Chapter 99: Irresponsible

Jaxir woke with a yawn, stretched until something in his back popped, and then smiled at the ceiling before throwing the blanket aside. There was more energy in his body than he could remember waking up with in years, enough that getting out of bed didn’t come with the usual aches and pains.

He carried that feeling into the bathroom, washing his face before brushing his teeth and finally looking at himself properly in the mirror. The hollowness around his cheeks had faded enough that his face no longer looked carved down to bone, and Jaxir turned his head slightly before chuckling.

"Maybe I’ll be handsome again soon." He flexed one arm, studied the unimpressive result, then grinned at himself. "Maybe I can start weight training again too."

That would still depend on what Dr. Obrey allowed, but even considering it without feeling ridiculous was progress. Jaxir finished getting ready, took the nutrition pack waiting for him, then headed outside and went back to the lawn.

The work went considerably better than it had the last time. He still tired faster than he remembered from before everything went wrong, but by the time he finally stopped, somewhere around 70% of the lawn was finished and his body felt worked rather than wrecked.

Jaxir took the win.

He showered, changed, then dropped onto the edge of his bed and pulled up Lue’s contact before calling. The connection opened quickly enough that Jaxir barely had time to wonder whether Lue had been waiting for it.

"Oh, you know how to call me now too?"

Jaxir could practically hear the glare through the phone, and the memory of their last conversation made him laugh. He had technically ended that one by hanging up once he got what he needed.

"Sorry. I figured I’d call this time since I knew you were probably itching too."

"Three solo boss kills in a day, man? You’re making my job harder over here."

Jaxir leaned back against the wall, still smiling. "What’s your job, exactly?"

"Keeping you fucking healthy!"

That only made Jaxir laugh harder, though he could admit Lue had a point after everything that had happened to him lately. "Alright, alright. What do you suggest I do now?"

"You want my suggestions, Mr. Big Shot?"

"Yes, of course. How could I not take the words of my dearest friend seriously?"

There was a pause long enough that Jaxir could practically hear Lue rolling his eyes. "Do you know what happens when all three Village Heads die?"

"The Level cap rises, right?"

"Yes. It’ll rise to Level 20."

Jaxir frowned. "Oh. I thought it removed the Level cap entirely."

"What the fuck do you mean you thought it removed the Level cap entirely?" Lue’s voice jumped enough that Jaxir had to pull the phone away from his ear. "Why would you kill all three of them if you thought you were about to open your Tutorial Zone to everybody in the damn game?"

"The rewards were too good?"

"Oh, fuck you."

Jaxir grinned and waited him out until the irritated muttering on the other side finally stopped. When Lue spoke again, his voice had settled, though Jaxir could still hear the edge in it.

"Fine. I’m done patronizing you, since clearly that hasn’t accomplished anything anyway. If you can kill a regional boss in 6 minutes, you should be fine against normal Level 20s, but the Tutorial Village Heads are barely Named Bosses. They’re not even Elites."

"Elites?"

"When your Root Abilities are a full Tier beyond what your Level should support, you qualify as an Elite. Sound familiar?"

Jaxir blinked, then understood what Lue was getting at. His own Titles had come from the same basic relationship between his Level and how far ahead his Magic foundation had grown.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. The Village Heads are hard because they have ridiculous HP, guards, equipment, and they’re Level 20 inside a region where almost everybody is capped at 10. As far as actual regional bosses at their own Level go, though, they’re about as weak as it gets."

Jaxir’s smile faded a little. "So you’re telling me the Level 20s coming in now will be stronger."

"Not all of them, but there’ll definitely be a few who could solo those Village Heads in a few minutes too, and the only reason it would take that long is the HP pool. Except they won’t be alone, Jax. They’ll come in groups, and by now they’ve got enough footage of you to know what your strengths are, what you like doing, and where they think your weaknesses are."

Jaxir tapped one finger against his knee while thinking through what Golden Fleece and the Gravity Church had already seen. They knew about his movement, his staff, the wings, his habit of fighting from strange angles, and thanks to whoever recorded the Sparkle fight, they had probably seen enough of Twinkle Orbit’s effects to know something had prevented the Village Head from using Mana properly.

"You’re saying a lot of stuff but still aren’t giving me any suggestions."

Lue didn’t answer with another insult.

Instead, Jaxir heard him draw in a long, slow breath, and the change was enough to make Jaxir straighten.

"I think you should take me up on my offer and join the government factions."

Jaxir’s brows rose.

"My superior officer asked about you today. They looked into your background after everything that happened, realized we went to school together, and wanted me to make the connection."

Jaxir pursed his lips.

The last time Lue brought up government factions, Jaxir had turned him down without much thought. What bothered him now wasn’t that the offer had returned, but that Lue sounded less enthusiastic about it than before.

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"What’s the catch?"

"There isn’t one."

Lue’s voice was serious enough that Jaxir believed he meant the words, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything underneath them. Governments didn’t go searching for unaffiliated players because they had suddenly become generous, especially after Lue had already explained how badly official factions had fallen behind the strongest player organizations inside Divinity.

Jaxir leaned back again and smiled.

He had expected something like this eventually.

The moment Lue told him governments were struggling to keep pace with guilds, corporations and other player factions, Jaxir had wondered how long it would take before somebody decided a rapidly growing independent player was worth approaching. Three dead Village Heads and half the forums screaming his name had apparently sped up the process.

"Set up a meeting."

The silence on the other end lasted a beat too long.

"Jax..."

"Don’t worry about it, baldy. I’ve got this."

"I’ll have you know I have a perfectly good head of hair, thank you very much."

Jaxir laughed as he stood and started toward the basement. "I’m gonna go log in and see how my spoils are doing."

"Try not to kill another regional boss before lunch."

"No promises."

Jaxir ended the call before Lue could complain again and headed downstairs toward the old simulation room. The familiar pod waited for him with its vat of green fluid, and this time he climbed in with considerably less dread than he’d felt the first night he touched it.

He still had 3 treasures from the Sparkle Village Head that he hadn’t looked at yet.

Sleep had been important, but now he could be irresponsible again.