Super Supportive

SIXTEEN: Boe, Part One

Boe, Part One

Alden stepped out of the elevator, yawning.

Maybe I really will go get breakfast before I come back.

It was five in the morning, but a coffee shop had to be open somewhere. It would be nice to hang out in a place other than consulate basement while he researched his new class.

He stopped by the vending machine to buy a fruit punch for Gorgon, then he headed toward the lobby desk.

So, Im a pre-affixed Chainer now, he said as he passed the alien the bottle of juice.

That is an extremely rare assignment. Gorgon spoke in the same totally inflectionless voice he always used when the conversation turned toward anything Alden might construe as advice.

It seemed like something I could trade more easily. The guy I got it from seemed to think so, too. I think I was really lucky, but he was a little odd about it. Im gonna go grab a bite and figure out why.

I see, said Gorgon. Thank you for the juice.

Alden hesitated, considering his next works carefully.

Im still thinking over what you said to me last night. Inoticed it.

He felt the need to acknowledge Gorgons hint now that he was positive there was no uncomfortable servitude thing going on between the two of them.

He had been relieved when he returned to the consulate last night with things that might qualify as actual luggage in hand, and the alien had completely ignored him. Alden had fumbled a two-person sleeping bag, snacks, bottled water, his book bag and his ancient laptop into the building. Yet Gorgon hadnt lifted a finger for him.

But he couldnt help noticing that the aliens gray skin was looking downright charred beneath his magical bonds.

So Gorgon had crossed some sort of line for Alden. And Alden didnt even know how to say thank you properly without possibly making the situation worse for him.

For a beat, the alien was silent.

Then, instead of replying to Aldens attempt to subtly express his gratitude, he said, I have received confirmation that you are allowed to have your friends accompany you into the trading room. They would only be able to provide you with moral support, however. My supervisor was disinclined to grant them temporary access to the trading interface.

Wow. Thank you. I really didnt even expect that much.

Gorgon shrugged. Normally, she would have been easier to persuade. But shes recently been penalized for consorting with a demon, and I believe shes trying to appear more law-abiding than usual.

Your supervisor hangs out with demons? Alden asked. Not like you, but actual monsters made of pure chaos?

He didnt have a lot of knowledge on real demons. Earth was only contractually obligated to deal with one or two a year, and they all landed in a controlled zone on Anesidora where they were demolished in a matter of seconds by a few hundred Avowed working together.

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No media were allowed, so the semi-annual event was never more than a minor headline.

Still, it didnt sound like they were beings youd want to consort with.

All Artonans of the highest ranks have interactions with what some might call true demons. My supervisor just picked a worse one than she should have.

Well, lets not make her mad, then, Alden said.

Indeed.

The conversation ended on that disturbing note, and Alden headed out.

The walk down the still-dark street cleared his head, and after a few blocks he came to a bakery that was just opening its doors. He ordered a matcha and bought a vegan brownie from the section of the case where the shop kept its day-old baked goods.

Despite multiple attempts to force-feed himself old favorites like shredded cheese and bacon, all Alden had managed to do so far was nearly choke to death.

He had confirmed that his new, magically enforced diet was only a diet though. It didnt affect other aspects of his life. He could still use one of his dads old leather belts, and hed enthusiastically murdered a cockroach hed found running across the kitchen floor a couple of nights past.

He might be able to make peace with the situation. Eventually.

At least the brownies really good.

He set his laptop up at a small corner table and started delving into the Chainer class. At first, it was all normal stuff. There were reputable sites with basic intel on the classs natural stat bonuses and a few surprisingly sparse lists of the starter skills offered to each rank.

Interestingly, Chainers didnt seem to have access to spells. Or at least none of them had ever publicly admitted to earning one. But the lack wasnt listed as an official class penalty, like it was with Brutes.

Must be a soft restriction.

It meant that System-granted spells were probably reserved for the classs S-ranks or as special rewards for leveling up.

The latter wasnt a clear-cut or guaranteed process for Avowed. Not in the same way it was in a video game.

Alden didnt know how it worked for Chainers, but for most classes, leveling only happened when youd had some organic epiphanies about your starter skills and expanded them through trial and error.

And depending on the skill, it wasnt alway easy to have such an epiphany.

Lots of people with the rare classes, who didnt have the benefit of collective experience to rely on, just floundered around for years trying to figure out what they were supposed to be figuring out.

But the deeper he dug, the more Alden realized that the Chainers were doing the opposite of floundering.

There was an entire multigenerational family full of them on Anesidora.

Which was one heck of a shock to Alden, since classes didnt run in families.

Avowed almost always married other Avowed. And more often than not, their children were chosen by the System. But though they tended to inherit ranks similar to their parents own, naturally they couldnt inherit classes.

They got the same random selection as everyone else.

Gorgon had told Alden that Avowed sometimes had strong opinions about their childrens class trades and got themselves overly involved. But this was something else.

Apparently, there were a few extended families on Anesidora that had managed to make sure almost every single one of their children ended up with the same class. It was usually done for the purpose of consolidating knowledge about the classes themselves, and it allowed the families to train children from birth with some degree of certainty about what their future would hold.

To get the classes they needed, these families took advantage of the trading option and offered hefty bonuses to purchase them when necessary.

The practice of class hoarding wasnt illegal. But it had become controversial in recent years. Not with the Artonans or with Earths governments, but with the other Avowed on the island.

Alden mostly gleaned his information from opinion pieces in Anesidoran blogs and newspapers. Various columnists complained that the families in question were getting a little too good at managing their skill and spell selections. And then they complained even more about the fact that the hoarders wouldnt share insights into their classes with people other than their own relatives.

It just seems like a lot of sour grapes.

High-ranking superhumans complaining that it wasnt fair other high-ranking superhumans were getting extra-special advice about build refinement from their own parents was pretty far removed from the average persons reality.

Alden felt like he was reading angry letters written by billionaires who didnt like the fact that bigger billionaires existed.

The Chainer familythe Velrasseemed to be one of the main targets of all the vitriol. And it quickly became obvious why.

They were collecting high-level wordchainsby having every family member select different ones from the System. And because they were wordchains and not skills, they could be shared with the other family members very easily. The Velras were a huge deal on Anesidora, and the only reason Alden had never heard of them was because almost none of them were active superheroes.

Apparently Keiko was the rogue family member, choosing to do her own thing in Tokyo. All the other prominent members worked for the Anesidoran government or held positions on elite battle squads that were only called out to deal with massive emergencies and the occasional demon-squashing event.

And unlike other families going down the single-class route, the Velras were making a serious attempt tomonopolize Chainer. They had somehow persuaded several Chainers they hadnt been able to claim in any other way to marry into their family. Others were associated with them by magical contract.

Theyd even adopted a few people.

Alden was seriously curious about what was going on with the class now. He was tempted to affix it just based on the fact that a family of superhumans had dedicated themselves to making sure nobody else got to play with it.

But he really didnt want one of the familys four S-ranks to swat him like a gnat the second he stepped foot on the island. Or force him to marry their children. Or slap a new surname on him.

Andrzej didnt want to sell the class to them because it would be a bad look for him and his Avowed uncle when theyre so controversial right now.

Thats why he told me I should pretend to be ignorant.

This wasgood for him. Really good. At least it was as long as Andrzej wasnt lying, and people werent going to try to burn a clueless newb at the stake if he traded the class to the Velras.

So maybe what happens now is I contact them, they pay me a ton of money for the class, and then I use it to pay someone else for whatever one I want?

But what if they dont have any kids eligible to receive the class in the next three months? How does that

The sound of his cellphone ringing interrupted his thoughts. It was Boe.

Hey, Alden said, still staring at his computer. Did you know theres a family that collects the Chainer class on Anesidora? Like, most of the people on Earth who have access to it are related to them in some way?

There was a moment of silence. Then, Boe said, Good morning to you, too. Why are you telling me about the Velras at the crack of dawn?

Ah. That was unusual behavior.

Sorry. Morning. Whats up?

You. Apparently. I havent even had coffee yet. Im calling to ask if youre coming to school today or if you want me to pick up your assignments?

Aldens guts twisted uncomfortably. He had to tell his friends sometime. And Boe was probably the right one to tell first, since theyd been friends longer.

He glanced toward the bakery counter. Nobody was there. The woman whod sold him the brownie was busy stocking the display case, and she kept disappearing into the kitchen.

Alden? You there?

Igot selected, he muttered quietly.

The connection went dead silent. The tone of his voice must have been enough for Boe to guess what he was selected for.

But when his friend didnt reply immediately, Alden thought maybe he needed to say it more clearly. Yesterday. Right after that Hamlet quiz fiasco. I got chosen as one of the

Dont say it over the phone. Boes tone was hard to place, but if Alden had to, hed put it somewhere between annoyed and afraid.

Which seemed like a strange reaction. But Alden had wandered out of school yesterday, gotten lost, and then called a rideshare from the parking lot of a random podiatrists office. So maybe the news was just the sort of thing that made everyone act a little off.

Where are you right now? Boe asked. With Gorgon?

Im at a bakery a few blocks away.

Ill come.

Alden was startled. You dont have to. We can just meet up after school.

Have you pulled the trigger yet?

Alden heard a series of loud bangs, as if his friend was opening and closing doors or drawers in rapid succession.

I havent affi

Dont say it over the phone. And good. Ill get dressed and be there in like an hour. Dont get excited and do anything stupid.

Whats that supposed to mean?

Boe was already gone.