Kaleb yawned and stretched as he awoke in his cement room. Once again, he was freezing. He really wanted to get some heat lamps down here, but the money was still tight and he didn’t want to go back home for the ones that came equipped in his starter house. He licked his dry lips and settled into his lizard body again.
Not for the first time, he wondered if he should log out, at the very least, so as not to get to used to his in-game body. Sleeping in-game was always a crap-shoot, especially when playing a race that wasn’t the standard human. Players risked getting too used to their in-game bodies and having to relearn several things whenever they logged out. But Kaleb’s body wasn’t too far removed from his original. Except for being a giant alien lizard, that is.
He took in his grey cement room. He had really gone for a minimalist approach when they had been designing rooms and he was kinda regretting it now. Four walls, a bed, a desk, and a separate room for a shower are all he purchased. He momentarily played with the idea of going shopping for other amenities for his room, but quickly discounted it. Blearily, he wandered to his shower and quickly performed his morning ablutions.
“Coffee Machine. That’s what I need down here. So no one else can drink my damn coffee.” Kaleb thought as he staggered from his room and up the stairs into the hangar.
A cacophony of noise assaulted his ears as he continued blearily across the large aircraft hangar. He thought he heard voices calling him, but his eyes were dead set on the hangar office and the coffee machine within. A large multicolored blob got in his way, but a quick side-step and a readjustment, and he was back on track. He was halfway across the hangar when Farrah’s voice rang in his ears, as clear as a bell.
“We’re out of coffee. Abby went to go get more yesterday, but she ran into a couple of demons.”
Kaleb’s head snapped up, and he twisted toward the voice, pure venom on the tip of his tongue. As he spun toward the voice, he found himself nose to nose with his Super-Groups resident control operator. She was staring daggers back at him, daring him to say something snarky. Deciding it wasn’t worth it, he smacked his lips and turned toward his workshop. He kept his car keys on the desk just in case someone needed to get somewhere in an emergency. Like right now.
“Roy took your car to the dump to wrangle you some more scrap metal.”
“ARGH!” Kaleb screamed incoherently.
He stood on the spot grumbling out loud and trying to guess how far the nearest store was on foot. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice inserted itself into his grumblings. One that was only vaguely familiar.
“Uh, one of us can go pick some up, sir,” said a youthful male voice.
Kaleb shook himself again. Trying to throw off his body’s natural lethargy. His hand went to his side as he spun his eyes toward the voice. But his weapons were also on the desk in his workshop. He had dropped them off after their return from the magic forest.
They had returned triumphant. A fact that made Julius fairly angry. Kaleb could still remember the sourpuss’s face from yesterday. Later, they had a lengthy discussion with Inora and Carmine about sharing the district. They even made some progress in convincing Silas to meet with them. At least Inora thought she could convince the older hunter. There was something else too, another caveat Inora and Carmine had thrown into the mix. But Kaleb couldn’t recall what it was.
“Uh, sir?”
Kaleb slapped the side of his face. Trying to get his head back to the present. As he looked up, he saw a familiar-looking blonde-headed boy. One who was wearing monster hide armor and had a small shield strapped to his left arm. Kaleb tried to blink himself into remembering where he had seen the boy before. Movement made Kaleb realize the boy wasn’t alone. Ten other similarly dressed teens were standing around, all staring at him.
“Uhhhhh…” Kaleb said, intelligently.
“We were told to be here first thing in the morning, sir. To help around your base and deal with low-level monster invasions.”
Kaleb nodded blankly as Farrah shook her head nearby.
“I wouldn’t take offense, Victor. Basilinoids, like a lot of lizard-type aliens, are slow to start in the morning. Especially if, like our dear Professor, they don’t sleep with their heat lamps and don’t get their daily dose of caffeine.”
Kaleb felt his nose twitch at the mention of caffeine and nodded empathically with Farrah’s description. The young hunter, Victor, nodded understandingly, before he turned to another of his group and asked them to make a coffee and food run.
“Hrmp!” Kaleb grunted incoherently.
The group of young hunters and Farrah looked questioningly at Kaleb as he turned toward his Workshop and held up a finger, motioning for them to wait. After finding what he wanted in a drawer in his makeshift workshop, Kaleb returned and held out his hand to the hunter who was making the food run. When the young man held out his palm, Kaleb dropped a credit chit into his palm and said.
“Lots.”
Farrah shook her head as she smacked Kaleb in the shoulder with an open palm. “They are supposed to be helping around the hangar and guarding the front gate. Not making coffee runs for you.”
Kaleb just gazed at her from under half-lidded eyes, still trying to shake his lethargy. He snorted at the rabbit-woman before turning back to his workshop. Maybe working on something would help kick-start his brain. But before he had taken three steps, Victor’s voice spoke up again.
“Is there anything we can help with? It would be kind of boring if we just stood around and took turns watching that gate at the end of the runway.”
Kaleb spun around. He really did not know how to make use of the group of young hunters. Not counting the one that had just left to the other nine hunters were just looking around the hangar. Looking like a bunch of heavily armed high-school students. Thinking that, Kaleb thought about Roy. The young Nova had been pretty helpful in his workshop. But he couldn’t have nine kids running around his small workshop.
Concentrating to get the words out, Kaleb said. “Any... of…. you…. work?”
He gestured behind him in order to help them understand his meaning, but a few still looked a little confused. Farrah, on the other hand, looked incredulous. She stomped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms.
“Really?! Professor? Is that all you can think about? We have still had some debris to move from downstairs, or they could go out into our area and ask some questions about the demons.”
Victor looked like he wanted to say something, but Farrah cut him off. “I know. You are not supposed to help with non-monsters, but you could still do some recon for us. Hell, they could even just go around their neighborhoods and inform the populace that we are in business. We have a few drones up and running, but having the populace of our work area reporting crimes straight to us would be a big help.”
Kaleb threw up his hands. “Not…management. You…handle.”
He turned back to his workshop, but he heard Farrah give an exasperated sigh. “Fine! But I’m asking the duck for a raise if I am going to be managing the Super-Group’s employees!”
Kaleb just waved a hand over his shoulder as he made his way into the three-walled area where his workshop’s bench sat. Daivor’s Gnome Home sat in the corner, chimney smoking away, and Kaleb could see that the light was on in the small house. He assumed Daivor was still asleep or working through breakfast.
He walked over toward his anvil and looked at the hammer he had been working on before venturing into the enchanted forest. The large sledgehammer-style hammer head sat atop the anvil. He had used the Ifrit bone alloy they had developed. The bone shavings strengthened the metal overall, and he was thinking about creating a two-foot metal handle made of the same stuff.
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He set about melting some metal and was getting ready to shave down some leftover Ifrit bone when he heard Daivor behind him.
“Who’re the kids?”
Kaleb looked questioningly at his Gnome friend, who stood in the doorway of his house eating eggs from a large stone plate. As he did, he noticed two more people in his workshop, a boy and a girl. The boy was wearing the typical monster-hide armor of the hunters. Green and teal breastplate, brown greaves, and a pair of pauldrons in a deep red color. The girl, however, was dressed in a more metal-type cuirass, with a pair of goblin-green monster-hide greaves. The young girl was staring at his small melting furnace, aghast.
“You are not seriously making your equipment with the metal from this thing, are you?! I wasn’t even aware people still used these things. I mean, my father uses an old brick forge, but even he uses an alien power source to heat it. This is beyond old-school.”
The girl spoke in rapid burst-fire phrases as Kaleb winced. He was still nowhere near awake enough for this girl. The young boy next to her looked at Kaleb apologetically before he stood forward and introduced them both.
“Uh, good evening, sir. I’m Terrance and this is Marie. You asked about people who could work. Well, we are both apprentices at her father's tannery and smithy. We aren’t too familiar with anything scientific, but we are used to working with our hands.”
“Although usually in more updated conditions.” Mary muttered.
Terrance turned and shot Marie a heated glance, which started a lengthy, whispered conversation between the two. Kaleb rubbed his eyes as Daivor chortled around his eggs. Kaleb knew his workshop needed an upgrade, but it had served him well so far. So he hadn’t made it a priority. But now…
He turned and gazed at Marie. The young girl was whispering snappishly at Terrance while casting a wary eye over the workshop. Without the HLO, the game was all about connections. In fact, they, as a group, had received a notification informing them that their status with the Blue Bluff Hunters had increased to Friendly when they had completed the Trial. Kaleb wondered if he could get some other benefits from their newfound friends.
He walked over to the two teens and coughed, bringing their attention back to him. Terrance looked ready to apologies again, but before he could Kaleb spoke to Marie.
“Your father... could he… sell a forge?” Kaleb’s stunted way of talking was getting on his own nerves. But luckily, the nearby small forge was heating the small area quickly.
Marie gave him a questioning look until what he meant seemed to dawn on her. Her lips curled into a wide grin as Kaleb saw a mercantile glint in the young girl’s eyes. She even rubbed her hands together as she approached Kaleb.
“Well, y’know, he would have to come down here, look at the space, check for proper ventilation, and only then could we give you a quote. You also have to know that he would build the forge himself. We don’t just have them lying around.”
Kaleb gave a sigh which, with his gruff voice, must have sounded threatening because Marie took a cautious step back. Terrance also reacted, but slower. He moved to stand closer to his friend while watching Kaleb.
Kaleb thought these kids hadn’t interacted with his specific type of alien before. Or maybe they were just jumpy by nature. Hunting dangerous magical creatures that could drop into the world probably didn’t make for the most relaxed atmosphere. Kaleb raised both his hands in a placating gesture toward the two kids as he turned to look at Daivor.
“What do you think?”
“We could definitely do with an updated Workshop. We’ve got by with my genius and your creativity, but that will only last so long,” Daivor said, as he lit his pipe for his after-breakfast smoke.
Kaleb nodded as he turned back to the two kids, only to find both of them staring down at the diminutive Gnome with interest. Marie even seemed a little starstruck as she pushed past Kaleb and said something in a language he didn’t understand. She even gave a little curtsy as she spoke.
Kaleb shot Terrance a questioning look, but the young boy was too preoccupied with the conversation that was happening between the Gnome and the girl. Kaleb shook his head and moved over to the forge. There was no sense being a part of a conversation he didn’t understand, and there was work to do.
Kaleb still needed to get Ren’s hammer completed and rewire Vlad's and Shaggy’s rifles. He still wasn’t sure if that would make the weapons more potent, but he figured it couldn’t hurt. He was pouring the heated metal and bone dust mixture into a mold Auto-created by his Workbench when he felt hands helping him. Turning, he saw Terrance, wearing gloves, helping to lift the bucket of molten metal.
The boy looked chagrined as he helped. “Sorry, not everyday we get to see a contracted Builder Gnome.”
Kaleb snorted. “The only thing I’m worried about is the little terror getting a bigger head than he already has.”
“You don’t understand how amazing he is, do you?”
“Sure I do, but I also know that he is my friend, and he has been a big help around here.”
Terrance shook his head as they finished pouring, capped the mold, and stepped back to wait. “Well, you’re going to have a hard time getting Master Kinley to leave this place after his daughter tells him about the little guy.”
Kaleb sighed and gazed at the Gnome and the girl. Both were talking animatedly in that unknown language. Kaleb assumed it was Faerie or some other language from Fae as he already spoke Gnomish thanks to Daivor’s dusting. The gnome had been a gift from the system and, boy, had that been the luckiest of gets. But Kaleb also knew very little about the Gnome or his cultural or even personal history. He briefly wondered if Jar-lock had any books on Gnome culture, but he shook it off. There was still so much to do.
He stretched his arms out as he turned to face his workbench. Both rifles were laid on the table in mid-disassembled states. Kaleb assumed Roy or Daivor had worked on them yesterday. Terrance glanced at the two rifles before stating that he did not know about building or even working on guns.
“Do you want to learn?” Kaleb asked as he grabbed the battery housing from a rifle and began to trace its wires.
Terrance shrugged. “I don’t know. Hunters rarely use high-tech weaponry. The energy blasts usually ruin the hide of whatever we are hunting. It just seemed like a waste.”
Kaleb nodded as he glanced around the workbench for something. Upon finding it, he snatched it up and placed it on the table next to Terrance. It was his Sun Gun. The boy picked it up and looked at it as Kaleb explained.
“That is my Sun Gun. On the higher setting it does, indeed, fire a blast of supercharged energy. But when it’s on the ‘stun’ setting, it does something more akin to a taser. Like it momentarily disrupts the electrical signals the nervous systems sends to the body.”
Terrance’s face grew a little pale. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
Kaleb wobbled his head noncommittally. “Yes, and no. If you get the pulse wrong, sure you could fry a person’s nervous system. But if you’re careful, you can knock a person or even a large monster out cold.”
“Interesting. So was it a help during your trial?” Terrance asked, as he continued to examine the weapon.
“Ehhhhh, kind of,” Kaleb said, shrugging. “I had it set to the highest setting when I was fighting the tree guardian. It is mostly tuned for humanoids, so fighting a giant animal was a crap shoot to begin with. I don’t know enough about monster or fae creature physiology to gauge the power output needed to stun such creatures. Who knows if the power source could even generate enough power to attempt it?”
“The crystal would work fine. It’s the low-grade wiring and capacitors that limit the power output.” Daivor’s voice said as the small Gnome lassoed his way up onto the table.
“Oh, finished with your conversation, are we?” Kaleb grinned
“Hey, what can I say? I have been starved for intelligent conversation since I got here.” Daivor grinned back.
“Yeah, yeah. Ready to work?”
Daivor lifted his red pointy hat and scratched his head as he nodded. “Sure, but we are still low on metal. Not to mention all the special material we got from Under-Town.”
Kaleb glanced around at the various tubs and cabinets full of bits and bobs. “Surely we can’t be out of stuff already.”
“No,” Daivor said, taking a drag from his pipe. “we’re just low. We could make do with what we got, but we should probably arrange for another ‘shopping trip’ soon.”
Kaleb nodded as he saw Marie talking to Terrance about the mold. He still needed to see if he could get a forge and maybe a few other things. He was already planning to go to Under-town to take care of a few things, anyway. Maybe they could sell some more weapons or something.
“I think I can talk my father into coming here.” Marie said from nearby, as Kaleb was thinking.
“You know what? Strike that. He will want to come here once I tell him about your Gnome friend, anyway. But we can talk to him about a proper forge while his here.”
Kaleb nodded. “Thanks. I was also thinking about other upgrades for the shop. But we can discuss those later. For now, I need to build some more simple weapons.”
Daivor nodded from his place on the workshop desk. “Under-town?”
“Under-town.” Kaleb agreed.
Daivor just smiled and rubbed his hands together as the two teens looked confused. Kaleb briefly wondered how much of the general population knew about Under-town, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Now was a time for work.
“You two are welcome to help, but space is limited and I only have the one smelter for metal. We aren’t making anything too complicated, though.”
“I can find some stuff for them to help with, too.” Daivor said.
Kaleb just nodded as Terrance asked. “What are we making?”
“Spears, metal claws, maces, swords, whatever we can, really. Mostly through molds.” Kaleb explained. “We don’t have a lot of metal now, but once my assistant comes back, we can really get underway.”
Daivor took a long drag off his pipe and blew a few smoke rings, sighing. “Until then, it’s business as usual around here.”
Kaleb just scoffed. “Yeah. Business as usual.”