Sonny and Cher again. It really works for a peaceful call to consciousness.
“Thank you, Interface.”
You are welcome. It is 2, as you requested.
As I stood, I realized my muscles had become stiff, sitting on the floor like I was.
Maybe next time I’ll Meditate from bed.
If you think you can stay awake. On the other hand, you were unmoving for three hours. Perhaps you should alternate your meditation training with another skill, where you move around.
“That is a good idea.”
Yes.
And then Skawa’s voice came from within, “Good, you are conscious. I did not want to interrupt your skill training.”
“Hello, Skawa. I suspected we would talk sometime this morning. You make a cute bunny. That is a regular stuffed animal toy, right?”
“Yes, mostly. I’ve placed a secret enchantment on it to prevent further wear. Also, I had to completely repair it after some unfortunate idiots at Onre’s school ripped it apart while everyone who belonged there was out of his room. It is less easy than you would think to successfully repair a completely mutilated thing and keep it looking old.”
“I caught that – ‘Unfortunate idiots’?”
“You know I am the trickster god, right? Sometimes tricks are asking to be played, and they are not all as benevolent as sending you on a sudden quest.”
“Ohhh. Remind me not to get on your bad side. So I guess you are watching over Onre?”
“Occasionally, yes. It started a couple of years ago, when Einvigi informed me she had a new disciple who had a toy rabbit named ‘Skawa’. She also shared some of his background, and I decided to keep an eye on the kid.”
“He does not know, does he?”
“No, and I would prefer that it stay that way. I would not want him to think I am somehow guarding him. Also he might conclude that I intentionally chose to let his parents be murdered.”
“I feel this might put me on your bad side, but I have to ask. Did you?”
“In the first place, I was not even aware of him eight years ago. Having a toy with a god’s name does not create a divine connection. Second, we seldom interfere in the lives of individual mortals. So even if I had known what was going on that day, it would not have mattered. At some point, all people move on to reincarnation. At most, I would have made the murderers regret their actions.”
“I am pretty sure I would make a poor god. I could not stand by and let something like that happen.”
“About one billion. That is how many sapient beings there are on Heere. Now add all the sentient ones. I do not know how great you think our powers are, but we do not have the ability to monitor everyone at once. Very few, actually. And yes, a poor god you would be. If you tried, you would either be forced by reality to give up the attempts, or go mad, failing.”
“I think I understand, sort of. You are very, very powerful, but not near all-powerful or all-knowing. I am glad that you have chosen to communicate occasionally with me. Thank you. Was there something you wanted to talk about this morning?”
“Yes. This adventuring school, this entire project, is more important than you know. Please do everything you can to help it succeed. Consistently encourage your friends and family to do the same. There is another reason, too, but it is unlikely to happen now for another seven days. When it does, I’ve just got to see your face.”
“That sounds intriguing, but I’ll wait for whatever. Were you at the meeting earlier?”
“Of course.”
“Was one of those flashes at the end yours? If not, whose were they?”
“No. When I make my presence known, it is typically flashier than a flash. As for whose they were, it is not mine to say. It would be very bad etiquette. Three chose to give a simple indication of their presence, and I will not say more than they.”
‘Three chose’, Skawa did not. There could have been others, but he obviously won’t confirm that either. Saying ‘three’ was intentional; he knew what I would speculate. This adventuring school really is a huge deal.
“Thank you for your company. I really should get some sleep before we go hunting.”
“You are welcome. If you desire, I can relax your mind once you get in bed, allowing you to fall asleep almost immediately.”
“That is a good idea. I will appreciate it.”
I got in bed and wished him good night.
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♪ “I feel the change on the ri-ise”. ♪
Avi Kaplan! I love that song1.
“Interface, another great choice.”
Considering both your discussion with Skawa and the upcoming hunt, yes it was.
“Do you know all the Earth songs?”
If it were on the internet, I know it.
“Damn, I should call you ‘Spot’, for Spotify.”
Please do not. Besides, the better analogy would be YouTube Music.
“You mean I can watch the videos?!”
“Smartphone”, remember?
“You’re awesome!”
Yes.
I sat up, surprised to see Arrjee already awake. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to wake you.”
“You did not, brother. I set my alarm, too. We have a hunt, you know.”
In surprise, “You are going? Great! I thought you did not want to miss your grades twice in a row?”
“That was my initial reaction. But after thinking about it a while, I wished you had encouraged me with the proper response.”
Those words sound familiar.
“Proper response?”
In a loud, whispered military cadence, Arrjee mimicked, “No, brother. Come with us, brother!”
That cracked me up, and Arrjee laughed also. “Do you think anyone will mind if we invite Carrie along? If I am going to skip, why not make it a family affair? And she was right. Her goal is to become a tailor, not an adventurer or fighter. So I have just allowed our paths to drift, thinking it natural. But family is the natural, and I would like her to come if she wants.”
“Yes, I would like that,” I responded. “Even just watching, she might get ideas concerning how her armor might be improved. I cannot imagine Onre or Asha objecting either. She can just stand back, away from danger. And she will have two brothers protecting her.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
As we got out of bed, Arrjee said, “It just occurred to me there were two skills you could have trained at once. There was no reason you could not have used Analyze and Dark Sight together, right?”
I tested really quickly, turning on Dark Sight in the still-dark room and analyzing Arrjee. “Right. There are so many things I want trained at least to D, but I have to remember today is only my second day. So I don’t think I wasted any time working on Meditate. Three hours in one session was too much, though. My muscles got stiff, just sitting on the floor that long.”
“Speaking of stiff …”
I regretfully sighed. “We don’t have time. We still have to wake Carrie and see if she wants to go. Plus I want to have a quick wash in the bathhouse before heading off to the hunt.”
“I guess you are right. Well, you are the new brother, so you get to wake her. If you didn’t notice last night, hers is the room next to ours, on the left.”
“Alright. I put on my loincloth quickly, went to her door, and knocked. “Carrie?” After a few seconds, I cracked open the door and repeated saying her name, this time a little louder. She made a quiet growl, and turned from her back to her side, away from me. I didn’t want to be the classic jerk-brother, so I kept the process considerate. Going to her bed, I placed my hand on her shoulder.
I can’t sing, but this might work for a gentle awakening. One pulse should be fine.
“Carrie,” I repeated, while giving her a single warding with Bless Blood. My hope was to simultaneously energize her as my word and touch awakened her.
She sat up quickly. “Forrest, what was that? It felt almost like I got a good hug, but you were only touching me with one hand.”
“It is my second healing skill, called Bless Blood. I used it to ward off poisons and blood curses for the next 4 seconds. Some of that ki also energized you as a side effect.”
She smiled. “Well, it is a good way to wake up. But it’s still dark. Why did you wake me?”
“Arrjee, Onre, and I know a guardsman named Asha Yon. He was at the meeting yesterday and after it he invited us to go hunting with him this morning. We’re going to meet him by the gate in about 20 minutes. Arrjee said we should invite you, and here I am. Please come with us.”
“Will we be back soon enough for my grades?” she asked.
“No, sister. Arrjee said that if he can skip, you can skip.”
Just then he walked into her room. “We’ll leave a note on the school door. I know that being an adventurer is not what you want. Forrest agreed that this is something we could do together as siblings, and he said maybe it could actually help your tailoring to actually witness armor in action.”
“You want me to fight?”
He replied, “No, not without more training. But you could watch from a safe distance and cheer us on.”
She thought for a second. “Okay. It sounds like a great way to start SeventhDay.”
Or to end it.
“I agree,” Arrjee said. “Forrest wants to take a quick bath before meeting at the gate at 5:25. So we need to get moving.” He places his hand on my upper back. “Let’s run nude again to the bathhouse, carrying our leathers. I’ll also take my sword”
“Sure, but I need to use other facilities first,” I replied.
Carrie said, “Dummy, we know that. We do too.”
Arrjee wrote two quick notes, one for our parents, and one for the school. He left the first on the den table, and the three of us left for our pre-mission tasks. Arrjee made a speed run to deliver the school note before his bath.
When I’m not slowing him down, he is really quick!
----------------------------------------
As we approached the gate at half-past five, we saw three males, a female, and five horses waiting for us. Asha called out, “Well, I’m not the only one to add to our group. Runtel Trillet and Kossa Smithson are here for the hunt at my invitation.”
That seemed to warrant a response from me. “Arrjee changed his mind about hunting, and we invited our sister Carrie. She is not trained to fight, but she would like to watch and spend time with us.”
By then we could speak at a normal level. Everyone except Carrie was wearing leathers, although Asha’s and Master Trillet’s were studded. The latter stated, “While we will learn things this morning, it isn't formally a training session. Please call me Runtel. We had been planning a horse for each person, but this will work. Carrie and Arrjee can double up, and Kossa and Onre.”
Asha and Runtel both have swords and small shields available. Arrjee just has his sword, and both Onre and Kossa have knives. I have my barely charming personality.
I felt a little guilty at having my own horse, but with me being 16 and the largest teen, it made sense. I had only ridden horses a few times during my previous life, but I could probably manage. These horses seemed more muscular than I remembered from Earth, although their overall height is about the same.
The gate guard this early morning was another person I did not know, a middle-aged male Covargh. I had not introduced myself to the one here yesterday evening, but there is no reason to continue the oversight. “Hail, Sir Guard. I am Forrest Rhodes, new brother of Arrjee and nephew of Sir Rallee.”
“Hail, young Forrest. I am Drahm Frahm. Along with young Onre Litman, our fine village appears to be growing. Blessings on your hunt.” Apparently, some introductions had already been made.
Kossa spoke, “Thank you, Asha, for last night asking Runtel and me to come. I’m thinking about it as our first adventure as a party. Since we don’t have our fifth yet, it is perfect that Carrie is here.”
Right after she said that, I received a notice.
Asha Yon has invited you to join their party.
Do you accept?
Cool. “Yes.” I’m the seventh and last one.
Asha said, “With Forrest and Carrie having little to no martial training, I thought it would be a good idea to work out any communication kinks sooner rather than later.”
RT: “Forrest and Carrie, have you used a party interface before?”
FR: “I have, a few days ago when Arrjee and I quested with Asha.”
CS: “Mom showed me a couple years ago.”
AY: “Good. Know that if for some reason we get separated, check your map for other party members. Plus of course you can talk to us.”
OL: “We used it a lot at my adventuring school. That already seems like a different world.”
KS: “Master Thorm has us use it sometimes during my bard training.”
AS: “And you have me use it during our swordsmanship training.”
Runtel said, “I wasn’t expecting everyone to respond, but it is good to know it is no one’s first time.”
We got on our horses. As usual, I appear to be the least experienced at something. If anyone noticed how clumsily I got up in my saddle, they did not say. We started riding at what I assumed was a normal walk.
No one is asking the obvious questions.
“Asha, where are we going and what are we hunting?”
He replied, “There is a cave nesting a large number of large spiders about 45 minutes from here. The guard estimates there are hundreds inside, but we only cull the nest every few months. Since I knew I’d be here in this vicinity, I volunteered for the current culling.”
“In general, it is more beneficial to have them than to eliminate them. They are very good at taking care of more obnoxious threats. But if we ignored it, the nest would grow and split, with a couple hundred spiders at once in search of a new nest. That would be too much of a danger to travelers and livestock.”
Runtel added, “There are always a number of particularly aggressive and overly territorial ones. Our technique will be to lure a few away from the nest at a time, with you teens taking them out. Expect levels from about 4 to 7. I am sure there are higher ones, but they generally stay deep inside.”
Quest from Guardsman Asha Yon: eliminate 40 large spiders (0/40)
Reward: 2 silver per spider
Do you accept?
“Yes.”
“I gave you-all a quest,” Asha announced. Let us try to distribute the kills so that each teen is primarily responsible for 10. The guard offers a moderate bounty for each spider. With 40 kills, there will be 8 gold to distribute how you like. Overall XP will occur in accordance with normal team distribution.”
I say, “Thank you. But, um, new guy here. What is that distribution?”
Runtel answers, “It is complicated, but fair. I’ll start with a true lie. Everyone on the team within about 100 yards of a kill or saving-heal will get credit. Each event is weighted by our co-operating interfaces. A kill is the easiest example. Assume Arrjee and Kossa kill a spider worth 600 xp. Those points will be divided among all of us with a weighting of either 1, 2, or 3. They would get a 3-weight each, and the rest of us a 1-weight. If all seven of us are in range, that is two 3s and five 1s, for a total weighting of 11. One eleventh of 600 is about 54, which is the xp most of us would receive. Arrjee and Kossa would get three times that, or about 162.”
He added, “A weighting of two would typically be credited to someone’s light damage done, or the accomplishment of a debuff such as taunt or buff such as a bard’s Encouragement. Your actual xp score is pretty much impossible to precalculate on a typical team with many skills being used.”
“But I won’t be fighting, or buffing, or anything,” Carrie said.
I responded, “You are on the team. You get xp and gold. That’s fair.”
“That’s the right attitude, Forrest,” Runtel said. But my lie was leaving out xp capping. People of Level 0 can only earn 750 xp total until they reach Level 1. It is reserved to aid them in reaching Level 2, bringing them halfway to that 1500 threshold. Unearned xp due to capping gets redistributed to other teammates according to the weighting. How old are you, Carrie?”
“I am 12.”
“You probably have already earned your 750 starter-XP, then. It is almost certain Arrjee, Onre, and Kossa have. If that is the case, the only ones on the team to earn xp from that example kill are Forrest, Asha, and I. With none of us having contributed, there would be a total weighting of 3, with each of us getting one third of that 600. So today, Carrie need not feel she is stealing XP from the young adventurers. Only Asha and I will be doing that.” He grinned.
“Interface, that 500 miscellaneous xp I had at level 1, it was my starter xp?”
Yes. I told you that.
“But I did not realize ‘starter xp’ was a thing.”
I share my other thought, “Even though the other teens won’t be earning xp, they are here to get experience in the more general meaning of learning by doing?”
“And … it’s fun,” Arrjee answered. Kossa and Onre agreed.
Then Kossa appended, “Forrest, we have been throwing away XP for years. At least teamed on a hunt, that xp can go to our friends instead.”
I thought back to that zebor Arrjee and I killed while unteamed. His hundreds of xp from that were simply lost. And he is just used to it. These guys all need to get to Level 1!
“I will admit,” Onre said, “it is a little frustrating. However, there is another way to look at it. Once we do get our 1s, we just need to sneeze three times to get to Level 2.”
Everyone chuckled at that.
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1 Change on the Rise, © 2019 by Avi Kaplan. Released by UMG and others.