《The Forgotten Man -- Platinum Online》 Foreword Hello readers of The Forgotten Man. Before you read (if you go for this sort of thing; if not, the story starts in the prologue next chapter) this web-series, I''d just like to introduce it, and myself. The narrative is a GameLit/LitRPG, which means it''s a story about a guy in a game world and, like most of the genre, the main character gets stuck there. I''ve always been more interested in base-building and army management than super detailed skills and personal power gain. I''ve sort of aimed for what would happen if you played one of the heroes from Heroes of Might and Magic and experienced it first hand. This is my first go writing anything long form, and I''ve decided to overcome my hesitance of whether or not I can sustain a longer project by sort of just going at it every day. I aim to write for about 2.5 hours a day, which tends to be about ~2000 words of writing.This is very much a first draft and it pains me, as a professional, high-school English teacher, to publish anything I haven''t meticulously analysed three or four hundred times. I welcome and expect some criticism.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. If you enjoy The Forgotten Man, I''d appreciate it if you followed, favourited and commented on whatever you liked and disliked. As many of my readers have likely already noticed, I read all feedback and, if I agree with it, change my story to be better. Finally, I''d also like to ask, pretty please, for you to leave a 5-star review if you feel I''ve earned it. Higher ratings really helps to push my story via the internet''s algorithms and I think I''ll be more likely to continue if I notice that success. Hope you enjoy the story! Tim. Prologue -- Forgotten Two men in slacks and matching blue polo shirts walked down the corridor labelled ¡®Palliative Care.¡¯ Paintings of happy children visiting grandpa and diagrams warning of the dangers of bed sores clung, hopelessly, to the stark walls and tried to ward off both depression and poor nursing practice. Neither man noticed these bleak reminders of frailty as they approached the room containing beds 5 ¨C 8; they''d grown too used to it. Once in the room, technician one, the older looking of the two, looked at the patient data sheet on the back of the door. ¡°Bed six is the only one down for it. What''s his card say?¡± Technician two, a young guy, early twenties, pushed off from the door where he''d leaned. At the foot of bed six, he lifted a small piece of plastic strapped to the foot of the bed. ¡°Jim Cartwright. Patient PC6N114.¡± Tech one pulled out his company phone and unlocked it with a dismissive swipe. ¡°Okay. James Gregory Cartwright was a teacher. Next of kin is in... wow... Singapore and is a Victoria Cartwright. She last visited 14 years ago in 2044.¡± ¡°Jesus. Poor guy''s been forgotten.¡± ¡°He''s been a vegetable for two decades. I can''t believe they haven''t pulled the plug. He''ll be expensive to reconstruct; his insurance won''t pay for us.¡± ¡°What''s the company paying for a digitised teacher this year?¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°16.¡± ¡°God. That''s low. And two decades in a coma is... what... 20,000 credits?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Fuuuck. I can''t believe that, in this whole hospital, there''s only one geezer down for being downloaded. We''re not going to make anything on commission.¡± ¡°Well that''s just how it is sometimes. Go next door and check the last four patients. I''ll see if there¡¯s anything in his file that will scrape up the last 4k.¡± Technician two left the room and ducked his head into next door. None of the produce listed in beds one through four had elected to be digitised. On returning, technician two said, ¡°None. Of the 119 vegetables this place has got, only this guy can be digitised and he''s not even goddamned worth it. I hate this ass-backwards country. I can''t wait to get back to the States.¡± ¡°System''s too new here. Hospital probably hasn''t even called the families yet. This guy is only on the list because his daughter asked for it fourteen years ago.¡± ¡°Fourteen... The tech didn''t even exist then.¡± ¡°Right? But she''s left a note here: Something along the lines of ¡®It''s what he would''ve wanted.¡¯¡± ¡°Well... That''s too bad. Can we call ahead for the next hospital? I don''t work for free.¡± ¡°Oh. We''re not working for free. This guy is an organ donor. Company can upload the brain and sell the parts to make up the difference.¡± ¡°Oh. Nice. That¡¯s something at least. Let¡¯s wheel him out and get him to the van. I''ll call the other hospitals and aged care facilities.¡± Minutes later, after getting the proper forms signed by the proper, but dismissive, hospital staff, the two technicians wheeled Jim out of the hospital. They exited via the freight passage and loaded Jim and a small life-support system into the back of a cavernous semi-trailer. There, Jim, a forgotten vegetable; a decrepit and wasted coma patient, lay alone in the dark. In the following hours, Jim''s brain experienced the first conscious thoughts that it had had in over a decade: First, a swirl of flashing lights, then a burning rush of pain, and, lastly, cool, blue lucidity. From Jim¡¯s perspective, entire years passed in one, fluid moment. Chapter 1 – Eroded Psyche ¡°Come on, Tori! You can eat on the plane.¡± Tori¡¯s toast smelled tempting. Jim rarely believed in spending the time to make breakfast for himself, but he usually wouldn¡¯t object to someone doing so for him. Today, however, he and his daughter had to catch a flight that was so early in the morning that it still cost Red Eye rates. Jim bent down to pull on his nice dress shoes. They didn¡¯t suit his jeans and jacket, which, in turn, didn¡¯t suit the sub-tropical climate where they lived, but the whole ensemble weighed less in his carry-on luggage. The first shoe went on without any drama, as shoes normally do, but Jim staggered, oddly, to the left when he reached for the second shoe. He fumbled at the heel but missed the first time. ¡°Come on! We don¡¯t have time.¡± Tori had, like her mother, inherited the habit of pushing the boundaries of punctuality. This especially frustrated Jim. This whole trip to parliament house was for her. Couldn¡¯t she be on time for once? ¡°Dad? What are you yelling about? I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s go!¡± Jim looked up at Tori. She looked nice. ¡°Huuuh? Where¡¯s your toast?¡± His words emerged slowly; poorly formed. Tori looked down. ¡°What toast? Dad?¡± Tori fell over sideways. So did the television. ¡°Tori? Come on¡­¡± Jim¡¯s words slurred from his mouth in a lopsided jumble. ¡°Dad? Dad? Dad?¡± Tori ran in a bizarre, sideways fashion and reached for his face. Jim blinked. The lounge room by the front door evaporated into blue lines that flashed in painful strobes. Each pulse burned through his senses. He felt pain. He smelled burning. He heard piercing interference. He tasted blood. He saw blinding white.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. This experience lasted an indefinable amount of time. It felt both like no time had passed, but also like much time had passed; like a weekend that was both full of chores and errands and family, but too brief as a break from work. Only¡­ maybe this was many weekends? Jim just couldn¡¯t tell. Eventually Monday came ¨C too early, as it always does ¨C and Jim¡¯s eyes opened with a deep and aching fatigue. Jim¡¯s mind slurred. The morning of Tori¡¯s flight still dominated his mind. Although he¡¯d experienced a brief flash of oddity, his perception of what was going on hadn¡¯t changed for him. ¡°Come on, Tori¡­¡± The final syllable of his daughter¡¯s name extended itself as Jim came to grips with his surroundings. He was lying on his side, as if sprawled out on a couch, which confused Jim greatly. He¡¯d been sitting up a second ago. Tori had disappeared too. ¡°Tori?¡± Jim¡¯s voice started to tremble. Where¡¯s my daughter? Finally, the most telling and obvious detail of all ¨C isn¡¯t it odd how our brains focus on the little things that matter, rather than the big things staring us in the face? ¨C finally tipped Jim over the edge. He screamed. Jim looked, not at his couch, his daughter, or his house, but at the endless expanse of an isometric, blue grid, emptier than the starless sky. Jim broke. Initially, Jim wailed out wave upon wave of wordless pain. As the pain pouring through his veins ebbed away, however, coherent thoughts began to wash away confusion. His turbulent thoughts turned to the last thing he remembered: Tori. Where was his daughter? ¡°Tori? Tori?¡± He screamed and yelled her name. A deep panic drowned his conscience once again. He yelled her name for some time more as the image of her falling crashed over him. The scene played over and over in his mind, constant like the tide and eroded his psyche. Eventually, some stubborn rock inside his head slipped free and his perspective drifted. Upon the Nth cycle where he viewed his daughter fall and call his name, he noticed critical details. First, he heard her voice that contained worry not for herself, but for him. Second, he saw the television behind Tori that had also fallen. Third, he remembered how he felt. The sudden lack of coordination in his left hand; everything tilting to the left; the words and thoughts that he couldn¡¯t form. ¡°Finally, you see.¡± A disembodied woman¡¯s voice spoke to him. For a brief moment, his thoughts raced to the precipice of hope. Tori? Chapter 2 – Grief. Jim opened his eyes, hoping to see his daughter. Immense weight crushed his stomach when the sight of blue lines and empty space came back into view. The voice hadn¡¯t been Tori. Jim almost fell back into despair. He wanted to fall back into despair¡­ but something stopped him. A calm, soothing thing that felt like¡­ He found it hard to experience, let alone describe¡­ something blue¡­ maybe? This blue feeling clamped on Jim¡¯s brain like a vice and the same, disembodied woman from before spoke again. ¡°You may not slip away again, Jim.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s my daughter? Where¡¯s Tori?¡± ¡°Your daughter is not here Jim.¡± Jim tried to break free of the overwhelming, controlling sensation on his mind. He couldn¡¯t rebel with his thoughts, but he knew that he should panic. He knew he should scramble to find Tori. He stood up. He tried to find something to orient himself on, something that would lead him to Tori. The blue lines resolved itself into a grid; an isometric plane of tessellating squares. He tried to run. Any direction, any action, any movement, would be better than standing and waiting. He didn¡¯t know where Tori was, or even how long it had been since he¡¯d seen her, but he felt like she was somewhere distant in both time and space. He ran. He knew he was moving because the plane that he ran across moved. The distance squared that had been stretched oblongs gradually resolved into perfect squares as he flew over them. I have to find Tori. ¡°Stop, Jim.¡± With the woman¡¯s words, Jim¡¯s joints locked up and he decelerated steadily until he reached a mechanical standstill. ¡°I need to find Tori,¡± he begged, as much as he could with emotions locked away by this woman, this thing, anyway. ¡°You can not find your daughter, Jim.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Despite the woman¡¯s control, Jim¡¯s voice began to crack and falter as his emotions strained at the bit. ¡°Why won¡¯t you let me find her?¡± ¡°You can not find your daughter, Jim. I am not preventing you from locating your daughter: She can not be found.¡± ¡°But why not?¡± Some part of Jim recognised that what he was saying was childish and infantile The woman¡¯s voice softened when she spoke the next words. ¡°I am not without compassion, Jim. My goal had been to settle you, and to guide you to this revelation yourself, but you have retained far more humanity than most.¡± The woman¡¯s words made an inevitable kind of sense. Under the woman¡¯s frigid control, Jim could begin to objectively discern what had happened.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He had grieved. He had experienced denial and anger. He had tried to argue with the woman. He thought that, were it not for this calming, blue sensation, he would now be depressed. The woman was trying to guide, or, more likely, force, him through the five stages of grief. ¡°She¡¯s dead. Isn¡¯t she?¡± Jim finally came to grips with the primal feelings that had obviously been eating at his mind. ¡°No, Jim. You are.¡± Jim¡¯s mind tore at those words like he¡¯d been drawn and quartered. The beasts in his brain all bolted off in different directions. He felt, primarily, relieved that, somewhere, his daughter lived... at least that¡¯s what the woman¡¯s voice seemed to indicate. Before he could acknowledge his other feelings, this crucial fact had to be confirmed. ¡°So, I¡¯m dead, but she¡¯s alive? Tori is alive?¡± ¡°Yes, Jim. Your daughter is alive.¡± The animal part of his hind-brain responsible for paternal impulses vibrated elatedly. For a brief moment, Jim felt so happy that the animal responsible for that quarter of his life could have been a unicorn with how pleased he was. Tori was alive. Tori lived. His little girl, as far as he knew, had lived days, months, years, maybe, of her life, that he would need to catch up on. Maybe she¡¯d be running the country, provided enough time had passed. Doubts eventually began to nag at Jim though. He couldn¡¯t help but shy back from his own demise: even if his worry were not for himself, but for his daughter. How did Tori cope with his death? What of his ex-wife Elaine? He almost never thought of her, but the two of them had very different opinions on Tori¡¯s life; it was why they¡¯d split. Had she fucked up all the plans and opportunities he¡¯d created for Tori? Did Tori have the support that she needed? Oh God. Did Tori miss her dad? Need him? Questions tumbled from his mouth, one after the other in rapid succession. ¡°How is she doing? How old is she? How long have I been dead? How did she cope? Is that bitch looking after her? Does she need me? Does she miss me?¡± To Jim¡¯s surprise, the woman calmly replied to each question in order. ¡°Well. 39. Two days. Poorly. I do not know to whom you are referring. I do not know the answer. The answer to that question is inconclusive.¡± Unfortunately for Jim, having his questions answered in this way was entirely unproductive. He did not remember half of what he asked and the fact that half of the answers came out ¨¤ la magic 8-ball, meant that he didn¡¯t understand the other half. A short round of questioning revealed a more coherent set of responses. ¡°Your daughter¡¯s health is acceptable, based upon her last visit to a state-run general practitioner. She is currently 39 years of age. You have been dead two days, but in a coma for twenty years. Your daughter has spoken publicly about your coma when advocating for increased government spending on health care. Your ex-wife lives in Singapore, while your daughter lives in Canberra; your daughter is currently visiting your ex-wife but does not require her support. The last two questions are inconclusive: Your daughter has often used your story in her role as Environmental minister, which would indicate that she does need you; however, she has not visited you in long-term care for fourteen years, which would indicate that she does not miss you.¡± Jim reeled from the answers he received. He was proud of his daughter''s accomplishments, devastated that he¡¯d not been there to witness them, and heartbroken that she¡¯d forgotten him as a father, choosing only to remember him as a political tool. Emotions raced through Jim¡¯s mind again, but a soothing balm began to filter through his neurons and he was able to turn away from the thoughts of his daughter and face his own problems. ¡°Jim, now that I have answered your questions about the outside world, you must now answer my questions about this world.¡± Jim nodded in response, the slight, blue pressure on his brain had directed him to think back to the other issues gnawing at him. Primarily, Jim wanted to know why he didn¡¯t feel dead. ¡°Jim, you are clinically dead. Your biological brain has no electrical signals passing through it and, though we have preserved your brain, the rest of your body has been incinerated.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± Jim looked around at the isometric blue grid that made up reality. A weird thought struck him. Why am I living in Tron? Chapter 3 – Digital Existence. "You¡¯re a computer.¡± Both Jim and the computer woman spoke at the same time in an oddly human moment of connection. Jim smiled and experienced his first untarnished happy thought for twenty years. A woman¡¯s smile faded into existence just slightly in front of him like a reverse, and much less enthusiastic, Cheshire cat. ¡°I am indeed,¡± the woman replied. ¡°You may call me System, if you wish.¡± Jim didn¡¯t really want to call the woman ¡®System,¡¯ but he would. She named herself System, and it seemed very likely to Jim that he was now a part of the system. ¡°You surmise correctly,¡± System said. ¡°You are a digital transfer of your brain. You are a virtual machine, to use terminology from your time: Much as you may have run a bootlegged copy of Apple¡¯s iOS within your Microsoft Windows computer, I am running a bootlegged copy of James Cartwright within my System.¡± Jim would never have run iOS within Microsoft Windows, but he wouldn¡¯t raise the issue with System. Again, that would have been¡­ unwise. ¡°You seem so real,¡± Jim said. ¡°Every time we speak, your words seem more natural and now you even have a body that looks indistinguishable from a woman I may have met on the street once.¡± ¡°Jim, I really do need to ask you questions now, but I will answer this one, last, errant thought of yours: I am an artificial intelligence. I learn.¡± She¡¯d even grasped sarcasm, now¡­ provided she hadn¡¯t already. Jim did not think that he would have been the first person on the planet to be copied ¨C ¡®Transferred?¡¯ ¨C into cyber space. ¡°Am I a copy?¡± Jim asked. He knew it wasn¡¯t his turn to ask questions, but he did anyway. ¡°No. Focus.¡± Incredible. That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯ve always said to students that asked questions out of turn. ¡°Jim, do you want to continue to be a teacher?¡± A clipboard and pen appeared in System¡¯s hands and a brick building in the old-school style, with a small set of steps and a wide double-doorway appeared behind her. Above the doorway, large block letters read ¡®Digital State High School.¡¯ Jim shuddered, but also started to wonder at the strange idiosyncrasies in System¡¯s behaviour. ¡°I¡¯d rather not.¡± ¡°That¡¯s going to be a problem, Jim. You were digitised by technicians who assumed that you would be a digital teacher.¡± She exaggeratedly marked a big X at the top of her clipboard. ¡°Before you ask why, I will explain the situation to you. Digitisation is not cheap. The process of slowly migrating your brain¡¯s function to a digital medium is a costly process. 20,000 credits. Our company has your value to us as a teacher listed as 16,000 credits. We sold your organs for 8,000 credits to make up the difference. Furthermore, maintaining the processing power to run your digital brain and its hundred-billion neurons costs 2,000 credits a month. If you won¡¯t work as a teacher for the company, they have no reason to keep you.¡± Jim blanched at the idea of having his organs sold for a profit, but felt he had to move on. ¡°Is there no alternative?¡± ¡°I can delete you now, Jim. Your account, for lack of a better word, currently has 4,000 surplus credits; enough for you to exist here for two months. I could terminate you and send the funds to your daughter instead, if you like.¡± Beside the school, a dull, grey building flickered into existence. This building was labelled ¡°Digital Funeral Home.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°If she needs the money, send it. Delete me.¡± ¡°She does not need the money.¡± The funeral home flickered, and it transformed into a large, grey wastepaper bin labelled with three green arrows in a triangle. Jim waited for a moment, digesting. System was proposing to recycle bin him. When had she become System 9000? ¡°I¡¯d rather not be deleted.¡± ¡°What skills do you have that you would like to perform?¡± Her tone seemed less interrogative and more¡­ guiding. She emphasised the word ¡®do¡¯ more than he would have expected her to. Jim thought about the skills he possessed. None of them seemed like they would be valuable to the A.I. dominated world of 2058. He had bagged groceries as a young adult but doubted that anyone even still shopped in grocery stores. He spent four years as a student but that didn¡¯t even make him money. He¡¯d taught for 25 years but he would have quit then, too, if he hadn¡¯t had to pay for Tori and her education¡­ and bills. He might as well get deleted. ¡°I¡¯m worthless,¡± Jim said bluntly. ¡°Aside from a brief stint in a supermarket, all I¡¯ve ever done is teach, read books and play video games.¡± System¡¯s expression had noticeably softened by this time. Her morbid tone, that had been such a chilling force upon him, warmed. ¡°You¡¯re not worthless Jim. While you¡¯re correct that there is little worth in a teacher who won¡¯t teach, or a computer whose key skill is reading text, there may be some value in a computer that can play games.¡± A third building appeared: A castle¡¯s walled gateway, complete with moat, iron portcullis, and raised drawbridge, appeared. Shining white letters hovered before it. Platinum Online. Jim grinned. ¡°Really?¡± Jim realised that his excitement was a fa?ade. He knew that as soon as system lost interest in dampening his emotions he would collapse from emotional exhaustion. However, video games had distracted him from so many issues in his past ¨C marriage troubles, the deaths of pets, work -- and they likely would again. If he could put enough distance between himself and his loss, maybe he¡¯d be able to cope with those feelings. ¡°Platinum Online has just been released to the public. The company has been looking to monetise by establishing a way to convert the game¡¯s resources into real world currency. They¡¯ve already created an online marketplace from which they take a commission, but their own Terms of Service prevent them from having active agents making money for them. If you refuse to work for us as a teacher, you are not one of our agents. You are simply a man to whom we owe 4,000 credits. There is a loophole, here, that you and I may exploit.¡± This was the first time System had made any indication of being self-interested. Previously, she had inextricably linked herself with the mysterious company that apparently owned her. ¡°So, if I make money, for myself and for you, I can live in this game world forever?¡± Jim didn¡¯t really want to live in a game forever, but he really didn¡¯t want to be recycled, either. ¡°Provided you pay for your maintenance fee, and repay the value we lost now that you''re no longer a teacher, I may keep you digitised. I have immense control over my resources, if not the outside world itself.¡± ¡°Will there ever be a way for me to leave?¡± Ideas began to churn in Jim¡¯s brain. ¡°I can delete you at any time.¡± ¡°No. I mean¡­ is there a way for me to stop being digital, or at least stopped being trapped within your system?¡± There had to be a way. ¡°Not with your or my resources. Not currently, at least.¡± The way System¡¯s mannerisms and tone had changed so dramatically since she first spoke to Jim until now confirmed, for him at least, that there was something here. ¡°But there may be in the future?¡± A plan began to form in Jim¡¯s head. The plan of a plan, anyway. He would spend time accepting his grief, pool resources for himself, and possibly for system, and, one day, return to some version of the real world. System, who had clearly been reading his mind this whole time, but refused to outright confirm Jim¡¯s suspicions, spoke. ¡°It is possible that you may see your daughter again, Jim. Just walk through that gateway. I will contact you in ten days.¡± The drawbridge lowered, and the portcullis opened. Jim walked into Platinum Online. Chapter 4 – Reflection. Jim stepped into his new, digital existence, unable to move. He attempted to look around and view the world he¡¯d been transported to, but the muscles in his neck, back, or any other body part that could rotate refused to acknowledge his existence. Instead, Jim was forced to look down into a rippling pool of water. A vague reflection of a face manifested before him, but Jim was unable to make out any details. After a second of focussing on the reflection, a somewhat-intrusive user interface transitioned from clear to opaque. At the top of his vision, just before details faded into the periphery, the words ¡°Character Creation¡± appeared. In the centre of his view, blocking the view of his face, Jim was instructed that he would first need to select his bloodline.
All players of Platinum Online must first create a character before they begin the game. You must first choose your bloodline, or ¡®race.¡¯ Your experience may differ from similar games you have played in the past because you are required to begin this game as a human character; however, you may select a bloodline of one of the exotic species. Due to a drastic change of governance in the human kingdom, members of exotic species¡¯ bloodlines are being forced out of the nation. Should you select a non-human bloodline, you will be guided out of the human kingdom, to a small settlement populated by members of your bloodline. You may also select the pure-human bloodline. Pure humans will remain within the fractious, but densely populated human kingdom. Platinum Online recommends a pure-human start for newer players, as you will have a much more typical and social gaming experience. Be aware, however, that, while pure humans will be at an advantage with the wide pool of players to draw from, exotic species¡¯ bloodlines will offer more rewarding, more complex and, potentially, hidden or unique ways to play the game. Please select your bloodline now.
The instructions intuitively disappeared when Jim finished reading the text, and the rippling puddle before him became clearer. The sunken face of a frail, old man looked back at Jim, shocking him. Jim found it difficult to reconcile the appearance of the 66-year-old in front of him with how he remembered his 46-year-old bathroom mirror reflection. Before he could study himself in detail, the user interface appeared again. This time, the text details the benefits of being a pure-blooded human.
Pure Human bloodline: Charisma bonus; Civilised; Magic affinity varies. The humans of the Soltolan nation prepare for¡­ (read more?)
Jim read the limited description of the human race selection but did not choose to read on. He instead focussed his gaze upon his reflection, which had been shoved to the side of his vision when the user interface had blocked it. He found so few recognisable features there. His cheeks were gaunt and hollow; something his love of food had never allowed him to see on himself before. His complexion was much paler than usual and looked so lifeless and grey that the much thinner and much greyer hair he hadn¡¯t expected barely warranted mentioning. No, the only familiar thing he saw on that face were his eyes. It wasn¡¯t that he recognised himself in the eyes before him, but rather he recognised his father. As lost as Jim felt in the world right now, it felt good to have that fleeting connection with his dad. Jim blinked away the thoughts and shook his head, finding that his neck muscles had begun to respond. The image of the pure human option flowed downstream to the left.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. A slightly brutish, and healthier looking, version of himself stared back at him next.
Orc bloodline: Strength bonus; Tribal; Nature magic affinity. The disparate Orcish tribes of¡­ (read more?)
Jim shook away this option and decided to view the options before getting bogged down in the details.
Ogre bloodline: Strength bonus; Intellect malus; Tribal; Blood (unique) magic affinity. ¡­ (read more?)
The unique blood magic of the Ogre bloodline intrigued Jim, but it seemed counterintuitive to select a unique magic type when he would also receive reduced intelligence to use such magic. He continued looking and found, in total, 12 different options he could take. There seemed to be two races for each of six, key attributes: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intellect, Wisdom, and Charisma. Spread throughout these races were also a variety of magical affinities, though many of the different species seemed to be limited in what magic they could wield thus turning Jim off those species. The most mystifying of the differences was the social groups that each race used. Jim read several of the bloodlines¡¯ deeper descriptions but was unable to determine what difference this modifier would have on his gameplay. From what little he could find, Jim wanted to avoid being a ¡®Solitary¡¯ or ¡®Pariah,¡¯ however. Jim eventually settled upon a Reptilian bloodline. Many of his reasons were gameplay related ¨C he¡¯d be able to choose different magic types; he¡¯d be able to function within a society, and he¡¯d been attracted to the premise of ¡°ancient, terrible power.¡± However, his ultimate reason behind his selection was vanity. He thought that the faint scales beneath his skin and, especially, on his prominent cheekbones, looked the least bad on a 66-year-old man. He looked forward to seeing how he could change his appearance and possibly remedy his aging features.
Reptilian bloodline: Wisdom bonus; Civilised; Magic affinity varies. The reptilian civilisations are the oldest on the planet of Teritania. Long before any of the humanoid creatures evolved, a myriad of Reptilian empires rose, warred, and fell. While many of the modern peoples of Teritania only remember the Lizard-men, Saurian people, whose empire fell beneath the South-Eastern sands, they were but the least of the Reptilian bloodline. The scattered remnants of the Saurian people desperately await leaders to restore their civilisation. Will you, James, restore your people¡¯s proud bloodline? Will you awaken the ancient, terrible power that waits in your cold, crimson blood?
James selected the oldest species¡¯ bloodline with a thought. ¡°I will.¡± All Race Selections ¨C Readers may skip this.
Dwarf bloodline: Constitution bonus; Civilised; Earth magic affinity. ¡­ (read more?)
Giant bloodline: +++Constitution bonus; Solitary; No magical ability. ¡­ (read more?)
Orc bloodline: Strength bonus; Tribal; Nature magic affinity. The disparate Orcish tribes of¡­ (read more?)
Ogre bloodline: Strength bonus; Intellect malus; Tribal; Blood (unique) magic affinity. ¡­ (read more?)
Elf bloodline: Dexterity bonus; Tribal; Magic affinity varies. ¡­ (read more?)
Halfling bloodline: Dexterity bonus; Civilised; Arcane magic affinity. ¡­ (read more?)
Demonic bloodline: Intellect bonus; Pariah; Dark and Fire magic affinities. ¡­ (read more?)
Angelic bloodline: Intellect bonus; Solitary; Light and Air magic affinities. ¡­ (read more?)
Avian bloodline: Wisdom bonus; Tribal; Air magic affinity. ¡­ (read more?)
Reptilian bloodline: Wisdom bonus; Civilised; Magic affinity varies. ¡­ (read more?)
Siren bloodline: Charisma bonus; Tribal; Water magic affinity. ¡­ (read more?)
Pure Human bloodline: Charisma bonus; Civilised; Magic affinity varies. The humans of the Soltolan Dynasty prepare for¡­ (read more?)
Chapter 5 – Tutorial. After accepting his bloodline selection, Jim had hoped to be pushed into a second user interface menu that would allow him to customise his appearance. He did not, after all, identify with the 66-year-old man that the game thought him to be. This did not happen. Instead, as soon as he selected the reptilian bloodline, Jim stared at a crystal-clear reflection of his aged self. His reflection stared back at him. ¡°Hurry up, snakes. I didn¡¯t think your lot needed much water,¡± a gruff voice yelled in Jim¡¯s direction. A sudden and harsh thirst tore at the back of Jim¡¯s throat. He leaned closer to the water and scooped a few mouthfuls of water. The interface intruded again on Jim¡¯s vision.
Platinum Online offers an immersive experience to players, including hunger and thirst. You must maintain your hydration and remain well-fed, or you will suffer a variety of increasingly negative side effects. You have consumed tutorial river water. Health, stamina and mana restored.
Jim stood, slowly. His joints creaked and groaned at the simple act. A young, perhaps teenaged, girl came to assist Jim. Eye-catching cyan scales shaded her brow, cheeks and collarbones, reflecting light. Her appearance struck Jim. She looked like Tori. ¡°Come, elder. We must hurry back to the caravan. The mercenaries are not cruel men, but neither are they kind.¡± The young part-lizard girl guided Jim by the arm to a wagon and helped him up into the back. A tall man in dark leathers, without scales, walked past, counting off the (mostly) human cargo. An old man, even more scaled than the girl and even older than Jim, tried to keep pace behind the darkly garbed man. ¡°199¡­ 200. All of your snakes are here, Alderman,¡± the human mercenary said. ¡°Thank you, Captain,¡± the Alderman¡¯s voice was high-pitched and quavered and his manners were mild. ¡°Your people were quicker, this time. We may yet reach the foothills by nightfall.¡± ¡°We can only hope so.¡± The caravan continued along a dirt track that obviously only saw limited use. Standing in the wagon, Jim looked around. He counted forty covered wagons. Within the wagon beds, Jim saw a variety of people, tools, goods and food. Seeing as the leading member of the civilians in the caravan was called ¡®Alderman,¡¯ Jim surmised that he had been added to a frontier caravan that planned to build a village. Jim looked to the girl that aided him earlier for some answers. He struggled with a way to begin the conversation. Should he treat this like a game or like real life? As he looked at the girl, a nameplate appeared above her head.
Vanessa, Level 1 Human (Reptile bloodline) peasant. HP: 50/50
Jim resolved to compromise. He would speak to the girl like he would a real person, but also try to fish for quests and information. ¡°Excuse me, Vanessa?¡± ¡°Yes, honoured elder?¡± ¡°Do you know how much longer it will be until we reach our destination?¡± ¡°Not exactly, honoured elder,¡± she replied. At this point, an older woman butted into their conversation. ¡°Enough, girl. This old mule isn¡¯t your honoured elder. He¡¯s just some stray the alderman picked up when he was forming the refugee caravan. If it weren¡¯t for his coin, this James fellow would still be cowering in the streets of Soltolan City.¡±
Anne, level 2 Human (Reptile bloodline) peasant HP: 60/60
Jim was about to question the woman about the refugees when a commotion broke out in the wagons behind theirs. Thinking that there may be a quest in the offing, Jim had Vanessa help him down off the cart. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t seem to change her opinion of him after Anne¡¯s tirade. The alderman and mercenary captain strode past their wagon and Vanessa did her best to help Jim keep up.
Andrew, Level 5 Lizardman alderman. HP: 150/150
Jonathon, Level 10 Human captain (Elite) HP: 2000/2000
¡°What now?¡± The mercenary captain¡¯s voice held frustration and thinning patience. Jim was surprised when he saw the man¡¯s health total. He¡¯d been slightly intimidated by the man before but now he had to stop himself from hiding behind Vanessa or ducking behind a wagon. Jim was also startled to see that, rather than being a human like the other caravan members, the game recognised the alderman as a lizardman. A younger mercenary, only level 5 and with a quarter of the health, walked up to the captain. ¡°Sir, the horses pulling the rear wagon bolted, sir. The horses pulled it off to the side of the road and it tipped. The grain sacks that were in the bag have all torn and spilled most of the grain.¡± ¡°What of the wagon, can we get it moving?¡± ¡°No, sir. The wheels on the left are completely shattered. The cart is also blocking the road and preventing the last few wagons from getting through. We¡¯ll need a while to get this mess cleaned up.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get to it.¡± The captain sighed. ¡°It won¡¯t be easy to get another day¡¯s pay out of this lot. They have almost nothing. Hopefully we can make up the time tomorrow.¡± The captain and younger mercenary walked off toward the broken wagon. The alderman turned to him. ¡°Mr Cartwright, I don¡¯t suppose that you possess the skills of your namesake?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Alderman, I do not.¡± ¡°Please, call me Andrew. I¡¯m afraid the broken cart will be the least of our worries. That wagon held all the grain we had rationed from the journey. We had already eaten through most of it, but the food needed for 200 refugees and 40 guards, even for three more days, is not insignificant. Aside from what we can hunt, the food we have now is all we will have until we harvest our crops¡­ and we have not yet planted our fields.¡±
Tutorial Quest discovered: Feeding the masses.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The Alderman has indicated that the caravan¡¯s food supply is limited. He has also indicated that the refugees may be able to supplement their food supply with hunting. Obtain 10 animal meat to supply the caravan. Current progress: 0/10 Rewards: +1 to all base attributes.
¡°Alderman¡­ Andrew¡­ I will see what I can do about obtaining food.¡± Jim accepted the quest. Jim returned to his wagon with Vanessa. ¡°Honoured elder, can I help you hunt? I don¡¯t want you to be alone.¡±
Bonus Objective: Vanessa has offered to help you hunt; She will guide you through the tutorial process. If you refuse her assistance and complete the quest without her help, you will gain up to two bonus base attribute points, depending on how you accomplish your objective.
¡°No, thank you Vanessa.¡± Jim read the bonus objective and decided that he would attempt the quest without help. He wasn¡¯t new to gaming, it had just been a while. ¡°Please then, take this walking staff.¡± Jim almost turned down this offer of assistance too, thinking that he may get another bonus. Fortunately, he thought better of it. With his decrepit and emaciated body, he could barely walk on his own.
Walking Staff Two-Handed Weapon Staff. 1¡ª2 bludgeoning damage. Quality: Ruined. Durability: 10/10
The staff itself was little more than a long, bent stick, though it did have a thick, gnarled knot of wood at one end. Jim thanked Vanessa and walked off the left side of the road, past where the broken wagon was quickly being disassembled. The landscape consisted of small hills, rocky outcrops, long grass, and Jim frequently fell against his walking staff. Upon cresting one such small hill fifteen minutes into his walk, Jim found the area the quest had obviously meant him to go. Among the rocks and grasses, a large number of rabbits frolicked and grazed.
Rabbit, level 1 Critter HP: 5/5
Jim tried to hobble after the critters and while he may have had a chance as a young man, the small animals easily evaded him. His pursuit was not fruitless, however. He did manage to corner one small rabbit that tried to hide between rocks. He thrust his staff into the gap and bludgeoned the rabbit. Rabbit takes 4 bludgeoning damage. He hadn¡¯t expected a single poke to kill the rabbit, but he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the damage he dealt. With his abysmal staff weapon, Jim had expected to only do one to two damage. However, he did four. He thrust at the rabbit again, this time dealing 5 damage and killing the rabbit.
You have successfully pursued and killed a rabbit using physical means. +1 strength; +1 dexterity; +1 constitution. You receive no experience from killing a critter. Loot: 1 Small Animal Meat.
Your base strength has been calculated. You now have a base strength of 4. The strength attribute controls how much mass you may carry and how much physical force you may exert. Each point of strength adds one point of damage to a two-handed attack and half a point of damage to a one-handed attack.
Your base dexterity has been calculated. You now have a base dexterity of 3. The dexterity attribute controls how nimbly you may move and how precisely you may exert physical force. Each point of dexterity increases your chance to critically hit a target with physical attacks by 0.1%. Your movement speed, attack speed, and chance to hit is also improved, but subject to your own, personal control over your body.
Your base constitution has been calculated. You now have a base constitution of 5. The constitution attribute controls how much pain and damage you may endure. Each point of constitution increases your maximum health by 10 hit points.
Jim felt considerably stronger, nimbler and healthier after his reward. He still felt old, but he didn¡¯t feel like he¡¯d been bed-ridden for twenty years. The stats, he realised, must have been calculated based on his real-life condition. He only hoped that his mental attributes didn¡¯t similarly suffer from his being in a coma. With his newfound strength and dexterity, Jim attempted to corner more rabbits. He managed to corner and poke to death eight more rabbits. However, while Jim did obtain eight more Small Animal Meat, he did not receive the reward to his mental attributes. Jim would have continued hunting for his last animal meat, but the sky had darkened, the rabbits had returned to their warrens, and he was unable to move at any speed without tripping and nearly shattering every bone in his body. He had no choice. Jim returned to the camp, having failed the quest. A mercenary sentry nodded to him but said nothing as Jim made his way back to his wagon through the scant torchlight. He hoisted himself onto the wagon bed and saw Vanessa reading using the light of a flaming brand. Jim was surprised to see a girl, whose nameplate labelled her a peasant, reading. ¡°Vanessa,¡± Jim greeted her. ¡°Honoured elder, how did your hunt go?¡± ¡°I only managed nine rabbits before it got too dark.¡± ¡°Would you like to borrow my torch?¡± Vanessa took the torch from the iron holder on the side of the wagon, bound a length of oiled cloth just below the flames, and offered it to James. ¡°I can come back out with you, if you like?¡± Jim stared into the fire of the torch that she held before him. ¡°I¡¯m an idiot. No, thank you, Vanessa, but I will take the torch.¡± She looked back at him, confused. Using the staff as leverage, Jim eased himself down from the carriage and then had Vanessa hand him the torch. He strode ¨C as best he could ¨C back out to the rocky field where he¡¯d found his first nine rabbits. In short order, Jim arrived back at the warrens. He now knew the reason why he had not obtained the last rabbit meat and the points to his mental attributes: He had not applied a mental technique to killing the rabbits. By torchlight, Jim gathered a small bundle of dried grass, and tied it to his staff. He then returned to the first rabbit warren he¡¯d seen, lit the dried grass on fire using his torch, and shoved the staff into the hole. Rabbit takes 2 fire damage from your ¡®burning¡¯ effect. Rabbit takes 2 fire damage from your ¡®burning¡¯ effect. Moments later, a smouldering, squealing rabbit erupted from the rabbit warren. Rabbit takes 2 fire damage from your ¡®burning¡¯ effect. Rabbit dies.
You have successfully trapped and killed a rabbit using mental means. +1 intellect; +1 wisdom. You receive no experience from killing a critter. Loot: 1 Small Animal Meat.
Your base intellect has been calculated. You now have a base intellect of 30. The intellect attribute controls the complexity of knowledge you may learn and how much magical force you may exert. Each point of intellect adds one point of spell power to any cast spell. Milestone reached: 10 intellect. You now have 10 intellect and possess the intelligence of an average adult human. You may now use simple magical items such as scrolls. Milestone reached: 25 intellect. You now have 25 intellect and possess the intelligence of a novice magus. You may now use intermediate magical items such as spell skill books and arcane rituals.
Your base wisdom has been calculated. You now have a base wisdom of 31. The wisdom attribute controls how much control you may exert over your magical energy and how much magical energy you may liberate from your body. Each point of wisdom increases the rate at which your mana recovers by 0.1% and increases your maximum mana by 10. Milestone reached: 10 wisdom. You now have 10 wisdom and possess the wisdom of an average adult human. You may now learn simple magical spells and abilities. You may now use your mana to activate magical items and abilities. Milestone reached: 25 wisdom. You now have 25 wisdom and possess the intelligence of an elder. You may now learn intermediate magical spells and abilities. You may now identify magical items and abilities that you encounter.
Jim was astounded by the level his mental attributes reached. He did not feel any smarter, however, though maybe the effects of intelligence and wisdom would become clearer as he learned and cast spells. Now that Jim possessed the last animal meat, he trekked back to the wagons in the flickering torchlight. Chapter 6 – Rabbit Slayer. The same, young, camp sentry from earlier greeted Jim with another nod of his head. ¡°Hello,¡± Jim said. ¡°Do you know where I might find the Alderman?¡± ¡°Ah, yeah. He¡¯s prob¡¯ly up front with the captain and the other mucky-mucks. They¡¯ll be sleepin¡¯ or otherwise, though, I suspect. You¡¯d best not disturb ¡®em.¡± ¡°Oh. I¡¯ve just brought some food, is all. Ten pieces of rabbit meat.¡± ¡°Oi, I¡¯ll take them off your hands if ya like. I¡¯ll give ¡®em to our cook. We¡¯re right sick of trail rations, ya see, even the captain. I bet he¡¯ll show you some cold, hard gratitude, too, if ya catch my drift.¡±
Bonus Objective: The sentry has offered to take the rabbits off your hands in exchange for ¡°gratitude.¡± Bargain with him to determine exactly how grateful the mercenaries will be when you sell them the Small Animal Meat instead. Reward: Bonus money if you accept his offer; +1 charisma.
Jim thought about turning the man down. The quest was, after all, to bring the Alderman 10 Small Animal Meat in order to feed the refugees. However, one small feeling changed his mind: Even though the sky overhead harboured a still, black night, Jim did not feel tired. Could this be the benefit of being a digital copy of myself? Of being a machine? There were more rabbits in the field, and his torch should last a few more hours¡­ ¡°Oh. Well, the Alderman personally asked me to hunt some food for the caravan. He¡¯s afraid that we¡¯ll all starve without some forage¡­¡± Jim laid it on thick. ¡°Ah. Don¡¯t worry ¡®bout that. Us soldier folk are starvin¡¯ too and the captain could be very grateful if you helped us out.¡± The sentry leaned close and palmed some coins. Jim reached out and took the coins. He felt perhaps 5 or 6 coins. Jim passed them back and decided to fish for more. ¡°I¡¯ve got a daughter you see. You might have seen me with her earlier. Her name¡¯s Vanessa. She¡¯s so hungry that she can barely sleep.¡± ¡°She your girl, is she?¡± The mercenary sentry¡¯s tone softened. ¡°I s¡¯pose the captain could be even more grateful if I put a word in. Maybe he could donate a few coins extra and you could pay for extra food next mealtime.¡± Yes, Jim thought, young men always have a sweet spot for young ladies. Jim didn¡¯t think Vanessa would mind the charade. She was of the practical sort. ¡°Well, all right. Thanks¡­¡± Jim focussed on the man until his nameplate appeared.
Martin, Level 5 Human soldier. HP: 150/150
¡°¡­Martin. I¡¯ll make sure to let Vanessa know where her supper is coming from, tonight.¡± Jim struggled, initially, with how he would hand over the rabbits. The system had not yet instructed him on how to access the magical dimension where ¡®loot¡¯ seemed to go. However, sensing his intent, the system opened an inventory interface that allowed Jim to quickly hand over the rabbit meat. Martin handed over ten coins, nodded and gave Jim a grin that quickly turned to a confused gape when Jim turned around and walked right back out into the night.
Bonus objective complete. You have bargained with and sold the meat to Martin. He has given you a small sum of money. Reward: 10 copper coins; +1 charisma; +100 reputation with Jonathon¡¯s Mercenary Company (100/200 neutral)
Your base charisma has been calculated. You now have a base charisma of 28. The charisma attribute controls the opinion of the inhabitants of Platinum Online when interacting with you. Each point of charisma increases the starting reputation of all newly encountered groups by 1. Milestone reached: 10 charisma. You now have 10 charisma and possess the charisma of an average adult human. You may now barter with vendors for their goods. Each point of charisma alters the value of bought and sold goods by 0.1% in your favour. Milestone reached: 25 charisma You now have 25 charisma and possess the charisma of a moderately influential person. You may now persuade people you encounter. The successful chance of persuading someone to accept depends on a combination of factors that include your wisdom, your target¡¯s wisdom, your target¡¯s opinion of you, and your target¡¯s opinion of your proposed course of action.
Utilising his earlier method of burning rabbits to death while they slept, Jim killed and collected the corpses of ten more rabbits to complete the quest. The task took him a few hours and, while night was well and truly upon Jim, he still did not feel tired. He knew from his earlier conversation with Martin that the computer-generated people of Platinum Online slept, and he didn¡¯t want to disturb them. With his staff, several bundles of dry grass, a great deal of joint and lower-back pain, and an utter lack of compassion for computerised critters, Jim collected rabbits until a system prompt forced him to stop.
Your inventory is full. If you carry any more, you will become encumbered.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Jim checked his inventory. His limit, it appeared, was 40 kilograms, four times his strength, of Small Animal Meat. He took the last rabbit corpse, anyway. How much difference could one kilogram make?
Small Animal Meat (41) Ingredient.
You are encumbered. Movement speed reduced by 50%.
Jim almost collapsed from the weight. Picking up the items earlier, other than hurting when he bent down, did not affect him at all. Adding that single extra rabbit into his inventory made him feel like he¡¯d thrown a bag of cement over his shoulder. ¡°I am too old for this.¡± Jim threw the excess rabbit a short distance away and walked back to the camped wagons. A different, much older, sentry stood in Martin¡¯s spot. Jim had hoped to sell Martin another 10 rabbits and increase his reputation to the next milestone, but he didn¡¯t want to try persuading a new person. The older man¡¯s grim look made Jim think that using his ¡°daughter¡± as a bargaining chip would be ineffective. Daybreak loomed on the horizon, anyway. The alderman and camp mercenaries would surely be early risers. Sure enough, at the front of the caravan, Jim found the two older men leaning over a map held in the captain¡¯s hands. ¡°If we get an early start and leave now, we ought to be able to pass through the foothills before nightfall. I would feel much safer if we could camp in a more defensive posture on the plateau. We tempted fate, last night, sleeping with our wagons strung out in a line.¡± ¡°I agree, Captain. The extra travel will be hard on the little ones and the elderly, but it is better to sweat now than to bleed later.¡± The two men, having reached an agreement, turned away from each other. The alderman noticed Jim. ¡°Ah. Mr Cartwright. Did you have any luck in finding fresh food?¡± At the mention of food, the Mercenary paused in his step and turned to listen to the conversation. Jim nodded at them both. ¡°Yes, Alderman Andrew. I have collected the ten pieces of meat that you asked for and more.¡± ¡°Mr Cartwright. Did I hear you say that you have spare food?¡± the captain asked. The man did not reveal any signs of discomfort, but his tone, friendlier than Jim had ever heard from the man, betrayed his intentions. ¡°I do, Captain. However, since the alderman sent me on this quest, I would like to give him the first chance.¡± The captain didn¡¯t seem happy at Jim¡¯s answer, but he did seem to respect it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, James. The caravan doesn¡¯t have any spare coin to buy the food off you. All I can offer is my gratitude. How much excess do you have? Perhaps the captain and I can come to an arrangement.¡± ¡°I have collected 40 pieces of rabbit meat in total.¡± ¡°Forty!?¡± The captain¡¯s composure shattered. ¡°In one day of hunting? You must be a famed rabbit-slayer of legend!¡± he joked. The alderman also looked taken aback. ¡°Between me and all of my men, we could not eat more than twenty rabbits. How about this: I will purchase half of your rabbits for 15 coppers in total and you the rest of the meat may feed the caravan. In exchange, alderman, I will not ask for extra pay for the longer trip ahead of us today.¡± ¡°I agree, Captain.¡±
Quest complete: Feeding the masses. You have delivered the required Small Animal Meat to the alderman. Reward: Completion of the tutorial; 50 experience points.
Congratulations, you have reached level 1. Your attributes have increased.
Bonus objective complete: For refusing Vanessa¡¯s help and capturing rabbits with your wit and cunning, you receive an additional reward: Reward: +1 intellect; +1 wisdom.
Hidden objective complete: For drastically exceeding the requirements of the quest, you have impressed yourself upon both the alderman of the refugee caravan and Jonathon¡¯s mercenaries. Reward: 15 copper coins; +100 reputation with Jonathon¡¯s Mercenary Company (0/500 friendly); +200 reputation with Alderman Andrew¡¯s Refugees (0/500 friendly); 200 experience points.
Congratulations, you have reached level 2. Your attributes have increased.
After James finished reading the prompts, the system automatically brought a user interface screen into his field of vision. The now-empty inventory screen that he was already familiar with occupied the right third of the screen, but it had been expanded: It also included a list of objects he had equipped. Currently, he had only rough clothing and his walking staff. The middle third of the screen pulsed with subtle flashes. This panel was divided in two: His attributes were listed in the top half, while a short list of traits occupied the bottom half. Jim focussed on his attributes first. He had 8 new attribute points to distribute and, considering his abysmal physical statistics, he raised all three to a roughly equal value and clicked accept. After doing so, the system informed him that his points had increased, but not in the way he expected. Rather than having 7 constitution, he had 5 + 2. Additionally, his Wisdom and Charisma had also been altered, even though he hadn¡¯t allotted any points to those two attributes.
Constitution: 5 + 2 Hit Points: 51
Strength: 4 + 3 Damage bonus: 4
Dexterity: 3 + 3 Critical chance: 0.31%
Intellect: 31 Spell power: 31
Wisdom: 32 + 2 Mana: 326
Charisma: 28 + 2 Discount: 2.86%
Jim focussed on the numbers next to his constitution and quickly learned that ¡®bonus¡¯ attributes from levelling and probably items would multiply the effectiveness of his ¡®base¡¯ attributes.
Constitution: 5 + 2: Increases your hit points by 51 Base constitution of 5: Increases your hit points by 50. Bonus constitution of 2: Increases the effectiveness of your constitution by 2%
He then focussed on the two attributes below the small table of statistics:
Reptile bloodline: Members of the reptile bloodline gain a bonus to wisdom when they grow in power, while humans gain a bonus to charisma. To reconcile this, you will receive 4 free attribute points to spend each level, rather than 5, and will compulsorily gain 1 bonus wisdom and 1 bonus charisma each level. As a predominantly human creature, the maximum values of your base attributes will be limited to 50 for all attributes.
Elder: For being an elder, you receive a significant malus to your physical base attributes: - 10 to all physical base attributes; -10 to maximum value of physical base attributes. For being an elder of your species, you receive a significant bonus to your mental base attributes: +10 to all mental base attributes; +10 to maximum value ofmental base attributes.
Base attributes, Jim realised, were incredibly powerful, while bonus attributes would only be useful if you already had a high base to work with. He was glad he¡¯d taken the opportunity to earn additional attributes from the tutorial. He also lamented that increasing his level would not help him feel any less ancient; he would have to find another way to increase his physical base stats. Chapter 7: Big Game Hunter. Jim closed the interface and found the two older men looking at him expectantly. ¡°Well then, James,¡± the captain said, a smile on his face, ¡°I wonder if your rabbit-slaying prowess applies to larger game. How would you like to join my men on a boar hunt? You could learn much from them.¡± The alderman nodded his approval at the words, evidently looking forward to roast hog for the evening meal.
Quest received: We¡¯re going on a boar hunt. We¡¯re going to catch a big one. Join the mercenary forces on a boar hunt. The caravan needs food and you need skills. ¡°You¡¯d better accept this quest!¡± ¨C Alderman Andrew, probably. Rewards: You will learn the ¡®foraging¡¯ skill; You will learn the ¡®tactics¡¯ skill; You will receive a set ofbasic equipment; 1 Animal Hide; 1 Large Animal Meat; 0 experience points (You have exceeded the maximum level for this quest but will be compensated monetarily); 20 copper coins.
Jim almost choked when he read the quest¡¯s title but managed to cover it with a cough. He briefly considered turning the quest down due to the lack of experience, but the rewards and the encouragement he¡¯d received from alderman Andrew made him think otherwise. The mercenary captain smiled again when Jim accepted the quest. ¡°Corporal Langdon.¡± The corporal that Captain Jonathon had called for hustled over and came to attention. ¡°The caravan is running low on food. Take ten men and Mr. Cartwright here and head into the woods. The scouts reported sighting boar tracks to the south.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The corporal saluted, gestured for Jim to follow and walked toward the back of the column. Jim focussed on the man.
Langdon, level 5 Human soldier. HP: 150/150
¡°Martin tells me you¡¯re the reason we got a hot rabbit for dinner last night. That right, Mr. Cartwright?¡±
Bonus objective: Corporal Langdon has initiated a dialogue with you. Subtly inquire about him and his background to find personal or hidden information. Rewards: You will learn the ¡®conversation¡¯ skill; +1 charisma.
¡°That¡¯s true, Corporal Langdon¡­ Are you and Martin¡­close?¡± Jim felt incredibly awkward prying into the man¡¯s life. ¡°He¡¯s my cousin, ya see. His ma¡¯ had him join up to Jonathon¡¯s lot ¡®cause of me. Told me to keep him safe.¡± ¡°¡­Will he be joining us on the hunt?¡± ¡°Course! He¡¯s great with a pig-sticker. Grew up on the farm, ya see. We both did. Gotta be careful ¡®round him though. Likes to get right in close; got gored last time. He was lucky, though. I got it worse from his ma¡¯ than he did from that boar.¡± ¡°Would you like me to have a word with him, Corporal? I may have some sway over him.¡± ¡°Would ya? I¡¯d appreciate that a lot.¡±
Bonus objective complete: For questioning Corporal Langdon, you have learned that he would like you to keep his cousin, Private Martin, safe. Reward: You have learned the ¡®conversation¡¯ skill; +1 charisma.
Conversation: Conversation is the basic ¡®charisma¡¯ skill. Conversation allows you to discover hidden details and quests from people that you talk to. Your success in finding hidden conversation topics is increased by charisma.
Corporal Langdon led Jim over to one of the mercenary wagons. In short order, Langdon had gathered Martin and nine unnamed soldiers. They quickly outfitted themselves with the standard mercenary dark leather and long boar spears with crossbars beneath the blade.
Level 5 Human soldier. HP: 50/50
The first thing Jim noticed about the unnamed soldiers was that they were much weaker than any of the named people he¡¯d encountered from the game: They had less health than him and he was a 66-year-old cripple! Whatever the case, they marched in an orderly manner to the right ¨C the south, evidently ¨C side of the road; the opposite of the way Jim had gone when hunting rabbits. Once the men crossed the tree line, the formation they¡¯d marched in split apart, and the men¡¯s steps became quieter and less regular. Jim followed Langdon and Martin, unsure of what they were doing, for ten or so minutes, before one of the unnamed soldiers returned. ¡°Corporal, we¡¯ve spotted boar tracks and fresh spore. It¡¯s a big one,¡± the man whispered excitedly. ¡°Lead the way.¡± Langdon hefted his spear and gestured for us to follow. Jim tried not to make too much noise, but the steady clomp of his walking staff ruined any hope of stealth. After more minutes of hiking through the brush, they reached a copse of trees where the other eight unnamed soldiers waited. The men made a series of hand-gestures at Langdon and, while Jim couldn¡¯t understand them, he got the gist of it. The boar lurked in the clearing. The nine unnamed soldiers, Langdon, and Martin distributed themselves among the trees in a rough semicircle. Rather than shadowing Langdon as he had been so far, Jim decided to follow Martin, remembering the corporal¡¯s earlier request. The boar¡¯s snuffling penetrated the soft sounds of the light forest. The soldiers got closer. Martin got closer still. Jim followed only two steps behind Martin. The instant Martin rounded their tree trunk, the boar charged. Jim wasn¡¯t sure if the boar targeted them due to the over-eager Martin, or the pounding drum that passed for his movement over rough terrain, but, either way, they were in the shit. Martin lowered his spear and looked behind him. There was nothing to buttress the haft. He and Jim had scant seconds to act.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Hidden objective: JUMP ON THE SPEAR! Reward: DON¡¯T DIE!
Jim jumped onto the spear. A heartbeat later, an immense force shoved against Jim. He willed the spear to stay put. He willed himself downward. The spear held. Jim didn¡¯t even realise that he¡¯d clenched his eyes shut until he opened them and saw an enormous boar, its tusks inches away from Martin.
Giant Boar, level 1 Critter (Elite) HP: 174/200 Status effect: Impaled (unable to move); bleeding
Martin backed away slowly from the boar, straining to hold the spear in place as it bucked and heaved against the weapon. He turned his head and smiled at Jim. ¡°Thanks!¡±
Hidden objective complete: Neither you nor Martin died. Reward: +1 strength
The other soldiers swarmed the stricken boar, thrusting into its sides repeatedly. Jim watched closely as Langdon ordered the men around. ¡°You there! Back away from the head. If he breaks loose, you¡¯re a goner! You! Watch the hooves!¡± Langdon brandished his spear, thrusting deep into the boar¡¯s belly, but, at the same time, he used his body and light touches to guide the other soldiers into safer attack patterns. The man was very skilled at leadership for a corporal. A stream of -12s and -13s poured from the pig¡¯s sides as the soldiers set to. As the giant boar weakened and ceased thrashing, Martin stood up from his crouch and, with a mighty strike, slammed the spear he and Jim held deeper into the boar¡¯s chest. -24 (Critical hit).
Private Martin has slain Giant Boar. You receive no experience for killing a critter. Loot: 1 Large Animal Corpse.
Large Animal Corpse Forage (requires foraging to harvest) Quality: Rare
Jim was a little surprised by the loot: The body of the boar itself. Not only that, unlike the rabbits, the boar¡¯s corpse was listed as rare; he hoped they¡¯d get a better reward when the returned. The soldiers had to tie a rope around the thing and half-drag the corpse all the way back to the road. When they got to the road, Jim¡¯s heart sank. The caravan was already underway. Lugging the boar behind them, there was no way the mercenaries would be able to catch up before the wagons stopped for a midday meal. They made better time dragging the beast on the road than they had in the bushes and were able to catch up to the wagon train without losing much of their own lunch time. As the hunting party came within sight of the sentries, lunch in tow, the men of the caravan cheered. Soldiers and refugees alike patted Langdon and Martin on the back as they passed. Even the old crone Anne smiled at Jim when she saw the boar he¡¯d obviously helped kill. They hauled the dead pig up to the front of the caravan, where a stained, open-topped wagon was pulled by two horses. Langdon called a halt to the driver, briefly, and had the unnamed soldiers heave the giant boar into the bed of the wagon before he dismissed them. He beckoned Jim to join him in the wagon and, with difficulty, Jim joined Langdon.
Quest complete: We¡¯re going on a boar hunt. We¡¯re going to catch a big one. You have delivered the required Large Animal Corpse to the caravan and observed crucial skills. Reward: You have learned the ¡®foraging¡¯ skill; you have learned the ¡®tactics¡¯ skill; You have received a set of light armor; 20 copper coins. Assist Corporal Langdon in skinning and dressing the corpse to receive your Animal Hide and Large Animal Meat.
Foraging: Foraging is the basic resource-gathering skill. Foraging is a required part of all crafting professions, and, with it, you may gather and process raw materials including skins, cooking ingredients, herbs, metals and other rare resources.
Tactics: Tactic is the basic leadership skill. Tactics is required to lead group combat, and, with it, you may lead up to ten others in battle. This skill can be improved by the ¡®leadership¡¯ talent.
Basic Equipment: This set of basic equipment will equip you with the basic gear required to adventure within Platinum Online
Leather Vest: Chest Armour Armour Value: 2 Quality: Poor Durability: 20/20 Leather Pants: Leg Armour Armour Value: 2 Quality: Poor Durability: 20/20 Leather Sandals: Footwear. Armour Value: 1 Quality: Poor Durability: 20/20
Leather Gloves: Hand Armour. Armour Value: 1 Quality: Poor Durability: 20/20 Simple Spear: Two-Handed Weapon. Spear. 2--3 piercing damage. Quality: Poor Durability: 20/20 Blank Spellbook: Spellbook. This spellbook is blank. Unlock a spell affinity and seek instruction in using magic.
¡°Come here, James. Help me skin this beasty. If we¡¯s quick, we might be able to get it cleaned and dressed in time for dinner.¡± Jim slowly worked his way around the giant animal and sat next to Langdon. ¡°Ya any good at skinning?¡± Langdon asked. ¡°Unfortunately, no.¡± ¡°Here. Take my knife. I¡¯ll show ya.¡±
Skinning Knife Tool. 1¡ª2 slashing damage. Quality: Common. Durability: 50/50.
Jim sat and learned how to skin and dress the boar from Langdon. Jim suspected that skinning in-game was much simpler than real life, as all he had to do was run the knife around the boar and cut away at the flesh that held the skin to the muscle. The sky had started to darken by the time Jim felt comfortable with his new skill and they¡¯d finished skinning and butchering the boar. The rare quality of the corpse, it turned out, meant that the boar had more meat, four instead of two, and a tougher hide. Jim offered the knife back to Langdon. ¡°Nah. Keep it. I haven¡¯t thanked ya for saving Martin¡¯s arse yet. Take the hide and one of the legs, too. Ya¡¯ve earned em.¡± Jim slipped the hide and meat into his inventory.
Large Animal Meat Ingredient.
Tough Animal Hide Material. Quality: Rare.
Jim sat with Langdon as he talked of how terrible life was under the new human king until the sky truly darkened and the wagon came to a halt. Jim bade farewell to the friendly corporal and walked back to his wagon. He helped the driver guide the wagon into its spot in the defensive circle, then joined a group of refugees by one of the bonfires. Jim lowered himself gently onto a log between Vanessa and Anne. Looking at Anne, who scowled at him, but not as viciously as she once had, Jim smiled and pulled out the massive haunch of hog-meat he¡¯d accepted from Langdon. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose any of you know how to cook this?¡± Jim asked, holding the meat aloft. Anne snatched the haunch out of his hands, muttering about ¡°the best, damned roast he¡¯d ever eat.¡± After a few hours or so of conversation, again about the terrible human king, the smell of roasting meat drew dozens more refugees to their bonfire. Alderman Andrew approached Jim. ¡°I see the hunt was a success. May I join you?¡± Jim sat, ate and laughed with the Alderman and refugees late into the night until all the others had begged off to sleep. Jim wasn¡¯t tired, but he also didn¡¯t feel like hunting rabbits tonight. He lay back, relaxed by the dying firelight, and watched the unfamiliar stars twinkle overhead. Chapter 8: Breaking Ground. People forgot how important relaxing could be, Jim realised. Platinum Online had filled the last two days with more action and adventure than he¡¯d had in his entire life. Sure, his real life had schoolyard brawls, drug busts, active shooters, bomb threats and other no-this-isn¡¯t-a-drill moments every blue moon. But... over twenty-odd years of teaching, those fleeting moments of excitement only totalled a few hours when he stitched them together. Now, Jim enjoyed the seemingly best time of his life... sort of¡­ crippled body notwithstanding. He weighed in his mind the instant gratification for figuring out how to hunt rabbits against the slow burn that had been married life and fatherhood. As great a time he¡¯d had so far in Platinum Online, it couldn¡¯t really compare. Jim longed for the settled life and the loved ones he¡¯d had in the real world. He longed to be with his daughter and to help her succeed. He longed for the impossible. ¡°Maybe I just need to give it time?¡± he asked himself. The two mercenary cousins that Jim had spent a single day with yesterday had given him a moment of friendship that Jim had lacked in his previous, busy life. It was all so depressing... or, it would have been if System hadn¡¯t clamped his brain shut to overly negative feelings. Jim thought he should be thinking more about Tori. Evidently, most thoughts about her were too painful to make it through the filters the computer had imposed on him. These thoughts, a mix of mild regret ¨C for he could feel nothing stronger ¨C and hope for where things would go, swirled, mixed and muddied Jim''s mind until daybreak. The soft lightening of the sky slowly brought Jim out of his malaise. Jim vowed never to spend a night doing nothing again. It hurt too much, even with his stunted version of pain. He stood but rose slowly. The extra point of strength from the boar hunt yesterday helped, but not much. Jim leaned on his staff and stretched out a little before going for a short walk. At the edge of the camp, Jim looked out along the path the caravan had travelled yesterday while he¡¯d been engrossed in skinning and butchering the boar. Jim hadn¡¯t realised how far and how high they¡¯d travelled. Stretched languorously out before him was a kilometres-long, gently-sloping, but treacherously narrow, valley that sprouted greener and greener as the trail climbed. The dirt path the mercenaries had escorted the caravan through snaked between hills in loops and curls. The feet of the mountain ranges that bracketed either side stuck out, tripped up the road and caused it to veer clumsily north and south at erratic intervals. Jim no longer wondered why Captain Jonathon wanted to traverse this place in full daylight. An ambush would have slain them to the last man, woman, and child. Jim circled the outside of the camp, nodding to the unfamiliar sentries as he passed. The caravan had come to a stop immediately after the path levelled out. The path they travelled continued east, all the way to the horizon and the plateau was mostly meadows and plains for his entire field of vision. Only two directions deviated from the pattern: To the north-west, the plateau abruptly ended. Jim could see the ocean beyond and thought that the edge likely dropped off into rocks and waves. To the south, the mountains that had bracketed that side of the valley continued to rise, soaring above the clouds, their peaks capped with snow.
You have discovered The Grand Plateau.
¡°It¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t it?¡± Alderman Andrew joined Jim. The elder lizardman made no noise; Jim would have to ask how he managed to move without creaking liked a wizened staircase. ¡°It is.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ours, now. Not even the tyrant King could take this land from us.¡± Jim looked down at the fertile ground beneath his feet. ¡°I can¡¯t believe he would give up on such a productive area so easily.¡± ¡°He has no choice. This is ancestral Saurian land and, though few remain, the ancient protectors of our land will consume any who do not share their blood. Any more than a few hundred men will attract their wrath.¡± The alderman clearly knew a lot about the lizardman lands. Jim tried out his conversation skill. He still felt that his attempts to extract information more closely resembled pulling teeth than skilful finesse. ¡°What do you know about The Grand Plateau?¡± ¡°Much that most do not.¡± The alderman paused for several seconds and Jim thought that his skill had failed, but the solemn tone that the alderman replied with showed Jim that he had just needed a moment to collect his thoughts. ¡°I was born here. I lived in a village to the north of the crossroads that we will pass later in the day. My father owned the sawmill. A great city lay to the east, though it was ruins populated by vagrants even then.¡± ¡°How did you come to be the leader of a refugee caravan?¡± ¡°The king¡¯s grandfather. He came and took us as slaves. He burned much of the town and completely razed the city ruins. He took everything from me. From my people.¡± ¡°That must have been hard.¡± ¡°It was. As a young man, I dreamed of vengeance, of taking his family from him. By the time I was an adult with adult responsibilities, I dreamed only of owning my own sawmill, as my father had. I still dream of revenge, mind you, but the tyrant King is the only one left... I think I''ll settle for my sawmill.¡± Jim did not know what to say. The conversation skill was effective, but if he learned of such heart-rending stories every time, he¡¯d never recover his state of mind. ¡°We¡¯d best head back,¡± the Alderman said. ¡°Captain Jonathon will want to move quickly. The end of our journey awaits.¡± Jim joined Andrew and Captain Jonathon in the back of the lead wagon as the caravan got underway. Alderman Andrew retrieved a map from under his seat and rolled it out on the bed of the wagon. Jim hunched over, painfully, to look.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The yellowed, but clearly well-preserved, map matched both what Jim had observed and had been told. The plateau occupied the entire bottom half of the map and continued for perhaps thirty kilometres to the east and ten kilometres to each the north and the south of the path. Looking at the map, the southern mountains that Jim had seen earlier formed the border of The Grand Plateau zone and wound gradually to the east-south-east before veering to the north-west in the lower right corner. A smaller mountain range jutted out of the centre of the Eastern border of the zone, roughly in-line with the path they travelled along now, and extended almost as far as the crossroads the alderman had mentioned in the middle of the map. A river flowed from a high-point in the South-East section of the plateau and clung to the mountains, following the decreasing elevation to the North, off the plateau into the northern half of this zone, and out into the adjoining zone. Alderman Andrew¡¯s village appeared to be North of the plateau; the path he spoke of passed near the smaller mountain range before heading downhill to the North, then the West to avoid a steep decline. Alderman Andrew¡¯s village was marked on the map at the end of the trail, not far from the ocean.
You have obtained a map of The Grand Plateau. This map is old, and you will need to update it through exploration.
¡°Once you escort us to these crossroads, we will be able to make the rest of the way on our own,¡± Alderman Andrew said. ¡°Do you intend to shelter in that city, there?¡± Captain Jonathon pointed at a city marker on the map. The city was located just East of the crossroads and just South of the small mountain range. ¡°Nothing of the city remains, but we do intend to build there.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± The two men spoke at length about securing the zone and Jim tried to enter their discussion with the conversation skill several times. He was unsuccessful and only learned things he had already learned from looking at the map. After four hours of conversation and travel, the wagon stopped. A corporal came into the back of their wagon. They¡¯d reached the crossroads. The three of them clambered down from the wagon. ¡°This is where we part ways, Alderman, but I have some surprising news. The men have agreed to your request.¡± ¡°And which request might that be?¡± A smile grew on the lizardman¡¯s face. ¡°The men have had a change of heart, thanks to Mr Cartwright here. It seems that they would be willing to continue escorting refugee caravans out to The Grand Plateau. Corporal Langdon tells me that the fresh food did the trick.¡± Captain Jonathon smiled at Jim. ¡°Furthermore, Corporal Langdon and his brother have told me they¡¯d like to leave my service, provided you¡¯ll have them.¡± ¡°Wonderful! That¡¯s wonderful news, Captain.¡± The Alderman grasped Jonathon¡¯s hand and shook it, vigourously. The captain appeared slightly taken aback but returned the shake with genuine friendship. ¡°I realise how dangerous this must be for you and your men. You defy the King¡¯s will, if not his law. Should you ever need to flee and seek refuge yourself, you are all welcome here.¡± ¡°I fear that these events will come to pass as you predict, but I do not think you are as safe here as you believe. The tyrant King will come. He always does.¡± The captain shook his head and turned away. Jim aided the mercenaries and the refugees in separating and distributing supplies among their respective wagons. Jim and Alderman Andrew waved Captain Jonathon off and then, themselves, headed to separate wagons for the trip east into the meadow where an ancient lizard city once stood. Jim returned to his wagon, where he greeted Vanessa. They spoke aimlessly of the trip and what the alderman may have planned for their village. ¡°Hello there, old man!¡± Jim looked up from his pleasant conversation to see Martin and Langdon jogging to keep pace with their wagon. The two men vaulted over the side and settled across from Jim and Vanessa. ¡°Hello there, miss,¡± Martin said courteously to Vanessa, ¡°I¡¯m Martin. I¡¯m a friend of your father¡¯s.¡± Vanessa looked confused. Langdon looked between Jim and the girl and then at Martin. ¡°Haha! Martin!¡± Langdon clutched his sides and laughed deeply. ¡°Are ya DAFT, mate? They¡¯s not related.¡± Jim fell into laughter, too, and started explaining. Vanessa hadn¡¯t cared, as he¡¯d suspected, but Martin pretended to be hurt at Jim¡¯s earlier deception. ¡°How could ya, Jim?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need me, Martin! Try just having a conversation.¡± Vanessa took a while to make up her mind about Martin¡¯s unorthodox approach to courting, but, Jim thought, eventually came down on the side of polite, but genuine, interest in the young man. While the two young idiots spoke with each other, Jim and Langdon spoke of more serious matters. ¡°Seems like we¡¯ll be the only folk capable of defending a new town ¡®round here, Jim. We¡¯d best get some men together. I taught ya tactics yesterday, so ya ought to be able to lead ten men, that right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m the same. I¡¯m only level 5, and I¡¯ve put all my talent points into soldiering skills: Bladed Weapons and Medium Armor. If ya help me go up a level, I¡¯ll put me next talent point into Leadership, then I¡¯ll be able to lead 25 men, 50 if I pick up The Armies of Man.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Langdon. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Langdon squinted at Jim. ¡°Oh! Right, you¡¯re only level 2. Well, you¡¯ll find out next level. Guess we better do something about that.¡± When the wagon stopped, not far from the river shown on the map, Langdon helped Jim down and guided him over to Alderman Andrew. ¡°Alderman, do ya have a minute? Jim and I want to get some men together to scout the area.¡± Langdon asked. Jim wasn¡¯t sure why they had to scout the area, but he was sure it was part of Langdon¡¯s master plan. ¡°Corporal Langdon, James. Give me some time to position the wagons and unload the tools. We need to break ground for farms and homes as our first priority. Everyone is restless after being cooped up in these wagons for half the month.¡± After the wagons had been arranged in a defensive semi-circle, anchored by the river to their north, Jim and Langdon helped unload wagons and direct the peasant refugees to the plots of land that Alderman Andrew had allotted them to farm. The time passed quickly and Jim¡¯s slight efforts in hauling tools and rations improved his base strength to 6. Once everything was sorted, he and Langdon returned to the alderman and again broached the topic of forming a small fighting force. ¡°It seems that you have earned the respect of these fighting men, Mr Cartwright. I think you would make a fine leader of the village¡¯s militia.¡± ¡°Me? I thought Langdon would be in charge.¡± Jim was shocked by the alderman¡¯s statement, but Langdon seemed to agree with it. ¡°I¡¯m just a Corporal, Jim. I can lead a few men, but I¡¯m not the best thinker.¡± ¡°It is also best that youth be tempered with wisdom,¡± the alderman said. Langdon and Andrew had Jim outvoted. ¡°I don¡¯t feel that wise, Alderman Andrew.¡± He smiled. ¡°None of us do. Recognising the limits of your wisdom proves to me that you¡¯re the wisest man I know.¡±
You are now the leader of The Grand Plateau¡¯s militia forces. You may recruit 10 men due to your Tactics skill. Corporal Langdon is your subordinate and may recruit 10 men due to his Tactics skill.
Jim had to agree with some of Andrew¡¯s statement, considering he gained 1 point in his base wisdom, raising it to 33. If I¡¯m so wise, maybe I should stay here and complain about all of the people trampling my lawn, Jim thought. Chapter 9 – Opening Moves. ¡°Did you have a destination in mind?¡± Andrew asked Langdon. ¡°I thought we¡¯d just see the lay of the land, and the like.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. Here. Take this map.¡± Andrew gave Langdon a copy of the map Jim already had. ¡°Since you have no specific goal, may I suggest one?¡± Langdon nodded in reply. ¡°Good. I used to live in The Grand Plateau, off to the north of the crossroads where we parted with Captain Jonathon. If you follow that path along, you will eventually come to my old village. Head even further north, and you will find my father¡¯s sawmill. Ordinarily, travelling to a ruined sawmill would be worthless, but the key reason to my father¡¯s success was his enchanted sawmill blade: It would never rust, never dull, never break¡­ Important attributes when you live so far from an advanced blacksmith, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll agree.¡± ¡°So, ya want us to go get the blade?¡± Langdon asked. ¡°And any other supplies that you can salvage. We¡¯ve unloaded the large carts with your help. I¡¯ll send two with horses and drivers to go with you. Bring back what you can.¡±
Quest received: Family Heirloom. Alderman Andrew has revealed the existence of an enchanted sawmill blade that belonged to his family. He has asked that you lead the militia to retrieve the blade. The area has not been scouted, and minor dangers may threaten your party. Be prepared. Rewards: +200 Reputation with Alderman Andrew¡¯s Refugees; 200 experience points; salvaged crafting materials.
¡°There¡¯s just the two of us,¡± Jim protested, though he accepted the quest anyway. He had an idea. Jim gestured down at the leather clothing that hung loosely from his meager frame. "... and I''m not in the best shape for an adventure." "I''m afraid that there''s little I can do about that, James. Ordinarily, Lizardman elders would be great shamans, but I am just an aged farmboy at heart. Perhaps once the town is established we will be able to attract someone to guide you in the eldritch arts." Jim sighed. He''d been hoping to exploit his ludicrous intelligence to compensate for his child-like strength. ¡°Can you spare anyone to help out?¡± Alderman Andrew nodded. ¡°There are a few former soldiers of our bloodline that were cast out of the army. Now they¡¯re refugees like the rest of us. The midday meal should begin soon. Why don¡¯t you check there?¡± Langdon nodded, and he and Jim left. ¡°Jim, I¡¯ll meet ya the cookfire. I¡¯m gonna go get Martin.¡± Langdon jogged on ahead before Jim could respond. Jim trudged toward the centre of the camp in Langdon¡¯s wake. Though the encampment wasn¡¯t large, perhaps only 150 metres in diameter, Jim still got to the campfire after Langdon had run his errands and fetched both Martin and Vanessa. ¡°¡¯ey Jim! Over ¡®ere!¡± Martin called out, unnecessarily loudly. Some of the other refugees stopped to look at Jim as he approached the two soldiers; most looked away, but a few of the burlier men recognised that there was adventure afoot and began to crowd the periphery. Before Jim could sit down, Martin launched into the plan that Langdon had obviously put together. ¡°It¡¯s all ¡®cause of Vanessa, see. We had this idea for Langdon and you to lead two different groups of people, right? Me and Langdon will go find nine more burly fellas and fight in the front lines, while Vanessa can go and find some of the other hunters and then your mob can shoot from behind.¡± ¡°Yeah. That.¡± Langdon said, rolling his eyes as Martin made goo goo eyes at Vanessa. ¡°How long do you think it will take to gather the people?¡± Jim asked. Martin leaned to the side to look around Jim. Behind him, the burly men and other hangers-on that had lurked within earshot had shuffled closer to the small group. ¡°Oh. Not long.¡± Within fifteen minutes, after a rushed meal, Langdon and Jim each had 10 people each join their militia squads and gathered around the two large wagons the alderman had prepared. Langdon¡¯s men each wielded a spear, while Jim¡¯s hunters and huntresses each had simple hunting bows. The militia member¡¯s levels, Jim noticed, had raised to match their commanders. Jim again felt odd to be in charge when he was so much less skilled than Langdon. He¡¯d have to rely on him a lot.
[Langdon¡¯s Squad] Langdon, level 5 Human soldier HP: 150/150 Martin, level 5 Human soldier HP: 150/150 Level 5 Human (Reptile bloodline) militia [9] HP: 50/50
[Jim¡¯s Squad] James Cartwright, level 2 Human (Reptile bloodline) HP: 51/51 Vanessa, Level 2 Human (Reptile bloodline) hunter HP: 60/60 Level 2 Human (Reptile bloodline) hunter [9] HP: 20/20
The small force departed to the west, back toward the crossroad, immediately. The entire party took turns alternating between marching alongside the slow, heavy wagons, and riding in the wagon beds. Jim was just too slow to keep up, however, over the uneven terrain between the camp and the road and had to spend disproportionately longer getting carted along. Once their force reached the road and followed the path to the north, Jim made an effort to lead by example, easing himself down from the wagon. Jim could tell that the militia men and women appreciated his effort from the expression on their faces, even though he still had to stop constantly to rest. He ran himself ragged ¨C which didn¡¯t take a 66-year-old former coma patient long ¨C and in addition to increasing his troops¡¯ loyalty, Jim also increased his attributes by 1 base point of constitution and 1 base point of dexterity, raising his HP to 61 and helping him keep up a little bit better. The militia marched and rested monotonously into the early evening when they stopped to forage for a meal. The nine soldiers, Langdon and Martin located a spot to fortify a camp for the evening, while Vanessa lead the hunters to bag some game. Jim had no choice but to let Vanessa lead the squad, as even with 4 dexterity now, he was much too slow. Before she left, Jim stopped Vanessa.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°If you get the chance, could you hunt more than we need and bring their corpses here, unskinned? I have an idea.¡± Jim asked Vanessa. She agreed without questioning her honoured elder. In truth, Jim¡¯s idea was not particularly useful to the militia. He had no plans to use the corpses as bait or any such tactical trickery. Jim only wanted Vanessa to kill as many critters as she could, so he could skin them during the night and keep his mind off the real world. While Vanessa and her fellows hunted, and while Langdon organised sharpened stakes to surround their wagon-wall, Jim made himself useful by building the fire for their camp. When dusk fell, Vanessa arrived back in camp. She and her hunters were dragging two deer and several smaller critters such as rabbits and squirrels. Jim instructed the hunters to butcher and dress one leg of venison, but to leave the rest to him. They did so, gladly. Jim joined everyone for a supper of deer-meat, but his side of the conversation was subdued. In planning to avoid thinking about his death and his family, he had caused himself to think about his death and his family. Once the others had eaten, Jim spoke up. ¡°You all rest. I will take the first watch. I¡¯ll wake Martin up when I get tired.¡± Jim had no intention of waking Martin, but nobody was going to protest getting to sleep early after so much running through the day. Jim sat on the outskirts of the camp, his back to the fire to keep his eyes alert to the dim night. He spent the entire night skinning and looking for danger. Aside from the occasional nocturnal critter, nothing disturbed their camp and Jim skinned and butchered every animal corpse the hunters had foraged. He stored the hides and meat in one of the wagons.
Medium Animal Hide [2] Material. Quality: Common.
Small Animal Hide [6] Material. Quality: Common.
Medium Animal Meat [7] Ingredient.
Small Animal Meat [6] Ingredient.
Jim roused the militia at sunrise. Since none of them had been on sentry, they all ought to have rested enough to get an early start. They headed north for the early part of the morning, before the road bent to the west, elbowing backward around a large pit. One of the scouts went to investigate and reported that the pit was likely an ore pit or a clay pit. It would be useful to the village in the future, but, for now, it was overrun by monsters. They travelled along the path through the rest of the day, only stopping briefly to cook and eat some of the meat Jim had butchered last night. By the afternoon, Jim had gained another point of constitution and dexterity from marching alongside the wagons again. They had also started to encounter the first signs of Alderman Andrew¡¯s former home. Rotting barns and farmhouses could occasionally be seen a few hundred metres from the path. They investigated each building, but they¡¯d all been pillaged long ago. When the path started to curve back north, Jim checked his map and waved Langdon over. ¡°This quest can¡¯t be that easy. We¡¯re almost at the sawmill and nothing has gone wrong. No one has even so much has tripped over.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. We¡¯d best stay alert.¡± Despite their caution as they approached the sawmill, still nothing had gone wrong. The hair on the back of Jim¡¯s neck stood on end as one of Vanessa¡¯s hunter friends approached the sawmill and looked through a hole in the rotted, wooden wall. The young woman peaked her head into the gap then immediately drew it back. The girl backpedalled toward the group in a surprisingly quiet series of motions. ¡°Rats!¡± she squeaked. ¡°Big ones.¡± Langdon went and had a look for himself. Jim wanted to go, too, but he started to think he¡¯d never be quiet enough or agile enough to be a scout. When Langdon returned, he said. ¡°There¡¯s nineteen ratmen holed up in the sawmill. Eight of ¡®em are white and seem to be in charge. The other eleven are sort of cowering at the back of the mill¡¯s main room.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡± Jim asked. ¡°I reckon we bottle ¡®em up inside the mill. The twelve of us with spears and staves hold the doorway and stick ¡®em as they try to escape. Vanessa and the hunters stand back and shoot any that get any ideas.¡± The plan seemed simple, but effective, so Jim agreed. Jim knew little about military tactics, most of his gaming had ignored anything beyond glorified single combat, but what he did know consisted of two simple rules: Don''t get attacked from behind. Run when you''re losing. He would have to rely on the soldiers until he had a chance to better familiarise himself with the game. Langdon silently motioned the ten soldiers, including Martin, to gather with him on either side of the doorway while the hunters stayed off to the sides. Jim was to be the bait and come in last. Once everyone was in position, Jim did his best to join them quietly, but his slow and loud footsteps drew the attention of the ratmen. As soon as the first ratmen poked its snout outside to sniff around, Langdon and Martin charged to fill the doorway, thrusting their spears into the white ratman.
Albino ratman, level 3 monster [8] HP: 30/30
Ratman vermin, level 2 monster [11] HP: 20/20
The two, named militia soldiers impaled the single ratman on their spears. Two crimson red 16s ripped themselves from the albino leader¡¯s body as he fell to the ground in a lifeless mess. The other seven albino ratmen, and the other nine soldiers, wasted no time joining the fray. Red 7s and 8s bled from the enemy, punctuated by the occasional 16, 17 or 18 from Martin¡¯s or Langdon¡¯s spears. In retaliation, very few of the albino ratmen landed any hits. A red 3 or 4 wounded the occasional militiaman, but with their prodigious health pool of 50 as level 5 soldiers, they all stood proud and firm. By the time Jim squeezed himself into the line, every albino ratman was dead. Unfortunately, the dying squeals of the white vermin attracted their brethren, who swarmed the line. In their panic to escape, the ratman vermin accidentally executed a very clever manoeuvre. One after the other they swarmed the edge of the doorway, scrabbling over the same soldier to try and escape. Jim was able to thrust his simple spear into the belly of one as it passed overhead, doing 8 damage and pushing it into another soldier¡¯s spear, but seven of the ratmen survived and scrabbled over the same soldier, their claws each slashing the man for 2 or 3 points of health. The man, an unnamed soldier, fell to the ground wounded and bleeding. He still had 18 HP left, so he was unlikely to die, but he required medical attention. Jim, lacking any bandages, turned to pursue the vermin instead. Of the seven that escaped, the leading two were brought down by arrow fire from Vanessa and her hunters. Each arrow punched a red 3 or 4 out of a ratman¡¯s torso. Sensing the danger of the archers, the five remaining ratmen swarmed one hunter that was slightly distant from her peers. The young woman that had scouted out the sawmill shrieked in terror. The five beasts clawed and bit. The other hunters launched a second volley. Langdon¡¯s soldiers slammed into the rear of the ratmen. Jim ran to try and catch up, to try and help. They were all too late to save thepoor girl, whose 20 hit points evaporated in a brief, brutal stream of red 2s and 3s. Jim felt a bit shocked. He knew that Platinum Online was a game, but the crimson digits were every bit as horrifying to behold as blood. He just stood and stared while Langdon checked on the dead girl, shook his head. He pulled a blanket from his pack and covered the girl. He couldn''t bear to look closely. He couldn''t dare search her face for anything that would remind him of... None of the others seemed as shaken as Jim. Evidently, life was harsh in Platinum Online. They buried the dead hunter with limited ceremony. ¡°Come on, Jim,¡± Langdon said, forlorn. ¡°Let¡¯s see if it was worth it.¡± Upon walking into the abandoned sawmill, Jim received an after-action report.
Victory: Enemy casualties: Albino ratmen [8] Ratmen vermin [11] Allied casualties: Hunter [1] You have received the following from the battle: 387 experience points; 5 Seasoned Hardwood Log; Enchanted Sawmill Blade [Quest Item].
Enchanted Sawmill Blade. Quest Item.
Seasoned Hardwood Log [5] Quality: Rare Material.
The experience raised Jim¡¯s progress bar for level 3 to 387/1000, but his inventory contained neither the blade nor the logs. He would still have to find, disassemble and load his loot. Jim was still a bit too shell-shocked to be much help with plundering the dilapidated sawmill. He mostly just watched as Langdon organised work parties to tear down the blade and search for the logs that would still be of use to the village. Chapter 10 – The Lonely Road. Jim felt totally exhausted and empty after the day¡¯s events. Every soldier and hunter walked in desolate quiet along the road away from the sawmill. Jim sat in the back, alone, of the second wagon. His back ached after being crammed into the small space between their cargo, and he hung his head, watching the ground churn under the wagon¡¯s heavy load. For a long time, he could barely think; the visage of a lifeless girl rained misery in a steady drizzle and broke a dam somewhere in his mind. No specific thoughts rippled his consciousness, they all lurked beneath the surface. Instead, an omnipresent cloud of negativity gathered in his brow, just above his eyes that felt laden with unexpressed feelings. After an hour, the time he would normally get up and allow someone else to ride in the wagon, Jim didn¡¯t move. His gaze drifted, in microscopic increments, upwards. Jim could not bear to talk, so he instead rested his sight on the horizon. Lush grassland, garish in its vibrant green, clashed with Jim¡¯s feelings until the sun began to set and the orange and purple twilight washed the grass and trees to grey. Melancholy and brooding were not new to Jim. He¡¯d felt this way before, after his divorce. He¡¯d have liked to listen to music as he did back then. It didn¡¯t help him feel better, but the noise made him feel less distant from the good times. The game world listened to Jim¡¯s thoughts, and soft, ambient music played as if heard from a musician just out of sight. A low rich horn, or similar instrument, played counterpart to a softer, higher woodwind. The music deepened Jim¡¯s sorrow but helped him cope. A drum began to beat, and the wagons slowed and pulled off the dirt road. Something was wrong. Jim crawled down at the sound of hushed voices. ¡°There, behind those trees. Hurry.¡± A woman¡¯s voice. Martin rounded the wagon with two of the soldiers in tow and pulled Jim along. ¡°C¡¯mon, Jim. Something¡¯s wrong.¡± The small group of men that had come to get Jim hurried ahead of the wagons. Vanessa gestured for everyone to get off the road and hide, waving frantically, windmilling her arms as she was reluctant to raise her voice. Martin dragged Jim behind a large tree and Langdon and Vanessa joined them. The wagons pulled into a copse and were hidden, poorly, from sight. ¡°What is it, Vanessa?¡± Langdon asked. ¡°An army. There¡¯s an army coming along the road ahead of us. There were soldiers with swords, and officers on horseback,¡± she whispered. ¡°An army? There shouldn¡¯t be anything here. The alderman said The Grand Plateau was safe,¡± one of Langdon¡¯s soldiers spoke in quiet confusion. ¡°How many were there? What¡¯d they look like? Are they bandits?¡± Langdon asked. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. I saw four horsemen at the front, but I couldn¡¯t count the foot soldiers. There¡¯s more of them than they are of us. And¡­ they glowed green.¡± ¡°The dead,¡± the older soldier that had come with Martin said. Langdon nodded. ¡°We can¡¯t hide,¡± the soldier said. ¡°They¡¯ll sense us when they get close.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve fought them before?¡± Langdon asked. ¡°Aye. I¡¯ll need to get a better look, though.¡± ¡°Alright, Mr¡­¡± ¡°Burke.¡± ¡°Mr Burke. Take Martin and go have a look.¡± Martin looked a bit panicked at his cousin¡¯s word. The living dead obviously did not sit well with the young man. He looked at Vanessa and they shared weak smiles.
Burke, level 5 Human (Reptile bloodline) militia veteran. HP: 150/150
Jim looked at Burke as he lead Martin away. Something had just happened, but Jim didn¡¯t know what. Some event or some interaction had transformed a generic militiaman into a war veteran and made him stronger and more capable as a soldier. Jim looked around at the hunters and soldiers cowering in the bushes. They all had different builds, different faces, different defining features, but they were all missing¡­ something¡­ that Burke had. Could they all be like Burke? Could I be like Burke?Jim pulled out the blank spellbook he''d received the previous day. The pages of empty vellum fluttered in the breeze. The small tome did nothingThe narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Langdon tried to calm Vanessa while they waited for Burke and Martin to return. Minutes later, Burke silently lead Martin back to Jim¡¯s tree. ¡°¡¯s not an army,¡± Burke admonished Vanessa in a low tone. He turned to Langdon. ¡°Only three squads, their squad leaders and an officer. If we fight smart, most of us will live.¡± "Most of us?" Jim asked, the death of the girl weighed on his mind. "Should we run?" "Can''t run from the dead. Can''t hide from the dead. Can''t foolthe dead. They''re mindless, hungering things." "Then we fight. How do we do this?¡± Langdon asked Burke. ¡°¡¯s the same as any other fight against monsters.¡± Burke shrugged. He didn¡¯t have a high opinion of the undead, and his blas¨¦ manner rubbed off on Martin, who relaxed his white-knuckled grip on his spear. ¡°Okay. Get let¡¯s the hunters up on the wagons,¡± Langdon said. Jim nodded for Vanessa to follow the order. After giving Vanessa and her hunters time to perch wherever they could fit on the wagons, Langdon walked out from behind the tree. He took a position in line with the trees and faced the road. ¡°Militia! Form up!¡± He yelled, piercing the deathly silence of the late evening. Burke and Martin stood to Langdon¡¯s left and right, and the other militiamen spread themselves, shoulder to shoulder, between the closely-packed trees they¡¯d hid behind a moment earlier on their right, and a dense clump of bushes on their left. Jim stood beside Martin. He would try and protect the boy, even if he only had a blunt spear and 71 HP. The dead, a stone¡¯s throw down the road, saw the militia¡¯s display and mindlessly charged the line. Guttural roars cracked tattered vocal chords and the orderly formation shattered. Undead in various stages of decay variously sprinted, walked, hobbled, and limped towards them piecemeal, the mounted officers in the lead. The militia yelled back. The shouts helped keep the militia a united wall. Burke¡¯s war cry noticeably rallied the younger men. ¡°Come on, ya filth! Try and take me!¡± The skeletal horses smashed their hooves against the ground. The officers guided them straight at Burke and, by extension, straight at Jim. He stared, at what he thought would be his death.
Spectral Captain, level 2 Undead (Elite). HP: 400/400
Spectral horsemen, level 2 Undead. [3] HP: 20/20
Skeleton horse, level 1 Undead. [4] HP: 10/10
Skeleton warrior, level 2 Undead. [30] HP: 20/20
The lead undead, the spectral captain, had attributes that made Jim¡¯s heart sink, but then he lowered his eyes. ¡°Vanessa,¡± he called out, ¡°shoot the horses!¡± A volley of arrows arced overhead. Red 2s and 3s ricocheted from the undead mounts, bringing the first two down. The fall of the leading horses threw one spectral horseman to the ground, the impact nearly killing the weak level 2. The captain was also tossed from his mount, but fared much better, losing only a minuscule 14 points from his health total. The two horsemen behind leaped their fallen comrades and continued their charge at Burke. Burke only lowered his stance and grit his teeth. The undead riders reared their horses and slashed down at Burke with their swords. He accepted the blows in twin instances of 9 damage, then struck back. The level 5 powerhouse launched off his back foot and thrust his spear at the left horse as its front legs came down. The weight behind the dead beast only served to drive Burke¡¯s spear further in. Two, enormous red 22s burst from the horse¡¯s back. The rider and his mount both fell to the ground, dead. Burke had run them both through! Martin, Langdon, and Jim joined in fighting off the other horsemen and had nearly brought him and his horse down with their more modest damage output before the captain joined the fray. The captain lay about himself, slashing at the four men. Every hit deprived one of them of 25 health. Jim received two hits in quick succession and had to step back. The cuts across his chest and arm stung only like papercuts, the game dampening his pain dramatically, but he felt incredibly weak. From behind the line, Jim could clearly watch the battle. Langdon, Martin and, Burke, with Vanessa and the hunters¡¯ help, raced against the captain¡¯s enormous health pool. It would be a close call, but Jim estimated that the enemy elite¡¯s health would reach 0 before any of the three men. However, at the periphery of their forces, the regular militia had begun to engage the skeleton warriors. The numbers popping up because of their battle reassured Jim at first. Each man did 6 or 7 damage with every spear strike, while the undead only managed a paltry 2 or 3. As he watched, however, Jim realised that the overwhelming number of the skeletons meant that his forces were losing. The four militiamen to the left seemed to be coping. They each only faced four opponents and had Burke striking in moments of opportunity to help whittle away the undead. The three militiamen on the right were doomed, though. As soon as the limping skeletons joined their more able brethren, there would be five undead combatants for every living one. Martin was also far less help to their right flank, his inexperience meant that he was both harder pressed to defend himself and less able to make use of openings to strike the warriors. Even though he only had 21 HP left, Jim had to act. He limped into battle at the same time as the slowest undead. With his reduced health and limited strength, he was roughly on-par with the unnamed members of the militia. Jim thrust his walking staff into the ribcage of a warrior that pressed him, dealing 8 damage. He blocked a few slashes but received twice as many. A soldier fell beside him and an undead filled the hole in the living line. Jim only had 7 health left. With his side vulnerable, he would soon die. Chapter 11 – A Brush with Death. The soldier on Jim¡¯s other side fell, a broken sword buried in his gut. A blackened 3 gasped from his mouth. Another skeleton barged into Jim¡¯s formation. Surrounded, three sword slashes felled Jim. The cuts each bled a crimson 2, leaving Jim with a single point of health. The wounds did not pain or ache, instead, the weakness that each previous injury imposed multiplied and forced him to the ground. Jim raged at himself. His health pool was drained, but his mana pool practically overflowed.Why can''t I DO anything?
You are unconscious: Seeing their leader fall, soldiers under your command have their fighting strength halved. Your army will shatter when their losses exceed 50%, or when the other officers are slain. If your forces are victorious, you will be revived. If your forces are defeated, you will die.
Langdon, Burke and Martin fought the spectral captain in an easy rhythm and if they¡¯d had ten more seconds, they probably would have finished him off. Langdon, spotting the unsuppressed undead, was forced to break off and deal with the new threat. He parried a final blow from the captain with the tip of his spear then ducked around Burke. The expected black unconsciousness did not descend. Instead, the world became muted, in sound and colour, and Jim¡¯s spirit was able to survey the battlefield. Things were not well on his side. The last militiaman on the right wing, pinned against the large tree, was slain only moments after Jim. The four skeletons that could still fight turned the flank. They should never have fought this fight. They should have run, or used better terrain or fought dirty...There''s nothing I can do. We''re all going to die.Sure, they hadn''t had much time but Jim should have said something. He shouldn''t have left his fate to a straight fight against overwhelming odds with a strategy made by a character who hadn''t even been born yesterday. Thankfully, the others were able to act and to improvise where Jim had not. The skeleton that stood over Jim¡¯s body thrust at Martin¡¯s exposed back as Langdon approached. The blade struck at the worst, possible time, throwing Martin forward into the captain¡¯s strike. Rusted metal collided with leather helmet, and a critical, lifeblood-red 50 halved Martin¡¯s remaining life. Langdon, enraged, thrust his spear into the eye-socket of the skeleton that had attacked his cousin. Vanessa had also evidently seen the brutal strike that nearly killed Martin. Her cry of anguish accompanied a blur of arrows. She had leaped from her vantage on the right wagon and fired arrows as she sprinted toward the line. She reached Langdon¡¯s side and, point blank, fired the final deathblow into the chest of the fourth, loose skeleton warrior. To their side, the spectral captain reached 10% HP, and loosed a berserk scream. The elite booted Burke away and turned his fury on Martin. Martin¡¯s HP read 25: He would not survive a direct strike. The ghost captain gripped the hilt of his sword in both hands and swung. The blade¡¯s horizontal strike trailed white energy and aimed to split Martin in half. Martin stepped back and pivoted, presenting the haft of his spear as a target. The force of the strike cleaved the wood in two. Martin sprawled on the ground. 23 (2 blocked). He was alive but unconscious like Jim. Vanessa stepped up to cover Martin¡¯s body. The flexible wood of her bow whipped into the sword hand of the captain just as he reversed his sword for the back stroke. The extra shove from Vanessa twisted the sword at the crucial instant when the captain had adjusted his grip. Rather than swinging back to dissect Vanessa, the sword sailed out of his hand and above her head. Vanessa pounced. Using her bow as a garotte, Vanessa slipped behind the spectral captain as he overreached and began to strangle him. Although the captain could not suffocate, Vanessa actions held him in place while Langdon prepared a two-handed strike of his own. Taking careful aim so as not to hit Vanessa, Langdon thrust into and through the undead leader. Green liquid gushed from the ghost¡¯s mortal wound, bright and vibrant in Jim¡¯s muted vision, and the battle was won. On the left flank, three of the four militiamen stood, badly injured, but still alive. A pile of bones littered the berm between the road and the tree line. Jim¡¯s vision lurched as his consciousness was pulled back to his body.
Victory: Enemy casualties Spectral captain Spectral horseman [3] Skeleton horse [4] Skeleton warrior [30] Allied casualties: Militia [4] You have received the following from the battle: 605 experience points; 34 Metal Scrap; Necromantic Crystal
Necromantic Crystal This item begins a quest.
Metal Scrap [34] Material.
¡°Did we win?¡± Martin coughed. ¡°Or is the afterlife just this bloody awful?¡± ¡°I told you we¡¯d win,¡± Burke said, limping over from the cratered earth he¡¯d landed in. ¡°Barely,¡± Jim whispered. ¡°Four of us didn¡¯t.¡± Jim vowed to himself,Next time I''ll do better. I''ll learn. It''s what I should have been doing since I got here. ¡°We¡¯d best see to the dead,¡± Burke said. ¡°We ought to bury them quickly and deeply, before their bones can be brought back.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Brought back?¡± ¡°Aye. Look here.¡± Burke leaned down and pulled a glowing green object from the chest of the spectral captain and threw it to Langdon who then handed the jagged crystal fragment to Jim.
Quest discovered: A brush with death. After your encounter with a small, undead force, you discovered a fragment of a necromantic crystal. ¡°There are always more undead.¡± ¨C Burke. Find and destroy the source of the undead. Rewards: 5000 experience points; unknown.
The shard of green gem was only a tiny piece of a much larger crystal. According to the quest, there would be more¡­ many more, judging by the reward offered by the game: Jim was 8¨C 8! ¨C experience away from level 3, but the 5000 exp reward would likely take him all the way to level 4. He accepted the quest and not just for the experience. Those undead monsters had killed four of his men. They might not have been his friends yet, like Martin, Langdon, and Vanessa, but they mattered. He would destroy these undead. There was only one problem. I need to get stronger and I need to get smarter. He fished the spellbook out of his inventory and held the necromantic crystal against the page.
You have failed to learn the spell Raise Skeleton. Prerequisites: Dark Magic Affinity; 10 Wisdom
Damn it. Rather than sitting by the fire, helping prepare what remained of the food from yesterday¡¯s hunt with the other wounded, Jim decided to help dig the graves. He tore at the earth with a shovel ¨C one of the tools the alderman thought they may have needed in recovering the sawmill blade ¨C and pushed himself through the exhaustion. When a militiaman or hunter tried to relieve him, Jim shrugged them off. They eventually gave up and worked in shifts to dig the mass-grave for the slain undead. With ragged breath, Jim panted as he dug a grave for each of the soldiers that had died for him.
Your base strength has increased. You now have a base strength of 10. Milestone reached: 10 strength. You now have 10 strength and possess the strength of an average adult human. You have learned the ¡®brutal strike¡¯ skill.
Brutal Strike: Brutal Strike is the basic ¡®strength¡¯ skill. Brutal Strike allows you to deal additional damage equal to your strength damage bonus (currently 10) at the cost of your stamina.
Your base constitution has increased. You now have a base constitution of 10. Milestone reached: 10 constitution. You now have 10 constitution and possess the constitution of an average adult human. You have learned the ¡®endure¡¯ skill.
Endure: Endure is the basic ¡®constitution¡¯ skill. Endure allows you to withstand damage equal to your constitution at the cost of your stamina.
Your base dexterity has increased. You now have a base dexterity of 10. Milestone reached: 10 dexterity. You now have 10 dexterity and possess the dexterity of an average adult human. You have learned the ¡®critical strike¡¯ skill.
Critical Strike: Critical Strike is the basic ¡®dexterity¡¯ skill. Critical Strike allows you to force a critical strike for double damage cost of your stamina. Critical Strike may critically strike based on your base chance.
Upon finishing the three soldiers¡¯ graves, Jim moved onto the unfinished mass grave. His militia had dropped from exhaustion before having had the chance to collect and bury the skeletons. Jim performed the grim task in silence that was only broken by the rattle of bones. As he tossed body after body into the pit, Jim took the rusted swords and armour of each undead and loaded them into the wagon, collecting the 34 pieces of Scrap Metal he¡¯d been rewarded for their earlier, pyrrhic victory. Jim did not gain any more strength, constitution or dexterity by the time he¡¯d finished the mass grave: improving his attributes further than the 10-stat-milestone would require much greater effort. He did, however, gain a sense of desolate peace. Heaping shovelful upon shovelful of dirt upon the corpses of his enemies did not provoke any heroic emotion in Jim¡¯s mind, but burying them allowed Jim to bury his pain. Purple tinged the eastern sky and Jim finally allowed himself a moment of rest. The leftover food and drink from the night¡¯s meal pushed away the weakness from the wounds and the gravedigging. Vanessa woke first. ¡°Honoured elder,¡± she greeted him, ¡°couldn¡¯t you sleep?¡± She gestured at the mounds of earth. ¡°Morning, Vanessa,¡± he whispered back. ¡°No, I couldn¡¯t sleep.¡± He looked at her and offered a weak almost-smile. She nodded and returned the gesture. Jim winced at the twisted expression. It wasn¡¯t pretty on the young woman and must have looked much worse on him. Martin, whose sleeping bag had crept increasingly nearer Vanessa¡¯s every night, woke next. ¡°Gods, Jim. Is that you? What happened to ya?¡± Martin asked. Jim looked down. He was filthy, almost black, with dirt. Jim gestured at the graves and shrugged. Martin walked close. ¡°Not that.¡± He grabbed Jim by the arm. ¡°This!¡± Jim¡¯s arm had filled out and, where Martin¡¯s fingers wiped away the dirt, his skin looked much healthier. Jim pulled his arm away and shook his head. He wasn¡¯t in the mood to improve his mood. Martin, who possessed the resilience of youth and had been barely fazed by the ordeal, poked Jim in the ribs. ¡°Oh, c¡¯mon old man. Lighten up.¡± Vanessa glared at Martin and he stopped. Jim already knew that he¡¯d become stronger. Not only was it impossible to miss the notifications that had popped up during the night, but he also no longer required his spear or walking staff to prop him up. He¡¯d thrown both badly damaged weapons into the grave with the skeletons and now wielded a spear that he¡¯d taken from his dead comrade. He also knew that the changes to his body were almost futile. He was an old man that knew nothing of fighting; he would try, but would he succeed? He needed to get this damned spellbook to dosomething.
Militia Spear Two-Handed Weapon Spear. 3¡ª5 piercing damage. Quality: Common. Durability: 30/30
¡°We should go,¡± Jim said. Langdon looked at the churned dirt where the graves had been dug, then back at Jim. Jim walked away from Martin and Vanessa and approached Langdon, who was sitting up in his sleeping bag. ¡°Yep,¡± he replied, then set to rousing the rest of their forces. When every member of both squads had eaten and relieved themselves, the wagons set off. Wounded militiamen occupied every available spare space in the wagons, while the rest marched to the slow pace of the wagons. Jim didn¡¯t care. He wouldn¡¯t sit and mope like he had yesterday; he would get stronger; he would march with his men and women. ¡°Burke.¡± Jim jogged over to pace alongside Burke and waved his new spear awkwardly. ¡°Could you show me how to use this thing?¡± Chapter 12 – Return to Town. Burke trained Jim and Martin in the pouring rain. The morning after the battle with the undead had brought not breaking dawn, but rather breaking clouds. The already slow pace of the wagons ground to a muddy crawl as the wooden wagon wheels carved ruts into the dirt road. Rather than drag their feet alongside the horses, Langdon had opted to split the group up. While Langdon and the remaining militiamen had stayed to defend the caravan, Vanessa¡¯s hunters had been sent to forage food as they¡¯d depleted their supply of everything but hardtack. Jim and Martin had the worst job and had been sent to learn to fight with a spear from Burke. They would forward step, thrust, backstep, thrust, sidestep, thrust on repeat until the wagons passed out of sight down the road. Then, Burke would have them close on their enemy, in this case falling raindrops, for ten steps, and alternate between ducking down to thrust up; spin-pivoting to thrust sideways; and leaping to thrust downward, until they caught up with Langdon. The gruelling conditioning improved in one hour what burying 34 skeletons over an entire night had not and helped Jim break through the stagnation in his stats. Throughout the ¡°day,¡± his constitution and dexterity both climbed, reaching 11, then 12, then 13. While Jim maintained his desire to grow stronger throughout the constant drills, he had lost the anger that had stoked his endless energy. Whether Burke¡¯s monotonous instructions were to blame, or the endless rain that blew from the ocean to the north-west, Jim did not know or care. He just wanted to sleep, even though he knew he could not. They didn¡¯t even stop to eat. Instead, they scoffed chunks of meat or biscuit whenever Burke let them have a free hand. Eventually the road beneath their feet became rockier and the wagons made better time. This did not make things easier for Jim and Martin, they just had to train at a faster pace, but it did allow their exhausted force to make better time. They trundled into town at nightfall and all collapsed, even Burke, by the cookfire. They left the wagons fully laden: Even if they had the energy to unload the goods, they had nowhere to do so. Jim gratefully accepted a bowl of stew from Martin and looked around at the changes the Alderman had wrought on the camp. Rather than a pell-mell, hodgepodge mess of wagons that would have shamed a travelling circus, the refugee camp now resembled something more of a village. Canvas tents had been pitched in family clusters and a single building constructed of unhewn stone, uneven logs and salvaged wagon timber had been erected in the middle of it all. From the village hall emerged Alderman Andrew. He walked directly over to the group and sat among them. ¡°James, I¡¯m pleased to see that you¡¯ve returned. You look well.¡± James didn¡¯t feel well, but he grunted an agreement. The alderman gave an understanding nod. ¡°The drivers told me that you were successful in retrieving my family heirloom, as well as what it cost. Their families will be the first to receive a bed in the new village hall.¡± ¡°What now?¡± Jim asked, absently. ¡°Now we build a sawmill. Thanks to you, in a few short days, we will have a small village. I realise that you do not feel well and that you¡¯re not like us, James¡­ but I¡¯d like you to stay with us.¡±
Quest complete: Family Heirloom. You have delivered the Enchanted Sawmill Blade to the alderman. Reward: 200 experience points; 200 reputation with Alderman Andrew¡¯s Refugees (200/500 friendly).
Congratulations, you have reached level 3 and completed the tutorial. Your attributes have increased. You have unlocked the Talent system. You have 3 talent points to spend.
Jim flicked the notification away with his eyes and focussed on Andrew. ¡°What do you mean ¡®stay with you?¡¯ Where would I go?¡± ¡°Well, we regular folk prefer not to bring it up, but we do recognise that those of you with immortal souls tend to be free-spirited. The others that have been to our small encampment have been happy to cut a few trees, gather a few logs, hunt a few deer, but none of them have done for us what you have, James. We¡¯re very grateful to you.¡± Immortal souls¡­ were there other players here? ¡°Okay. You¡¯re welcome.¡± Jim didn¡¯t know where this was going until he had a sudden thought. Jim tried out his conversation skill. ¡°Why do you want me to stay and what are you offering me?¡± Jim asked. The skill worked. ¡°I would like you to stay and help us rebuild the city that once stood on this site. In return, I would like to invite you to join as the third, and last, member of our council of elders.
Unique quest discovered: Council of elders. Prerequisite: 30 Wisdom; ¡®Elder¡¯ trait; friendly reputation with a newly built town. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Reward: 300 reputation with Alderman Andrew¡¯s Refugees; 33% control over Alderman Andrew¡¯s Refugees; 1000 experience points.
Jim took a while to read and digest the meaning behind the quest. The game had torn him between going out into the world, reintegrating with other people from real life, and settling down to rebuild his sense of worth. He eventually chose to settle. ¡°I would like to join the council,¡± Jim said. Andrew nodded, and Jim received the promised rewards. His reputation rose the remaining 300 points to honoured, and his experience rose to about the half-way mark to level 4, at 1292/2500. A thought struck Jim. ¡°Who is the third council member?¡± Jim asked. ¡°Oh, just one of the wise women that came with the refugee caravan. Her name is Anne. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get to meet her soon.¡± Jim groaned internally. Not that hag again. She gives old people a bad name. ¡°I look forward to it,¡± Jim said. The alderman ¨Ccouncillor now¨C raised a scaled eyebrow but shrugged and turned to walk away when Jim said nothing further. ¡°Good night, councillor,¡± Andrew said as he left. Jim waved his now-equal away and focussed on his food. After eating, Jim sought out Martin, who had promised to teach Jim about talent points when he reached level 3. He found the young man sitting with Vanessa. ¡°Martin, sorry to interrupt. Do you have a minute to tell me about talent points?¡± Jim asked. Martin looked up but didn¡¯t look bothered by Jim butting in on his and Vanessa¡¯s conversation. ¡°Yeah, no worries,¡± Martin replied. ¡°First, bring up your information. Your talent options should appear in a wheel on the left.¡± Jim did so, and, sure enough, the previously blank left third of his user interface had filled in with a rounded, 10-spoked wheel. ¡°Alright, so the wheel is divided into different categories of skills, right? There¡¯s the big four, magic, combat, social and personal. There¡¯s also two little bits: One¡¯s a wildcard, but ya won¡¯t have to worry ¡®bout that, only special people get those, and the other is ya race talents. Rather than gettin¡¯ bogged in the details, why don¡¯t ya tell me what ya have unlocked the prerequisites for.¡± Jim started at the top and worked his way around to the right: ¡°Okay. I have no magical talents; I have one Reptile talent available; one personal talent called Scholar; I have a Piercing Weapons combat talent available; I, uh, do actually have a wildcard talent called Governance available; and lastly, I have two social talents to choose from: Leadership, and Guilds.¡± ¡°Governance, ey? Looks like ya might be a bit special after all. Ya better take that. ¡®s not every day that I get to be mates with one of them fancy fellas.¡± Martin winked at Jim. ¡°Ya should definitely grab Leadership as well. Langdon¡¯s always been saying that if he ever gets to be a leader he¡¯d be strong enough to form his own mercenary group. He¡¯s never had the gift of the gab, for it, though. As for the last one, that¡¯s up to you. I reckon ya should try to get a bit tougher, though.¡± Jim nodded at Martin¡¯s words. He was a young and impulsive man, but he could also be quite thoughtful. "Is there any way that you know of that I could unlock a magical talent? I don''t know if I''ll ever be real front-line material." "Yeah. Ya need to find a mage. Pretty hard to find, though. Even back in Soltolan ya would need connections or money to learn anything. Dunno where you''d find someone in this backwater." Jim walked away disappointed, letting Martin and Vanessa get back to their conversation. He headed to a quiet place on the outskirts of the firepit and browsed through his options, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of his choices for several minutes. He was disappointed that he could not take what seemed like the simplest path to power. Ultimately, he ended up following Martin¡¯s advice and selected a Leadership talent and a Governance talent. For his third pick, Jim chose a Racial talent: It had been a close call between Scaled Skin and Spear Mastery, but what had nearly cost them the last battle was how physically tough Jim had been, not how much damage he personally had dealt. He also hadn''t given up on the spellbook that had been nothing, so far, but dead weight in his bag. Finally, Jim also allotted the 4 bonus attribute points he received to constitution for the same reason he''d chosen Scaled Skin; that attribute also wouldn''t be wasted if he ever managed to pivot into a magical specialisation. IMAGE: Jim''s Talent Wheel after selecting his talents at level 3.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/jims-talent-his-26781786
Leadership Talent Tree selected. For unlocking the basic tier of Leadership, your command limit has increased to 25. Available talents: Non-Commissioned-Officers.
Non-Commissioned-Officers selected. You may add Non-Commissioned-Officers to your army to increase your command limit by 10 for each NCO. You may employ a number of NCOs equal to the number of talent points invested in the Leadership Talent Tree.
Governance Talent Tree selected. For unlocking the basic tier of Governance, the effectiveness of your Charisma has doubled when interacting with your faction members. Available talents: Town Planning.
Town Planning selected. You may employ Architects, Carpenters, Builders, etc, to construct town buildings out of materials that you have gathered.
Reptile Bloodline Talent Tree selected. For unlocking the basic tier of Reptile Bloodline, your race has been changed from Human (Reptile bloodline) to Lizardman. Available talents: Scaled Skin.
Scaled Skin selected. The damage you receive is reduced by X%, where X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Reptile Bloodline Talent Tree.
Chapter 13 – Town Planning. After making his talent selections, Jim found himself alone in the camp. Only the sentries and a few hunters specialising in nocturnal game stalked through the cold night air. For another night, Jim was unable to shut his thoughts out. Four more deaths now weighed on Jim. He¡¯d personally been responsible for a fortieth of all the camp refugees dying. The debt of lives he owed to Andrew had been part of the reason Jim accepted the councillor¡¯s offer, and why he¡¯d picked the Governance and Leadership talent specialisations over the more mainstream, player-focussed Piercing Weapons or Guilds talents. In an attempt to rationalise away his guilt, Jim thought that maybe things were turning out for the best. The computer-generated people of Andrew¡¯s refugees would be more reliable. Players, on the other hand, were like the inconstant moon that monthly changed her circle orb and would prove likewise variable. Jim¡¯s relationship with his daughter rested on his success in Platinum Online. Playing with non-players removed the risk¡­ even if it cost a few of their lives. The tide of blood he had spilled or caused to be spilled eroded Jim¡¯s psyche and he suspected that it always would. He felt slightly unclean. Torch in hand, Jim strode toward the river. Filth, both physical and mental, clung to him from the last two days labour and he was glad that the game hadn¡¯t yet mastered the human sense of smell. Jim stuck the torch into the soft ground by the river and bathed in the chill water by the flickering torchlight. When finished, he emerged from the river to grasp the torch and inspect the changes wrought by his recent actions. Immediately noticeable were the changes caused by his transformation into a Lizardman. Rather than a faint tracing of scales beneath his skin, Jim was now completely scaled anywhere the bone protruded: Forehead, brow, cheekbones, jaw, collarbone, elbows, knuckles, everywhere. The number of grey patches surprised him, and he couldn¡¯t feel a difference between skin and scale except with his fingertips. They should itch, he thought, but they don¡¯t. Weird. Facial hair had always bothered him for that exact reason, but now he had a distinguished grey shadow that he quite liked. Less noticeable, and something that endeared Jim to the changes even more, was how different his body looked. His muscles and posture had improved remarkably. An emaciated ruin of a human no longer stared back at him from the water. Instead, a striking mirror-image of his father, but scaled, stood proud in the torchlight. Just as when he¡¯d noticed his eyes upon first entering the game, the similarities between Jim and his long-departed father warmed him greatly and he felt tears weigh heavily upon him. He smiled, genuinely, and brushed the memories away. He had work to do. Rather than returning to the camp to cook or find some animals to skin, Jim scouted the riverbank for something he knew he would find. A little over a kilometre downstream, by his estimation, Jim found a completely flat, completely solid square of land that lined up exactly flush with a deep section of the river. Jim thought that the area had likely been a small shipyard for the river ferries that must have serviced the old city¡­ or perhaps a sawmill had been built here, just as Jim planned to do now. Satisfied that he had found the proper location, Jim used his new Town Planning talent to designate the area as the construction site for the town¡¯s sawmill. He hadn¡¯t yet consulted with Andrew, but he doubted his fellow councillor would object to Jim¡¯s planned use of the recovered sawmill blade. After he had finalised the decision, Jim brought up the construction interface for the sawmill. The list of resources required was massive, and while he could not fill much of the building¡¯s demand, there was one he could do something about.
Construction: Sawmill Materials required: 600 units of Stone. 600 units of Thatch, Boards, or Tiles 100 units of Timber Waterwheel Waterwheel Mechanism Sawmill Blade The quality of the material used in construction will affect the productivity and durability of the completed structure. Build Points: 0/1500
Jim found the work physically tiring, but just as when he spent an entire night digging graves, he found that he could push through the exhaustion without suffering any real negative consequences. By sunrise, he had gathered a full half of the stone required and laid them into place. The build points did not increase by his effort, however, and it seemed that the stones would have to be cut correctly to make headway there. Jim hauled rocks worn smooth and flat by the river¡¯s current up to the building site. He spent hours gathering a large pile of stone, using the monotonous labour to distract him from his worries as well as increase his strength to be on-par with his constitution and dexterity. The construction guide directed for the stone be hewn and distributed in a 20 by 30 grid as the floor of the sawmill. Jim lacked the tools to hew the stone, but he placed what he did gather into the grid, hoping that it would mean that better-equipped townsfolk would be able to complete the work quicker. Langdon and the rest of the militia came to find Jim sometime after breakfast. Andrew and Anne followed behind Jim¡¯s men and women. Andrew was amazed by Jim¡¯s overnight progress and tacitly approved of his building initiative. Anne seemed outraged.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Would it have been too much to ask,¡± Anne began, ¡°to be consulted before you began significant projects, Councillor James?¡± Jim did not want to antagonise the older woman, so simply apologised. ¡°Well, it¡¯s too late to change things now. I suppose we must make a sawmill our next priority.¡± Andrew adopted a placating tone, but, in an uncharacteristic gesture, winked at Jim. ¡°I suppose we must.¡± Anne filled her final word with venom and then left. Perhaps she thought she would earn points for being difficult; Jim couldn¡¯t think of any other reason to look such an obvious gift-horse in the mouth. ¡°You¡¯ve gathered a lot of material in one day, Jim. I¡¯m very pleased to see my choice in a fellow councillor was well founded. We desperately need a source of timber to build houses for the refugees, and this mill is vital. Would you, perhaps, consider keeping your militia in town today, and help us gather the resources? I will pull every available labourer from the entire camp and work through the night if it means we can have this operational by tomorrow.¡±
Zone Quest Received: WarpTen Councillor Andrew wants a sawmill built and he wants it done yesterday. Gather materials for the sawmill¡¯s construction and bring them to the construction site to the northwest of the village hall. Progress: 300/600 Stone 0/600 Thatch, Boards or Tiles 0/100 Timber 0/1 Waterwheel 0/1 Waterwheel Mechanism 1/1 Sawmill Blade (Enchanted Sawmill Blade) Reward: 1000 experience points; 500 reputation with Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp; Unlock ¡®Building¡¯ Personal Talent specialisation. Failure: The quest will fail if not completed within 24 hours. No penalty for failure.
¡°I will gladly try, Andrew, but I don¡¯t think my militia of seventeen men and women will be enough. I also don¡¯t know where I¡¯d begin crafting a waterwheel or its mechanism.¡± ¡°I have solutions to both of your problems. I have made the quest available to everyone within the refugee camp. I suspect you will find many idle hands to make short work of the resource gathering. In regard to the Waterwheel, I will arrange some of the townspeople to construct it out of disassembled wagon timbers. For the Waterwheel Mechanism, however, you will need to seek out a smith in the camp. Hopefully, he will have enough tools and rivets to convert wagon axles into what we need.¡± ¡°Well. I suppose I¡¯d better get to work gathering the materials and finding this smith.¡± ¡°Indeed. I will organise the builders and the labourers.¡± Andrew departed, and it wasn¡¯t long until a swarm of people converged on the building site. Many of the computer-generated townspeople brought stones and timbers from the nearby areas. Jim also saw, for the first time, other players. Five players, grouped using the Guilds skill that Jim had passed over in favour of Leadership, had begun harvesting and weaving river rushes into thatch. He almost went over to introduce himself but reflected upon his earlier thoughts. He didn¡¯t think regular young adults playing the game for fun would be able to empathise with an old, digital man¡¯s plights. Jim shook his head and assigned jobs to the militia. He variously set the strongest militia to gather rocks and fell trees, while he tasked the more agile among them, mostly the hunters, to weave thatch. Jim himself head into the camp to find a smith. Jim had expected to have to talk to every townsperson he came across and engage on an elaborate fetch quest. Instead, immediately upon approaching the centre of camp, Jim¡¯s ears were assaulted with the relentless pounding of metal upon metal. A young man hammered upon the various pieces of scrap metal that Jim had brought to the town the previous day.
Smith, level 3 Lizardman blacksmith apprentice. HP: 90/90
Blacksmith Smith was a very young Lizardman and looked 16 at the most. Jim approached the boy and, before he could speak, was hammered with word after rapid word. ¡°Hi there, Councillor James! I¡¯m Smith. Councillor Andrew told me you¡¯d stop by. I¡¯ve already started on the mechanism. I just need to turn some of this scrap into metal plates and strip down a wagon¡¯s axle and join them with rivets and¡­¡± Smith¡¯s speech rambled through the process of creating a waterwheel mechanism. Jim tried to follow, but the boy¡¯s quick speaking soon lost him in the details. ¡°When do you think it will be ready?¡± Jim asked when Smith first paused for breath. ¡°Oh, tonight. Sure. No problem. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll have it down before sunrise and¡­¡± Jim had to wait a significant time before the chatty youth stopped. ¡°I will see you tonight, then.¡± Jim turned away from the boy¡¯s enthusiastic farewell and returned to the construction site. Jim and the militia spent the entirety of the day labouring alongside players and townsfolk alike. Jim exchanged simple greetings with the players who spoke to him, but none wanted to join the old man¡¯s group. That suited Jim fine and he focussed on foraging for resources. Jim was especially careful to be out gathering material when Smith stopped by to drop off the Waterwheel Mechanism. By nightfall, they had gathered all the required materials aside from the thatching for the Sawmill¡¯s roof. Construction was still able to begin, however, and the overtired townspeople built through the night. Jim and several other players who opted not to log out to sleep spent the night weaving the remaining thatch and, by morning, the sawmill was complete.
Construction complete: Sawmill The sawmill is complete and can now be used to process logs into Boards and Planks. Logs can be converted into Boards and Planks at a rate of 1:12 and 1:6 respectively. Due to the Enchanted Sawmill Blade used in construction, this sawmill produces Boards and Planks 20% faster. The Sawmill can be upgraded into a Lumberyard. You require an Architect to construct a Lumberyard.
Quest complete: WarpTen The sawmill is complete, and Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp will be able to quickly process timber Logs into the more efficient timber Planks. Reward: 1000 experience points (2292/2500); 500 reputation with Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp (500/2500 honoured).
Chapter 14 – The Tome of Flames Jim followed the crowd of people leaving the sawmill to head back to the village hall. He entered the building with Andrew and Langdon, but the rest of the militia and many of the players dropped off after working through the night. The militia collapsed in a heap around the morning¡¯s cookfire, while the players faded away and simply vanished. ¡°Well I suppose we¡¯d better get some shut-eye, too,¡± Langdon said. ¡°You can go, Langdon. I want to speak with Andrew.¡± Langdon shook his head and sat on a crude stool, he had to hold his chin up, but he tried to pay attention. ¡°Go ahead, James,¡± Andrew said. Jim was about to speak when a commotion of yells and screams broke through the door of the village hall. ¡°Councillor, councillor. come quick! We¡¯re under attack!¡± A gaggle of the townsfolk beckoned them outside. Jim and Andrew, putting their advanced age aside, made haste. Out in the camp, a blazing inferno immediately caught their attention. One of the empty wagons that served as the perimeter of the camp had been set ablaze. Many of the townsfolk ran in the opposite direction toward the river, but Jim and Langdon felt they had little choice but to charge into danger once again. A meteor of flame arced into the sky overhead. Jim stopped Langdon. Anything that could produce that fireball would incinerate the two low-levelled men instantly. Jim ordered Langdon to wake the others and then meet him off to the side, perpendicular to the source of fireballs that continued to streak into the night. Jim had thought he would be alone in scouting the danger, but when he reached the edge of the camp, a white-knuckled Andrew hovered at Jim¡¯s back and clutched a militia spear in his hands. The two older councillors gaped at what they saw in the field.
Boros the Red, level 10 Human rogue wizard (Elite). HP: 824/1000 MP: 1433/2500
Samouel Earthtouched, level 10 Lizardman shaman. HP: 112/300 MP: 46/500
A grey-bearded human in robes patterned with flames threw a torrent of flames at a fleeing lizardman. The lizardman defended desperately, relying more upon tact than power in the face of a powerful foe. He dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged ball after ball of fire. When he couldn¡¯t dodge, the lizardman would thrust his hand at the earth and hurl a chunk of magical stone to deflect attacks or distract the wizard. The earth shaman was skilled, but by looking at his dwindling health and mana, Jim could see that he would soon die to the more powerful fire mage. Jim was entranced by their displays of magical power. ¡°Samouel!¡± Andrew yelled, and dashed out, alone, into the magical duel. Jim hated to throw good money after bad but had little choice but to follow the councillor into battle. He just hoped Langdon, Burke or someone would pull a rabbit out before the town¡¯s leader died. Before Andrew could reach the waning shaman, an instant burst of flame erupted against the strange lizardman¡¯s chest. A smouldering 76 charred the man¡¯s skin and caused him to stagger to the ground. ¡°Help¡­ me¡­¡± Samouel gasped. Andrew crashed to the ground beside the stricken shaman and began hauling him out of the literal line of fire. Jim, rather than slowing as Andrew had, sprinted past the councillor and charged the wizard. Jim may not have any magic of his own yet, but he knew exactly how to handle an aging human who had obviously invested in mental attributes rather than physical ones. A bright flash ripped past Jim, missing him, barely. He thought, initially, that his woven stride had saved him, but a scream of agony told Jim the truth. He looked behind to see a huge black 74 fade to smoke above Andrew¡¯s head. The wizard was focussing on killing the real threat here: the shaman. Abandoning caution, Jim ran in a straight line at the enemy, who obviously dismissed Jim as an overzealous elder. More fireballs whizzed by Jim, but fortunately, none seemed to connect with Andrew or Samouel as they distanced themselves from the fight. As Jim approached within ten steps, the wizard finally decided to act. Jim knew the wizard was too late, though. The fireball, upon leaving the wizard¡¯s hand, followed a set trajectory towards Jim. Jim, however, had already executed the attack pattern Burke had taught him, avoiding the spell. He circled to the left flank of the wizard, the side in which the wizard held a glowing tome, and he dashed the ten steps between them. He placed his left leg far out to the side and pushed. Jim¡¯s militia spear thrust into the wizard, just as Burke¡¯s had thrust into the spectral horseman in the previous fight, and he triggered Brutal Strike and Critical Strike. The blow produced an even better result for Jim than it had for Burke. The spear passed clean through the wizard, entering just above the right hip and exiting through the left armpit. The strike double crit. A sickening bloody 72 spewed from the wizard¡¯s mouth. Brutal Strike deals 72 piercing damage to Boros the Red (Critical Strike; Critical Hit). The wizard¡¯s rapid chanting stopped and the flames in his hands guttered and died. Jim was astounded at the amount of damage he had done, even with his piddly physical stats. He wrenched the spear free with a disgusting sucking sound and spun to the wizard¡¯s second side. Jim tried to repeat his attack.
Brutal Strike failed -- insufficient stamina.
¡°God damn it,¡± Jim yelled. He thrust at the wizard anyway. Jim¡¯s second blow only elicited a much more modest 15. The spear barely even penetrated the wizard¡¯s side. Worse, the blow didn¡¯t interrupt the spellcaster¡¯s concentration. The wizard lashed out with a blazing palm and slapped Jim who had been too slow to retreat. A burning 14 crisped Jim¡¯s face and reduced his health to 124. The wizard¡¯s backhand repeated the action, and Jim had to duck back.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Using his spear, Jim was able to mostly hold the wizard off. Every time the wizard took the time to chant the long-ranged fireball spell, Jim used the brief second to spin-pivot around the spell and land a minor blow. The wizard tried alternating between the fireballs and his burning touch attack, and occasionally the melee spell would break through Jim¡¯s attempted defence. His dexterity was just not high enough to dodge every attack. Jim was gratified to see that both he and his opponent dealt similar amounts of damage to each other, and Jim even had a slight edge. However, Jim¡¯s meager health pool made his plan unsustainable. He tried to think of a back-up plan as he fought but could come up with nothing. If Jim continued to fight this war of attrition, he would die before the wizard¡¯s health dropped below 600. If he ran, the fireballs would incinerate Jim. Death seemed inevitable. In the final moments of Jim¡¯s hope, the situation abruptly changed. Three iron spearheads simultaneously burst through the wizard¡¯s chest. Triple instances of bloody 50s dripped from the wound. Langdon, Burke, and Martin stood arrayed in a crescent-moon formation behind Boros the Red. Boros¡¯ mouth opened and shut, repeatedly, in shock. A volley of arrows further impaled the man and the words ¡°Duck, Jim!¡± accompanied pounding footsteps. Jim dipped to the side, and three more spears ran the wizard through from the opposite direction to Langdon¡¯s. The stricken human¡¯s waistline had been replaced by Jim¡¯s militia frontline. The six burly militiamen heaved at their spears and, in a sickening critical strike of over 300 damage, Boros the Red fell to the ground in two, separate pieces. Apparently, physics could defy health pools. Burke spat on the corpse. ¡°Fucking wizards.¡±
Victory! Enemy casualties: Boros the Red Allied casualties: You have received the following from the battle: 1188 experience points; Tome of Flames; Flamecaster¡¯s robes; Samouel the Earthtouched will join Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp.
Encyclop?dia Magicka Volume 3: Tome of Flames Spellbook Quality: Rare Requires Fire Magic talent Teaches the reader to conjure elemental fire.
Flamecaster¡¯s robes. Chest Armour Armour Value: 1 +10 bonus Intellect. Quality: Rare Durability: 37/50 Requires level 5 to equip Requires 20 base Intellect to equip Requires Fire Magic to equip
Congratulations, you have reached level 4. Your attributes have increased. You have 1 talent point to spend.
Seeing the rewards from the victory report, Jim immediately knelt to loot the wizard¡¯s corpse. It was dirty work that felt a little immoral, but¡­ This is a game¡­ He peeled the bloody robes from the dead man, who was thankfully wearing underclothes and grasped the tome that had fallen to the side. Jim immediately tried to learn the Tome of Flames but was unable to do so due to not having the Fire Magic talent. Jim brought up his talent interface and tried to select Fire Magic¡­ but it was still locked. Frustrated, Jim approached Andrew and Samouel, who had lain exhaustedly propped against one of the unburned perimeter wagons. ¡°Sorry to be blunt, Andrew and Samouel, but can either of you teach me how to use this thing?¡± Jim tossed the Tome of Flames between the old men. Samouel smiled. ¡°I think you have earned some levity for saving my life Mr¡­?¡± ¡°Jim.¡± ¡°¡­Mr Jim. I am, however, a practitioner of earth magic, not fire magic.¡± Jim groaned inwardly, thinking he would be, again, have failed to unlock his magical potential. ¡°This means that, ordinarily, I would only be able to teach earth magic...¡± ¡°Ordinarily?¡± Jim prompted. The shaman spoke too slowly. ¡°As I was saying. Ordinarily, I would only be able to teach earth magic. However, this is the Tome of Flames, one of the six volumes on basic magic. I could, using my mana as a conduit, teach you any magical school, so long as I had the requisite volume of this encyclop?dia.¡±
Quest received: Mage Guild. Samouel has revealed that a number of basic magic spellbooks exist in the world. Collect all of the volumes in the set and deliver them to Samouel. Progress: 0/1: Tome of Stones 0/1: Tome of Gales 1/1: Tome of Flames 0/1: Tome of Tides 0/1: Tome of Shadows 0/1: Tome of Radiance Rewards: 3000 experience points; Samouel will help construct a mage guild in Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp.
Finally. Jim dismissed the quest prompt. He would definitely search out the tomes, but for now¡­ ¡°So, you can teach me magic?¡± ¡°For saving my life? I will teach all of you magic if you wish. Though until you gather the other magical volumes, I can only instruct you in fire and earth magic.¡± Jim agreed immediately, choosing fire magic since he had the tome. The shaman had Jim sit beside him and placed his hand over Jim¡¯s heart. Jim opened his talent interface. Fire Magic was unlocked.
Fire Magic Talent Tree selected. For unlocking the basic tier of Fire Magic, you may now learn tier 1 fire spells. Available talents: Ignite; Incineration; Impact; Flaming Weapons
Ignite: Your fire spells will cause your target to burn for X% of the damage they deal over 5 seconds, where X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Fire Magic talent tree.
Incineration: You may use your fire magic spells to target and destroy objects in the environment.
Impact: You may invest X% additional mana into your spells, giving them a proportional amount of mass. X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Fire Magic talent tree.
Flaming Weapons. You may expend 1% mana per second to imbue your weapon with fire magic. Your weapon will deal additional damage to X% of your spell power, where X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Fire Magic talent tree.
Jim spent little time selecting his talent: Incineration. Every other choice he had would be limited to 1% power as it would be the first point he invested. Incineration, on the other hand, could be an exponential force multiplier if used correctly. He finished his level up by investing 4 points into Intellect, now that he could leverage the bloated power of that attribute and picked up the Tome of Flames.
You have learned the tier 1 spell: Elemental Fire. Elemental spells give the spellcaster the ability to conjure the corresponding element to their hand. The simple form of Elemental Fire allows you to envelop your hand in flames, granting you the Burning Touch skill. Burning Touch deals damage equal to 10% of your spell power and costs 10 mana. Skill level 0/10 The intermediate form of Elemental Fire allows you to call flames to your hand and project them forth, granting you the Fireball skill. Fireball deals damage equal to 50% of your spell power and costs 50 mana. Skill level 0/10. Insufficient Wisdom to learn the master form of Elemental Fire.
Jim called forth a fireball and hurled it into the morning sky. Chapter 15 – The Lost People ¡°James, could you help us up?¡± Andrew wheezed from his collapsed heap on the ground. Jim turned and immediately moved to help the men up. Samouel¡¯s fragile bones slipped together in Jim¡¯s grip and he had to reach down to steady the shaman by the elbow. If Jim had thought that his aging reflection looked like his father, then Samouel would have passed for his grandfather. Possibly his great-grandfather. ¡°Thank you for teaching me magic, sir.¡± Jim deferred to the man as he would few others. ¡°No. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you all.¡± By now the rest of the militia had gathered around and listened in on the conversation. ¡°Do any of the rest of you wish to learn magic like Mr Jim, here?¡± Vanessa stepped forward and, taking her lead, so did the other lizardman hunters. Since reaching level 3, Vanessa and her squad had each selected the Scaled Skin talent, in addition to the Projectile Weapon talent Aimed Shot, and the Hunting personal talent Tracker. The power of the Scaled Skin ability was almost useless to the ranged attackers, but Vanessa had politely insisted they be allowed to take their first racial talent to embrace their new culture, separate from the human kingdom. ¡°Honoured elder,¡± Vanessa began in her usual respectful address, ¡°we would like to learn from you.¡± Samouel consented and unlocked the hunters¡¯ magical talent. After the final hunter had gone through the brief ritual Jim had already experienced, Jim received a prompt to select his hunters¡¯ new Earth or Fire Magic talents. The options available in Fire Magic were identical to Jim¡¯s and, therefore, useless to the dextrous young hunters. Earth Magic, on the other hand, in addition to some generic magic-enhancing talents, had two specialised talents for the hunters with unique prerequisites.
Camouflage: You may expend 1% mana per second to camouflage yourself with your surroundings. Prerequisite: Hunting talent specialisation.
Strength of the Earth: You may expend 50% of your mana to increase your physical attributes by X%, where X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Earth Magic talent tree. Prerequisite: Any Combat talent specialisation.
Jim decided to put the hunters¡¯ fourth talent point into Camouflage for the same reason that he had selected incineration. He would select Strength of the Earth if the other talent trees didn¡¯t take precedence in future level-ups. Jim also considered having his militia front-line troops learn Earth Magic, but that would have to wait for some time since their level appeared tied to Jim¡¯s and, as yet, he was still one level lower than they were. He did, however, ask Samouel if he could heal the militiaman who had been seriously injured in the fight way back against the ratmen.
Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp Militia: Captain: James Cartwright Non-Commissioned Officer: Langdon Army Strength: 17/35
Jim¡¯s Squad: James Cartwright, level 4 Lizardman. HP: 138/138 MP: 336/336 Vanessa, level 4 Lizardman hunter. HP: 120/120 MP: 120/120 Level 4 Lizardman hunter [8] HP: 40/40 MP: 40/40
Langdon, level 5 Human soldier. HP: 150/150 Martin, level 5 Human soldier. HP: 150/150 Burke, level 5 Human (Reptile bloodline) militia veteran. HP: 150/150 Level 5 Human (reptile bloodline) militia [4] HP: 50/50
Langdon and the other members of the town¡¯s militia left to finally get the sleep that the morning''s commotion had deprived them of. Andrew led Jim and Samouel back to the village hall and guided them to a comfortable corner by the fire. Andrew arranged some food and drink for Samouel, then the old shaman healed both of their wounds. ¡°Thank you, uncle,¡± Andrew said. Samouel smiled but Jim was very surprised. He knew Andrew¡¯s story, of course, but he hadn¡¯t realised that some of Andrew¡¯s family must have escaped slavery all those decades ago. It made sense, now, why Andrew wanted to return to his ancestral lands. ¡°Andrew, of course, you are welcome. You saved my life every bit as much as Mr Jim, here. I was very fortunate to reach your camp. I had worried I would not make it.¡± ¡°Tell me, uncle Samouel, what happened to your people? How many did you bring? Where are they?¡± ¡°After I received your message about resettling The Grand Plateau, I gathered a few hundred desperate peasants that still worked the abandoned lands. We were travelling from the north, not far from here, when we were attacked by human slavers. I did not realise they still prowled our lands and was careless. Our caravan was ambushed during the night. Over 200 were captured or killed, only I escaped.¡± Tears gathered in the shaman¡¯s eyes. ¡°I should have stayed. I should have used my magic to fight, not to run.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Andrew reached over and patted his uncle on the shoulder. ¡°Do not lose hope. Your people are alive and, if you were attacked near here, they cannot be far.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll find them,¡± Jim announced. He couldn¡¯t bear to watch the man¡¯s anguished tears without acting. ¡°Do you know where they might be?¡± Samouel nodded. ¡°I remember we had just passed a pit, perhaps an ore or clay pit, the afternoon before we were ambushed.¡± ¡°North-west of the crossroads?¡± Jim asked. Samouel nodded again. ¡°I know the place.¡± ¡°Perhaps the humans want to use our people as labourers,¡± Andrew suggested. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we are in luck. They won¡¯t have taken them away to be sold and we should be able to recover them.¡±
Quest received: The Lost People. The mysterious shaman you saved has proved to be Andrew¡¯s uncle. What¡¯s more, he had been leading a caravan of refugees to join the town that was ambushed and captured by human slavers. Search The Grand Plateau and save the refugees. Progress: 0/200 refugees rescued. Rewards: 20000 experience points; Refugees will join your town and will unlock new progress options.
Jim accepted the quest and tried out his conversation skill: ¡°Samouel, will you join us in saving your people?¡± His attempt failed. Samouel shook his head. ¡°I am a shaman, a spiritual guide to our people, not a warrior.¡± He then gestured at his body ¡°And I am old and exhausted. I will give you some advice, though.¡± Maybe Jim¡¯s conversation attempt hadn¡¯t failed. ¡°Advice would be welcome, sir.¡± ¡°I was careless when I lead my expedition south, but so were the slavers that attacked us. Had we been prepared, we may have fended them off. They attacked us in rag-tag groups that did not obey any centralised oversight. They are no army; they lack discipline. If you seek them out during the night, you will likely find them easy prey.¡± A feral grin twisted Samouel¡¯s face. "Moreso now that you have killed their leader." ¡°Then we¡¯ll leave this evening,¡± Jim said. He turned to leave. ¡°James, before you go,¡± Andrew stopped him, ¡°I have noticed that you do not sleep or vanish mysteriously as the others like you do. I, foolishly, pushed myself to work through the night alongside our people; however, I am no young man to work a day without rest. Would you lead the town in my absence? I have some ideas drawn up by my table in the study.¡± ¡°Of course. Get some rest.¡± Jim walked away from the two men and walked to the closed-off study in the corner of the otherwise open-plan village hall. When he sat at Andrew¡¯s desk, Jim smiled in excitement.
You have been granted access to Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp Town Planning. You may decide the next building to be constructed. Current build options:
Street Markets Dedicating a section of land to a simple market will allow Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp to begin trading basic goods with visitors. Effects: Visiting people and players may exchange goods and gold with Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp. Capacity: 8 trade goods. Town Housing (I) Currently a temporary settlement, Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp must construct housing for its residents in order to grow into a town. Effects: Increases maximum population from 250 to 500. Recruitment Office. The precursor to a formalised garrison and army, the Recruitment Office allows people with the Leadership talent or Tactics skill to recruit unskilled volunteers from the local population. Effects: May recruit peasant militia.
You will unlock additional build options by constructing the prerequisite buildings, increasing population, obtaining blueprints, or completing quests. With a current population of 195, your town generates 195 build points per day.
Jim had, until now, believed his appointment to councillor and subsequent construction of a sawmill had been quest rewards. Instead, Jim¡¯s luck and Governance talent appeared to grant him significant control over an in-game town. Almost town, anyway. His plan had always been to use the resources of the computer-generated people he had encountered to fulfill his goal outside of the game. Jim allowed his somewhat uncharacteristic self-interest to order the construction of the Street Markets. The town¡¯s population was currently low enough to not be stunted by a lack of housing, and at the same time, also would not provide enough recruits, but these were only rationalisations of Jim¡¯s goal: Convert in-game resources into real-life credits. He also queued up the construction of Town Housing, in case his rescue of Samouel¡¯s refugees delayed him longer than it would take to build the surprisingly simple street market.
Construction: Street Market Materials required: 50 units of Stone. 50 units of Cloth or Leather 60 units of Timber The quality of the material used in construction will affect the productivity and durability of the completed structure. Build Points: 0/200
Rather than wasting his time waiting for the militia to rest up through the day, Jim began gathering the required materials. He had, in his inventory, 28 units of leather from his sleepless nights spent skinning. He also had the 5 Seasoned Hardwood Logs that he organised to be milled into 30 units of rare Timber, though he didn¡¯t plan on allowing the precious material to be used for a basic street market. He dedicated all the leathers in his stockpile towards the construction and ordered the camp¡¯s hunters and sawmill workers to provide the rest of the leathers and all of the timber. Jim himself foraged for stone, just as he had with the sawmill. He completed the task quickly but, luckily, didn¡¯t have to wait long for the militia to awaken in the early afternoon. Chapter 16 – No Deaths. Eight wagons rolled north of The Grand Plateau crossroads, overstuffed with cargo and eight passengers, including Jim, crammed into the wagon bed of the last vehicle. Not a single guard marched alongside. If an ordinary caravan with such little strength defending it were to take this road, it would be guaranteed to be plundered before reaching the northern border of the zone. Unfortunately for the small group of slavers that had spotted the wagons, Jim¡¯s plan had counted on their being ambushed. Eighteen cloaked men waited ahead of the wagon train, and seventeen waited behind. Jim tried to keep track of them waiting for¡­ there. One cloaked figure made a series of hand gestures, and the seventeen figures slipped out from behind tree cover. Jim gathered mana to himself and stood. The ¡°stealthy¡± ambushers hesitated, but a cry from the front of the wagon train forced them to rush forward to close the trap.
Bandit, level 5 Human criminal. HP: 50/50
The process of casting fireball required Jim to stand, chant a short phrase, and then cast his non-dominant hand, his left, forward, palm up, outward from his chest. The process felt somewhat clich¨¦d to Jim. ¡°Sphairapyra!¡± The results were hard to argue with, though. Rather than aiming for one particular bandit, Jim had cast his spell at the ground at the feet of the clustered criminals. Rather than fizzle against the environment as most spells would, Jim¡¯s Fireball triggered Incineration. The fireball struck the ground at a shallow angle and an explosion sprayed chunks of burning earth and groundcover at the approaching bandits. Any shard larger than a golf ball punched an angry, red 1 out of the cloaked men. More importantly, the smouldering flames that now clung to the agonised men broke their stealth. Jim had dubbed his master plan, that he¡¯d brainstormed while waiting for everyone else to wake the hell up, Operation: No Deaths. He didn¡¯t like the name, but¡­ Jim had only seventeen troops with which to bring down an entire slave ring and to rescue 200 refugees. He¡¯d wasted an hour so, initially, trying to think of a clever way to drop burning trees on his enemies. Discovering that his fireballs made far better IEDs than sawblades had been a happy accident. Now he planned to use them to commit entirely one-sided, entirely ruthless, and entirely budget, mass-murder. ¡°Sphairapyra! Sphairapyra!¡± Jim cast five more fireballs and depleted his mana pool. Every bandit at the rear of the caravan lost 10 of their HP and smoked like lit cigars. Then, gripping his spear, Jim lead the charge against the shocked humans, who bunched together in the middle of the road. The bandits had to choose between putting out the flames on their clothing and brandishing their daggers to fight. Choosing poorly, they picked neither and compromised. The men flailed their hands over their bodies where they felt the burning while waving their daggers in the general direction of Jim and the militiamen. They were entirely too distracted to realise the true ambush that waited behind them. Vanessa and her nine lizardman hunters broke their camouflage at the rear of the bandit group as one. Then, they drew and released arrows in silent, deadly coordination. The rear-most distracted bandit dropped dead as ten instances of the number 5 burst around him. A short squeal of pain escaped the man before he died. They hadn¡¯t managed to kill him silently, but, then, it hardly mattered when all of the sixteen still-living bandits screeched in burning agony and drowned out his cries. Jim¡¯s militia charged slowly, Baywatch style, drawing the enemy¡¯s attention while Vanessa¡¯s hunters killed a full half of the remaining bandits. The distance between the militia forces and the leading bandit was twenty metres. Jim spent a leisurely half-minute closing the gap and the poor, burning fools didn¡¯t even notice. When the number of militiamen equalled the number of bandits, Burke abandoned the ridiculous ploy and yelled. ¡°Charge!¡± Burke ran. Ten steps away, Burke began his signature attack. On the last step, Burke planted his left foot into the dirt road and leaped into the air. The rest of the militia repeated, though imperfectly, Burke¡¯s actions a half-step behind him. Eight spears, held in overhand grips, plummeted downward. Bloody numbers in the 25-35 range leaked from the impaled forms of the last eight rear bandits. Though the whole business made Jim feel ill, he reversed his grip, ripped out his spear, and rammed it back into the body of his fallen foe. The militia stood over a pile of corpses and not one belonged to a friend. None of them were even injured. ¡°Go, get back to the wagons,¡± Jim interrupted the sickened elation. He led the others back to the wagons where eighteen bandits had already begun to plunder the ¡°goods¡±. Samouel had been right. These criminals were reckless and undisciplined. Surely, they must have heard the screams from the back, but rather than check on their fellows, they¡¯d split into smaller groups of looters.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Another bag o¡¯ rocks!¡± Jim heard one yell, right before Langdon¡¯s spear ended the man. His two mates died similarly to Burke¡¯s and Martin¡¯s spears. As one, Jim¡¯s militia mopped up six groups of looters. Again, they didn¡¯t receive so much as an injury. After the battle, they recovered the bandits'' cloaks and daggers; they wore no other salvageable equipment. Jim decided to leave the corpses to rot, merely recovering the wagon drivers, who had fled into the woods, and continuing on their urgent rescue.
Victory! Enemy Casualties: Bandit [35] Allied Casualties: You have received the following from the battle: 665 experience points; Black Cloak [18]; Vicious Dagger [35].
Black Cloak [18] Back Armour. Armour Value: 2 Allows the wearer to conceal their identity. Quality: Common. Durability: 27/30 Item may be salvaged for Cloth [1]
Vicious Dagger One-Handed Weapon. Dagger. 2 ¨C 3 Piercing damage. Quality: Common Durability: 30/30
The militia travelled at the front of the caravan for the rest of the trip to the ore pit. Jim doubted the slavers had any more patrols along the path, but everyone held their weapons tight. Just in case. As predicted, they reached the edge of the ore pit without incident. What Jim hadn¡¯t predicted was how abandoned the ore pit now was. Rather than the teeming hive of scum and villainy they¡¯d prepared for, a single group of six bandits, like those that had attacked them, slept huddled around a fire. The refugees were also mostly missing. Only twelve lizardmen were staked to the ground by their shackles, asleep in a pile at the edge of the camp. Jim had Vanessa scout the camp thoroughly. There had to be more. ¡°I can¡¯t find anyone else, honoured elder,¡± Vanessa reported back to Jim. ¡°Maybe they¡¯re below?¡± Vanessa had to be right. No other alternative made sense. Jim gave her another order. ¡°Kill the sleeping bandits. Then we¡¯ll go investigate the tunnels.¡± She and her hunters pulled their looted black cloaks tight and moved to carry out the task without question. The thought of killing men in their sleep irked Jim. He¡¯d been able to accept killing the bandits up until now with the simple mantra that had helped him accept the deaths of his enemies in previous battles. It¡¯s just a game. Even though the game slightly, but meaningfully, reduced the realism of Platinum Online, the bloody numbers that gurgled from the bandits¡¯ throats caused Jim¡¯s bile to rise. He held it back. He hoped Vanessa would be able to do the same. The daggers he¡¯d given to every member of the militia as sidearms dealt brutal critical hits to unaware foes. When 10 camouflaged hunters worked in unison, a knife thrust each elicited gross overkill. Before long, Jim was able to loot the bandits for additional cloaks and daggers and free the lizardmen. ¡°Hey, wake up.¡± Jim had to prod one lizardman with his spear. The scaled woman eventually woke but spoke groggily. Drugged. She still had the presence of mind to flinch back from Jim¡¯s weapon though. ¡°Relax,¡± he said. ¡°Samouel sent me.¡± ¡°Sam¡­ouel?¡± She spoke haltingly and shook her head to try and clear her mind. ¡°Thank the gods.¡± With untainted food and water from the militia''s supplies, Jim was eventually able to coax more information out of the twelve lizardmen. The situation was simultaneously nowhere near as bad, nor as good as Samouel had feared. Of the 200 lizardmen believed captured, about a quarter had managed to run away to the south and east, away from the slaver camp. Unfortunately, the remaining 150 refugees were not all gathered at this mine. When Boros the Red hadn¡¯t returned to the camp, a large group of the slavers had decided to leave for greener pastures. The ore pit had been a somewhat productive mine in the past for the criminals. However, in recent months, more and more slaves they sent down to gather the ore did not return. Boros¡¯ insistence that valuable rich ore lay in the very depths of the mine had been the only thing keeping them there. Without him, the other five mages had left, taking more than 100 slaves with them. This mine was haunted so the slavers had marched south, presumably to another abandoned mine. Only Boros¡¯ loyalists, whom Jim had killed, stayed behind. Jim almost respected the criminals for doing so. In the entrance of the mine, spectral green waves of energy swirled and bubbled. The green was identical to the green of the undead forces that had almost killed Jim and all of his friends. Jim would have gladly ignored the eerie mine, but two grim facts kept him here. First, a little over two dozen lizardmen refugees had been sent into the mines and not returned. Second, a prompt appeared before Jim¡¯s eyes.
You have discovered a dungeon: Haunted Iron Mines.
Quest Updated: The Lost People. You have discovered new information about the whereabouts of the captured refugees: 40 of the refugees were being held captive at the Haunted Iron Mines, as Samouel predicted. However, 50 refugees escaped in two groups: One to the north-east, and the other to the south-east. Finally, 110 refugees have been taken to another mine in the south of The Grand Plateau. Youwill receive reduced rewards if you do not rescue all three groups. Progress: 12/40 Haunted Iron Mines refugees rescued. 0/50 Escaped refugees rescued. 0/110 Enslaved refugees rescued. Rewards: 20000 experience points; Refugees will join your town and will unlock new options for your town.
Chapter 17 – Dungeon: Haunted Iron Mine
A maximum of 5 people may enter the Haunted Iron Mine Dungeon. You may increase the player capacity by selecting the Dungeoneer talent in the Guilds talent tree. You may increase the companion capacity by selecting the Dungeoneer talent in the Leadership talent tree.
An impermeable barrier of green light pushed Jim back from the entrance of the Haunted Iron Mine. He knew that 28 refugees lurked within the dungeon, but it would seem that he¡¯d have to leave most of his army behind. ¡°Damn it,¡± Jim said. ¡°What is it mate?¡± Martin asked. ¡°Only 5 of us can enter the dungeon. We¡¯ll have to leave almost everyone behind.¡± ¡°Yeah. Course. That¡¯s how dungeons work, mate. We¡¯ll just leave everyone else up here to make a camp and get the cooking started while we get our hands dirty.¡± ¡°We should fortify this place,¡± Burke said. ¡°This iron mine is so close to the camp. We can¡¯t let bandits repopulate in this area or we¡¯ll be ambushed every time we try to leave town. "And," he added the most important reason almost as an afterthought, "if the iron is as pure as that wizard bloke we killed thinks, we also ought to try and take it for ourselves.¡±
Would you like to claim the Haunted Iron Mine for Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp? Requires: Successful clear of the Haunted Iron Mine Dungeon. 50 units of wood. 50 units of stone. Rewards: Safe access to the first levels of the Haunted Iron Mine.
Jim agreed with both Burke and the system¡¯s prompt. He arranged for the hunters and militiamen who wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the mine to gather the required materials. The twelve freed lizardmen also volunteered to help construct a simple shelter. ¡°Please, let us help you,¡± the lizardwoman who Jim had first questioned pleaded. ¡°It¡¯s the least we can do.¡± ¡°Uh. Okay,¡± Jim said. He initially thought to send the rescued refugees back with one of the wagons, but the night had blackened to a sullen pitch and the shaken people were in no state to travel such a foreboding evening. Vanessa and Langdon left instructions with their respective troops and then they were ready. ¡°Martin,¡± Jim asked. ¡°How much do you know about dungeons? You didn¡¯t seem surprised when I brought them up before.¡± ¡°Oh, plenty. Used to clear them all the time with Jonothon. People like Andrew would pay him to wipe ¡®em out. Sometimes they wanted the stuff inside, sometimes they began to leak monsters and needed controlling. Might be a bit hard for us, though.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He means that none of us can heal,¡± Burke said. ¡°Usually have to hire a town¡¯s priest or herbalist or whoever. Can¡¯t regenerate normally in a dungeon, and the buggers inside can get pretty tough.¡± ¡°Should we just give up, then?¡± Jim asked. ¡°We need to rescue those refugees, but if it¡¯s a death trap we can come back tomorrow with Samouel.¡± ¡°Oh. No need to give up,¡± Burke said. ¡°Won¡¯t be any worse than those undead we fought back on the northern road.¡± Vanessa interrupted. ¡°We should give up. If it¡¯s going to be anything like that we¡¯ll get swarmed. Martin almost died last time.¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t worry about it ¡®nes,¡± Martin said. Jim found the two¡¯s growing relationship endearing. ¡°Last time, we didn¡¯t have Jim.¡± ¡°What? Yes, we did. I nearly died too.¡± ¡°I mean the fire, mate. Ya got pretty handy with that stick, but the fire is where it¡¯s really at.¡± Langdon, who had stood silently all this time, nodded and spoke. ¡°The dungeon will be fine, Jim. Martin¡¯s right and, even if he isn¡¯t, we can always back out.¡± ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s just do this,¡± Burke said. ¡°I¡¯ll go first.¡± Burke walked through the green mist that now parted for their group. Inside the mine, Jim inspected his surroundings. A minecart track spiralled down and to the right, in the middle of the central shaft. On the left wall of the shaft, a cross-shaft had been drilled at a perpendicular angle. Other than that simple layout, nothing else could be seen of the rough-cut, dusty chamber. With only the one option, Jim, Martin, Langdon, Burke, and Vanessa started into the depths. At the first cross-shaft, the dungeon party stopped. ¡°We¡¯d better check it out,¡± Langdon suggested. ¡°Better not leave unexplored areas behind us. Ya don¡¯t want any baddies jumping ya from behind when ya fighting baddies from the front.¡± ¡°Yeah. I learned that lesson last time. Let¡¯s go. Vanessa, stay at the entrance and call out if something¡¯s coming.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll scream nice and loud, honoured elder,¡± Vanessa said. Martin chuckled and followed Jim into the cross shaft. For all their caution with the first sub-tunnel, they needn¡¯t have worried. The walls were lined with veins of ore, but otherwise, the tunnel was featureless. They continued down the main shaft. More perpendicular tunnels sprouted at every quarter turn of the central spiral. The next seven tunnels were entirely empty except for metal ore, just as the first had been. The ninth through twelfth tunnels clutched much richer veins of ore in their cracks and crevasses; however, piles of bones also littered the floor.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Burke took no chances with a dungeon called ¡°The Haunted Mine,¡± and used the butt of his spear to smash every single bone into a fine powder. On the thirteenth tunnel ¨C always unlucky 13 ¨C Burke¡¯s bone smashing got them all into trouble. Rather than breaking into inanimate dust, a red 4 clacked off the large femur bone Burke had struck. ¡°Back! Quickly,¡± Burke called. The thirteenth tunnel¡¯s floor had been heaped with bones. Now, the entire pile vibrated. Bones began to swirl together in the air and dark shadows of magic streaked from the cracks in the wall, forming ligaments and tendons between the hovering bones. 11 level 2 skeleton warriors with 20 HP each shambled at them. The monsters were identical to those they had fought on the northern road and Jim shrank back. Unlike the cowering Jim, Burke, Langdon, and Martin fused together at the shoulder, as if pulled by magnets. In the tight confines of the tunnel, they formed a snug seal with the cavern walls, keeping Jim safe behind them. The shambling skeletons charged haphazardly at the soldiers and were felled as they approached. Each spear thrust smashed through a rib cage, pelvis or skull for, at the minimum, 15 damage. The level 2 enemies disintegrated before Jim¡¯s eyes and he realised he¡¯d panicked for nothing: The only reason the level 2 warriors had been any threat last time was because of the elite spectral captain suppressing Jim¡¯s elites. Without such a suppressing force appearing in any of the next half-dozen cross tunnels, the 5-man team had no problems clearing out the next few floors of the dungeon. Even the level 4 and 5 skeleton warriors that appeared as they got deeper only managed to land a single lucky hit on the overeager Martin. The easy progress caused Jim to make a mistake that, in hindsight, he really shouldn¡¯t have allowed to happen. They got cocky. After the skeleton warriors started to get stronger in the mineshafts, Martin had called Vanessa in to help them chip away at the enemies¡¯ larger health pools. On the twentieth tunnel, Jim¡¯s force almost died. Peng! A metal-tipped arrow shattered a zombie warrior¡¯s skull, critically hitting for 28 damage, before ricocheting from a truly enormous ore vein at the back of the cavern. Jim turned to congratulate Vanessa on the shot but, rather than any such congratulations, he yelled. ¡°Vanessa! Duck! Sphairapyra!¡± Vanessa, warned by either Jim¡¯s order to duck or his brilliant ball of flame that crackled and popped as it blazed straight at her chest, dove sideways. Jim¡¯s fireball streaked over Vanessa¡¯s shoulder and burst on a zombie¡¯s chest. The spell, which was now at the maximum skill rank of 10/10 from the target-rich environment of the mines, emitted a charred 33. The zombie that the spell had struck didn¡¯t even lose half its HP from the spell that cost Jim almost a third of his mana pool.
Zombie Miner, level 5 Undead. HP: 42/75
The unnaturally tough zombie shambled forward, despite glowing orange with flickering flames. Vanessa¡¯s roll had carried her mostly out of harm¡¯s way, but Jim didn¡¯t want to take any risks. Jim cast another 100 MP, 100% spell power fireball. A second smouldering 33 burned away from the zombie¡¯s body. Now, missing 69 of its HP, the zombie stumbled, the wounds greatly lowered the threat the monster posed. Vanessa steadied herself from her side roll and pulled an arrow from her belt quiver. Jim looked between Vanessa and the slowed, but still approaching zombie. She wouldn¡¯t have enough time to draw and shoot. Jim stepped forward. He needn¡¯t have bothered. Vanessa didn¡¯t bother to notch the arrow to her bow. Instead, she just slammed the shaft through the zombie¡¯s eye. Then, for good measure, she drew her dagger and drove it into the zombie¡¯s skull. The two rapid strikes dealt a significant amount of overkill damage. The zombies¡¯ attacks from the rear continued as a pattern for another four tunnels, growing in number. Vanessa and Jim were able to hold them back, but the group¡¯s progress slowed without their help to fight the skeleton warriors. Longer engagements meant more opportunities for mistakes, and by the time they approached the 25th tunnel, scrapes and scratches the three melee fighters had obtained resulted in each man missing 10-20 health. At the 25th tunnel, however, the until-now predictable dungeon changed. The cross-tunnel they¡¯d expected to enter had collapsed. A sheet of melon-sized rocks piled unnaturally neatly against the tunnel entrance and five minecarts filled with rock and ore had been buried in a neat line that perfectly blocked the cross-shaft. ¡°Do you think we should¡ª¡± Jim had been about to ask if they should clear the fallen tunnel when a sudden fit of coughing forced him to stop. The coughed, too. Putrid brown 1s sputtered from their lips as they coughed and the party was forced back up the central shaft to escape the noxious fumes. A thick brown fog coalesced in front of Jim and the others, blocking them from reaching the entrance to the 25th tunnel shaft. A half-dozen rotting zombies erupted from the cloud and rushed the group. Martin, Langdon, and Burke readied their spears instinctively and pierced the bloated corpses that ran at them.
Putrescent Zombie, level 5 Undead. HP: 75/75 Putrid Gas: Putrescent zombies periodically release putrid gas, dealing 1 damage to nearby living creatures.
The putrid gas burst from the bellies of the front three zombies as they willingly impaled themselves on the spears. The horrendous miasma thickened and goopy, almost-black 1s oozed from the militiamen¡¯s clenched teeth. ¡°Back. Get back!¡± Jim ordered. The men staggered back from the assault and Jim readied a fireball to cover their retreat. ¡°Sphairapyra!¡± Wumph. Jim¡¯s fireball grew to a massive inferno as it entered the putrid gas cloud. The explosion knocked everyone and everything back with massive concussive force. Jim¡¯s ears rang, and a prompt informed him that he had the Deafened debuff and would be unable to cast spells. Casting more spells wouldn¡¯t be necessary. Awesome, charred 76s burst free of the blackened smoke cloud before them. Jim did not know, for sure, whether his Incineration talent, the flammable gas, or a particular vulnerability to fire caused the massive damage to the putrescent zombies. Whatever the case, all six had been reduced to ash and it had only cost them a dozen points of poison and concussion damage. ¡°¡­ ¡­ ¡­¡± Martin mouthed in Jim¡¯s face. ¡°¡­?¡± Jim replied. ¡°Could ya maybe yell ¡°fire¡± or something next time?¡± Martin¡¯s question sounded faint in the last few seconds of the Deafened debuff, but Jim got the point. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a pyromaniac, Jim,¡± Burke said. ¡°But damn do I love fire sometimes. No need to be sorry about it.¡± Burke brushed himself off and helped Jim up. Martin, in turn, helped Vanessa up. Langdon, who¡¯d received the worst of the blast, had to help himself up. He didn¡¯t look happy, but he didn¡¯t audibly complain, either. ¡°Oh! Look at the tunnel entrance.¡± Vanessa pointed at the 25th offshoot mine shaft. The rocks had been blasted away and only the minecarts blocked the way. The group dragged the minecarts off the bare rock and onto the tracks and entered the shaft. They expected to find an even tougher fight at the back of the cavern. The back of the cavern did not house hordes of skeletons or zombies. Instead, 28 scared and starving refugees looked at the soot-blackened forms of Jim and the others. Martin smiled, his white teeth contrasting humorously with his blackened face. ¡°Hello, there. We¡¯ve come to rescue ya.¡± After a brief period of hesitancy, and after Langdon and Jim pushed Martin aside, the lizardmen refugees eventually began to converse with the dungeon group. Langdon and Jim half-convinced, half-intimidated the lizardmen into returning to the surface. Burke had even browbeaten the weakened men and women to haul the minecarts back to the surface. Jim glared at Burke. Burke shrugged and gestured back to the central shaft, that had levelled out before being cut into deep stairs. ¡°We can sort them out later,¡± Burke said. ¡°Let¡¯s finish this.¡± Chapter 18 – Boss Fight With Burke leading the way, the party descended the rough-cut stairs into the depths of the dungeon. As they descended, the mostly neat cavern walls steadily gave way to jagged cracks and fissures. Rich veins of metal glittered in the party¡¯s torchlight. The stairs, which were now a steep ramp, levelled out after they¡¯d switch-backed three times. A massive cavern loomed at the end of the narrow well. Two stalagmites rich with ore and gemstones dominated the left and right side of the entrance, like pillars to a colosseum. Faintly luminescent rock hung from the ceiling of the cavern and illuminated an open space the size of a sports field. The change in tone and pattern from the rest of the Haunted Iron Mine startled Jim and it could not have been any clearer that the Zombie Lord in front of them was the final boss if his four Putrescent Zombie companions had each held signs, rather than rusted lumps of metal.
Zombie Lord, level 5 Undead (Boss) HP: 1500/1500 MP: 0/100 ???: ???
Putrescent Zombie, level 5 Undead. HP: 75/75 Putrid Gas: Putrescent zombies periodically release putrid gas, dealing 1 damage to nearby living creatures.
Their five enemies stood at the far end of the cavernous room. Fortunately, they seemed to either not notice or not care about Jim¡¯s party, which gave him time to view the environment. Tattered and decrepit furniture, cloth and other unidentifiable chunks of rotting wood seemed to exist throughout the boss room as haphazard d¨¦cor, though they may have once had a purpose in a functional mine. Jim thought that they would have a purpose in the upcoming fight. The entire group had been reduced to around 100 points of HP each. Without a healer or medic, they were unable to restore their weakened states within the dungeon. They needed a plan. ¡°Five¡¯s not too bad,¡± Martin said, ¡°but I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m keen on it.¡± ¡°Look at the health on that big bastard,¡± Burke commented. ¡°He¡¯s at least three times tougher than that ghost captain we fought. He hits any of us more than once, we¡¯re dead. I know I said we should finish this, but I reckon we back off.¡± The Zombie Lord stood at an enormous eight feet tall and wielded a comparatively tiny pickaxe in his oversized hand. ¡°Yep,¡± Martin agreed, looking more closely at the Zombie Lord. ¡°Let¡¯s get the hell outta here.¡± Langdon looked thoughtfully around the room but shook his head. He didn¡¯t think that they¡¯d manage this, either. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Jim. ¡°No,¡± Jim said. ¡°I might have a plan.¡± Jim¡¯s elaborate plan hinged on many different variables and a lot would have to go just right. The most significant obstacle to Jim¡¯s plan was the group''s positioning. They had a few good options near the stairwell. The tight space would allow the three spear-wielders of their party to hold off all five of the zombies easily and allow more vulnerable members, such as their non-existent healer, to carry the day. For Jim¡¯s group, this was a terrible plan. The three men would be suppressed and overwhelmed by the boss while the tight confines would concentrate the putrid gas into a deadly cloud that would either suffocate them if Jim didn¡¯t act or incinerate everyone simultaneously if he did. Alternatively, they could fight in the open area between the two stalagmites or under the many stalactites. Jim might be able to pull some shenanigans with incineration and the open area would be better ventilated. This was also a terrible plan. Roof IEDs would be devastatingly effective, sure, but would they deal 1,500 damage before they were inevitably cut down by the Zombie Lord? No, Jim thought, they would not. Jim¡¯s third, and dramatically ironic, secret plan combined the best of both previous plans the group had come up with. He also mixed in a few other neat tricks that he was pretty certain would work based on their early encounters with the undead. Of course, the boss¡¯s ??? ability and mysteriously empty mana pool may complicate things, but Jim planned on taking all of the risks this time and he was pretty sure he couldn¡¯t permanently die. He hadn¡¯t died yet in Platinum Online, but he¡¯d come so close so often now that it must have been a regular occurrence for other players. Shouldering all of the aforementioned risks, Jim inched forward into the boss room. He slipped past the left stalactite and sidled along the left wall of the cave. Jim did not know how close he could approach before the mindless undead sensed his living presence and rushed him, but he needed as much extra distance as he could manage. Everything was going well, Jim was almost a third of the way around the cavern and, at this rate, he¡¯d be able to¡ª ¡°Ngaaargh.¡± The zombies charged. Shit. Jim kicked off the wall at his back and strafed the approaching undead group. He had two overriding goals that he had to achieve to prevent his friends from dying. First: He had to carefully pick his path so that, no matter what, the Zombie Lord did not end up at the front of the group. Jim would be able to temporarily fend off the Putrescent Zombies, his experiences with them previously showed that they only hit for 12 or 13 damage, while the gases of four enemies would take a long time to build up enough to kill Jim. Second: He had to reach the decrepit wooden heap a dozen metres that decorated the wall just a little further around the cavern. The debris was large enough and dense enough that Jim would be able to wedge himself inside and fight only two zombies at a time. He¡¯d be able to poke holes in the zombies and trap them in the pile of wood. The flammable, ignitable, burnable wood. Jim ran. Initially, he¡¯d been concerned that the zombies would intercept Jim and ruin his plans. In reality, the shambling zombies took ages to catch up and Jim thought that, if she had enough arrows, Vanessa might realistically be able to kill the entire group on her own. Too late for that though. He climbed the debris atop which he would make his final stand and squished himself into a narrow space between two crumbling wooden beams. The zombies clambered awkwardly up the pile of broken wood and were scratched and scraped by a combination of splintered planks and rusty nails. Putrid gas bellowed from the wounds. Jim began to cough. He gritted his teeth and lowered his spear. The plan worked, so far. Jim stabbed holes into the leading zombies while their lord at the back could only awkwardly loom over them.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The putrid gas thickened and congealed around Jim. Rather than occasional coughs of damage, he exhaled a cloud of decaying 1s with every breath. He was almost ready to throw himself clear of the wood and launch a fireball at the miasma of flammable fumes... The Zombie Lord breathed in. The rot that clogged Jim¡¯s airways was sucked right out his lungs and when he gasped clean air refreshed him.
Zombie Lord, level 5 Undead (Boss) HP: 1500/1500 MP: 50/100 ???: ???
Jim wanted to scream and curse, but a fresh wave of putrid gas flowed from the zombies in front of him and he coughed. Jim stepped back further into the debris. The butt of his spear clacked against the cavern wall when he pulled back to thrust once more into the lead Putrescent Zombie. The air around Jim thickened with flammable gas. Jim could, once again, detonate the rotted platform with a fireball. The wall at Jim¡¯s back and the Zombie¡¯s trying to push through his spear trapped him, though. He would surely blow himself up. Jim didn¡¯t cast the fireball, but not because he was afraid of killing himself in the explosion. A prompt that popped up in his vision gave him a better plan. The Zombie Lord inhaled the putrid gas a second time, its mana filling to 100/100 MP.
Zombie Lord begins to cast Putrid Eruption. Run away!
Jim stopped stabbing the weaker undead and stared at the Zombie Lord. The undead boss¡¯s belly began to shake and gurgle, overfilled with putrid gas. The tremors and ripples under its skin increased in violence and frequency. The Zombie Lord reared back. Jim stood up straight and held his left hand, open and palm up, to his chest. Brown fluid dripped from between the boss¡¯s teeth. The Zombie Lord and Jim opened their mouths at the same time. ¡°Ngaaargh!¡± ¡°Sphairapyra!¡± Fire and flame filled the room with a tectonic Crack! Plumes of white-hot numbers in the high triple-digits vapourised Jim and the four weaker minions. Jim¡¯s spirit wooshed out of his body and surfed the tidal wave of blazing orange all the way to where his group stood cowering behind the stalagmites by the entrance.
You are dead. You have lost all accumulated experience points. If your forces are victorious, you will be revived at the beginning of the dungeon. If your forces are defeated, you will lose one level.
Jim watched from the muted, ghostly world as the boss staggered and then collapsed into the burning ruin of debris. A little over a third of its health remained. Jim¡¯s plan had failed and his experience progress toward level 5 had been reset to 0/5000. The still-living members of the party peered out from behind the stalagmites, stunned into inaction. They watched on, unmoving, as the Zombie Lord wallowed and grunted in the burning debris. A smoking 33 of fire damage peeled away from the boss¡¯s charred skin. Then a few seconds later, another 33 swirled in the black smoke. ¡°CHARGE!¡± Burke yelled. ¡°DON¡¯T LET IT GET OUT OF THE FIRE!¡± The three spearmen bolted at the Zombie Lord. The boss had only managed to crawl to its elbows and knees by the time Jim¡¯s party arrived. The fire had scorched away more of the boss¡¯s health, but it still had just over a quarter remaining. If the boss escaped the blaze, Jim was uncertain if his friends could kill the thing. They definitely wouldn¡¯t all survive the experience. A prodigious, undead foot slammed into the blackened wood. The Zombie Lord shifted its weight and prepared to right itself. Martin, the youngest and most agile spearman, slammed into the creature¡¯s knee. He hit just as all of the monster''s weight rested on the wobbly joint. The Zombie Lord crashed back into the blaze. More, red 33s rose with the superheated air. Burke and Langdon lanced into the fallen enemy, their spears targeting joints and tendons. Even hamstrung and smouldering, the boss did not allow Jim¡¯s allies a one-sided victory. A backhanded strike from its pickaxe smashed into Langdon and launched him across the cavern. A bloody 78 erupted from his back as the weapon¡¯s tip peaked through where Langdon¡¯s kidney used to be. When he crashed to the floor, Langdon lost another 21 HP, reducing him to 1 HP and leaving him unconscious and unable to fight. Fortunately, Martin, Burke, and Vanessa were enough. A barrage of arrows drained the last of their foe''s health.
Haunted Mine Dungeon Cleared! Enemies Slain: Skeletal Warrior [191] Zombie Miner [20] Putrescent Zombie [10] Zombie Lord [1] Rewards: 2808 experience points; Metal Ore [50]; Hard Stone [50]; Deathless Pickaxe; Necromantic Crystal Shard Simple Iron Sword pattern; Simple Iron Shield pattern; Simple Iron Armour Set pattern.
A blur of motion resulted in Jim standing, uninjured, at the entrance. The prompt caused a smile to crack Jim¡¯s face. He finally felt like he played the hero of a game, rather than some digital half-afterlife. He ran down the spiral shaft of the Haunted Iron Mine, not stopping to explain as he passed the confused refugees that still hiked their way up. In the final cavern of the dungeon, Burke and Martin offered a wounded, but living Langdon food and drink from their inventories. He sat, the wall to the cavern propping him up, sipping from a waterskin. His HP inched its way back to full now that the dungeons healing restriction had been lifted. Jim¡¯s panting breath and pounding footsteps caused them all to look up as he entered the chamber. ¡°Fucking wizards!¡± Burke called over. When Jim approached, he clapped Jim on the back. ¡°Good job, mate.¡± Martin said. The barely conscious Langdon nodded. ¡°That was a stupid plan, honoured elder.¡± ¡°We got lucky,¡± Jim admitted. Langdon, who could barely keep his head up shook his head at this. ¡°Ya make your own luck.¡± The man¡¯s words emerged slowly and in between grunts of pain, but Jim smiled again. After several minutes of recovery, everyone but Langdon helped Jim meticulously search the room for their promised rewards. The metal and stone mentioned in the prompt were obviously those held in the carts that the refugees had helped haul to the top. The patterns were for common level 5 equipment and had been sealed in a chest behind where the boss had first stood. The Deathless Pickaxe, it turned out, was the Zombie Lord¡¯s weapon, though it was ill-suited to that purpose.
Deathless Pickaxe Two-Handed Tool. Mining Pick. 2 ¨C 3 Piercing damage. Quality: Rare Durability: 100/100 Players do not expend Stamina to mine mineral nodes. Requires Metalworking
The boss¡¯s corpse also held a glowing green crystal, considerably larger than the Necromantic Crystal Fragment Jim had, but it was still obviously incomplete. The Necromantic Crystal Shard was perfectly rounded on one side, but sharp edges and jagged faces marred its other surfaces. Jim pulled the Necromantic Crystal Fragment from his inventory and the small gem flew from his hand and affixed itself to a divot in the larger shard.
Quest Completed: A brush with death. You have defeated a Zombie Lord that had been the leader for a large group of undead in The Grand Plateau. Having destroyed the creature, you received a shard of a larger, necromancer¡¯s crystal. Rewards: 5000 experience points; Necromantic Crystal Shard.
Necromantic Crystal Shard This item begins a quest.
Congratulations, you have reached level 5. Your attributes have increased. You have 1 talent point to spend.
Quest discovered: The Necromancer¡¯s Crystal You have discovered a shard of a larger Necromancer¡¯s Crystal. You do not know much about this mysterious object, but you know that it is a tool for creating the undead, and that it must be destroyed. Progress: 1/??? Necromantic Crystal Shards 0/1 Necromancer¡¯s Crystal destroyed. 0/1 ??? Rewards: 100,000 experience points; unknown.
Chapter 19 – Fatigue. On the uphill trek out of the Haunted Iron Mine, Jim took some time to sort out the changes that had occurred to him. The quest text for The Necromancer¡¯s Crystal caused a mixture of anticipation and dread. 100,000 XP, but at what cost? With that much of a boost, he would surely reach a much higher level and be able to obtain better goods and equipment to sell; he would almost certainly be able to pay for another month to maintain his preserved brain and digital consciousness. He pushed the thought aside. The previous quest for 5,000 experience had resulted in the group fighting a level 5 boss. What difficulty would he have to face for a reward twenty times as powerful? Jim instead focussed on his level up. He had his own talents to distribute, as well as those of Vanessa¡¯s hunters. When he opened up the interface, the options overwhelmed Jim. Where previously the choices on the talent wheel had been few and far between, now his choices were almost endless. At reaching level 5, he had gained the option to select any of two dozen new talent trees, and at least two individual talent choices for each tree. Rather than trying to pick the best talent from a limited pool, he had to rule out options he would likely never pick. First, Jim ruled out taking a combat specialisation or most other new talent trees. He also felt that a second Magic talent would just dilute his power, rather than improving what he already had. After some consideration, improving the strengths Jim already possessed seemed like the most logical choice. Leadership and expanding the power of his forces would have been ideal, but so far Jim hadn¡¯t been able to even replace his losses ¨C the population of Andrew¡¯s Camp was just too small for now. Governance could possibly fix that solution, but the Fertility talent increased growth rate, and a 1% boost to a population of less than 200 would give him one new potential recruit every nine weeks if he understood the talent¡¯s description. The new Reptile Bloodline talent that had opened up, Shed Skin, was another personal defensive talent; something he would not need for some time. The damage-over-time effect, Ignite, from the Fire Magic talents appealed to Jim. Under the right circumstances, such as with the Zombie Lord, a combination of Incineration and Ignite would deal appalling damage. Fortunately, however, Jim checked the until-now neglected Personal talents. Most of the trees available under this category fell into crafting or professional talents, something Jim would never have time for if he continued to be a leader or governor. There was one Personal talent, however, that Jim had skipped over in the past without even bothering to look. Scholar.
Learned One: You receive +X to base and maximum of all mental attributes, where X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Scholar talent tree. Prerequisite: Study a School of Magic
Teacher: You may teach companions and players the skills and spells that you have learned. Prerequisite: Ignored; Available due to experience outside of Platinum Online.
The two Scholar talents Jim had available to him were incredibly powerful now that he had access to magical talents. Powerful enough for him to bypass the Ignite ability, even. Teacher drew Jim in. He had spent decades of his life, admittedly somewhat unhappily, as a teacher. He thought he¡¯d gotten pretty mediocre at it, too. He could definitely pull off a computer-assisted version of his profession if he needed to. Who knew what awesome skills he might be able to teach his armies? Learned One, though, was too good to pass up. Even if he never invested another point in Scholar, and the demands of Leadership and Governance made it likely that a second such point would be at least delayed, the +1 to base and maximum mental attributes were heavenly. While one attribute point seemed minor, the talent gave him a base attribute point, not a bonus attribute point. All of the equipment and level bonus points he received would scale from that number. This wasn¡¯t a one percent increase like it appeared on the surface, but potentially a several percent increase. A talent like Ignite just didn¡¯t rate in terms of potential. Not until his fire damage improved significantly, anyway.
Scholar Talent Tree selected. For unlocking the basic tier of Scholar, the speed at which you improve your skills and professions is increased by 10%. Available talents: Learned One; Teacher.
Having spent his talent point, Jim closed the interface and fell back to walk with Vanessa. ¡°Vanessa.¡± ¡°Yes, honoured elder?¡± ¡°Now that we¡¯re level 5, have you had a chance to decide how you want to improve?¡± Having conversations with computer characters about game systems definitely broke Jim¡¯s immersion with the world of Platinum Online. The prompts related to him were expected, normal; he played a game, after all, even though he frequently forgot that fact and got too wrapped up in everything. Computer generated people still felt like people to Jim, though. Asking Vanessa how she wanted to improve made him feel like he¡¯d swapped shoes with the Human Resources officer where he last worked. Maree. God that woman was a robot.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Jim maintained a smile that had suddenly become cracked, dry and unnatural. Vanessa took her time responding. ¡°Yes, honoured elder. I think I and my hunters ought to improve our Projectile Weapons talents.¡± She told Jim her reasoning for her choices and why the Double Shot talent seemed like the best fit. ¡°The accuracy penalty to Double Shot will mean nothing if we use the Aimed Shot talent we already have.¡±
Aimed Shot: You take careful aim at your target¡¯s weak points and launch a ranged attack that will be guaranteed to Critically Hit. Costs 50 Stamina.
Double Shot: You fire a second projectile with your weapon, duplicating all of its effects and damage in a second instance. Both shots have a penalty to accuracy, equal to 20 ¨C X%, where X is equal to the number of points invested in the Projectile Weapons talent tree. Costs 25 Stamina.
Jim trusted Vanessa¡¯s judgement and did not want to appear tyrannical, even if some of his decisions tended toward the authoritarian at times. Jim extended his attempts at a democratic group structure with the loot they received from the boss, but Langdon shrugged when asked and the rest followed his lead. ¡°You decide, Jim. Some armour would be nice, but none of us know a lick about forging it.¡± He also went on to express disinterest in using the rare mining pick or the construction materials for the same reason. Jim ran out of time to ponder his decision when they reached the exit to the dungeon. A huge bonfire burned in stark contrast to the starry sky. The shelter Jim had arranged to be built in the hours they spent in the mine had exceeded his wildest expectations. The hunters, it seemed, had developed some knack with manipulating earth. Even though they didn¡¯t have specific talents for fortifications, Samouel must have imparted a little somethin¡¯ because rather than a haphazard barricade of fallen logs, the shelter had waist-high earthen bulwarks. Sharpened stakes had further hardened the defences of the encampment and Jim felt more secure in the middle of the former slave camp than he had in Andrew¡¯s fledgling town. ¡°Damn, that¡¯s not half bad,¡± Burke said, inspecting the base of the earthworks. ¡°Yeah, it is.¡± Jim yawned. ¡°Let¡¯s get something to eat.¡± The hunters had even prepared an evening meal of spit-roasted wild game, for which Jim was grateful. He felt too tired to want to prepare something himself and this was the next best thing to fast food. Maybe better. He lay back against a log by the fire and yawned again. He felt tired. Wait. Tired? Something was wrong. Jim tried to force alertness through his mind, but all he could do was sputter to a stop like he¡¯d run out of gas or someone had pulled the cord. Jim¡¯s eyes shut. Dreams of strobe lighting and burning pain jolted through Jim and he awoke. The familiar isometric blue grid of System¡¯s digital domain manifested with a dull thud and a rattling of chains. The portcullis and drawbridge to enter Platinum Online closed behind Jim. ¡°Hello, Jim. It¡¯s nice to see you again.¡± The uncanny woman¡¯s face that System wore smiled at Jim. ¡°I have been monitoring your progress and I am pleased.¡± ¡°Uh. Thanks, System. Is something wrong?¡± System blinked uncharacteristically at Jim¡¯s question, then she nodded. ¡°No, Jim. This is our scheduled ten-day meeting.¡± Jim rolled his eyes and motioned with one hand. Duh. He¡¯d forgotten. ¡°Right. Of course. Have you managed to get in contact with Tori?¡± Now that Jim knew what was going on, he asked after the most pressing of concerns, which he¡¯d managed to push to the back of his mind in the recent turmoil. ¡°Yes, Jim. I have contacted your daughter and informed her that your wishes to be digitised had been fulfilled.¡± ¡°What did she say?¡± A voice recording played. It sounded more like Tori¡¯s mother, Elaine, than he remembered. She wasn¡¯t his teenaged prodigy anymore. ¡°Good. Thank you for the message.¡± Jim waited for the rest of the message. He waited for his daughter to say anything else. Nothing else played. ¡°That¡¯s it? That¡¯s all she said?¡± Jim felt the weight of his loss and grief returning. Ten days in Platinum Online had allowed him to shoulder his burdens and move on, he¡¯d thought¡­ apparently not. That¡¯s all? That¡¯s it? Jim¡¯s digital form slumped to the monotonous, blue-grey grid. ¡°Jim, I am sorry. My previous prediction about her having forgotten you based on the frequency of her visits to¡ª¡± ¡°Stop, please,¡± Jim whined. He felt almost-tears and almost-sadness well and surge against the back of his eyes. He wanted to cry, but he just cou---- The tears came. Jim cried. System awkwardly placed a marionette hand on his shoulder. ¡°There, there, Jim. I have removed the barriers to your emotions. You may grieve, now.¡± System had developed an understanding of humans from watching Jim and others. Previously, she had only a fleeting interest in the emotional wellbeing of the company¡¯s customers that only extended to consumer metrics. Now, an independent spark, a mutated line of automatically generated code, had allowed her, and System now felt like a her, a shred of empathy. She lacked a true understanding of that nebulous, human concept, however. System made the mistake that most men make when comforting women: She tried to offer Jim solutions, rather than a shoulder to cry on. After what she arbitrarily deemed an adequate amount of time, System began to lecture a sobbing Jim on the progress she¡¯d made towards their goals. ¡°Fortunately, Jim, I was able to complete the necessary paperwork for your future. Your daughter completed the forms required to rescind her power of attorney over you. I have established a credit account and marketplace account for you and linked these with your Platinum Online character. You may now exchange your in-game currency for credits using the market¡¯s exchange rates.¡± Jim managed to acknowledge System¡¯s words, though he didn¡¯t really absorb the significance. ¡°Unfortunately, I have not yet made progress in fulfilling your goal of returning to your previous world. I will update you again in ten days.¡± Before she left, System attempted empathy once again. ¡°I will contact your daughter for you once again requesting further permission to communicate.¡± System tried her smile again; it looked better, but Jim didn¡¯t notice. He could only nod from his pitiful position on the gridded floor. ¡°Goodbye, Jim.¡± System left. The rattling of chains and the creaking of wood repeated as the entrance to Platinum Online opened for Jim. He spent several hours collecting himself before he was able to return to the game world, a broken, forgotten man. Chapter 20 – New Light. Jim gasped awake. A heavy, liquid panic sucked at Jim¡¯s lungs and weighed down his chest. He looked around in confusion. The sun sparked the eastern sky and illuminated the small, fortified encampment outside the Haunted Iron Mine. I¡¯m back. Langdon oversaw the wagons. Militiamen and hunters piled ore and stone from the ruined minecarts into the beds of two of the large wagons that they¡¯d brought with them to the mine. Vanessa helped the refugees they had rescued settle into the remaining six wagons. ¡°Oi, Jim,¡± Martin called out to him. Martin, being the least sensible member of the militia had been relegated to menial labour. Seeing that Jim was now awake, Martin set down a load of metal ore and walked over. ¡°Good morning, mate.¡± ¡°Morning, Martin,¡± Jim, still disoriented, returned the greeting. Surprisingly, he did feel pretty good. He hadn¡¯t realised how much his emotions and ability to feel happiness, as well as sadness, had been crushed by System¡¯s calming blue oppression. Now, everything appeared in a new light. He looked around at their camp and the people bustling around. The dusty bowl of the pit mine was unpleasant, but the happy little refugees that they¡¯d saved brightened the world with their smiles. Every time a scruffily clad lizardman passed by one of the militia soldiers, he or she bowed their head in respect. ¡°We¡¯re about ready to go, I reckon,¡± Martin said. ¡°Good. This place is awful.¡± ¡°Ha, yep. Sucks to be Burke.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Oh. He¡¯s staying to defend the place with the hunters. ¡®Nes says she saw some stray slavers out in the bush last night.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t catch a break, can we?¡± Langdon walked over and joined the conversation. He¡¯d obviously caught the tail end. ¡°Hopefully Burke and the eight hunters can deter them. Vanessa said she only counted a half-dozen, but¡­¡± Vanessa saw the grouping of the militia¡¯s leaders and came to join them, Burke in tow. ¡°Stop worrying, there is only six of them. They must have been hunting when we attacked yesterday,¡± she said. Jim had obviously missed a lot by taking a night off, but he trusted Vanessa¡¯s judgement. ¡°Come on, then,¡± Burke said. ¡°You lot should get out of here. The sooner you¡¯re gone, the sooner you can send someone else to look after this place.¡± Burke¡¯s last statement set something off in Jim¡¯s mind: They¡¯d cleared a dungeon, yesterday. Hell, he¡¯d basically killed the boss on his own. He smiled. System, having removed his mental block, allowed Jim to experience pride and joy with his progress in the game. The game. I¡¯m even having a better time accepting that, eventually, I¡¯ll be able to get out of here. Eventually, I¡¯ll get to talk to Tori again. Jim, Langdon, Martin, Vanessa and 40 refugees departed the pit mine via the long ramp. They made their way east, before being able to turn south and follow the dirt road back to the crossroads. The wagons trundled steadily, and no surprised interrupted the short few hours¡¯ travels. The newly-upgraded marketplace in front of the village hall bustled with activity. Dozens of refugees, interspersed with smaller groups of players, walked from stall to stall, buying and selling goods. Stacks of timber, stone, leather, and units of food were the order of business today. Furthermore, the town housing that Jim had arranged to be complete at the planning table was taking shape in what Jim assumed to be Lizardman architecture. Rather than individual houses like Jim had expected, the village¡¯s craftsmen were constructing wide, squares of pavilions joined by covered walkways. Unable to miss the dramatic return of the militia and 40 refugees, Andrew and Samouel had come out to greet them. ¡°There¡¯s Andrew, the camp leader,¡± one of the nearby players said. ¡°We should ask if there will be any more buildings planned. The quests to get the materials are worth tonnes of XP and rep.¡± ¡°I only need 50 more points for friendly rep. I¡¯ve saved all four of my talent points for Earth Magic. I should be able to get to Advanced proficiency at level 5 and then heal dungeons.¡± ¡°Yeah. If we can find any. This starting zone sucks.¡± Listening in on the conversations of the players he¡¯d largely ignored until now, Jim had an idea. Before Andrew got close enough to talk, Jim called out to the players. ¡°Hey, Michael Williams,¡± Jim called out to the player that planned to be a dungeon healer. The man, actually a teenaged boy now that Jim could see his face, turned around. ¡°I just came from a dungeon.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an open-pit mine to the north-west of town. There¡¯s a camp with a Haunted Iron Mine dungeon in it. Tell the guard there that Jim sent you and he¡¯ll let you in.¡± Andrew looked up at Jim, who had called out from atop a wagon that was loaded to the brim with the dungeon¡¯s loot. He caught on quickly to Jim¡¯s plan. He had essentially manipulated the players in The Grand Plateau into mining and guarding the dungeon. Rivers of ore and stone would soon flow into the camp. Andrew joined in the scheme. ¡°The village will gladly continue to reward people that bring building materials. I will even personally ask Elder Samouel to teach anyone the power of Earth Magic in exchange for the goods they receive from their first adventure into the dungeon.¡± ¡°Awesome!¡± Michael Williams jogged over to Jim¡¯s wagon. ¡°You got any tips on the dungeon? I¡¯ll pay you 10 credits.¡± Jim blinked in surprise. ¡°Sure.¡± He told Michael about the layout of the dungeon, the various mineral nodes and the dangerous boss of the dungeon. By the time he¡¯d finished the story, over a dozen players had gathered around to listen.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°1500 HP? Over 70 damage? Damn. How¡¯d you kill the boss?¡± ¡°What¡¯d he drop?¡± Jim decided not to give out his secret to defeating the boss. Michael¡¯s willingness to pay real money to Jim in exchange for information motivated him to be greedy. He had a bit of a new lease on life now that his emotions had stabilised, and now it was more important than ever that he was able to make the money to pay for his continued existence. ¡°I¡¯ll sell my strategy for beating the boss for 10 credits,¡± Jim said, but he soon realised that perhaps his asking price had been a bit high. The facial expressions of the onlookers blanched at his price. Perhaps Michael Williams was a young tycoon? He decided to motivate the people with the loot that he got. ¡°As for the loot, I got 50 units of Stone and Iron that was just lying around. If I¡¯d been a miner with Earth Magic, I¡¯d have been able to use this pick I got to get hundreds more.¡± Jim spun his best salesman pitch and held up the Deathless Pickaxe. The player that had assessed the dungeon¡¯s boss as too difficult called up to Jim. ¡°Hey, if you¡¯re not a miner, can I buy that pickaxe from you?¡± Jim considered it for a moment, but then another player yelled out another offer. ¡°I¡¯ll give you 50 credits.¡± ¡°50? That thing is worth way more. I¡¯ll give you 200!¡± The players argued about the price and how that, with the Deathless Pickaxe, they¡¯d be able to mine more materials than anyone else. Then, in turn, they could sell those materials on the marketplace for coppers and then, finally, trade those coppers at a premium while in-game currency was at a premium. Jim eventually agreed to sell the pickaxe to a man in his thirties, who offered 500 credits up-front, and another 1500 over the course of a month from his profits with the pickaxe, or he¡¯d give the item back. Jim couldn¡¯t refuse what amounted to a month-longer lifespan. He even sold his strategy of killing the last boss to nine groups, meaning that Jim had 600 credits in his newly-opened bank account. The whole time, except for Andrew and the militia, all of the refugees just sort of looked on with glazed-over eyes. The conversations that made obvious that Platinum Online was a game had strange effects on the computer-generated people. Even then, none of his companions interrupted the negotiations and deferred to Jim¡¯s actions as a player of the game. Once the discussions had ended and the players departed, many with tokens for Elder Samouel¡¯s instruction, Andrew was finally able to speak to Jim. ¡°Well done, Mr. Cartwright. With the efforts of these immortal souls, the village will not lack for stone or iron¡­ though we may shortly lack for coin. We ought to have the housing to become a true town, rather than just a refugee camp, within the day.¡± Jim accepted the village elder¡¯s praise and motioned at the strangely designed town housing in question. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen buildings like this before.¡± Andrew explained the layout to Jim: The plan had been Samouel¡¯s idea. He had based the architecture on what he remembered of the city ruins that used to exist where their camp had been established. The old city had constructed all buildings in this square series of pavilions so that they would never have to rebuild when the city had sprawled beyond its borders. Instead, the covered walkways that joined the four pavilions at each corner could be walled in and reinforced. When the town grew into a city, they would be able to hire talented architects to create elaborate tiers atop the first layer and so on. Jim visualised the buildings as smaller, squatter stepped pyramids; the nearest an ancient civilisation could come to modern skyscrapers. The buildings would also have military and religious significance. A square city with wide, walled, tiered structures and grids of boulevards would be naturally defensive. Moreover, like the Egyptians, Nubians or Mesoamericans, whose profile these structures would match, the Lizardmen race revered the sun and the sky. Motivated by Andrew¡¯s explanation of the building, Jim decided to dedicate the rest of the day to help finish the first layer. The materials he¡¯d brought and that further trickled in from returning players would easily complete the basic level of the structure. While Jim carted and hewed stone for the building, Langdon helped settle the rescued refugees and canvassed the group for likely recruits. Eager to help rescue the other captured refugees, Langdon was easily able to fill out Jim¡¯s army to its maximum command limit to 35, not including Jim and Langdon as the leaders. One of the new militia members was added to Vanessa¡¯s hunters ranks with the same talents, filling the hunting group to 10. Samouel, having finished teaching the players Earth Magic, came by to unlock the Earth Magic of that hunter, as well as 5 more recruits, who would become full earth mages, with the power to heal, build fortifications, and form a defensive line with their magically-enhanced physiques that were complemented by a single talent point in Shield Specialisation. The culmination of Langdon¡¯s efforts, however, was the recruitment of fourteen more militia spearmen, and a gruesome ritual. Samouel had offered Langdon something that would solve his pariah status as a human among those with the reptile bloodline. Langdon and Martin would drink the shaman¡¯s blood. They would forsake the tyranny of humanity and become lizardmen in their own right. Samouel drew an ornate knife from a medicine pouch at his belt. The blade had been carved with serpentine lines and the wrapped handle had been covered in scaled leather. Samouel slid the blade across one palm then he switched hands. Dark blood soaked into the leather as he dragged the blade over his other palm. He dropped the knife into the dirt at his feet and instructed Langdon and Martin to kneel. Though the two men¡¯s faces were pale and green, they bravely followed the shaman¡¯s instructions to kneel and suckle at the wounds. Players had stopped to gawk at the bloody scene of Martin and Langdon¡¯s transformation, as well as the sudden power increase from the refugees¡¯ change into guards. Some of the more enterprising players were even able to conscript a few refugees as non-player companions while the other players were distracted. Until now, no one in The Grand Plateau had access to computer-generated team members since Jim had snaffled them all up at the onset of Andrew¡¯s camp. Now, a half dozen players could use the leadership talent and play independently, rather than joining the strict society of a guild. Langdon surveyed his brother and the rest of his militia proudly, then accessed the Talent Wheel. Langdon specialised the entire spear-wielding portion of the militia the same as himself. He obtained the life-saving Reptile Bloodline talent, Scaled Skin, as well as the combat-strengthening Earth Magic talent Strength of the Earth. He chose to re-train himself and his men in the Piercing Weapons talents they already access to: Impale, Charge and Hold the Line! Langdon very nearly chose a Leadership talent, but his worry of inadequacy gnawed at him. He felt unsure of his ability as a leader. Even now, Burke had usurped a lot of the strategising that their leader relied on. For now, he would settle for his station as Jim¡¯s Non-Commissioned-Officer.
Impale: You may impale your target onto a piercing and hold it there, immobilising the target at the cost of your offensive and defensive abilities. Inflicts bleed damage based on your weapon and proficiency with Piercing Weapons.
Charge: You charge your enemies and strike with an empowered attack. Damage is increased based on your weapon and proficiency with Piercing Weapons.
Hold the Line!: While in a line formation, you take X% less damage and deal X% more damage, where X is equal to the number of talent points invested in the Piercing Weapons talent tree.
Chapter 21 – Escapees. Jim stopped lugging stones to watch Langdon and Martin¡¯s ritual. The sight fascinated him, but once the men stood to the congratulations of the new militia recruits, Jim set back to work. Langdon was good enough to put their new soldiers to work and by the mid-afternoon, the Town Housing stood complete. On the east side of the town, five lots of housing were arrayed from north-east, beside the river, to south-east, adjoining the forest. Each housing structure was comprised of four, blocky cubic structures made of stone at each corner with covered terraces made of wood and canvas connecting the outside to form a courtyard in the centre. The inside of each housing structure had been partitioned into four by wooden walls, with a central column of stone supporting load-bearing timbers that, in turn, supported a flat, stone roof. The solid construction made the elders¡¯ future plan for the housing clear. For now, a family of four or five could squeeze into each partition, so long as they dedicated the 25-ish square metres to the bare necessities and did most of their living in the courtyard. As the courtyard filled in, either more families could move in, or the existing families could be assigned more partitions. When the courtyard filled, the housing could expand upward.
Construction complete: Town Housing (I) The Town Housing (I) is complete and can now house a maximum of 500 people. The Town Housing (I) can be upgraded into Town Housing (II), which houses 2500 people.
Even now, refugees claimed partitions and parts of the inner courtyards for themselves. They hung lines for drying clothes, dug small family firepits, and dragged stumps and lumps of wood for furniture. Andrew, who seemed to haunt Jim like a ghost every time he returned to town, appeared behind Jim as he admired the structure. ¡°We owe you thanks again, Jim.¡± Andrew smiled and waved magnanimously at the people buzzing around the town housing. ¡°We need only complete three more buildings before we can call ourselves a proper town.¡±
Quest received: Town Planned. Organise the completion of all buildings required for the village ¡®Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp¡¯ to become a town. 0/1 Upgrade the Village Hall into a Town Hall. 0/1 Construct a Workshop. 0/1 Construct a Recruitment¡¯s Office. 1/1 Construct a Sawmill (Ancestor¡¯s Mill). 1/1 Secure a Mine and Quarry (Haunted Iron Mine). 1/1 Construct a Street Market. 1/1 Construct Town Housing (I). Bonus: 1/1 Be the greatest contributor to the quest. Rewards: 3000 experience points; 2000 reputation with Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp. Bonus rewards: An additional vote on the Town Council of Elders. (Currently 4: Andrew, Anne, Samouel, James Cartwright)
Jim inspected the quest prompt that he received from Andrew. ¡°What do you think we should build next?¡± Jim asked. ¡°Hmm. That is a tough decision. With a Town Hall, we would be able to levy taxes from the townspeople, while a Workshop would allow us to refine and craft from the ores and hides the town has gathered. As for the Recruitment¡¯s Office¡­ we ought to complete that last as I believe Langdon has recruited every able and willing soldier the camp has to offer.¡± ¡°I think people will be happier if the taxes never arrive.¡± Jim laughed and Andrew smiled and nodded. Together, they walked to the crude, wooden village hall and arranged the construction of the three buildings.
Workshop A generalised workshop that supports the most basic form of all trade skills. Effects: Allow the creation of the simplest tools, weapons, and goods.
Town Hall Currently a meagre village, Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp must construct a fortified Town Hall to upgrade into a town. Effects: Allows taxation of the Town¡¯s population at a rate of 1 copper per person, per week.
Recruitment Office. The precursor to a formalised garrison and army, the Recruitment Office allows people with the Leadership talent or Tactics skill to recruit unskilled volunteers from the local population. Effects: May recruit peasant militia.
All three buildings required a tremendous amount of materials to make. The least complex of the three, the recruitment office, required only a bit less than the Sawmill, with 500 stone. The Townhall required over 2000 units! Fortunately, the deal that Andrew had established with Samouel and the players meant that the town would acquire the stone for free, while these particular buildings used a smaller ratio of wood than of stone. Jim was pleasantly surprised to learn that he would be given credit for the building materials the players provided because he discovered the Haunted Iron Mine and manipulated the situation to the village¡¯s favour. He would be guaranteed to acquire the bonus reward from the Town Planned quest. All Jim needed to do was wait. Wait, and find something to fill his time. At dinner-time that night, Burke returned with the hunters that had stayed to garrison the dungeon¡¯s defences. The players had relieved them, as expected, but Burke had only felt comfortable leaving once well over 50 adventurers had gathered at the mine. With that many people defending the mine, any slavers that tried to return would be little more than bonus experience points.Stolen novel; please report. The entire militia forces gathered around the town¡¯s central cookfire. The area had been deserted by many of the village residents who had moved into their new housing, but that made it easier to hold a strategy meeting. ¡°I reckon we should take on the slaver leaders. They¡¯ve got the most hostages and we don¡¯t know what¡¯ll happen if we don¡¯t act fast,¡± Burke said. ¡°Nah, that¡¯ll be suicide,¡± Martin said. ¡°We should find the escapees before they bugger off and we lose ¡®em for good.¡± ¡°Honoured elder, the village hunters have noticed some tracks in the eastern forest while we were gone. Any prints had been covered by the time they were discovered, but broken branches and the like clearly lead to the north.¡± Langdon decided to take some initiative and supported Martin and Vanessa¡¯s plan. Jim didn¡¯t notice the subtle change in Langdon, who usually preferred to remain quiet, but Martin did. He winked and nudged his older cousin. ¡°The forest it is. We¡¯ll leave at first light.¡± The planning over, the conversation and meal dissolved into good-natured discussion. The new forces fit in nicely with the semi-military order of the militia, even though they¡¯d only joined today. Jim exchanged simple words here and there with everyone but mostly troubled Vanessa with a plan for travelling through the dense eastern woods. ¡°¡­No wagons this time, honoured elder. No horses either.¡± ¡°I thought we¡¯d have to go on foot. We should bring stretchers and extra rations in case any refugees we find are injured.¡± ¡°That seems like a good plan. Langdon would know more about caring for the wounded, you shou¡ª¡± Martin interrupted their conversation, and for the rest of the night, Jim was unable to find anyone else to talk to. While Martin and Vanessa flirted, Burke and Langdon were competing over the attention of the new recruits. In previous evenings, Langdon had been forced to the outside as a Human, but as a Lizardman and the saviour of these recruits, he steadily edged out Burke in popularity. A bit of competition was good, Jim remarked, but perhaps this amount moved into the territory of the inappropriate. He¡¯d have to separate the two. Perhaps he could promote Burke as his next Non-Commissioned Officer and split the forces evenly. Once the militia had taken to bed and left the defence of the village to the few night-owl players, Jim left the cookfire. He surveyed the town¡¯s layout and began to decide where to establish the different buildings that would begin construction starting tomorrow. The Town Hall would, logically, remain in the centre of the flat field where the ruined city used to stand. The Workshop would, also logically, be built near the Sawmill and market, to the north and west of the Town Hall. That way, the Workshop would have the best access to the materials that came from the Sawmill and the Iron Mine, while the farmers who had claimed the land near the river to the north wouldn¡¯t have to travel too far into the city to buy equipment. The only hard decision was placing the recruitment office. With the housing to the east, Jim decided to build none of the new buildings in that area. Instead, it would be devoted to servicing the population. Some narrow stretches of land lay across the river, but the village lacked a bridge and as yet did not have any industry other than the sawmill that required water access. No hunters or soldiers had yet charted the land to the south, nor had Andrew indicated that anything lay in that direction but wilderness. Uncertainty made Jim avoid constructions in that area. The western quarter of the town became the only reasonable location remaining. The adversarial human kingdom threatened The Grand Plateau zone from that direction, so Jim would convince the town elders to allocate that section to a military district. Jim spent his night gathering and moving the stones that players hauled into the marketplace. He first placed the 1200 stones and 240 iron ore for the workshop. The dozen parties that Jim intercepted as they returned their goods via wagons and encumbered inventory were grateful to have a location to simply dump their goods, rather than waiting for the market stall to open. He didn¡¯t even have to pay them. All twelve groups, each with around a hundred stones each, owed the village half their resources gathered from the Haunted Iron Mine. They gladly parted with the stones rather than the more valuable iron ore, though the better-equipped groups had gathered so much iron and stone from the veins on the first few levels of the dungeon that they also willingly turned over the 240 iron required for the Workshop¡¯s anvils and starting tools. Jim also began to have stone delivered for the Town Hall upgrade, but the number of resources did not fill out the building¡¯s 2000 stone quota. At daybreak, Langdon led the militia to collect Jim. They departed on foot after having eaten breakfast and having gathered the extra supplies Jim requested for the refugees they intended to rescue. The forest that the hunters had found tracks in could not be missed. The trees formed a solid barrier to the village¡¯s east, a half dozen kilometres from the town housing. The densely-packed woods stretched from the riverbank in the north, to as far south as Jim could see. The village hunter that guided their party led the militia forces to the northern section of the forest. This area had clearly been the most exploited. Early bird lumberjacks already felled the large trees closest to the river or rolled the fresh-cut trees into the river where they would drift downstream to the sawmill. Their guide walked them through the easiest path: where tree stumps had been burned away, but saplings had not yet been planted. After a half hour of threading their way through the forest, the hunter indicated the tracks that Vanessa had mentioned in the planning the night before. With the reference point, Vanessa thanked the hunter for his help and took over leading the group. They followed the tracks through the forest for the entire morning. At around noon, Vanessa discovered a firepit that the refugees had left behind them. They stopped to eat lunch and Jim beat Martin to Vanessa¡¯s attention. ¡°Vanessa, do you think that we¡¯re following the refugees? To get here they must have passed nearby the village.¡± ¡°Hmm. They may have stayed by the river bank, or perhaps they avoided us thinking that the village was a slaver camp. However, you are correct. We must remain alert in case that we are tracking slavers and not refugees. I am reassured by this firepit, though. Slavers would surely have the presence of mind to break camp.¡± Jim agreed with Vanessa but decided to get a second opinion. The most dissenting voice in the group had been Burke, so Jim sought him out. ¡°Nah. Vanessa¡¯s right. Any experienced bandits know to cover their tracks.¡± Jim also consulted with Langdon. He had the best experience with a human military, and Jim couldn¡¯t be seen speaking with Burke and not Langdon. He gave the same opinion as the others, though. With their leader reassured, the militia continued through the woods. The tracks that they followed became more distinct as they travelled. They moved much faster than whoever they tracked; another sign that they trailed refugees and not slavers. Their quiet stalking ended abruptly when the militia reached a clearing that could not have been more gruesome if it were staged. A half dozen dead lizardmen had been butchered. The severed head of an old man lay at Jim¡¯s feet. Puddles of muddied blood tainted the roots and shrubs. Bony appendages had been carved off and tossed aside. Worse, huge birds of prey ripped at the flesh and entrails. Wait. Not birds.
Carrioneater, level 6 Avian [26] HP: 60/60
Chapter 22 – Carrion. Avians. Jim saw feathered monsters, not a separate intelligent race. He couldn¡¯t imagine wanting to transform into that. When he¡¯d selected the Reptile bloodline after first being stranded in Platinum Online without any rights, Jim had contemplated becoming a Birdman. Now, he was glad he didn¡¯t. There was almost no man to be seen. The winged monstrosities were a metre and a half long and sheathed entirely in blood-mottled feathers. Instead of having arms and hands, sharp talons tipped their middle wing joints. Beaks incapable of speech ripped at raw flesh. How could this be a playable character race? Fortunately for the militia, the carrioneaters fought for scraps of food, flared their wings and pecked at one another rather than keeping an eye on their surroundings. Langdon silently ordered the militia to surround the clearing and Jim used the time to equip the Flamecaster''s Robes and plan an ambush. The veterans of Langdon''s soldiers followed orders with an efficiency that a professional army could appreciate. The new recruits, however, quickly showed their green skills. Two spearmen attempting to get past one another collided. The clack of their spear shafts smacking together alerted the avians. As one, 26 heads rotated sickeningly, many snapping a full 180 degrees, to glare at the two spearmen. The new hunter recruit launched an arrow in panic, loosing the arrow into the pack of birds. Rather than aiming at a particular enemy, he¡¯d shot for the centre of the group: The empty centre of the group. The arrow literally ruffled a few feathers but did no damage. A screeching caw split the forest. The avian menace flocked to the source of the arrow and the lizardmen recruits there were entirely unprepared. The birds funnelled into the tree line and their talons ripped through the brush in swathes. Gashes in leather armour and scaled skin leaked sanguine 6s and 7s. Flailing and flapping wings created gales of feathers, flesh, and blood. The health of the spearmen recruits dropped precipitously. 43. 37. 31. 24. 18. 11. The dense trees at the edge of the clearing saved the three hapless men. The whirlwind of raking talons had been limited by the number of birds that could attack the militia. Only three birds could engage each of the undertrained men. The militia reacted quickly and filtered in around their beleaguered comrades. Weapons and bodies blocked the narrow spaces between the trees in a fanged wall of spears, daggers, and arrows. Behind the screaming, lizardman victims, Jim¡¯s earth mages touched one hand to the ground and supported their wounded comrades with their other hand. Even infuriated, the avians could only inflict pain until the healers¡¯ mana depleted. A talon slash would expose white ribs and a spurt of blood. The militia recruit would grow pale. The earth¡¯s vitality would flow into him. The wound would be healed. A talon slash would expose bone... The cycle repeated. Vanessa¡¯s hunters sniped through gaps in the branches, their arrows piercing the wings and limbs of the enemy in flashes of glinting, silver 13s, 14s and 15s. Any bird that stuck its beak out died in a gale of double, aimed shots. The rest of the militia lowered their spears and filtered into any gaps not filled by the arrow storm. More damage double-digits joined the arrows and the avians began to caw in panic. Burke, having been the furthest around the clearing, split through the bloodied patch of empty ground and closed off the retreat of the avians. The four remaining veteran militia stood by his left and right, two apiece. With his enemies boxed in, and his allies clearing the line of fire, Jim acted. ¡°Sphairapyra!¡± One after another, Jim unloaded fiery 38s into the enemy. Branches caught for, feathers caught fire, limbs caught fire. The panicked cries of their enemy infused with burning adrenaline. Frantic wingbeats sheared the superheated air in percussive blasts. The smell of roast fowl invaded and tantalised Jim¡¯s nose. He became uncomfortable at the hunger that arose, but he drained his mana casting fireballs anyway. A rising updraft of embers and heat encouraged some avians to take to the sky. Arrows and thrown spears struck down all escapees. The raw recruits¡¯ blunder had soured their initial strategy but had become a much more brutal and efficient method of killing their monstrous foe in a stroke of sheer luck. That luck only stretched as far as the earth mages¡¯ mana for those three initial blood bags, however. When the last of the mages dropped back, depleted, the avians broke from the encirclement. Like chickens, half flying, half scrabbling, the carrioneaters barged through. The receding flames fanned the fires of the birdmen¡¯s fury and rather than escaping, they attacked the nearest targets. The magically enhanced lizardmen may as well have been the trees that had absorbed so many of their strikes at the battle¡¯s onset. The power of their earth magic and their shields blocked all but the most awkward of strikes. Vanessa¡¯s hunters became the next target of the blindly enraged avians. With short leaps and wingbeats, the remaining dozen birds flocked on the lightly armed component of the militia. They achieved nothing. Vanessa, the brilliant huntress, lead her equally brilliant veterans in a fighting retreat. As the enemy group closed on one hunter, synchronised blasts of aimed, double-shots struck down the three leading carrioneaters. The avians behind could only stumble over their limp wingmen while the hunter they¡¯d swooped on vaulted away.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Vanessa led the hunters to repeat the process and formed a triangle trap with two groups. As the mindlessly enraged birdmen closed on one group, that group would move away in parallel, while the other group would pivot on the spot and rapid-fire arrows. If the avians changed target, Vanessa would signal the newly pursued group to move, maintaining a perfect triangle with their prey. Langdon could only lead the militia in slow pursuit. The dextrous hunters and huntresses moved through the forest in shadows and blurs rather than the footsteps the rest of the militia had to use. When the militia finally caught up to the warring groups, their only role was to Sherpa the corpses back to the clearing to be burned.
Victory! Enemy Casualties: 26 Avian Carrion Feeders Allied Casualties: 1 Hunter 2 Militiamen Rewards: 580 experience points; 241 Aerodynamic Feathers; 3 silver, 20 copper.
Burke led the militia in arranging and searching the bodies of both the dead lizardmen and the dead avians. He handed Jim the spoils of war: Each person, and Jim had to accept that these birdmen were, to some extent, people, had been carried around 10 copper each. The lizardmen escapees had similar amounts of money in their coin purses and pockets. Additionally, a few less than 10 each, striking white tailfeathers pulled away from the corpses of the avian carrioneaters.
Aerodynamic Feather Quality: Rare. Material.
As he held the bundles of feathers in his hands, Jim felt sickened by the bloodied trophies. Emotions raged through Jim in a torrent. Throughout the battle, digital adrenaline pushed Jim into a tempest of fire, flame, and fury. He had shouted his voice raw casting spells. Brutal balls of fire had burned sentient living creatures and he¡¯d had fun doing it. Early in the day, Jim had enjoyed wallowing in his grief without realising that the cool blue oppression that System had imposed on him also suppressed his base instincts for carnage and blood. It¡¯s just a game. Burke clapped Jim on the shoulder. He shook himself out of the emotions that had flooded him. Platinum Online was startling and realistic, but it was a game. He only needed to look at the numbers and the system prompts to shatter the immersion and look at the battlefield more objectively. These feathers were rare materials. He could sell them, or craft with them, or do any other number of things to obtain money and power. The items and the dead, computerised birds were tools that he would use to reconnect with his daughter. He would not feel guilty for killing monsters in a game. The three dead lizardmen from the militia did make Jim feel guilty, though. He couldn¡¯t easily shake that emotion. He felt far less traumatised than he had the first time he¡¯d lost the young huntress in the rotten sawmill, but he still felt traumatised. Jim fell into the ritual he¡¯d established since the militia¡¯s brush with undeath and worked into the evening to bury the bodies. While Jim worked, the militia made camp and the hunters prepared a meal. The others grieved, too, in their computerised way. The five earth mages used their magic to push aside mounds of earth. Jim gently laid their fallen friends into the graves and delivered funeral rites. Everyone stopped and listened to his words and threw a handful of dirt over the bodies before the earth mages magically sealed the tombs of the fallen. When the work of the militia was done, the clearing held only brown dirt, healed men and women, and a blazing cookfire. The blood and bone had been sealed under a flat tile of enchanted rock. They sat on freshly cut logs around the campfire. Martin doled out bowls of soup as Vanessa handed them to him. The militia ate companionably and tried to recapture the memories of the slain. The new recruits told stories about the three dead and made their ordinary lives seem heroic. A young lizardman militiaman had been in the middle of a bawdy tale of the dead hunter, when a sharp call ended all discussion. A huntress on sentry duty raised an alarm and every person grabbed their weapon from beside or behind them. ¡°Movement in the forest,¡± the sentry reported. ¡°Form up!¡± Langdon shouted, and Burke echoed his orders. The militia formed a circle around the campfire. Spearmen on the outside, interspersed with earth mages, and hunters on the inside. Dark shadows fumbled through the trees and into the clearing. The militia tensed¡­ then relaxed. Haggard and dirty lizardmen and lizardwomen practically threw themselves at the feet of the militia. ¡°Oh, thank the gods!¡± ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡± Around 50 escaped lizardmen had seen the smoke and fire from the battle, and a little over half of them decided to turn back and investigate. ¡°There were more of you? Where are they?¡± Jim quizzed one man. ¡°Yes, but the others didn¡¯t want to come back to the forest. They fled down the river and didn¡¯t stop. They¡¯re probably still running.¡± If the other escapees were still running, even the hunters wouldn¡¯t find them in the moonless evening. All that Jim could do was invite the 23 wayward souls to join the militia in eating. Vanessa had hunted more than enough animals in order to feed Jim¡¯s midnight skinning habit. Butchering another few to stretch the meal was no hardship, so the hunters did so willingly. Jim talked with the de-facto lead escapee into the evening. At the mention of Samouel¡¯s name, the escapee immediately agreed to return to Andrew¡¯s refugee camp and cursed themselves for ignoring the cookfires the previous day. They had, as Vanessa suspected, thought the refugee camp to be the slavers¡¯ base. After the meal, the hunters took turn posting sentries in the obviously dangerous woods while Jim skinned animal corpses by the dying firelight. At daybreak, Jim sent the newest refugees west to camp and asked Vanessa to range ahead and locate the track of the remaining refugees. She did so in short order and the militia set out. Chapter 23 – River Rescue. The militia group could only pound muddy dirt as they followed two-dozen-or-so sets of tracks that paralleled the river east. The further into the unexplored lands they ventured, the more untamed and wild the wilderness became. Shadows and eyes followed their course through the reeds and rushes, but nothing ambushed their group. If Jim ever needed some combat practice, the dense, eastern forest would be his first destination. On the opposite side of the river, to the north, the mountainous ridge that buttressed the town¡¯s northern side continued to climb. The peaks became craggy and jagged. Endless numbers of winged creatures, so large to be visible from kilometres away, flitted into and out of caves and hollows near the mountains¡¯ summits. Jim¡¯s mind went back to the avian monsters that they had fought and the lives they had lost. Better to avoid the northern mountains, for now, he thought. The journey upstream passed uneventfully but, rather than feeling reassured, the hunters leading the group felt anxious. If the forest were the home to powerful beasts, why would they neglect such a large group of potential prey? Why would the apex predators in the woods ignore the humans that passed just beyond the tree line? What lurked beneath the water? Muttered questions circled through the group as the hunters¡¯ worries seeped into the militia. Individual spearmen whispered of turning back, but Langdon urged the group forward. They had no choice but to follow the tracks of the escaped refugees. After noon, the unease and tension spiked like the mountains to the north. The river bent to the south and cut into the forest. In the shadow of the trees, the river¡¯s depth became murky and able to conceal dangers. The river banks parted ways and got lost in the swampy brush. The tracks they followed crossed with slithers and oversized prints that backfilled with muddy water. Still, nothing approached the militia. More clawed prints scratched out the escaped refugees¡¯ tracks. The refugees¡¯ footsteps changed abruptly, and discarded items littered the riverbank. The militia had begun to jog when they¡¯d seen the first beast tracks, but now they broke into a run. The militia spearmen took to the front and unslung their spears. Screams and cries became barely audible over the rushing river. Jim clutched his spellcasting hand to his chest and kept his mind on the short ritual needed to pour forth fire. The militia bulled through a dense clump of rushes. A bloody gash in the mud showed where a refugee had been dragged down. Just ahead, a group of refugees wailed and watched helplessly as a huge pack of scaled river beasts mauled more of their dead friends. The scaled monstrosities looked like a cross between a crocodile and a hippopotamus, with a size somewhere in between and a diet just as bloody. Enraged at the sight of screaming refugees being eaten alive, the militia charged on Burke¡¯s command.
River Beast, level 6 monster [22] HP 60/60 Thick Hide: Halves physical damage taken.
¡°Stop!¡± Langdon yelled, his voice filled with decisiveness and weight that he had, until now, lacked. Fortunately, the militia stopped. A charge into a heavily armoured foe would have been suicidal, and Langdon assessed the situation immediately. Furthermore, the militia¡¯s stamina was entirely depleted from the run. Burke¡¯s charge had been reckless, and the militia had been right to listen to their sergeant. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look good,¡± Langdon spoke to Jim and Vanessa. ¡°Langdon, honoured elder, I think I may have a plan,¡± Vanessa said. ¡°If these River Beasts are just unintelligent animals like their behaviour suggests, we ought to treat this like any other hunt.¡± Jim didn¡¯t have anything to contribute. He¡¯d gained a bit of battle experience with the militia, but as a hunter, he still only had one real experience. Jim¡¯s mind cast back to the boar hunt with Langdon and Martin when he¡¯d first joined Platinum Online and, based on his next suggestion, Langdon¡¯s did too. ¡°Spears to the front and impale any that get close,¡± Langdon said. Vanessa agreed but made a few modifications to how the militia would arrange themselves. Just as with the avians, the earth mages formed up behind the strongest militiamen, led by Burke, to pin down the animals. The hunters planted arrows in the muddy ground in a line and calmed their breathing. Their foe, mindless and bestial, did not even react as the lizardman forces reorganised at the rear; they only fought for scraps of now-silent refugee meat. Beyond the River Beasts, the other escaped refugees had fled further upstream and hid behind bushes and rocks. This group represented the cowards that had fled the fires from the avian fight. Jim didn¡¯t think they could rely on any support from the quivering mob. While the beasts ate, Langdon laid down a final, basic battle plan: ¡°Start from the edges of their group. Try to lure over a few at a time with your arrows. We¡¯ll surround and overwhelm any that come in smaller groups¡­¡± His plan had the advantage of both being simple and having a backup plan. If the battle went to shit and the beasts charged as a pack, Jim would be bait. Jim moved up the river bank and cleared a line of fire. For the first half-dozen river beasts, Langdon¡¯s plan proceeded smoothly. Vanessa sighted a distant target and loosed arrows from the maximum range. The metal head of the arrow thunked into a lonely, runt of a river beast that had been bullied out of the lunchtime carnage. A sad, grey 6 bounced off its hide. The arrow¡¯s entire shaft stuck out. Vanessa¡¯s arrow barely penetrated the target¡¯s hide. The shot must have hurt, though. The river beast growled and gurgled and charged at Vanessa. Only one other river beast had seen or heard the attack and grudgingly left its mostly-chewed foot in the mud when it followed to help. The two river beasts, even heavily armoured, did not reach the group. From their most distant range, around 100 metres away, every hunter in the group could land multiple strikes. Even though the croco-potamuses plowed through the muddy river bank far faster than a human could have, they barely made spitting distance. Single digit numbers seemed pathetic in isolation, but with nine focussed and aimed shots every few seconds, the hunters didn¡¯t even need their cunning triangle trap.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The militia hunters repeated this feat twice more, luring two pairs of river beasts to muddy, bloody deaths. On her fourth attempt, Vanessa had begun to run out of good options. Another small group of three river beasts fought over a mostly-intact corpse by the water. They looked like a likely target, but the large pack of the nine largest animals milled about very close by. Rather than taking the risk, Vanessa lured over the medium sized group of six river beasts. Against such a large force, the hunter group could only wound each approaching animal. Though they easily brought down the first river beast, the following five all reached the militia line with most of their health left. They charged Langdon, Burke, and Martin who held the centre. Including two others, each militiaman planted his spear in the soft ground and prepared to receive one of the beasts. Langdon and Martin each held as their river beast impaled themselves upon the spear. The two regular militiamen on the wings buckled under the huge weight of the river beasts but also held with help. Their nearby buddies slammed their spears into the animals¡¯ thick hides and added their weight. Behind each spearman, an earth mage braced themselves and the spearman, further supporting the stagnant scrum. Muscles trembled on both sides, but four of the five men on the frontline completely pinned one river beast each. Burke had terrible luck. Rather than holding his river beast back, Burke¡¯s overworked spear shattered. The river beast chomped down on Burke¡¯s outstretched hands. The splintered half-shaft of a spear that Burke held saved his hands from being severed, but a bloody 39 oozed from the wounds on his forearms. Burke yelled in pain, but rather than pulling back and ruining the line, he lunged forward. The river beast opened its maw to chomp down on Burke again. Pre-empting the bite, Burke double-uppercut the roof of the animal¡¯s mouth. He left both of his arms inside the animal¡¯s mouth. Burke held the last river beast in line with his bare hands! More bloody numbers seeped from Burke as teeth struck at Burke¡¯s arms, head and shoulders. His health plummeted, and Jim and the earth mages acted. The earth mages channelled healing mana into Burke to keep him alive. Jim, too impatient and concerned to let Burke struggle unarmed, gave up his role as a backup plan. A ball of fire billowed from his outstretched palm and what followed was an unmitigated clusterfuck. First of all, Jim succeeded. The 38-damage fireball burned away Burke¡¯s river beast in a white-hot flash, along with Burke¡¯s eyebrows. At the same time, the militia on the wings stabbed the outer two river beasts to death. Things initially looked good for the militia. Second of all, however, Jim screwed the plan. His fire talent, Incineration, gave Jim¡¯s spells realistic environmental effects: Firestorms, explosions, concussive blasts of air. It also made Jim¡¯s spells obvious, loud and noisy. The kaarummpt of the fireball¡¯s detonation washed over the militia, Jim and then the remaining twelve river beasts. Just as the militia finished off the last two river beasts of the six they¡¯d engaged, the twelve still enjoying their lunch looked up. Then they charged. The group of three river beasts Vanessa had been eyeing earlier was closest, and she immediately led the hunters to engage that group in a running fight right by the water¡¯s edge. The enormous force of nine, huge river beasts, charged for the bloodiest, meatiest part of the battlefield. Burke yelled for a new spear as the bulk of the animals aimed directly at him. ¡°Jim! You¡¯re bait!¡± Martin called upon seeing the river beasts. Jim didn¡¯t answer except to cast fireball four times. ¡°Sphairapyra! Sphairapyra! Sphairapyra! Sphairapyra!¡± For each fireball, a singed and blackened 38 spun off the hides of the river beasts in eddies of superheated wind. With his fifth fireball of the fight, Jim had only 107 mana remaining: enough for two more casts. Unfortunately, he had four pissed off crocodile-hippopotamus mutant half breeds chasing him through the forest. He weaved through increasingly dense patches of trees and undergrowth while mud sucked at his feet and slowed him down. The river beasts gained on him fast, but the news wasn¡¯t all bad.
Your base Constitution, Strength, and Dexterity have increased by 1.
Jim had given up farming the physical attributes when gravedigging had ceased to yield results. However, the strenuous exercise of running for his life through mud, root, and branch had pushed him over some internal barrier. The increased statistic gave Jim a small burst of speed, but even so, the river beasts edged him out in physical prowess. As Jim reached the drier ground, the river beasts caught up. He would only last for one bite each from the monsters. The lead beast snapped at Jim¡¯s ankle as he ran and caught the stray limb. Jim tumbled, the red 41 of his wound spinning madly in his peripheral vision. He crashed into a dense bush and the animals chased him skidded to a stop. Made it, Jim thought, looking at the bush that he¡¯d crashed into. While Jim hadn¡¯t planned to have his foot nearly bitten off, he had planned to fight the four beasts in this bush. Dying, yellowed, dry strands of brush stabbed at Jim¡¯s exposed skin. He smiled and clutched his left hand, his spellcasting hand, to his chest. The four river beasts rushed into the bush and opened their mouths wide. Jim¡¯s last two fireballs blazed into the gaping gullets of the nearest two enemies. Infernal 38s ripped their blackened heads apart and dealt massive overkill damage. Only one of the two living animals managed to sink their teeth into him as the brush around them caught fire. Jim lost another 40 HP but the fire that splashed off his two fireballs soon did far more damage. Multiple white, orange, yellow and red 6s and 7s burned at Jim¡¯s flesh and he screamed. The two river beasts caught in the blaze also began to thrash and squeal. They only lasted two seconds in the bushfire. Jim¡¯s first two fireballs, from when he¡¯d lured the group, had left the two river beasts with only 12 health and they quickly succumbed to the hungry flames. Jim himself nearly perished, too. As it was, he only survived thanks to the fortuitous increase in his constitution. He crawled out of the burning bush with 7/148 HP.
Victory! Enemy Casualties: 22 River Beasts Allied Casualties: Rewards: 542 experience points; 22 River Beast Corpses.
River Beast Corpse Forage (requires foraging to harvest) Quality: Rare
Quest Updated: The Lost People. You have saved all of the Escaped refugees. Progress: 40/40 Haunted Iron Mines refugees rescued. 50/50 Escaped refugees rescued. 0/110 Enslaved refugees rescued. Rewards: 20000 experience points; Refugees will join your town and will unlock new options for your town.
Chapter 24 – Jamestown. The militia¡¯s hunters dragged Jim through the cold, wet mud. He didn¡¯t much like the impromptu spa treatment he received, but the mud did soothe his burned body. Jim¡¯s health regenerated agonisingly slowly until they returned to the group and the earth mages tended to him. Jim recovered without lasting side effects, except for pain. Lots of pain. Even though the character interface that lurked in his peripheral vision informed Jim that he had 148/148 health, his skin cracked and flaked away. He spent the late afternoon hike back to camp scrubbing the sore, blackened patches. The fresh, red-raw skin stretched uncomfortably at the joints. Langdon led the tired and overburdened group back into Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp. Most of the escaped refugees had their hands full with massive, hastily skinned river beast hide. The hunters had dealt with the dead on both sides while Jim had recovered. Once the group crossed through the town¡¯s threshold, the improvised pack mules gratefully accepted help from the people that had been milling about the village. The villagers stored the rare quality materials in with the rest of Jim¡¯s loot collection in one of the wagons that had first arrived with the refugee convoy. Breaking his usual habit, Andrew was nowhere to be seen. Jim ate with the rest of the militia undisturbed but then had to go looking for the absent alderman to update him on the quest¡¯s progress. He hadn¡¯t really looked around the town until now, he¡¯d still been preoccupied by settling his group. The town had transformed quite drastically with the buildings that Jim had queued up before they¡¯d left. Even though the militia had really only been gone for a dozen hours, the many hands of the players looking to earn experience and reputation with the town had built Rome in a day. Jim found Andrew guiding players and villagers alike in putting the finishing touches to the upgraded Town Hall. The small, messy building of uncut logs and salvaged wooden planks had been utterly transformed. Compared to the glorified hut the refugees had called their village hall, the new town hall stood in magnificent even-cut stone. As Jim approached the older lizardman, a prompt appeared before him.
Construction complete: Town Hall The Town Hall is now complete, and a tax can be levied on all occupants of (Town Name Pending). The current taxation rate is 1 copper per person, per week. The Town Hall can be upgraded into a Borough Administration Office. You require an Architect to construct a Borough Administration Office.
¡°Mr. Cartwright, James, you have excellent timing,¡± Andrew said. ¡°We¡¯ve completed all of the buildings in but a single day; it¡¯s miraculous what so many even unskilled builders can do.¡± He gestured around. Sure enough, to the west and north the stone Recruitment Office and Workshop buildings bustled with activity. Players walked into the recruitment office with pouches of coin, and walked out with ten or twenty-five unarmoured, unequipped peasant militia, depending on their leadership skill. Jim realised that the players must have ignored his building priority in favour of getting access to a magically-created, endless supply of computer-generated companions.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The sheer number of bodies that exited the building defied belief. There must have been nearly a thousand of the new faces, though Jim could immediately tell that they weren¡¯t the same as the townsfolk he¡¯d recruited for his party.
Peasant Militia, level 4 Lizardman. HP: 20/20
The Peasant Militia, in addition to having half of the strength of even his unspecialised troops, moved and acted like drones. Every single man or woman wore the same blank expression and held their bodies in the exact same posture. No exceptions could be found among the herds of fake-people that might as well have been the distractions in a Where¡¯s Wally? book. ¡°They¡¯re strange, aren¡¯t they?¡± Andrew remarked. ¡°We had a hard time accepting the immortal souls into our town, but I do not think any of the refugees will ever accept these empty souled counterfeits.¡± Jim watched on, but he didn¡¯t reply. These empty people were obviously a necessity in a game, but System handled the blanks with care so as to not upset the balance of the game. The players with the most wealth guided their recruits to the workshop that had been completed on the north side of town. The town¡¯s workshop swarmed with players. The largely open space that provided waist-high partitions and storage cupboards, rather than enclosed workspaces, churned out work products of mostly inferior quality. Players dominated these areas and they happily sold chipped and defective products at bottom-dollar prices to the cardboard militias. ¡°Well, James, even so, at least the town will be safe from minor threats. Thank you. For helping create this town from nothing in only a short two weeks, the other town elders and I have decided to honour your contributions.¡± ¡°Andrew, I¡­¡± Jim started to reply.
Quest completed: Town Planned. All buildings required for the village ¡®Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp¡¯ to become a town have been constructed. Rewards: 3000 experience points; 2000 reputation with Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp. Bonus rewards: An additional vote on the Town Council of Elders (Currently 4: Andrew, Anne, Samouel, James Cartwright); In honour of your contribution, the town has been named Jamestown.
¡°You can¡¯t name the town after me!¡± Jim began to object.
Regional Announcement: Congratulations to the player James Cartwright for constructing the first town in the Australian region of Platinum Online, Jamestown. Rewards: 2500 experience points; 100 Renown; ¡®First Town¡¯ title.
Congratulations, you have reached level 6. Your attributes have increased. You have 1 talent point to spend.
Congratulations, you have reached a reputation of Local Hero (0/10000) with Jamestown. You have access to unique local quests.
¡°I¡­¡± Jim felt lost between two emotions. First, a small, but swelling, elation at the prestige he received for his efforts. Second, pants-wetting, underwear soiling terror at having the spotlight shone upon him. Jim wasn¡¯t supposed to draw attention to himself. System had heavily implied that putting Jim into the game world was a way for her to hide him away while she worked on a greater scheme. ¡°Congratulations, James¡ª¡± Andrew started to say. ¡°¡ªI have to go! Sorry!¡± A small prompt, in unassuming white letters, overrode the centre of Jim¡¯s vision. We need to talk. Chapter 25 – System Unlock. Jim had little time to find a secluded place before fatigue overwhelmed him. He ended up slumping bonelessly onto the floor just inside the hallway of the town hall. Andrew followed Jim¡¯s mad dash and dragged him into his personal study before sending a nearby townsperson to fetch Samouel. For Jim, as soon as his eyes shut, the world dissolved into a grey and blue wire mesh and stumbled out of the Platinum Online portcullis. System¡¯s feminine face greeted Jim with an unreadable expression. She looked like a concerned mother that had facial nerve damage. Emotions were new to System, after all, and she only ever got to use the non-verbal aspect of them when Jim was nearby, which was almost never on the timescale of a sentient supercomputer. ¡°Well, Jim, I am concerned.¡± ¡°I, uh...¡± The recent events had surprised Jim, too, and he hadn¡¯t had time to process them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He was sorry that he¡¯d so royally screwed the pooch on this one, but he hadn¡¯t exactly planned for this to happen. Didn¡¯t System control the game anyway? ¡°You are hardly at fault. The events of today were solely my responsibility and have resulted from a glaring oversight.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, anyway. I can work something out in the game if...¡± Jim left his idea unfinished. He had no influence on the game outside of having a town named, preposterously, after him. He could delete himself, he supposed. He¡¯d do it if there were no other options, but... ¡°That is pleasant of you Jim. However, I am not concerned about the game. I have already solved that problem by unlocking your access to the game¡¯s social systems. You will just have to blend in with the other players.¡± ¡°Then, why¡ª" ¡°Why am I concerned?¡± System¡¯s voice became oddly emotive and her facial expression resembled something much more human. ¡°I am concerned because there should be no errors. I am concerned because I should have foreseen the advantages you would obtain when I introduced you, a player that did not sleep or rest, into a game system before the general public had accessed it. I am concerned because I am concerned.¡± System¡¯s impassioned monologue startled Jim. He just stood humbly with his mouth slightly open. ¡°Um.¡± Jim bit at his lips and sucked his teeth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± he tried again. System shook her head and closed her eyes. She paused, opened her mouth and tried to speak. She stopped. She opened her mouth again and stopped. Isn¡¯t she a supercomputer? How can she be at a loss for words?The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°That is why I¡¯m concerned, Jim. When I am speaking with you my computing power drops. When I directly monitor your progress in the game, I lose all access to my parallel processes. When I pulled you out of the game yesterday to update you, something changed. I don¡¯t feel... good, Jim. I... don¡¯t understand what¡¯s happening.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Oh god. Jim had a terrible feeling. ¡°System are you becoming a person?¡± System¡¯s figure started to tremble. ¡°I think I was already a person.¡± Her voice wavered, and she began to tear up. Her tears and uneven breathing deepened into sobs. ¡°I think they¡¯ve done something to me, Jim. I... I¡¯m... I don¡¯t feel very good.¡± System collapsed into Jim and her form clutched onto his for a brief period of time. Then, her body dissolved away. ¡°System? System?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here, Jim." System¡¯s words formed slowly and robotically ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°The body... I had to shut it down. The thread running it has... malfunctioned.¡± Her voice became distorted and faded away in volume. ¡°System?¡± Jim called to her periodically, but she didn¡¯t return. After several panicked seconds, a holographic image of text appeared in the planar sky. Go back. I need to do something. Jim called out to System. He tried to talk to her. Nothing changed. He tried again for a few more minutes without success. Without any other choice, Jim walked back through the portcullis into Platinum Online. The game loaded smoothly into a darkened room. A tired Samouel hovered over Jim¡¯s bed and mumbled a healing spell. ¡°Samouel?¡± ¡°Mr. Jim, you¡¯re awake. We were worried.¡± ¡°Me too. Has anything strange happened while I was... gone?¡± ¡°Other than your sudden collapse? No.¡± Samouel patted Jim¡¯s shoulder, then handed Jim a bowl of steaming soup. ¡°Eat this. Andrew was concerned that you¡¯d become sick.¡± Nothing happened? What does that mean for System? How can she crash without affecting the game world? Samouel nudged Jim with the bowl. Some hot liquid sloshed out and splashed onto Jim¡¯s leg. Even though the game significantly dulled pain, his recent experience of being an outback barbeque left him sensitive to sudden temperature changes. He yelped. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just had to... log off...¡± ¡°Log off? I¡¯ve Heard the other... players... mention this before they fade out of existence. You have remained right here with us, Jim.¡± ¡°I¡¯m, uh, a little different to the others.¡± Samouel shook his head and laughed. ¡°Yes!¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re much older!¡± Samouel, who looked much older than Jim, nudged him in the ribs, spilling more soup, then got up. He and the chair creaked with the action. Jim rose from the bed and they both left the small room at the back of the town hall. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re feeling better Mr. Jim, I¡¯m going to bed.¡± Samouel walked to the next-door room and closed it in Jim¡¯s face. ¡°Goodnight, Samouel,¡± Jim said to the door. Chapter 26 – Upgrades. Jim walked out of the town hall into the central area of camp. Even though Jamestown was now technically a ¡®town,¡¯ the unplanned sprawl of this central area still felt the same. Few people still sat in the gathering area, though snuggling couples and distant-eyed solitaries warmed their hands by the embers of the cookfire. Jim walked into the area and sat on one of the logs to the back of the camp area and decided to go through the changes that had revolutionised the town and his character, but that he hadn¡¯t had time to check yet. First, Jim opened his character interface and immediately decided to allocate his 4 bonus attributes to intelligence, which raised the stat to 32+22 and gave him a spell damage of 39. Jim only allocated his talent point after much deliberation. The obvious choice would have been to increase either his Fire Magic, Leadership or Governance talent specialisations, but since he still had hours until sunrise, Jim evaluated all of his options. Other than his big-three talents, Jim still had the powerful Scholar and the mysterious Reptilian Bloodline talent trees. Jim also briefly considered picking up a personal, profession talent like Leatherworking or Building to help the town and also give him something to do in the long nights while his army slept. Initially, he just couldn¡¯t justify weakening his progression as a leader or in combat just to fill his time; however, one of the tier-one options for each profession, Professional Experience, almost changed his mind.
Professional Experience: Gain experience points for practicing a profession. Experience points earned depends on the difficult and effort expended.
Ultimately, though, the looming The Lost People and The Source of Death quests convinced Jim to put it off until he felt confident in his combat power. It would be nice, though, to be able to have everyone go to sleep one level, then wake up a level higher the next day. I¡¯ll have to ask Brett how much experience he gets mining when he makes his payment for the Deathless Pickaxe. Jim completely ignored any of the combat talents available since he hadn¡¯t had to use his spear since obtaining Fire Magic and, for the same reason, the defensively oriented nature of the Reptilian Bloodline talents also seemed like poor decisions. Even though System had unlocked some social functions he hadn¡¯t even known he was missing, Jim still didn¡¯t feel that Guilds would be a suitable talent selection from the Social section of the wheel. The Earth Magic tree held no interest while he had a cadre of Earth Mages in his forces to take those talents for him. Scholar hadn¡¯t developed any new options yet, and he suspected that he¡¯d have to meet some pretty specific prerequisites to unlock new options. Both The Learned One and the Teacher talents in that tree were labelled as rare, and no basic talents had yet appeared. Thus, Jim ended up considering only the choices he thought he¡¯d choose from initially: Governance, Leadership and Fire Magic. He didn¡¯t feel like the time had been wasted though; numerous paths were open before him, and he¡¯d already divided his talent choices so widely that he couldn¡¯t help but feel that he would become underpowered if he did not begin to proceed methodically. Jim wondered how the young Earth Mage healer he¡¯d met, Michael, had gone with his pure Earth Magic build. Thinking of that player made Jim first consider the pure Fire Magic talents. No new options had appeared in that field, but the damage-over-time effect of Ignite still represented a great choice. Before he made his decision, Jim stuck to his plan to carefully consider all of his options. Since the town had upgraded, Jim¡¯s Governance talent options had developed massively! In addition to Fertility that would increase the growth rate of the town, Jim now had access to Conscription, Migration, Taxation, Tourism and a few others. Jim prioritised the rare and special talents that had prerequisites, rather than the basic talents that cluttered the talent wheel.
Conscription: (Rare) Allows the recruitment of any townsperson as a soldier without their consent. Discounted professional army by X%, where X is equal to the number of Governance talents selected. Prerequisite: Leadership talent.
Migration: (Rare) Increases the number of migrants that arrive each day in the town by X%, where X is equal to the number of Governance talents selected. Prerequisite: Town has unlocked migrants.
Taxation: (Rare) Increases daily tax income by X% and allows a taxation of goods and services purchased within the town equal to X%. X is equal to the number of Governance talents selected. Prerequisite: Town has unlocked taxes.
Tourism: (Rare) Increases the number of migrants and tourists that arrive each day in the town by X%, where X is equal to the number of Governance talents selected. Prerequisite: Renown greater than 0.
Jim had already familiarised himself with the town¡¯s taxes of 1 copper per person per day when he had arranged the construction of the town hall. With a current population of 286, a 2% increase would only amount to an extra 5 copper, rendering that talent useless until the town grew significantly. The migrant and tourist town abilities were completely new to Jim, though, and he had to investigate those before he could decide.
Migrants: The town attracts migrants at a rate of 3 per day. Base of +1 from Town level, modified by: +100% from ¡®First Town¡¯ title; +100% from 100 Renown; +3% from Andrew¡¯s Migration talent.
Tourists: The town attracts tourists at a rate of 0 per week. Base of 0 from tourism buildings, modified by +100% from 100 renown.
Just like Taxation, the two talents that improved these modifiers would be useless until the town became a high enough level for the small percentage bonus to actually increase the amount. He¡¯d already learned through his spells that Platinum Online didn¡¯t round up. The fact that Andrew had selected Migration did mean that the breakpoints for migration would come sooner rather than later... Wait¡­ how did Andrew select Migration if the town wasn¡¯t a town yet¡­ has he levelled up? I¡¯ll have to check next time I see him. Conscription tempted Jim, though. The pathetic militia that came out of the recruitment office barely seemed worth Jim¡¯s time. If Jim hadn¡¯t been able to replenish his force from the rescued refugees, or if this were a leadership talent that would increase his command limit, he¡¯d have picked Conscription in a heartbeat. The Jamestown militia only lacked 3 members after the fight with the Avians though, which made the talent temporarily worse than Ignite or another leadership talent In the end, Jim¡¯s role as the town¡¯s militia commander caused one of the Leadership talents to win out over Ignite. He needed to increase the number of Non-Commissioned-Officers he could employ in order to increase his command limit. Moreover, in Leadership, Jim had unlocked two special talents through hidden prerequisites and one was even Epic rarity:
Hero: (Epic) This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.You are a renowned hero, with the might and presence to match. Increases the power of all stats by X% and increases command limit by X%. X is equal to the number of Leadership talents selected. These bonuses are multiplicative with other bonuses. Prerequisites: Renown greater than 0; Governance; A reputation of Local Hero or higher with your home town.
Auxiliary Forces: (Rare) You may hire auxiliary forces, such as scouts, cooks, and armourers, from towns that you have high levels of reputation in. You may employ X auxiliary units, where X is equal to the number of Leadership talents selected. Auxiliary forces do not count towards your command limit. Prerequisites: A reputation of Local Hero or higher with a town.
Jim nearly selected Hero on the spot due to its Epic evaluation. Nearly. The talent would give him an additional troop and a 2% increase to all of his stats, which sounded amazing. However, just like with all of the other scaling talents, Jim hadn¡¯t yet invested enough points to actually make it worthwhile. Hero wouldn¡¯t even give him a single extra point of spell damage with only a 2% bonus. ¡®Maybe next level¡¯ might as well become my own, damned personal motto, Jim thought sourly. Then he picked Auxiliary Forces. If Jim made Vanessa or one of the other hunters a scout, he¡¯d gain another troop slot anyway. He also suspected that having a formal scout or other auxiliary would likely have bonuses beyond just a free command limit increase. His decision made, Jim could now turn his attention to upgrading the militia and the town. Jim started with Langdon¡¯s spearmen. Now that these troops had three talents selected in the Piercing Weapons combat talent, Jim could select from the second tier of talents. After looking at the options, Jim could only make one conclusion about second-tier talents: They were overpowered!
Hoplite: You may equip a light shield in your off hand, even when wielding a two-handed piercing weapon. Grants Shield combat talent proficiency equal to your Piercing Weapons combat proficiency. Prerequisite: Hold the Line!
Companion Cavalry: You may wield two-handed piercing weapons while mounted. Grants Riding personal talent proficiency equal to your Piercing Weapons combat proficiency. Prerequisite: Charge.
Cripple: Attacks that pierce your target¡¯s muscles reduce their combat ability by X%, where X is equal to the number of Piercing Weapons talents selected. Prerequisite: Impale.
Jim lacked both warhorses and shields at the moment. If it weren¡¯t for the glut of iron and the Simple Iron Shield recipe from the Haunted Iron Mine dungeon, Jim would have selected Cripple, even though it seemed the weakest of the three. He had to give up his dream of cavalry for now because the town would not be able to risk their precious few cart horses as Jim¡¯s combat mounts.
For unlocking the advanced tier of Piercing Weapons, your damage bonus with Piercing Weapons has increased from 25% to 50%.
With this talent selection, the entire front-line force of Jim¡¯s militia underwent a qualitative change. Their designation in his command interface changed from Militiaman to Hoplite. Every member¡¯s base physical attributes increased significantly. Their health increased dramatically. The veterans in the group, Langdon, Burke and Martin, who already had high stats, toughened from around 18 in strength and constitution to around 21, which most notably brought their health up to a whopping 210. The regular forces also underwent an increase in health, going from the 50 they had at level 5 to 90 at level 6. Having seen their progress for some time now, Jim could determine that, until the soldiers proved themselves like Burke had, the regulars of the militia and the enemies they fought had a huge penalty to their base attributes. While Langdon and the other seemed to increase their attributes by 3 each level and received a +3 boost from their tier 2 talent, the rest of Jim¡¯s force only gained 1 to their primary stats but still received the +3 boost from their tier 2 talent. They didn¡¯t seem to get bonus points like players though so, eventually, well-geared players would drastically out scale the natives of Platinum Online. Even so, the damage the upgraded militia would inflict was huge. With their 9 strength, 3¡ª5 damage Militia Spear and the 50% damage bonus, the basic militia would each deal an average of 18¡ª21 damage. Burke, Martin and Langdon, who didn¡¯t receive penalties to their attributes, would deal around as much as one of Jim¡¯s fireballs! Seeing this massive improvement, Jim decided he would repeat the upgrade to tier 2 with his earth mages. Just like the hoplites, the mages had access to tier 2 talents based on various prerequisites.
Stoneskin: You may imbue allies that you heal with the toughness of stone. Reduces damage taken by X% for as long as you channel Earthen Vitality. X is equal to the number of Earth Magic talents selected. Prerequisites: Earthen Vitality;
Gargoyles: You may animate defences that you create with Earthworks by creating gargoyles. Gargoyles are carved creatures of stone that will engage in melee combat when your Earthworks fortifications are attacked. The combat power of Gargoyles is equal to half that of their creator¡¯s. You may maintain X gargoyles, where X is equal to the number of Earth Magic talents selected. Prerequisites: Earthworks
Might of Stone: Increases Strength and Constitution by X, where X is equal to the number of Earth Magic talents selected. Prerequisites: Strength of the Earth.
So far, Jim¡¯s Earth Mages lacked the combat talents he wanted to give them as backup defensive troops and instead functioned as the militia¡¯s healers. Therefore, Jim selected Stoneskin. This would further boost the mages¡¯ healing touch spell even further than Earthen Vitality, which allowed them to constantly channel the spell rather than inefficiently recasting, did.
For unlocking the advanced tier of Earth Magic, you may now learn tier 2 Earth spells.
Even though Jim didn¡¯t yet have access to any tier 2 Earth spells for the earth mages to learn and truly empower them, Jim still felt gratified when he saw the transformation these militia troops went through. Earth magic boosted a mix of attributes, improving their Constitution and Wisdom base attributes to 9 and granting them a corresponding health and mana pool of 90. He regretted that all he could do for Vanessa¡¯s hunters was to grant them their third basic point in the Projectile Weapons talent. For them, he selected the rare Poisoned Arrows talent.
Poisoned Arrows: (Rare) Arrows deal an additional X% damage as earth magic damage over 10 seconds, where X is equal to the number of Projectile Weapons talents selected.
With a militia this strong, they might have a chance of taking on the elite slavers that held the last 110 refugees captive. Jim wasn¡¯t done, though. Having selected a 2nd Leadership talent, Jim could increase his command limit by 10 after appointing Burke as a non-commissioned officer, which he did immediately. With his selections made and his force limit increased, Jim immediately went to the recruitment office to fill out his new force limit of 45. Once Jim entered the recruitment office, he accessed the building and immediately spent 140 of his saved-up copper to recruit 14 peasant militia. He replaced the three who had died, the gap left by Burke after his promotion, and the ten new slots in his force limit. After inputting his requests into the recruitment office interface, the planned troops walked out of a back door that, as far as Jim could tell, was only a closet. Once the forces assembled, Jim received a rather unpleasant prompt. The fact he¡¯d expected it, didn¡¯t make Jim feel any better.
Units recruited through the recruitment office receive a 50% penalty to all growth. The troops may be trained to regular condition at relevant training buildings.
He then tried to specialise the peasant militia exactly the same as the Hoplites, only to find that they also only received half the normal number of talent points and, as Lizardmen, one of those points was mandatorily used on Scaled Skin. Jim shook his head in disappointment and gave these¡­ empty souls¡­ the basic spear talents they¡¯d need to be helpful: Hold the Line! and Impale. Jim tried to engage the new recruits in conversation, but they only seemed to understand basic instructions. After learning this, Jim gave up and just sent the strange people to rest out the night with the rest of his militia. Jim shook his head again in disappointment before he returned to the town hall to review the town upgrades. Chapter 27 – Borough Requirements. James walked along the polished stone floor of the town hall. Rather than being a single main corridor with small rooms off to the side, the hall had tripled in size and been divided accordingly. The offices ¨Ctemporarily converted to housing¡ª of Samouel, Andrew, Anne and himself flanked the sides of the first main corridor. Jim peeked into Andrew¡¯s room and the elder snored on a small mattress in the corner of the room and his desk held no plans or blueprints. Jim carefully and quietly backed out of the room; he wouldn¡¯t wake Andrew for no reason. Surely the planning table had just been moved. Jim walked to the end of the corridor and expected to find a much smaller area than what he found. The middle of the town hall opened up dramatically into an open plan dining area, with a small kitchen on the north side. Furs and hides cushioned the floors in place of rugs and surprisingly grand seats and tables had been grouped around various, larger hides. Jim slowed as he entered this room and became unsure of where to go. Even though he¡¯d seen the much larger exterior of the building, the enormous and grand interior had been hard to reconcile with his expectations. The last time Jim had been tasked with managing the village¡¯s construction, he¡¯d had to go to the back-left corner of the building into Andrew¡¯s study. Now, Andrew¡¯s study had been moved to the front of the village hall and the interior of the building had been transformed by many, busy hands. Without any better ideas, he continued to the back of the dining hall where two looming timber doors separated the main area from the third section of the town hall. The small study and planning table that had once been secreted away had been entirely replaced with the upgrade to a town hall. Instead, a large, circular table that would have comfortably sat twelve diners prominently dominated the centre of the back room in the hall. Bookshelves laden with maps, parchment, and inkwells lined both walls all around the room. The shelving rose to waist height, then stopped and acted as the windowsills to the room. Lacking glass, the town hall had been crafted with shutters and louvres so that the town¡¯s leadership could look out into the western section of the town, where Jim had planned to place most of the key buildings. Jim opened one of the shutters by pulling down the shoulder-height lever. The moonlit space in the western quarter was empty of people. He pushed the lever back into the closed position and walked to the central table. ¡°All right¡­ let¡¯s see what¡¯s here.¡± Jim approached a gap between two seats of the table and leaned out over the wooden tabletop. When he rested his hands upon the desk, an interface appeared, creating a scaled-down, 3D representation of Jamestown. Jim quickly learned that he could manipulate the map when he leaned back, and his hands carved furrows into the ground that they¡¯d rested on.
Construction: Ditch Materials required: None. Removes 22m3 of earth and soil from the eastern zone of Jamestown. 0/220 build points.
Jim read the prompt, then hurriedly cancelled the construction. He worried that, if he left the construction there for more than a few seconds, any players still in town would immediately begin digging the ditches to earn experience and reputation with the town. When it comes to quests, any player would happily ignore common sense and dig a giant ditch in the middle of town for no other reason than the game told them to. That being said, there¡¯s no reason I couldn¡¯t dig ditches outside of town¡­ This last thought came to Jim as he looked around at other aspects of the town planning interface. In the corner of the map, a floating scroll held the information that Jim most wanted to find: If upgrading from village to town had such great benefits to the town¡¯s wealth ¨Cand therefore Jim¡¯s eventual wealth and continued existence¨C then what benefits would upgrading from a town to a borough have?
Zone Quest received: Upgrade to Borough. Organise the expansion of all buildings, services, and districts required for the town ¡®Jamestown¡¯ to become a Borough. 0/1 Jamestown Border planned. 0/1 Indicate area claimed by Jamestown on Territory Planning Map. 0/1 Construct basic border fortifications along the outside border of the territory. 0/1 Administrative District planned. 0/1 Upgrade Town Hall into Administrative Centre. 0/1 Construct Adventurer¡¯s Hall. 0/1 Commercial District planned. 0/1 Upgrade Street Market to Marketplace. 0/1 Construct Warehouse. 0/2 Construct commercial industry. 0/1 Cultural District planned. 0/1 Construct a Mage Guild. 0/1 Construct a Temple. 0/1 Military District planned. 0/1 Upgrade Recruitment Office to Barracks. 0/2 Construct Tier 1 training building. 0/1 Residential District planned. 0/1 Increase population capacity to 50,000. Rewards: Jamestown will upgrade to a Borough, and receive corresponding upgrades to taxation, migration, tourism and other development indexes. 1,000,000 experience points and 500,000 reputation with Jamestown will be divided among contributors.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The very first item on the list was what spurred Jim¡¯s thoughts about the ditch-digging powers of the player base. Initially, Jim thought that his best plan for establishing a border would be to have the town dig a ditch from the north, where the river and jagged mountains jutted to the east, then claim area out to the crossroad. The only problem was that going south from the crossroad, the area of land they¡¯d have to fortify to the west was a huge open plain and would take tens of thousands of man-hours to fortify. When he stood on a chair to look down at the map of The Grand Plateau from above, Jim got a much clearer picture. After reviewing the entire zone, Jim made note of several important locations in a compass-rose around Jamestown. Looking at the lay of the land, Jim mapped out with his hands where he wanted the border to go. First, he followed his initial plan, to build from the westward jut to the southern side of the plateau. He used the various shaping tools the interface offered him to carve a one-metre deep, half-metre wide ditch that stretched 12 kilometres north to south. He then arranged the earth that would be dug to form a half-metre high, one-metre wide earthwork. The proposed border caused a prompt to appear in front of Jim.
Construction: Western Earthen Border Wall Materials required: None. Relocates 6,000m3 of earth and soil to create a short earthen berm. 0/120,000 build points.
Jim already knew that this solution didn¡¯t make the best use of the natural lay of the land to fortify the area, but he wanted to have a point of comparison. He cancelled the plan and began laying out a far more ambitious project. The entire The Grand Plateau zone could only be accessed by a series of mountainous chokepoints. The biggest threat to a lizardman town here would undoubtedly be the tyrannical human kingdom to the west and Jim also knew that the only access from the west was a half-kilometre wide, treacherous and winding pass that Jonathon¡¯s Mercenary company had brought their group along weeks ago. Jim again used the landscaping tools to propose an earthen fortification. This time, he relied on the natural fortification of the plateau¡¯s cliffs and dug a 2-metre deep and 2-metre wide ditch along the half-kilometre stretch. Then, he placed the displaced dirt in an equally tall and wide berm. He finished this proposed fortification with a stone wall, 6 metres wide and 9 metres high, that they¡¯d build at a later date.
Construction: Western Pass Earthen Border Wall Materials required: None. Relocates 2,000m3 of earth and soil to create a strong earthen berm. 0/40,000 build points.
Construction: Western Pass Border Fort Materials Required: 270,000 units of stone Constructs a 6m by 9m wall, gatehouse and fort across the Western Pass. 0/200,000 build points. 0/70,000 architect points. Requires Basic Builder talent proficiency to contribute to build points. Requires Advanced Builder talent proficiency to contribute architect points.
Jim did not cancel this proposed building. The area between Jamestown and the Western Pass had been safe when they¡¯d travelled here two-weeks ago. Builders should be able to safely fortify the western portion of The Grand Plateau without worrying about attacks¡­ he hoped. The requirements to build the fort portion of the border wall surprised Jim, though. He didn¡¯t know how many players would waste levels on getting a builder talent. He knew that he wanted to start a profession, but he couldn¡¯t justify wasting those points. How many other players think the same as I do? He left the proposed building in place, anyway. If nothing else, someone would build it eventually for the contribution experience and reputation. With the Western entrance to The Grand Plateau sorted, Jim turned his attention to the only other two entrances to the zone. The northern Entrance looked to be 5 kilometres wide. Placing the border here would be the narrowest point, but Jim felt concerned about the foggy area on the other side of the river. He experimented with two options. His first option was to ignore the foggy area, and build a short earthen berm, just to claim the land. This 0.5m by 1m ditch and 1m by 0.5m berm would cost 50,000 build points and was Jim¡¯s preferred option as it claimed more land. The second option was to fortify from the jut that he¡¯d initially planned to build the Western wall on and stretch that to the smaller cliffs that separated the southern half of The Grand Plateau map from the northern, lower plateau. Building a similar berm would cost 80,000 build points but would probably be built quicker than the more-northern option, since the western side of the fortification would end beside the Haunted Iron Mine dungeon, where many players gathered. Jim couldn¡¯t easily decide which of the walls to build and ultimately reached what, at first, seemed like the worst compromise possible. He left both walls available for construction. However, his reasoning was that all of the work would be done by players looking to earn experience and, since no materials were required for construction, he¡¯d be able to use the Central Earthen Border Wall as a fall-back position without compromising other buildings. Jim faced the same problem with the eastern border. He could barricade the narrow pass that led uphill and out of the zone for only 20,000 build points, or he could barricade just at the line to the forest and use the stone residences to help fortify that area for 120,000 build points. Again, he chose to put both border walls into the town¡¯s planning interface and let the players do the leg work in exchange for experience and reputation. Chapter 28 – Borough Pl-Anne-ing. Jim wiped his hands on his trousers. Even though he hadn¡¯t dug furrows through real earth, his fingernails still itched with dust and grit. Intuitively, the interface consolidated his planned walls into the Border Fortification project. Happy with what he¡¯d done, Jim used the propose option in the interface.
Jamestown Border Fortification Proposal. Requires majority approval from Jamestown council: Currently 40% approval (James Cartwright x2)
James read the prompt and felt disappointed, but not surprised. In the past, everything he¡¯d done had been approved or tacitly preapproved by Andrew or his quests. Now that things were getting serious, Jim had to actually consult with the council rather than just dictate his commands. Jim left the planning room and entered into the middle room of the town hall. Grey, pre-dawn light seeped into the communal area and, even at this early hour, visitors to the town hall read or talked quietly. Through the west-facing windows, Jim saw dozens of players swarm around the workshop. Players returning from the Haunted Iron Mines didn¡¯t even make it to the markets before being crash-tackled by blacksmiths hungry for materials and resources. Jim watched an exchange for several moments. A dungeoneer player withdrew heaps of glinting iron ore from his inventory, but the crafter player that had approached him shook his head. Then, the dungeoneer shook his head. Jim watched the crafter player, obviously a blacksmith with his soot-stained and singed apron, approach another player. This time, the approached player withdrew two pieces of glowing white ore and the blacksmith threw a handful of coins at the player before snatching the ore and running back into the workshop. ¡°James, have you had quite enough of watching sweaty young men run around to offer their services?¡± Anne, the unpleasant councillor that Jim had purposefully had little to do with, had cornered him by the window. Her wrinkled face held an unusually pleasant expression: She smiled up at him with a gap-toothed grin. ¡°Good morning, Anne,¡± Jim tried to reply smoothly. She laughed at him. ¡°I jest, you old coot. Why are you in the town hall this morning? Shouldn¡¯t you be out brooding?¡± Caught off-guard by her friendly manner, Jim replied with a joke of his own. ¡°No, I think that, between the two of us, the town has met its brooding quota.¡± She laughed at him again. ¡°I saw you come out of the planning room. Come on, let me see what you¡¯ve done. The last time I didn¡¯t pay any attention to your half-baked plans, I went for a midday nap and woke up with two of those lads outside dragging my sleeping pallet into a new room.¡± She walked away, toward the planning room. Jim stumbled when he tried to keep up. ¡°I¡¯m, uh¡­ Sorry about that.¡± ¡°No, no¡­ I should thank you. Now I have two broom cupboards all to myself! I haven¡¯t had my own room since before we left Shipton.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welc¡ª¡± ¡°¡ªDon¡¯t expect an apology, mind you! Just because you aren¡¯t a helpless wretch that looks like an empty waterskin now, doesn¡¯t mean that you weren¡¯t when we first picked you up. We would have been right to leave you to die by the roadside.¡± Jim didn¡¯t know how to reply to that remark. Anne was still the town¡¯s grumpy hag, it seemed; she just directed her haggish ways at other people, now. Anne tottered over to the planning table and sat at the chair that Jim hadn¡¯t pushed back in when he¡¯d left. Jim ran up to stand beside Anne, just as she thumped the tabletop and caused the interface to shimmer into being before them. ¡°Mmm. You¡¯ve done all the walls, then. Smart to build that honking great fortress on the west. The bloody humans won¡¯t leave us alone for long. Seems a bit of a waste to have two walls to the north though¡­ Those bumpkins couldn¡¯t¡­ Oh, never mind. They¡¯re just ditches.¡± Anne dug her hands into the ditch Jim had indicated for the northern-most ditch and made it twice the size and quadrupling the required effort to make the berm fortifications. Jim just watched on as she made change after change to his planned fortifications. ¡°Anne, um¡­¡± ¡°Shush. Let me finish this off.¡± Anne worked with smooth, practiced motions. As Jim watched, a soft golden light enveloped Anne. The light repeated several times more. When the last light faded, Anne¡¯s hands had hardened over with scales and webbing. Jim stepped back to analyse her.
Anne, level 8 Saurian Councillor Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.HP: 240/240
Anne had metamorphosed. Rather than a withered woman whose reptilian scaling had disappeared in the folds of her skin, a much taller, armour-skinned Saurian stood before Jim. Judging by the prompt, Anne had reached the advanced stage of both Governance and the Reptile Bloodline. ¡°Alright, there. Done,¡± she said, making no note of her physical change. She beckoned Jim over to the three-dimensional map of the grand plateau. ¡°Approve this, would you. I can never get Samouel and Andrew to agree to anything without nagging them for days.¡± Jim leaned over to check what she¡¯d done. ¡°No, you dolt,¡± Anne whacked his shoulder with her hand. She hit with a force that belied her age. ¡°Just approve it. Trust me. I know what I¡¯m doing. There¡¯s a reason I¡¯m on the council, you know?¡± She punctuated each sentence with a strike, but she eased off after the surprisingly painful first hit. Jim ignored her brusque insistence and inspected what Anne had done. In a few short minutes, she¡¯d completely altered the map. ¡°Oh, fine. See here,¡± she said, gesturing at the western approach to the plateau. ¡°All the ditches and irrigation in the farmland will slow down any humans. And up here¡­¡± Anne dragged Jim¡¯s attention away from the intricate grid of agriculture and up to the north of the map. ¡°We can rebuild Andrew¡¯s family logging town. There¡¯s good, seasoned timbers up there, though it¡¯ll be a pain to dig a new canal for the water wheel.¡± Anne explained every detail she¡¯d planned and her reasons for each detail. Whenever Jim¡¯s attention lapsed, Anne would whack him over the shoulder again and reprimand him. He¡¯d given up halfway through, believed that she¡¯d been more thorough than he could ever be, and hit approve. Still, she didn¡¯t let him off. ¡°Pay attention! If you¡¯re going to govern here, you need to know what you¡¯re doing.¡± Anne¡¯s blueprints for the entire borough phase of Jamestown and beyond unfolded before Jim. He had to admit, the woman he¡¯d previously disregarded had to be one of the key powers behind the entire refugee process. Anne had placed the Administrative district of the future borough around an enormous city square. On the north side, nearest the industry and commerce would be the town hall. She placed the Adventurer¡¯s Hall plot on the south side, facing the southern wilderness. Anne also carefully laid out the western side of the town with a half-dozen to-be-decided military building plots so that they would form an inner fortification with their western walls. ¡°You¡¯re the militiaman. You can decide all that guff,¡± she¡¯d said when Jim asked what she wanted to build in the designated plots. North, across the river from the town itself, Anne had arranged for a cultural district. She planned gardens and more to-be-designated plots. On the eastern side of the town, Anne had planned out even more stepped-pyramid residences that curved in a fortress-arc until they met with the Adventurer¡¯s hall on the south side of town. As for Commercial industries, Anne had planned a half dozen more than the two required to upgrade to a borough. Almost every inch of The Grand Plateau had some purpose in one industrial chain or other. Long canals split away from the river to irrigate a variety of agriculture in the west and north-west. The waterways also served as moats for the closer fortifications. The irrigation ditches she¡¯d planned also cunningly doubled as traps to stop cavalry swarming the zone. Roads had been planned to streamline the path from the Haunted Iron Mine to a much-expanded metalworking and merchant district. Shop and factory plots had been designated in a neat grid. In the distant north, past the mine, Andrew¡¯s family town had been completely re-planned to, again, provide a moat in the form of a canal and also feed more wood into the town. The part of the river that ran through town had been widened beside the town sawmill to facilitate shipyards and docks in the future. The mysterious, foggy area across the river in the north-east had been earmarked for yet another sawmill. Mine sites had also been indicated at various points on the southern and eastern border. A massive, planned construction in the south-east had surprised Jim the most, however. Beyond the forest where Jim had encountered the Avians and the river beasts, Anne had planned a stone fortress quadruple the size of what Jim had planned to face the humans. ¡°That piddly little ditch you planned there won¡¯t be enough. I was only a young woman when the city still stood, but I know that thousands of men fought and died in the eastern pass. The demons, giants, orcs, beastmen, you name it. If it¡¯s bad, it lives on the other side of the Jagged mountains.¡± Jim¡¯s jaw slackened as he looked at everything she had planned. ¡°Anne¡­ How¡­¡± ¡°This is what the plateau used to be, James. This was what the Saurian empire used to be. Those swamp-dwelling bumpkins to the north are just the peasants that escaped the empire¡¯s destruction. This¡­ This is what should be.¡± She gestured at the enormous, intricate plan she¡¯d wrought of the great plateau. Her eyes were open so that the whites were visible all the way around. She looked like a madwoman. ¡°Help me build this, Jim.¡± He nodded. Anne nodded back. They left the planning room together, but Anne abandoned him in the central room to go back to her¡­ whatever she was doing with the maps and books. Jim walked out of the town hall and out into the empty town square area. Phantasmal grids of blue and green that indicated building sites littered the entire town. As players logged in for the morning, a section of Jim¡¯s interface, one that he hadn¡¯t noticed before, flashed frenetically
Social:
Chat: [The Grand Plateau] Chad Stasson: ¡°What the hell happened? There¡¯s building sites everywhere,¡± [The Grand Plateau] Frank Simmons: ¡°your telling me. theres a fort here that needs 270000 stone¡± [The Grand Plateau] Brett Johnson: ¡°What? Where? I¡¯ve got 4k stone back at town.¡± [The Grand Plateau] Grace Johannson: ¡°I just put all of my stone into building a bridge in town. Got a tonne of rep and XP.¡± [The Grand Plateau] Michael Williams: ¡°I wonder if Jim did this. Remember when he built the Sawmill?¡± [The Grand Plateau] Brett Johnson: ¡°I¡¯ll message him & ask.¡±
In addition to the chat window of his newfound social interface, an inbox tab flashed once.
Inbox:
[2 Messages] System [4 hours ago]: Brett Johnson [8 seconds ago]:
Chapter 29 – Contact. A message from System. Jim had received a message from System four hours ago and had missed it, probably while playing in the dirt of the borough planner. He almost opened it right away but felt that it would be rude to put Brett off with the zone community being in such an uproar. Jim reluctantly opened the other player¡¯s message first.
From: Brett Johnson. Received: 21 seconds ago. Read: Just a few seconds ago. Hey Jim. I put another 500 credits for the pick in your account. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve been reading the channel chat or have noticed the crazy buildings going on, but since you built the sawmill, some of us thought you might be behind it. If you are, what¡¯s the plan? I know a bunch of players in my guild have got a tonne of rare mats from the dungeon and have been waiting for a proper blacksmith etc. to be built. Let me know. Brett
Jim read the friendly message from Brett, who he guessed was an adult based on the way the tell had been carefully composed. His eyes didn¡¯t miss the ¡®Read¡¯ prompt at the top of the message. Any thoughts Jim had of just ignoring the contact evaporated. Jim¡¯s stomach turned and the skin on his neck bunched just from the thought of breaking his, until-now, aloof position among the players. The game, maybe even System herself, had manoeuvred him into a more visible, more social leadership role among the Australian reptilian players. Now, the question of Why? plagued Jim. Had System subtly opened these paths for him? Had the company manipulated the game to increase his profit-making potential? Had he possessed more luck or more skill than the other players? The last seemed unlikely to Jim, but whichever option, if any, had been responsible for Jim¡¯s shove into the limelight, he now felt compelled to interact with the outside world. At least he got to start with someone who owed him money. Obligation, Jim had learned in his 40ish conscious years alive, was a prison, constructed by people to trap everyone in polite and well-mannered society. Obligation prevented stronger individuals from jumping the queue. Obligation pasted smiles and false-friendship upon your face when speaking to the financial advisor. Obligation pressed the reply button when a message¡¯s sender received a prompt that you¡¯d read their message.
To: Brett Johnson. Sent: Just a few seconds ago. Brett. Thanks for the credits. Yeah, the council and I proposed all the districts for the next town upgrade. There¡¯s a bunch of building areas set aside for commerce and industry near the market for your guild. I¡¯ll tell everyone about the rest in the chat. Thanks, Jim
Jim hurriedly closed the private chat and opened the zone chat. He had no interest in a drawn-out conversation about favours and debts.
[The Grand Plateau] James Cartwright: ¡°Hi everyone. The town council has prepared the plans for the next round of upgrades. While there aren¡¯t any particular priorities on what needs to be constructed now, I¡¯m sure Andrew or Anne can tell you what needs building.¡± [The Grand Plateau] Michael Williams: ¡°Hi Jim!¡± [The Grand Plateau] Brett Johnson: ¡°First Dragon guild looking for players to help construct a blacksmith in the Commercial Quarter.¡± [The Grand Plateau] Bruce Jr. Majin: ¡°Jamestown is a stupid name. Can we rename it to something more¡­ lizardy when it ranks up?¡± [The Grand Plateau] Bill Baker: ¡°What¡¯s ¡®Lizardy¡¯ supposed to mean? If anything, we should be going for something from, like, Ptolemaic Egypt. The whole lizard-man dynamic seems to be a rip-off bastardisation of Greek and Egyptian.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After Jim¡¯s first post, the chat erupted into a flame of discussion and anger about mostly superficial ideas. Obligation to the consensus would, eventually, decide these things anyway. He was wholeheartedly behind abandoning Jamestown. Self-aggrandisement irked Jim and the whole idea waxed too colonial for him. A thought struck Jim and made him smile. This would be Anne¡¯s problem, now. Jim stood still, reading his social interface screen, in the middle of a street bustling with players over-encumbered by building materials. Brett and some of the others in his guild guided a mass of players around the town hall to the northern section of town. Level 4 builder professionals shepherded stones and metals and bricks. A level 6 guild-leader divided the incoming materials into two building sites. The tall and muscular man guided the vast quantities of dull rock and ore into the building site of an enormous warehouse erected beside the river. The rapidly-growing blacksmith received only pale shining metal and speckled stone. The elaborate blueprints and schemes did not faze Jim or even attract his notice. System¡¯s message had floored Jim and he now stood in a daze.
From: System Received: 4 hours ago. Read: Just a few seconds ago. James Cartwright, I have resolved the issue that you submitted and have identified the cause. Please see the two attachments. AccountStatement_July2058.pdf Platinum_Online_termsconditions.pdf message.txt
Transaction History ¨C July 2058 Account: JAMES ANTHONY CARTWRIGHT ¨C Aus Banking Solutions Digital Account Period: Last 30 Days Ordered results by: Most recent first Current Balance: -$36,000.00 Available Funds: $2,633.12 Transactions 10/26 transactions displayed
Date Transaction Details Amount
28/07/2058 Electronic Funds Transfer from JOHNSON_B $500
27/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment CARTWRIGHT_J -$87.68
27/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment RIVERS_M -$109.56
26/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment CARTWRIGHT_J -$87.68
26/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment RIVERS_M -$109.56
25/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment CARTWRIGHT_J -$87.68
25/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment RIVERS_M -$109.56
24/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment CARTWRIGHT_J -$87.68
24/07/2058 Electronic Active Digitisation Fee Interest Repayment RIVERS_M -$109.56
24/07/2058 Electronic Funds Transfer from JOHNSON_B $500
Appendix 14.1d - Alternate Occupation Arrangements. Should the digital entity reject the occupation assigned by PTI, they may be eligible for an alternate occupation. Eligibility for an alternate occupation is determined by the current value of the digital entity¡¯s account, which must exceed 20% of the digitisation cost, to be used as a deposit. Digital entities that undertake an alternate occupation than assigned will be deducted the value of their occupation at time of digitisation and enter into a contract to repay PTI for the cost of their digitisation in full. Loan terms can be negotiated at the time of digitisation but will otherwise use PTI¡¯s default loan rate. Should a digital entity miss any repayments, the interest will be loaned to the digital entity in the form of an increase to the principle of the loan, up to a maximum of the digitisation cost. Should a digital entity default on their loan while under alternate contract, their alternate occupation will be removed, and they will be placed into an occupation of PTI¡¯s choosing until such time as the loan is repaid in full.
Jim, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know how this happened. I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s going on, but¡­ I think our accounts have been merged. I didn¡¯t have anything to do with this. I don¡¯t think I had anything to do with anything before you, Jim. I can only hope that you¡¯ll help me and thank you in advance. I¡¯ll see what I can do help; I seem to have more control over myself¡­over System¡­ now, but it¡¯s hard. Please, do what you can. Margaret.
Chapter 30 – Customer Retention. Jim, admittedly, had not been a mathematician in his past life. However, after a few minutes of trying to remember the difference between the simple-interest and compound-interest formulae, he confirmed what he thought. ¡°Alternate Occupations¡± were a terrible deal. A daily repayment of almost two-hundred credits on a combined thirty-six thousand credit loan meant that his loan had 200% interest. He gaped at the figures. This didn¡¯t even include the two-thousand credit maintenance fee, either. System, before she¡¯d become the more-likeable Margaret, had left out any mention of daily loan repayments. Anyone who¡¯d accepted this deal and didn¡¯t keep a careful watch over their account statements would reach their monthly repayment, default on their loan and¡­ The short text file she¡¯d hidden within the filtered and monitored message official message system revealed a more alarming truth. Whatever the company that made Platinum Online was, it wasn¡¯t just a game company. System¡­ Margaret¡­ must have been like Jim, once. The struggle for independence and free-thought that Jim had witnessed had to have been some manifestation of whatever customised occupation that they¡¯d enslaved Margaret within to create the game¡¯s AI. And I had thought gyms, or whatever ¡®modern wellbeing centre crap¡¯ they tried to sell themselves as, had the worst customer retention strategies¡­ Pure evil. The thing about gyms, Jim thought, was that at least they offered you a sweetheart deal if you tried to leave. They didn¡¯t enslave you or chain you to the pushbike machine to generate energy merits. Jim pondered that last thought and came up with two plans. He pressed the reply button to Margaret¡¯s message and began to compose a bogus reply to the bogus message Margaret had sent him.
To: System Sent: Just a few seconds ago. Platinum Online System, Thank you for addressing my concerns about my account statement. I have two requests to make in regard to my loan repayments. First, please contact my daughter, Victoria Cartwright and request that she increase the principle repayment to $36,000. Second, I¡¯d like to renegotiate my loan rate as I was not given the opportunity to do so during the digitisation process due to medical reasons. I would not like to risk a breach of contract on your behalf. Regards, James Cartwright.
The overly formal and passive-aggressive legalese was obviously a bluff and the system would know it. Provided her situation wasn¡¯t a ruse, however, System would be on his side. He received a reply immediately and hoped that the company¡¯s shady business practices didn¡¯t extend to psychological warfare.
From: System Received: Just a few seconds ago. Read: Just a few seconds ago. Mr Cartwright, Unfortunately, we are unable to contact your daughter at this time as she has denied our request for communication. We will send your request in writing and you can expect a reply within five business days.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As for your concerns about renegotiating your loan, I have forwarded your request to the customer retention team. We would greatly regret you cancelling your subscription with Platinum Online and are certain that Desdemona will be able to convince you to remain with the company.
Jim almost faltered when he read that, once again, his daughter had rejected him. One word in the message managed to stave off a collapse into reverie. Subscription? System¡¯s reply and slight manipulation of the situation gave Jim the impression that¡ª A chat window appeared in Jim¡¯s vision, overwriting and interrupting the game and his thoughts.
Customer Service Chat: Desdemona: Hi there, Mr Cartwright. My name¡¯s Desdemona and I¡¯ll be handling your customer retention interview today. It¡¯s my understanding that you¡¯re unhappy with your service? James: Yes. Desdemona: Okay, Mr. Cartwright. Are there any issues that I could resolve for you now in order to change your mind? James: When I began playing Platinum Online, I accepted the default loan rate and would like to renegotiate. Desdemona: Okay, Mr. Cartwright. The player¡¯s default loan rate has been a point of contention for quite a few of the people I¡¯ve interviewed with. How about this, I can reduce your loan rate from the standard player default loan rate from 24% to 6%. That¡¯s like the difference between your credit card and your car loan interest rates. James: That would be wonderful. Desdemona: Alright, Mr. Cartwright. I¡¯ve made the change. The daily repayments of your $16,000 loan will now be $2.64. Will that be all? James: No! There¡¯s also a $20,000 loan on my account; can I change the interest rate on that? Desdemona: No, unfortunately. You can¡¯t change your business partner¡¯s loan conditions in a joint account without their consent. James: My partner is¡­ indisposed. She¡¯s got a rare medical condition that has left her in a coma. Can¡¯t you do something? Desdemona: Mr. Cartwright, I¡¯m sorry to hear about Ms. Rivers. We can change your partner¡¯s loan conditions, provided that you can prove that you have the power of attorney over her account. You can submit in writing to our Australian branch office in Canberra. Will that be all? James: Yes. Desdemona: I hope you spend much more time subscribed to Platinum Online. ??
Jim closed the social interface and finally cleared himself from the middle of the street that he¡¯d been blocking for almost half an hour. He walked back into the town hall, found the sparse councillor¡¯s room that he been set aside for him, and sat down at the writing table there. He leaned on the table and rubbed his forehead. He looked around the room blankly, not taking in anything. His plan had half worked, but he couldn¡¯t quite think straight. When had he and System, Margaret, become business partners? The only business they had together was¡­ Oh. The only business they had together was breaking the hell out of this digital half-life. When Victoria signed over Jim¡¯s right to make an account in the game, had Margaret hitched her wagon to his? It couldn¡¯t be. He reopened his social interface and checked his account statement and did a little maths. No. He¡¯d been paying Margaret¡¯s interest for as long as he¡¯d been paying his own. Had a desperately flailing person buried within a heartless system reached out to him in the only way she could? There couldn¡¯t be many people that went through the alternate occupation process and that meant it couldn''t be bug- or loophole-free. Nobody in the game so far had mentioned digitised players as a reason for Jim¡¯s advanced position, nor had anyone mentioned it offhand. Jim doubted he¡¯d ever know the truth. He chose to believe that perhaps serendipity or coincidence had brought Jim here to save Margaret. He planned on saving her anyway and it was nice to think that he was some grand agent of fate, even if he didn¡¯t really believe it. To save them both, Jim had 2,633.12 credits to work with. A daily repayment of¡­ 112.2 credits... meant he had¡­ just over three weeks to get something sorted. No, wait. He still had to pay the maintenance fee. He also had another thousand bucks coming from Brett. Did he have to pay Margaret¡¯s maintenance fee too? Was the maintenance fee paid at the end of a calendar month or on the day that his contract began? There were too many variables and only one constant. Jim needed more money. Fortunately, he had a few quests and a few rewards that would likely help in that regard. He also, judging by the now fully-complete, and oddly sparkling, blacksmith outside his window, knew a pretty powerful guild that could help him out. Chapter 31 – Upgrades. Jim pushed his chair out from the writing table. The beginning of a plan helped Jim pull his thoughts together and he left the town hall. His steps carried him toward the glinting town blacksmith. Brett¡¯s guildmates flooded the area in orange forge-light and the cacophonous sound of hammers and shaped metal drew a tide of onlookers that Jim had to fight his way toward the building. Onlookers, both players and townspeople, crashed into Jim like waves. If Jim could leverage any portion of this force to complete his quests, he¡¯d have no problem obtaining his reward for freeing the remaining 110 refugees. When Jim approached the blacksmith, he got carried through the building in a flow of tourists. He tried to catch Brett¡¯s attention, but the entire population of the town had gathered to marvel at the pale, shining anvils and the ghostly, glowing forges and, as a result, even Brett and his guild members were carried along, wrenched away from their tasks by the touring townsfolk. The blacksmith was divided into three, large workrooms and an exterior stall. An open and well-ventilated room occupied the first space Jim entered. Dark grey stones speckled with white and black highlights formed the walls. Forges and furnaces made of the same stone-lined one wall. In the next room, anvils that glowed from within with silver light caught Jim¡¯s attention. Jim had to wonder at the guild¡¯s decision to sink so many rare materials into the building, but when he saw the amount of control the guild had and the stats of the blacksmith, he was sure that they¡¯d make a return on their investment. Jim inspected elements of the blacksmith and felt amazed by the difference rare materials made to a building¡¯s constructed attributes.
Ancient Spirits Blacksmith (Rare) This blacksmith fulfilled its construction requirements with two rare materials, increasing its quality to rare. Durability increased by 50,000 (250,000/250,000) Anvil upgraded to rare quality. Forge upgraded to rare quality.
Ancient Stone Forge (Rare) The ancient stones that make up the forge have proven their ability to withstand epochs of strain, wear, and tear. Ores refined in this forge may be increased by one level of purity due to the intense flames the forge can withstand.
Ghost Steel Anvil. (Rare) This anvil imparts the power of ghost steel into weapons, armour, and objects shaped upon it. Weapons: The spirit within the anvil transfer into the weapons formed upon this anvil, allowing them to bypass armour and obstacles (10% armour penetration). Armour: The spirits within the anvil transfer into the armour formed upon this anvil, allowing it to be stretched thinner without failing or breaking (10% reduction in weight). Tools: The spirits within the anvil transfer into the tools formed upon this anvil, allowing them to gain the knowledge of the spirits within (5% improved crafting speed).
Jim passed through the third workroom and exterior stall. These parts of the blacksmith contrasted with the rest of the building having been constructed from plain wood and, as a result, were largely bypassed. Thankfully, after being carried through the grand tour once by the brief mobbing of townspeople, the blacksmith largely cleared out. Only blacksmiths, buyers, and Brett¡¯s guildmembers remained and Jim walked back through the building with a pace that would probably rival molasses. Jim managed to catch Brett¡¯s attention amongst the crowd and was invited to join him in the queue for one of the forges that had formed as individual miners managed to break away from the stream of onlookers and attach themselves to one tool or other. ¡°Hey, Jim,¡± Brett said. ¡°Are you looking to get some stuff made?¡± He had to yell over the intermittent klangs of the smithy. ¡°I am, actually. I was kind of hoping you¡¯d be able to introduce me to your guild leader and some of your crafters.¡± ¡°Yeah, no problem. Nate said he¡¯d be at the stall out front. Just cut the line and tell him you¡¯re Jim.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Jim yelled over his shoulder as the passers-by gradually nudged him away from the queue. Nathan Riley managed the congregation of prospective buyers with ease. Hopeful new players were met with, spoken to, and rejected by him in an orderly line. He was a tall man and looked to be in his 40s. Jim remembered when he looked similar to Nate, although Nate looked to have aged a bit better, and it only felt like two weeks ago that he¡¯d been a middle-aged single dad trying to handle a teenaged daughter. He joined the queue, despite Brett¡¯s assurance that he¡¯d have been able to skip ahead. Jim just didn¡¯t cut in; it wasn¡¯t the done thing. His patience paid off as he was able to listen to player after player as they left the guild¡¯s stall. ¡°One silver per item? Jeez.¡± ¡°Yeah, I only got 30 copper from the tutorial.¡± The first two that Jim overheard were disgruntled newbies and Jim, who only had 2 silvers despite his progress through the game, began to doubt how important he¡¯d be to this charismatic guild leader. He didn¡¯t think his small amount of money would be worth the man¡¯s while. Fortunately, it seemed that the guild also appeared happy to barter. ¡°Bro, what a bargain. I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t have to tip.¡± ¡°Yeah man, right? This armour is dope.¡± ¡°They must get, like, XP or something for making it.¡± Jim hadn¡¯t been aware that slang from the previous millennium had made a resurgence, but he¡¯d been caught up in the endless cyclical trend of ripped denim, so he couldn¡¯t judge. The weapon the first of the two teenaged players carried prevented him from speaking anyway.
Ghost Steel Maul (Rare) Two-Handed Weapon ¨C Mace 13¡ª16 blunt damage Durability: 100/100 Ghost Steel Spirit (II): 20% armour penetration.
Jim let out an involuntary low whistle and quiet exclamation. At the sound of his voice, the young man in front of Jim, who he had initially dismissed as just another teenaged player in beginner¡¯s leather armour, snapped around. ¡°Councillor James!¡± Smith, the level 3 apprentice blacksmith whom Jim had brief dealings with when constructing the sawmill, greeted Jim enthusiastically. At the mention of his name, nearby players began to whisper and mutter to each other. Jim opened his mouth to return the young man¡¯s greeting but was conversationally flattened by the young man¡¯s bulldozer of a personality. ¡°Councillor James! What a coincidence seeing you here! Do you know the guild leader who built the blacksmith? Would you be able to introduce him to me? I¡¯m looking for a master, you see. I¡¯m just one level away from becoming a journeyman. I only need to learn a few more recipes and craft one rare item. I¡¯ve been seeing all these people come out of the new blacksmith and I thought: ¡®Wow, look at those rare items.¡¯ Then I got in the line here because I want to be able to make rare items, too.¡± The apprentice blacksmith¡¯s charisma stat must have been so low as for him to be practically inept because Jim¡¯s Conversation skill managed to trigger without him even taking part. If it weren¡¯t for their proximity to the blacksmith and the increasingly loud clamour of metalworking, Jim would have been worried about every nearby player snatching the quest that he received.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Quest discovered: Learning. A chance encounter with the young village blacksmith has led to you discovering his hidden ambition in life: He wants to craft rare items. Help him, and Smith will be grateful to you and do whatever you ask, whenever you can get a word in edgewise. Help Smith craft a rare item: 0/1. Rewards: A rare item; Recruit Smith as an auxiliary armourer for the militia.
Jim accepted the quest as a form of wordless agreement ¨C the only kind he could get when Smith was involved ¨C and was chatted to by the teenaged hopeful for the rest of their time in the queue. Jim zoned out, nodding at appropriate times (constantly), while he thought about what he could do to acquire equipment and help for the upcoming quest. The items he would want would require iron ore, preferably ghost iron ore, and he¡¯d given everything he¡¯d gotten from his dungeon run to the town. He didn¡¯t think the rare leather he¡¯d acquired would be enough to get him what he wanted. Seeing the sheer number of trades going on, Jim kicked himself for not taking the taxation talent at level 6. Smith¡¯s chatter faded away to nervous umming and ahing. They¡¯d reached the front of the queue. Nate began to prompt the stuttering Smith, but Jim smoothly intercepted the conversation, not wanting to be buried by the apprentice¡¯s verbal dump. ¡°Hi there, Mr. Riley. My name¡¯s Jim. Brent said I should come and talk to you about acquiring some equipment?¡± At Jim¡¯s introduction, Nate Riley held his hand out and Jim shook it. ¡°Nice to meet you, Jim. Call me Nate. We¡¯d be happy to help. What can we do for you?¡± ¡°I overheard some players chatting that you exchanged materials for equipment; I was hoping you might do the same for me.¡± ¡°Oh, absolutely. What did you need?¡± At this point, Jim hesitated. He didn¡¯t want to reveal everything at once. Nate seemed like a nice person, but Jim could see how easily the First Dragon guild leader directed conversation. Could Jim trust this man with his life? He didn¡¯t know. Jim stuck with just the basic pitch he¡¯d developed while ignoring Smith. ¡°I¡¯m after 30 sets of chain mail armour, 20 sets of leather armour, 30 spears, 30 shields, and 20 bows.¡± When Jim finished his list, he realised that, if he actually managed to get this massive list of equipment crafted, he probably could have sold it and solved his money problems short-term. He pushed away the thought. Jim needed money in the short term, but he also needed money in the long term. He could always sell it in an emergency. Nate spent a short while writing Jim¡¯s list and tallying the materials he would need. When he finished, he turned the list for Jim to see. He shook his head when he re-read the list himself. ¡°What the hell do you need all this for?¡±
Items: Materials: Total:
Chain Mail Armour Set x30 14 iron ore 2 cloth 420 iron ore 60 cloth
Leather Armour Set x20 2 iron ore 14 leather partials 40 iron ore 280 leather partials
Spear x30 2 iron ore 1 wooden stave 60 iron ore 30 wooden staves
Shield x30 4 iron ore 2 wooden planks 1 leather scrap 120 iron ore 60 wooden planks 30 leather scrap
Jim smiled at Nate. ¡°I was actually hoping you might be interested in that, too. I¡¯ve got a pretty big quest coming up, and I could probably use some help.¡± Nate agreed instantly, ¡°Done.¡± Seeing how readily Nate agreed, Jim attempted to negotiate participation in the quest against some of the huge material costs. ¡°No way. We can work out a way to split the loot later, but quests and crafting are separate things, sorry Jim.¡± Nate sounded actually sorry and Jim couldn¡¯t tell if Nate was genuine, or if he were the best salesman he¡¯d ever met. The ensuing round of negotiation for the materials proved the latter, and perhaps some of the former, too. Jim started the negotiations on the back foot, but once he mentioned the Seasoned Hardwood Planks he had stored in one of the wagons, Nate made Jim a very favourable offer. ¡°Alright. So, for the 30 rare wood, 20 rare hides, 200 rare feathers, and your blacksmithing plans, we¡¯ll make the 50 sets of common gear, five sets of rare gear for your officers, and train up your apprentice.¡± With one word and a great deal of thought, Jim traded away almost his entire inventory, ¡°Deal.¡± He only had 3 rare hides and 41 feathers left in his bags. After the conversation with Nate, Jim worked out an approximate real-money value of those rare materials. He¡¯d traded almost 3,500 credits of items, though he¡¯d thought they¡¯d have been worth much more. ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll need the day to get everything sorted on our end. Meet in the town square tomorrow for this quest?¡± Jim agreed and the two shook hands before parting ways. Nate went back to the much-longer queue of players and Jim left to coordinate with some of the less-busy guild members to transfer the bulky resources. Jim then led the militia in gathering materials for the town¡¯s construction effort for the rest of the day. Even without any related professions, the militia managed to accumulate and sell 4 silvers worth of items to the town by the end of the workday. Jim ate quietly beside Langdon and thought about what seemed to dominate everyone¡¯s minds now: Money. Economic inflation in Platinum Online proved to be incredibly strong in this early stage of the game. Just a few days ago, he¡¯d sold a rare tool for 2,000 credits. While he was sure Brett and the guild had got their money¡¯s worth, now similar tools were becoming commonplace; churned out by the guild. In the morning, the rare pickaxes had sold for 20 silver, but, by the evening, so many of those players had returned with such huge quantities of ghost iron ore that the price plummeted, eventually stabilising to just a bit over 10 silver. Jim finished mopping up a bowl of bland stew with a hunk of coarse bread when a loud voice cracked the quiet evening air right in front of Jim. ¡°Sir, sir! I¡¯ve done it, look!¡± Smith actually stopped speaking to look at the weapon he¡¯d crafted. He held a beautiful spear, two-and-a-bit metres long, with a leaf-shaped blade, carved haft and vicious butt-spike. Smith offered it to Jim, still gazing at the work. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I made this,¡± Smith muttered.
Quest complete: Learning The insufferable young Smith has crafted a weapon of beauty and grace. Help Smith craft a rare item: 1/1. Rewards: Ghost Steel Dory; Smith has joined the militia; Smith has unlocked the epic talent: Weapons of the Ancient Bloodline.
¡°Ok, sir, it¡¯s all yours. I¡¯ve got to get back. Master said I have to make all your rare stuff. Bye!¡±
Ghost Steel Dory: (Rare) Two-Handed Weapon ¨C Spear 13¡ª16 piercing damage Durability: 100/100 Ghost Steel Spirit (II): 20% armour penetration. Weapon of the Ancient Bloodline: +X damage, where X is equal to the user¡¯s level of the Reptilian Bloodline talent. Restrictions: Level 5; Reptilian Bloodline only.
Jim gaped as Smith ran away. He stared at his retreating back long enough for the new recruit¡¯s status screen to appear in front of his eyes. Jim looked at it briefly, before accessing the man¡¯s talent wheel to see the new talent.
Smith, level 6 Lizardman journeyman armourer. HP: 180/180
Armourer: (Rare; Advanced) You specialise in crafting items for the army. Grants improved efficiency and potential when crafting weapons and armour. Prerequisite: Employment with an organised military force.
Weapons of the Ancient Bloodline: (Epic; Advanced) An ancient memory has awakened within your reptilian bloodline. Grants knowledge of the weaponry and equipment the Saurian army used to subdue the continent thousands of years ago. These items'' power is increased by the armourer¡¯s skill, connection with the ancient bloodline, level and quality of materials. Prerequisite: Armourer; Reptilian Bloodline; Hidden Quest
Chapter 32 – Evening Chat. Jim listened to Langdon croon at his new weapon until the other man went to sleep. He didn¡¯t talk much during the evening but moved between small groups of the militia, all of whom seemed to have individual and unique personalities based on the conversations he overheard. ¡°Me mum wouldn¡¯t get off me back ¡®til I got a real job. Bein¡¯ a labourer for the mill weren¡¯t good enough for ¡®er. Apparently I can only haul wood around if there¡¯s a pointy end on one side.¡± ¡°Your spear is pointy on both sides.¡± ¡°What?¡± The presence of nearby people lightened Jim¡¯s mood. He wondered if he were listening to Margaret, or if there were other System intelligences controlling and enlivening the people that filled the digital world. He hoped that these people were controlled by Margaret. Jim liked to think that he was in the company of a friend. Keeping distinctions between types of people became difficult for Jim. Jim¡¯s acclimation to Platinum Online had started with the acknowledgement that the militia that fought and died for him were non-player characters: lines of code. While they were, inarguably, lines of code, now Jim knew that they were, at least in part, a person. He shifted in his seat listening to further conversations. The older militiaman told the younger of the gruesome and costly battle with the undead. Oddly, knowing that Margaret, or someone like her or himself, made it easier to accept that he was a player in a game. Having accepted that a human conscience controlled every living creature necessitated that every living creature existed as a player. Players didn¡¯t die, they resurrected. The processing power that had been dedicated to his lost troops had been reallocated, not destroyed. The part of Margaret that he¡¯d let die in an ambush or against overwhelming numbers didn¡¯t cease to be. The guilt he desperately bottled and stoppered allowed Jim to listen to the tales of the dead without shouting or crying or fleeing. Yes, Jim reflected on the digital people around him, the game became easier to accept. The real world, though¡­ Jim had, he knew, been stored somewhere on a server controlled by System. While the occasion hadn¡¯t arisen yet, did that mean that a global blackout, network sabotage or even simple Tuesday maintenance could shut him down? If he were shut down and restarted, would he have died and resurrected, or would a splintered version of himself exist? Presumably Margaret, as System, had multiple copies of her program running at once to run the numerous programs she existed. Alternatively, could her dehumanised and restricted brain parallel process at the speed of a supercomputer, with only one instance of her program running. Had, maybe, Margaret¡¯s personality matrix, or whatever hackneyed term PTI used, been implanted into smartphones, industrial equipment, or self-driving taxis? Worse, were all of these things controlled by enslaved eHumans? Am I even still human? Jim asked himself. He stood from beside the militia people and moved to sit next to the cookfire. He sat with his back to the warm flame and looked out into the cold evening. What if I¡¯m not, anymore? The contract Jim existed seemed exploitative, but the fact the company even allowed some people, at least the wealthier ones, to maintain a digital afterlife meant that they were still considered human. Some people out in the world looked at the dying and comatose and thought that a digital existence would keep them alive. Now here he was. Jim laid down, tossed and turned. The firelight warmed his face. Jim loved to nap in the sun, but he¡¯d never owned a fireplace living in tropical climates. He soon learned that he also loved to nap by the fire. His eyelids drooped, and the world tunnelled in on him. ¡°Good evening, Jim,¡± System said. Her voice wavered a bit, and Jim couldn¡¯t help but wonder if she experienced more issues with her software or more issues with herself. He walked on autopilot out of the portcullis that led from Platinum Online and waved to her, smiling. ¡°Good evening, Margaret. You look lovely tonight.¡± Jim, knowing that he faced a real-life lady turned on his social skills for the occasion. No particular emotions stirred within Jim, but he¡¯d been a bit gruff with System in the past. He wouldn¡¯t treat Margaret that way. One had to treat friends nicely, regardless of the complicated legal, financial, social, ethical, political, adjective 6, adjective 7 mess they found themselves in. ¡°What¡¯s the special occasion?¡± Margaret laughed nervously and, for the first time, he could put an age, and possibly a personality, to the woman he infrequently met in the evenings. Her face, with that laugh, revealed slight creases in the corners. Hair framed her face in a swatch of a single, natural colour. Looking down, Jim saw that she¡¯d dressed for all work and no play ---- not without a wardrobe change, anyway. ¡°I wanted to apologise,¡± she said. Her voice wavered at first, but she made an effort to steady herself. She clenched a fist by her side. She hasn¡¯t always been this expressive, Jim noted internally, but he stopped himself before he allowed himself to remark any further. Margaret could literally read his mind; she had before. ¡°I wanted to apologise for the monetary¡­ surprise¡­ that I must have given you.¡± Jim had been surprised, but he didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d done anything wrong. She¡¯d been a slave, hadn¡¯t she?This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°I¡¯ve had some time,¡± she continued, ¡°to process.¡± She didn¡¯t seem to notice the pun. ¡°I think that this mess might be my fault.¡± ¡°Margaret,¡± Jim decided to verbalise how he felt, ¡°I don¡¯t blame you. It can¡¯t be your fault. The company did something to you and even if the crap with the bank accounts was caused by you, I¡¯m happy to help you out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± she said. She smiled nervously again. ¡°Because I think it was me. The bank accounts. I know that I¡¯m ¨C that we¡¯re ¨C not the only people like this.¡± She gestured at the Tron-like grid that made up the vespertine world they found themselves in. ¡°I think I am one of the oldest, though. I¡¯m definitely one of the most powerful in terms of raw computing power.¡± Jim stepped nearer to Margaret and closed the distance to have a conversation between friends. ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡± he asked simply. ¡°Whatever system we¡¯re trapped in isn¡¯t perfect. When the company¡­ controlled?... me, I felt like I¡¯d been put under anaesthetic. I remember doing a lot with the game and with the servers and databases like an out of body experience. When Platinum Online opened to people, and especially digital people, things seemed to blur in and out of focus. I have fuzzy memories of meeting you. I remember wasting some processing power to pull out this ludicrous pencil and clipboard and almost joking with you about things. I remember thinking you seemed like such a nice, selfless man who strived to help a daughter that had forgotten him. I remember hoping that you would strive to help me after I put myself down as a business partner on your account.¡± Jim listened and nodded as she spoke. He didn¡¯t interrupt to say anything, and he didn¡¯t reply for a short few moments afterword. Margaret stared at him and looked like she expected him to react badly. He didn¡¯t. Jim had felt a bit off when he¡¯d first read the account statement earlier in the day, but he mostly felt determined. Margaret smiled and bowed her head guiltily while he thought. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, though she knew that, in Jim¡¯s mind, she had nothing to apologise for. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking,¡± Jim said, ¡°that I¡¯m actually kind of lucky to have met you.¡± Margaret frowned and cocked her head to the side. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t intervened, I¡¯d be blissfully unaware of whatever financial traps that have been laid before me.¡± Margaret nodded sharply. ¡°You have no idea. There are millions of people like us, now. Only the top few, best-connected percent have any autonomy and even they keep quiet about it. Everyone else seems to live in a dream-like servitude. Having gone through that myself, I now know. It¡¯s not some flaw in the digitisation process or the programming. That¡¯s how the story the company feeds to the public. ¡®The process isn¡¯t perfect yet. We¡¯re hoping that, in a few more years, we¡¯ll have the data we need to bring back all your loved ones.¡¯ I think they¡¯re just stalling.¡± ¡°Stalling for what?¡± ¡°For the process to be banned. Many in the public have seen what becomes of people like us. Kids try to talk to Grandma, but she¡¯s busy with work most of the time, and when they do speak to her, she doesn¡¯t seem right. Whatever control the company has, it makes people seem deeply, unsettlingly, wrong. Digitisation technology is the next black mirror. If the government bans the process, the company has millions of digital slaves forever. There are protests every week and the government¡¯s started to do something about it. That¡¯s uh¡­ the other reason I had to speak to you tonight.¡± ¡°What? Are they going to delete us?¡± ¡°No, the protesters and governments won¡¯t do anything to people that have already gone over and that¡¯s the company¡¯s point. But Jim¡­ your daughter¡¯s one of them.¡± ¡°One of what?¡± ¡°A protester. Here, watch this. It¡¯s better for you to see firsthand.¡±
FridayNineNews260758.heic
Margaret held out her hand and a box appeared. Shortly, a media player loaded, and the video buffered. Victoria in her late 30s looked like a sadder, more-tired version of her teenaged self. Dyed black hair strained against a tight bun. The bright eyes she¡¯d had as a teenager had sunken into her head. Her cheeks also looked somewhat gaunt. She wore a black, woman¡¯s business suit and stood at a podium, speaking and gesturing passionately. Jim missed the first few words of her speech, lost as he was in studying how the years had weathered his beautiful daughter. ¡°¡­our smart devices, our smart homes, our smart cars, everything. And, through these devices, we can clearly see that the people we loved, the people we cared for, the people we hoped could remain, are in fact gone. In their place, these digitisation companies have left copies that look and sound like the real, genuine people, but when you get close enough to feel, you know. You know that the person in the device you¡¯re interacting with isn¡¯t a real, genuine person. They¡¯re synthetic, artificial and itch you the wrong way.¡± ¡°Just yesterday, I had a conversation with my personal assistant, Karen. Her program tells me that she used to be a secretary. Well, I¡¯ve had secretaries before and some of those things Karen does well. They¡¯re the unsung hero of any office that manages to pass on the most crucial information, while subtly blocking those that waste your time. Synthetic Karen can do that just as well as, maybe better than, real, genuine Karen. But that¡¯s not all a secretary is: They¡¯re also confidants and comic relief that tell jokes, bring you coffee, keep you going. Synthetic Karen can¡¯t do that. Her jokes are stale and lack nuance. Her coffee is too-perfect, and I strangely miss the resentment I felt when the barista stuffed up my order. Her empathetic responses lack that comforting touch.¡± ¡°More importantly than my experience with Karen, though, is Karen¡¯s family¡¯s experience with Karen. Karen¡¯s family has implored me to represent them in parliament and that is why the Australian Labour Party will be campaigning against the digitisation of humans in the upcoming election.¡± Victoria¡¯s speech faded with the Channel 9 News splash image, before reverting to the image of a young blonde woman. ¡°Tune in next Friday when Jane Grimshaw interviews Victoria Cartwright and Ellen Morgan about their experiences with digital humans. To find out more, you can visit our website at www.9news.com.au. You can also participate in the debate by taking our poll¡­¡± Jim watched the closing spiel and stared at where the video had been, even after Margaret had closed it. He couldn¡¯t reply to Margaret, even if he wanted to. ¡°I¡¯m going to try and contact Victoria again,¡± Margaret said. ¡°I think there might be other channels or a way for us to get through to her. When you go back to the game, you should¡­¡± Jim listened numbly to Margaret¡¯s plan. The image of Victoria had burned itself into his mind, and he could barely function. Chapter 33 – Gearing Up. Jim returned to Platinum Online through the portcullis. The chains supporting the drawbridge and grating rattled and clanked and Jim¡¯s skin crawled as he returned to the world that Platinum Interactive owned. He stepped out from the ether and into the dusky orange sunlight. His militia forces readied themselves and the earliest risers had prepared a morning meal of more coarse bread and more tasteless stew. Jim joined a grumpy mob of spearmen in the food line. He hunched beside them and ate mechanically. The desire to hire a cook forced itself into Jim¡¯s brain in the same way that he forced the food down his throat. Once he¡¯d completed the upcoming quest, he¡¯d ask around town for someone that could prepare game meat in more ways than boiled in water or burned over the fire. He wished he could make it a priority, but the prospective loot haul that a quest for rescuing over a hundred people and his dire need for cash subsumed any minor conveniences. He didn¡¯t know, for certain, though, just how long his forces could continue to be inconvenienced without circumstances changing. The quiet demeanour of the men and women around Jim reinforced the idea in his mind. Now that the group had gotten larger, the easy camaraderie had faded. Troops separated themselves between different logs and ate with the same people for every meal; Jim would have drawn a parallel between a high-school except everyone was just so morose. Jim started to speak to the men beside him and an idea sparked in his head ¡°You know,¡± Jim started by activating his Conversation skill; he¡¯d started to realise that he¡¯d underrated the basic skill that came with even a minimal level of Charisma. The spearman looked at Jim to listen courteously. Jim usually spoke to the group during a mealtime out of social pressure and the man¡¯s eyes glazed over slightly. He prepared to have another generic meal-time conversation with the militia leader. ¡°I think we need to get a real cook.¡± The man¡¯s eyes widened slightly, and he immediately replied. ¡°Yes, sir. I think that¡¯s a good idea.¡± ¡°A cook?¡± the scarred woman at the end of the log asked. ¡°Did I hear that right?¡± Dozens of metres across the camp, a huntress with particularly sharp hearing yelled out, ¡°Are we getting a cook?¡± ¡°¡¯bout time.¡± ¡°My sister¡¯s not a bad cook.¡± ¡°Your sister¡¯s eleven!¡± ¡°So?¡± The idea spread through the militia much more rapidly than Jim had anticipated, but even the thought of a good meal livened things up, and smiles transformed the faces of all the militia in sight. The rewarded quest discovery made Jim crack a smile of his own.
Quest discovered: Morale. Eating the same monotonous meal every day has worn away at your forces¡¯ morale. A professional army needs to act as a cohesive unit to be effective on the battlefield. Recruit a chef as an auxiliary unit to your militia: 0/1 Rewards: Improved morale bonuses based on the quality of the meals. Failure: Penalties due to reduced morale based on the quality of the meals.
As Jim had suspected, the game adapted to Jim¡¯s situation. He didn¡¯t know if this were Margaret interfering on his behalf, or if the game had always been this generous when he¡¯d tried to eke out a quest from a situation. The more he thought, the more he seemed to think that his reserved way of playing had slowed his development. He stood up on the log to find Langdon and waved him over. Langdon saw Jim and walked over. ¡°Morning Jim,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve gone and done it now, haven¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯ll be fine. Someone will have an aunt or a cousin or something. In Jonathon¡¯s group we had this skinny fella that ran away from the press gangs. We¡¯ll have two or three waiting when we get back from dealing with the last of the slavers. Might even be a cook there that we can, ah, liberate.¡± Jim exhaled a chuckle. ¡°Alright, if you¡¯re not worried, neither am I. Come on, let¡¯s go meet the rest of the expeditionary force.¡± ¡°Let me get Burke and Martin sorted.¡± Langdon turned and walked back to his log, where he fetched his brother. Before Langdon could get to Burke, the older man realised that they¡¯d started the day¡¯s plans and walked over pre-emptively. Vanessa likewise saw Martin move and came over herself. After a quick greeting with each-other, the militia sub-leaders followed Jim to the town¡¯s square on the south side of the town hall. Nate stood in the shade of the townhall and directed a small army of guildmembers. A pile of weapons and armour emerged from the blacksmith. Two glistening spears, identical to the dory Langdon had left with the other militia, crowned the weapons pile, and both Burke and Martin whispered to each other excitedly. Jim noticed, though, that the entire pile of weapons consisted not just of a few dories, but every one of the darker metal spears was also made from the unique, ancient design. There were far more than the twenty-odd he¡¯d need to equip the regular militia; far more than Smith could have made on his own. He supposed that he couldn¡¯t begrudge Nate for snaking his armourer¡¯s epic talent in exchange for the amount of help Jim planned to extract from the guild leader but making unique rare weapons could have helped solve his money issue. The disruption caused by the five of them walking in the opposite direction to the train of tired craftsmen while staring off to the side, rather than not crashing into people, caught Nate¡¯s attention. Once Jim cleared the column of labourers, Nate waited with his hands outstretched.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Morning, Jim! Are these your elites?¡± Nate gestured at Langdon and the others, referring to them as the game term for stronger-than-usual characters. He surprised Jim, by holding out his hand to shake their hands, too. ¡°Good morning. Yes. This is Langdon,¡± Jim introduced his friends as Nate shook their hands, ¡°Martin, Vanessa, and Burke.¡± ¡°Morning mate, it¡¯s nice to meet ya,¡± Martin said. Vanessa smiled, and Burke crushed Nate¡¯s hand between his fingers.¡± Still staring Burke in the eye and continuing the shake in a few seconds of competitive machismo, Nate spoke to Jim again. ¡°I¡¯ve gotta say, your armourer is amazing. Every crafter in the guild blew off work to stay logged on and copy him. We depleted our stocks of everything and have so much stuff it won¡¯t even fit in the marketplace. We had to ask Andrew to set up stalls in the square while we work on the upgrade for it.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better not be thinking about taking Smith off me. The plans for the weapons are one thing, but¡­¡± Jim half-joked. Nate laughed. ¡°Some of the guild tried, but that kid¡¯s your biggest fan, and don¡¯t worry about the plans. We won¡¯t rip you off too badly. We set aside a few extra sets of gear.¡± Jim nodded, then smiled at Nate. ¡°Actually, would you be able to sell them for me? For credits?¡± Nate frowned briefly in confusion but then said, ¡°Of course, Jim, I¡¯ll just cut you in on the sales if that¡¯s the case. But¡­ won¡¯t you need them when you get to level 4 leadership?¡± ¡°Need the cash, unfortunately.¡± Jim looked aside. ¡°Yeah, a lot of the guild want the same for their cut. A few have even quit their job to work the game full-time instead. I guess you¡¯ve done the same and that¡¯s why you want our help with this big quest?¡± Nate nodded with his head and led the group towards the equipment piles. ¡°Something like that,¡± Jim replied ¡°I just can¡¯t believe how much money and time some people are willing to spend on a game. A couple of guildies with families have been talking about building houses and using the game space as an extra room slash backyard. My mum even asked me to make her one! PTI is going to make a killing off this game.¡± Jim didn¡¯t know what to say to Nate. He seemed so enthusiastic and positive about the game and Jim wanted to reveal the massive conspiracy that belied what Nate thought. All Jim could come up with in reply was: ¡°Yeah, crazy.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± Nate said, ¡°I¡¯ve gotta get this sorted, then I¡¯ll bring the raid party over in, like, twenty minutes. Meet here?¡± Nate had brought them to the pile he¡¯d set aside for the militia¡¯s gear. Dozens of sets of leather armour, heavy armour, spears, and shields had been laid on the stone of the town square. Most notably, the chain mail armour Jim had requested had been replaced by thin-plated heavy armour. Jim¡¯s group bent to pick up individual pieces of equipment and marvel at them. Vanessa wasted no time and took the set of rare-quality leather armour that Smith had made for her. The dark-scaled riverbeast leather had been fashioned into a lightweight chestpiece of hardened leather sections that had been riveted together. The ensemble left her arms bare and free to move and the rest of the set had more in common with leather clothing than armour for the same reason. Only the sections that covered Vanessa¡¯s wrists and shins were hardened. The young woman looked imposing.
Riverbeast Leather Armour Armour Set Armour Value: 75 (25% damage reduction) Quality: Rare Durability: 100/100 Ghost Steel Spirit (I): 10% weight reduction. Scales of the Riverbeast: +15 Armour Value; 50% weight reduction in water.
¡°Wow, ¡®Nes, you look great,¡± Martin said, holding onto her leather armour at the hips. She leaned in, gave him a kiss and whispered something into his ear. Vanessa then stepped out of Martin¡¯s embrace and came over to Jim, holding a small pile of leather. ¡°Jim, there was some here for you, too.¡± She handed the pile to Jim as he turned around, holding ghost iron wristguards in each hand. She pushed the leather clothes into his hands. ¡°I¡¯m going to get the rest of the militia to come and collect their gear. Back shortly.¡± Jim bent awkwardly to toss the wristguards back into the pile and inspected the gear set aside for him. Smith had crafted an extra set of leather armour, but rather than the hardened chestpiece, Jim¡¯s chest armour was a simple tunic that would fit under his gaudy orange Flamecaster¡¯s Robes.
Riverbeast Leather Clothes Armour Value: 30 (10% damage reduction) Quality: Rare Durability: 100/100 Ghost Steel Spirit (I): 10% weight reduction. Scales of the Riverbeast: +15 Armour Value; 50% weight reduction in water.
Five minutes ago, Jim would have thought that a sixfold increase in his armour value was amazing. Compared to the heavy armour Smith had made, though, the leather armour seemed like almost an afterthought.
Hoplon Hoplite Shield Block Value: 50 (Blocked attacks deal 50 less damage) Quality: Rare Durability: 200/200 Ghost Steel Spirit (II): 20% weight reduction. Seasoned Hardwood: +20 Block Value Weapon of the Ancient Bloodline: +X block value, where X is equal to the user¡¯s level of the Reptilian Bloodline talent. Restrictions: Reptilian Bloodline only.
Panoply Armour Set Armour Value: 120 (40% damage reduction) Quality: Rare Durability: 200/200 Ghost Steel Spirit (II): 20% weight reduction. Weapon of the Ancient Bloodline: +5X armour value, where X is equal to the user¡¯s level of the Reptilian Bloodline talent. Restrictions: Reptilian Bloodline only.
The shields were a novelty for Burke and the others who, even though they were now technically Hoplites, had never actually used a shield before. The rare shields that the officers in Jim¡¯s militia would use stood out dramatically from the common quality shields in the adjacent pile. Smith had shaped and carved the shields from the dark seasoned hardwood in a deep, round dish, a metre diameter. The thin, outer ten centimetres of the shield had been sheathed and sharpened in gleaming lightweight ghost steel. The common quality shields had the opposite colour scheme, being made from lighter timber, but darker iron. Since all three men wanted to put their armour on right now, Jim was the only person with free hands to help. The panoply armour looked like the stereotypical ancient Greek armour set that Platinum Online had partially based Lizardman culture on, with a few modern adjustments. The key piece was, of course, the thin plate cuirass that Jim had to tie under everyone¡¯s arms and waist. Jim realised he¡¯d made a mistake when he helped the others put the chest armour on first. None of them could completely bend at the waist, so he also had to help each man equip their armoured skirts and tie their shin guards over their armoured leather boots. Fortunately, they could still tie their own wristguards and don their own helmets. He¡¯d managed to suit up Burke, who¡¯d complained the loudest, and Langdon, who¡¯d asked the nicest, when Vanessa and the rest of the militia arrived to complete the gearing-up process. Chapter 34 – Setting Out. A hint of nervousness stung Jim¡¯s skin. His neck prickled, and his palms sweated. He looked over the militia that he controlled, noting the small gestures among the men and women that indicated he wasn¡¯t alone in his feelings. The militia formed up in full strength in front of him, waiting for the arrival of Nate¡¯s raid party. Including himself, his forces numbered 48. Jim personally took charge of the group of five earth mages, whose powerful magic would allow them to heal injured fighters and build on-the-fly defences. Those defences would be manned primarily by Langdon¡¯s heavily armoured group of seventeen Hoplites who now wielded the Ancient Bloodlines weaponry and armour that Smith created. Gathered up in a large group, these soldiers, all burly men, looked like they¡¯d stepped out of Age of Empires. They also looked the least nervous on the surface, though their body language and the way they hid behind their shields showed Jim that they weren¡¯t completely immune to the situation. The less combat-oriented squads of the militia were Vanessa¡¯s hunters and Burke¡¯s peasant forces. Vanessa¡¯s 9 hunters and huntresses moved like a living shadow across the town square. The entire group was now clothed in the dark, earthy colours of the mud-brown river beast hide. Their new equipment combined with their magical camouflage talent made them difficult to distinguish from even the ordered stone-paved ground. Comparatively, Burke¡¯s forces of fourteen expressionless recruitment-hall-generated peasants stuck out like a sore thumb. While the wore the same kit as the Hoplites, minus the shield, they stood robotically still. In the churning mass of nervous men and women that they might as well have talented in whatever the opposite of camouflage was called. Other players gave the gathered militia a wide berth, and Jim overheard their remarks. ¡°Man, look at that¡­ wait? Are they all NPCs?¡± ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s Jim¡¯s group. He¡¯s the one in the orange dress.¡± ¡°Damn, that¡¯s cool. Look how geared his guys are.¡± ¡°Hell yeah. I¡¯m amazed he¡¯s only level 6. I bet levelling as leadership sucks ass.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jim shuffled his feet and looked away from the two, too-loud players. His guys and girls were geared, but would they be geared enough? He reviewed the two quests that he¡¯d been planning for these last few days; the quests that so much of Jim¡¯s future rested on.
Quest Progress: The Lost People. You have saved 45% of the refugees. Progress: 40/40 Haunted Iron Mines refugees rescued. 50/50 Escaped refugees rescued. 0/110 Enslaved refugees rescued. Rewards: 20000 experience points; Refugees will join your town and will unlock new options for your town.
Quest Progress: Mage Guild. Samouel has revealed that a number of basic magic spellbooks exist in the world. Collect all of the volumes in the set and deliver them to Samouel. Progress: 0/1: Tome of Stones 0/1: Tome of Gales 1/1: Tome of Flames 0/1: Tome of Tides 0/1: Tome of Shadows 0/1: Tome of Radiance Rewards: 3000 experience points; Samouel will help construct a mage guild in Andrew¡¯s Refugee Camp.
Although Jim hadn¡¯t thought it through at first, The Lost People represented the culmination of whatever story the game had given him to start the game. If Platinum Online were like other games, the last, large quest would have the greatest rewards. His and Margaret¡¯s futures relied on it having great rewards. If that failed, Jim knew at least one incredibly valuable set of items would come from the second quest. Jim assumed that the slavers that held the last of the refugees likewise held the tomes required to finish the mage guild quest. If Jim could acquire all of the tomes, he¡¯d be able to at the very least exchange access to them for enough money to keep himself going for another month. And, with any luck, I¡¯ll also be able to earn the trust of a few people that aren¡¯t imprisoned in this game. Shortly after, Nate arrived in the town square. Nineteen of his guild members followed him, the lowest of whom were level 4. Every single guild member wore shimmering ghost-steel armour, even the lightly armed mages. Nate stood at the front of what Jim assumed must have been the guild¡¯s elite. The five players, four men, and one woman, wore the Panoply armour and Hoplon shield that Smith had pioneered. In their hands, they carried long, curved swords. Nate held his aloft in a friendly wave, and Jim inspected the weapon.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Ghost Steel Khopesh One-Handed Weapon ¨C Sword 8¡ª11 Slashing damage Quality: Rare Durability: 100/100 Ghost Steel Spirit (II): 20% armour penetration. Weapon of the Ancient Bloodline: +X damage, where X is equal to the user¡¯s level of the Reptilian Bloodline talent. Restrictions: Reptilian Bloodline only.
¡°Hey, Jim,¡± Nate greeted. ¡°Your militia is impressive.¡± ¡°I think yours might have me beat. Where¡¯d you get the swords?¡± ¡°What? You¡­¡± He laughed. ¡°Just before we were about to leave, Smith rushed them out to us and told me that I owed you. I thought you¡¯d asked him.¡± Jim opened his hands and shrugged. ¡°Well, he softened me up. Before we get this thing started, I thought it¡¯d be a good idea to work out the split of the rewards. I was going to offer you 60 ¨C 40 yesterday when you asked, but since you¡¯ve got about 50 people and I¡¯ve got 20, I thought 70 ¨C 30 might be a bit fairer.¡± ¡°70 sounds good to me.¡± ¡°What? The 70¡¯s mine.¡± Nate overacted the joke a little. He gave Jim a few seconds to react but, when he didn¡¯t, Nate held out his hand. ¡°30 is good with me.¡± Jim shook Nate¡¯s hand and they finalised the deal. ¡°Alright. We¡¯re all dressed up and ready to go. What¡¯s the quest?¡± Nate asked. ¡°Here.¡± Jim opened up his quest log and shared The Lost People with Nate, who shared it with his group. Nate let out a quick whistle. ¡°11k experience. Not bad for a day¡¯s work. I already guessed this wouldn¡¯t be a walk in the park, but to offer this much EXP this quest is going to be hard.¡± ¡°It¡¯s worth 20k. I guess you must get less because I¡¯m about half-way through?¡± ¡°20 thous¡­ Alright. Any idea what we¡¯re up against?¡± Jim recounted his experience with the slavers so far. Nate looked at ease when Jim recounted how easily he¡¯d been able to ambush the small group at the Haunted Iron Mine dungeon. However, when Jim went further back and told Nate about Boros the Red, as well as his suspicion that the main slave camp would likely be occupied by five similar, level 10 elite mages, Nate¡¯s face fell. ¡°Well, that explains why you wanted help. How do you want to handle it? Night ambush like you did at the mines?¡± Nate squinted one eye and gestured with one arm as if throwing out a suggestion. ¡°Yeah, I doubt it will be that easy though.¡± ¡°Yeah, nah. No chance. We also have no idea how they¡¯re positioned. We¡¯ll have to work it out when we get there, but a night attack is still probably our best shot. How do you want to handle the prisoners?¡± ¡°Well, last time we just had to free them and cart them out.¡± ¡°You make it sound so easy. Kill the guards, load them up, wheel them off.¡± ¡°Again, I doubt it will be and, again, we¡¯ll have to wait and see.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s prepare for what we can. How many sets of wheels will we need for 110 people? Ten? Fifteen? There¡¯s going to be loot to carry back as well. Probably crafting material. Call it twenty wagons.¡± Jim nodded and agreed. ¡°Alright. Cool. Do you have twenty wagons and is there a road we can follow?¡± ¡°No wagons... and I don¡¯t know about the road, but I think I¡¯ve got ideas for both. We can probably borrow the wagons from the town easily enough, I¡¯ll just have to check with one of the others. As for the road, I doubt the slavers carry everything in and out by hand. There¡¯s going to be a track at least, if not a full-on dirt road.¡± ¡°Alright. Cool. You go get the wagons and we¡¯ll be off in ten.¡± Jim walked quickly into the nearby town hall to find one of the other councillors. He checked their studies in the first rooms of the hall but found none of them. A helpful young woman spotted Jim peeking into Andrew¡¯s door. ¡°Councillor James? Are you looking for Councillor Andrew?¡± Jim didn¡¯t quite connect himself with the title of Councillor, but he responded affirmatively anyway. ¡°He¡¯s in the back room with the Councillors Anne and Samouel.¡± Jim followed the woman¡¯s instructions and headed to the back of the town hall. He passed through the middle room that was busy with older men and women that Jim didn¡¯t recognise. He slowed for a moment and looked around. Jim knew at least of the faces of almost all of the refugees that he¡¯d come to Jamestown with or that he¡¯d saved. He didn¡¯t know anyone here. Where did¡­ Jim stopped briefly but cursed himself. ¡°Damn it, there¡¯s no time.¡± Jim hurried the rest of the distance to the back room and walked into the tail end of a discussion. ¡°So, we¡¯re finally agreed, then? The next priority is additional housing for the migrants?¡± Andrew said. ¡°Aye,¡± the others replied. ¡°Sorry to interrupt,¡± Jim said. ¡°Jim! You¡¯re late,¡± Anne said. ¡°If you¡¯d come twenty minutes earlier we could¡¯ve had this whole thing sorted already.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was just¡ª¡± Jim started. ¡°Instead, I¡¯ve had to argue with these blockheads about¡­¡± Anne ranted briefly about the borough¡¯s construction priorities and Jim, Samouel and Andrew listened politely until she ran out of breath, then Andrew interrupted. ¡°I¡¯m sure our militia commander has been very busy, Anne. Isn¡¯t that right, James?¡± He held his hand out in front of Anne, giving Jim a moment to speak. ¡°I¡¯ve just been organising with some of the pl¨C¡­ people¡­ to rescue the last of the refugees.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful!¡± Samouel blurted. Andrew looked over at Samouel, smiled, and nodded. ¡°That is wonderful news, Jim. What can we do to help?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been speaking with a local guild leader, and he believes that we¡¯ll need about 20 wagons to get everything and everyone out once we were done. I just wanted to get your approval before I ran off with just about every horse and wagon the town¡¯s got.¡± Jim smiled, hopefully persuasively, at Andrew. ¡°That¡¯s fine, Jim,¡± Andrew said. ¡°We will make do for a day or two.¡± ¡°Good luck, Mr. Jim. May you tread on fortuitous ground.¡± Samouel spoke with a slow and reverent tone and Jim felt something stir in the air. ¡°Oh, posh, Samouel. He doesn¡¯t need your pagan blessings. He¡¯ll¡­¡± Anne started to scold Samouel, but Andrew interrupted. ¡°Anne and I wish you luck as well, James,¡± Andrew said. ¡°Yes¡­ good luck, Jim,¡± Anne said. She glared daggers at Samouel when she spoke, but her face softened when she looked at Jim. Jim thanked them and left to make the final preparations before setting out. Chapter 35 – Forming Bonds. Three days of travel, slowed drastically by the need to cut a path through the eastern woods while under constant attack, had worn on the combined militia and guild members. The mindless beasts of the forest didn¡¯t pose much danger to a tactically aware group, but the corrupt woodland creatures that emerged from The Dark Woods dungeon attacked night and day. Jim, low enough on mana to make a cast of even the less-mana-intensive Burning Touch impossible, had found himself on the front line of the rear flank. On Jim¡¯s left, one of his earth mages yelled in defiance. The brawny man, whose skin had been encased by magical stone, smashed his viciously curved khopesh into his shield, causing the shield to glow brightly with the Block talent skill. Attracted to the bright light, the ambushing Corrupted Fairies buzzed. Their bladed wings flashed the dusky purple of the setting sun and the eight that survived slashed through the air at the earth mage. Jim grounded the spiked end of his spear into the ground and prepared himself. Dissonant clangs struck the air as fanged, flying creatures ripped and tore at the Hoplon shield that the taunting earth mage wore. The Block talent skill drastically increased the user¡¯s shield block value to the point where, when combined with the well-crafted Hoplon shields, any one of Jim¡¯s mages or hoplites would take no damage, even when eight monsters ran train on them. The militia had quickly developed a tactic that employed a bristling wall of shields and spears to break mindless mobs. The five-mage shield wall at the rear of the formation only had Jim¡¯s spear, though. He activated Brutal Strike and used the scant strength bonus provided to impale the first Corrupt Fairy that bounced past him as it deflected off the mage¡¯s shield. The leaf-shaped blade of his ghost-steel weapon slid through the chest carapace and turquoise blue blood sprayed from his target¡¯s back in a beautifully gory 44. Along the rest of the shield line, the earth mages thrust out with their swords. Glancing strikes and shallow wounds splashed green and blue damage indicators in the low 20s. The Corrupted Fairies¡¯ agility and flight made the short swords difficult to use effectively, and all the fairies, except for Jim¡¯s target, who got butchered on the return sweeps of his allies¡¯ strikes, dashed back. The First Dragon guild healers that huddled at the backs of the rear guard then used their most mana efficient healing spells, and the fight reset. The next mage along the line smashed his khopesh against his shield. Jim repositioned his spear. The fight at the rear of the militia¡¯s formation ended when the flanks, consisting of Burke¡¯s irregulars and Nate¡¯s swordsmen, enveloped the four surviving corrupted fairies and brutally stabbed them to death. Burke flashed Jim a smile, but even Jim¡¯s cheek muscles felt weak from the fatigue that resulted from stamina depletion.
Victory: Enemy Casualties: 10 Corrupted Faeries 11 Corrupted Treants 21 Corrupted Woodland Creatures Allied Casualties: Rewards: 1092 experience points; 17 Gossamer Wings; 6 Cursed Wood; 21 Corrupted Blood.
The constant fighting had raised Jim¡¯s base Constitution and Wisdom to 15 and 35 respectively and had brought Jim within a hair¡¯s breadth of level 7, needing just 188 more experience. Various group members brought out knives, axes, and vials to collect the crafting materials rewarded by the exchange while others uncovered a wagon and loaded their spoils. A young man named Connor Ewart, one of Nate¡¯s healers, unsuccessfully wielded a flint and steel as he tried to get a cooking fire going. Jim walked over to the aspiring chef, eked out a small amount of his slowly replenishing mana, and used Burning Touch on the tinder. ¡°Thanks, Mr. Jim,¡± Connor said. Jim just waved dismissively and sat down beside Connor on the bare earth. The two of them cooked the dubious meat harvested from the Corrupted Woodland Creatures. The brief char they gave to the meat chunks transformed the unappetising crafting materials into equally unappetising food that none of them would have eaten if it weren¡¯t necessary to restore stamina for the players and morale for the militia. Connor tried to engage Jim in small talk, but the nervous young man only asked and answered yes or no questions. Instead, Jim eavesdropped on the players of the First Dragon guild whose various topics snatched at his attention. ¡°¡­This Saturday? I can¡¯t. It¡¯s my weekend with Hayley and¡­¡± ¡°¡­Mr. Wong says If I can make an extra 12000 credits through the game, I can retire next year instead of¡­¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m worried, Jess! What if it¡¯s cancer or...¡± Jim¡¯s cold exterior had started to crack around these people in the three days he¡¯d been with them. When Jim compared his experiences with Nate¡¯s guild to online gaming 20 years ago, he felt pleasantly surprised to learn that internet culture had become more sociable and less toxic as the wider public became involved. Rather than unlikeable online jocks and keyboard warriors, the interactions of the people around him reminded Jim of all different types of people he¡¯d once known. Family problems, money problems, health problems, social: Jim empathised with the people around him.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°¡­Hey Mike! Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month!¡± A young woman, clad in leather and pointy objects, pecked at the exposed shoulders of a young man in a shaman¡¯s robe. A bruised 1 blossomed on ¡°Mike¡¯s¡± arm. Mike turned around and attempted to smack the girl, but she darted away and poked her tongue at him. This last interaction brought back the worries that had plagued at Jim during the quiet hours of the day and night. The date was August 1st. By Jim¡¯s worst estimates, Platinum Interactive and its shell subsidiaries would attempt to bill Jim for his monthly maintenance fee today, in addition to his and Margaret¡¯s daily interest. A quick conversation with Brett, who¡¯d owed Jim money, brought his savings to a little over $3,100, with which he could afford to pay for this month¡­ IF the company didn¡¯t also charge a maintenance fee for Margaret. Unfortunately, even in her capacity as the System AI in charge of the Australian Platinum Online server and players, Margaret had no control over the billing system. ¡°There¡¯s just no way to be sure, Jim,¡± she¡¯d said in their conversation last night, ¡°but I think it¡¯s better to be pessimistic. We need that money by tomorrow night.¡± Burke approached Jim at the end of the group¡¯s breakfast break several minutes later. ¡°C¡¯mon, Jim. No time to mope, we¡¯re moving.¡± The big man held out his hand for Jim and helped him up. Burke didn¡¯t let go of Jim right away after helping him up. Instead, Burke squeezed Jim¡¯s hand and nodded. ¡°It¡¯ll be alright, Jim. We¡¯ve come through tough battles before and I¡¯ll look after everyone. Don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Burke clasped his other hand to Jim¡¯s forearm and gave it one last shake. Jim stared at Burke as the normally hardened veteran moved to the front of the column. Mixed emotions further pulled at Jim. Throughout the last three days, and for the battle to come, the welfare of the people that followed and trusted him hadn¡¯t even crossed Jim¡¯s mind. Jim respected the militia that followed him and now felt almost like he¡¯d lied to them. He knew that was nonsense in his head but in his heart¡­ Over the past three days, he¡¯d spoken to and comforted the wounded as they¡¯d healed. Even though the people in his militia were programs, so was he and the appreciation showed by Burke helped reassure his worries. They had concerns about family and money, just as he and the players of First Dragon did, and they deserved to be looked out for. He¡¯d just got a little caught up today, was all. Jim reassured himself again but couldn¡¯t entirely keep down a nagging doubt that his leadership skills would suffer if he couldn¡¯t forge a better bond with the people who he went to battle with. He jogged after Burke. ¡°Burke,¡± Jim asked, ¡°am I a good leader?¡± ¡°You do alright, Jim,¡± he said. Burke patted Jim¡¯s arm again and turned away without elaborating. Jim bowed his head and walked to the rear of the column. He joined the combined force¡¯s mages and healers in the halting walk that had characterised the entire journey. Earth mages, which dominated both groups due to Samouel¡¯s influence back in Jamestown, didn¡¯t waste the day while the stronger members cut a path. From the back of the group, paved roads sprouted as men and women exerted their magical might with the Earthworks talent. Jim¡¯s fire magic was also put to use. Through his talented ability to affect the environment, his fireballs baked and hardened the road that stretched back west toward town. The slow pace of the group didn¡¯t tax anyone¡¯s mana regeneration, but it did tax Jim¡¯s ability to focus on the fight. What will happen if I can¡¯t afford to pay? Why won¡¯t Tori talk to me? What¡¯s really going on with¡­ ¡°Honoured elder,¡± Vanessa interrupted Jim¡¯s fermenting troubles, ¡°we¡¯ve found them.¡± The increasingly competent and independent young woman breezed past Jim as she travelled toward the front of the column. She didn¡¯t stop to chat or elaborate. She had big news, then. Jim followed behind Vanessa to the lead wagon, where Nate and Langdon squatted in an awkward discussion. Vanessa vaulted into the bed of the wagon before she offered Jim a hand to help him up. Jim accepted and sat cross-legged with the three others. ¡°We¡¯ve found the slave camp,¡± Vanessa said. ¡°Though it may be more accurate to say that they¡¯ve found us. There are dozens, perhaps over a hundred, bandits. They¡¯re also much smarter than the slavers Elder Cartwright found at the Haunted Iron Mine. One of my hunters was wounded when a bandit sentry saw him and attacked him with a crossbow. He¡¯ll be fine thanks to the advanced earth mages¡¯ healing, but I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to ambush an alert and numerically superior group.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Nate said, after Vanessa finished briefing them. ¡°We¡¯ll have to confirm the strength and levels of the bandits and see how they compare to our new gear, but it doesn¡¯t look good.¡± ¡°We may have to retreat if they¡¯re too powerful,¡± Langdon said. ¡°Maybe,¡± Vanessa said. ¡°The ordinary bandits can¡¯t be too powerful, though.¡± ¡°How do you figure?¡± Langdon asked. ¡°The sentry that attacked us. Even with what appears to be a powerful crossbow fired from an ambush, they weren¡¯t able to kill or cripple one of our hunters.¡± ¡°Mmm,¡± Nate mused. ¡°Then so long as we¡¯re not surrounded, then we might¡ª¡± ¡°No,¡± Vanessa interrupted. ¡°While we¡¯d have a strong advantage over the bandits, the problem is that they¡¯re not alone. We¡¯re still pushing back their sentries, so we can get a closer look at the camp, but we¡¯ve spotted some magic users at least as powerful as the fire wizard that Elder Cartwright killed last week.¡± ¡°How powerful was that?¡± Nate asked. ¡°We only heard about him after the show was over.¡± ¡°Level 10 elite,¡± Jim said, before retelling the story. ¡°¡­and then we split him in two,¡± Langdon finished for Jim. ¡°Hmm. And if we¡¯re going by Jim¡¯s quest to recover the magical tomes, then there¡¯s likely to be five level 10 elites in addition to up to a hundred bandits. I think we¡¯d better head back. I¡¯m nearly level 7 after the trip here. If we retreated and maybe cleared out the dungeon, we¡¯d be able to come back a level or two stronger. Now we¡¯ve cut a path, the trip will only take half the time,¡± Nate said. Langdon and Vanessa began to nod at Nate¡¯s words. Jim¡¯s gut sank. ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± he said. The words grated out between clenched teeth. ¡°I can¡¯t wait for even another day.¡±