"You built your town next to a Region Boss' waking spot?" Mite repeated in a sharp whisper for what must have been the fourth time.
The three of them — four if one counted his puppet — were making their way through the Mirrorlands back in the direction of the town with Claire at the lead. Her directional sense was impressive. Alex wasn't a complete slouch at it, but he'd have already gotten lost a few times if it hadn't been for her.
It had been several hours since they'd left the Void Goliath behind them. The monster hadn't bothered giving chase. Realistically, it probably hadn't even registered them. It was so much stronger than they were that they may as well have been ants in its presence.
Alex and Claire had taken the time to bring Mite up to speed on what he needed to know about the town and the situation it was in. They hadn't given away any major secrets that could be turned against them should things go south — but it wasn't like Mite was going to have anyone to tell about the Region Boss in the near future.
When they got back to the town, if the monster hadn't already woken up, it would soon. Even if Mite had wanted to, there wouldn't be enough time for him to go and find someone to tell about it.
They didn't go into any detail about the full extent of the town's abilities or its connection to the Mirrorlands, though they did warn him that they had the entire town under the impression that they were Outworlders.
Alex hadn't been particularly thrilled to reveal that. He didn't like leaving opportunities for someone to screw him over if they wanted to — but Mite had nothing to gain from telling Orchid that he wasn't from the Starfallen family. It would just get the young engineer killed. And, in the end, trust had to start somewhere.
If they were going to have him building buildings and working closely with the town, they'd be putting a whole lot more stake in Mite than just some information.
"You know nobody has killed a Region Boss yet, right?" Mite asked. "I heard some people from the Great Tide family talking about it. They haven't even found one! I think they were apparently getting close to finding one, but they don't know where it is. How do you?"
"I have a very particular set of skills. Skills that—"
"Don't quote Taken at me, man. That's just lame."
Alex winced. "I kind of thought you were too young to know it. Damn."
"Too young?" Mite glared at him. "I'm eighteen, man!"
"You're eighteen? Holy shit. I thought you were…" Alex trailed off, wisely choosing not to continue that sentence. The malice in Mite's eyes told him more than enough about what would happen if he did.
It was a bit difficult to tell if Mite was actually 18 and just looked both short and incredibly young, or if he was trying to hide his actual age.
I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end. The System isn't going to be any nicer to someone whether they're 16 or 18. No reason to treat him any different because he's a few years younger than I am. All that matters is if he can do what he says he can.
"Eighteen, then," Alex said. "That movie was kind of old even for me, though."
"I watched it with my dad," Mite said. "He liked it."
Wow, I'm really good at hitting sore subjects.
"Ah," Alex said lamely. "Sorry."
"Why?" Mite tilted his head to the side. "He's not dead, man."
"No. He was an apocalypse prepper. Had a bunch of shit ready for one. I don't think I've ever seen him happier than the day the System showed up on earth. He'd been waiting for something to happen since before I was born."
"Then…" Alex trailed off, unable to word the question right.
Mite smirked. "He loaded me up with some gear in the weeks leading to the Apocalypse. Then, when it happened, he said some shit about this always happening in his favorite books, that he couldn't be loaded down with a kid, and fucked off to build a harem."
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"Sounds like an ass," Claire said.
"You should have seen his favorite series," Mite grumbled. "He is. Pretty sure he's doing fine, though. He smoked the first few monsters we ran into. He's ex-military. I don't really care, honestly. I don't really like spending too much time with other people. I prefer working alone — and he's been such a wreck since my mom died that maybe this is good for him."
Abandoning your kid to go build a harem? Yup, definitely a healthy coping mechanism.
"Right," Alex said slowly. "Well… my condolences or congratulations. Pick which one you prefer."
Mite let out an amused snort. "What about you? Parents get cooked?"
Jesus. He's like… a few years younger than me. Why do I feel like his lingo is a generation out of date? Am I lame? And what's this blasé attitude? I mean, it's probably actually for the best and I don't disagree with it, but I didn't expect someone to be this chill about the Apocalypse.
"Died before it. Several years."
"Ah. Nice." Mite raised a hand to give Alex a fist bump. "Tragic backstory. Sweet."
Alex stared at the offered for a moment. Then his lips twitched in amusement and he knocked his knuckles against Mite's. There were probably quite a number of words that could be used to describe him, but interesting would probably be the most apt until further notice.
"Maybe it's time you shared a little more about what you're capable of," Claire said. "You wouldn't tell us your exact class before, but I trust you're capable of creating buildings?"
"Of course," Mite said, a note of offense entering his tone. "At least, theoretically. Haven't done it yet. It's in one of my abilities."
"And you can defend yourself, at least a little?" Claire asked.
Mite nodded. "Yeah. Not exactly going to be looking for fights, but I'm not completely helpless. I have a pretty good balance. You aren't expecting me to fight the Region Boss directly, are you? Because that isn't happening. I'm nowhere near that strong."
"Nothing like that," Alex said with a shake of his head. "But some monsters might make it into the town during the fight. It's… not the most defended location yet."
Mite's eyes narrowed and he paused to squint at Alex. "That sounds like a fancy way of saying the town is a strong breeze away from falling down. How thick are the walls?"
"We don't have walls." Alex coughed into his fist. "It's more of a camping ground at the moment, actually."
"You're going to try and take on a Region Boss with a camping ground." Mite's words rang with incredulity. "Are you stupid? Or really strong?"
"Is there a line somewhere between the two?"
Mite snickered. "Well, at least it'll be interesting. I guess there isn't much of Valley Ford to run back to. Being part of something big is always a risk. That's what my dad says, but he's also tanked like five different startups."
"That's… not reassuring," Claire said.
An idle part of Alex's mind wondered what word startup had translated to her as. Something told him that Dhampirs didn't have startup companies, but now didn't feel like the right time to ask.
Mite shrugged. "It's chill. It is what it is, you know? To be honest, I was losing my fucking mind in Valley Ford. Nobody would hire me. They just gave all the jobs to their own teams. When I sensed you guys walk in with that thing under Claire's arm, I practically ca— uh, got super excited. Nobody wants to work with a new engineer when they can nurture their own. You guys are totally screwed, though. You don't have a choice but to work with me."
"Is it wise to admit that?" Claire raised an eyebrow. "Admitting you aren't the optimal choice is a bad bargaining tactic."
"I'm the only choice," Mite corrected. "Especially if you want to kill this Region Boss before it deep fries your town. We need each other. That seems like a pretty good balance to me. As long as you give me some parts from the strong monsters that die around the town in addition to some money and a place to sleep, I'm happy to stick around."
That's a pretty reasonable request. If there's stuff we can use to upgrade the town, I don't see why we wouldn't give it to Mite. He's basically offering to move in permanently.
Alex cast a glance in Claire's direction to see if she could find anything bad with the offer, but she just inclined her head.
"That seems fine with me," Claire said. "As you've observed, we're in a unique position. Things are going to go really well or really terrible. One of the two. If it's the former, throwing your lot in with us will be very beneficial. If it doesn't, well, you'll be dead. It is what it is, right?"
Mite grinned. "You know it. I'm in. Obviously. Not like I can't be in. Nowhere else to go. But while we're walking, why don't you tell me more about what it is you want me to get started on? Maybe I can brainstorm before we get there."
"A way to connect to the Astral Map. Something that replaces a Starstone, the things that let you teleport between towns," Alex said immediately. He nodded to the egg tucked under Claire's arm. "That's what this energy source is for."
"Huh. That's a difficult opener," Mite said. His eyes glazed over as he walked, presumably reading something in his class information. "I… think that should be possible. Depends how strong that power source is and what else we've got to work with. Sounds like a good challenge. Sweet. This will get me a ton of energy."
"He's got your attitude," Claire whispered to Alex, hiding a grin. "Just none of the insanity."
"Good. Then he might survive."
"I heard that," Mite said.
"I know," Alex said. "Wasn't trying to hide it. We're going to be relying on you. If we can get that teleporter built, we'll get access to a merchant. It could completely tip the scales in this fight."
"Noted. Pressure's on," Mite said, giving Alex a sharp salute. "Don't worry. I won't let you down. Keep feeding me expensive materials and I'll help you kill a god."
"Let's stick with the Region Boss for now, shall we?"