Monsters and Men

The doctor was an enigma. The only thing anyone really knew about him in my past was that he was the most dangerous man to ever live. I had only personally encountered him twice in my past life. The first time was when he caused the fall of the central floating island in the fourth season of the games. The second time was when he killed me before I returned to the past. If he had fought properly for the sake of humanity, we could have definitely had a shot at clearing the final season.

From what I remembered, he was a well-known psychiatrist back on earth and was a practicing hypnotist. The system had rewarded him with rare skills that matched his profession, allowing him to influence the minds of those around him. This was even before he received the legendary Mindshaper class.

The doctor was able to control monsters and even players with his skills. He could command them to do just about anything he would want them to do. No one knew what his limitations were, but there were accounts of him being able to control hundreds of players and monsters at the same time by the fourth season.

There was no news of the doctor at all during the first season until the third month, when he was found to be the cause of a widespread plague that killed hundreds of thousands of players on every side. I was very surprised to hear that he was already on the move this early in the first season. I listened to the swordsman and the spearman continue their conversation, as I needed to know more about the doctor's activities.

The spearman continued. "A single monster appeared at first. It was slender, bipedal, and covered in some kind of dark violet carapace. As soon as Gillion started throwing spikes of shadow magic at the doctor, the spikes were batted away like they were nothing by the monster. Then, out of nowhere, hundreds of other monsters appeared."

The swordsman looked stunned. "Hundreds of others? What do you mean hundreds?"

"We killed a few of them and found out that they were Thornheart Stalkers and Thornheart Creepers, but we couldn't hold our own against them."

"Then what was the one that deflected Gillion's shadow magic?"

"Well… We think it was the Thornheart Queen…"

The two soldiers stopped talking for a moment. I almost stopped listening as thoughts started to race through my mind. The Thornheart Queen was a very neutral monster that would not go out of its way to attack anyone unless she determined that someone was a threat to her hive. In my past, the Thornheart Queen was slain by the Veldans on the fourth week of the first season. She had not made any appearance at all until then, which could only mean one thing.

"This future is already fucked," I whispered to myself. I turned my attention back to the swordsman and the spearman as they continued their conversation below.

The spearman continued. "As we were about to fall, the human stepped forward and raised a hand. As soon as he did, all of the Thornheart Creepers and Stalkers stopped attacking us and skittered off into the forest."

"Then what happened?"

"He told us not to worry and that he wasn't going to kill us. He spoke with Gillion alone, and Gillion immediately retreated with us after their conversation."

"Wow, I can't believe Ronan Wilde had such strong allies. Gillion reported this to the elders?"

The spearman nodded. "Yes, he also informed the shadow council."

"Are they going to hunt that man?"

"No, Gillion informed us that Ronan is the real threat to the Alorae and that the doctor can be trusted. Don't forget, the doctor shared the hunting spot with us."

The swordsman nodded. "Yes, it's incredible that we can find such a bounty of high-level Thornheart Stalkers just idle."

"I can't wait to go back to that spot."

"Don't worry. Doja's squad will be back soon. I heard that when we trade off, they'll be off into the mountains. Gillion found the mine that the doctor spoke of."

My jaw dropped as I heard the swordsman mention the mine. The doctor should not have found the mine yet; the disease wasn't supposed to be a problem for another six to eight weeks! If the disease was released before players could reach a high enough level to select classes, there would not be enough healing classes available to fight back.

The disease took hundreds of thousands of player lives before, so the devastation would be incomparable without the aid of healers. I needed to get back to Punisher to plan our next move. I now have a new goal. I not only need to find the blacksmith; I also need to find a way to stop the doctor from getting his hands on that ancient species-killing disease.

I quickly and quietly leapt from tree to tree, being careful that my movements and energy could not be noticed. Gillion must have been the high-level mage that was spoken about by the Alorae.

I had noticed that the mage was over level 20, which was a soft level cap for the first season. It was the level you were expected to reach by the end of the three months, so the fact that Gillion had reached it in just a few days meant that the Thornheart farm the doctor set up for the Alorae was very efficient.

Once a player reaches level 20, the amount of experience that they earn is reduced by 95%, which is definitely the system's way of keeping things interesting. Monsters that are a certain number of levels below you would also stop granting experience as well, so a level 20 player wouldn't benefit from killing anything below level 15.

I left the camp and returned to Punisher, who had not noticed my presence yet. I let some of my energy out, enough so that Punisher could sense me and not be startled by my return. I couldn't have him accidentally get jumpy and make some noise.