by Ryan DeBruyn
“Derik, you're upset that I am not teaching people how to survive in this world?” The man sneered at him, and Rocky took that as an affirmative. Well, that made for an unusual opinion. Derik had assumed Rocky was withholding information from other survivors?
“I think we have a misunderstanding, Derik. I only know as much about this world, and possibly less than, anyone else in the Grotto. Sela is my Ancestral guide, and I feel like I am pulling teeth with her sometimes to find out anything.” He looked over to Sela, who was laughing heartily at something Smith had just said.
In that moment, talking about her and seeing her enjoying the company of another, he felt his heart sink. Maybe alcohol wasn't the best option.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and pointed at her and then himself, “The only reason she is with me is because of this Territory. And I had no idea what I was doing when I captured Algonquin Valley. I was headed to my car, and then on to Ottawa, when I accidentally entered this place.
“My only wish since the start of this whole mess has been to save my family. Anything you think I have, any benefits or bonuses I earned—I would trade it all for them to be with me.”
Derik's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open before he snapped it shut. “The rumors about the fight between a massive Chimera and the Wolves you got the meat from is true, then?”
Rocky nodded. Fond memories of Azoth swirled in his mind, along with the colon-clenching recall of the battle. “Derik, I really want to get over whatever is between us—but I am going to leave again. I don’t know when, and I can’t say for how long. As soon as I find out where my family is, I will be like this ale after a good toast.” He drank his Cuppa Macht leaf to the bottom to make his point sink home.
Derik clenched his jaw and emotions played over that man’s face before he got control of himself and sipped his drink.
“Rocky, you don’t think that other people in this Grotto have family that they wish they could save? You think I wouldn’t be long gone if I had the strength to survive on my own?” He squeezed his own Cuppa Macht leaf slowly, bending it as he spoke—wine first rising, and then flowing over the top of the container. Derik crumpled the cup in his fist. “Not many people have the strength you have accumulated, and you are going to chase ghosts with it. That’s selfish and irresponsible.”
Every emotion flared to life inside Rocky, and he seriously considered killing Derik. Maybe Derik wasn’t close with his family; perhaps they had died years before the Apocalypse. Rocky didn’t care what the man's story was in that instance. He knew his family was alive, and he would find—
Hold up. Derik probably doesn’t know about the search function.
Rocky withdrew into Meditation and felt his emotional response shift outside of himself. Choosing to enter Meditation would allow him to respond calmly to Derik, instead of yelling at him. “Derik, I know I won’t be chasing ghosts. My family is alive and waiting for me.” The man's face reddened, and he knew Derik was about to explode in anger. “That massive Tower you couldn’t hope to miss—it has an upload to the EtherNet. Through it, you can search for the names of people and see if they still live. My sister and mother were on that list.”
Derik’s face went from filled with blood to deathly white. Detached Rocky watched the man collapse onto his butt. Derik no longer looked at him, his eyes wild and his mouth forming words with no sounds. Rocky pulled up his interface and granted access to the elevator for twenty-four hours. He exited Meditation, his own emotional response having flamed out after the man crumpled.
Rocky knelt down and placed a hand on Derik’s shoulder. “I have granted you access to the elevator and the control room for twenty-four hours. Since we made the announcement, the exil—” Rocky stumbled as he tried not to bring up Derik’s exile, “— you missed. There is a rotating shift in the control room. Ask the tech on duty to search for your family. Once you have done that, come find me. As much as I dislike admitting it, we need your expertise to organize a great deal.”
Derik rose on shaky legs to stumble-run toward the tower. Rocky hoped he found good news, but felt slightly torn as his goodwill fought his dislike of the man. He glanced forlornly back at the fire and festivities—his energy from before the conversation had dried up. It had taken everything Rocky had within himself to respond kindly. And not kill that ungrateful little...
In his current emotional state, he doubted anyone would want his company. He walked away into the night.
He had no destination in mind and walked mindlessly among the Dragon Scale Buildings of his Territory, looking at them but not seeing them. Derik’s accusations still stung. What had he done for the people here? He took solace in all the buildings and people he passed—he had brought these survivors here, and that was more than he had done for his own family.
Derik’s words had cut him, even while in Meditation. A deep part of Rocky knew what he had refused to admit to himself. Finding his family would only be the start. Would bringing them to this Territory even be safe?
He glanced at the destroyer hovering a few inches off the ground in the unused western portion of the Grotto. They had one ship, blueprints, and time—matched against a terrifying enemy. An enemy that wanted the genocide of all of humanity to pave the way for their control. He tried to be optimistic, but that was hard. Realistically, bringing his family here would just place them on the frontlines of the upcoming battle.
So now are you suggesting doing nothing? Leaving them to fend for themselves?
His inner drive sparked, and he peered around, eyes refreshed. This was only the start. In a single month, he had created a place for people to survive and grow. They had a year, and they would be the frontline of the coming battle—but they would be the bulwark. His family would be with him in this Grotto when they repelled the Guild Collective invasion.
He had an intense need to be doing something toward reaching that goal. His mind buzzed, searching for the best way he could contribute. Enchanting was what the people of his Grotto and his adventuring party needed most. But he’d failed at that—more than once. They couldn't afford gear for everyone, but if they could Enchant their gear... he had to keep trying.
He sat down and pulled out his Enchanting pen, mortar, and pestle. After the first failure of the prepared inks boiling away on the clothing, Smith had suggested some herbs and barks that could be powdered. He hadn’t heard of the first herb, dried Mageleaf. Smith claimed it was a new specimen of plant that relied on Ether to grow.
He converted his sword into a sharp paring knife and cut the thin silver leaf into small pieces. With his Pestle, he ground those pieces until the dried leaf became silver powder. He added each section until he converted the entire three-foot length of the dried leaf into dust. He upended the bowl and tapped the last clinging traces into the reservoir of the pen.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill.
Alchemy
● The first step in alchemy is learning to prepare your ingredients.
Current level: Weak Alchemist level 1.
He pulled out a piece of leather armor and entered his Meditation. Like last time, he connected an internal Ether channel to the pen and tried drawing the runes on the leather.
The cap on the back of the pen shot off, as the ‘ink’ blackened and smoked. The pen was scalding hot, and the silvery ink sparked like a firework. Rocky dropped the pen as the burning pain seared his hand, even through Meditation. He watched in horror as the pen continued its impression of a roman candle.
I can’t afford another one, if this one breaks.
The reaction finally died out, and he shook his hand as if to flick the pain away. Rocky waited for his Dark Mend skill to heal the damage to his hand, then tried the other two plants Smith had given him, Kingsbraid and Fernicular—both of which only grew now that Ether had returned. He was smart enough not to hold the pen on the second two attempts. Both failed and created amusing displays of something on par with a massive sparkler.
&n
bsp; He had performed his Enchanting experimentation in the completely barren field on the western side of the Grotto. To his embarrassment and grudging amusement, the next two explosions drew ‘ooooo’s’ and ‘ahhhhhs’ from the festival. At least he had unintentionally made someone’s night.
In some video games, Enchanters needed to break down other Enchantments to gain materials. Rocky pulled out the Cursed Regalia and began examining it while Meditating. He found something linking the magic to the article, but like other gear that was dropped by Dungeons or the world spawns, it wasn't as obvious. It almost appeared that the medium holding the Enchantment was woven into the material.
He turned the chest piece over in his hands multiple times, trying to find a starting point. The attaching glyphs didn't seem to have a starting or endpoint, instead seeming to loop in on each other. He examined the connection with the Ether Pool, and found two seamless transitions entering and exiting the bright blue ball.
At the bottom of the Ether Pool was a small bump. He created a thread of his Ether and prodded at it. Nothing happened. He enveloped it and instantly felt subtleties in it that he hadn't been able to see with his mind's eye. It was a very intricate knot, perhaps even a very tightly woven spiral of some sort.
The threads of the weaving were so tiny that he thought he could sense hundreds, if not thousands, of them. He continued feeling his way along the Enchantments, tracing the pool, and then the glyphs before his Ether Thread showed him an apparent connection between the two glyphs.
He felt the two ends of the glyphs and the mental welding point between them. Taking a deep breath, he made his mental thread of Ether thinner and sharper. With the utmost care, he began to try to sever that point. It was like trying to cut through steel with a butter knife, and in his interface, he saw his Ether dropping, but he also felt some minuscule progress.
Just before his Ether ran dry, the bond snapped. Then like a snake turning to dust, the glyphs reversed flow and pulled themselves back into the pool of Ether. He waited for something else to happen, for a notification to pop up, but all he held now was a fur-lined Tunic that contained an Ether pool.
He checked his character screen, and he had gained a few levels in Enchanting. No magic medium appeared from 'disenchanting' the piece of gear. He exited Meditation, feeling the sweat and cold night air he hadn't noticed before. He threw the piece of equipment into his Bag of Holding carelessly and fell backward, his back meeting the soft soil. He stared at the night sky from the grass, breathing heavily.
“How the hell am I supposed to discover the secret to Enchanting? Why won't someone in the shop just give me a hint?” He spoke to the universe as his feelings of failure swarmed over him. He couldn't even accomplish the one task he knew would help his people.
Popeye's Disproportionate Biceps.
The strange swear replacement inside of his head elicited a laugh. He sat back up and shook his head. He would try Enchanting again after he had a full night’s sleep and wasn’t so abysmally tired. Or affected by alcohol. He considered returning to the festivities but wasn't in the right mood. The fresh night air left him with an intense desire for a blistering hot shower.
He levered himself to his feet, picked up his Enchanting materials, and made his way back to his apartment. Perhaps there was some sort of hint inside of the Knowledge Tablet. Sela claimed that she didn't know the first thing about the profession. She also insisted no one would share this knowledge with him. Perhaps he could ask some of the Montessori volunteers to look specifically for this tidbit.
It's worth a shot.
He opened his door on the third floor and stripped out of his cracked armor. He didn't even bother to hang it up on the rack. He was in the mood for only one thing.
He turned on the shower and pulled off the Nanoweave Under armor. The rising steam of the water made him happy, and he climbed into the deluge. As he cleaned himself, he noticed again that his hair could use a cut. It might even be long enough to put up in a bun. For now, that might be the better solution, as he didn't know of any hairdressers in the Grotto.
An insistent knock rattled his door, and he jumped. He ran from the shower and grabbed one of the fluffy towels he had purchased. He wrapped it around himself and flung open his door. Sela stood there, hand raised to knock again. She took in his wet hair, bare chest, and hastily wrapped towel.
Her face flushed bright red. “You can't just leave the party. One second you were talking to Derik, and the next you were just gone. I was looking all over for you.”
Relief flooded over him, and he relaxed. Nothing serious had happened. The feeling of euphoria spread, and he joked, “Well, here I am. Call off the search.”
She pointed at him, her mouth moving but no words forming. She advanced on him, poking him with a single finger in his solar plexus. He flinched back as she continued jabbing her finger with each word, “You—aren't—funny. What—if—something—had—happened—to you? What if you killed Derik?”
Her prodding had pushed him back to the doorway of his still running shower. Rubbing his chest with his free hand, he laughed. “Sela, that hurt. It's okay, see—” he raised his hand to point at the shower, “—I just wanted to take a long shower, and Derik is alive; at least, as far as the last I saw of him.”
Sela bit her lip. Something about the action made his breath catch, and unlike in the past, he took the opportunity. He leaned in and kissed her.
She jerked, and he thought he had misinterpreted the moment. Then she kissed him back, discarding her cracked chest piece and throwing it on the ground to join his.
Wearing only her Under Armor, she gazed intensely at him, eyes half-lidded, and whispered, “A shower sounds perfect!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rocky woke up the next morning with the most beautiful silhouette wrapped in a white sheet beside him. He considered waking up to this view every morning and a goofy smile spread.
The ecstasy was followed quickly by a wave of terror. He had a habit of falling in love immediately, and that was often to his detriment. A female ‘friend’ had put it best, telling Rocky, “You mistake lust for love, dummy.”
His heart beat faster and faster. He knew Sela well, but he didn’t know what sort of customs surrounded relationships during her lifetime. For all he knew, this was a casual occurrence for the woman, and yet and here he was, already planning more of such events. His nerves were at war, and his stomach roiled with contradictory feelings.
His stomach growled, causing Sela to wake up and stretch. The smile she wore when she looked at him quelled his nerves. His cheeks hurt from the return of his goofy grin. The pain reminded him how much he had laughed and smiled with the woman the previous night, and just how great everything had been.
Sela put her head on his chest. “Are you as hungry as I am?”
He tried not to laugh but couldn’t manage it. “Ow, don’t make me laugh anymore. I think we overdid it last night.” He went against his own words with a bellowing laugh. “Ha—ow, yes, I am starving. Would you be game for another shower and breakfast?”
Her tight squeeze of his chest was all the answer he needed, and he got up to turn on the taps.
A good chunk of the morning later, and far hungrier, they finally escaped the room. On his way out of the City Hall, he looked up to the mounted clock. It was only nine in the morning, and they had a busy day of meetings in front of them. They walked by the area that served as the starship’s usual resting place. It wasn’t there, and he assumed it was already out collecting more survivors from surrounding areas.
The previous night, they had discovered that the ship could reach anywhere on the planet in under an hour. Short distances were less efficient because of the time to speed up and slow down the destroyer’s momentum. The Council had subsequently ordered the ship to be on rescue and escort quests.
Rocky and Sela agreed. Each citizen gained some Etherience for each quest completed, and each new survivor added would increase the productivity of t
he area. With the rooms in the Guild Hall, they had more than ten thousand spaces available for housing. That wouldn’t mean much at the current growth rate, but at least for now, they had spare vacancies and were working to construct more. They had three more yet unassigned Longhouses, and if desperate, the soon to be recovered Guild Tent.
Breakfast became a large table affair with the parade of people stopping by to speak with them. Smith wanted to finalize the military rankings from Rocky’s Leadership class. With the conquering of the nearby Territory, he and Sela had both gained a few levels to those special classes. He was now able to promote actual Military Leaders. Finally. There was a downside to those promotions. If his military leaders were killed, he could, in theory, lose the Territory.
The good news was that Sela believed, in their situation, the Territory would need both of their class conditions satisfied to lose the Grotto. Victoria received Colonel under Smith’s rank of Brigadier-General. There were three higher ranks in the options Rocky had yet to unlock—Major-General, Lieutenant-General, and General. The information for opening these wasn’t available yet either. By unlocking Brigadier-General, each rank below now had space for five individuals. He had appointed Smith as the sole Brigadier-General.
Smith, like Sela and Rocky, received two additional stats per level for his new role. Rocky assumed the next three ranks would grant the same. They desperately wanted to unlock them. Victoria’s rank gave her one stat point per level, and it allowed her to choose between Strength and Stamina.
Smith suggested Derik for one of the spots of Major, as it gave the same one stat to Intellect or Wisdom per level. He inserted Zippo into that rank as well, bumping a member he didn’t know. That member shifted up to Lieutenant-Colonel, which allowed individuals to choose between Charisma and Stamina each level. Smith left, promising to promote the lower ranks himself. Rocky’s increased Leadership level also meant that the entirety of the military fit under the system ranks. This was a significant boost for their fighting forces, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.