Nascent (The Stork Tower Book 1)

by Tony Corden

  Concerning your admission assistance package, please note the following:

  1. You have six days remaining to enrol in a full-time course at one of the Australian Community Colleges.

  2. Assistance is not offered toward any other tertiary study and is dependent upon being utilised for this purpose. In other words, if you are not enrolled in an Australian Community College this assistance will be withdrawn.

  Should you require any further information or assistance, please contact the Bureau and quote your ID and the reference number.

  Yours Sincerely,

  Assistant Legal Aide B. Fenton

  Australian Federal Bureau of Education Legal Department

  Leah considered the letter for a while and decided it was sent primarily to ensure she complied with what Tubbs wanted. She was also worried that the people who controlled implants would want her to exchange her AI. She didn’t want to have Big Brother hardwired into her head and was pleased to have the new high-level security.

  She decided it was probably best to conform to the community college condition and see if she could do part-time elsewhere, even if she had to pay a little. She spent several hours comparing her planned studies with what both the community colleges and her shortened list of other possibilities offered. She had planned to begin with a Science degree with specialisations in mathematics and physics. Unfortunately, none of the community colleges offered specialist courses in these subjects to any depth. Instead, the choices were primarily recreational, lifestyle, or vocationally orientated. Few of them would enable her to leave the Switch, and without exception, they were terminal with no options for further study. It was possible she supposed that if they were completed a high enough standard, that they might give access to entry-level courses at another university.

  In the end, she decided to enrol in the broadest course available; called a Degree in General Studies. This allowed her to pick and choose a wide variety of disciplines, some of which might benefit her. To be considered full-time she had to enrol in a minimum of four subjects and she chose Introduction to AI Development, Tai Chi & Meditation, Human Biology and Introduction to Chemistry.

  She was unable to decide on another school and decided to visit her top three options MIT, Tsinghua and Harvard. All three offered a partial scholarship, and she needed to discuss the possibility of dual enrolment with them. Having made her decisions, she logged out and had supper.

  After logging in, Leah made her way to the Academia Portal. At reception, the lady smiled and asked, “How may I help you today Atherleah?”

  “I wanted to enrol in the Brisbane Community College and discuss my options with three other schools with the aim of dual enrolment.”

  “Certainly, do you want to decide on subjects for the Brisbane Community College now or after you talk with the registrars of these other schools?”

  “After would be best I think.”

  “Which schools would you like to inquire about?”

  “MIT, Tsinghua and Harvard!”

  Three doorways appeared off to the side. The Admissions Officer invited Leah to enter the school portal of her choice saying she could return at any time simply by re-entering the portal.

  Intending to at least discuss the options with all three schools Leah started with the least likely option and entered the doorway marked “Harvard”. The room was huge. Windows opened to views of the school. A middle-aged lady rose from behind an antique looking wooden desk and welcomed her.

  “Welcome Citizen Carroll, my name is Professor Hill, and I am the registrar of Harvard University. Please have a seat.”

  “Please call me Leah. Thank you for taking the time to see me.”

  “No trouble at all, in fact, I am an AI and am currently dealing with over 12,000 different issues regarding admissions, subject choice, payment options and other assorted details. Whenever you need to discuss academics, I will always be available. Now, how can I help you?”

  Leah outlined her situation and spent some time discussing possible options. Harvard would permit her to enrol full-time which was six subjects per term. With a partial scholarship, her fees would be 8000 Virtual Credits per subject. With two terms each year, this came to 96,000 Virtual Credits per year. When divided across the whole year she would need to find almost 1,900 Virtual Credits per week or nineteen Platinum per week. She could enrol at any time, and the offer was open for the next calendar year. Leah then visited both Tsinghua and MIT. The situation at Tsinghua was similar to Harvard except the fees were lower and averaged sixteen Platinum a week. MIT, definitely the best option academically, would only allow her to study part-time while enrolled elsewhere. Part-time would be four subjects, but the cost was 15,000 Virtual Credits per subject and meant she needed twenty-four Platinum each week. All three would permit her to start part-time but required she enrol in a minimum of two subjects. She concluded that she either had to save or find a revenue source of at least sixteen Platinum per week.

  After returning to Admissions, Leah enrolled in the four subjects at the Brisbane Community College. Class attendance was at the student’s initiative as all the classes had AI instructors. She was expected to attend for a minimum of three hours real-time per week for each subject. Assessment was graded by the AIs who were available for help at any time.

  Back in her virtual-world, she sat on the sofa to think. She needed to maximum time in Dunyanin, get two hours NREM3 sleep, three meals a day, two hours per day in Academia and one day off to visit her family. She needed to discuss times with Wisp, but she planned to spend from eight-to-five or nine-to-six in Dunyanin every day. She would still have just enough time to get everything done. In fact, she had five free hours each day in which she could attend university, if she could just find the cash.

  “Gèng, please search through the Dunyanin game forums and come up with possible ways to cultivate an ongoing revenue stream of at least ten Platinum per week. I’ll need to look through the choices and try and decide what is right the path to take. I’m going to log out and have a normal sleep in the bed. Can you please get me up at two am so I can be back in Dunyanin by eight am Dunyanin time?”

  “Certainly.”

  Leah logged out while Gèng began searching through the copious forums about Dunyanin.

  Diary - 19 November 2063

  Why do people struggle so much to find binary classifications for everything? I’m neither human nor elf, and so I get called a half-breed and my failure to fit into the recognised scheme of things, therefore, brands me a ‘bitch’. They classify me as poor, in need of help, and so I must stay within their guidelines. Poor people mustn’t have a full range of choices, they should be satisfied with mediocrity, with something less, they can’t attend good schools. I don’t want a hand up; I just don’t want to be held down.

  But am I any better? I labelled Mizmiz as grumpy and put him in the box with all other people who are mean and nasty. I wrote him off without finding the reason for his attitude. If I think about it, I’ve been classifying people in a tertiary way all day. They are friend, foe, or nobodies. They are helpful, harmful or ignored. What if Jason was a jerk for a valid reason and I have just written him off. How do I stop myself from becoming as prejudicial as the ones who judge me all the time?

  But on the other hand, I liked Amy, Thad, James and Zack immediately. I could relate to them. Is that because they are like me, or because they are nice people. Is jumping to a quick conclusion wrong? I don’t think so. Maybe the wrongness is in holding onto that judgement in the face of opposing facts. I must remember to stay objective. To keep re-evaluating and never forcing facts to fit my preconceived ideas.

  Maybe that’s what annoys me so much about the moralising in the sermons. How can one story determine the way people must act or think? I suppose if it was recorded to tell a story to drive home a universal point then, maybe. But I think context has to help find meaning. I need to focus more on the context around what people say, not just what they say. Why someone says
something, will be as informative as what they say. At least I will have a better understanding of their real intent.

  But what about how people see me? Do they look for context before they judge me? Am I supposed to help them, to provide a context for their judgements? Why do I care what they think?

  CHAPTER SIX

  November 20, 2073

  Leah slowly opened her eyes, wondering what woke her.

  Gèng said, “Good morning Leah. I’ve woken you as requested. It’s 2 am, and you have forty real-time minutes before you need to enter Dunyanin if you want to be in Carson’s Loop by eight. I’ve finished reviewing the forums and have come up with five scenarios that have been suggested as the best ways to amass credits in the game.”

  “Let me have a shower, and we can discuss them when I log in.”

  Once more on the sofa, Leah asked Gèng to summarise.

  “First, you can play the market, buy low, sell high. If you’re careful and watch the prices, people have been known to make between ten and forty percent on their investment.”

  “Might be possible but not until I’ve got a good grasp of the game. Also, while I’m frugal, I don’t have a good enough grasp of economics. Maybe I could enrol in that as a subject. Next!”

  “Once you are above Level 75 there are more challenging dungeons in harder areas with rare items to sell. They also drop more significant amounts of money.”

  “Better, it’ll take some time to get to those levels though. Next!”

  “Crafting! If you are careful, then almost any craft pays very well when you reach master level. Making potions, crafting armour or weapons, making jewellery or preparing magic scrolls. All of these bring in sufficient money when you become a Master. You make the most money if you have a good reliable supply line for the ingredients you use.”

  “Again something to work on. I have the Herb and Potions Diary, and I expect that it has some powerful potions in it. I’ll need to read up the best way to level whatever skill is involved.”

  “Leah, it’s more than skills, you need to find someone to start you on a profession or craft. You’ve already been accepted as a Beginning Herbalist and a Beginning Healer by Falsi, but you may want to find someone to help you also become an Alchemist.”

  “Ok! I’ll need to read up on the various professions. Next!”

  “The fourth way to make money is to have power over others. Find or buy a castle or keep and charge taxes. Start or join a clan where you receive a salary from other players. Start a company and provide resources, but as the middleman.”

  “Again, it’s long-term. It’ll be a while before that happens although I do have that Clue to Orumeck’s Keep. Last …”

  “Finally, do quests. Quests, especially the rare ones often give larger amounts of money and better items to sell.”

  “Well, that sounds a little hit and miss although I do have some hard and impossible quests from the setup to do. The last one from Jonathan is ‘Almost Impossible’. I’ll probably need to start on the time-sensitive quest from Durustfuar. I need to find a map and directions to his family’s settlement.”

  “Leah, don’t forget to sell everything you’ve collected so far. None of the Spider parts is currently for sale at market or auction. You may find they sell well.”

  “I’ll take ten of each and see how the market seems. I’ll also take more coins this time as I had to change some money to pay for the inn.”

  Leah appeared in the room she’d rented with Wisp at The Thirsty Lion. She didn’t see Wisp and asked Gèng to message her and check if she was online.

  Leah headed to the common room and saw Wisp having breakfast. Sitting down, Leah said, “Morning Wisp, how much is breakfast?”

  “Thirty copper for food, and five for each coffee. I just got your message, Yep, I'm here.”

  Leah ordered a breakfast and asked Wisp what she’d been doing. Wisp had been grinding away at some lower level MOBs around the town and doing small quests. Wisp was Level seven and getting used to using her sword free-form, rather than relying on the preset strokes. She’d bought a Spell Scroll for a Fire Attack call ‘Blazing Bolt’. She was trying to aim her bolts free-form as well but struggled with accuracy.

  After the meal, Leah became serious and said, “Look Wisp, I can’t hang around here for too long. I’ve a timed quest to complete, and I just discovered it’s going to cost me more than I imagined to enrol in the courses I want to. I’m planning to work a solid nine hours a day in Dunyanin every day, if not more. I’m going to be pushing myself and probably getting into situations where I’ll fail. I plan to be here in Carson's Loop for a day maybe two and then I need to be moving on. I’d like to have you as a friend but I’m not sure coming with me will be best for you.”

  Wisp was quiet for some time and then said, “Leah, I want to come with you. I promise not to slow you down. If I do, then I’ll leave you and do something else. You’re my best chance of succeeding in the game, and I enjoy being with you.”

  “Ok, if that is your decision. Now, what sort of creatures have you been finding in the area?”

  “I’ve mainly stuck to the Level 3 to 6 Rats and Crows. There are some Level 6 to 10 Hornets and Ants, they appear in groups of between five and ten, and they overcome an individual very quickly. You have to cross the river to get to them. The only time I tried to do them I was killed immediately. I’ve heard of others finding snakes, wolves, boars, bears and wildercats but they are all too high for me by myself and most are found out in the forest.”

  “I’ll think about it, but first I’m going to head to the market, visit the Auction House, and look around the town. Why don’t we meet back here at lunch time and then we can decide where to go next?”

  “That sounds great. I’ll spend the time working on my crafting; I plan to be a magical scribe and prepare scrolls. I need some time practising the Calligraphy.”

  Leah headed outside and followed directions to a large plaza in the centre of town filled with stalls. Around the outside of the square were various shops which sold materials needed by locals and travellers. Walking slowly through the market, Leah got some idea of what was available and what the prices were. After half an hour she headed to the Auction House. Inside were individual booths for travellers. She opened an account and checked the price of various spinnerets, fangs, spikes, claws and scythes. Leah then put five of each variety she had collected up for auction, setting the lowest bids at fifty percent of what similar objects were fetching. She set a closing time of three days.

  Leah visited a booth which sold nails of all sizes; an apprentice blacksmith made them for the crafters and farmers. The cheapest nails were made of copper and sold for two for a copper coin. The largest was made of iron, a handspan in length and sold for forty copper each. Next, she visited a carpenter to see if he was interested in the Trapdoor Spider Spikes. In the end, he bought 100 at fifty copper per spike. He couldn’t afford more. Next stop was the Tanner to get rid of the various pelts; then to the leather worker and seamstress to sell fangs. She sold twenty spinnerets to the weaver for ten gold. The blacksmith was unable to buy any of the spikes, fangs or carapaces as his crafting level was not high enough to work them. Leah kept the various poisons and venoms just in case she would use them in the future. She had never had so much or even seen so much money before in her life.

  Checking the time she had almost two hours before she had to meet Wisp back at the Inn. She sub-vocalised and asked Gèng, “Is there anything I’ve forgotten that the guides would have recommended?”

  “There are many recommendations, but three stand out. First, you should upgrade your gear, your clothing is durable but offers no added protection. You have the money now to protect yourself better. Also, you might see if you can start your training in Alchemy. Finally, you should think of stocking up on potions and maybe learning a few other spells. Not from forums, but you are also in need of a map.”

  “Four things I need to do, first gear!”

 
She headed for the leather worker and found a few things in the shop which might be useful. Before buying them, she headed next door to the cobbler. The cobbler was working at his bench, he looked up and asked, “How can I help you miss?”

  “I’m in desperate need of some new boots. I wanted to know what you had available and what added characteristics they might have.”

  “I make all sorts of boots, and it depends on which characteristics you want to focus on. I’m not a master yet and can only add a total of six characteristic points to my boots. Boots range from ankle length to just above the calf. The longer ones are more sturdy and offer protection against slashing aimed at the lower leg. On a few, I have added several spikes to help in offence if you are attacked by beasts low to the ground.”

  Leah looked at the various boots and finally decided on a calf-length pair of thick boar-hide boots. They were tapered at the top, the back ended just above the calf, and the front continued higher and gave some protection to the knees. The boots allowed a full range of movement and had inch long steel spikes at the heels and along the front of the shin. They were dark brown and fastened by buckles along the outside of the leg. Each steel-toed boot had slots for two boot knives.

  “These feel good, and I like the added characteristics, how much do you want for them?” She asked while gently holding her right earring between her thumb and forefinger.

  “Well, with all the added features they are the top of the range, I couldn’t let them go for less than twenty-five Gold,” he said.

  Alongside these words was an echoing thought “And that’s double what they’re worth.”

  Hearing this, Leah began to bargain at seven gold and in the end was able to talk the man down to the twelve gold fifty silver price she had heard in his thoughts. She was pleased to have the help of the earrings.

  After the Cooper, she headed back to the leather worker where she bought a newer 200 slot backpack and a boar hide cuirass with matching pauldrons, tassets and braces. She also bought some half-finger gloves to protect her hands. Altogether they cost her eighty Gold and added eight to Strength, nine to Constitution and one to her Agility