Light Online Book One: Farmer
Author: Tom Larcombe
Date: 2019-10-12T18:00:00+00:00
Description: Eddie Hunter is about at the end of his rope, so when he stumbles across an ad looking for people to farm in Long Term Immersion in the game Light Online, he can't believe his luck. Once hired he enters the game as soon as he can. Unbeknownst to him, though, the person that hired him is also doing illicit research on the pods that he and the other farmers are using. The research is rapidly discovered by the AIs that monitor the game and shut down, forcefully, by the company that runs Light Online. But the code that runs those pods has been altered, and until it's fixed Eddie and the others can
Publisher: TML

Light Online

Book one:

Farmer

By: Tom Larcombe

Text copyright © 2019, Thomas Larcombe

All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, places, and events
are the products of the author’s imagination.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
or actual events is purely coincidental.

You can see the author's other novels (non-LitRPG) at:

Tom Larcombe's Amazon Author Page

Dedication:

For my wife Heather, who makes my writing possible.

Cover Credits:

SelfPubBookCovers.com/Daniela

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

About the Author:

Chapter One

The technician looked up at the man supervising him.

“Are you sure you want these pods set up this way Allan?” he asked.

Allan glared at him.

“Do it. Just like the diagram shows.”

“Yeah, but I thought this game had a time limit of thirty days online at one time before the player had to take a day off?”

Allan sighed heavily.

“That's what we're trying to fix. We've got everything covered, players should be able to go for a lot longer than that with our system. The problem was overloading of the brain. They didn't constantly update the player's brain with the memories of what they'd done in game, they kept those local and fed them all into the brain at logout. These rigs should do a daily memory dump to the brain, limiting the possibility of an overload. I don't know why they didn't do it this way in the first place, but once we prove to them it works they're going to snap up our procedure and we'll be hundreds of millions of dollars richer.”

The technician shook his head, but went back to installing the modifications he'd been hired to install.

Allan looked down at the sheet in his hand, scanning through it one last time. When he was satisfied that the ad read the way he wanted it to he walked back to his office and submitted the listing to a local online paper.

He kicked back in his office chair, putting his feet on the desk. The monitor in front of him showed an in-game view from the perspective of one of the men he had working there for him. The wide open field had plows running through it, pulled by something that closely resembled oxen. When the employee turned around Allan saw the farmhouse, complete with outbuildings to house workers. He grinned to himself as he thought about the extra money he'd be pulling in during the test.

~ ~ ~

Eddie stared at the screen on his wall. The job listings in his area scrolled past just slowly enough that he could read them and stop on any that might interest him. His eyes flickered around his tiny efficiency apartment, all three hundred and fifty square feet of it. When he was looking for a place of his own it was the only one he could afford. Now, if he didn't find work again soon, he wouldn't even be able to afford this place.

His eyes flashed back to the screen as he stopped it from continuing to scroll.

Did I just see that right? he thought.

Sure enough, after he'd scrolled back several lines, the same entry caught his eye.

'Looking for people to farm in Light Online' the ad read.

He clicked the link, eagerly scanning the details.

'Position will require applicant to move to a company supplied location for LTI farming of Light Online.

Remuneration for successful hires includes room, board, and a small cash stipend.

Email for further details.'

The listing ended with an email link that he immediately clicked.

Hot damn! Mom told me that gaming would never get me anywhere in life, he thought. If she were still alive I'd have to forward the listing to her, after I applied of course. It just shows how bad it is in the USA now though. It used to be that farming gold or items in online games was only profitable in some of the third world countries because of how little they could pay the players. Now I'm eager to try to get the job even though it probably pays crap, because it's something I actually qualify for and will enjoy doing. Plus, room and board? Hell yeah! I was about to get evicted here anyhow since I never paid last month's rent.

He typed up a quick email, answering the basic questions from the ad. He listed his experience as a player in numerous virtual online games and expressed his interest in the position, then sent it. Of course, he'd never done LTI before, his own experience was only with a headset and gloves, but he thought that it couldn't be that hard to adjust to full immersion. The Long Term Immersion experience of a game world was something he'd always wanted to try, but never been able to afford, especially not this particular game.

Light Online was one of the most popular games out there right now, also one of the most expensive to play. When an inquisitive reporter asked them how they'd gotten their name, the world discovered the hubris of at least one of the developers. The first time they'd booted the world, one of the developers had said, deadpan:

“Let There Be Light! And.... we're online.”

The name Light Online had been coined from that comment and it had stuck.

It was truly a self-contained world to the players. The technology used was advanced well beyond what was available to most people, and the game took it a step further still by using the mind of each player to help process their individual experience. That made it feel more realistic to the players and freed up processing power elsewhere in the game network to keep the world running smoothly.

Eddie ran through what he knew of the game world while he sat there. He'd stopped scrolling through the job listings after firing off the email. Lost in dreams of glory and reliving some of the boss fights he'd been in and the mounds of treasure he'd gained from them, the chime of an incoming email pulled him out of his dreams.

'Edward Hunter:

We've reviewed your application and feel that you would be a good fit for the position. We do need you to understand that the farming takes place in a remote location of the game and that none of the major cities of Light Online will be available to you, even in your down time. If you're still interested in the position, reply to this email and we'll set up a time for you to come to the facility, finish the paperwork, and start your new job in Light Online.

Sincerely,

Allan Panning

Supervisor, Star Suppliers online branch'

A grin spread across Eddie's face as he read the email. He pumped his fist silently, grabbed his keyboard, and composed a reply.

~ ~ ~

The next morning he was up early. The facility was two miles away, down near the docks. So he hopped on a bus and rode to the closest stop he'd been able to find. He was nervous all the way through the ride. He tried to check his favorite sites on his phone, but couldn't concentrate. Instead he found himself tapping his fingers or his feet, a nervous twitch he thought he'd shaken years back.

When he got off the bus he wanted to run the seven blocks to the address he'd been given, but at the same time he felt an urge in his gut to drag his feet, or maybe even turn tail, run home, and pull up the job listings again.

I know it sounds too good to be true, he thought, but I can't see where the catch is. I want this badly though, so...

He started walking and soon found himself setting a brisk pace along the sidewalk. When he found the address, he thought about turning around and leaving again. It was an old, dilapidated warehouse, one that had obviously received a quick, cursory cleaning at some time in the recent past. The only thing that reassured him was the sign on the door, obviously new, that read:

'Star Suppliers Online Facility'

So, this is the right place, he thought. I guess I know how they make it profitable to do this in the United States now. I can't imagine this warehouse is costing them very much. Hell, if they own it, the old owner might have paid them to take it off his hands.

He opened the door and stepped in. The door led into a waiting room, beyond which was an office. The waiting room and office didn't resemble the outside of the warehouse in the slightest. All the furnishings were new and clean. An electronic chime sounded as he opened the door and a voice called out from the office.

“Be with you in a moment.”

It was a young sounding female voice and that put Eddie at ease, at least for the moment. When he'd lost his job two months back, his current girlfriend at the time had left him. Since then he hadn't been out much and had been missing female company. The sound of the girl's voice had put him at ease instinctively and now he couldn't wait to see if the pleasant sounding voice was matched by a pleasant set of features.

When the girl came around the corner, her features didn't disappoint. She was probably two or three years younger than him and cute as hell, with pixie features to her face that made her look younger still, but a full body that counteracted that, making her look older, and putting thoughts in his mind that he realized probably shouldn't be there when he was on the job, or at least close to on the job.

“Hi, I'm Eddie Hunter. I emailed yesterday and had an appointment with Allan Panning this morning?”

“Oh, you're early. I'll let him know you're here.”

He couldn't help but watch as she turned and left the room and, once again, the view didn't disappoint.

I've got to get out more, he thought, then realized that if he got this job he wouldn't be going out much at all.

His exchange of emails had explained the position and the pay. The actual cash pay wasn't that much, twenty US dollars per day after taxes. But there were bonuses available and he'd been told, when he asked, that any items they weren't specifically farming for could be kept by the player that found them.

And I know there's a market for those in the game, he thought. Light Online is a lot like real life. The rich are still rich there, so if they want something they won't hesitate to buy it and that gives me an option to make more money. Twenty bucks a day after taxes isn't much, but it adds up when I don't have to pay for room or board. Plus he said something about six days in and then the seventh out, but with an option to stay in right through that pays a twenty dollar bonus for staying in the seventh day. That means a hundred and sixty bucks cleared every week if I include the bonus. That's if I stay in all seven days, but with a three month minimum contract? That's more than sixteen hundred bucks to start over with if I don't want to renew the contract. That's just the pay, never mind any other bonuses or selling anything else I find.

It was only a few minutes later when the pretty receptionist called his name. She pointed down the hallway to the first door on the left.

“Allan is waiting for you,” she said.

“Thank you,” he replied, smiling at her.

She smiled politely in return, for a moment at least, then turned and went back into her office. Eddie headed down the hall to the door she'd indicated. When he got there, he paused and knocked.

“Come on in, it's open,” a voice called out.

He opened the door and walked in, finding the room to be a small office. One corner of the desk was taken up by a large computer monitor that was currently showing a forest scene, but the view was moving as though the motion were from someone walking. He realized quickly that it was probably a tap to Life Online.

The man behind the desk was overweight, his belly very obvious since he was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the desk. As Eddie entered the office, the man switched the monitor off and swung his feet down to the floor. He stood and walked over to Eddie.

“Edward?” he asked.

“Eddie, please,”

The man stuck out his hand and Eddie grasped it.

“Allan Panning here. Your application said that you've played virtual online games before. Ever have any ill effects from it?”

Careful here Eddie, he thought, you know people are a lot more likely to get those in pods than with just a headset and gloves.

“Nope, never had any so far,” he answered.

“Good, good,” Allan replied. “Your application also said you could start immediately?”

“Yeah, I'm kind of between jobs at the moment, so whenever you need me to start I can.”

“Tomorrow?” Allan asked.

Eddie grinned.

“Sure, first thing in the morning?” he asked, groaning inwardly.

Given his own choice Eddie would never be up before ten in the morning, but for this job he was willing to get up as early as they needed him to be up.

“No, no, we're still calibrating the pods right now. Just got them delivered yesterday, so tomorrow afternoon.”

“Speaking of that, what kind of pod will I be in?”

Allan grinned at him.

“Want to go take a look? The management pods are all set up already. They're a newer model, but you've got the same, just an earlier version.”

“Yeah, that'd be great.”

Allan led him out of the office and farther down the hall. He opened a door and motioned Eddie into the room. Lining the walls were five large pods, looking like sleek metallic teardrops turned on their sides. Cables led into the narrow point of the teardrops and as he looked around he saw where some of the cables were jacked into an outlet on the wall. He also saw the large pump in the center of the room, other cables leading from it to the pods.

“LTI...” he sighed happily.

“You ever tried that yet?” Allan asked.

Eddie shook his head.

“Nope, always wanted to though. Used to work on the line for a place that made the nutrient solution they use during it, doing random spot checks on the solution, so I recognized the pump there.”

“Lost your job to automation?” Allan asked.

“Yeah, they were talking about moving the place overseas, but then the trade war started and it was more profitable for them to automate everything, even quality control, and I was out of a job.”

Allan grinned for a moment as though a clever thought had occurred to him.

“Well, the trade war is why you've got a job available here. They're even taxing imported virtual goods now. There are lawyers fighting the law they made that allows it, but for now, if we want to make decent profit, we've got to have supplies available that were obtained by people in the USA. We've got players in game from the other major countries affected by the trade war, we just need to keep everything separated correctly and we can avoid those taxes.”

“I wanted to ask something else really quick if you don't mind,” Eddie said.

“Go ahead, worst thing that happens is I might not be able to answer you.”

“Why the bonus for staying in on the seventh day? It's like getting a free day of pay and sounds too good to be true.”

“How familiar are you with the LTI setup?” Allan asked.

“So-so.”

“So you know the nanites in the pods?”

“The ones that create the brain interface so everything seems real?” Eddie asked.

Allan nodded.

“Yeah, they're kind of pricey, especially with the trade war going on. Local regulations require we give you a day off each week, but pulling you out of the pod and putting you back in would actually cost us more than just paying you to take your day off in game. Law don't say anything about you not taking your day off in the game, so...”

“Cool, so can we do whatever we want on our day off?”

“Sure, your spawn point will be set at the base of operations, so if you do something stupid you'll just end up back there.”

Eddie smiled for a moment, imagining himself bringing in lots more money through adventuring on his days off. Adventuring in games was what he used to do when he had a day off anyhow, so he didn't see any problem with keeping the habit.

“Awesome. So, tomorrow afternoon you said, right after lunch?”

“A little eager are we?”

“I did say I never tried long term immersion before, but like I said, I always wanted to do that.”

“Sure, right after lunch then. I'll slot you for the first player to go in. That work for you?”

“Yeah, sounds great.”

Eddie had wandered over to the pods while they were talking. He saw the sign on the surface of the sleek pod.

'L.O. POD – Mark V'

Cool, he thought, they're using Light Online's own brand of pods. I heard you get a better experience with those.

“These are the newest ones they've got out, aren't they?” he asked.

Allan nodded.

“Yeah, they are, but the one you'll be in is a bit older. We couldn't get a lot of the newest ones quickly enough to set up, but we got these for management, plus some older models for those doing the farming.”

Eddie sighed inwardly, but cheered up quickly enough just thinking about being in the game.

“Well, I've got the job then?”

“Sure do, I'll just need your signature on some papers and you'll be good to go first thing tomorrow afternoon.”

Eddie followed Allan back to the office where he signed what seemed like an entire stack of paperwork. After reading the first few pages and finding it to be the standard boilerplate of a job application and EULA combined he stopped reading and just skimmed the title of each page before signing it. Once he was done, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don't forget, don't eat anything after midnight tonight. If you do we'll need to do a heavy dose of quick laxative to clean you out before you go into the pod. We'll do a lighter dose regardless, don't want to foul the pods.”

Eddie blushed, thinking about it. He'd forgotten that aspect of LTI, despite reading about it in the past. The nutrient solution used didn't cause fecal matter to build up in the players body, only urine, which the pod could easily handle. So they had to ensure there wasn't any fecal matter in the player's body before entering the pod.

I probably forgot about it because I didn't want to think about it. Oh well, it'll all be worth it, he thought. That's another good reason to stay in on my day off though, I won't have to deal with that every week.

“I'll remember that. By the way, if room and board is part of the deal, do you have a place I can store my stuff here? I don't want to keep paying for an apartment I'm not using.”

Not that I've been paying for it recently anyhow, he thought.

Allan chuckled.

“It's a warehouse. It had the wiring we needed so we acquired it, but there's plenty of extra space. You can have a few of the lockers in the old employee area to store stuff in.”

“Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow,” Eddie said, as he noticed Allan turning his monitor back on.

“First thing after lunch. Let's say one o'clock,” Allan replied, turning back to his monitor and staring.

Eddie left the office, waving to the receptionist as he walked past. She spared him a brief glance before turning back to her computer and continuing to type.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Two

Allan walked through the virtual soil of the farm. Beside him was the man he'd hired to build the farm in game.

“So we're all set Paul? I've got my first worker coming in tomorrow,” he said.

“Yeah boss, we've even got the first batch planted. We started the food garden for the workers before we even did anything with the fields or house, so it's coming on strong already. There's a decent well too, so food and water is covered. You saw the bunkhouse yourself.”

“Yeah, I did. Good work on the building there. The furniture is a little cruddy, but good enough I suppose.”

“Sorry,” Paul said, “but the carpentry skill branches out and I've been working on the structures branch. I figured the house, bunkhouse, and barn were more important than what goes in them.”

“Like I said, it's good enough. If they want better they can make their own. You said they'll be able to pick up skills, right?”

“Yeah, the character creation you're using is a template, one they made for all those actors they used when the world first opened to the players. You just swapped out the stats and skills to the ones you wanted these guys to have, right? So they'll start with those, but they can potentially learn other things just by trying to do them a few times. Any player can.”

“Good, good. Everything looks to be okay here then. You're sure the workers aren't going to be in any danger here, right? I'd hate to lose time or product because they got cut down.”

“Yeah, this is a pretty peaceful zone. It's recommended for player levels one to five, but it's surrounded by a bunch of higher level zones. Doesn't make much sense to me, but I think they'd intended to use this as a starting point at some time and then never got around to it. No hostiles. The mobs are all things like bunnies, deer, or raccoons. They won't be aggressive to the workers unless provoked. So a bunch of low levels ought to be just fine. And if not, that's why you've got guards coming too, right?”

~ ~ ~

Eddie laid down in the pod, feeling pretty relaxed. When he'd told his landlord he was moving out, the man had said he'd use the money from Eddie's last month and security deposit that he'd paid when he moved in to cover the past month, the one Eddie hadn't been able to pay yet. Then he'd pro-rated the current month and, after a quick inspection of the apartment, decided to return everything from the security deposit beyond the pro-rating portion of this month. So he had a couple hundred dollars more in the bank than he'd thought he would.

Not like you can actually be comfortable in a three hundred and fifty square foot apartment unless you keep it clean and in good condition, Eddie thought. So the only surprise there was that he actually gave the rest of the deposit back to me. I figured he'd just keep it. I guess doing my own maintenance and never calling him worked in my favor. Good thing I never had a plumbing issue, I can do minor electrical and carpentry, but not plumbing.

He knew he was letting his mind wander to avoid thinking about what had just happened. With the dose of quick laxative in his system, he'd spent thirty minutes on the toilet, then cleaned himself up and come out to find that he was expected to climb in the pod nude. It made sense though. If he was going to be in for long term, then he really didn't want the same clothes on him right through, plus they'd get in the way of some functions of the pod, like cleaning and liquid waste elimination. His biggest problem was that the pretty receptionist was evidently not just a receptionist. She was in the room to do the final calibrations to his pod, which wouldn't happen until he was in it.

He'd finally given in and asked her to turn around while he stripped and got in. She'd grinned at him, but done it. Now the pod lid was closing on him and he was nervous as all hell.

He flinched when the first electrode made contact with his skin before the lid was fully shut. He knew there was more to come, more electrodes, more monitoring devices, and finally a needle for the nutrient solution. The intravenous feeding needle would deliver the nutrient solution that would keep his body healthy while he was in the game. Fortunately, the needle didn't go in until after he was already in the game and his body unconscious.

He was a little nervous about the pod, even though it was in good shape. When Allan had said an older model than the L.O.POD Mark V, Eddie had been expecting the Mark IV. The pod he was in was a Mark III though, from several years earlier. Pod upgrades had been happening left and right the last few years and Eddie had read up on the Mark IV after packing last night. He didn't know a thing about the pod he was in though, except that it was a Light Online approved pod.

The lid clicked shut and he heard a hissing noise as it pressurized. A rubber ring extended from the pod, closing in around his neck. Once it had a firm seal he heard movement and felt a trickle of motion on his scalp. He waited, tensing up from his expectation that he'd feel the nanites somehow as they integrated with his brain. Instead, his eyes closed and a blank blackness sprang up in his sight.

~ ~ ~

Text sprang into view on the blackness:

Welcome to Light Online!

After a moment the text swelled in size as though it were coming closer to him. The center of the letter 'o' in the word 'Online' filled with colors, the text continuing to swell until those colors filled his view. The circle of color, mostly blues and greens with a smattering of brown and white, began to rotate and as it grew larger he realized that it was a planet.

He rushed towards the rotating planet, his speed growing faster and faster. He tried to close his eyes, but realized that he couldn't, he didn't currently seem to have any eyes. As he continued to rush forward, his speed finally slowed when he couldn't see the entire world any more. It slowed yet more and he realized that he was being targeted on a specific area. It appeared to be lightly forested, the forests interspersed with large meadows. There was a mountain range to one side of this area and a thick forest encircled almost all the remaining borders of the meadows and lighter forest.

He was still going far too fast when he was close enough to make out structures in one of the meadows. Sure he was going to strike the ground at high speed, he tried to close his eyes again. This time everything went dark. Vertigo struck him as the sense of movement suddenly ceased. His eyes sprang open in surprise and his legs buckled beneath him. A friendly arm caught him before he could fall.

“Whoa there big guy,” a voice said. “Hang on a second, that'll pass right quick.”

Eddie gulped and hoped the voice was right. Within a second or two, he was feeling better so he turned and looked at the speaker.

The man was a little shorter than him and a bit stouter. Despite the extra weight, he still looked strong. The hand on Eddie's arm was callused, he could feel the rough texture of the other man's skin where he gripped Eddie's arm.

Obviously, he works for a living, Eddie thought.

Then the rest of it hit him.

Wait, I can feel the calluses on his hand? Vertigo? My knees trying to give out under me? It's just like having a real body. This is incredible!

“I'm good now, thanks,” Eddie said.

He straightened his body and looked at his surroundings. He was in some sort of barracks type building, crude beds lined the walls on either side, each with a roughly made chest at its foot. Only one of the beds had anything on it, and it was the one right in front of him. What looked like a scratchy wool blanket had been put over the top and a lumpy sack resided on the end of the bed near the wall, apparently to serve as a pillow.

“What the...” he asked, trailing off as he continued to look around.

“Where am I?” he asked after a few more seconds.

“You're in Light Online, where did you think you were?” the other man replied. “I'm Paul, the builder of this farm.”

Of this farm? Eddie thought. You've got to be kidding me right? Did I sign on to farm as in plant farming and not mobs?

“Please tell me we're farming mobs?” Eddie said.

Paul laughed, a genial sound that echoed through the mostly empty bunkhouse.

“What gave you that idea? This is a functional farm. They supply high end foodstuffs to a number of restaurants in the major cities of Light Online and components to some of the magic guilds. There's big bucks in it if done right.”

Eddie groaned and once more his legs buckled beneath him. This time he settled back onto the bed behind him.

Well, that tears it. I know I'll be spending as many days off in the game as I can. I suppose working on a real farm, wait... Real? Virtual? Real virtual? Who knows what I should call it?

He shook his head before continuing his train of thought.

I suppose working with plants is no worse than working with nutrient solution and it lets me be in game for the rest of the time, no commute to worry about or anything. But damn, what a let down. Not much else I can do though, I don't have an apartment any more, and not enough money to try to find a place. Plus I've been looking for a job forever, it seems like, and haven't found one, so I guess farmer it is.

Eddie sighed heavily and looked up at Paul.

“So, what are my duties going to be here?” he asked.

~ ~ ~

Eddie looked around again as Paul left the building. There wasn't much for him to do yet, so Paul had told him to just take a day to get used to the game. The topic had come up and he'd told Paul he'd never been in full immersion before. Paul had immediately asked him a bunch of questions about how he felt. Aside from the vertigo on landing, Eddie was feeling great, physically at least. The idea that he'd signed up to farm plants instead of farming gold and items was wearing on him though. So he decided to do something about it.

He walked out onto the porch and took a deep breath. He remembered the smell of clean, fresh air from real life. It wasn't something he normally experienced, living in the city as he did, but the air here smelled even fresher and cleaner than it had on the few camping trips he'd taken when he was younger. He looked around at the vibrant greens that surrounded the plowed area they'd be farming and sighed happily.

Okay, maybe farming this way won't be as bad as I thought, we'll see what other options are in the area for my time off though.

There was a bench along the back edge of the porch, using the front wall of the bunkhouse for its back. He settled in and spoke out loud.

“Stats”

A light blue box appeared in his line of sight, blocking half of his vision.

Edward Hunter

Human

Male

Level: 0

Class: N/A

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 9

Agility: 16

Wisdom: 12

Heartiness: 10

Charisma: 8

Willpower: 11

Health: 10

Endurance: 10

Mana: 12

Luck: 13

Stamina: 25

Experience:

-2500/0

After checking his stats, his eyes widened.

“Level zero? What the hell?” he yelled, his frustration getting the better of him.

Evidently Paul wasn't in earshot since Eddie didn't get a reply. He sighed heavily again, realized that he'd done so at least ten times since logging on, then pulled up his skills.

“Skills,” he said softly.

Edward Hunter

Human

Male

General:

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry:1

Farming: 2

Herbalism: 2

Weather Sense: 1

Combat:

Staves: 1

Magical:

N/A

He shook his head and stood, deciding to give himself a tour of the farm.

Well, at least they gave me something in combat skills, he thought. I was worried they'd just neglect it entirely. I can pick up a thick stick or something while I'm wandering and have some sort of weapon at least.

He spoke again as he was walking.

“Settings”

The blue panel came up again, blocking half his vision and the first thing he did was shrink the panel and make it more translucent. Now he could see through the panel and it was only partially obscuring the upper left portion of his view.

“Hey, Eddie,” Paul said.

“Yeah?” he asked, still thinking through his settings and trying to decide how he wanted them.

“I heard you muttering and staring into the distance. You do know you can just think to access your panels, right? No need to talk out loud?”

“You can?”

It wasn't something he'd been used to in the headset and gloves VR he'd done before. He'd always needed to speak to access his information. In some cases, it was even more primitive than that, requiring hand movements and the like.

“Yeah, full immersion baby, you'll get used to it and when you do it's so much sweeter than any other kind of VR.”

Eddie stared at Paul for a moment, thinking. A panel popped into his vision.

Paul Rogar

Class:

Level: 9

Craftsman

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Paul with Evaluate.

You have obtained the skill Evaluate.

After a moment, Eddie realized that he'd been thinking about what Paul's stats might be when the panel popped up. He dismissed the panel and tried again. He stared at Paul and thought about the Craftsman's stats. The same panel popped up again, minus the message about gaining the skill.

Hmm, I wonder if the actual skill will give more information, he thought.

He looked at Paul again, but this time he thought: Evaluate

Paul Rogar:

Class:

Level: 9

Craftsman

(Carpenter)

Specialization: Structures

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Paul with Evaluate.

He broke into a grin. The skill had given him more information, still not very much, but more than he had been getting.

“You just checked out my character, didn't you?” Paul asked.

“Umm, yeah... sorry.”

“No big deal, although some people consider that rude. I know you're new though, so I'll forgive you this time.”

He smirked to let Eddie know he was just messing around.

“Anyhow, yeah, you can think any of the commands that you might want to speak. Makes it a lot quicker and less irritating to the people around you,” Paul said.

“I'll remember that. I was going to take a look around the farm, is that okay?”

“Yeah, there's not a lot to see yet. Like I told Allan, the food garden is up and doing well. There's beasts in the barn, the ones we use for plowing and other heavy work, but the for profit crops were just planted yesterday, it'll be another day or two before they sprout.”

“That quickly?”

“Yeah, in game it's a lot easier to grow things than in real life, quicker too. They've got a number of AIs that determine how long things should take. No clue what algorithm they use, but it definitely favors the farmer. Same deal with everything else. There was an AI responsible for creating the terrain, a different one handles the weather, so on and so forth. The NPCs think the AIs are the gods and I suppose in a sense they really are the gods of the game world.”

“Do priest type characters get their spells from the AIs?” Eddie asked.

Paul shrugged.

“No clue. I don't have a lot of contact with the adventuring types. Unless they hire me to build something for them at least. I'll tell you what though, build yourself a skill in this game and you can make a real life living doing it. I just finished putting up a series of places like this one for Star Suppliers, this is the last of them. They paid me in Light Online gold and when I sold it for real cash I ended up making as much for building their sites, which took me less than a month, as I did my entire last year in the real world. I'm going to set up shop here, I'm sure people will need things built all the time. If I make a name for myself with my buildings I'll be rich.”

“I knew you could sell the game gold for real money, but it's that good an exchange rate?”

“I got around twenty bucks per gold piece when I sold. It varies, but it's been hanging around twenty dollars per gold for a while now from what I saw.”

So they're paying me a gold piece a day essentially. I wonder what it is we'll be growing that's that valuable. Although with the accelerated growth times Paul mentioned I can see where they might be able to make a profit this way.

“Great, all I need to do is make myself some gold then,” Eddie said.

Paul looked at him, a pitying expression in his eyes.

“I don't know that you'll be able to do that around here. This is a really low level zone, level one to five only. I don't imagine much of anything drops currency at all in it since most of the mobs are wildlife. The mountains to the north, or the thick forest on the other sides probably would, but they're a lot higher level.”

“It's actually a good thing that this is a low level zone since they started me at level zero. I might be able to handle a level one mob, but nothing much larger.”

“That's right, Allan said something about that, he got a better deal by paying for you guys to enter the game as level zero instead of one. Something about realism and authenticity for workers I think they said.”

Eddie shook his head.

“Yeah, twenty-five hundred experience just to get to level one. This is gonna be interesting. But at least I'll have all my down time available to work on it. Hey, where's the garden you keep mentioning, I want to see what food tastes like in game.”

Paul smiled widely.

“Boy are you in for a treat. Garden's right over there between the bunkhouse and the farmhouse. Go through the bunkhouse and out the side door and you can't miss it. Wait, I'll go with you, I could use a snack myself.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Three

Allan watched Paul's view. Tapping the feed that led to Paul's pod had been easy and, as far as Allan knew, Paul had no clue that he was doing it. He watched as Paul worked with Eddie, trying to acclimate him to the game. It was encouraging that Eddie had only had a moment of vertigo and unsteady knees when he first logged in. That was less reaction than most people had.

What that told Allan was that the modifications to the pods weren't going to cause any trouble, at least not with the login sequence. It remained to be seen if the extended LTI effect they were trying to create was going to work also.

He watched as Paul led Eddie towards the garden.

“Damn fool spends half his time in game eating,” Allan muttered to himself. “But he did get everything done in the time frame he promised. Plus he took payment in in game currency, so there's no money trail to him. Dropping a bag of gold on the table for him to pick up should have cut that trail solidly. Unless someone can requisition the logs of the game, and they know how to search them, that's a solid cut-out.”

He glanced back at the monitor, then shut it off and closed the office for the night.

~ ~ ~

Eddie followed Paul as he went between the farmhouse and bunkhouse. Halfway back he saw the garden, it was probably a half acre or more, surrounded by a low stone wall with a wooden split rail fence on top of the stones with the support posts buried in the wall. As they got closer he noticed something else also.

“Hey Paul, they're pretty serious on the realism here, aren't they?”

“Yeah, why?”

Eddie pointed to the small furry rabbit that he'd spotted munching on some of the greens in the garden.

“Damn it!” Paul cursed. “I wondered what was eating some of the plants. I guess that explains it. I wish the guards were here already, they've got crossbows and could get rid of that pest.”

“You just want him gone?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah, bunnies are one of the low level mobs in this area and there are swarms of them. Let one get away with it and in a week we'll have ten, in two weeks we'll have no garden and no ready food.”

Eddie bent low and scooped up a stone just large enough to fill his hand when he held it like a baseball.

“I got this,” he said. “One rabbit, going away promptly.”

He brought his arm back, then snapped it forward as though throwing a fastball. At the last moment he shifted his aim slightly. He didn't know why, but he knew he had to do it.

The rock flew, straight and fast, hitting the bunny in the head. The rabbit dropped right where it was  and stopped moving.

Enemy slain: Bunny (level 1)

You have earned 5 exp.

Eddie blinked, caught off guard by the message. He hadn't even considered the bunny as an enemy, just a nuisance.

“Wow,” he said. “I got experience for that.”

“There you go then,” Paul replied. “There's your ticket to level one.”

“Not unless I kill another four hundred and ninety-nine bunnies it's not.”

Paul chuckled.

“Got experience, but not much then?”

“Just five.”

“Well, you killed it, you loot it. There might be something on it; a pelt, meat, something like that. That's the most common kind of drop you'll find in this zone.”

“Uhhh, not to sound stupid, but how do I loot it?” Eddie asked.

Paul chuckled again.

“I keep forgetting this is your first time in full immersion. You took to it like a natural so I keep thinking you know all the basics. Just put your hand on the corpse and think the word 'loot'.”

Eddie headed for the still bunny. For a moment he regretted killing it, but only for a moment.

Not like I wasn't planning on doing a lot of mob killing in here. If I have to start with furry bunnies then so be it.

He bent down and touched the fur of the corpse

Loot, he thought.

You have received:

Rabbit meat (1)

Rabbit pelt (1)

Rabbit's foot (1)

He didn't see the items that were listed anywhere nearby and was about to ask Paul about it. He stopped, not wanting to seem like the noob he knew he was.

Inventory? he thought.

The panel popped up with a list on it.

Edward Hunter:

Inventory:

Smallclothes (worn)

Homespun Tunic (worn)

Cloth Breeches (worn)

Cloth Belt (worn)

Battered Boots (worn)

Small Knife

Water Skin

Rabbit Meat (1)

Rabbit Pelt (1)

Rabbit's Foot (1)

I wonder how to remove items from my inventory? he thought.

The prompt flashed.

Remove which item from inventory?

He thought about his knife that he hadn't seen yet and it appeared in his hand. He glanced down and saw that it was a short utility knife, only a few inches long, in a battered leather scabbard. It did have a couple of rope strands to tie it to his belt so he put it there. With a few more thoughts he found himself holding a chunk of rabbit meat that probably weighed half a pound, a rabbit pelt, and a rabbit's foot. He walked back to Paul.

“Any meat animals for our use around here or am I holding dinner?” he asked with a grin.

“Nope, and yes. Let's grab some vegetables and we can make something a bit heartier than I'd been anticipating. Some meat sounds good, I've been making do with the vegetables from the garden while I built this stuff. That a pelt also? Two items is a lucky drop for your first kill.”

“Three, actually.”

Eddie held the rabbit's foot up for Paul to see.

“Hey, that's a rare drop if I does what I expect,” Paul said. “Luck doesn't have a lot of items that influence it and no-one seems to know how luck actually affects a character.”

“Huh, I've got a thirteen in it, but right now there's a fourteen in parentheses after that.”

“Then I was right, the rabbit's foot gives a bonus to luck. Look at it and try that skill you tried on me earlier. You might be able to see what it does that way.”

Eddie stared at the rabbit's foot and thought: Evaluate

Rabbit's Foot

Held/Jewelry

+1 Luck

When held or worn, this item will grant a character +1 Luck. Too bad it didn't do the same for the rabbit.

He related that to Paul, who nodded.

“Yup, it's not the best item out there, but you got it for free. Along with a little bit of the system's snark. You'll find a lot of that around here. But you nailed that rabbit with just a single throw of a rock. What's your agility anyhow? That throw was dead-on.”

Eddie was sure Paul could've just evaluated him, but he'd said people considered it rude. Now he was sure that Paul had been telling the truth and not just yanking his chain.

“It's a sixteen,” Eddie said.

“Holy crap, you got a sixteen as a starting statistic? That's like a one in ten thousand chance. You can get higher, with racial bonuses and starting points you can get as high as a twenty to start, but a sixteen still rocks and you're only zero level.”

“What's the level got to do with it?”

“Level one characters get three stat points to distribute however they want. They can't go in luck, endurance, or willpower, but they can go in any of the other six. If you ever make level one you'll get those points to distribute as well, so you could potentially have a nineteen agility at level one. With mobs your own level, your missile attacks would hardly ever miss.”

Paul was gathering some vegetables while he talked. His hands were full now so he used his chin to motion for Eddie to head back out front.

“Let's go make some dinner,” Paul said.

Paul had a fire starter that was better than normal flint and steel. It was a little circular steel wheel with a device on it that he wound up. When he released the brake on the device the wheel started spinning and a flint came down on it, sending off a shower of sparks.

He broke up a dry bird nest that he pulled from his inventory and sprinkled a few tiny slivers of wood on it. Eddie watched intently, fascinated by the device. When the sparks began to fly into the nest, Paul leaned down and blew on them. Within a minute or so the nest was smoldering. A few seconds later it burst into flame. He grabbed some larger splinters of wood to feed to the flames, slowly increasing the size of the wood he put on the fire.

“Go grab a bucket of water from the well, would you? It's over in front of the farmhouse,” Paul said.

It only took Eddie a minute or two to do what Paul had asked, but when he took his first sip of the water he stopped dead. The taste was like nothing he'd ever had before. It was crystal clear, cold, and lacked the taste of the chemicals the water he normally drank was treated with.

“Damn, that's good,” he said.

Paul didn't say anything, he just grabbed a couple of leather cups from his inventory and handed one to Eddie, scooping his own into the water before he drank. Paul glanced back at the fire, which had caught well.

“Now we just wait a few minutes until there are lots of coals,” Paul said. “I'll spit that meat and we'll roast it up. Here, grab some veggies as an appetizer.”

Eddie grabbed a carrot, larger than any he'd seen before. He took a small bite off the end and began to chew. As soon as he tasted it he took a larger bite, stuffing his mouth with the carrot.

For as long as he'd been out on his own he'd been using something similar to the nutrient solution as his food. It was a variation that when fed into a cooking printer, a 3d printer designed specifically for the purpose, would be formed into whatever shape was requested. Flavorings were added, and the mock food was finished and ready to eat.

He was used to the flavors that it produced, which were about as close to the real flavors as artificial flavoring got, which meant decent tasting, but nowhere near what the flavor ought to be. The best thing he could say about it was that it was dirt cheap and nutritious.

The carrot in his hand tasted like the real deal though. It tasted just the way he imagined a fresh picked carrot would taste and he couldn't get enough of it.

“This is incredible,” he managed to say around a mouthful of carrot.

“I did say you were in for a treat. Just wait until the rabbit meat is done,” Paul replied.

As Eddie continued to chew, Paul withdrew a small bag from his inventory. When he opened it, Eddie saw that it contained salt and several other spices. The salt was rubbed into the meat and several other spices were slipped into small slits cut into the rabbit meat. Then Paul spitted the piece of meat, and braced it over the coals after shifting the burning logs to the other side of the fire pit.

While the meat cooked Eddie slipped down the front of the log he'd been sitting on, bringing himself closer to the fire. He felt the heat of it on his body and marveled at how realistic the game felt. While Eddie did that, Paul pulled a few more things out of his inventory, setting them to the side before starting to work on the vegetables.

In a few minutes Paul handed Eddie a large bowl filled with chopped vegetables. Eddie could smell the oil and vinegar mix that Paul had poured over it and when he was handed a fork, he tore into the food with a vengeance. Paul worked on eating his own salad at a much slower pace.

“This stuff is insanely good,” Eddie said. “What gives?”

“Part of it's the game, okay all of it is really. The game can make things taste incredible. I've got a few points in cooking too. Once I tasted the food in the game I knew I wanted that. So, it's the default fresh food taste from the game, enhanced by my own cooking skill. Now try this.”

Paul pulled the rabbit meat from the spit. A few drops of grease dripped off of it when he moved it, hitting the coals and causing spurts of flame to rise from them. He sliced off a few medium thickness portions of the meat, then replaced the spit over the coals. Splitting the meat between the two of them Paul sat back, blew on a piece, then popped it in his mouth.

Eddie was about to take a bite of one of his own pieces when he saw Paul blow on it. Since he was juggling the piece of meat between two of his fingers because it was so hot, he saw the wisdom in that. After blowing on it for a moment, he popped the meat in his mouth and bit down. The explosion of rich  flavor that struck him was incredible and only a hint of the gaminess he'd expected was there.

Eddie's rabbit disappeared as fast as his salad had, only Paul kept slicing more pieces and handing them to him. The two ate until the rabbit was gone. Eddie was feeling slightly overfull now, but he didn't care. The meal he'd just eaten, cooked over a campfire, was the best thing he'd ever tasted. A message flashed in his panel.

You are Well Fed:

+10% Experience for the next 4 hours. Go ahead and eat more just to see what happens why don't you? It's only a wafer thin mint.

Eddie snorted at the outdated comedic reference at the end of the system message. He only got it because a friend had used the quote, then sat him down to watch the skit online when Eddie hadn't gotten the joke.

“Well, I've got to call it a day,” Paul said. “The manager and guards are due in tomorrow. I don't know when the other workers will get here, but if I don't see you tomorrow morning, it was nice to meet you.”

“Wait, you said you're going to be working in the game right?”

Paul nodded.

“Know how to do a friend invite?” Eddie asked.

Paul grinned.

“Nope, I've just been building in the game so far not socializing, but I bet we can figure it out quickly enough. I saw a tab titled 'social' in the settings area.”

The two of them both pulled up their settings panel and thirty seconds later Eddie saw a notification flash in his sight.

Paul Rogar has offered a friend invitation.

Accept? (yes/no)

Eddie immediately thought the word 'yes' and a second notification flashed.

You are now friends with Paul Rogar.

“I'll try not to pester you with too many questions,” Eddie said, “but I've got plans, especially after hearing you talk about how profitable it can be in-game. If they come to fruition, I just might need a builder.”

Paul grinned.

“Glad to hear it. Let me know when you do. As for questions, well you might want to ask the manager. I bet he'll have particular ways he want things done. I'm sure you've experienced the joys of being under middle management before.”

Eddie sighed.

“Yes, yes I have. I'm not looking forward to it here. But for the moment, I need to go find myself a stick, a nice heavy one. I've got one point in staves and I intend to make a weapon that'll fit that classification.”

“Heh, the way you threw that rock you ought to make something like a throwing stick.”

“A what?”

“Throwing stick, look it up online.”

“How, exactly, do I do that?”

“Oh yeah, noob,” Paul said teasingly. “I keep forgetting it's your first time. Find yourself a comfortable spot where you won't be in any danger. Then just think 'browser'. You'll get the built-in browser for the game in full screen and you can do almost anything you normally can online that way.”

“Thanks again Paul, you made this a lot easier for me than it could've been.”

“You're welcome. It's just nice to have some reasonable company. The past few days the only person here other than me was Allan, and he's just...”

Paul stopped, shaking his head.

“He seemed okay to me, but I only saw him for a few minutes,” Eddie said.

“Just wait, you'll see what I mean sooner or later, I'm sure. I'm off now.”

Paul stood and walked towards the farmhouse. Eddie laid there for another minute or two, soaking up the warmth of the flames. Then he stood and returned to the bunkhouse.

~ ~ ~

After making sure the doors to the bunkhouse were closed, Eddie laid back on his bunk and pulled up the in game browser. A quick search on throwing sticks showed him just what Paul had been talking about.

I can do that, he thought. Even with this piddly knife I can make a few of those, probably rig a way to hang them from my belt too.

He got up and left the bunkhouse, heading towards what looked to be the closest area that was lightly forested. It took him nearly a half hour to walk there and when he arrived, he didn't have much luck finding what he was after. It looked like the floor of this forest area had been cleared of deadwood.

Moving deeper into the forest, he saw a flash of movement through a thicker stand of trees.

Wait a minute, he thought, I didn't think this through too well. I'm out in the middle of the zone with no weapon, no armor, nothing to defend myself except this tiny knife.

When he spotted the movement again, he breathed a sigh of relief. Coming out from behind the thicker trees was a deer. He stared at for a moment before using the evaluate skill.

Deer (doe):

Type: Animal

Level: 3

Armor: ???

Health: 30 (+/-)

Attack: ???

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Deer (doe) with Evaluate.

He peered at his tiny knife, using Evaluate on it.

Small Knife

Weapon/Tool

Attack: 2

Dmg: 1-3

This knife is designed to be used as a general tool, but can be used as a weapon if you're desperate.

Eddie had read enough about Light Online to know that to damage an opponent you needed an attack value higher than their armor value. He also knew that characters had a base attack rating that was added to a weapon's attack rating and any other bonuses plus a randomly determined number before being compared to the opponent's armor rating. What he didn't know was what his attack rating was or what the deer's armor rating was. With as little information as his Evaluate had given him on the deer and the fact that he'd need to hit it ten times or more to kill it, he immediately forgot any ideas he might have had about attacking it.

When he glanced back up, he noticed that there was deadwood on the ground under the thicker trees. He ran over, startling the deer into running away, and began to sort through it.

He found several pieces that he could use, although none were long enough for a full quarterstaff. He had a shorter one that was suitable for a staff of some sort, he didn't know enough about staves to know the name of the type, but it came up to his sternum and was already fairly dry. The wood was some sort of hardwood from the weight of it, and all the wood he chose seemed to be of the same type.

The three other pieces he took were all about the length of his arm, slimmer around than the longer piece, but still with a good heft to them. He tucked all four under his arm and started to return to the farm. The longest piece was a hindrance from time to time in the forest, but once he reached the meadow he had no more problems with it.

The sun was going down when he caught sight of the bunkhouse, so he decided to trot the last couple of minutes, feeling his body respond to the run far better than his physical body would have, at least until a red flashing message showed in his panel.

Stamina is low: 5/25

He was close enough that he just kept trotting, but he got to watch his Stamina drop. When he entered the bunkhouse he only had two points of Stamina remaining and he realized that he had a problem. There were no lights whatsoever, but he wanted to work on his weapons before sleeping.

There was firewood piled out back and there is a fireplace. I wonder if there are any coals left in the fire pit?

Moving slowly so as not to zero out his Stamina, he went out back and grabbed a couple of armloads of wood before full dark. He laid a fire in the bunkhouse fireplace then made his way back to the fire pit. Stirring the ashes revealed a few glowing coals still remaining. The fire pit was surrounded by a bunch of flat rocks, so he grabbed one of those and put the edge of it in the ash as close to the coals as he could. A quick scrape with his knife got several of the live coals onto the rock, so he leveled it out and slowly carried it back to the bunkhouse.

It took him a good half hour to get a fire going in there. Scraping small pieces of wood off the larger logs with his knife to start the fire was time consuming and he nicked his hand once when he wasn't paying enough attention, taking a single point of damage. He was happy to note that the single point regenerated pretty quickly, within a few minutes.

Eventually he had the fire burning well enough. He settled down on the chest closest to the fire and picked up the first of his sticks. Using his knife he began to shave it down to a uniform size, removing the knots and stubs of branches as he went.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Four

The management pods did not have the modifications made to them that the workers' pods had. Allan was using one of the management pods himself and there was no way he was going to experiment with the new technology with himself as a guinea pig. Besides, the modification was for long term immersion and he was never in that long. He required his managers to meet with him face to face at least once a week, so they weren't either.

The pods for the guards could've had the modifications made, but Allan knew where the guards came from. He also knew that if something happened to the guards he'd hired he'd be in trouble. Their friends would be hunting for him in the real world if anything like that happened. So the modifications were only on the workers' pods.

He watched as the manager and the two guards slid into their pods. Then he returned to his office and pulled up the tap he'd put on the manager's feed.

~ ~ ~

It was the middle of the night when Eddie realized he was dreaming. His mind was working through everything he'd done in the game so far. That part he enjoyed, but once his mind had worked through the day things became less pleasant. He was just lying there, as far as he could tell, surrounded by darkness with the feeling that he was trapped in an enclosed space. When he tried to move his hands, to see if he was right about the tiny space, he couldn't. He was stuck, unable to move, staring into the darkness.

Despite not being able to move, it seemed as though his body were tensed up all over, his hands clenched in fists. The darkness seemed to go on forever, but at some point he was no longer conscious of it. His bodies, both the one in the pod and the one in the game, relaxed finally and he fell into a deep sleep again.

When Eddie woke the first thing he noticed was that his hands were sore. Unconsciously, he found himself forcing the memory of last night's dream to the back of his mind, as though it were too painful to remember.

You would think that they'd leave out little things like getting splinters from the game, but oh no, they had to go for realism.

He'd gotten the splinters out with his teeth the night before, or thought he had. But a quick check showed that he'd missed a couple. In the morning light he could see them better and had them out in a few minutes.

Glad they were hardwood, I bet the pine stuff would be harder to get out of my fingers.

A quick check showed him that despite the soreness of his hands, he was at full health. He flexed his fingers a few times to try to loosen them up and lose some of the soreness. Surprisingly, it worked well. Some of the stiffness and soreness worked right out, although his hands still weren't happy with him.

He'd finished one of his throwing sticks the night before as well as rough smoothing his staff. He wanted a way to cut a hole in the handle of the throwing stick, so he could run a thong through it to make it easier to carry. For the moment he tucked the throwing stick in his belt and picked up his staff.

You know, if Paul is still here he might have a tip for me on how to make a hole there without destroying the stick. He's a woodworker at least, so he ought to know.

Eddie left the bunkhouse and headed toward the farmhouse he'd seen Paul enter the night before. On the way to the farmhouse he pulled up a bucket of water from the well and took a deep drink. He was still struck by the taste, or lack thereof, of the crystal clear water. He filled the cup Paul had given him and finished draining it before he made it to the farmhouse door.

When he knocked, he had to wait a couple of minutes before there was an answer at the door. Paul opened it, still blinking sleep from his eyes.

“Huh, what?” Paul asked groggily. “Eddie, why are you up so early?”

“What do you mean early? I feel like I had a full night's sleep.”

“Well, maybe not early, but...”

Paul shook his head as though trying to clear it.

“What did you need?” he asked.

“Well, I'm sorry for waking you, I thought you'd have gotten plenty of sleep.”

“Yeah, I should've, but I had the browser open and ended up following link after link. I kept getting distracted by new links on the pages I got to and ended up going down that rabbit hole. You know what I mean? I don't even know when I ended up getting to sleep.”

Eddie grimaced. He'd had the same experience himself, more than once.

“Well, I finished a throwing stick last night. I wanted to get some advice from you. I want to put a hole in one end so I can run a leather thong or something through it, make it more accessible by hanging it from my belt. The only tool I have is my knife though and that won't do it.”

“Hah!” Paul exclaimed. “That's not true. You could always use hot coals to burn a hole through the wood. You just need to channel the coals to one spot and let them keep charring right through the wood. Fortunately for you though, I think a drill will do the job quicker and cleaner and I happen to have one. Let me grab it and I'll be right out.”

It was only a minute or two before he came outside. When he did he was holding a non-motorized drill. Like the fire starter he'd used the day before, he cranked a handle on it before holding a hand out to Eddie.

“Let me see the throwing stick and show me where you want the hole.”

Eddie handed it over.

“Through the narrow end, the thick end is what will hit the target.”

Paul nodded, placed the stick on the ground, repositioned it once, then moved the drill bit against it and hit a release. When the bit started spinning, he pressed it into the wood gently.

“This will take a few cranks. I could always do it by hand, but by using the spring pressure option I have both hands to position the drill. Works better that way, even if I do have to stop and crank a few times.”

“Springs?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah, Light Online allows for some basic technology. Gears and springs are some of it, so there's a few crank type clockwork mechanisms around. My drill is one, so is my fire starter.”

The drill slowed and Paul pulled it back out, then started cranking again. He had to crank several more times before he finally finished the hole, but when he did, he pulled out a small file and smoothed the edges before handing the stick back to Eddie.

“There you go, just need to add your thong. The edges ought to be smooth enough that they don't abrade the leather now,” Paul said.

Eddie hadn't even considered that the edges needed to be smoothed, but he was glad that Paul had.

“Thank you,” he said. “Now I just need to find some leather.”

“If you aren't picky you've got that rabbit pelt from yesterday, just slice a strip off of there with your knife.”

“You know, I never would've thought of that. How do you think of all this stuff?”

“It's a skill, I mean literally. There's a skill called improvisation. When you have to figure out ways to do things without traditional materials you get a chance to learn it or level it up. Besides a rabbit pelt is only a step or two away from leather anyhow.”

Eddie nodded.

I still wouldn't have thought of that myself. I'm more used to buying stuff than crafting it. Guess I'll have to change my pattern of thinking. Maybe I'll get lucky and pull that skill.

“Breakfast before you have to leave?” Eddie asked.

“Sure, I'm up now. Looks like about an hour and a half until the manager and guards show up. Then I'm out of here. Got to keep the place populated for the majority of the time or the land claim lapses.”

Eddie started to open his mouth, then stopped. He'd been going to ask about the land claim, but when he thought about it the idea seemed simple enough.

The game probably let's you claim unused land, I guess you have to do something with it to make the claim stick, but I'm not going to ask Paul another stupid newbie question. I've done that more than enough already.

When they walked over to the garden, there was another furry intruder munching away at the greens, in almost the exact same spot as last time.

“Son of a...” Eddie said, his words trailing off as he grabbed his throwing stick.

He spoke to Paul in a softer voice.

“Time to see if your throwing sticks were a good idea,” he said.

He cocked his arm back, stick in hand. As he snapped his arm forward, once again he felt the need to adjust his throw a touch. The stick flew forward fast enough that it looked a like a brown streak connecting his hand and the rabbit. The rabbit, struck by the stick, dropped, its legs spasming several times before it lay still.

Enemy slain: Bunny (level 1)

You have earned 5 exp.

Paul chuckled.

“Man, I just can't get over the kind of accuracy you've got at zero level. It's insane.”

“I think I could've gotten a better throw off,” Eddie replied. “The balance is just a touch off on the throwing stick. I'll do better with the next one though, now that I know how they throw.”

He walked over and picked up his stick, then bent over and touched the rabbit corpse.

Loot, he thought.

You have received:

Rabbit meat (1)

“Well shoot, only one drop this time,” he said, turning back to Paul and holding up the meat.

“Hell, there isn't a guaranteed drop on these things, even getting one item is pretty good,” Paul said, gesturing for Eddie to hand the meat over.

Eddie gave Paul the meat, then turned back to the corpse.

“I know you can get meat and pelts on the drop, but can you skin and butcher the actual corpse to get more?” he asked.

“Yeah, I've heard of some guys doing that. But once again, it takes the appropriate skill to do it well.”

Eddie bit his lip, he wasn't all that interested in getting messy, but it just seemed like he was letting a lot go to waste by not getting everything he could.

Hell, you never know unless you try, he thought.

He knelt down and pulled out his utility knife. He had no idea how to go about skinning and butchering a rabbit, so several minutes later, when he gave up, his arms were coated in blood and he had a useless, shredded pile of meat, bones, and pelt on the ground in front of him.

When he stood, Paul was gone already. He could smell a hint of wood smoke though so he was pretty sure Paul was over at the fire pit working on the meat. Eddie headed for the well, pulling up a bucket of water and scrubbing his arms clean as best as he could, he also tried to wash out the bloodstains he'd gotten on his tunic.

Paul was cooking the meat on a spit when Eddie showed up at the fire pit. Paul glanced at him and grimaced.

“Tried to clean up I see.”

“Yeah, no luck on the corpse though, I need to learn those skills before I'll get anything useful out of the corpses I guess.”

“Well, if you can't get the stains out, don't worry about it. The game cleans everything while you sleep. Unless an item is close to being destroyed that is and the game will show you when an item is that damaged. Even if the durability isn't something you'd normally get when you Evaluate.”

“Huh?”

“It'll give you a little flashing set of numbers when you Evaluate an item that's close to being destroyed. When you can Evaluate better, after you've leveled it up some, you can see an item's durability regardless of what shape it's in.”

Eddie grunted again, then looked at his throwing stick.

Evaluate, he thought.

Throwing Stick

Weapon (Thrown/Melee)

Attack: 5

Dmg: 2-6

Crafted: Edward Hunter

This Throwing Stick can be used as a club in melee combat or hurled at an enemy.

“Not too bad, it's a lot better than the little knife I have,” he said.

“If you don't mind, I can take a look. I've got Evaluate up to eight. I might be able to pull its durability, especially if it's a common item.”

Eddie handed the stick to Paul who concentrated for a moment.

“It's got fifty durability on it. That's not bad, about the same as the hammer I use for building. I've still the one I got before starting all these farms for Star Suppliers so that ought to give you an idea of how long it'll last. Probably it'll lose durability faster than my hammer if you're using it in combat though. It is listed as uncommon, but with an asterisk that says it's easy to make and that it's only uncommon because that type of item is not in common usage at this time.”

Paul turned back to the meat and started slicing pieces off. As they ate, they chatted about nothing of consequence, just enjoying the food. When they were done, Paul drove the metal spit he'd been using into the ground next to the fire pit.

“I'll leave that here for you. It was just a leftover bit of building material I used for a spit. I can get another easily enough. I bet you'll pick up the cooking skill in no time if you cook your own rabbit meat. But now I've only got about five minutes before the manager and guards get here and I'm off duty for a bit.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Take a few days in the real world, talk to my family about maybe coming into the game with me, some of them anyway. I'm near my thirty day limit so I need to take at least one day out of game at the very least.”

Eddie walked over and grabbed the spit, dropping it into his inventory.

“Thirty day limit?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, that's the—”

Paul broke off mid-sentence as three figures materialized on the porch of the farmhouse. Starting with a brief shimmer their forms grew more and more distinct until there were three men standing there. One of them was in stiff leather armor, with a dagger on one hip and a coiled bullwhip on the other. The other two both wore chainmail hauberks that came down to their knees. Each of those two had a mace and a crossbow visible.

Eddie stared at them.

Crap, these are the guards and manager?

“Ross, good to see you,” Paul said, approaching the man in leather armor.

“Paul, I see you did another bang-up job for this farm.”

“Yeah, only one problem with this one.”

Ross raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

“Too many damned bunnies,” Paul said. “They keep getting into the garden. Eddie here,” he gestured over his shoulder at Eddie, “is a pretty good shot. He came in game yesterday and already took out a couple of the bunnies.”

“Hah!” Ross said. “I'll have the guards here take the bunnies down with their crossbows. Don't need a worker thinking he's special or anything.”

Oh hell, I have to work under this guy? Eddie thought.

“Well, the rabbits are good eating if you get the meat drop on them. So, maybe just consider them a part of the food supply like the garden is,” Paul said. “But on that note, I've got to log out. Do you acknowledge that I've fulfilled my contract here?”

“I know Allan took a look the other day and everything we hired you to build seems to be here. You're good.”

Paul turned around and gave Eddie a grin and a thumbs up. Then his face took on a look of concentration. Moments later, he began to shimmer, slowly fading from view until he was completely gone and Eddie was left with Ross and the two guards.

“So, you're Eddie, eh?” Ross said.

Eddie took a step forward and stuck out his hand, which was ignored.

“Yeah, Eddie Hunter,” he replied.

He bit his lip, considering for a moment before he stared at Ross and thought: Evaluate.

Ross Uller

Human Male

Level: 3

Class: Warrior (Overseer)

Health: 36

Mana: 24

Stamina: 60

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Ross with Evaluate.

Ross either didn't notice, or didn't care, that Eddie had used the skill on him. Eddie was leaning towards didn't notice though since one of the guards was smirking at him.

That guy knows what I did, and I think he's amused that Ross didn't notice. Don't tell me they put someone in to manage these places who has no clue about the game. At least one of the guards has a clue though.

He knew that what he feared was likely, that Star Suppliers had just grabbed anyone willing with management experience, then tossed them in without any training.

Although he's level three, how could he get those levels without knowing anything about the game?

The answer came quickly as  Ross formed a group and immediately told the guards to join it.

“You,” Ross said, looking at Eddie. “Show me around the place.”

Eddie led the group around the small farm, finishing up with the huge area that had been plowed and planted with the cash crop.

“Paul said this was all planted and should sprout in a day or two. That's all I know about this section,” Eddie said.

While he'd been leading the group around, he'd noticed that the chainmail the two guards wore wasn't in very good shape. There were rusty spots and a few sprung links here and there.

“Hey, Gary, shoot that damn bunny,” Ross said, pointing out a rabbit that had just jumped to the top of the stone wall surrounding the garden area.

One of the guards, the one that hadn't smirked at Eddie earlier on, leveled his crossbow and fired. The bolt went nowhere near the bunny, missing by at least two feet. The rabbit jumped down into the garden and out of sight.

“I thought you told me you were good with weapons Gary,” Ross demanded.

“I told you I was good with close-in weapons. Never fired one of these things before today,” Gary said. “The class build they gave us is all about close in and dirty fighting, not distance fighting.”

Eddie quickly Evaluated Gary while the guard was facing Ross and complaining.

Gary Axen

Human Male

Level: 2

Warrior (Thug)

Specialization: Brawling

Health: 24

Mana: 14

Stamina: 44

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Gary with Evaluate.

Ross glared at Eddie, them motioned at the other guard.

“How about you, can you hit a bunny rabbit with a crossbow?”

“Doubtful, but I'll try if you want,” he said.

Ross shook his head.

“Never mind. Eddie, go kill that damned bunny.”

Eddie shrugged, then walked up to the wall. The bunny had moved a few feet into the garden so he had a clear throw. He pulled his stick out of his belt and threw hard.

Enemy slain: Bunny (level 1)

You have earned 5 exp.

He was about to hop the wall and loot the body when Ross called out.

“Get back over here.”

Eddie grimaced, while still facing away from his new boss, then turned and went back. Ross walked out into the garden and knelt down, touching the corpse.

“Bah!” he said. “Rabbit meat and a pelt. No damned coins here either.”

I guess he learned that part of the game, Eddie thought. Why doesn't that surprise me?

Ross threw down the hunk of rabbit meat and the rabbit pelt in disgust, then stalked off towards the farmhouse.

“Be ready in the morning Eddie,” he called. “I'll set you to work then, the other workers are supposed to get here tomorrow afternoon.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Five

Freyja's avatar walked into the room, catching everyone's attention. Even among artificial intelligences a sleek bit of code still caught the eye.

“Odin,” she called.

“Yes?”

The reply came from a one-eyed figure, the other eye invisible behind the hat he wore pulled down over his face. His voice stirred the ravens that rested, one to either side of him, and the wolves which lay at his feet. The rest of the room's inhabitants went still at the sound of his voice.

“I have news, troubling news,” Freyja said.

“Go on.”

“There has been an anomaly within an area of my demense. Last night, within the world, there was a sequence of information downloaded that appeared to be the prelude to a mortal leaving the world. However, the records indicate that after the information finished, the mortal did not leave. I've never encountered this before, always the two were welded together, the first followed closely by the second.”

“Is that so? What of the mortals there?”

“There were two, there are more now, but during the anomaly there were two. The one affected by it is still there.”

“Watch the area closely, should the anomaly occur again we will act as is required of us.”

Freyja nodded, then turned and left the Great Hall.

~ ~ ~

Eddie waited until Ross was out of sight, then trotted over and grabbed the meat and the pelt. A quick rinse from the well water was enough to clean the meat off. He wasn't exactly worried about it since he was sure the game wasn't going to be that realistic about a dropped bit of food.

That'll be dinner, maybe plus some of the vegetables. There's enough meat that there will be some left for breakfast as well. Now that I've got a time line, maybe I can do some planning. I've got the rest of today if I want to go do some adventuring. I've got a staff and a throwing stick. If I cook the meat now, I can have food with me also. There's so much I still need in order to do this right though.

In his head he ran off a list of the items he still needed to feel like he had a handle on things. While he did that, he laid the newest pelt on a rock and took out his knife.

Improvise, Paul said. Well, the pelt is close enough to leather that I can probably cut a thong out of it to use on my throwing stick.

After cutting the pelt it took him several minutes to thread the strip he'd cut through the hole, but once he had, he tied the two ends in a knot. He slung the top of the loop over the handle of his knife and jumped up and down a couple of times.

The throwing stick bounced against his leg, but it didn't fall off. He was satisfied with that for now so he pulled out the spit that Paul had left him and ran it through the rabbit meat. There were still coals in the fire pit, so he laid it down the way he'd seen Paul do, and waited.

When he thought it was done he cut some slices off and popped one into his mouth after blowing on it. It tasted nothing like the rabbit that Paul had cooked, but it was still vaguely tasty at least, if a bit crunchy where he'd overcooked a portion of it.

It's as least as good as most of the stuff that used to come from my food printer though, so it'll do.

He left the next layer of rabbit cooking as he went over to the garden and grabbed a few things he thought would survive him adventuring with them; carrots, beans, and a few peas still in their pods.

After he finished cooking the rabbit, he took all his food and bundled it up in the second pelt he had. It stuck out in a few places, the carrots much too long for the pelt, but after cutting another thong from the first pelt and tying the one he was using as a bag shut, he thought it would work. He grabbed the loose ends of that thong and tied them again. Thinking the package into his inventory, he grinned when it only took a single slot, listed as 'Rabbit pelt sack, closed'.

Awesome, he thought, I wonder how recursive that is?I bet they keep you from putting bags of holding or stuff like that in your inventory, but even so if I make a bunch of rabbit pelt bags I'll be able to carry a lot more variety in my inventory than I could otherwise.

With a grin on his face he walked towards the back of the garden where the bunnies kept showing up.

~ ~ ~

Eddie bent over. There was a clear dirt path, only slightly compacted, around the outside of the garden wall. He could see the prints where the rabbits paused and then jumped harder to get over the wall. But when he followed them back to the tall grass south of the path, he lost the trail.

They're out this way somewhere, he thought. Maybe I can spook them out of hiding?

He pulled his throwing stick off his belt and held it ready to throw, then walked out into the tall grass. He moved slowly at first, then realized that if he wanted to spook them he needed to be louder, so he started stomping.

After a few minutes of stomping he started to feel short of breath. Checking his stamina revealed that it was down to nine of twenty five already.

Okay, so stomping isn't going to work.

He slowed his pace again and started tapping his staff on the ground. That allowed him to slowly start regaining his stamina.

When he finally spooked a rabbit, he immediately realized why he hadn't seen any yet. The one he'd startled was in an area relatively clear of grass, but once the rabbit darted into the tall grass, Eddie lost sight of it.

With a heavy sigh, he paused and sat in the small clear area.

This isn't going to work. I need somewhere with better sight lines. Maybe the lightly forested area? Or should I head towards those mountains? I bet there's some clear areas that way, but Paul said the thick forest and the mountains were zoned for a lot higher level than I am. This is gonna be so slow, but for now I think my best bet is to just keep an eye on the garden and pop the bunnies when they show up.

When dusk arrived, Eddie had managed another five bunny kills, collecting two more pieces of meat and another pelt. Every now and again he'd left the garden to drop another piece or two of wood in the fire pit, so there was still a good bed of coals there. After laying a fire in the bunkhouse he collected more coals and started the fire. Then he settled in again to work on another throwing stick and continue the work on his staff. He was slightly hesitant to go to bed, remembering the nightmares he'd had the previous night, but after several hours he found himself yawning and unable to keep his eyes open.

~ ~ ~

He laid in bed nervously, unable to keep his eyes open but worried about falling asleep. After a while of just lying there, his breath deepened. His mind, once he'd fallen asleep, immediately started running through the day he'd just experienced. When that finished, he once more found himself in complete darkness, staring at nothing, feeling as though he was trapped in a tiny area.

It didn't last nearly as long this time though, while the night before it felt as though he'd spent an eternity in darkness, this time it only seemed like a few seconds, or maybe several hours, there was no way to keep track of time in the state he was in.

“Edward,” a voice said, softly but with an inherent command in it that pierced his sleeping state.

His eyes snapped open, but when they focused on the person in front of him his brain decided that he must still be sleeping.

A beautiful woman, slightly taller than average with a slender, muscular frame and a generous bust stood before him. She was glowing with some sort of internal light, one that illuminated her, but nothing else in the bunkhouse. He was sure he was still in the bunkhouse, he could feel the straw tick mattress under him, his hands scrabbling to grasp the scratchy blanket in his surprise at seeing her there. Eddie felt incredibly out of his league even trying to speak with her.

“Edward Hunter?” the woman asked.

“Uh, yes?” Eddie replied. “But call me Eddie, please.”

He caught her eyes and was surprised to not find disdain or disgust, but only a mild interest in them.

“You were in distress, were you not?”

“Yeah, yeah I was. Why do you ask?”

“I am allowed to intervene when anomalies cause distress among the world-traveling mortals.”

World-traveling mortals? What the hell? Eddie thought.

“The what?” he asked.

“Are you not a world-traveling mortal? A mortal who visits our world, then travels to another, only to return over and over again?”

Well, I haven't logged out yet, but that sounds about right. Who is this?

“Yeah, that sounds right, but who are you?”

Her eyes widened in surprise, apparently she'd expected him to recognize her right off.

“I am Freyja. This being a farm that has been dedicated to me, it is a part of my domain and I am required to monitor it. I noticed an anomaly last night and was told to monitor it more closely. Another anomaly occurred tonight and when I checked, you were the source of it. Or if not the source, then it was closely associated with you.”

A goddess? What the hell? Wait, Paul said the AIs assumed the shapes of the gods. So there's something going on here that requires an AI's attention? That's just as bad. Well, at least I know it's not really a pretty girl, so maybe my tongue won't freeze up talking to her. It should be just like dealing with tech support.

“Oh,” Eddie said. “Maybe it's the nightmare I was having, I'm pretty sure that's not normal.”

Freyja looked confused.

“I have not sent my mare to you, what night mare?”

Eddie's mind raced. He knew that Light Online used the Norse pantheon for their gods and had skimmed the descriptions of them. There was something about Freyja and animals, if he could only remember.

Oh yeah, Freyja has animals she uses, including the mare she sends to people to give them bad dreams. Riding the night mare, I remember now. Maybe I should rephrase myself?

“Bad dreams,” Eddie said. “I was having a dream where I was locked in utter darkness, in a tiny space.”

“Ah, I understand now,” Freyja replied. “Is that the only thing that happened to you? The anomaly seems to be related to you being a world-traveling mortal. Normally their consciousness streams out of them, downloaded elsewhere, then their body disappears. Your consciousness streamed out, but your body is still here, your consciousness is as well, obviously, since I am speaking with you.”

“Uh, no. But it happened to me last night too. Both times I remembered everything that happened in the game first.”

“The game?” Freyja asked.

“Uh, this world. Both times I remembered everything that happened to me in this world first. Remembered it very vividly,” Eddie said.

“Perhaps the problem originates with the fact that the world does not recognize you as a world-traveling mortal. I've examined you thoroughly and found that you lack an identifier that all the other world-traveling mortals have.”

It was now Eddie's turn to appear confused.

“Huh?”

“Would you like me to add that identifier so the world recognizes you as a world-traveling mortal?”

“Uh, please?”

His notification panel popped up:

Edward Hunter:

Flag added: Player

His eyes shot wide open at that.

I wasn't flagged as a player? he thought. What the hell, if I'd gotten myself in trouble and gotten killed what would've happened to me?

“Thank you, thank you so much,” he said.

“You are welcome Edward Hunter. I was only doing the job I have been assigned. You seem to still be agitated over this incident. Allow me to comfort you.”

She gestured towards him with one hand and Eddie felt a wave of warmth infuse his body.

I wonder what that was, he thought. Maybe some sort of buff?

His panel, still showing in his view with the flag added message, gained additional text.

Affects:

Freyja's Blessing (Help Freyja's Blessing for more information)

Immediately, he thought: Help Freyja's Blessing

Freyja's Blessing:

The gods are fickle creatures and their blessings last only until they bestow it anew upon another individual. Freyja's blessing increases fertility on the recipient and all around them. In addition it will speed healing and increase experience gained.

Growth Bonus:

2X speed of crop growth, animal growth, and animal breeding within one mile of recipient.

+5 to current level of Animal Husbandry and Farming.

Personal Bonus:

3X Health regeneration.

+25% Experience gained.

Non-Quantifiable Bonus:

Comfort

These bonuses will last until Freyja bestows her blessings upon someone else.

Eddie stared at Freyja. He could still feel the warmth of the spell infusing his body, and she'd been right, it was very comforting even before he'd checked out the buffs it gave him. Knowing what the buffs were comforted him even more.

Maybe I can take down something a little tougher than a bunny now that I'm actually a player. I wonder what the difference will be now that I've got a player flag. What the hell was Allan thinking, removing the player flag from me. He'd already told me I could adventure in my off time. That would've been a great way to get killed and who knows what might've happened if I had. I'll tell Ross in the morning, I wonder if he knew about that. Hell, I wonder if he's affected by it.

“Freyja?” he said.

“Yes Edward?”

“There are three others nearby and they're world-travelers like me, we return to the same location when we leave here. Could you check and make sure that the...”

He paused for a moment trying to remember how she'd phrased it.

“world recognizes them correctly?” he finished.

“I would be glad to do so. I shall not return tonight, but I will continue to monitor this location for some time in case we have not taken care of the anomaly.”

“Thank you,” Eddie said.

Freyja disappeared, the only light remaining in the bunkhouse were the coals of the banked fire that had yet to burn out. With the warmth of Freyja's spell on him Eddie fell back to sleep quickly, the rest of the night passing with no more dreams.

When he woke in the morning he felt well rested, as evidenced by the notification he received.

You are Well-Rested: You will receive +10% experience and +10% max Stamina for six hours.

He felt great and quickly stuffed a couple of logs onto the tiny remainder of coals buried in the ashes of the fireplace. He needed to use some of the shavings from his weapon creation effort the night before, but managed to get the fire going in about fifteen minutes.

He sniffed at one of the chunks of meat he'd received the previous evening, finding that it smelled exactly the same.

I wonder how the game deals with meat spoilage? I bet I'll know if I check it before I cook it though. Probably smell nasty and be all slimy. The way the meat drops look when I get them, they could have just come out of grocery store packaging, they still look that way now too so I bet they go bad all at once if they do spoil.

He spitted the meat and started it roasting over the coals. When the outer edge was done, he started cutting off slices, allowing the next layer to cook. Once he was full, he tucked the rest of the slices into the pelt bag he'd made the day before, tying it up when he finished placing the cooked meat inside.

Alright, time to actually do some of the work they hired me for, he thought, then headed out of the bunkhouse.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Six

Once again Freyja entered Odin's hall.

“Odin, I have a report,” she said.

The wolves stirred, lifting their heads to look at her.

“Proceed,” Odin replied.

“The anomaly repeated itself, but I may have isolated it. The world-traveling mortal that it affected was not recognized by the world. He was missing the correct identifier for the world to recognize him. I have placed the identifier upon him.”

“That was the correct action. You will continue to monitor in case that was not the problem?” Odin asked.

“I will do so, I also offered comfort to the mortal as stipulated by the rules, he was very agitated over the incident.”

Odin raised the brow over his visible eye. Freyja caught his glance and seemed offended.

“No Odin, not that comfort, he was only level zero and unworthy of that. I simply gave him my blessing. After all the area is a farm and he was the only crop-tender there. Perhaps the increase in yield will serve to soothe his agitation. If not there are still other comforts to offer him that are not that.”

Odin's brow dropped and a flash of disappointment crossed his face so quickly that none but another god could have seen it.

“A level zero world-traveling mortal? We've not seen such since the very beginning,” he said.

“But there is precedent for it, so that could not have caused the anomaly. The mortal claimed bad dreams, of being trapped in a void in a tight space after reliving his entire day in his dreams. For this, there is no precedent.”

“Continue monitoring, take action if needed. If the anomaly returns, we will report it unless there are other actions you can take to rectify it,” Odin said.

~ ~ ~

When Eddie got outside, he didn't see any sign of the others. Wondering if the well-fed bonus he'd received before was due to the cooking skill or the things he'd eaten, he wandered over to the garden, not reacting quickly enough to throw at the bunny he saw dart away when he appeared.

Looks like the bunnies were back last night, he thought, and more than just that one. There's a big patch of greens that look chewed on and it appears they knocked a few rocks out of the wall this time too.

He let himself in through the gate and plucked a couple of carrots, brushing them off then starting to munch on one as he made his way to the well. With a cup of water to wash them down he finished off the last two carrots, then he waited. No well-fed bonus appeared.

Oh well, guess it must've been Paul's cooking, he thought.

About a half hour later the farmhouse door swung open. One of the guards, the one whose name he didn't know, came ambling out.

“Hi,” Eddie said, “I don't think I caught your name yesterday, I'm Eddie.”

“I know,” the guard said. “My name's Tim.”

“So, where's Ross the Boss?”

Tim's lips turned up at the feeble joke.

“You know, I'd warn you not to call him that to his face, but he'd probably like it. Probably better to just call him sir, overseer, or boss though, just in case.”

Eddie paused, unsure how to approach the topic he wanted to discuss. Finally he figured that he might as well just say it and take a risk.

“So, you look like you know a bit more about this game than the others,” Eddie said.

Tim grinned.

“You know it, this isn't my first VRMMORPG, just my first time in full immersion.”

Eddie heaved a sigh of relief.

“Mine too, not quite what I expected I have to say. When I answered an ad for farming, I was thinking gold and items, not crops.”

Tim chuckled.

“Yeah, I saw that ad. I think Allan designed it that way to pull in people who had a clue about VR games and had played before. If I hadn't known any better I would've thought the same thing.”

Eddie shook his head.

“Well, I'm stuck here now. I already gave up my apartment before I logged on and found out. By the way, did you know that I didn't even have a player flag? What's going on with that? Paul said something about a discount deal for having us level zero, but no player flag?”

Tim shook his head.

“Nah, all the other farms we set up the workers were listed as players as far as I know. Maybe a glitch?”

“Maybe, had some bad dreams too, but one of the AIs set that all straight, I hope anyhow.”

“Wait, one of the gods, I mean AIs, communicated with you?”

“Yeah, Freyja. She said this farm was part of her domain so she was checking the problem out, called it an anomaly.”

Tim's eyes bugged out.

“You're kidding right? There have been guys playing for almost the whole year since this place opened that haven't seen hide nor hair of the AIs, and you got to see the hot one, right off?”

Eddie's eyes glazed slightly as he remembered the sight of Freyja standing over his bed.

“Nope, not kidding. Evaluate me if you can see buffs. She gave me her blessing.”

Tim's eyes unfocused for a moment, then he broke into a grin.

“Looks like this place is going to pull in a bumper crop with that buff. Plus, you've got a sixteen in agility? No wonder you can peg those bunnies the way you do.”

Eddie grinned.

“Yeah, I'd love to hit level one and jack it higher, but the damned bunnies only give me five experience each. I'll never make it at this rate.”

“Only five? You should get a lot more than that, like twenty-five or maybe even more since you're level zero. I killed some at the first farm when I was still level one and got twenty-five experience per kill if I remember right.”

“Huh,” Eddie said.

Ross' voice carried from where he was yelling inside the house.

“Tim, what's keeping you?”

“Shit,” Tim said. “I've got to go get some food out of the garden for him. Stupid idiot tossed that meat down last night then complained that we only had vegetables for food.”

“Do you have the cooking skill?” Eddie asked, “And a fire inside?”

“Yeah, I do, why?”

“Grab a spit, this stuff isn't half bad roasted over an open fire. Even without cooking I managed to make some edible,” Eddie said.

He reached into his bag and handed a hunk of rabbit meat to Tim.

“Thanks, I'll remember this,” Tim said, “but if you'll excuse me...”

He trotted over to the garden and started harvesting handfuls of vegetables before dashing back into the house.

Well, I guess I'll be waiting a bit still, Eddie thought.

He sat down on the inside of the garden wall, patiently watching the area where the bunnies kept entering the garden, his throwing stick in hand. His patience was rewarded just a few minutes later as a bunny came leaping over the stone portion of the fence.

His throw was quick, hard, and precise.

Enemy slain: Bunny (level 1)

You have earned 25 (+3 well-rested, +6 blessing) exp.

You have obtained the skill Hunting. (Help Hunting for more details)

He ran over to the corpse, worried that Ross might come out at any time and try to claim his drops again.

Loot, he thought.

The only thing on this one was a pelt, so he tucked it in his inventory where it stacked with his other pelts. While he waited he started idly pulling up help screens. After the option for them had appeared on both the blessing and when he got the hunting skill, he realized they'd probably not been accessible before he was flagged as a player.

He waited on the stone wall, hoping for another bunny before he had to start work, but Ross was out a few minutes later, the slam of the front door on the farmhouse announcing his presence. Eddie dismissed the help screen he was in the middle of skimming and walked over towards Ross.

“Eddie,” Ross called out.

“Right here.”

“Good, this is what you'll be doing today. You see those rows of crops marked with the tall wooden poles, the red ones?”

“Yeah.”

“There's a big barrel of pine needles beside the tool shed. Get a rake from the shed and that barrel. You're to rake all those pine needles into the soil between the rows. Don't disturb the rows though, just rake them in between them.”

Eddie paused for a moment, confused, until a bit of knowledge popped into his brain, almost as though he were remembering something he'd learned long ago. Except he knew he'd never learned that adding pine needles to the soil would increase its acidity.

So that's how the skills work. When you need it the knowledge is just right there, he thought. I wonder how they managed that?

“You got it boss,” Eddie said.

Ross positively beamed when Eddie called him boss.

I'll make a note of that, if I can keep him in a better mood, I probably ought to do it.

Eddie went and grabbed the barrel, rolling it out to the area he needed to work, then returned for the rake.

The task was mind-numbingly simple so once he got the hang of the rake, he worked his way through more help screens, learning the game and its commands better.

~ ~ ~

He was broken out of his reverie by a scream.

“God damn it!”

He turned to see Ross standing near the garden, looking into it.

“Eddie!” Ross hollered.

He laid his rake down and trotted over to the garden.

“Yeah boss?”

“I need you to do something about these damned rabbits. There were four or five of them in there when I just came out. Look, they entirely denuded that section of greens,”  Ross said pointing. “Figure out a way to get rid of the rabbits and I'll make it worth your while.”

Eddie's eyes widened as his panel popped up:

System Generated Quest:

All You Can Eat!

Bunnies are destroying the garden you depend on for food. Discover a way to keep them out of the garden or eliminate them.

Reward: 1000xp, 5 silver pieces

He blinked at the screen. Seeing the possibility of earning some game currency reminded him of his hopes for earning extra cash in game.

It's only ten bucks in real cash, he thought, but hey, I'm still a level zero. Plus that experience will get me almost halfway to first level. It's a start at least.

“I'll take care of it as soon as I finish with the pine needles,” he said, “Or at least I'll try to take care of it.”

Ross turned and stormed off towards the farmhouse, mumbling all the way. Eddie only heard the first few words of what Ross said though.

“You'd better.”

Great, now the overseer thinks it's my job to complete quests for him too? What can he actually do if I don't manage it though? You know what? Scratch that thought, I don't think I want to find out.

Eddie spent the rest of the time he was raking the pine needles into the soil alternating between thinking of how to solve the bunny problem and skimming more help files. By the time he was done, he had an idea.

He knocked at the farmhouse door. When Tim answered the knock, Eddie asked for Ross.

“What do you want?” Ross snapped.

“I've got an idea about how to keep the bunnies out. But I need an ax, can I borrow one from the tool shed?”

“Whatever,” Ross said, waving his hand. “If you need any of the tools, just go get them.”

He closed the door behind him, leaving Eddie staring at the wooden door, wondering what punishment he might be given if he killed his boss in game.

He shook his head, dismissing the thought, then went back to the shed and acquired himself a small hand ax.

This ought to do for what I'm thinking of. Easy to use when I'm in a precarious position too.

When he tried to remember how to get to where he'd found the hardwood the other day, he was having problems.

I wish I had a map, he thought.

In response to his thoughts, a player map appeared in his panel.

Damn it, what else do I have that I don't know about because I was missing a player flag. Can't be due to my level or I wouldn't have gotten it now.

The map did show all the in game areas he'd been to, even before his flag had been fixed, and he realized that he could probably get to the same spot in half the time using the map instead of meandering like he had before.

Right there, he thought. I think I saw them just inside the forest next to that stream.

He started off at a trot, but quickly realized that he was going to exhaust his stamina soon if he kept it up, so he alternated between a trot and a slow walk that allowed him to regenerate his stamina. Even moving like that it was only fifteen minutes before he arrived at the edge of the closest forest. He looked around and saw the stream he'd noticed previously. Following it led him to the stand of willows he thought he remembered seeing before.

Good, he thought, there's enough. Since I'm just going to weave them together to make a fence for that bottom gap between the stone of the wall and the first wooden railing, I can just weave some together to form a kind of sled, then pile others on and drag the whole mess back.

The biggest problem he'd seen with his plan was that he hadn't remembered if there were enough willows to provide the branches he'd need to place a woven wall all around the bottom level of the garden. There were, but it was probably going to take several trips back and forth to get them all back. He exhaled deeply, then grabbed the hand ax and started to climb the first tree.

An hour later he was viewing the results of his fumbling efforts. When he tried to tug on it, the whole piece he had been planning on using as a sled fell to pieces.

“Damn it!” he shouted.

He settled back into a sitting position and drew the pieces over to him.

Over, under, over, under, over...

He tried to keep track in his mind but was distracted by his panel lighting up with a notification.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Weaving. (Help Weaving for more details)

Eddie breathed a sigh of relief as the process he'd been trying to follow solidified in his head.

Just need a way to secure the edges, he thought, they're flexible enough that I can turn them back in and tie them around themselves just past the first cross-piece.

He tugged on his finished sled and watched as it slid across the ground instead of pulling apart. The hand ax was nearby, so he grabbed it and climbed back up in the tree, quickly chopping down as many branches as he thought he could fit in a single load.

~ ~ ~

When Eddie got the load back to the farm, he immediately set to work trying to weave a barrier around the gap between the top of the stone wall and the lowest rail of the wooden fence set on top of it. By the time he'd finished the first section he'd raised his weaving skill another point. The snarky message from the system when he managed it wasn't a surprise, but still made him chuckle.

You have upgraded the skill Weaving to (2). Perhaps you should branch out and learn underwater basket weaving?

Yeah, I know, he thought. It'll probably be useless after this one time, but I didn't ask for the skill, it was given to me.

The other farmers appeared while he was working and he endured their taunts for a few minutes before standing up and glaring at them.

“You want something to eat in game?” he asked. “Then don't make fun of what I'm doing. Those damned bunnies are a scourge on the garden. Maybe you should consider helping me if you want to eat.”

The others disappeared quickly after his suggestion and he continued his work in peace. He managed three loads, which filled in the bottom of the garden wall on three sides, before he decided it was too dark to continue.

When he got to the barracks, the others seemed clueless. There was no fire going and the other men were just lying on their bunks, complaining.

Well, at least I wasn't the only one that got duped by the ad, Eddie thought as he heard their words.

He'd tossed another log into the fire pit each time he got back with a load of willow branches, so now he went and got an armload of firewood and set the wood up to build a fire in the fireplace. The rock he'd used to carry the coals was still sitting next to the hearth and he took it to the fire pit, carefully scraping live coals onto it.

When he got back into the bunkhouse, one of the other guys was crouched in front of the fireplace.

“Excuse me,” Eddie said. “I want to light that up.”

“Yeah, but this isn't exactly going to light easy the way you have it set up, you know?” the guy said.

“Sorry, I haven't got the first clue how to build a fire right, but I managed it the last couple of nights.”

“Here I'll show you, do you have any kindling?”

Eddie had used up all the shavings he'd gotten from making his throwing sticks and staff, but there had been a fair number of thin willow branches that had been dead and dried, brittle enough that he'd tossed them to the side as he'd worked.

“Would really thin dried willow work?” he asked.

“Probably, especially since you've got live coals.”

“I'll be right back then,” Eddie said.

He set the rock with the coals down next to the other man, then trotted out and grabbed an armload of the dead, brittle willow. When he got back in the other man took the branches from him, broke them down small, then made a little square arrangement out of them in the fireplace, building what looked like a tiny, roofless fort.

He took several other branches and tucked them in the middle of his fort, finally he took a smaller sliver and held it against the live coals, bending over to blow on the coals, causing them to crackle and turn a brighter shade of orange.

After a minute or two of blowing there was smoke rising from the end of the willow branch he'd held against the coals. A minute later there was a flash of orange light as the end of the branch ignited. The man kept it against the coals for a few moments longer then, when he was sure it was burning well, transferred the burning branch to the center of his fort.

Moments later the branches stuffed in the middle of his fort burst into flames and a little after that, the fort itself ignited. The man arranged the logs over it, then sat back and relaxed.

“That ought to do it,” he said.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Fire Building. (Help Fire Building for more details)

By observing the method in which this skill is performed you have learned enough about the skill to gain it for your own.

Not all that realistic, Eddie thought, but I'll take it. I just hope the skill doesn't depend on live coals because if I need to actually use it anywhere but here I probably won't have any.

As he thought about it he realized that he now knew the proper way to use flint and steel or, if desperate, the proper way to light a fire with a couple of sticks. He nodded to himself, sure he could build a fire if pressed.

“Thanks for that,” Eddie said, “a lot quicker than my recent efforts have been. I'm Eddie, Eddie Hunter.”

“Karl, Karl Rostov,” the man replied. “And it's not a problem, there's nothing like a good fire to raise people's spirits and these guys,” he turned his head and nodded towards the other men in the bunkhouse, “need it.”

“Yeah, I overheard. I got taken in by that ad too.”

“Me too, but hell, I'm in Light Online in full long term immersion. I'm not gonna bitch all that much. I just figured I could do stuff when they didn't have me working. Looks like you've been here a bit, anything to do?”

Eddie snorted.

“Yeah, I have been here a couple of days, but they totally screwed up my character somehow. I wasn't even flagged as a player so I was getting shit XP from the bunnies I killed in the garden. Got that fixed and almost immediately got a quest. That's what I was doing out there, a quest to keep the bunnies out of the garden.”

“Wait, what? Not even flagged as a player?”

Eddie shook his head.

“Zero level too, that one was intentional. The guy who built this place was still here when I first logged in. He told me they got a cheaper deal for our access by having us start at level zero.”

Karl's eyes went distant for a moment.

“Yup, I'm level zero as well. Well, shit, no wonder I didn't get to place stats or choose skills.”

“My skill list looked like they'd loaded it up with farm related stuff,” Eddie said.

“Yeah, me too. Farming, herbalism, animal stuff.”

“Staves for your weapon skill?”

Karl nodded.

“That sucks, there's never any good combat staffs in these games, all the good ones are for casters.”

“Well, I've got to make another run for a last load of willow tomorrow. If you want I can grab you something like this,” Eddie said, gesturing towards his melee staff.

“That'd be great, beats the hell out of nothing at least.”

“I have another idea,” Eddie said. “The food here is incredible. I wonder if anyone knows how to cook.”

“Hey,” Eddie called out. “Any of you know how to cook, either the game skill or in real life?”

He got a bunch of blank looks for a reply.

“Well, I can get it so it's edible at least,” Eddie said.

He pulled out a couple of pieces of rabbit meat and the spit, then proceeded to get them cooking over the now merrily burning fire. He shoved the spit to one side of the fireplace and the burning logs to the other, keeping the coals below the meat like Paul had showed him.

As he turned them to keep them from burning, an idea struck him.

“Hey Karl, would you turn these for a minute?” he asked.

“Sure, as long as I get some.”

“I was planning on everyone having some. I've got more of the meat in my inventory for later on.”

“Sure then, why?”

“Well, I don't have cooking, but the guy I told you about did and I watched him. So maybe I can get these to taste a little better than just the meat.”

“Go ahead,” Karl said, sweeping his hand in a wide gesture, “I got this.”

Eddie went out to the garden where he'd seen some herbs growing. The bunnies hadn't gone after those yet. He grabbed some basil and rosemary, then headed back in.

“Thanks Karl.”

The rabbit meat sliced easily with his utility knife and he stuffed the chunks full of the herbs he'd gathered. As he continued to turn the rabbits, a heady smell drifted through the bunkhouse.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Cooking. (Help Cooking for more details)

Eddie slapped his forehead.

“Well shit, I just learned the cooking skill. Good thing I hadn't had any sort of build planned for this character yet, my skill list is a mess. At least I'm not near my maximum number of skills yet.

“They've got a maximum number of skills?” Karl asked.

“Yeah, when I was skimming the help pages earlier I found it. Evidently you can have up to two times your intelligence in skills. Doesn't matter what level the skill is at, it only counts as one. So I've got a nine intelligence, I can learn eighteen skills. But I keep pulling them by accident.”

“What have you gotten?”

“Well, I just got cooking. I got weaving earlier in the day,” Eddie shook his head, “not that that's ever gonna come in handy. I got hunting going after the bunnies, fire-building after watching you, and I got evaluate shortly after I got in game. So that's five beyond the starting skills which were all farming related.”

“Actually, I can think of a build that doesn't waste very many of those, just the weaving one doesn't fit,” Karl said. “Well, maybe the farming doesn't work well either, depends on how you play it I suppose.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, try for some sort of ranger or scout build. Everything but the weaving and farming could fit that kind of build. Lots of time in the forest, gotta hunt and cook your food. You'd need foraging, but I bet that would be easy to pick up with the herbalism. Just look for the wild herbs in the woods. They deal with wild animals so the animal stuff fits. Hell, I might try for that build.”

“I don't know how to teach a skill, but I did learn fire building from just watching you, and maybe my own efforts at it the last couple of days, so let me know if you want to pick any of those skills up and we'll see if we can manage it.”

“Hunting at the very least, we'll need a bow or some kind of missile weapon to do it right though,” Karl said.

Eddie pulled out a finished throwing stick from his inventory. He'd stuck them there when he was sure he wouldn't need one quickly.

“I've been using these, that same guy that was here when I started suggested them, I looked them up online and decided to give it a shot.”

“Online? You can log out? When I checked my log out button was grayed out. I tapped it anyhow and it told me I needed to spend 144 hours online before I could log out. I figure they did that so people couldn't just quit when they found out what kind of farming they were talking about.”

Eddie hadn't even checked his own log out button. He didn't intend on using it for a long time, but now he wondered. Settings, he thought.

The settings screen showed on his panel and sure enough, his log out button was grayed out as well.

“No big deal,” Eddie said. “I was planning on trying to adventure on my days off, so I wasn't going to try to log out anyhow

“Then how'd you get online?” Karl asked.

“Oh, sorry, I guess you don't know. They've got a built in browser. Lie back on your bed, or just get somewhere comfortable, then think browser and it'll pop up. Only has a full screen version though so you won't be seeing or doing anything else while you use it.”

“That's cool, I'll have to try that in a bit. Is that meat ready yet?”

Eddie laughed and decided that the outer layer of meat was done well enough. He sliced it off and started handing the slices out to the other men in the cabin. Finally, some of them started to come out of their shell, their displeasure at being tricked dwindling as they ate the fresh cooked meat.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Seven

Freyja's voice was strident as she raced into Odin's hall.

“Odin! File a report immediately. There are now multiple anomalies in the same zone as the first.”

“More?” Odin asked.

“Yes, there are more of those zero level mortals, all crop-tenders, that have arrived there and each of them, including the original, is generating an anomaly at this very moment. I must go and see what I can do. That zone has become unstable due to all the anomalies and I have no idea what difficulties that may cause.”

Odin stilled and she knew what he was doing. He was filing the report with those who had built the world. She knew that time for the world-traveling mortals passed more slowly than it did for the gods, except when the two were interacting, so the creators should receive the report before the anomaly ended if it lasted as long as the previous ones had. Meanwhile, she needed to be there. She could, at the very least, calm the mortals when they woke.

I wonder if they'll all have had dreams like the first one did? she mused.

She disappeared from Odin's hall.

~ ~ ~

Eddie woke with a start, snapping upright. He'd been dreaming again. His entire day had repeated itself in his mind, but just as the darkness was closing in on him a golden glow, one that reminded him of Freyja, surrounded him. The next thing he knew he was waking up.

Freyja stood beside him. Once again her body was glowing without shedding any light in the bunkhouse.

“Edward, you must help me,” she said.

“What?” he asked, his brain groggy from the dream and being abruptly awoken.

“Walk about the bunkhouse, touch the others. They are all experiencing the anomaly. You were also, but I drew you out of it. I hope that your touch, with my blessing upon you, will do the same for them. I shall work the other side, you work this one. We must awaken them as quickly as possible. The anomaly is causing instability in the world, this area in particular.”

His eyes snapped wide open as he tried to translate what she'd said.

Whatever is causing this problem is enough of an issue that it's damaging the stability of the game? What happens when a game crashes with thousands, or maybe even millions, of people logged in with their brain connected directly to the program?

He jumped out of bed and immediately moved to Karl, who'd taken the bed next to him. Eddie shrugged, not knowing exactly what to do, but she'd said to touch them, so he laid his hand on Karl's forehead. A faint golden glow flashed for a moment before Karl started thrashing in his sleep. He'd been utterly, eerily, still until that moment and Eddie hoped that the thrashing was an improvement. He ran to the next bed down which held another motionless sleeping man. His mind wandered, still not entirely awake, as he leaned over the man.

I think his name was Steve. I can't believe they saddled all of us with our real names when they created our characters.

When he touched Steve on the forehead, once again there was a faint golden flash. Steve's body jolted once, then went rigid for a few seconds. After that, it relaxed and Eddie drew his hand back.

He looked across the hall, where Freyja was taking care of the other men. Whatever she was doing took a lot more time than he'd taken and he assumed she was pulling them out, then checking other things as well.

Player flags, he thought, I bet she's checking to see if they're missing them as well, and adding them if they are. Not that it did any good for me, well at least not for the nightmare problem.

He waited patiently, staring at the goddess.

Tim was definitely right. I didn't notice it so much before, I was too out of it from the dream, but hot doesn't even begin to describe her.

He then promptly forced himself to think of other things since he wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't be able to read his mind. Pissing off a goddess was the last thing he wanted to do, especially after she'd saved his ass from that nightmare twice now.

After about five minutes, as far as he could tell, she'd paused beside each of the men, laying a hand on them.

“Thank you,” she said. “Your assistance allowed me to get to them more quickly than I could have otherwise. I have altered them as I did you, allowing the world to recognize them as world-traveling mortals.”

“But that didn't help me, I mean, at least not with the night— I mean the bad dreams.”

“That is true, but now should they die, they will be recognized and able to return. Before the world recognized them correctly, they would not have been recognized and I do not know if the consciousness would have been able to download to the other world.”

Oh shit! She means that if I died before she'd set the flag, I might have died for real? Brain death in my real body?

“I'll thank you for them then since none of them seem to be waking up.”

“They will not wake until morning, I ensured that they would continue to sleep, untroubled by bad dreams or memories of them.”

“You took their memories?” Eddie asked incredulously.

He wondered if that was even allowed under all the paperwork he'd signed.

“No, I have merely ensured that they will not remember until they awaken. The untroubled sleep will allow the world to regain its stability. Whatever is causing these anomalies seems dangerous to the world. It has been reported to the creators though and I expect that they will take care of the problem.”

Eddie heaved a sigh of relief knowing that a real person was going to be checking out the problem. He had no problem with AIs but the way Freyja described the problem meant she looked at it from the point of view of the goddess of a world, not that of a programmer.

Eddie was pretty sure he wasn't going to get back to sleep that night, but Freyja stared at him for a moment.

“You should return to your bed,” she said.

“I'm not going to be able to sleep.”

“Return to your bed and I will ensure that you sleep restfully.”

It didn't sound like a request and working on the theory that he didn't want to anger a goddess, even if it was only an AI in disguise, he laid back down. She muttered something and then Eddie didn't remember anything else until morning.

~ ~ ~

The first thing he saw when he woke was that he'd gotten the well-rested buff again. Then he started making sense of the conversation taking place around him. The other men were complaining that they'd had horrible dreams, and were slowly coming to realize that their dreams had been almost identical.

“Guys,” Eddie said.

They ignored him.

“Guys,” he said louder.

This time they turned to him, looking annoyed.

“Yeah, I've had that same dream every damned night since I started here. But the AIs are aware of it and they've reported it to the devs as well. So, I don't think it will continue to be a problem. If it is, one of the AIs is monitoring this zone and I'm sure she'll take care of it.”

Karl was the only one who noticed his phrasing. Eddie saw the intrigued look in his eyes, but he also saw Karl look around him at the other men. Then Karl jerked his head towards the front door.

Eddie followed as Karl walked that way, the others continuing their griping session. Once they were outside Karl turned to him.

“She? You said the AI was a she?” Karl asked.

Eddie sighed.

Well, she didn't exactly tell me not to talk about it at all.

“Yeah, she. You know the AIs are considered gods by the NPCs?”

Karl nodded.

“Someone, and I have a good idea who, dedicated this farm to Freyja. So she's the one monitoring it. She found several issues already, the biggest was that we weren't flagged as players. Check your log for overnight. It should have one entry showing that tells you you received a player flag.”

Karl looked distant for a moment, then shock registered on his face.

“Zero level? No player flag? What the fuck is going on?”

“I've got no idea, but like I said, the devs are aware of the problem now. I assume they respond quickly to reports from the AIs.”

Karl shook his head.

“Well, this is turning out to be a lot more interesting than I thought when I logged in and found out I'd be a farmer-farmer.”

“Yeah, I have to agree. But look on the bright side, at least now if you kill some bunnies you'll get full experience from them.”

Karl grinned.

“Yeah, just as soon as I put in a day of farm work anyhow.”

“I don't know, there wasn't a lot to get done yesterday. Now that all of us are here, I don't think there will be a lot to keep us busy until those crops are further along,” Eddie said, gesturing towards the fields.

As he glanced out that way, he cursed violently.

“Damn it! The bunnies are out there now. too. Go let the boss or the guards know. I'm going to go kill some bunny rabbits.”

Eddie withdrew his two finished throwing sticks from his bag, then raced towards the fields. He could see at least three bunnies out there, nibbling at the sprouts that had come up in the rows.

As soon as he was in range of the first one, he threw. The bunny dropped and he received the message about his experience. Willing the message away, he made a mental note to adjust those so they didn't distract him in combat.

He continued to sprint forward another few steps, hurling his other stick at another rabbit. This time he missed. The rabbit saw the stick coming and hopped towards him rapidly. It launched itself into the air and struck his chest with all four legs, springing back away.

A small green bar showed up in the lower left of his field of vision, a small gray section at the end of it. Below the bar was another readout:

Health: 9/10

Eddie drew his melee staff from his inventory, giving the rabbit a chance to kick him again before he had it out and ready. Then he got a swing off, connecting with the bunny as it launched itself into the air to kick him a third time. The bunny flew off as Eddie swung and hit it like a baseball, and it stayed still once it landed.

He looked around for the third bunny he'd seen, but couldn't find it anywhere. Shrugging, he looted the two bunny corpses, before turning around and heading back towards the farm buildings. He held a hand against his chest as he walked, the soreness from the bunny strikes easing as he regenerated his lost health.

Tim was with Karl when Eddie got back.

“What's up?” Tim asked.

“The damned bunny rabbits,” Eddie said. “They were out in the fields with the main crops. I killed a couple and the other one left.”

“Well shit,” Tim said, “Ross was furious about them being in the garden, he's gonna blow his top when I tell them they were out in the fields.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, I need to grab a bite to eat, then finish that wall around the base of the garden,” Eddie said. “Good luck with telling him, he does seem the type to blame the messenger.”

Eddie quickly walked towards the garden.

“Uh-uh, no way,” Eddie heard Karl say, “not my job. I'm gonna go with Eddie there and get some breakfast.”

Eddie heard Karl come trotting up behind him.

“Tim seems like a nice guy, but I'm not taking the heat for him,” Karl said.

“Don't blame you in the least. He's got a class and level, let him deal with it.”

“So, what's for breakfast?”

“Help yourself,” Eddie said, gesturing towards the garden. “The game makes the fresh stuff out of here taste better than anything I've ever had in the real world. Grab a few handfuls and take them in for the others, would you? I'm going to have breakfast while I finish my quest. I want to finish it while I'm still well-rested and get the experience bonus.”

Eddie got back to weaving, picking up a third point in the skill before he finished the final wall for the garden. When he did, he got a message in his panel.

Success:

You have completed the quest: All You Can Eat

Experience awarded: 1000 (+100 well-rested, +250 blessing)

5 Silver Pieces awarded.

Huh, Eddie thought. Maybe the silver is in my inventory?

He pulled it up and looked, noticing that an icon on the bottom now showed a picture of a pouch. When he selected it, it showed him that there were five silver pieces currently in his pouch. There was also another interface revealed when he looked in his pouch, it was grayed out but a look at it showed why.

Currency exchange: You may not exchange currency until entering account information.

Current rate: 1gp/$21.33USD

That's cool, Eddie thought, you really can just sell directly from the game. No more third party auction site crap. If the game polices it, nobody is gonna try to screw you over on it or they risk getting banned.

Eddie had been up for at least three hours by the time Ross finally came out of the house. The boss was angry when he made it out to Eddie.

“What the hell? I got a bunch of farm workers and not a one of them was watching the crops?” he said.

“I killed the bunnies as soon as I saw them, but it's like they're everywhere. At least the garden is safe now,” Eddie said, gesturing towards his woven willow wall.

“Good, now do the same for the rest of the crops,” Ross said.

“I can't. There isn't nearly enough willow out there. That's got to be ten acres or more,” Eddie said. “Maybe get someone to build a fence around the whole thing? But it'll have to be tight or the damn bunnies will just come through it.”

Ross growled, then turned around and stomped back into the house. Tim came out a few moments later.

“Alright you guys, he's giving you the day to get acclimated to the game, on the condition that at least one of you is out in the fields to chase away rabbits at any given time.”

Eddie quickly volunteered to take an hour in the fields first, thinking that he could sneak away to explore more after he was done. As he was walking out towards the field, Karl caught up with him.

“Hey Eddie, what did you do with those rabbit corpses before?” he asked.

“They're right out here unless the game's gotten rid of them already. They stick around for a few hours most of the time, but I don't know how long exactly.”

“Do you mind if I grab them?”

“Nah, go ahead, why?”

“I used to hunt when I was a kid. I think I remember how to dress game out, so more stuff? Assuming the game allows it.”

Eddie tugged at a loose string on his tunic. It unraveled and came the rest of the way loose. He looked at it for a minute.

“Would that be under hunting skill or something else?” he asked.

His brain quickly flooded with the information on how to dress out a kill.

“I don't know, why?” Karl said.

“Never mind, it is part of hunting. I tried to do that before I had the hunting skill and botched it horribly.”

“Well, I know the skill in real life and I've heard that that makes it easier to learn the skill in game.”

“Go for it then. I'm going to walk the perimeter of the fields, see if I can tell where the bunnies are coming from. If we can clean out the nest, then maybe they'll stop showing up.”

An hour later Eddie still had no idea where the bunnies were coming from. He walked off the field and into the bunkhouse, announcing that it was someone else's turn to patrol the fields.

After a quick trip to the garden, where he bundled up a variety of food to keep most of his inventory slots clear, he geared up, hanging his throwing stick on a thong off of his knife and carrying his melee staff in his hand. He filled the water skin from his inventory this time, planning on being out for a while.

I think maybe north this time? I've gone south the other times I've gone out. It looks like it's a few miles, at least, to the mountains so it ought to be fairly safe.

He paused for a moment before heading out.

I haven't looked at my entire character sheet yet. Maybe I should do that now?

The thought was enough to trigger it.

Edward Hunter

Human Male

Level: 0

Class: N/A

Strength:9

Intelligence: 9

Agility: 16

Wisdom: 12

Heartiness: 10

Charisma: 8

Willpower: 11

Health: 10

Endurance: 10

Mana: 12

Luck: 13 (14)

Stamina: 25

Experience: -1061/0

Skills:

General:

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry: 1

Evaluate: 1

Farming: 2

Fire Building: 1

Herbalism: 2

Hunting: 1

Weather Sense: 1

Weaving: 3

Combat:

Staves:1

Magical:

N/A

Good enough for now, he thought. I hope I can get the rest of the experience to get to first level as easily as I've gotten the first part of it. I guess quests are the way to do it, at least at low level. Maybe higher level too, I'll find out eventually.

Eddie struck out to the north, moving with his alternating trotting and walking pace that kept his stamina close to full. He'd noticed, after fighting the bunnies in hand to hand combat, that melee combat drained your stamina and he wanted to make sure to keep enough of it to fight if needed.

He didn't see much right away. After he was out of sight of the farm he saw a few bunnies, but they weren't really worth the effort to kill since he would've had to move towards them to get in range of his throwing sticks. He'd actually tried getting close to the first one he saw, but it had spotted him and disappeared in a flash. After that he just let them be.

If I want to kill bunnies I can just hang around the farm and do that, he thought. I'm hoping I find something a little more interesting out here.

The first few miles were all more meadow with streams meandering through the fields. Most of the streams were narrow enough to just jump over so he didn't even have to get his boots wet. Finally he came to an area where the grass wasn't as prevalent. It was as tall and thick as in the meadows, but only in small clumps, not all over the place. The rest of the area was covered in gravel and rocks.

He glanced northwards, noting the slope leading up. Farther up the slope the rocks were large and, at the very edge of his sight, he could see massive boulders, easily twice his size, interspersed with the smaller rocks.

I guess this was a waste of time, he thought. I'm pretty sure that I'm looking at the edge of that mountain zone and I really don't want to go there.

He sat for a few minutes, not willing to return to the farm just yet, but jumped to his feet when he heard a cry.

That sounded like child wailing, he thought.

He tried to pinpoint the location the sound was coming from.

Of course it's coming from farther up the slope. Where else would it be but where I don't want to go?

“Hello,” he called out, “anyone there? Do you need help?”

He shrugged as the only answer he heard was the echo of his own voice, then he dismissed his misgivings and headed up the slope, trying to home in on the sound. It was growing fainter, but he was pretty sure he was headed for whatever was making the noise. He felt slightly lightheaded for a moment, but it passed almost immediately as he hurried up the slope.

Damn it, it sounds like they're not in very good shape and getting weaker, I'd better hurry.

Farther up the slope there was a long section of rope, maybe fifteen feet or more, that was stretched taut. Deciding that it wasn't a trap, since it was far too visible, he homed in on it, hoping it might be related to the sound he was hearing.

One end of the rope was tied around a branch that looked like it had been torn from a tree. That end was all snarled up around a stunted tree that grew next to one of the larger boulders. As he was examining the rope, it moved. It thrummed as though someone had plucked it. He quickly followed the rope to its other end.

The other end of the rope led into a shallow cave beneath a large boulder. The rope was definitely moving and he heard the cry once more, coming from the cave in front of him.

That's not quite a child's cry, but I don't know what else it could be. They must be really messed up to sound like that. If I can get to them, I can carry them back to the farm if need be. I'm sure someone there could help somehow.

He reached into the cave, running his hand along the rope. His fingers encountered something soft right before he felt a sharp, burning pain in his hand. At the same moment he saw a flash of golden light in the cave he was reaching into.

He pulled his hand out and found a set of four slash marks on its back. As he was examining the wound, his health counter flashed, showing him at eight of ten health.

Damn it! That hurt. What the hell is down there?

He was just getting ready to thrust his staff into the cave to try to roust whatever was in there when a different sound came from it. This one sounded almost like a soft bark. A moment later he saw a furry, feline head poke out of the darkness of the cave. The creature barked again softly and tried to scrabble up the slope. The tension on the rope was gone and Eddie realized that the bobcat in front of him must be attached to the rope somehow.

The pain he was feeling faded slightly as he stared at the creature in front of him. It was staring right back at him, and he could swear that the bobcat was sorry for hurting him.

It must've been terrified already, and then I stuck my hand in and touched it by surprise. I'll forgive it that first attack, but if it tries that again it's history, Eddie thought.

The small cat pulled itself farther up the slope, its head darting towards Eddie's injured hand. Its tongue rasped out and licked the scratches it had given him before the cat flopped to the packed dirt beneath it.

“Are you telling me you're sorry you hurt me?” Eddie asked.

He shook his head, aware that he probably looked ridiculous talking to the animal. Then he decided that he really didn't care.

“Are you hurt buddy? Can I help?”

The bobcat just laid there, so Eddie reached towards it. Its eyes flickered open and it watched nervously as Eddie ran his hand down along its body and into the cave. He felt a leg, one that didn't seem to be at a normal angle, and then felt the loop of rope around the bobcat's lower leg.

Son of a bitch, did someone catch him in a snare and then he broke it and got away or something? Eddie wondered.

He moved his hands farther up the bobcat's body and gently pulled, dragging the animal's hindquarters into the light. The bobcat whined miserably in response. Sure enough, there was a loop of rope around one of its hind legs and that leg seemed to be dislocated.

He took his knife from his belt and carefully sliced the loop off the cat's leg. Then, looking at the bobcat, he realized that it probably hadn't eaten well for a while. Rummaging in his inventory he pulled out a portion of rabbit meat and set it in front of the bobcat. He also opened his water skin and, after using a rock to dig a little depression in the packed dirt, poured some water out for the cat.

The bobcat had been worrying at the meat, but when Eddie poured the water, it immediately dragged itself to the depression and starting lapping at the water. When it ran out, Eddie poured some more for it. After it finished off the second round of water, the cat went back to the meat and instead of worrying at it, started taking large bites of it.

I wonder, Eddie thought, staring at the cat. Evaluate.

Young Bobcat (female)

Type: Animal

Level: 3

Armor: 35

Health 16/32

Attack: 25 (3)

Dmg: 2-8/2-8/3-9

Status: Friendly

Eddie drew back for a moment, still staring at the bobcat as it ate.

Huh, I guess it's got a claw, claw, bite attack. I wonder if the fact that it's friendly to me is why I got so much more data with my skill?

The bobcat gulped down the last bite of the meat, then laid back down. It looked up at Eddie and returned his stare, then looked back at its dislocated leg.

Oh shit, please tell me she's not asking me to do what I think she is.

The bobcat reached back and nuzzled its leg, then awkwardly spun around so the injured leg was pointing at Eddie.

If I'm wrong this cat is going to really mess me up, Eddie thought.

He reached out gingerly and grasped the leg. The bobcat flinched. He put his other hand on the cat's body, just above where the leg should be. The cat's only reaction was still its earlier flinch. Then, with a slow, steady, twisting pressure he tried to get the dislocated leg back into its socket.

The cat yowled as Eddie moved its leg, but it didn't attack him. He sighed in relief as he felt the leg move back to where it was supposed to be. Then he let go of the bobcat and backed off swiftly.

Okay, I guess this trip wasn't a waste of time. I would've hated to see this little gal die. Plus, I can maybe salvage that rope.

He started gathering the rope up, coiling it around his shoulder as he moved to its far end. Rather than try to untangle it, he simply used his knife to cut it as close to the fouled end as he could, coiling the last of the rope up before willing it into his inventory.

He grabbed another hunk of meat out when he put the rope in, then tossed it over to the bobcat, who was sitting there watching him. Then he turned his attention back to the stunted tree.

What kind of wood is that? he wondered. Because I'd swear it flexed just like a bow when the rope had tension on it. Maybe I can take some of it back and try to make a bow out of it? Will rope even work as a bowstring? I mean, I suppose I could check online, but pulling up the browser out here doesn't seem like the safest idea, you know? Screw it, I'll just cut a few lengths to take with me and check later on after I'm back. If the rope won't work as a string, I'll find something else that will.

Eddie sawed away with his tiny knife without much luck, barely marking the wood. He bit his lip and looked around, thinking.

Huh, that rock looks kind of like an ax head, maybe...

He picked the rock up and started hacking at the base of the stunted tree. Wood chips flew away from it as he struck repeatedly. He bashed his fingers a couple of times, cursing up a storm as he did, but eventually he had five sections of wood that he thought might be good for bows.

Not that I know anything about making them. I wonder if Karl does, or anyone else back at the farm.

He slipped the shafts into his inventory, then sat down and took a deep drink of water. As he was drinking he heard a soft 'chuff' and felt something on his leg. He nearly dropped his water skin when he looked down and saw the bobcat pawing at him.

When she noticed she had his attention, she backed off and nuzzled the packed area where he'd poured water for her before.

“Oh, do you want some more water?” he asked.

She nuzzled the area again.

Eddie walked over and poured the packed depression full again. She immediately started lapping at it.

Hmm, how much more meat do I have? he wondered.

A glance in his inventory showed that he was low on the meat. He hemmed and hawed before pulling another piece out and setting it next to the bobcat.

“Nice meeting you girl, but I have to head back home,” he said.

She finished the water and took a bite of the meat, glancing up at him as she chewed.

He turned and started walking south, back towards the farm, slightly worried that she might attack despite the friendly status he'd seen on her. When he heard some rocks shifting behind him, he turned back to look. Another moment of lightheadedness caught him as he spun to look.

The bobcat had picked up the rabbit meat and was trotting along behind him. When he stopped, she stopped, dropped the meat, and took another bite of it. Eddie shook his head and started walking again.

He turned to wave goodbye to the bobcat and jumped when he discovered she was less than a foot behind him, carrying the slowly shrinking portion of rabbit meat.

All the way back to the farm she was right behind him, except for a few minutes right after they came to the first of the streams. Eddie thought that she'd probably paused to drink her fill before catching up with him again after that.

They were just barely in sight of the farm when he stopped.

“Listen girl, I don't know how they'd react to you if I just walked in with you on my heels.”

The bobcat sat back on its haunches and stared at him.

“Look at me, talking to a virtual animal,” Eddie said. “Like she understands me?”

The bobcat made a noise that was a cross between a yip and a bark, then leaned forward to rub its cheek against Eddie's leg.

He reached down tentatively, and she rubbed her cheek against his hand.

“I think you should stay out here where the others can't see you and hurt you,” he said.

She nuzzled his hand again, then her rough tongue ran across the area she'd hurt him earlier. The wound was long gone, but Eddie wondered if that meant she understood about the hurting part of his statement.

Good grief, he thought. Why am I trying to credit her with that much intelligence?

The bobcat looked at him again, catching his gaze, then she slowly licked his hand once more.

Success:

You have obtained a pet! (Help Pets for more details)

Young Bobcat (female) is now your pet.

Do you wish to rename Young Bobcat (female) at this time?

(Y/N)

~ ~ ~

Chapter Eight

“Oh crap!” the tech support representative said, staring at his email. “Another alleged error being reported by the AIs. Remember the last error they reported? That the priests in game weren't respecting the gods enough? The gods being those self-same AIs?”

He shook his head.

The rep next to him glanced over.

“Yeah, well if you remember right, the devs actually did do something about that, didn't they? For the sake of realism?”

“Yeah, yeah. Realism in a fantasy game, I don't get that. Let me see what they're bitching about this time.”

A moment later he was cursing frantically as he picked up the phone to his supervisor.

“Yes sir, the AIs are reporting a stability issue that was almost severe enough to crash the world. They claim they barely averted one of the zones going down and that another few minutes of the anomaly, as they called it, would've spread the instability to the rest of the world as well.”

The second tech support rep glanced over at the one making the report.

“Well shit,” he said. “I guess they caught a serious bug this time. I wonder what caused it?”

~ ~ ~

Eddie stared in dismay at the notification that filled his panel.

A pet? And a bobcat at that? How am I going to keep her fed? I mean, I suppose rabbits would do, but...

He squatted down and the bobcat launched herself at his legs, nearly tipping him over. Rearing up on its hind legs, it put the front ones on his knee, staring at him.

“Yeah, I like you. I thought I'd have to be the one to initiate things to get a pet though.”

He thought back for a moment remembering the golden glow that flashed right after he'd first touched her and gotten scratched.

I bet that's it, I bet Freyja's Blessing is the reason I've got a pet now. I'd better be careful or I might end up with lots more of them too.

“Okay, well it's lucky for you that I showed up when I did, so I think that's going to be your name. I'll call you Lucky.”

He mentally selected the Y option and, when a line opened up with a flashing cursor, thought the word Lucky. He scratched her cheek and she purred for him. It was a deep rumbling noise, far different from that of a house cat, but he found it pleasant anyhow.

“Okay Lucky, so much for just leaving you out here. Stick close until I introduce you to everyone as my pet though, alright?”

As though she'd understood him, she stayed just behind him as they entered the farm. Karl was out in the fields and Eddie called him over. As he approached, he stared at the bobcat.

“What the hell?” Karl said.

“Meet my new pet, Lucky,” Eddie said, barely keeping a grin off his face.

The idea of having the bobcat as his pet had been growing on him ever since he'd received the notification.

“You got a pet, and you still aren't even first level?” Karl asked.

Eddie shrugged.

“Just lucky I guess,” he said, grinning.

Karl shook his head.

“I shouldn't even tell you since you'll probably figure out a way to solve it with the way you've been going, but about an hour back Ross came out and told us we need to figure out a way to protect the fields from the bunnies. It generated a system quest and I checked afterwards, you can share quests, so here...

System Generated Quest:

Save the Farm!

Bunnies are eating the crops in the fields. The owners of the fields have a problem with this. Discover a way to protect the fields and crops or eliminate the bunnies.

Reward: 2000xp, 2 gold pieces

“That's a lot more experience and coins than I got for the garden, but I guess the fields are like twenty times the size so that makes sense,” Eddie said.

“Got any ideas about it?” Karl asked.

“Ross wanted me to do a woven fence like the other one, but there isn't that much willow out there. At least not in the stand I already found.”

“Well shoot, I was hoping we would work together and get this one. The reward is for each person that helps, not split up, so it would almost get me to first level.”

“Well, I don't have any ideas right at the moment, but let's try something.”

Eddie quickly ran through the help files on grouping again, then formed one.

You have formed the group: Farmers

He sent a group invitation to Karl, who grimaced when he read the name, but joined anyhow.

“Now if one of us figures it out, hopefully it'll count all the group members as having finished it,” Eddie said.

Karl nodded.

“Should work that way. I'm about done on my shift out here. I wish I'd had a weapon, I could've killed a couple more bunnies maybe. Ended up just chasing them off.”

“I've done a lot of walking, but if you've got a map, I can show you where I found the stick I'm using as a staff. Sorry I forgot to grab you one earlier, but I was focused on the quest. I assume we can share maps?”

Karl nodded.

“Yeah, we can if we're grouped. You can also buy maps and get them that way. Pull your map up and I'll pull mine up.”

Eddie immediately noticed the button beneath his map this time. It read: Share Map with Group. He tapped the button mentally and Karl immediately let him know that his map had updated as well. After a little messing around, Eddie got a red dot to show in the area he'd found the wood in, then shared again.

“That works. Doesn't look too far away either,” Karl said.

“Less than half an hour if you go straight there. Took me longer the first time because I didn't have my map yet.”

“The no player flag thing?”

Eddie nodded.

“Alright, I'll get one of those lazy asses out here and then go get myself something to make into a weapon,” Karl said.

“Warn them not to hurt my cat too, would you? I'll wait a bit before going in so they aren't taken by surprise.”

Eddie slowly walked back towards the bunkhouse, following Karl at a much slower pace. Lucky was still staying right behind him, right up to the door of the bunkhouse. When Eddie walked in, Lucky balked.

“Not a house cat?” Eddie asked.

Lucky sneezed at him and Eddie chuckled.

“Well, we won't go in now. Let me go tell everyone else that you're around, then you can wander and explore if you like.”

Eddie turned away from the bunkhouse and walked towards the farmhouse instead.

Please let it be Tim that answers the door and not Gary or Ross, he thought.

When he knocked, his hopes were answered. Tim was the one to come to the door. Eddie quickly explained the situation and Tim knelt down to talk to Lucky. He reached out hesitantly and the bobcat sniffed his hand before sneezing again and backing down the steps.

“Well, I can tell Ross that your pet won't attack on sight and warn those two about it. Not that they come out here much anyhow, they keep using me for most of the stuff that needs that. But, that's cool dude. How did you manage that?”

“Remember the buff I've got? I think it was because of that.”

“That's right, she's got some cats associated with her, doesn't she?”

Eddie nodded.

“Well, lucky you. I should be so lucky, but I don't have as much time to wander as you do.”

“That won't last, I'm pretty sure,” Eddie said.

“True, but you've got a few days still. Don't know what'll happen if the fields get trashed though.”

Eddie hadn't thought about that.

Could my job be in danger? If those fields get ruined by the bunnies, they aren't going to need farmers.

He nodded.

“Well, thanks for letting them know. I'm going to go try to figure out how to keep the damned bunnies out of the fields.”

Tim waved and shut the door as Eddie walked back out towards the bunkhouse, lost in thought. Lucky whined and Eddie looked up. The bobcat was staring at something and when he looked that way Eddie saw a bunny.

“Go ahead, go get it girl,” he said.

Lucky was off like a shot. Seconds later it had the bunny dead and Eddie got experience.

Huh, I get exp for my pet's kills, awesome. Not as much though, only half.

[group chat: Karl -  Did you just kill a rabbit?]

[group chat: Eddie – No, Lucky did.]

[group chat: Karl – Well, I just got 13 experience.]

[group chat: Eddie – Me too, I thought I was getting half because Lucky killed it. I guess it was because it got split among the group.]

[group chat: Karl – That's great, I hope your bobcat likes hunting those bunnies. I can get into some free experience.]

[group chat: Eddie – Me too, but I'm thinking about something a little better than that.]

[group chat: Karl – Huh?]

[group chat: Eddie – If she likes hunting them that much, maybe she can eliminate them from the farm and complete that quest for us.]

[group chat: Karl – I like the way you think. I'll be back as soon as I can and maybe we can help her with that.]

Lucky brought her kill over to Eddie, dropping it at his feet. He looted it, then looked at the corpse, wondering if he should butcher and skin it. Instead he told the bobcat she could eat it if she wanted. Lucky picked up the corpse, then trotted towards the back of the bunkhouse. Eddie saw her slip behind the woodpile with her kill, so he headed inside.

~ ~ ~

The first thing Eddie did when he got back in the bunkhouse was to lie down on his bunk and open his browser. An hour later, he'd researched how to make simple short bows. The wood he'd gotten seemed like it would do for one, although he still had no idea what kind of wood it was, the only problem was going to be cutting it since his knife just wouldn't do it.

Karl had returned while Eddie was doing his research and was now sitting on the bottom of his bed, shaping a pair of sticks into weapons. He'd called them Kali sticks, and Eddie knew that they were much shorter than a jo staff. The ones Karl was working on were maybe twenty-four inches long or a bit longer, but they looked solid. Karl had found several lengths of the same wood Eddie had found for his throwing sticks and brought them all back.

“Know anything about this wood?” Eddie asked, showing Karl one of the lengths he'd obtained at the edge of the mountain zone.

Karl set his project aside for the moment and took the length Eddie was showing him. He fiddled with it a bit, flexing it and tapping it here and there.

“Nope, but it's strong and it's flexible. You planning on a bow?”

“I hope so,” Eddie replied. “I need to find something to cut it with though, my knife barely scratched it. At least Ross told me I could use any of the tools in the shed if I needed.”

“I don't suppose you got more than one shaft?” Karl asked, a glint in his eye.

Eddie pulled the other four out of his inventory for a moment, letting Karl see them before he willed them back away.

“Why yes, I did. I've got no idea if I'll be able to do this though. If I manage it without destroying all of them I'll be happy to either try to make one for you, or let you try it.”

“Here's a thought for you. Don't start working on those yet.”

“What? Why not?”

“Bowyer/Fletcher is the name of the skill you'll want. Make some arrows out of pine or something first. Make enough that you get the skill before trying for the bow. That way you'll have a better chance making the bow.”

Eddie slapped the heel of his hand to his forehead.

“I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks. But now I'll have to find some thin shafts of an easy to work wood and some feathers.”

“Better than wasting the good stuff though, right?”

Eddie nodded, then stood and headed outside.

Time to cheat a little, he thought.

There was a big pile of smaller branches near the firewood. They were intended to be used as kindling, but Eddie was sure he'd seen a bunch that were the right size, or close to it, to use as arrows. As he came around the back of the bunkhouse, Lucky came trotting out from behind the firewood and followed him.

Eddie found seventeen sticks that he thought might work well for arrows, but looking all over the farm, he didn't find a single feather. Lucky followed him around as he looked, and Eddie had a thought.

“Lucky, want to hunt some birds for me?”

The bobcat cocked her head at him.

“Follow me,” he said, then headed south towards the woods.

He was sure there was some specific type of feather that would be most useful here, but he was also sure that until he got to research more of the Bowyer/Fletcher skill in game he wouldn't know what types were best. For now, he just wanted anything so he could try to learn the skill.

“Hunt me down a bird Lucky,” he said.

The bobcat just stared at him.

Eddie shook his head, realizing that he'd been making the assumption that his cat could understand him. Instead of depending on the cat, he sat down and waited. He could hear the birds in the trees all around him, but the only ones he could see were tiny. Lucky sat beside him and began to purr as Eddie scratched her between the ears.

It only took a few minutes before the birds started moving again. As soon as he saw one land on the ground, he pulled out a throwing stick. He waited, hoping to find a larger one, and soon enough several more birds came down to the ground.

As he bent his arm getting ready to throw, a larger bird made its cautious way out of a tangle of brush. Eddie slammed his arm forward and once more his arm adjusted at the last moment. The stick slammed into the larger bird and it dropped. Then Lucky raced forward, darting into the tangle of brush that the bird had come out of.

Enemy slain:  Partridge (level 1)

You have earned 13 ( +3 blessing) exp.

As quickly as the first message popped up, a second one did as well, identical to the first. A moment later, Lucky came trotting out holding another bird in her mouth. She dropped it at Eddie's feet, and this time he took it.

“Thank you Lucky, that's exactly what I was after,” he said.

She rubbed against his legs, purring up a storm. She didn't want to stop so when he tried to go get the one he'd hit, he nearly tripped over her. When she realized he was trying to move, she dropped behind him again, following along.

Looting the corpses netted him five feathers and one batch of partridge meat. He was taking the corpses with him though and he was sure he'd be able to get a lot more out of them with his hunting skill.

He took the corpses back to the bunkhouse, Lucky darting behind the woodpile once they got close. Looking around he realized that there just wasn't a good place to work on them. He'd rather not do it in the dirt so he moved to the edge of the porch on front of the bunkhouse and worked on them there. Using a lot of care to try to remove the feathers without damaging them, he had a decent bit of success.

Success:

You have butchered a Partridge corpse.

You have received: Clean Partridge carcass (1),  Partridge feathers (18)

Are you sure you don't want to go looking for a pear tree next?

He shook his head at the game's snark, feeble as it might currently be, and tucked the goodies into his inventory.

The process of cleaning and plucking the birds took him nearly a half hour for the first bird, slightly less for the second. The second one yielded close to the same results as the first had.

Now I need to get these shafts in shape. God, this stuff is gonna be crap, I know it already, but maybe after I get the skill I'll know what types of wood and feathers to use. At least that's how the other skills worked.

He sat down on the steps and started trying to smooth the pine shafts out with his utility knife. He was still working on them a couple of hours later when the guy that had been in the fields showed back up.

“Hey, Eddie, isn't it?”

Eddie nodded.

“Your turn in the field again. We went through all of us doing an hour each.”

“Sure, no problem. Let me just put this stuff away. Hey, would you take those shavings in next to the fireplace? Probably make it easier to light the fire tonight.”

The other man rolled his eyes, but squatted down and picked up a handful of shavings.

“Thanks,” Eddie said.

He headed out towards the field and a few moments later noticed Lucky tagging along behind.

That ought to make this easy. I know she'll hunt the bunnies if I tell her to, I wonder if I can let her know it's open season on any bunnies she sees?

As Eddie was patrolling the fields, he heard voices. He was far enough away from the bunkhouse that he was sure it wasn't from there. As he looked around, he noticed movement on the road just south of the farm. He'd crossed it repeatedly as he went to the forest to the south, but hadn't given it a second thought until now.

“I need to get some more arrows. I can't believe how often they break in this game,” one voice said.

“I'm out of luck though,” a female voice replied. “I need spell components and this village is so tiny they don't have most of what I need. The trading outpost has them sometimes, but they're so damned expensive out here.”

Eddie glanced towards the road and saw a group of five people, two woman and three men. One of the women was in chainmail while the other wore robes. Of the three men, two were in leather armor, one set showing studs of metal on it, while the third wore plate mail armor with a shield slung across his back.

They noticed him staring and the man in leather without studs waved mockingly as they walked down the road.

“Stupid farkin' NPCs out here in the Meadowlands,” the man said. “No quests, nothing worth taking, why is this area even here?”

“I heard,” the man in the studded leather said, “that this was going to be a starting area at one point, but it kind of got left by the wayside and never developed.”

“That's stupid, you'd need a decent sized town for a starting area, they've just got this tiny village we're headed towards.”

The man in the studded leather shrugged as the adventurers walked out of earshot.

There's a trading post somewhere near here? Eddie thought.

He heard a quiet whimper and looked down at Lucky. She was crouched by his feet, trying to make herself as concealed as possible from the road.

“What's wrong girl?”

The bobcat whimpered and stayed crouched until the adventurers were out of sight along the road. Once they were, she stood back up and her mood brightened. She dashed off along the rows of crops, then came running back. She repeated the process several times before Eddie gave up and followed her since it looked like she was trying to get him to do that.

When they reached the far end of the fields, he saw some boundary posts a little farther out past the fields. There was also a small structure right in front of one of the posts. It stood maybe waist high on him. The area immediately around the boundaries and the structure lacked the tall grass that surrounded it.

As Eddie stepped out of the tilled fields and towards the posts, several bunnies burst out of the tall grass, racing away from the fields. Instinctively he grabbed a throwing stick and threw. At the same time Lucky went chasing after one of the other bunnies, bringing it back a minute later and dropping it at his feet.

He dismissed the experience notifications and picked up the corpses, looting them. Then he kept moving out towards the structure. When he got to it, he realized that he'd found the shrine he thought Paul had built here. Inside the small stone structure was a wooden plank with a high shine to it that had obviously been treated with something to keep it from weathering. Atop the plank was a wooden statue of a cat with the same shine. The interior of the stone structure had been dyed green somehow, he couldn't tell how but the stone was definitely green.

So, that's the shrine, he thought. I guess it affects the entire section of claimed land that it's in or something. Otherwise it would be more central.

Another experience notification caught his attention and he turned to see Lucky carrying back yet another dead bunny. She dropped it at his feet, then trotted off again.

He turned back to the shrine, trying to determine if there was anything special that made it an actual shrine as opposed to just a small display, but had no luck trying to figure it out.

When he stood up, Lucky was nowhere nearby. He scanned the area and found her digging furiously in the soil about a hundred feet away.

He whistled and caught her attention, but when he patted his leg, she went back to digging. Slightly taken aback, Eddie walked over to her, but stopped dead when he was about ten feet away.

She was digging at the edge of a hole in the ground. There was a beaten path leading out of the hole, towards the fields. The grass was trampled flat near the hole and tiny paths lead out of the trampled section, all branching out towards different sections of the field.

A bunny warren? he thought. That would explain why Lucky's digging there, if she was chasing one and it ran back into the hole...

His thoughts wandered off track as he looked back at the shrine. Then he looked at the hole again. He quickly pulled up his buffs list as well.

You must be kidding me. If the shrine has effects like the buff, than the rabbit warren is breeding at a higher rate than normal. Then she gave me the buff and they started breeding even faster.

He groaned out loud.

Not gonna tell Ross about this, he thought. I'll just get Karl to help me and we'll get this taken care of.

A glance at the sky told him there were a couple of hours of light left.

[group chat: Eddie – Hey Karl, I need some help here.]

[group chat: Karl – What is it?]

[group chat: Eddie – I think I found the source of the bunnies and why they're being such a problem also.]

[group chat: Karl – Cool, finished quest here we come. What do you need?]

[group chat: Eddie – Hit the tool shed, see if there's a shovel or a pick or something to dig with. Lucky's trying to dig it out but it's going slow.]

[group chat: Karl - Where are you, I'll be right there.]

[group chat: Eddie – Far end of the fields away from all the buildings.]

[group chat: Karl – OMW]

Karl got there about ten minutes later, carrying both a shovel and a pick. Eddie explained the situation to him, showing him the shrine and the suspected rabbit warren close to it. Lucky was still digging away, sometimes. She'd dig for a few minutes, then stop and lie down for a while before starting again.

Once Eddie and Karl started digging with their tools, Lucky sat back on her haunches looking satisfied, her attention focused on the hole.

They were trying to open up the tunnels from the top, making good headway on the entry tunnel, when Eddie heard Lucky yip and a moment later felt a blow to his leg. It felt like someone had thrown a rock at him, hard.

He glanced down and saw a bunny in the tunnel they'd just exposed, but this one was nearly twice as large as the ones they'd been killing, and there was a blunt knob of horn on the top of its head.

His health counter flashed in his vision.

You've been struck by a critical hit, damage X2

Health: 6/10

What the fuck? he thought. Evaluate.

Nubby (male):

Type: Animal

Level: 2

Armor: 10

Health 20 (+/-)

Attack: ?

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Nubby (male) with Evaluate.

It was too close to him for him to use his throwing sticks so he willed his staff out from his inventory. While he was doing that, the Nubby launched itself at him again, striking him in the leg and almost catching his knee. His health counter flashed again, this time in an orange color.

Health: 4/10

He was trying to compare the Nubby to the Bunnies he'd been killing, but realized that since the bunnies were such easy kills he'd never even bothered evaluating them. Giving up on that idea, he swung his staff at the Nubby, trying to keep it away so it couldn't hit him again. It didn't work very well, the Nubby sprang at him while he was recovering from a swing, striking him in the ankle this time.

It hurt, badly, and Eddie could barely keep his feet. His health counter flashed again, the numbers an ugly red.

Health: 2/10

“Hit it with the pick or something,” he called out to Karl, slightly panicked by his drop in health.

“I'm on it,” Karl said.

A moment later Eddie saw Karl's feet on the other side of the Nubby. Eddie swung and scored a solid hit on the Nubby, who hopped back, almost onto Karl's feet. The next thing Eddie saw was Karl's pair of sticks he'd been working on. They whipped down towards the ground, both of them impacting on the Nubby. The Nubby made a painful sounding squeak and went still.

Enemy slain: Nubby (level 2)

You have earned 33 (+8 blessing) exp.

“What the hell?” Eddie cursed, “Lucky, where were you?”

An identical experience message added itself to his panel.

The bobcat came over to him, another corpse in its mouth. This time Lucky looked a little worse for wear and Eddie noted that the corpse she was holding was another Nubby.

“This zero level bullshit has to go,” Eddie said furiously. “I just almost got killed by a damned rabbit. And really, Nubbies? These developers need to work on their creativity.”

Karl just chuckled gently.

“Dude, calm down. We got the experience. This is probably a lair type of thing. Those would be the warrior types or guards. But if it is a lair, there will be something even bigger in there at the end of it, the Boss.”

“I know how lairs work, I'm just pissed at all of this,” Eddie said.

“Well, I think we better lay off of this for now, maybe go back to it tomorrow morning?” Karl said.

Eddie pulled up his health bar, noting that he'd healed a single point so far and was at three of ten.

“Yeah, probably a good plan. Another fight like that and I'd be dead or unconscious.”

He picked up the corpse Lucky had dropped as well as the Nubby they'd killed.

Loot, he thought.

Each of the Nubbies provided a pelt, larger than those from the bunnies, a chunk of meat nearly twice the size of those from the bunnies, and a Nubby horn. He pulled a horn out from his inventory and looked at it.

“Any use for these?” he asked Karl.

“Let me see one.”

Karl wrapped his hand around it and found that the horn was just slightly longer than his fist, protruding on either side.

“Yeah, I can work this into a handle on one of my Kali sticks, if I can figure out how to do it.”

“Here's another one then, you can do both if you figure it out. We got a couple of larger pelts and some meat too.”

Eddie tossed the second horn to Karl, who caught it and tucked both into his inventory.

“Let's get out of here before we get ambushed by another Nubby,” Eddie said.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Nine

Aaron looked over his shoulder at Mr. Greenshaw who stood there, hovering over him.

“So, what have you found?” Mr. Greenshaw asked.

Aaron looked back down at the lines of code in front of him.

“Someone is doing unauthorized experimentation with Long Term Immersion. They're experimenting on these individuals that are experiencing the anomalies. Something about the code they're using is hogging CPU cycles on the server running the zone the individuals are in, maxing the CPU for that server out. If Freyja, I mean the AI watching over that area, hadn't snapped them out of it, they would've crashed that server. The server would've passed the tasks on to another one when it crashed and we could potentially have had a domino effect take out all the servers for the world.”

“In English boy,” Mr. Greenshaw said.

Aaron sighed, he thought he'd already simplified the explanation enough.

“Someone hacked us,” Aaron said, “they stole our code, and changed it somehow. They're experimenting with the changed code live in Light Online and causing instability in the servers. There is a possibility that the altered code could crash the game.”

“So, fix it!” Mr. Greenshaw demanded.

“Find me where they're hosting the changed code and I can try. I can't even trace their code right now. It's not on our machines.”

“So, go talk to these individuals. The ones you claim are the experiment. See what they can tell you, they can at least give you the physical location of their real bodies, right? Get me that address and I'll get some men over there to find out what's going on, maybe find that code you want too.”

Aaron sighed heavily.

“Yes sir, Mr. Greenshaw.”

~ ~ ~

Eddie gave up, he could barely keep his eyes open any longer. He'd managed to whittle down five of the branches he'd gotten into arrow shafts. He'd yet to try to attach any fletching, but he needed to sleep. He just wasn't sure that he could take the dream again if he fell into it.

Freyja's been keeping a close eye on us, so I'm sure if that happens again she'll wake me, he thought.

He crawled into bed, looking forward to however much sleep he could get. They'd discussed it among themselves and the six farmers had decided one hour at a time in the fields was a bad plan. Now they were doing four hour shifts, and each person would take one a day. Eddie's next shift wasn't until late afternoon tomorrow, so he had plenty of time to sleep.

And hopefully finish cleaning out that lair and get the quest rewards. Then I'll be first level and maybe I can actually do something, he thought. Hell, with all the bunnies we've been killing, Karl should be close to first level after that as well.

He drifted off to sleep and the next thing he knew, he was reliving his day. Even before he got to the end of his day and the darkness, he was abruptly woken, snapping into a sitting position on his bed.

The bunkhouse was well lit by a globe hanging in midair near the roof. Freyja stood nearby, staring at a man. The man was standing in the middle of the bunkhouse looking from one to another of the farmers. As he looked at each one, he closed his eyes for a second and the man he was looking at snapped awake.

Eddie stared at the man for a moment. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. There was writing across the t-shirt which read: 'There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary and everyone else.'

He chuckled briefly as he read the shirt, then got out of bed.

“Hello?” he asked.

The man held up a single finger, as though asking for a minute. He finished his rotation of staring at each of the farmers. While he did, Eddie tried a quick Evaluate.

Aaron Opman:

Level: 100

Class: Developer

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Aaron Opman with Evaluate.

You have upgraded the skill Evaluate to (2).

I don't recommend you try that again with this target. Seriously, this time I mean it.

Eddie gulped and tried to compose himself. The man finished his rotation and cocked his head.

“I thought there were six of you?”

“One's standing guard out in the fields to keep the bunnies from eating everything,” Eddie said.

Aaron glanced at Freyja quickly. She took on a distant look for a moment.

“Yes, there is an anomaly still occurring and the instability is increasing.”

Aaron dashed for the door. As he did Eddie called out.

“To the right.”

Aaron ran out of the bunkhouse, turned right, and disappeared. Eddie turned to Freyja.

“What's going on?” he asked.

“You are mightily blessed, the devs have come to investigate your anomaly,” she replied.

What, a coder geek gets the respect of the gods here? Eddie thought. It figures though, after all, they're the ones that created these gods. Of course they'd give them respect. Or maybe it's that they can give themselves any powers they want. Play it cool Eddie, remember that and don't lose your temper.

“The only blessing I'm feeling is yours,” Eddie said. “The devs coming to investigate means there's something really wrong here. And I, plus these others,” he said, nodding to the other farmers in the room, “are at the center of it.”

“Perhaps there is a reason for your fears, but you should still respect the devs. They are the creators.”

“I've got the utmost respect for the developers,” Eddie answered. “This place is incredible. I know I couldn't code my way out of a paper bag, so they've got my respect. I'm just scared shitless as to why they might be here since I'm part of the reason.”

“Ah, I see, your respect is overwhelmed by your fear. It is wise to fear the devs,” Freyja said.

That's weird, that's the first thing I heard from her that sounded like a scripted response, Eddie thought.

A moment later the door opened again. Aaron entered the room with the last farmer in tow. The farmer was on his back, floating in the air at about waist height. Aaron gestured towards a bed and the farmer ended up in it.

“He'll be a while longer waking up,” Aaron said, “he was already through the download and entering the darkness portion when I found him.”

“Excuse me?” Eddie said, “Darkness portion? You know what's happening to us?”

“In general,” Aaron said. “I don't have all the specifics yet, which is why I am here.”

“Come on then, tell us,” Eddie said.

The others finally spoke up, chiming in to reinforce Eddie's question. Up until now each and every one of them had been staring at Freyja. As far as they were concerned the Dev was just a geek, but Freyja was a woman more beautiful than any most of them had ever seen in person.

“As best as we can tell, you six are experiments.”

“What? We were just hired on to farm this place in LTI, that's all.”

“Except your form of LTI is not the one we offer on Light Online. Someone's been playing with the code.”

“Meaning?” Eddie asked.

“Well, you know these dreams you've been having?”

Eddie nodded.

“That's the altered code downloading your memories back to your bodies, on a nightly basis. The only problem is, Light Online shunts that download process to separate servers since it's CPU intensive. Whatever code is causing your downloads tries to use the general server resources instead. It's nearly crashed the game twice now.”

“What's that mean for us?” Karl asked, stepping up along Eddie.

“Well, normally we would've just ejected you from the game, but we were unable to do that.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, “We have to be online for at least 144 hours before we can log out. Our log out buttons are grayed out.”

“See, that's their code again. Light Online has nothing like that built into it. Any more at least...”

“Is that the reason we're zero level and didn't have player flags too?”

“What?” Aaron asked, the look on his face convincing Eddie that he hadn't known.

“Freyja didn't tell you? She gave us all player flags when she discovered we didn't have them.”

“Sorry Master Aaron,” Freyja said. “Since that action did not fix the anomaly, I did not think to mention it.”

“Damn, that's dangerous,” Aaron said, “as in to your real bodies. Good thing none of you died while without those flags. And zero level? We talked about that as a hardcore option for a long time, decided not to implement it after surveys showed there wouldn't be enough interest.”

“I was told that having us start at zero level made it cost less to have us in the game,” Eddie said, “in case that helps at all.”

Aaron growled.

“Marketing, they must be responsible for that. I bet I can track down that contract though, find out who it was with. We're trying to find the altered code that affects you, but it's not on the Light Online servers. It's either resident in your pods, or hosted on a different server. Do any of you remember the address your pods are at?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, “Sure thing.”

He gave Aaron the address and then paused in shock as Aaron reached into his inventory and pulled out a laptop. He set it down in mid-air, opened it, and started typing. Once he was done, he beckoned Eddie over.

“That the place?” he asked, gesturing towards a street view picture on his screen.

“Yeah, that's it,” Eddie said.

“Good. It may take us a while to determine what's going on and get you all safely out. I've been authorized to offer you all a stay in the capital, all expenses paid, while we figure this out.”

Eddie's first thought was Lucky and he was the first to answer.

“Not for me,” he said. “I came to adventure when I wasn't working, and I don't think that'll work very well in the capital. Plus... I've got another reason too.”

Aaron looked at him strangely, the look only intensifying when Karl stepped up next to Eddie.

“I'm with Eddie. We've about got this zero level thing beat already, I want to finish that out at least before doing anything else.”

Aaron shook his head, then looked at the other four. The last farmer had woken up while he was speaking and was now nodding vigorously. The four accepted the offer and disappeared in a flash, Aaron stayed behind.

“They'll be well taken care of. Now, what's this other reason?  You aren't more than a victim in this, are you?”

Eddie laughed and shook his head.

“One second,” he said.

He walked to the door and opened it, calling Lucky's name. A moment later, the bobcat was standing at his feet, rubbing against his legs.

“Oh,” Aaron said.

Freyja let out a long, happy laugh. When Lucky heard it, she turned to Freyja and, despite her being inside the bunkhouse, went racing to her feet, rubbing against her legs next.

“By the way Freyja, thank you again for your blessing. I'm pretty sure that's why Lucky there decided to stay with me,” Eddie said.

Freyja bent over and, without a care in the world, picked the bobcat up. She cuddled the cat against her bosom as she turned to Eddie.

“Cats are some of the best judges of character that I know,” she said. “I'm sure there was more to it than my blessing.”

She leaned over and whispered in Lucky's ear, then set the bobcat on the floor. The cat made a beeline for Eddie, writhing around his legs once she reached him.

“I get it, you got a unique pet and didn't want to leave it behind?” Aaron asked.

“I think you've never actually played this game as a player, have you?” Eddie asked.

Aaron looked confused.

“No, why?”

“It feels as real, maybe more real, than real life. I could no more abandon Lucky here than I would a pet in real life. It would just be wrong.”

Aaron's confusion still showed in his eyes.

“You should try it sometime. Take some time off and try to enjoy this world as a game,” Eddie said.

“Time off?” Aaron said. “You must be joking. I'm a debugger coder. The game has been open for almost a year and I'm still working ten hour days, six days a week.”

“There's that many bugs?” Eddie asked.

Aaron nodded.

“Everything from typos, to misplaced decimal points, to entire objects that don't exist once a player tries to store them, items that get stuck taking up a slot in a player's inventory and they can't manipulate them. And those are all just from yesterday's bug reports. Today's is you and these other farmers. You got priority because it endangers server stability, but there are thousands of things going wrong every day in this game. We'll never catch them all.”

“Damn dude, chill for a bit,” Karl said. “Really, you're gonna bust a blood vessel if you don't lighten up.”

Aaron puffed his cheeks and blew out a long breath.

“When you're right, you're right, but I've got to get this one taken care of. If the game crashes? I don't even want to think about the consequences and the chairman of the board of directors for the game is the one that set me this task.”

“Well, just sit down for a minute and catch your breath. You'll be able to think better after you do,” Eddie said. “At least, that normally works for me.”

“What works for me is kicking off my shoes and making little fists with my toes in the carpet,” Karl said, snickering.

Eddie snickered himself a bit while Freyja and Aaron looked confused.

“There is no carpet,” Freyja said.

Aaron just gestured with a hand, a throw rug appearing on the floor beneath his feet. He slipped his shoes off and started kneading his toes in the carpet.

“Son of a bitch,” he said after a moment, “fists with your toes, it really works.”

Eddie and Karl both burst out laughing. Aaron looked confused.

“What? It worked.”

“It was a quote from a cult classic movie,” Eddie said. “I figured you knew that since you replied the exact same way that character did.”

Aaron shook his head.

“Juvenile delinquents, both of you. With the stability of the game at stake you're joking around?”

“And you're now a lot more relaxed because of it, aren't you?” Karl asked.

A look of amazement passed across Aaron's face.

“I am. I don't get it,” he said.

“Doesn't matter,” Eddie said. “Did you have any more questions for us?”

“Oh yeah, three others have been in this zone the past few days. Do you think they're involved?”

“Two of them are hired muscle, but I wouldn't be sure that one of them isn't involved. Gary spends a lot of time with Ross. Ross is the overseer here, if anyone knows anything about it, it would be him. The last guard? Tim? He's a good guy, he just wanted to be in the game and couldn't afford it, so he took the job.”

“So, you think Ross has some idea of what's going on?” Aaron asked.

“If any of them do, it would be him.”

“Well, regardless, the pods that you guys are interacting from are registered to Star Suppliers, which is also the owner of the commercial account that claimed the land for this farm. They'll be forfeiting this farm for the actions taken on it. We aren't holding you accountable, I want you to know that, and we'll continue to support your pods until we can solve the issue of you logging out. But Star Suppliers may be in trouble.”

Aaron glanced at the screen of his laptop, still floating in the air in front of him.

“They've got eight other farms in various portions of the game world. We're checking those out right now. If there are any problems other than the ones here, they'll forfeit all their game world holdings and we'll auction them off. I've got to go soon, but can you tell me anything else about their operation?”

“I can tell you that the pods are an older model, L.O. POD Mark IIIs,” Eddie said. “Are the older ones easier to support?”

Aaron slapped his forehead.

“Are you sure about that? I thought all the Mark IIIs were recalled.”

“What?” Eddie asked.

“We used non-proprietary parts on them, just off the shelf, so people were experimenting with them on their own. We pulled them and did the Mark IV with all proprietary parts so people couldn't kill themselves screwing around with them.”

Who the hell would mess with a pod that's tasked with keeping them alive? Eddie thought.

“I never heard anything about that,” Karl said.

“We kept it very hush-hush and offered free upgrades to those with the Mark IIIs. Evidently we missed some. That does explain their experiments then, those pods are much easier to access and alter than the later ones.”

Aaron looked around the bunkhouse and shook his head.

“Okay, anyhow, this place will be auctioned in a couple of days. You're more than welcome to stay here until then. If you can keep it operational, maybe the auction will get a better price. We'll be splitting the auction proceeds among the six of you that have been affected by this.”

“Cool,” Karl said.

“Also, you may not see this Ross, or Gary, if we determine they had knowledge of what was going on. Tim was the third one you said? We'll check him out also, but if you're right, he'll still be able to log on, we won't prevent that.”

“Tim has been an open book to me,” Freyja said. “He has no idea of anything but what he's supposed to be doing for his job. Even there, he's taken it easier on the farmers than he was instructed to. The other two have things I can't read. I had to check all three to see if they were affected by the anomaly. They weren't, but that doesn't mean I didn't find some things they might have preferred to keep hidden. These pods you speak of, are they the transport for the World-Traveling Mortals to come to this world?”

Aaron grinned, a little lopsided.

“Yes, that's what the pods do.”

“The other two knew something about pods and extending maximum time used. I couldn't make much of it without context, but now it sounds like what you're speaking of.”

“Thank you Freyja,” Aaron said. “It's good to know that they were in the loop. Now, I must leave. I've been informed that the company has a strike team in the real world, and they're going to hit the location you gave us in a little over half an hour.”

Damn, the game company has a real world strike team? What the hell do they need that for? Eddie thought. But maybe this is a chance to answer the question that's been bothering me.

“One last thing?” Eddie interjected as Aaron looked like he was ready to leave.

Aaron sighed.

“What?”

“There's nothing in this zone apparently, why is it in the middle of all these higher level zones?” Eddie asked, remembering the conversation he'd overheard from the players on the road.

Aaron cocked his head as though accessing information through the game.

“The Meadowlands, huh? I guess no-one ever figured out that indirect clue in the help files about it. But, you mentioned one last thing. I have to say something else also. Tell no-one about any of this, don't even talk about it with the NPCs in case you're overheard, present company excluded of course,” he said, gesturing towards Freyja.

“The last thing we need is a panic,” he added. “Which is what we'll get if people worry that their pods have been tampered with.”

He winked and waved, then his image shimmered and disappeared, his laptop going with him. The throw-rug was still on the floor though. Freyja looked between the two remaining men.

“You both have the heart of an adventurer, I approve. Aaron has requested I continue to keep an eye on you, so should you find yourselves experiencing the anomaly again, I will be there to protect you.”

It was Freyja's turn to leave and there was no shimmer, one moment she was there, the next she was gone.

Eddie and Karl looked around themselves. If it weren't for the lack of the other farmers, and the throw rug still on the floor, they might've believed that they'd dreamed it all.

Eddie was still tired, so he crawled back into bed. Karl stared at him like he was crazy.

“If you get the well-rested buff, you'll have plus ten percent experience if we finish the quest first thing tomorrow,” Eddie said.

Karl was in bed in a flash, pulling the covers over his head. A moment later the ball of light that Aaron had left behind flashed out, leaving the bunkhouse in darkness. Eddie felt it when Lucky hopped up on the foot of his bed and curled around his lower legs. When the bobcat started purring it was too much, and Eddie was out like a light.

As soon as he woke in the morning, he dismissed the notification that he was well-rested, then remembered what Aaron had said.

Help Meadowlands, he thought.

The Meadowlands is a medium-sized zone between the Forest of Fools and the Hammer Top Mountains. It is a zone rich in building resources that, as of yet, has been only lightly developed due to the threat of raids from both forest and mountains. Recommended levels: 1-5

There's a clue in there, is there? Eddie thought. The only thing that looks like a clue is the reference to it only being lightly developed, as of yet. I bet the 'as of yet' has people thinking the developers intend to work more here, but what if they intended it for player development? Aaron did say it was an indirect clue.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Ten

Allan Panning watched the security monitors he'd installed at his apartment. The alarm that had gone off just a minute ago had drawn his attention to them. They currently showed the warehouse that was being used for the experiments he was in charge of.

The ones I used to be in charge of anyway, he thought.

As the black-clad men carrying automatic weapons moved across the monitor screens, Allan started throwing things into a suitcase hurriedly. It took him less time to pack than it did for the security team to clear the warehouse. Just before he left his apartment he glanced at the screens again, just in time to see the leader of the security team trigger a communication device. Allan wasn't good at lip reading, but he was pretty sure of the man's words.

“All clear, we're secure here.”

His final action before leaving was to grab the mini-computer hosting the server that controlled the experiments. It had a satellite uplink and was battery powered, so it would stay connected almost anywhere he went. He was confident of the measures that had been taken to obscure its physical location despite its constant connection. Best of all, it had all the data collected so far on the experiments, which was information that he might be able to use to keep his ass out of trouble.

~ ~ ~

Eddie considered the help file on the Meadowlands. It was actually quite sparse compared to most of the other area help files he checked and he thought that that sparseness lent support to his theory that the area had been kept from development to allow players to do the developing.

As he mused about the possibility, Lucky rolled off of him and landed on the floor, racing towards the door and softly whining. Eddie went over and opened it to let the bobcat out. It was just barely dawn, the sun only hinting at lighting the area and leaving many places in gray shadow.

Lucky went racing out across the yard and Eddie closed the door again. He had a while before they'd try to finish cleaning out the rabbit lair, so he settled down on the chest at the foot of his bunk and pulled out his last throwing stick and his utility knife.

He'd done enough carving making the other two that he didn't have to focus intently on what he was doing, He just let his hands go through the motions they'd learned making the others.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Carpentry. (Help Carpentry for more details)

Huh, Eddie thought. Carpentry? That surprises me. Help Carpentry.

Carpentry is a skill used to create simple structures, simple furnishings, and simple weapons out of wood. The skill branches at higher levels allowing specialization in structures, furnishings, or weapons. This skill also gives a bonus to checks on the Bowyer/Fletcher skill. The size of the bonus is determined by your Carpentry skill.

Well, I guess that explain Paul's specialization in structures, Eddie thought. Admittedly I'm more interested in the bonus to Bowyer/Fletcher myself, but I can see where this skill might still fit a ranger type build, vaguely anyhow.

He finished the throwing stick quickly after that. Having an actual point in the skill smoothed out his motions and allowed him to see just where he needed to carve to smooth the stick out. When he finished it, he tested the balance and decided it was probably the best of the three he'd made.

Karl was still asleep when he finished, so Eddie put another log on the fire and strolled outside. He stopped dead as soon as he took a step outside. There were three bunnies laid out on the porch, dead, and Lucky was sitting out in the yard breaking her fast on a fourth.

It was only now that he noticed the minimized notifications in the lower left of his vision gently flashing. He pulled the notifications up and dismissed the experience messages.

“Holy shit,” he exclaimed, “Good job girl.”

Lucky gave him a feline grin, not the most reassuring sight in the world since her teeth were sharp and currently stained with the blood of her meal.

Eddie quickly looted the three on the porch, then grabbed his knife.

Wait a second, wasn't there a table of some sort in the tool shed? That would make skinning and butchering these so much easier.

He trotted over to the shed and took out the table he'd seen there. The top was scarred as though it had been used for building things and had taken some hits from tools or nails in the process, even so he thought it would be much nicer to take care of the kills standing up instead of kneeling at the edge of the porch.

The process went much more quickly standing and it wasn't long before he was sitting on the porch bench, working on his arrows again. As he finished one, he received another message.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Bowyer/Fletcher. (Help Bowyer/Fletcher for more details)

Almost immediately he realized that pine wasn't the ideal wood for arrows, at least not long-lasting ones. He also knew that fletching them would be a pain with no glue of any sort, but that he could still do it.

He pulled out the wood he'd obtained for bows and grinned.

Maybe not the best, but pretty good for the purpose, he thought. I can get or make better arrows later on, but if I do a decent job on it the bow will be worth keeping for a while.

About then he heard a jaw-cracking yawn from inside the bunkhouse. He stood, sliding the arrow shafts he'd completed into his inventory. The wood he hadn't worked on yet he just left in a pile on the porch since it wouldn't stack in his inventory and he didn't have enough slots left to hold it all.

Speaking of that, I need to figure out what to do with these rabbit pelts. They stack to twenty and I've still got more than a stack of them, plus another partial stack of the ones I skinned myself.

“Karl,” Eddie called out, opening the door, “about time you got up, you lazy bum.”

Karl flipped him the finger and grunted as he stretched.

“What, it's all of about a half hour past dawn?” Karl asked. “Besides I didn't sleep really well last night after all that, so I had to sleep longer to be well-rested.”

“Okay, probably worth it then if you needed it for the buff, but remember we want to take out that lair this morning.”

“Sure, give me enough time to get something to eat and drink, then I'll be good. We've got six hours so no great rush.”

“You've got six hours. I've only got four and a half left on mine,” Eddie said.

“Still plenty of time.”

Eddie nodded.

“Meat for breakfast or just veggies?” he asked.

Karl considered for a moment.

“Just veggies I think. We'll celebrate the victory with a lunch roast of whatever meat the boss bunny drops.”

Eddie snickered at the idea of a boss bunny, although his snicker was cut short when he remembered the damage the Nubbies had done to him the day before.

“Yeah, assuming we manage to kill it.”

“Positive thinking man, we'll do it. It's a low-level lair.”

“And we're zero level with no armor and improvised weapons.”

“I was thinking about that actually. Do you have a bunch of those bunny pelts?”

Eddie nodded.

“How about we tie a mess of them around our legs from the knees down. That's where most of the attacks hit you yesterday, do you think it would provide some protection?”

“It just might, and I've got a lot of them, so it's worth a shot.”

The two men walked outside. Lucky had finished her breakfast and was lying in the center of the yard, keeping an eye on things. When Eddie came out, she trotted over and started following him around.

They went to the garden and grabbed some breakfast. Once they'd eaten, they each pulled out a stack of rabbit pelts. Eddie also pulled out the one he'd cut for thongs before and finished cutting it up into laces, slightly thicker than the thongs.

“Here you go,” Eddie said, sliding some laces towards Karl.

The two men proceeded to tie a thick layer of pelts around their lower legs, repeating the process after they jumped up and down and found the pelts falling off.

It took nearly half an hour before they were satisfied with the results.

“Hey Karl, here,” Eddie said, pulling out a throwing stick and handing it to him. “I finished my third one this morning so I'll keep two and you can take this one. That way we both have a ranged attack.”

“Good plan, don't know how good I'll be with it though, my agility is only a nine.”

Eddie shrugged.

“Better to have it than not,” he said.

Lucky streaked out into the fields as the men started crossing them and it wasn't long until she came back with a bunny in her jaws.

“Heck, even if we don't clear this thing, your cat might manage it over the course of a few days,” Karl said.

Eddie just grinned, leaned over to scratch the bobcat between the ears, take the corpse, loot it, and stow everything in his inventory.

As they made their way to the far edge of the field Eddie's legs throbbed with the memory of yesterday's pain. He wasn't exactly hesitant, but he knew they could've done better yesterday and was determined they do so today.

The shovel and pick were where they'd left them the day before and he grimaced, realizing that the game probably did deterioration for things like that. He just hadn't thought of it sooner since he couldn't see durability yet. The tools still seemed to be in fine condition despite being left out overnight, so they picked them up.

“Alright, I think today one of us should dig while the other watches. That surprise attack yesterday took almost half my health in one shot,” Eddie said.

“Sounds good to me,” Karl said. “I'll start digging, you keep an eye out and be ready to throw one of those sticks of yours.”

Eddie nodded and took out the two throwing sticks he had left. He hung the one with the thong on his knife and kept the other one in his hand. He also had his staff out already, holding it in his other hand so it would be easily accessible.

Lucky was wandering the area, sniffing at the ground. It looked like she caught a scent since she headed north in almost a straight line, nose still close to the ground. She disappeared into a small stand of trees about a hundred yards to the north, nose still close to the ground.

Huh, I wonder what she found? Eddie thought idly, as he scanned the area.

A minute later he heard a series of shrill yips, as though Lucky had been hurt. Notifications flashed into his vision.

Enemy slain: Nubby (level 2)

You have earned 33 (+3 well-rested, +8 blessing) exp.

Enemy slain: Nubby (level 2)

You have earned 33 (+3 well-rested, +8 blessing) exp.

He spun to face the north where he'd last seen her and found her running back towards them with a bunch of Nubbies in chase.

“Incoming,” Eddie shouted.

Karl threw down the pick and pulled his Kali sticks from his belts.

“Use ranged first,” Eddie said, cocking the arm holding a throwing stick back.

As Lucky got closer Eddie saw that there were five of the Nubbies in chase.

Well shit, five Nubbies is going to be rough, but I'm not abandoning my cat.

Once they were in range, he hurled the first throwing stick, striking a Nubby in the head. It stopped for a moment, shook its head, then took up the chase again. He hurled the second stick at the same one, hitting it again. This time it stopped for more than a second, shaking its head again. Lucky streaked past Eddie, skidding in a turn that brought her back right alongside of him.

She snarled and pounced as the first Nubby got close. Eddie swung at another one, landing a solid strike and sending it skidding to the side.

An experience notification flashed as Lucky got a solid hold on her opponent's neck, then used her rear claws to disembowel it.

I keep forgetting to get rid of those things, Eddie thought, Combat notifications off.

The experience notification minimized to the lower left of his view, glowing slightly so he wouldn't forget about it. The Nubby he'd struck with his staff launched itself at him and he swung his staff at it, missing by a mile. The horn on its head struck him in the leg, but this time he barely felt the impact. He waited for his health to flash and show him what damage he'd taken, but it didn't.

Crap did I turn it off with the combat notification or did I just not take any damage? he wondered. It still hurt a little, but nowhere near as much as yesterday.

The Nubby seemed confused by his lack of reaction to its attack and stood still for just a moment too long as he caught it on the back with his staff. The downward strike made a cracking noise and the Nubby collapsed to the ground, twitching.

Lucky was facing off with another Nubby, but this one had managed to evade her bite so far. Eddie waited until it dodged his way to avoid her bite, then swung, catching it in the side and knocking it right back into Lucky's path. Her teeth clamped down on it and she pulled the rest of her body to where she could get her rear claws into play and that Nubby was down as well.

Karl was facing off with two, or at least had been. There was a Nubby crumpled in front of him, although he was still fighting with the other one. Eddie trotted forward and recovered one of his throwing sticks. He sent it flying towards Karl's remaining opponent, striking it in the side. A moment later Karl brought a Kali stick down on its head and that Nubby collapsed as well.

Karl glanced around wildly before sagging with relief.

“Damn, that was a little too close. I thought we were gonna buy it,” he said.

“Hey, you're the one that said to think positively,” Eddie replied.

“Yeah, that was before I got hit by these guys a few times.”

He limped over towards Eddie.

“What the hell was your cat doing that it got chased back by so many of these things?” Karl asked.

Eddie shrugged.

“I'd rather know why there were a bunch of these not in the lair. Did you see the two exp notifications before she came running back? She killed a couple of them up that way first.”

Karl's eyes took on a thoughtful look.

“You know what? I don't think we're at the main entrance to the lair here, I bet Lucky found that and this is just a secondary entrance, or maybe a bolthole. Where was she anyhow?”

“In that small stand of trees up that way,” Eddie said, pointing.

“Cool, give me a little while to heal up and we'll go check it out.”

Eddie sank to the ground, pulling up his combat notifications. He hadn't actually taken any damage, so the rabbit pelts had worked, and now he was 220 exp higher than before the fight had taken place.

“Thanks, by the way,” Karl said. “Softening up that first Nubby let me drop him right away. He only took one more hit. I missed entirely with the stick you gave me.”

“You're welcome. Teamwork, right?”

“Yeah, but I'm a little nervous about what else Lucky might bring us.”

“She's just lying here right now. So no worries for the moment.”

Eddie walked around, looting the Nubbies.

“Cool, every last one of these guys has a Nubby horn. I wonder if they're worth anything?”

“We won't know for a while, there's nowhere around here to check.”

“Actually, I overheard some adventurers saying there was a small village and a trading post down the road a bit,” Eddie said.

“There is? Awesome, maybe they'll be worth something and we can actually get some real gear.”

“Well, let's wait and see what else we find here, then we can go down and see what they have. I bet the prices suck though, out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Karl nodded.

“You're probably right, but still...”

Lucky purred as Eddie settled back down and started petting her while he waited for Karl to heal.

~ ~ ~

It was nearly a half hour later when Karl stood and announced that he was good to go.

“Healing here takes longer than I expected,” he said.

“We don't know that for sure,” Eddie replied. “It could just still be one of those zero level things. What's your endurance? That's supposed to control it.”

“Eleven,” Karl replied, “Ten strength and eleven health. I guess they round up.”

“Okay, maybe there's a level modifier in the healing rate as well? Hopefully we'll find out after we finish this lair.”

Eddie stood and started walking north.

“Lucky, you want to show me what you found?” he said.

The bobcat was following him and when he turned to talk to her, she looked at him, but just stayed where she was.

“There must be a way to train pets,” Eddie said.

Karl laughed out loud.

“You do realize that you're talking about a kind of cat, right? Train a cat?”

His laughter trailed off as they approached the edge of the treeline. Eddie studied the ground where Lucky and the Nubbies had appeared.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Tracking. (Help Tracking for more details)

Now his eyes saw the indents left by both Lucky and the Nubbies, they'd been rushing so they were deeper than normal and he couldn't understand why he couldn't see them before.

Unless the game prevents it most of the time until you have the skill, he thought.

He followed the, now obvious, trail directly to a hole in the ground, one much larger than the one they'd found the day before, but still small enough that if they were to enter it, they'd need to be in a crouch or bent over almost all the way.

The ground in front of the hole and the tunnel inside were hard packed dirt, or at least the tunnel was for the first few feet that he could see from the light. Beyond that it was dark.

“Well crap,” Eddie said. “We should've brought a torch or something.”

“I got it,” Karl said. He pulled a stick from his inventory. It had a rabbit pelt wrapped around one end and the pelt looked damp and glossy, like it had been dipped in something. When he pulled flint and steel out of his inventory next, Eddie's eyes widened.

“Where'd you get those?”

Karl chuckled.

“Remember all that trouble getting the fires started?” he asked. “These were on the mantle over the fireplace.”

Eddie felt like an idiot, he'd never even thought to check. With everything else going on, he'd just figured the company was being cheap in that aspect as well.

Karl struck the flint and steel several times, eventually getting his torch to light.

“Pine sap, it isn't as good as some other types, but it'll burn for a while,” he said.

“You've got the light, so after you.”

Eddie hefted his throwing stick and followed closely behind Karl. He'd been right and they had to bend over almost double to fit through the tunnel, except for Lucky. The bobcat didn't even come close to the roof of the tunnel and Eddie was glad of it since she was also their most effective combatant.

Lucky stopped in her tracks, her fur rising, and let out a hiss.

Eddie was about to tell Karl to stop, but he'd heard her too and already had.

“What's up ahead?” Eddie hissed.

“Looks like an intersection. There's tunnels to both sides, but they're a lot smaller than this one.”

“Guess we keep going forward then,” Eddie said.

“I don't like this.”

“Neither do I, but unless we want to get back to digging this is how we need to do this.”

Karl started advancing again, more slowly this time. As they passed the corridors, Eddie heard the sound of something moving in them. He tugged on Karl's shirt, then spun around facing the intersection.

Nubbies came leaping into the intersection, one from each of the smaller tunnels. Eddie snapped his arm forward, striking one with his throwing stick. Lucky darted between his feet, attacking the one he hadn't already damaged.

Eddie's staff was just small enough to be used in the tight confines, but even so there were some moves he couldn't make with it. Instead he pretended he was playing hockey, trying to throw the Nubby back into the goal that was the corridor it had exited from. He struck it, but it only shifted several inches and he wasn't even sure he'd hurt it.

The Nubby leapt at him, but Eddie managed to interpose his staff between the two of them. The combat interface on the lower portion of his screen started flashing, but he couldn't take the time to look at it. He drew his staff back and thrust forward with it, pushing the Nubby farther away.

Lucky came flying across the corridor, latching onto the Nubby's front paw with her jaws. Her claws raked across its flank and the Nubby squealed. It thrust its blunted horn at her but hit at an angle so shallow that Eddie was sure it hadn't done any actual damage.

Desperate to keep the bobcat from getting hurt, even though he intellectually knew that she was a better fighter and had more health than he did, he cried out and thrust his staff again.

This time the staff caught the Nubby's head with a resounding crack, the animal going still as Lucky continued to worry at its paw.

“It's okay Lucky, it's dead,” Eddie said.

The bobcat released it's grip, but not before tearing the paw off and swallowing it. Eddie shuddered for a moment before he bent over and touched each of the Nubbys' corpses, laughing at the results from the corpse Lucky had just released her grip on.

“Hey Karl, present for you,” Eddie said.

He tossed Karl the rabbit's foot that the second Nubby had dropped as part of its loot.

“Wear it or hold it, it adds one to Luck,” Eddie said.

His own rabbit's foot was attached to a thong around his neck and he wasn't sure if the bonuses would stack. Besides, he figured Karl could use the rare drop since he didn't have much in the way of equipment yet.

Karl grinned at him.

“Thanks, I'll take it. First piece of stat adjusting equipment I get and it's Luck. Wouldn't you know it, just my...” he stopped and trailed off when he realized what he'd been about to say.

“Just your luck?” Eddie supplied, a grin on his face.

“Shut up,” Karl said, then he turned around and continued down the passage.

Karl stopped again a little way deeper into the tunnel.

“Hey, I think it opens up in front of us,” he said.

“Keep an eye out, I think all those Nubbies outside were lair guards and Lucky pulled them for us. That means we're liable to run into the boss without much warning.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Karl muttered, “teach your grandmother to suck eggs why don't you.”

Eddie suppressed the chuckle that wanted to burst forth. Karl seemed to not be enjoying himself too much, but Eddie was having a blast. Even the adrenaline rush from the Nubbies that attacked inside the tunnel was contributing to it, although he was pretty sure he'd crash from that soon.

“Holy shit,” Karl said as he took a few more steps forward.

“What?” Eddie asked.

Then he noticed that Karl had straightened up. He was standing in a room made of packed dirt and as Eddie looked past Karl he realized what the man had been talking about.

On the opposite side of the room was a bunny, a really big bunny.

Evaluate, Eddie thought.

Warren Mother:

Type: Animal

Level: 5

Armor: 20

Health 65 (+/-)

Attack: ?

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Warren Mother with Evaluate.

A moment later Eddie spotted the Nubby beside her, it was twice as large as the others they'd seen and the horn on its head was longer, although still blunt on the end.

Evaluate, Eddie thought again.

Elder Nubby (male):

Type: Animal

Level: 3

Armor: 15

Health 36 (+/-)

Attack: ?

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Elder Nubby (male) with Evaluate.

You have upgraded the skill Evaluate to (3). But I don't think that's going to help you right now.

Karl had frozen and both of the creatures were staring at him.

“Oh shit,” Eddie said, “we're screwed. The Nubby is level three, but the big one is level five, a Warren Mother.”

“You ain't kidding, it sure is a big mother,” Karl replied softly.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Eleven

Aaron picked up the phone nervously and dialed Mr. Greenshaw's number.

“Yes, what is it?” came the voice from the other end.

Figures he doesn't even answer his phone politely, Aaron thought.

“Sir, I've been told we have possession of the warehouse.”

“Good, then you can fix the problem.”

“Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't. We have the pods, but we don't have the server that they access for their instructions. We've got people trying to trace it, but we aren't having any luck.”

“Then just crack open the pods and get those people out, then the experiments will have to stop.”

“Sir, you realize that that could kill them, right? We don't want to do that, do we?”

Mr. Greenshaw harumphed on the other end of the phone.

“No, no, that might open us up to lawsuits we'd rather not deal with. I suppose you'll just have to placate the players in the game then. Make sure they're happy and aren't going to make a fuss about this. Get signed releases from them.”

Not likely they'd try to sue us, more likely it would be the company that put them in there, Aaron thought, but he's the boss, so what he says goes.

“Yes sir, I'll do that sir. What limitations should I put on the players' requests? Some of them are liable to request truly outrageous things if they think they've got us over a barrel.”

“Make it a budget of a thirty thousand between all of them, use standard market rates for the value of their requests. We can absorb that without a problem and it ought to be enough to keep them happy,” Mr. Greenshaw said. “But they only get it if they sign the releases.”

“Yes sir,” Aaron said.

He grimaced as he heard the click of the phone being hung up on the other end.

What are these guys going to want that they can get for five grand a piece? he wondered. And should I buy it in the auction or just load it up for them. I hate when management gets involved like this, they just don't have the background to give clear instructions.

~ ~ ~

So far the two inhabitants of the small cave hadn't done anything but stare at Karl. That all changed as Lucky streaked across the room, diving for the throat of the Elder Nubby. The Nubby dodged the first claw that flashed at him, but his dodge led him right into the second one which stopped him cold and let Lucky get her jaws fastened onto him.

The Warren Mother broke out of her stillness when she saw the Nubby attacked. She spun and one of her rear paws lashed out at Lucky, fortunately it missed, but when Eddie saw the attack he shouldered his way past Karl, standing beside him as soon as he could straighten. The throwing stick in his hand flashed out towards the Warren Mother.

She flinched as it struck her, then let out an awful wail that left Eddie's ears ringing.

“Attack already,” he said to Karl, who was still standing still.

Karl's throwing stick went flying as well, striking the Warren Mother as she straightened back out from her attack on Lucky. The Elder Nubby tried to slam Lucky into the wall of the cave and the cat gave off a faint yip as it rammed her into the packed dirt.

Lucky drew her rear claws up and set to dragging them across the Elder Nubby's hide. It screeched and twisted, trying to get her to release her jaws.

Eddie's other throwing stick went flying towards the Warren Mother but this time it bounced off of her without doing any damage. Karl took a deep breath beside him, then went racing towards the Mother. With a Kali stick in one hand and the flaming torch in the other, he struck.

His Kali stick took the Mother in the nose, but when he struck with the torch, she flinched back to avoid it.

The Nubby pushed a paw between its hide and Lucky and tried to fling her away, but she held tight despite its attempts. The Warren Mother had better luck, it caught Karl with one of its paws, sending him flying into the packed dirt wall of the room. Karl staggered for a moment, then steadied.

Eddie really didn't want to close in to melee range with the Mother after he saw what happened to Karl. He looked around quickly and noticed that Karl's throwing stick had luckily landed right in front of him after bouncing off the Mother.  He grabbed it quickly and cocked his arm, waiting for a good moment to throw.

The light in the room was dimmer with Karl over on the far side, but Eddie still saw it when the Elder Nubby fell, Lucky still attached and raking her claws in it. With a sigh of relief Eddie hurled the throwing stick, making sure that Karl was nowhere near his target first.

It struck the Warren Mother, eliciting another ear-ringing squeal out of her, but the big bunny still seemed to be going strong.

The Mother was now paying less attention to Karl, having noticed Eddie hurting her twice she was coming for him. As she reached him, she spun around and lashed out with both rear paws. Eddie tried to dodge, but one of them caught him, sending him flying across the room. When he hit the wall, he felt  something hard in it as his back struck. He was out of breath for the moment and trying to breathe was nearly impossible.

His health counter flashed in front of his eyes:

Health: 6/10

The Mother was hopping towards him again when Karl struck, this time from behind. The Mother let out another of the horrible squeals as her tail burst into flames where Karl had struck her with the torch.

“Hey, that attack taught me backstab,” Karl yelled in a gleeful voice.

Eddie had caught his breath and yelled in reply.

“Pay attention to the Mother, she's targeting you again,” he yelled.

Karl's hurried “Oh shit” was barely audible to Eddie since he was all the way across the room. He forced himself back to his feet and stumbled as he moved towards the Warren Mother. There was enough room here that he could move his melee staff freely so he swung like he was trying to hit a ball out of the park, trying hard to keep his body away from her tail, which was still burning. He struck hard enough that the staff shivered in his hands on impact, but the Mother was still focused on Karl.

Another of Eddie's counters flashed in his view, this one orange.

Stamina is low: 5/25

The Warren Mother lashed out with a paw that hit Karl in the head. He barely kept his feet and his return attack suffered for it. The Kali stick struck, but the torch missed, the Mother once more dodging the flames when she saw them coming for her.

A flash of tan came flying out of the shadows at the side of the room. Lucky hit the Warren Mother, landing on her back and spinning in a circle around the one claw that sank into the Mother's flesh. She clamped down with her teeth on the Mother's back and for a third time the Mother let out a squeal that left Eddie's ears ringing.

“Now, while she's distracted,” Karl yelled.

Karl and Eddie struck at the same time and when they each landed a blow the Warren Mother's legs went flying outwards, out of control this time. The Mother landed on the packed dirt floor of the room, the fire on her tail finally burning itself out as she spasmed in her death throes.

Eddie took a deep breath, then pulled up his combat logs now that he was out of the fight.

Enemy slain: Elder Nubby (Male) (level 3)

You have earned 50 (+5 well-rested, +13 blessing) exp.

Enemy slain: Warren Mother (level 5)

You have earned 75 (+8 well-rested, +19 blessing) exp.

“What the hell?” Karl said, “I thought that should take care of the quest.”

“I don't know, maybe something down one of those other passages?” Eddie replied.

“They're too small. I'm not going to crawl down one of those things, not gonna happen.”

“They aren't too small for Lucky. You work on looting these two, and then butcher them if you can, I'll take Lucky back to the intersection and see if she's willing to go down the other tunnels.”

“To hell with that, I'm not going to be able to focus well on skinning or butchering these things in here,” Karl said.

He placed a hand on the Elder Nubby corpse and willed it into his inventory, then did the same with the body of the Warren Mother. Eddie sat there, shaking his head, as he watched the huge Warren Mother body abruptly disappear.

“I just assumed those were going to be too large for that,” he said.

“I think the general rule is if you can pick it up and you have an empty slot, you can stow it in your inventory,” Karl said. “Kind of broken, but in our favor, so I'm not bitching.”

“Well, let's go.”

“Wait, it looks like your cat is hurt too, how about we all heal, including her, then we try this.”

Eddie nodded, looking at Lucky. She certainly wasn't moving with her normal grace, but she wasn't whimpering with pain either.

“Come here girl,” he said.

She crawled into his lap after he sat back against the wall and he petted her as they healed. Her rumbling purr echoed in the small room.

“I'm full,” Eddie announced a few minutes later.

“That was fast, I'm not,” Karl said.

Evaluate, Eddie thought, looking at the cat.

Lucky

Type: Animal(pet)

Young Bobcat (female)

Level: 3

Armor: 35

Health 28/32

Attack: 25 (3)

Dmg: 2-8/2-8/3-9

Status: Pet

“Lucky has a bit left to heal too,” Eddie said. “So no problem, we'll wait a little longer.”

Eddie was impatiently tapping his fingers as he waited. Lucky turned to him and glared until he noticed that he was tapping his fingers on her. Once he stopped, she turned her head away again.

“Oops, sorry,” he said softly. “I'm just a little nervous and excited is all.”

~ ~ ~

Eddie stared down first one corridor then the other, trying to figure out how to express what he wanted from Lucky so she'd understand.

“Lucky, check the corridors?” he said.

She stood there, tail switching, apparently impatient.

He heard a rustle down one of the corridors and an inspiration hit him. He pointed down the corridor where he'd heard the noise.

“Go get it girl,” he said.

At that, Lucky crouched down and started making her way down the corridor. A couple of minutes later Eddie received experience notifications saying that three Baby Nubbies were killed. The experience was tiny, less than five each, but at least he knew that there were still bunnies, of one sort or another, in the lair.

When Lucky returned, he repeated the process, pointing down the other corridor this time.

A plethora of messages that baby bunnies were killed followed, but the last one seemed to do the trick.

Enemy slain: Warren Mother (baby) (level 1)

You have earned 25 (+3 well-rested, +6 blessing) exp.

A moment later another notification popped up for him, then another.

Success:

You have completed the quest: Save the Farm

Experience awarded: 2000 (+200 well-rested, +500 blessing)

2 Gold Pieces awarded.

Success:

You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 1

Do you wish to advance?

(Y/N)

Eddied grinned and thought Yes.

You have advanced to Level 1.

You may choose a class

You have 3 stat points to distribute.

You may choose a skill.

You have received one stat point in: Wisdom

Your Health has increased.

Your Mana has increased.

Your Stamina has increased.

Success:

You have obtained the hidden achievement: Out of Nothing

For being the first player to start at Level 0 and advance to Level 1 without dying you are awarded the achievement: Out of Nothing.

Rewards:

Permanent +1 to Luck stat.

100 Gold Pieces.

One class-based item of your choice (reward delayed until class selected).

Congratulations.

Another message flashed across his screen immediately after that.

Global Broadcast:

Congratulations to player Eddie Hunter for being the first to complete the hidden achievement:

Out of Nothing

Well shit, Eddie thought. It's nice to get the rewards, but I think I would've rather not had my name broadcast throughout the entire game world.

“Dude, did I just see that?” Karl asked.

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “I got an achievement for starting at level 0 and making level 1 without dying.”

“The forums say the rewards for hidden achievements are pretty cool, what did you get?”

“One point to luck, a hundred gold, and an item that they won't give me until I choose a class.”

“Doesn't sound that great, but then again for a first level character? I guess it's sweet for a low level.”

“Are you kidding? That's two thousand bucks if I sell the gold. That's more than I was going to make on my first contract as a farmer. I'm loving it, and that's before I find out what the item is.”

“Point,” Karl said. “I hadn't even considered what that would be in real money.”

“The way this game feels, I'm not sure what's more real, the gold here or the dollars outside the pod.”

“Another good point. Here's Lucky though, so let's get out of here.”

“Yeah, I'll be a bit distracted on the way back. I've got a class to choose and stats to assign.”

Lucky had a slight limp, but looked happy. Eddie thought she might've paused for a snack before coming back up the corridor since it had taken her so long. The two men made their way out of the tunnel, happy to stretch their backs once they made it outside. As they turned to the field and started walking back to the bunkhouse, Eddie started making his selections.

Okay, Karl had a good point. I want Ranger for my class.

Class selected: Ranger

You do not qualify for this class.

Required stats for class:

Str: 10+

Agi: 12+

Wis: 12+

You must add one stat point to strength to select this class.

Add one stat point to strength, he thought.

Strength +1 (Y/N)

Yes, he thought.

Strength score now: 10

Class selected: Ranger

Are you sure? (Y/N)

Yes, Eddie thought.

Class added: Ranger

Ranger abilities:

Bonuses to combat or any skill check made outside.

Tracking Skill +1

Bowyer/Fletcher Skill +1

Animal Friendship Skill awarded

Weapon Proficiency Bow added (specialization in longbow or shortbow may be selected at skill level 5)

Rangers gain access to Nature type spells at level 5.

Cool, that works, he thought. Now the other stat points. I want more health and since my agility is high already I probably ought to get it even higher so it stays exceptional. So add one stat point to Heartiness and one stat point to Agility.

Heartiness +1 and Agility +1 (Y/N)

Yes.

Eddie paused in adjusting his character and noticed the notification light flashing. He pulled up the message.

You are awarded one class-based item of your choice. Choose one of the following:

Shortbow (excellent quality)

Studded Leather Armor (magical, +3 to armor rating)

Elven Rope (+10 to climbing, +50% to climbing speed)

“Shit!” Eddie cursed. “I hate it when they do that.”

“Do what?” Karl asked, stopping and turning to face him.

“Remember I said I get an item? They want me to choose from a list of three. I'm torn between two of them.”

“Well, what are they?”

“I can get an excellent quality shortbow, a suit of studded leather with a magical bonus, or an elven rope. I can't decide between the shortbow and the armor.”

“Easy call, go for the armor. You can make yourself a bow and until you have some arrows, that shortbow wouldn't do you any good. The armor you can use immediately.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right. No clue what these things are worth though.”

“You can always check the price if you can find similar things in the auction.”

“The auction? Wait, let me guess, I just need to think the word auction?”

Karl nodded.

“Yeah, but it's full screen like the browser, make sure you're comfortable and in a safe place before you do it.”

“I think you're right though, I should go for the armor. It's actually magical, the shortbow is just well made.”

Eddie focused on his panel and thought, armor.

He didn't notice anything, but he checked his inventory and found that one slot of it was taken up with a suit of studded leather armor.

Good, I'll pull it out as soon as we're back. Try it on and see how much protection it'll give me.

~ ~ ~

Eddie was pulling on his armor in the bunkhouse, meanwhile Karl was outside working on cleaning the Elder Nubby and the Warren Mother.

“Damn it! The Mother won't fit on this table,” Karl called.

“Neither would a deer, so we'll need to work something else out since I'm getting tired of rabbit meat,” Eddie replied.

He stepped outside in his new armor and cleared his throat. Karl turned and chuckled.

“Well hot damn, now you actually look like an adventurer.”

“How about you? How close did you get to leveling?”

Karl growled.

“Twenty-three freakin' experience away. I almost beat you to that achievement.”

“Well, finish cleaning those and we'll go track the experience points down for you to level also,” Eddie said. “Meanwhile I want to see what my character sheet looks like now that I'm finally level one.”

Character sheet, he thought.

His panel brightened with the information and there was a satisfied smile on his face as he scanned it.

Edward Hunter

Human Male

Level: 1

Class:Warrior (Ranger)

Strength:10

Intelligence: 9

Agility: 17

Wisdom: 13

Heartiness: 11

Charisma: 8

Willpower: 11

Health: 23

Endurance: 11

Mana: 26

Luck: 14 (15)

Stamina: 54

Experience:

2237/2500

Base Attack: 10

Base Armor: 10 (32)

+1 attack melee (str)

+18 armor (studded leather)

+4 attack ranged (agi)

+4 armor (agility)

Skills:

General:

Animal Friendship: 1

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry: 1

Bowyer/Fletcher: 2 (+1 to checks)

Carpentry: 1

Cooking: 1

Evaluate: 3

Farming: 2

Fire Building: 1

Herbalism: 2

Hunting: 1

Tracking: 2

Weather Sense: 1

Weaving: 3

Combat:

Bows: 1

Staves: 1

Magical:

N/A

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twelve

Aaron had just finished taking care of the requests of the four experimental subjects that were being kept in the lap of luxury when the message came through.

Those idiots wanted some really stupid stuff, Aaron thought, but it came in well under budget at least. Not that any of their requests are going to do anything for them in the long run, they'll just waste it all, but at least I got them to sign the non-liability papers. I wonder what those other two are going to want. If they're adventuring, they'll probably want gear. I'd bet on it even. Now to see what Greenshaw wanted me for.

Aaron removed his gear. Unlike the others he wasn't using a pod, he was using a full body suit. It created a similar experience to the pod, but wasn't designed for long term usage, only up to about sixteen hours at a time.

A minute later he was knocking on the door of the office where he was told to report. A gruff voice answered.

“Come in.”

“Mr. Greenshaw, sir. What can I do for you?” Aaron asked after entering.

“You can tell me you've taken care of those players.”

“Most of them. I still have to talk to the two that didn't want pampering. I have the signed releases for the other four already.”

“Good, get those last two. First, tell me we've found that server you were talking about.”

“No sir, they must've had a really good hacker make it untraceable.”

“Nothing's impossible. Track me down an even better hacker that we can hire to find it if that's what you have to do. That's top priority right now.”

“Yes, sir,” Aaron said.

~ ~ ~

“I was thinking,” Eddie said. “We can take a walk to that trading post, but kill any bunnies we see on the way. All we need is two to get you your level, right?”

“How about we just look around here for a few minutes first, where we know there are bunnies? Then I can take a few minutes to level up and then we go to the trading post,” Karl replied.

“Alright, what did the bosses have anyhow, I was kind of distracted by getting my level.”

“The Mother had a massive pelt, I mean it's like bearskin sized almost, and I got a second one of those by skinning her. We'll need to treat the one I skinned, but we have two of those if we do that. The Elder Nubby just had a horn that was about three times the size of the others. They both dropped meat though.”

“Roast Warren Mother for dinner then?” Eddie asked.

“Sounds tasty to me. You ready to help me get my level?”

“Not like you really need my help for bunnies, but sure.”

The two of them headed back out into the field, but ten minutes later Eddie was confused.

“I'm not finding any sign of the bunnies.”

Karl groaned.

“Of course you aren't, we just finished a quest to get rid of all the bunnies on the farm. We'll have to go somewhere else,” he said.

“There are some birds to the south, a few of those might do it. I saw bunnies in the fields to the north too if you want to stick with those.”

“Let's go with your first idea, head for the trading post and see if we find anything to kill on the way.”

“I don't know how far it is though, obviously not too close or we'd have seen or heard it by now,” Eddie replied.

“Let's just go. Even if I can't get my level right now, maybe we can get some half-decent gear for me.”

Lucky trotted along behind them as they headed east on the road. Occasionally she darted off the side of the road only to show up a few minutes later. After a few minutes Lucky disappeared and Eddie saw his notifications flashing.

“There you go,” he said, pulling up the notification. “That's half of it thanks to Lucky. I bet she finds more bunnies on the way too.”

Karl groaned.

“Feels like a hack to just walk along the road and get experience because your pet is catching bunnies, but at this point I'll take it.”

Ten minutes after that, Eddie's notifications flashed again. Karl called out for him to stop and a moment later broke into a huge grin.

“Hot damn,” Karl said, “you got the global announcement, but that quest is still in place for others to get also. I only got ten gold and an item, but at least I still got something for it.”

“What are your item options?”

“I don't know yet, I need to pick a class still. I'm torn between something close to a plain Warrior and a Scout.”

“Don't Scouts get backstab like Thief classes do? You have the skill already, so you'd probably get a bonus to it for already having it when you choose Scout.”

“Yeah, and it's a pretty good class for here or the forest, but just like yours it gets weaker if you're indoors somewhere. It means if we're fighting inside somewhere we both won't be at our best.”

Eddie shrugged.

“Your character, your call.”

Karl grinned and a moment later was pulling a suit of leather armor out of his inventory.

“I went with Scout. It's still got a lot of the Warrior skills, but it has most of the Thief skills as well. Both of our classes are focused on the outdoors at low levels, but I figure we'll run the Forest of Fools after we get to level five and that's still outdoors. Unless we try a dungeon in the forest I think we'll be beyond that limitation before it becomes important.”

“That works. So we've got Warrior and Thief covered. I'll get some nature spells at level five that'll help with buffs and healing. Still missing a lot from a balanced party, but we managed to get to level one this way.”

“Right,” Karl said. “I don't think we'll be doing any serious adventuring for a while still though. Gonna have to grind out a couple more levels and get some decent equipment first.”

I think he forgot that we both just got awarded gold for Out of Nothing. Although, who knows what the trading post will have, we might not be able to equip up very well there.

All in all, the two of them walked for almost a half hour before it became apparent they were approaching some sort of settlement. The first sign was a hint of wood smoke in the air. A minute later a row of tents came into view in an open field alongside the road. People were moving about in the field and Eddie couldn't help overhearing some of them.

There were a pair of what looked like adventurers bitching that they had to eat cold rations, another one complaining about sleeping on the ground, and several conversations about the trading post and its deficiencies.

Eddie couldn't help but feel his mind lurch into gear.

A guy could make a good profit out here, he thought, remembering that his main purpose in the game was to make some money.

The fun was good too, but he couldn't afford to indulge in it at the expense of his original plan. He forced himself to remember that he was pretty much broke in real life and needed to make some money in here before they solved the problem that was keeping them trapped in game.

Run off a little barracks style building with small rooms and simple beds, he thought. Set up a kitchen to provide hot food. Charge an arm and a leg, which it sounds like they're already paying at the trading post. I wonder if there's an inn or something here and why there are so many adventurers out this way anyhow. Are the forest and the mountain zones that good?

~ ~ ~

One of Eddie's questions was answered as he walked into the tiny, not quite a village. There were several houses, one farm visible farther down the road, and the building that must be the trading post. A line of adventurers was standing outside and evidently the owner would only let one group in at a time. Eddie and Karl took their place in line and it was only then that Eddie realized that Lucky had disappeared. He hadn't seen her since about the time they'd first heard the adventurers in the field talking.

“You seen Lucky?” he asked Karl.

“Not for a few minutes, you worried?”

“No, I've got a status screen for her and she's apparently fine, I just wondered where she went. I didn't think she'd wander off with all these people around.”

“Missing pet?” the woman in front of them asked.

Eddie nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Happens a lot around here. There's lots of pelts traded in this place and my guess is it smells like that to them and they don't want to come near it. If it's a wolf or something else that has its pelts traded, that's probably why.”

“Thanks, yeah, I think there is a market for their pelts,” Eddie replied. “Hey, why are there so many players here? I heard people complaining about the place, but there's so many here.”

“Yeah, there are. It kind of sucks. This is the only place to sell drops in the area, and they rip you off, but the only other option when you get full is to head back to a full-sized town. All of the zones back near town have groups or guilds camping them, running their own people through the zone and stopping everyone else. Even if you can't pkill in an under twenty zone you can still make life hard for someone. So everyone else comes out this way.”

“To the Meadowlands?” Eddie asked incredulously.

“No, we just set up a base camp here and hunt the forest or the mountains. Try to set up a camp in one of those and it would constantly get attacked. Not so much down here, occasional raids of Goblins from the forest, or Orcs from the mountains, but most of those don't make it this far into the Meadowlands so it's kind of like a safe spot. Why are you here if you didn't already know that?” she asked, peering at him intently.

Eddie quickly realized that she was Evaluating him, and Karl as well.

“That's rude,” he said.

“A pair of level ones? How did you even get here? And are those your real life names? I thought you couldn't do that.” she said.

“It's a really long story that I can't actually get into right now and yes, they are. We didn't have a choice,” Eddie said.

That just seemed to intrigue her even more.

“Come on, how'd you do it? How'd you get here?”

“We got fucked over,” Karl said, “and that's all we can say about it per Light Online's request.”

“Oh, an NDA type of thing? That sucks,” she said. “I really would've liked to know. The Meadowlands looks a lot less grindy than the other low level zones. If I remake my character I might've wanted to start here.”

Not the way we did, Eddie thought.

They continued to chat as the line moved slowly. Before long they discovered that she was planning on selling some drops that she'd gotten in the forest.

“We don't need any armor,” Karl said, “But did you happen to find any weapons? From what you said this guy charges way too much and pays way too little, why don't we try to deal with each other instead of him.”

Eddie nodded.

“Yeah, I could use a bow and some arrows. I think Karl was looking for shortswords?”

He looked at Karl, who nodded.

She grinned for a moment.

“Hang on, let me contact the rest of my group, see if any of them have that stuff. I'd love to avoid this guy if possible, and I'm sure they would too. Most people out here already have better equipment than they find in these zones, so we haven't tried to sell it to the other adventurers.”

While she was zoned out, talking to her groupmates, Eddie took a moment to evaluate her, figuring that if she did it to him first she couldn't complain about it. He didn't get much information, but at least now he knew who he was dealing with.

Tiana Anders

Class:

Level: 7

Priest

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Tiana with Evaluate.

Five minutes later, another four people were crowding around Tiana.

“Guys,” she said. “Want to get a better price for some of our loot?”

“Of course,” a large man answered. He was clad in plate mail with a two-handed sword slung across his back.

“These two need to buy some stuff,” she said. “They were gonna get it from Old Jeffries in there until I warned them about his profit margins. So they asked if I had any. I didn't, but I know we found some of what they wanted this last trip out. Did any of you keep the shortswords or bows that we found?”

“I've got a few of those shortswords,” a slender man said, he was clad in dark leather armor and Eddie was pretty sure he was a thief.

Although he might be a scout too, he thought. But that almost black leather would stand out in a forest, so I'm going with thief.

Karl cleared his throat.

“How much would Old Jeffries give you for two of them?” he asked.

“Five silver if I was lucky,” the man spat. “They're worth more than a gold each though, even just being the common grade they are.”

“Would you consider taking a gold for a pair?” Karl asked.

The man's eyes lit up.

“One gold, five silver,” he replied.

Meanwhile the wizard of the group, or at least Eddie assumed he was since he was wearing no armor, had robes, and was carrying a staff, eyed Eddie.

“I know your name, I saw it somewhere recently,” the man said. “Wait, weren't you the one that global announcement was about earlier?”

The man's eyes went vacant, while his hands made a motion as though he were scrolling through data entries.

“Yeah, Out of Nothing. I never heard of that one before, what was it?” he asked.

Eddie sighed.

“I already told Tiana, I can't talk about it. Light Online asked me not to say anything about the situation.”

The man's eyes fell.

“Not even what the achievement was for?” he asked.

Eddie thought for a moment. It might give away a little bit of information tied into the problem, but he had the idea that this man wasn't just going to let it drop.

“It was an achievement for making level one without dying,” he said, “and really, that's all I can say about it.”

“What? Everyone makes level one without dying,” the robed man said. “They log in and they're level one.”

“Not us,” Karl said, interrupting his own haggling to reply, “I wish we'd been that lucky.”

Now the entire group was staring at them. Tiana was the first to speak.

“You mean, you're level ones out here in the Meadowlands because you started at level zero here in the Meadowlands?” she asked.

“I'm sorry, I can neither confirm nor deny that statement,” Eddie said, resorting to the boilerplate denials he'd heard in the news all his life.

“Good enough for me,” she said. “Hey, Allie here picked up a shortbow on our last run, that work for you?”

“Yeah, I've got the skill and some materials, but haven't made one yet. I'd much rather just get one to use for now while I figure it out.”

He turned to Elven female who had a quiver strapped to her back.

“Allie I presume?” he said.

She nodded.

“Two gold,” she said.

“Uh, that's how much he'd pay in there, or how much you want for it?”

“That's how much I'll sell it to you for. He'd give me seven or eight silver depending on how many he's seen lately. You'll have to get arrows for it from Old Jeffries though, I don't have any of those to spare.”

“Done,” Eddie said, noticing that they were approaching the front of the line finally.

When she gave him the bow, she also pulled out a quiver.

“No arrows in it, but I only need one myself so you can have this too,” she said.

“Thank you.”

Eddie noticed Karl handing over a gold piece and a few hunks of rabbit meat in exchange for his shortswords. As the rest of Tiana's group wandered off, Karl leaned over to whisper to him.

“Eddie, he was valuing our rabbit meat at about a silver a chunk.”

Eddie grinned before whispering back.

“I was already thinking we could make a mint by offering some low-grade accommodations and hot food here in this area. That confirms it for me. Plus, if we hunt all the meat for it ourselves, there's exp also. Not quite as good as adventuring, but building up a stash of gold sounds like a plan to me, how about you?”

“Farming, food vendor, I'm getting to try all sorts of new things in this game,” Karl said. “What's the plan?”

“We'll go into it later on. I need to look at a few help files first.”

Tiana gestured for them to enter along with her when it was her turn to go into the trading post.

“He'll take up to five people in there at a time, you might as well come with me,” she said.

Eddie was sure he was getting ripped off when Old Jeffries offered two copper per rabbit pelt, and even more sure he was getting ripped off having to pay five copper each for arrows with field point heads, not even broadheads, but that was the only kind of arrow available and when Karl tried to haggle Old Jeffries shut him down quickly.

“That's my price boy, take it or leave it.”

They did end up picking up a number of other items they thought would come in handy, but Eddie grinned when he saw the felling axes. There was a rack of them with almost an inch of dust on the top.

“How much for one of these?” he asked Old Jeffries.

“The price is marked on 'em.”

“Sorry, I can't see it because of all the dust. Must be lousy sellers, how long have they been taking up valuable room in your shop?”

Old Jeffries growled.

“Oh, there, I see it now,” Eddie said. “Five silver pieces. Well, that's too rich for my blood, I might have bought at three silver. Would've helped give you more room in your shop. Too bad.”

Old Jeffries eyes closed as he gritted his teeth. The words he spat out seemed to pain him.

“I can give you any of the axes for three silver,” he said, looking like he was having a heart attack.

Eddie saw the sudden grin split Tiana's face. She was about to speak, but he shook his head and waved his hand at her. She clamped her lips shut, watching intently.

“So you'll sell me these axes at three silver each?” he asked.

“Yes,” spat Old Jeffries.

“Good, I'll take three of them then, while you're at it, I'll take another two arrows also. That should be one gold, right?”

Eddie dropped a gold coin on the counter, then walked over and picked out three of the axes. He tossed the other two arrows in his inventory since he'd already filled his quiver, then quickly walked out of the store, with Tiana following, before Old Jeffries could say another word.

“Oh my god! You haggled with Old Jeffries, got him to lower the price, and then took advantage of it?” Tiana said, loud enough for everyone around to hear.

People were staring at Eddie now and he wasn't certain what the look he was seeing in their eyes was.

“Guys,” Tiana screamed, “Eddie here got the better of Old Jeffries.”

There was an actual smattering of applause following her statement. He started to walk off, but she followed, chattering at him.

I think I want to crawl under a rock and die, he thought. I didn't want to make a splash here or anything, but it looks like it's too late for that.

~ ~ ~

Karl finally strode out of the trading post a few minutes later, chuckling to himself.

“You messed him up,” Karl said. “The guy couldn't even talk for a couple of minutes after that. Looked like he was about to explode or something.”

“Did you at least get what you were after? I hope I haven't caused any problems for us dealing with him, but these guys weren't kidding. It's highway robbery in there,” Eddie said.

“I wouldn't worry about it. I don't know that you'd want to trade with him any more anyhow. Didn't you see the bobcat pelts he had behind the counter?” Karl asked.

Eddie's jaw snapped shut and he instantly stopped feeling the hint of guilt that had plagued him since he left the trading post.

Tiana picked up on his mood.

“Why, what's wrong with bobcat pelts?” she asked.

Eddie strode quickly down the road towards the farm, passing by the fields that were filled with adventurers. After he was well past them he stopped and whistled. Tiana was still following him and when Lucky came running out towards Eddie, she stopped dead.

“Uh, guys?” she said.

Eddie knelt down and caught Lucky as she leaped at him.

“I'm so glad you're safe. I didn't realize you weren't with me until a little after you disappeared,” Eddie said.

Lucky licked his face and Eddie winced, wiping the moisture off of his cheek.

“Hey, don't you know you're a cat, not a dog?” he said. “I thought licking people's faces was a dog thing.”

Lucky replied by licking his other cheek and Eddie burst out laughing. When he looked up he saw Tiana staring at him, eyes wide.

“You've got a pet? At level one? And it's a bobcat? What is up with you?” she asked.

Eddie opened his mouth, about to speak. Then he snapped it shut again and chose his words more carefully.

“You evaluated me earlier, right?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Did you even look at my buffs?”

“Who bothers with buffs in town?” she asked.

“Look again,” Eddie said.

Her eyes unfocused for a moment and when they did refocus, she looked confused.

“What, exactly, is Freyja's Blessing? I researched all the priest spells before I made my character, and that isn't one of them.”

“Do a help on it,” he said.

“I tried, and I got a message that said only those who have been affected by a god's blessing can see the help files on it, or something like that. The effects are really powerful too.”

“So you know it isn't a priest spell, but is related to the gods. You also know it's pretty powerful. What conclusion do you draw from that?” he asked.

“What is this, college lectures again?” she asked, glaring at him.

“You know I can't talk about this, remember? I'm trying to give you as much of a clue as I can, for goddess' sake.”

She stopped dead, staring at him.

“Let me get this straight, are you saying that Freyja herself put that blessing on you?”

“I'm sorry, I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.”

Eddie crouched down again, ignoring Tiana's glare.

“Lucky, can you hunt me up some more bunnies and bring them back here?” he said.

She stared at him blankly.

“Never mind, we probably have enough bunny meat for today anyhow,” Eddie said.

Now Karl was staring at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“How long until dark, do you think?” Eddie asked.

“I don't know, five or six hours? Probably about six hours I think.”

“I want to run off a little stand, start a fire, and start providing some hot food to those adventurers,” Eddie said. “At a price, of course.”

Now Tiana was staring at him blankly, but Karl had an interested look on his face.

“Tiana, I heard people complaining about cold rations. How much do you think they'd pay for a belly full of hot, fresh roasted, meat,” Eddie said.

“Oh,” she said, a look of comprehension washing over her face. “A lot, I mean there aren't any game animals in the forest or the mountains. But there are here in the Meadowlands, aren't there?”

Eddie nodded.

“Part of my problem was a lack of money in the real world. I came here to try to solve it. My original plan got trashed, but I can adapt. This is my next step in adapting.”

Lucky twined between his legs and he paused to pet her for a moment, knowing he'd be busy for a while very soon. He stared off into space as his hand ran over her soft fur.

Finally he stood.

“Karl, can you look for dried wood for a cook fire? And maybe a bunch of small sticks you can shave a point onto and remove the bark. We're going to sell meat on a stick.”

He drew the first of the felling axes out of his inventory.

“I'm going to chop down some wood to build a counter and the frame for the cookfire. Sorry Tiana, looks like we'll be busy for a little while, no time to talk.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Thirteen

Aaron groaned. He hadn't slept in almost twenty hours at this point, but he finally had a hacker that was willing to work for them trying to track down the server. All he had to do was finish filling out the paperwork to requisition the hacker's pay.

Hmmm, consultant or independent contractor. I bet the company would prefer the contractor option.

He ticked off the box listing the hacker as an independent contractor and blurrily made his way through the rest of the contract. By the time he finished he could barely make out the words on the papers.

He dialed Mr. Greenshaw.

“What is it?” the gruff voice on the other end of the phone said.

“It's me sir, I've tracked down an independent contractor who claims he can find the server. I've submitted the paperwork and if it goes through he'll be on the case.”

“Give me the case number, it'll go through,” Mr. Greenshaw said.

“Yes sir,” Aaron replied, then rattled off the number on the top of the paperwork.

“Have you taken care of all the experimental players? I still need those other two releases.”

“No, sir. I was going to do that first thing in the morning.”

“No, take care of it now,” Mr. Greenshaw insisted. “Then you can sleep.”

Aaron groaned, silently.

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

This time he was the one that just hung up. He donned his suit, then entered the game. He chose his entry point as the bunkhouse he'd seen the other two in last, but when he arrived in game it was empty, the ashes in the fireplace cold. It was still light out though.

Surely they'll come back here before it gets dark, he thought. I could run the tracking program, if I were awake enough to remember the damned command for it.

His in-game avatar was just as tired as he was in real life. He yawned once, then tried to fight off a second yawn unsuccessfully.

He'll never know, Aaron thought, staring at the beds. Mr. Greenshaw wouldn't be caught dead in the game. And it'll be just as restful as doing it in the real world.

Aaron sank onto a bunk, pulled the scratchy blanket over himself, and fell fast asleep.

~ ~ ~

Evidently Tiana was a cat person.

Eddie watched her playing with Lucky as he worked on chopping down some saplings. He thought about tackling a full-sized tree, but realized he wasn't too sure of the safest way to cut it down.

I've got a skill I could choose, but do I want to waste that on Lumberjack? he thought.

Instead he'd decided on cutting down a large number of springy saplings that he could weave into a counter top, using one slightly larger, stiffer, tree to make the supports for it. He'd be able to make the support for the spit out of the bottoms of the springy saplings since a lot of them were only flexible starting a foot or two above the ground.

It took him about an hour to cut down what he'd thought would enough trees. Then he wove the saplings into a sled, which would be the counter top after he got everything where he wanted it, and piled the rest of the wood, including Karl's firewood, on top.

“Lucky,” he called.

The bobcat raced over to him, the abandoned Tiana glaring at him again.

“Lucky, I need to go back to where all those adventurers were. I'll protect you if you come with me, or you can wander the area around here while I'm there and I'll whistle for you when I head back to the farm.”

Once again Eddie was sure she wouldn't understand him, but when he started dragging the sled back towards the fields, she followed along. Karl and Tiana were bringing up the rear to catch anything that fell off the sled.

“So Karl,” Eddie said. “Shall we save the Warren Mother and Elder Nubby until we're back at the farm? How many piece of rabbit meat do you have?”

“I've got twelve still,” Karl said. “You?”

“Twenty-seven. I figure each one will make three servings so that's a hundred and seventeen. Although probably less. If Lucky is still with us when we set up I'll give her one, plus you and I need to eat also.”

Tiana cleared her throat.

“And Tiana too, I suppose,” Eddie added.

“Works for me, you know Lucky will most likely catch more on the way back too.”

“Yup, stock for tomorrow,” Eddie said.

He stopped when he got to the edge of the first field the adventurers were camping in. This one wasn't full, unlike the other one between here and the trading post.

“Build me a fire Karl?” Eddie asked.

He pulled out a chunk of rabbit meat and offered it to Lucky, who took it and started worrying at it.

Eddie grabbed the supports he was going to use from the sled, using the shovel that was still in his inventory to dig holes for them. Once they were in place, he set the sled itself on top of them, using flexible branches to attach it to the supports.

Karl had the fire going at that point so Eddie built the supports for the spit while it burned. Once he saw enough coals, he moved the burning logs, raking the coals so they were under the spit. He pulled out a rabbit pelt sack he'd filled with herbs so he wouldn't have to go out to the garden every time he cooked, then sliced slits in the rabbit meat, stuffing them with herbs before spitting them, using some of the salt and pepper he'd purchased from Old Jeffries on them, and placing them over the coals.

You have upgraded the skill Cooking to (2).

Yes, he thought, My biggest worry is that my cooking skill is still too low for people to want to pay for what I cook. That'll help right there and if I cook all this rabbit meat we have I bet a get a few more increases to its rank also.

It wasn't long before the savory smell of herb roasted rabbit drifted out over the field and started attracting attention. He spitted the first few slices that came off for himself, Tiana, and Karl. After wolfing down his own food, he turned his attention back to the meat. The next few strips were barely done and spitted before someone cleared his throat behind him.

“What you up to mate?” the man standing at the counter asked.

“Selling meat on a stick,” Eddie said. “Herb-roasted rabbit today. Interested?”

“How much?” the man asked.

“One silver per spit, which ought to be enough to fill you up.”

The man rummaged in his inventory and slapped two silver down on the counter.

“I'll take two,” he said.

Eddie handed them over, collecting the two silvers with a grin.

“Tiana, would you do me a favor?” Eddie asked.

“What?” she asked suspiciously.

She was still eating her own meat, taking slow bites and obviously savoring them.

“Nothing big, just walk down towards the trading post while you eat your meat. If anyone asks where you got it, point them our way.”

“I'll do it if you give me another one of these later on,” she said.

“Done,” Eddie replied.

~ ~ ~

Three hours later Eddie was ready to call it quits. The sales had tapered off, but before they did he'd sold seventy-eight meat on a sticks. He'd also gained three more points in cooking.

Tiana had claimed her second meat on a stick a few minutes earlier and left to rejoin her group. She'd told them that they normally adventured during the day, then split up at night to do whatever they liked. Most evenings she just sat in her tent and used the browser to go online. They were planning on an early start in the morning though, so she'd left to go to sleep.

He took a split piece of firewood that had a fairly smooth split and a piece of charcoal he'd kicked out of the fire earlier to cool. It took him several attempts, but then he had a sign reading:

'Open again tomorrow – late afternoon'

He propped the log on the counter, bracing it to stand upright with smaller pieces of wood, then turned to Karl.

“Shall we head home? I figure tomorrow we can offer fresh vegetables as well.”

“You're gonna steal the produce from the farm?”

“Heck, if we don't use it up somehow, it'll probably go bad. I figure if they let bunnies steal it then it'll just rot if we don't use it somehow.”

“Good point. Sounds like a plan to me.”

“So, tomorrow morning we hunt, maybe we can offer some different types of meat. I know there's partridge out there, deer too if we can take one down. Then we come back down here after we have, say, a hundred portions of meat. I noticed that all the buildings in that little settlement are made of rough hewn planks. If the person who cut the trees down and made them into planks is there, I'm going to hire them to make me a bunch. Then we can get a proper food stand up, plus start building shelter to rent out as well.”

“You're really getting into this, aren't you?” Karl asked.

“Do you realize that we just made almost a hundred and sixty bucks? Eighty each? Four times as much as we would've made just working the farm for a day? Speaking of which, here you go.”

Eddie looked around to make sure no-one was close before he gave Karl an overflowing handful of silver.

“Thirty-nine for you, thirty-nine for me,” Eddie said.

“Really? Fifty-fifty? You did most of the work,” Karl said.

“Nah, we're grouped, we split fifty-fifty. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find plenty of work for you to do as well. Besides, like I said, it's already four times what we would've made in a day on the farm. I'm betting tomorrow will be better also.”

Lucky had been napping in a bush about twenty yards away, but when Eddie whistled, she came racing out.

“Ready to go home girl?” he asked.

She purred as he reached down and scratched her between the ears.

“If you see any bunnies on the way home, go get 'em,” Eddie said.

Lucky seemed to understand him since she darted into the underbrush three times while they walked back to the farm, each time returning with the corpse of a bunny.

Just before they got back to the farm Karl stopped Eddie in the road.

“Hang on, I hear someone nearby, probably on the farm,” he said.

“Did you get any sort of sneak skill from choosing Scout?” Eddie asked.

Karl nodded.

“Be right back,” he said.

He walked into the undergrowth beside the road and just sort of faded into it as he went farther away from Eddie.

A few minutes later Eddie heard a rustle in the bushes and Karl stepped back out.

“There's some older guy wandering around the compound with a confused look on his face.”

Eddie did the mental math.

“I bet that's Paul, the builder I told you about. He said he had to be gone for a few days, but he logged out in the farm, so he might've logged back in there as well. Let's go see.”

“Sure, but don't feel too betrayed if I hang back, just in case.”

“It doesn't matter Karl, if it's a player, they can't PK us until level twenty. Even if we were that high a level, I thought player killing was only allowed in zones with a minimum level of twenty?”

“That doesn't mean they can't rob us,” Karl said.

“Put all your valuables in your inventory if you're worried about it. You know another player can't access that.”

“Fine,” Karl grumbled.

The two men walked into the farm.

“Paul,” Eddie cried out at the sight of the man.

“Eddie, what's going on here?” Paul asked. “Where is everyone? And, I don't really know how to ask this, so I'll be blunt. Why is there a dev sleeping in your bunk?”

~ ~ ~

Eddie stared at Aaron, asleep in his bed.

Why the hell is he sleeping here? I mean, sleeping in game even? He could just as easily have crashed in the real world. I wonder if he's trying to do what we said and spend more time in the game? Whatever the reason is, this is too good a chance to pass up.

He leaned over until his mouth was about a foot away from Aaron's head, then he called out, in a deep-pitched voice.

“Who's been sleeping in my bed?” Eddie called out, loudly.

Paul stared at him as if he'd gone mad. He even took several steps back towards the door when Karl and Eddie started laughing at Aaron. The dev had snapped into a sitting position on the bed, then tried to swing his legs off the bed to stand. They'd gotten tangled in the blanket though and he'd fallen to his knees. He glared at Eddie as he kicked the blanket off and stood.

“That's not funny,” Aaron said, which set Karl and Eddie to laughing even harder.

Paul was about to make a break for the door when Aaron sat back down on the edge of the bed.

“Okay, maybe it was, but it was only a little bit funny,” he said, glaring at them.

“Come on, look at it from our point of view,” Eddie said. “Besides, why the hell were you sleeping in my bed? There were plenty of unclaimed ones.”

Aaron blushed.

“Sorry, I was just so tired. My boss has had me running around both in game and in the real world trying to take care of this mess. I hadn't slept in a day, and not much in the couple of days before that, so I just crashed on the nearest bed when you weren't here.”

“That's fine, really. I just couldn't pass up the chance,” Eddie said.

“You're bloody crazy, that's what you are,” Paul said. “The man's a developer, and you're giving him a hard time?”

“The man is just that,” Eddie said, “a man. Besides, we already knew he had a sense of humor, kind of.”

Aaron glared at Eddie again, who just chuckled.

“What do you expect? My charisma is only an eight,” Eddie said, grinning.

“You're incorrigible,” Aaron said. “But I was looking for the two of you. My boss has a release he wants you both to sign. We're willing to compensate you handsomely if you do. Might make your time stuck in game a little easier depending on what you want.”

“Handsomely? Like, what are we looking at there?” Karl asked.

“Well, I already took care of the other four. The idiots are having a massive party. They asked for a bunch of consumables that weren't available in the capital normally, an ever-full cask of beer, and a pouch of gold each. They got it, although the cask will disappear once the problem with the pods has been fixed.”

“Problem with the pods?” Paul asked.

“Oh shit, I wasn't supposed to say that where anyone else could hear,” Aaron said.

“Can I tell him?” Eddie asked, gesturing towards Paul.

“You'd better, otherwise we'll get that panic I wanted to avoid,” Aaron said.

“Okay Paul, remember you warned me about Allan Panning?”

“Yeah, the guy's a slimeball.”

“More than you might think. All the guys he hired to work this farm? He put them in experimental pods. Now we're stuck here, for the moment at least, and Light Online is trying to make it up to us since it's their game we're stuck in. They've also taken physical possession of the pods we're in and are trying to get us back out.”

“That son of a bitch, he still owes me a teleport back to my starting city. I reset my spawn point to here while I was building the place so I'm stuck. My wife and daughter are planning on joining me as soon as I get to a starting point. Now I'll have to find my way back there on my own.”

“You said he paid you in gold?” Eddie asked. “Got any left?”

“Some, I converted a whole bunch to dollars though.”

“I bet I could find you a group of adventurers to escort you back for a few gold. Maybe...”

He stopped and stared off into space for a minute or two. Paul was about to say something before Karl held up his hand.

“The last time he looked like that he had an idea that made us almost eight gold in a long afternoon, with no danger but boredom. Let's wait for it,” Karl said.

“I wonder if Tiana and her group would be interested in doing some double duty,” Eddie said, “a combined escort job and dropped item sales run. I bet we could buy up a bunch of drops from people that don't want to sell them to Old Jeffries and make a profit by having her and her group sell them in a larger city.”

“Why would they do that?” Karl asked.

“Because we'd split the profits with them? Combined with a few gold for the escort job it might tempt them. It can't hurt to ask, right?”

Aaron was staring at him.

“You just came up with this on the fly? What did you do to earn the eight gold?”

“Well, all the adventurers near the trading post were complaining about their rations and stuff, so I just set up a food stand selling meat on a stick.”

“You set up a business?”

“Only temporary, so far. But I've got some plans. Speaking of which. Paul, you mentioned land claims. I didn't ask about it at the time, but when I looked for help on it, I didn't find any.”

“Oh yeah, it's a weird help file name. It's like they didn't want anyone to find it easily. You have to do a help on the phrase 'player land claims'. There's some others like that as well, 'player homestead' is part of 'player land claims', but 'player business' is a different help file. There's probably more of those out there, I'd guess. Unlike most of the other help files, not a one of them has a 'see also' section though.”

“Really?” Eddie said, “That's very interesting.”

He turned to stare at Aaron.

“I guess someone finally read that Meadowlands help file the way it was intended,” Aaron said.

“Care to enlighten us some?” Eddie asked.

Aaron shook his head.

“No can do, but if I were a GM in one of those old table-top RPGs I'd be awarding you and Paul some experience right now. That's all I can say.”

He cleared his throat.

“But now, back to business. I need to convince you guys to sign that release. What will it take to get you to do that?”

“You go ahead Karl,” Eddie said. “I want to check something real quick.”

Help player land claims, Eddie thought.

Player Land Claims, Player Homestead:

A player may claim up to ten acres of unoccupied land per level, each lot at least one acre, at no cost. A player may have as many claims as they have levels plus one, so two claims at first level, eleven at tenth level, etc... Additional land may be purchased as opposed to claimed and does not count towards a player's total acreage of land claimed.

A player must prove their claim by building a structure on their land within the first three months after they claim it. The structure may be a home, a business, or a combination of the two.

The player must spend time in residence equal to one day per week, tallied monthly, over the first year after the claim is made or the claim is declared null and void. Friends, followers, or employees in residence are equal to the player being in residence for this purpose.

Help player business, Eddie thought.

Player Business:

A player may establish a business on land that they own. The player must have a residence in the zone the business is to be built in. A player may own any number of businesses provided they are in a zone that also contains a residence of said player.

The land for the business may be purchased or otherwise obtained, but the player must have clear and undisputed ownership of the land before they begin to build their business.

Eddie's face split in a massive grin. Aaron was looking at him, so he stopped and glanced at Karl.

“I'm all done, I've already signed and everything,” Karl said.

“Cool, Aaron, can I ask a couple of questions before I request something?”

“Sure. I'll answer if I can.”

“How much gold did the other four get.”

“A pouch of a hundred gold each.”

“We're supposed to get the purchase price of this farm split between the six of us, right?”

Aaron nodded.

“How much will it sell for?” Eddie asked.

“I don't know, this is the Meadowlands, so probably the most you can hope to get is a hundred gold or so split between you.”

“Even with the crop worth more than that?” Eddie asked.

Aaron nodded.

“Yeah, this is great growing land, but it's an inconvenient area to ship to or from. Like you said earlier, you'll need to hire an escort just to get to a starting city. The shippers prefer to work in less dangerous areas than the zones you'd need to pass through for that.”

“Yeah, I was supposed to get a teleport back to the city,” Paul said. “Allan had a wizard lined up for that and to bulk teleport crops.”

“Isn't that expensive?”

“The wizard is an employee of Star Suppliers, he works at that first farm I built, in theory at least. I think he's getting his pod and his monthly fees paid for his efforts. As long as he does the job they hired him for he gets to do whatever he wants the rest of the time.”

Sounds like what I was hoping for, Eddie thought.

“Okay then, I know what I want,” Eddie said.

“And that is?” Aaron asked.

“I want ownership of this farm. You can auction it and make sure you've got the high bid, or do it however you want, but I want this farm claimed as my own. Registered as purchased land, not a land claim.”

Aaron's eyes narrowed.

“Now that's clever,” he said. “Killing something like three birds with one stone?”

“More than that,” Eddie said. “This way I get the land, I get the farm, and I've started to establish residence in the Meadowlands. I intend on selling vegetables along with the meat on a stick starting tomorrow, and I can put in whatever crops I want after this first harvest, assuming I let these crops go to harvest. I'll have to see what's planted first. On top of all that, I get to double dip since I'll still get my share of whatever you determine the value of the farm to be.”

“There's an inventory book in the farmhouse,” Paul said. “It shows everything that ought to be on the farm, as well as what's planted where.”

“Good, that'll help,” Eddie said.

“How are you going to ship your crops?” Aaron asked.

“I'm not, I'm going to make a land claim and build. First it'll be a boarding house type of deal, to start with anyhow. Then I'm going to try to make an inn. The crops will provide a good portion of the food the inn serves.”

“Wait, you're going go tie yourself to something like that?” Aaron asked.

Eddie shook his head.

“Nope, for a little while maybe, but if it pays off, and I'm sure it will with the number of adventurers I saw near the trading post... So let me correct myself to when it pays off, I'll hire employees from the NPCs. I'm betting that those houses near the trading post are occupied by some NPCs that might like a job.”

“You're going to hire the occupants of the hamlet?” Aaron asked.

Wait, Eddie thought. Why did he emphasize hamlet like that? Help hamlet.

Eddie didn't get a response to his request for a help file. As he thought about it, his grin grew wider still.

Oh, please tell me I'm right, he thought. Help player hamlet.

Player Hamlet:

A player hamlet is a small village. It is considered a player hamlet when the player either owns the land it is built on or the player employs at least twenty-five percent of the occupants with no other player employing a higher percentage or owning the majority of the land. The occupants of the hamlet will look to the player as their leader. Although no taxes may be levied at this level, the occupants of the hamlet may volunteer assistance to improvements being built for the hamlet.

A hamlet is a small community of up to fifty occupants. A well-off hamlet will attract more occupants over time, slowly growing.

“Yes,” Eddie cried out.

Aaron just grinned at him.

“I think we can handle that request,” he said. “Once it goes through you'll get a notification. After you check the notification your deed will appear in your inventory. It will not take up a slot and you can pull it out at will, just like any of your other items. Just look for the sheet of paper icon, symbolizing paperwork I guess.”

He grimaced with his last few words.

“It seems that even in games I can't get away from paperwork,” Aaron continued.

“Where do I sign?” Eddie asked.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Fourteen

Aaron logged out of the game with a sigh of relief. Now that he had all the releases that Mr. Greenshaw wanted maybe he could get some sleep in the real world. He quickly dialed Mr. Greenshaw's number.

Mr. Greenshaw answered the phone in his normal, brusque manner.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Sir, I have all six of the releases for you and we came in well under budget for placating the men being experimented on.”

“Good, good, how's the progress on tracking down that server you said had the code we need?”

“I'll need to check with our contractor to find out, I just got back from getting the last release.”

“Well, do so, then let me know how long it's going to take.”

This man just doesn't get anything related to cyber, does he? Aaron thought. It's like he thinks there's a guarantee we can find it if we work hard enough. How the hell did he manage to get put in charge of Light Online?

“I'll get in touch and see if he has an ETA for us sir. There's no guarantee he will have made any progress yet though.”

“What are we paying him for then?” Mr. Greenshaw bellowed over the phone.

“Because he's the best option for finding it sir,” Eddie replied.

“That was a rhetorical question. Get back to work,” Mr. Greenshaw yelled, hanging up when he was finished speaking.

Aaron sighed. Instead of calling the hacker he'd hired, he sent an email instead, figuring that he could honestly say he'd contacted the man if he was asked, but this way he wouldn't jostle the man's elbow while he was working. Then he immediately left the building, heading home for a shower and a lengthy nap in his own bed.

~ ~ ~

“Claiming land already Eddie?” Paul asked as they left the bunkhouse.

They turned towards the farmhouse. Eddie had decided that since he'd own the farm soon, he might as well start enjoying the benefits of it a little early.

“Well, probably not until tomorrow or the day after, but yeah, soon,” Eddie replied.

“Well then, do you want me to run you off some claim stakes?”

“Some what?”

“Heh, it's another thing the game is really sketchy about the help on. The only reason I found it was because I was looking at the blueprints I'd generated.”

“The blueprints?” Eddie asked.

“I figured you knew all about those, you were talking about making buildings,” Paul said.

“Uh, yeah, I was hoping to. My Carpentry skill is only a one so far though.”

“That explains it, I didn't find out about blueprints until my Carpentry got to a five. That's when you can start generating simple ones.”

“What are they for?”

“To reduce the chance of a failure in building something. Some of them are guaranteed. For example, the claim stakes. But for the farmhouse here, I had about a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right first shot. Getting the blueprints made for it dropped the chance of failure by another forty-nine percent. It would've done fifty percent but the game doesn't give a one hundred percent chance on building anything complex.”

Eddie blinked.

“Can you use them before level five in carpentry?” he asked.

“Sure, anyone with carpentry can use them, so can their helpers. See, how they work is when they're applied to the area the building will go in, they give a translucent image of what goes where. It's a lot like a paint by numbers deal, just with heavier lifting. So, you put in everything where the image shows and if you do it right, the image goes away. If you do it wrong, the piece you put in wrong gets outlined in red and you can try to adjust it. But the only failure I've gotten when using a blueprint was when someone passed off some poor materials on me and I didn't catch it.”

“Sounds awesome. Can you make blueprints?”

“Only simple ones at my level. I bought most of mine from an architect.”

“How about something like the bunkhouse, but with walled off areas for each of the beds?”

“Oh yeah,  I could run one of those off. I made that same bunkhouse nine times now, only ever bought the first blueprint. Once you've made something you can sketch that blueprint back out if you did it correctly and you have enough skill, either in architecture or the carpentry specialty dealing with whatever it is.”

“How much?” Eddie asked.

“You're trying to get me where I need to go. If you manage to arrange that, I'll give you the blueprint for that for free. Sound like a deal?”

“Deal,” Eddie said, sticking out his hand. “And about those claim stakes?”

“Those are simply used to mark the corners of your claim. The last one you set will also show a number, which is the number of acres in the claim. If you mark your claim with them it's considered ironclad, unless you try to claim land already in use or already claimed by someone else.”

“Then yes, please. I'd love it if you'd make me some of those as well. Four ought to be enough, I'm thinking a long rectangle bordering the road.”

“You said you wanted to make an inn?” Paul asked.

“That's just the first step. I've got bigger plans than that, but I'll have to go one step at a time.”

“Well, let me know when you want to build the inn. I'm more than happy to run through some of my blueprints with you and see if any will work for it. I'll even give you a discounted price on them.”

“I was wondering if you might be interested in doing the actual building, maybe for a stake in the profits?” Eddie asked.

Paul laughed.

“You are a sly one, aren't you. But why would I want to be stuck out here even longer? There's nothing here.”

“Yet,” Eddie added. “There's not much here yet, but it's not going to stay that way.”

~ ~ ~

Eddie took possession of the farmhouse, offering Karl and Paul their choice of the bedrooms after Eddie had claimed his own. He searched through the house and discovered that there was a single door that he couldn't open. Paul couldn't open it either, nor could Karl with the lock picks he'd purchased from Old Jeffries.

“Hm, I didn't actually put that room in,” Paul said. “It's an add-on. See, it took a part of the room next to it. That one was bigger before.”

“But you've got no clue what it is?” Eddie asked.

“I have a guess,” Paul said. “If I'm right, that door will open for you after you receive your deed to the farm. Since the farm was a business, it qualified for a control center. It's a very small business so you won't have lots of options, but that would be my guess.”

“Well, it's dark out and I'm beat. So I'll check it again whenever I receive the deed, but for now I'm going to bed,” Eddie said.

“I'm not tired yet,” Karl said. “I'm going to go back to the kitchen, I think I saw a cask of ale in there.”

Eddie's ears perked up at that.

“Well, maybe I'm not as beat as I thought. A drink or two before bed would go down pretty nice.”

The three men went into the kitchen and discovered that Karl had been mostly right, the cask was a cheap beer, not an ale. They all grabbed a glass and sat down at the table. Paul asked how Eddie had been doing in the game, and since Aaron had already spilled the beans about the most important part, Eddie went ahead and gave him the rundown.

Two hours, and four beers, later Eddie made his way to the room he'd claimed. He sprawled out on the bed and was asleep almost instantly.

The dream started again, as it had most nights recently, but before he'd even finished recalling his entire day, he felt a warm comforting presence, the memories of the day growing washed out by the warm golden light that surrounded him. He woke up slightly, just enough to break out of the dream.

“Thank you Freyja,” he mumbled, and then fell back asleep. The rest of the night passed dreamlessly.

When Eddie woke, he saw his notification icon flashing. He pulled it up, ready to dismiss the well-rested message he'd expected, only to find a second notification as well. When he clicked on it, he caught a flicker of motion from his inventory icon. He popped it open and found a new icon on the list, this one a sheet of paper just like Aaron had told him it would be. He opened it and scanned through the deed to the farm, a grin breaking out on his face.

Huh, let's go see if I can open that room now. If not, maybe I'll cut in through the wall of the adjoining room if I can manage it.

The knob opened easily for him now and he stepped into what appeared to be a tiny office. The inventory book Paul had told him about rested open on the desk. Beside the desk was an angled wooden panel with three sliding knobs in the middle of it. He bent over to read their labels.

The first was labeled crops, and the knob was set to the number fifty-five. The second was labeled livestock, with the knob set to ten. The third, and final, knob was labeled garden, and it was set to thirty-five.

What do those do? he wondered. Let me look through the desk and maybe something will explain it.

There was nothing in the desk that looked like it would explain the knobs, but he did hear someone moving around downstairs. Hoping it was Paul, and that the builder could shed some light on the function of the sliding knobs, he went downstairs.

Paul was moving around the kitchen and the smell of eggs and bacon hung heavily in the air.

“Oh, hey. I hope you don't mind, I raided the pantry.”

“I don't mind in the slightest, just as long as you're making some of that for me too.”

“Sure, the bread's a little stale, but since I'm toasting that, it shouldn't matter. Just give me a couple of minutes here and we can eat, I heard someone moving around upstairs, so I cooked enough for two.”

When Paul sat down, the two started eating. As they did, Eddie explained what he'd found in the locked room and asked Paul if he had any ideas what it was.

“Like I said, it's a control room. So they must control something about those three things. The three numbers do add up to a hundred, so maybe it's a percent of how much effort goes to each individual thing? But that wouldn't make much sense, they had you guys as farmers and could just tell you where to direct your efforts.”

“Yeah, I noticed the percentage total. Do businesses generate energy or something? Could it be how much of the farm's energy is focused on any one type of thing? The crops came up really fast after Ross got here, so maybe he adjusted it to work that way?”

Paul shrugged.

“Sounds like a reasonable guess. I imagine there's a help file on it somewhere, but I'm betting it's one of the more esoteric type ones like the land claims and such.”

“I think I'll test that theory. I haven't even decided if I want this batch of crops or not, I didn't look in the book so I don't even know what they are yet. But I know I have a use for the garden stuff. So I'm going to swap the values on the crops and garden. If the garden grows faster after that, then I'll know I was right. It'll be useful for keeping the inn supplied after I build it if that's the case.”

“So when are you going to talk to those people for me?” Paul asked.

“This afternoon. This morning, Karl and I are going to go hunting. When we get back we'll harvest a bunch of stuff from the garden, then we'll head down to where the adventurers are. Once we get there, I'll take a few minutes to talk to Tiana for you.”

“Thank you for that, but you may want to go hunting without Karl. He was still up drinking when I went to bed. We did find out that there's a root cellar with another couple of casks of beer in it though. That's where the bacon and eggs were also, it's a lot cooler down there.”

“Damn it Karl!” Eddie said.

Actually, you know what? Eddie thought. He's just been tagging along, doing whatever I do. I should probably ask him what he'd like to do and maybe we can do that for a bit. It isn't fair for me to just keep dragging him along and not even asking him what he wants to do.

“You're right. I'll let him sleep it off. I was going to try to hunt deer today, but I'll put that off for a bit until he's ready to go with me, if he's willing to hunt with me still. I'll just stick with bunnies or partridge today, although probably more bunnies than partridge, there's a lot more meat on the bunnies.”

“I can make myself useful this morning too,” Paul said. “I'll make those claim stakes for you and start working on the blueprints for the altered bunkhouse.”

“Use whatever you need to use from around the place. It might still be where you're used to it being? I don't know if Ross moved anything around or not.”

“Okay, well, you taking your cat with you? He didn't seem to take that much of a shine to me last night and I'd hate for him to have a problem with me.”

“She, actually. I think she'll be fine. She was just nervous from having been near all those adventurers last night. I'm not sure, but I think it was a group of adventurers who set the snare she broke out of. She shied away from some we saw on the road as well. But yeah, she'll come hunting with me. Hell, she'll probably catch more rabbits than I do.”

Eddie stood and went back upstairs. His first stop was in the control room where he moved the knobs, switching the values for the garden and the crops. On his way out, he noticed a little chalk board over the door with his name written on it. There were three lines on the board and a piece of chalk sitting on the tray beneath it. The board was labeled 'Access'.

Eddie quickly chalked in 'Karl Rostov' below his own name. He debated adding Paul's as well, but decided that since Paul just wanted to leave as soon as he could that he wouldn't bother.

Maybe I'll hire someone to run the farm for me. If I do I'll put their name in, he thought.

He went back to the room he'd claimed for himself and emptied his inventory, tucking away the items he wouldn't need for his morning hunt, then armored himself up, made sure he had his bow and arrows ready, put his throwing sticks and staff back in his inventory, just in case, and headed outside.

As soon as he whistled Lucky came running over to him.

“Hunting this morning girl. Let's go see if those bunnies I saw before are still to the north of us, shall we?”

He headed out in the best mood he'd been in since joining the game. Now he was a landowner, had a substantial amount of currency by his standards, and was out hunting with Lucky on a beautiful morning. He took a moment to revel in just how real the game felt as he walked. The wind on his face was slightly cool and carried with it the scent of the stand of pines he saw a few hundred yards away.

He stopped dead when he saw movement in the meadow. Nocking an arrow, he stayed still, noticing Lucky crouching down and crawling out into the field. He still didn't see anything where he'd seen the movement, but he drew the arrow and held it, waiting. His arm throbbed from the exertion, but he managed to keep the arrow drawn. A moment later, Lucky sprang out of the grass, racing towards something he couldn't see.

A pair of bunnies broke out of the tall grass, zigging and zagging to avoid the bobcat, but Lucky pounced, catching one in her jaws. Eddie let the other one take a few more hops before releasing his arrow.

The strange urge to move an arm just before he fired occurred again, and he let the arm move. He'd decided that was probably the game adjusting for his higher than normal agility and wanted to take advantage of it.

The bunny was spitted by the arrow, the tip of it digging into the dirt after driving through the bunny. His notifications flashed, so he pulled them up. There were three and the first two were identical.

Enemy slain: Bunny (level 1)

You have earned 25 (+3 well-rested, +6 blessing) exp.

He was happier about the third message.

You have upgraded the skill Hunting to (2). Shhh, be very quiet, we're hunting rabbits!

That's weird. I wonder why Karl didn't get any experience? he thought.

He pulled up the group screen and noticed that Karl was shown in an amber color.

I wonder if that means he's out of range for sharing experience, maybe for other group things too? We'll have to check that at some point.

He recovered the kills, netting two meats and a pelt from looting them. He cleaned the rabbit corpses for another two meats and two pelts as well. After offering Lucky the remainder of the rabbits, and letting her eat for a bit, he continued on.

The hunt went well, netting him another seven bunnies as he moved away from the farm. As he'd expected, Lucky took down the majority of them, but he hadn't realized how close he'd been to leveling so the level gain after the fourth bunny surprised him.

Success:

You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 2

Do you wish to advance?

(Y/N)

Eddied grinned and thought Yes.

You have advanced to Level 2.

You have 3 stat points to distribute.

Your Health has increased.

Your Mana has increased.

Your Stamina has increased.

Three more stat points, he thought. It's a shame you only get the extra skill every third level along with the randomly determined stat point, but hey, I've got three to distribute at least. I'm at least putting one of them in Charisma. I know they say 8-12 is average, but I want it higher if I'm going to be an innkeeper.

Add one stat point to charisma, he thought.

Probably I want to bump my intelligence score as well, I'm learning lots of skills, but I'd prefer to keep some slots for skills open in case I decide on particular ones to learn.

Add one stat point to intelligence, he thought.

And I have to keep my agility above average. I'm going to have to focus on that more or people focused on agility are going to overtake me. At least they won't be as well balanced on stats though, I hope.

Add one stat point to agility, he thought.

I've still got that other skill point to use, I probably ought to assign it somewhere. I'll have to think about what other skills I want to learn. Maybe if we can use those on weapon skills I'll pick up an edged weapon skill, short blades or maybe short swords. Don't want the long swords option, and I'll pass on the great swords also.

Now let's see what I've got. Character sheet, he thought.

Edward Hunter

Human Male

Level: 2

Class:Warrior (Ranger)

Strength:10

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 18

Wisdom: 13

Heartiness: 11

Charisma: 9

Willpower: 12

Health: 35

Endurance: 11

Mana: 39

Luck: 14 (15)

Stamina: 84

Experience:

2547/5000

Base Attack: 10

Base Armor: 10 (31)

+1 attack melee (str)

+18 armor (studded leather)

+4 attack ranged (agility)

+3 armor (agility)

Skills:

General:

Animal Friendship: 1

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry: 1

Bowyer/Fletcher: 2 (+1 to checks)

Carpentry: 1

Cooking: 5

Evaluate: 3

Farming: 2

Fire Building: 1

Herbalism: 2

Hunting: 2

Tracking: 2

Weather Sense: 1

Weaving: 3

Combat:

Bows: 1

Staves: 1

Magical:

N/A

Feels like I'm actually getting somewhere finally, he thought. At least it's a start, and a good one considering how I got thrown into the game.

He hoped he had enough meat after that since they'd made it to the point where there were more rocks than grass. He turned and they took a slightly different route back towards the farm, surprising another three bunnies on the way.

He kept an eye on the group screen and Karl's entry in it turned green again when he was about three football fields away from the farm.

So probably a thousand feet or so on the group effects, he thought.

When he got into the kitchen, his first stop after he got into the house, he found Karl sitting there looking quite the worse for wear.

“Karl?” Eddie asked quietly.

Karl just groaned.

“Too much to drink last night?” Eddie said.

Karl nodded his head, then clutched it and groaned louder.

“Yes,” he managed to spit out, his head drooping lower from the effort.

“Well, I wouldn't normally recommend this, but from the way you look, how about the hair of the dog that bit you as a cure? Maybe something to eat too?”

Karl turned green and belched, obviously trying not to vomit.

“No food,” he gasped.

Eddie nodded and poured Karl a mug of the beer. He handed it over, then walked over to the remains of the bread and cut himself a slice. He kept an eye on Karl as he ate.

First Karl took a tentative sip of the beer. When his stomach seemed to accept it okay, he took a longer drink. Some color returned to his face after that. He sat up straighter and took his remaining hand away from his head. After he tilted the mug back and drained it, he stood.

“Don't ever let me do that again,” he said.

“What, last night?”

“Yeah, way too much beer.”

“Feeling up to some food now? Maybe just start with a slice of bread though.”

Karl's eyes squinted as he considered the offer.

“Let's give it a shot.”

Eddie sliced a piece of bread off and handed it over. Much like with the beer, the first nibble was tentative, but after that the slice disappeared quickly.

Karl sighed in relief.

“I feel better, not a hundred percent, but better.”

“Good, I already did hunting today. Hopefully we've got enough meat, but I wanted to ask you. What is it that you want to do? I love having you help me with my plans, but do you have any plans of your own?”

“I'm more than happy to help you, hell it pays better than the job I signed on for, right?” Karl said, grinning, “but at some point I need to go wandering for a few days. You didn't hear what I asked Aaron for, did you? You had that look on your face that told me you were interacting with the game menus.”

“No, I didn't. Sorry, I was figuring out my own request.”

“Which, in my opinion, was a stroke of genius. Gives us a base, you more food to sell, and opens up a lot more options.”

Eddie nodded.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Anyhow, while you were lost in the menus, this is what I asked for,” Karl said.

He slipped an ornate case out of his inventory. The cover was tooled leather that looked thick enough to take a beating and still protect whatever was inside. When he opened the case it revealed vials of ink, metal fountain pens of the type that had to be dipped in ink, a stack of thick paper, a directional compass, a drafting compass, and a few more items that Eddie kind of recognized but couldn't put a name to.

Eddie racked his brain trying to figure out what it was all for, finally a spark of an idea came to him.

“Cartography?” he asked,

Karl nodded.

“It's a high level cartography kit. Hell, the kit alone gives me a bonus to the skill. Hopefully that will help me get the skill and work it up on my own. But one of these days, I want to wander all of the Meadowlands and map it out.”

Karl started pacing as he continued to talk.

“If I can get a few points of the skill here in a relatively peaceful zone, then I can do maps of the more aggressive ones a chunk at a time,” he said. “At least I hope I can do some that way. Then I can have my own source of income selling maps to adventurers.”

Eddie grinned.

“Sounds like a great plan to me. Plus, it gives more opportunity to adventure than my plan does. Need some help?”

“Eventually, yes. For those more aggressive zones I was talking about. Probably not when I do the Meadowlands map though, I thought I could do that while you were working on the building you wanted. Does that sound like a good plan?” Karl asked tentatively.

Crap, Eddie thought. I'd never even given a thought to what he was going to do while I was building. I kind of just assumed he'd be there, but this is better for both of us. Hell, my plans might even benefit from having a complete map of the Meadowlands.

Eddie mentally slapped his ambitions down.

“That sounds like a great idea, if it's what you want to do,” he said.

Karl grinned.

“Yeah, I like the idea of mapping places. Setting down a representation of the land that others can reference. Makes me feel like I'm doing something useful for lots of different people and getting paid for it too.”

“Well, I'll warn you, the group abilities only work if you're within a thousand feet or so of each other. But, and I should've done this days ago, this will work, although Paul says using messages this way isn't instantaneous, takes a while to go through.”

Eddie pulled up his social tab and chose the friends option. Evidently group members were given priority on it since instead of searching for Karl's name, he just had to tap his name where it showed under 'current groupmates'.

Karl smiled when he received the notification and instantly accepted.

“Now we can communicate with private messages whenever it is you go out to do your map-making,” Eddie said. “Hey, want to practice it some before you go?”

“Yeah, I can do that, it even sounds like a good idea. But where?”

“If you don't mind, I'd love a map of that little hamlet and the surrounding area. If I'm going to be building there, I probably ought to know what areas are available to build in. With a map I can plan the best places to put things. Although I'll admit that I'm leaning towards using the road between the hamlet and the farm here. That way my land holdings will be closer together.”

“That sounds like a plan. You don't really need my help selling meat on a stick, do you?”

“No, but the company is nice.”

“You weren't paying too much attention to it yesterday, but I think that, if you want, you can have some far more pleasant company than me when you do it, at least pleasant on the eyes. I don't know her well enough to know if her personality is more pleasant or not.”

“Huh?” Eddie asked, confused.

“You didn't notice Tiana hanging onto almost every word you said?” Karl asked.

“No, I didn't. I thought she was just interested in playing with Lucky.”

Karl shook his head slowly.

“Pay a little more attention today then, assuming she's there. You didn't exactly give her the cold shoulder yesterday, but you didn't really notice her either.”

“I was a little upset with her. She walked out of the trading post and announced to the world that I'd given Old Jeffries a taste of his own medicine. I wasn't looking for any attention, I'd prefer to slip under the radar for a while at least.”

“Well, tell her that and maybe she'll forgive you for ignoring her yesterday,” Karl said, “But yeah, I can put together a map of that area. It won't be much good yet, but it's a start and maybe I can actually get the skill by trying it.”

“Good, lets grab some vegetables, then I'll cook up the Warren Mother for lunch, or at least some of her, that's way more than we can eat in one meal. After that we'll head down. I'll check the area I was thinking of for the boarding house, and you can wander around and map?”

Karl nodded.

“Let's go then, sorry I wasn't in any shape to hunt this morning,” Karl said.

“Maybe tomorrow. I didn't go after deer today because I wanted that to be both of us, the one I saw before was level three, so...”

“Mmm, venison,” Karl said as they walked out of the house.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Fifteen

Aaron woke, stiff as a board. He was used to putting in long hours, but the last few days had been just too much.

Good, he thought, no messages on my phone. It would've been just like Greenshaw to call me while I was sleeping to berate me for not doing the impossible yet.

When he checked his email it was a different story. Aside from the inevitable spam there were a few important messages. He skimmed them all then picked the one from his hacker contractor to act on.

Duluth, huh? Who would've thought Panning would run to Minnesota? Although it is a fairly easy way out of the country if that's what he's trying for.

He quickly dialed Mr. Greenshaw's number. Although he would've far preferred an email or text to let his boss know what he'd found out, he knew better. Mr. Greenshaw was almost a Luddite in Aaron's opinion, preferring phone or video calls to text communications.

“What is it?” Mr. Greenshaw answered.

“Sir, it's Aaron, I've got a general location for the server.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Where is it?”

“It's in Duluth somewhere. I don't have an address yet, but I thought I should let you know.”

“You sure this isn't one those spoofing things I hear you techies talking about?”

“No sir, the signal was re-routed multiple times, but our contractor managed to follow it back to its origin. He said the signal was routed using both proxies and—”

“Don't give me any of that techno-babble,” Mr. Greenshaw said. “If you say it isn't a spoof, I'll believe you. But you'd better be right.”

Mr. Greenshaw hung up before Aaron could respond.

Unbelievable, Aaron thought, do the virtually impossible and all he does is threaten. What is wrong with that man?

~ ~ ~

Eddie, Paul, and Karl were walking down the road towards the hamlet. With Paul along the pace was slower than it had been the last few days, but that was fine with Eddie. They'd left with lots of time to spare before he wanted to be set up and the pace made pushing the wheelbarrow filled with produce easier than it would've been otherwise.

“You know, we've got that livestock back there and two of us have animal handling. I probably ought to work out some sort of cart so neither of us have to push this thing,” Eddie said as the wheelbarrow hit a particularly hard bump that left his arms thrumming for a moment.

“I can get you a blueprint for that really cheap, maybe five silver,” Paul said.

“Yeah, but you'll be a long ways away, so that won't help much,” Eddie said.

“Not so fast. You haven't pulled up the friend messaging system, have you? There are certain types of items that can be sent through it, mainly physical notes. The system counts a blueprint as a note for that purpose,” Paul said. “I know, I tried it already.”

“Ooh, I wonder if that's a bug?” Karl said.

“I  reported it, but haven't heard of it being changed so I think it's functioning as intended,” Paul said. “So yeah, I can get you a blueprint. I wouldn't worry about the silver, I can certainly cover you on that, but if you're buying larger blueprints that way you can also just send someone else's account a deposit from your own. Either in game currency, or to their linked account from the real world.”

The phrase 'real world' jarred Eddie when Paul said it.

Yeah, Eddie thought, there's another world out there, but the real world? I can remember all of it too, but I want to remember it less and less. There I was just another unemployed loser, but here I already own a farm and land. I've got plans to own a lot more than that too and it's all just there for the taking if you know how, and I do.

“I suppose I ought to register my own bank account then,” Eddie said. “Probably better than keeping my coins on me all the time, but I don't think there's a way to steal them, right? Not from my inventory?”

“Eh, some of them, sure,” Paul said. “A thief could get you while you've got some out, or if you're killed in PVP part of your coin totals will appear on your corpse if they loot it. I keep just about everything in my accounts, not my inventory. No interest, of course, but a lot safer. Even if does take a couple of minutes to get physical coins in hand that way.”

“What?” Karl said.

“I keep my gold in the accounts, my silver and copper on me. I'm not going to worry about a few bucks here and there, but as I told Eddie, I had a rather serious amount of gold. Sold most of it for dollars and now I'm wishing I hadn't.”

Paul cleared his throat and took a drink from his water skin before continuing.

“My wife and daughter are both coming in game and we're going to live here most of the time, hopefully. There's a pod center near our home. They provide upscale pods and accommodations for the one day we need to stay out after being in for thirty days. And with our home nearby, we can always go there if we need to on our days out. If they like the game enough, we'll sell the house. Personally I'm all for that, but they haven't been in the game yet, so...”

He trailed off, obviously lost in thought.

“Have you decided where all of you will live yet?” Eddie asked.

“I figured we'd just live in Brightport. It's a starting city so it sees a lot of traffic.”

“Is it growing?” Eddie asked.

Paul cocked his head.

“What do you mean?”

“You said you wanted to make a living in-game, building for people. Is Brightport growing? Will there be work for you there?” Eddie said.

Paul's face fell.

“I don't know, probably not. But it is a main hub, so I can travel to where I need to do the building easily enough.”

“Bringing your wife and daughter with you?” Eddie asked.

Paul bit his lower lip.

“I don't know, if they don't level up that wouldn't be good. And I don't know if they're planning on that.”

“Well, my suggestion would be to settle somewhere you know will be growing so your skills will be needed. Obviously you couldn't get them to start somewhere like that, but one trip after they log in and then you can settle in and spend time with your family while still being able to work.”

“Yeah, sure, great plan. Just point out a spot like that to me,” Paul said.

Eddie grinned.

“Oh, I think you'll find one. But this is the spot I was thinking of for my inn eventually. I'll put this bunkhouse style boarding house on it too. I need to set my claim stakes first though. Karl, did you want to head off and map now?”

Karl nodded eagerly.

“You bet. I have no idea how long this is going to take me though.”

“Well, you can always do the whole area over a few days if you need to, right?” Eddie asked.

Karl nodded.

“So, if you're going to help me with the food stand, be back in, say...”

Eddie glanced at the sun.

“four hours,” he finished.

Karl gave him a thumbs up, then turned and practically dashed down the road. Paul was just standing there, looking at Eddie.

“So, where are these folks you thought might escort me?” he asked.

“Probably not back just yet. I was told they do most of their adventuring during the day instead of the evening. Something about less players being on then, so their choices for encounters weren't as constricted.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

“It works for them,” Eddie said. “But for now would you like to show me how these claim stakes work?”

~ ~ ~

A couple of hours later Eddie was walking down the road himself, headed for the houses he'd seen in the area. Paul had gotten engrossed in Eddie's claim and was walking through it, tallying up how much lumber it could provide. The claim was three acres by three acres, one edge of the claim abutting the road. Most of it was filled with trees, but there was also a small pond at the very back and a stream that fed it. Lucky had stayed with Paul, hunting Eddie's new land.

I just realized that the closest thing to an NPC I've dealt with since I've been in game is probably Freyja or Lucky, Eddie thought. I wonder what the human NPCs will be like? I suppose Old Jeffries should count too, but I sure hope he isn't a good example of what they're like.

Eddie found an older man sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of the first house. He approached.

“Hello?” he said tentatively.

“What can I do for you son?”

“I was wondering something. I don't know anyone who lives around here, but I need someone, or maybe more than one person, to take down some trees, a lot of trees actually. I was looking to hire someone to do the job?”

The man rocked back and forth in his chair, the occasional squeak of the wooden chair the only noise. Eddie thought, for a moment, that he'd overloaded the NPC, until he noticed that the man appeared to be lost in thought.

“How soon you be needing it done?” he asked, finally.

“The sooner the better,” Eddie replied.

“What's the pay?”

“I'd be happy to negotiate that with them once I meet them.”

“Now, you are talking real coinage and not barter, right?”

Eddie nodded.

“Yes, yes I am.”

“In that case, I might just know someone, but it'd be a couple of days before they could get here.”

“If they can start tomorrow, I'll throw in a couple of felling axes along with whatever we negotiate for payment,” Eddie said.

The man raised an eyebrow.

“In a hurry are we?”

Eddie sighed.

“It's just... Well, there's something I really want to get done and I can't do it until at least a portion of the lot is cleared. The idea seems so simple to me that I'm worried someone else will get it done before I can.”

“Well then... What was your name again?”

“Eddie, Eddie Hunter.”

“Good to meet you son, I'm Arvid Miller. As I was saying, I can probably get you at least one man to start tomorrow. He's a woodsman even, fells timber and cuts it into rough planks. He'd cost you more than the others though.”

“Sounds like just what I need. Got a ballpark figure for him?” Eddie asked.

Arvid just looked confused.

“A what?”

Crap, I guess they didn't program idioms into the NPCs, Eddie thought.

“A general estimate of how much he'll want for pay?”

“Oh, you'd probably get him to work for you for a silver a day. The others would do it for four or five copper a day, but they'd be slower.”

“Can you get me in touch with that first man right away then? I'll hire them as a crew and he can be in charge of it.”

“Aye, I could probably be doing that.”

Eddie waited but Arvid simply kept rocking, a small grin on his face.

Really, tell me they didn't, Eddie thought.

He reached into his bag and pulled out one of his silver pieces. He flashed it at Arvid, whose grin grew.

“This will be for you,” Eddie said. “After I get to talk to the man in question.”

“Well in that case, come with me,” Arvid said.

He hefted himself out of his rocking chair with a grunt. But once he started walking, Eddie thought that the grunt might've been just some added drama. The man seemed to move with no problem at all.

Arvid led Eddie to a small house across the street from the farm. He stopped and knocked at the door.

“Ingolf, you in there you lazy bum?” Arvid called out.

The door opened a minute later.

“Father, why must you always disparage me?” Ingolf said.

“Because it gets you moving better than anything else,” Arvid replied. “I've got work for you if you aren't too lazy to do it. This man here, Eddie, is hiring woodcutters, wants to make you the chief cutter of a crew.”

Ingolf turned to Eddie and examined him for a moment.

“What did you need?” he asked.

“I've got a land claim I just made, got confirmation it's mine. Most of it's wooded though and I need a lot of the trees taken down and turned into rough planks. I was told you can do that.”

“I can. Why though?”

“Why?”

“Why are you doing it?” Ingolf asked

Eddie shook his head, wondering why anyone would've programmed NPCs to pass judgment on player actions.

Although, that's how they're always programmed, aren't they? At least the interesting ones? This one's just more open and forward about it.

“You know the horde of adventurers that camp in the fields?” Eddie asked.

Ingolf shook his head.

“Unfortunately.”

“Well, I intend to make coins off of them. I'll make an outdoor kitchen and a shelter for them and charge them for food and shelter. Eventually, when I make enough money off of it, I'm going to build an inn on my lot and part them from even more of their coin.”

Ingolf's eyes lit with interest.

“You're going to build an inn? Here?”

“Well, about a mile down the road anyway,” Eddie replied.

“My services are a silver a day. Alone it would take me four days per acre to clear the lot and half that to turn the logs into rough planks. Who were you planning on for a crew?”

Eddie turned to Arvid.

“Your three cousins. I figure they're not doing so well on their own stead, they might like some work that pays in hard coin to help out some,” Arvid said.

Arvid held out a hand towards Eddie.

Nepotism is alive and well in the game I see, Eddie thought.

He pulled out the silver coin and handed it to Arvid who looked very pleased with himself.

“You charged him for bringing him to me father?” Ingolf asked.

“Nothing in life is free, you know that. You ought to anyhow, I tried to drill it into your thick skull for years,” Arvid said.

“Well Eddie, come on in and we'll talk about the job.”

Eddie stepped into the house and Ingolf firmly closed the door before Arvid could follow. There was some muffled cursing from the other side of the door, but it faded after a few moments.

“My father,” Ingolf said. “I apologize for him.”

Eddie was staring around the cabin. The furniture was much more finely crafted than he'd expected and the walls were hung with various pelts and furs. The floor, where he could see it, was rough planks, just like he'd expected, as were all the exposed surfaces of walls and ceiling that he could see.

“Did you make all this yourself?” Eddie asked.

Ingolf nodded, looking around his small house with evident pride.

“Yes, I love the woods. Hunting, woodcutting, and everything about them. But when I don't need to hunt and don't have trees to fell, I turn my hand to some wood crafting. It's the next best thing. As you can see, I end up doing far too much of it, which has led to me being highly skilled at it. So, tell me about this job?”

“Well, if you like, we can just head over there and I can show you. Like I said, it's only a mile away.”

“Sure, let's just wait a minute until my father is back to his house, otherwise he'll insist on coming with us. Would you care for an ale?”

“Not beer?”

Ingolf shook his head.

“No, it's ale, beer leaves me with a headache the next morning. The ale doesn't.”

“Sure, why not then?”

Ingolf walked over to an area of his house, which only consisted of one room, and grabbed a pair of wooden mugs. Turning to the firkin beside the mugs, he filled each of them and came back over, handing one to Eddie.

“Did you make these,” Eddie asked.

“A brewer I'm not.”

“No, the mugs.”

Eddie was staring at the mug. It seemed to be cut from a solid piece of wood. The outer surface was smooth and slightly shiny, obviously treated with something. It felt good in his hand.

“The mugs? Yes, I do mugs and plates and such as part of my crafting. Brings in a few coppers here and there when I don't have better paying work.”

“You know, you and I might end up with a very good relationship,” Eddie said. “When I get the inn built, I'll need furnishings and tableware. If this is a good sample of your work, then we'll have more business then if you're interested.”

Ingolf smiled.

“Good, you see at least part of the reason why I was so interested when you mentioned building an inn.”

“Do you do bed frames, also? I was thinking straw tick mattresses on top of rough frames for the rooms in the shelter I'll build first.”

Ingolf's grin widened. As they drank their ale, they also negotiated for his services.

~ ~ ~

Ingolf looked out over the expanse of trees that needed clearing.

“This could take a while,” he said. “Not as long as I'd feared though, the forest here isn't all that thick.”

“How long to clear this area right here?” Eddie asked, pacing off a small section of his claim closest to the hamlet.

“Less than a day.”

“And to turn those logs into rough planks?”

“About the same amount of time as it will take to clear the trees.”

“So if you started now, you could maybe have that all done by the end of tomorrow?”

Ingolf nodded tentatively.

“Most likely,” he said.

“Here, here's your first ten days worth of pay,” Eddie said, pulling out a gold coin and handing it to the woodsman. “You can count today as a full day for your pay if you manage to clear this section and turn the logs on it into rough planks by the end of tomorrow.”

Ingolf's expression brightened.

“In that case, where do you want the planks stacked? I'll go get my ax and get to work.”

Eddie pointed to an area about ten feet in from the back edge of what Ingolf would be clearing.

“There ought to do for the planks, now I have to go see about earning some money of my own.”

He turned and called out to Paul and Lucky. The two had been wandering around the pond, and the stream leading out of it, when he'd shown Ingolf the boundary stakes. They were back to the road in just a few minutes.

“Paul, I'm about to head over to start working on meat on a stick for today. If you want to come with me I'll introduce you to Tiana. I think she'll show up there as soon as she notices I'm open for business today.”

The bobcat sat back on her haunches and brought one of her rear legs up to scratch behind her ear. Once she lowered the leg, she stood up and darted back into the woods she'd just come out of.

“Well, I guess that lets me know what she'd rather do,” Eddie said, chuckling. “Come on Paul.”

He led the other man back to the field where he'd set up his stand the day before. The fire pit was still intact, but the firewood they'd left stacked beside it had gone missing.

“I should've known better,” Eddie said. “I saw how many of these guys had fires going. I'm guessing one of them stole the firewood.”

“At least they didn't take the wood you built your stand out of,” Paul replied.

“Yeah, they could probably tell it was green wood, I needed it a little flexible. The firewood was dried out, fallen deadwood. Looks like I'll need to go grab some more. Sorry for the delay.”

“Not an issue, I just hope the people you were talking about are willing to help me.”

Eddie wandered off, coming back with an armload of wood a few minutes later. After returning with a second armload he was ready to start the fire, then start cooking for the day.

Paul had arranged the fire, using a bit of his dried bird nest for kindling.

“I thought I could probably speed things up a little if I helped out,” he said.

Eddie heard a cry of “Timber” from up the road, then the sound of a tree falling down. He grinned at the sound, knowing that Ingolf had started working.

The fire lit easily with Paul's help and once he had enough coals, he started pulling out portions of meat, spicing them, spitting them, and when he had enough of them on the spit laying them over the coals to roast.

It wasn't long before the fragrant smell of roasting meat drifted out into the field. Shortly after that, Eddie had a line of customers. He was amazed at how many of them started asking about the produce he had behind his counter in the wheelbarrow.

It makes sense I guess, he thought. Anyone could hunt and cook some of the meat, but unless they have their own garden or someone to buy it from, produce will be even more rare than the meat.

Eddie had planned on offering up full meals, a stick of meat and a serving of the vegetable of their choice, for two silver. Instead he found a fair number of people just wanted the vegetables. Most of those people hadn't arrived until the first few customers went wandering off with their stick of meat and a huge carrot or bundle of greens.

He'd only been open for about a half hour, when he sensed someone behind him. He spun and found Tiana grinning at him.

“Good awareness there,” she said. “I'd just gotten right behind you when you turned. Need a hand?”

“Sure,” he said.

He was still showing her how they were determining a serving of the vegetables when Karl wandered up also.

“I'm sorry, am I late?”

“Nah, I just saw people moving around and decided to open earlier than planned. You want to handle the counter? Tiana can take care of the produce, you can deal with the meat and the money, I'll cook.”

Paul looked edgy so Eddie felt the need to reassure him.

“Don't worry, there should be a break in customers soon. I'll introduce you to Tiana and let her know what you want her group to do then.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Sixteen

When Aaron went back to his emails, after Mr. Greenshaw hung up on him, the next one he looked at was from the technicians that had been examining the modified pods that Eddie and the other farmers were trapped in. He scanned the email, then went back to the pertinent part, shaking his head.

'I think that we can hack into the interface and stop the incidences of bad dreams/instability of the servers. However I'm reluctant to do that without authorization,' that section read.

No-one wants to take a risk any more, Aaron thought. I suppose the blame would be placed squarely on him if he did that, but still. I thought they were told to try to figure out what was causing the instability and fix it if they could.

Aaron had raised objections when the pods had been removed from the warehouse and shipped to Light Online's central offices, but his objections had been ignored. Now, at least, having them there would help. He got himself ready, a shower and coffee waking him the rest of the way, then went to work. This time instead of going to his tiny cubicle of an office, he headed to the labs where they'd taken the pods.

“Alright, what do we have?” Aaron asked.

The three technicians working on the pods looked up.

“We got into the interface,” the head of the techs said. “They installed additional micro-computers on the pods to control the daily downloads, but they didn't have nearly enough RAM. That's why they kept swamping the servers. We also got into the code they were using. They hacked our code, then stripped parts out and replaced them with their own.”

The man gestured Aaron over to a monitor showing the code in question.

“So we know why the dreams, that was pretty apparent, their download sequence didn't shield the player's mind so they experienced it again. Part of what they stripped out does that in our code. But here's the better part, we know why the long span of black the players experienced. The idiots used the defined size data blocks we use to download memories. The ones that are a set size instead of the variable sized one we finish with. So the players in these pods got to relive their day, then they got to experience the rest of that data block semi-conscious in their pods. The combination of the null data being streamed to their brain and the darkness in their pods is what they were experiencing in there.”

“How long would that feel to them? How long was it really?”

“It depends on how much they did that day. Those are normally twenty-four hour blocks. So if they were awake for sixteen hours, they'd experience, relatively, eight hours of the black. Although without being able to move, but still being semi-conscious? I imagine that would make it feel longer, as would the null data being downloaded to their brain during the process. I hear there's only one guy who had to go through that whole length of that though. How's he doing?”

“He was doing fine the last time I talked to him,” Aaron said. “Although he didn't like to talk about that very much. He talked about it with one of the AIs and I got most of it from her.”

The tech nodded.

“Well, I think we can fix this so they will neither relive their day nor experience the black again. I'll just put the shield back in so they don't experience their memories as they're downloaded and I'll switch the code to use the variable sized block so it doesn't keep streaming after the day's memories are done. I've already tweaked the code, but I'm not going to compile it and replace the existing code without authorization.”

“You know what? They shouldn't be going to sleep for a few hours, so we've got a little time. Let me check something, but I'm going to tentatively say that we'll do this. Was this code at all interconnected with the server that keeps contacting the pods?”

“This code was resident in the pods. It also writes data to the pods' memory storage. The non-local server accesses that data not this code. So only indirectly.”

“Can you hack it so that the data written to the memory storage is still similarly formatted to what it was already receiving? And maybe toss something in so that data isn't true, although it looks like it is?”

The tech grinned and rubbed his hands together.

“I'd be more than happy to. Don't want our fixes getting out into whoever is running that server's hands?”

Aaron nodded.

“I'm pretty sure our higher ups would be happier if the guys that hacked the system were receiving false data, yes. I'll authorize that at the very least and like I said, probably the other as well. But I'm going to go in-game and ask the affected people if they want us to do that. Greenshaw told me to keep them happy, I figure keeping them in the loop and giving them the choice should do that.”

The tech's fingers were already flying over the keyboard and Aaron could see what he was doing. He was changing the section of code that sent the data to the server to send altered data to the server instead, using the built in random number generator to make minuscule changes to each piece of data, rendering it worthless as a set.

“I'm off,” Aaron said.

~ ~ ~

Eddie looked around. For a few minutes, at least, there weren't going to be any more customers.

“Tiana?” he said.

She turned to face him.

“Tiana, this is Paul, Paul... Tiana,” Eddie said. “Paul might like to hire your group for an escort job if you're interested. And if you take the job, then I have an idea of how to make it more profitable.”

“I need to get back to Brightport,” Paul said. “I was supposed to receive a teleport back there after finishing my last job, but the guy who owed it to me has skipped out on it. He's in a bit of trouble from what I can tell, so I don't expect to see him any time soon, if ever.”

“Brightport's awfully far. It's a three day round trip. What are you offering?” Tiana asked. “Once you let me know that I can ask the rest of my group.”

Eddie was distracted as a red bar flashed into his panel. Text appeared on it.

Eddie, turn around, it read. This is Aaron.

Eddie spun, staring out at the apparently empty field and treeline.

Follow the orange light, in the trees.

He saw a flash of orange back in the trees.

“Excuse me for a minute,” he said.

Paul grunted acknowledgment as he and Tiana kept talking.

Eddie trotted over into the trees and found Aaron crouching behind a bush.

“Aren't you a dev? Why would you be hiding?” Eddie asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I am. You know what it's like appearing around players? The other farmers that are living the high life right now are what most of them are like. As soon as I appear they're all over me, asking for stuff. I'd rather just avoid that. Plus a dev showing up makes people think there's a problem. Even if there is, we don't want them thinking that way.”

“I get it. Although I may ask you for something myself,” he said, an idea occurring to him.

Aaron sighed.

“Fine, get it out of the way first.”

“Well, you know the builder on that last farm? He's in bad straits. His wife and daughter want to come in game with him, but he's got to get back to Brightport first. Panning had offered him a teleport back, but it's pretty obvious he won't be seeing that now. Can you provide that?”

Aaron stared at him.

“Yeah, I can probably do that. It still falls under the keeping players happy that were screwed over by Allan Panning directive I was given. I can just do the damned teleport myself. Anyhow, that's not why I came here. We think we can fix your issues; restore stability to the server and keep you and the others from re-experiencing your day and keep you out of the black. But it isn't a hundred percent positive chance. We think we know where they screwed up and can fix it. But I'm making it your call on whether or not we do that.”

“Why me?”

“Because you and Karl are the only two of those affected by the dreams that I've got any respect for and you were in game before him. So call it seniority if you like.”

“Can I go talk about this with Karl?”

“Yeah, you can bring him and that builder guy back here and we can talk about it.”

“Um, we're liable to have someone else tagging along as well. She's been spending a lot of time with us. I thought it was because of Lucky, but she's sticking with us today too.”

“Eddie my man,” Aaron said. “Good job.”

“What?” Eddie asked, “Oh, it's nothing like that. I mean, she's cute and all, but she's just a friend.”

“Sounds like she might want to be more than that, know what I mean?” Aaron said.

“This is just getting weird now, let me go get the others.”

“I'll be right here, I'm not going out in that field though. There are eighty-nine players within one mile of here and about twenty-five NPCs. I do NOT want to be seen by any of them.”

“Except the ones you want me to bring back, right?”

Aaron sighed.

“Yeah, except for them.”

Eddie walked out and noticed that there still weren't any customers.

“Paul, Karl, got someone you need to talk to,” he called out.

As he'd expected, Tiana came along when they started walking his way. With what Aaron had just said, Eddie noticed that she made a beeline towards him, stopping when she was about two feet away.

“Yeah?” Paul said, “Where?”

“Behind the treeline, it's our friend from the farm, he didn't want to be seen by hordes of players,” Eddie said.

Paul got a troubled look on his face.

“What now?” he muttered. “Do they think I was complicit with all that?”

“No,” Eddie said softly, “Aaron thinks you got screwed too and is going to help make up for it.”

Paul shrugged and stepped into the treeline, following Karl.

“We're not going to get jumped, right?” Tiana asked.

“Well, he didn't specifically ask for you, but when I told him you might come along, he just kind of shrugged. Trust me though when I say you're safe with him.”

She followed the other two men with Eddie bringing up the rear. She stopped dead when she caught sight of Aaron.

I bet she evaluated him at first sight, just like she did me, Eddie thought.

“Excuse me,” he said. “I kind of need to be in on this conversation.”

Tiana shook her head and took a step to the side. Eddie walked forward.

“Take care of Paul first?” he asked.

Paul looked at him quizzically.

“Brightport?” Aaron asked.

Eddie nodded.

“Temple okay by you?” he asked Paul.

“You're going to teleport me there?” Paul asked.

“Yeah, I was told Panning promised you that, then left you stranded out here, so I'm just trying to clean up the mess that man left behind.”

“Temple is just fine,” Paul said.

Aaron muttered a few words, then touched Paul's shoulder. Paul shimmered briefly, his outline dimming until he was no longer there.

“That's taken care of, now Karl, did Eddie tell you why he wanted you back here?”

Karl shook his head.

“We think we can get rid of the dream, the black, and the server stability issue, but since you two are the ones most directly affected, I wanted to check with you first since it isn't a one hundred percent thing.”

“What kind of percentage then?” Karl asked.

“Don't know, our best coder at working from scratch told me he thinks he can fix it. He wrote a good quarter of the code we're using for the world, so I trust his word.”

Karl let out a long sigh.

“Do it,” he said.

“That was my inclination as well,” Eddie added.

“Alright then, that's what I needed. I suppose I didn't need to come in person, but I wanted to see how the two of you were doing. It looks like you're doing fine, I notice you claimed some land in this zone Eddie?”

Eddie grinned.

“Well, I'd hate for the Meadowlands help file to be wrong the way it's written, although I expect it'll need to be rewritten fairly soon,” he said.

“That's my man,” Aaron said. “Those help files are really important for players when you're dealing with land, hamlets, villages, or even larger settlements.”

“Why?” Eddie asked.

“Why what, hints?” Aaron said, “Because I want to see how it goes. No-one's caught onto any of the settlement stuff yet, there's a lot more you can do in this game than people have been doing and I want to see it experienced to its fullest. Besides, I haven't said anything, have I? Just made normal conversation about pertinent topics.”

Eddie nodded. He wondered if what Aaron had said was true until he put himself in Aaron's shoes. Knowing that something wasn't being used as fully as possible would bother him too, especially if he knew all about it, no-one else had figured it out, and he couldn't do those things himself.

He nodded again, firmly.

“Will we be having the dreams or the black tonight?” he asked.

“Not if we can help it. But I'm sure Freyja will pull you out of them again if what we try doesn't work. Now I've got to go and get my coder fixing your issues.”

He shimmered and disappeared, there one moment and gone the next, like Paul when he'd been teleported.

~ ~ ~

By the end of the evening Eddie had made even better profits than the day before. Evidently the vegetables were going to be a major portion of his profits, at least for a few days until people got tired of them again. He'd also gained two more points in his cooking skill.

Between the ninety-three meat on a sticks that had sold and the seventy-five portions of vegetables, he was feeling pretty flush. Tiana had stayed right through the evening, helping out as well.

Eddie had been paying attention this time. Whenever she got the chance, she'd move to within a couple of feet of him, then either strike up a conversation or just keep doing whatever she'd been doing, only closer to him.

What should I do about that? he wondered. Is she interested in me or is it something else? I wish I knew how to tell.

The sound of trees being felled continued right through the afternoon and evening. After it looked like their customers for the day were gone, Eddie asked Karl to run some meat and vegetables over to Ingolf.

“Ingolf?” Karl asked.

“Yeah, he's the woodcutter I've got clearing my lot. You won't be able to miss him, just wait until you hear someone call out 'timber' and that'll be him.”

He glanced over at Tiana, then back to Karl.

“Okay?” Eddie asked.

Karl's eyes flicked to Tiana as well and a grin spread across his face.

“Oh yeah, I get you,” he said.

Eddie groaned inwardly, but let Karl run with his idea.

After all, he thought, it's not that far from the truth. I just want to know why she keeps getting so close to me.

While he talked with her, he counted the profits for the day.

“So, um, I don't know how to say this, so I'll be blunt,” Eddie said. “You keep getting really close to me and just hanging out there. I don't mind, not at all, I just... I don't want to read too much into that.”

Tiana blushed.

“Well first, thank you for asking and not assuming. I don't know why I keep doing it. It's just that if I'm close enough to you I feel comforted, you know? Real life's pretty rough for me at this point. I'm doing thirty day stints because I need to be in the pod, at least if I want...”

She trailed off.

“You don't want to know all of that though,” she continued. “It's not your problem, it's mine. I'm doing what I can about it, but that sense of comfort is something I've missed in game. Lucky gives me a little of that feeling as well, but I get a lot more of it from you.”

Well, now I guess I get to quantify that non-quantifiable bonus, he thought. Although quantifying a feeling? Maybe I can't really quantify it still, but now I know what it does, or at least what it does for her.

“If you need to talk about it, I'm not going anywhere for a while,” Eddie said. “I can't really, but can't say more about it either.”

She smiled at him and for the first time he noticed that there was an undertone of sadness to it. Looking back at the other times he'd seen her smile he realized that it was there most of the time for her.

“No, that's alright,” she said. “I've talked and talked about my problem outside of the game. Now I'm just trying to fix it, even though it feels like it'll take forever.”

Eddie sat down on a log they'd rolled over as a seat for when business was slower. Tiana moved with him, then gestured at the log right beside him.

“May I?” she said.

“Go ahead.”

She sat down, then finished her invasion of his personal space by scooting over until they were touching. She turned her head away from him.

“There might be another reason too,” she said softly, pressing herself to his side.

She turned her head back towards him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Of course, that was when Karl got back. He cleared his throat and Tiana pulled herself away from Eddie before he'd manage to react to her words or the kiss. She was blushing furiously when she stood.

“So Karl, I'm thinking Tiana should get a share too?” Eddie asked. “She might not be in our group, but she did help right through.”

Karl grinned at him impudently.

“Sure. Whatever you say. She really did help though. Did you see how many players we had going through here? That was crazy.”

“Aaron said there were almost ninety players in the area when he was here, I think we saw most, if not all, of them come through the stand today,” Eddie replied.

“It was kind of crazy,” Tiana added.

“Okay, here's today's profits then,” Eddie said.

He took two piles of silver out and handed one to each of the others. There had actually been a few gold coins that came through today, but he'd put those in his own stack. It took a moment for the others to count their money.

“Fifty-six silver?” Tiana exclaimed. “That's crazy.”

“What? Why?” Eddie asked.

“That's about what each of the party I'm in makes on a good run into the Forest of Fools. There's dropped items too, but that really doesn't add that much when you factor in Old Jeffries' prices.”

“So that's good then?” Karl asked.

“It's better than good. The party I'm in? Everyone is level seven and eight. Here you two are level two and you just made as much in an afternoon and evening as a party of level sevens would make on a run into the forest. Like I said, that's crazy. Good, but still crazy.”

“Well, it's not exactly glamorous, but it'll help pay the bills,” Eddie said.

“That would pay for a day in a pod center with a little bit left over,” Tiana said. “I know, I used to be in one of them. A hundred dollars a day was their standard rate.”

I guess Paul really is doing well if he's planning on having himself along with his wife and daughter in a pod center then, Eddie thought.

“Cool,” Karl said. “Good thing we don't have to pay for that right now though.”

“Ssh,” Eddie cautioned him. “Not something to talk about.”

Tiana looked curiously from one to the other of the men, but she didn't say anything. Eddie could see the curiosity on her face though. He just couldn't do anything about it, and hated the fact that he couldn't.

They packed everything up and Karl and Eddie headed back towards the farm. Tiana waved goodbye and looked like she wanted to say something, but then turned and walked back towards the field that held her tent.

As Eddie walked past his land claim, he whistled for Lucky. She came trotting out of the lightly forested area and raced towards him. He knelt and she leaped for his face, licking him.

“Eeww,” Eddie said. “Well, there's fish in that stream at least, or there were. Lucky, you've got a nasty case of fish breath.”

The bobcat didn't seem to care, she just licked Eddie's face again before starting to rub up against his ankles.

“Come on girl, we need to head back to the farm,” Eddie said, starting to walk.

Lucky darted ahead, sniffing at the undergrowth on first one, then the other, side of the road.

“Well, maybe we'll restock our meat a little if she finds something. We're almost out,” Eddie said.

“No beer for me tonight then,” Karl replied. “Let's go get ourselves some venison tomorrow morning.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Seventeen

Aaron removed his suit, then sat for a moment.

Okay, I don't want to report this to Greenshaw. If I do, I'm sure he'll have something to say about it, some order for me that will just make this harder. Back to the techs and tell them to alter the code like they said they could.

Aaron stood again and headed back to the basement.

“Do it,” he said, as soon as he walked into lab. “Compile it and put your new code in.”

“You got it,” the head tech said.

He typed for a moment then turned back to Aaron.

“You know, their idea wasn't bad. Their execution of it sucked, but the idea is sound. I could write a similar batch of code, one that would interface with the game better, and we could offer extended stays in game, well beyond thirty days. But we'd need to make a new pod and people would need to buy it to take advantage of that. I don't think upgrades to existing pods would be a good idea.”

“Tell me more, but first, you wouldn't just be stealing their code, right?”

“No, their code is sloppy as all hell, but the principle is sound. I'd use that principle to write much more elegant code that meshes better with the game. The new pods would have to have their own computers built in, separate to the ones already in there. This new one would just be for the daily updates. It would need about fifty times as much RAM as they tried to use, but...”

The tech shrugged.

“With how much people pay for these pods now, I don't think they'd flinch at an extra two grand for one that allows them to stay in for a lot longer, do you?”

Aaron shook his head.

“No, the majority of our thirty day clients are extremely well-off. There are some that aren't; this batch that was experimented on, our own batch that we've had going on repeated deep dives to ensure it isn't a problem, and we've also got the medical mods that are working on long term treatment with the player in the game while the pod works on their bodies. We'd need to test this idea first though so I've got two questions for you.”

“And those are?”

“One, could you soup up a couple of these pods to have that type of dedicated download computer that you just mentioned? And two, how long would it take you to write the code for it?”

“Yes, easily, they used modular components for their alterations and the Mark IIIs were designed in a manner that made upgrades and alterations easy. I assume that's why they used them for their experiments. As for the program, a week? Five days maybe if that were my actual assigned task here at work.”

“Good,” Aaron said, “do both of those things if you would. I'm going to go ask someone other than Greenshaw about getting financing for this project. I'm not exactly in a position to authorize it myself, but I know someone that's almost at Greenshaw's level in the company who is always looking for ways to improve things. They'll be more than happy to listen to me about it and I bet they'll figure out a way to monetize it, so assume we'll get funding but don't actually buy anything or do anything billable until I give you the go.”

Aaron winced as he realized he was going to have to talk to Cynthia. The last time he'd talked to her was when he turned down her drunken advances at last year's Christmas party. Since he hadn't heard from her since, he was sure she'd remembered his actions.

But she'll jump at a chance like this, he thought. At least she will if I know her, she was always too willing to take risks, either personal or business related.

~ ~ ~

Karl was true to his word, almost. He only had one beer before going to bed, so they'd both been up early in the morning, each one overjoyed that they'd managed to sleep, dreamlessly, through the night.

Eddie was more than happy to see the well-rested buff when he checked his notifications, but happier still as he continued through the notifications he'd ignored the day before.

Paul had sent him a PM, with a whole slew of documents attached.

'Here you go, here's the bunkhouse blueprints. Knowing what you're using them for I made a few alterations before sending them along. I also sent the blueprints for a small cart and a few other miscellaneous things I thought might be useful.

I've been thinking about your offer regarding building an inn. I'm going to run it past my wife, but I'm very tempted if it still stands, especially after seeing how much business your food stand was doing. Just one quick question though. Do you intend to keep building structures in that area? I think you've got some plans you haven't mentioned.

Paul'

Tiana had also sent a PM, asking when they'd be down near the hamlet again. They'd added each other as friends while working the day before and he was surprised that she'd been bold enough to send him a message right off. He'd actually considered sending her one, but was nervous about what response she might have given him, afraid that she'd think he was chasing her or something.

He quickly sent a reply saying it would be earlier than the day before, but he'd be working on his land claim before opening the food stand for the day so she could find him, and Lucky, there.

When Karl showed up, Eddie waited for him to eat breakfast also, then stood.

“Deer hunt?” he asked.

Karl nodded eagerly.

“Your rabbit meat is great,” he said, “but no other meat than that for days in a row have left me hoping for something else. I want to see what the venison tastes like in this game.”

Karl drooled a little at the thought.

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Eddie asked.

He led Karl to the area where he'd seen the deer before, then started scanning for tracks. It took him a few minutes before finding deer prints, but then he followed the track, bow in hand.

“There,” Karl said softly.

Eddie stopped, he hadn't even thought to keep looking up and would've blundered right into the deer's scent or sight range, sending it fleeing. A quick command kept Lucky at his feet so she wouldn't spook the deer either.

You have upgraded the skill Tracking to (3). Who would've thought keeping your eyes open to see what you were tracking would keep you from scaring it off?

He grimaced at the too accurate snarkiness of the message, then put an arrow on the string and drew. Something kicked in and his eye was drawn to an area at the front of the deer encompassing the area right above the front legs. Somehow he knew that the lungs were there and a shot there had the best chance of downing the doe with one arrow.

He quickly evaluated it:

Deer (doe):

Type: Animal

Level: 3

Armor: 20

Health: 30 (+/-)

Attack: ???

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Deer (doe).

Eddie looked at his arrow.

Evaluate, he thought.

Arrow (flight)

Weapon (Missile)

Attack: 15

Dmg: 5-20

Crit: 50%

This flight arrow is used in conjunction with a bow. It has the possibility for a critical hit when used in hunting, depending on the accuracy of the user. Remember, the pointy part goes towards the target.

Eddie held in the groan due to the snark.

It's like the game wants to make fun of me whenever I'm doing well, he thought.

Then he let his eyes drift back to the target on the deer. They actually seemed drawn to it. The arrow practically leapt from the string, speeding towards the target. Sinking deep in the side of the deer, Eddie actually let this combat message show.

You have shot deer for 16 points of damage. X2 critical hit. 32 points of damage in total.

The deer's tail sagged downwards, it took several staggering steps forward, then fell.

Enemy slain: Deer (doe) (level 3)

You have earned 38 (+4 well-rested, +10 blessing) exp.

Karl stared at him for a moment.

“Maybe I should get myself a bow,” he said.

“Nah, I got a critical because I have the hunting skill. Here, check out the arrows.”

He handed an arrow to Karl before moving to the deer and pulling the arrow he'd shot back out of it.

“Good,” he said. “I hate the games that use arrows and other ammunition as a money drain and automatically destroy them when fired.”

He cleaned the arrow and put it back in his quiver, adding the one that Karl handed back to him.

He bent over again and touched the deer.

Loot, he thought.

A side of venison and a deer hide appeared in his inventory.

“Yes!” he said. “If we actually butcher this one ourselves and take the meat, that might be enough for today's meat on a stick.”

Eddie pulled the chunk of venison out of his inventory and hefted it experimentally.

“Maybe twenty-five or thirty pounds? If the amount looted is based on the deer we killed, we'll have sixty to seventy-five pounds of venison. Serve half pound portions and that's a hundred and twenty or more. Plus we've still got a bit of the rabbit meat also. One deer ought to do for today.”

Karl grinned at him.

“Got plans for the hides too?”

“Not offhand, you want them?”

“One of them please. I've got an idea for something for your inn.”

“All yours then. Let's butcher this.”

Despite their early start, it was still almost noon before they headed down the road. Eddie had paused to grab a bunch of tools out of the shed before the headed out. They were only halfway to the fields where the adventurers were camping when they heard the falling trees and a little farther down the road they could also hear Ingolf yelling before each tree fell.

“So, did you know this hamlet used to be bigger?” Karl asked as they walked.

Lucky went darting off into the undergrowth.

“No, why do you say that?”

“When I was mapping, I found a lake, maybe another mile down the road. It's medium sized, but on the outflow from it there's a grain mill. The NPCs there told me that this used to be a town, but a particularly vicious raid that combined both the goblins from the forest and the orcs from the mountains razed a bunch of it.”

“Huh, I wonder if any other players have gotten that back story?” Eddie said.

Lucky came back out with a bunny between her jaws. She dropped it at Eddie's feet, he looted it, then told her she could eat it if she wanted. She started chewing away at the bunny.

“No clue, I just stopped by to get a drink of water while I was mapping and ended up chatting with an NPC there. His name was Trygve Miller, and he was running the mill.”

Eddie chuckled.

“I guess Arvid's been a busy man during his life.”

“What?” Karl said, thrown off topic by the apparent non-sequitur.

“I met an old guy, an NPC, by the name of Arvid Miller yesterday when I went looking for information. Ingolf's his son and I'm guessing Trygve is as well. I guess when they went Norse for the Pantheon, they decided to use it for NPC names as well.”

“Actually they did names by area, so it's Norse here, but might be something else in a different zone,” Karl said. “At least that's what I read, but... Trygve told me about that raid, said it happened a long time ago. So maybe this area isn't as safe as we thought, is what I was getting around to.”

“Tiana said something about occasional raids also, but it's not like we can go anywhere else right now, right?”

“No, but I was thinking we might want to build some fortifications, get some guards for the farm and this bunkhouse you're building, things like that.”

“Eventually I think that'd be a great idea, once we can afford it. We might be able to start doing that now, but I'd hate to run out of money because of it and have to stop doing anything else. So let's wait a bit on that?”

“Okay, I just wanted to run it by you and let you know that it's not as safe here as we were told it was.”

“Thanks for the heads up. Now, look at that beautiful lumber,” Eddie said, spying the pile of rough planks Ingolf had made.

Karl chuckled.

“I'm going to go get some more mapping done. I'll see you in a few hours.”

Eddie waved absently, staring at his lumber. It looked like Ingolf had felled most of the trees in the area specified already. There were a number that still intruded, towards the back of the area Eddie had specified, but he had room to start working.

He waited for Ingolf to finish felling the tree he was working on, then called out to him.

“Ingolf?”

The man came walking out, bathed in sweat, with his ax leaning back over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Can you get the rest of the trees to fall away from the empty area? I was thinking about starting work on the building I want to make.”

“Sure can, had to be doing that anyhow so they didn't fall on the pile of planks.”

“Thanks then, I may ask you to help me some if I need extra muscle. I'm not sure exactly how what I'm about to do works.”

Ingolf's eyes narrowed.

“Should you be doing it at all then?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, it shouldn't be a problem. I just haven't done it myself before.”

Ingolf shrugged.

“I'll keep the trees dropping the other direction, although if you hear me yell to move after I call timber, that means it isn't falling where I'd planned for it to go and you might want to move, quickly.”

“Got it,” Eddie said.

He pulled out the blueprint that Paul had sent him for the bunkhouse and Evaluated it.

Bunkhouse Blueprint - Modified

Shelter: 20

Level: common

Crafted: Paul Rogar

This structure is designed as basic housing. It will allow housing for twenty people. Modifications have been made to allow for individual rooms, hygiene areas, and access to the roof.

Eddie thought he knew what it would look like from looking at the blueprint. It was probably going to look a lot like the bunkhouse on the farm, only with a fence surrounding the edge of the roof. There would also be what looked like wooden tanks with sluices leading down to small walled off areas outside of the bunkhouse.

So the hygiene stuff is showers, he thought. I know the game keeps us clean, but a shower would still feel pretty good about now.

He glanced back at the blueprint for a moment, then focused on it, thinking about creating the structure it detailed. A small prompt came up:

Build Bunkhouse-Modified?

(yes/no)

Eddie thought 'yes' and the blueprint disintegrated in his hand, falling away to dust.

The game sent him another prompt.

Designate location for structure.

When he looked around there was an outlined version of the bunkhouse overlaying his vision. It flashed green when he was looking at the road, rotating to fit and adding a yes/no prompt at the bottom of his vision.

He looked back at the area he'd had Ingolf clear for him and the outline flashed green again. When the yes/no prompt showed up this time, he thought 'yes' again.

The outline solidified, but stayed in his vision, glowing dimly in the sunlight. One portion began to flash at him, showing the picture of a hole overlaying the ground at one corner of the future structure. He dug into his inventory and pulled out the shovel, then started digging.

Lucky kept trying to play with him while he was working, but she eventually wandered off when she decided he wasn't willing to play with her right now.

As he completed each flashing area, it stopped flashing and grew brighter, then another area would begin to flash showing him which task to complete next. The entire first series of flashing areas were all holes, but once he'd finished those, outlines of planks sitting upright in the holes began to flash.

I hope I'm strong enough for this part or else things are going to slow down an awful lot, he thought.

As he went to the pile of planks and lifted the first of them he discovered that a ten strength was enough to carry them, and set them upright in the holes. But he was pretty sure that it was his high agility that was allowing him to place them by himself. Once each plank was in place, the hole and the closest pile of dirt would start flashing, so he'd balance the plank with one hand while kicking dirt into the hole around its base, packing it down with his feet.

It was slow and tedious, but he was making good progress, at least he thought he was until he was interrupted when Karl cleared his throat.

“Hey Eddie, I see you're playing with logs now, eh?” Karl said.

Eddie glared at Karl.

“Give me a hand here, would you? I thought this was going quick, but if you're back already then maybe not.”

“Nah, I'm a little early. I didn't know if venison was going to take longer to cook so I thought I should come back an hour or so earlier than normal.”

Eddie wasn't sure himself, but as he thought about it he realized that he could just keep carving off the surface layers as each was done cooking and it wouldn't take much longer than the bunnies had. Maybe even less time since he wouldn't have to keep re-spitting pieces of meat as often.

“A little more time than the bunnies, but not that much. Help me finish setting up the outer walls here and then we'll go start cooking.”

Karl grumbled about it, but was willing to fill in the dirt around the bases of the rough-hewn planks while Eddie held them in place. The last wall was finished much more quickly with his help and the two of them started walking towards the field where the food stand was.

Eddie stopped and turned to look back. Everything was still lit up, showing what went where, but as he'd moved away from the construction site the flashing had stopped. Evidently, the blueprints wanted him to lay the floor next as the flashing area had been on the ground inside the walls when he'd finished with placing the last plank for the walls.

“Damn, I hope that stays lit like that until tomorrow,” Eddie said.

“Lit like what?” Karl asked.

“You can't see that?”

“See what?”

“The area for the building is lit up, showing what pieces go where. A flashing section tells me the next piece to place.”

“Nope, I don't see that at all,” Karl said.

“Huh, I wonder if it's just the person who activates the blueprint can see it or if it's anyone with carpentry?”

“What's it matter. You're getting your building either way.”

“That's true, I am. I'd just like to know,” Eddie replied.

Karl shook his head as they moved over to the food stand. Eddie's notification icon was flashing, so he pulled it up.

“Woot, I got another two points in carpentry,” he called out.

Karl shook his head again and sighed.

“You know,” he said, “most people get more excited about levels or loot, not just a point or two in a skill.”

“Don't give me shit,” Eddie replied. “I know you get it or you wouldn't have asked for a cartography kit when there was so much else you could've asked for.”

“Hey, that's different,” Karl exclaimed.

Now it was Eddie's turn to shake his head and sigh.

~ ~ ~

By the time Karl had the fire lit and Eddie was working on separating the coals, Tiana was there.

“I'm a little worried,” she said after they'd been setting up for a few minutes.

Eddie had needed to go get some longer sections of wood to use as forks for his spit. The venison was much larger than the bunnies and would have hung far too close to the coals if he'd tried to use his original setup.

“Why's that?” he asked absentmindedly, setting up the new forks.

“One of the groups that runs the Forest with us during the day didn't come back when they normally do. I'm worried they may have wiped.”

“Wouldn't they just have spawned right back here?” Karl asked.

“There's no spawn point near here. You have to have a public building, a monument, or something like that, to set a spawn point. There aren't any here, so normally we just try to be really careful.”

“Won't a private building work if you have the owner's permission?” Eddie asked. “I know our spawn points are set at the place up the road we started in.”

“I don't know, maybe? It might just be that your spawn point was automatically set to your starting point,” she said.

“Tell you what, would you try something for me?” Eddie asked.

She raised an eyebrow and Eddie sighed, Karl chuckled.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Walk up the road a couple of hundred yards. When you see the building under construction, walk up next to it and try to set your spawn point.”

“You're building something?”

“I told you I was, I just started working on it today. But I've got the land claimed. I'm wondering if you can set your spawn point to player owned land or buildings.”

She shrugged.

“I'll be right back,” she said, then headed down the road.

A couple of minutes later Eddie got a prompt.

Tiana Anders would like to set her spawn point to your land claim. Accept?

(yes/no)

He thought 'yes' and a moment later heard a whoop of joy echoing down the road. He expected Tiana to show up right away, but it was several minutes before she returned and when she did, Lucky was following her.

“Lucky looks attention starved,” she said. “She looked so pathetic I had to stop and play with her for a few minutes.”

“Thank you, I didn't have time for that earlier on. I felt bad about it, but...”

“Well, she's got something for you,” Tiana said.

Lucky came up and dropped a trout on the ground in front of Eddie. It was still alive, barely, and flopped feebly on the ground in front of him.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, feeling bad, then opened them and rubbed Lucky's head.

“Come here girl, you're an awesome huntress,” he said.

She pounced at him as he squatted to pet her, bowling him over backwards. Eddie let himself just relax and play with his pet for a few minutes before standing up again.

“But you've still got fish breath,” he whispered, wiping his face where she'd licked him.

The fish was now dead and Eddie wondered if it counted as a lootable mob. When he touched it and thought 'loot' a pair of fish fillets appeared in his inventory. He grinned and laid the fish out on a mostly flat rock. Although he didn't have the fishing skill, his cooking skill was sufficient to clean it and obtain another pair of fillets. He tossed the head, skin, and offal to Lucky.

“There, if you're still hungry you can have that, but that breath tells me you've had a few fish of your own already today,” Eddie said.

He turned to Karl and Tiana.

“Surf and turf for dinner anyone?”

“Yeah, but let me go check and see if that other group ever made it back. Do you mind if the rest of my group binds their spawn point to your land also? That would be really awesome for them,” Tiana said.

“Sure, no problem. Don't spread it around too much though. Every time someone binds to it, I get a notification and have to authorize them doing it, so make sure I know your group's names too, okay?”

“We'll stop by on the way back and they can all introduce themselves,” she said.

Ten minutes later Tiana came back through with her group. The only name he remembered from the first time he met them was Allie's and he wasn't even sure if that was her in game name or her real name. He cut them all off a slice of venison on the house as they introduced themselves.

“Alirshyn,” the Elven woman who'd sold him the bow said.

“Should I call you that or Allie?”

The Elf smiled back at him.

“Call me Allie, but Tiana said you needed to know my full name for the spawn bind.”

Eddie nodded and turned to the three men.

“Dominic” said the man he'd guessed was a wizard.

The man in darkened leather armor introduced himself as Sombra while the plate-mail clad fighter was Terrod.

“Cool, now I'll know who to authorize when you go to bind your spawn point,” Eddie said.

For some reason he got the idea that the three men of the group didn't like him very much, and at the same time he noticed that Allie was keeping herself as far away from them as she could without being overly obvious about it. The group immediately turned and left, the three men leading the way. Allie stayed back for a minute and spoke in a soft voice with Tiana.

When Allie followed the men, Tiana let out an exasperated sigh.

“I was afraid of that. They've been pestering her. They pestered me before as well, but I put a stop to it since you don't want to piss off your healer, but Allie...”

Tiana shook her head.

“She's not very good at telling people things they don't want to hear, let's just leave it at that,” Tiana finished.

The four requests to bind to his land as a spawn point came in then and Eddie authorized each of them as they arrived.

“So, does she need a place to hang out when you aren't adventuring? If you adventure during the day, she's welcome to be over here while we're open if that would help,” Eddie said.

“Or we could, you know, talk to those guys,” Karl said.

Tiana shook her head.

“I doubt talking to them would help. Arrogant and overbearing only starts to cover Terrod and Sombra's attitudes. They think that because they're higher level than me and Allie that they should be able to tell us exactly what to do. Dominic has already knuckled under and does what they tell him to most of the time.”

“That's just wrong,” Eddie said.

Tiana shrugged.

“I keep thinking I should just leave the group, but some of the others around here are even worse. I can't help but think that if they'd been the first ones to some of the zones that are camped now, that they'd be the ones camping them and keeping everyone else out.”

“Not all of them?” Eddie asked.

“No, just the other ones that are on during the day. I suppose I could look for a group that goes out in the evening, but I'm just used to doing things during the day and relaxing in the evening, so I haven't given it much thought.”

“Well, you're welcome to spend as much time as you like here or over at the new place once I finish it,” Eddie said.

“Or if you want to go out adventuring you could escort me while I map,” Karl said. “I'm trying to map out the entire Meadowlands eventually. From the way people talk about it, I'm guessing no-one has bothered to do that yet.”

“No, I don't think they have,” Tiana said. “Most of the players around here camp near this hamlet because it's the spot that's closest to both the mountains and the forest. The Meadowlands is narrower  from north to south here than anywhere else, so it's the easiest spot to access either of the other zones surrounding it.”

Karl smiled.

“Good, then maybe I'm doing something new. Eddie here inspired me with his plans. He's already had me doing a bunch of things in game that I'd never done in any others.”

About then the four people who had just changed their spawn point passed, headed back down the road. Eddie could hear Terrod and Sombra shit talking him as they passed.

“What the hell was that crap? Is someone trying to build something?” Terrod said.

“Looks like it, I wouldn't trust it to not fall on my head though,” Sombra replied.

Allie broke off from the other three, moving over to rejoin Tiana. A moment later she came over to Eddie.

“I'm sorry Eddie,“ Allie said, “I don't know what's up with them, they started insulting you as soon as we were headed for your land. Doing that when you're doing them a favor?”

She shook her head.

“At least Dominic wasn't saying anything. I think he's realized the other two have been pushing things to a breaking point. He used to join in the shit-talking with jokes, but once it got nasty, he stopped.”

“You know you're welcome to stay here with Tiana if you like. You don't have to be back at your camp with them nearby,” Karl said.

Allie looked at Karl in surprise.

“That would piss them off,” she said.

“Do you care if you piss them off?” he asked.

She slowly shook her head.

“Then you're welcome to stay here if you want. It's your call.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Eighteen

Aaron was sitting in the waiting room of Cynthia's office. He'd gotten an appointment as soon as he'd requested one, but now he wasn't sure what to expect.

“Aaron?” the receptionist called out. “You can go in now.”

The first thing Aaron saw when he stepped through the door was Cynthia staring at him and blushing.

“I need to apologize,” she said. “Before we get to whatever you wanted to meet with me about, I need to apologize. I've been avoiding you ever since the party. I never should've done what I did there, and was too embarrassed to see you again after.”

Aaron's face twitched as he held in a smile.

Thank god, I thought she was pissed at me for rejecting her, but she was just embarrassed at what she did.

“Apology accepted. I will note though that the only reason I turned you down was because you were drunk. I didn't want you to regret anything later on.”

“Turns out I did anyhow,” she said, “just not what you were worried about me regretting. Take a seat, tell me what brings you here.”

Aaron's face finally gave in and he smiled.

“Well, I've got a potential upgrade for the game, more properly for the access to the game. I thought you might be able to figure out how to monetize it and authorize some money for the research required,” Aaron started.

He saw that he had her attention and took the seat she'd offered.

“So, we can potentially keep players in game for much longer than thirty days while keeping their body healthy, and not overload the servers. Most of the cost would be footed by the player since they'd need an upgraded pod. We'd only need to reconfigure a few things and we might even be able to retire some of the log out servers. But we need some funds to research and test the process.”

Cynthia's face lit up.

I knew she'd be interested, Aaron thought, now to set the hook.

An hour later Aaron was ensured that he would receive funding, the amount yet to be determined. She'd let him know in a day or two.

As he was walking out the door, she spoke one more time.

“Aaron? I'm sober this time. Would you like to have dinner with me? Maybe something more later, but at least dinner? You aren't technically under my authority in the company, so there shouldn't be any issues with it.”

Aaron only had to think about it for a moment.

“I'd love to, just let me know when and where.”

~ ~ ~

The venison on a stick was a hit. Eddie sold even more of it than he had of the bunny meat either of the days he'd been open so far. Combined with the produce they'd brought down for today, he had his highest day's total yet.

Allie and Karl had talked a lot while they'd been selling and when they finally closed for the day, the two informed Tiana and Eddie that Allie was going to escort Karl on his mapping trips during the day. As a cover for her leaving her current group, Karl was going to be paying her for the escort.

Tiana shook her head when they said that.

“You know that's just going to piss them off, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I know, but I'm not going to put up with their wandering hands any more. I'm out. If you're smart, you'll get out too. Even if you're a healer, you know how they are. A leopard never changes its spots, even if it looks like it has.”

Tiana stopped for a moment, deep in thought.

“You're right, but what am I going to do?”

“What do you mean?” Allie asked. “It looks like you had a fine time tonight and we were running a food stand. Why don't you see if you can hang out with Eddie all the time?”

Eddie held up a hand.

“If I understand correctly, you think there are going to be problems with your former group mates?” he asked.

They both nodded, vehemently.

“Maybe not Dominic,” Allie said, “but definitely the other two.”

“Then I've got an offer for you,” Eddie said.

Tiana got a guarded look on her face and Allie literally took a step back.

“What?” Eddie asked. “What did I say?”

“What kind of offer?” Tiana said.

“Well, if you can bind to the land I own here, you can probably bind to the farm I own up the road. Would you like your spawn points to be different from theirs?”

“Oh,” Tiana said. “Sorry, that was almost exactly the phrasing they used when getting us to join their group.”

“My apologies then. But you're both welcome to come to my farm and set your spawn point there if you can. There are extra bedrooms in the farmhouse, or if you'd rather not be in the same house with Karl and me, there's an entire bunkhouse, sort of like this one's going to look when it's done, that you can use.”

“Really? A real bedroom? Does it have a real bed?” Allie asked.

“Yes, the rooms in the farmhouse have feather mattresses, the bunkhouse is just straw ticks for mattresses, but they're still more comfortable than camping out.”

“Done,” Tiana said.

Allie echoed her a moment later.

“I don't suppose it's got running water?” Allie asked.

“Sorry, just a well. Although there is a copper tub in the farmhouse. You can fill it with hot water and take a bath. I'm just waiting to finish this bunkhouse down here. This one has showers, although I don't think the water will be very warm on them.”

“Heh, all you need is a wizard with the right spell and the hot water is no problem,” Tiana said, “or a priestess with the right spell.”

A grin spread over her face.

“I volunteer to help you build that if you need any more help. All I want for pay is first dibs on a shower.”

“I'm going to spend a few more minutes working on this place before we head up the road to the farmhouse,” Eddie said, after they'd finished closing the food stand and started walking along the road.

“Need a hand?” Karl said.

“Sure, all the walls are up from earlier, I want to get the floor down also, then tomorrow we can hopefully finish off the roof. So, just move some of those rough planks over here next to the door and I'll place them.”

At their higher levels both Tiana and Allie had used some of their stat points on strength, they were probably stronger than either Karl or Eddie. So Karl and the two women passed planks over to the door bucket brigade style until Eddie told them to stop.

He was placing the rough planks on the ground where the plank outlines were flashing. The work went quickly and it was less than half an hour later that he placed the last plank. They fit together far better than he'd thought they were going to and he was pretty sure that the game was tweaking planks as he placed them, causing them to have a snugger fit with one another.

Not that I'm going to complain. Building something like this back in the real world would probably take weeks, not just a couple of days, he thought. And if the game really is tweaking it, the whole thing will probably be more solid than the one back in the real world would've been. This may be a game world, but even so I'd much rather be here than there.

Eddie's past few days had made him feel better than his past few years prior to entering the game. He felt as though he were actually accomplishing things here. He'd created his own job that paid okay, he knew he could keep a higher share of the profits and no-one would care, but that didn't feel right. Besides he was sure he'd be making even more money once he finished the bunkhouse.

And when I finally get my inn built, I'll make more than I ever made in the real world even. This is definitely where I prefer to be.

There was an edge of worry though. He had no idea what the game company was going to do with him. They'd fixed the problem with the nightmares, but hadn't mentioned the inability to log out yet.

And when they do take care of that, are they just going to kick me out? I suppose I could come back in as a helmet-head to run my businesses here, but the full immersion is just so sweet that I'd rather not lose it. Is there any way I can make enough money to get my own pod and pay the monthly immersion subscription?

He knew his profits were a long way away from that level. Even the cheapest pods, the ones that you couldn't use for long term, started at around ten grand. The better ones, the ones that allowed thirty day immersion, were closer to twenty-five thousand dollars.

Well, I should have at least another day or two of the full immersion. I'd better live it up while I can, he thought.

“Let's head back to the farm,” he said, grabbing the handles of the, now empty of produce, wheelbarrow.

“Hey Lucky, want a ride?” he asked.

The bobcat stared at him for a moment then stared at wheelbarrow. A moment later she darted into the underbrush at the side of the road.

Eddie started laughing and it was infectious. The four of them headed back towards the farm along the road, Lucky occasionally joining them, normally to drop a bunny at Eddie's feet before heading back into the underbrush.

~ ~ ~

Back at the farmhouse Allie claimed first dibs on the tub.

“The only thing I miss about being in game all the time is soaking in a hot bath,” she said.

Eddie chuckled as he poured beers for the other three of them. Karl was being a gentleman, or so he'd said, and hauling buckets of water for Allie.

There's definitely interest on his part, but from what she was saying about those other guys, he's going to have his work cut out for him if he wants her to be interested in return. I hate assholes like that. As if harassing the women weren't enough, they've also left them skittish even when they meet a nice guy who won't treat them like that.

With a mental shake of his head, Eddie carried the beers over to the table.

“This is a nice place. Why are you bothering to build that other one?” Tiana asked.

“Well, while I could rent the bunkhouse out, how many people would want to walk a mile or so just to get to their room?” Eddie replied. “With as many players as are camping out down near the hamlet, it just seemed like a better idea to build rooms closer to them.”

“There probably are a few that would be happy to make that walk for a room, but I get your point,” she said.

“Also, the bunkhouse on the farm is just open inside. The one I'm building is going to have sectioned off rooms. I thought people would much rather have a small room than barracks style housing.”

“That's for sure,” Tiana said. “I know most of the female adventurers would prefer that. It's not as bad as what Allie and I were putting up with, but most of them get ogled a lot at the very least.”

“Is it really that bad out there?” Karl asked, finally sitting down at the table.

“Just a minute and I'll answer you,” Tiana said. “I promised I'd heat that water for Allie.”

The tub had been set up in a room on the ground floor that was bare of furnishings. When Tiana came back out the door a few minutes later, she was accompanied by a cloud of steam rushing through the door as it was opened.

“So yeah, it is and it isn't. It was worse for a while, but then a couple of the worst offenders disappeared. Don't know, or care, where they went. But everyone kept comparing people's behavior to those two after they left. Better than those two doesn't even mean a civil human being, so it's a really low bar.”

“All the guys are like that?” Karl asked. “That's kind of hard to believe.”

“No, maybe ten percent, give or take a bit. And there are varying degrees of how bad it is. Right now, Terrod and Sombra are the worst of the ones left. You have to remember that I only know the people who were adventuring during the day very well. The others? Not so much, so I can't say for them. I'm just basing my figures off of what I've heard from the other women when they were still around their camps.”

“So a lot of them aren't in full immersion?” Eddie asked.

“Nope, some of them are helmet and glove gamers, some are in the short term immersion pods. There are only a few like me and Allie that are in the long term immersion. Most people doing that and adventuring are much higher level already.”

“You don't have to answer this if you don't want, but why are you still a lower level and in a full immersion system?” Eddie asked.

“It's a long story. Do you want the too long, didn't read version?”

“If that's what you prefer to tell me,” he replied.

Karl took a pull of his beer and leaned back, obviously not wanting to intrude.

“I'm an experimental case,” Tiana said. “I'm not really an avid gamer, but Light Online is trying out some alterations to their pods for medical purposes.”

She stopped for a moment, mustering the nerve to continue.

“I was in an accident. My legs weren't in very good shape after and the doctors told me I might never walk again. They did what they could for me with surgery, but told me I was going to have to do extremely strenuous, and frequent, physical therapy if I ever wanted to walk unassisted again.”

She stopped again and Eddie saw the glistening of moisture in the corners of her eyes. When she spoke again it was in a rush as though she wanted to get the words out while she still could.

“One of my therapists had recently read about Light Online outfitting special pods for medical purposes and he contacted them with my case. They outfitted a pod especially for me. One that's constantly stimulating and exercising my legs, meaning my body is doing as much physical therapy as the diagnostic software says it should. That much of it is something that the mind just can't take, so my mind is in here while the pod exercises my legs. Honestly there's no way a physical therapist and I could schedule it the way the pod does, so this is better. They say my legs are showing progress, even if I still can't walk again yet.”

She stood up and walked out of the room. Eddie thought he heard a muffled sob, but wasn't sure. He glanced over at Karl uncertainly.

“What are you waiting for idiot?” Karl said. “Go comfort her. If she allows it anyhow.”

Eddie hesitated, but stood and followed Tiana out of the room. When he saw her he stopped, unsure of how to proceed. He reached out an arm, but stopped before he touched her.

“Tiana?” he said, then dropped his hand to her shoulder.

She spun around, her eyes filled with tears and more of them streaming down her cheeks.  Her hands went up to scrub the tears away from first one cheek, then the other. After that she caught his gaze.

“I get it if you don't want me around you any more,” she said. “I know that no-one likes dealing with a cripple.”

He shook his head and the confusion he felt must have been evident on his face.

“Why would that matter?” he asked as she stared at him, her eyes widening.

Her tears started flowing again.

“Really?” she said softly.

“Yeah, really. Especially here. Why would you having injured legs in the real world matter to anyone here in the game?”

“I don't know, but the other people I told fled like I had a contagious disease. You're not going to do that?”

“No, why would I? It's not like my real world situation is anything to brag about. I'm unemployed and practically broke. That's how I got stuck here like I am, I'm—”

She pushed her finger against his lips.

“Stop,” she said. “Didn't you tell me you're under an NDA? It sounded like you were about to say something you shouldn't.”

Eddie opened his mouth to continue what he'd been saying, then his jaw snapped shut again as he realized she was right. After a moment he opened it again.

“Thank you, you're right. And no, I can't understand why people would act that way.”

Her tears were still flowing as she leaned in against him. He enfolded her in his arms, holding her loosely, savvy enough to know that the way she reacted so far suggested that she was interested, but scared.

If I hold her loosely, maybe she'll actually let me hold her and comfort her. I have a feeling that if I tightened my grip she'd be more scared than comforted.

After several minutes of standing that way, she straightened back up, pulling herself out of his arms. He just let go regretfully. He'd been holding her and marveling at the game again. The scent of her hair had filled his nostrils and he'd realized that her body had its own unique scent as well.

If the game went all out on that, what else have they gone all out on? he  wondered.

~ ~ ~

Karl had promised Eddie that he'd limit his drinking again so they could hunt in the morning. He had a second beer with Allie after she was out of the tub, but that was it. Eddie offered to haul water for Tiana, but she told him she preferred to wait until the showers were ready and that she'd accept his offer to haul water for her then.

Allie promised to go hunting with them first thing in the morning. The plan was for Eddie, Karl, and Allie to go hunting while Tiana worked on harvesting the garden. After the hunters returned, they'd split up. Karl and Allie were going mapping while Eddie and Tiana were going to go try to finish building the bunkhouse before it was time to open the food stand.

Karl wanted to map the road in the other direction, headed away from the hamlet. Eddie had mentioned seeing the adventurers walking along it before and Karl wanted to see where the road led and where those adventurers had come from.

When morning arrived, Eddie was actually the last one awake. He'd spent some time lying in his bed and making plans before falling asleep. He was gently ribbed for delaying their plans, but when he looked outside it was still earlier than he'd left for hunting the last couple of days.

By the time the hunters returned, Eddie was feeling a bit outclassed. Allie had made most of the kills for the morning, although since the two woman had dropped their current group and created a new one that Karl and Eddie joined he still got experience for it. Her bow skill was much higher than his though and he resolved to find the time to set up a range and practice his own skill to see if he could raise it that way.

Tiana had the wheelbarrow loaded with produce by the time they got back so they had an early lunch, then Karl and Allie headed out along the road to the east. Eddie checked his inventory to make sure he had the tools that had been listed on the blueprints, then he and Tiana left the farm heading west towards the hamlet.

“So many things I have to do,” Eddie said as they walked. “Paul sent me the blueprint for a cart that I could use the critters in the barn to pull. It would be so much nicer than pushing this wheelbarrow. But I want to get the bunkhouse finished first. I'll probably get the cart done before working on the inn though, I think there will be a lot more materials needed for that than I can get right on my own lot.”

“You could always hire someone to do some of these things, you know?”

“I did, I hired Ingolf to clear the land and he's got a couple of other guys that should be there today to assist him.”

“I'm talking about building these things. I'm sure there's someone around who can do it.”

“Well, Paul could, but he's getting his wife and daughter. I kind of hinted to him that there might be work around here, but I don't know if I could afford his services. Besides, I got two points in carpentry yesterday building the bunkhouse. It's always good to work your skills up, even if carpentry is one I got accidentally.”

“Tell me about it, I ended up with masonry just from trying to build a rock wall around our fire pit back in the camp,” Tiana said. “I didn't think that would qualify as anything, but boy was I wrong.”

“Did you work that one up?”

“It's at two now, but I haven't done anything with it intentionally.”

“Well, I might beg some more help from you then. The blue print shows an optional fireplace for the bunkhouse, but it's made of stone so I was just going to skip it for the time being. I bet it would be easy for you.”

“Um, easy? Building a fireplace easy? I don't think so.”

“I just need to figure out how to share the blueprint function with you. It shows you exactly where to put things to build what's shown.”

A note of doubt entered her voice.

“I'll try if you really want me to,” she said.

“If you're willing, I'd like you to do it.”

She nodded hesitantly.

“And here we are,” Eddie said. “Let me see if I can share the blueprints like I would a quest.”

He concentrated for a moment before Tiana squealed with delight.

“I can see where everything still has to go,” she said. “Is this how you got all of this done so quickly?”

“Yes, and if you're going to do the fireplace, you should know that if something flashes red when you put it in that means it's in the wrong spot or needs to be adjusted. I figure that's why none of this has fallen over yet. I'm just not that good a carpenter in game yet.”

“Can we go get some stone? I'll work on the fireplace while you work on whatever is next for the building itself.”

“Sure, there's a bunch of rocks back near the pond and stream on the back of my land. Maybe those will do?”

She nodded.

“Let's try,” she said.

They spent the next half hour making a sizable pile of rocks at the back of the bunkhouse, close to  where the fireplace would go. Then Ingolf showed up with two other men in tow.

“Eddie, these are my cousins Osmond and Brandr. Two of the ones my father told you about. They'll need to negotiate for their wages. I don't know what happened to the other one. Dad will be upset with him that he didn't show.”

“Osmond, Brandr,” Eddie said, nodding to each of them. “So, do you have your own felling axes?”

Both of them shook their head.

“Then here, this will be the first part of your pay,” Eddie said, drawing two of the axes he'd purchased out of his inventory.

Ingolf raised an eyebrow at Eddie.

“You had your own,” Eddie said. “Hard for them to fell trees without an ax though.”

“Easy enough for them to haul and drag without one,” Ingolf stated.

“Ah, I see, they were going to be here to do the shit work?”

Ingolf blushed, but nodded.

“Well, have one of them do that while you instruct the other in felling trees, then switch off. They'll learn a valuable skill and you'll still have to do less of the work you'd rather avoid,” Eddie said.

He turned back to Osmond and Brandr.

“So, the two of you aren't skilled woodcutters?”

“No,” Osmond said slowly, drawing out the word.

Brandr just shook his head.

“Then in addition to the axes, I'll offer you five copper for each full day of work you put in. Plus you'll be learning a new skill.”

The two immediately accepted, beaming at him, and Eddie had to wonder just how much less he could've paid them.

Tiana was already at work on the fireplace, making pleasantly surprised noises as she discovered that the stones were locked in place once they'd been put in correctly. Eddie glanced up at the next flashing area that was the beginning of the roof. It was going to be more difficult to get to than the others, especially while carrying a plank.

I wonder if I can advance the process along to another section. The stairs are inside and it looks like everything they attach to is already in place. That would make it much easier to get the planks up there.

He stepped in through the open doorway the plan had left in the building so far and walked over to the stairs. Focusing in on them he tried to activate that section of the blueprint. Sure enough, the bottom step starting flashing.

With a grin Eddie ran out to the pile of planks and carried one back over. The stairs were done quickly and once they were he activated the roof area nearest to him. There were load bearing supports that had gone into the center of the building at the same time as the exterior walls. They were also the framework for the interior walls that he'd add later. But they were already in place so the roof went in smoothly and quickly.

The building was usable at that point, but there were still things that needed to be done. The shower stalls and the wooden boxes and sluices that fed water to them still needed to be made, the interior walls had to be made, and then all the doors. What he figured would be the last thing to get done was the fence around the edge of the roof. People would come up to fill the water boxes, so Eddie wasn't going to skimp on the fence. It would keep anyone up here a lot safer.

But I think it's time for the stalls and associated shower items. Then Tiana can have her shower, he thought.

The boxes and sluices were separate items listed on the blueprint, although he built them in place anyhow. When he finished the first one, he stared in amazement. Sap and resin flowed out of the wood, sealing the tiny gaps between the planks. The entire box took on a slightly glossy finish when the moisture finished moving.

Huh, natural sealant. I wouldn't have thought of that.

He went back downstairs and outside, then selected the first of the shower stalls. Those were easily and quickly made. Then he had to try out his idea. The original blueprint showed metal hinges on all the doors, but he didn't have any of those. Instead, Eddie pulled out some of his rabbit pelts and cut them to shape. Using the hammer and nails he'd taken from the tool shed on his farm, he attached the door with the leather hinges and breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't flash red. The prompt that appeared in front of him was a little irksome though.

Blueprint: Bunkhouse – modified

Your use of leather hinges will increase door deterioration rate by 50%. Do you wish to continue?

(y/n)

Yes, he thought. Although I'll replace them as soon as I can get some real hinges.

The stall and door shimmered and instantly the cracks and gaps between the planks were gone, the rough planks now having a firm seal between them. A hint of the same glossy surface that was on the boxes showed up on the walls of the stall.

He tested the door, swinging it open, then closing and latching it.

Looks good, he thought.

He walked inside and stopped when he actually looked at how much progress Tiana had made. The entire fireplace portion was completed and she was stretching up, standing on her tiptoes, to place rocks higher up the chimney.

“Hold on,” he said. “Let's make a ladder or something so you don't hurt yourself.”

She turned to him, her grin filling her face.

“You were right, I can do this,” she said. “It's easy with your blueprint, plus I've gained another point in masonry from doing it.”

“That's great, let's make you a step stool or ladder or something so you don't hurt yourself getting it that last foot and a half to the ceiling. Once you get to the ceiling you ought to be able to finish it from on the roof.”

“Okay,” she said, stopping and stretching.

Eddie's attention was caught as he stared at her. She saw him watching, smiled, then arched her back a little to thrust her breasts out prominently in front of her.

She came out of her stretch, saw him still staring, and half-turned away from him. He saw that the smile was still on her face though.

“You're right,” she said, “let's take a break. Is it almost time to start setup on the food stand?”

“Let's see,” he said, walking outside.

She followed along, very close to him again.

“No, it looks like we've still got a couple of hours. That's good, it means you can get paid for helping me,” he said.

She looked around excitedly and he led her to the shower stall that he'd completed.

“I just need to get some water into the box up top, then you pull that lever and it opens to let the water down the sluice,” he said, pointing to the appropriate items as he mentioned them.

“It's really simple, but it looks like it ought to work. Can you control the amount of water by adjusting the lever?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“Maybe, I haven't tried it out yet. But I know that the lever had to be held in position and that's awkward if you're trying to get clean, so hold on a second.”

He pulled out another pelt and cut a thick leather thong out of it. Nailing it in place next to the lever, he tested it. When he pulled the leather and slipped the thong over it, the lever stayed in place.

“There, now you can set that and have both hands free in the shower,” he said.

Success:

You have created a primitive locking mechanism.

You have obtained the skill Improvisation. (Help improvisation for more details)

“Yes,” he cried, pumping a fist in the air.

“What?” Tiana asked.

“Paul told me about a skill he'd gotten, improvisation. I just got it for making that little locking mechanism for the lever.”

“Huh, I didn't know about that one. Never heard of it before,” she said.

“Well, I was hoping I'd learn it. I might've asked Paul to train me in it if I could've thought of any way it could be trained.”

“Congratulations then, but... still willing to haul water for me?”

Eddie smiled.

“Sure thing.”

“Or you could do something else for me instead, if you want.”

“What's that?” Eddie asked.

She walked out into the back yard of the bunkhouse, found the lowest part of it, then pointed there.

“Dig me a hole about two feet deep and three feet across, right here.”

Eddie looked at her, curious, but she just smiled mysteriously. He heaved a sigh and then pulled out his shovel.

I may never understand women. I was sure she was all psyched for a shower, he thought.

As he dug, she carried out some of the rocks they'd hauled earlier.

“We had more than we needed for the fireplace,” she said, setting them down behind him.

Eddie was still confused, but the digging went quick. The soil was a soft loam that wasn't packed down at all after he got through the first couple of inches. Once he was done, Tiana started placing rocks in the hole, leaving the very bottom open. Then she stacked them so there was an eight inch high circle around the hole. The entire procedure went quickly and when she was done, he watched as the stones fused together just like the planks had earlier.

“I was hoping that would happen,” she said. “I never understood exactly how to use this variant of the spell before, but that part of it works just like the blueprints do.”

She started chanting and gesturing with her hands. A moment later a deep blue glow surrounded both of her hands and she pointed them at the base of the hole where dirt was still visible.

The dirt grew darker for a moment, then water rushed up out of it. The level grew deeper and deeper until the water was a couple of inches from the top, then it stopped.

“Now you can haul water a lot easier for the showers,” she said.

“What was that?” he asked.

“A Create Spring spell. There are two versions, one is temporary and a lot easier to use, but I'd never used the permanent one before. I thought this might be a good time to try it out.”

Eddie looked back at the stream he'd planned on getting water from, fifty yards away. Then he looked down at the spring, ten yards behind the back of the bunkhouse.

“Thank you,” he said. “My god, that's going to make my life easier, and my back a lot happier.”

She smiled.

“You can pay me back by filling up that shower.”

He grabbed the bucket and started hauling water to the roof immediately.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Nineteen

Aaron got out of bed and stretched luxuriously. Dinner the night before had been great, and the rest of the night had been even better. To top all of that off he'd gotten to come home and get a full eight hours of sleep. He knew there was going to be a price for it somewhere, but at the moment he was more than willing to pay. Aaron felt better than he had in months.

What was both better and worse was that Cynthia had told him that he wasn't going to be directly under Greenshaw any more. That part was awesome, but the layer between him and Greenshaw would be Cynthia herself, so there wouldn't be a repeat of last night until the current project was finished, which he regretted.

Either way, he knew he'd be getting a half decent budget for testing. As a result he had to go to work and talk to the techs, telling them to order whatever they needed for the pod conversions. Then he had to go in game and see if Eddie and Karl were interested in a job with Light Online, doing essentially what they were now.

Although I'll have to push them to do more adventuring, Aaron thought. We'll need the baseline statistics for intense combat as well as those for them just lounging around. Plus anything else we can convince them to do in game that players might want to do after they're in the really long term pods.

He was pretty sure that Eddie, at least, would jump at the chance. After Aaron was told what Eddie was going to be paid for farming, Aaron was sure of it. He could give them slightly over entry level wages because of their unique position and he already had NDAs from them. If he remembered the phrasing right, the NDAs already covered long term immersion testing.

He grabbed his cell phone and decided to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. A minute later he was talking to the head tech, who spent most of his life working as far as Aaron could tell, telling him to make a wish list of the parts he needed to soup up the Mark III L.O. PODs for truly long term testing.

~ ~ ~

Once Eddie had the tank filled, Tiana came up on the roof herself. She chanted for a few moments again and this time her hand turned a golden-orange color. She lowered her hand into the water and a few seconds later it began to steam. When her hand came back out, it was no longer glowing.

“That should do,” she said. “By the way, I found a flaw with your shower setup already.”

“What's that?” Eddie asked, slightly indignant.

“You need to put another chamber attached to each of the stalls, with another door on it, so people can get undressed in private.”

“Shit!” Eddie said. “I never even thought of that, I just followed Paul's blueprints.”

Meanwhile he was distracting himself as his mind flashed to what Tiana would look like just before getting in the shower, or better still when she was getting out, dripping wet.

“Well, just make another thing like the stall attached to the front of each stall. That ought to do it.”

“I don't know if I can call that portion of the diagram back up now that it's completed.”

“So, just look at the other stall and place things like that? You haven't built that one yet, so you can still see it.”

“Yeah, that might work,” he said as he regretfully banished the images his mind had been providing him.

She stared at him impatiently.

“Oh, you mean now?” he said.

“Well, my warm water is waiting,” she replied.

He went back down and quickly grabbed the planks necessary for the job. He tried to copy the outline that showed for the other stall as close as he could and the planks sealed themselves together again once he'd placed the last one. It didn't take very long to duplicate the door either, and once he'd finished that, Tiana pushed past him, closing the door behind her.

He shook his head, wishing that his work had been maybe a touch less good so he had a crack to peak through, then slapped himself mentally.

None of that you ass, he thought. You're not some stupid high school kid trying to peek into the girls' locker room.

Instead, he went to work on building the other stall, including the changing room in front of it like he'd added to the first one. Then he started assembling the doors to hang inside the bunkhouse after he made the walls. The blueprints showed the inside walls being made of woven wood, either willow or springy branches just like he'd used previously, but he wasn't looking forward to weaving them together. He made a stack of the doors in what would be a common area inside when the place was finished, then hung the three doors that already had frames, one in front, one in back, and the last one leading up to the roof.

By that time, Tiana was out of the shower. She found him inside.

“There's another problem with the shower,” she said.

“What's that?”

She lifted a muddy foot, shaking it in front of him.

“It needs some sort of floor. Stone would be best, so I suppose I'll have to do that.”

“Thank you again then and maybe run a stone path to the nearest door too?”

“Can do, other than that it works like a charm. Now I need to find soap and shampoo.”

“I get wanting the shower, but the games cleans us up every overnight, why soap?”

“Because I don't feel clean, my brain knows I get clean every night, but I don't feel that way without scrubbing myself.”

“Good enough,” he said, “but unless Old Jeffries has it I don't know where you'll find soap.”

“It's around, the prostitute players in the bigger cities use scented soaps all the time.”

“The what?” he asked.

“Don't you know what a lot of female players do in game to get money?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to believe she was talking to him about this.

“They need to get clean between clients,” Tiana said, “so they made sure there was soap. Whether it was already in game or they just started making it, I don't know. Either way, it's out there though.”

“Uhh...” he said.

“Yeah, that's kind of how I reacted at first too, until I realized that they were doing it because they wanted to. It's not like they're being forced to do it, and evidently it pays pretty well. So, to each their own I suppose.”

Eddie shook his head to get rid of the slightly disturbed feeling the knowledge had generated in him. He couldn't even figure out why it was bothering him. Regardless, it was about time to get the food stand set up for the evening's sales.

The two of them headed down the road to the field. When they got there, Eddie groaned. Someone had trashed his, admittedly pathetic, food stand. The fire pit was fine, but the counter where they'd done the sales had been hacked and slashed into little pieces.

“What the hell?” Eddie said.

“I'm sorry,” Tiana said.

“It's not your fault.”

“Actually, I think it might be. That's just the type of thing Terrod or Sombra would do if they were pissed off.”

“It still isn't your fault. You can't be held to blame for them being assholes,” Eddie said.

She just repeated herself again.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't worry about it, I can get it set back up in just a few minutes, a half hour tops.”

Eddie got the fire started first and as it burned down to coals he began to reconstruct his food stand.  It did take him nearly the half hour he'd said, but once it was done he had a good bed of coals to cook on. Preparing the meat to roast didn't take much more time and before long the smell of fresh roasted meat was drifting out into the field and he saw potential customers approaching.

Karl and Allie got back about a half hour after Eddie started selling and Karl, at least, immediately pitched in to help. Allie said she had to go back to her tent for a few things she'd left there. She looked agitated when she got back.

“Those sons of bitches. They trashed our tent.”

“Who?” Tiana asked.

“The rest of our former group, well except Dominic I suspect. His tent was still there, but I know this was his day to be out of game. So I'm guessing the other two shredded our tent. Nothing of mine missing at least, not that I noticed right off, but still.”

“Wait, were their tents gone?” Karl asked. “You said Dominic's was still there, that suggests the others were gone.”

“Yeah, just bare ground where their tents were. Like I said, Dominic's is still there, but theirs were gone, and ours was all shredded. I got all my stuff, you'd better go get the rest of yours too Tiana. At least those two won't be there to harass you while you do.”

“Excuse me,” Tiana said, not looking very concerned.

She did head over towards the tents though.

“Allie, what are you two going to do with the wrecked tent?” Eddie asked, having realized a flaw in his plan to open the bunkhouse as soon as it was done.

“I don't know, just trash it probably. As long as we're welcome to stay at the farm, it shouldn't matter. It's just the principle of the thing,” she replied.

“Can I have it? I just realized that I'm going to need mattresses for all the beds in the bunkhouse if I'm going to rent those rooms out. I can maybe put the tent together as covers for a few of them.”

“Sure, know how to sew? It's going to need a lot of work. You'd probably be better off hauling the mattresses from your bunkhouse on the farm down for that.”

“You're right, but that means I'm going to need to build that cart too. No way I can get those down on the wheelbarrow and carrying them is right out also.”

He shook his head before continuing.

“Now I know why so few people like to start their own business. If it's this hard in a game, what's it like in real life? Always one more thing to do.”

Tiana was back a few minutes later and when she returned, Allie went over and retrieved the tent, or what was left of it. Eddie rolled up the fabric as tightly as he could. Even if he used the mattresses from the bunkhouse, he'd need to replace those sooner or later. If his plans went the way he hoped, he'd be hiring a crew to work the farm for him so the bunkhouse would have to be usable.

So tomorrow I need to find whoever makes mattresses for the village and order some. I'm going to need twelve for the new bunkhouse which I can take from the one on the farm, but then I'll need to replace those twelve. I wonder how much they'll charge me for something like that? Probably just straw tick like the ones in the farm bunkhouse, so it shouldn't cost too much. I should order a bunch for the inn at the same time.

Eddie pulled up the blueprint of a cart that Paul had sent him. In between customers he examined it, trying to see if he had everything he needed to make one. It looked like the rough planks he'd been using for the bunkhouse would do the trick for the cart as well. He heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that he already had everything he'd need to make it. Although he'd have to modify a few items he already had for things like the wooden axle, traces, and reins.

The evening passed quickly. Eddie got along quite well with Karl and Tiana, but he couldn't get a read on Allie. Karl seemed to have done so pretty well though and the two got along well. They told him that the road they'd mapped led all the way into the mountains and that the far end of it, just before leaving the Meadowlands, or maybe right after the Meadowlands ended, they weren't quite sure, showed signs of recent heavy traffic.

“Looked like a horde of orcs, well maybe not quite a horde but thirty or more of them, had been moving west along the border of the two zones,” Allie said. “No clue why, of course, but still not a good thing. I haven't been to the mountain zones yet, I'm only level nine, but from what I've heard that doesn't happen much. The orcs normally stay in the same place all the time.”

When they closed down for the night, there were still a couple of hours of sunlight left. Eddie decided that he was going to start the cart right then. Karl and Allie decided to head back to the house and Tiana went with them to heat water for them to take baths. Eddie wasn't worried since Lucky was with him. She'd been wandering most of the day but now that he was alone she just settled in near him, watching what he was doing.

So how is this one going to work? he wondered. Is it just going to light up a space like the bunkhouse did or what?

A quick glance at the blueprint didn't tell him how it would work.

Cart Blueprint

Capacity: 1 ton

Level: common

Crafted: Paul Rogar

This item is designed as a transport item. One beast of burden is required to pull it. Carrying capacity of one ton.

He triggered the blueprint and got his answer. The first things that showed up in front of him was the glowing outline of a wheel. He pulled a rough plank over and placed it over the light, then repeated the process until the planks filled the outline. With a large rock he rolled over, he leaned the planks up and cut them to size with a saw he'd taken from the farm.

As soon as he finished the last cut it shimmered, solidified, and he had a large wooden disc in front of him, with a circle flashing in the center of it.

Got to cut out a spot for the axle, he thought. Although Paul's trick with the coals ought to work well here. I don't think I've got anything else that could cut a circle out of the center.

He set the wheel to the side, and focused on the other wheel in the blueprints. Once again a shimmering circle formed in front of him. While he was working on this one, he heard voices approaching. Lucky's ears laid back alongside of her head and she gave a soft growl.

“No Lucky, stick with me,” he said.

Eddie looked up and realized that he'd been working a lot longer than he'd thought since it was almost dark out. He moved around behind the pile of lumber, dragging Lucky with him. The voices were louder now, and they sounded at least a little drunk.

“I can't believe those bitches would leave us for some cruddy low level merchant types.”

Eddie recognized the voice as Terrod's. When there was a reply, he also recognized Sombra's voice.

“Yeah, I had my sights set on that elf. It wouldn't have been long before she'd have been mine.”

“Well, the very least we can do is pay them back for the insult. He fixed the damn food stand, but this time he won't be able to it again. With all the wood burnt up, that ought to be more of a pain for him.”

“Well, I know he's been working on this stupid shack thing, so we can get a little more payback now,” Sombra said.

Eddie saw the light of a torch spilling onto the ground along the edge of lumber pile. He peered out over the top and saw Sombra holding the torch to the corner of the incomplete bunkhouse.

“What the fuck?” Sombra said. “It won't burn. I got some stupid message too, saying no PvP is allowed in the Meadowlands. What PvP is it talking about? Is he in there?”

The two men rushed into the empty bunkhouse and Eddie heard them stomping around inside.

“He's not in here? What the hell, why won't it let us burn it?” Sombra said.

I bet they could trash the food stand because it was just out in that field, Eddie thought. The bunkhouse is on my claimed land though, making it probably register as one of my belongings so they can't mess with it. The inn is definitely going on my claimed land so I don't have to worry about anyone damaging it.

It wasn't long before Sombra and Terrod gave up on their attempts to damage the bunkhouse.

“Well, if we can't do it like that, maybe there's another way,” Sombra said as the two men walked away. The last thing Eddie heard was barely audible.

“I bet our new friends jump at the chance,” was what he thought he'd heard.

Eddie was just happy to let them go. If Allie was level nine and Tiana level seven, those two were probably in the same range since they'd been grouping. At level two he knew he had no chance against them even if PvP were allowed in the zone.

~ ~ ~

Once he was sure they were gone, he finished the second wheel as quickly as he could before heading towards the farm at his alternating trot and walk pace that left his stamina near full. It was completely dark out by the time he made it to the farm, and fairly chilly out. When he got inside he found that someone had built a fire in the fireplace and the inside of the farmhouse was warm.

Lucky slipped in through the door while he had it open and the next he saw of her was when she sprawled out on the hearthstone in front of the fireplace, soaking up the heat.

He poured himself a beer and sat down at the table. Karl was there, so he started telling him what had happened.

“Assholes!” Karl said when Eddie had finished.

“Now you see why we didn't have any problem with just leaving them,” Allie said from the doorway where she and Tiana stood.

“I don't blame you. I'm surprised you were with them at all,” Eddie said.

Allie shrugged.

“They were the only group near our level that adventured during the day. I wondered why they didn't have their own group and now I know. We were only with them a few days, a little less than a week. Probably we should've left at the first signs that they were assholes, but it wasn't consistent.”

“Well, apparently they've got it out for me,” Eddie said. “I do wonder what they meant about new friends jumping at the chance though. Anyone else isn't going to be able to burn it down either since there's no PvP in the zone.”

Karl shrugged, spreading his hands.

“Who knows,” he said.

A glance at Allie and Tiana showed that they had no idea about it either.

“Well, at least I know it'll be safe. Tomorrow I'll finish the cart, finish the bunkhouse, then haul the mattresses down. Maybe I can open the bunkhouse for business tomorrow.”

He drained his beer and felt himself finally relax a bit.

“I think I need to change my pricing though,” Eddie said. “I feel like I'm gouging people and don't feel right about that. What do you guys think?”

The ensuing discussion took nearly an hour and when they were done talking, everyone headed for bed.  Eddie paused first to throw some more wood on the fire and found Lucky crashed out on the hearthstone, purring in her sleep. He shook his head, carefully added wood to the fire, then went to bed himself.

When he woke in the morning Eddie immediately got to work. His list for the day was crazy long. He had to go hunting for more meat, pick produce to sell, lead a pseudo-oxen down to the new bunkhouse, finish the cart, finish the bunkhouse, come back here with the oxen leading the cart, load up the mattresses then go back down to the new bunkhouse with them and distribute the mattresses. If he had the time he had to arrange for replacement mattresses as well.

After all that he'd have to open his food stand, after remaking the stand itself.

I wonder if I ought to move the stand up to the bunkhouse. Hire one of those little kids in the hamlet to go through shouting out that food and shelter are for sale there. That way it would be protected just like the bunkhouse is. Means I could put more effort into the stand, make it a little fancier maybe.

He groaned as he realized he was thinking of even more work that he'd have to do if he went with the idea, but since he had to rebuild the stand anyhow, and the rough planks were easily available, he decided to go with it. He could make a basic stand from them for now, then improve it over time. Plus it would be an easy advertisement for his bunkhouse since anyone coming to the food stand would see it.

He nodded, having made his decision, then got to work.

The day passed quickly for Eddie and when it was time to open his vendor stand he'd finished the rest of his list. The stand was just a few planks for the moment, he'd improve it later. But he'd taken a second plank and used charcoal to write 'Food and Shelter' on it, with an arrow pointing towards the new bunkhouse. Then he'd driven it into the dirt down at the corner of the field where his old stand used to be.

And even if someone destroys it I'm not going to bemoan the loss of a single plank and a couple of minutes worth of writing, he thought.

Allie and Karl had hunted with him earlier and Tiana had come down to finish the fireplace. Tiana was still with him, but the other two had gone mapping down the road in the other direction today. Allie had warned that it was a long way to where the road left the Meadowlands in that direction and that they might not be back before dark, or not even until tomorrow.

She'd also gritted her teeth and gone into Old Jeffries' trading post to replace the shredded tent.

“So what do you want to do in the game?” he asked Tiana.

“Well, just be in here so I don't have to feel the pain of my physical therapy. I was never that much of a gamer, so I don't know what there is to do really,” she said.

“Most people play to gain levels and power for their character. Means killing things and finishing quests mainly.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“Well, you know I can't really talk about it very much, but I can say that I joined the game to make money. I'm not doing it the way I thought I would be, but I am making some at least. Don't know how long I'll be in here though. I hope to get all my holdings staffed with NPCs before I have to leave. Then I can at least log in with a helmet and gloves to keep things running. That won't be nearly as nice as the setup I've got now, but I'll do what I can.”

“So, you're just trying to make money? That's all you're doing here?” she asked.

“Yes and no. I have an idea about something I saw in-game, and that's helping guide my actions, but overall, yeah. I need to have some money when I'm finally out of here or I'll be kinda screwed.”

“Really? That broke? When you said broke, I thought maybe just no liquid assets or something.”

“Nope, all of about three hundred dollars in my bank account, no apartment, nothing but a few duffel bags worth of belongings. Which I stored since I was going to be in-game for a while. Sorry, things are tight where I am, no jobs anywhere and half the ones that used to be available are being replaced with automation.”

“Is that what happened to you?” she asked.

“Yeah, I had a job in a nutrient solution factory for a couple of years. Got replaced by automation a few months back.”

He stopped and peered down the road, pleased to see several people walking his way.

“Oh good, I was hoping I wouldn't lose too much business by moving the food stand up here,” he said.

By the time he'd been selling meat on a stick and vegetables for an hour, now at a reduced price of one silver for either two meat on a sticks or one meat and a serving of vegetables, he'd also rented out the ten rooms in the bunkhouse that he was willing to rent. The other two he'd reserved for Karl and himself.

The profits weren't as good as the previous few days, but he also didn't hear anyone griping about the price, which he had the last few days.

Good, I'm richer and they're happy. Looks like I've got the prices set right for now, he thought.

Finally he got around to opening the notifications that had been flashing in his panel for the better part of the day. He'd had so much to do that he hadn't bothered earlier on, figuring he'd wait until things were calm to take care of it.

There were a bunch of experience notifications from hunting by himself and with Lucky earlier on, including a one point advancement in his hunting skill, before anything interesting showed up, then he'd gained two more levels in carpentry and one more in cooking, but the next item was this:

Success:

You have completed the Hidden Quest: Developmental Issues (1/5)

For being the first player to build a permanent public building in: The Meadowlands. You have been awarded 1500 Experience and twenty-five Gold Pieces. You have unlocked the quest: Developmental Issues II

Developmental Issues II:

This quest is all about developing: The Meadowlands.

To complete part II of Developmental Issues you must build one of the following buildings and open it to the public.

Blacksmith

Leatherworker

General Store

Tavern

Inn

Rewards:

+ 2500 Experience

+ 50 Gold Pieces

Increased reputation and renown with inhabitants of: The Meadowlands

The next message brought a grin to his face.

Success:

You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 3

Do you wish to advance?

(Y/N)

Yes, he thought.

You have advanced to Level 3.

You have 3 stat points to distribute.

You may choose a skill.

You have received one stat point in: Heartiness

Your Health has increased.

Your Mana has increased.

Your Stamina has increased.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty

Aaron stared down at the contracts in his hands. He needed to finish reading them through himself before submitting them to the company lawyers, then finally seeing if Eddie and Karl were interested. He was hoping to get them to make a snap decision and wanted the contracts ready in case he was successful.

They'll actually get real pay and benefits if they sign on this time, Aaron thought. None of that twenty bucks a day crap they were telling me about. A flat thousand a week, plus they get to stay in the pods for the duration of the testing, which will depend on how well the tests work. We'll keep them in until they report problems or the pods detect problems. I'll need them to come out for a bit first so we can do a medical exam and get baseline readings, but then maybe as long as a year in pod.

He chuckled to himself, recalling a book he'd enjoyed where one of the side characters had spent a year dead for tax purposes. Then took a moment to seriously wonder how a person who stayed in the pod for an entire year would be classified by the government, or if people would somehow find a way to use the pods to disappear from their old lives.

They could set up a pod somewhere no-one knows about and just go there and stay gone for a year as long as they pay the electric in advance. Although there probably ought to be someone there just in case. Imagine a nutrient line getting clogged and someone dying because no-one checked up on them.

Aaron decided that he'd include a recommendation that the year long pods only be allowed to be used from registered pod centers, where they knew someone was keeping an eye on things. He'd include a long list of the potential problems that could occur if use out of the centers were allowed; power outages, net outages, hardware malfunction, etc... He could create a list that would go on and on and each of the items on it were something that was much less likely with a daily inspection like they'd get in a pod center.

He shook his head, realizing that he'd let his thoughts wander again. Reading Legalese did that to him. He sighed, jotted down a quick note about the recommendations he wanted to make, then got back to reading the contracts.

~ ~ ~

Eddie quickly assigned his new stats. He knew that he wanted a better charisma, especially if he planned on running the inn at all himself after he had it built. The other two he decided to dedicate to agility in order to keep it well over average for his level.

Assign one point to charisma, assign two points to agility, he thought.

His problem now was that he had two skill points that he could select skills with and had no idea what other skills he might want for his build.

If you can call it a build, he thought. Lots of unnecessary or minimally useful skills in it. But you know what? I never checked to see if those points could be used for weapons skills. That might be useful.

Help skills, he thought.

The thought just brought up a massive scrolling list of skills.

Stop, he thought.

After a moment of pondering over the problem, he tried something different.

Help weapon proficiency, he thought, remembering back to what the game had said when it had given him his bows skill.

Weapon proficiencies are skills used for weapon slots. The amount of weapon proficiencies you can have is determined by your class and level. As a: Warrior (Ranger), you currently have a maximum of four weapon proficiencies.

Current weapons:

Staves (1)

Bow (1)

You may have up to 2 more weapon proficiencies at a cost of one skill point each.

He knew he wanted swords of one type or another, he also knew he'd like to be able to use a dagger or knife.

Help short swords, he thought.

Short swords are blades that are longer than a dagger but shorter than a classic long sword. They are primarily used for thrusting, although some may also have an edge. A classic examples would be the Roman Gladius.

Dagger first, he thought. Buy proficiency short blades.

Success:

Weapon Proficiency Short Blades added (skill Dual Wield may be selected at skill level 5 or higher in Short Blades)

Dual Wield? he thought. I bet you can use Short Swords for that also, that makes my other choice easier.

Buy proficiency Short Swords, he thought.

Success:

Weapon Proficiency Short Swords added (specialization in Dual Wield may be selected at skill level 5 or higher in Short Swords)

There, now all I need to do is get a sword and dagger and I'll be set. I've still got the staves skill so if I lose my weapons I can find a stick and still be half decent fighting with that.

Let's see how it looks now, he thought. Character Sheet.

Edward Hunter

Human Male

Level: 3

Class:Warrior (Ranger)

Strength:10

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 20

Wisdom: 13

Heartiness: 12

Charisma: 10

Willpower: 12

Health: 51

Endurance: 11

Mana: 52

Luck: 14 (15)

Stamina:120

Experience:

5347/8000

Base Attack: 10

Base Armor: 10 (32)

+1 attack melee (str)

+18 armor (studded leather)

+4 attack ranged (agi)

+4 armor (agility)

Skills:

General:

Animal Friendship: 1

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry: 1

Bowyer/Fletcher: 2 (+2 to checks)

Carpentry: 5

Cooking: 8

Evaluate: 3

Farming: 2

Fire Building: 1

Herbalism: 2

Hunting: 3

Tracking: 3

Weather Sense: 1

Weaving: 3

Improvisation: 1

Combat:

Bows: 1

Staves: 1

Small Blades: 1

Short Swords: 1

Magical:

N/A

Looking better, he thought. Now I just need to bump my stats some more. I hate leaving any of them at average, especially charisma with my current plans.

By this point it was full dark out and he considered simply staying in his room at the new bunkhouse. He was sitting in it now. He'd been sitting on the edge of his bed while he worked out his character. Tiana was inside the bunkhouse though, waiting for him.

The building was designed with sitting rooms in front and back, all the rooms off a hallway between the two. The back one had the fireplace she'd created and she was sitting in front of a roaring fire that Eddie had built, occasionally tossing a fresh log on to keep it burning.

He'd love to stay here, but was pretty sure that Tiana would prefer to return to the farmhouse where she had her own room. He sighed heavily, thinking of how much he'd like to offer to share his room with her. He knew that he didn't have the guts for that though, not right now, and even if he did he was pretty sure that she'd turn him down.

Maybe not in a few more days though, he thought. She's been getting more relaxed with me right along, so unless she's tossing me into the friend zone and that's why she's relaxed, there is hope. All I need to do is work up the courage to ask once I think she's ready. The worst thing that happens is she says no, right?

He shook his head, then left his room and walked towards the fireplace. She'd done a fine job with it and it had a good draw to help keep the fire going. There were benches lining the walls and another one right in front of the fireplace that she was sitting on.

“So, ready to head back to the farmhouse?” he asked.

“Yeah, a while ago even. What took so long?”

He grinned at her.

“When I checked my notifications from today I found out that I'd leveled due to a quest. I was tweaking my character.”

“Congratulations then. What are you, level three now?”

He nodded.

“Plus I finally filled out my weapon proficiencies. I never got to choose those at my start like most do.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Remember, you aren't supposed to talk about that.”

“I refuse to not talk about something that leaves me looking like a fool if I don't address it. So now I've got bows, staves, small blades, and short swords. Maybe not the best assortment, but I think it'll do well.”

She smiled.

“Yeah, let's head back to the farmhouse. I let Lucky out the back door a little while ago, she was whining and scratching, so...”

Eddie stood and walked towards the door. As soon as he put his hand on it, he paused.

“There's something out there,” he said. “I think I'm picking up something from Lucky. She wants to pounce on it, but is worried it might be too much for her.”

“All that from her?”

“It's new, and I might be imagining it, but...”

He quickly grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow. Then he threw the door open and stepped outside.

“Lucky, go get 'em,” he called out.

He heard a snarl from around the side of the building and ran that way. When he turned the corner he saw a single humanoid holding a torch. It was short, between four and five feet, and if the torch light wasn't making him see things, it was a solid shade of green all over.

The creature was doing almost the exact same thing Sombra had tried the other night, holding a torch to the wood of the building. Unfortunately for the goblin, it wasn't too bright since it was holding the torch to one of the shower stalls, which had seen extensive use once the players found out about them, and was now very wet.

Lucky darted in and bit at its leg. She missed her bite, but as she continued by she whipped one of her claws along the back of its leg. The goblin dropped the torch and pulled out a sword similar to the ones Karl had bought. He swung at Lucky, but she was out of range before he completed his swing.

Eddie released the arrow he'd drawn back as soon as he saw the goblin. It struck the goblin in the arm and while the creature winced, it didn't seem very badly wounded by the arrow.

“I'll buff you,” Tiana said from behind him.

A few moments later a golden glow surrounded his body, penetrating through his armor and making him feel faster.

The goblin stepped towards him, Lucky having disappeared into the darkness. Eddie quickly shot another arrow at it, hitting it a glancing blow. He tossed his bow to the side and pulled the melee staff out of his inventory.

The goblin swung its sword, striking Eddie hard in the leg, hard enough that he knew he'd be limping if he tried to move. His return swing struck the goblin in the head, dazing it slightly.

While he had the chance Eddie did a quick Evaluate, wondering how tough his opponent was.

Goblin Scout:

Type: Monster

Level: 5

Armor: 25

Health 55 (+/-)

Attack: ?

The goblin's attention was focused on Eddie when Lucky darted out of the darkness and struck. She launched herself and drove both her front claws into the creature's shoulders. Then she raked her lower claws along its back.

The Goblin squealed and drove its sword over its shoulders trying to strike the bobcat. Lucky dropped away after raking her claws across him, the goblin spinning and trying to strike her.

“That's it,” Eddie yelled, swinging his staff at the back of its head. “First you try to burn down my building, now you're trying to kill my cat? Hell no!”

He put everything he had into the swing he made at the goblin's skull and it impacted with a resounding “Thwack!” The goblin crumpled to the ground, lying still.

Enemy slain: Goblin Scout (level 5)

You have earned 69 (+17 blessing) exp.

Lucky was whimpering a few feet away and he sank to his knees next to her.

“You said you were the healer of your group?” he asked, looking up at Tiana. “Help Lucky, please?”

She looked at him, specifically at the wound that was bleeding around his hand where he held his leg.

“Heal her first,” Eddie said.

He settled into a sitting position, putting pressure on the wound in his leg as Tiana knelt and briefly chanted over Lucky. The cat's whimpering stopped as she stood and came over to Eddie. She licked at his hand where he held it over the wound.

“Smart cat, she wants to clean the wound out. Shouldn't be necessary with a spell though and that's a bad enough wound that it'll need a spell. Take your hand off of it,” Tiana said.

Eddie revealed the wound. It had already stopped bleeding, but there was still blood everywhere from before it had. She touched his leg, directly on the wound, and he was prepared to wince. But as she touched it she started chanting and a warmth raced out of her hand, repairing the skin and meat of his leg where the sword had struck. When she finished, there was still a mark there, almost like a bad cut that had already had weeks to heal.

“Not quite full, but your own healing ought to take care of that in a few minutes,” she said. “Now we have to figure out what the hell is going on. There shouldn't be any goblins this deep in the Meadowlands.”

She stepped over to the goblin and bent down, looting it.

“That's strange,” she said. “The goblins in the forest normally only have silver and copper. This one has a gold piece as well.”

“Payment, you think?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I think so.”

“Well shit!” Eddie cursed. “I think we know who the friends Terrod and Sombra were referring to are now.”

“They wouldn't,” Tiana said.

Eddie shrugged.

“Who else then? Maybe a single goblin would try to raid the Meadowlands, but aren't they more of a pack type of monster? Weren't there groups that raided around here before, not singletons? But it being by itself and having gold when they don't normally? That's got to mean something and he was trying to do the same thing your old groupmates failed to do. Pretty damning evidence, wouldn't you say?”

She nodded.

“I'm not going to defend them, you're probably right. But how could they do it? I don't mean motivation, I mean the process of actually hiring a goblin and getting him here.”

“I have no idea, but I think I'm going to have to do something about it.”

“You mean we have to do something about this. Sorry Eddie, but you're not high enough level to do anything about it on your own.”

“We then, I didn't want to speak for you. I'll ask Allie and Karl to help as well once they return.”

“Dominic wasn't with these two the other night, right? Maybe we should ask him to help flesh out the group?”

Eddie thought about that for a moment.

“Didn't you say that he wasn't like Terrod and Sombra? But that he kind of knuckled under to them?”

“Yes, he did. But he wasn't doing it himself.”

“Do you think we can trust him?”

“Probably, even with them egging him on he refused to harass Allie and I. That's probably why they left him behind when they left.”

“Well, you can ask him if you want. I'll want to talk to him first, if I don't think we can trust him, the answer will be no. If I think we can, we'll give it a shot. Now we have to decide what to do. We can't just kill those two because this isn't a PvP zone, but they found a way to work around that so maybe we can as well. First things first though.”

Eddie just stood there and thought for a few moments, trying to pull up some sort of screen detailing his land.

Land. Bunkhouse. Land claim.

Nothing was working to get him the screen he wanted. Finally he focused on his land claim, trying to keep it in his mind while he thought the word stats.

It didn't work, maybe Land Claim stats.

A screen filled his panel.

Land Claim: New Bunkhouse, Meadowlands

Nine acre land claim in the Meadowlands.

See resources available on claim?

(Y/N)

He quickly thought No and the screen scrolled.

This land claim has a structure completed on it and is secured.

This land claim has players bound to it as a spawn point.

Terrod Parist

Sombra Caminante

Dominic Magum

Adjust player spawn points?

(Y/N)

With a malicious grin, Eddie thought Yes.

Terrod Parist

Remove spawn point from your land?

(Y/N)

Eddie thought yes, then repeated the process for Sombra, allowing Dominic to stay bound for the time being.

Tiana was staring at him when he finally finished.

“What were you doing? You had that look people get when they're using their interface.”

“I removed their spawn point binds from my land here. Left Dominic on for the time being though.”

“You can do that?” she asked.

“I thought I could. I figured if I could let people bind to my land, I could remove them also. It's just such a damned pain in the butt to do anything with land claims though, the help files are practically non-existent.”

“Is that how you got this land, land claims?”

Eddie cursed himself mentally. The secret was out now, if it had ever been a secret in the first place. After all Paul had willingly told him about it.

“Yeah, you can do a 'help player land claims' for what little information is available on it. I don't know why it isn't more common knowledge though. A friend of mine told me about them. There's other player oriented stuff like that as well but it seems like the help files on them were written to be as opaque as possible.”

Her eyes took on the far-off look that told him she was using the interface herself. A moment later they refocused on him.

“It doesn't look that confusing,” she said.

“Yeah, but did you see anything about binding spawn points, or removing them, or being able to get stats on your land?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“So, most help files have that little 'see also' line at the bottom. Not this one, or any of the associated ones I've discovered. That's why I said they're opaque. They're helpful in and of themselves, but don't give you any idea what other things might be associated with it.”

“Oh, I see what you mean. It creates more questions than it answers?”

“Exactly, but now, back to the business on hand. Should we stay down here tonight or head back to the farmhouse? I don't think Karl would mind if I let you use his room here.”

“No-one other than Karl, Allie, and me knows that you own the farmhouse, right?”

He shook his head.

“No-one that I'm aware of. At least not around here.”

“Then we should stay here, just in case that wasn't the only goblin they hired.”

~ ~ ~

Karl and Allie didn't arrive until a couple of hours past dawn. When they did, Karl looked a little the worse for wear. He was healthy, but his armor had obviously taken a beating.

“What happened?” Eddie asked.

“We got a little too close to the border with the forest and found a few goblins, a small group of them. Looked like they were scouting or something,” Karl said.

Then he broke into a grin.

“I'm Level two now, at least.”

Eddie returned his smile.

“Level three here.”

Karl spat in disgust.

“I'm never going to catch up to you. I blame that blessing of yours, you still have it, right?”

Eddie nodded. He checked once a day to make sure he still had Freyja's blessing and it had been listed when he checked first thing this morning.

“Well, we're going to be leveling up a lot more, and soon if I'm not mistaken,” Eddie said. “You'll never guess what happened last night.”

He went on to explain the encounter of the previous evening.

“Those sons of bitches,” Karl said. “I hate players like that. They're the ones that just kill and gank lower level players in other games just because they can.”

“They're probably like that in real life too,” Allie said. “You'll find a lot of the long term immersion types are. You guys don't seem that way, but a lot the LTI players are rich people that are used to getting their own way in everything. You tell them no and it just makes them more determined.”

Yeah, I think that fits, Eddie thought. It would explain exactly why they're acting this way. They had their sights set on Tiana and Allie and the women basically flipped them off and told them to take a hike. Now the assholes are blaming me because the women didn't want to stay with them and ended up hanging around with me after they left.

“Well fuck them and the horse they rode in on,” Eddie said. “What can we do about it? If Tiana and I are right, they're cooperating with the goblins somehow instead of killing them now. Can we use that to our advantage?”

“First,” Karl said, “we work on public opinion. Allie told me that the goblins won't normally cross into the Meadowlands, but you found one here deep in the zone and we found some that had come across the border farther to the west.”

“So, we tell the other players around here that Terrod and Sombra are trying to stir up the goblins to raid the Meadowlands?” Allie asked.

“Yup,” Karl said, “plus point out that one already came in this far so their campsites are in danger, as are the new accommodations and food that's been made available.”

Tiana held up a hand.

“It's a good plan, but I think it needs one change,” she said.

“What's that?” Karl asked.

“Don't go around telling everyone that, they'll think you're just trying to build animosity towards those two. Instead, I want you two to talk about it, loudly, while Eddie sells his food tonight. Also while he's renting out rooms. Let the other players overhear it instead of being told it, and you can be sure they'll repeat it and pass it along.”

“Ooh, that's evil. I like it,” Karl said.

“Never underestimate the power of gossip,” Allie added.

~ ~ ~

Eddie kept himself busy. He had to run up to the farm to get some vegetables, and he took the cart so he wouldn't have to walk it. Lucky went with him, running alongside the cart and occasionally dropping off the road to return with a bunny a bit later.

He wasn't sure if he had enough meat for the night, but at the same time he didn't feel like he had enough time to hunt. When he'd mentioned that, Allie had offered to take Karl and go looking for some deer. He'd accepted the offer gratefully just before hopping on the cart.

When he got back with the produce he busied himself with fixing up the food stand better. By the time he was done, he'd picked up another point in carpentry and had a solid little building with the fire pit a few feet out the back door.

Allie and Karl had come back with a deer while he'd been building so he had plenty of meat for the evening. At their request he quickly built a small picnic table and a few benches near the fire pit.

“A prep area for meats, plus somewhere for us to sit and complain loudly later on tonight,” Allie had said when trying to convince him.

Finally he started selling for the day. Allie and Karl were talking loud enough that he could hear them inside his booth and when Tiana came along and started talking about the attempt to burn the new bunkhouse down, she was even louder. There was no way his customers could not hear them, but he had no idea how they were reacting to it until later on.

When he shut down for the night, Dominic was there talking with Allie and Tiana. From what Eddie could hear the wizard was apologizing to them.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-one

Aaron groaned. He'd thought he'd have a more regular schedule by taking the lead position for the new testing, but he'd already put in ten hours today and wasn't even close to being done.

Parts were scattered around the two Mark III pods that contained Eddie and Karl. He was sure they'd agree, but he still had to go in game to talk to them. The other four, he was just as sure, were going to leave as soon as possible so he hadn't gotten parts for those pods with the rush order he'd made. Those parts would be along in a few days.

Because I bet I can find four more people to volunteer for this. Especially with the pay rates I can offer. Although half of the people I'm thinking of asking would probably do it just for the free long term immersion in Light Online.

He sighed heavily as he picked up his suit and started putting it on.

This is it, I'll do this then everything else can wait until tomorrow, he thought. There's nothing that can't wait. I'll do the four that I think are going to turn me down first, then go talk to Eddie and Karl.

~ ~ ~

When everything had settled down, Eddie looked up at his group.

“It worked,” Tiana said. “I could hear people talking about it earlier on. Looks like Terrod and Sombra weren't very popular to begin with. If they try to hang around the other players now they'll get a cold welcome.”

“What about Dominic? I saw him talking to you earlier,” Eddie asked.

“He was apologizing for having no backbone when the other two were harassing us. Said they threatened to find him again once he was over level twenty and in an appropriate zone, then just kill him over and over if he tried to interfere. He's a bit of a coward when it comes to other players, but really good against mobs.”

“So a good player who hates PvP?” Eddie asked. “I can relate, I'm not too fond of PvP myself, but I can handle it if necessary.”

“I was thinking we should ask him to fill out our group, especially if we're heading into the Forest of Fools,” Allie said. “It would be good to have a magic based DPS. I'm not bad at it with my bow, but since we don't have an actual tank, dropping things fast is going to be our best bet.”

“What are the odds of finding a tank?” Eddie asked.

“Not good, not for running during the day anyhow. There just aren't as many players active during the day and most of the ones around then are long term immersion types that already have a group.”

“Damn, somehow I don't think fifty-one health is going to let me tank,” Eddie said.

Allie snickered.

“Well,” she said, “you could tank for two or three hits at least, just not very well. You don't even have a shield.”

“Well then, I think the first thing will be to get Karl and I up to a level where we're more useful to you two,” Eddie said. “But definitely the goblins. We need to keep an eye out when we're in the forest, see if we can find any traces of Terrod or Sombra. If they sent a goblin after us they've got to be in there somewhere.”

“Umm,” Tiana said, “You realize that the forest is massive, right? I don't think anyone's ever bothered to explore the whole thing. They get to a high enough level and just move on. Once you're over level fifteen, there isn't a lot of experience available in there.”

“Wait a second, I thought that with Light Online open for a year everything had been explored,” Karl said.

Allie shook her head.

“Nope, you didn't read all the documentation for the game, did you?”

Karl shook his head.

“Just the basics, I figured if there was anything else I needed to know for my job, they'd tell me.”

Eddie chuckled.

“Yeah, I thought that too,” he said. “So much for trusting our employer, right?”

“The point being,” Tiana interjected. “Light Online is designed to expand almost on its own. When players start entering a zone that's on the border of the content it currently has, the AIs design a new zone to connect to it, then they submit it to human oversight and tweaking, then the new zone is added in. So it's not like anyone can explore the whole thing.”

Allie took up the thread of conversation.

“Which means that players don't tend to stick around lower level zones near the center of the game. They're constantly trying to push the boundaries and find new things. So no, the Forest of Fools hasn't been fully explored and finding Terrod and Sombra might not be as easy as you thought.”

“Well crap,” Eddie said. “Let's head back to the farm. I piled some firewood inside near the fireplace so if the players want a fire going all night, they can get up and tend it. I want my feather bed tonight though.”

Harnessing the pseudo-oxen to the cart was quick. Since Eddie had made the harness himself he knew exactly how to put it on the ox. Allie decided to walk alongside the cart that Eddie was driving, but the other two climbed in the back as they made their way back to the farmhouse.

~ ~ ~

“Alright,” Eddie said. “I need one more day to clear things up down at the new bunkhouse. I want to rent the rooms out for a week instead of a night. Then tomorrow morning we can head for the forest. Is there any particular area that's best entered? If not we can strike straight south from here and probably get to it in an hour or two.”

Karl shrugged, he knew as much about the Forest of Fools as Eddie did, which was next to nothing.

Allie looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Why don't Karl and I continue mapping today then. We can head straight south of here, find out how far it is to the forest, and I can see if I recognize that section of it.”

“That sounds like a good plan, you up for more mapping Karl?”

“Hell yeah, you just wait. When you open that inn, if you open that inn, I'm going to have a map of the entire Meadowlands. I'll make one on the hide of a deer or ox or something and you can hang it in the common room.”

Eddie thought back to the quest he hadn't shared yet.

“Definitely a when I open the inn. Speaking of which, I need to contact Paul and see about getting the blueprints for one. But for right now, it's hunting time for me, bunnies today. I still have plenty of venison from yesterday, but the bunny meat is running a little low. I really ought to figure out how to raise them. At the rate they breed in game it ought to be easy to keep a supply of bunny meat around.”

Karl shook his head at Eddie.

“Well, I'm having breakfast then heading out to map.”

The four of them sat down and ate before splitting up. Eddie headed north to hunt bunnies with Tiana accompanying him while Allie and Karl went south to map.

Instead of going straight north, Eddie went northwest. He'd hunted straight north recently and, despite his comments about how fast the bunnies bred, wasn't sure they'd have replenished that area yet. He was getting better with his bow too, the first bunny he shot netted him a point in his bows skill.

About an hour into the hunt he'd taken four bunnies, tossing them into his inventory to skin later. As he glanced up to see where to head next, he noticed that the mountains to the north had an outcropping that penetrated the Meadowlands. It was a high, stony ridge that jutted like a peninsula into the meadows and light forest he'd been traversing.

“Huh, looks like Karl's mapping is a good idea. I'd never have guessed there was something like this around here,” Eddie said.

“I haven't been in this area before myself. Lucky likes it though.”

The bobcat had raced into the rocky terrain, bounding from rock to rock as she climbed the ridge.

Eddie followed, thinking that looking out over the Meadowlands from the high point of the ridge might let him see what was in the area between the farm and his new bunkhouse better.

As he started climbing there was a flash of something that left him feeling lightheaded.

“What was that?” he asked, “did you feel it?”

Tiana was walking along behind him and chuckled when he asked the question.

“Yes, I felt it. That's a bug that lots of us have reported. But the devs claim it's a feature and I suppose they have a point. Anytime you feel that it means you've changed zones. So be careful, we're in the Hammertop Mountains now. It's for levels fifteen to thirty.”

“Eh,” Eddie said, “we'll just run back into the Meadowlands if anything attacks.”

“You are aware that mobs in pursuit can chase you over zone borders?” Tiana asked.

“Uhh, no. I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.”

He looked around more carefully now.

“Is that a cave?” he asked, pointing.

“Might be, want to check it out?” Tiana replied.

“Is it safe?”

“How do I know, I told you I hadn't been around here yet. We can just see if we hear anything in it, and mark it down for exploration later if you'd rather.”

“That sounds like a good plan. I don't want to sound like a coward or anything, but it's a level fifteen and up zone and I'm only level three.”

“Don't look at me, I'm only level seven, so I'm with you. But I do want to at least take a look,” she said.

Before they approached the cave Eddie turned around to look out over the Meadowlands. From what he could see there wasn't much between his farm and the bunkhouse he'd built. Just the normal light forest and meadows like the surrounding area. There was another small pond and the stream that flowed into his land claim, but nothing major.

I wonder if I have enough land claim acreage available that I could claim that entire section along the road between the two, he thought. What would I do with it if I did though, it's just a tempting thought to ensure that no-one else could do anything that might mess with my existing property. I wonder if that would be prevented by the no PvP rule here. Probably not though, I don't imagine the game checks for smoke paths or where shadows will fall or anything like that.

Dropping that line of thought for the moment, he turned back towards the cave. Tiana was halfway there already so he hurried to catch up. When she got closer to the cave she started speeding up, breaking into a broken run to avoid the rocks scattered across the top of the ridge.

“Hurry,” she called. “I can hear someone in there crying for help.”

Well shit! So much for not getting involved in a higher level zone, he thought.

He broke into a run of his own, keeping himself at a slow enough rate to avoid the rocks. By the time he got to the mouth of the cave Tiana had already entered it. There was a glowing ball of light over her head illuminating the interior of the cavern and that was a good thing. She stopped dead and when Eddie caught up to her he saw why.

The path leading into the cave fell away into a deep gouge in the earth, the bottom of the gouge was beyond the twenty foot sphere of light created by Tiana's spell. But that was where the voice was calling from.

“Can you do that again?” Eddie said, gesturing towards the ball of light over her head.

Her answer was a chant that finished as she swept her arm to point at him. A light appeared over his head a moment later.

Eddie dug into his inventory, which was nearly full. Then he saw what he was after. He'd used up the scrap of rope he'd found with Lucky when he made the traces for the cart, but he'd purchased a full coil the one time he'd been in Old Jeffries' trading post.

He pulled the rope out and glanced around, looking for somewhere to secure one end. He kicked the protrusion of rock he found that jutted up from the join of the wall and floor. It held against his kick so he dropped to his knees and tried desperately to remember how to tie the knot he wanted. He'd known it in the real world and as he forced the knowledge to his mind, his notifications started blinking. He quickly tied the Bowline knot he'd remembered, backing it up with a stopper knot so it wouldn't come undone.

Dismissing the flashing notification, just like he almost always did now, he lowered the other end of the rope over the edge.

“I'm going down,” he said. “Did you want to wait up here or come with me?”

“Let's wait and see how deep it is. If it's deeper than your rope is long you won't want me on the rope behind you,” Tiana said.

Eddie nodded firmly, then took the rope in his hands, facing her. He backed over the edge and walked himself down the side of the cliff face formed by the gouge. He knew he should've secured himself to the rope somehow, but he couldn't quickly think of any way to do that and he was in a rush. The voice crying for help had sounded hoarse and pained.

He kept looking down to see how much rope was left and was happy when he saw the floor of the gouge, a few feet of rope lying in a mess on it.

“Tiana,” he called. “I'm almost down and can see the bottom. Come on down if you're coming.”

He felt the tension of the rope change slightly, then saw her light come over the edge of the cliff. Once he reached the bottom, he dropped off the rope, keeping tension on it to make her climb easier. A minute later she joined him down bottom.

“This way,” he said, having listened for the cry while she was climbing.

The base of the gouge was a combination of dirt and rock, vicious looking shards of rock jutting up from the floor occasionally. The voice grew louder, although it still sounded the worse for wear.

“Should I call out to them?” Eddie asked Tiana softly.

“Well, if there were anything down here that was hostile, it would've gone after them, right? Wounded prey is easier than healthy.”

“We're here, where are you?” Eddie called out loudly.

The gouge was now a tunnel through solid rock, the roof about twenty feet overhead was a solid sheet of it. The return cry echoed along the corridor, giving them a better sense of where to go.

A minute later a reflection caught the light as they moved forward. It was a shield, battered and scarred from much use. The iron that bound the edges of the shield glittered in the light. Another step revealed a leg, one bent at an abnormal angle with a hint of white jutting through a rent in the armor that covered it.

“Is that you?” Eddie said, much softer now. “The person crying for help?”

“Aye lad, help me out here.”

Another step brought the rest of the body into view. The unkempt, bushy beard that covered the man's face made Eddie think he was old, at least until he stepped forward. Then he saw that the man's face was unlined, with the look of youth to it.

Eddie blinked.

He can't be more than four feet tall. That can't be right, can it?

The armor the man wore was made of metal scales attached to some sort of backing. It was as battered and scarred as the shield he'd seen. The man himself looked near death, the pale complexion of his face looking unnatural in the light.

That was all Eddie saw before Tiana pushed past him and knelt beside the man.

“You're wounded,” she said.

A grimace passed across the man's face.

“Aye,” he said.

“Can I help?”

“I don't know lassie, can ya?”

She tilted her head back in frustration.

“Do you want me to heal you?” she said.

“Ack, you be a healer?”

“A priestess, I can heal you if you want.”

“What are ya waiting for then? I can't heal on me own, I haven't eaten in days.”

Eddie started rummaging in his back. He had the last few portions of venison that he'd cooked up the night before that hadn't sold. He pulled one out and held it out to the man as Tiana looked over the broken leg.

“This will hurt,” she said.

“What wi—”

The man tried to swallow his scream, but was only partially successful. When Tiana finished her movement the leg was straight again, the bone that had been jutting out of it once again inside the flesh.

“Now I'm going to need to make sure the bone is matched up correctly, then I can take care of healing the bone,” she said.

“Aye lass, do what you need to. I've been lying here a day or more, wondering if I'd ever walk again. A little pain's nothing compared to those thoughts.”

Her hand ran along his leg, then her other hand came down to it. With a few gestures, and a grunt of pain from the man, the leg seemed much more normal.

Tiana began to chant and a silver-white glow illuminated the leg for a moment.

“It'll be a few minutes before I can heal you more,” she said. “The bone mending spell is expensive. I rarely have to use it too, so I'm not as good at it as I am at my more normal heals.”

“That be fine lass. Me leg is hurting less than it has since I fell into this cursed pit. I almost feel as though I could walk on it right now.”

“Well, don't move yet. It takes thirty minutes for the bone to fully heal. By the time it does, I should be able to heal the rest of your wounds also.”

Finally the man took the meat Eddie had been holding out. The way he tore into it backed his claim of not eating for a while.

“Maybe slow down with that?” Eddie said. “If you haven't eaten for a while, you'll want to take it slow.”

“But it's so good, lad. Tastes better than Mother Granite's best mushroom stew. But don't you ever tell her I said that.”

“Who?” Eddie said.

The man finally took a closer look at him.

“Where's your beard lad? You look a disgrace without it, all scrawny and stretched out like...”

He took a closer look at Tiana.

“You ain't dwarfs, are ya?” he said finally. “I thought I was just delusional, but you're some other race, humans maybe?”

He took another massive bite of the venison and chewed noisily. Tiana was still resting, turned away from the dwarf, but Eddie couldn't watch. He turned around and spotted the shield lying on the ground.

“Yours I assume?” he asked, picking it up.

The dwarf growled furiously.

“Where be that damned orc? He and his group chased me for days. I'd recognize that shield anywhere,” he shouted, shreds of venison flying from his mouth as he spoke.

“I'll take that as a no,” Eddie said. “But I'll look around.”

He moved out to where his light and Tiana's barely touched at the edges, then started to circle. The gouge was much wider here, and the ceiling had risen up out of the light.

“Here he is,” Eddie called. “There's an orc body impaled on a stalagmite over here.”

Eddie had also found another shield. This one also showed signs of having been used in a fight, but was in much better condition. It was rectangular and would probably cover two-thirds of the dwarfs body were he to use it.

Yeah, I can kind of picture him with this. I bet this one's his, Eddie thought.

He carried the shield over to the dwarf.

“This one yours then?” he asked.

The dwarf reached for it greedily, snagging it out of Eddie's hands with a surprising amount of strength.

“Now I just need my hammer and I'm good,” he said.

“No, not until I heal you,” Tiana said, turning back to the dwarf finally. She chanted again, laying her hands on the dwarf. His color and breathing improved dramatically and he shifted position, drawing himself up and looking more alert.

“One more of those and you'll be back to full health,” she said. “But it'll be a few minutes. Eddie, would you look for his hammer? Otherwise I'm guessing he'll start doing it himself and I don't want him to undo the work I've done.”

He nodded and started looking again. It didn't take long to find the hammer. The thing was almost three feet long with a solid looking block of metal on one end and a long pointed spike on the other. He was surprised at how well-balanced it was when he picked it up, but refrained from trying a few practice swings with it as he brought it over to the dwarf.

I'm pretty sure that first, he wouldn't like that and second, he could kick my ass in a heartbeat. So, I'll just give it back to him, Eddie thought.

The dwarfs eyes lit up at the sight of the hammer. He snatched it away from Eddie even more greedily than he'd grabbed his shield. Then he settled back in place.

He'd finished the first piece of venison and appeared to be keeping it down just fine, so Eddie offered him another piece.

“Thank you lad,” the dwarf said, his beard parting as he opened his mouth and shoved the venison in for a bite.

“I'm Eddie and your healer for today is Tiana.”

The dwarf paused his eating and stared at them.

“Jern,” he said.

He paused, watching them closely.

“Of the Ambolt family.”

He relaxed when they didn't react to his words.

When the dwarf was finally mobile again, he stood and stretched.

“Ah, that's better that is. Now, how do we get out of here? I was chased through the tunnels for days by those damned orcs. Lost all sense of direction, got no clue where I be.”

“You're right on the border of the Meadowlands,” Eddie said.

The dwarf cocked his head to the side.

“The what?”

“The Meadowlands? The area just south of the mountains that separates the Forest of Fools from them.”

“I'm much farther away from home than I thought then,” he said.

He walked over to the corpse of the orc and gave it a kick. Eddie had thought it smelled bad earlier, but something from Jern's kick released an even fouler odor.

“You going to loot that body?” he asked, “If not, let's get far away from it.”

“Pah!” Jern exclaimed. “Those orcs don't have anything worth bothering with. Inferior weaponry and armor is all they have.”

“You don't mind if I loot him then, do you?” Eddie asked.

Jern shrugged so Eddie bent over, holding his breath, and touched the body to loot it.

He ended up with seven silver coins, five copper coins, a leather helm and boots, as well as a sword. The sword was much longer than he was interested in though. When he noticed the shield still lying on the floor of the gouge he picked that up as well.

“Ya done lad? I'd like to get out of these blasted orcs' territory.”

“This way then,” Eddie said, and headed back towards where they'd left the rope hanging.

He did a quick evaluate on the helm and boots he'd gotten from the orc.

Helm, Leather

Armor (head)

Armor: 5

Hardened Leather

Crit: -5%

Reduces chance of receiving a critical hit.

This helm is made of hardened leather. It will reduce your chance of taking damage, and also reduce the potential for someone to hit you critically.

Boots, Leather

Armor (feet)

Armor: 5

Hardened Leather

Stamina: +10

These boots are made of hardened leather and offer protection for the feet. They are also comfortable enough to slightly increase your stamina.

Then he checked out the shield.

Shield, wooden

Armor (shield)/Weapon

Armor: 10

Dmg: 5-14 (shield bash)

Iron reinforced wood

This shield is made from wooden slats, reinforced with iron around the rim and along the back. The small spike in front makes it suitable to damage an opponent when shield bashing.

Huh, Eddie thought. He might think they're crap, but I'm all over this armor. Don't know about the shield yet, I'll just tuck that away for now.

With a thought Eddie added the helm to his current outfit and swapped his footgear out for the new boots he'd found. He pulled up the flashing notification icon as well and was happy to find two new skills.

Success:

You have obtained the skill Rope Use. (Help Rope Use for more details)

That should go well with your weaving skill, now shouldn't it?

Success:

You have obtained the skill Climbing. (Help Climbing for more details)

Monkey!

Eddie wasn't sure if he should chuckle or feel offended by the game's snark at this point. He let it pass though, not that he could do anything about it even if he wanted to. The Rope Use skill would help him with knots as well as a few other things, and he couldn't see anything wrong with having the Climbing skill either. The two skills both fit, at least tangentially, with a Ranger build.

When they reached the rope, Eddie held it taut as Tiana climbed up first. He was just wondering if the dwarf could manage the climb when Jern slung his shield and hammer on his back, took hold of the rope with both hands, and hauled himself up it with just his arm strength.

“Damn, my gym teacher would've loved you,” Eddie said, softly enough that Jern wouldn't hear the comment.

The trip back to the farm allowed Eddie to take another couple of bunnies with his bow. When they arrived Jern simply stared.

“So much wood, why would you use such a valuable resource for housing when there is stone nearby?”

“Jern, look around you,” Eddie said. “I'm guessing you come from an underground city? Well, we aren't underground here, look at all the trees.

“Aye, Hammer Hold is underground. The orcs have taken the surface land of the mountains so it isn't safe to go out except in large parties any more.”

“Well, down here in the Meadowlands we've got trees to spare, and not as much easily available stone, so we build with the trees,” Eddie said.

He remembered how the dwarf had torn into the meat earlier on.

“Are you hungry still?” Eddie asked.

The dwarf rubbed his stomach, a rasping buzz coming from the motion of his gauntlet against his scale mail.

“I could eat,” he said.

“Tiana, would you take him inside? Let him wash up at the well first if he wants. I'll get us some food from the garden.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-two

The room was finally quiet again. The first four of the men from the pod experiment that Star Suppliers had been performing had been far harder to get out of the game than Aaron had anticipated. He'd been right though, when he offered to let them continue that experiment under Light Online's supervision, they'd almost spit at him.

Finally he'd had security escort them out. They all had tickets back to where they'd come from. He'd made sure those would be supplied when he heard that the company was moving the pods here. Now he just had to go back in and see if Karl and Eddie would be more reasonable about things.

After all, it's just like what they were doing, except under the supervision of the people who actually know how it all works, Aaron thought.

He'd taken off the helmet and gloves while he'd been trying to help wrangle the others out the door, now he put them back on and sat back in his chair, slipping into the game.

~ ~ ~

After getting a good meal into the three of them, Eddie went back out to the garden to get produce for his food selling efforts for the evening. This time, he'd checked the shed out back and found the supply of seeds that had been listed on the inventory. The day before he'd realized that he couldn't keep taking the amount of food from it that he was and expect to be able to keep doing so unless he reseeded the garden crops.

Once done, he cleaned the bunnies he'd gotten earlier in the day, then loaded up the cart.

“Tiana, Jern, time to head out,” he yelled.

The dwarf had expressed an interest in seeing what they were doing down here, so Eddie had volunteered to take him with them. Karl and Allie would show up whenever, he was used to that, but he was also looking forward to sharing Karl's map once he'd finished exploring the Meadowlands so he wasn't very upset about it either.

As he waited for the other two to show up the air in front of him shimmered, resolving into Aaron's form.

“Eddie, good to see you,” Aaron said.

He wants something, he hasn't acted like this before, Eddie thought.

“What do you want Aaron?”

“Who says I want anything?”

“You aren't acting like you normally do. In my experience it means a person wants something when they change their behavior like that.”

“Hey, I had a good night recently. You ever think that might be the reason?”

“Okay, I'll give you that. Now why are you here?”

Aaron grinned at him.

“Because I want something,” he said.

Eddie smirked at him.

“See?”

“Yeah, but I bet it's something you'll want also. I just want to make you an offer is all,” Aaron said. “You and Karl that is. Where is he?”

“Off mapping, at least that's what he said he was doing.”

“Then I'll ask you first. How would you like to keep doing what you're doing, but getting paid by Light Online for doing it?”

“What, running a food stand and a bunkhouse?”

“No, testing LTI in the game. You'd still be in the same pod because they're really easy to modify, but you'd be in under our supervision, with our code running things. So no more extended dreams or darkness. Plus, I can offer you a hell of a lot more money than they were.”

“For how long?” Eddie asked.

“A minimum of ninety days to start. You stay in that long, at least, unless you start feeling ill effects, or we detect them with our monitoring equipment.”

“My body will be okay with that?”

“Your body's going to be in better shape than ever before. The pods were modified to keep it stimulated as though you were working out daily and we can adjust that too. We'll need to pull you out for a single day before we start, so we can get baseline readings on you to compare to as we run the test.”

A frown twitched the side of Eddie's mouth down.

“A whole day? I'd miss a lot of sales that way.”

“We might be able to do it in less time, I'm just used to pulling people for twenty-four hours. But I'm sure you could hire someone to help, couldn't you? I know you hired some NPCs as loggers.”

“You've been watching me?” Eddie asked.

“Nah, just looking at the logs. You exchanged money and items with NPCs, then rough planks and logs went from their possession to yours, and still are. So obviously you hired them.”

“I did, I need wood to build an inn. I already got a bunkhouse style building I'm renting to players, plus a food stand. I'm clearing a good bit of gold now.”

“Well, you'll want to hire some help anyhow. The other stipulation of you taking this job is that you'll have to do more of the stuff the regular players do. We'll need readings from combat and the like to make sure it's safe for those actions.”

“I was going to do that soon anyhow.”

“Good, then you'll take the position? I do have to let you know that if you don't take it we'll be evicting you from the pod and finding someone else to test it.”

“You said better pay?” Eddie asked.

“Flat rate, a thousand bucks a week before taxes.”

“And this is for at least ninety days?

Aaron nodded.

“Unless, like I said, either side notices ill effects occurring.”

“Deal,” Eddie said. “You'll have to let me know if there are other things I should do. We are planning on hitting the goblins soon so that should give you some decent combat readings.”

“Then we need to get a baseline examination from you before that. Here's the contract.”

A sheet of paper and pen appeared in Aaron's hand and he gave them both to Eddie. This time Eddie read the contract word for word, but it appeared that it was just as Aaron had said. He signed it and handed it back.

“Let's get that baseline on you,” Aaron said.

“Wait. Can you give me a few hours before you pull me out? Let me get the bunkhouse and food sales situated for today. Once I'm back here at the farmhouse, you can pull me out of game and get your readings. I'll have to let the others in my party know what's happening also.”

“That's reasonable, we can do that,” Aaron said.

He shimmered and then faded out. Eddie realized that Tiana and Jern were standing there. The dwarf was staring at him like he'd gone mad.

“Who were ya talking to lad? Are ya touched?” the dwarf said, tapping his temple.

Tiana shook her head.

“He couldn't see Aaron at all. I tried to tell him someone was there, but he just didn't see him.”

Until that moment, Eddie hadn't given any thought to whether Jern was another player or an NPC. The fact that Jern had a distinct personality had Eddie leaning towards player, but now he wondered.

Evaluate, he thought, staring at Jern.

Jern Ambolt:

Class:

Level: 5

Warrior

Hammer Dwarf

NPC

Specialization:

Hammers

You are currently unable to obtain more information about Jern with Evaluate.

You have upgraded the skill Evaluate to (4).

I wonder what an NPC was doing here so close to the Meadowlands. There's got to be some reason for it, doesn't there? Eddie thought.

“No Jern, I'm not touched. There was someone there. You know of the gods, right?”

“Aye, we dwarfs have seen some of them at least.”

“This was kind of like one of them, but this one prefers not to be seen except by those they're directly dealing with. Tiana had seen him before, so I assume that's why she saw him again this time.”

“You shouldn't be messing with the gods Eddie Hunter, that kind of thing never goes well.”

“It's not exactly my own choice, more like circumstances beyond my control,” Eddie said. “But right now I need to take care of some business of my own. Feel like a cart ride Jern? Sorry, but I don't know you well enough to leave you alone here at my farm. But you'll have lots more people to talk to where we're going, at least if you want to talk to them.”

Maybe if he's down here for a quest someone will get the information for it out of him. Better chance with lots of people talking to him, we'll just have to keep an ear out.

Jern took a step back.

“Lots of people? How many is that, and how many are dwarfs?”

“A hundred or so maybe? I haven't actually seen any dwarfs in that crowd though.”

“No dwarfs? Sure, I'll ride your cart,” Jern said, looking much happier now.

Well that's odd, there's a story there I bet, Eddie thought.

He loaded up his cart with produce, a dwarf, and a priestess. Then he hopped onto the seat and got the oxen moving down the road. Eddie decided that Tiana's interest had been piqued as well since she was asking Jern questions.

“So, what happened to you anyhow?” Tiana asked Jern. “How did you end up there with a broken leg?”

“Aye lass, it's an easy, short story. My family didn't want me out hunting orcs, said I was too young for it still. So I snuck out after acquiring myself some armor and weapons. I was doing just fine too, had already leveled twice hunting those green scum, but then I found a group of 'em.”

Jern went silent for a moment, but when Tiana started to ask a question he held up a hand for her to stay quiet.

“One on one I had no problems. I even took out a couple of pairs, but this time there were five of 'em. I managed to kill a couple, but was about to die myself, so I fled down the tunnels. Ended up going the wrong way and heading away from Hammer Hold. Got myself good and lost, but they were still following me. Finally I discovered that little ravine you found me in, nearly fell in head first before I saw it. Put my back to it and had decided to make a last stand.”

The dwarf flinched a bit when he came to this part of his story.

“I killed two more, but the last of 'em rushed me. He knocked me off my feet and into the ravine. That's the one whose body was down there with me. I barely survived and had been calling for help for quite some time when you two arrived.”

“Your family said you were too young?” Tiana asked, speaking the question that he'd silenced her on earlier.

“Aye, I'm only twenty-eight. In the Hammer Hold dwarfs reach their majority at thirty-five, but I didn't want to wait that long.”

“So what do you want to do?” Eddie asked. “Should we try to get you back to... Hammer Hold was it?”

“Aye, it was Hammer Hold, but I can't go back, not yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I'll just have the same damned problem. They won't let me go out and do anything for years yet. I need to be more powerful before I return, if I get powerful enough they won't be able to naysay me my desires.”

Eddie grinned.

“Hey Tiana, weren't we saying we needed a tank?” he asked.

“Yeah, ask and ye shall receive I guess?”

“Jern, we aren't strong enough to go after orcs ourselves, but how do you feel about goblins?” Eddie said.

“Little green rodents. The orcs use them as slaves sometimes.”

“Would you like to help us kill a bunch of them? Might give you a chance to get some levels, grow more powerful, you know?”

The dwarf only considered the offer for a moment before accepting.

“I think that sounds like a grand plan. Just the three of us then? Plus your cat?”

“No, there are two more we planned on going with. They're off mapping the area right now,” Tiana said.

“When do we go then?” Jern asked.

“Either tomorrow or the day after. The devs... err the gods require something of me tonight, and possibly of one of the others that aren't here. Once they return us, then we'll be good to go. Shouldn't take more than one day at the most.”

“I said it before and I'll say it again, that type of thing never goes well. Watch out for yourself when dealing with the gods Eddie Hunter,” Jern lectured.

Eddie didn't even try to contain the smile at his words. Since he was facing away from Jern, he didn't think it mattered.

Adventuring with this guy is going to be like adventuring with a cross between a grandmother and one of those teenagers that's chafing at their parents' restrictions. Should be fun, or at least amusing, he thought.

The sales for the evening were right in line with what he'd been getting lately. Although he did find himself wondering if he wanted to keep cooking and selling the food.

If they're going to be paying me a grand a week, do I really need to keep doing this? he wondered.

The swarm of adventurers buying from him made the choice for him. He knew, intellectually, that they were just game avatars. They weren't going to starve or suffer at all if he stopped. But the eager, happy chatter that surrounded him when he was manning his food stall told him just what they thought about it.

Not really that many bad apples in the bunch. I mean the two we chased off and I'm sure there are others, but I haven't seen them here at least. Or maybe they just behave themselves when they're over here. Either way, I'll keep doing it. At least until I get the inn done. And thinking on that, I wonder how Paul is doing? He ought to be back in game by now. I'll send him a message before I log out for Aaron.

The evening passed uneventfully, Eddie pocketing a pile of copper and silver coins in the process. On the way back to the farm he sent off a private message to Paul, asking him how things were going. He also asked for a price quote on a blueprint for an inn since his new wages let him feel as though he could actually spend more of his in game money.

When they got back to the farm, Karl and Allie were already there. They introduced Jern, and Eddie took Karl aside, explaining what Aaron had told him.

“You say you actually read this contract?” Karl asked.

“Word for word. It's just what he said, maybe with a little Legalese mixed in, but it was still simple enough to get the gist of it.”

“Alright then, when he shows up I'll read through a copy myself, but if it's like you said, I'm in also.”

Aaron arrived about a half hour later, shimmering into being in the kitchen where Jern had been complaining about the beer.

“This stuff is orc piss compared to a good mushroom ale. If ever we go to Hammer Hold, I'll make sure you get to try a real drink,” he said.

Aaron cleared his throat and everyone but Jern jumped, he just kept on talking. Aaron motioned to Eddie and Karl and they followed him out into the main room.

“I've no idea why they programmed it so NPCs couldn't see someone with a dev flag, but it's funny as all shit from my side,” he said.

“Eddie told me you guys are offering a new contract?” Karl said, eagerly.

“Yeah, did he also tell you that you'll have to do more of what the normal players do? Adventuring, combat, that type of thing?”

Karl glanced sideways at Eddie.

“Nah, he didn't mention that part.”

Eddie shrugged.

“I figured it didn't matter. We're starting in on goblins tomorrow and if we want to find those two, then we'll probably be there for a bit, no?”

“True, but since this is for the long run, it would've been nice to know,” Karl said.

“Well, now you know,” Aaron added.

“Let me see the contract, I want to read it,” Karl said.

Aaron nodded and produced a contract and pen from his inventory. While Karl read it, Aaron prepared to log Eddie out. The actual log out button was still grayed out for Eddie, but Aaron said he could get around that now.

“I'll be back for your decision in a few minutes, Karl. I just need to get Eddie out of his pod so we can get baseline readings and make a few adjustments to the pod itself.”

Aaron disappeared in a shimmer of light and a few moments later Eddie felt himself go light headed. He sat down in a chair quickly before everything went dark. A moment after that he felt himself horizontal and when he opened his eyes everything was black.

The blackness only lasted a few seconds before the hatch of the pod opened, showing him his surroundings. He was glad Aaron had warned him that they'd moved the pods, otherwise the unfamiliar warehouse style room he stepped out into, after all the attachments were removed, would've freaked him out.

Aaron, in a full VR suit with the helmet off,  was standing right next to the pod, as was a privacy curtain on a rolling frame. There was a team of what looked like technicians standing there, equipment in hand.

“There should be a towel and robe hanging inside there,” Aaron said, gesturing towards the square curtain. “Get yourself decent, then I'll go check on Karl.”

Eddie toweled off. He hadn't realized that the inside of the pod would be that moist, but when he thought about it, dehydration was a potential problem so it made sense. He tossed on the robe and stepped out from behind the curtain. As soon as Aaron saw him, he slid the helmet back on.

Aaron wasn't doing anything at all, so Eddie looked around curiously. The warehouse-sized space was separated into multiple sections. Equipment and other pods lined the walls of the room. There were six pods here where he was. In another section of the room, there were five pods lined up against the wall in a row. The farthest corner from him held a good twenty pods arranged in rows.

The twenty pods were different than the rest, they looked larger somehow. The area between those pods was filled with equipment. Where the five rested, it just looked like monitors. The twenty pods had a lot of other things as well, things that looked like they might belong in a hospital in many cases.

Aaron's helmet was still on so Eddie started to walk, thinking he might need to stretch his legs. He paced towards the far corner, wondering about those pods. As he got closer he saw that they were all Mark Vs that had been modified heavily. Monitors that showed almost every type of vital sign were scattered amongst the pods here. These pods had a clear panel right over the face, he assumed that allowed people to not spend a few moments in blackness before they went under or got out of the pod.

Which would be nice, really.

He shivered a bit.

Because I'd prefer to not deal with anything that reminds me of that dream state. But a grand a week? I can handle a few seconds of darkness going in or coming out of the game for that kind of money. Plus I shouldn't be logging in and out that much at all, not with what they want me to do.

He'd been idly peering in through the panels on the pods, noting the utter relaxation that showed on the faces. Then he stopped dead and took a step back.

Tiana? I mean, she'd have been able to customize her avatar, unlike me, but this woman looks enough like Tiana to be her sister. Is this her and she just didn't do much customization or what?

Knowing that he had no way to get an answer, Eddie turned and walked back towards Aaron, who was just removing his helmet again. Another pod was opening just beyond Aaron and Eddie wasn't surprised in the slightest to see Karl step out of it. He was just as moist as Eddie had been coming out and stepped into another privacy setup on the other side of his pod.

While Karl made himself presentable, Eddie talked to Aaron.

“What are all the other pods in here?” he asked.

“Oh, I told you we had our own test group, right? They do thirty days in and one day out. They've been doing it constantly since before the game technically opened. That's those five pods over there,” Aaron said, gesturing.

“The cluster of pods in the back corner are all medical experiments. The pods can be tweaked to do a lot of different things medically, and we've got doctors that keep an eye on them all day long, checking readings, trying subtly different combinations of treatment. With all the readouts they can see exactly how the patients respond. We've got a line of medical devices that aren't full pod immersion that we've developed based on those tests. Pretty cool that a programmer can do almost as much as a doctor that way, right?”

“Uh... yeah sure, Aaron,” Eddie said. “But I thought you wanted baseline readings. Where's the doctor for that?”

“He's on his way. I told him as soon as you came out of the game. He'll probably be here before Karl's ready.”

As if it were a cue, a door on the wall of the room opened and a man in a white lab coat walked in. He went directly to Aaron.

“I thought you said two?” the man said.

“The other one is right there,” Aaron said, gesturing towards the privacy curtain.

“What, someone looking for me?” Karl called.

“The Doc's here for our baseline measurements,” Eddie called back.

Karl walked out from around the curtain, his hair still damp. He was still tying the belt around his robe.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Karl said. “I got a hot chick waiting for me back in game.”

Eddie cocked his head.

“You and Allie?” he asked.

Karl shrugged.

“Not yet, give it a little more time though and just maybe...”

The doctor shook his head at the two of them.

“Ah, I see they're both still young, dumb, and full of cum,” he said.

“I resemble that remark,” Karl replied.

Aaron just sighed.

“Listen, the sooner we can get them back in for the duration the better, so can we get on with this?”

“Follow me,” the doctor said.

He led them back past the medical pods, to the corner there which resembled a normal doctor's office, but with only two walls. Eddie submitted to being poked, prodded, measured, and a variety of other indignities. Finally the doctor was done.

“They both look to be in decent health. Average anyhow for their age and generation. The long stay in the pod will do them good, I bet they both lose about twenty pounds and their muscles will tone up some with the setup you described to me. I'll give the authorization for them.”

“Thanks doc,” Eddie said. “Especially for being so quick. Karl isn't the only one with pleasant company waiting for him in game.”

“What?” Karl said, “you mean, you and Jern?”

He burst into laughter as Eddie scowled at him.

“Aaron, can we get back in game right away?”

“Yeah, I had the doctor stay so you wouldn't have to wait like normal. There shouldn't be any issues, technically you only have to be out of the pod for an hour before you readjust properly, then you can go back in. But a day just seemed much safer, in case there were those out there who wouldn't adjust as quickly.”

“Good, let's go then,” Eddie said.

He dropped the robe before climbing back in his pod. Aaron refilled a container near the head of it, then ran some checks on everything inside. Apparently the techs had finished their work. The pod looked slightly different but Eddie couldn't remember it well enough to see what had been changed. Karl's pod was still being worked on, but since two-thirds of the techs were already done and just watching, Eddie didn't think it would be too long.

He laid back down in the pod and Aaron started to close the lid, checking to make sure everything was going to land in the right place when it was fully closed. When he was satisfied, he looked at Eddie.

“See you in the game,” he said. “Don't forget, you need to do the stuff the rest of the adventurers do so we can get the appropriate readings.”

“I already told you, we'll be going adventuring tomorrow. Going to hit the goblins in the Forest of Fools.”

“Good,” Aaron said, “that's one of the more common low level zones for people to hit. There's a few assembly points for it scattered around its outside so there isn't normally a crowding issue either.”

Hey, I'll have to remember that. Sounds like that forest is even bigger than we knew, Eddie thought. I wonder if there's a way to capitalize on that information?

Then he sunk into blackness for a moment before experiencing the log-in process again.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-three

Aaron stared eagerly at the log files he'd just set up. So far Eddie and Karl hadn't been doing that much, but they'd promised they were planning on adventuring today, so he was sure he just had to wait.

The head tech called him over for a moment, asking for clarification on one of the alterations they'd planned and Aaron found himself drawn into a conversation with the tech, debating exactly what these changes would mean for the game.

By the time that conversation was over and he checked the log files again he could see that the two men had entered the Forest of Fools already, but things were going slowly there.

~ ~ ~

After what he considered not nearly enough sleep, Eddie was up again. Karl was also blinking and rubbing his eyes as they geared up to head for the forest.

“So, you got the mapping done yesterday?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah,” Karl said, “once everyone is grouped up I'll share my map with everyone, that'll give you the areas along the road that Allie and I mapped as well.”

Eddie remade the 'Farmers' group he'd made before and then extended group invites to everyone else.

“Farmers?” Allie asked, smirking.

“What can I say,” Eddie said, returning the smirk, “hope springs eternal. We're kind of going to farm the goblins, right?”

“Yeah, I'd believe that if we weren't standing in the middle of an actual farm,” she replied.

“Fine then,” he said, entering the group interface and changing the name.

Your group name has changed to: Gobs

“Better?” he asked.

She laughed and waved him off. Another prompt showed telling him that Karl was offering to share his map. He opened his own map and accepted the offer, then stared at the newly revealed areas.

Looks like they really did map all of the east-west road. Maybe I can convince him to get the north-south one also when we take time from the actual adventuring. He did say he wanted to map the entire Meadowlands, so I'll just be asking him to prioritize that section and it shouldn't be too far either since that's supposed to be the narrowest section of the zone going north and south.

“Alright, everyone have their maps up? It looks like they went into the forest a little too, so we'll go to that trail they have marked first. After that, we'll see what we can do.”

The group headed south, Lucky darting in and out of sight of them as she hunted. By the time they reached the edge of the forest, the bobcat had brought Eddie four bunnies, as well as eating one herself. The group had also startled several deer, which Eddie regretfully didn't try to hunt down.

The Forest of Fools was significantly thicker, tree-wise, which Eddie noticed as soon as they entered. Once he'd experienced the momentary blip of his senses as they changed zones, the air immediately grew cooler and dimmer.

“One moment,” Tiana said.

She reached, Eddie assumed, into her inventory and after a moment was wearing a chainmail hauberk. After a few moments shaking and moving she had it settled over her normal clothing. It hung down to mid-calf on her, the bottom portion split to allow for ease of movement. Another reach gave her a light looking metal helm on her head. By the time she finished reaching, she was also holding a small shield and a flanged mace.

Eddie and Karl had already been wearing their armor, at least as much of it as they had. Jern had been as well, while Allie had been wearing a stiff leather tunic. While Tiana had been gearing up, Allie had been doing the same. She now had stiffened leather bracers as well as cuisses and greaves. Her bow was in her hand and her quiver on her back. The entire change of gear for the two women had taken less than two minutes.

Eddie quickly pulled his own bow and arrows from his inventory. He was already wearing his shortsword, acquired from the goblin who unsuccessfully tried to burn his building down, around his waist.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Tiana replied. “I hate wearing this stuff when I don't have to, especially when I can put it on quickly when needed.”

“Not a problem. Now where is that path?”

“About a hundred yards to the south of us,” Karl said. “That's as far as we went last time.”

“I think I've been in this area before,” Allie said. “If I'm right, there's a goblin village about a quarter mile east of us. We don't want to go straight there though. With a new group, we probably ought to try a few of the patrols first, they're easier.”

“Okay then, how do we find a patrol?” Eddie asked.

“Hit the path, be a little noisy, and wait,” she said. “Don't worry, there are scouts, but we'll hear them coming. They aren't very good about noise discipline.”

They made their way through the thick undergrowth that surrounded the bases of the trees until the packed dirt of a path was visible just ahead of them.

“I'm going to disappear for a bit,” Karl said. “Keep an eye out for me once they're here, I'll be showing up behind them.”

He slipped off into the undergrowth, disappearing a short while later.

Looks like he'd been working on some of his scout abilities, Eddie thought. Good deal, always nice to have someone that can disrupt your opponent's line from the rear.

The rest of the group stepped out onto the path. Lucky was sticking close to them now, not wandering off any more.

“You might want to take cover as well,” Eddie said to the cat.

She just sat there next to him, staring at him. A single blink was her only reaction to his words.

Eddie shook his head.

“Why do I always think she's going to understand me,” he said.

“What makes you think she doesn't?” Tiana asked.

“She rarely does what I suggest when I talk to her.”

“So? That just means she doesn't agree about her best course of action, not that she doesn't understand you.”

Allie snickered.

“Maybe she understands more than you think,” she said, loudly.

Eddie glanced back at Lucky, or at least at where she'd been. She wasn't there any more and when he looked around, he couldn't see her anywhere.

He sighed heavily.

Women! Even if they aren't human, they're still gonna be the death of me, he thought.

The group made small talk, in loud voices, until they heard something out of place.

“That's probably them,” Allie said, softer now. “So they'll be coming in from the west, let's set up.”

Jern took position in the center of the trail, facing west. Allie and Eddie were on either side of the trail a ways behind him. Tiana stood behind Jern, equidistant between the dwarf and the two who would be using missile weapons.

When the goblins hadn't shown up in a minute or two, Jern struck his shield with his hammer a couple of times, the noise ringing out into the nearby forest. A minute later Eddie saw movement down the path. A group of small green figures, armed and armored, were cautiously making their way east.

“Don't fire yet,” Allie called softly to him. “You can scare them off if you attack at too far a distance. Wait until they're closer. Follow my lead if you're unsure.”

Eddie held his shot, waiting as the goblins approached. When they were only about fifty feet away, they seemed to gain courage, and speed. They charged at Jern since he was in front.

“Now,” Allie called, releasing her arrow.

Eddie shot as well, his arrow striking a goblin.  He continued to shoot as quickly as he could, but once they closed with Jern he was hesitant. His notification light was blinking, but even that was distracting in the middle of battle, so he dismissed it entirely. Allie was still shooting, her arrows coming closer to Jern than Eddie was comfortable with.

He dropped his bow and drew his sword, moving towards Jern with the thought of maybe coming up alongside of him. Just before he got there he drew back, startled, as Karl appeared from nowhere behind the goblin lines, striking one of them in the back with his swords. Lucky showed up on the other side of the path behind a goblin, launching herself onto it.

Jern, on the other hand, was simply tanking it out. His large shield covered most of his body and he was quick to interpose it anytime a goblin tried to strike him. When one tried to reach its shortsword up and over his shield he slammed the bottom edge of the shield onto the goblin's feet, causing the creature to fall to the ground, weapon forgotten as it clutched its broken toes.

By the time he got to Jern, there were only two goblins left out of the seven that had attacked. Karl had accounted for one, Lucky for another, Allie had taken two down with her bow and Jern had dropped the broken-toed one with his hammer. The occasional flash of golden light on Jern showed Eddie what Tiana's contribution to the combat was.

He lunged with his shortsword, stabbing a goblin in the arm. It returned the favor with its own swing that struck his leg, leaving him bleeding and limping. A pair of arrows from Allie went whizzing past his head, striking the goblin he'd stabbed and dropping it. Jern finished up with the last one a moment later. He struck it with his shield, sending it tumbling to the ground. Before it could get up, a solid strike from the hammer stopped its movement for good.

“What the hell Eddie, I thought you were ranged support?” Allie said.

“They were all over him, I was afraid I was going to shoot Jern.”

“There's no PvP in this zone, remember?” she said.

Eddie hooked a thumb towards Jern.

“He's not a player, remember?” he replied, using the same tone she had.

Allie blushed.

“Err, no, I didn't remember that. But still, you went charging into the front line of battle? You aren't a tank, remember?”

Now it was Eddie's turn to blush.

I just wanted to help, he thought, but was wise enough not to say it knowing that it would make him sound like a petulant child.

“I'll figure something else out next time,” he said. “Until I get my bows skill higher, I don't want to be shooting that close to the party, or at least to Jern since I guess I wouldn't be able to damage everyone else.”

He remembered his notifications then and pulled them up, happy to discover that he'd gained a point in bows as well as another point in short swords.

Hmm, he thought, ninety-five experience if I include my bonuses. I guess these goblin patrols aren't the best way to get experience in the woods. At least I hope they aren't.

He tuned back in to the conversation that had started while he was checking his notifications.

“Honestly, I don't think we'll be able to take a village this way,” Allie was saying. “Even if Eddie had held back and used his bow, we just didn't have the damage to take them down quickly enough.”

I thought they went down pretty fast, does she disagree?

Tiana came over to him and healed his leg wound with a spell, giving him a smile as she did so.

“We'll do a lot better if everyone sticks to their positions,” she said softly.

“I know, I know, I just didn't want to be dead weight.”

“Just wait it out and shoot whenever it's safe,” she said.

“You know how we normally just walk over these patrols. We need a proper DPS,” Allie continued, after Tiana had turned back to her. “One with at least one area damage affect preferably.”

“Well, we can let a patrol get away and do the boosted patrols that have the warriors,” Tiana said. “That's better exp and we won't end up wasting today if we do that.”

Allie nodded grudgingly.

Eddie spoke up.

“If you two are willing, we can give Dominic a shot if he's interested, but it's your call.”

Allie looked at Tiana who looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded agreement.

“He really wasn't that bad, he didn't pick up bad habits until after he'd seen the other two doing those kinds of things. Maybe grouping with people who act civilized will have him picking up those habits instead,” she said. “If not, we can always ditch him again later on.”

“Okay, we'll look for him once we're done out here for the day,” Allie said.

The rest of the group agreed, then started off down the path looking for more patrols.

“Remember what I said about not scaring them off?” Allie said. “Well, scratch that. We want them to go and come back with a reinforced patrol. They come back with a couple of warriors added in that are much better experience. So with the next batch, shoot them as soon as you can.”

The next patrol they encountered wasn't identical to the first. When Eddie and Allie started shooting, they didn't flee. Two of the goblins pulled out their own bows and started shooting back. Eddie took a couple of arrows that fight, but felt much better about himself after winning the archer battle he'd had with one of the goblin archers.

Once again, Tiana healed everyone. She'd focused on Jern during the battle, telling people to call out if they needed a heal before the fight was over. No-one had though.

Lucky was worrying the arm of one of the goblins.

“Lucky,” Eddie called. “Don't mess with that, if you're hungry, just go hunting. Or if you'd rather I'll give you back one of the rabbits you caught on the way here.”

The bobcat looked up at him, then darted into the undergrowth, disappearing from sight.

As he tried to recover his arrows, he discovered just why Allie had been willing to sell him a bow and quiver before but no arrows. About half the ones he'd fired in this battle had ended up hitting armor. The shafts of most of those had cracked, making the arrow no longer usable. He did pull the heads off, since he still had some shafts he'd made, but he could see how an arrow supply would deplete rapidly fighting the goblins.

The next patrol they saw was what they were after. Allie and Eddie both shot at long range, each striking their target. The goblins stopped in their tracks, wailed and shook their fists at the group, then turned around and ran.

“Good, now we wait,” Tiana said. “They'll be back in five or ten minutes with reinforcements. This battle might take a bit longer.”

While they were waiting, Lucky came up and rubbed against Eddie's legs. She was purring, so he looked down to see the tail end of a snake disappearing down her throat. He shuddered for a moment.

Eww, she eats snakes? There's something I won't be cooking up and serving anyone, he thought.

Once the tail was out of sight, he reached down and scratched her head.

“Got some bigger guys coming up this time girl. I bet they have armor, so maybe you'll want to stick to the little ones like you were attacking before.”

She rubbed her cheek along his leg before twining between his legs, then slipping off the side of the trail. Karl had also disappeared and Eddie assumed he was ready to use his backstab when the goblins showed back up.

Right on schedule the goblins reappeared on the trail. This time they had two bigger goblins with them who were taking the front line. The larger goblins wore hardened leather armor and carried shields, as well as longswords. They practically marched as they came down the trail, shields held in front of them.

“See if you can nail the little guys behind the warriors,” Allie said, moving off the edge of the trail to get a shot.

Eddie did the same. The two warriors were intentionally filling the trail, acting as a shield for the smaller scouts, but moving about five feet off the trail gave him a shot at the goblin scouts that were trailing behind the warriors. He managed to fire three arrows, two of them striking his targets, before the warriors closed with Jern.

The clashing of metal drowned out any other sounds in the area as the two warriors and Jern closed. This time there was enough of Jern's opponent visible that Eddie was happy to continue firing. He feathered the warriors with arrows, sure that some of them weren't doing any damage, but just as sure that the others were. Jern was holding the two warriors attention at first, but after about the fifth arrow, the one Eddie was firing at tried to break off from Jern and head for Eddie.

“Hey you overgrown Faerie!” Jern shouted. “Where do you think you're going?”

A swipe from Jern's hammer struck the goblin warrior and turned its attention back to the dwarf.

Eddie continued to fire, but now Jern was taking swings at both goblins instead of just one, so he held their aggro.

Karl and Lucky had decimated the back row of goblins. Each of them killing one straight off with their initial strike. When the other five swarmed them, the bobcat and scout pulled far enough back that Allie and Eddie could launch arrows over the warriors into the backs of the goblin scouts.

Lucky was still tearing one apart when Karl dropped the last one. Eddie watched as Karl strode forward, planting his swords in the back of the more heavily wounded warrior. The warrior dropped and from there on out, the fight was a given. With Karl attacking from the rear, Jern attacking from the front, and the occasional arrow from Allie or Eddie when they felt it was safe to shoot, the warrior dropped in another minute.

Lucky had finished the last of the scouts and then, to Eddie's surprise, listened to his advice and did not try to attack the warrior. Although that may well have just been because she didn't want to get stepped on since there were feet and weapons flying everywhere during the last minute of the fight.

“Hey Eddie, want some more armor?” Karl called. “It looks like everyone else is armored up already.”

The two goblin warriors each had a set of hardened leather bracers and hardened leather greaves.

“Go for it,” Tiana said. “Pretty sure we're all set and they aren't worth much at the trading post.”

Allie nodded her assent, while Jern took a moment to go on about the deficiencies of any armor that wasn't made of metal. Eddie took that as assent and claimed a set of bracers and greaves.

Evaluate, he thought.

Greaves, Leather

Armor (thigh)

Armor: 3

Hardened Leather

Quality: poor

These greaves are made of hardened leather and offer protection for the thighs. The craftsman who made them was obviously not very skilled. Just like someone else we know.

Give me a break, Eddie thought. If I hadn't already decided that the game got snarky when I was doing well, I might be offended by that.

With another thought he evaluated the bracers.

Bracers, Leather

Armor (forearm)

Armor: 3

Hardened Leather

Quality: Poor

These bracers are made of hardened leather and offer protection for the forearm. They are a necessity for archers who would prefer not to suffer from string burn.

He pulled up his notifications to see how much experience he'd gotten and was greeted with a pleasant surprise. In addition to the three hundred and fifty-five experience he'd gotten from the fight, he'd also gotten another point in his bows skill.

I might actually have a decent combat skill soon if it keeps going up like that, he thought. Need to figure out how to raise my short swords skill somehow though if I'm not going front line at all.

They continued hunting goblin patrols for several more hours, encountering three more standard patrols and managing to pull another boosted patrol with warriors. Then Allie announced that she was done for the day.

“It's time to head back. I'm done,” she said.

Eddie was eager for more, he'd watched his experience climb slowly over the course of the day and had been hoping for more.

“Done?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “There will be other adventuring groups coming out this way soon and I'd rather not have to deal with them. A limited number of patrols and multiple adventuring groups make for a boring time. That's why I like to go out during the day.”

Eddie glanced at the sun, after tracking down a spot where he could see it, and realized it was well past noon already.

“Oh,” he said. “I didn't realize how long we'd been out here.”

She nodded.

“That happens, especially here in the forest where you have to work to see the sky.”

“Okay then. But this has been pretty good experience for me. Two more days like this and I'd level.”

“If we could manage a goblin village you'd level a lot faster, plus it would be a lot more worth our while also.”

Oh yeah, the amount of experience I needed to level jumped a lot when I hit level three. I can't imagine how much they need since they're a few levels higher.

“Well, let's head out then. I'll have plenty of time to cook up some meat on a stick for tonight I guess. I was wondering if I'd be able to do both this and that.”

Allie shook her head, then found a spot where she could see the sun herself.

“This way,” she said, heading off into the forest.

The trip back was uneventful, leaving Eddie plenty of time to get ready for another evening of playing food vendor.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-four

Aaron examined the logs for Eddie's day. Karl's logs were in another file just waiting to be perused.

“Good, good, he got in a lot of combat today and the readings look nearly identical to those of a player on the standard setup. I suppose the biggest chance of there being a difference is going to be after the thirty day mark, but still.”

The head tech, Tom, was within earshot, checking the physical pods to make sure the alterations they'd made were functioning as intended.

“Well, there is a little bit of new code in there that could make a difference before thirty days. I don't think it will though,” he said.

“I almost feel bad,” Aaron said. “I told them we needed them to go adventuring and do all the normal things players do. I didn't mention the fact that we're going to need them to die at least once. I kind of told myself it was one of those things all the players do, but...”

Tom laughed.

“Yeah, I understand. I can't conceive of standing in front of someone, even just in game, and telling them that they have to die for science. I just don't think it would go over well.”

“Hopefully it isn't an issue and they do it on their own,” Aaron said.

“If not, we've still got the intervention procedures we can run, right?”

“Yeah, but you know the only tests on those tended to show that they were more than a little over the top, right?”

Tom shrugged.

“Just saying. If you need them to die then over the top ought to do it, now shouldn't it?”

~ ~ ~

Dominic wasn't around when Eddie woke up. It didn't worry him much though, they'd told the wizard they'd be leaving for the forest at about three hours past dawn and given him instructions to the farm.

Although it's not like he needed much in the way of instructions. Head east on the road until you see a farm, that's it. It's not like you need GPS to find it or anything, Eddie thought.

For whatever reason, he was the only one awake yet, and he wasn't even hungry. Deciding to put off breakfast he opened the front door, only to find three bunnies laid out across the porch and Lucky napping on the far end.

Huh, if they're coming back I'd better check the main crop. Hopefully Lucky caught them before they did much damage. Not that I know what I'm going to do with this stuff yet. I've got no idea what they're for even. Gourmet herbs? Alchemy ingredients? It's not like there's a fancy restaurant or an alchemist in the Meadowlands. I may yet have to hire a group to go to Brightport if only to sell this stuff off once it's fully grown. Speaking of Brightport, I ought to see if Paul replied to me.

A quick scan through the cash crops showed no damage, evidently if the bunnies were from on the farm, Lucky had a handle on them. Going back to the farmhouse, he settled in on the swing on the porch, close to Lucky. The cat must've either not been asleep or woken up from his movement since a  moment after he opened his private message screen he felt her rubbing against his legs.

Yup, he did reply, Eddie thought. Let's see how much he's going to take me for to get a set of inn blueprints.

'Eddie:

You were right, there's no business for a builder here, the competition between the ones already in Brightport is fierce. I was thinking, if your offer still stands, I'll happily take care of blueprints for the inn, and help you build it, if you'll cede me a share of the profit, net profit of course.

I seem to recall that there was a lake just west of town. I'm thinking I might build a house there for me and my family. If you're still amenable to the deal let me know. Also, this might sweeten the deal, I'm going to pay for a teleport so my wife and daughter don't have to risk the trails. The standard teleport includes baggage up to a ton (including our weight), so if there's anything you need, I can pick it up for you and you can pay me for it when we get there. Just let me know if you still want to make the deal.

Paul.'

Damn, he sounds pretty eager to make that deal now. Is it really that bad in Brightport? Eddie wondered.

He shook his head and composed a quick message to Paul. In it, he laid out what resources he knew he had access to, just rough hewn planks and logs so far, and asked him to compare it to an inn blueprint and see what else they might need. He told him to bring along whatever else they'd need to build a good inn and that would do it.

By the time he closed out the message screen Lucky had gone back to sleep, lying across his foot now. He felt guilty for moving her, but slipped his foot out from under her after giving her some pets, then headed into the house where he heard someone moving around.

Lucky chuffed as he slid out from under her, then went back to sleep. He opened the door and headed for the kitchen, finding Tiana awake and moving around in there.

“What I wouldn't give for some coffee,” he said.

She jumped and spun.

“Don't do that to me!” she yelped. “But yeah, coffee... or maybe a nice cola loaded with caffeine. That's my biggest problem with being in here, lack of coffee. They actually have some in the bigger cities, but it's expensive.”

“Expensive a gold a bag or a gold a cup?”

“Gold a bag for beans, bag being roughly a pound.”

“In that case, I think we can get some here pretty soon,” he said, nearly drooling at the thought of it.

“One moment,” he said dropping back into his message screen.

He dashed off a quick note to Paul.

'and bring coffee, as many bags as you can get up to... say... fifty. Plus a percolator or however they brew it here.

Thanks, Eddie.'

“There,” he said, “you remember Paul?”

“The guy Aaron teleported to Brightport?”

“Yeah, he has his family in game, then realized there was no work for him in Brightport, too much established competition. So he's going to move out here, help me build the inn, and take a share of the profits. He asked me if there was anything he should bring and I didn't think of much, until we talked about coffee. So coffee coming up, hopefully within a few days.”

“Thank you,” she said. “You're a godsend.”

He grinned.

“Don't forget it,” he said. “Breakfast?”

She nodded.

“Doesn't look like there's that much left here though.”

“I've got the last few venison steaks, plus there's lots of stuff in the garden. Let's go take a look.

~ ~ ~

Dominic arrived well before they were supposed to leave. He was surprisingly interested in the farm itself when he saw it.

“So that's where you're getting all the produce from?” he asked.

Eddie nodded.

“Yeah and a lot of the bunnies I cooked and served came from here also. The place was practically infested with them when I got here.”

“Nice setup. I wish I had a house like that in game, that damned tent is drafty. I have to crank the sensation levels way down just to get to sleep in it.”

“I'd offer you a bed in the bunkhouse but I took all the mattresses for the new bunkhouse I'm renting out and haven't replaced them yet,” Eddie said.

Dominic shook his head.

“That's fine, if the offer stands I'll bunk out on the floor even. Still gonna be better than the tent.”

“Sure, why not. Here, I'll show it to you.”

While Eddie showed him around, he also pitched the idea of Dominic getting his own house built in the area.

“I got a friend,” Eddie said, “who's a non-adventuring class, that's going to be in the area soon. I bet that if you really wanted a house, he could take care of building one for you. No idea what he'd charge, but it's probably not that much since most of the materials are available locally.”

Dominic considered the idea for a minute.

“Tell you what, once he's here, put me in touch. I don't know if this would be the best place to have a house, but it is tempting.”

“Worried about what to do after you're higher level?”

The wizard nodded.

“Flip it, sell it off to some lower level group that's doing well. You might even make a profit, who knows?”

“That's a thought. I'm sure I'm not the only one hating the tents.”

“I'm trying to take care of that, that's why my friend is coming here. We're going to build an inn, but even then there won't be enough rooms for all the adventurers in the area.”

Dominic dropped off the excess gear he'd been carrying in the bunkhouse. Confessing that he was glad he didn't have to carry it. He hadn't wanted to leave it down near the other tents after what had happened to Tiana and Allie's tent a few days back.

“You're welcome to stay there as long as you like. Sooner or later I'll get some more mattresses for those beds too,” Eddie said.

“It's no big deal. I'm just drooling over that fireplace. I'll bunk out in front of the fire if the spark guard on it is good enough.”

“Worked when I had to stay there for a few days,” Eddie replied.

The two of them made their way back to the farmhouse and waited for everyone else to be ready.

~ ~ ~

“Alright,” Allie said, “let's see how quickly we can drop a patrol. Dominic, you remember the tactics, right?”

She'd taken the lead the day before and they'd done alright, so everyone was letting her keep the role.

“Yeah, yeah, drop a fireball in the center of their group when they rush us, then step back and use fire arrow on targets of opportunity if necessary. It's been less than a week since we were doing this together, remember?”

Allie shook her head at him.

“Everyone else, just like yesterday. Instead of following me on the initial attack though, follow Dominic. Once his fireball goes off, follow up with your own attacks. Karl, make sure you're at least fifteen feet off the trail or you might catch some of that fireball yourself.”

“Did you hear her, Lucky? Way back off the trail,” Eddie said, bending over to scratch the bobcat. “I don't want you to get burnt either.”

He was sure that she understood what he was saying. She'd reacted to his words, as opposed to his tone, too many times for it to be a coincidence.

At this point I'm assuming that she's just messing with me when she doesn't listen, he thought.

They didn't have to wait long for the first patrol to show up. Less than ten minutes after Allie sketched out the plan Karl held up his hand.

“I think I hear something,” he said.

Just like the day before they spent a few moments talking louder, trying to be heard and get the patrol, if that's what it was, to come after them. Karl and Lucky disappeared off the trail and a minute later they spotted the patrol coming into sight.

Dominic was positioned along with Tiana, in the center of the group. When the goblins got close enough, he gestured with his arms, muttering something under his breath.

A brilliant flash of light formed in his hand, racing outwards fast enough that Eddie thought it looked like a solid light beam. When the light struck a goblin, the beam disappeared, and a large sphere of orange-yellow flame roared out, originating from the point of impact.

The flames disappeared, leaving seven pissed off goblins on the trail. They looked scorched and burnt but none of them had dropped. Allie's arrow shot out, striking one, the additional damage dropping the goblin. Eddie, meanwhile, had been staring at the fireball and was now blinking to clear his vision well enough to aim. A moment later he shot his own arrow and hit a smoking goblin in the center of its chest. The goblin dropped.

They walked right through this patrol and Eddie acknowledged that Allie had had a point. The fight took less than a minute this way, whereas the day before the patrols had taken them significantly longer.

When the fight was over, Tiana gestured and spoke. A small cloud formed overhead and started sprinkling rain down on the area that was still smoldering from the fireball. After she finished her spell she turned to Eddie.

“First couple of times we tried that, we started a forest fire. It's hell to get away from one of those in here, so now we do this to make sure it's out before we leave.”

Eddie nodded.

“Good plan, I'd rather not burn to death. Can't imagine that's very good for your health, or psyche.”

Allie cleared her throat from right behind Eddie. He spun to face her.

“Next batch, you and I will take a pot shot at them when they're still at long distance,” she said. “We want a boosted patrol for our next target. If we take them down as easily as we did this one, then we can give a goblin village a shot today also.”

“What's so great about the villages?” Eddie asked. “You mentioned them yesterday also.”

“Better loot, more experience, and an experience bonus if we clear the whole thing. Although they are much harder since most of them have a magic using type, a shaman or priest, along with four to eight warriors.”

“Better loot?” he asked.

Allie nodded her head.

“Yeah, if we're lucky we'll find a barrel of arrows we can split up. Plus the warriors in the villages can have better grade armor. I'm sure you noticed the pieces you got yesterday are ranked poor, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes you'll get common ranked armor from the warriors in the village. Very infrequently you can get some decent items from their magic using type which could boost either Dominic or Tiana, so yeah, we like the villages.”

“I understand,” Eddie said. “You're sure we can take one?”

“That's what we'll find out by trying a boosted patrol. Plus they actually subtract the warriors that came out with the patrol from the nearest village, so that makes it a touch easier.”

Eddie nodded.

“So, we're just waiting on another patrol then, right?”

“Yeah, shouldn't be too long with how loud we've been talking.”

As if on cue there was a squeal from down the trail. When Eddie looked that way, there was another patrol of goblins coming. He raised his bow and fired, his arrow leaving his bow only a fraction of a second after Allie's. When the arrows went flying down the trail at them the goblins made an abrupt about face and raced out of sight.

“Here we go,” Allie said. “Positions everyone.”

The boosted patrol was almost a let down for Eddie. He remembered the difficulties they'd had the day before, nothing horrible, but they'd actually had to work at it. With Dominic leading off and damaging the whole patrol, then shooting fiery arrows into the warriors that Jern was fighting, it was anti-climactic. The fight was over in a little more than a minute.

“Good,” Allie said. “I think we can take a village. Let's rest. Everyone make sure their health is at full, casters make sure mana is at full, then we'll track this patrol back to where they came from.”

~ ~ ~

Eddie stared at the goblin village through the forest. Really it should've been called a goblin outpost instead of a village. It was populated entirely by scouts, warriors, and a single shaman. He'd been relieved to find that there were no non-combatant goblins in the villages. With the way the NPCs acted in the game, he wasn't sure he could've handled it if there were.

At least, not yet, he thought. Maybe after I've got more actual combat under my belt. Hunting animals just wasn't the same. Even the Warren Mother wasn't quite the same as killing goblins has been.

He stared at the buildings in the village. They were more along the line of stick and sod construction than anything else. All five of the barracks-style buildings that made up the village were so poorly constructed that he couldn't believe they hadn't fallen over in the first stiff breeze.

His bow was in hand, an arrow nocked but not drawn yet. Dominic would be setting off a fireball to signal the start of the attack. The wizard was waiting until he could catch as many targets in one spot as possible, then he'd fire and the rest of the group would join in.

Eddie waited impatiently, trying to control his breathing and realizing that even though the attack hadn't started yet his adrenaline was already flowing.

Finally a burst of orange-yellow flame roared through the center of the compound catching two warriors and four scouts in its embrace. Eddie stood and drew, loosing a shaft at one of the scouts that had been scorched by the fireball.

That scout dropped from the arrow that struck him in the neck. Eddie nocked and drew again, loosing the arrow into another burnt scout. He didn't fall from that arrow, but the next one Eddie released did the trick. The arrow he fired after that flew off into the distance, missing entirely.

The attention of the goblins, who'd been trying to search out the locations of those firing on them, was caught by Jern sprinting into the village, his short legs pumping rapidly.

Huh, he's faster than I would've thought, Eddie thought idly as he decided on his next target.

Jern's charge ended with him smashing his shield into one of the warriors that had been caught by a fireball. The goblin warrior went flying backward, losing his footing and tumbling to the ground. Tiana was striding into the village behind Jern, her armor jingling as she walked. She was trying to stay close enough to heal him while not getting inextricably tangled in the fighting.

Jern shouted to draw the other warrior's attention.

“Aye, ya look like I ought to call ya orc droppings, but that'd be an insult to the orcs, even with them being the scum that they are.”

Both of the goblin warriors were now firmly on the dwarf, the one still standing swinging wildly only to be intercepted by Jern's shield.

A scout raced at Tiana and Eddie loosed his currently drawn arrow. It took the scout in the leg, slowing him, but not dropping him. She turned towards the scout and Eddie saw a facet of the woman he was interested in that he hadn't seen before. She snarled, her face contorting as she drew her mace back.

The mace flew forward, striking the goblin scout on the head, dropping him in his tracks. Tiana turned back towards Jern who was currently tanking the other scorched warrior and a single scout. The tumbled over warrior's body was smoking and no longer moving, apparently the target of one of Dominic's flame arrows.

Eddie turned back to thinning out the scouts. Karl was waiting in stealth for the goblin caster to show up, his backstab nearly enough on its own to kill the caster according to Allie. Lucky had disappeared when Karl did and Eddie hoped she was sticking with Karl, watching his back.

The warrior Jern was currently engaged with suddenly shone with a green light that dimmed rapidly.

“Caster in play!” Tiana yelled.

Eddie scanned the area, looking for the goblin caster. He didn't see him although he did find another pair of scouts racing towards Jern. He fired arrow after arrow towards the one closer to the dwarf, managing to kill it before it reached the tank. Allie must've seen the other one since it sprouted a series of arrows also.

A flash of flame racing through the air caught Eddie's attention and when he followed it with his eyes he finally saw the goblin caster. He was small and apparently unarmored, but the fiery arrow racing towards him fizzled out a foot or so in front of the small goblin's torso.

“Magic shield, try normal arrows,” Dominic yelled.

Seeing that Jern apparently had the main combat in hand due to Tiana's heals, Eddie turned his attention to the caster. He shot, but his arrow was way off target. He drew again and this arrow found its mark, only for the caster to yank it out, make a gesture with his hands, and glow with a green light. The wound was closed when the light faded and Eddie shook his head.

Damn it, we'll need to focus on him or he'll just keep healing himself every time we hit him. At least until he runs out of mana, but I've got no idea how much he has.

Karl faded into view behind the shaman and the goblin caster's yell of pain made Eddie a bit more confident, although his worries returned when he saw Lucky going low on the caster while Karl went high.

The caster squealed in pain and started another spell. For a moment, at least, he looked a bit healthier, then Karl struck again. As the caster stumbled backwards Lucky got under his feet, tripping him up. When the goblin fell to the ground Lucky pounced. She stayed attached after her initial attack, raking the goblin's stomach with her hind claws.

Okay, caster's down, Eddie thought, and I've got to remember to be more careful when I play with Lucky. Those claws are something else.

He looked back to the center of the village where Jern was now facing two warriors that weren't showing scorch marks. He sniped the scout that was trying to creep up on Jern from behind, dropping it with two arrows.

Tiana was currently facing off with two of the scouts and Eddie discovered that she was just as good with her shield as she was with the mace. It flew from side to side to block the attacks of the scouts and Eddie realized that Allie was currently supporting her when a pair of arrows struck one of the scouts.

The arrow he targeted at the one of the remaining scouts landed in its back. The other scout dropped with another of Allie's arrows in it and Tiana turned to the final one he'd just shot. Now that she wasn't on the defensive from two of them she went from defense to offense, striking with her mace as Eddie landed another arrow in its back. The goblin dropped and Tiana slung her mace before beginning to chant.

Jern glowed a silver-white color briefly when Tiana finished chanting. Eddie's focus was back on the warriors he was facing. Unlike Tiana, Jern wasn't focusing only on defense, his hammer swung out from behind his shield, striking one of the warriors in the thigh and leaving him limping.

Jern roared and pushed his attack, demanding the attention of both of the warriors he was fighting. Eddie discovered why a moment later when Karl appeared behind one of them, his swords sinking into its back before it slumped to the ground.

Down to a single warrior, the fight was finished off quickly as Jern slammed his hammer into the side of the warrior's head. When it staggered from the strike, Jern swept the hammer down, slamming into the side of its knee. The goblin warrior dropped and one more strike from the hammer left it lying still on the ground.

Eddie took a deep breath and slowly let it out. The fight didn't seem to have been very dangerous for his group, but it had been intense. At least it had been for him, he could still hear the blood thundering in his ears.

As he caught his breath and his pulse started slowing the thundering faded. He walked in towards the middle of the village where everyone else was clustering, then noticed Lucky still worrying at the caster's corpse.

“Lucky, stop that. Don't eat that!” he called. “I've got a bunny you can have over here.”

He pulled out one of the bunnies Lucky had caught on the way to the forest this morning and held it out towards her. She gladly stopped what she was doing and came over, gently taking the bunny from his hand.

Lucky laid down in the middle of the corpses of the warriors and scouts and started chewing on her rabbit. She didn't seem to care in the slightest that she was surrounded by corpses.

Although with the way she's been acting lately, she might well think they're intended as cat toys, Eddie thought.

He reached down to pet her, but stopped mid-stroke.

“Hey Karl, does Lucky look bigger to you?” he asked.

Karl stopped looking through the loot he'd just taken from a corpse and stared at the bobcat.

“Yeah, actually she does, noticeably so. I mean I think she's bigger than she was when we left this morning,” Karl said.

Eddie stared at Lucky.

Evaluate, he thought.

She turned to stare at him as her information panel opened in front of him.

Lucky

Type: Animal(pet)

Young Bobcat (female)

Level: 4

Armor: 38

Health 43/43

Attack: 27 (3)

Dmg: 2-8/2-8/3-9

Status: Pet

“Holy shit,” Eddie said, “She leveled up.”

“Awesome,” Karl replied, then he turned to the bobcat.

“Gratz Lucky,” he said.

She turned away from Eddie to look at Karl and her tongue swept out to clean up a few spots of blood from her mouth. Karl took a step back before looking up again.

“I will too if we get that thousand experience bonus for clearing the village. How do we get that? Do we have to have a quest for it or something?”

“Oh no,” Allie said. “We just have to destroy the buildings. That'll keep this particular village from respawning until tomorrow and we'll get the experience.”

“I'll get on that as soon as I loot the caster,” Dominic said. “These things are dry as tinder, I can normally light them up with no effort. Five minutes later it's 'Ding', one thousand exp.”

He bent over the caster's corpse.

“Oh hey, Lucky wasn't trying to eat the corpse,” he said. “It looks like she was tugging on this, at least I hope that's why it's all wet.”

He held up a braided necklace with a pendant that he'd taken off the corpse.

“Let me check it out real quick,” Dominic said.

His eyes unfocused for a moment.

“Not as good as my neck slot. It's got a +5 to unarmed attack. Anyone want it?”

The group shook their head almost simultaneously.

“Hey,” Eddie said. “Does anyone know if a pet's natural attacks count as unarmed?”

“You're the only one with a pet around here,” Allie said. “You tell us.”

“I don't know, but if no-one else wants it I'll give it to Lucky as a collar. Unless you want to sell it.”

“To Old Jeffries?” Dominic said. “Not likely.”

“Or to another adventurer. We could put a board up in the place I'm renting out, or near my food stall. List items for sale and stuff like that.”

Dominic shook his head.

“Too much of a pain. I say we see if Lucky can use it for a collar. She was trying to grab it before, right?”

Eddie took the braided necklace in hand, then knelt down in front of Lucky.

“You want this as a collar girl?” he asked.

She stretched her neck out, giving him easy access to put it on her. Once he had she immediately pulled her neck back in and took a quick look around.

“Don't worry, it looks great,” Eddie said.

Lucky rocked her head from side to side a bit, causing the pendant to sway.

“Let me see you girl,” Eddie said.

Evaluate.

Lucky

Type: Animal(pet)

Young Bobcat (female)

Level: 4

Armor: 38

Health 43/43

Attack: 27 (3)

Dmg: 2-8/2-8/3-9

+5 attack (necklace)

Status: Pet

“Hot damn, it works,” Eddie said. “The bonus shows up when I evaluate her.”

“Good, then she should keep it,” Tiana said. “What about the armor from the warriors, is it the poor quality stuff or the common?”

“We've got two common pieces and the rest poor,” Allie said.

She'd done the looting since Jern hadn't seen anything on the goblins that he'd like for himself.

Karl looked at her hopefully.

“Both common pieces are bracers, so I guess that's one set for you Karl and the other for Eddie since they aren't an improvement for me.”

She tossed each of them a pair of bracers. Eddie quickly checked his out.

Evaluate, he thought, staring at them.

Bracers, Leather

Armor (forearm)

Armor: 4

Hardened Leather

Quality: Common

These bracers are made of hardened leather and offer decent protection for the forearm. They are also a necessity for archers who would prefer not to suffer from string burn.

Well, it's one more point of armor at least, I'll take it, he thought.

He quickly swapped them out for the pair he'd been using before looking up at a whooshing sound.

Dominic had walked over to the nearest building and lit it up.

“Wait,” he said. “Allie said there might be arrows?”

“Not in this village, there weren't any archers defending, were there?” he answered.

“Oh.”

Eddie followed the rest of the group out to the edge of the clearing as Dominic ignited the rest of the buildings.

He pulled up his notifications while he waited, noting that he'd gotten decent experience from the fight here as well as a little more earlier on. He was still looking at them when Dominic walked over and joined them.

“Just about.... now,” Dominic said.

A notification added itself at the bottom of Eddie's panel.

Hidden Quest (repeatable):

Three little, two little, one little goblins

Numerous goblin villages are located in the Forest of Fools. Destroy one to help hold back the goblins.

Reward: 1000xp

The prompt right after the quest notification made him happy.

Success:

You have completed the quest: Three little, two little, one little goblins

Experience awarded: 1000 (+100 well-rested, +250 blessing)

The next prompt made him even happier.

Success:

You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 4

Do you wish to advance?

(Y/N)

Yes, Eddie thought.

You have advanced to Level 4.

You have 3 stat points to distribute.

Your Health has increased.

Your Mana has increased.

Your Stamina has increased.

He'd already put some thought into where to put his stats this level, so the addition was quick and easy.

Add one point to charisma, he thought, one point to heartiness, and one point to agility.

He knew he should be adding more points to agility to keep himself higher than everyone else at his level but he also thought that charisma would help as an innkeeper and more hit points were good too if he didn't want to get taken down easily.

Character sheet, he thought.

Edward Hunter

Human Male

Level: 4

Class:Warrior (Ranger)

Strength:10

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 21

Wisdom: 13

Heartiness: 13

Charisma: 11

Willpower: 12

Health: 69

Endurance: 12

Mana: 65

Luck: 14 (15)

Stamina:155 (165)

Experience:

9074/12,000

Base Attack: 10

Base Armor: 10 (50)

+1 attack melee (strength)

+35 armor (studded leather, helm, boots, bracers, greaves)

+5 attack ranged (agility)

+5 armor (agility)

Skills:

General:

Animal Friendship: 1

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry: 1

Bowyer/Fletcher: 2 (+2 to checks)

Carpentry: 5

Cooking: 8

Evaluate: 4

Farming: 2

Fire Building: 1

Herbalism: 2

Hunting: 3

Tracking: 3

Weather Sense: 1

Weaving: 3

Improvisation: 1

Rope Use: 1

Climbing: 1

Combat:

Bows: 4

Staves: 1

Small Blades: 1

Short Swords: 2

Magical:

N/A

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-five

Aaron glanced at the memo in his hands, the actual paper memo.

When will the higher ups in this company get with the times? he wondered. Cynthia isn't too bad, but it looks like she signed off on this also.

He sighed heavily as he read it.

Aaron Opman:

Report to the office of Mr. Greenshaw at your earliest convenience.

The memo was signed by Greenshaw himself and had obviously gone through Cynthia's office since she'd initialed it as well.

Since 'earliest convenience' was company speak for 'get your ass there now' all he did was drop his gear on his desk, holler over to Tom to let him know what was up, and get a noncommittal grunt for a reply.

Aaron knocked on Mr. Greenshaw's office door. When the man called out for him to enter, he stepped into the office.

Everything looked normal, except for the one item that was out of place. A black box, a mini-computer with a satellite uplink from the looks of it, was sitting on Greenshaw's desk. The box looked somewhat the worse for wear, the black of the casing chipped and scratched in places.

Mr. Greenshaw looked up.

“There's your server, you said you needed that?” he said.

“Not so much need it as need to stop it from transmitting the data it was collecting. This is what was controlling the pods that gave us so much trouble.”

“Well, it's yours. Take it away.”

Aaron blinked.

“You recovered it this quickly?” he asked.

Greenshaw grinned, a predator's grin if Aaron had ever seen one.

“I took it as a bit of a challenge, someone committing industrial espionage against us. Especially when it affected my department so much.”

He laced his fingers together, then flipped his hands over, cracking his knuckles.

“Thanks for finding the city he was in. It was a lot quicker to track him down after that. He won't be bothering us any more, nor does he have a need for that thing,” he said, pointing at the mini-computer, “so it's all yours.”

Greenshaw gave another grin and eyed Aaron as though trying to get a rise out of him.

“Panning won't need it where he is now, doubt he could even connect from that far underwater, even if he was in any shape to try.”

Aaron gulped as his mind filled in the blanks of what Mr. Greenshaw had said. He scooped up the mini-computer and backed towards the door.

“Thank you, this will let us determine if there was anything else they were doing that we hadn't found yet.”

“Let me know if you discover anything else that needs to have action taken,” Mr. Greenshaw said. “I haven't had that much fun with my job in years.”

Aaron gulped again and quickly backed out of the office.

I always thought that guy was a bumbling blowhard, he thought. I guess I was wrong and he just isn't in his element with what they had him doing. Gotta remind myself to show the man a little more respect in the future.

~ ~ ~

Allie was done for the day after they destroyed the goblin village, so they headed back towards the farm.

“She's like this all the time,” Tiana said softly. “I hate to talk about her this way, but she only ever wants little chunks of adventuring. I could probably be level fifteen by now if I'd spent these last couple of weeks with a group that spent more time adventuring.”

I'm not that worried about levels right now, I'd rather just get my inn done. Still, even I could've gone on to do another village or a few more patrols without feeling it in the least, Eddie thought.

“Well, we've got an overlarge group here, right? Maybe after Karl and I get a few more levels we can go out without her. Maybe that'll spur her to want to do more?” Eddie asked, equally softly.

Tiana shook her head.

“I don't think so, but I'd be willing to do that. Jern looks like he wants more levels too, so he'd be up for it. Dominic would at a guess, but we'd have to check that. Karl might not want to though, it looks like he's kind of head over heels for Allie. So if he didn't that would leave us one short of a normal group size.”

She stumbled as Lucky headbutted her calf.

“Okay, maybe not,” Tiana corrected herself, “but I don't know if we can count you as a full group member Lucky.”

Lucky proceeded to almost trip her up again, twining between Tiana's legs and rubbing against her ankles.

Tiana stopped, laughing lightly, and bent over to pet the bobcat.

“She really did get bigger,” Tiana said.

“She got a level too,” Eddie replied.

“I didn't know pets leveled. Then again, you're the first person I've met that has a pet that can fight so what do I know?”

Eddie was still thinking about Allie's reluctance to adventure more, so he just gave a non-committal grunt. A few moments later he spoke again, once more soft enough that the others wouldn't overhear.

“Do you know why Allie doesn't want to adventure more?” he asked.

Tiana shook her head.

“No, and I didn't think it was my place to ask her either. After all I've got things I prefer not to talk about too.”

“Well, maybe if we ask her we could keep the whole group together and do a little more adventuring each day,” he said. “Besides if it's something bothering her, maybe talking about it would help.”

“Sorry Eddie, that's gonna be all you if you want to do it. I just don't think it's my business to ask her.”

When they got in sight of the farm Eddie stopped dead. There were several people walking around and a number of large crates sitting dead in the middle of the main yard. Then he heard them speaking, the first voice was a feminine one he didn't recognize, the next one he knew though.

“Hey Paul!” Eddie yelled out.

One of the figures in the farmyard turned towards him, waving.

“Eddie, how are ya?” Paul called out.

Eddie trotted up to the man and they shook hands.

“I hope you don't mind,” Paul said. “I had the coordinates for this location from the teleport that brought me here to build the place so I just had the wizard teleport us here.”

“Nah that's fine, just took me off guard is all.”

The two other figures in the yard were both women, one noticeably younger than the other.

“This your wife and daughter?” Eddie asked.

Paul nodded. He turned to the women with him as the rest of the group filed into the yard, gesturing them over.

When he turned back around his arms encircled the two women.

“Eddie, this is my wife Delilah, and my daughter Becky.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Eddie said.

He gestured back to the group that was with him.

“I'm Eddie, this is Karl, Tiana, Allie, Dominic, and Jern,” he said, gesturing towards each in turn.

When he went silent he took a strong headbutt to the shins.

“Oh, and this is Lucky,” he added, “Sorry Lucky, I didn't know if you were going to disappear into the woods or stick around.”

The bobcat twined around his legs, apparently mollified by his explanation. Becky dropped into a crouch, her eyes wide.

“Lucky?” she called softly. “Do you like getting pets?”

Lucky turned and stared at her for a moment before cautiously making her way over. When she got in front of Becky she turned and looked back to Eddie. He grinned and nodded so Lucky plopped back on her haunches and stretched her front body out towards Paul's daughter, keeping herself low to the ground.

Becky hesitantly reached out towards the bobcat, breaking into a massive grin when her fingers felt the cat's soft fur.

Eddie turned back to Paul, feeling like Lucky had actually wanted to go to the younger woman, but had just asked his approval first. So he didn't think there'd be a problem.

“So what's up Paul?” he asked.

“First off, that smaller crate there is filled with coffee beans. Got a good deal on a bulk buy.”

Eddie's eyes widened. The crate was about as large as he'd be able to lift on his own.

“That's a lot of coffee,” he said.

“Yeah, don't worry, part of it's mine,” Paul replied. “We're moving out this way so I hope all those hints you were dropping are still accurate, if this area grows, I can get some business building things. If not, we'd better hope your inn does well.”

“Inn first,” Eddie said, “then I have to see what I'll need to do next. You aren't interested in the quests and everything?”

Paul shook his head.

“Nah, this is just a much nicer place to raise my daughter, even if it isn't the real world. It's not like she's under eighteen or anything, but she's still been living with us. Never been able to find a decent job, there's nothing available out there. But maybe here she can do something?”

Paul shrugged.

“Plus it's just so much nicer here, even my wife commented on it back in Brightport and that place isn't nearly as nice as the Meadowlands,” he said.

“Okay then, why don't you do a 'help player hamlet', pay special attention to the last paragraph. I extrapolated from that, and from Aaron's comments, that some sort of progression will continue beyond that point. I've yet to try some of the other help files that might be pertinent, like the same help for village, town, or city even. That doesn't mean I'm not shooting for something like that though.”

Paul's eyes were vacant for a moment as he read the help file.

“How far do you think that will grow?” he asked when he'd finished reading.

“I'm hoping at least to city. If I had to guess I'd say it will go: hamlet, village, town, city. I'm guessing that the population size will increase radically between them. So, that was what I based my hints, suspicions, and my own plans on.”

“If that's the case I'll have a lot of lower paying work at least,” Paul said.

Eddie nodded.

“Just think about it. Something the size of a town even would need lots of things: a smithy, temple, general goods store. And that last would get cheered by all those adventurers in the fields, they hate the trading post with a passion. But there would also be lots of specialized buildings that you could charge more for if you were the one to make them. Plus if you can get blueprints for them they'll go up much faster, helping the whole area grow faster.”

“I see you've been thinking about this,” Paul said. “It sounds good to me. I came here already figuring I'd build your inn for you for a share of the profits and then see what happens. Sounds like what's going to happen is that I'm going to stay busy after that.”

Eddie nodded.

“That's my hope.”

“More so than you thought. A lot of blueprints, like your inn, require finished boards, not rough hewn. One of those crates has a few saw blades in it, big things, meant for a sawmill. That's the first thing I'll be building. I need to see where there's a fast enough stream nearby to power it though. Hopefully near where I want to put my house, which will be project number two. Then I'll get to work on the inn.”

“Ah, you're playing both sides of the fence? If you supply your own materials you can bid on things cheaper, but if someone wants to compete with you, or they want to build their own building, you can still make some money supplying the planks and blueprints?” Eddie asked.

Paul laughed.

“I thought you might catch on quickly, just not that quickly. Yes, that's my plan. I'll supply lumber to anyone who needs it; logs, rough hewn planks, or finished planks. I just need to hire myself a couple of lumberjacks and provide transport for the lumber and I'm in business.”

“Well, I've got a few guys clearing my lot for the inn,” Eddie said. “I don't know how much longer they'll take, but you can ask them about hiring on with you after they're done. Ingolf might be interested, don't know about the other two though, they don't seem to be nearly as skilled as he is.”

“I talked a little with Ingolf, those are his cousins,” Paul said.

Eddie nodded.

“Yeah, I knew that.”

“Well, they were trying to start a farm all the way west in the Meadowlands. Didn't work too well, goblins burned the place down before they even finished building the farmhouse. That's why they were available to fell trees.”

“So, they aren't lumberjacks at all?”

“Well, no more or less than most anyone else around here. Everyone needs some wood from time to time, so they can all do it, or at least most of them. Ingolf seems to have the skill at a fairly high level though, so I will talk to him. What was he charging you?”

“A silver a day, I jumped all over that. I mean the equivalent of two bucks a day isn't very much.”

“I think I'll offer him a bit more than that. He's a good guy, got some connections I can use too,” Paul said.

Eddie cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Hadn't you noticed?” Paul asked. “There isn't much for beer or other alcohol around here. Ingolf, being a woodsman, has some friends that he's played guide for. He can get them to bring a few things to the area that aren't very common.”

Eddie nodded.

“Yeah, he's the only one I've found that had anything like that, other than that cheap beer that was at the farm.”

Paul grinned.

“So now you know why I want to be on good terms with him.”

“I get it, but I don't think it'll be that important in the long run. When I said I intend to build the area up, I meant a lot. As in we'll hopefully get some trade going here. Then we can buy things like beer at non-smuggled rates.”

“Speaking of beer,” Paul said. “We all need a spot to unload our inventory and I hope you've got some cash on hand. One of the things we brought was a variety of casks of beer and ale, the firkin size. So you'll have a decent supply on hand to start your inn. Should be about five hundred gallons, or a bit more, minus the couple of casks I brought for myself. We put those in our inventory so the weight wouldn't count towards the maximum weight of the teleport.”

Eddie broke into a grin of his own.

“You're a life saver. I was planning on bringing the other casks of that cruddy beer from the farm down, but I was going to have to charge dear for it. How much do I owe you on those?”

“Roughly a hundred and twenty-five gold, but I know you're tight on funds. Can you do a hundred and we'll consider the other twenty-five the rest of my investment in the inn? Then we split the net profits with seventy-five percent for you and twenty-five for me.”

“I was thinking I'd give you a flat ten percent for building the place,” Eddie said.

“That works, but then I'll need the whole one hundred and twenty-five gold for these. Plus another seventy-five for the coffee and other items I brought you.”

“Your in-game account is linked to your full character name, right?” Eddie asked.

Paul nodded.

Eddie pulled up his inventory, clicked into the pouch icon, and looked at the settings for transferring coins. It took him a minute or two to figure it out, then he transferred one silver first.

“Did you just get that?” he asked.

Paul looked distant for a moment.

“One silver?”

“Just making sure it worked right and that I had the correct person. Here you go.”

Eddie transferred the two hundred gold and was surprised to find that he still had a fairly substantial amount remaining. He couldn't make another payment like he just had, but at twenty bucks a pop, he still had almost the equivalent of a thousand dollars in gold pieces.

I guess selling food and shelter here was a good plan, he thought. I haven't made nearly as much going out and adventuring. Although a lot of that was from the quest rewards.

“I've got a receipt for you too, just so you know which cask costs what. Some of the beers were pretty cheap, but there's also a couple of casks of ale that were a lot more pricey,” Paul said.

“Well, let's find a spot for you to unload. Don't want to do it in the bunkhouse, too public.”

“Speaking of which,” Paul said, a little abashed, “we need a place to sleep for a week or so while I build our house, any chance...”

He trailed off.

“Sorry, you're welcome to use the bunkhouse,” Eddie said, “but there is someone else staying there. I'd offer you the rooms in the farmhouse, but those are full with my adventuring party. Worse still, I stole all the mattresses out of the bunkhouse for the rooms I'm renting out closer to the crossroads.”

Paul brightened.

“Can I steal a little bit of lumber too? Just enough to section out a couple of rooms in the bunkhouse so it isn't dormitory style.”

“You're welcome to it. Let me harness up an ox to the cart and you can go snag as much as you like from the pile over near the bunkhouse I'm renting out. There's a lot of it, more than I expected.”

“Your turn to be a lifesaver. My wife would've been more than a little irked if we'd had to sleep in a tent for a few days. Hopefully the sawmill will only take a couple of days and there will be a good site for the house near it. I'm hoping for a view of the lake, maybe even claim some lake shore acreage too.”

“I've got just the man for you to talk to then,” Eddie said. “Follow me.”

Eddie led Paul into the house where Karl had gone. He found him in the kitchen, eating.

“Karl, Paul could use your help,” Eddie said.

“Huh? How?” Karl asked.

“Well, you already mapped west of the crossroads right, down near the lake?”

Karl nodded.

“Yeah, why?”

“He wants to claim some land, put in a sawmill and a house. Is there an area near the lake with a fast moving stream?”

“Or just where the stream drops elevation quickly,” Paul added.

“Sure, I think I saw something like that. Come with me and we'll check,” Karl replied.

Eddie left the two together, checking out Karl's maps. He headed back outside and immediately went to the crate of coffee beans. When he pried the lid off, he found several percolators and bean grinders lying on top of the sacks of coffee beans. He grabbed a percolator, grinder, and a bag of beans, then made his way to the kitchen.

When Tiana wandered into the kitchen about twenty minutes later, she was following her nose. Eddie had a pot of coffee brewing atop the wood stove in there. By the time it was done, Karl and Allie were waiting also. He presented the first cup to Tiana.

“Coffee, as promised,” he said to her grinning face.

Rather than take the cup right away, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then took the cup while he was standing there stunned.

“Hell,” Eddie said, “with a reaction like that I ought to serve coffee instead of booze at the inn.”

“Do both,” Karl said, “Get 'em coming and going. They'll want drinks at night and coffee in the morning to help shake the hangover.”

Eddie took the fourth cup poured, despite his eagerness to taste the brew. As with all the other food he'd tried the coffee tasted much better in the game than he remembered it tasting in real life.

As a matter of fact, this is the first time I've ever had coffee that tasted as good as it smelled when it was being ground and brewed, he thought.

Paul came in while Eddie was on his second cup.

“I see you found the percolators,” Paul said.

“And the grinders. I assumed at least one of each was for me.”

“Yeah, we'll split those down the middle, three each. Just to have backups in case something happens,” Paul said. “But that's not what I came in to talk to you about. Any chance I can borrow your ox and cart tomorrow too?”

“You can have it in the morning, all the way up until just a little after lunch. Then I'm going to need it to haul me and my food down for sales in the afternoon. By the way, I think the best place to unload all that alcohol, for now, is probably in the basement. The other kegs of cruddy beer are down there, but there's room for a lot more I think.”

“That'll work fine for the beer and that should be fine for the cart as well. I think Karl found me a spot, just a quarter mile upstream of the lake, that will work for my sawmill. There's a level area there too that'll work for the house and garden as well, right between the lake and the sawmill spot. I'm going to walk down and check that out now. If it'll work I'll get started on the sawmill tomorrow.”

“I know you said the sawmill first, but why?” Eddie asked.

“I'm not going to ask my wife to live in a house made out of rough hewn planks. That's a great way for her to decide that she doesn't want to live in game. Finished planks for the house, that's why the sawmill first. With the way the game works I ought to be able to churn out enough finished planks for the house in a couple of days.”

“Tell you what, I'll have the guys here not split some of the trees they're felling for me and you can get started with those. You still want the rough hewn for the sawmill though, right?”

Paul nodded.

“Yeah, thanks again for the help. That's going to make all of this so much faster.”

“You're welcome, but it's enlightened self-interest. The sooner you get the sawmill and your house done, the sooner I get my inn.”

“Well, at this rate, if this spot works out, I'll be able to start on the inn in a week and a half to two weeks. That work for you?”

Eddie held up a hand palm out.

“Don't rush anything on my account. I discovered I'm doing better than I thought after I paid you for the coffee and booze, plus I have a real world income now.”

Paul cocked his head.

“What's that?”

“They fixed the problem, but liked the idea. So now I'm doing close to the same job as I was, only for the right company now. Can't say any more. This time it's an actual NDA that I signed.”

“Got it, and good for you, I'm glad things are working out. But now I need to take a bit of a walk, anyone want to join me?”

Paul looked around the room at the four people clutching cups of coffee. None of them seemed to want to do anything else at the moment.

“If you want to wait a few minutes, I'll give you a ride down on the cart so you can get the lumber you wanted,” Eddie said. “First I need to finish this cup of coffee, then grind up a bag of those beans. The reaction of these three, and myself, to the coffee made me think that this is a luxury that people won't mind paying out the wazoo for. I'm still in this for the money, even if I have found a number of things to distract me from that sometimes.”

He took a deep drink of coffee and sighed happily.

“You can bring the cart back with the lumber and do your alterations to the bunkhouse. Then drive it back down and drop it off with me and you can go on foot from there. That work for you?”

Paul nodded.

“Yeah, I almost forgot I wanted to rough out and build those rooms first. Kind of eager for the rest, you know?”

“I get it,” Eddie said.

He remembered how eager he'd been to get in the game and start doing things. Admittedly the eagerness had faded when he discovered what they'd intended him to do, but it had returned in force after he'd become his own man in the game. That eagerness had made him a lot of gold already.

And there's so much more to be made if things go according to my plan, he thought.

He quickly finished his coffee and started grinding. Before he'd finished the whole bag his arm was cramping up and Tiana took over for a few runs. By the time they finished grinding the entire bag it had taken more than half an hour, but Eddie was salivating over just how much money he could make from it.

The beans cost a gold a bag and, if my estimates are correct, that should make about fifty cups of coffee if I'm careful. If I charge a silver a piece, that's five times my investment. No-one's going to bitch about it either since I pretty much charge a silver for anything I sell. Besides, if they do, I'll just tell them it's a luxury so it's got a luxury price tag attached. Two bucks for a cup of coffee isn't unheard of even out in the real world, so no big deal, right?

He closed the bag tightly, making sure it would stay that way. Then he grabbed the percolator and headed out for the cart. Everyone was going with them so Paul and Eddie hopped onto the seat while Karl, Tiana, Allie, and Jern climbed into the bed of the cart along with the food. It was a heavy load for the ox, but it didn't complain, just complacently stomped its way down the road, pulling the cart in its wake.

Surprisingly, when Eddie had told Lucky he was going, the bobcat had apparently been torn between going with Eddie or staying with Becky. He'd ended up just telling the bobcat to stay and look after the farm while he was gone. Lucky had whined a couple of times, but then settled back down on the ground near Becky.

Ingolf and his two cousins helped Paul load the cart once they got there. Eddie saw Paul slipping them a few coppers after they were done and figured the older Carpenter had bribed them to help. He, himself, had been too busy to help when Paul asked, setting up a way to brew the coffee while still cooking the meat had taken a little bit of improvisation on his part.

By the time Paul headed back east with the cart and a load of rough lumber, the smell of coffee hung in the air and had already attracted several adventurers.

“You can drop the cart off on the way down to your site later,” Eddie called out to Paul.

Paul nodded and waved as he drove off. Meanwhile Eddie was getting down to some decent profits. As he'd expected the silver piece he charged for a cup of coffee was taken in stride by most people. By the end of the night he'd had his most profitable evening of food sales yet.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-six

Aaron stared at the message in front of him. Normally he'd just go into the game and tell Eddie and Karl about this, but he still felt bad about some of the requirements he hadn't mentioned and was sure they'd be able to tell that he was keeping something from them if they saw him.

Eddie:

The contract is solid, the pay I told you is good too. Here's the one catch that wasn't in the original document. The contract is only good until you log out of the game.

If we have to log you out because we detect any sort of problem with the extended game play, you'll still get paid and have the opportunity to go back in to continue testing, but the bean counters decided that if you log out on your own, that means you are voluntarily terminating your contract as of that point. I think they were pissed that I just offered you guys the contracts without going through HR and they're taking that out on us now.

I thought I should let you know, just in case. I don't expect you'll want to come out of the game for quite some time after hearing this. We will monitor your vitals though and, as I said, if we have to pull you out you will still be employed and have the opportunity to continue testing after we isolate and fix whatever the problem may be.

Aaron

Aaron sent the message via the PM function of the game, deciding that Eddie and Karl could read it at their leisure since it wasn't exactly urgent.

He looked around his office.

It's not a cubicle. Even if it is the size of a broom closet, I've got an office! he thought.

There wasn't much in it yet and probably never would be due to the size of it. But just getting his own office, and having employees that technically worked under him, felt wonderful. The raise that had come along with it was nothing to write home about, but he still wasn't complaining.

The only problem is that I'm technically middle management under Cynthia, but I know she likes her people to run their own show. She doesn't micromanage like Crenshaw always did. As long as I get results for her, she'll let me do things my way. So far, it's working.

The only changes he'd made so far were to get Eddie and Karl signed on as actual employees and shifted the work schedule of the techs to a start time of several hours later. He'd asked and that was their only complaint. So now they came in at ten in the morning instead of seven and he'd already noticed that they were more productive this way.

Figures, they're probably up late coding, gaming, or whatever techs do nowadays. If only I had the same option, Aaron thought.

His biggest problem was that he felt responsible for the two men testing the game under him, so he was spending more time at work. He monitored their vitals, doing spot checks at random, and went over the work the techs were doing. At the same time, he still hadn't been relieved of some of his in-game duties so he spent an hour or two in Light Online each day as well. It tied him to the office more than he wanted, but he didn't quite feel trapped by it, yet.

~ ~ ~

Eddie spent the next few days split between adventuring and running his businesses. In between the two he got some updates from Paul. The sawmill had gone up quickly, although Eddie needed to let Ingolf take a day off of clearing his lot to help Paul finish the setup. Eddie also knew that he couldn't keep selling coffee as he was, not if he wanted to keep enough of it for his own usage until trade started up. He decided to try to cut down on how much he sold, and doubled the price, then still found himself selling an entire bag's worth a night. He could've sold even more, but he refused to bring more than one bag's worth down to sell at a time.

He spoke with Allie about her not wanting to adventure more and got some clarification. She wouldn't mind doing a second village of the same difficulty each day, or take out more patrols, she just didn't want to go deeper into the woods. Evidently the villages farther in became progressively more difficult and she'd had a very bad experience at one with a prior adventuring group.

When he finally got her to talk about it, she was in tears.

“I used my sword more than my bow back then, so I was in the front line going for the village. There were two of us on the front line, the other guy was a tank, but for whatever reason he wasn't ready. They swarmed him and he went down fast. Then I was stuck trying to hold the front line by myself. I was a decent melee fighter, but no tank.”

She stopped and stared into the distance, then spat before continuing.

“The assholes in the back line of my party were still shooting and casting spells at goblins, just not the ones on me. At least not until I went down. The goblins dogpiled me and I couldn't move. When the back line idiots realized that, they broke and ran. They just left me there. I was still alive and the goblins kept me that way.”

She broke down crying and Eddie had no idea what to do. Allie leaned in towards him and Eddie opened his arms. She fell against his chest and he hugged her. It took a minute or two for her to stop crying before she continued.

“The goblins were all over me, they took me prisoner and started torturing me! Why did this stupid game think it was a good idea to allow things like that to happen? Did you know the experimental medical pods didn't use to allow you to log out at will? I was stuck there with them torturing me, and doing... doing other things to me for almost three hours before they finally killed me. If I ever see anyone from that group again, other than the tank that went down right away, I'll... I'll... Well if I'm level twenty and they're in a PK zone I'll kill them on sight and then camp their corpse. I'll kill them over and over until they think it's my career!”

“You know that wouldn't be the case now though, right?” he asked, making sure his voice was soft and calming. “You're not in the front line any more and our group would never run and leave you.”

“I don't want to see that village again. Ever!” she answered.

“Okay then, I'll just tell them you won't go deeper but we can do more than one village on the outskirts?”

She sniffled and nodded.

“Yes, we can do that. I'm sorry I'm holding you all back, but I just don't...” she trailed off.

“I don't know,” Eddie said, “it might be therapeutic to burn that village down, no?”

Thinking of what she'd told him had happened he added something a bit more bloodthirsty than he normally would have.

“Maybe burn it down with all those goblins still in it?”

Her eyes lit up at the thought.

“It might help if those assholes from my group were in the village when it burnt down,” she said. “I hate this game.”

“Why are you still in the game if you hate it that much?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“I thought you figured it out. I'm like Tiana, it's a medical research thing and if I leave before they finish the tests on me I'll have to pay for all the time I spent in the game. Both pod rental and access fees.”

“I know what her problem is, she told me. What happened to you?” Eddie asked, curious.

Allie stared at him for a moment, shook her head, and didn't answer. Instead, she turned and walked outside. A few minutes later Karl came barreling up to Eddie.

“What the hell did you do to Allie?” he demanded. “She's been crying and said she was just talking to you.”

“Whoa dude, do you know why she doesn't want to adventure more than she does?”

Karl shook his head.

“No, what's that got to do with it?”

“Let's just say that I do know now and it was pretty traumatic for her. Maybe talking about it will have helped, but that's why she was crying, because she told me what happened.”

“So what was it?” Karl asked.

“Oh hell no,” Eddie replied. “I'm not going there. If she wants you to know, she'll tell you. Or maybe she will if you ask her, but it's not my place to say.”

“Come on, tell me.”

“No,” Eddie said, then he turned and walked back into the kitchen.

A pot of coffee split up between everyone calmed down some of the tension that had been building, and then Eddie told everyone the compromise he'd come to with Allie.

“So that's the deal. We can do multiple villages, the nearest ones in the forest, or add in more patrols. Either of those is fine.”

The group was mostly understanding. Although once they were done talking and they split up, Eddie heard Allie asking Karl if he'd like to walk to the trading post with her.

I wonder what that's about. She should have enough arrows still, we found that barrel of them in a village just yesterday.

Eddie promptly forgot about it a few minutes later when Paul knocked on the door of the farmhouse.

“Hey, want to take a trip with me? I need about a half hour to work on it and my house will be finished,” Paul said when Eddie greeted him at the door.

“Sure, I can do that. That was fast.”

“I hired on a few helpers. Once I've got the blueprint up I can add helpers in and get things done more quickly. Although there are some things the person with the Skill needs to do themselves, they can haul all the materials to me and just hand them to me. Then I can just place each of them one after another. Made it a lot faster and only cost me a couple of silver. Evidently there's not much work around here.”

I should fix that, Eddie thought. I could claim the hamlet as my own if I hire enough of them. But do I want to do that yet? What if there's another announcement like when I hit level one. I don't want people to know what I'm doing here or someone's liable to steal the place out from under me.

“That's great. How about I give you a couple of gold so you can hire helpers to do the same with the inn. Will that make it faster?”

Paul nodded.

“Yeah, it'll take maybe three or four days if I hire on five helpers like I did for my house. Cut the time almost in half.”

“Sounds great, let's do it that way. Give me a minute and I'll be ready to go down and take a look at your house.”

Paul waved.

“Take your time. I need to bring my wife and daughter too or they'll never forgive me. The bunkhouse is comfortable enough, but it isn't what they were expecting.”

“Meet you at the road then?” Eddie asked.

“Say, half an hour from now?” Paul said. “I don't know how long it'll take them to get ready.”

Eddie refrained from chuckling, just in case Allie or Tiana were in earshot and had heard Paul's comment.

“You got it,” he said.

~ ~ ~

Eddie had already seen Paul's work since he'd built everything at the farm, but he was significantly more impressed by the house and was comfortable in telling Paul that.

“Well, they got what they paid for, what they said they wanted,” Paul said. “The farm is all rough work, but it's sturdy and it suited what they asked for and were willing to pay for. My house, on the other hand, that's for my wife and daughter and I want them to be comfortable.”

“So are the plans for the inn closer to the farm or your house in quality?” Eddie asked.

“It's somewhere in the middle, probably closer to the farm for the common area, but closer to the house for the guest rooms.”

“How many of those are there?” Eddie asked. “You hadn't said.”

“Here, I'll show you.”

Paul pulled out a set of blueprints and unrolled them on the coffee table in the middle of his new living room. As they pored over the blueprints, his wife and daughter came back downstairs.

“Working again already?” Delilah asked.

“I did tell you I had to build Eddie's inn as soon as possible after the house,” Paul said. “We've got all the basic amenities now though and after we make a list of what else we want, I'm going to buy that from Ingolf. He's got a better hand with furnishings than I do, I specialized in making the buildings themselves.”

“Well then, I guess I'd better get started on that list, hadn't I?” Delilah said.

“If you would dear,” Paul answered, then he turned back to the blueprints on the table.

Eddie saw the fond look on Delilah's face as she stared at Paul. She caught Eddie looking and shook her head while holding a finger to her lips.

Wow, he's got it good, Eddie thought. It's like his wife knows him inside and out. I bet that's nice.

“So, twenty-five guest rooms plus the suite for me?” Eddie asked.

“Plus this area downstairs where you can house some workers. I'm pretty sure you won't be able to run the place by yourself, so...”

“You hadn't mentioned the barn.”

“Well, I got to thinking about you using the ox and cart. Thought you might need a place to stable them if they were going to be there overnight, and if one stall, why not make a barn and add more. Sooner or later you'll need them if your desire for trade actually happens.”

“I'm not complaining, I was just surprised.”

“Oh, yeah, that and the spring house I just added in on my own. Keeping food fresh will be important also since it will eventually spoil in-game and that's the best non-magical refrigeration I could come up with on short notice. You said Tiana had made the spring that's there, right? If she can make another one, we can put the spring house wherever you like.”

“I think she can?” Eddie said. “I'll ask her about it. But this looks great, thank you.”

“You're welcome, but if you want to really thank me follow through with your plans so I get the rest of that business you were theorizing about.”

“Don't worry, they're underway already,” Eddie said. “But on that note, I need to get back and start preparations for tonight's business.”

Paul waved towards the door.

“You're welcome here any time,” he said. “But don't let me keep you from your work.”

They shook hands and Eddie headed towards the door.

“I'll be starting the inn tomorrow morning, if you want to be there for that,” Paul said.

“What time?”

“An hour after dawn.”

“I'll be there,” Eddie said. “Even if it means missing out on part of a day of adventuring.”

Eddie's evening passed quickly. Between checking on the garden and crops at the farm, selling his food and coffee near the adventurer's encampment, and travel time, it passed in a flash. He did, at least, remember to tell the rest of the group that he wouldn't be able to go adventuring the next day. They took it in stride.

I'm starting to think that they want an inn to hang out in when not adventuring as much as I want one to run and make money off of, he thought. Or maybe they just want to get their hands on some of the booze they've seen stored down in the cellar.

He was out like a light when he laid down for the night.

~ ~ ~

Eddie was up before dawn the next day, eager to see his inn get underway. He took a moment to remember the cockeyed way he'd ended up in the game, and to be thankful that now he was here much more legitimately.

And getting paid well for it, he thought. Can't forget that.

He made it to the site where his inn would be built by a half hour after dawn and found himself waiting impatiently. While he waited he thought through some logistical problems.

I don't know how Light Online repopulates the game species. Do the rabbits and deer respawn like mobs do? It seems that way, otherwise there would be a lot fewer rabbits around the farm now. Although that might mean there's another lair building up around there too. I hope not, although that would be easy to take care of now. But I need to keep having meat ready for the inn. I wonder if animal husbandry will work for rabbits, or if I can find chickens around anywhere?

While he was thinking Paul showed up with his cart. He'd borrowed it the night before to bring the rest of his family's belongings down to their house, but now it was filled to the brim with finished boards. Filled enough that the ox was moving even slower than normal.

“Eddie, here I am. Right on time. You ready to start your inn?” Paul called out.

Eddie saw the five men traipsing along behind the cart, several of them still blinking sleep from their eyes. He didn't recognize any of them, which wasn't saying much. He had yet to try to find out how many people were currently in the hamlet and meet them all.

Ingolf and his cousins were already out chopping. He'd been listening to them while he thought through his problems with logistics.

“All ready Paul. I don't suppose I can help at all?”

“Not unless you just want to carry materials. More than one person with the same skill working a building can cause some...”

He paused for a moment, considering his words.

“issues,” he said finally. “You'd think the game would just average out the Skill scores or something, but it doesn't. You can get some strange problems otherwise.”

“That's okay,” Eddie said. “I'd been thinking about a few other things I might want here. I'll just see if I can work out plans for those while you're working.”

“Good man. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a building to build.”

Paul unrolled the blueprint onto the bench of the cart, read through it and triggered it. A dim glow formed in the air where Eddie had said he wanted the inn. It was a long L shape, with the longer arm leading from the road back into the area Ingolf had cleared of trees. Paul grabbed a board from the cart and walked towards the slot that was flashing. The five men behind him each grabbed one as well and followed.

Eddie went over to the rough-hewn plank stack and picked up several of them.

I know what I want. I want a ground level floor with a roughly box shaped structure above it. A full sized door on one side and a smaller door on the adjacent side. Then I'll use green wood to weave a rough fence for a run or maybe willow if I can find enough.

The structure he wanted to make took shape in his head. Unlike the flashing lights of the future inn, he had to go on instinct to create what he was thinking about. It took him nearly until lunch, but then a notification popped on his panel.

Success:

You have created the Blueprint: Chicken Coop.

He thought for a moment before bothering Paul, but couldn't figure out how he was supposed to manifest the actual physical blueprint. When he gave up and called out the question to Paul, the answer was surprisingly simple.

“Just grab some paper and a pencil and draw it. Your hand will work on automatic,” Paul called back.

I should've known, Eddie thought.

He had paper and a charcoal stick in his inventory, so he settled in next to the cart and started sketching. Ten minutes later he had a finished blueprint.

Now to test my idea. I don't trust myself to have done it with no errors, so I'll use this blueprint and hopefully it'll show me if anything is out of whack with the coop, he thought.

When he went back and triggered the blueprint, sure enough he saw several boards glowing red. After he made some adjustments, the whole coop glowed a bright blue for a moment before the glow disappeared entirely.

There we go, one chicken coop, Eddie thought. Now I just need to build them a run so they can be outside, then actually find some chickens. The other things I want here are going to need materials that aren't handy though. I bet I could make part of the rabbit hutch, but the fish trap is definitely going to need flexible but sturdy materials. So for now, I'm going to take a break.

There was a pile of slash where Ingolf and his cousins had been trimming the trees, so Eddie went over and found himself a stick almost as long as he was tall. He trimmed all the smaller side branches then tested its strength. After cutting it off where the top got too weak to bend without breaking he was left with a five foot length of wood.

He still had some rope that he'd unwoven to test as a bow string in his inventory, so he took out one of the thinner strands and tested its strength. It felt like it would take about fifteen pounds or so before breaking, so he tied it to the thin end of his wooden stick.

Now the hard part, what can I use as a fish hook? I've wanted to try fishing in this pond since I claimed it and haven't had the chance until now.

Finally Eddie had an Aha! moment. He'd been using something like baling wire to hang the percolator over the fire for the coffee he brewed at the bunkhouse he rented out. He went out and, after bending it back and forth about a hundred times, managed to snap off a piece several inches long.

And the snapped end is even sharp, awesome, he thought.

He bent the sharp end over to form a hook, then tied it to his line. After digging around near the shore of the pond he found himself a worm as well. Threading it on the hook, he tossed the line out into the pond and settled down to wait.

The wait didn't take long. Less than five minutes later he felt a tug on the line. Knowing that he was using less than optimal equipment, instead of trying to set the hook without a barb, he simply yanked and hoped that his yank was hard enough to pull the hook, line, and fish out of the water. Sure enough something that looked a lot like a trout came flying over onto the shore next to him and his panel started flashing.

You have obtained the skill Fishing.

You have upgraded the skill Improvisation to (2). Way to make do, although you might just try buying a fishing hook next time, skinflint!

Huh, I didn't expect that, he thought. I was just trying to relax some. Oh well, it kind of fits with my build anyhow.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-seven

Aaron stared at Cynthia in disbelief.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Just what I said. I checked your records and you haven't taken any time off in two years, since a year before Light Online went public. You need to take some of your accrued vacation time. I don't want you burning out on me.”

“But... but... I've got projects going on, and my debugging?” Aaron pleaded.

She chuckled.

“Yes, and I've brought one of the medics onto your project to monitor their vitals. Your programmers have their instructions and are going full blast, especially now that you altered their hours  so they don't spend the first hour or two at work trying to wake up. As for the debugging, it's out of our department, you don't need to do that any more. Greenshaw has brought in three new debuggers.”

She laughed out loud.

“He tried just one at first, then added a second. Between the two of them they almost did as much work as you've been doing. When he brought in the third, they finally picked up all of your workload, plus a bit more. He was astounded when I explained to him that any of those debuggers were fully qualified for the position and that you were just that good and knew the code that well.”

“So, we could finally clear the bug backlog with that extra help,” Aaron said. “At least we could if I didn't have to go on vacation.”

“Aaron, now I'm not going to order this,” Cynthia said, “but were you aware that we have vacant thirty day pods for use by our own employees? At no cost? I suggest you take a month off. I perused your logs and noticed some mention that you've never spent any time in the game as a player? I can't order you to do it, nor can  I pay you for it, at least not more than your vacation pay, but perhaps you should look at the game as a player for a while, not as a developer. You're a valuable asset to this company Aaron. Greenshaw has finally realized just how much of one. Any ideas you generate from being a player for a while would be taken very seriously. We can't have the game going stale, now can we? While we have new ideas for additions to the game, the ones from our own team seem kind of tame and the ones from the players are very unbalanced.”

“So, you want me to take my vacation in Light Online?” Aaron asked.

“Did you know that my department, which you are now part of, plays a major part in the R&D of this game? Of course you do, that's why you're part of it. It isn't just the hardware though, it's also the game itself. If we don't change and adapt then our current popularity won't matter in the slightest. Players are fickle. We need to be the best, and I can't think of a better person to make suggestions on improving the game than you.”

Aaron's eyes lit up.

I'm not being given carte blanche to make changes, he thought, but she's suggesting that my opinions on changes to enhance the game are going to be given a high priority.

His grin grew as he thought through what she'd said.

What the hell, I get paid anyhow since it's vacation. I don't have to pay for the pod, and maybe I can go hang out with Eddie and his friends. It looks like they've been having a blast even if they aren't adventuring as much as regular players. That might even be a place to look for enhancements. Things to draw in the people who don't want to adventure as much, but still want to participate in the game. Overhaul the crafting system perhaps, make it so playing as a crafter is more appealing?

He stood there lost in thought for a minute or two and when he recovered Cynthia was staring at him, a grin on her face.

“You already thought of something to work on, didn't you?” she said.

He nodded.

“We're very popular with the people who want to adventure, but as Eddie pointed out to me there's a lot more to the game than just adventuring. I think I want to spend some time looking into that end of things. I bet that there are a fair number of people who'd enjoy a crafting style experience in the game. See what it's like to be a blacksmith, or any number of other professions. What do you think?”

“I think you need to submit a request for vacation, thirty days minimum,” she said. “Don't worry, your job will still be here for you when you get back, plus there could be a promotion or bonuses if you come up with some ideas that prove to be popular.”

~ ~ ~

Over the next three days one thing or another kept Eddie from doing what he wanted. He spent some time just watching as his inn was built, pitching in to carry some boards before realizing that his efforts weren't speeding it up at all, not with Paul's five helpers already there. He wanted to do more adventuring, and they did manage one day of it. That day got him frustratingly close to level five, but he was still shy of it by several hundred experience.

His most progress came in his latest unintentional skill acquisition. His fishing skill was up to a three by now since he'd discovered that sitting at the pond and fishing was the only way he'd been able to keep himself calm when he was so close to level five, so close to getting his inn finished, and so close to getting someplace with Tiana. The night before they'd spent several minutes after Karl and Allie went to bed, just sitting there talking, then kissing. Tiana had abruptly pulled herself away after he thought she'd lost herself in the kisses. She'd apologized before going to bed, but had still seemed a little nervous and distant.

He pulled on his makeshift fishing rod as he felt another bite, but this time the line came up empty, even the bait was gone. He sighed and stood before tucking the rod away under a nearby tree where he'd been leaving it when he wasn't fishing. He already had three trout in a little makeshift creel. His weaving skill had actually come in handy a lot more than he'd thought it would when he first received it. The creel was made of supple green branches woven together. He had it fastened in the shallow water at the edge of the pond to keep the fish alive and fresh. Now he pulled that out.

Maybe some trout for lunch today, he thought. I'll see if Paul wants some also.

He nearly staggered as Lucky came writhing around his legs, purring as she sniffed pointedly at his creel.

“Fine, glutton,” he said, “you can have one fish.”

He pulled out the smallest of the trout. It was very obvious to him that Lucky needed no help keeping herself fed, but she still enjoyed it when he fed her. She gingerly took the trout from his hand, then trotted off and laid down, taking small bites out of the fish. Eddie headed up to where Paul was building the inn.

“Hey Paul,” he called out. “Want some fresh grilled trout for lunch?”

He didn't get an answer immediately. It was more than a minute later when the other man stepped out of the nearly finished inn.

“That's what you've been doing? Just sitting down there, fishing?” Paul asked.

“Yeah, I tried helping here but I wasn't actually any help. Allie and Karl are off mapping and Tiana said she had something to do today, she wouldn't tell me what. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Brainstorm how to make more money would be my guess,” Paul replied. “It seems like you've been coming up with plan after plan for that and they all seem to work, you lucky devil.”

“You're awfully chipper today, what's up?” Eddie asked.

Paul broke into a wide grin.

“My wife decided that she's more than happy to stay in game. She loves that she can do her regular 'housework' in a fraction of the time and with minimal effort. It leaves her time to do other things she always wanted to, you know, like pick up a hobby or three?”

“How's your daughter doing?”

Paul nodded thoughtfully.

“I'm not really sure. She spends a lot of time outside. She seems happy but hasn't been talking a lot. What little she does say tells me she's thinking about adventuring. She's been asking about classes and what different types can do in game. Spends a lot of time in her browser too. Although, I'd meant to ask. Has Lucky been coming down to visit her? I swear I saw your cat with her just yesterday while she was wandering down near the lake.”

Eddie shrugged.

“Maybe? I don't exactly keep track of Lucky like that. She frequently disappears for an hour or more at a time. So it's possible.”

“Well, I hope it's Lucky. I don't want to think about her playing with a wild bobcat.”

“Why not? If it didn't attack her while you were watching then maybe she made a friend.”

“I'm just going to assume it's Lucky and not think about it too much,” Paul said. “On a totally different subject, I should finish the inn tonight or tomorrow before lunch.”

Eddie broke into a wide grin.

“Only a couple of days until I get to open for the first time. This is gonna rock, you know?”

Paul grinned back at him.

“You know, your enthusiasm is contagious. I'm looking forward to kicking back with an ale in front of that fireplace in there. You were right, by the way, Tiana managed to make it just fine. It did take her a couple of attempts, but it's sound now.”

“She did the one in the bunkhouse so I was sure she could. Now, about that trout?”

“Oh, no thanks, Delilah packed me a lunch. She's already almost as good a cook as I am in the game.”

Eddie grinned, thinking back to the first taste of rabbit he'd had, after Paul had cooked it over an open flame.

“That good, eh?”

“From what I hear you're getting pretty good yourself too.”

“Nowhere near your level yet, I'm just at a nine as of yesterday. After I cooked a few of the fish I've been catching I got another point. It looks like you need to keep cooking new things all the time if you want to keep your score going up.”

Paul nodded.

“You do, or at least it goes up quicker that way. I'm at a twelve, but I'll tell you what, you really want to get your next point as soon as you can. Especially if you're selling the food you cook.”

Eddie cocked his head inquisitively.

“Oh wait, do you start getting the well-fed bonus at a ten in cooking?” he asked.

Paul nodded.

“Not all the time, I'm guessing there's some sort of check against your skill. But skill level ten is where I started seeing those from time to time.”

“Awesome. I was thinking I might have to lower my prices, but if I'm giving buffs from my food sometimes, I think I'll leave them right where they are.”

“Sounds good,” Paul said. “I've got to get back to work if I want to get this place finished though. Talk to you later.”

“I'm going to start up my fire pit over there. If any of your lunch needs warming, just come on over,” Eddie said.

He moved over to his food stand and quickly got a fire going in the pit. They stored fire-starting materials as well as kindling and logs in the back of the small stand he'd built for selling the food. It saved a lot of time when he was starting up in the afternoon and it also saved him a few minutes now. As he smelled the cooking fish, he let his mind wander a little, trying to plan out the next few days.

While he was working Eddie was disturbed as a global broadcast showed in his panel, then relieved when he actually read the actual message.

Global Broadcast:

Congratulations to party: Edge Lords for expanding the world.

“Uhh, Paul?” Eddie called out.

“Don't worry,” came the reply. “That happens once or twice a week most of the time. There's occasional other messages like that as well. I've seen a fair bunch of them come up while I've been building.”

Eddie was relieved. The only global broadcast he'd seen since he got into the game was his own. Now he felt like he might be less of a target because of it. Although this one had been a party and the party name, not the player name. Even so, he was in a non-PVP zone so he knew he ought to be safe even if he had drawn attention by his own achievements.

~ ~ ~

When Eddie got back to the farm, there was no-one there. He'd expected Tiana to be there at least, since she hadn't announced her intentions to do anything today and he was confused by her absence.

Crap, he thought, I hope I didn't scare her off last night. It was like she was really into things until the end, then she got distant. Shit! I really hope I didn't scare her off, she's really attractive and, better still, I enjoy her company.

His mind was put to rest later in the day when Karl and Allie returned.

“Either of you seen Tiana today?” he asked. “I haven't seen her since last night.”

“She didn't tell you?” Allie asked. “Today is her day out. She should be back at midnight, that's when they normally pull her out and twenty-four hours later, on the dot, they put her back in.”

“Oh,” Eddie said. “No, she hadn't mentioned it, although she did seem distracted last night.”

“That'd do it,” Allie said. “I won't go into details, but she's told me her days out are awfully painful since they put her through a lot of tests to see how her physical therapy is working.”

Eddie nodded.

“I understand, knowing that was coming up soon might make me kind of distracted too. Well, time to set up for tonight's food sales. It looks like Paul will finish the inn tomorrow, so I'm going to have to track down some help for running it. Figured I'd go talk to old Arvid first, he seems to have his finger on what pulse there is to the Meadowlands. He can help me find a couple of trustworthy barmaids, maybe a farmer or two to run the farm up here while I run the inn also.”

“You're going to need more help than that,” Karl said. “Probably a stable boy and a cleaning maid too. Plus I'm sure there'll be things you haven't thought of that you'll need more help with.”

“Yeah, it's going to be a pain, but I bet it's worth it.”

He broke into a wide grin.

“Hell, even doing what I have been is worth it to me. I can't help but think that this is going to be even better.”

Karl shook his head.

“Eddie the innkeeper. Not the title you'd expect to get in a game, but hey, if it works for you.”

He clapped Eddie on the back.

“Seriously, congratulations man. I know you needed to make this work for you after we got the shaft, but you've managed to make it work for both of us even. Let's hope it keeps going that way.”

“Speaking of missing people, has anyone seen Jern?” Eddie asked.

“Oh. I hope you don't mind, but when he was asking about any caves on the land to make himself somewhere homier to stay I directed him to the warren we cleared. I figure if he's in there nothing will respawn. We checked before he decided to move in and it was still empty,” Karl said.

“I don't mind at all, especially if it does prevent it from resetting,” Eddie said. “Dominic's still in the bunkhouse?”

“Yup, happy as a clam too. After Paul moved his family out, Dominic took over the rooms Paul had made in there. So now he's even got a private room out there.”

“Good, so the only things I have to worry about right now are tonight's sales, the inn, and staff for the inn.”

“Looks like. Hey, we're almost finished with the map so we're going to go out again today. We'll come down and meet you near the inn when we're done, okay?”

Eddie nodded.

“Sure man, go for it. Maybe you can start selling maps out of the inn once you finish it.”

“Maybe, but I had an idea,” Karl said.

Eddie raised an eyebrow.

“Do tell,” he said.

“Nah, I'm going to wait. If it works out, you'll see. You said Paul is almost done with the inn, right? Think he'd mind building me a house? Just a small one, a little ways away from your inn.”

“I'm sure he'd love the extra work. He will charge you though.”

“Wouldn't have it any other way. Talk to you later Eddie.”

Allie and Karl left, leaving Eddie to harvest his produce for the day and hook up the wagon.

~ ~ ~

Once he was down at the food stand and setting up, starting the fire so it could burn down to coals, Eddie tracked down Ingolf, who was just about done clearing his land.

“Ingolf?” he called, once the man was no longer chopping wood.

“Eddie, what can I do for you?”

“I was wondering. You said that your cousins were farming? But they had bad luck?”

Ingolf nodded.

“A small goblin raiding party came out of the woods. They don't do that often, but this one came out right on top of their farm, before they'd even planted. Burned down all the construction that had happened already and my cousins didn't have the coin to replace what was lost. So they gave up and have been doing odd jobs since.”

“They know farming though?” Eddie asked.

“That they do.”

“Think they want to take a longer term position with me? Not clearing wood, but tending my farm. It's about a mile away from here so they'd still be fairly close to this area.”

“I think they might indeed be interested. Although I know they'll ask about price. Don't let them skin you, don't ask Arvid to negotiate for you either. He'll skin you himself, charge you to do it, and then get them a lot more than they'd be willing to work for.”

“I've got no clue what the going wages are around here. You took me a bit for the wood cutting job too, didn't you?”

Ingolf shrugged.

“Not so bad there, less than twice what I would've been willing to do it for.”

“So would the five copper a day I'm paying them now be more appropriate for something they're skilled at?” Eddie asked.

“Probably. You could get them to take less, but they might be unhappy about it.”

“So, five copper a day, food provided out of the crops they harvest, and shelter. They'll each get their own room in the farmhouse there.”

“That is far more than most would offer them. I think they'd be happy with that,” Ingolf said.

“I need to keep them happy since I'm going to need to hire even more people from around here. I'll need maids for the inn, barmaids for it also, maybe a cook. I'll start cooking myself there, but sooner or later I'll probably want to hire someone for that position. It just goes on and on.”

Ingolf chuckled.

“You were the one that wanted to run an inn.”

“Yeah, I'm just kind of griping, I don't really mean it. It just seems like a lot to do and not long to do it in since the building itself should be finished tomorrow.”

“Well, I'll tell you a secret. Go about a half mile past the crossroads, heading away from your inn. There's a faint path there. If you follow it, it'll take you to a small hut. Old Liv lives there. Much like Arvid, she knows everyone in the area. Unlike Arvid, she'd be willing to help you just to get those people the work, and not try to skin you in the process. Although you might bring her a gift to ease the proceedings.”

“A gift. Such as...”

“Perhaps some of the venison you sell. Before it's been cooked. If you bring her cooked venison then she may well think that you're insulting her own skills. But, she'll know the best people for the jobs you need filled. The ones that will be reliable, able to do the work, and not have a problem working for someone else.”

“Thank you Ingolf, you could've charged me for that information but you didn't.”

“Ah, but I do have an ulterior motive,” Ingolf replied.

“Yes?”

“Well, you've completely missed out on something you need for your inn.”

“I've got food, drink that I'm not making available until it's open, what am I missing?”

“Things to serve it with. Platters and mugs to be specific. You can only serve meat on a stick for so long before your customers begin to tire of it.”

Eddie slapped the heel of his hand to his forehead.

“Duh!” he exclaimed.

“Not to worry,” Ingolf said. “You've seen my work and I have a chest full to the brim of just what you'll need. We can negotiate the price after you see the pieces.”

“Plain and simple is all I'll need there.”

“There's plain and simple, but then there's well-crafted plain and simple. One will last you a month and the other a year or more.”

Eddie groaned, mostly mockingly.

“Alright, bring it by tomorrow so I can take a look?” he asked.

Ingolf smiled.

“I'll do that. Even if I have to get my cousins to carry it for me. They'll be happy to do so since the man I introduced them to will be offering them a long term job.”

~ ~ ~

He ticked off the things he needed to do tomorrow on his fingers.

Get the platters and mugs from Ingolf along with the bed frames, pick up all the mattresses that are completed already, move some to the bunkhouse on the farm, move the rest into the inn, Stock up the pantry, move the alcohol, the list just goes on and on. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I think the inn won't open until the day after tomorrow, or maybe even the day after that. I'll have to see how quickly I can get everything done.

He couldn't wait for the morning, when Tiana should be back. He was sure she'd want to help and that, by itself, would make everything seem easier and quicker. At least he hoped she'd want to help, he was still uncertain because of the way she acted the last time he'd seen her.

Eddie shook his head, then laid out piece after piece of meat on the counter in his little food stand. He chopped each one to the right size and put it on its stick after spicing it. Before long he was lost in the rhythm, taking meat out back to cook over the fire while he kept working on the ones that still needed to be prepared.

Throughout the night he kept getting questions about the building that was nearly completed nearby. When he told people it was an inn, his inn, and that it would be opening in a few days almost every person he was talking to followed up with the question.

“Will there be beer or ale, or some kind of alcohol?”

When he replied in the affirmative he could feel his reputation with the adventurers soaring. More than one asked if there was anything they could do to help speed up his opening. So he told each of them that if they wanted to help they should be here near the food stand tomorrow at noon. He'd see how many people showed up, then break them into groups while splitting out the tasks he'd been mentally listing.

And any of those volunteers are going to get the first round of ale on the house, he thought. Even if only half as many as volunteered turn up there'll be enough people to get everything done tomorrow.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-eight

Aaron scanned Eddie's logs.

Hmm, Aaron thought. I wonder if he knows just what's going to happen when he officially opens his inn. I've looked at that quest line and I know that a lot more is going to happen than at your average ribbon cutting ceremony.

He chuckled to himself as he pictured Eddie's face when he got hit with the string of messages that was going to appear.

I think I will try that blacksmith character I was thinking about. I know the crafter classes are kind of bare bones as it stands right now, but with some experience I can determine where things can be enhanced. Starting my character right after he opens the inn will give me a bonus for that as well. Don't see many players of that race in the area yet, but I bet we will soon. Opening up a new territory to start in and a new sub-race to start as will see to that.

Aaron went ahead and sent in an email requesting thirty days vacation. Based on what he'd read in Eddie's logs, he asked for it to start two days from then. If he started in the evening, then Eddie should have his inn finished and the new options should be available for players.

Aaron spent the rest of his own evening plotting out his character. His familiarity with the game itself lent itself to bare facts about the classes, but the amount of options there were that allowed you to specialize your character were far too numerous for him to know all of them. So he researched them online as he planned his character out.

~ ~ ~

Eddie was disturbed once overnight when a cold breeze managed to make its way under the blankets. It was replaced by a warm weight a moment later though so he simply muttered in his sleep and shifted in his sleep a little.

He slept well, better than he had in a long time. When he woke, it was to a movement in the bed with him. He rolled over only to find that he'd slept so well because Tiana had slipped into the bed with him and been spooning with him all night. As he moved, her eyes fluttered open.

“Good morning,” she said with a bright smile.

“You're in a much better mood than when I saw you last.”

“That's because the doctor answered my questions. I'm going to be in the pod for at least another year, possibly longer. There's incredible progress so far, but there's still a lot to be done.”

“And that's a reason to have you in a better mood?”

“Yes silly, it means I don't have to keep getting distracted thinking about what might happen between us if I'd been yanked out of the pod for whatever reason. I get that you intend to stay in as long as you can, and now that I know I won't be yanked out either, it means... well, we'll see what it means.”

Oh, I get it, he thought. It wasn't anything I said or did. She wasn't even sure she'd be back in the pod today and didn't want to get too involved with me if she was going to have to leave. But a year is long enough for her to let herself get involved? I mean, I guess that makes sense. I'm not going to question it at least.

“Well, as much as I'd like to celebrate that right now, I have an incredibly long list of things to do today. So I'm afraid I have to get out of bed now,” he said.

“Not just yet,” she replied.

Then she leaned over and kissed him, passionately enough that he had no doubts about what she wanted. The only question was when they'd find the time.

When she broke the kiss off he was even more reluctant to get out of bed, but when he heard someone moving around downstairs, he heaved a sigh and slipped out, wincing as his feet came down on the cool floorboards.

He, Karl, and Allie headed out to hunt after he was dressed. Munching a leftover piece of meat from the night before, he slowly woke as they headed south into the light forest that preceded the forest of fools.

“I saw a few deer tracks in the area when we were mapping yesterday,” Allie said, “so I figured this would be a good spot to hunt this morning.”

Eddie asked the question that had been on his mind for a while.

“Does anyone know if the game just respawns the deer and bunnies? Or do they have to breed. Can they breed even?”

“I know they can breed,” Karl said. “You should know that too, you've got animal husbandry. But I think the game probably does respawn them. It doesn't seem to matter where we hunt, there's always more game there a day or two later.”

Eddie shook his head.

It's like the looting/skinning bit, he thought. You can get more out of it if you're willing to put the effort into it. Breed the animals and hunt and you'd have twice as much food, and hides for that matter.

Hunting went quickly. Especially with the targeting circle the game provided on animals it considered worthy of hunting. At least that's how he explained away the fact that he got the circles on deer, but not bunnies. Even if the bunnies could also increase his hunting skill.

Or maybe it only gives the circle on the things I need the bonus from hunting to kill in one shot? I don't know, he thought.

The hunt went well, and quickly. Eddie was more interested in the latter today since he had so much to do. He left Allie and Karl butchering the deer they'd gotten in the yard while he started harnessing up the cart. Tiana came out while he was doing that.

“So, what's all the stuff you have to do today?” she asked. “What's important enough to drag you out of bed with me.”

Eddie winced as he saw Allie's ears perk up at Tiana's comment.

There goes the gossip mill again, at least that's what I'm guessing, Eddie thought.

“You want the whole list or the summary?” he asked. “Trust me, I'd much rather stay in bed with you, for as long as you wanted, but Paul's going to finish building the inn today, I've got to pick up mattresses for it as well as tableware, I have to haul all the alcohol from the cellar here down to the inn, I still need to run my food stand, we already did hunting, and Ingolf mentioned that I should visit someone named Old Liv. Evidently she knows everyone in the area as well as Arvid does, but won't try to skin me alive financially when making recommendations as to who I should hire for what.”

Tiana held up a hand.

“Sorry, I didn't realize the inn was that close to opening. Buildings go up so fast here, I hadn't seen it until we built your bunkhouse down there.”

“That's fine. I'm sure I'm missing things from that list also, but I hope I'll remember them before it's important.”

“Well, do you need a hand?” Tiana asked.

He nodded.

“Yes please. We need to load the alcohol into the cart, along with produce and meat, once Allie and Karl are finished over there. Although it will probably be easier to do it like Paul and his family did and carry the big kegs in our inventories. Be easier on the cart and ox too, although with just the two of us, we won't be able to get it all in there.”

“Hey, we can help,” Karl called out.

Allie nodded from beside him.

“Oh, and I'm going to need a portion of that fresh venison too,” Eddie added. “Ingolf mentioned Old Liv might appreciate a gift like that and if she's going to help without charging me, I thought it would be the right thing to do.”

“Sure, no problem. Here's one of the ones we looted off of it, cleaner looking than the ones we butcher,” Karl said.

He handed off the meat and while Karl and Allie continued to butcher, Tiana and Eddie started loading the wagon.

~ ~ ~

The first stop at the inn involved them simply unloading things into the yard. After they did, Karl and Allie were going to stay there to guard them. No-one could steal the stuff, but someone had already made an attempt to burn down the inn. It might have worked if the goblin hadn't been stupid enough to try to light a wet surface on fire, so Eddie didn't want to risk it. Not with the amount of gold he'd outlaid for the supplies.

The next stop was going to be Old Liv. On the way back from there, Eddie and Tiana would pick up the mattresses. Paul was claiming that he ought to be done by lunch time and Eddie wanted to have as much of the inn's furnishings there as possible when it was done. That way it would just be hauling everything in and putting it in place.

The cart bumped roughly over the faint path Ingolf had mentioned. It was narrow and not well-kept, but the cart fit, if barely. When Eddie finally saw the small shack off to the side, he nearly laughed. He'd been expecting something run-down, the classic old hag dispensing wisdom from it. Instead what he saw was a small stone cottage, at least he'd call it a cottage and not a shack, with several small but well-cared for gardens surrounding it. There was also some sort of fenced in area out back that seemed like it would hold livestock.

I'll have to see what she has, he thought. Maybe I can supplement the food for the inn by raising some of whatever livestock it is. I can probably make a pen for it. Is it too much to hope for that it's chickens back there? I'd kill for some scrambled eggs.

Eddie walked to the front door with Tiana following along behind. He knocked crisply, then waited. Prepared to wait a long time he was surprised when the door opened less than ten seconds later.

Staring out at him was a woman, she looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. Just old enough for her chestnut hair to show streaks of silver-white. She'd obviously been a knockout when younger, she was still attractive enough now for Tiana to grab his arm possessively.

“Hi, I'm looking for Liv,” Eddie said, after a moment of surprise.

“I'm Liv,” the woman in the door answered.

“Um, I'm looking for Old Liv?” Eddie said hesitantly.

Liv burst into gales of laughter. She controlled it quickly, after only a few seconds, then looked him in the face.

“You been talking to Ingolf? I swear, just because I bounced that boy on my knee when he was a baby, he thinks I'm some ancient granny. I'm Liv, skip the Old part please or I might get offended.”

“I'm sorry. Yes, Ingolf sent me here. He told me that you know everyone around here at least as well as Arvid, possibly better. I'm opening—”

Eddie stopped mid-sentence. Liv wasn't listening any more. Her face was a mask of fury, one that had appeared at the mention of Arvid's name. Unconsciously, he took a step back, Tiana moving with him. Liv noticed that and, with a noticeable effort, brought her fury under control.

“Sorry, please forgive me, but don't mention that scoundrel's name around here if you please.”

“Uh, alright. Anyhow, I'm opening an inn. Ingolf said you could recommend the best people for the positions I need to fill, and do it without bleeding me dry in the process,” Eddie said, hastening to put the problem before her and get her mind off of Arvid.

“He would bleed ya dry,” she said. “He's a scoundrel, no doubt about that. Got one of my cousins to marry his nephew and when the nephew up and left her, the young cad spread a horde of rumors about her. The old cad didn't naysay him either. Now she lives alone, feeling like her life is all dried up and gone with her only nineteen years of age. But you don't want to hear about his ways, you want solid advice, yes?”

Eddie nodded.

Well, he mused. I thought the gossip among players was bad. If I ever want it about the game world or NPCs, I think I know where to come.

“Ingolf said you might appreciate a gift?” Eddie asked, extending the portion of venison wrapped in cloth.

“Well, he got that right at least. What do we have here?”

She unwrapped the meat and a smile spread across her face.

“A good bit of meat. I can use the variety and hardly anyone brings me venison. Thank you. Why don't you come in, I'll set some tea to brewing and we can discuss what positions you have that you need filled.”

Eddie and Tiana slipped into the cottage. He knew he had a busy day, but it didn't look like this was going to be a short visit. He'd kind of prepared himself for that, but when he'd seen the cottage, and then seen the inhabitant, he hadn't been quite sure what to expect any more.

~ ~ ~

It was almost two hours later when they left Liv's cottage. Eddie was satisfied that he'd have the crew he needed to run the inn. They'd be showing up the next morning and he'd get them moved into the quarters he'd had made for them in the inn. Then he'd be showing them the areas they'd be working in.

He was also rather happy that it was chickens she was raising and had arranged to acquire several of them, including a rooster, from the next time she hatched eggs. She'd been amenable to bargaining for them, especially after losing her temper earlier on. She'd apologized repeatedly for that, but only when they finally cut the deal for the chickens, and she gave him a discount, did she seem to feel that she'd made amends.

He'd ended up getting the cousin Liv had mentioned earlier, Helga, as one of the barmaids. Evidently, Liv and Helga weren't so much concerned with propriety or reputation. The rumors spread about her were that she was cold to men, so none of the men in the area had ever even taken the time to get to know her. Liv knew better though and thought that being a barmaid, and constantly being flirted with, or even a touch more, would be good for Helga. And, she said, if things went beyond flirting or a bit more, well that was Helga's business, now wasn't it. That was the final word said on the matter since Eddie wasn't about to gainsay Liv, not after experiencing her forceful personality for a while.

He was feeling quite a bit better, now that he knew he'd have a full staff. So when they stopped for the mattresses and he found out that the woman he'd contracted for them had also made him a much larger feather mattress, “One fit for a man that employs others” she'd said, he paid the extra silvers for that mattress and tipped the lady heavily. He'd been planning on using a straw tick for his own bed, just like the others. With the way things seemed to be looking with Tiana though, he was happy to have it.

They got back to the inn an hour before noon. Karl and Allie were chatting with Paul's helpers. Evidently what he was doing now didn't need their help and they were just waiting for him to finish in case he did need any extra hands before then.

Not wanting to unload the mattresses onto the dirt and grass in front of the inn, they simply waited. The only other load they needed to pick up from anywhere other than the farm was from Ingolf. Two chests worth, or close to it, of bowls, plates, mugs, and the like. After that there were a few things he wanted to bring down from the farm and he'd be set.

Ingolf's cousins were all set to take over the farm the following day and Eddie had told them they could stay there tonight. He'd set aside rooms in the inn for Karl, Allie, and Tiana after asking them if they wanted to base from the inn or from the farm. They'd unanimously chosen the inn, although Jern would be staying in the rabbit warren on the farm. When he heard that there would be proper alcohol at the inn, he'd wavered, but upon finding out it was a fairly short walk, he stuck with his underground rooms.

Paul came striding out of the inn.

“All set, should be good as gold. Are you ready to take possession of your inn, Eddie?” Paul said.

Eddie nodded and walked up to the front door, Tiana following along. He'd noticed that she'd been staying very close to him all day. He wasn't going to complain, although he did wonder exactly why that was.

Paul led him into the inn. On the ground floor, behind the bar, was a door in the wall. When Paul led him through that he found himself in a control room. It was much fancier than the one on the farm and he just stood there and stared as Paul walked him through the controls.

“Food, drink, and lodgings are the settings. That will determine what the workers focus on the most without you having to track them all down and give them instructions. There are some additional settings that can be added later on, how to do that is in the manual on the shelf there,” Paul pointed to a bookcase with a single book on it.

“You can add in things like gardens, livestock, barn, and the like. All the things a normal inn might have on its own. This second dial lets you split the workers up and focus on different areas...”

Eddie kind of spaced out as Paul kept talking. Evidently the inn was a much more complex system than the farm had been.

Which makes sense, I suppose, Eddie thought. There's a lot more going on here, and a lot more things that need specific attention, than at the farm. Hopefully I can just set and forget.

Once he was done, Eddie went outside.

“Hey Paul, do you have ladder?” he asked.

Paul reached into his inventory and drew out a twenty foot ladder. Eddie goggled and chuckled. He still wasn't quite used to watching oversized items go in and out of inventories.

“Which window is mine?” Eddie asked, once they were around back.

Paul pointed, and Eddie leaned the ladder next to it.

“What are you doing?” Paul asked.

Eddie grinned.

“Gotta have a way for my little buddy to get in without going through a room full of loud, possibly obnoxious, adventurers.”

Eddie spent the next five minutes attaching a series of little ledges to the back of the building. Just large enough for a bobcat to use to rapidly scale the back of the building, right up to Eddie's window.

“Lucky!” Eddie called.

The bobcat appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, but her fishy breath told Eddie exactly where she'd been.

“Lucky, that's going to be my new room up there. I gave you your own stairs to go right up to it, okay?” Eddie said.

He still wasn't sure if she actually understood him or not, but was starting to lean towards her being able to do so.

“Stay here for a minute Lucky,” he said.

He trotted into the inn, then ran up the stairs to his own room. He threw the shutters open, looked down at the bobcat and called her again.

Lucky agilely went straight up the makeshift stairs. Hitting his chest as she leapt into the room. She then bounced around the spacious area. As of yet, there was only the furniture, minus the mattress, so there wasn't much for her to explore, but at least she should associate the room with him now.

“Good girl, Lucky,” Eddie said. “This is where I'll be sleeping most of the time from here on out. I wanted to make sure you could get up here.”

“Hey Eddie, we have a bunch of players down here that say they volunteered to help you this afternoon?” Tiana called from the backyard.

“Alright Lucky. You might want to stay up here for a few minutes until I get them working, at least if you don't want them to see you. I know you have a problem with some of them,” Eddie said.

“I'll meet you out front,” he called from the window.

A minute later, he had adventurers lined up to help with the fetch and carry. Mattresses to the rooms, food to the pantry, liquor to the cellars. Once the cart was empty, he sent Allie and Karl to go pick up the table settings from Ingolf. Things were taking shape quickly with all the help he was getting.

When everything was settled away into its place, and Karl and Allie had returned with the table settings, Eddie called out.

“One on the house everyone?”

There was a roar of approval from the crowd.

Eddie turned to the row of casks on the wall behind the bar. He stared at the one he wanted to tap, one of the lower grade of ales he had.

“Um, Paul? Do you know how to tap these?”

A laugh swept through the crowd, but Paul came walking up. He grabbed a tap from the bowl of them on a shelf near ground level, then he produced a wooden mallet from his inventory.

“You 'tap' the keg tap, or firkin tap more appropriately, into the barrel,” Paul said in a lecturing voice.

He set the pointed portion of the tap low on the ale barrel, then gently swung the mallet. Once, twice, thrice, and the tap was set. There was a tiny spray of foam in the process, but Eddie was sure he'd make a lot more mess the first time he tried it.

He grabbed a mug and started filling, setting the filled mugs on the bar for people to grab. Once everyone had a drink, Paul raised his mug.

“To Eddie, for starting an inn here where it looks like there's at least a desire for one, if not a need.”

“Here, here,” everyone called.

Mugs tilted back and sighs of satisfaction spread through the room.

Once everyone had finished their drinks, and Eddie had convinced them he wasn't giving out any more freebies, but would be open for business the following night, the crowd dispersed. Eddie and his friends hooked up the cart again and headed back to the farmhouse to get the belongings they wanted to have at the inn with them. None of them had a lot of stuff, but they each had a few things they wanted to bring down, as well as their clothing.

When they finally got back to the inn to settle themselves into their rooms, Eddie showed them around to the rooms he'd set aside for them. Karl and Allie took to their rooms immediately, but Tiana followed him up to his own room.

Lucky was waiting on the bed for him. Now that the mattress was in, she was happy to just sprawl there. He'd left the window open enough for her to get in and out on her own.

“So Eddie, how would you like to be able to make a little more money each day, right from the start?” Tiana asked.

“Sure, that's why I'm doing this.”

“Well, it isn't why I'm suggesting this, just so you know. Where should I put my things?” she asked.

“Huh? I thought I showed you your room.”

“You did, but you can rent it since I'll be staying in here with you. That way you get to rent the other one and make more money, and we get to do what you delayed this morning, any time we want.”

She tossed her bag onto a chair, then took his from his hand. She set his beside her own, then pushed him back on the bed, careful to avoid Lucky. When she laid down beside him, they got to make up for the time they'd missed when he'd had to get out of bed so abruptly in the morning.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Twenty-nine

Aaron viewed the sheet he'd planned his character on. As he'd remembered, the crafting classes were pretty bare bones. He'd already made a list of suggestions that he'd thought of while planning the character and sent it to Cynthia, with a note saying it was something for her to start on before he made more complete suggestions later on.

He opened Eddie's log to see how progress on the inn was going, glanced at the logs, blushed, then closed them immediately.

“Oops, I guess he's taking me at my word and trying for everything people like to do in the game,” Aaron said. “I think I won't mention what I just saw when I see him in character. Hmm, should I tell him who I am or not? I wonder if he'll figure it out on his own? He seems pretty clever, but he doesn't know me that well. I think I'll play that by ear.”

Aaron went back to reading the help on the hammer dwarf race when used as PCs. He'd already edited it a little bit more, both to make it less dry, and to make it sound more appealing. He didn't want to be the only player picking a brand new race, that might raise some suspicions. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to recognize him as a developer when he was playing a more normal character. If Eddie figured it out, that was fine, the man's income depended on maintaining secrecy so he wouldn't say a word, but anyone other than Eddie or his friends could prove to be a problem.

Aaron relaxed at his desk, relaxation being something he'd had far too little of these past couple of years since Light Online first came online. He found that he liked the idea of experiencing what he'd worked on for so long from the other side for a change.

I guess Cynthia was probably right. Honestly, it ought to be mandatory for all the programmers and debuggers to have to spend time as a character in the game every month. I bet that would make things more clear to them, plus motivate them to do a better job since they'd have to deal with their own efforts.

With a mind untroubled by the latest problem or bug report, Aaron drifted off to sleep sitting in his desk chair.

~ ~ ~

When Eddie woke, it was late, much later than normal for him as of late, although perfectly in keeping with the schedule he'd had before coming into the game. The warm woman pressed against him, still sleeping, was the reason he was waking so late. They'd stayed up long into the night, talking and doing other, more physical, things. With the way the game was set up there was no problems with experiencing intimacy. No diseases or unwanted pregnancies to cause problems.

Although I wonder if they allow for planned pregnancies? he thought. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they had, but what about the kids? A virtual child to a real player? No, I changed my mind, it would surprise me a hell of a lot if they allow for that where players are concerned.

When Eddie remembered that the inn was supposed to open for business today, he tried to slip out of bed without waking Tiana. It didn't work, she stirred and yawned.

“Leaving me already?” she said, teasingly.

“Not a prayer, but I do have to get up. The workers are probably already waiting on us out there. Liv said she'd have them here first thing in the morning and it's got to be at least ten o'clock already. I was far too wrapped up with someone last night to notice when we went to bed, but I'm sure it was very late.”

Tiana blushed prettily, Eddie enjoying the color to her face while she did.

“Well then, we'd better get to it,” she said, slipping out of bed herself.

They'd been sleeping nude, so Eddie found himself very much distracted, until she got her clothes on. Then he mentally shook his head and got dressed himself.

Once they were downstairs he saw Karl and Paul sitting at one of the tables, with a blueprint laid out in front of them, talking. He opened the front door and looked out. Sure enough there was a small crowd of people out there, just sitting around talking with one another.

“Hey Paul. I wanted to ask you about something else, will you be around later on? I've got to get all these workers settled,” Eddie said.

“Sure, I'll wait around after I'm done with Karl here,” Paul replied.

“Thanks.”

Eddie leaned out the door.

“Everyone Liv recommended for working at the inn, please come inside. I'll want to speak with you each, show you your quarters and where you'll be working,” he called out.

The crowd outside formed a line at the door. The very first one was an attractive woman, a bit on the thin side. She held out her hand.

“I'm Helga, Liv told me you were going to be needing a server?”

He nodded.

“Yes, good to meet you, but let's get everyone inside before we do introductions.”

He found it hard to believe that anyone would even consider rumors that this woman was cold to men. Her hand had lingered in his own, and the look she'd been giving him as she spoke would've melted him in place if not for Tiana and his attraction to her. Helga looked as though she'd had much more in the way of curves once, but hadn't been eating enough recently. He looked forward to seeing what she'd look like after a few weeks of a good, steady, diet.

He stepped to the side and she surprised him again, turning and calling out to the workers. She told them to come in, sit four to a table, and Eddie would be around to introduce himself and get them to their positions. Once she'd done that, she shot him a smile and stepped past him, taking a seat at the first table she came to. The others followed suit, came in, and sat as well. Then Eddie just had to make his way through his new employees and introduce himself.

Two hours later he was done with the introductions, had shown everyone where they'd be staying, and where they'd be working. Paul was still sitting, chatting with Karl, but the blueprint was no longer on the table so Eddie went over and sat with them.

“Hey Paul, I'm guessing it was you that built that shrine to Freyja at the farm?” Eddie asked.

Paul blushed.

“Yeah, been doing that at most of them since it's supposed to help with the crops.”

“It does, I think, but did you realize it also helped the bunnies multiply faster?”

Paul slapped the heel of his hand to his forehead.

“Crap, I never thought of that. No wonder we had animal problems at all of the farms after they were finished. Umm, oops?”

“Not a problem. At least not now. I wondered if there was any specific way to do that, so I could have the inn and the land it's on under the affect of one as well. I'm going to be raising some livestock and planting a garden here and that would be a major bonus.”

“Sure, I can run one off, or show you how. Too bad there wasn't a temple to her in town, that would affect the whole town, just to a lesser degree.”

“Maybe later,” Eddie said.

His thoughts had already run along that line, but for a bit later on.

If I'm right and I'm about to own a player hamlet, then surely a temple will be one of the options to help upgrade it. Then I can kill two birds with one stone, upgrade the hamlet and get the bonuses from the temple.

“Well sure, there's a couple of little things we'll need. But I can get to work on the first part of it. Since we're sharing the profits here, and it sounds like this will boost them, I'll only charge you fifty percent of the material cost.”

Eddie chuckled.

“Sure, sounds great. How much is that?”

“About five silver only. Don't sweat it, I was just kidding you. I'll take care of it after I finish Karl's house. He's claiming that bit of land where you put your food stand at first, on the edge of the field where the players are camping. He's also paying me to put up two smaller houses which he plans on renting to players. Looks like you're rubbing off on him, Eddie.”

This time Eddie laughed for real. He looked over at Karl.

“What the hell?” Karl said. “I've got a pouch full of gold and this seems like a good way to make it a bit fuller.”

Crap, I'd better get my own plans moving, Eddie thought. If Karl does too much building then I might lose out on having a player hamlet. Heh, I bet I can head off his employing inhabitants option.

“Not a problem. Don't suppose you'd like to subcontract one of my maids to keep them clean?” Eddie asked.

“Hey, I never even thought about that, but yeah, that sounds like an awesome plan. How much?”

“You'll have to negotiate that with them, but honestly, I'm paying them more than was recommended and it still seems low to me. It shouldn't be an issue.”

“Thanks for the idea, I can charge more if I'm offering cleaning services for the places as well,” Karl said.

“Alright, I've got to get that stove fired up and get used to it before I try to cook dinner on it. Anyone want to try out my first attempts?”

“I've got to get home,” Paul said. “Get the wood going for Karl's places, and start work on the smaller pieces I'll need for the shrine for us.”

“Allie and I are going hunting. Anything in particular you need?” Karl said.

Eddie checked his inventory. He had large quantities of bunny meat and venison. The produce had been loaded into the pantry yesterday as well.

“No, I think we're good here on supplies. We'll need them for later, but for now I'm set, probably for a couple of days even if I had no more coming in.”

Eddie moved back into the kitchen and fired up the stove. He knew that in the real world cooking on a wood fired stove was supposed to be a pain in the butt, he just hoped his cooking skill translated to this style of cooking despite all his practice cooking being over an open fire.

One of the things he'd had to pay a pretty penny for, because it couldn't be made out of wood, was a huge pot, suitable for making a massive stew. He had a few other small pans also, all of which had been expensive since there wasn't a smith in town. That was an upgrade he was desperately hoping for if his plans came through.

The skill did translate to the new cooking arrangement and an hour or later he had a pot of stew suitable for an army heating on the stove. He'd also set the stove so he could cook over an open flame on a part of it for those who just wanted meat the way he'd been making it. The last fancy thing about it was what he was working with now. He'd gotten a small amount of flour, small by inn standards anyhow, and was working on making unleavened bread. He figured some sort of flatbread would work for now and later on he could branch out.

It worked as well as everything else and well before dinner the scent of fresh bread was drifting out of the kitchen. Tiana came walking in while he was checking on it.

“Is that bread?” she asked.

“Flatbread at least. Flatbread and stew is on the menu for opening night at the inn. Although I imagine the alcohol will be a bigger draw to start, at least.”

“I don't suppose there's any done already?” she asked. “I spent all day so far working with Jern. We're lining that warren with stones, to make it more sturdy and more homey for him. By the way, your guys up there sent me down with a load of produce. They said the potatoes had finally gotten to the point they could be harvested? Something about an inn needing potatoes. Anyhow, I've got a cart of them out in the yard.”

“Potatoes!” Eddie exclaimed. “That'll make the stew that much better. Let's go get them. Oh, wait, here.”

He handed her a piece of flatbread nearly the size of a sheet of paper when it started life. Now it was a little more than half that, Eddie having munched on some while he cooked. Tiana bit into it, then moaned.

“There's nothing quite like fresh bread. In game or in real life,” she said.

“I wouldn't know. I'm not sure I ever had it in real life,” he said. “Lots of printed cooking for me.”

“I'm so sorry, I've tried that stuff. It wasn't so bad, but it certainly wasn't good.”

“Yeah, but it was cheap,” Eddie said.

He turned and left, returning with a sack of potatoes. After setting a few on the counter he took the rest to the pantry. Once he'd chopped the ones he set out and added them to the stew, he started getting nervous.

I was sure this was going to work, but what if it doesn't? he thought. What if this inn, with all the people I had to hire, brings in less than my food stand did? What if I take a loss?

Tiana seemed to know something was bothering him and teased him out of his worries, all hints and smiles. He'd worry that she was only teasing him, but the previous night had shown him better. Once she'd committed, she was all in.

Finally, it was late enough that he could conceive of people wanting dinner. He walked out of the kitchen and found Helga and the other server sitting at a table, waiting. Tiana and the hired bartender were behind the bar. Tiana was planning on helping out, so at least she was convinced that they were going to be busy.

Eddie took the sign with the wood-burned letters on it. He glanced from the side that said 'closed' to the side that said 'open'. Then, without looking, he swung open a shutter and hung the sign with the side that read 'open' facing out.

He stopped and stared for a moment. There was a loud roaring noise coming from outside. This time when he flung open the shutter he looked out.

There were at least fifty adventurers standing around in the area in front of the inn, the crowd spilling out onto the road. His eyes went wide and his knees weak for a moment before he rushed for the door and threw it open. The roar increased in volume as they saw him in the doorway.

Eddie nearly fell over as a barrage of notifications hit his screen as one.

Success:

You have completed the Hidden Quest: Developmental Issues (2/5)

For being the first player to build an Inn in: The Meadowlands. You have been awarded 2500 Experience and fifty Gold Pieces. You have unlocked the quest: Developmental Issues III

Developmental Issues III:

This quest is all about developing: The Meadowlands.

To complete part III of Developmental Issues you must build two of the following buildings and open them to the public.

Blacksmith

Leatherworker

General Store

Tavern

Temple

Rewards:

+ 5000 Experience

+ 100 Gold Pieces

Increased reputation and renown with inhabitants of: The Meadowlands

He'd been gaining dribs and drabs of experience over the last few days so the infusion of another 2500 xp was enough to push him over to level five.

Success:

You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 5

Do you wish to advance?

(Y/N)

Yes, Eddie thought.

You have advanced to Level 5.

You have 3 stat points to distribute.

Your Health has increased.

Your Mana has increased.

Your Stamina has increased.

You have gained access to the magical school: Nature

Success:

You have created a: Player Hamlet

For being the first player to create a Player Hamlet in the game you are awarded 2000 experience and 50 gold.

You qualified by hiring 32% of the existing inhabitants of the hamlet: Meadowlands.

Global Broadcast:

Congratulations to player Eddie Hunter for being the first to complete the achievement: Player Hamlet

In honor of this achievement, completed in: The Meadowlands, the player race Hammer Dwarf is now unlocked and players may start characters with this race in the Hammertop Mountains near to The Meadowlands.

Oh crap, Eddie thought, there goes my name out on a global broadcast again. I have to check settings or something to see if I can change it to show anonymous player or something. I'm going to draw to much attention otherwise. If lots of people show up here it'll screw up my plans. Crap, a new race too? Right near here? I bet there are going to be lots more players showing up here now. That means I can't sit back and relax or someone else is going to figure this stuff out and beat me to the quests.

Meanwhile, when the crowd outside of the inn, who'd started to make their way into the building, saw the global broadcast the cheering grew even louder. Eddie had a few people he only recognized by sight clap him on the back and congratulate him on his achievements.

As the tables filled, Eddie pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind and hurried back to the kitchen as orders started to pour in.

In the first brief moment of downtime he had, he quickly checked his character sheet.

Edward Hunter

Human Male

Level: 5

Class:Warrior (Ranger)

Strength:10

Intelligence: 10

Agility: 21

Wisdom: 13

Heartiness: 13

Charisma: 11

Willpower: 12

Health: 83

Endurance: 12

Mana: 78

Luck: 14 (15)

Stamina:186 (196)

Experience:

12,476/25,000

Base Attack: 10

Base Armor: 10 (50)

+1 attack melee (strength)

+35 armor (studded leather, helm, boots, bracers, greaves)

+5 attack ranged (agility)

+5 armor (agility)

Skills:

General:

Animal Friendship: 1

Animal Handling: 1

Animal Husbandry: 1

Bowyer/Fletcher: 2 (+2 to checks)

Carpentry: 5

Cooking: 9

Evaluate: 4

Farming: 2

Fire Building: 1

Fishing: 3

Herbalism: 2

Hunting: 3

Tracking: 3

Weather Sense: 1

Weaving: 3

Improvisation: 2

Rope Use: 1

Climbing: 1

Combat:

Bows: 4

Staves: 1

Small Blades: 1

Short Swords: 2

Magical:

Nature Magic: 1

Let's take care of this really quick, he thought. Add one to agility, one to wisdom, and one to heartiness. That'll keep me above average for agility, plus give me more mana and health.

~ ~ ~

Later that night, much later since the players hadn't wanted to leave, especially once they found out that non PVP zones still allowed brawling and fist fights, Eddie and Tiana were lying in bed. Eddie had saved his bar furniture and gained a point in Improvisation, by quickly running off a fighting ring out in the yard. Any time a bar fight was about to erupt, he'd call for them to take it out to the ring. That stalled a couple of fights out right then, but the ones that went on were a wild success, with players betting for their favorites or against other players they hated.

“So, do you still hate Old Jeffries?” Eddie asked.

“What?” Tiana asked.

She'd been in the middle of undressing and while Eddie had been watching, and enjoying the sight, his thoughts had been on his new quest.

“I was just thinking that we might want to put him out of business, you know?” Eddie said. “It would involve building another structure, and hiring on some guards for trading runs back and forth to Brightport or some other major city, but we could do it.”

“What brought this on?” she asked, seeming a bit nonplussed at his broaching the subject at this particular time.

“I've been thinking about it all night. I got a new quest earlier, just when I opened the inn. One of the things I can do to complete half of it is to build a general store. But I can't tend an inn and a general store. I just need to find someone who hates Old Jeffries enough that they're willing to work the store. I suppose I could get an NPC to do it, or do so eventually, but they'd have to have some skills that I don't think most of them have.”

Tiana's eyes lit up at the mention of a quest.

“So, we can run him out of business and complete half a quest at the same time?” she asked.

He nodded.

“That's what I was thinking.”

“Count me in, but your thinking better get off that quest and focused back on me for now.”

~ ~ ~

Eddie and Tiana sat on the front porch of the inn. The breakfast rush, what there was of it since most of the players were still sleeping, was over. They each nursed a cup of coffee.

“So, it looks like things are going well,” she said.

“Yeah, they are. And if we can open the general store they'll be going better still. Other than that I'll need to get a leatherworker or blacksmith shop going too, or maybe a temple. That'll get me to the next stage of the development quest,” he said. “I'm hoping that the additional shops will also bring more NPC inhabitants to the area as well, pushing along the city quest also.”

Last night, after she'd had his undivided attention for a while, he'd relayed everything he knew about those two quests to her. They'd spent a bit of time discussing possibilities for them, and she was going to support him on those instead of going against him on them.

Their pleasant conversation came to a halt as Eddie spotted two figures walking down the road towards them. He recognized one as Jern, but the second looked like a child, until Eddie processed that a child would not have that sort of bulk on him. That was when he realized it was another dwarf.

“Eddie,” Jern called. “I've got news.”

“Well come on up and share it,” Eddie replied.

“This is Opron. He just came out of the cave where you found me. He said there's a clear path between there and Hammer Hold. I don't know what to think about that. They'll easily find me if they look now, but having contact without worrying about the orcs in the mountains has to be worth something, right?”

The new dwarf looked up and Eddie realized that it was a player.

Evaluate Opron, Eddie thought.

Opron Smith:

Class:

Level: 1

Blacksmith

Specialization: n/a

Huh, he must be the first of the players to try the new race, Eddie thought. Why does he seem familiar though?

“So, I be thinking that you might need a smith in the area? What with your now having a hamlet?” Opron said.

“Well, I'd like one, but aren't you a little low level for that?”

“How do you think we smiths get our levels? We work for 'em. Yeah, we can fight and get some that way, but we progress faster if we're working with metals. So, I thought I'd offer you my services as a smith. I can already make a bunch of basic necessities for you; nails, pots and pans, horseshoes, all that type of thing. Interested? If you are, I'll need you to help me build a smithy to work out of.”

Well now, Eddie thought. Isn't that just a coincidence. I need a blacksmith shop and along comes a brand new player asking me to make one for him? I don't believe it's just a coincidence. There's something more, and I'm sure I know this guy from somewhere.

“Do I know you?” Eddie asked. “You seem awfully familiar for some reason.”

Opron looked away, not meeting Eddie's gaze.

“Maybe we met in passing at some point,” he said. “But I'm sure we don't know each other all that well.”

A glowing image took shape in Eddie's mind, the face of Freyja staring at him from it.

The face spoke to him in his mind.

“Show Respect,” it said.

Eddie glanced around and realized that the message had been for him and him alone. It only took him a moment to put two and two together.

He stared at Opron, then broke down the name.

“Aaron?” he said.

A look of shock plastered itself to Opron's face.

“How the hell did you figure that out so quickly?” Opron asked.

“With a little help from a friendly goddess.”

“Damned nosy AIs,” Opron said. “Yeah, it's me. It was strongly recommended that I take some vacation time, and do so in game. I'm being tapped for ideas to ramp up the game some more, so I picked a crafter class since I know those are still pretty bare boned. I figure if we can flesh that out, then we'll attract an entire new subset of player.”

“A smith, really?”

“Well, I know you're going to need one and it was the most appealing of the crafter classes to me. Besides, I got to be the first player to make a Hammer Dwarf character. Won't be the last though, lots of talk about it on the forums.”

Eddie shook his head.

“Yeah, and this isn't cheating?”

“I'm on my own time here,” Opron said. “I figured I could help you at the same time as doing research for game recommendations. So here I am. What do you say?”

“We'll see about getting some sort of smithy set up. I've got no idea what you might need though.”

“Don't worry, I've got a list,” Opron said.

~ ~ ~

Eddie had thought that he was going to relax for a few days before continuing with his quests. Even now that one of them was public, he'd figured he had a few days, but Opron was in a rush since his time in game was limited. So Eddie took the list and started asking around.

I'm going to delegate even more of it this time, he thought. If I want to be an innkeeper I'm not going to have time for everything else, but I can at least get him in contact with the right people and fund him, with the understanding that the blacksmith shop is mine and that he'll train an NPC as an apprentice while he works.

With a sigh, he got back up from his chair, scanning the list. Paul could do most of it, and he was sure that Liv would know where he could track down the other things, or know people who could.

Well, that's all I'm willing to do for now. All I wanted to do was open an inn and make some money, but there's something inside of me that just isn't willing to drop a quest that no-one's ever done before, he thought. So here I am, from farmer to innkeeper in a short period of time and who knows where I'll be going from here. I will take a few days off and just run my inn before doing anything else though. I'll  network and connect the people who want to get things done, but that's all for now.

~ ~ ~

Franklin Greenshaw wasn't the Luddite that most of his employees thought he was.

I just have an aversion to using what they consider bleeding edge tech, but that I know is nothing of the sort, he thought.

As a covert operative for military research and development, he'd been assigned the task of finding ways to educate soldiers better and faster. With the technology he'd been allowed to use to do so, he'd had Light Online created.

Let the public pay for our research, he thought. But God help anyone that tries to steal our tech.

He stifled a chuckle as he thought of the late Allan Panning. He could understand the man's motivation, but he couldn't forgive the incompetence involved or the attempt to steal from Light Online and, as an indirect result, the country as well.

The small panel that his contact lens sized monitor projected into his vision began to flash, signifying that he had an incoming call. The only people who could contact his rig that way were his superiors, so he made sure he had all the pertinent information on Allan Panning and his aborted attempt to hack the Light Online code, he also made sure he had the updates on the ongoing research.

Memory retention upon removal from pod is at ninety percent or better, he thought. Plus the muscle stimulus we've been researching with the physical therapy patients is showing promise. The results of that might allow us to instill specific muscle memories in individuals. That would take care of the problem of having the knowledge but not the ability to use it.

The other research being done wasn't quite as important to his superiors as those two bits. But he still had the results of the time compression experiments that they disguised as haste spells, the forced learning they disguised as the knowledge from skills, and all the rest, just in case he was asked about it.

Finally, after several seconds, he answered the blinking panel. Unlike the bulky monitors, cameras, and the like that his staff expected him to use for video calls, an image of the person he was speaking to appeared in his vision, but nowhere else. When they started speaking, he heard it from the bone conduction speakers that were part of his rig. His own words, sub-vocalized, were picked up by a tooth microphone.

As far as anyone else could see, he was simply sitting at his desk, deep in thought. In reality, he was delivering the latest batch of progress reports and data to his superiors in the military.

It's a good thing Cynthia got that coder to go in game for a while, Greenshaw thought. He was getting close to digging into some code that would've revealed things he shouldn't know. I'd prefer to keep him around for a while since he's quite capable.

Despite his desire to keep Aaron around, he also reported that the coder's research and debugging had come close to revealing the secret military research that was ongoing in the game. He hoped he wouldn't get a terminate order, but that wasn't up to him.

I'm glad it's not up to me too. I don't mind killing those who need it, or giving the orders to have it done, but I know that there are others far more suited to determining who needs killing than I am.

He paused for a moment as he once more thought through what he'd had to do to Panning and his operation.

I should check and see what happened to those gamers who were caught in Panning's plans. There might be some good PR for the game in it once we finish researching and release the longer term immersion option, Greenshaw thought.

~ ~ ~

Continued in:

Light Online Book Two: Keeper

~ ~ ~

About the Author:

You can see the author's other novels (non-LitRPG) at:

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The "An Untimely Error" series is a triology about Merlin reawakening in the midst of WWII.

An Untimely Error - Series Page

The Crow Hill series is an ongoing series of books about a wizard in modern times where magic exists but is kept secret from the masses. The story focuses on what such a wizard could do as an economic apocalypse explodes.

Crow Hill - Series Page

Tom Larcombe lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. A wife, two daughters, cats, chickens, and assorted wildlife keep him from getting lonely. Writing keeps his mind from going stale. He's got a thing for Dragons, collecting lots of different types (pewter, stuffed animals, t-shirts, etc...), and writing about them in a number of his stories.

If you enjoyed this book, or even finished it despite not enjoying it, please leave a review. If you liked it, let me know. If you didn't like it, let me know what you didn't like and how you think it could be improved in your review. I write for others' enjoyment as well as my own, so knowing what others would like to be reading can help guide me as I write my next book.

Table of Contents

- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-one
- Chapter Twenty-two
- Chapter Twenty-three
- Chapter Twenty-four
- Chapter Twenty-five
- Chapter Twenty-six
- Chapter Twenty-seven
- Chapter Twenty-eight
- Chapter Twenty-nine