By some miracle of the goddesses, the twenty-first floor is another teleporter floor. The seventh, the fifteenth, and now the twenty-first floor. Seems to be about every seven floors. I shan't expect that pattern to necessarily continue— that famously trite saying about assumptions and making an ass of oneself comes to mind. But it is at least something to be mindful of.

More interestingly is the [Inventory] I unlocked when I reached Level 50 a few minutes ago. I had seen Madison use hers in my vision, but experiencing it for myself is still quite an odd sensation. With a flex of mental will, I can deposit any item I currently have on my person— excluding currently equipped weapons and armor— into a seemingly bottomless extradimensional storage space. Another exercise of mental will, and it reappears back in my hand, exactly as I’d left it.

There are exceptions. I can’t transport living things. Small bugs and microorganisms don’t prevent me from transporting my gear in and out, but I can’t bring a person into my storage. Scientifically, it might be interesting to try with other critters of various sizes, but that seems an ethical and legal quagmire better left alone. I certainly can’t transport a person, not even myself.

Beyond the obvious benefits of no longer needing to worry about carrying my gear with me when we go dungeon diving, I’ve also completely solved the issue of food storage. Even if I can’t fully prevent food spoilage, I can keep a massive number of nonperishable goods, along with the equipment to cook and clean and whatever else I might need to do. Forget having to keep going back to the surface from the middle of dungeons. We could delve for days at a time if we had to, as long as we had enough people to keep watch shifts going.

Even that’s less of a problem than it once was. Before the System arrived, I needed a full eight hours of sleep every night for maximum alertness. Now, even if I’m constantly subjecting myself to heavy physical exertion the day before, I rarely need a minute more than six a night. And going a full twenty-four hours without sleep or caffeine has gone from a nigh impossibility to moderately inconvenient.

We make our way back outside, back to the fresh air of the outside world for the first time in a day and a half. It’s late in the evening on the Fourth of July. Already, crews of pyrotechnicians not far away are making the final preparations for tonight’s fireworks and people are gathering just south of downtown to partake in the festivities. And, quite frankly, after the harrowing experiences we’ve experienced, we could all use a few days of downtime.

“So, I take it this is goodbye for now?” I say to Alana.

“Only for now,” she says. “I’m going to get chewed out by my boss for going AWOL overnight, and I’d rather go ahead and get it over with soon.”

“Don’t worry about her,” Jasmine says. “She’s just overexaggerating. We already had leave for today, so we’re really just short a few hours yesterday evening. And considering we were doing actual work, I’m sure the Captain will let it slide.”

Alana rolls her eyes. Ultimately, she shakes her head and acquiesces. “It was great adventuring with you two again, Sera, Chloe.”

“Same to you two,” Chloe says. “And Jasmine, you take good care of Alana for us while we’re gone.”

“I will,” Jasmine says, taking Alana’s hand in her own.

For the first time in a good while, I see Alana looking visibly flustered.

“Hey, wait a second! What’s that supposed to mean, Chloe?”

“Never mind her,” Jasmine says, sprouting her wings. “Didn’t you just say that we need to hurry back to base?”

“I– But– Yes.” Alana lowers her head and sprouts her own wings as well, and the two of them take off.

Once they’re out of a rather generous hearing range, I turn to Chloe, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Yeah, I think those two are going to be just fine.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Steal my line, why don’t you?”

I stand in shock.

She pokes my shoulder. “Kidding, kidding.” We share a brief kiss, still just outside of the Tower. There are a few passersby, one or two of whom notices us as they move in the general direction of where the fireworks will be shortly held. Though if anyone is offended by our mostly chaste display of affection, they don’t show their distaste outwardly.

“Do you want to stay and watch, love?” I ask.

“I would.” She takes my hand. “I would like that very much.”

Unfortunately, I can’t reach into my [Inventory] and grab any leftover food stores. I could physically, but it’s the same principle as with those [Level Apples]. It’s simply too dangerous for knowledge about [Inventory] to get out right now. The same is probably true of my Experience-boosting brooch that contains the blessing of a self-proclaimed demigoddess, as well as whatever crystal Zethira gave me before she and her world’s Elissa vanished.

All this knowledge will get out at some point. People are, over the course of months and years, going to get to Level 50 and unlock their own [Inventory]. In time, everything about what we did yesterday and today is going to leak out. [Inventory], as well as class changes and general ideas on classes and other major milestones will be documented and common knowledge. But for now, society needs a bit more time to adjust and adapt, or at least start to come to terms with what our new powers will one day allow.

We make our way to a nearby food truck. While I’m not keen on accessing my [Inventory] in public, I did have the foresight to leave a few twenties and a small pack on the outside. A lot of fairground-style food. Nothing even remotely healthy, lots of fried and even deep fried options. But after two days of fighting for our lives, I really can’t be bothered to give a damn.

I order some lamb skewers for myself, a large corn dog for Chloe, and a basket of fries for the two of us to share. And of course, two large bottles of water, because it’s stinky-sticky sweaty out here. Thirty bucks for it all.

I realize once again that I’m still adjusting to the fact that I have money. Normally I’d think of that much money as being a week’s worth of food for a person on a diet of rice and beans and peanut butter. That, or nearly a full tank of gas to last two or maybe three weeks if I’m lucky.

As we stroll around, idly passing by the crowds on the banks on the nearly-empty riverbed, I close my eyes and just… exist for a little bit. Tomorrow and its troubles will arrive soon enough, but for now, it’s a time to rest and recover and celebrate. I do leave on [Archangel’s Gaze], mostly to keep an eye on anyone who might wish one of us harm. But short of an imminent threat to human life, tonight’s just going to be a calm, peaceful night of near-normalcy, my arm around Chloe as we sit back and enjoy the show.

----------------------------------------

Nine PM arrives soon enough. The streetlights around us shut down, letting the stars illuminate the night sky. Hundreds of idle conversations go on around us. Tired and sometimes overeager kids coming to watch the fireworks for the first time, nagging their parents and older siblings with all the ‘are we there yet’ energy a four-year-old can conjure. A few older couples who’ve made a tradition of coming down here to watch the festivities for far longer than Chloe and I have been alive.

I can hear any of the conversations I want, even those spoken quietly from fifty yards away. I can also tune them out; the loud and irritating sound of gnats buzzing around, along with the relentless chirps of crickets and cicadas helps with that. Nothing that looks or feels like a monster. Nothing over level 25 that I can see or sense with my Skills; certainly no one here but Chloe and me has had their first class change. We’re… maybe not safe, but not under imminent threat, and probably as safe as we’ll ever be in the post-System world.

My musing is cut off as a loud pop from half a mile away signals the start of the show. A single sparkling sphere ascends about a thousand feet into the sky, where it again explodes with a boom of pellets that send green light streaking across the sky. Another follows, light of deep amethyst, and finally a third, a radiant gold. Oohs and aahs and the applause of young kids and their doting parents replaces the idle chatter from before as all parties watch the show.

Chloe’s arm wraps around me as we make our way to an unoccupied patch of grass. I sit down, and though I offer my lap to my love, she instead opts for the seat right next to me. Even at this time of the night, it’s a bit uncomfortable to be out here in the muggy un-airconditioned summer. And the fact that I’m still wearing my armor and [Bandana of Swiftness] isn’t helping. Though, there’s nowhere I’d rather be, and I’d gladly endure far worse as long as it meant getting to continue to be by Chloe’s side.

“It’s beautiful,” Chloe says, resting her head in my lap with a yawn.

“Yeah, it is. So is the girl whose head is currently resting in my lap.” I stroke Chloe’s cheek.

At the same time, I have to fight back a mischievous idea poking out of my head, one telling me to add my own flair to the show. One little [Flaming Sphere]. It’d be so easy. But, tonight’s a night of rest, a chance to recapture the magic of an annual celebration and enjoy being human just the same as everyone else here.

Another volley of six fireworks goes up, this time in two trios, each consisting of a red, a white, and a blue explosion. A polite cheer breaks out, along with a sense of patriotism that I’ve never really experienced for myself. Instead of fighting it, I join in with a calm clap as well.

I think this time to rest and decompress is a good thing, especially for me. I enjoyed that fight with Serrena a little too much to be entirely healthy. And, yeah, it’s probably a good time to bring that up and hear her reaction and, if necessary, judgement.

“Hey, Chloe. There’s something I wanted to tell you… About earlier.”

“What about it?”

“It was when I was fighting Serrena earlier. I was having a lot of fun. Maybe too much fun, and… well, I’m worried that this is a bad thing for me… and, well, for us as well.”

Chloe looks up at me, her beautiful brown eyes perfectly illuminated by the gold flash of the fireworks up above. “I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to enjoy that sort of thing. But I do think it’s worth trying to understand why you think that’s a bad thing.”

“It’s… I guess I felt powerless and lacking in any sort of control or agency over my own life before. But now, I have something I’m good at, and… I like the thrill of testing myself and… and getting stronger.” I pause for a moment. “Serrena said that it’s not wrong to want things and be selfish from time to time and to work to achieve the things we want. But I can’t help but feel that it is.”

Chloe sits up, her head now tilted on my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her and almost do the same with my wings before I decide against it.

“Love, I think there’s both good selfish things and bad selfish things. Wanting to provide for your loved ones isn’t a bad thing. Wanting to have good food, a warm place to live. Someone you love to cuddle up to in the evening? I don’t think any of those are bad things. And I don’t think it’s bad to enjoy fighting or even getting stronger. But I do think you should be mindful of how you go about that.

“Fighting monsters and training in the Towers are fine.” She shakes her head, nuzzling into my neck. “Not just fine, but probably necessary in the here and now. But once you start seeing people and other intelligent life forms as just… buckets of Experience to consume. That’s a path that leads nowhere good. It’s a path I feared you might have gone down during the conflict with the Order of the Wilds. And I thank the goddesses that you turned away from it.”

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to avoid more fights with humans. The Order, those people at the Black Market… I’m sure there’s more warlords or psychopaths or whomever else just looking for a chance to kill innocents.”

“Then promise me something, Sera. When the time comes, we’ll do everything reasonable to make sure that we try peaceful, or at least nonlethal options, before we resort to killing.”

“As long as doing so doesn’t come at the cost of our lives, and that we make sure not to target bystanders or innocents if at all possible.”

“Even so, we should still see if there is some third option available.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I take a long, deep breath. “I promise, Chloe.”