My Craft

by OnTheCobb

Devoid of memory or purpose, a new Crafter is pushed forth into the unforgiving land of Minecraftia. Armed with nothing but his wits, he must…well…actually he's pretty witless. Hopefully he won't get killed in the first week. Hopefully.

234. Kalmarin the Deserter

AN: Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay, there was a lot to write down for this Chapter. It's like three times the size of a standard chapter, so that's why it took a month to finish. Had nothing to do with my getting distracted by Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Despite it basically being Minecraft Breath of the Wild.

...

I'm obsessed with the game. I want to be playing it right now, but I have a Chapter to publish.

CONTENT WARNING: Another blanket content warning. More inappropriate stuff with Xavier, and maybe a little with Serafina. If you don't like M-rated stuff, find in page the names Xavier and Serafina and just avoid the parts where their names show up the most. There. Now I'm covered.

For the backstory parts, bear in mind that My Craft's story, time-wise, takes place in the year 500. At present, they're in December of year 500. Close to 501.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'd add Ultrahand.

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Chapter 234

Kalmarin the Deserter

[Obelisk: West Side]

"I know how Chase fights, and you seem to have history with Douglass." Kal muttered to Floyd moments before the battle commenced. "Those are our matchups. Albert, support when you can."

"Yes, sir."

After that brief huddle, Chase_Sturgis attacked first by firing an arrow. It came out of a bow coated with his dark smoke, and it went straight for Albert. Kal threw himself in the way, his own body already coated in smoke, and took the hit. The damage triggered his Enderport ability and he warped behind the attacker, Chase, before delivering a Strength-infused sword slash with his Sharpness III diamond sword.

Floyd was sure the attack would land, but the swiftness that Chase replied with was enough to bat the slash aside. Chase spun and swung his arm so fast, a result of his Timer Hack. Timer allowed a Hacker to make minute, reflexive movements at a higher speed. It wasn't like Speed, which could carry a Hacker for a large distance, but was more like a scaled down version that affected muscle movements - the swinging of arms, the pulling back of a bow, the pivoting of one's hips, etc.

In other words, Chase had quick reflexes. He also had Regen and a bow Hack called Aimbot which automatically lined up his shots without him having to aim or gauge how far he needed to pull back the string. Three Hacks made him a Level 3.

As for Douglass, neither Floyd nor Kal knew what to expect from him. He would've only been around the Hackers for five or six months; not long. But then, Floyd became a Level 3 on his own in the same span of time. It all depended on Douglass' growth. He was arrogant enough to have adopted the Hacker mindset, but there was no telling what or how many Hacks he possessed. Floyd showed the appropriate amount of caution as Douglass charged him recklessly with bare knuckles coated in smoke.

As he swiped, Floyd leaned back and dodged. It was a heavily telegraphed blow. Easy to track and dodge. Floyd didn't dare bust our his Speed Hack for fear of its cooldown making him a sitting duck. Instead, he patiently observed while dodging until he knew what Hack was coating Douglass' fists.

"What's the matter?" Douglass taunted as he took another swing only for Floyd to duck it and weave behind the young Hacker. "Is buzzing around all those insects taught you? Throw a punch."

Floyd did the opposite, backpedaling under Douglass' belligerent assault. The watching Griefers kept their distance and formed a circle as two pairs of Hackers did battle. It was something they never thought they would see.

Douglass brought up both fists and brought them down where Floyd was standing. The blue-nette leapt back and his eyes widened when he saw the ground depress from the force Douglass put into his attack.

That settled it. Douglass had a Strength Hack.

He's not the only one. Floyd thought as he squared up against the pursuing Douglass. When the younger Hacker threw a punch, Floyd flared his smoke in turn and felt a great rush of euphoria associated with his Strength Hack. He caught Douglass' fist with one smoke-coated hand.

Strength vs Strength.

Douglass narrowed his eyes before throwing his free hand, which Floyd caught as well. The two struggled against one another in a contest of Strength Hacks, neither one of them gaining any ground. They were evenly proficient with the Hack. Evenly matched. Floyd was smiling happily from the heady feeling.

"So you've got more than just Speed. Big whoop." Douglass gritted out with mild exertion. Floyd was showing just as much effort pushing back. "I'm not only strong, but durable! Self-healing!"

In his haze of happiness, Floyd struggled to find a good reason for why Douglass tipped his hand early. What benefit was there in giving your opponent information like that? Was he that stupid?

"Why are you smiling?" Douglass gritted.

"I just feel so good right now." Floyd answered with a happy sigh. "Like I can do no wrong. You ever get that feeling, like when everything goes your way? Like the sun is shining on you, and you know you're in store for another fantastic day?"

"Are you high!?"

"High on Strength! Heeheehee" Floyd laughed uncharacteristically. His use of his Strength Hack was... unorthodox, to say the least. Instead of his emotions controlling his powers, it was more like his powers controlled his emotions. Other Hackers didn't have that problem with Strength, but then Floyd wasn't taught like other Hackers. He learned on the go. "Why you gotta talk down to Crafters all the time? They're just trying to get by like everyone else."

"Because they're weak and infest us." Douglass growled back as he wrenched left and right trying to overpower Floyd. "Crafters are like weeds! They're just taking up our air and space, when we're the only ones deserving of it. We're the ultimate beings! We were given these powers to rule! Why shouldn't we step all over the roaches of Minecraftia?"

"Because we're all one people." Floyd answered pleasantly before swinging Douglass around so his back was facing Albert. The smashing of a splash potion quickly followed.

"What the - what did you just do!?" Douglass raged as his Strength diminished from the Splash Potion of Weakness Albert lobbed at him. Floyd adjusted his hands over Douglass' closed fists and bent them backwards, overpowering the younger Hacker and making him sink into a kneeling position. Floyd loomed over him, casting him in his shadow.

"Ow! OW! This isn't right!" Douglass protested as his debilitated Strength folded under Floyd's steady advance. "No! NO WAY! This isn't fair - AUGH! OKAY, STOP, STOOOP!" Douglass screamed as Floyd curled his wrists further and broke the younger Hacker's wrists. Floyd didn't let up. Not when Douglass' Health Meter was getting instantly regenerated back to full. His broken wrists fixed themselves before Floyd snapped them like twigs again. "AUUUGH!"

Despite making the younger Hacker scream, Floyd still felt the euphoria and triumph that came with using his Strength Hack. He smiled victoriously, even as Douglass started to cry from his wrists getting repeatedly broken.

Floyd reached into his belt and smashed one of Noman's Splash Potions of Slowness against Douglass' face. He couldn't be paralyzed fully, but the addition of Slowness made dismantling him all the easier.

Floyd reared back a smoke-coated fist and smashed it into Douglass' nose, crumpling it like a soda can. The Hacker went down in a heap, coughing stuffily, before Floyd brought his foot up into his chin next. Spittle was sent flying.

Floyd jumped on the Hacker and seized his collar roughly before using his Strength to slam him headfirst into the ground. Once, twice, thrice. The damage healed right away, but enduring a cracked skull over and over was bound to chip at his endurance. Floyd began to straddle-punch him over and over, his blows getting stronger and stronger as he put more force into breaking Douglass' glass jaw. Long after pitiful cries turned to feeble stirring.

The blue-haired Hacker was detached from any feelings of mercy as he felt only euphoric satisfaction.

Meanwhile, with Kal and Chase, it was sword vs bow. Chase's arrows were spot on due to his Aimbot Hack, but they always triggered Kal's Enderport, allowing him to get behind his opponent. Chase's Timer Hack's reaction time was the only thing preventing him from taking damage. Not that it mattered, as Chase noticed a particular difference with Kal.

"You're not healing up, brother. Brother once removed more like." Chase commented on his diminishing Health Meter. "You lost your Regen. I also notice you haven't been flying. Might those two things be connected?"

Kal didn't answer, though his lips tugged down and he swung at Chase with more force. The long-haired Hacker snorted as he ducked out of the way with his superhuman reflexes before skipping back.

"I knew it. You've regressed! My, how the mighty have fallen." He placed a hand over his chest. "You have my utmost pity, baby brother."

"You're not seeing me at my best, I won't deny it." Kal told him. "But even at my worst, I'm still better than you."

"Now who's acting superior, hm?" Chase readied his bow only to leap back when a Splash Potion of Slowness almost caught him. The Hacker snarled at the thrower, Albert. "Filthy cockroach!"

He fired four arrows in quick succession, all of them aiming for Albert, but the Beta-Male pulled out a shield and blocked the shots with ease.

"That's right. Cower behind your wall." Chase mocked. "When it eventually breaks, you'll have nothing-"

"Is that all you can do?"

Chase balked.

"If so, your powers aren't that impressive." Albert peeked over his shield and shrugged. "Can't even overcome a shield."

"Why don't you try saying that without hiding behind that shield!"

"I'm good here, thanks."

Albert quickly threw up his shield as three more arrows thunked into it. Chase combined Timer with Aimbot to fire a continuous volley of arrows at Albert's shield.

"Durability can't last fore-" Chase broke off as he dodged a flurry of Floyd's MultiAura spines. However, he was caught flat-footed when Kal followed up with a Splash Potion of Slowness. "Fu-"

He didn't finish those words as Kal delivered a punishing haymaker into his face, his legs kicking up from the impact. Chase was out like a light, though Kal made sure to hit him with a Splash Potion of Weakness to complete the paralysis.

On Floyd's end, Douglass was just as unconscious after having his face beaten in by Floyd's Strength Hack. He barely stirred to breathe, though he was just as afflicted with Weakness and Slowness. The fight was over.

Floyd shut off his Strength Hack and immediately bent over as he fought for breath. His triumphant euphoria had ended with his Strength, and he was left fatigued. That and he felt appalled at how brutal he had been with Douglass. Kal's haymaker had been gentle by comparison.

"L-Lord Douglass!" Several of the nearest Griefers cried out in disbelief. More shouted in response, the distress spreading like wildfire. "Lord Chase!"

"Why are our Gods fighting!?" Another Griefer pleaded. "What has wrought this?"

"Clear out!" Kal shouted over them. He made his smoke flare to scare them off. Floyd followed his lead, shooting up MultiAura spikes to get them moving. They scattered like leaves in the wind, giving Floyd, Kal, and Albert plenty of space.

"What should we do with them?" Albert asked, gesturing to the two incapacitated Hackers. "Should we use them as hostages, or kill them and trigger two new Bounty Days?"

"I know what Carys would want." Kal shook his head while drawing his sword. "There's no love lost between us. I'll do it myself."

Before Floyd could even throw in his two cents, a dark figure suddenly appeared standing in the clearing beside them. Floyd turned and gaped at a Hacker who appeared to be made of dark matter. He had white eyes and white Hacker lines over them. Floyd recognized that this was the second strongest Hacker in the Clan, Null.

"Chase... Douglass..." Null's voice was a soft echo that paradoxically had a tinge of savagery to it.

The next instant, Null vanished. All he left behind was a residual tendril of smoke as he sped by in a rush. Chase and Douglass were taken with him.

Kal readied his sword, his smoke active and his face showing a mix of fury and agitation. "ALBERT! STASIS MAP! NOW!"

The sudden arrival of Null and the subsequent shouting left Albert stunned for a moment. The same moment Null sped back in and aimed an impossibly enlarged fist at the stupefied alchemist.

"Vermin."

Floyd blurred by just as fast as Null, bodily tackling Albert out of the way just before the enlarged fist impacted the ground and sent dirt and cobblestone flying. The two skidded across the savannah before slowing to a stop some fifty meters away. Albert's eyes were wide and terrified as he saw the devastation left in Null's wake. That blow would have killed him.

"Stasis NOW!" Floyd cried out in alarm over being forced to play his Speed card early. He'd be suffering a cooldown for this, but it was either that or letting Albert become a pancake. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Albert finally had sense enough to get moving, especially when Null pulled back his fist and turned to face them. The alchemist grabbed the Stasis Map at his belt and flung it aside. It landed on the ground at the same time Null blurred out of sight with his Speed Hack. Floyd tried to drag Albert away, but Null was faster, brushing Floyd gently aside before ramming his ballooned fist right at Albert.

There was another explosion of dirt and rock that left another sizable crater in the savannah's landscape. A few lingering Griefers cheered the death of Null's foe, but Null merely tilted his head curiously at there being no gear or Head left behind.

Floyd felt a surge of relief. The Stasis Chamber worked. There was nothing of Albert to clean up. Reuben and Spaatz came through; the alchemist was safely away and back at Tinker's mansion.

"Huh. I was sure I would hit him." Null spoke in his soft echo before he sped over to Floyd and plucked him from the ground with his enlarged hand. "Flawwed_Floyd. My lost brother. Who made you kill Sister Sandradra? Who forced you to come here and fight your own family?" Floyd struggled in Null's grip. He had to activate his Strength just to pry apart the second eldest Hacker's giant fingers. "Why... why do you do this?"

White tears started to leak from Null's eyes, even as dark smoke swirled around him.

"Why do you side with vermin? It's those Billionths making you do this." Null pulled Floyd in for a hug, the ancient Hacker nestling Floyd's chin on his shoulder. It was unsettling for the blue-nette. "Oh, your family loves you, Floyd. Your family loves you so much. It's those Billionths that led you astray. We'll fix it. We'll slaughter those two and set you straight. You're going to be okay, Floyd! You're going to be okay!"

"Let me go!" Floyd shoved with all his Strength and broke free of Null before racing away with his Speed Hack.

Null ran right there with him.

"There's no need to run, brother. No need to fear." Null's soft echo followed Floyd as he zigged and zagged, unable to escape the Hacker keeping pace with him and with much more proficiency in Speed. Null went from keeping pace to outstripping him, cutting Floyd off at every bend. "Now that you're home, we can get you the help you need."

"I'm not one of you!" Floyd argued as he sidestepped Null and sped past him. Null whirled and caught right back up.

"Of course you are. You're our brother. Nothing will ever change that." Null promised, his body and voice blocking Floyd's run. Getting in his way. "What happened to Sandra was not your fault. You were being used. They preyed on your innocence and goodness." His eyes became thin slits of white with dark smoke gushing out. "They'll die for that. Their suffering will know no equal."

Seeing no way to outrun the second strongest Hacker in Minecraftia, Floyd darted for him with his sword drawn. "Stay back!" He shouted before swinging his iron blade.

Null let it hit him. He didn't even attempt to dodge, simply allowing the blade to strike his head. Floyd's Strengthened arms shook as Null didn't give an inch. It was almost like striking bedrock. Null looked upon Floyd sadly.

"You can't hurt me, brother. Fight me if you wish - I'll be your punching bag if that's what you need. Swing as hard as you can. The only pain I'll feel is of what those vermin made you do. How they turned you against your own family-"

"I'M NOT YOUR FAMILY!" Floyd cut him off, his sword rearing back and delivering hundreds of slashes at Hacker Speed. None of them dealing damage through Null's Invulnerability.

"You will always be our family-"

"No! Shut up!" Floyd slashed at his face to cease his words. "You're all deluded! You think you're entitled because of your powers! You think you have the right to lord over others with your gifts! You abuse them! Even before Herobrine, you killed and robbed - even from people who worshipped the ground you walked on!" Floyd referred to the Griefers watching the battle from afar. "You dehumanized Crafters, calling them insects and vermin! They're people! They're just as important as you! I want NOTHING to do with any of you! Not like this! You've nothing to be proud of!"

Null looked on sadly, fresh tears mixing with his eyes' smoke. "How... how can you wound me like that...? We're brothers."

"I have brothers." Floyd affirmed, his purple eyes hardened. "Crafters." He added defiantly. "And they're ten times the people you and your siblings are."

A giant fist of black, marred flesh closed around Floyd, ending his violent slashes. White streams of tears flowed down Null's cheeks, making it look like his Hacker lines stretched all the way to his chin. The second strongest Hacker looked disheartened as he held the blue-nette still. Floyd tried to pit his Strength against Null's only for Null to slam Floyd into the ground. The impact kicked up dirt and cobblestone and left Floyd dizzy and hurting all over.

Floyd's body went boneless shortly after. His Speed Hack had run out, leaving him with the annoying cooldown that rendered him useless.

Null noticed the blue-nette going slack and quickly released him. Floyd slid to the bottom of the fresh crater, his muscles not doing what his brain was telling them to do. Null watched intently before making a noise of realization.

"I see you haven't gotten over the stalling problem." He nodded with familiarity. "Had my work cut out for me overcoming that. You're quite skilled, brother, despite your upbringing. Speed is quite temperamental. Glitchy. I swear, it's like I'm looking at myself four-hundred years ago. Minus the rebellious streak, naturally."

He bent low towards the crater and reached down with an enlarged fist, his fingers plucking Floyd by his turtleneck and lifting him so that he was eye level with Null.

"You question why we call ourselves superior? Because Hackers are superior. Or, if you'd prefer, everyone else is inferior. We came out better than those vermin because we were destined for greatness. You were destined for grea-"

Null cut off when an ender pearl landed near him before warping a furious Kalmarin winding up for a devastating slash. Null allowed the slash to connect, Kal's Strength not even digging into the older Hacker's neck.

Null traced the sword to the man who held it and dropped the incapacitated Floyd in shock. "Baby brother...? You're here too...?"

"You better believe I'm here. TO KILL YOU!" Kal let out an uncharacteristically crazed scream as he reared back and delivered another ineffective cut into Null's Invulnerable neck. Seeing that fail, Kal resorted to his next tactic.

"So many brothers and sisters are dead because of your imbecility, Null." Kal tried to rattle him. Rattle a Hacker and you rattle their powers. "By letting me go, you signed their death warrants. I spilled their Hacks, their weaknesses." Null's eyes widened, even as he stood there and took the hits with slack-jawed disbelief. "Ocan, Urson. This attack that's meant to pick off those who are left behind under your blundering watch. All those lost Hackers I allowed to go into the world, free of the Clan's influence. I killed Poulsen. Me!" A violent spasm seemed to rock Null. "I tossed Poulsen into the very pit he opened up in the ground. I watched that arrogant piece of filth fade to black as he fell into the Void! I RELISHED IT!"

The ginormous backhand that followed struck Kal's left side like a truck, though it triggered his Enderport so that Kal wound up behind the older Hacker. A Splash Potion of Weakness and Slowness was thrown at Null's exposed back, impeding him.

"Floyd is right about you guys not being Gods." Kal kept the words flowing, still trying to rattle the older Hacker to weaken his Invulnerability. "Gods don't bleed, Null. Hackers have died. Over and over - enough to prove you're not as unkillable as you seem to think. You're not invincible."

Null ignored Kal's words in favor of taking a cleansing breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Null's smoke flowed down his body as he inhaled. The dark smoke swept the swirling potion particles away, liberating him of their effects.

The Hack was called Zoot, and it flushed negative potion effects from the body while retaining positive ones. Null could keep flushing his body of toxins for as long as Kal kept lobbing them at him.

Kal wasn't discouraged. "You can act unaffected, but I know you're feeling their deaths, Null. How much of that is your fault for-"

"Where does this rebellious streak end?" Null asked in his soft echo before correcting himself. "No, where it stems from is the better question. You were never this aggressive in all the years I knew you."

"The same years you filled my head with your Hack Clan drivel?" Kal questioned rhetorically before Null raised a finger, wagging it as he thought back.

"The day you left..." He spoke softly. "It was right after... that woman."

Kal lunged with a swing enhanced by his Hacker Strength, only for Null to speed out of the way and to Kal's opposite side. The words kept flowing, this time from Null.

"That's it, then? Some woman?"

"Her name was Adina_Doe. She was a miner."

"A minor irritant." Null sped back as Kal tried to hit him again. "She poisoned your mind."

"She saved me. Saved me from staying a pompous turd."

"And deserting your family is any better?" Null sped away again from Kal's violent slash. He was infuriating him by staying out of reach. "Selling out your brothers and sisters who love you. Committing the unthinkable taboo of killing a brother. Why are you like this? What lies did she fill your head with? What could she have possibly said-?"

"IT WASN'T WHAT SHE SAID!" Kal screamed furiously, his burning eyes churning smoke. "IT'S WHAT YOU DID RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"

---

[July, Year 438: Obelisk]

"Alright, let's take it from the top." Hannah_Harper clapped her hands together as her brothers and sisters lined up. She floated above them with the use of her Flight Hack, her body covered in smoke. "First, envision the uplifting feeling. Harness the unbridled joy of flight and reaching new heights."

Among the Hackers taking her lessons was Winslow_Downes, PoulsenPowderkeg, Thed_Hearst, and a Hacker with dark blue hair and a fedora, Kalmarin_the_Prophet.

Kalmarin was 5' 7", wearing a large brown coat with sleeves a little longer than his arms, with a white shirt underneath, black jeans, black boots, a blue scarf, brown fedora, black belt, and a brown backpack. He had dark blue, mid-length, unkempt hair, sea green eyes, pale skin, and the telltale sign of a hacker. People often said he had a young face - the face of a child - despite his age. because of this, even amongst the adolescent Hackers he was considered a baby brother, a nickname he sought to outgrow.

It was imperative Kalmarin obtained Hannah's seal of approval. Flight was his fourth Hack and obtaining it would allow him to go wherever he wanted. They had all the food they could ask for with Akasha's monthly tribute, but Kalmarin felt like spreading his wings and going out on patrols, or picking up goods, or shaving away at the infestations of Crafters nearest to home. Crafters were just plain brainless. Their territory had been set. Why cross it knowing it would kill them?

"No spacing out! Focus!" Hannah advised. "Take a deep breath and feel that flight." She floated up and down to demonstrate. "You could be feeling joy, or levity, or optimism, or relief. Any relaxing or happy feeling that gets your feet off the ground."

Kalmarin knew what his happy thought would be. The day he was picked up by Entity 303 and brought to the Hack Clan. They were just a roaming band at the time, no Obelisk to call home yet, but they were all so warm and accepting. All his confusion about the world he spawned in didn't matter as long as he had that family.

It was one of the reasons Kalmarin wanted Origin duty. To be the savior responsible for bringing other lost Hackers home. As soon as he mastered Flight, he'd be approved to take on the mantle, give Entity 303 and Giovanni a chance to relax. He was sure some of the other Hackers with him had the same thought.

Under Hannah's guidance, the four Hackers summoned their smoke and focused on an uplifting feeling. A thought or memory so happy, they couldn't help but smile.

Poulsen screwed his face in concentration, but his results were unsuccessful.

Winslow's feet left the ground for a little while, but he was unable to remain airborne. The exertion left him winded, and all further attempts were less than fruitless.

Kalmarin closed his eyes and focused on his happy though, but no matter how much he yearned to fly, his feet remained rooted.

Thed did the best by far. Hannah clapped excitedly as Thed joined her in the sky, his smoke carrying him. The young Hacker wobbled trying to balance himself, but Hannah came in to hold his hands and guide him, much like a professional swimmer holds a doggy-paddling beginner.

"Good, Thed! Very good!" Hannah congratulated. The three students and a few nearby siblings offered their own modest praises for his achievement. "Remember that uplifting feeling. You'll always want to come back to that whenever you feel like flying. Eventually, it'll come natural."

"Yeah, I, heh, I'd feel better with, uh, more practice. Thanks." Thed muttered shakily as he clung to Hannah.

"I've got you. Relax." Hannah smiled. "The rest of you, keep at it. Practice makes perfect."

After setting Thed down, Hannah stuck with the three fledging fliers until sunset when it was getting too dark to see. Winslow was showing an aptitude with his occasional flutters off the ground, but they were few and far between. Hannah noted it took him more energy than required. He was left a sweating, gasping mess by the end of the day. As for Poulsen and Kalmarin, they showed no signs of flight. This frustrated Kalmarin greatly.

"Why can't I do it?" He asked later while eating with another Hacker, Sandradra. As per Hack Clan policy, every Hacker needed a buddy to eat with. No one was allowed to dine alone. No one was to be left out. "I've got my happy memory, but I'm still stuck on the ground. What am I doing wrong?"

"I saw you from afar." Sandradra, or Sandra, made her eyes gush smoke in a show of power as she tapped them. "Sister Hannah is a good teacher. If Thed could get it, you can too. Just be patient." She propped her chin with one arm. "Believe me, I wouldn't mind having more fliers around. Give my boo a break from Origin duty."

Kalmarin was about to comment when a commotion from his left caught the two Hackers' attention. Marshall_Worren stood before a pile of spilled gear and Heads. He was in the midst of several Griefers, all of whom were trying to diffuse hostilities and beg forgiveness. Marshall killed a few more before 303 flew in and broke it up.

"Those lowly vermin." Kalmarin wrinkled his nose at the prostrated Griefers. "They're lucky 303 pities them so much. If it were up to me, I'd rid this place of the riff-raff. Hackers first and foremost."

Sandra smirked. "You'll get no arguments from me. I wonder if it's pity, though?"

"What else could it be?"

"Maybe 303 just fancies himself their king?" She said lightly.

"He is a king. Our king." Kalmarin stressed. "Our big brother, he built this place. This is his kingdom. Our Eden. Ours, not the Griefers."

Kalmarin glared at the Griefers with disgust as they skittered away. They were only slightly better than Crafters because they would happily kill themselves if a Hacker ordered it so. He still didn't like sharing air with them. Kalmarin couldn't stand either Griefers or Crafters, and he made it a point to work out his frustrations culling them.

That night was one such instance. Frustrated by their failure in the Flight lessons, Kalmarin, Poulsen, and Winslow took it out on a group of Griefers before 303 intervened and sent them off to bed.

---

It was a few days later when Kalmarin, on his sister Sandra's suggestion, went outside the bounds of the Obelisk to try and manifest Flight on his own time. He didn't leave the savannah, keeping Kivu Lake in sight.

He fanned himself with his fedora. Summers on the savannah were brutal. Most Hackers took a dip in the lake to beat the heat. If Giovanni was here, he'd freeze Griefers with his ice pants and have everyone use them as ice packs. He was preoccupied watching the Origin, however, so 303 was demanding an order of ice from Akasha in addition to the monthly tribute.

As Kalmarin found a nice quiet spot to work, he again tried to channel happy memories. He had to say it helped not being around any filthy Griefers. But though the smoke enveloped him, and he had what he assumed was his happiest thought of home, his feet never left the ground.

He went at it for hours, activating his smoke, enveloping himself with it, focusing on his uplifting memory, then growing more and more frustrated every time it fizzled out. The mounting frustration was actually making it harder to feel happy.

It got to a point where he needed to vent his frustration again. It was dark, then, and he was just about to head back to the Obelisk for some Griefers to bully...

...when he saw a faint fire flicker to life directly west of the lake.

Kalmarin looked at it in puzzlement. There were no Griefers out that way. There should be nothing out that way. The savannah was the Hack Clan's domain. Nobody settled in the Hack Clan's domain.

Kalmarin's eyes stared at the distant fire. It stood out in the darkness but was soon extinguished. The Hacker's eyes held on the spot where it had been.

His curiosity piqued, Kalmarin started walking to the spot. He didn't have any night vision potions or Hacks, but he had a feeling someone was somewhere they shouldn't be.

As he walked through the darkness, his legs tripping on obstacles he couldn't discern, Mobs began to spawn in. He steered clear of the Creepers but had his Regen Hack deal with any Zombies or Skeletons that dared to strike him. The damage was always healed up in an instant. If any Mob that wasn't a Creeper showed up, Kalmarin would lash out with his Hacker Strength and bat them aside.

He must've walked five or six miles before he landed at the spot where the fire had been. It was at the top of a short mound, and it overlooked a small dig site that was dimly illuminated by redstone torches.

Kalmarin gazed down into the dig site, his eyes darting as he caught the faces of a dozen or more Crafters hurriedly swinging shovels and pickaxes to deepen and expand the site. They were mining on Hacker soil.

His eyes narrowed and his Hacker smoke churned violently. "Ants."

Finding these intruders a suitable outlet for his frustrations, Kalmarin coated himself in smoke before leaping down to land on the wooden platforms set up along the dig site. The Crafters reacted immediately, turning to face him and scream, "Hacker!"

"I told you not to use a torch, Clancy!" Someone reprimanded before dropping his tool and fleeing.

"We never should've agreed to this!" Someone else shouted before scrambling up a ladder and out of the site.

Kalmarin went after a Crafter who had stumbled fleeing. He grabbed his leg and whipped him through the air with his Strength, hurling his body into a support beam that splintered it and the Crafter's spine.

"Insects!" Kalmarin let loose a mighty roar. "For trespassing on the land of the Gods, you will die!"

"This isn't your land!" Someone shouted back defiantly. Kalmarin zeroed in a woman with green hair who was trying to glare him down. Glare him down. He scoffed in derision, his next target selected.

"Allow me to educate you." Kalmarin spoke condescendingly as he approached the obstinate woman. Miners threw others behind them in their haste to escape, but the woman stood her ground. "Since the day we Hackers first spawned, this entire realm was our domain. From the mountains to the oceans. North, South, East, West. It's all our land, and you insects are merely living on it, rent free, until we come to permanently evict you."

Kalmarin leaped down from another wooden platform and landed on the same level as the woman. The lowest level of the dig site. He marched towards her, his fist reared back and coated in dark smoke. She stood impassive.

"All land is our land. None more so than this land." He stomped his foot on the dirt, kicking up dust. "The savannah is our supreme territory. The place we call home. You ants may be permitted to live out of sight - a problem for another day - but when you purposefully encroach upon our Eden? That's grounds enough for immediate termination!"

Kalmarin threw his fist forward in a vicious strike that would have caved the woman's skull in.

The woman stepped back and dropped down a hole in the ground that Kalmarin hadn't noticed. He knelt down beside the hole and peered down to see the woman cheekily waving up at him.

"This ant has an anthill!" She taunted before moving out of sight. Kalmarin felt a vein pop out of his head before he lowered his legs into the hole and dropped in after her.

Where he landed was an old mineshaft. Like the ones that spawned underground as preexisting structures, with long corridors of rails and wooden supports. It was lit by torches. A mineshaft uncovered by the miners. Kalmarin, being an ignorant Hacker who never explored the world outside his own superiority, didn't know this.

He glanced around before catching sight of the woman rounding the corner of one of the long corridors. He rushed after her, his Hacker Strength itching to put a dent in the woman's skull.

As he rounded the corner, the lights suddenly went out and the tunnel was cast in darkness. The woman knocked off a torch. Kalmarin narrowed his eyes in the dark, trying to detect movement.

He thought he saw something green low to the ground. Was she trying to sneak past him.

Kalmarin reared back a smoke-clad fist and aimed down with all his might. He felt something make contact and crunch audibly before dying in a hiss. Then he felt something sticky press into his sleeves.

"What the...?" He trailed off as something bit his leg. "Yeow!" He activated his Regen to heal the damage only to feel sick as his body was afflicted with Poison.

Cave Spider Poison. He had unwittingly blundered into a nest. A cobwebbed corridor the woman had led him to.

He struggled to free himself only for a Splash Potion of Slowness to strike his back, impeding him further. He could barely turn before more Cave Spiders swarmed him from some Spawner deeper in. The Cave Spiders had no trouble moving through the cobwebs to attack the intruder.

Another splash potion followed. Weakness this time. Kalmarin could barely turn his head to see the woman shove him deeper into the cobwebs to get tangled up. If she attacked him, he could use Enderport to warp behind her. Unfortunately, the only ones attacking were the Cave Spiders, so using his Hack would just entangle him further into cobwebs.

He growled impotently, his slowed limbs barely budging while Cave Spiders and their poison ate away at him only to be replenished by his Regen Hack. The female miner set down a torch to inspect her work.

"Guess you lot aren't as invincible as you seem to think." She gave her parting taunt before her footsteps echoed away, leaving Kalmarin stuck until the Slowness and Weakness wore off.

Kalmarin let out a frustrated roar, smoke gushing out of his eyes but doing little to extricate himself from his situation.

---

When Kalmarin returned to the Obelisk the next morning, faced with inquiries as to where and why he was out so late, the simmering Hacker refused to offer any explanation other than, 'I was out.' He wouldn't very well admit to being bested by a... hell, he wouldn't even think it. It was hard enough looking his siblings in the eye knowing he disgraced them. Gods didn't bend knee to bugs. His one fluke would not be brought up.

After the Weakness and Slowness had worn off, he went on a warpath, decimating that nest of Cave Spiders and bursting to the surface in search of that woman or any of her tunneling ants. They had all fled. He took out his anger on the mining equipment and structures they left behind which in no way alleviated his anger.

Chief in his mind was the woman with green hair that trapped him. Taunted him.

His foul mood persisted the whole week, leading to disastrous flying lessons. While Thed and Winslow improved by leaps and bounds, he remained woefully earthbound, unable to call upon uplifting memories in light of his humiliation.

He needed to redeem himself. He needed to revenge himself on that woman.

---

[August, Year 438]

For two weeks, Kalmarin spent nearly every night away from the Obelisk in search of the woman with green hair. He couldn't recall anything else about her - he paid little attention to insects or their names - but he was confident he'd know her when he saw her. He started around the now abandoned dig site he had found them at, then tried tracking them heading away from the Obelisk. It made more sense than thinking those bugs would fly towards a bug zapper.

He didn't dare ask for his siblings' help, even when they offered it in exchange for knowing what he was doing away from the Obelisk most nights. He remained tight-lipped about the whole business, even when Null came over being a supportive older brother with offers of help or to talk. Kalmarin felt awful about shutting him out, but this was something he had to do alone. Sure, his siblings would all band together and hunt the green-haired woman down to the ends of the earth if he asked it, but this was his pride on the line, not theirs. If the positions were reversed, Null or Hannah or Marshall wouldn't go asking for help, they'd settle it personally.

After two weeks of scouring the savannah west of the dig site, he finally found something worthwhile. Another dig site. Fresher, by the looks of it, and with redstone torches like the last one. The dim torches stood out less at night than regular torches, making it harder to find.

Kalmarin dropped down with his ears alert for sounds of mining. There was nobody in sight, but the setup of the dig site was similar to the previous one. The Hacker uprooted a chest so that all the ores came spilling out. Iron ore, gold ore, lapis lazuli, and redstone. Lots of cobblestone and gravel, but no diamonds. There was also a single tent on one of the upper platforms, unlike before when there were enough tents to house more than a dozen miners.

Kalmarin narrowed his eyes at the single tunnel leading down into the earth. His eyes remained fixed on it as he walked over to the lone tent and sat down within, waiting.

Someone was still using this dig site. If they already left, they would have cleaned out their tent and ores. Nobody went mining only to leave behind what they mined. Someone would come back up.

It was only a matter of waiting.

---

Kalmarin rubbed sleep from his eyes as he stared at the tunnel entrance. Dawn was just breaking when he heard the sound of footsteps. He sat up straight and coated his body in smoke just as a head of pine green hair appeared.

Kalmarin got a good look at her this time. The woman - her name Adina_Doe - froze when she saw the figure clad in dark vapor. She had pine green hair in braided pigtails, light brown eyes, a gray tunic with a teal-blue vest, and brown pants. An enchanted wooden pickaxe was propped on her shoulder.

"Got you now!" He shouted before lunging off the wooden platform and towards her. Adina turned in full retreat, her arms flailing wildly as she descended the tunnel steps two at a time. "Today's the day I pay you back for every indignity!"

Adina didn't answer. The female miner focused all her energy into escaping the incensed Hacker. She threw down a few blocks of iron ore behind her to plug the tunnel, but Kalmarin broke through them with a flex of his Hacker Strength. It did little to slow him down.

The tunnel leveled out before opening into a massive underground chasm. Kalmarin pursued Adina through it all. When she was gasping for breath and unable to run a step more, Adina quickly took out some cobblestone and started nerdpoling up the chasm. Kalmarin arrived in time to shatter the tower's base, but he missed the miner as she continued to go up. Kalmarin tried and failed to activate Flight before patting his belt and backpack for any buildable materials.

Being a Hacker, he had none. There was never any need to carry blocks.

And so, Adina made her escape. She dug into the chasm's ceiling before nerdpoling through the hole. Up and out.

Another failed attempt for Kalmarin.

---

A week later of searching the savannah and he found her again. The latest dig site was even further west. Much closer to the Border.

This time, when Kalmarin stumbled to the dig site's only tent, he made sure to grab as much cobblestone as he could. Buildable material for when the miner tried to nerdpole again.

Adina marched up the tunnel before fluidly turning around at the sight of Kalmarin. All in one motion. Kalmarin wasted no time with exclamations as he pursued her underground.

Things quickly derailed when Kalmarin found a railway waiting for him at the bottom of the tunnel, Adina speeding off in a minecart propelled by a powered rail. Adina waved slyly at Kalmarin as she sped off.

She had been prepared.

Kalmarin was left standing there lamely, his anger without an outlet to be unleashed upon.

---

Fourth time was the charm, right?

Wrong.

This time the miner had a tunnel rigged with TNT. Not enough to blow Kalmarin up, but enough to demolish the ceiling which was holding up a ton of gravel that buried him alive. Then lava poured on top of that. He would have suffocated or burned to death if not for his Regen.

Still, it was another failure. Another show of weakness. He felt a lump in his throat as a wave of some unpleasant emotion consumed his every thought.

Upon returning to the Obelisk, his Strength Hack wouldn't work.

---

[September, Year 438]

The fifth time Kalmarin found her dig site, he laid in ambush above the tunnel entrance. If the miner was at home in the tunnels, he needed to corner her above ground. He waited patiently for her to come back up and offload her ores.

This woman had to be taunting him! Why else continue mining after encountering him so often? She was brazenly defying the Hack Clan!

He had to kill her. This woman was affecting his Hacks. Strength was on the fritz, and he could never muster enough happiness to even attempt Flight. Regen and Enderport were still working reliably, but he knew he wouldn't get over this block without squashing this one, inconsequential insect.

He lowered himself when he heard the sound of footsteps coming from below. He readied his sword as the miner tentatively peeked out, like a bunny rabbit, before exiting the safety of her tunnel.

Kalmarin pounced, his sword slashing the woman's back and making her jump forward in fright. She whirled on him, her hand clutching her frantically beating heart.

"Are you serious!?" She hissed. "Are you seriously still trying to - why are you hassling me for a few tons of ores?"

"I don't care about the ores. I'm here to pay you back for your arrogance."

"I'm not the one known for their arrogance." She countered, a hand on the wooden pickaxe at her hip. "Make all the threats you want, but I'm not afraid of you."

It was true. Kalmarin saw no fear in her eyes. She no longer took him seriously after so many encounters. If he wanted the respect a Hacker was due, he needed to put the fear of God into her.

Strength wasn't working for him, but with Regen he could outlast her. He had a sword, she had a pickaxe. It was a no brainer.

Kalmarin bull rushed the miner with reckless abandon. Adina's wooden pickaxe swung high and struck his neck, but he fought through the damage his Regen had already fixed and slashed his sword across the minor's torso. The woman cried out in pain, falling back and giving Kalmarin a chance to pin her.

He raised his sword with both hands and brought it down hard on Adina's stomach. She let out another agonized whimper before rummaging in her backpack and smashing a pair of splash potions into Kalmarin's face. The Hacker's body seized up and he felt cold dread pool in his stomach as he fell limp atop the woman. She let him lay there paralyzed for a few moments, with labored breaths blowing through her teeth, before she rolled him off and sat up.

"You have any idea how many ores I had to melt down to afford those splash potions?" Adina complained with a grimace, massaging her stomach. "Oof. That hurt."

Kalmarin may have been paralyzed, but his head was facing her where she rolled him onto his side. He glared at her with his sea green eyes. "When I get out of this, I swear I'll... I'll..."

"You'll be doing nothing until I pack up my stuff and clear off." Adina told him firmly before getting to her feet and dusting herself off. She deposited some of her stuff into an ender chest before shifting her accumulated ores from one chest to the ender chest. Then she dismantled her tent and a few dig site supports and platforms. "If my crew hadn't all quit, this would be so much easier. And what were they scared of? Nothing."

"THEY WERE RIGHT TO BE AFRAID!" Kalmarin screeched, his volume making Adina plug one ear and wince. "I am a Hacker! A God! The ultimate being! And I will kill you for this humiliation, insect! Mark my words, woman. Crossing me has signed your death warrant!"

"Oh yeah?" The miner asked challengingly. "You're so supreme and almighty, huh?"

"YES!"

The miner made a suit yourself face before climbing to the lip of the dig site. Kalmarin couldn't see what she was doing, but he focused every particle of his being on believing himself strong. If his Strength Hack wasn't suffering performance issues, he'd be able to shake off the paralysis enough to move. Move and bury his sword in that smug bug's-

Kalmarin's thoughts cut off sharply when Adina walked backwards into the dig site with a Creeper trailing behind.

"That's a good Creeper. Follow momma." Adina crooned before turning her head to watch where she was going. "They say a Creeper explosion is the kiss of death. I've seen them sneak up and blow apart many a miner."

"You think... you think this scares me?" Kalmarin tried to laugh off, his voice cracking at the end.

"They're silent but deadly. No one ever suffers - or, well, I'm assuming they don't. Who knows? Could be agony." She added offhandedly, still training the Creeper down the dig site. "Anyway, it's all over in an instant. BOOM! Then nothing but gear left."

"This isn't funny, you miserable insect! Release me!"

"Everyone says you Hackers are immortal. Me? I say nothing's immortal. There's nothing in Minecraftia that can stand up to a point-blank Creeper explosion."

As Adina drew the Creeper closer and closer, Kalmarin broke out into a cold sweat. His attempts at marshalling his Strength grew progressively worse as his panic mounted. How many times had the Clan drilled into him that Regen couldn't withstand Creeper explosions?

He... He was gonna die?

"N-No..." Kalmarin's voice wavered, the dark smoke that had been enveloping him winking out and adding to his fear. He didn't know what was happening. How did things get to this? He was a God. He was the ultimate being!

...Right?

"St-Stop this! I command you!"

"Still think you're in charge? That's cute. Meanwhile, I had to pack up and move my dig sites four times - five times now - and lost my work force. All because of your bogus claim on this savannah. Actions have consequences, Kalmarin_the_Prophet, and you're not the top of the food chain."

Adina stepped over Kalmarin's paralyzed body as the Creeper drew nearer still. The Hacker broke first, panicking wildly.

"STOP! STOP! OKAY, I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

As the Creeper started hissing, a wooden pickaxe swung and knocked it back, the explosion detonating a few meters away from the downed Hacker who was now breathing heavily, his eyes wide and afraid.

Adina bent down to look him in the eyes. "Don't ever meddle in my mining operations again. You got it?"

"..."

"Do I need to bring over another Creeper, Mr. Shit-In-His-Pants."

"I didn't-" He snarled before forcing himself to be calm. "I mean, no. L-Lady. No you don't."

"Alright." She threw down another pair of splash potions to top off the paralysis and give her enough time to clear out. She took all her essentials with her and left Kalmarin lying in the dig site.

It was the most humiliating moment of the Hacker's life.

---

"I understand you've been having troubles with your Hacks."

Kalmarin sat before Serafina, a big sister type with hair that resembled flames. She was a caring and protective sister to many of the Hackers. The two of them were in her room, sitting across from one another.

Kalmarin looked down. Ashamed. His hands were clasped between his knees. It had been a few days since begging Adina for his life.

"I don't know why or when." Kalmarin muttered emotionlessly. The one thing that made him special was being stripped from him, piece by piece. "First, it was Flight I couldn't get the hang of. Then my Strength started to fail me. Now Regen is..." He grimaced. "People are suggesting I take remedial lessons with the new arrivals from the Origin."

"And that makes you feel... inadequate?" Serafina guessed.

Kalmarin scoffed. "Of course it does. I went from a Level 3 to a Level 1! I mean, I'm watching guys I grew up with pass me by, and now they're looking at me like there's something wrong with me. Like I'm sick!" His head jerked up to look at Serafina. "Am I sick? Is there something wrong with me? Why are my Hacks regressing when no one else-?"

In a rush, Serafina was up and hugging Kalmarin to her chest. The tender action quieted the Hacker. Calmed him down.

"There is nothing wrong with you, Kalmarin. Deep breaths." Serafina comforted soothingly. She brushed his hat aside and combed through his dark blue hair until his breathing steadied. They stayed like that for a few minutes more before Kalmarin disengaged from it and sat down. Serafina remained standing.

"Feeling awful like this leads to a downward spiral." Serafina explained. "That's when your emotions become so self-deprecating that you sink yourself further and further into that hole. You need to think positive. You need to amp yourself up until you're brimming with confidence. Hacks are dependent on your emotions, Kalmarin. You're not sick, just down."

"But... but how can I feel down? I have everything I want here." He gestured to the Obelisk, then out the window towards the land they called home. Food and family. All he could want for. "And, if we're Gods, why are we feeling down? Why is our Regen susceptible like this if Gods are impervious? It... it feels too much like a... like a weakness."

"Hackers have no weaknesses." Serafina quoted with the air of someone who had had that drilled into them for years. "We don't die. We have lapses, maybe, but-"

"Lapses?" Kalmarin asked sharply, looking up at her. "What lapses? Who's had lapses? I've never heard of lapses."

"It's completely normal." Serafina assured with a wave of her arm. "Entity 303 suffered a minor lapse in the beginning. This was years before you were spawned, mind you, and he bounced back. It stands to reason that you can too."

Kalmarin didn't know what to say. Entity 303 was the oldest Hacker. He and Null were at the pinnacle of what all the siblings strived to be. They were gods among gods. Hearing that 303 - the insurmountable pinnacle - once suffered lapses, it... it was baffling. It was like hearing the sun had once been a ball of ice.

"You're probably asking yourself, 'How do I bounce back?'" Serafina continued, snapping Kalmarin back to attention. "Well, we need to go over the events that led up to this." She took out a book and quill and leaned forward using her knee as a writing pad. "When did you first started experiencing issues manifesting your Hacks? Any emotional upheavals? Any major changes in your lifestyle?"

Kalmarin's mouth parted as his gaze slowly fell to the floor. He pressed his fingers together.

"Kalmarin? You with me?" Serafina snapped her fingers.

"No, yeah. Yeah, I'm with you." Kalmarin nodded distractedly.

"So...?" Serafina gestured. "Any emotional problems? Any relationships you'd like to share?"

"No. Nothing like that."

"Emotional distress? Feelings of isolation?"

"...No."

"Kalmarin, you can be honest. I'm your sister. You can be honest with me, or any member of the family. We all want what's best for you." Serafina assured. "Sandra tells me you've been going on walks west of the lake. You've been taking these walks most nights. Question is, have you been taking them because of your Hack problems, or were your Hack problems caused by something that happened on your walks?"

"Nothing happened." Kalmarin lied. "It's the first one. I... I didn't know how to face everybody. I was worried. Angry. Scared. I wanted to be alone."

"So nothing happened on your walks? Nothing emotionally jarring?" She asked again.

Kalmarin chewed on his cheek. "Nope. Nothing comes to mind."

He was too proud to admit to getting trounced by an insect. He never thought there could be anything he'd lie to his family about, but here he was, unwilling to disappoint them.

"So what do you do on these walks?"

"I... I dunno. I like listening to nature. It's less rowdy without those pathetic Griefers around."

"If they're too noisy, we can make them shut up." Serafina offered immediately. "We can command that. 303's kindness only extends to sheltering them. We can mandate silence."

"Okay."

"Alright, then we'll see if that fixes anything." Serafina nodded, pleased.

"Uh, but that's only half of it." Kalmarin added hastily. "Y-You see, I, uh, go on walks to be alone. Alone with my thoughts, you know?"

Serafina's quill stopped on paper as she looked up seriously. "Being alone is the worst thing for this, Kalmarin. You need to constantly be surrounded by your siblings so they can boost your confidence. Tell you you're stronger. Make you see that all this self-deprecation is just you being hard on yourself."

"That sounds just like how the baby brothers and sisters are brought up. I thought I was past that." Kalmarin spoke worriedly. Nothing would draw attention to his regression more than being babied and smothered by a half-dozen brothers and sisters. They had eaten with him, slept with him, even followed him into the bathroom. Never a moment alone. He didn't want others to see that. Not the younger siblings who looked up to him, nor his same-age siblings that respected him.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Kalmarin." Serafina was already jotting something down. "There are plenty of spare Hackers who could spend time with you until your confidence returns to normal. We can get Xavier and Winslow-"

"Absolutely not!" Kalmarin stood up heatedly. "I don't want people shadowing me. That's... I feel like that would just worsen things. I'd spiral, like you said." Serafina shot Kalmarin a look. "Please, sis. Don't send me back to that. You wouldn't want to be coddled again, right?"

"I want what's best for you." She said firmly. "And, I'm sorry, baby bro, but this is what I'd recommend to get your powers back. Hackers can't be let out of sight without stable Regen. Nobody wants 303 or Null to freak over this, so I'm sorry, but your pride is gonna have to suffer. This is the best way to get your confidence back up."

"...If I can't fix this on my own, what's that confidence worth?" He asked flatly, making Serafina go quiet. Seems he had her flummoxed by that.

The older sister stared down at her notes looking conflicted.

"Come on, sis. I just... just need some time to-"

"If you don't show improvement in five days, I'm gonna have to take this to Null." Serafina waved her notes in Kalmarin's face. "Five days is all the time you've got. It's too unsafe any other way. No more nightly strolls either. You're confined to the Obelisk until a time I see fit."

Kalmarin went slack-jawed at her ultimatum. Five days. Five days to shape up or he'll be sent back to nursery school. This was a nightmare.

Kalmarin left his sister's room in a sluggish daze, his hand bracing against the wall as he made his way to the stairwell.

---

The next night, Kalmarin was in his room punching his wall. His fist would break over and over as his Strength failed to manifest, and his Regen would fail to fix it, forcing him to regenerate Health the insect way, with a full Hunger Meter. He sobbed in equal parts pain and frustration as his powers failed to return. He was getting nowhere. There was no confidence. No good feelings. He'd be forced back to square one with all the other adolescent Hackers. All his progress down the drain. The desperation was only making his downward spiral worse.

And he knew who was at the root of this. The infernal woman who started it all. Only by crushing that woman would he ever have a hope of regaining his Hacks. It had to be him who did it. Not his siblings.

But right now, he was under house arrest. Forbidden from leaving without the security of a Regen Hack. Yet, looking west across Lake Kivu, the Hacker knew Adina_Doe was off mining again.

He refused to suffer further humiliation.

Yesterday, Kalmarin ordered some Griefers to gather ender pearls for him. More than half of them died to the powerful Mob, but he didn't care beyond having pearls. He used them to escape his room, chucking one out his window, west.

After that, he scoured the savannah in search of dig sites, locating some old ones as he went. He used the ender pearls to move around faster, covering a larger area and narrowing down where she could have gone.

It was through pure luck that he found her. In her sixth dig site, in the middle of offloading her ores. Adina looked up as she caught the flash of movement, her eyes narrowing.

"I swear, you are getting on my last nerve!" She hissed as she threw her ores in the chest and slammed it shut.

"Beat you." Kalmarin muttered wearily as he fished out a sword and shambles clumsily into the dig site. "Got to kill you. Only way..."

The swing was so heavily telegraphed that Adina sidestepped it before shoving Kalmarin from behind. The Hacker toppled to the lowest level, down to the dirt, with remarkable ease. Face down in the ground, he didn't get up, though Adina could hear sobbing sounds coming from him.

"Mmm hff ooo..."

Adina took a step away. "What?"

"I have to..." Kalmarin repeated, rolling over and showing bloodshot eyes leaking tears instead of smoke. "I have to kill you. You have to be dead. All my powers are gone because you shamed me over and over and over!" He blew his nose into his overly long coat sleeves. "You're what's blocking my confidence! You're not normal. You're supposed to be weaker. I'm the god with the powers, alright? Why can't you do what you're supposed to? Why? Why are you here continuing to taunt me?"

Adina wrinkled her nose in indignation. "Wow. Talk about egocentric." She shook her head, not believing it. "I'm not here to taunt you. You're not the center of my universe. I'm here because I'm a miner with bills to pay and ores to shift. That's it."

"My Hacks aren't working-"

"Yeah, I heard you. Don't care." Adina stepped past Kalmarin and showed her back to him. It further demonstrated how little a threat she thought him. Kalmarin gnashed his teeth and beat a fist into the ground. "Kinda like how you guys don't care about us insects. Maybe now you know how it feels to be human."

"Why should I be made to feel this way?" He demanded of her. "I was born a god! I'm not like you! This isn't how I'm supposed to be."

"You think you're immune to misfortune?" Adina asked rhetorically. "No one's allowed to do anything without repercussion. Those lines on your eyes don't give you a free pass. You guys aren't gods. You were definitely afraid of dying. Only reason I didn't kill you was because I don't want more of you hunting for me."

"I'm in a spiral." Kalmarin propped himself up on hands and knees with tears and snot dripping down. "I hate feeling like this. I hate feeling like a screw-up!"

Adina sighed as she looked around. "Are you going to blubber here all night? Is anyone else coming?" She couldn't get an answer out of him. "Whatever. I need to get back to mining."

"...You still don't take me seriously." Kalmarin leaned against the tunnel. "I'm just another Level 0 now. No different from a... a Crafter."

"Yeah well, the good thing about rock bottom?" Adina told him. "Nowhere to go but up." She said before going back into the tunnel.

Feeling at a loss on what to do in her absence, Kalmarin sat a few more minutes before dragging himself up and beginning the trek back home.

Another failed attempt to fix his Hacks.

---

The next night, he went to find Adina again. Almost as much a surprise was it that he came back, it was even more so considering Adina was in the same spot. She didn't move her dig site.

"Back to blubber?"

"Why didn't you move?"

"You didn't attack me before. Figured there would be no Hackers attacking." Adina gazed at him seriously. "There won't be any Hackers attacking, will there?"

"...I couldn't tell anyone. Not without admitting I lost to a bug."

"You guys must not get out much." Adina deposited her ores. "There's a whole world of stronger guys out there. I'm sure you could find ten or twenty people who could do what I did to you."

"You're lying. No one can topple us. We've slain kings." Kalmarin looked down. "I'm just an outlier."

"Level 0 you called it? Is that like EXP level?"

"No, you uninformed insect-"

"You keep calling me insect, you can just not talk to me."

"Uh... a-anyway. For a Hacker, level is indicative of number of Hacks. I used to be a Level 3, wielding three Hacks, but since losing to you," he growled, "I've lost the use of them all. Even my weakest Hack, Enderport, has left me. I'm a Level 0, no different from a fledgling fresh spawn. If my siblings ever found out, I'd be sent back to nursery school. I can't do that."

"How is that my fault? I didn't steal your Hacks. Or are you just looking for someone to blame?"

"It is your fault, and I'm not leaving you alone until you remedy this."

"How is it my fault? Just for defeating you?"

"You hurt my confidence. You made me feel weak. My emotions are in a downward spiral."

"...Okay?" She said awkwardly. "I'm confused as to the relation between your feelings and your powers."

"That's confidential information. Hacker ears only."

"So then go back to them for an answer if you don't want my opinion. I'm sick of your whining."

"I... ugh." He didn't know why he was capitulating with her requests. Was it because he'd have to track her down again if she moved dig sites and he didn't have the time for that? As far as he was concerned, she was the one thing blocking his powers. "Okay, fine! Hacks are commanded through Willpower, strengthened like a Muscle, and evolved through our thoughts and Emotions. It's a pyramid—Willpower, Muscle, and Emotion—that forms the basis of a Hacker's power." He recited from the Clan's lessons. "If my emotions are in turmoil, my Hacks will be too."

Adina folded her arms in contemplation. "So... what? You're only strong if you believe yourself strong? That sort of thing?"

"That's the gist of it, yeah." He tilted his fedora down over his eyes and tugged his blue scarf up over his mouth. "I feel weak, so I am weak. My siblings are sending me back to preschool if I don't recover. I... I've never felt so trapped."

"I have." Adina volunteered breezily. "Got stuck underground once without any torches or planks or spare picks. Stuck four days. But that's what I get for being unprepared."

"..." Kalmarin simmered as he felt his situation was a lot worse.

"Then there's my current situation." Adina continued. "I took out an insane loan to start up a mining company. I mean, I spared no expense. Bought some high-end enchantments, the best materials and rails. But my mining company never panned out. Left me riddled with debt." Kalmarin spared her a look. "Had to bring in more ores than available in the ground. At least around Exter. Ores have dried up there. So I figure, the one spot that hasn't been over-mined is the Hackers' backyard."

"...You'd risk angering Hackers?" Kalmarin asked in surprise.

"Compared to you and your siblings, those debt collectors are the real monsters." She joked. "Of course, you scared off all my miners, so now it's just me hauling in ore. Plus side, I don't have to pay them. Downside, I need more hands."

"Well, don't expect an apology." Kalmarin spoke lowly. "Losing my powers to you is bad enough."

"Look, if it's confidence you're after, there's only one thing for it." Kalmarin tilted his head in confusion before an iron pickaxe was thrown across his chest. He caught and looked at it weirdly. "Honest work. Humble work. Do something you can be proud of."

"You have any idea how insulting you're being?" Kalmarin threw the pick back to her in the same way. Across her chest. "You expect me, a god, to work? Will these humiliations never end?"

"You could use some humility." She threw the pick back to him. "Pride isn't the opposite of shame, but rather its source. If shame is feeling bad about messing up, humility is feeling good about messing up. The sooner you give up your superiority complex, the better you'll feel."

"Oh? And what makes you an expert?"

"I'm riddled with debt and struggling to keep my head above water." Adina snapped back. "Trust me. Shame is something I'm familiar with."

"Ugh, this is stupid." Kalmarin glared at the iron pickaxe in his hands disdainfully.

"Some menial work won't kill you. Besides, if you had any other options, you wouldn't be here." She had him there. "Try something new. A change of pace will work wonders."

"Ugh..."

---

Kalmarin swung his pickaxe sluggishly into the rock wall, feeling ridiculous. Adina gave him a few torches and an area to mine. She also showed him some of the ores she was looking for, not that he was trying too hard to find them. Honestly, he just wanted to get this over with.

He never had to mine in his life. The iron sword he had was once a Crafter's that found its way into his hands after he killed the owner. He never needed armor with his Regen Hack. If he ever needed cobblestone, he'd get the Griefers to fetch it. There was no reason for a god to mine in the dirt.

"This is such an ankle-grab." He muttered angrily as he swung into stone. If he had Strength, he could make short work of those rocks. Instead, he was mining like an insect.

Needless to say, Kalmarin performed the bare minimum, finding a small vein of iron ore that he pocketed and returned to the surface with. He just wanted to be done with this.

However, when he turned the ores over to Adina, and saw just how much ore the miner had obtained in the same amount of time, Kalmarin felt... defeated. Moreso when Adina looked her nose down at the ores he gave her and said, "Is that all?"

He was going to say yes, but something about the way she said that. Is that all? Like, is that all you got? Is that all you're capable of without your Hacks? It rubbed Kalmarin the wrong way.

"...No." He said surprisingly. "That's not all I got."

And then he returned to the mine.

He journeyed down deeper, remembering something about there being rarer ores deeper down. He dug in random directions and kept his eyes peeled for ores. How he wished he was Llewellyn with his SpeedMine and AutoMine Hack, or Sandra with her X-Ray Hack. But no. He had to rely on himself. No Hacks.

By chance, he dug into a wide cavern that was full of iron ore and gold ore veins. There were the wooden structures of a mineshaft there too, and plenty of running water and lava. He started mining the ores only for his iron pickaxe to break.

Kalmarin felt at a loss. Without a pickaxe, he'd have to go back up and get a new one. He didn't want to waste time and energy climbing back up to beg Adina for a new pickaxe. What else could he try?

He looked to the wooden mineshaft structure and tilted his head. Could he just make a new pickaxe?

Kalmarin broke ten planks from the mineshaft's wooden support beams before laying them flat on the floor. He also put some cobblestone, some coal, and three iron ore he mined. He stood over the heap of blocks, his brain struggling to make a shape of it. All the pieces were there, but how were they meant to be placed?

Kalmarin thought back. He thought back as far as he could remember. His first memory, even before 303 picked him up at the Origin. He thought back to Helena, and her lessons about Crafting Tables and furnaces. Urgh, what was it!?

There were so many recipes to remember, and it wasn't like his siblings went through them often. The Griefers never built much either. Kalmarin gazed at the materials for what felt like an eternity, his mind trying to make sense of Helena's advice. It had been too long ago...

"Okay, maybe... maybe I just work it out with common sense." He said to himself. "The Crafting Table is the key to all other recipes. It's needed to make everything else. But if it's needed to make everything else, it can't be more complicated than a two-by-two grid."

He picked up the planks in his hand. "So then... is it just four planks?" He pressed them together and made a Crafting Table. "Oh... yes. Yes! I did it! Okay, okay. What's next?"

He placed the Crafting Table down and stared at it seriously, sliding up the overly long sleeves of his coat to show he meant business. This was a three-by-three grid now. Far more complicated. He needed to make a furnace to melt the iron ore.

"Okay, it's made out of cobblestone, but what's the orientation?" He felt his brain working at 150% as he struggled to piece this puzzle together. He tried filling the entire grid with cobblestone, but no such luck. "Alright, think." He hummed to himself. "Ores and coal go in, metal comes out. The stone has to contain the heat, though." He pictured the furnace in his own room's kitchen. "It has an empty space that flows from the fuel. Maybe the bottom space needs to be empty?" He took out the bottom center cobblestone to no avail. "Not that. Maybe the middle center...?" As soon as he removed the block, the furnace recipe became available, and he excitedly crafted it. "Nice! I cleared another one. Okay, last stage."

He put in the ores and the coal and let the furnace do its thing. In the meantime, he stacked planks on top of each other to make four sticks.

"Last piece of the puzzle. Should be easy." He reasoned. "Pickaxes are in a T-shape." The iron ore melted into pure iron ingots, which he added to the Crafting Table with the sticks. Making the iron pickaxe was by far the simplest, yet it felt so rewarding. "Yes! I figured it out! Suck it, crafting recipes!" He withdrew the tool he made himself with great pride. "You can't keep me down!"

With his new iron pickaxe, Kalmarin returned to mining with a renewed vigor that in no way came from a Strength Hack. It was all him.

He excavated large veins of gold ore and iron ore, making sure to strip the cavern just so he could show up Adina. He mined down deeper, along the dangerous lava pools, and carefully excavated so as to not fall in. With the light of the lava, he was able to preserve his supply of torches.

He found redstone ore and more gold ore, mining everything he could and filling his empty backpack to the brim. And, on one pass, he found a chunk of blue gems that he recognized as lapis lazuli and quickly added to his haul.

Satisfied that his backpack was full, and he had truly 'given it all he got', Kalmarin returned to the surface. Adina was there waiting for him at the dig site. It was also morning, as Kalmarin was quick to notice and grow worried over. He had to get back before his siblings noticed his absence. He wasn't allowed out without Regen.

"Here." He declared proudly, handing over all the ores he picked up. Adina nodded appreciatively at the supply of iron and gold ore.

"That's more like it. Good going." Adina started loading them in the chest until she paused at the lapis, her eyes widening. "You found diamonds!?"

"What? No, that's lapis." Kalmarin pointed to the gems before realizing they were shinier in the sunlight. More durable too. "Oh, uh..."

"That's amazing!" Adina praised him. "The first time you mine and you snatch diamonds. Unbelievable!"

Kalmarin felt a stir of pride over Adina's open praise. He felt something warming up inside him. A familiar feeling. Growing confidence.

"No way I can take this from you." She slid the five diamonds back into Kalmarin's hands. "They're yours. Keep them."

"I have no need of these-"

"Don't you know how valuable these are?" She cut him off, trying to impress how fortuitous his find had been. "Miners have been seeking out diamonds since Minecraftia began. They've been over-mined, so most diamond gear has to be gotten from Testificates or - oh! Fortune!" She rummaged in her backpack before withdrawing an iron pickaxe that glowed with an enchantment. "This thing. Fortune III. Anything it mines has a chance of multiplying by two, three, or even four. Had to take out a second mortgage on my house to afford it, but it was worth it! Aheh... hee... it wasn't worth it." She muttered despondent before recovering. "Anyway, this is the tool to be mining diamonds with. If you had this, you could've netted twice as many diamonds at least."

"But I have no need for diamonds."

"Well, save them." Adina shrugged. "You're vulnerable without Regen, right? So save enough to make yourself a set of diamond armor."

"Right. And announce my weakness to my siblings? Nobody wears armor - well, except for Giovanni and Serafina. They're exceptions." Kalmarin added. "But wearing armor is purely aesthetic for me and my siblings."

"Just hang on to them. I'm holding myself back from just taking them from you." She looked to be visibly restraining herself. "Anyway, do you feel any better after a hard day's work?"

"Well..." There was something. A swell of pride and confidence over bringing in an acceptable haul. It was a heady feeling, breaking Adina's preconceptions to impress her with diamonds. He showed her.

He focused on his familiar inner fire. The dark flame inside of him. He closed his eyes and felt dark smoke waft from between his eyelids and coat his body. Adina gave the Hacker a wide berth as he smoked up. When he opened his eyes again, his sclerae was black.

He turned to one of Adina's dig site platforms and raised his arm, coating it in smoke before bringing it down on the wooden platform. It splintered like a dry cracker, prompting Adina to leap in fright. Kalmarin smiled proudly.

"It's back! Strength is back!" He swung his fists around as he felt the exhilarating feeling. Doing well in mining gave him something to feel proud of, which in turn allowed him to manifest Strength again. Level 1 was better than Level 0, and it was the start of picking himself back up from his spiral. He just needed to get Enderport and Regen back. Confidence and pride. Or was it humility?

Maybe doing the work of insects was beneath him, but he couldn't deny the feeling of accomplishment associated with such a menial task. After weeks of repeated failures in important things, small victories in insignificant things was the way to go to relearn his Hacks.

He turned to Adina who was currently watching him cautiously. Now that he had Strength, she was unsure whether he would use it on her. She hadn't forgotten how he scoured the savannah to find and kill her.

"So?" She asked, wanting an immediate answer. "Now that you have your Hack back, are we good or should I start running?"

Kalmarin felt a twinge of amusement recognizing her fear. He was proud she was scared of him again. He hadn't forgotten that her defiant actions had lost him his Hacks to begin with. Never mind it was her advice on how to get them back. He'd never give her the credit.

"...You're not off the hook yet." Kalmarin told the miner. "I'm still two Hacks shy, and you're to blame. You're not forgiven until I'm back to normal. That means more of these humble mining sessions until they cease to work."

"Fine, but I keep whatever coal and ores you dig up. And you let me know when you find diamonds again." She outlined her demands. "I need the ores."

"Agreed. I have no need for ores." He nodded once. "Your dig site won't move?"

"Not unless your siblings find me out. I'll be right here." She assured. "With more time, I can expand some of the more promising tunnels for-"

"I didn't ask for your story, insect." He shut her down rudely, making her patience dwindle. "No time for idle chatter. I must return to the Obelisk before I'm missed."

"So long." She gave a lazy wave before turning to the ores and a set of furnaces. Kalmarin had one last look at her smelting iron before he climbed up out of the dig site and started jogging east back to the lake.

---

Halfway back, Kalmarin was met by Hannah and Quentin. The former was carrying the latter while flying, but the latter was quick to let loose a booming echoing voice that reverberated in Kalmarin's skull. He recognized it as Quentin's announcement Hack - the ability to have his voice heard by all people within a hundred miles of him.

"Brother Kalmarin has been found! I repeat, brother Kalmarin has been found! Hannah and I will be bringing him back shortly. Call off the search."

Kalmarin felt dread in the pit of his stomach as Hannah and Quentin descended. He had been out long enough for them to send out search parties. He needed a way to explain this or else it was back to Hacker preschool, and then they'd never leave him alone.

"Brother!" Hannah cried as she transitioned fluidly from a landing to a hug. She pressed him to her generous bosom before pushing back and looking him over like a mother hen. "What happened? Are you hurt? Did a Griefer take you? Did they lure you out? Just tell me their names and I'll tear them to pieces."

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Kalmarin assured over and over, even as she turned him this way and that to check for injuries. "In fact, I'm better than fine. Check it." He activated his Strength Hack and grabbed Hannah by the waist before tossing her twelve feet in the air in a show of strength. Hannah let out a whoop of surprise before her Flight Hack carried her safely back down.

"Your Hack is back." A new voice stated. It arrived in a rush of wind. Kalmarin, Quentin, and Hannah turned to observe the speedy arrival of Null. "I understood you were having performance problems. I'm happy to see you've overcome them."

Kalmarin felt a little nervous being scrutinized by the second oldest in the Hack Clan, but he recovered quickly. "Thank you, Null."

"You gave 303 quite the scare. Gave all of us quite the scare when we heard a sibling with a tenuous Regen Hack was out and at the mercy of the unforgiving wilderness." Null continued, his words making Kalmarin feel guilty. "Care to explain where you went, and why you didn't tell a soul where you had gone?"

"What? I told some Griefers to let you know." Kalmarin invented easily. "As I was heading out, I passed some Griefers and ordered them to let another sibling know I was - well, I was out clearing my head."

"Yes, Serafina let us know about your frequent nightly walks. Gave us a place to start looking." Null spoke sharply. "She also told us she told you not to leave the Obelisk until your Regen Hack was working. Any progress on that?"

"...Not yet." Kalmarin cringed. "But-But the walk was really all I needed. Some time away from the Obelisk so I could knuckle down and escape this spiral I found myself in. Getting Strength back is just the beginning."

"You understand we can't let this continue?" Quentin asked. "Without Regen, you're too vulnerable. These nighttime walks are out of the question."

"It's safe out here." Kalmarin assured. "Nothing but Mobs, and I of course steer clear of Creepers. If these walks are doing me wonders-"

"You are not to leave the Obelisk until your Regen is back in place." Null put his foot down. "303 would agree. Your safety is first and foremost. If I hear you left without stable Regen one more time, I will monitor you round the clock until a time I see fit. Do you understand, baby brother?"

"...Of course, brother."

"Good. Quentin, I'll carry you back. Hannah, if you would?"

"Of course, brother." Hannah nodded before flying behind Kalmarin and picking him up. Null whisked Quentin away in another rush of wind. Hannah, meanwhile, flew with Kalmarin in tow at a slower pace.

Kalmarin was partly relieved to have staved off a lecture, but he was on thin ice now. If he went missing one more time, there'd be no escape from remedial lessons with the other adolescents. However, he couldn't deny mining with Adina helped get his Hack back when nothing at the Obelisk would. He had to sneak out to that dig site again. He just had to be careful. Maybe bully a few more Griefers into helping him.

"As soon as we're back, can you point me to the Griefers who failed to tell us where you'd gone?" Hannah asked angrily.

"What? Oh! Uh, I already forgot their pathetic faces."

She clicked her tongue in dismay.

---

Kalmarin felt pretty good about his latest plan, even if the setup made his skin crawl.

He had been slumming it with the Griefers all day, mingling among them as they fell on bended knee to worship him. Disgusting. Anyway, he was able to find a body double with the same dark blue hair as him, and, after a private session of bullying, was able to coerce the Griefer to sleep in his room as a decoy while he was out. That way, if any of his siblings went to check on him, all they'd see is a figure with dark blue hair buried under the covers. If they came closer to scrutinize the name over his head, then he'd be boned, but his bed was far enough away from the door to discourage that. They'd have to be in the room to tell it wasn't him in his bed.

Just like before, Kalmarin used ender pearls to warp away. His throw went a lot stronger with his Strength Hack aiding him. He had the unpleasant sensation of being watched, but he chalked that up to paranoia. He was on thin ice with his siblings after all.

He reached Adina's dig site just as before. The miner had been busy, expanding and deepening the dig site to expose more veins of ore. He waited until she returned from underground with her latest haul, then announced his presence by clearing his throat.

"And here I thought you wouldn't show."

"I said I'd be here. You calling me a liar?"

"I figured it was just a one off. Last time you said mining was beneath you, so-"

"I'm not leaving you alone until my Hacks are fixed." Kalmarin cut her off. "That's the only reason I'm bothering with this menial work."

"Then let's dive right into it." Adina whipped out a new iron pickaxe and threw it, Kalmarin catching it across his chest. "It's rich pickings out here. Broke into two new cave systems this morning and afternoon."

"Like I care."

"Just saying, you have no excuse not to pull in a truckload of ores." Adina purposefully threw down the gauntlet.

The mining went about as well as could be expected. Kalmarin and Adina started together until Kalmarin brusquely decided to mine on his own. It worked to his advantage, as his Strength Hack allowed him to mine great chunks off the cave walls at a time. By the end of it, he had Adina beat. The miner was a good loser about it, though.

While Kalmarin was pleased to have outdone Adina, the satisfaction did little to unblock his other two Hacks. Enderport and Regen remained out of reach. He didn't know if he should continue the mining or try something else. Killing Adina was still on the table. Maybe it would remedy everything. Until he was sure, though, he'd bide his time.

"See ya tomorrow night!" A content Adina bid him farewell, her hands busy counting the ores they gathered. Kalmarin gave a noncommittal grunt, a rare show of kindness to an insect.

The whole walk back, Kalmarin had that same unsettling feeling that he was being watched. However, when he whipped his head around, all he saw was the occasional Mob.

Kalmarin was able to get back to his room before the sun came up. Any Griefers that saw him were kindly bullied into keeping their mouths shut. Kalmarin was just about to kick the Griefer body double out of his room...

...only to find his sister Sandra sat on his bed, waiting for him. Her eyes were narrowed and darkened, arms folded, and smoke enveloping her.

"What are you playing at?"

Kalmarin's mouth was a thin line. It was pointless denying anything. At last he knew why he felt like he was being watched. Sandra's X-ray and long-distance sight Hack had been keeping tabs on him. Probably since he left the Obelisk.

"...How much did you see?" He finally asked.

"Enough to know you ignored Null's warning and are getting chummy mining with an insect." She straightened off the bed and marched towards him. Kalmarin vaguely registered his body double's disembodied Head on the floor off to the side.

Sandra got up in his face and pressed a sharp nailed finger into his chest. "What the hell's the matter with you? Going out without Regen, whipping us all into a tizzy, cavorting with an insect!"

"Keep you voice down!" Kalmarin growled lowly as he brought Sandra aside. He looked over his shoulder at the door before continuing. "I am not cavorting or being chummy." He sounded insulted. "I'm using the miner to reclaim my Hacks."

"The miner, Adina_Doe." Sandra spoke skeptically. "You're getting Hack advice from a non-Hacker?"

"I only got Strength back after mining with her." He shot back, displaying Strength as proof. He left out that he lost his Hacks after losing to Adina multiple times.

"Why don't you just take remedial lessons?"

"Oh, gee, I dunno, Sandra. Maybe because I'd have my peers looking at me like I was an age regressed infant!"

"Who cares? Your siblings wouldn't think less of you."

"I'd think less of me. And when it comes to Hacks, how I feel plays a pretty big part." He asserted, making Sandra go quiet and contemplative. He saw she understood, and he sighed. "Who'd you tell so far?"

"...Nobody." She admitted. "I planned to go to Null with it, but I wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself first."

"Sandra, no... no, no..." Kalmarin waved his arms before him and shook his head. "You cannot bring this to Null or anyone. Please. I can't take remedial lessons. It'll sap me of all my Hacks, I know it."

"You can't know that. All Hackers had to take remedials at some point."

"Sure, but twice?"

"Bro..."

"I'm making headway with this insect." He earnestly tried to sway her. "I want to do it my way, not the remedial rehash way. The miner is harmless. Please. Keep it a secret. If... if you tell anyone," he readied the big guns, "then you're no longer my sister."

Sandra looked stricken at the threat. For a close-knit familial structure like the Hack Clan, disowning a sibling was a serious matter. Kalmarin would forever treat her like a stranger if she tattled on him. She didn't want to be hated, but Kalmarin was putting himself in jeopardy visiting Adina without Regen. She'd have to compromise.

"...I'll keep my mouth shut." The words were dragged out of her. She ignored how Kalmarin beamed with relief. "But I'm keeping my eyes on you two." Dark smoke swirled around her eyes as she said that. "If that miner tries anything, I'll bring the whole Obelisk down on her."

Kalmarin bowed low, his head grazing the floor. "Thank you for your understanding, sis."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm awesome." She still didn't look comfortable with this arrangement. Kalmarin would need results fast to convince her. "I'll just clean up this trash for you." She picked up the Griefer body double's Head and gear before throwing it out the nearest window.

Kalmarin didn't lose any sleep over it.

---

And so, the mining sessions continued. Kalmarin would sneak out at night with Sandra guarding his room and keeping her eyes on him. He'd go to the dig site, mine for a while, then come back before the sun rose. He and Sandra had to catch up on sleep during the day, but none of their siblings denied them this.

On the fourth mining session, Kalmarin found another small vein of diamond at the lower levels. He remembered what Adina requested from him and he went to retrieve her, taking her back to the vein. She exclaimed happily before using her wooden pickaxe to dig around the diamond ore with remarkable speed.

"In case it's over lava." She explained. "Can't risk losing a single gem. Okay, so here's the deal." She took out her Fortune III pickaxe. "For every diamond ore I mine out, I keep one diamond. Anything multiplied goes to you."

"I told you I have no need for-"

"And I've been thinking about that." She cut him off, making me scowl. "Hear me out. Diamond is the strongest material out there. Any armor or weapons made out of that stuff will be incredibly durable."

"So what?"

"So, wearing it will make you feel durable." She emphasized. "Isn't that what your Hacks are all about? Being strong by feeling strong? What if wearing full diamond armor helps you reactivate Regen? Wearing it would be like, uh, a placebo. Am I using that right? Placebo? Anyway, it can't hurt."

Kalmarin tilted his hat back. The idea was appealing, and it made sense. Feeling invincible could be just the thing to make him invincible again.

"...In that case, I want all the diamonds."

"No deal. I get one diamond per mined ore. That's the deal."

"I found this!"

"And it's my pick. A pick that could potentially quadruple the number of diamonds you get. You only need nineteen more for a full set." She pointed to the small vein. "I can squeeze out a lot of diamonds."

Kalmarin bit his lip. The five-day ultimatum Serafina gave him was almost done. He needed diamonds today if that was all it took to reclaim his Regen Hack.

"Oh... alright. Just make it quick."

"Quick is my middle name!" Adina whipped out her Fortune III pick - a pickaxe jokingly named The Second Mortgage - and mined out the vein consisting of six blocks of diamond ore. Her pick yielded thirteen diamonds. Six went to her, seven went to Kalmarin. It was still one more diamond than he would have originally obtained.

"How many more diamonds do I need for a full set?"

"Well, counting the five you had before," Adina said happily, "you should be halfway there."

"In that case, let's look for some more." He insisted, picking a random direction and mining that way. If Sandra wasn't already watching him from afar, he would have asked her to use her X-ray Hack to locate more diamond ore.

"Diamond is typically found at this level." Adina explained, her wooden pickaxe shredding through cobblestone. "Sometimes around open pools of lava. Careful not to get burned."

Kalmarin gave her a derisive look - as if that would ever happen to him - before he fully realized how quickly Adina was tearing through the stone cave. Her wooden pickaxe was mining faster than him wielding Strength.

"Is that another enchanted pick?"

"You mean Old Reliable? Yep." She halted her work to hold up the wooden tool. "My very first pickaxe. My pride and joy. I repaired it over and over for sentimental reasons until I finally grew the balls to enchant it. Unbreaking III, Efficiency V. That's what makes it so speedy. An oldie, but a reliable oldie. Cuts through stone like melted butter."

"Seems wasteful." Kalmarin wrinkled his nose. "I mean, isn't wood the cheapest and weakest?"

"It's also the most readily available. Diamond doesn't grow on trees. You make do with what you got."

The two continued mining until Adina eventually located a massive vein of diamond. It was massive in that it was the largest possible vein of eight blocks. Kalmarin was disappointed that she laid claim to it until she turned over twelve of the sixteen diamonds she got.

"...Whuh?" Kalmarin asked bewildered.

"I'm fronting you the difference in your set of diamond armor as thanks for not ratting me out to your siblings. Also, it comes with the understanding that any future diamonds you mine will go directly to me. No split."

Kalmarin didn't know what to say, so he accepted her terms and went over to craft the diamond armor.

Maybe I'll let her live after this is over. He thought to himself.

It took him a but of time to work out the armor recipes. Adina had impatiently offered hints, but Kalmarin shouted over her, wanting to piece them together himself. With a bit of effort and patience, Kalmarin had his full set of diamond armor.

"Now what?"

"Put it on, obviously. Then, you go fight Mobs."

They returned to the surface with Kalmarin fully clad in diamond. The material felt cool in the night, the diamond glinting prettily in the moonlight. He couldn't deny he felt safer encased in the rare gem, but was that enough to manifest Regen?

The Hacker trudged around, luring in the common Skeletons and Zombies, but steering clear of any Creepers. Arrows pelted him and Zombies scratched at him, but the damage was minimal at best, the attacks usually glancing off his armor. Kalmarin responded with his Strength Hack, sending a fist through a Skeleton's ribcage and punting a Zombie twenty meters. As he went on tearing through Mobs and taking minimal damage, he began to feel something stirring within. A familiar sense of superiority. Like nothing could hurt him.

"I think I'm feeling something!" He called out to Adina. Smoke gushed from his eyes and enveloped him in its protective embrace. "This is it!" He allowed the Zombies to scratch at him over and over while he watched his Health Meter. The second he took damage, it was instantly fixed. "IT'S BACK! REGEN IS BACK!" His voice shook with unbridled joy.

"Woo." Adina gave a half-hearted cheer, unsure on how to feel about this. It was hard to feel happy for someone who swore to kill you and now had the powers to do so.

Kalmarin was in too good a mood to register the lackluster fanfare. He felt so good that he was confident he could reclaim Enderport on his own, without the need for any more mining excursions.

...

He wasn't ready to let Adina off the hook, though! Not yet. Not until he was sure he had all his Hacks back. The mining excursions would continue. He told her as much, reminding himself that with Regen, Null couldn't fault him for going outside the Obelisk.

When it was time to leave, Kalmarin offered the diamond gear to Adina. He couldn't take it with him, else his siblings would ask questions on where he got it while he was confined to the Obelisk. Adina had a solution in the form of her ender chest. He could safely store his diamond armor and withdraw it at his leisure, either at the dig site or at the Obelisk, until a time came where he could wear it without arousing suspicion. Kalmarin agreed, as he was quite fond of the chestplate he worked hard to mine for and make.

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Same time tomorrow." Kalmarin replied in the kindest way yet. His good mood was just that good.

---

Kalmarin's good mood persisted when he showed off his Regen Hack to Sandra, Serafina, and, later, Null. It was all the proof they needed to rescind his house arrest.

Sandra questioned why Kalmarin wanted to go back to the dig site considering he had his two most important Hacks - he could always relearn Enderport on his own or with his siblings - but Kalmarin said he wouldn't be satisfied without all of them, and that using Adina was good for him in a way that the Obelisk wasn't. Sandra had no rebuttal and so was reluctantly forced to concede.

And thus, the mining sessions between Kalmarin and Adina continued. The miner didn't mind since Kalmarin turned over any ores he dug up. In return, the Hacker felt important. Valued. Kalmarin was the one who came to her. It was him who kept the meetings going. At any time he could have called them off, but he didn't.

The dig site grew larger and larger every day Adina was allowed to expand. Tunnels went out in every direction and ores were stripped so thoroughly you could call it a strip mine. The two would often compete between each other, see who could rake in the most or most valuable ores. Adina condensed ores into ingots, and then ingots into blocks before storing them in her fast-filling ender chest. She looked happier every day, and she slowly grew comfortable around Kalmarin.

Kalmarin was also having - dare he say it? - fun. After filling his time with hard work, he suddenly realized how lazy his lifestyle at the Obelisk had been. There was suddenly more time in the day and nothing to fill it with, prompting the Hacker into counting the seconds until he was back at the dig site. He was overcome with bouts of boredom whenever not mining, and the taste of food dulled when it wasn't following a hard night's work. He slept a lot during the day.

One day, while mining, Kalmarin was shot by a Skeleton only to warp behind it. Adina witnessed this and recognized it to mean his Enderport was back. The Hacker was a Level 3 once more. Left unsaid was that it meant the mining sessions between them would conclude.

"...I could still come and mine." Kalmarin suggested timidly. "That is, if you beg me."

Adina smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I really enjoy working with you. Please don't leave. I beg you-"

"Well if you insist, how can I say no?" Kalmarin spoke too quickly.

Neither one of them wanted the sessions to end. Despite Kalmarin's assurances to Sandra, he was actually growing quite familiar with Adina. He hadn't called her a bug or insect in a while. He spoke to her as an equal. She had gifted him an ender chest for his room so he could access his diamond gear at any time.

The sessions continued through September and October, until one day...

"...You're leaving?"

"Have to." Adina and Kalmarin were dismantling the platforms and tent of the dig site following their latest mining session. "Ender chest is full and I've got bills to pay back in Exter. With what we've gathered, I really think I'm gonna be okay."

"...I see." Kalmarin spoke somberly. Exter was pretty far.

"But, you know..." Adina added. "This area is pretty rich in ores. After I offload everything, I would be remiss not to come back and mine some more." Kalmarin couldn't hide his excitement. "What say I come back next summer? Beginning of July?"

Kalmarin pretended to be aloof. "Well, it would be a huge imposition on our land, but I suppose I can allow it. I will meet you here at the beginning of July."

"That's a relief. I'd hate to disrespect you or the Hack Clan. You're too magnanimous, my Lord."

Heat creeped up Kalmarin's neck being addressed like that by her.

Once they finished tearing down the dig site, the two shook hands and had one final back-and-forth.

"Thanks for your hard work. Despite you being the reason my crew up and quit."

"And thank you for restoring my Hacks. Despite you being the reason I lost them."

They both shared a laugh over that.

As Adina was getting ready to leave, she had one last thing to say.

"You've changed how I view Hackers."

Kalmarin tilted his head.

"What we have here? This is proof that there can be understanding between us. Hackers and Crafters can be friends." She looked back over his shoulder at him. "So why can't the rest be?"

Kalmarin didn't have an answer as Adina left the savannah.

---

[July, Year 439]

The nine months Kalmarin spent waiting were the longest of his life. He didn't know why he felt so attached to a Crafter of all things, but he had been giving Adina's parting words some serious thought.

303 and Null always claimed that Crafters were untrustworthy, manipulative, and selfish. They judged people by how much they could take from them. Herobrine was just one instance, but not the first. Gods couldn't get dragged into other people's fights. They were above all that. Above good and evil.

He had grown to enjoy mining with Adina. Did that mean she was using him? He didn't think so. She lost him his Hacks, but she also helped him get them back. He could've ended the mining sessions at any time and cut her off, but he kept going back. His choice. He seriously doubted she was smart enough to manipulate him into doing something.

Still, he never breathed a word about Adina to any of his siblings. Sandra was the only one who knew, though she was convinced the mining sessions were over once Adina left the savannah. Kalmarin didn't see the need to correct her.

When the 1st of July rolled in, Kalmarin excused himself at night and journeyed west to the remains of their dig site. He couldn't hide his excitement over meeting Adina again.

He didn't know if 'friend' was a suitable word for what they had. Work acquaintance, maybe?

Anyway, he reached the dig site and found Adina there waiting for him as if she never left. The dig site was just as derelict, though Adina beamed as she saw him.

"Kalmarin. Or should I call you Lord Kalmarin with a sweeping bow?" She made to perform the action, but Kalmarin chuckled and stopped her. "Staying healthy?"

"I'm eating well." He nodded. It was hard not to with Akasha sending monthly tribute. "It's good to see you." He took a half-step toward her, his arms lifting, only to reconsider the greeting as being inappropriately familiar. His hands awkwardly toyed with his scarf as he distracted her. "Uh, how'd you fare with your debts?"

"Oh, splendidly." She spoke with relish. "I should be thanking you. I made more money selling the ores than I would have paying my crew. Paid off loans, my debts, my mortgages, AND had a little left over for my savings. Speaking of which, here." She withdrew something from her backpack and held it out. "Got you a gift."

It was a book. "How Emotions are Made: What You're Feeling Says About You." He gave her a look.

"Y'know, for understanding your Hacks. You were bitching about not having Flight. Here, look." She got up close and pointed out some pages. The proximity made Kalmarin flush. "I saw this in the bookstore and thought of you. It talks about feelings and emotions and what you associate them with."

"You thought of me?"

"Of course." She said. "Anyway, you can read this if you ever have any Hack malfunctions. Maybe it'll help."

"That's quite a thoughtful gift." Kalmarin put it in his backpack. "I didn't get you anything."

"That's fine. You shouldn't bother." She dismissed without a worry. "Letting me mine out here is gift enough."

"Are we setting up here?"

"Good heavens, no. We've stripped this area. We're just here to meet up. I'm planning to go further north. I crossed a cave entrance there that looked like a good starting point."

"Sounds good. Let's walk and talk." He gestured north. "I can tell you all about what's been happening here. There's... honestly not much."

---

They spent the whole night talking and finding a spot to mine. Adina had plenty of funny stories to share about how she left the miner's guild flabbergasted over the amount of iron she brought in. She nearly ruined the market and had grown men weep. Kalmarin laughed along at their misery. From how Adina described them, they were jerks getting their comeuppance. She also spoke of the current events in Exter, but Kalmarin didn't pay them much heed. Exter was too far removed from the Obelisk.

They didn't do any mining, unfortunately. They found the spot - just above a cave entrance - and set up Adina's tent and dig site structures. She had better equipment and enchanted tools as a result of her profits, including a diamond Silk Touch pickaxe that she absolutely refused to let Kalmarin touch with his 'grimey hands'. Any other Crafter that called his hands grimey would have had their head ripped off.

Anyway, after she was set up, Kalmarin committed the new dig site to memory and returned to the Obelisk early. He left with another book from Adina. Another gift. This one describing 101 crafting recipes. Kalmarin was interested enough to skim it in his private time.

When he returned to his room, Sandra was there waiting for him, sat on his bed just like the first time. She looked cross.

"Sandra? What's wrong?"

"You know what's wrong." She accused, straightening up and stalking over. "I hoped to be wrong when I saw you slink out, but it's happening again. You're seeing that Crafter woman. She's back."

"So what?" He asked defensively.

"So what!? I thought this was over!" She hissed. "You saw her to fix your Hacks. That's what you told me. Mission accomplished, so why are you continuing to see her? Did you know she was coming back tonight? Did you agree to meet? What is she filling your head with?"

"Would you calm down, sis?" He asked. She was sounding hysterical. "She's not filling my head with anything. I just enjoy mining. And look. She brought me some gifts." He showed off the two books, which Sandra mean-mugged.

"...What is this woman to you?" Sandra finally demanded. "Is this like a Xavier situation-?"

"NO!"

"Then what is it? I saw you looking like a lovesick fool talking with her. You ran out so fast like a dog wagging its tail."

"Oh, c'mon. It's not like that."

"So what is it? Explain to me." Sandra demanded. "Long-term relations with Crafters is forbidden. Use her and broom her if that's what you're-"

"I SAID IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Kalmarin snapped at her, his smoke flaring out in response to his anger. Sandra recoiled at his volume, her eyes wide and scared. He instantly felt guilty.

"Adina isn't..." He screwed his eyes shut as he struggled for words. He didn't want to admit Sandra's guesses were close to the truth. Maybe he did have feelings for Adina. He certainly enjoyed being with her without being scrutinized and judged by his family. He could just be himself, say whatever he felt like.

Sandra wouldn't like that. Kalmarin tilted his hat as he decided a lie was the way to go.

"She's nothing to me, okay?" The words were painful to say. "At best, she's a pet to amuse myself with. I'm not the tail-wagging dog, she is. Okay?"

Sandra grimaced with an uncomfortable look. "And I suppose you want me to keep my mouth shut? For how long? Months? Years? How far are you prepared to take this?"

"If Xavier can do whatever the hell he pleases with Griefers and Crafters, why can't I do the same?"

"So you admit this is a Xavier situation."

"...It's different."

Sandra clasped both hands over her mouth, her expression agonized. "I can't continue to keep your secrets, brother. Opening yourself to this woman is dangerous."

"I'm old enough to take my own risks and make my own mistakes. A sister would respect that." He guilt-tripped her. It seemed to work, as Sandra gave her extremely reluctant consent that she wouldn't speak of what she saw. Not that she wouldn't keep spying, though. Kalmarin had no choice but to take it.

---

Following his talk with Sandra, Kalmarin began to think on what Adina meant to him. He got along with her better than any Crafter. Maybe because she helped him when he was desperate and in a rut. Maybe because they had a mutually beneficial work relationship. Maybe because he liked being around her and being able to be himself. She was funny and boisterous. He couldn't deny she was attractive.

However, he definitely didn't want this to be a Xavier-type of relationship. It felt wrong comparing that to his time with Adina.

When he thought about a potential future with her, he felt his cheeks heat up and his feet leave the ground for a moment before reality grounded him. Asking her out would be making himself vulnerable. He didn't know if she felt the same.

He had to test the waters, and it wasn't like he could ask his siblings for advice. He had to figure it all out on his own.

Thus, the summer mining sessions continued. A new dig site made for a mine ripe for the plundering. Kalmarin and Adina were swimming in ores by the first week. That was when Kalmarin broached the topic.

"Have you ever thought about Crafters and Hackers coexisting?"

Adina looked over. "You mean like what we're doing?"

"Yes, but more." He tried to sound aloof about it. "Like, we get a tribute from Akasha every month, every year. Food and whatnot. And all we do is promise not to enslave or decimate their capital." Adina's lips thinned hearing that. "I was wondering if it wouldn't be more copacetic to throw those insects a bone."

"Didn't I tell you I don't like when you call Crafters insects?"

Kalmarin looked at her uncomfortable face and backtracked quickly. "It's just force of habit."

She shook her head. "A bad habit."

"Anyway," Kalmarin soldiered on, "I heard Akasha struggles with cultists. We have no love for them either, so, in return for receiving tribute, we could rid Akasha of a few cultists. Win-win for everybody."

"...Yeah, that would be a noble idea." She nodded. "Would be a step in the right direction for equality."

"Whoa, no, not equality. Just a perk. A signing bonus." He clarified, making Adina go still. "Just to set a precedent for it. Working with Hackers doesn't have to be the terrifying thing everyone's making it out to be. We can be generous gods."

"Kalmarin." Adina spoke lowly. Seriously. "I think we should call it a night. I don't want to give Sandra an excuse to blow the whistle."

"Oh, uh, sure." Kalmarin packed up his stuff. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Maybe in two days?" Adina offered back evasively, her fingers playing with her pigtails. "I need to organize some things tomorrow."

"Oh. Okay." Kalmarin said rather lamely before leaving with his tail tucked between his legs.

---

The next time Kalmarin tried to broach the topic of a relationship with him to see if she was interested, she got cagey and distant. Almost cold. It was enough to make Kalmarin furious. When he confronted her about it, she had plenty to say.

"I know what you're trying to hint at, and the answer is no. I don't want a relationship with a Hacker." She outright refused, making Kalmarin's heart grow still.

"Wh - b-but, why? I-I thought you liked me. I thought we liked each other."

"I do like you, Kal. What I don't like is this Hacker business." She clearly explained. She wasn't mincing words. "Growing up, I've heard plenty of horror stories about the Hack Clan."

"They're lies!"

"You yourself corroborated some of those stories! Your brother Xavier uses women like tissue paper! Bullying Akasha into giving you monthly tribute! Calling Crafters insects - they're people, for Zipshin's sake! Hackers are more concerned with keeping themselves on top than finding a middle ground. They need humility if they want the rest of the world to forgive them their crimes."

"Our crimes were a result of Herobrine's machinations." He protested.

"That doesn't matter! Tens of thousands of Crafters died to Hackers, yet the Hackers never own up to all the blood on their hands. Hackers need to learn to act as equals, not superiors. How can you expect me to agree to a relationship where we won't be partners but rather a - a god and his pet?"

Kalmarin went pale as Adina unknowingly landed on Sandra's exact words. Both sides thought that was the extent of their relationship.

"So... what do you want me to do?" He asked.

"If you don't know, then that's reason enough why a relationship isn't in the cards for us." She told him firmly. "Hackers aren't all that, Kal. They're as fallible as the next guy."

Kalmarin felt at a loss on what to do. The atmosphere had gotten so awkward that the two decided to call the session early again. Kalmarin left without another word.

That night, he laid in bed rethinking his whole mindset about what a relationship really was.

Xavier was a poor example in which one side had all the power in a disgusting, unspeakable way that left Adina unsettled. What about Sandra and Giovanni? Theirs was long-distance relationship while he covered the Origin, but they treated each other as equals because they were siblings. Equal gods. No one had more power over the other.

Was this why the Hack Clan forbade relationships between Hacker and Crafter? Because, by definition, an equal union was impossible for a god and a lesser insect.

But Kalmarin didn't want that. He liked being with Adina. His heart ached at the thought of her being mad at him. He couldn't leave things as they were.

He needed another chance.

---

The next time they met, Kalmarin broached the subject again despite Adina not wanting to hear it. They were forgoing mining entirely, turning these mining sessions into relationship counseling.

"Please, Adina! I like being with you. What'll it take for you to give a relationship a chance?"

"I can't tell you! You have to figure it out for yourself."

"How is that - okay, no, just... can you give me a hint?" He begged.

Adina rolled her eyes. "Have you given any thought to how a relationship would work between us anyway? What, am I just supposed to mine these lands forever and have you visit at night without your siblings finding out? The fact you're terrified of your family discovering me is proof enough that this would never work. They'll never accept me because they think themselves gods and me an insect."

"But I accept you!"

She let out a derisive scoff. "You make it sound like I did something unacceptable, just by being. I did nothing wrong. No Crafter has done anything wrong just by existing. That's not how the Hackers see it, though. To them, we're unsightly vermin."

At last, Kalmarin had an idea on what she wanted. And it was impossible. "You want the Hack Clan to become one with the population. To drop their godhood and humble themselves as mortals. That..." He shook his head. "That would never happen! 303 and Null would never allow that, let alone the rest of the clan."

"Why not? A bit of humility won't kill them. It didn't for you."

"That's-" Kalmarin pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm a different story, alright? We can't make everyone lose their Hacks and relearn them with honest work like I did. We can't humble everyone."

"Can't or won't?"

"You're asking the impossible here. My siblings will stick to the status quo."

"Well, if there can never be peace between Hackers and Crafters, what future could we possibly have?" Adina asked seriously. "I'm not sticking to this savannah. There's a whole world out there you don't know about. The beach resorts of Oak Docks, the rolling Dover Plains, the technologically advanced Daymonte, the picturesque snow peaks of Lazuli. You won't get any of that stuck in the shadow of the Obelisk."

"Then I'll run away!" He exclaimed suddenly, the words coming out in a burst of emotion without him thinking them through.

Deserting the Obelisk - cutting off ties - went against every rule of their familial hierarchy. Sure, there were siblings like Ocan and Urson who left the nest and resided over Nitebane's ruins, but they still kept in touch. They allowed siblings to visit time and again. The only exception Kalmarin could think of was Alec, a brother that had been banished after his unhealthy obsession with Herobrine's Command Blocks. It didn't mean 303 hated him, though. He was always family, and 303 cared deeply for him.

There was no way his siblings would accept him breaking off with a Crafter. It would be seen as a brother being hoodwinked by a lesser woman. Sandra would be the first to spill the beans, and then the whole clan would be looking for him. How far would he have to run to escape Sandra's sight or Null's speed?

"Running away won't work any you know it." Adina seemed to read his mind as she spoke sadly. "Without their blessing, we can never be together. I won't be a pet."

"...Then wait for me." Kalmarin begged. Then, he did something he never thought he'd do. He, a god, got on his knees and bowed low so that his head touched the ground. A Hacker bowed to a Crafter. He knew it was risky with Sandra watching back at the Obelisk, but he had to be sincere with his feelings. He had to show how genuine he was. "I prostrate myself before you. I shed my godhood to be with you. I don't want to waste a moment to be with you. Even these short meetings are precious to me. Wait until I have a Flight Hack, then I could leave the Obelisk regularly and go with you wherever you want. Please, Adina. I swear to treat you as an equal, and to cherish you forever. I will make you happy if you only give me a chance-"

Kalmarin felt her gentle hands on his shoulders as she knelt before him. She lifted his head up so they could stare at one another. Her light brown eyes were watery and her smile trembled.

"That's enough. Humbling yourself like that, how can I refuse?" She leaned forward and their lips met.

Kalmarin felt something warm welling up from within, like she was breathing fire into him and stoking his inner fire. He felt jubilant. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He felt goosebumps prickle wherever her hands touched as he lavished in the feeling of her lips. He felt hot and cold. He fled his heart beat a hundred times a second. His eyes were wide before he closed them and hugged her, savoring the contours of her body and her pine scent.

When they broke the kiss after a few minutes, they were both breathless. They looked at each other with hungry desire.

"I'll give this a chance." She promised. "Don't you dare make me regret it."

Never. Not a chance.

Kalmarin was so happy, so brimming with joy, he seized Adina around the waist and lifted her up to swing her around, an exclamation of unbridled joy sounding from his lips.

He felt weightless...

Before realizing he was weightless.

"Kal!" Adina let out a startled gasp before laughing. "Look! You're doing it!"

"Huh?" He looked down and freaked out when he saw his body covered in smoke and floating in the air. Adina accepting his heartfelt confession was the catalyst to the happiest moment in his life. He finally felt the joy of flight.

"I-I'm flying. I'm flying!" He whooped excitedly. "Look, Adina! I'm flying!"

"I can see that!" She giggled. "What's it feel like?"

"It feels like... like everything is gonna turn out okay!" He laughed happily. It was the happiest he'd ever been, easily overshadowing the day he unlocked his first Hack or arrived at the Obelisk or found out he was a Hacker. This one moment with Adina blew them all out of the water.

Everything seemed so bright and promising.

---

Kalmarin returned to the Obelisk in style, flying in around the Obelisk to the cheers and praises of his siblings. He was showing greater proficiency than Thed and Winslow, weaving around the stone tower and even threading through his room's window. He had guests come up soon, his brothers and sisters come to congratulate him on becoming a Level 4. Serafina, Thed, Winslow, Marshall, Poulsen, and 303 himself.

Sandra and Null were absent.

After the celebration, Kalmarin got them to leave saying he was exhausted manifesting his latest Hack and he needed sleep. His siblings understood and left, allowing Kalmarin to dig in his pocket for the book Adina left him. He didn't dare open it yet.

'You still have things left to do.' Adina had said.

'When next you have a chance to get away from the Obelisk, come to this spot.' She jotted something down in a book and titled it Meetup before putting it in Kalmarin's hands. 'No, don't open it! We don't want Sandra to see it.' She stopped him smartly. 'Just meet me at that time and place once you convince them to let you loose for a couple weeks. It'll be like a vacation, and I can show off the sights of Exter. As long as you don't show your smoke, nobody will run in fear of you.'

It was a good plan, and Kalmarin had already requested a leave of absence from 303, promising to swap Origin duty with Giovanni in exchange. Sandra would appreciate having her boyfriend back. A nice way to thank her for her discretion.

He only wished she was there to congratulate him. Would have saved him having to explain it again.

Instead, he left his room and went over to hers. They were on the same floor, so he didn't have to go far. He knocked before entering, calling for his sister to see if she would be using her Hacks to spy on him.

She was sat on her bed, her knees bunched up and her arms hugging them. When she heard him come in, she flinched and looked away.

"Hey, sis." Kalmarin greeted amicably. "Why didn't you come congratulate me? You must have seen the party. I finally got Flight."

"...I saw." Sandra spoke quietly. She didn't dare look at Kalmarin.

"Oookay?" He tried to laugh off the awkwardness. "So? Shouldn't you be happier?"

Sandra looked over, her expression guilt-ridden.

Kalmarin blinked at her. "What's wrong?"

"...You said she was just a pet."

"Sandra-"

"You were on your knees before her."

"Listen, that was-"

"All that talk about being a disgrace to the Hack Clan. What do you call this!?"

"Adina is different!"

"I just wish I came to my senses sooner." She shook her head. "I should have told him from the start."

Kalmarin felt a cold fist grip his heart. "You told on me...?"

"This Adina woman was a classic case of a honeytrap. I should have known!"

"Who'd you tell, Sandra?"

Sandra flinched again, her face growing pale. "N-Now baby bro, you need to relax."

"Who knows about her, Sandra?" He asked with chilling composure.

"I did it with your best interests-"

Kalmarin seized Sandra and forced her through the wall with Strength. She screamed from the damage, her eyes wide and staring back in horror and disbelief. Blood pounded in his ears as his voice shook.

"Who'd you tell!?"

"I - it's Null!" She choked out. "He's going off to kill her - brother, you're hurting me!"

Kalmarin released her and took off like a sonic boom, punching through the Obelisk's stone walls and zooming west. Griefers and Hackers below pointed up in alarm, but he paid them no mind. The Hacker's fingers fumbled with the leather cover of the Meetup book containing Adina's secret location.

[I'll be camped at the place we first met. I'll be there for a week. Don't keep me waiting.]

[-Love, Adina_Doe]

Kalmarin remembered the spot. It was the closest of the dig sites to the Obelisk, where he scared off her whole crew and where Adina first escaped him. Not far.

He put on a burst of speed as his smoke gushed out from his body like propulsion jets. The sun hung high and beat down with a dry heat that left Kalmarin sweaty and parched, though there was only one thing on his mind. He flew low over the lake, leaving a trail of displaced water that splashed outward.

He had a bit of trouble pinpointing the spot from his year old memory, but he eventually managed to find the old dig grounds.

Null was there waiting.

Kalmarin felt a cold terror grip him until he noticed another figure with green hair on the ground. Adina was hurt but alive, though Null looked ready to finish her off.

"Brother, stop!"

Null halted as he turned towards the sound. "Baby brother." Null spoke in a soft echo. Kalmarin touched down, placing himself between Adina and Null. "Why didn't you come to me with this? Why did I have to hear it from your sister?"

"Kal, please... help..." Adina begged weakly. Her left leg was bent the wrong way, eliciting a pitiful whimper from her voice that made Kalmarin furious.

"Don't worry, Adina." He turned to assure her before refocusing forward. "She's not a problem, Null. She's important. She helped me restore my Hacks."

"I would have helped you." He stressed. "Instead you go to an insect? Why? Why did you bend knee to her? Why didn't you trust me enough to help?"

"I didn't want to dishonor the Clan. I felt like a screw-up." He explained.

"That's nonsense! Nobody would ever think less of you. We're family."

"If we're really family, you'll let the girl go." Kalmarin made his case. "She's helped-"

In a rush of wind, Null sped around Kalmarin and wound up behind him, out of his sight. Kalmarin heard a sound like a spinning jet engine before he whipped around to see a pile of pickaxes and miscellaneous gear on the grass.

Adina's Head was buried under a pile of pickaxes.

"Let's go home, baby brother. Did you eat dinner yet?"

Kalmarin stumbled over towards Adina's gear, falling to his knees and reaching out beseechingly. He lifted her trusty wooden pickaxe, Old Reliable, off her fallen Head. "Adi... na...?"

"Brother? Did you hear me?"

Kalmarin lunged at Null with tears in his eyes and his fist coated in smoke. Null moved too fast for him to follow before something struck the younger Hacker's head and he blacked out.

---

When Kalmarin next woke up, it was in his bed with four of his siblings watching over him. Serafina, Sandra, Thed, and Xavier. He should have felt safe in his bed with his family surrounding him.

All he felt was bitterness and misery as he felt Old Reliable at his side.

"He's up!" Serafina exclaimed. She and her other siblings crowded Kalmarin with food and water and ice, fussing over him and doing whatever they thought he needed. His face was young enough to be mistaken for a child, and this was just treating him more so like one. Babying him when he was feeling unwell. The fedora-wearing Hacker sat up with the help of his siblings and stared at the opposite wall, his expression unreadable.

"It's okay, bro. Null brought you back. He saved your life." Thed tried to be reassuring.

"Sandra filled us in on what was going on." Serafina added tearfully. "Had we have known you were being deceived-"

"Honeytrap. That's what we call it." Xavier threw in his two cents. "Those females use a pretty face and a sexy body to make our brothers do anything they want. It's sickening. Null sorted her out good, though. What'd you say her name was?"

"Who cares? She's history. As far as we're concerned, this whole thing is squashed."

Kalmarin tightened his hold on the blankets, his eyes empty.

He didn't feel invincible. He didn't feel joyful. He didn't feel like everything was settled.

He felt a hole in his heart.

"Kalmarin, you should eat something - oh, Null!"

Kalmarin's gaze flicked to the dark figure that seemed to draw all light from the room. Null walked in slowly.

"I heard our little champ was coming round." Null started in his soft echo. "I'm sorry I knocked you out. My body just sort of reacted, you know? You lunged at me and - you know, it's not important. How are you feeling?" He asked kindly. "Head not too sore, I hope?"

Kalmarin stared unblinking at Null for a few seconds before looking down at his sheets.

"Kalmarin... bro..." Sandra nudged his shoulder lightly. "Null did you a favor doing what he did. Don't you have something you want to say to him?" She asked expectantly. "And also to me?"

Kalmarin's lip quivered as he continued to stare at his covers, surrounded by a family he couldn't stomach to look at.

"Brother..." Kalmarin addressed the covers, his voice emotionless and flat. "I'm very sorry I lost my temper. There's no excuse for my behavior. I was disrespectful. You had my best interests in mind. I'm terribly sorry."

Null and the other Hackers visibly relaxed at Kalmarin's apology. Null, of course, was quick to look like a saint, gracefully accepting the apology and apologizing in turn for injuring his brother.

"And me?" Sandra added wryly.

Kalmarin gave a slight twitch, barely turning to her. "I'm sorry I overreacted, Sandra. You did the right thing speaking on my behalf like you did. I couldn't ask for a better sister."

"Aww, how can I stay mad at you." Sandra forgave easily, bending down to hug Kalmarin shortly before being joined by everyone else. The fedora-wearing Hacker stared vacantly through their arms and bodies towards the wall, his fingers tracing Adina's wooden pickaxe at his belt.

---

If Hackers were invincible, what was this pain that overshadowed all others?

If Hackers were impregnable, how could the death of one meager woman sap his powers?

Adina was no meager woman to affect him like this, even after being gone a week. She was major. A major miner. He, Kalmarin, was affected because Hackers weren't gods. They were susceptible to the same feelings and emotions that Crafters experienced. They were all mortal. No one was better or worse than anyone.

Kalmarin couldn't stay a day longer.

"So you'll be swapping with Giovanni?" Sandra asked hopefully. She was vibrating in her seat.

"Yeah." Kalmarin replied with a dead smile. "Null okayed it. I've got Flight and Regen."

Lies. Flight and Regen became lost after Adina was killed. He was a Level 2 only, with Strength and Enderport. No one knew but him.

"I'm glad. You're so great for taking Giovanni's place." Sandra gave a happy titter, her gaze far-off and with smoke swirling over her eyes. "My sight can't see him from here, but I can't wait to be with him again. Any chance you could take over at the Origin permanently?"

"If I can help it."

Sandra clapped excitedly while Kalmarin swirled his mushroom stew around, thinking of Adina.

"I think this is really good for you, taking this responsibility." Sandra praised. "Best way to move on from that deceiver. How long will you have this shift? Are you on rotation with anybody? Xavier or 303-?"

"No rotation." Kalmarin breathed out. "I'm doing double duty, watching the Origin 24/7. Give the watchers a chance to take a break."

"Oh yeah? That's okay with Null and 303?" Sandra asked with slight concern. "You won't be living in the Obelisk with the watches you're taking. I mean, we're talking round the clock attention. Could be years before we see you again."

Kalmarin turned to her slowly, another fake smile flashing. "Just growing up."

That night, Kalmarin left the Obelisk. There was a celebratory send-off for him as his siblings wished him luck, but Kalmarin felt all the accolades were empty. He felt empty, but on the surface, he acted like everything was fine to his family. He secretly glared at Null and Sandra, and he walked out of the Obelisk unseen so that nobody would notice he couldn't fly anymore.

He left the Obelisk and never looked back. Revulsion, not courage, motivated him to leave. He relieved Giovanni - who flew back to the Obelisk as soon as the words left his mouth - and then relieved himself by leaving the Origin, but not before taking a refresher with the Testificate Helena.

He had to scavenge for food. He had to learn how to craft. He had to survive. Mining, he could cover, and Daymonte's mines became a suitable source of income for a hardworking Crafter who somehow could mine with more strength than most guys, aided by an enchanted wooden pickaxe that he always repaired and never let wear out.

Kalmarin_the_Prophet was a Hacker no more.

---

[November, Year 456: Daymonte]

"I saw what you did back there." A woman with spiky black hair smirked as she leaned on the threshold of a door. "Very impressive." She added appreciatively.

"I dunno what you mean. I was just trying to finish my work." Kalmarin spoke quickly, refusing to turn around.

"Does your 'work' involve cracking cultists' skulls?" Carys_Angel chuckled. "Because if so, I might have a job opening for you."

"They were in my way. I don't make a habit of it." He tilted his fedora over his eyes as he turned and walked past Carys.

"Pretty solid pickaxe."

Kalmarin stilled as he felt Adina's pickaxe gone from his belt. It was in Carys' hands as she inspected it idly.

A smoke-infused fist shattered the ground where Carys had been. The woman had smoothly skipped back, her crimson eyes locking on Kalmarin's sea green ones surrounded by darkness.

"Now here's something you don't see every day. A god living a humble life outside the Obelisk." She tutted chidingly before tossing the wooden pickaxe back. "I know there are ones in Nitebane, but Daymonte is a little out there."

"I'm not a god, and I don't feel like talking in circles all day." Kalmarin gritted out. "What do you want from me?"

"Like I said," Carys leaned forward seriously, "I want to give you a job."

Kalmarin the Paragon was born.

---

[Present. Obelisk: West Side]

"You killed Adina. Right in front of me." Kalmarin sobbed as he stared down her killer, Null. "You killed her like it was nothing! My whole 'family' is a callous group of degenerates obsessed with superiority!"

"She was a cretinous piece of filth, and she deserved to die." Null countered disparagingly. "She was entrapping you, can't you see that?"

Kalmarin lunged at Null only for the older brother to speed out of range and stop a good distance away.

"Half the time I was away, I've been asking myself what order of words I had to use that day to make you understand Adina meant something to me." Kalmarin spoke with a hard voice and hunched shoulders. "But the other half? The other half is when I realized I did nothing wrong, and that it was the clan's whole screwed up mentality that made things go that far!"

Kalmarin whirled around and lunged again, but Null sped away, always frustratingly out of reach.

"Our way of life is what's kept us alive, and you call it screwed up?" Null spoke in his soft echo. "I've seen a hundred tramps like yours, all of them seeking to use us for their own ends. I've seen it all play out, with disastrous consequences, and so, I took it upon myself to cut corners. I looked out for your well-being!" Null sped off again as he dodged Kalmarin's latest lunge. "I saved you from making your own mistake! What makes this woman more important than the family that raised you?"

"BECAUSE I LOVED HER!"

Black vapor gathered around Kalmarin's eyes after his declaration, his smoke surging and a new power manifesting. A solid stream of scorching-hot smoke shot out of his eyes at blinding speed like a laser and struck Null in the face, knocking his chin back and making him take a few steps back to balance himself.

His desire to avenge Adina and land a hit on Null came through. He was a Level 3 Hacker now; with a Hack he identified as Triggerbot.

"Adina saved me. She changed me for the better, Null." Kalmarin swore. "And I won't let her sacrifice be in vain! Hackers aren't invincible, and today is the day you all learn some humility!"

---

[Obelisk: 58th Floor]

After going up eight floors with the aid of his Bottes Zephyr and with only the rambunctious snow fox Shiroyuki for company, Noman finally reached Giovanni's floor. He landed on the mezzanine with a cautious gait, knowing full well a dangerous Hacker - or more - could be taking residence in any of the nearby bedrooms. His dark suit was willed off due to the heat and humidity, leaving him in his white dress shirt. He reached into his backpack and withdrew a block of packed ice which he proceeded to rub along his neck and forehead to cool down. Only when he heard the explosions coming from below did he risk noise by scrambling for the room directory near the stairwell. Shiroyuki ran beside him.

I have to make this quick! Noman thought to himself as he scanned the rooms for Giovanni's name. There were quite a few Hackers taking residence on the fifty-eighth floor, though Noman didn't hear or see any movement. Ciro's tough, but he's fighting a poor matchup. I need to hit Giovanni's and Serafina's rooms fast and hope they just have their artifacts laying about like dirty laundry. It could happen.

Noman zeroed in on Giovanni's name and room with a soft exclamation before rushing there with his shield and splash potions out. The paralysis combo wouldn't work on Giovanni while he had his Strength Hack up, but Noman could at least make him slower and counter his hard-hitting power with Weakness. Just like how Floyd's Speed Hack could be countered by Slowness. Hackers with either or both could not be paralyzed. Serafina had the same problem as Giovanni, but one room at a time.

Noman stood before the door, his body tense. His armor was on. His shield was deployed. His hand hovered over the doorknob. He took in several deep breaths to steady himself. Shiroyuki growled menacingly as it squared up against the door.

Hackers don't wear armor - excluding artifacts. Their Hacks are their armor. No helmets. He thought. One sharp blow to the back of the head, Noman. One sharp blow. You practiced this. One sharp blow and you can end things peacefully. Or thereabouts.

He grabbed the doorknob. It was an acacia door, made out of the most available tree in the savannah, orange with thin slats to see inside. Noman could see the room was left in a cool darkness, with the bare minimum of light to keep Mobs from spawning.

I can do this. I just need to avoid the Arcticum Arma.

Mustering his courage, Noman pushed the door inward and burst into the room with Shiroyuki right behind him.

He stopped cold, his eyes taking in the scene with dawning horror.

Daytime was hot and humid in the savannah. Didn't matter if you were inside the Obelisk or not. Hot was hot. But Giovanni's room was pleasantly cool, cast in semidarkness and with ice stacks to further cool things off. At least, Noman assumed they were ice stacks before taking a second look.

They were frozen people. Petrified in blocks of ice just as Tinker and his servants had been. All victims of the same artifact. Kal had said that Giovanni loved to humiliate his victims, keeping them on ice as trophies either in his room or outside the Obelisk. It was just as sick when he heard it as it was now. These were people, not pieces of art.

Shiroyuki padded up to one of the frozen figures and started sniffing at the base, prompting Noman to creep into the room. Aside from the creepy living statues, the room had all the amenities of the previous room. Chests, furniture, chairs, beds, tables. A bathroom and a little kitchenette. A balcony leading outside, large windows. Spacious with room for personalized decoration.

"Giovanni...?" Noman called out. He didn't have a choice other than to make himself known. He was expecting a fight, though he was willing to try to negotiate first no matter how fruitless it was.

Noman raised his shield level with his chin as he looked around. There was no sound or movement when he called for the Hacker.

Could he be out? Noman thought as he went over to the nearest chest and rummaged around. No sign of the chainmail leggings. What if he's responding to the others?

He was definitely confirmed to be there, but it looked like he had already gone. The balcony door was open, and Giovanni had Flight, so maybe he took off to investigate either Floyd and Kal, or Soul and Anibal. Noman relaxed his stance as he checked the next closest chest.

*Yif!* Shiroyuki barked by the ice statue. Noman ignored it as he was too busy tearing the place apart in search of the Arcticum Arma.

Oh, who am I kidding. Noman sighed as he slammed another chest shut. If Giovanni isn't carrying it at all times, he probably has it stored in an ender chest. There was one of those in the room too, beside the petrified Crafters. There's nothing here. I need to try Serafina's place next. Sixty-first floor.

*Yif! Yif!* Shiroyuki barked more urgently before circling one of the ice sculptures and licking at the base. Noman went over on his way to the door.

"Don't break them, Shiroyuki. They're very-" Noman let out a strangled gasp when he saw the terrified face of the woman frozen within.

Her name was Nyabi_Grey. She had Hacker lines over her eyes.

Noman recoiled before his head whipped to the next nearest ice statue. "N-No way..." That one, Ralcolm_Hugh, had Hacker lines too. The shield-bearer weaved between the frozen Crafters and saw another one with a face etched with terror. Another woman with Hacker lines named Zaire_Bobson. Another male Hacker named Isaac_Belmont. "They didn't..." Noman did a quick count of the frozen Crafters and paled when he counted eleven. Same number as the lost ones who tried to flee the Obelisk yesterday, but were thwarted by Null, Xavier, and Giovanni.

A hand went up to cover his mouth as the pieces came together. Giovanni froze them. Xavier warped them up to his room and he froze them... because they wanted to leave. The lost ones tried to escape against the Clan's wished. Giovanni and Xavier were likely doing it on Null's orders too. It was the only way they could keep their brothers and sisters here while 303 and most of the Clan were absent.

But to do that to their brothers and sisters...

The faces were clearly terrified. The first one wouldn't have reacted, but the rest would have seen the freezing process and panicked. Some even looked petrified mid-run, like they were trying to get away. They wouldn't get far with Xavier warping them back or with Null barring their path at super speed.

"This is wrong on so many levels..." Noman backed away from the frozen Hackers, careful not to disturb or shatter any of them. They could've been no different from Pheodora, trying to get away from the Obelisk. Exter brought them here against their will, and when they tried to leave, they were forbidden and frozen. This, more than anything, was irrefutable proof that the Hack Clan cared more about indoctrinated brainwashing than they did respecting their siblings' wishes. How could any of them justify this?

Seeing this only reinforced to Noman that he made the right choice stopping XoX from taking Pheodora. He wished he could rescue the frozen Hackers too, but there was only one way to thaw them all out. He needed the Stivali Magma.

Noman rested a hand on the nearest ice statue of a terrified man named Boric_Shaww.

"I'll come back for you all." He vowed softly before exiting Giovanni's room.

Shiroyuki was already out on the mezzanine. The snow fox barked sharply back at Noman before scampering up the stairwell.

"Shiroyuki, wait! WAIT!" Noman called out before chasing the small animal. It was dangerous around here! The fox didn't wait up, though. Noman kept catching the thing's tail swishing out of sight for every floor he chased it. "Come back!"

The heat and humidity were a constant burden on the shield bearer, and he had to pause to catch his breath on the stairwell leading up to the sixty-first floor. Shiroyuki was well out of sight by then. Worse, when Noman reached Serafina's floor, the fox was nowhere to be found. Was it even smart enough to understand it was running to the wrong floor?

Noman braced his hand against the stairwell wall as he looked helplessly to where the fox had likely gone. He hung his head in futility before turning to the room directory and scanning for Serafina's name. He couldn't waste his time chasing a fox when so many of his allies were fighting death battles against Hackers. Maybe Ciro was right to want to leave the fox on the airship.

Noman stood before Serafina's door in much the same way as he had with Giovanni's. Unlike before, however, he wasted no time wrenching the door open and going inside.

Serafina's room was bright and well-lit, designed with warm colors. For one, the floor actually had yellow carpet, and the windows were orange stained glass. The bed against the wall had golden sheets and there were paintings and potted plants on walls and furniture.

There was also the sound of running water shutting off coming from the bathroom door. Wet footsteps on tile floor could be heard approaching.

Noman put two and two together just as the bathroom door opened to reveal a dripping wet Serafina just coming out of the shower. Naked.

Noman caught an eyeful of her chest before he let out something between a shriek and a squeak, and whipped around so fast his first Splash Potion of Slowness flew out of his hands and smashed against a potted tulip. His cheeks heated up as he hunched his shoulders and blocked his peripherals with both hands, his back facing the Hacker.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" He stammered reflexively. "I-I-I sh-should have knocked!"

"Yeah, you should've." Serafina called back indifferently. There wasn't an ounce of embarrassment in her tone as her wet footfalls padded over to her bed.

"I-I'll leave..." Noman declared, forgetting what he came there for in lieu of respecting the woman's privacy.

"You can stay. I don't mind." Serafina dismissed his apology without a care. She was sitting on her bed, bending over to reach something, not that Noman dared to look.

"N-No, this... I made a mistake - I d-didn't know you weren't decent. I'll go." He tripped over himself to explain, but Serafina stopped him with her words.

"You talking to me or that wall? C'mon, turn and look at me, little gnat. I saw your eyes are lineless."

"I... what?" Noman was so baffled he almost turned around only to catch himself. "I... why would you want me to... I d-don't want to embarrass you."

"The only one being embarrassed is you." Serafina countered brazenly as she rested a hand on her bare hip. Not that Noman saw that. "Why would I be embarrassed? You're a lower being not on my level. It's like getting caught naked by a dog or a cat." She shrugged, causing her breasts to bounce. Not that Noman saw that. "If you were one of my brothers, then yeah, I would definitely be screaming 'Get Out!' or 'Pervert!' and throwing shit at you-"

"L-L-Lang-"

"But you're a gnat, who, by the way, should not be in here, and should totally be calling me 'Lady Serafina' or 'Lady of Flame' if you were a Griefer, which I'm 95% sure you're not." She gathered her long, wet hair behind her and began untangling it. Not that Noman saw that.

Noman should have felt worried at being called out as a Crafter and an enemy, but he just couldn't focus knowing there was a naked woman standing behind him.

"...I'm sorry. Could you p-please put on some clothes?"

"Apology not accepted, and no. I'm still wet. I like to air dry in my room."

"I'm..." Noman threw his hands up helplessly. "I've-I've clearly come at a bad time, and I apologize. It-It-It wasn't my intent to infringe on-on your privacy, and I'd just really, really prefer you put some clothes on before we continue this conversation. Please!"

"Ugh. Fine. There. I willed my clothes on. You can look."

Noman breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank yOUOOOO! AH!" Noman did a half turn before whipping around and showing his back again with his eyes screwed shut. "YOU SAID YOU WERE CLOTHED!"

"I lied. It's honestly kinda funny how you're bright red and trying to avoid looking at me, but you saw me without bursting into flames, so what's even the point in looking away from what you saw twice? C'mon."

Soft creamy skin and wide, round hips were now burned into Noman's retinas. It was an image he was desperately doing his breast - best! - to overwrite. Why was he the only one dying from embarrassment!? Serafina wasn't even blushing or hiding anything. She was shameless!

"Look, maybe other woman would be mortified because... I dunno, they appear vulnerable or weak while naked, but I'm not gonna feel that with a fly I'm about to squish, so quit being a prude and look at me."

"I-I can't do that."

"You sure? Could be your one chance to see a naked woman before you die?" Serafina offered, her voice getting closer as she approached. Noman panicked and jogged forward only for Serafina to follow at a faster pace. She was chasing him.

"Wha-Wha-What are you trying to do!?"

"I'm trying to grab you, what else?"

The Hacker lunged only for Noman to kick on the Bottes Zephyr and suspend himself out of Serafina's reach. He looked down upon the woman who-

"Please, please put underwear on at least!" Noman cried as his eyes shot to the ceiling.

"Whoa. Neat trick. You really are just like a fly." Serafina commented before lifting her bare foot and pressing it against the wall. Dark smoke gushed out of her eyes and enveloped her. "It's only poetic I use this Hack to catch you."

Noman remembered Serafina's Spider Hack as the woman walked up the wall like it was a horizontal surface, defying gravity. She lunged for Noman again, but Noman blocked her with the invisible air blocks of the Bottes Zephyr. The Hacker stuck to the bottom of the invisible blocks with a quizzical expression on her face.

"This is new."

Noman couldn't take this anymore. He couldn't aim for the back of her head if he couldn't stand to look at her for more than a second. Kal never mentioned she was an exhibitionist!

"Ugh, just put some clothes on, please!" Noman begged while keeping his eyes shut. Serafina capitalized, her arm reaching up and a Strength-infused fist closing on Noman's ankle and crushing the bone like a soda can. Noman let out an agonized cry before Serafina whipped him off his invisible platform and swung him out her bedroom door and back onto the sixty-first-floor mezzanine.

Noman had enough time to roll into a sitting position with his busted ankle before a jet of yellow flames surged towards him, courtesy of Serafina's Stivali Magma. The golden boots summoned yellow flames in the afternoon, and Noman just barely avoided the eternally burning fire which spread along the mezzanine's wooden floor, burning everything it touched.

Serafina walked out of her bedroom after him, the heat from the fire drying her off. She rubbed her arms and skin dangerously close to the never-ending fire, her AntiFire Hack and artifact ensuring she would suffer no harm. She was a Level 4 Hacker with AntiFire, Regen, Spider, and Strength.

Noman had to avert his eyes at first, but once she was dried off, she mercifully willed her clothes back on. Noman was able to take a more polite look at her, then.

The most striking thing about the Hacker was her hair. Serafina had long, wild, fiery hair, and yellow eyes in pools of black sclerae. Her hair resembled flames in an Ombré blend - a seamless graduation from darker to lighter. Dark red and red at the top, blending with orange at the middle, blending with yellow at the tips. Her hair's length rested against the small of her back, with a bang covering her right eye. It was impossible for Noman to tell if she was a redhead with orange and yellow dye, or a blonde with orange and red dye. She wore straight blue jeans and a striped, red tube top. Her belt and backpack were a glowing orange.

"Well, I'm clothed now, so we can continue our discussion without you talking to a wall." Serafina said with a hand on her hip. "What's a fly like you doing in our Obelisk? I hope you don't think us Hackers are on the slide just because we've lost some loved ones. Or are you capitalizing since most of us have left? Spill it."

"I'm not here to fight." Noman replied, his hands held up as he shied away from the spreading yellow flames. "I only came for the Stivali Magma and the Arcticum Arma. Hand both artifacts over, and me and my allies will leave peacefully. Nobody has to die."

"The Stivali Magma? You're after these kicks?" She lifted her foot to show off the gleaming gold. "You know, I got these off of Ferriday. Killed C418 for the Arcticum Arma too. It was a good deal. I got a lot of mileage off these boots. You'll understand why I'm unwilling to part with them."

"I've seen enough of what Giovanni's done with his artifact." Noman called back bluntly, making Serafina flinch slightly. "Freezing your brothers and sisters below. You know about that? You approve of that?"

"...I didn't say I like it," Serafina defended, "but it had to be done. Those eleven lost ones aren't like us. They're too out of touch with their heritage. They need to be taught slowly, and we can't do that for them if they run off and get themselves killed. All the more reason to hang onto these boots!" She exclaimed. "I need them to thaw them out."

"You should thaw them out now and give them the choice to stay or go." Noman asserted. "They don't want to be here."

"They would if they'd been brought here from the start." Serafina explained away. "Like it or not, they're family. Family doesn't give up on family."

She lashed out with a kick and sent another jet of yellow flames shooting towards Noman. It nearly engulfed him before he kicked into the air with the Bottes Zephyr. His left ankle screamed in protest, so he quickly gorged on cooked mutton to fix himself.

"You'll burn the whole floor down!"

"Exter will build us a new one. Their king is bending over backwards to get on our good side." Serafina spoke carelessly. "As long as my family and carpet aren't torched, I'm all smiles."

---

[Obelisk: 50th Floor]

Ciro darted low to the left as a Strength-enhanced foot came crashing down where he had once been. It shattered that part of the mezzanine, leaving a sizable hole in the wood. Espen's pale blue eyes with darkened sclerae tracked the Millionth as he brought up the Yanhua Gong and fired.

Espen activated Bunnyhop to leap impossibly overhead and dodge. Ciro tracked him, firing arrows even as the first detonated against the vacant bedrooms of other Hackers. Espen couldn't dodge in midair, but he didn't have to. At the crest of his jump, the arrows phased through his intangible body and blasted the ceiling.

Espen came down and Ciro brought out the Destierro del Palillo, intending to swat him the moment he landed and became tangible, but as he swung the stick at just the right moment, Espen remained intangible and phased through both the knockback stick and the floor, leaving Ciro alone and jumpy.

"God damnit." Ciro backed up, his nerves tense as he kept aware of his surroundings.

He caught a flash of white hair behind him and reacted instantly, the Destierro del Palillo swinging horizontally into Espen's side. The Hacker had jumped up from below and phased through the floor for a sneak attack, but getting caught didn't trouble him either. He coated his body in smoke before the stick made contact, his AntiKnockback Hack rendering the Destierro del Palillo useless. He then lunged forward, grappling Ciro with a serene expression on his face.

Ciro's eyes bulged as Espen's Strength-enhanced hands crushed his torso like a vice.

"Hm. You have different colored eyes." Espen noted with vague interest before leaping over the mezzanine with Ciro in tow and chucking him over the balcony in the middle.

Every floor had an inner balcony, meaning Ciro would keep falling until he hit the bottom.

At the forty-eighth floor, Ciro tapped himself with the Destierro del Palillo and felt a whoosh of wind as he was sent hurtling into the stone wall of a Hacker's bedroom before sliding to the forty-eighth floor's mezzanine. He had spared himself a terrible death by fall damage, and he felt a bit of admiration for how clever Espen had been.

They both had been thinking of similar plans.

With the brief respite before Espen realized he hadn't hit the bottom, Ciro hurried over the guardrail of the inner balcony, whipped out the Yanhua Gong, and began shooting wildly at the mezzanines of the floors below. He fired as many arrows as he could, his fingers flying as the Yanhua Gong's Infinity enchantment aided him.

"Is that your game?" Espen called serenely from above as he Phased through the upper floor and landed on the same level as Ciro. "Wrecking our home? Making it so we don't have a place to live? Hoping it will anger me?" He titled his head. "Won't do you much good. I've never really been prone to anger. The Hacks related to furious emotions have escaped me as a result, but being placid and level-headed makes me a master of Phase. Even if you level this place, I won't be bothered."

Ciro ignored him and kept shooting. His fingers going numb as they loosed explosive arrow after explosive arrow to demolish the lower floors.

Espen leapt at him and Ciro vaulted over the guardrail at the same time, the Destierro del Palillo tapping himself the same way and sending him careening into the opposite wall just as Espen landed where he'd been. He was playing keep-away with the placid Hacker.

Just as before, however, Ciro recovered and leaned over the guardrail to fire more arrows at the lower floors. The explosions rocked the Obelisk and would have certainly alerted the Hackers if there were any left unoccupied.

Espen narrowed his eyes before Bunnyhopping over the mezzanine again. Predictably, Ciro mirrored the action with the Destierro del Palillo. The massive Knockback didn't hurt him when he slammed into the opposite wall, but it did work to keep him away from the Hacker.

Again, Ciro started firing repeatedly at the floors below. His fingers ached, but he pushed himself.

Espen narrowed his eyes. "Let's try this then."

From his Inventory, Espen pulled out a stack of TNT, making Ciro quail. Hackers were similar to Griefers in that they were inexperienced with Minecraftia's items or tactics. They relied exclusively on their Godlike Hacks. For one to use TNT was unusual.

"This floor's bedrooms are empty anyhow." Espen noted vaguely as he loaded the bedroom he was in front of with TNT before lighting it. "What will you do this time?" He asked aloud before Bunnyhopping across the mezzanine.

Ciro couldn't use the Knockback stick this time to get across. Not if it meant getting sent into a string of primed TNT. He broke off his firing and instead sprinted aside as Espen landed where he had been. The TNT went off, the consecutive blasts ripping open the bedroom and leaving a gaping hole in the tower where wind was finding its way in. Worse, the section of the mezzanine's landing had been destroyed as well, meaning Ciro couldn't circle the whole floor.

Instead of chasing after Ciro, Espen withdrew more TNT and filled the nearest bedroom with it. Ciro took the chance to fire more explosive arrows at the lower floors. Both fighters were doing a number on the Obelisk's interior, though only one of them was left ignorant of the other's set up.

Espen lit the TNT again before leaping over to where Ciro was. Since the side opposite his was the last one left untouched, Ciro vaulted over the guardrail one last time and tapped himself with the Destierro del Palillo. His body struck the opposite wall just as Espen landed and the TNT demolished another side of the floor to create a nice cross-breeze.

However, two sides of the forty-eighth floor were now demolished. All that was left standing was Ciro's side and Espen's side. Ciro couldn't even circle around from his side of the landing. He had nowhere to go.

"Death A or Death B." Espen called out serenely as he loaded his side with the last third of his TNT. "Death A, you stay there and let me come over and kill you. Or Death B," he lit the TNT, "you launch over here and blow yourself up."

Espen leapt across to Ciro's side while the TNT behind him was hissing.

Ciro smirked under his mask, knowing he had won.

"Ever play Spleef out here?" Ciro called out triumphantly before darting aside and blowing up the chunk of mezzanine that Espen was leaping towards. Only piece of floor left to stand on was the small bit Ciro reserved for himself.

Ciro then shot at Espen, who just phased through like before. However, as the Hacker's trajectory started to angle downward, he noticed something about the floors below.

The below mezzanines were all blown up. As far down as twenty-five floors. All done by Ciro's Yanhua Gong.

"Death A or Death B." Ciro echoed the no-longer-placid-but-now-freaking-out Hacker's words. "Death A, you stay solid and take your fatal fall damage like a man. Or Death B, you stay intangible to avoid taking fall damage until you eventually phase through the lowest bedrock and into the Void."

Espen's body plummeted through the ruined forty-eighth floor, then through the ruined forty-seventh floor, then the ruined forty-sixth floor. On and on and on, with gravity working to add little by little to his terminal velocity. Ciro watched Espen's descent with morbid fascination, wondering which death Espen would go for. He thought he heard the Hacker shout out something before reaching the highest floor Ciro's arrows hadn't exploded.

It was too far for him to see, but Ciro imagined a tomato smashing against pavement.

A few moments later, a trail of smoke shot out from the spot Espen landed. It shot up through the demolished interior of the Obelisk before zooming northeast through the stone brick. Presumably towards the Origin.

Ciro watched it go before allowing his muscles to relax. He tugged his facemask down to get a good breath of air. He loosened his legs and let them hang over the small remaining chunk of floor he sat upon.

"Death A it is."

---

[Obelisk: 82nd Floor, Xavier's Room]

Despite knowing Xavier's Hacks and his... unsavory habits, Carys was struggling with fighting him. She had a strategy in mind, but she needed time to set it up. Time the Hacker wasn't giving her. Currently, she was dual wielding her scythe with a shield. The reason why was pretty apparent.

"Over here!"

Carys parried the iron sword coated in smoke that left a black crescent of dark stars in its wake.

"Now here!"

She blocked. Her shield covered her back.

"Or maybe here! Now here! How about here!"

The sword bit into her shoulder on one strike, but she parried the other two with her scythe.

"Here! Here! Here!"

Three more quick attacks from various angles as Xavier's TP Aura enabled him to warp around his target with every swing. Carys caught two behind her with her shield, but the third one snuck past her scythe and slashed her armored side. The iron sword's damage was only enhanced by his Criticals Hack dealing critical hits with those black crescent slashes of dark stars.

Carys' eyes tracked Xavier like a hawk as he warped to various places around her. It was like facing her Warp Raid attack, though Xavier didn't have to deal with ender pearl damage his way. Carys' only defense was her Thorns armor that damaged Xavier with each successful hit, though it mattered little when his Regen fixed him up again. She didn't want to admit it, but Noman's Severe Shield would have ended this annoying fight in an instant.

Having had enough, Carys slammed her scythe's blade into the floor, creating a shockwave before her. Large area attacks were the only true way to counter Xavier's sporadic style, but Xavier was prepared for that too.

The second he saw the area of effect, he warped back to his original spot in the center of the room with his Teleport Hack.

Carys recalled Kal's advice about fighting Xavier.

'He's a creature of habit. He always warps to his original warp spot whenever there's the slightest chance for something to harm him. Given your reputation, and all the Hackers that have died as of late, he'll be even more cautious, and more liberal with his warps than usual.'

Carys could use that.

"You must've recognized me by now." Carys called out, her scythe resting on her shoulder. "I imagine your brothers and sisters have wanted me dead for quite some time."

Xavier smirked, his amber eyes not breaking eye contact. "Sure, I know you. Ocan and Urson's killer."

"That's right." She nodded. "Makes you think twice about bedding me, eh?"

"Nah." Xavier's grin darkened. "That just means I gotta break you in."

The Hacker darted forward, smoke pouring from his eyes and coating his body. Carys readied her shield and diamond scythe, but when she swung the blade towards his face, the Hacker warped back to his original spot in the center of the room.

Then he warped back to the space he had just been, within Carys' guard. He had planted a new warp zone, and Carys had already overextended with her swing.

Xavier's sword bit deep into Carys' chest, the smoke-coated blade doing a decent amount of damage. The Thorns damage hurt him in turn, but it was fixed a second later.

"Nnn. Just the thought of bringing a dominant woman like you to heel? It gets my motor running." He whispered the last into her ear before the Angel of Death swung violently and made him warp back with a chuckle.

"You are repulsive." Carys declared dispassionately. She was really wishing she was fighting any other Hacker. Hell, she'd take Null to this.

"Just wait until I have you at my mercy." Xavier continued with a disturbing glint in his eye. "You'll find what I do to you repulsive too. At first." He cocked his head with a lazy smile. "You'll learn to enjoy it. I'll have you on your knees, begging for more, worshipping my holy rod with your tongue."

Carys dry heaved.

"Yeah, that's how you'll look choking down my thick cock."

Okay, I'm out of here.

"I won't let up until I finish down your - wha - HEY!" Xavier broke off as Carys pried up the wooden floor and dropped to the eighty-first floor bedroom below. "Get back here, I wasn't done!"

Xavier dropped down after her into Thed's room. His feet barely touched the floor before Carys scythed them out from under him, making him faceplant. Carys followed up with a Splash Potion of Slowness, but Xavier was already gone. Warped to his room above.

"More annoying than a whack-a-mole and more perverted than a horndog." Carys grimaced. She downed a Potion of Leaping II from her backpack and started jump-stacking cobblestone with obsidian at the top, very near to the ceiling. She did this all around Thed's room while she had the brief reprieve.

Xavier was back before long. He dropped down the same hole and noted the stacks of cobblestone and obsidian Carys had everywhere.

"What are you doing redecorating Thed's room?" Xavier's foot kicked one of the odd towers. "What are these?"

"I have a better question." Carys paused in her work, her scythe and shield coming back out. "Exactly how many concubines have you used over the years?"

"Aw, hell lady. That's like asking how many stars are in the sky."

Carys tightened her hold on her scythe, her expression chilling. "And then you just dispose of them?"

Xavier sucked in a breath, a creepy smile playing on his lips. "I ache to put my seed in them." He shrugged carelessly. "Afterwards, I have no use for them."

This time, it was Carys darting in. She reared back her scythe as Xavier relished in her anger.

Xavier set a fourth warp point down before teleporting out of the way of the scythe. Carys' ears picked up the faint footfalls above to tell her he warped to his room. She leapt back from Xavier's latest warp point just before the Hacker warped back to it, sword swinging.

Xavier advanced, his TP Aura warping his attacks all around Carys. The Angel of Death adopted her defensive stance with her shield at her back and scythe at her front as she did her best to block and parry every incoming blow. A handful snuck in, though, and Xavier's criticals were bleeding her Health dry.

Xavier disengaged when Carys struck her scythe into the ground for a shockwave around her person. Carys heard him warp above again. He preferred to warp above in times of danger. She noted the spot, in the middle of his room above.

Xavier returned again, warping into Thed's room with his sword coated in smoke. His plan was clear. He was going to wear Carys down in a battle of attrition.

Carys took her defensive stance again, her crimson eyes tracking Xavier's erratic warps while her shield and scythe did their best to block and deflect. Again and again, his sword carved into her, the damage stacking up and her Thorns enchantment doing little lasting damage against Xavier's Regen.

TP Aura. Teleport. Criticals. Regen. He used every one of his Hacks. He may have been a sex fiend, but he knew how to use the tools he had.

After his latest barrage of attacks, Xavier broke off to admire his work. Carys held her weapons defensively. Despite her armor and efforts, she was at half-Health. She wasn't winded, but then neither was Xavier, and he could do this for much longer to whittle her down.

He laughed. "Had enough? Don't know why Ocan and Urson had trouble with you. If I had been there instead, I would have had you with your ass in the air, doggy style."

Carys lowered her weapons to reveal a shark-like smile.

"Oh? You like what you hear?" Xavier grinned back. "You like that position?"

"I think I've got it now." Carys answered back tauntingly, her shield returning to her backpack.

Xavier looked perplexed. "Got what? What are you talking about?"

"A handle on your attacks." Carys downed a Potion of Regeneration II to undo all of Xavier's damage, then she followed with a Potion of Swiftness II to improve her reflexes. Afterwards, she cracked her neck and brought up her diamond scythe with a taunting smile.

"Ready."

Xavier scoffed. "You think being faster will change anything?" He rushed forward, his body warping as he attacked with his TP Aura.

Carys parried with her scythe handle.

Xavier warped to another random side. "Over here!"

Carys spun around and parried again, impossibly fast.

"What about HERE!"

The attack skirted off Carys' diamond scythe blade. Xavier saw her eyes in the sparks of his attack. Two crimson pools of deadly calm.

Xavier shivered before he redoubled his erratic attacks. They came at all angles, fast and unpredictable. The black-coated crescents of stars swinging again and again.

Carys spun with the attacks. The Angel of Death utilized her upped speed in tandem with her scythe's blade and handle to parry, deflect, and block any and every attack. Her scythe was a blur of diamond blue as it spun, twirled, and flashed every which way. Her footwork was impeccable, her limbs and hips a rush of movement as she sidestepped and twisted around the odd slash that bypassed her defense. She brought up a heeled boot to deflect an attack on one instance.

After a few moments of this, Xavier warped back to his spot in the room, a bead of sweat forming as he was winded and no longer smiling. Only Carys was smiling. The mirth was unmistakable.

"Men today." She sighed mockingly. "No stamina."

"Shut it!"

"How embarrassing." She continued to egg him on. "Can't keep it up?"

Xavier sprinted at her, his sword reared back as he prepared to use TP Aura again. It was much of the same result, with Carys blocking or deflecting all attacks. Maybe Xavier was hoping he could exhaust her, but Carys' stamina and endurance was through the roof. She had trained herself to fight indefinitely, and pushed her stamina to its limits. As Cobb could attest in his fights with her, she had energy for days. Outlasting her was a fool's errand.

This time, in her many defections and blocks, Carys found a window of opportunity when Xavier warped in front of her. Her hand shot forward and smashed a Splash Potion of Slowness into Xavier's face. She slowed down as well from the contact, her Swiftness negated, but it made Xavier panic enough to warp to his preferred warp point. In the middle of his room above.

Carys heard him land there and she drank a quick bucket of milk to dispel the Slowness and Swiftness before she went back to her prep work.

Meanwhile above, Xavier was starting to panic.

What's with this chick!? He thought in disbelief. She stopped every attack I threw at her! How can she be this different with just a Swiftness Potion? I'm a God to her - to all those Crafters who I made my bitch!

He heard creaking coming from downstairs and fearfully warped down to the Obelisk's first-floor lobby.

Fear. Fear? Why was he feeling fear? Carys_Angel should be the one feeling fear! She had spurned the advances of a God! He would have her at his mercy! Turn that arrogant woman into a submissive whore! This, he swore! He was just... just biding time. Yeah! He was biding his time!

No sense attacking while I'm slow. He reasoned as he stood patiently in the lobby. I have to wait for her Swiftness to expire too. Afterwards, I'll warp back up there and teach that bitch some manners. He chuckled to himself, licking his lips. Yeah, she doesn't know how good I can be.

He waited patiently, the seconds on his arm ticking by as he awaited the Slowness to end, thinking on all the raunchy things he'd force Carys to do for humiliating him like this. He'd have that dominant woman barking like a dog before he was through with her.

He thought he heard explosions coming from the middle floors, but he dismissed it in his obsessive sexual revenge fantasies revolving around Carys_Angel.

Finally, when his Slowness wore off, he warped back into Thed's room on the eighty-first floor.

He instantly noticed there were more of those cobblestone and obsidian towers around the room. Adding to that, there were some strange purple and pink revolving crystals on top of them, brushing against the ceiling. There was also a crystal in front of him, on a chunk of obsidian on the floor.

"Godspeed, Xavier."

The chilling voice behind him had Xavier whirl around as Carys' scythe came rushing down on the spot he warped to. She had been waiting for him. Xavier, in a panic, warped to his preferred warp spot in his room above.

Carys' scythe continued its downward swing into the floor and sent out a shockwave into the adjacent End Crystal. It detonated, frying much of her Health, but also setting off the crystals brushing against the ceiling.

A chain of devastating explosions engulfed the ceiling of Thed's room and the floor of the room Xavier had just warped into.

When the explosions ended and all that was left of Xavier's room was a hollowed out mess, Carys strolled out of Thed's room, past Xavier's fallen Head on the mezzanine outside, and towards the stairwell leading down. She didn't even spare a glance for the dead sex fiend, nor for the trail of smoke that shot out of his Head and zoomed through the walls towards the Origin.

She did however spare a glance to the small animal wagging its tail on the stairwell's landing.

*Yif!*

"Shiroyuki!" She cooed once she was sure she was alone with the adorable snow fox. She held out her hands. "Upsies!" The fox barked again before jumping into Carys' arms. "How'd you get up here you clever fox?"

It purred contentedly as Carys combed her fingers through its soft pelt. She needed to recharge her batteries with the fox's adorableness after dealing with that shitstain.

Carys also checked her map to see who was fighting where. "Hm. Anibal and Kal are still good. I still feel like I can off one more Hacker."

One more Hacker would bring her total up to four. Five if she could wrangle it so that Cobb wouldn't have anything to boast about. He never challenged the Hackers' stronghold.

She weighed her options while scratching the fox behind the ears. "Guess I better check in on Notaman." She decided before going down the stairs towards Serafina's room, twenty floors down.

---

[Obelisk: East Side]

Giovanni narrowed his orange eyes with black sclerae down as he flitted about from overhead.

"What's wrong, you Godly superbeing?" The dark beauty, Anibal_Whiteclaw, called up challengingly. "I thought you were going to make me pay, but here I stand, remorseless and unapologetic!" She raised her arms, the savannah sun gleaming off the diamond surface of the Severe Shield. "You must not have liked Marshall much if this is the extent of your revenge."

Giovanni's smoke thickened and he made to swoop down upon the Paragon only to back off before fully committing. He kept out of Anibal's reach.

Giovanni was no fool. He saw Marshall's Head. He knew this woman had some way to kill Hackers instantly. The thousands of Griefers on the ground had long since ceased throwing themselves at the dark-skinned woman after their fellows died on contact.

Giovanni remembered what that cultist king said about the Lighter Billionth possessing a diamond chestplate that could kill on contact. It was Giovanni's understanding that the Lighter Billionth was a male, so this Anibal could not be the true wielder. The Severe Shield, however, was an artifact much like Giovanni's own Arcticum Arma. The Hacker idly traced the crisscrossing texture of the chainmail leggings on his legs.

"Come on, Hacker!" Anibal called up fearlessly. "Let's play!"

"Anibal! Little help, please!"

Anibal wasn't the only interloper. Dyson, Stayer, and Soul - with the company of Cat-Face and Christopher Squawken - were fighting off Griefers by the dozens. It was a numbers game the three Crafters had no hope of overcoming, prompting Anibal to rush to their aid.

Giovanni noticed this.

Deciding to bleed out his frustrations on something he could hit, Giovanni reared back his arms and gripped the massive iron cleaver he claimed as spoils of war in Akasha. Dark smoke swirled down his arms and coated the blade before swung down with a deafening cry.

"REACH!"

The resulting crescent of smoke was massive, made bigger by the size of the sword he was swinging. Soul recognized the Hack he'd seen used by Thed in the past but was left stunned at how Giovanni had it. Kal's cheat sheet indicated Giovanni was a Level 4 Hacker, with Strength, Flight, Regen, and NoFall.

His use of Reach indicated he was actually a Level 5.

Soul, Dyson, and Stayer scattered from the massive crescent as it came crashing down into the savannah's parched grass. Griefers were caught up in the attack and sustained considerable damage. Giovanni likely put some Strength into that swing.

"This wasn't on the cheat sheet." Stayer complained.

"I thought your Team Leader knew his stuff!" Soul rounded on Dyson.

"He hasn't been around the Obelisk for years. Someone was bound to pick up a new trick." Dyson defended. "Just steer clear of those massive slashes. When the hell did he get a cleaver? Did he pilfer an order off Tinker?"

"It's the late Captain Obsidian's blade." Anibal answered in place of Soul. She used to be a citizen of Akasha, after all. "Tanner knows I've seen it enough to know that. Won't make a difference. He sinks that blade - or even one of those flying slashes - into me, he'll be dead."

Following this, Anibal stuck close to the group as they fought Griefers, ready to intercept any further Reach attacks Giovanni sent their way. The Severe Shield's massive Thorns damage worked on arrows, so it'd work on Reach as well.

Giovanni didn't unleash another attack right away, however. No, he watched and waited, hovering out of reach.

The Griefers kept trying to kill Soul, Dyson, and Stayer while avoiding Anibal. Soul buried his Sharpness V diamond axe into the skull of one Griefer before finishing him off with a redoubled chop. The EXP floated into Soul's arm. Dyson and Stayer similarly dispatched the Griefers using combination of swords, shields, and bows. The Griefers were weak enough that each of the three could take on a dozen Griefers at a time, but any more than that and they'd be surrounded, stripped of their weapons, and beaten to death under a tide of thrashing limbs. They had to be careful and rely on Anibal at times. This was probably why Carys sent her with the Severe Shield to their side. Floyd and Kal's Hacker status would more than protect them on the west side of the Obelisk.

"Let's see if explosions can combo with this thing!" Anibal crowed excitedly as she whipped out her crossbows - Buckner and Devers - and launched whistling fireworks into the horde of Griefers. They exploded in brilliant white sparks, but they didn't instantly kill every Griefer they came in contact with. Anibal pouted in disappointment. "Shame. Anyway!"

She went back to killing any Griefer within arm's reach, lashing out with her sword and sucking down so much EXP that it overflowed around her trying to get into her arm. She smiled gleefully as she fought, reminding Soul much of a certain blue-haired Endward Cult Lieutenant.

"Don't tell me she's gone mad with power." Soul muttered worriedly. His moment of distraction cost him a bit of damage as a Griefer caught him with a stone pickaxe. Soul threw out a Splash Potion of Slowness and slowed down eight Griefers in front of him before he systematically worked through them with his axe. They swarmed like locusts despite how quickly they were being dispatched. They were only being dispatched at a slower rate when facing Crafters besides Anibal.

At one point, a fed-up Giovanni unleashed a series of Strength-infused Reach slashes, but not upon Soul, or Dyson, or anyone in Anibal's vicinity. He aimed it at his allies. The Griefers furthest away from Anibal who were hanging back. Several of them died, with some of them bemoaning why their lord would do such a thing.

"You worms aren't aggressive enough!" Giovanni criticized the Griefers from up high. He pointed at Anibal. "What are you doing shying away from that woman? You should attack!"

"B-But... my lord... we die upon c-contact!" One Griefer pleaded before taking a Reach slash to the face and dying in an explosion of gear. The nearest Griefers recoiled in terror.

"I'll kill you myself if you don't attack." Giovanni swore with a murderous look in his darkened, orange eyes. "303 tolerated you worms in our domain. You exist to serve us, and I say you'd serve me well as FODDER!"

Soul tightened his jaw as he heard such callous words. Surely the Griefers would revolt against such a senseless waste of life. However, as he gazed around, all he saw was grim resignation on the Griefers' faces.

This was their purpose for being. Like the Griefers he spoke with said, their lives were always on lease. They were never meant to exist as long as they did. They were worthless, but if they could be useful, if only by trading in their lives, then they would firmly do it. Soul could tell by the way they hunched their shoulders and clenched their weapons as they advanced towards Anibal.

Soul had a feeling he was about to see what made infantry so formidable.

"Repay us for sheltering you! Do something worthwhile with your meaningless lives!" Giovanni commanded as he pointed his hand at Anibal. "Charge! Attack her! Swarm her on all sides, if only to choke her with your spilled items and EXP! DESTROY HER!"

The Griefers let out an emboldened battle cry before gunning for Anibal with reckless abandon. The Team Gamma Leader could only grin eagerly.

"Momma's gonna gorge on EXP levels tonight!"

Ever see felled trees getting processed through a woodchipper? The way the log is slowly, inexorably fed into the machine and turned to sawdust? That was the best way Soul, Dyson, and Stayer would describe the Griefers getting shredded by Anibal wearing the Severe Shield. They would crowd her on all sides and swing with pickaxes or swords or shovels or hoes or axes or whatever they had on hand and just turn to mulch. Anibal swung her diamond sword wildly, not even bothering with technique or finesse. Any Griefers she hit would die. The ones she didn't get would hit her and die. The Severe Shield's Health Boost and Resistance made whittling down her Health impossible, even with all the hits the Griefers rained upon her with their dying breath.

Hundreds of Griefers had to be swarming her at any one time, yet they died in the hundreds just the same. They actually forgot all about Soul and the other two in their single-minded assault on Anibal. They were happy for the reprieve, though they watched the bloodshed with awe.

"That chestplate is that powerful...?" Stayer asked breathlessly, his head shaking at the carnage. "All this time, I thought Noman was just whining when he was talking up how bad it could be."

The fallen gear was slowly becoming a pile at Anibal's feet. EXP orbs flew around her like a swarm of angry bees.

"Mother of God..."

"I know Carys said that thing was training wheels," Dyson gave a dry chuckle, "but that's one pair of training wheels I wouldn't mind taking for a test ride."

"Carys was right to loan it to Anibal." Stayer shook his head again. "Noman would never do this."

"Raaawk! Noman's a wuss!" Soul's parrot squawked in a perfect imitation of Soul's voice. He had said those words at one point, even if he wasn't thinking them now. The axe-wielder looked down in shame as he recalled Noman's words.

'You haven't been a good friend! A good friend would respect my beliefs, maybe even defend them, but all I see and hear from you is pity! You feel sorry for me, like I'm wrong or deluded for sparing lives! You pity me because I'm stuck on a team of killers led by the biggest killer of them all!'

Soul wore a guilty expression. Maybe I have been a lousy friend. I see why Noman wanted to prevent this. He looked at the Griefers dying by the hundreds. He looked on as Anibal lost herself to the power. This is overkill even for me. And that Giovanni bastard ordering these people to die as fodder is just-

Soul's thoughts derailed as he looked into the sky and noticed, for the first time since the fight started, that Giovanni was absent. There was no Hacker flying high out of reach. The sky was empty. So then where was the Hacker?

"Oh, shit! SHIT!" Dyson panicked before cupping his hands over his mouth and shouting at the top of his lungs. "ANIBAL, PULL BACK! PULL BACK, HE'S IN THE CROWD!"

Anibal - lost as she was in the throes of combat with blood pounding in her ears over the three-or-four-hundred killstreak - missed the Hacker with short brown hair amongst the Griefers like a shard of glass in her Cheerios. Blinded by the bodies, spilled gear, and yellow and green EXP orbs skyrocketing her level, Anibal allowed Giovanni to sneak in behind her, figuring it was just another Griefer, and that his hit would be like any of the hundred of other hits being rained upon her.

It wasn't a hit, though. Nothing to trigger the Severe Shield's Thorns. It was just a simple tap...

...With the Arcticum Arma.

At last, Soul saw the value of infantry. It was to carry or mask the real threat. That's how Giovanni used the Griefers, and it was what allowed him to freeze Anibal like he had Captain Obsidian, Tinker, and countless others.

Soul felt despair sinking in when the bit of Anibal's black hair peeking up out of the mass of Griefer bodies turned to ice. The same could be said for the blood in his veins. Dyson's and Stayer's too.

"CEASE!"

The command had the Griefers faltering. The same Hacker who had ordered their death charge was now telling them to stop. The Griefers showed uncertainty that slowly morphed into amusement and sneering when they backed up to reveal the woman now encased in ice. They were familiar with Giovanni's powers enough to know Anibal was at his mercy.

Giovanni held his arms up as if to hold back the tide of bodies. There was a triumphant grin playing on his lips as he eyed the frozen Crafter. Anibal was caught mid-swing with her sword. Her face still showed jubilant excitement as it was frozen and stuck in her moment of glory - high off her killstreak and EXP. She had no awareness while frozen, just as Tinker and Captain Obsidian had been.

"Not one of you touch her." Giovanni commanded sharply as he slowly circled the woman frozen in time. He eyed her appreciatively. "Oh, this one will make a fine ice sculpture for my collection." He touched the back of his hand on the frozen surface near her cheek. "This arrogant bitch who presumed to challenge me. She didn't know who she was messing with. Can't wait for Serafina to thaw her so I can see the look on her face. I'll have her make a more twisted expression of despair before I freeze it in place and stick her on my balcony window! Or maybe I'll loan her out to Xavier! YOU HEAR THAT, BITCH!? HAHAHA!" He laughed in her frozen face.

"Er, Lord Giovanni...?" The Hacker whirled on the Griefer holding up Anibal's sword, her lesser armor, and - Soul's breath hitched - the Severe Shield. Both had been frozen off of her as per the Arcticum Arma's effects. "The invader's gear...?"

"Oh, perfect!" Giovanni snatched the chestplate with a laugh, forgetting all about Anibal's Sharpness V, Looting III diamond sword and lesser armor. He pulled the artifact on and got up in Anibal's frozen face once more. "How do you like that, loser? It's mine now! Boy, did you really screw up! Really let the Lighter Billionth down! Oh, and your buddies?" He turned that iron cleaver on Soul, Dyson, and Stayer. "You let them down too! REACH!"

Without any further warning, Giovanni - now wearing two artifacts - unleashed a massive horizontal black crescent of smoke through the crowd of Griefers and towards the trio of Anibal's backup. With the added damage from the Severe Shield, his previously powerful Reach slashes were now fatal as they mowed through the Griefers like a sickle through a field of wheat. He didn't even have to put any Strength into it. He also didn't care about collateral damage.

"Raaawk! Scatter!"

Soul, Dyson, and Stayer threw themselves on the ground as the deadly slash passed over their heads and crashed into the pyramid of chests behind them that was the Griefers' food stores. The five-sixths of Griefers who avoided the attack swiftly backed off as Giovanni flew towards the trio of trash he had yet to clean up.

---

Inventory (Cobb): 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness III, Fire Aspect I, Sweeping Edge III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Pickaxe [Efficiency II, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green, Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection IV, Feather Falling III, Unbreaking III], 18 Obsidian, 8 Ender Chests, 43 Chorus Fruit, 59 Cooked Salmon, 55 Cooked Chicken, 7 Rotten Flesh, 64 Oak Planks, 64 Cobblestone, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 1 Bed, 30 Blocks of Coal, 64 Torches, 1 Lava Bucket, 1 Water Bucket, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Potion of Night Vision {8:00}, 64 Snowballs, 64 Snowballs, 16 Eggs, 11 End Crystals, 16 Ender Pearls, 1 Fishing Rod {Backlash 2.0} [Knockback II, Luck of the Sea III, Lure II, Unbreaking III], 1 Trident {Awe} [Riptide III, Unbreaking III], 1 Trident {Shock} [Loyalty II, Channeling], 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Bounty Days}, 1 Green Shulker Box {Pocket Box}, 1 Totem of Undying, 1 Totem of Undying, 1 Totem of Undying, 1 Totem of Undying

Green Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 36 Eyes of Ender, 32 Blocks of Emerald, 8 Emeralds, 1 Diamond Cutlass, 25 Lapis Lazuli, 64 Books, 64 Glass, 64 Glass, 64 Glass Bottles, 1 Fishing Rod, 1 Fishing Rod, 2 Books, 1 Enchanting Table, 1 Book {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Nether}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Bounty Days}

[EXP: 34]

Inventory (Lenz): 1 Chainmail Helmet [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Dragon Head, 1 Chainmail Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Chainmail Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Chainmail Boots [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Dagger, 16 Ender Pearls, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Compass, 1 Bow [Power IV, Flame I, Punch II, Unbreaking III], 1 Bow [Infinity], 1 Crossbow [Piercing IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Multishot I, Unbreaking III], 64 Arrows, 64 Arrows, 16 Firework Rockets {Flight Duration: 1, Small Ball x 7, Gray x 7}, 16 Firework Rockets {Flight Duration: 1, Large Ball x 7, Gray x 7}, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 62 Dark Oak Planks, 50 Chorus Fruit, 59 Cooked Salmon, 56 Apples, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Akasha Entry Pass}, 1 Red Shulker Box {Pocket Box}, 1 Gray Shulker Box {Pocket Box}

Red Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 1 Shears, 1 Lever, 9 Redstone Torches, 8 Redstone Repeaters, 3 Redstone Comparators, 18 Blocks of Redstone, 2 Hoppers, 3 Pistons, 2 Sticky Pistons, 1 Book {Airship Piloting 101}, 2 Fire Charges, 36 Charcoal, 4 Torches, 32 Pumpkin Seeds, 1 Book {Redstone Textbook}, 1 Book {Notebook}

Gray Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 1 Crossbow [Unbreaking III], 53 Arrows of Poison {0:11}, 64 Arrows of Harming II, 57 Arrows of Harming II, 52 Arrows of Weakness {0:30}, 49 Arrows of Slowness {0:30}, 64 Arrows of Fire Resistance {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Healing II, 64 Arrows of Invisibility {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Leaping {1:00}, 64 Arrows of Slow Falling {0:30}, 64 Arrows of Night Vision {1:00}, 63 Arrows of Strength II {0:12}, 64 Arrows of Swiftness {1:00}, 63 Arrows of Swiftness II {0:11}, 64 Arrows of Water Breathing {1:00}

[EXP: 25]

Inventory (Baltic): 1 Iron Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Sword [Sharpness II, Unbreaking III], 1 Shield, 1 Bow, 1 Diamond Pickaxe [Silk Touch I, Mending I, Unbreaking II], 10 Arrows, 3 Brewing Stands, 1 Water Bucket, 64 Bones, 1 Ender Chest, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 20 Emeralds, 64 Cooked Chicken, 51 Cooked Chicken, 1 Lingering Potion of Slowness {1:00}, 1 Lingering Potion of Slowness {1:00}, 1 Lingering Potion of Healing II {0:05}, 1 Lingering Potion of Regeneration II {0:05}, 1 Blue Shulker Box {Pocket Box}, 1 Totem of Undying

Blue Shulker Box {Pocket Box}: 41 Glass Bottles, 64 Dragon's Breath, 59 Dragon's Breath, 64 Blaze Powder, 64 Nether Warts, 30 Soul Sand, 62 Phantom Membranes, 64 Blaze Rods, 64 Fermented Spider Eyes, 64 Carrots, 64 Melon Slices, 64 Rabbit's Feet, 64 Gold Ingots, 64 Gold Nuggets, 64 Gunpowder, 64 Redstone Dust, 64 Glowstone Dust, 64 Ghast Tears, 64 Sugar

[EXP: 32]

Inventory {Jillian}: 1 Book {Vivlio Zythopoiias}, 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness II, Unbreaking III], 1 Bow {Artemis} [Unbreaking III, Punch II, Power V, Knockback II, Curse of Vanishing, Infinity], 1 Bow {Apollo} [Unbreaking III, Flame I, Punch II, Knockback II], 1 Crossbow, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Clock, 35 Torches, 1 Book and Quill {Planner}, 1 Book and Quill {Notebook}, 40 Cooked Cod, 46 Cooked Salmon, 56 Arrows, 16 Firework Rockets {Flight Duration: 1, Small Ball x 7, White x 7}, 16 Firework Rockets {Flight Duration: 1, Large Ball x 7, White x 7}, 1 Map {Paragon Minecraftia}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 1 Totem of Undying, 1 Totem of Undying, 1 Totem of Undying

[EXP: 53]

Inventory (Z7): 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 32 Cobblestone, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 21 Charcoal, 40 Torches, 59 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 33 Cookies, 52 Baked Potatoes, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Bucket, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 1 Purple Shulker Box {Pocket Box}

[EXP: 47]

Inventory (Floyd): 1 Mob Head {Creeper}, 1 Diamond Pickaxe, 1 Iron Sword, 1 Diamond Helmet [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Leggings [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Shears, 2 Iron Ingots, 24 Coal, 20 Torches, 1 Fishing Rod, 7 Cooked Mutton, 1 Furnace, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Minecart, 1 Bed, 1 Boat, 1 Diamond Boots [Projectile Protection IV], 16 Gunpowder, 10 Ender Pearls, 1 Splash Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}, 1 Bucket, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Map {Stasis Map}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}

[EXP: 48]

Inventory (Soul): 1 Diamond Axe [Sharpness V], 1 Diamond Pickaxe, 61 Iron Ingots, 20 Flint, 5 Ender Pearls, 8 Gold Ingots, 11 Blocks of Diamond, 16 Blocks of Emerald, 1 Shears, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Leather Pants, 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Golden Boots, 1 Diamond Boots [Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Crafting Table, 1 Jukebox, 1 Music Disc {chirp}, 1 Bed, 1 Furnace, 24 Torches, 22 White Wool, 61 Cobblestone, 14 Jungle Wood Planks, 1 Obsidian, 4 Bowls, 23 Red Mushrooms, 1 Armor Stand, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Map {Stasis Map}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Exter Entry Pass}, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}

[EXP: 42]

Cat-Face the Cat

Christopher Squawken the Parrot

Inventory (Noman): 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness I], 1 Shield, 1 Leather Boots {Bottes Zephyr} [Dyed White], 1 Iron Helmet, 1 Diamond Chestplate, 1 Iron Leggings, 1 Iron Boots, 1 Diamond Pickaxe, 6 Cooked Mutton, 56 Nether Warts, 15 Soul Sand, 1 Flint and Steel, 10 Cobwebs, 1 Milk Bucket, 1 Water Bucket, 5 Buckets, 1 Bed, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Brewing Stand, 15 Glass Bottles, 4 Packed Ice, 8 Ender Pearls, 60 Glowstone Dust, 23 Gunpowder, 12 Redstone Dust, 60 Blaze Powder, 62 Gold Nuggets, 43 Brown Mushrooms, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Exter Entry Pass}, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Map {Stasis Map}, 1 Book {The Art of Peace}, 1 Book {Artifact List}, 1 Enchanted Golden Apple, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}

[EXP: 35]

Inventory (Kalmarin): 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Mob Head {Skeleton}, 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness III, Unbreaking I], 1 Map {Paragon Minecraftia}, 1 Map {Stasis Map}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 15 Cooked Chicken, 18 Apples, 1 Bow [Power I], 36 Arrows, 7 Ender Pearls, 1 Bed, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 40 Torches, 31 Sand, 12 Cobblestone, 21 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Water Bucket, 1 Lava Bucket, 1 Milk Bucket, 43 Coal, 1 Clock, 1 Compass, 1 Iron Pickaxe [Unbreaking I], 1 Wooden Pickaxe {Old Reliable} [Unbreaking III, Efficiency V], 1 Book {Meetup}, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}

[EXP: 43]

---

AN: Dead Hacker Count: (2) Espen. Respective Bounty Day: 1.17 (Caves and Cliffs Update: Part I). (3) Xavier. Respective Bounty Day: 1.18 (Caves and Cliffs Update: Part II).

So this was another backstory chapter. Maybe half Kal's backstory, half main story. I feel like I do a decent job writing backstory Chapters, but I always write them too long. It's a weakness, I feel. Tell Me A Tale, The Last Lieutenant, even ACC. They're gold quality chapters, but whenever I try to write a backstory, I always put too much in. I can't condense it. I tried here, but it's still 30,000+ words. Future backstory chapters will likely be just as long, which is why I might split them into two-parters to save what I have to write.

Don't mind me just going off on a tangent. It's what these author notes are for. Let me know what you think about my backstory chapters.

Ciro and Carys pulled off exceptional Hacker fatalities, though maybe Ciro hitting himself with the Destierro del Palillo requires some suspension of disbelief. I could have just as easily replaced it with him ender pearling across, but then I also had a scene of Captain Obsidian trying to slit his own throat with his Cleaver out of penance, so it's not completely out there?

A lot of battles across many locations. This Raid on the Hack Clan has many fronts, and everyone gets a chance to shine... except Floyd. He's prone on cooldown watching Kal and Null.

I enjoyed writing for Adina. It made me realize we haven't had much miner talk in this Minecraft story. Got a chance to see how a miner operates when ores are low outside of this forbidden savannah where the Hackers reside.

Let me know if you thought the parts with Noman and Serafina were too inappropriate. Xavier, definitely, but maybe Serafina wasn't as bad. I doubt there will be many more content warnings before this part is wrapped up in two chapters.

FAV. FOLLOW. REVIEW. FORUM. DISCORD. S'MORES GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.