Jake was trudging back from killing the Maws. His mind was still a mess after being forced to remember everything so vividly. Otherwise, he would have never missed the large rock he was walking past. When the pillar of stone snapped out to swing at him though, even distracted it wasn't fast enough. His left hand snapped out and caught it. He only skidded a few inches before coming to a stop as the Earth Elemental rose up. It tried to pull the club-like arm back but found it stuck unmoving in his grip. Jake pulled on the arm and the monster found itself being pulled down and forward. His right fist snapped out three times in a blinding flurry. The entire chest of the monster exploded out of its back. It started melting and turning to dust just as quickly as it had started rising up. Jake crushed the stone club in his hand and let it drop in pieces at his side before moving towards the writhing clay mass.
He picked it up, the clay wrapping around his gauntlet trying to crush his arm. Instead, he crushed the stone heart with a quick violent squeeze. The clay turned to fine dust and fell away. He gathered the core and mutagen to go along with the elemental heart. Then resumed his trek back towards town.
"Hey Aero. How about a speed boost." He laughed sadly. "No, didn't think you would want to give your murderer any buffs." Jake caught himself and shook his head. Using his passive skill, Survivor's Fury, reopened the mental wounds each time. It left him damaged for a while after each use in a way that his body's enhanced recovery couldn't fix. Even knowing that he choose to use it every chance he could. As a sort of self punishment. But he also realized he couldn't afford to actually go crazy. After all, his father and everyone living in his town relied on him. No, even more than that. Ella's town had no other gamers. No one to farm for them. His murdering her put them in a bind.
The mayor had argued that he wasn't responsible. It was all an accident. Jake had been there when the mayor of Ella's town had called to address the situation. It had looked like the other mayor was going to agree, if reluctantly. Jake had refused to let them. He wanted to take responsibility for it. Besides if he didn't Ella's entire town would have died. His mayor told him that wouldn't happen, they would just have to migrate to another town or negotiate for someone to move there that could farm for them. Based on both his mayor and the other one's reaction his words were half truths. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so desperate for Jake to return to the "game". Jake didn't know how all that worked and didn't care.
When a player cashed in Power Cores the credits they received represented their cut of the power cores potential. Each one could produce energy and matter that defied what Jake knew as all the laws of physics. The gear they bought was priced at the credit value of the power core cost of making them. Jake's town would get the normal amount from each power core he turned in. He would give his share to split between Ella, Gadget, and Aero's towns.
Aero's town had another gamer. And Gadget's town actually had two other gamers. Jake didn't care he wanted them to be reimbursed.
In the end, they set it to him giving up only ninety percent of his cut. He would still need to buy his own gear. The town couldn't afford to give up more, not if he was just going to give it away. Jake didn't care. As long as his town was fine, he just didn't care.
He returned to the same Hub he had always returned to. It was late at night when he got in. Without Aero getting to places worth farming and far enough away no one would get caught up in his rampage took a long time. Despite the late hour, there were plenty of people around. The bar got quieter when he entered. Everyone knew about his team being wiped out. He hadn't hidden that he had done it but he also hadn't told them. Many people had given their condolences and complained about the game's stupid perma death rules. They suggested his friends could get another copy of the game maybe. No one sounded sure, you couldn't buy this game.
Jake just nodded, not telling them the truth. There was no reason to burden them with it as well. Some of the regulars, people he had met before approached him right as he got to Clives' counter.
"Demon! Have you been out solo fighting all day again? Come on. You can join up with us." It was a group of four girls. A mix of Tech and Fantasy classes. Ranging from his own age to close to twice his age. Several of them were quite pretty. He remembered Cass stepping on his toes when he stared too long while talking to them in the past. Now he barely saw them.
"I'm fine. I work better alone now." He said politely if in a flat tone.
"Come on. You can't get much done alone. Come party with us!" She said again, she was friendly and all smiles. She kinda reminded him of a female Aero. Instead of answering her, he unattached one of the containers on his thigh. Then poured it loudly into the chute. The machine chimed loudly.
[Twenty Nine B Rank Power Cores. One C Rank Power Core.]
The group blanched. That was an impossible haul for any group. Let alone a solo player. Jake thought it would get them to back off. He was wrong. If anything that show of "wealth" increased their desire for him to join. Going from friendly concern for an acquaintance to a greedy hunger. Not only for them but others close enough to have heard.
"Hey." Her tone was different. "Your girlfriend was playing with you, right? But she can't now. You know, if you had a girlfriend in the game she wouldn't know." She smiled at him and spoke softer so only he could hear. "Did you know this game has "adult" features?"
Jake collected his credits and left the processing mutagen while ignoring the older girl. She tried to get him to respond, even tried to lean against him. He gently but firmly pushed her away. She just rolled her eyes and made comments about still being a child. A few others even tried to start up a conversation but he ignored them. Now that people were paying attention he figured that turning in his cores was going to be a problem now. Clive would hold his processed Mutagen until tomorrow. For now, he moved to log out.
Perhaps it was time to leave the area. Now that he knew monsters didn't just spawn out of nowhere endlessly… well not exactly. It would be better to move to a new area with untapped sources of monsters to kill.
Logging off Jake left his room to eat something. He had eaten more of the bitter nutrition disks for lunch. He had planned to eat another for dinner before the issue with other players drove him to log out. He preferred to eat in game now that he knew it would work to sustain him. Food had lost its taste anyways so he felt like he was wasting food that would be better used on others whenever he ate outside the "game".
To his surprise, his father was home. "Hey, son."
"Dad? Why are you home?" Jake stopped in the kitchen.
"It is my normal day off." His dad chuckled some. "You've been playing that game too much if you are losing track of days." His dad smiled at him, but Jake could see the concern in his eyes.
"Sorry, dad. I just… The game helps me remember." He didn't say that it helped him remember that he was a murderer. Nor that the only thing he was good for now was keeping the town powered. That was a truth his father didn't deserve to be burdened with.
"I understand son." His father got up and hugged him again. His father had never been the hugging type but ever since that day at the hospital he had become one. "Want me to make you some dinner?"
"I'm just going to eat a sandwich and go to bed." Jake endured the hug stiffly and then moved to make his food.
"I was thinking. Maybe I should take some time off from work. We could go on a vacation before summer ended." His father said, watching his son make a sandwich of only meat and bread.
"No. Vacations are expensive" Jake said before taking a bite. It was true, leaving the town for something like a vacation was extremely expensive so very few people could do it. Jake now knew the truth was because opening a tunnel to another town or worse creating a space in the wilderness for something like camping took a lot of energy. He was less worried about the money and more about the drain on the pocket dimension's resources.
"We can afford it. I got that big promotion and raise. We also got a big payout for an insurance policy your mother apparently had." Jake's dad choked up only a little this time mentioning his dead wife. Jake figured there was no insurance policy, it was probably the Mayor. Just like his father's promotion. One that paid a lot but also kept him out of the house a lot more.
"I'm fine dad. I would rather play my game before school starts." Jake wolfed down his sandwich and headed back to his room. Jake's dad followed behind at a distance, his face creased with worry. He didn't know what to do for his son. He felt he had failed him as a father after his wife had died. Not been there enough for him. Now that his son's girlfriend had been killed, right in front of him even. Mauled by a bear. His son seemed withdrawn. The fact that Cassandra's father had angrily accused his son of abandoning his daughter hadn't helped. The man had eventually calmed down and come to apologize. Jake had been wounded, even if he had fled from a bear the man couldn't blame just a boy.
Jake's dad watched his son's door close and remembered his son's words. "You have every right to blame me. You should hate me. But I will take care of you all. I promise." No one understood his words, nor his strangely serious expression. Cassandra's father had again apologized but Jake wouldn't hear it.
Now Jake's father stood outside his door wondering what to do. What to say. How to help his son. He started to knock. The sound of his son crying stopped him. It pulled at his heart but he couldn't think of how to make it better. What he could do. Trying to comfort his son always seemed to have the opposite effect. He stood there listening to his son sob until silence fell, quietly trying to give his son the strength he would need. Only then did he enter the room. He tucked the now sleeping boy in bed and wiped away the tears from his face.
"I'm sorry son." His father whispered, apologizing for his inability to know what to do for his son.