“Good point. I don’t know if I believe any of that stuff, but yeah even on the outside…” her voice trailed off and she stared up at the sky. Her clawed talons dug into her robes at her thighs. I was worried she was actually going to injure herself, but then she looked up at me again. “The outside, that’s what I call it… you know… where we came from.”

  “Earth?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah. That’s what it was called.”

  I didn’t know what to make of that. She was seriously off, and it terrified me; but oddly, the more we spoke, the more I could focus on the problem as being something outside of me, and not the most essential element about my current life. I looked up and found we were no longer near the fire. Apparently, at some point in our conversation, we had wandered into the forest. Did that mean I was becoming as absent-minded as she was? Was she rubbing off on me?

  Then she continued and pulled me out of that broken thought cycle. “Even on the outside, our lives were controlled by AI.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but then slammed it shut. She had a point that was hard to argue.

  “They chose who got to continue on to more education. They controlled what access we had to food, entertainment, housing, all those things. But if they said we didn’t have aptitude, that was all it took.”

  I thought about what she was saying. I remember having to take so-called aptitude exams at various points in school, starting as early as about ten years old. Each time they narrowed down who got to continue on for more education and who just got sent for what was called Practical Life Skills.

  Everyone was always nervous about those exams. They determined your future. The further you went, the more likely you were to get a job, or at least a higher allotment from the AI. Supposedly it came from the government, but no person ever judged aptitude; that was left the AI. That way it was supposed to be fair, free of bias, such as racism or nationalism which had plagued prior generations, at least if the history holos were to be believed.

  There were always people who protested, who said the exams were rigged. Occasionally someone managed to make enough of a stink about it to get on the news holos, but everyone just laughed at them. They were called Ikies. I think it was a reference to some old Greek myth. No one believed them, and it always ended the same, with the people in disgrace. But what if Ainsley was correct? What if AI’s had been controlling or lives long before we were uploaded to Legends of Selmia?

  Now, I felt even more like Pinocchio. Maybe I’d never been a real boy at all. That couldn’t be true, though, could it?

  Chapter 16- Less Talking, More Doing

  I hadn’t thought I could become more uncomfortable with this thought process, but there it was. A hopeless future and a past full of choices that were all guided by forces beyond my control. It was too bleak. I needed a little more information to decide how I felt about Ainsley; but then I needed to smash something.

  “So why join with me. then?”

  “Um… in case you didn’t get it; the kobolds were torturing me. They were about to burn me at the stake. Of course, that wouldn’t be the end of it. I’d respawn, but back at level twenty. Even if I escaped capture initially, I’d end up being captured eventually. My class guarantees they would hate me, even if I tried to hide it for a while. Then there is the entire system integration thing.”

  My ears perked up at that. “What percent is your integration at?”

  Ainsley looked at the ground again. She kicked a rock off into the brush and mumbled under her breath. Eventually she said, “48.4%.”

  My first reaction was to feel awful for her. She could only afford a few more deaths before she would lose herself to the AI. My second thought was to worry about how much the system was already controlling her. She might just be another tool to guide me in the direction it wanted.

  “Okay, so that explains why you escaped with us, but not why you are still here or why you decided to reveal yourself to me, or why the Master thing.”

  “The short answer is, I got a quest. Well, I’ve had it for a long time. It is called ‘Finding My Place’.”

  I laughed. “Oh, that quest. So, your place is with me?”

  “Laugh all you like. I could never get that quest right. I kept defying the system. It kept threatening me. But with you, I saw an opportunity.”

  That confused me a bit. “What could it threaten you with that is worse than what you are experiencing now?”

  She giggled maniacally and started nibbling on her clawed fingertips. “Oh, don’t think this is the worst it can get. At least we got selected to stay in the same creature. Some of the early HI’s were forced to randomly respawn into different monsters. Those guys went bat-droppings crazy in nothing flat. They would go out of their way to hunt other HI and always seemed to know that I was one. Fortunately, I haven’t run into one in a few months. I think they system gave up on creating more of them.”

  I shook my head. The picture just kept getting better and better… not. “Well, then: What opportunity did you see in me?”

  “Simple: You found a way to interact with players. There is something different about you. As soon as I agreed to become your follower, I was rewarded with a player interface.”

  That was understandable. “So, you are supposed to be my follower, then?”

  “Um…” She looked down at the ground. This time I got the feeling it was more about embarrassment than the random fits of madness which seemed to seize her.

  I just waited. That seemed to be the best approach with Ainsley.

  She looked up at me, finally. “Not gonna make this easy, are you? Suffice it to say that what the system wants me… wants us to do doesn’t seem physically possible. But beyond that, I’m supposed to be your slave. I’m to play the insane necromancer who helps you achieve your goals, all while tugging you in the direction of serving the AI’s wishes.”

  My mouth hung open. “Why would you admit that? How can I trust you?”

  “You probably can’t. I can feel the system taking over more of me each time I die and respawn. I know I’m a couple cans shy of a six pack. That much isn’t an act. I have definite periods of lucidity, but they come and go. Even now, it’s a struggle to hold on to this conversation for so long. But for what it’s worth, I want to help you. Helping you beat the system would be the best parting gift I could get.”

  We stood in silence. Or rather we stood without either of us speaking. My mind was racing, but with neither of us speaking, I could see that we had drifted quite a ways into the forest. The moon was high overhead. This world was incredibly beautiful. and the attention to detail was beyond anything that I would have expected, even in the most advanced games.

  Then I realized we had made it to the area of the jungle where I had first encountered the jungle cats. They had been so fearsome. The shadow variant had made short work of me. I laughed as I remembered pledging to kill them all in revenge. Now they wouldn’t even be a challenge. It was a reminder about how we change and grow and made me feel like I needed to give Ainsley a chance. If one former human couldn’t help another, then we truly had lost our humanity.

  “Just one last question.”

  “Master can ask me anything. I told you my role is to be your slave now. The better job I do of that, the less static I feel in my head.”

  “Uh, okay. Not gonna touch that one. I just want to know why you went at Violet so hard.”

  “I just lost it for a minute. Something about her upsets me. Maybe it is that she can still return to Earth and I can’t. But there is an irrational jealously response that keeps coming up in me, called Mini-Dragon’s Greed. I am resisting it most of the time, but only partially. It makes me want things for myself, and it is clear that Violet likes you. If you end up liking her better than me, I will just feel more alone.”

  There was something raw about her words, another exposure of her soul. I could see she regretted saying them as soon as they had escaped her mouth, but she simply stared off into space. I guess I could accept that. Who knows how crazy I would be after being in here for months on end, especially with what she had experienced.

  Then she asked, “What’s that?” and pointed towards a tree.

  I glanced over. My low-light vision was good, but still not as good as during daylight. As I strained to see, it looked like a tree filled with jungle cats. I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t seen it before now. I cast Talisman of Arctic Force to refresh it since it would have run out shortly and then prepared my spear. I shouldn’t need anything more for jungle cats. Although, something was weird. They were aggressive creatures and hadn’t attacked us yet.

  Ainsley fell in behind me as we walked towards the tree. When we were only a few paces away, my paces, not Ainsley’s; the truth became evident. It wasn’t a tree filled with jungle cats. It was a bizarre trophy rack. Someone had taken a dozen jungle cats, including two shadow variants, and shoved them onto the branches of the tree. Not like on top of the branches, but more like they were pieces of shish kabob. with the branches of the tree shoved through them.

  As I looked closer, I saw blood all over the ground. One of the corpses was still dripping. Its eyes opened and a pathetically plaintive moan escaped its cruel mouth. Gods above, this was awful. Someone or something had managed to shove them onto the branches while they were alive. There was definitely more danger in the jungle.

  I explained what I had realized to Ainsley. Instead of being appalled, she fell fully into the insane necromancer routine and started talking about how she always wanted a kitty to play with. She cast a spell, and three of the creatures worked until they were free from the branches. It was gruesome to see, but at least they were already dead and not in any pain.

  I debated healing the one who was still alive, but I would likely end up having to kill it anyway. I could at least put it out of its misery. Then I heard a crashing in the trees behind us. It sounded like it was off in the distance, but whatever was making it must have been large -- and that was me speaking as an ogre.

  “You should free it, at least,” Ainsley said.

  I looked at her and then realized she meant the jungle cat which was still alive. “I don’t think I can get it down from there without killing it.”

  “No, free it. Free it from life. Free it from pain. Free it from struggle.” She spoke in soothing tones, like a mother to their young child.

  It sent shivers down my spine. She was right, though. I rushed forward and shoved my spear into its head, ending its suffering. Then I quickly cast Spirit of the Wolf on both of us to enhance our movement, followed by Brother Wolf. He had already proven useful with the kobolds.

  The crashing sound kept getting closer. I instinctively moved to stand between Ainsley and the sound. She giggled. “Oh, Master is so sweet. I’m not nearly as fragile as I look.”

  “I’m not acting out of some misplaced chivalry. I just think I can take a hit better than you. Your power will be better served dealing damage or seeking to disable whatever this is. That will be easier if it is focused on me or Brother Wolf.”

  “Yes Master, I shall make sure it dies for your glory.”

  I wanted to say that wasn’t what I meant when a massive form erupted from the trees. It had to be at least twenty feet tall, even taller than a hill giant, but it was all gangly and twisted, with its bones looking like they had been broken and reset in all the wrong ways. Yet it could still move. Its hide was a thick, green affair, with numerous bulbous protrusions and odd patches of wire-like gray hair.

  I used Identify to figure out what it was, but I already knew it was a troll, and not just one of the simple lowland types. No, this was a full-blown mountain troll.

  Race: Mountain Troll Level: 38

  HP: 1316 Class: Shaman

  It had a huge club with a spike in the end of it. As soon as it saw the tree was missing some of the corpses it yelled, “Who take Thrug’s toys. Thrug want toys. Thrug play fun games with toys.”

  Well, at least we had a name for it. Trolls were the arch enemies of ogres, and I felt Ogre Rage try to rise within me. That would have been catastrophic. As compared to most of what I had faced recently, this thing could kill me, and I would need my magic to fight it.

  Before I could even move, three jungle cats leapt at it. I quickly realized they were Ainsley’s reanimated pets. She was probably right. She didn’t need me to tank for her. That was fine, then because it gave me a chance to run through options.

  Trolls were remarkably resistant to cold and poison, which made them particularly fierce opponents for ogre shamans. They were not quite as strong as an ogre, pound-for- pound; but this one was twice as big as me, and I knew I couldn’t count on my physical power winning the day. Then there was the astonishing regenerative capabilities. Even fatal damage could be restored if given enough time.

  But I wasn’t like most ogre shamans. I had access to fire. Whether it was what Kittikork had thought and I was supposed to become an oni or not, it was a tool I could use. The common myth was that trolls couldn’t heal burns. That wasn’t true at all, it was just must slower, so I would need to deal overwhelming damage in a short time.

  Fortunately, I had access to fire, so I could probably make this work. If it wasn’t a shaman, I would likely have just levitated it until I could burn it to ash. But as it was, we would have to do this the hard way. I started channeling mana into Flame Burst while looking for an opening.

  The fight was getting intense. Brother Wolf had joined in with the undead jungle cats, while Ansley was directing them and looking for an opening. I hoped she was careful. Her Ghoul Touch was unlikely to affect a troll, but she was still prowling around, looking for her own opening.

  The troll’s club finally came down on one of the jungle cats, squishing it. Ainsley might be able to raise it up again, but its bones were pulverized by that blow. I watched as, time and time again, the wolf or cats opened deep wounds in the troll’s hide, but the wounds would then close before my very eyes. Its regeneration must be off the chart.

  The mana was building up as I felt the spell pattern struggling to accommodate the extra power. By the time I had five hundred mana added to the spell, it was at seven times normal power. That was a lot, but I wasn’t sure if it was enough. If my math was correct, that was just barely over a quarter of the troll’s health.

  A second jungle cat was squished, and then I saw Ainsley make her move. Her lithe form leapt onto the back of the troll. She scaled up him like a monkey till she reached his shoulder. Her claws sank in deeply. Then she bit down. It was gruesome to see her jaw unhinge; and her beautiful face was distorted into one of horror, as her mouth opened three times wider than it should have been able to, and she drove two dozen fangs into its skin.

  At first, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to pierce that thick hide, but then I saw bright-green blood running down her face. The creature opened its mouth, and I took my chance. The risk was great, but kobolds had some degree of innate fire resistance. I released my Flame Burst.

  The spell materialized in the mountain troll’s mouth. In an instant, its entire head was blown clean off its shoulders. Or, rather, it would have been, if not for the fact that a good portion of its shoulders and chest, down to the bottom of its ribs, were also incinerated. Ainsley was thrown thirty feet by the explosion as I got the notification the spell had critted at eight times damage, dealing a full 812.

  I wanted to race over to the little kobold hybrid, but I knew the troll wasn’t done for. I shouted for Brother Wolf to guard her. The spirit beast limped over to where the kobold lay still on the ground. The party interface said she was still at 80% health but was suffering from a Concussed Debuff and a broken bone.

  I began to cast a healing spell on her but saw her health tick up. Then I noticed she also had a buff.

  Troll Blood I: You have gain a measure of the power of a troll by drinking the blood of a mountain troll. The effects are enhanced because you drank from a creature which is more than five levels higher than you. Buff duration: 1 minute.

  Regeneration: +10 health per second.

  Strength: +10

  Constitution: +15

  I whistled. That was impressive, but then thought about the fact that it was rather short duration and it required her to bite the monster and stay there long enough to suck at least some of its blood. That was balanced by how it was named Troll Blood I. I wondered if that meant that it could stack, or if it could be increased some other way.

  Then I set to work. Flesh was growing like tiny worms forming up together to remake the beast’s upper half. Everywhere that it was burnt healed more slowly, but some of the spots had been ripped about by the sheer explosive force. Those spots were regrowing before my eyes.

  I began channeling the spell again. When I hit five hundred mana, I blasted it again. The damage was only 292 this time, without a crit and without going off inside its open mouth. I never got tired of that particular technique. So, I channeled again. I ended up draining over twenty-one hundred mana before there was nothing left but ashes. Even then, I was hesitant to trust it, so I scraped the ashes up and set Brother Wolf to digging a hole for me to bury the ash.