Seshka slammed the door shut behind her hard enough to make the window rattle and small clouds of dust puff into the air that had been hiding in cracks and fittings around the door.

  Tyler flinched — not so much at her actions, but at the force she had used to slam it. His hand came up in front of him as if preparing to defend against an attack.

  “What the hell was that?” she hissed. “We need to leave. Right now!”

  Tyler opened his mouth, then closed it again. He’d been ready for her to show some discomfort, sure. He’d expected her to be wary. But the level of fury in her eyes… it was like he’d dragged her into a den of snakes and told her to take her boots off.

  “It’s a village,” he said carefully. “A weird one, yeah, but—”

  “It’s a trap,” Seshka snapped, cutting him off. She paced the main room like a caged animal, her hand still behind her back gripping the spear haft as if she might need to draw it in the next heartbeat. “A town on the Intertwining Path? People smiling? No combat skills? No weapons? They’re either hiding something… or they’re already dead and don’t know it.”

  Tyler rubbed the back of his head, trying to come up with the right words to say to Seshka. She had been invaluable — Tyler did not dispute that. She seemed to have knowledge of the system, could fight, and if not for her, he wasn’t sure what would have happened. But what if her view of the system was flawed? What if her home was more cult than sect? She might be brainwashed, taught to fight and told it was the only way.

  “Okay, wait a minute. Just sit down with me for five minutes. Let’s discuss this before we do anything,” Tyler eventually said, pulling a chair out for Seshka and sitting in another on the other side of the table.

  He also pulled a little food and some drinks out of his spatial sack. It’s hard to shout and scream when you have a mouth full of food, he thought.

  Seshka paced for a little while longer before eventually sitting down and grabbing a jug, taking a long drink, some spilling down the side of her mouth. Tyler thought it best not to point that out.

  Tyler sighed, putting his hands palm up on the table, trying to look non-threatening. He gave Seshka time to finish her drink, then spoke, keeping his voice low.

  “I know this place might be the worst possible thing you can think of to encounter on your path, but like Calix said, the multiverse is pretty damn big. Take me, for example. I don’t know anything about the multiverse. I know a little bit about a small planet, and truthfully that’s not that much. I didn’t even know life existed outside my planet. Seeing Calix, a talking cat, is just insane to me — never mind Jason and that demon, Magda.

  “But I did have an idea of how big my universe was. How many galaxies were in it, how many planets. It’s trillions upon trillions, and that was only the ones we could see. Maybe in one galaxy, or a bunch of them, the right path is through combat. But in the endless number of planets, maybe there is one that can progress along a different path.”

  Seshka’s breathing grew heavier with every word Tyler spoke, but she let him finish before replying.

  “It doesn’t matter. The universe could be endless like you say, and full of people who want to progress by making baskets. I get it. People are different. But do you know what isn’t different? The system. It’s the same everywhere, and it thrives on conflict. Only those who are strong survive it.”

  Tyler let her words sink in. What she said made sense, but he needed to see more. He wanted to ask her about her profession — he had seen she had one when he used Insight on her — but that would give away his ability.

  “The system, right. Well, I don’t have the understanding you do. Maybe I can get it here. I’m not saying this is the path for me, but the system has shown us it, so maybe there is something it wants us to see.

  “How about we just check things out? A few days at most. I’d love to find out about other races and people, what they’re getting up to. You know, get an understanding of the place. We can still train, which you know I need. Then we can move on. A few days can’t hurt.”

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  Tyler did actually think the system had sent him here, and he thought he knew why. It was his decision not to kill the spider. It was offering him a path without violence, and truthfully, he wanted to know what that path looked like.

  Seshka’s eyes narrowed. “Understand what?”

  “Whether you can level through professions,” Tyler said, and he heard himself grow more certain the more he spoke. “Whether the system actually supports it. Whether this place has information we can use. Whether it has supplies. Whether it has… anything that helps us on the path.”

  Seshka scoffed. “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Then we leave,” Tyler said, shrugging. “Simple.”

  “It’s never simple,” Seshka muttered.

  But Tyler could see it in her eyes — she’d calmed down. She was going to agree to the few days.

  “But we train every morning, and keep doing whatever you are doing to your core. It seems to be working for now. I won’t get involved with anything here though. Keep me out of it.”

  Tyler nodded. “Deal.” He didn’t want to give her a chance to change her mind.

  Seshka stood, lingered there for a moment, like she was trying to decide if he was worth the hassle, then she turned sharply and strode into one of the side rooms.

  “I will see you in the morning, bright and early,” Seshka said as she closed the door behind her.

  “Are you not coming to the common hall later?” Tyler shouted through the closed door, but he got no answer. She obviously meant it. She wanted nothing to do with this place.

  “Goodnight to you too,” Tyler muttered.

  Tyler sat at the table for a while, listening to the quiet. No shouting. No goblins. No screaming system prompts. No blood in his mouth. Just a quiet normality.

  He pulled up his status — a habit he was trying to get into whenever he had any downtime. He didn’t want to miss any notifications, skills or points he could be using.

  His eyes drifted to his profession slot. It was still sitting there like a blank space in his life.

  Profession: None

  He frowned and scratched at his temple. He’d noticed it before but never really given it much thought. Not properly. He’d been too busy trying not to die.

  What did it really mean? Could he only have one profession? Did you need to get hired? Did you get paid? He really wasn’t sure at all.

  A knock came at the door, knocking Tyler out of his overthinking, and he tensed up instantly.

  Only to hear Calix’s voice through the wood, bright and cheerful like nothing bad had ever happened in the universe.

  “Tyler! Are you there? I brought you something!”

  Tyler walked to open the door, then paused, taking a long look at Seshka’s room and the shut door. He sighed, shaking his head slightly, and opened the front door just enough to pop his head out.

  Calix stood there holding a small bundle of cloth, her hazel eyes wide and shining as if she’d found treasure.

  “Dry clothes!” she announced, thrusting the bundle toward him. “You were soaked. And I know you’re new, so I thought… you know. First impressions. Hospitality. Also, you smell like forest.”

  Tyler blinked. “Thanks.” He opened the door a little more to take the small package from her.

  As she handed the bundle over, Calix leaned in slightly, peering past him into the house.

  “And the spear one?” she asked in a low whisper.

  “Sleeping,” Tyler said, feeling a little uneasy at Calix’s forwardness.

  Calix stepped back and nodded vigorously. “Good! Good. Rest is important. You two had that… look.”

  “What look?” Tyler asked.

  “The look of people who have been chased,” Calix said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Anyway! Just a reminder — we do food at dusk in the common hall. No obligation. But you should come. It’s nice. And you’ll meet people.”

  Tyler hesitated, trying to think of an excuse for Seshka. Nothing brilliant came to mind, so he kept it simple instead.

  “I’ll come, but Seshka has had a long day. She’ll be out until morning.”

  Calix didn’t seem bothered at all that Seshka couldn’t make it. She clapped her hands — a trait Tyler was starting to notice when things were going her way.

  “Yes! Oh, you’ll like it. We have soup. Real soup. And bread. And if Helna’s in a good mood, she might give you a tonic that stops your muscles screaming.”

  Calix pointed a finger at him. “And before you ask — yes. Helna levels for that.”

  Tyler frowned. “Just by making tonics?”

  “By doing her path,” Calix corrected, wagging a finger. “Alchemy isn’t ‘just’ making tonics. It is as vast a subject as the multiverse is big.”

  Al stirred faintly in the back of his mind, like a cat waking up, but didn’t speak.

  Tyler nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  Calix’s smile widened. “Good. Dusk. Don’t be late. Also — don’t let Jason scare you. He’s loud. He thinks loud means safe. It’s just his face.”

  Then she turned and trotted away, tail flicking behind her.

  Tyler watched her go. He wasn’t sure if she was just overly friendly or if she had alternative motives.

  He shut the door and leaned back against it.

  Al’s voice finally chimed in.

  “You like this place.”

  Tyler didn’t answer, letting Al continue.

  “You like it because it feels like rules. Like systems. Like you can learn it.”

  Tyler swallowed. Did he like it because it had rules, something he could follow. Did he like it because it was apart from talking creatures the first sign of normality in days.

  “I like it, because spider isn’t attacking with a horde of goblins around the corner.”

  “Don’t confuse comfort with safety. But I did like the look of that demon. Do you think he likes leaves too?

  Tyler laughed a little,” I’m not sure but I can ask if I see him.”

  “Yeah, do that, I’m sure he does”