by Harley Vex
Then I dig out the middle block, glad Fertile Soil drops as itself. I put a block of Common Dirt under the opening, create a dirt staircase up to the platform, and place my Wooden Pail of water into the middle hole. Then I hoe the Fertile Soil, turning it into farmland.
But this time, I plant nothing.
I just let the water permeate the soil. One by one, the farmland blocks darken a bit.
And then something new happens.
Running water.
I scramble down my dirt staircase to the sight of blue, pixelated water cascading down from each irrigated farmland block. The big, square waterfall remains as I wait and wait, and the water at the bottom spreads out several meters before stopping not far from the back of my house.
And I laugh.
Farmland acts like a water source block, a portable source of the stuff that never seems to run out so long as it's fed. That's why I didn't lose my farm and house last night.
"TheWattleman, you've done it again." This is a game changer.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Over the next couple of days, I gladly play Salvosera from the moment I wake up to the time I get logged out automatically by the system (set to nine hours of gameplay, I find out on my own.) I'm kind of disappointed that Candi doesn't log me out herself and talk about grabbing dinner, but seeing as she seems to be the recruiter and also a tester, I understand.
Well, that's what I tell myself.
But I immerse myself in projects, knowing that I must be making Salvos happy.
On Friday I get out of bed after texting Natalie and telling her to have a good day at her job.
I hope so, she texts back.
I don't like that, but at least I can offer her real hope now. I get paid today. And if I don't, I walk.
I'm over the moon. Aside from the Lava Incident, I'm doing well. If I weren't, Candi would have showed up to let me know. Corporate shouldn't find any reason to kick me out.
I exit my apartment after nuking some breakfast, palms tingling as I contemplate my next mob trap. I walk downstairs and through the office area, passing the lounge. The coffee machine isn't even bubbling yet. I'm up earlier than normal. When I reach the testing room, it's empty as usual. I've likely put in more hours than anyone this week.
Once in my suit, I get into the Salvos Simulator and log in.
And I spawn back in next to my improved Swamp Ghoul trap. Pushing myself off the ground, I first eye the flowing channel of water underneath the Glass Panes and the Common Leaves. A few Swamp Ghouls are already straying out of the dark room and dying, pushed by the new water currents I've placed inside the tower. Oh, and I've added two more levels to the trap, each with flowing water currents inside that both spawn and push Swamp Ghouls to their ultimate demise. I no longer have to deal with the Common Leaves since—tada—water doesn't flow down through vertical Glass Panes.
(Yes, it's an odd bug, but one I hope Salvos doesn't fix.)
"I never thought crap would get me this far," I mutter. "Mike, stop it with the bathroom humor. You're more sophisticated than that." But it's true. The worst blocks in the game always seem to be the most valuable.
And dozens of Putrid Flesh and Bones lie at the end of the water channel, washed into my reach from two more Fertile Farmland blocks. I seize the drops, glad I've discovered that spreading my fingers and making a huge grabbing motion picks up all of the same type of drop at once. Major time saver.
Then I run back to my house, watching the Scattered Woods for any stray Lavaworms or Dreadmoths. Nope. All clear. The sun climbs as my glorious new barley farm renders into view, nestled against the cliff and complete with its tiers and multiple waterfalls.
"And behold, the Mike Wattles Farm of Actual Productivity."
It wasn't a hard build. I just had to irrigate the top row of Fertile Farmland which unleashed a waterfall down each side of the tiered farm, which in turn irrigated the rest. It looks cool and since all the farmland I've got is the Fertile stuff, I've got food for life. Golden barley grows on row, which I harvest with my Flint Backhoe. It makes a satisfying crunching sound each time I swing it at the plants, which break and drop Barley Seeds and Bunches of Barley. Then I take my haul into my house, refine it into Barley Flour in my Crafting Tab, and run back outside to where my new Stone Brick Oven sits beside my second Clay Brick Oven.
"Okay," I say. "So it turns out that Stone Bricks are made by cooking stone in a Clay Oven. Peat Bricks are easy to make. Just stick Peat in a Brick Mold. Done." I circle my Ovens. "But as a fuel, they suck."
Yeah. Peat Bricks cook one item each. The only perk is that they light automatically when stuck into an Oven, and I can light my Peat Torches by touching them to the Oven, too. But at least they don't explode the Clay Oven or melt through it. And though the Stone Oven looks cooler than the Clay one, it's still one cook per Peat Brick.
Obviously better Ovens should be capable of using better fuels without blowing up in my face.
"What a long wait," I grumble, inserting my stack of Barley Flour. "I've got to find another fuel."
So far, none of the mobs have dropped any. I turn towards my second dirt skyscraper, the one on the other side of my house as the Ovens. It's identical to the Swamp Ghoul trap, but with a wooden tunnel housing the water stream that pushes mobs out. Well, that's supposed to push mobs out. Since I don't want to die, I've barricaded the end of the tunnel with Common Wood Slabs, which keeps the monsters in but allows me to hack at them.
And so far, that particular trap sucks, too.
"Yep." I peek inside to see the legs of one Common Ghoul. It jumps up and down against the slab barrier and makes its sclorc sound. What gives? It's the same setup as the other trap. Maybe the lower Hostility score here is playing a role, but during the day, more mobs should be spawning inside. I had a Lavaworm yesterday, which I killed for something called a Basaltic Rock, but nothing else dropped. And Dreadmoths? They fly, so water streams won't push them anywhere. And they probably need open sky to spawn since I've never heard them screeching underground. I've heard plenty of Ghouls under my feet, though.
Disappointing. I have a feeling their plates can be used for armor.
My crappy trap means that the game can find other, better spots for monsters to spawn in this area.
There just might be a massive dungeon or cave system under my feet that's taking all the mob spawns.
I don't waste my time on the Common Ghoul. I turn away, determined to do some exploration now that I've got forty Bread Loaves and sixty Lit Peat Torches in my inventory.
I've only begun to tap Salvosera.
And there's an opening to a cave not far from here. It's close to where I had my first encounter with a Lavaworm, somewhere to the left of my tree farm.
Gathering my stuff and leaving the Stone Brick Oven to take its sweet time cooking, I walk in that direction under the noon sun. The cave opening comes into view and my insides coil a bit looking at it. I can't see far inside. The cave itself slopes downward into oblivion, leaving Common Stone blocks to act as natural steps. At least I've brought plenty of Common Soil to make a staircase out if I need to.
"Here goes, Mike." I lower myself into a seated position and scramble downward.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Heart thumping, I double check to ensure I have my Lit Peat Torches as well as my Flint Hammer and Flint Hatchet in my hotbar. I keep my hotbar open in case I have to tap it in the hurry. I've tried to dual wield torches and a weapon, but so far that seems to be a feature Salvos hasn't added. So for now, I'm stuck wielding either a torch or a crap weapon. And if a Lavaworm jumps out at me I'll need to do the fastest switching I've ever done.
And I still have no armor.
"Awesome, Mike," I say as the light dims. The cave below spirals down, down, and out of view. "This is a great idea." How far down does it go? "This is why I like mob traps."
I scoot down one block, then another, then another. I look up to see that I've descended ten meters. The stone gets col
der the farther I go down. A shiver runs through me. This is real. Creationist let you know you were in VR. Salvosera is a whole other ballgame.
And the first distant sclorc sounds from below. Then silence. Silence is bad. That means every other monster down there could be a Lavaworm.
The light dims. And that allows me to see farther into the cave since the sun isn't glaring into my face.
Well, I can see the floor, at least, flat and gray. There's a small drop before I get there and it's clear this entrance opens into some sort of catacomb or tunnel. Once I drop down there I will probably get could get mobbed from both directions. Once I reach the bottom of the cave entrance, I switch to the Common Dirt in my hotbar and place it, forming a staircase of four levels down to the floor.
It's dark down there.
Quiet.
I descend slowly, still seated like a coward, looking both ways into pure dark. I do not want to step onto the floor. Switching to my torches, I thrust my hand at the nearby stone on the floor, highlight it, and place one.
Peat Torches suck, too.
Peat just plain...sucks. Because the torch, which is just a stick, twine, and a glob of smoldering peat, barely gives off light and barely any flame. Well, the air smells a bit like smoke and I can see a few more blocks to my left.
Clearly there must be something better than Peat Torches, and it's down here. Coal, maybe. Peat Torches, like certain Internet browsers, are only useful for getting a better version.
Another sclorc sounds in the distance.
The longer I sit here, the more likely mobs will be to spawn and find me. I've figured out that they only spawn at least twenty blocks away. I've got to use that to my advantage.
So I take a breath. "Here goes." And I jump down from the staircase and run to the right, stepping over the low heat of the Peat Torch. I place another torch and then another, just five or so blocks apart, lighting the cave ahead just enough for me to progress. The walls are mostly gray, though I spot a few veins of a sparkling, orange and tan stone mixed with the Common Stone. I keep running, gasping for breath down the long, winding cave tunnel until I see the end and place a torch on the wall. It sticks to the wall without falling, just high enough to light the ceiling.
"No mobs," I mutter, relieved. I'd hate to think of what a cave in a high hostility area would look like. Then I turn my gaze upward at the ceiling of the cave. Three polygons of Common Stone catch my eye. Yellow-orange splotches on them tell me I've found some sort of ore, like the green one I haven't been able to mine back at the cliff.
Palms tingling, I take my Flint Hammer and hack, praying this ore's Resistance isn't higher than two. Cracks form across the ore as I hack, and it breaks and drops to the floor as a sparkling yellow-orange sprite, shaped like a shard. I tap it to pick it up, and since this part of the cave is now safe, I check my inventory.
Spark Cluster
Resistance: 2
Fall Damage: +2
Gravity: 0
Speed: 0
Refinable: 1
"So this is how you start making better torches." I think of my Flint Chisel back home, the one tool I haven't used yet, and I know how to get something useful out of this stuff.
Sclorc.
I jump.
So much for safety first.
A squishing sound rings out right next to me, and I whirl, raising my Flint Hammer. A Common Ghoul has appeared right in front of me, and then a second drops out of a hole in the ceiling that I missed.
"Really?" I let out a curse and jump back, swinging, and pressure runs up my arms as I hit both Ghouls at once. The brown creatures fall back, stunned, and I swing again and again until they fall over, dead, and vanish into those puffs of dust. Then I scramble, equipping my Common Soil which I use to plug the hole in the ceiling, a hole that could lead to a vast cavern for all I know. "Just what I needed was a jumpscare." But I'm secretly glad for it. I was beginning to think that caving would be too easy.
I quickly dig out the rest of the Spark Ore, which turns out to be a vein of eight (yes!) and I progress to the orange, sparkling rock I saw earlier in the cave. That turns out to be Granite, and it's also refinable but deals increased fall damage (+4.) I mine that, too. That might be good for some falling traps and possibly even for tool making. I haven't gotten Common Stone to work as an ingredient in any tools and I'm willing to try anything to reach the higher tiers.
After mining another vein of Spark Ore, I eye my Common Soil staircase. I'm back to where I started. Gross footsteps sound somewhere in the darkness, but they're distant, and a brief crackling noise tells me a Lavaworm has fallen and taken damage about an equal distance away. I progress past my staircase, tiptoeing and placing Crap Torches along the wall until my heart leaps into my throat and I stop.
Sheer terror grips me. What the heck? I wobble in place, waving my arms, trying to stop myself from falling forward. Once still, I blink and realize that I'm standing on the edge of a massive drop-off.
I back off. "Well, that explains it."
An expanse of darkness stretches out in front of me, and the breeze hitting my face from all directions tells me I've stumbled on a huge cavern. My eyes adjust and I spot a faint light far below, maybe from a pool of lava, and the shape of a Lavaworm jumping in front of it. Wet footsteps sound down below as the sclorcs of excited, hungry Ghouls ring out below me. Tapping footsteps, a sound I've never heard, ring out from everywhere, turning to a skittering as what sounds like a million insects rush for my location.
I backpedal as my heart leaps into my throat.
A new mob.
Great.
Can they climb walls?
I turn around and I run, knowing why my second mob trap isn't getting many spawns. All the monsters are down here.
And I scramble up the dirt staircase as the skittering gets closer. Whatever's chasing me is able to climb walls. Awesome.
"Go, Mike. Go!"
But I already know that I won't make it out of the cave in time to avoid it. Climbing out of the cave will take too long. I turn once in the entrance tunnel, bathed in the pale light from the sky, and I wait for the new monster to scale the dirt steps.
And it does. A segmented, brown centipede with nasty pinchers leaps at me before I have time to swear. My view flashes red as my health bar shrinks to almost half. I swing my hammer again, hitting the mastiff-sized monster as it lands at my feet. Pressure spreads across my chest as the "pain" registers. I back up and swing again, catching the jumping centipede midair, and the creature makes a faint gasping noise and another series of clicking sounds as it falls over and dies. It drops some Silk and a brown plate, which I seize.
And then the pressure on my chest, where it bit me, starts to burn as I climb back towards the sunlight, taking one level at a time. Another status effect appears in the top right of my vision, and this one's a green droplet.
Poison.
"Get out of here," I tell myself as the feeling intensifies.
My Calories bar drops, but at least I have plenty of Bread Loaves in my hotbar. I sit down on an outcrop halfway up the entrance since nothing else is coming after me and I eat quickly, almost choking on the chewy dough. I've got to regenerate my health. If I don't, I'm going to die.
But my health refuses to rise. Instead, it drops a little more.
"So that's what Poison does," I grumble, climbing out of the cave and straightening to find the sun sinking, already close to the horizon. "I can't heal."
But before I can rush back to my house so I don't get murdered, everything goes black. At first I think it's the Poison effect, but then I'm falling backwards through a void. The burning feeling disappears.
Someone's logging me out. And I've only been in the game for a couple of real life hours. That doesn't make sense.
When I find myself in the Salvos Simulator, I pull off my helmet, get my bearings, and turn towards the door.
But no one is there. My door's open a bit, though.
"What the heck?" I
'm still reeling from my experience in the cave. Did I screw up? Now a new terror fills my chest. Someone must have logged me out. That's clear.
I take a breath, determined to figure out why.
I don't even bother to get changed. Leaving the helmet on the floor beside the Simulator, I leave the blue lights behind and walk towards the lounge, where I expect to find someone. But as soon as I turn the corner to the office area, I spot two people walking into the fancy meeting room: Candi, dressed in a black suit, and someone I've only seen in online footage of gaming conventions.
Anthony Anton.
The CEO of Salvos. The piebald head and the bushy eyebrows betray the fact that it's him.
He enters the meeting room as Candi holds open the door for him like a dutiful servant. And though she should clearly be able to see me standing here at the corner, she pays me no attention as she closes the door behind her, leaving me a clear invitation to eavesdrop.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Resisting is futile. It's clear Candi logged me out and ran, hoping I'd figure out the cue. My heart pounds. Why would she do this? It's clear that whatever is going to take place in that meeting room is important and she wants me to know about it.
My heart pounds in my ears. Anthony Anton is a founding member and the CEO of Salvos Corporation. The big cheese. The guy who imagined Creationist and blew up the whole sandbox genre of gaming. I can't just go over there and press my ear to the door.
The door stays shut. Chairs squeak inside.
If I'm caught—
This hallway has none of those black spheres on the ceiling. I see no evidence of security cameras. I eye the hallway for any other signs of them.
I'm not seriously going to do it.
Yes, I am.
I nudge shut the door to the lounge most of the way, careful not to make any noise, just in case there are cameras in there. It's right across from the meeting room.
