Equalize

by Ryan DeBruyn

  Thinking on the repercussions of building a community house made Rocky wince, and he considered making the trip back there if Azoth could fly, which he would discover soon. He could make a few suggestions and see if people agreed with him. Maybe he could even appoint someone to be in charge of his Territory and have access to this information. Especially if he and Sela were out taking care of problems.

  Rocky’s stomach immediately began to settle and his breath came slower as he considered transferring the responsibility to others. He could just oversee everybody and make suggestions. As he started to picture this option, he felt calmer and calmer.

  He continued to make notes on what buildings would be needed in what order. These notes also included items that would be very helpful to look for in the shop. It would be a question of if the tools were remarkably cheap or if it was comparable to buying a blueprint for a forge.

  Further consideration made Rocky click his teeth but lean towards buying a blueprint for a forge or some portable forge equipment. It was the age-old question of long-term gain for short-term pain. He had always been the long game player and chose to start his Territory skewed to that side.

  Of course, there was definitely a point somewhere between the two that would be optimal and Rocky set out to find it. Perhaps buy a single set of tools for each job he had decided upon and then have a forge created to begin learning to develop more? No, that seemed like it wouldn’t work correctly, and Rocky started really digging into the problem with an intensity that had him entirely lost to his creative juices. It was like an epic version of a city or empire building game, and Rocky was excellent at those.

  Having taken first watch the night before, Jason was the first to wake and discover that the fire had nearly burnt out. He scowled and looked around for Rocky, who was muttering to himself off to one side, and narrowing his eyes at the sight, Jason eagerly selected to cook for a change.

  Jason began by building a smaller fire to try to avoid burning the skin of the meat. Then he placed the makeshift grate of golem metal atop it. Once everything was set up, he bothered Rocky briefly to acquire some meat and then committed himself to the task. Rocky pulled the meat out of thin air as he was prone to do with all manner of things. The boys knew he had some sort of extra-dimensional bag but had no idea where he had gotten the thing.

  As the meat began to slowly cook over the fire, a notification alert popped up, and Jason curiously opened it to find out he had received the Cooking skill. Smiling to himself, Jason resolved to cook from now on. When the other boys woke to the delicious smell of slowly baking meat, the excitement finally made Rocky look up with his brows drawn together in confusion.

  When Jason told him about his new notification, Rocky’s face soured and went distant as he looked through his own character sheet. Jason was then forced to explain what he had attempted to do while cooking their morning meal so Rocky could understand why he hadn’t received the cooking skill yet.

  It wasn’t that inedible! Ungrateful kids!

  Rocky was forced to leave it alone when he tasted the vegetables, which Jason had seared on top of the meat, and Rocky admitted even they tasted better!

  “Alright, how many of you have played Sim City or some sort of real-time strategy game?” Rocky suddenly asked, seeming to bring it up out of the blue as everyone ate. When all but Alex raised their hands, Rocky continued, “Don’t worry, Alex, you can still help. I am going to lay out a plan, and I want you guys to think of improvements or weaknesses you can exploit. Can you do that?”

  The boys who had thought they would be starting their morning training jumped at the new opportunity to forgo it. A strange smile came on to Rocky’s face as he handed them his tablet which had notes and began showing them his Territory menu, and within moments, the boys realized that this was just another type of lesson.

  Jason and Alex audibly groaned, but Oliver’s eyes lit up with his customary curiosity.

  First buildings to build

  2 x Longhouse (Search shop for better building blueprint)

  1 x Forge (If not available as portable, search shop for blueprint)

  1 x Sawmill, Lumber processing of some sort (Search shop for blueprint)

  1 x Thatcher, some sort of shingle making building (If one exists, search shop)

  1 x Leaders Hut (Search shop for Town Hall blueprint)

  ? x Longhouse (Build as many as needed to reduce overcrowding)

  Shopping List

  3 x Axe

  Nails (Large supply)

  Thatch or Shingles (Large supply)

  3 x Hammer

  3 x Skinning Knife

  3 x Tanning Supplies

  3 x Leatherworking Kit

  Forge Equipment in any variation

  3 x Farmers Tools

  Seeds for Hearty Plants (Large supply)

  1 x Alchemy Equipment

  5 x Bow

  50 x Arrow

  Job Titles

  Alchemy 1 – Alchemy, Herbalism, Chemistry, Ether Properties

  Farming 1 – Cultivation, Seeding, Crop Fertility, Harvest

  Hunter 1 (2) – Accuracy, Tracking, Skinning, Butchering

  Lumberjack 1 – Axeman, Planking, Debarking, Lumber

  Builder 1 – Architecture, Engineering, Materials, Creativity

  Researcher 1 – Research, Discovery, Progress, Invention

  Crafter 1 – Tools, Creativity, Discovery, Craft

  Cook 1 – Knives, Cook, Palate, Ingredients

  Soldier 1 – Shield, Spear, Training, Endurance

  Clerk 1 (0) – Administration, Reporting, Scribing, Organization

  Possibly remove Clerk and increase Hunter to 2. It will depend on the speed of leveling. Ask Sela.

  Jason and Alex mumbled words of assent and platitudes before getting up to train, leaving Oliver and Rocky to speak more in depth about the whole process. Together, the two checked the prices in the magazine against the prices of what was on the shopping list. To the dismay of Rocky, he wasn’t even close to purchasing a tenth of the things listed.

  Together, they sat and prioritized items. Well past mid-morning, Oliver finally felt he had asked all the questions he could think of and was surprised to find that Rocky had thought of practically everything already. With a sense of accomplishment that can only come from a good mental workout, Rocky and Oliver got up to join the others in their physical training.

  The remainder of the day was spent hunting and leveling, and after dinner, Rocky took his third from last Elixir of Shortened Sleep wondering where Sela and Azoth were. The boys who had been told to keep an eye out for a large bird or an enormous, flying cat were still surprised by the arrival of a massive, black raven shortly after Rocky fell asleep. Jason spoke up hesitantly, “Sela?”

  The bird nodded its head once then flew down to be closer to the fire and began eating the leftovers from the dinner the group had consumed. Somehow, the bird managed to make her actions of eating look dignified and much more human than even the boys had, which sent Twilight Zone shivers down all of the boys’ spines. Each boys’ eyes were riveted on the bird, open wide and staring awkwardly, mouths slightly open as if ready to speak but not making a sound.

  The scene was the same a half an hour later when Rocky woke up. The boys were now trying to look at the raven in their midst without seeming to look at her. Rocky let the moment play out with a broad smile plastered across his face. The awed faces of youth looked the same in the new world as they did in the old.

  Finally breaking the silence, Rocky spoke, “Hello, Sela, it’s great to see you in the flesh.” Chuckling to himself, Rocky missed the three looks of shock followed by eye rolls. However, the looks of disappointment he met from four sets of eyes when he scanned the camp a moment later just increased his volume of laughter.

  “Come on, guys! She was a ghost, and now she’s not. That’s pure gold, Jerry!” Rocky stated in his best impression of Seinfeld.

  “Uhhh… no one here is named Jerry, Rocky,” was Jason’s
skeptical response which was paired with a look that told Rocky his sanity was being assessed. The rest of the boys clearly understood the reference this time but the fact that Jason missed another reference forced a groan from Rocky.

  “That’s it! I need friends my own age. Go to bed… go!” Rocky said while facepalming and nearly crying in laughter at another joke going over the boys’ heads.

  I’m starting to think he is hopeless!

  The boys seemed to want to protest, but when they looked at Sela who shook her avian head at their look, they assented. Oliver put a hand on of the other boys’ backs and frog-marched Alex towards the cave, while Jason only required a light shove.

  Knowing that Sela couldn’t speak to him, Rocky asked her if she needed anything, and at her head shake, he explained to her what he had come up with regarding the Territory. The looks Sela was giving him could have petrified trees, melted stones, and reversed rivers. Perhaps it was the fact that she was a bird, or maybe it was the reason he didn’t have a wife and kids, but Rocky completely missed the first signs of trouble.

  Distractedly looking at his sheet, Rocky continued and was even stupid enough that he offhandedly brought up the dilemma she had handled that morning, and while he hadn’t outright asked if she was sure of her decision, he had insinuated it with his tone. Continuing to dig a pit straight to a hell he had no idea was coming, he brought up changes upon changes to her decisions.

  The resulting calm when Sela returned to human form at midnight would have been another hint if Rocky had seen the first clue, but he hadn’t. Rocky assumed the calm was because he had done such a good job explaining everything, which he hadn’t.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rocky didn’t miss the third warning sign as Sela escalated to the third tier of apoplectic, and he really couldn’t have as she yelled, “You spent how much on this general piece of clothing!” He had just happily told her he had bought her a gift, which had nearly brought a smile to her face until he had also mentioned that he had purchased ten of them for half a crystal each.

  Frantically backtracking at a metaphorical sprint that would probably have made Usain Bolt proud, Rocky tried desperately to correct what had upset Sela. “I bought ten in case we meet others. The nano weave repairs itself, so you only need one piece,” Rocky added and as most guys did when faced with a woman’s irate fury, he didn’t really compute her first exclamation.

  “Are you even listening?” Sela cut in as Rocky opened his mouth to try to continue. “This fabric is standard in the Etherverse. In fact, you purchased a plain black assassin version, which may not be the cheapest, but for ten you could expect to spend less than a single Ether Crystal, at least during my time!”

  The words finally registered with Rocky, and he sputtered in outrage, not at Sela but at Jesse who he had naively chosen to trust. Somewhere in his gaped mouth, mumbling and cursing, he must have coherently said something about the magazine because Sela said, “A magazine! A merchant gave you a magazine with fair prices! For Azazel’s sake, I know you are new to this universe, but that’s the oldest trick in the book!”

  Finally making the correct decision, Rocky shut his mouth with a snap and asked her, “I am sorry. Please, could you explain to me how much a Crystallized Ether is worth?” After managing to get out the question he sat beside the campfire, hands clasped in his lap for a moment before he unwisely added under his breath, “I did only buy things I thought would help immediately.”

  Sela looked him right in the eyes and held his gaze for a long moment until Rocky finally lowered his. After he ducked his head, she said in a forced calm, “A piece of Crystallized Ether is worth quite a bit. In fact, a type of change needed to be created because it was deemed that rounding up to a full piece would be unfair to consumers.”

  Pausing briefly to glance at Rocky, Sela saw him nod and so continued, “A single crystal is equivalent to ten emerald gems, and one emerald gem is equal to ten ruby marks, which finally is equivalent to ten diamond chips. We call them crystals, gems, marks, and chips for short!” Her voice, by the end, had gone up an octave or two as she failed to contain her mounting frustration.

  As she took a deep breath, Rocky pulled out his tablet and began taking notes, so he was looking down when she saw the device. Since he was looking away, he missed another sign as she calmly asked in an overly sweet voice, “And you bought a Regulated Knowledge Tablet?”

  His answer and the price he quoted unintentionally woke up the three boys as it caused Sela to literally shriek in rage before stomping off to calm down.

  It was close to a quarter of an hour later when Sela returned, looking somewhat sheepish and said in an emotionless tone, “I am sorry, Rockland. I overreacted and realize you are new to the Etherverse and didn’t know any of this.” A deep breath later, she continued, “A Regulated Knowledge Tablet is free from any shop, and you can buy expansions for them. The clothing as mentioned is a standard material, and if a merchant ever tells you a war has upped prices, don’t believe them! Even when I led campaigns against Mars, the markets barely fluctuated. Now, I am assuming you bought other items but were tricked in their purchase as well. Can I please see the magazine you mentioned?”

  At her words, Rocky snuck into the cave and extricated the magazine from the furs where the young men had left it. While Rocky was quiet during his retrieval, it was pointless as the boys were listening with all their might for each and every word that was exchanged between the two adults. Two of the young men had experienced parents in similar moments and were praying it didn’t end up with one of the two leaving.

  When he returned, he tentatively held out the magazine to Sela and prayed that she didn’t rip his arm off accidentally. Rocky felt his arm muscles relax when she took it with a polite thank you. She then flipped through all the pages and looked at all the goods that were offered. After which she asked him for the nano weave piece of clothing, which she promptly put on and took off her ill-fitting jeans and t-shirt.

  Rocky tried to look away but couldn’t and stood there gaping openly at her. The suit was like a pair of yoga pants that form fitted Sela’s entire body. He had initially been distracted by her fury after the change, but now, he was unable to ignore her beauty. Her subtle curves, long sinuous muscles, and beautiful features were evident, and his heart caught, stopping his breath.

  The spell was broken when Sela continued, “This magazine is actually a mark. The merchant gave it to you to notify any other merchants who knew the code that you were a gullible tourist.” She signed briefly then motioned into the cave with a finger. “I was also furious when I saw you were training the kids out here in the open. I realized on my walk around that it was the best you could do without bringing them back to the safety of the Territory.” She smiled at him and although anatomically impossible, he felt his heart slide further sideways in his chest.

  “I also saw in the magazine which weapon each boy would like and would love to see your list of shopping goods needed, as well as your plans for the Territory. I will openly admit I was never a leader when I was alive, and while I might have more knowledge of this world than you do, I only led missions for the guild, not a Territory.” Sela said the final bit with a smile in her voice, and Rocky couldn’t help but smile back at her as his entire body relaxed in contentment that he hadn’t irrevocably upset this beautiful creature.

  Sela studied the tablet and smiled at times while looking stern at other times. She added a few items to the list and then passed everything back to him. This time, Sela, a woman he knew to trust, had written a fair price beside each item on the shopping list. “I cannot guarantee that these prices are still valid, but I can tell you that they will be much closer to market value for each item.”

  Shopping List

  3 x Axe – 1 mark, 5 chips

  Nails (Large supply) (1 ton) 5 marks

  Thatch or Shingles (Large supply) Organic Roofing (1 Ton) – One gem

  3 x Hammer – 3 chips

  3 x
Skinning Knife – 3 chips

  3 x Tanning Supplies – 1 mark, 5 chips

  3 x Leatherworking Kit – 1 mark, 5 chips

  Forge Equipment in any variation Portable Collapsible Forge – 10 crystals

  3 x Farmer's Tools – 1 mark, 5 chips

  Seeds for Hearty Plants (1 ton) – 5 marks

  1 x Alchemy Equipment – 3 gems

  5 x Bow (Ether Infused)– 5 gems

  50 x Arrow – 5 chips

  3 x Mining Pick – 1 mark, 5 chips

  5 x Shield (Ether Infused) – 5 gems

  5 x Sword (Ether Infused) – 5 gems

  Blueprints – 10 crystals each for Standard, 25 crystals for Intermediate, 50 crystals for Advanced, 1,000 crystals for Masterwork, and 100,000 crystals for Masterpiece.

  When Rocky finished reading the paper, his eyebrows were fully raised and his mouth was pressed into a hard line. He was absolutely floored by how badly he had been ripped off and didn’t even want to ask how much cleaning and unlocking armor should cost. Instead, he asked with a tight lid on his boiling frustration for Sela to take a look at his recent work of writing out his bag of holding inventory and assess its value if sold.

  Sela, who saw his frustration, held back a smile because she was glad he was upset at having been duped. Rocky had essentially spent the equivalent amount of Ether to feed his entire Territory for a year, but Sela now hoped he had learned a valuable lesson.

  “Sela, where is Azoth?” Rocky asked suddenly, remembering that he had summoned him and not her.