The events over lunch at the Blackwood-Sinclair estate were… chaotic, as Wade learned.

Selena had doubled and tripled down on keeping her armor during lunch, and Illy decided this was as good as any when it came to dragging her family into this.

Her reasoning was simple on this: It was always going to come down to bringing Harrison into a room, and putting things down on the table. There was no other way she could even start to get her family and connections involved. If she'd tried to contact her father directly, it would take a month before he showed up to actually listen at her insanity. The Staff Sergeant had far more credibility than Illy had herself ironically. But Wade was a little used to weird family dynamics so this didn't feel too off.

None of the staff would have any sway in getting her Father called back from some international thing he was off on right now. And the rest of the family there, minus Thomas, were as dense as the lead they probably licked each morning - her exact words.

The only one who was worth talking to at the estate would have inevitably been Harrison. And the only way to convince the combat instructor would have been to display magic in some way. So a spar was as good a way as any.

Illy did admit the idea of watching Beatrice fume around the estate for the rest of the day, convinced Illy had somehow gotten Harrison of all people to join in on a 'prank' was the icing on the cake.

And also a pro to the plan, since apparently getting both Harrison to phone Illy's Father - and then an angry stepmother convinced there was some kind of prank being played on her and the utter disrespect of Thomas's personal trainer having the gaul to humiliate her in front of the family like this.

It was actually a better endorsement that something was going off at the estate and it would draw the real power in the Blackwood-Sinclairs back to the estate faster.

But mostly Illy enjoyed giving her step-mother the most smug smiles possible and watching her explode on the inside.

"How hard was it to convince your, uh, trainer, that she's an actual elf? When you sat down and talked to him one on one?"

"Oh that? That bit was easy - under a minute. He'd already seen and felt it firsthand. But he did ask to touch her ears and feathers to confirm how real they were. Selena was a good sport about it. Moment he felt her ears were warm to the touch and felt like skin, he knew it was real. There's actual muscles inside her ears connected to her skull, like a cat's. The System and all that Azdrial bollocks though? That took some proper explaining. Poor man."

It had taken two hours before Staff Sergeant Harrison had all his questions satisfied. He'd probably come to the same conclusions Illy had about the macro movements. Illy had told him she was working with other people stuck in the other world, so she'd have more intel about it soon, but for the meantime she'd keep Leon and Wade off the books.

"What if Selena didn't win?" Wade asked, more curious about that. "If she didn't have mana, she'd probably have a hard time."

"Oh, I knew she'd win." Illy said, without a shred of doubt. "Even had to ask her to go easy on him, we don't want to hurt Harrison."

Selena's ears twitched in pride, but she schooled her feathers so they wouldn't puff out.

"How?" Wade asked, then gave the elf a quick apology wave. "Sorry, not doubting your abilities Selena, just getting more info."

"Have you used Identify on anyone on earth yet?" Illy asked.

"Uh. No." That was a good point. He'd relied hard on Identify just about everywhere on Azdrial, but not much on earth.

"Go on bampot, do it. I dare you."

Wade put the phone slightly down, and looked out into the busy street. He saw a girl jogging off the side of the street.

Level 3 Human - 100%

"Holy shit it works." He continued the identify across the rest of the street passing by, including those inside cars. Everyone was between levels 3 and 5, with what looked to be a bodybuilder walking back from the gym at level 6.

But Wade knew without a shadow of a doubt if he picked a fight with that gymbro, he'd get punched into the ground. "All right, think that confirms what we thought about Player levels being different than non-player levels. Two seperate systems maybe?"

He gave a look at a large dog walking on a leash.

Level 4 Dog - 100%

What was the level system actually studying?

"It gets weirder." Illy said. "Clocked Harrison at level fourteen with Identify before he got his kit on. That's why I thought Selena paste him like jam on toast. But when he put on his tactical vest, and the knife it had inside, his level shot up to nineteen. If he'd tooled up with something proper lethal, like a carbine, his level would go past Selena's."

"Makes sense so far." Wade said.

"No bampot, that's the thing - it doesn't. Because Harrison's already used guns and daggers before. He'd probably been using a dagger just yesterday to pick his teeth clean while thrashing Thomas. So where's the levels from that? He should have been level nineteen from the start."

She did make a point. The more he considered it, the more holes he realized a level system had. Would a non-player go up to level 900-fuck-you the moment they equipped a high yield loaded rocket launcher?

He looked out at the street, where people drove several ton death machines at LA-driver speeds. If any of them pulled the wheel the wrong way or got hit by a case of road rage, that'd be a deadly weapon. So why were their levels all still around baseline for humans?

If there was a distinction with vehicles, where was the line?

What about if someone equipped a rocket launcher and didn't know how to use it, or didn't plan to ever use it as a weapon? Like a staunch pacifist? Does intention matter? If a weapon was stowed on a person, would it still be considered equipped?

What about a weapon left on a table, and the person could and would grab it faster than anything sheathed on their person? Would it effectively be equipped, because it was available for use?

Judgement happens at my leisure. The System had said.

What Wade could be certain of was that the System was omnipresent, and probably doing individual judgements for every small item that involved it. It was the one marking levels. Was it some actual convoluted mathematics, or just going off vibes? Or a mix? A set of baseline rules that it applied and then used its own discretion for the rest?

"Maybe we can use comparisons?" Illy suggested when he laid down his thoughts.

"Like what?"

"Think of it this way - if Harrison went toe-to-toe with the things we had to fight, would he win? Most of the skeletons were between level ten and thirteen, and I'm sure he could win every fight."

"Eri was thirty seven and that skeleton outside the HQ was like twenty three? Would your SAS guy be able to beat them?"

"Aye, but they can use fecking magic and all that. Greatsword guy clearly had his full skillset open, he was keeping up with Selena one on one, though I think she would have won it alone eventually. Don't think Harrison would win unarmed against that. That mimic you fought, what level was it at?"

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"Ninteen." Wade said, remembering vividly the horrible thing. "I seriously doubt anyone could beat that thing one on one without…. weapons."

But what about a trained commando with a knife? System moved him up to level 19. Same level as the mimic. Did it think there was a fifty fifty chance?

"Huh, I think you might have a point." Wade said. "We'll have to do some testing to get the answers." Wade said. "I can do a few simple ones tonight with Eri at least, but I've got some ideas on what kind of tests I could do."

"Sounds good, I'll leave the game stuff to you. Think you'd be better at it."

"So. How many people know?" Wade asked.

"Just the staff sergeant." Illy shrugged over the grainy video. "Thomas caught on too, the kid kept trying to get into the room and start asking knife-ears questions."

"He appeared rather more courteous in his manners compared to the rest of your... family," Selena said. She still seemed to have some opinions about lunch. "I would have been perfectly content to address his questions during our dinner with Mr. Harrison."

"Thomas is harmless." Illy waved her hand, turning to Wade on the screen. "But the rest of those eejits? All they saw was Harrison letting go of perfectly good chokes again and again, way too early. Like he was throwing the match. They're convinced this is part of some prank, and the staff's all in on it. Swear on me mum, posh living makes people less sharp than a bowling ball."

"I'm still having a hard time understanding how you have an entire staff over there." Wade said. "How much would that even cost? How big is your house?"

Illy facepalmed. "… That's what you care about? Of course that's what you care about. Bampot, the important bit's this: Harrison's not bothered about proving anything to that bunch, nor do we need any of them for future plans. And he's agreed to help us out, he'll be training Selena at the least for more modern hand to hand combat. Maybe even gun trainin'. Plus he's curious about magic and learning how to use it. Think seeing it in action made him realize it's a tactical asset. He tried asking her to teach him, but she turned him down."

"I absolutely refuse to do so." Selena hissed from behind. "Training begins with, at the very least, a mana potion. It would be utterly irresponsible, and quite possibly even criminal of me, to train someone using a mana crystal at the novice level. And especially for one's first experience with mana! This is how people die."

Illy shrugged, "I'm not suggesting we do what he wants, I'm just saying that's what he's already got his eyes set on. Wade, if you can get him a mana potion, that'd be a right perfect way to get into his good graces."

New Personal Quest: Bringing Magic to a gunfight - Give David Harrison a mana potion, along with basic instructions on mana usage and casting spells. Rewards: Connections with British Special Air Service. Improved relations with United Kingdoms. Improved relations with the Blackwood-Sinclairs. SAS operatives added into the lootbox draw pool.

Wade stared at the quest notification and that last part. He wasn't greatly surprised he could still get quests out in the world, but SAS operatives added to the lootbox pool?

And it implied he'd need to teach Harrison himself. Which could get him involved into all this. But it included 'Improved relations with the United Kingdoms.' Which meant the UK wouldn't be hostile to him or trying to do weird abductions?

Illy tunnel visioned on something else: "The feck do you mean added to the lootbox pool? Like Selena? Read it again!"

"I don't know! I just got the quest, don't ask me questions about this jank bullshit half-coded System!"

The idea of having a SAS commando yanked out of the Earth and added to the roster of people caught in all this was a little worrying - because it didn't come with iron-clad loyalty. Eri could easily break Wade's orders, the skeleton followed Wade around for basically fuck-it-we-ball reasons. Selena did the same but for more rational reasons of wanting to serve her goddess.

What motivation would a yanked SAS commando have to help Wade out in anything?

Payment? Wade didn't want to think for a moment about handing off his hard earned gold bars or treasures for anything. He'd rather die. Possibly literally given recent events.

Whatever this thing was, it wouldn't happen until he gave Harrison a mana potion and then also taught him how to use it. So maybe he could worry about that when it happened. "Not surprised the System would follow on the gacha mechanics. I just can't really tell how useful it'd be."

"You better have a right good speech and argument to not getting your neck snapped. Because you'll have about two seconds before you're turned into a kit-kat." Illy said. "Better start rehearsing. Or hope you have enough magic to get out alive."

"Noted, not even sure I want to complete that quest until we know how lootboxes summon people. What's going to happen next at the estate now that your trainer is starting to ring the bells?"

According to Illy, the long-term options were pretty narrow. She explained a few different plans they could have taken, even outlined a possible escape from LA into more remote counties, which Wade disagreed with, vividly: He had to be around people in order to get their money, so running off to be hermits was not facilitating his current schemes.

Illy just rolled her eyes at him for this, "See this knife-ears? This is the pure mental shite we've been dealing with while you couldn't understand a word of English. You weren't missing much of anything."

She wiggled ears inside the hoodie. And Wade had to admit she looked very cozy in it. Like a bird bundled up in a sock. Even her fingers were barely poking out the sleeves.

"You tried any other clothing besides the hoodie?" He asked, taking a break from the tactical speak. Even Eri had finished molesting the crossbow and wandered over to sit and watch the show.

"Had to be long enough to fit her, long sleeved, and cover up the most of her back spine. Only choice was a hoodie, nothing else would do that last bit. Right pain in the arse getting her out of that armor."

"I have declared, on multiple occasions, that my feathers are unpreened and not presentable to civil company. Since we have been caught in too many battles, the armor has ruined their conditio- I'm not lying, I'm not!" She raced up to the screen again, trying to tap it or something, all the while her ears kept twitching the tell-tale signs she wasn't honest. Of which, she could clearly see from the reverse camera. Even most of the ears hiding from sight inside the hood part, it was clear as daylight.

Wade had a thought that maybe he should sit by a bathroom mirror, and start saying lies and bluffs to see what kind of tells Market's Blessing would give away from just how his face moved.

Did he have an obvious tell he was blind to until someone showed it directly to him, like Selena?

If she was lying about her feathers being ruined by her armor, then what had actually made them look bad enough she didn't want anyone to see? Wade could sense his blessing whispering something to him about that, as if it was important in some way, but he couldn't make any other guess at moonwing culture or what would mess up feathers. He wasn't part hummingbird, just part racoon.

"She's never playing poker with us." Illy rolled her eyes, as Selena hid her face behind her hands after trying to hold her ears still before realizing that was even more damning than not doing anything at all.

Or hiding her face with her new sleeves, to be more accurate given the surface area. "Took steak bribes and a hoodie the size of a camping tent before she'd even consider taking her armor off for dinner, and that was just Harrison and meself. She refused to even change with me in the room to help her. Had to come in anyhow when I heard thrashing. Got herself tangled up like a cat caught in a net."

Selena didn't refute that, instead she was sulking in the back of the room, hiding inside the hoodie.

"She didn't know how to put on a hoodie?" Wade asked.

"She got the hoodie on, sure. But she's got feathers down her spine and on the sides of her arms, and a lot of those basically act like spikes to fabric, especially the baby feathers that were still in some kind of hard outer sheath. Pin feathers she called them. Those got caught almost immediately."

"… so you aren't a Swifty?"

She looked like she wanted to throttle him. "Can you be serious for a second of your life? I'm done with this nonsense, we're going back to shite that actually matters. Or else."

Wade also noted that she didn't directly tell him she wasn't. Which was ammunition for later ribbing. "All right, all right, keep going with the options you'd meticulously planned."

"Thank ye." Illy said, coughing in her hand before she continued her careful plans.

Her verdict ended up to this single point: No matter where they ran off to, the real crux of the issue was power. They needed to get enough of it to fend off future Players or governments. And they very much would have to deal with Players at some point no matter where they hid. There could certainly be a boon that let Players track down other Players, or some storefront unlockable when the System wanted the main game to be more in focus.

Getting the military of an entire country on their side early would be great protection. And mutually beneficial. If it was done right. They just needed to be strong enough that hostility was a poor choice, while making cooperation a better choice. Better to have things start on their terms, and under the protection of a family like hers. They had all the ties needed that a random off the street like Wade lacked.

"When you get down to it, I got all the connections to make this work and Nox knew that." Illy said. "She picked me because she suspected I'd have the ties and ability to get things done."

"Wait, how did she know?" Wade asked. He knew Play had described him as a 'starter choice gacha' which was usually something that let gamers get a character pick to draw them into the game. Everything after was random. But how would Nox know about Illy's family?

"I asked her about that. She got a limited set of options, the System picked out a few hundred names along with a matching title and the gods had to make their choices from just that. Mine was 'Sidelined heir of an ancient military lineage.' which was, eh, accurate enough. It was a complete gamble on Nox's part, though her other options were pretty bad. The second best option she was about to pick had been 'eSports World Champion - Apex Legends.' Nox thought she'd get an olympic-level sports legend."

Oh.

Oh dear.

If that's how the gods picked their Players, there might be some very strange people in the game.

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