"If two plus two is four. And four plus four is eight. What in the cosmic is this?" Mikayla voiced what everyone was thinking. The quest had been unexpected in such a way that corey could not describe. They'd arrived at a classroom. The so called puzzles they were supposed to solve seemed nonexistent as three teachers filed into the room, and told them to take their seats. They would have to volunteer each level on who would solve the problem. Which meant just Misha, Corey, Mikayla, and Pamela would be swapping. Pamela wasn't even sure why she volunteered. Well maybe it was because the other women flatly refused. Borba claimed it was unethical for an orc to do such menial task. Verosika said queen aren't nerds. Which Mikayla took offense too. Gogo said out loud that she was definitely not book smart, so unless they wanted to fail they would leave her out of it. Eleanora had no clue about math or anything, dragon mages were not taught that. And Kat said nothing but Pamela answered for

Kneeling by the window, Corey spun a pen in his hand. He was in a rut. Hate brewed within his stomach at the memory of seeing his mother. Hate that he didn't like. He didn't want to feel. But for the past three days, whenever he woke up, Corey would pause and just think about this mother's face. She was in the game. She didn't even know how. And so was Larry. The people he hoped he wouldn't see were all here. The pen spun faster as his thoughts continued to dive deeper. The women were respectful, they didn't bother him too much and they didn't show their pity but Corey could feel it. They were thinking about his inks differently. He had started wearing sleeves, and hiding them because they drew attention. Corey glared at the pen until it snapped. He spun the two split pieces, his mind somewhere far away. Yumiko was the only one who didn't get that Corey needed some space to get his emotions underwraps. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't eat. Just seeing his mother had sent him into a d

Strapping his backpack, Corey received multiple hugs from the women as they filed into the vehicle he had conjured up. It was an RV, but longer and a bigger. Not the easiest to drive but Mikayla splunked it up with her magic. Adding a little bit to make it stable enough for Borba to drive. Seeing as she was the only one Strong enough to steer that monstrosity. Corey saw them off before teleporting himself to the end of the mountain. Mount Oval, a dumb name if you asked him. He wasn't the only one there. About thirty other participants stood at the bottom. Corey scanned all of them, checking their power scale and he was impressed to find that most of them were over the level three hundred. Meaning they could put up a very good fight. He rolled his sleeves up, and stretches his arms. A woman stepped in front of them. She was dressed like a jester, clown makeup and all. She reminded him of gogo, only less hot. And the madness in her eyes was lacking as well. "Welcome to the death game

Perhaps it was the sudden rain storm that cut off their path to the triads, or maybe it was Corey's inability to sleep that caused him to agree to Yumiko's idea of a sleepover game. He really had his regrets the second she pulled out the animal onesies fro everyone to wear. Corey wished he could not only retract his words, but that he could retract himself. He probably should have said no when she cornered him and told him he was going to be her favorite panda. He also should have said no when she suckered him with some adorable antics into baking cookies. God-damn it he should have said no tany things, and yet he didn't. Corey found that he fell for the oldest trick in the book. And it was all due to Yumiko. She used a trick he never suspected. When it came to the cookies, she said she would bake them herself. Then Corey saw her almost cut herself so he had to offer her a hand. Then he discovered she couldn't do anything so he did it all by himself. The onesie was the worst. She

Arriving at the triads would have been a good idea if they were on the undead Luna. Because the king's island hadn't fallen yet. By Mikayla's suggestion, they returned to her ship to watch it. Corey was taking notes of the triads and how the triangle they seemed to form something weird at the center. At first the thought they formed a triangle, but now that he could see the shapes from a farther point. He was seeing more than just a triangle. The land beneath the king was an evacuated city. They were prepared for any of the triads to drop, so the very second it appeared, the leaders started to clear their people. Corey drew a sketch of the triad, sketching the crown of the king. And the dominos. They just had to wait for the drop to happen. Corey sat on the deck for two days. Only stepping out to bathe, and use the bathroom. His breathing was laboured, and his eyes were tired. But he was determined to get the next clue by watching the king fall. Sketching some more, Corey received a