《Apocalypse at Mighty Max》 Prologue My life fell apart in May when I turned 24. Up until then, I had a sweet existence. I was well maybe not the man, but at least a man on campus. I¡¯m pretty smart, actually really smart. I tell you that, not to brag, just because it¡¯s necessary for you to understand my lifestyle. It started when I was four, my dad bought a lottery ticket and the next day he won the lottery: 92 million dollars ¨C after taxes. It was the biggest lottery win ever in Oklahoma. I remember him and my mother laughing about his chances the night before he won. Before he even told my mom, he took me with him down to a lawyer¡¯s office, created a will leaving everything to my mother (except the Caddy he was going to buy, which for some reason he left to me ¨C his then four year old son), created an Educational Trust in the amount of $2,000,000 dollars (again, for me) and then went to a Cadillac dealership and bought himself a gold Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Then, he had a heart attack while walking up the sidewalk to our house. Mom and I were stunned. Mom was looking out the front door, she¡¯d heard him honking the horn of his new car. I was in his arms. I don¡¯t know why it happened. The doctor who performed the autopsy said that he was as healthy as a horse, but I guess it was just his time. I remember he smiled at her, then let out a little sigh, kind of like a puppy¡¯s bark, and gently folded down onto the sidewalk. Even as he was collapsing, he set me gently down on the grass, while still looking at my mother. That¡¯s one of the ways that I know that he loved me. Even dying, he didn¡¯t drop me. My mom is pretty smart too, beautiful as well. But really, wicked, wicked smart. That¡¯s one of the reasons that she didn¡¯t get along with her parents. They wanted her to go to college (Yale, full-ride academic scholarship), but she wanted to marry my dad. Unforgivable words were exchanged and they pretty much turned their backs on her, until it was too late to turn back around. Anyway, after burying her husband, she put me in the University School for Gifted and Talented Children at the University of Tulsa. I graduated at 9 (as opposed to 12), graduated from Tulsa¡¯s Washington High School¡¯s IB program at 11 and started attending Harvard University at 15. In between High School and College, my mother decided that I needed a challenge. She hired tutors for me and they went to town. Chinese, Spanish, business lessons complete with apprenticeships at her companies, Running, and, of course, Martial Arts. We had a Wing Chun sifu and an ex-Navy Seal for that last one. The ex-Navy Seal was the head of her security detail. Homeschooling with a vengeance. I was lonely.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It was exhausting. Meanwhile, my mother was translating a 92 million dollar fortune into ¡°some real money¡±, as she liked to say. Everything that she touched turned into more gold, muffler shops, bakeries, restaurants, stocks and bonds, options, oil and gas leases, real estate, newspapers, insurance agencies, software, banking, by the time I hit 24 she should have been ranked on the Forbes list, but didn¡¯t want to be. ¡°Who needs, who wants the notice?¡± she¡¯d say. ¡°Only suckers pick up their cards before the dealin''s done!¡± I think she had a thing for Kenny Rogers. Anyway, I decided after I turned 15 that I needed a break. I remembered that my dad had set up an educational trust for me and so I snuck off to the lawyers to see what it was all about. Turned out my dad had put 2 million dollars into an escrow account where it¡¯d been happily growing ever since. My dad had told the lawyer to put $1,000,000 into Apple, the other million into Microsoft and said, invest all the dividends into those two stocks unless he told the lawyer differently. The account was loaded, but there was a catch, evidently, my dad did not want me to be a perpetual student. He thought that a college degree meant a college degree and that was it. So I was entitled to as much money as I could spend (within limits) while achieving my Bachelor¡¯s degree, provided my grades stayed up, and then I was out on my own. All the rest of the money would then change over to a retirement account at that point. Chapter 1 - Introduction Imagine if you will, that you are 15 years old, told that you can spend as much money to pursue a college degree as you needed to and that this state would continue until you graduated. But then afterward, it all goes away. What would you do? I worked the system. I made my 4.0 GPA and enjoyed life. I started at Stanford with Chemical Engineering, then Columbia with Chinese, Penn State with Business, and then, finally, I came back to Oklahoma and Oklahoma University with a combination of Computer Science and Philosophy. I loved my life. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I wasn¡¯t a party animal. I mean I had to keep up the grades. My dad had said, ¡°Books, Tuition, Housing (not necessarily campus), food, clothing, transportation, and any travel costs would be paid for, along with a spending allowance of up to 15% of my food, clothing, transportation and housing costs. Which meant the more I spent on the four, the more money I got to spend. There was an oversight provision, the lawyer had to make sure the receipts were real, and the lower my GPA, the lower the percentage I earned, over 4.0 earned 15%, 4.0 earned 10%, 3.0 earned 5%, 2.5 earned 3%, and anything lower meant I was out of school. Only at Stanford and Columbia was I able to earn over a 4.0. But I had roommates, I had friends, I played games, I joined guilds, my life was good. I kept transferring so I wouldn¡¯t graduate. College credits don¡¯t transfer, particularly when you switch majors when you transfer and aren¡¯t really trying to get them too. I liked my life! It was great, but I swear I put in as much time figuring out how not to graduate as I did selecting my courses by the final years! But everything must come to an end. I¡¯m not the type to kiss and tell, so I¡¯ll just say, it may not be a great idea to sleep with your Philosophy Department¡¯s Dean¡¯s nineteen-year-old daughter, on his couch, in his house, when he¡¯s supposed to be out unless you make sure he¡¯s actually out. Suddenly, some former Yale Chinese Language Philosophy class credits became transferable to my major and, surprise, I¡¯ve graduated, no need to thank us, congratulations and goodbye. I came home, bearing my new Philosophy Degree with my Computer Science Minor. I came home because I was broke and, well, home is where they have to take you when they show up. My mom was in Ireland pursuing some Oil and Gas Leases when I arrived. I came home and buzzed myself in at the gate. Derek the head of security (ex-Seal, Delta Force, a total badass, my former martial arts instructor) drove up in a golf cart and let me in. They change passcodes regularly so I didn¡¯t know the current one. Our house is pretty big. Not baronial estate size, but about 12 rooms, a ballroom/big empty room, a living room, servant¡¯s quarters, kitchen, 14 bathrooms, a conservatory, a library, a home theater, a (believe it or not) bowling alley (previous owner, don¡¯t ask), a pool, tennis courts, and, of course, a guest cottage/small house that I got when I graduated from High School. It was two stories, about 1500 square feet, next to the pool and tennis courts on our hilltop in a little town (just outside of Tulsa, OK) called Sand Springs. Anyway, I said, ¡°Hey.¡± He said, ¡°Hmm!¡± ¡°Mom in?¡± I asked. ¡°Nope, Ireland,¡± he replied and then handed me a Sat phone. This constituted a large conversation between Derek and I. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I love him, he¡¯s like my father, just an extremely quiet, stoical, lethal one. ¡°Hello,¡± I asked, a little bit hesitantly. ¡°Hi honey!¡± my mom said. ¡°Congratulations on graduating. I know it was accidental, Dean Chalmers contacted me. But still, congratulations are in order!¡± (Dean Chalmers who may or may not have a 19-year-old daughter.) ¡°But all good things must come to an end, I think you rode that horse into the ground! What¡¯s your plan now?¡± The thing about my mom is that she is smart. I think she is smarter than I am. And she likes to plan. Everything is planned, everything is scripted. I plan, but I¡¯m not obsessive about it, you know? I knew right then that I was in trouble. If I didn¡¯t have a plan, I was going to have to adopt hers. She lived by the ¡°Lead, Follow or Get OUT of MY WAY¡± rulebook. Unfortunately, I¡¯d been away long enough that I was rusty in dealing with her.¡± Thinking fast, I said, ¡°Well I¡¯m planning on going to grad school.¡± ¡°Hmm!,¡± I heard her say. ¡°No, I don¡¯t really think that works for me. I¡¯m thinking you need to do more on your life.¡± I know it¡¯s weird, isn¡¯t it, she always says, ¡®do more on your life,¡¯ instead of with. It comes down to the way she views each person¡¯s life as something that is created by each of us, instead of something that we are given. She believes strongly that we are only given one life and we are required, even obligated, to create something magnificent from it. I¡¯m not sure who she plans on getting the final approval from since she doesn¡¯t really seem to believe in a God or gods, but since when do beliefs have to be congruent? Anyway, I said, ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± And she said, ¡°Honey, I¡¯m about to head into a meeting with the head of Ireland¡¯s Petroleum Affairs Division, so I don¡¯t have time to talk now. I left instructions with Derek. I have another meeting with his equivalent in Russia and following that one with Greece so I won¡¯t be back until mid-June or early July, so we¡¯ll talk then.¡± ¡°OK,¡± I replied. ¡°Love you!¡± and then I handed the phone back to Derek. He took it, said, ¡°Yep, , Uh huh OK and then hung up the phone. ¡°Alright Chief,¡± he said. ¡°Here¡¯s the deal, you can have the guesthouse back until the end of the week, then you¡¯ve got to be someplace else ¨C and not in the main house either. Your mom is letting your cousin Jackie stay there starting Monday morning. She and her mother are fighting again. It¡¯s Tuesday now, that gives you 5 days to figure something out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t suppose, ¡­¡± I began already planning on having Jackie stay in the main house when he said, ¡°Nope, not happening. Your mom¡¯s a little disappointed with your 10-year college plan.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s only nine and I got over a four-point GPA.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, Chief. I¡¯m not the one you¡¯ve got to persuade, she is and right now, she isn¡¯t. You¡¯ve got ¡®til Monday morning.¡± Wow! Tough crowd. I¡¯d already parked the car ¨C a little black BMW i3, it¡¯s our planet take care of it!, so I started dragging my suitcase off towards the guest house. ¡°Hey Chief!¡± I heard, ¡°keys!¡± ¡®Oh man,¡¯ I thought. ¡®This is getting serious.¡¯ ¡°What, mom told you that?¡± I said. ¡°Yep,¡± he said. ¡°She said Plan 3A, which means take back the car and the credit cards when you leave. Here are the keys to your car,¡± he said, tossing me a set of two keys on a keychain with a dyed red rabbit¡¯s foot. I told you, she is a planner and ex-Special Forces guys understand logistics and strategy. I am so screwed! ¡®Damn you, Dean Chalmers!¡¯ I thought again for maybe the fiftieth time. ¡°My car?¡± I asked. ¡°Yah, the Caddie!¡± he answered. ¡®Lord,¡¯ I thought. ¡®She is mad.¡¯ Remember the gold Caddie my dad left me? Well, it was officially my new ride ¨C a 20-year-old gold Cadillac Coupe de Ville. I went up to the guesthouse and threw my suitcase into my bedroom and then put on my swimsuit and went out to the pool. My cousin Jackie was there. She sat up from the chaise lounge she was sun tanning on and said, ¡°Hey Monsoon, you heard?¡± That¡¯s the name that I go by mostly now, Monsoon. My real name is Maysoon Alacrity Seebring, but Jackie couldn¡¯t pronounce it when she was younger, so it became Monsoon. It kind of stuck for some reason.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Yea, out by Monday!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± she said. ¡°I could talk to Aunt Jane.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. It wouldn¡¯t make a difference, she¡¯s pissed and I don¡¯t have a plan, at least not yet!¡± And for the rest of the day, she and I talked, drank some beers (at least I did), she¡¯s only 16 so she didn¡¯t get any. Diet Coke for her. That night something weird happened. I was lying in bed, it was late, after 2 in the morning, when in the bottom right corner of my right eye, a small blue dot appeared. It blinked, not fast, but not slow either. It didn¡¯t matter if my eyes were open or shut, I could still see the dot. It didn¡¯t really block my vision, I could see through it fine, even if I looked directly at it and then past it, it stayed present regardless. It blinked there for about three minutes, then finally vanished. I was in bed at the time, trying to come up with a plan, when it occurred. It looked a little like one of those things that TV stations put down in the corner of your TV set, a little animated, see-through item that you could either focus on or ignore. Naturally, I was a little nervous. I mean what could cause a blinking blue dot to appear in my eye? I went to the bathroom and checked my eyes using the mirror and a flashlight, but it didn¡¯t seem visible from the outside. Even while I was looking at the dot, blinking merrily away down in the bottom of my right eye, I couldn¡¯t see any evidence of it in my eyes. No light was being generated inside my eye, visible through my pupil, nothing was visible on the outside of my eyeball either. I wasn¡¯t sure what to feel when it finally stopped: afraid, happy, if happy, happy for what reason, if afraid, afraid for what reason? So, I immediately got on the internet after it quit, after about 10 minutes, an article showed up on Slashdot.org, one of my favorite sites, with the title, ¡°Did anybody else see a small blinking light?¡± I stayed up late that night browsing the net ¨C the Interweb my mom calls it. After about 20 minutes stories started showing up on the local news sites, stuff like ¡°Man Robs Quick Trip (a local convenience store) After Being Convinced the End of the World Is Nigh!¡± and ¡°Trucker Rams Loading Dock When Distracted By the Dot.¡± That seemed to be what everybody was calling it. ¡­ the Dot. Surprisingly there weren¡¯t that many fatalities, nor crimes, nor large scale incidents attributed to the dot. Up in New England and in Seattle a couple of ferries rammed their docks as their captains quit paying attention to their boats, but that seemed to be it. There were a couple of incidents in other countries ¨C France almost had a nuclear meltdown at one of its power plants when the engineers quit paying attention and started talking about the dot, Japan and Spain almost lost a couple of high-speed trains, and Australia had five bus wrecks, but only about five people lost their lives, which is kind of surprising when you think about all of the planes, trains, and automobiles that were being operated at the time. The next day, the President called a press conference along with some of the other significant world leaders: Russia, England, China, Japan, France, the list went on and on. He stressed that there was no reason for alarm, that it took place equally around the world (taking the wind out of the sails of the Born Agains in this country who were claiming it was a sign of their favored ¡°Godly¡± status) and that no one was harmed and that our scientists were working on an explanation and should have results soon. ¡®Yawn,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Leave it to a politician to make the end of the world routine!¡± About the biggest event that occurred was that Iran and North Korea threatened to bomb the US, Israel and, for some reason, Albania. But everyone ignored them, pretty much like usual. I went to bed around 4 o¡¯clock in the morning and got up the next day at around 2:00 pm. As I looked out over the back yard, I decided that it was time to get things started, so I threw ¡°An End of the World as We Know it¡± party. I invited all of my friends from OU. My friends from the Washington High School IB program, the University School for Gifted and Talented Children at the University of Tulsa, the staff of my mom¡¯s house, my former tutors, everyone that I could think of that I knew in this part of the country. Surprisingly a lot of them came. It was also a little surprising how people were acting at the party. It was a weird mix of hedonism and scholarly discussion. I remember at one point watching a group of my former high school friends (all older than me by about 10 years) playing topless volleyball in the pool, while another group of us was busy deconstructing the apocalypse, tracing the historical antecedents to the belief, whether or not zombies were even possible, the Mayan Calendar, the revelation of St. John the Divine, you name it, it was brought up and thoroughly discussed. What was really weird was how interchangeable and respectful of each other¡¯s differences the two groups were. I remember watching my friend Traci sit down (topless) on a chaise lounge and join our discussion for about 30 minutes before hopping back into the volleyball game. Food was everywhere and so was alcohol. Everyone had a good time. I think the final people left the next day around noon. I wondered about inviting Jessica Chalmers but decided not to. I figured that she had already capsized my boat of good fortune once, no need to pilot my boat back into that rock again. The next day, Thursday, I decided to start firming up some plans. I took the Black Amex down to the ATM (well actually ATMs) around town and was able to withdrawal about $10,000. Not a huge sum, but enough that I could live on it for a while. Mom wouldn¡¯t miss it and it would make a huge difference to me. I also took my 20-year-old gold Cadillac Coupe Deville down to the dealership and had them go over it with a fine-toothed comb. The owner of the dealership was pretty stoked about the car, offering me $15,000 for it right then. It had less than 2,000 miles on the odometer. My dad had bought the top of the line model for that year, leather seats, full electric windows, door locks, a cassette player, cruise control, reclining front seats, etc. Hey, they might not sound like much by today¡¯s standards, but for the time they were money. I thought about it, but couldn¡¯t let go of the car. I mean, it was my dad¡¯s. They promised to have the car fully serviced and detailed by Monday morning, so I left it there and Ubered back to my mom¡¯s place. Derek met me at the gate again with the phone in his hand. ¡°Hey, chief, mom wants to talk to you,¡± he said, handing me the phone. Her first words were, ¡°A party? Naked volleyball? You threw open my house and I had people puking in the bushes?¡± ¡®Uh oh!¡¯ I thought. ¡®Better go straight into apology mode!¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m sorry, mom!¡± I said. ¡°I realize that it got a little out of hand, but not too bad. Only one person threw up in the bushes and I think everybody kept it to topless. It really wasn¡¯t as wild as all that. I remember seeing Derek and Clancy (the butler) and Jamonica (the maid) sitting around the pool talking about the Apocalypse. It was kind of laid back, really,¡° I said. ¡°That may be,¡± she said, ¡°but it¡¯s my house. Did you ever think about that?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d mind,¡± I said. ¡°Honestly! I just graduated and then there was the dot, it¡¯s a big house, really kind of designed for this kind of thing, and for the most part, we kept it outside around the pool. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d mind, really! We just served barbeque and snacks and people weren¡¯t drinking that much. ¡°You didn¡¯t think,¡± she started off. ¡®Hmm!¡¯ she kind of laughed. ¡°I was thinking that maybe I was a little harsh on you, that maybe I needed to be a little kinder, gentler, but I¡¯m thinking now that I was right in the first place. You need to grow up, honey. You are 25,¡± ¡°24¡± I interjected. ¡°You are 24 years old, almost 25, no job, a philosophy degree, and no life plan or goals. I think I was right, you need to be out of the house on Monday. You need to grow up. I love you. I always will, but I need to see that you are moving forward in life, moving in a positive direction. You still need to be out of the house by Monday noon. ¡± The rest of the week passed quietly. I stayed in my room or hung out at the pool with Jackie, actually, her name is Calah, but I call her Jackie because she looks just like Mila Kunis or Jackie from ¡°That 70s Show.¡± We tried to work out what I was going to do, but other than grad school nothing seemed appealing. I got a new cell phone since I wasn¡¯t sure if mom was going to let me keep the old one, well, she bought this one (the black Amex again), but I signed up for the payments. I rented a Post Office box and started applying for grad schools. I was pretty sure that I could get back into Stanford or MIT if I wanted too. I also contacted OU, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford to see if I could get an Associate¡¯s Degree or complete my degrees there via the internet or by transferring in some of the credits I¡¯d gotten from other universities. I was not a hundred percent sure, but I thought that with my GPA, I might be able to swing it. Monday arrived and I pulled my suitcase out of the guesthouse where I was met by Derek. ¡°You gonna be OK, Chief?¡± he asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± I replied, handing him the black Amex, my heart breaking. ¡°Need a ride?¡± he asked. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got to pick up my car, at Riverside.¡± ¡°OK, let¡¯s go,¡± he said and we hopped in my, well not mine anymore, black BMW i3 (him driving, sob!) and took off. When we got there, he dropped me off in front of the service department, made sure that he had my new cell number and took off back for the house. I paid $160 bucks for the service and got behind the Caddies wheel and then it hit me, I had nowhere to go. It was in this state of mind that I hopped on the highway and wound up at Mighty Max. Chapter 2 - I Arrive at Mighty Max and the Apocalypse Starts (Part 1) Mighty Max is a unique establishment just on the outskirts of Sapulpa, OK, where Sapulpa begins and Tulsa ends. It is in what used to be an old Walmart back before Walmart became only SuperCenters or Neighborhood Markets. It was set just off the highway and after it was closed, the store sat abandoned for several years. Finally, a low-budget entrepreneur named Max Greene bought it with the idea of turning it into a massive Truck Stop, Flea Market and Indian Trading Post, well, basically a Truck Stop, I¡¯m pretty sure the Flea Market and Indian Trading Post were just to get the tourists to stop here. He dug up a lot of the parking lot, installed a huge number of diesel and gas pumps, then installed Wifi, an internet caf¨¦, showers, locker rooms, a bunch of truck parking as well as a big convenience store with a built-in pizza place and a soda fountain. That took up most of the area both inside and outside, the rest he filled with cheap Chinese-made Indian (that¡¯s Native American for you people that don¡¯t get that in Oklahoma, Indian means well, Indian as in Cowboys and ¡­) souvenirs and allowed people to rent booth space around the outskirts of the interior of the building to make up the flea market. Surprisingly, it worked. The shakes and burgers at the soda fountain were great (gourmet quality) and the pizza was excellent too. Locals started coming for the pizza and shakes and burgers, and the truckers came for the showers and the pizza, and the tourists came for the cheap souvenirs, oh, and he had this stuffed buffalo that had a vacuum in its mouth that would suck up your trash. People loved to get their pictures taken with it. Crazy, but like I said, somehow the setup worked. Anyhow, the name of this place was Mighty Max¡¯s Truck Stop, Flea Market and Indian Trading Post. Anyway, I stopped to get a hamburger, to fill up my gas tank, and to think about what I was going to do with my life. I may not have inherited the planning gene from my mother, but even I recognized that I needed to do something while I was figuring out what to do long term. As I walked in the door of Max¡¯s (that¡¯s what us people that work here call it), I noticed a help wanted sign. I asked for an application and while I ate my burger and fries, I filled it out. Who knew that a philosophy degree was almost a prerequisite for being hired as a night stocker at a truck stop! And that¡¯s been my life for the past four weeks. After nothing else happened after the Dot, the President¡¯s tame scientists announced that it was a shared psychosis, that it didn¡¯t really happen, that it was a product of our nation shared subconscious or a mutual misunderstanding or something similar. Anyway, they declare the excitement over, nothing to see here folks, move on with your lives, and so people did. Talking about the Dot was d¨¦class¨¦ and, if you persisted, people tended to get upset and quit inviting you over or returning your phone calls. I didn¡¯t buy what the President was selling, but I didn¡¯t talk about it much either. Instead, I became a little bit of a Prepper, I guess you¡¯d call it. I bought myself a trailer (a little 12 footer) and put a trailer hitch on the rear of the caddy. I started buying weapons (mainly swords, polearms, knives, daggers, and bows and, even a couple of crossbows.) I also bought a bunch of MREs and extra clothes, Carhartt coveralls, Doc Martin boots, even a shield. I stored it all in the trailer. Big Mike, the manager, let me use the store''s address as my delivery address for UPS, just as well, since I was basically living there. I slept out in the car (he let me use one of the unused delivery bays to park both my trailer and my car) and would shower in Max¡¯s showers, and do my laundry in the locker room Washer and Dryers at night. That night that the apocalypse kicked off, I was doing what I normally did, cleaning and stocking. I¡¯m just going to say it. I hate public bathrooms. Well, I don¡¯t hate them, I just hate the fact that people seem to almost relish destroying them. I am not sure why people think that if it is public, it means that, well, you can crap on it, but that is how they treated the bathrooms in Maxs. I mean really people, it is quite simple, you sit and do your business. Then you stand up, WASH YOUR HANDS, and get the hell out and back to your pizza or hamburger or to your car. I¡¯ve seen some messes that you wouldn¡¯t believe! I swear once I cleaned up a stall where it looked like a guy¡¯s butt must have exploded. I still get the chills thinking about it. Anyway, I was just entering the Men¡¯s bathroom, after posting my little sign in the door that said ¡°Temporarily Closed For Servicing,¡± carrying my bucket full of cleansers when the Apocalypse started. I¡¯m proud of my Big Bucket of Clean ¨C what I called it. I should tell you all about it because it plays a hand in what came next. It started life as a five-gallon white plastic tub, I guess you¡¯d call it. Like cat litter or paint might come in. While I was hanging out at Home Depot, trying to figure out what I could buy or build to survive the end of the world, I discovered this nifty apron that fit over the bucket and provided a bunch of pockets and hangers for various things. Home Depot meant it for tools, I used it for my cleaning supplies, as well as tools. I had a hammer ¨C heavy claw hammer, a toilet scrubber, a plunger, Windex, Simple Green cleaner, as well as my special Clorox blend cleaner, a couple of screwdrivers (Phillips and Regular), a razor blade paint scraper, black sharpie pens (for covering up the key marks on the stalls), and a huge yellowish-orange sponge as well as my blue Dr. Love gloves (really just an extra strength pair of blue, giant-sized gloves that extended up past my elbows), and face masks. I¡¯m not sure that they really worked, but they made me feel better at times ¡­ remember the guy whose butt exploded? Anyway, I was just entering the bathroom when a blue screen appeared in my vision:
Welcome to the Apocalypse testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, 4
The blue screen looked just like the MS Windows blue screen of death and the numbers on the base of the screen kept slowly increasing until they reached the number 10 and then the whole screen vanished and was replaced by another which said:
Thank you for your attention! Please do not worry, well, might as well not, it won¡¯t change anything. In approximately five (5) minutes there will be a general system announcement. Make yourself comfortable and prepare yourself. The system announcement will take approximately five (5) minutes to receive. 04:59:58:98.98.98
Of course, the numbers after the seconds were moving so fast that basically, all you could see was a blur, so I¡¯m not sure what they actually said, but I¡¯m assuming they were numbers, just numbers spinning very fast. In any case, the screen hung in my vision much like a stop sign or some other actual sign. It was only after I quit concentrating on it (when I let go of the restroom door and it hit me in the face) that I realized that it was capable of fading back into the background. I thought about leaving the restroom to head toward the snack bar, to maybe be around some other people, but then I decided that it was probably appropriate to hear about the end of the world in a toilet, so I dropped trou and settled in on a porcelain throne and watched the numbers spin. Outside, I could hear people yelling and the sound of things being dropped. I also could hear engines starting and cars pulling away, tires squealing. I wondered how people could drive safely, but judging by the sound of cars colliding I guessed that they couldn¡¯t. But surprisingly enough, none of the collisions sounded bad, more fender bender-ish rather than pileups Anyway as I sat there and waited, I began to experiment with the blue screen. I discovered that I could minimize it (by wishing it so or by looking past it), I could freeze the countdown (again by wishing it so, like a stopwatches lap timer), or I could look through the message (leaving it still visible, but kind of reducing its opacity). I could also change the location where the message appeared, dragging it around the area of my vision. I could make it blink from location to location instead of sliding, I could make it larger or smaller, about the time I started being able to change the tint of the background blue, the timer ran out and the message disappeared. The funny thing was that I knew that the message was gone, rather than minimized or hidden. How? I don¡¯t know, but, for some reason, I knew that the message was done, gone, complete, no more.
Thanks for your attention! We are the Collective. We have purchased your universe from its former owner, your creator. All current religions are hereby declared null and void. We realize that this may cause a problem for many of you; however, on the face of it, that¡¯s not the biggest problem you¡¯ll presently be facing.
But let¡¯s look on the positive side. Change is an immutable fact, the only difference is how much change is going to occur. Well, we are happy to announce it¡¯s gonna be a lot. Don¡¯t worry about these messages, their content, it¡¯s different from person to person. We¡¯ve been evaluating you for the past four weeks individually and feel that we¡¯ve got a pretty good handle on you all individually (remember we¡¯re The Collective, you¡¯re not) and so each of you is receiving your very own customized end of the world as you know it message. Now, where was I? ¡­
The message stopped there with only a line of dots that grew for a while and then picked up again:
Oh yes, I remember. Here¡¯s a broad list of what we¡¯ve decided to change:
  • Your ecology
  • Your basic physical laws, things like chemical reaction speed, as a hint, gunpowder won¡¯t work anymore, on the plus side, neither will nuclear weapons.
  • Your culture, we¡¯re pretty sure that your current form of government won¡¯t survive.
  • Your monetary system. Basically, we¡¯re moving to the gold standard. ¡­ and it¡¯s our standard. We¡¯ll be converting all real monetary wealth to a gold standard. And by real, we mean actual wealth. No credit cards, no loans. Governments no longer have the capability of issuing money.
  • Your physiognomy
  • Your environment
  • Your tools
  • Your weapons
  • Your clothing
  • Your entertainment
Basically everything. Won¡¯t this be a hoot?The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Oh, and we hope you like blue screens, because they are here to stay, at least the functionality of them.
¡°What?¡± I shouted out.
Was there something that you didn¡¯t understand,? ¡­
appeared in my vision. ¡°Huh?¡±, I mumbled, perplexed and bewildered by the blue screens, the fact that beings that called themselves The Collective seemed to be talking/writing to me, and well, basically everything that was happening. ¡°No, I guess I understand what you¡¯ve written, but what gives you the right, why do you want to make all of these changes?¡± I said.
Boredom and Power
the voice wrote. I realize that it seems odd to talk about a voice when it¡¯s actually a line of text, but somehow, the text seemed to be not just seen, but also heard, as if its words were echoing around inside my chest and head.
Your God sold you. We bought you (at least we bought the universe that you reside in), so since you have nowhere to go, welcome to the Apocalypse. Now, please don¡¯t interrupt, there will be plenty of time for questions at the end of the trial period. ¡­. at least for those of you that survive. Anyway, in approximately two (2) hours, your world will change. You will change along with it. Many of you who have felt uncomfortable within your own skins, will have new skins. Many of you that have felt discouraged about your world, will find yourself rejoicing in a new world. Remember, change can be both good and bad. Try not to focus on what you have lost, but what you¡¯ve gained instead. That¡¯s all for now. Good luck and we hope this announcement was helpful.
¡°Huh?¡¯ I thought. ¡®I mean WTF? So according to some ¡°god-like¡± beings known as the Collective who claim to now own this universe, I¡¯m about to undergo a world of pain ¨C well, my family and I along with every other person on the planet will. But that thought brings up another. Did anyone else hear or see this? Is it just a psychosis or are there beings of godlike power really talking to me? God, I hope so or else I¡¯ve totally lost it!¡¯ Just then I heard another car crash, a few more voices yelling and then the sound of metal bending and tires squealing out in the parking lot. I took that as a sign that I wasn¡¯t alone in hearing/seeing the voices. Big Mike¡¯s voice came over the store intercom system, imagine a white, southern Barry White. ¡°Attention Mighty-Max customers. As I¡¯m sure you know, something fucked up is going on. Pardon my French. As a result, I think we all need to get back to our families, someplace safe and protected. I¡¯d advise each and every one of you to gather up whatever it is that you need and make your way to the front of the store. Cause I¡¯m about to close this bitch down. Please make your way to the front and exit out of my store. Attention Mighty-Max staff, there will be a short staff meeting in approximately 10 minutes in my office. Those of you on the floor, please escort our guests to the front of the store. Thank you for your patience. I started for the front of the store, looking down the aisles to make sure no one was in them. Not surprisingly, there was not anyone remaining. Most of the customers had taken off when the first window with the five-minute countdown had appeared. The rest had pretty obediently (I¡¯m guessing they were shell-shocked) made their way out the front doors where Mike stood saying ¡°God bless you! Be safe!¡± or something similar to each one of them as they left. He caught my eye and asked, ¡°Anyone?¡± to which I shook my head no, whereupon he closed and locked the door. ¡°Ok, crew! My office, now!¡± We all worked our way down the hallway next to the soda fountain, past the front bathrooms and kind of crowded into his office. We were about an hour into the night shift which began at 11:30 pm, so only the night crew was present. It was Big Mike¡¯s turn to work the graveyard shift, the manager (three of them) rotated each month, Mike took one week, the other two assistant managers took two and one weeks on a rotating basis. ¡°Hey, boss! What¡¯s going on?¡± said one of the other two night stockers nicknamed ¡°Dogleg.¡± You don¡¯t want to know how he got it, but it had something to do with him rubbing himself on some girl¡¯s leg once when he was younger and the name both fit and stuck. ¡°Hang on,¡± said Mike. ¡°Monsoon, what do you think.¡± ¡°Let me confirm something first,¡± I said. ¡°How many of you heard or saw the voices/text?¡± They all started to answer at once, but I quickly shouted, ¡°Just a show of hands, people! Let¡¯s make sure we¡¯re all on the same page here!¡± Not surprisingly, all of them raised their hands, with the exception of Big Mike, who did after he realized that he was the only person that hadn¡¯t. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I did. I was just looking around.¡± ¡°Now,¡± I said. ¡°How many of you heard/saw the name ¡®The Collective¡¯?¡± This time only about half of them did, the others heard or saw variations on it, things like the Group, the Holy Pantheon while a few Dogleg, Slogger, Mixer Beast and Twilight just heard the name, God. ¡°OK, final question,¡± I said. ¡°Who heard the voice/text talk about the apocalypse in 2 hours?¡± Once again everybody raised their hands. Not surprising really, the South, of which Oklahoma is generally considered a part of, is raised on stories of the Apocalypse. ¡°Big Mike,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re totally hosed!¡± I pause a second to let that sink in and then continued. ¡°I know most of you have families nearby. If I was you, I¡¯d grab a bunch of non-perishable food, things like cans of soup, pasta, spaghetti sauce, toilet paper, toothpaste, etc., as much as you can carry, load up your cars, and head home to them. Everybody did just that with the exception of Tanya. Slogger (who rode his BMX bike to work) peddled off with a backpack full of Dinty Moore stews and a 24 pack of toilet paper on his handlebars. Tanya was a new hire. She hadn¡¯t yet earned a nickname or came pre-nicknamed like I did. Big Mike turned off the parking lot lights and the gas pumps and then tossed me the keys. ¡°Monsoon,¡± he said. ¡°I pray you¡¯re not right, but something tells me you are. Be well and if we survive this, I hope to see you soon. Here are the keys. I know you¡¯re basically living here, so, if you can, watch the place, but don¡¯t sweat it too much. Max (the owner) is probably at home, not even worried about this place. I¡¯d stay, but I¡¯ve got a wife and four kids to worry about. Be safe!¡± and with that, he swept out the door and hopped into his fully-loaded Jeep Wrangler and peeled out heading for home. I locked the door which gave me some time to think. I turned around and saw that Tanya was still there. I didn¡¯t know much about her. She was pretty, very pretty, in that girl next door kind of way. Blond almost white, straight, straight hair, blue eyes, with a long, slender face, about 5¡¯5¡± and (I¡¯d guess) about 125 lbs. She had some family problems. Shortly after she was hired, a greasy little man with Arkansas plates on his SUV showed up and tried to drag her away. Big Mike put a stop to it with one punch and an armbar while forcing the man out to his SUV. He also held a quiet discussion with the man while the man was splayed out on the hood of his SUV, and the little man hadn¡¯t been back since. She might have been beautiful, but she seemed to work at not being attractive. Even so, all of the guys, Dogleg, Slogger, Mixer Beast and Egirl, our resident lesbian, sat up and noticed when she came in the room. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Are you ready for this?¡± I asked. She shook her head no and said, ¡°Are you?¡± I laughed and said, ¡°Is anyone? You got anyone to worry about? Anybody worried about you?¡± ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°My mom and little brother died in a car wreck about four months ago. The brakes went out on her car. My step-dad had just worked on them. I¡¯d just turned 17 and was almost graduated. I was thinking of going to college, I had a couple of scholarship offers. My mom married that little prick a couple of months before that. At first, everything seemed cool, but then I noticed clothes moved, he would meet me in the hall whenever I took a shower, things like that. After my mom died, it got worse, he removed the lock on the bathroom door, so I moved out, couch surfed with my friends until I graduated, and then wound up here. How about you?¡± ¡°Yes, my mom and my cousin. I have an Aunt, but she¡¯s a piece of work, drug and men problems. I truly believe that one day my mother may rule the world. My dad died when I was young. I¡¯m expecting a call from ¡®she who must be obeyed¡¯ sometime soon. I wonder how much time there is before the big A kicks off?¡± When I said that up in the corner of my vision there appeared a small digital clock counting down. Currently, it said 01:18:00 and the minutes and seconds were spinning backward. ¡°Woah!¡± I said. ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°When I wondered/asked how much time there was before the Apocalypse, a small countdown timer appeared in my vision, like the blue screens. Try it?¡± She appeared to be thinking about something and then she said, ¡°Yes, it appeared. It doesn¡¯t have to be voice activated.¡± ¡°Cool!¡± I said. ¡°I wonder what else we can do. It seems like the Collective is moving things toward being like an RPG or an MMORPG. ¡®Status,¡¯ I thought. Sure enough, a status screen appeared, just like in some of my favorite fantasy/science fiction novels. None of the information was filled out though except my name and level which was set to zero.
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± Level 0
Class(es)
Profession(s)
Titles:
Strength ? Intelligence ?
Dexterity ? Wisdom ?
Agility ? Perception ?
Constitution ? Charisma ?
Vitality ? Luck ?
Health: ? Mana: ?
Qi: ? Stamina: ?
¡°Try Status,¡± I told Tanya. Then, of course, I had to run through the whole litany of possible screens, inventory, skills, titles, chat, party, etc. The results were hit and miss, mostly miss. Inventory displayed a blank blue screen with a section of 20 empty squares in it, along with a message that said, ¡°Check back after the apocalypse. Skills was empty, so were titles and abilities, but both did display a notice that said, check back after the apocalypse begins. Chat had a list of friends and family members; however, it said that it would only work on party members. Party was blank but asked if I¡¯d like to form a party. It also said that in order to start or join a party, you must be within 10 meters of the person or persons you wish to party with. ¡®Who knew,¡¯ my first thought was. ¡®God is metric.¡¯ Chapter 2 - I Arrive at Mighty Max and the Apocalypse Starts (Part 2) I tried to invite Tanya, but another message appeared, saying that parties can only be formed post-apocalypse, please wait until after the apocalypse begins. I told Tanya the screens or windows (from now on, I¡¯m going to call them screens, unless I forget and then I¡¯ll call them windows), I¡¯d discovered and asked if she had found any. She said that she¡¯d discovered all of those and another window called ¡°Spells.¡± ¡°Cool!¡± I said. I¡¯d always wanted to be a wizard or magician, not counting the second-grade talent show where I appeared as ¡°The Amazing Monsoon!¡± The less said about that the better, but I just want to say that I didn¡¯t know that the rabbit couldn¡¯t be stored in a black, plastic top hat¡¯s hidden compartment overnight. I told her some of the tricks that I¡¯d learned about the interface, being able to close windows with no gestures, minimize them, changing the opacity, etc. She thought that was pretty cool and we both sat there quietly playing with our interfaces in the now deserted soda fountain. Finally, I thought of another window that I¡¯d like to see and thought ¡°Help.¡± ¡°Finally,¡± said a voice. This time, it spoke. There was no text at first, but then a window appeared:
Help
  • Internal
  • External
  • Setup
¡°Jackpot!¡± I shouted. When Tanya looked over, I said, ¡°try Help!¡± Being a proto-nerd, I quickly selected Setup. A nerd, by definition, is someone that is a single-minded expert in a particular technical field. All my life I¡¯d been searching for my particular technical field, I felt that just maybe I¡¯d discovered my field ¨C Apocalypology! Setup contained the following capabilities: Turning on Badges, Setting Badge Information, Restricting Badge Information, How to Access Help. It turned out that a badge was an area that appeared over the object¡¯s head (if it possessed one) which contained the Badge Information. Otherwise, it just appeared over, or on top of, besides the object. By turning it on, you gained the skill to see whatever information you¡¯d defined to show up in the badge information. As I looked at Tanya, I played with the information that I could display. I put into the Badge Info: their name, their title, and their profession and level in their profession. In this case, it turned out that Tanya¡¯s full name was Tanya Slovakia, her title, profession, and level was left-off (which I assumed meant that she didn¡¯t have one yet since the Apocalypse hadn¡¯t officially started). I figured out that I could display the text in different colors based on how the person felt about me, so, at first, I opted for Red (angry, violent towards me), Yellow (if the person was neutral), and Green if the person felt positively toward me.). I tried to make the text display more long term emotions if that made any sense. I wanted to know how the person generally felt, not how they felt right now. Tanya¡¯s text was green. Very cool, I thought. I also decided that I wanted a hit point or remaining health bar underneath their information, the longer it was, the more hit points they had; however, I decided that it shouldn¡¯t be too long, so I defined the bar as both thin and less opaque (fewer hit points) to more hit points (solid, fatter). This was also done in a gradient - red, orange, green with green being the healthiest. I also wanted the person to have little badges, a shield (for fighters), a wand for magic users, a dove (for healers), etc. And finally, I told the help function to not show me help on anything that was not either living or dangerous, unless I asked for it. I may rethink that, but when I first turned on the help, suddenly everything acquired a badge, ¡°Tanya¡¯s Jean Shorts, Tanya¡¯s Red Blouse: Favorite.¡± It was too much! I was able to do so much customization to the badges because the process was so simple. I just thought about the changes that I¡¯d like to appear and then either the change would immediately happen or it wouldn¡¯t. If it didn¡¯t, well, it didn¡¯t. Under the ¡°Restricting Badge Information¡± section, I learned that it was possible to hide some information or even most information from other ¡°players.¡± This was the help system¡¯s name for us. Unlike some ¡°games¡± it didn¡¯t seem to differentiate between human players or animal or even ¡°monster¡± players. I was assuming there would be monsters. Anyway, the help system didn¡¯t really put an emphasis on humans. I¡¯m pretty sure that a dog could customize his view as well. I wonder if my pets if I had them, would have a picture of dog food over my head outlined in Green. Anyway, I decided that I¡¯d only display my Nickname and try to hide everything else. It turns out that depending on the person¡¯s ability in viewing or hiding information, what you may think you¡¯ve hidden, may be visible. Bummer! I could think of some Titles that I¡¯d just as soon not have appear.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Anyway, after I learned all of that and hid what information I could, I went back and added two more badges. One, a circle with a slash through it to show that information that I¡¯d requested was available but restricted by the user, and two, an eye that ranged from either fully closed to fully open. This supposedly would show me how much I could depend on the information that I was being shown. Evidently, The Collective, didn¡¯t like liars, because even though they allowed people to show lies in their badges, they would then show that information was a lie. Well, not which part of it, but the fact that some of it was and how much of it was. After I found out about this, I tried to put a status bar on that would show the honesty of the transaction or interaction that I was undergoing with the player, but nothing happened. Maybe my level wasn¡¯t high enough yet? The final area under help was ¡°How to Access Help.¡± It turned out that you could access it in either a static method like reading a screen or hearing a voice or active by Imu. Imus were a little figure (think Tinkerbell, but genderless and less cute) that would appear and interact with you when you¡¯d ask a ¡°game¡± design type question. Kind of like a familiar spirit in some stories, but far less committed to your success. Although they did come with a little bit more attitude than a textbox. The thing was that evidently, you could only choose which way once. After thinking about it, I chose Imu and the ¡°How to Access Help¡± feature vanished. No matter how I tried, I couldn¡¯t summon the option back. ¡°Be careful about selecting which option of ¡°How to Access Help¡± I warned Tanya. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be changeable.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± she asked. ¡°Under Help Setup,¡± I said. ¡°Woah!¡± she said. ¡°That option wasn¡¯t there until you mentioned it. I wasn¡¯t sure what this meant other than the ¡°game¡± was different for everyone. I also was sure I did not like it. I tend to like things that are straightforward, rules that you can figure out and then either obey or disobey. This fluidity was a little difficult for me to cope with. How do you cope when everything might be up for grabs? What happens if gravity becomes optional. Just them my Imu spoke up. ¡°Do not worry!¡± it said. ¡°Only the player¡¯s interface is mutable. Otherwise, every player exists within the same construct. Physical constants may change, your environment may be more dynamic than it was in the past, but the reason for change will not. For instance, you may be able to fly at some time in the future; however, another player who follows the same development path will also be able to fly.¡± This was both reassuring and a little frightening. Me, flying? But on the other hand, me flying!!! At this point, I started getting a little worried about my mom. I thought that she would have called me by now. I looked at the countdown timer again and it was just at 1:00. I dialed her number, but I got this weird ¡°All circuits are busy, please try again later message.¡± Just then, I heard a noise in the back of the store, the sound of something like a can being knocked off a shelf. I looked at Tanya and she was looking back at me. ¡°Did you hear that?¡± I asked. ¡°Yep!¡± she answered. ¡°Ok, stay here and watch the front! I¡¯ll go check it out.¡± I put down my phone and still carrying my Big Bucket of Clean, one arm wrapped around it, the other holding my hammer, I headed for the back of the store. I got through the convenience store part and was looking around the back, toward a big fake Teepee (again, not sure what this had to do with the five civilized tribes (Oklahoma¡¯s tribes of Indians)) when this woman¡¯s voice came from behind it. ¡°Ok, relax! I¡¯m coming out!¡± She stepped out from behind the Teepee. ¡®She is beautiful¡¯ was my first thought when I saw her. She was obviously Indian, okay, Native American. Tan skin, black hair, long almost to her waist bundled into a ponytail by a red beaded hair clip. Her hair was loosely braided and tied at the end with a couple of pieces of braided, beaded leather. Black eyes, a beautiful face with a straight nose and rosebud lips. She was short, about 5¡¯4¡±. Well, I guess that¡¯s not short, but compared to my 6¡¯2¡± it seemed that way. She was dressed for some reason in what looked like a pseudo-legitimate, native costume, leather dress that was beaded, long soft boots that came to her mid thighs, and leather tie strings dangling from her arms and shoulders. It looked like something a designer dreamed up as what an Indian woman might wear. ¡°Uh, hello!¡± I said. ¡°You know we¡¯re closed right?¡± She smiled and said, ¡°You mean I can¡¯t get a pizza at the end of the world?¡± I laughed and said, ¡°OK, why don¡¯t you head to the front and sit with Tanya. I heard something fall and need to check it out. She can probably make us all a pizza while we discuss what you¡¯re doing here. She¡¯s worked a couple of shifts at the Pizza place. Tell her I want mushrooms, hamburger, and double cheese on mine. By the way, you can call me Monsoon! What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Janet Lee¡± she replied. ¡°Good outfit!¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a story behind it¡±, she said. Just then in the back corner where the restrooms were located, I heard another sound. This time it sounded like something was squelching around in one of the bathrooms. Not the restrooms, but the Trucker¡¯s showers/locker room area. Gripping my hammer, I headed that way. Turning back as I walked away, I repeated that she should head up to the front, that Tanya was the only other person in the store, at least, that¡¯s what I thought. ¡°Be careful!¡± she said. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anyone pass here, I don¡¯t know what it could be. But I did hear the door open.¡± Chapter 3 - My First Fight (Part 1) The locker room door was closed. It didn¡¯t have a doorknob, instead, it swung inward when you pushed on a steel plate about mid-chest high. It also had a metal splash guard on the door¡¯s base. For some reason, it was painted red. I pushed it open, slowly. The room was about half lit. Max had set up the locker room with economy lights that turned themselves on and off based on a motion sensor. The half-lights meant that something had triggered them, just not something that was person sized. ¡°Hello,¡± I asked. ¡°Anybody here?¡± There was no reply, so after waiting a minute or two, I stepped inside. When I did so, the lights brightened automatically. ¡°Hello?¡± I asked again. ¡°Anyone? Anyone?¡± I said, channeling my inner high school teacher. Still clutching my hammer and my bucket, I walked further into the room. The first part of the room was set up as a locker room with lockers that you could put coins in to lock along with wooden benches in front of them. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, most of the lockers were free. They didn¡¯t have keys, you registered your combo when you paid the money. If the locker was free, a green LED was lit above the top, if it wasn¡¯t, a red one. I ducked down and looked under all of the benches, but there was nothing there. ¡°Hello?¡± I asked again. From the shower room, I heard a very faint squelching noise. The bathroom was the next part of the locker room. Individual stalls and some urinals, six stalls and eight urinals made up this section. Just in front of this section was the sink area. This was just a bunch of white, enamel sinks in front of a mirror with a steel shelf in front of and below the mirrors, useful for holding your toothbrush or shaving gear. For some reason, I started to feel like the blond in a horror movie. I figured if this was a movie theater, people would be hollering, ¡°Stop! You idiot! You¡¯re gonna die!¡± Of course, the reality of the apocalypse hadn¡¯t really sunk in yet. I started toward the showers, making sure that I checked each of the stalls before I passed it. Bam! Bam! Bam! I kicked open each stall door, holding my hammer handy. But nothing was there, although in the stall closest to the locker area there was a lot of water on the floor. It looked like someone had reversed the flushing action of the toilet. Fortunately, it was clean. I mean just water and, even that, was clean. I also checked out the waste paper bins, I was determined that nothing was going to sneak up on me. ¡°Hello?¡± I asked again. Still nothing. Memories of some action movie came to mind and I moved to the wall next to the doorway to the showers. I¡¯m sure I would have looked better with a gun, but I had my trusty hammer in hand. I sank down to my knees and darted my head around the corner and back. Nothing. I looked again, this time slower and still saw nothing. Finally, I stood up and stepped around the corner and into the doorway. The room was wet from the last trucker that had taken a shower, it might have even been me from my pre-shift shower. It smelled slightly moldy, like a locker room shower always does. I couldn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. The room was a little bit foggy, not much but you could tell someone had run the water there not too long before. It was set up with four large metal poles that had three shower heads each spaced about a third of the way around the pole. Separating each of the shower heads into its own little cubical were some stainless steel walls. Each of the cubicles had a shelf to hold soap and shampoo and a couple of hooks to hold a robe and a towel. There were no doors, but they were spaced so none of the cubes was directly pointed toward each other, giving you a little bit of privacy. That meant that if I wanted to check them out, I had to circle around each pole. I started around the first pole, the one closest to the door on the left-hand side. I made it completely around it, nothing. I started on the second pole in the back left of the room when something hit me in the head. It felt like someone had made a water balloon out of really sticky vinyl and thrown it at my head. Hard. And after a minute when my skin started burning, I changed the water in the balloon to acid. ¡°Holy Flip,¡± I half screamed, half mumbled. My mother had a thing about cursing and she had convinced me that my dad didn¡¯t curse either, so ¡­ besides, it¡¯s hard to scream when you¡¯re on the floor of a shower trying not to pass out.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I rolled over just in time to see this lime green ball bounce in place twice and then shoot towards my head again. ¡°Holy Crap!¡± I yelled and rolled over and under the shower partition. The little walls didn¡¯t go all the way to the shower floor, they stopped about a foot to a foot and a half above it. I heard the ball thing slam into the partition wall and then it fell down on my left ankle which was still outside. I couldn¡¯t pull it in fast enough. My skin immediately started to burn even through my blue jeans. I pulled my leg the rest of the way inside, screaming while wailing away at the now attached green lump around my ankle. Each time I hit it, I saw a little flash in the corner of my eye. I also saw my health was decreasing ¨C rapidly. After I figured out that I could display the HP or health of other folks, I decided to do the same for me. Also mana points and Stamina points as well as Qi Points. I wasn¡¯t sure about what the last one was yet. When I looked at the green ball, I saw that its badge said, Acid Slime, Level 6, Hit Points 65/80. But even looking, I was pounding away on it. I looked at my health and it showed no numbers, except the red bar, was over half gone and was dropping which came as no surprise to me since I could feel that slime eating my leg. I stood up, turned on the water and started bashing the slime into the wall of the partition. The partition rumbled like thunder from the blows and the steam from the shower water slowly started to reduce the visibility. I was yelling now, pretty non-stop, ¡°Oh God! Oh God! Oh Crap! Oh God!¡± With each yell, I¡¯d smash the slime into the wall. I saw its health dropping and finally, when its health reached 40 points, it let go and I punted it with all my might out of the cubical. I think the running water was diluting its acid attack. My health wasn¡¯t great either. I was down to about a quarter of my health bar. I ducked back in the corner farthest from where I¡¯d punted out the slime and panted, really loudly, really quickly. My chest felt like it was on fire and my leg felt, even under the water, which I had turned all the way to cold, felt like someone had taken a power sander to it. ¡°Argh!¡± I yelled. ¡°God Bless It! Argh!¡± I was really regretting my decision not to cuss about then. My bucket had fallen and rolled up next to the partition. I spied my blue Dr. Love gloves and grabbed them and pulled them on. And put on a face mask too. ¡®You can¡¯t be too careful,¡¯ I thought. ¡°OK, alright!¡± I said. ¡°You can do this!!¡± trying to psych myself up. I picked up the plunger in the hand that was empty and peered around the corner of the partition. No slime. I stuck my head completely out and looked around, but it wasn¡¯t here anymore. ¡®Slowly,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Slow and careful wins the race.¡¯ It¡¯s amazing what crap you can think of when you¡¯re trying not to panic. I inched out from the partition, ducking and swaying, trying to find the slime. ¡°Here, slimy, slimy!¡± I said under my breath. ¡°Come to daddy! I won¡¯t hurt you!... I¡¯ll fricking kill you!¡± But no slime appeared. I made it completely around the shower room and nothing. Meanwhile, the apocalypse counter kept spinning down. It now said 00:52:56. ¡°Monsoon!¡± I heard Tanya¡¯s voice from outside the bathroom door. ¡°You alright in there? We heard some yelling!¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Stay outside! I¡¯m trying to track something down. Get something to protect yourself with!¡± Just then I heard the squelching noise from the locker room area. ¡°Get away from the door!¡± I yelled as I ran toward the noise. I finally saw the slime. It was moving toward the bathroom door. As I ran through the bathroom, it bounced and slammed against the door, probably expecting it to open, but the door only opened inwards, so it hit and fell back onto the floor. As I ran closer I saw that it was starting to pour itself under the bottom edge of the door. There wasn¡¯t much space, maybe about an eighth of an inch or less due to a metal and rubber scraper that had been installed along the bottom of the door to keep in odors and steam. The front edge of the slime was slimming down while the back edge was buckling up. Inside of the fat part, I could see a clear-ish blob, almost the size of a walnut. ¡°Oh, no you don¡¯t,¡± I yelled as I heard both Tanya and the new girl, I was never good with names, yell, ¡°Oh my God! What is that thing! I dove across the floor, and slid into the door, slamming it into its frame, dropping the plunger with my left hand and grabbed the slime¡¯s fat body section right around where I saw the walnutty blob. I started squeezing with all my might, while pulling on the slime and pounding on it with the hammer. ¡°Ahhh!¡± I yelled again, but not in pain. The gloves were working, the acid didn¡¯t penetrate them. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I heard Tanya yell again. ¡°Monsoon! Monsoon! Are you alright!¡± I didn¡¯t answer. I was busy bashing the slime and squeezing it like I wanted to make orange juice out of it. I finally felt the walnut-like section kind of pop and with that the slime quit moving, quit trying to climb up my arms toward my face and kind of dissolved first into a watery mess, then into nothing as the mess just seemed to vanish, leaving only, of all things, what looked like an iron skeleton key. Chapter 3 - My First Fight (Part 2) ¡°Monsoon! Are you alright?¡± I heard Tanya yell again. ¡°I¡¯m coming in!¡± she said. ¡°Hang on!¡± I said. ¡°Give me a minute to move out of the way,¡± I said. I grabbed the key, looked it over but it appeared to be an ordinary iron skeleton key, so put it in my pocket, rolled to the side and said, ¡°OK, you can come in!¡± The door opened slowly as I tried to figure out what all of the flashes in the corner of my eye had meant. Both of the girl¡¯s heads turned slowly around the room until they spied me against the wall. The new girl held a tomahawk from the diorama, Tanya held one of the stones from the fire pit. ¡°What happened? What¡¯s an Acid Slime? Where¡¯d it go?¡± the questions came super quickly. ¡°I have no idea what it was,¡± I said. ¡°I heard something in the bathroom, came in to check it out and the next thing I knew I was in a fight for my life. Can you see my face? Look at my leg?¡± I showed them my jeans which had a hole burned in them around the ankle, my sock was mostly gone too, along with the top inch of my All-Stars, and most importantly, I had a hole burned into the ball of ankle and a bright red weal around that whole part of my leg where the slime had burned away my pants, socks, and shoe. ¡°Holy Shit!¡± said Tanya! ¡°What the fuck!¡± I heard the new girl say. Looking at her, I saw over her head, Janet Lee, followed by two question marks. Again the apocalypse hadn¡¯t started yet. But her badge was green. Very cool. So was Tanya¡¯s. ¡°Hang on,¡± I said. ¡°While I was fighting, I kept getting these little flashes in the corner of my eye. I need to figure out what was up with that!¡± I looked in the bottom right corner of my eye and there was a little symbol floating there, kind of like one of those things that float in the corner of your TV set. It looked kind of like an eye, kind of like the CBS logo. I focused on it and the symbol grew and then morphed into a screen that was titled ¡°Combat Log¡±. The first bit I saw was ¡°Critical Hit,Acid Slime ¨C Crushing Damage, 45 damage. Acid Slime killed. It was followed by a bunch of other notifications, Hit, Acid Slime - 2 damage. Hit, Acid Slime - 2 damage, Hit, Acid Slime - 1 damage. This was all written in green. Back at the beginning of the fight according to the log, it showed, ¡°Critical Hit, Monsoon ¨C Bash, 14 damage." This text was written in red. It did not show how many Hit Points I had left at that point. But judging by the fact that that one hit had taken out over one-quarter of my health, I¡¯d guess that I had about 45 HP. I quit reading the log and it faded back into the background, morphing back to the Eye symbol. Next to it were two other symbols, the first was a dollar sign, the other was what looked like either a crown or an Adirondack chair, I couldn¡¯t decide. I focused on the dollar sign and another window opened up, this one entitled, ¡°Loot Log¡±. Only in place of loot, there was some text, ¡°Well, this is embarrassing. Actually, we didn¡¯t expect you to win. Who knew rubber gloves could work so well on an acid slime! And, well the slime wasn¡¯t supposed to be there and the loot drop system isn¡¯t online yet, so, well, we¡¯ll just give you a title: Eager Beaver!¡± ¡°Oh come ¡®on,¡± I said. ¡°I deserve something more than that. I mean I killed a Level 6 Acid Slime!¡± The previous text scrolled down, and was replaced by the single word, ¡°Nope!¡± ¡°Tightwads!¡± I muttered while focusing on the Title in my stats bar. Eager Beaver: As one of the first, maybe the first to kill an actual monster, frankly we don¡¯t care enough to check, you¡¯ve been granted the title, ¡°Eager Beaver¡±. This title grants you the following permanent benefits: +2 to all attributes, +10% to all experience gained, +1 attribute point gained per level, +10% to all skill points. In addition it unlocks all skills; the title bearer must still learn how to use or discover them. The title cannot be unequipped. I felt like yelling for joy, but after my previous statement, I was a little embarrassed. But it didn¡¯t seem to matter, the next words that appeared were, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re welcome!¡± ¡°Well, love a duck!¡± I muttered. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked Janet. ¡°He doesn¡¯t cuss!¡± answered Tanya. ¡°His dad didn¡¯t and died when he was young, so, well, he doesn¡¯t. That¡¯s why he¡¯s always saying those stupid things.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± I said. ¡°They aren¡¯t stupid!¡± Both girls looked at each other, then just shook their heads. ¡°What did you figure out?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°Well, look down in the bottom corner of your eye. You should see three little icons, an eye-like thing, a dollar sign and another one, that¡¯s either a crown or an Adirondack chair. The eye is the combat log, the dollar sign is the loot menu, and the crown is, well, I don¡¯t know. Let me see¡­¡± I focused on it and it expanded into another window that was titled, ¡°Experience Log.¡± Right now my experience showed up as zero. I started to complain and the experience of zero disappeared and was replaced by the words, ¡°Check back after the Apocalypse starts.¡± ¡°It looks like the crown is the Experience Log! This just keeps getting weirder. Our lives have become a video game. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s cool or not.¡± What was especially cool about the logs was I could see through them and if I really started to ignore them, concentrating on something else that was visible, they just disappeared, minimized, vanished. ¡°I hope there¡¯s respawning,¡± Janet said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I can take fighting Acid Slimes without dying at least once.¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t count on it. My opening message seemed to hint that the Collective wasn¡¯t really expecting a lot of us to make it. God Bless America! My leg is ¡­ argh!¡± I kind of yelped. As you might have expected, it still hurt. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! Does it hurt? Is there anything I can do?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°Wait, wait!¡± I said. ¡°I got a title and it said that all skills were unlocked with it. Maybe I could heal myself.¡± I looked down at my leg, at the hole in my ankle about the size of a quarter, that surprisingly wasn¡¯t bleeding that heavily, and the red rash-like band that encircled it and holding my hand out, said, ¡°Heal!¡± The girls looked down at it, then at me and then at each other, before bursting into laughter. ¡°Hey!¡± I said. ¡°You never know! I have no idea how it¡¯s supposed to work. I just know I got a title that says, and I quote, ¡®In addition, it unlocks all skills; the title bearer must still learn how to use or discover them¡¯. So there!¡± I said. I waited until they¡¯d stopped laughing.¡°Any ideas of how this is supposed to work?¡± I asked them.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Somehow they seem to have already bonded. Nothing brings girls closer together than a man to laugh at. They exchanged looks and then turned to me. Tanya said, ¡°What are skills?¡± ¡°I think,¡± I said, ¡°Skills are things that you can learn, like juggling or sword fighting or solving a Rubik¡¯s Cube. Bear in mind, I¡¯m just guessing. Hey Imu,¡± I said. The little fairylike energy being faded into view and said, ¡°Yes?¡± I ask, ¡°Is what I said about the skills correct?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± it said. ¡°Skills are leveled. ¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°As you get better at a skill, it will increase in level. As it increases in level, you will gain proficiency in using it. For instance, if you have the skill, ¡°Fire Starter¡±, at first you might be able to start a fire in a fireplace that someone else has created; however, by the time you are at level 100, you might be able to start a fire underwater.¡± it said. ¡°Is there a maximum level of skills?¡± I asked. There was a long silence then. ¡°What kind of skills are there?¡±, I asked. Again there was a long silence. ¡°Ok¡±, I said, ¡°not going to answer that one either.¡± I asked. ¡°How the heck do I heal my leg?¡± ¡°Think on it and it will come to you!¡± it said and then faded out of view. ¡°Well, that was as helpful as being hit in the head with a big stick,¡± I muttered. ¡°Could you hear that?¡± I asked the girls. They both looked at each other and then shook their heads. ¡°No, all we heard was you talking to yourself,¡± said Janet. ¡°I was talking to my Imu,¡± I said. ¡°It said that skills are leveled and mentioned a skill with a level of 100, so I¡¯m assuming that skills can at least get that high. ¡°What kind of skills are there?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°The Imu didn¡¯t tell me. It just said, and I quote, ¡®Think on it and it will come to you.¡¯ Bloody useless thing! It¡¯s like the apocalypse¡¯s help files got written by a Microsoft Zen poet. Tanya, why don¡¯t you try to get Janet caught up on everything that we¡¯ve learned and I¡¯ll try to figure out this Healing thing, ¡®cause my leg is on fire!¡± She nodded her head and then she and Janet took a seat on one of the wooden benches in the locker room and started talking to each other quietly. In the meantime, I closed my eyes and tried to ¡°think on it!¡± I figured that I had mana and Qi, so I might as well try to use them. ¡®Spells first,¡¯ I thought. The first thing I tried was rhyming verse, ¡°Oh bleeding sore, be no more!¡± I¡¯m not a great poet, and, thankfully for the ears of the other people in the world, nothing happened. I spent a few seconds imagining myself healing through doggerel, or worse still, could you imagine the last words that you heard as something like this, ¡°Oh blazing light in the sky! Thrust my black dagger of midnight through their eye!¡± My next attempt was the Harry Potter approach, I tried Latin. ¡°Sana quod armum!¡± and still nothing. After that I tried what I probably should have done anyway, thinking or at least meditating on healing. From my perch against the wall, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my body. I tried to focus on my breath, deep breaths over a ten count, holding for three seconds after inhalation and exhalation. I did this until my mind stilled and only then did I start trying to figure out how to heal my leg. ¡®How?¡¯ I wondered. ¡®Relax! Just go with the flow. Breath in health, exhale pain. Breath in health, exhale pain. ¡­ there¡¯s a lot of pain! ¡­ relax, relax. Breath in health, exhale pain. Ouch! Relax, relax. Breath in health, exhale pain.¡¯ I kept my internal monolog and breathing going for about 20 minutes before I felt something. Just like in all of the Xianxia-style web novels, I¡¯d read, I felt something in, amazingly enough, right where they¡¯d always described it, in the lower belly, just below my belly button. It felt like golden energy. When I concentrated on it, I felt a warm glow and as I paid attention to it, it began to expand, at first like the corona of the sun, whisps and arms of energy pulling from the center and then collapsing backward and then later, it seemed to spin off and I felt the energy moving out from the center and through my body. It felt like it knew where it was going, almost as if it were following a track or path that I couldn¡¯t see, but evidently, it could. I started to focus on my foot then, hoping that something would happen. About then, I noticed another section of energy. This one was blue. It seemed to mainly congregate in only two places, my chest, about where my heart was placed and, strangely enough, in the middle of my forehead, right about my eyes. ¡®Ok,¡¯ I thought, um, the golden one is probably Qi, I¡¯m guessing. All those Xianxia novels, Chinese philosophy texts had to be somewhat right. But what is this blue energy? I called up my status screen again. After looking it over, I decided that the blue energy must be Mana. ¡®Cool! Magic!¡¯ I thought. About then, I noticed that the $ icon was blinking again. I focused on it and it expanded and showed me the following: ¡°Well aren¡¯t you a special snowflake!¡± it said. ¡°Discovering mana and Qi. And at the same time too. New titles for you. Firstish Mage and Bruce Lee You¡¯re Not!¡± ¡°I¡¯m kind of noticing a pattern here,¡± I said. ¡°Can¡¯t you just grant me a decent title? I mean, so far, pretty much every time I talk to you, well, you¡¯re kind of a, well, jerk!¡± ¡°Be glad I¡¯m not the God of Abraham, little boy!¡± it wrote. ¡°Or else, I¡¯d smite you with a pillar of salt! Or was it turn you into one? Instead, I¡¯m just going to pretend I didn¡¯t notice it. You know words can be hurtful! Ah, who am I kidding? Even well, the subroutine of the subroutine of the subroutine all the way down to you that¡¯s running this conversation could give a crap! Enjoy!¡± I decided that I¡¯d probably pushed my luck about as far as I could and called up my Stats menu so that I could view the titles. Firstish Mage: As one of the first, maybe the first to discover Mana, frankly we don¡¯t care enough to check, you¡¯ve been granted the title, ¡°Firstish Mage¡±. This title grants you the following permanent benefits: +2 to Wisdom and Intelligence, +10% to all experience gained, +1 attribute point gained per level, +10% to all skill points. In addition, it makes it possible to learn all spells possible per level/skill/attribute; the title bearer must still discover them. The title cannot be unequipped. Bruce Lee You¡¯re Not!: As one of the first to discover Qi, again, we don¡¯t care enough to check, you¡¯ve been granted the title, ¡°Bruce Lee You¡¯re Not!:¡± Ok, that was a little harsh, you do have some skills, but well, as you pointed out, we¡¯re big ole jerks! Boo Hoo! Boo Hoo!. This title grants you the following permanent benefits: +1 to Strength, Agility, Vitality and Constitution, +5% to all experience gained, +1 attribute point gained per level, +5% to all skill points. In addition, it makes it possible to learn all Qi abilities possible per level/skill/attribute; the title bearer must still discover them, learn them. The title cannot be unequipped. ¡°Girls!¡± I said. ¡°Stop what you¡¯re doing and listen. You guys know how to meditate right? Just sit down, close your eyes and breath, five seconds in, pause for three, five seconds out. Once you do, concentrate on your belly button and on the spot between your eyes. If you¡¯re lucky, you¡¯ll see gold energy around your belly and blue around your eyes. I just got two more titles! Hurry! It sounds like there might be a first come, first served kind of condition about this.¡± Despite my calling them girls, they both did as I said and sat down on the floor of the locker room and started meditating. I tried to help, tried to coach them, ¡°feel the energy. Breath in power, exhale doubt.¡± But shortly after I started, both of them looked at me and almost at the same time said, ¡°Shut up!¡± Knowing when I wasn¡¯t wanted, I left the locker room and went into the main room and tried some things. I¡¯ve got to admit, that based on the titles that I received, I was feeling pretty OP. I mean my stats got bumped, my skills got bumped and I was given a huge experience point bonus. ¡®Wahoo!¡¯ I thought. ¡®Wahoo!¡¯ I tried some stuff out in the other room, handstands, cartwheels, juggling, heck, I even tried spitting, before I realized that if the girls caught me they¡¯d probably, well, I wasn¡¯t sure, but at the very least it wouldn¡¯t be ¡­ um, nice. But nothing that I tried seemed to do anything. Or at least, I didn¡¯t get a skill or another title from my efforts. About what I expected. There are over 7 billion of us humans on the planet, I¡¯d have to figure that most of the ¡°First¡± titles were snapped up pretty quick. Which led to the kind of gruesome thought of what happens to a title when the person holding it dies? Is it just done, trashed, thrown away or does it get recycled? I mean do they just change some words on it and award it again. Which made me wonder if I was the first mage or first martial artist? I mean, if there had been two acid slimes, that whole fight would have gone a lot differently, wouldn¡¯t it? I could see gaining a title and then losing it in the next second or two. Bummer if that happened to someone. If so, I¡¯m sorry for your loss. Chapter 3 - My First Fight (Part 3) About then, I realized that I realized that I hadn¡¯t healed my leg. I¡¯d been limping around, even turning cartwheels, but I¡¯d been able to ignore the pain. I¡¯m pretty focused when I¡¯m concentrating on something; however, that focus was wearing off and with it my immunity to the pain that was going on in my ankle/foot. I sat down in front of the Teepee and started to meditate again. This time I paid attention to the energies that I¡¯d discovered in a different way, not simply observing them, but actually trying to do something with them. The Qi seemed relatively easy to manipulate. While I concentrated on it, it was able to feel the pathways that it had either created or discovered in my body. I was able to sense its movement. Rather than a tightly focused stream, it seemed more like water moving through a sponge. Not rapid, but slow and persistent. I tried to focus on the hole in my ankle and attract the Qi there, but it didn¡¯t seem to want to move out of the paths that it was flowing through. I was able to succeed a little bit and I was able to feel the hole becoming slightly smaller, the band of bruising maybe becoming a little lighter, a little smaller. Of course, right about then, I got a notice,
¡°Congratulations! In another five years, you may be onto something. You¡¯ve discovered, Qi Healing. For every 1 point of Qi invested, you can heal 1 point of damage in 1 second. This is an internal skill, meaning you can only use it on yourself. As you get better, the amount healed, the cost and the amount of time required may go down. OK, it will, but we¡¯re not telling you how much. ¡­ Would you like to name this ability?
At that point, I stopped and thought about what that message meant. For one, it meant that I was probably going to be a healer. Not bad in a world about to have no electricity, it sounded like. Hard to refrigerate medicines, X-Rays, all the stuff that modern, at least, western medicine depends on. But for another, it meant that I had to figure out how to use my magic to heal. I mean come on, 50% bonus to healing spells? ¡°Jade Lotus Touch,¡± I said, realizing full well that I¡¯d just pissed off about three billion chinese people, but what the heck, I love my Xianxia & Xuanhuan web novels.
Jade Lotus Touch??? OK, that¡¯s what We¡¯ll call it.
So, I sat back and tried to think about mana, spells, how they¡¯d work, all the mechanics of what it¡¯d mean to be a magic user in the new world. I had an advantage, I knew mana existed, I could even see it when I was meditating. What I wanted now was four things: Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Ok, back to business. I started meditating again, this time concentrating on the mana that I could feel around my heart or head or in my Anahata or Ajna chakras. I studied Asian philosophers remember? After a few minutes, I could feel the energy. I thought about spells, about how to cast them and decided that I¡¯d start the way I wanted to finish. In other words, I was going to try to leave out the verbal component, ¡°by the pricking of my thumbs¡± and just go with movement and will. I didn¡¯t want to have to shout out the names of the spells or the spells themselves in combat, but, now that I think about it, it might be cool. Anyway, I tried to pool the mana I could sense in my hands. After a few minutes, I could see it glowing around my palms and fingers. Almost like a ghostly light, a mild fog. I then placed my hands carefully around the broken band of skin and over the hole in my ankle. Almost like a faith healer, I tightened up my palms and thought ¡°Heal.¡± I felt the mana almost moving, almost doing what I asked it to do, but then it stopped. I tried again, this time trying to focus my whole attention span, my whole being onto the broken band of skin, trying to merge the faint cloud of mana into the wound and, once again, I felt the mana almost start to work, almost leave my hands, and then subside. Just as it started to merge back into my hands, I couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and shouted, ¡°Heal!¡± It worked. Darn it! Looks like there¡¯s at least three components of a magic spell: will or mental imaging, physical actions or gestures, and finally, a spoken component. As if to prove it, just then I got another blue screen message.
Wahoo! Naruto, here you come! It¡¯s just the beginning! Congratulations, you¡¯ve learned the life spell, ¡°Light Heal. For 10 mana points, you can heal 15 points of damage. If you shake a tambourine, you might even do better. No cool down. Cast till you pass out! You heal yourself 15 damage.
Oh, and before we forget, you¡¯ve gained the elemental attribute Life Magic. It means that you can cast all spells in the life elemental school of magic. Of course, you first have to either invent or discover them, but a boy¡¯s gotta start somewhere doesn¡¯t he?
And as I was reading it, I felt my eyes going blurry, my head felt heavy and vaguely felt myself lying down, and then everything went black. I came to lying on the floor with yet another blue screen message in front of my vision.
Learnin¡¯ by doin¡¯ ¡­ and ya ain¡¯t doin¡¯ much! Congratulations! You¡¯re officially the first person to faint from mana exhaustion. We¡¯re a little bit amazed by this one since you guys aren¡¯t even supposed to have access to mana yet, but that facts don¡¯t lie. Anyway, we had to dig deep to come up with this one. Unsteady At The Helm ¨C You¡¯ve discovered the basics of the new magical economy, spending more than you¡¯ve got takes a toll on you. If only your former government had figured that out! Because you spent more mana than you had (well, almost more) you went into mana debt and fainted. It normally lowers your health at a rate of 2 hit points for every mana point spent, but, just for you and just because you gain the following abilities: Mana Debt paid on a 1:1 ratio to health/mana and you recover mana at a rate 10% faster than normal. No mana debt recovery penalty. By the way, normally you¡¯d stay unconscious until your mana recovers to at least 10 points, lucky you, picks back up at 1.
Wow! I thought. That last part was a serious blow to my dreams of being a badass wizard. If in the middle of a battle, I overspent my mana that meant I was out for the count. I didn¡¯t like the idea of laying there unconscious while the baddies were still up. Wizard burgers anyone? I¡¯d probably never wake up in time. I¡¯m sure that anyone that I was fighting would make sure to take me out while I was obligingly lying there. I sure as heck would if the shoe were on the other foot. Kill the healers and the mages first! I looked at the clock and it said that about 12 minutes had gone past. That meant I had a mana recovery rate of almost .8 mana points a minute. Which kind of sucked! I¡¯m hoping that when I get my stats, they¡¯re higher than whatever the Collective is using to calculate my current recovery rate at. Speaking of the Collective, I glanced at the timer again to see how much time remained. Just about twenty-seven minutes left. I needed to do something quickly before I couldn¡¯t do it anymore. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my mom. Chapter 4 - The Apocalypse Happens and I Call My Mother This time I got through and it rang twice and then it was answered. ¡°Hello honey! How¡¯s your countdown to the apocalypse going?¡± she said. I¡¯d spoken to her several times since she¡¯d kicked me out of the house. For instance, I knew from our conversation last week that she was home again which made me very happy. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got something to tell you really quickly then I¡¯m getting off the phone. I think this time is golden as far as acquiring titles and skills. You need to practice too. Alright, here¡¯s what I¡¯ve got so far: Magic and Qi are real or at least will be. You can acquire them by meditating on them. Magic is blue energy that seems to gather in the chest and head. Qi is golden energy that seems to run throughout your body, maybe meridians? Anyway, Qi is useful for healing and doing martial arts, maybe other stuff, and magic is, well magic. I¡¯d suggest you meditate and try to get skills before the 27, no 25 minutes is up. Also, skills are leveled. I¡¯d make Derek and his men meditate too. You are gonna need strong fighters to survive and they¡¯ll need to be strong fighters to survive as well. Oh, and monsters are real or will be soon. I just fought something called an Acid Slime, so be careful. I¡¯m going to be heading home as soon as the people I¡¯m with are ready. Love you, mom! I¡¯ll try to get home soon! I¡¯ll try to call on the cell phone as soon as the time expires, but I don¡¯t expect it to work. Oh, and try to gain titles from the Collective. They grant stat bonuses and skills. I love you. I¡¯ll see you anywhere from an hour to, well when I get there. ¡°I love you too honey. I¡¯ll see you when you get here,¡± she said. And then she hung up the phone. My mom is decisive.
You humans rock! 23 minutes to the Apocalypse and you¡¯re making plans to win the Apocalypse! Way to go! We¡¯re calling this one: Dadda. President for Life! ¨C Leadership, Management, Collaboration, Planning and Critical Thinking skills granted at level 3.
I quietly pushed open the door to the locker room. Both girls were in Sukhasana yoga pose with their hands in the Gyana Mudra position on top of their legs. Told ya I had studied Eastern philosophy. Sitting cross-legged with their index fingers pinched together with their thumbs. Not sure how they knew to get in those positions, but I was willing to blame Hollywood. They seemed deep into it, so I quietly closed the door and stepped back into the main room of Mighty Max. ¡®Okay,¡¯ I thought to myself. ¡®What do I need to do, well we, I guess, need to do to survive? I wasn¡¯t sure if there was a we yet, but I didn¡¯t want to exclude the possibility. First things first, what do you need to survive in a wilderness, ¡®cause that¡¯s what it sounds like is facing us. Shelter, water, food seem to be the main requirements. I thought back to my earlier exploration of the status bar and thought that the inventory would come in handy. I assumed that since I¡¯d already cast a spell and had been in combat that I¡¯d have a class and be at least level one, so my inventory should open up. I walked to the front of the store and saw all of the bottled waters and made a note to grab them¡­ along with some Cokes, if they survived. Maybe the Collective might do what Bloomberg couldn¡¯t, get rid of Pepsi and Coke! While I was there I made a mental list of other things that I wanted to grab: cheese blocks, milk, granola, meat, Fruity Pebbles ¡®cause you know Fruity Pebbles rock, gum, beer, toilet paper, basically anything similar that hopefully would stack in one of my 20 available inventory spaces. OK, and I ran to the back stock area and brought out a couple of the large plastic tubs that we¡¯d unload stuff from the trucks into to see if I could load them up as a single item or even stack them loaded in my inventory. As far as shelter went, I wanted to get as far away from this store as possible, get up to my mom¡¯s place on the hill. I figured that soon there¡¯s gonna be either a lot of hungry people (looters slower than me) or monsters coming here. Who knows this place might even become an instance - think dungeon, but smaller. It¡¯s hard making plans when you aren¡¯t sure of your environment. But water and food could be taken care of, it remained to be seen how much of an issue that would be. Just in case, I filled one of the plastic tubs with water and pop, and the other one with the food and other goods I¡¯d been eyeing and ran back and got a lot more tubs. I looked at the timer:Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
11:54:58:98.98.98
¡®Uh, shorten the timer to a more realistic time, please,¡¯ I thought and it changed to the following:
11:54
¡®Ok¡¯, I thought. ¡®Only about 10 minutes ¡®til the apocalypse. Load up and get your weapons¡¯. If I¡¯d been in true apocalypse mode I¡¯d probably have grabbed the weapons first, but I took the time to load the 15 tubs full and then put them in a row, right at the end of the convenience store section of the store, about 20 feet from the cash machine. I tried again to get them into my inventory but still wasn¡¯t able to. I ran back through the stockroom and out the back utility door, being sure to prop it open with a cinder block we kept back by it for that purpose. I wasn¡¯t sure if the Cadillac was going to make it through the next couple of minutes or even if the trailer was, but I was pretty sure that my stuff in the trailer would, I just needed to get it out in case something happened to the trailer. I¡¯d purposely bought low-tech. I didn¡¯t know if the trailer was going to be changed, or destroyed, or what. I unlocked the trailer¡¯s door and started throwing stuff out of it: swords, polearms, knives, daggers, and bows and, even a couple of crossbows.) I also bought a bunch of MREs and extra clothes, Carhartt pants, Doc Martin boots, even a shield. My last month¡¯s $10,000 shopping spree - all of it bought online or through Craigslist. It was like a cartoon, everything was just flying out of the back of the trailer. I heard the girls yelling my name and I shouted that I was back in the stockroom. As the last MRE flew out of the trailer, I followed it out, the girls appeared on the back loading dock and the timer hit zero. All at the same moment. And, of course, a blue screen opened up. Well, actually many, but the primary one said this:
Welcome to the Apocalypse.
At the same time as the blue screen appeared, there was this tremendous gong sound, well, more like a chime, only it wasn¡¯t really heard, it was more felt, experienced with my body. It felt like the whole world rang at once, including me, as if the entire world spoke with one voice and said, ¡°So be it¡±. Then stuff started to change. All of the blacktop roads, the parking lots, all of the cement changed to rock, cobblestones I guess. They shrank too. The four-lane roads became two lanes, the two lanes became simple dirt roads, the storm sewers became ditches alongside them. The parking lot disappeared and became a grassy field, the gas pumps became bushes and the awnings overhead became trees. My Cadillac and the camper became a bamboo (or some type of rattan-like wood) rickshaw. The trailer just vanished. There was a harness, so theoretically I could maybe hitch something to it, but there wasn¡¯t anything like a horse around it. A couple of gold pieces were left where the trailer disappeared. Fortunately, my stuff was still there, but the MRE¡¯s looked different. I looked at Mighty Max and it was now built out of stone bricks, it was about a quarter of the size that it used to be. The girls were clutching each other, evidently shaken by the changes to the Trading Post. I looked up in the sky and thought, ¡®Oh my God! The stars!¡± There was no (or very little) light pollution. I could see the Milky Way, Venus with my eyes. The second and third moons that had appeared were beautiful too. One had a greenish hue, the other was a pale rose. I watched as a meteor fell and thought, I wonder if that means anything now.
Intelligence +1 Recognizing that your world has changed, that old certainties cannot be followed. What¡¯s happening? What has meaning anymore will need to be discovered.
¡®Wow!¡¯ I thought. ¡°Are you girls alright?¡± I asked. They were still clutching each other, but now that the group wasn¡¯t literally shaking, they seemed a lot more stable. Tonya responded, ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re OK. Just a little shaken up is all. How ¡®bout you? You doing alright?¡± ¡°I guess,¡± I responded. ¡°What the heck, another two moons, cobblestone streets and,¡± I reached for my cell phone which had changed to a square chunk of some kind of material that clearly no longer functioned as a cell phone, ¡°and no cell service. Looks like cars are out, rickshaws and maybe horses are in, and we¡¯re playing a whole new game, well life. Let¡¯s read our notifications before we get jumped by some monster!¡± I walked toward them and we stood together on the back porch-like structure of the Mighty Max and stared unfocused as we read our screens - kind of like we used to stare at our phones. ¡°The more things change, the more they stay the same,¡± to quote one of my mother¡¯s favorite sayings. Chapter 5 - We Choose Our Classes and Talk, a Lot (Part 1) The first screen was the ¡°Welcome to the Apocalypse¡± message. I closed it and another message popped up. It turned out to be my status screen only this time instead of question marks, everything was filled out.
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± Level 5
Class(es) ? Experience: (+25%) 31250
Titles: Eager Beaver; Firstish Mage; Bruce Lee You¡¯re Not!; Unsteady At The Helm; Dadda. President for Life!
ATTRIBUTES SKILL POINTS
Strength 33 Intelligence 36
Dexterity 24 Wisdom 39
Agility 26 Perception 21
Constitution 29 Charisma 23
Vitality 22 Luck 7
AC 8
Health: 185 Mana: 153
Qi: 152 Stamina: 151
¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°After you closed the Apocalypse window, was the next window your status screen?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± they both said. I wondered if it was okay to ask what their attributes were? Mine seemed pretty high with the exception of Luck. I wanted to know what they did again, so I asked help. The imu appeared and said the following: Good to know, I guess. It sounded as if the Collective had just copied Wikipedia, but, hey, knowledge is knowledge. I couldn¡¯t help but think that it made the whole PC argument irrelevant. You call someone stupid and they can just say, ¡®my intelligence is 24. What¡¯s yours, idiot?¡¯ I asked it what the average person¡¯s attribute score (stat) was and it said 10, that most people ranged from between 1 and 20, at least when they were starting out.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I asked if anyone started at higher levels and it said, ¡°No, everyone starts at level 0; however, many people just like you discovered ways to increase their levels in the waiting period.¡± I loved the irony. A life and death battle with a toxic slime being characterized as ¡°discovering ways to increase my level.¡± I asked how many points we received per level, looking at my stats it looked like we got about 2 points and it said that this was so. However, like with my titles, attribute scores could be affected. I asked if we had to fight something to gain experience and it said no, that casting spells if your class was a mage or creating potions if you were a chemist would raise your level almost as much as fighting would. It also would have the effect of raising the level of the skill you were using, which you might not get in a fight. After all, if you don¡¯t create a potion while bashing a slime, why would your skill in potion making go up? I continued to read the notices. The next one asked if I¡¯d like to select my class(s) right now? I answered, no, but it came back with another window, asking if I was sure? I wasn¡¯t feeling sure about anything so, I said, maybe? It responded with a new notice that said, ¡°would you like to view a list of classes you are currently qualified for?¡± ¡°Imu,¡± I said. ¡°What does it mean when THEY ask about classes I¡¯m currently qualified for?¡± I decided to use the Upper Case THEY or THEM to refer to The Collective from now on. Evidently, my Imu was smart enough to figure this out ¡®cause it responded and said, ¡°Classes are progressive. Depending on how you live your life and affect the world around you, the classes that you are currently offered will change. At the beginning you are only able to choose from basic classes; however, as you demonstrate skills or abilities, the classes you are offered will become more tailored to fit your manner of living. For instance, you might start with the class Magician: Apprentice, then as you live, the class may become Magician: Journeyman, Wizard: Apprentice, Summoner: Apprentice, or even Necromancer: Apprentice. However, the new class will be available to be selected only at certain levels: 1, 3, 10, 25, 50, 75, etc. Selecting multiple classes means that your experience received is divided by the number of classes you have upon receipt. ¡°So,¡± I asked, ¡°Can I have multiple classes?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± it answered. ¡°At your current level, you can have a maximum of 2 classes.¡± ¡°Can I put off selecting my classes until later?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± it answered. ¡°You can select classes at any time after your level advances to the appropriate benchmark. However, once the selection is made, it may not be changed.¡± ¡°Is there a list of classes along with their pre-requisite actions,¡± I asked? This time the Imu disappeared and I got at blue screen notice:
Stop trying to munchkin the system. Where¡¯s the fun in US telling you everything. Live, boy! Live!
I looked up and both girls were staring at me so I explained what I¡¯d learned from the Imu and THEM. I asked them if they had gotten class selection notifications yet and they both said yes. I asked them what they were offered and Tanya asked me what I was offered. I opened the class notification and here¡¯s what it said:
Current Classes Available
  • Plumber
  • Monk
  • Cleric
  • Ninja
  • Rickshaw Driver
  • Fighter
  • Mage
  • Scholar
  • Merchant
  • Chemist
  • Philosopher
  • Potioneer
  • Alchemist
After I told them mine, they told me theirs. Tanya was offered the following: Mage, Scholar, Cleric, and Merchant while Janet was offered: Mage, Cleric, Monk, Model, and finally, and most surprising, Assassin. Both Tanya and I looked at her when she said that. I¡¯ve got to admit, I was surprised and judging by her face, so was Tanya. ¡°I thought about whether or not I should even mention that, but it¡¯s the end of the world and the start of a new one. I decided that I wanted to begin the way I wanted to continue and from now on, I mean to be someone I may have not been before. Let me explain. I was a wild child and hung out with a group of well, spoiled brats in LA. All of us were growing up too fast and with, at least in my case, too much spending money and not enough oversight. I went to a party in the hills, did some drugs, drank a lot, I was seventeen then, and woke up naked, tied up, in what appeared to be a basement. Not a clean one either, it was stuffed with junk and, well, it was dirty. A man came downstairs and just looked at me, then he rolled me over with his foot and looked some more. I was shivering and cold and I didn¡¯t know what to do, but after a while he left, just saying, ¡®not yet, not yet, she¡¯s not yet ripe.¡¯ I was freaked and trying to scream, but I was gagged with one of those round, red gags that you see in the movies. I decided that I had to get free, so I started struggling until I finally got the ropes off along with a lot of skin. I think it was the blood that let me slip the ropes. I must have been making a lot of noise because he came downstairs again. The first thing I¡¯d done was remove the gag, so I tried pleading, but he just kept coming towards me, saying, ¡®not yet ripe, must be stored. Not yet ripe, must be stored.¡¯ I backed up and finally, I hit the basements wall. He kept coming and I picked up something off the shelves that I was pressed against and struck him with it. It was a screwdriver and it went into his face. I remember he just stood there and then I pushed him and he fell and I ran up the stairs and out the front door and down the street and got picked up by the police. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s how I got that class offered to me.¡± Then she just stood there looking at both of us. I was pretty sure she wasn¡¯t lying. I had the interface after all. It had some rudimentary truth detection abilities on it. I¡¯d put that eyeball icon on my interface and it was fully open. Fully closed meant don¡¯t trust the person. Plus she liked me, she was green, right? Generally, people don¡¯t lie to people that they like, do they? Also, she had totally volunteered that she''d been offered the class. If she hadn¡¯t told us about it, there was no way that we¡¯d know about it. I glanced at Tanya just in time to see her go forward and pull Janet into a hug. Smarts I got, emotional intelligence, not so much. They started crying and just held each other. I guess they both had more than their fair share of scumbag men in their lives. I didn¡¯t know what to do, so I just stood there and watched them. Finally, Tanya took a deep breath and pulled away, saying, ¡°Ok, that was intense.¡± She smiled at us both and then said to Janet, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t take that class as your starting class. It might come in handy, but I¡¯d get something magical first. We¡¯ll let Monsoon stand in front and take the hits while we¡¯ll either heal him or cause damage. What do you think, you two?¡± Chapter 5 - We Choose Our Classes and Talk, a Lot (Part 2) It sounded good to me, other than the getting hit part. I knew what I was going to take. I wasn¡¯t sure how I was going to justify it to the girls, but I figured that once the saw the reason, they¡¯d understand. For my first class, I took Monk. I wasn¡¯t sure how to do it, so I just announced it to the world, ¡°I take Monk as my first class¡±. On my status sheet, the question mark that followed the Class disappeared and the word, Monk appeared. Just as I started to choose my second class, Tanya said, ¡°Stop! DON¡±T YOU DO IT!¡± ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°What shouldn¡¯t I do?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t take Rickshaw Driver as your second class!¡± ¡®How in the hell did she figure out that I was going to do that,¡¯ I wondered. ¡°Why not?¡± I asked. ¡°Look we¡¯ve got between 16 and 24 miles to travel to get to my mom¡¯s place. By the way, Janet, you¡¯re welcome to come. Actually, you¡¯re expected, alright? Anyway, we¡¯ve got a rickshaw and I thought it just made sense, plus believe it or not, there are some pretty significant class attribute bonuses. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, Vitality stats per level and, for instance, I¡¯d gain the skills to cross things that you wouldn¡¯t expect, like at level 5 I can cross streams or creeks without a bridge. Plus each level, I go faster. ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s more important that you get some magic. Healing or Damage. Probably Damage, since you seem to have figured out healing ¡®cause I don¡¯t see your leg bleeding anymore. Pulling a rickshaw is a skill, one that you can get by doing it. All you¡¯d get from that class is some fairly unexceptional stat bonuses and some skills that I hope you¡¯ll either not need by the time you get to the levels that you¡¯d acquire them as a Rickshaw Driver or have figured out another way to get an equivalent skill or spell. Probably a better skill or spell than the ones you¡¯d get from the class! ¡°Darn!¡± I thought. ¡°She¡¯s right! And she sounds like my mother. Is it wrong that I¡¯m attracted to her? No, she¡¯s hot. But that doesn¡¯t explain how she knew I was going to do it,¡± I thought. But when I looked at her kind of red, grouchy face, I decided to postpone that line of questioning, for a long time, maybe forever.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°For my second class, I choose, Wizard.¡±
Stop trying to step to the head of the line. Do you see Wizard in the classes offered? Let me give you a hint. No, you don¡¯t. If you want magic, take Mage like a good little apprentice.
¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°For my second class, I choose, Mage.¡± ¡°Turns out the system is pretty literal,¡± I told both of the girls. ¡° If it says these are the classes you can take, then those are the classes you can take. Evidently, Wizard is a different class than Mage. And, you know what I said about calling The Collective, They or Them. Well, I changed my mind, I¡¯m just going to call it The System or, if talking to it, System.¡± ¡°Thank you for that,¡± Tanya said. ¡°Ok, for my class, System, I¡¯d like to take ¡°Mage.¡± From the pleased look on her face, I¡¯m pretty sure that her class was changed to Mage.¡± Just then, Janet spoke up and said, ¡°System, I¡¯d like to take as my first class, Cleric.¡± ¡®Huh,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Didn¡¯t see that one coming.¡¯ Judging by her face she must have recognized that Tanya and I both were a little puzzled by that. ¡°I figure that the System starts you off with basic classes. As we level up, the options get more customized. Remember, the Mage, Wizard/Necromancer/Summoner bit? Well, I want to be either a Druid or a Shaman or something nature-ish and I figure that the best way to do that would be to start as I want to proceed. Cleric seems closer to Shaman or Druid than Mage does, you know?¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Uh, are you Indian, I mean Native American, you know what I mean? Well, I guess what I¡¯m asking is what¡¯s with the clothes?¡± Tanya punched me, hard, it actually hurt my arm where she hit me. ¡°Ow!¡± I yelled. ¡°No, it¡¯s alright,¡± Janet said. ¡°I grew up on a reservation. I am a Blackfoot Indian. My mom was a hippy that fell in love with an Indian man and stuck with him. He was a sheriff on the reservation up near Glacier National Park. Anyway, one night he and my mom were shot by some meth heads that he stopped to help alongside the road and I moved back to live with my rich grandparents in Hollywood. I was thirteen and an orphan and trying to recover from losing my folks. Obviously, it didn¡¯t go well. Anyway, I loved nature, part of the reason that things went so wrong for me was just the change in environments. But looks like that¡¯s not going to be a problem anymore, is it?¡± she said as she pointed to the newly changed land that used to be a parking lot, but now wasn¡¯t. The clothes were because I was on my way back from a Powwow and on the way back to the motel the guy I was with started carrying on, so I just got out of the car and said ¡®see ya¡¯ to him. After my grands died I started going to Powwows to reclaim some of the bits of me I left behind. Anyway, I figured I¡¯d Uber back to the motel and get my car and stuff and take off. Now, I¡¯m not worried about it. I¡¯ll let someone else have the rickshaw,¡± she said and smiled. Still holding my arm where Tanya had hit me, I said, ¡°Wow,¡± I feel like I¡¯m getting told everything about you, but am not sharing back. Is there anything that you need to know about me or Tanya? I get the feeling that we might be depending on each other a lot, so I¡¯m willing to dish if necessary?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m good,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve been listening to you too and Tanya and I have been talking. You¡¯re both good people, I can tell. What I¡¯d like to know is the plan, if we¡¯ve got one? I¡¯m going to say us because I feel like there is an us here. Like I said, I trust you two.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°What about it, Tanya? Are you in or are you making other plans?¡± ¡°I¡¯m in,¡± she said. ¡°You know my history or as much of it as anybody does. Just in case though, orphan, high school graduate, college applicant, the only family (if you could call it that, that I have) is a pervert for a step-father, so I don¡¯t really have anyone else to turn too.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m in too. I do have someone and that¡¯s where I¡¯d like us to go. My mom was on her way to ruling the world, it sounds like I¡¯m kidding, but I¡¯m really not. She knew Warren Buffett personally. Met Jeff Bezos. Said he kept trying to look down her dress. Now I need to go make sure she¡¯s alright. She married young, had me, lost her husband (my dad) and started making a huge fortune based on some serious seed capital that my dad won in the lottery. ¡°I spoke with her just before the Apocalypse happened. Funny that I always thought that the Apocalypse would be Russia or China lobbing nukes at us, but I guess that¡¯s not the way that it happened. But I guess old St. John got the time about right.¡± I looked up and noticed that both women were looking vaguely annoyed. ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡± I said. ¡°I tend to ramble. Anyway, before the Apocalypse, we spoke. She was still alright. She has a place just down the road from here about 16 miles - at least it used to be about 16 miles. I¡¯m not sure if our geography stayed the same. I expect not. Anyway, it was just on the other side of Sand Springs. It¡¯s up on a hill there, she owns most of the land for miles around. She kept quietly buying it up whenever anything came on the market. Even making offers on stuff that wasn¡¯t. Anyway, she¡¯s got servants, security guards, maids, even greenhouses. Plus she¡¯s my mom. I figure we can make it there and figure out what we¡¯re going to do next. She¡¯s a planner. Plus, you know where The System said ¡°we¡¯ll be converting all real monetary wealth to a gold standard¡± well if that¡¯s the case, my mom¡¯s going to be sitting on a dragon¡¯s hoard. I figure I got a couple of gold for a trailer and a twenty-year-old Cadillac. She must have really raked it in. But believe me, though, it¡¯s not about the money. It¡¯s about her. She can plan like nobody¡¯s business. When I called her, she listened, then got off the phone to start trying to adapt. I bet by now she¡¯s literally the ¡°Wizard of Wall Street¡± and has thought up at least three plans for the future with each one having a couple of contingency plans. Plus, well, I told her I¡¯d see her soon, that I was on the way. If I don¡¯t show, she¡¯ll be coming after me. What do you two think?¡± Tanya said, ¡°I told you before, I was in. I¡¯ve literally got nowhere to go except back to a run-down trailer that I¡¯m renting about three blocks from here. Assuming it¡¯s even still there and not some gold coins in the Land Lord¡¯s pocket. I don¡¯t own it or the furniture in it. Going to your mom¡¯s place sounds like a plan. Plus I want to meet her. She sounds boss.¡± Chapter 5 - We Choose Our Classes and Talk, a Lot (Part 3) ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Then we have a goal and we¡¯re a team.¡± Of course, that just gave the system a chance to butt in.
Formed: Party Goal: Reach Mommie¡¯s house. This is a semi-permanent group whose goal is to reach the estate of one of the group member¡¯s mother. Members of the group can communicate with each other via group chat as well as share member maps (if within range). The experience will be divided equally in tiers. Name: ? Leader: ? Members: Monsoon Seebring, Tanya Slovakia, Janet Lee
¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°Did everybody get that notification?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Tanya said. Janet nodded. ¡°OK,¡± I said, ¡°it looks like we have some decisions to make. The first thing is the name, I think that ...¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Tanya said. ¡°You didn¡¯t even hear it yet. How do you know what it was even going to be?¡± Tanya rolled her eyes and looked at Janet who nodded her head, ¡°It was going to be like Monsoon¡¯s Angels or something similar. I figure that it would start with your name and then have some kind of gender reference to us, like Chicks, or Babes or Angels. So let me, us, cut you off there, it¡¯s not going to happen.¡± Then she turned and both girls high-fived each other. ¡°Where¡¯s the love? The respect, I ask you? Where¡¯s the respect?¡± I said. ¡°I say, we call ourselves, ¡°The Travelers¡± Tanya said. ¡°Works for me,¡± Janet said. Then before I could even say anything, the Namespace changed from a question mark to ¡°The Travelers¡± and the Leader changed from a question mark to ¡°Tanya Slovakia¡±. ¡°Wow!¡± Tanya said. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to appoint myself leader!¡± ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s good at least with me. Here¡¯s why. We¡¯ve got a small team or party. You mentioned that I should be out in front taking the damage. I¡¯m OK with that, but that means that I won¡¯t be able to watch the fight as well as someone else might. My job will be to keep the bad things from getting to you two squishies. That leaves you two. Janet is a healer and you are a mage. Of the two, I don''t know which would be better, but since I¡¯m going to be depending on Janet to keep me alive, I want her to be focussing on keeping my health up (and yours too, of course) and not worrying about directing the fight. That leaves you. A mage. You are going to be a ranged damage dealer. Since you are going to be sniping anyway, I figure that you¡¯d be looking over the fight. You¡¯d probably have the best situational awareness, so that¡¯s why I think that you might be the best leader, at least in fighting.¡± Janet spoke up then and said, ¡°I agree. Sisters are doing it for themselves! But I don¡¯t know that we should present ourselves that way.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I asked. ¡°Look you¡¯re a nice guy, a bit of a nerd, a brainiac, and kind of cute, but that¡¯s not the reason that I¡¯m nominating you for figurehead. Unless I miss my guess, the world has really changed. Muscles are gonna count for more and, let¡¯s face it, men have more of them. I¡¯m thinking that as time goes on people are going to move back into more of a hunter-gatherer type society. Maybe even a feudal one. Hell, we¡¯re already into a hunter-gatherer society, aren¡¯t we? Do we need food? How are we going to get it? Go to the convenience store? Yah, good luck with that!¡± and here she turned and looked at the Mighty Max, the now built out of stone bricks, quarter-sized Mighty Max with its big wooden doors and its holes in the wall windows and shutters, the grass former parking lot and the cobblestone streets. ¡°Yeah,¡± she repeated softly, ¡°good luck with that.¡± ¡°So what are you saying?¡± Tanya said. ¡°I¡¯m saying that even if you¡¯re our leader and - I¡¯m not sure what that means post-apocalypse, but I agree with Monsoon¡¯s reasoning - we should probably have him be our ¡®acknowledged¡¯ leader. You still lead, but Monsoon is the face of our group. I¡¯m pretty sure that we¡¯re gonna encounter groups that won¡¯t take a good-looking blond seriously. They¡¯ll be like, ¡°bring the bitch to me now,¡± and I think it¡¯d work out better if we have someone that says, ¡°hands off, those are my bitches!¡± ¡°I agree,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much truth there was in all of the fictions that I read, but one thing that they all agreed on is that after the apocalypse, the rules changed and not for the better. I¡¯m thinking that we should probably make some rules up for how we¡¯re going to survive like if Tanya says to do something, we do it. Or we take care of ourselves first, before anyone. What do you think?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got one,¡± said Janet. ¡°Nowhere is safe!¡± ¡°Yes,¡± both Tanya and I said. ¡°Here¡¯s another,¡± I said. ¡°Never go without a weapon.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s one,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Stay loose! Be warmed up and limber. If you¡¯ve got to run away, you don¡¯t want to be easy to catch. If you¡¯ve got to fight, you want to be able to dodge.¡± ¡°Always have clean water,¡± I threw out. ¡°And I¡¯ve got another one too,¡± said Janet. ¡°Keep your clothes tight and your hair short.¡± At that time, all three of us got sad faces. Janet¡¯s hair was butt-length, Tanya¡¯s was mid-back and mine was shoulder-length. ¡°Yeah, I can see that,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t mean that I have to like it. In all my wuxia novels the dudes had long hair.¡± ¡°Just saying,¡± she replied. ¡°Mine¡¯s coming off before we leave this place.¡± ¡°So¡¯s mine,¡± I said reluctantly. ¡°Easier to clean and won¡¯t hold bugs!¡± ¡°OK,¡± Tanya said with a small shudder. ¡°I just got less attached to my hair. One thing, I suggest that we burn it, and anytime we bleed, we burn the blood too. I¡¯m not sure about how paranoid we need to be, but I figure that there¡¯s probably at least one Voodoo priest out there and now magic works!¡± ¡°Note to self, develop clean spell pronto!¡±, I said. Tanya says, ¡°Always watch the weather. Exposure can kill you. And we don¡¯t know what season it is or what the weather is going to be like.¡± ¡°Good one,¡± Janet said. ¡°This one may be a stretch, but I¡¯m going to say it anyway, ¡®Never give your real name!¡¯ One of the things about Celtic mythology was the power of true names. I¡¯m not sure what a true name is, or even if this could hold true, but I¡¯m going to say, better safe than sorry. I think we ought to come up with nicknames and go by those.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s one,¡± I said. ¡°Always take care of your weapons! I have some over in that pile by the rickshaw that I¡¯ll be passing out. Once it¡¯s yours, take care of it.¡± Tanya says, ¡°And another one about the weather, always have hats, gloves, and boots if you can! Plus, gloves can make a difference in a fight, just remember the acid slime!¡± ¡°Oh, I do!¡± I said. ¡°This isn¡¯t a rule, but before we get started, I¡¯d like us to do some prep work. I¡¯d like us to get used to fighting together, maybe make up some signals, get used to party chat, train on our weapons, figure out some spells, look over our supplies and then when we¡¯re as ready as we can be, take off. It¡¯s a new world and I don¡¯t want to be unprepared for it. I¡¯m pretty sure that they have a word for people that aren¡¯t prepared ¡­ corpses!¡±
Oh, your little group is so cute! Making plans, talking strategy. It just gives Us the quivers to watch! Not even 10 minutes into the apocalypse and you guys are making plans to survive. It¡¯s so CUTE! +1 to Wisdom +1 to Intelligence.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
¡°You know,¡± I said. ¡°I really hate this System!¡± Both Janet and Tanya nodded. ¡°But the pluses are nice!,¡± I added. Janet and Tanya nodded again. ¡°Ok, girls! What¡¯s it gonna be?¡±, I asked. ¡°Oh wait, I¡¯ve got to ask,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that you got the mana in you. Did you get any titles?¡± ¡°Yes, we both got the same ones,¡± Tanya said. ¡°¡®Second Place Mage Ain¡¯t Bad¡¯ and ¡®Not Even Jet Lee!¡¯ I¡¯m guessing that both of them are slightly lesser versions of the titles that you got. Thanks for getting us to drop everything and study mana and Qi, by the way. I think that you¡¯re probably right. That titles, skill and attribute gifts are going to be rarer than before.¡± ¡°What do the titles give you?¡± I asked. Janet answered, ¡°The mage one gives +1 to Wisdom and Intelligence, +5% to all experience gained, +1 attribute point in Int and Wisdom gained per level, +10% to all skill points. In addition it makes it possible to learn all spells possible per level/skill/attribute, while the ¡®Not Even Jet Lee¡¯ title gives +1 to Strength, Agility, Vitality, +5% to all experience gained, +1 attribute point gained in Strength, Agility and Vitality per level, +5% to all skill points. In addition, it makes it possible to learn all Qi skills or abilities possible per level/skill/attribute.¡± ¡°So about the same as the ones I got, just a little bit less. Cool, I guess,¡± I said softly. Both girls looked at me questioningly at that last part of my statement. ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean it in a negative way, I¡¯d be happy if you got the same title that I did, or even a better one. It just makes me concerned. I mean the System is talking about how tough it¡¯s going to be to survive and it keeps giving us these great plusses to our attributes. It just means that it probably thinks that we¡¯re going to need them. I mean I could probably drop and give you 250 pushups and not even break a sweat right now, what is this world where that is normal?¡± Just then a voice rang out in my head, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ve got us and this nifty party chat thing. Like a cell phone but easier to use.¡± I looked in my eyes, screw it, I¡¯m going to call it my heads up, and in the far right corner of my eye, it, I saw a little animated head that somehow - without it looking like her at all - I knew it was Tanya. It was surrounded by circles that were moving - representing sound waves, talking, I guess? ¡°Woh, how¡¯d you do that?¡± I asked. Janet looked at both of us with a puzzled look on her face. ¡°It was something that I figured out back when we were sitting in Mighty Max playing with our interfaces,¡± Tanya said - out loud this time. ¡°It didn¡¯t work then, but it does now. Basically, you just say or think, Chat followed by Party or Chat followed by the person''s name. Then you think (subvocalizing) or say what you want to say. Basically, it just appears in the Chat recipient¡¯s ears? When you want it to end, you just say ¡°Chat End¡± or speak out loud to a person that isn¡¯t part of the chat. When you do that, the little icon in your eyes vanishes to show you that you aren¡¯t chatting anymore.¡± Of course, then we all had to try it and for the next few minutes, we sounded like an old Verison commercial, ¡°Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?¡± Tanya told us that the range was as long as the party was capable of being grouped together, which was 100 meters per level of the highest leveled party member, in our case, that would be me at level 5, or 500 meters. I was truly excited about this discovery: secure, silent communications! Wahoo! At least until Tanya said that some classes could get skills to listen in on party chats. I was also a little bummed that parties could be dissolved by distance. 500 meters wasn¡¯t that much distance, I thought. We¡¯d have to watch that if we went into cities to shop. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s enough playing with the voices in my head, why don¡¯t we pick out some weapons, make some plans and then hit the hay. We can get started again tomorrow morning.¡± I walked over to the pile of weapons and stuff that I¡¯d pulled from the trailer, now rickshaw. I had a sword, bought from Jake¡¯s Arms, a local Ren blacksmith. It was of middling quality. Basically a big mass of poured steel that had been pounded on for a while. I guess you¡¯d call it a short sword. Then I had a couple of machete¡¯s, a couple of combat knives, a bowie knife and a couple of homemade pole arms - really a couple of hickory sticks with a couple of 14¡± knifes tied to the end, and a composite bow and even a couple of crossbows. Then I had my shield, a three foot by two-foot mess of plywood and steel flashing that I¡¯d created on one of my off days. It had a couple of eye bolts through washers with the nut ends pointing outward and a mixture of soft nylon rope and steel wire threaded between the two of them to give it something to hang on to. It wasn¡¯t great, but not bad for my first time crafting something. I could tell that my new muscles were going to make a difference. Before the Apocalypse, it was basically too heavy (I thought) to use. Now, it wasn¡¯t bad at all. I didn¡¯t have a katana, too bad Kendo lessons, but I¡¯d also taken saber lessons as well so, well, there you go. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, putting the weapons out in a row, ranged to daggers on what used to be MM¡¯s loading dock. ¡°Who wants what?¡± They both walked over and stood looking down at the weapons but made no attempt to pick them up. ¡°I¡¯m guessing from that response,¡± I said, ¡°that neither of you has any martial arts experience?¡± Both of them shook their heads no. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Not a problem. Have either of you shot a gun before?¡± They both admitted that they had which made me feel slightly better about our chances of surviving. ¡°Since you¡¯ve both shot a gun before,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you both a crossbow. A bow takes a lot longer to learn to use, it also requires more strength, especially in the upper body. Basically, you can look at a crossbow as a medieval gun. It¡¯s got the stock area and the bow area is called limbs. It is mostly limited to short-range shooting, about 30-40 yards, well meters I guess, or so. Here are the basic rules:¡± ¡°Just like a rifle it¡¯s got a scope, use it. We¡¯ll practice with it tomorrow. I¡¯ve got about 200 bolts here. That sounds like a lot, but trust me, they¡¯ll go fast. It hard to find a missed shot in the woods and rocks and trees, heck even bone, can play hob with them. Every time you fire, expect to lose a bolt. Your job is to make it worthwhile.¡± ¡°Janet here¡¯s your machete,¡± I said. ¡°I bought them with a leather sheath that can fasten to your belts. Go ahead and fasten them on.¡± Fortunately, both girls had belts on. Janet¡¯s was covered in intricate beadwork. ¡°You notice the curve in the blade? It¡¯s a type of knife/machete called a kukri. It¡¯s a weapon/tool of a Nepalese people called the Gurka. They were or are a fierce warrior people, one of the fiercest and most deadly regiments of the British army was made up of them. Note the notch just above the handle at the base of the blade? It¡¯s called a Cho. It is symbolic of a cow¡¯s foot which is widely worshiped in Nepal. Plus it also prevents blood and other fluids from dripping down the blade and onto the handle, which makes the handle slippery.¡± At that point, I noticed that both of the girls were looking a little green, so I stopped with the history of their knives. I figured that they¡¯d have enough time to get used to them tomorrow. ¡°And lastly,¡± I said, ¡°here¡¯s your knife. I expect you both to keep it on you or by you everywhere, at all times. It¡¯s also a kukri, it¡¯s just a smaller one. The first one, the machete was made by a company called Condor Tool and Knife. I bought three of them, so we¡¯ll each have one. I also have a short sword that I bought that I¡¯ll be using along with the shield instead of the machete. Anyways, I just liked the picture of them on the website and was in a buying mood. The smaller one was made by a company called Citadel. It¡¯s made out of steel with a high iron content so it shouldn¡¯t be stored in a leather sheath. Unfortunately, it came with one, so, well what can you do. Once again, I was looking for knives and thought these ones looked cool. Plus they¡¯re kukri! Has either of you ever read Kipling? The Jungle Book? Wee Willie Winkie? Kim? Just So Stories? The Phantom Rickshaw? He¡¯s great! I loved his stuff when I was growing up. I think I read the jungle book at least twice a year until I was ten!¡± ¡°That¡¯s it for tonight. Tomorrow we¡¯ll talk tactics and strategy, practice some battles formations, and try to figure out how we¡¯re going to get to my mother''s place. Like I said before, we had between 16 and 24 miles to travel to get to my mom¡¯s place; however, They said something about geography changing so I¡¯m not sure about that distance anymore. Plus we¡¯ll be going through I don¡¯t know what kind of territory, with what kind of beasts or even monsters in it. And people can be the deadliest of monsters ¡­ at least according to Derek.¡± I looked up and both of the girls had a puzzled look on there face, ¡°Derek Stone is the head of my mother¡¯s security,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s a former Navy SEAL, a black belt in about five martial arts, the kind of guy that could kill you with a napkin. He¡¯s my Sensei. Now we just need to figure out a place to sleep and set up watches.¡± When I said this, both girls got this funny look on their faces, like they were trying to hold in a laugh. ¡°We got that covered, boyo,¡± Tanya said. Janet steps forward, next to the rickshaw and kind of made this scooping gesture with her arms and damned if a teepee didn¡¯t appear set up right in front of her. After looking at it for a second, I realized that it was the teepee from inside Mighty Max. It was a big one, part of the diorama set up inside, it would easily sleep four. Tanya made the same gestures and the rocks for the interior fire circle appeared and then the logs that the fake Indians from the diorama were sitting on appeared too. Even the bedding inside, a bunch of wool blankets, a couple of buffalo hides as well as some metal pots and a fire grill and hanger to cook over the fire circle appeared. ¡°Wow! When the heck did you ¡®gather¡¯ all that?¡± I asked. ¡°Right after the apocalypse happened. We stepped away while you were looking at the sky and grabbed it. Good thing too. I¡¯m not sure what remains of the inside of the store anymore. I swear I saw things disappearing, shelves folding up, changing from metal to wood, that kind of thing. I¡¯m not going back in there tonight,¡± Janet said. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll take the first watch, Janet can take second and Tanya can take third. What do you think?¡± The night passed peacefully. I heard some howling in the distance, but Oklahoma has always had coyotes, so even though these voices sounded bigger and deeper than a coyote, I pretended really hard that they were. After my shift, I woke up Janet and slipped into her bedroll in the teepee to sleep. I was asleep before she made it outside. Chapter 6 - We Get Ready. (Part 1) I woke up the next morning at dawn. When I stepped outside both of the girls were facing each other doing sun salutations. I started to get angry and then looked and saw that both of them had their machetes and knives beside them on the grass. ¡®Good, good!¡¯ I thought. It was a beautiful morning. A little bit foggy and the air had that translucent blue quality that some mornings get, the birds were just getting started. I heard a bunch of bird calls that I¡¯d never heard before and saw shimmering flashes of color in the trees that I knew were not native species. We had Scarlet Tanagers, Blue Birds, Robins, and the occasional Cardinal, nothing that was these bright yellow, teals, lime greens, even neon pink. That more than anything told me that the world had changed, Oklahoma had changed... The fire was lit in the fire circle and the pots stood ready, but there was no food being cooked yet. I hoped that the supplies that I had gathered into the boxes inside of Mighty Max were still there because otherwise, I didn¡¯t know what we were going to do for breakfast. While waiting for the girls to finish, I sat on one of the diorama logs and started to plan out our day. First things first though, I thought hard the word, time. And sure enough, in the corner of my right eye, a digital (at least it looked like a digital clock to me) appeared saying 06:43:13. After a second, it faded away. I did this a few more times and sure enough the seconds displayed had changed so it was official, the wristwatch business was dead. Then I thought date and the following appeared Ignisday, 1/1/1. ¡®Imu,¡± I thought. ¡®What is this the first day of?¡¯ When I went to bed last night at midnight when the apocalypse happened, it was midnight, June 6, 2018. Not January 1, Year 1. ¡®It is the first day of Quietus, Year 1,¡¯ my little buddy answered. ¡®I don¡¯t recognize that month or year,¡¯ I thought at it. ¡®But nonetheless, that is today¡¯s date,¡¯ it replied. ¡®What is our calendar then?¡¯ I asked. ¡®There are still 12 months of the year. The months are called: Quietus, Vita, Tenebris, Lux, Chao, Ordo, Terra, Caeli, Aqua, Ignis, Malum, Bonum. Each month falls under a different influence. Bad things are more likely to happen in Chao or Malum. Good things happen more often in Ordo and Bonum. There are other influences at play as well. Be warned that there is a real possibility that the calendar can affect your spell casting. Spells of fire are more potent in Ignis and less in Aqua and vice versa. The eight days of the week are now called after the elements: Ignisday, Aquaday, Teraday, Caeliday, Luxday, Tenebrisday, Vitaday, and Quietusday.¡¯ ¡®So that makes our years what, ah, wait, how many weeks are there in a month?¡¯ I asked. ¡®There are still four weeks in a month,¡¯ it answered. ¡®So that makes our years 382 days long?¡¯ I asked. ¡®Yes,¡¯ it answered. ¡®Huh,¡¯ I thought. I was stunned yet again by the magnitude of the changes that we were going through, looking out past the girls doing yoga across the field of grass that used to be a crumbling parking lot, I could only shake my head and hope for our survival. I supposed if the System could add another two moons, reworking the calendar wasn¡¯t that major a change. Come to think about it, if the System added two moons, our calendar would need to change. Just then the girls finished their yoga and came over. ¡°Good to see you¡¯re alive,¡± said Janet. ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s 6:45 in the morning. I¡¯m up way early. Especially when you consider that I went to bed at around 2:00 last night.¡± ¡°You go boy!¡± said Tanya. ¡°How¡¯d you figure out the time. I don¡¯t see a watch or have you figured out how to use your cell slab?¡± she said, referring to the bricks of black material that our cell phones had turned into. ¡°Think time!¡± I said. ¡°Woh!¡± said Janet. ¡°A clock in mah head! Cool!¡± ¡°You want to see something freakier. Think date!¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s the 1st day of the first year of the first month? It¡¯s not January, it¡¯s June, and, the last I heard, it was 2018. What gives?¡± said Tanya. ¡°It¡¯s the first day of the month Quietus in the year one. Oh, and it¡¯s Ignisday, apparently.¡± I said. ¡°Huh?¡± they both said at the same time. ¡°Yeah, and weeks have eight days in them too,¡± I said. ¡°Who knew? Ignisday, Aquaday, Teraday, Caeliday, Luxday, Tenebrisday, Vitaday, and Quietusday.¡± Both of them started to yell questions at me and I just held up my hand to them. ¡°Everything I know, you now know,¡± I said. ¡°Talk to your imues if you want more information, that¡¯s all I know. Ok, let¡¯s plan our day, shall we?¡± I said. ¡°Last night we said, well ok I said, we¡¯d need to talk tactics and strategy, practice some battles formations, and try to figure out how we¡¯re going to get to my mother''s place. I figure now¡¯s a good time. What do you two think?¡± I asked. Both of the girls looked a little sweaty. I tried not to stare, but it was hard. I mean, two gorgeous women, sweaty and limber. ¡°I think that I want breakfast,¡± Janet said. ¡°All my years of dieting and now I¡¯m stuck in a field on the morning after the apocalypse wishing to a God who evidently took off, that I had a McMuffin and a coffee. Anyone got anything to eat?¡± ¡°Oh God! I¡¯d kill for a McMuffin, or better still one of the Village Inn¡¯s short stacks,¡± I said. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if I have something for us to eat or not. Last night when I was unpacking the trailer, I started hurling the MREs that I¡¯d bought out, so I think we¡¯ve got at least six months of food. I went online to the website called ¡°TheReadyStore.com.¡± They had this package deal of six months of MREs. So I bought it, on sale for $2,520.00. I don¡¯t know, it just seemed like the thing to do at the time, so - assuming that they¡¯re still good - we should have two months apiece of meals. Although I didn¡¯t look them over very well when I was unpacking, I did notice some changes to the packages when I went over to get our weapons. They didn¡¯t look like the 18 boxes of food that I bought though so we¡¯ll have to see what They left us. We stood up and wandered over to what used to be the loading dock and looked over the non-weapon items that I¡¯d bought. My Carhartt overalls had translated into what looked like leather clothes. Once we held it up, we were able to see that it was now three sets of light-weight leather gear, the polyesters and other plastics in the insulation and covering had been transformed into what appeared to be some type of animal hide. It was thicker than what you¡¯d normally build a purse out of, but I wouldn¡¯t want to depend on it against a sword or a gun, although I guess guns were a thing of the past. It would probably do well against brush though, so standard forest gear made without plastics? Once again, the sets of overalls had translated to three leather armors and two of them were obviously not for me. The Doc Martins I¡¯d bought had changed too, looking more like army boots with thick leather soles and leather ties instead of laces. Once again, there were three pairs and judging by their sizes and shapes, once again, two of them weren¡¯t for me. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we¡¯ve got to eat.¡± It was funny how the apocalypse had adapted the cardboard boxes. They were now made out of thin boards like you might buy a couple of bottles of wine in. They were pale wood that appeared varnished, actually, they seemed fairly well made. They didn¡¯t have any designs or graphics or labels or lettering on them, they were just plain, although, well-made wood. Pre-apocalypse me would have used them as bookshelves or for something decorative in my living room. Post-apocalypse me was more concerned that they were quite a bit smaller than the big cardboard boxes. I wondered how something that size could hold six months of chow. I picked up one and figured out how to slide off the lid and looked inside. Inside each of the eighteen boxes were 10 small glass bottles about the size of a bottle of NyQuil which were sealed with both cork and wax. Inside was an almost glowing, pink fluid. And, of course, there was no label on them either. ¡°Well, shoot!¡± I said as I pulled one of them out of their box. ¡°Anyone have any idea what the heck these are?¡± I asked. The girls pulled it out of my hands and looked it over closely. I looked on as they examined the bottles and their caps. I thought about my wish to have some kind of magical ability to identify things and then I thought about how when I was first setting up my interface, everything was labeled. I wondered if maybe I had restricted the labeling action of the interface too much. I remembered how I¡¯d just thought to the interface or, maybe, at the interface and it turned off all of the annoying messages and tried to adjust it to show labels on both things that were either living or dangerous (my current default setting) and also to show labels on things that I was curious about. After a few moments, a label appeared above the bottle, ¡®Minor Potion of Sustenance.¡¯¡±
¡°Congratulations! You¡¯ve discovered, Identify. For every 1 point of mana invested, you can determine basic information about a person, object or living thing. This is an internal skill, meaning you can only use it on or for yourself. As you get better, the amount of knowledge you gain, the cost and the amount of time required may go down. OK, it will, but we¡¯re not telling you how much. ¡­If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
¡°I don¡¯t know what it is,¡± said Tanya. ¡°It¡¯s really pink though. I don¡¯t suppose They traded out our food for Pepto Bismol, did they?¡± ¡°Try looking at it with captions or labels turned on,¡± I said. ¡°Ooh!¡± They both said. ¡°I got,¡± Tanya began. And then Janet cut in and said, ¡°Identify, right? Nice one, Monsoon!¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Tanya. ¡°What she said.¡± ¡°My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you.¡± I said trying to channel James Cagney. Evidently unsuccessfully ¡®cause they both just stared at me. ¡°James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy??¡± They just kept staring. ¡°My mom likes old movies,¡± I muttered. ¡°Ok then,¡± I said. ¡°Imu, what¡¯s a ¡®Minor Potion of Sustenance?¡¯¡±, I asked. The little guy appeared and said, ¡°It is a potion that provides all of the necessary nutrients for the drinker to survive for 24 hours. At the end of that time, their system will adjust back to normal with the onset of hunger pangs in approximately 4-5 hours. Fluids must still be consumed.¡± And then he vanished. I knew I should have bought bottles of Gatorade too! ¡°Well,¡± I said. And then I pulled out another bottle, removed the top and slammed it. It was good, tasting like lemonade and a cool breeze. ¡®Thank God!¡¯ I thought. ¡®At least this isn¡¯t one of those manga¡¯s where potions taste like dog spit.¡¯ ¡°Not bad!¡± I said. And then a notification appeared:
You drank a ¡°Lesser Potion of Sustenance.¡± All nutritional needs are taken care of for the next 24 hours. ¡­ and your farts smell like Bubblicious bubble gum. ¡­ just kidding ¡­ about the last part although they will smell vaguely strawberry-ish. TMI?
¡°Well, I¡¯m good for the next 24 hours!¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk formations!¡± Both girls glanced at each other and then took out a potion and downed it. ¡°Not bad!¡± said Tanya. ¡°Yeah,¡± said Janet. ¡°Did anyone else taste a breeze? I mean how is that even possible? How do you taste wind? How would I even know that it was a breeze? It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve ever tasted one before?¡± Tanya and I looked at each other and then spoke at once, ¡°It¡¯s magic!¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve taken care of meal number one, you girls are on the hook for meal number two.¡± ¡°What?¡± they both yelled? ¡°Relax,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the first rule. I cooked, I don¡¯t clean.¡± ¡°Nice try white man!¡± said Janet. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work that way around me.¡± ¡°Me neither!¡± said Tanya. ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve got to set up some rules?¡± ¡°Lord,¡± I said. ¡°Here we go!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t feed the animals!¡± Tanya said. ¡°Good one!¡± Janet said. ¡°Best cook, cooks.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Cooks don¡¯t clean.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± said Tanya. ¡°How about this, the cook gets first-watch.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°I see where this is going. Midwatch is rotated then. And, if no one cooks, the previous midwatch is last-watch, first-watch is midwatch and last-watch is first-watch.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± Tanya said. ¡°How do we determine who¡¯s the best cook?¡± ¡°Show Cooking Skill to Party,¡± I said. And immediately a notification appeared in front of me and, guessing from their jumps, the girls.
Monsoon Seebring, Cooking Skill - Level 2.
¡°Ha! Sucker! Eat this!¡± said Janet. ¡°Show Cooking Skill to Party.¡±
Janet Lee, Cooking Skill - Level 3
We both looked at Tanya then and she said, ¡°Show Cooking Skill to Party.¡±
Tany Slovakia, Cooking Skill - Level 5
She shook her head. ¡°Mom was a single mother and, before she married the asshole, had a couple of jobs trying to make ends meet. I had to cook for my little brother who was finicky.¡± ¡°OK looks like Tanya¡¯s the cook then,¡± Janet said. ¡°Do you want to be cook all the time?¡± I asked. ¡°Because I think we get experience points for leveling skills, and cooking is something that we have to do all the time so it might be a way to gain experience for all of us. What do you think?¡± I asked. ¡°To tell you the truth, I¡¯d rather not be the full-time cook,¡¯ she said. ¡°I used to like to do it, but having to do it all the time would kind of suck.¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Then we¡¯ll just leave it at cook get¡¯s first watch and, if the cook changes, the former cook gets midwatch.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± Janet said. ¡°Me too!¡± said Tanya. ¡°Alright, formations. Wait, before we move on, does anyone have more rules to propose?¡± I said. ¡°Just this one,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Everybody works!¡± ¡°That works for me,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how someone would get entitled and think that they don¡¯t have to pull their weight, but I¡¯m just saying now, it ain¡¯t gonna happen. Everybody¡¯s got to pull their weight!¡± ¡°Well,¡± said Janet. ¡°Except in Rickshaw pulling. In that case, Monsoon pulls everybody¡¯s weight!¡± Both girls started laughing and high-fived each other. ¡°So, anyway,¡± I said. ¡°Here¡¯s what I think we should use as formations. A triangle with me in the lead. Since I¡¯m going to be the tank I¡¯ll be at the front with a shield and a weapon. The weapon might differ based on what we¡¯re fighting. For instance, something big like I don¡¯t know, a mutated cow, I¡¯d probably have a spear, for undead skeletons, God, I hope zombies don¡¯t exist, I¡¯d probably have a hammer or mace, for a human I¡¯d probably have my sword. What I¡¯d like you both to do is to back me up, form the base of the triangle. Tanya on the left, Janet on the right. You¡¯d both have a ranged weapon - the crossbow - and your knives and machetes. You should probably use the crossbow first and then rely on spells. Janet, your spells are healing and maybe buffing and de-buffing, Tanya, your spells will be offensive, fire, force, water, something like that. What I need you both to do is to really focus. Janet, you¡¯re going to be the healer. Your job is to stay alive AND keep us alive. Damage dealing is always going to be secondary to you. Maybe we can get you a pet? Tanya you¡¯re going to be a DPS, you want to bring the pain AND, most importantly, you¡¯re going to be our tactician. Right now, we have only the three of us, so I figure we have only some basic moves. Here¡¯s what I¡¯ve got:¡± ¡°So what do you think?¡± I asked. ¡°I think it sounds like Cheerleading if you ask me,¡± said Tanya. ¡°But without the pom poms and smiles.¡± ¡°I think it will work,¡± said Janet. ¡°At least until we come up with something better. And what did you mean by practice?¡± ¡°Just what I said. We have this nice field here, which used to be the parking lot I called home, I say we spend a couple of hours working on formations. Tanya calls and we all move. Every fifteen minutes we take a break, evaluate and modify and keep going. No pauses, no slacking. This may keep us alive.¡± I said. ¡°And then?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°We start to play with our magic. I¡¯d like to get a spell from all elements before we set out. But failing that at least get something more than ¡®Jade Lotus Touch¡¯ which came with my Monk Class, ¡®Light¡¯ and ¡®Force Bolt¡¯ and ¡®Create Water¡¯ which I got with my mage class. What did you girls get?¡± ¡°I got something called ¡®Light Heal¡¯ and ¡®Clean¡¯ and ¡®Awareness¡¯¡± Janet said. Tanya said, ¡°I received ¡®Force Bolt¡¯, ¡®Light¡¯ and ¡®Charm¡¯ ¡°And then?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°We could practice with crossbows. I could show you how to load them, crank them up, and fire into a target. We could go over the safety rules again. ¡°And then?¡± Tanya asked again. By this time I was starting to suspect something was going on in that blond head of hers, it didn¡¯t help that Janet was starting to laugh under her breath. ¡°I guess,¡± I said, ¡°we can go over knife fighting basics. Where to cut, what to expect, practice a little bit. That kind of stuff.¡± ¡°And then?¡± Tanya asked again. By this time Janet was rolling on the floor and I finally clued in, ¡°No ¡®and den¡¯¡± I started shouting in my best Austin Kutcher voice while Tanya kept saying ¡°and den, and den.¡± I¡¯m not sure if it was the tension we were all under or if it was that funny, but we laughed for about ten minutes. Anytime one of us would start to stop, someone else would say ¡®and den¡¯ and we¡¯d start up again. God, I loved that movie. Finally, we quit though and I got them out on the field and we started working on our formations. ¡°Skinny B-Up!¡±. ¡°Fat swords!¡± ¡°Fat B-Up 10!¡± After a short time, we decided that almost any of the calls needed an ¡°Up¡± command added, so the calls changed a little bit. The Up meant start. ¡°RL - D45 Up!¡± ¡°LL - D90 Up!¡± Then we decided that the D in the turns was confusing, so we eliminated it. ¡°RR 90 Up!¡± ¡°RL 45 Up!¡± ¡°Skinny RR 90 Up!¡± After a notable call of ¡®LL 33 Up¡¯ and it¡¯s total failure we decided that the only angles that could be called were 45, 90, and, after some debate, reluctantly 180. Reluctantly because it was a pain for the girls and me to synchronize our turns and it was hard to say. Then we decided that distance was too important to mix with turning so every advance/retreat call would be separate and, of course, we added F-Up which meant Forward whatever feet were specified. It also sounded like we were telling whatever we were fighting to f*** off, so that was a bonus. And finally, we decided that we needed a stop call, something that would make us stop moving, not fighting, and that became ¡°All Stop¡±. And, of course, we talked about what to do if we needed to surrender or take prisoners or to stop fighting and that led to ¡°Fight Stop.¡± That took a little over the two hours that we¡¯d planned for it, but it was worth it. We also made plans to practice every morning before yoga and meditation. Not for a full two hours, just for 30 minutes to wake us up. So 30 minutes of drilling, followed by 30 minutes of yoga and 30 minutes of meditation, the last one with a guard on watch, of course. All of this would slow us down but should increase the probability of arriving, if you know what I mean. Chapter 6 - We Get Ready. (Part 2) After we took a short break, I told them everything that I knew about knife fighting, which was probably not enough since I''d never actually been in one, thank god and knock on wood: They both looked at me with their eyebrows raised and I said, ¡°Hey, he was an ex-Navy Seal. He learned the hard way.¡± After that, we practiced for about 30 minutes more. It wasn¡¯t near enough to really train them, but, hopefully, it was a start. I showed them two grips, the forward and the reverse and we walked slowly through a fight, backing, circling, grabbing, stabbing, and kicking. We also did some faux katas while chanting: ¡®neck, neck, arm, arm, wrist, wrist, thigh, thigh, belly¡¯. The funny thing was, well besides me and two girls chanting ¡®neck, neck, ¡­¡±, was how our practice really emphasized that a knife fight was more about positioning, moving, keeping alert to our surroundings and waiting for the other guy to make a mistake. Finally, we broke and got some water. ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°this potion¡¯s excellent! I¡¯d be starving right now if it weren¡¯t working. Sweet! ¡°Dude!¡± said Tanya! And then we caught Janet looking disgustedly at us, so we cut it short. ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Who¡¯s going to take watch while the other two meditate and work on spells?¡± ¡°I do it,¡± said Janet. ¡°I want to work on my knife fighting and formations anyway. I figure I can meditate while sitting in the rickshaw!¡± she said. Tanya and I both sat down and had a brief discussion about what we thought we could accomplish. We both thought that we probably wouldn¡¯t get a major skill like lightning bolt, meteor shower or even fireball. But we hoped we¡¯d be able to get at least some of the other magic skills. Plus we wanted to see if we could increase our spells levels. We started with the Light spell. It seemed the easiest for our purposes. It only took a couple of seconds to cast and only cost 10 mana without a cool down. We started casting like mad, both of us making the simple hand gestures required, basically pointing at the sky, and saying ¡°Light¡±. After about 15 seconds, we¡¯d both cast the spell about five times. All around the ground and in the air there were these foggy, glowing yellow balls of light. They looked vaguely like what I imagined a Will-o¡¯-the-Wisp would look like, maybe a bit brighter. Not incredibly bright in the daylight, each one looked like it would be about the equivalent of ten or so candles. The spell also allowed us to place them anywhere in space and on objects as well (I placed one on the end of my machete) provided that they were within about 10 feet or so. Tanya was starting to feel short of breath, kind of dizzy and developing a headache so she stopped, sat down and started meditating to gain back her mana. I had a bigger mana pool, so I kept casting. Shortly after I cast the 13th spell, I got the notification that we were expecting.
Spell - Light - Level 2 - 250 EXP
The light got a little brighter, but that was the only change. I told the girls that it looked like it took 13 casts to reach level two in a spell. I cast it about another 2 times and almost passed out. Serious mana shortage. I dropped and started meditating as well. I did some calculations and figured that my mana pool would almost be back to normal in about 37 minutes thanks to my Titles and the meditation skill. I waited and sure enough in about 30 minutes, it was almost filled up, so I cast the spell another 10 times, but this time I didn¡¯t get the notification, so as we expected, each level in a spell got a little harder to achieve. In the meantime, Tany cast the spell another five times, meditated again, and then cast it three more times and got the same notification that I¡¯d received earlier.
Spell - Light - Level 2 - 250 EXP
She started dancing around and shouting ¡°Wahoo! I¡¯ve got a second level spell and experience points! Who¡¯s bad?¡± she asked. Then she curled her hands up and pointed her index fingers at herself and said, ¡°That¡¯s right! I¡¯m bad!¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°You be you, girl!¡± Janet shouted. ¡°Queen of the light balls!¡± ¡°Uh huh! Uh huh! Tell it, girlfriend!¡± Tanya said. ¡°Oh, wow. I¡¯m second level two. Sweet!¡± I just kept meditating. After about an hour, so much for the thirty minutes, we¡¯d planned on spending, my mana was back to normal. Janet had recovered all of her mana by then also, so we all stood around and talked a bit about what we wanted to do. I mentioned that I wanted to get them some practice with the crossbows, explore Mighty Max¡¯s interior, just to see the changes that the girls had talked about and pick up the boxes I''d created and left inside, and I needed to try to figure out the rickshaw. For some reason, now that it was getting closer to time for us to leave, I was getting more reluctant to do so. I don¡¯t know why I just was not feeling it. Plus that whole food thing. It was really odd to be full and not eat. I kept wanting to eat because I always eat breakfast, but at the same time, I felt full. I mean when you think about it, it¡¯s a huge lifestyle change to not have to eat, all of the shopping or, in our case, gathering, the prep work, the cooking, the eating and then the cleanup afterward. I pulled out the empty potion bottle and just mused about it. If these things were plentiful, what a change they would make to human society. I¡¯d never been married or even really had a serious girlfriend, but I remember back when I lived with my mother, meal times were sacred. We spent them together and, grew closer over the rituals of food. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about this shortcut. Janet looked over and then said, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty freaky, isn¡¯t it. A bottle and you¡¯re full.¡± Tanya said, ¡°I know. It¡¯s just weird. It¡¯s about 11:00 in the morning and I¡¯ve done all of this stuff, more stuff than I normally would have and I haven¡¯t eaten since yesterday¡¯s pizza and I¡¯m full. Thanksgiving full. I am thirsty though. ¡°Well, I¡¯m just the person that you should be talking too!¡± and I turned to Janet and said, ¡°Give me your potion bottles.¡± I collected them both and set them on the loading dock in front of me along with my own, then tried my ¡°Create Water¡± spell for the first time. I made the gesture, for some reason, when I was given the class and the spells, all of the knowledge I needed to cast each one of my spells was given to me. Anyway, I made the gesture, my left palm raised shoulder high and pointing upwards toward the sky and clouds, then pulling my hand down toward my waist with my fingers forming a steeple, and said the word, ¡°Water¡±. Simple, but as it turned out, effective. When I turned my hand with the steeple aimed downward, water started appearing from just beyond the ends of my gathered fingers. I quickly started filling the bottles and then I held my hand over my head and washed away some of the heat and sweat I was covered in. I was able to cool the water a bit and control the speed at which it flowed. I could get it to flow about as much as a bathroom sink¡¯s faucet would produce or reduce it down to the barest trickle. Both girls came over and said, ¡°Oh, oh! Me next, me next!¡± while grabbing back their potion bottles and sucking down the water. I looked at them and they commanded, ¡°Shower me now!¡± so I held my hand over their heads and soaked them down until the water quit, about 5 gallons worth I¡¯d say. ¡°I love magic!¡± I said. ¡°I really, really love it!¡± Both girls nodded their heads in agreement. Tanya said, ¡°I have to get that spell!¡± Janet said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I can get the same spell, but, if I can, I want that one too!¡± ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll add it to the list of stuff we need to get done,¡± I said. ¡°Who''s up for practice with the crossbows? After we get finished, I¡¯d like to step inside Mighty Max and see what we can see. Tanya, you said that the inside of the place was changing, I¡¯d like to head inside and see what changes were made. How things ended up, you know?¡± They both said that they thought it sounded like a plan, so we got ready for practice. We grabbed the two crossbows, the bolts (I divided them between the two girls - about a 100 each which they stored in their inventories), I grabbed my bow and the quiver of arrows, and some targets that I also had purchased, and we headed out into the field that used to be the loading zone/employee parking lot for Mighty Max. In the midst of what was now a field, there were some trees scattered around, which was yet another sign of how things had changed, new trees, some of them 40 footers. We stuck the targets to the trees with mana. It was a cool trick. When we were trying to get the targets to stick to the trees by looking for a limb or twig we could use and not finding anything, Tanya picked up the target, held it to the tree and shouted, ¡°Sticky, sticky!¡± and it worked. She says that she got a notification of a new spell called, ¡°Stick It¡± which cost about 4 mana points and would stick stuff together until the mana was removed or the objects were forced apart. Of course, then I had to try it, success, and Janet did too, but, she got a different spell called, ¡°Essence Merge¡± which did about the same thing. Our spell looked as if the target was wrapped around the tree, almost as if it was glued on, Janet¡¯s somehow seemed to join the two objects as if the tree¡¯s bark had somehow grown a target. Then we backed off about 25 yards and I talked about the parts of the crossbow and went over the safety rules of the crossbow again. I showed them how to load the bolts, how to use the scopes and went over the rules again: They shot about 25 bolts each and did pretty well too. Their shots were all inside the first or second ring and they even had a couple of bullseyes. I mean we were pretty close to the targets, but still, not bad. I made sure that they learned how to properly load them and I also made sure that they knew how long it would take to load them. I didn¡¯t want them to be trying to reload in a fight when they didn¡¯t have time for it. I also practiced with my bow and by the end of the practice time, the old feeling of mastery had started to come back. Once again, I was putting most of my shots inside the first ring, but I had a few bullseyes or near bullseyes too. It took us about an hour and a half to complete our practice and, by the time we were done, we were all feeling it. The best thing of all is that we only lost 3 bolts and I only broke a single arrow. Chapter 7 - We Explore Mighty Max (Part 1) After archery, we sat around and rested for a bit. It was a beautiful day. Warm, but not hot. Oklahoma has weird temperatures. Some Junes it is 102?, some Junes it¡¯s 65? (that¡¯s Fahrenheit, not Celcius, by the way.) This June or rather Quietus, I guessed it was closer to 70?. I wondered if the weather was going to change since the calendar said that the month now was a January equivalent. Was the temperature going to slowly or rapidly go down to be more aligned with winter weather or did the seasons change or even vanish? Did the whole world become like southern California? I must have been looking a little stressed because Tanya started saying my name, ¡°Monsoon, Monsoon, Monsoon!¡± I finally heard her and looked over and she gave me a peace sign and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, be happy!¡± Janet and I both laughed because what else can you do in the midst of an apocalypse? We sat in the shade of our target tree and chilled for a while. The girls talked and I sat and listened. Of course, we all made sure to be facing a different direction because, well, what else can you do in the midst of an apocalypse. ¡°Ok,¡± I finally said. ¡°Who''s up for Mighty Max?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do this thing,¡± said Janet. ¡°I want to see what Mighty Max turned into.¡± ¡°So do I,¡± I said. ¡°I set aside some stuff and I¡¯d like to pick it up if I can.¡± ¡°I want some Diet Dr. Pepper,¡± said Janet. ¡°I have a three bottle a day habit that I don¡¯t intend to kick. Let¡¯s get me some!¡± she said and then stood up and started walking towards the loading dock! ¡°Woah, girl! Woah!¡± Tanya shouted with me echoing something similar. ¡°We¡¯ve got to plan this!¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said to Janet. ¡°Remember the apocalypse? That thing that happened just last night? Remember the shelves folding up, turning from metal to wood, things disappearing? Remember that?¡± ¡°I got it! I got it!¡± she said. ¡°I just am going crazy for a diet DP right now. So how do you want to handle this? ¡°I say we handle it like it¡¯s going to be our first combat. We march inside, slowly and carefully, and try to safely explore the building. As of right now, I¡¯ve only had to fight one thing, but that¡¯s one thing more than I¡¯ve had to fight before in my entire life. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯ve had a couple of fist fights, bully smackdowns, and even been mugged in Boston once, but that acid slime was the first time that something was actively trying to kill me and, I killed it! We need to, as you said, ¡®start like we mean to proceed!¡¯ Everybody needs to armor up, get your weapons ready, assume our formation and, then and only then, head inside. Better a slow approach, then a dead reproach!¡± I said. There was a pause. ¡°It was something my Sensei used to say,¡± I said. Both of the girls looked at me and shook their heads, ¡°Give me a break! My leadership is only Level 3!¡± We put on our leather armor, the girls inside the teepee, me outside behind it. I left my clothes on underneath to prevent chafing; hopefully, I wouldn¡¯t smell too bad. I doubted that I¡¯d be that lucky though, judging by my past experience of wearing leather shoes in the summer. I stored my bow and quiver in my inventory, drew the machete and equipped the shield. The girls loaded their crossbows and made sure that their machetes were handy. We quickly went over the drill, shoot, draw their machetes, Tanya casts Force Bolt, Janet¡¯s on healz. I¡¯d be out in front with both of the girls behind me and Tanya would be our tactician, she¡¯d be directing us in the fight. We hopped up on the loading dock, took our positions, and faced the back door of Mighty Max, the door was open and the space beyond it was black in the afternoon sun. ¡°Everyone ready?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°I am!¡± we responded. We stepped into the darkness within and looked around. The room was still the shipping area. It ran the whole length of the back wall of the Mighty Max. Where before it had a shipping manager¡¯s office and a huge number of shelves (metal ones that were built in and left over from the days when the store was a Walmart), it now was an empty room. Not even dusty yet, although with the loading dock door opened, it would soon become that way. Tanya yelled out ¡°Light¡± and then both she and I cast our light spell. I cast it on the center of my shield. It was the equivalent to about 12 candles since I leveled it up. The light was yellow and not really very bright at all. Maybe a quarter or slightly more as bright as an old 60-watt bulb. The light spells lit up the room, but the shadows were pretty heavy in the corners. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything in the room. I waved my shield from side to side, directing the light around the room and nothing moved, except the shadows. The door back into the store was black and, vaguely, we could sense movement. Hear it too, a sound like paws or unshod feet moving away from the light.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Tanya had cast her spell on the end of her machete and was now holding it up. ¡°Monsoon,¡± she said. ¡°We need to do better with the lights. I¡¯ve got mine on the machete, but it¡¯s going to not be that great if I have to hit something with it.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe we can step outside and try to figure out something? What do you think?¡± ¡°Dr. Pepper! Dr. Pepper¡± Janet chanted. Tanya and I both laughed and then Tanya said, ¡°Let¡¯s at least walk the room, see if anything¡¯s changed and then move to the doorway. What do you say?¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright by me,¡± I said. ¡°Janet?¡± ¡°Tanya¡¯s the leader, I¡¯m just the healz! Let¡¯s do this!¡± she shouted. ¡°Quiet!¡± I whispered back. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear that movement in the other room? Let¡¯s not let them come to us, let¡¯s go to them!¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡± she whispered back. ¡°Are you ready, fearless leader?¡± she asked Tanya. Tanya just nodded and then said, ¡°Skinny T-Up!¡± We both looked at her and she rolled her eyes at us and said, ¡°New call, it¡¯s a starting call. It means to form the triangle and get ready to move out.¡± Janet and I both looked at her, shrugged at each other, and then assumed our positions, me at the point facing the door. Then she said another new call, ¡°Left Drift.¡± Again both Janet and I looked at each other and then looked at Tanya. ¡°It means to keep facing forward while moving to the left at a slow walking pace.¡± ¡°We need to talk about your calls,¡± I said. ¡°Not that I mind them, just probably combat isn¡¯t the place to learn them at, you think?¡± ¡°Silence on the line,¡± Janet said and then quietly snickered. We marched along the back of the store wall, keeping our eyes peeled on the doorway, but moving along the back wall. There was a strange, acrid odor that I had smelled before, but couldn¡¯t identify. ¡°Hamster pee!¡± Tanya whispered. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m smelling, hamster pee!¡± She was right. The odor was unmistakable. It brought back shades of Miss Bingham¡¯s classroom at the University School for Gifted and Talented Children. We used to take turns keeping the class hamster and changing its litter. The room smelled exactly like the bottom of the cage did. We reached the far wall and looked in the corners, other than shadows and something that looked like big mouse droppings, there was nothing there. ¡°What do you suppose happened to all of the shelves and stock?¡± I asked. ¡°There wasn¡¯t a lot back here, but there was some cleaning supplies, some plastic takeout dishes, forks, and stuff, and there was also a bunch of CO2 and soda tanks here last night.¡± Both girls shook their heads, saying they had no idea either. Keeping our formation, we walked the back wall toward the other side as well. My chest felt tight and I was sweating. In the web novels, the MC had plot armor, I just had light-weight, leather gear. I wasn¡¯t particularly happy about that either. Once again, nothing but shadows and suspiciously large mouse droppings. ¡°Skinny T-Up to the door,¡± Tanya said and we marched toward the doorway to the interior of Mighty Max. I reached the door and held my place. I heard the girls stopping behind me. The light from my shield did a pretty good job of illuminating the room beyond, at least as much as it could. Originally in Mighty Max, this room was a big square, rectangle really. It was about 500 feet wide by 300 feet long. The front doors were on the northeast end, the loading dock was on the south end, with the showers, locker rooms, and the restrooms on the east side (women¡¯s) and west side (men¡¯s). The Indian diorama used to sit in the middle of the space while the vendor tables were all around while the two eating areas (the soda fountain and the pizza place) took up the front half of the space. The convenience store took up space next to the entrances. The light couldn¡¯t penetrate the room even though the room had gotten smaller because there was an enormous pile of what looked like broken wooden shelves, chairs, tables, dolls and other crap from the trading post. Somehow it looked like it was pulled together purposefully, rather than dumped like a construction trash pile. At the base and other locations in the pile, there were dark holes about a foot or two in radius. We stood and studied the pile and what we could see of the room for a minute or two, trying to decide what we were going to do. ¡°Mana check,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I¡¯m down 10,¡± I said. ¡°Full up,¡± said Janet. ¡°Down 10,¡± said Tanya. ¡°We going to do this, or what?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Janet. ¡°What the hell happened to this place? The room¡¯s smaller and has this big nest thing right in the middle of it. I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Well, that clearly looks like a nest for something and I left the boxes with the food and stuff up front by what used to be the convenience store. We can do this many ways, try to draw out what lives in that nest which I¡¯m guessing might be some big rats or mice or something similar and fight them here in the doorway where hopefully they can¡¯t swarm us. Or we can try to slip around them; however, I¡¯m pretty sure that whatever lives inside that nest knows we¡¯re out here. Or we can leave out the back, go around to the front and try to reclaim the goods I left without disturbing the nest. What do you think?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t like rats!¡± said Tanya. ¡°Me neither,¡± said Janet. ¡°Ok, outside it is,¡± I said. ¡°B-Up exit,¡± said Tanya and we began to back slowly toward the loading dock. Chapter 7 - We Explore Mighty Max (Part 2) Outside the sun seemed brighter and the grass somehow greener. The light breeze felt great against the sweat I hadn¡¯t realized that I was producing. My back was soaked and my hair was kind of matted down. I hadn¡¯t realized that I was that tense until we came outside. ¡°Definitely gonna need a bath after this,¡± said Janet, sniffing her pits. ¡°Yea,¡± I said while running my hands through my hair trying to get my hair a little dryer. We kind of strolled around to the front of the building. We took the time to pack everything into our inventories or the rickshaw before we left. I didn¡¯t mess the harness, just pulled the rickshaw around front just in case we decided to leave in a hurry. Once we got around front we repeated the process of getting in formation in front of the doors. Janet called it again. ¡°Skinny T-Up.¡± She waited until we¡¯d got into our places. ¡°You guys ready?¡± she asked. ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Tanya replied. ¡°OK,¡± said Janet. ¡°Remember, no talking unless you are pointing something out. Here be monsters. Everybody¡¯s mana good?¡± she asked. ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Yep,¡± we chorused. ¡°OK,¡± she said. ¡°Let¡¯s do this. T-Up Door.¡± I started ahead marching toward the door. When I got there, I could see into the building. The doorway was black, but some light still penetrated inside through the open windows? Holes in the walls? Inside, basically at the back of what used to be a convenience store area, I could see something glowing with dim, pearlescent light, right where I remembered the cash machine being. ¡°Anyone else sees the light?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± they both answered. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s our goal?¡± ¡°Forward toward the light¡± answered Tanya. ¡°Keep it close in, that light is pretty close to the nest. Plus it¡¯s pretty close to where you said you left the boxes of supplies. We can do both; check out the light and see if there are any supplies left for us to scavenge. Hopefully, the super-gerbils didn¡¯t take it.¡± We stepped in the door and into the darkness of the store. It was gloomy inside, about like an old warehouse that had been abandoned. Like an old warehouse, it had that dusty feel to it, gloom draped over all of the corners. The windows at the front glowed with light, but for some reason, the light from them didn¡¯t penetrate into the room. The smell of rats, or something other than humans, closed in on us; so heavy it was almost choking. The air was a little hot. The dust danced in front of the windows. ¡°Lord, it¡¯s smelly in here,¡± I heard Janet say behind me. ¡°Someone needs to change the litter!¡± ¡°Shh!¡± Tanya said. ¡°Let¡¯s keep focused.¡± ¡°Sorry boss!¡± Janet said. ¡°Anyone see anything?¡± Tanya asked. I looked, but other than the light, I couldn¡¯t see anything. It was kind of pissing me off. I mean we had eight windows, big ones too, at the front of the store that ran along the entirety of the front wall of the store. There should be light, instead, it¡¯s almost black in here. I could see the windows, I could even see out of them. I could see the flashes of color as the birds flew from tree to tree, but I couldn¡¯t hear their calls and the light from them didn¡¯t penetrate to the interior. It was like a membrane separated the interior of the store from the exterior world. I looked towards where the glowing light was and could make out some shapes; it looked like maybe one of the tables from the pizza place or burger bar was turned over on its side in the room in front of me. ¡°Nope,¡± I said. ¡°Possible table down in front, to the left.¡± ¡°OK,¡± Tanya said. ¡°Move toward it. Be ready.¡± I started moving slowly along the front of the room away from the door. I could hear the sound of shifting coming from the back of the room. Not really noisy, just the subtle sounds of something slightly moving its weight, possibly the sound of fur dragging over wood. I glanced back and the two women were behind me, close up. ¡°It¡¯s been about 30-40 minutes, let¡¯s recast our light spells. I don¡¯t want to be in the dark in here,¡± I said. Tanya didn¡¯t say anything, but a new light ball appeared over her head. Shortly afterwards, another one appeared over my head when I cast the spell I settled my shield over my arm and held my sword up resting on the top of the shield, pointing toward the front, and started walking forward, not lifting my feet far from the ground. As I came closer, it turned out what looked like a table turned over, was just that. It was one of the booths from the pizza place. Glancing down, I saw a hand. I started to panic and then realized that it wasn¡¯t a human hand, but a hand from one of the Indians (Native Americans) in the diorama. Still, my heartbeat had shot up to like 200 beats a minute there for a second. I looked toward the pizza ovens and saw that they¡¯d been replaced with what looked like a masonry oven, something like you might spy in a high-end pizza joint. A big arch of stone bricks sitting over a fireplace. The weird thing about it was that it had no place to put wood or other stuff like coal or even a pipe to burn gas like in your fireplace. Just this big block of whitish stone that had two handprints on it, like a child¡¯s art class picture, but full-sized, and, well, made better than a child would have done. I looked around the area and that wasn¡¯t the only difference. The booths had been changed to wooden, bar trestle-type tables, heavy, thick wooden tables, while the prep-area counter and the cash register were gone, replaced by something that had evidently been dragged off. I couldn¡¯t see the freezers or the walk-ins that used to separate the two food areas, the pizza place, and the soda fountain. Instead, there was just a gap with what looked like another stone oven/grill and then more tables where the soda fountain used to be. It looked like something had been busy rearranging the System¡¯s arrangement. Judging by the big mass of stuff ahead of us, we were going to find out what was responsible soon. Well, I hoped we wouldn¡¯t, but my luck probably wasn¡¯t that good. I heard a gasp behind me, then Janet said, ¡°Ok, that¡¯s freaky! Warn a girl when you step over human hands, will you?¡± ¡°Sorry!¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s from the diorama. Just a manikin''s part. Not real!¡± ¡°Looks damn real in this light,¡± she said. ¡°Focus!¡± said Tanya. I shifted my attention back towards the glowing light and moved towards it. Once past the table and the manikin hand, the floor was pretty clear. It was still dark, but whatever rubble or pieces of the interior that existed after the System event (I¡¯ve given up on calling it the Apocalypse, too much baggage in that term) had been scooped up and brought forward and dumped into a big pile in front of us. I guess I was growing used to the smell because I didn¡¯t notice it as much; however, as we moved toward it, the ammonia odor grew stronger. The counters and shelves that made up the convenience area were just gone. They¡¯d probably been replaced with something in the Event, but now, I¡¯m guessing, that whatever they¡¯d changed to was part of the big pile at the back of the room. I could hear our footsteps, but that was about it. As I got closer to the light, I could make out more details. It looked like one of those really old gas pumps, a big cylinder with an oblong sign glowing on top, only it didn¡¯t have a name like Shell on it, instead, it had a picture of a glowing, golden skeleton key, with the bow on top and the blade underneath, pointing downward. I won a trivia game by knowing those terms once. Just saying, I know my key anatomy. Finally, when I got close enough, about 10 feet away, it was like I stepped into a new room. I stopped immediately. Light surrounded me and I could see; however, not outside the light, but inside - perfectly. It was like a well-lit office before the Event. However, only the gas pump-ish thing and I were in it. And it didn¡¯t smell like hamster piss too! So, yea! And, of course, a blue box appeared.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Welcome to the Store! As you are the first sapient being to discover this instance of the Store, and you have the appropriate token, would you like to take ownership? Y/N
I said, ¡°What do you mean, ¡®take ownership?¡¯¡± The blue box didn¡¯t change. I heard Tanya asking, ¡°OK, that¡¯s new. Monsoon, where did you go?¡± I could tell from her voice that she was on the verge of panicking, so I said, ¡°I¡¯m here! Don¡¯t worry!¡± I was still trying to come to grips with the change in my environment. ¡°Janet, where did he go? Did you see anything? What happened? He was just there? Just ahead of me. Of us!¡± By this time her voice was starting to go up and be a little more unsteady. I guessed that wherever I was, was somehow separate from them. Maybe the word ¡°instance¡± in the blue box had a specific meaning. I knew in computer games it meant a specific copy of an area (usually a dungeon) that was created for each person or party that entered. ¡®Holy crap!¡¯ I thought. ¡®This world has really become a strange place.¡¯ ¡°Hang in there!¡± I heard Janet say. ¡°Let¡¯s give him a minute or two before we start worrying. There are no holes in the floor, we didn¡¯t see him move or get thrown or grabbed or fall in a pit. Let¡¯s give him a second. Monsoon,¡± she said. ¡°Get your butt back here, now!¡± Without answering the dialog box, I quickly stepped back and just like that I was back with Janet and Tanya. ¡°What the hell, Monsoon!¡± Janet said. ¡°How about you don¡¯t disappear like that on us, well like, ever again.¡± ¡°Sorry! Sorry!¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened. I took a step forward and I was just somewhere else? It was just me and the gas pump there in a cleaner version of this space only it wasn¡¯t all of this space, it was just about a 3-meter circle. I know, but since the world¡¯s gone metric, I guess I will too. The floors were cleaner and it didn¡¯t smell like rat pee either. Anyway, and then I got a blue box and I tried to talk to you all, but you couldn''t hear me. So I stepped back and the box disappeared and then I was back here!¡± ¡°Only you! I swear to God!¡± Tanya said. But she still came up and grabbed my arm too, I guess, make sure I was there. ¡°What did the box say?¡± asked Janet. ¡°It said welcome to the store and then asked if I wanted to take ownership.¡± ¡°Store?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Ownership?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°You¡¯ve got me, ladies. I have no idea what it meant. I just walked up to the gas pumpy thing and it started spamming me with blue screens. Try it yourself? Or maybe if we are all holding hands we can appear in the same place? Oh, and it said sapient, so unless those hamster-rats are more intelligent than I think, I¡¯m betting it¡¯s a safe space. Besides, I think maybe the instance thing would apply. Even if they could get the thing to function, even if they were somehow intelligent, they wouldn¡¯t be in the same space that you were in, I guess.¡± Tanya said, ¡°Why do you keep calling it a gas pump? It looks nothing like a gas pump?¡± I answered, ¡°Well, not now. But remember those old-time gas pumps? The ones that used to have a dinosaur on them? They were green, I think. Up on their top, they had a round, circular, lighted sign? I don¡¯t think I ever saw one in real life. Maybe in an antique store in Jenks? Anyway, the store/kiosk kind of looks like those old pumps to me, uh, without the gas pump handle.¡± ¡°You are truly strange, you know that, don¡¯t you?¡± she smiled though when she said it and squeezed my arm before letting go and stepping back away. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve got to be careful here. We¡¯re about 25 feet from the nest and we¡¯re way too casual. We need to get it together¡± she said. ¡°Skinny T-Up. Close-in and grab Monsoon. Then slow advance. Let¡¯s look over the Store and then see if we can find the supplies.¡± We gathered up. Our focus coming back to us. It is still early days into the Event and we aren¡¯t used to combat, danger. No excuse, but until yesterday, I¡¯d been concerned with applying to Grad School and cleaning toilets. Until I fought the slime, I¡¯d never been in real danger before. And the ladies still hadn¡¯t. Well, except for now, but it is still a potential danger at this point. ¡°Ok, forward, slow,¡± said Tanya. And we stepped forward toward the nest and the pump/store and just like before, the room changed, got brighter, cleaner, smaller or at least more isolated. Only this time the two women were with me. Once again, I got a blue screen.
Welcome to the Store! As you are the first sapient being to discover this instance of the Store, and you have the appropriate token, would you like to take ownership? Y/N
¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Got the blue screen again. Is everybody seeing it?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± they both said. ¡°But ours doesn¡¯t say anything about ¡®taking ownership¡¯. It just says, ''Welcome to the store. Would you like to shop?''¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s different. Mine still asks ''if I¡¯d like to take ownership?'' Should I do it or not?¡± ¡°Does it still say something about the token?¡± Janet asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. ¡°What¡¯s up with that?¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ve been with you this whole time. You didn¡¯t get anything that we didn¡¯t see, did you?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°As you said, y¡¯all have been with me from the beginning. I haven¡¯t done anything that y¡¯all don¡¯t know about. Except for the slime fight, but you were there. Oh, oh, wait.¡± We stepped back and the blue screen vanished. I reached down and dug into my pocket. Sure enough, there was the skeleton key I got from the fight with the slime. I looked at it, this time really looked at it, trying to inspect it and the thing finally identified as ¡®System Token - Iron Rank¡¯. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Here it is. I found the token. It¡¯s the skeleton key I got from the fight with the slime.¡± ¡°What skeleton key?¡± Tanya said. ¡°Well, when I squished the slime¡¯s core, the slime dissolved and left this key behind. I didn¡¯t really pay attention to it, I¡¯d just been in a fight for my life and you guys were about to hit me with the door, so I just threw it in my pocket and forgot about it ¡®til now.¡± I said. ¡°When I look at it, identify it, it shows, ¡®System Token - Iron Rank¡¯.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± Janet said. ¡°What do you suppose that means? System Token? Iron Rank?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Imu, what is Iron Rank?¡± I asked. My imu appeared and said it, ¡°In the order of treasures, it is the third rank from the bottom.¡± I said, ¡°Oh yeah, what are the others?¡± It answered, ¡°Bronze, Copper, Iron, Silver, Electrum, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Orichalcum, Adamantine, and Unobtanium¡±. ¡°Do those ranks correspond to anything else? Like adventurer ranks?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± it answered. ¡°Each rank corresponds to the appropriate adventurer rank. Bronze > G, Copper > F, Iron > E, etc.¡± ¡°So that means that there¡¯s an Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡± I asked almost whooping with excitement. ¡°There are provisions that allow for the creation of such a Guild. However, it has not been established yet.¡± ¡°Sweet!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°What?¡± Janet asked. ¡°We can become Adventurers. Hang out at the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Take missions. Oh yeah!¡± I may have started to dance a little, but then I remembered who I was with and stopped. Quickly. I coughed and then said, ¡°Iron Rank is the third rank from the bottom in the treasure rank scale: Bronze, Copper, Iron, Silver, Electrum, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Orichalcum, Adamantine, and Unobtanium¡±. ¡°Who comes up with this crap,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of Orichalcum before and Unobtanium, wasn¡¯t that in a comic book?¡± ¡°No,¡± said Janet. ¡°It was in that movie, Avatar. It was what they were mining on that planet I¡¯m pretty sure. I think it was in a couple of other things too.¡± ¡°Take it up with the System!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m just telling you what my Imu said. Anyway, back to the dialog box, do I say Yes or No.¡± ¡°Hand me the token,¡± Janet said. I handed it to her, or at least I attempted to hand it to her, but she was unable to touch it. It passed through her hand like a ghost through a wall. When it did, she gave a little yell and jumped back. I looked at her and she said, ¡°That felt freaky. It felt like a cool breeze blew through my hand. I¡¯ve never felt a breeze inside my hand before. Do it again!¡± I did and then had to do it to Tanya as well. They both tried to pick up the key from my palm, but it was like the key was a hologram to them. Out of phase or something. They played with the key for a couple of moments and then I asked again, ¡°Yes or No?¡± Chapter 7 - We Explore Mighty Max (Part 3)
We talked it over some more and decided that I should say ¡°Yes¡±. We weren¡¯t sure what the Store was, or what ownership implied or if I should hang on to the key for something better, like behind door number two, but eventually the reality of what was facing us overshadowed everything. We had no idea what was going to happen in five minutes, so ownership sounded like it might be a good thing, plus hanging on to the token for something better seemed like a stupid move. Hell, I could die at any time and it didn¡¯t seem inheritable, well lootable. Hard to loot something you can¡¯t touch. We stepped forward again and the same blue screen message appeared. I focused on the blue screen again and thought ¡°Yes!¡± and the token vanished and the window changed.
Congrat...Well hello again! Aren¡¯t you just a little lucky overachiever! We¡¯re gonna call you Risk Taker! +5 luck, + 1 Perception, Charisma and Luck per level. The reason that we¡¯re calling you lucky is sometimes things don¡¯t work out so well. For instance, in most cases, saying you want ownership of the store kind of makes you responsible for the store. In other words, like becoming part of it, like you don¡¯t get to walk away from the store. Instead, you get to spend, oh say, the next eternity managing it. And some of them are in some pretty God (excuse me, Us) awful places! And sometimes, the body is optional. You, however, by dint of being the first one to take ownership on your little ball of earth, get a gypsy store. Lucky you! In other words, where you go, the store follows, maybe a day or two behind, but it will always show up where you are or were. You may not want to advertise this, because ¡°ALL SALES ARE FINAL!¡± Of course, you can always cause the store to appear. But just remember, ¡°ALL SALES ARE FINAL!¡±
Just then, Janet said, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Huh? Did you take ownership? What¡¯s that mean? Did the token disappear? What happened?¡± Tanya was right there with her, echoing her questions. ¡°Tell us boy wonder! What gives?¡± I stepped back, the girls with me, and the blue screen vanished again. ¡°Well, there¡¯s some good news and some maybe good news or maybe bad news? I¡¯m not sure? The good news is that I got another title.¡± Both girls looked at each other and then Tanya said, ¡°Of course you did. You¡¯re the boy wonder. What is it and what does it do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Risk Taker. It adds +5 luck, + 1 Perception, Charisma and Luck per level. Evidently, you don¡¯t want to normally take ownership of System generated things because, well, they can take ownership of you back. But fortunately, since I was the first to take ownership, I got a ¡®gypsy store¡¯ instead of a real store. Evidently, I was pretty lucky. The system said normally I¡¯d become part of the store, body optional. Really would have slowed down our trip to my mother¡¯s place, I¡¯m guessing.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± they both said. ¡°I guess so,¡± said Janet. ¡°Well, what is the bad news, then?¡± ¡°I got a ¡®gypsy¡¯ store. It means that wherever I go, this thing is going to follow me,¡± I said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound so bad,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Well, the message stressed, ¡®ALL SALES ARE FINAL¡¯, so I¡¯m thinking if someone got ripped off or bought something that they later absolutely hated, the person they¡¯re gonna blame is me, and, I can¡¯t issue a refund!¡± ¡°Oh, yeah!¡± they both said. ¡°That could suck if this thing is at all powerful. I mean what currency does it take? Is it like a genie¡¯s magic lamp only with some oily guy, sorry Monsoon, trying to steal our knickers?¡± asked Janet. ¡°I have no idea,¡± I said. ¡°But my luck was seven before I got this, so that may tell us something. If ten¡¯s average, I¡¯m pretty sure I might have failed my Luck roll. Well, what say we look at this bad boy and try to figure out what it does?¡± We turned away from each other and looked back at the gas pump, well dungeon store. It sat there softly glowing in the light that it shed, looking innocuous, harmless. Somehow, I felt all three of us didn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± We stepped forward again and a new blue screen message appeared in front of me. On a whim, I said, ¡°Share screen¡± and the two girls both exclaimed. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± Tanya said. I replied, ¡°I Just said ¡®Share screen¡¯ and focused on the idea of you two being able to view the same message as me. I¡¯m assuming your screen changed?¡± They both nodded. The blue screen said:
Welcome to the Store! Congratulations Boy Wonder and Gal Pals! As you are the first owner of the store, would you like a tutorial? Y/N
I looked at my Gal Pals (yuck, yuck, they are so going to hate that) and they nodded. So I selected Yes. Instantly, it felt like my brain expanded. It was like information was downloaded into my head, except there was no time difference, one minute the knowledge wasn¡¯t there, the next it was. I suddenly knew. It turned out that as an owner at least of a gypsy store, I could either cause the store to appear or not. Of course, if I hadn¡¯t caused it to appear it either remained at its last location or randomly chose a location with sapients in it to appear (somewhere either around me or around where I¡¯d been). I also realized that the store could buy or sell stuff and the prices were high, but so were the potential benefits, things like race change, sex change, more magic, magic at all, class change, sobriety change, armor, weapons, pretty much anything at all. Holy crap, I thought. This thing is like a direct hotline to God, except the Gods on the other end have a bad sense of humor. I suspect it¡¯s like the story of malicious genies. Janet said, ¡°How much for a class change to Druid?¡± The blue screen said,
¡°You are currently not able to access that level of change. You are currently at Bronze rank, you would need to be at least Iron rank to request that.¡±
¡°I asked ¡®How Much?¡¯¡± she said. The blue screen said,
¡°You are currently not able to access that level of change. You are currently at Copper rank, you would need to be at least Iron rank to request that.¡±
¡°What are the rank/levels required to access the various ranks?¡± she said.
That answer costs either 50 mana, 50 Qi or 5 Agnis.
¡°Hang on,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything yet. Is it a permanent loss or just like doing a spell, where you recover over time?¡±
Spell
¡°That¡¯s like thirteen minutes of recovery time and almost a third of my mana, that¡¯s pretty expensive isn¡¯t it? Wait, I¡¯m the owner here. I should get that information for free, shouldn¡¯t I?¡±
  • Bronze - G - Level 1 -5
  • Copper - F - Level 6-10
  • Iron - E - Level 11-20
  • Silver - D - Level 21 - 40
  • Electrum - C - Level 41 - 60
  • Gold - B - Level 61- 100
  • Platinum - A - Level 101-200
  • Mithril - S - Level 201-400
  • Orichalcum - SS - Level 401 - 800
  • Adamantine - SSS - 801 - 1600
  • Unobtanium - Unknown/Diety - 1600 +
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Wow! It¡¯s good to be you!¡± said Janet. ¡°It¡¯s not the most talkative sort, is it? Sometimes it¡¯s really chatty and then others it¡¯s like a robot.¡± "Yes,¡± I said. ¡°One of the earliest conversations I had with the System, it said something like ¡® even the subroutine of the subroutine of the subroutine all the way down to you that¡¯s running this conversation could give a crap!¡¯ so I¡¯m assuming that it or they or him or her or whatever has a bunch of processes that handle stuff for it. I¡¯m actually amazed that I seem to have captured a personality sometimes. That can¡¯t be all that common, can it?¡±
+1 Intelligence ¡­ and that¡¯s the last one you can expect!
¡°I guess not,¡± I said. ¡°The system just rewarded me! +1 intelligence.¡± ¡°Way to go, Wonder Boy!¡± said Tanya. ¡°Gal Pal,¡± I responded. She and Janet both looked a little disturbed and then Tanya said, ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll retire Wonder Boy or Boy Wonder if you do the same with Gal Pal. Deal?¡± ¡°Deal,¡± I responded. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. We¡¯ve got the God box in front of us, is there anything that you¡¯d like to ask for?¡± ¡°How much for a Potion of Healing?¡± asked Janet.
Lesser Potion of Healing - Heals 30 points over 10 seconds. Costs either 30 slow mana, 30 slow Qi, 5 Agnis or one SolDun.
¡°What¡¯s slow Qi or Mana?¡± Janet asked.
It takes 2.5 times as long to replace.
¡°And an Agni is what?¡± Janet asked. "It¡¯s part of our new units of currency,¡± I said. ¡°Last night on watch I started to try to figure out some basic info. They told me earlier that they now controlled the currency, so I thought I¡¯d find out more. Apparently, it goes something like this: ¡°Wow,¡± said Janet. ¡°That¡¯s really complicated, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°You¡¯d think so, but I think They took care of that for us. How many Aurics is a Mittie worth? ¡°10,000¡± she replied instantly. ¡°See,¡± I said. ¡°You just heard it once and yet you know it like you grew up with it. Like you¡¯ve always known it. Pretty wild, huh?¡± ¡°Definitely freaky!¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that they can just change us like that!¡± ¡°Welcome to the post-Event world. If They can add another two moons, I¡¯m thinking that adding a little knowledge ain¡¯t that big a deal.¡± ¡°How much should a dozen eggs cost?¡± This time I asked Tanya. ¡°Two Cupro,¡± she answered and then paused. ¡°Wow, I¡¯m not even sure I could have told you that before the Event, yet now I have a basic idea of what things should cost. This is really wild!¡± ¡°So, that potion would cost more than it should? Is that right? I seem to think that that potion should be about four Agnis. So there¡¯s a markup?¡± Tanya said. ¡°I guess so,¡± I answered. ¡°I also think that the potion is a little much. Maybe they don¡¯t want low-end business or maybe they want us to pay in something other than money. For instance, what¡¯s a SolDun?¡± I asked the God Box.
It is Our least currency. It is immaterial and cannot be exchanged among lesser beings. It can be earned at your level by exchanging things with the God Box or by performing quests given by higher beings.
¡°Isn¡¯t it interesting how the System changes the names of things based on our conversations. For instance, it was the Store, now it¡¯s the God Box. It¡¯s like a constantly changing, modifying system. It¡¯d be pretty cool if the System hadn¡¯t just messed up our universe,¡± I said. How much for a potion of healing?¡± I asked the God Box.
Lesser Potion of Healing - Heals 30 points over 10 seconds. Costs either 30 mana, 30 Qi, 2 Agnis. ¡°Medium Potion of Healing - Heals 60 points over 20 seconds. Costs either 50 mana, 50 Qi, 4 Agnis.
¡°I guess it matters who asks,¡± Janet said. ¡°Different selection, lower costs for Monsoon.¡± ¡°Well, he is the ¡®owner¡¯,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I guess that makes a difference.¡± ¡°I guess so, plus in one more level, I¡¯d be in a different tear or rank,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll have to try it again when I go up a rank. I¡¯m assuming this means I¡¯m the official God Box Purchaser?¡± They both nodded their heads. ¡°I can afford one Lesser Potion of Healing. Should I buy it?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± they both ordered. So I said to the God Box, ¡°I¡¯ll take one Lesser Potion of Healing.¡± The God Box glowed and then I knew two things: one - that I now had a potion in my inventory and, two - that I was now no longer in possession of one of the two Aurics I¡¯d received for the trailer.¡± ¡°Speaking of which, I didn¡¯t get any money for the Cadillac, I wonder why?¡± ¡°Well, it was 20 years old, these are the breaks! Break it up, break it up, break down,¡± said Janet and laughed. ¡°Did it give you the potion? I didn¡¯t see you give it any money? Plus maybe it did, maybe it just left the Agnis or, since it was 20 years old, the Cupros in place.¡± ¡°Good one!¡± I said. ¡°And yes, it took the money and gave me the potion. In my inventory. And that would suck, just little piles of gold left wherever They took stuff. That just ain¡¯t right! Wow, think of the parking lots at the Super Bowl. You could buy a country with that! But in any case, we checked, remember, other than my two Aurics, there was nothing there. So two Aurics for a caddy and a trailer. And, just so you know, the God Box doesn¡¯t give change. It took a full Auric when it should have taken two Agnis. Another reason to not take responsibility for the God Box. People are gonna be pissed when they lose their gold pieces. Hell, I¡¯m kinda pissed.¡± And restrained the impulse I had to hit the God Box like I would have a pop machine that ate my quarter. Fortunately, I wasn¡¯t that stupid. I bet there are people that are though. Yep, a third or is it a fourth reason to not let people know I was the owner. I accessed the inventory and sure enough in the upper right square, there was a single flask, well, more like a test tube with a rounded, flattened base pictured. I willed it to come out, once again not sure how I knew to do that, but I just did, it is so cool! and the tube appeared in my hand. It contained a lightly-glowing, red fluid that, when I removed the lid, smelled of fruit and mint. Maybe strawberries? But not quite. I passed it to the girls and they both examined it and took a sniff. Janet put her finger over the end of it, got it wet and tasted it. ¡°Tastes like it smells,¡± she reported. ¡°Kind of minty, strawberry-ish. Oh, and of wind. A cool breeze on a hot summer¡¯s day. Like stepping out of a hay barn and feeling a breeze running across your forehead and evaporating the sweat. And, once again, I have no idea how I can taste the wind, but that what the tasting brings to mind. Weird! Must be magic.¡± They handed me back the potion and I stuck it back into my inventory. ¡°So, what else?¡± I asked them. ¡°Is there anything else that you want to ask this box?¡± They both looked at the box and then shook their heads no. ¡°Wait! Wait! I want to ask another one,¡± said Janet. ¡°What¡¯s the physical stuff that You can do at my level? I mean, I know You probably can¡¯t or won¡¯t change my sex, but I¡¯m interested in knowing just what You can do.¡±
Change hair color - permanent Change hairstyle or pattern that it grows in Change skin color Change posture Add 1 or 2 inches to height Fix joint pain FIx chest pain Fix scars Fix warts Fix acne Straighten teeth Whiten teeth Repair teeth ...
The list kept growing and scrolling downward. Basically, it was a list of minor fixes to the body or cosmetic enhancements. Stuff that you might be able to do in a salon (less permanently) or a visit to a doctor or a specialist, plus stuff that would take a plastic surgeon, and finally stuff that I had no idea how They¡¯d do it. Add 1 or 2 inches to height, add a couple of inches elsewhere, fix posture? I mean how do you give someone an inch or two? ¡°Are you seeing this?¡± I asked. ¡°Making someone an inch taller? Repair teeth?¡± ¡°Hey, boob jobs are on there too,¡± said Janet. ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t want to make their twins bigger?¡± ¡°Somebody going to be running for their life, maybe sometime soon?¡± said Tanya. ¡°Right,¡± said Janet. ¡°I guess that makes sense. I guess that they could make them smaller too.¡± She glanced downward, ¡°Sorry girls! I didn¡¯t mean it!¡± Both she and Tanya cracked up. I just turned slightly red. Just then the golden key dimmed and then brightened a couple of times. We gathered together and waited for what was going to happen.
Please make a selection or the God Box will deactivate for you until your next Rank.
¡°Anyone want anything?¡± I asked. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s going to shut down?¡± Both girls looked a little wistful at some of the options but said they were good. Shortly thereafter, the God Box¡¯s light turned off and the thing looked like it was just another antique sitting there. It was strange, but I knew exactly how much each of the services cost and what services were available (at my level or rank). I still had no idea what the box could do for say a Mithril ranked person, but I couldn¡¯t wait to find out. Also, I only had an idea of what physical enhancements the box could do for me or someone else. Since I hadn¡¯t asked about anything else, I didn¡¯t know what else it could do. I expected that it could give armor, weapons, magical abilities, traits or titles, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff, but I didn¡¯t know that for sure. And once again, that knowledge was complete, like I¡¯d always known it, but I hadn¡¯t. It was like the currency information. Just suddenly there, but without the feeling of something being added to my mind. That was disturbing on so many levels. If they could add knowledge, maybe they could add memories too. Hi, this is your cousin Fid, who¡¯s actually not your cousin Fid, but you remember the time that he pushed you out of the apple tree? The time he kissed your first girlfriend. Man, cousin Fid is an asshole. Then I decided to not think about cousin Fid anymore. Chapter 8 - Our First Fight (Part 1) When the box grew dim, the light surrounding us grew dim as well and the overwhelming odor of rat pee came back. The sound of something outside of the light cast by our spells shifting and moving came back as well. ¡°T-Up. Skinny.¡± Tanya said. ¡°The storage boxes should be just ahead about 20 feet. If we¡¯re still going to do this, let''s get on with it.¡± I heard the girls shifting behind me, closer up and glanced back. They both nodded so I started forward again. Each step I took closer caused a greater degree of movement from the nest that was still just outside our lights. Movement we couldn¡¯t see but could hear. I could almost feel it on the back of my neck. The hairs somehow standing up in the tension. ¡°I hate rats! I hate rats!¡± I could hear Janet muttering behind me. ¡°Dr. Pepper! Dr. Pepper. I hate rats.¡± ¡°Shh!¡± Tanya said. ¡°Be careful. Pay attention.¡± We moved closer to the nest and the place where I¡¯d left the tubs packed with food and water. Thinking about it I wondered if we really needed the stuff now, we had all of those Potions of Sustenance. We¡¯d gotten about five feet closer to the boxes of stuff and could just see the nest when the first rat showed itself. It looked like an ordinary street rat, black fur, big yellow teeth, long whiskers, except that this one was about the size of a golden retriever. Its head poked out of a black hole, that was about chest high on me, that we couldn¡¯t see into, and then if flopped down onto the ground. Its pink paws had inch long claws on them that were covered in what looked like mud but probably wasn¡¯t. It stank. The Eau de Rat quotient spiked and then spiked again as two more rats on the same size plopped down onto the floor beside it. They had large, pendulous bellies that rubbed on the floor as they crouched, looking up at us. One of them was obviously female and, obviously nursing, since her dugs were leaking milk out onto the floor. Over their heads was displayed their information: Giant Rat, Level 5, 26 HP, Giant Rat, Level 5, 30 HP, Giant Rat, Level 6, 32 HP. The momma rat was the weakest. ¡°Tanya!¡± I said. ¡°Right!¡± she said. ¡°Ok, Monsoon you tank them. Everyone concentrates on hitting the one on the left if possible. Move to the middle after that one¡¯s dead. We¡¯ll finish up the right one last. Janet, crossbow ready?¡± ¡°Ready,¡± she said. ¡°Monsoon, you good?¡± Tanya said. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get this party started.¡± The rats stayed crouched but started to move apart. The middle one and the right one moved off to the right, while the other one, the momma rat, moved left. I started pounding on my shield with the pommel of my sword. ¡°Here ratty! Here ratty!¡± I called, not sure how you taunt a rat. Not sure how you taunt anything really since I¡¯d only done it in games. I wasn¡¯t even sure if taunting was a thing in the real world. Just then I heard the sound of both crossbows firing. The rat on the left suddenly sprouted two quarrels, one in the hindquarters on the side facing us, the other in its front arm. It squealed so loud, I thought I was going deaf for a moment. The other two took that opportunity to charge me, the biggest one launching himself at my chest, while the other one was going for my Doc Martens. Well, what used to be Doc Martens. I met the one aiming for my chest with a shield bash. I felt the weight of the rat hit my shield and then just stop, and fall to the ground. It knocked me back about a couple of feet. It also threw off my planned response to the low one. I originally was planning on booting it while also stabbing it. Too much, I know. Instead, the kick changed to a step backward, but I got lucky with the stab. More by accident than by intention, my sword penetrated its chest, not deep, but enough that it stopped its charge. I saw that their HP¡¯s had both gone down. Giant Rat, Level 5, 25/30 HP, Giant Rat, Level 6, 28/32 HP. The big rat was slightly stunned, the other rat was taking stock, so I glanced over at the other rat. Giant Rat, Level 5, 19/26 HP. ¡®Crap,¡¯ I thought. I hoped that the girl¡¯s crossbows would do more damage.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. While the two rats were out of it, I charged the momma rat. She was also taking stock, still screaming over the bolts she¡¯d been hit with, so I was able to catch her by surprise. I slashed down at her and hit her, but this, unfortunately, left my back exposed to the other two rates. Also, unfortunately, I only did a point of damage and now had a rat clawing at my back and, another on my leg. The one on my back swiped me with his claws and bit me to doing a total of seven points of damage. The other rat did the same but somehow missed. I was over-leveled for the rats, my hit points were enough that I could have probably taken on the rats by myself, but pain still hurts. I yelled and tried to bash the rat on my back with my shield, but couldn¡¯t hit him. Fortunately, there was a support pillar about five feet away and so I ran for it thinking I could smash the rat against it. It bit me and clawed me again. My running and shifting threw him off and he missed with the bite, but got me again with his claws, doing another seven points damage. The other one clamped onto my leg and bit me in my upper thigh, doing another five points of damage. That made 19 points of damage. Not much compared to my total hit points of 185, but that was almost a quarter of Janet¡¯s and Tanya¡¯s hit points. I couldn¡¯t let the rats get at them. And I¡¯d run away from my healer. Crap! But I arrived at the pillar and basically just threw myself at it. I felt the rat on my back scrunch, a warm stream pooled on my back where it peed on me, and I did damage to it, stunning it at the same time. I was able to brush him of using the corner of the pillar while it was still stunned. I glanced at it, Giant Rat, Level 6, 18/32. ¡®Wow,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Ten points of damage.¡¯ The other rat, still clinging to my leg, bit and clawed me again. Somehow, he missed with the bite, but his claws worked and did another four points of damage. 23 points of damage. I yelled, ok, I screamed again, and pounded away at his head with the pommel of my sword. He was too close and, on my leg, to stab him with the sword and it was too awkward to try and strike him with the blade. I hit him once on the head, doing no damage. But it prevented him from biting me. He clawed me though, doing only a single point of damage this time. I pounded him again, this time I hit doing seven points of damage. I hit him hard, stunning him for a second. So I pounded him again twice, just as fast as I could strike him. Both times I did real damage to him since he was stunned and helpless. Four points and then I hit him with what must have been a critical hit in a game because it was way above the damage that I¡¯d been doing earlier - 16 points. Enough to kill him. However, the other rat was back into the fight. At the same time, I could hear the girls fighting. The momma rat stopped squealing and attacked. I heard Tanya cast her force bolt spell. It hit doing damage. Judging by the squeals, pretty good damage. In the meantime, Janet dropped the crossbow and drew her machete. The rat leaped and tried for Tanya, but met Janet¡¯s machete instead. Unfortunately, it more blocked than cut. It barely registered damage, but it did keep the momma rat off her friend. The momma rat¡¯s back was to me, so I took a shot at her. Once again, stupidly turning my back on the other rat. This time I hit her, but not for much damage. In the meantime, the other rat leapt and latched onto my back again. It couldn¡¯t strike me with its claws because it was using them to cling to my leather armor, but it bit the heck out of me. Sixteen points of damage. I felt its incisors digging into my flesh, its tongue rasping across my neck. ¡°Crap!¡± I yelled. The girls and the momma rat both looked at me. So I stabbed her again. Doing six points of damage. I kept my sword extended, trying to keep her from moving, trying to pin her to the floor, and started yelling, ¡°Hit her! Hit her now!¡± Janet did it. She stepped forward and sliced down with a tremendous, overhand strike. Her machete hit and followed my sword down into the momma rat, slicing deep into her shoulder. It was enough, I saw the light fade out of the rat¡¯s eyes. Just then the rat on my back struck again. I guess because I wasn¡¯t moving while trying to pin the momma rat to the floor, it was able to both bite and claw me. But its claws got tied up in the armor and couldn¡¯t get free. The bite hit and hurt like heck, but did surprisingly little damage. Only two points. Once again. I threw myself back into the pillar, only this time the rat was wise to the maneuver and dropped off before I could pinch him between it and myself. I slammed into the pillar and stunned myself. The rat dropped down between my legs, curled up there like a dog expecting scratches. Its head¡¯s level was about my mid thighs. Then the rat took another bite out of my thighs. However, it missed, but was able to connect with its claws for six points of damage. It was basically just curled up between my legs. I looked up and there was Janet. Thrusting at the rat. Thrusting at my groin. ¡°Ah,¡± I screamed. But it didn¡¯t phase her, her machete hit doing five points, pinning both the rat and me to our locations. Just then I heard Tanya¡¯s spell going on again. It hit doing three points. I screamed again. No one wants magic going off next to their Johnson. I dropped my sword and just started punching the rat in the head. I was beyond thought at this point and just wanted the damn thing dead and away from my jewels. I struck it, it bit me doing eight points of damage to my thighs. I screamed, well yelled in a manly fashion again and struck it again. I missed again, it bit me again doing two points of damage. Janet rammed her machete deeper into it, doing eight points of damage. It glared up at me, and so I struck it again. Finally, I hit it and, finally, the thing died. Chapter 8 - Our First Fight (Part 2) Janet looked up at me and smiled. Well, smirked. ¡°Um,¡± I said, standing on my tiptoes, ¡°do you mind removing that blade.¡± For some reason, she glanced over her shoulder at Tanya and then they both started laughing. ¡°No prob,¡± she said and stepped backward and pulling out her machete. The two girls kept laughing. One of them would start to stop and then the other would go ¡°Ah¡± or scream like a little girl (which in my opinion sounded nothing like me) and then they¡¯d start rolling with laughter again. Looking around the place looked like a scene from a horror show. There was blood and rat fur everywhere. It smelled of blood too. And, of feces, of that weird stench of death, of bodies releasing their hold on this world as organized objects and breaking back up into individual parts, this much oxygen, this much carbon, calcium, iron, copper, all the individual components that somehow make us into living beings. I sat and watched the girls laugh. And slowly began to decompress. First I noticed the sword in my hand, I finally released it and began massaging my hands, stretching them out again. The wounds that covered my thighs and back and legs were already not bleeding. For the first time, I was able to see my new body¡¯s natural regeneration rate. At almost four points a minute, I could almost see the wounds closing themselves. Almost like a stop-motion film. But I didn¡¯t have to wait, I could heal myself, and so I did. I used the Qi ability on myself. Closing my eyes, I gathered myself and then, gathered a ball of the golden energy of from my abdomen. I separated it from the bigger ball of energy there and, splitting it in two, I sent the energy up my trunk and then down my two arms to my hands. I could feel it gathered in the palms of my hands, golden. Faintly, through my closed eyelids, I could almost see it, like a bright light, but this was more a soft glow and, yet it wasn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t see the glow, I sensed it. Like you can almost see a glow of heat around a log fire burning in a fire pit or fireplace on a cold evening. Then I simply washed my hands over the wounds, not touching them, but lightly tracing their outlines and they simply closed up and vanished. It must have looked funny when I tried to get the wounds on my back and shoulders because I heard the girls laughing some more, but it was warm laughter. Inclusive, like when you are watching a baby dance along to music. I had to repeat the procedure twice in order to get all of the wounds, but by the end of it, I was totally healed. ¡®Not all of the Event is bad,¡¯ I thought. I opened my eyes to find two curious girls bent over my thighs, the rents in my armor. ¡°Ahem!¡± I said. They both startled back and then Janet said, ¡°That was so cool! It was like your flesh just zipped up. I mean it left all of the blood and stuff outside, but I could see the wounds closing, from inside to out.¡± She looked thoughtfully at the machete she was still clutching. ¡°No,¡± I yelled. ¡°We¡¯re not going to play doctor on me! I mean it.¡± She and Tanya both laughed again. ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°That was about as wrong as wrong gets! One of the things my sensei said was that you should always have a walk through after combat. It helps solidify the lessons learned. He said, ¡®It¡¯s a hard school and doesn¡¯t give second chances. Make sure you learn each lesson that it teaches because you¡¯ll only get one chance to learn.¡¯¡± ¡°Just a question,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Are we out of combat yet?¡± and pointed toward the nest. ¡°Huh, good question,¡± I answered. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We had a mother, which means that there¡¯s probably babies. I don¡¯t know if there are others. We can¡¯t burn it down, do we want to try to search the nest?¡± We all turned and looked at the nest. It was a huge, circular pile of junk, riddled with holes and passages. It was about 18 feet high and, it extended well beyond where our lights faded into darkness. I¡¯d say that it was at least a hundred feet, maybe more in diameter. There was no way three giant rats created this. It was either System generated or there were a whole lot of other rats in there. I could see the decision forming and that decision was not only nope, but hell no!Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here. Tanya, lead us out.¡± ¡°Still going to check on boxes?¡± she asked. ¡°Might as well, we¡¯re here,¡± I answered. Looking at Janet, I got a nod. ¡°OK,¡± she said. ¡°TUp. Skinny. Straight ahead.¡± We started walking toward where we left the boxes. Surprisingly I think they were mostly still there. Fifteen of them were still in their relatively neat lines that I¡¯d put them in. Of course, what used to be made out of clear plastic was now a wooden box. Since the lids were on them, I couldn¡¯t tell if they were full or empty. The other two, the first two that I¡¯d packed, were disturbed. The first one was evidently the one that I¡¯d packed with water and pop. It looked as if the top had been knocked off, but the contents were not disturbed. It was filled with bottles of water and what vaguely looked like bottles of pop. Different, but from five feet away, they looked similar. I heard Janet chanting softly, ¡°Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper!¡± The other one was the one that I¡¯d tried to cram full of survival supplies: Fruity Pebbles, cheese blocks, milk, granola, meat, gum, beer, toilet paper. It had been turned over and was now upside down. From the litter surrounding it, I assumed my Fruity Pebbles didn¡¯t survive. The box was also moving. Not much, but it definitely had something inside it and the thing inside was evidently moving around. I glanced around and saw the girls looking ready. We moved closed and got ready. Tanya prepared her spell, Janet readied her machete, and I, after setting down my shield, reached out and grabbed a handle that had been created on the end and flung the package up, exposing the contents. After the contents settled, we could see the culprit. It was a rat pup. About the size of a four-week-old puppy, it looked nothing like the momma and poppa rats that we¡¯d just fought. This one was fuzzy with long white fur, big ears, and black, round eyes. It stared up at us as it chomped away at a block of American cheese that I¡¯d put in the box. It didn¡¯t seem disturbed by us, just continuing to eat at the cheese I¡¯d packed. I guess it was cute, but, you know, giant rat. Eating my cheese. I readied my sword to take care of it and Janet said, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare.¡± ¡®Crap¡¯, I thought. ¡°Look you can¡¯t be thinking of keeping a giant rat, can you?¡± I asked. ¡°I mean, sure it might be cute now, but what about when it gets to be the size of a ¡­ well, the size of those three. It doesn¡¯t even look like the same kind of rat.¡± I attempted to identify it and the thing showed up as Greater White Furred Mouse (pup) - Evolved, Level 1, 2 HP. ¡°There,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not even the same kind. And it says it¡¯s evolved. I don¡¯t even know what that means? Do you? Are you really thinking of keeping this rat, mouse? You don¡¯t even like rats!¡± ¡°First off,¡± Janet said. ¡°It¡¯s a mouse, not a rat. Secondly,¡± and here she knelt down and gently scooped up the pup and held it in her arms while continuing to feed it cheese. My cheese. ¡°It¡¯s totally different. Evolved monsters are no longer monsters. They are called beasts. And they can grow in the same way the humans can.¡± ¡°How do you know this?¡± I asked. ¡°My imu told me!¡± she said. ¡°I am going to keep it!¡± Tanya meanwhile had dropped the spell and was now busy petting the mouse. And cooing at it. I looked down at the box of stuff, now strewn all over the floor and said, ¡°It didn¡¯t even eat my Fruity Pebbles. Why the heck did it have to destroy them?¡± I started gathering the other things that were in the box. Behind me, I could hear Janet¡¯s voice saying, ¡°Aren¡¯t you the cutest thing. I¡¯m going to call you Roxie! Yes, I am. And you¡¯ll be my pet mouse. My little, pet mouse guard!¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s just great. Darn cheese eater.¡± I threw all of the fifteen boxes into my inventory. They went in fine. However, when I attempted to add the open box with the water and pop, it wouldn¡¯t go. I stared at it for a second, and then, put the lid on it and tried again. This time it worked. I gathered up the remaining stuff that the rat, no mouse, had not destroyed and put it all back in the box and fastened the lid on it as well, and threw it in the inventory as well. When I looked into my inventory, I now had 17 boxes, a bow, a quiver, some other miscellaneous stuff, and a red potion showing up. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here before we have to fight more rats.¡± The two girls agreed and Tanya got us back in order with a call of ¡°T-Up. Skinny. Forward toward the door.¡± We marched toward the door, pausing beside the mother rat to allow me to salvage the bolts from her, and then I was back outside in the afternoon sunlight. Chapter 9 - Decompressing, Leveling Up (part 1) The air felt clean. Even beyond the relaxation of getting out of that dark, litterbox of a building, the air felt clean. All of the industrial pollutants, the smog was simply gone. I took a deep breath and felt happy. We¡¯d gone in for a specific objective and achieved it. And then I got shoved out of the doorway and things felt normal again. ¡°Doofus! Move!¡± said Janet. ¡°I want out of this stinkhole!¡± I moved to the side and the two women moved out and stood beside me. We all just stood there for a moment, looking around and enjoying the fact that we were alive. ¡°Let''s move away from the building and then we can talk about what else we need to do today, alright?¡± I asked. ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± said. Tanya just nodded. We moved out into the space left in front of Maxes which used to be filled with gas pumps, truck parking, and car parking. I pulled the rickshaw along with us from its spot in front where we¡¯d left it and we found one of the new trees that had appeared and dropped down into the shade. ¡°It¡¯s 3:51. It¡¯s probably too late to get on the road. I suggest we stay here again tonight, get started after we do our morning routine. What do you think?¡± I asked. Both girls nodded their heads. ¡°I¡¯m exhausted,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine what war is like. We went in there, fought some rats, explored for about a couple of hours and I am wiped out.¡± ¡°I know,¡± said Janet. ¡°I was going to practice spells, maybe try to learn some more about my class, now all I want to do is take a nap. And not think about that damn building. Or rats.¡± Just then Roxie shifted in her arms and looked up at her. ¡°No, no! Not you sweetheart. I was talking about mean old disgusting black rats!¡± The puppy-sized mouse settled back into her arms as she gently stroked its head. ¡°It¡¯s probably a nervous reaction,¡± I said. ¡°I had to do a report on Combat Stress Reaction (CSR) for one of my tutors. Actually Derek. He¡¯s my mom¡¯s Head of Security, also my sensei. I told you all that, didn¡¯t I? Anyway, the things that I learned is that it¡¯s normal. Your body¡¯s sympathetic nervous system gets ramped up to fight or flee and then it¡¯s hard to calm it down. That¡¯s another reason that Derek said it was important to talk about a fight afterward. Not only can you learn from your mistakes, but talking about them reduces their impact on you. It helps you normalize, get your baseline back to the center. That said, I want to go over what happened in there.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± said Janet. And she and Tanya started rolling on the ground laughing. Roxie escaped from her arms and then began pawing at her new mother¡¯s hair, trying, I guess to get her to calm down. ¡°Yeah, yeah!¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s it. Laugh at the only male here! Laugh at the guy who kept the rats off you!¡± I was trying to be playful and I guess it worked because they kept laughing. Every once in a while one of them would go ¡°Ah!¡± and they¡¯d start up again. Finally, they stopped and Roxie resumed her place in Janet¡¯s arms. They both wiped their eyes and sat up and faced me. We¡¯d formed a triangle, purposefully, each facing the others and a different direction, so hopefully, nothing could creep up on us. ¡°What could we have done differently? Better?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, you could have not turned your back on the rats,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Yes, and stayed in my range,¡± Janet said. ¡°I can¡¯t heal you from a big distance. I need to touch you in order to heal you right now. I can¡¯t do it if you¡¯re across the room,¡± she said. ¡°I thought our crossbow attack went pretty well,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I did too,¡± Janet said. ¡°So did I,¡± I said. ¡°I was hoping that it would do more damage though. I guess these are light crossbows. It would have been nicer if that momma rat had been taken out, right from the start. I didn¡¯t know what to do when the pack split up.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯ll just have to trust that your team can handle it,¡± Tanya said. ¡°Yeah,¡± I replied. ¡°I freaked out and got way out of position. Fortunately, these were not that strong a monster. They didn¡¯t have any special abilities, they were just big rats! So maybe we need to work more on our positioning.¡± ¡°And our trust,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Janet saved your butt,¡± I told her. ¡°When that momma rat leaped, she blocked it with her machete. I didn¡¯t see you holding a weapon. Why not?¡± I asked. ¡°That was my bad,¡± she said. ¡°It happened so fast. They dropped to the ground, you pounded on your shield and then, suddenly, they were attacking. I shot the crossbow, and, afterward, I thought spells, and tried to hit them.¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I think you did great. You hit the momma with a bolt and a spell. You hit the leader with another spell. You were in the game, I just meant that you need something for when it gets up close! If you¡¯d had your machete, you could have blocked the leap, you could have protected yourself, rather than needing Janet to do it.¡± There was a pause in the conversation and then Janet said, ¡°I think we were right to simplify the calls. It was too much information. They were too complicated. TUp, Skinny, Fat were good. The Drift left was good. I¡¯m not sure about the distance part of the calls. I¡¯m also not sure about the 45 or 90. Besides, we never used it. I think that it would just get confusing. Is it a distance? Is it a turn? Plus, combat is hard. I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be so real, you know? When I stabbed those rats, I felt their bodies moving on the end of my machete. I didn¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°I felt the same way. I think it would be different with a gun. You just point, pull the trigger and something dies. It doesn¡¯t feel that way when you shove a sword in them. But we lived, and they didn¡¯t. We didn¡¯t ask them to fight, they brought it on themselves. If they¡¯d stayed in their little rat holes, they¡¯d still be living.¡± ¡°I hate rats!¡± Janet said. ¡°Yeah,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Me too!¡± ¡°Did you level up?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± they both said. ¡°How about you?¡± they asked. ¡°I haven¡¯t checked yet,¡± I said. ¡°But before we do, let¡¯s figure out what we¡¯ve learned. Trust each other, Stay in formation¡± I said. ¡°Simple calls,¡± said Janet. ¡°And always have a weapon handy,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Don¡¯t depend only on magic! That is so weird that I just said that. I can¡¯t believe how much the world has changed.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we got from the fight.¡± And with that, we opened our status pages. Mine had changed quite a bit.
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± LevelStolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. 7
Class(es) Monk, Mage Experience: (+25%) 21645
Titles: Eager Beaver; Firstish Mage; Bruce Lee You¡¯re Not!; Unsteady At The Helm; Dadda. President for Life!; Risk Taker!
Attributes 35 Skill Points + 63
Strength + 39 Intelligence + 45
Dexterity + 26 Wisdom + 46
Agility + 34 Perception + 28
Constitution + 33 Charisma + 33
Vitality + 28 Luck 28
Health: 185 Mana: 153
Qi: 152 Stamina: 151
¡®Holy crap!¡± I thought. ¡®I¡¯m literally superhuman! None of my stats or attributes, no I¡¯m going to call them stats from now on, was below what according to the system was the previous regular high of twenty. And my intelligence was over double that. Does that mean I¡¯m twice as smart of Einstein? I don¡¯t feel that smart. Am I? I tried doing some math in my head and it was easy. I was able to quickly recite all of the elements in the periodic table, and then I did it again backward. I started reciting Pi, I guess every smart kid that¡¯s taken advanced placement classes goes through a group phase where you compete to memorize pi out to whatever digits and I was still going after a minute and it seemed like I was calculating it, instead of just reciting it. Calculating it fast. This bothered me. I remembered what my imu had told me. Perfectly: Intelligence is a measure of your problem-solving ability. Intelligence often controls your ability to comprehend languages and other abstract knowledge and your skill in magic. Under certain circumstances, this skill can also negate combat actions between you and your enemies. It heavily impacts both the number of points you get per level in both Qi and Mana and also their regeneration of used points in both. It also makes it easier to both learn and train skills. I remembered reading a novel where the main character wrestled with his intelligence score. It kept rising and he kept not getting smarter. Someone told him he just had a habit of being stupid. I wondered if that was what was going on with me. Maybe I had a full liter bottle, but was only drinking half of it? Besides, I thought, if Einstein were alive he¡¯d be practicing the heck out of physics. I¡¯m sure his intelligence would have gone through the roof. Anyway, I wondered what the little crosses where after my stat scores. I didn¡¯t remember seeing them last time I looked at my status. I called on my imu and asked him. He appeared and said, ¡°Those are how you assign your bonus or free attribute points or skill points.¡± I said, ¡°I have bonus or free attribute points?¡± To which he responded, ¡°Yes, 35¡± and then vanished. ''Where¡¯s the love,'' I wondered. In all the stories, the little Fairies are helpful and loveable. Is mine defective? I looked again at my status screen and this time I noticed the row that said, I guess I could raise my stats by 35 points by clicking on them. Holy crap! My WoW guildmates would kill me if they found out I left that many points on the table. I¡¯m guessing that I didn¡¯t see them last time because I hadn¡¯t assigned my classes yet. And I also bet that I have so many because I have two classes. I must be getting bonus stats and skill points from both classes. I looked up and said, ¡°Be sure you assign your bonus stats¡± to the two girls. No need pointing out that I just discovered them. Janet said, ¡°Yeah, we figured that out when you started talking to yourself about bonus stats.¡± ¡®Curses!¡¯ I thought. ¡®Darn this half empty bottle! Note to self: talk to imu using your inner voice.¡¯ After thinking about it, I still couldn¡¯t decide what I wanted to do, min/max or be a generalist. ¡±Imu,¡± I said, using my inner voice this time. ¡°Do my classes have primary stats? Are their secondary stats? If so, what are they? What can you tell me about my classes?¡± ¡°The mage class has the following characteristics,¡± said my imu. The monk class has these characteristics: Ah, I thought to myself, there are primary and secondary attributes. It also looks like that status sheet¡¯s breakdown of attributes is not just a random selection. The attributes associated with the body like strength and constitution are in a column on the left, the attributes associated with what might be called mind are in a column on the right. And then, mage¡¯s who have high intelligence and other mind characteristics get more skill points, while fighters and monks who have higher strength and other body characteristics get fewer skill points but more free attributes. Interesting. I guess since I¡¯ve got both of the body and mind classes, I get to split the difference down the middle. It¡¯s cool that the System didn¡¯t average them. After all, I¡¯m paying the full cost in experience, I¡¯ve earned all of those points! Min/Maxing was a good strategy in games, but I wasn¡¯t in a game. It¡¯s OK to be a glass cannon when you¡¯re not liable to die, and I mean really die, from a single hit, but it¡¯s less OK when you¡¯re not going to re-spawn. And which stats are throwaways, anyhow? Not charisma when you¡¯ve got to talk to people, not dexterity when you need to do your own repairs on equipment, not agility when you¡¯ll definitely need to dodge, not luck when your life¡¯s on the line for some God¡¯s dice roll? I mean which stat do I feel comfortable minning? Finally, I just gave up and decided that I¡¯d get all my stats up to a reasonably high level and let some of my stats - the ones that my class called ¡°Primary¡± or ¡°Secondary¡± naturally advance to their higher place. I mean with all the titles I¡¯ve been given, I didn¡¯t really need to worry about it that much, did I? When you think about it, with my titles, I get the equivalent of six levels of advancement in stats every time I advance a level. That¡¯s huge. By the time I¡¯m at level 100 that will be 190 additional stats. Wow! I hope my mom got a title too! I¡¯m glad the girls did too. So, I clicked the plus sign next to dexterity nine times, agility once, constitution twice, vitality seven times, perception seven times and charisma two times. That gave me a nice 35 across the board as my lowest stat. Then I threw the remaining seven points into Agility. Intelligence and mana were great, but so was not getting hit! Each time I clicked a plus sign, my Attributes number decreased and I got a corresponding bump to my stat. Still hadn¡¯t messed with skills yet, but I thought I¡¯d better take a break. I looked up and sure enough, both girls were staring at me. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I had to decide where to put my free stat points.¡± And I closed my status screen. ¡°Yes,¡± they both said. ¡°So did we. It took us half the time. It¡¯s easy when you put them all in Charisma,¡± said Janet. ¡°Don¡¯t I look beautiful?¡± she asked Tanya. My face must have shown my reaction because they both started laughing again. ¡®Am I that easy to read?¡¯ I thought. Chapter 9 - Decompressing, Leveling Up (part 2) ¡°No,¡± said Janet. ¡°I just put three into constitution to bring it up to 20, two into strength to bring it up to eighteen and seven into perception to bring it up to eighteen. Other than luck and dexterity, those were my lowest. And I can¡¯t do anything about luck.¡± ¡°I did about the same,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I threw seven into constitution, one into vitality, three into dexterity and one into strength.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a mage, right?¡± I asked. ¡°I know,¡± she said. ¡°But if we can¡¯t respawn, I want to be Wonder Woman. I saw those rats chewing on you. I want to survive if they¡¯d gotten to me. Besides, I figure I¡¯m smarter than Einstein now! How much smarter do I need to be?¡± Both she and Janet laughed then. Pretty much exactly what I had been thinking. ¡°Anyone play with the skill¡¯s plus sign?¡± I asked. ¡°I did,¡± said Janet. ¡°So did I,¡± said Tanya. ¡°When you click that plus sign, it looks like you can spend skill points on skills, spells, or Qi abilities. But you can¡¯t get new ones there. But one thing that I did notice is a plus sign in all three areas,¡± said Janet. ¡°When you click it it brings up a small list of skills, or spells or Qi abilities depending on where you clicked the + sign. They seemed just OK, kind of based around what you already have and really, both not that different from what¡¯s already there and probably easy to get. Remember how easy Stick It was to get? I thought that maybe our points might be better to use raising spells or whatever we already have. So I didn¡¯t select any. Plus, if it shows you a spell, I bet we can figure out how to get it, don¡¯t you think? And save the points?¡± I nodded and so did Tanya. Out of curiosity, I opened my status menu and looked at it again.
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± Level 7
Class(es) Monk, Mage Experience: (+25%) 21645
Titles: Eager Beaver; Firstish Mage; Bruce Lee You¡¯re Not!; Unsteady At The Helm; Dadda. President for Life!; Risk Taker!
Attributes 0 Skill Points + 63
Strength 39 Intelligence 45
Dexterity 35 Wisdom 46
Agility 42 Perception 35
Constitution 35 Charisma 35
Vitality 42 Luck 28
AC 8
Health: 185 Mana: 153
Qi: 152 Stamina: 151
The plus sign was still there next to the Skill Points, so I clicked it. It showed the following list:
Spells
  • Light Heal ¨C Bronze, Level 1, 4/25 +
  • Create Water ¨CBronze, Level 1, 4/25 +
  • Light ¨C Bronze, Level 2, 32/100 +
  • Force Bolt ¨C Bronze, Level 2, 27/100 +
  • Stick It ¨C Bronze, Level 1, 4/25 +
Qi
  • Jade Lotus Touch - Bronze, Level 1, 4/25 +
Skills
  • Leadership ¨C Bronze, Level 3, 106/200 +
  • Management ¨C Bronze, Level 3, 106/200 +
  • Collaboration ¨C Bronze, Level 3, 102/200 +
  • Critical Thinking ¨C Bronze, Level 3, 101/200 +
  • Cooking ¨C Bronze, Level 2, 52/100 +
  • Meditation ¨C Bronze, Level 9. 6560/1000 +
¡®Interesting,¡¯ I thought. I wondered about acquiring other skills and raising them. Sweet! Then I opened my spells window. I was surprised by the presence of the last two and the first spell on my list.
Spells All spells possible. +
  • Light Heal. Rank: Bronze Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Touching the injured person Verbal: Be Healed Range: Touch. Duration: Permanent. Spell Resistance: No, except on undead MP: 10 Once cast, a light heal spell heals 15 points of damage. Level 1, 4/25
  • Create Water Rank: Bronze Casting Time: 20 seconds Somatic: Bringing all fingers together into an upward pyramid, then turning it over Verbal: Water Range: 1 meter plus 1 meter per level. Duration: Permanent Cool Down: 15 min. Spell Resistance: None MP: 10 Once cast, the create water spell creates up to 25 liters of water per stage. It may be cool or warm at lower levels. As the user grows in skill, the amount of water created and the temperature of the water can change. Level 1, 4/25
  • Light Rank: Bronze Casting Time: 2 seconds Range: 4 meters plus one meter per level. Somatic: Making a sun shape, then pointing where/at you want the light Verbal: Be lit Duration: 1 hour. Cool Down: none. Spell Resistance: No, except on undead MP: 10 Once cast, a light spell casts the equivalent of 10 candles. Increasing levels gains different colors, increased number of lights, and brighter lights (greater control). Level 2, 32/100
  • Force Bolt Rank: Bronze Casting Time: 2 seconds This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Zap Duration: Instant Range: 12 meters + 2 meters per level Damage: 2-7 (+1 per level) per bolt Cool Down: none Spell Resistance: No, except on undead MP: 10 Once cast, a force bolt, unless blocked, always hits. For every three levels, the spell gets another bolt. Level 1, 2/100
  • Stick It Rank: Bronze Casting Time: Instant Somatic: Bringing two objects together Verbal: Sticky! Sticky Duration: Permanent (until broken) Range: Objects touching Damage: 0 Cool Down: none Spell Resistance: No MP: 2 Once cast, the spell glues two objects together. It is permanent; however, it is always slightly less strong than the weakest of the two materials glued together. In other words, if forced, the spell will break before the materials it glues will. Level 1, 4/25
  • Identify Rank: Bronze Casting Time: Instant Somatic: Look intently at the object you wish to identify Verbal: Identify Duration: Permanent (until broken) Range: Must be visible, must be within 25 meters (+ 10 Meters Per level) Damage: 0 Cool Down: none Spell Resistance: No, may not work on higher leveled sapients. MP: 1 Once cast successfully, the spell will grant additional information about the object of the spell. As the spell grows in level, more information becomes available. Level 1, 4/25
I¡¯d forgotten I had those and hadn¡¯t mentioned them to the girls when I told them the spells that I had. Oh well. No harm, no foul. Since I was checking things out, I clicked the + button on the menu. It opened yet another blue screen. This one only had two spells on it:
Spells
    • Fog +
    • Detect Magic +
Detect Magic sounded pretty good. I could see where Fog could be useful too. Especially if it only affected my opponents. I wasn¡¯t sure about what Janet meant now by ¡°just OK.¡± I went ahead and grabbed them both by clicking on the plus sign. The blue screen now showed this.
Spells Check back after you have achieved the next rank.
I checked my status screen and the Skill Points number had dropped to 61. I asked to see just the new spells and it worked.
  • Fog Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Water Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Covering your eyes Verbal: Fog Duration: Up to one hour, or dispelled or broken Range: 8-meter diameter circle either around the caster or a point that the caster selects Damage: 0 Cool Down: none Spell Resistance: No MP: 10 Once cast, the sphere of fog fills every space available to it. However, the space must be open to it. A strong breeze, 15 km per hour or more will break down the fog. It can also be dispelled. As the rank of the spell grows, so does the area it covers and the speed of the wind that it can withstand. It might, at high enough levels it may also incorporate other weather phenomena, such as rain. Level 1, 4/25
  • Detect Magic Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Life Casting Time: Instant Somatic: Look at the object or area to be evaluated Verbal: Detect Magic Duration: 20 minutes per level. Range: Self, 10 meters at 1st level. 5 meters each additional level. Damage: 0 Cool Down: none Spell Resistance: None; however, higher level sapients or objects may be able to hide their magic. MP: 10 For the duration of the spell, magic is visible as a glow. The stronger the glow, the stronger the magic: The glow is colored in the color of the Realm of the magic. At higher levels, other information may be available. Level 1, 4/25
Cool!,¡¯ I thought. OK, it¡¯s official. I think or say cool way too often. From now on my new word will be¡­ ¡°Earth or new-Earth to Monsoon. New-Earth to Monsoon. Come in Monsoon!¡± I heard Janet saying. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, waking back up. ¡°I was checking out my new spells. I bought the spells They were offering: ¡®Detect Magi¡¯ and ¡®Fog¡¯.¡± ¡°Huh!¡± said Janet. ¡°That¡¯s not what I got offered. Mine were much lamer than those: Commune and Remove Warts.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I laughed. ¡°There¡¯s a spell for removing warts?¡± ¡°Evidently,¡± she said. ¡°What does Commune do?¡± I think it is like a clerics version of identify only it can only be used on items and it tells the backstory of the item, I think. I asked my imu and it said, ¡®Only usable on items and gives the item¡¯s history including who owned it last, where it was created and some of the powers of the item. Of course, it only works on items at the rank of the spell or below.¡¯ I assumed that meant the Bronze, Copper, Iron thing?¡± ¡°Yeah, probably,¡± I said. ¡°Still, that¡¯s pretty cool. Especially at high levels. I¡¯d probably buy that one, at least. What did you get offered, Tanya?¡± ¡°I got offered two spells: ¡°Shield¡± and ¡°Fire Bolt.¡± Shield blocks damage up to however many points you put into it, but you can only put 25 points in at level one. And fire bolt is like forcebolt but does fire damage instead of force damage. I guess that would be elemental damage instead of kinetic? Anyway, I bought them.¡± ¡°Did you get the message to ¡°Check back after you have achieved next rank.¡±? I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied. ¡°You too?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Janet looked questioningly at both of us, so I continued, ¡°after I bought the two spells offered, the System showed that message. I guess They really want us to discover the world on our own. Which is weird after giving us all these titles. It¡¯s like it¡¯s schizophrenic or something. Some of the time it wants to be helpful, some of the time it wants to be an a-hole, and the rest of the time it¡¯s just a mechanical intelligence.¡± ¡°How about this, Janet. Don¡¯t buy the warts spell, but you might as well buy the other one and start leveling it. In addition, let¡¯s all three try to create a spell called ¡®Cure Warts.¡¯ First, to see how easy it is to research spells, maybe develop a methodology for research, and secondly, to see if after we develop it, the option changes on your blue screen? What do you both think about that? Oh, and we can also see how easy it is to transfer spells between us. I know we all got identify, but we all developed that on our own. I think that was pretty much a System gimme. This would be a real, admittedly lame, spell though. We should get an idea of how complex the process is.¡± They both looked at each other and kind of shook their heads. ¡°I understood that,¡± said Janet. ¡°I really am getting smarter.¡± Both girls laughed. ¡°OK, how do you want to do this?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°Well, every spell so far has had three components: mana, a verbal or what the description calls a somatic piece and a gestural part. There may be a fourth part like runes or icons or patterns needing to be drawn, but none of the spells that we¡¯ve discovered have required it yet. Doesn¡¯t mean that on more complicated spells this won¡¯t happen, but I¡¯m guessing that at the bronze rank, we won¡¯t need it. So, when I was developing the Light Heal spell, I did it by meditating on the spell and then following what felt natural for both the words and the gestures while trying to incorporate the mana. You following?¡± I asked. ¡°So what you''re saying is you made it up and it worked?¡± said Janet. ¡°Well, yeah, but I felt my way into it and I started with some ideas of both how I wanted the spell to work and how I thought it could work,¡± I said. ¡°So you took an educated guess, tested it, and then, created the spell from your guess,¡± asked Tanya. ¡°Well, I used the scientific method:¡° ¡°Step 1: I asked a question. How would it be possible to create a magic spell to heal my leg?¡± ¡°Step 2: Do background research. Well, I kind of blew past this step because frankly, I didn¡¯t have anything to research in or on at that point, but I did stop and consider everything that I knew. I knew mana was real and spells were possible because I¡¯d just gotten a title that told me so. I knew that if spells were real, then there was a large chance that at least one of them could be used to heal. So, therefore, this was a stretch, but not to great of one, it should be possible to cast a healing spell and that based on my previous research, ok reading fantasy stories, that spells might be created by using any or all of the following components: ¡°Step 3: Construct a hypothesis. So, I thought, spells exist, someone must have created them, I am someone, therefore I can create a spell. A bit of a leap there, I know. I just needed to learn how to do it. So, my hypothesis was that It is possible for me to create and cast a healing spell using some or all of the components.¡± ¡°Step 4: Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment. This I tried by first just using the ¡®Be healed¡¯ approach.¡° Both girls started laughing at this point and Tanya said, ¡°Yes, we were there, we saw.¡± ¡°And you saw me try Latin too?¡± Tanya said, ¡°Yes we did. I wouldn¡¯t be too proud of that if I were you!¡± ¡°But then you didn¡¯t see me step outside and try with just mana, then mana with a gesture (I touched my leg), and then mana, the spoken ¡®Be healed¡± and the gesture which finally worked. Since then we¡¯ve got a bigger sample size to analyze if we look at our spell screen we can ¡­¡± ¡°Step 5: Analyze the data and draw a conclusion. When we look at all of the spell descriptions they all so far have those three elements. So we can hypothesize that any new spells are going to have those three elements. And maybe those three elements are not set in stone.¡± ¡°And finally, Step 6: Share your results. Well, that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing now.¡± Tanya asked, ¡°What did you mean when you said, ¡°maybe those three elements are not set in stone.¡± ¡°I started thinking about spells. And it seemed as if there was a lot of play in the system. For instance, I say ¡°Be Healed¡± because it¡¯s funny and because I learned it drunk-watching faith healers on TV. We¡¯d play a game, drink every time they said Satan, but that¡¯s another story. Anyway, is that the best phrase? Maybe if it were said in Chinese or Klingon, it might be better? Or maybe different words? I just kind of ran my hands above the area I wanted the spell to target, maybe there¡¯s a specific gesture that would work better? Maybe doing both the better gesture and the better words would cost less mana or heal more points? I don¡¯t know. But we¡¯ve got a spell that works. And I have a hard time believing that I just so happened to hit the precise words and gestures that our new Gods, I hate using that word for something that I can talk to and talks back, by the way, defined as a heal spell. I think it¡¯s far more likely that they set up minimum and maximum requirements and said if they come within these targets, let the spell work.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± said Janet. ¡°That¡¯s pretty deep.¡± She paused for a second and then said, ¡°I¡¯m going to try saying ¡®Wart B Gone!¡¯¡± I laughed, and then said, ¡°I¡¯ll try ¡®Wart Away¡¯ and snapping my fingers!¡± Tanya laughed too and said, ¡°I¡¯m going for ¡®System Heal This Wart¡± and then slapping the person in the forehead. Janet said, ¡°I¡¯m going to clap my hands afterward.¡± ¡°Just one thing,¡± I said. They both looked at me. ¡°Does anyone have any warts? Cause I don¡¯t.¡± Chapter 10 - Exchanging spells It turned out none of us did which kind of blew our plans out of the water. ¡°So no warts, no wart removal spell,¡± I said. ¡°Anyone want freckles removed?¡± I looked at the girls and still no takers. ¡°Well, we have two bolts,¡± I said. ¡°A fire bolt and a force bolt. Tanya, why don¡¯t you share your spell screens with us?¡± At her look of confusion, I said, ¡°earlier while I was messing around, I discovered that it was possible to only view certain spells. Just tell yourself that you want to view both the force bolt and firebolt spells on a single screen. Then try to share it with us.¡± I had no idea if this would work, but whatever. My mom always said, ¡®If you expect failure, don¡¯t be surprised when you get it. Shortly thereafter though a blue window appeared in front of us all that showed us the two spells:
Spells
  • Firebolt Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Fire Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Firebolt Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 1-10 (+1 per level)(+2 fire damage) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Once cast, a firebolt almost always hits. Every rank it gets another bolt. Level 1, (2/25)
  • Force Bolt Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Air Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Zap Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 1-6 (+1 per level) per bolt Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Yes, if blocked MP: 10 Once cast, a force bolt almost always hits. For every three levels, it gets another bolt. Level 1, (6/25)
¡°Ok, there they are,¡± I said. ¡°What do you think? They look almost identical. A little more damage on the firebolt, a possibility of a greater number of bolts on the Force Bolt.¡± ¡°Imu,¡± I said out loud. ¡°How many level points to raise the spell to level 4? ¡° It showed briefly and said, ¡°201.¡± ¡°How many casts would that take?¡± I asked. ¡°101 regular casts or 67 critical casts,¡± it said. ¡°What¡¯s a critical cast,¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s a cast that hits an area that is vital on the opponent or utilizes the knowledge of the spell effectively,¡± it said and then vanished. I looked up and saw them both looking at me and so I passed on the info that I¡¯d just learned. ¡°I guess aiming makes a difference. The description says that both spells almost always hit, I guess it didn¡¯t mention where it would hit or that that made a difference. Good to know,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I could totally see that, it¡¯s like the difference in punching someone in the arm or hitting a guy in the nads. Totally different experience. Ah!¡± Janet said. Both she and Tanya started laughing. ¡°Are you guys ever going to let it go?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s got to get old sometime.¡± ¡°Hasn¡¯t yet!¡± they both chorused. I rolled my eyes at them. ¡°Imu,¡± I said. ¡°Is there a way for a mage or cleric to pass on a spell?¡± It appeared and said, ¡°there are at least two ways to do so. The first is by telling all of the details of the spell and letting the student perform or study the spell until they discover how to cast the spell by themselves. They gain proficiency at the bronze rank. The second is by direct transmission.¡± ¡°How does direct transmission work?¡± I asked. ¡°The master makes contact with the student and concentrates on passing the knowledge of the spell to them. If the transmission is successful, the student learns the spell at half of the proficiency of the master. Or the master can, if he has the skills for it, create a scroll or book to pass the spell on to his student or merely the reader of the scroll. Direct transmission or scroll creation requires that the master have at least two ranks in the spell. And expend 100 mana per rank of the spell.¡± And the little guy vanished. ¡°Scrolls! We can have scrolls!¡± I yelled. The girls looked at me so I gave them the news. They were happy, but as Tanya pointed out, the gaining ranks in spells was not easy. We¡¯d have to cast the spells at least, after a brief imu consultation, 3334 times perfectly in order to achieve the second rank in the spell. Suddenly all those skill points I was rolling in didn¡¯t seem like that great a number. That was 33,340 mana points just to raise a single spell to the next rank. That meant, quickly doing the calculation, that it would take over 111 hours to generate that much mana, assuming I did nothing else but meditate and cast the spell. Also assuming that I didn¡¯t get better at casting it or meditating to restore mana. Not happening soon, I think. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Crap,¡± I said. I started to be suspicious of something and again asked my imu about skill points. ¡°Do skill points raise a spell a rank or a level.¡± It appeared and answered, ¡°Not a rank and only sometimes a level.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked. ¡°It depends on the stage the spell, skill or ability is at whether it increases a level or not,¡± it responded. Another new term. ¡°What do you mean by stage?¡± I asked. ¡°There are four stages in each rank of a spell, skill or ability. Early, Middle, Late, and Peak. They affect the number of points given by a skill point.¡± ¡°How so,¡± I asked. The imu continued, ¡°Early stage automatically takes the spell to the next level plus whatever partial amount of level experience the user has, 23?48, 48?148, 148?248 Middle stage, beginning at level 4, just adds 400 points to the level or whatever points it needs to achieve the next level, whichever is lesser: 248?448, 448?848, 848?1248. Late stage, beginning at level 7, adds 1000 points per skill point. Peak stage, at level 9 adds 2500 points per skill point.¡± ¡°How many points does it take to reach each level?¡± I asked. It answered, ¡°Level 1 (25), Level 2 (100), Level 3 (200), Level 4 (400), Level 5 (800), Level 6 (1600), Level 7 (3200), Level 8 (6400), Level 9 (10000). ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°that means that,¡± quickly doing the calculation, ¡°that it would take if we started from a level 1 spell with 2 level points on it, 14 skills points to reach the next rank.¡± ¡°That is correct,¡± it said then vanished. I passed on what I¡¯d just learned and we all sat there in an unhappy silence for a while. ¡°On the plus side,¡± I said, ¡°we do get experience for every level we increase our spells, skills or abilities. ¡°Hey imu,¡± I called out. What experience does each level of a spell grant?¡± It popped up and said, ¡°25, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 10000¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°At least the experience is pretty good. 22,950 experience points a rank isn¡¯t bad. That would take a person up quite a few levels. Think about it, you could practice your skills or spells and make levels. We just got six levels from those rats and could have died.¡± ¡°Imu,¡± I asked, ¡°what¡¯s the experience points required for say the first 14 levels?¡± It said, ¡°200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12000, 22000, 33000, 48000, 63000, 80000, 97000,¡± and then did it¡¯s vanishing thing again. ¡°I take it all back. That experience is enough to get you through to level nine. That¡¯s pretty sweet. Some mage otaku is going to rule the world by casting his light spell. We need to practice as much as we can, especially when we¡¯re in a safe zone, provided we ever get into a safe zone. And not pick on shut-ins. You just can¡¯t tell what they¡¯ve been practicing.¡± ¡°So, back to our spell, I say we try to create another bolt spell. We¡¯ve seen the Force Bolt and the Firebolt spells. Both look really similar. I bet we can create another bolt spell. What do you say?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a mage,¡± said Janet. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that I don¡¯t get the same spells that you get. I probably won¡¯t get any elemental spells at all.¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± I said. ¡°In the games, I used to play, clerics always got different spells. Mages were basically elementalists, tied into the four elements. That reminds me, imu¡± I called out. ¡°How many elements are there and what are they? It appeared and said, ¡°There eight known elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Darkness, Life, and Death.¡± And, then it vanished again. ¡°I can¡¯t help but wonder every time my imu vanishes as soon as it answered my questions if I¡¯m keeping it from something? Is it on a hot date? Chillaxing with Netflix?¡± I said. ¡°Anyway, I was wrong. There are eight know elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Darkness, Life, and Death. I¡¯m betting that your spells, Janet, come from the later elements, Light, Darkness, Life or Death more easily than from the first four. Although, I don¡¯t know that it¡¯s a total line in the sand. I have two Life spells: Heal and Create Water.¡± ¡°All of my spells are Life spells,¡± she said. ¡°Be that as it may, I used to play a cleric in a game and they had a bolt spell in it. It would have probably been a light spell. I¡¯m thinking that you could probably try for that, while Tanya and I try for whatever it is we decide to try for. It did more damage than our Force Bolt spells and left a light residue on the target that made them easy to hit. That should give you an idea of what to try for, don¡¯t you think?¡± She nodded and got busy. I turned back to Tanya. ¡°I say we try for an earth-based bolt,¡± said Tanya. ¡°It seems logical that one would exist.¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Remember how we got the Stick It and the Identify spell: we concentrated and used language and gestures.¡± I closed my eyes and started trying to feel my mana. After a while, I could sense the blue glow in the same way that I first discovered it, a faint blue glow about my heart and in the middle of my forehead. I just relaxed and tried to, I guess commune with it. I mean what can you do, it¡¯s a blue glow? Eventually, though I calmed down. Time passed slower in this state, I¡¯m sure. Then I started thinking about earth, trying to name its parts: soil, topsoil, loam, clay, silt, dirt, sod, clod, turf, what it was composed of, metal, copper, iron, gold, silver, feldspar, limestone, granite, sandstone, formations that it grew into, stalactites, stalagmites, the special forms that it took, crystals, rubies, sapphires, topaz, diamonds, geodes, how it was shaped, caves, sinkholes, erosion, sedimentation, glaciation, volcanos, how we worked with it, farming, wheat planting, gardening. I felt heavy, ponderous, unmoving, dark, fecund. I felt grounded, stable. Then I started to remember the other bolt spell, since I only had the one right now, its damage, how it felt to cast it, how much mana it took to do so, and I tried to bring a new spell into being like it, but different. I thought about all of the differences and all of the similarities and then I started to try to create a similar spell only using earth. At first it was difficult, I felt the mana moving in a way that I was not the way I imagined earth moving and slowly I gentled it, slowed it, gave it a sense of permanence, unyielding-ness, inevitability, abidingness, then I thought of the gesture I¡¯d need to make, of the vast heartbeat of the world and pointed first toward my heart, and then, opening my eyes, I pointed at another tree and said, ¡°Earth Bolt!¡± A dark-brown bolt, more like a dart, the size of one of those lawn darts that were popular in the 70s, about 60 centimeters long, shot towards the tree and hit its trunk. It was what I guess would be an adult tree, even though it was new. Somehow it had been grown to that state overnight since it was in what used to be a parking lot. Its trunk was about 30 centimeters in diameter. It looked a little like a beech tree, which was odd because beech trees are usually not native to Oklahoma. But well, new-Earth, what can you do. It¡¯s trunk almost exploded into a mass of splinters as the dart hit. It didn¡¯t break the trunk but left a hole about tennis ball-sized in it. It left an odor of freshly cut wood with a tinge of burning to it in the area around us, like someone was chopping wood or running a chainsaw, only without the exhaust fumes. Unlike our Force Bolt spells, the dart remained in the hole it created for several seconds before slowly decomposing into sand and then slumping out and down where it seemed to decompose even further until it finally vanished. ¡®Good to know,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Can¡¯t create permanent darts using magic, at least this way.¡± I could feel a blue screen forming, but I repressed it. Chapter 10 - Exchanging spells (Part 2) I turned and looked at Tanya, who just pointed toward another tree. It had three much smaller holes in it, but again, no remnants of whatever had caused them remained. ¡°What,¡± I started to say, but then a blue screen appeared.
Spells
  • Earth Dart Burst Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Earth Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Darts Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 2-5 (+1 stage)(X3 per rank) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Once cast, an earth dart bolt almost always hits. New darts are gained at every rank. At later stages, multiple ??targets are possible. Level 1, (2/25)
¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got to learn that spell. I¡¯ve also got to practice my martial arts. Right now I don¡¯t have any. It¡¯s embarrassing, a monk with no martial arts, well, except for Jade Lotus Touch. ¡°Jade Lotus Touch?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Yeah, I told you about that, remember? It¡¯s my Qi healing ability,¡± I said. ¡°Who names these things?¡± Janet said. ¡°Frankly, I¡¯m a little disappointed in the System. It sounds like something out of a bad Chinese web novel, ¡®Peasant, turn your gaze away from this young master or I shall unleash the fury of Jade Lotus Touch upon you.¡¯ So stereotypical.¡± I remained silent. Tanya said, ¡°I saw that you succeeded too. Show us!¡± I viewed the spell and then shared it with both of them.
Spells
  • Earth Bolt Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Earth Casting Time: 4 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Earth Bolt Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 5-20 (+2 per stage) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Once cast, an earth bolt almost always hits. A new dart is gained at every rank. At later ranks, multiple targets are possible. Level 1, (2/25)
We looked over both spells and talked about them, both seemed to do about the same damage, but in different ways. The average damage of her spell would be equal to 10.5. The average damage of mine would be 12.5. In any case, I wanted them both and I wanted the Fire Bolt spell as well. I wasn¡¯t really sure how armor worked in this new world of ours. Did it remove damage? Did it prevent damage below a certain threshold, I didn¡¯t know. For instance, if we were fighting a troll that had armored skin and its skin eliminated three points of damage per attack, then only the critical portion of her spell¡¯s damage would happen. Is this possible? I don¡¯t know. And my little guy would probably not tell me either. After a few minutes talking I realized that we¡¯d forgotten Janet. ¡°Hey,¡± I said ¡°How¡¯d it go? Did you get a spell?¡± ¡°Yes, thank you for asking,¡± she said, rolling her eyes. ¡°I did.¡± And the spell appeared in front of us.
Spells
  • Light Bolt Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Light Casting Time: 1 second Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Light Bolt Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 3 -18 (+1 per stage) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!??Once cast, a light bolt almost always hits. A new bolt is gained at every rank. At later ranks, multiple targets are possible. In addition, for 1-4 seconds, the target glows with soft light allowing ??the target to be attacked more easily. Level 1, (2/25)
¡°You go, girl!¡± Tanya yelled. ¡°That is awesome!¡± ¡°You nailed it, that spell is exactly like I described,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, and fast too. When I looked up you were already done. How did you get it so fast? I mean it took Monsoon and I the better part of an hour to meditate and discover our spells. You must have finished way before that.¡± ¡°Basically, I cheated,¡± she said. ¡°My class is a cleric. In all the games I¡¯ve played they always made a big deal about clerics pray and get their spells, mages must meditate, then study, then memorize, wah, wah, wah. Big deal. Same difference, basically both of them just want to kill things with magic. So anyway, I just asked the System for it. I meditated and then thought about what Monsoon had described and I asked the System to grant me the spell. And it did. QED!¡± ¡°Holy Crap, Girl! You rocked it!¡± Tanya said. ¡°I know right! I can¡¯t wait to ask for more spells!¡± ¡®That¡¯s it? She just asked? That is so not fair!¡¯ I thought but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡®I might be taking Cleric as a third class when the time comes! Plus I¡¯m going to try that for my next spell, maybe I¡¯ll try that for the Firebolt spell.¡¯ ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about what we learned here. I mean we got our spells, so yea! But at the same time, I¡¯m not sure we proved our hypothesis.¡± ¡°Which was what?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Well, we were trying to prove that different words and gestures could modify an existing spell, weren¡¯t we? And we thought that if we both wound up with the same spell with different gestures and words and that created different effects we¡¯d have shown that. But instead, we wound up with different spells.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say we did that, you and I both tried to create an earth-based bolt spell and we used different words and gestures and made different spells. That kind of proves it to me,¡± said Tanya. ¡°But at the same time, I thought we were trying to see if a different word or gesture would create a more or less powerful version of a spell. We didn¡¯t do that. We created different spells,¡± I said. ¡°Well,¡± Tanya said. ¡°We went about it the wrong way then. We should have started with a spell that we had in common and then, each of us, try to modify it in some way and see if the spell worked and got stronger or weaker or just changed in some way. I could see changing the gestures I use in Force Bolt or modifying the words I said when using it. It¡¯d be a simple test,¡± and then closed her eyes like she was going to begin creating and casting a spell. ¡°Hang on!¡± I said. ¡°It might be a simple thing to do, but in all the books I read, there usually was a thing called backlash or spell shock or something when you didn¡¯t cast a spell correctly. I¡¯m not sure that we¡¯re not opening ourselves to that if it exists!¡± ¡°Wow!¡± said Janet. ¡°What happened then?¡± ¡°Well, stuff like skin burns or hair falling out or coughing up blood, things like that,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s not do that,¡± said Janet. ¡°If it helps any, in the books I read, the backlash was more likely to occur when you failed at higher levels of spells. We¡¯re working on Rank One spells. We¡¯re probably safe! Or if the spell got interrupted in mid-cast. That was another way you could get spell shocked or mana burned.¡± ¡°What kind of books were you reading,¡± asked Janet. ¡°Fantasy,¡± I said. ¡°Kind of perfect for this new world of ours, don¡¯t you think.¡± Just then a howl rang out from the distance as if to underscore what I was saying. It wasn¡¯t a dog barking, it sounded like a big wolf, hungry and marking his territory. Off in the distance, I could see the hills that separated Sapulpa from Tulsa. Well, the outskirts of Sapulpa from Tulsa since that is where we currently are. They seemed to have grown larger. A radio station my mom told me about used to have this running joke about the Tulsa mountains, about skiing the Tulsa mountains It also seemed as if there were more hills, and they were bigger. I remember reading about the Blue Mountains in Australia. They were called that because the eucalyptus trees gave off a blue haze that made them appear blue from a distance. I¡¯m not sure what caused it, but the new Tulsa hills looked red, or at least reddish. I don¡¯t know of a tree that gives off a red haze either, so it must be some new-Earth thing. New moons, new hills, well since they looked like they were over 1000 feet tall, maybe new mountains, new us. I used to be able to see downtown Tulsa from the parking lot, well, not all of it, just some of the skyscrapers, like the Williams Brothers building. 52 stories tall. Not bad for a mid-size town in the prairie. Anyway, it had vanished behind the new landscape. I wondered about the Arkansas River. It used to go just outside of downtown Tulsa. It used to be mainly tamed, Keystone Lake Dam kept it from flooding. Most days its belly showed, filled with muddy-red dirt and sand and silt, egrets and herons wading, sometimes even lost seagulls flying past, with just a stream running in the big bed. Now I wondered if the lake was still there, if the dam was still there, heck, even if the river was still there. Although, the path that the river took ran between Sapulpa and Sand Springs where my mother lives and where we¡¯re planning on going. It might not be a bad thing if the river disappeared. In any case, I hope the roads and bridges were still there. I didn¡¯t want to have to Huck Finn across a new Mississippi-sized river. ¡°Monsoon? Monsoon?¡± I heard Janet saying. I shook off the mood and looked at her. ¡°Where the heck did you go? We were talking to you and nobody was home,¡± Janet said. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I started thinking that I should be able to see the Williams Tower from here and then I started thinking that the Tulsa hills really are Tulsa mountains now and I was wondering if the river was still there, and, if so, how we were going to get across it. Sorry. And look at that red haze, what causes that? And am I going to be allergic to it!¡± Janet looked at me for a second and then sang, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, be happy, In every life we have some trouble, But when you worry you make it double Don''t worry, be happy¡± and then Tanya came in strong with ¡°Ain''t got no place to lay your head Somebody came and took your bed Don''t worry, be happy The landlord say your rent is late He may have to litigate Don''t worry, be happy¡± and by the fourth word all three of us were standing, dancing and singing the song in what used to be a parking lot in what used to be the city of Sapulpa in what used to be the state of Oklahoma, and for a second the world felt right again. The moment lasted and finally ended as all moments do, and I opened my mouth, and Janet looked at me with one eyebrow raised, and I laughed and said, ¡°No, I¡¯m done. Got my big boy pants on again. So, it¡¯s about 5:20. It¡¯s starting to get dark, what do you all want to do? I guess it is closer to winter than summer. Chapter 11 - Learning the Rickshaw ¡°Well, let¡¯s move away from the building more and set up a camp again,¡± said Janet. ¡°Then we can set our watch schedule, get a fire going and those of us not on watch can practice magic, or martial arts, or sleep. Although with my new constitution and vitality, I thinking that sleep may be almost optional. I don¡¯t feel tired and, I¡¯m pretty sure, that I¡¯m not going to be tired. Maybe a nap later, but I don¡¯t feel the need for sleep. Which is really odd because I likes my sleep!¡± ¡°Really?¡± said Tanya. ¡°You think sleep might be optional? Oh for God¡¯s sake, say it isn¡¯t so! I loved sleeping.¡± I checked my inner-self out and like Janet, I didn¡¯t feel tired at all. ¡®Don¡¯t worry, be happy!¡¯ I thought. ¡°That¡¯s a good thing, isn¡¯t it?¡± I said. ¡°Gives us more time to practice. And with two classes, I¡¯m going to need the extra time.¡± I still wasn¡¯t sure about this, I mean I liked to sleep, a lot! but maybe given the new-Earth, ah screw it. Screw the new earth. I¡¯m tired of thinking through everything, tired of worrying about how the changes will interact, tired of thinking how it¡¯s conspiring to screw us all. I¡¯m just going to live. I¡¯m here, my mom¡¯s still alive, so I still have family, I have two beautiful girls, friends, and a destination. I¡¯m golden. ¡®Stay gold, ponyboy. Stay gold.¡¯ ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get camp set up, get a fire going, set a watch schedule and then we can work on whatever it is that we want to. Sound good?¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± they both said, so we moved about another fifty feet from the building and set up camp. Janet pulled out the teepee, Tanya pulled out the hides and blankets, the rocks from the fire circle, the wood they¡¯d collected, all of the elements of the diorama, and we pitched to and got it set up and ready to go. ¡°Who wants what watches?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ll take first,¡± Janet said. ¡°I¡¯ll take last,¡± Tanya said. ¡°OK, I see how this is. You two against the man! Well, this man ain¡¯t gonna fold, see. This man is gonna stand firm,¡± I said doing my best Jimmy Cagney imitation¡± ¡°Well, you can stand until it¡¯s time for your watch and then you can stand your watch!¡± Janet said, and both girls laughed and high fived each other. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re on, Janet. What time did the sun rise this morning?¡± ¡°About 5 o¡¯clock, it started getting lighter. Maybe 5:20?¡± ¡°I got up at about 5:30, so yeah,¡± said Janet. ¡°Ok, that means we¡¯ve got about 12 hours. Janet your on ¡®til 9, I¡¯ll take over then ¡®till 1, then Tanya can take the last shift. Remember, pay attention to your surroundings, don¡¯t stare at the campfire and, well, don¡¯t do other stuff. Watching is your job, not practicing.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± said Tanya. ¡°You da boss,¡± said Janet. I wandered over to the rickshaw where we¡¯d pulled it up next to our campsite. It looked the same as it had the night when I received it. Two poles, a cab-type area that was relatively enclosed or could be. It had a collapsible, black roof that appeared to be made out of black canvas. It had been treated with something that made it appear waxy, waterproof. The poles didn¡¯t actually connect to the cab. They seemed to connect to another gearing mechanism that allowed the poles to be raised or lowered without affecting the tilt of the cab. The cab was anchored to the same mechanism which somehow kept it upright over the wheels. If the wheels tilted, the cab would too, but as I played with the rickshaw, I could see that the cab stayed relatively level. There was a little incline in the parking lot that I was using to test it out. I wondered how it would do on the hills, but I suspected that it would do alright. There were some springs or shocks on the cab¡¯s base too, they looked like leaf springs and seemed as if they would dampen the travel bumps for the passengers. The wheels were big, wooden-spoked things made up of three layers: a wooden wheel, a metal rim surrounding the wheel with a little rim on it, and a solid, rubbery, ridged tire that fit into the metal rim. All of the wood seemed like it was made of the same type of tree. Whatever type of wood it was, was glossy and black. I had thought it looked like rattan when I¡¯d first looked at it, rattan painted or dyed black, but on looking at it closer, it looked nothing like it. It had a black sheen that came from the material of the wood itself coupled with an extremely tight grain pattern. The wood in the handles was probably several hundred years old judging by the life rings I could view at the end, well, would have been if it hadn¡¯t been created last night. It also seemed extremely dense and hard, but at the same time lightweight, almost as if it was grown from metal instead of wood. I bent down and sniffed it and it smelled like a cross between sandalwood and cinnamon. ¡®Hmm! This thing is like the Cadillac of rickshaws,¡¯ I thought, maybe even the BMW of rickshaws. I picked up the harness and looked it over. It was a lot smaller than my first impression of it was and was clearly designed for a man, not a horse or other quadruped. It seemed to be built like a backpack, two padded straps that went over the shoulders, that merged in a metal clasp about what would be mid-chest, then there was another strap, padded as well, that ran around the hips and clasped just below the belly button. Both of these straps met in the back at another rectangular piece that was padded and evidently had something metal in it. Coming out from it was another strap that had a rotating clasp where it met up with the harness and what appeared to be a metal ball composed of some shiny silver metal at the end. The ball was held in place by a clasp that could also rotate. I started to put it on when I looked up and realized that I had an audience. Both of the two girls were watching me. ¡°Go on Mr. Ed!¡± Tanya said. I made a horsey noise at them, but otherwise pretty much ignored them. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. When I put on the harness, it seemed to automatically snug up a little, the straps tightened. The material it was made of seemed like it was made of a black waxy canvas too but probably wasn¡¯t. It looked like the material that the roof of the rickshaw was made from, but was darker appeared to be made from a stronger fabric. I hoped so anyway because I wanted it to last. I backed into the poles while holding the strap with the silver ball at the end in my hands. The strap was about a meter in length. I picked them up, but the crosspiece joint in the poles, which was usually (from what I could remember) at the end of the poles, was in the back-center. It made my butt almost hit the footrest of the cab when I picked up the poles and left maybe a meter to a meter and a half of pole sticking out in front of me. That joint was what the rickshaw drivers usually clutched onto. I felt a depression on the joint and bent over and looked at it more closely. It was a little metal fixture. A depression in the center, with two dragons coiled around it and their heads pointing away from the depression, almost as if they were guarding it. ¡°Step out, Mr. Ed¡± I heard Janet say. ¡°You''re backward.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I said. ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± said Tanya. ¡°The ball at the end of the strap goes into the depression in the center of the dragons.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± I said, and then set the poles down, stepped over the crosspiece and then picking up the poles again. This time I supported the right pole with my leg and turned, placing the orb in the depression. It stuck, but when I pulled on it, it broke free easily. ¡°What now?¡± I asked, looking at the girls. ¡°Maybe you have to charge it?¡± said Tanya. ¡°Try putting your thumbs on the dragon¡¯s heads.¡± I did and nothing happened. Janet said, ¡°Do it after you put the ball in place.¡± I did and this time I felt five mana vanish into the clasp and the ball stuck when it tugged at it. ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°Cost five mana and it is latched on tight. Um, how do I get out of this thing?¡± I asked and just like that the ball released from its fitting. ¡°OK, can I do it again?¡± I asked. So I grabbed the strap, stuck the ball in place and then put my fingers on the dragons again and, ¡°Five mana again. I guess it doesn¡¯t remember you doing it before. Five mana each time.¡± Each pole had a bracket on its underside. I wondered what they were, but then I had a brainstorm. I pulled out my sword, scabbard and all and put it into the bracket. It stuck there tightly. Again, five mana. I was able to pull the sword and the scabbard remained in place; I put the sword back in the scabbard and it stayed. I was able to get the scabbard to release just by thinking release at it, but, once again, when I put it back in the bracket, five mana. I pulled out a spear from my inventory and stuck it in the other bracket. I wondered if I should have my bow in there, but decided that I was probably not a ranged damage dealer in my role as a rickshaw driver. I was probably more likely a close-combat, run-away type role. I wondered if I could cast spells while pulling. I started to pull the rickshaw around. At first, it was awkward. I kept trying to pull using the poles, but eventually, I started to get the hang of it, pulling from my legs, leaning into the harness, steering with the poles. After about the second time I made it around the campsite, the girls flagged me down and hoped in. ¡°Hey,¡± Janet said. ¡°It¡¯s a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be, you know.¡± ¡°Shh!¡± said Tanya. ¡°Don¡¯t tell Mr. Ed that. He might get sulky!¡± I started to pick up the pace. I was doing the equivalent of my old sprint, not even breathing hard. It felt good to be moving again. Sitting, talking and meditating was great, but moving was better. The girls were getting into it and I heard both of them yelling behind me. ¡°Faster! Faster!¡± All of the sudden, the clearing lit up. A thirty-foot circle of light just illuminated the gathering darkness. It wasn¡¯t directional like headlights, the light was just there, a big pool of not darkness. I brought the rickshaw to a halt and turned, ¡®What did you do?¡± I said. Janet just shook her head and said, ¡°Not me. It was her!¡± and then pointed at Tanya. ¡°Well, I was sitting here, enjoying the ride when I noticed this glass orb down in front of us,¡± Tanya said, pointing towards what looked like a column inset at the top with a glass orb. I disconnected from the harness and came and looked at it. ¡°I wondered what it was, so I reached down and touched it,¡± Tanya said. I heard a voice say, ¡®Light or Protection from the Elements?¡¯ I chose light and this is what happened. Oh, and it also cost five mana.¡± ¡°Five mana! Five mana!¡± said Janet. ¡°Does the whole world cost five mana?¡± We all laughed. Looking at the orb, it was relatively lit up, glowing with white light. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°just makes it easier to practice¡± and hopped back into my place in between the two poles, and started doing laps around the empty space, looping in and around the trees and bushes that used to be gas pumps. After I¡¯d done about three circuits around the space, I got a notification I was waiting for:
Go Mr. Ed! You¡¯ve gained the skill, Rickshaw Driver. This skill allows you to pull a fully loaded Rickshaw. It lowers the stamina cost and increases the speed with every level achieved. A rickshaw may be pulled at a maximum speed of (Rank)(Strength + Agility)*(.1 + .01*level) km per hour. It¡¯s stamina cost is: ((Constitution + Vitality) *(1 .01* Level))/Rank stamina points per 10 minutes). At higher ranks, it allows additional actions:
  • Rank 2 - Ignore weather - Passengers are not impacted by the weather. They stay cool and dry as long as they remain in a rickshaw controlled by the driver. In addition, as long as the driver is pulling a rickshaw, they are also capable of ignoring the weather.
  • Rank 3 - Cross water - Enables the crossing of small streams and rivers without getting wet.
  • Rank 4 - Heavy loads - Enables the pulling of heavy loads without encumbrance if it is liftable into the rickshaw (and doesn¡¯t break it!).
¡°You know it¡¯s interesting that the light and the protection from the elements are made so that the passengers pay,¡± I said. ¡°The System is sticking it to the man! Power to the little man! Power to the working man! Power to the People!¡±. ¡°Neigh, Mr. Ed! I don¡¯t think so,¡± Janet said. ¡°I think They just ran out of space on the poles!¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°I got the skill. I think I¡¯m done here for tonight.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± said both Janet and Tanya. ¡°It was kind of fun. How about another two laps?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± I said, putting down the poles. The light that was created by the rickshaw blinked once and then ended. ''Too much stuff to do,'' I thought. Chapter 12 - Knowledge is Power ¡°Janet¡¯s got watch and I want to try some stuff on magic, then I¡¯ve got to do some kata¡¯s to try and get some martial arts skills or abilities,¡± I said. ¡°I haven¡¯t even started on my martial arts stuff. Plus, you Tanya should be trying to level your spells and learn new ones. I have five spells that you should be trying to learn: Fog, Detect Magic, Light Heal, Create Water, and Earth Bolt. I also should be trying to learn the four spells you have that I don¡¯t: Charm, Shield, Firebolt and Earth Dart Burst. Janet, after watch I¡¯d suggest you try to gain similar spells to the ones that we have since we know that they exist. I¡¯m not sure what the difference is between a cleric¡¯s and a mage¡¯s magic? It didn¡¯t seem like you prayed to Them, but they were definitely a part of the way that you received your spells. I¡¯d try to firm that up and get some more spells, especially healing spells. It¡¯d be nice if in a fight you could heal someone across the room. I realize it was my fault for pulling away from you, but fights are chaotic. I can¡¯t depend on staying next to you, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re in a shield wall. I have to be able to move and so do you. We just need to be better on our positioning.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± said Tanya. ¡°So bossy!¡± I heard Janet mutter, but she started watching. Tanya went inside the Teepee, while I sat down on one of the log seats that they¡¯d salvaged from the diorama inside Maxes. I thought about what I needed to do, magic then martial arts. I needed to become more powerful in both if I, no we, are going to survive. I wondered about my mom and Derek, about Dogleg, Mixerbeast, Slogger, Twilight, and Egirl. Especially about Big Mike and his family. I hoped they were all doing alright, but I didn¡¯t have any way to help them right now, so I had to set aside those thoughts and just concentrate on my own survival, our survival. I thought about what Janet had done, starting with meditation and then just basically asking for the spells and wondered if she¡¯d hit on something there. It wasn¡¯t like any of the spells I was trying to receive were high level or complicated. Plus I knew from Tanya sharing of her system windows exactly how to cast it, all of the damage that it caused, the gestures, the words, about the only thing I didn¡¯t have was experience casting it, so why not try? I closed my eyes, focused on my mana and then concentrated on the Earth Bolt spell Tanya had shown me earlier. I repeated everything I knew about it, its sphere, rank, mana cost, damage, everything that I¡¯d seen on Tanya¡¯s blue screen. I tried to, I guess for lack of a better word, to yearn for it. To want it. To need it. I tried to think how right it was that I should have it, that I already knew it, I just needed the confirmation, I just needed the words in my spell screen. And it worked. About ten minutes into the process, I got the notification I was hoping for:
You¡¯ve got spell!
  • Earth Dart Burst Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Earth Darts Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 2-5 (+1 stage)(X3) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Once cast, an earth dart bolt almost always hits. A new dart is gained at every rank. At later stages, multiple targets are possible. Level 1, (2/25)
I tried it again with the Firebolt spell and it worked too. About 10 minutes is all it took and I got another notification. But when I tried to do the same with the Charm spell, I wasn¡¯t able to. I spent about 30 minutes before I gave up on it. I didn¡¯t get a notification that it wasn¡¯t going to work, but I didn¡¯t get that sense of building towards something that I got with the other two spells. I just heard myself basically talking to myself¡­ in my head. So evidently, having the stats of the spell was a key component in the accelerated process. At least for mages. It looks like you could either discover spells yourself, doing the whole mana meditation thing which takes a lot of time, effort and is quite possibly risky, or you can get some other mage to pass you the CliffsNotes version. Good to know. Time to get the CliffsNotes. I stood up and walked to the opening of the Teepee and looked inside. Tanya was sitting in the Sukhasana yoga pose with her hands in the Gyana Mudra position on top of her legs. ¡°How¡¯s it coming?¡± I asked, ducking inside. ¡°It was coming pretty well, ¡®til somebody interrupted me,¡± she said, kind of snarkily. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I just finished my second spell, so I thought I¡¯d take a break.¡± ¡°What!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°No friggin way! Pull the other one. There¡¯s no way that you got two spells already. It¡¯s been what, 40 minutes? No way?¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± I said. ¡°Check these bad boy¡¯s out!¡± and I shared my new spells with her.
Spells
  • Earth Dart Burst Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Earth Darts Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 2-5 (+1 stage)(X3) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Once cast, an earth dart bolt almost always hits. A new dart is gained at every rank. At later stages, multiple targets are possible. Level 1, (2/25)
  • Firebolt Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Fire Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target
Verbal: Firebolt Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 1-10 (+1 per level)(+2 fire damage) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 20 Once cast, a firebolt almost always hits. Every rank it gets another bolt. Level 1, (2/25)
¡°Holy crap!¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯d you do? Come on spill!¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± I said ¡°I just used my superior intelligence and it took me half the time. It¡¯s the benefit of being smarter.¡± ¡°Really?¡± she asked. ¡°No, no way! I¡¯m not buying it. You figured something out. Spill! white boy!¡± ¡°You realize that when you call me white boy, standing there in all your blondness, it¡¯s a little ironic?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. If you¡¯re gonna talk, tell me something I want to hear. You realize that with the God Box, I could be green if I wanted to be? Now, how¡¯d you do it?¡± ¡°I started thinking about what Janet said. She said she basically just asked for it, but in the process, she meditated and brought out all of the information that she had on the spell that she wanted and concentrated on it. I¡¯d done an OK job of describing the spell, it sounded as if she took it a little further and succeeded. I wondered if it was a cleric thing or maybe she tapped into the way spells were supposed to be learned. So I did what she did, I meditated on my mana, then I thought about the spell description you¡¯d given me for both of those spells. I really concentrated and tried to, I know this sounds stupid, but I tried to yearn for the spell and deserve it since I already basically knew it. And it worked, after about 10 minutes, I got the first spell, another 10 and I got the second spell.¡± ¡°But you spent about 40 minutes. What did you do with the rest of the time?¡± she asked. ¡°I tried to do the same thing, but using Charm instead. It turns out that it¡¯s probably likely that the more that you know about the spell, the more likely your success will be and the less effort you¡¯ll have to put in to learn it. I finally gave up and came in here.¡± ¡°I overheard. I¡¯m pretty awesome, aren¡¯t I?¡± said Janet, sticking her head into the tent. ¡°I know, back to watching, but, well, yea me! By the way, not that I don¡¯t appreciate your blondness, but you might look good with some color. A light green could do good things for you!¡± and she withdrew. Outside we could hear her laughing. Tanya shook her head and rolled her eyes. ¡°Anyway, so, meditate, review the information, and want it? Is that it?¡± she asked. ¡°I think so,¡± I said. ¡°But you have to start with the blue screen info. Otherwise, it may not work. I can¡¯t tell if Janet did a great job of imagining the spell or if she got a cleric bonus. Plus review the info means really use your imagination on it, try to ¡®feel¡¯ the spell, imagine it happening.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± she said. ¡°Let me try!¡± ¡°Wait, wait,¡± I said. ¡°Before you do, let¡¯s share blue screens about spells that we want. It will help, I¡¯m almost sure of it.¡± She agreed and so I shared with her the spells I hadn¡¯t shared already: Fog, Detect Magic, Light Heal, Create Water. I also received the two spells that Janet hadn¡¯t already shared with us: Charm, Shield. Of course, we included Janet in all of this sharing so that she could try to gain the spells later when she was off watch. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I moved outside again and sat down on my log seat and started trying to repeat my earlier success. After about ten minutes I got Charm according to the notification, and ten minutes after that, I got shield too. Shortly after I got Charm, I heard Tanya yell, ¡°Who¡¯s bad!¡± and about every ten minutes after that, I heard her yelling. After I finished gaining all of the spells that we shared between us, I thought about what else I could try to do. I remembered the Light Bolt spell that Janet had shared with us earlier and decided to try for that one too. It seemed a little more difficult, but after about 15 minutes, I gained it too. ¡°Hey,¡± I said to the wall of the teepee. ¡°Be sure to try for the Light Bolt spell that Janet got too. I was able to get it so I don¡¯t think this new world separates out magic into cleric piles and mage piles. I may be wrong, but it doesn¡¯t seem like it.¡± I heard Tanya say, ¡°OK, I¡¯ll try.¡± I wondered briefly what separated a cleric from a mage if it wasn¡¯t their spells, but I had other things to get done, so I pulled my mind back to my task list. ¡®Hey, I must be getting better at planning.¡¯ I thought about trying for some more spells, but the only way I knew to do that was the full-on meditation route and I kind of scared myself a little bit with my talk about spell backlash. ¡®Was it real?¡¯ I thought. I pictured myself, seated, meditating and then my head exploding into this oily, red cloud with my neck spurting out blood ala Monty Python, ¡®yeah,¡¯ I thought, ¡®let¡¯s wait on that for a while. Try to figure out some way to minimize the whole head explody thing.¡¯ So that left martial arts. I had a couple of black belts, one in Aikido, one in Krav Maga. Neither one of the systems really do katas, practice yes, kata¡¯s no, well maybe a little bit in Aikido, not so much that you had this choreographed set of actions that you could follow, but a more limited set of actions that you¡¯d used to practice various techniques, so I couldn¡¯t practice katas and prove my knowledge to the System, and really that is what this whole training session was about, getting the skills ¡®registered¡¯ and then developing them into Qi abilities. If skills were the potatoes, abilities were the meat. I¡¯d also had training in Wing Chun, a lot, but hadn¡¯t really tried to level it up. I had a Sifu that came and taught me during my homeschooled period. He came directly from Hong Kong and was in the direct lineage of Ip Man. He trained my mother and I, worked with Derek and, in the meantime, founded a martial arts movement, I guess. He basically had only two belts, the first, white belt, the second, black belt. White belt meant beginner, black belt meant advanced student. Someone worth teaching. He broke down eventually and let people put color bands on their white belt though. ¡°Americans need levels¡±, he¡¯d say. Our Sifu, Ting Fong, had a rough childhood and wanted to bring the benefits of martial arts, which he saw as dedication, practice, health, honor and the ability to defend themselves, to kids that didn¡¯t have a great childhood and my Mom was all about that. She created a foundation, created a gym/training hall in North Tulsa, which was historically a poor side of town, and basically started a movement that was really starting to gather speed. Instead of gangs, they came up with this concept of practice groups. Each student was assigned to a practice group of five when they joined. They were encouraged to bond within their group, to really support each other. Each practice session had a group check-in before each martial arts session and a review session after the practice. The idea was to get these kids some stability in their lives. If their parents couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t raise them, then give them the tools to raise themselves. Each group had an older mentor that would check-in too, show them how to hold meetings, be respectful, open up and talk in-group, act as an arbitrator if there was a group conflict. The mentor was someone that had been training under Sifu for a longer time. My mom also worked in, quietly, health care, mental health care and counseling, and some aid, if needed, and it was needed a lot of the time. She also worked in tutoring, she is big on education. She called these kids, ¡®Sifu¡¯s Army,¡¯ but not, of course, where anyone in a position of authority could hear. She and Sifu even got the police involved, the police got training in a martial art for free and, in return, acted as a mentor to the kids. The kids got the opportunity to not see the police as, well, the police, but as just another human, trying to survive. One of the things that she and sifu stressed was community involvement. Each practice group was required to have an organized event once a month, things like painting old people¡¯s houses, lawn care, picking up trash, babysitting, community gardening, you name it, it got done. In return for each community event, they got two meals catered in, breakfast and a late lunch. Each student that participated got points and points could be exchanged for items at a store called ¡°Sifu¡¯s Store.¡± Logo''d Nike, Under Armour and other top brands of clothing, shoes, etc. The prices were fairly low, the idea was to both get the kids the clothes they needed and also to create a sense of belonging, a group identity. Also, the only way that you could get the items was to spend points. Can you say bragging rights? It was pretty cool. Kind of like a corporate store, only instead of a company logos, they had the training hall¡¯s logo on them. The whole concept was really working. It had been in operation for about 12 years now, the city of Tulsa had got behind it, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Schusterman Foundation, two big charity foundations in Tulsa had got on board, there was talk about starting a charter school, multiple kids had graduated from the program and college, it had even expanded out of north Tulsa in to other regions of Tulsa and the surrounding area. Anyway, I was almost at a black belt in sifu¡¯s version of ¡®Wing Chun.¡¯ Alright, I was ready for it, but I hadn¡¯t gone through the testing yet. It required a couple of black belts to be present and there was some politics about it and I kind of liked my white belt. I was close enough that I¡¯d learned all of the forms and was able to demonstrate them without sifu hitting my head. Sifu had this habit of, when he watched someone do something poorly, he¡¯d show them how to do it right and then smack them on the head to make sure it stuck, kind of a cross between a faith healer and Gibbs on NCIS. Everyone around him just got used to it, heck, he¡¯d even slap my mom. Brave man. Basically, Wing Chun has three forms plus a couple of others - weapons forms, but the first of the forms is Siu Nim Tao, or translated, The Little Idea for Beginning. It covers pretty much all of the basics of the martial art with the exception of kicks. It can take anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes to complete. I¡¯ve been doing it for 12 years, basically, it¡¯s become how I wake up in the morning. I roll out of bed and then start doing the form. Sometimes I do one of the other two forms or even the weapons forms, but for some reason, they don¡¯t speak to me the same way that the first form does. And, as I practiced more over the years, the time that I took me to complete the form grew, now it takes me every bit of 45 minutes, especially if I run through it twice, maybe even a little longer. It isn¡¯t quite as beautiful looking at Tai Chi, but probably a bit more functional. I checked the time and saw that I had about 50 minutes left before my turn to watch came up, so I got started. It probably looks a little funny to people not used to the forms, a man standing with his knees and feet bent inward, moving his arms, twisting his wrists, but once you realize what the motions are representative of, and how they can brutalize an opponent, the forms become a lot less funny. I finally finished and got the notification that I was expecting, well hoping for:
You go, boy! You¡¯ve got skillz!
  • Martial Arts (Wing Chun) Rank: Copper Elemental Sphere: Earth Range: self Damage: variable Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: none SP: 10 per minute - fighting, 10 per 10 minutes, forms or other training. A martial art skill created from the Chinese Kung Fu Wing Chun This is a martial art that emphasizes close in skills against humanoid opponents. It also has a lesser focus on weapons, primarily long poles, swords, and knives. It provides no ranged capabilities. Level 5, (453/800)
¡®That¡¯s interesting,¡¯ I thought. ¡®It gave me Wing Chun, but then added that phrase, ¡®against humanoid opponents.¡¯ Did that mean that it wouldn¡¯t work against giant rats? Also, it didn¡¯t say what it did? I mean the spells gave damage, this didn¡¯t. It also gave a stamina points cost but didn¡¯t say what the stamina points cost for melee would be without the skill. I¡¯m assuming it would be more, but I don¡¯t know. Also, would the damage be impacted with my sword now? Argh! Always questions. For each step forward, two steps backward!¡¯ ¡®How the heck am I going to get Aikido or Krav Maga skills?¡¯ I thought. ¡®I guess it¡¯ll have to wait until I I fight someone and use the skills. Maybe I can create a kata that defines enough skills to grant me the skill?¡¯ I looked up and saw Janet watching me. ¡°Hmm!¡± she said. ¡°What was that?¡± she asked. ¡°It was the first form of Wing Chun, a form of Chinese kung fu or wushu,¡± I said. ¡°I studied it under my sifu, Ting Fong. He¡¯s pretty excellent! Sifu means, well, master, I guess.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± she said. ¡°Did you get a skill? Any Qi abilities?¡± ¡°I got a skill, but no Qi abilities. I¡¯m not sure how to get them. I¡¯m also not sure if there¡¯s a limit on skills or abilities or spells,¡± I said. ¡°I just thought about that. What if there¡¯s a limit to the number of spells you can learn and you discover this really great one. Maybe you¡¯ve filled your limit with rank one spells and you discover a copper or even an iron rank skill. And you can¡¯t learn it. That would bite!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think there is,¡± said Janet. ¡°I think that if you can learn it, you can cast it or do it, provided you have the mana or stamina points to spend.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°It sounds logical, more real world-y than having some arbitrary limit. But this whole new world seems composed of arbitrary limits.¡± ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°we had plenty of limits in the old world too. Green means go, gravity pulls down, the sun rises in the east, you drive on the right unless your British or Australian. Plenty of limits there.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± I kind of laughed. ¡°You got me there.¡± ¡°So you going to teach us this Wing Chun in the morning?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes!¡± I said, having a eureka moment, ¡°and I¡¯ll be teaching you Krav Maga and Aikido too! ¡®Genius,¡¯ I thought. ¡®It¡¯s the perfect way to demonstrate a skill, teaching it to someone else. And demonstrating a skill means that you have it and, booya! new skill on the skills screen!¡± ¡°What¡¯s that look you suddenly got?¡± she asked. ¡°Well,¡± I was wondering how to get my Krav Maga and Aikido skills to register as new-Earth skills, and then I thought, train someone else in them! So that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do. The new-Earth economy, giving skills to someone else, helps you get them yourself.¡± ¡®Hmm!¡¯ I wondered, ¡®does training give you skill points? I bet it does. I bet the more people you train the more skill points you get.¡¯ Suddenly, my mind flashed to those old martial arts movies, like ¡®Enter the Dragon¡¯ where you had this lawn full of people all training in the same art, at the same time, following the person up on stage. ¡®Sweet Niblets! Think of the points!¡¯ I must admit, I was drooling a little bit! I had a thought I wanted to get checked out. ¡°Hey imu,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t get any experience for getting the skill. And it was copper. What happened to my experience points for all the spell levels I gained??¡± ¡°You do not receive experience for knowledge that you already possess. The new skills you received are simply the System acknowledging your existing capabilities. Only by increasing those capabilities will the System reward you,¡± and, of course, the little guy vanished. ¡®¡¯Well, crap, I thought. ¡®I want my 22,725 experience points!¡¯ ¡°And, my watch is done, you¡¯re up,¡± said Janet. ¡°Remember, don¡¯t stare at the fire or practice, your job is to keep watch!¡± she smirked and then ducked into the teepee with Tanya. I watched until one then ducked inside the tent and roused Tanya. Janet was meditating, but Tanya had been sleeping. I decided that I¡¯d try to sleep and snuggled up in the space that she left. I must have succeeded because I was awakened the next morning by the sounds of birdsong and light coming in the open flap of the teepee. I looked over to where Janet was last night and she wasn¡¯t there, so I stumbled out of the tent. It was about 10 after five in the morning according to ¡®the clock in muh head¡¯. Chapter 13 - It’s a Beautiful Day in This Neighborhood (Part 1) Janet and Tanya were out doing Yoga in front of the tent. Once again, their machete¡¯s and crossbows were out and they were both facing opposite directions. I recognized the pose and joined it, we kept doing positions, basically following Janet¡¯s lead, finally ending the practice with a sun salutation. I got the expected notification. I¡¯d also done yoga in the past. When I was studying Asian philosophy and Chinese, I had started taking yoga and then kept up with it. A good way to meet girls, of course, at the time I was 17 so the girls I met thought that I was such a cute little brother. But you know, still, girls in lycra bending and stretching!
You go boy! You¡¯ve got skillz!
  • Yoga (Hatha) Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Earth Range: self Damage: variable Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: none SP: 4 per minute, forms or other training.
A form of inner martial art that is concerned with developing chi and harmonizing the body. It is a system of poses designed to free up the meridians and enable the body to exceed its limits. Level 8, (3352/6400)
¡°Level Eight!¡± I bragged. ¡°Oh,¡± said Tanya, ¡°I¡¯m only level two.¡± She waited until I started to console her and then said, ¡°Copper!¡± ¡°Oh, snap!¡± said Janet. She and Tanya fist bumped and did the whole explosion thing afterwards. I looked at Janet and she said, ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t even want to go there. Iron 9. Remember therapy? Well, afterward, I became a Yoga instructor.¡± ¡°Just wondering,¡± I said. ¡°You two are so competitive! So suspicious.¡± They exchanged looks. I could tell they didn¡¯t believe me. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°We still going with the plan?¡± They both looked puzzled, so I elaborated a little more, ¡°fighting practice, formations, archery/crossbows, spell talk, and supplies. Remember?¡± ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± said Janet. ¡°You mentioned Wang Chun, Aikido and Krav Maga? You still up for that?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°Last night before I fell asleep, I came up with a training plan. Well, the start of one. Does anyone here have any stats lower, in the body category, than 18?¡± ¡°I have a 15 in dexterity,¡± said Janet. Tanya just shook her head. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, ¡°that makes this easier. The way I figure it, training can only raise your attributes so far, if your above 18 in a stat, you are close to super-human and repetitious training like lifting weights, running, etc. isn¡¯t going to really help you anymore. I mean, improving anything over 18 is probably only achievable by putting in amounts of time that we simply don¡¯t have. So it¡¯s all going to come down to levels and stat upgrades for us from now on. And I don¡¯t have any exercises that would improve dexterity, Janet. Maybe doing calligraphy or crafting or ASL might help, but I don¡¯t know. Try it and figure it out. Let me know if you do.¡± ¡°So that leaves us with basically training skills. I¡¯m assuming that skills like cooking you train by cooking, leadership by leading, planning by planning, and martial arts by doing martial arts. I¡¯m not sure if there¡¯s an unarmed martial art skill or a kicking skill or a punching skill. I think not, but maybe? Maybe there is and it¡¯s just low level enough that when I got my Wang Chun skill, it overwrote it, I don¡¯t know. But anyway, I¡¯m going to attempt to teach you some Aikido, Wing Chun, and Krav Maga fundamentals and hopefully, you¡¯ll get the skill. And, as we practice every morning, the skill will go up. Speaking of which, did your Yoga skills go up this morning?¡± ¡°I got 2 points in it,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I got 3,¡± said Janet. ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°That means that my idea that practicing gives points and then levels, is true. Sweet, that means experience.¡± ¡°Did you notice that he¡¯s almost drooling there?¡±Janet said. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I did,¡± said Tanya. ¡°It¡¯s a little creepy the way his eyes gleam when he starts talking about experience points, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Oh, come on, that''s real coming from two girls who knew off the top of their heads the amount of experience they¡¯d gained without having to look it up. By the way, I got three, Tanya you need to work better.¡± ¡°Ooh, snap!¡± said Janet. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean that in a bad way,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking that you need to work on your mindfulness. Be fully present in what you¡¯re doing. That¡¯s the difference between three points and two points, I¡¯m pretty sure. OK, who''s ready for some martial arts?¡± They both said they were so we spread out on the field and I began to explain the philosophies of the various martial arts, Wang Chun¡¯s softness, aikido¡¯s circular philosophy, and Krav Maga¡¯s endless aggression. I trained them in falling, some basic joint locks, a block/punch combination useful against a knife attack, and ended with my favorite form, Siu Nim Tao. After about an hour, I called it quits and we stopped to take a breather. The girls were sweaty and grass-stained from their practice. Janet cast her spell ¡®Clean¡¯ on all three of us and just like that, we were. It was amazing. We stood there afterward, stunned. ¡°I¡¯m clean!¡± said Tanya. ¡°I haven¡¯t felt this clean in literally, maybe a month. My trailer doesn¡¯t have good water pressure and I barely could take a shower.¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± said Janet. ¡°Look at my hands, even my nails look spa done. In the spell¡¯s description it said it was like a combination of a locker room and a spa visit, but my god! I love this spell! I think it¡¯s my new favorite! Even my pits don¡¯t smell,¡± she said, sniffing her armpits. She looked up and saw us staring and said, ¡°Oops! Boundary Foul. Inappropriate sharing! Penalty Box Two Minutes!¡± I was starting to learn that Janet said exactly what was on her mind, so I just laughed and said, ¡°Even my teeth feel clean. I¡¯ve got to learn that spell. Share it now, please!¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Janet focused and then the spell appeared in front of us: iu ee
Spell
  • Clean Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Life Casting Time: 20 seconds Somatic: Small sweeping motion Verbal: Be Clean Range: 4 meters centered on the caster. Duration: 10 mins or instant (on living being) Spell Resistance: No MP: 5
Once cast, a cleaning spell enables you to perform simple cleaning effects for 30 minutes. The effects are minor. A cleaning spell can clean a 3-foot area every 30 seconds. The caster must direct the spell''s effects. It will perform the equivalent of sweeping, mopping and polishing. Or it can also clean a person that it has been cast on. It is the equivalent of taking a shower and then drying off. It also handles personal grooming such as brushing your teeth and cleaning your fingernails. In other words, it combines a spa treatment with a locker room. Level 1, 8/25
¡°Please, please,¡± I said, ¡°don¡¯t let this spell be a cleric only spell! OK, that can wait, did anyone else get some notifications while we were practicing?¡± They both said that they did, but both of them had set their notifications to auto minimize, so they didn¡¯t know what they were. I¡¯d done the same thing, so I said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a notification break, OK?¡± I opened mine immediately and saw that I¡¯d got Martial Arts (Aikido) and Martial Arts (Krav Maga), I¡¯d also got teaching too. Teaching helped my students learn better and faster by ten percent a level. I have to think that most of my college professors never received this skill. ¡°What did you get?¡± I asked. ¡°Aikido, Krav Maga and Wang Chun¡± they both chorused. ¡°Sweet,¡± I said, ¡°cause that¡¯s what I was trying to teach you. How many points did you get?¡± ¡°Well, I just have three in each,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Same here,¡± said Janet. ¡°Great! That three means that you were both paying attention. Only 22 points more and you¡¯ll be level two and get 250 experience, each, 750 points. That¡¯s THREE FREE LEVELS! Well, it would be, but you''re not at level one anymore. Still, ¡± I said, ¡°that 13 percent towards your next level just for learning. Woah, AWESOME!¡± ¡°How does that work? Do we have to put in an hour¡¯s training to get the points? Or is 30 minutes enough?¡± Tanya asked. I just shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe in time we¡¯ll be able to figure it out, but right now, we get points whenever the System wants to give them to us. But I¡¯m pretty sure that if you use what you¡¯ve learned in a fight, you¡¯ll get experience points for it too.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± said Janet. ¡°I bet you get more points for using it for real than you do for training.¡± ¡°I bet you¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°So what¡¯s next, archery or formations?¡± I asked. ¡°Let¡¯s do formations, first,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I really think we broke down in the rat fight and if they¡¯d been tougher we could have been a world of hurt. Everybody OK with that?¡± Both Janet and I nodded. ¡°So, we agreed,¡± she continued, ¡°TUP, Skinny, Fat, Drift Left means move left slowly, Right means the same to the right. What else?¡± ¡°Turn Left, Turn Right,¡± said Janet. ¡°And the speed will be set by Monsoon since he¡¯ll have to keep his butt in front of us. No more running away from the healer. But I did get another spell for healing last night that will help with that in case we need to separate. It¡¯s called ¡®Party Heal.¡¯ It heals everyone in the party within a five-meter area. It¡¯s expensive, but does a pretty good job of healing, 30 HP¡¯s healed for 30 MP plus five for each party member in the area. Each level does more healing at a greater distance. I think it gets cheaper to cast at higher levels. Sweet, huh?¡± ¡°Awesome!¡± I said. ¡°Share girlfriend,¡± Tanya said. And Janet did:
Spell
  • Party Heal Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Life Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Bringing hands together in a prayerful manner. Verbal: Heal Them Range: A five-meter area set within 2 + (1 meter per level of the caster). Duration: Instant or lingering 5 minutes plus 30 seconds per level. Spell Resistance: No MP: 30 plus five MP for each party member within the range of the spell. + 2 MP per level of the spell.
Once cast, a basic party heal spell heals 30 points of damage to everyone in the party within a five-meter area. In addition, it lingers on and heals future damage while the spell is active - provided that the damage does not exceed the total points of damage allowed. Each level of spell proficiency grants +2 hp to the healing. Each level adds one meter to the range of the spell. Each rank of the spell removes 5 MP points of the cost. Level 1, 2/25
¡°Woah,¡± I said. ¡°Cool spell! I love the lingering effect. In the future, you might be able to cast it before we start fighting and save us all a bunch of pain. I wonder, if your wounds get healed as fast as they happen, does it still hurt?¡± ¡°If a bear shits in the woods,¡± said Janet. ¡°Does it still stink?¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Little aside there, my mind goes all over the place. You¡¯d think that being more intelligent would help, but not. Anyway, I guess we¡¯ll find out soon, won¡¯t we? Probably?¡± ¡°What the bear thing?¡± asked Tanya, puzzled. ¡°No,¡± I answered, ¡°the pain thing, but I guess, the bear thing too. Oklahoma had bears, up in Tahlequah, a lady I met once in an airport had one get in her trash cans. At least she said she did.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Let¡¯s bring it back, people. So, we¡¯ve got: TUP, Skinny, Fat, Drift Left, Drift Right, Turn Left, Turn Right. What else?¡± ¡°Tighten up,¡± I said. ¡°It means pull up closer, get into closer range. You¡¯ve pulled outside of the area that I feel I can block for you. Loosen up too, I guess.¡± ¡°Split,¡± said Janet. Tanya and I both looked at her. ¡°Somebody casts a spell that does a lot of damage in an area like my party heal but doing damage instead. We don¡¯t all want to get hit by that. Well, I¡¯m pretty sure none of us do, but you get the idea. Wouldn¡¯t it be a good idea to have a plan to get out of the way, and not get in each other¡¯s way?¡± ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± I said. ¡°Girl on left breaks left, or backward if they can¡¯t go left, girl on right breaks right, or backward if they can¡¯t go right, I break forward or backward if I can¡¯t go forward. And then, a ¡®Gather Up¡¯ call to resume the formation.¡± ¡°I think we don¡¯t need a gather up call,¡¯ said Tanya. ¡°Just a T-UP will do.¡± ¡°Ok, that makes it simpler.¡± ¡°What happens if we can¡¯t gather?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Somebody got hit and is on the ground.¡± ¡°Then we form up around them. Nobody gets left behind or alone!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m still ¡®girl on the left? right?¡¯¡± asked Janet. I looked at Tanya who nodded at Janet. ¡°OK,¡± Tanya said. ¡°Sounds like we¡¯ve got the basics down. Ready to practice?¡± The other two of us just nodded our heads and we started practicing. We went at it hard for about an hour. We discovered another call when doing so, ¡®Stop!¡¯ Basically, it meant just what you¡¯d expect, stop moving, hold your position. Originally, it was just so Tanya could freeze-frame us and point out errors in our positioning. Janet kept breaking right, I would drift too fast, we¡¯d both get out of position a lot. Tanya had a hard time positioning us, even with her new intelligence, it was hard for her to imagine enemies and position us to fight them. But we were getting better. Chapter 13 - It’s a Beautiful Day in This Neighborhood (Part 2) We took a short break and talked about it. It was about 8:30 in the morning. Once again, we were getting off to a late start, but better to get there late, than to not get there. I mentioned that I¡¯d gotten a couple of new skills: Battle Movement and Military Drill and the girls said they had too. Tanya said that she¡¯d gotten Teaching as well, which was great for all of us. She also mentioned how difficult it was to get us all responding in the same way, that we didn¡¯t perceive the same threats that she did. I mentioned illusions. A type of magic that would enable her to set up battle opponents and she was excited about that. Said she was going to try to use her downtime tonight to develop a spell. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Ready to practice our archery?¡± They were and so we went around back to the ¡°archery range¡± we¡¯d set up yesterday. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°anything you learned about firing your crossbows, since yesterday?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Janet, ¡°it¡¯s a lot tougher to hit something that¡¯s moving at you than you¡¯d think. I swear I had that momma rat lined up with a clear shot to the head and, still, I almost missed her. I barely hit her in the ass.¡± ¡°I know,¡± said Tanya, ¡°I had her set for a headshot too and barely got her in the leg.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we practice,¡± I said. ¡°But you¡¯re right, movement adds a whole new level of complexity to hitting something. Most of those bow hunters, sit in a blind and hit their targets when they aren¡¯t moving. Poor deer is just walking down a trail and stops to grab a bite to eat and bam, instant arrow to the knee. I¡¯m pretty sure that they did that in the old days too. Hunting¡¯s hunting. But combat is different, something is charging you or running away from you and is going to dodge your shots. It¡¯s aware of you and is watching out for what you''re doing. You¡¯ve got to outthink them and place your shot both where they''re going and when they can¡¯t dodge. It¡¯s like a little computer in your head, telling you when the best time is to shoot. For instance, it¡¯s harder to dodge when you¡¯ve already committed to an action, like taking a step. That¡¯s what you want to be able to do, that¡¯s what you need to do. So we good?¡± They both nodded, and so I added, ¡°remember mindfulness. We still haven¡¯t gotten the skills yet, which surprises me a little. Why don¡¯t we shoot about four sets of ten and call it a day? After each set, we¡¯ll police our arrows and bolts and then start again. Hey, one thing we should probably talk about is rules.¡± ¡°Rules,¡± they asked. ¡°Yeah, things to make practice safe. In ranges they usually have signals for things like it¡¯s ok to go police your arrows or bolts and stuff since there¡¯s just the three of us, I thought we keep it simpler.¡±
  1. Always keep your crossbow or bow pointed down at the ground or at the target.
  2. Keep your arrows/bolts in, well, they¡¯d say quiver, but I guess we¡¯d say inventory until you¡¯re using them.
  3. Never start walking toward the target until you say (or someone says), ¡°range clear¡± and EVERYBODY practicing echoes back ¡°range clear.¡± After you hear ¡°range clear,¡± do NOT fire! So, if you hear ¡°range clear¡± you yell it back and do not fire again.
  4. Before you start shooting, somebody should have said, ¡®range hot¡¯, and made sure EVERYBODY echoes it.
  5. So, if you hear ¡®range hot¡¯, or ¡®range clear¡¯ and you¡¯re not ready, yell, ¡®my range¡¯. This means everybody stops and does nothing.
  6. Don¡¯t run with arrows, well, unless you have too. This is just like running with scissors, but more obvious. More stupider!
¡°Sounds good,¡± they said and that¡¯s what we did. About midway through the practice, I got a couple of notifications, but I had minimized them so I ignored it and kept practicing. The girls were doing great, so we pulled back about another 2-3 meters. I helped them with their form when they needed it, but for the most part, they didn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was our new physical stats or our increased intelligence, or just the level of attention that they were paying, but they were basically, dream students. Tell them once and they¡¯d learn it. Of course, the battle with the rats may have had something to do with it too. Nothing quite focusses your attention on something like knowing it might keep you alive, soon. It sure as heck made a difference with my practice.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After we finished picking up the bolts and arrows, only lost 2 bolts, broke one arrow, we looked at our notifications. I¡¯d gotten another 3 points in teaching and skill in archery. Copper, Level 4, 461/800. I¡¯d kept all of the broken arrows, thinking that maybe I could repair them either with magic or a skill sometime in the future. The girls both got the archery skill, both of them in Bronze: Level 2, 28/100 for Tanya; Level 5, 455/800 for Janet. ¡®Not bad,¡± I thought, ¡®not bad!¡¯ ¡°Very cool,¡± I said, ¡°more experience points for Monsoon¡¯s Maids, no, Monsoons Angels, nope, it¡¯s coming, I just haven¡¯t got the right words yet.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Tanya said. ¡°Keep telling yourself that!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, girlfriend. Tell him straight. Straight to Jesus! Woh,¡± Janet said. ¡°That last part is a real kick in the ass. I don¡¯t know what to think about that whole God sold us thing.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m trying really hard not to think about it too hard. It just depresses me, maybe pisses off the System and I can¡¯t see the information I¡¯d gather helping me in any way, you know? I¡¯m just going on going on. It¡¯s what I plan on doing. Little man,¡± and here I pointed towards myself, ¡°big questions,¡± I pointed towards the sky, and ¡°where are the answers?¡± I asked while raising my arms, palms up. ¡°Even if I could get the System to answer, what would the answer tell me? Could I even believe it? But one thing I do know is that there are a lot of really unhappy people out there right now.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Janet, ¡°but according to the System, there¡¯s probably a lot fewer of them today than there was yesterday.¡± She paused and then said, ¡°Sorry, downer fowl, penalty box, 5 minutes. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! Hug?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± they both said. ¡°I could use a hug right now.¡± And so we did, and maybe even cried a little, but what the hell, if the apocalypse ain¡¯t enough of an excuse to cry, what is. It was still a beautiful day though. It was still about 70? F, I was estimating, I hadn¡¯t yet asked my HUD to display the temperature, I wasn¡¯t even sure that it could. It¡¯d be pretty cool though, like having a built-in weather app. The sky was an amazing blue, the sun was shining and it was now about 9:30 in the morning and I was hungry. We took care of the hunger by downing another sustenance potion. Even Roxie got a potion and I swear I saw her grow as she drank it. She looked like she¡¯d gained at least a kilo which is a lot when you¡¯re a mouse, a big, baby, puppy-sized, mouse, but still a mouse. I may have made a few comments about her weight gain. Nothing serious, but judging by the reaction I got from the girls, a man should never comment on a woman¡¯s weight, even a mouse¡¯s. I tried to apologize, but I don¡¯t think she was accepting. She looked at me, blinked once slowly, then turned her head away, staying nestled in Janet¡¯s arms. I think I just got dissed by a mouse. I took care of my thirst by casting my spell, the girls both had the create water spell too by now, so they took care of themselves. ¡°So what next,¡± asked Tanya. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°yesterday we did spell practice and then, explored Maxes and then, pretty much called it a day. We got a lot of stuff done, don¡¯t get me wrong, but got no further towards my mom¡¯s. After thinking about it, I¡¯m OK with that. I¡¯m thinking that we may want to stay here another couple of days and try and get a little stronger. I mean, the rats used to weigh in at about ? a kilo, now they¡¯re about 23. That¡¯s a 5000% growth surge. What if that¡¯s standard? What¡¯s a 5-kilo feral cat weigh now? 250 kilos? That¡¯s more than an adult lion weighs. Do you feel up to taking on a lion yet? How about this, Turkey Mountain, just down the road here, which used to be a hill, but is now probably an actual mountain, was famous for having wild turkeys living on it. An adult turkey used to weigh in about probably twice as much as a cat. Want to tackle a 500-kilo turkey? I don¡¯t. I don¡¯t even want to see a 500-kilo turkey. It¡¯s like the joke about a 500-pound monkey sleeping, you know? Where does a 500-pound monkey sleep? Anywhere it wants to. Where¡¯s a 500-kilo turkey sleep? Not to mention, turkeys are omnivores, they eat nuts, berries, grains, small lizards and snakes, among other things. How big a snake can a 500 kilo turkey eat? Plus the darn things can fly. I don¡¯t know if the 500-kilo turkeys can, but heck, can you imagine getting dive-bombed by a 500-kilo turkey? It¡¯s like a dragon turkey!¡± I was making airplane noises and zooming my hands around when I stopped to take a breath and noticed that the eyes on the girls were big, manga big. ¡°Sorry, sorry,¡¯ I said, ¡°sometimes I get carried away. I didn¡¯t mean to rant. There¡¯s probably not 500-kilo turkeys down the road. But, ...¡° and I paused for a second and the words just burst out of me, ¡°what a Thanksgiving turkey that would make.¡± Chapter 14 - An Announcement About Government We stood then and just breathed. After my little rant, the thought of all the deaths, we needed some time to decompress. Janet held Roxie in her arms, while Tanya stroked its little head softly. I started to try to pet it, but I swear, the little thing looked at me with a ¡®males not wanted¡¯ look. ¡°Did you see that?¡± I asked. ¡°What?¡± asked Janet. ¡°That look your mouse gave me,¡± I replied. ¡°It¡¯s like it hates me. What did I ever do to it?¡± ¡°Well, other than threatening to kill her with a sword and complaining about her eating your cheese, a lot, and then, calling her fat, nothing,¡± Tanya said. ¡°You think it remembers that?¡± I asked. ¡°Apparently so, oh, and calling her, it too,¡± said Janet. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember that, hmm, Roxie? Ooh!, you¡¯re just the cutest thing ever. I won¡¯t let the big, bad man-boy hurt you. No, I won¡¯t,¡± she cooed to her pet. ¡®Oh lord!¡¯, I thought. ¡®Just what we need, a spoiled rat-mouse. And what¡¯s with that man-boy thing?¡¯ I wondered. ¡®100% American male here!¡¯ As if summoned by my thought, suddenly all three of our visions were taken up by a big blue box. Another notification and this one didn¡¯t seem optional. Strangely, I thought I saw Roxie¡¯s head jerk at the same time we all did.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Welcome to Day Two of Your Apocalypse Another day, another 1.52 billion people. WE are not happy. Currently, 15% of the world¡¯s population has died, while another 25% is injured. That exceeded OUR best day two casualty estimate by almost 20%. That¡¯s right, 40% of your world¡¯s humans have died or been injured. In one day. It could have been worse, but it could have been 20% better. Do better!
And as soon as I finished reading the last word, the blue screen didn¡¯t close, but it released its hold on me, so I could close it, which I promptly did. ¡°What in the absolute FUCK!¡± said Janet. ¡°Did you guys just read what I did?¡± ¡°You mean the bit about a billion people dying?¡± said Tanya. ¡°That totally blows,¡± I said. ¡°I figured it would be bad, but not that bad. We still need to get stronger and make it to my mother¡¯s house.¡± I must have raised a flag, because, of course, just then, the system had to interject.
Congratulations, Heir of the Duchess of Northern Tulsa You have been designated the Heir of the Duchess of Northern Tulsa. As a result, you now have access to additional information in your interface. Check out the government screen for more information.
¡°Oh crap!¡± I said. Chapter 15 - Heir Talk, Not Hair Talk (Part 1) ¡°What ¡®Oh Crap!?¡¯ both girls said at once. I simply shared my screen with them. ¡°Oh crap!¡± they both said. ¡°Show us the government screen,¡± Tanya said. ¡°I want to see your mom¡¯s Duchy.¡± So, I called it up and shared it with them. ¡°I can open it, I guess. I¡¯m not a hundred percent sure that is my mom¡¯s Duchy. Last I heard, she was just a businesswoman. A good one, but not a Duchess.¡± ¡°Lot¡¯s happened since then,¡± Tanya said. ¡°For instance, this...¡± and she just gestured. At what, I wasn¡¯t sure since her gesture took in the building, the new mountains, the former parking lot, basically everything, so I guess I did understand her point, everything had changed. ¡°Plus,¡± she said, ¡°I don¡¯t have access to the government screens, I bet Janet doesn¡¯t either. Maybe only rulers do. Or their heirs.¡± And for some reason both she and Janet started laughing. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t have access to the government screen?¡± I asked. ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°hang on, I¡¯ll try.¡± Her face went through that look that we¡¯d all come to know meant someone was accessing their system screens. ¡°Hold the phone,¡± she said. ¡°I can. It doesn¡¯t show all of the stuff that Monsoon¡¯s does, but I can access it. Let me show you.¡± My screen disappeared and was replaced by a much simpler screen.
Government: You have been offered a chance to switch allegiance from your previous government to the newly formed government. Failure to do so may have real consequences. This choice can be accessed again at any time. However, in most cases, it¡¯s permanent. Do you want to become a resident of the Republic of Tulsa?
¡°Huh, that¡¯s new,¡± I said. ¡°I guess THEY were serious. They want the old governments gone and are making the world support their decisions. Close it without making a selection.¡± Then I looked Tanya again, well, identified her. Her badge information that appeared in my HUD, was now shown in yellow. I did the same thing to Janet and Janet¡¯s was still the normal color basically colorless. Both of them were still green. Sweet. Just one of them was also yellow. Weird. ¡°Look at me,¡± I told them both. They did and I said, ¡°do you see anything funny? And by look, I meant Identify.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± said Tanya, ¡°your badge is a kind of goldish, yellowish color¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. At the same time, Janet said, ¡°nope, your badge is the normal color.¡± ¡°Wow, this really sucks!¡± I said. They both looked at me puzzled and said, ¡°what?¡± ¡°Well, if I¡¯m right, Tanya you know about the choice, have been offered it and have neither accepted or declined. I guess if you¡¯d declined, your badge would show up as red to me, while mine would either stay the same yellow or change to red to you. Janet hasn¡¯t been offered the choice so she gets to carry on as usual. Since I¡¯m an heir, I guess, I didn¡¯t get a choice. I was auto-selected to yes I want to change governments. If you ever select no, Tanya or, I guess, you too, Janet, you¡¯d both show up as red to me and, well, I¡¯d get double experience points if I killed you. I guess this world just became a PVP zone.¡± ¡°PVP zone?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Player vs Player,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a gaming term. It means players can kill other players and get experience for it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s jacked up,¡± said Janet. ¡°Yep,¡± I replied. ¡°It¡¯s also going to make getting back to my mother¡¯s a lot more complicated,¡± I said. ¡°I just got the red badge of shoot me showing to every good ol¡¯ boy with an American flag tattoo. And, since this is Oklahoma, I¡¯m thinking that there¡¯s probably a lot of them. But you know, if the governments knew, why didn¡¯t they do something? Why didn¡¯t they prepare us more? That¡¯s just wrong, isn¡¯t it?¡± I asked. ¡°Good news though is that the good ol¡¯ boy¡¯s guns won¡¯t work. Bad news is that a baseball bat would work just fine. I really don¡¯t want to kill anybody for not liking my mom, you know?¡± Both girls didn¡¯t say anything but shook their heads. I thought about it and a new screen opened and I shared it with the girls.
Government Duchy of Northern Tulsa: Duchy Seat: Sand Springs Duchy Seat County: Osage Ruler of Duchy: Grace Annette Seebring, Duchess of Northern Tulsa Heir: Maysoon Alacrity Seebring Counties in Duchy:
Adair County Craig County Delaware County Mayes County Noble County Nowata County Osage County Ottawa County Pawnee County Rogers County Washington County Wagoner County
  • Size of Duchy: 83,252 km2
  • Population of Duchy: 382,005
  • Code of Laws
  • Taxes
  • Government
  • Army
  • Treasury
  • Ruler Chat (Heirs and Officials Only)
¡°Hey doofus, did you notice the last option,¡± said Janet. I hadn¡¯t or else I would have been all over it. Chapter 15 - Heir Talk, Not Hair Talk (Part 2) ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°Should I do it now?¡± They both nodded their heads. Janet said, ¡°Of course, if I could talk to my parents in all of this, you know I¡¯d be all over it.¡± So, I did it. I selected the ¡°Ruler Chat¡± option and, just like that I could hear my mom¡¯s voice. I seemed to have gotten a skill or something as well, but it was minimized so I didn¡¯t pay any attention to it. ¡°Hi honey!¡± she said. I almost started crying then. The sheer relief of knowing that my mother was alive. Pure joy. ¡°Hi, mom!¡± I said. ¡°Are you alright, ¡­ Duchess?¡± She laughed. ¡°I know, that was a kick in the pants, let me tell you.¡± I wanted to know more about that, but other things were more important. ¡°How¡¯s everyone? Derek, Jackie, Clancy, Jamonica? Did you all make it alright? And what happened? Do you know any more about what was going on? Do you need anything?¡± ¡°Shh!¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re all good. They were all here at the house when the Event happened. Jamonica and Clancy brought their families here, Derek¡¯s daughter is here, my sister and Calah are here, hell, even my parents are here. And that¡¯s awkward.¡± We both laughed. ¡°So what¡¯s your status?¡± she asked. ¡°Are you doing alright?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing ok. I¡¯m still at the place that I worked at in Sapulpa, we¡¯re working on getting home to your place. I¡¯m not sure where it is now, to tell you the truth. I mean, Tulsa grew mountains. We¡¯ve fought some big rats, so we are kind of thinking that before we start on the road, we should get a little stronger. Right now, I¡¯m level 7, the girls are both level 6. That place that I worked at might have turned into a dungeon, in any case, it¡¯s infested with giant rats, at least I think it is. So we might do some rat hunting.¡± ¡°Honey,¡± she said. ¡°Who¡¯s we?¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Tanya and Janet. I worked with Tanya and met Janet right before the Event. Let me try something.¡± I tried to share the conversation with both Janet and Tanya. ¡°Hello, can you hear us?¡± I asked. I heard both Janet and Tanya¡¯s voices join the conversation. ¡°Hello,¡± said Janet, with Tanya just behind. ¡°Hello,¡± said my mom. ¡°I¡¯m Grace, Monsoon¡¯s mother. It¡¯s nice to hear your voices. I did not know that I could share these conversations. It¡¯s kind of like a conference call. Who knew?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°You can also share screens or partial screens and there¡¯s party chat too.¡± ¡°Once again, who knew?¡± said my mom. ¡°So giant rats, dungeons and two lovely girls. Hmm!¡± I rolled my eyes and my mom said, ¡°Don¡¯t roll your eyes at me, Monsoon.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°I would never do something like that, mom.¡± ¡®God, mom eyes!¡¯ I thought. It¡¯s what I called my mom¡¯s ability to always somehow know what I was thinking or doing. I assumed every mother has it or develops it at some point. ¡°Hmmp!¡± she said. ¡°So, how¡¯d you wind up as Duchess?¡± I asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for it, I was appointed when They dissolved the government,¡± she said. ¡°How did they, how did you, I mean, huh?¡± and I kind of stammered to a halt. ¡°Really, the government knew and didn¡¯t say anything?¡± ¡°As I understand it, they didn¡¯t want the world to go into a panic. They assumed that they¡¯d have more time, on what basis that assumption was made, I have no idea. It¡¯s not like there was a comet rushing toward the planet, just some voices and a blue dot. Anyway, they started to prepare, told some folks, mainly old money and told the rest of the government, all the people on the conference blue dot call, not to say a word, that they¡¯d throw the Patriot Act at them and they¡¯d wind up in a black site until it was over. And you can''t go to press with a story like this without multiple sources confirming it unless your fringe news and then you get labeled ¡°Fake News!Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Didn¡¯t they do anything?¡± I asked. ¡°Once again,¡± she said, ¡°they started to construct some shelters, for who, I don¡¯t know, brought a bunch, but not all, of the troops stationed in places like Iraq home, and were creating a quote, unquote, communication plan when the Event occurred.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± I asked. ¡°They were planning on talking, and even then, just planning. I thought that even that man would be more effective than that.¡± ¡°It takes a leader to forge an effective path in troubled times,¡± she said. ¡°We haven¡¯t had one of those in a while.¡± ¡°Did you know about this in advance?¡± I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer to that question. ¡°I had some knowledge of it,¡± she said after a pause. ¡°I heard from someone I could almost believe that it was happening. So I talked to some of the ¡®old money club¡¯ and they hinted, talked around it, outright denied it, affirmed it, you name it, I heard a story about it. I didn¡¯t know what to believe, I mean, come on, the apocalypse? Voices? God¡¯s gone and isn¡¯t coming back? If I hadn¡¯t heard from the boss - that¡¯s what she called Warren Buffett, her idol - that the stories were true or mostly true, I wouldn¡¯t have believed it.¡± She paused for a second, then continued. ¡°I started planning and quit business traveling. Did some construction around the place, things like had some more greenhouses built and stocked, started a higher rock wall and installed some 12¡¯ chain link fence around the property, made better roads, built some Quonset huts to house refugees, that kind of thing, but I didn¡¯t want to appear like a fool and, well, I guess l was caught off guard like they were. In my defense, I didn¡¯t get told by Them that the end times were upon us. I got told by a frenemy and even then, a lot of people were telling me it was BS. I would have brought you home if I¡¯d known. ¡°I''m fine, mom. We''re fine. But I¡¯m so angry, mom!¡± I said. ¡°1.5 billion people and it¡¯s just day two.¡± ¡°I know honey,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m furious too. At myself and at that damn president. That damn worthless man! I want to shoot him myself! Well, hit him with a Firebolt!¡± ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯ve got magic!¡± ¡°Yep,¡± she said proudly. ¡°I got two titles after our phone call, Warrior of the Apocalypse and Mage of the Apocalypse. And so did everyone at the house. We were all in the ballroom waiting for the apocalypse to start when I got your call, so I was able to pass your message along to everybody. Sifu was over, doing one of his training stayovers with security and got Mage of the Apocalypse and Qi Master. Took monk as his class, it auto-leveled to 24. I didn¡¯t even know classes auto-leveled, it really surprised us all. Derek got the Mage of the Apocalypse title and another one called Ninja Warrior. In addition, Jamonica got a special class called, Apocalypse Maid, which is both odd and terrifying. I saw her literally beat a huge, feral cat to death with a broom yesterday. The cat made the mistake of attacking her niece. Climbed the fence and attacked while Jamonica was in the yard. Plus she just walks into a room and it gets cleaner. I have no idea what level she¡¯s at now. She¡¯s gone cleaning mad. I¡¯m assuming she¡¯s getting experience points for all the cleaning she¡¯s doing. It¡¯s a little bit off-the-hook, she walks in, the room gets clean, she giggles and walks out. The house has never been this clean. Even the paint looks clean, she¡¯s started to clean the outside of the house too. Derek took Ninja as his primary class, he¡¯s thinking of taking another class. He¡¯s level 17 now. And our Gardner, Victor, got this class called Green Mage. He can grow tomatoes overnight. Which I think is going to come in really handy.¡± There was a long pause then. I could tell my mom¡¯s attention had been pulled away by something in her environment. Janet and Tanya started looking a little restless, so I held up my hands to say wait, give her time, she¡¯s dealing with something. It was good to hear from her. That big information dump was not really like her. Normally, she was pretty reserved in her communication, this kind of gushing, over-the-top exuberance told me how happy she was to hear from me. I could hold for a longer time than this to keep talking to my mother. ¡°Honey,¡± she finally said. ¡°Got to go?¡± I interrupted. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied. ¡°Something''s come up. Government stuff. I¡¯ll tell you more when I have more time. I¡¯m going to be in meetings the rest of today and tomorrow, then I¡¯ve got to take a trip to Tulsa to talk survival with King Kaiser and Duchess Schusterman,¡± she kind of chuckled here, ¡°so I won¡¯t be able to talk with you ¡®till Tenebrisday. I¡¯ll contact you that evening and we can talk more. Are you safe?¡± ¡°Yes, we¡¯re good,¡± I replied. ¡°As good as anyone is.¡± ¡°OK,¡± she said. ¡°Do not start traveling until you reach at least level 11, the Iron Rank. Your odds of survival go way up unless you get unlucky and meet a peak existence. Don¡¯t do that. So far the monsters we¡¯ve encountered have been basically giant versions of the standard Oklahoma wildlife. We have encountered a couple of beasts, Griffons. I¡¯ll tell you more about them when we talk. Check out the map that is at the front of the Government screen. Really look at it. It will surprise you. I love you. Be safe. Girls, it was good talking with you. I look forward to meeting you. Goodbye,¡± and with that, she was gone. The two girls looked a little stunned. Mom can have that effect on people. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s my mom.¡± Chapter 15 - Heir Talk, Not Hair Talk (Part 3) ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s my mom.¡± ¡°Holy shit!¡± said Janet. ¡°Yeah,¡± said Tanya. ¡°What she said.¡± ¡°Was she always like that?¡± asked Janet. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I answered. ¡°As far back as I can remember, she¡¯s been focused. But, it seems like in the past twelve to fifteen years, she¡¯s gotten hyper-focused. ¡®Lead, Follow or Get Out of My Way¡¯, has become more ¡®Get Out of My Way,¡¯ if you know what I mean. I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s worth, but it¡¯s a lot and almost all of it she generated on her own. I told you that my dad won the lottery, didn¡¯t I? Well, I¡¯m pretty sure she¡¯s doubled or even tripled that stake.¡± ¡°How¡¯d she get to be Duchess?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I answered. ¡°I¡¯ll try to find out more when we talk.¡± ¡°How¡¯d Tulsa become a Duchy?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Is there a Duchy of Central Tulsa? Of Southern Tulsa? How¡¯d she become a Duchess? Is there a Duchy of Hollywood? Wow, no movies. How about New York? Duchy of New York City?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know any of that either. Mom probably has more information, I¡¯ll ask when we talk.¡± ¡°Well, what did she mean by check out the map. Let¡¯s see it again,¡± said Tanya. I thought of the government screen again and then shared it with the two of them. We looked at the map again. It looked the same, pretty detailed, but not all that special. Different enough that without prompting there¡¯s no way I¡¯d have called it a map of Oklahoma. It showed all of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa, it showed Sand Springs, my mom¡¯s hill, now evidently a mountain which was labeled ¡°Seat of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa,¡± the Arkansas River, the roads which used to be highways. It didn¡¯t look that special. Janet spoke up then, ¡°I don¡¯t live here, so I¡¯m not incredibly familiar with the region of this area, where are we on this map again?¡± I started to reply when the map generated a small red circle around what would have been our location. It was a little bright space in a big black sea of lack of knowledge. It was also a lot further from my mother¡¯s home than it should have been which made my guess about where we were, wrong. ¡°Oh, cool,¡± said Janet. ¡°Did you do that?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± I said. ¡°You did, evidently, when you asked the question.¡± ¡°Hmm!¡± Janet said. ¡°Zoom in and show 500 yards of our current location.¡± The map started to move and then paused. ¡°OK,¡± she said. ¡°500 meters of our current location.¡± Suddenly, the map started to zoom in. It was very detailed in the parking lot and the surrounding area that we¡¯d visited. For instance, the road out in front was clearly visible where we had been able to see it, the parking lot in the back was clear as well, Maxes was shown perfectly, areas that we didn¡¯t have firsthand knowledge on were not shown clearly. It was like a fog covered them. Not as bad as a video game¡¯s ¡®fog of war¡¯ blackout, but enough to make sure that you have realized that the information you were seeing may not be accurate. As if the map was trying to tell us that it was accurate at one time, but might not be accurate now. You could still see features like roads, houses, etc., but you knew that the map might not be accurate now. ¡°Wow,¡± they both exclaimed. ¡°This is awesome!¡± ¡°I know, right!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m moving the map,¡± I said. ¡°Show the ¡®Seat of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa¡¯¡± I said. The map un-zoomed back to its original state, then zoomed into an overview of my mom¡¯s house. It¡¯s a big house. The locals called it the Castle because it was big and had rock walls. Not the red sandstone that was so prevalent in Oklahoma, but a white limestone that had been quarried in Missouri and then trucked down to the site by the original owner. I could see the 12¡¯ chain link fence that mom mentioned, the two smallish greenhouses that had existed on the back of the property and the three new big greenhouses that mom had made. They looked a little different, I¡¯m guessing because they were originally made with plastic but now, weren¡¯t. Just like all the plastics had disappeared from my clothes and the packaging, I guess they¡¯d disappeared from everywhere they¡¯d been used. I could see the Quonset huts that she¡¯d talked about and there were quite a few people on the lawn. In addition, there seemed to be a group of Minotaurs, about twenty of them with big axes grounded in front of them on the lawn, their hands on the haft, the big double-edged blades resting down at their hooves. My mom was out in front of the house talking to a bigger minotaur. The bigger minotaur looked more like a bison than a bull. ¡°Are those men, cows?¡± asked Janet. ¡°Minotaurs exist?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°Real-time mapping! I see why mom had to get off the call, chat, thing.¡± ¡°Is she in danger?¡± Janet asked. ¡°See the Asian guy standing behind her along with the big special forces guys?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s my sifu. According to mom, two days ago he was a level 24 monk. I imagine it¡¯s gone up since then. The big guy with the scar and no expression right beside him is, at least, a level 17 ninja. The black woman holding the broom back in the corner, see her? She just beat a 250-kilo cat to death with it. And mom doesn¡¯t seem worried, she¡¯s just talking.¡± ¡°Well, talking to cow men,¡± said Janet. ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°Cow men who evidently can talk and might be our new friends. I guess we¡¯re going to have to start judging people or beings a little differently. So, don¡¯t attack cow men. Unless they attack first.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°So, this map is kind of special, huh?¡± said Tanya. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I think so. It might have to do with me being the heir of the duchy. Maybe my map is special? I don¡¯t know. Until you two make your decision about the government, we don¡¯t even know if you have a map.¡± ¡°Well, that easy to fix,¡± said Janet. ¡°Your mom¡¯s who I want to be when I grow up.¡± Her face went blank and then she said, ¡°Here, scope this out.¡± A blue screen flashed in front of our eyes and like mine, it showed a map at the top and then some information down below.
Government:
  • Current Duchy: Duchy of Northern Tulsa
  • Ruler: Duchess Grace Annette Seebring, Duchess of Northern Tulsa
  • Population: 380,168
  • Total Land Area in Duchy: 83,252 km2
  • Total # of Counties: 12
  • Names of counties within the Duchy:
Adair County Craig County Delaware County Mayes County Noble County Nowata County Osage County Ottawa County Pawnee County Rogers County Wagoner County Washington County
She focused on the map. It looked very similar to the one that I¡¯d shown her earlier. ¡°Where am I?¡± she asked. The same red circle appeared. ¡°Show a 500-meter radius around me,¡± she said. Once again, the map showed an area that looked much like it had before. ¡°Show the ¡®Seat of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa¡¯¡± she said. This time there was a difference. The map had all of the physical features, the Quonset huts and greenhouses in the back of the estate, the house, fences, but it didn¡¯t show any minotaurs or people. It was just a map, like Google Maps satellite view, only someone had removed all of the people, not just blurred them out. ¡°It¡¯s different,¡± she said. ¡°Mine is not real time.¡± ¡°No, but it seems to be up-to-date,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything different between my map and yours, other than the lack of people.¡± ¡°I wonder if my map updated itself when you shared yours with us?¡± she asked. ¡°I wonder if any of the ¡®Seat of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa¡¯ would have shown up on my map if you hadn¡¯t shared your view of it with us?¡± ¡°Try this,¡± I said. ¡°View downtown Sand Springs.¡± She gave the command and the view didn¡¯t change. I called up my map and said, ¡°Share map.¡± They nodded their heads that they could see my map, which showed downtown Sand Springs. So I said, ¡°View fountain in City Garden of Sand Springs.¡± The view changed to show the fountain that sat in the middle of the park. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t made out of plastic. However, it had changed quite a bit. It seemed more utilitarian than it used to be. Beautiful, but functional now. Before it was a simple concrete fountain with five levels of what appeared to be shells or flower petals, maybe 5-6 feet tall. Just one of those decorative fountains you can buy for your yard, maybe a little bit bigger. Now it was a giant stone boulder with water shooting out of the top a couple of feet. It looked like a water main had broken, it produced quite a bit of water. The boulder was about eight feet tall and around twenty feet wide. It was red sandstone. The sides of the boulder had been grooved in a spiral around the outside of the boulder and the water ran down the groove to the ground where it disappeared into a grate. The groove had spillways that captured some of the water and let it out into the deep tank-like stone troughs that had been placed below. It was much prettier that than fountain that was there before. When the troughs overflowed, the water disappeared into the same grate that the water from the fountain disappeared into. ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen that fountain before. Wherever this map is getting its information, it''s not from me.¡± I closed the view and said, ¡°try it now,¡± to Janet. She did and said the same things and the view of downtown Sand Springs appeared. She said, ¡°View fountain in City Garden of Sand Springs¡± and the fountain appeared. ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that special! Ideas? ¡°Maybe, since you¡¯re the heir, it has something to do with that,¡± said Tanya. I must have had my ¡®well duh¡¯ face on, because she said, ¡°no, what I mean is that maybe it¡¯s showing you something that someone in your Duchy has seen. Because you are part of the new government, you get your maps updated to show whatever the latest view of an area was from one of your people.¡± ¡°What about seeing my mother?¡± I asked. ¡°Is this like a surveillance state tool? If there is someone from the duchy viewing it, I can view it in real time?¡± ¡°That I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe it has something to do with it being her and you being her heir. Maybe it has something to do with the number of people around there that have their eyes on the scene. But don¡¯t be peering through my eyes, Monsoon. I catch you, I¡¯ll hurt you!¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that it doesn¡¯t work that way, but, just in case, I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡± ¡°Same goes for me, white man!¡± said Janet. ¡°Don¡¯t be a peeper!¡± ¡°That does it, the next time I see the God Box, I¡¯m going to get some tan in this skin.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got that white bread thing going all the way down to the bone,¡± said Janet. ¡°Even if you were forest green, you¡¯d still be a white man. Fortunately, I like white bread.¡± ¡°Filter,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Use some filters girl!¡± ¡°Ex-yoga instructor from LA,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Snap!¡± said Tanya. Janet paused and took a deep breath. ¡°Alright,¡± Janet said. ¡°I¡¯ll tone it down a notch. I¡¯m just trying to channel my inner badass. And she evidently thinks she comes from Compton. If I think about it, I¡¯m scared. All the time. I¡¯m just scared.¡± Tanya came over and hugged her and said, ¡°Me too.¡± We stood there, once again, doing nothing, but surviving. It was our new reality. Giant rats in the building behind us, who knows what in the woods that surrounded us, minotaurs, griffons, giant evolved mice, mountains that used to be hills, and no government to rely on. It was a miracle that we hadn¡¯t given up and retreated trembling in a corner somewhere. I guess we were stronger than that. Of course, that¡¯s when the noises started. Chapter 16 - Bad Rocky! Bad Rocky! (Part 1) From the woods that surrounded the parking lot, well ex-parking lot, on the east side a voice started shouting, ¡°Chuck! Chuck!¡± I looked at the girls, not talking, just raising my eyebrows, asking silently if they had any idea what this is. Just as quietly, they shook their heads back, no. Tanya said, ¡°TUP, skinny. Toward the noise.¡± We got in our formation, facing the east and the noise. I pulled out the shield and sword and inserted the sword point first into the ground in front of me. I was going to try spells and then melee. The girls drew their crossbows and loosened their machetes in their scabbards. ¡°Everybody ready?¡± asked Tanya quietly. ¡°Everybody got their bolt spells ready?¡± We nodded. In Oklahoma, near Tulsa, the woods are generally pretty dense. At least they used to be. Lots of little trees called scrub oaks made the view through the woods constricted. We also called our forests, woods. I¡¯m not sure why it makes a difference, but it does. Maybe it had to do with the size, wood small, forests big? Our woods were mainly composed of Oaks, but there were a lot of pines and other trees mixed in. After the event, the big trees got bigger. The oaks got huge, I¡¯m talking over a hundred feet. And even the little scrub oaks grew to twenty or thirty feet where they hadn¡¯t vanished completely. Plus the woods grew together and, well, became forests. And judging by the trees I can see in the woods outside the parking lot, there¡¯s a lot more diversity in the number and kind of trees. Including species that weren¡¯t usually found in Oklahoma, there were trees that didn¡¯t exist before the Event anywhere, I¡¯d guess. Like this 150 foot pine-looking tree with metallic-seeming pinecones that I¡¯m looking at now - a natural Christmas tree. Tulsa¡¯s hills are basically big piles of sandstone. There¡¯s some pink granite down by Lake Spavinaw, there''s some limestone down by Skiatook, but for the most part, they were just a thin layer of soil over sandstone that ranges in color from bright red to a sandy color. The hills also are not great for farming, but if you could keep the scrub oaks and other brush cut back, you could run cows on the land. It might even be a good place for vineyards, there had been some attempts to create some. Originally, it had started out like most of the south as a cotton and corn subsistence farming region, but slowly other more suitable crops like soybeans have taken over. Anyway, I¡¯m pretty sure that the Event had changed all that. I wasn¡¯t even sure what the new mountains were made of, but I¡¯m almost positive that it probably wasn¡¯t sandstone. Come to think of it, the Event kind of kicked evolution on its butt. Fossil record? Yeah, right, those mountains are two days old. Maybe they¡¯re not. Who knows, maybe They plucked us out of time, started things over and then stuck us back in. Maybe those two-day old mountains were millions of years old. Gods! Systems! Who knows how or why they do the things they do? Anyway, the trees were bigger, the space underneath was more open, it reminded me more of pictures of forests in Oregon or Washington or even New Zealand. Less undergrowth, larger trees, and space beneath the canopy. I could see an orangy-red furred something coming in our direction, shouting ¡°Chuck¡± the whole time. Soon another voice joined in, followed by about three more voices, all screaming ¡°Chuck¡± and running in our direction. Once, I saw the red, I figured that it might be a squirrel, although, given how loud it was and how big it looked from a distance, I figured that it had been supersized as well. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve got five giant squirrels coming after us.¡± ¡°Why? Don¡¯t they eat nuts and stuff?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°They¡¯re pretty territorial and they¡¯re omnivores too. Bugs, worms, bird eggs also on the meal plan,¡± I said. ¡°I guess when they go supersized, they added us to the menu also.¡± We were standing in the back lot of Maxes with nothing really in front of us except the trees we¡¯d just been using as archery targets and the woods that surrounded them. I looked around, but there didn¡¯t seem to be anything that could help us position ourselves any better. Suddenly Tanya said, ¡°BUp to Maxes, Fast. Left corner of the loading dock.¡± I glanced that way and thought I saw her plan. It would keep the squirrels from surrounding us. I heard the girls start running so I grabbed my sword, threw it and my shield into my inventory and started after them. The lead squirrel was about 150 meters away from us and was moving! Squirrels could do about 32 kilometers per hour, at least normal-sized squirrels could. I have no idea where this information is coming from by-the-way. I must have read it online or studied it some time ago and my new more-powerful memory is supplying it. However, it wasn¡¯t doing 32, it was probably double that. Fortunately, we were probably twice as fast also. I used to be able to do about a 2:54 100 meter dash, which was fast. Not Usain Bolt fast, but fast for a high schooler. Not record setting even in Oklahoma either. My time really basically translated to about 34 kph. I was faster than a squirrel. I should have used that on my r¨¦sum¨¦. Not faster than this squirrel now, but I was also faster too. Just had to see if I was, we were fast enough. It turns out we were. We got onto the loading dock, turned and faced the squirrel just in time. It was coming in hot and its buddies were right behind them. It looked like it was about twice the size of the rats we¡¯d fought earlier, so maybe 60 kilos. It appeared lean and young. Over its head, I could see it¡¯s badge, Giant Squirrel, Level 8, 41 HP. ¡°Far Right, Fire¡± I heard Tanya say. I cast my Firebolt and so did Tanya. I chose it because it did two points of extra fire damage and was our fastest attack spell. Janet¡¯s went off first and then again at the same time that Tanya and my spells were cast. Her spell had a faster cast time. Janet hit it hard both times doing 14 points of damage each time she cast the spell. Tanya and I both did 8 points. The squirrel collapsed and died in front of us. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The other four squirrels were coming in as a pack. There were three squirrels about the same size as the one that we¡¯d just killed and one larger one, a full-on adult squirrel. Evidently, the one we¡¯d just killed was one of its litter. ¡°Right baby squirrel,¡± Tanya called. The squirrels had slowed down about twenty feet away from us, but were still charging, just not as fast. I cast and, once again, Janet cast twice and Tanya cast also. We caught our target as it was leaping up onto the loading dock. I almost missed with a spell that doesn¡¯t miss, doing only 3 points of damage. Tanya did great though, hitting for almost maximum damage, doing 12 points. Janet once again hit the squirrel pretty hard, doing 10 and 11 points of damage. The squirrel dropped at our feet. It was the weakest of the pack. ¡°Right baby squirrel, Monsoon Tank Big One¡± Tanya called again. This time all three of the remaining squirrels were on the loading dock with us. We¡¯d backed into the left corner just like Tanya had said. I pulled out my shield and sword and braced myself for their rush. The big squirrel leaped and so did the little ones. I shoved my shield in its face and swept out trying to bash it like I¡¯d done the rat earlier. I felt it hit, but just solidly. It didn¡¯t get phased at all, no stun this time, but it¡¯s attack run got canceled at least. I swung at the squirrel on the right and hit it hard with my sword. Once again, Janet cast twice and Tanya once. We did pretty good damage, I did 20 points, Janet did 20 points and, this time it was Tanya turn to almost miss, she did only 3 points. It was still alive but not by much. The big squirrel was still out from the shield bash, the right one that we damaged took its best shot at me, which turned out to be a pretty good one. It clawed and bit my arm doing 19 points of damage. I yelled in pain. The other one that was on the left came in hard too. I was focusing on trying to kill its littermate and it got basically a free shot at the left side of my body. All three of its attacks (both front claws and its bite) hit doing more damage - 19 points. I was down 38 points in the first wave. Tanya yelled, ¡°Janet left baby, Monsoon tank center.¡± I heard. I wanted to kill the right baby, but she had given me orders. This time the squirrels were faster off the mark. The mostly dead one tried to engage Janet, but before it could attack, Tanya¡¯s spell hit it doing 6 points of damage and killing it. The big one attacked. I tried to block it again but missed, it slid past my shield and tried to bite and claw me. I hit it on the head with the pommel of my sword, not doing any damage, but blocking its bite. Unfortunately, one claw hit and did 5 points of damage. It bloody hurt. In the meantime, the one on the left tried to get me again. This time I was paying more attention to it so I was able to dodge one of the claws. The bite and the other claw hit, doing 15 points of damage to me. I was really starting to hate that squirrel. Fortunately, Janet hit it. She did 22 points of damage to it. Tanya yelled out direction again. ¡°Janet left baby. Monsoon tank center.¡± I really, really wanted to hit the one on the left, but I resisted. Once again, the squirrels attacked first, evidently, they were just faster than we were. The big one took its bite and claw attack at me. I again missed my shield block, it slid under and went for my throat. Only one of its attacks hit, but it hit pretty hard, doing 9 points of damage. In addition, I could feel my throat bleeding, doing an addition 4 points of damage per round, about every two seconds. I needed to get that fixed. I had no idea how long that would keep bleeding. The one on the left tried to hit me again, but only one of its claw attacks hit, just doing 3 points of damage. I was down to almost half of my hit points. I needed some help here. Fortunately, Tanya saw that, ¡°Janet, healz on Monsoon. Monsoon, tank center.¡± I smashed the shield in the big one¡¯s face again, trying to stun it. Once again I missed. It didn¡¯t. It bit me and clawed me, doing 15 points of damage. I tried to stab it with a straight shot, like a bullfighter in Spain would use and I hit. I did 17 points of damage to the big one. Finally, it got to feel what it was like. I had 108 points of damage done to me by its pack. This was definitely not fun. I decided to let the world know and screamed out, ¡°Not fun! Not fun!¡± About then I felt Janet¡¯s hand touch me and her heal spell wash over me. It healed me of twenty points of damage. It felt as if I was under a sun lamp, a current of warmth crept through my body. Everywhere that it flowed, I felt the pain reduce and, in some places, disappear. Tanya shouted out, ¡°Janet left baby, Monsoon tank center. The left baby and the big one both lept again at me. I tried to block the big one again. And once again, I missed. It must have been shook up from the damage I did to it last time because it missed with all three attacks. The left one hit me hard with a bite. It attached itself to my right thigh and started chewing on me. Fortunately, the damage was not that great, it only did 11 points of damage. I felt Tanya¡¯s hand land on my shoulder and her heal spell healed me of 20 points of damage. Janet hit the one on the left with a light bolt doing 13 points of damage. ¡°I¡¯m out,¡± Janet yelled. ¡°Janet, attack center, Monsoon tank center. I didn¡¯t know at first what Janet meant, then I realized that she was out of mana. The squirrels attacked again. I tried to block but missed again. I hit the big one for 13 points of damage. It bit me back for 9 points of damage, but I was able to block its claws with the shield. The little one tried again, only this time it missed with all three attacks. Janet had evidently pulled her machete. She took a swipe at the big one and missed. I felt Tanya hand on my shoulder and suddenly I felt that warm feeling and 20 points of damage disappeared from me. Tanya shouted out, ¡°Janet center, Monsoon tank center. The squirrels were slower getting started this time. I stabbed the big one again. Only this time I missed. It jumped, I tried to block and again, I missed. It bit and clawed at me. It¡¯s claws missed, but the bite was fierce. It somehow got through my sword and shield and latched on to my neck again. It did 21 points of damage to the already open wound on my neck and increased the bleeding effect by 1. I could feel the blood running down my throat and onto my chest. It smelled thick and coppery. Janet swung a perfect shot. It was as if she had been training her whole life for this moment. She did 13 points of damage to the big one and caused a bleeding effect of 3 points. I didn¡¯t even think that it was possible to do that kind of damage with a machete. There has to be some kind of critical hit effect occurring. That would explain my bleeding neck and the huge wounds I¡¯ve got there. Also the difference in damage. Sometimes they do a little, sometimes they do a lot. Just then Tanya cast her spell. She wasn¡¯t healing this time, she was trying to finish off the big one. It hit doing 11 points of damage. And, finally, the big one was down. The little one looked around and decided that it had enough. It turned and started to run. Neither Tanya or I were going to let that happen. We cast our Firebolts at the same time. I hit doing 5 points of damage, Tanya did 8. It was enough, the last squirrel dropped. I dropped too, straight into a kneeling position and started casting ¡°Light Heal¡± spells on myself. I was down 103 points and had a bleeding effect of 5 points every two seconds. After the third spell, I felt Tanya¡¯s spell land as well. I cast it another 2 times and even the bleeding had stopped. We¡¯d won. And stayed alive. Chapter 16 - Bad Rocky! Bad Rocky! (Part 2) After I finished healing myself, I rolled back onto my butt and put my hands around my knees. I was tired, I hadn¡¯t checked my Stamina Points yet, but I was pretty sure that they were low, if not almost empty. A run, followed by melee, not good for the old stamina. I¡¯d just put my head on my knees when I felt something touch my shoulder. ¡°Want some water?¡± I heard Janet say. I looked up and grabbed the potion bottle and downed it all. ¡°So what do squirrels have against Chuck? And who¡¯s Chuck?¡± asked Janet, laughing a little. I laughed too. ¡°I should have recognized the sound,¡± I said. ¡°When squirrels get really angry they make that noise. But, it was so loud, I couldn¡¯t figure out what it could be. Crazy right. Attacked by giant squirrels.¡± ¡°Is everything going to be that big? Were they monsters or beasts?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Imu, were those giant squirrels monsters or beasts?¡± The little guy appeared and said, ¡°Monsters.¡± He didn¡¯t vanish so he must know that more questions are coming and be willing to answer them. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between a monster and a beast?¡± I asked. ¡°Monsters are just basically animals, humanoid or insects or birds, non-sapients that have been mutated during the event,¡± he said. They are genetically stable and can reproduce with their own kind. Some like Goblins are monstrous sapients, tool users, but not capable of rising above their monstrousness, except in rare cases. They have monster cores.¡± ¡°Beasts are animals, humanoids, or insects or birds that are sapient (barely in some cases). They have beast cores which are bigger, made of more valuable materials and are capable of evolving and controlling their evolution.¡± ¡°What are monster cores? Beast cores?¡± I asked. ¡°Monster or beast cores are where a monster or beast stores its growth and potential. They grow either in the chest cavity next to the heart in monster¡¯s or in the head, in the case of beasts,¡± it replied. ¡°What good are monster cores?¡± I asked, not sure I wanted to think about beast cores. I¡¯m not sure that I¡¯d be down with killing a sapient being to get its core. It seemed a little like shooting the former Governor of Oklahoma in order to get quadruple experience points. The president, well, I wouldn¡¯t mind. ¡°Monster cores can be directly consumed to gain additional experience points. They can be used in blacksmithing, alchemy, or sacrificed to power spells or abilities,¡± he said. ¡°How many points would a monster provide?¡± I asked. ¡°It depends on both their rank and their level,¡± he said. ¡°Bronze (50 points a level), Copper (100 points a level), Iron (200 points a level), Silver (400 points a level), Electrum (600 points a level), Gold (1000 Points a level), Platinum (2000 Points a level), Mithril (4000 Points a level), Orichalcum (8000 Points a level), Adamantine (16000 Points a level), Unobtanium (100000 Points a level).¡± ¡°So a Mithril ranked monster¡¯s core could supply me with 4000 experience points,¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°a level 201 Mithril ranked monsters core would supply you with at least 804,000 experience points.¡± And with that he vanished. ¡°He sure is a grump!¡± I muttered. I looked up and shared the information that I just got with the girls. Tanya asked, ¡°Does that mean that the rats from yesterday had cores?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say so,¡± I asked. ¡°And these four squirrels, do they have cores?¡± she asked. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that they do,¡± I responded. ¡°And how many experience points would we get from each of them?¡± she asked. ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°The baby squirrels were level eight, so they would be Copper, and the big one was level ten, so it¡¯d be Copper too. So 800 points for each of the baby squirrels and 1000 points for the big one. Plus whatever experience points we got from fighting them.¡± ¡°And where would you need to dig to find their cores,¡± she asked. I noticed that the question had changed a little, from generic to specific with her use of the word you, but I couldn¡¯t figure out a way out of it. ¡°Probably in the chest, next to the heart,¡± I said. ¡°Did you check and see how much experience you gained from them?¡± I asked. ¡°How long do you think it¡¯d take you to get them out?¡± she asked. ¡°Janet and I will be meditating to regain our mana and you can take care of that while we finish up. We¡¯ll also check and see if we went up a level or two.¡± And just like that, I got assigned the task of dissecting the squirrels to remove the cores. ¡®Huh,¡¯ I thought, ¡®worthy of my mother. They learn it so young!¡± I stood up and looked at the corpses of the squirrels that surrounded me. They were pretty bloody, the bolts had done some damage to them all, the fire had left them a little burnt too, plus Janet¡¯s machete and my sword had left big wounds on the ones we¡¯d gotten into melee with. I figured that I¡¯d need to probably drag them out into the clearing and off the loading dock. And then, into the woods later. I wasn¡¯t sure. It was probably a good idea to not leave the bodies around to rot or be eaten by the rats inside, but at the same time I didn¡¯t want to attract any large cats or other predators by leaving food out for them. I thought about it for awhile, standing there amidst the carnage, trying to figure out the best way to get their cores. I remembered watching a video (I love my new memory) on how to skin a squirrel and the first thing they did was cut off the squirrel¡¯s hands and feet, remove the coat, removed the head, and then cut it open and stripped out its organs. That left them with something similar to a supermarket chicken, meat that might or might not have been an actual living thing. You could always persuade yourself that it was just meat. The question had become did we need the meat? Squirrel was pretty good to eat, according to Derek. But we had the sustenance potions. But we also had squirrels now. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to eat them and save the potions for when we really needed them? It seemed wasteful somehow to not take advantage of their meat what with them just lying there dead. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I must have been standing there too long, ¡®cause Janet called out from where she and Tanya were quote, unquote meditating under one of the archery target trees. It looked pretty much like they were just talking to me. ¡°What¡¯s up, Monsoon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to decide if I should skin these for meat or just pull the cores? Should we be wasting the meat? Should I burn the bodies? Bury them? Pull the cores and drag them into the woods? Clean them here? Or away from the building? Try and save the skins? Also, I¡¯m kind of wondering what magic I can create to help or skills I can get by doing this? Supposedly a normal squirrel has about .4 kilograms of meat on him, these guys, just going by their size increase, should have about 32 kg apiece, more from the big one. That¡¯s a lot of meat to waste.¡± To their credit, neither of them turned green and both of them seemed to be considering it. ¡°Imu,¡± I heard Janet ask. ¡°Does food or meat go bad in a person¡¯s inventory?¡± She seemed to be listening to something and then she looked back at us, ¡°Nope,¡± she said. ¡°It one of the reasons that you can¡¯t put something living in your inventory. Nothing living can survive. That includes germs. It acts like a little stasis field. Things hot, stay hot; things cold, stay cold; things living become dead, well if you could get them in. By the way, did you notice that your inventory is growing? Every three levels, you get four more places to put stuff.¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed, I quickly checked and sure enough, I had 9 more spaces than the twenty I remembered starting with. I should have noticed that. Just like I should have noticed that I went up five levels. I guess fighting a pack of squirrels that are all higher level than you makes a difference. I quickly added my free points to my stats: one into agility, ten into Intelligence, ten into Wisdom, and four into Constitution. And I made a mental note to distribute or, at least come up with a plan for how to distribute some of my skill points. I looked over the stat sheet and liked what I saw:
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± Level (Monk/Mage) 10/10
Class(es) Monk/Mage
Attribute Points 0 Skill Points 98
Strength 45 Intelligence 75
Dexterity 35 Wisdom 65
Agility 62 Perception 50
Constitution 50 Charisma 40
Vitality 52 Luck 22
AC 8
Health: 336 Mana: 285
Qi: 285 Stamina 320
¡°Get your stats distributed?¡± asked Tanya. I guess she could tell, I must have had my cell phone face on. ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m at level 10 now.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°Janet and I are both at 13. I guess taking two classes versus one makes a difference.¡± I smiled, but inside I was crying a little. ¡°So, what do you want to do with the squirrels,¡± I asked. ¡°I vote for saving the meat,¡± Janet said. ¡°Even if we don¡¯t use it, we¡¯ve got storage for it and I¡¯m thinking that feeding people might be a problem in the future. No supermarkets. Lots of hungry people. I could help. I used to help my dad butcher the deer that he shot.¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking that we ought to do that as well,¡± said Tanya. ¡°We never can tell when we might need to feed more people. I¡¯m guessing that we¡¯ll probably pick up some people on the road. If you hadn¡¯t been high enough levels to tank those rats and then those squirrels, we could have died. I¡¯m pretty sure that there are a lot of people who are the only survivors of an encounter like ours that we¡¯ll need to help.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m good with butchering these guys,¡± I said as I pointed toward the squirrels. ¡°I felt kind of bad about just leaving them to rot.¡± ¡°But let''s not do it here or by the archery trees,¡± Janet said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be stepping on squirrel intestines when I¡¯m looking for my bolts! Hey, another thought. We¡¯re all in the Iron Ranks now, does that change our plans? Are we going to leave tonight after we finish butchering the squirrels?¡± ¡®Man,¡¯ I thought. ¡®I just get one question answered and now there¡¯s another one. Adulthood sucks!¡¯ ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°What do you guys think? It¡¯s about 11:30.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see how long it takes to butcher these guys and then make our decision,¡± Tanya said. ¡°OK,¡± said Janet. ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± She turned and looked out over the back area and said, ¡°See the tree on the west side.¡± I nodded. It was a single new tree - one of the 12-14 meter trees that had grown almost instantly during the event. It was probably about 30 meters from the trees that we used to practice archery on, about perpendicular to us on the loading dock. It looked like a bald cypress tree in the way that its limbs were arranged, kind of pointing out from the trunk. This one¡¯s limbs started at about 7 feet off the ground and looked sturdy. It had the same kind of wispy leaves that the cypress did, but they were red, almost crimson. I¡¯d never seen a tree like it before. It might explain why the Tulsa mountains were now red. ¡°That limb,¡± Janet said, pointing towards the bottom-most limb of the tree, ¡°looks like it would be perfect for hanging the squirrels. You¡¯ve got rope right.¡± I nodded and she said, ¡°OK, go ahead and get these squirrels over there and we¡¯ll figure out how to clean them.¡± And then she walked away. I grabbed two of the little ones and dragged them over and left them at the foot of the tree and then tossed her the rope I¡¯d stored in my inventory. She took it and slung it over the branch while I headed back for the other two. I had no problem hauling the carcasses, 30 kilos and, the last bigger one, 45 kilos at the same time. My strength was off the hook. As I got about midway back to the tree, a shadow swept over me, and I fell to the ground, throwing out the squirrel corpses. ¡®Again,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Not again, please.¡¯ Chapter 17 - I’m Not Your Dinner and No, You Can’t Eat Her Either. Unfortunately for me, it looked like my wish wasn¡¯t granted. The shadow turned into a huge black bird, with a hood of pebbly skin that covered its face. It had red eyes with a black pupil. The hood looked vaguely like one of those wigs that you see English lawyers wearing, hanging down to their shoulders. This hood completely covered the head and neck, ending just above the shoulders. On the back of the neck, the pebbly effect of the face gave way to a more wavy pattern, like waves of stone. Its wings were enormous. They literally blotted out the sky when it raised them, flew in, maybe 50 meters? They stretched easily between the loading dock of Maxes and the cypress tree that Janet was under. Its feet and talons were white and looked like someone had stretched a pair of athletic socks over them. However, the sharp ? meter talons at the end of each toe made them formidable weapons. Its badge said Giant Black Vulture, Level 18, HP 434. ¡°Look out Monsoon! Look out!¡± I heard Janet saying as I rolled away from the carcasses I¡¯d dropped and tried to make some distance. Its talons had just missed me. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t a hawk, eagle or even a giant owl. Vultures don¡¯t really rely on their feet that much, mainly landing and yanking on their prey with their beaks. Of course, it helps that in old-Earth, their prey was mainly dead. Although, black vultures were famous for killing baby deer, sheep, even calves. They¡¯d blind them and then bleed them out by pulling out their tongues. It hissed and grunted at me. Then stepped forward and brought its head down over the carcasses. I heard it¡¯s breath inhaling and then exhaling. It sounded as if a giant bellows were working right next to me. I could see through its nostrils on top of its beak. There was nothing that separated one side from the other, just a big hole in the beak. I could literally see the trees on the other side of its head. Suddenly its huge head snaked towards me and I quickly pulled out my shield and sword from my inventory. I barely got the shield in place before what felt like a small SUV hit it and sent me flying about five meters away back towards the loading dock. I felt the shield crack where its hooked beak had hit it. Its mouth was open and I could briefly feel the shearing pressure between the upper part and the lower part where the beak was closing down and pinching. Thankfully, I¡¯d got knocked back, otherwise, the beak probably would have probably cut the shield and my arm in two. I stood up, spitting out the dirt I swallowed during my two dives and looked at the shield. It was cracked, broken, and the top part flopped, held in place only by the layers of flashing that I¡¯d stuck in between the layers of wood. ¡®Need that mend spell pronto,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Maybe a strengthen wood spell too.¡¯ It reared back and its head moved side to side as it peered at me first with one red eye, then the other. I guess it was puzzled by the fact that I was still standing and the appearance of the shield. Just then, I heard three impacts and saw magic bolts hitting it on the face. Not a direct hit to the eyes, but close. A fire bolt and two light bolts. They did eight points for the fire bolt and eleven points apiece for the light bolts. It hissed again and moved its head toward Janet. I pounded on the remaining bit of the shield and its attention shifted back to me. I yelled, just plain noise no words, and it seemed to have forgotten about Janet for the moment. Fortunately, it had never really noticed Tanya, who had been sitting under the first archery tree when this whole mess had started. Of course, she¡¯d run closer to be part of the attack. Her spell was originally almost out of range. The bird leaped into the air, surprisingly fast and hit out at me with its talons and then followed it up with a sharp peck with its beak. I tried to block it and, surprising no one, didn¡¯t succeed. None of my martial arts used shields, so I¡¯m starting to wonder if I just lacked a necessary skill. ¡®Maybe I need to dump the shield and try parrying or blocking with the sword,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Get your head in the game.¡¯ The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. For some reason, I got lucky and all three of the attacks missed. I ducked the peck and shifted to the far left and both of the talons missed as well. Our three spells hit the bird again in the face, again not hitting an eye or anything particularly important, but doing damage nonetheless. The pebbly skin looked tough, a bit like armor and I wondered if it was like armor? Was it somehow reducing the damage done? But where else could we hit it? Those feathers or flight pinions looked tough like they¡¯d been made out of metal. Nine, nine and twelve points of damage. I was out of position and too far away to attack the bird¡¯s body after it settled back into its position over the squirrels. It hissed again, then grabbing one of the small squirrels from under the tree up in its beak, and the other small one and the large one with its feet talons, it bounced for a second and then succeeded in taking off. It flew off, apparently heavily laden, just above the tree canopy. We just stood there and watched it flee. I felt like I should make a Monty Python joke to Janet, something like, ¡°I offer you these four, nay one squirrel that you may butcher them and have meat¡± but I figured she probably wouldn¡¯t get it anyway. And it probably wouldn¡¯t be that funny. ¡°So,¡± I said. ¡°That just happened.¡± ¡°What the FUCK!¡± Janet yelled. ¡°Did you see that? Fuck, fuck, FUCK!¡± Tanya went over to her and they hugged again. ¡°Shh! Shh!¡± I could hear Tanya whispering. ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s alright!¡± It wasn¡¯t really, but that¡¯s what you say. I turned and looked at the sky. From what little I knew about vultures, I thought that they came in packs, oh, wait, my new super memory supplied that a group of vultures was called a committee. So, I looked, trying to scan the sky to make sure that no other big birds were going to swoop down on us. ¡°So,¡± I heard Big Mike¡¯s Barry White voice speak out from the side of Maxes closest to us, ¡°is this a bad time?¡± I looked over and sure enough, it was Big Mike, along with a Latin looking lady that I knew was his wife, Consuelo and two girls, that looked about ten and eleven. ¡°Big Mike!¡± I said, smiling. ¡°Yeah, It¡¯s nothing. Just got into a scuffle. A little tussle with a vulture. Took some of our squirrels. It¡¯s good to see you.¡± I knew from the pictures in his office that he had four kids, eleven, ten, six and three. Amada, Baila, Coraz¨°n, and Dominica. He called them the start of his alphabet. Loved, Dance, Heart and Belonging to the Lord were what their names meant in Spanish. He¡¯d talk about them and show pictures all of the time. I recognized Amada and Baila from their pictures. I knew that he¡¯d never go anywhere without the missing two; the fact that Coraz¨°n and Dominica were missing told me something bad had happened. I walked over and grabbed him in a hug. No words, just some skin to let him know that I was there, that we¡¯d survived and that we were going to keep on surviving, keep on ensuring that the people around us survived also. My eyes were wet, but fortunately, I didn¡¯t break down. We held it for about thirty seconds and then broke apart. He was a big man, about 6¡¯4¡± and 320 pounds, a big hairy white guy with a lot of tats from his days in the marines. All coverable by his uniform. Civilian short sleeve shirts like he was wearing now, not so much. He was no-nonsense if he told you to do something he expected it to get done. Kind of like my mother; maybe that¡¯s why we got along. I¡¯d never met his wife, I¡¯d just seen her around the store. She¡¯d come in with one or two of the girls and talk about whatever she needed to talk to him about and then leave. She seemed like a good mother. The life of a truck stop manager was long and hard, 60 to 80 hour weeks were common. It was no wonder she needed to talk to him at the store. She¡¯d also bring him dinner, lunches, depending on his schedule and, when he was closing, his girls in to say goodnight on non-school nights. They lived in a small house about four blocks from Maxes. Three bedrooms, two girls to a bedroom, and Big Mike and Consuelo in the other. Chapter 18 - Next Verse, Same As the First (Part 1) I looked at their badges. Big Mike, Level 2, HP62; Consuelo, Level 2, HP48; Amada Level 0, HP25; Baila Level 0, HP49. It was sad, but with those numbers, I wasn¡¯t surprised they were having a hard time. Without blaming him at all, I wasn¡¯t surprised that he¡¯d lost two daughters. Given the numbers and the levels of the monsters we¡¯d faced, I was more surprised that he¡¯d kept two alive. I was surprised that he was alive. Then I really tried to identify him and was even more surprised. He had not selected a class. When I identified the others, they hadn¡¯t either. Since the benefits of having a class were so great, I wondered if they even knew about the status screens. I wondered if my mother had made sure to broadcast that information, just that bit of information could keep people alive. But how would my mom broadcast the information? I hoped she¡¯d told people and they¡¯d told people. Amada¡¯s hit points were so low, I figured her constitution must be low, single digit low. I remembered hearing from Big Mike that one of his daughters could catch a cold when the wind blew, I¡¯m guessing that was her. ¡°Hey Tanya!¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see you made it.¡± ¡°Hey Big Mike!¡± she said. ¡°Hi Consuelo!¡± and she broke away from Janet and went over and hugged Consuelo. I remembered that the day her step-father showed up and was escorted off the property by Big Mike seeing her and Consuelo talking. Well, Tanya crying and Consuelo holding her and comforting her. I guess you don¡¯t get over something like that very fast, it leaves an impression. Big Mike and I stood there, doing our best impression of a post while Tanya and Janet and Consuelo talked to each other and to the girls, getting reacquainted or in the case of Janet, introduced. After a while, we did the man drift thing and pulled away about five feet and started to talk. ¡°It¡¯s been tough,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m kind of surprised to see you here. I thought you¡¯d be heading into town. It¡¯s not particularly safe out here, we¡¯ve been attacked by rats, squirrels and a vulture, all of them supersized, like that one there,¡± gesturing toward the big dead squirrel. ¡°I know,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ve had some problems too. Giant Rat. We were staying in our house, kind of hiding, wondering what we should do, when this giant rat broke in yesterday morning, into little Coraz¨°n and Dominica¡¯s room. Mama and I were talking in our bedroom at the time, we¡¯d sent the girls to their rooms so we could have some private conversations. It¡¯s not good to let them see how scared we were. By the time I got back there with my softball bat, they were done for. I killed it, we killed it, but it was too late.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± I said. ¡°Do you need me to go back with you and retrieve them? We could place them here, make a nice space for them.¡± ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°We buried them both yesterday, under their favorite tree, the one with the swing on it in the backyard. Doesn¡¯t sound like the government is going to bother us about it, anyway. Bastards. I think that rat or something like it had been making the rounds because when I knocked on my neighbors¡¯ doors, I didn¡¯t hear anything back. I left them in peace.¡± I reached out and grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. I didn¡¯t know what else to do, except respect his pain and give him something else to focus on. ¡°Do me a favor,¡± I said. ¡°Say status.¡± His face went blank and turned really pale. ¡°Oh, crap. How in the hell did I, did we miss this?¡± I said, ¡°It was in the first set of notifications you received from the system. Did you not read it?¡± ¡°No, I read the first one, the welcome one, and then I was trying to get my little Dominica to stop crying. She was frightened of the blue boxes and I kind of wished that all those annoying screens would close and they did and I never thought about them again. Is this me?¡± he said. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s you ¡®til you choose your class, gain some skills, assign your free points. You were never a gamer were you?¡± ** 6/03 ¡°Nope,¡± he said. ¡°Never had time. In the Corps for 20 years, just out of high school, met Consuelo and decided to retire, get married, have kids. I worked at a bunch of places all over the country, then came here to be close to her mother and brothers, and wound up managing Maxes. In the Corps , I didn¡¯t have time, and then with the kids and the job, still had no time.¡± ¡°You are now,¡± I said, meaning a gamer. ¡°We all are. And if we don¡¯t play well, we¡¯re probably not going to make it. But anyway, ¡®say Inventory.¡¯¡± I waited until I saw his face change, then said, ¡°say Spells.¡± This continued on until I¡¯d walked him through all of the screens that we¡¯d discovered. By this time Consuelo and the girls had gathered around and were participating in the conversation and the screens. I answered his and Consuelo¡¯s, even Amada¡¯s and Baila¡¯s questions as completely as I could. Janet and Tanya pitched in to help as well. We talked money, we talked levels, we talked about skills and spells and abilities and stats. How we got them and how we trained them. We told them what we¡¯d been through, the giant rats and the squirrels and finally, the giant vulture. About our plans and about our training. It was a massive brain dump and took us close to three hours. In the midst of it, we hung the squirrel, drained it, skinned it and then butchered it. The little girls were fascinated by the process. The little ones hung onto their mommy''s legs but watched intently. They were a product of this new world. They needed to learn how to survive, just like we did. Big Mike knew how to do it and took over the process. Said it was about like field dressing a deer. About the only thing that was different was finding the core. It turned out to be a little, irregularly shaped green stone, that had two darker green rings around it. It looked like a crystal that had been polished; however, it had an aura around it that said it was different, special. I grabbed it and tossed it into my inventory to study it later. Afterward, we threw the meat into Big Mike¡¯s inventory and moved back around front to the rickshaw and the teepee. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Of course, when we got around front, the girls discovered Roxie, who reveled in their attention. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that I was still in her black book judging by the looks she cast at me whenever I came near her. I¡¯d passed over classes in my discussions with Mike and family, but it was finally to get down to the meat and potatoes of this new world. ¡°OK, Big Mike,¡± I said. ¡°We need to figure out your class or classes. I¡¯m not sure if this will work, but ask to see your classes available.¡± ¡°Ask who?¡± he asked. ¡°Ask the System, the Gods, Them, just ask. What can it hurt?¡± I replied. Stupid I know, but I¡¯d already begun forgetting the lesson I should have learned from the God Box. But in this case, it didn¡¯t matter. I saw that he had his cell phone face on, so I said, ¡°Share it with us.¡± Since we hadn¡¯t covered that he looked puzzled, so I explained what I meant and how to do it. Shortly thereafter, we received a blue screen:
Current Classes Available
  • Plumber
  • Cleric
  • Fighter
  • Merchant
  • Builder
  • Cook
I looked at it and then had a thought. ¡°Oh My God!¡± I said. ¡°We talked about Qi and Mana, but we didn¡¯t talk about how to get them, did we? I bet you don¡¯t have them yet. Do you?¡± Judging by the puzzled looks on their faces, I thought they didn¡¯t, but I had them check their status sheets and sure enough, the mana and the Qi points were listed as zero. So we sat there, under the tree by the teepee, while Janet and Tanya gave a class in meditation and how to feel their mana and Qi. I decided to let them handle it, they would probably do a better job than me. After about 25 minutes both Consuelo and Big Mike had gotten notifications that they¡¯d discovered mana and Qi as well as the skill of meditation. No titles which was a bummer, but they still got access to the energy which was a win. Surprisingly, both of their daughters had received the same notifications faster. I guess they had less to unlearn. Less doubt. More belief. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Try and request the list of your classes again.¡± He did and this time, without prompting, shortly thereafter a new list appeared where we could see it.
Current Classes Available
  • Plumber
  • Cleric
  • Fighter
  • Merchant
  • Builder
  • Cook
  • Soldier
  • Knight
  • Spellblade
  • Ranger
  • Mage
  • Alchemist
¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± I said upon seeing the new classes that were added to the list. ¡°Now you¡¯ve got some magic in you! I guess you weren¡¯t into martial arts?¡± I asked. ¡°Not really my thing,¡± he said. ¡°Bunch of guys I served with were totally into it, but I stopped after my grey belt. How¡¯d you know that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no monk or martial artist or ninja class offered to you. I¡¯m thinking that it takes a fair bit of knowledge and training in a former martial arts system to get it. Since the System didn¡¯t offer it, I guessed that you hadn¡¯t really been that interested. Not that I¡¯m dissing your Marine Corps Martial Arts Program training, I¡¯m just saying that for whatever reason your training didn¡¯t trigger the System to offer it. I think it has to do with both prior skills and interest. If you have both, then the system will offer you a class.¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna be a ninja when I¡¯m older,¡± announced Baila. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill monsters. Like that rat that killed my sisters. I¡¯ll stab it in the head.¡± Big Mike and Consuelo looked at her and then each other. Consuelo didn¡¯t say anything, but she grabbed her daughter up in a hug. ¡°Hey, sweetie!¡± I said to Baila, ¡°can you see classes yet?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± she announced, ¡°the screen says I have to be thirteen to select my class.¡± I looked at her and then her parents. ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I said. Her parents looked at me and so I explained, ¡°I guess the System decided that you needed a certain amount of experience to get and make choices. If you let babies choose their classes, you¡¯d have a lot of fighters, barbarians, nurses, and dancers and probably not much else. Holding the choice back until they are old enough to have tried some things out will give them a greater choice in their classes. I¡¯m thinking that we need to allow the kids to try various professions out. Help them get a big selection of choices. We should also probably try to figure out what skills or training corresponds to granting various classes. But that¡¯s for the future. One other thing is that when you select a class, you get all of the stats that come with your levels. Do you want a kid that has been called ugly to suddenly have twenty points that they can use to make themselves beautiful?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but regret the examples I¡¯d chosen when I noticed the helpless look that Big Mike and Consuelo exchanged before darting a glance at their eldest daughter. Or the look that appeared on her face. She was definitely not a pretty child. But now that was fixable. Maybe there were some good points to the Event. It gives you a chance to fix the errors of genetics. No ugly men, only beautiful women. I was shallow enough to get behind a world like that. I also resolved to make sure that I had a private conversation with Big Mike and Consuelo about the God Box. I had no idea if the thing was age restricted, so I needed to make sure that her parents were aware of what it could do. No Refunds seemed like a disaster waiting to happen with a bullied child! ¡°So which one should I choose?¡± he asked. Chapter 18 - Next Verse, Same As the First (Part 2) ¡°That¡¯s totally on you,¡± I said. ¡°Probably, in the future, if we all survive this, there will be a ceremony on the kid¡¯s birthday where he chooses and the family celebrates the choice. Kind of like a Bar or Bat Mitzvah or a Quinceanera. And hopefully, it is the kid¡¯s choice, he or she won¡¯t get bullied into selecting something that he or she doesn¡¯t want, but the here and now, it¡¯s every adult¡¯s choice. Let me tell you what I know or think about the choices you got since the System is curiously silent on the benefits or drawbacks of the classes. Even our imues won¡¯t tell us any more about them.¡± Of course, here we had to explain the help system, which we¡¯d forgotten about and the imues and then they had to select an imu and before we knew it another 30 minutes had passed before we got back to classes. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Plumber is not a combat class. I got offered that too. I know I said it¡¯s your choice, but being a plumber stuck in the wilderness is not a wise choice. Nuff said. The Cleric is a type of mage that¡¯s basically concerned with buffing and healing.¡± Here I had to explain what buffing was. ¡°Janet is a cleric. She¡¯s hoping to be able to transform it into a more advanced class later, something like Druid.¡± Of course, here I had to explain both advanced classes and Druids to all of my family of listeners. Baila did not seem impressed until I pointed out that right now, Janet was our main damage dealer, then she looked a little thoughtful. It turned out that Big Mike was active in the church, lead a couple of bible study groups when he had time. That was probably why he got offered Cleric. I had another thought here that maybe I¡¯d not given my imu a chance to dish on classes. I hadn¡¯t asked him to explain any class other than my two selected classes. Maybe it would give us more information. But no, it didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t even show up to say no. I asked Big Mike and the girls to check with their imues, just in case I¡¯d been blackballed by the system, but their imues had the same lack of response that mine did. Grumpy little buggers! I¡¯m naming mine Miles. I wonder if he gets more action in a week then me? Probably so, it¡¯s been a dry spell. For some reason, women just aren¡¯t attracted to someone living in a twenty-year-old Cadillac. Even a gold one. Of course, then I had to explain to the two little ones that their imues don¡¯t always answer questions. The disappointed looks on their faces were one more reason to hate the Event. ¡°Fighter I¡¯m assuming is just the basic class. If it holds true to what I know - which is all based on history and fantasy novels, a fighter probably doesn¡¯t do ranged fighting very well, but equally probably excels in close up melee-type fighting. I have problems using a shield, I¡¯m assuming a fighter wouldn¡¯t. I¡¯m also assuming that like in the stories, a fighter can wear heavy armor and fight with heavy weapons with no penalty, a tank in other words. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have any armor or heavy weapons to give you. And I guess we don¡¯t get starter gear. At least we didn¡¯t,¡± and here I gestured toward myself and the two girls. ¡°Merchant you probably got from your jobs after the marines. Again, a Merchant is not a combat class. I¡¯m thinking the same thing about it that I think about the Plumber. Not a good choice for the wilderness. Maybe a great choice in the cities though. One thing I realized is that the class starts you with some spells or skills or abilities. I got three spells when I took mage, I only got one ability for Monk. I¡¯m not sure why. But in any case, Merchant would probably give you non-combat skills and they¡¯d probably not be that useful in fighting off giant squirrels. ¡°Builder is a class I would really love for you to take, especially if we were in a city, but we¡¯re not. We¡¯re in the woods and trying to get to a city. Not a combat class, probably non-combat skill-based like Plumber and Merchant.¡± ¡°Cook?¡± I asked. He said, ¡°I was a Food Service Specialist (MOS 3381) first before I became a Food Service Officer (MOS 3302). I liked being a specialist. I liked cooking. I liked the atmosphere, talking with the Marines I¡¯d cooked for, the Officer was less fun. Paid better though.¡± ¡°Same thing as the Builder, Merchant, and Plumber, we¡¯re in the woods and need to get out,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think Cook would help us. Soldier is a more advanced class than Fighter, I¡¯m guessing. I¡¯m thinking that it showed up because you were a Marine. It probably has all of the fighter pluses, with some guerrilla warfare or ranged knowledge, you can shoot bows. It might have some strategy or mage type abilities in there as well. I guess it depends on the type of soldier you were, how it translates. But I¡¯m thinking that now that you have mana and Qi, it probably has some magic. If it were your best option, I¡¯d say take it.¡± He nodded. ¡°Knight¡¯s generally are the heavy tanks of the battlefield,¡± I continued. ¡°They can take and give damage. On the giving scale, not as much as a pure damage dealer like a relatively high-level mage could do, but significant. The other thing is they go head to head with boss monsters of equal or slightly higher level. Stall them up, let the damage dealers whittle them down. They¡¯ve got lots of hit points and are strong. You probably got that because I know you¡¯re strong and you probably have a high constitution and a high charisma and were a marine. Knights are like Fighters and Soldiers, you guys like to mix it up. It¡¯s generally a lead-in class to Paladin which is a type of holy knight or Dark Knight which is the exact opposite. I¡¯m thinking you take this, you¡¯ll wind up a Paladin eventually. If Paladin¡¯s a thing. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have any armor or heavy weapons to give you, so the same problem as with Soldier and Fighter. Oh, and they¡¯re way into horses too.¡± ** 6/04 ¡°The last four classes use magic. Well, maybe the last one, Alchemist may use Qi. Mage straight up is defined by magic use. You¡¯ll get three spells with Mage, I''d guess a random assortment with one of them being an offensive spell, probably Force Bolt. That¡¯s the spell that both Tanya and I got. It does OK damage. But if you take this class, we can give you a bunch more spells. We discovered how to pass spells back and forth, so as long as you¡¯re with us and one of us discovers a spell, you¡¯ll have it too. Its primary stat is intelligence, secondary stats are Wisdom and Perception. If you have someone to tank for you, this is a great class, even as a beginner, even in the wilderness. If you don¡¯t, then, in the beginning, you''re monster chow. Ranger is generally a woodsman. Likes the little bunnies. He generally is a bowman, an archer. I¡¯ve got a bow that I can give you. I¡¯ve been in three fights and haven¡¯t used it yet which is kind of pissing me off now that I think about it. But, he also probably uses a sword equally as well. A shield, I don¡¯t know. You might be in the same position that I¡¯m in, can¡¯t block crap with it. There are all kinds of Rangers in stories, magic users, beastmasters, summoners, trappers, basically, there¡¯s a lot of ways this class can go. I have no idea what the primary and secondary stats for this class are. Since it seems to be a special class, it might even have multiple secondaries. Don¡¯t know.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Spell Blade might be your money shot,¡± I continued. ¡°I know nothing about it except what the name tells us. It uses spells and uses knives or swords. In the stories I¡¯ve read, it can be heavy on the magic or heavy on the blades. Magic heavy means you¡¯ll be dancing through your enemies blasting them with spells while using your blade to defend or knock them off balance. Blade heavy means that you¡¯ll be like a fighter with a magic sword only your sword¡¯s magic will come from you, flaming swords, ice swords, sword storms, you get the idea. Alchemist is a little bit like a magical cook. It¡¯s probably a mage type class, but it might be a Qi type class. Web fiction and fantasy books are split between having them be tied to Qi or having them be mage types and since you¡¯ve got both now, I have no idea which one is responsible for that class selection. The alchemist usually makes potions that restore health and mana and pills that provide buffs and debuffs as well as, in the stories, he or she can even level Qi abilities such as Jade Lotus Touch with pills that they¡¯ve made. It probably is in the mage family, but may not have access to all of the skills of a mage, conversely, a mage probably can¡¯t do alchemy, maybe. It probably is a production skills type class which usually requires a high dexterity. So you probably need intelligence, dexterity and have been either a cook or a chemist in the old-Earth.¡± I finally ended my explanation and looked at him. He paused for a second and then said, ¡°You were long on explanation there, not so much on recommendations. What would you do if you were me? What could I be that would help us survive?¡± ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a tough one. Because what you choose now will impact the rest of your life. I¡¯d say choose the one that you¡¯re most drawn too. That said, that might be stupid advice in the apocalypse. Choose the one that will help you and your family survive. It¡¯s what men do. However, you¡¯ve got some good choices to select from: Soldier, Knight, Spell Blade, Ranger, Mage or Alchemist. All of them have some good points to them. Look at your stats. What are your highest stats? Soldier and Knight are probably Strength and Constitution based. Ranger is probably Strength and Agility based. Spell Blade probably Intelligence and Agility based. Mage is Intelligence and Wisdom. Is your Charisma, Strength and Constitution high? You¡¯re probably golden for a knight. I will say that I could use another meat shield on the front lines. The first fight we got into was a little embarrassing. I couldn¡¯t control the mobs. However, it¡¯s your choice.¡± Of course, then I had to explain to pretty much everyone, with the not-so-surprising exceptions of the little girls, that mobs were gamer slang for monsters. Then I had to explain what the stats were and what was a high stat and a low stat is. He wanted to show me his status screen to help me help him make a decision, but I stopped him because already I was having privacy concerns. Because that is ultimately your most private information. You don¡¯t want that information just getting out there. Plus with my new memory, our new memories, once that information was shared, it wouldn¡¯t be forgotten. Suddenly high level identify spells seemed a little bit more invasive. While he was still thinking about it, I turned to Consuelo and asked if she needed any help picking a class. She nodded her head and then shared her class selection screen with us:
Current Classes
  • Scholar
  • Tailor
  • Merchant
  • Cook
  • Mage
  • Illusionist
  • Seer
  • Alchemist
¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°You heard what I said about Merchant, Mage, Alchemist, and Cook so I won¡¯t repeat it. Scholar in the stories can be quite a powerful class, but it¡¯s usually based inside of a town or castle¡¯s library or a college, not in the woods. In addition, it generally is focussed on gaining knowledge; however, it usually has some useful spells, things like an advanced version of identity or commune and maybe some debuff or buffing spells. It¡¯s probably some form of Mage. You used to be a teacher, right?¡± She nodded her head. ¡°Then that¡¯s probably why you got offered it,¡± I said. ¡°Tailor is not a combat class, but useful. Supposedly, a tailor can make leather armor, which beats the armor we¡¯re wearing which is basically not armor, but leather brush gear. The Illusionist is a mage, but one that focuses on illusions and charming and other mind manipulating spells. It can be a very powerful class, but usually, it doesn¡¯t put things down like a mage does. Its spells aren¡¯t usually as damaging. The Seer is probably a magic user with a focus on divination. You probably have to have a high intelligence, wisdom and perception to get offered this class. It can be very useful, think of a fortune teller who can actually tell your fortune, but I¡¯m not sure about their magic, probably debuffs and buffs.¡± ¡°What would you select Monsoon?¡± she asked. ¡°Lord,¡± I replied. ¡°That¡¯s a tough one. I got offered Alchemist and didn¡¯t take it because, well, we were in the woods, the party was small and we needed a fighter to block off the monsters from the squishies,¡± I gestured toward Janet and Tanya. They both made a rude gesture towards me. ¡°The situation for you now and us then is a bit different. We could use the potions that an alchemist would brew and we have a front line to hopefully keep you safe. However, I don¡¯t know what tools you¡¯d need and if we could come up with them. So it might be a totally useless class until we can find, make or purchase the tools you¡¯d need to do your brewing or pill making. Big Mike that goes for you too. I¡¯m sorry I forgot about Alchemist when I was talking with you about recommendations. The Seer class kind of fascinates me. I think it¡¯s a rare class and potentially a really useful one. However, most of the seers in the books that I¡¯ve read have been a little batty. Something about knowing the future isn¡¯t really healthy for us humans. I have no idea what the class would do to you in the real world, I¡¯m going by novels that I¡¯ve read. The mage class is excellent. Tanya is our main mage and does a decent job of dealing damage; however, she¡¯s out-leveled her spells and needs some new, more powerful ones to really bring out the power of her class or time to rank her existing spells up. She¡¯s about mid-Iron ranked and only has bronze ranked spells. The same goes for Janet, she¡¯s also mid-Iron ranked and only has bronze ranked spells and skills. So, you could choose any of them or since your level three even two of them. It¡¯s up to you.¡± ¡°Two of them?¡± she asked. ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I forgot to mention that. I¡¯m a multi-class. Janet and Tanya a single class. That means that I can do anything either of my two classes can do: Mage or Monk. It also means that my experience points get divided in two. That¡¯s why they are level thirteen and I¡¯m only level ten. There¡¯s good with the bad, bad with the good.¡± Chapter 18 - Next Verse, Same As the First (Part 3) They both then stood there with the cell phone faces on, calculating what classes they wanted to be. It was really unfair that they didn¡¯t have enough information to really make an informed choice, but I was gathering it up. Hopefully, the next person I was asked to help would have better luck deciding because I¡¯d have better information to prepare them with. Which reminded me, I had a question for Miles. ¡°Miles,¡± I asked using my inside voice, ¡°is there some difference between classes other than their primary and secondary attributes?¡± The little guy appeared, this time looking more substantial, more like a real being that he had before and said, ¡°Yes.¡± I waited for a bit, but apparently, that little nugget was all he was going to pass on to me, so I asked, ¡°What is the difference between a mage and a cleric?¡± He just stood there quietly, so I figured that wasn¡¯t the right question. It was evidently a question on the do not tell list. ¡°What are the characteristics of a mage?¡± I asked. ¡°A mage is defined by their mana. They can easily learn most lower elemental spells. They can also learn greater elemental sphere spells if they are capable of mastering the appropriate sphere. They can learn scribing, scroll making, magical wand or staff making, artifact or other magical item creation. They can not learn alchemy, potion making or pill making.¡± ¡°Can mages learn to heal?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± he said, ¡°some mages can learn and cast basic healing spells; however, advanced healing spells are beyond them.¡± ¡°Can a mage cure warts?¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± he replied. ¡°Can a mage make a person grow two inches,¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± he replied. ¡°Can a mage heal a broken arm?¡± I asked. ¡°No, only cuts, bruises, or punctures can be healed by a mage,¡± he answered. ¡°Skin can be grown together, bleeding can be stopped, holes in organs can be repaired if the spell is high enough of a level. Advanced healing is beyond them.¡± ¡°Can a mage remove a curse or other permanent debuff?¡± I asked. ¡°If the curse is cast from the lower elemental realm such as petrify, then it is possible for the curse to be broken.¡± ¡°Could a mage cut off the wart and then heal the skin?¡± I asked and Miles vanished. ¡®I have got to learn to not try to game the system,¡¯ I thought. ¡®And I wonder if there a time limit before I can call him back? Am I in an information penalty box for a couple of hours or do I just need to change the subject? Next time think before you ask stupid questions!¡¯ Just then Big Mike turned to Consuelo and smiled at her. I saw her come to a final decision and then she smiled back. ¡°Ok,¡± I asked both of them, ¡°what did you select?¡± Big Mike looked at Consuelo again, waiting and then evidently received one of those couple¡¯s ¡®you first signals¡¯ because he said, ¡°I went multi-class like you Monsoon. I selected Mage and then I selected Knight as well. I will be a Paladin Mage and be able to kill any of these fucking monsters. I originally was only going to take Knight, but then I remembered your stories of your fights with the rats and squirrels, even that vulture. It was clear that magic played a big part in your survival. It was a huge force multiplier. I wanted that. What did you take, mama?¡± he asked Consuelo. ¡°I too decided to go multi-class. I also select Mage. I wanted my babies to be safe and I thought the best way to make them safe is to kill everything that threatens them. And I selected Alchemist as well. I didn¡¯t want to run out of mana and leave my babies in danger, so I selected it too. I will make potions, I will use the potions to help me kill things that threaten my family. I will not lose another daughter.¡± There was a pause there as we all took a metaphorical knee to figure out how to respond. Don¡¯t mess with a mother bear¡¯s cubs. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, understanding her pain, but not equipped to deal with it, ¡°you both should have a lot of free points to distribute now. When you select your class, you get a ton of free stats as well as all of the primary and secondary stats that come with the class. Go ahead and distribute the free points.¡± Of course, then we had to explain how to do the assigning of the free points to them and listen while they were shocked at how much their stat points had gone up. Their badges had changed: Big Mike, Level 2, HP124; Consuelo, Level 2, HP107; In addition to their stats, they both got the standard three spells, but different ones than we¡¯d received. That was good though, it increased the number of spells available to our party. He got Force Bolt and another two spells that none of us had received yet, Sonic Boom and Grease. She got Force Bolt as well, pretty much confirming that it was handed out to every starting mage, and then two other spells that were new to us: Acid Splash and Mend. ¡®Yes! Yes! Yes!¡¯ I thought when I heard the names of their spells. Grease was always one of my favorite spells in the games I played. Coupled with a fire spell, it reduces mobility and causes damage, sometimes a lot of damage. Mend was a spell that I¡¯d been wanting for a while, it was the reason that I had collected all of my broken arrows, not to mention my shield! Sonic Boom sounded interesting and Acid Burst was an old standby. Practically every game had some version of it. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. By this time the sun was setting. It was about 4:45 in the afternoon. The shadows were growing in the woods and the birds had begun to calm down. And, of course, the mosquitoes came out. I wasn¡¯t sure why they weren¡¯t present last night, maybe They were taking it easy on us, but they were out in force tonight. ¡°Momma,¡± said Baila. ¡°I don¡¯t like these bugs!¡± Her mom looked at her helplessly and then looked at the girls and I. I couldn¡¯t remember any of the games I played having bugs in them except nightmarishly giant ones so I didn¡¯t have any spell ideas. Burst of Citronella? Minor Poison Cloud? Harden Skin? Gust of Wind? Campfire Haven? I said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you girls take Roxie into the teepee and play with her there while we get a fire started? That should work to help get rid of these bugs. And start cooking dinner?¡± ¡°OK,¡± she said. ¡°Is that squirrel going to be dinner?¡± ¡°Baila, vamanos!¡± her mom said, so she did, they both did, stepping into the teepee. As I closed the flap, I cast a couple of light spells inside to light up the interior, accompanied by a couple of yells of ¡®that¡¯s so cool¡¯ from the inside. They were right though, the mosquitos were bad. You could almost see them coming out of the woods. I suppose it was too much to hope for an apocalypse with no pests. ¡®Oh God¡¯, I thought. ¡®Palm-sized deer ticks¡¯. I quickly pulled some wood from the stack that the girls had created and lit it using my Firebolt spell. The fire started and began smoking, some of the wood being relatively wet and green. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Does anyone have any herbs that will drive away bugs? Or any ideas about how to deal with them? It¡¯s not Florida swamp bad, but there are a lot more skeeters out tonight than I remember the last time I was in the woods.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°I went camping with some friends in June, we didn¡¯t get near this many.¡± ¡°Must be another gift from the Event,¡± I said. ¡°I got a skill,¡± said Consuelo. ¡°It¡¯s called Herbalism, it¡¯s supposed to help me locate plants with special properties. I could go look for something.¡± ¡°Neat skill, but no. I say nobody¡¯s going in the woods at night. I know that I¡¯m not the boss of you all, but we got attacked by giant squirrels today. I hate to think about what¡¯s prowling there now. Lord, a friend once had an owl take her Jack Russell Terrier. She let it out of the house into her front yard and the bird just grabbed it by the neck. Never even slowed down. I imagine that there are owls big enough to take us in those woods. We can all go tomorrow. Hey, that reminds me, what other skills did you two receive?¡± ¡°I got Swordsmanship Rank Bronze, Level 1, 2/25. I also got Shields Rank Bronze, Level 1, 2/25. I also got Horsemanship Rank Bronze, Level 1, 2/25. It¡¯s crazy. I now know the basics of swordsmanship and how to block with a shield, how to bash someone with it, and even how to ride. Not only that, I know how to care for a horse, what to feed him, how to walk him after a run, how to check his feet and teeth, how to braid his tail and mane, how to inspect his feet to make sure the shoes are still good, how to clean them, hell, I even know what the frog is and that I need to be careful with it. Don¡¯t run my pick into it too hard or I can hurt his feet. Monsoon, I¡¯ve never ridden a horse before. I grew up in Chicago. Damn this apocalypse is weird. Marine dress uniforms, I¡¯ve handled a sword before. I¡¯ve also done some saber training, done a little Kendo for fun with one of my buddies who was super into it. Shields, I¡¯m used to. I completed Riot Control training at Camp Lejeune, so it¡¯s not that big a deal that now I know more, but horses. Man, the closest I¡¯ve been to a horse was in Tulsa¡¯s Veteran¡¯s Day parade, holding Dominica and letting her pet a mounted police officer¡¯s horse. Now I¡¯m pretty sure, no I¡¯m sure, I could saddle that horse and ride it over a jump.¡± His face looked a little wild by the time he¡¯d finished. ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°Calm down. You¡¯re a knight! Knights and horses go together like cowboys and horses. Give it time and you won¡¯t even notice that the knowledge is there,¡± I said, not knowing for sure, but wanting to de-stress the man. ¡°Speaking of which, I wonder if cowboy¡¯s a class? Is Indian?¡± I asked. ¡°Sorry, my mind just goes there. So what skills besides Herbalism did you get, Consuelo?¡± ¡°I got one more skill and one ability,¡± she said. ¡°The ability is called ¡®Alchemist¡¯s Flame¡¯ and the skill is called ¡®Ingredient Refining¡¯. Just like Mike, I suddenly know all of this information that I never had before. I know that there is a plant in the woods, a new plant called Insect Bane, that I can refine to make a lotion that will keep the bugs away from whoever wears it. A good lotion. You rub it on you, it will last 24 hours. It smells of flowers and will keep ticks, mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies, even fleas off of you. I know all of the steps of the refining. I know how to use a furnace or even a Wok to refine the plant. I know how to create a flame,¡± and here she held up her hand and stretching up into the air above her palm was about a 15 cm flame that started out orange, turned yellow then became blue, ¡°and even control its temperature. How do I know this?¡± And here everyone looked at me. Again. ¡°It¡¯s ok,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It like a free gift from Them. They created the classes and They created the knowledge we need to do the classes. It¡¯s basic knowledge. You¡¯ll use it and it will grow as you get better at your class. This is just starter stuff. Can you make a Lesser Potion of Healing?¡± She nodded yes. ¡°Can you make a Medium Potion of Healing?¡± I asked. She thought very briefly and then shook her head no. ¡°Not yet,¡± she said. ¡°Can you make a ¡®Minor Potion of Sustenance¡¯?¡± I asked. Her gaze turned inward and she appeared to be really stretching for the answer. ¡°Nope,¡± she finally answered. ¡°My flame control would probably not be steady enough. And I¡¯m not clear about the ingredients I¡¯d need. I think I know, but I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve got a way to go¡± ¡°See,¡± I said. ¡°Basic abilities, basic knowledge. If you want to get better, you have to do it yourself. Just like in old-Earth. Genius is 99% perspiration. They gave us a little bit, They expect us to do more.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± she asked. ¡°Because they got upset with the loss of people. I don¡¯t know what they want, but it¡¯s more than just watching us squirm and die. They have some goals for us, we just don¡¯t know what they are. But, I don¡¯t care. What I want is to live. I want to live with my family and friends beside me. I want us to be healthy and strong. I want to be loved and to love. If what They want doesn¡¯t conflict with that, then I don¡¯t care what they want. They can have their big plans. I don¡¯t care.¡± Big Mike asked then, ¡°And what if it does?¡± ¡°Then we¡¯re gonna tussle,¡± I said. Looking around, I saw from everybody''s faces that they agreed with me. Chapter 19 - Practicing, … well, Grinding We¡¯d talked about our morning routine and Big Mike and Consuelo were all for it, planning on joining us. They didn¡¯t know it yet but I was planning on getting their daughters involved. Nobody gets to sit out the apocalypse. We set aside the Teepee for the family, I pulled out my little tent and gave it to the girls. Big Mike didn¡¯t like taking the teepee, but he had kids and kids trump feelings any day. I planned on just meditating through the night. I wondered if I could get one of the anti-insect spells that I named earlier. ¡®First, acquire the new spells from Big Mike and Consuelo,¡¯ I thought. ¡®Burst of Citronella, Minor Poison Cloud, Harden Skin, Gust of Wind, Campfire Haven? How hard could it be?¡¯ We explained how to share spells and abilities and Big Mike and Consuela sent over their four spells that we didn¡¯t have, and we sent over all of the spells that we had gathered.
Spells
  • Sonic Boom Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Air Casting Time: 2 seconds (last attack per round) Somatic: Opening and closing your hand rapidly in the direction of the target Verbal: Boom Range: 4 meters + 1 per level Damage: 3 - 18 (+1 per stage) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Once cast, a boom almost always hits. A new boom is gained at every rank. It shoots out in a right circular conical shape from the caster to the limits of the range. Anyone in direct line from the caster within the cone is struck. However, it can be blocked by covering from the boom. Level 1, (2/25)
  • Grease
  • Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Earth Casting Time: 1 second Somatic: Pointing at target followed by a wiping motion of your hand, palm down. Verbal: blowing through your lips making a breathy sound Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: Possible falling damage & stun, otherwise just possible loss of mobility in a 3-meter diameter circle (+1 meter per rank) where directed by the caster. Cool Down: none Duration: 1-10 rounds (2-20 secs) Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Grease creates an area covered with an extremely slick, flammable coating. If lit on fire is may do 2-20 points of damage to beings/objects within its radius per round. Each rank it gets one meter bigger, is harder to escape, lasts longer and is slightly more flammable. Level 1, (2/25)
  • Mend Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Light Casting Time: 1 second Somatic: Touching/Pointing at target Verbal: Mend Range: touch + 2 meters per rank after first Damage: 0 Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Mend repairs a tear, cut, abrasion or other damage to any non-living object. The damage repaired can be no greater than ? meter squared in area at first rank. Each rank adds an additional ? meter squared of area. Partial repairs are possible. Level 1, (2/25)
  • Acid Splash Rank: Bronze Elemental Sphere: Water Casting Time: 2 seconds Somatic: Pointing at target Verbal: Popping sound made with the casters lips Range: 10 meters + 5 per level Damage: 3 -18 (+1 per stage) Cool Down: none Duration: Permanent Spell Resistance: Resist MP: 10 Shoots a ball of acid at target. A new ball of acid is gained at every rank. At later ranks, multiple targets are possible. In addition, if blocked, there is a chance of a secondary splash doing minor damage to the target. Level 1, (2/25)
We set watch schedules between Big Mike, myself, Janet and Tanya. We left Consuelo out since she was staying in the tent with the girls. This time I was the last watch, with Tanya and Janet on second and third. We¡¯d decided that it was too much trouble to break out the squirrel meat and cook up dinner, so we broke out Sustenance potions and passed them to the family. We compared cooking ranks and levels and, unsurprisingly Big Mike¡¯s was highest; but Consuelo¡¯s was only a rank behind him.
Big Mike Smith, Cooking Skill - Rank: Iron, Level 8 (5896/6400)
Consuelo Smith, Cooking Skill - Rank: Copper, Level 9 (9730/10000)
It was funny, but I guess due to the fact that everybody cooks, the only prerequisite to getting the cooking skill was to think about what level of cooking skill you had. I mean, Janet, Tanya and I had been able to get our cooking skills without touching a pan. Unlike shields which after three fights in which I used my shield, I still hadn¡¯t received the skill. I wondered if there were global skills, not class-based, just native to the human condition. Farting, Pooping, Washing Hair, Breathing. Maybe cooking fell into that category but at a high enough level that it required tracking. Yoga breathing? Hmm. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I wonder if sex is a skill? Kissing? Cuddling? Making out? I thought about sex, all my past experiences, about Jessica, my last experience. I wondered if getting caught in the act gave extra points or took off points? Maybe it gave points to another skill, Exhibitionism? Naturalism? But despite my efforts, I didn¡¯t get the category to appear. Then after I thought about it some more, I started to consciously not think about it. I¡¯m mean, a God, judging our performance. It¡¯s enough to make me stay celibate. ¡®Monsoon, you didn¡¯t bring her to climax, I¡¯m going to have to give you only two points for that effort and frankly, I¡¯m being generous.¡¯ Yeah, no I¡¯m not thinking about sex anymore. I¡¯m not sure I could handle a blue screen evaluation. It had been another beautiful 70-degree day, but the night was a little colder. It felt like it had started to drop down into the low 60¡¯s. I hoped that this didn¡¯t mean we were drifting into winter. I hung out next to the fire and thought about magic and Qi. I think it was fairly clear that an Alchemist was a Qi driven class as opposed to a mana driven one like Mage. At least the way that Consuelo received it. I wasn¡¯t sure that there couldn¡¯t be a mana driven version as well. Same results, different tools, different abilities, and skills. I liked that the ability that she gained was Qi ability. I made a mental note to have her share the screen description of the ability with me. Who knows, maybe I can get abilities in the same way that I got spells? Maybe we all can? Talk about a low-leveled, but op group. It seemed clear to me that we needed to level our spells and abilities up. That big vulture left because it was easier to grab the food and leave than fight us. It wasn¡¯t afraid, we didn¡¯t drive it off, it just got what it wanted and then left. I needed to get stronger, we needed to get stronger. We needed to be able to kill stuff. I thought also about the next day. If we were going to go into Maxes, we were going to have to bring the kids along with us. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be safe outdoors. Leave them with their mom while we take their dad inside? What chance would Consuelo have against a Level 18 vulture alone? Wow, bringing the kids along on a raid just like taking them to the store with you because you can¡¯t leave them at home alone. I hated to do it, but we needed everyone to get stronger fast. It also seemed clear that the kids¡¯ hit points and mana points were unnaturally low. I figured that it probably had to do with their lack of class. Or maybe they didn¡¯t get the same stats as an adult? Did they get kid¡¯s stats? They seemed smart enough to me, pretty normal if you asked me. Although, Almada¡¯s constitution and charisma were low, really low. But Big Mike¡¯s and Consuelo¡¯s hit points had shot up when they got a class, maybe even more than could be explained by their stat increases. I¡¯d need to think about this, maybe, although I hated to do it, get their stat scores and see if I could figure out some algorithm that would tell me how their mana, qi, stamina, and health were calculated. Because if the dip in the mana or health was based on their being classless, training wouldn¡¯t do much to help them now, not until they turned 13. I wondered also if they could learn spells or abilities. I thought they probably could because I learned a spell before I got a class. The same with abilities. Tomorrow I decided to talk with Big Mike and Consuelo about teaching their kids Force Bolt. They needed something to help them survive. Maybe come up with a grabbag of spells that they could learn and use. So, try to teach them: I hope that feedback or mana burn isn¡¯t a thing! I¡¯d hate to subject these little girls to such a thing. I wasn¡¯t sure if there was a limit to spells or abilities that the classless could learn, so prioritize the spells. Maybe, Force Bolt, Light Heal, Light, Create Water, Mend and Jade Lotus Touch. ¡®Enough,¡¯ I finally told my racing mind. ¡®Learn the spells, then try to learn the Qi ability, then practice the spells, then figure out the best way to assign skill points. I started on the meditation process of learning spells and in about an hour, I¡¯d learned all four spells. I practiced the mend spell on the broken arrows and shield and it worked! I also used the spell on my leather armor which was starting to get pretty raggedy. The shield was in the worst shape and required more than one cast on the spell to repair it. After I finished the repairs, I gave both the shield and the sword to Big Mike. He had the skills to use them properly. It just made sense, especially if he was going to be our main tank. I¡¯d be the off tank while the girls would be our back line. Besides, I still had a machete. When I gave it to him, he paused for a second looking over the shield. ¡°You make this?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I responded. ¡°It¡¯s not the greatest shield ever, but it kept the rats and squirrels off me. Well, sometimes it did.¡± At his questioning look, I said, ¡°I think you need a skill to really use weapons effectively. And I don¡¯t have it. And I¡¯m pretty sure that shields is a skill that none of my classes support either. So I¡¯ve got to pick it up on my own. Which I¡¯m thinking is a lot harder than gaining a skill your class supports, you follow?¡± He nodded his head and then said, ¡°Make sense, I guess. If any of this makes sense.¡± He was still on watch, so we cut the conversation short so he could get back to it. I added more wood to the fire to help keep the bugs down and started to practice my spells then. I had 285 mana points and a mana regen rate of about 7 per minute. I figured that I was capable of casting Force Bolt about 30 times a minute and would be regenerating the mana as I went. So, given my mana pool that meant I could cast it about 28 times before I ran out of mana and had to meditate to get my mana back. And with my meditation skill I could regenerate my mana fully in about 23 minutes, so that meant in the, I pause to take a quick look at the clock to determine the time, 7 hours and 15 minutes until I have to take over the watch, that I can cast the spell about 542 times. Which would take me up to the sixth level of the spell - one level below Late Stage - which would give me 3550 experience points which would take me right into, oh wait, two classes so, 1775 experience points which would still leave me at level ten. So, I started. I lay on my back and stared at the moon and started casting the spell like crazy. It was a little mind-numbing After my 7th cast, I got a level up notification for the spell. I ran out of mana about my 21st cast after that so I stopped to meditate. 23 minutes later, I started again, 28 casts later I ran out of mana. Again. Less than a minute. ¡®Yea me,¡¯ I thought and started meditating. Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation. Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation. Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation. Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation. For some reason, I have this song I¡¯d listened to, Soldier by Fleurie running through my head, but not the whole song, just the line, ¡®soldier keep on marching on¡¯ playing in my head like a soundtrack. Good song, but god this was killing me! Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation. Another 28 casts, I stopped to meditate again. This went on all night until thank god, it¡¯s finally time for me to take over the watch. At least my Force bolt spell leveled up nicely. Somewhere in the casting spree, I got several notifications telling me that my Force Bolt spell was now at level 6. I now could cast 3 force bolts at once, each doing 1-6 points of damage + 5. Sweet! The force bolts were a faintly glowing blue. I had to admit they were beautiful against the night sky and the moons. I¡¯m wondering if I found a kind of cheat. The imu when he was explaining how skill points were used said, ¡°Peak stage, at level 9 adds 2,500 points per skill point.¡± He didn¡¯t say what would happen to the extra points. Either They can be jerks and stop the points at the next level at 2 or they can allow the points to roll over. If so, that means I¡¯ve got a free experience train. Because 2,500 level points takes you right up to Level 7 where you get to add 1,000 level points per skill point. Spend six skill points and you¡¯re at 8,999. Add some time for casting the spell and meditation and spend one more skill point and you¡¯re back where you started, only 23,150 experience points richer. Anything to stop the grind. Fall on your knees mortals. Fear the wrath of the Master Bolter! Hmm! May need to work on that title a bit. Chapter 20 - Childhood’s End My watch passed quietly. When the girls got up at about 5:20, we all moved to the field and laying out our weapons and facing different directions, we started our Yoga practice. After about 10 minutes, the Smith¡¯s all bundled out of the teepee. At that point, Janet went into full Yoga instructor mode. I made sure that everybody had their weapons out and were in positions so they could keep a watch on the surroundings. Mike had my old sword and shield, Consuelo had Mike¡¯s old softball bat. The little ones had nothing. I made a mental note to change that as soon as I could. We started with some basic stretches, then she introduced them to some poses and finally we ended up with a sun salutation and ended. This was becoming our standard routine. All four Smiths got the Yoga skill and Janet got the Teacher skill too. We stood and then explained the rest of our routine to them, archery, formations, and martial arts. We also explained that not feeling hungry was normal. That the potion would wear off in 24 hours, so about 6 o¡¯clock this evening. The little ones seemed especially intrigued by this. Baila kept poking her belly as if to restart it. Just then Roxie appeared at the teepee flap, peering over the edge of the flap and yawning hugely. I nodded towards her and said, ¡°Looks like Roxie just woke up.¡± As I hoped, the two little ones went yelling over to pet their new friend. Who glared at me. I motioned Big Mike and Consuelo over and a little farther away from the teepee and said, ¡°I was thinking last night and I came up with some ideas. I¡¯m pretty sure you won¡¯t like all of them, but they may help us all¡± and here I glanced at the little girls now kneeling and stroking the baby mouse, ¡°to survive, so hear me out. Please.¡± They looked a little puzzled but shook their heads in agreement. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°First thing is, I¡¯m pretty sure none of us are going to survive if we don¡¯t get stronger. My mom said at least level 11. You two have taken the first steps when you selected your class last night, but you¡¯ve still got a long way to go.¡± Big Mike nodded and Consuelo followed him. ¡°We¡¯re going to need to go inside Maxes again and fight. It¡¯s the only way that you¡¯re going to get the experience you need to grow. We can train and get experience by casting spells and even by cooking, but cooking doesn¡¯t help you when you¡¯re faced with a Level 18 vulture. Big Mike, you were a marine and well, you''ve probably been in tight spots before. Consuelo, I don¡¯t know your life, but I do know this, you¡¯ve got to get stronger to protect your two little ones.¡± She nodded and so did Mike. ¡°Now,¡± I said. ¡°Here¡¯s the part you aren¡¯t going to like. When we go inside, we¡¯re going to have to bring the little ones with us.¡± Both of them immediately bristled and started to say something, but I held up my hand and said, ¡°Wait! Wait! Hear me out. If they don¡¯t go in with us, where are they going to stay? Out in the teepee? Who¡¯s going to stay with them and keep them safe? We fought four giant squirrels just behind the building. Didn¡¯t do anything to set them off, they just attacked. Monsters attack, that seems to be what they do, why they¡¯re monsters. Could one of you fight four giant squirrels? I don¡¯t think so, and Maxes is weird on the inside now. I don¡¯t even know for sure we could hear you inside if you started to yell for help. And, if we¡¯re already fighting giant rats, how are we going to get loose to fight outside? Think about that for a second.¡± I paused and gave them a chance to do that. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. And then I continued on with, ¡°the other thing that I thought about last night is that I¡¯m pretty sure both Amada and Baila can learn spells. If they go in with us, I want them to go in with spells and to be using them.¡± ¡°No,¡± said Consuelo. ¡°My babies are not going to fight big rats! No! No!¡± Big Mike¡¯s face got even redder and he started to step forward into my space. I wondered if I should let him. Just let him experience the difference in levels, of a strength of 45 versus whatever strength he had, but I decided that that wasn¡¯t the way to handle this. I held up my hands again, in front of me, peacefully, and said, ¡°I thought that would be your response, but this isn¡¯t the world we knew. This isn¡¯t a world where your kids can play in their rooms on their iPads and do their homework and go to bed in nice, safe houses. This is a world that has monsters in it. If you try to protect them too much, you¡¯re weakening them and just making it harder for them to survive. You¡¯re not doing them any favors, you¡¯re actually, potentially, killing them. There¡¯s danger in my idea, but there is danger all around us. We need to train for this new world or else, well, or else.¡± I stepped back to give them some space. Jackie and Tanya shot me a dirty look, but moved past me and grabbed Consuelo and gave her a hug. BIg Mike was still doing the stare thing, but I looked away at the girls to not make eye contact, to not allow him to take that path. I wasn¡¯t afraid. I knew my own strength. I knew I could defend myself if it came to that, but it wasn¡¯t about that. It was about getting him and her over the hump, of actually perceiving this new world, making informed choices based on it, not the old-Earth. Those ways of doing things were gone and, if they kept reacting to this new world like they used to, they¡¯d be gone too. Down some monster¡¯s gullet. ¡°Momma?¡± I heard little Amada say and she came over and hugged Consuelo. Baila followed carrying Roxie. Consuelo hugged her back, her body rigid with tension. And then, it wasn¡¯t. ¡°So, you think they can do spells?¡± she said. ¡°I think so,¡± I said. ¡°Can we protect them?¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee anything anymore,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee their safety right now. But the rats will have to chew me up and spit me out before they get a chance at them in Maxes,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s the only way I can think of that I can help make sure that they¡¯ll survive. That and practicing, but practicing takes time and we¡¯ve got to be moving to a safer location. And it isn¡¯t safe to travel with them being so low leveled. It just isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°When do you want to do it?¡± she said. Big Mike was still standing in my space, but he was no longer threatening, more puzzled, uncertain of what he was hearing. ¡°Tomorrow or maybe even the next day,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve got enough stuff to do today without adding rats to the mix. Here¡¯s what I¡¯d like to get done before we even think about it. Formation practice, archery, martial arts, unpacking the stuff that I got from Maxes, then training them to use spells, training you and Big Mike to use spells, thinking about strategies, about how to fight monsters.¡± I left unsaid the words I wanted to add, ¡°about how to fight men.¡± We took a Roxie break then. All the girls gathered around and stroking the puppy-sized mouse. Big Mike and I watched from the outside edges of the circle, calming down. Chapter 21 - Formation’s With a Marine. One Word. Tiring! We decided to do formation training first. We told Big Mike what we¡¯d come up with and our strategy of Tanya being leader and calling the shots. We talked about our disaster of a first fight, but how we¡¯d done pretty well against the squirrels. We didn¡¯t even want to talk about the vulture. He thought about it for a bit and then wanted to see us in action. We did our dog and pony show with Tanya directing us with the various calls we¡¯d finally limited ourselves to: T-Up, Skinny, Fat, Drift Left, Drift Right, Turn Left, Turn Right, Tighten Up, Split and Stop. It felt odd doing it without the shield and sword, just the machete. I also felt odd doing for an audience. He thought about it some more and then said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t look that bad. You¡¯ve got a small group here and you¡¯re not concerned with a lot of the things that an army is. You don¡¯t drill, don¡¯t march, don¡¯t parade, all you need to do is fight. There¡¯s a lot of strategy that you still need like when to fight melee, when to do ranged, how to switch between the two, and how to back away, how to retreat, how to advance as a group, how to attack from hiding, how to respond to an ambush, how to divide up targets. I mean that¡¯s just the start of it.¡± He paused for a second, still thinking about it. ¡°But what you¡¯re training for is probably the most likely scenario, facing a monster or group of monsters head on,¡± he continued. ¡°And, from what I¡¯ve heard and seen, monsters don¡¯t retreat. That rat I fought, no back down. It was still biting and clawing at me even when I could see its brains from cracking open its head with my softball bat. So what you need to do is to utilize the terrain in the best possible way and not die while killing what¡¯s attacking you. That¡¯s pretty much what you did against the squirrels. Your formations are working for doing that. I¡¯ll just adapt what I know to what you¡¯ve already started.¡± And then he gestured to Consuelo and the two little girls and said, ¡°alright, get in the back line and let¡¯s do this.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He took his place on the front line, next to me, on the right side. Consuelo moved behind him with the two little girls on either side. The two older ones moved out to the sides, with Tanya being on the right, Janet on the left. We practiced for a while and there was a difference, a definite difference between the pre-Big Mike formation drilling and the post-Big Mike formation drilling. He wanted precision or snap as he called it in our movements. Same word, way different meaning between when Tanya said it and he did! When Tanya would call out drift left he wanted to know how fast that was going to be, then he drilled us on it. We drifted back and forth across the former parking lot. Turning underwent the same evolution, skinny, fat, all our movements did. It was exhausting, but good. In addition he had Tanya add three more calls, slow, double, and quick to tell us how fast we needed to be moving. And he had exact speeds for each of the calls. Tanya came up with a surprise for us, she evidently had learned a new spell last night, ¡°Illusion¡±. It generated, at her current level, a giant rat-sized blob of color. Not really looking like anything, but at least something that we could focus on. They were capable of moving, but not very fast, about a person¡¯s walking speed. She and Big Mike stepped aside while the rest of us were recovering, well Consuelo and the two little ones were, and talked and when they came back, we started to face off with imaginary opponents that would randomly appear and move toward our formation. Tanya would call out, we¡¯d respond and then Big Mike would stop us, show us what we were doing wrong and what it should look like and then make us repeat it until we got it right, well, right enough. After about another two hours, everybody that didn¡¯t have the two skills before (Battle Movement and Military Drill) had them now and the little girls and Consuelo were exhausted. Chapter 22 - Checking Out the Boxes We took a break and I pulled out the tubs of stuff that I¡¯d taken from Maxes from my inventory and all of us went through it. Seventeen tubs of miscellaneous stuff that I¡¯d grabbed off the shelves of a convenience store in a panicky rush. Each one contained whatever I felt like grabbing from the shelves that I was closest too. Condoms and sanitary napkins were in box one, well female stuff. I wasn¡¯t an expert, but I figured that we¡¯d need that stuff, so I grabbed an assortment. I just stuck with Trojans for condoms. I didn¡¯t have time to read labels, I was a looting machine. I was an immediate hero with the females. Toilet paper was in boxes two through five. All Charmin Ultra Soft (until they ran out). My hero status was confirmed and raised to a higher level. Box six contained boxes of ibuprofen, Pepto Bismol, NyQuil, DayQuil, Sudafed, Bandaids, basically anything that a convenience store carried in its medical aisle. Toothpaste, mouthwash, dental floss, toothbrushes, and razors and shaving cream were in box seven. Box eight contained boxes of cereal: Kellogg''s Corn Flakes, Post Toasties, 2 boxes of Fruity Pebbles, Heat and Serve Oatmeal packages. Box nine contained lunch meats: deli ham, roast beef, bologna, hot dogs, prosciutto, cheese slices, and cubes. All of which had basically been sitting out for a day before we rescued them from the rats. It also contained five loaves of wonder bread, slightly squished. Box ten contained beer, mainly Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller High Life. They were the closest when I was grabbing. Box 11 contained chips: Doritos, Tostitos, Funyuns, Bugles, Lay¡¯s Potato chips, Barbecue Lays potato chips, and Miss Vickie¡¯s Sea Salt And Vinegar Chips. I may have a slight preference for Miss Vickie. Oh, and pork rinds. Box 12 contained packages of Donuts, Twinkies, Ho Hos and for some reason, a really big jar of Cheese Puffs. I couldn''t help but think of that Woody Harrelson movie, Zombie Land when I saw the twinkies. ''I got you covered buddy,'' I thought to Woody. ''Hope you made it.'' Janet started doing her best Vanna White impression before opening the boxes and the two little girls echoed her. Box 13 contained avocados, apples, oranges, lemons, bananas, and limes. Basically, all the fruit that the convenience store carried. Box 14 contained coffee, coffee filters, and artificial sweeteners and creamers. Looking at them now, I wasn¡¯t sure why I¡¯d grabbed the coffee filters since we didn¡¯t have a coffee pot, but Consuelo seemed cautiously excited about them, so they might be repurposed as alchemical filters. Max had started looking into premium blends and unground so we had a bunch of wicker, cloth-lined baskets with metal scoops in them of various coffee beans. I even scored a small basket of unroasted coffee beans. Maybe useful for starting a coffee plantation. Heck, we had mountains now, why not grow our own. Assuming we survived. I¡¯d also grabbed a couple of those big cans of Folgers. Box 15 contained motor oil, different weights, but it all seemed to be Valvoline. The box also contained windshield washer fluid and radiator fluid as well as a case of Dinty Moore stew. Box 16 contained pop and water. 20 oz bottles of Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Pepsi and Sprite along with a case of Dasani water. Box 17 was the box that Roxie had been discovered in. Originally it contained Fruity Pebbles, cheese blocks, milk, granola, meat, gum, beer, toilet paper. Now it contained all of that less the Fruity Pebbles and half the cheese that it used to contain. But I¡¯m not bitter. There were no spices, rice or potatoes in the boxes. Not really a surprise, convenience stores aren¡¯t really known for their spice racks or stocking a produce aisle. I remembered stocking boxes of Uncle Ben¡¯s Rice in the store, but evidently, I didn¡¯t get to them. There were, however, 10 bottles of Hasty-Bake Rub N Spice Seasoning from an endcap promotion tied to this line of really, really good Oklahoma based charcoal cookers. Max, the owner, was thinking about becoming a dealer. I was really, really down when I saw them. My favorite barbecue place was gone. Burn Co. I¡¯ll miss your ribs. Rest in peace. ¡°Huh,¡± I said, looking at our haul, ¡°it ain¡¯t right!¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Yeah,¡± said Janet, holding up a Dr Pepper, ¡°since when does Dr Pepper come in glass 20 oz bottles. And, look at this bottle, the logo is painted on or something. It looks like the results of Janet¡¯s essence merge spell.¡± ¡°Yep,¡± I said, ¡°the Event¡¯s war on plastic continues. I mean look at the rest of the packaging.¡± The Motor Oil had changed back to the old tin style packaging, the kind that you punctured with a spout, the milk was also in glass bottles, the cheese had been converted from cubes to little wheels of cheese like those mini Babybel cheese wheels that came dipped in red wax, the gum was wrapped in paper, the potato chips came in white paper sacks, so did the cereal, everything was different, yet similar. I looked at the condoms and they appeared to be little sealed paper envelopes. I didn¡¯t want to open them in front of everybody, but I could see that there was something different about them too. ¡°So, the big question here,¡± said Janet. ¡°Is it safe to eat? Or, more importantly, drink?¡± she said as she clutched one of her Dr. Peppers. ¡°I haven¡¯t tried any food yet,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m still on the potion of Sustenance. But if I had to guess, I¡¯d say go for it. It¡¯s probably good. I might think about the lunch meats though, that sat out for most of a day in Maxes.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say, nothing living could exist in our inventories?¡± Tanya asked Janet. ¡°That¡¯s what my imu said,¡± she replied. ¡°In that case, since it wasn¡¯t that hot in Maxes, they are probably fine. My little brother wouldn¡¯t ever put anything away. He¡¯d raid the bologna and leave the package out on the counter. So I got used to eating stuff that had been left on the kitchen counter for a day, sometimes two.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°You know what that means, don¡¯t you? Instant water purification.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Tanya said. ¡°It won¡¯t help against chemicals in the water, but it¡¯ll kill all of the bugs.¡± ¡°You know that bread, flour, rice, oatmeal all come with a certain amount of bugs in it. Bug eggs, usually. It was even allowed for by the FDA. If you put it in your inventory, poof! No bugs!¡± said Big Mike. ¡°No living bugs,¡± I said to a chorus of ¡®oohs!¡¯ from the girls around me. ¡°This is quite an assortment of stuff,¡± Big Mike said, looking over the spread out boxes. ¡°I know,¡± I said apologetically. ¡°If I had more time, I might have done a better job of picking stuff, but I had 10 minutes, so this is what I got.¡± ¡°What do we want to do with it?¡± I asked. ¡°With my new superpowered memory I can tell you everything that''s in each box, so do you just want to pack it back up and wait for a time that we¡¯ll need it? Or what?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°It sounds like the Smith¡¯s won¡¯t need either food or a potion until this evening. How about you guys.¡± ¡°I¡¯m starting to get a little hungry,¡± said Janet. ¡°How about you all?¡± she asked. ¡°I¡¯m ok for now, but starting to feel it too,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Are we going to take another potion or are we going to start on food again?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°I think we ought to go back to eating again. Although we have an alchemist now, she can¡¯t create sustenance potions yet. So, once they run out, we¡¯re out. I¡¯d much rather extend the time we have before they¡¯re gone by using up our food. What do you say?¡± I asked. ¡°That means, cooking, cleaning, disposing of scraps, all that normal stuff again,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Are we ok with that? It¡¯ll cut into practice time. I got five new spells and my Force Bolt spell is up to level six also.¡± ¡°You know, I haven¡¯t pooped in two days!¡± said Janet. ¡°I guess that¡¯s the potion.¡± We rolled on the ground laughing. Especially the little girls. ¡°Hey,¡± she said. ¡°Everybody poops¡­ sometimes¡± she sang doing her best Michael Stipe impression. It felt great to be laughing again. ¡°That¡¯s a good point, not the pooping point, but Tanya¡¯s. I hadn¡¯t thought about it,¡± I said. ¡°That kind of reframes the question doesn¡¯t it. So, will we need the potions in the future more than we¡¯ll need the spells that we could have been leveling now? Hmm.¡± ¡°Hey, Monsoon,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Just so we¡¯re clear, these potions are yours. We can eat the squirrels, although, come to think of it, the squirrels are yours too. We¡¯re good with whatever decision you make.¡± And Consuelo nodded her agreement. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Stop that. That¡¯s old-Earth think. What we¡¯ve¡± and here I made a circular gesture to include all of them, ¡°what we¡¯ve got to do is first survive and then, maybe we can worry about things like who owns what, who owes what. If I let you go hungry today, let your kids go hungry, what''re the chances that you¡¯ll have my back when some giant thing comes crashing down on it when I¡¯m not looking? First, we survive, then we rebuild. And everybody¡¯s got a say in this decision.¡± Of course, that¡¯s when Baila said, ¡°Roxie thinks pooping in the woods is scary. She and I think we should keep drinking potions.¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said, trying not to laugh. ¡°That¡¯s two votes for potions, me and Baila.¡± After that, it was pretty much unanimous. Everyone wanted to stay on the potions. So we packed up the boxes and I threw them back into my inventory. The three of us non-Smith¡¯s decided to hold off on drinking our potions until later. That way everyone would be on the same schedule. Chapter 23 - More Practice We got back into it then, martial arts and archery. Time went by quickly. Everybody got the skills that hadn¡¯t had them yet. It was good that Big Mike was there. He clearly knew his Krav Maga or the marine equivalent and, as it turned out, he used to bow hunt, so he was a pretty good archer. That time he¡¯d mentioned when he was in the woods in June, turned out to be, ironically enough, squirrel bow hunting. I thought that the squirrels should have been yelling ¡®Mike! Mike! Mike!¡¯ instead of ¡®Chuck!¡¯. Mike also acquired the Teacher skill at Copper 4. Evidently training people to do their jobs both in the marines and after gave him some prior experience. It was about 2 o¡¯clock when we got finished with archery. I was starting to get hungry so I got out some of MY cheese and a bag of chips. The girls saw me snacking and demanded their share. Janet finally got her a Dr. Pepper. I hadn¡¯t grabbed any diets, so she had to make do. She was ok with it though, given the amount of exercise were all getting, her new constitution, her slightly higher charisma, all the things we brought up and talked about while we were relaxing. We were all fascinated with the growth we were experiencing. Wondering if we had limits now? After about 30 minutes or so, we got into the next part of our day, training the little girls on how to gain and use their spells. Right now, I didn¡¯t know if the girls were limited in the number of spells or abilities they could have because of their lack of classes or not, so I wanted to make sure we gave them the ones they needed first and then allowed them to learn them in the order we¡¯d decided on. I brought up the list I¡¯d made up last night: Force Bolt, Light Heal, Light, Create Water, Mend and Jade Lotus Touch and asked if anybody had any other ideas about what they should learn. Consuelo immediately brought up three spells: Shield, Charm, and Clean. Big Mike liked all three of those spells but liked the other ones that I¡¯d suggested also. After listening to us and talking it over with us, both Baila and Amada and their parents wanted it to be Force Bolt, Shield, Light Heal, Charm, but then Baila and Amada couldn¡¯t agree on which spells they wanted to learn more after that. Amada wanted Clean more than Create Water and Light more than Mend but wasn¡¯t clear on which she¡¯d rather have first, Create Water or Light. While Baila wanted Sonic Boom, Acid Splash, Firebolt, and Earth Dart Burst. Big Mike did not really seem surprised by this. Big Mike and Consuelo also had a long talk with the girls about the spells and how they were dangerous and not toys and should never, ever be cast against their sister or parents unless they wanted to be grounded until they were 20. And have their magic privileges taken away. However, they didn¡¯t suggest that they¡¯d never be cast against other people which I silently agreed with. The two girls solemnly agreed to this. Then Big Mike shared the blue screen of Force Bolt with the two girls and cast the spell in front of them a couple of times, then walked them through the process of how to gain the spell. 20 minutes later Amaya had gained the spell and about ten minutes after that, Baila had gained it as well. ¡°Mom,¡± said Baila. ¡°I¡¯m full.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Baila?¡± asked Consuelo. ¡°My head feels tight,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can learn another spell. Does that mean I can¡¯t be a mage?¡± ¡°No baby,¡± she said, glancing at me. ¡°No,¡± I spoke up. ¡°It just means that until you turn 13 and select your class or classes, you have some limits that people with magic classes don¡¯t have. When you turn 13, I bet you that all of these limits disappear if you select mage or another magic type class. And Baila, this is very important. Don¡¯t attempt to learn another spell until that feeling is gone. You understand?¡± I asked. ¡°It might damage you if you try.¡± She nodded her head and then asked, ¡°Can Amada learn more spells?¡± We all turned and looked at Amada who said, ¡°I think so. I feel like I can learn another spell.¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a little tighter than I was thinking it would be. I was hoping that best case, kids or the un-classed could learn more spells. I have no idea if it is them being kids or them not having a class. But if I had to bet I¡¯d say that it probably applies to Abilities too. Given the way those two have been gaining skills, it doesn¡¯t look like skills are limited. The limits could be based on levels or stat points too. As they go up in levels or, if they get free stat points and apply them to the correct stats, then they might be able to get more spells. I¡¯m guessing here, but it seems like it might be logical. It¡¯s hard saying not knowing.¡± Big Mike and Consuelo looked at each other, their faces a little worried. ¡°So which spell do you want Amada to try to learn next?¡± I asked. They talked about it for a while before finally deciding to go ahead with Shield instead of Light Heal, they thought that there were enough people in the group that could heal, so hopefully, the Shield spell would be more valuable. Big Mike shared the spell with Amada, cast the spell in front of her a couple of times and walked her through the process of how to learn spells again and about twenty minutes later, she got the spell. ¡°Amada,¡± her mom said, ¡°You are not to share that spell with your sister. Period. Do you understand? Only your father or I will do that?¡± Amada nodded. Her mom continued, ¡°Do you feel full now, or can you learn another spell?¡± Amada thought about it for a second and then said, ¡°Nope, I¡¯m full now too. I¡¯m pretty sure I can¡¯t learn another spell either.¡± I spoke up then and made sure that she knew not to try to learn more spells until that feeling went away. The last thing I wanted was the kid to get spell burn or something similar. Although, I¡¯m not even sure if spell burn exists. But better safe than sorry. ¡°Consuelo,¡± I said. ¡°Could you please share the ability ¡®Alchemist¡¯s Flame¡¯ with me? With us? I want to see if I can learn it like I could spells.¡± She shared her blue screen with everyone except the little girls and then gave us a demonstration of the flame and talked about how it felt to use the ability and what the ability could do while demonstrating it.
Ability: Alchemist Fire Elemental Sphere: Fire Time: instantaneous, 2 sec per point. Range: Touch or .5 meters per rank. Duration: Until stopped. Cool Down: none. Spell Resistance: none Qi Pts: Gives the ability to start, contain, stop and otherwise control a personal flame. A point used for every 2 seconds of first level flame. Add an additional point for each level¡¯s flame. One point less consumed for each stage the user possesses. Each stage allows for an additional ingredient to be refined. Each rank reduces the ability cost by 5 points. Does damage to durability to non-living things, health to living.
I shared my Jade Lotus Touch ability screen with everyone except the little girls and then talked about how it had felt when I used it. Just before we sat down to attempt to learn them, I cautioned Big Mike, Tanya, and Janet to be sure they wanted to learn these abilities because who knew how many Qi abilities they could learn. Choosing these might prevent them from learning a cooler, more useful ability later. I was pretty sure between my titles and my monk class I could learn any Qi ability and I was also pretty sure that Consuelo could as well thanks to her Alchemist class. Big Mike¡¯s knight class was maybe ok, but I figured that Janet¡¯s Cleric and Tanya¡¯s Mage classes were probably going to be limited. Of course, just before we started trying to see if we could get abilities the same way that we got spells, Janet brought up the kids. Did their parents want to have them try to learn an ability as well?Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Big Mike and Consuelo talked it over a bit and then decided that they wanted the little girls to have the Jade Lotus Touch ability, provided that they could get it. It made a lot of sense since neither of them were able to get the healing spell. I shared my screen of the ability with them and then went over what it felt like when I used the ability. Big Mike covered again how the spells were gained and then we all sat down and tried to gain the abilities. Consuelo and I just tried for the one that we didn¡¯t have. I focused on the information that I¡¯d been given by Consuelo about ¡®Alchemist¡¯s Flame¡¯ and thought about Consuelo¡¯s demonstration. I thought about flame, I thought about the Qi I could feel inside me. I tried to merge them, tried to feel the flame inside me coming out. I tried to feel as if it were already mine, that I deserved it. Eventually, I succeeded and got the notification I was waiting for, Bronze Level 1, 2/24 and then waited for everyone else to finish or to give up. I hadn¡¯t looked at the time before starting but I guessed it was about 20-25 minutes. Consuelo finished second which probably meant that there was a pretty hefty penalty on what the System determined were non-Qi type classes given the difference between her starting stats and Janet and Tanya¡¯s more advanced ones. She finished, again I¡¯m just guessing about 40 minutes after me. Tanya got it next, followed by Mike and Janet about the same time. Janet might have been a little faster. I¡¯d guess about 10 minutes after Consuelo. And then, they all started to learn the next ability - whatever that was. The little girls took about twice as long as Consuelo, probably a bit more since the three adults finished getting their second ability before them. The meditation skill was amazing, almost magical. I can¡¯t remember ever seeing a little girl sitting quietly for 2 hours, but these two did. Little troopers. It was amazing for me too. I can¡¯t remember a time when I was waiting for someone else to finish something so patiently. Sure ten minutes or so, but an hour and a half, two hours. Yah, not happening, at least not without my iPhone or iPad. I asked the little girls if they felt full if they could learn another ability. They both said they could, but their mom was not really on board with them learning the ¡®Alchemist¡¯s Fire¡¯ ability. Can you say playing with matches? Little steps, I thought. It was about 5:30 and dark by now. We passed out the potions to everyone, including Roxie, and the girls retreated from the mosquitoes again back into the teepee with Roxie and Consuelo. I was on the first watch, Big Mike on second, Tanya on third and Janet on the final one. I finally asked Janet what she did last night and she said she worked on Party Heal. Since it was just practice she put the minimum into the spell and cast it. ¡°Over and over and over again,¡± she said. ¡°Oh my god! I thought I was going to die! But Bronze 6¡± ¡°Sweet and I know,¡± I said. ¡°We all got to experience the joys of grinding.¡± I also asked Big Mike what he and Consuelo did last night. ¡°We both learned all the spells you gave us. It took us a while to do it, but we got them. Then we practiced the Shield spell. Just the basic, like Janet did, we were able to cast it a bunch of times, but not near the number of times that you all did. Smaller mana pools and less time. Learning the spells took us a while.¡± ¡°That¡¯s alright,¡± I said. ¡°That makes sense. What level did you all reach?¡± ¡°Bronze Level 4,¡± he answered. ¡°We both got another level too!¡± ¡°Sweet! Not bad at all. Tonight, though, I think you all should practice Force Bolt. Shield is going to take a while to get up to the level that you can use it to protect your little girls. Third Rank before you can cast it on other people. That¡¯s an awful lot of casts. If we all cast Force Bolt at once, I¡¯m thinking that we should be able to wipe the floor with the rats. Judging by our last fight, they were about level 6 and had about 30 hit points each. With my new Force Bolt spell, I can do about 27 points of damage every 2 seconds. So can Tanya, Janet can do about 24 points. So, if we add you and Consuelo in doing about 18-23 points each, we ought to be able to kill at least 2 rats every two seconds. You would need to be rank four for that. If your daughters can practice up, they can do maybe 6-8 points of damage. They might even make a difference and help us kill three. Remember, Force Bolt doesn¡¯t miss. It¡¯s perfect for combat with inexperienced people.¡± ¡°You mean it¡¯s perfect for my little girls,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s what I mean. Won¡¯t you feel better knowing that they can protect themselves?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he said reluctantly, ¡°I just think that two days ago I¡¯d never heard of a giant rat. Now I¡¯m planning on letting my little girls shoot them with spells.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I said. There wasn¡¯t anything else I could say. Except, ¡°Janet, practice Light Heal, OK¡± She nodded. Once again it was a quiet night. I was starting to wonder what percentage chance we had of running into monsters. I wasn¡¯t sure if two encounters in a day was normal or high or low. But since we hadn¡¯t had any encounters today, I was hoping that meant that it was high, a fluke rather than what we could expect. Too small a sample really to tell, but I was a lot more optimistic than I was yesterday. After my watch, I did the same thing that I¡¯d done yesterday. Lay down, stared at the moon and started grinding Force Bolt again. When morning came I could finally feel a bit of tiredness. Two days of no sleep, only brief segments of meditation, and I was finally starting to feel like I needed to sleep. But it was worth it. I did my little trick. Cast the spell until I broke through to spell level 7, quickly spent six skill points which brought me to 9147 level points. I did the cast/mediate routine 12 more times and then just needed to cast the spell 27 times. I was sitting now on 9998 level points. I spent another skill point and the spell leveled to Copper - Level 7, 2498/3199. It worked! Sweet, but now that I know how They calculate the points, I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ll ever do it again. Seven skill points is a lot, even for me with my titles. It¡¯s time to do yoga and then I¡¯ll ask the girls what they think. Is it worth doing or not? We can figure it out. However, the experience points were enough to bring me up to level 12, so there¡¯s a nice bonus. I took a look at my status sheet after I¡¯d assigned the points. Not bad.
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± Level (Monk/Mage) 12/12
Class(es) Monk/Mage
Attribute Points 0 Skill Points 115
Strength 51 Intelligence 83
Dexterity 40 Wisdom 82
Agility 72 Perception 56
Constitution 54 Charisma 44
Vitality 58 Luck 24
AC 6
Health: 336 Mana: 285
Qi: 285 Stamina 320
Now when I cast the spell, I created 6 bolts, all of them doing + 16 points of damage. Wahoo! So, yeah, Vulture no more, rats no more. Of course, I could only target one rat, so about 114 points of damage to one target. Not bad. I would grind up a rat and make mincemeat out of it. What I needed is control. Earth Bolt and Acid Splash and even Light Bolt had the capability to attack multiple targets at later ranks, I needed that ability in Force Bolt. How do I get it without risking my head exploding or at least a migraine-type headache that never ends? But in the meantime, while I wait on getting my question answered, I¡¯ll keep on grinding on, Shield. I still have about two and a half hours left, so I keep working until Yoga time. By the time the girls were up and doing Yoga, I leveled the spell up to Bronze 5. Chapter 24 - In Every Walk with Nature One Receives Far More Than He Seeks. (Part 1) We started Yoga again and just like yesterday, the Smiths joined us. Once again, Janet took over and started leading us. Big Mike was surprisingly limber for such a big man. He was about 6¡¯4¡± and weighed in at, I¡¯d guess, about 300 pounds. Black hair, speckled with grey. Pale blue eyes. An anchor tattoo that he got one night in the Philippines on his right bicep, the other arm/shoulder sported some tribal looking stripes. According to his stories, he has quite a few other tattoos on his chest and back. Basically tribal stuff, he wasn¡¯t into cartoons and words. Although he did have a band of words about midway between his wrist and elbow that circled his right arm that said, ¡®Semper Fi¡¯ and ¡®Oorah¡¯. He¡¯s also a hairy man. His wife was beautiful. Black hair, tan skin, a white always ready to be displayed smile. She was also built, better than Tanya, a little bit less than Janet. The girls were just 11 and 10-year-old girls. Baila was cute, but not the smartest tool in the shed. Amada was smart and wise, seemed like she might be an old soul, one of those kids that¡¯s gaze seems to measure you. Unfortunately, she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. I wanted to introduce her to the God Box, but I was afraid of what it would charge her or how it would change her. I made another mental note to talk to Big Mike and Consuelo about it. It¡¯s like having a nuke sitting around in your living room. We then moved into Formations again. Big Mike drilled us on each call Tanya made. He wanted snap and precision and wasn¡¯t shy about asking for it. But we were getting better. Tanya would create one of her moving color blobs and we¡¯d respond to it like it was a real monster. Consuelo, Amada, and Baila would take turns casting their Force Bolt and dispelling it. Evidently, these illusions couldn¡¯t take damage. One hit was enough to dispel them. Baila was really psyched when she cast her spell and the blob would disappear. She¡¯d do her little guts pose and yell ¡®oorah¡¯. Big Mike would echo her and then the whole family would do it together. After a while, the whole group did it together. During breaks, Tanya and Mike were trying to work on targeting calls. Trying to figure out ways to make it easier for Tanya to direct where she wanted the damage to go. ¡°Right baby squirrel, Monsoon Tank Big One¡± was fine, but since each of spells might kill it alone, how did she direct the others. I mean, me taking one and everybody else casting at the other, can you say pureed rat? Plus combat happens fast. It took us two seconds to cast our spells, it took almost that long to say those words. We needed a plan before we got stuck into it and short instructions that would allow us to adapt to the fluid environment. It might be different if we were all going in as melee fighters, but we weren''t, most of us were ranged, magical ranged DPS, which was another gaming term that stood for Damage Per Second. Basically, you had three roles, tanking, damage per second (DPS) and healing, at least in video games. Tanking was getting up in the monsters grill and keeping its attention on you. DPS was just trying to kill it fast. The hard part was not making yourself the main target while you did it. And healing was basically keeping the tank alive. The best they came up with was Tank Left, Tank Right, which basically meant Mike Tanks, I help if he¡¯s getting overwhelmed otherwise I¡¯m a DPS, and everybody does damage to the side called - working from the outside in. It¡¯s a work in progress. But with our new and improved movement ability, it¡¯s slowly starting to gel. Archery and Martial Arts went well also. Nothing earthshaking about them, but only two bolts lost and four arrows broken and we only lost one. Thank god for the mend spell. After we finished we stood around the campfire and talked about what we needed to get done before we headed inside of Maxes. I asked Big Mike and Consuelo how their practice went last night. They both got in about the same amount of practice, about 7 hours. They were pleased. ¡°Bronze 5¡± they both said. Two +5 bolts or about 16 points of damage. About half of what a normal man or giant rat has. Their daughters had stayed up and practiced too and had done a surprising amount of practice, about 4 hours before they fell asleep. When I was doing my casting by the campfire, it was amazing watching the light bolts - pale blue flickers of light - come out from the smoke flaps at the top of the teepee. Their daughter¡¯s practice was pretty awesome. Four hours for a ten and 11-year-old was great. Both of them leveled and got Bronze 2 in the spell and in both Meditation and Yoga. Evidently, practicing Meditation while in a Yoga pose practiced both. Who knew? But free experience is free experience. I made sure that everybody realized that. Big Mike looked a little uncomfortable until Janet pointed out that sitting cross-legged was a pose too - especially if done with ¡®mindfulness¡¯. And both she and Tanya snorted at that, which I, of course, ignored. I looked Amada over and couldn¡¯t see much of a difference, maybe she looked a little plainer, which was a good thing. Baila looked pretty much the same. I hoped there had been some parental discussion about the point allocation if there had been any. I made a note to ask Big Mike or Consuelo about whether non-Classed people got any stat or skill point bumps. Janet had practiced her ¡®Light Heal¡¯ spell. Unlike Tanya and my healing spell, it healed more damage and didn¡¯t require touch as you got better at it. She got it up to level six which meant that for the same 10 points, she healed 50 points of damage and she could do it at a range of 3 meters. Sweet! But she didn¡¯t get a level out of it. It still only healed one person at a time though. The differences in our spells answered the question I had about whether or not classes made a difference in the magic we got. Two spells named the same doing different things meant classes did have an impact on our spells. Same mana, different spells. Tanya had done what I¡¯d done, except she hadn¡¯t used her skill points. So she was at Bronze 7. I told her about my ¡°trick¡± and she immediately spent the six experience points which took her to Bronze 9 which was enough to give her four + 9 bolts. She was psyched. She thought she¡¯d wait to see if she wanted to spend the additional skill point tomorrow. Before we went inside, we decided to gather more firewood and let the Consuelo see if she could find any herbs around. We left the girls with Janet and Tanya and the three of us traipsed off into the surrounding woods. The girls were busy playing with Roxie when we left. It was different in these woods. Quieter for one thing. I guess there¡¯s a certain amount of ambient man-made noise that used to be present even in the woods. A jetliner flying overhead, someone¡¯s four-wheeler, a chainsaw, a car with glasspacks or a big resonator going past on a highway or road you can¡¯t see. You didn¡¯t feel disconnected. Plus, no matter how deep you went there was always something man-made to shatter your illusion of solitude, a broken pop-bottle, some rags, paper from a label, wire from a fence, it doesn¡¯t really matter what, there was just something that said, you¡¯re not alone, someone else has been here before. These woods, this forest, didn¡¯t give you that feeling, despite the fact that, according to my government screen, there were 382,005 people somewhere around me in the so-called Duchy of Northern Tulsa. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Since we were just going in for firewood, to maybe finds some herbs, we decided that we¡¯d go in no more than 15 meters and just follow the edges of the clearing that surrounded Maxes. It wasn¡¯t long before Consuelo began stopping and grabbing herbs right and left. Bergemont, Pleurisy Root, Goldenrod, Passionflower, Yarrow, Horsemint, Plantain, and, of course, Insect Bane were just some of the plants that she grabbed. It was amazing. She said she could see the plants highlighted. Each one when she viewed it came with its own badge like we saw on monsters, only it simply gave the name and the plant stage of life and how many years old it was. Passionflower, Young, 1-year-old. Each one had their old herbal remedies still, but the effects had been ramped up, and with the knowledge contained within the skill, Ingredient Refining, the remedies were advanced to the level of a science. Exact, repeatable, quantifiable results. Ooh, I wanted it, not the flower, the skill. Actually both skills. Every time she¡¯d grab a plant, I¡¯d ask her to talk about it: what uses it had; where it grew; how much sun it required; how to pick it; what parts of the plant could be used, how to grow it; how she¡¯d refine it, what temperature the fire needed to be, basically every bit of information that she had. And all of this information got stored in my new super memory. Big Mike was right there with me. He wanted the skill too. We were keeping a sharp eye out, knocking the deadwood down and breaking it into firewood-sized chunks, while still watching Consuelo. Big Mike had his shield and sword out, I had my hatchet out and my machete on my belt. I¡¯d load up and then we¡¯d all head back to the teepee with my load. Big Mike on perimeter watch and Consuelo was armed with a sapling staff that I¡¯d cut down and fashioned for her using the hatchet and machete. After the fourth time, we¡¯d headed back with a load of firewood, we decided to try a new area on the west side. It looked as if there were some rocky outcrops and Consuelo wanted to check and see if a new plant named ¡®Lyreberry¡¯ was growing there. It was useful for many things, but primarily for creating Mana potions. Supposedly, it was a fast-growing plant that grew in two v-shaped plumes like the Lyrebird¡¯s tail. At the center of the plant where the plumes met, a lime green bulb would grow. The bulb was the main ingredient of the potion. The plumes could be harvested in the fall to make a couple of other potions she thought but wasn¡¯t 100% sure about that yet. It also grew well in woods with largely rocky soil. As we started into the woods, about 10 meters in, I tripped over a hidden stob buried in some Virginia Creeper and almost went down, flailing around with my hatchet while trying to maintain my balance. Big Mike was to my right and back a little trying to avoid my windmilling arms. Consuelo was behind him. I could hear them both laughing and then I heard Consuelo¡¯s voice go up in pitch as she screamed, ¡°Mike! What¡¯s that thing? Mike!¡± I finally got my balance and looked up just in time to see what I took as a man with a lizard¡¯s head and a white priest¡¯s collar running at me. Its head was pointing almost straight up. With the lighter colors of the skin of the throat and jaw, its head looked vaguely like a bishop¡¯s Mitre. It hit me hard, catching me almost completely by surprise, dropping its head and body at the last minute, and biting me at the juncture of my neck and left shoulder and then hitting me in the chest with its two clawed hands. It hurt. A lot. My feet flew backward in the air, my body completely leaving the ground as I started to fly back from the impact. 250+ kilograms hits hard, but then I came to a complete stop as I was anchored in place by the big lizard¡¯s bite. It held on to me, kind of like a dog grabbing a stick. My feet dangled in mid-air for a minute and then I was laid out lengthwise on the ground as I dangled from its mouth. The hatchet had flown off into the woods somewhere behind me. Its bite did 80 points of damage and its claws did another 43 hit points. I was stunned and couldn¡¯t move, my feet scratching little circles in the leaf litter on the ground. I was also bleeding for 4 points of damage. I wondered why the priest bit me. I was out of it. Fortunately, Mike and Consuelo weren¡¯t. Mike stepped up to the three to four-meter long beast and stabbed it in the eye. Unfortunately, he missed. He couldn¡¯t bash it with his shield without damaging me. Consuelo hit the monster with a Force Bolt spell doing thirteen points of damage. It bit me again and clawed me also. This time it did 15 points of damage with its claws and 18 points with its bite. I was starting to wake up a little bit, but I was still stunned and dangling helplessly from its jaws. Again Mike tried to hit it using an overhand strike. This time he succeeded. He struck it in the head, rupturing some of the upper scales that surrounded its eye. He did nine points of damage to it. It was very much still in the fight. Then Consuelo hit it again with another Force Bolt, doing 18 points of damage. It glared at them but decided to keep chomping on me. It bit me again, doing 12 points of damage to me. And then clawed me again, doing 12 points of damage with its left claw, then hitting me with its right claw for another 20 points of damage. And evidently punctured a vein or artery because I got another bleed for 5 points of damage. That woke me up! Still in its jaws, I murmured the words to my Force Bolt spell. I just about completed it when the monster bit down and disrupted my cast. The spell shock did 26 points of damage to me and stunned me again. I was fading fast. The monster¡¯s bite did 15 points of damage and then it hit me again with both claws doing 21 points of damage. And caused another bleed for 5 points of damage. Mike hit it again doing 14 points of damage, while Consuelo¡¯s spell crashed in and did 16 points of damage too. I heard Mike shouting, ¡°One more time. I think it only had 3 hit points left.¡± ¡®Let it die!¡¯ I thought. ¡®Please let it die¡¯. I was down to 43 hit points left. Down from 336. The big lizard bit me again and clawed me twice too. Its bite did 21 points of damage, while each claw only did 7. Mike swung and missed, but Consuelo¡¯s spell hit and did 14 points of damage, the monster, a lizard I could see now, collapsed dead, me still trapped in its jaws, laying on the ground beside it. I cast my Light Heal spell. I heard Consuelo asking, ¡°What can we do? Mike, what should we do?¡± but I was too busy trying to stay alive. Those bleeds were still doing 14 points of damage every two seconds. I couldn¡¯t take the time to talk. I needed everything I had, lying there in a fetid reptile¡¯s mouth, to keep casting my healing spell to stay alive. Fortunately, Big Mike figured it out. ¡°Consuelo,¡± he said, ¡°You cast light heal on him. Now.¡± She shook all over, but turned and started to cast. I cast the spell. He continued, ¡°Mama, keep casting until you¡¯re out of mana.¡±¡¯ I cast the spell. She cast the spell. ¡°Or he says stop,¡± said Mike. ¡°I¡¯ll try to pry open the jaws of this thing to get it off him and hopefully that¡¯ll allow the spells to start working on closing those bleeds,¡± said Mike. I cast the spell again. And Consuelo cast it. Big Mike shoved his sword into the lizard¡¯s mouth. I cast the spell again. And Consuelo cast it. And finally Mike pried its mouth open and I rolled over and sucked in air. And Consuelo cast it again. Mike cast it. I breathed and then I cast it again. We all kept casting the spell. another five times and then I called a stop. It looked like my bleeding had stopped. I wasn¡¯t fully healed, but I wanted out. I stood up, shaking and said, ¡°Come on,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± I may have walked extremely briskly back out of the woods at that point. Dying in some big lizard¡¯s mouth was not on my agenda for today and I was freaking out. It happened so fast and I could do nothing. Mike grabbed the lizard and hoisted it over his shoulder. And we walked, well trotted, out of the woods. Alive. Chapter 24 - In Every Walk with Nature One Receives Far More Than He Seeks. (Part 2) As I came out of the woods, I guess I looked a little battered, a little wild and bloody, plus Mike was carrying a four meter monster-lizard on his shoulder, so I wasn¡¯t surprised when the girls looked a little upset. All four of them. Well, five if you count Roxie, but she looked more interested than upset. Tanya yelled, ¡°Oh my god!¡± Janet just yelled, ¡°Monsoon!¡± and they both came running along with the little girls over toward where we were walking back toward the teepee. ¡°I¡¯m alright,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re alright. We just ran into this fella¡± pointing at the lizard, ¡°and he objected to our entering into his territory.¡± ¡°What in the hell¡¯s name is that?¡± said Janet. By this time my head had cleared up and I¡¯d had a chance to look it over. ¡°I think it¡¯s a giant collared lizard. They call them Mountain Boomers. It¡¯s our state lizard.¡± I stopped for a bit and then had to add, ¡°they don¡¯t usually get this big.¡¯ For some reason, this struck everybody as funny and they all started laughing. I laughed with them, but the big monster was probably heavy, so I walked over to the first of the new trees just past the teepee and motioned to Mike to let it fall to the ground. I looked down at it along with everyone else, and said, ¡°Skin and butcher or bury or burn?¡± About then little Baila walked us to the dead monster lizard, reached out her hand and placed it on the monster¡¯s belly and said, ¡°Loot.¡± There was a pause and then the monster disappeared leaving behind two teeth, a hide, four lizard steaks (each about as big as a kilo rump roast) and 5 silver pieces. We all stood there, looking at the loot, I guess you¡¯d call it, and Baila. Back and forth. Stunned. ¡°Baila, Precioso!¡± her mom said. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°I looted it,¡± she said. ¡°It was a dead monster, so I looted it.¡± We all stood there some more, no one really knowing what to say. Because in the pre-Event world, old-Earth, you just couldn¡¯t loot things. Didn¡¯t have monsters, so there was that. But still, looting was a thing. Now. Hmm. Janet was the first one to speak after that. ¡°Does that mean that we could have looted the giant rats and squirrels?¡± she asked. For some reason, everyone looked at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°I guess so. I think it¡¯s probably just monsters or beasts that you can loot. I hope so, anyhow.¡± I bent down and moved the loot around, picking up the skin, the meat, making sure there was nothing else in the pile. It was all relatively neatly arranged, with the meat and everything else being piled on the skin. The skin wasn¡¯t tanned, but it was cleaned. ¡°I guess you don¡¯t get the core either.¡± ¡°Well that bites,¡± said Janet. ¡°What level was this lizard?¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°It was level 7,¡± Mike said. I didn¡¯t know and evidently dead things don¡¯t have levels. ¡°That¡¯s a copper core. 700 experience points,¡± she said. ¡°I wonder if you can loot after you take out the core?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, Baila for showing us this was possible. How did you know?¡± ¡°In my games,¡± she said, ¡°we have status screens and monsters and loot. Now we have status screens and monsters and I thought we should have loot too.¡± ¡®What can I say, she¡¯s right¡¯, I thought. ¡®If we¡¯re living in a world of monsters and status screens, I guess loot makes as much sense as anything. But holy crap. Loot!¡¯ I picked up the lizard steaks and added them to a box in my inventory. I looked around and everyone was watching me, so I thought I should explain myself. ¡°Didn¡¯t want the meat to go bad. I guess you guys can split the rest of this stuff. After all, you all killed it.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°You left for firewood and herbs and come back pretty much devoured.¡± ¡°Hang on,¡± I told her. ¡°Let me say something.¡± I looked at the group and said, ¡°This situation just makes me cleared on what I¡¯ve been thinking for a while, and that is ¡®never be unprepared¡¯. Big Mike, how much mana do you have?¡± He looked at his status and said, ¡°I¡¯ve regen¡¯ed about 10 mana, plus I got about 80 or so from leveling up.¡± ¡°Your leveling up kind of defeats my point,¡± I said, ¡°but after the fight, if you didn¡¯t level, you would be sitting right now on 10 mana points. Which is enough to cast about one Force Bolt. That¡¯s not enough! We should always meditate after a fight. Who knows when the next one is coming. Got out of the woods, great! We¡¯re in a safe location. But now, before we do anything else, we need to get our mana back. It¡¯s like we¡¯re guns with no bullets. Agreed?¡± Several, if not all of the heads nodded. Big Mike said, ¡°You know I do. After the giant rat, I was afraid, but after that lizard, I am really worried. It hit you hard and you never had a chance. If you hadn¡¯t had so many health points, you¡¯d be dead and then that monster would have started in on us. We¡¯ve got to be ready. Mama, let¡¯s meditate.¡± He paused for a second and then snorted. I sympathized. It hit me on a regular basis just how absurd our world had become. And so we did. We dropped there in the shade of the tree and started to fill our mana pools. I finished in about 8 minutes, they finished in about 14 minutes. Evidently, meditation had an effect on both Stamina and health regeneration too because when I was done, I only had some light scars and my health was back to normal. As soon as they were done, we stood up and started talking again. ¡°Tanya, I¡¯m sorry but that scared me and made it really important that we always are at peak condition. Everyone, tonight while we are practicing, I¡¯d appreciate it if no one would go below 50% of their mana before they start to regen it. It¡¯s just not safe. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked. I looked at the Smiths and they nodded at me to tell it so I started the whole story. Being sure to emphasize how we were ready, the lizard just attacked at the exact wrong time and then there was nothing I could do. I was stunned at first from the lizard''s attack and then I stunned myself with my cast that went bad. I made sure to point out that spell shock was a thing, that if you got hit or the spell was disrupted in mid-cast you were probably going to take damage and get stunned by it. That went over like a lead balloon. A bunch of mages all learning how vulnerable they are. Big Mike was particularly not happy about that. I didn¡¯t realize that he didn¡¯t know that I¡¯d tried to cast Force Bolt and been stunned. I wasn¡¯t much happier myself. I wondered if a shield spell would prevent the damage and prevent the disruption. I hoped so, buffs were suddenly a lot more important than they used to be. I mentioned that thought too. And, once again, I mentioned how we were out-leveling our spells. We needed more options. Better damage. Better control. Better weapons. Better armor. We just needed to be better. The last part I kept to myself. After all, what¡¯s the point of saying what everybody knows and can¡¯t do anything about. Chapter 25 - Back in the Rat Palace Again After I finished my story, we chatted for a while. Big Mike and Consuelo gathered up their loot. It was about 11 o¡¯clock. I was still shaking a little bit, but we¡¯d made plans to go into Maxes. I asked if we were still up for it and while nobody, except maybe Baila, looked particularly enthusiastic about it, they all said yes. So we got ready to head in. I cast light four times and shield once and maxed it out. Everybody except the little ones cast shield as well also maxing it out. Then we stepped inside. The inside of Maxes hadn¡¯t changed at all, still reeking of rat piss and darker and more shadowed than it should be. I¡¯d tried an experiment when I cast the first Light spell and it worked. Instead of casting it on something, I made a circular gesture when I cast it and the little ball of lights started orbiting me right about 3 meters out. Each spell wasn¡¯t bright, about as bright as a 40-watt bulb, but still, with four of them, it did an OK job of lighting our area. I passed on the results and saw everybody taking mental notes. This time we were here to kill some rats, so we didn¡¯t really want to go exploring. Janet called T-Up and we put the little girls in the center with their mom, the two big girls on the outside and Big Mike and me on the front line. I looked and everyone had their weapons out. I had my machete, the older girls had theirs out as well. Big Mike had his shield and sword and Consuelo had one of my homemade polearms and the little girls, well, they didn¡¯t have a blade, but Big Mike had taken the hickory pole that I¡¯d used to create my other polearm and carved it down into batons that they could use. Their mom didn¡¯t want them to carry either one of the combat knives or my Bowie. I also had the Bowie, Big Mike had the other 14¡± knife from the polearm that he¡¯d cut down for the little girls. Janet and Tanya both had their combat knives. We were as ready as we could be. We repeated the journey that we¡¯d made last time, Tanya avoiding the God Box area which was still sitting there in the big room, light glowing. Consuelo asked, ¡°What¡¯s that? A key maker?¡± A logical guess due to the picture of a key on it. Tanya said, ¡°No, it¡¯s called the God Box. It¡¯s a little bit dangerous, so we¡¯re staying away from it. After we tell you about it, you can make your own decisions, but right now, we¡¯re just staying away from it. We¡¯re here for rats. We tell you later, OK?¡± and then she glanced at the kids and back to let Consuelo know it¡¯s an adult conversation we needed to have. Consuelo nodded. We¡¯d heard the sounds of movement from the nest so we knew there were still rats or something living inside. We came up to the God Box just before where the instance started and then Tanya called ¡°Drift Left Slow.¡± We did and the sound of something moving grew in intensity. She called ¡°Stop¡± and we stood there about 5 meters out and faced the nest. We waited and the noise grew and sounded closer. A kind of scratching sound. Finally, a rat¡¯s head appeared at one of the higher holes. It squeaked, but with the curious base-quality to it, like a bullfrog, but a squeak. It sounded odd like someone was mimicking a rat but two octaves lower. It was echoed several times and then the rats appeared. Just like last time, they seemed to pour out of the dark holes and slap, belly down onto the floor. Their coats looked filthy and matted. Their claws covered in what looked like clay. This time there were seven of them. None of them seemed to be females or at least nursing. As soon as they hit the ground, Tanya said, ¡°Drift Left Quick. Tank Left.¡± Big Mike was at the far right of the pack. I was on his right side so I was still out further. Tanya wanted him in the middle of the rat pack. He slapped his sword against the shield to focus the rat''s attention on him and we hustled to the left, everyone staying in formation. As we neared the center of the pack, Tanya called, ¡°Force Bolts.¡± We¡¯d decided outside to skip the crossbows and open with our spells. We got them off before the rats decided to rush us. Of course, when we decided to come back inside Maxes, we knew that the little girls would be paired up with an adult. Big Mike was tank so he couldn¡¯t do it, I was off tank so that left me out, Janet was healz so was also not able to, so that left Baila with her mom and Amada with Tanya. Both little girls were as protected as we could get them, tucked inside our formation on either side of their mother. The little girls were told to hit the same target that their ¡®battle buddy¡¯ hit. Janet¡¯s Light bolt hit first, like always. She hit the second rat from the left, the one that was going to be probably targeted by Consuelo and Amada. She did 11 points of damage to the rat. It let out a hissing noise. Big Mike let loose on the rat just in front of him. It badge showed Giant Rat, Level 8, Hits Points 82. His spell hit doing 14 points of damage. The rat paused and hissed at him, its mouth opened wide. I cast my Force Bolt spell at the rat on the end. I didn¡¯t want to hit the same rat that Big Mike had targeted. The bolts hit like an act of god. It was the first time I¡¯d got to use the spell since I¡¯d leveled it up. Each bolt would strike and send the rat farther back from the line they¡¯d been forming. Finally, the rat was knocked off its feet and hurled back into the wall of the nest. It didn¡¯t rise again. Its badge had briefly shown Giant Rat, Level 8, 66 HP before it faded and disappeared with the monster¡¯s death. Even the bonus damage that I was now capable of doing did enough damage to kill these monsters. I heard Tanya¡¯s spell fire off and saw another rat, the one on the end fly out of line and slap against the wall of the nest. Baila¡¯s bolts hit it as well and the monster shook its head and slowly rose to its feet. It was out of the fight for at least this round. It was seeing stars. Consuelo and Amada hit the next rat in the line and did their damage. Consuelo did 16 points of damage and Amada did 5. It squealed but kept charging for us. The rightmost two decided that I was the most dangerous one of the party, so they attacked me. Big Mike started pounding on his shield with his sword and it must have worked because all three of the remaining un-stunned rats decided to go for him. Two went low, one leaped for his face. I didn¡¯t have a shield to mess with anymore, so I tried to treat my rats as humans and just parry and dodge their attacks. Hopefully, my martial arts skills would help some. I also hoped that what I couldn¡¯t dodge or parry, the Shield spell would take care of for me. The first rat, the one closest to Big Mike seemed weak. I didn¡¯t even really worry about it. For some reason, I knew that it wasn¡¯t my match and, sure enough, its three attacks didn¡¯t even come close to connecting. The second rat, I knew was a far more dangerous opponent. It came in hot and tried to eat my face, opting to go high. I put the machete in its face and steered its left paw outside and away from me, but that left the other paw which hit my spell shield. The damage was absorbed by the shield, leaving me untouched. Big Mike had problems though. He was lower level, didn¡¯t have any armor except the shield and his stats weren¡¯t as high as mine, his agility, in particular, was lower. So they swarmed him. The first rat attacked him and hit him with his left paw, it missed with its bite (blocked by the shield) and its paw. Fortunately, his shield spell blocked it but it absorbed the 6 points of damage. The second rat missed his leg with its bite but hit with both of its claws doing 17 points of damage to his shield. The spell was looking a little ragged at this point. It was capable of defending against 43 points of damage, so it was about half spent. The final rat was weaker and just couldn¡¯t get it done. It tried, but all three of its attacks missed. Janet¡¯s second light bolt came screaming in then and dealt the same rat she¡¯d attacked before another nine points of damage. Both sides hunkered back a little before starting at it again. We¡¯d actually drawn more blood, but monsters generally don¡¯t retreat. The monsters came out of it sooner and attacked. Before they could attack, Janet¡¯s first Light Bolt struck the same rat again, doing seven points of damage. Not enough to kill it, but it was definitely feeling the pain according to it¡¯s badge. Giant Rat, Level 8, 22 HP. The far left rat no longer stunned attacked Big Mike and hit with all three attacks, doing 15 points of damage to Big Mike with its bite and six and five with each of its paws, its claws digging into him pretty good. Big Mike¡¯s shield spell vanished in an explosion of blue dots and, for the first time, he felt the pain. He took six points of damage. The rat was attacking from the side and Big Mike must not have been prepared for it. The second rat from the left decided to go for Big Mike again. Despite being mostly dead, it also hit and hit hard, all three of its attacks came in on target. It latched onto his left arm doing 11 points of damage which dragged his shield out of position allowing it paws to hit his T-Shirt covered stomach for 19 points of damage. Big Mike felt that and roared out, ¡°God Damn It!¡± The blood of the wounds turned his t-shirt red.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The third rat decided to get sneaky and dodged past Big Mike and went for Tanya, I guess thinking she was an easier target. It turned out to be wrong. Tanya dodged its bite and its left paw attack, but the rat¡¯s right paw hit her shield, doing nine points of damage to it. The next two rats both attacked me. I was able to dodge the first one¡¯s bite and its right paw slash, but the paw on the left hit my shield. It cut my face, just below my eye, somehow penetrating through the shield to do it. I wasn¡¯t sure if it just got lucky or if it had some special ability. I think it just got lucky. I didn¡¯t see it coming. And, of course, it kept bleeding. I don¡¯t know if the world just doesn¡¯t like my face or what? The second rat came over the back of the first one at me. It got tangled up with its packmate and lost the opportunity to bite me; however, one of its claws hit my shield, but the damage was absorbed. Both rats wound up doing 19 points of damage to my shield. I¡¯m really starting to like this spell, not to mention, I can cast without worrying about spell blowback. The last rat snuck past me and jumped on Janet. I¡¯m not sure why, but somehow it must have been attracted to her. Maybe monsters can sense spells and since Janet didn¡¯t have a shield spell, maybe the rat thought she¡¯d be an easier target. It leaped on her and bit and clawed her good, doing nineteen points of damage. She is a tough cookie, the rats had basically no chance of killing her, but pain hurts. I could see from her face how much that hurt. I turned a little and cast my spell on it. Six bolts descended like a giant hammer and smashed the rat into the ground. It didn¡¯t, couldn¡¯t get up. It was one of the stronger looking rats, I was thinking about targeting it anyway. I wondered about whether or not I should have attacked it. I should have been attacking the left side of the melee, but I think I need to take care of the back line first? Don¡¯t I? Big Mike had lost his spell shield so he opted to use his sword. ¡®A wise choice¡¯, I thought, ¡®blowback or spell burn is no fun. We may need to work on our shields tonight,¡¯ I thought in that crazy way your mind throws things out when you¡¯re trying to survive. He backed up a step and a half and slashed down on the neck of the rat that was attacking Tanya. It was watching him and when he swung, it let go of Tanya and ducked behind her leg where he couldn¡¯t hit it without risking hitting her. Tanya was still in the game though, her shield had not been burned through yet, so she dropped her Force Bolt spell on the rat that she¡¯d struck the first time. It wasn¡¯t healthy anyway, so the damage was enough to easily kill it. Baila, in a great move, didn¡¯t go for the same rat that Tanya had just killed, instead opting for the one that had been targeted by her mom and Amada. She hit it doing six points of damage, her mom hit it doing 19 points of damage and her sister followed up doing another six points of damage. I¡¯m not sure which one of them killed it, but it collapsed and didn¡¯t move anymore. We were down to three rats, two of them on me, the other on Tanya. One of my rats dropped off and went for Big Mike. It saw that he was distracted with the rat on Tanya and charged in toward his side. The other stayed low this time now that it had a clear line of attack and came in hard. I tried to dodge, but it came in like a linebacker nailing the quarterback, no give, no dodging, just teeth and claws. It stank, lord how it stank, and then it hit, all three times, 16 points on the bite, six on the left claw, nine on the right. My shield shattered into sparks and disappeared. I thought about casting again, about the position I was in last time with the lizard, down stunned, bleeding, and then compared it quickly to what I was experiencing this time. Only sixteen points of damage, one minor bleed. I decided that I¡¯d go for it. If I was shocked out this time there were more people to help kill the rats. I cast my spell and it went off perfectly, nailing the rat to the floor. It didn¡¯t get up again. Janet went for the rat on Mike. She hit both times, doing 21 points of damage to it. The rat was literally glowing, one of the aftereffects of the spell. The rat on Big Mike took its shot and hit, but Big Mike was evidently watching for it. He punched it in the head with the pommel of his sword, swinging its body out of position, but its left paw snaked in and got him on the forearm, doing 10 points of damage. While he was there he stabbed at it but missed. Baila, Amada and Consuelo were ready to go, but I heard some scuffling instead of seeing a couple of spells going off. Well, one spell went off, Amada hit the rat on her dad for seven points. Consuelo and Baila were not prepared for this round. Something happened there. I heard some raised voices. Tanya and the rat were faced off, but then the rat came in low. It started toward her, but Tanya¡¯s spell hit it just then. The blue force bolts swept out and struck it in its head causing the rat to be forced back onto its haunches. The blood from the blow sprayed out in a fan-shaped pattern behind it. She did 57 points of damage to it, great, but not quite enough to kill it. The rats were nervous, but not backing down. Short of a baby giant squirrel trying to flee, I had yet to see a monster leave a fight. Well, the vulture, but I don¡¯t even think it was really fighting us, I think it just stopped in for some take out. While they were getting set, we were ready. I cast my Force Bolt spell on Big Mike¡¯s rat and it was dead. It was already hurting, I just finished putting it down. 115 points of overkill. Tanya did the same to the rat facing her. Her 46 points of damage knocked it rolling across the floor. Janet¡¯s second spell hit and so did Consuelo¡¯s but by the time they had cast, the rats were already gone. Immediately after the fight ended, Consuelo said, ¡°Mike, talk to your daughter.¡± I recognized that voice, mom voice. ¡°Amada,¡± he began. ¡°No, not that daughter. She is a good girl. Talk to your other daughter.¡± ¡°Baila,¡± Mike said. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± she said. ¡°I shot the rat with my bolts and then I ran out of energy, so I stopped.¡± ¡°No,¡± said Consuelo. ¡°That¡¯s not what you did. Tell the rest of the story. What you did after you fired the bolts!¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± she said. ¡°Nothing? Are you lying to me? Lying right here to my face?¡± said Consuelo. ¡°Do I need to spank you, you naughty child.¡± ¡°Honey,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°This is probably not the place. We should loot and get out of here before we talk about this some more. Outside.¡± ¡°OK,¡± said Consuelo and started to march off toward the front doors. ¡°Honey,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Hang on. Hang on. No one goes anywhere without at least one person with them. Let us gather up the loot and then we¡¯ll get out of here and then we¡¯ll talk, ok?¡± She came back and stood there. I could almost see the steam rising from the top of her head. I was glad that I wasn¡¯t Baila. Looking at Amada, I could see that she was glad too. ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s try an experiment. First, we get the cores, then we try to loot?¡± I looked around and everyone except Baila and Consuelo seemed ok with my idea. I grabbed the rat that was in front of Janet and using the bowie knife cracked open its chest and grabbed the core out of its spot next to the heart. It was green with two bands surrounding its base. Irregularly shaped and smooth, it glowed a little in the darkness of the store. I looked up and everybody was watching me, so I looked at Baila and winked and then put my hand on its chest as said, ¡°Loot¡±. A pause and then the rat vanished and left a clean fur, well, clean in the sense of not having any meat attached to it, not in the sense of actually being clean. It still reeked of rat and rat piss. It also left two lumps of rat meat about a half kilo each and two teeth (it looked like the incisors). ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°you can loot without the core, but you don¡¯t get the cash. I wonder if the cash is what a core is worth?¡± I looked up, but nobody had an answer for me. ¡°So,¡± I continued, ¡°do we want the cores or the silver?¡± ¡°I think we should get the cores,¡± said Janet. ¡°I agree,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Those are little bunches of experience points, right there. 800 points each. That¡¯s enough to take a person up to level three. That¡¯s enough to add some health, make a person¡¯s odds of surviving go up. We could pass them out and strengthen our party. We need strength more than we need silver.¡± ¡°Yep, what she said,¡± said Janet. ¡°Big Mike? Consuelo?¡± I asked. ¡°I agree, take the cores, loot and then let¡¯s get out of here. We can do the recap outside,¡± said Big Mike. Consuelo nodded her head in agreement. ¡°The meat and hide too?¡± I asked, meaning do we want to take the rat meat and other stuff too. ¡°Yes,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Take it all. You never can say what might come in handy later.¡± So we did. Each of the adults with a knife grabbed a rat and proceeded to crack the chests and pull the core. It was easier the second time around. A stomp or two on the rib cage to break the sternum, then a quick slice up the center and reach in and grab the core. Easy peasy as my mom used to say. Big Mike and I did two. Tanya looked a little green around the gills by the time they finished, but they got it done. Afterward, we said the magic word, ¡°Loot¡± and then grabbed all of the stuff and stored it in our inventories. Consuelo and the two little girls remained on watch while we were coring and looting. Fortunately nothing else came out of the nest; however, we could hear things moving inside, so we still had work to do. When Big Mike and I finished our second rat, well, my third, we stood up and Tanya called us to order with a TUp and then we turned and doubled our way outside. Once again, it was a beautiful day as we stood on the entrance way to Maxes. ¡°OK,¡± Big Mike said. ¡°Let¡¯s move back to the teepee and we can do a recap. Sound good?¡± he asked. Chapter 26 - Some Old Friends and a New Face (Part 1) It sounded good and so we did just that, left for the teepee and the debrief. As we got closer, we saw that we had visitors. From the entrance way of Maxes, we could see the backside of the teepee. We¡¯d set it up facing the woods in case something came out of there that we needed to fight quickly. Next to the teepee was one of the bigger new trees that had replaced the gas pumps and rain deck. Sitting down at the base of the tree were three people, two of whom Tanya and I recognized, eGirl and her girlfriend, and a Millenial that we didn¡¯t. They stood but seemed careful to stay under the tree. ¡°There¡¯s some big, well fucking huge, black bird hanging around,¡± said eGirl. ¡°I¡¯d get under this tree quick. We would have gone inside the teepee but there¡¯s something in there.¡± Tanya told us to move to the tree and we did, stepping under its limbs. The tree was like a Magnolia, having big 12 cm long, waxy, dark green leaves. However, its branches started higher than a Magnolia¡¯s did, providing a perfect rain canopy. I wasn¡¯t sure if it had the Magnolia¡¯s blooms or not, but this tree didn¡¯t have them right now. Tanya dismissed our formation once we were under cover. ¡°That¡¯s Roxie in the tent,¡± Amada said. ¡°She¡¯s Janet¡¯s mouse.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s bigger than a mouse,¡± said the unknown man. ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a big mouse, a Greater White Furred Mouse (pup) - Evolved if you want to be technical about it. And it¡¯s getting bigger every day.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Jake. Jake Spader,¡± the man said, holding out his hand to shake. It was funny, how looking at the man¡¯s hand reaching out to shake hands with me, brought it home how much the world had changed. A handshake used to be a rote gesture, something that you did when you met someone for the first time, a meaningless bit of civility. Now, looking at his hand, I thought, do I want to do that? That¡¯s just odd, isn¡¯t it? Three days and a custom that extended back to the classical ages was up for review. Do I want to do that? I mean so much of magic seems to be touch based. I don¡¯t know this man. Do I want to provide him access to me? Not really, I decide and instead of shaking, I do this Namaste gesture that I¡¯d seen before on television and, well, when I went to yoga classes. It involves putting your hands together at your chest and then kind of ducking your head while saying ¡®Namaste¡¯ which means peace. Of course, everybody looked at me like I was weird, but hey, I can live with that. I already have one mental domination spell, Charm, that works on touch. Who knows what this guy is up to? I mean he¡¯s sitting in the shade with my sort-of work-friend and her partner, but what if they¡¯ve been charmed? ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°New rule, handshakes are out. Casual touching is out too. I¡¯m sorry Jake if this sounds rude, but until I know better, you¡¯re on probation. No offense.¡± ¡°Like I said,¡± Jake said, ¡°none taken.¡± ¡°Ok, well, before we get into you three, we¡¯ve got some business to take care of, don¡¯t we?¡± I said turning back to the group, then I turned back to the three, ¡°It¡¯s like this, after every fight, we have a debrief. Trying to figure out what did we do right? What did we do wrong? What can we do better? According to my old sensei, it¡¯s important to do it as close after combat as possible. I realize that we could hold off, but we had something happen that probably is important. Ok?¡± ¡°Fight?¡± eGirl said. ¡°Yea,¡± I said. ¡°Turns out Maxes got changed either to a giant rat¡¯s nest or a dungeon, fantasy kind, not the other kinds. Don¡¯t know for sure yet which it is. But anyhow, as a way to get stronger, we¡¯re killing rats. So we just killed and looted a bunch of rats, big ones, golden retriever sized.¡± ¡°Looted?¡± asked Miranda. ¡°Hang on,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ll explain everything, but let us debrief first. I figure listening will give you a chance to catch up on what we¡¯re up to, Ok? All three of them nodded so I turned back to our group, ¡°and, what did Baila do, Consuelo?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°She charged the rat with her baton!¡± she said. ¡°I had to stop and grab her to keep her in place.¡± ¡°So she broke formation,¡± I said. ¡°Yes,¡± Consuelo said. ¡°And she kept you from firing your Force Bolt spell when you had to grab her?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Consuelo said again. I thought for a second and then I put on my this-is-a-serious-problem face and said, ¡°That¡¯s a problem. That¡¯s a pretty big problem. Baila, we¡¯re going to have to chop off your left hand for that.¡± Her eyes got really big and she started toward her mom before remembering that her mom was mad at her and then ran and hid behind her dad. I couldn¡¯t help it, I started laughing then. The three newcomers looked shocked, Janet and Tanya disgusted and Big Mike looked kind of amused. Consuelo just looked pissed, but she looked that way before I said it, so I was probably ok with her. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I was just kidding Baila, but that¡¯s definitely not nothing. That¡¯s a very big something. Big Mike, I¡¯m thinking you¡¯re up,¡± and then I stepped back and shut up. He stepped up and handled it well. He went over why it was a big deal, why she couldn¡¯t do that, why it was a problem, how it could lead to other serious problems, it was a masterful debrief all done at a level a ten-year-old could understand. He made sure her sister was present and listening too. I listened and I learned too. Heck, we all were and did. At the end, he made her apologize to all of us for breaking formation. Her little face was teary while she did it, but she did it and I think she even meant it. I apologized to her too. It was a pretty mean prank I¡¯d pulled on her. But it was a pretty serious mistake she¡¯d made, thankfully she seemed to be aware of it now. She¡¯d started to put herself into danger and, as a result, pulled another combatant out of position to help her. We were down a fighter because of her actions. Fortunately, this time it didn¡¯t make much of a difference, but it could have. It could have made a critical difference. It could have been lethal. Parents are parents and kids are kids. To ask a parent not to try to save their kid when that kid makes a mistake is impossible. We had to make sure the kids didn¡¯t make a mistake. ¡°Anything else?¡± asked Big Mike. ¡°Or are we done?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a question,¡± I said. ¡°Did we do alright? I know that I was trying to follow the Tank Left instructions, but I pretty much wound up doing all of my attacks on the right side? Is that alright?¡± ¡°Let me ask you something?¡± he said. ¡°What would you have done differently?¡± I thought about that for a bit. I looked around and everyone seemed to be considering that question in regards to their own actions. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I could have done differently,¡± I said. ¡°I attacked the first rat because I knew that it was a guaranteed kill and it could relieve some of the pressure on you. But it wasn¡¯t left side. The second rat was on Janet and she¡¯s our healer, so no problems with that one either. Again not left side. The third rat was on me and I wanted to make space, so I blasted it, once again not left side, and finally, the last rat was on you. It could have been on the left side though.¡± ¡°So to recap, tank, healer, DPS, tank,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± I said. ¡°I think you did fine. Combat is chaos. It¡¯s a whirlwind that picks things up and drops them back broken. You did your best. I¡¯m thinking you made good choices and hit them hard. I got lucky and pulled a lot, you did too. We kept them for the most part off our back line. There were seven of them and only two made it back to our, what was that word you used, oh, yeah, squishies. It seemed pretty straight up by the numbers. If we could do anything better it was maybe attacking earlier. We let them get set up in a skirmish line. We should have been attacking as soon as they showed themselves. We treated it like it was the OK Corral. As far as the attacking left goes, as our big gun right now, I think you should continue doing what you did. Attack where it¡¯s needed. Attack first, attack faster.¡± ¡°Poppa, how about me?¡± asked Amada. ¡°You did well, you fired all your spells and hit where they were needed. I saw you hit that rat that was on poppa. Way to go,¡± he said, rubbing her head. ¡°Good job, and you, you little firecracker,¡± he turned to Baila ¡°did well too. I saw you choosing your targets. Way to go, just a little less enthusiasm. You need to stay back and fight smart!¡± ¡°Thank you poppa!¡± Baila said, her tears wiped away and her face smiling. ¡°And momma, you done good too,¡± he continued. ¡°I saw you firing your spells. And to be able to think about what¡¯s really important while in a fight,¡± he nodded to Baila, ¡°and not lose your control, is very impressive.¡± ¡°Girls,¡± he said to Janet and Tanya, ¡°good job!¡± I guess we were firing spells now, not casting. If I¡¯d known my gun metaphor was going to be that potent, I might have come up with a better one. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°That does it for our debrief, I guess? Anyone else got anything to say?¡± There was a brief silence and then I turned back to eGirl and friends. Chapter 26 - Some Old Friends and a New Face (Part 2) ¡°Hey, eGirl!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m surprised to see you back. I would have thought you¡¯d have headed on into town.¡± ¡°No car,¡± she said. ¡°And I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve noticed, but there¡¯s a lot more there out there. Plus, what am I supposed to do, what¡¯s an eGirl with no e? and, well¡­¡± she paused here. We all waited for her to start again. ¡°Well, you¡¯re Monsoon Alacrity Seebring, Heir of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa. We figured if anyone might know a little bit more about what¡¯s going on, you should?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Big Mike asked. ¡°Duchy of Northern Tulsa?¡± ¡°Ah, hell,¡± I said. ¡°How¡¯d you find that out?¡± I said to her, and ¡°hold on for a second,¡± to Big Mike. ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m eGirl. Looks like some of my skills in the old world, transferred to this one. Once Miranda and I figured out that we had status screens we started trying every possible word combination that we could and discovered the Government screen. Of course, the first thing we noticed was that line Heir: Maysoon Alacrity Seebring. And I just happened to know a guy named Monsoon Seebring and then I remembered you telling us that Monsoon was a nickname and, lo, here we are. I figured with no cars there was a chance that you''d still be here.¡± She paused and just smiled at us then. I looked at her, well identified her and her friends then, something that I should have done earlier. Rule #9 in the Monsoon¡¯s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse is now: Always Identify Strangers or People Who¡¯ve Been With Strangers.¡± ¡°eGirl, Level 5, 101 HP, Scholar¡± ¡°Miranda Sky, Level 4/4, 95 HP, Mage/Thief¡± ¡°Jake Spader, Level 5, 111 HP, Mage¡± ¡°Did you just identify me?¡± asked eGirl. ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Rude!¡± she said. ¡°It may have been and for that I¡¯m sorry. I guess we haven¡¯t really addressed politeness post-apocalypse style. So, I ask you this, Ms. Scholar, do the possible privacy violations of identifying someone outweigh the security risks of not doing so?¡± ¡°Today on CNN,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Yet. But, I think we¡¯ve got other things to talk about, don¡¯t we?¡± ¡°How about we go back to that ¡®Heir of the Duchy of Northern Tulsa¡¯ thing that they brought up,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Say Government.¡± He did, so did basically everybody I assume, since I saw them all drop into their screen reading trance. ¡°What does this mean?¡± he said. ¡°What the hell, Monsoon? Were you going to tell us about this?¡± ¡°Well love a duck!¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was hoping to get some more information about it before we opened this can of worms. Thanks for this, by the way, eGirl.¡± ¡°Not my problem!¡± she said. ¡°The truth will out.¡± ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s make sure everybody¡¯s on the same screen. Everybody except Janet and I see a screen that says something like want to switch governments?¡± I looked around and everybody was nodding with the exception of Janet. ¡°Alright, well, let me share my government screen with you all.¡± Just like last time, at the top was a map of the Duchy with a lot of black space on it. Only the top north-eastern counties were present. Following that was the same text as before:
Government Duchy of Northern Tulsa: Duchy Seat: Sand Springs Duchy Seat County: Osage Ruler of Duchy: Grace Annette Seebring, Duchess of Northern Tulsa Heir: Maysoon Alacrity Seebring Counties in Duchy:
Adair County Craig County Delaware County Mayes County Noble County Nowata County Osage County Ottawa County Pawnee County Rogers CountyThis tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Washington County Wagoner County
Size of Duchy: 83,252 km2 Population of Duchy: 342,151
  • Code of Laws
  • Taxes
  • Government
  • Army
  • Treasury
  • Ruler Chat (Heirs and Officials Only)
I did and it looked the same as last time, except the number of people had gone down again. A lot. ¡°How can there be a Duchy of Northern Tulsa in the State of Oklahoma?¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Not to mention those Counties are named pretty much what you¡¯d expect to find in the state of Oklahoma. I mean I was a marine. I fought for and lost friends fighting for the United States. You¡¯re telling me that They dissolved it? And put your mom in charge?¡± ¡°Thanks again eGirl!¡± I said. ¡°This is why I didn¡¯t want to have this discussion with you all, yet. I don¡¯t know anything. Well, I talked with my mom, but she had to go talk with some Minotaurs.¡± Janet looked at the little girls and said, ¡°Cow Men!¡± They nodded their heads like that made all the sense in the world. ¡°Anyway, she said she had meetings and that she¡¯d get back to me on Tenebrisday,¡± I said. ¡°What?¡± he said. I could see Consuelo nodding in agreement. ¡°Your mom got appointed Duchess and you didn¡¯t ask her any questions about it? When did you talk to her?¡± he said. ¡°Aquaday,¡± I said.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what, two days ago, and Tenebrisday is two days from now. Four days before she¡¯s going to get back with you? That¡¯s a little bit insane, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Have you met my mom?¡± I asked. ¡°She says exactly what she means. She said she was busy. I happen to know that she had a meeting with about twenty Minotaurs with great big axes and a bison-headed man that was even larger right after I got off the whatever-the-heck you call that call thing.¡± ¡°Heir Talk,¡± said Janet. ¡°Thanks, that Heir Talk thing. It¡¯s an apocalypse. She¡¯s trying to save lives. She doesn¡¯t have a lot of time to spare,¡± I said. ¡®¡°Wow,¡± he said. ¡°Just wow!¡± ¡°Possible dysfunctional family aside, I don¡¯t know anything. She evidently had stuff, really important stuff to do. I get it. She¡¯ll get back with me. Until then, I¡¯m getting stronger, so I can survive. We¡¯re getting stronger, so we can survive. That¡¯s what I know right now. That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing right now.¡± ¡°By the way, Heir Talk?¡± I said to Janet. ¡°Yep, I thought it was a cooler name than Ruler Chat,¡± she said. ¡°Lord, don¡¯t change,¡± I said. She smiled. After that, we calmed down. I explained my mom¡¯s almost compulsive need to plan. I gave them examples. I told them how I wound up at Maxes. I told them what my childhood was like. But most of all, I told them how I was proud of her. I told them that if anyone could come up with a plan to save as many people as possible, it would be my mother. I think that they started to believe me after a while. Janet and Tanya had only the barest contact with her but backed me up based on it. I think Tanya said, ¡°Yeah, she started off soccer mom, then it got a little bit frightening when she kicked into gear.¡± Janet just repeated what she¡¯d said earlier, ¡°She¡¯s who I want to be when I grow up.¡± ¡°So,¡± I said. ¡°Level Five Scholar and a Level Four Thief/Mage and a Level Five Mage. Sounds like you¡¯ve got some stories.¡± ¡°I get the feeling our stories probably pretty similar to most folks. We were talking in the living room of the house we rented, we¡¯d just made our class selections when this giant spider came through a window after us. It looked like a wolf spider only about a foot to a foot and a half long. It stood about shin high. We had Force Bolt spells and Miranda had this back-stab ability. It came after me, I hit it with my spell and stopped it for long enough for Miranda to stab it. Evidently, she stunned it and we killed it while it was stunned. This happened on Aquaday. We put up some plywood over the broken window and kind of hid in the house until this morning. We¡¯d been talking about what to do and, like I said, decided to try to get to you to see what you knew. I¡¯ve always been about information. You know that. It¡¯s why I lived on my phone at work. I have an MIS degree and a Library Science degree. It¡¯s why I took this Class. I figured it would help me gather info, figure things out. I hate not knowing things.¡± ¡°We met Jake on the way here. We were walking down the road, lane, whatever that you call a cobblestone street, and we got into it with this giant lizard, not a mountain boomer, but it looked like a big skink. We were trying to do the same thing that we¡¯d done with the spider, but it had a hold of my leg and Miranda couldn¡¯t get at it to backstab it. Jake cast this spell that caused stalagmites to appear under it and after that Miranda hit it and we killed it too. So we brought him along with us.¡± We all turned and looked at Jake then. He looked at us for a minute before he started. Not nervous, but tired looking. His brown thinning hair was matted with sweat, his glasses glinting in the light under the tree. ¡°I guess my story isn¡¯t that unusual anymore, he started. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I haven¡¯t met anyone other than these two and you all. But judging by the numbers on the Duchy screen, I¡¯m thinking that I¡¯m not that special. I used to be married. Used to have a baby girl too. I used to be a gamer. Once the first screen¡¯s happened, I thought ¡®hey, I wonder if I have a status screen?¡¯, ¡°I wonder if I have an inventory?¡¯, ¡®I wonder how I select classes?¡¯ My wife and I were excited about it. She was a big Gardner and a gamer too. She was going to be a green mage, a druid or something like that. We were playing with magic, trying to figure this whole thing out, you know? We¡¯d been going at it hard since the Event. No cell phones, no cable, but we had this new toy. We had plenty of food, she canned and, well, gardened. She was vegan, so I was too except at work. I was excited, couldn¡¯t sleep. I was out in the backyard trying to figure out my magic when something came in through my baby¡¯s window. I was so excited. I could do Magic! She and her mom were at the front of the house. It was a big house, a big yard about three acres of gardens surrounded by another 25 acres. We had our own little hill. We¡¯d just built it last year. It was where we were going to retire to. I was at the back of the yard so I wouldn¡¯t bother them. They were both still sleeping. I was an architect. I was thinking about how I could create walls, materials to build houses using Magic. I never even heard anything. I came in for breakfast and wound up burying what was left of them this morning. After that, I just started walking and met up with these two.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, not knowing what else to say. ¡°Lord,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Brother, I understand. I had two more daughters. We had.¡± And then he reached out and grabbed Jake and held him while they both cried. The little girls gathered around their dad and clutched his legs, crying too while Consuelo gathered both men into her arms and hugged them both. I didn¡¯t know what to do. Janet came over hugged me, followed by Tanya. eGirl and Miranda grabbed each other and we all stood there for about ten to twenty minutes crying. Not just for Jake¡¯s loss, or even the Smiths, but our loss as humans. Sure it was the apocalypse and people we knew and loved were dead or dying, but it was also our loss of certainty, of the expectation that the next day was going to be the same as the previous, that we¡¯d get up in the morning and go to work and come back to our partners, our wives, our Caddies and try to figure out what we were going to do to make it better, be better. All of that was gone. We lived in a world now where we weren¡¯t the top dogs anymore, a world where we, our families, our loved ones could vanish, broken in the blink of an eye. I¡¯m not sure who stopped first, maybe Big Mike when he grabbed Baila and Amada. People pulled back into themselves and we became a group of people standing awkwardly together with tears on our faces. I let go of Tanya and Janet, eGirl and Miranda moved apart a little and Jake pulled back from Big Mike, knuckling his eyes, trying to regain control. Big Mike left an arm outstretched to him though, a bro hug, a hand resting on his shoulder, just to let him know he wasn¡¯t alone. His pain was understood and recognized. Chapter 26 - Some Old Friends and a New Face (Part 3) Before the moment stretched out too long and got really awkward, I spoke up, ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°anyone checked their status? Get a level or two?¡± The new-world weather conversation, talk about status. Mine looked pretty good:
Status
Name Maysoon Alacrity Seebring ¡°Monsoon¡±, ¡°Chief¡± Level (Monk/Mage) 13/13
Class(es) Monk/Mage
Attribute Points 0 Skill Points 133
Strength 51 Intelligence 83
Dexterity 40 Wisdom 82
Agility 72 Perception 56
Constitution 54 Charisma 44
Vitality 58 Luck 24
AC 4
Health: 366 Mana: 335
Qi: 336 Stamina 354
¡°I¡¯m level 6 now,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°I also am level 6,¡± said Consuelo. ¡°Level 6,¡± said Amada. ¡°Level 6, oorah!¡± said Baila. Of course, the whole group of us went oorah back at her. The three newcomers jumped a little. I looked at Janet and Tanya who both smiled and said, ¡°14¡±. ¡°Sweet,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m Level 13, just a bit under 14. I¡¯m thinking that with another rat battle and I¡¯ll be there.¡± ¡°I can learn more spells,¡± said Baila. ¡°I don¡¯t feel full anymore.¡± ¡°I can learn more too,¡± said Amada. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Alright, go team!¡± I said. ¡°Whose bad? We¡¯re bad?¡± Roxie came around the corner of the teepee then and ran up to Janet who picked her up and started cuddling her. Of course, the little girls had to pet her and then eGirl and Miranda and even Jake had to. I just stood back and smiled. After a while, Miranda asked again, ¡°Loot?¡± ¡°Let see how much you know of what we¡¯ve figured out. Nod if you think you know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± ¡°Imues¡±, I said. No one nodded. ¡°Multi-class,¡± I said. Both eGirl and Miranda nodded. Jake didn¡¯t. ¡°Inventory,¡± I said. All three nodded. ¡°Level points,¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°Experience points,¡± I said. Everyone nodded. ¡°Mana, Qi, Stamina, Health,¡± I said. All three nodded, but then Miranda said, ¡°What is Qi, anyway?¡± which both eGirl and Jake nodded too. ¡°Hang on, we¡¯ll get there. Primary and secondary stats,¡± I said. eGirl nodded. Miranda and Jake didn¡¯t. ¡°Parties, party talk,¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°Sharing screens?¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°Item/Spell/Monster/Adventurer ranks,¡± I said. No one nodded, although eGirl looked like she might be on the edge of saying she knew. ¡°Monster and Beast Cores,¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°Loot,¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°Meditation,¡± I said. Both eGirl and Miranda nodded and so did Jake. ¡°Spell Burn or blowback,¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°New calendar,¡± I said. Everyone nodded. ¡°New money,¡± I said. Everyone nodded. ¡°Classless or kid¡¯s levels,¡± I said. No one nodded. ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve learned a lot, haven¡¯t we?¡± I asked the group. And they all shook their heads yes. ¡°OK, why don¡¯t we tell our story to you guys and we¡¯ll try to cover all of the things I mentioned. Sound good?¡± I asked. And everybody nodded. And so we spent the rest of the afternoon telling our tale, how we all survived and the cost we paid. At the end of it, I mentioned that I wished we had some way to make a book or something that we could hand out to people. Monsoon¡¯s Angels Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse. I survived the mild beating I received from Tanya and Janet. But as we calmed down, eGirl said, ¡°I¡¯ve got that covered, I think.¡± ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You know my class is Scholar, right?¡± she said. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I got offered it, I figured it¡¯s probably a type of mage.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°but it¡¯s much more than that. Besides the spell Force Bolt, I got two skills, ¡®Create Catalog¡¯ and ¡®Share Catalog.¡¯ And they are damn cool! ¡®Create Catalog¡¯ is a way of gathering up knowledge about a particular subject, like Oklahoma Monsters or, say the Apocalypse. It allows me to gather everything that I know to be true about a subject and arrange it however I want. It¡¯s like a dissertation, but it can be about anything. Like I said, Monsters, Sex, Spells, or even the Apocalypse. Anything. However, it doesn¡¯t allow lies to be included. No more non-fake news being labeled as fake news, nor fake news being labeled as news. If it¡¯s not true, I can¡¯t include it.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s a little bit limited in that I have to define the collection before I can start it AND I can¡¯t do more than one per my rank. That¡¯s why I almost said that I knew what ranks were, I suspected they were something like that, but I wasn¡¯t sure.¡± ¡°When you say ¡®it doesn¡¯t allow lies to be included¡¯, do you mean things that you are certain that are true or things that are actually true?¡± I asked. ¡°Good question,¡± she said. Looking around she must have sensed that I¡¯d confused everyone again because she said, ¡°Ok, let me give you an example. ¡®Miranda will always love me.¡¯ A statement that is not true.¡± Miranda punched her then. ¡°Ow! Ow! Baby, it¡¯s just an example,¡± she said to Miranda. ¡°Don¡¯t be so aggressive.¡± She turned back to us and continued, ¡°It may ultimately be proven to be true, (honey, it will, I know this), but we don¡¯t know that yet. Maybe six months from now, I do something (not that I will, don¡¯t hit me again please) and she decides that¡¯s it, we¡¯re done (won¡¯t happen, I know). However, I could say, ¡®I believe that Miranda will always love me.¡¯ That¡¯s is true; however, it is a subjective fact and unless I really needed that statement to prove something in my Catalog it wouldn¡¯t be allowed. I might even need to add some additional information to the statement to make it true enough to be included, like when I believed this, or why I believed this or even what my definition of love is. Nor could I add information that I thought to be true, but wasn¡¯t. If something is explicitly not factual, it can¡¯t be put in the catalog. No more lies, little white lies, no slips of the tongue, no mistaken dates, wrong memories, no wrong interpretations, no conspiracy theories, nothing that is not 100% factual. If you are given a ¡®Catalog¡¯, you can be sure that it¡¯s 100% true.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± Janet said. ¡°Do They oversee the creation of Catalogs?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if They are doing it, or it¡¯s just the way the skill works, but somehow, when I or another Scholar create a Catalog, you can be sure that it is true or at least factual. I also think the skill is a little weird, it kind of requires bone-deep honesty. It¡¯s not enough to just create a Catalog, you have to believe in what you¡¯re saying. You can¡¯t simply add a bunch of facts to a Catalog and have them give a slant that the facts do not support.¡± ¡°How do you give Catalogs?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°I mean, do you just touch someone¡¯s hands and wish the person had the knowledge?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the second skill,¡± she said. ¡°I can pass the Catalog to other people just like casting a spell. It costs about the same, 20 mana at rank one and they suddenly have access to all of the information that I¡¯ve included in the Catalog.¡± ¡°Cool. Does it update? I mean if you are doing a Catalog about the apocalypse and you learn something else and add it to the Catalog, then does the Catalogs that you¡¯ve created in the past and passed out to people get that information?¡± Big Mike asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± said eGirl. ¡°I think that¡¯s why there¡¯s such an emphasis on truth. What you¡¯ve passed needs to be true even in the future.¡± ¡°That sounds totally cool. Useful too.¡± I said. ¡°Can you create a Catalog on the apocalypse?¡± ¡°Yes, well, maybe,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s complicated. You have to start like you want to finish. I going to try. But, right now, I haven¡¯t got into the right headspace to do it. But soon, I hope.¡± ¡°That class sounds so cool!¡± I said. ¡°I wish I¡¯d taken it. Can you learn all spells? Do you have any penalties for learning other abilities, skills, spells?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know that either,¡± she said. ¡°I think that there are limits or maybe different paths. Just like clerics get ¡®Light Heal¡¯ and Mages get ¡®Light Heal¡¯ and the spells are different, I think that I might get spells that are named the same that are different. I¡¯m more of an info path, rather than an elemental path spell caster, I think if that even makes sense.¡± ¡°Can you kill rats?¡± asked Baila. ¡°I can,¡± eGirl said. ¡°Good,¡± said Baila and went back to petting Roxie. ¡°So, when you create Catalogs and you pass them out, does the knowledge get absorbed by the receiver, is it still a Catalog, like a book, or is it somehow made into that person¡¯s knowledge, kind of like the knowledge of the new money is?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°I think it¡¯s both though. I think it stays in your head as a Catalog and as you use it, absorb it, make decisions based on it, it becomes yours, like when you read a textbook. At first, it¡¯s outside information, but then you internalize it and it becomes yours. Pretty cool huh?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I just had to make sure that it wasn¡¯t going to be creating new memories, new knowledge out of nothing. I¡¯m really not happy that They can do that. That They do that.¡± ¡°Well, let us know when you have something to share,¡± I said. ¡°It would be handy to have something that we could just pass out to new people that we meet and not have to do a three to a four-hour briefing to get them up to speed.¡± Chapter 26 - Some Old Friends and a New Face (Part 4) ¡°Speaking of time, it¡¯s now about 5:00. I say we call it a night as far as killing rats and try to get our spells up a couple of levels. I¡¯d like to get my shield spell a lot higher and my Force Bolt spell a couple more ranks or so. I know I can¡¯t yet split it between targets, but I¡¯d like it to put down whatever I hit. ¡°I¡¯d like to get my Light Heal and Party Heal spells up to at least Copper rank,¡± said Janet. ¡°Force Bolt to Copper, at least,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I¡¯d also like to get my Illusion spell up a couple of ranks.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to keep practicing Force Bolt. Mama?¡± Big Mike said. ¡°I¡¯ll do that too,¡± Consuelo nodded. And then Big Mike continued, ¡°Girl¡¯s we need to get you your next spells. I¡¯m thinking Baila you need Shield and then what? Light? Create Water? Grease?¡± ¡°I want Light,¡± said Amada. ¡°I¡¯m tired of sitting in the dark or having to ask for someone to cast the spell.¡± ¡°Me too!¡± said Baila. ¡°I want Shield and then Light.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± said Big Mike. And he shared a screen with the two spells on it with the little girls. Amada, of course, already had the Shield spell. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°How about we share our spells with the adults now?¡± Tanya spoke up then. ¡°I think it¡¯s great, but once you started talking about Charm, I decided that I hated that spell. Can you say Date Rape? I don¡¯t like the fact that I¡¯ve got it, I don¡¯t like the fact that anybody else does either. Imagine my stepdad with that spell? My life would have been broken into four-hour blocks.¡± eGirl said, ¡°I hear you, but I don¡¯t know what we can do to keep it from spreading. Maybe set a rule in place that outlaws the use of the spell on people, maybe we can train ourselves to resist that kind of spell, I don¡¯t know. Or maybe we can just watch the people that know the spell. Does it show up on people¡¯s badges, like a debuff would in a game?¡± ¡°I hear you,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°There were, probably still are, a lot of people that are just wrong. I wouldn¡¯t want one of them to have that spell around my little girls, hell, my wife.¡± I called my imu using my inner voice, ¡°Hey, Miles, can we tell if someone is operating under a spell?¡± The little guy appeared and said, ¡°Yes, it is possible.¡± ¡°So it automatically shows up? On their badge?¡± I asked. ¡°No, you must ask to display all debuffs that a person, object or entity is operating under, and then you have a chance to recognize that the person, object or entity is operating under a debuff.¡± ¡°You mean like a 10% chance per debuff or per level or something like that?¡± I asked. ¡°No, it is a percentage chance tied to your level, intelligence, wisdom, and perception attributes. The higher any one of these is, the greater chance you have of noticing the debuff. Also, the greater the level, intelligence, wisdom and perceptions attributes of the person casting the debuff are, the less likely you are to notice it.¡± ¡°Can we tell after the fact that the person or entity was operating under a debuff?¡± "I asked. ¡°No,¡± it said and then vanished. I passed on the information that I¡¯d just received. And, of course, then everybody had questions that they wanted to be answered. So we spent the next while trying to get them answered. It turned out that spells that didn¡¯t allow Spell Resistance were basically inescapable, well within the range that is. No saving throw allowed, not that we got to roll dice but who knows, maybe They were. However, spells that had a ¡®Spell Resistance¡¯ did allow a chance to dodge or have the spell fail to take effect. It also turned out that spells that failed were felt, spells that didn¡¯t fail weren¡¯t. Well, if you got targeted with an Earth Bolt you¡¯d see it either way, hard to miss a large earthen dart flying at you, but on something sneaky like a Charm spell, only if you succeeded would you know you were targeted. However, other people could see. Well, as long as you were still under the spell. And they made their ¡®Spell Resistance¡¯ check. And, They were being plenty cagy with the metrics. Nobody was able to get their imues to tell them what the formula was that would calculate a spell being resisted. Oh, and to view debuffs you just had to ask to see debuffs on badges. Which, of course, I and everybody else immediately asked to do so. ¡°eGirl,¡± I said, not able to hold out anymore, ¡°is there something different about your hair?¡± Janet elbowed me while Tanya just shook her head. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a legitimate question. I like it, it just looks different than it did.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°The blue goes all the way down. My hair is now this color blue. I guess they made our latest styling choices permanent. Miranda¡¯s hair, the same.¡± Miranda¡¯s hair was a mix of brown and white, layered somehow. Both of them had short hair cuts. eGirl¡¯s looked a little like Pee-wee Herman¡¯s, while Miranda¡¯s just looked short and stylishly tousled. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°I noticed that your eyebrows were blue now too. So blue all the way down, huh?¡± ¡°Oh my god,¡± said Tanya. ¡°Monsoon!¡± eGirl just rolled her eyes, ¡°I¡¯m used to it. In the month that I¡¯ve known him, he¡¯s asked questions about basically everything and I mean everything. On the plus side, he doesn¡¯t get mad if you tell him to fuck off, but ¡­ everything!¡± The little girls laughed when they heard this. Big Mike started laughing then, and said, ¡°well, I guess I don¡¯t have to worry about HR anymore, so at least one good thing happened with the apocalypse.¡± Then we passed out potions which lead to our explaining them and also our classes. Which lead to our sharing the spells. We went ahead and shared all of our spells, even Charm because better safe than sorry, but we decided that we¡¯d need to talk about what to do to someone that ¡®fired¡¯ that spell at someone unwilling. We kept the same watch schedule with only the four of us old-timers taking a shift. However, that lead to a question of where Jake and Miranda and eGirl were going to stay. I was OK outside, but there wasn¡¯t room in the little tent or the teepee for them. Surprisingly, Jake came up with a solution. It turns out that he¡¯d received a lot different spells than we had. Force Bolt, of course, everybody so far had received that one, but also two other spells and then he¡¯d purchased the bonus spells also, and then he¡¯d even created a spell as well, so he had six spells total. eGirl and Miranda both had done the same so eGirl had three spells while Miranda had five spells. Jake had received or purchased or created the following spells: Lumber dried wood and turned it into lumber which you could shape with the spell, although each separate wood piece required an additional mana expense. Pallet was just this spell that created a two-meter square that could be used to hold stuff and move it, relatively slowly, around. Earthen Wall just created a three-meter square wall that was somehow anchored to the ground if cast on the ground. Otherwise, it anchored to whatever it could, failing to anchor to anything, meant it fell down. It was about ? of a meter in depth. Later ranks became stone and then harder stone and more sections of wall were created. Create Block would create a mass of stone. This was the spell that he¡¯d invented? Researched? Discovered? Originally, he¡¯d only used it to create blocks, but in the fight with the skink, he¡¯d used it to create the little stalagmites. It turned out that the mass was important, the shape, not so much. On later ranks the stone that was created would get denser or harder, the mass would increase. eGirl just got Force Bolt, but then had bought her bonus spells using skill points. She¡¯d received the following two spells: Scribe created patterns in light on a surface. It allowed you to draw pictures or diagrams or, I suppose if you got good enough, the Mona Lisa on a wall or the ground. Eventually, the art or design would fade away. Cut did just that. It would create a force blade and follow a cutting pattern. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the spells were designed to go together. The blade extended with greater ranks and cut harder materials. I guess the idea of the spells was you would make a pattern, adjust it, get it right, and then cut it in permanently. I¡¯m pretty sure that these spells were going to be useful for higher-level magic, things that needed formations or runes. While Miranda had received the following spells: Fall Lightly was an instantaneous spell that caused the object it was cast upon to fall like a feather. It didn¡¯t matter how much the object or person weighed, it fell lightly. However, the spell was good for only two seconds at the first stage, then added another two seconds for every stage after that. It didn¡¯t negate mass, it just made things fall slowly. A 2000 kg block was still going to crush you if you were beneath it. Silence was just that, it silenced either another person or the caster. If cast on the caster, it just hid the noise they were making from others, if cast on another person, it made them silent. It lasted two seconds per rank and they got a chance to resist it. But anyway, the way that Jake came up with to house everyone was to cast Earthen Wall four times creating a cube, then he had eGirl create a pattern of a door and then cut it out. Then he had her come with him (and the rest of us) to the edge of the lot where he selected a couple of trees and told her to cut them down. She did using Scribe and Cut again, after which he cast lumber twice and came up with two big beams. Tossed them on Pallet, pulled them to the cube he¡¯d created, got everyone to lift the beams up to rest on top of the walls and then cast another Earthen Wall spell over the top to act as a roof. Not bad. In about 30 minutes he¡¯d created a sturdy dwelling for him and eGirl and Miranda. We were all in awe of his kind of matter-of-fact creation skills. He looked at us, and then said, ¡°Architect remember? This was what I was doing when...¡± and then he stopped, but he said enough that we knew what he meant. eGirl and Miranda just quietly hugged him. I cast Light inside the cube and said, ¡°There we go, someplace to stay tonight. Clean, dry and lit. You might want to fix the door gap, but really, I¡¯d guess you¡¯re probably safer than in the teepee or little tent.¡± I could see that statement going over like a lead balloon. ¡°You know what,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m thinking that we may want to build some more of these little houses, better safe than sorry. Three more and we have a compound that¡¯s relatively safe. And so we did. Four little houses all under one of the big new trees by the teepee. All arranged in a big cube with their door gaps pointing toward each other. The fire in the center of the little compound with a gap of about two feet in the corner closest to Maxes to create an exit. The arrangement looked a little like a greek cross only the top had been shoved to the side a bit to create the exit. I liked it. I liked the little house, I liked our little compound. For the first time, I felt a little safer, a little bit in control. ¡°Thank you, Jake. You¡¯ve done good. I feel a little bit safer. A little bit more in control,¡± I said. ¡°Yes,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Thank you! It feels good to have walls again.¡± Chapter 27 - More Grinding and Rats, It’s Always Rats! (Part 1) We all retreated to our houses. Jake and I took one, Tanya and Jackie another, eGirl and Miranda took the next and the Smith¡¯s took the final one. The night passed quickly and quietly. I¡¯m trying not to raise a flag here, but I¡¯m surprised that we haven¡¯t had more random encounters. I mean other than the squirrels and the vulture we haven¡¯t had any wandering monster type encounters. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m Ok with that, I just wonder about the monster density. What did They do to make the monsters appear? How often? How many monsters are there? I wonder if any of the Oklahoma Park Rangers survived? I wondered if they¡¯ve started tracking monster populations, migrations, density, started ranking them into danger towards the population. Yeah, not going there, unhappy place. I forcibly broke that train of thought. Basically right now all we¡¯ve faced is giant versions of Oklahoma wildlife, but mom mentioned Griffons. What if instead of Giant Turkeys, we start facing things like Manticores or, for god¡¯s sake, Dragons. Just what I want to face - huge, possibly intelligent flying monsters? beasts? with magic and a breath weapon all wrapped up in a coat of plate armor. Please don¡¯t let Smaug exist! On the plus side, it¡¯d be over quickly. I had second watch tonight, followed by Big Mike, then Tanya. Janet had first. I¡¯d also decided that I¡¯d sleep tonight. I was starting to get tired and the meditation didn¡¯t seem to be cutting it anymore. With our focus on debuffs, I¡¯d discovered one on my stamina, Poorly Rested, which decreased my stamina¡¯s regeneration. I figured that if I didn¡¯t get some rest, it¡¯d probably start impacting my health and mana regeneration too. Also Qi, but I haven¡¯t used Qi really yet. Another thing to add to my list of things to do in the apocalypse. I told everyone of the debuff I¡¯d discovered and the girls mentioned that they had it as well. So did Big Mike and Consuelo. I advised everybody to sleep enough to get that debuff off. Janet woke me up to take over watch and the debuff had vanished. It¡¯s good to have a high constitution! I looked over and saw Jake wasn¡¯t sleeping. He was stretched out, but I could tell that even though his eyes were closed, he was awake. I left him alone. I can¡¯t believe the night sky. The stars looked so close that it almost looked as if you could touch them. Plus they weren¡¯t all white, you could see red ones, blue ones, basically every hue of light that a star was capable of putting out. It was beautiful. I¡¯d taken an astronomy class at Stanford and the stars that we¡¯d covered I could remember and find (at least their location) in the sky. I also remembered the constellations and could find them, map them in the sky. It looks like They hadn¡¯t changed the stars, just added a couple of additional moons. I wondered what the moons were called? Did They name them or were They waiting for a consensus to form? I thought about asking my imue, but I just couldn¡¯t be bothered. Our watch consisted of stepping out of the exit and doing a brief scan of the woods, Maxes, then back inside the courtyard. We¡¯d do this about every 10 minutes or so. I could hear voices coming from the Smiths and eGirl¡¯s house, but nothing from Tanya¡¯s and Janets. Sleeping or meditating, I imagined. I might have heard sounds of muffled sobbing coming from within my house, but I didn¡¯t step inside. Jake needed his privacy. I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s broken right now. We¡¯ll need to watch him. I¡¯d hate to lose him, so many dead, so many injured. Eventually, my watch ended and I settled down next to the door in a cross-legged position, the Sukhasana pose, and began my meditation on the new spells that I¡¯d received from Jake, eGirl, and Miranda. I did my process of reviewing, yearning and expecting while trying to be deserving method of receiving spells, lots of ings in there, and eventually, I got all of them. It¡¯s funny, but the ones that took the longest, almost twice as long as the others were the ones from Miranda. She hadn¡¯t demonstrated the spells, all of the other spells were either used or demonstrated, with the exception of Create Block which took substantially longer to get as well. I made a note that we¡¯d have to demonstrate the spells for the new crew in the morning. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After the almost two hours it took me to get the spells, I started my casting/meditation routine again. Cast, then meditate. Cast, then meditate. I made a mental note to check that everyone was only burning half their mana before meditating to get it back. Judging by the number of yellow Force Bolts I could see flashing into the night and the frequency, I¡¯m pretty sure everybody remembered. I¡¯d decided to work on Shield for half the night, Force Bolt the other half. I started with Force Bolt. Despite saying that I wasn¡¯t going to spend the skill points, I decided to anyway. I spent five and brought my total up to 8998 level points and then started meditating. By the time my two and a half hours was up, I¡¯d brought my total level points up to 9501. Almost enough to spend another skill point and gain another rank, Copper 9. Then I switched to Shield and started grinding the spell. It was kind of funny how as I cast each Shield spell, the glow of the protection grew. By the time it was yoga time in the morning, I was surrounded in a bright yellow glow from all of the repeated casts of the shield spell. I looked like a human-sized incandescent bulb, I¡¯m pretty sure. I stayed on Bronze 5. We did yoga and everyone showed up for it, including our three new ones. Then we did Martial Arts, Archery and Formations. I¡¯ll just say that everyone got the standard skill gains. Formations, in particular, looked, well, like beginner¡¯s Line Dancing class at your favorite Country & Western bar. Lots of missteps, wrong movements, collisions, stubbed toes. At one point Amada yelled at eGirl for stepping on her foot. But by the end, we were kind of moving in a formation. Lots of room for improvement. Jake, in particular, seemed to be having problems. More attention problems than movement problems. He was athletic enough, he just didn¡¯t seem capable of paying attention. He responded about a half to a full step behind everyone else. Not all the time, but enough that it was noticeable. Everybody tried not to notice though. It took longer to get through the practice sessions too. Normally, we¡¯d be done by 9:00 to 9:30, today we didn¡¯t finish ¡®til almost 11. Most of that was formations though, but if we were planning on going inside Maxes again, we had to get it together. Big Mike took over the training, while Tanya remained our caller. She cast her illusions and we¡¯d take turns hitting them with Force Bolts. Every time Baila or Amada would hit one, they¡¯d scream ¡®oorah¡¯ and we¡¯d all echo it back. That was pretty much the highlight of the practice. Finally, we finished and collapsed into our compound¡¯s central area around the fire. It was a beautiful sunny day, about 21¡ã C. I asked how everyone¡¯s practice went and we all sounded off. I started with mine: Shield Bronze 5, Force Bolt Copper 9. Big Mike and Consuelo both stayed on Bronze 5. They still got in about an hour¡¯s practice. Lack of sleep did them in, they were able to push off sleep for one night, but they needed a full seven hours rest last night to eliminate the tiredness debuff. The same thing happened with Janet and Tanya. Tanya needed slightly more sleep than Janet, but they both needed most of the night. Tanya just got an hour of practice in on Force Bolt but wasn¡¯t able to get it to advance to the peak of Peak. Janet practiced ¡°Light Heal¡± some more. She got in a couple of hours of practice. After she hit the Late Stage she spent the six skill points and brought the spell up to Level Nine, but wasn¡¯t able to roll the spell over to Copper. The two little girls didn¡¯t even attempt it. The battle, meeting the new folks, building the houses, exhausted them and they slept the whole night through. They didn¡¯t even attempt to get their new spells. And, of course, eGirl and the other two were tired and beat up from the road, their battle with the skink, Jake¡¯s wife and daughter dying, it was a hard day for all of them. They just attempted to sleep, some more successfully than others. After we finished telling what we¡¯d accomplished, it was clear that we all had needed a full night¡¯s rest. Unfortunately, that meant that we were no stronger than we were the day before. Sad but true. I looked around and everyone had a glum expression on their face. I didn¡¯t want to take this group into combat. Although yesterday had gone well, it could have gone better. I wound up taking slightly more than half of the rats out. If I¡¯d been targeted more effectively, I could have been less effective and the battle could have gone a whole different way. I didn¡¯t like having the kids in there. Chapter 27 - More Grinding and Rats, It’s Always Rats! (Part 2) ¡°I don¡¯t like having the kids in there,¡± I said. ¡°It was your idea,¡¯ Big Mike said. ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good one, it¡¯s just the only one that I could come up with. The best choice of a bunch of bad ideas is still a bad idea,¡± I said. "What can we do better? I mean the kids are obviously the smallest and weakest of us, I¡¯m thinking now that we were lucky that we held the rats back off the backline.¡± ¡°I¡¯m willing,¡± said Baila. ¡°I want to kill monsters.¡± Big Mike looked at his daughter and shook his head, ¡°I know you do sweetheart, but I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do if I lost you. Or your sister.¡± ¡°Come here, babies,¡± said Consuelo, and gathered them both up in her arms. They came, but I think Baila was a little reluctant, she didn¡¯t like being called a baby. ¡°So what are you suggesting now?¡± asked Big Mike. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°We either need to get stronger or the rats weaker. But, if the rats get weaker, I¡¯m pretty sure the experience point that we get goes down. Janet, Tanya and I are relatively high leveled. I¡¯m thinking if experience is given in the same way as in games if we weren¡¯t there the experience would go up.¡± ¡°So, what your suggesting is sending us in without you three?¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Nope, nope, nope,¡± I said. ¡°I was just pointing out the problems with what they used to call power leveling in games and wondering if it occurred in the new-Earth.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I noticed that I shot up a lot of levels in the first rat battle, the second rat battle, I didn¡¯t. It kind of sucked.¡± ¡°Let me check my Experience Log,¡± I said. I called it up and it showed the ten rats that we¡¯d battled. ¡°Yeah, the first rats gave me, 417 experience for the two level-five rats and 1250 for the level-eight rat. The later battle only gave me 287 for each of the level-eight rats.¡± ¡°Could it be that there were more people fighting in the second battle?¡± asked Consuelo. ¡°Probably, but even if we allow for that, if the numbers were adjusted to be the same, the level-eight rats in the second battle should have been worth 536 points. Clearly, there¡¯s a difference caused by something, probably our higher levels. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that both numbers and levels impact the experience points given?¡± said eGirl. ¡°It appears that way,¡± I said. ¡°Well shit!¡± she said. ¡°Pardon my French,¡± she said to the little girls who giggled. ¡°Ok,¡± said Big Mike, ¡°we¡¯ve got problems then. We don¡¯t get as many experience points if you three are with us, we are a lot less safe without you, and I don¡¯t know if anyone has mentioned this, but the high-level rat in the first fight was the average level in the second fight. Does that mean that Maxes is giving us monsters that match our levels?¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°hadn¡¯t thought about that. But if so, that means our plan of bringing in the little ones is even less safe than we thought it was. But we still have the same problem that we started with, we can¡¯t leave them alone. There¡¯s always the squirrel factor to worry about.¡± ¡°Well, what can we do?¡± said Janet. There was a long pause then. In our debrief yesterday, we¡¯d covered why we¡¯d decided to bring the little girls into combat with us, so even if the three newcomers didn¡¯t agree with our decision, they at least knew why we¡¯d made it. ¡°In the stories I read, they¡¯d throw money at the problem,¡± I said. ¡°Little weak masters of rich clans were given high level gear and usually a minder or two. I don¡¯t have any gear left. And what I did have was pretty basic, I mean look at Consuelo¡¯s polearm and Big Mike¡¯s shield. ¡± They both held them out and passed them around and everybody agreed that they were pretty minimum wage, not high dollar goods. ¡°Another thing to think about is while the three of us are Ok as minders, I don¡¯t know how long the rat supply is going to hold out,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t tell if Maxes is a dungeon or just a big rat¡¯s nest. If it¡¯s the latter, we got to maximize the experience points before we run out of rats, if it¡¯s the former, then we can grind until we reach our goal. By the way, what is our goal? I¡¯m going with level eleven.¡± ¡°Damn it Monsoon,¡± said eGirl. ¡°Let us figure out one question before you bring up the next one!¡± And everybody laughed. But afterward, there was a stretch of silence while everybody thought about the problem. Finally Jake spoke up. ¡°What¡¯s equivalent to money?¡± asked Jake. We looked around at each other wondering if he was seriously asking that. ¡°What do you mean,¡¯ said Miranda. ¡°Are you talking barter? Who are we going to trade with? What are we going to trade?¡± ¡°No,¡± said Jake. ¡°Monsoon said in the stories they threw money at the problem. Well, we don¡¯t have money or expensive goods, but we do have something equivalent.¡± ¡°We do? What?¡± asked Miranda. I was glad she asked, it saved me from having to. ¡°Training,¡± said Jake. ¡°It may be slower and more tedious, but it¡¯s safer and, probably, more effective. I mean look at Monsoon.¡± Everybody did, so I waved and made my seriously-thinking-about-deep-things face. Everybody laughed. ¡°Not literally look at Monsoon, but consider him. He trained his spell Force Bolt up and now he can one-shot a level Eight Giant Rat. If everybody got their Force Bolt spells up to, what is your Force Bolt level now?¡± he asked me. ¡°Copper 9.¡± ¡°If everybody got their Force Bolt spells up to Copper 9 before we went back into Maxes, wouldn¡¯t it be a lot safer?¡± he asked. ¡°And their Shield spells to at least Copper 9 too,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I don¡¯t want these little ones to be bitten or hurt.¡± ¡°And their Shield spells to Copper 9 too,¡± Jake said, ¡°then it should be safer to go back inside.¡± Everyone looked around considering what Jake and Tanya had just proposed. It was a good idea, and frankly, the only idea anyone of us had, so there was that. ¡°Let¡¯s make this a democracy,¡± I said. ¡°All in favor of tabling going back into Maxes until our Shield and Force Bolt spells are Copper 9, raise their hand.¡± I looked around and everybody¡¯s hand was raised. ¡°Good, then it¡¯s decided. Copper 9, both spells. However, the real goal, at least for us three¡± I said pointing to Janet, Tanya and I, ¡°is to get to my mother¡¯s. I¡¯m just mentioning that because if we all hit level eleven, I say we hit the road. I don¡¯t need to kill rats. Their cores, hides, furs, teeth, claws, their loot, I don¡¯t really need. I¡¯m killing rats to gain experience, to have you guys gain experience, that¡¯s it. I have other plans, fish to fry. I want you all to come with us too. But that¡¯s our goal. I mean it¡¯s been six days since the event. Since then I¡¯ve been in 18 life or death battles. I know that there¡¯s going to be more killing required, but screw it if I¡¯m going to risk my life or your lives just to gain experience.¡± ¡°Amen brother,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°Amen. And yes, Consuelo and I need to talk about it, but I¡¯m for going to your mother¡¯s. I want to meet the Duchess.¡± And, no surprise, everybody laughed again. Chapter 27 - More Grinding and Rats, It’s Always Rats! (Part 3) ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Then we break to cast/meditate/get spells until 5, then we do potions and debrief, then we work ¡®til later, whatever we choose to do. We keep the same watch rotation and we see how long it takes us to get to Copper in both spells. I¡¯m thinking it may take us probably through the end of next week. Don¡¯t know. I¡¯m thinking that it will probably be the little ones that are last to finish.¡± They both looked at me with upset faces so I hurried to explain, ¡°It¡¯s not you, it¡¯s just that you being classless really hurts your mana pool and your mana recovery. Both are probably about half what they would be if you had a class. But you can¡¯t get a class until you are thirteen. So we¡¯ll just have to bear with it, Ok girls?¡± They nodded their heads, but looked disappointed anyway. ¡°I figure that if you can cast and meditate eight hours a day, you¡¯ll probably be done in about ten days.¡± Big Mike said, ¡°Really? You expect them to spend eight hours a day casting spells?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really expect that. I just did the math and that¡¯s what it came out too, at least my rough estimate. I figure they probably have a mana pool of about 30, a standard mana regen of less than one, a meditation mana regen of about two and when you add those up, it comes to about 2100 points per eight hours. So 2100 points means it¡¯s going to take four and a half to five days for each spell. However, there are some factors that I left out, they are going to get better at meditation, they¡¯ll probably go up several levels and if they increase their Intelligence or Wisdom, they¡¯ll get faster mana regens, but yeah, basically five days a spell.¡± ¡°Girls,¡± he said. ¡°Are you up for it?¡± They both nodded their heads. ¡°Are you sure?¡± he asked. ¡°Dad,¡± said Amada in her little wise child voice, ¡°What choice do we have?¡± It was true and he knew it. I started to think about it. About what I could do to make it fun for these kids, what I could do to reward them for finishing early, but I was drawing a blank. I can¡¯t make them stuff because I don¡¯t have the tools or materials. I can¡¯t reward them with anything, because basically, I don¡¯t have anything to give them. God, it sucks to be a kid in the apocalypse. Well, I don¡¯t know, magic vs action figures. I think I¡¯d take magic, but I might be a little weird. I¡¯d definitely take magic if I could get it without the monsters. Before we broke, I had a brainstorm. I¡¯d thought earlier that we needed to do a show and tell about the spells that we¡¯d given to the newcomers last night, now seemed like a good time to do it. I asked and everybody agreed. We stood around in the courtyard and went over the spells that we¡¯d shared with them. 17 spells, well 16 minus charm since nobody really wanted to have it cast on them, including Roxie. The mouse definitely understood us. She disappeared as soon as we mentioned maybe casting the spell on her. OK, I mentioned casting the spell on her. And then Janet beat on me some more. But it was interesting how fast she disappeared. Almost instantly gone. Something to think about. Maybe that was why she didn¡¯t seem that worried when I caught her in the box eating my cheese in Maxes. Anyway, we let everyone cast at least one of the spells. Amada got the Light spell, Baila got Shield spell. We attempted to talk about what it felt like, what the gestures meant to us, the kind of lame words, where we felt the mana moving, basically anything we could do to make the spell more real to the person trying to learn it. Plus the three newcomers got to describe their spells and do the same thing that we¡¯d just done for them. All to try and help make the transfer of knowledge as easy as possible. After the two hours we¡¯d spent doing the knowledge share, we broke and the big Smith¡¯s started trying to learn their new spells, while the little Smith¡¯s started casting Force Bolt. Nobody wanted to be the weak link. Before I got started and everybody besides the Smith¡¯s took off to their practice areas, I asked Janet if she¡¯d ever tried to get Force Bolt and a Shield spell. She said that when she tried to get Force Bolt, she wound up with Light Bolt. But she hadn¡¯t tried to get a Shield spell. I started to call out the names of Cleric spells that I remembered. It turned out Jake and surprisingly eGirl and Miranda had played D&D. Jake was also a big MMORPG player too so between the four of us we came up with quite a few spells for her to try to Invent? Discover? Create? Who knew that a bunch of ex-gamers with super memories are the equivalent of a google search. Bless, Shield of Faith, Detect Magic, Detect Evil or Good, Create Food or Drink, Revivify, Tongues, Regeneration, True Resurrection, you name it we came up with it. Tanya was into it too but didn¡¯t have a lot of gaming experience to share. But basically, our conversation boiled down to Janet needed a shield spell. And some other attack spell. Everything else was gravy. And another hour and a half were gone, but the good news is that Jake brightened up a little bit during our discussion. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It was now about 3:00 pm. I was finally able to get started on my Casting/Mediation routine. Oh, and Yoga routine, Casting/Meditation/Yoga routine. It¡¯s all about the points. Cast, then meditate. Cast, then meditate. I started with Force Bolt. I got my Force Bolt up to Late Stage just before five. Despite saying that I wasn¡¯t going to spend the skill points, I decided to anyway. I spent five and brought my total up to 8998 level points. I made a mental note to check that everyone was only burning half their mana before meditating to get it back. Judging by the number of yellow Force Bolts I could see flashing into the air and the frequency, I¡¯m pretty sure everybody remembered. Everyone met outside at the campfire at around 5 pm and while we were talking realized that we were going to have to keep watch all day. We just got lucky today. Just because the sun was shining didn¡¯t mean that the monsters disappeared. That meant we needed a 24-hour watch. We hadn¡¯t had this problem before because we were basically all together, active and doing stuff during the day. If we were to get attacked, we¡¯d all be there. This new training broke us apart, separated us, we¡¯d need someone to alert us in case of attack. I suggested that we break up into a day watch and a night watch. The same crew that was keeping watch during the night would stay on duty at night, the three newcomers could take a day shift. The day crew would only have to be on watch from around 9:00 to 5, so about two and a half hours each. Nobody had any real objections, so we decided to go that route. We had our potions and everybody settled in to talk. First thing was just a status check-in. The little girls had made some decent progress moving from Bronze 2 to Bronze 4. Big Mike and Consuelo had both been able to acquire all of the new spells and had done their version of the CMY routine but hadn¡¯t gone up a level in the spells, still Bronze 5. Almost, but not quite. The three newcomers hadn¡¯t really had much time to get started. They¡¯d been busy trying to add the spells we¡¯d passed over to their repertoire. It¡¯s not a spellbook, or a grimoire since it¡¯s internal, I¡¯m not sure what to call it. Mental space? Mage space? Spirit space? Spell Space? Maybe repertoire is fine. Something else to think about, I suppose. But in the couple of hours practice, they¡¯d made some nice progress. Janet had acquired a shield spell. She said that the brainstorming session we¡¯d done had made a difference. She cast it and it looked like our spells did, except instead of glowing yellow, it glowed a green hue. She also said that she could cast it on others pretty easily. The biggest difference was that it didn¡¯t seem to block damage at all, rather it healed the damage as it occurred. A similar result, just a different process. It was a life magic spell as opposed to our air magic spells. She¡¯d been able to get it up to Bronze 2 in the time she¡¯d had. The only downside is it didn¡¯t totally eliminate the pain. Minimized it somewhat, but you still felt it. Tanya had just concentrated on Force Bolt. Got in some practice time, but wasn¡¯t able to advance the spell up to the peak of the Peak Stage. She was going to use the skill point trick that we¡¯d discovered once she got it there. After we took our potions, we talked about what we wanted to get done. I mentioned that I wanted to continue to work on my Force Bolt spell and to get my Shield Spell up to at least Iron rank and then I was going to work on some other spells. I also mentioned that I wanted to play with some of the spells that Jake had brought to us. I was really excited about the possibilities we had with his Create Block and Lumber spells and eGirl¡¯s Cut and Inscribe spells. I got a bunch of blank looks, so I said what I thought would be the magic word, ¡°Crafting!¡± Jake got it, eGirl and Miranda, both big gamers got it too. The rest of them just looked a little puzzled. ¡°Hang on,¡± I said. ¡°Give us some time to practice and we¡¯ll change your lives! Won¡¯t we Jake! We¡¯re going to rule the world!¡± He gave a small smile back. Better than the blank look he¡¯d spent most of the day with. Little steps. We broke up then, the Smiths going off to do family practice, eGirl and Miranda going off to their cabin, Tanya and Janet off to theirs. I sat down by the fire on one of the diorama log seats and Jake sat down with me on another. He didn¡¯t say anything but started his own meditation/spell acquisition process. I hung out for about fifteen minutes to make sure Jake didn¡¯t want to talk and then I took off for our cabin to get some sleep. I had third watch tonight, followed by Big Mike. Janet had first with Tanya following. With my new Constitution, I didn¡¯t need the eight to nine hours of sleep I used to try and get. I was fine with about five. Tanya woke me up and my watch passed without anything happening. I woke up Big Mike for his shift and then sat by the fire to work on spells. I still hadn¡¯t reached the peak of Peak stage, so I had nothing to report in the morning. The same thing happened for pretty much everyone else. Since we quit pushing so hard and were trying to rest at night now, we didn¡¯t have the huge gains that we¡¯d grown used to seeing. It was a lot more realistic I guess. Chapter 27 - More Grinding and Rats, It’s Always Rats! (Part 4) It was now Tenebrisday. I was looking forward to my mom¡¯s call. I had some questions for her, not to mention the group did as well. I suppose I could have called her earlier, but I knew she was busy and well, so was I. I wish we¡¯d set a time up, but I figured she¡¯d probably contact me either in the late afternoon or evening. We did our martial arts practice, formations, archery and, of course, started the day with yoga. Nothing exciting happened during our practice. We got a little more limber, a little more lethal, a little better at archery and, of course, our formations got a little better. We extended the formation battle buddy concept. Strange how the gender roles came into play. I was right tank, Jake became left tank, Big Mike was center tank. All of the guys on the front line. It doesn¡¯t matter what the reality is, only our perception of it. Despite the fact that Janet and Tanya were both stronger, Jake wound up as tank and we were all Ok with that. I was a little worried about it but didn¡¯t know how to bring it up. How do you suggest that someone might be suicidal and the front line might not be the place for them? I resolved to watch him. What else could I do? eGirl moved in next to Tanya, pushing Baila deeper into the center, but Miranda moved to the right outside, so she could float and backstab. Both moves tucked the little ones in deeper to the formation. Formations practice went on for a couple of hours. None of us wanted to go into combat not knowing what we could expect from the person next to us. Big Mike gave us a talk about attacking into an ambush. We talked about retreating. Advancing. About target selection, about knowing when to attack. The little ones were paired up. Baila with Consuelo, Amada with Janet. Amada was turned loose a little, allowed to make her own decisions. She was to follow Janet''s lead unless Janet was healing. We also talked about attacking first and fast. If the rats are dead, it doesn¡¯t matter who they planned on attacking, well, ¡®cause their dead. We finished up at around 10 and broke up to let us work on our spells individually. The day shift watch crew took over. eGirl, Miranda, then Jake. Jake in the meantime, created some steps using the Create Block spell to allow us to see over and walk on the roof. The roofs were sturdy enough to walk on, but kind of echoey down inside the house, so it was a little disturbing to have someone walk on your roof. Kind of like apartment living with a big guy in the apartment above you. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After about an hour and a quarter, I finally reached the peak of Peak. I threw the skill point at it and I was suddenly Iron 7. Sweet! Wahoo! It made me feel good. It was the first time that I¡¯d advanced rank in anything to Iron through my own efforts post-Event. Not to mention, 8 + 25 Force Bolts. I may only have one punch, but it¡¯s a pretty good punch, 224 points of damage on average. Take that Giant Vulture! Then I switched to Shield and started grinding the spell. It was kind of funny how as I cast each Shield spell, the glow of the protection grew. By the time I had to break for my first meditation session, I was surrounded by a bright, yellow-glow from all of the repeated casts of the shield spell. I looked like a human-sized incandescent bulb, I¡¯m pretty sure. On the plus side, I could withstand about 180 points of damage when I spent half my mana on the spell. It turns out that the Shield spell stacks! On the minus side, since the spell glowed you could pick out the stronger mages by the brightness of their glow. Let¡¯s see, who should I attack? Oh, yeah, let¡¯s attack the bright glowing one over there. He looks dangerous. Oh well, I was supposedly a tank. It¡¯ll keep them from attacking the squishies. After a couple of hours, I was at bronze 6, at five hours I¡¯d moved to Bronze 7. I threw in the six skill points and I was sitting at Bronze 9. I spent the rest of the time until potions doing the same thing. It was a little mind-numbing to tell you the truth. But how cool is it to be able to walk around in a glowing force field! At the Potion conclave, I told my story. Tanya was still working on Force Bolt, but she¡¯d got it almost to the peak of Peak. Maybe another hour or two. Big Mike and Consuelo had both advanced a level from the experience they¡¯d received from grinding Force Bolt. And said they¡¯d keep on. Janet had kept on practicing her Shield spell and had upped it two levels to Bronze 4. eGirl, Miranda had used their time to up Force Bolt, getting it to Bronze 3. The little girls had really been busy and had upped their Force Bolt to Bronze 4. Jake showed off the stairs that he¡¯d made as well as a railing that he¡¯d put around the roofs to prevent people from falling off. Everybody was pleased, especially the ones that had to do watches, but I could see that everybody was a little puzzled too, wondering why he was doing that when he was supposed to be working on his attack and defense. I didn¡¯t want him to be put on the defensive, so I made sure that I really praised his work. It took, I guess because everybody relaxed a bit and came up with more ideas for how to make things safer as well as more defensible. I just hoped he¡¯d pull it together. And I resolved to talk with everyone about cutting him some slack. I didn¡¯t know him, but he seemed like he was OK. His idea for the houses may have saved our lives. For that alone, I was willing to grant him the time he needed. Chapter 28 - We Get the Skinny From the Duchess (Part 1) About then, I got this sensation that someone needed to talk to me. Actually, it was more specific than that, I knew that my mother needed to talk with me. It was an odd experience, it felt like a really intense version of that feeling you get when someone is looking at you. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do? How do you answer a call that¡¯s taking place in your head? I said, ¡°Hello?¡± The group around the campfire went silent and I heard my mother¡¯s voice. ¡°Hey Honey,¡± she said. Then she laughed and said, ¡°it¡¯s a little bit freaky the first time isn¡¯t it?¡± meaning the call completion. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°It is. Is that what you experienced.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°The first time it was with a man I barely knew, George Kaiser. He¡¯s also a newly appointed Duke. It¡¯s odd to have someone¡¯s voice in your head that you have never really talked to before. So, do you want this to be a private conversation or are you going to conference in the Girls?¡± she asked. ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°I guess I can conference in the girls, but it¡¯s not just them anymore. More people have shown up. Big Mike, the manager of Maxes, and his family, eGirl and her partner. I used to work with eGirl. And finally, Jake Spader, a mage that eGirl and Miranda met while traveling is here as well.¡± ¡°Well,¡± my mom said. ¡°If you want to conference them in, the system is capable. I¡¯ve had conference calls with Sifu¡¯s Army, sifu, Derek, Duke Kaiser, and another Duchess plus all their minions. The system seems to be capable of handling as many people as you want to invite. But before you do, if you decide to do so, tell me, how are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m OK,¡± I said. Along about this time, I thought, I wonder if I have to be talking? Can I just subvocalize or even think my words to her? I tried it, ¡°We¡¯re doing fine, we decided to hold off on traveling until we have trained our spells up enough. We¡¯ve got aways to go. It¡¯ll be at least a couple of weeks before the little girls, Big Mike¡¯s daughters, have reached that level in their spells.¡± ¡°What did you do?¡± my mom asked. ¡°Your voice changed, it became a lot clearer.¡± ¡°I tried to think my words/thoughts to you, instead of speaking or subvocalizing.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± my mom said. Janet chose then to speak up, ¡°Are you talking to the Duchess right now?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Can you conference us in?¡± she asked. ¡°Hang on,¡± I said to Janet. ¡°I want to talk to my mom alone first, OK?¡± She nodded her head and everyone else did too. ¡°So, since everyone is going to want to know about the government and the land and the monsters and Them, I¡¯ll not ask about those things, that way you won¡¯t have to repeat yourself, OK?¡± I thought at her.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. She said that sounded good and so I asked my next question, ¡°Are you alright? Is everyone fine there? Is Jackie doing OK? Derek? Sifu? Ah heck, how¡¯s everyone doing?¡± ¡°Everyone is doing fine,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re getting organized, making plans, trying to survive. We¡¯re starting to get a handle on things. Don¡¯t worry about us. But how are you doing? You and your friends?¡± ¡°How much time do we have?¡± I asked. ¡°Are any minotaurs going to show up?¡± ¡°Good,¡± she said. ¡°You played with the map. I¡¯m glad. But to answer your question, about an hour and no minotaurs. We¡¯ve brokered a peace treaty with them. They actually live in Pawhuska. Remember the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve? It¡¯s now the home of the Great Ulantuu Nation. That¡¯s actually how they call themselves. The Ulantuu. They are an import. Evidently, They weren¡¯t happy with just monsters and Beasts, they brought in other sentients as well. The Ulantuu come from another plane of existence, which from their stories, basically stunk. They are happy to be here. I think we¡¯ll be happy to have them too.¡± ¡°Well, let me tell you what we¡¯ve accomplished and the things that we¡¯ve learned,¡± I said. And then I proceeded to tell her basically everything that we¡¯d done or learned in the past 6 days. She listened. It¡¯s funny, but that is one of my mom¡¯s greatest skills, listening. After about thirty minutes, I started to run out of steam and asked her if she had any questions. She responded with, ¡°not really. A lot of the stuff you¡¯ve told me, I knew already. Although, not all of it. For instance, I didn¡¯t think that someone might not have taken a class yet. It seems so obvious, but maybe not. I also didn¡¯t know what the scholar class is capable of. Actually, I hadn¡¯t ever heard of that class before. It¡¯s funny but with all the junior colleges, colleges and universities in Tulsa, you¡¯d think that someone would have chosen it, brought the information about the class up to me. That is very interesting to me. We had also figured out the ranks, but it¡¯s nice to have them confirmed. We hadn¡¯t figured out the spell transfer mechanism as you all did. We¡¯d kind of figured out that you could pick up spells from having them described, but not that there was a systematic way of doing it. That¡¯s good information. Really good information. Also, imues. Who knew?¡± ¡°Here,¡± I said. ¡°Let me transfer the spells that we have to you. I¡¯m not sure which ones you have and which ones you don¡¯t, so I¡¯ll transfer all of them.¡± I did just that then, transferring or sharing a blue screen that contained all 21 mage spells that we¡¯d come across as well as the 8 cleric spells. I also mentioned that seeing the spells and having them described and demonstrated by a person that already had them made a difference in the time it took to learn them. I also bragged that my Force Bolt was up to Iron 9. I made sure to tell her about the ¡®rollover¡¯ trick. ¡°What can I do to help you all?¡± she finally asked after we¡¯d got the magic talk out of the way. ¡°That¡¯s what I was going to say,¡± I said. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re my son. My only son. I don¡¯t know if you realize how precious you are to me, but you are my world. I¡¯ve gotten myself entangled in a lot of crap of late, but I want to make sure you know how important you are to me. You¡¯re my child, I should help you, OK?¡± ¡°Yes, mom!¡± I said, half jokingly. ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°Hear me. I love you! I would do anything for you, but in this new world, there may not be a lot that I can do for you. For instance, do you know how far away you are from me now?¡± ¡°Well, Sapulpa to Sand Springs used to be about 15 minutes by car.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lot longer than it used to be,¡± she said. ¡°Both in distance and in traveling time. And, in danger,¡± she said. ¡°Do you want me to send a Griffon for you?¡± ¡°A Griffon?¡± I asked. ¡°A big, winged, grumpy lion-eagle with a bad sense of humor,¡± she said. ¡°Unfortunately, it could only carry you.¡± I thought about it very briefly, but then said, ¡°No, we¡¯re good. We¡¯ll make it there.¡± ¡°I figured that that is what you¡¯d say. It makes me very proud of you,¡± she said. ¡°I love you too mom,¡± I said. ¡°I probably don¡¯t say it enough, but I do.¡± ¡°I know honey,¡± she said. There was a quiet pause and then she said, ¡°We ready for the conference?¡± Chapter 28 - We Get the Skinny From the Duchess (Part 2) I said yes and then began issuing invitations to all of the members of my party. After I finished, I said, ¡°Can everyone hear me?¡± They all said they could so I continued on saying, ¡°this is my mother, Grace Seebring.¡± ¡°Hello,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve spoken with a couple of you before, Janet and Tanya. I know of Big Mike. My security detail kept me appraised. eGirl I¡¯ve seen pictures of. Jake, would I be right in assuming that you worked for the City of Tulsa?¡± ¡°Um, yes,¡± he said. ¡°I was the Planning Director. Back before all of this happened.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve heard good things about you from your staff.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve talked to my staff?¡± he said. ¡°They survived?¡± ¡°Some of them did, some we aren¡¯t sure about. But your Administrative Assistant, your Community Engagement Planner, and the Principal Planner, Current Planning are alive and well. The rest we haven¡¯t been able to reach,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m so glad,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you for telling me this.¡± ¡°Not a problem,¡± she said. ¡°They miss you, miss having your leadership.¡± ¡°You mean they are still planning? Planning what?¡± he asked. ¡°The short answer is how we are going to survive monsters. How we can create cities to keep them out, how we can have an infrastructure with no technology, no electricity, no plastics, no insulation, no lumber mills, no nationwide or even local transportation, no real public transportation at all basically now, no grocery stores, no Walmarts or Kohls. How we can create safe spaces for our population.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got some ideas about that,¡± he said. ¡°Your team all thought you would,¡± she answered. ¡°We need those ideas!¡± ¡°Wait,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°I would like something clarified first.¡± ¡°Let me guess,¡± my mom said. ¡°How did I become Duchess? What happened to the United States? What happened to Oklahoma? What happened to the President? What happened to the Governor? The Mayor? The police force? The Army, Navy, Airforce, or Marines? The National Guard? The Supreme Court? The Houses of Congress? ¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°All that.¡± ¡°The day that you got the announcement about the population deaths, remember that?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± we all said. ¡°Well that morning, I got that announcement and another one following saying that I was appointed as the Duchess of Northern Tulsa. From what I learned then and over the next few days, there is now something called, in a very oriental fashion, the Mandate of Heaven. If you have it, you have the right, the ability, to rule, if you don¡¯t, you don¡¯t. They provide some fairly sophisticated tools to those with the mandate: Communications like we¡¯re using now, the ability to conscript, the ability to tax, the ability to negotiate treaties, the ability to set laws for your domains including high and low justice, the ability to appoint subordinates to positions of power, and some fairly nice perks in housing, for instance my house is now literally becoming a castle with a town below it.¡± ¡°How did they choose you?¡± he asked. ¡°Do the names George Kaiser, Harrold Ham, David Greene, Tom Love, Lynn Schusterman ring any bells with you? Consuelo answered first, ¡°Rich people, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± my mom said. ¡°All of them are now Dukes or Duchesses,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re all Dukes or Duchesses.¡± ¡°You mean they just made the rich people our leaders?¡± asked Consuelo. ¡°I think so,¡± answered my mom. ¡°I have chatted with George and he has been prying at the system. I didn¡¯t know about imues until my brilliant boy told me about them, but now that I do, I can better understand where he¡¯s getting some of his information. He said that the old government didn¡¯t handle the Event and lost its Mandate. It passed to its successor which it turns out is us. Rich people. Well, mostly rich people. He said something about the past 20 years have demonstrated a weakening of Democracy and the rise of an Oligarchy or a Plutocracy. They just made it official.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Marine, damn it! I fought for the United States¡± Big Mike started. My mom interrupted, ¡°Are you? Before you get upset with me, I want you to try a little experiment for me. Say again, ¡®I am a Marine¡¯ and mean it with everything you¡¯ve got! Remember all those morning drills, the training, the marches, the tours of duty, remember it all and say it again, say, ¡®I am a Marine!¡¯ Do it now, please.¡± Big Mike stood up and said, ¡°I am a Marine,¡± but by the end of the statement, it came out more like a question. He tried it again, ¡°I am a Marine,¡± but if anything, this time it came out even weaker than before. ¡°You see,¡± my mom said. ¡°Mandate of Heaven. If you don¡¯t have it, you don¡¯t have the right to armies, taxation, treaties, all of the rights, abilities, and responsibilities of government, gone. It¡¯s wrong, but it is what it is.¡± ¡°They did this?¡± he asked. ¡°They did this,¡± she answered. ¡°Well shit,¡± he said. ¡°I know,¡± she answered. ¡°I got this ton of responsibility dumped on me because I was a little bit better at chasing a dollar than the next person.¡± ¡°Mom,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re not Harold Hamm, George Kaiser rich, are you?¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. She kind of laughed then and said, ¡°Honey, I¡¯ve been meaning to have a talk with you for a while about that. In a word, yes. Yes, I was. I¡¯m not sure how they calculated it, but it looks as if they assigned us territories in proportion of our pre-Event wealth.¡± I had to think about that for a while. Evidently, so did everyone else because there was a long silence then. ¡°You know I was living out of a Cadillac, don¡¯t you?¡± I asked. ¡°Your choice, but I could tell you were going to leave that behind soon,¡± she said. ¡°You just needed to find your way.¡± **7/08 ¡°And I found it in an apocalypse,¡± I murmured. ¡°At least you found it,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s nice and all,¡± said Big Mike, ¡°but this is some pretty scary shit. I mean I was a Marine for about 20 years and now I feel no connection to the Corps at all. None. That is some jacked-up, janky shit right there.¡± ¡°Honey,¡± said Consuelo looking at their little girls who were listening in. ¡°Sorry, babe!¡± he said. ¡°Girls, I don¡¯t ever want to hear you repeating what I just said, you understand.¡± They both nodded their heads. ¡°OK,¡± said eGirl, ¡°what we need to know is what¡¯s happening right now? What are you doing?¡± she asked my mother. ¡°What can we do? All this other crazy stuff is kind of immaterial, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s kinda the point,¡± I said. ¡°The fact that you can even think that the US government is gone is immaterial, is kind of a big thing.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± eGirl said. ¡°What is, is. We¡¯re in the middle of an apocalypse, I¡¯m choosing to think about only what I can do to survive. What helps me and mine survive is important, what doesn¡¯t, isn¡¯t. Besides, looking at the way that last man was running the government, there wasn¡¯t much there for me or mine and he promised even less in the future.¡± ¡°Humph,¡± my mom snorted, but let it go. She was not a fan of our current president. ¡°It turns out that creating a government from scratch is a lot of work,¡± my mom said. ¡°I¡¯ve just met with Duke Kaiser and Duchess Schusterman about the government that we want to form.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± asked eGirl. ¡°We¡¯re going with the model founded on the aristocracy,¡± my mom said. ¡°Basically what we¡¯ve been given. I¡¯m a Duchess, I exercise control over my lands, the same with him and her. We don¡¯t have a lot of time to set something else up, our responsibility is to keep people from dying. What helps that is what we¡¯ll use. As you¡¯ve said, ¡®what is, is¡¯. We¡¯re trying to fit us together as a Republic, we haven¡¯t worked it out yet, but we will. Somehow, maybe we¡¯ll bind ourselves together by treaties.¡± ¡°And how does this play out in the rest of the country? In the world?¡± asked Miranda. ¡°Not every country lost its mandate,¡± she said. ¡°I know that some countries were more successful at keeping their population alive, for instance, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Iceland, most of Canada all survived relatively intact. Maybe others, I¡¯ve been to busy to research.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± I asked. ¡°That map that you have?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve got one too. Only mine is a lot more complete. It shows areas that have stabilized as normal, without the, what my advisors are calling the ¡®fog of war¡¯. Of course, the map isn¡¯t interactive within their territories like it is mine, but it at least shows who is succeeding.¡± ¡°And who is succeeding in what used to be the US?¡± asked Jake. ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°Utah looks good despite shrinking in size,¡± she said. ¡°All of those Mormons were basically prepping for the apocalypse anyway. Maine is also good, other parts of New England look good, some of Michigan, Minnesota, some of Pennsylvania also good. But it¡¯s hard saying, every state is forming a new government. Some of them have multiple duchies, some of them have only a single Duchy. It¡¯s all broken, we¡¯re all broken. Almost every state is bigger than it used to be. It¡¯s like the whole planet grew. However, not every state grew. Remember how I said they assigned us territories in the exact proportion of our pre-Event wealth? Well, they did that all over the world. The poorer the country, the smaller it became, the richer, the larger it grew. The same thing happened in the states, for instance, Alaska is now just slightly larger than the size that Vermont used to be, Alabama is now the size basically of Maryland.¡± ¡°But Alaska was rich, it had minerals, oil, gold, land,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°I thought about moving there after the Corps.¡± ¡°What it didn¡¯t have was rich people, someone with actual wealth that They could grade. Do you know who was the richest person in America was according to the latest Forbes ranking?¡± she said. ¡°Jeff Bezos¡± said eGirl almost immediately. ¡°Correct,¡± my mom said. ¡°Do you know what the current largest Duchy is? Amazonia. Set in what used to be Washington.¡± ¡°No way,¡± said eGirl. ¡°Yep,¡± said my mom, kind of smacking her lips on the p sound. ¡°Currently it is basically the size that Alaska used to be. I don¡¯t know how, but I think that it¡¯s all-new land too. He didn¡¯t get handed developed land from the neighboring states, they somehow created new land, whereas Alabama shrank by almost 20%.¡± ¡°What happened to the people in Alabama on the land that disappeared?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯d like to think that they got moved onto existing land, but I don¡¯t know. Perhaps they disappeared too. But that is literally kilometers and kilometers away from us. Fortunately, Oklahoma grew. I won¡¯t have to deal with some landowner missing their back forty. So far it seems to be the opposite here. Everyone¡¯s bitching about their neighborhood growing. Makes a difference when the only way to get around is foot or bike or horseback. By the way, cobblestone streets and bikes are not a great combination. In any case, their Dukes and Duchesses need to handle it.¡± Jake asked, ¡°You mentioned the ¡®Mandate of Heaven¡¯, how is that passed?¡± ¡°The old fashioned way, when I die, it goes to my heir. When he dies, it goes to his heir,¡± she said. ¡°And if he doesn¡¯t have an heir?¡± asked eGirl. ¡°If we were both killed by someone that had a legitimate claim for the mandate, it would go to them. If we were killed by someone that didn¡¯t have a legitimate claim, it would settle on the next claimant. If there were no legitimate claimants or too many, then it would need to be resolved somehow by the people affected.¡± ¡°You mean by war?¡± asked eGirl. ¡°That¡¯s one way, I guess,¡± said my mother. ¡°Probably the most likely way. However, voting, dance-offs, popularity contests, whatever method the people of the Duchy agreed to decide the issue would work.¡± ¡°And if no one steps forward?¡± I asked. ¡°In the unlikely event that no one steps forward, say, ¡®I am a Marine¡¯.¡± ¡°You mean,¡± I began. ¡°Yes,¡± my mother said. ¡°There is no government, no law, no treaties, no taxes, no armies, just a bunch of individuals or groups trying to grab power, to achieve the Mandate.¡± ¡°That might not be such a bad thing,¡± began Big Mike. ¡°Tell that to Consuelo when a bandit or warlord or a sexual predator that¡¯s been practicing his or her spells a lot wants to take your daughter,¡± my mom said. ¡°No law means you control only what you have the strength to control and you can take what you have the strength to take.¡± ¡°That¡¯s messed up,¡± said Big Mike, ¡°but not too surprising. I saw some of that in Afghanistan.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said my mom, ¡°and that¡¯s why I said yes when They made me Duchess.¡± ¡°So you had a choice,¡± said Jake. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Not really. I could have said no, but that would have left the Duchy unclaimed with no defined process to claim it. I didn¡¯t see that as a valid option.¡± Chapter 28 - We Get the Skinny From the Duchess (Part 3) ¡°Are you practicing?¡± I asked, worried now. ¡°You mean my spells? Yes, I am,¡± said my mom. ¡°All of us Dukes and Duchesses are. And our families are also. It¡¯s a new, far blacker world we live in.¡± ¡°What level are you?¡± I asked. ¡°Monsoon!¡± my mom answered playfully. ¡°A lady never tells!¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m a little freaked out by this whole change.¡± ¡°You should be, kiddo. You should be. You should also be getting stronger as fast as you can. I¡¯ve heard the Harold Hamm has had two attempts on his life already.¡± ¡°You mentioned Sifu¡¯s Army,¡± I said. ¡°What does that collection of kids have to do with anything?¡± ¡°It turns out that when you call something an army and They are looking for some kind of power metrics to use to pass on the Mandate, the oddest things can happen.¡± ¡°You mean that,¡± I began. ¡°Yes,¡± my mom said. ¡°They took it as an actual army. The SA is probably the reason that we are not a part of the Duchy of Hamm. We are now the Duchy of Northern Tulsa and the Sifu¡¯s Army. Of course, Sifu¡¯s Army role extends to the Duchy of Southern Tulsa and the Duchy of Central Tulsa as well.¡± ¡°They¡¯re just kids,¡± I said. ¡°Not anymore,¡± my mom said. ¡°They¡¯ve been growing and testing themselves. They are a big part of the reason that we haven¡¯t lost more people. Call it social evolution, but kids aren¡¯t really kids anymore. Those that are left are survivors, just like the rest of us.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± asked Consuelo. ¡°I mean that the apocalypse has been particularly hard on children, the old, and the infirm. Almost every family that I¡¯ve come into contact with has lost at least one member from those categories. Also those who were unable to adapt, to see the magnitude of the changes we were facing, were also swept away. Survival means reacting to what is, not to what was or what you want it to be. Everyone who is still alive at this point is a survivor. You all are survivors. Remember that. I say that both to celebrate your, our, survival and to pass on a warning.¡± ¡°But what about the police? The National Guard?¡± I asked. ¡°How many times do I have to say it?¡± my mom said, ¡°There was no Mandate and without the Mandate, there is no unity. The police didn¡¯t report for duty, the national guard didn¡¯t either. They just didn¡¯t feel the need when their family was in danger. Big Mike, if the President were to recall you to the Marines, would you go?¡± Big Mike stood there for a while with the strange puzzled look on his face, breathing heavily. ¡°You know,¡± he said, ¡°I don¡¯t believe that I would. No, I¡¯m sure of it. I still recognize that the Marines were a big part of my life, but it¡¯s like, I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s like too much time has passed or it happened to somebody else, but whatever the case is, I wouldn¡¯t. I¡¯d still fight for my brother Marines, men that I personally knew and fought beside, but the Corps, it¡¯s dead to me now, it doesn¡¯t feel real. Just some tattoos and memories. It¡¯s weird, fucking weird. General Amos, if he¡¯s still alive, is probably bashing his head against the wall.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°We¡¯re trying to gather up the former police, the National Guard, the members of the US military forces, and enroll them into our new governments,¡± she said. ¡°But until we do, they are just individuals or groups of people with specialized training or knowledge. Speaking of which, Jake, you still have a job. When you get here, report to me, we¡¯ll put you to work.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± he said. ¡°I will.¡± ¡°What can we do?¡± eGirl asked again. ¡°I know that we¡¯re trapped right now at a store waiting to get strong enough to travel, but is there something else we can do?¡± ¡°Two things I suppose,¡± my mom said. ¡°The first is to join me and help me create a government. I can tell that only two of you have committed to the Duchy. Doing so is important because our grasp on our Mandates is not solid right now. Along with all of the other things that the Mandate provides, it slows the process of change down, solidifies our gains of territory, possibly even reduces the number of monsters being spawned within our Duchy. In short, a stable government possessing the Mandate is a good thing.¡± ¡°Does the unstable mandate thing mean that if enough people want the United States back, the Mandate would shift?¡± asked Big Mike. ¡°No,¡± said my mom. ¡°A failed government can not be revived.¡± ¡°But,¡± began Big Mike. ¡°No,¡± my mother stopped him and said again, ¡°if They judge a government has lost its mandate, there is no going back. A like or similar government could be created, but it would not be the same government. It would be the government that was created at that time. Don¡¯t be confused if you hear someone saying they represent the US, or Oklahoma, or maybe Tulsa County. They don¡¯t. They are attempting to create a new government and trying to capitalize on old memories to do so.¡± ¡°And the second thing?¡± eGirl asked. ¡°Get strong. Get powerful. Protect the weak and raise them up,¡± my mother said. ¡°More than anything else, that is what you can do. Help them to survive. We are now no longer the sole sapient race on this planet. We need everyone if anyone is going to survive. That¡¯s all that I have time for right now. I¡¯m going to close down this conference and say a few words to my son. Goodbye. I wish you all the best, survive, be strong, and hopefully, join with me in creating a strong, safe place where we can all survive and grow,¡± and then she did something and I could see that everyone was off the conference. ¡°Honey,¡± she said. ¡°I really do need to go. I have a dinner meeting to go to tonight, but before I do I want to say two things, I love you!¡± ¡°I love you too, mom!¡± I broke in. ¡°I know you do,¡± she said. ¡°The other thing I have to say is to be careful. You mentioned that eGirl and Miranda and Jake came to Maxes looking for you. Well, they are probably not the only ones looking for you. They seem like good folks, but others might not be. Be careful who you trust. Harrold Hamm was not the only person that has had attempts made on his life.¡± ¡°You too?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, twice also. Both times from what we could tell it was by people overwhelmed by the apocalypse, one a Tulsa father whose family was killed by monsters, Giant Moles we think, and the other a home-schooled bible-belter young man who blamed me for the whole God thing.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. ¡°Derek happened,¡± she said, meaning Derek Stone the head of her security detail took care of the assassins. ¡°But I think things are going to get worse before they get better, so be careful baby! Those two attempts were just damaged people striking out at a world they no longer understood or could live in. The true opportunists haven¡¯t even shown their faces yet. I love you!¡± ¡°I will and I love you too mother. Be safe! And for god¡¯s sake have another kid! I don¡¯t want to be Duke!¡± She just laughed and then her presence vanished from my head. I looked up and everyone was quietly talking around the fire in the center of the compound. The night sky was blazing with stars, the scent of the fire burning rose up and covered the scent of the woods. I had my orders, be safe and get stronger. I¡¯m not sure how compatible those two orders were, but I¡¯d do my best to follow through. In addition, I¡¯d try to do the third objective she¡¯d given us all, raise up the weak and make them stronger. Chapter 29 - More Talk, More Grinding, More Surviving. (Part 1) I turned away from the sky and asked, ¡°Did anyone have any questions? I didn¡¯t get a lot more information than you all did, but I¡¯d be happy to share if I have any answers.¡± Big Mike said, ¡°So that¡¯s your mom, huh?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°She can be a little bit overwhelming.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± said Janet. ¡°She¡¯s still my hero. She¡¯s who I¡¯m going to be when I grow up.¡± ¡°But what the hell,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°They just gave the country to rich people?¡± He looked at me along with everyone else then. ¡°I can¡¯t speak for Them. Try your imues. Maybe they can give you more information. All I really know is what I¡¯ve heard from my mother and what I¡¯ve gathered from the government screen. And both times I talked to my mother, you all heard basically everything that I did.¡± ¡°But I can tell you this,¡± I said. ¡°If They had to choose someone to give part of Oklahoma too, I¡¯d vote for my mother. She started as a 22-year-old high school graduate with a child and no husband and ended with several hundred million dollars. In about 20 years.¡± ¡°Actually, according to Forbes, around $7.2 billion,¡± said eGirl. ¡°But to be fair, she did start with a big chunk of change.¡± ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°So much? That¡¯s a lot. How the heck did I not know that?¡± All four women of my age just snorted then, Tanya even giggled. ¡°Despite your current stats, even your beginning big-brain,¡± eGirl said, ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re the most perceptive person I know.¡± The other three just nodded their heads in agreement. ¡°Ouch!¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s not get too personal here. I was busy trying to have a life I guess and didn¡¯t need my mom¡¯s help so I didn¡¯t worry about it too much. I¡¯ve been on my own since I was fifteen.¡± ¡°Well,¡± said Big John, ¡°you cleaned the toilets.¡± Even the little girls laughed at this one. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°how about some respect. Duchal Heir here, you know.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯s scary stuff right there.¡± I must have looked offended because he clarified, ¡°no,¡± he said, ¡°not that you¡¯re the heir, but that there¡¯s an heir at all and that so much rides on your mom and you, well basically staying alive.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Yes,¡± said Jake. ¡°If they both were to die, anarchy.¡± ¡°Just so we¡¯re clear, I don¡¯t plan on dying and my mom is guarded by a martial arts master and a former SEAL as well as a lot of other total badasses.¡± ¡°I know,¡± said Jake. ¡°But really, that¡¯s the best that They could do? A Duchess? And a bunch of Dukes? What the hell?¡± ¡°No,¡± said Tanya. ¡°I don¡¯t think that it was based on what They could do. I think it was based on what we were doing.¡± ¡°Valid point,¡± said Jake. ¡°Valid point.¡± ¡°In any case, not to sound like a broken record, but what¡¯s done is done,¡± said eGirl. ¡°And what is, is. I don¡¯t care about the past and that may be the Mandate talking or the lack of the Mandate, whatever, but it¡¯s true. I don¡¯t care. I want to live, I want Miranda to live, I want you all to live too. I want us to be safe, doing things that we regard as important and necessary. I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s in the Duchy of Northern Tulsa or the State of Oklahoma, I just want to live with my girl safely, surrounded by my friends.¡± ¡°Still freaky, not you by the way¡± said Big Mike, gesturing towards eGirl. ¡°Understandable, it¡¯s been explained, but still freaking weird!¡± There was a long pause then while everyone sat and digested the information that they¡¯d been given. Trying to figure out their emotional reaction or lack of reaction to the information that they¡¯d been given tonight. I took out the potions and passed them around to everyone. Another day, another 11 potions and no bowel movements. Could be worse, said the man who once got poison ivy on his Johnson from going in the woods. Could definitely be worse. We broke up then, it was about six-thirty. I had last watch, Big Mike on first, Janet and then Tanya. I decided to sit by the fire and cast shield spells for a while. I had about 2 and ? hours until I needed to hit the hay. So I was going to spend it on Shield. I proceeded to do my human firefly routine, then canceled all the spells on me and went to bed. Not enough time to reach peak of the Peak, but getting closer. Big Mike woke me for my watch, which again passed peacefully. I chatted with Tanya and Janet when they got up and then we moved to outside the compound when the others got up to practice yoga. Once again, everyone made it and looked well-rested, which was good. Afterward, we moved into Martial Arts, Archery and Formations. Getting more limber and dangerous by the day. Fortunately, Formations practice was starting to gell a little bit more. By now everyone said, ¡°oorah¡± when they blew up the illusion. And everyone echoed it back. It¡¯s the little things you do together that make traditions, that bind people together. Tanya had started calling the person that was supposed to shoot the illusion. The illusion was still basically a big block of color, but it was fun watching it explode into light sparks when the Force Bolt hit it. The uncertainty of not knowing if you were going to be called made the practice a little bit more interesting. She started calling out names, randomly, rather than in a set order. I did notice that the little ones got called more often than the rest of us did. We finished up around 10 am and had our morning powwow. I reported no change, the little ones had practiced but not gone up a level, Miranda and eGirl had both gone up an actual level, Jake had worked on his Force Bolt spell and had got it up to Bronze 5. I think the whole group was a little relieved that he was practicing the right stuff now. Big Mike stood watch and didn¡¯t have time to practice what with sleep and family stuff happening, but Consuelo had practiced Force Bolt while Big Mike was on watch, but hadn¡¯t been able to raise the spell a level. Another day closer to our goals. Chapter 30 - Return of Some Friends We talked for a little bit and then just as we started to break, we heard voices coming from where the road met the parking lot. I could recognize them, even if I¡¯d only worked with them for a month, I could tell it was MixerBeast and Dogleg ¡°What the hell are those cubes?¡± I heard Dogleg say. ¡°What they made from? They look kinda like baked dirt.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said MixerBeast, ¡°but get ready. I don¡¯t want to get jumped by a giant possum like we did before.¡± We looked at each other and then shook our heads in disbelief. ¡°Hey, you two!¡± I yelled out. ¡°Come around front. The side facing Maxes¡¯ entrance.¡± ¡°That you Monsoon?¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°Good, you¡¯re still here.¡± ¡°C¡¯mon in,¡± I said. ¡°Stay under the trees,¡± I added a second later. No sense giving that Vulture any ideas. ¡°Ain¡¯t that something,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°I cain¡¯t believe that those trees grew that much in six days.¡± They came around the entrance and into our compound. They really hadn¡¯t changed, a lot dirtier, but they looked the same. Dogleg was 5¡¯8¡± worth of skinny blond. He was all angles. Even his straight blond hair pointed downward. MixerBeast was 5¡¯10¡± and had black hair that he wore short, messy, and spiked up. Unlike DogLeg he was a little bit hefty, not fat, just a boy that liked his food and beer. Especially the beer. Well, basically anything with alcohol in it. That¡¯s how he got his nickname after all. He was always up for a party, a drink and liked making them too. Neither one of them had shaved, but you could only tell it on MixerBeast. Dogleg just looked the same as he always did, well, if you added a bunch of dirt to normal. How do you greet someone in the apocalypse? Fortunately, Big Mike and Tanya were here as well. ¡°MixerBeast, Dogleg¡± Big Mike said. ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Tanya. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you both. I¡¯m glad you made it.¡± ¡°Hey, guys,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re still here, Monsoon. And Big Mike¡¯s here too,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°Ain¡¯t this the shit? We got back to our trailer and hung out and then the apocalypse happened and our trailer vanished. It left us some funny money and instead of a car, we got these pull things.¡± ¡°Did everything vanish?¡± I asked. ¡°Pretty much,¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°It left us some funky ass potions and a gold coin and three silver coins and a couple of pull-cabs like you see in movies, not as nice as the one you guys got, by the way, but something similar.¡± We¡¯d left the rickshaw outside when we came into our compound, so it wasn¡¯t really a surprise that they¡¯d seen it. I was a little surprised that they said theirs didn¡¯t measure up. I guess They did me right in the exchange for the Caddie. I paused expecting a smart ass blue screen, but nothing happened. **7/17 ¡°Your trailer vanished?¡± I asked just to be clear. ¡°Yep,¡± MixerBeast said. ¡°I was out on the front yard and it like glowed or something for a second or so and then just vanished into these sparkler-like sparks and when it was done there was nothing left. I mean nothing. Even the pad was gone. The driveway had changed into some rocks, kinda like those river rocks you see bagged up in Home Depot, but the whole trailer was gone.¡± ¡°Sure as shit freaked my ass out,¡± said DogLeg. ¡°I mean one minute I was standing there on the front yard waiting for the apocalypse, and then, boom next thing I was in the woods. Well, not woods so much as a big-ass lawn. I looked around and all them other trailers was gone too.¡± ¡°So where have you been staying?¡± asked Big Mike. ¡°Well, you know that barn we put up to store our lawn equipment?¡± We all nodded. This was their idea for getting ahead. MixerBeast was about half Osage and he was going to start a minority-owned business to get government contracts. He and Dogleg had talked about nothing else for the month I¡¯d been at Maxes. They were saving up money to buy the trailer next, followed by the lawnmowers and hedge trimmers and weed eaters. All the stuff you needed for a lawn care business. It was actually not a bad plan, provided they followed through on it, which they were doing. In any case, the first thing they decided to do was to buy a metal frame building, once again, a Quonset hut. They¡¯d thrown a party to get it erected and basically over the weekend, it had gone up. I¡¯d gone out and helped because I had nothing better to do. They¡¯d set the foundation the week before so all that needed to happen was to get the walls raised and the doors mounted which we did. MixerBeast¡¯s family, a large clan, had come out and helped. Dogleg was an orphan, kind of an adopted child of MixerBeast¡¯s family. They had known his folks and took him in when they died in a car wreck. It was a good time, lots of beer and music from his cousin¡¯s band, a kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band. In any case, he continued on, ¡°well, the Quonset hut was still there, so we moved in there too. All my neighbors did too. A whole bunch of old people and a couple of meth heads. The meth heads went into withdrawal the second day and took off to ¡®see about getting some food¡¯. They never came back. We stood it as long as we could, but then today we decided we¡¯d had enough. ¡± ¡°There¡¯s no plumbing in the barn. No running water, no way to wash up,¡± Dogleg said. ¡°Yep,¡± said MixerBeast, ¡°And well, also we ran out of potions this morning. They only gave us a couple of week¡¯s worth and when you have to share them with old folks, they go pretty quick. So we decided to come to Maxes and see if there was any food leftover here. Hey, we¡¯ve even got money to spend,¡± he said, holding up the silver pieces that he¡¯d got for his stuff. I wondered about the currency they¡¯d been given. I mean an auric and three agnis for all their stuff didn¡¯t seem like a lot, but then again, they didn¡¯t own much. Even their cars were mostly financed. Almost everything of value they had in the trailer was rented and so was the trailer. But if you figure a cupro was worth about a dollar, they¡¯d got maybe $10,300. I wanted to argue that they deserved more, but I¡¯d been in their trailer, $10 grand seemed pretty reasonable. Plus they got a couple of rickshaws and were able to keep their Quonset hut. ¡°How the hell are you living then?¡± asked Tanya. ¡°I mean how many old folks do you have?¡± ¡°Well,¡± said MixerBeast, ¡°it was just a small trailer park, it only had about 12 trailers. One of them contained the meth heads, four of them were empty at the time, the people that lived there had gone to be with other family members, so that left only about 10 people sides us in the park. It was kind of a retirement community. We probably shouldn¡¯t have been living there, but one of my cousins was the manager and let us in. He got onto us about the noise at the barn raising, evidently, some of them old folks weren¡¯t Skynyrd fans. The meth heads weren¡¯t his fault. They got let in by the previous manager.¡± Jackie spoke up then, ¡°uh, who is?¡± meaning a fan of Skynyrd. MixerBeast just laughed, ¡°you¡¯re obviously not from Oklahoma, are you?¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ve got a lot of explaining to do, it sounds like,¡± trying to cut off a Lynyrd Skynyrd argument before it had a chance to get started. ¡°Did you select a class?¡± I asked. ¡°Not yet,¡± they both responded. ¡°I just got offered some basic classes and wanted something more, stuff like Merchant, Fighter,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°Yeah, same here,¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°I figured that you might have a handle of it better than us, so I was going to wait and ask if you were still here,¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°I want some magic.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°If you can¡¯t have magic after an apocalypse, what¡¯s the damn point of surviving?¡± ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s figure out what needs to happen and then make a plan and get ¡®er done.¡± ¡°First off, we need to figure out what to do with the old folks,¡± said Janet. ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s probably the top of the list. Have they been fed today? Did your potion supply last?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°We used our last potions this morning. We¡¯re good through tomorrow. Nothing that¡¯s been sniffing around the outside has a chance to get in.¡± ¡°Something¡¯s been sniffing around the outside?¡± I asked. ¡°Yep,¡± they answered. ¡°Just this morning we heard something pawing at the door, but it couldn¡¯t get in. That damn door is strong. It¡¯s even stronger after the apocalypse than it was this morning. Whatever it was, couldn¡¯t even dent the metal.¡± ¡°Your talking about the rollup door? A garage door, basically?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± MixerBeast said. ¡°It¡¯s sturdy as fuck anymore. Ain¡¯t nothing going to get through that.¡± ¡°MixerBeast,¡± said Big Mike motioning to the little girls. ¡°Oops! Sorry about that, excuse my language,¡± MixerBeast said. ¡°I¡¯m wired and need to tone it down some. On the way here we passed a cow-sized Possum. It wasn¡¯t pretty. Fortunately, it was still da...rn slow. We left it in the dust.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°It was a whole lot of ugly. Still slow though.¡± ¡°How far away from Maxes are you guys now? The reason I¡¯m asking is because there seems to be a lot more distance between most places,¡± I asked. ¡°We just lived down the street,¡± MixerBeast said. ¡°That was one of the reasons we begged my cousin to let us stay in the park, you know? I used to could walk it in about 10 minutes. I¡¯m a pretty fast walker too. Remember last October when my car died?¡± he asked. ¡°Well, I still made it to work fine the week while my brother¡¯s shop was working on it.¡± His brother used to be a mechanic. ¡°Now it took us most of the morning to get here,¡± he continued. ¡°So, when you say all morning, what time did you leave?¡± I asked. ¡°How the hell would I know that?¡± he asked. ¡°My cell phone turned into a block of black rock and I never wear a watch, but it was right after the animal left which was probably about 30 minutes or so after we got up. We tend to go to bed early and rise pretty early these days. Not much to do at night and there ain¡¯t no lights in the barn.¡± ¡°So, about 5:30 to 10:00, about four and a half hours, I¡¯d say,¡± I said. ¡°Well, if it¡¯s 10 o¡¯clock now,¡± he answered. ¡°Say ¡®time¡¯,¡± I said, ¡°and think that you want to know the time also.¡± ¡°Time,¡± he responded and then immediately went, ¡°Wow! Cool. There¡¯s a¡± ¡°clock in your head, right?¡± said Janet. ¡°Pretty cool!¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I looked over and I could see that Dogleg was trying it out too. ¡°So what was the road like? I mean if it took you 4 and a half hours that means either the road got a lot longer or you just were a heck of a lot slower? Did you get lost? What happened?¡± ¡°No,¡± MixerBeast said. ¡°We didn¡¯t get lost and I swear we were traveling as fast as I normally did. But the damn woods stretched on forever. The road just stretched out with woods on both sides. Kind of like you got here. Maxes didn¡¯t used to have all these trees around it. It¡¯s like we got more land or something. But whatever. Anyways, it was like the same streets existed, but they were way further apart.¡± ¡°Did you ever feel like you were lost?¡± I said. ¡°I mean come on, you walked for 4 and a half hours on a trip that should have taken you 10 to 15 minutes tops.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s weird, but nope.¡± ¡°I know,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°It should of been weird, we should have felt lost or been panicking or something, but we just kept on.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really fucking odd,¡± said Janet. ¡°I mean, did you have a sense that you were on the right path or something? Because if I go for more than five minutes without a clear direction, I am lost and starting to panic.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°I just, we just kept on. It was like we knew things were different now and didn¡¯t care. Maybe we should get an Explorer class or something?¡± ¡°Anyhow, back to the road, what was it like?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t that great to begin with, well after all this, it just turned into a stone street,¡± he said. ¡°It just stretched off through the woods and we followed it. It was still heading in the same direction anyway. The woods were different. I mean the trees were different, there wasn¡¯t any undergrowth really, just these big tall trees. And I didn¡¯t recognize about half of them. I used to be in the woods all the time. Deer hunting, quail hunting, turkey hunting. You name it, I was out there hunting it.¡± He paused for a moment thinking about the woods, I guessed. ¡°They¡¯re different now. Hell, you can see it outside the parking lot, just like that,¡± he said, pointing to the trees that surrounded our little square area of what used to be a parking lot. ¡°Well, and I mean there¡¯s woods there now. That¡¯s the main difference. Fucking trees everywhere. It used to be a city street.¡± ¡°So it really took you four hours and a half hours to get here?¡± I asked again, trying to keep the conversation under control. ¡°Yep,¡± said MixerBeast. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s different. So if you were walking at a 15-minute mile pace that means your barn was moved about 18 miles away.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± he said. ¡°No wonder I¡¯m tired. Those potions rock though. I¡¯m still not hungry.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then, well crap, instead of a 19-mile, 30-minute drive, it looks like about a 340-mile walk to get to where my mother¡¯s house is.¡± ¡°That don¡¯t sound that bad,¡± said Dogleg. ¡°You could do that in about a day if you kept after it.¡± ¡°What?¡± said eGirl. ¡°In what universe is walking 340 miles in a day not that bad? Not mine, that for damn sure.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying you could cover it in about twenty-four hours if you needed too,¡± Dogleg defended himself. ¡°It¡¯s may not be that bad timewise, but monsterwise I¡¯m thinking it¡¯s a bit different,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve fought ten giant rats, four giant squirrels, one acid slime, two giant lizards. And that¡¯s with us staying right here. I¡¯m sure if we started moving, we¡¯d have a lot more encounters. All while hauling along a bunch of old folks in a paddle of rickshaws.¡± ¡°You forgot the Giant Vulture,¡± Tanya said. ¡°And a Giant Vulture,¡± I added. ¡°Although to be fair, it did just leave. With our squirrels.¡± ¡°Only three of them,¡± said Janet. We all looked at her like really, That¡¯s what¡¯s important? ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°You were being precise too. Is that what a group of rickshaws is called, a paddle?¡± ¡°Yeah, OK, it left with three of our squirrels. It left the other baby squirrel behind. Hmm, maybe that¡¯s why it¡¯s flying by so much. Maybe it wants the other squirrel,¡± I said. ¡°I have no idea what a group of rickshaws is named,¡± I continued. ¡°Probably not that, but I just thought it needed a cool name, so I called them a paddle. Cool huh? Anyway, back to what we were talking about before, I¡¯d say our first priority is to get the old folks back here? Everyone agree?¡± ¡°Or maybe we could move to them?¡± said Big Mike. ¡°They are eighteen miles closer to where we want to go, there isn¡¯t anything to keep us here, is there? That road leads straight to Sand Springs. Why don¡¯t we just move there? All our plans were to move that way anyway, why don¡¯t we just do it? Pack up our stuff and move out. Not to mention, I¡¯m thinking we might be wanting to move away from Maxes anyway. People are starting to get hungry, looking for food, I¡¯m thinking that they might be coming here.¡± ¡°Is that a bad thing?¡± I asked. ¡°My mom said we should be gathering up people, helping them survive.¡± ¡°It all depends,¡± Big Mike said. ¡°She said we were all survivors. That can be a good thing. But it can also be a bad thing, you know? Depends on what you¡¯re willing, wanting, or able to do to survive.¡± There was a pause then while we all considered what Big Mike had said and what it meant for our plans. Consuelo said then, ¡°Well, what about our plans for here? We were going to go back into Maxes and kill the rats and we were going to practice our spells to get stronger. Are we just going to give up on our plans?¡± ¡°No mamma,¡± Big Mike started to say when he got interrupted by Dogleg. ¡°You guys have spells? Really? That is so cool! I want them. Tell me how to get them,¡± he said. ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Teach Dogleg and MixerBeast how to use magic goes into our task list. But hold on, let¡¯s finish making plans first. It seems like we have two options, option one - return and get the old folks and bring them back here or option two - pack up and move to where the old folks are now.¡± ¡°The first plan means that somebody¡¯s got to haul some rickshaws along and cover 36 miles. So, probably whoever goes won¡¯t be back until tomorrow. I¡¯m not hauling people through the woods at night and I¡¯d recommend that nobody else do it either. Once we have them back here, we can move them into their own houses and teach them magic too. So somebody could be making houses for them to stay in while we are traveling to get them back.¡± I looked around and everybody was still listening. ¡°The second plan means that we¡¯ve got to pack up and get out of here, probably in an hour or less, because, once again, I don¡¯t want to be traveling through the woods at night, you know. Fortunately, we¡¯ve got inventories and not much stuff, so we could probably do it. But the faster the better, because I¡¯ve been in the barn, it will be crowded with all of us in there. I¡¯d like to have my own house in a compound set up tonight. But that takes about 30 minutes each to set up. I can probably set up my own though.¡± Again, I paused and looked around. Everyone was still looking at me, waiting for me to finish. ¡°The first plan means we¡¯re going to have to split the party. The second plan means we¡¯re going to have to abandon our current plans and move through the woods with us being a little less prepared than I¡¯d like. But regardless, we¡¯ve got to do something, because I¡¯m not comfortable leaving a bunch of old folks alone in the woods with no food. We need to be there tonight regardless of whatever plan we decide.¡± I stopped then and looked around. Everybody looked like they were considering the two plans. ¡°OK, MixerBeast,¡± I said. ¡°When you left what time did you tell them that you¡¯d be back?¡± ¡°Well,¡± he said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know things had changed so much. I told them that I¡¯d be back probably this afternoon.¡± ¡°Well, that puts a hard stop on it, whatever we¡¯re going to do, we need to get done by this evening or else who knows what they¡¯ll get up to.¡± ¡°You¡¯re talking about them like they¡¯re kids. They¡¯ve got a lot of experience,¡± MixerBeast said. ¡°I know and I respect that, but their experience hasn¡¯t been in this new-Earth. It¡¯s been in a highly populated, urban environment where they don¡¯t have to worry about large predators. Just over there,¡± and here I gestured toward the woods, ¡°I was about killed by a Giant Lizard. I stepped into its territory and it attacked. If I¡¯d been alone or with two weaker people than those two,¡± I gestured at Big Mike and Consuelo, ¡°I have no doubt I¡¯d be dead now. I thought I was watching, I thought I was ready and still, I almost died. What do you think the odds are on your older folks making it in a situation like that? We get them trained up and they can sit in their seats in the rickshaws and take care of practically anything. Old Folks artillery brigade, till then, they could die stepping out the door of that barn.¡± ¡°Well,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°How are we going to do this? We gonna vote?¡± ¡°We started that way,¡± said eGirl. ¡°I think we should continue that way.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we?¡± I said. ¡°We can worry about how we want to go forward later. We¡¯re on a time limit now.¡± ¡°OK,¡± said eGirl, ¡°I vote we stay here and send people to get them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m with eGirl,¡± Miranda said. ¡°Always! But, now that I know what¡¯s out there, I want to be stronger before facing it. I think we got lucky when we made it here.¡± ¡°Consuelo, Big Mike?¡± I asked. ¡°I say we go. We don¡¯t need the rats,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°I go with you,¡± said Consuelo. ¡°I followed you all over this country. I¡¯m not stopping now.¡± ¡°I say we go,¡± said Baila. We all looked at her, especially MixerBeast and Dogleg. ¡°What?¡± she said, looking at them. ¡°I¡¯ve got a Force Bolt. I¡¯ve got a vote.¡± Amada looked at her sister for a second, smiled and then said, ¡°I vote we go too.¡± It¡¯s strange how customs could be started from seemingly small beginnings. I looked at Tanya and Jackie and then at Jake. Tanya asked, ¡°What about you? What do you want to do?¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s have it, Monsoon. What do you want to do?¡± asked Jackie. ¡°Every story that I¡¯ve read said, ¡®Don¡¯t split the party¡¯. But, of course, then they all split the party. I think I¡¯d worry about you all if I left you behind and I have no idea what we¡¯d be facing out there. I¡¯d want you all there to back us up if we get into a scuffle and you know we are. Going to scuffle, I mean. So, right now, I¡¯m thinking, let¡¯s say goodbye to Maxes and rescue some old folks.¡± ¡°OK,¡± said Tanya. ¡°That works for me, let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°I¡¯m there,¡± said Janet. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± ¡°Jake, what¡¯s the word?¡± I asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, but I say go,¡± he said. I looked at eGirl and Miranda to check and see if they were OK with the vote. eGirl just smiled and waved it off. She was fine with the way that the vote turned out. ¡°Ok,¡± I said. ¡°Everybody gathers what you need and we¡¯re out of here. I¡¯ve got something in Maxes I need. Big Mike, can you give me a hand?¡± ¡°You mean the GB?¡± Tanya asked. ¡°The God Box does what the God Box does. I wish I didn¡¯t have anything to do with that thing. But I do and I will probably forever. Nope, I¡¯m taking the stove. I was thinking that if we have to cook, why not use a stove?¡± ¡°Ok, not what I was expecting, but I guess it will come in handy,¡± said Janet. ¡°I know,¡± said Tanya. ¡°He¡¯s surprising.¡± ¡°C¡¯mon Big Mike. Let¡¯s look it over and see if we can acquire it for our trip.¡± Big Mike and I made our way into Maxes probably for the last time. It was funny, but I was going to miss this place. Miss the time when I was just me and the girls. Miss, even more, the times from before the Apocalypse. It was my first real job. Probably not much of one and it was just a stopgap, but still I¡¯d met some interesting people. Had some fun times at the place. And the rats. Let¡¯s not forget the rats. We both moved along in the perpetual gloom that shrouded the place. Staying along the front wall, next to the windows, well away from the nest. Even here we could hear the sounds of bodies shifting, the scratch of claws. We got up to the remains of the pizza place and soda fountain and the stoves were still there. We walked over and examined the stoves a little more closely then we did before, both of us keeping an eye on the rat¡¯s nest just in case. It looked like the big block of whitish stone with the handprints on it was attached to the metal top which was covered in the masonry bricks. It looked like it could slide in and out though, maybe for ease of cleaning. Don¡¯t know, just knew that I wanted it. ¡°Damn,¡± said Big Mike. ¡°They replaced the ovens. I wonder if They had a magical engineering crew that designed this or what? Did They just wave their hands and change it?¡± ¡°I¡¯d guess the latter,¡± I said. ¡°I think they¡¯ve done this before maybe or well They had to come from someplace, you know? Maybe they had ovens there?¡± ¡°Why did you want this?¡± he asked. ¡°Well, like you said, magical engineering. They took away all of the gas, plastics, electricity, this oven might give us a way to figure out how to design replacements using magic,¡± I said. ¡°At the very least it shows us what¡¯s possible. I think that as bad as things are now, maybe they aren¡¯t totally screwed up. If we can survive these first days and months, we can start rebuilding. We¡¯re an inventive species. Clever little monkeys. The biggest hurdle I think to progress is figuring out what¡¯s possible. With this and the knowledge that we had of stoves, fans, heaters, air conditioners, all the crap that made modern life better than it was in the old days, can be reinvented. If Consuelo wants an icebox, we¡¯ll figure out how to make it. And maybe this stove might show us the way forward.¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± he said. ¡°It kind of makes sense. Still, that pizza oven cost around $12,000 grand. It¡¯s a shame to see it replaced by what looks like some bricks with a kid¡¯s handprints on it.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s tear it out and we can figure it out later,¡± I said. And we did. The rats left us alone and we gathered it up and put it and the other oven in Big Mike¡¯s inventory. It was a stretch, he said he could feel them in there, but not too bad. I took a couple of the bar trestle tables and four of the benches that were there as well. I tied the benches together using some of the camping rope I had into stacks of two and did the same with the tables and they stacked that way in my inventory. We came outside and the little ones and Roxie were already in the rickshaw waiting on us. The huts in the compound hadn¡¯t collapsed but looked a little shaky. It turns out that Jake had re-acquired the wooden beams that supported the roofs and had them stored in people¡¯s inventories. A great idea. It should make setting up the compound much faster, plus we won¡¯t have to go into the woods to gather more. Woods, night, bad. At least, until we figured out how to see at night. I added that to my list of spells to figure out. I turned around and looked back at Maxes, wondering if it was a dungeon or just a nest? I would have liked to have found out, but well, ¡®needs must as the devil drives¡¯ as my mom used to say. Tanya and Janet came over and stood by me. First Janet and then Tanya reached out and we stood there, hugging and just sharing the moment. We¡¯d done a lot of surviving, a lot of growing, here at Maxes. The hug ended and I looked at them and we smiled and then turned and I picked up the arms of the rickshaw, fastened the dragon catch on the harness and we started on the next stage of our journey. Not a chapter Hey, if you liked the previous story, you might check out my new story. It may or may not have some shared story mechanics in it. if you didn''t like it, you won''t like this one either A quick note on the follow up for the first story that I promised. Ah, yeah, I''m still working on that. I couldn''t see my way forward so I''ve got a general direction but not the path there yet . Also editing is a lot harder than I was hoping it would be This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. anyway, I adopted this outlining style that I got the idea for from an author named Eric Ugland''s Facebook page . Simple, short paragraphs that describe what I want to have happen in the chapter. So far it''s working out for me. Btw, if you haven''t read his good guys/ bad guys series you should. Another good read, not litrpg, is irina syroatnokova''s My Path to Magic Russian, the translation is not the best, but I still love it. Probably have read the three novels at least 5 or six times . thanks! Happy reading.