Defender Light Online Four

by Larcombe, Tom

  The list went on and on, but at the moment, all he could think about was getting something to eat, then maybe spending some time out back of the inn with Lucky and Tiana.

  After a quick trip north to the castle site, where he told the masons what he wanted and let them know that Griff would be taking charge of directing the work on the town, he returned to the inn.

  Let's see, add talking to the carpenters to let them know Griff is in charge of directing the work to my mental list, and then just try to disregard all that and enjoy what I'm doing.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Eighteen

  Aaron settled in to run through the code one more time before they tried to compile it. He and Lydia had spent hours tweaking her code, on and off anyhow, the intermittent time being slightly more pleasant as they took the chance to relieve some stress.

  They'd gotten take out earlier and Aaron was absently using his chopsticks to eat leftover noodles as he scanned through the code.

  “I think this is going to do it,” he said. “Should we try compiling it?”

  She smiled lazily at him.

  “Do it. You know there'll be a problem somewhere. There always is when compiling, isn't there?”

  He smiled back at her. The only time he'd seen her looking lazy in the slightest was after they'd been in bed, then she had a smile like a cat that had already gotten the cream and was settling in for an afternoon nap in the sun.

  He hit enter and watched.

  “Heh, only three error messages, and two of them are syntax. I can fix this in just a few minutes.”

  Ten minutes later, he was down to a single error message, both the syntax ones being easy fixes.

  “I'm too tired,” he said. “I can't follow the code right now. What time is it?”

  He looked at the clock and discovered that it was slightly after three AM. When he turned back to Lydia, she was asleep.

  Now that's a good idea, he thought. Let me get a few hours of sleep and I bet this last error will be much easier to fix. Or at least I'll be able to track it down easier when I can focus better.

  He settled into bed himself, slipping under the covers and sliding over to spoon with Lydia. She didn't wake, but adjusted slightly, pushing herself back against him so they had better contact. A few minutes later Aaron was asleep, his dreams filled with scrolling lines of code.

  When Aaron woke, six hours later, he was pretty sure he knew where the error in the code was. He almost jumped up to go fix it, but realized that Lydia was still asleep in his arms, so instead he slowly extricated himself from her. She mumbled something sleepily, then pushed back farther. Not finding him, she went quiet except for a tiny, delicate snore.

  Aaron smiled at that, then hurried over to the computer. Ten minutes later he grinned triumphantly as the code compiled correctly.

  Let's not get our hopes up, he said. Just because it compiled right doesn't mean it's going to do what we think it will.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Damn it, I forgot,” Eddie said, startling Tiana.

  “What did you forget?”

  “Right after that last Orc battle? I was so tired that I dismissed my notification light. I have it set to only tell me when I get a level or an increase in a skill or spell, so I ought to check it.”

  He pulled up the notification he'd dismissed right after the battle and broke into a grin.

  Success:

  You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 17

  Do you wish to advance?

  (Y/N)

  “Hot damn, I'm level seventeen, or at least I will be in a second,” he said.

  Yes, he thought.

  You have advanced to Level 17.

  You have 3 stat points to distribute.

  Your Health has increased.

  Your Mana has increased.

  Your Stamina has increased.

  Add one point to agility, one point to Wisdom, and one point to Heartiness, he thought.

  “Hey, you caught up to me and Allie now, although we're almost to eighteen, or at least I am and she's always been close to where I am level-wise,” Tiana said.

  “Great, poor Karl though. He's still a couple of levels back I think.”

  “He does okay,” Tiana said, “even if he is a couple of levels beneath us. Don't tell him I said that though, he needs an ego boost about as much as you do.”

  Eddie stung slightly from the comment, but had to admit that there was some truth to it. He wasn't exactly humble. He'd tried that and failed, so embracing what fame he received was his new plan, and he kind of enjoyed it.

  Alright, let's see how things are looking. Character sheet, he thought.

  Edward Hunter

  Human Male

  Level: 17

  Class:Warrior (Ranger)

  Strength:16

  Intelligence: 16

  Agility: 34

  Wisdom: 23

  Heartiness: 20

  Charisma: 12

  Willpower: 20

  Health: 377 (387)

  Endurance: 18

  Mana: 414

  Luck: 14 (17)

  Stamina: 900

  Experience:

  604,727/700,000

  Base Attack: 15

  Base Armor: 10 (88)

  +2 attack melee (strength)

  +1 attack (short swords)

  +68 armor (studded leather, helm, boots, bracers, greaves, pauldrons, gorget, half-gloves)

  +10 attack ranged (agility)

  +10 armor (agility)

  Skills:

  General:

  Acrobatics: 5

  Animal Friendship: 1

  Animal Handling: 2

  Animal Husbandry: 4

  Bowyer/Fletcher: 5 (+2 to checks)

  Carpentry: 14

  Climbing: 1

  Cooking: 13

  Evaluate: 5

  Farming: 2

  Fire Building: 1

  Fishing: 5

  Herbalism: 3

  Hunting: 3

  Improvisation: 2

  Masonry: 5

  Rope Use: 4

  Tracking: 3

  Weather Sense: 1

  Weaving: 4

  Combat:

  Bows: 6

  Staves: 2

  Small Blades: 1

  Short Swords: 5

  Special:

  Conjunction: 7

  Magical:

  Nature Magic: 6

  Accel Plant Growth: 2

  Arc: 5

  Create Food/Water: 2

  Fox Fire: 2

  Nature's Binding: 2

  Safe Site: 1

  Wall of Thorns: 2

  Create Spring: 1

  Along for the Ride: 1

  Frostbite: 5

  Accelerated Heal: 1

  Languages:

  Common (Human)

  Goblin Speak: 3

  Okay, the health is almost decent, nothing compared to a straight warrior class that focuses on heartiness, but still not bad, he thought.

  He sighed heavily as he checked his mana total and did a quick bit of calculation.

  “What is it?” Tiana asked.

  “I'm nowhere close to being able to put my Frostbite spell on an arrow like I can my Arc spell,” he said. “From what I can tell, the spell cost on Frostbite goes down one point with each point I gain in it, but my mana is only four hundred and fourteen. With Frostbite at a skill level of five, it costs forty-five mana to cast.”

  He'd been counting off on his fingers as he made points, but now he dropped his hand.

  “So taking the Arc spell as an example, it costs ten times the spell cost for the first time I use a Conjunction on a spell making an arrow. That would mean four hundred and fifty for that first time. I'm still thirty-six mana shy.”

  “If you can use it, you're welcome to borrow my Priests' Ring when you're closer. That'll give you a bonus twenty max mana,” Tiana offered.

  “Thank you. Well, with that I just need to get one more level. I may have hated t
hose Orc waves, but they sure were worth some good experience. I wish they hadn't sent so many players to respawn though.”

  “Don't worry about it. Just about every player that respawned was back as soon as they could be. They all got levels out of it also, most of them more than one. If they consider it a fair trade, then I don't think it's bothering them at all.”

  “Well, we're back to our regular ways of getting experience,” Eddie said. “Is everyone still up for trying those higher tier goblin villages next week?”

  “I think so? I haven't exactly asked, I've been kind of pulling away from everyone recently, remember?”

  She flushed lightly as she said it. Eddie noticed but didn't say anything about that.

  “I thought it was just me,” he said.

  “No, if you'd been doing what I thought you were then the others would've noticed. Since I was sure you were and they hadn't said anything I was kind of angry at them as well. Sorry,” she said.

  “No need to be sorry. You feel what you feel, at least now you know better.”

  “Yeah, I think that memory isn't ever going to fade completely. It's weird, there's a definite gender difference in the way men and women think, or to be more accurate, the way you and I think. Not anything I can put my finger on, just a completely different background set of assumptions and knowledge. I couldn't really pinpoint it then and as time goes by that part of the memory becomes harder to focus on. That's good, I suppose, but I would've liked to pick that apart some and determine the exact differences.”

  It was Eddie's turn to blush.

  “Well, I can't say for certain that I think just like other men, so that may or may not just be a me thing.”

  She shrugged.

  “I might not have managed to pick those differences apart, but I certainly got the most important part of the memory.”

  She leaned over to kiss him and drew back after a few moments.

  “Let's go in and get dinner. We've had a nice lazy afternoon, but it's back to work tomorrow. I'm sure you've got things scheduled to do, and I'll be right there with you if it's something I can help with.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie settled in to the table. Liv had, as of late, decided that he needed to eat more of the vegetables he'd been growing himself, so he was starting with a salad. Karl, Allie, and Tiana had gotten the same. Allie and Tiana were already starting to eat while Karl just glared at the plate.

  Eddie forked up some salad and started chewing.

  Wow, this is good today, he thought. What's different about it?

  It wasn't until his next mouthful that he realized it. He leapt to his feet, hastily swallowed, then shouted.

  “Liv, Liv, I could kiss you! Cheese?”

  “Not if you value your health, you won't,” Bjorn rumbled from a back table in the inn.

  “But Bjorn, she made cheese!” Eddie said.

  The big hauler nodded once, twice, then grinned.

  “Alright, but you're limited to one peck on the cheek, that's it. Any more and you're in trouble.”

  Eddie laughed as he rushed back to the kitchen. As he opened the door, the smell of cooking beef patties assaulted his nostrils. Liv turned, saw him coming in, and bustled over.

  “No you don't, Eddie. It's my kitchen now, remember?” she said.

  “I didn't want to take over anything in here,” he said. “I just wanted to thank you. You made cheese!”

  She smiled.

  “Aye, that I did. Now get back to your table, you won't want to miss the next course.”

  He leaned over and landed a peck on her cheek, causing the older woman to blush.

  “Watch yourself, Bjorn's kind of possessive,” she said.

  “He gave me permission to give you a peck on the cheek. Evidently he thinks cheese is worth that as well.”

  “That's true. The richer the food, the better, for that man. Now, shoo!” Liv said.

  She followed up her words with a threatening shake of the spatula and Eddie turned and went back to his table. He could hear the other adventurers in the inn commenting about cheese and how they didn't have any.

  When Liv came out, carrying plates herself, several minutes later, she heard them also.

  “Don't worry,” she called out. “This is just the first small test batch. I wanted to run it past Eddie. Since he approved, there'll be cheese enough for all of you to have at least a small bit tomorrow. It's only the soft stuff, mind you, the hard cheese will be another week or more, depending on how well it cures. Once Eddie here gets me a dairy barn, there'll be even more still available.”

  “So I guess our cows came through with the milk?” Karl asked.

  “Yeah, haven't you been getting some for your coffee the last couple of days?” Tiana asked.

  “Not me, black and sweet for me. Although Allie, hasn't your coffee been suspiciously lighter colored than normal recently? I figured you were just adding even more of the beet extract to sweeten it.”

  “Who me?” Allie asked, staring at Karl and blinking.

  The innocent look failed when she burst into laughter.

  “Yes, my coffee has been just the way I like it recently, tan and sweet,” she said, when she'd stopped laughing.

  Liz came to the edge of the table and started sliding plates in front of people. Eddie sniffed the air, the smell of cooked beef and its standard toppings mixed with something else. When he pulled the bun off the top he saw why.

  “It melts right in, so it's almost like a slice anyhow,” he said.

  Karl pulled his bun top off and grinned up at Liv.

  “A cheeseburger. You're a goddess, Liv,” he said, then took a huge bite of his burger.

  He didn't even wait until he'd swallowed to start evaluating it.

  “Not bad, a little sweet, but a little bit of a bite also,” he mumbled around his food. “Not my first choice for on a burger, but definitely acceptable if it's the only option.”

  He finally swallowed.

  “It's like a cross between feta and gouda, sort of. At least, that's the closest I can get. Thumbs up, Liv,” Karl said.

  He supported his words by literally giving her a thumbs up.

  “It is,” Eddie said. “It's got the saltiness of the feta and the mellow sweet flavor of the gouda, but it doesn't really taste exactly like either. It's good though, Liv.”

  She graced Eddie with a smile, then a sly look came into her eyes.

  “Good enough that you'll prioritize my dairy barn?” she asked.

  Eddie chuckled.

  “I'll do my best to have one up for you within a week or two, okay Liv?”

  “That's a good boy,” Liv said, leaning over and patting Eddie on the cheek.

  Mission accomplished, she turned and headed back for the kitchen.

  “So Karl,” Eddie said after chewing and swallowing his first bite, “how goes your hunt for bacon?”

  Karl looked around, panicked.

  “You took me seriously? Those sows and the boar we saw in the Forest of Fools were something nasty and you want me to capture some?” he said.

  “Come on Karl, aren't you high enough level for that yet?” Eddie asked. “Isn't the Forest of Fools only rated for up to level fifteen?”

  Karl's eyes went distant.

  “You know, it used to be, but now it says up to level twenty-five in the help file. What's up with that?” Karl asked.

  “No changing the subject. Do you want bacon or not? We can always get a group together to hunt pigs. It'll only take me a day or two to fence off an area for them,” Eddie said.

  “Sure, we can do that at some point,” Karl said. “But I'm not even max level for the Forest anymore.”

  “None of us are, not even Charles. Although I think I might want to bring that to his attention. One of his cons for running a settlement for me was no good area to level nearby. I wonder if this will sweeten the pot. He did agree, but this should make him happier about it,” Eddie said.

  “I think he'll be happy fo
r it,” Tiana said.

  “On another note though, did you guys still want to try those higher tier villages in the Forest of Fools next week? They might be why the level recommendations were raised on it, but I'm willing to try,” Eddie said. “I need one more level before I'll be able to put Frostbite on my arrows like I do Arc. Or to get a bunch more points in Frostbite I suppose. Either way, combat is the way to do it.”

  “How much experience do you need?” Allie asked.

  “I need almost a hundred thousand for level eighteen,” Eddie said.

  Karl glared at him.

  “You bastard, you're level seventeen now? I'm only about halfway through fifteen.”

  “Yeah Karl, I am. I'm all of almost five thousand experience into it, but the jump from seventeen to eighteen is a hundred thousand. So you'll have some time to catch up to me,” Eddie said.

  “Damn straight, and I will too. You just wait and see,” Karl said.

  The words, taken by themselves, sounded angry. Karl's intonation of them, and the look on his face, told Eddie that it was something that was becoming a ritual as opposed to anything more serious.

  Eddie chuckled.

  “You do that Karl, but I'm not slowing down to let you catch up.”

  Karl glared at him for a moment, then flipped him off. The scout looked down at the remaining burger and fries on his plate and his expression turned much happier. He grabbed his burger and took another huge bite, sighing happily as he chewed.