PARTY CHAT / ANTHONY: This never gets old. :)
Great, it can do emojis, I thought, shaking my head and moving back about twenty feet. Pointing at the rock, I said, “’Mana Bolt!’”
The standard flash of light hit the rock. Unlike the water bottles, it didn’t explode. It just flew off the post and hit the ground.
COMBAT: 1 MP Mana Bolt does 1 Damage to Boring Rock. Boring Rock 24/25 HP. Boring Rock offers no resistance. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? 249/250 MP.
“Wow!” said Robert loudly. “That was amazing!”
“How did you do that?” said Sheila. She didn’t sound impressed so much as scared.
“It’s a Class Skill, like Joe told you about. I can control how powerful it is,” I said. “I also have a healing spell, but I already did a demonstration of that yesterday and it stings like crazy so you’ll have to take my word for it.”
“I don’t want to blow things up,” she said bitterly. “I don’t want to fight. I just want to keep my kids safe.”
Samantha walked over and gave her a little hug. “I know,” she said. “I don’t want to either. I had to fight a bobcat. I had to help kill it. And I love animals. I felt terrible.” She stepped back and put her hands on Sheila’s shoulders. “But there’s no more phones to call police. I don’t know if there are even any police. If you want your kids to be safe, you have to be ready.”
The other woman wouldn’t meet Samantha’s eyes. “I’d die for them,” she said, voice thick. “But… fighting, killing… it’s wrong. It’s bad.”
“It’s not right or wrong,” I said as kindly as I could. “Not any more. It’s just the way it is. But can I make a suggestion?”
She looked up at me, eyes glistening with barely-held tears. “What?”
“I can’t believe that everybody is going to be some kind of murder hobo,” I said. At her blank look I added, “That’s a gaming joke. I mean, you can’t run a civilization with just fighters and healers. Those are the classes we took because those are the ones we looked for. Maybe you could ask for non-fighting class choices and see what happens.”
“Can you do that?” she said hopefully.
“No idea,” I said. “We have been playing this entirely by ear. But more often than not if you can come up with something reasonable to ask for, the System will give you at least something close. Ask for a list of Classes consistent with your regular job and see what it says.”
“Do what?” she said, confused again. I tried not to sigh. This was all important information but it wasn’t getting anybody any closer to town.
“Usually you can just think things,” said Samantha, “But that’s hard to get used to. It’s okay to say it out loud. Try it. Just say, ‘List of Classes consistent with my job.’”
“”List of Classes consistent with my job,’” said Sheila, looking like she felt like an idiot. “I… oh! I see a list!” She paused. “It scrolls up and down when I look at it! This interface is really very smooth!”
“That’s great,” I said. “What’s the top job listed?”
“‘Administrator,’” she said. “That doesn’t sound very fantasy-like.”
“When we get to town, I bet an Administrator could probably come in handy,” I said. “If you really don’t want to fight, maybe you should pick that. We’ll do our best to protect you until we get there.”
“I don’t want to fight,” she said firmly. “I want that. I want to help… it says ‘You are now a Level One Administrator…’ and now it says I Leveled. What’s happening?” She looked at Samantha pitifully.
Eventually we got her straightened out, with two promising basic Administrator skills, and a really nice Perk for being in a Medium Mana area at System Start. It was called ‘Executive Protection’ and it let her make herself or anyone she was ‘working with’ invulnerable for sixty seconds.
Then we did Bruce. Turned out he was in Information Security, and the System offered him the Class ‘Security Expert.’ He would probably be very helpful to any town or group that was trying to secure an area. His perk, ‘Red Team Rally,’ could be a game-changer. At the cost of all his Mana, he could make all beings within a thousand feet which were friendly to him fight more efficiently for ten minutes.
The kids were getting antsy by the time we had their parents set up. So was I, honestly.
“Okay,” I said. “You two are going to be worth your weight in gold to a town or organized group. But right now you’re lower level than us and don’t have combat skills. So you’re in the middle with Mike and Samantha. Kids between you. Make sense?”
“Yes,” said Bruce. He sounded like he might be regretting not taking something more… ‘directly violent,’ maybe.
“Good,” I said cheerfully. “Then we’re off.”
We formed our group, somewhat raggedly, and moved on down the road. Or, well, up the road. The curve was a switchback and it climbed away from Bruce and Sheila’s rental at a discouragingly steep angle.
“Watch your Stamina, everybody,” I said. “If it gets too low, you won’t be able to run or move fast if there’s a fight. If you need a break, say so.” I could see their Stamina and so could Mike, but we couldn’t watch everybody all the time.
Looking around, I saw the kids practically vibrating with the need to move faster. They’d probably wear out eventually but they were full of energy after having been cooped up all day yesterday and most of today.
Then I saw Sheila and I had an idea.
“Hey Sheila,” I said. “Walk with me.” I indicated she should move up a bit so we’d walk side by side.”
With a glance at her husband, she did so. “Yes?” she asked curiously.
I patted my pockets until I found a little folding knife that had come from our… spoils… at the hunting cabin. Taking it out, I said, “I will give you this pocketknife if you will agree to work as an Administrator for our party until we get to town.”
She just stared at me blankly.
“Say ‘yes,’” I mouthed at her. She gave me that how-are-you-so-stupid look that all moms know, but she did it.
“‘I accept,’” she said, her voice matching her expression. Then her eyes widened. “I got a message!”
SYSTEM MESSAGE: You have hired a Level Two Administrator for your group. Your projects are more likely to succeed. XP gains for all party members +1%. Trade Center buy/sell prices 1% more favorable to all party members. Slightly increased loot drops from killing enemies.
“Holy Sh…” I saw the kids watching us and swallowed my surprise. “Sheila, you are going to be rich.”
“Why?” she said. “My message just said, ‘You have accepted an Administrator position with James’ Party.”
“Did you guys see the message?” I asked my party members. Danielle shook her head.
“No, why?” she asked.