“What’s so funny?” Zily asked him.
Kente turned to look at her. “I keep waiting for Marke to turn the page.” He said. “I’m not used to this.” He chuckled and returned to his book.
Marke simultaneously felt on top of the world and like he had lost his best friend. Kente has a body of his own now, but I’m all alone in my head again. He thought to himself. I will need to have Kente explain what he was doing while managing all my System stuff. Marke frowned a little at that thought. “Hey Kente…” He started to say. He stopped, suddenly feeling awkward at Zily overhearing his discussion with Kente. “Um, never mind.” He said. Instead, he turned to Zily. “Do you know any telepathy magic?” He asked.
Zily shook her head. “Mind magic will get you in trouble almost as much as necromancy.” She said.
“We could always speak in english.” Kente suggested–in english.
“Yes, but using a semi-secret language in front of other people will usually be rude.” Marke replied, also in english.
“What are you talking about?” Zily asked.
“Marke thinks talking in our shared language would be rude.” Kente said.
“Who’s Marke?” Zily asked.
“Oops.” Kente said. Marke placed his palm to his forehead and closed his eyes in disbelief.
“I used to be called Marke.” Marke said. “But my name is now Dingo. Kente still calls me Marke, but he has also called me Dingo. My name is Dingo.” Marke insisted.
“Sorry, Dingo.” Kente said.
Zily looked confused. “Why would you change your name?” She asked.
Marke felt a rising feeling of embarrassment. “It’s… embarrassing. I would rather not say why.” He said.
“I called him a dingo because I was mad at him. He changed his name as an apology.” Kente said.
“Kente!” Marke protested.
Zily’s eyes went wide. “Is Dingo an insult? Have we all been insulting you this entire time?” She asked. Her voice rose in pitch with every word.
“No!” Marke shook his head. “No, it’s-”
Kente interrupted. “It’s a kind of wild dog.” He said. “They are notorious for eating babies.”
“Kente!” Marke shouted. “Zily, please excuse us a moment.” Marke stepped away from the elven hero and furiously shout-whispered at Kente in english. “Kente, you can’t just say every thought out loud anymore! You have to keep your inside thoughts inside now.” He said.
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“I know this.” Kente said, indignant. “I’ve been keeping your mouth shut plenty, I know what I’m doing.” He said.
Marke shook his head. “You can’t talk like you’re me or talk to other people like you talk to me. If Zily got insulted, she could smash you to pieces by breathing in your direction too hard. It’s my job to keep you safe and I will have a hard time if no one can respect us.” He said.
“I didn’t ask for your protection.” Kente said sullenly. “I don’t need your help.” He said.
Marke sputtered for a moment. “What are you talking about?” He said.
Kente didn’t reply for several moments. “Yeah, you’re right. That was a stupid thing to say. I think I just felt like you-telling-me-what-to-do was the same as being trapped in your head. That’s not fair, it wasn’t your fault that I was trapped for so long.” Kente was silent for a moment. “Sorry, just tried to sigh, but I don’t breath so it didn’t work. Anyway, I still don’t want you to tell me what to do.” He said.
“So what are we going to do? How are we going to work this out?” Marke asked.
“I’m not sure.” Kente said. “I’ll think about it as you walk.” He said.
Marke took a deep breath and nodded. He walked back to Zily to see an odd expression on her face. “Yes?” He asked.
“I’m sorry.” Zily said. “I don’t mean to tease, but the two of you just had an argument without even looking at each other. You just stared at the side of the road the entire time.” Zily covered her mouth but couldn’t stop a short laugh escaping.
Marke sighed, feeling deflated, but Kente began to laugh and Marke joined in quickly. Soon, all three were laughing as they walked down the road.
—————
“Priority Check.” Kente said. “We haven’t done one in a while.” He closed his book and set it on the side table next to the only chair.
Marke nodded from his position on the bed. “Priority One: Don’t suffer. I think there is nothing obvious in that area.” He said.
“Priority Two: Don’t die.” Kente said. “All good.” He drummed his fingers on the book.
“Is it?” Marke asked. “We know how tough I am, but what about you?” Marke pointed at the book. “What have you learned about golems?”
“Mmmmm… ok, maybe we have a bit of Priority Two work. We have to learn more about golems and artifacts and summoning before we can be sure about me.” Kente said.
“Priority Three: Self Care.” Marke said. “We talked about visiting the ophidians to learn their tai chi movements. Are you going to do tai chi with me?” Marke asked.
Kente nodded. “Sure. Priority Four: Hobbies. I’m kind of bored of baskets and juggling–we need another hobby.” He said.
“Maybe swordplay?” Marke suggested. Kente just shrugged, so Marke continued. “Priority Five: Break the System. We haven’t put much effort into that in this realm.” He said. “I think we still have more to do here and there’s no reason to investigate the System yet.”
“Agreed.” Kente said. “To summarize: Learn about golems, artifacts, and summons; visit the ophidians; find more hobbies.” He said.
“Kente, I forgot to ask before, do you have your own System screens now?” Marke asked.
Kente laughed. “It’s funny, I thought I didn’t for a while because I forgot it defaults to verbal activation, but then I got a notification of ‘Athleticism +1’ when I was doing pushups. Here, take a look.” Kente made a throwing gesture.
Name: Kente the Magnificent
Level: 1
Race: Possessed Wood Golem Artifact
Traits
----
Athleticism: 1
Stats
----
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 30
Wisdom: 10
Luck: 5
Marke laughed at Kente’s choice of name then frowned. “How come you are so much smarter than I was?” He asked. “And luckier, didn’t I have a luck of 1?”
“You did.” Kente’s face lacked many options for expressions, but he managed to imply a smirk. “And I don’t know why my intelligence is so high, unless I kept some of the stats from previous realms, it must have something to do with our combined experience or the trans-summoning ritual.” Kente picked his book back up. “Go eat some dinner. I’ll stay here and keep reading.” Kente said.
“Alright, have fun.” Marke said. He and Zily had a dinner reservation at a strange restaurant that only made crackers, and Marke was interested in seeing how they made an entire meal out of that.
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