else; so much was clear. The mastermind alone gave me a huge power boost, and the class wasn’t even about raw power. Damage mitigation alone was insane; at level eight, more than half the damage I took would be applied to anything around the impact, including the attacker’s fist. If I had had that earlier today, I could have stood there and let the troll hit me, killing him with mitigation alone and wouldn’t have come out worse than I had.

Consul was on a completely different level again. While I could not gain more information about skills and abilities by concentrating on the descriptions like normal players—even though the AIs had finally managed to add those descriptions to my sheet and add some basic formatting—I could see how overpowered some of those were.

Judge, jury and executioner in one? Did this mean I could kill someone with a word? It certainly looked like it. If so, I could see why it was named after Roman officials, not a more modern equivalent.

The wording of Strong Respawn was a bit odd. It didn’t sound like it would give me the ability to respawn, but lessen the negative effects. Did that mean that it wouldn’t make me respawn by itself? I could try it out, as I had learnt Alpha could not let me die for real, but it seemed like playing the stupid game.

For now, only that mirror skill was something I had to remember. Copying a skill from any guild member could be incredibly useful, at least if I knew how to use it effectively. Copying Sam’s ability to summon a sword would be mostly useless to me unless I needed a sturdy lever. Some others I needed to stay away from until I had levelled up my skill. I had one use per day, so a doppelganger shift would lock me in that form until the next day.

The administrative skill type seemed to have an incredibly low cost to level up, but that may be deceptive, as I had no idea how many XP each use would award. I already had noticed that there seemed to be no uniform formula for that. Killing a person got me 1000 skill XP, activating my glamour between one and three.

Still, that was no reason for letting today’s chance of gaining some skill XP go to waste. I closed the menu, time restarted, and my stump started itching like crazy. I jerked, throwing off Livia, pulled the blanket off and rubbed it. I now could feel it growing under my fingers. Oh, yes, my ability boosts. They added up to a whole tier, which made a big difference.

“What?” Livia asked.

“Healing just got better,” I said, “itches harder, too.” Then I gave her a thumbs up and told my skill to copy her fire finger or whatever that skill was called, putting a small flame on top of the thumb.

“Oh, no! Not you and fire. We just got all the asbestos out…” she crooned in mock despair. “But out with it, what did you get?”

I grinned, thinking frantically to come up with a tuned-down version I’d be comfortable telling to the big group around me. In the end, I decided to keep close to the truth. For some reason, I trusted all of them not to freak out.

“Think Lex Luthor, just without the insanity,” I said. “I got everything to live a double life as a secret villain and a good boost to damage and survivability on top.”

“What’s in that ’everything’?” Rune asked. “I mean, it doesn’t take much to secretly rule over an empire of crime, does it?”

“Indeed,” Livia added. “If I can do that already, what makes you better at it?”

“This,” I said and activated my alter ego ability. It was good I was mostly naked under the blanket, as some of the changes to my body could have had uncomfortable side effects. I grew by two inches, my shoulders got wider, my pelvis retracted, my chest flattened, and the now very narrow space between my legs filled, spilling out of my panties. Luckily, nothing sensitive got crushed there during the change. In addition, my hair colour shifted into a reddish brown, and my cheeks took on a stubble.

“May I present to you: My villain form,” I announced in an unfamiliarly deep voice.

“Huh, I don’t see a difference; you’re sexy as always,” Geri joked.

“It takes more to impress me…” Rune said.

“That’s not all,” I said. “In this form, I’m not the guild mistress; I’m not even a guild member. No matter what kind of bond or relationship you put upon me, I can split that between my forms as I see fit.”

“It’s true. Even my healing bond doesn’t apply. It is still attached to Jane, but the bond just stretches to somewhere outside. If I hadn’t seen the transformation, I’d tell you that Jane is in the bathroom,” Charlie said.

“I also can split my thoughts and emotions,” I said. “But I don’t dare to play around with it on a whim.”

“You know what that means, don’t you?” Livia asked with a wide smile. “We can have that church wedding you wanted, after all.”

Laughter filled the room, but all I could think of at that moment was that we also could have kids together. I still wanted one or two from my own body, but that just meant we needed to get Livia or Sam a male form, too, didn’t it?