《The Playgrounds (New Working Title)》 Chapter 1: BOBs New Playground Denny laid down in his high-end pod, loaded up the virtual earth (VE) he appeared inside Respectability Troubleshooter¡¯s Warehouse 23 next to his setup terminal rather than his normal VE room. Getting here without having been here first would have been difficult, so when accepting the new position, he also had to agree to a 1-time start here. all correct, but the building sat bland and unimaginative. An open room stretched before him with black terminals on two parallel white walls. In front of him, mounted to the wall was a ranking board, the 6 vacant rows indicated 0 user activity within BOB¡¯s new playground. Other troubleshooters and many technicians walked around doing things, or talking to other people. Denny turned around and saw a small stage with a group of people talking on it. The only two people he knew in the warehouse, were both on the stage, they were the ones who interviewed him for the position. He recognized Director Kamila, the boss and head troubleshooter, and Monty, the leader of Denny¡¯s team. The other people on stage with her all had the check mark above their emblem that denoted them as leads, like Monty, in House Respectability. Looking down at his new uniform, everything seemed to be in order. He took a deep breath and unnecessarily smoothed it out. ¡°I can do this, I¡¯m going to be awesome,¡± He said to himself. He was a troubleshooter now. It was similar to his old uniform, simple, with House Respectability colors, baby blue with lavender trim, his name and title a small patch over his left breast up front with his new server and troubleshooter over the right, his current emblem large on back. Denny¡¯s personal emblem consisted of the new team logo, which Monty must have chosen, with his psychic affinity inside, and inside that was his gatherer specialization which was the position he was hired for. There were 6 possible affinities and 6 possible specializations. Affinities were permanent, but his specialization could change from playground to playground, Denny only ever worked as a gatherer. Conversations took place all around the warehouse. It was too much general noise for Denny to pick up any specific exchange though. Unlike Denny, most everyone here was older and likely more seasoned. These teams of troubleshooters were only assembled for new playgrounds or large expansions. Denny was experienced in several playgrounds, but this was his first opportunity to get in at the start of one. Denny watched as each of the leads went to their own team¡¯s staging area. Kamila stayed on the platform, ¡°Eyes and ears here everyone!¡± Kamila announced into the din as she put a hand on the white podium. ¡°The new world opens up at 10:00, so we don¡¯t have long. BOB didn¡¯t release much information about this next one. We know that it¡¯s going to be based in an earlier time period. This means lower technology and probably fewer affinity boosters. We¡¯re going to be relying on gatherers and crafters to supply our teams with boosters as early as possible. Explorers, combatants, and support must bring back everything; I can¡¯t stress that enough! Merchants, remember to note where valuable items come from, we will need that knowledge if we want to get ahead. Close combatants, you¡¯re going to need to be especially careful in there. You won¡¯t have the type of support that you¡¯re used to in some of BOB¡¯s other worlds. Each of you knows your team designation, talk to your team leader if you have any questions. Then get ready to hit launch.¡± Denny walked over to team 4¡¯s area as Monty stepped to the front of the group. ¡°Alright everyone, I¡¯m Monty, your team leader.¡± He placed his hands behind his back and looked over the small team. He was a good bit older than Denny, with his silver peppered beard, rectangular glasses, and receding hairline. He stood just a few inches taller than Denny, but his arms and legs were much thicker. He clearly set preferences to be built in a high-end pod like Denny¡¯s. ¡°Each leader has a different attunement and specialty. I¡¯m primal and explorer. The 18 of us, like every other team, have 3 squads. We are fortunate enough to have: Primal 1, Martial 2, and Psychic 3. We are starting to the south. Any questions?¡± ¡°Do we know the exact starting parameters? What happens if we¡¯re separated?¡± Asked a slight, mousy looking girl with a martial combatant insignia on the back of her uniform. Monty nodded, ¡°Ok Amelia, I can answer those questions. We know some, but not everything. What we do know: we set this warehouse up so that House Respectability could join playground 23 early. We have 6 teams with 3 squads each, the maximum for each house. We know that each squad must be made up of people with the same affinity. We were able to group the squads as teams so each team should start together.¡± Monty brought his hands from behind his head and scratched his hair with both hands before continuing, ¡°as far as if BOB pulls a fast one and we¡¯re separated. After you finish your first shift, we¡¯ll all report back here and we¡¯ll get it worked out then. Any other questions?¡± The group stood around silently glancing at each other. Monty barely looked at them all before saying, ¡°Perfect. You¡¯re all professionals and shouldn¡¯t need to ask anything else anyway. Let¡¯s get started.¡± So saying, Monty turned away from the group and walked straight to his station. ¡°5 minutes to 10:00 everyone. Get to your stations." Then he started it up and disappeared. A few people began talking to each other. Denny didn¡¯t know any of his fellow troubleshooters and peeled off to begin his starting process as well. As he walked to his station he glanced around and saw that most of the other groups were still discussing stuff. He shook his head. After standing around for a bit without direction, he placed his hand on his personal, yet completely standardized, black terminal to load up the new playground. Upon interacting with the terminal, the room disappeared and simple white text on a black background appeared in front of him. Which Playground would you like to load up? Playground 17 (12 days remaining before deletion) House Respectability Playground 23 (Unopened) House Respectability (Troubleshooter) He mentally selected playground 23 without even considering restoring his profile at playground 17. As per BOB¡¯s rules, a person could only switch playgrounds once a year, at most. Since you restarted when you did and lost your old profile staying often proved a better option. New playgrounds did create new opportunities, and not all playgrounds were equal nor were the houses equal in the various playgrounds. Please Wait Joining parameters not met 9:57 ¨C 0 other psychic affinity members ready And so, Denny waited 3 minutes in an expanse of ever-shifting colors. It seemed unending, though with a time countdown and other psychic affinity members counting up he knew it would be soon. Finally, he found himself moved to a sterile white room with 5 others. Joining parameters met 10:00 ¨C 5 other psychic affinity members ready All present psychic affinity members must choose a separate specialty They all still wore their uniforms from the warehouse. Denny only recognized 2 of the others, Director Kamila, and a young woman from his squad with Monty whose name Denny didn¡¯t know. A question appeared in front of Denny. Present psychic squad must select a team to join with House Respectability. which team are you part of? Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, Team 4, Team 5, Team 6 ¡°Before anyone touches anything,¡± Kamila began, ¡°I see that we have 2 people from each of the Psychic 3 squads.¡± She took a deep breath as though to calm herself before continuing, ¡°it seems that BOB played a trick on us. This is now the new Psychic 1 squad. Those of you originally not on this squad will have to live up to your role. We are the head squad of team 1 and we will be starting in the center. Let me do all selections until I tell you otherwise.¡± Another display popped up in front of Denny before disappearing. You have selected Team 1. There are 0 squads associated with this team so far and 0 psychic squads associated with your preselected location so far. Do you wish to be part of Team 1 Yes No With this change of teams, Denny realized he wouldn¡¯t have to deal with Lead Monty being anywhere near him. Kamila breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°Thank BOB for that. It looks like the squads won¡¯t be able to unwittingly double up and overbalance any of the teams.¡± Another display appeared, a small circle appeared in front of Denny with 6 options, one for each specialty. Denny refocused on what Director Kamila had to say, ¡°we¡¯re going to start with the original members of the Psychic 1 squad choosing their specialties then we¡¯re going to move on to Psychic 2 and finally Psychic 3. At the end we¡¯ll see what we have.¡± Support quickly blacked out, as did gatherer, then combatant, and finally crafter. ¡°Um¡­ Excuse me,¡± Denny said to the group at large, but more specifically at Director Kamila. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to go gatherer but that¡¯s not an option. Only merchant and explorer are left.¡± A thin woman with black braids nodded to Denny¡¯s words. ¡°Same thing I¡¯m seeing. I was supposed to be Psychic 2¡¯s gatherer.¡± Kamila nodded, completely composed through the situation, ¡°That¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll just have to go from here. Alayna, which spot would you rather, merchant or explorer?¡± She shrugged and scrunched up her face, ¡°I don¡¯t really care. Either way you know. They aren¡¯t what I¡¯m best at but I¡¯m good, so it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Kamila turned to look straight at Denny. Her brown eyes as focused as ever, ¡°Do you have a preference, Dennis?¡± Everyone turned and waited. He paused a second, not because of the question itself but because all the attention unnerved him. ¡°Uh, yeah I originally applied to be either an explorer or a gatherer, so I suppose I¡¯d rather explorer.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Kamila nodded and then looked away. ¡°Alayna will be our merchant and Dennis our explorer.¡± As she spoke Denny selected explorer, at the same time merchant blacked out. House Respectability has preselected Team 1¡¯s location as Center A quick transition occurred as everyone disappeared, the room shrunk and then a new space expanded. The six of them stood in an open red and green glade at the top of a small hill. The nearest trees were new growth, young, short, thin. ¡°Everyone, please take the time to go over your character sheet, then we¡¯ll get started. Alayna, Dennis, neither of you were in official briefings for your current specialty. Alayna, we want all of our merchants to have a history skill to help gather information. Dennis, we want our explorers to have a map sharing ability. Now go,¡± she waved her hand signaling everyone to carry on. Denny opened his character sheet. Name: Dennis Powell Affinity: Psychic Attunement: 3 Specialty: Explorer Abilities: 1 Ability Points: 25 Draw Map Level - Cost 0 This is your default ability. You may draw maps for your personal use. Everywhere you go your map is automatically updated. Limitation: Explorer specialty He still retained his normal affinity attunement which transferred from playground to playground. After that came a list of abilities that Denny could select from. Each cost a different number of ability points (AP). Since he had to select a map one first, he filtered those out and looked through the beginning map abilities. There were more map abilities than he desired to count. Some dealt with what he would find, others with what he could share and to whom. Denny selected 2 map abilities, spending over half of his AP. Periodic Updates Level 1 Cost 7 Permanently select up to 1 individual to automatically update their map with any features you can share through other means. This update will automatically occur once every 24 hours. Limitation: Psychic affinity with Attunement 2 & Explorer specialty Friendly Terrain Level 1 Cost 6 You may choose to share the terrain features from your map with someone within 3 meters of you once per 12 hours. Both you and the selected individual must agree to you sharing your map with them. Limitation: Explorer specialty With only 12 AP left Denny really needed to decide what to do. He had considered being able to share additional features, like buildings, gathering deposits, lairs, and more. The issue was, if he spent enough AP to share those things, then he wouldn¡¯t have enough to actually find any of them himself. Instead he relied on sharing the terrain and describe things afterwards so people could track down whatever he discovered. He picked up 3 more abilities for himself. They wouldn¡¯t do everything, but he felt that they were a solid start for an explorer on such a base world. He still had 1-point left, so he upgraded his cheap skill. He didn¡¯t need to spend all his AP, but he felt that it would help more in the long run. Detect Lair Level 1 Cost 5 You are able to detect any basic lair that you pass within 3 meters of. Upon detecting a lair your map will be marked with a lair symbol. Limitation: Either Combatant, Explorer, or Support specialty. Detect Ore Level 1 Cost 5 You are able to detect any basic ore deposit that you pass within 3 meters of. Upon detecting an ore deposit your map will be marked with an ore deposit symbol. Limitation: Either Explorer or Gatherer specialty Map Notes Level 1 Cost 1 You are able create up to 5 notes on your map. Each note may consist of up to 15 characters. These notes will mark your map and will easily expand for you. Limitation: Psychic affinity with Attunement 1 Map Notes Level 1 Cost 1 Upgrade 1 You are able create up to 10 notes on your map. Each note may consist of a label of up to 15 characters with an expanded note of up to 50 characters. These notes will mark your map and will easily expand for you. Limitation: Psychic affinity with Attunement 1 Prerequisite: Map Notes level 1 He really wanted to get a few more things, especially an ability that would let him share his notes, but they would have to wait. Kamila, the combatant, and the gatherer stood talking to each other as Denny finished. He walked up to them, ¡°I picked 2 methods to share my map. Both are limited to terrain for now though.¡± His current map didn¡¯t have much. He glanced up at it on his Linked Overlay (LO) and saw that it only had the small clearing on the hill they started at. At his interruption, they all turned to look at him. ¡°Good,¡± Kamila said, ¡°we were just discussing our plans. For now, Dennis, I¡¯m going to have you go with Mitchel and Alexander,¡± she pointed first to the gatherer, then the combatant, ¡°to discover what we¡¯re working with. Just make a quick circuit around this hill and be back within the hour. We¡¯ll decide what we¡¯re doing once you get back.¡± Denny looked at his two companions as they walked away. Mitchel stood a hand taller than Denny. He had short, tawny hair and a spotty goatee. He wore glasses and was probably 15 or 20 years older than Denny. Alexander, surprisingly for a combatant, was a head shorter than Denny. Short, straight dark hair, dark complexion and stocky build Alexander reminded Denny of a wolverine. ¡°It¡¯s just Alex,¡± The short man said glancing at the other two. ¡°Mitch.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Denny,¡± He responded. ¡°So, are we looking for anything specific or just scouting out the area?¡± Alex immediately picked up the conversation. ¡°Kamila wants to know if this is a viable area to setup for now, or if we should try to move immediately. We already know there is some wood, but she wants to know what else is here.¡± Denny nodded along, and then took the time look around the new world. The hill he stood on was open coated in ground cover with red flowers that grew just past the top of his ankle. He could barely make out a group of mountains to the north east. There were more hills in all directions, but they didn¡¯t look too steep, even though they were tall. He had trouble seeing past all the trees and bushes to the valley below, still he gathered the impression that it would be wide enough to be comfortable to make a path through once the brush was cleared. The trees mostly stood between 5 and 10 feet tall, narrow enough that his hands could circle their trunk. He didn¡¯t know what type of trees they were, but they had needles, so he figured some type of pine. ¡°Well, I can locate lairs and ore. That should help some.¡± Mitch instantly stopped and turned to look at Denny, ¡°Really? You chose to detect lairs and ore? No wonder you were put in group 3 rather than group 1. Sure, both of those are useful later. For troubleshooting we need stone and wood and especially water. Fortunately, like Alex said we do have a decent bit of wood here. It¡¯s not the best but I can¡¯t gather much better yet anyway.¡± As Mitch turned away, Alex shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s not that big of a deal. We can make enough with wood for now. Besides this is just a starting location and knowing about ore and a good lair will really help us find a better area to set up permanently. Plus, we¡¯re in a nice lush area, how difficult will it be to find water?¡± Mitch grunted, but didn¡¯t respond further. Denny thought about it for a second, ¡°You don¡¯t have a detect stone ability, Mitch? Don¡¯t you need one to pick up the ability to identify it?¡± He turned to glare at Denny, ¡°I picked up Identify Trees first just to make sure that I could harvest these. I couldn¡¯t and had to buy an upgrade called Harvest Young Trees.¡± Denny winced; upgrades were always a little pricey. ¡°It¡¯ll serve us well in the future because I¡¯ll be able to gather lots before others can poach them, but it limited me on the stone. I could only afford Harvest Stone.¡± Denny nodded, ¡°Well, not much we can do then. Stone has a higher chance to be visible than ore at least, like trees do.¡± Mitch rolled his eyes, but then shrugged. ¡°True, plus our crafter should be starting with wood and dirt anyway. We can move up from there. And digging down will eventually yield stone. It¡¯s really the optimal deposits that I was hoping to find. Optimal tree deposits would be nice too.¡± They continued down the hill. Nothing really stood out. Neither of Denny¡¯s detection abilities went off. They circled the hill and found more of the same. Denny decided to let his abilities do the work for him as he walked in a circle. Instead of really paying attention, he opened his inventory to glance at his new items. There were many types of inventory in BOB¡¯s worlds. Mostly, things physically existed and needed to be interacted with on the same level as the real world. Even coins were transferred similarly to the real world, though since that was all digital anyway there weren¡¯t any physical coins or bills. On the other hand, there was a system inventory. This stored the few things that BOB gave each individual on a special basis. When you first entered a world, BOB gave everyone some random items that suited them. Simple Dowsing Rod This basic rod doubles the distance of any detect skills Limitation: Psychic affinity & Explorer specialty Simple Walking Stick This basic stick increases user¡¯s speed by 10% and makes walking up or down inclines 10% less likely to result in accidents. Limitation: Explorer specialty Tiny Sample Pouch This pouch fits three samples of any material that you discover. Limitation: Explorer specialty As soon as he equipped anything from this special inventory it wouldn¡¯t be able to be put back. The dowsing rod took up two hands. Though he could hold it without using it in one. If he had a rope or a belt, he could put it somewhere. For now, though, he¡¯d either need to hold it or leave it. Since they weren¡¯t looking for anything specific Denny just left everything there. As he exited his inventory and began paying better attention, Denny heard something off to one side. It barely registered over the sound of the birds and other wildlife, ¡°Do you hear that?¡± The other two stopped to listen then Mitch smiled for the first time, ¡°Sounds like water to me. I guess we got lucky since you didn¡¯t pick detect water.¡± Neither Alex nor Denny responded to Mitch. The three of them walked towards the water in silence. It wasn¡¯t a large source, just a small creek between two different hills about a kilometer and a half away from where they started. Both of the nearby hills had more young trees like their original hill had, except without the meadow on top, ¡°It won¡¯t be difficult for me to harvest enough trees from this hill to get us some space for the night. Alex and I will stay here while I harvest, Denny, go get Kamila and the others.¡± Suiting action to words, Mitch pulled out an axe from his inventory. ¡°You going to be ok with him?¡± Denny asked Alex as he looked around. The red flowers still covered the ground hear, but more of the bushes bore fruit. He thought he recognized blueberries but wasn¡¯t sure, he had yet to take an ability that would let him know. Sometimes BOB changed things. Even if it looked like a normal safe food it was best to have an ability that would let you know for sure. Alex chuckled a little and waved his hand in a pushing motion, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be fine. I have a set of javelins I can use to hunt with in the meantime. Not the best, but then again usually combatants are hunting monsters not food.¡± Alex proceeded to utilize his inventory, putting on some leather armor over his single piece uniform and pulling out a quiver of javelins. Denny gave an insouciant salute before pulling out his walking stick and heading back to the group. He pulled up the map to his upper right periphery. He put a note in his map at the top of the hill they were setting up on. Starting Camp Where we are setting up camp for the first night. That just about stretched his note ability to it¡¯s max. He could mark down 9 more of them, but that¡¯d be it. Denny chose to take a slightly different route back, hoping to uncover more area. Since he walked alone, he paid as much attention as possible, ready to run if necessary. Chapter 2: Familiar Ally Denny reached the original hill without incident. ¡°It¡¯s about time you came back. Where are the other two? Did something happen?¡± Kamila started talking before he even had a chance to see her. Glancing at the clock in the periphery of his LO he saw that the trip took over two hours. Denny walked to within range and selected her for his periodic updates ability. ¡°Let me set the refresh on this ability.¡± ¡°Wha- oh, good.¡± As she perused his map Denny explained himself, ¡°We heard water and wanted to check out the area before reporting back. It took longer to get to than expected. I came back as soon as I could. The water source isn¡¯t great, but it¡¯s something. Mitch and Alex decided to stay back and secure the hill while I came here to get everyone.¡± Kamila nodded, ¡°You chose well.¡± She stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder, ¡°honestly, I worried, a bit when your part of the squad was gone so long. Mostly because you weren¡¯t with us for explorer training. Still, you did well, water will be key for us. I had hoped the other squads, Umbra 2 and Martial 3, would have joined us by now. You didn¡¯t find any stone deposits, did you?¡± Her head tilted slightly, her long loose hair tilting with it. Denny took a step back and rubbed his neck, ¡°Ah, no, no we didn¡¯t find any stone deposits, unfortunately. Nor did we see any sign of the other two squads¡± Kamila furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at Denny for a second, ¡°Ok, I¡¯m going to get Alayna and Sophia then. We¡¯re going to head to the new location while you continue exploring wait here for a minute.¡± Denny took the moment to pull up his character sheet. Name: Dennis Powell Affinity: Psychic Attunement: 3 Specialty: Explorer Abilities: 6 Ability Points: 3 3 more AP earned just from exploring to the creek and back. No one knew exactly what earned AP and it seemed to slow as you developed your character in each playground. Fortunately, the slowdown of progression did not get linked from playground to playground. Also, the higher your attunement the quicker you seemed to develop. Denny guessed that the creek probably gave him at least 1 of those AP. Maybe sharing his map gave him another, he¡¯d have to pay more attention in the future. The three women approached. Kamila led them and spoke as they neared, ¡°We don¡¯t have enough bags yet, but Sophia made something that should help you.¡± ¡°You look like you could use one of these,¡± Sophia said as she handed Denny a belt with no latch. The belt was made with some type of fur and was just a straight piece with three slots for the end to go through. He put it on and tightened it up to his waist. ¡°This¡¯ll help, thank you, Sophia¡± Denny said, looking up at her. She held several items in her small, pale hands. Those hands matched her, shorter than anyone in the group, Sofia was young, with a light complexion, tawny hair, blue eyes, and freckles. She grinned at him, ¡°It¡¯s no problem. Kamila set out a few traps and I was able to make three belts and two bags so far. Ally has been appraising the quality of the fur we¡¯ve gathered so far. I¡¯ve held off on using the best pieces until I can select better abilities, so there will be more, hopefully by the time we meet back up. Really, we were hoping that the other squads would be near enough that I wouldn¡¯t need to take any building abilities. I¡¯ve saved some points but may need to build soon.¡± Kamila watched the exchange her focused gaze a little disconcerting for Denny. ¡°The water will be an excellent landmark if the other two squads are nearby, which they should be. Find a different point on the creek and go down stream to see if you can find any sign of Umbra 2 or Martial 3. Remember, we¡¯re logging off by 2:00 and meeting back at the warehouse in virtual earth. So, you don¡¯t have much time. Good luck.¡± ¡°Good luck ladies,¡± Denny responded. Ally touched his arm as she walked past him, ¡°Be careful, and grab a sample or two if you see something new, Dennis.¡± Sophia kept smiling, ¡°Good luck, enjoy the belt.¡± Dennis took off alone on his own path. Explorers often went alone into the great expanse. Then he remembered something, ¡°Kamila,¡± he shouted at her retreating back, ¡°I have a 12-hour reset on another share map skill. Should I share it with Sophie or Ally?¡± ¡°No,¡± She shouted back in return still walking away, ¡°save it for if you find some of our allies.¡± Finding someone this early could be a big if. Finding an ally an even larger if. Still, there should be 5 other ally groups around. Even though he had a way to hold it, he decided to leave his dowsing rod and sample sack in his inventory for now. He needed speed if he wanted to find the others. He walked diagonal away from their new hill, but still towards where the river should be flowing. He saw small squirrels, birds, insects, chipmunks, nothing big, nothing dangerous. At one point he noticed a flock of birds fly away directly ahead of him. He heard the water running before too long and picked up his pace. As the water grew near, he realized that it was a much larger stream that the one he was trying to find. It began to drown out the sounds of the animals around him. He worried a bit, but continued, until he heard a massive roar ahead of him. Denny froze for half a second. He wasn¡¯t proud of that half second, but he still froze. He knew that he needed to move forward. It could be a creature roaring at an ally. His pace slowed for caution. After the second roar though, Denny decided that the creature must be paying enough attention to something else that he could probably move more quickly. With the hills and valleys, he decided it must be on the other side of the hill he currently walked around. He hiked up to the top and looked down. He saw the giant badger facing down a tree, the rock that flew out of it let him know the creature had cornered a human. A flash of baby blue convinced him that it was probably an ally. Denny couldn¡¯t face a badger like that. Alex¡¯s job was to deal with them. Denny took a deep breath and reviewed what he knew. After another rock flew and another roar sounded Denny built up his nerve and grabbed a few sticks off the ground. Then he began pelting them at the badger, ¡°Come on you dirty badger. You momma was a turtle and your father a mouse. You couldn¡¯t catch me ¨C ¡°At that point Denny cut off because the badger not only turned to him but picked up speed fast. Denny used his walking stick to the max of its abilities and ran all out towards the water. He just about kept his entire lead by the time he made it to the water. He jumped, as best he could, and barely made it. The stream widened out here considerably, much to his good fortune. The badger came after him but slowed down as it neared the river. Badgers, like most mammals don¡¯t like to swim. Denny knew that the stream, or river really, sounded near and sounded louder than the little creek they found before. This badger, while sizeable, wouldn¡¯t be able to jump the stream and would probably let him go. His 10% speed boost didn¡¯t hurt either. He just had to hope that whoever was in that tree would take this opportunity and cross the river as well.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. He began to head down river where he hoped to find his ally. The badger roared at him a couple times before moving off in the direction of the tree. It wasn¡¯t long before the badger was out of sight. A few minutes of walking and he spotted Amelia, the mousy martial girl who asked questions from Monty¡¯s group. ¡°Hi,¡± he said as waved to her. She ran forward and smiled, ¡°Thank you so much. I don¡¯t know what I would have done if you hadn¡¯t stepped in. I guess you didn¡¯t get your groups gatherer spot if you¡¯re out here?¡± Denny smiled back, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m happy with it though. I originally applied for either gatherer or explorer so¡­¡± He trailed off. Then he realized that a combatant shouldn¡¯t be out here alone either, ¡°are you combatant, or explorer as well?¡± She shook her head, ¡°Totally an explorer. I got sorted in with the combatant from martial squad 3. He didn¡¯t feel confident doing anything else, so I decided to take explorer. We tried to go south to join up with Monty since 3 of our members were from team 4, but a martial group already went that way, so we came center instead. We figured no matter what, Lead Gage would go West since he¡¯s leading that direction. I guess you aren¡¯t part of psychic squad 3 anymore if you¡¯re here. Did you get sorted with Director Kamila or are you team 2?¡± ¡°I¡¯m on team 1 with Kamila. My name¡¯s Denny, by the way,¡± He said with a smile. Then Denny accessed his abilities and activated friendly terrain. Before he could finish activating his ability she responded, ¡°Oh my BOB! I¡¯m so sorry, my name¡¯s Amelia. You can call me Mia though.¡± Denny nodded his head, ¡°Nice to officially meet you Mia. Here, let me share my map with you.¡± ¡°Good idea!¡± She paused to review his shared map. ¡°It looks like you came and went a few times from this center hill. Is that where you guys are set up?¡± ¡°No,¡± Denny shook his head, ¡°we¡¯re set up at the far hill on the other side of that creek. Can you share your map?¡± ¡°I can, but I think it¡¯d be better if I gave yours to our combatant. I have a 12-hour recharge on my map sharing.¡± As she spoke, he noticed her fidgeting with a leather sling in her hand, ¡°What I can do is share special points, and I can create some of them. I made our base a special point. While you won¡¯t know the path I took, you¡¯ll be able to see where it is at least.¡± Her voice rose at the end, like a question, even though it was a statement. ¡°Uh, yeah, before you do, did someone from your group make that sling?¡± ¡°This?¡± Mia asked, lifting it to signify her item, ¡°no this was starting equipment. I also have a walking stick and a sample pouch. What did you get?¡± Denny held up the walking stick, ¡°This, then a dowsing rod for detecting things and a sample pouch as well.¡± ¡°Ooohh Nice!¡± She gushed, ¡°psychics get some awesome starting items. The dowsing rod sounds better than this sling.¡± Denny shrugged, ¡°The sling helps with survivability. That seems pretty useful, especially early like this.¡± ¡°True, and I did get a couple of killer martial explorer abilities that you wouldn¡¯t get.¡± ¡°Oh, like what?¡± ¡°Well, like my sharing strategic locations ability. It works once every two hours and can share any three strategic locations I mark on it. Though they can only be changed once a week. Here, before I forget.¡± She looked off and a few seconds later Denny¡¯s map updated with a single point about 2 and half kilometers away. ¡°The other martial specific ability I picked was kind of a climbing ability. Let me tell you, that helped more than the sling. The sling just made that ginormous badger angrier rather than took the fight out of it.¡± Denny squinted at her, ¡°How much does the climbing ability really help?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s upgraded. It enables me to run up a 90-degree incline for 4 steps. If it¡¯s a steeper incline that¡¯ll decrease, but it¡¯s pretty solid either way.¡± Her smile bobbed a couple times with her head, ¡°Mostly, I grabbed it to be able to see hard to reach locations. But the survival benefit proved itself more than worth the 8 AP it cost.¡± ¡°That¡¯s expensive. How could you afford any detection abilities?¡± Mia shrugged off the question, ¡°If you must know, when I saw it, I decided it was worth waiting until I got at least 1 more point. Strategic locations cost 7 points and detect stone cost 5 more. Plus, friendly terrain which you seem to also have. As soon as I came upon the river, I got 4 more AP though so, I took vertical running. Anyway, I should get back to my group and update them. See you around 2:00.¡± ¡°Sounds good, see you then.¡± They waved and headed in different directions. She went down stream and he went up it. Denny looked back once, to find Mia already out of sight. Denny looked at his map and figured that he¡¯d be able to make it back to camp even without the 10% speed bonus. He loosened his belt and then wrapped it once around his walking stick before putting the belt back on stick behind his right shoulder. Then he pulled out his dowsing rod. 6 meters wasn¡¯t far, but he hoped it would be enough to detect something. When he was about halfway there, he could see that the river came from a slightly wider spot. This spot flowed more slowly than the rest of the river, and he could even see a few different creeks and streams flowing into the wide spot. This was where they met up to form the river. He definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to jump over this, but he could walk further up and cross several of the streams individually or just ford across the shallows here. As he approached the confluence, his senses finally picked up something. The detect abilities were slightly different for different people. They were always a bit subtle the further away you were but glaringly obvious when you got close. They said the different affiliations were the largest factor for how you detected things. In Denny¡¯s case, he felt a pull towards something. A direction he should walk with no reason for it. He did not follow the pull because he also felt the danger behind it and realized that he detected a lair instead of an ore deposit. The best part of valor was knowing what you can handle. To try something brave, where you could only lose, would be foolhardy instead. Denny very quickly decided to cross as soon as he could, the lair clearly on his current side of the river. He put his dowsing rod into his belt and pulled out his walking stick. His sense of the lair disappeared. He knew its distance though and hurried to the river. Every step looking over his shoulder in case something should come his way. Denny heard a movement; he glanced behind him and saw a tuff of black fur behind a bush. He vividly recalled a Black Leviathan that he saw a few years ago in a different world. It was powerful enough to swim through space and could draw in any other creature, ship, moon, planet, or even star. He found one¡¯s lair and thought it was a black hole, it wasn¡¯t. It was the leviathan eating its way through a solar system. He began to run outright hoping the water would stop whatever chased him. He crossed the ford faster than he thought possible, fish swimming past his feet. Then he turned around again. A squirrel there, a black bird on a bush right where he saw the fur. Denny breathed a sigh of relieve. It wasn¡¯t a creature from the lair, it was just a small bird. After gaining a few minutes of distance Denny paused to make a note. There was a lair symbol on his map, but it took up quite an area, probably based on where it could possibly be from where he sensed it. Either way, he let his note explain it. Lair, Ford here On the other side of the ford is a lair. Caution Denny checked his AP to see if detecting the lair gained him any. He sat at 28 AP! How in BOB¡¯s name did he get up to 28 AP!? He had 3 when he spoke to Kamila, and, and, and he forgot to check when he spoke with Mia. So, sharing the map with Mia must have given him at least one or two. Finding the lair gave him some. Maybe fighting the badger gave him several. He didn¡¯t defeat it, but he did survive. The ford was probably important. He wanted to spend his AP right then and there but realized that he needed to get back to camp. After just a moment¡¯s consideration, he swiftly bought detect stone and then continued towards camp. Detect Stone Level 1 Cost 5 th a stone deposit symbol. Limitation: Either Explorer or Gatherer specialty. He pulled out his dowsing rod again and put his walking stick back in his belt then followed the most likely creek towards camp, periodically double checking his map to make sure. He did end up discovering one ore deposit in the ground. It was either very deep, or ridiculously small because he could only find a small bit of it. Denny inspected his AP and saw the ore deposit gave him 3 more though, or at least he had 3 more already and assumed it was from the ore deposit. He made a note on his map there. Small Ore Depo. This small deposit is fairly deep, maybe valuable. Chapter 3: The Layers There were no other incidents before making it back to the group. Denny climbed up the hill, ready to sign off and finish his workday. With the meeting before hand, the paperwork after, and the 4 hours in the playground troubleshooting was a rigorous job. When he reached the top, Denny saw a small safety shack, one of the few buildings that even he could learn to make. All five of Denny¡¯s squad were there. Denny waved at them, only Ally and Alex acknowledged him, the other three busy with their own endeavors. Denny decided to approach Ally, ¡°What do you have there?¡± She sat, surrounded by different objects, ¡°Mostly materials, but as you can see a few things that Sophie crafted. She¡¯s working on a javelin launcher for Alex right now,¡± she said pointing at them. ¡°Anyway, how¡¯d the exploring go? Did you find anyone?¡± Denny nodded, ¡°Yeah, I found Martial 3 down the flow of the creek. I¡¯d share my map, but I can¡¯t right now. Didn¡¯t see any sign of the Umbra 2 squad unfortunately. Was there a second team coming center with us?¡± ¡°Yeah, there was. Actually, I was in it, Psychic 2, elemental 1 and galactic 3.¡± Ally¡¯s long fingers grabbed onto a bag, a stone dagger, and a short rope. ¡°These are for you,¡± she said as she handed them over. ¡°It¡¯s not our best bag, or dagger, but you do get the best rope we have so far.¡± She smiled looking up, ¡°Now, go report to the director. I¡¯m more than ready to sign out for the day and she wanted to wait for you.¡± As Denny walked away, Ally started gathering the rest of the items around her into her remaining bags. ¡°Hey Kamila,¡± he said simply as he neared her and Mitch. Kamila focused in his direction, ¡°Good, you¡¯re back. Report?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah, sure. Um, I found Martial 3 they¡¯re a couple hours away. I found also found a lair and an ore deposit. I didn¡¯t find any stone deposits. There is a better source of water not too far away from here, but that¡¯s where the lair is¡± Denny rattled off the information as quickly as possible.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t find any stone deposits because he doesn¡¯t have detect stone,¡± Mitch sneered. Denny grimaced for a second, ¡°I took the detect stone ability partially through. I still have,¡± he glanced quickly at his character sheet, ¡°27 AP to select more abilities.¡± ¡°27 more and you¡¯ve already spent an extra 5 today on detect stone? You must have a longer story than I¡¯ve heard so far.¡± Denny went to speak, but Kamila held up her hand, ¡°save it for the report at base. It¡¯s already after 2:00. Let¡¯s return to the warehouse and chat get information from the whole group. I made a safety shack for us to log out of.¡± The entire squad convened at the shack moments later, ¡°Alright everyone, you know how this goes.¡± Kamila said, ¡°One at a time since we only have one shack. Sophia, Mitchel, Alayna, Dennis, then Alexander. I¡¯ll go last.¡± No one moved for a second then Kamila clapped her hands twice and Sophie went in. Moments later the squad arrived at the warehouse in the virtual earth (VE). The other squads from all 6 teams were there as well. Kamila let the group and proceeded to the stage. ¡°Eyes and ears here everyone,¡± she commanded the warehouse. ¡°If you¡¯ll notice it seems that our excellent advocates behind the scenes saw our mishaps in joining the new playground and have already changed terminals and uniforms to match new designations. It looks like we still have a couple of squads who haven¡¯t come out yet. Fortunately, squads did know what locations were already occupied before confirming and we still have the right numbers and builds in the right locations. I realize that the workday is over, but I do ask that you meet with your fellow team members, especially those from different squads who have your specialty. Team leads, meet with your 3 explorers to get an idea of the area, and try to reunite the team. It¡¯ll help keep your members from spreading out their abilities too much.¡± After her Kamila rejoined the team, ¡°Penelope, George, would you two like to meet at Founders Brewhouse afterwards to discuss abilities?¡± The umbra and martial supports both agreed to meet her there. ¡°Dennis, Bradford, Amelia, I need to see all of you before you leave for the day, but I need to talk to a few people first. Wait here.¡± While Denny, Mia, and the umbra explorer, Bradford, waited the rest of the team left, most headed towards Founders Brewhouse. ¡°Good to see you again Denny, nice to meet you Brad,¡± Mia started. Brad shut his eyes and took a deep breath before saying, ¡°Please, please, call me Ford. I absolutely hate the name Brad.¡± ¡°Uh,¡± Mia paused, ¡°ok then Ford it is,¡± she smiled, issue resolved. ¡°Denny and I met up near a river. Our current base is downstream from there. We¡¯re going to need to head closer to the river ourselves, but I found a decent stone deposit near our part of the river.¡± Denny nodded along, ¡°Basically, what Mia said. I headed back upriver and found an area where a bunch of streams and creeks join up to make the river. We¡¯re further up one of those creeks. I also found a lair close to the convergence and a small ore deposit close to our camp. I don¡¯t know where Kamila intends for us to go.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be moving to you guys,¡± Ford said confidently. ¡°We have several portable buildings, and we won¡¯t have trouble getting past that lair. I¡¯ve seen a couple streams and creeks. Found two lairs and a solid wood deposit so we might want to leave a safety shack where we¡¯re at.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like a bad idea,¡± Director Kamila agreed as she walked up to the trio. ¡°It looks like team 2 are all in some plains. All three of her squads located each other due to a small wooded area that they all gravitated towards. The other teams have had mixed success, but it appears as though BOB at least put our squads near enough to each other. You¡¯ll both be sharing your maps with Dennis as soon as we meet up tomorrow downstream from the confluence. It¡¯s the most efficient. We¡¯re going to get an early start tomorrow, so be here ready to launch by 9:00.¡± She didn¡¯t expect a reply, she didn¡¯t even wait to see if there would be one. ¡°Uh, I guess that¡¯s it. Would you guys like to go to Founder¡¯s?¡± Ford clapped Denny¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Thanks for the invitation,¡± My squad¡¯s heading that way anyway.¡± He smiled at Denny, turning towards the door with his hand still on Denny¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll come too! I¡¯m super impressed with how Director Kamila is handling all of this, aren¡¯t you guys?¡± Mia asked as they walked towards the door. Travel in the VE was different than the playgrounds or in the real life. When you exited a building, you could mentally choose a location to go and just teleport to an open space there. Most buildings expanded or shrunk based on the number of occupants. Ford, Denny, Mia, and over half of Warehouse 23¡¯s troubleshooters all opened into Founders. Founders held onto a great atmosphere. Originally, a real location in the real world the digital concept just expanded on that. There were tables, darts, pool, and an almost obnoxiously long bar. Denny didn¡¯t know if he should order up a table or just go and sit at the bar. ¡°Awesome,¡± Ford declared, ¡°It looks like Sanders already got a table for team 1 with a dart board. Let¡¯s go.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it As Denny entered the area an all too familiar notices popped up on his LO: By entering this premade area, you agree to pay for all consumed substances and all games you are a participant of. Yes No Denny of course selected yes. ¡°Oh, Denny, glad you made it,¡± Alayna exclaimed! ¡°We thought they might have asked you guys to put in some extra hours just to meet up and trade maps. Sanders was just telling us how she took out three wolves today.¡± You never heard gatherers telling epic tales. Merchants might sometimes, explorers would tell interesting tales, but only combatants needed to be the center of attention telling every story of conquest they could. Umbra combatants were almost the worst because of how much misdirection and enchantment went into their affiliation. A tall, muscular, redheaded woman held her palms forward, ¡°Now, hold on. I took them down sure, but it wasn¡¯t alone.¡± She leaned back and to the side and pointed at two of her squad mates as she named them. ¡°Ford and Penelope both helped quite a bit. Without them it might have been touch and go, instead it was easy. Pen had them so distracted that they were chasing their own tails. Ford setup a couple of traps that disoriented them. Plus, I already have an invisible bladed spear thanks to our dear Hazel¡¯s crafting skill coupled with some special ingredients that Kelly gathered. He may look short and block, but Kelly knows how to get what we need. But, back to the story. So, there we were just come down from a hill towards this small stream when Ford stops dead. ¡®There¡¯s a lair in 3 meters,¡¯ He says. We look around and then I smile. ¡®Alright,¡¯ I say, ¡®I¡¯m going to grab a few of them you guys wait here. I¡¯ll bring them back.¡¯ So, I go forward, creeping along silently like, well, like a silent predator. One of my abilities is called sidestep and I activate it, ready for them to pounce just in case. It was a good thing that I thought ahead, because even though I was silent they noticed me. One of them popped out in front of me. I thought I had it, but then two others ripped into my hamstrings. But sidestep lets me step to the side once from an attack, and I neatly avoided both in the same instant. They biffed it, so I had a chance to stab the closer one and I took it. My spear went neatly into the back of his spine and he didn¡¯t get up. Then I darted. This is where Pen really helped. I glanced back for just a second and saw me still fighting the other two wolves. It only stood for about 5 seconds, but that was enough for me to get away. So they come chasing me like I have their favorite stuffed animal and I see a small blue circle in the grass. I run right over that and when they get to it, it explodes with light. I turn and see them flinching and stab a second one right down it¡¯s throat. So I step back, and a shadow wolf rises from the one I just downed and attacks,¡± She stopped to take a drink before continuing, ¡°the other wolf. Turns out Pen just got enough AP to get that ability. Anyway, it didn¡¯t hurt the thing, or no more than the live wolf¡¯s mind let it, but boy did the fight look fierce. Just as live wolf wins the fight I come from the side and stab it in the heart. And that is how I slayed 3 wolves today.¡± She then finished off the rest of her mug, slammed it on the table and exclaimed, ¡°Now, who wants to lose to me in darts?¡± ¡°Come on Denny,¡± Mia stood up and put her hand behind his chair, ¡°Let¡¯s go show these umbras what we¡¯re made of.¡± Denny paused. He had absolutely no desire to play darts, especially not with umbras and martials. Umbras cheated when possible and martials were just too competitive. On top of that most of the few others getting up were combatant specialties. ¡°I¡¯m ok, I¡¯ve actually gotta get going. I told my parents that I¡¯d meet up with them after my first day as a troubleshooter.¡± Mia blinked, ¡°Oh, okay, well, have fun with your family. It was really nice meeting you. See you tomorrow,¡± She gave Denny half a smile. ¡°Yeah, it was nice to meet you too and yeah definitely see you tomorrow. Early start just so we can meet up.¡± Denny started to wave, but Mia leaned forward and gave him a quick hug before turning to the dart board. ¡°Off so soon?¡± Came a voice behind him as a hand reached up to his shoulder. Denny turned as Alex resumed, ¡°I was hoping we¡¯d have two psychics so that we could play darts with squad-based teams. Doesn¡¯t look like anyone else wants to join me.¡± Denny shrugged, ¡°Sorry Alex, the best I can do is wish you luck in beating them.¡± He waved the comment away, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can take both their teams solo.¡± Alex then shook Denny¡¯s hand and reached to give him a one-handed hug. ¡°And don¡¯t worry Denny, you and Sophia are doing just fine.¡± I wasn¡¯t worried, Denny thought to himself. And he never even considered Sophie. She was the crafter, totally different roles. After he thought about it though, they were the newbies. Alex and Alayna were moved up a squad as well, but Denny and Sophie were moved up from the worst psychic squad to the best. Maybe everyone else was watching them? ¡°Uh, thanks Alex.¡± After Alex walked a few steps away Denny turned to the merchant sitting next to him, ¡°I heard,¡± Ally said, ¡°you¡¯re heading out. I hope you have a good night and like Alex said, you¡¯re doing a fine job.¡± ¡°Uh, thanks Ally,¡± he chuckled just a bit to himself realizing he was repeating himself. ¡°I hope you have a good night too. See you in the morning.¡± ¡°Yep, see you in the morning,¡± She stood up to hug him. Alex didn¡¯t bother swinging around to say anything to Mitch or Sophie, but as he headed for the door the latter caught up to him. ¡°Headed out too, Denny?¡± He turned to look behind him, ¡°Uh, yeah I am. What are you up to tonight?¡± Sophie walked up beside him as he spoke, ¡°Oh, I¡¯m probably going to continue working on my sculpture. I¡¯m making a physical rendition of the real world, virtual earth, and all of the playgrounds in an expanding format. The real world is of course the core, and the rest connects in from there.¡± As she spoke about her project her words picked up speed. ¡°Where are you making the sculpture, here or in the real?¡± Denny queried. ¡°Well, both actually. Anything I add in the real I have setup to add in my studio here. Anything I add here I have a printer that will place it perfectly in the real. Doing in it VE can be great because I can just change its size and really get the minute details right. But, there¡¯s just something more satisfying about hand molding it in the real. Plus, it¡¯s value will hold better the more I do in the real. I mean, if it ever has value.¡± Sophie barely paused to take a breath as she explained it. Denny nodded along with her and allowed her to go on, but it lost his interest quickly. ¡°That¡¯s really impressive Sophie, anyway I¡¯ll uh, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± They hugged, then Denny quickly headed for the door. It¡¯d be nice to get some alone time at home before he went to see his family. He arrived at his VE studio, a small box room with a desk and comfortable chair. The walls displayed a viewpoint from the top of a mountain. He sat down in the chair and logged off, back into the real world. Rejoining real life felt just like laying down from a sitting position. Denny opened his eyes and his pod lit up with a soft pink glow, based on his settings. As soon as he moved, the lid lifted open to reveal his small, simple apartment. Those who had the space, kept their pods in a side room. Many others, like Denny, let their pods double as a bed. There wasn¡¯t much else in his apartment. It didn¡¯t have a kitchen, just a water and a soylent tap. His loveseat sat in one corner of the apartment parallel to his pod. He did have some counter space, a couple of cupboards (mostly filled with cups) and a bin that he kept his clothes in. His apartment also held a bathroom and of course a dispenser where he could insert his clothes and pull out new ones. Patiently waiting at the foot of Denny¡¯s pod sat, Monster. Denny got out of the pod and reached down to pet the synthetic fur of the miniature husky companion before going to get cleaned up. After his shower Denny opened his pod setting in his linked overhead and changed his ideal physic. As a gatherer, he looked for more strength. While strength remained important for an explorer, Denny felt that he¡¯d need more speed. He lowered his body mass by 10% and moved his muscle groups to increase his speed a little. He also pushed for some greater lung capacity. None of this would happen overnight, but now that his new settings were in place Denny¡¯s pod would change his nutrients and his body¡¯s workout routine while he was in it. Denny went to his bin and grabbed out one of the few outfits he had for monster. It matched his own uniform, except the crest was wrong. He went back into his LO and saw that his emblem had updated. He then threw the companion outfit into the dispenser waited 15 minutes and pulled out a new one with the proper insignia. Denny himself wore more casual clothing; he¡¯d let his companion show off who he was. Ready to go he glanced at the time and realized he needed to wait. He sat on the loveseat, petting Monster idly, and turned a popular playground show on his LO. Chapter 4: The Family The show automatically set itself up on the wall across from his couch. He already listed that as one of the default locations. If he had more than a studio apartment, he could setup other proximity triggers so that it would move if he did, but here it didn¡¯t matter. He could make it surround him, the same as the playground really was, or even make it seem as though the whole playground rose up from the floor and go along for the ride like that. The show he watched was of a developed House Respectability team of 6 raiders on playground 12. This was a low-tech world, like playground 23. The raiders entered a large lair, that someone reported as durable. The permanence of a lair denoted several things: Its age, how powerful the creatures inside were, how plentiful the creatures inside were, how extensive the lair ran. The black leviathan lair, that he discovered from playground 17, held a permanence of indestructible. The raiders entered the durable lair with caution. Clearly a group of professionals. He¡¯d seen them, barely, take on a durable lair once before. A galaxy combatant up front and a galaxy support in back. Good at massive actions, they often led either the front or back especially when there weren¡¯t any martials with the group. The other two support, an umbra and a primal stayed in nested between the others. The sides were, of course, protected by the umbra and primal combatants. They walked deeper into the lair poking spears and shining light into every nook and cranny. They had one umbra support just watching the ceiling to ensure that nothing dropped down on them. They crept forward. ¡°BOB!¡± The galaxy support covering their back swore. ¡°What, Val?¡± The galaxy combatant up front asked her, while keeping his attention forward. ¡°Back is closed, Ash. No sound, I didn¡¯t see movement, just closed,¡± Val responded ¡°Alright, let¡¯s slowly backup. It could be an illusion.¡± As the group backed up they continued to check every cranny they could. They even pushed on the slightly damp stalagmites to make sure those were stable. He watched as the support stayed center and dealt with light issues and searching while the three combatants stood up front and to the two sides. Finally, they reached the back and Val, the support who originally spoke, touched the wall where the exit should be. The wall held firm beneath her hand. She used an ability and 3 dozen thin metal strands swiped up and down the wall checking everything in a 20-foot radius of her. None broke through. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s really closed. I¡¯d bet a magical trap system.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t see any lures to draw other creatures in.¡± Said a man standing in the middle. He spread light around them as he spoke ensuring that nothing could hide in the darkness. But, Denny noticed a small shadow grow beneath the man¡¯s very feet, before it reached out and began to pull him in. A ray of light shot out from the left combatant scorching the shadow hand. ¡°Umbra creatures!¡± The combatant shouted to the others, then he addressed the galaxy support in back, ¡°Val, we need you to mass it up on the light.¡± After her he quickly turned to the umbra support who he just saved, ¡°Hooper, absorb the shadows.¡± Hooper should have noticed the ambush, that¡¯s the primary purpose of any umbra support. Notice what gets past everyone else, that and distract the enemy. Fortunately, the Umbra combatant must have had some ability to do the same and saved him. The two support went to work. The light clear took quite a bit of effort on Val¡¯s part. Her 36 metal strands expanded and started to vibrate, then glow. They lit up a massive area of the cave, she clearly couldn¡¯t do anything else. Small dots, barely seen began to draw towards Hooper as he absorbed their shadows. Then the small dots expanded and began attacking the 6 raiders in earnest. The galaxy combatant and support each did well in these mass group situations. They had much more trouble in one on one scenarios. Still, they didn¡¯t do well enough. Slowly a shadow got past here or there. They seemed to target the primal combatant. While he could hold off for quite some time large groups with life were not a primal¡¯s calling. They could deal with many types of creatures and did especially well in single combat or smaller group situations. But here, in a deep cave faced with shadow creatures that weren¡¯t even undead, just lifeless. No, here they were weak, and it showed. The primal support tried to keep him up, and did a valiant job, but after his combatant fell the three support didn¡¯t last long. The galaxy combatant did well for himself, and even surrounded he stood out but when they came from below, he had no defense ready and crumbled too. The umbra combatant lasted the longest, he disappeared from view and from the shadows. Denny thought that he was trying to escape, but the cave didn¡¯t open. Finally, the shifting floors found him, and a small fight ensued. Death was harsh in the playgrounds, one of the reasons combatants, support, and explorers were paid a little more. When you died, you lost not only all of your items but also 10% of your wealth, rounded down. This wasn¡¯t game wealth, but instead 10% removed itself from your accounts. Well, less if you were married and applied for a joint fund. Each spouse was considered an even owner, and thus you only lost 10% of your portion. It still hurt though. It also sent sensations back to your body so that you felt what happened to you. It wasn¡¯t the same as truly fighting, or so people claimed, but it definitely could hurt physically. Fortunately, death was neither common nor permanent. The wealth loss hurt, but when you achieved something great you stood to gain handsomely. Denny checked the time, after the raiders died, he didn¡¯t need to leave yet, so he played a bit with Monster. Monster wasn¡¯t alive, and didn¡¯t have feelings, but Monster did have programming that meant he was always ready to play, while never demanding. Monster¡¯s main purposes were two-fold. First, he existed as a companion. He helped regulate Denny¡¯s body and could administer medicines for a variety of purposes. Second, he protected Denny¡¯s mind. Everyone installed a Link Overlay (LO) which let them see and feel things easily in the real life, the VE, and the playgrounds. A companion was the only access point for the LO. New access points could be created, or it could be moved to a new, updated, companion. Most people tended to form a bond, or perhaps just nostalgia with their first companion and just upgraded that instead of getting a brand new one. Slightly more expensive perhaps, be common enough to not be too expensive.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Monster kept any potential hackers out of his head. Ensured that Denny was only fed a safe, non-life threatening, feed. Denny could change the settings on his own to filter out certain words, phrases, or even things that would disturb him. He heard of one girl who filtered out spiders so far that when one landed on her hand she couldn¡¯t fell or see it. Only others noticed it was there. It left without harming her, and if someone hadn¡¯t said something about how much her phobia improved, she probably would have never noticed or panicked. The reaction video was viral. Monster stopped playing and did a small huff bark a few times, Denny¡¯s alarm to know when he had to leave. As they walked out of the apartment into the soft yellow lit hallway with neutral walls and no artwork, Denny used his LO to mentally signal for a ride to the restaurant. His door automatically shut; it did not lock. He took the elevator down a dozen stories to arrive at the street level. Denny didn¡¯t live in a well-to-do neighborhood. In fact, all of the apartments here were completely paid for by House Respectability. He paid no rent and no utilities. It was the most basic living a person could get. He held a good position at work, but it was new and most of Denny¡¯s spare money went to pay for his pod. A blue single seater pulled up in front of Denny, using Monster to link into his exact location. The door opened, Denny jumped on front and Monster slid into the companion slot behind his seat, ¡°Take me to Katala¡¯s Spices.¡± Denny verbally told the lift. Even though they hadn¡¯t picked a meeting place, Denny knew his mom envisioned Katala¡¯s Spices. It was a simple, 3-story, wood sided, restaurant. Not a relic of the past, per say, but something that called out to it. The House Respectability controlled restaurant¡¯s food was deliciously spicy and prepared by the best androids right in front of you. Denny walked into the rustic building with Monster on his heels. As he entered, he used his LO to bring up his options New Group, Existing Group, Placed Reservation Knowing his mother, he chose placed reservation and quickly selected Powell. An arrow appeared on his overlay and he followed it. The aisles were wide and spacious, more than enough room to move between the other customers. His family¡¯s reservation brought him to a table with 5 chairs up on the second floor. Denny saw that most people in the restaurant were what his brother-in-law, Jerome, used to call generally fit. It was known to be extremely difficult to build a different fitness without a high-end pod, comparable to Denny¡¯s. That was the main perk to his pod, and part of why he lived in free housing. Not that he needed anything else. But push-come-to-shove, he¡¯d choose an upgraded pod over an upgraded apartment or VE room. His parents were already there, his dad always wanted to arrive everywhere early, his sister and her husband were still absent. ¡°Hello parental units,¡± Denny said in a joking voice with a smile. Both his parents rose, his father reached him first and gave him a big, hearty hug. ¡°Congratulations, on your first day as a troubleshooter.¡± Denny¡¯s dad never worked in the playgrounds or even in VE, he worked as a computer programmer designing new the code for androids in a constant effort to automate the world. His mom swooped him into a hug as well and said, ¡°We¡¯re both so proud of you, rising up in the playgrounds like you have. One day maybe you¡¯ll even earn diamonds, or emeralds if you keep going. I can¡¯t believe it.¡± Denny¡¯s mom worked part-time in VE as an interior decorator. She¡¯d be appalled at his room there and in real life. ¡°Do you know where your sister is at?¡± ¡°I think she worked till 4:00 today, so she should be here soon.¡± ¡°I just can¡¯t believe that she¡¯s still working 8-hour shifts,¡± Mom huffed. Denny¡¯s dad shook his head, ¡°8-hour days were normal in our grandparent¡¯s time. She¡¯s young, and already makes more gold monthly than I do. She¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just not healthy,¡± his mom ranted. ¡°People died so young back in those days. Did you know that they used to have and elders association, the only thing you needed to do to be automatically in was reach 55. And then they got increasing rewards after that based on how long they lived. They chose weird years probably based on how many people died before certain ages, 62, 65, 67 and 70 all different rewards if you lived that long. Everything over 70 was the same because even getting that far was so rare. She¡¯s working an unhealthy amount and any parent would be justified to be worried. 24-hours a week, with 8-hour work shifts. It¡¯s not humane. It can¡¯t be good for the companies either. Why can¡¯t they just go to a normal 4-hour day 5-days a week or do what those elites do and 6-hour days 3-days a week if necessary. They get paid a nice bonus for the longer days and work fewer hours in a week.¡± ¡°I get paid excessive bonus for my long days, Mother, and I still average 20-hours a week. 24 one week, 16 the next. You know that. Besides, it gives me more days at home with Rosy.¡± Fiona said as she walked up to Mom and kissed her on the cheek as they hugged, no real heat in her words. The family finished exchanging hugs and then all sat down. The android approached the table to take orders and prepare food before any more conversation could take place. After the orders were place, Fiona turned to Denny, ¡°So, I hear that they¡¯re going to be piling more of Respectability¡¯s hopes on their people in the playgrounds.¡± Denny at her and signaled her to carry-on, ¡°Bountiful stepped into the LO market with a bang. They designed some new chip that makes ours completely obsolete. I know we aren¡¯t the biggest in the playgrounds, but I hear the Respectability is pushing their people for a win there to balance their recent loss.¡± Jerome laughed, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what they push for. This was bound to happen. BOB must have given Bountiful that information to help them out. He probably downloaded something straight into someone¡¯s overlay while they slept.¡± Denny went back to his food and shook his head minutely. Jerome definitely possessed some interesting ideas, but some of his thoughts were just so out there. Denny found it better to just ignore the man when he started talking about BOB. Denny¡¯s dad snorted, ¡°BOB doesn¡¯t control anything in the real world, Jerome. It¡¯s just the AI of the playgrounds. And really, all it does there is create challenges. People still need something to do and making money in the playgrounds gives them that.¡± Jerome shook his head and began speaking with his hands in his excitement, ¡°It¡¯s not just that though. Look at his name, Brainlink Organized Biosynthesizer. He¡¯s plugged directly into our link overlays and can synthesize any biological reaction for us to have. How would you even notice if he took control of everything you saw and made your world something different. Or what if he gives slightly pleasurable feelings whenever someone¡¯s discoveries go in the direction he wants. You can¡¯t deny his power. He could even control the androids, and there¡¯s nothing we can do to stop it.¡± ¡°Oh please,¡± Denny¡¯s father entreated. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the code, remember. I know, maybe not what BOB¡¯s code looks like, but what the interaction codes look like. I even worked on the LO for a bit before I went into androids. BOB has no interaction except where the playgrounds are concerned in humans, and none whatsoever for androids. The AI just wasn¡¯t given permissions to do anything like what you¡¯re suggesting. Besides, BOB is an AI, it¡¯s an it, not a he. It doesn¡¯t have gender, or sentience. If BOB had sentience, it would be a they.¡± ¡°How do you know that it hasn¡¯t achieved sentience other ¨C¡° Denny tuned out the rest of the conversation as they argued about possible genders to call BOB. It wasn¡¯t a subject that really mattered to him. If the AI held a preference, then it was never expressed to anyone Denny had heard of.