Chapter One Hundred and Two - Is that a Velociraptor?

I left the portal and... walked off.

What was I even supposed to do? Pick a fight with the wizard? That seemed very unwise. The moment I was out and heading over to my bike (two guys were lingering near it until I told them to fuck off. A Shadow Bolt shot past their heads encouraged them to scamper) I started it up and rode down the culvert some ways.

I stopped eventually for two things.

First, to punch in the address the wizard had given me. It was... not that far from here, which was not surprising. What was surprising was that it was an address that led to a large food court beneath a smaller hotel. The kind of place that had seventeen chain restaurants all squeezed in close together and a large open space with tables and chairs for eating.

There was an active D-rank portal there? But that was a super-public space?

Shaking my head, I then started to look up local wizards. That proved a little trickier. There were a few shops that sold nerd shit that kept crowding into my search results. Eventually I found it, though. There was a F-ENE forum that had a whole section dedicated to talking shit about local rankers. Theory-crafting, who was stronger, versus, sightings, all that lame shit.

I logged into my account and made a quick post:

Topic: Spotted a Wizard

In: F-ENE Sightings

ILoveLouise69 ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ ɴovelfire.net

Sunday 29th - 20:09:47

Hey, I saw a wizard today. He felt strong. Was in a D-rank portal when he just showed up. Anyone know who it is? Short fatso, looks like he's 20-something. Water mage, probably? Might be a C-ranker?

---

It took a solid five minutes for some hater to pop in and start talking shit.

HopelessWeb

Sunday 29th - 20:14:04

Moron. How would you even meet a D-ranker in a portal?

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VeryCuteDuckyinJorts

Sunday 29th - 20:14:45

@-HopelessWeb By being in the portal too?

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Wolfknapper

Sunday 29th - 20:15:55

Wait... was the wizard hat bluish? Was he wearing a leather coat? That might be Jim the Enchanter.

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AnIMP

Sunday 29th - 20:16:21

Jim's NOT his real name. No one knows what it is. But he's like, at least a B-ranker. Or like, a high-C. He just shows up and does stuff.

---

I read through the forum, which of course immediately went off-topic, proving once again that the internet was a mistake. I hummed to myself. Jim the Enchanter? Wasn't that some old reference to something?

Well, whatever. The dude was a high-C ranker, or a B-ranker. That made him someone I basically couldn't mess with. Strange how I couldn't feel him at all. Did all C-rankers have the ability to keep their magic in tight like that, or was that unique to Jim?

I had to abandon my bike in the culvert. There was no easy way to get it out, but it wasn't like my destination was far. It was just a few streets over.

It was late already, enough that the sun had set, but some places were still open, and there were still people out on the streets. No one stopped me as I made my way over to the food court. It was underground, so the fastest way to access it from the direction I was coming in was through a subway entrance where a few beggars were lazily asking for coins from anyone passing through. Not the nicest part of the city.

I yawned as I went down. Not just physically tired, but a bit mentally tired as well. I'd spent... what, twenty loops doing training today? My brain was filled to bursting with new techniques and practice from a few skills. It was a lot to take in and recall, and I still had a whole week of shit to prep for.

Making my way into the food court, I came to a slow stop and looked around.

It was quiet. A few places were closed, and those that weren't had small, anemic lines by them. About a quarter of the tables were taken. Some by small groups of teens, others by lone workers on their way home. There was a fair bit of foot traffic, but it wasn't hurried.

I moved over to a coffee place, ordered something cold and filled with caffeine, then sat.

That sonavabitch wizard had lied.

The address he'd given me was for an ice-cream spot that I was looking at across the court. It closed at seven.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Obviously, there was no portal going on. I couldn't sense anything, and no one was running around screaming.

Dammit.

What a waste of my time. I sipped at my drink and checked my phone. I'd... probably Reload in a few minutes, but I wanted to see what I could find about Jim from here. I was probably going to make my next Reload the 'true' loop, and I needed to figure out what to do in that one.

Probably hit the gym again.

That convo with Natalie had been awkward, but she was a good trainer, and I figured I owed her a bit. Plus I wanted to build up my muscle and that wouldn't happen if I only ever trained in lost loops.

I looked up as I felt something. Magic. A C-ranker, maybe? It wasn't impossible that one of them would be around, but it would be kind of uncommon.

But no, it was different than that.

I stood up, iced coffee still in hand and scanned the room. Nothing stood out, but the hairs on my arms were rising. What was...

I focused on the ice cream place as the air around it warped and shifted. People started to notice, and the general hum of conversation shifted. Then there were a few alarmed shouts. E-rankers who could probably tell what was happening.

The portal ripped itself open, the lights flickered, the shitty music over the loudspeakers warbled and changed pitch.

A portal. Fresh and brand new.

Damn. Had the wizard predicted this, or did he just have a way of knowing?

People were running now. There was a lot of public education shit out there telling people to get away. A few were sticking around. Some teens were encouraging each other to stay, and I overheard them mentioning E-rank, so... yeah, idiots.

I moved over to the portal, paused in front of it, then stepped in while ignoring someone calling for me to back up.

I took a moment to centre myself once I was within. This portal led to a large room... no, a large depression in the ground. There was a slight rise to one side, and above that a jungle. A small pool of stagnant water sat in the middle of the space, not too far from the portal, with large roots dipping into it. The space smelled strongly of dirt and moss and plants.

Slowly, I turned and scanned the place. Nothing stood out, though...

I jumped back as a vine fell from above and smacked the ground where I'd been standing.

Coincidence?

No, probably not. Especially when I heard a low growl coming from behind some bushes nearby. I tried to scan the area, to see what it was that caused that, but I couldn't see anything.

Frowning, I raised a hand slightly, focused, then case Grasping Growth. Not well, but... yeah, this was a magic-rich environment with a lot of plants.

The bushes and grass shifted around, grasping for anything that moved.

And then the monster hidden in the bushes leapt out, tearing itself free as it ran perpendicular to where I was.

I caught sight of it then, properly seeing its shape and size. It was nearly as tall as I was, with a large head and feather-covered body.

"Ah, fuck," I said.

That had been a fucking velociraptor.

Worse, it was green. Its skin was a mottled grey-brown, but its feathers were the exact same colour as the bushes and grass growing around here, and the texture of both made them hard to make out from the greenery.

I lost sight of it almost as soon as it was back behind some trees.

Yeah... no.

I Reloaded.

Back home, I moved back into my apartment and just sat down to think.

Now what?

Was I too tired to take on a second portal in what was essentially two days?

Maybe, a little. Solo would be tough. But I could do it, I thought. It would just be a lot of work.

I slumped back onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. I didn't have to do it solo, though.

Actually, that might be a good opportunity, no? I pulled out my phone and looked up the monsters, then read through what public info there was on them. Mid-D-rank threat. Sometimes capable of very basic magic. Relatively strong, very fast, clever.

I could take them on.

But it would be easier with company.

And it might be a good way to bond with Fran as well. I just needed to arrange to have the right gear with me first. Gear for me and for Fran too.

Hmm...

Was that worth it?

***