Everyone froze and the air grew tense for a moment before Breeze spoke up. "That looked like an elemental attack. But you are a Tech class?" She was eying his hand as the burns vanished, but a faint scarring remained. It was starting to leave a set of swirling scars like wood grain burned into his flesh.
"Power Claw. The fire… is new." His eyes flicked to Nira without meaning to.
"Yes. His arm ate my Emberwood staff. Better watch yourself, he will probably try to do the same to you." Nira snarled as she spoke to Breeze.
"Well aren't you a right pleasant cunt." Aoe said making Jake's eyebrows shoot up and Breeze sighed.
Nira glared at her and looked as if she was going to say something. Aoe just glared her down until the younger girl crossed her arms and slumped back in her chair. Jake noticed that under the new plain robes she was wearing he could tell she still wore the tech armor from before.
"We know all about what happened." Aoe said after Nira backed down. "Truth be told. It isn't that uncommon a story. You either accept reality and move on or you'd best go back to the fake world. Returning here each time, won't do anything but cause you heartache."
Jake was curious what Aoe meant, did she mean she had killed someone as well before knowing it wasn't a game? Or was she talking about someone else? He wanted to ask but found himself too scared of the answer. Breeze spoke up again. "Ate? Your weapon… you called it Power Claw? Ate a magic staff? An expensive one too if it was really an Emberwood."
"Uh, yeah. That was kinda his fault." He pointed to Jon who was still kneeling in front of him trying to examine his now healed hand while not touching Jake to avoid getting slapped around.
"Not my fault!" He stood up suddenly when he realized what he was being accused of. "I simply attempted to upgrade your unique weapon to what would normally be considered tier ten or so, in one go. Not my fault it didn't work and then you went off and did something crazy. Nope, not my fault at all. Besides, it couldn't "eat" anything. That is a silly way to put it. Absorb or integrate the material perhaps. But eating is just the wrong way to put it. That would imply… it was alive or something. It is just a mass of energized liquid metal partially integrated with his organic mass. Directly connected to his nervous system and powered by both his blood and the evolutionary energies coursing through his body." Jon sat back down.
"Eat… Preposterous. Almost as much as blaming me!" He shook his head before slumping down suddenly, a digital snoring sound coming from him almost instantly.
Breeze, Aoe, and Jake shared a look. Then laughed. Nira glared at them and Leah laughed, but too late. After the others had stopped. She squeaked when they all looked at her. It made them share another laugh. Jake felt both a swelling of longing as this reminded him of his friends and a pang of fear because it could all go so very wrong.
They stopped to camp that night. With all of them staying in the boat that hovered over the ground. No one wanted to get out and camp on the ground. Not with a Terror Worm on the lose, they were apparently a nocturnal hunter. It was to let Leah get some rest. She had driven nonstop all day long. She complained that she could drive through the night. That she was used to pulling all nighters. She seemed to almost panic as if she believed them stopping for the night was somehow her fault. As if she was to be blamed for needing to sleep.
Jake had to put his foot down. He pointed out they were still in the safe area. If she was exhausted when they actually got into the danger area, she would then be putting everyone at risk. That seemed to settle things and she curled up in the driver's seat. Refusing to stretch out on the bench seats in the back. While there was plenty of room for them to sit, once stretched out things would get a bit… cozy.
Jon was sprawled out, half falling out of the bench snoring loudly despite sleeping most of the day. Breeze offered to take the first watch. Aoe would take last. They said Jake would take the middle because it was the worst one. Sleeping a little then waking up and sleeping a little more would suck. As they put it he was the newbie and the guy. So it was only fair he suck it up and take it. Even his complaining about gender equality got him nowhere. But in truth, he didn't care much. Nira didn't say anything at first but finally snapped at them wanting to know when her watch was.
Aoe snorted. "Like we would trust you on watch while we are asleep."
"But you trust a murderer to watch you while you sleep?" She snapped.
"Why shouldn't I? He seems willing to. You don't have any problems with me keeping watch do you?" She was talking to Jake who shook his head. That comment shut Nira up and made Jake even more curious.
Morning came and Jake quickly admitted that middle watch was the worst. Aoe just laughed. Breeze just nodded her agreement. Nira… glared.
Jon woke up and declared he was going to the bathroom. Stood up and froze. "Oh right." Then sat back down.
Aoe looked between Jake and Breeze. "He isn't…"
"Ahhh." Jon let out a relieved sigh through his suit's speaker.
"Gross." She shook her head. "To think I always thought the Arist was this super suave and cool guy."
"Oh, I am!" Jon declared loudly.
Soon enough they were on the road again. If things went right they would be at their destination by lunch on Saturday. Even if they turned around right after arriving it would still be nearly two days back. They had no idea how long it would take Jon, but they predicted at least a day. It would probably be the weekend again before they got back. Jake was both nervous about being gone so long and a bit relieved. With his father away and the mayor covering for him, there shouldn't be any problems. One of the most interesting things he had learned was that both Breeze and Aoe lived full time on this side. Even Leah had mentioned that after she found out, she had basically stopped logging out. They all lived on this side now.
It was an interesting idea, but it only took him picturing his father. Grief stricken after his mother's death to wash away the idea. His father needed him, he couldn't abandon him.
The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. No other monster attacks like the Terror Worm and their watches went quietly. Other than a sudden shower in the middle of the night dropping the temperature drastically, everything went smoothly. Even the rain wasn't a big deal as the barrier was able to keep it off them. Jake waking up with Aoe snuggled up against him was the only event. It startled Jake so much she woke up too. Then laughed and snuggled up to him again as she called him a kid for freaking out. As she put it "It is fuckin freezing tits." He couldn't deny that.
After his watch, he went to bed and woke up with Leah curled up against him. She seemed embarrassed even more than he had been. Jake shrugged, hiding his own embarrassment as much as possible, and simply played it off. He had to admit it really was cold, who would have thought they needed something to stay warm in the desert-like wasteland.
That cold night, was their first night beyond the safety net. Everyone was tense and he had to admit, having someone close as he slept. Was comforting. Jon though slept like a baby, sleeping almost all the time actually.
If Nira was nervous she never showed it. And as far as Jake could tell her hatred for him kept her plenty warm. Leah was all crooked smiles and nervous laughs from the moment they entered the permadeath zone. Her nervous laughter apparently got on Nira's nerves who snapped at her.
"Quit freaking out. What is the big deal? This is no different than every other day of our lives. The safety zones are the oddity." Jake couldn't help but think she had a point. But it didn't change how he felt. It was still unnerving to know you went from perfectly safe to could die at any time just by crossing an invisible line.
Finally, they made it to their destination. Leah stopped the hovering boat and declared they had arrived. Pointing to a small screen on the dashboard of the boat with a few numbers on it. She said it was their location. Jake and the others looked around at… nothing. They were floating over a piece of barren land that looked just like everywhere else.
When Jake said so, Jon spoke up. "Well of course. Did you expect a big sign that said Here is the dimensional anchor for an entire town, come mess it up!" Jon for the first time since they left town got out of the boat. A cover opened on his wrist revealing a small screen, he was walking around in a circle.
"Ten credits he is looking for a spot to take a shit." Aoe snickered and Breeze let out a disappointed sigh.
"Absolutely not. I went just a little while ago while we were talking about whether chocolate or vanilla cake was better." Jon didn't look up from his arm while talking and now Jake let out a long disappointed sigh while the others made a disgusted face.
"Alright. Here." He stopped and pointed at the ground. "Just open a nice hole right here. Not too deep. Just a hundred and fifty… I mean sixty meters down." He looked up at the rest.
"The hell you mean open a hole that deep? We didn't bring excavation equipment. Fucking daft…" Aoe went off on a tirade.