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  “System?” Ajax couldn’t keep his embarrassment coming through the anger he was trying to project.

  “Yes, Ajax. Is everything to your liking?” System responded with a tone like she was proud of her creation.

  “What is this?”

  “All your biological reactions indicate that you wish to mate with these two females. I am supporting your intentions. I wasn’t sure if you’d want your own tent when you were done or not though.”

  Ajax locked his jaw to keep it from falling off. “Can they hear you in this space?” He wanted to make sure they didn’t hear that.

  “No, I am only speaking to you at the moment.” System responded.

  “Good. No, Great. I appreciate it System, but don’t take this much liberty in the future.” Ajax couldn’t do more than accept it and move on without the girls understanding more from his side of the conversation.

  “Understood Ajax. Would you like me to change it?” System said.

  Ajax wasn’t sure how that would go, and while the roses were a bit much, it was what he had wanted. For now, it was fine and the girls were starting to share.

  “Sorry, my AI apparently thinks I like roses.” Ajax tried to blame it on System.

  “I think they add a nice touch.” Missy bent over smelling one.

  Ajax tried not to stare at her ass and give System more biological reactions towards her dataset. He turned to Sky who was smiling faintly at the setup.

  “Your personal space is way more advanced. Mine is still just an empty field,” Sky spoke.

  “Mine was the last time I was here, too. This is new.” Now that Ajax thought about it he pulled up his menu. As expected, a customize button in the menu was available. “Well, it looks like I unlocked something to help customize the space.” Ajax dismissed the menu not diving into it while he was talking with the girls.

  “It’s beautiful.” Missy joined them with a rose embedded in her pink hair. “Thanks for the setup.” She pecked him on the cheek and stepped back with a big smile.

  He stepped back to and took her in. She was beautiful, distractingly so. Ajax felt like he was on top of the world after that kiss. He smiled in bliss, and she grinned even wider as if she’d just won the prize.

  “Well, it’s late and we need our rest.” Sky pulled Missy away into the campsite.

  Ajax wasn’t even disappointed. He went to his tent and fell asleep immediately, filled with pleasant dreams.

  CHAPTER 13

  Morning arrived, and Ajax immediately focus on his biggest task at hand- magic. Or rather spells to use his magic.

  Navigating himself to Danica’s wagon. Her servant saw him and beckoned him inside like he was expected.

  The interior was an open room that had been covered in billowing cloth in an attempt to project an air of wealth. For Ajax, the gauzy material covering the wall reminded him of curtains in a cheap hotel. Then again, Ajax had just upgraded from a wooden shack to a tent.

  Danica sat there studying Ajax, letting the silence sharpen her tongue for the negotiations to come.

  Ajax took the moment to study Danica right back. She had maple brown hair heavily flecked with gray. She wasn’t fat, but she had a soft roundness to her body that suggested she did very little physical labor. She wore a loose green gown that wasn’t doing her waist any favors.

  Danica herself sat within a pile of colorful silk pillows. Lounging back, she smiled like it was the lap of luxury, while Ajax sat on a lone single pillow. She had a smug smile as if the difference in pillows was a representation of their status. Though why pillows made her feel that way, Ajax was unsure.

  A male servant served them wine while they sat in silence. He seemed immune to the occasional bump of the road and managed to avoid spilling a drop. Danica didn’t even seem to notice him as she stared back at Ajax. He realized she had the advantage, and he’d need to speak first.

  “Ahem” Ajax cleared his throat, he felt like he was losing by speaking first. He, however, didn’t want to spend all day in a staring contest; she likely didn’t have anything else important to do on the road so she could literally wait all day. “Captain Remblar said you might be able to teach me some magic.”

  She scoffed her face flashing a frown “You lead directly with what you need in a negotiation… I don’t know if you are bold or stupid. Probably both; they aren’t mutually exclusive.” She leaned back into the pillows, seeming to be bored and treating the conversation like it was a forgone conclusion. Ajax wondered if that would be the perpetual state for someone who lived like this, or if his directness had spoiled what she hoped would become an afternoon of verbal sparring.

  Waving her hand at the attendant, she casually ordered him to bring the three books. Then she redirected her focus to Ajax who was still stuck on her insult. But he realized she had already expected this visit to some extent.

  The three books were laid in front of him. Each of them was no more than twenty pages. Ajax raised a brow; he’d seen pamphlets thicker than these. As if anticipating his thoughts, she answered his unasked question, “Yes, each book only contains one spell. Keeps people coming back for more. And a book of a dozen spells is too expensive to sell easily. This is just good business.” She added before directing his attention back to the books.

  The three books were each marked clearly on the front; Meditation, Magic Missile, Light. “Five silver each.” She let a predatory smile take over.

  Ajax guessed she knew just how much money he had, or had made assumptions that he came to this job dirt poor. As he already guessed, he was going to leave here broke once again. But what choice did he have?

  Breaking him from his thoughts, Danica continued “Go ahead. I won’t make you pay to look at them briefly.”

  Focusing back on the books, Ajax needed to pick two. He obviously was going to take Magic Missile, so he put that one to the side already accepting that he was going to buy it. He needed an offensive spell first and foremost. The other two were both utility, and he wasn’t sure what meditation did, but it sounded more useful that light. So far they hadn’t seen any caves and a torch would work just as well.

  With Magic Missile to the side, he looked at the descriptions for Meditation and Light. Meditation turned out to not really be a spell; it was more of a skill. The skill was an active way to increase mana regeneration. Later in the book, it appeared there was some lingering passive benefit.

  If Ajax was to become a caster, he had two choices for how he maintained mana. One was to have such a large pool you that he wouldn’t need to recover any during a fight. The other option was to have enough regeneration through other skills. He could always try both but games often rewarded extremes rather than someone who tried to maintain balance.

  Before making the decision, he needed to look over the Light spellbook. Much to his expectation, it was a spell to summon a globe of light that would follow him or temporarily enchant an item to glow in the dark. It was a quintessential item for any dungeon campaign, but he didn’t think it was truly necessary. And he was likely to find it well stocked in any city if he did think it would come in handy.

  Ajax was not one to hesitate, and he quickly made his decision going with Meditation and Magic Missile.

  “Good choice. Go ahead and look through them before you walk away.” She had an odd look of anticipation on her face as he opened the books. As he looked at the first page the book flashed and he saw a notification that the skill had been learned. Opening up his spell menu he saw Magic Missile, and next to it was an option to view the whole text of the book in the interface.

  So that’s how it worked. He probably could cast it right now. But there had to be more to it contained in the book.

  “Well that’s at least proof. I had heard adventurers could learn a spell just by glancing at a spellbook.”

  Ajax was confused however “Why didn’t that happen when I leafed through them earlier?”

  Danica gave him a bland look like she was deciding if he was joking or plai
n stupid. She seemed to decide he was just ignorant “Because before the book was mine, then it was yours. Obviously, items function differently if you are the owner or not. Things do function that way where you are from, correct?”

  Ajax shook his head “Nope, everything functions just fine even if it’s not yours.” He wanted to get away from the line of conversation about where they were from. He wasn’t sure how that would turn out in the game “Are there many of these types of spellbooks?”

  Seemingly fine with the change in conversation Danica explained to him. “These have become a lot more popular for apprentice mages to make money.” She waved the Light book in her hand. “However the more advanced mages don’t take the time to write out a spellbook. So it’s just the basics like this for you, dear. You need to learn to actually use your magic if you want to go far.”

  “What do you mean actually learn to use magic?” Ajax said.

  However, she didn’t answer his question. “Well, it seems you are out of coin. I enjoyed your business. Do come again.” With that she leaned back, ignoring Ajax. He’d lost her interest and was obviously dismissed. He’d have to figure out the answer by himself. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

  Ajax sighed. In the end, everything was about money. But Ajax was impressed with how honest she was about the difference in attitude when he had and didn’t have money. It felt better than the contempt that came with it in the real world.

  CHAPTER 14

  Stepping out of the wagon, Ajax was still excited he had magic. He’d have a chance to learn more but at least now he could cast a spell. It would give his caster stats use. He didn’t hesitate to flip open the Meditation book as he walked to the girls and watch it flare and disappear.

  It looked into his skill menu to see what it did. Meditation is the art of calming one's mind to understand the energies of magic. It provided a passive increase to mana regeneration. While focusing on meditation, mana regeneration could be increased up to five times the passive amount. Okay, so that’s amazing.

  Every caster’s worst nightmare was running out of mana so it would definitely help, although just how much was yet to be seen. Knowing that he could continue to level his skills, Ajax felt that he could focus on leveling meditation until it was useful or he found another way to complement his mana drain while fighting. It also provided a great way for Ajax to restore mana between fights- instead of mana potions.

  Magic Missile was a bread and butter damage spell in almost every game. It was a simple ball of raw magic projected at high speeds.

  Giddy from his new spells, he caught up to the girls and sent a Magic Missile at Missy’s feet to announce his new skill.

  She screamed- not an excited scream, but a startled and hurt scream. Maybe it did more damage than he thought it would. She had been caught off balance and fell on her ass. She whipped her head around to see Ajax’s hand still extended. The look of sheer rage on her face brought with it an errant thought of younger years- when he was young and still thought something like pulling a prank was the best way to get a girl's attention. Until a few incidents where he came to realize girls were perhaps capable of ripping your heart out through your throat in anger.

  Missy was on him in a flash with a punch to the gut and another scream, this time filled with fury. “What. The. Fuck. Was. That.” She leaned over Ajax.

  “A joke, a really bad one.” Ajax wheezed out, doubled over. Even at forty percent pain sensitivity, a gut punch still hurt like shit. How much strength did she have now?

  Sky’s soft voice came to his aid from behind him. “Wow, Missy what did you do to him? I think he was just trying to flirt with you.” He could feel her try and comfort him as she stepped to his side. “Let me take a look. I had hoped I wouldn’t need these yet.” She pulled out a roll of thin bandages and gave them to Ajax to hold. He leaned into her, stunned as she lifted up the bottom of his shirt. He looked over to Missy, who’s anger seemed to have completely evaporated. He wasn’t sure which part of this had put out her anger.

  However, now her expression was flipping between happy and jealous. Women. Ajax will never understand them.

  Sky brushed his flat stomach with her hand “Where does it hurt?” He couldn’t help but feel a flush of heat in his pants at the beauty crouching before him. Could he get hard in the game? That was a sobering thought as he imagined the horror of his pants tenting right now.

  All of this noise had attracted Sir Remblaar. “Stop making so much noise we are too close to the forest. We don’t want to attract an orc band or catch the eyes of bandit scouts. Get up and move.” He wasn’t happy and grumbled as he walked away, letting us know just how much “fucking adventurers” were appreciated in his guard.

  He’d called them adventurers before and obviously had some prejudice against the players. He wondered why the game designers would create characters that had a prejudice against them or what the beta testers had done to deserve it. Ajax looked at the girls and they had both heard Remblaar and had similarly strange expressions.

  “Goblins!” A shout came from the front of the caravan. Ajax winced; Remblaar was going to blame the three of them for the goblins.

  The trio didn’t need any prompting and eagerly rushed forward towards the green creatures now spilling out into the caravan’s path. There was a fallen tree blocking the road another two or three hundred feet up the path; this was a planned ambush.

  Ajax was relieved it wasn’t really their fault that the goblins attacked, though Ramblaar would surely still blame them. The guards were already fighting two or three goblins each. More were pouring over the fallen tree to assist those that had joined the fight at the roadblock. The guards were fighting in small groups of three to watch each other's backs, but beyond that, there was little organization among the fighting.

  When Ajax neared the fighting, goblins began to peel off of the overwhelmed guards to target the trio. Ajax could see them more clearly now. The little green monsters were hunched over humanoids with rough bubbling green skin. They matched the color of nearby leaves. Ajax wasn’t surprised that they had been able to hide among the trees so well. The goblins were all covered in scars, and their ears pocked with holes. It maked them look feral and ferocious.

  Ajax stepped forward against the earliest goblin throwing his left hand forward. “Magic Missile!” The goblin’s eyes went wide at the flying orb of magic before it reeled back like it was punched in the face by a linebacker. Hard enough to be lifted off its feet, it was knocked back a good distance by the spell.

  Ajax wasn’t able to keep an eye on it to see if it died, but it suggested his spell did quite the damage. Maybe Missy’s reaction was more valid than he thought.

  The goblins were still coming and another charged towards him.

  Ajax stepped aside avoiding the sloppy charge and remembered Missy’s critical strike. He swung hard with his ax at the base of the goblin’s skull. With a wet crack, he saw bold red text float above the goblin. He had scored a crit for forty-three points against the low-level goblin, putting it well below half health.

  The goblin spun, swinging wildly. Ajax stepped back unable to guess where that swing was going. It swung around full circle like a children’s toy.

  Ajax rushed in for a killing blow but another goblin jumped from the side only to catch an arrow in the face and fall short of Ajax.

  Losing sight of Missy as she jumped deep into the fray. He looked back to check on Sky, only to see Sky put another another arrow in a goblin. Two terrifying and sexy women he thought. Something about the violence made them more attractive. He realized if he kept thinking about it, he’d find out if he could get aroused in the game.

  Focusing back on the two goblins, Ajax activated Power Strike and caught the temple of the low health goblin hard. It went down like a ragdoll.

  The goblin that had taken an arrow to the chest had recovered and was coming at Ajax. That was, until a curved long sword tore into him. Missy stood behind the now dead g
oblin with a large grin. Three more were coming at them when she began to spin with the sword in hand. There was no organization to her spin, but it seemed to work as a third of their health disappeared. The pink-haired whirling dervish spun out of her new skill and laughed like a dizzy maniac. Her pink hair turning into a cyclone, she spun again back at the three goblins.

  Arrows rained from behind, hitting those trying to rush the pink storm. The girls had set up a structured team in almost an instant. Ajax wasn’t going to be left out. He began using his ax on those that got too close and tossing out a few Magic Missiles to finish those that had tried to run.

  Missy was able to move fluidly around him and avoid slicing into Ajax with her spinning move.

  A goblin with more sense than his other green compatriots. It pulled a bow off its back to try and stop Missy’s destructive spin.

  Ajax saw it and stepped around her spinning form. Smacking his ax into the goblin. The ax went into its shoulder with a sick crunch.