When I awoke the next morning, I immediately began to collect my things. Mom was due to arrive around lunch time and I wanted to be ready to go when she did. I had bits and bobs all over the house and garage that needed to go into my suitcase. I left my laptop for last so that I could do quests on it while waiting for Mom.
I went to the beach with my cousins and grandparents one last time. Grandma Rose went back to the house early to prepare lunch. We joined her an hour later when everything was almost ready. I heard a knock on the front door five minutes before noon. I excitedly opened it to see Mom standing there awkwardly. She smiled and came inside.
¡°I missed you, Eddy,¡± she said, grabbing me in a big hug.
¡°I missed you too,¡± I replied, gasping for breath.
¡°Had a good time?¡±
I nodded.
¡°Great! Smells like your grandmother has made something wonderful for lunch.¡±
¡°Thanks, Dear,¡± Grandma Rose called from the kitchen upon hearing the compliment.
We were all ushered to the table where Grandpa Milton and Uncle Dave had put all of the food. There were bowls of soup and a salad in front of each chair¡ªthe soup bowl sitting on top of a large plate. I sat down between Mom and Aunt Kat.
I ate through the soup and the salad quickly and was rewarded with more food. I got a large helping of mashed potatoes and pot roast with a bit of candied carrots on the side. By the time I finished eating, I was absolutely stuffed. I took a break to walk around between dinner and dessert to maybe find some room for the pie Grandma Rose had made. It took some doing, but I managed to inhale a slice before immediately regretting that decision.
After lunch, Mom helped clean up while I loaded the suitcase and backpack into her car. When everything was stowed for the trip home¡ªand the dishes were clean¡ªI went to give everyone a hug. Marcus refused the hug while Olivia hugged me back harder than I hugged her. She cried a little¡ªthough I¡¯m sure she wouldn¡¯t admit to it.
¡°Have a safe trip home,¡± Grandpa Milton said when I gave him a hug.
Grandma Rose echoed that sentiment a moment later and lifted me up for a kiss on the forehead. Aunt Kat and Uncle Dave gave me a group hug and wished me well. I waved as Mom buckled me in. I kept waving until the car had turned onto the road and Mom shut the window.
On the ride home, I felt a mix of emotions. I was excited¡ªand nervous¡ªabout school while I knew that I would miss my family now that the vacation was over. Mom brought up college and how I needed to sign up for classes soon. She wasn¡¯t sure on the exact dates, but she reminded me that¡ªif I wanted the choice options for professors of the classes I needed to take in my first semester¡ªI needed to jump on them as soon as they became available. I agreed with her.
Mom gave me her phone to use on the drive home. I looked over the classes the finance program suggested by semester and noted all of the ones that were required as well as the free classes where I had the opportunity to choose my own¡ªfrom a curated list, of course. I then cross-referenced all of the professors teaching, when the classes were in session, and the reviews of the professors that I could find. I found a few pitfalls in the professor department that could be avoided by carefully selecting the class times to ensure I had the least worst options overall.
When I got to Mom¡¯s house that evening, we ate takeout and unpacked my suitcase. I double checked the schedule that I¡¯d come up with in the car and had Mom look it over as well just in case. There was some back-and-forth over why this class or why that time, but overall the schedule passed muster. In bed that night, I logged into the school portal for the first time¡ªsetting up the user and all of that fun stuff¡ªbecause I noticed that classes had been posted about a week earlier. I made my selections¡ªwith one change due to availability¡ªand submitted. As soon as the data packets shot out, I got a lovely chime.
I accepted the quest. I had no doubt in my mind that I would be able to do well in the courses I had chosen. I wasn¡¯t sure if the quest was one that paid out at the end of the semester or at the very end. Given how far into the future the expiration was, I suspected I was going to get a large chunk of experience in a few years¡¯ time and nothing before then¡ªfrom this quest at least.
Over the next month-and-a-half I focused on completing daily, weekly, and monthly quests. I didn¡¯t figure out any novel ways to gain experience than I had already found so I kept my nose to the grindstone. I ended up with about 10,000 more experience at the end. I was still at least a year away from the first upgrade I wanted to get.
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The writing project had mostly stabilized. It wasn¡¯t failing like I feared it might, but it wasn¡¯t popping off either. I used some more money for advertising that helped somewhat for a time¡ªand I made more back from subscriptions, too. I hoped the effort would at least inspire better authors to give the ideas a chance. Getting the word out was the main goal, especially since the money wasn¡¯t good.
I was happy with the progress even if it felt glacially slow in the moment. Looking back on the three months I¡¯d spent thus far, I¡¯d accomplished a lot. It was enough to make me smile even if there were things I could have done better had I known more going into it. That¡¯s what future attempts would rectify.
I took a deep breath and opened the door of a small auditorium that served as the classroom for my first class of the day. Dad had dropped me off that morning and Grandpa Milton would pick me up later. There¡¯d been much discussion on the logistics of getting me to and from classes as well as figuring out the financial aspect of it. The funds I had stashed away in crypto were enough to cover two years at the community college, but I was going to need some more support or a scholarship at a larger university to complete my studies.
The auditorium was very steeply sloped with a handful of semicircular rows of chairs behind long bench desks. The room was about half-filled with students. Most of them were teenagers though there were a handful of older folks who started their education later. And then there was me¡ªa five-year-old child. I was out of place and I felt it.
I picked a random open seat about halfway up and near the center aisle. There was no one directly next to me, but the one person closest to me¡ªa man of about twenty¡ªgave me a confused look before shaking his head. I pulled out my laptop and the textbook for the class.
Over the next five minutes, the rest of the students wandered into the room and found their seats. The room filled completely. A man and a woman in their late teens ended up on either side of me. Their initial looks mirrored that of the man earlier.
¡°Do you think he¡¯s here with a parent?¡± the woman whispered to the woman next to her.
That person looked at me and shrugged.
¡°Dunno,¡± the second woman answered. ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone.¡±
¡°Where¡¯s your parents?¡± the first woman asked me.
¡°At home,¡± I said.
The woman covered her mouth and gasped.
¡°You¡¯re here alone?¡±
¡°Yeah. I¡¯m here to learn, same as you.¡±
¡°Wait, wait, wait, wait¡ you¡¯re a student?!¡±
Her utterance caused several people nearby to glance in our direction.
¡°Yup.¡± I said, fishing my ID from my backpack.
She looked it over and passed it back.
¡°And you¡¯re how old?¡±
¡°Five.¡±
I could see that it took everything she had not to scream a response.
¡°Five?!¡± she whispered ¡°Seriously?¡±
¡°Mhm.¡±
The woman shook her head, took a deep breath, and then turned back to look at me.
¡°I¡¯m Kate,¡± she said.
¡°Eddy.¡±
¡°Well, Eddy, it was nice to meet you.¡±
¡°You too,¡± I said, feeling a bit odd from the attention.
All I wanted to do was come to the school to learn and not get entangled into anything. Before Kate could begin to pester me with the questions I could see on her face, the professor came in. She was dressed in a floral dress and spoke with a high-pitched voice.
¡°Can those in the back hear me alright?¡± she asked
There was some murmuring of assent from the back.
¡°Good,¡± she continued. ¡°Then let¡¯s begin¡¡±
The class ran about an hour. During that time, I took notes and did my best to learn from the professor. I was happy to discover that I gained Exploration Experience from the class. It wasn¡¯t much¡ªjust a single experience point¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t something I had expected. That was something I thought about between classes. If learning was counted as exploration for the purposes of the function, then I was set to gain a trickle of experience simply by going to college. The bonus at the end would dwarf the experience drips from the classes, but I wasn¡¯t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The rest of the classes that day went much the same way. I got sometimes strange looks from those nearby but no one gave me any problems. That was, until the following day when I had my first lab. It was part of the required science course and I had it once a week. I¡¯d chosen chemistry because it was the easiest of the options available to me and I wanted to get the class out of the way sooner rather than later.
¡°Hey, you can¡¯t be in here!¡± the teacher¡¯s assistant called out when I entered.
I gave the man a quizzical look. Of course I was meant to be in the lab. Where else was I to do the work?
¡°This is a dangerous place. Where are your parents?¡± the assistant continued.
¡°I¡¯m a student,¡± I said while fumbling around in my backpack for my student ID.
¡°Please wait outside, it¡¯s not safe.¡±
The man attempted to grab my hand but I avoided it. Finally, I located the ID and showed it to him.
¡°I am registered for this class,¡± I reiterated, showing the ID.
The assistant took a look at it and took out his own. He spent a minute comparing both before giving mine back.
¡°Stay here and don¡¯t go anywhere,¡± he warned.
I watched as he exited the room for a few minutes. Other students filtered in while I stood there waiting. I saw several students gesture towards me while talking amongst their groups. Eventually, the professor came in with the assistant and looked me over. Then he looked down at his phone and scrolled. When he found what he was looking for, he nodded to the assistant and whispered something into his ear. The professor then left the room.
¡°Professor says you¡¯re in the class. I don¡¯t see how, but since you are, please find an open seat.¡±
I could feel the eyes of everyone on me. The room was full and I was¡ªagain¡ªthe center of attention. I hated the feeling.
I walked around the room before I came across an empty chair. It was one of those tall metal stools that are uncomfortably tall and a pain to get on. For me being a child it was even worse. I had to toss my backpack onto the lab table before climbing up onto the stool. There were two women and a man seated at the same lab table. I got out my things for the class while they stared uncomfortably at me. I was thankful when the assistant began by passing out instructions for the lab.
The lab was simple and introductory. It was a simple group task to measure and weigh various items in an attempt to calculate Avogadro¡¯s Number directly. I noted down these measurements in my lab notebook carefully. We had to plot the data and run a closest fit line using excel. With that done, I spent the rest of the time in the lab class to write up the experiment in the format outlined in the syllabus. When I finished, I handed it in to the assistant before exiting the lab and calling Grandpa Milton to pick me up as the lab had been the last class of the day for me.
Chapter 25
Two days later, Dad got a phone call. That in and of itself wasn¡¯t unusual¡ªhe got plenty of requests for work at all hours of the day. He excused himself from the breakfast table and answered it in another room. When he came back, I could see in his face that something had happened. He sat down and stared at me for an uncomfortably long time without saying anything.
¡°Eddy,¡± he finally said, ¡°do you have any idea who just called?¡±
¡°No?¡± I answered.
I could feel my nerves starting to fray.
¡°The local news called asking for an interview with you.¡±
¡°Why? What did you say?¡±
My heart was racing at this point. The news somehow figured out what was going on? Did they know about the time travel aspect? Surely not, otherwise they¡¯d have asked about that.
¡°I declined on your behalf. Then they asked for my comment on you going to the community college. I said that you were and answered a couple other basic questions. I also explained that you want to focus full time on school so an interview would be a distraction.¡±
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was only about me going to school.
¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°I hope this doesn¡¯t blow up too much.¡±
The story broke the next day. I didn¡¯t know where the local news had found out about me given all of the classes I¡¯d been in and all the other students there, but I assumed it was one of them or one of the professors. The story of the local boy who was going to college instead of first grade led to more requests for interviews from an ever expanding roster of news outlets. Mom and Dad had convened and decided to decline all of them with the same stock answer. My parents had to spread the same to their parents just in case they were contacted¡ªand they were.
Around campus, I felt like a circus monkey for everyone to stare at and think there goes the boy from the news. Several people came up and tried to talk to me. A handful were curious students, but most of them were an assortment of busybodies who wanted in on the attention I was getting. I did my best to ignore them and mind my own business, but it was hard.
After a week of classes¡ªand getting used to the workload¡ªI decided to find a hobby or club in college to join. If I wanted to learn skills for the future, I may as well start now. I took an hour between classes to go through the options. There were some standard ones like debate or engineering and well as some more specialized ones for people from a specific area or background. Once I had looked through them all, I was disappointed to see that there weren¡¯t any good options.
When I got home later that day, I looked for hobby groups nearby that I could join. There were tons of choices. So many, in fact, that my eyes glazed over just looking at them. It took time to narrow down the list to a few choices¡ªlike a week¡¯s worth of extra time¡ªbut finally I had a handful from which to make my decision. I knew I could change my mind later if I wished¡ªand I had enough time to do multiple before turning back the clock¡ªbut I needed to start somewhere.
Ultimately, it came down to three choices. The first option was woodworking. The group met up at a woodworking shop one town over from mine every Saturday afternoon. It looked like a good place to at least learn the fundamentals of making things with wood, which was something I wanted to cover for myself.
The second option was similar, but with the material being metal. Welding, grinding, lathes, and even smithing all wrapped into one. They didn¡¯t meet every week but instead twice a month. I definitely wanted to do this one eventually, but the strength requirements and the overall danger of it made this option the least likely to start out with.
Finally there was sewing. I had a vague idea of how to sew from Mom having taught me many years in my past. My knowledge of the craft was so poor that I might as well have been a novice. Sewing was the least dangerous but also the most expensive option. I had enough funds for it now, but that wouldn¡¯t last forever. This group met weekly on Monday nights.
I took the options to Mom that evening.
¡°Yeah¡ no,¡± she said of the metalworking one. ¡°Definitely not that one. Woodworking¡¯s a little dangerous, too, but not as much. What¡¯s the last one?¡±
¡°Sewing,¡± I answered.
¡°Hmm,¡± she nodded. ¡°Maybe sewing? You can always do one of the others later when you¡¯re bigger.¡±
I nodded.
¡°Sewing might be expensive because of the cloth,¡± I added.
¡°True. I¡¯ll see what I can do. It should be alright for now. Practice with scraps and then make something once you have learned more?¡±
¡°I can do that,¡± I agreed.
She nodded. I signed up for the group after dinner.
Dad went with me the first time. He agreed with Mom about the metalworking but thought that woodworking would have been a better choice. That was closer to his profession and he felt he might be able to teach me some of it. I reminded him that he could always do a project with me when I was older and done with school when I would have a lot more free time.
The group met in a fabric store about a mile outside of the downtown in a strip mall. The building looked like it had seen better days¡ªnot dangerous or in urgent need of repairs, just old. Dad parked his truck and held my hand. A bell tinkled when he opened the door for me.
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The inside of the store smelled odd. It was a strange combination of dyes from the fabric, the fabric materials, and the ancient carpet on the floor. Visually, the store was stuffed with shelf after shelf of all sorts of fabrics. I saw a golden gossamer fabric that looked like it might drift away whenever someone walked by, a sturdy calico, an entire rainbow of felts. I¡¯d never seen so much fabric in my life!
¡°Do you folks need some help?¡± a woman asked.
She looked older than my grandparents.
¡°I heard there was a sewing meetup tonight?¡± Dad wondered.
¡°Yes,¡± the woman smiled before pointing to a gap in the bolts of cloth. ¡°They meet in the room over there.¡±
Dad nodded and led me through the narrow passage between shelves¡ªa definite fire hazard¡ªand into an open space beyond. The room in front of me had a handful of tables with sewing machines and several chairs scattered about. There were about as many people in the room as there were sewing machines¡ªthough only two were being actively used when I walked in. The rest of the people¡ªwho were mostly middle-aged and older women¡ªwere seated and chatting. Two of them looked up when we entered.
¡°Hello,¡± Dad greeted the woman closest to us.
¡°Hm?¡± she responded.
¡°Is this the, um¡¡± he began.
¡°The sewing club?¡± she finished. ¡°Yes, this is it. Will you be joining us?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t be,¡± he said, ¡°but my son, Eddy, will be. I¡¯m just here to observe and help him out if he needs it.¡±
¡°Oh! How wonderful!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°It¡¯s always so good to see the young ones join us¡ªand a boy no less! You look familiar, have we met before?¡±
She extended a hand for me to shake. I offered mine in return. The shake was¡ awkward¡ªmy hand too small and her grip like that of a princess.
¡°This is the first time we¡¯ve met, I think?¡± I said.
¡°Oh. I must have been mistaken. Have you sewn anything before?¡±
I shook my head. Though it wasn¡¯t fully true, it may as well have been.
¡°Let¡¯s start with something easy¡¡±
The woman¡ªElizabeth, I later found out¡ªhad me start by threading a needle and tying a knot at the end of a long piece of string. She gave me a thimble to keep my fingers safe from the point of the needle. Then she gave me a button and a scrap of cloth to work with. My first task was to attach the button. She showed me how to begin and what to do before undoing it all and letting me try.
It was tough going initially, but I got the hang of it after I completed the button for the second time. Then it was on to showing me how to pick stitches apart with a tool so that I could redo the button a few more times. After the fifth picking and restitching, it was time to go home. I thanked Elizabeth for the help and followed Dad back to the car.
¡°What did you think?¡± he asked.
¡°It was interesting,¡± I decided.
¡°Oh?¡±
¡°Yeah. I know I¡¯m just starting now¡ but in the future, knowing how to make clothes would probably be a good skill to have.¡±
¡°True.¡±
¡°And the projects I work on should give me some decent experience. I hope.¡±
¡°Did the buttons give you anything?¡±
¡°Just a handful together, but next time I should learn how to stitch two pieces of fabric together. Then maybe start a real project soon after!¡±
Dad smiled.
When Mom went with me the following week, she spent the hour or so chatting with the group members while Elizabeth helped me learn how to hand-stitch. There were several ways to do it¡ªand there were more steps to the process than I thought going into it.
The first thing I had to do was to measure in from the edge of the fabric and mark it with a white disk-shaped crayon in several spots. Then I had to run a line with a ruler along those measurements. When I did this to both pieces I was going to stitch together, I needed to decide what sort of stitch pattern would be best for the fabric I was joining together and the amount of stress it would be under during regular use. Elizabeth showed me a handful of the most common ones and made sure I did each of them several times before she let me move on to the next one.
By the end of September, I was judged sufficiently skilled that she suggested I begin a project. There were several options¡ªclothing for myself, clothing for a doll, a blanket, and a few other ideas. I chose the blanket in the end. If I made clothing for myself, I would grow out of it before I was even done making it; and if I made clothing for dolls¡ well, I¡¯d need a doll to put it on. A blanket was a useful item that would see me through many years¡ªand hopefully doing a good job on it would be worth a good amount of experience.
I purchased the fabric and filling material after consulting Elizabeth¡ªand my own wallet. She helped me design it and run the math. Once everything was in order, I noted down all the measurements and began to mark and cut the fabric to size. I knew the project would take a while even if I worked on it at home as well, but that was ok with me.
I didn¡¯t have too much time to pursue the blanket project. I was able to spend a couple hours a week on it; however, most of my time was still dedicated towards my studies and my quests. With midterms coming in only a couple of weeks, school held my attention above all else.
I walked into the first midterm two weeks later. The hubbub around my age and being in college had died down enough that I was able to go from one place to the next without getting stopped by someone. The other students were used to the fact that I was around and they were friendly¡ªin a that¡¯s a cute puppy sort of way.
It was being held in a much larger classroom than the usual one to give the test-takers enough space to limit cheating opportunities. I found an open seat and occupied it. The rest of the students wandered in right up until the time for the test to begin. The proctor handed out the test papers to each person before clearing his throat.
¡°You have ninety minutes to complete the exam in front of you,¡± he said. ¡°When you are done, you can raise your hand or come up to the front and hand your exam to me. Any questions?¡±
The proctor waited for several seconds then continued once he was sure everyone understood.
¡°Alright, you may begin.¡±
I started by reading the instructions just in case. There were no special bonuses for reading through them usually¡ªand that was true for this exam as well¡ªbut I¡¯d heard of them so it made sense to check just in case. I wrote my name on the top of each page as I went through question by question.
The exam wasn¡¯t too difficult¡ªI¡¯d studied enough and the material itself was more foundational¡ªso I was able to plow through the questions quickly. That some of the multiple choice questions answered other ones later in the test made me smile. Then I got to the more free-form part of the exam. These questions necessitated a couple of paragraphs each of calculations and written explanation.
When half of the allotted time had elapsed, I was done with the test. I spent another 10 minutes going over all of the questions again just in case I missed anything¡ªI had not¡ªbefore standing up and walking to the front. I wasn¡¯t the first to finish, but I was amongst the first. The proctor gave me an odd look but said nothing when he took the exam from me.
Test-taking was a skill I¡¯d always excelled at. The mix of pressure and focus always seemed to bring clarity for me for whatever reason. On the other hand, going back and fixing mistakes was something I was loath to do because that focus evaporated as soon as I did. This, of course, meant that, while I almost always did well on exams, I also never got a perfect score either.
When I left the room, I went to grab lunch and look over the material for the next exam. I had three more that day and another two the following day. I had faith that I would make it through the gauntlet but was annoyed that I¡¯d not been given any quests around doing well in the exams. Maybe whatever governed the system didn¡¯t see there was enough of a challenge in them to give it to me or maybe it was because I already had a quest for school and that would have doubled up. That was something I noted in the back of my mind to investigate in the future.
Chapter 26
The rest of the exams on the first day went well, as did the first of the exams on Tuesday. After a quick lunch between tests, I slowly walked to the exam hall. This one was the same auditorium I¡¯d had the first class in all those weeks ago. It was big enough to handle the smaller number of students taking the exam.
I was one of the first to enter the room. I found an open seat and placed my backpack on the floor next to me after taking out a couple mechanical pencils. When I looked up from my backpack, I saw the proctor¡ªa large, older man¡ªstaring down at me.
¡°What are you doing here?¡± he demanded.
¡°Huh?¡±
¡°What are you doing here?!¡± he said more loudly.
¡°Taking an exam?¡± I said with a no shit, Sherlock attitude.
¡°You¡¯re not a student,¡± he answered firmly.
¡°Yeah I am. There was a whole news thing about it a while ago.¡±
¡°Bullshit. Where¡¯s your ID?¡±
I bent down and rifled through my backpack to find it before showing it to him. He roughly grabbed it from my hand and carefully examined it.
¡°It¡¯s fake,¡± he determined.
Before I was able to say anything in my defense, he bent my ID and snapped it in half.
¡°What the hell is wrong with you?¡± I exclaimed.
¡°Your ID is fake, so I¡¯m confiscating it. Leave before campus security makes you leave.¡±
¡°Give me back my ID!¡±
The man ignored me. He walked away while I tried desperately to get his attention. When he got to the front of the room, he looked back at me and sneered before dropping the remains of the ID into a garbage can.
I knew I wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere with this asshole. I stood and shouldered my backpack. I stuffed the mechanical pencils into one pocket and turned toward the exit. Silent rage-filled tears streamed down my face as I carefully walked up the steps and out of the room. Several classmates entering as I left gave me confused looks, but I knew I was in no shape to say anything¡ªthat would just give the asshole his satisfaction.
Once outside, I sat on one of the steps leading to the front door of the building. I put my head down and screamed into my hands. Most of the students gave me a wide berth while I screamed and cried. Just as I was beginning to exhaust my shits-to-give, a woman came over. I recognized her as Kate from the one of my classes.
¡°Are you hurt?¡± she asked.
¡°N-no,¡± I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.
¡°Are you sure?¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± I choked out.
Kate sat next to me. She didn¡¯t say anything more but just kept me company until I felt calm enough to fish my phone from my backpack. I was mad¡ªvery mad¡ªbut I was determined to channel that rage productively. I considered who to call and eventually decided on Mom as Dad would have a harder time answering than she would. I stood up and walked away from the building for some privacy.
¡°Hey, Eddy,¡± Mom said when she picked up. ¡°Do you need something?¡±
I explained what had occurred. Mom was pissed. So pissed that she couldn¡¯t make a coherent sentence for several seconds. Eventually she had worked through it and came up with a plan.
¡°I¡¯m going to call Grandpa Joe,¡± she said. ¡°You need to see the Dean or whoever¡¯s in charge immediately. He will help you and support you. This whole situation is complete bullshit¡ªif you¡¯ll excuse my French. Make sure you¡¯ve got your phone on so you two can meet up. I¡¯d come myself, but work¡¯s too much right now.¡±
¡°Thanks, Mom,¡± I said, hanging up after we said our goodbyes.
I ended up pacing back and forth for nearly an hour¡ªanxiety having replaced my anger. Finally, my phone buzzed when Grandpa Joe called to ask where I was. We agreed to meet outside the admin building.
By virtue of where I had gone to take the test, I had a farther walk to the admin building than Grandpa Joe. He waved as soon as he saw me. He was well dressed and carried himself with purpose.
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¡°Hey Eddy,¡± he said, giving me a hug. ¡°Mom told me what happened, but I want to hear it from you.¡±
¡°Ok,¡± I said, recounting the story again.
¡°I see,¡± he replied, thoughtfully stroking the stubble on his chin. ¡°Let¡¯s go find the Dean.¡±
I followed Grandpa Joe into the admin building. After consulting the directory, we took the elevator up one floor. As we walked down the hallway towards the Dean¡¯s office, Grandpa Joe spoke to me.
¡°You did nothing wrong,¡± he said. ¡°It might take some time to get sorted, but you¡¯ve got the truth on your side.¡±
¡°And you, too,¡± I cracked a smile.
¡°And me,¡± he agreed.
We arrived at our destination. The office was more than just a door into a private office. There was an open space with two occupied desks in front of the a door to the Dean¡¯s private office. The eyes of the two workers locked onto Grandpa Joe as we entered. I followed him to the closest desk. The man behind it addressed Grandpa Joe.
¡°How can I help you?¡± he said in the most generic bored cashier style.
¡°My grandson here,¡± Grandpa said, waving his arm in my direction, ¡°was attempting to take an exam today when the proctor denied him access to the classroom, thus denying him the ability to take his exam.¡±
The man looked at me with a critical eye.
¡°May I see his ID?¡±
¡°The proctor snapped it and threw it away.¡±
I could see the flash of annoyance on the man¡¯s face before it went away. He questioned me of my name, birth date, address, etc and verified that they matched my profile¡ªand that my face matched the picture¡ªin the school¡¯s system.
¡°Alright,¡± he concluded, ¡°I see you are who you say you are. I will pass this along to the Dean. He will have to do some investigating, but expect him to reach out by the end of this week.¡±
Grandpa Joe pressed the man for assurances that the Dean would address it as soon as possible because the exam was worth a significant portion of my overall grade for the class. The man swore that he would and so the both of us left the office.
Friday morning, Grandpa Joe and I were back at the admin building. Thursday evening, I had received an email back from the Dean¡¯s office¡ªafter bothering them for an update, of course¡ªthat I was to meet the Dean the following morning. We took the elevator up and walked down the hall to the office. The man we had lodged our complaint with recognized the two of us and ushered us through the door.
The office was well decorated. There was a leather couch on our right as we entered as well as two chairs to our left. A trio of paintings hung on the walls while large windows let light in behind a solid wooden desk where the Dean sat waiting. The Dean was an older, tall man with a thick white beard. He wore glasses and a navy suit.
¡°Welcome,¡± he said. ¡°Sit, sit.¡±
When we did, he continued.
¡°I want to apologize on behalf of the school for what happened the other day. It took some time to verify your story. I have spoken with your professor and she gave me a copy of the exam you were supposed to take. If you are prepared, you can take the exam here today. Or, if that doesn¡¯t work, we can schedule a time that would be better.¡±
¡°Um¡ I¡¯m ready now,¡± I said after collecting my thoughts.
¡°Very good,¡± he said, clapping his hands together.¡°
The Dean led me out of the room and into an office across the hall. Inside was an empty desk. He made sure I had everything I needed for the exam before setting a timer and letting me start.
The exam itself was rather easy. I had studied more than enough, and most of what I needed to do was to write a couple short essays and answer some reading comprehension questions. Writing was overall slower than answering a bunch of multiple choice questions, so I ended up using most of the allotted time.
When I was done, I stood up and walked the exam back across the hall to the Dean and handed it to him. We all sat down while the Dean read through my exam for about five minutes. He placed it on the desk in front of him and looked up at me.
¡°That was some mighty fine work there, young man,¡± he said. ¡°How old are you again?¡±
¡°Five.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯re the one from the news story a while ago! You write better than most of the students we have. Why did you choose to go to community college when any university would welcome you?¡±
¡°A few reasons,¡± Grandpa Joe said. ¡°The first is that he needed something close by that he can get to and from with working parents. The second is that no university knows he exists. He hasn¡¯t taken any of the exams they look at, so a couple of years in community college would sort that out. Finally, it comes down to money. His parents barely have enough to get by, so without some kind of scholarship, it¡¯s practically impossible.¡±
¡°I see¡¡± the Dean said thoughtfully. ¡°I might be able to help with the second and third issues. A friend of mine is a department chair at one of the best schools in the country. I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±
Grandpa Joe and the Dean talked some more about the details. I could have listened, but my mind was drained after taking the exam. I closed my eyes and almost dozed off while I waited. Finally, I felt Grandpa Joe shake my shoulder.
¡°It¡¯s time to go,¡± he said.
I stood up and held his hand. We walked towards the door and out into the hallway.
¡°It was good to meet you,¡± the Dean said as we left.
I nodded and waved back to the Dean before disappearing down the hall with Grandpa Joe.
¡°I need a new ID,¡± I said when we got to the elevator.
Grandpa nodded.
The office where I¡¯d gotten my ID a couple months earlier looked much the same except there was only one person behind the counter. As the current week was primarily exams, this was the prime time for people to take off if they could.
¡°Can I help you?¡± the man behind the desk asked.
¡°I need a new ID,¡± I said.
He looked me over. I saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes.
¡°What happened to the old one?¡±
I explained the situation. He picked up the phone on his desk and confirmed my story with the Dean¡¯s office before he busied himself creating my new ID. It took a handful of minutes, but eventually, I had a¡ªslightly warm¡ªshiny new ID that I put in my backpack¡¯s front pocket where the old one used to be.
I thanked the man for his help and left with Grandpa Joe. He dropped me off at Dad¡¯s house once he confirmed Dad was there to watch me. I gave him a big hug when he left.
That night, I checked my email before going to bed. I saw that I had an email from a professor I had never met before¡ªor so I thought until I opened it. The email was a written apology from the proctor¡ªKevin Brown¡ªexpressing just how sorry he was and how it wouldn¡¯t happen again and so on. I stopped reading halfway through and deleted the non-apology apology email.
Fucking Kevins.
Chapter 27
I was glad that I had a weekend to relax after the sheer stupidity I had dealt with during the week. Without any homework to do¡ªfor school at least, there were still quests¡ªI had more time to devote towards completing the blanket.
I had decided on a patchwork style with a winter theme so Elizabeth had assisted me in measuring and cutting all of the squares. I laid out the pattern on the floor and picked the squares up row-wise so that I would be able to continue the pattern without having everything laid out the whole time. Since then, I had been carefully stitching square after square together to form those rows.
I used the same techniques I had learned from Elizabeth to measure, mark, and then sew the seams. There were a few times where I had to pick a seam apart and redo it; but with consistent practice, this happened less and less. I made sure to use a strong stitch even though that took longer to do by hand¡ªI wanted the blanket to last a long time!
Over the weekend, I was able to complete another two rows before I had a thought. With it being early October, I considered making a simple costume for Halloween. I didn¡¯t have a good idea, so I started by going downstairs.
¡°Mom?¡± I began when I located her in the kitchen.
¡°Hmm?¡±
¡°I was thinking of making a Halloween costume, but I don¡¯t have any good ideas. It¡¯ll have to be simple enough that I can do it myself.¡±
¡°You could always do a ghost with a bed sheet or maybe a cowboy? I think you have some boots somewhere and the rest of the costume we could get at a thrift store.¡±
¡°Maybe. I¡¯ll see what Dad comes up with before I decide. Those are good ideas though!¡±
Mom nodded.
I chatted with her for several more minutes before I excused myself and went back up to my room to work on the blanket and my quests.
Sunday evening, when I was back at Dad¡¯s, I asked him the same question I¡¯d asked Mom.
¡°How about a jellyfish or a rainy day?¡±
I laughed as I thought about them.
¡°Maybe,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll give it some thought before I decide.¡±
To do just that, I went up to my room. I used my laptop to consider my costume options but ended up getting distracted by an email from school. My exam results were up!
After signing in, I checked my classes one by one. The results were¡ good. Aside from the chemistry lab¡ªwhich didn¡¯t have an exam¡ªall of the results were at least in the B range and all but two were As.
Of course, instead of going back to my project of figuring out a good costume idea, I went straight into checking on how my writing income was doing¡ªpoorly¡ªas well as reading some of the not-so-nice-comments. They put me in a mood that only copious amounts of cat videos could fix.
Eventually¡ªin spite of my proclivity for procrastination¡ªI returned to the task at hand. I spent at least an hour looking at all types of costumes ranging from the incredibly simple¡ªa cardboard box¡ªto intricate cosplay. I was looking for something in between and ended up picking a box of popcorn.
The overall build didn¡¯t look too hard¡ªmostly cardboard with some paint and puffy colored balls. I shot off an email to Mom to hold onto some of her cardboard boxes for me as well as a link to the costume idea. With that done, I went to bed for the night.
The next day¡ªafter school¡ªI went to the sewing meetup with Dad. Mom met us there to drop off the cardboard for me. Instead of working on the blanket, I chose to work on the costume. As soon as I entered the room, Elizabeth came over.
¡°What did you bring?¡± she wondered aloud.
¡°I¡¯m going to make my Halloween costume,¡± I said.
¡°Oh?¡±
¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to be a box of popcorn!¡±
¡°How cute! Do you need any help?¡±
¡°Mm-hmm,¡± I nodded.
Elizabeth and I laid out the cardboard and she helped me measure just how big each cardboard section needed to be. I cut them out while she warmed up the glue gun¡ªI wasn¡¯t allowed to use it, which was rather frustrating.
We worked alternating between gluing and fitting everything together around my body. Elizabeth left a seam in the back where she glued Velcro on both sides to seal the gap when the costume was on me.
When the general shape of the container was completed, I added straps to go over my shoulders that would hold the weight of everything. The final thing to add was an upper and lower section to help keep the costume rigid as well as to give me a place to attach all of the ¡®popcorn¡¯ around the top. At the end of the evening, I brought home the unfinished costume. All it needed was the popcorn and a coat of paint.
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Over the next week, I gave the costume several coats of paint. That included a label of ¡®Popcorn¡¯ on the front. Keeping the lines straight was an exercise in patience¡ªmy coordination was still not amazing yet. Dad helped me with painter¡¯s tape to get the lines just so.
When I got to Mom¡¯s, I used some of the money I¡¯d gained from writing to buy the rest of the supplies from a local craft store. Mom helped me hot-glue the popcorn balls to the top of the costume. For the final touch, I repurposed an old hat of mine by hot-gluing more balls to it. With that, the costume was complete. For all of the effort I put in, I gained a decent amount of experience¡ª125 total¡ªbetween Crafting Experience and Economic Experience.
While I still had absolutely no clue how the amount of experience was calculated, it seemed to be more the larger the project and the more effort I put in¡ªto a point. I guessed that the experience was capped in some way by the size of the project moreso than the quality of the finished product.
¡°Can you put the whole costume on?¡± she asked. ¡°I want to make sure the balls won¡¯t bother you.¡±
I struggled to put it on but managed with her help.
¡°Oh my, you look so cute!¡± she exclaimed.
Mom pulled out her phone and took several pictures from every angle.
¡°How does it feel?¡± she asked while taking the pictures.
¡°Um, not bad,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe a bit itchy against my neck.¡±
¡°Ok. Maybe put on a turtleneck or a light scarf or something? That might help to keep the itching down.¡±
¡°That could work. Do you have a scarf I could use?¡±
Mom said that she did and returned a couple minutes later with one. I carefully wrapped it around my neck and tucked it into the costume. Although warm, it was enough to block any itch from forming.
¡°Thanks, Mom. That works.¡±
¡°Great!¡±
She helped me out of the costume then showed me the pictures. I didn¡¯t much care¡ªI actually disliked taking pictures in general¡ªbut knew it was much easier to just go with the flow most of the time and put my foot down when needed.
Finally, it was Halloween. I decided to wear the costume to school for the laughs because it was a school day. Grandpa Joe was the one to pick me up and drive me to school that day.
¡°Lookin¡¯ good,¡± he said when I hopped into his car for the ride over.
¡°Thanks,¡± I smiled.
¡°Looks like you worked hard on it¡ª¡°
I nodded.
¡°¡ªso just be careful not to ruin it while in class. I know you wouldn¡¯t want all your hard work to be ruined before you get to trick-or-treat later.¡±
I nodded again.
¡°Are you looking forward to that?¡±
¡°Definitely!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°I haven¡¯t done this in forever and it¡¯s a lot more fun to do as a kid than it is as an adult!¡±
¡°True,¡± Grandpa Joe chuckled.
He waved goodbye when we arrived at school. I waved back and made my way to my first class. The looks I got on my journey were awesome. Several people did double-takes while others just stared for a long time. I got a few people who came up to me and told me my costume looked awesome.
Each class that day went about the same. In one of them, the professor commented on how much of a distraction my attire was¡ªoops¡ªbut also said it was creative¡ªhooray. I did get a couple of picture requests along the way¡ªand many more pictures taken without asking¡ those people could burn in hell for all I cared.
When my classes were done for the day, Dad came and picked me up. Mom still had to work so it made actually trick-or-treating with her difficult. He was delighted to see me in the costume. We went home and had dinner before it was finally time to go out.
Dad gave me a pillowcase to collect the candy in and a couple of glow sticks to make bracelets from. Then we were off.
| A Night of Treats
Gather candy from houses
Success: Experience gained based on the amount of candy obtained
Failure: N/A
Expires: 5 hours, 22 minutes, 1 second |
I was surprised to see the quest appear. I happily accepted it and followed Dad up the driveway to another house. The light was on but no one was home. Instead, there was a bowl and a sign saying to take a couple¡ªso I did just that. Given the quest I had, I took more like a handful¡ªsomething I normally would not have done¡ªthen it was on to the next.
The sun was still up but it was cloudy and so felt more like dusk than daytime. The quest cut out at midnight but I would be in bed long before then. Realistically, I had about two hours before my feet would be screaming. I chose to go left at the end of the driveway towards the center of town. The home density that way was higher and my legs were short¡ªthere was only so far I was going to be able to walk before I was done. I wanted to get as much experience from the quest as I could, something I explained to Dad as we walked.
I was excited¡ªI loved Halloween¡ªbut also nervous because of the quest. The next house had a porch light on and a bunch of decorations in the yard. I walked up the driveway and carefully hopped from stone to stone on the path from the driveway to the door. A spooky cat meowed loudly as I approached the door. It wasn¡¯t a real one but it did make me jump.
¡°Trick or treat!¡± I said when the door opened.
¡°My, don¡¯t you look good! Popcorn!¡±
The man laughed and dropped a piece of candy into my pillowcase.
¡°Have another one for such a good costume!¡±
He dropped a second, larger candy bar into the pillowcase.
¡°Thank you!¡± I said before making my way carefully to the street.
I visited house after house. I only went for the ones that looked like they were participating in the holiday. There were some epic ones that had whole graveyards with fog machines and the whole nine yards. Others simply had their porch light on. I visited all of them.
Two blocks away from Dad¡¯s house, I crossed and took the side road up a hill. The hill was steep and flanked on both sides by houses. There was a lot of trick-or-treaters moving up and down the hill and going from house to house. I slipped in with one of the groups, which made getting candy easier as I no longer had to wait for the adults to come to the door after knocking or ringing the bell.
At the top of the hill, I walked along the street the side road ended on before going back down the hill at the next road. By the time I got to the bottom, I was exhausted and ready to call it quits. Because of the quest, I pushed on to hit the rest of the houses that I had skipped over because they were on the opposite side of the street from Dad¡¯s house.
Finally, we arrived home. Dad helped me out of my costume.
¡°Wow,¡± he said, hefting the bag with one hand. ¡°Not a bad haul.¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± I yawned.
¡°Maybe next year we can ride around in the car later in the night to get whatever¡¯s left out,¡± he said, ¡°But this year I think you¡¯re just a bit too tired to hang on.¡±
¡°Mmm,¡± I agreed, my eyes already closing.
Dad carried me up to my room and tucked me in for the night.
Chapter 28
I awoke the following morning to find that the quest reward had been 102 experience. This brought my total available experience to 43,746. Between the costume and the quest, that was an entire day¡¯s worth of experience as a bonus, so I felt satisfied. In the back of my mind, I wondered just how much more I could have gotten if I¡¯d driven around with Dad to scrounge up all of the leftover candy. As it stood¡ªthough I didn¡¯t know the correlation between amount I received and the experience gained¡ªI ended up with a little over five pounds of the sweet stuff.
I also realized upon waking up¡ªand collecting my thoughts¡ªthat I had a money problem. Not in the short-term¡ªthe crypto proceeds from Grandpa Joe would last a while¡ªbut in the long term. The income from writing was paltry and I doubted it would get much better than allowance levels. Now, I wasn¡¯t going to stop trying to get the word out, but I couldn¡¯t rely on that to cover my expenses. What I needed was a better way of earning money.
Dad suggested I rake leaves and mow lawns when I asked him over breakfast. He said I could borrow his tools for the jobs, but that I also had to reimburse him for gas and stuff on the mower if I decided to go that route.
While at school during the day, I considered those and came up with another one that had slipped my mind. Building up to it would take time, but I could get deals to write stories for people. I knew most of those stories would be adult themed¡ªa whole can of worms I wanted to avoid given my present¡ circumstances¡ªbut the ones that weren¡¯t might be worth the squeeze.
I was able to find some groups online that catered to buying and selling the written word and sent out feelers there using my other writing efforts to snag some potential clients. I didn¡¯t expect to hear anything, so instead I asked Dad in the evening to see if the landlord needed help raking their yard or if they knew anyone else who did.
It was the following morning when I got replies to both efforts. The landlord didn¡¯t need help, as they hired a company to do it, but they did know a couple of neighbors who could use the help. I made note of them for later in the day. I had a couple replies in the online group. One was promising but the other was a furry who didn¡¯t read the part where I wasn¡¯t going to do anything adult-oriented. I shot a message to the promising one.
After getting dressed and having breakfast with Dad, I grabbed the rake from under the back porch and let Dad know I was going to see if I could rake the neighbors¡¯ yards for some cash.
¡°Let me come with you,¡± he said, groaning as he rose to his feet.
I waited for him to get his coat on before we marched up the driveway. The houses in question were the first two houses when turning right out of the driveway and onto the sidewalk. We stopped outside the fence of the first house.
The house was an old Victorian painted pale blue. The yard in front of the house was leaf-strewn but not overly large¡ªmaybe a tenth of an acre. A wrought-iron fence separated the street from the lawn. There was a gate at the center with a flagstone path running to a porch that wrapped around the front of the house.
¡°Do you need me to go with you to the door?¡± he asked.
¡°I got this,¡± I said nervously.
¡°I¡¯ll watch from here, then.¡±
I opened the fence and walked to the door. I searched around for the doorbell and eventually found it slightly hidden off to the left of the door frame. I rang it and waited¡ and waited¡ and¡ª
¡°Hello?¡± an older man asked upon opening the door.
He saw me with the rake and smiled. He looked up behind me and then back down to me.
¡°Oh! You want to rake my yard?¡± he asked.
¡°Yes,¡± I nodded.
¡°Great! I see your old man is teaching you the value of hard work! Tell you what, I can give you¡ª¡°
He rifled through his wallet and counted what he had.
¡°¡ªfifty bucks if you will rake the front yard into my compost pile on the side.¡±
¡°Sounds good,¡± I said.
¡°Here, let me show you where the compost pile is.¡±
I followed the man down his front steps and across the front of his house to the side. The side area was littered with leaves and some twigs from a storm that had rolled through a few days earlier. At the far end was a section with several piles of leaves and grass clippings. The man pointed to it.
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¡°If you can put all of the leaves on the left side by the fence, that would be perfect.¡±
¡°Covering the pile with the grass clippings?¡± I asked.
¡°That¡¯s the one!¡± he laughed and walked back into his house.
I walked to the corner of the front yard that was farthest from the compost pile. Before I began, I let Dad know what the deal was and he walked away to let me begin.
The leaves were still damp from the storm and the yard hadn¡¯t been touched all season. I struggled to loosen up and liberate the leaves from where they were stuck between the tufts of grass. That the grass was a bit long certainly didn¡¯t help¡ªit kept getting caught on the rake¡¯s tines and I had to clear them with my foot fairly often.
From the corner of the yard where I started, I went back and forth diagonally in lines, pushing the heavy mass of leaves forward and cleaning up behind as I went. Each trip up and down the line of leaves took longer and longer as both the amount of leaves and the distance I had to cover increased.
At some point, the width evened out and then began to shrink. When that happened, I ended up with two sides of the line of leaves that were growing more than the center. It was around that time that I ended up moving portions of the pile all the way to the compost pile that the old man had indicated before going back and moving the much-reduced leaf piles at a quicker pace.
I was exhausted by the end. It had taken me almost two hours to do the work. My arms felt like lead and shook from the effort. I climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell. The old man came out and walked the yard with me. Then we went back to the foot of the stairs.
¡°You did a great job, young man!¡± he said, putting a few bills into my hand. ¡°With work like that, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have plenty of people wanting your help!¡±
¡°Thanks,¡± I said, stuffing the money into my pocket after counting it.
I waved bye to the old man and exited the property through the front gate. I walked home slowly not because I didn¡¯t want to be home¡ªI did¡ªbut because that¡¯s just how tired I was. I placed the rake in its place under the back porch before climbing the back stairs to the porch slowly.
I found Dad sitting at the small table in the hallway. I plopped down on one of the chairs.
¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± he asked.
¡°Good,¡± I said, flashing the cash. ¡°Tired.¡±
¡°I bet!¡± Dad laughed before schooling his face to be more serious. ¡°Just so you know, I won¡¯t be able to afford this place on my own so I¡¯m going to have to move out when the lease is up in January. I¡¯m looking for a place now so I should hopefully have something soon.¡±
¡°Moving sucks,¡± I commiserated.
He glared at me for my word choice but said nothing about it before he continued.
¡°I let the landlord know this morning. I¡¯ll need your help packing and cleaning over the next month. As for moving, I¡¯ve got a couple friends that would probably help for a six-pack and some pizza.¡±
¡°Ok,¡± I said.
This wasn¡¯t unexpected. I remembered moving out of the house at the same time, but it was to move in with his then girlfriend¡ªand later my stepmother. This time around, he hadn¡¯t met her through my existence¡¯s interference. Those sorts of butterfly effects were something I had understood would happen¡ªin passing at least¡ªbut I had not thought about what changes I would be making with every choice. While resetting the time line would¡ªin a sense¡ªfix any mistakes I¡¯d make along the way. I¡¯d need to be more careful in the future.
Over the next several weeks, I helped Dad pack when I was with him. Alongside that, I made some good progress on the blanket¡ªeven though I had even less time with the whole moving thing. By the time it was early December, I was ready for Elizabeth to help me complete the blanket.
¡°Elizabeth,¡± I said when I arrived at the meetup with Mom.
¡°Oh, hello Eddy,¡± she said.
¡°I¡¯m done stitching all the rows and even the border. What do I do now?¡±
Elizabeth helped me lay out all of the completed parts.
¡°Now is the most fun part!¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯ll have to stitch all around the outside and then secure the batting in the middle by stitching patterns¡ªquilting¡ªor by tying string at various locations.¡±
After all the stitching I had done to get the thing together, I strongly considered making the knots. Before I decided, I needed to do as she said and secure the back to the front with the batting in the middle.
I was thankful that the batting I had chosen was on the thinner side. This made it easy enough to position between the bottom¡ªwhich wrapped over the edge to form a small border around the top¡ªand the top. Elizabeth and I pinned the stack together. It was tricky to do because of the way the bottom and top joined together. Eventually, we got the seam ready for stitching and I started on it.
That seam took an entire week to complete. By the time the next meetup took place, I was putting the final few stitches on. Part of what took so long was my insistence on making the seam as strong as I could. I wanted the blanket to last until I returned.
The final step was to decide how I wanted to secure the center. I was just done with stitching so I opted with the tying option Elizabeth suggested. I chose a thick silvery thread and punctured the blanket every second or third junction where four patches came together. I staggered them with each row of ties so that the ties made a diagonal pattern to contrast the vertical and horizontal lines of the patches.
By the end of the meetup, I was done. I looked the blanket over one last time before folding it. It was full-sized with two-inch square patches sewn into a pixelated wintry scene. The silvery ties looked like icicles dangling from the blanket. Around the edge was a pale yellow that was¡ªin turn¡ªringed in a dark blue strip where the back met the front. I smiled. I felt proud of what I had created.
| Crafting Experience: Wintry Blanket
Exp Gained: 481 |
¡°You did a wonderful job!¡± Elizabeth gushed when she saw the final product.
We showed Mom and the two women folded it for me and chatted together. I yawned. It was time to go home.
Chapter 29
When everything was packed away at Dad¡¯s as much as could be done before actually moving, I used the extra time to rake a few more yards. I couldn¡¯t do too much with finals coming soon, but a few yards over a weekend was doable. I also was able to finish three writing commissions¡ªthe first one had such a glowing review that two more followed shortly after. All the work I¡¯d done netted me two more milestones.
| Milestone: Earned $100
Exp Gained: 4 |
| Milestone: Earned $1,000
Exp Gained: 8 |
Milestones barely counted for anything anymore when compared with all of the other experience I gained from quests or other activities. Even the experience from Economic Experience exceeded that of the milestones for the same amount of money I earned! I was glad that I¡¯d settled on the plan to sacrifice the Milestone chain to get to Achievements¡ªif I was able to find a way to afford that one, of course. That one was expensive.
With the weather changing, many of the outside activities I¡¯d been doing became more difficult. There was no more green knotweed¡ªit had gone dormant for the winter¡ªand what remained of the previous year¡¯s shoots were unusable. What was left from this year was in an in-between state¡ªnot quite dry and hard but also not quite living. I¡¯d tried to make things from this type of knotweed and it hadn¡¯t gone well.
Since all of my usual sources of Harvesting Experience were gone, I needed to rely more on making things¡ªwhen I had the time, of course. I postponed the next sewing project¡ªwhich included learning how to operate a sewing machine¡ªuntil after my finals were over. Although I wasn¡¯t due the experience for a few years, getting the best grades I could was my top priority.
The week before exams, I put everything else aside. All my focus went towards studying for each and every test I would have to take. The chemistry lab didn¡¯t have any final and my grade in it was good. For the rest of the classes, most were in line for an A¡ªthe material wasn¡¯t difficult and homework helped a lot¡ªbut there were two that had a chance of a B if the final went a little wrong. Those were the two I put the most effort towards.
Unlike the midterms, the finals were more spread out¡ªtaking place over a week-and-a-half. Even with a day or two off between some exams¡ªthough there were a couple days with two each¡ªI kept my eyes on the prize. Thankfully, this time were no issues getting refused entry into any of the tests.
I was nervous after finishing all of the finals. I was pretty sure I¡¯d done well¡ªI was pretty good at estimating my score on exams¡ªbut there was always that little voice in the back of my head that whispered doubts into my ears. I did my best to ignore them. Thankfully, I only had to wait three days before the scores posted to my student account.
My heart pounded when I clicked the link. I closed my eyes as it loaded then carefully cracked one eye. Immediately, the nerves fell away. Though not everything was an A¡ªthere were three A-minuses¡ªI was satisfied with the results of my work that semester. I went downstairs to where Mom was making pancakes.
¡°Mom!¡± I said excitedly.
¡°Yes, pumpkin?¡±
¡°Grades posted,¡± I smiled.
¡°Oh?¡± she cocked an eyebrow. ¡°How¡¯d you do?¡±
¡°Great!¡±
I showed Mom the results. Her face lit up in a smile.
¡°We have to celebrate!¡± she said.
¡°It¡¯s fine, Mom,¡± I tried to say.
¡°Nonsense! You did well in school and that should be rewarded. I know it¡¯s awkward with you being an adult in a way, but you¡¯re still my son so let me be a proud mother.¡±
¡°Sure, Mom, thanks.¡±
Mom offered me some pancakes and we sat down to eat together.
¡°So what do you think about going to the arcade?¡± she asked.
I thought about it. I didn¡¯t have any particular plans for the day outside of the usual¡ªcompleting quests¡ªso I decided to agree.
We ate and chatted. When we were done, I went upstairs to get ready while Mom cleaned up our plates¡ªshe was already dressed and ready to go. I climbed into Mom¡¯s car and she drove me to the arcade. It was in the next town. Even so, the trip was quick.
The arcade was a combination arcade, bowling alley, miniature golf, and go-karts. The facility was large¡ªwith a big building housing the arcade and the bowling alley and a larger outside area where the other two activities were. The outside was closed for the season. In spite of that, the place was swarming with families.
We parked and I followed Mom inside. The inside was dimly lit with flashing lights and many sounds ringing and clanging from all over. We went to one of the ticketing machines and Mom loaded a card with fifty dollars and handed it to me.
¡°See what you can get with this,¡± she said.
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¡°What about you?¡± I asked.
¡°I got my own,¡± she said, showing it to me. ¡°I¡¯ll stick with you. Maybe when we¡¯re done we can get lunch and bowl?¡±
¡°Why not,¡± I shrugged.
I wandered around¡ªwith Mom in tow¡ªuntil I came across a game I remembered being decent at. It was based on the classic Frogger with a mobile games twist. It took two tries¡ªwith Mom doing one in the middle because she ¡®used to play this all the time¡¯¡ªbut I was able to beat the high score and snag the ticket jackpot.
We went from game to game. Most of them were ones that I picked but some of them were Mom¡¯s choice because they were multiplayer and she figured she¡¯d be able to beat me on them. She was wrong most of the time. Even though my coordination still wasn¡¯t quite as good as hers, I had been playing video games for a long time. Add to that the faster reactions from being a child and I had a distinct advantage in anything that didn¡¯t require strength. She won the basketball and skee ball matches.
It took almost two hours to use up the money on both cards¡ªI was picky about what games to play since I wanted the best return¡ªbut eventually, we had an absolute ton of virtual tickets stored on the cards. I followed Mom to the prize station and looked around.
The prize center had everything from game consoles behind the counter to humongous teddy bears hanging from the walls. There were a plethora of smaller prizes as well. The first thing we did was to combine all of the tickets together onto one card and see what the largest prize obtainable was. With a little over 5,000 tickets, I got one of the teddy bears from the wall and some candy with the rest.
Mom insisted I put the bear into the car before we went to eat and bowl. I thought putting the bear on a stool like it was another person would be hilarious, but I was out voted¡ªher votes counted twice.
Lunch was a hamburger and fries. We ate in a booth over by the bowling alley. When we finished, we got an open lane and rented bowling shoes. I put mine on and looked for a ball that I could use. While Mom waited for me, she got the lane set up with both of our names.
¡°Do you want guardrails?¡± she asked.
¡°No thanks,¡± I said. ¡°I think I can do without.¡±
¡°Alright. I¡¯m up first.¡±
Mom stood and bowled her ball¡ªa lime green one¡ªat the pins. She knocked most of them over before waiting for her ball to come back and the fallen pins to be swept away. Her second attempt secured a spare. Then it was my turn.
I had a feeling that bowling would be a challenge for me. The primary issue was the weight of the ball. Even the lightest one was a good fifteen percent of my body-weight. So as to not get knocked off balance rolling it, I used both hands to swing it between my legs and down the lane. The results were¡ poor. Although I didn¡¯t gutter it, I hadn¡¯t done much better. Just a single pin. The follow-up was better but not stellar¡ªfive more.
The rest of the game wasn¡¯t much better for me. I ended up with 63 points while Mom had 148. I didn¡¯t just lose. I was destroyed. Not that I had expected anything less. It was a physical game that required strength and coordination. I was doomed from the beginning.
After a second game¡ªwhich I also lost by an embarrassing amount¡ªwe went home. I got to snuggle with the teddy bear that was bigger than me the entire ride home, so that was a plus. It kept me warm, too, as even though winter was not officially the season yet, it was already cold with the nights dipping into the teens sometimes and the days hovering not much above freezing.
Now that finals were done, I had plenty of time to work on projects through the end of the year. The most important upcoming event before that was Christmas¡ªand my birthday. Six wasn¡¯t a big milestone or anything, but that was when the countdown ticked over from fourteen years to thirteen and change.
In the week-and-a-half before Christmas, I was able to do more commissions now that I had the time to focus on them. The experience I got from them was enough to offset the reduction due to not having classes every day anymore as well as the lost Crafting Experience and Harvesting Experience from the time of year.
Because my parents were separated, I had two Christmases on the same day. I started where I was¡ªat Mom¡¯s. That morning, I checked the stocking Mom had hung on the outside of my bedroom door overnight. There were a handful of small gifts that were mostly food. I contented myself with eating them while I waited for Mom to wake up. When she did, I followed her downstairs.
In the living room that adjoined the kitchen was a large faux Christmas tree. It was decorated with colored lights and ornaments. Beneath the tree were a small number of presents.
¡°Go on and open them,¡± Mom said.
I didn¡¯t need to be told twice! I tore into the wrapping around each gift. Most of the gifts were clothes and workbooks. The only one that wasn¡¯t was a small package that contained a single silver dollar. I looked up at Mom.
¡°I didn¡¯t know what to get you,¡± she shrugged.
¡°Thanks,¡± I said, rising and giving her a hug.
¡°You¡¯re welcome!¡±
After opening gifts, we had breakfast together then it was time to go to Dad¡¯s.
Dad¡¯s place was a mess with the upcoming move. Still, Dad put a candle into a cupcake and Mom stuck around to sing Happy Birthday to me with Dad. When she left, Dad and I got into his truck and went to his parent¡¯s house for a second Christmas.
The house was decorated with wreaths, flowers, ribbons, and lights. Dad and I climbed the stairs to the front door. I rang the doorbell.
¡°Welcome! Welcome!¡± Grandma Rose said when she opened the door for us.
¡°Hi Ma,¡± Dad said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
I got a hug before going to explore. We weren¡¯t the first to arrive¡ªthat had been my uncle Ben with his newest girlfriend. I couldn¡¯t remember meeting her before¡ªbut that was likely on account of just how many women he¡¯d been with over the years. He was doing what I remembered him for: drinking. Didn¡¯t matter the occasion, they were all an excuse to get wasted.
In the living room, my grandparents had a real Christmas tree decorated with wooden and straw ornaments. Instead of the usual electric lights, the tree had many clip-on candles. I knew that was the traditional way, but it was also really dangerous. Why Grandma Rose insisted on doing it that way, I had no idea, but Grandpa Milton always kept a couple of buckets on hand in case anything got too far out of hand. Beneath the tree were many presents in all shapes, sizes, and colors of wrapping paper.
I ended up in the kitchen where Grandma Rose was finishing up Christmas dinner. Dad helped with the heavy things while I put out the silverware, napkins, and other such things. Grandpa Milton busied himself getting a fire going in the dining room¡¯s fireplace.
When the six of us sat to eat, the table was filled with trays of delicious food. Grandma Rose lit a couple candles and led us in saying grace. Then it was time to eat. I started with the deviled eggs. Some salad, carrots, ham, and mashed potatoes followed. In no time at all, I felt like a stuffed turkey.
After cleaning up from dinner, it was finally time to open gifts. Each person got to open a gift before the next person opened theirs. It went round in a circle until all gifts were opened. I didn¡¯t get anything special¡ªsome toys that six-year-old me would have loved but that my adult self would never use¡ªbut I pretended to be happy with them. There was no sense in making my grandparents sad. They didn¡¯t know my circumstances.
We had dessert and sang some carols before Dad and I excused ourselves and returned home. Moving day was only two days away and there were some last-minute preparations that needed doing.
Chapter 30
The next day, I sat down with Dad at the table in the hallway. We ate and chatted.
¡°I¡¯ll need your help today with taking apart some of the furniture for tomorrow,¡± Dad said. ¡°I talked with your mother and she said you helping with the move might trigger a quest or whatever. So you¡¯ll be here today and move with me tomorrow.¡±
I nodded. Figuring out what was a quest¡ªand what wasn¡¯t¡ªwas a craps shoot. It could be worth a decent amount of experience if it worked out or it could just be a waste of time. I had no idea going into it what the outcome would be.
The house felt both empty and full at the same time. The walls were bare and the curtains were packed away. The floor was stacked high with boxes. Dad had brought as many of them as he could onto the main floor by the front door. What didn¡¯t fit there spilled into other rooms on the first floor.
I took the morning to finish packing away the last of my things into a couple of boxes. I brought them carefully down the stairs and placed them with the rest of the boxes. Then in the afternoon, Dad wrangled me to help him disassemble some of the furniture.
The easiest ones were Dad¡¯s bed frame and several tables¡ªthe legs unscrewed from the top. The most time-consuming one was my dresser. Yes, it could be moved in one piece, but it was screwed together and easy to assemble so taking it apart to save on room was a good plan.
That night, we ate pizza on paper plates and used a couple boxes for chairs¡ªthe real chairs were wrapped and stacked for the morning.
¡°We¡¯re gonna be busy tomorrow,¡± Dad said, taking a bite of pizza.
¡°Yeah,¡± I agreed.
¡°My friends Justin and Steve are coming over to help out tomorrow. Don¡¯t know if you remember them or not¡ª¡°
I nodded.
¡°¡ªbut they¡¯ll take care of all of the heavy stuff before you and I drive to the new place. They¡¯ll follow and help unload, too.¡±
¡°When are you getting the truck?¡± I asked.
¡°In the morning when they get here.¡±
We talked more as we ate. When I was done, I tossed my plate into the garbage. I turned to go upstairs.
¡°Don¡¯t stay up too late,¡± Dad cautioned.
I blew him a kiss and went up to my room. I didn¡¯t need him to remind me that I was going to need my sleep. I went to sleep a couple hours later when I was done doing some quests on my laptop.
I woke with the first light of dawn¡ªthe lack of curtains a significant factor. I put on the same clothes I had worn the previous day and wandered downstairs to find Dad already sipping his coffee.
¡°Mornin¡¯¡± I yawned.
¡°Hey, kid,¡± he said.
¡°Breakfast?¡± I asked.
¡°Cold pizza¡¯s all that¡¯s left.¡±
I shrugged and walked down the stairs to the basement where the fridge was. I took the last slice of pizza and began to eat while walking back to where Dad was. I sat on a box next to him. The pizza was rather mid without a way to warm it.
Almost as soon as I finished my breakfast, Dad¡¯s two friends arrived. I said hi to both. They acted like I was meeting them for the first time¡ªeven if I remembered them and their kids from later in my past life. They rode in their work van behind Dad and I in Dad¡¯s truck to the truck rental place.
The lot had a handful of trucks of varying sizes. We parked in the customer lot and I sat in the car while Dad went in to handle the paperwork. Justin came and sat in the truck with me. He didn¡¯t say much but mostly kept an eye on me. I figured he was going to be the one to drive the pickup home while I rode with Dad in the big moving truck.
When Dad came out¡ªkeys in hand¡ªhe helped me down from the truck. The moving truck he¡¯d chosen was a medium-sized one. Dad had to lift me into the cab of it as the place to step up into it was at chest-level for me. The inside of the truck was much like Dad¡¯s pickup¡ªthere was a large bench seat with a stick-shift in the middle. Unlike dad¡¯s truck, the moving truck had a proper seat belt for me to wear.
¡°Buckle up,¡± Dad said when he jumped into his side of the truck.
I clicked the seat belt in place and he did the same. He turned the engine over. With a grinding gear¡ªand a curse¡ªwe were off. The truck was slow to get up to speed and I bounced against the seat belt with every bump and jolt. Without the seat belt, I might have received experience for being the youngest astronaut!
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The drive was a bumpy one because Dad was not used to driving a truck so large. He struggled to make the sharp turns on the smaller streets¡ªthe ride down the big hill and onto our street was especially precarious. He needed his friends¡¯ assistance to back the truck down the driveway. Once he parked, I hopped out and began helping to load the truck.
| Get a Move On
Help Milton Teller Jr move
Success: Experience gained based on the proportion of items moved
Failure: N/A
Expires: 14 hours, 32 minutes, 55 seconds |
I accepted the quest and let Dad know about it. I planned on helping anyway. Even so, I wasn¡¯t going to break my back lifting things I had no business lifting just for a handful more experience. I also didn¡¯t want to alert Justin or Steve that there was something strange going on with me.
Dad let me use a dolly to bring boxes out of the house and to the truck. From there, Justin or Steve would be waiting to bring them up the ramp and into the back of the truck. I started with the biggest boxes¡ªDad helping me to move them outside onto the dolly¡ªwhile Dad and his friends moved the furniture.
Most of the boxes were doable on my own with a bit of finagling, but there were a few that were heavy. Like ridiculously heavy. I guessed those were filled with books or similar items. Those ones I did not touch as I did not want to break any of their contents.
After two hours, we were done loading the truck. It was time to go. I got into the cab with Dad. Justin drove the van while Steve took Dad¡¯s pickup. Dad drove even slower now that the truck was filled and secured. We took a circuitous route out of town that minimized the steepness of the hill. It ended up still being a challenge for Dad to get going after a light turned green while he was at the top edge of the hill.
Dad¡¯s new place was in the same town as his parent¡¯s house. It was a large trailer home at the edge of town. He backed the truck in diagonally so he wouldn¡¯t block the gravel road that passed in front of the trailer.
The trailer was in a trailer park that had about fifty such trailers. Each section of the trailer park was connected with a gravel road to a central gravel road that¡ªin turn¡ªconnected to a paved main road. The trailer itself was in good shape and looked well maintained. A thin forest surrounded the trailer park and included space for small yards for each trailer. The same was true for Dad¡¯s trailer.
We began the process of moving but this time in reverse. Justin or Steve would help me bring the boxes down from the truck and I would put them on the dolly to move them up a shallower ramp and into the trailer. While that was happening, Dad and Steve or Justin would be moving the furniture into the correct room.
As we went, I noticed that Dad had more stuff than he would be able to keep in the trailer¡ªeven if it was a larger trailer. The plus side¡ªfor me at least¡ªwas that my room was actually large enough to house my bed and my dresser this time. It was downright spacious!
Break-time was called just after noon when the pizza arrived. The men cracked a beer each and ate a couple slices of pizza. They even tried offering me a can of my own, but I declined. Never was a fan of alcohol. I did, however, eat two slices of the pepperoni pizza before going back to what I had been doing. Dad and his friends chatted for a while longer before they joined me.
All in all, it took about two hours to unload everything and get them into the correct rooms of the trailer. Dad gave his friends a six-pack of beer each when they left¡ªand a hearty thanks. Once they left, the notification chime alerted me that the quest was complete.
| Get a Move On Complete
Reward: 48 Exp |
I smiled at the news.
¡°Why don¡¯t you unpack your room?¡± Dad suggested.
I shrugged and slowly trudged to my new room. The bookshelf, bed, night stand, and dresser were all placed in the room. I gave the room a critical eye before I went to get Dad.
¡°Yeah?¡± he said when I approached.
¡°Can you help me rearrange my room before I put things away?¡± I asked.
¡°Sure.¡±
Dad followed me into my room. We¡ªDad, really¡ªmoved the furniture around into a configuration that made more sense and which maximized the available usable space. When he left, I tore into the boxes. I placed the books where they belonged, plugged in the lamp, and organized the dresser with my clothes. I didn¡¯t yet have a fresh bed sheet¡ªwho knew where those ended up¡ªso I considered the room finished.
I wandered the trailer, helping Dad put away everything. It was a laborious task that took many hours and left me feeling wrung out. Though we didn¡¯t finish by dinner, we¡¯d completed enough that Dad was ok with calling it quits for the day. After dinner¡ªand after finding the bed sheets¡ªI lay down in my bed and worked on what mental quests I could until I was too tired to continue.
When I woke the next morning, I was confused by my surroundings. Not only were they unfamiliar¡ªDad had moved somewhere else originally¡ªbut it was also much darker out than it had any right to be at that point in the morning. I peeked through the curtains and saw that it was snowing. While we¡¯d gotten a dusting a week earlier, this was the first significant snowfall of the year that heralded a period of constant accumulation and large piles. I also smelled opportunity.
I remembered how much money I¡¯d been able to get from raking leaves. I wondered if shoveling driveways would net me some decent cash as well¡ªif Dad cleared it with the landlord, of course. I brought the idea to his attention and he told me he¡¯d ask. I figured that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything for that snow fall, but maybe the next one if I were allowed to.
Instead of worrying about it, I got my snow gear on and went outside to play. One of the best things about being a child was just how light I was as compared to when I had been an adult. I could much more easily get on top of the deep snow and crawl through it instead of getting stuck like I would if I were bigger and heavier.
I was like an old band on its final tour playing all the hits¡ªI made snow angels, a snow man, and a snow fort from which to have a snowball fight. I even used a garbage can lid to sled down the shallow slope of the back yard. When I grew tired, I just lay on my back with my eyes closed and my mouth open. The snow gently fell on my face and melted on my tongue. I was happy.
Chapter 31
When the snow stopped later in the day, Dad dropped me off at Mom¡¯s. Part of the deal for the extra couple of days was that Mom would get me over New Year¡¯s. I wasn¡¯t sure why they cared so much about splitting the time perfectly, but I imagined it had something to do with the ongoing divorce between them. I was doing my best to ignore everything that was going on with that¡ªand I¡¯d been pretty successful thus far.
My parents¡ªat this point in their lives¡ªdidn¡¯t have much to fight over and the whole custody thing was a bit of a moot point given the whole time travel thing. I was hopeful that the process would be more smooth this time around. At the same time, that the two were rigidly sticking to the 50/50 agreement filled me with some doubts that I chose to bottle up. That was the easier thing to do.
They had their lives and I¡¯d reset it all again at some point in the future, so I found it hard to care. They were my parents but not the same ones that I¡¯d take into the apocalypse with me. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. I decided that I would much rather focus on the present¡ªfor the time being. That meant baking cookies with Mom.
¡°Can you measure out the oil?¡± Mom asked while she hunted for the mixer.
¡°Sure,¡± I agreed.
I found a measuring cup in a drawer. The oil I took from the pantry cabinet. I carefully poured the amount the boxed cookie mix called for into the measuring cup. I also retrieved the egg and cracked it into a ramekin.
Mom placed a bowl on the kitchen table and plugged in the mixer. Following the instructions on the side of the package, she dumped in the dry mix while I dumped in the rest of the ingredients. She started with the mixer before handing it to me. It was hard to hold and jumped around like an unbroken horse. Batter splattered the sides of the bowl and threatened to make a bigger mess. Thankfully, Mom stepped in and grabbed the mixer from me before that happened.
¡°Sorry, Mom,¡± I said. ¡°It got away from me there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s ok,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty strong and you¡¯re still so little.¡±
I gave her a flat look.
¡°Ok, ok, you¡¯re not that little, but you¡¯re still my baby boy.¡±
Mom finished mixing the dough. We spooned out portions of the mix onto a greased tray¡ªand some into our mouths¡ªbefore putting the tray into the oven. I got to lick the bowl clean and it was as delicious as I remembered¡ªmaybe even moreso. My tastebuds were much more sensitive than they were when I¡¯d been an adult so the flavors were just more intense.
That made me stop and think. Since I had returned to my younger self, I¡¯d been changing. Not only because of the pressures of the end of the world¡ªgood job, past me¡ªbut because I was young again. Being six again was rubbing off on me a bit. It had taken me a while to realize it, but I was doing things that a child would do not just because they were fun¡ªand they were fun. Rather, I was doing them because I was in a child¡¯s body. At least, that was my running hypothesis.
I influenced my younger self and, in turn, my younger self influenced me. I was not sure what I thought about the implications of it. On the one hand, it made some sense. I was the body I was in. On the other, I was a bit scared of how going through puberty¡ªagain¡ªwould be. I was thankful that it was far away because I was definitely not looking forward to that. I still had my emotional maturity, and I hoped that would last. In case it didn¡¯t, I decided to keep track of these potential changes going forward.
When the timer dinged ten minutes later, I bounced on my feet while Mom carefully extracted the sheet pan from the oven. She let them cool where they were¡ªshe did not have a cooling rack. I tried to sneak a bite of the still-lava cookies, but she dissuaded me and convinced me to go do something else while the cookies cooled to temperatures that wouldn¡¯t singe my mouth.
I sighed and dramatically stomped off to work on some of the daily and weekly quests that remained. When I had done so, I reviewed the features I had discovered. As far as I could tell, getting Quests I¡ªand subsequently the ability to refresh quests¡ªwas my first target. For that, I needed 225,000 experience, or 175,000 experience if I decided for one free refresh instead of unlimited. If I had unlimited refreshes, I could get a lot more experience not only in the current loop but in subsequent loops, so that is what I decided on. I could always earn 50,000 experience back if I needed it for something else at a later date or if the unlimited didn¡¯t make that much of a difference over the one free time. I¡¯d need to try it to know.
As it stood, I had 58,511 experience. That felt quite far away from my goal. I was gaining around 7,000 per month¡ªmore if long-term quests were counted¡ªwhich meant that I would have enough in about two years if my math checked out. After buying those features, the math got too murky for me to reliably forecast. Even if activating them changed nothing, I would have around a million experience to play with¡ªincluding whatever I was going to spend on Restart I and its related features.
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A whiff of the cookies brought me back to reality. I wondered how long it had been and if they were finally ready to eat.
¡°Mom!¡± I called out.
¡°Yes Dear?¡± I heard her voice echo from below.
¡°Are the cookies ready?¡±
¡°Let me check,¡± came the reply.
I waited a minute and then heard the answer.
¡°Yes, and they¡¯re delicious!¡±
I cursed her and rushed downstairs and into the kitchen. Thankfully, Mom had only taken one of the cookies and left a large stack of them to be put away. I took two. One got stuffed into my mouth while the other I took upstairs all while feeling smug as if I had gotten away with something. I shook the feeling away and facepalmed.
Ugh, why am I acting like this? I thought I grew out of being a little shit a long time ago!
I took out my frustrations on my pillow. I punched it, screamed into it, and cried as well. I knew I should probably talk to Mom about it, but my own pride got in the way. I¡¯d been alive for nearly forty years and I was going to handle it on my own. Like the adult I was, damn it!
I settled on a form of meditation. It worked to calm me down and center me. I felt grounded and¡ªthough not at peace¡ªit was a step in that direction. An hour¡ªand a cookie¡ªlater, I felt much better.
By the time New Year¡¯s Eve rolled around, I felt like I had a handle on what was going on with me. While imperfect, I was in control of myself enough to counteract the majority of the childish impulses I was feeling. More importantly, it was New Year¡¯s Eve, and that meant I could hang with Mom until midnight.
I was excited. Even though I could have stayed up until the middle of the night at any time, this was the first time I would be doing so intentionally. The only other time had been when I was awoken by a notification at midnight. I shuddered at the memory.
Mom and I sat in chairs in the living room with the TV showing a livestream of Times Square while we waited for the ball to drop. There were entertainers of all stripes. None of it was particularly interesting¡ªespecially as I was reminded of some later scandals that involved some of the celebrities performing. They had been more on the evil side of the criminal spectrum than on the stupid side. I gossiped with Mom about what I remembered, but I couldn¡¯t remember anything more than vague dates¡ªwhich I explained and she accepted.
As the evening and then night wore on, the performers changed and my eyelids grew ever heavier. With about an hour to go, I woke with a start.
¡°You were falling asleep there,¡± Mom said with a hand on my shoulder.
¡°Yeah, sorry,¡± I yawned.
¡°Are you sure you want to stay up until midnight? You¡¯re having a har¡ª¡°
¡°Yeah,¡± I said, cutting her off. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±
I yawned again.
I started employing every method I could think of to stay awake¡ªsplashing water on my face, having another cookie, rolling around on the floor, and even running outside into the cold air. They all helped. Still, by the time the ball began to fall, My eyes were barely open. I was laying across Mom¡¯s lap watching the TV.
¡®10!¡¯
¡®9!¡¯
The crowd on the TV began chanting as it got closer. I tried to count with them but I was too far gone. I closed one eye and kept the other half-open.
¡®3!¡¯
¡®2!¡¯
¡®1!¡¯
¡®HAPPY NEW YEAR!¡¯
¡°Happy New Year,¡± Mom said quietly.
¡°Happy¡ New¡ Year¡¡± I managed to get out.
¡°Alright,¡± she said while trying to get me onto my feet. ¡°Time for bed. I¡¯ll help you up to your room.¡±
I nodded, too tired to speak.
Mom held put one arm around me and carefully guided me up the stairs. I nearly fell on the way up, but her arm saved me. Step by step I climbed. By the time I reached the top, both of my eyes had closed. It was only through her guidance that I made it into my bed. I pretty much fell asleep¡ªmy consciousness disappearing before my head touched my pillow.
I woke later in the morning than I was used to¡ªand I was feeling a bit groggy from the loss of sleep. I sat up, stretched, and yawned loudly. As I did every morning, I looked over the available quests. There were two interesting entries. I¡¯d seen a yearly quest before¡ªthere was one when I¡¯d unlocked Quests III, but it had been impossible to complete. One of the two was easy enough to complete. The other one looked like it should be possible as well even if it was a bit more difficult.
| Yearly Questing
Complete 365 quests: 0/365
Success: 1,250 Exp
Failure: N/A
Expires: 364 days 15 hours 22 minutes 43 seconds |
| Yearly Earning
Earn $10,000: 0/10,000
Success: 1,250 Exp
Failure: N/A
Expires: 364 days 15 hours 22 minutes 43 seconds |
I accepted both quests as well as the normal daily ones. The yearly quests were decent value but not quite worth as much as an equivalent number of daily quests¡ªaround a third. Still, one big quest was somewhat easier to work towards as there was no guarantee that I would be able to do every quest. I was looking forward to the ability to reroll quests that I couldn¡¯t do as well as accept a new one after I¡¯d finished one. That it was a couple years off irked me.
It was a frustrating grind that I would have to do. Burnout was an ever present issue just waiting in the wings for me to slip up. I knew I needed a break of some kind¡ªespecially with the next semester only a week away. I also had to consider what my next sewing project would be now that I had a bit more cash to work with. I¡¯d decide after consulting Elizabeth.
Chapter 32
Over the next week-and-a-half¡ªwhile waiting for the next semester to begin¡ªI used Search to poke around the system a bit. I didn¡¯t have any pressure on me to do work for school or anything else, so I figured that would be a good use of my free time.
I discovered several negative and positive options that did not have any requirements insofar as other features were concerned. Though some of them looked like things I would want to do, I ultimately held off of picking any of them. I¡¯m not sure if it was fear or just uncertainty, but I didn¡¯t want to make such a big decision without more consideration. I could always buy them¡ªbut once bought I couldn¡¯t undo that choice.
| Feature: Double Human Experience
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: 1,000,000 Exp
Description: Killing humans give twice as much experience |
| Feature: No Human Experience
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: -250,000 Exp
Description: Killing humans gives no experience |
| Feature: Monster Strength I
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: -124,100 Exp
Description: Increases the monster level by 1 |
| Feature: Dungeons I
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: 10,000,000 Exp
Description: Confines monsters to dungeons |
| Feature: Dungeon Breaks I
Prerequisites: Dungeons I
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: -5,000,000 Exp
Description: Allows monsters to break from dungeons |
| Feature: Apocalypse Countdown I
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: -1,000,000 Exp
Description: Permanently reduces the amount of time before the apocalypse by 1 year |
| Feature: Technological Ban I
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: -1,000,000 Exp
Description: Permanently disables all technology that relies upon electricity to function |
| Feature: Weapons Ban I
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: N/A
Unlock For Universal Use: -1,000,000 Exp
Description: Permanently disables all weapons that rely on chemical reactions to function |
I did get a chance to talk to Elizabeth about the next project before school started up again. She suggested making stuffed toys to donate to charity. There were always small bits of fabric left over that couldn¡¯t be sold by the store or that were left over from other projects. I would be able to use those to make another child happy.
I started that same day. Elizabeth had me sew together a simple shape¡ªa triangle¡ªuntil both pieces were nearly sewn together. Then I had to turn the thing inside out before stuffing It with bits of cotton or polyester or whatever other puffy material was available. Finally, I had to carefully sew the final few stitches a special way so that the seam was hidden inside. What I had created was deemed passable by Elizabeth, so I planned on making something more difficult the next time the group met.
School started up again. This meant I had to go through the same rigmarole with the professors. There was one that was the same as the previous semester¡ªso that one went well¡ªand most of the others accepted me easily enough. There was always that one. A quick call to the office of the Dean sorted it out, but it was an annoyance that had me apprehensive every time I went to a new class for the first time. That it was the very first class I¡¯d walked into for the semester didn¡¯t help.
At the end of the first day of classes, I got an email from the Dean asking for me to meet him the next day. He said in the email that he¡¯d heard good news from one of his contacts at a university. I hoped he was right. Before I could meet him, I had another sewing meet up to attend.
While waiting for Grandpa Milton to pick me up from school at the end of the day¡ªthey did so whenever Dad had to work late during the week he had me¡ªI finally decided that I would take the No Human Experience feature. I had kept it in reserve in case I wanted to use a system of punishment for murderers but ultimately decided that the lack of incentive¡ªexperience¡ªto kill someone would be sufficient to dissuade someone for most reasons. The other reasons¡ªjilted lover, the thrill, fight for power¡ªwould never go away and messing with the experience gain wouldn¡¯t fix them.
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| Feature Unlocked: No Human Experience
Current Exp: 310,755 |
| Feature Unlocked: Quests I
Current Exp: 210,755 |
| Feature Unlocked: Quests Refresh I
Current Exp: 185,755 |
| Feature Unlocked: Free Quests Refresh I
Current Exp: 85,755 |
I played with my newfound questing powers. I was only able to refresh the quests governed by Quests I¡ªthe daily and weekly ones. I¡¯d finished a couple throughout the day and was able to refresh them to new choices. I couldn¡¯t reroll them once refreshed, but it would give me a good opportunity to run multiple quests a day. If I had a lot of time¡ªand I got lucky¡ªI could gain triple or more the usual amount of experience for that day.
Dad picked me up from his parents¡¯ place after dinner and brought me to the meet up. As he usually did, he went to a restaurant nearby to have dinner while I worked on my projects. Elizabeth jumped up to greet me when I walked into the room.
¡°So what shape am I going to make today?¡± I asked.
¡°You¡¯re going to make a bear!¡± she said excitedly.
¡°But won¡¯t that be kinda hard?¡±
¡°Well, yes¡ but that¡¯s what you¡¯ll be donating! Maybe when you finish, you can make some really tiny clothes for the bear?¡±
¡°Maybe? I¡¯ll just start with the bear. What do I need to do?¡±
¡°Well¡¡±
Elizabeth explained the process. It was basically the same as it had been for the triangle except for the more complicated shape.
I started by cutting out two identical bear shapes with a little extra fabric to account for the seams. Then I placed one atop the other with the inside facing out and pinned the two pieces together. I used wax to visualize where to put the seam. Then it was time to sew.
With the bear being stuffed eventually, I had to use a strong stitch. Each stitch was as small as I could make them within reason. It took time, but the final product would be better for it. When I made it back around to the head, I turned the bear right side out.
The stuffing process was a bit trickier with the bear than it had been with the triangle¡ªthere were a bunch of long and narrow bits that needed stuffing. Once I finished stuffing the bear, I sealed the last bit of the head with more stitching.
I thought I was done at that point, but Elizabeth suggested I make some tweaks. At each major joint¡ªlike where the legs met the torso¡ªI sewed a line to compress the stuffing and allow the bear a slight range of motion. I did the same to the hands but instead of for ease of bending, I did so to give the appearance of hands.
There were other small details as well¡ªlike the face¡ªthat I needed to complete before Elizabeth declared that the bear was done. I got a good amount of experience for the effort. I handed the bear to her when it was time to go home. There was a collection box in the corner for donating. Everyone made items to donate from time to time. The box would be closed up and donated as soon as it was filled. My first bear found its new home in the donation box.
Thursday afternoon, I walked into the Dean¡¯s office with Grandpa Joe. As much as Grandpa Milton would have been a good companion, I still wasn¡¯t sure of bringing him into the know. At least Grandpa Joe knew how to keep a secret¡ªwhich is why I trusted him to help me with these kinds of things.
After a brief wait, we were let in to see the Dean. He had a warm expression and shook my hand when I entered his office. Grandpa Joe and I sat down in front of the Dean¡¯s desk, I waited nervously for him to begin speaking.
¡°So, Eddy,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard back from my friend Connor. He said that there shouldn¡¯t be any issues with getting you into the university and getting you a full ride given your circumstances. Their endowment can certainly handle it.¡±
He laughed.
¡°So that¡¯s it then?¡± I asked.
¡°Well, mostly.¡±
I gave him a quizzical look.
¡°If it were just the acceptance,¡± he said putting his hands up, ¡°I would have sent the instructions to you by email. No, Connor wants to meet with you first. I know that¡¯s going to be difficult with how much work is involved day-to-day in school. That said, he would probably be available when you have your break after midterms.¡±
¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°That should be possible, right Grandpa Joe?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have to ask your Mom¡ªand I might have to go with you¡ªbut I don¡¯t see why not.¡±
¡°Awesome.¡±
¡°There¡¯s one other thing,¡± the Dean coughed. ¡°You¡¯ll need to apply to the college as a transfer. That won¡¯t be too difficult on your part. I¡¯ll email you the forms you need. I have directed the office to send a copy of your transcript to me. When you¡¯re done with the forms, send them my way. I¡¯ll pass everything along to Connor.¡±
I nodded.
¡°Is there anything else?¡± I asked.
¡°That¡¯s all. Do you have any questions?¡±
¡°No,¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°I do want to thank you for this.¡±
¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing,¡± the Dean said. ¡°This is the sort of thing I took this job to do. I don¡¯t always get to help students as much as I want to, but you stand out even more than most.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡±
I shook the Dean¡¯s hand again on the way out. I sighed, the nerves exiting my body with each breath.
¡°That went well,¡± I said to Grandpa Joe.
¡°You did good, kid,¡± he said.
When I got home that night, I checked my email and saw the forms from the Dean. I called Mom and told her the news. She was over the moon and congratulated me. Dad¡¯s reaction was more subdued. He fist-bumped me and told me good job. I hadn¡¯t really expected more than that from him, but it did hurt a bit to not see him as excited as Mom was.
That weekend, it snowed a lot. It got going Friday afternoon and didn¡¯t let up until mid-day on Saturday. I struggled to clear Dad¡¯s driveway and walkway but managed eventually with Dad¡¯s help.
We went from trailer to trailer to help dig people¡ªand their cars¡ªout from under all the white stuff. It was a ton of tiring effort, but we got it done in the end. That the snow was fluffy was my only saving grace. That allowed me to move more of it without feeling like I might break something¡ªthe shovel or maybe even my arms!
We didn¡¯t always get paid for the work¡ªsomething Dad claimed built character. I called it bullshit. It was my money and I wanted it now! I did get some experience¡ªfrom the money we did get. Dad gave me half the money even though I¡¯d only done a quarter of the work. At least he got that part right.
Chapter 33
Sunday was a free day where I was able to do more practical testing of the new features. I accepted all of the quests for the day and started from the easiest ones. Once I had finished each quest, I refreshed it to see what popped up. I then accepted the new quest and followed the same process.
What I found with testing was important for understanding how to exploit it in the future. I was reasonably sure that if a particular requirement¡ªsuch as running¡ªwas included in one quest, it wouldn¡¯t appear in another. That meant I would be able to block quests I didn¡¯t want to do so that better ones would roll or at least choose not to complete some quests until after I had done as much as I could with the other available quests.
I also noticed that while I wouldn¡¯t always get the same quest as one I had finished, it was possible to get the same¡ªor a similar¡ªone. A quick quest that repeated a few times in a row could be a boon for me. Finally, I saw how sometimes daily or weekly quests would switch to weekly or daily respectively. I didn¡¯t much mind since many of the weekly ones were doable in a day or two¡ªprovided they were doable in the first place.
I concluded my testing Sunday night and figured that I would gain about 35 experience per day on average compared to how it was before I¡¯d purchased the features¡ªa little over fifteen percent more! That wasn¡¯t the massive gain I¡¯d hoped for. However, the ones for Quests II and Quests III were likely to provide more value overall as I had to wait a long time between refreshed otherwise in comparison to daily and weekly time frames.
I decided to talk with Mom Sunday evening. I explained what I¡¯d been up to with the new features and the results of testing.
¡°Mom,¡± I said, ¡°It feels like I¡¯m spinning my wheels. I know I¡¯m not, but it¡¯s frustratingly slow!¡±
¡°You¡¯re not going to save the world overnight,¡± Mom said in a calming voice. ¡°I know it¡¯s hard on you to feel like it¡¯s all on you. And so what if it is? You¡¯ve been doing this for less than a year already and look at how much you¡¯ve accomplished!¡±
¡°But¡ª¡°
¡°No ¡®but¡¯s! You¡¯re doing a great job. Maybe you just need another break?¡±
¡°I would if I could, but¡ª¡°
¡°I said no ¡®but¡¯s!¡± Mom laughed. ¡°What you just said is exactly how you know you need a break.¡±
Mom paused to think before she continued.
¡°Maybe not a full break with school going on, but maybe pare back some of the more demanding quests for a while? Maybe focus on just one hobby at a time¡ªlike sewing instead of writing. At least for a month or two to get some of the stress to dissipate, you know?¡±
¡°I know,¡± I agreed.
Mom was right. I¡¯d been pushing pretty hard since I got back from the beach six months earlier.
¡°How about we go skiing this weekend?¡±
¡°Sure,¡± I shrugged.
I turned to go but that was when I remembered what I needed to talk to Mom about.
¡°Oh, I almost forgot. Did Grandpa Joe talk to you about what the Dean said?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°So¡ what should I do? I think it¡¯s the best way for me to finish school without having to go into debt I¡¯ll never be able to pay off.¡±
¡°I agree,¡± she said, ¡°but you¡¯ve got to be careful. The university¡¯s a place you¡¯ll need to live full time and I¡¯m not sure how they can arrange to keep you safe. I¡¯ll be going with you to the meeting instead of Grandpa Joe.¡±
¡°Are you sure? What about work?¡±
¡°Work can wait. Your safety matters much more. Plus, I already requested off for that day.¡±
¡°Alright,¡± I said.
I hoped it would work out. I really wanted to get the most out of the long term quest.
Saturday morning, Mom woke me early. I yawned as I got dressed. I didn¡¯t put on all of my layers, but I was dressed warmly and packed the top layers into the car to put on when we got there.
The closest ski area wasn¡¯t too far but at the same time, it wasn¡¯t that close, either. Mom and I listened to tunes in the car for a little over an hour before we got to our destination. With the recent snow, the sides of the roads still had large snow banks that were streakily painted brown and black by mud and soot.
Mom parked in the ski area¡¯s lot. The place wasn¡¯t full but it also wasn¡¯t empty either. I figured there would be enough room for us to ski without much waiting around in lines. I got out of the car while putting on the rest of my cold weather gear. Then I followed Mom towards the main area.
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The main building was made to look like a Swiss chalet. Beyond that were several ski lifts and cleared trails of varying difficulty. I saw several snow machines higher up on the mountain spewing icy snow to increase the depth of the snow pack and to allow for contoured grading of the slope.
The inside of the main building was rather barren. There was a counter to purchase lift tickets and another to rent skis and boots. A bank of lockers ran the length of one of the walls. Other than that, the floor had a couple of benches and vending machines. Mom started by getting the lift tickets. She helped me attach mine to my jacket¡¯s zipper with a special metal hook that went through the eye of the zipper. A sticker covered the metal and displayed the date and duration of the ticket.
Then we walked over to get kitted out for the day. The man behind the counter helped size us both for skis and for boots. I took my boots, skis, and poles to one of the benches. The process of putting the boots on was just as much of a pain as I remembered. While I hadn¡¯t been skiing in forever, I did remember the boots. Once ratcheted down, I had no ankle movement, which made walking forward difficult.
Mom and I put our normal shoes into a locker and stuffed the key into Mom¡¯s pants. From there, we took the skis and poles outside. There were a couple rubber mats where people were expected to put on¡ªand later take off¡ªtheir skis. I grabbed a wooden rail for balance when I went to put the skis on. When both were secure, I followed Mom unsteadily.
¡°How comfortable are you skiing?¡± Mom asked.
I bent my head side to side.
¡°Ok I guess?¡± I answered. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s start with the bunny hill and move up to something harder later?¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
The bunny hill was located on the far right of the mountain. I skied behind Mom past two lifts before we ending up at the bunny hill. The bunny hill had a conveyor belt to step on and a rope to hold that brought the skier to the top. The slope was very shallow so there wasn¡¯t much danger in actually crashing as long as I kept my balance.
¡°I¡¯ll follow you,¡± Mom said when we reached the top of the hill.
I wedged my skis into a pizza shape to get a feel for controlling them again. The first run down the hill was slow, but subsequent runs were faster as I gained confidence. After a handful of runs down the bunny hill, I felt like I was able to control myself well enough to go up the mountain, which I indicated to Mom.
The lift directly adjacent to the bunny hill went straight to the top of the mountain. There was a small line of skiers and snowboarders in front of us waiting for their turn to ride the chair. The chairs were wide enough for two people and had an automatic crossbar that dropped into place as soon as the chair began moving up the mountain. The chairs were made of wood and hung from moving wires.
Soon enough, it was our turn. I found it difficult to get onto the chair because I had to be quick to get on the chair before it moved up the hill and because the height of the chair was hard to reach given my height. Thankfully, one of the attendants assisted by lifting me onto the chair before the crossbar came down.
The ride up the mountain was bouncy. The skis on my feet were heavy without any real support that I could reach¡ªMom was able to rest hers against the support bar. The chair moved at a brisk walking pace and climbed high above the trees and the trails. I looked down some fifty feet to watch the little people whizzing down the mountain. I saw two people take a jump¡ªone landed a nice trick while the other crashed spectacularly, losing a ski that skidded away.
Five minutes later, we reached the top. As the chair came to the top, the safety bar rose away. Mom reminded me to lift my skis so they wouldn¡¯t dig into the snow. Then, when the ground came up to meet me, I slipped off the chair and rode down the small ramp to the top area.
I read a trail map at the top. It was a large wooden sign painted to show the difficulty of the trails. Next to that trail map sign was another sign that indicated the direction and distance of the trailheads for the trails. I found a lower difficulty trail that seemed to weave back and forth down the mountain.
¡°Let¡¯s do that one,¡± I said, showing it to Mom.
¡°I¡¯ll follow you,¡± she said.
The entrance to the trail was to our right at the far edge. I passed by a very steep hill that scared me just to peer down. I kept a bit farther away just in case. Slipping down one of those was the last thing I wanted. The trail I wanted was the one after the scary slope. I turned down it and began to weave back and forth across the steeper parts.
The trail flattened out some¡ªand even rose higher in places¡ªas it crossed the mountain. There were signs of caution every so often where our trail crossed with others. It went across the mountain and back several times. Sometimes I needed to gather enough speed to make it up and over a rise¡ªvery thrilling¡ªand other times I¡¯d need to ensure I didn¡¯t go too fast.
About halfway down the slope, another of the lifts terminated there to service many of the lower trails. In the same location was a lodge. Since it had been almost 2 hours by this point, I pointed it out to Mom.
¡°Can we stop for a bit?¡± I asked.
¡°Sure. Want some hot chocolate and something to eat?¡±
¡°Yeah! I¡¯ll take chicken strips or whatever else they¡¯ve got that looks good. Should I grab us a table?¡±
Mom nodded.
Outside of the lodge was one of those rubber mats like had been at the main building at the bottom. As soon as I slid onto the rubber, I unclipped my boots from the skis. I stuck them in the snow outside the door along with my polls and walked inside. The lodge was small inside. It had a handful of tables and a place to buy food. I sat down at one of the tables to wait for Mom.
The food took a little while to prepare. While we waited, I sipped on the hot chocolate. The first sip burnt my tongue¡ªas did the next sip¡ and the one after that. I drank some water to cool my tongue and to rehydrate. Eventually, the food arrived. It was bland and required lots of honey mustard to be edible. The now cooler hot chocolate tasted much better than it had any right to¡ªespecially as it tasted like it¡¯d come from powder.
I ate while talking with Mom. She¡¯d been right. I had needed a break. My only hope was that this break didn¡¯t introduce more things that could be options for quests since I was unlikely to ever be able to do them.
After eating¡ªand an all important bathroom break¡ªwe suited back up and finished going down the mountain. We went up and back down another two times before Mom was too tired to continue. I was beginning to feel exhaustion as well, but I figured I had another run in me. Sadly, she forbade me from going without her just in case.
I turned in my skis and poles and boots. I felt a strong sense of relief when I finally got the boots off. I¡¯d gotten used to the restrictions placed on me and yet, when it was removed, it felt so freeing. With my normal shoes on¡ªand my feel still a bit damp¡ªI hopped in the car for the ride home.
Chapter 34
Three weeks passed quickly. Though I spent much of my time studying for exams and doing class work, I was able to take advantage of my daily and weekly quest refreshes. I sat at 94,315 experience while Mom drove me to the university two hours away.
Mom packed enough stuff for us to go there, meet with Connor, and spend a couple of days getting to know the area. If all went well, she wanted me to be comfortable and know where things were¡ªespecially for when she came to visit.
I watched the barren trees whip by along the edge of the highway. The snow banks had melted a lot recently and were looking more like mud than snow. I heard on the radio that a cold snap was coming in the next few days, but that was much too late to save the now-patchy snow.
When we took the exit for the university, I was relieved. Besides needing to go to the bathroom, my legs were starting to tingle from lack of use. We drove over back roads and up a hill before entering the university from the back. Mom drove me through the university slowly so we could both get a good look at it.
It was small¡ªas far as universities go¡ªbut still took up an entire hillside. The buildings were primarily made of stone and brick in a Gothic style. There were newer designs sprinkled throughout that showed how much the university had grown over the years. Toward the bottom of the hill, the university and the town it was in blended together.
We passed the off-campus housing¡ªor that¡¯s what I assumed it to be given the proximity to the main campus¡ªon the way to the hotel that sat at the bottom of the hill nearby to the river that split the town in half. It was pretty small as far as hotels went, there to serve the university when parents came to visit. Mom parked and checked us in.
After putting all of the items into our room¡ªand using the restroom¡ªMom and I went out to wander around the town. The meeting with Connor wasn¡¯t until later in the day, so there was time to have a gander and some lunch. The main street that ran one block away from the university and along the river had several possible restaurants to choose from. Two bars, a tavern, a chain restaurant, three cafes, and a sandwich shop.
I ended up choosing the tavern if only because it had good reviews online. We were quickly seated in a booth. The booths were made of dark-stained wood, as were the walls. These elements¡ªand the general low amount of light¡ªgave the place a spooky and dark feeling.
The overly-chipper server¡ªwho looked like he was one of the students¡ªcame over to take our order long before we¡¯d had the opportunity to actually look at the menu properly. Mom had to send him away twice¡ªwith drink orders the first time¡ªbefore we were finally ready to order.
¡°I¡¯ll have the fish ¡®n chips,¡± Mom said.
¡°And how about the little man?¡± the server asked.
¡°Shepherd¡¯s pie,¡± I decided.
¡°I¡¯ll put those in for you. Do you need anything else?¡±
¡°We¡¯re good, thanks,¡± Mom insisted.
¡°Do you know anything about Connor?¡± she asked once the server was gone.
She was leaning over the table and talking quietly like we were planning some sort of conspiracy.
¡°No clue,¡± I said.
¡°Well, I looked him up,¡± she continued. ¡°He¡¯s the Dean of the engineering school. I know you¡¯re going for a business degree, so I¡¯m not sure how that¡¯s going to work out.¡±
I shrugged.
¡°What¡¯d you think of the school after driving through?¡±
¡°It looked nice, I guess. I¡¯ll have to see it closer to make a decision.¡±
Mom nodded.
¡°I thought it looked nice,¡± she said. ¡°This place looks like it¡¯s been around a while. It¡¯s like a castle or something!¡±
¡°I can see that,¡± I chuckled.
¡°So we¡¯re meeting Connor at the, um¡¡± Mom pulled her phone out to check her email. ¡°The Langford Building. You wouldn¡¯t happen to have an idea of where that is?¡±
I shook my head.
¡°Didn¡¯t think so,¡± she said with an air of superiority. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll stop by the main office and get a map or something.¡±
I hated when Mom got like this. She was usually a great parent, but every so often she needed to be the smartest person in the room and win a verbal joust of some kind. It was much easier to proverbially roll my eyes and move on than it was to bring it up. I¡¯d tried. It wasn¡¯t pretty nor fun.
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The food came a few minutes later while she was busy trying to find a map of the campus. Mine was a small oval-shaped dish covered in mashed potatoes. When I stuck a spoon in, I found vegetables and meat underneath. I thoroughly mixed the two halves together before digging in. Mom¡¯s fish ¡®n chips looked pretty good. She stole some of mine and gave me a couple fries along with a bit of the fish as compensation.
We talked and ate until we were finished. The server came back and tried to upsell dessert, but we were stuffed. Mom paid the check instead. She had to practically roll me out of the place¡ªthat¡¯s how I felt at least.
I followed Mom towards the campus. The bottom streets near the river weren¡¯t too steep, but once we were on the campus, the hill¡¯s slope took over. The main admin building was in the lower third of the school, thankfully, so I didn¡¯t have to waddle that far to get to it. Some probing inquiries at the front desk got Mom a link to a map for the university and directions to the Langford Building located farther up the hill.
Even if I had nearly boundless energy, I needed a couple breaks on the way up the hill. I was glad to see there were plenty of benches along the footpaths to rest on. The university was surrounded by trees. There were few truly open spaces¡ªbut the biggest I saw connected the main admin building to the library nearly a football field away.
I climbed higher after Mom had a break. Finally we reached the correct level and only needed to walk along a mostly flat road to the other side of the school. The road was cobblestone. Instead of being just a uniform gray, it was pattered with light and dark stones to show the school¡¯s coat of arms, motto, and other such things.
The road terminated in a junction with a road that ran up and down the hill. The new road was steep¡ªso steep that one of the stairs coming off of it looked like a stairway to heaven. Thankfully, our destination was just across the street.
The Langford building was surprisingly long considering its position on the side of a mountain. It was three floors on the top part and five floors on the lower part. In the middle¡ªwhere it was four floors tall¡ªwas the main entrance. It had a solid, imposing feeling. Part of that was the stone it was built from, but the construction was built to last¡ªdown to the front doors that were made from two-inch thick slabs of wood.
Mom and I struggled to open the door when a gust of wind came whipping up and pushed the door open. I was almost tossed when Mom let go of the door! I was glad that some engineer had thought ahead enough to include a stop that prevented me from taking a tumble into some snow by the entrance. I followed Mom inside, my heart needing a minute to calm down.
I trod the well worn hallway towards one of the stairwells. There were classrooms, offices, and experimental laboratories everywhere. Our destination was on the third floor¡ªwhich, due to the way the building was constructed, meant climbing only one set of stairs. I shook my head. The building was just weird.
I knocked on the door to Connor¡¯s office when we arrived outside. The door was partially open which let me see inside. It wasn¡¯t large and was made even smaller by stacks of papers taller than me. The plate outside the door read Connor Jackson. He¡ªit seemed¡ªwas both the Dean and also one of the professors at the same time.
¡°Come in,¡± Connor said.
I pushed the door and entered. There was a small couch along the wall shared with the hallway we¡¯d come from.
¡°Why don¡¯t you have a seat?¡± Connor offered.
I sat down and Mom did the same to my left.
¡°Welcome!¡± He smiled. ¡°So you¡¯re the one my friend was talking about, huh.¡±
¡°Yes,¡± I nodded.
¡°Good. Good. I¡¯ve looked over your application and I¡¯ve seen your transcripts. All looks good there. You¡¯re doing pretty well¡ªdoubly so for someone so young. You¡¯re what, seven?¡±
¡°Six.¡±
¡°Wow! That¡¯s incredible!¡±
The man smiled at me.
¡°Every year, we¡ªthe university¡ªset aside some portion of the endowment to cover the cost of education for exceptional students. While your grades are good, there are many who do better¡ª¡°
My heart sank. I wondered if somehow the information I¡¯d been given was wrong.
¡°¡ªbut they are also thrice your age! You, Eddy, are an exceptional student. As such, I am willing to offer you a scholarship on behalf of the university. It will cover all classes but not the housing and educational materials. I know you¡¯ll have many questions, but that is the standard. That said, I know even those can be expensive. With you being so young, we are also going to cover room and board at no extra cost to you.¡±
I let out a breath. That was good news! I wanted to accept immediately, but Mom had some questions first.
¡°What is the housing situation like?¡± she asked. ¡°Will he be sharing the room with anyone or will he be on his own?¡±
¡°Eddy will be given a room of his own that will include his own private bathroom. It will be located in a housing area meant for families.¡±
¡°And security?¡±
¡°He¡¯ll have a key, as will housekeeping. Given his age, he will not be expected to care for the room, so we will provide weekly cleaning and laundry service. Meals will be available in any of the restaurants and cafeterias on campus.¡±
¡°I see.¡±
Mom turned to me.
¡°What do you think, Eddy?¡±
¡°I think it¡¯s awesome!¡± I said, excitedly. ¡°Would we be able to see the room or one like it?¡±
¡°They¡¯re all occupied right now,¡± Connor said with a frown. ¡°But I can show you where they are.¡±
¡°When would I need to sign up for classes?¡± I asked.
¡°Over the summer,¡± he answered. ¡°Late June, usually.¡±
¡°Ok.¡±
¡°Speaking of classes, what do you intend to major in?¡±
¡°Some sort of business or finance, though I¡¯m not sure.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine. The majority of the classes in the first couple years are the same. It¡¯s the last two years that are different. You have time to think it over.¡±
¡°Thanks,¡± I said, rising from the couch.
¡°It was great meeting you, Mr. Jackson,¡± Mom said.
¡°Same to the both of you! I look forward to seeing you around campus next year.¡±
We shook his hand in turns and left.
Mom and I wandered around the campus for another hour. We found the housing I¡¯d be in next year. They were of a more modern construction looking more like condos than traditional student housing. Across the street from them was one of the cafeterias, which made Mom happy.
¡°You won¡¯t have to go too far to eat,¡± she noted.
¡°Looks like it. I wonder if they¡¯ll allow takeout.¡±
Mom cocked an eyebrow at me but said nothing more than a hmm.
Chapter 35
After touring the campus, we returned to the hotel for the evening. Though Mom dragged me around to look at the sights in town and nearby, there was nothing for me to do aside from working on my quests as much as I could given the distraction. Finally, it was time to go home.
Now that the university was covering the vast majority of the costs associated with my education, the money from Grandpa Joe was now available for personal projects. The one at the forefront of my mind was testing how growing my own plants to harvest would do for experience when compared to wild plants.
I spoke with Dad about it the following week.
¡°Dad, any chance the landlord would let me install a small raised bed?¡±
¡°I can ask,¡± he shrugged. ¡°What¡¯s the plan if he says yes?¡±
I explained what I wanted to do with the funds and the plan for testing Harvesting Experience. He shot off a text to the landlord asking for permission. Though it took some back-and-forth negotiation, Dad secured the landlord¡¯s assent. The only thing he¡¯d wanted from us was a bulb of garlic or other fresh vegetable from the garden.
With winter still gripping the ground, I had to wait nearly a month before Dad and I could begin working on the project. Dad and I went to the local home improvement store to get everything I¡¯d need. It was my money so he¡¯d let me take the lead on it¡ªeven if he was going to be doing most of the work and I was there to learn a lot.
I picked out a couple large boards and some metal bits to tie the corners together. Dad picked out the screws. He also did the majority of the lifting¡ªespecially of the soil bags. Those things weighed more than I did! Dad¡¯s truck came in clutch. It was the perfect size to bring everything back so we didn¡¯t have to rent anything.
When Dad and I came back to his place, we¡ªhe¡ªunloaded all that I¡¯d purchased at the store. I had him drag everything to a sunny spot. He pulled some of his work tools out for the job. The plan¡ªat least in my head¡ªwas to make a rectangle out of the two boards then fill the center with new soil from the bags.
Dad started by cutting both boards in two. One part of each board was about three feet long while the other was around nine feet. Then he cut the ends at forty-five degrees so they would more easily fit together. He suggested doing a more complicated joint, but I figured some glue and some metal would be enough for that application. I expected it to rot before it failed in any other way.
Once all of the pieces were ready, Dad took a square to set the first corner. He glued and screwed them before moving on to the second corner, then the third, and finally the forth. He let me screw in some of the screws of the metal plates on each corner. Though the frame wasn¡¯t the sturdiest thing, it was good enough for what I wanted. I even got to check when I helped Dad move it over to one side so we could turn the grass under where it was going. The last thing either of us wanted was to pull grass for the next century.
Turning the grass by hand was hard work. Dad did what he could but even he needed a break after ten minutes. I tried my hand at it and barely made any progress. We traded back and forth for half-an-hour until the ground was turned dirt-side-up. Then it was time to move the frame back into position and fill it with the soil I bought at the store.
The soil took about as long as the turning had, but it was relatively easier work. Dad brought the bags over and I worked on emptying them into the raised bed. Even with the gloves I was wearing, the damp soil was cold. My fingers were tingling by the time we finished making the raised bed. It¡¯d taken most of the day and I was proud of it. I knew planting would come later when the ground warmed some and the risk of frost dropped away, but I was ready for when that happened.
Another month passed. I awoke one morning to see leaves starting to come out on the trees and the early flowers of spring beginning to wilt away. I checked the countdown timer. That¡¯s when it hit me¡ªit had been one year since I¡¯d returned to the past. I sat on my bed, holding my head in my hands.
Part of me still didn¡¯t believe what had happened¡ªif there was just some magic or supernatural something to prove that what was going on was real. Besides going back in time, I had nothing tangible to point to. Efficiency dictated that I needed to focus on getting the experience features first, but that didn¡¯t stop me from looking at all the options for what I could do with the system right now that would fulfill my desire.
| Feature: Leveling
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: 1,000
Unlock For Universal Use: 1,000,000 Exp
Description: Allows leveling by spending experience |
| Feature: Leveling Speed Slow
Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 500
Unlock For Universal Use: 500,000 Exp
Description: Four levels per tier |
| Feature: Leveling Speed Medium
Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 100
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Eight levels per tier |
| Feature: Leveling Speed Fast
Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 500
Unlock For Universal Use: 500,000 Exp
Description: Sixteen levels per tier |
| Feature: Leveling Speed Continuous
Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 1,000
Unlock For Universal Use: 1,000,000 Exp
Description: Strength increases directly with experience spent; experience limited by tier |
| Feature: Skills I
Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 1,000 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 1,000,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks learning basic skills |
| Feature: Skills II
Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 5,000 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 5,000,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks learning advanced skills |
| Feature: Skills III
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Prerequisites: Leveling
Unlock Personal Use: 25,000 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 25,000,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks learning meta skills |
| Feature: Stats Screen
Prerequisites: N/A
Unlock Personal Use: 1,000 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 1,000,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the stats screen |
| Feature: Mana
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the mana stat |
| Feature: Stamina
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the stamina stat |
| Feature: Health
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the health stat |
| Feature: Strength
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the strength stat |
| Feature: Intelligence
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the intelligence stat |
| Feature: Physcial Agility
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the physical agility stat |
| Feature: Mental Agility
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the mental agility stat |
| Feature: Physical Fortitude
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the physical fortitude stat |
| Feature: Mental Fortitude
Prerequisites: Stats Screen
Unlock Personal Use: 100 Exp
Unlock For Universal Use: 100,000 Exp
Description: Unlocks the mental fortitude stat |
I almost picked a couple of the options for myself but stopped at the last minute. There was no way I could be so greedy as to purchase anything for myself and make the monsters worse when I should wait and get it for everyone instead. At least, that¡¯s what I told myself to feel better about my decision. It was like expecting a present on my birthday and then deciding to return it without opening it.
I knew I would be able to push away these feelings for a while but there was a very good chance they would return stronger at some point. I just hoped that when they did, I would be as strong as I was now so I could put my foot down. With at least 25 years ahead of me¡ªand likely closer to 60¡ªthat was a long time for something like this to grow and fester.
I pushed those thoughts from my mind. Today was also the day to plant my seeds. Though frost might happen over the next week¡ªat least traditionally¡ªthe seeds would be safe to plant now. My choices had been things that would be grown and harvested before I went off to school at the end of summer.
I made little holes in the soil with my fingers and dropped a couple seeds in each. Then I filled the holes in with soil. Each type of plant required different spacing and depth, so I read the packages before planting each section of the raised bed. All in all, I ended up with six types of plants. I watered them and marked the rows so I would know what was what when they started sprouting.
I watered them every day that did not call for rain. The raised bed drained well¡ªalmost too well. With the height over the rest of the ground, water had a difficult time staying in the soil which meant I needed to be extra mindful. Whenever I was at Mom¡¯s, Dad would have to water in my stead¡ªand that was something I had to remind him to do on occasion. He was forgetful sometimes.
A week later, most of the plants had sprouted and pushed their first leaves outward to catch the sun. I plucked the smaller sprouts in each location, leaving just the strongest and healthiest of the plants to continue growing. I also pulled any weeds that so much as thought about growing in my garden.
As the plants grew, I gave them everything they needed to grow¡ªwater, sunlight, climbing poles, and much more. It took until the end of my first year in college before there was anything to actually harvest. The first I picked were the peas and beans. I got some good experience from them, doubly so when I gave some to the landlord¡ªwhich counted as Economic Experience. I guessed this was because of the deal we¡¯d struck. More harvesting was to come, but that would have to wait for summer.
I did just as well in the second semester as I had in the first. Though the material wasn¡¯t difficult, it was more work than the first semester had been¡ªboth in actual work and the work for me to understand what I was learning. I knew that the upcoming three years would also be difficult, but I also knew that I would do well.
Mom pulled me aside the week after I was done with school.
¡°We need to talk,¡± she said.
I shuddered, Those were not the words I wanted to hear from anyone, least of at my mother.
¡°Yeah?¡± I said as calmly as I could.
¡°You¡¯re going to be off during the summer and I can¡¯t be home to watch you. Normally, that would mean hanging out with Grandpa Joe or your other grandparents, but that¡¯s not fair to them to mind you every day. So I talked with your father and he¡¯s agreed that sending you to day camp over the summer is the best option we¡¯ve got. I know you¡¯d rather stay home¡ and I¡¯d let you if I could¡ but the last thing I want is the government involved in our business, you know?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no way to do anything else?¡±
Mom shook her head.
¡°Not that I could find, no. Day camp is less expensive than hiring someone to be around¡ªand with all that you¡¯re doing to save the world, bringing someone else here would jeopardize the secret.¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t the day camp do the same thing?¡± I countered.
¡°It might,¡± she conceded. ¡°However, a lot of what you¡¯d do in day camp would give you experience, right? More hiding in plain sight than having to hide from someone.¡±
¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± I said. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡±
¡°Well, you¡¯ve got about a month before the first one starts. You¡¯ll go to two sessions. The first will get you through the end of July, while the other you¡¯ll only go to half of because you¡¯ll be heading off to college.¡±
¡°I see,¡± I nodded.
I didn¡¯t want to go, but I also understood the reason behind it. I¡¯d already had one news story and I didn¡¯t need another. As much as it was going to be like a vacuum¡ªand suck¡ªit was something I¡¯d have to put up with.
Chapter 36
In the month that passed before I would go to camp, I took the time to harvest more vegetables from the garden. The prickly cucumbers came next. I was surprised that I didn¡¯t bleed with just how much I hurt my fingers picking them! The lettuce was a lot easier to harvest, thankfully.
I also got a chance to compare the experience gained by harvesting similar plants that weren¡¯t grown by me at Grandpa Milton¡¯s house. What I discovered was intriguing. The amount of experience was about two-thirds as compared with the plants I¡¯d raised¡ªafter accounting for harvesting technique and quality.
In some ways, that meant I would be able to get a lot more by doing everything on my own. At the same time, was the extra fifty percent experience worth the extra effort expended? I wasn¡¯t sure. I¡¯d also have to see how much I had to put into growing my own materials for me to get more experience. Was it just a hard fifty percent or on a sliding scale? More investigation was required.
Then it was the first day of camp. Mom dropped me off in the morning. The camp was set on a large plot of wooded land. I had to assemble with the other campers on a large mostly shaded field that was surrounded by a pole fence. Each age group and gender had their own group¡ªsometimes more than one. I found my group after getting escorted there by one of the staff.
The group ended up being ten boys aged six and seven. I wasn¡¯t the smallest of the boys, but I wasn¡¯t far off. We had two counselors¡ªboth boys, one teen and one in his early twenties. The older one took attendance while the counter kept us in line.
¡°Alright,¡± the older counselor said. ¡°My name is Adam. My co-counselor is Brian¡ª¡°
Brian waved when his name was called.
¡°¡ªFirst thing we need to do is come up with a name. Any suggestions? Say your name and your idea so we can get to know each other.¡±
¡°Alex, ¡®The Fighting Dragons¡¯!¡± one of the taller boys¡ªAlex¡ªshouted.
¡°That¡¯s good. Any others?¡±
¡°Micah, ¡®Blue Stars¡¯!¡± added a pudgy boy.
¡°Mmmm.¡±
I decided to throw my own idea in the ring based upon the idea that we were all about six.
¡°Eddy, ¡®The Six Shooters¡¯!¡±
¡°Good one. Any more?¡±
A couple other names got shouted out but the response to them from the other boys was fairly weak. After not hearing any more ideas, the counselors put the name to a vote.
¡°Alright, raise your hands if you want ¡®The Fighting Dragons¡¯!¡±
Six hands went up, including mine. I thought it was a pretty good name.
¡°¡¯Blue Stars¡¯?¡±
Seven hands went up for that one¡ªthough mine did not. Micah shot a look at the handful of us that didn¡¯t vote for it. My suggestion only got five votes while none of the others after broke three votes. ¡®Blue Stars¡¯ was declared the winner.
Micah had a smug look on his face. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. He glared at me for an uncomfortably long time before returning to taking his proverbial victory lap. Several of the other boys nearby to him began chatting with him so I was able to ignore him. Thankfully, the first activity of the day came immediately after.
¡°Follow me, Blue Stars,¡± Adam said. ¡°We¡¯re going to soccer.¡±
I heard a couple of groans but most of the campers were excited to run around. The walk to the soccer field wasn¡¯t far. It was just across a small dirt track that ran along the other side of the pole fence from where we were. One of the boys tried to climb through the fence instead of going around once he figured out where we were going but only got a reprimand for his efforts.
When we arrived at the field, Brian disappeared to get a ball while Adam held our attention. We were split into two teams of five. Not being terribly fast, I chose defense. I knew I could park the bus and stifle the strikers from the other team¡ªat least at this level of competition.
My squad consisted of me and Alex on defense, Juan and Michael up front, and Mac as our goalie. This formation was mirrored on the other side. Juan got to kick off and passed to Michael after winning the coin flip. I watched the ball scoot down the field. Alex moved up to midfield and I followed but kept a bit farther behind just in case.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.The other team swarmed Juan and Michael. It was more effective than it should have been. Michael looked like he played some soccer, but Juan was struggling. Micah stole the ball from him and evaded Michael¡¯s attempt to get it back. He cruised onto our half of the field. I positions myself between him and the goal.
Micah was quick, but I had years of experience on my side. Even if my body wasn¡¯t exactly what I had been used to before I returned, it had been over a year now. I was in tune with my body. I backpedaled, giving ground for time. I didn¡¯t dare block Mac¡¯s view of the ball, so when I got close to the box, I charged Micah. He sneered at me. I smiled back as I got close. His expression changed when he realized I wasn¡¯t going to stop or flail at the ball. Instead, I predicted where he would go based on his amateurish style an got a foot on the ball before he could shoot¡ªhe certainly didn¡¯t strike me as the kind of boy to pass. The ball scooted over to Alex who then passed it back up to Juan.
The ball went back and forth for a while. After several shots by both sides from entirely too far from the net, our team scored one. That was answered shortly thereafter by the other team. By the end of the sixty-minute game, the score was tied at 2-2.
¡°That was a good game,¡± Brian said to both teams after making us all high-five at the end.
¡°At the end of the camping season, we¡¯re going to have a competition,¡± Adam added. ¡°We¡¯ll be going up against other groups of campers. The Blue Stars will be the best, right?¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± came several voices.
It was half-hearted at best.
¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡± Adam called back. The Blue Stars will be the best, right?¡±
¡°YEAH!¡±
It took all my strength to not roll my eyes. It was just too cringy.
¡°Blue Stars, line up and follow me!¡± Adam announced.
I stood with Mac while we strolled to the next activity behind Juan.
¡°I really love racing games,¡± Mac told me excitedly. ¡°Especially the ones where you can crash and blow up other cars!¡±
I smiled and nodded.
¡°That does sound like fun,¡± I said.
¡°Yeah! You know, Mom just got me this game recently¡ª¡°
Mac told me all about the game and how much fun he was having with it. I couldn¡¯t say much. The boy was a ball of energy with a clear focus and love. I appreciated just how straightforward children were. I didn¡¯t have to guess how they felt when they wore their emotions on their sleeves. Just the simplicity of it was refreshing after a year in college.
¡°¡ªboom, crash! It was awesome!¡± Mac finished.
We arrived at a wooden shelter that only had walls on three of the sides. Inside were six picnic benches¡ªenough room for two groups at the same time. A sign on the outside of the shelter indicated that it was for arts and crafts. Already seated at their tables was a group of girls.
¡°Eww,¡± I heard Micah complain. ¡°Why are there girls here?¡±
¡°We¡¯re here first,¡± one of the girls retorted.
A handful of people on both sides started making rude remarks and gestures towards each other.
¡°Campers,¡± said an older woman from the far side of the shelter. ¡°There won¡¯t be any of that in my room.¡±
She stared at everyone with a withering look. That was enough to cow the rowdier campers.
I sat next to Mac and waited for the rest of the boys to settle in. The woman began passing out paper and popsicle sticks to each table. We also got a couple bottles of glue to share as well.
¡°Today, you can make whatever you like with the materials in front of you,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe you want to make a log cabin, or a fan to cool yourself with. There are many options! If you need anything, just raise your hand and I¡¯ll come over. After you¡¯re done today, I¡¯ll save what you¡¯ve made on the side to dry. Please make sure you write your name on your project somewhere.¡±
I took a piece of paper and made it into a square by making two diagonal folds and tearing off the excess strip. I turned the square of paper upside down. It was time to consider what to make.
The first thing would have been the easiest: a square stacked house. I rejected the idea simply because it was easy and boring. I wanted to try making something else¡ªeven if that something else was some kind of abstract art. I eventually settled on making a box.
I turned another piece of paper into a square before splitting both into four squares each. To each smaller square, I applied a thin layer of glue and a row of popsicle sticks on top to create a flat side. The paper was there to prevent the popsicle sticks from moving around too much so that the glue could dry properly.
From the excess strips of paper, I fashioned eight hinges. Each hinge was then glued to the dry sides of two walls. I carefully did this until I had assembled a cross pattern. Then I let the glue dry some before bending the paper such that the walls would be standing vertically. To reinforce these new corners, I glued more hinges on both the inside and outside of the box. The last wall¡ªthe lid¡ªis where I wrote my name.
While it wasn¡¯t anything special, I felt pleased with what I had created in the short amount of time I had. Since I was done early, I looked around at what they others were doing. Mac created a car out of popsicle sticks on the paper and was excitedly telling me how it could go off of ramps and into space. I nodded along.
¡°It feels weird!¡± Alex exclaimed while peeling bits of glue from his finger.
They were absolutely caked with glue. I could see that he had laid a couple sticks on the paper before dumping out a lot of glue and dusting it with some glitter. I guessed that the pleasure of peeling glue took over around that point.
When the time was up, I carefully moved my box to an open place and set it to dry. It looked like it was holding well enough, but only time would tell if it stayed upright the whole time.
The next hour was lunch. Definitely the best part of the day so far. Lunch was served in a large shelter with many tables in it. It had no walls but would probably be enough space to keep all the campers dry if it rained.
For lunch, I had a choice between chicken strips and a burger that looked a little suspect. I chose the chicken and piled on a few fries to go with it. Like I had In my youth, I filled a small paper cup with mayo, ketchup, and a dash of mustard for dipping.
¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Mac asked when I sat down with him.
¡°For the fries and chicken,¡± I said while stirring the mixture together with one of the crispier fries.
¡°Is it good?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°What¡¯s in it?¡±
I told him. He jumped up and made the same mix as I had. I saw his face light up when he took a bite of a fry dipped in it.
¡°Yummy!¡± he exclaimed.
I smiled and began to eat my food. A couple of the other boys joined us to chat and eat. I finished quickly but stayed with the others until it was time for the next activity.
Chapter 37
I dumped my paper plate into the trash along with the others. Alex and Mac chatted about different types of video games.
¡°Scary games are really fun!¡± Alex said.
¡°No way!¡± Mac said with a shiver. ¡°Those scare me too much. I love to crash cars!¡±
¡°Maybe the cars should be monsters and crash. That would be fun!¡± Alex compromised.
¡°Yeah,¡± Mac agreed.
I walked with them through the camp to where the pools were located. The camp had two pools¡ªone for kids who had passed their swimming tests and one for those who still needed lessons. The two counselors brought us to the one where we¡¯d be able to swim if we passed the swimming tests.
¡°Alright Blue Stars,¡± Adam said once we¡¯d all changed into our swim trunks. ¡°You need to be tested to show what level you¡¯re at. If you don¡¯t know how to swim, raise your hand.¡±
Two of the campers raised their hands.
¡°The two of you don¡¯t need to get tested. The rest of you will be tested in pairs.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said a man in swim trunks that said ¡®lifeguard¡¯ on them. ¡°The first test is to see how far you can swim with your face in the water. You can use whichever stroke you prefer. After that¡ªif you can swim at least the length of the pool¡ªI want to see how long you can tread water. I will be observing each of you and keeping you safe. Now, who¡¯s up first?¡±
Not wanting to sit there waiting, I raised my hand. Micah did as well. I looked and him and he sneered back at me. We stepped to the end of the pool in different lanes.
¡°Alright, why don¡¯t you both jump into the water? When you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll blow my whistle.¡±
The water bit into me. It was still early summer and the water wasn¡¯t nearly as warm as it would be by the end of the swimming season. I put one hand on the top of the wall and my feet against the side. I drew myself in and looked at the lifeguard. He checked on Micah and then me. He raised the whistle to his lips and blew.
I let go of the wall with my hand and pushed hard with my legs. I went with the more efficient front crawl. Though I hadn¡¯t practiced it much in a long time, it wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d forgotten how to do. The motions came easily enough. The only tricky part was breathing every few strokes. That part turned out alright and I slowed before I ran into the wall at the deep end.
I turned around and began the swim back. As I did, I saw Micah struggling about two thirds of the way to the end of the pool. I put my face back into the water and went back to work. Though I was beginning to tire, the amount of activity I did day in and day out left me with solid stamina. Finally, the shallow end¡¯s wall was in sight. I breathed heavily once my hand caught the edge of the wall.
I stood up and looked around. Micah was sitting on the edge of the pool glowering at me. The other boys were not really paying much attention¡ªbusying themselves chatting.
¡°Good job,¡± the lifeguard said. ¡°Are you ready to tread water?¡±
I nodded.
¡°Go to the deep end and tread water until I tell you to stop or you can¡¯t anymore. I¡¯ll blow the whistle when it¡¯s time to start.¡±
I used the side wall to pull myself to the deep end while using less energy than swimming there. It was faster, too. I pushed off the edge at the same moment the lifeguard¡¯s whistle shrieked.
The first few seconds were easy. Then my arms began to burn followed shortly after by my legs. I closed my eyes to focus on keeping my head above the water. I breathed steadily and found a motion that kept me up while allowing me to alternately rest my arms and legs. Eventually, the lifeguard blew his whistle again so I went back to the wall and climbed out.
¡°Congratulations,¡± he said. ¡°You pass fully. You don¡¯t have to take lessons if you don¡¯t want to and can come to this pool when you have swimming time with your group. You will need a swim buddy¡ªwhich might come from your group or one of the others who are testing at the other pool right now.¡±
I nodded then went back to the rest of the boys.
The testing ended up taking around half an hour. Of the boys in my group, I was the only one to pass the test fully. There were a couple who passed enough to be able to swim in just the shallow end of the free swim pool after their shorter lessons. If I wanted to swim before the lessons finished, I¡¯d need to be swim buddies with someone from another group. Thankfully, the different groups split up to go to the pools they would be swimming in, so I was able to be paired with a boy a couple years older than me who had passed the full test like I had.
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The time I had to swim after the testing was short. My buddy-for-the-day¡ªor Patrick as his parents named him¡ªtook turns diving for small toys on the bottom of the pool. A couple blasts of the lifeguard¡¯s whistle signaled the end of swimming and it was back into the changing room to dry off.
The last activity for the day was free play at the playground. I thought the playground itself was rather spartan¡ªconsisting of a single slide, some short pillars to jump between, and a jungle gym. Instead of queuing for the slide like everyone else, I built a wood chip castle. Mac came over after he went down the slide a couple of times.
¡°What are you doing?¡± he asked.
¡°Making a castle,¡± I said, showing him the various features of it.
¡°Cool! I¡¯m going to make a racetrack.¡±
A couple other boys peeled off from the main contingent and joined us in building structures out of the splintered wood. It wasn¡¯t a terrible way to pass the time, but I wished it had been something better like archery or dodge ball or, well, nearly anything else.
I was glad when the end of the day came. We were marshaled back to the open area where we¡¯d been in the morning. Attendance was taken one more time and then each camper was checked off the list when their guardian arrived to take them away.
¡°How was your first day?¡± Grandpa Joe asked when he picked me up.
¡°Not bad,¡± I shrugged.
¡°Meet anyone you liked?¡±
¡°Eh, maybe. Definitely one of them¡¯s got some sort of grudge against me.¡±
¡°Oh?¡±
¡°Kept giving me nasty looks all day when he thought no one else was looking. Pretty silly.¡±
¡°I remember those days,¡± Grandpa Joe said with a smile. ¡°Got into a few fights back then!¡±
¡°I doubt it¡¯ll get to that point,¡± I laughed.
¡°If it does, give ¡®im the what-for, yeah?¡±
¡°Rather deal with it diplomatically,¡± I shrugged. ¡°More experience that way¡ I think.¡±
¡°Always with the experience¡ sometimes you¡¯ve got to live a little. Do what needs doing instead of trying to be as efficient as you possibly can. You¡¯ll never be perfect the first time.¡±
¡°But I¡¯ll learn for the next time.¡±
¡°That you will. You have time to make your mistakes now. Better to learn from ¡®em while there¡¯s no real pressure.¡±
¡°True.¡± I sighed. ¡°I¡¯d rather avoid the obvious pitfalls I can see a mile away than consciously walk into them to find out just how much they hurt.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a smart kid.¡±
¡°Took a long time to get there,¡± I chuckled.
Grandpa Joe laughed with me.
Two days later was a rainy day. Instead of meeting at the open field like we had the previous two days, the meeting place for our group was in the cafeteria. Mac pulled out a handheld gaming console to pass the time. There were activities for everyone to do, but they were frankly boring. Watching the rain fall in sheets from the roof of the cafeteria was more entertaining!
Since the rain showed no sign of slowing down, the counselors tried several tactics to grab our attention for more than a few moments. None of them worked on more than a couple of the campers. The rest ended up chatting amongst themselves. Alex, Mac, and I traded time on Mac¡¯s device. First one would play while the others watched. After a level or a death, the next person would take over.
¡°Where¡¯d you get that?¡± Micah asked when I was playing.
¡°It¡¯s Mac¡¯s,¡± I said with a quick glance his way.
¡°Can I have a turn?¡±
¡°Ask Mac,¡± I said, not bothering to look up again.
I put my focus back into not dying.
¡°Give him a turn next,¡± Mac decided after Micah asked him.
For the next five minutes, Micah hovered over my shoulder uncomfortably close. I was playing well, but had a hard time concentrating.
¡°Come on,¡± Micah complained.
He went to snatch it away from me. I expertly dodged both him and an on-screen enemy.
¡°I¡¯m almost done with the level. You can have it after,¡± I said with a quick glare his way.
True to my word, I finished the level less than a minute later. Mac cheered¡ªwe¡¯d all struggled to pass it for a while¡ªand I passed the console over to Micah. He died quickly and reluctantly gave it to Alex. While the console made its rounds, Micah complained the entire time. I wanted to tell him to shut up, but I bit my tongue.
You¡¯re better than that, Eddy, I told myself. You¡¯re almost 40 and he¡¯s a little kid.
We played for half of the day until the rain finally let up after lunch.
I got a chance to go swimming¡ªand finish the swimming quest I had for the day. The water was colder from the rain and lack of sun. I shivered through the swim session. I was paired with one of the older kids as usual, but that was fine. It was fun hanging out with different people each time.
The final program of the day was archery. I¡¯d been looking forward to it as soon as I¡¯d had a look over the weekly schedule. Archery was held at the far end of the soccer field¡ªpast the far goal and facing the trees. Five targets stood on stands backed by netting to catch any errant shots.
¡°Has anyone shot a bow before?¡± the archery instructor asked.
Only three of us raised our hands¡ªincluding me.
¡°Good. For the rest of you, the most important thing is safety¡ª¡°
The man talked for ten minutes. He showed us how to shoot the traditional bow and the compound bow. There were enough bows for ten campers at the same time, but most of the bows would be too hard to draw back. As I was one of the three who had archery experience, I got first crack at it along with the other two. Two newbies were also selected for the instructor to assist.
I got ten arrows to shoot. I chose a compound bow. While the traditional was easier to draw, it was harder to hold drawn in order to aim. I notched the first arrow and pulled the string back. Once past the hard part of the draw, I did my best to aim at my target. The targets were only about twenty feet away. I didn¡¯t know the strength of my bow well, so I guessed how much I needed to compensate for gravity. I loosed the first arrow and it scraped the top of the target. I adjusted. The next nine turned the target into a porcupine.
I waited until the instructor told us to put our bows down and retrieve the arrows. Pulling them from the target took a fair amount of strength, but it was doable. When I had them all, I dropped them into holder on the ground and went to watch the next batch try shooting for the first time.
¡°Since everyone¡¯s had a chance to shoot at least once,¡± the instructor said, ¡°let¡¯s see who¡¯s the better shot!¡±
Chapter 38
| A Real Robin Hood
Win the archery contest
Success: Experience gained based on placement
Failure: N/A
Expires: 21 minutes, 32 seconds |
I immediately accepted the quest while the instructor went over the rules.
¡°You will have ten arrows to shoot. The targets are marked with different color bands. The center part of the yellow is worth 10. The outer yellow is 8. Each band of color drops by two¡ªred is 6, blue is 4, black is 2. If you hit the white, you get no points.¡±
One of the boys raised his hand.
¡°Yes?¡± the instructor said.
¡°What if the arrow hits on the line?¡± the boy asked.
¡°If it¡¯s touching two colors, it will count for the higher value. So if you almost miss but nick the black just a little, that would still count for two points.¡±
The boy nodded and thanked the instructor. I thought the points system was fair¡ªand hopefully there wouldn¡¯t be any arguments or cheating. I didn¡¯t expect to win, but I figured I had a decent chance at it.
¡°The five of you who just shot, stay at your stations. You¡¯ll go first.¡±
I watched the five campers take careful aim at their target. Mac and Juan were among them. I wished Mac luck under my breath and watched. These five had only shot their bows for one bundle of arrows. I didn¡¯t expect much from them, but the distance was close enough that Mac and another of the boys¡ªLuke¡ªwere doing pretty well. All of their shots hit the target, though not all of them counted for points.
When the last of the five finished shooting their arrows, the instructor went out and counted the points for each of them while collecting the arrows for the rest of us. Luke scored 26 while Mac topped the group with 32.
¡°That was a good round,¡± the instructor said. ¡°It¡¯s time for the next five to step up and give their best shot.¡±
The instructor laughed at his own joke, which only made me roll my eyes even harder. I walked forward into my assigned lane and picked up my bow. With me were Alex and Micah. Alex looked nervous. He was one of the two in our group that hadn¡¯t shot a bow before. Micah, on the other hand, was one of the three that had. He had his trademark smug grin plastered on his face.
¡°I¡¯m going to win!¡± he exclaimed. ¡°You don¡¯t stand a chance!¡±
I glared at him but didn¡¯t respond. There was no point. The best I could do was to answer with my bow and score more points than he did. A couple of the others tried talking shit back to him, but their efforts fell flat. That only made him grin more.
¡°Begin!¡± the instructor bellowed once we were all ready.
I nocked my first arrow and aimed. My arms were steady. My breathing was steady. I caught my breath and loosed. The arrow impacted in the red to the left of the middle and close to the blue. Six points wasn¡¯t bad for a first shot. I picked up the next arrow and shot it. To the right this time¡ªfour points. The next eight arrows went much the same as the first two. I did scrape the inner yellow with one of them¡ªI was very proud of that one¡ªbut otherwise had a decently inconsistent spread all over the target.
Like the first time, the instructor waited until everyone was done shooting before he went to check the targets. With each target, he counted the points and pulled the arrows before announcing the point totals.
¡°38 points,¡± he called out for the first person¡ªone of the veterans.
¡°18 points,¡± came the call out for Alex¡¯s target.
Mine was next at 52 points. The second to last scored closer to Alex with 20 points. Finally, it was Micah¡¯s turn. His grouping looked¡ªfrom my vantage point, at least¡ªto be very similar to my own. With my own arrows gone, it was much harder to compare like for like. I looked at Micah. The smile on his face was faltering but still there. I could see that he knew it was going to be close between us.
¡°54 points,¡± the instructor called out after what felt like forever.
¡°Yeah!¡± Micah yelled, raising his arms in the air. ¡°I told you so!¡±
His friends¡ªLuke and another boy¡ªwent up to him and congratulated him. He turned to me and stuck his tongue out.
¡°Micah,¡± Adam said sternly, ¡°You¡¯ve got to be a gracious winner.¡±
That only got a token concession from the boy. His smug face was oh so very punchable. It took all my strength to take a deep breath. Then another. And one more for good measure. After all of that, I brought my anger to the point where I only wanted to figuratively punch him in the face.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
| A Real Robin Hood Complete
Reward: 50 Exp |
The thing that really calmed me down was the experience I gained from the competition. Although I hadn¡¯t won, I¡¯d done well enough. 50 experience for maybe twenty minutes of effort was a great rate. I certainly wouldn¡¯t complain!
It was two weeks later¡ªon another rainy-interrupted day¡ªwhen Mac discovered that his console had been stolen! We¡ªMac, Alex, and I¡ªhad played with it while waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. After that, we¡¯d gone to swim and then to dodge ball. While waiting for the game to start, Mac went to play a game, only to find the console wasn¡¯t in his pack.
¡°Adam!¡± Mac called to the head counselor.
¡°What¡¯s up, Mac?¡±
¡°My console¡¯s gone!¡±
¡°When did you last have it?¡± the counselor asked.
Mac and Adam discussed the missing item.
¡°Brian,¡± I heard Adam say, ¡°I¡¯m going to take Mac to look around the locker room for a missing item. I¡¯ll be back in ten minutes. Can you handle the game while I¡¯m gone?¡±
¡°Yeah, I got this,¡± he said.
For dodge ball, we were paired up against the other boys group of our age range. They had one extra person¡ªas Mac was out with Adam¡ªso one of their number was chosen to sit on the sidelines at the start of the game. I lined up on the left side with my right hand against the wall. When everyone was ready, the other group¡¯s counselor blew a whistle.
I charged the center where the balls were, as did almost everyone else. There were a few who hung back. I didn¡¯t know if that was fear or maybe they didn¡¯t trust their ability to get to a ball before the other team did. It didn¡¯t bother me. All it meant was less competition to get a ball.
I picked up a ball and kicked one behind me, hoping someone would pick it up. I backed up and readied the ball to block or to throw. The arena wasn¡¯t very big, so even the smallest kids would be able to chuck it hard enough to hit the back from the middle. Just as I found my target and prepared to throw, a ball whizzed my direction. I bounced it up and threw my ball as hard as I could at someone who was turned the other direction.
The ball I¡¯d thrown drilled the person I¡¯d aimed for. The person I hit began to walk to the side. I immediately turned to catch the ball I¡¯d popped up, but it hit the ground right as I looked for it. Instead, I picked it up and threw another laser at a different boy, knocking him out of the game as well. That was when a ball hit me in the back right after.
I jogged to the side. The game went on as I watched. The campers on both sides seemed reluctant to risk going for a catch¡ªcontent to throw at each other. Attrition mounted as time wore on. Michael had been dodging and not really throwing much for most of the match. It was no surprise, then, that he was the last one left on our side. Facing him were three boys.
As I was watching the four of them playing a game of cat-and-mouse, I saw Mac return with Adam. There were tears in his eyes. He sat next to me and I put an arm around him.
¡°It¡¯s gone,¡± he muttered. ¡°It was in my bag. It was in my bag. It¡¯s gone. I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s gone.¡±
He kept repeating some variation of those words for a while. Adam came over to sit with us.
¡°Mac,¡± Adam said. ¡°I¡¯ll keep looking for it. If you see anything, let me or Brian know. We¡¯ll be passing the news along to the other counselors. Someone will find it.¡±
Adam smiled and put his hand on Mac¡¯s shoulder.
¡°Sorry, kid,¡± he added before he stepped away.
By the time Adam left, the dodge ball game was over. Michael had been peppered by two balls at the same time. With the game over, there was enough time for another. I didn¡¯t have a choice to play¡ªneither did Mac¡ªbut my heart wasn¡¯t in it. I got knocked out early on purpose.
While seated on the sidelines, I wondered if the system had anything that would help me track down where the console had ended up. I had my suspicions¡ªof course¡ªbut I couldn¡¯t do anything with those. I¡¯d need hard evidence. The only way I found that I might be able to help involved getting the Skills feature first. That was the only way to unlock any skills for tracking or similar functions.
My mind flicked back to the promise I¡¯d made myself several months in the past. I didn¡¯t want to unnecessarily waste experience. At the same time, was this not the perfect opportunity to give the system a test run? Experiencing how the system might work would give me valuable feedback for what features I¡¯d want to add¡ªespecially those that modified how other features operated.
I didn¡¯t rush forward into purchasing anything. I wanted to be absolutely sure that it was the right course of action before I took that path. There wasn¡¯t a way to undo and get back the experience I would be spending. A reset would take away the choices I¡¯d made that weren¡¯t locked in stone, but that experience would be gone forever¡ªspent to fuel my curiosity and the monsters.
During the wait for Grandpa Joe after dodge ball, I thought I¡¯d gotten over the itch¡ªI really didn¡¯t want to waste experience, even if the test run data would be invaluable. However, I saw the glint of something in Micah¡¯s bag that looked suspiciously like Mac¡¯s console. I figured it had been stolen¡ªwhich is why bringing the console to camp was a bad idea in my opinion¡ªhowever, it being stolen by one of the boys in the same group was rather depressing. At the same time, it being right there would make it easier to recover. I was pissed and wanted to do something about it.
In the car ride home, I decided to see what Grandpa Joe thought about it.
¡°So one of the kids stole my friend¡¯s gaming console,¡± I said.
¡°Oh really? Why didn¡¯t you take it back?¡± Grandpa asked.
¡°I only found out who had taken it right when you got me¡ otherwise I would have.¡±
¡°So why not talk to one of the counselors?¡±
¡°I might,¡± I hedged. ¡°I¡¯ll need to confirm it¡¯s still there, first. But after that, definitely. But once that¡¯s dealt with, I still need to stick up for my friend, you know?¡±''
¡°I did tell you to give ¡®im the what-for, didn¡¯t I?¡± he laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know if fighting is the best way to settle it, but he probably wouldn¡¯t do it again with you around.¡±
¡°Probably not,¡± I laughed, before corralling my expression into a more serious one. ¡°I was considering using this as an opportunity for a dry run of the leveling part of the system.¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t that cost a lot?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t really know,¡± I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s part of why I want to do it. I want to see what the system is capable of¡ maybe prove to myself that all of this¡ is real. The system, magic. All of that.¡±
I waved my hands around expressively.
¡°Hmm. What about the monsters?¡± Grandpa Joe asked.
¡°Should be fine. The costs for this aren¡¯t great. I might be able to get some more experience by doing it this way. I won¡¯t know until I try, you know?¡±
¡°I see. I don¡¯t really think it¡¯s a good idea. There are just too many unknowns. And, because there are so many unknowns¡ that¡¯s a good idea for giving it a try. Maybe squish a few of them along the way.¡±