Having achieved level 25 and 42 free points to spend, I now had sothing I needed to do. That involved sending Izzy a text and asking her to et up. There wasn't really any point in delaying, since she wanted to go back. I still hadn't spent the points yet because… I didn't need to. It would work just as well later. I nodded to myself as I walked towards Corner Coffee, where we were most likely to et up. Even if she was busy or sothing, I'd still be closer to wherever we did et up.
As I walked along the streets at a quick pace, I couldn't help but take in the sights of New Bay. Apartnts and businesses dominated the streets, places for people to co from and go to. Not that there could really be anything in a city that wasn't for people. As for those people, there was quite a wide variety of them. Humans, of course, but also people extraterrestrial and extradinsional. Martians were pretty easy to pick out, though they were only a tiny portion of the population. Others filled the gaps near or far from the human average, though people like Jim were a rarity. Most fell vaguely in a range that was comfortable for Turlough, though there was a lack of what he considered most familiar.
I saw so people that were certainly elvish or dwarvish in appearance, though the forr was easier to miss unless one specifically took note of the ears. The stocky width of a dwarf was rarely matched by humans, and truly small folk like halflings were rare even counting martians.
I simply took in everything around , appreciating my new life- especially the opportunities to level up. Even after I finally spent these 39 points- 12% of everything I'd had to this day- I was way more advanced than I could ever have imagined. I'd gone from level 10 when I arrived in this world less than half a year before all the way to level 25, which I'd never thought I could reach. I had sohow even surpassed the minimum one would expect for my age, though not by much. I should have been in the low 20's instead of 10, but I simply hadn't been able to get real experience.
Thinking about the numbers and what I was on my way to do, I almost missed the orcs. A whole bundle of them, a half dozen maybe? They just strode down the sidewalk together, walking awkwardly. Well, even two wide they did kind of take up a lot of space, bumping into people. One of them looked at , then shouted sothing. Was that Orcish? I waved back, and the man just shrugged and moved on.
Then I felt Midnight approaching. He wasn't just scampering along, he was zooming past people at a breakneck speed using Haste. He jumped up to get a grip on my outstretched arm and then hopped the last bit onto my shoulder. "Turlough!" he said. "Areyoualright?"
"You've still got Haste, buddy," I patted him on the head, and felt a release of tension. Was that or him?
"Where are you going?" Midnight said carefully to keep his words to a sensible speed.
"I reached level 25. I have enough points, so I'm going to et Izzy for our promise." A twinge of sadness and regret. "... Sorry buddy. She's not happy here, so I should do what I can to fix things. It's not really my fault she ca here but… I can do sothing." I sighed, "You'll probably still have more friends than after she's gone. You'll be alright."
Midnight just sat on my shoulder, waves of emotions I wasn't equipped to handle rolling off of him. Ugh, stuff like this was difficult. "I should be with you."
"Yeah, sorry, I didn't think about that. You'll probably want to say goodbye. I guess it doesn't have to happen right away." Sohow, that didn't make the feelings any better, and I felt a sympathetic twinge in my gut. "... It might not even work anyway. I have like, 75% of the mana to cast Gate without passing out," I sighed. "And I can't be sure it will cross dinsions."
A pause. "Perhaps you shouldn't rush into this."
"Yeah, sorry, as I said I didn't think about it."
"I know," Midnight said, resting a paw on my head. "Once you decide to act you forego much of the thinking you otherwise spend your ti on."
"... I feel like that could be taken as an insult."
"It is just you," Midnight said. "That's all."
There wasn't much I could say about that. I felt the honesty, and the lack of ill intent. It would probably be easy to get angry over sothing stupid like that, but I didn't like being angry and I especially didn't like feeling both sides of an argunt. At least that usually left our rare conflicts short, if sotis intense.
I walked into the cafe. Might as well get so bean water and pretend like it made any difference besides a montary feeling of alertness. I could get so water for Midnight since the other options weren't great for soone with a small mass and feline stomach. Maybe a plate of bacon to snack on. One of us was trying to maintain a calm deanor, but I couldn't tell which as I finished our order and prepared to wait for a response from Izzy.
I turned to look for a booth and I saw them. Izzy was obvious, but I wouldn't have recognized the other woman with her if not for my recent exposure to visual proof of height and my longer term exposure to that sa face with a mask. Masks did a good job of preventing people unfamiliar with an individual from determining their identity, but I was not unfamiliar with her. I just… had to dredge up her actual na.
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My steps carried to them, since I was here to talk with Izzy to begin with. "Hi Sophia, Izzy."
The response was not what I expected. Specifically, the part where Izzy vaulted over the table and landed in Sophia's arms. "Gah!" Izzy propped Sophia's arm in between us defensively. "Don't sneak up on like that!"
"... Sorry?" I wasn't sure to be concerned about her reaction, or to marvel at the cuddly pose of a woman and a smaller sister. Way smaller, but not younger. "Did you not check your texts?"
Izzy pulled a phone that seed more like a tablet in her hands out of an oversized pocket in her pants. "I uh… only ever get ssaged by Sophia, Midnight, and work. I didn't want to think about work, and Midnight is patient." She read the text. "Uh, I guess we're already together so, we can et here. Or whatever."
"Uh…" Sophia looked confused by several things, and started by nudging Izzy out of her lap. "I can scoot over, if Turlough is joining us…" she narrowed her eyes at . "How do you know my na?"
"ztli said it when we first t. Or second t?" I shrugged. "When we were both around her that one ti. And I'm good at recognizing friends." Izzy had returned to her proper seat and Sophia usually known by as Great Girl scooted in, so I sat next to her. Midnight sat 'next' to Izzy, though he was on the table instead of awkwardly on the seat trying to see people. The cafe was quite used to his presence now, and there was always at least one employee who recognized his personhood instead of cathood. And we didn't make a ss so they had little to complain about if they didn't.
"So," Izzy broke the silence. "What's the important thing you had to et about?"
"I leveled up," I said. "Now I have enough points to learn Gate and try to send you back."
"I- uh- what?" Izzy blinked. "Already?"
"Yes. I can attempt today, if you want. Or did you an the level thing? I've been fighting a lot here. You were even there for two of them." I smiled slightly, feeling my tusk slide against my lips. "It's nice."
"I'm not- uh," Izzy's eyes darted around as if she was looking for sowhere to run, then settled on my face, her eyes widening. "... What the hell happened to your tusk?"
I instinctively reached up to feel the uneven edge. "Handface shot . Either Stoneskin doesn't work on tusks or… the shot almost went through two layers of it on my tusk and face."
"What? And who's Handface?"
"My nesis," I shrugged, "Apparently. But everything's fine now because I kicked him through a portal."
"... Okay?" Izzy tilted her head.
"Wait, did this happen yesterday?" Sophia asked.
"Well, yeah. Portals don't just show up randomly, except when they do. And you know my tusk was fine not that long ago. I feel like it's pretty obvious, right?"
"Right," she said. "I think that's enough details about that," Sophia looked around. The booths were decently private, but soone could have been listening. Though talking about the whole portal thing yesterday would seem pretty normal, I imagined.
"Anyway," I shrugged. "I got a ton of experience for that. So now I have points. I can try to send you back whenever. It should… probably work."
"Oh." Izzy nodded. "I'm not sure if… I want to go right away."
"That's fine," I said. "You can wait." Happiness. At least Midnight was pleased at this result. With that not happening… I didn't really have anything else to say. "So… run into any trouble with the portal thing yesterday?"
Izzy shook her head. "No way, I just stayed inside and let the professionals deal with it. I'm not equipped or paid to fight monsters. Still processing that license to get my swords back."
"That's reasonable," I said. I could only get experience from fighting- and I got extra experience for it being the only option. She had safer alternatives. My phone rang. Nobody ever called . Everything should be texts. Looking at the caller, I answered it. "Tylissa? What's going on?"
Izzy stiffened across from as I answered the call. Tylissa's words were quick, a tremor in her voice unmistakable. "Jero is missing," A quick intake of breath, as if saying those few words had drained her of air. "He was over at a friend's last night. Jero went to investigate a portal and… didn't co back."
I was already standing up as she spoke, gesturing for Midnight. "I'm on my way. Don't worry, I'll co help."
"I'm coming too!" Izzy said, leaping out of her seat. She stepped towards , jumping to snatch the phone out of my hand. "Tylissa! I'm coming too."
I couldn't hear what was on the other end, but Izzy continued with her reassurances. The two of us were out of the door almost imdiately. "We can take my car," Sophia said, startling . "I don't know what you're doing, but it seems important right? We won't have to wait for a ride that way."
"Thanks," I said. "I appreciate that."
I could barely say that. Worry pulsed in my veins- first mine, then Midnight's resonating with and adding to it as we explained what happened along the way. Jero… he wasn't supposed to be like . He was supposed to be smart. Cautious. Not the kind of person who would run off towards an active portal with monsters coming through it… or step through one with unknown dangers behind it.
Izzy continued to speak with Jero's mother, but I didn't hear any of it. At so point I think I gave Sophia an address. One of us must have, because we were moving and Great Girl was too responsible to drive randomly. My brain wasn't able to think anything except stupid thoughts like carrying around a large mirror- as if I could expect to need to suddenly Scry soone. I almost wasted my mana trying on one of the car's stupid tiny mirrors, but I was basically able to control myself. I wasted maybe a point or two of mana as I actually started before I caught myself, but that would recover by the ti we arrived. We were moving far too slow… though I knew that there wasn't really any way to go faster, not over a long distance with multiple people. I was tempted to burn all of my mana with Midnight and run to the house with Haste, but even with the crazy increase in speed it was too far to manage. Instead, I took a deep breath… and thought about punching sothing that wasn't a friend's car.
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