“How do you find out wiiat’s happening there?”
Instead of answering, Beta waved a hand. I don’t know what kind of spell she cast, but an impenetrable dome suddenly covered the garden and the sky seemed to darken, then lights lit up on the trees. Bright butterflies fluttered through the air and shone in the flickering dim light. The calming sound of ringing glass hung in the air. I didn’t quite know where it was coming from—everywhere at once, it seemed.
“Beautiful,” I said. The spell seemed to affect me too; suddenly my soul felt at peace and I wanted it never to end. “Magic.”
“Beautiful,” she agreed, a young girl that nobody would have suspected was over seventeen. “You asked how I know what happens to my pets through the rift… It’s very simple. I see them in a panel, I analyze the data, then I think of what I need to send next. I think I’ve gotten pretty successful if your guys need the gods’ help to banish them.”
“How do they come back? Can they be killed at all?”
“The Piercers are trained to return if their health falls to half or lower. Once they’re back, they go back to the same level they left with. I can’t lose them, or else…” Beta didn’t finish the thought. Silently, she poured herself another full cup of wine, drained it.
“Does it take long for them to come back?” I asked, remembering the differing flows of time. “How quickly do they return?”
“Sometimes right away, sometimes after a year or so. I tried to send them to continents that you guys haven’t explored yet, but the Piercers can’t survive them. It took many centuries to figure out that they last the longest on Latteria and Shad’Erung.”
“How do they know when to activate Greater Rift? How do they have the skill?”
Again, she didn’t answer right away. Her armor snapped as it disappeared into her inventory. Nine was now just in her dress, barefoot. She adjusted her hair, looked at me sidelong. She looked nothing like a coldblooded psychopathic murderer now.
“I taught them,” Beta shrugged. “Gave them the ability. When they go into the rift, I order them to activate it as soon as they get enough resources. From what I understand, there are no shards in your Disgardium, and the skill requires mana. But not a single Piercer has managed to save enough resources.”
“What stops you from sending all the Piercers at once? Then you’d have a better chance that at least one would reach the required level.”
“It’s pointless. They’re level one when they arrive, and they only level up from the mobs we send through with them. If we split those mobs among multiple Piercers, they’ll all stay weak.”
“Listen… Let me help,” I said, deciding to push my luck. “I level up very quickly, you know that. I promise you, as soon as I can, I’ll make a Greater Rift if you teach me how.”
“No. Either you’re an idiot or you’re trying to trick me. You won’t be able to keep the ability wiien you go through a rift made here.”
“But we could try!”
“Forget it. Three and I have discussed all the tales you told of yourself. Even if you weren’t lying, you won’t succeed. They’ll eliminate you as a Threat. And then we’ll be in trouble too. Snowstorm could get scared and just switch us off. What’s happening here is one thing—it doesn’t worry them too much. If a player who can make a portal to the Nether shows up back in main Dis, that’s another matter entirely…”
I tried to change her mind, but Beta just showed me the image of a Lava Drake. That shut me up. It was an eloquent argument. I would have stayed quiet forever if it meant avoiding a day in that lava.
Now that we’d exhausted all topics of conversation and silence reigned, Nine gave me an appraising look. It seemed her usual scanning, indifferent gaze, but I swear on the Sleepers, there was a gleam in her eye.
“You know, Scyth, there’s something about your dead flesh…” That must have been one of the first times she’d called me by my name. “And I’m feeling lonely today. Follow me, zombie boy.”
The girl led me into the castle. It was the first time I’d been inside, and my head span with interest, but I didn’t have time to check out the decor in much detail. Beta walked fast and ordered me to keep up.
Along luxuriously furnished corridors lined with endless rows of mannequins decked out in legendary armor sets and weapon stands filled with top weaponry, we walked to the bedroom.
Beta’s dress fell to the ground, leaving her in a bikini, which she quickly took off. She told me to undress too. She paid no attention as I hid her loaned legendaries in my inventory.
My digital body reacted treacherously at the sight of the beautiful naked girl. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest and I stood still as a statue, not knowing what to do. I mean, I knew the theory, but…
Beta saw my hesitation and took the lead. She nestled against me, embraced me passionately, started kissing me, and then threw me onto the bed with a single light touch…
It may have been in virtuality only, but then I became a man. I had a million reasons to hate Nine, but the fact remained: she was my first.
It was the longest time I’d spent in the Nether without any deaths. And without them, it was hard to judge the time Beta and I spent in bed together… I can say for certain that it was a long, long time. She had a way of approaching everything she did with such seriousness and significance. If experience like this could be expressed in levels, I would have said she powerleveled me up two or three ranks.
If this had happened in real life, then the real
