Chapter 41: Farming

I gained 9 levels. Jose gained 2. Odysseus got all the way up to 10 in Acolyte, then has 3 free levels. Henry Gallup and Madeline Diaz both hit level 10 in their classes. Gwen rose to level 8 Oracle.

Using my Scan confirms we killed 4501 of the insects. Gwen whips out a laptop and does a lot of math very quickly. Number's fly by on a spreadsheet.

“As I suspected, ze leveling system is indeed based upon your current average level. In zis case, killing 50 insects was enough to rise from level 1 to level 2.

“Levels are automatically assigned unless you have a choice as to which class you will choose next. For most of us that only happens when you reach level 10 in your current class. So, as each of us rose in level during the massacre, our leveling slowed.”

I hover over her shoulder and peer at a cell that's red on her sheet. The top of the column has my name on it. “Why am I red?” I ask.

She waves me away. “You have a limit to ze number of levels you can stock up at once. Ze limit is ten. You should have gained more, but alas, ze Dracosys is not utterly broken by your class. Just mostly broken.”

So I'll have to actually spend my level ups and can't just wait until I have 99 and buy everything. Drat. Ah well, might as well take on the next step to unlimited power, that being the Ranger class.

Ranger

Melee combat, ranged combat, exploration. You're not exactly a jack of all trades. You're more like an expert in some, master of none.

A third step class. 5 subclasses. Nine class evolutions.

Gain 2 Strength, 2 Agility, 2 Dexterity and 4 Ki upon choosing this class. Two basic, advanced or expert mapping or dueling techniques will be granted to you upon choosing this class.

Uses Strength, Agility, Dexterity.

Upon level up three additional random basic, advanced or expert mapping or dueling techniques will be granted, until all basic, advanced and expert mapping and dueling techniques are known. Each level you gain 1 Strength, 2 Dexterity, 2 Agility and 5 free points.

Subclasses

Long- The maximum ranges of your ranged weapon attacks increases by 25%

Mid - You can use techniques limited to either melee or ranged weapons with the opposite type, assuming it isn't an impossibility to do so.

Short - Your attack speed while wielding two melee weapons increases by 10%.

Lone - While fighting alone you gain +10% to all stats.

Power - You gain a transformation that provides +5% to all stats for each ally who also transforms using this ability.

Mid Ranger is why I'm here. If I combine that ability with the Hedge Rake ability to swap magic for weapon attacks, I think that I'll be able to use a ranged magic spell as a melee weapon attack. Which is the kind of dumb, game breaking thing I'm into.

I get the subclass ability and then try something. I take three steps forward, then activate Lunge and Shadow Stab at the same time. I slide forward a foot and the shadow spear shoots out from under my foot in a diagonal forward direction. It works. It friggin works!

I shake myself out of the gamer fugue state and address my team. “Okay, anyone get anything that needs to be talked about?”

“I indeed got squad support skills. They're actually active right now.” Henry says this and I look around and see a thin translucent circle hovering around Henry. It's about 10 feet across.

“An aura?” I ask.

Henry nods and says, “increases the defense of those inside the ring. It says 10% but I don't know how that works exactly.”

“Your cells become denser and harder to break,” Gwen says. She's taking copious notes. “Zey studied it at ‘arvard.” Her Canadian French drops the H in Harvard. “Zat is what Toughness does. You become denser, heavier. You seem very dense in particular.” She points at Madeline Diaz without actually looking in her direction.

Diaz answers “yup,” her familiar all-meaning, all encompassing affirmation. Diaz then speaks up after that. “Got stuff to make me tougher, too.” She holsters her pistol and draws the axe from her back. She takes a few swings with it, the third time the thing is coated with golden fire. She again has that child like grin except now she's thinking about axe murder so it's creepy.

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Grant types away on his wrist cell. “Got to level 10 Acolyte. Can go in different directions but Clerk is the healing path, right? Cleric. Sorry, autocorrect.”

Gwen cuts in. “Yes, Cleric leads to more healing and light based abilities than other paths. It should make your EMT training completely obsolete.”

Grant types back, “Wow. Thanks.” Due to the neutral tone of the text to speech software, I have no idea if that was sarcasm or not.

Gwen starts packing up her laptop and says, “Ze Oracle spells are quite complex and I do wish to experiment with zem, but not now.” She holsters the laptop in her bag and stands. “Shall we continue? I have ‘eard of zis ice wall and wish to see it for myself.”

I point at the far wall which is clearly visible due to the cone of fire burning down half the corn field. It's been visible for minutes, she just wasn't paying attention. I... Better keep an eye on her from now on.

We approach the ice wall which I still have no idea how to properly get past. Henry Gallup is off to the side and says “Hey, look at that!” He points off to the far west side of the corn. There's a bright red tractor cab peeking up over the corn.

Henry slides his gun down and goes into handsome charming mode. “That's a Rexluxe 150 combine harvester. Haven't seen one of those since I worked on my grandfather's farm in Iowa. That's an older model, but I think I get what they want us to do to get through the ice wall.”

Of course he worked on his grandpa's farm and knows tractors. This jerk is going to be President within 10 years. Well, better get on his good side I guess. “Lead the way,” I say.

We stride through the corn field, taking out a handful of the remaining flies as we go. When we get to the tractor it's one of those with a wide spinning blade wheel out front.

“Ah, the Rexluxe. The company went defunct in the 70s but a lot of their machines still work today.” Henry says this as he mounts and starts up the tractor. “Can't beat American manufacturing!” he yells over the roar of the machine.

We get out of the way and he drives the tractor back to the ice wall. He starts the front blades spinning then aims for the glowing exit sign above the stairs up. He just rams the blades into the ice. Instantly snow cone quality ice chunks fly backwards as the big blade wheel, which is almost 5 feet tall itself, makes rapid progress through the wall.

“Huh,” says Jose. He turns to me. “You should check the ice for treasure.” Jose motions to the long wall that runs the length of the store. It'll take Henry a few minutes to carve out a path to the door so I might as well.

I take Jose and Diaz and walk west, torching the wall with flames as we go. To speed up the process I let my AP dip below 0, then do a charged Flame Thrower. The red horns grow again and my fingertips ignite. The boost from Burning Chimerablood and the double damage from charging the spell let me quickly melt ice. I send a knife out and hose down the wall with bright red fire. Sure enough there's an alcove about halfway down and it contains a small table. On the table are three small bags of sunflower seeds. I scan one.

Lucky You, You Get! It! Promotional Sunflower Seeds. These already shelled sunflower, super salty seeds grant the consumer +2 Strength and +2 Luck, the perfect thing for an aspiring baseballer. This benefit is permanent, but can only be applied once.

I immediately hand a bag to Diaz and tell her to eat it. I crack open one for myself (I can really use the Luck) and offer the last to Jose, explaining the benefits.

“Is it okay if I give it to my son?” He asks this but he's already popping the bag into his inventory.

I shrug. “I guess. Ernesto or Mike?”

He shrugs back, “Ernesto. That kid keeps injuring himself so I'm hoping Luck will help him out.” I nod that the reasoning makes sense.

I clear out the rest of the ice wall on the west and have a knife start on the same on the east side. The ice in front of the stairs up is about 20 feet thick, while around the walls it's only about 6 inches. I glance over at the combine harvester and it looks like it's buried in 3 feet of snow, but is still plugging away. Gwen and Grant have joined Henry on top of the harvester and are hanging off the sides. It honestly looks like they're having a great time. I mentally write this all off as being an appropriate team building exercise.

I clear the east side of the ice at about the same time as Henry breaks through the wall and reveals the stairs. The east side wall didn't hold any secrets. We all meet up at the stairs.

“Hey, Jose, how'd you know there'd be treasure over there?” I ask.

He simply says, “Zelda.”

Grant nods and types out, “in Zelda they often have secrets off to the side of the main path.”

Diaz gives a “yup,” in agreement. Both Henry and Gwen also nod as if they know this information precisely.

I say “I never played those-” but am then cut off by a barrage of complaints.

“Those are the best-”

“And you call yourself a gamer!”

“I'm ashamed to be your best friend now.”

“Those are a staple of culture-”

Grant's digital voice comes in last, “we'll fix that when we're done here.”

They then banter for 10 minutes and come to an agreement that Jose's best game ever Link To The Past is the best in the series. Henry liked Wind Waker because of the freedom, Diaz liked Skyward Sword because of the motion controls, Grant's favorite is Ocarina of Time, Gwen swears Spirit Tracks is good. They also agree that I am a truly bad person for never having played any of them.

“Damn, y'all, not my fault.” I hold my hands up defensively. “My dad didn't allow consoles but I had a computer. I know Baldur's Gate and Counter-Strike and the rest, just not the Nintendo exclusives.”

I find myself smiling as I continue to explain that I am a real nerd. This is pretty good, actually. It's starting to feel like a combination of the Coyotes but also Jose and I's lunch group. This is good. This can work. This can be exactly what we need to both clear rooms like a squad and clear a dungeon like adventurers.

I halt the chatter as I point to the stairs up. “Alright, alright team. Let's get back into soldier mode and Jose and I will prep you on what to expect going forward.”