Collide Gamer

Chapter 99 – The Plan

“What the fuck, Johnny?” Rave was agitated and for understandable reasons.

John looked around before he answered. Not with his own eyes, but with those of the verdin. Without Aclysia and with Rave still in her disguise, the two of them stood out way less than before. That was good, in a way. They were on their way back to the train station.

 “I demand that ya tell me exactly what is going on in that stupidly wise head of yours!” Rave kept on prodding, stabbing her finger in his side. When he didn’t answer even then, she puffed up her cheeks and just waited.

John looked closely around their surroundings, to make really certain Victoria wasn’t around. Her and nobody else. Well, nobody outside of the Nazi that always was. Best to shut out that guy as well. John put up an Illusion Barrier and explained what he was thinking. “I want to save her.” He began, “I want to save Thana, it was Travolta’s last wish and…”

“…How is leaving Aclysia behind going to save her!”

“…would you let me finish?” John asked and looked at his girlfriend disapprovingly. They had both just come out of a threatening situation. Rave took a deep breath, but nodded. “What I was going to say is that we need time. Apart from that, Aclysia is safe.”

 “How can you be that sure about it?” Rave interrupted again.

“Because she can teleport to me whenever I want.”

“LEAD WITH THAT, YA MORON!” Rave shouted at him and pinched him in the side. She followed that up by kissing him. “Geez, making me worry that much.” She laughed, immediately relaxed. “Alright, so you do have a plan. Give it to me!”

John smiled somewhat apologetically, yeah leading with that would have helped. He shared pretty much everything with Rave all the time so he sometimes forgot that she didn’t immediately know what he was thinking. “I want to help that girl.” John exclaimed again, “So we need three things. One is we need to get stronger. Allies, levels, whatever helps. If we power grind for a whole week maybe we can oppose them.”

He wasn’t sure about it. Grinding in the past had been either excrutiatingly slow or ineffective after a certain threshold, however the new Floor System would hopefully provide them with enough daily progress.

“Ya think the Bloodfallen won’t get suspicious tho?”

“Oh, they absolutely will,” John smirked. “Which is perfect. They will keep a close eye on us and wonder why we are inside Instant Dungeons all the time and when Aclysia suddenly shows back up with us, they will probably send out some kind of extermination squad…”

“….Which effectively splits their forces, making it easier for us to beat them with our newfound powers!” Rave hugged her boyfriend’s arm, “Lookadya, being all clever.” She slurred and then asked, “What about the other two things?”

“Well, we need a way to open that door and the way they behave, I think the Bloodfallen would rather shred Igor’s hands into pieces than give us the ability to force him to do it. Which is where Aclysia comes into play again.” ‘You can scan the structure of his hand, right?’ John reaffirmed his plan mentally. The connection to his Artificial Spirit, at this distance, was hazy but he could still exchange words with her.

‘Affirmative, Master. Acquirement has begun with an initial handshake.’ Came the quick answer.

“She will copy the structure of his hand with that shapeshifting of hers. Fortunately for us, the lock seems technological rather than magical.”

“Okay, so far all of that makes sense to me, what is the third thing you need?” Rave asked and in response John sighed.

“We should get an Apothecary,” he stated, following it up with the reasons, “I have no idea if that container is slowly killing her or keeping her alive. Normal people don’t slowly have their heart rate reduced over the course of sixty years. It would be best to get some immediate aid by someone who has an idea on the matter.”

Rave nodded again and again eagerly as she listened, “Okay, so TLDR: Step 1: Train alone until Aclysia has the ‘codes’ for the door, in the meanwhile try our best to find an Apothecary, Step 2: Teleport Aclysia out of there using that bullshit skill of yours, Step 3: Train more with her, Step 4: Defeat the baited in Bloodfallen, Step 5: Go attack their base while they are weakened, taking that Apothecary with us.” She summarized the whole thing.

“Almost correct, I would put something between Step 3 and 4 though. We have to take care of Victoria. There’s no way she isn’t spying on us. I’ll find her with the bird.”

They left the Illusion Barrier he had erected and went on their way to the train station, talking about less sensitive topics, just in case anyone was listening in. Once they were actually on the train and it was a bit easier to check for listeners, John asked, “So, is your dad around?”

“Nope, gone for the next week or so.” Rave delivered the news, causing John to grumble. He would have liked to talk him into this. Sure, he would have groaned and complained but if it was about protecting his daughter, who he knew he couldn’t stop, Regan might have complied. In the training effort, if nothing else.

“First thing we try then is fulfilling this Quest of mine.” John decided and looked at it again. One SEP was super good, 20000 Experience was also very good and nobody ever said no to Epic Equipment.

“Ten Floors, right? Hope we don’t stumble over a nympho dragon next time around.”

“Very unlikely, I get the feeling that something like Nathalia doesn’t happen all that often. Maybe it had something to do with the Eclipse? Besides I liked that encounter,” he teased his girlfriend.

“I saw, ya perverted nutjob,” she snapped at him and looked him deep in the eyes. “You better not forget what our whole harem agreement included.”

“I would never,” he promised and kissed her on the lips.

“I take it we skip school for the week then,” she whispered conspiratorially.

“I’d say so, yeah.” He whispered back. Foreheads resting on each other they went silent, only the rattling of train wheels over the tracks in the background.

“Is she around?” Rave finally opened her mouth again in a quiet tone. She was referring to Victoria.

“Yes. She is not alone.” John answered. Together with her, two other members of the Bloodfallen had entered the train. They stayed a few wagons over. They probably thought that they could afford a lax overseer role. “They are underestimating us by a long shot.” John concluded, “I wonder if the Blood of Thana is affecting their judgement even in lower stages, making them more arrogant or something. Either that or they are just naturally drunk on power.” He was certain that it was the latter or a combination of both. For a semi-religious cult bent on the slow murder of a woman, they had a lot of unnecessary splendour to their headquarters.

“We’ll rough them up when the time comes,” Rave hummed.