“A silver piece if I get the results faster than him,” Bonnie offered, flashing a full-toothed grin and giving him a wink. “Two if you want me to make him feel bad about being so slow compared to the great Bonnie.”

Lucas nodded. He wasn’t short on money. It was the one asset, unlike time, that he wouldn’t run out of. “I’ll give you three silvers if he uses the word ‘garbage’ while complaining about how hard it was to find too,” Lucas said with a laugh.

“Deal.” Her body went just as still as Nick’s almost as soon as she agreed, leaving the two standing in front of him, staring straight ahead with vacant expressions.

“Hey, Hermann,” Lucas called over. “I’m going to need another glass of wine.” He had never completely gotten past the heebie-jeebies that logged-out individuals gave him. There was just something not right about a body with nothing in it, though that was probably exactly how they looked in real life, sitting lifeless in their dive capsules as information was shoved into their brains and nutrients into their veins.

“I didn’t realize Imperium soldiers hung out with so many non-Humans,” Hermann said, clearly avoiding the word “subs,” which the others had used to describe themselves. “That’s really refreshing to—”

Lucas cut him off by taking the bottle of wine from his hand and tossing a coin into the air as payment. “Just the wine, Hermann. Just the wine.”

Hermann chuckled and walked back behind the bar, which was much livelier than when Lucas had first walked in. “Whatever you say.”

Chapter 3

Character Name: Lucas

Level: -67

Hit Points: 140

Arcane Energy: 200

Stamina: 100

Holy Energy: Class Locked

Current Class: Mage

Stats:

Arcanum [increases Arcane Energy by 10 per point]: 10

Holy [No Effect/Class Locked]: 0

Athletics [increases Stamina by 10 per point]: 0

Fortitude [increases Hit Points by 1% per point]: 0

Charisma: 30

Luck: 0

Unspent: 0

Current Elemental Attunement:

None

Combat Proficiencies:

None

“So, you’re saying it should be around here?” Lucas asked as the trio crept through an abandoned-looking farm behind Kegan’s manor. The farm had an odd gold-and-white, wheat-like grain product growing chest high, and there were no trodden or used paths for the team to walk down. Instead, they just had to wander around, trying to find the secret entrance.

“Yeah, and I think I just spotted the stupid thing we’re supposed to be looking for,” Nick said, pointing to a small one-bedroom house in the middle of the field that was somehow perfectly maintained despite the vegetation having overrun everything else.