As I was lying on the bed, the room morphed around me. It became more prominent and fancier. A door formed on one of the walls, and they became smoother and more uniform. I felt the room rise into the air. The lighting changed, and the window that looked outside had curtains that vanished, and the entire window was replaced with a large flat screen. The bed I was lying on went from an old rusty single bed to a larger plusher bed. It reminded me of the super comfortable expensive beds I had back at the house in Port Douglas. The fundamental change was seamless, between breaths.
Julie: Stay in your room for the next hour or so. Mike is just upgrading the facilities here. The hamlet is reconfiguring. I think he is having a bit of a play.
Sprite: You can remotely access the upgrade orders on your tablet while you are within the facility. I can also remotely access them from anywhere on your behalf. They have started laying out the infrastructure for this to become a large city. I must say Mike’s class has given him some significant advantages.
Julie: Do you want to see the plans yet?
To Julie: Not yet. I am still… well, not yet. When I see Mike, I’ll think of .. well, I could do without the reminder of her for the moment.
Someone stepped into my room from nowhere. It was damn eerie. One moment, I was getting comfortable, and next, someone peered at me.
"Boy, Welcome to the club.", he said with a big cheesy grin.
I used "Identify" on him.
Dance Level 349 Dragon Kin (Drakes). EPIC FAIL. YOU WILL SEE NOTHING INTERESTING HERE, NOOB ?????
He bowed to me with a wink, "Like what you see? Designed that one especially for you. Name is Dance though, has been for a while, not my real name though." He tapped his nose, "Not telling you my real one, not now, not ever. I’d have to kill you." He paused for a second, "Not really, though, but it would be uncomfortable for both of us. Pretty sure you would not survive if you ever found out. That secret is worth a lot of dead bodies over the years."
He paused as he looked me over, "Not often we get a new member these days, let alone two so early on. Maybe a third. So, you will have to excuse me if I am a bit rusty. Now make sure you have everything ready on time. From the looks outside, you are going to be pushing it. I’m betting you are late to kick-off, but that’s not the end of the world if you are, as long as there is food and booze."
I had not moved, and he kept talking. I had no idea what he was talking about.
"If you’re late, it’s your shout.” That paused him, but only for a second, “It’s your shout anyway, so make sure you have something decent to drink, maybe some of that nice Dark Lord de Muerte. Do not get the cheap barrel stuff. That is crap." He was rambling. "Last time I had some cheap stuff, the hangover was worse than being kicked in the celestial testicle …."
"Who are you, and what do you want?" I had no idea what to make of him.
"I’m Dance. Pretty sure we covered that. Keep up, boy! What do I want? I am your Mentor, " he pointed at himself.
"Mentee, " he pointed at me. "If you’re not listening to me, this could take a while. Maybe I am speaking too fast."
He slowed his voice and spoke loudly and slowly, like an old person talking to a tourist, "You are organising a party, and I was telling you to get some good booze. Got it?"
He smiled. His grin became even more prominent since the grin had not left his face.
He started again without pause, "I can drink enough to sink a planet. Best order a fair bit. No order a lot, then double that order. Also, make sure you are wearing some clean undies. You’ll need them. I think The Hodaa has her eyes set on you the way that old bag was talking. I think she will either love you or hate you, or if you are really unlucky maybe love you then hate you. Not sure which is worse. She was dead set against you getting the nod to join until the damn Mordel stuck his nose into it. Everyone hates Mordel, but the Hodaa listens to him. Nepotism or something."
He had not stopped, and I was exhausted just listening, "That is even though you are ripped, and she thinks you are quite cute. Not sure why. You are not my type, not that there is anything wrong with that, Seinfeld reference boy; you might be a bit young, but anyway, you look just like her type, but who can tell with women? Don’t tell her I said that, boy. I am serious. Do Not Piss Off The Hodaa. Learn that, and you might survive to be a real powerhouse, not the N-O- O-B, spells NOOB, powerhouse you are right now."
It was almost a stream of thought.
He passed me a small black card with crisp, clean white writing.
Luke Hammond and Sarah Owen’s Welcome Gala Event – Dress to Impress the Empress. No Strategic Level Weapons. Check Grudges at the door. Let Luke know your dietary requirements. See the gift register for ideas.
Min Min Cantina: 27:15:08:37. RSVP 15:00:00:00. Theme: Earth. BYO, if you don’t like Earth Booze."
The back of the card was embossed with a glossy black-on-black dragon head and the word "Drakes" in gold below.
"Is this some kind of sick joke, Sarah? She is … is …" I started getting angry as I had begun to process what it meant.
He stopped and, for a second, looked serious, "Do I look like someone who would play a sick joke? No, wait, don’t answer that. Look, boy, I know what you are going through. She’ll be there, trust me." He tapped his nose, smiling again, " Look, I may be a bit of a clown. I might be the universe's biggest fool, and I might sell someone’s mother for another drink, and I am always up for a good laugh. But I am not a complete arsehole. She was fine just a little while ago, lost, and stuck, but she had a plan."
"She is not dead?" I felt a small amount of hope.
"Well, not yet, not when I saw her. She is just elsewhere for a bit. Best not to tell everyone just yet. If it makes you feel better, I set her on the path to get back. Just like you have your tasks, she has hers, and if truth be told, she will save you a lot of hassle and time, the way you have been fumbling around with your quests. She is going to finish one of yours and get the rewards, but not the good ones, which I don’t think you would appreciate anyway. It will work out better this way too. Rax would have hated you. Luck, maybe something else. You can thank me after. Damn, Luck. What did you do? Don't let The Cat near you with your luck score; he or she will be rubbing their little head all over you. Claiming you, marking territory. Whatever cats do? Do Not Go There. Believe me."
I was in shock. "If she is alive, I’ll thank you now."
He looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, I had not much to do with it, so stop being such a sad sack. It is behaviour unbecoming a future Drake. Get up and get going. You have some work to do, organise the party, and ensure you are dressed. I don’t care what you do. Just be ready for chaos. That is a little 'c' chaos. We fight Chaos"
Even as he spoke and I felt the differences in those words, the grief and rage drained out of me, replaced with hope.
I looked at the card with a smile. What the actual fuck. The times printed on the cards started counting down. I finally had a good look at him. It was weird. It was hard, my eyes seemed to slide around him, and he had a big shit-eating grin as if he knew I was trying to look at him.
He was so average. Not tall, not short. His face was flat and slightly angular, and his hair was shortish with a slightly ruffled look. He had eyes that seemed both beady and vast. Well, it was hard to determine their colour, blue or grey, green maybe? His age was between 25 and 50, and he was dressed in jeans, a plain black turtleneck and some old joggers. Kind of like the iconic Steve Jobs looks if you were a hobo. Yet an aura rolled off him, one of danger and smugness. Not immediate danger, but more like the feeling of walking under a cliff that could drop tons of rock on you any second. That hidden but terrible danger, the feeling of being watched while walking in the jungle, knowing that something could grab you at any moment. Swimming in the deep ocean, knowing there was something below, you are waiting and watching, not seeing the …crap. I could feel the Jaws' music starting up.
He smiled, and just like that, he flipped back to a clown persona, I guess, "Expect between 100 and 300 of us. 300 is a bit of a stretch. We didn’t even all get together when Ordaf and that ugly Karassian Nislebak had their grudge fight. Fight of the century it was supposed to be. No one knows what the fight was about, but we all learned some great insults and got bored out of our brains while they worked themselves up to it. With a Karassian, look at them wrong, and they want to fight, so who knows? It was awesome. I got a hangover that needed a major restoration to take the edge off. Best fight ever, I think. I won so much on the side bets, and I have no idea who won. I’ll tell you never to bet on a Karassian. They cheat and harp on about fighting and honour, but they’ll steal your knife, stab you in the kidney, steal it, blame you for stabbing yourself, and call it a fair fight, then try to sell you your own kidney back to you."
I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I just nodded. He was like my grandfather towards the end when he got dementia.
"Ordaf should’ve finished him off rather than given him mercy. Then we would have had a clear winner. They both walked away, claiming to win."
Dance pretend spat, "Well, Boy, you got shit to organise. Better make it 300 minimum, and you look like you need a visit to a doctor to get your brain turned back on. You have no clue - not a clue at all, so you had better get one. How the hell do you expect to save this lump of a planet? No offence if you are mooning around. Get it together. I’d love to stay and lend a hand, but that ain’t my style, even if it is my turn to mentor noobs. Did I say that right? N-O-O-B that spells you? Or is it Scrub?"
He winked and then laughed, "I love some of your earth insults. If you need a hand, don’t wake me. Heck, if you can find me, you can wake me, but make sure you have a couple of cold ones. I love that Furphy. Remember, icy cold. I’ll check on you when you get all the RSVPs. Don’t die in the meantime. I got loads riding on this, and besides, we haven’t had a fun party forever, so make sure there is enough food. BBQ was the one thing I was told to tell you – you Aussies are famous for it, but I don’t know why, searing meat on gas, you need proper fire! I personally prefer a South African Braai. Or a hāngī. Also, No Shrimp. We want the big ones! Get it."
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He laughed, then sighed when I didn’t join him. "There is no hope for you. Get a sense of humour. Read some jokes. Watch some YouTube – Flight of the Conchords, Chris Rock, even some bad Ali G, anything. Gotta run, toodles, and no disco music, please!" I honestly had no idea what he was on about by now.
He held out his hand for me to shake and, as we shook hands, winked, "Oh, I am your Mentor. You are my Mentee. Welcome to the Drakes!"
Then he was gone. Not turn around and walk away, gone, but here shaking my hand, then gone halfway through the shake. I don’t know which bit scared me the most.
He faded half back in, still holding my hand and said, "Oh Sprite, I have a message for you: e79f2fa10d407033e34ce7de65e18bd2bcb1a048" and was gone again.
"Who or what was that?"
Sprite: Your acceptance into The Drakes, I think. All I got from that is that you have 30, no, 27 now, days to organise a party for them. But more importantly, THEY ARE ALIVE. That was a message from Solace. I am 100% sure they were alive less than two days ago. There was quite a bit of data packed in, but Sarah traversed a mana singularity event horizon and was trapped. They encountered Dance.
The relief I felt but fuck my life.
I lay down and tried to sort out what I needed to do—not what I wanted. I really wanted to go and smash something, but things were grand.
My list was Settlement, Legion, sort my old life, Class and Training, and The Party.
Not sure about the order, but Sarah was going to be home in less than a month. Sarah was on my list somewhere and would be bumped to the top of the list when she returned. I am sure I was missing some stuff, but this was where my head was now, and it was not a good space, but getting better. Even though Sarah and I had just gone from being friends and were becoming something else, I’d dare say girlfriend, I felt such a relief. Mike, Sarah and I had been a tight group, the three of us, and I was really missing her; her humour, her sense of style, even her swearing her head off. Looking back, she was the glue that helped my life work. Mike and I were OK, well, more than OK. We were mates, I’d trust Mike with my life, and I guess I already had, but she was the thing that made it all better. She was one thing that I would look forward to each day. That bastard Dance said she would be at the party. Really I had no idea what to think. I was not telling Mike yet, just in case he was in a nasty space and this would tip him over. I guess that is what Dance had meant when he said don’t tell anyone. I was unsure what to make of Dance, but he had at least given me hope.
I decided that I could sleep and sort things out tomorrow. I was not tired as such, and with my endurance, I had noticed that I needed less and less sleep, but I was mentally out of it, and sleep was an escape. I just hoped that I could sleep. I felt the need for some respite and some downtime.
I will try to sleep, Sprite. Wake me up if anything out of the ordinary happens. If I can’t sleep, can you help at all?
Sprite: yes.
I closed my eyes.
I woke up with a start.
My hand was burning up. The pain caused me to curl around it, yet it was not physical. Without looking, I knew it was the mysterious ring. The heat was radiating from my ring finger, pulsing into my body. It was weird. I knew I had the ring, but I also felt my thoughts ignore it. I would gloss over it as I thought about it.
Concentrating, with my eyes closed, I felt some resistance. A barrier in my mind, like moving around a Mobius strip that deflected attempts to grasp the ends. I tentatively sent a mana and energy tendril towards the ring. It was connected to something near my head. Without thinking, I sent a small weave of mana to the barrier, where I felt it reside at the base of my skull, right near the top of my spine. I focused my inner sight and thought it was as if the barrier guarded a small void section. I felt the energy channels and something else running to and from the ring.
As soon as I consciously probed the barrier, I received a notification in my HUD.
Kallax: Integration: 50%. Stage 1: Incomplete. Grow Stronger.
The rest of my sleep was just a strange black nothing.
Sprite: Wake up, Luke.
No.
I felt no urgency, but I relished the strange black nothingness. I didn’t want to enter the world without Sarah, yet she was alive.
Sprite: Settlement, Legion, Old Life, Class and Training, Party. Sarah. Solace. Stop moping.
OK OK.
A few moments later, I was out and
When I got outside, the changes were remarkable. I was beginning to see the System’s true power, the Nanites and the manipulation of Energy and Mana. It was mind-boggling, and the same System encoded that power into skills. The homestead of Min Min had gone from having a small homestead and a few barns, all old and in disrepair, into a construction zone. The buildings were no longer old and decrepit. The ones that were still standing had been modernised and looked slightly futuristic. The ground around the buildings had been flattened and cleared. I could see the results of where underground infrastructure would go in the future: pipes and tunnels.
Where the settlement obelisk was now stood a building still being constructed, it looked like it was 3D printed out of nothing, as more and more of it appeared in layers. There was a slight shimmer of some shield around the area. In front of it, I could see Mike and Julie sitting in comfortable chairs next, watching. They both had tropical-looking cocktails – well the drinks were colourful and had umbrellas. Mike would occasionally get a faraway look in his eyes.
I walked over to them. They looked at me with warmth. "Mike, Julie, this looks impressive."
Julie started, "Mike’s class is amazing. The perks and bonuses he gets have meant we are so far ahead of schedule, and it is only day 2."
"Amy has been in contact. She needs to talk to you. Brisbane is safe, but it is Neutral with us. She said you would explain."
"Maybe later. Brisbane should be OK. Amy has it under control from the sounds of it, and they will save more people than us in the short term. We need to focus on the longer term. I am worried that we kicked the Karass out without too much of a fight. We are going to have to gear up for some war! We don’t even know how big our region is or where the others are. We don’t get the full list on the Planetary Leaderboard until we hit Regional Capital. Amy might send some people up here if she can’t save them there. Not sure, it is pretty fluid down there right now, and she is busy."
Julie nodded, "Right now, we need to discuss a bit more of the layout for the town now that we have so many more options. Way more options than we should have. Between you two, we are well and truly going to be ahead of schedule. We are only a few building upgrades away from an airport, which is a precursor for a spaceport! That is so far before I planned this, so we are reworking our priorities again."
I smiled at her enthusiasm.
"We need to get a permanent teleportation station set up. That alone will save people and energy. The hack we have now is stupidly expensive to use. Then Mike’s workers can arrive and assist, and he gets some upgrades from that. We need barracks, which we need Xar to go over the plans for so that he is happy, although I think we are giving up a lot more than we really get back there. But that was your call, Luke. Mike has another core to create an inn or tavern, which he won’t tell me why it is so high on the priority list."
That was good, and I needed somewhere for the party. I cut in, "Hey Mike, while you are planning the inn, can we bump it be 5+star with accommodation for at least 300 people? I need a cantina. I want an underground one, and I’ll get the plans sorted. I have been thinking we need, well, ideally, it would be underground near the old lakebed, but I am open to changing that. I’ll pay, don’t worry. Oh, it has to be called the Min Min Cantina."
Julie looked at me, "What’s going on."
Will I get in trouble if I bring them in on this?
Sprite: I think you are going to be OK. They are administrators of your settlement. Their binding oaths cover them. They are equivalent to magically enforced NDAs.
"This is beyond top secret. Major league, so keep it quiet!" I looked at them.
Julie looked a bit pissed off, and Mike had a smirk on his face. Eventually, they both nodded.
I showed her the card. With a shake of my head at Mike, I said, "Don’t ask too many questions yet, please."
When she read it, she nodded, "Drakes, as in The Drakes?" If you did what I think it means, you indeed are a freak, " a small smile, "you need to keep this low-key for now, and I am pretty sure that you are not supposed to go around telling everyone. In fact, I don’t know if I am comfortable knowing. Damn, Luke, this could put a target on me and us here."
She was serious, then smiled, "Well, if we are going, remember, Big Brass ones? I also vote for the 5+ star accommodation now. Knowledge about the Drakes will put us on the map."
With a big sigh at Mike, she said, " It should be OK with that Tier 4 core you have. We can upgrade it, and I’ll put it on the list. Especially if Luke is paying" she finally smiled and laughed. "You know, a couple of months ago, I was happy dealing with my little things, being nearly top of my Tier, and now I am throwing around Tier 4 and 5 stuff like it is nothing. Give me a decade, and I’ll be up there with you. We will have a huge target on our backs and are just getting started. Luke, you are bringing powerful and dangerous people here. Just make sure you can keep a lid on them."
With the look she gave me, I knew we would have a big, long, challenging conversation later.
I just nodded.
Mike took over and said, "Xar has some missions. We were hoping you could set up a settlement in Port Douglas. Then we will have to head to Brisbane to deal with whatever is there, although that could be off the cards if what you say about Amy is true. Then we need to expand further. We are dedicating 5% of our energy to making hamlet stones so we can spread and save people. The only way we can do that is to have people in safe areas away from incursions. We need people with levels, so the First Cohort is helping power-level people via fighting incursions."
My eyes must have glazed over a bit. It was not my fault that this was not my thing, and Mike loved it.
"Can you make it 10% for the stones? There are hundreds of settlements. I want to get people making kits that help settlements get started."
Mike noticed me zoning out, "What I would like you to do, Luke, is take a loop around the property. Get a feel for it. Right out to the boundaries to make sure the maps are accurate. You must ensure no spawns, incursions, or other anomalies are nearby. You will ultimately be in charge. You must know what is out there. Remember, now that we are here, the rate of increase in spawns on the planet will jump. We have got all this energy stabilising. If we create more order by transitioning energy or enhancing it, chaos will respond somewhere. That’s why we are targeting Port Douglas. We disrupted there and need something to settle the energy there."
I smiled. I knew what he was doing and that I would get underfoot. Besides, I needed to hit something. I also needed to work on my class training, or lack of class, maybe my skill training.
I had tasked Sprite with looking into some function room and bar blueprints for our upcoming party, and I was happy to say that she had come through for me. I pinged Mike a link to the plans and asked him if he could sort out putting it under the hotel. I thought it was fitting that the Epic token I received purchased the Epic Blueprints for the bar. From the looks of things, Mike would be having a load of fun if you liked that sort of thing. I was not a huge fan of RTS base building and all that.
"Oh Mike, as a favour, can I get you to organise the party? I mean, I’d do it, but…."
Julie cut me off, "But we want to make allies, so yes, we will organise the party. You can pay for most of it."
"Where is Xar, anyway? I haven’t seen them since the two minutes I saw him when I got back." I quickly changed the subject.
Mike was in his element, happy to discuss plans, "They are busy, dropping incursions and spawns. Not just nearby, they have to move fast to get to areas close to population centres. We have basic access to the security grid here, two Tier 2 incursions and three Tier 1 can be detected, but we need to upgrade the sensors. There was a Tier 3 not long ago as well, which was an incursion that was left too long. The Legion wants the airport built so they can get some Empire Dropships from the shop and quickly respond to pretty much anything planet-wide. We should help them, and then we have access to the nice ones – the expensive ones – they could make a loop of the planet in just over half an hour! All we need is cash and resources, so part of what I want from you is mapping out any resources and trying to find sources of income around here. Lean on your AI, which should have access to the old Imperial scans."
Hey Sprite, Add a pilot license to the list of things to get. I should go for a spaceship. How much does a spaceship cost anyway?
Sprite: You do not want to know.