Washing the bedding and his clothes had both taken more time than Ryan had hoped and less than he had feared. He kept Refractive Shield running during the entire process while Fury unleashed a scathing critique on its absolute uselessness. According to her; ”it might hide you effectively on a moonless, cloudy night, or in dense mist, maybe a rain- or sandstorm, but otherwise it’s probably less effective than just melding into the background.” Apparently the distortion “grabs attention because my eyes are instinctively drawn to the obviously unnatural shimmering blob” was the benefit he could expect of the currently useless Skill. And to think he had such high hopes for it only to be utterly disappointed. Well, nothing to it, he’d just have to bite the bullet and save up for the enhancements which he had already resolved to do in any event.
For that to become remotely feasible in the near future he would need to speak to John, which Alexis was already arranging. After breakfast, Ryan was looking forward to breakfast. A scrumptious, filling, normal breakfast. If one good thing came from finally completing the mutation it was the resumption of normal meals, no more lion meat included in every single fucking meal. Whether cooked, fried, smoked, dried or raw, he was finally done with it. Finally. At least until he found another mutation that he desperately needed to have, but Ryan, now aware of the mechanics, would rather eat the entire animal raw over a short period than repeat the drawn out process that had been the ordeal of consuming the pride.
Half an hour later, casually heading to the Spymaster’s den, Ryan reflected on the disappointment that had been breakfast. There was nothing inherently wrong with Mieliepap with syrup and milk, but the maize porridge definitely hadn’t lived up to the fantastical breakfast Ryan had conjured earlier, why couldn’t he have had rich scrambled eggs covered in melted cheese, drizzled in savoury napoletana on crispy bacon and a thick wholesome rye toast. Why?
“Hmmpph, stupid post-apocalyptic cuisine and its lack of decent food.” he grumbled to the leggy blond keeping pace next to him. Alexis just chuckled at him, not helping his mood at all.
“Alexis, Ryan, come in.” John’s affable greeting only further soured his mood.
“Hi John.” Alexis’ chirpy reply didn’t help either.
“Morning.” Ryan grunted.
“Why is Ryan so down and moody? Shouldn’t he be celebrating?” John turned to address Alexis.
“Things didn’t go as planned. Skill is broken until he can afford a set of upgradeable general purpose quantum crystals. I had him wash my bedding after he shed half his skin into it wasn’t a breakfast of champions.” Alexis aptly summarised Ryan’s displeasure with the situation.
“Ouch, those are expensive.” John quickly narrowed it down to the issue he could possibly address. “So I assume you are here looking for a solution to address your lack of funds?” he addressed Ryan.
“Yeah. Could you enlighten me? By my admittedly rough calculations, I’ll need about 7 years to generate sufficient currency at my current rate. So my questions are as follows: One, I assume you have been busily researching interaction of all our stats, so how is Energy regeneration calculated based on our regen stat? Two, how do I generate more currency? Three, anything else I need to urgently know?” Ryan thought it over for a bit and then added; “Oh, and while I’m here: How is the Guild dealing with rewards for contribution internally?”
John was quiet for a moment before he answered in an exasperated tone: “You do know how to immediately address the most exasperating issues. As to your first question, I’ve run countless numbers of calculations but haven’t found a linear relationship yet. The nearest relationship I can figure is logarithmic, basically, you recover your entire energy pool about three times log10 of your Regen Stat per day. It’s problematic because the Regen rate varies dependent on how close you are to full. The emptier your pool, the faster you regenerate. So what I just told you is my closest approximation on how energy regen can be calculated. To make matters worse, it varies from individual to individual and is dependent on a lot of external factors. If you’re well fed you regenerate slightly faster, high level food increases this too. So no, I can’t give you a definite answer. As I said, my formula is the closest approximation that can be relied on.” John took a deep breath: “That helpful?”
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Wait, how do you run calculations? No calculator or computer is functional.” Ryan went off tangent.
“It’s a class benefit. I’ve got a Quantum Crystal Lattice dedicated to it. From your latest Character Sheet you should regenerate approximately 20 to 25 Energy per minute. As to your second question, how many crystals have you accumulated? About 50 Mortal Grade?” John continued.
“90 and change.” Ryan answered.
“That’s more than I expected. I assume your pool is never full?” John looked for further clarification.
“No, once it’s at 95% capacity I shift all regen to currency generation. Why?” Ryan asked.
“Probably a bad idea. From what Miguel tells me your pool expands when you keep it stretched, as in full and overflowing. Don’t ask me for specifics. Talk to Miguel if you need more detail. So, as to your second question my suggestion if you want to quickly obtain more crystals is this: One, use the trader functionality of the System Obelisk. We have a nascent economy starting up there and you might make a few Crystals. Talk to Carina, in case you forgot, she is a Quartermaster by Profession and knows more about the market than I do. She is also the Guilds new Quartermaster under Lizzy and has the authority to issue Guild Quests for supplies we need. Two, game your regen. Reserve a quarter of it for currency generation during the day unless you expect combat. After dinner, provided you’re expecting to safely rest in the fortress, drain your pool until its empty and dedicate 90% of the regen to crystal, progressively lowering the percentage until your pool is at above 50%. Then keep it at 0% until you wake up and had an active cultivation session. Switch to 25% after. I’m currently working with Michelle, Stoan and a few others to set up a couple of stickys in Guild Chat about topics like this one and your cultivation epiphany. Check in once in a while.”
When Ryan kept quiet and didn’t reply John continued: “That also addresses your third question. As to your last question: Rewards for contribution are primarily handed through the quest system. I know you have been out of the loop due to our training regime, but everyone has a set of assigned tasks, we have a watch schedule and materials are now handled through our quartermaster. Actually, Lizzy and her handle all requests by Guild members. You have been excused from tasks and watch shifts due to the training and the need to finish your mutation as it was deemed to be more than sufficient contribution but unless you can come up with another unique way to contribute you should be added back to the roster. I suggest you volunteer for hunting assignments, you’re uniquely qualified for those after all. Speak to Lizzy, she’ll be able to find something for you to do.”
“Thanks John, that addresses another concern I had. I must admit, I’m not looking forward to becoming a grunt, but I do want to contribute so that we can reach my goal.” Ryan thanked John but emphasised the position he had taken upon founding of the Guild. He understood that a certain amount of loyalty to the group was required, but he would never forget, couldn’t forget, that his primary goal was to free his daughter. As long as being a contributing member of this group wasn’t actively hindering his progress in achieving that goal he would contribute. It wouldn’t hurt to remind John of this. As a matter of fact, he suspected that William, and with him, the Guild, would always have his back in this endeavour as he wasn’t the only one aiming to free his loved ones captured in stasis on Prime.
“No need to remind me Ryan, remember, we’re in this together and we have the same goal. Don’t forget, strength in numbers, the pack survives and the lone wolf dies and all that trite shit does have some merit. As long as we’re all pulling on the same string we’ll get there, eventually. And hopefully all alive.” John’s reply had teeth, if he hadn’t come to trust that John had everybody’s best interest at heart the insight the Spymaster showed might have been frightening. As such, it was disturbingly reassuring that John understood his unspoken thoughts so well.
“Alexis, sorry that we didn’t include you in the conversation. You have any specific plans for what you will do next?” Ryan turned towards Alexis who had quietly sat through the dialogue.
“Yes and no. I’ll have to do some gardening sometime today but that should take only an hour or two. As usual. Tanya is on emergency call today so I’m otherwise free to do as I please. Why, you want me to keep you company?” she smirked.
“I’d like to go hunting but I guess I’ll go talk to Liz or Michelle first. Hunting is probably the most useful contribution I can currently make and Fury has been nagging me about going for another hunt since I woke up.”
“I have not been nagging you. I’ve just repeatedly reminded you of your obligations.”
“Jup, no privacy at all. Not even in my own head. Just as I thought.” Ryan smugly replied to her aggravated sending before saying farewell to John and heading to find Lizzy with Alexis in tow who for some reason still had a smirk on her face. The foreboding expression managed to send a shiver down his spine and Ryan worried what the future had in store for him.