Only when she noticed Rover waving at her, did she realize he had spoken. Her mind stalled at the double surprise of the spider’s first words and the request to be mended. She eyed the little spider and thought it over. Mending a leg sounded good, but she had no idea if it was possible. “If this even worked, it might hurt a lot. I don’t know the risks. Maybe we could talk to the other armored spider at Bishop’s?” As much as she wanted to say yes, she had no idea how to go about regrowing Rover’s leg. With what she understood about her powers, it could take a lot of stamina, and she already knew she was going to be spending stamina on repairing the micro foundry.
The spider’s grandmother was huge, but Jennifer had no idea how old she was. Would Rover age like Woozle and grow with each adventure or encounter? He wasn’t getting any bigger even with leveling up, but his back did shimmer with metal even though his carapace had not yet fully appeared. Did the fact that he only had seven limbs affect his growth?
“How about this, my little spider, I was planning on going to school today. How about we talk to your grandmother?”
“Goblin wolf, wolf to goblins,” the little spider was able to say.
Confused at his meaning, Jennifer considered the idea of bringing the wolf to the goblins, and wondered why the spider would want them to meet each other. She took the suggestion as Kevin getting a pet goblin. “That may work? If there’s time, we can do that.” Jennifer responded. Rover‘s face was facing down and moving left and right. Jennifer was unsure if she was missing what the spider wanted or if she was just missing something. For all she knew, her spider was being mean and wanted her and Kevin to hunt the goblins.
“It must mean you want Kevin to get a pet goblin, right?” she asked.
Rover stopped moving. After a few heart beats, a trapdoor appeared next to him. As he left, his activity status changed to gathering.
She already had a long day in front of her. Soon enough her pet spider would be able to speak more and say what he wants. She sighed, put her head back, and let her shoulders dip below the water line. Waiting until the time felt right, Jennifer updated her mental to-do list. Before she went to Bishop’s, she needed to go to see the town’s social worker. With so much to do, she needed to prepare to meet the rest of her day. With no time to waste, she left the hot tub. Woozle had been swimming happily but left the hot tub alone too. As soon as she was set, so was Woozle.
Jennifer went back to the room to wake up Kevin. Before they left the inn, the innkeeper handed a to-go box filled with food and a cheery smile. The inn was noisy and filled with people in sunglasses. An empty seat in the dining hall. She wasn’t sure if the box was prepared for her knowing she was going to travel or if it was prepared due to all the tables being occupied. Knowing it was a thoughtful gesture, she thanked the innkeeper, and set out for the day.
The mini map in her menus indicated the spot where her land was. After following the map marker, she found herself in front of a small field. The land was adjacent to the town square next to one of the town’s bars. She did not like being next to a bar, it looked like a hole in the wall drinking room. On the other side of her plot of land was another vacant space listed as available. Jennifer had no experience in judging the land value. The space seemed like it was big enough to build a house, log cabin, or whatever she decided on here. Turning around, Jennifer studied the park with the statue of the man on the taxi. She could even see the town hall.
“This will be a good view. Now to figure out how to build a freakin house.” The intense feeling of the weight of the world bearing down on her with each word, “Always more to do, never enough time.” She kicked the ground, and smiled.
Jennifer marched over to the town hall, assuming that she could get advice on building a house and talk to a social worker in that building. She walked through the doors with a spider on her shoulder and a lynx-shark and a wolf by her side. The clerk behind the welcoming desk went a shade whiter. She approached the desk and cleared her throat, buying time to think of what to say to this clerk.
Giant Intimidation Successful
The message appeared on her menus. Jennifer glared, causing the intimidation to be successful a second time.
Frustrated at her inability to control the trait, she tried to be as polite as possible. “Can you please tell me who I should talk to about getting a house built in town? Preferably a house that I don’t have to slouch over going through doors?”
The clerk let out a fearful squeak, opened a drawer in his desk, retrieved something, and handed Jennifer four business cards. Jennifer slowly moved her hand to take the cards, but the man’s hands were shaking a lot, making it difficult to gently take the cards.
“Thank you.” In her menus, she noticed Giant Intimidation had triggered again. Jennifer moved her hand to meet her face in a classic facepalm action. “Can you please point me to the level up social worker?” Jennifer asked from behind her hand.
The clerk pointed down the hall. “Third door on the right.”
Remembering that her last thank you had triggered the intimidation, Jennifer nodded her thanks, before moving towards the social worker’s office. Walking away Jennifer heard, “How rude,” from the clerk with a volume he meant for all to hear. Without missing a step Jennifer lowered her voice so only Kevin and Woozle could hear, “Kevin, woof.”
Kevin let out a large, loud bark then turned and looked at the clerk with a strange expression passed over the wolf's face. She could not hide the smirk on her face as she glanced down at her wolf companion. She could tell from the wolf’s eye that he, too, was amused. “Let’s hope he was wearing brown pants,” Jennifer murmured before entering the social worker’s office.
Moving down the white marble hall, several brown wood doors on either side. Random plaques lined the walls. She did not read the portraits of people who were probably important at some point. To Jennifer’s surprise, no one else was waiting in the waiting room. The walkways were white marble with black chairs lining the walls. In the middle of the room sat an oval table covered in magazines. She walked up to a glass window with a desk behind it. A woman in white robes with red triangles on the cuffs. A small plaque on the desk read Town Social Worker. Jennifer was in shock for the moment and she nearly shouted, “The town social worker is a white mage? I could have been a social worker if I chose to be a white mage?” She could not keep the frustration out of her own voice. This was the job she wanted. She saw the option and had passed it over.
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“I am a white mage, social worker, and plumber,” the mage answered in a shocked tone. “You wanted to be a white mage?”
“I’m trying to get into Bishop’s University of Magic and . . .” Jennifer paused trying to regroup her thoughts. “Bishop’s University of Magic and Whatever to be a social worker.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Schools are not much use here when leveling up can give you more skills and powers.”
“Leveling does seem odd, but before coming to this world, I had just been accepted into the school, and it’s important to me to get a good education.”
“Ahh, a new fragment. That explains things. Well, yes you can do university, but they tend just to teach you things, as opposed to leveling up gives you powers and abilities.” The mage tapped the fingers on her right hand on the table rhythmically.
“Why not both?”
The robed woman blinked quickly at Jennifer’s response.
“Well, that is one way of doing it I suppose. That just muddies the process, gives you ideas you do not need. Attending classes you do not need, taking tests you do not want to take, and how much of that will you really need when you are fighting a dragon or running a shop? Learning, Questing and leveling while attending university can happen. Look at it like this though, you will be splitting your time. It will take longer, and you will never be in the top five percent if you do both. So, why bother?” The white mage’s eyes met Jennifer’s, who quickly looked away. “But if that is what you want to do, you should do what you find fun. So, what can I do for you today . . .” the white mage trailed off waiting for something from Jennifer.
“Oh, my name is Jennifer, and I just hit level three. I was told you would be able to help me with my leveling choices?”
“Okay, Jennifer, what are your power sets and add-ons?”
“Techno, Necromancer, Alchemist. I also have Mend, Speak With Turtle, Speak With Spider, Imperial Tea Tester, and umm, I keep triggering Giant Intimidation.”
“Imperial Tea Tester? How did you get that?” The social worker leaned in closer to the glass, while she was sitting in her black office chair.
“I did the random option,” Jennifer said with a shrug.
The mage moved her back in the chair. “Do you have any issues with your current powers?”
“I have a twenty percent stamina debuff for almost a week because I traded one potion, and the other potion vial was lost in combat. Is there a return vial option you can suggest?”
“The Dev, Oliver Thordescended gives his followers the option of three of his five powers. One of which is to have their thrown weapons return to them. He may be able to give enough wiggle room for what you want."
“What is a dev?”
The white mage’s mage a shh sounds, her eyes darting around. “Be careful, the Developers can be somewhat sensitive if you use the little d or the big D with when people talk about them.”
After checking her log, she did see she used a lowercase D. “So, these Developers care about the size of their D’s?”
The smirk twitched on the side of the social worker’s mouth. “Yes, the size of their D’s do matter to them. The Developers transform the thoughts and hopes of fragments and parallels from a concept to reality. They do this by altering the elements, creating something from nothing, and testing iterations of our reality to suit the needs of all. So, rub their egos a bit, and let them know you think they are big D’s.”
Jennifer felt awkward, wishing to change the subject back. “You were saying they could help with a recall weapon power?”
“You may also be able to convince some of the local trickster sprites to give you a granted power in exchange for a boon. However, dealing with trickster sprites is never an easy thing. The final option I can think of would be looking into one of the teleportation power sets. Some of those will have the ability to teleport the vials back to you. Since you’re level three now, you’ll be able to unlock your first travel power. Although they don’t get good until level fifteen, and most fragments,” the white mage placed a hand to her chest, “like myself, tend to only get to around level ten.”
"Why only level ten?”
“Think of this like school. Sure you can get a master’s degree, or whatever. Rent is cheap, food is cheap, life is cheap. You can make a good life here with less than your high school, so why push yourself?”
“Why not push yourself, why settle when you can do more? Greatness does not come from looking up at the mountain, it comes from looking down from the mountain and knowing you will do more.” A picture of an elderly man, holding a can to spite sitting in a large soft armchair pictured in her mind. Those words were taken from that man.
The eyes of the white mage looked up, where her head made slight head shakes, and a large sigh. “You're one of those, I bet you always went for top marks in your class too. Happiness is subjective, when your needs are met there are only greeds. Anyways getting back to your powers, have you thought about who or what kind of trickster you may want to deal with?”
“Trickster spirits, like ravens or coyotes?” Stories that wanted to be told hovered on the tip of Jennifer’s tongue, but her mind could not find the details. Her skin crawled. The hairs stood up on her neck. Something was not right. She was unable to see what the puzzle pieces would form from the bits of memory. Her emotions warred between a sense of wonder and danger.
“Trickster sprites like imps, jinns, or kitsune or Devs like James Loki, Henry Lugh, or Kevin Alone-Home. Henry may be able to synchronize with your mend power.”
Jennifer felt something in her memory that was just out of reach. Something that was important. “So where do I go to speak with the trickster spirits or Devs?”
“There is a non-denomination Dev interface request shrine on the second floor. There are signs to lead you to where you want to go. But I will mark it on your mini-map.”
“I also have a plot of land in town. Any suggestions on how to go about building a house?”
“There are a few builders in town who can commission. If you want to make the house by yourself, there’s the generic Whale Builder Quest powerset options for crafting and well mining. It’s a pretty basic power, but it’s good.”
Something about the name did not sit well with Jennifer. She was not going to take that option.
“Okay, that does help. I think I am going to go to the Dev shrine, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Just one question. You have two pets: a weird looking cat and a wolf?”
“Oh, this is Woozle. He is a miniature giant, flying, rocket-powered lynx-shark. He’s my familiar. The wolf is named Kevin, and he’s a parallel not a pet and a friend. The spider on my shoulder is named Rover. He’s my pet. Thanks again, I should really get going.”
Jennifer left the office of the white mage and proceeded to go to the Dev shrine. Following the signs, Jennifer ended up visiting the city hall library, the Department of Sanitation, and the Department of Ghost Busting while moving towards the shrine. She really needed to put more into navigation.