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  “Rough night Boris?” Glitch teased the obviously sleep deprived bear as the sun rose.

  “A bear's duty is never done. Spent half the night chasing off bears.” Boris said while rolling over and scratching his belly.

  “Thank you for protecting us, Boris. But we could have helped.” Leo said.

  “You’re welcome Leo, but I felt the bears were something I should take care of myself.” Boris explained.

  “Sure you did.” Bandit snickered.

  “Let’s get moving. I hope to reach that first settlement today.” Glitch said.

  The morning passed uneventfully with Boris and Glitch taking out a few obstinate bears and the group making good time to the end of the valley. One highlight was Glitch reaching Tier A and selecting the Educator class to be added to his other classes, mainly for the high intelligence gains it offered. He was happy to see his stat gains from his human race doubled upon reaching the tier to +2 to all stats and +6 unassigned stats. None of his classes had reached Tier A yet, but he looked forward to doubling their stat gains/level also.

  Over the last couple days, he had picked up the last of the skills that gave boons (increased experience for followers) and buffs (followers gain a small % of Glitch’s stats) even though it may be some time before they become useful. He was currently picking up a balance of passive skills for himself and offensive or defensive skills that he felt might help round out his build.

  Glitch was confident that he was outgaining the creatures of the planet, but was curious to see where humans were and what kind of builds they were developing. Apparently him having such an unmanageable amount of skills to choose from was caused by the high level skills that had been unlocked when he integrated. Apparently, they unlocked all the skills normally required to unlock them. So he figured most humans would have a much more focused build.

  The exit to the valley pass was much like the entrance with a steep narrow gap with a few sharp turns coming out behind one mountain in a location that would be very hard to spot. The sixty wolves headed out to begin their scouting mission for Black Claw. while Glitch and his remaining group headed to the south west to find the road.

  As the scouts reached the road, Glitch had one group hold and the others head southwest. Soon after, the scouts on the move reported two groups of humans heading towards them. One team split and shadowed each group while the others continued southwest. As he reached the road, Glitch had the team left there continue as a rear guard and kept his remaining wolves split roaming on either side of the road as his companions stealthily followed him down the road. He himself remained un-stealthed hoping to meet the humans.

  However, things didn’t go as planned because the wolves trailing the humans reported that the second group had caught the first group and attacked them. “Shit.” Glitch said and ordered the wolves to move up and position themselves around the 2 groups. Glitch moved to the side of the road and stealthed moving towards the combat.

  Once in sight of the fight, Glitch saw 1 man down in the middle of the road and two men on top of two women with 3 men standing watching. “Boris, Bandit, Leo, Tonya take out the three men standing. Sassy watch for others. I’ve got the other two. Attack when I do“ He said hoping he was making the right decision. Carefully aiming, he counted to five before blowing the head off of one of the men attacking the women. Boris obliterated one man, sending him smashing into a tree as Bandit nearly ripped the head off of another and Leo hit the legs of the third as Tonya latched onto the back of the man’s neck before finishing him off on the ground. Glitch then shifted his aim and hit the final man center mass with another iron bolt as he finally became aware they were being attacked and started to stand.

  Casting heals on the down women and man, Glitch approached the two women on the ground. When he reached the first one he cast cleanse to remove the man’s blood that had splattered all over her. She then lifted her head and Glitch’s brain froze as he stared into the most beautiful pair of big blue eyes he had ever seen. The woman’s finely featured face wrinkled in confusion briefly before turning her head towards the other woman as her curly, strawberry blonde hair whipped in the breeze.

  Finally Glitch’s brain unfroze and he moved to the other woman, casting heal and was dumbstruck again by another pair of blue eyes with the same fine features and slightly darker straight red hair. Huh…must be twins. Recovering a little quicker, he moved to the downed man and cast heal on him and broke a healing capsule over a stab wound in his side. Once the man stabilized after another heal, Glitch turned toward the first woman.

  “What happened here?” Glitch asked.

  “John helped us get out of the town, but Grayson sent these guys after us. Why is your name Glitch?” the first woman asked.

  “How did you know my name?”

  Confused, the woman looked at him for a second before answering, “Uh…it’s right above your head. Did you not read the tutorial book and turn on name plates?”

  “Tutorial book? No, I didn’t get one. How do I turn on name plates?”

  “Think name plates on.” said the other woman getting to her feet.

  Name plates on. Glitch saw, “Kaitlyn, Level 15 Courtesan for the strawberry blonde, Ashley, Level 15 Courtesan for the auburn haired one, and John, Level 21 Guard.”

  “Why is your class listed as Unique? Why is your level shown as question marks? And why are you dressed so weird?” Ashley, the strawberry blonde asked.

  Glitch cast heal on John again while being bombarded with questions. Suddenly Ashley screamed and John sat up reaching for the empty scabbard on his side. Glitch put a hand on John to hold him in place and followed Ashley’s gaze to the polar bear, lion, tiger, and wolf (who gave Glitch a sly wink) that were sitting on the side of the road by the three dead bodies.

  “Everybody relax. They are my friends. Short version is there was an error in my file when I integrated, I got a bunch of skills I shouldn’t have, and my name’s not really Glitch. Save the rest of the questions for later. Bandit, ask the wolves to find a safe spot for us to plan our next move.” Bandit, headed into the woodline as Sassy appeared behind the women. Glitch helped the two women and John to their feet, casting one more heal on John. All three of them just stared at him as he stood up straight.

  “Leo and Tonya, loot these guys.” Noticing the stares, “What?” Glitch asked, wondering what was wrong now.

  “How high are your stats? You’re huge.” John asked and the women giggled causing John to roll his eyes.

  “Really high. Are you three ready to move?” Glitch asked. Receiving nods from everybody, Glitch ushered everybody into the woodline out of sight from the road to wait to hear back from Bandit.

  A few minutes later, Bandit let him know they had a good spot and Glitch led everybody to where Bandit was. “Bandit, ask the wolves to secure the area.”

  “Already on it boss.”

  Sitting down to gather his thoughts, his companions settled in behind him, except for Sassy who was closely inspecting the 3 newcomers. “Okay…let’s see where to begin. I have several classes. One of which is Druid. The bear, Boris, the wolf, Bandit, the tiger, Tonya, the lion, Leo, and the cat, Sassy are my companions.”

  “His name plate says, ‘Stumbles’” Kaitlyn pointed out.

  “He prefers Bandit. I integrated by myself on the other side of the mountains and these are the friends I’ve made along the way plus a few hundred wolves.”

  “A few hundred?” John asked in shock.

  “Yes, their pack leader Black Claw is a good buddy. I’ve only got forty with me now with another sixty scouting for Black Claw on this side of the mountains. You can recognize Black Claw members by the collars I made. Any other urgent questions before you tell me what’s going on in the town?”

  “What are you wearing?” Ashley asked.

  “I had to make my own armor. What, you don’t like my style?” Glitch did his best to strike a runway pose..

  “The crown is a bit much?” Kaitlyn said.

  Feigning offense, Glitch replied, “I’ll have you know this is the height of fashion where I come from.”

  “You said you were the only one there.” Kaitlyn pointed out.

  “And I assume you didn’t have any mirrors?” Ashley added.

  Glitch glanced at John who raised his hands in a “I’m not part of this” way.

  “Any who. Tell me about the town.” Glitch steered the conversation back on topic.

  “We integrated into a small town with about a thousand other people and things were going good. We had a few crafters, and some merchants, and the guard was doing a good job protecting the town. People were forming groups to go hunting or gathering, but then the alliance showed up. They took over the town. Took all the best gear and took everybody’s credits. They force everybody to work for them.” Ashley started.

  And Kaitlyn finished, “People were disappearing and women were being raped.”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  John nodded, “Their leader Grayson has been after the twins since he got there. Last night, I heard he had ordered the twins to be found and brought to him, so I snuck them out of town.”

  “What is this alliance? How high are their levels? And how many are there?”, Glitch asked.

  “Alliance of Anarchy. There’s more than fifty of them. High levels too. All of them are at least level 30. We only had fifteen guards, barely level 10 when they showed up. The leaders are approaching level 50.” John answered.

  “Are all of the alliance murderers and rapists?” Glitch asked.

  “No. I’d say half of them are just going along because it's the best thing they can do. I’ve overheard some in the tavern talking about leaving, but they don’t know where to go.” John replied.

  “Okay, so try not to kill them all. Is there a wall around the town?”

  “Yes, but the gate has been damaged and isn’t fixed yet. They can lock it, but it won’t hold up to much.”

  “Do you trust the guards?”

  “Yes, they feel bad for what has happened and not being strong enough to stop it.”

  “Can you sneak into the city and get word to the guards?”

  “Yes. What do you want me to tell them?”

  “To have the alliance members that want out to surrender to them and move them out of town before morning. Keep them under guard, until I’m finished in the morning. Make sure you all err on the side of caution and not take any risks. If they aren’t sure an alliance member will surrender, don’t approach them. Let the Gate guards know I will be coming at first light and not to interfere.”

  “You’re going to take them all on?”

  Pointing at Sassy Glitch asked, “What level is she?”

  “I can’t tell.”

  Pointing to the others, “What level are they?”

  “The lion is a level 47, but I can’t tell on the rest.”

  “The others are all over level 50 and so are the wolves. Boris and I are way above that. The biggest worry will be how to keep as many of the less guilty alliance members alive.” Pulling out some raspberries, an apple, and health, and stamina jerky Glitch gave it to John. “Do you use a shield with your sword?”

  “Yes.”

  Glitch motioned Boris over, “Drop all the weapons and equipment. John, take what you can carry and give it to the guards.”

  “These all have affixes. Where did you find all this?” John asked.

  “That’s a story for later. Before you go, I’m going to add you to my party and if it’s ok with you, I’ll bind you to the party so that I can resurrect you if you die. I’ll release the bind tomorrow after everything settles down” Glitch assigned him and sent the bind request.

  John accepted both, but questioned, “You can resurrect me? My stats went up!”

  “Remember, I have a bunch of skills I shouldn’t have yet. Binding and buffing are a couple of them. Don’t do anything that will put the plan at risk though.”

  John loaded up on gear and headed out. Sassy, follow him. Let me know if anything happens to him or anything else jeopardizes the plan. Stay in stealth around him. “So ladies, what kind of weapons do you prefer?” Kaitlyn asked for a bow, which Leo had in his inventory along with a few arrows. Ashley took a dagger from Tonya. Glitch suggested a short spear also for Ashley and a dagger for Kaitlyn. They both took some leather armor and went behind a tree to change. When they returned, the tight fitting outfits caused Glitch’s brain to short circuit which he attempted to cover by kneeling and adjusting his boot laces causing both Bandit and Boris to snort while Tonya and Leo looked at each other confused.

  Glitch took a seat hoping the girls would follow suit and make the view a little less distracting. He pulled out some meat and firewood from his inventory and started cooking some meat. “So you ladies have the courtesan class. I can assign you to me to give you some stat boosts and bind you temporarily so I can resurrect you if anything happens to you?”

  “You’re a lord?” They both asked.

  “Yes, and also earl, duke, king, emperor, and others. Some of the many skills and titles I shouldn’t have. But I’m hoping to find people to take care of all that for me. I’m more of a hands-on kind of guy. I hope to use my skills to help people get stronger so we can survive this integration. I don’t really want to be stuck in politics.”

  The girls just stared at him, so he went ahead and sent the invitations.

  “What the hell is a Multi-Planar Emperor and how did you become one?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “I guess that’s one of the “and other” titles. Holy shit that’s a lot of stats.” Ashley said as she accepted the assignment.

  “Hmmm…It says I can assign you specialties. Are either of you artists?” The girls shook their heads. “ Executive…that sounds like management. Want to run things for me?” Again two shakes of their heads. “General, Social Event Manager, a bunch of crafting ones, any of those sound like a good fit?” Nope again. “Well that leaves spymaster, assassin, and lover. I know which one I’d choose.” he said giving the girls his best dirty old man eyebrow raises.” Causing the girls to laugh before shaking their heads. “That’s okay. We can talk to Grove and pick later if you decide to stick with me for a while.”

  “Who’s Grove?” they both asked.

  “Oh, he’s probably the most powerful being on the planet. He’s The Grove Guardian… Most likely by far the strongest being on the planet. He’s an integration specialist. He will answer any questions you have about the system and can offer advice if he wants to and he runs our gym for us. Oh, and he prefers to be called Groot.” he said with a devious smile.

  “I don’t know if I trust you on the Groot part.” Ashley said.

  “Ahhh, you’re no fun.” Glitch said. “Speaking of which, I’ve got some work to do. Should only take a few minutes. I’ll leave Boris, Leo, and Tonya here. And you can’t see them, but you’re surrounded by wolves, so you should be more than safe.”

  “Boris, Leo, Tonya, keep an eye on Tweedle Beautiful and Tweedle Gorgeous. I’m going to plant a tree. Bandit, you’re with me.”

  Glitch moved out back to the road to plant another acorn, returning a little more than a half hour later. While out, Glitch was rethinking his plan and didn’t like how he wasn’t taking advantage of their stealth abilities. And he didn’t really want to twiddle his thumbs in the woods all night, so he thought he’d try something to thin out the opposition and possibly cut the head off of the snake.

  Once back Glitch asked Boris, “I’m back. No problems?”

  “None at all. They spent most of the time arguing over which one was gorgeous and which one was beautiful. However, as they argued their eyes never stopped watching everything. Your new females are smarter than they try to appear. They will be great allies or great pains in the ass.”

  “They are just friends, Boris and I agree. There seems to be a lot going on behind those eyes. Hopefully they’ll stick with us for a while, those beauties could make excellent spies or assassins.”

  “Boris has lots of new friends too.”

  “Not those kind of friends, Casanova.”

  Glitch walked over to Kaitlyn and Ashley and asked, “Ladies, no problems while I was out.”

  “No, your companions watched us the entire time, so we didn’t really want to move too much.” Ashley said.

  “Oh…I told them to keep an eye on you. Might have taken it a bit literally. I don’t want you to feel like prisoners, even if you sort of are until we see what’s going on in the town.” Glitch shrugged.

  “So we are prisoners?” Both girls raised their eyebrows at that.

  “Only for a short time. Operational security and all that. Don’t worry, I have no intention of forcing you to stay with me. Sassy is keeping an eye on John and we’ll move forward in a bit, so I can plant some more trees and communicate with her to see if John seems to be on the level.” Hoping he came off as more of a devious mastermind then someone winging it and changing the plan every five minutes.

  “What is with you and the tree planting?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Expanding Grove’s influence. If I feed them enough Mana, Stamina, Spirit, and Health, the acorns grow into full trees in a couple hours. As long as I keep the trees within 5-10 miles of each other, Grove can add them as an extension of the grove. You’ll meet Grove tomorrow. He’ll be a great asset to the town.”

  “Bandit, can we get one team to move forward following the road and get eyes on the town gate?”

  “Sure. No problem.” Bandit replied and one of the sergeants stepped into the clearing for a second to meet eyes with Bandit before taking off.

  When they were done, Glitch says, “You’re doing great with the wolves for being so young. I appreciate the help.”

  “They know I’m not really in charge, but they give me some of the respect they give Dad and they also respect me as your companion. But don’t worry, they’ll let me know if we ask them to do something they feel goes against Dad’s orders or if I’m about to “Glitch” something up.”

  “Glitch something up?”

  “Oh, that became a thing after the second time Boris got you, but it kind of started when we were able to cut you off from the Grove that one day.” Bandit replied with a lowering of his head that Glitch interpreted as a shrug.

  Not wanting to Glitch up his response, Glitch just moved on. “Ladies. You ready to go? Bandit let the wolves know.”

  A couple minutes later, they moved out. “So…what’s it mean to Glitch something up.” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Oh, it’s just something the wolves came up with. It means to do something crazy and have it work brilliantly.” Bandit barked out a laugh so loud he broke stealth and the girls shared a knowing look.

  “Sorry. Swallowed a bug..” Bandit explained.

  The group with their wolf shadows angled towards the road and to the next spot Glitch wanted to plant another acorn. Over the next few hours, the group worked their way towards town while the forward recon of wolves kept eyes on the gate to warn them if anyone headed their way.

  Once they approached the wolves in overwatch, he left Leo and the other wolves in a secure position behind the recon team. He moved carefully towards the wall a short distance from the gate with Boris, Tonya, and Bandit, his best stealth companions. As soon as they were in position, he reached out to Sassy. “Hey Sas, how’s everything going?”

  “Pretty good. He snuck in a small gate on the North side, then went to the guard office. The man he talked to called in other guards and they seem to be doing as you wanted. “

  “Okay. I’m going to try and contact him in party chat. If I can’t reach him, I’m going to need you to get him to the main gate to let me in.”

  “Hey John. It’s Glitch. Can you go to the main gate and have them open it for a few seconds?” Glitch asked.

  “Yes. What’s up? I thought you were coming in the morning.” John replied.

  “Change in plans. Boris, Sassy, Bandit, Tonya, and I are almost impossible to spot in stealth, so we’re going to use that to even the odds some this evening.”

  “Are you sure? That’s pretty risky.”

  “We’ll be able to fight our way out pretty easy if it goes to shit.”

  “Oh. I’ve got some important info. Want it now or later?”

  “What do you got?”

  “Grayson, his team, and about fifteen of the strongest of the alliance left town this morning to go to a village.”

  “That makes things easier. Give me about a ten second warning before you open the gate. Just have them open it wide and act like they are adjusting it or something but leave about ten feet width open for us to sneak through, then close it after about a minute.”

  “Okay. Headed there now. They don’t have any alliance at the gate at night, so this should work.

  Speaking only to Sassy, he then sent, “Sassy, he should be heading to the gate to open it for us. Let me know if he seems to be planning any funny business.”

  It took John a few minutes to get to the gate. He talked to the guards briefly before walking to the gate and pointing at the hinges. One of the guards he had been talking to walked to the other Gate and pointed to the hinges there. They then called over a couple of guards to open the gate and all four seemed to be closely inspecting the hinges for about a minute before they closed the gate.

  “Meet us behind the Blacksmith John.” Glitch sent via party chat.

  Once there, John saw nothing before nearly shitting his pants when Glitch showed himself only a couple feet away. “Holy shit. I couldn’t sense you at all. Are the others here?”

  “Yeah, we’re pretty sneaky. Sassy has been with you since you left us.” Glitch said with a hard look in his eye, carefully watching John’s reaction which as far as he could tell was a little surprised, a brief look around, and back at Glitch, but no obvious signs of worry that he was caught in a lie. Satisfied that Sassy was probably correct in that John was doing what was told, Glitch continued, “How many alliance members have surrendered?”

  “We have 7 outside the north wall secured by a few guards. They handed over their equipment before we moved them out.”

  “Seven, with about twenty one out on patrol, that only leaves about thirty in town?”

  “Ten more came in while I was gone. They were all in the high 30’s in levels.”

  “Any idea when Grayson will be back?”

  “Morning after next is what the captives told us.”

  “Okay, who was the man in the guard office you spoke to?”

  “Captain Jean. The guard commander. He’s tough, but a good guy.”

  “If you gained control of the town, would he be your first pick as guard commander?”

  “Yes. You’d probably lose most of the guard if you replaced him.”

  “Okay, let’s go talk to him. We’ll follow you. Remember Boris is big, so nothing too tight til we get to the office.” Glitch told John and went back into stealth.

  “Boris left. Tonya, Bandit right. Sassy rear security. Spread out and parallel us using your maps. Let me know if we are heading into an ambush. Do not engage unless told to” Glitch sent to only his companions before following John. A few minutes later, they approached what looked like the Guard offices. “I think we are here. Sassy rear of building. Tonya left. Bandit right. Boris front. I’ll let you know if I need any help.”

  John paused at the door. “Go ahead John. I’m right behind you.” Glitch sent in party chat. John entered and walked down a hallway to an open door to a large plain office with a desk and a fit man appearing to be in his late 30’s with a high and tight haircut. Definitely ex-military. John knocked on the door frame.

  “Come in John. Did you get whatever Glint wanted you to do, done?” Captain Jean asked.

  “Glitch. Yes. He wanted to come into town and would like to speak with you.” John stated.

  Starting to stand, Captain Jean said, :”Well let’s not keep him waiting. Take me to Glitter.” Looking like his eyes were going to pop out of his head, John tried to speak. Captain Jean froze halfway up for a second before sitting back down and placing his hands slowly on the desk, keeping them in plain sight. “So…I’m going to assume he’s standing right behind me and hope that since I don’t have the tip of a sword sticking out of my chest that he really does just want to talk?”

  “Yes, sir.” Glitch said as he stepped around to the front of the desk. “I’m here to give you the courtesy of letting you know I’lll be conducting an operation in your town tonight. I plan on eliminating all of the alliance tonight.”