EV B2 Chapter 21:

  The bustle of a new challenge forming was not something I had expected when I was leaving the portal. There was a bit of whiplash as I stepped out. It reminded me of a crowded mall on Black Friday. People were yelling at the Raven manning the desk, and some waited in line while others pushed. For the most part, the warriors policed themselves, but that wasn't to say there weren't several scuffles going on at any given moment.

  We got a few odd looks as we pushed and shoved our way out against the press of bodies. I was thankful the area was full of lower-level warriors rather than some of the true elites—or else we might have been crushed as an afterthought. Once we were half a block away from the challenge entrance, we were finally able to gather around and talk.

  Thing One and Thing Two passed me the agreed amount of coin for the extra. It was small but enough to make it worthwhile. Having settled accounts, they left.

  "I need to sell the rewards and turn them into coins," I said. "But I'm gonna get arrested for a little bit. Before we look at what it's doing next—what we do next," I told Astrid.

  She nodded. But there was one thing I had to take care of before we figured out what our immediate plans were.

  Jorg reached out, and I took his hand, shaking it.

  "It's good to see you again," he said amiably as he slipped me a token in his palm through the handshake. "We'll be in contact when that job you might be interested in is ready."

  He gave a small salute and then headed off in a different direction than the mysterious hooded figures. I put what felt like a wooden token in my pocket without being too obvious.

  "You want to find an inn?" I asked Astrid. "We probably need to start thinking about the next challenge already."

  She nodded and yawned, stuffing a fist in her mouth. "I'm not sure if it's that we didn't sleep enough or just plain exhaustion, but I'm beat."

  We walked several blocks, finding a slightly nicer tavern and renting a pair of rooms. It wasn't something we could afford to do for days with our current reserves, but at least I had a little bit of coin.

  I bid Astrid a good night and then went into the room myself. But instead of going to bed, I went to the desk and carved the familiar runes of a status ritual. I cut my palm and allowed some blood to drip into the familiar runes before me, spreading out my full status.

  Level: 28

  Status: Tier 4: Valhalla Proper

  Class: Arcane Fool, Lvl 15

  Subclass: N/A

  Traits:

  Incisive Gaze

  Loki's Champion

  Skills:

  Mana Perception Enhanced

  Spells:

  A Fool's Constitution

  Dance of the Jester

  Weapon proficiencies

  Sword: C-3

  Spear: F-2

  Striking: D-1

  Halberd: D-3

  Dagger: D-5

  Grappling: F-9

  Shield: D-7

  Stats

  Strength: 44

  Speed: 78

  Constitution: 40

  Focus: 55

  Charm: 15

  Free Points: 35

  Blessing: Loki's Favor

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  Strength: +2

  Speed: +2

  Constitution: +2

  Focus: +6

  Charm: +10

  Jester Shop Access

  Direct line access

  Additional effects: ???

  Reading through it, I was pleased with my progress. Only a couple of challenges, and I had increased my level significantly. I definitely appreciated some of the increases in weapon proficiencies, and seeing that I finally had one in the C rank made me smile slightly. Everything was progressing nicely, and my stats were as well.

  As the runes played out in front of me, I felt the changes take effect. The growth in my speed wasn't that drastic, so it was only a slight tingle in my extremities. However, the increase in focus was more significant. My vision narrowed for a moment as I felt my head buzz, but before it started to hurt, I was back to normal.

  On top of those gains, I also had 35 free points. Currently, I didn't feel the need to assign them anywhere. Everything I had faced, I had been more than fast enough or strong enough. Nothing had come close to touching me. I decided to hold off until the job that Jorg wanted before I assigned them. I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be needing next.

  No—I had a few other things to research, like what spells or skills I could afford. I liked my combination of movement and strength spells, but I still had to work on creating a spell. Loki did say that it would take a very long time. I didn't see anything change with my blessing either, except for one thing—direct line access was added. But thinking about it, I wasn't exactly sure what that did. So, for now, I just left it.

  Wiping the blood away, the surface returned to its normal wood, and I pulled off my boots to prepare for sleep.

  ***

  I met Astrid downstairs the next morning when I went down for breakfast. Luckily, the inn had a meal included, and it was served with hot mulled wine that took the edge off the near-perpetual start of winter that Valhalla seemed to be in.

  There wasn't always snow, but sometimes it came down in little flurries. It never seemed to pile up anywhere, but the temperature was always just barely above freezing—and usually below in the evenings. Luckily, the standard garb seemed to be wearing furs, which kept me and the rest of the denizens of Valhalla plenty toasty. Still, warm drinks were always appreciated.

  Drinking warm mead wasn't the same as a nice cold beer, but it would do. It would do for now.

  After we had both woken up fully— it had been a hard several days of not exactly nerve-wracking battles, but stress to accomplish the challenge in time—Astrid finally broke the silence.

  "So. Are we looking to do the next challenge right away?" she asked after we had both been in our own thoughts for some time.

  I lifted a shoulder. "I don't know anything about this challenge. We're only a day or two into it, so we should have plenty of time, but I'd like to at least know sort of what we're getting into. And potentially, we should think about putting together an actual team."

  "A couple other things that might be worth noting, though," I added, "is that it would be interesting to talk to Jonas and Helga and see what they're up to."

  Astrid grimaced, and I felt as if there was some backstory she wasn't telling me, but she didn't object.

  "Not to recruit them on the team, for sure," I clarified, "but it would ease my conscience a little."

  She shrugged. "If you want to."

  "And then I'm not sure about Bjorn," I said.

  Astrid grimaced even harder.

  "What?" I asked. "Are you not—"

  She cut me off, though. "Listen, Miles. I appreciate your loyalty to your friends. I am a massive beneficiary of it in many ways. But at the same time—well, you weren't here. You weren't here for the fallout that your leaving caused. And I told you what happened in general terms, but it was a bit ugly.

  "While I wouldn't say they're not deserving of your loyalty, they may not be worth your time. They're only going to drag you down in their own ways. Helga and Jonas are decent enough, but, well, they aren't going to do much more than they have to. They will be stuck here for a very long time. Maybe forever, and they have made their own peace with it.

  "And Bjorn? Well… you were never going to be able to fix that. At least, I don't think you would. And he's tied up beyond my reach. I don't think we—or you—have the currency or favors to get him free. Even if Loki could free him from his contracts, I don't think you'd want to pay off that debt."

  I grimaced. I did feel some obligation. I liked Bjorn. He was a friend and had helped me many times. I couldn't just leave him in a bad situation. But at the same time, it did seem slightly voluntary that he was there. He at least didn't seem unhappy, at least when I talked to him.

  "I'd like to at least check in with him every once in a while to make sure he's, you know, still alive and there's nothing he needs. But if he's happy enough being a bartender..." I trailed off.

  Astrid grabbed the excuse and ran with it. "Yeah, he gets his challenge completed. He's not going to move anywhere, but he gets to drink and hang out all day long. It's not the fighting that he also likes, but all in all, it's a good situation. He's not risking being demoted or anything."

  I felt a little guilty leaving it at that. I would check in, but maybe not right away. Was this just an excuse to not have to worry about someone who might potentially drag me behind? It was something I couldn't entirely say.

  "Okay, well, I'll do both of those things in my own time," I said, and Astrid nodded.

  "Okay. About finding a team, though—I would like to do that, but I haven't had much luck so far. It's odd that teams will be looking for new members—or two new members at once. Most of the time, if a team loses two people, the team usually dissolves. And I don't imagine you're going to be ready to follow someone's lead, especially if you don't have the secrets you need to protect.

  "So I think we're going to have to either get a team through Loki or whatever network he has in mind to introduce me to," she finished.

  "I don't disagree," I said after thinking about it for a few moments. "Okay. Well. So why don't you take care of whatever Loki wanted you to do? Something about a different god?"

  Astrid still hadn't told me what the price was, but she didn't seem too upset about it. She just nodded in agreement, not answering the implied question.

  "Do you know—have an idea of how long it'll take?"

  She shrugged. "No, but it didn't seem like it should take longer than a day or two."

  "Okay, why don't you do that? I will... I have—" I struggled to remember what she knew about the offer Jorg had mentioned. I decided to just play it safe and said, "I will speak to Jorg about an opportunity he mentioned."

  Astrid nodded, understanding.

  "And potentially, both of us can look into what the challenge is and who's sponsoring it this month. We can meet back here in three days."

  Astrid nodded again. "Sure. That works with me."

  I gave another decisive nod, and we went back to eating in silence—this time, comfortable rather than sleepy.