by Prax Venter
“You’re smarter than you…” Sol paused and pulled in a deep breath through his nose before continuing. “You’re absolutely correct.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence and sat down to have some Level 5 cake. Jack was shocked to learn that Sol had paid in advance for everyone in the Town. The lemon frosting was absurdly tangy with a smooth, sweet aftertaste. While they ate, Harrak told Jack that three new Townsfolk spawned at the gate and all were assigned as guards with good potential. Jack decided he was going to visit the Wall again in the morning. Maybe check in with that guy, Blevins, he’d assigned to the mill so long ago. It was probably a good idea to pop in on people he hadn’t seen in a while- as Mayor, of course. Jack also noticed that Demi was having a hard time keeping up with cooking and serving, and he wondered if he should reassign one of the least-proficient guards to help out at the Eye o’ the Storm. He added a chat with Kron on the matter to his list of stops tomorrow, when he noticed Reno moving between the tables and making Townsfolk laugh with his good nature and quick wit. He certainly didn’t belong at the Wall- then it clicked.
He thought about talking to Demi about it first, but it was clear they wanted to be together, and the pointed-eared man seemed like a perfect fit for the position.
Sol and Haylee ended up sitting alone at the bar again, talking quietly until it was time for the Heroes to head off to sleep.
Jack and Lex snuggled close under the sheets, but a bout of spirited laughter floated up to him from the common room, and a desire for more privacy struck him. He turned to the blonde Bastion in bed with him.
“Will we ever get our own house, or must we spend every night for the rest of our lives renting out a single room?”
She gave him a sad smile. “We must if we want a Rest Bonus the next day. I’ve heard high-level Towns might offer expensive private villas that Heroes can rent long-term. I’ve never seen this for myself.”
Jack sighed and kissed her forehead.
“We’ll find out together.”
- 19 -
Jack got up early to the sound of a bell ringing inside his mind. He and Alt experimented with different ways the AI could deliver his morning wakeup call, and the worst was when he called Jack’s name louder and louder. In the end, the classic wind-up alarm clock with two bells and a hammer turned out to be the least annoying. With two hours to kill before breakfast, Jack pushed open the door to the common room and stepped into the shadows of a cloudy morning. The charcoal-colored blanket of fluff moving over his head was a clear indication that it was going to be a stormy day.
“Jack?” Alt said in his mind.
“What?”
“Look up.”
Jack pulled his eyes from the flagstone path at his feet and noticed a wooden Watchtower standing tall on the small rise between the Inn and the Wall. From this distance, he could see a shadowy figure already standing watch.
“The structure was easy to sneak in because it doesn’t have a job slot,” Alt added. “Anyone can stand up there and blow a horn.”
With a snort of laughter, Jack continued his brisk pace down the path.
“Hello down there!” the guard on watch called down when Jack was close enough, and he recognized the kid as Milin. If he remembered correctly, the young man was not very proficient at guarding the Town.
Alt spoke in his mind again. “Milin was 17% proficient when you last checked.”
“Hello!” Jack called up and then whispered to Alt. “Can their proficiency change?”
“From what I’ve seen of the code, yes, for multiple reasons.”
“This is so amazing!” the kid yelled down from the four-story structure. “It’s like a miniature Tower. I can see out forever, and it came out of nowhere!”
Milin held out his arms and spun around on the wooden platform to indicate the expanse around him, and Jack considered climbing up the ladder to check out the view himself before heading the rest of the way to the Wall. However, the angry black clouds passing above the slanted roof of the Watchtower could let loose any minute and-
“Oh no!” the young guard yelled and then vanished from the edge.
“What is it?” Jack yelled up, but Milin’s answer was a long horn blast that echoed across the rolling hills.
After the message had been delivered to absolutely everyone, Jack had to mentally thank Alt for making this happen. He imagined Pan rushing with Meri and her son from the forest to the Inn along with Ryea and Sol. This Watchtower was useful on many levels. Milin poked his head back over the edge. “Jack, sir! I can see many Demons dashing across the land toward the gate! We’re under attack!”
“Good work!” Jack yelled up and then started sprinting the rest of the way to the Wall.
When he got there, he found Kron and Harrak standing in the archway along with Thymus and Haylee.
“That watchtower your doing?” the Combat Master asked.
“Yes and no,” Jack said, panting.
Kron turned to face Jack. “However it exists, the Watchtower is a strategic treasure. Without it, we might not have known about all that before we had a chance to pull the archers here.” The heavily armored man pointed his mailed fist down the road out of Town, and Jack saw the twelve or so monsters rushing toward them. Kron continued, “Also, there appear to be mid-level Demons in this wave.”
Jack squinted and noticed that a few of the loping creatures in the distance wore white, chitinous armor as if bone plate mail were grafted to their chests and arms.
“Actually,” Jack said, “let me see if I can end this before it even begins.”
Without waiting for a response, he started walking a few steps down the road. Jack closed his fist loosely around the hilt of his blade- a blade that was quite literally a part of him. With a slow, deep breath, Jack tried to extend his attention to each Demon in sight. The threat these charging monsters posed to those he vowed to protect sharpened his mind to a fine point and allowed him unwavering focus.
With a determined exhale, Jack drew his weapon while activating both Double Strike and Omni Strike at the same time.
Lesser Demon Spawn -67 | Defeated
… x8
Demon Spawn -57 | Defeated
… x3
For a moment, Jack’s vision was cluttered with damage notifications, but it all faded quickly. It turned out that Double Strike was overkill, but it was better to be wrong about too much damage instead of not enough.
He spun on the heel of his boot as he sheathed his blade without looking and faced the guards and Heroes gathered by the arch. Everyone but Haylee and Thymus had their mouths hanging open.
“Good work, team,” Jack said with a smile. He noticed Reno among the archers on the Wall and remembered his plan for the man.
“I can’t take it anymore, Jack,” Lex’s father said. “By that I mean, from this point forward, I choose not to be shocked to the edge of my sanity by whatever madness I see from you. I’ll just be glad you’re on our side.”
“You’ve grown truly powerful,” Kron said. Jack looked over to the giant of a man and saw all the remaining color had drained from his already grayish pallor.
“Maybe you could join us in the Tower someday when we get closer to your Level,” Jack suggested. “All of us could become more powerful.”
Kron narrowed his eyes as he considered the offer, but in the end, he shook his horned head.
“This Town needs a Defender on the outside while you go to work inside. Perhaps, if we gain high-level Heroes who are willing to truly stand watch, we can discuss it then.”
Jack nodded and changed subjects. “I hear you have three new and proficient guards.”
Kron crossed his arms. “Yes. Skilled marksmen.”
“Demi is short at the Inn, what are your thoughts on reassigning Reno?”
The tall man’s steely eyes drilled into Jack for a moment before he responded.
“I would prefer he stayed on the Wall for the morning shift. A few more like Irun and Kev, and t
hen you can take him.” The Captain of the Guard extended his thick arm to see the markswoman in question already busy instructing Haylee on how to stand properly, and Jack watched as the beam of straight light appeared between the young Hero and a boulder in the distance.
“She’s been here since sunrise,” Harrak said. “That’s a determined little girl.”
Jack nodded and turned back to Kron. “I trust your judgment regarding Reno, Captain. Now, if you two will excuse me, I’d like to check on my old team member.”
Harrak snorted, while the armored man nodded and said, “Mayor.”
Jack headed for the Arcane Mage, Thymus, standing to the side of the arch. He found a wide smile waiting for him, and the older man clasped his hand as he approached.
“How goes the Wall duty?”
“Good, Jack. I’m making a difference here and playing a major role in primary defensive strategies. Harrak speaks to me again, not warmly, but I think given time, things may grow closer to what they were.”
“Maybe,” Jack said. “You both went through a lot and could be considered different people from all those years ago. It might not ever be the same… but instead, you both have this opportunity to forge a new friendship.”
Thymus glanced over to the shorter man and considered Jack’s words.
“A new friendship…”
Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “Keep up the good work, Thymus.”
After a nod in parting, Jack headed back toward the cliffs along the path. He passed under the watchtower and decided he would come back to check it out later. Instead, he used the time to pop in on Sol.
Ryea pointed him to the barn, and he found the tall man hand-feeding young cows fistfuls of hay.
“Greetings, Jack,” the owlish man said in an unusually soft voice.
“It appears you are still serving Townsfolk,” Jack said with a smile as he approached, matching the tone of the other man’s voice.
“Check your eyes! These are clearly Cowsfolk.”
The brown-and-white beauty Sol was currently feeding snorted out through her nose before backing away toward the cloudy pastures outside.
Sol held the hay out as far as he could through the bars.
“Oh, come now,” he said, trying to coax the skittish cow back. “Calm down, I was only jesting.”
The two chatted for a while as Sol went about his duties, and Jack learned that the cows would be old enough to start producing milk in a few days. After news about the Farm, Jack filled the man in on how skilled and intelligent his daughter was with stories of her first time in the Tower.
Sol nodded and only spoke when Jack was finished.
“Haylee recounted some of this, but it’s beneficial to hear of her trials from your perspective.”
With one more stop to be made before breakfast, Jack bid Sol good day and marched to the white plaster windmill facing out toward the ocean.
The wind had picked up as thunder rumbled in the distance over the water, and Jack marveled again at the resilience of cloth windmill blades. He pushed open the wooden door and entered the structure for the first time since it appeared.
The circular interior was dimly lit by a single candle, and in the gloomy darkness Jack saw stacks of processed flour everywhere. Above it all, the wooden gears and shafts spun as the mill turned outside. A soothing clacking sound filled the room because every mechanism apart from the millstone itself was wood. On top of the soft, repetitive noises was another sound Jack needed a moment to place, but quickly recognized it as snoring.
He rounded a stack of burlap flour sacks and found Blevins with his feet up on a small table, his chair leaning backward, and his mouth hanging open.
Jack was about to shout the man awake when it hit him just how many flour sacks were crammed into the building. There was far more finished product here than unfinished. He was closer to the hopper now and noticed that it was stuffed full of wheat ready to be ground by the automated grindstone.
While the presumed lazy man was still asleep, Jack brought up his proficiency score.
Blevins - Townsfolk: Miller | 90% Proficiency
[Health: 5/5]
Relationship –
[Disposition: Accepting]
Jack closed the interface with a thought and cleared his throat. The red-headed guard opened one of his eyes, saw who was standing there and then swiftly scrambled to his feet.
“Jack, Mayor, sir!”
“At ease, Blevins,” Jack said with a grin. “I just wanted to come and check in on you to see how you were doing- you know, to see if you are happy here.”
“Happy?” Blevins yawned and rubbed an eye with the back of his hand as he thought about it. “Yah, ’suppose I’m happy. Bored, mostly.”
Jack nodded. This seemed more this guy’s speed.
“There’s a lot of flour stacked around here, huh?”
The miller shrugged. “Won’t fit in my inventory.”
Jack held out his hand and after a moment, Blevins took it.
“Keep up the good work.”
He got a slow smile in return before leaving the sleepy Miller to go meet Haylee and Lex at the Inn. The rain seemed to have started a few moments ago, and frigid fat drops of water from above had already begun to drench everything around him. The gentle lightning of an infant storm flashed over his head, and Jack looked up to see the bejeweled Tower puncturing the black clouds. It always felt as if the day would be extremely long if he ran around Town like he had before going into that madness.
The three Heroes discussed the plan, which was for Haylee to hit Hero Level 10 before she bailed. And since everyone agreed, there wasn’t much to discuss. After breakfast, they sprinted through the freezing rain and then quickly entered the Tower. Jack still found it hard to process the fact that it was absolutely normal to be soaking wet one moment and bone dry the next.
He looked around the first Floor of the day and noticed they were standing on one long metal platform amongst fluffy, white clouds. There were no rails to keep them from falling off, and Jack tried to resist the temptation of glancing over the edge into the bright blue nothing below. This whole world appeared to only be a single strip of metal, twenty yards across, floating in the sky.
Ahead of them and along the platform were what appeared to be cellos- or maybe they were over-sized violins. Either way, they were resting on the ground every thirty yards or so, and it was going to be a shooting gallery for Haylee.
Jack was about to shift Alt into a butterfly statue Boss they’d captured yesterday when the young Dark Prism held up her hand.
“Wait,” she said, staring at the miniature spaceship. “Isn’t this your true form?”
“Yes,” Alt answered quickly. “It’s the most accurate representation of my physical form- only shrunk down considerably.”
Haylee turned to Jack, and her gray eyes locked on his.
“Can I ask that he stay in this form for a while? Conduct your transformation test at the end of the Floor instead of the beginning. This way, Alt won’t be stuck alone for the whole Floor if you change him into something that cannot move.”
Jack blinked at her.
“Damn it! Yeah, that makes so much more sense.” He turned to the sleek science vessel. “Our monster experiments will be conducted at the end of a Floor from now on, buddy.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Alt answered, dipping his prow.
Jack sighed. “Well, smarty pants. Go show me what you learned at the Wall today. See how far you can snipe down this straight line.”
The Dark Prism flicked her eyes over to Alt before she turned and took a step forward. There, she turned sideways and checked the positions of her feet.
“Today I discovered that I aim better and show the enemy less of a target if I perfect my stance.”
Haylee drew her bow, held her breath, and vaporized the first foe on the platform.
Fighting Bass -15 | Defeated
It was a stationary target and only about thirty yards aw
ay, but when she obliterated the next oblivious stringed instrument, Jack cheered. She missed the next three shots but eventually hit her mark, and it had to be 90 to 100 yards away. Haylee turned to face him.
“I think it would be a waste of time to try and hit the one that far. It would only come down to luck.”
Jack nodded. “Take us through the Floor, Haylee.”
And she did. Jack let the new Hero make as many judgment calls as he could until they started getting above her Hero Level. They fought metal ninjas and werewolves made from electricity. They explored a mossy ruin and a mansion built from bones and dirt. They were fighting rat people inside a massive chunk of Swiss cheese on Floor 9 when Haylee picked up rare cloth pants. She instantly put them on when she found them, and Jack saw his first pair of shorts in System Sana. When she drew close, he inspected the fur-lined item.
Legs: Rodentia Raiment- [Legs | Value: 55]
| Def: 4 |
| Max HP +44 |
| Max MP +20 |
| Spell Power +18 |
| 15% chance for +1 MP after enemy kill |
~ Let nothing stop you from eating your fill.
“Wow,” he said. “That must have been a huge boost to your HPs and Spell Power.”
“It was,” the Dark Prism said, a small smile on her face.
The plan was to stop when Haylee was Level 10, and that happened after they destroyed the rat king at the top of the cheese.
Haylee eyed the Exit Orb, then locked her gray eyes on Jack.
“I believe I am geared enough for the next Floor. The sooner we get me to your Level, the less time we’ll waste.”
Jack looked over at Lex who moved to Inspect Haylee’s equipment for herself, so he did the same.
Haylee - Hero: Dark Prism | Level 10
[Health: 150/150 | Mana: 32/85]
Relationship -
[Disposition: Respected]
~
Main Hand: Ancient Bow - [Bow | Value: 25]
| Dmg: 9 |
| Hit Chance +0.02 |