“Is it that good?” asked someone else, who was waiting for their food but didn’t seem to mind in the face of this bizarre conversation.
“It gives a point of Constitution which gives ten hit points.” My exuberance cooled. “Ten hit points could be the difference between living and dying in in a fight.”
“What do you mean?” they asked.
“Okay, last thing and then we’re going to eat, all right?” Everyone nodded. “Everybody say ‘Status.’” Most of them did, some looking unsurprised, the rest dumbfounded. “See where it says ‘Hit Points?’ You can also think of them as Health Points, whatever. The point is, that’s literally how much damage you can take before you die. You reach zero, it’s over. This meat temporarily adds ten to that number. That means that if you’re in a bad fight, you can take maybe one more hit, live one more minute. Which gives you one more hit, one more minute, to win. It may not seem like much. But it could be the difference.”
A few people - mostly the ones who hadn’t looked surprised to see their Status screens - nodded. The rest still looked confused and the person who’d asked about why the buff was good started to ask another question. I shook my head.
“Nope. We need to eat. Later.” I took my plate and got some potatoes from the dish, then sat down at a long trestle table, where most of our party was already sitting. It was quiet while we ate, the fresh, hot food demanding our full attention after days of nothing but snacks and sandwiches. There was even coffee for those who wanted it.
We filled the table pretty tight so no one else sat and asked more questions. When I was done, I stood up and bussed my dishes, with Danielle right behind me. Then I walked over to Deputy Franklin.
“Good morning, Deputy,” I said respectfully.
“Morning, James. Something I can help you with?” She was perfectly pleasant, but it was obvious she didn’t have the patience for double-talk.
“I was wondering about the Trade Center. Aran at the refugee table said you wouldn’t let anyone use it. Is that true?”
“I don’t know about use,” she said. “I don’t know how you use it. But the Sheriff had it blocked off. We don’t know what it does. It could be dangerous.”
“It’s a Trade Center,” I said, keeping my voice neutral and hoping I didn’t sound sarcastic. “It must be for trading of some kind. Did anybody try?”
“No,” she said. “It appeared in front of City Hall. The deputies there moved everybody back and the City Manager said to keep everyone away from it until we figure out what to do.”
“I don’t mean to sound smart, Deputy, but how are you going to figure out what it does if nobody can use it?” I didn’t activate ‘Indirect Suggestion.’ I wanted to sound her out first, figuring that would tell me how the Sheriff was approaching things.
“That’s not up to me, James,” she said.
“May ask you a question, Deputy? It may seem a little personal and I don’t want to offend you.”
This seemed to intrigue her. “You can ask.”
“What Level are you?” I asked matter-of-factly.
“Level One,” she said. “I haven’t gotten any Experience.” She snorted. “At least none this thing recognizes, which is just about insulting.”
‘System, display name, Level, and title ‘Adamant’ to Deputy Franklin.’ I figured it might take some tweaking but the interface for the System seemed to be either ‘I can’t do that and will not acknowledge it,’ or ‘You got it, Boss,’ so I just tried the simple way.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: Displaying Name, Level and title ‘Adamant’ to Deputy Franklin. This permission will persist until revoked.
“Deputy, would you please look at me and say ‘Examine?’” I said politely.
This got me another strange look but she did it. She blinked, then her eyes narrowed.
“Level Eight? And what is ‘Title: Adaman…’” Asking the question revealed the answer and she read for a second. Her narrowed eyes opened wide. “How in the world did you get that?”
I nodded at Danielle, who was standing beside me. “When we fought the bear, she got hurt. Bad. I used all the Mana I had to heal her. Then I used Mana I didn’t have, and it nearly killed me. When I woke up, she was alive, and I had that Title.”
“He saved me,” said Danielle, putting her arm around my waist and her head against my shoulder. “He’s my hero.”
“That’s incredible,” said the deputy. “Does it do anything? It seems like everything does something.”
“It gave me some permanent buffs… I mean, improvements, that make me harder to kill. That seems to be how the System works. You do something hard and succeed, and the System makes you even better at it.” I paused, but she just kept looking at me intently. I knew what she was doing but played along. “If I get hurt really bad, my healing gets much faster, and I’m a lot less likely to go into shock from being hurt or losing too much Mana.”
“Wow,” she said slowly. Then her eyes narrowed again. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t have to listen to the police? You think you’re tough?”
“No,” I said sincerely. “I’m saying that I’m much stronger than you and probably any deputies you’ve got including the Sheriff… and I’m volunteering to try to use the Trade Center. The Title is my proof that I’m a very determined person.”
“It seems like it,” she said, nodding slightly, “If this damn System thinks you’re tough...” She stood up and looked at the head cook. “Sheryl, I’m taking this gentleman to talk to the Sheriff. I’ll send back another deputy to keep an eye on things.”
“Fine,” said the cook, not even looking up from dishing out food. They were out of the bear meat already and were serving more ordinary-looking ham. “Anybody gets out of hand and I have to give them a hiding, it’s your fault.”
The deputy laughed and I chuckled politely. “Fair enough.” Then she turned to us. “You two come with me.”
“Some of our friends are interested in the Trade Center,” I said. “Can they come too? They’ll stay back behind whatever line you’ve got until we see what happens.”
She thought for a second. “I don’t see why not.”
“Thanks.” I walked to the table. “We’re going to City Hall to see about the Trade Center. Whoever’s coming, let’s go.” Samantha, Mike, Dave, Emily, Michelle, and Anthony stood up. Sally and Billy went and got in their wagon, and Mike took the handle.
I looked at Anthony questioningly.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he said, “But I’ll come see so I can tell Joe and Mandy if I go with them.”
“Sounds good.” I walked back over to Deputy Franklin “Ready when you are, Deputy.”
She looked over the small group, noting the Noobs. “These three weren’t with you last night, were they?”
“No, they weren’t. They ended up in our tent last night, they seemed decent so we told them they could tag along.” I gave her a small ‘what are you going to do?’ shrug-smile.