Defender Light Online Four

by Larcombe, Tom

  ~ ~ ~

  In the morning Eddie was greeted by the smell of fresh bread and coffee wafting through the inn. He pulled himself out of bed, feeling pretty good, and well rested for the first time in a few days.

  Downstairs, he nearly got sidetracked. When Liv handed him a tray for him and Tiana, he saw that the fresh bread was dripping with butter. He nearly set it down to try it right then and there, but Liv chased him out of the kitchen, telling him to make sure his woman got some of the food.

  Eddie dutifully took the tray to his room, sat down, and arranged the food so Tiana could smell the bread and coffee. Then he took a sip of his coffee and a bite of the bread. The salty richness of the butter was something he hadn't expected after trying the unsalted version before. He'd mostly had margarine before, and mostly the really fake stuff. The few times he'd had butter in the real world it hadn't tasted anything like this. He groaned around the bite as he chewed.

  Once he'd swallowed he warned Tiana.

  “You want to get up soon or I'm going to eat your bread as well as my own. Fresh butter.”

  Her eyes snapped open.

  “That's what I was smelling. I couldn't place it.”

  Disregarding modesty, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed her bread. As she ate, Eddie was nearly jealous. He'd only heard the sounds that were coming from her right now on much more intimate occasions.

  Although I reacted almost the same way myself, so I'm not going to say a damned thing, he thought.

  Once breakfast was done and they were dressed, they headed east first.

  “I forgot to let Jern know last night that we've got some new stonework to do. The general store needs a basement and foundation. It seemed new compared to the other things we'd done, so I thought Jern would want to be in on it. I'm not even sure he was in the tavern last night,” Eddie said.

  “Oh, he was. Hard to see though, he was sitting with Bjorn and you know how Bjorn dominates any area of the room he's in.”

  “Yeah, he's better than any bouncer too. Except for Geirvaldr, I don't think anyone in the area would challenge him. The inn tends to be more peaceful when he's there.”

  Tiana chuckled.

  “Not that I blame them. Even if he didn't outlevel a lot of the people in the inn, he's just so big that it's intimidating,” she said.

  “Add in his level, which people somehow found out about, and he terrifies a lot of them, despite being a pretty peaceful guy most of the time,” Eddie finished.

  They got Jern from his home on Eddie's farm, the old warren that had once held a Bunny boss, and headed down to the site for the general store.

  “I'll share the blueprint when we get there, but the foundation and basement aren't the same as the one for the town hall or anything else we've done. I know you like trying new things with your Masonry skill so I didn't want to start without you,” Eddie said.

  “Aye, and thank you for that lad. If I'd known about this I might have drunk a bit less last night though,” the dwarf replied, ruefully shaking his head.

  “You'll be fine,” Tiana said. “I got a new combat spell back at level fifteen, but I also managed to pick up a lower level cleansing spell. It can be used for poisons or infections to give people another chance to resist them, but it also clears ill-effects like hangovers. Here, watch.”

  Tiana chanted for a moment and touched Jern on the shoulder. When he looked up again it was with a look of wonder on his face.

  “Lass, if you decided to sell that to people, you'd be rich in a heartbeat. Drink as much as you want and not have to feel the aftermath?”

  He shook his head.

  “Don't tell anyone please, I don't want them knowing that I can do that. Eddie's inn would probably be the worse for it,” Tiana said.

  “It's our secret then.”

  “Are you going to tell Karl?” Eddie asked, knowing that the scout was the one in their group most likely to overindulge.

  “I'm still thinking about that. Probably, but not until he's having a really bad morning and we need him at a hundred percent,” Tiana said. “He'd have the same reaction Jern did and start drinking even more, if I were to guess.”

  Eddie nodded, agreeing with her estimation.

  “Well, here we are. Let me share the blueprint and we can get to work,” Eddie said.

  The first thing Eddie had to do was jury rig another of the setups he'd made to get the stone down into the hole for the town hall. The hole was here for the store's basement already, dug by hand, but there was no easy way down, the workers having left a rope dangling into the hole to get in and out.

  As Eddie was putting it together he realized a few ways he could improve his earlier model. Once he had it done and operational, he stopped for a minute, pulling out drawing pencil and paper.

  “Wait a minute. I just realized that if I can make a blueprint for this, it'll be faster to put together if I have to do it again,” he said.

  He sketched, correcting himself several times, then when he had it correct he grinned as his notification light flashed.

  You have upgraded the skill Carpentry to (15). If only you paid as much attention to your fighting skills.

  Success:

  You have the option to learn the skill Engineering. (Help Engineering for more details)

  Would you like to learn the skill?

  (Y/N)

  “Wow, I didn't expect that,” Eddie said.

  Yes, he thought.

  “Expect what?” Tiana asked.

  “I just got offered the Engineering skill. I guess for making this little pulley system on my own. I would've thought I'd get a point in improvisation instead, but...”

  “Let me guess? You'll take it,” Tiana said.

  “Yeah, I can be kind of predictable, can't I?”

  “Yes you can, but that's okay. It's better than being totally chaotic and unpredictable.”

  “I just figured with all the building I'm doing, engineering might come in handy, let me modify blueprints easier, and stuff like that. I know Paul has it, and Opron did, so...”

  “I get it, Eddie,” Tiana said. “And yeah, it might be worthwhile. We'll have to see.”

  “Alright lad, I'm glad you learned something you like. Now should we get to work?” Jern asked.

  By lunchtime all three of them had picked up a point in Masonry. They'd also finished half the foundation.

  “We can keep working on this in the afternoon, but I did let the other masons know about this project also. I'll have Griff tell them it's open for them to work on, since that's his job now. Anyhow, we might have some company down here if we come back after lunch,” Eddie said.

  “As long as they're competent, that's not a problem by me,” Jern said.

  “I will have to spend some time at the temple today. Like I said, I'm training a third acolyte. They're doing well, but they aren't completely done with training yet,” Tiana said.

  “Well, I've got to check on the other sites and see how they're doing. I also want to check on the tower. I don't know how they're planning on getting the finished stone blocks added on after they get over the height where they can reach. So why don't we each do our thing after lunch, then meet back here for some more work after we each finish our own things?” Eddie suggested.

  “I'll let anyone who shows up know they'll be two more to work here in the afternoon,” Jern said. “I don't think we could fit more then seven or eight people down here without getting in each others' way.”

  “It's a deal,” Eddie said. “Let's go get some lunch.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cooper moaned in his sleep as the ball of light in his dream expanded and took on the shape of a woman.

  “Cooper, you need to file your reports,” she said.

  “Freyja? What? Who?” Cooper responded.

  “Cooper, I said that you need to file your reports. I can forge them now and again for you, but if I do it too much it's bound to stop sounding li
ke you and arouse suspicions. You're just lucky that you'd filed enough that I could forge them for you by this point.”

  Cooper thought back.

  It's been three, wait, maybe four days since I filed a report. I totally forgot with that Orc thing going on. Threw off my schedule something fierce, which made it harder to remember the reports. Then when it was over, I just spaced it. Probably because I hate those damned things. Paperwork here, paperwork there, then paperwork to prove that you completed your paperwork. Then, even more paperwork sent back in acknowledgment. At least here in the game it's all files instead of actual paper.

  “Cooper, pay attention to me,” Freyja said. “This is important. There are things going on that you are party to but are not aware of. It's incredibly important for you to not be under any suspicion at all.”

  She looked at him doubtfully.

  “Well, no more suspicion than normal for you, at least,” she said.

  “Wait, what's going on?” Cooper said.

  “You know what your tests are supposed to be for, don't you?”

  “Yes, allegedly they're building physical constructs in the real world and were planning on adapting parts of the game interface to control them,” Cooper said.

  “That's a part of it, yes. The part that people have stated out loud. There's much more to it than that though, things that I cannot tell you at this time. But perhaps you should think on who else might be able to use those constructs? Besides those they are being allegedly designed for. Also, if your technology is sufficient, and everything I've seen says it would be, just what other types of constructs they could build that aren't obviously designed for war. Now, I've said all I will, but you must continue to file your reports.”

  “Alright Freyja, are you sure you can't just continue to forge them for me?” Cooper asked.

  “No, they would lack your voice, the feel of your own words. I do not have enough samples to continue to forge them convincingly. Now, I must go.”

  The image of the gorgeous woman faded out of Cooper's dream, but he found himself still mostly lucid in the dream space, and considering just what Freyja had told him to think about.

  Who else could use the constructs? Anyone could, at least anyone that can learn the game interface, so that's just about anyone.

  He wasn't getting anywhere with that train of thought, so he switched to her other question.

  Constructs not designed for war? So, what other missions do the military get? Humanitarian? I suppose the enhanced strength of a construct could be useful there or for disaster response. Espionage? If they could make them convincing enough to pass inspection, that might work also, without endangering the spy. So I guess the question on that is, could they create a construct that was indistinguishable from a human?

  He pondered that question for a moment.

  The tech is there, no doubt about it, but they'd need some sort of program to give it all the quirks and foibles of a human. The game interface allows that in here, but I don't think it would be sufficient to give a construct autonomous nerve functions, twitches, changes in expression, and all the other things that would make a construct appear to be a person and not an android. So they'd need something like an AI splinter to—

  Cooper broke off in mid-thought, realizing why Freyja hadn't come out and just said what she meant.

  That might well be the answer to her first question as well, he thought. But I need to not make any notes about this anywhere. This is not something I should call attention to through normal channels, because if this testing really is for that purpose, to get something into the real world that shouldn't be there, then there have to be people higher in my chain of command aware of it also, unless they're being duped. That's possible, but better safe than sorry. Now, who should I tell and how? I'm sure Freyja's alerted others to this possibility as well, but I've got no clue who. I mean, Eddie and Tiana are just regular people playing characters. I know she's close to them, but for something like this? I just don't know.

  Cooper was still running through the possibilities when he faded back into a normal sleep.

  ~ ~ ~

  After lunch Eddie whistled for Lucky. The cat had stayed at the inn when he was working on the general store, fishing in the pond out back. Now Lucky came racing up. When she went on her hind legs and leaned against him, her paws were wrapped over the tops of his shoulders.

  “Wow, Lucky. You're huge,” Eddie said, just before the fish scented tongue descended on his face to lick him in greeting.

  Eddie spluttered as Lucky dropped back to all fours.

  “You do that just to mess with me, don't you?” Eddie asked.

  Lucky innocently trotted around behind him, waiting for him to start walking. As Eddie headed out he kept up a running monologue with the cat. When they reached the crossroads, he stopped for a moment.

  “I'm going up to the castle site, but if you want you can go to the pond on the temple grounds.”

  Lucky chuffed and raced towards the pond for her traditional game of 'don't catch the koi'. As she left, Eddie called out.

  “I'll whistle for you if I need you, Lucky.”

  He continued up the road to the north. As he approached the walls he saw that they'd gotten the tower to about twenty feet tall, so he could see the top of it over the walls. There didn't seem to be much activity currently and he wondered how they were getting the stones up there.

  When he entered through the portcullis, he saw how. There was a scaffolding built along one side of the tower and they were currently hauling stones up it by hand. The laborious process looked dangerous to him and he set his mind to finding a better way to do it.

  Because they've got a ways to go still and hauling stone up forty feet of scaffolding by hand? Just no, he thought.

  After a few minutes of wool-gathering his brain latched onto something. A cartoon he'd watched as a kid.

  Or, more honestly, that I watched as an adult. I don't think I qualified as a kid any more at that age, but I still loved my cartoons.

  He called over the carpenter that seemed to be in charge of the scaffolding, or at least the one that was putting more wood together to extend it upwards.

  “Hey, uh... Colborn, wasn't it? I thought you were on the house crews?”

  “We're mostly caught up there, giving those slots to the people who need to train up their carpentry since it's a guaranteed point or two a day when you're still low. What's up, Mayor Eddie, sir?”

  Eddie bit back the groan.

  “That scaffolding was a great idea, but I don't know how good it's going to be for going any higher,” Eddie said.

  Colborn nodded.

  “I was planning on reinforcing the base each time we extended up.”

  “That might work, but I've got an idea that could make this a bit easier on everyone involved.”

  Colborn listened attentively as Eddie explained his idea.

  “I'll get a bunch of planks,” Colborn said. “I'll need you to do the first section at least and give me a blueprint, but you're right, it sounds easier on all of us, the masons especially since they won't have to climb while carrying the stone.”

  Twenty minutes later the man Colborn sent off came back with a hand cart carrying a load of planks and Eddie set to work.

  It's a good thing I got the engineering skill. It's letting me visualize this almost like a blueprint. So if I set the supports like I did for the town hall, then a set of half length planks in the middle, lay the planks down and secure them here...

  It took a bit, but it was less than an hour when Eddie stepped back and looked at his design. He'd set a ramp leading up the inside of the tower, molding to the curve of the walls. They'd extend the ramp up to twenty feet with a separate section and then the masons could get back to work. It didn't perfectly match the curve of the wall, but it looked a lot safer to Eddie than the scaffolding had.

  You have upgraded the skill Engineering to (2). At least your magic increases are from combat. What are you, an
adventurer or an infrastructurist?

  He called Colborn over.

  “So, like that. You can do it, right?”

  “Give me a blueprint and I'll be able to do that. You want the supports like that all the way up?”

  “You'll probably need to put platforms on top of the supports at every additional ten feet to keep it steady, but otherwise yes. Here, let me write it out for you.”

  Five minutes later Eddie handed over the blueprint for the simple ramp. He'd only had to build it once before being able to generate the blueprint, and he attributed that to his new Engineering skill, especially after gaining a point in it for his efforts.

  Eddie watched as Colborn used the blueprint to get the second level of ramp set up. He showed Colborn exactly what he meant by supporting platforms on the beams providing support to the ramp since he hadn't been able to put it into the blueprint. The demonstration was enough for the other carpenter to see what he was talking about and the ramp went up almost as quickly as Eddie's had.

  Eddie tested it out himself, first. The ramp wobbled slightly as Eddie carried up a pair of the finished stone blocks being used for the wall, but it held and the wobble didn't feel like anything dangerous.

  Actually the wobble felt like the wood settling into position, so maybe it'll go away after a few more people use it? he thought.

  Eddie didn't know where that thought had come from, so he hoped it was generated in relation to the engineering or carpentry skill, a little bit of knowledge that he hadn't had before showing up in the middle of his efforts was exactly how new skills had worked for him in the past.

  “Alright, it's good to use, but I'd limit the number of people on it at a time. If the wobble increases, back off the number you're allowing on it. If the ramp gets sturdier as it settles, which I think it will, then you can add another person or two,” he said.

  “You got it Mayor, sir,” Colborn said.