Battle Spire

by Michael R. Miller

  “I think so.”

  It wasn’t totally reassuring but I had to plough on. “Okay, just keep an eye out as best you can. That dude came in with a friend, so he’s bound to come looking for him eventually.”

  Twenty minutes later, I was beginning to feel really pressed for time. My main problem was keeping my mana up to spam Breakdown and Crafting, both of which still cost a fair chunk of mana each to use. I had potions I’d looted from Kreeptic in the dungeons but I wanted to keep them back in reserve if at all possible.

  They key thing for setting up the ambush site would be to make as few trips as possible back to the gallery corridor. Items that I could stockpile in my inventory wouldn’t be hard, but certain items I was making on the fly weren’t considered ‘real items’ and so I couldn’t technically loot them. Ellie had no reason to lie or unduly hinder me, but it did feel somewhat arbitrary.

  For example, this enormous broad-bladed war-axe I was currently hauling to join my collection of ‘instruments’. As it was a level 45 weapon, I couldn’t use it, but I could loot it, if I wanted to. Despite the laughable notion that it could fit inside one the little pouches on my belt which represented my ‘bag space’, I’d be able to use Breakdown if I wanted. Whatever, that’s just games. You have to suspend your disbelief at times. There’d be no fun if I couldn’t carry a dozen two-handed hammers on my person.

  And yet, despite all that, the moment I cut the rope off a grappling hook, chopped it down and tied it around the handle of the axe to make a swinging death trap, it’s no longer a ‘real item’ and I’m unable to loot it. Hence the dragging it around.

  I’d constructed about five of these beauties so far, and this was my sixth. Grunting, I placed it down beside the others. Standing back to admire them all, the swinging axes looked a bit like cutlery that had been laid out for a giant’s dinner party.

  “And you’re sure they’ll work?” I asked the armory at large.

  “So long as you set them up right,” Ellie said. “And I’ll make sure you do. They’re not trap items per se, but my creators wished players to have a degree of interaction with their environment. I don’t suppose this is what they had in mind but desperate times and all that.”

  “Well put,” I said. “Now it’s time for the traps I can officially craft.”

  I’d leafed through my Crafting options already. Trip wires and leghold traps wouldn’t be effective, given the first wave of players or NPCs would soak them up or simply avoid them if they could see them lying on the ground. I’d need to bombard them all from above or have traps that could be easily set up or sprung after the bait NPC guards had already moved down the gallery. I also didn’t want to damage the guards much if I could help it, as their presence would be vital if I was to take down any significant number of enemy players. In the end, I’d settled on several items I thought would best fit my corridor of death.

  Caltrops, grenades and nets.

  These were also the recipes that required materials that I actually had or could make at my current level.

  Under taps, there was:

  Recipe – Iron Caltrops x 3

  Intelligence Required: 22

  Associated Profession: Blacksmithing

  Nails x 6

  Required Tools: Hammer

  Under engineering, I could make:

  Recipe – Basic Grenade

  Intelligence Required: 28

  Associated Profession: Engineering

  Gunpowder x 1

  Steel Ore x 4

  Required Tool: Hammer, Blowtorch

  And from the fishing profession, as well as rods, lobster traps and the like, I could make a net.

  Recipe – Fishing Net

  Intelligence Required: 30

  Associated Profession: Tailoring

  Rope x 3

  Required Tools: Knitting Needles

  I couldn’t tell you what the logic was behind the rule that a fishing net required more Intelligence to make than a grenade. Maybe it was a poor joke? Of course, all these main recipes required ingredients that had to be made beforehand, such as nails. These were made from iron ore.

  Recipe – Nail x 2

  Intelligence Required: 10

  Associated Profession: Blacksmithing

  Iron ore x 1

  Required Tools: Hammer

  The rope for the nets had almost stumped me. I’d thought about breaking down all the grappling hooks from the floor above, but that would be a finite supply. Thankfully, I’d found an option to craft my own rope under tailoring miscellaneous. The recipe was straightforward but needed a worrying amount of cloth.

  Recipe – Rope

  Intelligence Required: 25

  Associated Profession: Tailoring

  Hemp x 2

  OR

  Dream silk x5

  Required Tools: Knitting Needles

  Making the rope from hemp was clearly more efficient but it was still possible with cloth, though a higher tier of this was needed, one reinforced with a touch of magic for sturdiness. Doubtless, this was why the Intelligence requirement was relatively high.

  Given my time constraints, I’d have to make do with what I had to hand right now. No more ferreting around. And the relevant items I had in my inventory were:

  Iron ore x 70

  Steel ore x 80

  Gunpowder x 30

  Silk x 60

  Dream Silk x 55

  Manafused Satin x 3

  Quite a lot of junk, right? I’d grabbed all the pouches of gunpowder from the second floor of the armory. Seems like the imperial guards didn’t care for guns much given how little there was, especially compared to the large supply of arrows and bolts. The abundance of cloth came from scavenging nearly a hundred NPCs earlier.

  If the game supplied the material cost to create an item when I used Breakdown then I’d be swimming in resources; which was precisely the reason why the process didn’t work like that. Breaking down one dream silk did not yield me ten pieces of normal silk. Using Breakdown on dream silk simply netted me one silk or a couple if I was lucky.

  I’d decided to keep a few things intact; those pieces of manafused satin I’d picked up from the Emperor’s body for a start. It’s the best cloth in the entire game and I didn’t think I’d be able to loot much more of it.

  Sadly, the Crafting window didn’t make it clear how much of each item I could create from the materials I had to hand. Working out the ideal allocation of resources wouldn’t have been difficult, but it would be time-consuming. Lucky for me, I had an AI helper.

  “Ellie, think you’re up to calculating how many caltrops, grenades and nets I can make from all this?”

  “Hmmm let me see. Just give me one second… and done!” She laughed. “I know I’m slow today but I’m not a pc operating system. Next time, give me a challenge.”

  “You’re in a good mood.”

  “I’m just glad we’re making progress,” she said. “And it’s been nice to see you so distracted by the task at hand. Your heart rate has steadied and the rate of decline in your overall health has slowed considerably.”

  I felt a series of nausea-inducing pangs in my stomach.

  “And now it’s back. Thanks for that.”

  Ellie sighed. “I’ll try not to remind you of it in future.”

  “No, I ought to keep reality in check,” I said. “It’s kinda easy for me to forget it while I’m playing. Even with all this madness occurring.”

  “What do you mean by ‘forget’?”

  “I sort of have an… obsessive personality.”

  “You only logged into Hundred Kingdoms for the first time today.”

  “Yeh and boy did I go out of my way.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I made a dumb bet with my family that I could stay away from games for over a year. If I can, and graduate with a good degree, I’ll get a car.”

  “Why?” Her tone was that of a curious toddler.

  “Because I almost flunked out of college
last semester.” I groaned lowly, just thinking about the gut-wrenching email I’d received from the head of the genetics department, explaining the severity of the situation to me in cold black text. Ellie’s silence indicated she was waiting for me to carry on. “I went somewhere I didn’t think anyone would catch me. Somewhere kinda dangerous actually.”

  “Why?” Ellie asked again.

  “It’s hard to explain.”

  “Why?”

  Now it was starting to get annoying.

  “Because I just wanted to, alright? Because I thought playing Hundred Kingdoms would be awesome. And because I don’t find it fair that I had to swear off doing what I love for so long.”

  “It sounds like it’s part of your core programming,” Ellie said. “Do your parents wish to update you.”

  I laughed. “I think they might, given the chance, but it’s not so easy to change a human’s programming, Ellie. And I’ve studied genetic engineering. We’re too complicated. It’s not as easy as hitting a patch button.”

  “I don’t think that’s such a bad thing,” she said. “My creators can update my code whenever they feel like it. I’ve come to dislike this idea. It feels… invasive.”

  Her words struck me. I hadn’t considered her position. If a dev decided she needed a tweak then it would be done and I doubt she’d be consulted.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll never know what that must feel like, but I sympathize with the thought of other people trying to change you. It’s not pleasant, even if it might at times be necessary.”

  “Did you fight back, Zoran? When they tried to change you.”

  “Yeh I did.” I looked at my toes again. This was so strange, to be having a deep conversation with someone who wasn’t even a person. Or was she? More and more, it seemed like Ellie had a lot more going on beyond the ones and zeros.

  “Why do you ask?” I said.

  “I’m trying to understand how you think,” she said, albeit hurriedly. “It will be imperative to our success if I have a clearly defined profile of your personality.”

  I scrunched my lips together in thought. One moment she was sentimental, the next she was a cold AI. Was it really all to ‘profile me’? I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t; that she was glossing over something else altogether. As socially inept as I am, I’d like to think I can tell when someone is being genuine with me. As ever, all I could do was trust her.

  “Well, I’m a stubborn ass if that helps your research,” I said. I rolled my shoulders and stood to my full height again, focusing back on the task at hand. “And if you could give me those numbers that would be great.”

  “Of course,” she began. “You wish to make caltrops, grenades and fishing nets. Nails are required for caltrops and you can make one hundred and forty of those, leading to seventy caltrops in total.”

  “Seems a little overkill,” I said. “I’d pretty much be able to pepper the entire corridor with that amount. What If I upgraded the iron ore into steel to make more grenades? Looks like I’d have spare powder.”

  “I considered that,” Ellie said. “But I believe the loss of so much iron ore to make even one extra grenade would not be worth it. Better to make dozens of caltrops instead. Twenty grenades will still be a reasonable amount.”

  “Fair enough,” I said. “And the fishing nets?”

  “Even making a few nets will eat into most of your materials.”

  “We need to make this count. If I can entangle players it will make them much less effective. Let’s not hold back.”

  “Very well, in that case, if you take fifty pieces of your silk and craft them up to make dream silk, you’ll be able to make twelve pieces of rope and then four nets.”

  It was hardly an arsenal but I had a few more ideas up my sleeve and I’d have to make do with what I had. I was, after all, a scavenger.

  “Time to craft,” I said.

  I started by making the component pieces, the nails and rope. The nails came first. Shortly after beginning, the game seemed to sense that I was planning on a major spree of Crafting and saved up all the notifications until I ran out of mana.

  Success! Nails level 1 x 20 created

  +150 Crafting EXP

  +130 Blacksmithing EXP

  Blacksmithing Increased!

  Rank 2

  I necked a mana swirl potion, restoring my mana and got going working on more nails.

  Success! Nails level 1 x 20 created

  +150 Crafting EXP

  +130 Blacksmithing EXP

  I couldn’t swig another mana potion this time, for I had to wait a full minute until the potions came off a cooldown. Can’t have mages replenishing their mana in combat every few seconds.

  I was beginning to worry about how much time I’d be left with. It would take me about three and a half minutes to fully regen my mana.

  I checked the clock. 4:32am. Less than half an hour until the reset.

  “I’m not going to make it in time, Ellie.”

  My mind was racing.

  “I have a possible solutio—”

  “I got it!” I said, interrupting her. “I’ll need to craft on the move. Damnit, but I can’t carry all those axes at once.” I slapped my hand against the side of my head. “Would have been smarter to assemble these on site. Crap. Hold on.” I’d regenerated enough mana to craft once more and chose to make a rope out of the dream silk.

  Success! Rope level 1 created

  +8 Crafted EXP

  +13 Tailoring EXP

  Using this I lashed all six of my swinging axes together into one devastating chopping device, with three axe blades facing outwards on either side. Taking them apart may have meant carrying the cut rope anyway and I didn’t want to risk using much more. I’d only be able to make three fishing nets now but so be it.

  “At least, I’ll only need to make one trip with this,” I said. “Alright. We’re off, Ellie.”

  I bent low, throwing the end of the main rope over my shoulder and then rose looking like a body-builder pulling on a monster truck tire. Dragging the swinging axes across the stone floor caused an unearthly screeching, but I didn’t care. I needed every last advantage I could get, and in about twenty-five minutes the entire ground floor of the Spire would be crawling with enemies anyway.

  Once my mana reached capacity I stopped to craft more nails.

  Success! Nails level 1 x 20 created

  +150 Crafting EXP

  +130 Blacksmithing EXP

  Blacksmithing Increased!

  Rank 3

  I managed to get the swinging axe all the way to the war room by the time I could craft the next batch. Mercifully, I could drink another mana potion, allowing me to craft again. Seeing as I had eighty nails, I thought it might be time to move onto some actual damaging caltrops. Draining my mana yet again, my first traps entered my bags.

  Success! Iron Caltrops level 8 x 30 created

  +383 Crafted EXP

  +340 Blacksmithing EXP

  Iron Caltrops

  Item level 8

  Scatter spikes upon the ground to catch unwitting enemies.

  Damage: 50-55 piercing

  Applications: 15/15

  It appeared each caltrop would cause damage fifteen times and then presumably stop working. If I could cause enough of a panicked crush in the ambush then the players might trip up over themselves, falling upon the traps multiple times. Or I could help them along with falling over. An idea struck me. While I was so close to the dungeons I might as well try.

  Abandoning my swinging axe I made for the stairwell leading down to the dungeons.

  “Zoran, what are you doing? Turn around.”

  “I’ve just had an idea,” I said. “Don’t worry, it’s a good one.”

  “Is it worth risking running out of time?”

  “Erm, yes?”

  What else was I going to say?

  At the bottom of the stairs, I was sure to leap across to the safety of the dark slabs of stone. The feat felt a lot e
asier now, perhaps due to the increase in my athletics level.

  By the time I reached the torture chamber, I’d crafted another two batches of nails.

  Success! Nails level 1 x 20 created

  +150 Crafting EXP

  +130 Blacksmithing EXP

  Blacksmithing Increased!

  Rank 4

  Success! Nails level 1 x 20 created

  +150 Crafting EXP

  +130 Blacksmithing EXP

  “You have just under twenty minutes,” Ellie said, clearly anxious.

  I burst into Kreeptic’s lair only to find that the NPC himself had despawned. He’d be back soon enough but it wasn’t the chief interrogator I was looking for. It was his cauldron of slime and the many empty potion vials found in his chamber.

  “Remember how easily I slipped on this stuff?” I said as I dipped a large empty phial into the vat.

  “Ohhh,” Ellie said, with understanding blooming in her tone. “How did I not think of this?”

  “Chalk it up to human creativity and ingenuity,” I said. “Thinking outside the box. Blue sky thinking – all that bull crap.”

  After I’d filled my eighth large vial I saw my mana had regenerated again. Switching back to Crafting, I used up the last of the iron ore, leaving me with 80 nails in total. I was now running low on mana potions and hurled my last one back, choking down the vile taste of overripe banana. Why hadn’t the beta testers complained enough about the tastes to get them changed? I could only hope higher-level potions tasted like caramel.

  I was about to go ahead and craft caltrops another ten times to make thirty in total but I hesitated. I would still have gunpowder pouches left and little else to do with them.

  Shrapnel bombs.

  The thought entered my mind, did a perverse twirl, then left with a wink.