The System had this annoying ‘rule’, or maybe you could call it a stipulation (really, what’s the difference?) where you weren’t allowed to extract more than one can of soda from the Boop machine in a twelve hour period. Super annoying.

Granted, I hadn’t yet explored all of the flavors on offer, so it’s not as though every one of them provided beneficial magic - it’s possible one or two or more caused negative effects - but, still, when you’re in a rush to make improvements to the world around you, being required to wait… well, it sucks.

I’ve never been the most patient guy anyway, but the twelve hour thing was killing me.

We’d walked to the perimeter wall project, and it was impressive to see Kestrel and his sons, and the rest of his team having made as much progress as they did. They’d laid down the base of the wall, a few inches in height off the ground. The wall was also going to be two feet thick. Kestrel said the integrity (though he used a different kind of wording than that) of the wall might work better if it was three feet thick, and Proctor and I agreed.

In total, they’d put down about sixty feet of the stuff. It doesn’t sound like a lot, and fair enough, it’s not. But, we were all relying on me and a certain disgusting soda flavor.

Having taken in the progress as the wall, Proctor walked with me to the machine at the field west of Moonlight. We dropped in the coin, and… Cola Drip.

Pure disappointment.

I should’ve known better than to get my hopes up.

So, I made it rain for three hours, and I told Kestrel, we’d have to try again the next day.

Which brought us to January 17th, SPT 1. Time was our enemy. Happily, the soda machine was not (well, unless you were asking my taste buds which basically considered the water chestnut flavor a war crime). Sure enough, the next day, I managed to secure a can of Obliteration.

“We’re in business,” I said to Proctor on that crisp winter morning. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t crack the can until we’d walked out to the actual site of the wall build. Given it was fairly early, and the sun had only just peaked over the horizon, there weren’t a lot of villagers around. The trench diggers who’d been working in close proximity to the team laying down Kestrel’s concrete were likely still enjoying porridge around the fires north of us.

Trevor, and his team of security folk were stationed at the craters where the shipping containers of baseball supplies laid.

So, when Proctor and I met Kestrel at the site, there were only five of us, which included Gak, and of course Dillard who never seemed to have anything better to do.

Once I broke the can open, the countdown began.

“I’m going to drink the whole thing,” I said. And, adrenaline gripped me as soon as I’d said it. I admit to being afraid. Water Chestnut Obliteration held a crazy amount of power. Part of me wondered if I drank the entire can within the time limit if I might spontaneously combust, or rupture my spleen or something.

“This might be quite a thing,” Proctor said.

For Proctor to say something like that, I worried I was about to go positively nuclear.

I downed five sips, and then hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Proctor said.

“He’s about to toss it,” Dillard said. “Ain’t ya?”

Funnily enough, my stomach felt fine. I was just anxious about taking it all down.

“I’m alright,” I said. “I’m just… unsure.”

“We’re waiting again?” Kestrel said.

My senses were heightened. Or maybe I was just more within myself, and sensitive to every little change as I monitored for any effect the soda might bring as I drank.

Goosebumps raised on the back of my neck, a reaction to the cool wind. There was a distinct smell wafting about. More than just the remnants of wood smoke drifting from the villagers north of us enjoying breakfast. It smelled like snow was on the way.

With the countdown at two minutes remaining, I regarded the clouds above, and wondered if snow flurries were coming. Watching the sky took me back to the other day, and remembering the lightning strikes every time I applied my magic.

“Changed your mind?” Proctor said. “I can understand why you’re reluctant.”

“The System says a can is 23 sips,” I said. “I only did a handful last time. What’s 23 going to do?”

“Indeed.”

“Go on then,” Gak said. “Show us.”

The four men gawked at me like I was a circus freak. The countdown reached ninety seconds remaining.

What are you going to do? I said to myself. Stop now? Go for a walk until the power wears off?

I remember the lightning strikes didn’t hurt, which is obviously strange, but it didn’t lessen the intimidation. I didn’t want to experience them again. I couldn’t even fully articulate why. Instinct maybe?

“Ah, forget it,” I said. Then I gulped the entire can of water chestnut grossness down.

“Good lad,” Gak said.

“You’re not going to be saying that on the twentieth lightning strike,” I said.

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“We’ll keep back,” Dillard said. “Tell you what.”

The men moved several feet away from me as though I’d just contracted a terrible disease. They walked behind me, as I approached the concrete base of the perimeter wall.

“Let’s get this over with.”

The countdown was over.

[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Human… you have consumed 23 sips, 355 mL of Water Chestnut Obliteration flavor of Boop Soda.

This substance will create a powerful effect. Prepare! You have acquired the power of doublings x the number of sips consumed.

Use discretion in that which you choose to touch to apply the effect.]

I didn’t bother reading the warning aloud for Proctor’s benefit. I’m sure he’d remembered the message from previous run ins with the soda anyway.

With slow, deliberate steps, I walked to the perimeter wall’s base. Sure enough, Kestrel kept good to his word, and had widened it to three feet from two. I visualized what I was going to do.

You might be thinking, why be so slow and deliberate here. But, think about it from my perspective. I’ve been granted the power to double what I’m purposefully touching in order to apply that effect. If you had that power, you’d probably be careful too. I was worried about simple things like losing my balance, and falling to my side, reaching down to catch myself and suddenly doubling the height of the terrain where I stood. No, I wasn’t totally sure that’s what would happen, but you understand my trepidation.

Squatting a couple feet above the concrete base, I glanced over at the four other men squinting back at me.

“You ready?” I said to them.

“Are you?” Kestrel replied.

I wasn’t, and the admission caused me to chuckle to myself. But, we were past the point of no return.

Slowly, I reached down to the gray, smooth concrete laying on the mud.

BANG!

To paint the picture for you, a blinding blue bolt crashed around me. I wouldn’t say it struck me as you might picture some kind of pin prick or a bullet or a bomb, but instead the lightning strike enveloped me. Again, it was painless.

And, the concrete base?

It went from four inches in height, sixty feet in length (while maintaining its three foot width) to eight inches high, and a hundred and twenty feet long.

Kestrel bellowed a deep, chesty laugh.

“Word from on high,” the old man said. “One can scarcely believe it.”

He came bounding over to me, and he couldn’t help himself but slap a hand on the eight inch high wall that was now as long as one of the village huts.

“You may want to back up,” I said. “I’m obviously going to do it again.”

“Come over here, sir,” Proctor beckoned Kestrel back over to where the others were huddled.

“Truly astonishing,” Kestrel said, and he did as he was asked.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

I laid my hand on the wall again.

BOOM!

Eight inches became sixteen inches, and a hundred and twenty feet doubled to two hundred forty.

CRASH!

The wall was becoming a literal wall. It was thirty two inches high , and four hundred eighty feet long (146 meters).

I couldn’t believe the System would provide a drink allowing this kind of power. This was nuts.

Thirty two inches became sixty four inches. Our wall was now more than five feet high, and nine hundred sixty feet (nearly 300 meters) in length.

Sure enough, the rapid expansion of this structure, not to mention the lightning crashes brought villagers out to the site. They were warned by Proctor and the others not to get too close to me.

Soon we had a crowd gasping as though watching a fireworks show. And, in a sense, they were.

BOOM!

The wall jumped above ten feet in height (3.2 meters). It was more than half a kilometer long.

Another touch - my sixth (in case you were wondering) - and the concrete perimeter wall was as high as a two story building. It spanned more than half the village’s entire southern border.

By this point I was standing with the wall towering over me. It was towering over all of us. It was gray, and smooth, and resplendent.

“Can you believe this?” I said, beaming.

“Not really,” Proctor said.

Everyone else was speechless. All I heard were gasps and guffaws.

“Twenty three sips,” I said. “It’s a lot.”

With another application of the water chestnut’s magic, the wall became something truly foreboding. Forty two feet high (12 meters). It reached 2.3 kilometers long (1.4 miles). Looking out to the west end of Moonlight, sure enough the wall followed the perimeter line carved out by Kestrel, Trevor, and Denton.

Before I could touch the concrete again, Proctor shouted at me.

“Stop!”

His urgency made my blood run cold.

“What?”

“Think about this for a moment,” Proctor said. “Obviously, twenty three doublings isn’t going to work.”

“‘Tis working, ain’t it?” Dillard said.

“No,” Proctor said. “Doing the math… roughly. We’d wind up with walls as high as the sky itself. We’d block out the sun. You’d wind up walling in the entire county or region or what have you.”

“So, what do you suggest?” I said.

“Try it once more,” Proctor said. “We can reassess.”

BOOM!

An eighty five foot wall (25 meters).

The villagers assembled screamed, cried, yelled like monkeys. Some of them ran north. We were in the shadow of this thing as tall as an apartment building. It was 4.6 kilometers in circumference (2.85 miles). It was enough to wall in two thirds of the village.

“Stop the heretic!” Screamed one woman from the crowd.

Luckily, she ran away in fear before managing to incite a bunch of them to tackle me.

My head was spinning. I mean, this was a crazy thing to bear witness to. You just wanted to turn and run away yourself, but at the same time, I knew it was necessary. We needed this boundary to keep the village safe, and the franchise secure from any calamitous attacks.

“Again?” I said, looking back at Proctor.

He looked north, and the wall was tall enough you could actually see its silhouette out beyond the tree line at the village’s limits.

“Once more, and then stop,” Proctor said. “I think I have the math correct. Let’s hope Kestrel and Denton’s carve out for the archway gate holds.”

BANG!

The wall was 171 feet tall (52 meters)! It encircled the entire village limits. Including the residential area, the common area around the well. The wooded parts with the natural spring. The massive field where the ball park would be built. All of it was enclosed by a massive concrete barrier. The wall was 9.3 kilometers in circumference. That’s 5.77 miles.

“You’ve done it!” Proctor said, and if I didn’t know any better it looked like he wanted to run over and hug me, but thought better of it.

And, yes, the carve out for the archway gate was also in place. Perfect. The only thing left to do there would be to build a massive wooden door. Or, perhaps a draw bridge?

“Amazing!” I said. I couldn’t come up with a better word in my astonishment within the moment.

“What do I do with the rest of this power though?” I said.

“We must be cautious,” Proctor said. “That’s a lot of doubling power you have left to use. Let’s be smart here.”

Easier said than done.