Chương 155: Chapter 154 [Making plans]

Parmo wrapped his stream up a minute after Leo did, blinking out of it the same way, the slight readjustment of coming back to just the room and the people in it.

"How did Neil take it?" Leo asked.

"Lost his mind," Parmo said, grinning.

"Kept calling me Hulk. The girls are doing well, climbing the walls not being able to tell their friends about their cool magic dad though."

"My Mum was similar, I think," Leo said.

"I don't think she had much to be proud of in the past so she's probably feeling a mix of that and worry. The worry's kind of par for the course with her though."

"How were the kids?" Sam asked.

"Good." Leo leaned back into the sofa.

"They seemed like their usual selves. This is probably a lot easier for them to take in than my Mum at least. They have games and things to compare all this to. The most fantasy my Mum has ever watched is Lord of the Rings and I think she hated it."

"Neil was the same," Parmo said.

"He thought he'd kept up with it from the messages but seeing it is different. He kept saying what the fuck under his breath every time I showed him something. It comes up in italics in the chat."

"They know you're all alive and now they've seen it for themselves," Rika said. She'd been quiet since the stream ended, sitting with her legs pulled up.

"That's good. But I imagine seeing you all like that and not being able to just walk through a door to get to you makes it harder in a different way."

"Definitely," Leo said.

"I wish there was a way to see the kids myself. It's nice knowing they know I'm safe and happy, but it's still kind of lonely knowing I can't see them." Shai walked over and sat beside him, taking his hand.

"That'll change. The UI made this possible, the chances something else happens that lets you see them again is pretty high, right?" The message they'd got when they first arrived about a way back home. The chat messages they unlocked. Now the stream. It does feel like something is behind it, like we're part of a plan and being rewarded for doing what it deems good. The reward messages backed that up. Leo said as much.

"I've been thinking the same thing," Sam said.

"Every time something new unlocks it fits too neatly to be random."

"If we ever made it back," Luka said, "what do you reckon people would make of us? Not our families and friends. Everyone else."

"Honestly, I imagine it'll be huge worldwide," Sam said.

"The government would want to figure out what happened, then how they can use us. They won't want anyone being taken either so we'll be cooped up somewhere."

"Well, that's a nice thought. Congratulations on making it back alive, how does a nice cell in this padded room sound?" said Parmo.

"Imagine them trying to hold us or tell us what we can and can't do, where we can and can't go. By which point we might be able to do shit like teleport, or have more firepower than a tank. It'll be a diplomatic nightmare when it all gets out." If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Which means they'd probably try to turn public opinion against us as a form of control. That's a grim future to look forward to."

"Well, we can leave that for when it happens. Getting annoyed about how shite the governments of the world are isn't going to change anything. Let's just forget about it for now," said Leo.

"Fair enough," said Phil.

"It's going to get weird when more people can stream," Phil said.

"We've never done anything like this before. Nobody back home has either. Closest thing is streaming on Twitch and even that's just sitting in a room playing games."

"When more people in town get their mana high enough, some of them are going to do something stupid with it," Sam said.

"Can you imagine streaming while we were fighting the kobolds?" Leo said.

"Anything goes wrong and it's not going to be pretty."

"Some idiot's going to try it," Phil said.

"First proper fight and they'll think it's a good idea to go live."

"We should mention that to Mike," Sam said.

"Speaking of Mike," Luka said, looking at Leo.

"You were going to talk to him about the housing thing." Rika's head came up.

"Housing thing?" Shai looked at Leo.

"I was going to mention it actually." She paused.

"I want to look into one of the houses down the road." She smiled at Leo.

"We're going to try moving in together. A bit of space for just us would be nice." Rika looked at her for a moment.

"Yeah," she said.

"Good idea. All of this is unusual for us anyway. Living together I mean. You being down the road will feel more normal. Do you not think it's a little soon though?"

"Maybe. But we both like the idea. It's not like we're having to pay for a house or anything. It just gives us time to spend together. Nothing else will really change."

"I think it's a nice idea," said Torren.

"Most of our days are spent together, whether that is training, eating, or watching movies. I don't see a problem with it." Shai's tail swayed behind her. She must have been worried about what they would think when this came up. Leo noticed and smiled. Luka looked over at Torren.

"What are you going to do when Rika and Parmo inevitably move in together though? That's going to leave you rattling around in that house on your own." Torren laughed.

"Do one," Parmo said. Rika turned to look at him.

"You wouldn't want to live with me?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Rika grinned.

"I do know it. It's just funny to wind you up. Did I say that right?"

"Yup, spot on Rika," said Phil with a grin and a thumbs up. Parmo sighed and rolled his eyes. Torren was still laughing.

"We can go speak to him about it later if you want," Leo said.

"Sure," Shai said. Luka stretched out on the sofa.

"So, what's the plan now we're back?"

"Training," Sam said.

"Magic especially. I want that next unlock, I can feel it getting close."

"Same," Phil said.

"And I want to figure out what my swords actually do. I want to know what the runes do. Maybe they have some cool mechanic like Parmo's quiver."

"Same," Leo said.

"I think mine has something to do with mana. I know it cut through Luka's shield because it's made of mithril, but the runes could work in tandem with that. It's as good a place to start as any."

"There's my disk and Luka's egg as well," Sam said.

"We haven't done anything with any of them really. The egg is probably my biggest worry at the minute. For all we know it could be minutes away from hatching."

"Mars might be able to help," Torren said.

"He's spent more time around dragons than anyone in Stonehall."

"He'll be at the pub later," Rika said.

"If he's still finding reasons to be wherever Nessa is."

"So that's a yes then. The guy's persistent, I'll give him that," said Sam.

"I know I wind her up about it, but do you think Nessa does actually like Mars? Or is it just them being close friends?"

"Who knows?" said Shai.

"She's hard to read, even for us. It wouldn't surprise me if they ended up getting together eventually though. I think when that happens, they'll stay that way."

"Let's get something to eat from the pub later. We can speak to him about the egg while we're there," Leo said.

"Sort two things at once."

"We can ask Lauren about D&D as well," Sam said.

"She might have the campaign ready to go."

"That's a good shout," Luka said.

"Pub at tea time then. That's a plan."