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For a long while, Zarian had wondered what would happen if he turned off the Parasite Cloak. Would everything in Para’s dimensional storage come rushing out? Could he turn it off or switch it from alpha to beta?

Before he dove into the water, he walked away from everyone and took some time to talk to Para directly, making his intentions known.

She was a good girl, loyal to a fault, even if she could act a little unruly sometimes. Still, she did what she could to support Zarian, even at the risk of taking damage for him.

A man couldn’t ask better from a parasitic article of clothing. Once he had Para’s consent, he tried to turn her off in a small glade away from the camp.

Nothing happened. The System denied the shut off for the Parasite Cloak. Zarian emptied her pocket dimension carefully.

He set aside corpses, old gear from Castle Grimrock, a few odds and ends. There wasn’t as much as he would think after nearly two months of adventuring.

Hell, they still had spare goblin bodies. He was tempted to turn those into advancing skeletons, but held off. He wanted to see what happened to Loner first once he advanced.

Zarian attempted to turn Para off again and succeeded. The cloak slurped into his back and disappeared. A presence in his mind winked away, which he hadn’t realized was a prominent feature until now.

His body lost its extra physicality and felt more frail, more vulnerable. Zarian shivered, hating the weakness and the lack of Para’s presence.

Was she a clutch?

Or was she a major part of what he was now? A wizard of evil +2.

Looking up into the night sky with a grimace, Zarian wondered if he pushed the line too much with the soldiers. Then he shook his head. The gods were meddling, and they hadn’t even reached Bramblevale yet.

The meager and careful route didn’t feel viable anymore.

“We’re better off being outlandish and upfront,” Zarian said. “If we’re going to be anyone’s target, we can at least set the bullseye where we want it.”

The gods were meddling.

Zarian would meddle back.

He reactivated the Parasite Cloak while it was a beta skill. Para felt brain dead and too weak. He switched her back to being an alpha skill, making her better, and swept all the dropped items back in Para’s pocket dimension.

As they returned to camp, Para contracted until she was nearly as thin as a scarf. The hood remained, but it had patchy holes in it, making it more breathable with airflow.

Zarian didn’t bother with modesty and tossed every old scrap of clothing off. The Surface Walker Boots were already in the pocket dimension.

The soldiers had heated the bath to near boiling, steam wavering over the surface of the tub.

One soldier informed him there was a runic device at the bottom of the tub that would grant him temperature control with a touch and his magical whim. The soldier explained quickly, and once he saw Zarian was satisfied, he fled away.

He doesn’t have the skills I want, Zarian thought, watching the soldier flee before looking around.

He spotted soldiers with the type of skills he wanted for himself and for the party. I wonder if I should go after them now or wait to see if I can find the better versions.

The soldiers had basic skills. Knowing that there were higher quality skills, Zarian could aim for the more advanced versions. If he was going to stack up on some Level 0s, he might as well get the best of those.

Zarian clambered into the cart and jumped inside a tub that could fit his entire party. The curtain was on a hoop held up by metal bars attached to the tub’s sides. Para used a tendril to slide the curtain around for his privacy.

Zarian sighed as he felt the water’s heat seep into his body. He felt around for the runic device at the bottom of the tub with his foot and raised the heat a little further.

It would’ve felt nicer if he’d kept Para deactivated and assumed a weaker body. But he preferred having the parasitic threads interwoven with him, reinforcing him, eliminating excess weakness.

At the very least, the bath was everything he could ask for, and it came with a scrubber. No oils or scents or soap, which was fine. The hot water and scrubber worked perfectly.

Zarian cleaned himself off, and Para filtered out the dirt and gunk with makeshift scoopers at the end of her tentacles. She tossed them over the sides and kept the tub from getting too dirty.

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After he cleaned up mostly, he tried to relax a little further, if not completely.

I can’t relax all the way.

Something was always on.

The spell for necromancy remained active.

The Spectral Spider Network was active, which was still tricky to fully utilize. He could tap into the senses of different spiders at any time. But switching feeds or having multiple viewpoints was still maddening, even for his Fractured Mind.

He could keep a pulse on multiple spectral spiders without looking too closely, however. If he received a specific alert through the network, then he could inspect things more directly. That was the best he could do right now.

He had fifty of them scurrying inside the camp, outside the camp, and further beyond, scouting and spying. He rotated between a set of ten every few minutes when he wanted to keep a light touch on their general situation.

When he grew bored, he took a deeper dive.

It was frightening how he could easily watch and listen to others without them knowing, like a real voyeur. All the soldiers remained unaware, so he had some fun listening to their candid conversations.

They mostly talked about women and drinking and fooling around. Zarian chuckled from his tub at the similarities between a young Marine from the old world and a young soldier in a magic world.

Other than spooking Gilbert for the fun of it, Zarian made sure his party was aware of his spectral spiders being nearby. Keeping that secret from them would break cohesion and trust.

Zarian could feel his evil nature trying to convince him otherwise. He shut that down right away. The party’s confidence in him was more important than evil paranoia.

Trust issues aside, the Spectral Spider Network was a huge boon, and it had already grown to Level 2. Maybe the growth wasn’t as fast as usual, and maybe he would get more range and efficiency if the spider network was an alpha skill, but as of now, it served its purpose excellently.

“Okay, the network spiders are good,” Zarian mumbled, arms outstretched on the tub’s rim. He kicked his legs gradually up and down in front of him. “What’s new? Are we all updated with each other? What do we need to do next?”

Starting with the new stuff: Bianca had a major evolution in quality, shooting into the second most powerful person in the party. Zarian’s investment in her hadn’t gone to waste, and he saw Bianca flourish in new ways.

She had good +3, which had a palpable force that could scare the shit out of people and demand respect. Zarian could still beat her if it came down to a fight between them, but he would rather avoid that.

She says she wants to play support for the others, but will she really stick with that? Zarian wondered. Time will tell because her almighty princess display with the soldiers suggested she’s becoming a star.

What would the party look like working around Bianca?

Zarian struggled to imagine that even with his Fractured Minds.

Yeah, he really hoped Bianca followed through as supportive. Her taking a hard battle lead didn’t suit her even with the extra power. Gilbert and Naomi needed to be upfront.

“I need to work with Gilbert next.”

He didn’t see any grand weaknesses with Gilbert. The guy was rock solid for his role. Maybe his only problem was not being crazy ambitious.

“Healer. Tank. Support. Yeah, that’s very valuable and without too many weaknesses.”

Zarian would have to think about what to pressure Gilbert with or wait for something to push the man over the edge. Then that would be the perfect time to see what Gilbert could really do when he was properly motivated.

Naomi was jealous. Even Zarian could see that. Hannah wanted his attention to exchange info and discoveries, which Zarian was eager about as well.

So far, he needed to tell everyone about Ariana. He needed to tell them about the crazy bluff and deal he’d set up with the gnolls, which might lead to a whole war with Castle Grimrock in the near future.

“I can’t believe I’ve saved an entire kingdom,” Zarian said. “I’m literally a hero, and I haven’t even set foot in the kingdom.”

That was kind of crazy.

He didn’t feel like a hero. He’d chosen the ‘crash out’ option because if it failed, at least he would be satisfied with the ridiculousness of the play. But it had worked, and now he was an advisor to rising gnolls and a hero to a kingdom that would hate him.

What the hell?

Zarian cracked a grin. “The looks on those elder gnolls’ faces were priceless. Totally worth it.”

He’d faced a group of elder gnolls in the Level 80s while he was in the Level 30s. They had him totally outmatched, outgunned, pretty much dead, and he’d overpowered them. He’d scared them

That should’ve been impossible.

“You watching little sister?” Zarian asked. “Your Big Bro will always find a way.”

She didn’t respond.

Once everyone in his party was updated with each other, Zarian figured staying in Bramblevale for a while would be good for them. They could try milking their connection with Roland for all it was worth.

Roland had called himself a Low Rose Noble. That should mean something not so poor, right?

Zarian wondered what it would be like to have a mansion with enough big rooms and a common area for his party. When he imagined the kitchen, he envisioned Foodie already working on the next meal, the pantry, shelves, fridges, all stocked.

“Yeah, what’s next hasn’t changed. We’ll rest in Bramblevale, gather information about the land, then hit the Forgotten Kingdom Dungeon. Once we’re in the Level 60s, we’ll head for Castle Grimrock to slay the warlock and free Foodie.”

It sounded simple, yet Zarian figured there would be complications. If so, then he imagined his party would be strong enough to handle those.

And if they couldn’t, he would figure things out. After all, he’d grown a lot so far based on how his profile looked now:

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Origins: Zarian Darkrun, 21 yr-old Human, Honored Outsider.

Level: 35

Class: Dark Wizard Apprentice (Epic).

Alignment: Evil +2

Traits: Dark Affinity (Rare), Overpower (Epic), Identify (Rare), Aura Channeler (Rare), Fractured Mind (Uncommon), Basic Aura Manipulation (Rare).

Alpha Skills (3/3): Grimoire of Dark Arts 102 (Level 13), Parasite Cloak +1 (Level 13), Grimoire of the Dread Mire Gator (Level 5).

Beta Skills (4/12): Spectral Spiders Network (Level 2), Straight Darkness +1 (Level 23), Tranquil Mind (Level 0), Adrenaline Jolt (Level 0).

Willpower: 112

Strength: 25

Agility: 30

Wonder: 64

Mysticism: 234

Free: 0

Achievements: Honored Outsider (Divine), SSS Dance with White Silk Reiki (Epic), Heroes of the Eternal Garden Kingdom (Legendary).

Spells: Bloody Lifesteal (Uncommon), Raise Advancing Skeletons (Rare), Black Fire (Rare).

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