Instantly interested, she motioned for him to hop back on the table. Telling him to wait a second, she left the room and came back with a video camera mounted on her forehead with a head strap. “I plan to use this for surgeries and such. So if something goes wrong, I can see what it was. If I ever get to do any. With the healing system here, I might be better off just working with Meg and learning recipes for snacks that cure cancer and heal shotgun wounds in two minutes.” She sounded more than a little bitter.
“Tell you what. Next time I get all bit up, I’ll try ‘n’ make it back here quick for some stitches.” He looked at her. “Or uh, cardiac surgery or something. Put my heart in your hands!” He put a hand over his heart and made a puppy dog face.
“Fool. Grab your first spell and let’s do this.” Her words were harsh, but her tone was amused. Allistor grabbed his Metallurgy scroll. After looking up at her to confirm she was ready, he opened it and began to read. Again, he felt the rush of knowledge flood his mind. Information on types of metal and where they can generally be found from a geological standpoint, how they react to heat and cold and pressure and stress. Ways to combine them with specific ingredients to make them stronger or more pliable. Formulas for alloys.
When it was over, he looked at Amanda. She was staring at him, sort of. Her focus was on the air around him. “That was cool!” She gasped. You were right. Some kind of distortion field around you. I touched it. There was no heat, but I got a shock. Like a static charge. And I felt a sort of… warning in my head. To stay back.” She rubbed her fingers together as if testing the texture of something. “Fingers are asleep.”
“Ha! I was about to do the same with you a few minutes ago. Glad it was you that was the guinea pig instead.” His smile was probably wider than it should have been, considering his hopes for later.
She didn’t seem to notice. “Alright, magic boy. Let’s do it again! This time I’ll use my spell to watch.
He removed his Restraint scroll and opened it. This time the process was much faster. He knew instinctively that much of the knowledge he needed for this spell had already been imparted by the Levitate scroll. Gravity, density, force, momentum. There was some additional information about the formula used to determine if the spell would succeed against targets of higher or lower levels with various attributes. He ignored all of that and focused on Amanda.
She was biting her lower lip as she stared at him. “Fascinating.”
“Wanna clue me in?”
“Well, you know how we’ve been wondering how this new system works? How we can beef ourselves up or do magic, heal in minutes?”
“Yeahhhh…”
“I’m seeing… for lack of a better term, I’m gonna call them critters. No, maybe nanobots is a better description. When you activated that scroll, a field of millions – maybe billions – of the things coalesced around you. Mostly around your head. I could see them inside you. And now that I know to look for them, I can see them in your bloodstream. And your bones. Clustered more densely around where you’ve healed.”
She picked up a scalpel from the nearby instrument table and grabbed his hand. “Hold still.” Before he could object, she sliced one of his fingers nearly to the bone. She held his hand still as he protested.
“Hey! Dammit, woman. How ‘bout a little warning?”
“Quit whining. I’ll kiss it better later. Now hush and let me watch.”
After a minute or so, she said, “They’re gathering but only slowly. Grab some jerky from your ring and eat it. Drink some water, too.”
He did as instructed, focusing on the whole ‘kissing it better’ aspect of what she’d said. A few seconds after he washed down the first bite of jerky, she began to clap her hands happily. “There it is! Whatever the mechanic is that triggers the healing increase from food and drink, it just kicked in. The critters are swarming around your finger now. I can actually see the skin starting to knit itself closed. This is awesome!”
He stared at his finger. He could see the bleeding slow, then stop. A minute or so later, the wound had closed to create a thin pink scar. A minute more, and the scar was gone.
Allistor looked up at Amanda. Still holding the scalpel in her hand, she was looking from him to it and back again. He yanked his hand away. “Ohhh, no you don’t! Put that thing down. I’ve guinea pig’d enough for one day.”
She gave him a pouty face. “Spoilsport. But thank you. I got two skill points out of that!”
Damn. Now he was reconsidering. Skill points were hard to come by. And pain was temporary. “Uhm, that’s awesome. If you cut me again, will it get you more points?” He held his hand back out.
She shook her head. “Probably not. At least not until I think of a new way to approach this. But thank you for being willing.” She gave him a brief kiss. “I may ask you to be my piggy again later.”
Shaking his head, he left her to review her video and make notes. He delivered the rest of the scrolls and chatted with each of the recipients for a few minutes. He watched each one as they learned their spells. And though he knew better, he tried to touch Nancy as she was learning one of the Alchemy recipes.
When Chloe saw him get shocked, she giggled. Then she tried it herself, putting an end to her laughter. “Ow! Dammit!” When she realized what she’d said, her eyes got big, and she covered her mouth with both hands.
Allistor winked at the little girl and was about to say he wouldn’t tell, when Nancy said, “I heard that, young lady!” Chloe speedily retreated outside, Max bounding after her.
Allistor chuckled. “Mom radar. Never fails. My mother used to catch me doing stuff from blocks away.” He shared a smile with Nancy.
He’d informed each recipient that there would be a meeting at lunchtime. When they were all gathered, he asked Amanda to share what she’d learned by watching him. She quickly laid it out for them in simple terms. Immediately there was a flood of questions. He held up both hands to quieten them.
“I have one more spell to learn for myself. You can all watch. I warn you - don’t try to touch me. The result is shocking.” He grinned at his own joke. Nobody else did.
He pulled out his Flame Shot scroll, opened it and read it. He didn’t see the looks on everyone’s faces as he was distracted by the information upload. This time it was more extensive as most of the information was new. He learned at what temperature the air around him would ignite, and how bad that would be for him. He absorbed information on combustible materials and their ignition points. Vectors and intercept courses for hitting moving targets. How to control whether heat built up almost instantly or more slowly. And how to keep it contained in a pressurized space for maximum benefit. The latter would, in theory, allow him to appear to hold a ball of flame in his hand without being burned.
When he refocused his eyes, the others were staring at him. Amanda was once again using her spell to look inside him. A few folks had been distracted by her glowing eyes.
To get their attention, and to show off a little bit if he was honest, he raised a finger and shot a short burst of flame into the air.
“Show-off!” Michael accused him, though he was laughing when he said it.
“That was cool!” Chloe shouted, standing up in her chair. “Teach me!”
“Over my dead body.” Nancy pushed her back down onto her bottom.
Sam cleared his throat. “So, we have these things. Whether they’re nanobots or midichlorians from Star Wars or friggin’ Whovians, whatever you wanna call them-”
“Whos,” Meg interrupted him.
“What?” A flustered Sam looked at her, annoyed.
“Whovians are people that run around with trench coats and very long scarves saying, ‘It’s bigger on the inside.’ You’re thinking of the tiny little people that Horton heard, which are whos.”
Chloe smiled and nodded her head. “They live in Whoville!”
Properly chastised, Sam continued. “Fine. Whos. Or damned Tweedlebugs. Whatever.” He waited for Meg to correct him ag
ain, but she just smiled. “So these things are inside us now? Like, all the time?” He rubbed his chest as if he had acid reflux.
“As far as I can tell,” Amanda confirmed. “And not just inside us. I think they’re all around us, all the time. And we only see them when they congregate around us in a high density to heal or upload info.”
Lilly said, “So we can like, use the force?”
“I’m not sure what to call it,” Allistor admitted. “It has struck me that a lot of the games and movies from the last couple decades have born a strong resemblance to what we’re experiencing now. I’m starting to suspect there was some kind of seeding of information on Earth to sort of prep us for all of this. Though I don’t know why our evil overlords bothered if they were just going to wipe us out anyway.”
“Not all of us.” Ramon held up a finger to emphasize his point. “They’re keeping ten percent of us. Which is roughly a billion humans. They must see some value in us. Even if it’s only for entertainment.” His eyes unfocused for a second. “Whoa. I just got fifty Fame Points.”
Amanda said, “I’m going to study this. Learn as much as I can. Maybe there’s some kind of book or something on the market that will answer our questions. I mean, we can’t be the first world to be assimilated, right? Others must have asked and answered these questions before us.”
A few more minutes of speculation and the group dispersed again. Chloe leapt off of her chair and called to Max as she dashed off behind the crafting house. “Let’s go find some whos!” The dog barked happily and bounded after the little girl.
Chapter Nine
Fluffy Bunnies
Another week passed as the group did their best to level up skills. The scrolls Allistor purchased had given everyone a boost - the knowledge they gained helping them to better understand what materials they needed and how to use them.
Lilly was making cloth and leather items that had better stats than before – some with as much as +3 in one attribute, or bonuses in two or three attributes at once. Michael was making uncommon quality chain mail shirts for everyone with Stamina and Constitution bumps.
Ramon had learned all of the spells from the scrolls he was given, and he was having reasonable success in duplicating them. Everyone had learned the Light and Night Vision spells. Most had also learned the healing spell Nature’s Boon from copies that Ramon had made. Sam and Chloe didn’t have the necessary attributes to learn the spell – Sam because his Intelligence and Will Power were both at two, and Chloe because she was too young. Or so they assumed, since her attributes weren’t showing up yet. Or she didn’t understand what Nancy asked her. She was just learning to read.
Nancy and Ramon had spent a good deal of time together outside the stronghold gathering herbs and other ingredients. Her for her potions, him for his inks. When Lilly and Nancy took Chloe outside for a little gardening time, Ramon usually joined them. There was even talk of establishing a greenhouse when they finally agreed to start building topside. Nancy had researched it, and the building cost was comparatively low. Half the cost of the crafting hall.
Allistor had been doing a lot of thinking as he continued to forage through the week. He’d taken to using the winery’s truck, moving farther and farther out of town in search of usable food items, other needed supplies, and rare items that might be worth selling. He’d been thinking about the various ways he power leveled his avatars in his favorite games.
The most obvious and common way was running dungeons. Putting together a party and just grinding through a dungeon for xp and loot. He hadn’t run across any dark portals or gateways that looked like a dungeon entrance. But his first meeting with Nancy and Chloe had been on his mind.
The vermin that they’d killed when he found them had been called scouts. That, combined with the fact that they’d been patrolling a tunnel, seemed dungeony enough for him. He’d fled from the tunnels then, having only his rebar spear as a weapon. But with the improved stats that he and his people had now, the better armor and weapons, and their ability to do AoE damage, crowd control, and heal each other, he thought it was worth a shot.
And they needed to do it soon. If the vermin hadn’t been killing things and leveling themselves up, his people would soon be a much higher level than the mobs. And if the system here worked like most games, they wouldn’t be worth much experience.
He returned to the Warren with a full load in the box truck. He’d found an old 1966 Harley Davidson Shovelhead with pristine red tank and fenders. The kind of bike he’d dreamed of as a teenager. He planned to get at least thirty thousand klax for it.
In the truck with the Harley were two more dirt bikes for their collection, six five-gallon cans of gas, two queen-sized bed frames with mattress and box springs, a water cooler with a dozen full bottles, and ten more cases of wine from the winery. There was also a load of lumber, wire, and nails. And a little surprise for Chloe that he’d run across behind the barn where he’d found the Shovelhead.
Parking the truck, he called Nancy and Ramon over. After whispering to the two of them for a few moments, Ramon nodded his head and went to get Sam. Nancy smiled and hugged Allistor before walking off to find and distract Chloe. She and Lilly would take her out for some extended gardening time.
Ramon and Sam returned with Michael and Meg, all of them grinning like fools. They got to work unloading the truck, then picked a spot near the back of the cavern and got busy. A short discussion, a division of labor, and the sounds of sawing and hammering commenced.
As they worked, Allistor pushed the Harley over to the market kiosk and got to work on the auction listing. He wished for the hundredth time that month for the internet to still be working. He loved Harleys, but couldn’t be sure of the correct model year of the bike. And it would have been helpful to have some factual historical information on the company. Still, he did the best he could, then he uploaded the listing and rolled the bike inside. He’d learned that the kiosk would do a full scan of the bike and offer 3-D holo-images as well as detailed dimensions and other information like fuel source, tank capacity, and estimated range on a full tank. If he’d done that with the Mustang, it might have sold for even more. Lesson learned.
When Ramon and company were finished with their little project, they radioed Nancy that they needed her help. Allistor grabbed Amanda from the infirmary so she could participate. Two minutes later, Nancy and Lilly brought Chloe back inside. Ramon pretended to be upset. “Sam was doing some woodworking, and he cut himself pretty bad. He could use one of your potions!” He winked at Nancy and pointed toward the back wall where Sam was laying on the floor, playing injured.
Taking the hint, she took off at a jog toward Sam. Ramon scooped up Chloe, and the rest of the group followed. As Sam theatrically moaned and groaned, hamming it up for Chloe’s benefit, Ramon set her down. She looked on, her face scrunched up in worry, until Nancy declared Sam all healed and told him to stop being such a big baby.
When Sam got to his feet, he said, “I was just working on the hutch here, and the dam-…er, the gosh-darn saw slipped. Thanks for making it all better, Nancy.”
Chloe’s eyes widened. Her focus, previously on the wounded Sam, moved past him to the wooden structure behind him. Max, his nose having alerted him to new visitors long ago, was sniffing around it, tail wagging. He gave a muted woof as he poked his nose at it. “Hutch? Like… for bunnies?”
Meg looked to Allistor, who nodded. “Well, we figured since we called this place the Warren, it should have some fluffy bunnies, right?” She opened a trap door in the top of the wooden box Allistor had brought back, and pulled out a soft, fuzzy brown rabbit. Bending down, she handed it to Chloe. The girl squealed in delight and hugged the furry beast to her chest. “It’s SO CUTE!”
Nancy crouched down so that she was at eye level with her daughter. “If we keep these here, you’re going to have to learn how to take care of them. You’ll need to feed them, clean up after them, and make sure they don’t escape.”
; Chloe immediately began nodding her head emphatically. “I will, Momma! Max will help me. If any of them gets loose, he can catch them. He’s really fast!” The dog perked up at the mention of his name, and he trotted over to poke his nose at the bunny’s hindquarters. Lilly handed Chloe a few plants she’d brought in for the rabbits to nibble on.
They took a few minutes to let Chloe feed and name the two bunnies. Male and female. Thumper and Beatrice. Allistor had run across them in the yard behind the barn. The hutch was there, a wooden structure with chicken wire along the front and top, maybe six feet wide and ten feet long. There was a hole busted in one side, and the bunnies were roaming free. He suspected the two were survivors of a larger group, and that something had broken in and helped itself to bunny tartar.
He’d immediately thought of Chloe. They’d make good pets for her to play with and learn to take care of. And if they did what bunnies were famous for, they could be the start of a colony that could be a sustainable food source.
The others had repaired the hole in the hutch, then built a small rabbit run around it. The bunnies could be let out of the hutch to hop about the roughly ten-foot square area. They’d bring in some dirt and maybe some hay later.
As it was suppertime, they all convened around the big table by the fountain. Sam rolled the grill around and threw on some burgers and vegetables while Meg brought out some buns and other fixings. As Sam grilled, Allistor began to share his dungeon idea.
When he was done reasoning it out for them, he asked, “So… who wants to go kill some vermin?”
Hands shot up. Everyone’s except Lilly and Nancy. When Lilly said, “It’s okay; I can keep Chloe here with me,” Nancy’s hand went up too.
Sam served the burgers, and they began to plan their first dungeon run.
*****
The next morning they all had a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. The food gave them buffs to health regeneration and stamina. They’d finished their plans over dinner the night before, then began to distribute gear.
Shadow Sun Survival Page 17