“Okay, now that you’re here… I need your help to find the best of my plans. Plans on how to blow up the binding stone.”

  Lucy blinked. Lola froze mid-straighten, one hand still hovering near her tablet, the other clasped slightly at her side.

  Outside, neon light from the city flickered against the apartment window, casting soft reflections across Lola’s hair and illuminating the faint shimmer of her suit’s fabric.

  Stop looking at girls like that, Charlie, you’re not John anymore.

  That mocking obelisk, wasn’t just a monument. It was a leash. And I was done being walked. Seeing it done to others. “Altandai’s binding stone,” I clarified, just in case they thought I meant ‘symbolically destroy a system’ and not, you know, actually cause a very literal, enormous explosion.

  “You’re serious,” Lucy said, her tone amused. “I’m not skeptical, just confirming how deep you’re in.”

  “I’m five levels in, classless, marked for sale, and my name is on a damn tag.” I reached up instinctively, fingers brushing against my neck. The scarf wasn’t physically here, but the sensation of it… a faint phantom press hadn’t left. “So yeah. I’m serious.”

  Lola sat down beside me again, slow and careful, like she didn’t want to jostle the mood too hard. She said nothing. Her presence said enough. Vanilla and citrus from her perfume still lingered in the air.

  “Alright,” Lucy said, practically throwing herself into the chair across from us with a dramatic flop. “Let’s see what options you’ve got.”

  “No offense,” Jerry added helpfully through the speaker, “but your previous explosions have been… unoptimized. I’ve seen the streams and holo-videos.”

  I rolled my eyes so hard they might’ve hit the back of my skull. “Thanks for the performance review, Jerry.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, chipper as ever.

  “Lil’ Char, the binding stone is huuuuge!” Lucy grinned as she reached behind her and popped open a beer with a satisfying pshh-tkk.

  “Wait, beer?” I blinked, glancing around the apartment. “I haven’t stocked up—”

  “See the shopping bag near the door?” Lucy gestured lazily, without even looking. “Don’t change the subject. The stone’s protected!”

  She took a long sip. The crisp scent of hops hit the air. Lola visibly flinched at the sound, the sudden shift breaking her calm, so I reached over and rested a hand on hers. Her fingers were tense but didn’t pull away.

  “You’ve seen it?” I asked, glancing at Lucy. “How?”

  “I have superpowers!” she teased with a wink, raising her beer like it was a proof of divine insight.

  I stared at her.

  “Ugh,” she groaned. “You’re no fun. As always. At least not before a few bottles. I went there on the test servers. You know, when they weren’t crashing every five minutes.”

  I shifted on the sofa, sinking deeper into the cushions until Lola was nestled between me and Lucy like a diplomatic buffer. “Uhmm…”

  Before I could even finish the thought, Lucy was already cracking up. She had to set her beer down on the table to avoid spilling it all over herself.

  “Lemme guess. It’s your fault! It’d be weird if it wasn’t. One morning I’m drinking coffee, next thing I know, half the servers are down and I’m without a job.”

  “Well…” I muttered, half vanishing into the cushions like they were trying to swallow me. Lola glanced over with a soft, amused look. “The servers may close…” I said, trailing off. “You might need to find a new job, Lucy…”

  Lucy stopped laughing. She stared at the table for a moment before picking up her beer and taking a longer swig.

  “Honestly? I wanted to ditch that work. With the insane gold prices lately, it wasn’t worth it.”

  “It may not stand out for long,” Lola added, voice softer, but firm. She glanced between the two of us. “The inflation in Rimelion is higher than Earth’s right now. It’s destabilizing.”

  “I live for the now.” Lucy crossed her legs, casually swinging one foot as she sipped again. “And now we’re blowing up the binding stone. If Lil’ Charlie stops dodging the topic.”

  “You’re the one—” I started.

  “I concur. Charlie is not telling us her plan,” the traitor Jerry cut in, tone smug as usual.

  I groaned into my hands. “Et tu, my own AI?”

  “Always.”

  “Okay, serious talk. I have a plan… A vague plan,” I said, leaning forward and clasping my hands tightly between my knees. The light from the window caught on the edge of the table, glinting like a nervous twitch. “I was thinking about calling in a favor from the Twirs, or some other divine intervention. But…” I bit my lip, the words stalling on my tongue. “I may go my mother’s route.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Rebellion?” Lola tilted her head, her soft features creased with cautious curiosity.

  “Not exactly. Not a full-scale uprising, but… I’ll set the slaves free, yes,” I admitted. “Demons.”

  “Lil’—” Lucy began, her casual grin faltering, concern creeping into her voice.

  “I’m not small!” I snapped, standing up in mock offense.

  “You’re small. Stop dodging,” Lucy continued without missing a beat, raising her brows. “Demons? That’s dangerous stuff, especially when you’re an NPC. No backup lives for you, you know.”

  “We want to save you,” Lola added gently, her fingers curling nervously around the hem of her skirt. “Not find your corpse, lady.”

  I rolled my eyes and waved a dismissive hand. “Of course I’m not calling demons tomorrow!” I leapt up, untangling from Lola’s comforting touch, and started pacing. The hardwood floor was cool beneath my bare feet.

  Was I really dodging the question?

  Lucy took another sip, switched which leg she crossed, and watched me with calculating calm. “Let’s talk logistics. How exactly are you planning to blow up the obelisk?”

  My heart did a nervous little tap-dance. I kept pacing, tracing a path near the window, then back to the couch. The idea had lived comfortably in the dusty attic of my brain until now, safely unsaid. Speaking it out loud felt like cracking a door to a storm.

  “I know a summoning sequence,” I said finally, my voice low. “It needs an enormous mana battery. And… I happen to know a stone that has a lot of mana.”

  Lucy burst out laughing, nearly choking on her drink. “You were doing some summoning quest while testing?”

  She didn’t question how I knew it. Relief flooded me, loosening something tight in my chest. A warm thread of gratitude curled around my ribs. “Yes,” I said, smiling faintly. “At least twenty times. And I kept messing it up. So I… learned the script.”

  “What’s a script?” Lola asked, blinking. “Sorry for all the questions and my ignorance…” she added softly, her cheeks coloring as she glanced to the side.

  Of course, I immediately flung myself back next to her and wrapped her in another hug, nuzzling my face into her shoulder. “It’s fine, Lola! You can’t know, you weren’t in the testing.”

  “It’s basically the demons’ language,” Lucy said, casually finishing off her beer. She stood and lobbed the empty can toward the recycling bin in the corner. It bounced off the rim, hit the opposite wall, and clink… right in. “I also know bits here and there. Demons are annoying to deal with, so it helps to understand their grammar of doom.”

  “Yeah. So the first step is to create a huge summoning circle around the stone. That’ll be my job… when you arrive in the city.” I was still clinging to Lola. “How are you going to—”

  “Let her go, Lil’ Char, she can’t breathe!” Lucy teased, cracking open another beer with a hiss and crack.

  Blushing, I untangled myself and scooted away, folding my legs beneath me on the sofa. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine, lady,” Lola whispered, offering a tiny smile before speaking louder. “And Lucy is right… we have ships.”

  I blinked at her, a dumbfounded pause hanging in the air. “Ships? As in… plural?”

  “As in about ten ships,” Lucy said proudly, throwing her arm over the back of the chair. “Hey AI, find the vid I added to my holo-gram from yesterday.”

  “My name is Jerry,” he said, voice dry and clinical from the TV speaker.

  “So you can’t?” Lucy raised an eyebrow, glancing toward the television.

  Instead of answering, the holo-TV flickered to life.

  It was a scene from a ship. A big ship.

  There was… Lucy, and… was that Fty? Yep. Healing someone right near the helm, of course. Hundred players scattered across the deck like organized chaos.

  Lucy was grinning victoriously, hand on hip, boots planted wide, looking like she’d just conquered half the world and was eyeing the rest, yelling “Rimebreak’s struck again, ye scurvy dogs! We’ve got sixteen fine ships now, and nothin’ can stand ‘gainst us! We be unstoppable, I tells ye!”

  I glanced at her, but she just shrugged.

  The ship itself was fairly large, a double-decked river frigate, sails furled high, enchanted oars tucked in tight. Bronze-rimmed wood creaked, and arcane lamps lined its sides like glowing teeth.

  Over Lucy’s head floated my crest. A snowflake. Frosty, delicate, but inscribed with lines that shimmered with pale sapphire hues, branching like runes into the air itself.

  Frozna’s birds circled above, diving into the river to pick off whatever dared peek from below. Scamantha was chatting with a handful of players, handing out potions. Hard to tell from this angle. TechiLlama and Luminaria stood at the bow, boots braced against splintered wood, surveying the aftermath of what looked like a pirate skirmish.

  Lunaris hadn’t finished. They were still mid-duel with the pirate leader, blades flashing, her sock-coat billowing dramatically… probably on purpose.

  NightSwallow lingered at the mast’s shadow, silent as usual, watching with narrowed eyes.

  Somewhere behind the camera, a ball of fire arced overhead. Ah. Tramar was throwing things. Hopefully, at the enemy. Probably. Maybe.

  The holo-video ended right as Lunaris drove both of her blades through the last pirate captain, a burst of magical sparks and fading light marking the final blow. The image froze with a hiss of static. The victorious chaos caught mid-motion.

  Players cheering, magic still hanging in the air, sails flaring in the breeze.

  “Lisa and Katherine are still missing,” Lola said, slipping seamlessly into her business mode. Her voice monotone, her posture straightened, and her hand reached for her tablet instinctively. “They have final exams, so they can’t join. But aside from those and other minor absences, everyone joined the river raid.”

  Lucy grinned so widely it practically cracked her face. She leaned back like a smug cat in the sunlight, beaming at her own success. And honestly? Yeah. She deserved it. That’s why I said, “you said sixteen ships in the clip.”

  She groaned, flopping sideways on the chair and cracking her neck. “That dumbass Tramar and a few other mages sank the pirates’ ships. Total overkill.”

  Lola nodded, flipping through something on her screen. “It was deducted from their loot share, but they said it was fine. Claimed it was good target practice.”

  “So that’s your plan…” I exhaled, letting the reality of it settle in my gut. “Sail there from the sea. It’ll take a few days.” I leaned forward, tapping my fingers on the armrest. “Hopefully, I won’t be forced into a class before then.”

  “Wait a second!” Lucy snorted mid-sip, already popping open her third beer with a sharp hiss. “You’re classless? No wonder you’re so weak!”

  I closed my eyes and tried not to sigh too loudly. “Can you explain your theory?”

  “Have you ever seen a stronk classless NPC?” Lucy grinned, swaying slightly in her seat as the alcohol started doing its job. “Nahhh. But the classed one gets like... mega boosts! Rarity buff! Stats ten times up! Pow-pow!” She pantomimed punching the air like an excited toddler.

  She was slurring, yes. But she wasn’t wrong.

  “Damn…” I clenched my fist and stared at the floor. The pieces were there. I’d just… forgotten. My mind had been in survival mode so long I hadn’t considered the meta for a while.

  “Overthinking isn’t great,” I muttered.

  Lola gently placed her hand over mine. I looked up and met her eyes, calm and understanding. “You’re right, Lucy,” I said, turning slightly to address both of them. “I need to get a class before the big bang. But it has to be on my terms. Somehow.”

  The room was quiet for a moment, save for the faint hum of the city outside and the soft clink as Lucy set her empty can on the table.

  “Tomorrow I’ll create a quest for you. To sail into Altandai and free all the slaves.”