Magnus Chane and the Conquest Protocol

Training with Jordan in the morning started strangely normal. Magnus didn’t know what he was expecting, but he’d definitely imagined Jordan being at least a little bit different considering what happened mere hours ago.

But instead, she’d given him the same curt nod as usual, then started barking orders as if she hadn’t just seen him die and come back to life. They warmed up, she put him through the usual torture, and for a few minutes, Magnus genuinely wondered if last night had been a dream his brain cooked up after he died and came back to life. Or maybe last night had somehow reset itself in her head overnight, filed away and forgotten the way some things apparently just were for Jordan Hale.

Then, mid-stretch, he caught her looking — no, staring — at him, then immediately scowling when his eyes met hers. It happened two more times in the next five minutes, like she was checking whether he was actually solid or might dissolve if she looked away.

“…It really happened,” he said carefully. “You didn’t imagine it. I really did die and come back.”

Jordan scoffed, like he’d just insulted her intelligence. “I know that.”

She walked to her bag, pulled out two pairs of boxing gloves, and threw one at his chest. “We’re sparring today.”

He looked down at the gloves he barely caught, then back at her. “Is this just an excuse so you can punch me?”

“I don’t need any excuse to punch you.” She was already pulling her own gloves on. “Now hurry up and put them on so I can punch you.”

Magnus stared at her for a few seconds, then sighed and started putting the gloves on. “Please go easy on me!”

“No promises.”

The training session ended like every other one: with Magnus lying flat on the grass, looking up at the passing clouds and deeply contemplating the meaning of life and the decisions that had led him to this moment while aching — and probably bruising today too, considering how hard Jordan had hit him — in places he didn’t even know he had.

A water bottle bounced off his chest. He groaned and reached for it before it could roll off.

Jordan slung her bag over her shoulder.

“Tell your girlfriend to meet me at the usual place at 4 PM. She can decide whether to bring you along or not,” she said as she started walking away.

She made it a few steps before stopping and glancing back at him. “And I’m glad you’re still alive, Chane.”

Magnus blinked.

“Don’t read into that,” she added. “And don’t forget to send my message to Reyes.”

She was walking away again. “I need to punch her, too.”

Then she was gone, and Magnus lay there for another moment longer than strictly necessary before dragging himself upright.

“Yeah.” He took a swig of water, muttering to himself. “Sounds about right.”

***

Magnus met Alex in front of the cafeteria after that. She was sitting on the wooden bench out front, checking something on her phone. Her eyes lit up when she actually saw his familiar figure approaching.

“Jordan actually made good on her threat last night,” he said as she threw herself into his arms while bystanders groaned around them.

“You’re not filming The Notebook…” someone muttered nearby.

“Stop hugging each other every morning like you’d just been back from a war!” another voice agreed with the first.

Magnus blushed a little while Alex was entirely unbothered.

“Which one? The punching us in the face one?”

“Yeah, that,” he said. “She also has a message for you, by the way.”

He relayed it: the usual place, four o’clock, her choice whether he came along. “And, she said she needed to punch you, too.”

Alex snorted. “Told you. That’s just how she shows love.”

“So you did.” He rolled his eyes, then added after a moment. “So, do you want me to come along?”

She considered it for a moment, then shook her head.

“Not today. You can come along some other time. Today it should be between me and her.”

Magnus frowned. “What? You two gonna badmouth me or something?”

“Something like that.” She giggled and pulled him along toward the cafeteria.

They were at the entrance when someone — two someones — stepped into view.

“Magnus Chane.” Emily Carter held out her hand. “We meet again.”

“…You're… Emily! Carter!” His brain supplied the information that was apparently spilling out of his mouth in real time. “Brooke’s… uh, friend! Lila’s cousin!”

“Good, you remember.” Emily smiled and tilted her head toward the young man standing beside her. “And this is Dashiell. We’re here on official Student Council business.”

Magnus glanced over and frowned, visibly trying to figure out who he was. Dash simply gave him a polite nod.

Alex elbowed Magnus lightly and cleared her throat.

“Emily. Dash,” she said. “Why do the Student Council President and Vice President wish to see us?”

“Right.” Emily smiled. “We’d like to talk to both of you about you joining the Student Council.”

Before Magnus could think of a response or even figure out why this was happening, the System decided to complicate matters.

Time Limit: Complete by Sunday at Midnight.

Emily was still continuing her pitch, entirely unaware. “And, Alex, we’d also like you to consider running for President next term.”

“After we graduate,” Dash added. “We think you’d be a good fit.”

Alex looked between them. “Look, guys. I’m very flattered you’d think that, but—”

Magnus’s hand found hers and squeezed.

She glanced at him and immediately recognized the look in his eyes. It was a conversation they’d had many times before, in different circumstances and with different people, in the past few months. Emily Carter had been picked by his System as this week’s target.

Her expression changed almost imperceptibly.

“—we should probably discuss it in more detail before giving you an answer,” she pivoted. “How about the four of us meet again some other time this week?”

Emily smiled. “That works.”

They exchanged a few more words and their contact info before the two couples went their separate ways.

***

Once Magnus and Alex had their food and were seated, Alex looked across the table at him. “So… Emily Carter, huh?”

Magnus was rubbing his temples. “Yeah. And correct me if I’m wrong, but the guy she was with, that’s… that’s her boyfriend, right?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. Dash, the Student Council President. They’re quite a famous couple around campus.”

“I mean,” she added after a moment, “they probably don’t have the kind of manic social media follow we do on the account neither of them talks to raccoons, but—”

His groan cut her off. “Please don’t remind me!”

She snorted. “Okay, back to business then?”

“Alex.” He peeked out from between his fingers. “She’s in a relationship.”

“I know.”

“She has a boyfriend.”

“Yes. That has not changed since the last two times you stated it in the past five minutes.”

“And you’re not concerned about that?” he asked. “Because that seems like a pretty significant problem.”

“I mean…” She stole a forkful of his eggs. “We’ve technically dealt with something similar before.”

He blinked at her. “You mean Maya and Chloe?”

She nodded.

“But that’s different. Maya trusted you. And after that day in town, she trusted me.”

“Uh huh.” She pointed her fork at him. “What happened in town that day, by the way? You still haven’t told me.”

“And I won’t ever tell you. That’s a blood oath between Sofia, Maya, and me.”

“You know that just makes me want to know more, right?”

“Can we please just… get back to the problem at hand?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Fine. But this is not over.”

Then she cleared her throat, shifting into business mode.

“We don’t know what their relationship is like,” Alex began slowly. “We don’t know what either of them would think about something like this. So, we feel them out first. Get an idea of where they stand, see how things go.”

Magnus rubbed his temples again. “I hate how reasonable that sounds.”

“You’re welcome.” She shrugged. “How’s Sofia’s Trust, by the way?”

He opened his quest menu and glanced at the Monthly Quest’s progression. “Eighty-eight out of ninety, but it’s been stalling. And the deadline is the same time as Emily’s quest.”

“About that…” Alex bit her lower lip. “I’ve been talking with Sofia. We’re thinking about another threesome… if you’re okay with that, too.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s a form of showing and building mutual trust between all of us. Trusting that it’s just sex and won’t make things awkward or complicated between the three of us.” She let that sink in, then added: “I trust her, and I trust you. And we both think that this might just push the trust between you two past the ninety-percent threshold.”

“Okay,” he said after a few minutes of consideration. “Then I’m in.”

“Great.” She clapped her hands together. “We’ll find a suitable time after we deal with the whole Emily situation.”

Magnus turned his attention back to the floating quest menu, switching to the conquest quest out of habit.

Conquest Quest: Seduce and Sleep with Target — Emily Carter.

Time Limit: Complete by Sunday at Midnight.

Time Remaining: 6 days, 15 hours, 26 minutes.

(i) Hidden Objective Detected!

Reward: Permanent Power Retention + Stat Boosts.

Penalty for Failure: Heart Failure. And possibly excruciating pain.

Good luck!

He stared at the line between the countdown and the reward listing. It had changed again compared to last week and was blinking for his attention.

Magnus frowned. That line wasn’t interactable last week, but since it was blinking right now, he focused on it.

A new screen popped up.

Find and complete the Hidden Objective for Emily Carter for one of the two following rewards:

(Nullifying Quest’s Failure Penalty) OR (One Extra Power Upon Quest Completion).

Reward Will Be Chosen Randomly and Can Immediately Be Claimed Upon Completing Hidden Objective.

He read the lines, blinked twice, read everything a second time, then a third for good measure to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.

“Holy shit! Alex!” he finally breathed.

“What?” She looked up instantly.

“There’s something new! Related to the Conquest Quest.”

“Okay? What is it? Because you usually don’t sound this excited if it’s something bad.”

“The System calls it Hidden Objective.” Then he read it out loud to her.

They sat with it for a moment.

“Alex, do you realize what this means? The System is actually giving us a choice. If I complete this Hidden Objective, whatever it is, there’s a chance I won’t have to complete the quest and still survive!”

“…Or it could land on the extra power.” She shook her head. “In which case, you’ll still have to finish the quest. So it’s not really a choice, more like a gamble.”

His shoulders sagged, and she smiled despite herself.

“But yes, it’s being awfully nice for a change.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Just wish it could have been there last week.”

“Actually…” He frowned at her remarks, then shook his head. “It was there last week, but it just said ‘No Hidden Objective Detected,’ and wasn’t interactable at all.”

Alex huffed. “So it’s not even available for all targets. Just some of them.”

“Apparently.”

“Still better than nothing, I suppose.” She tapped her index finger on the table. “So, what do you have to do?”

“No idea. Finding out what it is apparently is part of the objective itself.”

“So the real question,” Alex said slowly as she leaned back in her chair, “is what the hidden objective actually is. And how we’re supposed to find it without the System telling us anything.”

“Yeah,” Magnus muttered, and went back to staring at the floating screen like it might eventually decide to be more helpful. “Sounds about right. Not like this thing’s ever been clear about anything.”

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